These are some of the top headlines in Bulgarian newspapers on March 4 2008. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

Politics

- Co-ruling Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) will make a new attempt to set up an administrative council in Parliament, which would severely curtail the agenda-setting powers of the Speaker, Sega daily wrote.

- New Bulgarian IDs will be introduced from autumn, rather than 2010, and will have a data chip that will contain finger prints, retinal scans, social insurance and the names of first-degree relatives, Standart daily claimed, quoting sources in the Interior Ministry.

Social

- Celebrations of the 130th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule were subdued on March 3, owing to the train fire that took the lives of eight people February 29, Bulgarian media reported.

- The incident, the worst in more than 15 years at the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ), could see Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev lose his job, daily Troud claimed.

Economy

- Local taxes voted by the Sofia municipal council may end up being illegal because the city hall has not voted them by the February 29 deadline. The councilors' excuse that this week's session, where they plan to vote the taxes, would technically constitute an extension of the meeting on February 28 would not hold in court, legal experts said, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

- The rapid sale of Bulgartabac state tobacco monopoly is on the rocks again, with the Government and ruling coalition mired in discussing available scenarios, which is preventing the privatisation consultant from drafting a sale strategy.