On the night of January 1, a major fire broke out at Le Constellation bar during New Year’s celebrations in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana (canton of Valais). According to updated data from the authorities, about 40 people died and another 119 were injured, many with severe burns.
As reported by representatives of the Valais cantonal police at a briefing on January 2, 113 of the 119 victims have already been officially identified. Among them are 71 Swiss citizens, 14 French citizens, 11 Italian citizens, 4 Serbian citizens, and one citizen each from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, and Portugal. The nationality of 14 other victims is still being determined.
A detailed breakdown of the nationalities of the victims has not yet been officially published, as identification is still ongoing. However, the Italian Golf Federation has reported the death of 16-year-old athlete Emanuele Galepini; Reuters has named him as the first confirmed Italian citizen among the victims.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine has not yet received confirmation of the presence of Ukrainian citizens among the dead or injured; the Ukrainian Embassy in Switzerland is in contact with local authorities and law enforcement agencies.
The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing; among the versions discussed by the media with reference to the investigation is the use of sparklers/spark candles during service in the crowded establishment.
As part of its expansion into foreign markets, the Ukrainian bakery chain Lviv Croissants has opened a new location in Poland in the popular ski resort town of Zakopane, according to a Facebook post by its press service.
“We have our own atmosphere here: a cozy space with mountain accents, over 40 comfortable seats, and a menu that we have supplemented with new items specifically for this mood. And it is here that self-service kiosks have appeared for the first time in our Polish chain,” the company said in a post.
Lviv Croissants has expanded its menu with new items at the new location. In addition to traditional croissants with various fillings, salads, and drinks, the must-try items in Zakopane are the local mountain croissant with cheese and cranberries, as well as the Petit Déjeuner breakfast basket.
The opening of the new location in Poland was facilitated by the company’s first establishment in the country, which operates in Krakow.
Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international restaurant franchise chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants. The brand entered the European market in September 2022. According to the company’s website, the brand entered the European market in September 2022. Currently, the chain has 178 establishments throughout Ukraine, 11 in Poland, and one each in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In April 2025, the Lviv Croissants chain opened its first establishment in South Korea, entered the Norwegian market in November, and launched its second establishment in Washington State, USA, in December.
The beneficiaries of the enterprise are PP “Firma ”Infobud,” which owns 50% of the shares, Yevhen and Andriy Halytskyi (20% each), and Yuriy Zagrodskyi (10%).
Vietnam has significantly expanded its visa-free regime, adding 12 European countries to the list of countries whose citizens can stay in the country for up to 45 days without a visa. This is valid from August 15, 2025, to August 14, 2028, and covers EU countries such as Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, and others that have joined the existing list, which includes France, Japan, the UK, and others.
This has signaled a revival in the resort real estate market: tourists with long visa-free periods and high incomes have become actively interested in buying villas, apartments, and condo hotels, especially in tourist areas. The Vietnam Association of Real Estate Agents (VARS) notes an increase in demand and a steady recovery in the sector.
The foreign population in the country is small but diverse:
Real estate purchase prices (per square meter):
Rental prices (per month):
Forest fires have engulfed Montenegro, coming close to resort areas and populated areas.
Among those affected is the Cana area, where the flames came within 50 meters of a hotel, forcing families to evacuate their homes in Gornji Rogami. Media reports indicate power outages in several towns.
Serbia quickly sent a Ka-32 helicopter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and a team of seven people, including six air crew members and one emergency service representative. The aircraft arrived in less than two hours and began fighting the fire north of Podgorica.
Fires in Montenegro remain active, with the region battling the threat of the flames spreading.
According to MONSTAT, in 2024, tourists from Serbia accounted for 23.5% of all foreign overnight stays, making them the largest group of visitors to Montenegro.
According to other data, in 2024, Serbian tourists accounted for 859,932 overnight stays (about 860,000) from January to September, confirming their status as Montenegro’s leading tourist audience.
The project of the Dunaya resort in Odesa region provides for attracting private investments of $2.5 billion, replenishing the hotel rooms with 20,000 rooms and creating 25,000 jobs, Fazil Askerov, the chairman of the board of the Odesa region tourism association, has said.
“This is the Dunaya resort town. The state company Dunaya. A year-round resort with a gambling zone. It will be located on the spit (part of the spit is a dam) between Sasyk Lake and the Black Sea. More than 500 hectares, the embankment is over 10 km. More than 80 hotels, the smallest with 150 rooms, and the largest with 1,000 rooms,” he said on Facebook.
The project provides for the opening of the first hotels in 2022, Askerov said. According to the plan, the resort will receive the first million tourists in 2025, and by 2030 their number will reach 6 million annually.
“After the quarantine is over, we will definitely hold a public presentation of the project for the general public,” he wrote.
He added that the project was created on the initiative of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the project’s architect was Serhiy Husev’s team, and one of the ideological authors was the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Economic Development, Dmytro Natalukha. In addition, according to him, Mikheil Saakashvili presented the project at the parliamentary hearings in 2016.
State-owned PrivatBank intends to involve an adviser in the preparation and sale of the financial institution’s shares in Bukovel, the largest ski resort in Ukraine, Deputy Head of PrivatBank Halyna Pakhachuk has said. “The bank owns two-thirds of the complex, which consists of 64 facilities, one-third is Skorzonera LLC,” she said.
Pakhachuk reported that this list of objects is not an integral property complex; in addition to the hotel, it includes 104 hectares of land and part of the lifts.
According to the deputy head of PrivatBank, when these objects were initially put on the bank’s balance sheet, their value was estimated at UAH 12.6 billion, including the Radisson Blu Bukovel hotel (Zirka Bukovelia) at UAH 1.62 billion, but their real market value differs from these indicators.
Pakhachuk also said that in recent years the bank has been renting its facilities in Bukovel to the Parktur LLC resort operator (Polianytsia, Yaremche, Ivano-Frankivsk region). In 2019, the rent amounted to UAH 110.5 million, including UAH 47.5 million per hotel, and in 2020 it will increase to UAH 117.5 million, including UAH 50.5 million per hotel.
The deputy head of the bank reminded that these facilities are non-core for the financial institution, and according to the standards introduced by the National Bank in the future, they will have to be taken into account at zero cost.
Radisson Blu Bukovel hotel increased its net income by 9.1%, to UAH 221 million, and the net loss decreased by 36.7%, to UAH 39.33 million in 2018. According to the state register, the beneficiaries of this enterprise are former owners of PrivatBank Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov.
The revenue of Parktur LLC increased by 71.9%, to UAH 425.35 million, net profit increased by 6.2 times, to UAH 86.14 million in 2018, the owner is Vitaliy Kovalchuk, registered in Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk region).
