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
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
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 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
Europe Greece Reports of child rape and seduction increased by 33% in 2023 in Attica alone, according to data from the Hellenic Police
Africa Chad The campaign leading up to the referendum scheduled for 17 December began; citizens will be asked to vote for or against a new fundamental law, between a centralised, unitary form of state and one that provides for federalism
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
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
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 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
Asia Armenia Armenia participates in the Strasbourg Christmas Market for the first time ever with around 400 types of handicrafts from over 60 Armenian craftsmen, upon initiative of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport
Asia Yemen In southern Yemen, WHO efforts to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct are gaining ground, following trainings earlier this year on sexual misconduct prevention in a network of 17 mental health units established by WHO in the region