MEDICAL SYSTEM – Next week the
\nFinance Ministry is expected to green-light vacancy-filling contests in the
\nhealthcare system. In this week’s government session, Prime Minister Marcel
\nCiolacu called for a quick solution to the 4,500 physicians who took their
\nspecialty exam and are currently unemployed. The College of Physicians in
\nBucharest warns against the critical shortage of medical personnel and calls on
\nthe authorities to lift the freeze on vacancies in the medical system. At
\npresent, the system faces a severe shortage of healthcare professionals,
\nparticularly in Bucharest, where some 900 vacancies are unfilled. Health
\nMinister Alexandru Rafila recently said the Health Ministry submitted three
\nmemos for green-lighting vacancy-filling contests, and some 2,000 such
\nvacancies are now open to public contest. The Finance Ministry has not approved
\nthe 2023 memorandum for launching similar proceedings in hospitals controlled
\nby local authorities, Minister Rafila added. <\/p>\n
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WAR IN GAZA – Hezbollah has
\nlaunched dozens of missiles against a military base in northern Israel,
\ndescribing the attack as retaliation to the killing of the 2nd-highest
\nranking leader of Hamas in a surgical strike on the southern outskirts of
\nBeirut. Israel however did not claim responsibility for the attack. On the
\nother hand, the UN coordinator for Gaza warned the territory has become uninhabitable.
\nThree months since the horrific 7 October attacks, Gaza has become a place of
\ndeath and despair. […]Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very
\nexistence – while the world watches on, the UN Under-Secretary-General for
\nHumanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths has said. In turn, UNICEF said that
\nafter three months of war, malnutrition and disease in the Gaza Strip creates
\na deadly cycle that threatens over 1.1 million children. <\/p>\n
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CELEBRATION – On January 6,
\nOrthodox Christians celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, seen as his manifestation
\nto the world as the Son of God. In the Roman-Catholic Church this day is known
\nas the Epiphany, which also commemorates the visit of the Magi, and the wedding
\nat Cana. Christians attending mass on this day receive holy water, a symbol of
\nthe baptism of Jesus in the waters of Jordan. <\/p>\n
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STATISTICS – Romanians have
\nbecome the most numerous national minority in Germany, according to official
\nstatistics published by local authorities. Over 2015-2022, the number of
\nRomanians now living in this country doubled, to reach nearly 900,000.
\nRomanians thus outrank Poles, who are almost quite as numerous, and the Italian
\nnational minority, totaling some 650,000 people. The latest official data
\npublished last year by the Romanian Foreign Ministry indicates that some 5,7
\nmillion Romanians are currently living abroad. <\/p>\n
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VISIT – Spain’s Prime
\nMinister Pedro S\u00e1nchez is expected to visit Romania for talks on the double
\ncitizenship. Sources within the Spanish Government says a new agreement will
\nset the terms for obtaining the Romanian-Spanish citizenship, while the Spanish
\nofficial is expected to visit Romania to sign the document. An invitation was
\nallegedly extended by Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu on the sidelines of last
\nyear’s visit to Malaga. Some 629,000 Romanians are currently living in Spain,
\nand will be targeted by this measure. The initiative was discussed on the joint
\ngovernment session hosted by Castell\u00f3n
\nde la Plana in November 2023, which also laid out a timetable and set up
\nbilateral committees working on this project. Spain currently provides double
\ncitizenship only to citizens of France and Portugal.<\/p>\n
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HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s
\nhandball team defeated Argentina 30-23 in its second match in the Yellow Cup,
\nhosted by Winterthur. In the other match played that day, Switzerland trounced
\nBosnia Herzegovina 39-21. On Thursday, Romania lost to Switzerland 37-31.
\nYellow Cup is the final test before the European Championship hosted by Germany
\nover January 10-28. The first two teams in each group advance to the main group
\nphase. Romania had last played in the European Championship in 1996. (VP)<\/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":[116362],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-612079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-medical-system-vacancies-war-in-gaza-the-epiphany-romanians-in-germany-romanian-spanish-double-citizenship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n