September 11, 2017 UPDATE

The US commemorates 9/11 / The 3rd Asia-Pacific - Europe Media Dialogue conference is under way in Sinaia

Newsroom, 11.09.2017, 18:49

9/11 — United States President Donald Trump joined the nation in a minutes silence on Monday morning, to mark the 16th anniversary of the September 11 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people when hijackers flew commercial planes into the World Trade Center. Four Romanians were among the victims. Commemorations are under way across much of the US. The names of all the victims killed were read aloud at the 9/11 Memorial Museum while Donald Trump also participated in a special ceremony at the Pentagon. The anniversary came as the country struggles with the widespread destruction caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. President Trump drew a parallel between the nation’s response to the terror attacks and natural disasters, saying, “When Americans are in need, Americans pull together.”

ABU – The 3rd Asia-Pacific – Europe Media Dialogue conference is under way in the Romanian mountain resort of Sinaia. The three-day event, that started on Monday, is organized jointly by Radio Romania and ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union), and brings together experts from all over the world in an effort to respond to current challenges in a rapidly changing media landscape. The interim director general of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, Georgică Severin, delivered the opening speech on Monday. He underlined the fact that the general topic of the conference is the growing power of the media in a fast changing world, and that accuracy of information is paramount. Also on the first day of the conference, Olya Booyar, Head of Radio at ABU talked about how radio can flourish in the new media age, Fayyaz Sheheryar, Director General of All India Radio talked about ways of reaching the listeners without losing the essence of public broadcasting while Dr. Javad Mottaghi, ABU Secretary General, delivered a speech on how to change the challenge into opportunity.

SCHOOL – A new school year started in Romania on Monday 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 schools 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, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis 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 centred on the student.

SANCTIONS – German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday voiced her support for tougher U.N. sanctions against North Korea in a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a German government spokesman said. The two officials agreed that the conflict about North Koreas nuclear armament must be resolved peacefully. Merkel told Putin she supported efforts of the U.N. Security Council to rapidly adopt further sanctions against North Korea to make Pyongyang change its course. The U.N. Security Council is going to vote on a new watered-down sanctions resolution against North Korea that eliminates initial U.S. demands to ban all oil imports to the country and freeze international assets of the government and its leader Kim Jong Un. The new document provides for a “progressive” embargo on oil to Pyongyang and 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. 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.

GEORGE ENESCU FESTIVAL – The George Enescu International Classical Music Festival continued in Bucharest on Monday with a performance by the London Philharmonic 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 channels. The festival is held every two years and lasts three weeks.

TRADE – Romanias 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 billion 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.

(Translated by Elena Enache)