America Cuba International investors can now build and fully own tourism facilities: to reverse the dramatic fall in tourism, authorities have eliminated the requirement for foreign groups to form a joint venture with the Cuban state to manage their tourism activities
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
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
Europe Switzerland Housing is becoming increasingly expensive in Switzerland: rents rose in almost all municipalities in the third quarter, with the strongest rise in the Zurich area
Asia Jordan A Royal Air Force aircraft successfully completed the fifth airdrop of critical medical supplies: the urgent aid was delivered using parachutes to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza Hospital 76
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
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
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
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
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
Europe Germany A major exhibition has been open at the Hamburger Kunsthalle to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840); Berlin and Dresden will also be dedicating thematically independent exhibitions next year
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 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
Africa Cameroon Hadidjatou Dairou for research on cardiovascular health benefits of garcinia kola and Sabine Adeline Fanta Yadang for research on pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases have won the L'Oréal-Unesco Young Talent Prize for Women and Science