Romanian unionists affiliated with education union federations FEN and ‘Spiru Haret’ will stage protests outside the Presidential Palace on October 5, the World Teachers’ Day. Spiru Haret union leader Gheorghe Isvoranu said unionists protest over salary cuts and the country's education bill which makes the wage cut measure permanent, although the Constitutional Court said it should be temporary.

French hypermarket chain Cora has signed a lease agreement to open a hypermarket in GTC's Galleria Arad, which will be inaugurated in 2011. Romania Hypermarche, which runs the Cora hypermarket chain in Romania, will open a 9,000 sqm hypermarket in Galleria Arad as the first shop in the city.

Romania climbed to the fifth position in the third quarter of 2010 in a spam sending country top, from the eighth position in the previous quarter, IT security solution provider Panda Security said in a report. According to the report, in the third quarter of 2010, the first ten worst spammers sent 55 percent of the total unwanted messages.

Bucharest is down five places on last year's ranking in the European Cities Monitor by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. The Romanian Capital city ranks second to last, on the 35th position, being followed only by Athens. The top takes into account companies' preferences on European cities where they could expand, looking at several criteria, among which the cost of staff.

Romanian writer Norman Manea will be on a tour in Spain in the first part of October, where he will meet Spanish writer Antonio Muñoz Molina. The tour is organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid (ICR).

The number of foreign tourists who entered Romania was 8.9 percent higher in August compared with the same month a year before, while the number of tourists accommodated was down 15.2 percent on the year, the National Statistics Institute said Monday.

The famous 'Ox Cart' painting by Romanian painter Nicolae Grigorescu, which was auctioned for EUR 155,000 last week in Bucharest, is among the most expensive art works sold in Romania so far. The painting's value was estimated between EUR 150,000 and EUR 250,000. The painting was sold at Artmark's auction last week and the buyer was Romanian investor Mircea Cristian Vescan, the owner of Armax Gaz Medias, according to Romanian media.

The Romanian Association for Aeronautics (ARCA) has launched the first Romanian rocket, Helen 2, which had been placed onboard of a ship in the Constanta area in the Black Sea. The rocket was supposed to be launched last year but the mission failed because of unfavorable weather.

Cristian Sas is the new chief operating officer (COO) of the Anima Specialty Medical Services division with A&D Pharma group. Sas was previously project manager with Allianz-Tiriac insurance company, after holding management positions for 9 years with Polisano and Centrul Medical Unirea private health care services providers.

Local private health care service operator Gral Medical posted EUR 9 million revenues in the first eight months of the year, exceeding its expectations for the entire 2010, the company has announced.

Romanian investor Dinu Patriciu and journalist Sorin Rosca Stanescu have recently launched an online bookstore under the brand Corect Books, which will sell only digital books. The investment in the project was of EUR 100,000, but will reach EUR 2 million for a wider project which includes a media portal as well.

Bogdan Speteanu is the new general manager of BCR Leasing non-banking financial institution. Speteanu has previously worked as program director with Erste Group in Vienna. He has replaced Thomas Tolazzi.