July 28, 2015 UPDATE

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Roxana Vasile, 28.07.2015, 12:30

Parliament in
the Republic of Moldova, an ex-soviet country with a Romanian-speaking
majority, is to convene in a plenary session on Thursday to cast their vote on
the cabinet of designated Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet, sources in Chisinau
announced on Tuesday. Strelet has been designated Prime Minister after the
latest round of talks president Nicolae Timofti has had with representatives of
the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, which
have recently merged into a majority coalition in Parliament in Chisinau.
Social measures for citizens affected by rising prices in gas and electricity
as well resuming relations with development partners, the IMF, the EU and the
US Agency for International Development are among the new Prime Minister’s main
goals.

Weather forecast
services in Romania have warned that in the next couple of days, temperature
readings standing at 40 degrees Celsius will be reported for isolated areas in
southern Romania, while for six southern Romanian counties, the capital city
Bucharest included, a red code alert for sweltering heat has been issued. The
weather was exceedingly hot on Tuesday especially in the south and the
southeast, where a yellow code alert for extremely hot temperatures is still
kept in place. Elsewhere across the country the skies are changing. The highs
of the day range from 26 to 38 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest
stood at 32 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

In Romania heads
of medical clinics and departments, specialist MDs, coordinators and managers
with the oncology sector of the National Healthcare Programme, are being probed
into in an investigation for corruption crimes perpetrated starting 2012.
Prosecutors with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate on Tuesday staged
search operations at pharmaceutical companies, drug distributors, hospitals and
oncology clinics in Bucharest and seven counties. In exchange for prescribing
expensive drugs manufactured or distributed by a number of companies, medical
doctors received from the pharmaceutical companies amounts of money covering
expenses for symposia and international congresses or trips abroad. According
to judicial sources such practices are widespread in Romania’s medical system.

Romania’s football champion team Steaua
Bucharest on Wednesday night will be playing a home fixture against Serbian
squad Partisan Belgrade. The game counts as the first leg of the Champions
League’s third preliminary round. For this game Steaua cannot rely on the
support of their fans because of a ban the UEFA issued in the wake of the
incidents during the game pitting Steaua against Ukraine’s Dinamo Kiev the
previous football season. Also on Thursday two other Romanian sides will be
competing in Europa League’s third preliminary round. Southern Romanian squad
Astra Giurgiu will be taking on England’s West Ham United, while ASA Tirgu
Mures in central Romania will be facing French side AS Saint Etienne.

NATO
secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said the military alliance stood
firmly by key member Turkey in the face of terrible acts of terror
and instability along its southern border. The statement was made in Brussels
in the opening of an emergency meeting of all 28 member states requested by
Ankara. Stoltenberg hailed Ankara’s commitment to get engaged in a fight
against the Islamic State. Referring to Turkey’s bombing positions of the
Kurdish rebels, the NATO official said that self-defence has to be proportionate. In
another move, Turkish president Recep Erdogan vowed on Tuesday that Turkey
would take no step back in its fight against terrorism adding that a peace
process with the Kurdish rebels was impossible as they continue to threaten the
country’s national unity and solidarity. Ankara started a campaign against the
Islamic State bombing its positions in Syria as well as those held by the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been a thorn in Turkey’s side for decades.
The Turkish campaign comes a couple of days after a terror attack, which killed
and wounded scores in Suruc, close to the Syrian border.

The Romanian
Government on Tuesday endorsed the first budget rectification in 2015, which is
a positive one, according to Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Significant sums of
money have been earmarked for the Interior and Defence Ministries, as well as
for the Finance, Education and Environment ministries and the Special
Telecommunications Service. The Labour Ministry has also received extra
funding, mainly for the increased child rearing sums, pensions and various
bonuses. Funds have been slashed for the Healthcare, Culture and Energy
Ministries, as well as for the Transport, European Funds and Foreign Affairs
ministries. According to the opposition, the budget adjustment has electoral
connotations and does not steer resources towards relevant public policies.