JAPAN
Population in record decline
The population fell by a record amount last year as the number of deaths climbed to an all-time high in the quickly-aging country, the government said yesterday. Japan faces a looming demographic squeeze. “Baby boomers” are moving toward retirement, with fewer workers and taxpayers to replace them. The Japanese boast among the highest life expectancies in the world, but have an extremely low birth rate. Japan logged 1.19 million deaths last year — the biggest number since 1947 when the health ministry’s annual records began. The number of births was nearly flat at 1.07 million. As a result, Japan contracted by 123,000 people, which was the most ever and represents the fourth consecutive year of population decline. Japanese aged 65 and older make up about a quarter of Japan’s current population. The government projects that by 2050, that figure will climb to 40 percent. Like in other advanced countries, young people are waiting to get married and choosing to have fewer children because of careers and lifestyle issues. The report showed that 706,000 marriages were registered last year — the fewest since 1954. In October, the total population stood at 125.77 million, according to the ministry.
CHINA
Thousands snap up licences
For thousands of hopeful commuters in Beijing, the year started with a click, not a bang. Residents hoping to snap up Beijing car licence plate numbers under the debut of a quota system aimed at easing paralyzing traffic logged onto a Web site that launched in the first moments of the New Year. Within 10 minutes, 6,000 people had successfully claimed a new plate number, the Beijing Daily reported. The new system aims to reduce the number of cars in the notoriously gridlocked capital. The city will only allow 240,000 new car registrations this year — two-thirds less than last year — and is parceling them out via the monthly online lottery. Netizens have joked that the new system won’t bring much relief and have mocked the Web address, www.bjhjyd.com, which stands for Beijing huanjie yongdu, or “Beijing eases congestion.” Some say the same letters could also be short for Beijing haiyao yongdu, or “Beijing will still be gridlocked.”
CHINA
Five pavilions to be kept
Authorities in Shanghai plan to keep five foreign pavilions from this year’s World Expo that were popular with visitors as public landmarks, local media reported on Friday. The pavilions of France, Italy, Russia, Spain and Saudi Arabia have been donated to the city and will soon reopen to the public, the Oriental Morning Post reported, citing Expo officials. They could remain in place for up to 50 years, the report said. Organizers have not yet decided how the buildings will be used, but one suggestion is that they be converted into art studios, the paper said, citing a Shanghai World Expo official.
CHINA
Two killed as ship sinks
Two sailors were killed and 15 are missing after a North Korean-registered cargo ship sank in the Yellow Sea on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported late on Friday. The Kang Bong sank early on Friday morning after water entered the ship during strong gales, Xinhua said, citing China’s Rescue and Salvage Center. The ship, with 20 people onboard, was traveling 190km east of Lianyungang Port in Jiangsu Province. Three people were rescued by a ship and helicopters, which were still searching for those missing.
CUBA
Toiletry rations end
Cubans rushed to buy detergent, soap and toothpaste on Friday before the government ends subsidies on toiletries. Families stocked up at state-run stores using ration books, which from today will no longer include “personal cleanliness products.” President, Raul Castro warned that the monthly ration book, along with the vast state payroll, would be slashed to overhaul the communist economy and stave off a financial crisis. With average monthly salaries of around US$20, many Cubans relied on rations for the basics. Cigarettes, salt, peas and potatoes were removed from the list this year. A bar of soap will jump from the equivalent of under US$0.03 to about US$0.22. Toothpaste will increase from about US$0.08 to US$0.34. Some Cubans have long bought toiletries for much higher prices in hard currency shops to avoid shortages and rudimentary quality, but for poorer Cubans the cut will hurt. Ration books were introduced as a temporary measure in 1962 to guarantee staple goods after the US imposed an embargo. The cash-strapped government, with the apparent blessing of former president Fidel Castro, has also announced it will lay off about 500,000 workers and legalize a series of private economic activities in the hope of boosting the private sector.
ARGENTINA
Married lesbians have baby
A baby girl has become the first child of a legally married lesbian couple, under a law approved by Congress that set a historic precedent for Latin America, officials said on Thursday. Bianca Juliana Gimenez Relea was registered with the surnames of both her birth mother — Paola — and Claudia, Paola’s companion who witnessed the delivery. On Oct. 21, the pair became the third gay couple in northeastern Entre Rio Province to get married since the law was passed on July 15 amending the phrase “husband and wife” to “contracting parties” in Argentina’s Civil Code. It also extends equal rights to homosexual couples in matters of adoption, inheritance and social benefits. The baby girl’s ceremony was held at the Parana Civil Registry office and capped a seven-year relationship, media reported. Paola was already pregnant when she married and said the girl was her first child, conceived with the help of a friend.
UNITED STATES
Kilmer owes back taxes
Val Kilmer owes nearly US$500,000 in federal taxes, and a lien has been placed on the Batman Forever actor’s property, including a New Mexico ranch he’s trying to sell. The Internal Revenue Service filed the lien last month in Santa Fe for an assessment balance of US$498,165 for 2008 income taxes. Kilmer has lived in New Mexico for two decades. He put his 2,144 hectare Pecos River Ranch on the market for US$33 million in 2009. The ranch is now listed for sale at US$18.5 million, down from US$23 million in October.
ITALY
Bonus cuts disease
A clinic in Milan that gives nurses who work with premature babies an annual bonus of 3,000 euros (US$3,900) when they wash their hands properly has seen a 30 percent drop in hospital-spread disease. An total bonus of 200,000 euros is set aside for the 70 nurses at the Mangiagalli clinic who are rewarded with a portion if they respect the strict hygiene rules. The staff are monitored on closed-circuit televisions while they wash their hands to make sure they use the right technique and spend the necessary amount of time scrubbing.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
RIVALRY: ‘We know that these are merely symbolic investigations initiated by China, which is in fact the world’s most profligate disrupter of supply chains,’ a US official said China has started a pair of investigations into US trade practices, retaliating against similar probes by US President Donald Trump’s administration as the superpowers stake out positions before an expected presidential summit in May. The move, announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Friday, is a direct mirror of steps Trump took to revive his tariff agenda after the US Supreme Court last month struck down some of his duties. “China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to these actions,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the so-called Section 301 investigations initiated on March 11.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
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