In Other News

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• Syria has issued a new currency, removing portraits of the Assad family and redenominating to remove two zeroes. The launch ceremony was held at the Conference Palace in Damascus in December, heralding the start of a comprehensive monetary transition to rebuild confidence in the nation’s financial system.

The new banknotes are now denominated in 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Syrian pound notes. Then portraits of the former presidents (Basher Assad and his father) have been replaced with images of plants, crops and animals such as such as wheat, olives, oranges, mulberries, roses, and horses, and the overall designs are both modern and colourful, all of which is intended to be both politically neutral and symbolise a break with the past.