These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on April 3 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
Politics
- After the Bulgarian Socialist Party gave Interior Minister Roumen Petkov 10 days to prepare a report on the condition of the ministry, party members were already advising Petkov what to include in the report, Dnevnik daily said. The forecast of the ruling coalition politicians on the fate of Petkov after the corruption row in the ministry were contradictory, the daily said.
Social
- The Cabinet ordered an urgent check-up of the income and property of a total of 145 000 state and municipal clerks and Interior Ministry employees, Sega daily said. The check-up should be ready by the end of June 2008.
- The archives of chief directorate for combating organised crime at the Interior Ministry have been sealed, Monitor daily quoted “two independent sources” as saying. State Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor's Office were investigating carefully all records of the anti-terrorism and excise smuggling departments, where important investigations of major businessmen were kept. The probe aims to find out whether special intelligence methods were used.
Economy
- Bulgaria's payments agency for farmers and rural regions development, received the lowest mark possible in the European Commission (EC) yearly audit, Dnevnik said. The low mark meant that the EC had registered serious violations, EC sources told Dnevnik.
- Despite its best efforts, Bulgaria was failing to attract enough tourists from countries outside its traditional markets, Dnevnik said. Visa requirements and lack of advertisement were among the main reasons for that.
