The starting bid on a Roman villa with the world’s only Caravaggio ceiling painting, which was expected to fetch $533 million at auction, has been slashed after the property failed to sell Tuesday.

Global tourism experienced a 4% upturn in 2021, compared to 2020 (415 million versus 400 million). However, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) were still 72% below the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to preliminary estimates by UNWTO. This follows on from 2020, the worst year on record for tourism, when international arrivals decreased by 73%.

An ambitious plan aims to encourage a major shift from cars to public transport, walking and cycling.

Citizens and permanent residents of Greece over the age of 60 who haven’t received their anti-COVID vaccines yet, are required to pay monthly fines with a starting price point of €50, which will be doubled up in February and so on.

Roberta Metsola has been elected as the youngest ever president of the European Parliament and the first woman in the role for 20 years.

The UkraineInvest office, which provides support to large investors, has already received applications for potential projects totaling more than $2 billion.

Briefing journalists in Geneva, Tedros Ghebreyesus said that more than 18 million cases were reported last week, and the pandemic itself is far from over, so no country is out of the woods yet.

Last year Belarus' agricultural export amounted to a record high of nearly $6.5 billion, up almost $700 million if compared with 2020.

According to him, 10-15% of the production will be replaced by organic products, in which about USD 0.5 million will be invested.

The founder notes, that she is also in talks with the US market regarding exports, and by the spring of 2022, the company's jewelry will be presented in the US.

The company launched a small production in Batumi with an investment of GEL 30,000. As for the sales, Better butter products are sold online, as well as in several stores in Tbilisi and Batumi.

The Moldovan government will introduce a state of emergency in the country, if Gazprom does not agree to give a deferral to Moldovagaz on payments for gas consumption in January.

Azerbaijan exported 25 716.1 thousand tons of oil in January-November 2021, which is 1.3% lower than in 11 months of 2020.

Trade liberalization is one of the key objectives on Georgia's economic policy agenda. In the reporting period Georgia undertook a number of reform initiatives targeted at streamlining, liberalization and simplification of trade regulations and their implementation.

63,605 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours throughout the country. Among them, 33,350, tests were rapid tests, while the remaining 30,255 were PCR tests.

Russia is sending an unspecified number of troops from the country’s far east to Belarus for major war games, officials said Tuesday, a deployment that will further beef up Russian military presence near Ukraine amid Western fears of a planned invasion.

It was noted that due to the high community transfer rate of Omicron strain, the number of infected individuals is rising in the country. Nevertheless, patient-occupancy at the hospitals of Georgia has not increased.

Sotheby’s expects the diamond to be sold for at least 5 million British pounds ($6.8 million). The auction house plans to accept cryptocurrency as a possible payment as well.