In a country where 25% of the population is between the ages of 14 and 30, President Mirziyoyev has launched a package of measures aimed at this demographic for the first time. Among the planned initiatives are employment support, low-interest home loans, promotion of foreign language learning, and a national award for youth creativity.

The portal promoted by the IRFA provides scholars with materials and inventories of documents held in Paris on the presence of French missionaries in various Chinese provinces from 1684 to 1955. It is a valuable source for understanding the religious, social, and political history of modern China.

The island is becoming a new hotspot for foreign-operated online scam operations. Local authorities are concerned over their negative impact on the country’s image and economy, especially tourism. Police have arrested people from Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Madagascar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as seized laptops and mobile phones.

A study by a research centre linked to Thailand’s central bank highlights a spiralling debt crisis in the agricultural sector, exacerbated by ineffective payment practices and short-term government policies, to the point that in recent years farmers have been able only to pay the interest.

Lebanon’s south is now a battlefield where a regular army equipped with tanks and planes and guerrillas armed with rockets and drones hunt each other with no regard for the suffering of the local population. Beirut's Sports City is now a vast dormitory for refugees. President Aoun is gambling his political fate on talks, while Hezbollah attacks him with a smear campaign.

Whilst Pakistan is in the spotlight for its mediation in the Gulf, the crackdown on civil society continues unabated. A group of activists were detained for several hours; they were due to hold a press conference on an initiative scheduled for 10 May for which they have not yet received permits. Human Rights Commission: “This is not an isolated incident, but a recurring pattern.”