Alexandru
\nVisinescu, the former warden of one of the most dreadful penitentiaries in
\ncommunist Romania, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday, at the end of
\nthe first trial of this kind in Romania, 25 years since the fall of the
\ntotalitarian regime. Under trial since September last year for crimes against
\nhumanity, Alexandru Visinescu, now 90 years old, was accused of torturing the
\npolitical detainees in the Ramnicu Sarat prison, in eastern Romania. Visinescu
\nwill lose all its military ranks and must pay
\n300,000 Euro worth of damages to the heirs of three detainees. The court
\nruling is not final, though. Other such tormentors are also under trial,
\nfollowing accusations formulated against them by the Institute for the
\nInvestigation of Communist Crimes in Romania. Over 600,000 political opponents,
\nintellectuals, officers and priests were imprisoned in Romania during the
\ncommunist regime, between 1947 and 1989.<\/p>\n
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The Minister Delegate for
\nRelations with Romanians Abroad, Angel T\u00eelv\u0103r, is on a four-day visit to Italy,
\nwhere he has meetings planned with representatives of the local and central
\nauthorities and with members of the Romanian community. The visit is designed
\nto help collect information on the Romanian community in Italy, which has
\naround one million members, to help them integrate and to ensure that
\nRomanians’ rights as European citizens are observed. This is the second visit
\nmade by Minister Angel T\u00eelv\u0103r to Italy this year, after the one in Catania in
\nFebruary. <\/p>\n
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The New Fiscal
\nCode is inapplicable because of the impact that the fee and tax reductions
\nstipulated in it might have on the GDP, said on Friday the Governor of the
\nNational Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu. He termed as ‘wise’ president Klaus
\nIohannis’s decision to send the document back to Parliament for reexamination.
\nAccording to Mugur Isarescu, if it were to be applied as it is today, the new
\nFiscal Code would have a 2.3% impact on the GDP, without taking into account
\nthe rise in salaries in the public sector, which would add another 1.3% to the
\ndeficit. Prime Minister Victor Ponta has criticized the rejection of the bill.
\nThe Romanian Government wants the new code to come into force at the beginning
\nof next year at the latest and has announced it will make use of all the legal
\nmeans available to see than happen. <\/p>\n
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Most Romanians (over 78%)
\nthink the Presidency and the Government must work together closely on important
\nmatters, reveals a recent opinion poll. The poll indicates that only 6.9%
\ndisagree with this idea. Also, more than 30% of the respondents agree that the
\ncountry should hold early elections, compared to 53.3% who do not. The
\nGovernment’s decision to increase the staff of the National Anti-Corruption
\nDirectorate by another 50 prosecutors was appreciated by almost 39% of the
\ninterviewees. The poll was conducted by INSCOP Research for the daily Adevarul
\nbetween July 9 and 14, 2015.<\/p>\n
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On Friday, Gabriel
\nBerca, a member of the National Union for the Progress of Romania, a former
\npresidential adviser under Traian Basescu and interior minister in 2012, was
\ntaken in temporary police custody pending trial for 30 days, under charges of
\ninfluence peddling in 2010-2012. According to judicial sources, during that
\ntime he allegedly claimed and received from a businessman over 180,000 euro in
\nexchange for using his personal influence on cabinet members regarding the
\nallocation of funds to a town hall in Bacau County, in the east.<\/p>\n
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Representatives
\nof Greece’s international lenders (the European Commission, the European
\nCentral Bank and the IMF) are expected in Athens in the coming days, the EC
\nannounced on Friday, without giving any other details. Previously, rumours had
\nit that the mission would start on Friday. According to some sources, there are
\nseveral logistical difficulties in preparing the discussions. The talks will
\nfocus on the third bail-out program for Greece. The new round of negotiations
\nis the result of the Greek Parliament’s approving some tough conditions imposed
\nby the European lenders. The IMF team is headed by the Romanian Delia
\nVelculescu, an economist by trade, co-author of an IMF analysis of the Greek
\neconomy. She was appointed head of the IMF mission shortly after the Greek
\nauthorities had decided to pay the Fund a 2 billion Euro installment of its
\ndebt, which would allow the country access to the IMF loans again.<\/p>\n
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The Constitutional Court in
\nChisinau, in the neighboring Republic of Moldova, on Friday endorsed the
\ninitiative to revise the Constitution with regard to the way in which the
\npresident of the republic is elected. According to the draft law, the head of
\nstate would be elected by the MP majority, not three fifths as it is today. The
\ninitiative belongs to a group of MPs members of the Liberal democratic Party,
\nthe Democratic Party and the Liberal Party, the three pro-European parties
\nwhich, on Thursday, signed the agreement on the setting up of the Alliance for
\nEuropean Integration. According to politicians, by changing the proceeding for
\nthe election of the president, could prevent another political crisis next spring,
\nwhen the term in office of the current president expires. In the meantime,
\nnegotiations for the formation of a new government continue.<\/p>\n
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The operations that the
\nTurkish army and police forces started on Friday against the Islamic State
\nterrorist organization and the rebels members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party
\n(PKK) will continue, said the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Some 300
\npeople were arrested on Friday, in an operation carried out across the country.
\nOf them, 37 were foreigners. The operation was staged a few days after a
\nsuicide attack blamed on the Islamic State, which took place in Suruc, near the
\nborder with Syria, claiming lives and wounding many. Also, Turkey carried out
\nits own air raid against Jihadist targets in Syria, after Thursday’s clashes
\nbetween Turkish soldiers and Jihadists. Moreover, Turkey has authorized the US
\nto use more air bases in the region to fight against the Islamic State.<\/p>\n
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A big parade of over 300
\nknights, damsels, ladies and minstrels from Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary gave
\nthe official start on Friday of the 23rd Sighisoara Medieval
\nFestival, in central Romania. Hosted by the only inhabited medieval fortified
\ncity in south-eastern Europe, the festival brings to Sighisoara 12 Romanian and
\nHungarian music bands, 11 theatre and medieval animation troupes and 7 knights’
\norders from Romania and Bulgaria. The festival will host fine art exhibitions,
\nbook launches, an organ concert and film screenings. This year’s goal of the
\nfestival is to break a record every day: the biggest sword in the world, the
\nbiggest flag in the world, the biggest pretzel and the biggest folk mask in the
\nworld. Organizers say that approximately 25,000 tourists are expected to
\nSighisoara for this festival.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":100004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-100360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n