LITHUANIA
Four to quit landmine pact
NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel mines due to the military threat from Russia, the four countries said yesterday. “Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,” the countries’ defense ministers said in a joint statement. “With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs,” they said. The planned withdrawal would allow an effective protection of the region’s borders, Lithuanian Minister of Defense Dovile Sakaliene said in a separate statement. Finland in December said it was also considering pulling out of the international agreement.
Photo: Reuters
UNITED STATES
Births at four-decade low
The number of births declined in 2023 to the lowest level in more than 40 years, continuing a decades-long trend toward smaller families. Total births fell 2 percent from 2022 to 3.596 million, said a report released yesterday by the National Center for Health Statistics that confirms preliminary data published last year. Americans have been putting off parenthood because of sky-high health costs for themselves and their children, said Sarah Hayford, director of the Institute for Population Research at the Ohio State University. General political, economic and even climate uncertainty have also contributed to the delays, she said in an interview. Large drops among women aged 15 to 24 were likely due to prioritizing education over parenthood, she added. The average age for a first-time mother rose to a record 27.5 years, the report said. The total fertility rate was 1.6 births per woman — a pace that has generally declined since 2008 by 2 percent each year, meaning the nation would have to rely on immigration to sustain current population levels.
THAILAND
Visa-free stays may be cut
The nation plans to halve the number of days it allows foreign tourists to stay without visas to 30 days as it cracks down on travelers exploiting the waiver to engage in illegal businesses, Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong said. Since July last year, the nation has allowed passport holders from 93 countries to stay up to 60 days. The reduction to 30 days has been agreed in principle by various ministries, local media outlets reported on Monday, citing Sorawong. The Association of Thai Travel Agents had expressed concerns over the growing number of foreigners illegally working or doing business in the country, while the Thai Hotels Association said the long visa-free period might be partly to blame for the increase in condominium units being illegally rented out to foreign guests, the Bangkok Post reported.
AUSTRALIA
Stinky beaches closed
South Australia closed two beaches after dead fish and an unusual off-white foam washed ashore while surfers reported feeling unwell, officials said yesterday. A microalgal bloom created by unusual weather conditions was suspected to have sickened humans and marine life, as well as creating the foam that has covered hundreds of meters of coastline, South Australian Environment Protection Authority principal scientific officer Sam Gaylard said. Waitpinga Beach and Parsons Beach have been closed to the public since Monday in response to a “fish mortality event in the area,” the Department for Environment and Water said, adding: “The beaches will be re-opened as soon as possible.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
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