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\n
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QUAKE – The massive earthquakes
\nthat hit Turkey and Syria on Monday killed over 9,500 people, according to
\nofficial reports made public today. In Turkey, the number of victims gets close
\nto 7,000, with tens of thousands of people injured. Turkish President Tayyip
\nErdogan has declared a 3-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces hit by
\nthe tremors. Around 70 countries have so
\nfar offered to join search and rescue efforts in Turkey. Romania has already
\nsent to the area three aircraft with 60 staff, among whom search and rescue
\nworkers, doctors and nurses and the necessary technique and, according to a
\ndecision taken today by the Romanian Committee for Emergencies, a second rescue
\nteam is to be sent to Turkey. Numerous Romanians have contacted their country’s
\nembassy in Ankara, signaling the difficult situation they are in, but very few
\nhave also requested repatriation. On Tuesday evening, 13 Romanians were
\ntransported to Bucharest on a humanitarian flight coordinated by the Defense
\nMinistry, after 8 Romanian citizens and 2 Poles had been repatriated on Monday.
\n<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
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PATRIOT – Romania has received a
\nsecond Patriot system, out of the total four, that were contracted for the
\nfirst stage of the country’s Air Force equipping programme. According to
\ndefense minister Angel Tilvar, the four systems
\nrepresent the first stage in achieving a state-of-the-art ground-based air
\ndefense capability, that defends against tactic ballistic missiles and cruise missiles,
\nwhich can be fully integrated into the NATO system. Patriot systems were first
\ndelivered to Romania in 2020, and 2023 is the year when the first stage of the
\nequipping programme is fully completed, according to the Defense Ministry. The
\nPatriot system is one of the most advanced air protection systems of the
\nAmerican military arsenal. It is a mobile system that unusually includes a powerful
\nradar, a control station, a power generator, launch stations and other support
\nvehicles. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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SUMMIT – The European
\nCouncil on Thursday will hold a summit in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine, the EU economy and migration. A video-conference chaired by the
\nEuropean Council President, Charles Michel, was held on Tuesday and was also
\nattended by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who said talks focused on the
\nsupport granted to Ukraine, consolidating the competitiveness of the EU economy
\nand implementing concrete measures of combating illegal migration. Although the
\ntopic of the Schengen enlargement is not officially on the agenda, President
\nIohannis could informally approach it in the plenary or during bilateral
\nmeetings with his counterparts. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
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MOTION – The Romanian Chamber of Deputies is today voting on
\nthe simple motion against the Liberal Interior Minister Lucian Bode, tabled by
\nUSR and the Force of the Right, and which was debated in the plenary on Monday.
\nIts signatories accuse Bode of plagiarism and blame him for the country’s
\nfailure to join the Schengen area. Minister Bode has dismissed the accusations,
\nsaying the move is a political attack with electoral purposes. Ruling partners
\nPSD and UDMR have announced they do not support the motion, the second one
\nagainst Minister Bode after the motion in October, which did not pass. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s handball team Dinamo Bucharest, is
\ntoday playing away from home against Porto, in the Champions League’s group A.
\nThe Romanians are 1st in the group and stand big chances to make it
\nto the final. Dinamo have had an exceptional season, with 11 points so far, 6
\npoints ahead of PSG of France and Veszprem of Hungary and three points ahead of
\nGermany’s Magdeburg. Porto is last in the group, with 1 point. Only the first
\ntwo ranked in each group qualify directly to the quarterfinals, while teams
\nranked 3rd to 6th will meet in the play-off in March, followed by the
\nquarterfinals in May and the Final Four Tournament in Koln on June 17 and 18. FC
\nBarcelona is the current trophy holder. (EE)<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-106465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n