July 24, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 24.07.2022, 13:44

Heatwave.
Warnings have been issued in Romania for powerful storms across most of the country
until Monday morning, with wind speeds of up to 75 km/hour, hail, thunderstorms
and torrential rain. An orange code warning is in place today in the centre and
east of the country, as well as the south, with forecasts of torrential rain
with precipitation exceeding 25 litres per square metre and up to 35 litres,
with as much as 50 litres per square metre in the mountains. Also, areas in 15
counties in southern and south-eastern Romania, including the capital
Bucharest, are under an orange code alert for heat and a temperature-humidity
index of over 80. Temperatures of 38-41 degrees Celsius are expected in these
regions. The heatwave will persist over the following seven days.

Schengen.
In a statement on Romanian Border Police Day, prime minister Nicolae Ciucă said
the fact that the latest report on the state of the Schengen area urges the
European Council to adopt decisions allowing Romania to join this passport-free
area is recognition of the efforts made by this country to secure its borders. Ciucă
also said that the last few years have been a challenge for the border police
personnel, who have had to deal with unusually high border flows as a result of
the pandemic and, especially the Russian aggression against Ukraine. He added
that the government will continue efforts to secure the country’s borders in
keeping with the commitments made by Romania as a member of the European Union
and as a candidate to join the Schengen area.

Ukraine.
Ukraine continues efforts to resume grain exports from Odessa and other Black
Sea ports in the wake a missile attack that placed a question mark over
Russia’s commitment to an agreement to unblock Ukrainian grain exports to
address the global food shortage caused by war, Reuters has noted. Ukraine’s president
Volodymyr
Zelensky condemned the strikes on Odessa as Russian barbarism, saying they
show that Moscow is not to be trusted in implementing Friday’s grain deal
brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. The United States and the European
Union have also strongly condemned the attack.

Monkeypox.
Romania on Saturday reported its 20th monkeypox case, as the World
Health Organisation declared this disease a global health emergency and
identified Europe as a hotbed with a high risk of virus transmission. The
European Commission said it was ready to intensify its response and EU health
commissioner Stella Kyriakides tweeted that vaccines are already being
delivered to member states. Over 16,000 monkeypox cases and five deaths have
been recorded so far in 75 different countries. Romania reported
4,000 new Covid infections, most cases being recorded in the capital Bucharest
and Ilfov, Constanţa and Prahova counties.

Danube.
The river flow of the river Danube on the Romanian section will drop in the
coming days to 1,850 cubic metres per second, which is three times below the
July average of 5,350, according to a report published by hydrologists. Initial
forecasts did not expect this level to drop below 2,500. The river flows of
domestic rivers will remain relatively stable. The Danube’s river flow dropped
because of the drought and excessively high temperatures.

Tennis.
Romanian tennis player Irina Begu is today facing Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti in
the final of the Palermo tournament worth over 200,000 US dollars in prize
money. In semis, Begu defeated Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, seeded fourth, in
three sets. This is Begu’s 9th WTA final, having won four titles, in
Taskkent in 2012, Seoul in 2015, Florianopolis in 2016 and Bucharest in 2017.
In last year’s final in Palermo, Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse lost to Danielle
Collins of the US. To date, Irina Spârlea is the only Romanian player to have
won the singles title in Palermo, in 1994 and 1995. (CM)