NOVA TV

Bulgaria faces the challenge of being "pushed... toward a geopolitical sandwich of former empires to the east", President (2012-2017) Rosen Plevneliev said on Sunday.

Plevneliev, who left the office on January 22, told private broadcaster NOVA TV that Bulgarians should be aware of the "power of Russian propaganda".

Borjan Jovanovski, an editor at NOVA TV, told BIRN that he suspected that an attack on him on Wednesday, when a young man approached him in a Skopje restaurant, shouted "traitor" and spat in his face, was commissioned by a senior official of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

There is an objective reason for the dismissal of Georgi Kostov from the post of Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry. He used his influence for hiring people, stated on Nova TV Deputy PM and Defence Minister Stefan Yanev.

The Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry Georgi Kostov who was dismissed on Wednesday has accused the interim PM Ognyan Gerdzhikov and the Interior Minister Plamen Uzunov of putting pressure on him.

On Nova TV, Kostov said that Plamen Uzunov threatened him that he will be discredited if he does not resign. Kostov has submitted a signal to the Prosecutor's Office about this.

President Rumen Radev and interim PM Ognyan Gerdzhikov will meet on Monday to discuss whether an attempt should be made for the caretaker government to nominate a Bulgarian European Commissioner. This was announced by PM Gerdzhikov on Nova TV.

Gerdzhikov specified that Radev and he have agreed to meet every Monday.

Former lawmaker Valentin Nikolov has quit the Patriotic Front coalition, rejecting its move to run together with far-right Ataka party in the upcoming early election.

Nikolov has followed the example of Dimitar Bayraktarov, calling the coalition "unprincipled" in an interview with private broadcaster NOVA TV.

The Council of the European Union adopted on Tuesday the proposal of the European Commission for a three-month extension of internal border control in five problematic countries in the Schengen area for free movement due to the continuing migrant crisis.

Austria is planning to introduce a ban on burkas. The full covering of the face will now be illegal at public places like state and municipal institutions, reported Nova TV.

The ban will be in force not only for burkas but also for niqabs which leave a slit for the eyes.

Garments which cover the entire body but not the face will not be banned.

The main problems faced by Bulgarians continue to be - low income (58%), corruption (46%), and household crime (41%), showed the regular three-month survey of Alpha Research agency, carried out with Nova TV.

The survey was conducted in the period January 14 - 22 and shows that the emigration of young Bulgarians abroad (35%) and violations of the law (27%) are next in the ranking.

If parliamentary elections were held today, GERB would win 32.6% of the votes of people who are determined to vote, while BSP will get 28.8%, showed the results of the latest survey of NOVA and Alpha Research agency, presented on Nova TV. No single party would have an independent majority and possible coalitions would be difficult to form.