April 6, 2014 UPDATE
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news.
Corina Cristea, 06.04.2014, 12:10
NATO-On Sunday, Romania celebrated the North Atlantic Alliance Day by a series of events organised in all localities hosting military units and in theatres of operation where Romanian troops are being dispatched. Defence minister Mircea Dusa recalled that Romania had made special efforts to participate in international missions alongside its allies. In the last 20 years, since Bucharest signed the Partnership for Peace, over 40 thousand Romanian troops have been rotated on theatres of operation, and 26 lost their lives in the line of duty. Recently, on the 10th anniversary of Romania’s becoming a NATO member state, the Secretary General of the Alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO continues to be ready and fully committed to defending its members, in a period marked by challenges to security in the region.
PROTESTS-Protests against shale gas exploration and exploitation by hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking”, were staged on Sunday in 60 localities in Romania and abroad. According to a press release issued by green NGOs, the protesters called on the Romanian Parliament and Government to issue a law banning the use of hydraulic fracking in the process of exploring and exploiting hydrocarbons and to annul the government decisions endorsing the agreements on shale gas exploitation. Incidents between ecologists and gendarmes have been reported in recent months, in an area leased or licensed for exploration by the American company Chevron, in eastern Romania. Protesters claimed the hydraulic fracturing method pollutes underground water and produces small earthquakes. In exchange, Bucharest authorities say shale gas exploitation can contribute to Romania’s energy independence and suspect the protests are fuelled by certain interests.
GENEVA-The Grand Prize of the International Exhibition of Inventions, New Technologies and Products of Geneva was grabbed by a Swiss company for a technology created by a Romanian team of researchers. According to a communiqué issued by the Romanian Education Ministry, the so-called OnAirCamera technology was created as part of the East European Centre for Interdisciplinary Applied Research, led by Mircea Tudor, himself a winner of the Grand Prize of Geneva in 2009 and 2013, respectively. The aforementioned technology is destined for smart phone users and consists in a system of video cameras capable of watching the user’s moves in various situations, of recognizing and editing them, creating a personalised film which is almost instantaneously sent to the subscriber. Apart from this accomplishment, the Romanian researchers and inventors won 17 special prizes, 18 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 4 bronzes. All 30 inventions presented by Romania at the Geneva Exhibition have received prizes. Running in the competition have been 726 inventions from 45 countries.
VILNIUS-The Speaker of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Zgonea, is attending, until Tuesday, the proceedings of the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments, held in Vilnius. The agenda of the meeting organised by the Lithuanian Parliament includes plenary sessions devoted to: the role of parliaments in containing the effects of the economic and financial crisis, the 5th anniversary since the Lisbon Treaty took effect, assessing the observance of the principle of subsidiarity in Parliaments, inter-parliamentary cooperation with the Eastern Partnership member states, as well as inter-parliamentary cooperation in the domain of freedom, security and justice. The Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments is monitoring the coordination of inter-parliamentary activities at EU level.
TOKYO-US Defence Secretary, Chuck Hagel, has made public the United States’ intention to send two ships equipped with the Aegis antimissile system to Japan, to respond to the North-Korean threat. These ships will join the other five ships equipped with antimissile systems, which are already stationed in Japan, where the US has important bases and some 50,000 troops. The decision comes shortly after North Korea tested, in March, two medium range ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in Japan.
SPORTS– Romanian Florin Croitoru (56 kg category) on Saturday won two gold medals (snatch and total) at the European Weightlifting Championships, held in Tel Aviv, Israel. In the snatch event, Florin Croitoru was followed by Turkish Ismet Algul, Belgian Tom Goegebuer and Spanish Josue Brachi. In terms of the total number of lifted kilos, Florin Croitoru ranks first, being followed by Italian Mirco Scarantino and Armenian Smbat Margarian.
