News in brief

May 18, 2009160

The concert of Depeche Mode in Bucharest was postponed

The concert of the British singing band Depeche Mode, which was scheduled this Saturday, in Izvor Park, in Bucharest, was postponed, because Dave Gahan, the band’s soloist, is in hospital, the organizers inform, Emagic Entertainment.

“Depeche Mode officially informed that the concert which the band was supposed to perform this Saturday, May 16, in Bucharest, will no longer take place at the date set. This is the third concert within the tour , postponed by the band in Athens and in Istanbul, as well,” the web site Emagic reads. “We regret that the concert shall not be performed at the date set, we only hope that Dave recovers soon. These are indeed difficult moments, first for the members of Depeche Mode, but we are confident that the fans from Romania realize the situation and are close to Dave and his group. We are currently in contact with the agent of the tour to reschedule the concert,” said Laura Coroianu, Executive Manager Emagic. Should the concert be rescheduled, the new date shall be subsequently communicated, the tickets bought for May 16 being valid also for the new date. Those who bought the ticket and do not wish or are unable to participate in the event at the new date, they would be refunded at the selling point where they bought the ticket from until May 20. The refund shall cover only the value of the ticket which the buyer can present as being intact and valid within 12 weeks since this date.

Romania, France to sign cinematography cooperation agreement

Minister of Culture, Theodor Paleologu, and his French counterpart, Christine Albanel, will sign today, within Cannes International Film Festival, “The Co-Production Agreement in the field of cinematography between Government of Romania and Government of the French Republic”. The document sets up the legal framework for joint cinema productions, with a view of deepening cooperation between the two countries in the field of cinematography and culture, a press release issues by the Culture Ministry in Bucharest reads.

0 Shares

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

SPORTS

NEWS IN BRIEF

May 18, 20090

Ladislau Boloni selected coach of the year in Belgium

The coach of the team Standard Liege, Ladislau Boloni was selected coach of the year in Belgium, on Sunday evening, during this year’s edition of the Professional Footballers’ Gala that took place in Lint, the Belgian press announced. Last year, the best coach was Michel Preud’homme.

Boloni, who gained 700 points, reached surpassed Preud’homme (344 points), Ariel Jacobs (314 points), Jan Ceulemans (172 points), Glen de Boeck (115 points), Francky Dury (113 points), Aime Anthuenis (87), Peter Maes (84), Enzo Scifo (70) and John Collins (49) in the best Belgian coaches’ charts.

During the same ceremony, Mbark Boussofa from Anderlecht was selected footballer of the year.
At the end of the season in Belgium, Standard Liege and Anderlecht Brussels have an equal number of points, 77, therefore, the title of Champion will be offered after a tiebreak game in two legs. The first leg of the game of Anderlecht vs. Standard will take place on May 21, in Brussels, and the return leg will take place in Liege, on May 24.

Antena 1 pays LFP the 2009-2010 football broadcasting rights

The Antena 1 – RCS & RDS consortium on Friday paid to the Professional Football League (LPF) the 2009-2010 football broadcasting rights, noting that the precarious economic circumstances caused by the global crisis would have called for at least a re-negotiation of the contract. According to a statement made by Antena 1CEO Dan Matiescu to Mediafax, the Antena 1 – RCS&RDS consortium has paid LPF the rights to broadcast football matches in the 2009-2010 season, ‘although the precarious economic circumstances caused by the global crisis, as well as a series of unwanted developments in the Romanian football community, would have called for at least a re-negotiation of the contract.’ ‘The Antena 1 – RCS&RDS consortium has been explained by LPF President Dumitru Dragomir the importance of this contract for the survival of many of the football clubs and understands to continue investing in the Romanian football,’ the press release further reads.

Phelps tastes first defeat in a year

Michael Phelps was jolted by a rare defeat and reminded of the work that lies ahead after he finished second to Aaron Peirsol in the 100 metres backstroke at the Charlotte Grand Prix on Saturday.

Phelps, on only his second day of competition since his record eight gold medal haul at the Beijing Olympics, was well beaten to the wall, his time of 53.79 a far cry from Peirsol’s 53.32. The loss was the 23-year-old American’s first in a final in almost exactly a year, and his conqueror the same man. It was compatriot Peirsol who beat Phelps in the 200m backstroke at the Santa Carla Grand Prix on May 17. “I don’t like to lose and Aaron has the upper hand in our races right now,” Phelps told reporters. After sweeping the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly on Friday – events he won in Beijing – Phelps stepped out of his comfort zone to take on world record holder Peirsol in the backstroke. The result was a spanking defeat, and a sobering reminder of the challenge the American faces to topple the two-time Olympic champion at the 2012 London Games.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

SPORTS

News in brief

May 18, 20090

Florin Prunea formally charged with corruption

The Romanian Football Association (FRF) director for international relations, Florin Prunea, was formally charged Friday with influence peddling and bribe-taking in connection to cancellation of a RON 300,000 fine issued by the FRF Disciplinary Commission and sent to Cornel Penescu, owner of the F.C. Arges, judicial sources said. Anti-corruption prosecutors began legal proceedings against Florin Prunea, who is charged with allegedly receiving about USD 10,000 from Cornel Penescu in order to be instrumental to a resolution favourable to the F.C. Arges owner over the fine, according to the quoted sources.

Prunea got the money in order to influence a relevant decision by the FRF commission members.

Lumininta Hutupan withdrew from handball

Luminita Hutupan-Dinu, goalkeeper of present national Champion Oltchim and of the national team of Romania withdrew from handball definitively on Saturday, when she played for the last time as a member of the Valcea team, in the game vs. Otelul Galati, in the final stage of the Women National League. Now, her future goals are a child and a career as a goalkeeper coach. At the end of the game, Luminita Hutupan-Dinu won the title of the best goalkeeper of the National League in the 2008/2009 season, one more distinction to complete an impressive list: three trophies in Champions’ League, with Krim Ljubljana (2001, 2003) and Kometal (2002), the Cup Winners’ Cup with Oltchim (2007), three European Super Cups with Kometal (2002), Krim (2003) and Oltchim (2007), eleven titles of national champion with Oltchim (5) and Krim (6). She won a silver medal with the national team at the World Championship of Russia in 2005, when she was voted as the world’s best goalkeeper.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

Social

NEWS IN BRIEF

May 18, 20090

Former chief of Acvila: The acquisitions were made correctly

The former chief of Acvila, Valeriu Mihai, declared on Monday for Mediafax that the acquisitions for this unit were made through the specialized divisions of the Ministry of Administration and Home Affairs (MAI), according to strict rules, the recent information about such acquisitions being erroneous and biased. Commissioner Valeriu Mihai explained that the public acquisitions are made only subject to CPV – joint public acquisition codes which include several products, although this does not mean that all the products from the respective code are purchased.

MAE organises six ballot stations in theatres of operation

Romanian troops in theatres of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo can express their voting options in the June 7 European parliamentary elections at six voting stations set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Afghanistan, there will be opened three ballot stations, in Kabul, Kandahar and Zabul, in Kosovo, two, in the western city of Pec and in Pristina, and one, at Tallil, Iraq. Troopers could not vote at the November 30, 2008 ballot, as according to the uninominal legislative elections legislation, only the persons with the place of abode or residence in the country where they found themselves at the time of the voting were eligible to vote.

Unemployed Romanian won EUR 100,000 at the lottery in Italy

A Romanian citizen who recently arrived in Italy in order to seek a job won EUR 100,000 after playing the lottery with a ticket worth no more than EUR 2, purchased in the city Treviso, in the province of Veneto, the local press announced. The owners of the agency where the Romanian had bought his ticket declared that, at first, he failed to comprehend that he had won because he did not speak Italian. When he finally realized that he was the lucky winner of EUR 100,000, the Romanian left the store in a hurry.

Lottery jackpot rolls over again

The over EUR 10.5 M Lottery jackpot on Sunday rolled over. The numbers drawn on Sunday were: 11, 24, 46, 30, 38 and 19, the ‘Luck’ number being 2703914. The rollover in category I was RON 43.6 M, so the Lottery estimated the prize funds on Sunday to be of about EUR 10.5 M. The Lottery has decided to allocate 45 per cent of the total prize funds to categories II and III for this Sunday’s draw.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

Social

NEWS IN BRIEF

May 18, 20090

300 researchers attended protest in Bucharest yesterday

Almost 300 researchers attended a protest in front of the residence of the Ministry of Education yesterday, discontent with the money allocated to them from the state budget, Realitatea TV announced. Researchers also complained that they are unable to manage the budget allocated for Research because it is under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The President of the Research, Projection, Development and Technology Unions Federation, Radu Minea considers that this policy continues to “ruin” this domain, after the destruction was started during 2004 – 2008 by low financing and “malevolent presentation” of the scientific research programs in the Goods and Services chapter, that generated huge negative implications, Agerpres reported. “We want to draw everybody’s attention on the destruction of this field which is highly important for every country,” Minea declared. Ecaterina Andronescu stated that the separation of research from the Ministry of Education was out of the question, as for the lack of money, the Ministry of Finances had already promised that this domain would be granted priority at the first budget rectification.

Ministry of Education requests Romanian exam reanalysis

Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu demanded school inspectors to reanalyze the Romanian written exam papers because she had noticed that there were huge differences among schools, and also among counties, Agerpres reported.

“We had a discussion with all general inspectors of all counties and considered that it was natural to make an analysis of the results, after every evaluation. At the level of each school, I asked inspectors to check whether the results are similar to those granted during the semester or there are high differences, so that we could draw some conclusions and go further – whether the tests are highly revealing or not, and we will decide whether to maintain them or not,” Andronescu explained.

There are schools that registered a test passing percentage of 100 pc and schools where less then 20 per cent of the school children passed the tests. Moreover, there are schools where no student passed the test – such as a unit in Dolj County.

Inspectors think that these tests should be eliminated, yet a decision will be reached only after all tests will be analyzed, Antena 3 reported. Over 400,000 schoolchildren in the seventh and eighth grade attended this Romanian exam on May 7. Up to this moment, some of them were not revealed the results of the exam.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

Social

News in brief

May 18, 20090

MAE denies visa traffic case at the Romanian Embassy in Ankara

Severe accusations were launched in August 2008 against the employees of the Romanian Embassy in Ankara. Therefore, according to the Austrian press, two employees were arrested last August for collaborating with a network of traffickers who had illegitimately introduced thousands of Turks in Austria, by helping them getting through Romania and Hungary. A year ago, the Austrian police officers have stopped an illegally traveling group of persons on the highway. At that time, seven members of the network were arrested. The investigation moved to Turkey, where two employees of the Romanian Embassy were arrested last August. Allegedly the Romanian employees were involved in visa trafficking and helped thousands of Turks to travel through Romania and Hungary and to get to Austria, more precisely to Salzburg. The leadership of the national Austrian police had prepared to issue a press release for September 2008, yet the Ministry of Internal Affairs had stopped the document before it could reach the public due to the forthcoming elections.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) denied information revealed by the Austrian press regarding the two employees of the Romanian Embassy to Ankara. “MAE denies all the information according to which two civil servants employed by the Romanian Embassy in Turkey were arrested last year,” MAE spokesman Alin Serbanescu stated yesterday, quoted by Mediafax.

7plus: MediaPro and Intact fight for Ringier

According to a scenario of the journalists from the daily “7plus,” MediaPro is already carrying negotiations to take over the media trust Ringier, while Intact wants the same thing. Thus, although it has already announced that it does not sell any title from the portfolio held in Romania, the Swiss group Ringier is in advanced negotiations with Publimedia, 7plus reads. The negotiations with Publimedia come in the context in which Michael Ringier, the owner of the trust with the same name, has recently declared that his media trust forms the object of an audit further to which he will decide what he sells and what he closes down. Presently, the discussions with Publimedia are in the stage of strategic collaboration likely to finally conduct to the sale of shares. Ringier Romania has in its portfolio the publications “Evenimentul Zilei,” “Libertatea,” “Capital,” “TvMania” and “Unica.” The trust has recently entered a partnership with the Turks from Kanal D intended to improve the business opportunities of both trusts.

Antonescu: Tariceanu wasted the money!

For the first time since he assumed the leadership of PNL, Crin Antonescu launched himself in a tough attack against Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Thus, he seems to have forgotten to what political group he belongs, launching accusations similar to those of PDL and PSD: Tariceanu Government wasted public money for electoral considerations. “My feeling is that Tariceanu Government wasted money. Or, let’s not say waste, be could have tightened the purse strings, to use an idiom,” Antonescu said, according to the edition of Friday of the daily ‘Evenimentul Zilei.’ He declared that prudence would have been necessary because at the top they knew about the danger of the crisis.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

BUSINESS

NEWS IN BRIEF

May 18, 20090

BNR attracted RON 154 M from the banks yesterday

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) sterilized the cash surplus on the market yesterday by attracting RON 154 million from commercial banks by reversed repo operations re-purchasable in seven days at an interest rate of 9.5 per cent, equal with the monetary policy interest rate, according to Mediafax. Thus, the central bank attracted the cash excess from three banks and offered them in return state shares it will repurchase on May 25. On Monday, the commercial banks listed, for the third day in a row, stagnant interest rates of 9.05–9.55 per cent for one-day deposits. For one-week deposits, the rates registered a slight increase, from 9.28 per cent – 9.78 per cent, up to 9.40–9.90 per cent.

Romania, 19th in the top most attractive outsourcing destinations

Romania has climbed 14 positions in an index of the most attractive outsourcing destinations in the world, worked out by the consultancy company A.T. Kearney, arriving on the place 19 out of 50. Romania has gone up rapidly in terms of investment attractiveness for outsourcing in the classification drawn up by A.T. Kearney, from the place 33 in 2007 to the place 19 in 2009. Romania had the best evolution in the classification and registered a Global Services Location Index of 5.12 against 6.91 in India, leader of the classification, and 3.98 in Portugal, considered the least attractive destination included in the survey for the outsourcing industry.

LukOil Romania raises petrol and Diesel fuel price by RON 0.002/litre

Yesterday, LukOil Romania raised the price of fuels sold through its own network by RON 0.002/litre, according to Hotnews.ro. At the same time, the company decreased LPG price by RON 0.009/litre. The unleaded Euroluk COR 95 petrol now costs RON 3.59/litre and the unleaded Super Euroluk COR 98 costs RON 4.17. The Euro L Diesel variety costs RON 3.46 a litre and the Super Euro L Diesel costs RON 3.65 a litre. A litre of LPG costs less by RON 0.002 – RON 1.75.

Traffic on Soseaua Nicolae Titulescu closed for six months

Traffic on Soseaua Nicolae Titulescu, on the segment between Calea Grivitei and A.I. Cuza Blvd., was closed yesterday for around six months, for the finalization of the access to Basarab flyover passage, Bucharest City Hall announced on Friday, according to Realitatea TV. Access on the above-mentioned segment will be allowed only to riparian, on the lanes boarding Soseaua Nicolae Titulescu, while on Petru Rares Street there will be a unique direction from Calea Grivitei towards A.I.Cuza Blvd. A unique direction will be also on Comana Street, from Soseaua Nicolae Titulescu to Calea Grivitei.

Innovative Norway: Between tradition and modernism

Test

BUSINESS

NEWS IN BRIEF

May 18, 20092

Sumitomo closes Polish facility, move to Romania

Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems Polska (SEWSP) is to close its facility in Rawicz and transfer all production to Romania, according to evertiq.com, Hotnews informs. EMS Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems Polska (SEWSP) is a producer of wire harnesses for the automotive industry. It main customer of its two Polish facilities – in Rawicz and Leszno – is Toyota. A week ago, employees at Rawicz were informed, that their facility will be closed by the end of October this year. The facility currently employs around 1,200 people, of which 300 will be transferred to the company’s facility in Leszno (with currently 1,000 staff).Rumours suggest that the company wants to sell the Rawicz facility for 60 million z?. The officials from SEWS Romania confirm this information. Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems is an American corporation owned by Sumitomo Electric Industries of Osaka, Japan, and Sumitomo

EUR 200 M investment for the Sun Plaza trade center

The Sun Plaza trade center, located in the South Square area in Bucharest, will be inaugurated this October, after an investment that totalized EUR 200 million, according to developer EMCT Romania. At the time being, over 900 workers are contributing to the finalization of the greatest building in Bucharest, on a total surface of 210,000 square metres. Projected by the architecture office Chapman Taylor, Sun Plaza provides over 80,000 square metres of commercial space, as well as a building of A class offices and 8,300 metres of space for rent that will be built afterwards, in the second stage of the project. The customers will be granted 2,000 parking seats on two subterranean levels while the connection with the South subway station will be made through the subterranean passage that leads directly inside Sun Plaza. The greatest surface of the Sun Plaza building will be rented by the Cora hypermarket (23,000 square metres), followed by Mobexpert (10,300 square metres), Baumax – the Austrian DIY network (10,000 square metres), the household products supplier Flanco (that rented a surface of 2,500 square metres) and by Cinema City (with 15 halls and 3,000 seats). According to the company Sparkassen Immobilien AG, the investor of the project, “over 85 per cent of the space is already rented and the renting process continues without any difficulty,” and no more than a few units are available at the time being.

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts

Related posts