June 4, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 04.06.2016, 12:01

FLOODING Over 100 people
have been evacuated in the past 24 hours, because of the floods that have hit 7
counties in Romania, affecting more than 90 towns and villages. However, the situation is now stabilizing and there are no
longer major threats for the population, according to the Romanian Interior Ministry.
Two people have been killed by floods and traffic on several national roads has been seriously affected. Weather specialists have extended the code red warning for flooding
affecting the rivers in nine counties, especially in the east and centre.
Another 15 counties are under code orange alert. The weather continues to be
unsettled in most regions.

ELECTIONS Local elections
are held in Romania on Sunday. Over 250,000 candidates are running for
mayor and local councilor in 3,200 towns and communes and 41 county councils respectively.
Complementary election lists have been drawn up for citizens of other EU countries who have legally settled in Romania, for them to be able to have
a say in the election of the mayors of the place they live in. As a first,
polling stations will have an IT system aimed at monitoring the turnout and
prevent any form of rigging. Mayors will be elected in just one round, and the
winners will be those who will get the simple majority. The measure has been
criticized by both civil society and the media, because, if the turnout is
low, many of the future mayors will lack legitimacy.

SARMIS 16 Between June 6th
and 18th, Romanian, American and British soldiers are participating
in the multi-national exercise SARMIS 16, held at the ‘Getica’ Land Forces
Training Centre in Cincu, central Romania. 1,200 soldiers from the Romanian Ground
Forces, 150 from Great Britain and 200 from the US, supported by Romanian
military aircraft will take part in the exercise. SARMIS 16 is an exercise
based on a fictional scenario, aimed at training the 2nd Mountain
Troops Brigade on planning, executing and assessing a military operation in a
multi-national environment, on developing interoperability with the NATO forces
and meeting the NATO standardization requirements.

TIFF The city of Cluj,
in north-western Romania, is today playing host to the winners’ gala, on the
last but one day of the Transylvania International Film Festival – TIFF. Only
one Romanian film competed for the big award: ‘Dogs’ by Bogdan Mirica, which
won the critics’ award in Cannes. Organizers have already announced that two of
the most important figures of world cinematography will get an award for
lifetime achievement, namely film maker James Smith, known for such films as
‘Mad Max’ or ‘The Fifth Element’, and the famous actress Sofia Loren.

FOOTBALL On Friday night,
Romania’s national football team defeated the Georgian squad 5-1, in the last
preparation match before the European Championship in France. Last week, during a training stage in Italy, Romania ended 1-1 the match against Congo and lost 3-4
to Ukraine. At Euro 2016, in the opening game on June 10th, Romania
will take on the host country, in a group that also includes Switzerland and
Albania.

HANDBALL The Romanian national women’s
handball team is today playing in Piatra Neamt, north-eastern Romania, its last
match in the first preliminary group for the European Championship in Sweden,
due in December. The Romanian players, who will this evening take on the team
of Belarus, have already qualified for
the competition after beating Lithuania on Wednesday. The women’s handball team will
also represent Romania at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer.