28 May 2021

Morning headlines – May 28th 2021

Florin Jipa

Image source: Profimedia

Coronavirus and vaccines

  • Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 67.000 people got vaccinated (more than 43.000 with both doses). Totally, more than 4.2 million people got the vaccine, with more than 3.3 getting both doses.
  • Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 307 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 39 deaths and in ICU there are now 485 people hospitalized.
  • Kids’ vaccination starts. The coordinator of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheroghita, has stated, on Thursday evening, for Aleph News that the vaccination of kids with ages between 12 and 16 years could start in Romania in the first week of June.

Global political and military events

  • The EU has a 672 billion euro worth recovery plan. Austria and Poland’s parliaments have approved, on Thursday evening, the European recovery plan, worth of 672 billion euro, dedicated to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic consequences, which makes it possible to end the ratification process of this project, says AFP, according to Mediafax. “With the positive votes of the Austrian and Polish parliaments given today, the 27 member states have ended the parliamentary approval process”, said, on Twitter, the European commissary for budget, Johannes Hahn.
  • The Pentagon will have a 714 billion dollars budget for 2022. The US president, Joseph Biden, will propose, on Friday, a 715 billion dollars budget for the Defense Department, aiming at modernizing the nuclear arsenal and increase the dissuasion capabilities against China, but also to develop new military systems, said the American officials, according to Mediafax.
  • The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, got reelected. Bashar al-Assad got a new seven years mandate, wining 95.1% of the votes, said the president of the Damascus parliament, on Thursday, following a scrutiny criticized by the opposition and the Western states, says AFP. Around 14.2 million people participated to the vote, which means there was a 76.64 participation rate, said Mediafax.
  • ICAO is investigating the hijacking of a civilian flight by Belarus. ICAO has announced on Thursday evening that it will start investigating the Sunday interception by Belarus of a Ryanair aircraft which was on a commercial flight, says AFP, according to Agerpress. ICAO will have an interim report by June 25th, according to the Irish minister of transports, Eamon Ryan.
  • The UN will investigate Israel for war crimes. Michelle Banchelet, a UN’s high commissary for the Human Rights has stated, on Thursday, that the organization will investigate Israel for possible war crimes in the last conflict it had with the Gaza Strip militants, says CNN. In just 11 days, Israel has initiated hundreds of air strikes, as a response to missiles coming from Gaza, killing 253 Palestinians, among them 66 kids. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad killed 12 Israelis, among them two kids.

Romania’s defence and security

  • Aurescu asked the EU to solve the frozen conflicts. The European Union must involve in solving the frozen conflicts around its Eastern borders if it wants to have a global actor status, said Bogdan Aurescu, the MFA, at the informal reunion of EU’s Foreign Affairs ministers, which is being held in Lisbon, says Digi24. The fear of frozen conflicts (Ukraine, Georgia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh) was introduced on reunion’s agenda after Romania’s request.
  • Romanian interlope arrested in Mexico. The Mexican authorities have arrested Florin Tudor, on Thursday. He is believed to be a leader of the Romanian mafia, according to local media, quoted by Dpa, said Agerpress. The press release says the man was wanted for organized crime, extortion and attempt of murder.