COVID-19.
<\/p>\n
List. <\/strong>The entire Romania is in red on the updated map published
<\/p>\n
Protest.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n
Funding. <\/strong>Romania received over 1.9 billion euros
<\/p>\n
OSCE. <\/strong>After a
<\/p>\n
Tennis. <\/strong>The
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of local 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":[35386,28904,31085,13794,28939],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid","tag-education","tag-funding","tag-nato","tag-tennis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>Nearly 10,000 new Covid infections and 36 related deaths were reported on
\nThursday in Romania. The incidence rate is on the rise around the country,
\nincluding in the capital Bucharest, where it passed 3 cases per 1,000
\ninhabitants, the city now being in the red tier. This means that restaurants,
\ncinemas, gyms and other venues can open at 30% capacity. Also, schools where
\nthe vaccine uptake among staff is under 60% will switch to online teaching. On
\nThursday, the committee coordinating vaccination said the Cominarty-Pfizer
\nBioNTech vaccine will become available to children aged 5 to 11 from 26th
\nJanuary. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\non Thursday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control,
\nwhich means the alert level concerning the epidemiological situation was raised
\nto 3 out of 4. Last week, only Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov county were
\nin red, the rest being green or yellow. With the exception of eastern Europe,
\nalmost all countries in the EU are in dark red, indicating maximum alert level
\n4. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\nPublic education staff on Thursday picketed the headquarters of the government
\nand of the two main ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party and the National
\nLiberal Party. Trade unions in the sector are unhappy with the government’s
\nfailure to increase wages as stipulated by a 2017 salary law. The protest was
\norganised by the three major trade union federations in the sector, which argue
\nthat the teachers’ net pay rise of only 13 euros per month from 1st
\nJanuary triggered overwhelming discontent among employees. The three
\nfederations are currently holding a poll to decide whether to go on strike over
\nthe matter.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
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\nworth of funding as pre-financing as part of its national recovery and
\nresilience plan. A first payment of 1.85 billion euros was made on 2nd
\nDecember. In total, Romania is earmarked to receive more than 29 billion euros
\nfrom Brussels under its recovery and resilience plan. The advantageous loans as
\npart of this programme will be used to fund large-scale infrastructure
\nprojects: hundreds of kilometres of motorway, connecting tens of thousands of
\nhomes to water and sewerage networks, facilities for the digitalisation of
\nthousands of small and medium sized businesses and the reforestation of tens of
\nthousands of hectares, said the Romanian ministry for investments and European
\nprojects in a statement. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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\nRussia-OSCE meeting on Thursday, the US said it would not accept Moscow’s
\nblackmail and its demand to maintain its spheres of influence, while Russia
\nwarned that without a constructive response from the West to its demands on
\nEuropean security, it will act to protect its national security and ensure a
\nstrategic balance, according to Reuters. After tense discussions in Geneva
\nbetween the US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman and Russia’s deputy
\nforeign minister Sergei Ryabkov, on Wednesday in Brussels NATO and Moscow found
\nthat deep differences remain between their views on security in Europe. The
\nWest sees Moscow’s mass deployment of troops near the Ukrainian border as an
\nindication of an impending attack on that country, a plan that Russia denies. NATO’s
\nsecretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said there is a real risk for a new
\narmed conflict in Europe, and added that it is up to Russia to
\nde-escalate and end the crisis. <\/p>\n
\n
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\nRomanian players taking part in the Australian Open, due to begin on Monday, have
\nfound out their opponents. In the first round, world no. 15 and 2018 finalist Simona
\nHalep will be playing Poland’s Magdalena Frech; world no. 38 Sorana C\u00eerstea
\nwill have a difficult match against world no. 21 Petra Kvitova; Irina Begu will
\nbe playing France’s Oceane Dodin; Jaqueline Cristian will be facing Greet
\nMinnen of Belgium in her first match at the Australian Open; and Gabriela Ruse,
\nalso for the first time in Melbourne, will be playing Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. (CM)<\/p>\n