ECONOMY
\nRomania reports a record-high GDP increase for last year, from EUR 240 bln in 2021 to nearly
\nEUR 290 bln, according to the National Strategy and
\nForecast Commission. For this year, however, the institution estimates a
\nslow-down of the economic growth from 4.9% in 2022 to 2.8%. The inflation rate
\nis also expected to drop significantly by the end of this year, from 16.4% in
\n2022 to 8%, and consumption growth is also predicted to drop to 2.4%, compared
\nto 4.6% last year. The figures in the winter forecast, made public on Thursday,
\nare not different from the ones in the autumn report, released in October. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
HEALTHCARE The number of respiratory infections in Romania dropped last
\nweek by almost one-quarter compared to the previous week, to 103,000 cases, the
\nNational Public Health Institute announced. The number is nonetheless 21%
\nhigher than the average weekly rate in 2015-2020. According to statistics,
\nnearly 5,000 of them were flu cases. Since the start of the cold season, 36
\npeople died from the flu, and nearly 1.5 million people got anti-flu vaccines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
DIPLOMACY The Romanian
\nforeign minister Bogdan Aurescu had a bilateral meeting in Sibiu today with his
\nDutch counterpart, Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra. The talks focused on Romania’s
\nSchengen accession and the ongoing efforts to further this important goal. Bogdan Aurescu reiterated that Romania’s accession will help strengthen
\nthe security of the EU as a whole and will give credibility to the Union. In
\nturn, ministrer Hoekstra reiterated the Netherlands’ active support for this
\nprocess. Wopke Hoekstra also reconfirmed the Netherlands’ commitment to
\nconsolidating NATO’s deterrence and defence posture on the
\neastern flank, in the context of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, by
\ncontributing troops to the NATO Battle Group in Romania. The 2 officials also
\ndiscussed the Romanian-Dutch bilateral relations. The meeting took place in the
\ncontext of the Dutch official’s visit to Romania for trilateral political
\nconsultations in Bucharest, together with the French diplomacy chief Catherine
\nColonna. Ahead of the talks, the 3 ministers made a joint visit to the French
\nand Dutch troops stationed at the Cincu military base as part of the NATO Battle
\nGroup in Romania. In
\nBucharest, Catherine Colonna will be received by president Klaus Iohannis and
\nPM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
COMMEMORATION
\nThe International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory
\nof the Victims of the Holocaust, is marked every year on January 27, under a
\nresolution endorsed by the United Nations in 2005. In 1945, on January 27, Allied forces liberated
\nthe largest Nazi extermination camp, in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland. According
\nto historians, the Holocaust resulted in the killing of 6 million Jewish people
\nin Europe and millions of other ethnics by Germany’s Nazi regime. Events and activities are organised on
\nthis day every year at the UN headquarters in New York and UN offices around the world.
\nThis year’s theme is Home and Belonging. In 2022, the UN General Assembly
\nadopted a resolution tabled by Israel, calling on all countries to condemn Holocaust
\ndenial and anti-Semitism, especially on social networks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS Gabriela Ruse (Romania) \/ Marta
\nKostiuk (Ukraine) today lost to the defending champions, Barbora Krejcikova and
\nKaterina Siniakova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-2, in the doubles semi-finals of the
\nAustralian Open. This is the best performance for Ruse and Kostiuk in a Grand Slam
\nevent. Krejcikova and Siniakova hold a combined 6 Grand Slam doubles titles, 3
\nof them last year alone, when they only missed the Roland Garros. In the final,
\nthe Czech players take on Shuko Aoyama\/Ena Shibahara, of Japan, at their first
\npresence in a Grand Slam final after defeating Coco Gauff\/Jessica Pegula (US). (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Click here for a roundup of local and world 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":[32991,31270,34104,33038,35238,31693,29615,29344,35519,29488,30548,34797,32438,37344,28939,29441,37314],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-australian","tag-diplomacy","tag-economic","tag-flu","tag-foreign","tag-gdp","tag-growth","tag-holocaust","tag-infections","tag-inflation","tag-ministers","tag-open","tag-remembrance","tag-respiratory","tag-tennis","tag-victims","tag-viral"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n