Asia Syria Germany's Ministry of Transport lifted the landing ban and normalized passenger traffic with Syria from 27 July 2026, thus opening to direct flights Düsseldorf-Damascus today 29 July, Berlin Brandenburg-Damascus and Cologne/Bonn-Aleppo on 1 August
Asia Maldives A new Act introducing up to MVR 50.000 (almost 3.000€) fine for unlawful strikes carried out by trade unions has been ratified by the Parliament
Europe Romania A political agreement with Ministries of Internal Affairs of Austria and Bulgaria for the country's entry into the Schengen Area with air and maritime borders from March 2024 has been reached; negotiations for land border accession will continue this year
Europe Bulgaria The disassembled bronze figures of the Soviet Army Monument were transported to the storage site and a technical specification for the restoration of the figures was also initiated, said the Sofia Regional Administration
Africa Chad The results of the referendum for a new constitution have been definitively validated by he Supreme Court of Chad, with the 'yes' vote for a unitary form of state winning with 85,9% of the votes while the 'no' vote received 14,10%; the turnout was 62,8%
America Dominican Republic Despite the advances in 2023 risk rating, there is still some way to go to reach investment grade, especially responsible tax reform that leaves no room for precarity and waste
Europe Belgium Mobile data usage nearly doubled (+95%) on New Year's Eve compared to the previous year, operator Proximus announced, according to figures compiled between 20:00 on 31 December and 08:00 on 1 January
Europe San Marino Stop bombing Gaza now is the appeal of the San Marino Green Festival, reproposing on the Palazzo Pubblico the message that appeared on the façade of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, verbatim "Cease fire now"
Europe Serbia The construction of long-announced biotech campus officially started and should be ready in 3 years; it is expected to harness Serbian scientific expertise and private partners from among the world’s biggest pharma, genetics and healthcare companies
Africa Algeria The Abou Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen has risen to first place in the ranking of higher education institutions in Algeria within the Erasmus+ Icm 2022-2023 programme
Asia Qatar Qatar University will accept approximately 1.000 students, male and female, for the undergraduate program for the Spring 2024 semester; Qataris constitute 70% of the total number of accepted students
Asia Oman The Sultanate of Oman will host the annual meeting of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) in November 2024
Europe Croatia A project for new trains for the Zagreb-Split service and a pilot-project of free travel for Croatians above 65 have been unveiled: in 2024, €2 million will be set aside to enable pension recipients and citizens above 65 to travel by train free of charge
Asia Armenia The commission responsible for television and radio announced that the licence of Tospa, Sputnik Armenia's broadcaster, has been suspended for 30 days starting December 20 following remarks made in November by Russian TV personality Tigran Keosayan