1. Thousands of bright lights were lit on the main Christmas tree of Turkmenistan, announcing the imminent arrival of the New Year. Traditionally, this event was arranged especially colorfully, with fabulous paraphernalia inherent in the beloved holiday. Ayaz baba and Garpamyk, before arriving at the main Christmas tree, made a trip along the capital's Archabil avenue. The route ran along the high-rise buildings of ministries and departments, where children, students and creative teams of Ashgabat met the long-awaited guests at elegant Christmas trees.

2. Subscribers of the mobile operator TM CELL began to receive SMS messages from the State Committee of Turkmenistan on Statistics with a reminder that on December 17, a complete population and housing census will begin in the country. Let us remind that this year the census will be held for the first time using digital technologies. The entire survey is expected to take 20-30 minutes. Each census taker will have an appropriate certificate and uniform - a green vest and a bag of the same color with the official emblem of the census.

3. Turkish Airlines has canceled the PCR test requirement for citizens of Turkmenistan on its flights from Istanbul to Ashgabat and Turkmenbashi. All passengers will take a PCR test upon arrival at the airports of Turkmenistan. Foreign citizens, when departing from Istanbul, must show at the check-in counters a negative PCR test result or an antibody test taken less than 48 hours before departure.

4. The Belarusian airline “Belavia” has started flying to Turkmenistan according to a new schedule. From December 13 to March 21, flights on the Minsk-Turkmenbashi-Minsk route will be operated weekly. Previously, flights on this route were operated once every two weeks. Flights are carried out on Brazilian Embraer E195 aircraft. The plane is designed to carry 125 people.

5. Alexei Kasparov and Natalya Solovyeva from the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented two finds made in 2019 during excavations at the Yylgandly-depe site. Archaeologists have discovered two bones of a large predatory cat. Further research showed that they belonged to a tiger. The layer in which they were found dates back to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. Archaeologists have concluded that the new finds are the first and so far, the only evidence of large feline hunting during the Eneolithic in the south of modern Turkmenistan.

6. The IV Congress of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan was held in Ashgabat, the agenda of which included reports on the work done by the chairman of the Central Council of the party, heads of its regional branches, the Audit Commission, as well as organizational issues. The delegates unanimously re-elected Saparmyrat Ovganov as chairman of the Central Council of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

7. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan will help each other in the aftermath of accidents and natural disasters. The document was ratified in the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. The new agreements will allow the parties to exchange experience in the field of forecasting emergency situations, preparing the population for action in case of their threat and occurrence.

8. The logistics center of Turkmenistan will appear in the Astrakhan region within two years. According to the Minister of Industry and Natural Resources of the region, Ilya Volynsky, the center is planned to be located in the port special economic zone, in the port of Olya. There is a territory for the construction of logistics centers and warehouses. Volynsky also clarified that an agreement on the implementation of the project was reached at the level of the governments of the Astrakhan region and Turkmenistan.

9. British actor Henry Cavill posted a sad post to Superman fans after meeting with DC Comics executives. The actor is officially leaving the role of Clark Kent. It was previously announced that the new Superman movie will focus on the early years of the hero's life, so Cavill will not be able to play in it.

10. Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Fund plans to build a 2-kilometer-high skyscraper near Riyadh, more than twice the height of Dubai's Burj Khalifa. At present time, the tallest building in Saudi Arabia is the clock tower in Mecca, which is part of the complex of high-rise buildings Abraj al-Beit, its height is 601 meters. The total area of the future building will be 18 thousand square meters. The approximate cost of this project is about 5 billion USD.

11. 55 years ago, South African physician Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant from a donor to a recipient in the history of medicine, ushering in the era of transplantation in medicine. Attempts to transplant a human heart have been made before, but they all ended in the death of the patient, since the heart of a chimpanzee was used for transplantation.