Air conditioning in public buildings in Spain must be turned down in the summer under new rules published as part of measures to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy.

Office air conditioning should be set no lower than 27 Celsius (80.6 Fahrenheit) during the warmest months of the year, according to a government decree on energy efficiency.

Temperatures often rise above 40 Celsius in the summer across Spain.

During the winter offices, will not be heated beyond a maximum of 19 Celsius.

These measures will apply “whenever it is technically possible,” the decree said.

The decree includes greater use of working from home for civil servants, increased use of energy-efficient lighting and mass installation of solar panels on the roofs of public buildings.

The plan, part of an EU-wide effort to cut dependence on Russian gas and oil, calls for the installation of more bicycle parking spots at government office to encourage public workers to cycle to work.

The European Commission published plans on Tuesday to cut EU dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end its reliance on Russian supplies of the fuel before 2030.

Italy in April also announced plans to turn down air conditioning at public buildings to save energy this summer.

Croatia’s plan for a new radioactive waste storage facility near its border with Bosnia is facing mounting opposition from its neighbour due to concerns the plant could have a potentially devastating health and environmental impact.

The government chose the site near the River Una, a tributary to the Danube, in 2018, for storing Croatia’s half of the waste produced by the nuclear power plant Krsko (NUK), which it co-owns with fellow European Union member Slovenia.

Bosnia, in a bid to halt the plan, responded the year after by declaring its land closest to the site across the border a nature reserve, with little success.

As the launch of the facility edges closer, Bosnians are growing increasingly concerned about the possible consequences on public health, their pristine rivers and organic farming industry.

“We fear the main impact of this devastating proposal will be on people’s lives and on the environment,” said Mario Crnkovic, an ecologist in the town of Novi Grad on the Bosnian side of the border, about one kilometre from the earmarked site.

Bosnian authorities, who are awaiting the results of their own expert study on the safety of the project, hope that Croatia may still change its mind on the location.

Stasa Kosarac, Bosnia’s minister for foreign trade and economic relations, told newsmen: “Our primary goal is to save the health of 250,000 people in the northwestern Bosnia,” and suggested Bosnia could erect a similar facility close to Dubrovnik, one of Croatia’s main tourism hubs on the Adriatic.

Croatia has dismissed these worries. “According to preliminary studies, we can say that the location is extremely safe,” said Josip Lebegner, director of the fund for decommissioning and disposal of radioactive waste from NUK.

Critics note that the government has yet to publish any health or environmental risk assessment of the proposal.

The area is prone to flooding and subject to regular seismic activity, and is still being cleared of landmines left over from the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Lebegner said he expected the government’s environmental research would be released by the end of the year.

Last month, showing determination to proceed with the project despite opposition, Croatia resumed the clearance of the area from landmines and installed a seismic station to measure sensitivity of the soil to earthquakes.

The first quantities of radioactive waste will be deposited at the site starting in around three or four years time until 2050, Lebegner said, adding that the site will exclusively be used to store low- and mid-radioactive waste from NUK.

Highly radioactive waste will be stored elsewhere but the location has yet to be found, he said.

But critics say that medical waste, for which Croatia has yet to announce its storage method, may be even more dangerous for underground waters, agricultural land and cattle in the rural area, which is known for its honey and sheep.

Nikola Arbutina, the mayor of the Dvor municipality where the site is located, said investors were giving up on projects and people were leaving the area after it became associated with the radioactive waste project.

The town of about 5,550 people has lost 2,500 residents in the last years.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of East Timor on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, although there were no immediate reports of damage.

A tsunami advisory group said the quake “may be capable of generating a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean region”.

The USGS said the quake struck at a depth of 51.4 kilometres (32 miles) off the eastern tip of Timor Island, which is split between East Timor and Indonesia.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) issued the tsunami warning for the region.

East Timor and Indonesia sit on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

In February, a 6.2-magnitude quake killed a dozen people when it struck Indonesia’s North Sumatra.

In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake hit the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.

East Timor has a population of 1.3 million and is Southeast Asia’s youngest country, recently celebrating the 20th anniversary of its independence from Indonesia.

Leptis Magna, also known as Lepcis Magna, is an ancient Roman city which nowadays lies in ruins and it serves as an archaeological site, located in the northwestern part of the State of Lybia.

Being one of the most prominent cities in Roman Libya, it was originally founded by the Berbers and Punics from Carthage, but it was greatly expanded under Emperor Septimius Severus.

Considered to be founded in 7 century BC, not a lot of information exists about this interesting city, however, it appears to have been powerful enough to repel Dorieus’ attempt to establish a colony in 515 BC.

Still, the city thrived and depended mainly on the fertility of its surrounding farmland, but definitely the most developed branch of agriculture were the olive trees.

There are excavations of olive presses that have been discovered which confirm the importance of the olive oil production for the city.

In order for a better control of the city, the Roman Republic sent to Leptis Magna a small garrison, and since then the city started to grow and was even allowed to create its own money, which at that time were actually coins.

As the Wadi Lebda meets the Mediterranean Sea, continued thriving even until the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius, who incorporated the city and the surrounding area into the Empire, as part of the Province of Africa.

As mentioned previously, the Emperor Septimius Severus made sure that the city would become an even bigger and better one with the ambitious building program which was initiated.

Over the following centuries, Leptis Magna remained in a pretty calm state, however, it became to decline due to the increasing insecurity of the frontiers, culminating in a disastrous incursion in 363, and the growing economic difficulties of the Roman Empire.

It was with the final Arab conquest in 642 when the city ceased to effectively thrive and it fell into ruin.

The sand unfortunately for that time, however, fortunately for us today, buried the city up until 20 century when the Italians conquered Italian Libya, and with the great effort that was dedicated to the rediscovery of the city, nowadays, people are still being able to see the magnificence of Leptis Magna.

They fortunately were able to discover plenty of well preserved columns, and with additional archaeological discoveries, Theater, Amphitheater, Marketplace, Severan Basilica, and Forum were found.

Nevertheless, the Arch of Septimius Severus is probably one of the most significant discoveries as it honors the great Emperor who made sure that Leptis Magna would remain in the history books as one of the greatest cities to have ever existed in Roman time.

Due to the immense importance, the city was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982, however, with the war conflict that destroyed the nation, it is not so safe to visit the ruins and the state of the city should improve too as the situation improves bit by bit.

Baku Crystal Hall is a multipurpose sports and concert indoor area which at first was intended to be the hosting place of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest which was held in the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku. With construction beginning in August 2011, it took nearly 8 months for the structure to be finished, when it officially was opened on 7 May 2012, at an estimated cost of 350 million US dollars.

The international architectural company based in Hamburg, Germany, Gerkan, Marg and Partners, better known as GMP International GmbH is the sole architect of this interesting and very modern piece of architecture, while Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, Nussli Group, and Basler & Hofmann AGwere the project managers.

With the possibility of having 27,000 people, the Baku Crystal Hall is definitely among the bigger ones in the area, even though there were some controversies with the construction. Human Rights Watch accused the Government of Azerbaijan that it has illegally evicted “dozens” of families from the area in order to construct the arena, with no compensation at all, even though this has been denied.

Still, the arena is something spectacular to be seen in the capital, as the façade has numerous modern dynamic LED lights which allows for the creation of various unique lighting effects, something that was used during the Eurovision contest in order to display the colors of the nations participating in the event.

The maximum height within the arena is measured at 24 meters (79 feet), and it can be accessed via 15 different entrances. The entire ground around Baku Crystal Hall is asphalted, and with the access to the Caspian Sea, there is a perfect panoramic photo opportunity for all those architectural enthusiasts who would like to capture the crystals with the calm waters

As it is also located next to the National Flag Square where an enormous Azerbaijani flag is waved, it is definitely one of the most photographed places in the country, which can be seen on most of the postcards that are being sent from Azerbaijan.

On the beautiful coast of Güzelcehisar in northern Turkey’s Bartın, unique-looking lava columns formed 80 million years ago as a result of the cooling and crystallization of lava flowing from volcanoes have recently attracted even more tourists thanks to newly constructed wooden walking paths and a viewing terrace.

Lava columns can be found around the world in Northern Ireland, Scotland and California, and specifically on the coast of Güzelcehisar in Turkey, where history and nature are intertwined.

They offer beautiful scenes and became one of the frequent destinations of visitors after they were introduced to tourism within the scope of the “Landscape Application Project for Tourism and Recreation Purposes.”

The lava columns fascinate those who see them and are visited by thousands of people from many countries, especially from the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as local visitors.

Those who come to the Güzelcehisar coast, where temperatures reached 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), can both take a walk and sit on the benches on the 1-kilometer (0.62-mile) wooden track, starting from the pier on the sea, which was built for the purpose of seeing the lava columns more easily, and enjoy the view.

Visitors, who rest on the pier at the end of the track, can gaze at the lava columns and take pictures of the sea and natural views.

They also have the opportunity to walk in certain areas near the lava columns.