Tag - children

 
 

CHILDREN

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was against banning abortion, but that terminations were against state interests.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 18, 2023
'Give birth to more soldiers': hard-line Russia turns on abortions
Over the last few months a flurry of regions have rushed to restrict abortions in private clinics, yielding to demands from the Russian Orthodox church.
Low fertility threatens to undermine South Korea’s economic future by shrinking its workforce and slowing consumption.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 14, 2023
South Korea set to see fertility rate fall even further
The country already has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.78 as of 2022.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government meeting on child policies on Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2023
Japan to boost spending on measures to tackle low birthrate
The government will make official a program that will have nursery schools accept children even if both parents do not work, among other measures.
Parents take their children for infusion treatment at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 12, 2023
China’s battle with child pneumonia shows risks of drug resistance
In China nearly 80% of child cases of mycoplasma pneumoniae are resistant to macrolides, compared with under 10% elsewhere.
With the envisioned free university tuition program for families with three or more children, the government hopes to step up its financial assistance to households struggling with education costs.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 7, 2023
Japan plans to make university tuition free for large families
The program will cover households with three or more children from fiscal 2025.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks during a Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly meeting on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 6, 2023
Tokyo aims to make high school tuition free of charge for all
For families in the capital with an annual income of less than ¥9.1 million, current financial aid essentially makes high school tuition free.
A girl walks among bags and mattresses as Eastern European migrants wait to temporarily settle in a locale in Decines, France, in 2015. Some of the world's richest countries saw a sharp rise in child poverty from 2014 to 2021, according to a UNICEF report.
WORLD / Society
Dec 6, 2023
1 in 5 children in rich countries lives in poverty, UNICEF says
Report shows that the biggest setbacks since 2012 were in some of the wealthier nations, including Britain and France where rates increased.
Gender-neutral names were more popular for Japanese babies born in 2023, a survey has found.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 5, 2023
Popularity of gender-neutral Japanese names rose in 2023
The annual ranking by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, released Monday, showed that unisex names have risen in popularity.
Yuuki Matsumoto, formerly Yuni, at his residence in Yokohama on Aug. 24. Japanese children with unconventional names can face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Matsumoto, 24, was bullied over his name to the extent he dropped out of school, and had it legally  changed this year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2023
Unusual names can complicate life in Japan. Now parents are being reined in.
As such names have increased, so has attention to cases of people unhappy with them. But critics say new rules may infringe on the right to be creative.
"Changes in environment surrounding schoolchildren, such as increases in the amount of time spent using smartphones at home, can be considered as a cause" of poor eyesight, an official of the education ministry said.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 28, 2023
Record number of Japanese children have poor eyesight, survey says
The proportion of elementary, junior high and high school students with less-than-normal visual acuity have reached record highs.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of child policies. A group of children of Jehovah’s Witnesses have submitted a report to the Child and Family Agency detailing sexual abuse.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 28, 2023
Children of Jehovah’s Witnesses submit report detailing sexual abuse
The report said that the most common perpetrators of sexual abuse were “rank-and-file witnesses” and “elders.”
A survey found that the number of children newly hospitalized for anorexia nervosa in Japan came to 183 in fiscal 2022, up around 60% from fiscal 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 24, 2023
Anorexia in children remained an issue three years into pandemic
Cases in fiscal 2022 were 40% higher than the level in fiscal 2019, before the pandemic.
Relatives, friends and supporters of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel hold placards and images of those taken, during a protest for their release in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.
WORLD / Society
Nov 24, 2023
'You are in a safe place': Israel prepares to embrace hostages
Experts have warned that many hostages held by Palestinian militants could face a long road to recovery.
A website for a lawyers group supporting followers and next of kin over alleged Jehovah's Witnesses abuse
JAPAN / Society
Nov 21, 2023
Many children of Jehovah’s Witnesses experience abuse, Japan report says
Report sheds lights on abuses such as forcing the children to refuse blood transfusions regardless of their situation, and corporal punishment.
Children with their parents pray in a temporary church at a camp for internally displaced people in Demoso township in Myanmar's Kayah state.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Nov 20, 2023
Myanmar's displaced pray and teach under deadly skies
The junta has battered Kayah with airstrikes from its Russian and Chinese-built jets, and more than 100,000 people are now displaced in the state.
Students engage in group work during a class at Ogawara Elementary School in Ogawara, Miyagi Prefecture, in September.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Nov 20, 2023
Small Miyagi town excels in national test amid education reforms
This year the average percentage of correct answers by Ogawara's sixth graders in the National Achievement Test was one of the highest.
A Palestinian medic cares for premature babies evacuated from Shifa hospital to the Emirates hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 20, 2023
Premature babies moved from Shifa hospital amid Gaza carnage
The World Health Organization has described the situation at Gaza's biggest hospital as a "death zone."
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, along with his daughter, walks away from an intercontinental ballistic missile in this undated photo released on Nov. 19, 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 17, 2023
Kim Jong Un’s daughter marks a year as country’s propaganda star
The preservation of the family rule is inextricably tied to the country’s weapons program
Patients and internally displaced people at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday amid ongoing battles between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 15, 2023
Israel raids Gaza's Shifa hospital in operation targeting Hamas
Israel has said that Hamas has a command center underneath Shifa hospital, the biggest in Gaza.
The government aims to have 50% of new fathers take child care leave by 2025 and 85% by 2030.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 13, 2023
Japan panel proposes child care plan covering 100% of income
The 100% allowance would only be offered for up to 28 days, with the amount for any further leave being around 80% of income.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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