June 12, 2017 UPDATE

Criminal probe into MiG 21 Lancer crash in SE Romania

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Newsroom, 12.06.2017, 19:52

VISIT – Romania and Croatia are determined the strengthen and deepen their cooperation, both in terms of their bilateral relations, which are very good, and in terms of the European project and as NATO members, the Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu said in Zagreb, after a meeting with his counterpart, Andrej Plenkovic. The two officials signed a memorandum of cooperation between the chambers of commerce in the two countries, and an agreement of mutual protection of classified information. In turn, Croatias PM said that apart from bilateral topics, the two had also discussed elements of European politics. Zagreb and Bucharest intend to coordinate their efforts targeting their accession to the visa-free Schengen area. During his visit to Croatia Grindeanu was also received by the head of state Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic and the deputy Parliament Speaker, Gordan Jandrokovic.

DEMOGRAPHY – Romanias population decline continued in April, primarily because of a drop in birth rates. According to data from the National Statistics Institute, in April the countrys population fell by over 8,300. The same source reveals that this April 2,600 children less than in April 2016 were born. For the first 4 months of the year, the negative rate of natural increase was over 39,000 people, up 50% on the corresponding period of last year.

PLANE CRASH – The Prosecutors Office attached to the Bucharest Military Court Monday opened a criminal investigation into the crash of an MiG 21 Lancer fighter near the Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport in south-eastern Romania. According to the General Prosecutors Office, the accident took place while landing. The aircraft was destroyed, and the pilot ejected and is now in a stable condition. The fighter was on a training mission as part of the ‘Thracian Eagle 2017’ exercise held jointly with Bulgarian forces.

COMMEMORATION – As of Tuesday, Romania commemorates 27 years since what has been known as the miners raids of June 13-15, 1990, which ended large-scale protests against the leftist power installed after the fall of the communist dictatorship in 1989. Against the backdrop of violent incidents in Bucharest, which the Army had already suppressed, the then President Ion Iliescu claimed the far right was plotting a coup and called on civilians to defend democratic institutions. The raids of coal miners from the Jiu Valley area in Bucharest, where they attacked the University building, the offices of opposition parties and of independent publications, left 4 dead, hundreds wounded and over 1,000 people abusively arrested. In an official investigation into the case, reopened in 2015, the former president Iliescu, the former PM Petre Roman and the former head of the Romanian Intelligence Service Virgil Magureanu have been indicted, alongside 15 other people.

RUSSIA PROTESTS – Russian police arrested hundreds of protesters who took part on Monday in anti-corruption rallies in Moscow, Sankt Petersburg and other big cities. One of the most prominent Opposition leaders, Alexei Navalny, is among the detainees. Police forces have been accused of having used pepper spray on the protesters.

HANDBALL – Romanias womens handball team are playing against Austria away from home on Tuesday, in the qualification playoffs for the World Championship due in December in Germany. In the first leg of the playoff, on Friday night at home, Romania beat Austria 34-29. Romania is the only country to have taken part in all the 22 editions of the World Championship, and in 2015 they won the bronze.

TENNIS – The Romanian Simona Halep, 25, went up to the second place in the WTA ranking, after she lost the Roland Garros final, on Saturday to the young Latvian player Jelena Ostapenko. Had she won in Paris, Halep would have been world no 1. Apart from Halep, 3 other Romanian players are in the WTA top 100: Monica Niculescu, no. 50, Sorana Cîrstea 59, and Irina Begu 64. The WTA ranking is topped by the German Angelique Kerber.

FOOTBALL – Romanias national football team is playing a friendly match against the South America champions Chile on Tuesday night in Cluj Napoca. This is the first home game for the national team after they lost on Saturday, 1-3, in Warsaw, against Poland, in the 2018 World Cup qualification Group E. Topping the group charts are Poland, with 16 points, followed by Montenegro and Denmark with 10 points each, Romania and Armenia with 6, and Kazakhstan, with 2 points. Romanias next preliminary match will be on September 1, at home, against Armenia. In this qualification campaign, Romania is for the first time managed by a foreign coach, the German Cristoph Daum. Brought to the team last year, after Romanias poor performance at the European Championship in France, Daum is increasingly criticised by the Romania media, fans and experts, who say there has been no improvement in the national teams play and results.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)