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.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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