Artificial rain was used for the first time in Pakistan on December 16 in a bid to combat hazardous levels of smog in the megacity of Lahore, the government said.
Accidents, stoppages, and technical difficulties at power stations across Kazakhstan have left hundreds of thousands of residents without continuous access to heating and electricity, after a cold snap hit the country in the past week. Accidents at the power stations in Kentau, Ridder and Ekibastuz, gas pipeline networks in Aktau, Stepnogorsk, Kostanai, and Zhambyl. The freezing of the Ural River also caused disruptions in the supply of water to the city of Atyrau.
The Netherlands has agreed to Bulgaria joining Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, the Dutch Justice Ministry said on December 15, ending its long-held opposition to the move.
Hundreds of workers from the West Oil Software company in Kazakhstan’s volatile western region of Manghystau are continuing with a hunger strike they started on December 11, despite increasing pressure from authorities on the eve of the Central Asian nation's Independence Day.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said on December 15 that Ambassador Lynne Tracy had visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen detained in Russia on spying charges.