Oceania Australia National office vacancy average rate has reached 15% as the market fails to absorb the offer of new towers and demand remains weak in key cities; many fear that if working from home came into law it would also slow recovery of the hospitality sector
Oceania Samoa The Samoa Law Society is calling for electoral rights to be upheld to ensure a free and fair election; in view of upcoming Samoa’s general election on 29 August it reminded that “Universal voting rights are the cornerstone of a democratic country"
America Barbados A new, fully cashless fare system with real-time bus tracking will be launched in September, in time for the new school year; Barbados will thus become the first Caribbean nation with smart card payment across its public transport network
Asia United Arab Emirates UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Moscow on an official visit yesterday; A military aircraft saluted and escorted His plane upon entering Russian airspace, an official ceremony with guard of honour welcomed him at Vnukovo Airport
Africa Botswana To revive the Botswana Railways passenger train services an Expression of Interest process has been launched, for which three private sector partners have been shortlisted; a concept paper is being developed to select operational model this financial year
Oceania Vanuatu 80% of Ni-Vanuatu are farmers, and PM Jotham Napat acknowledged the work of these men and women, the backbone of the nation, during Vanuatu’s 45th Independence Anniversary celebrations
Europe Austria Stephanie Venier, 31, announced the end of her skiing career; world champion with gold in the Super-G and bronze in the team combination, Venier caused a sensation last winter in Saalbach-Hinterglemm but has recently suffered a lack of motivation
Europe Latvia 13.481 people graduated from Latvia's higher education institutions, 4% less than 2023, according to latest Education and Science Ministry report; over 6.000 students was at bachelor-level, 3.000 completed college, almost 4.000 obtained master degrees
Europe Netherlands Rail company NS will set up a campsite at Utrecht Central Station proving 'all the necessities' for 20 first-year university students who couldn't find accommodation for Utrecht’s Introduction Time, the orientation period set for 11 to 14 August
America Bahamas One week into crawfish season, the legal harvesting period for spiny lobster running from 1 August to 31 March, has yielded poor returns, probably due to widespread poaching on southern banks, frequently reported
Asia Bahrain 500 road surveillance cameras will be installed in the Kingdom to support enforcing of traffic laws, foster drivers' discipline and ultimately improve road safety
America United States Columbia University’s unprecedented $200 million agreement with Trump’s administration put and end to months-long tug-of-war; academics warn it may be the start of broad-ranging concessions and of increased government oversight on higher education
Africa Ghana Defense and environment ministers are among eight people killed yesterday as a military helicopter crashed in in the Adansi Akrofuom area of the Ashanti region, Al Jazeera reported; it had disappeared from radar earlier in the day
Africa Cameroon A report by CRTV, Cameroon’s national broadcaster, shed light on a growing trend of human bone trafficking in the North West: alarming practice reportedly involves exhuming of corpses, often by young people hit by crisis, drug abuse and lure of fast money