These are some of the top stories in Bulgarian newspapers on January 6 2009. The Sofia Echo has not verified these stories and cannot vouch for their accuracy.
Politics
- Bulgarian daily Standart quotes President Georgi Purvanov's saying that Bulgaria should restart the two units of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant the country closed as part of its European Union accession agreement. According to Purvanov, the two units were needed to cope with the crisis that resulted from the cutting off of Russian natural gas supplies. He reminded that according to article 36 of Bulgaria's EU Accession Treaty, in a crisis situation, this country is allowed to restart the decommissioned units. The current situation is an exemplary crisis, Purvanov said.
- Bulgarian daily Dnevnik reports about Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's meeting with the executive director of Overgas, one of the local Russian gas suppliers, to demand compensations for defaults on the contract with Bulgargaz, the state-run gas distribution company.
At another meeting, Stanishev told Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, Gazprom boss Alexei Miller and Ukrainian deputy prime minister Grigorii Nemyria that Bulgaria could not be held hostage to the row between the two countries and pledged to refer the issue to European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.
Social:
- Bulgarian daily Trud reports that a school bus full of children over-turned near the town of Kurdzhali in the Rodhopi mountains in the early hours of January 7. The accident occurred between the villages of Duzdovitza and Pudartsi. According to unconfirmed reports there were 12 children on board. Rescue services and paramedic units were immediately dispatched to the site to provide assistance to the shocked and injured children.