An embargo on the import of Russian oil into the European Union by sea comes into force from today. From the same day, the $60 per barrel limit agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia on the price of Russian oil transported by sea takes effect. The restrictions are intended to make it more difficult for Russia to finance the war in Ukraine, while maintaining the stability of global energy supplies.more

Germany is not doing enough to help Ukraine, it is in 18th place among the countries supporting Kiev, writes the Spiegel weekly portal.more

More than 2.5 million Italians have fallen ill with influenza since the beginning of autumn, the National Institute of Health Services reported. Such a high number of cases had not been recorded since 2009, when the so-called swine flu raged.more

Kremlin propaganda is falling lower and lower, wrote the portal of the daily Stern yesterday. In the parallel world to which Vladimir Putin wants to transfer his subjects, prostheses are now styled as "enviable improvements" and "cool gadgets", the newspaper reports, stressing: "This is the wonderful new world of Kremlin propaganda".more

High inflation and the associated price shock are dampening the festive mood of Germans. According to a survey by pollster Insa for the daily Bild, 23 per cent of people will not buy any Christmas presents this year, and less than half would be able to pay for gifts from their current income.more

'Disinformation, if we learn more deeply about how it works, can help us find the weaknesses in society that allow it to spread widely; therefore, you need to be smarter than the disinformer to be better able to counter it,' announced Givi Gigitashvili of the US think tank Atlantic Council.more

Peace talks with Russia, with Russian soldiers still in Ukraine, could be used by Vladimir Putin to rebuild the military, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned in an interview with the "Daily Telegraph" published yesterday.more

Never before have so many ATMs been blown up in Germany as this year. According to the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, there have been around 450 such attacks in the country so far.more

The flexible attitude of employers towards remote work is conducive to the phenomenon initiated by the pandemic. Employees whose profession allows it willingly move their "home offices" to different parts of the world, combining travel with work. If the decision on workation is ahead, the InterNations Expat Insider Report tells you which cities around the world are the most expat-friendly.more

New York and Singapore topped the list of the most expensive cities in the world. The annual Worldwide Cost of Living Index report, prepared by ECA International, highlighted what we have been feeling so painfully for months - the average cost of living in the largest cities increased by an average of 8.1% in 2022. This is the largest increase in at least 20 years, the report notes.more

At least 90 percent of the world's population has some form of immunity to Covid-19, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday. Despite this, the head of the WHO warned against a decrease in vigilance against the coronavirus.more

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a number of spies working for Moscow have been detained in Europe. The weekly "Spiegel" estimates that tens of thousands of people live in the West, working for the Russian intelligence services of the FSB, SWR or the military GRU.more

Vladimir Putin has fallen down his stairs and bruised his tailbone, it has been claimed. Security guards had to help the 70-year-old tyrant to a sofa nearby before doctors arrived, sources have said.more

The Supreme Court in Valencia, Spain, has ruled that watching a football match during working hours cannot be a reason for dismissing an employee. "Now more than a few will be tempted to put aside their professional duties and watch the games, especially those that ensure the national team's promotion to the next phase of the competition," - commented the "ABC" newspaper.more

The report by Cushman & Wakefield, which analyzes the market in terms of rents in commercial real estate, shows that New York's 5th Avenue is again the most expensive shopping district in the world.more

The Polish embassy is protesting against the Kandinsky auction in Grisebach. The painting was stolen from the National Museum in Warsaw in 1983, the embassy reports. According to the auction house, there are no grounds for a claim to the painting, writes the Berliner Zeitung daily portal, despite the fact that the stamp of the National Museum in Warsaw has been preserved on the painting.more

Russia planned to occupy Ukraine within 10 days and annex it by August, according to intercepted Russian documents purporting to be signed by President Vladimir Putin, the UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) revealed yesterday.more

Italy is already in the endemic phase of Covid-19, the new Health Minister Orazio Schillaci announced. "Today," he added, "we are betting on citizens' sense of responsibility. The health ministry in Rome has inaugurated a vaccination campaign against both Covid-19 and influenza.more

A meteorite caused panic among Gran Canaria islanders when it lit up the sky over the archipelago and fell into the sea with a powerful bang, the Canary Islands authorities confirmed yesterday. "The noise was similar to an explosion, the window panes were shaking, "Gran Canaria residents wrote on Twitter.more

The number of anti-Semitic crimes is increasing in Germany - over 3,000 were recorded in 2021 alone. The government now wants to take more targeted measures to protect Jews. Government Commissioner for Anti-Semitism Felix Klein presented the country's first "national strategy against anti-Semitism and for Jewish life."more

The situation of the Russian troops in Ukraine looks so bad that Vladimir Putin is no longer satisfied with recruiting additional soldiers from all corners of Russia, Wagner's Russian mercenary group participating in the fighting is now moving to recruit criminals from the Central African Republic, reports Bild.more

"For a patient who is 850 years old, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is in extraordinary condition" - experts said after another inspection of the famous monument, saved more than two decades ago by a team of scientists led by now 90-year-old Professor Michele Jamiolkowski from the Polytechnic University of Turin. He was called "the wizard" in Italy.more

Portuguese municipalities employ a large number of companies of their choice to prepare mangers and Christmas decorations, entrusting them with the execution of the so-called "art exhibitions" - reported the Portuguese media.more

The German government wants to simplify the rules of entry and recognition of professional qualifications in order to attract more foreign qualified workers to the country. International labor market expert Chris Pyak believes that "the notion that many people want to come to Germany is wrong." It scares them away racism.more

From next year, the capital of the Netherlands is launching a campaign to discourage the arrival of tourists looking for sex, drugs and alcohol, informs the daily "De Telegraaf".more