Asia Syria In the face of the recent earthquake, yet another drama in a land ravaged by more than a decade of devastating war, relief and aid to the population are made almost impossible by sanctions targeting the country
Asia Bangladesh Bangladesh has asked Pakistan to apologise for atrocities committed by its armed forces in 1971 to improve ties between the two countries
Asia Bhutan Thanks to an innovative 2021 software, entrepreneurs can launch a business on their mobile phones in less than a minute; in 2022, 5.500 Bhutanese, almost 1% of the population, used the service to register a business and 52% of them were women
Asia Brunei The Central Bank of Brunei Darussalam and the Monetary Authority of Singapore signed an MoU to deepen cooperation in banking and insurance supervision
Asia China The country said it reserved the right to take further action after the United States shot down what it claimed was a spy balloon off the South Carolina coast, described by the country as a weather balloon that had lost its way
Asia Georgia Georgian judoka Lasha Shavdatuashvili has won the gold medal at the Paris 2023 Grand Slam; overall, the Georgian team won four medals
Asia Iraq Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived on a working visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad and is expected to meet with President Abdul Latif Rashid and Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani
Asia Uzbekistan A 1,3 MW photovoltaic plant has been put into operation at the Syrdarya thermal power plant, the press service of the Ministry of Energy said; it will save 750.000 cubic metres of natural gas per year
Asia Turkmenistan In order to support Uzbekistan in a friendly and brotherly manner, the President of Turkmenistan has signed a decree on the free supply of liquefied gas to Uzbekistan
Asia Turkey Fifteen more sites will be included in Turkey's list of protected areas as part of its vision for 2023, said Director General of the Directorate for Nature Conservation and National Parks Kadir Çokçetin
Asia Sri Lanka 50 buses provided by the Government of India have been received by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on the occasion of Sri Lanka's 75th Independence Anniversary
Asia Philippines About 11 million farmers across the country will benefit from a Senate bill providing tax exemption on fertilisers and pesticides
Asia Taiwan Taiwan Lantern Festival has officially kicked off Sunday in Taipei, returning to the capital for the first time in 23 years with hundreds of lantern installations in the city's most fashionable districts