Sales of smartphones, mobile phones that allow users to surf the net, send emails, run games and listen to music, have surged, currently making up a quarter of Vodafone's mobile phone sales, says Andrei Oltei, terminal manager within the company. read more...

The IMF says the probability of recession returning to Romania this year is very low and expects economic results will confirm the return of growth. read more...

BCR, the biggest bank on the Romanian market, has seen daily applications for consumer loans double in the six weeks since launching a campaign to promote leu-denominated funding with a fixed 12.5 % a year interest rate and a maximum deadline of 10 years, to 2,000-2,500 applications, totalling around 75,000, says Dominic Bruynseels, the bank's CEO. read more...

Romgaz Mediaş, the only natural gas producer controlled by the Romanian state, posted an over 70 million-euro net profit in the first three months of the year, a significant rise against the similar period of 2010, although the company's production and sales fell. read more...

Floorboard market players are hoping for a two-digit increase for the sector this year amid signs the constructions market will improve. Egger, Kronospan and Barlinek are among the biggest players on the market, dominating the industry. read more...

102,870 new labor contracts were signed in a week since the new Labour Code was enforced following controls to counter illegal workers, PM Emil Boc announced on Monday in a press conference organized at the Labor Ministry. read more...

An invention of Romanian doctors at Sf. Ioan Hospital in Bucharest, awarded with a golden medal at the International Exhibition of inventions at Geneva through which the man’s own body is used for dialysis is still seeking sponsors even though it could cut treatment prices by ten times. read more...

IMF talks with the Economy ministry presented a new reorganization formula for the energy sector. Therefore, instead of two energy giants, Electra and Hidroenergetica two smaller companies will be created that will group units in thermal plant industry with the mining industry. read more...

The 2015 deadline set by Romanian authorities to join the euro zone is a mobilizing factor, President of the EC Representation in Romania, Niculae Idu said in an interview for RFI Romania. The official added that joining the euro zone would bring about more benefits than concerns. read more...

The decrease in social contributions will be most probably discussed next week in the governing coalitions, Hungarian Democratic President Kelemen Hunor declared on Monday for news agency Agerpres. He said that both UDMR and other governing parties endorse a decrease of social contributions if the measure will be sustainable. read more...

Romania’s President Traian Basescu sent on Monday a message on Europe’s day in which he underlines Romania’s interest to see a strong EU, politically and economically. The EU has 27 member states with a total population of half a billion citizens that benefit of rights and share common responsibilities, the letter reads. read more...

The state will commit to use international human resources companies to recruit the future managers of some state owned companies that register debts. This will be included in the intent letter that the government will sign with the IMF, governmental sources declared for HotNews. read more...

Consumption prices increased in April by 0.5% while the annual inflation rate was 8.2% according to an average of opinions expressed by the members of the financial analysis’s association. read more...

I believe that a solution to increase the efficiency of Termoelectrica, the thermal plant, represents to separate the good actives from the bad ones and transform the new company into a viable one that would offer best quality services, Mihai Tanasescu, member of the IMF board declared in an online meeting with HotNews.ro readers. read more...

Japan Tobacco International, JTI, announced on Friday its plans to shut down the factory in Austria by the end of the year and shift production to Romania or Poland, Kurier.at reports. The 240 employees of the factor in Hainburg will lose their jobs and another 80 in the Vienna administrative headquarters will be also fired. read more...

Anti graft prosecutors indicted Democratic Liberal Deputy Monica Iacob Ridzi, former Youth minister in the events related to the Youth Day organized on May 2, 2009 at Costinesti, South East Romania. read more...

Romanian President Traian Basescu declared that the killing of the terrorist leader, Obama bin Laden is a “remarkable success of the American government” adding that this is the “beginning of the end”, news agency Agerpres reports. read more...

The anti-missile shield will be placed in Romania at Deveselu, in Olt County, South Romania, President Traian Basescu announced on Tuesday after a meeting of the National Defense Council on Monday night. read more...

PM Boc and the government’s General Secretariat, in collaboration with the Finance ministry needs to take measures to reactive the Committee of strategic planning, under the coordination of the Prime Minister by the end of 2011 according to a World Bank analysis mentioned in the National Reform Program 2011 – 2013 recently adopted by the executive, news agency Agerpres reports. read more...

Ioan Tarnu, the Romanian Intelligence Service Alba Iulia chief and Liviu Schiau, sub commissioner at the organized crime brigade were retained on Monday by anti graft prosecutors for supporting a criminal network that was dealing with the theft of machines in EU states, the institution informs. read more...