The 2013 car scrapping program kicks off in Romania on Monday. The program benefits owners of cars that are older than 10 years. In exchange for scrapping their old cars, they can get a voucher worth approximately 15 hundred Euros, to buy a new car. According to the Administration of the Environment Fund, 20 thousand vouchers have been issued for this year, 17 thousand for natural persons, and 3 thousand for public institutions. The program started in 2005 and so far over 450 thousand used cars have been scrapped. Over 225 thousand new cars have been bought under the same program.

The Romanian Public Radio condemns the way in which two of its correspondents were treated at the International Federation of Journalists Congress in Dublin, Ireland. According to a Radio Romania press release, the two were thrown out by organizers while reporting from the congress, although they were accredited for the event.

The German Bosch corporation has inaugurated in Romania a new car-parts making plant. The investment, estimated at some 50 million Euros, will create 300 new jobs. Starting this month, the plant will make sensors for various systems such as ABS and ESP. Bosh has another two production facilities in Blaj, with 570 employees and intends to open another one this year in Cluj Napoca, to produce electronic command units.

The 20th International Theatre Festival continues in Sibu, central Romania. The festival, which will last until June 16th, is seen as the third most important after those in Edinburgh, Great Britain, and Avignon, France. The event has brought together 2 thousand 5 hundred artists from 70 countries. Every day is a combination of theatre performances, concerts, street events, circus shows and book fairs. This year’s topic is Dialogue, and the guest of honour is France.

The Indian film Ship of Theseus, directed by Anaqnd Gandhi is the grand winner of the 12th Transylvania International Film Festibal, hosted by the city of Cluj in north-western Romania. The best director award was won by the Japanese film maker Rikiya Imaizumi for the film Catch a Terrible Cat. The film Holliday Rain by Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge got the Jury’s special award, and the Danish actor Michael Noer got the prize for best performance, for the part he played in the film North-West. The award of the International Federation of Film Critics went to the feature film the Cleaner, by Adrian Saba, from Peru, and the public’s award to Wadja, directed by Haifaa al Mansour, Saudi Arabia.

Romanian national women’s handball team has qualified for the World Champtionship in Serbia due this December, after beating in Ordea the Slovakian team, 30 to 22. Last week Romania had won another game away from home.