Morning headlines – October 29th 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 126.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 6.82 million people got the vaccine, with more than 6.17 getting both doses and 810.000 of them getting the third dose.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 13.197 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 413 deaths, and in ICU there are now 1.881 people hospitalized.

Global political and military events

• Joe Biden got to Europe for the G20 and COP26. The US president, Joe Biden, arrived to Rome on Friday, where he will meet the Pope, the French president Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s prime-minister, Mario Draghi, before his participation, on Saturday, at the G20 summit. The US president will continue, on Sunday, the European tour in Scotland, where he will participate at the COP26, the UN conference on climate changes, in Glasgow. (AP)
• Poland makes a step back in the dispute with the EU. The Polish prime-minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has stated, on Thursday, that inside the governing coalition there is a desire to talk about the dissolution of the disciplinary chamber of judges, asked by the EC. (AFP)
• Great Britain summons the French ambassador. The French ambassador, Catherine Colonna, was summed by the Europe state secretary, Wendy Morton, to cool down the post-BREXIT tensions between the two states. France has threatened to apply harsh measures for the British vessels, including controls and the interdiction to disembark in the French ports, if Great Britain does not increase the fishing licenses for the French fishermen. (AFP)
• Moldova’s president called for a meeting of the Supreme Council of Security for the gases crisis. Moldova’s President, Maia Sandu, has asked for a meeting of the SCS to evaluate the energy system’s situation which is in a serious crisis, after Gzprom reduced the gases delivery and asks Chisinau for a price that is six times bigger. Moldova’s Parliament introduced a state of emergency on October 22^nd, for 30 days, after failing to negotiate with Gazprom. (Digi24)
• The EU accuses Russia for using the natural gas to pressure Moldova. Russia is using the natural gas resources as an intimidation tool against Republic of Moldova, has stated, on Thursday, Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policies. Josep Borrell Fontelles met, on Thursday, in Brussels, with Moldova’s prime-minister, Natalia Gavrilita. (Mediafax)
• Norway intercepted Russian military aircrafts with F-35s, for the first time. As a big group of Russian aircrafts did not have a flying plan and refused the radio contact with the flight’s civilian traffic authorities, the Norwegian armed forces has alerted, on October 27^th, two air bases and the F-16 and F-35 aircrafts have intercepted and escorted the Russian aircrafts. (AP)
• China will overtake Russia and maybe even the United States as a military power. The statement was made on Thursday by General John Hyten, the deputy head of the Pentagon's defense, at the Defense Writers Group conference. He described China's military capability as "amazing". (voanews.com)
• National Rifle Association cyber-attacked in Russia. Russian hacker group Grief has cyber-attacked the US National Arms Association, and several documents of the organization have appeared on the Dark Web. NAA did not confirm the reports and the ransomware attack and said it was taking extraordinary measures to protect its data. Experts believe Grief is linked to Evil Corp., another ransomware gang associated with an attack on Sinclair Broadcasting Group last week. (AP)

Romania's defense and security

• Prolonged political crisis: The Liberals and President Klaus Iohannis will try to pass through parliament a PNL + UDMR minority government led by General (r) Nicolae Ciuca. At the Ministry of Defense Simona Cojocaru was proposed, current Secretary of State for Defense Policy, Planning and International Relations. The full list of ministers and the governing program are set to be voted on in Parliament next week. (Mediafax)
• Romania can request the advance of 3.7 billion euros from NRRP. Romania's NRRP received, on Thursday, acceptance the EU Council. The interim Minister of Finance, Dan Vilceanu, says that Romania can request the advance of 3.7 billion euro. (Aleph News)