Issue 155-156

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IRENA JOTEVA: THE ART OF STAYING RELEVANT IN CHANGING TIMES

New technologies have changed the way we work, entertain ourselves, do shopping. They have also changed the way companies work. New regulations and professions are appearing, entire business sectors are transforming beyond recognition. Inevitably this has reflected on the way companies hire and retain employees, and on the labour market in general. Combined with other factors in play in Bulgaria, like local business climate and increasing shortage of workforce, this changing environment is a challenge for both companies and employees.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:45
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WHO BROKE INTO NATIONAL REVENUE'S COMPUTERS?

The latest scandal to grip Bulgaria has affected about 6 million Bulgarians. Someone, a computer hacker or a group of hackers, had successfully penetrated the National Revenue databases and stolen bits of the personal details of practically everyone of working age in Bulgaria. Of the 6 million, about 4.66 million are alive and 1.38 million are deceased. The hacked data covered a period of about 10 years. The leak was announced with an email sent from a Russia-based server and written in broken English.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:42
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IRIT LILLIAN

I have known Irit Lillian, the outgoing Israeli ambassador, since before she actually came to Bulgaria in her official capacity. An archaeologist by education, who had had wide-ranging experience in both diplomacy and off-the-beaten-track travel. During her tenure in Sofia Irit made a name for herself as being extremely active: both in matters related to promoting Israeli interests and maintaining close links with the local Jewish community.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:21
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SHOOTING STARS OVER BULGARIA

Bulgaria, sadly, is small enough to provide any true dark sky location like Norway, Scotland or the American Southwest. Wherever you travel in the Bulgarian mountains or along the Black Sea coast you will never be sufficiently removed from a city or town to be able to see all of the stars twinkling in a genuinely "black" sky. However, with a bit of research you will be able to at least observe the seasonal meteorite showers over the northern hemisphere. And with the right approach you will capture fantastic images that will stun friends and families back home.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:08
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¿HABLAS ESPAÑOL, ANYONE?

Out of sight, out of danger, he reasoned, provided the diplomatic appointees felt sufficiently content in their jobs not to stir up any trouble from wherever they had been sent to. Boyko Borisov, Zhivkov's bodyguard and now prime minister of Bulgaria, likes to tell his voters that he protects them from Communism, but apparently he has perfected the art of stashing delinquent officials away by providing them with comfortable diplomatic appointments abroad.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 10:08
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LONG ROAD HOME FOR LT CROUCHLEY

During most of the Second World War, Bulgaria and the United States were enemies. In 1943-1944 Allied aircrafts bombed major Bulgarian cities. The Bulgarian air forces shot some of these down, and their crews were sent to a designated POW camp near Shumen, in northeastern Bulgaria. In September 1944, when it was already clear that Nazi Germany and its Bulgarians allies would lose the war, then Bulgarian government ordered the closure of the POW camp.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 09:51
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BULGARIA'S MONTHLY QUIZ

 

1. September marks the 75th anniversary of...

A. The Communist coup in Bulgaria

B. Bulgarian independence

C. The Unification of Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia

 

2. Which is Bulgaria's second largest city?

A. Burgas

B. Varna

C. Plovdiv

 

3. How many bridges connect Bulgaria and Romania?

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 09:44
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BRIDGE OF LEGENDS

Bridges are both feats of engineering and important gateways, and as such they have always attracted the human imagination. Since times immemorial, legends have been told of how the construction of a particular bridge is to be attributed to the Devil, or that evil spirits lived in it.

In the Balkans, there is a different legend about some old bridges such as those at Acra in Greece and on the Drina in Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It attributes their durability and strength to a human sacrifice that the master builder had to make.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 09:36
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QUOTE-UNQUOTE

Of course I know computers! I have certificate for basic computer literacy.

Deputy Prime Minister Mariana Nikolova on her appointment as head of the Cybersecurity Council

We want our EU commissioner to be responsible for something modern, like cybersecurity or management of IT technologies.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 09:31
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WHAT'S YOUR AUNT TO YOUR NEPHEW ANYWAY?

Happy families may be alike, unhappy families may be unhappy in their own way, but in Bulgaria all these come with a twist: a plethora of hard-to-pronounce names for every maternal and paternal aunt, uncle and in-law that can possibly exist.

Ask any Bulgarian how their recent family gathering went and the answer will probably sound something like this: "A disaster. My Badzhanak got into an argument with my Tashta, my Strinka showed up with her annoying Vuyna, then my Shurey got completely tanked and my sister was really upset."

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 09:22
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OLD NESEBAR

The summer of 2019 was disastrous for Bulgarian tourism, with an overall 20 percent drop in holidaymakers. However, there was one place on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast which remains packed: Nesebar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site conveniently located next to Sunny Beach, this nation's largest seaside resort and one of Europe's cheapest holiday destinations.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:53
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WHERE IN BULGARIA ARE YOU?

A tiny church is perched on a steep rock overlooking the narrow gorge of the Chepelarska River. A winding road leads up to the height, where the remains of the castle are, a brick-and-mortar confection in the Byzantine style popular across the Balkans in the 12th-14th centuries. Today, the nearby town is famous mostly for its numerous shops selling affordable wedding and prom gowns, but the tourists come solely for the fortress before venturing deeper into the Rhodope.

Where in Bulgaria are you?

 

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:47
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CHALKIDIKI FEVER

Every year, come a long weekend and the start of the holiday season, the Bulgarian media focus on this nation's border crossings with Greece, and start counting the cars in the queues. Ordinary Bulgarians, for their part, start filling their Facebook and Instagram pages with photos of beaches, ice coffee and tables groaning under the weight of plates of Kalamari and Horiatiki salad, and glasses of Ouzo and Retsina.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:40
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LEAVING TOYOHARAS

KARIYA'S PHONE STOPS WORKING SOMEWHERE IN THE air above Hokkaido. He isn't sure what happened; at the beginning of the flight, he switched it – dutifully – to airplane mode when the captain reminded the passengers to do so, but as soon as he lands in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, his phone has stopped working entirely. He presses the power button, the home button, every combination of buttons he can think of, but in the end, even after being plugged into a charger for several hours, his phone is decidedly and irreversibly dead.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:34
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RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Education and the skill to learn and to transfer this knowledge to next generations are in the basis of human civilisation. Thanks to them every generation steps on what was already achieved and for its part adds to this construction, developing culture, economy and industry, creating goods and services. However, these are also a way for development of the individual. Good education allows them to unleash their potential and talents, to find their vocation, to realise their dreams, to be of benefit for the complex and important organism that we call society.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:33
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SPACES FOR BUSINESS

What a business needs in order to develop and grow? Ideas, people and technologies are of utmost importance, but without proper spaces for goods storage and for work places for the specialists everything else would be unthinkable. In the recent years the office, industrial and logistic properties not only in Sofia, but also in Bulgaria, developed. The explanation is obvious – the Bulgarian economy is growing, largely due to manufacture, export and import, the outsourcing and IT industry.

Tue, 09/03/2019 - 08:30
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