These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on April 17 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

Politics

- Outgoing Interior Minister Roumen Petkov would most probably be charged with revealing the identity of a secret agent of the State Agency for National Security, Dnevnik daily said. Customs Agency’s head Assen Assenov was also being investigated and one of the owners of Vinprom Peshtera wine and spirits maker would be charged with bribing the arrested former deputy head of the Interior Ministry chief directorate for combating organised crime Ivan Ivanov.

- According to Sega daily, prosecution has launched an investigation on Petkov for revealing state secrets. Angel Alexandrov, former director of national investigation service, would be investigated for relations with shady businessmen.

- The uling coalition was waiting with baited breath for Socialist Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev to set the figures on his chessboard and start the changes in the Cabinet, Dnevnik quoted ‘a politician’ as saying. Stanishev had announced his intentions to re-shuffle the Cabinet, but his two coalition parties, National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), were still waiting for their invitations to start talks on April 16.

- Bulgarian Socialist Party was ready to call snap elections in case NMSP and MRF did not support the Cabinet re-shuffle, Monitor daily said.

Social

- National Revenue Agency (NRA) launched a new service to get rid of mistakes in the filing of tax returns, Dnevnik said. Users can download the forms from the NRA website with a unique barcode generated in the process. The barcode would make it easier for the data transfer from the declaration once it is scanned at the agency.

Economy

- ArcelorMittal representatives, who refused to reveal their names, confirmed the intentions of one of the world’s biggest steel producers to acquire Bulgarian steel mill Kremikovtzi, Dnevnik said. The representatives discussed their plants Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov on April 16. ArcelorMittal was aware of the problems of Kremikovtzi and was ready to resolve them, the representatives said.

- High land prices and the lack of infrastructure made residential developments projects more expensive and could cause serious problems for the contractors, Dnevnik quoted Lindner Immobilien Management general director Rossen Plevneliev as saying during the Balkan real estate conference (BalREc). Land prices have risen over the past months to levels that made investments in residential projects inefficient, Plevneliev said.