January 4, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 04.01.2020, 18:37

VISIT Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis will be paying a working visit
to Bavaria, in southern Germany for talks with Markus Soder, Minister President
and leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. The Romanian president will
be attending a session of Bavaria’s government and will be having talks with
members of this institution on the bilateral relations and the latest European
developments. President Iohannis will also be meeting the CSU group in
Bundestag, where he is expected to present Romania’s vision on the future of
Europe. A member of the German community in Romania, Klaus Iohannis, backed by
the ruling National Liberal Party, is presently at his second term in office
after the landslide win in last year’s presidential election against his
opponent, the country’s former Social-Democratic Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila.

DUTY
Over 21 thousand employees of the Romanian Interior Ministry were on duty in
the first three days of this year to ensure citizen safety during the winter holidays, a
ministry report reads. According to the same sources, no major events were
reported at the 180 cultural-artistic events attended by almost 320 thousand
people on New Year’s Eve. Police intervened in 73 hundred cases involving
public order reported at the emergency number 112. Special attention was paid to preventing
serious accidents and to streamlining road traffic to the most popular tourist
resorts. Up to 1,500 road police were on duty on the most circulated
thoroughfares, with around 270 radar speed guns, to safeguard the lives of
drivers, passengers and pedestrians. A series of measures were implemented and
4 thousand border police were on duty at the country’s border checkpoints to
streamline traffic and ease the access of the foreign tourists who had chosen
Romania as a holiday destination and also of the Romanians who traveled abroad
for the winter holidays.

RECOMMENDATION The Foreign Ministry in Bucharest is recommending the Romanian
citizens to avoid traveling to Iraq unless necessary, given the latest
escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The Romanians already there are
advised to avoid crowded places, where meetings or demonstrations are taking
place. They should report their presence to the closest diplomatic mission or
consulate in order to be contacted in emergency situations. The controversial
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani killed in a US raid in Iraq on Friday was
buried on Saturday. The 62 year old general was considered the second in
importance after leader Ali Khamenei. US president Donald Trump said that
Soleimani’s killing was meant to stop a war not to start one, but according to
the BBC ‘the killing marked a major escalation in tensions between Iran and the
US’. Teheran has vowed revenge against
the US for killing the general.

BUSHFIRE Devastating bushfires in Australia have prompted the authorities to evacuate
tens of thousands. The hot weather and strong winds have intensified the
bushfires, which in some places have got out of control. Since early September
when the fire started around five
million hectares of land have burned, at least 19 people have been killed, and
more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed.

HANDBALL Romania’s national handball side is continuing its training campaign
for the qualification for the World Men’s Handball Championships in 2021 in
Egypt. Over January 10th and 12th the Romanians will be
playing Italy, Georgia and Kosovo. Selector Rares Fortuneanu, who is also
coaching French side Saint Raphael has voiced hope for Romania’s qualification for the final
tournament, the first with 32 sides attending. The Romanian women’s handball
side made it to the group stage of the Women’s World Handball Championship held
in Japan last month.

YO 35
athletes will be representing Romania at the 2020 Youth Olympics due in
Lausanne, Switzerland over January 9 and 22. According to a communiqué issued
by the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee the Romanian athletes will be
competing in several disciplines, such as biathlon, bob-sleigh, ice hockey,
speed skating, sledge, ski-jumping, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and
snowboarding. At the previous edition in Lillehammer, Norway, the first medals
in the history of Romania’s participation in such an event went to Eduard
Casaneanu, who walked away with gold from the ice-hockey event and Mihaela
Hogas, who won bronze in the speed skating race.

(translated by bill)