April 15, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 15.04.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 Romania.
More than 3,800 new COVID-19 infections were reported in Romania on Thursday
and 195 related fatalities. 1,518 patients are currently in intensive care.
Bucharest continues to be the city with the highest incidence rate. The
National Committee for the Coordination of Vaccination announced Romania ranks
4th at EU level in terms of the number of people who’ve received both doses of
the vaccine, and 7th in terms of the total number of immunised people. So far,
2.4 million Romanians have received both doses of the COVID vaccine.

Government. The
Government in Bucharest on Thursday discussed a memorandum proposed by the
labour ministry containing the principles underlying the new public salary law.
After the meeting, prime minister Florin Citu said the document did not provide
for any cuts. He said a bill was also approved providing for tougher penalties
for companies that do not comply with the COVID restrictions. The government
also approved an emergency order on the supply of another 4.2 million doses of Pfizer
and BioNTech vaccine to Romania and discussed plans for the restructuring of
the Oltenia Energy Complex. The prime minister also talked to hospital
directors around the country, promising them the needed resources. He said
there is every chance that 1,600 ICU beds for COVID patients will be available
by Sunday.

Troops. The
United States will pull out its troops from Afghanistan by 1st September,
President Joe Biden has announced. The withdrawal is a consequence of the Peace
Agreement signed by the Americans and the Taliban, despite the fact that there
is yet no peace settlement in this country, as well as no guarantees the war
will end, pundits have argued. US secretary of state Antony Blinken promised on
Thursday during a surprise visit to Kabul, a sustainable partnership with
Afghanistan. He said the US will continue to provide diplomatic and humanitarian
support to Afghanistan and its security and defence forces. NATO has also
decided to start withdrawing its troops in Afghanistan starting May 1. The
decision was adopted on Wednesday in the NATO Council. Representing Romania in the
videoconference was foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu and defence minister
Nicolae Ciucă. Romania has over 600 military deployed in NATO operations
in Afghanistan right now, which it will start pulling out.

Iran. The UK, France and Germany
voiced concern over Iran’s recent announcement that it will start enriching
uranium to 60% purity using advanced centrifuges. Tehran informed the
International Atomic Energy Agency of this decision on 13th April.
The three countries say this is a serious development and Iran has no credible
civilian need to enrich uranium at this level. The new escalation comes days
after the start of talks in Vienna on relaunching the 2015 nuclear agreement
with Iran, from which the US pulled out in 2018 and to which Israel is opposed.
The goal of the talks, which ended on Thursday and were described by Russia’s envoy
as positive, is to convince the US to rejoin the agreement and Tehran to return
to its commitments. Enrique Mora,
the EU chief coordinator of the talks, said in a tweet that it was good to see talks
resume despite the most difficult events
and announcements of the last few days.

Tennis. Irina Bara will be facing Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the first singles match between
Romania and Italy as part of the Billie Jean King Cup World Group play-offs held
on Friday and Saturday in Cluj Napoca, in north-western Romania. Romania’s
team also includes Mihaela Buzărnescu, Elena
Gabriela Ruse and Monica Niculescu, while Italy’s team also includes Martina
Trevisan, Jasmine Paolini, Giulia Gatto-Monticone, and Bianca Turati. The
Romania-Italy play-offs were initially scheduled for April last year, but were
postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The winner will play in the
qualifying matches for the 2022 edition of the World Group, while the runner-up
will play in the Europe/Africa zone Group 1. (CM)