Morning headlines – February 5th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Results of the vaccine in Israel. The vaccination of people with ages above 60 years from Israel has reduced to half the number of COVID-19 cases in this category of people, and the number of serious infection cases has also decreased with more than 25% in the last weeks, said on Thursday prime-minister Benjamin Netanyahu, quoted by Reuters.
• The law which regulates the schools’ opening was completed. The Minister of Education and the Minister of Health have decided, on Thursday evening, that the classes will be suspended for 14 days if there will be registered 2 coronavirus cases in gymnasium and high school classes, and for the kindergarten and primary classes the rule applies if one single case is registered.
• The AstraZeneca vaccine has some limitations. The COVID-19 vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine is recommended for the people with ages between 18 and 55 years, and the recommended time between the two administrated doses is eight weeks, says the National Vaccination Committee.
• The Moderna vaccine – The third patch of Moderna vaccines will be in Romania on Friday. We are talking about 42.000 doses.

Global military and political events

• Navalny is nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace. The former Polish president, who is laureate of the Nobel Prize for Peace, Lech Walesa, has nominated the Russian opponent Alexey Navalny for such prize, says Agerpress.
• China is brainwashing its students. The authorities in Hong Kong has revealed a series of controversial measures applied in schools, like the education of kids starting with the age of six about the interferences of the foreigners and subversion as part of a new national security education program, says Reuters.
• The US is back on the foreign policy scene. The US president, Joseph Biden, asked, on Thursday evening, the remediation of international alliances and the intensification of US’s diplomatic activities. “America is back. Diplomacy is back”, said Joseph Biden, in a speech at the State Department.
• The US will not support the Saudi war in Yemen anymore. The US Armed Forces will not support the military coalition led by the Saudi Arabia against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to a statement of president Joe Biden.
• China successfully conducted a land-based mid-course missile interception test. The Chinese army has announced that is has successfully tested, on Thursday, the interception of a missiles, using a land-based system. It is the fifth test of such kind, after the ones conducted in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2018.

Romania’s defence and security

• Reform at the Public Inspectorate in Constructions: We are removing the regional structures and we are reducing the costs, says the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, Cseke Attila.
• The economic sheet of 2020: the first NSI data. The consumption has increased with 2.2% last year, mostly due to the IT devices, furniture and medicines. However, the clothes, shoes and fuels sells have decreased with 8-13%. The online sells had a huge increase, the NSI data showing a 40% increase, says Mediafax.