Sofia  - Bulgaria said Thursday it would itself pay for projects which the European Union has refused to finance over corruption suspicions.

"We have the right to finance projects with national means," Deputy Premier Meglena Plugchieva, who is tasked with bringing the handling of EU aid funds into order, said.

Because of widespread mishandling of aid, Brussels two weeks ago halted almost 500 million euros (773 million dollars) intended for agriculture and infrastructure development of Bulgaria, which joined the EU along with Romania in 2007.

Sofia  - The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Europe protested Monday over an author whom it accuses of writing racist articles being awarded a media prize in Bulgaria.

In a written protest to President Georgi Parvanov, the Paris-based center criticised the 2008 Young Authors Award of the Bulgarian Association of newspaper Publishers going to Kalin Rumenov.

Sofia  - The transport ministers of Bulgaria and Romania met in the Bulgarian town of Ruse Monday for discussions on building a further two bridges over the Danube.

The two bridges being discussed by Bulgaria's Petar Mutafchiev and Romania's Ludovic Orban would be built following the planned 2010 completion of two already-planned bridges in around the Bulgarian town of Vidin and Romania's Calafat, the Bulgaria's BTA news agency reported.

Sofia - Bulgaria will seek to rely on its own surplus budget after the European Union cut off almost 500 million euros in aid to the country over Sofia's shortcomings to halt corruption, local media reported Monday.

The Socialist-led coalition which also includes the liberal NMS and the ethnic-Turkish dominated MRF decided at a weekend meeting in the south-western ski resort of Bansko to compensate the cancelled EU funds from the budget which currently shows a balance 3.8 billion lev (1.9 billion euros), local media reported.

A new working group was tasked to control all Bulgarian authorities responsible for payments from Brussels, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said after the meeting.

Sofia - Bulgaria's parliament Friday approved a gas pipeline deal with Russia over the objections of the centre-right opposition, which accused the government of putting national security at risk.

The deal, signed in January during a visit by then Russian President Vladimir Putin, includes a 50-per-cent stake for Bulgaria in the operator of the planned South Stream pipeline.

Approval came on a vote of 140-47, carried by Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's ex-communist Socialist Party's governing majority.

Opposition parties charged that the government had failed to examine the project's economic benefits, making it a risk to the country.