To take up the challenge of economic modernisation in the era of globalisation, Europe needs to empower its regions and help them create value. This means embracing innovation, digitisation, decarbonisation and developing people's skills.

It is a very simple old type of idea: more information leads to more opportunities. You realise where there are holes; you realise where there are problems and begin to think about what can be done.

The Commission published last Monday the 2017 edition of its yearly Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review, which confirms positive labour market and social trends and continued economic growth, the EU press service reported.

A new Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre that sets together all pieces of the puzzle of this vast area and will fully prop up policymakers and stakeholders with science-based evidence, was kicked off on 20 July by the Joint Research Centre, the Commission's in-house science service, in cooperation with DG Research and Innovation.

Sofia is awaiting a letter from the European Commission, approving a direct connection from the Turkish Stream pipeline to Bulgaria, and the goal is to overcome energy dependency. This was revealed by a comment made by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov during the annual ambassadors’ meeting hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva on 19 July in Sofia.

The case involving the Sarafovo Airport terrorist attack may be heard at the Bulgarian Embassy in Israel, if problems stemming from subpoenaing affected people continue. The news came from Georgi Ushev, head of the specialised criminal court, on 18 July, which marked the fifth anniversary from the deadly attack on a bus full of unsuspecting tourists.

Data lies at the core of the 4th Industrial Revolution. This is an essential resource for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, creation and society's progress in general. The European Data Economy is now truly taking off. The value of the EU data economy was €300bn in 2016, representing 1.99 % of GDP. In 2016, there were 254,000 data companies, 661,000 data user companies and 6.16 million data professionals employed.

The budding relationship between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Hamburg was the crowning image of a fractious gathering of world leaders. Yet the promise that an historic agreement has been reached over Syria is a hollow one.

Separatists in Eastern Ukraine proclaimed last week a plan to create a new state in place of present Ukraine, but most observers regarded the declaration as frivolous. The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic ("DPR") Alexander Zakharchenko announced on 18 July that “representatives of regions of former Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea, have agreed that the new state shall be called Malorossiya, as the very name of Ukraine has discredited itself.”

Turkey reiterated its opposition to an independence referendum in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region on 19 July following media reports that Ankara had softened its stance. In a statement, a foreign ministry spokesman stressed Ankara’s “unambiguous views that preservation of Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity is among the irrevocable principles” of its foreign policy.

Foreign affairs ministers of the EU agreed at a meeting on 17 July to grant Ukraine preferential trade terms from the end of September, for a period of three years. The measure comes in recognition of reform efforts taken by Kiev to bolster the country's fragile economy. Ukraine will have the opportunity to export more industrial and agricultural goods to the bloc free of tariffs. "We are allowing more Ukrainian products to be exported to the EU," said Sven Mikser, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Estonia.

The Trump administration unveiled last Monday its goals for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), issuing a broad plan for how it hopes to rewrite the terms of trade and transform the US economy for decades to come, news wires reported.

France's Total, Argentina's state-run oil firm YPF, Wintershall Energia and BP unit Pan American Energy announced last Tuesday a $1.15bn investment in a joint shale gas project in Argentina.

Authorities in Genoa have seized 21 artworks supposedly authored by Amedeo Modi­gliani, after suspicions were raised that they were fakes. Earlier this week, the foundation sponsoring the exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa decided to close the show three days earlier than planned to cooperate with the investigation. “They did the right thing. This was absolutely shameful,” said Carlo Pepi, the 79-year-old Tuscan art critic and collector who alerted authorities about the suspected fraud. “A Michelangelo is a Michelangelo. A Picasso is a Picasso. But when a painting is a fake, it is missing its soul, and these were missing that three dimensional elegance of Modigliani - even a child could see these were crude fakes,” he told the Telegraph.

This book is a natural product of my fascination with identity problems, the way people structure their lives and invest it with meaning. There is homo faber (the working man), homo ludens (the playing man) and then there is homo bibens (the drinking man)... These three categories, work, play and drinking, have given different things to people.

Brazilian Cinema Week is being held from 22 to 28 July in Varna, with all screenings subtitled in Bulgarian and taking place in Hall Europe of the Festival and Congress Centre, free of admission charge. Xingu directed by Cao Hamburger will open the forum on 22 July.

Varna, Bulgaria's third largest city, is often referred to as the country's 'seaside capital' and is famous worldwide for its splendid sand beaches and hot geothermal waters.