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/ 1 February 2008

Bulgarian pop diva keeps flame burning for Castro

Yordanka Hristova was once called ”the bride of all Cubans” and was so popular on Fidel Castro’s island that Cuban families named their daughters after her. Forty years on, the 64-year-old Bulgarian pop diva keeps the gossips guessing about her relationship with the revolutionary icon himself, saying all that matters is her love for Cuba and her admiration for its leader with the beautiful brown eyes.

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/ 3 September 2007

Bulgaria donates $56m to help Libya HIV victims

Bulgaria donated ,6-million in Soviet-era debt owned by Libya as its contribution to a deal that led to the release of six medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV. The European Union newcomer signed on Monday an agreement to donate the debt, accumulated for arms and technical deliveries, to an international fund.

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/ 10 August 2007

Bulgarian medics testify against Libyan jailers

Bulgarian nurses on Friday gave testimony against Libyan jailers who the medics said had tortured them to confess they deliberately infected hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. The six medics were freed on July 24 under a cooperation deal between Tripoli and the European Union, after having spent eight years in a Libyan jail and having been sentenced twice to death.

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/ 26 July 2007

Libya slams pardons for HIV medics

Libya accused Bulgaria on Thursday of violating an agreement between the two countries when it pardoned six medical workers convicted of intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. Libya’s formal protest came a day after the HIV victims’ families condemned Bulgaria’s ”recklessness”.

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/ 24 July 2007

Libya sends HIV medics home after deal on aid

Six foreign medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV arrived in Sofia on Tuesday after being freed by Libya under an accord with the European Union. Their release ends what Libya’s critics called a human rights scandal and lifts a barrier to attempts by the long-isolated North African state to complete a process of normalising ties with the outside world.

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/ 19 July 2007

Bulgaria asks Libya to transfer HIV medics

Bulgaria asked Libya on Thursday to allow it to take custody of six foreign medics jailed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV after Tripoli commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment. After intensive diplomatic talks and payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to the families of 460 HIV victims, Libya commuted the verdicts on Tuesday.

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/ 17 July 2007

Libya may release convicted medics

Libya is finalising a deal that would pay the families of 426 children with HIV millions of dollars and pave the way for the release of six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting them, a source said on Tuesday. The source, close to the delicate negotiations under way in Libya, said an agreement could be announced on Tuesday evening.

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/ 11 June 2007

Bush says Libya should free medics

United States President George Bush said on Monday it was a high priority for the US to win the release of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for infecting children with HIV. ”It’s a high priority for our country,” Bush said. ”Our hearts also go out to the children that have been infected by HIV and Aids.”

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/ 19 December 2006

Bulgaria condemns Libya verdicts

Bulgaria condemned death sentences imposed by a Libyan court on Tuesday on five of its nationals and a Palestinian doctor found guilty of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the deadly HI virus. Sofia demanded Libya’s leadership intervene in the case and called on the international community to put pressure on the North African state.

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/ 1 August 2006

Brits look to picturesque Bulgaria

British families are buying houses and settling down in the picturesque region of Dryanovo in central Bulgaria as local inhabitants escape abroad in search of work. Under Bulgarian law, only foreign enterprises, as opposed to individuals, can buy land so the Davises founded a company called Outdoor Adventure and they hope to set up an adventure sports school and have horses for hire.

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/ 6 July 2006

Libya Aids trial: Defence claims psychological torture

The defence team for five Bulgarian nurses accused of infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV-tainted blood, claims psychological-torture measures were used against the nurses, Bulgarian newspapers reported on Thursday. According to reports, the defence gave the court in Tripoli a list of 211 instances in which the nurses were subjected to psychological pressure.

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/ 22 May 2006

Bulgaria lures tourists with glittering treasures

Bulgaria, once home to the Ancient Thracian civilisation, laid a gilded lure for tourists recently with a dazzling display of its nine most important gold and silver artefacts, seen together for the first time. The objects, dating back between the fifth millennium BC and the third century AD "form part of the foundations of European civilisation", President Georgi Parvanov said.

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/ 10 March 2006

British skiers buy into Bulgaria’s slopes

Every year more British skiers flood Bulgaria’s high-altitude mountain resorts, attracted by the well-managed slopes and low prices in the small Balkan country. A two-hour drive south from the capital Sofia gets you to the most popular Bansko ski resort, where numerous construction sites testify to tourism’s rapid development on the Pirin mountain slopes.