Sofia

European Union energy chief Maros Sefcovic has backed the idea of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to turn Bulgaria into a gas hub for EU countries.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will visit Bulgaria on Wednesday for talks on bilateral and European Union issues, the foreign ministry in Sofia said on Monday.

Apart from transporting and distributing gas, Bulgaria could become an exporter of energy resources, the country's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said after meeting EU officials on Monday.

Borisov held talks in Brussels with EU Commissioner Corina Cre?u, who is in charge of regional development, and the Commission' Vice President for Budget and Human Resources Kristalina Georgieva.

Bulgarian provider of healthcare services City Clinic starts an investment programme, which exceeds BGN 200 M.

This foresees the construction of an oncological hospital in Sofia, extension of the already existing hospital in Sofia with a new building, and the construction of a multi-profile hospital in Varna with over 150 beds, money.bg reports.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is due to meet EU Commission Vice President Maro? ?ef?ovi? on Monday, the government's press office has said.

The abandoned South Stream gas project, Bulgaria's alternatives to guarantee energy security, and its effort to put forward a gas hub project as a substitute to the scrapped pipeline are to top the two politicians' agenda.

No ideology, cause or religious belief can justify the terrorist act against the Paris headquarters of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people, Mehmed Yumer, editor-in-chief of Sofia-based weekly newspaper Zaman Bulgaria has said.

The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep has won the 500,000-dollar WTA tournament in Shenzhen (China) on Saturday, after sweeping Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland), #8 seed, 6-2, 6-2.

Photo: (c) Grigore Popescu / AGERPRES Photo

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, will visit Bulgaria on January 15, according to a media statement of Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki.

Kerry will travel to Sofia to discuss security cooperation, energy diversification, and the bilateral trade and investment relationship.

A 48-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman were killed in Sofia on Thursday evening, police say.

The bodies Mitko Damyanov and his wife, Natalia Damyanova, were found in a neighborhood near the Sofia Zoo, with the man referring to police at about 20:30 EET.

Interior Ministry officials are looking into the incident. The motives are not yet known.

According to data from the latest population census, which took place in 2011, slightly over 3 million households live in Bulgaria, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) reports.

The data reveals both a clear absolute and relative increase in the number of single-member households from 662 853 in 2001 to 925 385 in 2011.