Africa Cameroon In an unprecedented disruption to academic calendar, the Ministry ordered the immediate rescheduling of all remaining papers for the ongoing 2026 examination session after a severe security breach compromised confidential materials across digital networks
Asia Israel Three hostages were killed in Gaza by the Israeli army; they were waving a stick with white cloth according to a preliminary investigation by the Israeli army
Europe Netherlands About 1.360 refugees who have residence permits but cannot yet move into a permanent home will be accommodated in hotels to relieve the pressure on the Ter Apel reception centre
Asia Maldives The Bank of Maldives announced an interruption of Mastercard services abroad, due to a technical problem with its service provider
Asia Saudi Arabia The National Programming and Artificial Intelligence Olympiad, or ATHKA, has reached a record number of entries of over 260.000 Saudi Arabian students from more than 10.000 intermediate and secondary schools in the Kingdom
Africa Gambia The Cabinet approved the review of licence fees for fishing boats and fishmeal factories; the activities of foreign fishing boats and factories are criticised and accused of illegal and unregulated fishing activities that threaten livelihoods of Gambians
Asia United Arab Emirates The Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi announced its success in planting of 44 million mangrove trees in the emirate since 2020, as part of the UAE's efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050
Oceania Vanuatu The 'Strengthening Resilience to Disaster and Displacement Risks' project in Vanuatu, will be supported by a grant from Japan signed in Port Vila between the Japanese government and the International Organisation for Migration
Europe Sweden One in three Swedish elected officials have experienced some form of threat, violence or harm from ordinary citizens and more frequent perpetrators dubbed 'systemic threat actors' in previous year, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention found
Asia Bahrain The Saudi Arabian National Centre for Land Cover Development and Combating Desertification has initiated the planting of 100.000 trees as part of its initiative to plant 1 million trees in several proposed locations in Bahrain's capital, Manama
Europe Slovakia As of next year, the state will contribute funds to help eligible persons cope with the increase in mortgage instalments; the amount of the new state social benefit will be 75% of the increase in housing loan instalments, up to a maximum of €150 per month
Europe Austria Centre-left party SPÖ wants to suspend the price of carbon dioxide emissions to soften the blow of high inflation; 'we demand that the CO2 tax be suspended until energy prices are reduced to a reasonable level,' said Kucher, head of parliamentary group
America Barbados A limited supply of Pfizer BioNTech Booster Vaccines for COVID-19 was received from the Government and people of Panama; the vaccines will be administered at the Winston Scott and the Branford Taitt Polyclinics from December 18 to 22
Africa Senegal To reduce prison crowding, Dakar has launched a pilot project to reduce the prison population by releasing hundreds of inmates under electronic supervision