The Romanian city of Timisoara is officially this year’s European Capital of Culture
As of Friday, the Romanian city of Timisoara is officially the European Capital of Culture, for almost a year. The opening spans three days, with 130 scheduled events. It is estimated that more than 15,000 spectators and more than 100 high-ranking officials from a few dozen countries will attend these events. Also, all year long, Timisoara plans to show that it is an open, brave and innovative city – as the Culture Minister, Lucian Romascanu, has stated at the opening conference.
Lucian Romascanu: This is the place where countless nationalities live, in a very good understanding, and now, with this cultural capital, we are only expanding what Timisoara has already been doing for a very long time. We were the ones who initially pre-selected the candidate cities. Timisoara managed to win. I am convinced that, at the end of the year, we will have to count, to quantify a whole series of successful events, a very large number of people who came to visit and see what happened in Timisoara. Timisoara will benefit from all the investments and all the programs from this year, for many years to come.
Romania has sent a humanitarian mission in support of earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria
Three aircraft of the Romanian Air Force have carried out a humanitarian mission on Thursday in support of the population affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the Ministry of National Defense has announced. Two C-27 J Spartan aircraft flew to Gaziantep, in Turkey and a C-130 Hercules aircraft went to Beirut, in Lebanon, to carry around 12 tons of material goods donated by the Romanian state. Aid arriving in Beirut is intended for areas of Syria under the control of the government in Damascus.
Ukrainian refugees in Romania are still in need of help
Ukrainian refugees in Romania still need support and help. The Red Cross recently sent packages for those who fled from the war and arrived in Romania’s Valcea county. They say that they need medicines, but also sanitary materials. There are currently more than a thousand Ukrainian refugees in Valcea. Volunteers from the Red Cross in Valcea along with representatives of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (ISU) have delivered a lot of aid to those who fled here because of the war. Dan Pascaru, chief inspector of ISU Vâlcea, has said that refugees need permanent help, different products and goods and that ISU is in touch with all the agencies involved in this activity to offer them support. There are currently 1,200 Ukrainian refugees in Valcea county.
Mădălina Brotăcel, RADOR
