America Haiti A sharp rise in asylum claims from Haitians has been registered in Guadeloupe and Guiana, while deportations to Cap-Haïtien continue; asylum systems crush and legal contradictions deepen uncertainty for Haitian communities in France’s overseas territories
Europe Portugal Asterion Industrial Partners, a European investment firm for infrastructure, has informed Portugal’s Competition Authority of its acquisition plans for the PT Data Centre in Covilhã, belonging to Altice Portugal, at an expected price of €120 million
Africa Seychelles The new director general of the Seychelles Intelligence Services, Sabry Khan, was sworn in in a ceremony presided by President Herminie following Khan's oath of allegiance and the signing of the official instrument of appointment
Europe Sweden According to Ticket – the largest private travel agency in the Nordics – the US is the only top-ten country where travel bookings are declining for 2026, -21% on 2025; figures could change ahead of this summer's planned World Cup in the country
Oceania Fiji Random Fiji Police sweeps in hotspot areas across urban centres are address the growing number of beggars and street children proving food rations; the operation begun weeks ago is continuing during the festive season
Asia Israel For Israeli tech firms 2025 has been a record year, with unprecedented gains even amid war; despite optimism, the future of many business will be outside Israel due to exodus of talent and taxes: the country would then loose its main economic driver
Europe Iceland The Order of the Falcon, Iceland's highest national honor established in 1921 and awarded twice a year, has been confered on fourteen Icelanders on New Year’s Day; for the first time the Office of the President announced number of recipients in advance
Asia Iraq For the Baghdad Metro project and for the development of a new Iraq's investment portfolio international institutions such as the IFC and the European Investment Bank will be involved in collaboration with relevant Iraqi institutions
Europe North Macedonia Dozens of patients were treated on New Year's Eve in Skopje for injuries sustained from accidents, falls, fireworks, alcohol and firearms, but no traffic accidents were recorded in town probably thanks to the Safe City system
Asia Maldives The Maldives is facing a shortage of medicines, with many essential drugs unavailable and challenges in accessing doctors, so that even basic treatments can be difficult to obtain; public complaints about healthcare quality reflect structural problems
Africa Guinea-Bissau A power outage struck a large part of Malabo, affecting the city in the hours before New Year's Eve; it took some time to the electricity distribution company SEGESA to assess the cause and estimate time for its restoration
America Nicaragua The National Assembly has approved the creation of the International Mangrove Center in Nicaragua to restore coastal ecosystems, enhance environmental cooperation, and support climate resilience through research and sustainable management
America United States Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York in a private ceremony at an abandoned subway station before the public inauguration event outside City Hall; 34, a democratic socialist, he is the first Muslim and South Asian to govern US’s largest city
America Venezuela The US has carried out a CIA drone strike on a port in Venezuela to hit Tren de Aragua drug logistics, marking an escalation of pressure on Maduro, with no casualties