The traditional retail market in Romania is worth EUR 15 billion and traditional stores will survive the fight with modern formats and the financial and economical crisis, according to Milos Ryba, senior retail analyst with Planet Retail consultancy firm.

Telecom company Cosmote Romania's roaming voice traffic tripled during the period May – August 2010 compared to the same period of last year, while the data traffic grew five-fold during the same period, the company has announced. Cosmote users traveled to Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece and Spain.

Laurent Piveteau is a true representative of the group of young French people doing business in Romania. He speaks fluent Romanian and has started his own business in Romania, soon after setting up his residence here. Together with a couple of partners, Laurent started Franco-Jobs.com, a human resources website dedicated to the French community in Romania, and is already working on expanding the project... to France.

Italian actor and director Michele Placido, known for his Corrado Cattani role in the mafia movie La Piovra, is in Romania for a cinema project about Italy in the 60s and the Italian migration to Romania. Placido will collaborate with Romanian director and producer Bobby Paunescu for this project.

The International Monetary Fund and the Romanian authorities have already agreed on next year's budget parameters, Jeffey Franks, head of the IMF mission to Bucharest, said Wednesday. The 2011 budget must be adjusted according to necessities, said Franks when asked by journalists about his view on the parliament's decisions to cut the value added tax level for staple food and to lift the income tax on small pensions.

*Surprise in the Parliament- with IMF reviewing the country, Parliament votes drop of VAT and tax exemptions for some pensions – in Ziarul Financiar
*Finance Ministry could refinance bonds worth EUR 1.4 billion – in Ziarul Financiar
*Polish, first expat who runs Microsoft Romania – in Ziarul Financiar
*Pestera and Cernavoda, the new wind energy villages in Dobrogea – in Ziarul Financiar
*BCR buys good.bee mobile banking services from the mother band – in Ziarul Financiar

The already famous iPad device from Apple, which has started to shape the online media industry worldwide, is also available for sale in Romania but the prices are considerably higher than in the US. Telecom operators, which are expected to bring the device to Romania at lower selling prices when sold with data and voice subscriptions, are yet to include it in their offers.

Mike Holmes, who has been running Pepsi's business in Romania for the last four years, will leave the company and will be replaced by Pavlos Katsivelis, who used to run Pepsi in Greece. Katsivelis will lead both the beverages and the snacks divisions in Romania.

Romania ranks 52nd in a worldwide freedom of the press ranking published by Reporters sans Frontières organization, down two places on last year. Romania's ranking is similar to the Maldive Islands' but better than the Republic of Moldova's, Croatia's or Greece's.

Romanian state-owned subway company Metrorex wants to organize a bid for pref-easibility and feasibility studies for works on a new subway mainline which will link southwestern Bucharest neighborhood Rahova to northeastern Colentina, the company has announced.

Ronald Binkofski (in picture) is the new general manager of Microsoft Romania, replacing Calin Tatomir, who has recently resigned after two years at the helm of the company.

A Sibiu-based company will start producing in 2011 the isomalt-made sugar-free sweets for people suffering from diabetes, Carmen Socaciu, PhD, of the Cluj-Napoca University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USMV) told newswire Agrepres. The Isomalt hard candy is the result of a research project awarded under the National Program ''Innovation''.