5 May, 2019

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 05.05.2019, 14:06

VISIT – As of
today, Pope Francis is on a visit to Bulgaria, where he will meet diplomats and
representatives of civil society and of various religious denominations,
including Patriarch Neofit. In the capital Sofia, the Pope will pray alongside
believers and will visit a refugee camp nearby. The Bulgarian Prime Minister
Boiko Borisov has stated that the visit of the Sovereign Pontiff is an example
of religious tolerance. The next leg of the Pope’s tour will be North
Macedonia. In Skopje he will hold a mass near the monument of the most famous
inhabitant of the city, Mother Theresa. The BBC reports that the
Roman-Catholics account for less than 1% of the populations of the two
countries, where predominant is the Orthodox belief. The Pope has made
significant efforts to improve the relations between the Eastern and Western Christian
churches. We recall that over May 31st – June 2nd, Pope
Francis will travel to Romania, which is also a predominantly Orthodox country.
It will be the second visit to Romania by a Sovereign Pontiff, after the one of
John Paul II, some twenty years ago.

BUSINESS – In the
first quarter of 2019, the number of foreign ownership companies newly set up
in Romania grew by 9% as compared to the same period last year, going up to
1500, according to data provided by the National Trade Registry Office in
Bucharest. On March 31st, 2019, there were some 223,000 such
companies in Romania. Most of them, approximately 48,000 are Italian, but the
highest value of the capital – 13 billion dollars – is that of the Dutch companies.

EUROPE
DAY – Europe Day is celebrated in Rome by means of a concert to be given this
evening by the Romanian Youth Orchestra, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, under
the baton of Rafael Butnaru. The programme will include pieces by Puccini,
Vivaldi, Mozart, Corelli, Enescu and Bartok. The event is held against the
background of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU and was
organized by the Romanian Embassy in Italy, the European Commission Representation
in Italy and Accademia di Romania in Rome. Europe Day has also been marked in
Paris, with exhibitions, concerts, debates, film screenings and culinary
workshops. Romania is a guest of honour, alongside Finland, the country that
will take over the presidency in July.

MIRCEA
– The training ship ‘Mircea’, described by the Romanian Naval Forces as
Romania’s oldest maritime ambassador, has set sail for an international
training march, marking 80 years of active service. For a period of three
months, the vessel will sail across the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, the
Aegean and the Mediterranean, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.
The crew will be joined by cadets from naval academies in Albania, Bulgaria,
China, France, Poland, Portugal, Turkey and Ukraine. The march was planned as a
memento due to end in the port of Hamburg, Germany, where the ship was built.
The name of the ship is that of ruler Mircea cel Batran (‘Michael the old’),
who ruled Wallachia six centuries ago and under whose reign domestic navigation
and sea trade developed significantly.

STRIKES
– The Israeli army have strengthened their presence along the border with Gaza,
after reporting that more than 450 missiles had been fired against southern
Israel by the Palestinian radical groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in just
two days. According to an army spokesperson, armoured vehicles are ready for a
ground operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that he ordered
the continuation of air strikes, in response to Palestinians’ attacks. Reuters
reports that a missile fired from Gaza has killed an Israeli civilian. Victims among
the Palestinian militants have also been reported.

TENNIS – The Romanian tennis player Simona
Halep, no.3 in the WTA rankings and 3rd seed is today playing against the
Russian Margarita Gasparyan (65 WTA) in the first round of the Madrid Open,
with 7 million Euros in prize money. Halep won the Madrid trophy in 2016 and in
2017. Last year she left the tournament in the quarter finals. Also today, the
Romanian Sorana Cirstea (93 WTA) is playing against the American Madison Keys
(14 WTA) and Mihaela Buzarnescu (29 WTA) is taking on the Croat Ajla Tomljanovic
(43 WTA). On Saturday, another Romania, Irina Begu, was defeated in the inaugural
round by Iulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

WEATHER – Severe
weather is expected to hit Romania starting Sunday until Wednesday morning.
Heavy rain, powerful winds and hail storms are expected over extended areas.
The weather will get significantly colder and it will snow in the mountain
areas. Water quantities will exceed 25 litres per square meters in many areas,
and will reach as much as 60 litres in some parts of the country.