China said on Thursday it would build a “childbirth-friendly society” in the next five years, pledging to address concerns over employment, education, medical care, health and income, according to an official government report.

Authorities will improve population services and respond proactively on ageing, including “promoting high-quality, full employment, improving the income distribution system, and refining the social security system.”

They will also foster “positive attitudes towards marriage and childbearing,” the report said, adding that it would boost housing support for families with children.

China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, as the birth rate plunged to a record low, official data showed in January, with experts warning of further decline.

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.

Authorities will continue to implement the childcare subsidy system and expand demonstrations and trials for subsidised childcare services, the report said, without giving further details.

Services for women in early stages of pregnancy as well as reproductive health would be improved while authorities aimed to better prevent and treat birth defects.

Authorities will also refine policies on free preschool education and increase the supply of regular senior secondary school places, with government spending on education mandated to be higher than 4% of GDP, the report said.

Developing the ‘silver economy’

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

New policies will be introduced to promote “high-quality development of the silver economy”, targeted at those aged 60 and older, with elderly care services to be increased, particularly in rural areas, the report said.

Authorities will also draw up measures to refine supportive policies designed for seniors including pension finance, wellness and care, it said.

By 2035, the number of Chinese over-60s is set to hit 400 million – roughly equal to the populations of the US 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.

• Voting to run from 7am to 5pm local time, counting to follow.
• Nepal faces political instability, economic issues and corruption.
• Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Balendra Shah gains youth support.
  

KATHMANDU: Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests and the deaths of 77 people forced Nepal’s then prime minister to quit, people began voting on Thursday in a general election that will choose a new parliament in the Himalayan nation.

Perched between China and India, the country of 30 million people has been plagued for decades by political instability, crippling a largely agrarian economy and worsening unemployment — structural issues compounded by rampant corruption.

The long-festering malaise erupted into street demonstrations last September, triggered by a social media ban, that brought thousands on the streets, leading to clashes and fatalities that forced the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

On Thursday, voters flocked to schools, temples, and ancient courtyards that have been converted into polling booths across the country, with some braving the morning chill in the capital Kathmandu to vote early.

Voting started at 7am local time (0115 GMT) and will close at 5pm, with counting scheduled to start soon after, according to the country’s election commission.

Officials said more than 300,000 security personnel, including the military, had been deployed to ensure peaceful voting in the more than 23,000 polling booths across the country.

Oli, who leads the moderate Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist, UML), is once again in the fray, along with more than 3,400 other candidates from 65 parties.

They include the country’s oldest party, the Nepali Congress led by 49-year-old Gagan Thapa, and the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) comprising former Maoist insurgents who joined mainstream politics.

Together with UML, these parties have dominated Nepali politics for the last three decades, although the country has seen 32 government changes in the past 35 years.

But the frontrunner for these polls is the three-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which has fielded the charismatic rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah as its prime ministerial candidate.

The 35-year-old former mayor of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu is drawing large crowds, connecting with legions of young voters clamouring for change on the ground and online, even as he takes on Oli, 74, on his home turf in the Jhapa constituency along the Indian border.

Jobs, corruption, main issues

In Jhapa, Menuka Chauhan,70, standing in line for more than 40 minutes at a polling booth, said she was worried about her son, who was working in Qatar as a security guard, as tensions in the Middle East escalated.

“I can’t sleep at night. I worry all the time. My son tells me bombs keep dropping there. I wish there were employment opportunities here,” she said.

Promises of jobs, reining in corruption, and improving governance — all demands raised during the September protests — have dominated much of the election campaign.

“The election is critical to address the aspirations of the youths expressed during the Gen Z protests,” said political analyst Puranjan Acharya.

“If the newly elected leaders are seen as unfit to do so, there is a risk of further trouble.”

Some 19 million voters are eligible to cast their ballot for 275 members of parliament through a mixed electoral system — 165 seats in direct first-past-the-post elections and 110 through proportional representation.

Early trends are likely to emerge by Friday but complete results could take a week or more as counting of proportional representation votes would take time, election commission officials said.

“Voting is not just about sending someone to victory,” Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who took over after Oli, said in a public broadcast this week.

“It’s a decision you make about your future and that of your children.”

WASHINGTON: The United States Senate has rejected a resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military strikes against Iran.

The bipartisan measure, introduced by Tim Kaine and Rand Paul, sought to require the withdrawal of US forces from hostilities with Iran unless Congress formally authorized the campaign.

However, the resolution failed in a 53–47 vote, reflecting strong support from Republican lawmakers for the president’s military actions.

Debate Over War Powers

Democratic lawmakers argued that the president had bypassed Congress by ordering airstrikes on Iran without prior authorization.

Senator Tim Kaine said that classified briefings provided to lawmakers did not present evidence of an imminent threat from Iran to the United States.

Republicans, meanwhile, defended the military action, saying Iran had long posed a threat to US forces and interests in the region.

Growing Conflict in the Middle East

The vote comes amid an escalating conflict following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region.

The conflict has already resulted in the deaths of senior Iranian officials, including Ali Khamenei, and casualties among US troops stationed in the Middle East.

War Powers Act

The resolution invoked the War Powers Resolution, a law passed after the Vietnam War to limit the president’s ability to conduct military operations without congressional approval.

Even if the measure had passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives, President Trump could have vetoed it, requiring a two-thirds majority.