Asia Taiwan Daxi-Daxi Folk Festival, a very participapated pop encounter of traditional culture and young generations, returns in person today after a 2-years COVID hiatus
Asia United Arab Emirates The new law that comes into force today envisages a mandatory 25 fils fee on all single-use bags starting today; this decision is the first step towards a total ban on single-use bags within two years
Asia Uzbekistan In a historic first, Uzbekistan's new state-of-the-art gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in the Qashqadaryo region has started producing synthetic oil
Asia Malaysia As of today, maximum price controls on chicken and chicken eggs will be lifted, a move aimed at stabilising food supply in the market and prices in the long run
Asia Thailand Public ferry fares along Bangkok's Saen Saeb canal will increase by 1 baht (US$ 0,028) starting today, and a similar increase was recorded on 15 June
Asia Pakistan The Finance Minister said a consortium of Chinese banks and Pakistan have signed an agreement for a $2,3 billion loan, underlining the gratitude of the Pakistani people towards China
Asia India From today, single-use plastic will be banned; the Centre has barred the manufacturing, distribution, importing, sale, stocking and use of all single-use plastic, comprising polystyrene and expanded polystyrene
Asia Brunei The country will purchase vaccines and antiviral drugs against monkeypox, although no cases have been detected so far, to prepare for a potential epidemic
Asia Oman A Royal Decree establishes the National Natural Park Reserve in Governorate of Musandam, recognising the local geographic richness, natural diversity and tourism potential
Asia Palestine Tamam Abou Hamidan, 34, who left Gaza in 2014 when her family emigrated to Sweden, has now been appointed Major of the town of Olofstrom
Asia East Timor IMF staff completed the 2022 Article IV mission to East Timor; based on the preliminary findings, staff will prepare a report to be submitted to the IMF Executive Board for discussion and decision
Asia Yemen The UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg denounces the Iran-backed Houthis for rejecting proposals to end the siege of Taiz and threatening to undermine the UN-brokered truce
Asia Syria The country, now in its 11th year of war, was designated earlier in June as one of the world’s 20 “Hunger Hotspots” by FAO and the WFP; now opposition-held Idlib residents fear that Russia’s veto at the UN could close their only aid border crossing