Morning headlines – September 13th

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 4.000 people got vaccinated. Totally, more than 5.3 million people got the vaccine, with more than 5.2 getting both doses.
• Coronavirus in Romania: In the last 24 hours, there were recorded 2.255 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 29 deaths, and in ICU there are now 600 people hospitalized.

Global political and military events

• Belarus will get weapons worth of 1 billion dollars from Russia. Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, said, on Sunday, during the ZAPAD 2021 military drill, that his country will buy weapons from the Russian Federation worth of more than 1 billion dollars. (DPA)
• The biggest military drill at the NATO border – ZAPAD 2021. More than 200.000 Russian troops are joining, between 10-16^th of September, the strategic military drill Zapad 2021, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The troops are using 80 aircrafts and helicopters, 760 military vehicles, out of which 300 tanks and 250 artillery equipment, many missile systems and also 15 fight ships. Furthermore, 2.000 troops from the CSTO (Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) are also joining the drill, next to an Indian military detachment. The drill will take place in 9 polygons from the Western Military District of the Russian Federation and 5 training centers from Belarus.
• Afghan military pilots who ran to Uzbekistan will go to the United Arab Emirates. Even if the Taliban asked Uzbekistan to send back the pilots and the aircrafts (46), after an US-UAE agreement, the Afghan pilots and the aircrafts donated by the US will go to Abu Dhabi.
• Iran is training terror cells for drone attacks. On Sunday, the Israeli defence minister, Benny Gantz, has accused Iran for training, in Yemen, terrorist cells to use drone attacks. Iran is providing drones with thousands of kilometers range of action for terrorist groups active in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. (Times of Israel)
• The US Military destroyed an Iranian drone in Iraq. The US forces have destroyed, on Sunday, an Iranian drone found close to Erbil airports, in Iraq. (AP)
• The Pentagon reacts to North Korea’s missile test. Yesterday, the US Department of Defence published a press release where it said the last cruise missile test - with a range of action of more than 1.500 km – of North Korea is a `threat to the neighboring countries and shows the continuous development of the North-Korean nuclear program`. (Pentagon)
• Four Turkish soldeirs killed in Syria and Iraq. Three Turkish soldiers were killed on Saturday and Sunday, in two separate incidents in the region Idlib, from Syria, and a fourth one in Iraq, said the Turkish Defence Ministry. (Reuters)

Romania’s defence and security

• More than 250 schools have no sanitary conditions. At a Sunday video-conference with mayors, prime-minister Florin Citu said that 253 schools do not have the minimum sanitary conditions to start the schools. Other 53 schools have no disinfection and hygiene materials, and 139 schools have problems related to heating. (Aleph News)
• Firefighters’ Day. Firefighters Day in Romania is celebrating the Spiri Battle, from September 13^th 1848, between the firefighters battalion led by Captain Pavel Zaganescu and a unit of the Ottoman Empire. (IGSU)