Morning headlines – November 11th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 71.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 7,37 million people got the vaccine, with more than 6,63 getting both doses and 1,08 of them getting the third dose.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 6.291 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 405 deaths, and in ICU there are now 1.823 people hospitalized.

Global political and military events

• Crisis at the Poland-Belarus border. Poland’s prime-minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has accused, on Wednesday, the Belarus regime, led by president Aleksandar Lukashenko, of practicing `state terrorism` by transferring thousands of clandestine migrants at the EU’s borders. The EU has warned that it will strengthen the sanctions against Poland and the countries and companies which transport immigrants. Poland has dislocated 12.000 soldiers, 4.000 guards and 1.500 policemen at the border. (Mediafax)
• Ursula von der Leyen met Joe Biden. Ursula von der Leyen, the chief of the European Commission and the US president, Joe Biden, met, on Wednesday, at the White House, where they discussed, among others, about the security situation in Eastern Europe, especially about the migration crisis at Poland’s border with Belarus and the situation in Ukraine. (AP)
• Asia-Pacific tensions. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has compared the Asia-Pacific tensions with the Cold War-era ones. On Thursday, at the APEC forum, Xi indicated that greater cooperation is needed to get out of the COVDI-19-provoked crisis and to fight against climate change, but he did not mention anything about China’s claims on India, Nepal, Taiwan and the South China Sea, which have increased the tension. (Reuters)
• The US and China will cooperate to fight the climate changes. The US envoy for climate, John Kerry, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Zhenhua, have announced, on Wednesday, at the UN conference on climate change from Scotland, that the US and China, the countries to have the biggest carbon dioxide in the world have signed an agreement to intensity the cooperation in the climate changes field, reduce the methane emissions, protect the forests and gradually eliminate the coal. (CNN)
• Pentagon: the climate change and China are equal threats. The US Defense Department’s spokesperson, John Kirby, has stated, on Wednesday, that the climate changes and China are the biggest US threats. (DailyMail)

Romania’s defence and security

• The Veterans` Day. Veterans’ Day was established by Law No. 150 of 22.10.2014, modifying and completing OUG No. 82/2006 for the acknowledgement of the merits of military personnel participating in military actions and providing them and their descendants certain rights.
  November 11 is a day chosen for its significance, the day the armistice was signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany to end World War 1 and create the premises of the Great Union in Romania, on December 1, 1918.
  This way, Romania joined Australia, Canada and the Unites States of America as well as other states of Europe in showing its gratitude for the soldiers who returned from missions and commemorate its heroes on November 11.
• Fire at a COVID support hospital in Ploiesti. Two patients, one aged 74 and the other 75, lost their lives in the fire. Another 16 patients were evacuated. The red intervention plan has been activated. (Mediafax)
• Prolonged political crisis: Negotiations between PNL and PSD stalled when it came to appointing the prime minister. Each party wants the party’s president to be prime minister. It is discussed the exercise of the function of prime minister by rotation. (Mediafax)