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Thracian God Dionysus's Temple Discovered in Bulgaria? Updated on: 27.05.2008, 12:30 Author: Blaga Bangieva Over the tomb of Sevt III (on the coin) in the mound Goliama Kosmatka near Shipka town (Central Bulgaria) is most probably located the temple of Dionysius - the God of Fruitfulness. The news was reported in Kazanluk city by the director of local History Museum Kosio Zarev. According to Zarev's words the conclusion was made after the detailed geo-radar examinations of the mound executed by a private team. The researches showed that immediately over the Sevt III's tomb, revealed three years ago, is located a...

What's in a Name? A challenge for regonal stability *Why is the Maredonian question so delicate and complex? The term "Macedonia" is not exclusively related to a state Rather, it has always been used to delineate a wider geographical area, approxmdy 51% of which is part of Greece, 37% is in the Former Yugoslav Republic of what's Macedonia, 11% in Bulgana and 1% in Albania. The choice of one state alone to monopolize the name "Macedonia" - the largest part of which lies outside its borders - neither depicts geographical and political reality, nor contributes to stability in the Balkans....

The imbroglio between Macedonia and Greece has been resolved by default – by the coming to light of an ancient manuscript ceding sovereignty over both territories in perpetuity to today's Kosovo. In addition, Kosovo would also hold claims over a region in south-east Bulgaria, formerly referred to as Bulgarian Macedonia until the Socialist regime changed the name to Pirin region. Reaction to the development, which has far-reaching consequences not only for the protracted impasse over the name of Macedonia but for South-Eastern Europe politics, the economy, but also for the demographic future of Europe, drew immediate and impassioned reaction from...

Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary to soon recognise Kosovo: reports Three countries bordering Serbia -- Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary -- could shortly recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, Croatian dailies reported Tuesday. The Zagreb government was expected to recognise Kosovo on Wednesday along with Bulgaria and Hungary, after the breakaway province declared independence from Serbia last month, said the newspaper Jutarnji List. Citing sources close to the government, Vecernji List, Croatia’s largest circulation daily, also reported Zagreb would recognise Kosovo’s independence on the same day as Budapest and Sofia. The decision was likely to be made this week, possibly at a government...

One Bulgarian doctor has been arrested for suspected involvement in human organs trafficking, Sofia's Police announced today. According to the same source, the arrested is Stanislav Hristov, the Head of the Pathology Department at the Aleksandrovska Hospital in Sofia. He has been charged with multiple violations of the regulations on human organs handling and transplantation for personal gain. The Public Prosecution Office requested the doctor to be ordered a temporary detention. When asked by Bgnes Agency to comment the case, the Director of the Sofia's Hospital, Assistant Professor Asen Zlatev, said that he would like to see the results of...

SOFIA (AFP) - Bulgaria is to auction off World War II Panzer tanks thought to be worth millions of dollars, the country's defence ministry said Thursday. "People from all over the world, from America to Jordan, have declared an interest in these rare German tanks," the deputy director of Sofia's military history museum, Blagoy Milenov, told a press conference. Six Panzer IV tanks will go under the hammer on March 19 "to gauge their value," with another 41 going on the market in May, according to Emil Petrov, a defence ministry heritage official. A Russian collector has already offered five...

Nazi tanks, half-buried for decades along Bulgaria's south-eastern border as a Cold War defence against a NATO invasion, will be auctioned next week, military officials said on Thursday. The 97 rusty World War Two relics, which have lain forgotten since communism collapsed in 1989, came into the spotlight in December when police arrested thieves who stole a rare model and reportedly smuggling it into Germany. The theft prompted a recovery operation to save the remaining machines, some of which will go to the national military history museum, while others will be sold at auction. The first auction is due on...

SOFIA - A fire on a Bulgarian train that killed nine people last week was a terrorist attack, an expert said Friday, heightening speculation over the deaths. ‘The train was intentionally torched and not just by one, but by several terrorists,’ Christo Smolenov, who was in charge of training defence ministry special forces in the 1990s, told the Trud daily in an interview published Friday. ‘If it was a terrorist act, it would represent a signal that must be recognised. If we close our eyes, the terrorists will be tempted to do it again,’ he also told national television. Smolenov...

SOFIA, Bulgaria-Bulgaria signed a series of defense agreements with the United States on Thursday as part of a 10-year deal allowing U.S. troops to be deployed in the former Warsaw Pact country, the Defense Ministry said. The overall deal, signed in 2006, is seen as part of a broader U.S. military strategy of shifting troops based in Europe further east to small, flexible bases closer to potential hotspots in the Middle East. It will see up to 2,500 U.S. troops deployed in Bulgaria. Bulgarian officials have said the deal will help improve Bulgaria's armed forces, boost its economy and enhance...

Bulgaria' s army has started to dig out its vintage tanks produced by Maybach, in order to protect them from robberies. Army officials reported that a number of Panzer IV tanks, equipped with Maybach engines and previously buried near the southern Bulgarian border as stationary guns, have already been dug out and transported to a secure military base. All tanks will be in a safe place before the end of February but it is still unclear what their future will be, the army said. According to experts, there are few tanks of the same type in the world still outside...

Rightist EU politicians plan new party By ASSOCIATED PRESS Far-right politicians from four EU nations have announced plans to form a pan-European "patriotic" party, the BBC reported on Saturday. The leader of far-right parties from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and France said their aim was to defend Europe against "Islamisation" and immigrants. At a news conference in Vienna, they said they planned to launch the party by November 15. In Vienna, the heads of Austria's Freedom Party, Belgium's Vlaams Belang, Bulgaria's Ataka and the French National Front said the new party would be a counter-balance to other political forces in Europe,...

Still in Control Pervez Musharraf was calm, confident and—despite a flurry of rumors—not about to announce his resignation. Instead, the Pakistani president's "concession" to his troubled nation was an announcement that he would allow Britain's Scotland Yard to help local law enforcement agencies with their investigation into last week's assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Speaking in a nationally televised address two hours after Pakistan's election commission announced the postponement of the ballot to Feb. 18, six weeks later than had been scheduled, Musharraf was notably deferential in his remarks about Bhutto, often invoking her "martyrdom" and extolling...

PICTURE: Bulgaria's first refurbished MiG-29 fighter re-enters service By Alexander Mladenov The Bulgarian air force's first of 16 refurbished RSK MiG-29 fighters re-entered service on 29 November, following a successful check flight conducted at Graf Ignatievo air base. Bulgaria's 12 single-seat MiG-29s and four two-seat trainers will have their service lives extended to 4,000 flight hours or 40 years under a $48 million refurbishment and life-extension project awarded to prime contractor RSK MiG in March 2006. Bulgaria's Terem also assists in the work, which is performed at Graf Ignatievo. Six more aircraft will enter service by March 2008, with the...

A British woman has died after being attacked by a pack of wild dogs as she walked her own pet dog in Bulgaria.The 56-year-old victim was named by the Foreign Office as Margaret Ann Gordon. She was originally from Wallsend on North Tyneside. Mrs Gordon's calls for help brought local villagers to the scene in Nedyalsko, but she reportedly died before an ambulance arrived. The victim had lived in Bulgaria with her husband for several years. "The regional police in Yambol [region] said seven or eight dogs attacked her," a Foreign Office spokesman said of the death in the...

Bulgarian Paleontologists Stumble upon Prehistoric Tooth 28 November 2007, Wednesday A team of scientists with Bulgaria's Natural History Museum have unearthed a tooth dated back to the Late Miocene, the head of the fossil and recent Mammalia museum department Dr. Nikolay Spasov announced on Wednesday. The tooth is some seven million years old and belonged to a hominid.A team of archaeologists, paleontologists, paleo-anthropologists and biologists from the museum spent the last ten years in researching the flora, the fauna and the overall nature setting in Bulgaria from the time of the late Neogene (10,7 - 5,3 million years BC). The...

SOFIA: In a new book published here this week, a Bulgarian nurse relates how she was tortured in a Libyan jail where she was held for more than eight years on charges of infecting hundreds of children with HIV in a hospital AIDS scandal. In the book, "Eight Years as [Libyan leader Moammar] Gadhafi's Hostage," nurse Kristiana Valcheva tells how she and five other Bulgarian medics - four nurses and a doctor - were repeatedly tied and beaten during their time in the prison. Valcheva describes how she was hung from door frames and her feet were thrashed with cables....

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

KIEV, Ukraine, Oct. 22, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today thanked fellow participants in the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial conference for their support in Iraq and Afghanistan and told the group he plans to press NATO to live up to its commitments in Afghanistan. Gates, speaking with SEDM members at their 12th conference, expressed frustration that some NATO countries still haven’t followed through with troop commitments made at the 2006 NATO session in Riga, Latvia. “I am not satisfied that an alliance whose members have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen can’t find the modest...

DCNS: Bulgaria Gives Green Light to French Corvettes (Source: Meretmarines.com; published Oct. 5, 2007) (Issued in French only; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) At the end of his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev gave his approval for the immediate opening of negotiations for the procurement of four Gowind-class corvettes. A bilateral working group is to be established with the goal of finalizing the contract by the end of the year, according to DCNS, which thanks to this contract will be able to re-enter the market for corvette-size ships from which it has been absent...

Bulgaria's self-proclaimed centre-right party GERB presented on Wednesday its ambitious economic agenda for the 2009 parliamentary polls, which includes a 7% flat tax rate and massive privatisation of state assets. The party of Sofia mayor Boyko Borissov, who styles himself as the biggest opponent of the country's ruling three-way coalition, was founded last year and previously had no cohesive economic programme. In addition to arguing for a lower flat tax than the 10% that the current cabinet plans to adopt starting next year, the party's plan includes a monthly tax-exempt minimum of BGN 1000. The average monthly wage in Bulgaria...

Among the paperclips in the bottom drawer of a desk in Bulgaria's National History Museum is a small cardboard box packed with 5,000-year-old gold rings. "We found 25,000 of them when we went into a grocery shop a couple of months ago," said Svetla Tsaneva-Dimitrova, the head of the museum's restoration team. "A farmer's wife was wearing them as a necklace. Her husband had just dug them up in a field nearby. As you can imagine, we were stunned." Each tiny gold ring is 23-carat gold, but nobody knows how they were crafted. "Modern jewellers cannot make these things without...

Shop assistant wore ancient necklace Archaeologists have found a valuable ancient gold necklace being worn by a cashier in a Bulgarian grocery after it was dug up by her husband. Boris Todorov, 43, from Karlovo in Bulgaria dug up hundreds of fine gold rings from a field on his farm and put them together to make a gift for his wife. But it was spotted by a group of archaeologists from the Bulgarian National Museum of History who were passing through - and went into her shop to buy provisions. They immediately identified the necklace as extremely valuable and now...

RABAT (Reuters) - Libya has called on other Arab countries to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Bulgaria after it pardoned six medics that Libya had jailed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV, a news Web site said on Friday. "Libya yesterday asked for an urgent meeting of the Arab League to see if it can take a united decision to cut all diplomatic relations with Bulgaria as well as financial and economic relations," London-based Arabic online newspaper Libya al-Youm (Libya Today) reported. It said the demand was made by Abdelmounaim al Houni, Libya's permanent representative at the Arab...

Libya: Bulgarian nurses and the doctor on the way towards Sofia The Bulgarian nurses and the doctor condemned in Libya were released this morning. They are on the way towards Sofia, announced an official statement of the presidency of the French Republic. “The plane of the French Republic has just taken off Libya bound for Sofia with on its board Cécilia Sarkozy, the Police chief European with the foreign relations Bénita Ferrero-Waldner, the secretary general of the Elysium Claude Guéant, the nurses and the doctor”, specifies the official statement. The Bulgarian nurses and the doctor are awaited 09h45 local...

Bulgarian archaeologists discover 2,400-year-old golden mask The Associated Press Published: July 16, 2007 SOFIA, Bulgaria: Archaeologists have unearthed a 2,400-year-old golden mask in an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, scholars announced Monday. The mask was discovered over the weekend by a team of archaeologists excavating near the village of Topolchane, 290 kilometers (180 miles) east of the capital, Sofia. Its discovery, archaeologists said, indicates a Thracian king was buried in the tomb. It was found together with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek inscription and with the design of a bearded man in a timber-lined Thracian grave....

LIBYA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES ON SIX FOREIGN MEDICS

Orpheus Tomb Discovered? Updated on: 29.06.2007, 17:51 Published on: 29.06.2007, 17:46 Author: Olga Yoncheva Orpheus sanctuary in Rhodope mountains is with thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids. The sensational discovery was made by an archaeological expedition which investigated the temple of the Thracians near the village of Tatul, informed BNT. The scientists found 6000-year old buildings with preserved tools made of semi-precious stones, crockery, animal remains. According to the archaeologists now it can be claimed that this is the Tomb of Orpheus, which has been visited of thousands of pilgrims from around the antique world. The sanctuary is one...

While carrying out excavations of small prehistoric moulds, archaeologist Martin Hristov also discovered well-preserved wall ornamentation details in the form of spirals, which are made of tubules of pure gold. Those spirals are unique artifacts compared to all prehistoric ones found in Bulgaria until now. In the middle of the mound Hristov unearthed eight different pottery objects, hidden in a hole and covered with stones... Meanwhile, the archaeologists have now solid ground on which to base their previous hypothesis that the mines and the production center of objects of gold and their art processing was situated on the territory of...

What is a fair voting system for the European Union? It looks as though, thanks to Poland, European leaders will be forced to debate this difficult question at their summit this week. Since the simplified draft treaty is substantively identical to the old and rejected constitution - minus some cosmetics - the voting system proposed is going to be the same one: passage of legislation requires a coalition of countries representing at least 55 per cent of the member states and 65 per cent of the population. The Poles have threatened a veto unless the second of those two numbers...

Bulgarian archaeologists have found an image of the legendary labyrinth of King Minos, the Bulgarian National Radio reported. The exclusive find was unearthed near the village of Golyam Derven last week. The team of Professor Daniela Agre, who are doing excavation works in the area, stumbled upon the unique artefact while researching a an ancient Thracian tomb's entrance stone. The labyrinth image, which is carved on the slate, is perfectly preserved. The legendary labyrinth was considered a just a myth from the Greek mythology until the exclusive finding. According to the legends, King Minos ordered the construction of the labyrinth...

Sophia, Bulgaria (LifeNews.com) -- Nearly 67,000 abortions are done annually in the eastern European nation of Bulgaria according to a doctor who quoted figures from the country’s government. Elian Rachey said that he thinks the nation should do more to promote the use of contraception in order to reduce the high number of abortions that have decimated the population there. Rachey said about one-third of all Bulgarian women decide what forms of contraception to use without consulting a doctor, resulting in their ineffectiveness. Polling data from the national government finds that about 53 percent of all women said they started...

Unique Thracian Symbol of Royalty Discovered in Bulgaria 11 June 2007, Monday Archaeologists have discovered the most ancient ruler's symbol on Bulgarian territory, what was once the kingdom of the Thracian tribes. The Bulgarian archaeologists Daniela Agre and Deyan Dichev, who are leading the Strandzha expedition, made the announcement for the exceptional finding on the Bulgarian National Radio on Monday. The artifact was unearthed near the village of Golyam Dervent. Dichev and Agre were researching a dolmen (dolmens were the first Thracian tombs) when they noticed a frieze of intertwined zoomorphic and geometrical elements carved on the entrance of the...

SOFIA, Bulgaria — President Bush braced for problems at home Monday with the cheers from his European trip still ringing in his ears. He pledged to resurrect his derailed immigration bill in the Senate — "I'll see you at the bill signing," he declared — and dismissed Democrats' effort to hold a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as a waste of time. "I'll make the determination if I think he's effective or not," Bush said of Gonzales, a member of his inner circle from Texas. Returning to Washington Monday night, Bush said he would be on Capitol Hill...

Today the President continued his european trip with visits to Albania being the first US President to visit the country. He arrived in Bulgaria this evening on the final leg of the tour. After his visit to Bulgaria tomorrow he is scheduled to fly home to Washington DC. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Ancient Roman Town Ruins Found in Bulgaria 1 May 2007, Tuesday Archaeologists had to dig only 30 centimeters deep to uncover the stone foundations of the houses. photo by Bulgarian National Television. Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an early Roman town near the village of Gorsko Ablanovo, 30 kilometers south of Russe, Bulgaria's national television reported on Tuesday. Initial artefact finds include a bronze duck figurine of a previously unfamiliar design and a silver fibula, only the fifth documented find of its kind in Bulgaria. The stone foundations of the houses have been preserved well despite intensive agricultural...

Unique Ancient Thracian Chariot Unearthed In Bulgaria 21 April 2007, Saturday A completely intact Thracian chariot was unearthed by the Bulgarian archaeologist Vesselin Ignatov on Friday, Darik News reported. The chariot was found near a burial barrow close to the central Bulgarian town of Nova Zagora. Ignatov and his team have already dated the finding to 2 century BC. The chariot has two wheels with its roof made of heavy bronze in the form of eagle heads and a folding iron chair, where the driver sat. The chariot was aimed to be pulled by three horses. The uniqueness of the...

Let us accept that radical Islam does not necessarily translate into terrorism. Other major religions have adherents who subscribe to interpretations of their scriptures that depart from the mainstream in their beliefs and observances. The question, in treating of any variety of a “fundamentalist� interpretation of a religion must be whether its teachings include an endorsement of encouragement to violence. Even then, few mainstream commentators would describe Christians or Jews who historically have invoked God in conducting wars, or even described their campaigns as holy wars, as “terrorists�. Given that radical Islam is a trans-national phenomenon, there are certain particular...

Bulgaria Plans More Troops For Afghanistan March 14th 2007 by News Staff Bulgaria plans to dispatch another 335 troops to Afghanistan to serve in the NATO-led international forces, a government statement said Wednesday. The government's decision to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan is in accordance with Bulgaria's NATO membership, the statement said but did not elaborate how many Bulgarian soldiers have already been deployed in Afghanistan, the Bulgarian news agency Focus reported. Bulgaria became a NATO member in March 2004, and joined the European Union on Jan. 1. Bulgarian Defense Minister Veselin Bliznakov and Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin...

Bulgaria's Perperikon - Metallurgical Centre 13 Centuries BC Weekend Guide: 23 February 2007, Friday. Bulgarian archaeologists announce on Thursday they have made an incredible discovery in the Perperikon area, an ancient living region of Thracians. The archaeologists said last summer they discovered the missing link in Thracian's history. They have found evidence for the transition from the late Bronze epoch to the early Iron epoch. At the end of the Bronze epoch, as a result of cataclysms a global system is destroyed. Scientists call the system "East Mediterranean Civilization". After its end, there came the so called "dark ages" -...

Well, are the inhabitants of the EU prosperous or not? Yes and no. Many Europeans (and Americans as well) would say the US is part poor, part affluent, arguing that wealth is distributed in a very uneven way in that country. However, regarding regional GDP/capita, there probably are even greater differences between the EU citizens than between US Americans (regardless of the reasons to this situation)! For instance, according to the study, Inner London is more than 36 times richer than North Eastern Romania! The article: "Regional GDP per inhabitant in the EU27 GDP per inhabitant in 2004 ranged from...

Bulgaria-Unearthed Temples A Millenium Older than Egypt Pyramids Lifestyle: 18 February 2007, Sunday. Temples that archaeologists have unearthed in the eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria are about a thousand years older than the pyramids in Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilization, experts claim. Archaeologists Ana Raduncheva and Stefanka Ivanova said in an interview for BTA that the whole system of temples in the Rhodope region dated back to the Vth millenium B.C. This is almost 4,000 years before the Thracian people settled on these lands. At the end of the Chalcolithic Age, the rock temples were abandoned for a large period...

Libyans urge Europe to halt pressure over death-row nurses TRIPOLI (AFP) - Libyan officials warned that European pressure was not helping the cause of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death in an AIDS epidemic case. "European pressure and interference are not achieving anything," Libya's former ambassador to Britain Mohammed al-Zuwi told AFP. "On the contrary, (European countries) should be providing funds to compensate the Benghazi families." The five nurses and the doctor were arrested on February 9, 1999, after hundreds of children at Libya's Benghazi pediatric hospital where they worked contracted HIV, the virus that causes...

7 February 2007 | 09:38 | Source: MAKFAX BUCHAREST -- According to the World Bank report, economic situation is the main reason for labor outflow. More than one million Bulgarians and 1.5 mn Romanians work illegally in EU member-countries, the report states . According to WB, the problem could be solved if the authorities of the two countries raise the salaries of their workers. Experts warn that Bulgaria and Romania might face labor market crisis if the current trend continues.

ORLANDO- A former acrobatic performer who resides here has pleaded guilty to charges of inducing aliens to enter the United States illegally and to making false statements in visa applications, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher, U.S. Attorney Paul I. Perez for the Middle District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Robert Weber for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations in Tampa announced today. Kristo Ivanov, 70, entered the plea today before U.S. District Court Judge Donald P. Dietrich. In his plea agreement, Ivanov admitted that from 2001 through Feb. 2006, he personally helped as many...

Bulgaria, Romania Leapfrog Greece in Economic Freedom Index Business: 22 January 2007, Monday. Bulgaria and Romania overtook Greece in the Index of Economic Freedom, according to a survey prepared by Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. Bulgaria's economy is 62.2% free, according to the foundation's 2007 assessment, which makes it the world's 62nd freest economy. Romania ranks 67th and Greece 94th. Bulgaria's score marked a drop by 2.1% in comparison with last year, partially reflecting the new methodology of the survey. Bulgaria is ranked 29th freest among the 41 countries in the European region, and its overall score is...

Spooked by Kamelia Dimitrova 19 January 2007 A move to open Bulgaria's secret police files runs into some shadowy resistance and ends in a disheartening compromise. Alexandra Ivanova, an 11th-grader in Sofia, will be able to vote for the first time this year, but she's not looking forward to it. "All politicians are crooks,” she declares. Ivanova says her country's current politicians are probably better than those under communism, but she doesn't know why. In school, she learned about the economic theory of communism but admits, “We mostly hear about those times from our parents and often they're not willing...

MOSCOW: An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia. The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities. "We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a...

The EU disposes of 154 nuclear reactors altogether. The US has 104, Japan 55 ones. This more or less goes hand in hand with the respective populations (in neither case a number of reactors very far from one for every 3 million inhabitants). Is 154 reactors enough for 496,000,000 Europeans? More and more EU citizens are beginning to think it's NOT. The biggest non-EU European country, Russia apparently want more nuclear power too. Russia are presently more than DOUBLING their number of reactors, going from 29 to 59 ones. This is being accomplished with giant loans from the EU. The...

Polish spies in John Paul II assassination attempt This week CathNews presents the top stories from 2006. This story was originally published on 13 October 2006. The revelations are made in an article in Polish weekly Wprost by Leszek Szymowski who was assisted by Marek Lasota, a research fellow of the Polish Institute of the National Memory. The authors detail evidence confirming that the Soviet KGB planned and led all efforts to "eliminate" the Polish Pope, from 1978 up to 1989, when the Communist regime finally collapsed in Poland, and soon after in all Eastern and Central European countries of...

Officials celebrated as the EU flag was raised in Bucharest Huge celebrations have been held in Romania and Bulgaria to mark their accession to the European Union, 17 years after the fall of Communism. Tens of thousands attended concerts in the two capitals, Bucharest and Sofia. The Romanian president said EU entry was an "enormous chance for future generations", while Bulgaria's leader said it was a "heavenly moment". Their accession means the EU now has 27 members and half a billion people, and stretches as far east as the Black Sea. The day we are welcoming - 1 January...