August 14, 2016

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 14.08.2016, 12:05

ROYAL FUNERAL Queen Anne, the
consort of Romania’s last sovereign Michael I, was buried on Saturday in Curtea
de Arges, southern Romania, the necropolis of Romanian Royalty. A burial
service was celebrated in the Orthodox rite, the faith of the Romanian Royal
House and of most Romanians. Among those attending the funeral were Romanian
high officials as well as members of the Imperial Families of Russia, Austria
and Germany, of the Royal Houses of the Netherlands and Belgium, of Luxembourg,
Baden, Württemberg and Bourbon-Parma. Aged 94, and himself severely ill, King
Michael could not attend the funeral of his wife, whom he visited every day in
the Swiss hospital where she died on August 1.

FDI Foreign
direct investments in Romania reached 2 billion Euros at the end of the first
semester, up by 22.7% as compared to the same period last year, the National
Bank has recently announced. On the other hand, the number of foreign capital
companies newly established in the first six months of 2016 dropped by 12%.
According to data provided by the National Statistics Institute, there are only
2,687 such companies now.

NAVY DAY Today
is open gates day in the Danube ports of Braila and Tulcea, on the eve of Romanian Navy’s Day, which for 115 years has
been celebrated on August 15th. August 15th is also the day when
Christian believers celebrate the Assumption of Virgin Mary. Several events
have been organized to mark the day, such as interactive workshops, a technique
and armament exhibition, brass brand shows and open air concerts, contests and
tours of navy ships. Also today, military and religions ceremonies are held in
garrisons, in memory of the navy heroes who died in battle.

ANONIMUL The Land of the
Enlightened by Pieter-Jan De Pue won the big trophy of the 13th ‘Anonimul’
International Independent Film Festival. The event, which ended on Saturday
night, was held in Sfantu Gheorghe in the Danube Delta for a week. The Land of
the Enlightened, a Belgium-Ireland-Netherlands-Germany- Afghanistan
co-production tells the story of a group of Afghan children from the Kuchi
tribe, who dig for old Soviet mines and sell the explosive materials to other
children. The audience’s award for best Romanian short reel went to One Night
in Tokoriki by Roxana Stroe. The special guest of the 2016 edition was
director Park Chan-wook, who got the ‘Anonimul’ Trophy for his contribution to
enriching world cinematography.

SUMMER UNIVERSITY The 14th
Summer University in Izvorul Muresului, Harghita County, is taking place over
August 15th – 21st. The theme of this year’s edition is
The Romanian State and the Romanians on the Borders of the EU and NATO. There
are over 100 participants, including representatives of the academic environment,
of the main political parties in Romania, of various Romanian community
associations and foundations.

ATTACK The
Swiss police have announced today that there is no evidence that the attack
that occurred yesterday on a passenger train was terrorist or politically
motivated. A Swiss citizen aged 27 set on fire a train car and attacked with a
knife several passengers near the station of Salez, in Saint-Gall. According to
the police, 6 people were wounded, including a 6-year old. The attack occurred
against the extremely tense situation in Europe, which has been faced with a
string of attacks in the past months, many of them claimed by the Islamic State
terrorist organization.

RIO The Olympic Games continue in Rio. Romanian Elena Daniela Cirlan and
Paula Todoran will compete in the marathon event and Bianca Razor in the
women’s 400m. In weight lifting, Andreea
Aaanei is competing in the women’s over 75 kg. Romania’s national handball team
is today taking on European champion Norway, and needs to win in order to
qualify for the quarter finals. Until now they have lost to Angola and won the
matches against Montenegro and Spain. So far, Romania has won 4 medals at this
year’s edition of the Olympic Games. The Romanian women’s fencing team won the
golden medal, tennis players Horia Tecau and Florin Mergea got silver in the
men’s doubles. Also, weightlifter Gabriel Sincraian and the women’s coxed eight
got bronze medals.