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.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
Scientists yesterday announced a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that might provide insight into the brains of other organisms and even people. The research detailed more than 50 million connections between more than 139,000 neurons — brain nerve cells — in the insect, a species whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster and is often used in neurobiological studies. The research sought to decipher how brains are wired and the signals underlying healthy brain functions. It could also pave the way for mapping the brains of other species. “You might
INSTABILITY: If Hezbollah do not respond to Israel’s killing of their leader then it must be assumed that they simply can not, an Middle Eastern analyst said Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah leaves the group under huge pressure to deliver a resounding response to silence suspicions that the once seemingly invincible movement is a spent force, analysts said. Widely seen as the most powerful man in Lebanon before his death on Friday, Nasrallah was the face of Hezbollah and Israel’s arch-nemesis for more than 30 years. His group had gained an aura of invincibility for its part in forcing Israel to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, waging a devastating 33-day-long war in 2006 against Israel and opening a “support front” in solidarity with Gaza since
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