Asia Laos New rules for intellectual property protection wereintroduced, allowing businesses to protect industrial designs internationally through a single application under the Hague System; It simplifies registration and administrative procedures, reducing costs
America Paraguay Inflation in February scored +0% remaining flat on January 2024 figures; on an yearly basis, February showed a -2,90% inflation rate on 2023
Africa Nigeria Nigerian breweries has announced another increase in the price of its products, the fourth in one year, due to rising production costs and the need to save the company's accounts from such an increase
Europe Latvia After the attack on the Occupation Museum, plans are being made to speed up the creation of a comprehensive video surveillance network throughout Latvia; the Interior Minister will have a month to identify what is already in place and what can be used
Europe Portugal Democratic Alliance wins legislative elections with 29,49% of the votes, resulting in a slight victory for the centre-right coalition but falling short of an outright majority
Africa Uganda The Parliament has to decide on a bill to restrict the use of surrogacy to women who are infertile or have health problems that prevent them from having children; the law provides for penalties of up to five years for doctors who oppose the new provisions
Africa Burkina Faso Fespaco, Ouagadougou's African Film Festival, will charge a submission fee this year for films wishing to enter the competition for the first time in its history
America Jamaica Over 8.000 participants from 200 schools were trained in restorative justice and Justice Minister Hon. Delroy Chuck encouraged them to become advocates for the conflict resolution method in their schools and communities
Europe Luxembourg VA BE A petition calling on Luxembourg's parliament to end the "constant exaggerated craze for new petitions" has been opened; it will remain open until April 19 and will require the support of 4.500 people to pass the threshold needed to force a debate
Europe Albania According to critics, the government is not doing enough to protect Albanian textile exporters from the rapidly strengthening lek currency; most of the industry's employees are women who risk slipping into poverty
America Nicaragua Nicaragua has formally sued Germany at the International Court of Justice for funding Israel and cutting aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA
America Panama Archaeologists have unearthed a 1.200-year-old tomb in Panama containing a trove of gold treasures and the remains of what could be human sacrifices
Europe Croatia The Croatian parliament, the Sabor, will be dissolved on 14 March, and parliamentary elections will be held in April or May, as by law they must be held within 30 to 60 days from the date of dissolution of parliament
Europe Hungary Ferenc Krausz, experimental physicist, has been named person of the year 2023 by public media; he is a 2023 Nobel laureate for his experimental methods in producing attosecond pulses of light to study the movement of electrons within atoms