March 5, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 05.03.2021, 13:55
CORONAVIRUS — More than 4,200 new infections with Covid-19 were registered on Thursday in Romania, out of almost 36,000 tests and 98 people have died. Five counties are now in the red zone with over 3 cases per thousand inhabitants in the course of 14 days. These counties are Timis, Maramures, Ilfov, Cluj and Brasov. Some 1,070 patients are in intensive care, the highest figure in the last 6 weeks. The presence of the South-African variant of the coronavirus has also been identified in Romania, in the case of two patients from Bucharest and Pitesti respectively.
NATO — NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană on Thursday at the European Parliament discussed the external policy dimension of artificial intelligence. In a lively discussion with members of the European Parliament from the Special Committee of Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age, Geoană highlighted NATO’s importance as a transatlantic forum for collaboration and coordination on emerging and disruptive technologies (EDT), as well as the potential of cooperation between NATO and the European Union in this area. Geoana outlined NATO’s ongoing work to understand and adopt new technologies and maintain its edge, including the comprehensive roadmap on EDT adopted by NATO leaders in December 2019, and the implementation strategy agreed on by defence ministers in February 2021. Artificial Intelligence brings about new opportunities for cooperation between NATO and the EU, such as the exchange of best practices, but also coordinated efforts to develop the kind of regulation that can foster innovation and set global standards for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, the NATO official also said.
JUSTICE – We must wait for the motivation of the Court’s ruling, Justice Minister Stelian Ion said on Friday about the recent decision of the Bucharest Tribunal not to reopen the inquiry into the anti-government demonstration from August 10, 2018, when the gendarmerie used force against demonstrators. He also said that the case was not closed but explained that any intervention on his part would be against the law. On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis had asked the Justice Minister to urgently offer public explanations for the Bucharest Tribunal’s final ruling not to bring to justice the former heads of the gendarmerie who used violence against peaceful protesters. Also on Thursday, the Higher Council of Magistracy rejected the request of Justice Minister to take a stand as regards suspicions, in the public space, that an investigation into the ‘August 10’ file had not been conducted. The Higher Council of Magistracy announced it notified the Judicial Inspection in relation to the ‘improper’ language used in the public space following the ruling of the Bucharest Tribunal, with a view to defending the independence, impartiality and professional reputation of judges and prosecutors.
VISIT – Pope Francis has arrived in Iraq for the first ever papal visit there, to reassure the fragile Christian minority in that country, decimated by the years of war, France Press reports. This is the Pope’s first international trip since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. During his 3-day visit, Pope Francis, aged 84, will visit a diverse but fading Christian minority, living among 40 million Iraqis and shaken by 40 years of war and economic crisis. Pope Francis will have a historic meeting with Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The Christian community in Iraq, one of the oldest in the world, dropped from 1.5 million before the invasion in 2003 to around 250,000 at present.
GOLDEN BEAR – Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, the most recent film of Romanian director Radu Jude, has won the Golden Bear at the 71st edition of Berlin International Film Festival — Berlinale, held in an online format. The film looks into the relations between the individual and society when the leaked sex video of a school teacher goes viral on the Internet, turning her life upside down. “It is an elaborated film as well as a wild one, clever and childish, geometrical and vibrant, imprecise in the best way. It attacks the spectator, evokes disagreement, but leaves no one with a safety distance,” the jury said about Jude’s film. The win comes six years after the director won the Silver Bear for his film Aferim!.
AIRPORT – The first six biometric gates in Romania became operational on Bucharest’s Henri Coanda International Airport on Thursday. Thus, transit is eased for travellers who own biometric documents such as ID cards or passports, because these documents are checked within seconds, unlike the classic method that can take minutes. The investment in these systems was financed with European funds and will also include other big airports in Romania. (EE)
