27 May 2016

A meeting of the countrys Supreme Defence Council chaired by president Klaus Iohannis is held today in Bucharest.

Newsroom, 27.05.2016, 12:00

A meeting of
Romania’s Supreme Defence Council chaired by president Klaus Iohannis is held
today in Bucharest. According to the president’s office, talks will focus
on the 2015 activity and the objectives for 2016 of the Romanian Intelligence
Service, as well as on Romania’s military strategy. Other topics on the agenda
are the preparation of the NATO summit in Warsaw in July and the situation in
the healthcare sector.

On a trip to the
Japanese city of Hiroshima, US president Barack Obama today called for a world
without nuclear weapons, 71 years since the first nuclear attack in history. He
is the first American acting president to visit the city. Obama laid a wreath
at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park as part of a short ceremony attended by
the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and survivors of the nuclear attack. On
the 6th of August 1945, the American army dropped the world’s first
atomic bomb on Hiroshima. 70,000 people were killed on the spot and a further
140,000 died by the end of the year because of burns, injuries and radiation.

To celebrate the
25th anniversary of Romania’s membership of the International
Organisation of the Francophonie in 2018, Bucharest would like to host a
francophone economic forum for Central and Eastern Europe that year, said the
Romanian foreign minister Lazar Comanescu after talks with the Secretary
General of the Francophonie Michaëlle Jean, who is on a visit to Romania. The
two officials talked about the launch of the first regional plan of the
International Organisation of the Francophonie for Central and Eastern Europe
targeted mainly at the younger population. The project focuses on the economy,
sustainable development, IT and communication technology and gender equality.

The former senator, interior minister, government
secretary general and presidential advisor Gabriel Berca has been convicted to
three years in prison for trafficking in influence. Faced with similar charges
as part of the same case, the former MP Mihai Banu was convicted to three and a
half years in prison. The two were indicted in August 2015 and have been in
preventive detention and house arrest for 5 months.

The 15th
Transylvania International Film Festival gets under way today in Cluj Napoca
with the world premiere of the Romanian production 6.9 on the Richter Scale
by Nae Caranfil. 248 titles, including 216 feature films and 32 short films,
are being screened at the festival, which comes to an end on the 5th
of June. The festival also hosts the Romanian premiere of the production Dogs,
which won the Critics Award in Cannes. The festival’s guest of honour this year
is the Italian actress Sophia Loren, who travels to Romania for the first time
to pick up a lifetime achievement award.

The Romanian
boxer Lucian Bute has failed a drug test after a fight with Sweden’s Badou Jack
in Washington on the 30th of April that ended in a draw. Bute tested
positive for ostarine, a substance whose effects are similar to that of
anabolic steroids and which has been banned since January 2008. If found
guilty, Bute will lose his 500,000 dollar reward and faces a minimum suspension
of two years. 36-year-old Bute was IBF world champion from 2007 to 2012, when
he defended his title nine times. His record in professional boxing includes 32
wins, 25 of which by KO, one draw and three defeats. He is the sixth Romanian
athlete to fail a drug test this year, after rower Liviu Dumitrescu, runner
Mirela Lavric, high jumper Mihai Donisan, race walker Claudia Stef and
biathlete Eva Tofalvi.

Two Romanians are in the fourth round at
Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. in the women’s singles, world no. 6 Simona
Halep defeated the Japanese player Naomi Osaka, while Irina Begu defeated
Germany’s Annika Beck. (Translated by: C. Mateescu)