Foreign tourists must now pay a 150,000 rupiah (£7.60; $9.60) levy to enter Bali, one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. Indonesian authorities say this is aimed at protecting the island's environment and culture.more

Anders Breivik, who is serving a 21-year prison sentence for killing 77 people in 2011, lost a lawsuit he brought against the Norwegian state for human rights violations on Thursday. The mass murderer had complained about poor prison conditions.more

The board of Russia's prison service announced today that Alexei Navalny, the leader of the anti-Kremlin opposition and considered the most important opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has died in a gulag.more

As prosecutors this week charged two teenagers with murdering the mother of one of the leaders of a criminal group, Swedish police expect a new wave of gang violence.more

In the north-western Spanish city of Vigo, there are more dogs and cats than children and adolescents, according to regional government statistics published by Atlantica TV.more

Mike Turner, head of the Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives (the lower house of the US Congress), announced yesterday that the committee had shared information about a "serious threat to national security" with all members of Congress. Turner did not specify the nature of this threat.more

Polish confectioner Rafał Perz has won a competition for the best semla this year in Stockholm. These yeasty buns with almond paste and whipped cream were enjoyed by Swedes on Tuesday, the last day of the carnival.more

Billionaire Elon Musk has criticised the new aid to Ukraine being processed by the US Congress and believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot lose the war, Bloomberg news agency wrote yesterday. It cites Musk's discussion with US Republican senators on the X service.more

Donald Trump's top national security adviser Keith Kellogg announced yesterday that he would push to transform NATO into a 'multi-level alliance' if Trump becomes US president again. As Reuters points out, the idea is to deprive some member states of protection from attack.more

Global military spending - from ammunition to nuclear weapons - increased by 9% in 2023. compared to 2022, reaching a record level of USD 2.2 trillion, and this year it will increase even more - said the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).more

An AI system is being piloted in the metro in Montreal, Canada, which is able to identify potential suicides based on monitoring data. It's part of a suicide prevention strategy on Montreal public transit.more

Global cocoa prices have hit a fresh record high as dry weather hurts crops in West Africa. Cocoa prices on the New York commodities market reached a new all-time high of $5,874 (£4,655) a ton on Thursday. The cost of the key ingredient for making chocolate has now roughly doubled since the start of last year.more

"Norway is facing the most serious threat in decades. Russia is stronger than a year ago and is in the process of gaining the upper hand in the war in Ukraine, the outcome of which will be decisive for Europe," said the head of Norwegian military intelligence, Nils Andreas Stensones.more

The issue of the age of the candidates for President of the United States, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, came to the fore in the election campaign, but it may turn out to be a greater burden for Biden - says the New York Times.more

Poland is pursuing the fastest and most ambitious programme of armed forces expansion not seen in continental Europe for decades, according to the British daily 'The Times'.more

Finnair is weighing volunteer passengers at the gate to collect data on travelers. more

Council and European Parliament negotiators reached an interim political agreement to phase out the use of dental amalgam and to ban the production, import and export of a number of products containing mercury, including certain lamps.more

Denmark should accelerate military investments because new intelligence data indicate that Russia may attack one of the NATO countries within 3-5 years, said Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen in the Jyllands-Posten daily.more

More than 5 million citizens of Spain's population of 48 million people take medications for insomnia, according to research by neurologists from this country. ​more

Vladimir Putin said in an interview broadcast yesterday that Moscow is not interested in invading "Poland, Latvia or anywhere else." The interview that the dictator gave to Tucker Carlson, an American commentator known for his pro-Russian and pro-Putin views, was recorded on Tuesday in Moscow and used by Kremlin propaganda.more

A 48-year-old Polish woman was murdered in Naples by her husband, who then committed suicide, the Ansa agency reported. The man killed his wife, then barricaded himself in the house for a long time and shot from the window, also at the police who arrived at the scene.more

The Swedish government has adopted regulations introducing the so-called security zones where the police will be able to search people and search places without specific suspicion. The new rules are intended to help fight gangs, but they raise concerns about possible discrimination.more

There is circumstantial evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infections have emerged in Europe even before the official start date of the pandemic, 2019-2020, as evidenced by a Polish study of the incidence of excess mortality in more than 900 regions of the continent in 2019.more

German home appliance maker Miele posted record sales in the coronavirus years, but is now looking to cut costs as sales have declined. The company is reducing its workforce and moving the assembly of washing machines to Poland.more

Another volcanic eruption occurred today on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland, public broadcaster RUV reported. The volcano also erupted in mid-January and at the end of 2023, requiring the evacuation of residents of the city of Grindavik.more