November 12, 2021 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 12.11.2021, 19:52
CORONAVIRUS – Some 4,844 new cases of Covid-19 infection have been reported in the last 24 hours in Romania, as well as 307 related deaths, the Group for Strategic Communication announced on Friday. Some 1,733 patients are in intensive care, of whom 24 are children. Almost 100,000 people have been immunized in Romania in the last 24 hours — almost 28,000 with the first dose and over 43,000 with the second dose. In another development, prosecutors have started a criminal case for the fire that broke on Thursday morning at the Covid Unit of the emergency hospital in Ploiesti, in which 2 patients died and one nurse was injured. Investigations are underway.
MILITARY — Seven ships of the Romania, American, Turkish and Ukrainian navy forces took part in a military exercise in the Black Sea waters, the Romanian Defense Ministry announced. The exercise aimed to enhance interoperability among participating units and strengthen NATO’s readiness in the Black Sea region. The American military ships will be stationed in the Black Sea port of Constanta until Sunday, during which time the Commander of the US Sixth Fleet, Vice Adm. Eugene H. Black III will have meetings with Romanian officials.
CORRUPTION – Romanian deputy Gheorghe Miutescu, president of the Arges branch of the National Liberal Party (PNL) (south), is being prosecuted by the National Anticorruption Directorate for influence peddling. In total, Miutescu is accused of eight offenses. Along with him, the vice-president of the PNL organization, Cristian Mitrofan, and the deputy mayor of Pitesti, Gelu Tofan, are also being prosecuted. Recently, Miutescu has resigned from the PNL parliamentary group and joined the group led by Ludovic Orban, the former party leader and a virulent critic of the current leader, Florin Citu.
COURT – The European Commission decided on Friday to bring Romania again to the EU Court of Justice for not fully complying with a Court ruling from October 2018, in relation to its waste management obligations. In keeping with the ruling from 2018, Romania had the obligation to close down and upgrade 68 waste deposits operating without a license. This is the second time the European Comission notifies the Court about Romania failing to respect its obligations.
NEGOTIATIONS — Representatives of the National Liberal party (PNL), in power, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the opposition and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) in power alongside the Liberals, will discuss on Saturday about the topics in the governing programme that have not be agreed on so far, Liberal leader Florin Citu said. After three days of negotiations, the parties would like to complete the common governing programme, but still need to reach a consensus on issues such as the level of allowances, the single taxation quota or the dismantling of the Special Section for the Investigation of Magistrates.
MIGRANTS – The USA and the European countries members of the UN Security Council have condemned Belarus actions related to the migrant crisis on the border with Poland. Their representatives accuse Belarus of staging the situation by sending migrants to the border in order to destabilize the EU border and to divert attention from the human rights violations committed by the Minsk regime. The joint statement issued following the emergency meeting of the Council calls for a strong international reaction, despite the call for dialogue previously launched by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russias ambassador to the UN has said that neither his country nor Belarus is helping migrants reach the border with Poland and has denied that Moscow would plan to invade Ukraine, even if Russian troops are again amassed at the common border. The EU, which has repeatedly accused Minsk of bringing in migrants and then sending them back into EU territory in retaliation for sanctions imposed on it, is determined to adopt new sanctions against Belarus starting next week. Under these conditions, the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has threatened to take his own measures, including interrupting gas supplies from Russia to Europe.
TENNIS – The pair made up of the Romanian Horia Tecau and the German Kevin Krawietz was assigned to the Green Group of the ATP finals. According to the draw that took place in Turin, Italy, the group also includes the pairs Nikola Mektic / Mate Pavic (Croatia / N.1), Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos (Spain / Argentina / N. 4) and Ivan Dodig / Filip Polasek (Croatia / Serbia / N.6). The pairs Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury (USA / N.2), Pierre-Hugues Herbert / Nicolas Mahut (France / N.3), Juan Sebastian Cabal / Robert Farah (Colombia / N.5) and Jamie Murray / Bruno Soares (Great Britain / Brazil / N.7) will play in the Red Group. Horia Tecău and Kevin Krawietz (no. 8) will make their debut in the competition on Saturday, when they will face the first seeds, Croatians Mikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. (EE)
