January 27, 2019 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 27.01.2019, 19:18

WEATHER In the next 24 hours, the weather will be
getting warmer in most of the Romanian regions, which will remain under an
overcast sky though. Brief showers are expected in the country’s west and
south-west, whereas gale-force winds are to be seen only in the country’s
mountainous regions. Temperatures are to range between -1 and 9 degrees
Celsius. Firefighters have been deployed to Bucharest and to 18 counties across
Romania to remove the effects of the extreme weather that has recently affected
the country. According to sources with the Ministry of Energy, 150 thousand
consumers have been affected by the power outages caused by the bad weather,
which has reportedly damaged 250 vehicles. The bad weather has also affected
road, rail and air traffic, and 12 thousand policemen, firefighters and
gendarmes have been deployed to assist the population.

HOLOCAUST In a message conveyed on Sunday, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis reiterated Romania’s
commitment to fighting Antisemitism and xenophobia. The Romanian government
also paid homage to the Holocaust victims reiterating its commitment to
fighting Antisemitism. As holder of the EU rotating presidency, Romania has the
cohesion of common values as its objective, while promoting effective measures
against racism, intolerance, xenophobia, populism, Antisemitism and
discouraging hate speech are some of the central themes of boosting solidarity
and cohesion inside the Union. In turn, the Romanian Foreign Ministry paid homage
to the Holocaust victims all over the world voicing solidarity with survivors
of WWll events. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is being marked
today at the Romanian Cultural Center through a premiere screening entitled Who will write our history directed by Roberta Grossman. The film, which
tells the story of a Jewish faction that fought the Nazis back in the time of
WWll, was also to be screened at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and at the
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles
as well as in over 400 movie theatres, synagogues, churches, universities,
museums and community centers worldwide.

FLU
The Health Ministry in Bucharest is to decide this week whether to declare a
flu epidemic against the increasing number of infections and deaths. The death
toll of the latest flu wave that hit Romania presently stands at 39, all of the
victims being unvaccinated. The number of victims is much higher than last year
when only four people died of flu. Field minister Sorina Pintea has called on
the National Public Health Ministry to make public the situation at national
level on Tuesday adding that if data confirms a third week with an increasing
number of infections, an epidemic will be declared. Doctors are urging people
to get vaccinated and go see their GPs in the event of any flu-related
symptoms.

EU Expanding
high-speed Internet networks in the EU countries and setting up research
centers in the field of cyber security are two of the most important European
projects in the digital field whose progress Romania must foster during its
mandate at the helm of the European Union, the country’s communications
minister, Alexandru Petrescu, announced on Sunday. Petrescu added that Romania
had already achieved some success at the beginning of this mandate with an
agreement that it concluded with the European Parliament over a future
directive allowing for the access of private companies to data in the public
sector. In his opinion the move is going to have a positive impact over the
small developers of digital apps and will eventually benefit all the European
citizens.

REJECTION Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro on Sunday rejected the
ultimatum given by several European countries to call elections within 8 days
adding the opposition leader Juan Guaido had violated the county’s constitution
when he proclaimed himself president, AFP and Reuters report. On Saturday,
Madrid, Paris, Berlin, London, Lisbon and Brussels gave Maduro eight days to
call election, otherwise these countries would recognize Juan Guaido, head of
the opposition National Assembly, as president of Venezuela. The ultimatum has
been described as absurd by Russia, while Turkish president Recep Erdogan
voiced support for Maduro in a phone call on Thursday. The USA, Canada, most
countries in South America and many European countries denounced Maduro’s
second electoral win in May as fraudulent.

(translated by bill)