Asia Syria Hundreds of Kurdish students in Hassakeh and Kobani refused to enter their classrooms as the 2026–27 school year began, protesting a decision that reduces Kurdish-language instruction to three periods per week, demanding the decision be reversed
Asia Palestine Palestine-based startup SunBox, founded by Majd Mashharawi and now powering thousands of homes in the Gaza Strip with cheap solar panels, is helping solve the electricity crisis and aims to expand to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries
Europe Finland The government has proposed to extend subsidies for the purchase of electric cars and cars in conversion until the end of December, thus helping to modernize Finland's vehicle fleet and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from road transport
Europe Moldova The 101 finalist readers of the reading marathon, which took place during the summer holidays, were awarded at the National Children's Library Ion Creanga; the event aims at stimulating children's interest in reading and motivate them to read more
Europe Iceland Since 27 September, almost 10.000 tremors have been recorded near Mount Keilir in south-west Iceland, almost all beneath the threshold of magnitude 3.0
Africa Nigeria About 20 % of Nigerian workers lost their jobs due to the pandemic, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and the UN Development Programme
Europe Luxembourg For the next five years, 200 police officers a year will be recruited in response to complaints of not having enough staff to provide security, after a recent attack in the capital
Africa Somalia The UN will collaborate with local mental health services; in fact, the country is severely affected by decades of conflict that have led to nearly one in three Somalis experiencing some forms of mental problems
Asia Jordan The Department of Land and Survey announced that the trade volume in the Jordanian real estate market during quarters 1-3 of 2021 increased by 11% compared to the same period in 2019
Asia Singapore In an optic of pandemic control, the country is distributing tens of thousands of Bluetooth devices for those who, not owning smartphones, cannot open Apps to track contacts and interactions with others
Asia Kyrgyzstan Around 100 athletes run the eco-cycle marathon in Jalal-Abad, to draw public attention to the problem of air pollution, as well as promoting environmentally friendly transport and a healthy lifestyle
Africa Ethiopia A new trend is gaining momentum in Addis Ababa: entire urban surfaces are painted blue, from modern buildings to historic ones; according to many architects and art historians, it's another stage in the race towards an artificial modernity
Europe Russia The Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences have released the "Dictionary of the Russian language of the coronavirus era" with 3500 words that appeared or became relevant in 2020-2021
Asia Bangladesh As a major exporter of labour, the country has suffered from the pandemic crisis with thousands of Bangladeshis unemployed; before it, 700.000 Bangladeshis were employed abroad every year and many more emigrated