World Health Day in Romania
Romania is marking the World Health Day on Thursday. The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (WHO). World Health Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO, along with World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunisation Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day. This year’s edition is focused on diabetes. To mark the occasion, the WHO has released its first ever global report on diabetes, and results seemed frightening. The world has seen a nearly four-fold increase in diabetes cases over the last quarter of the century, driven by excessive weight, obesity, aging and population growth with 422 million people affected in 2014. Almost half of all deaths are allegedly due to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 while WHO expects that diabetes will be the 7th leading cause of death in 2030.
Gas deal between Romania and Bulgaria
Bulgartransgas, Transgaz Romania and Austria’s Habau PPS Pipeline Systems SRL signed an agreement concerning a gas pipe interconnector under the river Danube on Wednesday. A signing ceremony in the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia was attended by Romanian, Austrian and Bulgarian officials including Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova. The 8.9 million euro project is expected to be finalised in 119 days. „Bulgaria is expected to get its first such interconnector in history”, Ms. Petkova said after the ceremony. „The two remaining kilometers of the gas pipe are the most difficult”, Ms. Petkova pointed out as quoted by Bulgarian Focus News Agency.
A new mandate for Romania’s DNA chief
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed a decree on Wednesday confirming the reappointment of Laura Codruţa Kövesi as head of Romania’s anti-corruption watchdog, the DNA. „As far as Ms. Kövesi is concerned, I have no doubts and no questions. The great results last year of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Directorate as well as results a year before are really impressive”, President Iohannis said in a televised statement. Mr. Iohannis told the TVR he felt no restraint when he signed the document. The decree was published in The Official Gazette on Thursday with the new mandate of Ms. Kövesi expected to start on May 16.
Illegal migrants detained in western Romania
Eight migrants and their scout were detained in western Romania early on Thursday. The group included five migrants fron Sri Lanka, two refugees from Irak and another from Syria. They all said they were supposed to get to Germany and paid 1,000 euros each for the trip. The scout was a Serbian who was detained on a 24 hour arrest warrant. He is expected to appear in court where he may be put under preventive arrest.
Alexandru Danga
