November 4, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

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Newsroom, 04.11.2019, 13:40

VOTE -
Parliament is today convening in a joint session to vote on the program and
structure of the Liberal Government led by Ludovic Orban. The Orban Cabinet
needs 233 votes to be sworn into office. Ludovic Orban has signed political
agreements with Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians,
the People’s Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the
group of national minorities. The Social-Democratic Party has chosen not to attend
Monday’s vote, while the PRO Romania Party claims it will not vote the new
government.

NATO -
The King Ferdinand Frigate of the Romanian Military Navy, joined by a Puma
battleship and a unit of the Special Ops Navy Forces onboard, are taking part
in the NATO-led Sea Guardian 19 military operation until Thursday. The frigate
is carrying out missions to deter any illegal activities on the eastern flank
of NATO and the EU, under maritime allied command. Today the frigate is making
a stopover in the port of Haifa, Israel. The frigate has previously made stops
in Askaz, southern Turkey, as well as in Alexandria, Egypt, where the crew met
with members of the Romanian community in Egypt.

ELECTION -
The candidate of the Moldovan Socialist Party, Ion Ceban, has won the election
for the Chisinau city hall in Sunday’s second round of local elections.
According to preliminary results made public by the Central Election
Commission, Ceban won 52% of the vote, while his main opponent, pro-European
Andrei Nastase, won only 47% of the vote. The voter turnout stood at some 38%. The
second round of the local election was held in 384 towns and villages in the
Republic of Moldova, with total voter turnout close to 40%.

PROTEST -
Thousands protested on Sunday night in Bucharest and other cities across the
country in the Forest Rally, staged to voice protest both with the rising death
toll of forest rangers and against illegal logging. Representatives of
environment NGOs claim conservationists and forest officers must call on the
authorities to take effective measures that should put an end to illegal
logging.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player Simona
Halep will end the season in 4th position in WTA standings. She
climbed one spot in the tables after the WTA finals in Shenzhen, China, where
she failed to qualify to the semi-finals after losing to Karolina Pliskova of
the Czech Republic, world no. 2. Halep had ended 2017 and 2018 in the number
one position in the standings. Romanian-born Canadian player Bianca Andreescu
will finish her first season in the top 100 in 5th place. Romania
has another two players in the top 100 at present: Sorana Cirstea (72) and
Irina-Camelia Begu (99). Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, this year the winner of
Roland Garros and the Shenzhen tournament, will end the season in top place,
followed by Karolina Pliskova and Naomi Osaka of Japan.

(Translated by V. Palcu)