September 30, 2016 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 30.09.2016, 12:16
STATE FUNERAL On Friday, Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis attended in Jerusalem the funeral of the former president of Israel
Shimon Peres. The Romanian head of state talked about Peres’s impressive
personality and his impact on the modern world. Also, Iohannis said that Shimon
Perez will remain in the memory of the Romanian people and of the world as one
of the most resounding voices of the fight for peace, tolerance and human
dignity. The funeral ceremony was attended by many political leaders and world
personalities, such as the presidents of the US, France and Germany, the
President of the European Council and the UN Secretary General. Shimon Perez,
winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, died in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, aged 93.
STOCK EXCHANGE According to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Romania was
officially included on the Watchlist of countries that show a substantial
potential to become emerging markets, according to a decision of the Financial
Times Stock Exchange (FTSE). The Romanian stock exchange currently has the
status of border market. The monitoring period lasts minimum one year, so any
changes in Romania’s status will be announced in the intermediary report
published by FTSE in March, and the final decisions will be communicated along
with the publication of the annual report. The decision made by the Financial
Times Stock Exchange is a positive signal for investors, as it confirms the
progress made by the local capital market, regarding both the infrastructure
and the regulation framework, according to AmCham, the American Chamber of
Commerce in Romania.
CHILD TRAFFICKING Romania
must boost efforts to combat child trafficking, especially Roma children, as the
number of such victims has grown considerably in the past years. Also, the
victims must benefit from better assistance, reads a report of the Council of
Europe, published on Friday. The document says that Bucharest has made progress
in the past four years, when the number of children saved from traffickers has
increased. According to official data, between 2011 and 2015 more than 4600
victims of human trafficking were identified in Romania, of whom 1595 children.
Most of them had been sexually abused, forced to work or beg. Also, 252
traffickers were convicted last year. Council of Europe experts recommend that
Bucharest should pay more attention to the Roma communities and to migrants’
children, and stress the need for monitoring
the recruitment of seasonal workers abroad.
SYRIA Over 9,300 people of whom 3,800
civilians have been killed by Russian air strikes since the beginning of the
Russian intervention in Syria, on September 30, 2015, in support of Bachar
al-Assad’s regime, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has announced. Over
2,700 victims were ISIS militants, while more than 2,800 were members of
groups opposing the regime. Moscow has been harshly criticized at the UN
Security Council meeting by the American ambassador, who defined Russia’s
intervention in Syria as barbaric. Russia’s actions were also denounced by the
ambassadors of France and Britain.
ELECTION The
presidential election campaign started in the Republic of Moldova on Friday.
The Moldovan citizens are expected to cast their vote on October 30, and elect
their president through direct voting for the first time in 15 years. As many
as eight candidates are running for president, and opinion polls present the
leader of the pro-Russian socialists, Igor Dodon, as favourite.
BRANCUSI The Romanian Government is considering an
extension of the public donation period for the purchase by the Romanian state
of the work Wisdom of the Earth by the great Romanian sculptor Constantin
Brancusi. The deadline for the current donation period is September 30th. Wisdom of the Earth is currently owned
by a private collector and is worth 11 million euros, of which the Government
will pay 5 million. The rest is to be collected from donations. The executive
was hoping to get at least 6 million from donations, but it has only managed to
get one million. Wisdom of the Earth was made in 1907 and together with other
works, such as the Kiss and the Prayer, marks the most appreciated period
in Brancusi’s artistic life.
RADIRO The most important
musical event this fall, RadiRo, continued on Friday in Bucharest. The National
Radio Orchestra performed for the second time at the festival, this time under
the baton of the conductor Leo Hussain and with violinist Alexandru Tomescu as
soloist. The 3rd RadiRo Festival, organized by Radio Romania, ends
on Saturday with a concert given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
TENNIS Romanian tennis player
Simona Halep, ranking 5th in the WTA classification, has failed to
qualify for the final of the Wuhan tournament, with 2.6 million dollars in
prize money. Halep was defeated on Friday by the Czech Petra Kvitova. In the
final, Kvitova will take on the Slovak player Dominika Cibulkova. However,
Simona Halep has already secured her participation in the WTA finals in Singapore.
