Morning headlines – July 27th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 14.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 4.9 million people got the vaccine, with more than 4,7 getting both doses.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 84 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 2 deaths and in ICU there are now 38 people hospitalized.

Global political and military events

• North and South Korea are reestablishing the communication lines. Pyongyang  and Seoul have reestablished, on Tuesday, the communication lines, according to an announcement of South Korea. North Korea has interrupted, last year, any communication with the southern enemy, after it accused it of sending propaganda flyers on its territory. (AP)
•  US’s combat mission in Iraq will end by the end of the year. The announcement was made on Monday by the US president, at the meeting with Iraq’s prime-minister, Mustafa al-Kadhemi. The US soldiers who will stay in the country, starting next year, will only train the Iraqi security forces. The US has around 2.500 soldiers in Iraq. (AP)
• Tragedy in the Mediterranean. At least 57 people have drown, on Monday, when a boat they were in flipped over in the Mediterranean Sea, in Khums’s coast, said the International Organization for Migration. (AP)
• Russia opens a Naval Academy in the Syrian port city Tartus. It is actually a branch of the Nakhimov Naval Academy. On Sunday, on the Russian Navy’s Day, the Defense Ministry in this country has that 10 agreements will be signed between these two countries.
• The US is asking China to become a more responsible global power and respect the human rights. Wendy Sherman, the deputy Secretary of State met, on Monday, in China, with the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, and his deputy, Xie Feng, where she suggested China should become a more responsible global power and collaborate with the US in fields like global warming and the pandemic, however suggesting that it should also respect the human rights. (Mediafax)

Romania’s defence and security

• The Rosia Montana file was again postponed for Tuesday. The UNESCO discussion about Rosia Montana was rescheduled for Tuesday, July 27^th. The committee will meet today, at 12.30 pm, and Romania’s file is the sixth. The Rosia Montana file was sent to UNESCO in 2017, in the last day of Ciolos’s government. In 2018, the request was withdrawn. On January 31^st 2020, Romania’s Government sent the file again to UNESCO. Since 2013, when the Government started the exploitation at Rosia Montana, the project is being contested on the streets. The exploitation involves setting up a lake with cyanides which is 400 hectares long. (Aleph News)
• Heat alert. The National Meteorological Authority issued a Yellow Code for heat in 34 counties, from Tuesday to Sunday. The highest temperatures will generally be between 34 and 39 degrees, with the highest values in Oltenia and Muntenia. Locally, at night, temperatures will not drop below 20 degrees. The targeted counties are: Satu Mare, Maramureş, Bihor, Sălaj, Cluj, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Mureş, Sibiu, Alba, Hunedoara, Arad, Timiş, Caraş-Severin, Mehedinţi, Gorj, Vâlcea, Dolj, Olt, Argeş, Teleorman, Dâmboviţa , Giurgiu, Prahova, Călăraşi, Ialomiţa, Buzău, Constanţa, Tulcea, Brăila, Galaţi, Vrancea, Bacău, Vaslui and Iaşi.