Europe

VAT has been risen from 19 to 21% on most goods (11% on food, medicines, books, public utilities, district heating, water and sewage services), excise duties on fuel and alcohol brought up 10%, public-sector wage freezed to curb a surging budget deficit

Ljubljana's Stožice national stadium has a new turf: after years of puddles and patchy grass, the pitch now has undergone a complete €1,8 million renewal

Police in Belgrade worked to remove roadblocks set up by protesters over the weekend, while protesters moved to reinstall them, amid continuing civil disobedience caused by anger at arrests of eight people accused of plotting to “overthrow the state”

1 in 4 young foreign workers in Belgium feels overqualified for their job, says recent analysis by Statbel, especially at entry-level, and 1 in 5 Belgian youth have jobs below their skill level, while the country has the second highest job vacancy in EU

"First Home” program beneficiaries will pay a higher interest rate on their mortgage loans, up by 2,12%, starting today; Bank of Moldova last week kept the base rate at 6,5% per year to in a move to anticipate the expected rise in inflation

A begging ban at national level will not be implemented as it 'not needed', one of the reasons being the number of beggars is 'discrete'; the ban was proposed by Moderate Party and Sweden Democrats and decided upon after nine months of investigation

LEGO block fans Zuzanna ‘Fanka Klocków’ and Michał ‘Artoozy Builds’ presented a set recreating a retro pharmacy with its proprietor, Ignacy Łukasiewicz, inventor of the kerosene lamp at Brick it Back, a LEGO blocks festival in Jasło

Parents shouldn't allow children under 15 to use social media and wait until school group 8 before giving them a smartphone, according to news reporting recommendations by Dutch caretaker cabinet, part of a new national guideline on “Healthy Screen Use”

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez 3-days VIPs-clad wedding in Venice, 'private glamour event of the year' said press, ended with a party in Arsenale; about 1.000 people, mostly groups of activists, demonstrated against Amazon founder on taxation grounds