Asia Palestine The Islamic Development Bank will finance four projects in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem: infrastructure projects, including in refugee camps, the redesign of a maternity hospital and the restoration of buildings in the old city of Hebron
Asia China Plans to sell tickets to the public for the Olympics are cancelled as the number of Covid-19 cases has reached its highest point since March 2020; although international spectators had long since been ruled out, the option was left open for nationals
Asia Afghanistan UN human rights experts expressed their concern about the exclusion of women, particularly women from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities such as the Hazaras, Tajiks, Hindus, who are found to be even more vulnerable
Asia Iraq The foundations of a 12th-century prayer hall have been discovered under the Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul; the mosque, damaged during clashes with ISIS, is being reconstructed
Asia Syria China has sent over 4.000 tonnes of rice as humanitarian aid to the country, with the Chinese ambassador handing them over to the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent at its headquarters in Damascus
Asia Maldives The Ministry of Education is partnering with the UK's Guide Education to launch a training programme for the professional development of teachers and headteachers, where 500 professionals will be trained in the first round
Asia Singapore A coalition of students has called on universities to move away from the fossil fuel industry by 2030, after the group Students for a Fossil Free Future released the Fossil-Fuelled Universities report detailing the "extensive" links between the parties
Asia Kazakhstan 17-year-old Kazakh chess player Bibisara Assaubaeva won the World Blitz Championship; President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on his Twitter account congratulated her
Asia Lebanon US decided to exempt the country, crushed by financial crisis that has led to severe electricity shortages, from sanctions on gas imports through Syria
Asia India Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch, warns of violence against Muslims in India, as attacks perpetrated by Hindus increase with little apparent official condemnation
Asia Taiwan Hundreds of migrant workers took to the streets in Taipei demanding the right to freely change employers within the country, in a protest organized by the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan
Asia Kyrgyzstan A Centre for the Employment of Citizens Abroad will be established upon decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, aiming at protecting the rights and interests of migrant workers and members of their families
Asia North Korea The country fired again in its fourth weapons launch this month, officials in South Korea said, in an apparent reprisal for fresh sanctions imposed by the US Biden administration for its continuing test launches