January 14, 2023 UPDATE

Culture Day. On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis decorated artists, personalities and important cultural institutions on the occasion of the National Culture Day, marked annually on January 15. The distinctions were awarded as a sign of appreciation for the work done and the major impact on the cultural space in the country and abroad. Among those decorated are the well-known film critic Irina Margareta Nistor, the Peles National Museum, the Hungarian State Theater in Timisoara (west), the National Theater in Târgu Mureş (center) and the "Moldova" Philharmonic in Iași (east). In the last two centuries, the cultural elites have inspired Romanian society to step on the road to Western modernization and democratization - said President Klaus Iohannis, who added that Romanians are proud of personalities whose works have enriched national and universal heritage and spirituality.

NATO. NATO is moving to Romania some of the AWACS radar jets, currently stationed in Germany, to watch more closely the war started by Russia in Ukraine. The planes are scheduled to land on Tuesday at the Otopeni military base, near Bucharest. NATO and the Ministry of Defense announced that they will carry out surveillance  flights exclusively on the territory of the Alliance, will strengthen the presence of allied forces in the Black Sea region, but they will also monitor Russian military activity. AWACS aircraft can fly at altitudes of 12,000 meters and detect enemy aircraft, ships or ground vehicles from 400 kilometers away. They can transmit information to all NATO combat aircraft, which means they can theoretically be used as flying command posts.

Schengen. The Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarachi, has recently presented in Austria, an initiative to support the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, and will visit the two countries next week - according to  a press release from the Greek line ministry.  Notis Mitarachi met in Vienna with the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner. In Athens' view, the extension of Schengen through the accession of Romania and Bulgaria will be directly beneficial for Greece, as it will be connected by road with other EU member states. At the same time, Greece claims that the enlargement of the Schengen area will help boost economic activities. The Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum recalls that, while Croatia's application for Schengen accession was accepted in the JHA Council in Brussels, on December 8 last year, Romania and Bulgaria were faced with the opposition of Austria and the Netherlands, although they successfully completed the evaluation procedures for joining the free movement area as early as 2011.

Ukraine. Turkey wants to see "localized cessations of the conflict "in Ukraine because it cannot hope for a more comprehensive peace deal at this stage, Ibrahim Kalin, a close adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Saturday. Neither Russia nor Ukraine "is in a position to win militarily", Kalin estimated, declaring himself convinced that "in the end, they will have to negotiate to reach an acceptable solution" for both sides. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, on February 24, Turkey, which maintains good relations with both countries, offered to broker the end of the war. It mediated the agreement signed last summer on Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea and the Bosphorus and the facilitation of prisoner of war exchanges. In another move, Great Britain has announced that it will send a dozen tanks to Ukraine. Kyiv hopes that the US, France and Germany will follow the British example. Russian diplomats said on Saturday that sending British tanks to Ukraine, as announced by London, will only 'intensify' the fighting and it's very unlikely to change the situation on the front line.

Refugees. More than 3 million Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border to Romania since the outbreak of the war in the neighboring country in February last year. Also, over 100,000 have temporarily settled in Romania, and 4,000 have applied for asylum - according to a report made public in the presence of Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă. At Government level, six working groups were set up by fields of activity, which, together with the UN partners and civil society, allowed a good management of the situation arising from the Russian aggression. At the same time, they facilitated the accommodation of the Ukrainians in a very short time. To manage the humanitarian crisis, so far, the Romanian Government has allocated 565 million euros, of which 200 million euros came from international partners. The aid materialized in free transport, food, clothing, shelter, long-term accommodation, free medical and social interventions and services, access to the labor market and  schools.

Covid-19. China has recorded about 60,000 deaths from COVID-19 in just over a month, health authorities reported, providing the first toll since restrictions were eased in early December. The Chinese government stopped reporting infections and deaths early last month after suddenly revoking anti-virus controls. The World Health Organization and some governments have asked Beijing to provide more detailed information about the situation and the virus. In the context of the worrying increase in cases in this country, since the beginning of the year, the EU has encouraged member states to ask all travelers coming from the Asian country to present a negative test for COVID-19. China is the place where the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic started approximately three years ago.

Execution. The execution, in Iran, on Saturday morning, of Alireza Akbari, who held dual Iranian and British citizenship, is a "barbaric act" that "will not stand unchallenged", said  the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, James Cleverly. In turn, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak denounced on Twitter the "callous and cowardly" conviction. The French authorities summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires to Paris, also warning that Tehran's repeated violations of international law cannot stand unchallenged, and the US condemned the execution, calling it "horrific". Former Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Alireza Akbari (61) was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for the United Kingdom, a charge he denied. Britain asked Iran to stop the execution and release him immediately, but Alireza Akbari was hanged. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship for its citizens. (MI)