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West Asia
5 million foreign tourists visited Iran in 2015
Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) Masoud Soltanifar said more than five million foreign tourists visited the Islamic Republic in 2015, Tasnim reports. Speaking in a meeting with Bangladeshi Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Rashed Khan Menon in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz on…
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East Asia
China to ban poorly-behaved tourists from traveling
Chinese tourists blacklisted by the country’s tourism authority for behaving poorly while traveling are likely to be banned from traveling abroad as part of the country’s efforts to promote civilized tourism. In a draft industry standard issued by the China National Tourism Administration (NTA), the behavior of travel agencies and…
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East Asia
Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project gets all permits
Seven months after ground was broken for Indonesia’s first high-speed railway, which is being developed by a China-Indonesia joint venture, the project received a construction permit for its entire length, media reports said on August 21. Experts said Sunday that construction should be completed within three years as planned, despite…
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Central Asia
Uzbekistan completes the high-speed railroad
The national railroad workers are completing a project aimed at launching a new high-speed railroad between Tashkent and Bukhara, Jahon Agency reports. As part of this initiative, a new site, Marakand-Navoi, spanning 140.2 km was built from the beginning of the year. Now the railroad line from Navoi to Bukhara…
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East Asia
To recall 1988 Seoul Olympics
By Park Moo-jong – The Korea Times Finally, it’s time for the Olympics to beat the heat of this scorching summer. The 2016 Summer Olympics, ironically during the winter season of the host city of Rio de Janeiro, will kick off its 17-day run at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning (Korean…
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Central Asia
Russia restarts talks on economic cooperation program with Turkey
Russia will restart talks on the draft trade and economic cooperation program with Turkey for 2016-2019, the Russian Government said in the decree on trade and economic relations with Turkey, posted on the Cabinet’s website on July 22, TASS reports. “In accordance with introduced amendments the mixed intergovernmental commission on…
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West Asia
Iran destroys 100,000 ‘depraving’ satellite dishes
Iranian authorities have destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers as part of a widespread crackdown against illegal devices they say “deviate morality and culture”, Al Jazeera reports. General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the head of Iran’s Basij militia, oversaw the destruction ceremony in Tehran on July 24 and warned of the…
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West Asia
Interesting Fact: An Official Rainbow Flag in Armenian History
A controversial historical fact remains a big discussion for Armenians. A rainbow flag was proposed by Martiros Saryan in 1919 and it was used for a short time. A piece appeared on the website of the Public TV Company of Armenia, titled “The Creation Story of the 3 symbols of…
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Central Asia
Airlines Cash in on Russia’s Turkey Tourism Revival
The price of airplane tickets from Moscow to the Turkish resort of Antalya have risen by 75.6 percent in the last week as companies cash in on a surge of Russian holidaymakers visiting the country, The Moscow Times reports. Data from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) also…
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East Asia
The Jedol Day of Korea
Jaecheon Choi (Professor at the Ecological Sciences Department of Ewha Women’s University, Dean of the National Ecology Institute) – July 17th is Constitution Day. The day was promulgated as a national holiday in 1949 to celebrate the first anniversary of the Republic of Korea as a constitutional republic. July 17th…
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