Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

South Korea's fertility rate dropped last year to a record low, data showed on February 22, in yet another grim milestone for the country with the world's lowest number of expected children for each woman. The average number of expected babies per South Korean woman over her reproductive life fell to 0.78 in 2022, down from 0.81 a year earlier, the official annual reading from Statistics Korea showed. It is lower than the replacement rate which is usually taken as requiring an average of 2.1 children per woman. Local media report that Seoul is likely to become a 'super-aged' city by 2026 due to low births and increased life expectancy, with some 14 percent of the population aged 65 or over.

Visitors to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo bid an emotional farewell to the beloved giant panda Xiang Xiang before her handover to China. Thousands of visitors flocked to Ueno Zoo to get a final look at the park's idol, who was born there in June 2017. The last viewing of Xiang Xiang on February 19 was limited to 2,600 ticket lottery winners, but many others who did not win tickets also gathered outside the enclosure. Despite being born in Japan, China has the ownership of the panda as her parents are on loan to Ueno Zoo from the country. Xiang Xiang was transported to China on February 21.

Taliban authorities have closed the main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an Afghan official said on February 20, and residents in the area reported the sound of gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point. Reuters reported: "Thousands of trucks were stuck and businesses are facing losses as officials from both sides try to broker a solution." The closure of the border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been causing losses to traders of the two countries. "There are long queues of heavy-duty trucks stranded on both sides of the border," said Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A small IT company in the Indian city of Indore has come up with a unique way of ensuring its employees maintain a healthy work-life balance - by creating software to remind them when their shift is up and then telling them to head home. Softgrid Computers' software is equipped with a notification system that kicks in the moment an employee's shift is over, warning them that "the office system will shut down in 10 minutes, please go home."

Sri Lanka's Election Commission on February 20 told the country's Supreme Court that it does not have the funds to conduct the local polls that are scheduled for March 9.

The commission's chief Nimal Punchihewa said the poll body has not received the financial resources and the required support from other agencies, including a government printer and police security, to conduct the polls. Meanwhile, people started protesting in front of the commission, asking them to announce the polls.

(Cover: Elderly people receive food such as ginseng chicken soup at the Jongno Comprehensive Welfare Center for the Elderly in Seoul.  The city is likely to become a 'super-aged' city by 2026 due to low births and increased life expectancy, with some 14 percent of the population aged 65 or over. July 27, 2022 )