December 15, 2020
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 15.12.2020, 13:55
Negotiations. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has decided to summon
the new Parliament on 21st December and said he would go ahead with the
consultations with parliamentary parties to nominate a new prime minister. The
first round of talks on Monday was not conclusive. The National Liberal Party,
the USR-PLUS Alliance and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania
say they will continue to negotiate the creation of a centre-right coalition,
while the Social Democratic Party is in favour of a national unity government.
Coronavirus Romania. On Tuesday, Romania saw 6,171 new cases and 204
new fatalities, while 1,255 people are in intensive care. Total number of cases
has now passed 565,000, while the death toll is 13,698.
President Klaus Iohannis has today called a new meeting to discuss the
evolution of the pandemic with acting prime minister Nicolae Ciucă, health minister Nelu Tătaru and the head of the Department for Emergency
Situations Raed Arafat. The
authorities advise the population to reduce travel during the winter holidays
to prevent the spread of the virus. According to official reports, the
coronavirus transmission rate has dropped as a result of local lockdown.
Coronavirus world. Over 73 million coronavirus
cases have been confirmed globally, 1.6 million people have died and more than
51 million have recovered. European countries have different approaches to
managing the coronavirus crisis over the winter holidays. France has today eased
travel restrictions after a 6-week lockdown. Spain is seeing a new rise in
cases and experts are warning of a further rise after the holidays. Germany
will go into lockdown starting tomorrow. Also from tomorrow, London and parts
of south-east England will enter a tier of tougher restrictions. The Czech
Republic has reinstated a night-time curfew and will close bars and restaurants
over Christmas. In The Netherlands, where new cases have seen a sudden spike,
prime minister Mark Rutte has announced a 5-week lockdown. In Sweden, the
November death rate is at its highest in more than 100 years, and Greece, which
has been in lockdown for several weeks, plans to keep restrictions in place
until 7th January.
US elections. Democrat Joe Biden has been officially confirmed as the
next president of the United States with 306 electoral college votes in 50
states, more than the 270 needed to win the elections. Joe Biden said democracy
proved strong in the United States. He praised the democratic institutions who
faced enormous pressure from outgoing president, Republican Donald Trump, and
his allies, to overturn the result of the vote. Biden also said his priority on
the first day in office is to keep the coronavirus pandemic in check and get
the nation vaccinated.
Charges.
Former prime minister of Romania and Senate speaker Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu was indicted by the
prosecutor general’s office on Tuesday for abuse of office and complicity to
usurpation of official qualities. Between 2nd March 2017 and 2nd
September 2019, when he was serving as Senate speaker, Popescu-Tăriceanu is
accused of failing to act to terminate the senator mandate of Cristian Marciu
although the latter had been declared incompatible in court and was no allowed
to hold public office. Marciu was also indicted for usurpation of official
qualities.
Handball. Romania are facing world
champions The Netherlands in their final match at the European Women’s Handball Championships
hosted by Denmark. Regardless of the result of the match, Romania will be in
the last position in main round Group 2. On Monday, Romania lost to Hungary
26:24, after also losing to Croatia in their first main round match. (CM)
