December 8, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 08.12.2021, 14:00
CORONAVIRUS — The number of infections with Covid-19 has dropped in Romania as against last week. 1,421 new infections and 107 deaths were reported on Tuesday. The number of people hospitalized has also dropped to almost 5,200, of whom 843 in ICUs. In another development, the Bucharest Government is today extending the state of alert starting December 9th and approves the new measures for the management of the pandemic during the winter holidays. On Tuesday, the national Committee for Emergencies proposed, among others, the lifting of restrictions during the night. Also, mask wearing outdoors may no longer be mandatory except for crowded areas and theatres and cinemas could operate at 50% capacity. The proposal of easing restrictions comes in the context of an infection rate smaller than 1.2% per thousand at national level.
BUDGET — Leaders of the governing coalition in Bucharest are today holding a new meeting for talks on the 2022 draft budget. PNL, PSD and UDMR have diverging opinions on the budget structure in the context of bigger pensions, child allowances and social aid for people with disabilities as of January. PSD and UDMR consider applying a 1% tax on companies with turnovers of more than 100 million euros per year, while the Liberals oppose this measure.
FENCING – Romanian fencer Ana-Maria Popescu, an Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo, has announced her retirement from sports after a career of 20 years. Aged 37, Popescu’s last participation in a sports competition has been this year in the World Cup in Dubai, where she won silver. The athlete’s record includes, among others, 3 Olympic, 6 world and 11 European medals, with 9 gold medals in total. Ana Maria Popescu was named the best swordswoman in the world in the seasons 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2012-2013, 2019-2020, 2020-2021.
UKRAINE – US President Joe Biden has warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, with a robust reaction in case of a new invasion of Ukraine. The two leaders discussed the matter on Tuesday via video-call. According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Washington DC, before and after the American-Russian virtual meeting Biden discussed with the main European leaders for a coordinated answer to Moscow. “Things that we did not do in 2014 we are prepared to do now”, President Biden told Putin, referring to a new potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, after the one in 2014 when Russia illegally annexed Crimea. (EE)
