Nikolov

There was no explosion of the cistern loaded with liquefied petroleum gas that derailed on Saturday, causing a blast that killed 7 people and left 29 injured, Bulgarian firefighters' chief Nikolay Nikolov has said.

The Black Sea city of Varna is to host some of the FIVB Volleyball World League matches next year, a volleyball official says.

The Palace of Varna has been preferred over Arena Armeec sports hall in Sofia for its more affordable rent, news website Dnevnik.bg quotes the secretary general of Bulgaria's volleyball federation, Vladimir Nikolov, as saying.

Via a ruling of judge Nikolay Nikolov, the Sofia City Court (SCC) has terminated and returned to the Prosecutor's Office the case against Ukrainian Roman Logvinenko who has been charged with the attempted murder of former employee of Bulgaria's domestic security service (DANS) Alexei Petrov.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said he is "not commenting" on information that Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva is the nomination of his GERB party for the presidential elections.

Earlier, the names of Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, Deputy PM Tomislav Donchev, Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov, and Tsacheva herself have been repeatedly mentioned as possible nominees.

"In the last 20 days alone, losses in the forests amount to 20,000 decares or almost as many as for the entire 8 months since the beginning of the year," said the Director of General Directorate Fire Safety and Protection of Population Service, Nikolay Nikolov.

The Bulgarian government has proposed the name of Lt Gen Constantin Popov as the next Chief of Defense, the cabinet's press office has said.

A proposal has been sent to Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev under which Popov, currently Deputy Chief of Defense, is to take over from Vice Admiral Rumen Nikolov.

A new Chief of Defense is due to take over the Bulgarian Armed Forces, Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has said.

With an astounding 83.7%, Dimitar Nikolov has been reelected for a third term in the Black Sea port city of Burgas as Bulgaria is holding local elections on Sunday, an Alpha Research poll suggests. 

A survey by rival Gallup agency puts support for Nikolov at 83.5%.

Nikolov, as in the previous (2011) vote, was backed by the main ruling GERB party of PM Boyko Borisov. 

Ivan Nikolov, the suspect charged with the rape and murder of British national Janette Bennett in Bulgaria, has hanged himself, dir.bg reported on Thursday.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg has ruled that the practice of the Bulgarian subsidiary of power distributor CEZ of placing electricity meters in districts inhabited predominantly by Roma higher than in other areas constitutes discrimination.