Burgas

A state of emergency was announced on Sunday, after floods and hurricane winds took over a number of cities in Bulgaria. The disaster wrecked havoc on Smolyan, Burgas, Topolovgrad and Dobrich. Varshets, Devin and Kardzhali were also affected.

Russia's Ambassador to Bulgaria Yuriy Isakov has emphasized the need for innovative approaches to developing economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Isakov met Monday with Bulgaria's Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski.

Bulgaria and Greece will connect by rail the Greek ports of Kavala and Alexandroupoli on the Aegean Sea, the Bulgarian Black Sea ports of Burgas and Varna, and Port Ruse on the Danube River.

The implementation of the project will be launched very soon, with the concrete date to be announced by the Greek Embassy in Sofia.

Bulgaria lacks coherence if one judges by its attitude to various energy projects, Russia's permanent envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, has claimed.

Chizhov said Moscow was ready to continue South Stream talks with Austria, Hungary and Serbia, but due to the complicated political situation in Bulgaria the country is not considered "reliable".

The 2014 summer season was hard and the results were modest, reports the Burgas regional tourist association, quoted by the 24 Chasa daily.

According to the analysis for the period April-October 2014, the south Black Sea coast of Bulgaria was visited by 1.2 M tourists, which is by 2% more than in 2013.

Burgas has been elected European Capital of Sport 2015, according to a letter of the President of the European Capital of Sports Association (ACES) Gian Francesco Lupattelli.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, was elected European Capital of Sport in 2018, with the official award ceremony to be held on November 19 in Brussels, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

Bulgaria is to implement 5 energy projects worth over EUR 4 M with EU funding.

The EU funding will go to the design studies for the construction of the Bulgaria-Turkey gas grid interconnection, the construction of the Yadenitsa hydropower plant, and transmission lines from the Maritsa East 1 thermal power plant to different parts of the country.

Some 20 Bulgarian companies are involved in the construction of infrastructure for Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to Ziad El Masri, Chairman of the Bulgarian-Arab Business Association.

The Saint Anastasia island near Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Burgas has been visited by 45 000 tourists during the summer months, announced by the local municipality.

The tourist influx has increased significantly compared to the beginning of the season. During the first month after the island was opened for tourists, it was visited by about 4 thousand people.

There is categorically a threat to Bulgaria stemming from the offensive of Islamic State, though not a direct one, caretaker Defense Minister Velizar Shalamanov said.

He told public broadcaster BNT that the danger was mostly caused by the proximity of Bulgaria to the Turkish-Syria border, where recent IS attacks unfolded, but stressed it was not military in essence.