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 Cyprus The government and US Oil&Gas Company Chevron have agreed on the terms for developing the Aphrodite gas field in block 12 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone; the government had initially rejected proposed amendments submitted by the company
Europe Norway Norwegian government officials are back in court, trying to fend off another legal challenge to their refusal to stop oil and gas exploration, sued by local environmental organisations demanding an immediate halt to the development of more oil fields
Asia North Korea The US, South Korea and Japan have imposed new sanctions on North Korea over the country's recent launch of a military reconnaissance satellite
Europe Moldova Around 50 employers from different business sectors made over 2.000 job vacancies available at the Job Fair held in Chisinau, at an event organised by the National Employment Agency and the General Employment Department of the Municipality of Chisinau
Europe Lithuania One week after the first winter snowstorm brought chaos across Lithuania with traffic jams, accidents, power outages the situation is fully restored and authorities signal that airports coped very well with minimum or no disruption to aviation services
Africa Benin In order to open and operate a party venue in Benin, formal authorisation is now required, following a decree setting out the conditions to be met, including having adequately sized parking spaces and meeting sanitation requirements
Asia Sri Lanka Sri Lanka's garment exports continued their downward trend, falling 20% year-on-year to $330,95 million, according to data compiled by industry body Joint Apparel Association Forum
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 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
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
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 Tunisia Nejib Guesmi, a Tunisian researcher, has developed 12 new types of transparent plastics made of non-polluting biological materials
Europe Serbia Novak Djokovic and his Serbian teammates at the Davis Cup finals sang a song seen by many as support for so-called Greater Serbia, calling for the Serbian tricolour to be flown over parts of neighbouring Kosovo and Montenegro