August 18, 2021

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 18.08.2021, 13:50

G7. US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
have agreed, over the phone, to attend a virtual G7 summit on Afghanistan next
week, the White House and Downing Street have announced. Boris Johnson, whose
country is currently holding the presidency of the group, has called for the summit,
while the international community has had different reactions to the current
situation. It was President Joe Biden’s first conversation with a head of state
or government since the Taliban seized the capital, Kabul, after 20 years of
US-led international coalition military intervention, in which the United
Kingdom played an important role. In Brussels, the EU security chief Josep
Borrell admitted that the West had made mistakes in Afghanistan, in particular
because it did not anticipate the Taliban’s rapid takeover. He explained that
the priority for the Union was to evacuate European citizens, but also Afghans
who worked for the EU.

Afghanistan. The Romanian Prime Minister, Florin Cîţu, has stated that the
evacuation of Romanian citizens in Kabul is underway and it will be done with a
Romanian army aircraft. Previously, the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Bogdan Aurescu told Radio Romania that efforts were being made to recover
several Romanians trapped in a former American military base surrounded by the
Taliban. Bogdan Aurescu also spoke about the possibility of receiving, in
Romania, after an analysis of each case, Afghan refugees from among those who
have worked with Romanian troops, NATO, the EU or other international
organizations in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, at the extraordinary videoconference of
the EU foreign ministers, the Romanian Foreign Minister stressed the need to
protect the lives of citizens, as well as the need to immediately restore
security and civil order in that country. President Klaus Iohannis convened a
meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense for next Wednesday to
discuss the security situation in Afghanistan and its implications for Romania.

Covid-19. 541 new cases of Covid-19 were
reported in Romania on Wednesday, out of some 35 thousand tests performed.
Also, 6 related deaths were reported in 24 hours. The number of people that
need hospitalization is also on the rise. There are now 1000 Covid-19 patients
in hospitals, of whom 126 in intensive care units. Against this background,
hospitals have started to prepare for the fourth wave, which some specialists
say will hit in September.

Government. The political bureau of the National Liberal Party, the
main partner in the ruling coalition in Romania, has today proposed deputy Dan
Vilceanu for the office of finance minister. Last month, PM Florin Citu sacked
the previous holder of the office, Alexandru Nazare, and is currently acting as
interim finance minister. According to the premier, the Liberals’ proposal will
be submitted to the president of the country.

Belarus. The European Union’s interior ministers are attending an extraordinary video conference today on the situation of Belarusian migrants arriving in EU member states such as Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Faced with a wave of migrants, part of what it considers to be a hybrid war waged by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Lithuania has announced that migrants trying to enter the country will be rejected, after more than 4,000 have crossed the border since the beginning of the year, , compared to 100 in the whole of 2020. Latvia has made similar accusations against Belarus.

Athletes. The nine Romanian athletes who won medals at the recent Olympic
Games in Tokyo are awarded today, in
Bucharest, by the country’s president, Klaus Iohannis. They are Nicoleta Ancuţa
Bodnar and Simona Geanina Radiş, who won gold in the women’s double scull,
Ana-Maria Popescu, winner of silver in women’s epee fencing, Marius Vasile
Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosă, with silver in men’s coxless pair, and the team
made up of Mihăiţă Vasile Ţigănescu,
Mugurel Vasile Semciuc, Ştefan Constantin Berariu and Cosmin Pascari, who won
the silver medal in the men’s coxless four. We recall that Romania ranked 46th
in the Olympic Games classification by medals.

Tennis. Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (13 WTA) got her first
victory after a break of three and a half months, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, against the
Polish Magda Linette, on Tuesday, in the first round of the WTA 1,000
tournament in Cincinnati (USA), with total prizes of over 2 million dollars. In
the second round, Simona Halep will take on Jessica Pegula. Also on Tuesday,
the Romanian-German pair Horia Tecău / Kevin Krawietz qualified for the round
of 16 of the doubles event of the ATP Masters 1,000 tournament in Cincinnati.
The two defeated 7-5, 6-3 the Argentinean pair Federico Delbonis / Diego
Schwartzman. In the eighth round, the Romanian-German couple will face the pair
Marcelo Arevalo (El Salvador) and Fabio Fognini (Italy). Tecău won a title in
Cincinnati, in 2012, together with the Swede Robert Lindstedt. (MI)