Oceania Marshall Islands The fish aggregation devices FADs that fishing boats use to make catches easier, lately equipped with satellite communications gear to pinpoint location, are now being built by drug cartels that wrap packs of cocaine and radio transponders to trace troves
America Brazil Brazil has vetoed Venezuela's bid to join BRICS, with Venezuela's foreign ministry criticizing this decision; relations have been strained since Venezuela's disputed July 18 elections, which many Latin American countries have refused to recognize
Europe Poland Poland has started implementing the Eastern Shield project on the border with Russia and Belarus; it includes the construction of a system of fortifications, bases and logistical hubs; it plans to invest more than $2,5 billion in the period 2024-2028
Europe Russia A Russian court has sentenced Google to pay a fine of $20.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000, a sum higher than the GDP of the entire planet, which amounts to $110.000 billion according to the IMF
Africa Botswana Supporters of the Union for Democratic Change gathered outside the polling stations to celebrate victory; on 30 october, in the biggest upset in Botswana's electoral history, have ended 58 years of single-party governance following independence in 1966
Europe Romania DropCoal, an experiment entirely developed in Romania by the Romanian InSpace Engineering with the support of the European Space Agency, will be launched to the International Space Station and will study how two drops merge and mix in microgravity
America Canada Mounties in B.C. have discovered and raided the "largest and most sophisticated" drug-production laboratory in Canadian history, federal investigators announced, describing the facility as a "super lab" operated by international organized criminals
Asia Qatar The polling station locations for the 2024 referendum on the constitutional amendment project have been announced by the General Referendum Committee; the referendum will also be held in electronic form
Europe Denmark Danish MP Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, elected in Greenland, violated parliamentary protocol by refusing to translate a speech she had delivered in Greenlandic into Danish
Europe United Kingdom The new budget bill, the first of the new Labour government, includes a large tax increase, totalling £40 billion revenues, with the specific aim of funding more investment
Asia India "The 'caste' column and any references to caste in undertrial and/or convicts’ prisoners’ registers inside the prisons shall be deleted.” - with these 21 words, India’s Supreme Court ended a centuries-old system of caste-based work in prisons
Africa Somalia Presidential elections in Somaliland will be held on 13 November 2024, a crucial event to both assess the country's democratic health and its aspiration for recognition as an independent state
Asia Georgia Georgia's Election Commission said a partial recount of votes confirmed the victory of the ruling, populist, pro-Russian Georgian Dream party
Europe Germany German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany will close the three Iranian consulates in the country in response to the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a man with dual Iranian and German citizenship for terrorism charges in Iran