Europe

More than half of Albanians said they had been asked for a bribe, while half admitted to giving one: these are the highest rates in the region, according to a new report on corruption by Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integration

The country has introduced a €1,2 billion business aid plan, which states that the measures will only come into effect if electricity, gas and steam prices increase by more than 50%compared to 2021

The Swiss parliament has elected two new members of the government, social democrat Élisabeth Baume-Schneider and nationalist-conservative Albert Rösti, following the resignation of two members of the seven-headed Swiss Federal Council

PAN Europe and Nature&Progrès Belgium took legal action against the systematic authorisation of two cypermethrin-based insecticides, jointly asking the Belgian Council of State to immediately suspend the authorisation

Inflation in Hungary reached 22,5% year-on-year in November, marking a new 20-year high, with food and energy remaining the items with the biggest hikes; consumer prices rose at a record rate of 1,8% since October

This year Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold his marathon December press conference, breaking an annual tradition dating back to the early years of his presidency

To join vulnerability categories and benefit from compensation in energy bills, citizens can register on the www.compensatii.gov.md platform until March 2023

Belarusian athletes - as well as Russian - have been granted the right to play under the FIDE flag until the end of 2023

The prime minister stated that he will appoint his current emissary, Tomáš Pojar, to the position of the soon-to-be-created national security adviser, with the task of coordinating intelligence and security forces

Escalation of inter-ethnic tension with Serbia is intensifying, worrying international community, after 2 explosions were heard on Saturday evening in Zvecan and a shooting in Zubin Potok, two of the largest Kosovo municipalities with Serb majority

The Portuguese parliament has passed a law allowing medically assisted suicide in limited circumstances; once enacted, the law will allow this form of euthanasia if an adult's wish to die is "current and repeated, serious, free and informed"

Introduced by 70 companies, short week seems to be a great success, as shown by researchers from Cambridge University, Boston College and Oxford University in measuring the impact on productivity and well-being in a study to be published in February