<em>In the last week of November the kingdom of </em>Luxembourg hosted the 12th edition of Expogast Villeroy et Boch Culinary World Cup. The competition takes place once in four years and it is the second most important of its kind after <span lang="en-US">IKA Culinary Olympics. </span>The event gathered over <span lang="en-US">100 teams, with 1.000 professionals from all 5 continents and it was organized at </span>Vatel-Club Luxembourg.
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The youngest team that Romania ever had in the last 20 years at the Gastronomy World Cup – with an average age of 27 -, came back home with 7 gold, silver and bronze medals.<span lang="ro-RO"> Romania was represented by the National Association of Cooks and Chefs from Tourism (ANBCT) – the only association in Romania with full rights in Worldchefs. The National Team won two bronze medals. Its members where Orlando Zaharia, Dragoș Bercea, Istvan Vajda, Istvan Vereș, Cornel Cioacă and Vera Maxim, having Ștefan Bercea as a team manager. The special touch was given by the Festive Arrangement reprezenting the works of the famous Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brâncuși: The Endless Column, The Table of Silence and Mademoiselle Pogany – being sculpted in chocolate. Two silver medals went to the regional teams of </span>Belvedere Brașov and the Chefs Association of Transylvania<span lang="ro-RO"> in the</span> “Culinary Art Exhibition” challenge. Carmela Dragomir (gold) and Simona Popescu (silver and bronze) rocked the individual contest “D2 Pastry Artistry” – sugar or chocolate sculptures.

The winners of the 12th Edition of Villeroy et Boch Culinary World Cup<span lang="ro-RO">,</span><span lang="ro-RO"> at the National Teams Cathegory</span> where Singapore, Sweden and USA.
<strong>BUCHAREST has the 1st Mercure Hotel
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</strong><span lang="ro-RO">The International Accor Chain opened in the city a new hotel, under the Mercure brand. It comes in completion of the other six existing in Romania under the brands Ibis, Novotel and Pullman (former Sofitel). </span>Mercure Bucharest City Center<span lang="ro-RO"> 4*, complimentary WI-FI in the rooms and other areas of the hotel. The three conference rooms have natural light and the Food &amp; Beverage department promotes the local wines under the Legendary Wines concept. The Accor group estimates a minimum of 50% occupancy rate for the first year.</span><span lang="ro-RO"> </span><span lang="ro-RO">The Romanian Alina Fugaciu, for over 011 years with Accor, is the manager of the new property.</span>
<p lang="ro-RO"><strong>10 YEARS WITH BLUE AIR
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</strong>About ten years ago, in December, the Romanian company Blue Air started operating the first low cost flights to Timișoara (internal connection) and Lyon (international flight). Since then the planes of the company flew 150.415.384 kilometers, which means circling the Globe for 3.753 times. During all this time the flights attendants accumulated over 188.000 flight hours, transporting over 11.500.000 passengers – a number that means more than half the population of Romania. Through the taxes paid to the state budget Blue Air contributed with 133.580.115 RON, which means 148.422 minimum salaries. ”Ten fantastic years have passed and they give us the strength to go forward. Greatest thanks to all our passengers” said Gheorghe Răcaru, founder and general manager of the carrier.</p>
<p lang="ro-RO"><strong>SHENZHEN – open gates towards great business
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</strong><span lang="ro-RO">Bucharest and Shenzhen became connected in 2014, after the Official Memorandum signed between Romania and China. Four great Chinese companies invested in Romania, among which Huawei and ZTE. </span></p>
<span lang="ro-RO">In order to be aware of the commercial and touristic offer of Shenzen </span>Innovation Travel and the Municipalities of Bucharest and the Chinese City have organized a presentation of Shenzhen.

The city has over<span lang="ro-RO"> 10,5 million inhabitants and is one of the most dinamic cities of China. The average age of its inhabitants is </span><span lang="ro-RO">29! It is a place that boosts with innovation, having over 9.600 licenses, 40% of the total registered in China. If in 1979 Shenzen was a simple fishermen village, today ir is connected with any corner of the globe through 26 airlines. Shenzhen will be in 2026 the host of The Golf World Cup.</span>

The vice mayor of Bucharest, Dan Darabonţ, participated in the event as well as the Chinese delegation, led by <span lang="ro-RO">Yao Weizhi, Directorul adjunct al Departamentului de Afaceri Externe al Shenzhen and Sally Lee, Directorul adjunct al Direcţiei de Promovare a oraşului Shenzhen. The Chineze reprezentatives underlined that in 2013 import-export volume between the city on the Southern Coast of China and Romania reached 290 million dollars.</span>

<strong>DAILY MAIL: The BRAN castle offers a mesmerizing experience!
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</strong>Daily Mail<span lang="ro-RO"> archived a new article in which the Bran Castle in Romania is presented as being </span>„Dracula’s home”.<span lang="ro-RO"> Richly illustarted with photos from the inside and outside, the place is recommended for the voyage on Count Dracula’s trail – the charracter being ”one of the darkest figures of the European mithology”. The author also underlines the fact that some tourists say that Dracula never existed. </span>„And obviously they are right. The most famous vampire of all times had been created by the Irish novelist Bram Stoker in his Gothic novel Dracula, published in 1897”. Stoker never visited Romania<span lang="ro-RO">, so he has never been in B</span>ran either. The article states that apparently there is a connection of the place with the ruler Vlad the 3rd of Wallachia and it seems that the one that “sold” this information to Stoker had been Armin Vambery, a Jewish man that had as a passion travels and the Ottoman Empire, a consultant of the writer regarding the Transylvanian culture of the time.

The Bran castle is now the property of Dominic, Maria Magdalena <span lang="ro-RO">and </span>Elizabeth, successors of the Habsburgs.
<p lang="ro-RO"><strong>European Aerobatic Championships in Deva
</strong>Beginning of November took place in Wroclaw - Poland, the reunion of the <span lang="ro-RO">Aerobatic</span> Commission (CIVA) of the <span lang="en-GB">Fédération Aéronautique Internationale</span> (FAI).<span lang="ro-RO"> The representatives of Romania proposed and the commission members agreed that The 9-th Edition of FAI European Advanced Aerobatic Championships - EAAC 2015 to be hosted by Romania. It will be organiyed by The Romanian Aeronautics Federation and The Romanian </span><span lang="en-GB">Flying Club</span><span lang="ro-RO">.</span><span lang="ro-RO">. The competition will take place between July 22nd and August 1st 2015 in Deva</span>.<span lang="ro-RO"> ”It is for the first time that such an important aerobatics’ contest will be organized in R</span>omania<span lang="ro-RO">” – said George Rotaru, general director of The Romanian</span> <span lang="en-GB">Flying Club</span><span lang="ro-RO">.</span></p>