March 8, 2017
Intl Women's Day celebrated today
Newsroom, 08.03.2017, 13:45
INTL WOMENS DAY – The International Womens Day is celebrated today in many countries. In Romania, where according to the latest data made public by the National Statistics Institute more than 10 million women live, women are celebrated in a series of debates, exhibitions, concerts, book launches and other events. The European Parliament is hosting a meeting of the Committee on Womens Rights and Gender Equality, with the theme Womens Economic Empowerment: Lets Act Together! the International Womens Day was first marked in the early 20th Century, after an organisation sponsored a meeting on womens rights in New York.
EUROPEAN COUNCIL – A “multi-speed Europe as a solution to give fresh impetus to the European project after Brexit will be the focus of talks at the European Council meeting due on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, where Romania will be represented by President Klaus Iohannis. The two-speed Europe idea, backed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, is also strongly supported by France and Germany, which were joined on Monday in Versailles by Italy and Spain. Romania will oppose this plan, as the President pointed out once again on Tuesday in Bucharest. In turn, the Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu will present Romanias stand in Brussels today, at the meeting of the Party of European Socialists. Other countries are also concerned with the prospect of becoming second-level member states. These include the members of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), who have already opposed Brussels policy on migration.
RESIGNATION – The former prime minister of Romania, Deputy Victor Ponta, has today announced he is submitting his undated resignation from the Social Democratic Party, and leaving it to the party president Liviu Dragnea to make a decision in this respect. Ponta added that he and Dragnea no longer worked together. Dragnea replied that he would never agree with the ex-PM leaving the party. The announcement comes after many speculations in the media regarding the cold relations between the two leading Social Democrats. In 2015, Ponta became the first PM in office to be subject to criminal investigations for corruption offences, and in the same year he stepped down as head of the party and of the government, amid massive street protests. Dragnea took over the presidency of the Social Democratic Party. In 2016, Dragnea himself received a suspended 2-year prison sentence, for attempted election fraud, and is currently on trial in a separate corruption case.
MILITARY – The Atlantic Resolve and Poseidon 2017 multinational military exercises continue today at the “Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase in south-eastern Romania and in the Black Sea. For the first time, 8 American helicopters are taking part in the drills. They were deployed from several European countries, as part of the US commitment to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO. This is the first such unit deployed to Eastern Europe, as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which brings together over 2,200 troops, 86 helicopters and over 700 pieces of military equipment sent from several American ports to Germany, Latvia and Romania. Also today, a sea survey vessel, Alexandru Cătuneanu is conducting research training at sea.
ITB BERLIN – 40 tour-operators from Romania are taking part until Sunday in the Berlin Travel Trade Show, the largest such fair in the world. According to a news release issued by the Romanian Tourism Ministry, destinations from around the country will be presented. Romanias stand will also host egg painting demonstrations, and folk costume and traditional jewellery design workshops. During a Romanian-themed evening, traditional Romanian music, dance and cuisine will be introduced to visitors. The Tourism Minister, Mircea-Titus Dobre, is taking part today, on the first day of the trade show, in the Silk Road Ministers Meeting, an event organised by the World Tourism Organisation. Tomorrow, the Romanian official will have meetings with his counterparts from Poland, Serbia, and Ukraine, and then he will give an address at the Danube Salon, a conference devoted to joint tourism projects by riparian countries. Romania has been taking part in this trade show since 1970.
TENNIS – The Romanians Sorana Cirstea (66 WTA) and Monica Niculescu (45 WTA) are playing against each other today in the opening round of the Premier Mandatory tournament of Indian Wells, in the USA, with 6.9 million US dollars in prize money. Three other players from Romania, Simona Halep (4 WTA), Irina Begu (32 WTA) and Patricia Tig (99 WTA) are also playing in the tournament. Halep and Begu are playing in the second round. Last year Simona Halep was eliminated from the quarter-finals of this tournament by world no. 1 Serena Williams.
