Morning headlines - July 20th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 13.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 4.8 million people got the vaccine, with more than 4,7 getting both doses.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 46 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 1 death and in ICU there are now 33 people hospitalized. 

      Global  political and military events

• The US, EU and NATO are accusing China of conducting cyber attacks. Joseph Biden’s Administration has accused China, on Monday, of collaborating with criminal groups which are involved in massive cyber attacks, calling on Beijing for an incident that targeted Microsoft and affected thousands of organizations, says Financial Times. The Biden Administration’s allegations are also endorsed by the EU, NATO, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zeeland and Japan. (Aleph News)
• The leader of the Belarus opposition, visit in the US. The US State Secretary, Antony Blinken, met, on Monday, in Washington, with the opposition leader, who is in exile, Svetlansa Tihanovskaia. Svetlana asked the US to put more pressure on the Minsk regime, accused of falsifying the 2020 elections, the opponents’ arrests and the hijack of a civil aircrafts to eventually arrest a journalist. (AP)
• Israel attacks Syria and intercepts missiles from Lebanon. Israel has launched, in the night between Monday to Tuesday, many missiles in Syria, over Al-Safirah, the Aleppo region, over an ammunition factory of Iranian militias and intercepted a missiles attack coming from Lebanon. (AP)
• Pentagon’s chief is visiting countries in South-East Asia. The US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, will visit, at the end of the month, countries in South-East Asia, among them being also Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. (AP)
• Russia does not want US hypersonic missiles in Europe. The Russian embassy in Washington has warned the Biden Administration, today, over the dislocation of hypersonic missiles in Europe, stating that this will create a destabilizing situation. Russia armed ships and aircrafts with hypersonic missiles already (which can reach a 5Mach speed or greater than that).

Romania’s defence and security

• The Romanian Aviation Day and the Air Forces Day. The Romanian Aviation and Air Forces Day is celebrated, each year, on July 20^th, when it is also celebrated Saint Ilie, the spiritual guardian of pilots. Today, the ceremony will start at 10am, but not military aircrafts will be involved. (MoND)
• The 74 PATRIOT company will get the Fight Flag. During the Aviation Day ceremony, the 74 PATRIOT company will get the Fight Glad. The 74 PATRIOT company, a combat unit founded in December 2st 2018, has the mission to make the surface-to-air missile system PATRIOT operational. (MoND)
• The presentation of the tactical drone Watchkeeper in Romania. Today, at Aerostar Bacau, will be presented the tactical drone Watchkeeper, developed by the U-TacS company.
• The minister of Environment is opposing the European Strategy for Forests. The EU Strategy for Forests is being contested by six countries, among them Romania as well. The strategy is part of the plan aiming at reducing pollution with at least 55% and proposes the plantation of 3 billion trees. (Aleph News)
• Tech giants will pay taxes in Romania as well. Starting with 2023, between 20 and 30% of the profits will return to Romania, according to a law project. (ZF.RO)