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
Africa Mozambique Of the 99.000 and more people who fled their homes because of the severe violence in the North, 61.492 are children, Save the Children reported
Oceania Fiji The Science Department of the University of Fiji has received a grant under the ERASMUS+ programme that will allow students and staff to travel to Palermo, Italy, for an exchange programme from this year until 2026
Europe Germany In a long-running dispute over asylum policy between the German federal states and the central government, the states made a request to outsource asylum applications to third countries
Europe Latvia The definition of maximum permitted teaching hours is considered by Minister of Education as a possible solution to teacher overload; one third of teachers, 34%, carry more workload than the 36 hours provided for by the contract
Asia Kyrgyzstan Bishkek has officially become larger after the deputies at the last session of the City Council have approved the annexation of surrounding territories determined by presidential decree
Asia Indonesia Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo expressed optimism that the Indonesian para badminton and para athletics teams could win gold at the 2024 Paris Summer Paralympic Games
Africa Liberia The lower house of the Parliament passed a motion to establish a war crimes tribunal more than 2 decades after the end of the devastating civil conflict; the resolution must now be debated by the Senate before being forwarded to President Joseph Boakai
Africa eSwatini The Eswatini Stock Exchange signed MoU with Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange in Taipei, a response to Taiwan's foreign policy efforts and a milestone for cooperation between the two sides' capital markets
Africa Lesotho The Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel is preparing for a six-month closure for planned maintenance, undertaken jointly by the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority
Asia Brunei The country aims to reach pre-pandemic levels of tourist arrivals in 2024, as the number of visitors more than doubled last year, from 35.701 in 2022 to 133.360
Asia China The heads of China's central bank and economic planning agency have indicated that the authorities would be willing to take further measures to support growth, but have not announced any large-scale stimulus plans
Europe Estonia The government is working on a bill to tax sugary drinks with a sugar content of at least five grams per 100 millilitres or to which artificial sweeteners are added
Asia Bhutan The World Bank's latest labour market assessment report on Bhutan states that the labour market is not engaging women and educated youth in a meaningful way; youth unemployment has reached 15,9%