Freedom

British pop star George Michael, who rose to fame with the band Wham! and sold more than 100 million albums in his career, has died aged 53.

"It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period," his publicist said in a statement.

According to the latest Freedom in the World report of Freedom House released on Wednesday, freedom in Bulgaria did not make a progress in 2015.

Bulgaria continued to be identified as a free country, with a freedom rating of 2 on a scale from 1 to 7 where 1 represent most free and 7 stands for least free.

Famous singer Pharrell Williams dedicated his song “Freedom” to refugees fleeing to Europe and hailed the contribution of immigrants to the economy and culture of US and other countries around the world.

“Let them in!” Pharrell Williams said performing his new track ‘Freedom’ at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Milan.

Bulgaria occupies the 41st position in the latest edition of the Human Freedom Index - a global measurement of personal, civil and economic freedom ranking 152 countries on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom.

Bulgaria had a freedom index of 7.8 in 2012, with a personal freedom of 8.21 and economic freedom measuring 7.39.

The 2014 report from the US-based watchdog Freedom House has underlined a global decline in freedom of the press, blaming it on harsher laws and increased violence against journalists.

The report classified the Western Balkans as a region that saw a sharp deterioration in terms of freedom of the press.

You know I don’t like to talk about myself and what has happened to me. Nor do I ever give examples from my own life. I generally write serious political articles, sociological analyses and macroeconomic projections to the future; you know, heavy stuff… This week I will make a change and tell you about the meaningless attack I suffered last week.

Greece lost five points in terms of its press freedom last year and now ranks 92nd out of 197 countries, according to an annual report by Freedom House, published on Thursday.

The US-based non-governmental organization rated the media in Greece as being “partly free.” It placed Greece below Mozambique but just above Lesotho in terms of the freedom of reporting.