PARLIAMENT – The
\nRomanian Parliament on Monday met in an extraordinary sitting, which will last until
\nWednesday evening, to discuss the elimination of special pensions and the
\nelection of mayors in two rounds, with the government seeking to pass the
\nlatter bill by assuming responsibility for it. The Social Democrats, supported
\nby the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, are planning to file
\nthe motion next week. President Klaus Iohannis said that if the motion passes,
\nhe will nominate Ludovic Orban again for the position of Prime Minister. With
\nregard to the pensions bill, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban says his party is in
\nfavour of calculating pensions based on the contribution principle, with the
\nexception of service pensions for the military. The interim president of the
\nSocial Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu says the bill is unconstitutional because
\nit also eliminates the special pensions for magistrates.<\/p>\n
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COMMEMORATION -
\nRomanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Monday attended in Poland the official
\nevents marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi
\nconcentration camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Over 200 Holocaust survivors and
\ndelegations from 50 countries attended the events. Polish president Andrzej
\nDuda was joined by Holocaust survivors in paying floral tributes to the Death
\nWall, where Nazi SS troops executed thousands of people. Israeli President
\nReuven Rivlin pointed out racism and anti-Semitism should be combated
\ndecisively, with determination and zero compromise. The Romanian government has
\nreiterated its commitment to continue efforts to assume responsibility for the
\ncountry’s past, to promote education and research on the Holocaust and
\ncommemorate the victims. Last week, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis attended
\nan international Holocaust remembrance forum in Israel and on Monday he
\ndecorated several Holocaust survivors. <\/p>\n
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MERGER – Talks
\nare ongoing in Bucharest over a possible merger between Save Romania Union and
\nPLUS, currently forming an alliance. The permanent bureaus of the two parties
\nagreed on Monday to summon a congress on this matter in July. The branches of
\nthe two parties are encouraged to designate common candidates for the upcoming
\nlocal election. <\/p>\n
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CORONAVIRUS – The
\nauthorities in Bucharest are considering whether to introduce thermal scanners
\non airports in Romania. These instruments can detect the persons whose body
\ntemperature is higher than 38 degrees Celsius, as high fever is one of the
\nsymptoms of the new coronavirus. There is currently one unconfirmed case in
\nRomania, although doctors say it is very unlikely for the patient to be a
\ncarrier of the coronavirus. In China, tighter measures are being taken to
\ncontain the spread of the virus, which has already killed over 80 people. In
\nBeijing, the authorities have postponed the reopening of schools, more travel
\nrestrictions are in place and wearing a face mask is becoming obligatory. The
\ndirector of the World Health Organization arrived in Beijing on Monday to
\ndiscuss the possibility of a global outbreak. In China, the number of confirmed
\ncases is nearing 3,000. The coronavirus, which originates in animals and causes
\npneumonia, has spread to Europe, the United States and Australia. The symptoms
\ninclude severe coughing, fever and breathing problems, and in some cases
\nfailure of the vital organs.<\/p>\n
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FLU VIRUS -
\nAnother person has died in Romania because of the flu, with the total number
\nreaching four since the beginning of the season. The latest victim is a
\n43-year-old man from Sibiu County. Several schooling units have been shot down
\ndue to viral respiratory infections or the flu virus. Doctors recall that
\nvaccination is the only effective prevention measure. The number of people who
\nhave taken the anti-flu vaccine in Romania is higher than last year, when
\nalmost 200 people died because of the complications caused by the flu.<\/p>\n
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TENNIS – World
\nno. 3 Simona Halep of Romania on Monday defeated Belgium’s Elise Mertens, world
\nno. 17, in straight sets, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the
\nfirst Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. In the next round, Halep will
\nface the Estonian player Anett Kontaveit, world no. 31. A finalist in Melbourne
\nin 2018, Halep has won both of her previous matches against Kontaveit, which
\ntook place in 2017, in Miami and Rome. Also on Monday, in the women’s doubles,
\nthe Romanian-Japanese pair Monica Niculescu and Misaki Doi lost to Hao-ching
\nChan and Latisha Chan of Taiwan in straight sets in the fourth round. On
\nFebruary 3, Simona Halep will become the tennis player with the most
\nconsecutive weeks in the top 10 WTA among the players born after 1980. She will
\nreach the 315 mark, overtaking the current holder of the record, the Swiss
\nplayer Martina Hingis, who spent 314 consecutive weeks in the top 10.<\/p>\n
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(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[29795,35339,33229,31026,30168,29232,35345,28900],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-australian-open","tag-coronavirus","tag-flu-virus","tag-holocaust-commemoration","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-parliament-session","tag-save-romania-union-plus-merger","tag-simona-halep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n