The Japanese government has announced a 4 trillion yen ($48.9bn; £29.6bn) emergency budget for disaster relief, after March's earthquake and tsunami.

• April 22, 2011

Parliament of Kyrgyzstan adopted new customs duties on a number of basic commodity items, as decided at parliamentary session

• April 22, 2011

The Azerbaijani government has quietly stopped the operations of two international nongovernmental organizations in what some local observers claim is a further attempt to clamp down on the country’s relatively weak civil society.

• April 21, 2011

Rage against the election ban on 12 independent candidates poured out into the streets of Istanbul, Diyabakır, Van and Hakkari on Tuesday, drawing a harsh response from police.

• April 20, 2011

Japanese exports fell more than expected in March, as damage from last month's earthquake and tsunami affected shipments.

• April 20, 2011

Turkish State Minister responsible for foreign trade has urged a free trade agreement between Turkey and India to boost mutual trade.

• April 19, 2011

Ukraine failed to raise the $1 billion to seal Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, as budget concerns and the accident at Fukushima in Japan caused some governments to balk at further spending.

• April 19, 2011

Ex-Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko signed the 2009 gas deal with Russia without consent from her cabinet, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said.

• April 18, 2011