August 16, 2024 UPDATE

Click here for the latest news from RRI

Newsroom, 16.08.2024, 20:00

Gas – Romania currently has 2.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas stored in underground storages, which accounts for over 88% of the total storage capacity, given that, according to the European directives, the storages must be 85% full on September 1, the Energy Minister, Sebastian Burduja, announced on Friday. According to an Energy Ministry press release “daily, Romania produces approximately 25 million cubic meters of natural gas, consumes about half, and another 10 – 11 million cubic meters are stored”. Sebastian Burduja has also announced that Romania will continue to store natural gas until it reaches 100% of its storage capacity. According to him, the storage of natural gas for the winter season is all the more important since the neighboring Ukraine has announced that it will no longer extend the transit contract of Russian gas on its territory.

Pensions – 4.6 million Romanian pensioners are to receive higher pensions by the end of the month. According to the Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity, Simona Bucura-Oprescu, over 80% of the pensioners are to benefit from recalculated pensions. Roughly two million are to get their pensions higher by 100 Euros. For more than one million the rises will range between 500 and 1,000 lei but 7,700 of them will see more than 3 thousand lei added to their initial pensions. Significant raises will see the people who worked over 40 years and didn’t benefit from the correction index of the past years. According to Minister Bucura-Oprescu, no pension cuts will be operated, and people will receive their recalculated pensions in September.

Gymnastics – The Romanian gymnast Ana Maria Barbosu on Friday came into the possession of the bronze medal won in the floor final at the Olympic Games in Paris. The event took place in a ceremony organized on Friday on the esplanade of the Olympic House in Bucharest, following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. We remind you that, on August 5, in the floor final, Ana Maria Bărbosu was awarded the bronze medal for a few tens of seconds, but the American Jordan Chiles filed an appeal and her score was increased, so she finished in third position. Later, Romania also filed an appeal, which was finally approved. “I am happy to be in the possession of this medal and I hope to continue representing Romania at the highest level and to bring it as many medals as possible”, said the athlete.

Migrants – 32 migrants were discovered, on Friday, hidden in a truck driven by a Romanian at the border point at Nădlac II, in Arad county in western Romania. They come, according to the border police, from Iraq, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan and intended to fraudulently cross the border with Hungary in order to reach Western Europe. The truck driver is being investigated for migrant trafficking, and the citizens discovered are being investigated for attempting to cross the border fraudulently. According to the waybill, the driver was transporting furniture on the Romania-Italy route.

Navy Day – ‘Romania has been acknowledged and appreciated by its allies as a solid pillar of regional security and a major contributor to the process of strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defense posture on its eastern flank’ the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis said in Constanta, on the Romanian Black Sea Coast, where he participated in the events dedicated to Navy Day celebrated on Thursday. According to Iohannis, although we are living in times marked by multiple security challenges, in the context of the war Russia is waging on Ukraine, Romania is today a safe and stable country and its citizens are defended and protected against any potential threat. Thousands of tourists and citizens of Constanta gathered to watch the biggest naval show of the year, which involved the participation of over two thousand sailors and servicemen from Romania and the armed forces deployed here. The event was also attended by 15 military vessels, coast guard patrol boats, F-16 fighters, surveillance aircraft belonging to the USA and France, Puma Naval helicopters and paratroopers. (LS)