SOFIA, Bulgaria, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Bulgarian membership in NATO and the European Union appears to have given the country's gangsters richer rewards, The New York Times reports.

Gazprom to build in North Korea; Iran proposes IPI price mechanism; hopes for Nabucco high; politics, supplies haunt Odessa-Brody; Balkans call for energy security.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, May 23 (UPI) -- The Bulgarian government lost some motivation to reform after a tense year getting ready to join the European Union, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A union leader said teachers in Bulgaria’s state-run schools ended a six-week strike Monday after reaching a compromise that includes a 46 percent pay raise.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Bulgarian teachers turned down a government-proposed salary raise and Monday entered a sixth week of a nationwide strike.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Bulgarian teachers, who have been on a monthlong strike, demonstrated in Sofia as unions and government leaders failed to resolve a pay raise demand.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- EU and Bulgarian officials worked out a solution to the euro’s Cyrillic spelling, allowing Montenegro to sign a key accord with the Western bloc.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Teachers in Bulgaria’s state-run schools went on strike Monday, demanding a 100 percent pay increase, union officials said.

SOFIA, Bulgaria, April 9 (UPI) -- Bianca Jagger, a political activist who works with several human rights groups, visited Sofia campaigning for the release of Bulgarian nurses in Libyan prisons.