Due to the expansion of Christianity and the colonial history of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, Christmas is a public holiday in the majority of countries around the world. So, if you are celebrating Christmas today, I wish you a merry one!

At the end of last month Eurostat published a report with the updated unemployment rate figures across the Euro Area. Overall unemployment was 8.8%. Although the highest rates are still observed in Greece (20.6%, Aug. 2017) and Spain (16.7%), they have decreased compared to the previous year.

The lowest rates, on the other hand, were observed in October 2017: Czechia (2.7%), Malta (3.5%), and Germany (3.6%).

Eurostat has an interesting page where they describe how around 30 million people suffer from diabetes in the European Union. It's surprising that France is the country with the highest number of people suffering from the disease.

Two weeks ago, the horrible mass shooting in Las Vegas occurred, where 59 people were killed and 241 were injured. It was followed by prayers and minutes of silence, but nothing substantial changed in the US to regulate gun violence. Firearm ownership in that country is insane compared to the rest of the world.

There are many reasons why people become violent around the planet, but in the United States in particular, this violence becomes deadly when the perpetrator can so easily get a firearm.

Today the weather in Berlin kept bouncing between sunny and rainy, but this created quite a stunning sky, which you can see in this picture.

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