May 3, 2014 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

România Internațional, 03.05.2014, 12:34

The World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3rd, finds the Romanian media under both economic and political pressure, the Romanian Press Club announced. In a release on Saturday, the Romanian Press Club denounced the authorities’ lack of support for the press in a European, transparent and undiscriminating manner. Global press freedom, however, has fallen to its lowest level in over a decade, according to a Freedom House report released on 1st May. The decline was driven in part by major regression in several Middle Eastern states, including Egypt, Libya, and Jordan, marked setbacks in Turkey, Ukraine, and a number of countries in East Africa and deterioration in the relatively open media environment of the United States. The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden were rated the world’s top-performing countries. Romania is considered to be among the countries with partial press freedom, ranking 84th out of 197 countries, while the Republic of Moldova ranks 112. North Korea ranks last in the classification.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry disapproves of the violence in the Ukrainian city of Odessa and firmly condemns the acts that led to the loss of human lives. In a release on Saturday, the Romanian Foreign Ministry called for the easing of tensions in Odessa and the whole of Ukraine, where the illegal act of annexing Crimea to the Russian Federation has been followed by a series of illegal separatist actions, marked by unjustified violence. The Romanian Foreign Ministry voices solidarity with the Ukrainian people and support for the countrys European path and for the Kiev authorities’ efforts to stabilise the situation. According to the Bucharest authorities, no Romanian ethnics are among the victims of Friday’s violence in Odessa.

Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek announced she would resign on Monday so that early elections can be held in June, a condition for the country to get out of the crisis. Having been a prime minister for a year, Alenka Bratusek has recently lost her position as head of the party and has said she cannot continue as premier as long as her own party refuses to further support her.

Meteorologists issued a code yellow alert for torrential rain and storms to be expected in 22 counties in southwestern, central and northern Romania, valid as of Saturday evening until Monday morning. According to the Romanian weather authority precipitations will exceed 20-25 litres per square meter and 40-50 litres per square meter locally. Meteorologists warn that rain might be accompanied by hailstorms and gusty wind, especially in mountain areas.