Asia

To boost yak farming the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is implementing a number of initiatives, allocating $240.000 for breeding programs and a semen processing lab, and $180.000 for medicines to tackle climate-exacerbated diseases

In Quang Ngai, African swine fever outbreaks have disrupted pork supplies, a key ingredient for Tet, the celebrations for Lunar New Year; authorities are intensifying measures to control the disease and ensure enough pork is available for the holiday

Islamabad has been placed under a security lockdown to prevent supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan from marching to the city as part of the nationwide protests to seek his release; internet services are off in areas of security concerns

The first case of chickenpox infection has been confirmed by the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health; it occurred in the governorate of Al-Mahrah, near the eastern border with Oman

UNICEF in Iraq launched a project with the US Agency for International Development to improve the country's drinking water and sanitation networks

Over 390 tonnes of humanitarian aid have been delivered to Afghanistan by the European Union Office for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid in 2024; the EU delegation stressed that humanitarian aid cannot replace 'economic development'

Polygel Organometallic, first producer of speciality chemicals in Brunei, is expanding its operations with a new plant in Lumut, aiming to integrate into the value chain through the production of chemical intermediates

A flurry of evacuation warnings have been issued and Israeli ground troops reached parts of Litani River, notwithstanding the emerging US-brokered ceasefire deal with Lebanon’s Hezbollah that Netanyahu said he would accept

UNICEF and its partners have made a call for reforms that provide children with alternative routes of justice, with the use of detention only as a last resort in Uzbekistan

Azerbaijani authorities waged a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign to empty Nagorno Karabakh of its 100.000 Armenians during the full takeover of the territory in September 2023, reads a report based on a fact-finding mission by watchdog Freedom House

Eight former top officials, politicians, and public figures in Tajikistan have gone on trial behind closed doors in a pretrial detention center in Dushanbe on charges of plotting to forcibly seize power, calling for mass disorder, and inciting hatred

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for the death sentence for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leader, following recent arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court