Every year, in the "Readers' Choice Awards" plebiscite, readers of "Traveller" magazine choose the most recommendable countries for tourism. Japan won this year's vote, which was attended by over half a million people.more

Norway is at the top of the list of European countries that can be safely traveled by car - this is the result of an analysis carried out by the Vignette Switzerland platform, taking into account data from the European Transport Safety Board. The criterion was not only the road infrastructure, but also the number of road accident victims per million inhabitants.more

The issue of the town of Depressa in Puglia in the south, where there is no Internet and almost no telephones, was brought to the attention of the Italian Parliament. When residents want to call or send a message, they must leave their homes. They gather in the square in front of the church because that is where the reception is best. ​more

For tourists, meeting a geisha in traditional costume is the quintessence of a trip to Japan. No wonder that visitors to the Gion district in Kyoto try at all costs to capture this phenomenal image in a photo. However, many of them do it in an intrusive way, which resulted in the introduction of a photography ban in 2019, which, however, is not respected.more

A record jackpot of 64.59 million Swiss francs was won Saturday in Switzerland by a lucky single ticket-holder, Swiss Lotto said in a statement. The winning ticket was held by a person in the German- or Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, it said, without elaborating.more

Russia is using private militias to control migration routes in Africa in order to increase the flow of illegal immigrants to western Europe at favourable times, such as before elections, the British 'Daily Telegraph' alerted yesterday, citing intelligence sources.more

Billionaire and one of the co-founders of OpenAI Elon Musk has sued the company and its chief executive Sam Altman, accusing them of misappropriating their founding mission by putting profits before the good of humanity. According to Musk, the Microsoft-linked company has in effect already created general artificial intelligence (AGI) and is worth $80bn.more

Thousands of people came today to the area around the Orthodox church in Moscow where the funeral of opposition politician Alexei Navalny is taking place. Those gathered chanted his name. There are communication problems at the site. Representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Russia attended the ceremony.more

The use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine or elsewhere is highly unlikely, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed in a recent report, referring to Vladimir Putin's address to the nation yesterday.more

The German government is preparing more and more specifically for a possible attack by Russia on Germany or one of the NATO countries. The 13-page document for the Bundestag presents an analysis of the threats leading to the outbreak of war, reports the Bild daily.more

Vladimir Putin today warned of the danger of nuclear conflict if NATO troops were introduced into Ukraine. He spoke about it in his annual address to the nation.more

There were 285 nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, of which 196 were individuals and 89 organisations, the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced yesterday. Last year 351 nominations were received, and in the record-breaking 2016 there were 376.more

Vladimir Putin is an organised crime gang leader, the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny announced in the European Parliament yesterday. She added that in order to defeat the Kremlin, it is necessary to act innovatively.more

More and more Americans see immigration as the most important issue facing their country. Immigration has become more important than the economy and inflation for the first time since 2019.more

A three-day warning strike by German Lufthansa's technical department ground staff began this morning and is expected to last until Friday evening. By midday today, the industrial action had not affected passenger flights, said representatives of the Verdi trade union.more

A life sentence was heard yesterday at the trial in Amsterdam of one of the most dangerous and longest wanted drug gang bosses Ridouan Taghi. He was convicted of a series of murders from 2015-17. The trial was one of the longest ever - lasting almost six years.more

Portuguese police detained a 36-year-old Pole in Lisbon, wanted on a European arrest warrant for leading a criminal group involved in drug smuggling to Poland. The man was tracked down by police bounty hunters from Silesia and passed the information on to colleagues from Portugal.more

Four primary schools in the southern French city of Beziers introduced uniform uniforms for students from this Monday. Over 700 children are participating in the pilot program. Education authorities want to see if uniforms will help reduce inequality and improve relationships in schools.more

The speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, at the UN Security Council, pointing out Russia's false narrative about the war in Ukraine, became a sensation and received enthusiastic praise - the American Bloomberg agency reported yesterday.more

Warning strikes are to be held in local transport in many regions of Germany until Saturday. Yesterday, city bus drivers in Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland and parts of Trier went on strike, resulting in many connections being canceled. There are also several hours of disruption in Berlin, the Tagesschau portal reported.more

Serbian police detained a Polish citizen in connection with an attempt to launder over PLN 30,000 in the country. euro - the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced yesterday.more

For more than 10 years, the US has developed intelligence cooperation with Ukraine, which is now critical for both countries to counter Russia, writes the "New York Times" in a lengthy article.more

'If Vladimir Putin really threatens us, we are ready to double our defence spending; we will never again be a Russian colony,' Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced in an interview with US television channel CNN broadcast yesterday.more

In Sweden, 62,000 people have links to gangs, of which 14,000 are active members of criminal groups and 48,000 support them, including by enabling drug trafficking, according to a Swedish police report presented on Friday. This is more than twice as many as previously estimated.more

The boss of Ryanair has said holidaymakers will face higher fares this summer due to new Boeing planes being delivered late. Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the delayed delivery of the planes will constrain capacity for passengers.more