Asia Japan The new age limit to be admitted - accompanied by parent or guardian - at hot springs and sento (public baths) in the areas reserved for the opposite sex, is now six; until 2021, children up to 9, regardless of gender, could go with either parents
Asia Vietnam The Can Gio forest, which was destroyed in the Vietnam War by the herbicide known as 'Agent Orange' and has rebuilt to be the green lung of Ho Chi Minh City, is now threatened by a US$ 9 billion building project
Asia Georgia Poet Rezo Amashukeli died at the age of 85; he was awarded the Order of Merit in 1996, he was Laureate of the Galaktion Tabidze Prize (1982) and the Georgian Communist Union Prize (1968)
Asia Cambodia Magawa, the hero rat who sniffed out landmines, dies at the age of eight; Magawa was the most successful rat trained by Belgian charity Apopo to warn human handlers about landmines so they could be safely removed
Asia Pakistan The Judicial Commission of Pakistan has paved the way for Justice Ayesha Malik of the Lahore High Court to be elevated as the country's first woman Supreme Court judge
Asia Philippines A new law, signed by President Duterte, states that child marriage is child abuse and therefore bans the practice, which "debases, degrades and demeans" child brides; one in six girls in the country marries before the age of 18
Asia Malaysia The vaccination rate of the adult population is close to 100%, with a total of 22.878.955 individuals (97,7%) having completed their Covid-19 vaccination; of the adolescent population, 87,8% have completed vaccination
Asia Tajikistan The Tajik government will co-host, together with Netherlands, the UN Conference on the Water Action Decade that will be held in New York from 22 to 24 March 2023 as the midterm review of the “Water for Sustainable Development” program
Asia Turkmenistan The flames burning for over 50 years in a remote crater of the Karakum desert, a destination for the few local tourists, will be put out by presidential order to save the natural gas that fuels them and to avoid pointless impact on the environment
Asia East Timor After the double shock of the pandemic and natural disasters, the economy is showing some signs of recovery and this year's gross domestic product growth in real terms is expected to improve to 1,9%, according to the World Bank's latest economic update
Asia Bangladesh More than half of the under-five children do not have birth registration, with around 10 million children not officially existing, thus lacking a legal identity which is crucial for the government to unlock social benefits as education and health care
Asia India SOIL - School of Inspired Leadership in Gurugram is collaborating with several leading business schools around the world for an MBA that focuses on the socio-economic system by studying how businesses can help promote a more just and equitable society
Asia Syria Cuba has reiterated its condemnation of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people at a ceremony to mark the sending of 240.000 doses of the Corona vaccine provided as a gift to the country