WAR IN UKRAINE - A mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is today inspecting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine, currently under the control of Russian forces. IAEA Director, Rafael Grossi, said the visit is a technical mission designed to prevent a nuclear accident. The IAEA mission represents a step towards disoccupation and demilitarization, the Ukrainian Energy Minister, Herman Haluschenko told Reuters. The Zaporizhzhia NPP is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. The plant was taken over by Russian forces in March, although it is still operated by Ukrainian personnel under the surveillance of Russian forces. The plant premises have been repeatedly bombed in the last month, Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks.
INTOLERANCE - President Klaus Iohannis said that implementing the National Strategy on preventing and combating anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech proves once again Romania's commitment to promoting tolerate and peace in society. In his message, the president said that, in the current context marked by numerous crises, intolerance and acts of violence against certain categories of people are intensifying, and such manifestations must not be tolerated.
PARLIAMENT - A new parliament session started today. MPs are mainly concerned with debating and amending the justice and education laws. Today, a special Parliament committee is expected to be created with a view to debating the justice laws. Also today, the Senate is expected to vote on the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers. The document was sent back for re-examination by president Klaus Iohannis, and the Senate's judicial committee issued a report including a number of amendments. USR in opposition has criticized the activity of Energy Minister Virgil Popescu, saying they will file a simple motion against him.
UNEMPLOYMENT - The unemployment rate dropped by 0.2% in Romania compared to 5.2% last month. The rate is by 1.5% higher among unemployed men, the National Statistics Institute reports. According to data, unemployment stands at 23% among young people under 24 years of age. The rate of unemployment was estimated at 4.1% in July among adults aged 25-74.
GOVERNMENT - The Government is today expected to pass an emergency decree setting the reference energy price, which will serve as a threshold for calculating the tax on profit for across-the-chain activities in the field. The Government thus wants to overtax large profits obtained as a result of the energy price hikes. The government's energy bill capping and subsidizing schemes remain in place. The Government will also examine another draft law titled The Winter Plan which is expected to be adopted next week. The Plan includes a number of elements, including the amount of natural gas reserves. At present, Romania's gas reserves total 2.2 billion cubic meters, accounting for nearly 73% of the country's total storage.
SWIMMING - Romanian swimmer David Popovici won gold in the 200m freestyle event at the World Swimming Championships in Lima, Peru. Popovici won all the four medals in 200m freestyle events this summer, namely in European and World junior and senior competitions. This is Popovici's second gold medal in Lima, after our athlete won gold with Romania's 4x100m relay team. In the same competition, Vladu Stancu won silver in the 400m freestyle event.
TENNIS - Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea is today playing Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, seeded 13th at the US Open. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu, will also compete in the second round against Yue Yuan of China. Cîrstea and Begu are the only Romanian players left in the women's singles at Flushing Meadows. (VP)