CHINA
Marriage registrations drop
The government, which has been releasing a slew of measures to bolster the nation’s sagging population levels, recorded a drop in marriage registrations for the first nine months of this year, official data released on Friday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. For the first three quarters of the year, 4.747 million couples were registered nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 943,000, a Reuters calculation of the data showed. Last year, 5.690 million marriage registrations were recorded for the first nine months, an increase from 2022. Growing economic uncertainty and rising living costs across the country have forced many young couples to delay marriage, a troubling sign for lawmakers who have been pushing policies to boost a shrinking population.
COLOMBIA
No species deal at COP16
The world’s biggest nature conservation conference closed in Cali on Saturday with no agreement on a plan to ramp up funding for species protection. With other successes under its belt, the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity was suspended by its president, Susana Muhamad, as negotiations ran almost 12 hours longer than planned and delegates started leaving to catch flights. The exodus left the summit without a quorum for decisionmaking, but convention spokesman David Ainsworth said it would resume later to consider outstanding issues. “We will continue working because this crisis is too big and we cannot stop,” Muhamad said, after declaring the Cali event closed.
EGYPT
Tomb unearthed in Luxor
Archeologists from Egypt and the US unearthed an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials near the famed city of Luxor, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement on Friday. The tomb, which dates back to the Middle Kingdom (1938 BC to 1630 BC), was found in the South Asasif necropolis, next to the Temple of Hatshepsut on the Nile’s West Bank in Luxor. The joint Egyptian-US mission excavating the necropolis found coffins for men, women and children, suggesting that it was a family tomb used for generations during the 12th Dynasty and the beginning of the 13th Dynasty, Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mohamed Ismail Khaled said, Items such as jewelry were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads and two cylindrical agate beads framing a hippo-head amulet, the statement said.
MEXICO
Leader of saint cult killed
A local leader of folk saint cult “La Santa Muerte” was gunned down at an altar to the skeletal figure late on Friday, authorities said. Two other people were killed and eight injured in the attack in the city of Leon in Guanajuato state, they added. The saint is often worshipped by convicts, drug addicts and criminals, along with other people who feel excluded or are experiencing difficulties in life. The saint, who is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, is usually depicted as a female skeleton, and is supposed to protect her followers from death. That did not work for “La Madrina Chayo,” a woman considered a leader of the cult in Guanajuato. Prosecutors did not give her real name, in keeping with law, but the nickname “La Madrina Chayo” was used by a faith healer also known as “Chayito.” She, another woman and a boy were shot dead as they prepared the annual Santa Muerte celebration.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
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