Asia Georgia Despite his poor health, former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili remains in prison; the legal battle for the release of Georgia's third president now continues at the European Court of Human Rights
Asia Turkey A 6.4 earthquake hit the Turkey-Syria border region yesterday and over 5.000 aftershocks were registered since 6 February; Mehmet Kokum, assistant professor of geology based in Elazig, said aftershocks will last from months to years
Asia Jordan The World Bank financed a USD23,6 million project to help 30.000 Jordanian farming families adopt climate-friendly and water-saving agricultural practices; 12.000 job opportunities are expected to be created, particularly for women and young people
Asia Cyprus The Bank of Cyprus released its preliminary financial results for 2022, posting a profit after tax of €71 million for the entire year; after-tax profit generated in 2021 was €30 million
Asia Taiwan Eight hotels and two spas in Taiwan were listed in the 2023 Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards published on 15 February, including the Mandarin Oriental in Taipei, which was awarded its seventh-straight five-star rating
Asia Palestine For 6th consecutive day, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails continue civil disobedience measures against the campaign of repression initiated by ultranationalist Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir
Asia Nepal Centre for Informal Sector Services reported an increase in the number of human rights violations in 2022, with 7.376 victims of human rights violations in 2022, up from 6.285 in 2021
Asia Myanmar USAID will provide additional humanitarian aid to the population with USD 50 million; in 2023, more than 17 million people, almost one in three, will need humanitarian assistance, compared to less than one million in 2020
Asia Iran The head of the Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce said Iran will open a trade centre in China by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (20 March)
Asia India India reportedly increased its oil purchases from Russia to a record 1,4 million barrels per day in January, 9,2% more than in December
Asia Bhutan Bhutan's Ministry of Education and Skills Development recently conducted a national online coding competition to understand the level of coding concepts in students who took various CodeMonkey courses in schools
Asia Bahrain A bus driver and a public school employee were arrested after a child was found abandoned inside a locked bus outside a house
Asia Bangladesh For the second consecutive quarter, the US became the main source of remittances for Bangladesh, with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in second place