April 15, 2017
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 15.04.2017, 14:04
HOLY SATURDAY – Today is Holy Saturday for Christians around the world, including in Romania, a country with a predominantly Orthodox population. The Holy Light mass is being held in Jerusalem, a unique Orthodox ritual, during which the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem enters the Holy Tomb with 33 candles, which are lit by the holy light. Then the Patriarch exists the tomb and gives light to the believers in the church. A delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church will bring the light to the country tonight, on a special plane. At midnight, Orthodox and Catholic believers will celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. In his Easter message, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church Daniel calls on Romanians to promote peace and joy, to help the sick, the orphans, the poor and all those who feel alone and sad.
EASTER – 75% of the Romanians say that they usually spend the Easter holidays at home. For this years Easter they have allocated some 110 Euro for food, according to a survey conducted by the Romanian Evaluation and Strategy Institute, published on Friday. 83% of the interviewees say they normally attend the Resurrection mass. Also, according to 92% of the respondents, traditional celebrations are important or very important. Two thirds of them say that there are Easter customs specific to the area they live in, the most common of which are church going (31%), egg painting (20%) and sacrificing lambs (7%). The research was conducted on a sample of 1.084 people, aged over 18.
BORDER TRAFFIC – Some 1.4 million people have crossed the Romanian borders this week, ahead of the Easter celebrations. The border police has reported that, on average, 175,000 people crossed the border checkpoints every day, which is 40% more than usual. The traffic is no longer that heavy as it has been until recently, due to the enforcement of a new European regulation that tightens control on the borders of the Schengen area and of the EU and ahead of the Easter holidays, when lots of Romanians that work abroad have returned home to spend Easter with their families.
CORRUPTION – The former Romanian deputy Sebastian Ghita will remain in police custody in Serbia for two months, as a preventive measure until extradition formalities are ready. Ghita was spotted and detained by the Serbian police in Belgrade on Thursday night, after four months since his disappearance. When asked to show his IDs, he presented a false document allegedly issued by an EU state. Sebastian Ghita went missing on December 21st 2016 and a national warrant was issued on his name, for breaking the terms of the judicial restrictions imposed on him pending trial. On January 10th a European search warrant was issued on his name and he was also put on the Interpol list. Ghita is being tried in two cases of corruption and prosecuted in another two.
MEASLES – 700 new cases of measles have been reported in the past week in Romania. Authorities have warned that the most exposed to getting sick are those who have not been vaccinated. Since the start of the epidemics in September last year, 21 people have died, and the number of the sick has risen to 4800. In order to prevent the measles from spreading even further, authorities continue the vaccination of children aged 9 months to 9 years.
REFERENDUM – Today is the last day of the campaign for the referendum on changing the Turkish Constitution, as a result of which the executive powers of the President would grow significantly. According to the BBC, amending the Constitution is something that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has wished for a long time. Those who oppose this move are afraid that too much power will be thus placed in the hands of just one person. One day before the referendum, the Turkish population is divided. Two opinion polls show that 50-51% will probably say YES at the referendum. Reuters reports that the voting on April 16th will decide on the biggest change in Turkeys governing system since the establishment of the modern republic, a century ago, as the parliamentary system might be replaced by an executive presidency.
BASEBALL – The Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta is today playing host to a unique event, a baseball game between the US soldiers from the Mihail Kogalniceanu base and Romanias national team. Baseball has been played in Romania for 27 years and this year it has been declared an Olympic sport. This match marks 70 years since the first African American athlete was accepted as member of the Major League Baseball. Thus Jackie Robinson became a symbol of equality, justice and fairplay. According to the Adviser for press and culture with the US Embassy in Bucharest Ronald Hawkins Jr, the audience will enjoy a typically American celebration atmosphere, with lots of refreshments, music, joy and many surprises.
HANDBALL – Romanias womens handball champion CSM Bucharest is today taking on the Hungarian side Ferencvaros, in a decisive match for the qualification into the final four of the most important European competition. In the first match, the Romanian squad defeated the Hungarian squad 30-25. in 2016, CSM Bucharest won the Champions League playing the final against another Hungarian team, Gyor.
