only 770 thousand newborns in 2022

Other news of the day: rail disaster in Orissa with hundreds of deaths. On the (cancelled) anniversary of Tiananmen, the Hong Kong bishop said: “In a certain place in Beijing that evokes sadness, I prayed for lives sadly cut short.” At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Indonesia presented its peace plan for Ukraine. Kazakhstan recovers part of the capital that the Nazarbaev family took out of the country.

INDIA

In what appears to be the worst rail accident in recent history in India, there are nearly 300 confirmed dead and nearly 1,000 injured. The Bengaluru-Howrah Express high-speed train collided with a freight train near Bahanaga station in Orissa’s Balasore district. Many passengers were trapped in the overturned carriages of the high-speed train.

JAPAN

In Japan, only 770,747 babies were born in 2022. This is the lowest number since 1899, when nationwide registration began. The birth rate also hit a record low, falling to 1.2565, well below the 2.07 rate considered necessary to maintain a stable population. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made the country’s birth rate a top priority and his government, despite high levels of debt, plans to allocate 3.5 trillion yen (23.3 billion euros) a year to childcare and support measures for parents.

HONG KONG

In an article published in the diocesan Sunday Examiner to coincide with the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown, Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan implied that during his recent trip to Beijing he prayed for the dead in Tiananmen Square. (although without expressly naming the place of the massacre 34 years ago). “A certain place in the city has inevitably evoked memories and sadness in me. What I was able to do at that time was offer my prayers for all those whose lives were sadly cut short.” The National Security Law prohibits commemorations that were held every year on June 4.

INDONESIA-RUSSIA-UKRAINE

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has proposed a peace plan for the war in Ukraine that sets up a demilitarized zone and a UN referendum on what he calls “disputed territories.” The proposal was presented in Singapore before defense ministry delegations from around the world gathered for the Shangri-La Dialogue. Last year Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Moscow and kyiv in his capacity as chair of the G20.

IRAN-SAUDI ARABIA-UAE

The foreign ministers of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates attended the BRICS summit in Cape Town, the cooperation organization that brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and is trying to expand its influence. Last year Iran applied to become an observer state. For its part, Saudi Arabia is in talks to become part of the BRICS financing bank, the New Development Bank, which is considered a counterweight to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan’s anti-corruption agency announced that it has recovered for the State Treasury the sum of 14 million euros, illegally transferred to the United Arab Emirates by the nephew of former President Nazarbaev, Kayrat Satybalda, against whom investigations continue, along with all the people associated with it.

RUSSIA-CHINA

In Russia there is a severe shortage of IT specialists, many of whom fled their country when the war began, and are now hiring replacements from China. Bulat Rakhimberdiev, director of “Kama”, a company in the sector, explained that “the Chinese are far ahead of us in terms of preparation and operability.”