October 31, 2017 UPDATE

Developping: SECURITY ALERT IN NEW YORK: 8 people dead

Newsroom, 31.10.2017, 19:48

Developping(23.25 Romania’s time): SECURITY ALERT IN NEW YORK: 8 people confirmed dead, more than a dozen injured

Eight people have
been killed in New York after the driver of a truck rammed into people on a cycle
path in Lower Manhattan. The driver made a statement when exiting the truck, thus prompting the US police to call his action an act of terror.

The 29 year old suspect has been shot in the abdomen and is now in hospital, the NY autorities told a press conference.

New York Mayor: The FBI is now leading the investigation, jointly with
NYPD.

The act was carried out by a lone wolf

RADIO ROMANIA – The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation celebrates on Wednesday 89 years of operation, its first broadcast being aired on November 1, 1928. An information, education and entertainment medium, the public radio broadcaster addresses the Romanian society as a whole, all generations and all tastes. Adding to the nation-wide “News and Current Affairs, “Culture, “Music and “Village Antenna channels are regional and local stations and the online children and youth stations. Radio Romania first started to broadcast programmes abroad in the 1930s. At present, Radio Romania International has programmes in 11 foreign languages, in Romanian and the Aromanian dialect.

CONFERENCE – Over 600 people will attend on Wednesday and Thursday in Bucharest a conference of Francophone women on the role of women in creation, innovation, entrepreneurship, economic growth and development. Officials from 48 Francophone countries will discuss the rights and access of women to the labour market and their contribution to innovation and entrepreneurship. The forum is also intended to establish a network of Francophone women entrepreneurs. The conclusions of the conference in Bucharest will be used in drafting a Francophone Gender Equality Strategy, which will be discussed in the forthcoming Summit of La Francophonie in 2018.

MOTION – The National Liberal Party, the Peoples Movement Party and the Save Romania Union in opposition Tuesday filed a simple motion in the Senate against Finance Minister Ionut Misa. The opposition criticizes the Governments fiscal measures, saying they will negatively impact the economy and all social classes. The Government wants to transfer the payment of social security contributions from employers to employees and to introduce the so-called “employment insurance tax for employers. Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said this new contribution will increase taxation. In another development on Tuesday, the Senate passed a draft law on adopting the Governments emergency decree on the spaced-out payment of VAT. The plenary session paid heed to a report of the Senates Budget and Finance Committee, which modified the text of the decree, stipulating the measure applies only for insolvent companies or any companies with outstanding VAT-related debts at the end of 2017. The draft law will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making body.

DIGITIZATION – The future of Europe will be digital or “there wont be one, and Romania will hold the upper hand in this context due to its very active network of startups, European Commissioner for Economy and the Digital Society, Mariya Gabriel, said today in Bucharest. According to the EU official, Southeastern Europe will have a great impact on the development of this field. Mariya Gabriel is attending a conference hosted by Bucharest titled “Digital Romania International Forum – Startups in 4.0 Industries. The forum brings together leaders from the industry, entrepreneurs, investors, European decision-makers, authorities and academia with a view to finding solutions for Romania to contribute to and benefit from the digitization of the industry, the economy and society at EU level. According to a survey by the PwC audit and consultancy group, Romania has a very high development potential in the IT sector, despite ranking last in the Union in terms of digitization.

UKRAINE – Venice Commission experts are in Kiev to examine the tensions prompted by the adoption of the new education law in this country. Attending a meeting with ethnic minorities on Wednesday will also be a delegation of Romanian nationals from the region of Cernauti. According to minority representatives, the new education law severely restricts the minorities rights to education in their native language. Recently, representatives of the 500,000-strong Romanian community in Ukraine have referred the matter to the Venice Commission, demanding that the new education law be examined to check its compliance with Ukraines commitments before the Council of Europe to safeguard the rights of national minorities to education in their own languages. Bucharest has repeatedly criticized the law.

(translated by Ana-Maria Popescu, updated by Diana Vijeu)