Marriage still in decline in China

Today's news: Japanese sources deny Russia's willingness to support North Korea's nuclear development; Seoul opens up to Tajikistan workers; New wave of arrests in Bangladesh against Awami League supporters; Sri Lanka blames monkey blamed for national blackout; Trump reiterates claims about Gaza.

CHINA

The number of marriages in China fell by a fifth, from 7.68 million in 2023 to 6.1 million in 2024. This is the biggest drop ever, despite government efforts to encourage young couples to marry and have children. The birth rate remains a major concern for Beijing: some 300 million Chinese, a figure almost equal to the entire population of the United States, are expected to retire in the next decade.

RUSSIA - NORTH KOREA

North Korea plans to produce several types of drones in cooperation with Russia, a Japanese broadcaster reported, confirming rumours that had been circulating for some time. This is an exchange part of the agreement between Pyongyang and Moca, the same under which tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers were sent to fight in Ukraine. According to Japanese sources, however, Russia is reluctant to provide support for the development of nuclear weapons to North Korea.

RUSSIA

According to calculations by the Russian Academy for People's Economy, 10% of the relokanty, the Russians who fled abroad after the beginning of the war, are estimated to have returned to Russia last year, and in 2023, they are estimated at a total of at least 650,000 people, many of whom have changed their state of residence in recent years, and mainly went to Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. State propaganda states that ‘more than half of them’ have returned.

SOUTH KOREA - TAJIKISTAN

South Korea's Centre for Vocational Education has opened preparatory courses in Tajikistan to encourage skilled labour migration, with comprehensive programmes not only on language and basic information on the various professions, but also on Korean traditions and culture, culminating in the Employment Permit System exam that allows people to obtain a work visa to travel to Seoul.

BANGLADESH

Bangladeshi security forces arrested more than 1,300 people as part of an operation called ‘devil hunt ’ launched by the interim government in response to unrest in recent days among students and supporters of the former premier. Most of those arrested are people who belonged to the Awami League, the party of former Prime Minister Hasina. The government's home affairs adviser said that the operation will not stop until all ‘devils’ are caught.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka's Energy Minister blamed a monkey for the nationwide blackout that occurred across the island yesterday. ‘A monkey made contact with the transformer of our grid, causing an imbalance in the system,’ Kumara Jayakody told reporters. Local newspapers and several users on social media mocked the claims and recalled that engineers had been recommending upgrading the country's electricity infrastructure for years.

GAZA - USA

US President Donald Trump yesterday reiterated the controversial proposal to consider Gaza a ‘major real estate site’, the redevelopment of which could fall to other Middle Eastern countries. ‘But we are committed to taking possession of it, taking it and making sure that Hamas doesn't go back. There is nothing to go back to. The place is a demolition site,' he continued. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's proposal, calling it ‘revolutionary’ and ‘creative’.

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