Morning headlines – February 11th 2022

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 10.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 8,09 million people got the vaccine, with more than 8,01 getting both doses and 2,46 of them getting the third dose. (Press release)
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 26.466 SARS CoV-2 cases, 138 deaths, and in ICU there are now 1.146 people hospitalized. (Press release)

Global political and military events

• The `Normandy Format` negotiations in Berlin had no success. Russia and Ukraine say the Berlin negotiations produced no change for the dynamic of the issue. The discussions with the French and German mediators stopped. Tensions are high in eastern Ukraine, where Russia massed a large number of troops at the border.
• QUAD Alliance reunion to counter China. The QUAD Alliance foreign ministers (US, Australia, Japan and India) have started, in Friday, in Melbourne, the discussions on countering China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific region. The US State Secretary has stated that a US-China military confrontation is not inevitable, but the US will support the countries in the region which are threatened by China. (AP)
• Biden warns the Americans in Ukraine to leave the country because sending troops to evacuate them would lead to a new global war. President Joe Biden warned all Americans in the US to leave the country immediately, during an interview with CBS. Biden said that in case of an invasion, sending US troops to evacuate them would lead to a new global war. (CBS)
• The Defense minister of Great Britain goes to Moscow. The British defence minister, Ben Wallace, is today in Moscow to discuss with the Russian minister of defence, Sergey Shoygu, about the security situation at the border with Ukraine. He is accompanied by the chief of defence, admiral Sir Antony David Radakin, who will meet, on Saturday, with the Russian counterpart, general Valery Gerasimov, the chief of Russian defence. (Tass)

Romania's defense and security

• NATO Secretary General comes to Romania. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is coming to Romania on Friday, at Mihail Kogalniceanu 57th Air Base, in Constanta County, where he will be received by President Klaus Iohannis. (Mediafax)
• The Chief of Defense met with SACEUR. In the context of the deployment of the TF Cougar detachment in Romania from Germany, the Chief of the Defense Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe (SACEUR), General Tod D. Wolters, met on Thursday, February 10, at the headquarters of the 57th Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base. (Mediafax)
• Joint meeting of the Governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. On Friday, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca is visiting Chisinau for the joint meeting of the two governments, Romanian and Moldovan, in which he will meet with President Maia Sandu, members of Parliament, but also representatives of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Republic of Moldova. The document for the non-reimbursable financial assistance of 100 million euros granted by Romania to the Republic of Moldova will also be initialed. (Agerpres)
• The SCM elects its new president. The plenum of the Superior Council of Magistracy meets on Friday to elect the new president. On December 16 last year, Judge Bogdan Mateescu, the current president of the Superior Council of Magistracy, was voted interim in this position, after the SCM Judges' Section rejected the candidacies of Gabriela Baltag and Andrea Chiş. (Agerpres)
• European Day 112. The buildings of the Presidential Administration, the Government and the Parliament are among the public institutions that will be illuminated in red, on Friday evening, on the occasion of the European Day 112. (TVR)