29 June, 2015
News and Current Affairs
Newsroom, 29.06.2015, 11:59
European bank stock plunged today, the worst affected being Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Germany, after Greece restricted capital movement and kept banks closed for business, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. The financial crisis in Greece also affected stock markets in Asia, where the Euro fell against the dollar and the Japanese Yen. In Bucharest, the National Bank assured the public that Greek banks operating in Romania would not be affected, since national legislation imposes deposit insurance worth up to 100,000 Euro.
Liberal Dorin Chirtoaca won on Sunday the second round of elections in the race for the mayor’s office in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. With over 53% of votes, he defeated Socialist Zinaida Grechannyi, winning his thirds mayoral term. Chirtoaca’s victory could speed up negotiations carried out by Liberals with parties from the present ruling coalition, the Liberal Democrats and the Democrats, aiming to form a pro-Western majority.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry told Romanian tourists in Greece to keep cash on hand in case bankcards could not be used in that country. The ministry said that, in spite of assurance provided by the Greek authorities, there have been cases of card payments being turned down. The Romanian embassy in Athens and the consulate in Thessaloniki, together with the Foreign Ministry, are monitoring closely developments, including the impact on tourist services in the present economic context in Greece, the Foreign Ministry announced.
The Romanian Parliament meets in general session to set a calendar for hearings to confirm Mihai Razvan Ungureanu as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. He is proposed for the position by President Klaus Iohannis, and according to statements made by the major parties, Ungureanu is favored by the Liberals (leading party in the opposition), the Ethnic Hungarian Union, the Union for Romania’s Progress (minor ruling partner), and the national minority group, and does not meet with approval from the ruling Social Democrats. According to parliamentary procedures, Ungureanu will be heard by the Joint Foreign Intelligence Committee before getting a general vote. The committee’s role is consultative. According to Parliament sources, the vote comes tomorrow, on the day that the present Parliament session ends. Ungureanu has been head of foreign intelligence before, between 2007 and 2012, was foreign minister between 2004 and 2007, and acted as prime minister in the first half of 2012.
Five Romanian tennis players take the field in the first round of the grass court tournament in Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year. World number three and third favorite Simona Halep will play against Slovakian player Jana Celepova. Last year, Halep reached the semifinals in the tournament. Irina Begu, WTA nr. 29, will play in the first round against Russian player Daria Gavrilova, while WTA 46th seed Monica Niculescu debuts against Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, ranked 91st in the WTA standings. If Niculescu and Halep prevail, they will face off against each other in the second round. Also in the first round in Wimbledon, Alexandra Dulgheru, WTA nr. 59, plays Kristinja Mladenovic of France, 37th in the world, while Andreea Mitu, 70th seed, plays against 122nd seed Olga Govortsova of Belarus. In the men’s doubles, the pair Horia Tecau- Jean-Julien Rojer is fourth favorite, and plays in the first round against Slovak Martin Klizan and Czech Lukas Rosol. The couple Florin Mergea of Romania/ Rohan Bopanna of India is ninth seeded, and will play in this round against the pair Tim Smyczek of the US and Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
The Tunisian tourist authorities announced that, starting on July 1, the tourist police would be bolstered by 1,000 armed security guards to protect tourist objectives. This is the first time that the tourist police gets to carry weapons, according to authorities. At least 30 British tourists were killed on Friday in the bloodiest attack in the recent history of the country, when a young Tunisian opened fire on a hotel beach close to the resort of Sousse, 140 km south of the capital, leaving 38 people dead. The attack was claimed by the so-called Islamic State.
In Vienna, negotiations between Iran and western powers are back on track. According to AFP, the latter want to make sure that the Iranian nuclear program stays civilian for as long as possible, in exchange for lifting sanctions. State Secretary John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, have already had two rounds of talks in Vienna. The negotiations, which started 20 months ago, were scheduled to end on Tuesday, 30 June, but the foreign ministers of the 5+1 group, USA, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany, will continue meeting over the next few days in an attempt to reach a settlement.
