April 26, 2015 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Bogdan Matei, 25.04.2015, 12:16

The death toll following the devastating earthquake in Nepal exceeded 2,000 on Sunday, France Press reports. Officials are still struggling to gauge the full scale of the disaster. An avalanche triggered by the quake struck a section of Everest’s base camp, killing at least 17 people, local reports said. The Romanian Foreign Ministry announced that 19 Romanian citizens in Nepal, both tourists and mountain climbers, are safe. Around 3,000 foreign tourists are believed to be in Nepal at present. The Romanian Foreign Ministry has recommended Romanian citizens to avoid trips to Nepal and the neighbouring regions.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has voiced compassion and solidarity with the people affected by the earthquake in Nepal, reads a release by the presidency. “At this time of deep sorrow I convey my condolences to the grieving families. Romania joins the other countries of the world that have voiced solidarity with the authorities in Nepal and with the other countries affected by the quake”, says the message.

The European Commission President, Jean Claude Junker, congratulated Romania and Bulgaria on the occasion of the anniversary of 10 years since the two countries’ singing the EU Accession Treaty. In a post on a social network Junker wrote “Congratulations!” in both Romanian and Bulgarian and added he was very proud to have been, since the beginning, a witness to these countries’ accession process.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep will climb back a notch on Monday, to 2nd place according to the WTA rankings. Although she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart tournament on Saturday, 23-year old Halep continues to benefit by Maria Sharapova’s being edged out of the competition. In another development, Romanians Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur won the doubles’ final of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest, worth 439,405 euros, after defeating the team made up of Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday will pay an official visit to Italy. The meeting’s agenda includes talks with his counterpart Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as well as a meeting with the representatives of the Romanian community in Italy. Accounting for about 1 million people, the Romanian community in Italy is the largest Romanian community abroad. Since taking over his mandate on December 21, 2014, President Iohannis has paid official visits to France, Germany and Poland as well as to former Soviet republics such as Moldova and Ukraine.

A photo exhibition, investigation documentaries by Bankwatch and Vice, debates on the situation in Ukraine, finance and environment, manipulation and propaganda in cinema are part of the program of the 4th edition of Cinepolitica International Film Festival opened today in Bucharest. N the last day of the festival, which is April 30th, Bankwatch Romania will present examples of the organization’s efforts to stop the negative environmental effects of the European financial investment in developing countries.

The revenues obtained by the Romanian citizens in Italy and by the Italian citizens in Romania will no longer be taxed in both countries. The finance ministers in Romania and Italy signed, at the Ecofin meeting in Riga, a Convention on avoiding double taxation. Its stipulations will produce effects as of January 2016 according to a release by the Finance Ministry in Bucharest. Romania has as many as 80 such accords with countries world wide. The first of them was signed in 1972 with Germany.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has voiced compassion and solidarity with the people affected by the earthquake in Nepal, reads a release by the presidency. “At this time of deep sorrow I convey my condolences to the grieving families. Romania joins the other countries of the world that have voiced solidarity with the authorities in Nepal and with the other countries affected by the quake”, says the message.