Europe

The "Donate a book" campaign was launched in the capital by Posta Moldovei and the Happiness Factory; children's books can be left in the six Father Christmas houses located in various locations in Chisinau

The government will request funds from the EU to extend a border wall with Turkey and expand a powerful surveillance network to stop illegal migrants; the country recently completed a 26km extension of a steel border wall

The painting "The Mysterious Island", by Hungarian artist Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka's, was sold for 460 million forints (€1.253.880), setting a record in the history of Hungarian auctions

15% of Dutch people have had arguments about Covid with friends and family, particularly on the subject of vaccinations, a survey by EenVandag showed

The San Marino Statistics Office reports that from October 2020 to October 2021, there was an overall 6,4% increase in frontier work

Investigators in Nevesinje, a town in the Herzegovina region, are still looking for 20 children who disappeared during the 1992-95 war

Parliament has passed a law allowing assisted suicide for people with very serious or incurable illnesses, joining a wave of other EU countries moving towards legalisation

A recent report by the public prosecutor's office of the Italian region of Tuscany has revealed how 'ndrangheta - a criminal organization - phenomena also exist in the country; the Federal Police admits the issue has long been underestimated

The country is studying foreign countries’ practices of fines for the refusal from vaccination against the coronavirus infection, specially their effectiveness and local applicability

Schools expect “huge absenteeism” rates this week due to fears among parents over rising numbers of Covid-19 cases and proximity to the Christmas holidays; primary and secondary schools are due to close on December 22nd, and reopen on January 6th, 2022

The Slovenian Olympic Committee has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the need to preserve glaciers: a piece of the Mount Triglav glacier will be displayed in China during the Winter Olympics to warn of the impact of global warming on the Alps

The Lithuanian government is exploring the possibility of launching an international trial against Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko over his regime's treatment of migrants

Pope Francis has established a new Vatican foundation that will promote initiatives based on the principles set forth in his encyclical "Fratelli Tutti", on fraternity and social friendship