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
Europe Russia Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the LGBT 'movement' is 'extremist', sparking a global outcry over fears that the designation will allow the country to tighten repression against gays and transgender people
Africa Sierra Leone Eugenia Kargbo, 35, has been appointed as Freetown's city heating manager and is one of seven women appointed worldwide to help cities adapt to extreme heat, the first on the African continent
Europe France Smoking will be banned on all the country's beaches, in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create 'the first tobacco-free generation'; 7.200 smoke-free zones already exist in France
Africa Ivory Coast The country's first retirement home, opened in September, is still empty as no one wants to live in the facility, for economic, cultural and social reasons, as tradition sees the care of the elderly as a matter entirely entrusted to family and community
Africa Mauritius Mauritian Wildlife Foundation has signed an agreement with US-based biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences to help bring back to life the dodo, an iconic bird that used to live on Mauritius, extinct for more than 300 years
Africa Tunisia Nejib Guesmi, a Tunisian researcher, has developed 12 new types of transparent plastics made of non-polluting biological materials
Europe Greece Reports of child rape and seduction increased by 33% in 2023 in Attica alone, according to data from the Hellenic Police
Asia Malaysia The country will grant Chinese citizens a 30-day visa waiver from 1 December this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Malaysia and China
Europe Kosovo A group of young people from Belgrade and Pristina has created a new dictionary highlighting how much Serbs and Albanians have in common, with over 2.000 entries of shared words and surnames bridging ethnic and national divides
America Dominica The Dominica Chess Federation held its first Queens Gala, a women-only chess tournament, at the UWI Open Campus, with 10 women participating in six rounds of chess matches
Africa Burkina Faso The country lost almost 47,5% of its forests between 1992 and 2014, according to a study conducted in 2022; another study conducted in 2018 showed that there were almost 15.600 square kilometres of degraded land in the country
Africa Algeria The second edition of the Treg Algeria Trail has kicked off, a race and trek in the middle of the Algerian Sahara, with 4 categories with lengths from 50 to 182 km; participants are self-sufficient in food and self-navigating via GPS
Africa Ghana The country has declared a 46-day visa-on-arrival regime for visitors, from 1 December 2023 to 15 January 2024, part of government's ambitious 10-year 'Beyond Return' campaign designed to encourage Africans in the diaspora to reconnect with Ghana