August 2nd, 2016
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Newsroom, 02.08.2016, 12:00
The Royal House of Romania has today announced the detailed timetable for the funeral of Queen Ana, who passed away on Monday, aged 92, in a hospital in Switzerland. On Tuesday, August 9, the coffin will reach Romania and will first be brought to the Peles castle. The coffin will then be taken to the Hall of Throne at the Royal Place in Bucharest. The interment ceremony of Queen Ana is scheduled for August 13th in southern Romania’s Curtea de Arges, which is historically the interment site for the Kings of Romania. Also today three condolence books have been opened simultaneously, one at the Peles Castle in Central Romania and two other in Bucharest. The books will stay open for the public for 40 days. The Royal Family has announced a total mourning period for the first seven days since the interment and another 40-day period of mourning. In a message of condolence, President Klaus Iohannis has stated “Queen Ana was one of the most prominent icons of wisdom and dignity as well as a landmark of exemplary behavior”. The Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel as well as leading political and public figures have conveyed their condolence messages to the grieving family.
A code yellow alert for sweltering heat is still in place for areas in southern and south-eastern Romania. Temperature readings today stand at more than 37 degrees Celsius. Elsewhere across the country atmospheric instability prevails, with thunderstorms, heavy downpours and hailstorms reported for restricted areas. Weather forecast services have announced the atmospheric instability would also be reported for the night, again in south-eastern Romania. The noon reading in Bucharest stood at 28 degrees Celsius.
Romania’s football champion team Astra Giurgiu and vice-champion Steaua Bucharest tomorrow play their fixtures which are crucial for the Champions League’s third preliminary round. Astra travel to Denmark for their away game against FC Copenhagen, following the 1-all draw in the first leg. Steaua Bucharest take on Czech contenders Sparta Prague on home turf, following the 1-all draw away from home. We recall that in Europa League’s third preliminary round Pandurii Targu Jiu and Viitorul Constanta were severely beaten in the first leg of the tie, since on home ground Pandurii sustained a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, while Viitorul Constanta were trounced by Belgium’s Gent away from home, 5-nil. Another Romanian team CSMS Iasi was ousted from Europa League’s second preliminary round by Croatia’s Hajduk Split.
At the Memorial of the Holocaust Victims in Romania, a ceremony has been staged today, in commemoration of the Victims of the Holocaust of the Rroma population. At the Army Circle in Bucharest, the ceremony was followed by an overview of the Rroma population history in Romania. Attending the event staged by the National Agency for the Rroma Population were high-ranking officials of the Presidency, the Government and Non-governmental organizations. On August 2nd 1944, in the Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, nearly 3,000 Rroma people were killed.
Turkish Prime Minister Binaly Yildirim and deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtmulus for the first time have admitted to the errors that may have been made in the purges that ensued following the failed coup plot on July the 15th in Turkey. The two high-ranking officials gave assurances checking operations were ongoing in the case of those who were fired in the past two weeks. Victims of incorrect procedures may have been among the targeted people. Since the failed coup plot, roughly 60 thousand people have been arrested, suspended or made redundant. Army personnel has been the first to come under fire under the circumstances. They were followed by people in the administration, justice, education and mass media. Opposition parties have been adamant in stating the course of action in such circumstances was undemocratic and that Parliament should get involved in such decisions.
The National Bank of Romania reported 32.6 billion Euro in currency reserves in late July, up 930 million compared to the end of June. Last month, 1.1 billion Euro came in, accounting for the European Commission account, the change in the minimum mandatory reserves for credit lending institutions, Public Finance Ministry account income, and so on. Romanias gold reserve stays at 103.7 tons, evaluated at around 4 billion Euro.
Untold 2016, Romania’s greatest electro-dance music festival will be hosted by the central Romanian town of Cluj Napoca between August 4 and 7. Joining the world’ best DJs in the festival will be 150 international artists. Musicians are set to stun their fans with electronic music, live acts, dance&trance, house-techno or drum&bass. Heavy-duty names of the genre will be in Cluj, such as Faithless, Scooter, Parov Stelar, James Arthur. Joining them are the famous DJs Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Afrojack and Hardwell. At the 2015 edition of the European Festival Awards held in Groningen, the Netherlands, Untold was designated the Best major festival. The inaugural edition of the Untold festivals was held in 2015, over July 30 and August 2nd, also in the central Romanian town of Cluj Napoca.
