• WFP estimates 17 million Afghans face acute hunger.
• Winter shuts work opportunities as need rises sharply.
• WFP says 3 million more face acute hunger.

KABUL: In the dull glow of a single bulb lighting their tent on the outskirts of Kabul, Samiullah and his wife Bibi Rehana sit down to dry bread and tea, their only meal of the day, accompanied by their five children and three-month-old grandchild.

“We have reached a point where we are content with death,” said 55-year-old Samiullah, whose family, including two older sons aged 18 and 20 and their wives, is among the millions deported by neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in the past year.

“Day by day, things are getting worse,” he added, after their return to a war-torn nation where the United Nations’ World Food Programme estimates 17 million battle acute hunger after massive cuts in international aid.

“Whatever happens to us has happened, but at least our children’s lives should be better.”

Samiullah said his family went virtually overnight from its modest home in Iran to their makeshift tent, partially propped up by rocks and rubble, after a raid by Iranian authorities led to their arrests and then deportation.

They salvaged a few belongings but were not able to carry out all their savings, which would have carried them through the winter, Samiullah added.

Reuters was unable to reach authorities in Iran for comment.

“Migrants who are newly returning to the country receive assistance as much as possible,” said Afghan administration spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, in areas from transport to housing, healthcare and food.

It was impossible to eradicate poverty quickly in a country that suffered 40 years of conflict and the loss of all its revenue and resources, he added in a statement, despite an extensive rebuilding effort.

“Economic programmes take time and do not have an immediate impact on people’s lives.”

The WFP says Pakistan and Iran have expelled more than 2.5 million Afghans in massive repatriation programmes.

Islamabad accelerated deportations amid accusations that the Taliban was harbouring militants responsible for cross-border attacks on Pakistani soil.

Tehran ramped up deportations last year amid a flurry of accusations that they were spying for Israel. Authorities blamed the expulsions on concerns about security and resources.

No income, no aid

As winter spreads across Afghanistan’s arid landscape, work opportunities have dried up, while the wave of returning Afghans has swelled the population by a tenth, said John Aylieff, the WFP’s country director.

Cuts to global programmes since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House have sapped the resources of organisations such as the WFP, while other donor countries have also scaled back, putting millions at risk worldwide.

“Last year was the biggest malnutrition surge ever recorded in Afghanistan and sadly the prediction is that it’s going to get worse,” added Aylieff, estimating that 200,000 more children would suffer acute malnourishment in 2026.

At the WFP’s aid distribution site in Bamiyan, about 180 km (111 miles) from Kabul, the capital, are stacks of rice bags and jugs of palm oil, while wheelbarrows trundle in more food, but it is still too little for the long queues of people.

“I am forced to manage the winter with these supplies; sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t,” said Zahra Ahmadi, 50, a widowed mother of eight daughters, as she received aid for the first time.

‘Life never remains the same’

At the Qasaba Clinic in the capital, mothers soothed their children during the wait for medicine and supplements.

“Compared to the time when there were no migrants, the number of our patients has now doubled,” said Dr Rabia Rahimi Yadgari.

The clinic treats about 30 cases of malnutrition each day but the supplements are not sufficient to sustain the families, who previously relied on WFP aid and hospital support, she said.

Laila, 30, said her son, Abdul Rahman, showed signs of recovery after taking the supplements.

“But after some time, he loses the weight again,” she said.

After the Taliban takeover, she said, “My husband lost his (government) job, and gradually our economic situation collapsed. Life never remains the same.”

The United States led a hasty withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan in July 2021, after 20 years of war against the Taliban, opening the doors for the Afghan Taliban to take control of Kabul.

As dusk gathers and the temperature falls, Samiullah brings in firewood and Bibi Rehama lights a stove for warmth.

“At night, when it gets very cold, my children say, ‘Father, I’m cold, I’m freezing.’ I hold them in my arms and say, ‘It’s OK.’ What choice do we have?” Samiullah said.

“(When) I worked in Iran, at least I could provide a full meal. Here, there is neither work nor livelihood.”

• Germany, France declare Trump’s tariff as “blackmail”.
• Greenland is “democratic society” with right to make decisions: PM.
• Current tariff deal with US would be put on hold: French FM.
  

Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel, the US president said in comments published on Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland.

Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory.

German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by Trump to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic Island, and said on Monday that Europe was preparing trade countermeasures.

The European Union said it was holding an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority is to “engage not escalate” it is ready to act if needed.

Greenland, for its part, said the tariffs threat does not change its desire to assert its own sovereignty.

“We will not be pressured,” Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.

But Trump had earlier doubled down, announcing in a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that the world “is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”.

The message — published on Monday and whose authenticity was confirmed to AFP by Store’s office — also saw Trump brush aside peace as a primary goal.

“I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” he said, citing his failure to win the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite openly coveting it.

He said although peace would still be “predominant,” he could “now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

Store said the statement had been received in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to Trump’s tariff threats.

Store also underlined that the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded by the Norwegian government.

“I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” he said in a written statement.

Russia, China threat? 

Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for “national security”, despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with fellow Nato ally Denmark.

“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” Trump said in his message to the Norwegian premier, doubling down on that sentiment in a post to Truth Social on Monday.

Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Monday steps had already been taken along with Nato allies to “increase military presence and training activity in the Arctic and the North Atlantic”.

Lund Poulsen added that he and Greenlandic foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt would be meeting with Nato chief Mark Rutte later on Monday.

‘Blackmail’

This weekend, Trump said that from February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10% tariff on all goods sent to the United States — a duty which could go higher.

Germany’s vice chancellor Lars Klingbeil slammed the move as blackmail, and said Monday that Europe was preparing countermeasures.

French finance minister Roland Lescure, speaking at a press conference alongside Kingbeil, agreed.

“Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” Lecurse said.

Klingbeil said Europe’s response could have three main strands.

First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold, he said.

Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force.

And thirdly the EU should consider using its toolbox of instruments against “economic blackmail”, he added.

Europe’s stock markets fell as the week’s trading began on Monday, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning that a “trade war is in no one’s interest”.

Greenland — whose tiny population of 57,000 has voiced disquiet at Trump’s threats — continued to make its preferences clear on Monday.

Greenland’s dogsled federation said that the new US special envoy to the Arctic island had been disinvited to its annual race.

Jeff Landry had been invited to attend the race by a private Greenlandic tour operator, an invite the KNQK federation has previously called “totally inappropriate”.

BEIJING: China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birthrate plunged to a record low, official data showed on Monday, with experts warning of further decline.

The country’s population dropped by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion, a faster decline than 2024, while the total number of births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025, down 17% from 9.54 million in 2024. The number of deaths rose to 11.31 million from 10.93 million in 2024, figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

China’s birth rate dropped to 5.63 per 1,000 people.

Births in 2025 were “roughly the same level as in 1738, when China’s population was only about 150 million,” said Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

China’s death rate of 8.04 per 1,000 people in 2025 was the highest since 1968.

China’s population has been shrinking since 2022 and is ageing rapidly, complicating Beijing’s plan to boost domestic consumption and rein in debt.

The number of people aged over 60 years old reached around 23% of total population, the NBS data showed. By 2035 the number of over-60s is set to hit 400 million – roughly equal to the populations of the United States and Italy combined – meaning hundreds of millions of people are set to leave the workforce at a time when pension budgets are already stretched. China has already increased retirement ages, with men now expected to work until they are 63 rather than 60, and women until they are 58 rather than 55.

Long shadow of one-child policy

Marriages in China plunged by a fifth in 2024, the biggest drop on record, with more than 6.1 million couples registering for marriage, down from 7.68 million in 2023.

Marriages are typically a leading indicator for birth rates in China.

Demographers say a decision in May 2025 to allow couples to marry anywhere in the country rather than only their place of residence is likely to lead to a temporary boost to births.

Marriages rose 22.5% from a year earlier to 1.61 million in the third quarter of 2025, putting China on course to halt an almost decade-long annual decline in marriages.Full data for 2025 will be released later this year.

Authorities are also trying to promote “positive views on marriage and childbearing” as they try to undo the influence of the one-child policy that was in force from 1980 to 2015 helping to tackle poverty, but reshaping Chinese families and society.

Population key issue in economic strategy

Population movement has exacerbated the demographic challenge with large numbers of people moving from rural farms to the city, where having children is more expensive.

China’s urbanisation rate stood at 68% in 2025, the data showed, from about 43% in 2005.

Policymakers have made population planning a key part of the country’s economic strategy and this year Beijing faces a total potential cost of around 180 billion yuan ($25.8 billion) to boost births, according to Reuters estimates.

Key costs are the national child subsidy, which was introduced for the first time last year, as well as a pledge that women throughout pregnancy have “no out-of-pocket expenses” in 2026, with all medical costs, including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), fully reimbursable under its national medical insurance fund.

China has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at around 1 birth per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement rate. Other East Asian economies including Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore have similarly low levels of fertility at around 1.1 births per woman.

China’s pool of women of reproductive age, defined by the UN as women aged from 15 to 49 years old, is set to drop by more than two-thirds to less than 100 million by the end of the century.