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April 6, 2009168

Romanians won two silver medals and one bronze at the Gymnastics European Championships

Flavius Koczi won a silver medal at the vault competition on Sunday, while his colleague Anamaria Tamarjan won another silver medal at the balance beam competition on the same day at the Artistic Gymnastics Individual European Championships in Milan. The balance beam competition also offered a bronze medal to another Romanian gymnast, Gabriela Dragoi. These are the only trophies won by Romanian sportsmen at the Italian championships, the first major competition of the new Olympic cycle, for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Tamarjan’s performance at the balance beam competition included no mistakes, only a few hesitations that brought her a score of 14.750 points. The Romanian lost the golden medal due to a difference of 0.25 points, as the Ukrainian Jana Demianchuk obtained 14.775 points and thus topped the podium. The score of 14.650 points brought gymnast Gabi Dragoi the third position.

Eusebiu Diaconu won European bronze

Eusebiu Diaconu won a bronze medal on Saturday at the 60 kg category of the Greco-Roman Wrestling European Championships in Vilnius.

The Romanian team attending the competition in Lithuania also won a silver medal, due to Estera Dobre (48 kg) and a bronze medal, due to Ana Maria Paval (55 kg).

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April 6, 20090

One dead and three seriously injured in car crash

A tragedy occurred on the road that connects Sebes and Deva, Antena 3 reports. The driver of a vehicle wanted to turn left but he failed to see the lorry that was coming from the opposite direction. The vehicle was hit violently and the passengers were extricated from the mangled wreckage by the special rescue crews. When the rescue crews arrived the vehicle’s driver did not even suspect that the passenger to his right was dead and that two other women were seriously injured. Everything happened too fast. The ambulances and the extrication crews arrived immediately. The driver was taken to the Targu-Mures hospital by helicopter. The doctors are however sceptical about the man’s chances of survival. The other two victims are hospitalized within the Alba Iulia County Hospital. The crash blocked traffic on National Road 7 for well over two hours on both lanes.

Drug dealers’ network identified by Police in Baia Mare

A network of four drug dealers has been identified in Baia Mare at the end of investigations beginning in January and leading to 12 drug users, all pupils aged from 16 to 18, buying the drugs from the four suspects, Realitatea TV reports. One of the dealers was remanded in custody for 29 days on Sunday and the other three suspects for 18 days. The spokesperson for the Maramures County Police, Voichita Zehan, yesterday stated that, after searching the addresses of the four drug dealers, the authorities had found various quantities of cannabis as well as instruments used for the use, portioning and weighing of the drugs.

Senate sittings viewable online

The plenary sitting of the Senate are available online on the website of the institution – www.senat.ro. The public access to the plenary sessions of the Senate via the internet is part of a project designed to reform the work of the Senate, initiated at the beginning of the year. According to a presentation made by the Speaker of the Senate, Mircea Geoana, on March 25, on the occasion of the release of the new website of the institution, the programme’s main objective is to build public confidence in the legislative body, along three main action lines: increase the effectiveness of the legislative process and the transparency of the activity of the Senate, establish partnerships with institutions of the state and of the society and consolidate the relationship of the Senate with the citizens in general and with the young people in particular. Senate sittings will be held in major cities in the country, magazines will be published after each parliamentary season and a weekly newsletter for interested members of the public will be organised as part of the programme.

European Commissioner Margot Wallstrom visits Bucharest

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margot Wallstrom, in charge of institutional relations and communication strategy, is visiting Romania today to meet with the Speakers of the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament, as well as with students and women involved in lobby activities, Agerpres informs. In the morning, the European official will see Senate Speaker Mircea Geoana and then she will participate in a round table dedicated to the celebration of 20 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, held at the Palace of the Parliament.

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April 6, 20090

Paszkany, biggest PD-L sponsor

‘Citizen’ Arpad Paszkany is on the list of the most generous PD-L finaanciers, alongside controversial businessmen Iavorsku and Dorin Cocos. According to ‘Financiarul’ daily, last year Paszkany donated RON 1.45 M to PD-L through eight companies under his control. At the same time, the Cluj-Napoca County from which the current Premier Emil Boc comes was PD-L’s largest source of financing in 2008 and Paszkany is the most generous financier in Boc’s County. Thus, last year PD-L had raised RON 33.3 M from donations, while PSD reportedly obtained RON 13 M. ‘Financiarul’ adds that within PSD the top offices are split between Radu Mazare’s people and the shareholders of the paint producers. The list of generous PD-L sponsors, in other words of those that donated more that RON 100,000 apiece last year, includes controversial businessman Constantin Iavorsky. Iavorsky made the donations through the Unicom Tranzit Company. The list also includes the well-known names of Dan Sucu, the owner of Mobexpert who donated RON 50,000 to the party, alongside his former wife Sucu Camelia Georgeta who donated only RON 37,000 but also the ubiquitous Dorin Cocos, the husband of Minister of Tourism Elena Udrea, who donated RON 13,000.

Romanian MEPs to be received in audience by Sovereign Pontiff

The MEPs Corina Cretu, Daciana Sarbu, Sebastian Bodu and Marian-Jean Marinescu will be received in audience by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, at the Vatican, this Wednesday, occasion on which they will present a message for harmonious cohabitation between Romanians and Italians, Mediafax reports. The Romanian delegation of MEPs will participate to the General Audience from the Vatican, after which it will be received by the Sovereign Pontiff, to whom they will convey the message.

The Romanian MEPs will also have meetings with the secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral care of Migrants and Itinerants, Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, and the secretary for relations with the states – the equivalent of the foreign minister – Monsignor Dominique Mamberti.

“During these meetings, the members of the European Parliament will present the situation of the Romanians from Italy, further to the repeated waves of disparaging accusations and acts of hostility, going up to violence, directed against our fellow citizens, and will emphasize the importance of the involvement of the Catholic Church in the return to a climate of mutual understanding,” equally shows a press release remitted to Mediafax agency.

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April 6, 20090

FM to pay official visit to Azerbaijan

Wednesday and Thursday, FM Cristian Diaconescu will pay an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan, at the invitation of his counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, the Foreign Minister informs by press release quoted by Agerpres. Apart from the talks between FM Diaconescu and his Azerbaijani counterpart, the visit agenda also includes meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, with Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov and with First Vice-Premier Yagub Eyubov. The visit is taking place in the context of Romania’s taking over on January 1 the role of NATO embassy-focal point in Baku.

FM Diaconescu will deliver a speech at the opening of the international conference ‘NATO – An Alliance of Full Political Maturity,’ organised with the support of the Romanian Embassy to Baku. In that capacity, the Romanian Embassy to Baku will organise a number of conferences, seminars and workshops on NATO themes in co-operation with the NATO International Secretariat, Azerbaijani authorities and local partners. It will also initiate projects of co-operation between Romanian and Azerbaijani higher education institutions and organise study and research visits for opinion-makers, academics, students and journalists from Azerbaijan to the headquarters of the Alliance and to Romania.

Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure to enter process of parliamentary debate

The leaders of the ruling coalition yesterday agreed to introduce the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to the legislative circuit with consideration given to the fact that both are very close to completion by the specialised commissions of the Parliament, without waiting for the Civil Code to be also finalised, Mediafax informs.

‘The two special commissions working in Parliament on the Criminal and Civil Codes are at different stages in their activity. Our suggestion was that, since the debates on the Criminal Code are much closer to completion, we could introduce it into the Parliament sooner,’ PSD Vice-President Gheorghe Nichita said after the coalition meeting yesterday. He pointed out that the leaders of the coalition had agreed that the chairmen of the two special commissions of the Parliament should prepare an evaluation of the stage of debates on the two codes and that a decision would be made not to wait for both codes to be finalised and tabled in Parliament together, but to introduce into the legislative process the one that is ready first.

‘There is also a discussion about harmonization to actually prevent aspects that have become clear in the public debates that have been organised so far,’ Nichita said about the codes.

The Government is supposed to take responsibility for the legal codes in Parliament on May 15.

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April 6, 20090

Flying Carpet intends to operate charter flights on the Black Sea

One of the biggest tourism firms from Israel, Flying Carpet, intends to operate charter flights on the Black Sea littoral starting this summer, or the next year at the latest, declared Corina Martin, president of the National Association of the Tourism Agencies from Romania (ANAT), Mediafax informs. “Flying Carpet representatives will come to visit the hotels from the littoral by the end of April. They will come to see chiefly the four and five star hotels and the casinos,” Corina Martin said. She added that the Israeli company intends to operate, in the first stage, a charter flight per week on Kogalniceanu Airport from Constanta. “We shall establish meetings of Flying Carpet delegation with representatives of the Tourism Ministry, and also with the management of Kogalniceanu Airport, because they are interested also in the airport taxes. I don’t know if they have time to start operating this summer, but they could come next year,” ANAT President stressed.

Corina Martin, new President of ANAT

Corina Martin, president of the Association for the Promotion and Development of Littoral Tourism, was elected at the head of the owners’ associations of tourism agencies – ANAT, over a period of two years (2009-2010), Agerpres informs. The new leadership of ANAT consists of the following: president Corina Martin (Mistral Voyages and Mistral Tours – Constanta); first vice president: Dragos Anastasiu (Eurolines group) and George Sorin Nicolescu (Olimpic International); vice presidents: Alin Burcea (Paralela 45), Malin Malineanu (New Concept Travel), Petre Balas (Peter Express), Ciprian Popescu (Danubius – TUI).

Romtelecom releases four mobile Internet subscriptions

Yesterday, Romtelecom launched four subscriptions enabling customers in nearly 470 localities to connect to the Internet by wireless technology at transfer speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps, at rates from EUR 8.21/ month including VAT, reads an operator press release. Called Clicknet Mobile Internet, the service is available for residential customer sand companies in several cities including: Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Piatra Neamt, Ploiesti, Constanta, Arad, Iasi, Sibiu, Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Oradea and Galati. The new services will be launched and promoted at a local and regional level and their coverage will be continuously expanded to serve other areas (urban and rural) in the country. Romtelecom now has almost basic stations installed, but their number will grow every day.

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April 6, 20094

Renault launches new Megane with prices starting at EUR 12,900

Renault has started to sell the new Megane in Romania, at prices ranging from EUR 12,900 to EUR 17,500, VAT included, depending on the engine and equipping options, Hotnews informs. The French have also launched the new Megane coupe. The prices for the Megane series start from EUR 12,900 with VAT included for the 1.6-liter gasoline, 16V 110 HP engine option. The engine options for the two models also include two turbo diesel Common Rail 1.5 dCi 105 HP and 1.9 dCi 130 HP engine options. All the engine options have a manual 6-stage gearbox. The prices reach EUR 17.450 for the Privilege equipping option and the 130 HP diesel engine. When it comes to the gasoline engine with the Dynamique equipping option the price stands at EUR 13, 850, while the cheapest diesel engine costs EUR 14,600, with the Expression equipping option and the 105 HP engine. For the Megane coupe the prices start off from EUR 14,350 for the Dynamique equipping option and 110 HP gasoline engine and reach EUR 17,950 for the diesel engine 130 HP Privilege equipping option model. Megane’s sales in Romania have dropped last year by 47 per cent, from approximately 12,000 units to 6,200.

Richard Moat tipped to be new T-Mobile UK MD

Richard Moat is understood to be announced as the new UK MD of T-Mobile, according to Mobiletoday, HotNews.ro informs. Moat, a Brit, would join from Orange Romania, where he has been CEO since September 2004, but has also had CEO roles for Orange in Thailand and Denmark. T-Mobile wouldn’t confirm Moat as the new MD, stating a new appointment would be made in due course. Moat’s appointment at T-Mobile would mark the end of a 17-year career at Orange, where he gained prominence internally after managing to introduce financial stability at the helm of the volatile Danish market. Moat is understood to have been a former colleague of T-Mobile’s financial director and acting boss since former UK MD Jim Hyde left, Lars Nordmark. Nordmark and Moat had worked together at Orange Denmark. Nordmark was brought into the UK in 2007 from T-Mobile’s Austrian business, replacing Johnnes Schmidt-Shultes. Moat’s background as a corporate finance director at Orange, is believed to have been attractive to T-Mobile’s board in Germany, who were looking for tight financial management of the UK business. Moat is also credited with being one of the individuals to have created and developed the Orange brand in the late 1990s.

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