Morning headlines – January 18th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Romania is close to reaching 700.000 COVID-19 cases. Almost 5.000 new cases were recorded over the weekend, according to Mediafax. The vaccination platform is being harshly criticized by the population because it gets blocked and is not functioning well. Until today, more than 204.000 people got vaccinated, 8.000 only in the last day.
• Romania gets today the fifth batch of Pfizer vaccines, composed of 87.750 doses.
• The US is maybe the most affected country in the world, having more than 400.000 deaths due to the coronavirus. According to CNN, next months, the US might reach half million victims.
• Great Britain has advanced its vaccination campaign. The cathedrals are being used as vaccination centers, says CNN.
• Europe was covered by demonstrations against coronavirus restrictions, over the weekend. The biggest protests were in Vienna and Amsterdam, where 200 people were, according to BBC, detained.

Global political and military events

• The US is on an alert, two days before the inauguration of Joe Biden. 25.000 military from the National Guard are monitoring the Washington D.C. streets. In all 50 states, unprecedented security measures were taken, says CNN.
• FBI will check on those 25.000 military from the US capital due to concerns over an inside attack, says AP.
• Russia is being blamed for the arrest of Putin’s opponent, Alexey Navalny. The Romanian foreign affairs minister, Bogdan Aurescu, has joined Western leaders in criticizing Navalnii’s detainment, when he got back to Russia.
• Syria. Three Syrian soldiers were killed Sunday night by unidentified attackers, close to the demarcation line with Israel, in the Golan Heights, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, according to Agerpress.

Romania’s security and defence

• Videoconference of the ministers of European affairs. On January 19^th 2021, the ministers of European affairs in the EU are meeting through a videoconference to discuss topics like the Portuguese presidency of the EU, the Conference on Europe’s future, the European Council to take place on January 21th, the EU coordination on COVID-19, says Agerpress.