Romania and Bulgaria were taken out of Skype's Unlimited Europe services package from October, according to Bulgarian agency Novinite. The package allowed users make unlimited phone calls to 24 countries in Europe for 4,99 British pounds a month and used to be available for Romania and Bulgaria too.

Registrations of Romanian Dacia cars in Spain tripled in the first nine months of the year, to 15,559 units, from 5,193 cars in the same interval last year, said Spanish carmaker association ANFAC.

US real estate investor Rockefeller Group International has bought the 75 percent stake in Europa Capital, an investment fund manager which has properties in Romania. The company manages Europa Emerging Europe Fund, which focuses on Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Croatia and Serbia. The fund has properties in Bucharest, Timisoara and Cluj Napoca.

The proposal to cut the income tax from 16 to 10 percent has passed the budget commission in the Senate. The proposal to diminish the flat tax was submitted to the Senate in June this year by a group of senators from the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), among which current Economy Minister Ion Ariton.

*Bankruptcies take a break. Number of insolvencies drop – in Ziarul Financiar
*The car market goes back to plus in September, close to the end of the Clunkers program – in Ziarul Financiar
*Patriciu – Rompetrol's debt has never existed – in Ziarul Financiar
*Texas-based Lufkin make their biggest investments in Ploiesti: “We're going against the tide” – in Ziarul Financiar

It's a rainy, beginning of autumn day in Bucharest and I'm heading to Kathrin Weident's photo studio to watch her take pictures. Not the best day to be outdoors but a good one to watch creativity at work. I had met Kathrin for an interview during the summer. Her story unfolded slowly as we talked: she had moved from Germany to Romania and pursued her dream to set up her own photography studio here.

Oil and gas company Petrom has externalized its data center to IBM, in a contract worth several million dollars and valid for ten years, the two companies have announced. IBM will provide data center services and run Petrom's data center in Petrom City. “[...] The shared use of the space and the facilities will have a positive impact on our costs,” said Reinhard Pichler, Petrom CFO.

Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu, who has started to invest in retail earlier this year, plans to reach a total of 3,000 stores under the Mic.ro brand by the end of next year, which will include neighborhood stores as well as mobile kiosks. The investor expects this network to bring a EUR 1.5 billion turnover by the end of next year.

The toxic residues from an accident took place in West Hungary after an explosion at an alumina factory in the area on Monday will reach the major Eastern European rivers, threatening to pollute the Danube, according to Hungarian media.

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc underscored the need for an overhaul of the Romanian state institutions, criticising politicians for 'staying captive to populist policies,' during a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of the World Bank.

Romania doubled the volume of exports to China in the first half of this year, sending EUR 154 million worth of goods to the country, according to data from the European Statistics Institute (Eurostat). Meanwhile, the country's imports from China grew too, from EUR 826 million in the first half of last year, to EUR 1.17 billion in the same period of this year.

Texas – based oil equipment producer Lufkin Industries, which has started working on its factory in Ploiesti, expects a EUR 30 million turnover in the first year of activity in Romania. It plans to grow the yearly turnover to around USD 70 million after two or three years of activity.