ATTACK At least 9 people have been killed and over 20 wounded by a man
\nwho opened fire in a school in the Russian city of Kazan, 820 kilometers east
\nof Moscow. The city is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, which has a
\nMuslim majority. The 19 year old assailant is a former student of the aforementioned
\nschool and he is the legal owner of the weapon used in the massacre. On Tuesday
\nPresident Putin ordered the laws regulating gun possession in Russia be
\nrevised. Such attacks are rare in the Russian Federation though. A similar
\nattack took place in annexed Crimea in 2018, when a student killed 18
\ncolleagues before turning the gun on himself. In September 2004, about 325
\npeople, mostly children were killed after the special forces stormed a school
\nin Beslan, the North Osettia, which had been occupied by pro-Chechen
\nmercenaries, who took over 1000 hostages. <\/p>\n
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REPORTS Parliament in Bucharest on Tuesday rejected
\nthe activity reports submitted by the public radio and television for the years
\n2017, 2018 and 2019. According to Anca Dragu, president of the Senate, the
\nrejection of the aforementioned reports entails the sacking of the two institutions’
\nboard of directors. Parliament is to nominate interim directors for the two
\naforementioned institutions with 6-month tenures. <\/p>\n
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VIRUS 1156 new SARS-CoV-2 infections have been
\nreported in Romania in the past 24 hours out of 36 thousand tests carried out,
\nthe Strategic Communication Group (GCS) announced on Tuesday. According to the
\nsame sources, 101 of those infected died bringing the death toll to 29,135.
\nSince the onset of the pandemic, 190 Romanian citizens who live abroad have
\nbeen killed by the virus. 6181 patients are being treated in hospitals around
\nthe country, out of which 919 in intensive care. Since the onset of the
\npandemic, over one million Romanians have been infected with the novel coronavirus
\nand over 90% have been cured. Also on Tuesday, GCS announced that Bucharest and
\nCluj in the country’s northwest are presently out of the so-called yellow zone
\nin terms of the number of infections like all the other counties with a rate of
\n1.5 cases per thousand. The vaccine rollout carries on at a higher pace with
\nmore than 100 thousand people vaccinated per day. Authorities have stepped up the
\nrollout through a series of measures, such as vaccination marathons and drive
\nthroughs. Family physicians have actively got involved in the vaccination campaign.
\nCoordinator Valeriu Gheorghita said
\non the other hand that there is not enough scientific data to confirm the need
\nfor a third vaccine dose to cover possible viral mutations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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ALERT The state of alert was extended by another
\nmonth as of Thursday, the government of Romania decided. Certain restrictions
\nhave been lifted, such as the ones concerning participation in religious processions
\nor pilgrimages, while others, including in the hospitality sector, remain in
\nplace. Pilot cultural and sports events will be organised, attended by people
\nwho have got the vaccine or recovered from COVID in the past 3 months, as well
\nas those who test negative for the disease. <\/p>\n
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DRILL The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis and his
\nPolish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Tuesday attended a multinational military
\nexercise in Gala\u0163i County in the east. The exercise takes place at the Sm\u00e2rdan
\nbase, and Poland takes part with the military forces it has deployed to Romania
\nas part of the Allied matched forward presence in the eastern flank through the
\nNATO multinational brigade stationed in Craiova. Justice Sword 21
\nis a tactical exercise aimed at testing the capacity of participating structures
\nto implement planned actions and measures, as well as Romania’s ability to
\nprovide support to the military forces and equipment that transit its
\nterritory. Such exercises are extremely important to check and increase the
\ninteroperability degree. We are training for defence in the Eastern Flank,
\nRomanian president Klaus Iohannis said on this occasion. In turn, his Polish
\ncounterpart Andrzej Duda has underlined the importance of cooperation between
\nthe Romanian and Polish troops. In another development, the Romanian president
\nsent a letter to Parliament in Bucharest briefing it on the Romanian forces
\nparticipation in the NATO extended mission in Iraq starting with the second
\nhalf of 2021. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n
\n
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