January 9, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 09.01.2022, 18:57

Covid-19Ro. 92% of the
Covid-19 patients in serious condition, hospitalized in intensive care units,
are unvaccinated, Romanian authorities say. The latest report indicates 4,700
new cases and 14 related deaths. Nearly 8 million people have received at least
one dose of vaccine. Authorities expect that in the next period new levels of
COVID cases that were not reached in the previous waves of the pandemic will be
reported. Epidemiologists have warned that the next two weeks will be difficult
and Romania might get to report some 50,000 new cases per day.

Visit. Romanian Foreign
Minister Bogdan Aurescu will hold political consultations with his Pakistani
counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi on Monday during his official
visit to Romania. The visit comes amid recent ‘positive dynamics’ in bilateral
relations, including in the wake of Pakistan’s ‘essential support’ for
Romania’s efforts to evacuate from Afghanistan its own citizens, citizens of
allied countries and 156 Afghan citizens at risk in August and September 2021.
The two ministers will discuss ways to develop the bilateral relationship,
deepen political dialogue, as well as economic and sectoral cooperation. During
the visit, a cooperation agreement will be signed between the Romanian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry and the Association of Pakistani Chambers of Commerce
and Industry, as well as a framework cooperation agreement providing for an
exchange of scholarships between the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and
the University of Islamabad.

Negotiations. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russia on Sunday of the risk of a confrontation before the start of what are expected to be very tense talks in Geneva on the situation in Ukraine, France Presse reports. In an interview on CNN, Blinken said that it’s very hard to make actual progress with Russia in an atmosphere of escalation and threat with a gun pointed to Ukraine’s head. Representatives of Russia and the United States are due to meet in Geneva to try to ease the situation. The West accuses Russia of deploying tens of thousands of troops to the border with Ukraine for a possible invasion, which Moscow denies. The senior US official recalled that the G7 countries, as well as the European Union and NATO, had warned, just like the United States, about the economic, financial and other consequences in the event of a new Russian ‘aggression’ in Ukraine. Russia, for its part, is demanding a commitment from NATO not to integrate Ukraine and the withdrawal of US troops from the easternmost countries of the Atlantic Alliance. None of these demands are on the negotiating table, Blinken said Sunday. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the situation at the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Protests. The media in Kazakhstan quotes a statement from the Ministry of Health according to which more than 160 people died during last week’s violence. This toll is considerably higher than the one previously published by the authorities, the BBC reports. Most of the victims were registered in the largest city in the country, Almaty. Authorities say more than 5,000 people have been arrested. The biggest wave of protests in the country was sparked by popular anger over a significant rise in fuel prices, but turned into a wider uprising against the authoritarian government. News agencies report that the situation seems to be stabilizing, but the information blockade continues. Due to internet outages and mobile phone problems, the Kazakhs are unable to communicate with relatives in other parts of the country. There are endless queues at banks to withdraw money from ATMs, and store shelves are empty.

Tennis. Romanian tennis
player Simona Halep won the Melbourne Summer Set 1 (WTA 250) tournament, with
239,477 US dollars in prize money, after defeating the Russian Veronika
Kudermetova, 6-2, 6-3. After a 2021 season she largely missed because of health
problems, Halep (20 WTA), former world leader, had a perfect start this year,
winning the 23rd title of her career. This was the last rehearsal for Simona
Halep before participating in the Australian Open (January 17-30). (MI)