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COVID-19<\/b> – The epidemiological situation remains
\nserious in Romania, which on Wednesday reported almost 15,000 cases and 512
\ndeaths, including 4 recorded earlier. 1,861 Covid patients are in intensive
\ncare, including 44 children. Over 150 thousand people got vaccinated in the
\nlast 25 hours, of whom 111 with the first dose. The number of fully jabbed
\npeople has now exceeded 6 million. The coordinator of the mass vaccination
\ncampaign Valeriu Gheorghi\u0163\u0103 said that if the current pace is maintained, 70% of
\nRomania’s population over the age of 12 may receive the vaccine by the end of
\nthe year.<\/p>\n
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ACQUISITION <\/b>– The Romanian company Romgaz reached
\nan agreement with the American giant ExxonMobil for the acquisition of the
\nlatter’s stake in a Black Sea offshore block. The deal is expected to go
\nthrough in the first quarter of next year. ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom currently
\nhold equal shares in the deep-sea Black Sea block where reserves of up to 84
\nbillion cubic metres of natural gas are believed to be found.<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT <\/b>– The Prime Minister designate Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 said he
\nwould continue talks with USR and PSD to gain support for his Cabinet. The
\nLiberal official recalled that his mandate is to obtain support for a minority
\ngovernment made up of the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of
\nEthnic Hungarians in Romania. Ciuc\u0103 said he would submit the governing programme
\nand the list of ministers on Saturday. We recall the interim cabinet led by Florin C\u00ee\u021bu was ousted following a no-confidence vote
\nin Parliament. <\/p>\n
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VISIT <\/b>– Egypt is one of Romania’s traditional
\nallies in the Middle East and Africa and an important economic and sectoral
\npartner, said Romanian president Klaus Iohannis in Cairo, in a joint press
\nconference together with his counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Romania and Egypt are
\ncelebrating 115 years of diplomatic relations, a period characterised by mutual
\ntrust and respect, Iohannis also said. He emphasised that business people from
\nEgypt and Romania must be encouraged to start joint projects, both at bilateral
\nlevel and on third markets. The two heads of state agreed to identify new ways
\nto boost cooperation in crucial areas such as defence, energy, agriculture,
\ntransport, IT&C, cyber security, education, research and innovation.<\/p>\n
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GREEN
\nCERTIFICATE<\/b> – The Senate on
\nWednesday voted against a bill proposing to make all access to public
\ninstitutions conditional on holding the Covid certificate, including for
\nemployees. PSD and AUR voted against the bill. The bill stipulated the same
\nprovisions applied to private businesses where more than 50 employees are
\nworking at the same time. Additionally, all work would be suspended for
\nemployees who do not hold the green certificate, while their salary rights
\nwould be withheld for 30 days, after which point their employment agreements
\nmay be terminated. All employees not holding the certificate would also have to
\ncover their own RT-PCR tests. The bill will now go to the Chamber of Deputies,
\nthe decision-making body in this case. <\/p>\n
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ENERGY <\/b>– The Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday
\nadopted the draft emergency decree on subsidizing the increase in electricity
\nand natural gas prices. Over November 1, 2021 – March 31, 2022, the state will
\nintroduce an assistance mechanism helping home users, SMEs, individual medical
\npractices and other self-employed categories, as well as hospitals, schools,
\nchurches and NGOs cover their energy bills. The bill will be submitted to
\npresident Klaus Iohannis for ratification. <\/p>\n
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VISAS <\/b>– The US is considering adding four
\ncountries to its Visa Waiver program, including Romania. We have four
\ncandidates in the pipeline: Israel, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania, said
\nthe Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, adding We’re very, very focused on the program. In September, the US added Croatia on
\nthe visa waiver list, which allows its citizens to travel to the US without a
\nvisa for a period of 90 days. 40 countries are currently part of this program.
\nRecently, Romanian ambassador to the US Andrei Muraru said he was convinced
\nthat Romanians would be able to travel to US visa-free by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n
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TENNIS <\/b>– Romanian player Simona Halep defeated
\nGabriela Ruse on Wednesday in the first round of the Transylvania Open under
\nway in Cluj Napoca, western Romania. Halep will next play Varvara Graceva of
\nRussia. On Tuesday, the British-Romanian-Chinese player Emma R\u0103ducanu won in Cluj her first match since
\nbecoming the US Open champion. She defeated Slovenia’s Polona Hercog to reach
\nthe second round, where she will play Ana Bogdan on Thursday. Also on Thursday,
\nIrina Bara will play Rebecca Peterson of Sweden. (CM & VP)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n