August 10
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România Internațional, 10.08.2013, 00:00
The taxation system in Romania will not be changed, and taxes will not be increased as a result of the new loan agreement signed with the IMF, the delegate minister for public budget Liviu Voinea told a private television station. The statement came in the context of criticism brought by the opposition. The vice-president of the Liberal Democratic Party, Ioan Oltean, has accused the government of being solely interested in raising taxes and charges. He argued that Romania could be viewed as one of Europe’s most insecure countries in terms of fiscal predictability and the security of investments.
The former military unit in the southern Romanian town of Târgoviste, where Romania’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena Ceausescu were executed in December 1989, will be opened to the public in September. It will be a museum subordinated to the Princely Court Museum Compound of Targoviste, the compound director Ovidiu Carstina announced. According to the official, the opening of this military unit came in response to many requests coming from groups of foreign tourists. Visitors will be able to see the wall against which the Ceausescus were shot dead, the room where they spent their last night before being executed, the hall where the summary trial took place. Entrance tickets will be around 1.5 euro.
The US has announced the reopening, on Sunday, of 18 out of the 19 embassies and consular offices in the Middle East and North Africa it had closed down last week for security reasons. The only diplomatic posts to remain closed are the one in the capital city of Yemen, Sanaa, and the consular office in the Pakistani town of Lahore. Last week the USA and the Interpol issued a global travel alert against prospective terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda. Great Britain, Germany and France also temporarily closed their diplomatic missions in Yemen, and Norway closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
In the Danube Delta village of Sfântu Gheorghe the 10th edition of the “Anonimul” Independent Film Festival continues. On Friday night, the festival opened with a screening of the 2013 Berlinale success, the film “The Grandmaster” by Wong Kar-wai. Seven feature films and 40 short-reels take part in the competition for the festival’s grand prize. The only Romanian film in the competition is “Matei, child miner,” by Alexandra Gulea. The guest of honour in this year’s festival is the Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, an Oscar winner, who receives the “Anonimul 10 years” lifetime achievement Trophy.