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.”
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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