These are some of the top stories in Bulgarian newspapers on November 24 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

Politics

- The congress of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), held on November 22-23, denied Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's hopes to achieve full supremacy in the party, Sega daily said. It reported that although Stanishev was the only candidate for party leader and was re-elected with 97 per cent of the votes, his attempt to rearrange BSP's Supreme Council was blocked. Instead, the strong lobby of the Sofia party boss Roumen Ovcharov was once again represented in the council, which left Stanishev's camp disgruntled, the daily said. A motion for a new vote was rejected by the congress and Stanishev left the hall offended, the daily said.

Social

- Prices of ski holidays in Austria and in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko before the Christmas and New Year's high season are the same, Monitor daily wrote, reporting that a weekend for two in Bansko cost in between 460 and 520 leva (230-260 euro).

- Thousands of drivers queued 24/7 at auto mechanics after the first snowfall, Standart daily reported, saying the minimum amount of time one needed to wait to get their tyres changed to winter ones was four hours.

Economy

- A wave of sales of ineffective companies is expected to hit Bulgaria in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis, Dnevnik daily quoted experts and consultants as saying. The trend would first affect firms owned by big holding companies that contribute too little to the bottom line of the group. Analysts said they expected to see sales of firms owned by international companies that are on the rocks, as well.