CNN
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Japan’s estimated child population has shrunk to a record low for the 44th consecutive year, government data showed Sunday. The country is tackling a demographic crisis highlighted by declining birth rates and a rapidly aging population.

The number of children under the age of 14 was 13.66 million as of April 1, a decline of 350,000 from a year ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Communications prior to the national Children’s Day public holiday.

Children account for just 11.1% of Japan’s total population, which was 133.4 million last year, showing a slight decline from the previous year.

In comparison, according to the respective government figures, the proportion of children to the population was around 21.7% in the US in 2023 and 17.1% in China in 2024.

The demographic crisis has become one of Japan’s most pressing issues, and its fertility rate is continuing to decline despite efforts by the government to encourage young people to marry and start a family.

Japan’s Birth Rate – The average number of children born from women in life has been relatively flat at 1.3 in recent years, far below the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population.

For decades, it has also been on a downward trend that has seen the number of deaths overtaken childbirth each year, with the total population shrinking and widespread results in Japan’s labor force, economic, welfare system and social fabric.

In 2024, the country recorded 1.62 million deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. More than twice the number of births. The number of marriages rose slightly, up about 10,000 from the previous year, but remained low, indicating the number of divorces.

Experts say the decline is expected to continue for at least decades, and is somewhat irreversible due to the country’s population structure. Japan is a “ultra-aged” country, with over 20% of its population exceeding 65. It was 133.4 million in 2024, but is expected to decrease to approximately 88 million by 2065.

According to experts, including Japan’s high cost of living, stagnant economy and wages, limited space and the country’s harsh labor culture, there are several factors that explain why a small number of people choose to marry and have children.

Japan has a culture of overwork, which is deeply symbolic. Employees from various sectors report punishments from supervisors and high pressure punishments, leaving many young people of childbirth age to focus on their careers rather than starting a family.

The increased cost of living, worsened by the weak yen, the economic downturn and high inflation rates, and experts say, are contributing to public dissatisfaction.

However, the government is aiming to ease the impact of demographic changes, launch new government agencies, speed up fertility and focus on encouraging marriage. We have launched initiatives such as expanding parenting facilities and providing housing subsidies to parents.

Some of Japan’s neighbors, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, are struggling with population decline, as are some European countries such as Spain and Italy. However, unlike many of their East Asian counterparts, European countries have been much more open to immigrants to alleviate the aging of their society.

Until recently, China was the world’s most populous country, with its population decline for the third year in 2024, with deaths exceeding newborns. India is currently overtaking China in terms of population size.

Correction: The headlines in this article have been revised to under 14 years old.

Nairobi, Kenya
Reuters
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Kenya’s President William Root dodged the shoes thrown at him during a speech about the cost of living, which was the source of public outrage, a video shared on social media shows.

Ruto has been forced to abandon the tax hike and invite opposition members to the cabinet, but remains unhappy in East African countries.

On Sunday at a rally in Migori County in western Kenya, Ruto blocked a flying shoe with his arm, and three videos showed no sign of injury.

“Are you saying we’re cutting fertilizer prices?” he said his shoes bouncing off him, kicking a small cloud of dust.

Home Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said police had arrested the three people, Star newspaper reported.

President George W. Bush is famously threw his shoes on him by Iraqi journalists in 2008 in protest of chaos following the US-led invasion.

Reuters
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Rwanda is in the early stages of discussions to receive deported immigrants from the US, Rwanda’s Olivier Ndunge said on television at the end of Sunday.

Rwanda has recently established itself as a migration destination country that the West wants to remove despite concerns from rights groups that Kigali doesn’t respect some of its most fundamental human rights.

Kigali signed an agreement with the UK in 2022, bringing thousands of asylum seekers from the UK last year before newly elected Prime Minister Kiel Starmer abolished the deal.

“We’re talking with the US,” Nduhungirehe said in an interview with state broadcaster Rwanda TV.

“It’s not yet reached the point where we can say exactly how things go, but discussions are still underway…it’s still in the early stages.”

After the start of the second term in January, US President Donald Trump launched a radical crackdown on immigration and attempted to freeze the resettlement program for US refugees.

His administration is actively promoting illegally expelling immigrants and other non-citizens in the country.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that migrants sent to Rwanda could be returned to the country they fled. Kigali denied the allegations and accused UNHCR of lying.

Last month, the US deported Iraqi refugees who had resettled in Rwanda, according to US officials and internal emails.

The Supreme Court in April temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting groups of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being members of the gang.

London
CNN
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The Trump administration has sent an unmistakable message to Europe. You are yourself.

After three months of dizziness, the White House pledged to reverse decades of American foreign policy, reduce its existence on the continent, pushing to close the Russian war in Ukraine, even if it might mean handing over Russian war in Ukraine to Moscow.

The new reality is something Europe is still adjusting. But the future is no longer hypothetical, 80 years after the US and European allies were forced to surrender Nazi Germany, when the continent is neglected to protect itself from the threat of Russia.

“Europe has lived in a situation where peace is the norm, and it appears that peace has been provided free of charge,” former Italian government minister Roberto Chingolani, now the chief executive of European defense giant Leonardo, told CNN during a recent visit to the company’s headquarters in northern Italy.

“Now, all of a sudden, after the Ukrainian invasion, we realize that we must protect peace.”

In the states of NATO members in Europe, a ferocious race is underway to prepare the continent in the case of conflict with Russia. The race wins. Europe boasts an expensive army large enough to at least partially block the hole Washington is threatening to leave.

However, Western European military requires a serious influx of funds and expertise to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

In recent years, the UK, France and Germany have put money into older troops after a plateau of spending in the mid-2010s.

But it could take years before these funding impacts feel at the forefront. Since the end of the Cold War, the number of troops, weapons and military preparations have faded in Western Europe. “The high levels of attrition in the Ukrainian war painfully highlights the current shortcomings of European countries,” the London-based think tank, the Institute for International Strategy, wrote in a dull review of the European military last year.

Countries near the Russian border are moving faster. The Trump administration has welcomed Poland as a self-sufficient paragon. “We consider Poland to be an ally in the continental model. We are willing to invest not only in their defenses, but in our shared defenses and in our continental defense,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegses said in Warsaw at the first two-sided European meetings of Trump’s second term.

However, the rapid escalation in Poland’s defence spending has something to do with generations of tensions with Russia than with Trump’s desire to acquire a place in the good bounty of Trump. Warsaw and Washington are in conflict in Ukraine. Poland has been warning of the threat posed by Russia to Europe for many years, and has been a solid supporter of its neighbours in protecting its territory from Putin’s progress.

Congress reports that the US has stationed troops in Europe since the end of the Cold War, and their numbers have increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion, reaching around 80,000 last year. But the deployment is still far smaller than the height of the Cold War, where nearly half a million Americans were stationed in Europe.

For decades, American foreign policy has emphasized the importance of developing its own deployments, not just European security. Continental troops provide forward defense, support alliance training, and manage nuclear warheads.

Now, the future of these developments is not clear. While European leaders publicly urged Washington not to cut numbers, Trump, Hegus and Vice President JD Vance all revealed their intention to strengthen the US military stance in the South China Sea.

Today, most US lands and air bases are located in Germany, Italy and Poland. US bases in Central Europe counter the threat of Russia, but naval and aviation locations in Turkey, Greece and Italy also support missions in the Middle East.

According to the Washington-based European Policy Analysis Centre Think Tank, the location will serve as “an important foundation for NATO operations, local deterrence and global power projection.”

However, the most important deterrent that Europe holds is the nuclear warhead.

At the early stages of the Russian war, President Vladimir Putin repeatedly urged vigilance around the world by suggesting the use of nuclear weapons. The horror settled after the war stuck in the east of Ukraine.

However, nuclear deterrence is a region where Europe is heavily dependent on the United States. The two European countries with nuclear weapons, Britain and France, are only about a tenth of the time between Russian Arsenal. However, the American nuclear war chest is roughly in line with Russia, and dozens of these US warheads are in Europe.