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
Asia Singapore Male Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes will be released at five additional sites to suppress the aedes mosquito population and mitigate the risk of dengue epidemics, the National Environment Agency announced
Europe Sweden Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen set the country's online channelling rate at 86%, higher than operators' estimates and far above the previous year's figure of 77%
Asia Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Huang Jie has been included in Time magazine's annual '100 Next' list, which honours 100 emerging leaders from around the world
Africa Mozambique General elections will be held without restrictions even in areas affected by insecurity, according to the National Election Commission, as 'no reports of difficulties in organising the vote' have yet been recorded
Europe France For the first time since 1991, France will welcome French-speaking heads of state and government to Villers-Cotterêts and Paris on 4 and 5 October 2024 for the 19th Francophonie Summit
Africa Lesotho Harry, Duke of Sussex and member of the British royal family, is visiting the kingdom of Lesotho, where he is known as 'the warrior'; in 2006, Harry co-founded a charity to support children in southern Africa
Europe Iceland According to a report by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce, Icelanders are the second largest gamblers among European countries, after Ireland; the average Icelander bets around €500 per year
Europe Luxembourg The government announced a €5 million bridging loan for Caritas, which went into crisis following the embezzlement of €61 million, allegedly by an employee
Europe Finland The financial difficulties faced by higher education students have increased over the past three years, with 19% of students now reporting that their income is severely limited and uncertain, up from 13% in previous years
Oceania Fiji With an ageing population, the number of elderly people is expected to increase from 10% to 15% by 2050; fears of a more frequent poverty among the elderly also also growing
Europe Latvia Special signs were installed in the 'Dzilniņa' kindergarten and three adjacent municipal buildings with suitable basements to begin labelling potential bomb shelters, the Riga Municipality stated
Europe Ireland The Ministry of Education was ordered to pay €5.000 to a blind student who was denied access to a summer school programme during the Covid-19 pandemic because the support was insufficient
Europe Hungary World stars, representatives of Hungarian jazz dynasties, outstanding Hungarian jazz educators and young up-and-coming talents will perform for audiences in Romania at the sixth Hungarian Jazz Days in Bucharest from 7 to 11 October