Natural sciences

Winter will be present in Bulgaria for the next two weeks, with intermittent snow and low temperatures.

Clouds will break today, but cloudiness will increase again this evening from the west. The maximum temperatures will be between 0°C and 5°C, in Sofia - about 2 degrees Celsius, according to the NIMH forecast.

A mining corporation on Sunday apologized for losing a highly radioactive capsule over a 1,400-kilometer stretch of Western Australia, as authorities combed parts of the road looking for the tiny but dangerous substance.

The capsule was part of a device believed to have fallen off a truck while being transported between a desert mine site and the city of Perth on Jan. 10.

Türkiye's recent discovery of rare earth elements will give a major advantage to the country in the near future, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez has said.

"As the name suggests, these elements are rarely found around the world," Dönmez said on Jan. 28 at an event titled "Energy Goals in Century of Türkiye" in Istanbul.

Light pollution is growing rapidly and in some places the number of stars visible to the naked eye in the night sky is being reduced by more than half in less than 20 years, according to a study released on Jan. 19.

The absolute records for high temperatures for January were improved yesterday in five stations of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology in the country, reports the NIMH.

In Pleven yesterday the temperature reached 21.7 degrees Celsius, and the old temperature record was 21.2 degrees and was from January 2002.

Bulgaria is looking to revive a trans-Balkan oil pipeline project to secure non-Russian crude oil supplies for its only oil refinery on the Black Sea, controlled by Russia's Lukoil, President Rumen Radev said on Tuesday.

A negative coronavirus PCR or rapid test will be required of all air passengers traveling from China until January 31, Greece's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced in a notice to airmen (notam) on Monday.

The price of Covid rapid and self-tests as well as PCR tests in pharmacies has increased, as they are now subject to a 6% VAT rate, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) has said.

In a circular, the AADE pointed out that an EU directive allowing for a temporary VAT exemption for vaccines and testing kits had expired on December 31, 2022.

The grass is unusually green this winter and snowdrops and primroses were in bloom as early as December. Bees have been enticed out of hives and storks failed to make their journey south. The unseasonably warm weather is causing confusion everywhere.

As Turkish State Meteorological Service announces that last December was the warmest one experienced in the past 52 years, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum calls on citizens to "do their bit."