Dragoman

More than 100 residential areas in the northwestern regions of Bulgaria were left without power last night owing to the damage caused by the heavy rains. Energy company crews are making repairs and work will continue until power supply is restored.

The situation is most severe in western Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian authorities have shut down a high-tech illegal cannabis production facility and arrested two suspects, the Interior Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

The Road Infrastructure Agency will apply for funding for the construction of the highway from border cross checkpoint Kalotina to the Sofia ring road, decided on Wednesday the outgoing cabinet.

The funds for the first section of the highway which starts from the border and reaches Dragoman will be sought via the Connecting Europe Facility under the annual operational programme 2016.

Bulgaria's Defence Ministry has warned against operating drones in the skies above Sofia and several adjacent areas next week to avoid collision with military aircraft flying low-altitude training missions in preparation for Army Day parade.

Bulgaria plans to build a video surveillance system at its border with Serbia to prevent a possible increase in outbound crossing by irregular migrants, bTV broadcaster reported on Tuesday.

Bulgarian police detained 71 illegal immigrants in the capital of Sofia during an operation carried out on Thursday.

The majority of the detained immigrants are from Afghanistan, while another part are Syrian citizens, the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) informs

Thirteen men and women from Afghanistan were arrested at a flat, while other were detained in taxis.

The fire, which has been raging in a coniferous forest near the town of Dragoman in western Bulgaria, was contained on Tuesday.

However extinguishing of the flames is still continuing and is being hampered by the difficult accessibility of the area, private bTV station informs.

The most probable cause of the fire is a military drill at the tank training area.

The railroad connecting Bulgaria's capital Sofia and the second-largest city Plovdiv will enable trains to travel at 160 km/h, a national daily reports.

Milcho Lambrev, who heads the National Railway Infrastructure Company, also told Monitor that tracks between Sofia and the towns of Septemvri and Dragoman are also to undergo repairs.