Bulgaria

The Bulgarian men's national volleyball team suffered a 2:3 defeat to France in one of the semifinals of the men's Volleyball European Championship played in Sofia on Saturday.

Inspired by 13 000 supporters in the overcrowded Arena Armeec hall, Bulgaria came in the lead with 2:0, but France managed to make a comeback and claim the final victory (25:18, 25:22, 24:26, 21:25, 12:15).

The National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria's capital Sofia has been placed among the world's most "impractical" buildings, according to a Financial Times article.

The men's volleyball teams of Bulgaria and France are to face each other in the semifinals of the Volleyball European Championship 2015.

Comments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are at the verge of being "ill-mannered", his Bulgarian counterpart Daniel Mitov has said.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova has described as "adequate" the actions of a border police official whose bullet killed an Afghan migrant late on Thursday evening.

Russia will stop the maintenance of Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29s, if the government in Sofia signs a deal with Poland for the repair of their engines, Sergei Korotkov, Director General of the jets' Russian manufacturer MiG Corp., said on Friday.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev on Friday called for a rapid joint European response to the roots of the continuing migration crisis to prevent "tragic incidents" like the shooting death of an illegal migrant at the country's border with Turkey.

Locals and environmentalists have reacted to Turkey?s decision to construct a third nuclear plant in the country?s northwestern region of ??neada, which is famous for its floodplain forests. 

Bulgaria has refused overflight rights to a Russian plane carrying humanitarian aid to Syria, saying the respective request was submitted at a very short notice.

Bulgarian police have detained in Sofia 79 foreign nationals illegally residing in the country over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The foreign nationals have been detained on Thursday at three separate locations in the Bulgarian capital city.

Sixty-eight of those detained claimed to be Afghan nationals.