Paris

A French documentary has cast fresh doubts over the world's most expensive painting, the "Salvator Mundi" credited to Leonardo da Vinci, revealing a resulting diplomatic tussle between France and its Saudi owner. The painting of Jesus Christ, nicknamed the "male Mona Lisa", was sold at a 2017 Christies auction in New York for a record $450 million.

All those wondering these days if they can afford the luxury of buying an apartment in Belgrade, which according to one research is the fourth most expensive European city in terms of real estate prices in relation to the average income, have no reason to worry. As explained from real estate professionals, the methodology according to which the research was done was quite questionable.

Millions of Christians around the world prepared on April 3 to spend another Easter weekend under restrictions because of coronavirus surges, but there was good news from the hard-hit United States, which crossed the milestone of 100 million vaccinations.

Some habits are hard to break — but that doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to travel.  

Travelers' habits are changing — quickly and en masse. People are bypassing big cities in favor of smaller destinations that attract fewer tourists, and outside activities such as hiking and biking are attracting more interest than before.

England began to further ease its coronavirus lockdown on March 29, spurred by rapid vaccinations, but governments in the rest of Europe struggled to contain COVID-19 surges.

France, Belgium, and Poland on March 27 tightened curbs as coronavirus cases surged in Europe while the Philippines readied for a giant lockdown and Chile confined over 80 percent of its population.

France admitted the situation is "critical" and added three more departments to the 16 already under tight restrictions.

One of the few paintings by Vincent Van Gogh still in private hands, "Street Scene in Montmartre," was sold for over 13 million euros on March 25 at auction after going on public display for the first time this week, Sotheby's said.

French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that Turkey was "attempting to interfere" in his country's next presidential election in 2022 while also stressing that Paris must work with Ankara.

Only a few weeks ago, many European countries were hoping their more affluent citizens would by now have started spending nest eggs built up during the pandemic to trigger a consumer-led recovery in the region's economy.

A third of France's population was under a new partial lockdown on March 20 to stop the spread of Covid-19, as some European countries resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations following an all-clear from EU regulators and the WHO.