Environment Ministry

The future of the Ideal and Astor, two of the Greek capital's historic movie theaters, looks uncertain amid speculation over the intentions of the owner of the buildings housing the cinemas, the Single Social Security Entity (EFKA). In a recent statement, EFKA allayed the concerns of cinema owners and audiences, saying that "no change of use is under consideration" for the venues.

A new multi-bill by the Environment Ministry seeks for the third time to legalize the clearing of forestland, favoring tourist facilities and renewable energy, while also including anti-environmental urban planning regulations.

An Environment Ministry decision on the height of buildings insists that an additional bonus in floors as stipulated in the new building regulation can be applied in Athens as well, thus overriding a series of recent decisions by the Council of State on the matter.

Scientists have discovered a new species of dwarf boa in the Ecuadoran Amazon and named it after an Indigenous activist.

Up to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) long and with skin coloring similar to those of the boa constrictor, the previously unknown snake was named Tropidophis cacuangoae.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay has announced that the officials are preparing "digital twins," a simulation project formed with images from drones to monitor all the 81 provinces.

Speaking at a council organized by the directorate general of geographic information systems, an affiliate of the Environment Ministry, Oktay introduced the project.

The Sao Paulo warship at sea. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Rob Schleiffert

"We will not make Turkey the garbage dump of imperialist powers. It is known that the ship spreads poison," Kadir Bulbul, the Izmir chair of the Left Party, told media during the protest.

Mežica – The 15-year long programme to remediate the environment of the Upper Mežica Valley in the wake of its mining past is drawing to a close this year but traces of lead can still be found in children’s blood. Thus a follow-on project will be required.

Ljubljana – An environmental organisation has lost a legal battle against the Environment Ministry’s decision to allow the culling of 222 brown bears in Slovenia this year, by the end of September. The Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning said the ruling showed its decision for the culling was legally right and professional.

Authorities are working on a new regulation that would introduce a cap on rent increases, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has said.

"The limit in rent hikes will be based on the inflation rate, and this will be a temporary measure," Bozdağ told reporters in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat.

Ljubljana – Slovenia’s potential new prime minister, Robert Golob has made a successful career for himself as an energy executive before returning to politics as a new name just in time for the general election in a manner the country has become well used to since his one-time party boss, Zoran Janković, first made such an attempt.