Morning headlines – October 11th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 35.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 5.7 million people got the vaccine, with more than 5.5 getting both doses.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 10.400 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 211 deaths, and in ICU there are now 1.603 people hospitalized.
• The prime-minister was summoned to go to the Parliament. The interim prime-minister, Florin Citu, is invited, on Monday, in the Deputies’ Chamber plenum, at the `Prime-minister’s hour` to present a report on the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. (Agerpress)

Global political and military events

• General strike in Italy. MFA has issued a trip warning. The MFA has issued a trip warning for the Romanians who are or are about to go to Italy. On Monday, the Italian state will be affected by a general strike. (MFA)
• Protests in Poland to stay in the EU. Tens of protesters went out on the streets, on Sunday, in the main cities of the country to support the EU membership, after Friday’s decision of the Polish Constitutional Court which challenges the European right against the national one. (AP)
• The US had `sincere and professional` discussions with the Taliban. The State Department has announced, on Sunday, that the first direct meeting between the US and Taliban officials, after they took the power in Afghanistan, was `sincere and professional`. The discussions focused on security, terrorism, the Afghan and foreign citizens’ transfer, the human rights. (AP)
• Two US citizens, husband and wife, were arrested for selling military secrets. An employee of the US Naval Forces, expert on nuclear engineering, and his wife, were accused for selling nuclear submarines secrets. The buyer was an undercover FBI agent. (Reuters)
• Great Britain wants life sentence for migrants’ traffickers. The British government has prepared a law project which would give life sentences to migrants’ traffickers. In the last two days, more than 1.000 people tried to illegally enter the United Kingdom. (AP)
• American official visiting Moscow. The undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland is visiting Moscow, starting Monday, for three days, to meet top Russian officials adnd discuss about things related to the diplomatic, economic and security relations between the two states. (AP)
• The Russian diplomacy’s chief visits Serbia. The minister of foreign affairs from Russia, Sergey Lavrov, paid a visit to Serbia, at the end of last week, to discuss with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, about the security situation and bilateral relations. (Tass)

Romania’s security and defence

• Consultations at Cotroceni to choose a prime-minister. President Klaus Iohannis helds consultations, on Monday, at Cotroceni Palace, with the political parties in the Parliament to choose the candidate for the prime-minister position.