May 10, 2015

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Newsroom, 10.05.2015, 14:12

King’s Day is marked in Bucharest today with a marathon around Herastrau Park, a ceremony at the statue of King Carol I in the Palace Square and a special concert at the Romanian Athenaeum. Radio Romania celebrated the event on Friday with a Royal Concert and the launch of an album called “May 10th. The Royal House of Romania in radio programmes, 1930-1944”. May 10th marks three major events in Romania’s modern history. On May 10th, 1866, Prince Carol, of the German family Hohenzollern–Sigmaringen, was sworn in as ruler of Romania, founding the dynasty that King Mihai I belongs to. On May 10th, 1877, Carol I proclaimed Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire, and four years later he was crowned King of Romania. May 10th was Romania’s national holiday until the communists came to power in 1947, forcing Mihai I to leave the throne and the country. King Mihai returned to Romania after the December 1989 revolution, which ended the communist regime. In an interview to Radio Romania, he urged the Romanian people to have faith in the future. Last month, the Chamber of Deputies in Bucharest voted that May 10 would be an official holiday in Romania.

The US Government and private sector are determined to help Romania, a strategic and economic partner, to strengthen its defence line in the cyber sector, said Bruce Andrews, Deputy Secretary of Commerce. Between May 11 and 13, Andrews will head a trade mission of the US Department of Commerce in Bucharest, focusing on cyber security. Given Romania’s economic growth, the skilled labour force and openness to American products, the American businessmen pay growing attention to the opportunities in this country, the US official said in a news release. During the mission, representatives of 20 air companies, some of them operating in Romania for decades already, will analyse business opportunities with current and prospective Romanian partners, and with members of governmental agencies. The mission overlaps a regional cyber security summit held in Bucharest and organised jointly by the governments of Romania and of the USA, with 11 countries in the region taking part.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold talks in Moscow on Sunday, on the crisis in Ukraine and a possible relaunch of bilateral relations, which are at their lowest in the post-Soviet period. Russia’s trade with its main European economic partner dropped last year by 6.5%, because of the international sanctions on Moscow for its involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. The Radio Romania correspondent in Moscow mentioned that, like many other Western leaders, the Chancellor of Germany boycotted yesterday’s parade in Moscow marking 70 years since the Allies’ victory in World War II.

Poland is voting today in the first round of a presidential election. The incumbent president, the right-of-center Bronislaw Komorowski, was in the lead in polls, with 35% to 40%, whereas Andrzej Duda, running for the Law and Justice Party, in opposition, looks likely to get 27-29% of the votes. Pawel Kukiz, a 51-year old rock musician, who intends to change the current political system, was ranking third, with 15% – a significant increase from the 6% in early April polls. Another eight candidates, including five anti-EU right-wing populists, are also in the race. According to all polls, Bronislaw Komorowski and Andrzej Duda will face each other in the runoff scheduled for May 24th.

The Romanian-Indian pair Florin Mergea and Rohan Bopanna are playing on Sunday in the doubles final of the Madrid tennis tournament, worth 4.2 million euros. They defeated the all-Spanish pair Marcel Grannollers and Marc Lopez in three sets. Mergea and Bopanna are playing against Marcin Matkowski (Poland) / Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia).