The World Trade Organization on Monday approved Tajikistan's 11-year struggle to join the UN's global trade body, paving the way for the Central Asian nation to become its 159th member.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to make Palestine a non-member state, inflicting a major diplomatic defeat on the United States and Israel.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has announced that the Palestinian Authority will present its bid for non-state UN membership, despite US and Israeli opposition.
After years of preparation, communist Laos is on the verge of joining the World Trade Organisation, a milestone that the small landlocked nation owes to a slew of reforms it must now enforce.