Новости за 16.12.2022

The Bulgarian men's 4 x 200m freestyle swimmers achieved a historic ranking at the world championships in small pool swimming. In Melbourne, Petar Mitsin, Kaloyan Bratanov, Antani Ivanov and Yordan Yanchev became eighth. For the first time, Bulgaria reached the final in the discipline....

The European Commission made the first payment to Bulgaria of EUR 1.37 billion in grants after it met 22 key milestones and targets related to the national recovery and resilience plan. They cover important first actions for reforms and investments to decarbonize the energy sector, the large-scale deployment of digital infrastructure, reforming the judiciary, strengthening the anti-money laundering framework, digitizing the public sector, improving compliance and the coverage of the minimum wage income scheme. Читать дальше...

Nine neighborhoods in the capital are without hot water and heating, and the problem in some of them affects only individual blocks with residential buildings (this is the case in the center, "Yavorov", "Ivan Vazov" and "Mladost 4"). "Toplofikacia Sofia" (Heating Systems Sofia) confirmed that they are working on fixing several accidents. Two blocks in the Yavorov district have been without heating since last night....

The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office is investigating a possible crime against the Republic of Bulgaria, the prosecution announced. The object of the inspection is the Military Union - Bulgarian National Militia "Shipka" (BNO Shipka/БНО Шипка), which was reported on 12.12....

The Serbian government will ask the commander of NATO peacekeeping forces to allow the country to send up to 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo, said President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday, Reuters reported. It is the first time Belgrade has sought to deploy troops to Kosovo since a UN Security Council resolution ended the 1998-99 war. "The government will request the return of hundreds and no more than 1,000 army and police personnel," Vucic said, adding that the request would be emailed... Читать дальше...

Climatologist Prof. Georgi Rachev predicts a snowless Christmas in all of Bulgaria. Snowfall is unlikely until the end of the year....

Ten people, including five children between the ages of 3 and 15, died after a fire broke out this morning in a residential building in the suburb of the French city of Lyon - Vaulx en Velin, BTA reported. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the cause of the fire was still unknown, but there were several possible scenarios and information was still being gathered. Darmanin added that he is in touch with President Emmanuel Macron. ...

The European Union summit in Brussels was forced to end yesterday due to strikes in Belgium today. Subway, buses and trams throughout the country will have a disrupted schedule. Employees from Brussels International Airport are expected to join the national strike. ...

The accounts of Ryan Mack of the New York Times, Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN and Matt Binder of the news site Mashable were blocked by Twitter. The registration of the independent journalist Aaron Rooper, as well as the social network Mastodon, was also frozen, Reuters reported. It's yet another eccentric decision by Twitter, which comes hours after billionaire Elon Musk's recently purchased network deleted the @elonjet account that tracked his private jet's journeys in real-time using publicly available data... Читать дальше...

The National Council (NC) of the Slovak Republic voted a vote of no confidence in the government of Eduard Heger (OĽANO). 78 out of 102 MPs present voted in favor of the fall of the government, 20 were against and two abstained, Slovak news agency TASR reported. Before the vote, OĽANO MPs left the hall. ...

Deputies in the Legal Committee rejected President Rumen Radev's veto on parts of the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Electoral Code, adopted by the 48th National Assembly on December 2, 2022. With the rejection of the veto, the amendments made will remain and it will be possible to vote with a paper ballot in elections. The vote in legal committee was identical to how the changes were made....

Former US President Donald Trump has announced that he will make an important announcement. However, the eagerly awaited news proved to be more important to his fans than for politics. Donald Trump will launch his official digital card collection....

The new confirmed cases of coronavirus in Bulgaria for the last 24 hours are 184, according to the data of the Unified Information Portal. 3170 tests were done, which means that the share of positive results is 5.8 percent. ...

The minimum temperatures today will be between 0 and 9°C, in Sofia - about 3°C, and the maximum - between 13°C and 18°C, in the western part of the Danube plain - between 4°C and 7°C. Over North-West Bulgaria, and before noon in the Upper Thracian lowland, it will remain mostly cloudy and fog will form in places. Sunny weather will prevail over the rest of the country....

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed optimism that Bulgaria and Romania will be admitted to Schengen next year. After the meeting of the European leaders, Michel emphasized: "I am optimistic that the decision on Bulgaria and Romania can be made within the framework of 2023....