CELEBRATION Romania celebrated on Monday 163
\nyears since the Union of the Romanian Principalities, the first major step in
\nthe formation of the Romanian nation state, paving the way for the Great Union
\nof 1918. On January 24, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected ruler of
\nWallachia, after on January 5 he had become sovereign of Moldavia. His rule
\nlaid the foundations for modern Romania. Monday was a banking holiday in
\nRomania. While many people chose to spend the holiday in mountain resorts, the
\nones who stayed at home had the option of attending military and religious
\nceremonies and celebratory concerts organised around the country under COVID-19
\nrestrictions. Bucharest’s Patriarchal Cathedral hosted a service devoted to all
\nthose who contributed to the 1859 Union. Politicians posted messages on this
\noccasion. President Klaus Iohannis said the Union on January 24, 1859 proves
\nthe importance of a project able to bring together the energy of the Romanian
\nnation, and urged people to work persistently to consolidate the country’s
\ncurrent European and democratic path. The Liberal PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 pointed out
\nthat the Union was the result of the untiring efforts of the politicians of the
\ntime, driven by the nation’s dream of unity and of administrative, economic and
\nsocial progress. In turn, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and president
\nof the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu said that, 163 years since the
\nUnion of the Romanian Principalities, what Romanians need more than ever is
\nunity and stability, if they are to handle current economic, healthcare and
\nsecurity challenges.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 Romanian
\nauthorities announced on Monday 12,082 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections in 24
\nhours and 41 related deaths. The incidence rate in the capital Bucharest is on
\nthe rise, reaching 10.23 cases per thousand people. The city has been in the
\nred tier since January 12, when the incidence rate went over 3 per thousand.
\nThe COVID-19 testing capacity is set to increase this week to 150,000 tests per
\nday, as over 3,800 family physicians have signed contracts with public health
\ninsurance agencies in this respect. In Bucharest and the nearby county of
\nIlfov, where the largest number of cases is reported, testing centres have
\nalready been opened in 20 hospitals. On Wednesday at the latest COVID-19
\ntesting will also be resumed in schools, after more than 10 million test kits
\nwere received by school inspectorates. A batch of 114,000 doses of Pfizer BioNTech vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 are set to reach the country on
\nTuesday. The health minister Alexandru Rafila expects the current (5th)
\nwave of the pandemic to reach its peak in Romania in about 3 weeks’ time. <\/p>\n
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UKRAINE NATO countries are
\nplacing forces on
\nstandby and sending additional ships and fighter jets to NATO deployments in
\neastern Europe, as Russiacontinues its military build-up
\naround Ukraine, the Alliance announced on Monday. Denmark is sending a frigate
\nto the Baltic Sea and is set to deploy four F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania,
\nSpain is sending ships to join NATO naval forces and is considering sending
\nfighter jets to Bulgaria. France has expressed its readiness to send troops to
\nRomania under NATO command. The Netherlands is sending two F-35 fighter
\naircraft to Bulgaria in April to support NATO’s air-policing activities in the
\nregion, and is putting a ship and land-based units on standby for NATO’s
\nResponse Force. The US also announced it is considering increasing its military
\npresence in the eastern part of the Alliance. The
\npresident of Ukraine Volodymyr
\nZelensky Monday thanked the EU for the 1.2 billion euros in macro-financial aid
\nprovided in order to support Kyev in a prospective conflict with Russia. Strong
\nUkraine is the key for European security, he said in a Twitter post. Russia
\nhas deployed around 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, fuelling concerns
\nabout a prospective attack on that country.<\/p>\n
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TENNIS The Romanian tennis
\nplayer Simona Halep lost to Aliz\u00e9 Cornet of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in the round
\nof 16 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday. For Halep (15 WTA), this
\nwas the first defeat after a string of 8 consecutive wins.Also on Monday, Sorana C\u00eerstea of Romania lost to seed
\nno. 7 Iga Swiatek of Poland, in the same competition round, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. <\/p>\n
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DOCUMENTARY The French public TV channel France 3 broadcasts
\nfor the first time a documentary on Marie of Romania, the amazing queen
\nof the Carpathians, as part of its highly popular history series
\nSecrets of history. The production of the documentary took one year
\nand a half. Archive photos and footage have been collected, along with
\ntestimonies by historians and members of the Royal House of Romania. Scenes
\nhave been shot at the Pele\u015f and Bran castles in the southern Carpathians, at
\nthe Cotroceni National Museum in Bucharest and at the Curtea de Arge\u015f Monastery
\nwhere Royal House members have been buried. Queen Marie, the wife of King
\nFerdinand I, was acknowledged in Europe as an ambassador of the Romanian nation
\nand a supporter of the Romanian nation state. (A.M.P.)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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