Wednesday, April 20th

World Press Freedom Day

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.
UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organisation or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.
The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano’s writings had offended Colombia’s powerful drug barons.

Former Romanian President Traian Băsescu under investigation

Former Romanian President Traian Băsescu is accused of extensive money laundering for illegally acquiring real estate in 2000 and 2002, according to the statement the former president made on Wednesday. Romania’s General Prosecutor’s Office opened a file against Mr. Băsescu involving land deals in the capital Bucharest’s Băneasa suburb. The case also involves Costel Căşuneanu, a controversial businessman previously involved in a bribery case six years ago. The move comes following a complaint by Mugur Ciuvică, a controversial political analyst, former adviser of former Romanian President Emil Constantinescum currently head of the Group for Political Investigations (GIP). Mr. Băsescu said that investigators actually wanted to open the enquiry in 2012 at a time when he was still president of Romania. But the case reopened last year following a request put forward by prosecutors with the Romania’s High Court.

Protests at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest

Trade unionists of the Sanitas Federation are picketing the Parliament Palace in Romania’s capital Bucharest on Wednesday. Also attending the protests are trade unionists of the CNSLR Frăţia, Romania’s largest trade union organisation. Thousands of workers and health workers in Romania have previously protested against low salaries and endemic underfunding of the health system which have led to thousands of doctors and nurses seeking work abroad. Workers massed outside Parliament offices in pouring rain in their attempt to meet the speakers of the two chambers in Parliament. The Sanitas health trade union says 30,000 doctors and nurses have left Romania in recent years due to low salaries and underfunding.

Radio Romania’s Gaudeamus Book Fair opens in Cluj-Napoca

Radio Romania’s Gaudeamus Book Fair opens in the Transylvanian town of Cluj-Napoca on Wednesday. The five-day fair in the Union Plaza of the town will host more than 130 events – quite a record for the Gaudeamus caravan. A similar edition is expected in the Romanian north-western town of Oradea on May 18. Gaudeamus’ President of Honour is Horia Bădescu, a well-known Romanian writer with works published in France, Belgium, Canada, Rusia, Spain, and the US.

Alexandru Danga