December 16, 2018 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 16.12.2018, 19:18

FORUM Romania’s
president Klaus Iohannis will be attending the High-level Forum Africa-Europe
in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday. According to a communiqué issued by the
Romanian presidency, the Romanian official is expected to highlight, besides
the challenges facing the two continents, the numerous dialogue opportunities
and cooperation fields between the European Union and the African Union,
between Romania and the African states. President Iohannis is expected to
mention the fact that as a country taking over the EU rotating presidency on
January 1st, Romania will continue to promote, jointly with other EU
partners, the cooperation activities aimed at raising the level of trade
exchanges and create new opportunities. The forum is aimed at strengthening the
EU’s long-term partnership with the African continent and will lay emphasis on
boosting sustainable investment, the creation of fresh jobs as well as advanced
cooperation in the digital era.

EVENTS Timisoara, a city in western Romania, on Sunday saw a
series of events aimed at marking the beginning of the anti-communist
revolution in December 1989. Sunday’s events included a festive session of the
Local Council devoted to the commemoration of the martyr heroes, educational
activities for the young people and an anniversary show. Saturday saw a Freedom
March, staged by an association of the revolutionaries. Monday will be a
mourning day to the memory of the Revolution martyrs, while on December the 20th,
locals are to celebrate the day when Timisoara became Romania’s first city free
of communism. The revolt against Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorship commenced on
December 16th 1989 in Timisoara and quickly spread to other Romanian
cities. Over 1,000 people were killed and 3,000 wounded in the then clashes
between protesters and riot police. Romania was the only country in the Eastern
bloc, in which the communist dictatorship was overthrown through bloodshed and
its communist leaders were executed.

WEATHER Romania has been seeing mixed precipitations on large
areas and an overcast sky in most of its regions of late. Snowfalls have been
reported in the country’s west and south-west as well as in its mountainous
regions. Mixed precipitations have been reported in Romania’s central and
eastern regions as well as moderate rainfalls in the south. The highs of the
day range between -3 and 10 degrees Celsius. Weather phenomena like snowfalls,
sleet and glazed frost are expected all throughout the territory in the
following hours. Heavy snowfalls and blizzard have disrupted rail and road
traffic in the country’s west and south-west. Power outages have been reported
in towns and villages in Romania’s western regions.

HANDBALL Romania’s national handball side was outperformed
by the Netherlands on Sunday in a match counting towards the third or fourth
position of the European Women’s Handball Championships hosted by France. This
is the two sides’ second game, the first match also belonging to the Dutch
team. However, thanks to their qualification for the competition’s semifinals,
the Romanians have secured tickets for the World Championships in Japan, next
year. Romanian pivot Crina Pintea has been included in the All Stars team of
the present edition of this competition. We recall that team leader Cristina
Neagu got severely injured and that will keep her off the court for the rest of
the season. However, the goals she scored in France have allowed her to become
the best all-time scoarer in European championships. The best performance
obtained by the Romanians in a European championships was the bronze medal they
got in 2010.

(translated by bill)