Seaside vacations have become several tens of percent more expensive for Russians. The Agency has drawn attention to this. The publication writes that this applies to both hotels and the cost of flights. Moreover, the increase in prices was recorded for trips not only abroad, but also within the country. The Agency, citing data from the Ostrovok accommodation booking service, writes that the largest price increase was recorded in Cyprus. There, hotel prices increased by 27%.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, at the suggestion of Patriarch Kirill, established an annual church celebration in honor of the transfer of the Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev from the Tretyakov Gallery to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, according to the journal of the Synod's meetings published on July 25. The date of the holiday is set for June 22 (June 9 according to the Julian calendar, which the Russian Orthodox Church uses in its worship).

A group of Canadian scientists led by Tim Stockwell have found that moderate alcohol consumption does not benefit the human body, as was previously believed. This is reported by The Guardian. The publication writes that scientists examined 107 previously published studies on people's addiction to alcohol and its impact on life expectancy. In most cases, they found that regular drinkers were compared with those who abstained or drank very little alcohol.

In recent months, there have been increasing allegations of Russian mercenaries engaging in sexualised violence against women in the Central African Republic, The Guardian reports . As the publication writes, this has made women afraid to go out to work in the fields, which has led to food shortages in the country. As a result, prices for some food products have increased by 50% over the past eight months.

Numerous messages from users in Milan, Italy, have appeared on social networks, in which they write about the earthquake of July 23. Some of them reported that they felt at least three tremors. The Italian publication Il Messaggero drew attention to this. At the same time, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology did not report any seismic activity in the area.

In New Zealand, a participant in the reality show "Drag Race" and American whitewater guide Spencer "Corrie" Jones killed and ate a rare flightless bird called a weka rail, CNN reports . According to him, this happened last fall, during the filming of the new season of the reality show. As the TV channel notes, the weka rail is listed on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Australian field hockey player Matthew Dawson has amputated the top joint of his right ring finger to avoid missing the Paris Olympics, The New York Times reports . The 30-year-old, who was also part of Australia's Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016 and Tokyo, Japan, in 2020, suffered a serious injury to the tip of his finger two weeks ago when he was accidentally hit with a stick by another player on July 11.

Two foreign men who performed oral sex in a Moscow park have been sentenced to 15 days of arrest and subsequent deportation from the country. The Presnensky District Court of Moscow found them guilty of "LGBT propaganda," Mediazona reports , citing the court's database.

A Russian citizen with a German residence permit was planning to fly from Serbia to Estonia with a transfer in Poland. However, before departure, she was told at Belgrade airport that she would not be able to fly on this flight. She told Kholod about this, asking for anonymity. "At the check-in counter, after looking at my passport, they told me they couldn't let me on the flight. They could only let me on if I was changing planes in Warsaw to fly home to Germany," the girl said.

Orthodox priest Father Nicholas was a living symbol of friendship of religions in Dagestan. Then terrorists broke into his temple Priest Nikolai Kotelnikov was very afraid of terrorists. Kotelnikov served in the Dagestan Derbent the rector of the Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the only Orthodox Church in the city - and remembered well how priests were already killed in the Caucasus in the past.

Balashikha resident Artem Missyura, who slowly poisoned his mother and stepfather over an apartment, confessed to killing his friend. He treated him to poisoned fruit drink, the Investigative Committee for the Moscow Region reports . According to the investigation, on February 3, 2024, Misyura, while in a car with a friend whose name has not been released, treated him to berry juice, to which he had previously added a life-threatening chemical substance. As a result, the young man died.

US sanctions imposed in June have made it even more difficult for Russia to transact with its trading partners China, Turkey and India. The transfer difficulties are undermining Russia’s trade with countries it has relied on since relations with the West soured. Top executives at major companies and sources close to the Russian government told Bloomberg about the payment problems.

The police have begun to monitor some residents of Paris and the suburbs who allegedly could pose a threat to the Olympic Games. The French Interior Ministry has placed its suspicions on ordinary citizens who have had no problems with the law. Now they are banned from coming to Paris. The Reuters agency writes about such cases. Police are carrying out a major security operation at the Olympics, which begins on July 26.

A law obliging Russian banks to return money stolen by fraudsters to their clients has come into force. The document sets out the conditions under which such returns will be made. This is reported by RBC. Earlier, representatives of the Central Bank explained that the purpose of the innovations is to combat the theft of funds from Russians, including using social engineering techniques and methods.

State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein wrote on his Telegram channel that by the end of this week, the speed of video uploads to YouTube in Russia could drop to 40%, and by the end of next week, to 70%. “The ‘degradation’ of YouTube is a forced step, directed not against Russian users, but against the administration of a foreign resource, which still believes that it can violate and ignore our legislation with impunity,” Khinshtein asserts.