Dushanbe hosts key regional summits amid shifting geopolitical landscape
Dushanbe is preparing for one of its busiest diplomatic weeks in recent memory. From 8 to 12 October, the capital of Tajikistan will host two major in...
Tokyo is adopting a 4-day workweek in a bid to help boost the nation's record-low fertility rates.
In Japan, the most recent data shows the corresponding figure for the average number of babies a woman is expected to have during her reproductive life came in at 1.20 in 2023.
Starting in April, the Tokyo Metropolitan government, one of the country’s largest employers, will allow its employees to work four days a week. Additionally, a new "childcare partial leave" policy will let some employees reduce their workday by two hours. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike stated that the aim is to help parents balance childcare and work.
"We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing," Koike said in a speech during the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly's regular session, the Japan Times reported.
Currently, Tokyo Metropolitan government employees use a flextime system to adjust their working hours, allowing them to take one extra day off every four weeks. This system will be revised to offer one extra day off per week, enabling employees to work four days a week and have the remaining three days off.
Koike also said they will continue to advance initiatives to address shortages in nursery school vacancies and support egg freezing.
Japan's births fell to record low in 2024
The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 720,988 in 2024 for a ninth consecutive year of decline, said the health ministry, underscoring the rapid ageing and dwindling of the population.
Births were down 5% on the year, despite a range of steps unveiled in 2023 by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to boost childbearing, while a record number of 1.62 million deaths meant that more than two people died for every new baby born.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba noted the rise in the number of marriages.
"We need to be aware the trend of falling births has not been arrested. But the number of marriages posted an increase. Given close ties between the number of marriages and the number of births, we should focus on this aspect as well," he said.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Gold prices rose above $4,000 an ounce for the first time on Wednesday, fuelled by investor demand for safe-haven assets amid rising geopolitical tensions and expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts.
U.S. shares ended Tuesday in negative territory as investors, cut off from official economic data due to the ongoing government shutdown, looked to alternative indicators and comments from Federal Reserve officials for guidance on economic weakness and monetary policy.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is targeting a $20 billion capital raise linked to Nvidia hardware, Bloomberg News has reported.
Türkiye’s benchmark stock index, the BIST 100, closed Tuesday at 10,814.11 points, up 0.74% from the previous session.
Euro zone finance ministers are set to meet on Thursday to explore ways to boost the development of euro-denominated stablecoins, amid concerns that the fast-growing market could remain dominated by the United States, a senior euro zone official said.
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