Air pollution

As an increasing number of city dwellers use their fireplaces to keep warm amid dropping temperatures, the Hellenic Cancer Society has warned of the health risks of burning wood in urban settings and has called on the government to ban the practice and introduce inspections and fines for offenders. 

After a series of days with noticeably cleaner air during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, on the third day of the new year the air quality measurement stations in Sofia again report an increased concentration of fine dust particles, BNR reported.

The cleanliness of the air will be able to be tracked completely online in real time. The metropolitan municipality presented its own monitoring system. It started operating today. The aim is to be a natural extension of the systems of citizens' initiatives for air pollution.

The European Commission announced that it continues to monitor the air quality situation in Bulgaria and reminded that it has already taken decisive actions in the past. The EC initiated punitive proceedings against Bulgaria over the levels of fine particulate matter (PM10) and sulphur dioxide (SO2).

For the next morning, the pollution levels in many parts of the country are well above the permissible levels. 12 of the stations of the Executive Environmental Agency report values above the concentration limits.

The air is dirtiest in Sofia Field, where in Mladost, Pavlovo, Hipodruma and Nadezhda the fine dust particles are 3-4 times above the norm.

The Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium introduces a ban on the movement of EURO 3 diesel vehicles (with registration before 2005) into the territory of the so-called low-emission zone. 

"These days Sarajevo is at the top of the list of the 10 most polluted capitals in the world. Sarajevo is no exception among the capitals in the Western Balkans on that list, followed by Belgrade and Skopje, which occupy the seventh and eighth position, respectively", Bregu said in the author's text.

Iranian authorities have ordered  several schools in in Tehran and several other cities in the country to be closed today because of the dangerous air pollution, health reports stated.

Tehran lay under a thick cloud of smog considered hazardous to health for several days now. Yesterday, the cloud could be seen from the valleys more than 20 kilometers north of the city.

India's capital, New Delhi, has the world's most polluted air, according to an air quality monitoring agency.

Two other Indian cities, Kolkata and Mumbai, also ranked among the top 10 cities with the dirtiest air, on the sixth and ninth position respectively, Swiss-based IQ AirVisual said on Friday.

A 380-kilometer traffic jam is being formed along Dutch highways today due to protests by construction workers against nitrogen pollution abatement measures that could affect their jobs, Reuters said.

According to the Dutch Traffic Service, the traffic congestion around The Hague is 380 km long.

Construction workers brought trucks, excavators and cranes to the protest.