Oceania Palau A historic $15 million financing agreement has been signed with Saudi Arabia, marking a shift in how Palua's National Development Bank will now operate, as the loan will be directly invested into building affordable housing
Europe Netherlands The new cabinet removed the national nature restoration plan and nitrogen emission policy: provinces are now no longer required to continue the current nature restoration and nitrogen precipitation reduction programme
America Honduras The Honduran Defense Minister, José Manuel Zelaya, and his father, Congressman Carlos Zelaya, who are relatives of President Xiomara Castro, resigned amid a scandal over alleged drug trafficking links
Europe Montenegro Elektroprivreda Crne Gore, controlled by the government, has started preparations for the installation of battery energy storage systems, a pioneering move among state-owned electricity companies in the Western Balkans and South-Eastern Europe
Africa Sierra Leone A $50 million agreement with China supports the implementation of the SMART Sierra Leon Project, to expand internet connectivity, create national data centres to manage and protect sovereign data, and improve security measures in Freetown
Oceania Nauru Nauru President David Adeang said he was pleased to see that the Pacific Islands Forum remains united despite differences of opinion
Asia South Korea New balloons likely carrying trash, launched by North Korea, could travel to northern Gyeonggi Province, just north of Seoul and mark a resumption of its trash-balloon campaign after a near monthlong halt
America El Salvador After two and a half years of a state of emergency in El Salvador to combat gang violence, President Nayib Bukele has proposed the possibility of lifting the measure, citing significant reductions in crime
Oceania Samoa The Kirikiti Samoa championship kicked off as part of the Teuila festival celebrations at the Methodist Compound in Faleula
Asia Cyprus Netflix’s series Famagusta led to a spat between Turkey and Greece, with high-ranking government figures from both countries expressing their views; Cyprus President Christodoulides said those reacting negatively to it “have obviously not watched it”
Asia Mongolia Russian President Putin was welcomed in the country, which ignored calls to arrest him on the basis of an international arrest warrant, despite Ukraine's urging; the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia would not execute the arrest warrant
Africa Ghana Ghana's cocoa regulator plans to increase the state-guaranteed price to cocoa farmers for the 2024/25 season by almost 45%, which would be the second consecutive increase
America Costa Rica Thousands of people marched in Costa Rica to defend public education, protesting government budget cuts under President Rodrigo Chaves, who has reduced funding below the constitutionally mandated 8% of GDP
Asia North Korea North Korea has agreed with Russia that 'teachers from Pyongyang who know Russian well' will participate in an initiative to teach the Korean language to local youths