A roundup of domestic and international news
ELECTION - Saturday is the last day before the European Parliament election scheduled for Sunday. A total of 13 political factions and three independent candidates are running for the 33 seats in the European Parliament. The European Council will announce the 33rd seat only after Brexit takes effect. Romanians abroad will vote in 441 polling stations, most of which were set up in Italy, Spain and Moldova. Romanians on Sunday will also vote in the referendum on the judiciary called by President Klaus Iohannis.
UK - The British PM Theresa May announced on Friday that she will step down on June 7th, in response to calls from the Tories to allow a new leader to try and overcome the Brexit standoff, Reuters reports. The procedures for appointing a new prime minister will most likely begin on June 10th. Depending on the number of candidates, the process might take until autumn, but the Conservative Party is hoping to step up the procedure and to be in a position to announce a new leader by the end of July.
MILITARY - Five Romanian military were wounded on Friday in Afghanistan while patrolling with US soldiers, the Defense Ministry has announced. The vehicle they were in was attacked with an IED. They were transported to the hospital of a military base and are now awake and stable. The five are part of Sfantul Andrei 300 battalion from Galati, deployed in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Nearly a thousand Romanian soldiers are currently involved in external operations under NATO, EU or UN command, while in previous years their number exceeded 2,500. Over the years 29 Romanian military died and another 180 were wounded in military operations abroad.
POPE - Dacia Group Renault has announced Pope Francis will travel on the streets of Bucharest using a Duster make. Three years ago, during his visit to Armenia, the Pope traveled from the airport to the capital Yerevan in a white Logan model manufactured by Dacia. On the other hand online registrations continue for the masses the Pope will celebrate in Romania. Hundreds of thousands of people have already signed up, in addition to Christians from Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, Madagascar, Australia, Israel, Canada, Namibia or Reunion. Held under the motto "Let's go together!", the visit will have its first stop in the capital city Bucharest, the largest city in the east of the country, then Pope Francis will travel to Iasi, the spiritual capital of Romanian Roman-Catholics, Blaj, where he will beatify 7 bishops killed in communist prisons, and the Marian shrine in Şumuleu Ciuc. In 1999, Romania was the first country with a majority Orthodox population to have been visited by a Pope, i.e. John Paul II 20 years ago.
BLACKMAIL In Bucharest, the rector and deputy rector of the ''Alexandru Ioan Cuza'' Police Academy, Adrian Iacob and Mihail Marcoci respectively, resigned on Friday after being placed under court supervision by the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. The two are probed into for suspicions of having prompted an officer, in April 2019, to send a death threat to journalist Emilia Şercan, in order to force her to halt a journalist investigation concerning the Police Academy rector. According to the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, between March and April this year Emilia Şercan published a series of articles covering the award of Ph.D. titles by the ''Alexandru Ioan Cuza'' Police Academy.
TENNIS The Romanian Sorana Cîrstea (93 WTA) on Friday lost to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, no 39 in the world, 4-6, 5-7 in the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Nurnberg (Germany). Cîrstea is one of the 4 Romanians taking part in the Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year, which starts on Sunday. She begins with a very difficult match, against the Czech Petra Kvitova (6 WTA). Simona Halep, who won the tournament last year and is currently ranked 3 in the world, plays against the Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (47 WTA), Mihaela Buzărnescu (30 WTA) against Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (60 WTA), and Irina Begu (118 WTA) against Lin Zhu of China (108 WTA). In the men's competition, the only Romanian in the singles tournament is Marius Copil (81ATP), playing against Benoit Paire of France (51 ATP).
FOOTBALL - Astra Giurgiu will play Viitorul Constanta on Saturday in the Romanian Cup final hosted by Ploiesti. We recall CFR Cluj has won the fifth title in its history and its second in a row. Runner up was FCSB, followed by Viitorul Constanta.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
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