Venezuela

"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent," said John Maynard Keynes (or maybe it wasn't him, but no matter). At any rate, that was the eternal verity the Saudi Arabians were counting on when they decided to let oil production rip - and the oil price collapse - in late 2014.

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry has advised the country's citizens to exercise caution when visiting parts of South America afflicted by mosquito-transmitted diseases.

Turkish assets have struggled after a suicide car bomb attack killed 28 people in Ankara, although emerging stocks gained for a fourth straight day, reaching their highest in more than one month on Feb. 18. 

The United Nations Security Council does not have any consensus at the moment on Turkey's strikes on northern Syria, the council's president for February has told reporters, correcting previous statement that all member states asked Turkey to "comply with international law" on Feb. 16. 

Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world’s two largest crude producers, agreed to freeze output and fix production at January levels after talks held in Doha, Qatar.

Top oil exporters Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed on Feb. 16 to freeze output levels but said the deal was contingent on other producers joining in - a major sticking point with Iran absent from the talks and determined to raise production.

Cocaine hidden in bottles of wine, deodorant flasks and mobile phone chargers were discovered during customs checks at Bulgaria's borders last year, Dnevnik daily reported on Tuesday.

Smuggling dried leaves of the khat plant has been registered as a new trend, Dnevnik said citing the National Customs Agency report for 2015.

 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday eliminated the National Assembly's control over nomination and removal of central bank directors through a legal reform that the opposition slammed as aimed at curtailing its power a day before it takes leadership of the legislature. 

Bulgaria has appeared in Russian news outlet Vedomosti's list of states where certain people "concentrate political power and basic economoic assets".

Other countries mentioned as part of studies by several scholars include Guinea-Bissau, Montenegro, Burma, and Venezuela.

Venezuela's opposition won control of congress for the first time in 16 years on Dec. 7 as voters punished the socialist government for an economic crisis and insecurity in the oil-rich nation.

President Nicolas Maduro promptly accepted the defeat, a blow to his leadership and the "revolution" of "21st century socialism" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.