America Grenada Toll-free 988 Suicide Hotline for Crisis Response has been launched to guarantee immediate support for people experiencing suicidal thoughts, emotional distress and other mental health crises; an awareness campaign will start soon
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 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
America Canada About one Torontonian in 10 used a food bank between April 2022 and March 2023 - more than double the preceding year - according to the annual Who's Hungry report, produced by the Daily Bread and North York Harvest food banks
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
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
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 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 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
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 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
Africa Madagascar The swearing-in of Andry Rajoelina as President of Madagascar is confirmed for today, 16 December, exactly one month after the presidential elections of 16 November; newspaper Midi Madagascar announces the presence of several heads of state