Monday marks 35 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant disaster, probably the worst man-made catastrophe in history. Bulgarians are reminded of the last days of state socialism, when the authorities in the country - at the time a Soviet satellite - hid the truth about the explosion and the radioactive fallout. Labour day demonstrations took place around the country in the week after the disaster, putting the lives of millions at risk.
"There is such a people" won't try to form gov't: Slavi Trifonov
The leader of the protest party wrote in a Facebook status on Monday morning that TISP will nominate chess master and world champion Antoaneta Stefanova for Prime Minister, but she will immediately return the mandate and won't try to form a government. "TISP does not have the required number of MPs or partners to form a government. A stable government. The support we are offered comes from malign, greedy and provenly compromised political subjects," Mr Trifonov wrote in his message. So there is one last chance to form a government when President Rumen Radev passes the mandate to a party of his choosing in the coming weeks. But the most likely outcome is now a caretaker government and early elections in July.
Foreign Minister expresses "full solidarity" with Czechia over Russian interference
Outgoing Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva told Czech ambassador to Sofia, Lukas Kautsky, that the Bulgarian government has "expressed full solidarity with Czechia over the illegal actions of the Russian Federation" on its territory. The message of support comes a week after Prague announced that two Russian spies might have been involved in the sabotage of a military ammunition dump, where production meant to be exported to Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev's EMCO company was stationed.
Quarterly death rates up 26 percent compared to first quarter of 2020
National Statistics Institute data reports that in the first three months of 2021 there were 36,152 recorded deaths in Bulgaria, 26,1 percent more than in the same period in 2020 before the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mortality rates are higher for men (23 percent increase) than for women (19,3 percent increase). The high death toll corresponds to the growth in the number of fatalities from Covid-19 from mid-March onwards.
Monday marks 35 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant disaster, probably the worst man-made catastrophe in history. Bulgarians are reminded of the last days of state socialism, when the authorities in the country - at the time a Soviet satellite - hid the truth about the explosion and the radioactive fallout. Labour day demonstrations took place around the country in the week after the disaster, putting the lives of millions at risk.
