September 11, 2017

A fresh school year starts in Romania / the US commemorates 9/11

Newsroom, 11.09.2017, 13:40

SCHOOL – A new school year
started in Romania today for some 2.3 million pupils and high-school students.
Authorities have prepared several changes, including with regard to the
baccalaureate exam, which will start earlier. Also, teachers will be able to
check online, from home, the papers of the applicants to the national
evaluation and baccalaureate examinations. Many school in Romania, in
particular in the rural areas, have not been able to obtain the necessary
licenses and equipment to properly start the new school year, and the 5th
grade pupils still do not have textbooks. Attending the festivities at a
prestigious high-school in Bucharest, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis has
stated that the education law must stop being just a puzzle with pieces that keep
changing all the time. In his opinion, we cannot speak of an educated Romania
in the absence of an education system that is predictable and centered on the
student.

9/11 – The US
is today commemorating the 9/11 attacks. 16
years ago, some three thousand people, including Romanians, were killed
by Al Qaeda terrorists, who hijacked four planes and used them to destroy
emblematic buildings. The number of victims has grown in the years that
followed the attack, as during those days many people inhaled carcinogens.

IRMA – Hurricane Irma,
which is currently tearing through the western coast of Florida, has been
downgraded to category 1, but it is still extremely dangerous according to the US weather services. Storm
tide warnings are still in place for large areas in Florida, where at least 5
people have died and 6 million have received evacuation orders. Reuters reports
that some one million households have no electricity. Although Miami is not in
the way of the hurricane, the strong wind and heavy rain accompanying the storm
have caused damage, with dozens of streets flooded and trees felled down. There
are some 30,000 Romanians living in Florida, and the Romanian Foreign Ministry
has already activated a crisis team to provide them with support if necessary.

NORTH-KOREA – Following intense
negotiations carried out in the past
four days, with Beijing and Moscow in particular, Washington has revised
the resolution draft by including new sanctions against North Korea. The draft
is to be endorsed by the UN Security Council this afternoon. The new document
provides for a progressive embargo on oil to Pyongyang, eliminating the full
and immediate embargo. Also, the document stipulates a ban on textile imports
from North-Korea, applicable to all the UN member states. Washington has changed
the initial draft also with regard to the North-Korean expatriates and has
accepted to no longer freeze the assets of the North-Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
The new sanctions proposed by the US come after the nuclear test conducted by
North Korea on September 3rd at an unprecedented level. The UN Security Council
has already adopted 7 resolutions including sanctions against North Korea, in a
bid to convince Pyongyang to negotiate its nuclear and conventional weapons
programmes.

TRADE – Romania’s trade
deficit went up by 33.1% in the first seven months of the year, as compared to
the similar period in 2016, to 6.824 billion Euros, reads a communiqué issued
by the National Statistics Institute. The value of the intra-EU trade in goods
stood at more than 27 million Euros in exports and 32 billion in imports. As
for the extra-EU trade, exports stood at some 8.7 billion Euros, and imports at
10.3 billion. A major share of the exports is held by the machine and transport
equipment industry.

GEORGE ENESCU FESTIVAL – The ‘George
Enescu’ International Classical Music Festival continues in Bucharest today
with a performance by the London Phylarmonic Players and concerts by the
Russian National Orchestra and the Radio Academic Choir. The programme of the
‘George Enescu’ Festival, which has become one of the most prestigious in
Europe, includes 80 concerts and events, with more than three thousand artists
attending. Radio Romania is the only media institution in the country that is
broadcasting live the festival concerts, through the Radio Romania Music and
Radio Romania Culture stations. The festival is held every two years and lasts
three weeks.