Tag - children

 
 

CHILDREN

Children and teachers walk past an electronic screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo on March 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 19, 2024
Japan OKs bill on background checks for work involving children
Once the bill becomes a law, employers will be able to screen prospective employees for past history of sex offenses via the Children and Families Agency.
A Palestinian child waits to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The United Nation's children's agency said on Sunday that many children in Gaza are suffering from severe malnutrition.
WORLD
Mar 18, 2024
UNICEF says over 13,000 children killed in Gaza in Israel offensive
Israel's military assault on Gaza has displaced nearly its entire 2.3 million-person population, caused a starvation crisis, and killed over 31,000 people.
A total of 404 students, including 125 elementary school pupils, were either criminally investigated or placed in protective custody last year.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2024
Japan school bullying cases leading to police probes hit 10-year high
Of the 292 cases, assault was the most common with 102, followed by 60 involving bodily harm and 46 involving suspected sex crimes.
The number of elementary school children who became victims of crimes through social media totaled a record 139 last year in Japan, National Police Agency data showed Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2024
Child victims of social media-related crimes on the rise in Japan
The number of victims has grown fivefold in the past decade.
Shi Pong Hsu, 75, makes coffee in a Singapore coffee shop. The city-state's government projects that almost a quarter of its population will be 65 or over by 2030.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024
Singapore is bracing for a super-aging society
Japan and South Korea may be the poster children for low birthrates, but Singapore is confronting its own decline. Its solution? Bonuses for nurses.
Women and babies at the Zamzam displacement camp, close to El Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan, in January.
WORLD / Society
Mar 9, 2024
Millions of Sudanese go hungry as war disrupts food supply
The number of Sudanese facing emergency levels of hunger — one stage before famine — has more than tripled in a year to almost 5 million.
A Cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Society
Mar 8, 2024
Government OKs bill to introduce joint custody after divorce
The bill would permit either sole custody or joint custody. A family court will intervene if there is a dispute.
Beyond factors such as the "motherhood penalty," Japanese women struggle to advance in their careers due to the structure of the workforce, including the two-tiered clerical versus managerial track.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 6, 2024
Why is it taking so long to break the glass ceiling?
Japan isn't unique in having a thick glass ceiling, but some factors don't apply to other countries, like the U.S., where many more managers are women.
Chai Wanrou at the Daming Palace National Heritage Park, in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China. The 28-year-old is part of a growing movement that envisions a future with no husband and no children.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 7, 2024
More Chinese women choosing singledom as economy stutters
Chinese President Xi Jinping last year stressed the need to "cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing."
A childhood snapshot of Shohei Ohtani and his mother, Kayoko, posted on MLB’s account on social media website X.
BASEBALL
Mar 7, 2024
'Sporting geniuses are made, not born': How to be an all-star sports parent
If you want your child to be a top 1% athlete like Shohei Ohtani, a good place to start is to take a look at what his parents did.
On the amateur circuit, domestic tournaments such as the Dream Girls Cup, which took place in Tokyo last month, have generated significant publicity for youth sumo.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 6, 2024
Sumo's popularity is booming. The recruitment of new pros is not.
Sumo is not immune to the labor shortages plaguing the rest of aging Japan.
Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen amid shortages of supplies in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Society
Mar 6, 2024
Gaza's hungry await aid despite convoy deaths amid dispute over supplies
Only a fraction of the food needed is getting in and very little reaching the northern areas where children are said to have started dying of malnutrition.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of policies related to children, speaks during a Lower House budget committee session on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2024
Japan outlines bill for sex crime record checks by schools
Sex crime records would be checked for people applying to work and also for those who are already working.
School lunch served to children of an elementary school in Miyama, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Monday. A 7-year-old boy died after choking on what is believed to have been a boiled quail egg while having lunch at his school.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2024
Japan issues urgent notice to schools after boy chokes to death
The first grader in the city of Miyama, Fukuoka Prefecture, is believed to have choked on a boiled quail egg contained in a stew served for school lunch.
The number of babies born in Japan in 2023 fell to a record low, government data shows.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024
Japan births hit record low and population down by largest margin in 2023
The 2023 figure declined by 5.1% from the previous year's preliminary total of 799,728, the largest ever margin of decline.
Hiroki Matsubara (right) and Yamato, who has Down syndrome, are pictured in Nara in November. Matsubara founded Migiwa, which aims to protect unwanted babies and help place them with new families through plenary adoption.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024
New families sought for children with disabilities via adoption
The majority of the approximately 50 cases nonprofit Migiwa takes on each year involve children with disabilities.
The ratio of men who took paternity leave stood at 17.1% in a survey for the fiscal year from April 2022, far below the government's 2025 target of 50%.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2024
Japan plans to make firms set and disclose paternity leave targets
Under a planned bill, companies with over 100 employees would have to set and disclose the targets from April 2025.
The European Union plans to investigate TikTok, the video-sharing app owned by China's ByteDance, regarding its possible negative impacts on young people.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024
EU launches probe into TikTok over alleged failure to protect children
Brussels is concerned the video-sharing app may not be doing enough to address negative impacts on young people including from algorithmically fed content.
The government plans to establish a system that allows any child to enroll in day care establishments regardless of whether their parents work or not.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2024
Japan's Cabinet OKs bill on measures to tackle falling birthrate
The bill includes plans to expand child benefits and establish a system allowing any child to enroll in day care establishments.
Pedestrians in Piazza Cordusio in Milan. Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade.
WORLD / Society / ANALYSIS
Feb 16, 2024
How Europe can dodge a birth rate hard landing
Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade, far short of the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world