Asia Turkmenistan The bid for the construction of the new international airport in Jebel in the Balkan velayat, for which the Abu Dhabi Development Fund allocated a credit of US$75 million, will close this month
Asia Uzbekistan IKEA applied for registration of its trademark on the Uzbek territory as part of an expansion program: the Swedish company plans to enter 12 new markets by 2025
Asia Brunei The government imposes a US$100 fine on anyone who does not use the BruHealth app, through which they can also show their QR code before entering and leaving public spaces
Asia United Arab Emirates Expo 2020 Dubai, the first world exhibition organised in the Middle East, opens today; 25 million visitors are expected. The European Parliament has called for a boycott of the Expo in protest at human rights violations in the Emirates
Asia Kyrgyzstan According to the Freedom on the Net 2021 report by Freedom House, the country has moved from 56th to 53rd place over the past year and is listed as 'partially free', while the most striking restrictions are recorded in Myanmar, Belarus and Uganda
Asia South Korea Seoul’s mayor floated the idea of creating its own digital currency, called S-coins, that could fund social welfare programs
Asia Iran Filmed secretly by women and men, the film 'Nasrin', a portrait of human rights activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh, among the 100 most influential people of 2021 according to The Times, is now available on streaming platforms
Asia Bangladesh The country has officially become the first full new member of the BRICS New Development Bank
Asia Sri Lanka A five-year plan to revive the Covid-affected tourism industry has been presented by the tourism minister, who welcomed Ukraine's support for the tourism pilot project launched during the Coronavirus outbreak
Asia Afghanistan Health care in the country crumbles amid a growing humanitarian crisis: hundreds of facilities closed for running out of aid money, female staff is banned from working and to female patients is denied treatment
Asia South Korea With the launch of the third submarine yesterday - a 3.000-ton class SLBM, or 'capable of firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles', the country completed the renewal of the marine fleet in accordance to 2006-2021 strategic plans
Asia Cyprus A specialized clinic for post-Covid patients will start operating within days, where both physical and mental health care will be available, and a local study on impact on recovered patients will be launched
Asia India Sonam Wangchuk, awarded with Rolex Prize 2016 for his ice stupas, a simple yet life-changing tecnique of piling up ice to guarantee irrigation in the dry seasons with meltwater, now sees the University of Aberdeen developing his technology