Two managers from the private business sector and a city mayor are on the national Liberal Party's list of possible alternative prime ministers, should the no-confidence motion pass the Parliament next week. Stere Farmache, president of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE- BVB), Mariana Gheorghe, executive general manager of oil and gas company Petrom (in picture) and Klaus Johannis, the Sibiu mayor are on PNL's list of candidates for the PM seat, according to Romanian media quoting sources within the Liberal Party.

The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (in picture) will visit Bucharest to sign a

Automobile Dacia has launched a limited edition of its Sandero model, called Sandero Orange, which will be priced at EUR 9,200, slightly higher than the regular model. The special edition will feature 1,000 units and comes with several design and connectivity changes.

Romanians buy less than last year but several products stay at the top of the shopping list, such as water, medicine, sweets, coffee, according to Daedalus Group. Around 60 percent of Romanians have said they buy less this year than they did last year.

Prime Minister Emil Boc, who went to New York for four days during September to attend a United Nations meeting, was accompanied by a staff of 35 people and the cost of the trip reached EUR 470,000, according to Romanian media reports.

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.