Russia launches military drills in Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone
In its efforts to paralyze Ukrainian agricultural exports by sea after the collapse of the so-called grain deal, Russia has been taking increasingly bold and reckless aggressive actions that could draw it into a direct military confrontation with NATO. After yesterday's NATO-Ukraine Council meeting in Brussels, the Allies surprisingly announced that the Russian navy is trying to impose a restriction on shipping in the Black Sea, which also affects our country's so-called exclusive economic zone (EEZ). "The allies noted that the new Russian Black Sea warning zone within Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone creates new risks of misjudgment and escalation, as well as serious impediments to freedom of navigation," the statement said after the meeting held on Wednesday afternoon. "The Russian Federation has sent a public notification to designate a temporary warning zone in the Black Sea due to military exercises. The zone includes parts of Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone," the Bulgarian Defense Ministry told Capital weekly today. It turns out, however, that these so-called "exercises", which largely resemble a naval blockade, have apparently been taking place for 10 days.
Bulgarians remain conservative on LGBTI issues, but change is slowly creeping in
Public opinion on LGBTI issues in Bulgaria continues to be dominated by traditional stereotypes, but attitudes are slowly changing. This change is mainly related to people's personal experience and contact with the issue. Those are the main conclusions from an Alfa Research poll published on Thursday. According to the survey, 42% of adults say they would not change their attitude towards a loved one if they found out they were LGBTI, while 36% say they would react negatively. Also, 43% consider themselves tolerant of LGBTI people, while. 46% say they are not. One in three say they would feel comfortable working with an LGBTI person, and 34% support the idea that public incitement to hatred in relation to LGBTI people should be punished as a crime.
MPs obliged larger companies to pay salaries only by bank transfer
After adopting Finance Minister Asen Vassilev's measures to increase the budget revenues by taxing the excess profits of the energy companies, the National Assembly approved one of his measures to get part of the business out of the gray economy. The new amendment to the budget law will oblige firms with more than 100 employees to pay the wages of their workers only by transfer or deposit into a payment account in a bank chosen by the worker. WCC-DB, GERB and MRF passed the change with 125 votes, while Vazrazhdane and TISP voted "against" and BSP abstained. Initially, the measure was supposed to cover companies with over 50 employees, but the plan of the Finance Ministry did not gain enough support.
Russia launches military drills in Bulgaria's Black Sea exclusive economic zone
In its efforts to paralyze Ukrainian agricultural exports by sea after the collapse of the so-called grain deal, Russia has been taking increasingly bold and reckless aggressive actions that could draw it into a direct military confrontation with NATO. After yesterday's NATO-Ukraine Council meeting in Brussels, the Allies surprisingly announced that the Russian navy is trying to impose a restriction on shipping in the Black Sea, which also affects our country's so-called exclusive economic zone (EEZ). "The allies noted that the new Russian Black Sea warning zone within Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone creates new risks of misjudgment and escalation, as well as serious impediments to freedom of navigation," the statement said after the meeting held on Wednesday afternoon. "The Russian Federation has sent a public notification to designate a temporary warning zone in the Black Sea due to military exercises. The zone includes parts of Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone," the Bulgarian Defense Ministry told Capital weekly today. It turns out, however, that these so-called "exercises", which largely resemble a naval blockade, have apparently been taking place for 10 days.
