January 17, 2016
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Newsroom, 17.01.2016, 12:00
Snowfalls and blizzards have been reported on half of Romania’s territory. 8 counties in the east and south-east of the country have been placed under a code orange alert while a code yellow alert for heavy snowfalls and blizzard has been issued in 8 counties in the south and east including the capital Bucharest. The bad weather has caused power cuts in more than 50 towns and villages across Romania. A section of the highway linking Bucharest to the Black Sea coast and several national roads have been closed down. In Bucharest, heavy snowfalls and wind have broken trees causing damage to almost 130 parked vehicles. The bad wheather has also disrupted air traffic on Bucharest’s Henri Coanda airport. Scores of trains have been canceled, while others have been delayed. Gale-force winds have disrupted activity in the Romanian Black Sea ports, while traffic on the Danube-Black Sea Canal has been restricted. The Ministry of education has suspended courses in schools and kindergartens in three counties. The weather is getting colder as compared to the previous period with maximum temperatures ranging between minus 7 and 2 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest was minus 2 degrees.
The Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, is expected in Bucharest today for informal talks with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, Romanian press agency, Agerpress, reports quoting official sources. According to the same sources, the Romanian Prime Minister will be briefing the US official on the top priorities of his cabinet. Also high on the agenda are ways to improve the business environment in Romania, the situation in the region, particularly in the Republic of Moldova and the relations with Ukraine and Russia. Also high on the agenda will be the US-Romanian Strategic Partnership. According to the US embassy in Bucharest the US official will also be received by president Klaus Iohannis and will be meeting representatives of the new technocratic government in Bucharest. Victoria Nuland has paid several visits to Romania, the latest being in January last year.
Bad weather conditions have in fact been reported almost all over Europe, with extremely low temperatures, snowfalls, blizzard and storms. Southern and central Bulgaria have been affected by heavy snowfalls and gale-force winds same as in the north of Montenegro, while Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have been hit by storms. Gale-force winds and extremely low temperatures have been reported in almost all southern Europe with the exception of Spain. Blizzards, heavy snowfalls and extremely low temperatures are affecting northern and southern Germany as well as Belgium. Bad weather forecasts have been issued also for Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Macedonia, Austria, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. Britain has also been affected by the bad weather as well as northern Spain.
The world’s number two tennis player Simona Halep of Romania will be playing Chinese Shuai Zhang in the first round of Australian Open. Also in the first round, Romanian Irina Begu will be playing Swedish Johanna Larsson, while Monica Niculescu will be taking on Teliana Pereira of Brazil. Another two tennis players from Romania, Alexandra Dulgheru and Andreea Mitu will be taking part in the same competition. In the men’s doubles, Romanian-Dutch pair, Horia Tecau – Jean Julien Rojer starts as the odds-on favourite, while Romanian-Indian pair Florin Mergea-Rohan Bopana is fourth-seeded. In the women’s contest, Alexandra Dulgheru teams up with Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain, while Raluca Olaru will be playing Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium.
Romania’s national water polo side will be taking on Greece in the eighth finals of the European Championships in Belgrade. On Friday Romania secured a 14-13 win against Germany coming third in group C. Romania has also obtained a victory against Georgia, but lost to Italy in the same group.
