It was a long time coming, but a shift back to normality after the years-long Covid pandemic is reshaping the list of the most liveable cities in the world.

As upended lives return to normal, education, health and cultural facilities are improving, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Liveability Index 2023, which compiles the list. This year, the global average score was the highest in 15 years.

For the second year running, the Austrian capital Vienna took the title of world’s most liveable city, based on a wide range of indicators, followed by Copenhagen. Sydney and Melbourne both jumped, to claim the third and fourth spots, after a particularly infectious Covid strain saw them tumble down the index last year.

Asia-Pacific cities were some of the most improved destinations, with eight of the 10 biggest upward movers coming from the region. New Zealand’s Wellington rose 35 spots to take 23rd place, while Auckland rose 25 places to land at number 10. Hanoi, Vietnam moved up 20 places to 129.

"The shift towards normality after the pandemic has overall boded well for global liveability in 2023,” said Upasana Dutt, head of the liveability index at EIU. “Education has emerged stronger with children returning to schools, alongside a significantly reduced burden on hospitals and healthcare systems, with some notable improvements in cities across developing economies of Asia and the Middle East.”

Of the 10 cities to slip farthest down the rankings, three were in the UK — Edinburgh, Manchester and London — and two in the US, Los Angeles and San Diego. Most Chinese cities were “broadly stable when compared to last year’s results,” according to the survey.

Damascus, Syria and Libya’s Tripoli remain at the bottom of the list, held back, the report says, by social unrest, terrorism and conflict.

The EIU ranked 173 cities on more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Data was collected Feb. 13 and March 12.

These are the top 10 most liveable cities in 2023 (ranking numbers are the same where cities’ scores were identical):

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Copenhagen, Denmark
3. Melbourne, Australia
4. Sydney, Australia
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Calgary, Canada
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Toronto, Canada
10. Osaka, Japan
11. Auckland, New Zealand

And these are the bottom 10: 164 Douala, Cameroon 165 Kyiv, Ukraine 166 Harare, Zimbabwe 166 Dhaka, Bangladesh 168 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 169 Karachi, Pakistan 170 Lagos, Nigeria 171 Algiers, Algeria 172 Tripoli, Libya 173 Damascus, Syria

The oldest known cave engravings in France, and possibly Europe, have been discovered in the Loire Valley, with researchers uncovering designs dating back at least 57,000 years to the age of Neanderthals.

The President of Ukraine has signed a law banning the import of books from Russia, Belarus and the occupied Ukrainian territories. The law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine last year.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine banning the import of books from Russia, Belarus and the occupied territories of Ukraine last year. Zelenski said in a predawn message on Telegram that the text of the law had been sent to the European Union institutions for further evaluation to see whether certain provisions of the law could affect the linguistic rights of minorities.

The Kyiv Independent recalled that the specific law was adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament in June 2022. A number of Ukrainian cultural figures asked Zelensky to sign the law, arguing that the legislation would support domestic book publishing and the liberation of information space from Russian influence. A petition was also launched in May 2023 calling for the swift adoption of the law.

Volodymyr Zelensky initially responded to this petition by mentioning that, in the opinion of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the draft law may violate some articles of the Constitution of Ukraine. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that the draft was not in line with EU standards on human rights. Both ministries asked Mr Zelenski to veto the draft law.

Electric scooters will only be allowed to be used from the age of 14 with a cycling or any other category license. Scooters will also require registration, according to amendments to the Road Tra...

Over the course of several months, he had been bamboozling his thousands of subscribers on Douyin (China's version of TikTok) with supposedly real-time reports from Ukraine. The content creator took the pseudonym Baoer Kechatie and claimed to be a special forces soldier from Chechnya stationed on the front lines in Ukraine. In one video, standing in front of a "nuclear power plant," Baoer Kechatie claims that the Russian army has just seized the area. In another, he claims to have fought with U.S. Marines and even shows viewers a gun. But at some point the hoaxer was exposed and his account with 400,000 subscribers was blocked for spreading misinformation

The Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the Chonhar Bridge last night, presumably with Storm Shadow missiles. Several other bridges on the border of Crimea and the Kherson region were also damaged Videos/Images: https://streamja.com/NJ4e2 https://streamja.com/pXLpa https://i.imgur.com/OrwNQQU.png https://i.imgur.com/6aX4sYO.png

Approx. location of the alleged strike: https://i.imgur.com/ZnYrH1v.png

Ukraine’s SBU security service has exposed a retired Ukrainian pilot who collected intelligence on Ukrainian Armed Forces airfields and the personal data of military pilots for Russia, the agency reported on June 20.

Moldova has fully met three of the European Commission's nine recommendations and has made "good progress" in two other areas, says a report to be presented to European ambassadors on 21 June and foreign ministers from member countries next week in Stockholm.

The assessment provides an update on how Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia have fulfilled the recommendations received a year ago when the first two were granted candidate status, and shows that Moldova has done its "homework" best of the trio of associated countries. What Moldova has done and still needs to do

According to a summary of the report, seen by Free Europe, Moldova has fulfilled all the measures recommended by the European Commission in terms of involving civil society in the decision-making process and protecting human rights. The Moldovan authorities have also managed to fully remedy the legislative shortcomings identified by the Venice Commission.

In the areas of justice reform and public finance management, Moldova has made "good progress", which means that more than half of the measures requested by Brussels have been met.

"Essentially, this is an interim report, showing the progress that has been made and saying what more needs to be done," explains Free Europe's European Affairs Editor Rikard Jozwiak.

With the help of this report, which will be presented orally, member states want to understand what stage the three countries are at in fulfilling the EU's requirements. But what will really matter is the final report in October.

Efforts needed to fight corruption and de-legalisation

In five other areas under the EU's scrutiny, the government in Chisinau has only managed to make "some progress", i.e. it has accomplished some tasks, but the most important actions are still awaited.

Thus, Moldova has made some progress in the fight against corruption, but effective action by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the National Anti-Corruption Centre and improvement of the quality of investigations are still needed.

In particular, the recommendations of the Venice Commission need to be implemented and competition policy strengthened.

Some progress has been made in the fight against organised crime, including asset recovery, the fight against financial crime, money laundering, but further legislation is needed.

The European Commission also recommends Moldova to continue public administration reform, where it has so far managed to make only some progress.

In conclusion, the Commission stresses that Moldova "should focus on confirmed efforts to fight corruption, the quality of investigations and the effectiveness of prosecutions in the case of deoligarchisation and the recommendations of the Venice Commission".

Moldova - "best in class"

Of the nine conditionalities, Moldova has met three, has "good progress" in two others and "some progress" in the other four. Ukraine has fully met two of the seven conditions put forward by the European Commission and has made "some progress" in the others.

Georgia has completed only three of the 12 reforms required by the EU, has "some progress" in seven areas and "limited progress" in deoligarchisation, but has done nothing to ensure media pluralism.

"Having seen this overview, we can say that Moldova is now the best in class and Georgia is definitely the worst. Overall, if R. Moldova is not the best, then surely it is at least on par with Ukraine. It is clear that the authorities in Chisinau have done their homework, studied hard and are on the right track," comments Rikard Jozwiak. In tandem with Ukraine on the road to accession

The journalist believes Moldova will go hand in hand with Ukraine in the EU accession process, even if each country is assessed individually on its progress.

"For me, it is very clear that Moldova and Ukraine are going in tandem on the European path, as a kind of couple, much like Sweden and Finland, who wanted to go together in NATO, although Finland joined the alliance before Sweden. Moldova will go in tandem with Ukraine in the EU because they are neighbouring countries and have similar vulnerabilities. Maybe they will be separated later in EU assessments, but right now they are like twins," says Free Europe's editor for European affairs.

Chisinau and Kiev hope that at the end of this year, after the presentation of the final report, EU states will open accession negotiations for Moldova and Ukraine. The two countries became candidates in record time, in June 2022, under the influence of Russia's war against Ukraine. Georgia will be granted this status only after meeting all the conditions put forward by the European Commission.

A defense council meeting held at the Elysée Palace examined the possibility of Kiev joining the Atlantic Alliance, which had so far been ruled out by Paris, Berlin and Washington, but was supported by Central European countries such as Poland and the Baltic states. This French overture would be designed to increase pressure on Russia, at a time when the Ukrainian counter-offensive is encountering difficulties.

Defending the prospect of Ukrainian membership of the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) to influence the conflict and try to bring Moscow and Kiev to the negotiating table. This is the approach now favored by France in the delicate discussions between Ukraine's allies in the run-up to the annual NATO summit, scheduled for Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, on July 11 and 12.

According to our information, a recent Defense Council meeting at the Elysée Palace on June 12 examined the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, an option now seen in Paris as a security guarantee in its own right, since it could discourage Russia from continuing the war or, should the conflict come to an end, prevent further aggression. Holding out this prospect could, in fact, convince Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to enter into negotiations, when he deems the time is right, depending on the results of the counter-offensive.

Tactical though it may be, this overture represents a real conversion for France. In so doing, Paris is moving closer to the positions defended by Central European countries, most of which, first and foremost Poland and the Baltic States, are relentless advocates of Ukraine's accession to NATO. "The French position is now closer to that of Poland than to that of Germany," confirms a foreign diplomat.

In 2008, at the Bucharest summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel blocked any prospect of Ukraine's rapid accession to NATO, against the advice of the United States, which at the time advocated its integration. In the minds of the two European leaders, this was a way of appeasing Russia. Offering "security guarantees

Emmanuel Macron held to this line for a long time, both before and after the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022: "Ukraine's entry into NATO would be perceived by Russia as something confrontational. You can't imagine it with that kind of Russia," he told Le Monde in December 2022.