Morning headlines – May 21st 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

•   Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 87.000 people got vaccinated (more than 59.000 with both doses). Totally, more than 4 million people got the vaccine, with more than 3 million getting both doses.
•   Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 618 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 61 deaths and in ICU there are now 663 people hospitalized.

Global political and military events

•    The ceasefire between Israel and HAMAS has been established after 11 days of conflict. Today, the ceasefire between Israel and HAMAS has been established. Egypt, the US and Qatar interfered to make the ceasefire possible, says CNN. Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy chief of HAMAS from the Gaza Strip said this is a victory, even if the death toll does not indicate that: 232 people died in the Palestinian side, among them 65 kids, but also many HAMAS leaders, and 12 people from the Israeli side, among them a kid as well, a teenager and a soldier.
•  Egypt will make sure the truce is being followed. Egypt will send two delegations, in Tel Aviv and the Palestinian territories, to make sure the ceasefire agreed on Thursday evening by Israel and the armed Palestinian groups is being followed, says AFP, quoting Egyptian diplomatic sources, tells Agerpress.
•  The UN is asking for humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has asked the international community, on Thursday, to offer immediate help for the Palestinians, who are in a desperate situation after the conflict with the Israelis. He said the Gaza Strip is literally the hell for kids and has asked Israel to allow aid access to Gaza.
•   The nationalist patriotic movement becomes concrete in Bulgaria. Three nationalist parties on the Bulgarian political scene, VMRO, Volya and NFSB have established, on Thursday, the alliance Bulgarian Patriots, given the early elections to take place on July 11, says local media.
• Russia expressed its concerns over the US troops in Norway. The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, has expressed, on Thursday, at the Arctic Council, held in Reykjavik, his concern about the US troop deployment at the Russian-Norwegian  border, says Reuters, referring to the joint military drills between the US and Norway. He proposed a meeting between military experts from the Armed Forces of the 8 arctic countries, which were normal before Russia annexed Crimea, in 2014.

Romania’s  defence and security

• Reforms Romania has to initiate to get European money. Prime-minister Florin Citu committed in front of the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to make a series of reforms, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The list of reforms was presented in front of European officials, within the Brussels talks, being assumed by the prime-minister and the president. Among them there are also reforms referring to pensions, state companies, public administration, sectoral reforms in different fields, says Digi24.
• The Foreign Affairs minister is participating at the Europe’s Council meeting. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, will participate, on Friday, at the 131^st reunion of the Europe’s Council Ministers Committee, which will be held online; among the discussed topics will be also democracy and conflict and crisis in Europe.