|
Select news page: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
194. Jazz at the weekend in SofiaSofia Echo: 2008-07-05 A premiere of HIB Project jazz band will be held at 6pm on July 5 at Boris Hristov musical centre in Sofia with the guest participation of foreign musicians.
The organiser of the project, saxophone player Dimitur Lyolev, has invited friends, fellow graduates and students from Groningen Conservatory to participate together in the fourth July Jazz Smolyan 2008 international ethno-jazz festival. Before appearing on the festival, the musicians will be performing for the first time on the stage of Boris Hristov musical centre.
Musicians from three countries, the Netherlands, Italy and Bulgaria, are part of the band. The idea of this international cooperation is that musicians will present a musical theme from their native country.
The audience to the concert can enjoy performances by the Dutch musicians Ben van Gelder (alt saxophone), winner of the Princess Christina Award in 2004 and the Deloitte Jazz Award in 2007, and Tony Roe (piano), who is finishing his education in Groningen Conservatory.
Together with them on stage will perform Italian bassist Massimiliano Rolff and Bulgarian musicians Nikola Goryalov (drums) and Dimitur Lyolev (alt saxophone), who was part of the Brainstorm fusion band in the 1990s together with Minko Lambov, Borislav Petrov and other musicians.
The performers have been trained by distinguished veteran jazz musicians such as Ferdinand Povel, Albert Beltman, Dick Oatts, Lincoln Goines, Don Bradon and Brian Lynch.
193. More delays for Vidin-Calafat Danube bridgeWise Property: 2008-07-04 The project to build a second bridge over the Danube River between Vidin in Bulgaria and Calafat in Romania has run into new snags, which may delay its completion, Dnevnik daily reported on July 3.
Rather than change the original design, Bulgaria's Transport Ministry has decided to carry out a new assessment whether the original design of the bridge will be robust enough to withstand the test of time and elements, the daily said.
The company picked to build the bridge and the adjoining infrastructure on the Bulgarian side, Spain's Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), is still around four months behind schedule, but confident that it will meet its deadline to complete the bridge by end-2010, Bulgarian Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev said, as quoted by Dnevnik.
Part of the delay was caused by the slow progress of geological surveys and expropriation of privately-owned land for the needs of the project, but also by the refusal of the project managers, the consortium between French Ingerop and British High-Point Rendel, to accept the Spanish company's design for the bridge.
The project would cost 226 million euro, with nearly two thirds of the funding provided by the European Union: 70 million euro under pre-accession aid programme Ispa and a further 70 million via a loan from the European Investment Bank.
However, with global commodity prices constantly rising, the costs of the project could well turn out higher than initially estimated, Dnevnik said.
192. TOURISM BAROMETER: It’s not too lateSofia Echo: 2008-07-03 Bulgarians tend to leave planning their summer holidays until the last moment. But with constant reports of increasing number of tourists at the Bulgarian Black Sea coastal resorts and the high season coming, is it still possible to book a holiday? This is what The Sofia Echo tried to find out, contacting tour operators.
Surfing through online booking websites showed that some hotels on the coast had no rooms available at the beginning of July, or even until August. Accommodation with a sea view is available only at hotel receptions and often only upon additional payment. Prices for a double room vary from 190 to 268 leva for all-inclusive packages in a three-star hotel in Albena; between 131 and 230 leva for a four-star hotel in Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands); between 204 and 288 leva in a four-star hotel in SS Konstantin and Elena and from 70 to 155 leva for bed and breakfast in a four-star hotel in Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach).
“Booking becomes more difficult in this period,” an Alma Tour representative told The Sofia Echo. Because of the decreasing number of places, a single tourist could find accommodation more easily than a group. “Now we are in transition from one season to the other [low to high season]. Usually this period is close to sold out,” the company spokesperson said. From mid-July, when the high season begins, prices would rise and there would be more accommodation free, the Alma Tour representative said.
Alma Tour’s data shows that customers tend to prefer either all-inclusive packages in three- and four-star hotels or the cheapest possible option. Tourists that prefer the more expensive accommodations usually book shorter stays, mainly at weekends.
According to Astral Holidays marketing and sales supervisor Veneta Sotirova, “there is enough free accommodation at the seaside, but the best hotels are booked as early as the beginning of the year for the whole season.” In the case of last-moment bookings, “it is far easier to find two or three rooms, than 10 or 20, for example,” Sotirova said. Last-minute bookings can get a discount of nearly 10 per cent and more. Sotirova said that in the past couple of years all-inclusive bookings for family holidays of seven to 10 days have become increasingly popular.
Tourism website posoka.com told The Sofia Echo that the most common problem with bookings in this period, especially with foreign tour operators, was what is termed “stop sales” when tour operators book accommodation for a certain period to sell deals independently. Often enough, tour operators would slash prices on some bookings if they cannot fill them otherwise, or cancel the bookings altogether. Still, there are no problems with bookings – on the contrary, reservations are made fairly quickly, a posoka.com representative said.
191. Bulgaria bans weightlifters from the Olympics - reportSofia Echo: 2008-07-02 Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC) has decided to pull out Bulgaria’s national weightlifting team from the upcoming summer Olympics in Beijing on August 8-24.
The news came after an ad hoc session of BOC, held on June 30 2008, BOC's head Stefka Kostadinova (no relation) said in a statement on BOC's webiste.
The entire team of eleven top Bulgarian weightlifters, three females and eight males, tested positive on June 8-9 during a training session of Bulgaria's national weightlifting team in Assenovgrad, southern Bulgaria.
The results from the second samples of the athletes will be announced on July 22-23, but “in my professional career as an athlete I have never heard of a case when the second sample result differ from the first one,” Kostadinova said.
Although both the athletes and their coaches expressed their astonishment at the positive test, if the second sample result proves positive, BOC might impose a two-year ban on the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation, end its funding and impose sanctions on coaches and officials, Kostadinova said.
The federation has received about five million leva in funding over the last four years, Kostadinova said.
Although initially Kostadinova said that she hoped that Bulgaria could sent replacements to the Olympics, BOC decided on July 1 not to field a weightlifting team in Beijing.
190. Bulgarian banks go cold on loans for overdeveloped resorts -consultantsWise Property: 2008-07-01 Bulgarian banks have started introducing stricter requirements on applicants seeking loans to buy property in Bulgaria's bigger resorts, including Bansko and Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach), over worries that these locations faced overdevelopment, credit consultants said, as quoted by investor.bg on June 30.
Foreign nationals interested in buying property in Bulgaria and applying for loans from local banks were increasingly being asked to show their credit history for a period of up to six years, the website quoted Tanya Yakimova from Bulgarian Home Loans, a British consultancy firm that focuses on advising foreigners.
Most of the property deals in Bulgaria's best-known resorts involved foreigners, most of whom treated it as an investment, which made banks wary because of the numerous announced developments, Yakimova said, as quoted by investor.bg.
Bulgarian Home Loans is one of the six lending consultancy firms that have agreed to form an association of credit consultants in Bulgaria, announced also on June 30.
The association, whose members claim to have a combined 80 per cent market share on the segment of advising individual clients, was created to help spread credit consultancy services, but also to lobby for a regulatory foundation to their business, lev.bg reported.
189. Spain crowned European Champions after beating Germany in Euro 2008 finalSofia Echo: 2008-06-30 Spain won only their second major tournament on June 29, beating Germany in the Euro 2008 final in Vienna 1:0, Fernando Torres' solitary strike in the first half proving enough to separate the two teams.
Long considered international football's biggest underachievers, Spain finally broke their duck 24 years after last appearing in a final, the 13th edition of the European championship proving lucky for them.
Spain went into the tournament with the most talented squad and played the most consistent football in Austria and Switzerland, deservedly winning the trophy. Even the absence of David Villa, who ended Euro 2008 as its top scorer with four goals but missed the final with a thigh injury, did not seem to put off a Spanish side that has reached new heights of team spirit and cohesiveness.
Throughout the tournament, Spain stuck to a patient style of knocking the ball about, wearing down teams with their patient passing, and it was no different in the final.
Even though Germany started more dangerously than their opponents, Spain quickly overcame their nerves and created the first dangerous chance, Iniesta's cross deflecting off Christoph Metzelder to prompt a reflex save from Jens Lehmann in the 14th minute.
Eight minutes later, Fernando Torres rattled the bottom of the post with his header, but his moment of glory would come in the 33rd minute. The Liverpool striker chased Xavi Hernandez' long ball, beating Philipp Lahm to chip it over Lehmann and into the side of net next to the goal post.
Spain continued to dominate throughout the rest of the half, but could not take take advantage even when in numerical superiority, when Michael Ballack had to leave the field of play to have his eyebrow stitched.
Germany once again started the half stronger than their opponents, but Spain wrestled control back and Torres came close to scoring a second goal in the 55th minute, identical to his first, only to see Lehmann smother the ball at the last moment.
Joachim Loew, the German manager, tried to change the tactics of his team, taking off defensive midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger and sending on striker Kevin Kuranyi, which almost paid an instant dividend, but Ballack's piledriver in the 59th minute was just wide of Iker Casillas goal.
Germany enjoyed a brief period of superior posession and had another half-chance through Bastian Schweinsteiger, but almost went two down, only for Lehmann's reflex save to deny Sergio Ramos' header.
Lehmann was undoubtedly the busier of the two goalkeepers, Germany barely testing Casillas until the end of the match, while at the other end Marcos Senna, outstanding throughout the tournament, came close to putting the result beyond any doubt in the 81st minute, missing substitute Dani Guiza's knockdown by centimetres.
A tense last ten minutes saw a German penalty appeal turned down, correctly, by Italian referee Roberto Rosetti, while Spain winded the clock down in their opponents' half to hang on for the win and the trophy.
188. Bulgarian Minister of Justice on Official Visit to NetherlandsNews BG: 2008-06-28 The Bulgarian minister of justice Miglena Tacheva will be today and tomorrow on official visit to Netherlands, informed BTA.
Tacheva will have talks with the Dutch minister of justice Ernst Hersh Balin.
Meetings with the chair of the UN International court in the Hague Rosalin Keagens as well as with Bulgarians working in the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the European organization Eurojust are scheduled within the framework of the visit. 187. Greece to host technological fair in SeptemberWise Property: 2008-06-27 On September 6-14, the Greek city of Thessaloniki will host the 72nd international fair, which traditionally gathers exhibitors from all over the world as well as boasts 12 thematic events.
This year, the fair will present participants from 26 countries among which are South Africa, Cyprus, Brazil, India, Turkey, Romania, France and Italy, as stated on the event's official website.
More than 1000 companies are expected to present their services and products, whereas Greece will participate with thematic event Global Exchange, which will be complemented by exhibits local tradition in gastronomy, music, and more. The exhibition will occupy more than 40 700 sq m of indoor and outdoor areas.
Helexpo, the main organiser of the event, has stated that the public sector, together with the imported businesses, makes up to 12 per cent from the total of exhibitors, and 19 per cent of the exhibition space.
Thematically, the fair will be divided on several sections, such as the Real estate expo, which in recent years tends to measure the development of the industry. Autoland is an opportunity for car fans to enjoy the latest design ideas of manufacturers. The Car City is a whole pavilion where automobiles will be displayed, and visitors will be offered test-drives of the newest models of Porche, Mercedes, Chrysler, Jeep, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, Ford, Cadillac and Hummer among others.
The Innovation pavilion will present new products in the field of multimedia, biomedicine, and water-saving systems. It introduces the idea of five thematic parks combined under the title The Fascination of Light. Within its frame also falls the celebration of the 50th anniversary from the launching of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. The event is organised in collaboration with Europlanet network of planetologists. Daily presentations about the Solar system and the planets are also part of the pavilion's programme.
Hobbymania is a new feature to the fair this year and it aims to give an update of the new trends in modelism, innovative games, improved equipment for rock climbing, etc.
Other thematic areas include Fashion Forward International, which will show new collection of world-famous designers. Academia pavilion targets potential students as university representatives from various countries will provide professional orientation for those interested.
Last year, the Thessaloniki International Fair was visited by close to 260 000 people.
186. Five companies file tender paperwork for fourth GSM operator tenderSofia Echo: 2008-06-26 Five companies bought tender documentation for participation in the tender to issue a licence for a fourth GSM operator in the country, Bulgaria's Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) said in a statement.
The five contenders are Trans Telecom EAD, Mobil World EOOD, Palladium Capital OOD, Turkcell Iletisim HIzmetleri and Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile EAD.
The tender to issue a licence for a fourth mobile operator was called on April 17. About 12 companies expressed tentative interest regarding the CRC – Turkcell, Max Telecom, Carrier BG, Trans Telecom, Specter Net, Handy – Tel, Artland, Velocity IU, Mobil Svyat, A&T Inc EOOD, Eastern Telecommunications Company AD and Telco AG.
In early June, the commission set the starting price of the tender at 38 million leva. It will probably take place in the latter half of July.
185. Bulgaria requests domain in Cyrillic alphabetSofia Echo: 2008-06-24 In what is the first request of this kind within the European Union, Bulgaria requested a domain name in Cyrillic, Bulgaria's State Agency for Information Technology and Communication (SAITC) said in a statement on June 23.
In particular, Bulgaria wants to register and maintain a country code in Cyrillic, ending in ".??".
The news comes a year after the agency forecast that Cyrillic would be put to Internet use by 2010 following a Bulgarian-Korean project, which set out a year ago.
The letter, carrying the signature of SAITC head Plamen Vachkov, was handed in to the president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Paul Twomey.
A decision to this effect is expected on June 26, when ICANN officials will be considering at a Paris-hosted conference the creation of first-level multilingual domains.
In related news, this autumn SAITC will invite to Sofia all countries using the Cyrillic alphabet, namely Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mongolia, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Participants are expected to consider internet names allocation across countries using the Cyrillic alphabet.
Select news page: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
Property for Sale in Bulgaria © Homes4UBulgaria 2004 - 2008 |
