February 26, 2018

Bitter cold weather sweeps Romania; Foreign Minister Melescanu meets EU counterparts in Brussels

Ştefan Stoica, 26.02.2018, 14:32

WEATHER — Bucharest and 27 counties, mostly in the east and south of Romania, are under extreme cold weather warning until March 1st. In these areas, low temperatures will be around the record lows registered in previous years. Maximums will frequently fluctuate between -12 and -8 degrees Celsius, with minimums of -22 and -12 degrees. Thousands of intervention workers have been mobilized in case of emergencies. Traffic has been cut off by snow on two national motorway in the south, and three Black Sea ports have been shut down by strong winds. School is out on Monday and Tuesday in most of the country. On Monday, temperatures range between -20 and -5 degrees Celsius, with maximums between -12 and -2 degrees. The noon reading in Bucharest was -8 degrees.

BRUSSELS – Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu takes part in Brussels on Monday in the monthly meeting of the EUs Foreign Affairs Council, to discuss with his counterparts the situation in the Republic of Moldova, the crisis in Venezuela, and the Middle East peace process. On this occasion, Romania and France are holding a new meeting of the Group for the European Action of the Republic of Moldova, attended by Moldovan Foreign Minister Tudor Ulyanovsky. On Tuesday, Romanian PM Viorica Dancila goes to Moldova to discuss with her counterpart Pavel Filip the bolstering of cooperation between the two states.

TEL AVIV — Romanian Defense Minister Mihai Fifor goes on a three day official visit to Israel, invited by his counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman. The main points on the agenda are defense cooperation and the security situation worldwide. According to Radio Romanias correspondent to Israel, the Romanian delegation meets first the chairman of the defense and foreign policy in the Knesset, Avi Dicther, then pays a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. This year, Romania and Israel celebrate 70 years of continuous diplomatic relations.

EUROVISION — Music band The Humans, with their song Goodbye, will represent Romania at the Eurovision 2018 finals, in Lisbon, Portugal. Eurovision, which has been broadcast continuously for 60 years, is one of the longest lived and most popular television programs in the world. Romanias best performance was getting the third place in the world twice, and the fourth once.

TENNIS — Romanian tennis player Simona Halep is back at the top of the WTA standings, published yesterday, after five weeks of being second to Danish player Caroline Wozniacki. The latter replaced her after winning the finals in the Australian Open. Halep held the first place in the world between October 2017 and January 2018. Five other Romanians are in the top 100 in the world. Sorana Carstea is up one place, to 35th, Irina Begu went up two notches, to 36th, and Mihaela Buzarnescu went up one place, to 38th. Monica Niculescu went down three places to 72nd, and Ana Bogdan climbed one step, to 86th.

HANDBALL — Romanian womens handball champions, CSM Bucharest, plays on Monday in an away game Hungarian team Gyor in the main group of the Champions League. In the first leg, in Bucharest, CSM prevailed 28-22. Romania is in the lead of the group, followed by Russian champions Rostov-on-Don, and by Hungarian champions Gyor. The Romanians have qualified for the quarter finals, but are aiming to gain a high ranking in order to meet a weaker adversary in the elimination stage. In 2016, in its debut at the competition, CSM won the League, while Gyor are last years champions.

JUSTICE — The High Court of Cassation and Justice in Bucharest rules on Monday on a request from the National Anti-Corruption Directorate to re-open an investigation which may involve Social Democratic Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu. Judicial sources claim that the case started from a memo issued by the Court of Accounts regarding embezzlement involving the county council of Old county, which Stanescu was head of between 2008 and 2016, with the fraudulently obtained funds allegedly being used to finance a soccer team. The official said he would resign if he is indicted in this case.