August 3
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România Internațional, 03.08.2013, 19:30
Romania will report economic growth in 2013 as well, for the 3rd consecutive year, said Saturday the Romanian President, Traian Basescu. Romanians have every reason to be optimistic even if, the president admitted, the pace of economic development is not very fast. The Romanian President made these statements in the southeastern Romanian town of Sulina where he met with Romanian-born youth who live abroad.
As many as 170 thousand tourists are spending the weekend on the Romanian Black Sea Coast — which is a record number for the 2013 summer season. According to tourist owners’ associations almost 7 500 tourists are foreign citizens. The biggest number of tourists is reported in the resort of Mamaia which is considered the most attractive resort on the Romanian Black Sea Coast.
In Sighisoara, a medieval town located in central Romania, continues the well-known Academia Sighisoara international music festival. The 20th edition of the Academia Sighisoara festival is being attended by 35 European artists — German, Austrian, Spanish, Hungarian, Swiss, Ukrainian and Romanian. Until August 14th they will give concerts in several locations from Sighisoara, a town that has been included on the UNESCO heritage list. Swiss-American composer, Daniel Schnyder, is also attending the festival. He composed an epic opera for this festival “Drakool” which will be premiered on August 9th.
The trust of Moldovan citizens in the state institutions has dropped significantly, which increases the risk of a return to power of the former authoritarian regime, shows a study conducted by an NGO in Chisinau. Almost half of the respondents have said they are ready to leave the country, some of them even for good. According to the study most of the Moldovan people do not trust government policies and are affected by the low level of the country’s development. The study concludes that increased efforts are needed to make state institutions functional, to improve the quality of public services, to eradicate corruption and improve the business environment, the biggest opportunity for the Republic of Moldova being considered its European integration.
The American President, Barack Obama, has order that “all appropriate steps” be taken to protect Americans in response to a threat of an al-Qaeda attack. On Friday the US state department issued a global travel alert for all American citizens warning that the potential for an attack was particularly strong in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington announced that, out of security reasons, 21 of the US embassies and consulates would be closed on Sunday. The diplomatic representative offices of the EU states in the Middle East have taken further security measures.
At least 9 people died on Saturday in the east of Afghanistan in a suicide attack. Local authorities say a car bomb went through the barriers near the Indian consulate in Jalalabad and exploded. This town, located near the border with Pakistan, is frequently the target of insurgents’ attacks. On Friday more than 20 Afghan policemen and at least 75 Taliban were killed in the clashes.
