12-03-2010/18:43 Sofia - Inflation in February was 0.6 per cent, said the National Statistical Institute.
12-03-2010/18:42 Sofia - Bulgaria has submitted over 250 project proposals under the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, said Deputy Regional Development and Public Works Minister Lilyana Pavlova on Friday. She was speaking at the presentation of the Bulgarian position on the EU strategy for the development of the Danube Region. Members of the national and European parliament took part in meeting.
12-03-2010/17:10 Sofia - Officers of the Directorate-General for Combating Organized Crime surveilled and recorded the activities of 407organized criminal groups, operating in Bulgaria, the EU and non-EU countries. This transpired from the annual report of the Directorate-General for 2009, made public on Friday.
12-03-2010/15:30 Veliko Turnovo, North Central Bulgaria - Progress on cases of high public interest, which are watched by the European Commission, is held back by the failure of partner countries to act on Bulgarian letters rogatory, Plamen Stoilov, Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Commission on Implementation of Organizational Arrangements for Handling Cases of High Interest in the Judicial Authorities, told a news conference here on Friday.
12-03-2010/15:10 Sofia - Speaking at a specially convened news conference Friday President Georgi Purvanov criticized the government for lacking an adequate anti-crisis policy such as he had offered even last fall. The conference, held in the Presidency, focused on the measures for coping with the economic crisis, the Bulgaria 2020 strategy and relations between institutions, was broadcast live on national radio and TV. We don't need battles between institutions, we need a battle against the crisis, Purvanov said.
12-03-2010/15:00 Sofia - Dimiter Abadjiev is the Bulgarian nomination for member of the Executive Board of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International company, the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) said. The decision was taken by the Board of Directors of BEH, which is a shareholder in the project.
12-03-2010/15:00 Sofia - Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism Ivo Marinov will attend the official opening of the Intourmarket Tourist Exhibition in Moscow from March 13 through 14, the Ministry said.
12-03-2010/14:59 Sofia - Interior Ministry employees will stage a protest in front of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre on March 20, the Unionist Federation of the Interior Ministry Employees said. They insist on payment adequate to the responsibilities and risks they take and for worthy working conditions.
12-03-2010/14:58 Sofia - The question of taxation of pensions of working retired people is out of place in the conditions of a crisis, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) Vice President Plamen Dimitrov said in an interview for BTA. His remark came in the wake of a "24 Chassa" interview of National Social Security Institute (NSSI) Governor Hristina Mitreva, according to which the NSSI, the National Revenue Agency, employers and trade unions are discussing a scheme of taxation for working retired people.
12-03-2010/14:11 Sofia - At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, the members of the National Assembly Environment and Water Committee unanimously seconded a motion by Kostadin Yazov MP of GERB banning the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment as well as their cultivation within protected areas and Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation in NATURA 2000 and within 30 km from their boundaries.
12-03-2010/13:05 Sofia - The total volume of newly taken out mortgage loans increased by 9 per cent in February from January 2010, the Credit Centre Consultancy told BTA. This is due to the intensive offering of new credit products. However, part of the consumers are still reluctant to use them and prefer to borrow smaller amounts for shorter terms.
12-03-2010/12:34 Sofia - "The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is seeking a way to safeguard highly productive land from ruination through amendments to the Agricultural Land Conservation Act," Deputy Minister Preslav Borissov said at a discussion on the matter. The planned amendments will impose limitations on the construction or extension of facilities for production of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) on First to Fourth Category agricultural land and on irrigated areas.
12-03-2010/12:11 Washington DC - General elections held in July were deemed generally free and fair but were marred by numerous reports of vote buying and belated changes to the electoral system that were supported only by the previous ruling coalition. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of law enforcement organizations, there were some instances in which law enforcement officers acted independently, the US State Department 2009 Human Rights Report in the section concerning Bulgaria states.
12-03-2010/10:53 Sofia - The Bulgarian Consulate in Tripoli followed and cooperated towards the resolution of the case of a Bulgarian citizen held three months in Libyan prison, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Vessela Cherneva told BTA Thursday. The Bulgarian citizen has already been released. A Bulgarian engineer working at a Swiss company was held three months in a prison in Tripoli because of the crisis in relations between Libya and Switzerland.
12-03-2010/10:52 Sofia - It is with grave concern that the Foreign Ministry finds that at first instance the trial for parental custody against the Bulgarian citizen Spaska Mitrova in Macedonia was not transparent, a statement of the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on the occasion says. The Municipal Court in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija decided Thursday to award parental custody of the three-year-old child of Spaska Mitrova to her ex-husband Vojislav Savic.
12-03-2010/00:08 Sofia - The Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime presents its annual report in the presence of Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.
12-03-2010/00:08 Sofia - The Parliamentary Environment and Water Committee puts to the vote motions on a complete GMO field trial ban and GMO cultivation. Amendments to the GMO Act are to be debated on second reading at a plenary sitting.
12-03-2010/00:08 Sofia - President Georgi Purvanov gives a news conference. In his introduction he is expected to comment on aspects of the anti-crisis policy, the preparation of the Bulgarian position on the Europe 2020 Strategy and relations between the institutions.
11-03-2010/17:22 Sofia - Bulgaria's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2009 amounted to 66,256.27 million leva or 33,876.3 million euro (4,466.1 euro per capita) at current prices, the National Statistical Institute reported on Thursday. In real terms, 2009 GDP contracted by 5 per cent from 2008.
11-03-2010/17:22 Sofia - Order, Lawfulness, Justice (OLJ) said Thursday it is ready to provide the votes that are needed to start the procedure for the impeachment of President Georgi Purvanov that the ruling GERB want to initiate. OLJ leader Yane Yanev said they would do that in the hope that it would start a debate on changes in the Constitution.
11-03-2010/17:21 Sofia - Offences have been established in an audit of the management of the budget and the assets of the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA). The audit was carried out by the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) and covered the period from the beginning of 2008 to June 30, 2009.
11-03-2010/17:21 Montana, Northwestern Bulgaria - Two former inspectors from the local office of the State Automobile Inspectorate (SAI) and a driving instructure received conditional sentences here Thursday for fraudulent issue of driving licences to people who never went to driving school or took driving tests.
11-03-2010/16:09 Sofia - Agriculture and Foods Minister Miroslav Naydenov said Thursday that he will alert the prosecuting magistracy of irregularities in the allocation of 1.5 million leva to a Bulgarian joint-stock company set up to sell local farm produce in Russia. Naydenov said the responsibility for that goes to his predecessor Nihat Kabil.
11-03-2010/15:25 Sofia - Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday passed on first reading a Government-proposed Weapons, Ammunition, Explosives and Pyrotechnic Articles Bill, which prohibits the acquisition, keeping, bearing and use of firearms and ammunitions such as: explosive military missiles and launchers; automatic firearms; firearms disguised as other objects; pistol and revolver ammunition with expanding projectiles and the projectiles for such ammunition, except in the case of weapons for hunting or for target shooting, for persons entitled to use them.
11-03-2010/15:15 Sofia - Nine per cent of the over-20 population in Bulgaria, or 520,000 people, suffer from diabetes, according to official world data for 2010, Anna-Maria Borissova, President of the Bulgarian Society of Endocrinology, told a news conference at the BTA National Press Club on Thursday.
11-03-2010/15:14 Sofia - The number of workers hired in 2009 dropped by 7 per cent from 2008, according to figures of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), presented by CITUB President Zhelyazko Hristov at a news conference on Thursday. This means that 172,000 jobs were lost last year.
11-03-2010/14:23 Sofia - Environment and Waters Minister Nona Karadjova held a series of meetings aimed to speed up the implementation of the 19 infrastructure projects and 2 technical assistance projects under the ISPA Programme, Karadjova's ministry said Thursday.
11-03-2010/14:22 Veliko Turnovo, Central Bulgaria - The reform in the Bulgarian judicial system is making progress, French Ambassador Etienne de Poncins told reporters here Thursday. He sees encouraging and positive signals coming both from the reforms that are being implemented by the Bulgarian government and from the debates on proposed amendments to the Penal Code.
11-03-2010/14:22 Sofia - Funding under the Operational Programme for Regional Development will be made available to municipal hospitals for the purchase of high-tech medical equipment and measures for improving energy efficiency. This was announced Thursday by Deputy Regional Development and Public Works Minister Lilyana Pavlova at the opening of the National BuildinGreen Conference. The conference, which is dedicated to sustainable construction and energy efficiency, takes place within the framework of the Bulgarian Building Week.
11-03-2010/14:21 Sofia - Non-govermental organizations, tourist and caving clubs protest the award of caves under concession to juristic and natural persons, envisaged in the bill on caves. The bill is sponsored by Petar Beron and Georgi Bozhinov. This was stated in a declaration, made public by Marin Tranteev, chief of the Speleo Plus Club, at the BTA National Press Club on Wednesday.
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