Pakistan and Bulgaria should expand and strengthen their bilateral relations in various fields including economy, trade, culture and education, a Bulgarian diplomat said Wednesday. The two countries should expand political consultations while Pakistan can make use of Bulgaria’s solid experience in coal power generation to exploit Thar Coal, said Daniel Hristov, Head of Consular Department, Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria. Talking to Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers' Association (PVMA) Atif Ikram Sheikh, he said that we needs to promote economic ties

Solid gold can be deposited in Earth's crust "almost instantaneously" during earthquakes, said a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Sunday. The gold is formed when a tremor splits open a fluid-filled cavity in the Earth's crust, causing a sudden drop in pressure, according to a team of Australian researchers. This, in turn, causes the fluid to expand rapidly and evaporate, and any gold particles that had been dissolved in it to "precipitate almost immediately", said a Nature press release.

Over 1,500 Bulgarian miners rallied in Sofia Tuesday to defend their jobs, following the announcement that coal-fired plants would be temporarily shut down due to low electricity consumption and exports. The protest, organised by the country's two main trade unions KNSB and Podkrepa, added to the snowballing public discontent over high electricity bills and growing poverty and corruption that toppled the right-wing government two weeks ago.

(Recasts, adds detail, comment) By Annie Banerji NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Protesting workers destroyed vehicles and damaged factories near the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday at the beginning of a two-day strike called by major trade unions over high prices. About 400 striking workers threw stones at factories in the industrial hub of Noida, about 16 km (10 miles) east of the capital, to force them to close, a Reuters witness said.