19 March 2016

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 19.03.2016, 12:00

42 towns and cities from
Romania join global Earth Hour celebrations today. Earth Hour is the world’s
largest environmental event where people switch off their lights for one hour
in a symbolic gesture to raise awareness of climate change. The government
building, as well as the headquarters of ministries and public institutions in
Bucharest will also go dark for one hour. More than 7,000 towns and cities from
160 different countries around the world are taking part in Earth Hour this
year. The event has been celebrated in Romania since 2009, two years after it
started in Australia.

A passenger jet operated by the FlyDubai budget airline
crashed on Friday night in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing
all 55 passengers and 7 crew on board, the Russian authorities have announced.
The Boeing 737 aircraft coming from Dubai missed the runaway during its second
attempt to land amid high winds, rain and poor visibility.

At
least four people were killed and 36 others wounded today in a bomb attack in
central Istanbul. 12 foreign nations are among the wounded, according to the
Turkish health ministry. The attack targeted the biggest pedestrian and
shopping area on the city’s European side. Last Sunday, an attack in Ankara
claimed by a Kurdish militant group killed 37 people.

The former president of Romania Traian Basescu
confirmed on Friday that both he and his wife had applied for citizenship of
the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a majority Romanian-speaking
population. During his term in office, he said repeatedly that he would apply
for the Moldovan passport when his term was over out of love and respect for
the country and its people. His application is still being processed before
being approved by the Moldovan president Nicolae Timofti. Although the legal
deadline for a response to the application is one year, Traian Basescu’s
request may be processed sooner, given his special status, the Moldovan
president’s senior PR advisor Ana Samson told Radio Chisinau.

Andrei Marius Gag of Romania today won
the silver medal in the Shot Put at the World Indoor Championship in Portland,
the United States, the first medal for Romania in an indoor event in the last
12 years. Another Romanian athlete, Tiberiu Useriu today won the 6633 Arctic
Ultra race. He covered 566 km of ice road in one week, battling temperatures of
even minus 62 degrees Celsius. 12 competitors from around the world took part
in the race this year, including three Romanians. Since 2007, the race has
taken place in Canada in the Polar Circle area and is billed as the toughest
foot race in the world.

Romania’s rugby team face
Georgia today in Tbilisi in a match that will decide the winner of the European
Nations Cup. Romania have won all their four matches so far, against Portugal,
Spain, Russia and Germany. Last autumn, Romania, who are coached by Lynn
Howells, took part in the Rugby World Cup hosted by England, where they beat
Canada and lost to France, Ireland and Italy in the group stage.

The Romanian women’s handball today face Uruguay in
their second match at the Olympic qualification tournament in the Danish city
of Aarhus. Romania are one step closer to the Olympic Games in Rio following
their Friday win against host country Denmark. A bronze medallist at the World
Handball Championships last year, Romania face Montenegro on Sunday in their
final match. The two best-ranked teams out of the group’s four will qualify for
the Rio Games in August.

(Translated by: C. Mateescu)