January 15, 2016

Romania celebrates National Culture Day/ The countrys economy registered a 3.7% economic growth rate in the first 9 months of 2015/ Romanias national water polo team is today meeting Germany

Newsroom, 15.01.2016, 12:00

NATIONAL CULTURE DAY – A host of literary events, exhibitions and music shows are being held today in Bucharest and other big cities across Romania and abroad, to mark National Culture Day. The Romanian Academy hosted a solemn session, and the Romanian Athenaeum will venue a traditional music concert given by folk singer Grigore Lese and friends. Homage paying events will also be held in Chishinau, the capital city of the Republic of Moldova, a country with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, where National Culture Day is also celebrated today, as well as in the Cernauti/Chernivtsi region in Ukraine, which is home to over 200,000 ethnic Romanians.

MOLDOVA– The President of the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet state with a predominantly Romanian speaking population, Nicolae Timofti, has said he doesnt favour the idea of holding snap elections, but avoiding this depends only on MPs. He has made this declaration shortly after designating the head of the Presidential Administration, Ion Paduraru, as candidate for the position of Prime Minister. The deadline for a new cabinet to get endorsement is January 29, when its three months since the sacking of the cabinet led by Liberal Democrat Valeriu Strelet, following a censure motion. Otherwise, the countrys president will have to dissolve Parliament and call for snap elections. The President of neighbouring Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has deemed as very complicated the political situation in the Republic of Moldova and has said he counts on the maturity of the political class in Moldova to solve the crisis, instate a strong government and continue the countrys EU rapprochment.

ECONOMY– Romanias economy registered a 3.7% growth rate in the first nine months of 2015, as compared to the same period of 2014, data released by the National Institute for Statistics show. Also, in real terms, the GDP registered in the third quarter of 2015 was 1.4% higher than in the second quarter of the same year. The National Forecast Commission has revised upward, to 3.6%, the estimated increase in the GDP in 2015 and maintained to 4.1% the estimated economic growth rate in 2016, according to the autumn version of the Long-Term Forecast, made public in November.

CYBER ATTACKS– Cyber attacks against Romania have been launched over the past year from Russia and China, the Romanian Intelligence Service has today announced. According to the agency, national security structures of the Foreign, Interior and Defence Ministries, respectively, and 11 banks have been the favourite targets of cyber attacks. The intelligence has been collected by the Cyberint National Centre, a unit of the Romanian Intelligence Service with responsibilities in protecting Internet, communication and infrastructure systems of strategic importance.

WATER POLO– Romanias national water polo team is today meeting Germany, in a decisive group stage match, to qualify for the next phase of the European Championships, hosted by Serbia. Romania needs at least a draw match to advance to the next stage of the competition. In the first two group matches, Romania won to Georgia, 12-6, and lost to Italy, 11–5. If the team manages to rank among the first 10 best performing teams, it also qualifies for the pre-Olympic tournament.

TENNIS– Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, WTAs no.2, has today failed to qualify for the finals of the Sydney tournament, with some 700,000 dollars in prize money up for grabs. Halep was defeated, in three sets, by Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the mens double, the pair Florin Mergea/Rohan Bopanna (Romanian/India) has qualified for the finals, after defeating, in two sets, the pair Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)/Leonardo Mayer (Argentina). Mergea and Bopanna will face in the finals the pair Jamie Murray (Great Britain)/ Bruno Soares (Brasil). In another move, Romania will have five representatives – Simona Halep, Irina Begu, Monica Niculescu, Alexandra Dulgheru and Andreea Mitu at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts in Melbourne next week.

(Translated and edited by Diana Vijeu)