July 26, 2023

A round up of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 26.07.2023, 13:55

Weather. Scorching heat has again been announced by meteorologists in Romania. A code red warning for high temperatures was issued this morning for Bucharest and several counties in the south. The warnings have been extended also for the south-east of the country, where temperatures will exceed 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon, with a temperature-humidity index above the critical threshold of 80 units. Because of the heat on Tuesday, several trains were delayed and road traffic for large cars was restricted. On the other hand, the west, north and center of the country were hit by violent storms that caused significant material damage.

Protest. Construction workers have today protested in front of the Bucharest government headquarters against the executives intention to eliminate the tax benefits granted to employees in this sector. The President of the National Trade Union Bloc, Dumitru Costin, says that the amendments to the Fiscal Code, proposed by the government, would affect not only the construction sector, but also other categories of employees. The Trade Union Federation Familia and the NTUB have come up with a package of measures to prevent the effects of the elimination of fiscal facilities starting September 1, 2023, including the negotiation and conclusion of a collective agreement at sector level and the gradual elimination of the fiscal facilities, by observing the calendar established under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. They also propose the adjustment of financial allocations for investments financed by the state or from European funds, as well as the drawing up of a wage policy for the sector for the coming years, meant to rebalance salaries, especially in the private sector.

Moldova. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Nicu Popescu, has requested the limitation of the number of Russian diplomats accredited to Chisinau. According to Radio Chisinau, the minister motivated his request by stressing that the Republic of Moldova has been the target of Moscows hostile policies for several years and that some of them have been carried out through the Russian Embassy. We recall that the ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova, Oleg Vasnetsov, was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chisinau to give explanations, after a journalistic investigation showed that the Russian diplomatic mission had installed high-performance spying and interception equipment. The Chisinau press talks about 28 parabolic antennas, masts and transmission and reception devices, and people associated with the Russian intelligence services have been seen on the buildings.

Aid. The United States has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine, to help it in the war with Russia. According to a statement from the Pentagon, the new tranche includes ammunition for Patriot and NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems, ammunition for HIMARS multiple missile launchers, Hornet drones, mortar shells, Hydra air-to-ground missiles, armored vehicles, anti-tank missiles and other equipment taken from the US military stocks. This aid is meant to help Ukraine get back the territories occupied by Russian troops, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Since February 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine and seized some of its territories, Washington has offered Kyiv dozens of military assistance packages, exciding the amount of 43 billion dollars.

Agriculture. The Romanian Minister of Agriculture, Florin-Ionuţ Barbu, proposed at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AgriFish) in Brussels the extension in 2024 of the exemption for all European farmers from the implementation of the requirements regarding crop rotation, respectively the one regarding the minimum percentage of the agricultural area dedicated to non-productive areas or features. According to a press release from the ministry, Romanias proposal enjoyed the support of several member states, considering the prolongation of the war in Ukraine. Regarding the use of pesticides, Florin-Ionuţ Barbu stated that Romania is one of the member states that uses one of the lowest amounts of active substance per hectare compared to the European average. On the sidelines of the Council, the official, together with his counterparts from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, had a meeting with the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Janusz Wojciechowski, to support the extension of EU preventive measures on imports of wheat, corn, rape and sunflower seeds originating in Ukraine until the end of the year. We recall that last week, in Warsaw, the five officials signed a joint statement regarding the need to extend the EU preventive measures on these imports.

Football. The Romanian football team FCSB (Bucharest) meets, today, in Sofia, the Bulgarian ŢSKA 1948 in the first leg of the 2nd preliminary round of the Europa Conference League. The two teams meet for the first time, and the second leg will take place on August 3, in Bucharest. The team that qualifies will meet Nordsjaelland, the vice-champion from Denmark, in the third preliminary round of the Conference League. The Romanian vice-champion returns to the Conference League after last year it managed to reach the group stage, and has also scored two successes after the first two matches of the championship, 3-1 against FCU Craiova and 2-1 against Dinamo Bucharest.

Swimming. Romanian swimmer David Popovici (18 years old) has qualified for the semifinals of the 100 m freestyle event of the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka (Japan), after he came in sixth in the series that took place on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he ranked fourth in the 200m freestyle final. Reigning world champion in the 100 and 200 m freestyle, Popovici started from lane four and dominated the first three lengths of the pool (150 m), but in the last 50 meters he inexplicably lost speed and ranked only fourth, with a time of 1min 44 sec 90/100. (MI)