Europe Italy Giorgia Meloni's government became the longest since Italy became a republic after WWII: the first led by a woman, it lasted 1.413 days as of 4 September, one more than Silvio Berlusconi's 2nd; premier said stability isn't a record, but a key for planning
Asia Azerbaijan The documentary film "Shusha, you are free!", supported by the Ministry of Culture, is being screened today, on the eve of Victory Day, the liberation of Shusha and other towns and villages from Armenian occupation in the Second Karabakh War in 2020
Asia Laos A giant 100-meter tall Buddha statue to be built in Vientiane has triggered anti-Chinese anger throughout the country, as beneath religious symbolism lies fear of economic and political dominance by China
Asia Taiwan Microplastic contamination has been found in 100% of the water samples collected from Jiaming Lake in Taitung County, at 3.310 m the second-highest in the country and a main source of drinking water for the Formosan sambar deer, a protected species
Oceania Samoa The abundance of the first yearly 'rise' of palolo, a local seafood delicacy, has not taken down market prices, that remained higher than past years; the second and last surge is expected later this month
Europe Poland The European Union's Court of Justice has ruled that the country will have to pay a fine of €1 million per day until it agrees to change its judicial reform, in particular by blocking the operation of the Supreme Court's disciplinary chamber
Europe Serbia A newly built wastewater treatment plant in the town of Kruševac is producing biogas, extracting energy from sludge, a new approach for a country that still discharges most of its wastewater directly into rivers
Oceania Marshall Islands Delegates warned today that their nation could disappear under the Pacific Ocean within 50 years if nothing serious is done to combat global warming; the effects are already tangible, including longer and more intense droughts and rising sea levels
Europe Luxembourg The country will be the first in the EU to legalise the cultivation and consumption of cannabis; under the new laws, people aged 18 and over will be able to grow up to four plants for personal use and carry three grams
Africa Lesotho Wool farmers this season will be paid cash directly by the government, in an effort to support their livelihood and the industry, once florid and destroyed in a decade by wrong brokerage agreements
Europe Spain PM Sanchez has announced a new law to abolish prostitution, as the country ranks third in the world in the percentage of men who pay for sex; the women involved, most of whom are victims of trafficking, will be protected from such a radical change
Europe Bosnia and Herzegovina While war looms over the region, Sarajevo will install a memorial to the mostly Serb victims killed in 1992-1993 in the hills above the city upon orders of a Bosniak commander of an Army brigade, but without naming the perpetrators
Europe Netherlands The Dutch Meteorological Institute (Knmi) has issued an alarming warning that sea levels could rise even more than expected off the country's coast, by up to two metres by 2100
America Barbados Barbados' Under-20 men's football team left the island today for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where they will participate in Group C of the Concacaf qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia