January 8, 2024
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Newsroom, 08.01.2024, 13:55
LAWS Parliament is due to
convene for a new session in Bucharest on February 1. Until then, the Romanian
MPs are working on a couple of new legislative initiatives focusing, among
other things, on regulating gambling activities and curbing drug consumption.
The new amendments include several measures such as the relocation of casinos
and betting houses outside towns and cities, limiting gambling commercials and
banning these commercials near schools, parks or hospitals. According to the
initiators of the aforementioned bills, some of them introduced as early as
2022, the amendments come against the background of the latest expert warnings
on the younger generation’s alarmingly growing addiction to gambling and drug consumption
as well as their vulnerability to various advertising campaigns in the field.
Drug trafficking is punishable with up to 10-year jail sentences. Other draft
laws include the measure of banning the minors’ access to energy drinks and
limiting commercials to vape products and accessories.
TENNIS Romanian tennis
player Ana Bogdan on Monday qualified for the round of sixteen of the WTA 500
tournament in Adelaide, Australia with over 900 thousand dollars in prize
money. The Romanian secured a 6-3, 6-4 win against Katie Boulter of Britain.
Also on Monday the all-Romanian pair Ana Bogdan/Monica Niculescu was defeated
by the US-Dutch pair Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs 7-6, 6-4 in the doubles first
round.
INVESTMENT
According to data released by the National Institute for Statistics, in the first
nine months of 2023, Romania’s construction sector reported over 74 billion lei
worth of investment, which accounts for 62.6% out of the total investment in
the country’s economy. In the aforementioned period, investment in Romania’s
national economy stood at roughly 118.5 billion lei, a 14.4% rise as compared
to the period between January and September 2022.
SCHOOL Students have today
resumed classes in the third module of the school year here in Romania. The
next students’ holiday is to be decided by county inspectorates and most likely
will kick off on February 19th. In another development, against the
background of a new wave of respiratory infections, medical authorities are
urging parents not to send their children to school if they show any symptom of
a respiratory disease.
WEATHER The weather
gets cooler and cooler in almost all the Romanian regions and even snowfalls have
been reported in the mountains and some eastern regions. The snow layer is
expected to reach over 15-20 centimeters in the country’s north-eastern regions.
Mixed precipitations have been reported in the center, south and south-east and
the wind will intensify in Romania’s eastern and south-eastern regions. The
highs of the day are ranging between -7 and + 7 degrees Celsius.
(bill)