Radio-frequency identification

The Ministry of Interior is suggesting a revision and addition to the rules governing the issuance of Bulgarian personal documents, which entails a rise in the fee for obtaining an identity card - shifting from the existing 18 BGN to 30 BGN.

In a new step aimed at relieving traffic conjestion in Istanbul, the toll booths on the link roads leading to the TEM highway will be removed and replaced by an open-road tolling system to provide safer and faster passage, the transport minister has announced.

The Church of Greece has said it will issue an opinion on the new identity cards this week.

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens has called for "judiciousness and prudence" on an issue that has energized conspiracists among the faithful, including some bishops, and which has already led to protest rallies and plans for more.

The country's new identity cards, which will be issued from September 25, will not contain "any chips or cameras or listening devices," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has told the cabinet.

The announcement that new IDs are on the way has mobilized conspiracy theorists, who see the new cards as a fresh attempt by the authorities to control them through technology.

The digital euro is "cash" that is stored and used for payments on a smartphone, as opposed to using a credit card, bank transfer, or paper and coins. The European Central Bank (ECB) hopes to introduce the digital euro in 2026.

Even the microchips in our computers are fallible, making "silent" errors that go unnoticed. This is where Athens University professor of computer architecture Dimitris Gizopoulos and his research team come in, having been assigned the task by Meta of assessing the scope of the problem and containing it.

Animal owners, who passed Dec. 31, 2022, the last day for the microchipping process, have started to leave their pets on the street in order not to be fined as they have still not registered them in the tracking system.

Nearly 400,000 pets from across the country were registered on a pet-tracking system called "PETVET" since the beginning of last year, according to a report by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.

According to a ministry report released recently, 162,075 cats, 231,685 dogs and 11 weasels were registered to the system since Jan. 1, 2021.

Türkiye has started printing its own biometric passports as of Aug. 29, the country's interior minister said at a press conference held at the site where the first "fully Turkish" passport was printed.

Süleyman Soylu gathered with journalists late on Aug. 29 at the General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality, an affiliate of his ministry, in the capital Ankara.

More than 220,000 Bulgarian citizens live without identity documents, according to a survey conducted as part of the National Advocacy Campaign "The Invisibles We See". These people are deprived of access to health and social and practically leaves them without a civic identity.