August 14, 2022

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 14.08.2022, 13:50

Navy Day. Today, the
Romanian Naval Forces are marking a day of gratitude in memory of the seafaring
heroes who lost their lives in the service of the country. On August 15, the
Naval Forces will celebrate Navy Day with events staged in Romania’s river and
Black Sea ports. President Klaus Iohannis will also participate in the
festivities in Constanţa (port on the Black Sea), and will give a speech at the
official ceremony. He will also visit the training ship Mircea,
recently returned from an international training march. In Port Tomis, the
activities organized on Navy Day include exhibitions of military equipment, and
ship enthusiasts can virtually witness a naval battle in a specially arranged
space.

Firefighting. 36 Romanian
firefighters, using special extinguishing vehicles and a large-capacity tanker,
continue extinguishing the wildfires near the city of Bordeaux, in the
southwest of France. According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency
Situations, the firefighters are working in extreme conditions: high
temperatures, low humidity and strong winds. Their mission is to limit the
spread of the fire to the homes in the area and to extinguish hidden outbreaks.
Romania supports the French authorities in the fight against wildfires with a
team made up of 77 firefighters and several specific pieces of equipment. France,
like other European countries, is facing successive heat waves and an
unprecedented drought.

Rushdie. Writer Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed on
Friday, during a literary event in the state of New York, remains in the
hospital, but no longer requires artificial ventilation. Writers around the
world expressed their joy that Rushdie could finally speak, and President Joe
Biden joined international voices in condemning the attack, and hailing Sir
Salman for promoting universal ideas. Authorities have not made public the
reason given by the man who stabbed the writer. The attacker, aged 24, was born
in California to immigrant parents from southern Lebanon. One of his social
media accounts shows that he is a sympathizer of extremist Shiite groups and the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but it is not clear if he has any ties to
them. In the Muslim community, Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses
sparked numerous controversies, due to what many Muslims considered to be
blasphemy. The novel was banned in India, was burned at some demonstrations in
the United Kingdom, and triggered violent riots in Pakistan. In February 1989
the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a kind of decree, a
fatwa, calling on all good Muslims to kill Rushdie or help assassinate him and
his editors.

Anonimul. The film 107
Mothers (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine), directed by Peter Kerekes, won
the Anonimul 2022 trophy. The film tells the true story of mothers in a women’s
prison in Odessa (Ukraine). The feature film won, at the Venice Film Festival
2021, the prize of the Orizzonti section for the best screenplay and was
included in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition of the San Sebastian Film
Festival. Fragmentări (Fragmentations) by Miruna Minculescu was
designated the best Romanian short reel, and the award for the best foreign
short film went to Fantasma Neon (Brazil), by Leonardo Martinelli.
Aurică, a dog’s life, directed by Mihai Dragolea, is the short film
to which the Anonimul Foundation awarded the Ovidiu Bose Paştină Award. 12
films participated in the Romanian short film competition, and 10 in the
international short film competition. The 19th edition of the Anonimul International
Independent Film Festival took place between August 8 and 14, in Sfântu
Gheorghe (Danube Delta).

Rasnov. Two special
screenings and 12 international documentaries, from 11 countries, will be
presented at the 14th edition of the Râşnov Film and History Festival (central
Romania), which takes place from August 14 to September 4. The selection of
documentaries includes films from Chile, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Romania,
France, Australia, USA, Belgium, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. According
to the organizers, theme of the festival this year is focused around the idea
of ​​borders, a concept that aims to bring answers to multiple questions and
challenges related to individual and creative freedoms that today’s society
faces.

World record. The Romanian
swimmer David Popovici on Saturday set a new 100 meter freestyle world record at
the European Aquatics Championships in Rome. The 17-year-old athlete, already a
double world champion, broke by half a tenth of a second the previous record,
set 13 years ago, by the Brazilian Cesar Cielo, finishing the race after 46
seconds and 86 hundredths, and winning the gold medal. David Popovici says his
goal now is to get under 45 in the 100m freestyle. Today, David Popovici has qualified
for the semifinals of the 200 m freestyle event.

Rowing. Romanian athlete
Ionela Cozmiuc won the gold medal in the lightweight single sculls event at the
European Rowing Championships in Munich. It is the seventh medal won by the
Romanian delegation in Munich, which got four gold and three bronze medals. At
last year’s European Rowing Championships, in Varese (Italy), Romanian rowers
won six medals, two gold and four silver.

Tennis. The Romanian
tennis player Simona Halep is playing today with Beatriz Haddad Maia the final of the WTA 1,000
tournament in Toronto, with 2,527,250 dollars in prize money, after the
Brazilian defeated Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic), 6-4, 7-6 in Saturday’s
second semifinal. Simona Halep defeated the American Jessica Pegula, 2-6, 6-3
6-4 and qualified for the final. Following this success, the former world
leader, seed number 15, will return to the world top 10, according to the WTA website.
For Simona Halep it is the fourth final at the Canadian Open, of which she won
two. (MI)