In Romania

Several thousand Romanians took to the streets of Bucharest and other cities for the third night in a row to protest against government COVID-19-related restrictions they consider abusive, arbitrary and harmful for the economy and freedom.

Film critic Irina Margareta Nistor said that after the Romanian documentary colectiv/Collective, directed, written, produced and edited by Alexander Nanau, became on Monday the first Romanian film nominated for the Oscars, where it will compete in Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature Film, that this is the first time that a Romanian film receives two nominations.

President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the authorities don't consider implementing any lockdown measures for Easter, and the state of alert will be extended this week.      He added that the circulation restrictions during the night could come into force earlier, at 22:00 instead of 23:00, as they currently are.

The management of the Sibiu County Emergency Clinical Hospital (SCJU) announces that it will start an investigation at the ICU ward where there are patients with COVID-19, after a former employee claimed in the local press, under protection of anonymity, that he killed sick people.

Social Democrat MP, doctor Alexandru Rafila, said that in his opinion, the transfer abroad of the severely burned patient who died today in Belgium was "sluggish". "I consider it was a sluggish transfer, because if this had been a first, we could of course have found some excuses.

The Federation of the Romanian Jewish Communities (FCER) organized on Thursday an online commemorative event to pay tribute to the victims of the anti-Jewish legionary pogrom in Bucharest (January 21 - 23, 1941).

President of the Romanian Senate Anca Dragu and Speaker of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Ludovic Orban on Tuesday got vaccinated against COVID-19. Dragu and Orban got the vaccine at the vaccination centre with the Dr. Carol Davila Central Military Emergency University Hospital in Bucharest. The two arrived at the centre together and were vaccinated at the same time.

President Klaus Iohannis sent today to Justice Minister Stelian Ion the request for the start of the criminal investigation of former Prime Minister and former Senate Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.

The country will navigate this storm brought about by the pandemic with a new parliament that emerged from the December 6 general election - whose results were a major disappointment for many mostly young reformist voters with centre or centre-right pro-EU views. 

The National Political Bureau of the National Liberal Party (PNL) validated, on Wednesday, the option for PNL Chairman Ludovic Orban to be the proposal for PM, and Finance Minister Florin Citu - the proposal for the Senate President, and also the variant with Florin Citu as PM and Ludovic Orban as Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, according to some liberal sources.