Business, finances, forex

An initiative committee has held a protest rally in Sofia demanding the resurrection of the project for the construction of a second Bulgarian nuclear power plant in the Danube town of Belene.

Sunday’s rally in Sofia was organized by a committee called “I Don’t Give Up on the Belene NPP, Do You?”

The protesters have insisted on the holding of a nation-wide referendum on the fate of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project, which was killed by the rightist Cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the GERB party in March 2012, after years of uncertainty ever since the previous, Socialist-dominated Bulgarian government signed a construction contract with the Russian state corporation Atomstroyexport back in 2006.

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Sergey Stanishev, the reelected leader of Bulgaria’s main opposition formation, the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, declared Sunday that the recent split in Socialist rang must be healed now.

Stanishev, who is also a former Prime Minister and current Chairman of the Party of European Socialists, PES, was reelected late Saturday evening to lead BSP.

The delegates of the party’s 48th congress had to choose between him and Georgi Kadiev, former candidate for Mayor of Sofia….

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Bulgaria’s Health Minister, Desislava Atanasova, launched Sunday the National Day of Sports in the capital Sofia’s South Park.

The Minister spoke about the harmful effects of smoking and voiced satisfaction from the fact that fewer children are tempted by trying cigarettes.

The day continued with the mass participation of children of all ages in games of volleyball, basketball, badminton, martial arts, jogging and football at special fields set across the park….

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The Danish Member of the European Parliament, Dan Jorgensen, from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, has sent a letter to Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, asking him to not allow the euthanasia of stray dogs.

The letter has been issued by the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals in the European Parliament. It declares serious interest in the stray dogs’ problem in Bulgaria and the strong concern of the members of the European Parliament with the possibility of changes in the Animal Protection Act which will legitimize the useless mass destruction of homeless dogs in the country.

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The southern Bulgarian town of Saedinenie is electing its mayor at run-off Sunday.

63.16% of the 5 500 voters cast a ballot at first round one week ago.

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Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has wed his long-time girlfriend Priscilla Chan.

The wedding was announced on the social network after Zuckerberg updated his status to “married.”

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Bulgaria can join the Eurozone in 2 to 3 years, but no one can give an exact date, according to the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov.

The news was reported Sunday by the Bulgarian news agency BGNES, citing a statement of the Minister before Reuters on the occasion of the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD.

Djankov notes that from the 27 EU Member States only 4 have fulfilled the Maastricht Treaty criteria, one of them being Bulgaria, which is not in the Eurozone….

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President, Rosen Plevneliev, attended Saturday an emotional meeting with the Bulgarian community in Chicago.

Plevneliev, who is on his first official visit to the US as Head of State, addressed the expats ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago. The city is home of the largest Bulgarian diaspora in North America.

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Serbia is holding run-off presidential elections Sunday, with voters having to choose between incumbent reformist Boris Tadic and nationalist Tomislav Nikolic.

The outcome of the vote may influence both Serbia’s EU future and the future of the former province of Kosovo which declared independence in 2008, BBC analysts write.

Tadic, who has already served two terms in office, calls the vote a referendum on EU membership.

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Northern Italy has been shaken by a very strong earthquake just hours after a 16-year-old girl was killed and other students were injured as a bomb exploded in front of a school in Brindisi in the south.

BBC reports Sunday, citing local officials, that the quake has killed at least three people and caused thousands of others to flee into the streets.

The 5….

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