Morning headlines – February 9th 2021

Coronavirus and vaacines

• The eighth tranche of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines. The vaccines tranche from Pfizer/BioNTech company allotted for Bucharest, Constanta, Craiova, Brasov and Iasi got, on Monday evening, to the Otopeni Airport, and on Tuesday morning the doses were transported to regional centers in those counties and to the National Center of Containment in Bucharest, said the National Committee for Coordination of Vaccination Activities against COVID-19.
• Romania has the 14^th place when it comes to vaccination. Romania has the 14^th place when it comes to global COVID-19 vaccination, with a 4.41 rate of administrated doses per 100 people, which is above the European average and other European countries with more advanced medical systems, such as Germania, France, Italy, Poland, said Andrei Baciu, State Secretary for the Ministry of Health, says Digi24.

Global political and military events

• UN report – North Korea has funded its nuclear program with money obtained from hacking activities. North Korea and Iran have cooperated in the development of long range of action missiles in 2020, says a UN report, which confirms that Pyongyang continues to break the UN resolution in the nuclear field, says AFP. North Korea has used, according to the report, around 300 million dollars in the nuclear program, the money being obtained from cyber attack activities. In this annual document made by UN experts and presented on Monday to the Security Council, the Tehran is denying such cooperation with Iran, reported by an unknown country.
• French ships in South China Sea. The Minister of Defence Florence Parly has announced that on Monday two ships from the French navy have recently sailed in the South China Sea, a maritime area claimed by Beijing and the source of multiple tensions, says AFP. It is the nuclear fight submarine Emeraude and the support ship Seine, says Agerpress.
• Trump’s impeachment trial is about to start. On Tuesday, the US Senate starts the hearings in the second impeachment trial the House of Representatives has initiated before Donald Trump finished his mandate. It is the second time Trump goes through an “impeachment” process. He is the only US president who was accused twice for his actions as chief of the White House. The 100 senators, 50 democrats and 50 republicans, will vote on convicting or acquitting the former president, accused for encouraging the violent protests from Capitol Hill, on January 6^th, says Digi24.
• US bombers at Russia’s border. The US has announced on Monday that it will dislocate, in the following three weeks, 200 military and four B-1 bombers in Norway, in the Orland Air Base, to fight Russia’s actions in the Arctic Region, says CNN.
• Japanese submarine, collision with a Chinese ship. A Japanese submarine from the Soryu class has collided, on February 8^th, with a Chinese ship OCEAN ARTEMIS, close to the Kochi port, says AP. Some of the crew members of the submarines were hurt.

Romania’s defence and security

• The Constitutional Court of Romania discusses the establishment of court panels. In Tuesday's hearing, the Constitutional Court discusses the complaint of the Ombudsman from 2019 regarding the illegality of setting up collegiate panels at the HCCJ and at all other courts, it is shown in a press release of the institution.
• Hungary accuses Romania and Ukraine of pollution. Due to the floods, plastic scraps got, in the last days, to Hungary, according to Hungarian authorities. Hungary has previously asked the neighbor countries Ukraine and Romania to stop polluting the area with scraps, says Reuters. They were talking about the Tisa and Somes rivers.
• The Saharan dust got to Romania. The Saharan dust which colored the sky and turned it orange got in Romania as well. The meteorologist expert Bogdan Antonescu told Digi24 that such dust concentrations can have bad effects on people’s health, but it can also be good for agriculture.