Stara Zagora Province

Bulgarian authorities detained on Wednesday 43 illegal immigrants at the dam near the village of Topolyane, located in the municipality of Radnevo.

None of them was in the possession of identity documents and they identified themselves as refugees coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The town of Stara Zagora, in Southern Bulgaria, has become Bulgaria's "beer capital" as of October 02, Friday.

As Stara Zagora is preparing to mark its own official holiday on Monday, the local administration has decided to organize what it hopes will become the biggest beer festival in the country - named BEER ?????? ("The BEER FEST").

AES and ContourGlobal thermal power plants, alongside renewable energy sources, will remain the primary sources in the energy mix of Bulgaria, a recent document shows.

The lates pricing decision of energy watchdog KEVR shows that AES Martiza East 1 and ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3 sets theire share in Bulgaria's energy system at 20% and 25.2%, respectively.

Over 1000 large companies in Bulgaria are stopping work or switching to reduced capacity for an hour on Friday to protest an anticipated 13-20% increase in power rates for the industry.

The Bulgarian police detained seventeen illegal immigrants in the district of Stara Zagora, which is the second case in the region in less than a month.

The immigrants were traveling in a vehicle, which was involved in a road accident on Trakia Motorway near the town of Chirpan, private bTV station reports.

One man was presumed dead and two women were severely injured by a blast at a Bulgarian fireworks and hunting ammunition factory on Friday.

According to BGNES news outlet, the explosion at the privately-owned factory in Maglizh, some 200 km east of Sofia, occurred around 1130 EET (0930 UTC).

The reasons for the blast were not immediately known.

Emergency due to overflowing dams and high waters was declared in the towns of Saedinenie and Peshtera, reports the bTV national channel.

Homes in Saedinenie and the surrounding areas are partially flooded by overflowing dams and rivers.

The critical situation in the town of Elhovo because of the rising levels of Tundzha river also remains.

The Mayor of the southeastern Bulgarian town of Elhovo, Petar Kirov, has urged locals to prepare for evacuation as the water level of the Tundzha River nears the critical level.

The water column exceeds 3.9 meters, the critical level being 4 meters, according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

First Investment Bank (Fibank) has paid BGN 8,893 M at an auction to acquire the main part of the assets of bankrupt machine building company Remotex-Radnevo.

Fibank now be able to get back around half of the loan of nearly BGN 16 M which it provided to the company for the repair of heavy mining equipment.

The Kazanlak-based military plant Arsenal will create 1000 jobs and make a substantial investment in new equipment, according to CEO Nikolay Ibushev.

Ibushev, as cited by econ.bg, explained that the upgrade of the machines had been planned mainly for the two biggest units of Arsenal.