Vassil Donev / EPA
epa03586135 A 25-minute-long exposure shows stars trailing across the sky over a chapel near Sofia, Bulgaria, 15 February 2013. EPA/VASSIL DONEV
A 25-minute-long exposure shows stars trailing across the sky over a chapel near Sofia, Bulgaria, 15 February 2013.
Gergana Kostadinova / EPA
Guards carry the wounded Zlatomir Ivanov after he was shot in front of the City Court in Sofia, Bulgaria on Jan. 29, 2013.
Stoyan Nenov / Reuters
An investigator works at the crime scene where Zlatomir Ivanov was shot in downtown Sofia on Jan. 29, 2013.
An unidentified gunman shot and wounded a suspected Bulgarian crime boss nicknamed "The Beret," the latest blow to the center-right government's efforts to restore the rule of law and improve the Balkan country's image.
Zlatomir Ivanov was shot four times in his legs, arm and stomach as he was about to enter the central court building in broad daylight. He and his bodyguard, who was also wounded, were taken to hospital.
The shots were thought to have come from an apartment across the street from the court building.
-- Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency
Nikolay Doychinov / AFP - Getty Images
A man rides a bicycle as he passes by a sign marking the entrance of the village of Barakovo, Bulgaria on Jan. 21, 2013.
A tiny Bulgarian village that says it is a namesake of Barack Obama will be closely following the U.S. President's second inauguration today and is hopeful he will one day come and visit.
The residents of the southwestern village of Barakovo, which means "of Barak" in Bulgarian, saw their wish come true in a way last week when the cultural attache of the U.S. embassy in Sofia, Richard Damstra, presented them with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of Obama. Since then, young and old have come to see "the president" and have their picture taken with him.
"We don't really know where the name of the village came from but we found the phonetic resemblance when Obama won his first term," Barakovo mayor Julieta Lazarova told AFP.
-- Agence France-Presse
Nikolay Doychinov / AFP - Getty Images
Children from Barakovo's kindergarten pose for a picture next to a life-size cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama, inside the village's cultural club on Jan. 21, 2013.
Nikola Stoyanov / Bnews via Reuters
Oktai Enimehmedov, right, attacks Ahmed Dogan, leader of Bulgaria's Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF) party, as he delivers his speech during his party's annual conference at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia Jan. 19. Dogan was attacked by a man carrying a gun during his speech at the party conference in Sofia on Saturday. The attacker was later arrested and Dogan escaped unhurt .
Police said they had arrested a 25-year-old man from the Black Sea town of Burgas who was also carrying two knives.
-- Reported by Reuters
Julian Savchev / EPA
Oktai Enimehmedov, right, attacks Ahmed Dogan, left, leader of the MRF party of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria.
Julian Savchev / EPA
Delegates beat and kick Oktai Enimehmedov after he attacked Ahmed Dogan.
Julian Savchev / EPA
Delegates beat and kick Oktai Enimehmedov after he attacked Ahmed Dogan.
Tsvetelina Belutova / Reuters
Oktai Enimehmedov, center, is escorted by security personnel after attacking Ahmed Dogan.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Fatme Ulanova stands during her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in southwestern Bulgaria, on Jan. 2.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Fatme Ulanova, 20, and Djamal Sirakov, 23, stand with with euro banknotes hung on their garments as presents during their two-day wedding ceremony in the Bulgarian village of Ribnovo.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Bulgarian Muslim women look at the dowry during a wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo in Bulgaria.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Bulgarian Muslim women look at the dowry during a wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in southwestern Bulgaria, on Jan. 2.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Bulgarian Muslim women dance during a two-day wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo on Jan. 2.
The people of this Bulgarian town of Ribnovo are famous for performing their unique wedding ceremonies in winter time only.
The inhabitants of the mountain village of Ribnovo are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Pomaks" or "people who have suffered". Muslim Bulgarians are descendants of Christian Bulgarians who were forcibly converted to Islam by the Turks, during the 14th, 16th and the 18th century.
Valentina Petrova / AP
Orthodox priests perform rituals during Patriarch Maxim's funeral service at Alexander Newskiy cathedral in Sofia, Bulgaria on Nov 9, 2012.
Bulgaria bid a last farewell Friday to its Christian Orthodox religious leader for over 40 years, Patriarch Maxim, who died on Tuesday at the age of 98 and was buried in his beloved Troyan monastery in the north of the country, Agence France Presse reports.
Maxim was elected Patriarch in 1971 and oversaw a major religious revival in Bulgaria after the collapse of communist rule, according to Reuters.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
Orthodox priests carry the coffin of the late Patriarch Maxim during a funeral service at the golden-domed Alexander Nevski cathedral in Sofia on November 9, 2012.
Vassil Donev / EPA
An Orthodox nun pays her respect at the casket of Patriarch Maxim during a memorial service at St. Nedelia church in Sofia on November 8, 2012.
Nikolay Doychinov / AFP - Getty Images
A woman pays her respects in front of the coffin of the late Patriarch Maxim in St. Nedelia cathedral in Sofia on November 8, 2012.
David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images
Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Kochava Shriki, who was killed when a suicide bomber targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria this week, at a cemetery in the city of Rishon Letzion, Israel, on July 20, 2012.
Dan Balilty / AP
Family and friends attend the funeral of Itzik Kolengi, 28, who was killed and his wife injured in the bombing in Bulgaria, in Petah Tikva, Israel, on July 20, 2012.
Dan Balilty / AP
Family and friends attend the funeral of Itzik Kolengi in Petah Tikva on July 20, 2012.
The Associated Press reports — The five Israeli victims of a bombing in Bulgaria were laid to rest in a series of funerals Friday, two days after the bloody attack on a tourist bus at a popular vacation spot set off a new round of charges aimed at Iran.
Childhood friends Itzik Kolengi, 28, and Amir Menashe, 27, were buried in Petah Tikva.
Kolengi's wife, Gilat, was injured in the attack and remains hospitalized. The couple has an infant daughter.
"I promise you that the family and I will watch forever over your wife, Gilat, and your amazing daughter, Noya, who looks exactly like you, and we'll raise her just as you would have wanted," Kolengi's brother David eulogized. Read the full story.
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Oliver Weiken / EPA
Relatives mourn five Israelis killed during an explosion on a tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, after their arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on July 20, 2012.
Reuters reports — A suicide bomber carried out an attack that killed seven people in a bus transporting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, the interior minister said on Thursday, and Israel said Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants were to blame.
Bulgaria official: Suspected suicide bomber carried fake Michigan license
Ronen Zvulun / Reuters
Friends and families of people killed in an attack in Bulgaria, stand near their coffins during a ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on July 20, 2012.
Oliver Weiken / EPA
A relative mourns five Israelis killed during an explosion on a tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, after their arrival at the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on July 20, 2012.
Dan Balilty / AP
An Israeli family cries during a military ceremony for victims killed in an attack in Bulgaria, at the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on July 20, 2012.
Burgas airport security cameras caught the alleged terrorist wandering around a terminal minutes before he boarded a bus filled with tourists and allegedly blew himself up. Police are now trying to identify who he was with the help of DNA analysis. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.
Valentina Petrova / AP
The hands of a rose picker are full of roses during the rose-picking season near the village of Tarnichene, Bulgaria.
Rose oil production in Bulgaria's famous Rose Valley is set to increase by 25 percent according to a mid-season estimate by experts in spite of the climate changes and economy crisis. Bulgaria is traditionally one of the biggest world exporters of high-grade rose oil along with Morocco and neighboring Turkey, with clients mostly from the United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan. Rose oil is the most commonly used essential oil in the perfume industry.
Valentina Petrova / AP
A rose picker carries a sack full of rose flowers as he walks in a rose field.
Valentina Petrova / AP
An elderly woman picks roses.
Valentina Petrova / AP
An elderly woman carries a sack full of rose flowers on her head as she walks in rose field.
Valentina Petrova / AP
Rose pickers load sacks full of rose flowers onto a horse cart.
Valentina Petrova / AP
Worshipers gather around candles stuck to jars of honey, arranged as a Holy Cross, during mass for the 'sanctification of honey' at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin church in the town of Blagoevgrad, outside Sofia, Bulgaria on Feb. 10. Honey and beehives are sanctified by performing a ritual for health and rich harvest, marking the day of St. Haralampus, Orthodox patron saint of bee-keepers.
Valentina Petrova / AP
Candles stuck to jars of honey, arranged as a Holy Cross, are seen during mass for the 'sanctification of honey' at the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin church in the town of Blagoevgrad, outside Sofia, Bulgari on Feb. 10.
BULFOTO via AFP - Getty Images
A car stands in the flooded village of Biser on Monday. At least eight people drowned as torrential rains and overflowing rivers broke a dam wall and swept through whole villages in southern Bulgaria on Monday, officials said. Four elderly people drowned trapped in their houses in the southeastern village of Biser as a nearby dam wall broke, submerging the whole village under 2.5 metres (eight feet) of icy water, the interior ministry said.
AP
A man sorts through the remains of his home in the village of Bisser, about 180 miles east of the capital Sofia, on Monday.
BULFOTO via AFP - Getty Images
A man stands next to a collapsed house in the flooded village of Biser on Monday.
AP reports that the flooding may reach neighboring Greece and Turkey:
Authorities have declared a state of emergency in much of southern Bulgaria due to the heavy rain. District governor Irena Uzunova said four others were killed and 10 people are still missing in the floods that have washed away bridges and roads.
Bulgaria's civil defense agency warned that two bigger dams at Ivaylovgrad and Studena were also on the brink of overflowing and residents were urged to prepare for an evacuation. The government also warned Turkey and Greece of floods surging down the Arda, Tundzha and Maritsa rivers.
Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP - Getty Images
An elderly woman lights a candle on the monument listing the names of the victims of Bulgaria's communist regime during an open air mass in central Sofia on Feb. 1, 2012.
Agence France Presse reports:
Bulgaria observed for the first time a day of remembrance for the victims of the country's 45-year communist regime on the anniversary of the first killings on February 1, 1945.
Between December 1944 and April 1945, the self-proclaimed People's Court set up by the newly established communist regime ordered the killing of a total of 2,730 Bulgarians.
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