Ruse residents Veliyan, Martin, Nikola and Vasil, better known as the friendly cooperative "Slow Riders", set off from Ruse on their traditional cycling trip. This time they head to Geneva, Switzerland, where their month-long cycling adventure on the upper reaches of the Danube River - from its source in the Black Forest to Vienna - begins. Their trip is carried out with the support of the Municipal Foundation "Ruse - City of the Free Spirit".

The guys from "Slow Riders" have adopted cycling as a philosophy of life and annually undertake a month-long challenge around Europe to explore different corners of the old continent.

The route of this year's cycling expedition is nearly 1000 km long. and runs along the upper reaches of the Danube River along the so-called Euro Velo 6 with end point Vienna, Austria. With their trip, the "Slow Riders" will promote Ruse as part of the international cycle route and bring with them curious photographs that will present an interesting perspective on the life of Europeans along the upper reaches of the Danube.

The Swiss bike tour will take them through magnificent alpine landscapes to the cobbled streets of Bern and Zurich, where modernity meets history. After the German border, they will reach the headwaters of the Breg River in the Black Forest and Donaueschingen, where the river joins the Brigach to form the mighty Danube. Following the river, the Slow Riders will pass through the historic city of Ulm - home to the tallest church tower in the world; through Ingolstadt, famous for its medieval architecture and Passau - the City of Three Rivers. Next stop on the bike tour is Austria and the port city of Linz, home to one of the largest graffiti galleries in Europe. After days filled with cycling and unforgettable memories, the Slow Riders will also reach this year's grand finale - Vienna, the capital known for its music, architecture, history and the inevitable association with Ruse - also known as 'Little Vienna'. The entire journey will be captured in attractive photographs that citizens of Ruse will have the opportunity to see,

Some of the past Slow Riders releases include:

2021 - Sofia /Bulgaria/ - Bergamo /Italy/ – 1500 km through the territory of 8 Balkan countries, reaching Venice and Bergamo in Italy;

2022 - Bergamo /Italy/ - Bremen /Germany/ - 2200 km adventure that passed through Italy, the San Bernardo Alpine Pass /2469 m/, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany;

2023 - Bergamo /Italy/ - Bari /Italy/ - 1400 km stage, passed entirely on the territory of Italy, from the high-tech north to the wild south.

If you want to be, albeit virtually, with the Slow Riders, you can follow them here.

Nearly 30,000 photos, books, documents and other artifacts stored in the archives of the Municipality of Ruse and the partnering cultural institutes have been digitally transformed as part of the project "Protection and promotion of cultural heritage through digital preservation and presentation". This became clear at the final press conference, which took place today, and was attended by Deputy Mayor Zlatomira Stefanova, the project manager and director of the Economy, Investments, International Cooperation and Projects Directorate, Ivaylo Kadishev, as well as the team that worked on the project.

“The present project is a tremendous asset as it has managed to preserve historical treasures that the common citizen would not have had the opportunity to get to know. We are satisfied that we can leave for future generations a legacy that has been preserved thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in the project," said the deputy mayor. Zlatomira Stefanova and expressed her gratitude to the partner institutions, without which the project could not have been successfully implemented.

The technological process was explained by Albena Todorova, who is part of the digitization team. According to her, the preservation of cultural units and the collection of their data is by no means an easy process, and the work on the project was a challenge for all involved, requiring a lot of knowledge and a rich common culture.

The main goal of the project is to make the content available to the general public, thereby increasing interest in it. Presenting through modern methods breathes new life into cultural heritage and enables everyone to become familiar with cultural entities located in physically remote locations and not exposed to the public. Within the framework of the project, a digitalization center was created in the building of the Municipality of Ruse at 6 Olimpi Panov Street, for which a repair was carried out and furniture and equipment were purchased, corresponding to the specifics of the information subject to digitization.

8 employees were trained "Technologies for digitalization of cultural and historical heritage" to acquire additional professional competences, some of them were engaged full-time in the technical implementation of digitalization. Nearly 200 students from Ruse and the region also participated in the project, who were also trained in the use of modern technologies.

The beneficiary of the project is the Municipality of Ruse, and the partners are the Regional Library "Lyuben Karavelov", the Drama Theater "Sava Ognyanov", the Municipal Cultural Institute, "Art Gallery" - Ruse, State Opera - Ruse, the National School of Arts "Prof. Veselin Stoyanov" , the Regional History Museum, the Revival Center "Zora 1866", the State Puppet Theater - Ruse and the National Museum of Liechtenstein. Its implementation lasted for 2 years, and the financing was carried out under the "Cultural Entrepreneurship, Heritage and Cooperation" program of the Financial Mechanism of the European economic space.

The digitization process will continue in stages over the next 5 years. Digitized content can be viewed on a bilingual online platform storing the data.

The 34th edition of the "Danube Arrows" International Archery Tournament has ended, in which 107 competitors from Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus took part. 14 of the 16 clubs - members of the Bulgarian Archery Federation from the three age groups - men/women, youth/girls and cadets/cadets took part in the competition.

The competition took place over the weekend outdoors at the "Danube" stadium with the support of the Municipality of Ruse, and Deputy Mayor Zdravka Velikova took part in awarding the prize-winners.

The Ruse sports club "Jambo 2006", which is the main organizer and host of the competition, traditionally finished its participation with numerous prizes in the various disciplines.

The Ruse shooters finished with the first place in the compound men's team discipline, with the club's competitors Ovidio Achile, Alexander Velikov and Viktor Petrov taking the distinction. In the compound men's individual gold and silver went to Ovidio Achile and Viktor Petrov respectively, and in the compound men's 50+ team gold went to the Jumbo 2006 trio of Marin Velikov, Rosen Todorov and Stanimir Mazgurov. Individually, in the same discipline, Marin Velikov took the second place.

In men's recurve 50+ individual first and second place went to Ivan Yotov and Milen Shopov, and in men's recurve 50+ the team gold went to Ivan Yotov, Lyubomir Hristov and Milen Shopov. Ivan Banchev, Yordan Jambazov and Yordan Dimitrov won the men's recurve team bronze award. In recurve women 50+, Dorothea Kavrkova was the first.

In recurve youth under 21, Miroslav Petrov grabbed the silver, and in recurve girls under 21, Marina Stefanova won the gold.

Jumbo 2006 representatives won gold in the under-21 mixed team recurve and 50+ mixed team recurve events. The pair Simon Georgieva/Dimitar Velikov and Dorothea Kavrakova/Milen Shopov brought victory in them, respectively.

Aleksandr Balovski won a silver medal in the men's archery discipline.

This year, Ruse hosts 3 national and 2 international competitions, and at the end of September, the best clubs from Europe will compete in the city in the Olympic style discipline.

The organizers thank the sponsors CANTARELLI, Maud Marie, Prista Oil, Osmosis Bulgaria and Holleman Bulgaria for their support.

The official opening of the 5th International Conference on Spinal Surgery took place in Riga Hotel. The forum is held from 25 to 28 April and its organizers are the Bulgarian Association of Spinal Surgeons, Medical Institutions "Medica", Ruse University "Angel Kanchev" and the Bulgarian Orthopedic and Trauma Association. The event was honoured by the Deputy Mayor of Ruse Municipality Dimitar Nedev.
"I strongly believe that the conference will bring together leading specialists in the field, whose participation and activity will be of key importance for the development of modern medicine and for the improvement of practices in the field of spinal surgery," said the Deputy Mayor. He also wished the conference participants to continue to build on the skills acquired so far.

The forum was opened by the manager of the University Hospital "Medica" - Ruse Dr. Ivelin Yotsov, and special guests were the Honorary Rector of Ruse University "Angel Kanchev" and Chairman of the Municipal Council Acad. Hristo Beloev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Spinal Surgeons and Head of the Department of Orthopaedics, Traumatology and Spinal Surgery at the University Hospital "Medica" - Ruse  Art. cor. professor. dr. Stefan Stanchev and the national consultant in neurosurgery Art. cor. professor. dr. Nikolay Gabrovsky.
The event brings together more than 100 specialists in the field who will exchange experiences and present papers related to the development and modernisation of spinal disease treatment. Some of the panelists are leading lights in spinal surgery - Dr. Steven Margetko of University Hospital for Orthopaedic Surgery in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. David Clemenz of Cooper Health University in New Jersey, Dr. Francisco Sanchez Perez-Grueso of San Quinaro University Hospital in Madrid, and Dr. Arkady Kazmin from the Central Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy extends the period of implementation of the national project "Home Care", which is funded under the Human Resources Development Programme 2021-2027. This will enable nearly 500 users on the territory of Ruse municipality to continue using the health and social service until the end of 2024.

The decision of the MLSP comes after letters and inquiries by Mayor Pencho Milkov to the MPs from the 19th Multi-Mandate Constituency - Ruse, as well as to the MLSP, about the risk that users after the completion of the project activities will be left without their supportive care. In this regard, at the end of 2023, a bill amending the Social Services Act was submitted for consideration by MP Ivan Ivanov and a group of MPs.
In an official letter to the Mayor of the municipality of Ruse, the Ministry assured that in order to ensure the continuity of care for elderly and disabled people, including those with chronic diseases and permanent disabilities, the Managing Authority of the Human Resources Development Operational Programme (HRD OP MA), after analysis and estimates, has undertaken the necessary actions to extend the implementation period of the operation until the end of 2024 and to provide it with the necessary financial resources.
The project "Home Care in Ruse Municipality" was launched in November 2022 and its implementation expands the possibilities for providing social and integrated health and social services in the home environment. The services are provided to those in need for a period of 12 months and include the supply of food and necessities, payment of household bills, prevention of health and socially significant diseases, provision of psychological support, assistance in carrying out daily activities. The operation is of strategic importance and makes a significant contribution to achieving the objectives of the Human Resources Development Programme 2021-2027.