Morning headlines – September 21st 2021

Coronavirus and vaccines

• Vaccination in Romania: In the last 24 hours, more than 12.000 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 3.342 new SARS CoV-2 cases, 78 deaths, and in ICU there are now 952 people hospitalized.
• The ICU beds crisis. In Bucharest, there is no empty place in the ICU. At the Marius Nasta Institute from the capital ICU trucks are now being used, but there are no enough doctors to cope with the number of patients. Nationally, only 19 beds are available in ICU, said the authorities. (Aleph News)

Global political and military events

• Elections in Russia for the State Duma. The United Russia Party (49.82%), which supports Vladimir Putin, won the parliamentary elections from Russia, after counting all votes. US, the EU and Great Britain have criticized the detainment of leaders and limitation of the opposition to participate at the elections, but also the organization of elections in occupied regions or areas where Russia has a military presence like Crimea, Osetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria. (AFP)
• The EU joins France in the submarines crisis. The European diplomacy chief, Josep Borrell, has stated, after the EU foreign ministers from New York, ahead of the UN annual General Assembly, that the EU stands in solidarity with France in the dispute with US, Great Britain and Australia, after losing a 50 billion euro contract to build 12 submarines for Australia. (AFP)
• Russia opens a naval base in Sudan, at the Red Sea. The deputy defence and foreign affairs ministers of the Russian Federation have discussed, yesterday, with the Sudanese officials the last details for the opening of a military base in this country. The agreement between the two countries was signed in December. (Tass)
• The EU does not want Russian mercenaries in Mali. Josep Borrel, the European diplomacy’s chief, has warned, on Monday, the transition authorities from Bamako that the involvement of the Russian mercenaries group Wagner in Mali would seriously affect the relations between the EU and Mali. In the previous day, the French defence minister, Florence Parly, discussed with the military junta which took over the leadership in this country to convince it to give up the Russian mercenaries. (Reuters)
• Turkey and Azerbaijan have launched the Indestructible Brotherhood, in the enclave from the border with Armenia and Iran. The Turkish and Azerbaijani soldiers have launched, on Monday, a joint military drill in the enclave Nakhichevan, from the border between Armenia, Iran and Turkey. (Anadolu)

Romania’s defence and security

• Ludovic Orban is accusing the secrete services and president Iohannis for being involved in the internal campaign of the National Liberal Party. Orban has stated for a TV channel that it is hard to prove the involvement of the services, but they have nothing to do in the political parties, justice, economy and media. (Aleph News)
• Iohannis has, on Tuesday, an intervention at the UN General Assembly. From Tuesday to Thursday, the 76^th reunion of the UN General Assembly takes place, in New York. The topic of the reunion is the "Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the United Nations”.
• Fire in Cluj. A fire broke out, on Tuesday morning, at a hall in Tetarom 1 Park, in Cluj-Napoca. ISU operates with several trucks. (Cluj News)