DANS

Delyan Peevski, a controversial Bulgarian lawmaker and businessman, said on Friday he was selling his stake in Bulgartabac, a Bulgarian tobacco joint-stock holding company.

Peevski, whose name came to the spotlight after he was appointed to head the national domestic and counter-intelligence agency DANS in 2013, triggering nationwide protests, had a majority stake in Bulgartabac.

Bulgaria's Parliament has adopted on second reading legal changes allowing counter-intelligence and domestic security agency DANS to process passengers' reservation data in the country.

Under the amendments, which were first put forward by the government in September, a special unit in charge of handling the data, in compliance with a EU directive and the Europol Regulation.

The Bulgarian authorities have cracked down on a organized crime group dealing in bringing in illegal migrants into the country and smuggling them to Western Europe, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday.

Like nobody else in Bulgaria MP Delyan Peevski "embodies the oligarchic system of clientelism," Der Spiegel says in a recent article.

Peevski is "the most flamboyant" Bulgarian politician, with supporters calling him "a child prodigy" and critics tying his success to close relations with the "political mafia," Der Spiegel writes [DE].

Kulata border crossing between Bulgaria and Greece might might have to be sealed off in the days to come, with Greek farmers set to protest against changes to their tax and pension status, a Bulgarian official has warned.

Bulgaria on Dec. 13 shut its busy border crossing with Turkey as 14 customs officials were detained in an anti-corruption raid, chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said.

Rumyana Chenalova, a controversial judge charged with malfeasance and document fraud, is to be handed a second indictment on Wednesday, Bulgarian media outlets report.

Chenalova has been summoned to the Bulgarian security agency DANS, according to the Bulgarian National Radio which cites its own sources.

Police and national security agency DANS are carrying out a large-scale operation against vote-buying and other violations of electoral law, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said.

Borisov told private national NOVA TV station on Friday morning that a special operation had been underway since 06:00 local time (EEST) to guarantee fair elections.

Nobody has been injured after an explosion of a major pipeline near the village of Nedan just a few km from Pavlikeni in north central Bulgaria, officials say.

Local authorities report it is not known what caused the blast.

Following the explosion, a fire broke out near the pipeline that is now being extinguished.

A Sofia Deputy Mayor has said disciplinary proceedings have been launched against the principal of a local kindergarten over so-called "Quranic verses".