Ruse

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in collaboration with partners, is launching today the Compass Bulgaria Network of Protection and Inclusion Centres, a joint initiative in six refugee-hosting cities in Bulgaria spanning Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Dobrich, and Ruse.

Bulgaria will soon be celebrated in the heart of British Columbia and the city of Vancouver as May 24 is set to be declared Bulgaria Day, announced Velislava Panova, Consul General of Bulgaria in Toronto, to the BNR. This declaration comes as part of the ongoing efforts to promote Bulgarian culture and heritage abroad.

Bulgaria's winter tourism season has surpassed expectations, with a remarkable 25% increase in foreign visitors compared to initial projections. According to Prof. Rumen Draganov, director of the Institute for Analyzes and Evaluations in Tourism, the country welcomed over 2.1 million tourists from abroad during the winter season, significantly exceeding the anticipated 1.7 million visits.

Protests under the slogan „Get the mafia out of healthcare!" will take place today from 5 p.m. in front of the Council of Ministers in Sofia. Besides the capital, protests are also organized in Plovdiv, Varna, Ruse, and The Hague, Netherlands.

The Bulgarian city of Ruse experienced an extraordinary surge in temperatures, setting a new record for February 5. The on-duty hydrometeorologists in the Danube city reported a remarkable 19 degrees at 2:00 p.m., surpassing the previous highest temperature for this date, which was 16.2 degrees recorded in 2009.

In a concerted effort, Bulgaria and Romania are actively pushing for the construction of a second bridge over the Danube, linking Ruse, Bulgaria, and Giurgiu, Romania. Deputy Minister of Transport Dimitar Nedyalkov shared this development during the regional conference on the project "Europe in the Balkans: Common Future," organized by the Bulgarian news agency BTA.

Ten people, including eight Greeks, were hospitalized after the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck in northern Bulgaria.

The Romanian driver of the bus and another Romanian national are among the injured, which include six men and four women, ranging in age from 18 to 63.

The National Assembly made significant strides on Thursday, greenlighting key spending allocations from the 2024 State Budget Bill during the second reading:

Alarming levels of air pollution are plaguing several key cities across Bulgaria, exceeding established safety thresholds by more than double, as revealed by both the official European air quality index and the Bulgarian civil platform, airbg.info. Responding to the precarious air quality in Sofia, the municipal authorities urgently advocate for increased reliance on public transportation.

The Central Electoral Commission published the results with 100% of the protocols of the sectional electoral commissions have been processed throughout the country in the municipal electoral commissions in 27 regional cities.