Africa Uganda Uber has ended its operations in Uganda after having been a commodity in the local urban transport for over a decade; the exit takes immediate effect and follows extensive review of Uber's business priorities across Africa
Asia Qatar 9 embassies will participate in this year's Doha International Book Fair, which starts today at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center; there will be 37 participating countries in total, united under the theme "Knowledge is Light"
Europe Norway For the second year in a row, Christmas shopping increased: Norwegians spent almost 130 billion Norwegian kroner (US$ 14 billion) on Christmas shopping in November and December 2021
Asia Saudi Arabia The three-week-long Saudi Design Festival is part of a move towards city-wide activation that will put design at the centre; it was founded by Basma Bouzo, who says she took the challenges of the pandemic and used them as an opportunity to ground them
Asia Thailand The Phuket zoo, described by animal rights activists as 'a great spectacle of human cruelty', closed its doors not because of petitions but because of economic problems; the animals must now be relocated, with further financial and logistical difficulties
Africa Zimbabwe At least 100 computers donated by the late President Mugabe to Arda Transau Secondary School in 2010 are still idle due to lack of electricity in the institution
Asia Armenia Yerevan draws the attention of the international community, reporting that Baku has repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic by ignoring the ceasefire in the border area
America Barbados The country is currently not accepting rapid antigen tests for entry, only PCR; the number of people who have turned up with the wrong tests has exceeded 300
Africa Liberia A veteran Liberian athlete, Junior Siaquiyah Davis, has donated sports equipment and prize money to the Liberia National Table Tennis Association as his way of contributing to the growth of the sport in the country
Africa Seychelles UNESCO's IOC has named Angelique Pouponneau, an environmental lawyer from the country, among the 15 experts who will serve on the Decade Advisory Board to assist Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission in coordinating the UN Ocean Decade 2021-2030
Europe Poland Poland's unemployment rate, at 3% in November according to Eurostat, is the third lowest in the 27-nation EU, where the average for November was 6,5%
Asia Turkey 2021 was a record year for annual wind installations, with wind farms reaching a capacity of 1750 mwatts; the country generates 56% of its electricity from fossil fuels, coal and natural gas, and the rest from renewable sources, including hydroelectric
Africa Togo The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has said it will help the country develop its industrialization projects, including the development of integrated industrial parks
Asia Nepal Two new bird species have been spotted in Nawalparasi during the ongoing waterfowl census, species not found in last year's census, while 10 bird species that were found last year have not appeared so far