CELL STORAGE
A total of 570 Bulgarian families saved stem cells from their children in 2008, Focus news agency quoted Dimitar Georgiev, manager of the Bulgarian branch of Cryo-Save Group N.V., Europe's largest adult stem cell storage.  That number adds up to a total of 1300 families, yet so far none of them has been in a situation requiring a treatment with preserved stem cells.

He has identified Bulgarians who take such a step as "intelligent and with progressive thinking," adding that the procedure is becoming a common practice. Georgiev has also said that business at the Cryo Save Bulgaria has increased by 20 per cent. The price for the Cryo-Cord procedure, which includes extracting stem cells from the umbilical cord as well as their special manipulation and storage for a period of 20 years, is 4000 leva.

CITIZENS' DUTY
Sofia city hall inspectors have issued more than 1400 fines of 20 leva each to owners of houses and offices and apartments in residential blocks for failing to clean the snow around entrances to their buildings, private national broadcaster Darik radio said on January 5.

People are obliged to clean the area around entrances to their buildings. If people fail to pay their fines they could be penalised a maximum of 500 leva. The concessionaires obliged to look after Sofia's streets were not duty bound to clean small streets, only major boulevards, the city hall said.

HOPE AND GLORY
After long service in the Bulgarian Navy, the Nadezhda (Hope) submarine will be decommissioned from service and transferred to Varna municipality on the Black Sea coast. It will subsequently continue its career as part of a navy museum exhibit. This follows Defence Minister Nikolai Tsonev's decision to order Nadezdha's decommissioning in mid-December 2008. The only remaining Bulgarian submarine Slava (Glory) is still commissioned on active service, although the vessel is as archaic as Nadezdha. Its battery apparently is operating on 75 per cent capacity.

BEHIND BARS
Two-time world champion ice skater Maxim Staviski will have to serve his two-and-a-half year sentence in jail, the Bourgas Appellative Court ruled on January 5.Staviski was given a suspended sentence of two years and six months, with five years' probation, for causing the death of a young man, Petar Petrov, and severe injuries to a 19-year-old woman, Manuela Gorsova, who went into a coma after the incident. On October 27 2008, the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) ordered that the court case against Staviski be returned for re-trial. The SCC found that there were irregularities in the way the case had been conducted and Staviski should face a more severe sentence. On August 5 2007, Staviski crashed his Hummer vehicle into another vehicle along the Black Sea coast on the road between Bourgas and Sozopol. The court found him guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, something which he had denied. He was also ordered to pay 90 000 leva in non-material damages and 4815 leva in material damages to the parents of Petrov. Now the Bourgas Appellative Court ruled that he should pay not 90 000 leva but 120 000 leva non-material damages. Staviksi's lawyers said they would appeal against the ruling.

DIE EASY
All candidates for driving licences in Bulgaria will have to watch a documentary film showing the tragic fate of several people involved in road accidents. One of the people featured in the film died as a result of a crash while another is serving a jail term for causing another driver's death, Bulgarian news agency BGNES said on January 5. The documentary is called Die easy-2 and tells several stories. The first is that of a boy killed by a drunk driver while waiting at a bus stop in Varna. The second features a young girl now in a coma following a motorcycle incident. The third features a young boy who is now in a wheelchair following a road crash. The film also features the story of a 22-year-old man serving a sentence in Sofia prison for causing the death of his girlfriend in a road accident.