Bulgaria News, Sofia News: The Sofia Echo - Bulgaria English-Language Newspaper

Labour exchangeBulgarian expats want job guarantees if they are to return homePetar Kostadinov

Fewer Bulgarians are considering leaving the country to work abroad, and a significant number currently working abroad are planning to return. The trend is happening amid the global economic crisis and indications that some other European Union countries intend continuing to read more

The untouchable? Petar Kostadinov

Just five years ago, most Bulgarians had not heard the name Hristo Kovachki, the businessman now under investigation for alleged tax avoidance adding up to millions. European Integration Minister Gergana Grancharova said that he would serve as an example for the European read more

EULEX quarrelsThe future deployment of the EU’s rule of law mission in Kosovo remains vagueSpasena Baramova

When on February 16 the European Union officially announced its plans to launch its own police, justice and customs mission in what would within 24 hours be an independent state rather than a Serbian province, it probably did not expect to see its ambitions of making it read more

INSIGHT: Disharmony over divorceThroughout the European Union, about 170 000 marriages end in divorce every year. Brussels is trying to iron out problems in deciding in which country’s courts a couple should choose to divorce. It is not proving easyClive Leviev-Sawyer

To make it clear from the outset, the European Commission is not trying to create a standard EU-wide divorce system. Apart from it not having the power to try to do so, the wide divergence of divorce laws among EU countries probably would make the task impossible. What it is read more

Business

G20 arithmeticWhat did the G20 summit add up to? It depends who you are, where you were standing, and how much you expectedClive Leviev-Sawyer

The first trading day after the Washington summit of the G20 summit of leaders of major developed and developing economies, there was no shortage of headlines saying that the outcome of the meeting – a 3500-word resolution on measures and principles to address the global read more

A more elegant marketGreek publisher Liberis to launch GQ and Glamour in BulgariaVessislava Antonova

The Bulgarian market resembles Sofia public transport at peak hour. Just when you think that no more people can be crammed inside, another throng will be packed in. As of last week, licensed publications in Bulgaria rose in number yet again, with Greece’s Liberis Publications read more

Sofia skyscrapersHow, where and should there be any skyscrapers in the city?Zornitsa Lateva

Try to imagine a colossal skyscraper in place of the statue of Sofia in the centre of the city. It would have happened too, if communist-era ambitions had been realised. The idea of a skyscraper in Sofia goes back more than 40 years, with buildings planned near the central read more

Features

Goodbye, kyufteChristmas fasting is not as straightforward as it soundsMagdalena Rahn

Midnight of November 14 marked the end of Koledni zagovezni (Christmas Shrovetide), the last day on which one could eat meat before the onset of the Koledni posti (Christmas fasting), November 15, as per the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Elsewhere, these 40 days before Christmas read more

FILM REVIEW: Mirrors/ОгледалаPavel Ivanov

Ironically, remaking Asian horror movies in Hollywood has come to develop a genre in itself, just as it is in danger of outstaying its welcome. True, at its onset it gave us arguably the most potent onscreen scares in recent memory (The Ring immediately comes to mind), but the read more

Opinion

Legal Alien: Shake, rattle and drollClive Leviev-Sawyer

It was 1969, and I was lying abed in a country hotel, running a fever. Suddenly, the symptoms seemed to get out of hand as my bed started bucking and leaping, cartoon-style, apparently at its own volition. I had experienced my first earth read more

The English Angle: Too judgmentalGabriel Hershman

Britain 2018. The BBC’s Saturday night line-up: 7pm: Living History. Students discuss the role of Churchill, debating how the now legendary car insurance commercial influenced British advertising. 8pm: Come Humping featuring several categories this evening: including: young read more

Macro: Knowing when to step asideAlex Bivol

A text message sent to reporters on November 17 caused much mirth on internet forums when published in full by several media outlets. Sent from the phone number of Brigo Asparouhov, the former head of Bulgaria’s intelligence service and unsuccessful Socialist nominee for mayor read more

Sport

Olympic recognitionNick Iliev

During an official ceremony held at the National Arts Gallery in Sofia, on November 19, Vessela Lecheva, head of National Agency for Youth and Sport (NAYS) awarded the Bulgarian Olympic delegation the cumulative sum of 2883 000 leva for their accomplishments in Beijing 2008. read more

Restaurant Reviews

Greenville RestaurantClive Leviev-Sawyer

There are corners of Sofia that stand as symbols of the surging economic growth, pre-credit crunch era of the country’s recent development. If Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov’s theory is correct, that Bulgaria could profit as an investment destination amid the woes elsewhere, read more