Romania

Bulgaria's highest-ranking tennis player Grigor Dimitrov made it on Wednesday to the quarterfinals at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open tournament in Turkey, defeating qualifier Adrian Ungur (Romania).

The match lasted two hours and 14 minutes, with second-seeded Dimitrov winning a hard battle against Ungur that ended 7:5, 4:6, 7:5.

A new report by the US-based watchdog Freedom House, published on Wednesday, raises fresh concerns about the state of the media in the Balkans.

The report says media freedom is declining in the Balkans generally, where the press is described as only as "Partly Free", while media in Macedonia are described as "Not Free".

The European Commission's Digital Economy and Society Index, DESI, ranks Romania in 28th place out of 28 states in terms of digital development and digital skills.

Only 8 per cent of Romanians have the digital skills to cope with a competitive work environment, while 16 per cent have basic digital knowledge, it says.

The employment rate of Bulgarians aged 20 to 64 increased by 2 % in 2015 compared to the previous year.

This is revealed by the latest figures of Eurostat released on Tuesday.

In 2014, the employment rate in Bulgaria stood at 65.1 %, while last year it reached 67.1 %.

As in previous years, employment rate continued to be higher among men (70.4 %) than women (63.8 %).

Bulgaria's last event as head of the Southeastern European Cooperation Process has been scheduled for June 01, the Presidency has said.

The host, President Rosen Plevneliev, will prepared an Anniversary declaration that will mark 20 years since the forum was established as an in instrument of regional dialogue.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has not made any official steps on behalf of Bulgaria set up a joint army brigade with Ukraine and Romania, his press office has indicated, according to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).

Last week Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko announced the three countries were studying the possibility of taking the step.

Foreigners buying up farmland remains a worry in Romania. Under a new law proposal, EU citizens and companies will only be able to buy agricultural land there if 90 per cent of their employees are Romanian, or if Romanian companies hold at least 30 per cent of the capital, and if the buyers maintain agriculture as main activity object.

A Bulgarian court has sentenced two Polish citizens to six year in prison and fines of BGN 200,000 (EUR 100,000) each for heroin trafficking.

Pawel Zimorek Zbigniew and Pawel Kubicki have pleaded guilty to illegal possession and trafficking of almost 20 kg of heroin across Bulgaria's territory, the country's Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

The United States began its biggest European deployment of F-22 fighters with a visit to the Black Sea in an exercise aimed at beefing up military support for NATO's eastern European allies who say they face aggression from Russia. 

For most Europeans, indoor bathrooms and toilets became the norm at last half-a-century ago. Not so in Romania, where almost half of Romania's 19.5 million people still live in rural areas and many lack even the most basic facilities.