September 22, 2017, UPDATE

Deputy PM Sevil Shhaideh and the minister delegate for European funds Rovana Plumb face criminal investigation as part of a corruption case.

România Internațional, 22.09.2017, 19:36

Corruption. The
Romanian deputy prime minister and minister for regional development Sevil
Shhaideh and the minister delegate for European funds Rovana Plumb are under
criminal investigation in a corruption case. According to the National
Anticorruption Directorate, Sevil Shhaideh is being investigated for abuse of
office while serving as a secretary of state in the ministry of regional
development and public administration, while Rovana Plumb is suspected of
complicity to abuse of abuse while she was a minister for the environment and
climate change. The Directorate says that in 2013, through a concerted action
of a number of persons holding public office, sections of the Belina Island and
Pavel branch located in the Danube floodplain illegally became the property of
the Teleorman county, in the south, to be managed by the Teleorman County
Council, before being illegally rented out to a private company a few days
later. The two plots of land are state property so could not come into the
possession of a county council through a government decision, but only by law,
prosecutors say. In the case of Rovana Plumb, who is also an MP, the
Anticorruption Directorate has informed the Chamber of Deputies with a view to
filing a request for the start of criminal investigations.

Measles
outbreak. There are almost 9,300 confirmed cases of measles in Romania,
according to an announcement made on Friday by the National Centre for the
Supervision and Control of Transmissible Diseases with the National Public
Health Institute. No new deaths have been recorded in recent weeks, the toll
remaining at 34. Because of the large number of cases, the World Health
Organisation has included Romania among the five countries totalling more than
80% of the total number of measles infections worldwide. Last month, the
government adopted a bill on the organisation and funding of vaccination for
the population. The bill is now in Parliament for debate and approval and is
expected to come into force on January 1st 2018.

Education fair. Universities,
high-schools and foreign language centres from all over the world are
presenting their educational offers in Romania during the 27th edition
of the World Education Fair. The event is held in the cities of Timisoara, in
western Romania, on September 22nd, Bucharest, on September 23rd and
24th, Iasi and Galati between September 25th and 27th
and Constanta on September 28th. According to the organisers, over
10,000 young Romanians interested in studying abroad have benefited from
counselling services over the last 9 editions of the fair.

Football. The Executive
Committee of the Romanian Football Federation has approved a proposal made by
the Federation president Razvan Burleanu to appoint Cosmin Contra as manager of
the Romanian national side. Aged 41, Contra has had 73 caps for Romania and has
played for famous football clubs such as AC Milan and Atletico Madrid. He has
also coached various football clubs in Romania, Spain and China. Contra has reached
an agreement with the federation for taking over from the German coach Cristoph
Daum, the first foreign manager in the history of the Romanian football squad.
During Daum’s tenure, Romania failed to qualify for the World Cup to be held in
Russia next year. Romania still have two more games to play, first against
Kazakhstan on October 5th and then against Denmark three days later.

Tennis. The Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea on Friday lost to Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in
Seoul. Cirstea, world no. 52 and seeded fourth in Seoul, lost in only 65
minutes to world no. 155. In the doubles, where Cirstea was playing alongsgide Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, she withdrew
from the quarterfinals. In the men’s singles, Romania’s Marius Copil failed to
qualify for the semifinals of the tournament in Metz, France, losing to Germany’s
Peter
Gojowczyk in straight sets. Previously, Copil had pulled off a surprising
victory against world no. 22, France’s Lucas Pouille.

Invictus games.
The Romanian defence minister Mihai Fifor and the chief of the General Staff,
general Nicolae Ciuca, will attend the opening of the Invictus Paralympic games
in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday. Romania is represented by 15 military who have
sustained injuries in theatres of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan. They
compete in six individual sports disciplines: archery, athletics, indoor
rowing, weightlifting, cycling and swimming.