July 23, 2017
Romanian tennis player Irina Begu is playing the final of BRD Bucharest Open / The mountain resort of Sinaia, in southern Romania, is hosting a Summer School on the Romanian exile after the war
Newsroom, 23.07.2017, 13:44
Ukraine – French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss on Monday over the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the conflict in eastern Ukraine, France Press announced. This is one of a series of talks held by the four officials in the past three years, in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has made over 10 thousand victims. The ceasefire agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk did not end violence between the pro-Russian separatists and the government forces, with the two parties accusing each other of having broken the truce.
Border – Traffic through the Romanian border checkpoints increased in the first half of the year by 7% as against the same period last year, to 26.8 million people. According to the Romanian Border Police, 22.4 million were EU citizens. Also, around 7.5 million vehicles crossed the Romanian border in the first six months of 2017, the same number as last year.
Gulf crisis – Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is today starting a two-day visit to the Gulf in an effort to help resolve the dispute between Qatar and four other Arab states, namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The four states accuse authorities in Doha of financing extremist groups and of forging an alliance with Iran, the rival of the Arab states in the Gulf. Today Erdogan is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia for a meeting with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He will then depart for Kuwait and later Qatar. Turkey has stood by Qatar since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties and imposed air, sea and land blockade on Doha last month. Political analysts say that ever since the beginning of the crisis Turkey has been trying to play the role of a mediator, but its ambiguous position and its support for Qatar diminished its chances to succeed.
BRD Bucharest Open — Romanian tennis player Irina Camelia Begu, no. 58 in the world is today playing against German Julia Goerges, WTA’s 45th seed, in the final of the BRD Bucharest Open with 227 thousand dollars in prize money. Also today, Irina Begu will team up with another Romanian, Raluca Olaru, in the final of the women’s doubles, against the Belgian-Dutch team Elise Martens/Demis Schuurs.
Injured – 12 US soldiers who participated in a night parachute jump in the Swift Response 17 exercise at Campia Turzii Air Base were injured. They received emergency medical treatment and were transported to the Cluj-Napoca Military Hospital for further investigations. Most of the injuries suffered were caused during landing. Eleven of the injured soldiers have already been released from hospital.
Gold medal – The Romanian team made up of Vasile-Mihaita Tiganescu and Cosmin Pascari won the gold medal in men’s pair final at the 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Also, the team made up of Cristina-Georgiana Popescu, Alina Ligia Pop, Beatrice-Madalina Parfenie and Roxana Parascanu won silver at women’s four final of the same competition.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
