During the 25th General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Valeni – the  village in the heart of  Moldova’s Lower Prut UNESCO Biosphere Reserve - was  named one of the "Best Tourism Villages 2023"  by the General Secretariat of UNWTO Valeni was among 260 applications from over 60 countries that applied for the world’s most prestigious award for rural tourism This is the first time that the Republic of Moldova has been recognized as an esteemed tourist destination at this global competition.  thereby becoming a business card for the Republic of Moldova that exemplifies the country’s focus on sustainable tourism development in rural areas one of the most attractive touristic villages worldwide The distinction honors us as a country and represents  more proof of the extraordinary tourism potential of the Republic of Moldova I would like to congratulate the local public administration of Valeni village for the way they chose to capitalize on the cultural and natural richness of the area it is a priority to promote and capitalize on the tourism potential of our localities Rural tourism is a new breath for the development of villages in Moldova traditions and hospitality of local communities can generate economic and social development benefits the recognition of Valeni village at the prestigious contest "Best Tourism Villages" comes to support local culture and traditions that boost the development of rural tourism in the Republic of Moldova," said Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan who attended the award cermony together with Silvia Stirbet This Best Villages 2023 is a UNWTO programme that fosters “development and inclusion in rural areas advance innovation and value chain integration through tourism and encourage sustainable practices.” The award and inclusion into the Best Tourism Villages Network is given in recognition of outstanding examples of rural tourism destinations with cultural heritage and natural resources that preserve and promote rural and community values and lifestyles with aclear commitment to sustainability and innovation in all aspects The selection process assesses each village’s resources and initiatives in nine areas covering the three pillars of sustainable development uniting communities and creating new sustainable business opportunities in tourism.   Moldova is becoming better known internationally as a unique destination known for its authentic hospitality and culture that is worth visiting by travelers from all over the world.  Learn more about the award-winning Valeni village in Moldova in this video   and why it was selected as a winner of Best Tourism Villages 2023 Moldova Travel website is a public-private partnership between the business environment in the field of inbound and domestic tourism The new digital information resource opens the dialogue about Moldova as a tourist destination on international markets with a showcase of cultural and tourist heritage and an effective tool for marketing and popularization of Moldova The digital platform for promoting the country offers tourists a wide range of tourist destinations and experiences in the regions of Moldova includes 19 interactive virtual tours throughout the country as well as useful contacts for travel planning in the Republic of Moldova all accessible in one place –  on this digital portal You don't have permissions to access this page Travelling from the Garden Island of Taveuni with the intent of avenging their 2024 cup semi-final defeat is a priority for the Raiwasa Taveuni men’s team in this year’s Fiji Bitter Labasa 7s The team also had no sponsors backing them for their outing this week however team coach Seba Vulakoro stated they saw pass this and kept their eyes on the end goal  Raiwasa Taveuni is grouped in Pool C for the men’s category with Valeni Brothers  Read more in tomorrow’s edition of The Fiji Times Powered by PageSuite Cakaudrove will now have access to electricity after they received home solar systems Minister for Infrastructure Jone Usamate says the Government is working towards ensuring that all homes in the country have access to electricity He says the government has installed 13,000 home solar systems in the country The home solar systems handed over to Valeni villagers is worth $120,000 Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations Copyright © 2025 Communications Fiji Limited FM96 Legend FM Viti FM Navtarang Radio Sargam PNG Haus Bung Yumi FM Nau FM Legend FM Facebook TikTok Instagram X YouTube Threads The Samoa Under-21 netball team captain Ashley Valeni is honoured to lead her team in their opening match against New Zealand in the Digicel Punjas International Youth Netball Series on Wednesday brings in a lot of experience as she is part of the Netball New South Wales Waratahs and plays for Sutherland Stingrays in the Premier League Valeni first joined the Samoan team in August last year and is excited to be in Fiji “It is really good coming to Fiji early to adjust to the weather and acclimatise because it is really hot,” Valeni said “Being captain is such an important role and I feel really honoured to lead the girls into this important tournament “I’ve been reminding the girls we’re here to play and also have fun We don’t have to be caught up in everything we just got to have fun because this is a build up for us “I am not the only experienced player but me and the other girls have a role to play “It is a whole new experience for the new players as well they haven’t experienced something like this before but we are welcoming them with open arms so we are just helping them and just teaching them what has to be done and what needs to be done.” Valeni said their game against New Zealand Australia and Fiji will be a learning curve for them especially New Zealand will be a learning curve for everyone,” she said “We have not played a team like New Zealand before we have only played Fiji and they have given us a very good run “So we can only imagine how tough New Zealand will be because they are on a completely different level We just got to see how it goes and learn from the experience “We are all looking forward to the series and eager to get out on court.” Feedback: justine.mannan@fijisun.com.fj By entering your email address you're giving us permission to send you news and offers One in six Romanians do not have a flushing toilet in their homes Latvia and Hungary the figures are falling but still worryingly high is the only space reserved for faeces in the home of Romanian couple Valentin people with disabilities are treated worse than scum,” he grumbles turns a tin pan upside down and sits on it: “I hate this place,” she says a cooker and two mattresses surrounded by bottles of medicine She exhibits the cloths she has embroidered to turn the space into a home Food is made on a butane canister next to a small cooker scrap metal and a bicycle that Valentin rides to the station to do his shopping or rather the lack thereof; Valentin and Mirela are two of the almost three million Romanians who do not have a toilet at home One in six people in Romania (15.4%) do not have a flushing toilet inside their home connected to the water and sewerage network, according to the latest Eurostat data (2023) The figure has fallen by almost seven points since 2020 (22.8%) and by almost half since 2017 (29.7%) but is still shocking “These are families in very deprived areas with many children and older people; this is the case in the village of Tonciu in Faragau,” explains a family doctor's assistant in Mures county It was made possible by Voxeurop’s community High-quality reporting and translation comes at a cost To continue producing independent journalism Subscribe or Donate The lack of safe sanitation even extends to some schools Romanian Education Minister Ligia Deca told a press conference This sometimes means a wooden cabin in the courtyard In Bulgaria (9.6%), Latvia (6%) and Lithuania (5%) thousands of people also live without a toilet while social media was full of citizens worried about stockpiling toilet paper 1.8% of the EU's inhabitants had no access to a flushing toilet at home - some eight million people Valentin and Mirela's story is one of those invisible until he suffered two heart attacks and was declared unfit for work while Mirela suffers from mental problems They were evicted from the house they were renting when it was put up for sale “Sanitation remains a major problem in European countries such as Romania director of the World Toilet Organization (WTO) are a combination of “socio-economic inequalities inadequate infrastructure and rural isolation” “Romania has been left behind due to a lack of investment in rural infrastructure and utilities,” she adds only 59.2% of Romania's population was connected to sewage collection systems according to the Romanian National Institute of Statistics “These are families who can hardly get food how are they going to renovate the bathroom?” asks Gina Neacsu of the Building Association of Daruri which supports children from poor households In 2017, the European Commission gave Lithuania a warning to end outdoor latrines and improve wastewater management A European directive requires at least 98% of wastewater from settlements with more than 2,000 inhabitants must be collected through centralised systems “we are working with municipalities and companies and providing funding,” says Irmantas Valūnas advisor to the Pollution Prevention Policy Group of the Lithuanian Environment Ministry He cites more than €10 million invested from national programmes and €56 million from the Water Management Fund to build infrastructure The EU has also provided €139 million to the water sector for the period 2021-2027 There are “multiple” reasons for the shortfall in sewage provision says Agne Kazlauskiene Environment and Energy Advisor of the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities the development of infrastructure for sewage and drinking water networks “is a complex and continuous process” “cannot be directed at wherever and whomever you want it to be directed; development is centralised and new sewage provision tends to be directed at areas with higher population density is local reticence amongst the most vulnerable and the elderly “Even when the pipes are installed next to them not everyone is willing to connect to the public network,” she says she says that municipalities have set targets and progress is welcome there were 12.2% of households without a flush toilet in Lithuania; today also sees wide inequalities between city centres and outskirts and also between its regions 3.2% of inhabitants did not have indoor toilets on closer inspection “there are six counties where the number of households without toilets in their villages exceeds 10%,” according to György Lukács Policy Officer at Habitat for Humanity Hungary an organisation that provides renovation grants in Hungary through the TÁMASZ programme “The most deprived areas of the country top the list,” he adds 86,000 Hungarian households had no toilets “without which it is difficult to run a flushing toilet” This is the Europe that in winter goes out into the courtyard to defecate into a latrine becomes filled with flies; a health hazard “with a risk of urinary tract infections and difficulties in maintaining menstrual hygiene” stigma and an increased risk of infection” “also an environmental and public health risk” When, in 2020, the UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Philip Alston, visited the Cañada Real in Madrid and the Polígono Sur in Seville, he was stunned the percentage of the population without access to a flushing toilet in their homes was 0.4% in 2020 according to the most recent Eurostat data for the country which collects this information every three years on an optional basis although there are no specific studies on Spanish toilet coverage UNICEF estimates that 3.4% of the population suffers from what it describes as “severe housing deprivation” lack of light and not having a bathroom or indoor toilet This makes up 6.2% of the child population more than half a million children in Spain some 50,000 people live in substandard housing or shantytowns according to the Fundación Secretariado Gitano Their scarcity in numbers is a double-edged sword in and of itself Director of the Department of Equality and Fighting Discrimination at the Fundación Secretariado Gitano explained to El Confidencial over the phone “it is precisely because there are so few of them they are problems that could be economically tackled by the state” “political will is needed to invest in sanitation” and she says that there are cases in the world that show that it can be achieved such as microfinance and subsidies and maintenance education for users to ensure their sustainability once installed where through the 2014 Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission the government built 90 million toilets in just five years Voxeurop depends on subscriptions and donations from its readers This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page EUROPA PENTRU TINE!Află despre beneficiile și oportunitățile oferite Republicii Moldova de Uniunea Europeană Chișinău - The government approved amendments to the state budget for 2025 at a today's meeting These funds will directly benefit the population and will be used to reduce energy costs develop infrastructure and support economic agents The amendments to the state budget for 2025 involve incorporating the financial resources previously offered by the EU within the Energy Independence and Resilience Programme for Moldova as well as the financial support package from the EU for implementing the Economic Growth Plan for Moldova compensations are provided to households and economic agents and local public authorities will also benefit from resources to mitigate the impact of increased electricity tariffs energy efficiency projects will be implemented measures for implementing the Economic Growth Plan for Moldova amount to 3.8 billion lei The Road Fund and the National Fund for Regional and Local Development will be supplemented by 1 billion lei each with a priority on rehabilitating local roads the restoration of the Valeni segment of the Cahul - Giurgiulesti railway line will be supported along with repairing the railway line from the Prut-2 station (Cantemir) to the railway bridge across the Prut River and completing the project to provide drinking water to villages of the Hancesti district In a press conference presenting the main measures funded Prime Minister Dorin Recean said that the Budget +Plus was the largest financial package ever allocated by the government of Moldova for investment and economic growth "The Budget +Plus is meant to ensure economic growth and continue supporting the population This budget allocation is possible only through the support of our friends: the European Union and EU member states," said Prime Minister Dorin Recean the draft on amending the state budget law for 2025 will be submitted to parliament for adoption All materials featured on this site are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Technical-technological administration: Information Technology and Cyber Security Service. Transportation for about 10,000 people living between Valeni Village in Wailevu district Cakaudrove and Sawani in Bua has been affected The bridge at Valeni village has been damaged and a bridge at Sawani has also been affected Villagers in Valeni said they have not been travel to Savusavu or Labasa because of absence of this services Road contractors have arrived in the area to fix the bridges Most roads are now accessible as fallen trees and landslides  have been removed The men’s teams advancing into the elimination stage of the Fiji Bitter Labasa 7s have been confirmed The eight matches are scheduled to begin at 2.30pm 2.30pm – Army Green vs Dimension Brothers 2.45pm – BLK Lavidi Brothers vs Vanuavou Stingray Brothers 3.00pm – Police Blue vs Valeni Brothers 3.15pm – Wardens Gold vs Nasolo Young Boys 3.30pm – Police White vs Raiwasa Taveuni 3.45pm – Viti Roofing Devo Babas vs Ambassador 1 4.15pm – Bua Babas vs VBM Black Heron The Canberra Raiders Holden Cup (Under 20's) squad has been selected for the upcoming season The selection process was a long and arduous one due to the impressive amount of talent on display throughout the trials.  The Raiders would like to thank all participants who came to trial for the squad and wish you all the very best on your rugby league endeavours in the future Missing out on this squad should in no way deter you from trialling with the club again as many current NRL players have also missed out on selection in junior representative sides congratulations to those who have been been successful in making the squad for the 2015 season: NSW Cup & Jersey Flegg Team Lists: Round 10 Raiders and Mounties extend women’s partnership The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Highlights | Round Nine - Panthers v Raiders St George and Sutherland Shire netball associations have players in the national championships at Netball NSW’s headquarters Lili Gorman-Brown and Ricki McCray from Sutherland are in the NSW under-17s team Cassandra Radford and Ashley Valeni from Sutherland and Claire O’Brien and Amy Parmenter from St George are in the NSW under-19s team The six-day championships will end with the finals on Saturday and Sunday Details: nsw.netball.com.au Sutherland Shire players at Sydney Olympic Park Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy tired of waiting for government job opportunities started baking pot bread (umbhako) to make a living “I realised if I wait for job opportunities I will never succeed in life,” said Valeni he had already started selling food in Cape Town But his initial food business faced challenges and Valeni decided to return to the Eastern Cape Valeni’s entrepreneurial journey took an unconventional turn when he decided to cook at funerals Despite facing jokes and discouragement from the people around him I explained to them that everyone likes pot bread I am not ashamed of cooking at funerals,” he said Known for his delicious food and soft pot bread that doesn’t require margarine Valeni expanded his business to cater not only at funerals but also at weddings and parties while the cost of cooking at funerals or other events depends on the number of people he caters for I make salads during the night and take care of other preparations and I end up staying the entire night Valeni’s job varies based on his customers’ requirements While some clients provide the necessary groceries he often buys everything himself and starts cooking “People have a lot to say about what I am doing but I want them to know that they are missing out on a lot of things while they spend their time judging other people’s hustle,” said Valeni and I am willing to travel to other places if people want me there.” Gqeberha resident Mzimasi Notshizela praised Valeni for his courage “I am unemployed but I would never do what he’s doing,” said Notshizela “I am afraid of what people might say especially when it comes to cooking and staying overnight at someone else’s home during a funeral.”  Resident Yonela Lukhele said she couldn’t believe that people tried to discourage Valeni There is nothing wrong with men venturing into cooking whether it’s at a funeral or any other occasion,” said Lukhele