Finland will allocate twice as much money to defense as in previous years. The government announced orders for missiles from the US, Israel and Sweden, and howitzers from South Korea. According to experts, this should raise the combat capability of the Finnish army "to a new level".more

A third of Italians are stressed about Christmas, according to a survey conducted for the Chamber of Psychologists. Among the reasons, specialists mention loneliness, a sense of maladjustment to the collective state of pre-Christmas euphoria and financial problems.more

After the abrupt lifting of strict pandemic restrictions, the first large wave of Covid-19 in the country is spreading across China. According to Western media, there are already signs of an increasing number of deaths in Beijing, although it is not visible in the official statistics.more

Suspended accounts of several American journalists on Twitter will be restored, announced the owner of this social network Elon Musk. The decision to suspend the accounts provoked opposition from European politicians and the reaction of the UN.more

Dance teacher Valerie Plazenet has left the prestigious Institute of Political Science in Paris because the management recommended the use of the words leader and follower instead of woman and man during her dance classes. Students accused the teacher of sexism and discrimination.more

Indian airline IndiGo, under the leadership of former KLM boss Pieter Elbers, has announced an expansion in Europe, reports the daily "De Telegraaf". "Air France-KLM are furious about this," he adds.more

More than a third of executions in the US have been carried out in an improper or highly problematic manner this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). In Alabama, the procedure for injecting the deadly substance took three hours - the longest in the history of the country.more

The number of scabies patients in the Netherlands has doubled in a year and continues to grow, reports RTL Nieuws. Doctors indicate that young Dutch people are most often affected.more

Peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are currently unlikely, as neither side sees any benefit in them and both seek to defeat the opponent in battle; it cannot be ruled out that the war will take on a protracted character and last for many years, the Politico portal assessed yesterday.more

The court ordered the town halls of Beziers and Beaucaire to remove the Christmas crèches located in the main courtyards of the town halls of these towns, citing the principle of secularism.more

A 20-year-old Iranian man, Afshin Esmaeil Ghaderzadeh has been entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's shortest man. He measures just 65.24 cm. His weight, on the other hand, stopped at 6.5 kg.more

According to the Federal Police, a total of 85,308 people entered Germany illegally this year. This is an increase of 48 per cent compared to 2021. The majority, 58,601, of the unauthorised entries were through the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.more

Canadian electronic intelligence is analysing what threats the use of TikTok may pose to the country's security, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday.more

The AquaDom aquarium in Berlin, the world's largest cylindrical seawater structure, burst in the early hours of this morning; a nearby street was flooded and two people suffered injuries from glass shards, the German portal rbb24 reported after the Berlin police and fire brigade.more

An anti-aircraft alert was issued across Ukraine this morning. According to officials, Russia has again attacked Ukraine with missiles, fired from aircraft and ships in the Black Sea.more

Despite the energy crisis caused by Russia, only seven per cent of Ukrainians plan to relocate for the winter period, states a report published on Wednesday by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).more

38 percent of people in Germany declare that they believe in God very or quite strongly. Ten years ago, half of the respondents said so - according to the report "Religionsmonitor 2023" just published by the Bertelsmann Foundation. The percentage of those who attend church at least once a month has also decreased.more

India's economy, despite the turmoil caused by Russia's war in Ukraine, is expected to grow by almost 7% this year. The trend is likely to continue, helping India overtake Japan and Germany to become the third largest economy in the world, according to a report by Morgan Stanley and S&P Global. According to the International Monetary Fund, this will happen before 2028.more

Former Twitter manager Ahmad Abouammo was yesterday sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for spying for Saudi Arabia. He was proven to have shared Twitter users' data, potentially exposing them to persecution.more

The Estonian doctors, family doctors, infectious diseases and nurses' association of Estonia supported in a joint statement granting school nurses the right to vaccinate "students who are able to reason independently, even if their parents do not agree," Postimees reported.more

The vaccine affair, the Uber lobbying, the current corruption scandal are damaging the credibility of the EU institutions. Brussels is confronted with calls for more transparency. Similar calls have been made before, with the Covid-19 vaccine procurement scandal or the Uber Files scandal.more

Catalonia's separatist-dominated autonomous government, the so-called The Generalitat is working on a new referendum on the complete separation of this region from Spain.more

During New Year's Eve, not everyone will be able to take advantage of Airbnb offers. The booking platform already introduced a policy two years ago that was intended to serve to significantly reduce the organisation of lavish and disruptive New Year's Eve parties. This year, the platform has again decided to introduce this restriction.more

The German police raided apartments near Roermond and Venlo, in the border area with the Netherlands, where temporary workers from Poland and Romania lived, according to the NOS portal.more

Since spring, the Kremlin has been successfully circumventing sanctions over the war with Ukraine by importing Western electronic components on a massive scale. Components used e.g. in missiles are sent to Russia by companies registered in Turkey and Hong Kong, according to a journalistic investigation by Reuters and the British think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).more