Justin Jacobs, LONDON: Parliament has banned hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Bulgaria, making it the second European country, after France, to impose a moratorium on the technique.
On 18 January, parliament voted 116-6 to pass the law banning fracking, which effectively halts shale-gas exploration in the country before it even began. The vote came just days after thousands of protesters gathered in more than a dozen cities across the country demanding a ban on fracking, which they contended poses an unacceptable environmental risk.
The ban throws into doubt the...