Transylvania’s winding, misty roads, castles and medieval fortresses set the stage for some of Europe’s darkest legends, the most famous of which is Count Dracula.
Despite having never set foot in Transylvania himself, 19th-Century author Bram Stoker based his vampire lore on the strigoi (from the Latin ‘striga’ meaning ‘witch’ or ‘evil spirit’) thanks to a book he found in England's Whitby Library called An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia. In the book, Vlad Tepes, a historical ruler who fought against invading Turks, caught his attention. He was son of Vlad Dracul of the House of Drăculești and was the perfect character on whom to rest his blood-sucking main character.
Although Stoker’s Dracula was fictional, dark spirits have long existed in Eastern European folklore, as has the use of garlic to ward them off.

Facebook has said as many as 126 million American users may have seen content uploaded by Russia-based operatives over the last two years.
The social networking site said about 80,000 posts were produced before and after the 2016 presidential election.
Most of the posts focused on divisive social and political messages
Facebook released the figures ahead of a Senate hearing where it - together with Twitter and Google - will detail Russia's impact on the popular sites.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that it attempted to influence the last US presidential election, in which Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.
Facebook uncovers 'Russian-funded' misinformation campaign
Twitter's Russia briefings 'inadequate'
Can US election hack be traced to Russia?
The latest figures released by Facebook have been seen by Reuters news agency and the Washington Post newspaper.
The 80,000 posts were published between June 2015 and August 2017.
Facebook said they were posted by a Russian company linked to the Kremlin.
"These actions run counter to Facebook's mission of building community and everything we stand for," wrote Facebook's general counsel Colin Stretch, Reuters reports.
"And we are determined to do everything we can to address this new threat."

A man has said he was left traumatised after waking up to find Hollywood star Kevin Spacey lying on him when he was a teenager in the 1980s.
The man told Victoria Derbyshire Spacey invited him to spend the weekend in New York but it became clear he was interested in "a way I wasn't".
He said Spacey asked him to share his bed, but he slept on the sofa and woke up with the actor's arms around him.
The BBC has contacted Spacey for a comment.
John, not his real name, added he didn't believe anything sexual took place, but said: "I was uncomfortable at best, traumatised at worst."

Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont and four former advisers have turned themselves in to Belgian police, says a prosecutors' spokesman.
He said an investigating judge would decide by Monday morning whether to execute an EU arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge on Friday.
Mr Puigdemont fled to Belgium after Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia following an independence referendum.
He has said he will not return to Spain unless he is guaranteed a fair trial.
He and his four associates are wanted on charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust.
Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia, dissolved the regional parliament and called local elections for 21 December.

A UK government minister has resigned after it was revealed she held secret meetings with Israeli officials.
Priti Patel met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior figures while on a private holiday with her family in August.
She apologised on Monday, but was ordered to return from an official trip to Africa on Wednesday after further revelations came to light.
Ms Patel said her "actions fell below the high standards that are expected".
Her resignation is the culmination of an unusual chain of events that may seem complicated. So let's take a step back.

Apple has addressed a glitch that caused some iPhones to unexpectedly start auto-correcting the letter "i" to a capital "A" and a question mark.
The issue emerged when people updated their phones to version 11.1 of the iOS operating system.
In a tweet, Apple said people could "fix it by installing the latest software update". The update also addresses an issue with Siri.
The company has not explained what caused the problem.
The problem was highlighted last week when people trying to tweet messages such as "I got a new iPhone" found their posts were appearing as "A[?] got a new iPhone".
At the time, Apple outlined a temporary fix for the problem on its website.
The fix involved editing the keyboard settings in iOS so that the right character, either an upper or lower case "i", was used

Parliament is to be given a take-it-or leave-it vote on the final Brexit deal before the UK leaves the EU.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said the terms of the UK's exit, such as money, citizen rights and any transition must become law via a new Act of Parliament.
Labour welcomed a "climbdown" but some MPs warned of a "sham" if ministers could not be asked to renegotiate.
Sources have told the BBC some Tory rebels were unimpressed, with one saying the promise was "meaningless".
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the announcement was significant because it represented a big concession to potential Tory rebels and Labour MPs at a highly important moment in the Brexit process.
It comes as MPs prepare to debate key Brexit legislation later this week with the government facing possible defeat on aspects of the EU Withdrawal Bill, which will convert EU law into UK law.
The UK is due to leave the EU in March 2019, irrespective of whether MPs back or reject the terms of the deal negotiated by Theresa May's government.

As contestants for Miss Universe 2017 gather in Las Vegas, it's no surprise many have been grabbing photo opportunities together.
However, when Miss Iraq, Sarah Eedan, posted a selfie with fellow contestant Miss Israel, Adar Gandelsman, they may not have realised how mixed reaction would be on social media.
Ms Gandelsman shared a similar photo on her Instagram account calling Miss Iraq "amazing". Her post was liked nearly 3,000 times.
There are many other photos with other contestants featured on Ms Gandelsman's Facebook page, but this one has touched hearts and nerves equally.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has resigned, parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda has said.
A letter from Mr Mugabe said that the decision was voluntary and that he had made it to allow a smooth transition of power.
The surprise announcement halted an impeachment hearing that had begun against him.
Lawmakers roared in jubilation and people have begun celebrating in the streets.
Follow the latest developments here
Mr Mugabe had previously refused to resign despite last week's military takeover and days of protests.
The letter did not mention who would take over from Mr Mugabe.
The constitution says it should be the current vice-president, Phelekezela Mphoko, a supporter of Grace Mugabe, Mr Mugabe's wife.
Mr Mudenda said moves were under way to ensure a new leader could take over by late on Wednesday.

In years to come, the Black Friday spectacle of throngs of shoppers scrambling past each other to ransack shelves of flat screen TVs, might look very different.
Shopping may be about to undergo a dramatic transformation. Within the next decade it could change into an activity driven entirely by experiences and interactive technology rather than the act of buying. Think pop-up shops on steroids; places where you try things on or test products in person but don’t actually make any purchases.

As the head of customer experience at Canopy Growth Corporation, a cannabis producer in Ontario, Canada, his job is to make sure his firm provides the highest quality marijuana.
His company produces medicinal cannabis for patients across Canada, where recreational use is illegal but doctors can prescribe it to patients for medical purposes, such as pain management.
Patients then register with licensed producers, order online, and cannabis products are sent directly to them.
Marijuana’s legal status is set to change in Canada – in April, the government announced plans to legalise the sale of recreational marijuana by June next year, although details are still being hashed out among the country’s 10 provinces.
This move has piqued investor interest. US wine and beer giant Constellation Brands has invested $245 million in Canopy Growth.

The brutal answer is that, by the standards of British royal protocol, the former Hollywood star lacks "royal blood".
That means that she cannot call herself Princess Meghan.
The arcane rules mean that Meghan will be compelled to follow the example of her future sister-in-law.
When Catherine Middleton and Prince William were pronounced "man and wife" in 2011, she automatically became Her Royal Highness, Princess William of Wales. The overwhelming likelihood is that the new royal fiancee will in turn become HRH Princess Harry of Wales. Officially, we can forget about Princess Kate and we can forget about Princess Meg.
The reason for this is simple: Catherine Middleton was not of royal blood, and what applies to her will also apply in the case of Meghan Markle.

Mr Flynn was forced to resign the following month after misleading the White House about meeting the Russian ambassador before Mr Trump took office.
The charges were brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as part of his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.
Mr Flynn is due in court shortly.
He is accused of "wilfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements".
He is the most senior member of the Trump administration so far to have been indicted by the Mueller investigation.
In October, Mr Trump's former presidential campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was accused of conspiring to defraud the US in his dealings with Ukraine. It also emerged that another ex-aide, George Papadopoulos, had pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents.

Relation Between Mechanical Properties and Different
Solders. By means of the same reflow soldering methods, mechanical
properties of Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free microjoints are better
than that of Sn–Pb microjoints, while mechanical properties of
Sn–Cu–Ni lead-free microjoints are comparatively poorer.
Adding rare earth element Ce to Sn–Ag–Cu and Sn–Cu–Ni
lead-free solders can improve mechanical properties of QFP microjoints
obviously. The optimal addition of Ce is about 0.03%, at
which the optimal mechanical properties of QFP microjoints
could be obtained. Microstructures of lead-free microjoints become
finer with the increase in the amount of Ce, with the
needlelike/flake eutectic becoming fine equiaxed crystal 9.
Coarse compound phases exist when the content of Ce is up to
0.1%, which is harmful to microstructures of microjoints 9.

US President Donald Trump has been accused of trying to "slut shame" a female senator who demanded he quit over sexual misconduct claims.
Mr Trump claimed Kirsten Gillibrand had come "begging" to him for donations and "would do anything" for cash.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said Mr Trump was "trying to bully, intimidate and slut-shame" her fellow Democrat.
The White House dismissed claims that the remarks were sexist, adding that he was referring to political corruption.
"There's no way that this is sexist at all. This is simply talking about a system that we have which is broken", White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday.
Mrs Sanders said the comments had "the same sentiment that the president has expressed many times before when he has exposed the corruption of the entire political system".

Walt Disney has agreed to buy 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets for a total $52.4bn (£39bn).
The deal includes Fox's 39% stake in satellite broadcaster Sky, and the 20th Century Fox film studio, Disney announced.
Fox's remaining assets, including Fox News and Sports, will form a new company.
The deal ends more than half a century of media expansion by Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, who is 86 years old.

At least three people have been confirmed killed after a US passenger train derailed onto a motorway in Washington state during rush hour on Monday morning.
About 100 people were transferred to hospitals after most of the Amtrak train's carriages left the track.
A number of those injured are reported to be in a critical condition.
Authorities said all carriages had now been searched, but would not rule a rise in the number of dead.
Seven vehicles, two of them lorries, were hit on the I-5 highway below. It was not clear if anyone was hurt on the road itself.
It was Amtrak's first passenger service to run on a new, shorter route.
Train 501 had left Seattle, heading south for Portland, at 06:00 local time (14:00 GMT). The derailment happened on a section of track, south of Tacoma, previously only used for freight trains.

Contrary to popular belief, the Holy Land is not just home to two peoples – Israelis and Palestinians – but a diverse mix of cultures. Minority groups in Israel include the A-B-C-D-E of Arabs, Bedouins, Copts, Druze and Ethiopians. Although most visitors may know something of Bedouins, the delights of the Druze tribe are a well-kept secret.