April 4, 2016
For a roundup of domestic and international events, click here.
România Internațional, 04.04.2016, 12:00
ROMANIAN ACADEMY — The Romanian Academy today celebrates 150 years of existence. A solemn ceremony marked the event, bringing together representatives of the authorities, foreign guests, presidents of European academies, men of culture and Romanian scholars, members of the Romanian academy and contributors from across the country and abroad. Founded in 1866 under the name of the Romanian Literary Society, the institution was later known as the Romanian Academic Society, quickly growing into a landmark of Romanian culture and science. In 1879 the institution changed its name again into the Romanian Academy. Its members include renowned scholars of national and international status in a plethora of fields, from history, philosophy and linguistics to nuclear physics, chemistry, macro- and micro-biology. At present the Academy comprises 84 tenure members, 76 contributors, 45 honorary members, of whom six from abroad.
MOTION — The Chamber of Deputies is today debating the first simple motion against the technocratic Cabinet led by Dacian Ciolos, filed by the Group of Conservatives and Liberals from Romania and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians from Romania. The two parties accuse Justice Minister Raluca Pruna that her ordinance on wiretapping in criminal proceedings puts human rights up for debate, instead of fundamentally observing them. While the Liberals dismissed the initiative as ‘hilarious’, the Social-Democrats said they would neither support nor file simple motions, although calling for a Cabinet reshuffle.
PROTEST — Part of the family physicians in Romania continue today the strike action started last week. They will not issue prescriptions and referrals, as they did on Friday. The protest concerns the delays in signing the framework agreement for 2016 and the lack of funding for general practitioners. Doctors threaten to call a warning strike over the following days unless their demands are met.
PANAMA PAPERS — Heads of state and high-ranking officials from all over the world, billionaires, renowned athletes and businessmen, including from Romania, as well as infamous criminal networks all transpire in a huge leak of confidential documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how the company manages the estates of the world’s richest and most famous people in offshore accounts. According to the BBC, the documents were investigated by journalists from 70 countries, and seem to be the hugest information leak on global corruption. The documents mention such names as the Prime Minister of Iceland, the President of Ukraine, the King of Saudi Arabia, close associates of the Russian and Chinese presidents, or current and former professional athletes, such as Michel Platini and Lionel Messi.
IMMIGRANTS — Hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, are today being shipped back to Turkey from Lesbos and Chios islands in Greece, FRONTEX reports. This is the first such shipment of illegal migrants being deported to Turkey, based on the readmission agreement Turkey signed with the EU on March 18. The provisions of the agreement apply to all illegal migrants arrived in Turkey via Greece starting March 20. France Press news agency estimates some 6,000 people will be shipped back. Under the agreement, for every Syrian citizens deported to Turkey via the Greek Islands, another Syrian will be resettled in the EU. The first Syrian asylum-seekers arrived in Germany today.
CLASHES — Violent clashes continue between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan with a majority Armenian population. The conflict is high on the agenda of next week’s meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France. Fighting between the two sides over the region started in 1988 and ended in 1994, killing over 30,000 people in the process and displacing hundreds of thousands of Azeri refugees.
WATER POLO — The Romanian men’s water polo team is today playing France as part of the pre-Olympic tournament in Trieste, Italy. On Sunday, in its debut match, Romania defeated Slovakia 13-11. Also playing in Group A are Canada, Russia and Hungary. The first four teams in the group tables will qualify to the quarterfinals, while the semi-finalists will qualify to the Rio Olympics.
SPORTS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep dropped one place in WTA standings, now ranking 6th. She was outranked by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who last week won the tennis tournament in Miami, the US. Halep was knocked out in the quarterfinals, losing to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. In news from handball, the women’s team Corona Brasov lost to TuS Metzingen of Germany 22-26 on home turf, in the first leg of the EHF Cup semi-finals. The return leg will be played on April 9 in Germany.
(Translated by V. Palcu)
