Women

,,The election campaign has begun. It has turned from a battle for Sofia into a battle against Sofia.'' This was stated by the Mayor of the capital Yordanka Fandakova in her speech about the inaugural session of the Sofia City Council.

A lawyer representing a Bosnian rape victim told BIRN that the convicted defendants have voluntarily paid 30,000 Bosnian marks (about 15,400 euros) in compensation - the first time that perpetrators ordered to pay damages to victims of wartime sexual assault have actually done so.

The ultra-popular UK percussion and dance troupe STOMP will perform at the Melina Mercouri Open-Air Theater in Vyronas for two nights on September 17 and 18 before heading up to Thessaloniki for another four shows on September 21 and 22. STOMP is known for creating musical narratives using common objects including brooms and trash can lids.

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova presented, at a briefing, a municipal project for the construction, in the capital city, of a 3- kilometre bike lane, a significant part of which in a park, BNR reported.

The ultra-popular UK percussion and dance troupe STOMP will perform at the Melina Mercouri Open-Air Theater in Vyronas for two nights on September 17 and 18. STOMP is known for creating musical narratives using common objects including brooms and trash can lids. In 2002, the group began performing at the Vaudeville Theater in London's West End.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter Sokratis Malamas presents a program of his most popular tunes and personal favorites at the Seikh Sou Forest (Dasos) Theater on Wednesday, September 11. He will be joined on stage by vocalist Ioanna Karapataki, an artist with whom he has been working for the past two years, as well as a seven-member band.

Today is the deadline for submitting bids to the Sofia Municipality for cleaning Sofia and collecting waste over the next 5 years.

Initially, the deadline was August 21, but after that it was extended. The total procurement amounted to BGN 430 million.

There are four candidates for mayor of Sofia who have so far said they will fight for the post.

For current mayor Yordanka Fandakova, this will be a battle for a fourth term. As she entered this race, she said that Sofia's development was a cause for her and "long-distance running", in which maintaining the pace was important.

Women's rights activists have launched a campaign against proposals of bringing the death penalty back after recent incidents of violence against women caused public outrage. The campaign's hashtag #idamçözümdeğil (death penalty is not a solution) has been spreading on social media.

The construction of the first water and amusement park in Sofia will be completed in early November. This was announced by the mayor of the city Yordanka Fandakova, who checked the repairs. The water attraction will be in Vazrajdane Park, and so far it has been built at 80%.