April 25, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

România Internațional, 25.04.2022, 18:56

EASTER – Orthodox Christians, who are the majority in Romania, and Greek Catholics celebrated on Monday the second day of Easter. Easter is the most important holiday of the Christian world, celebrated along three days. On the second day of Easter, priests held the same mass as in the Resurrection Night and the Holy Liturgy. They were dressed in white and held the candle with which they had shared the Holy Fire to believers on the Easter Night. Everything this week stands under the sign of light, the symbol of Christ’s Resurrection. Believers greet each other with “Christ is risen!”

SLOVENIA – The Freedom Movement, an opposition liberal party, won Sundays parliamentary election in Slovenia in a major defeat for populist Prime Minister Janez Janša. The Freedom Movement won around 35% of the vote, while Janša’s Slovenian Democratic Party got by some 10% less. The Freedom Movement might form the next government in a coalition with smaller centre-left groups. A declared admirer of former US President Donald Trump and a friend of his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, Jansa, aged 63, has been frequently accused at home and in Brussels of authoritarian tendencies and attempts to subordinate the judiciary.

RESULTS — European leaders hailed the victory of Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election. The European Council President, Charles Michel said Europe can count on France for another five years. Together we will make France and Europe progress, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in turn. American, Canadian, British, German, Spanish and Italian leaders also congratulated Macron on his re-election. In Bucharest, President Klaus Iohannis said he wanted to further work with his French counterpart on the Romania-France Strategic Partnership to build a strong and united Europe and to consolidate NATO’s eastern flank.

STUDY — A recent European study shows that only one quarter of the patients infected with Covid-19 and hospitalized fully recover a year after discharge. Women and overweight people run the highest risk of long-term health problems, just like patients who used ventilators. ‘Long Covid’ has symptoms like fatigue, muscle ache, shortness of breath and insomnia. The study has been presented recently at the European Congress of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases in Lisbon. The data was collected from adult patients from 39 British hospitals, between March 2020 and April 2021.

TENNIS — The 20-year-old Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, who on Sunday won her fourth consecutive tournament and is has been undefeated since February, is number one in the world. Swiatek is followed by Spanish Paula Badosa and Czech Barbora Krejcikova. Romania has six players among the top 100 – Simona Halep (21), Sorana Cirstea (27), Gabriela Ruse (57), Irina Begu (62), Jaqueline Cristian (69) and Ana Bogdan (95). In women’s doubles, Romania has five players among the first 100, namely Monica Niculescu (42), Raluca Olaru (43), Irina-Camelia Begu (48), Irina Bara (64) and Gabriela Ruse (98).

CELEBRATION – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday conveyed a message on the occasion of the Land Forces Day. The Romanian Land Forces will continue to have a significant role in consolidating Romania’s strategic profile, including by taking part in international missions, Iohannis said. Having taken part, in the last 30 years, in numerous international missions in theatres of operations on various continents under NATO, UN and EU command, alongside military from the world’s most advanced armies, the Romanian Land Forces’ military, from soldiers to generals, have proven to be, through their results, the most valuable resource of this category of troops, Romanian Defence Minister, Vasile Dincu said. In turn, PM Nicolae Ciuca conveyed a congratulation message on the day when St. George, the protector of the Romanian land Forces is also celebrated.

HANDBALL – The Romanian national women’s handball team qualified on Sunday to the 2022 European Championship after defeating Austria 38-29 at home, in the last match of the 2nd group preliminaries. Cristina Neagu was the best player of the match, having scored 12 goals. Denmark is first in the group with 12 points, followed by Romania with 7, Austria with 5 and the Faeroe Islands. The first two ranked qualified to Euro 2022 held in November in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro. (EE)