August 5, 2018 UPDATE
Click here for a round-up of domestic and international news
Bogdan Matei, 05.08.2018, 18:58
ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENCY – The Romanian Justice Ministry on Monday starts a new selection procedure for the position of head of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate. It will unfold until September 6, when the results are made public. The procedure started in July hasnt been finalised, because all four candidacies have been rejected by the justice minister, Tudorel Toader. The position of chief prosecutor became vacant last month, when president Klaus Iohannis revoked Laura Codruta Kovesi, being compelled to make this decision following a ruling issued by the Constitutional Court. Since then, the interim head of the anti-corruption agency has been prosecutor Anca Jurma, a former counsellor of Laura Codruta Kovesi.
ELLIE WIESEL – The Romanian Foreign Ministry expresses regret and firmly condemns any anti-Semitic gestures, after the Memorial House of the late Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, was vandalised. Also, the Romanian Foreign Ministry condemns any behavioural slippage and discourse which promotes intolerance and xenophobia. The Romanian Police has started an investigation, after anti-Semitic comments in pink paint were scrawled on the facade of the “Elie Wiesel Memorial House in Sighetu Marmaţiei, on Friday to Saturday night. In 2016, the Romanian born American writer and philosopher Elie Wiesel received the distinction of Honorary Citizen (post – mortem) of Maramureş County.
BREXIT- British trade minister Liam Fox said intransigence from the European Union was pushing Britain towards a no-deal Brexit, in an interview published Saturday by the Sunday Times.
“With less than eight months until Britain quits the EU, the government has yet to agree a deal with Brussels and has stepped up planning for the possibility of leaving the bloc without any formal agreement, Reuters reports. “Fox, promising Brexit supporter in Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet, put the odds of Britain leaving the European Union without agreeing to deal over their future relationship at 60-40. If Britain fails to agree on the terms of its divorce with the EU, it will return to trade under the World Trade Organization rules in March 2019 without even a transitional arrangement. Most economists think this would cause serious harm to the world’s No.5 economy, as trade with the EU, Britain’s largest market, would become subject to
tariffs, Reuters also reports.
SCORCHER– Over 1,000 fire-fighters are making sustained efforts to put out wildfires in Portugal and Spain, where temperatures exceed 46 degrees Celsius. The Iberian peninsula is under code red alert. The Portuguese region of Algarve, well known for its beautiful beaches, as of Friday has been affected by wildfires, the most powerful on the peninsula. The current wave of high temperatures favours the spreading of fire. In Spain, over 1,000 people had to flee their homes and travel destinations in Marbella, because of the high risk posed by wildfires. Other countries are also affected by scorcher. Traffic has been temporarily halted on the highway linking France and Spain, in the region of Jonquera, in the Pyrenees, after a fire which broke out on the French-Spanish border. In the Netherlands, several highway segments have been closed because of high temperatures and in France, four nuclear reactors have been halted for safety reasons.
SWINE FEVER – Two new African swine fever hotbeds have been confirmed in Galati county, south-eastern Romania. Meanwhile, two pig farms in Tulcea, the most affected county, have been taken out of quarantine, after the test results were negative, and the approximately 4,000 pigs there can be used for consumption. Some 60,000 animals have been slaughtered in Tulcea county alone, in an effort to contain the spread of the epidemic. Nationwide, some 550 African swine fever hotbeds have been confirmed so far, in some 100 small towns and villages in 8 counties. In south-eastern Romania, the swine fever is spreading at a very fast pace, experts from the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority have warned. African swine fever is not transmittable to humans, but it has a huge social and economic impact. The epidemic has had an explosive evolution since its outbreak, in early June.
KABUL- NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan on Sunday announced that three of its soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan. A US military and two Afghan soldiers were also injured in the attack. Afghan officials announced the blast occurred in the region of Parwan and said the suicide bomber targeted foreign forces on a patrol mission. The attack has been claimed by the Taliban, who fight for the reintroduction of the strict Islamic law in Afghanistan after they were removed from power in 2001.
SPORTS – On Sunday Romania got a silver medal, won by the mens pair and a bronze medal by the mens eight, at the European Championships in Glasgow, Great Britain. On Saturday the Romanians won three gold medals, by the womens eight, the mens four and the mens pair, a sliver medal by the womens four and a bronze medal by the mens pair. Romanian rowers are topping the medals table at the European Championships. Also in Glasgow, Denisa Golgota, the only Romanian gymnast competing in the seniors apparatus pieces finals at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships, got a bronze medal in the vault event.
