Pleven

Bulgarian police have dismantled an organized criminal group dealing in fake documents for technical tests and third-party liability insurance of automobiles, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday.

Nine suspects have been detained during the police operation conducted in the cities of Ruse, Sofia, Pleven, Silistra and Yambol, the ministry said in a statement.

Bulgarian police officers renewed their protests against the proposed changes to the Interior Ministry Act, which foresee cuts to the compensation paid upon retirement and reduction in the number of days of paid annual leave new officers will be entitled to.

On Monday, there were protests in Sofia, Plovdiv, Pleven and Gotse Delchev, private bTV station informs.

At its regular meeting on Wednesday, the Bulgarian government proposed to parliament to adopt a decision on the establishment of a pharmacy faculty at the Medical University in the city of Pleven.

The planned capacity of the faculty is 300 students, the government's press service informs.

Bulgarian authorities have been conducting large-scale inspections of petrol stations over the weekend.

As of Sunday, authorities prevented the distribution of nearly 29 000 litres of fuel, the interior ministry's press service informs.

Petrol stations in Sofia, Varna, Burgas, Pleven and Harmanli were shut down for selling low quality fuel.

The unusually high temperatures in Bulgaria for the month of February continued with an absolute record registered on Tuesday.

The highest temperature was recorded in the city of Veliko Tarnovo where 26.6 degrees were measured.

This broke another absolute record registered earlier this month - 26.5 degrees measured in the city of Pleven on February 15.

More than a hundred students from the United Kingdom were admitted to the Medical University in the Bulgarian city of Pleven.

The students will begin their six-year education programme which is taught in English in several days.

On Sunday the rector of the university will greet the new students at a special welcome event featuring a performance of the city's folklore ensemble.

Hundreds of police officers demonstrated on Thursday for a third night in a row against planned cuts of social benefits at Bulgaria's Interior Ministry.

Mayor candidates endorsed by main ruling party GERB have won in at least seven regional centers in Bulgaria, according to first exit poll results in the run-off vote of local elections.

These include Plovdiv, Haskovo, Shumen, Vidin, Razgrad, Targovishte, Pernik, and Lovech.

Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva has said changes to some prescriptions in Bulgaria's Election Code are "likely" after the run-off vote of local elections held Sunday.

Speaking to journalists after casting a ballot in the town of Pleven, north-central Bulgaria, Tsacheva has cited "difficulties" in registering election results after the first round as a reason.

A run-off vote of Bulgaria's local elections is being held in 1128 villages, towns and cities across the country on Sunday.

In 970 of them voters are picking mayor, while others are to elect district or municipal mayors.