October 22, 2023 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 22.10.2023, 18:59

Markup. The capping of the trade markup of basic foods will be extended by 90 days in Romania, starting November 1, according to a draft ordinance posted on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, and other products will be added to the list. The list of foods with markups capped at no more than 20% will also include: minced meat, garlic, round grain rice, tomato broth, cake, margarine, yeast and cream. The draft shows that the Governments decision had a positive impact, and the extension of the application period is necessary because the winter period is coming, when households expenses with utilities increase, as well as the need for consumption during the winter holidays. The initial list included 14 basic products, including: white bread, eggs, cows milk, white wheat flour, sunflower oil, fresh chicken and pork.

Alliance. In Bucharest, the National College of the Peoples Movement Party voted for the creation of a political alliance with the Save Romania Union (USR) and Forza Dreptei (the Force of the Rigth). The decision was taken unanimously, a party press release reads. The president of the party, Eugen Tomac, who was mandated to represent PMP in the relationship with the two parties, claims that a right-wing alliance is the only solution for Romania. Two days ago, the USR leader, Cătălin Drula, had stated that the negotiations for the formation of a right-wing pole with PMP and Forța Dreptei were at an advanced stage, and the objective was a joint list for next years European parliamentary elections.

Hostage. A person having dual citizenship, Israeli and Romanian, residing in Israel, initially reported in the list of missing persons, is being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest has announced. According to the quoted source, until this moment, the Romanian Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Consulate General of Romania in Haifa have not received requests for consular support regarding the disappearance or death of other Romanian citizens in Israel and they maintain contact with the Israeli authorities. More than 200 foreign and dual-national Israeli hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza by Hamas fighters in the unprecedented attack on October 7 that sparked a war. The first release of hostages, confirmed by both sides, took place on Saturday. It is about two American women – mother and daughter, kidnapped while they were visiting the Nahal Oz kibbutz. Qatar, which negotiated the release of the two Israelis with dual citizenship, said it would continue negotiations with the Hamas organization until the release of the kidnapped civilians, regardless of nationality. For its part, Israel states that it will continue to pressure Hamas diplomatically and militarily to obtain the release of all hostages.

Gaza. A second convoy with humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday, through the Rafah crossing point, on the border with Egypt. It is aid for the Palestinian civilians there, affected by the Israeli blockade imposed after the Hamas attack on October 7. The United States announced late Saturday that it was increasing its military presence in the Middle East because of “recent escalations by Iran and its allied forces” in the region. A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), as well as several batteries of Patriot surface-to-air missiles, will be deployed “across the region,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced. The United States has also sent several ships, including aircraft carriers, to the Middle East in recent weeks. In another move, the Israeli army accused the Lebanese Hezbollah of trying to achieve a military escalation in the border area with the risk of drawing Lebanon into war, after new exchanges of fire between Israel and the Shiite group. The Gaza Peace Summit organized by Egypt ended on Saturday without a joint final statement from the 34 countries and international organizations that participated in the meeting. Instead, Israel criticized the meeting for not coming up with a direct condemnation of the Islamist group Hamas. All this time, the Israeli army has continued its preparations for a ground attack on the Gaza Strip, which it is now bombarding. About 4,400 Palestinians have lost their lives in the bombing of Gaza, after Hamas, which controls it, attacked Israel two weeks ago, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians. According to the UN, the number of people who have fled their homes in Gaza due to Israeli attacks has now risen to 1.4 million, which is almost two-thirds of the 2.2 million people who live in the Palestinian enclave.

Festival. The Astra Film Festival, the biggest international documentary film event in Romania, announced its winners last night. In the “Romania” section, the award for the best documentary went to the film “Earths Sweet Kiss”, made by the French filmmaker Gautier Gumpper. It is a film that tells the story of a Romanian who chose to live under a bridge in Strasbourg, a place he transformed into a beautiful and useful garden, while protesting in a unique way at the European Court of Human Rights for injustice against him in Romania. In the Central and Eastern Europe section, the award for the best documentary went to the film “The Northeast Winds” (Georgia), by Nikoloz Bezhanishvili, made in Stalins hometown in Georgia. The winner of the Emerging Voices of Documentary Film section is the film (France/Belgium) “Adieu Sauvage”, by Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento, a foray into the life of an Amerindian community in Colombia. And the best student documentary was designated a Romanian film – “Dancing at my parents wedding”, by Andreea Chiper. In this film, a young filmmaker watches a VHS tape from her parents wedding that took place 25 years ago, in an attempt to get to know her family better and also find herself.

Theater. The 23rdNational Theater Festival continues in Bucharest. The event takes place until October 30 and offers the public 30 productions from Romania and three foreign shows. The selection was made from over 150 shows staged in the 2022-2023 season, produced by state and independent theaters. The program also includes debates, conferences, exhibitions, evocations, reading performances, creative workshops, presentations of cultural institutions and projects, meetings and dialogues with guest artists, online events, radio shows. During the festival there is also a book fair, a true marathon of releases and presentations of new publishing products in the field of performing arts, signed by important authors and published by various publishing houses in Romania and abroad. (MI)