INTERNACIONAL
China’s ‘condom tax’ sparks backlash as Beijing struggles to reverse population collapse
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China will begin charging a 13% value-added tax on contraceptives starting Jan. 1 while exempting childcare services from the same tax, a move authorities say is part of a broader effort to boost births as the country faces a sustained population decline, according to the BBC and The Associated Press.
The tax overhaul, announced late last year, removes exemptions that had been in place since 1994, when China was still enforcing its decades-long one-child policy.
Alongside the new tax on contraceptives such as condoms and birth control pills, the Chinese government is exempting childcare, marriage-related services and elderly care from the value-added tax (VAT), the BBC reported.
Beijing has been pressing young people to marry and have children as it grapples with an aging population and a sluggish economy. Official figures show China’s population has shrunk for three consecutive years with about 9.54 million babies born in 2024.
WHY GEN Z DOESN’T WANT TO HAVE KIDS
A caregiver carries a baby in a woven basket in China as the government rolls out new tax and social policies aimed at encouraging families to have more children amid a population decline. (Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
That figure is roughly half the number of births recorded a decade earlier, when China began easing limits on family size, according to national statistics cited by the BBC and the AP.
China’s population pressures have been mounting for years. Births fell from about 14.7 million in 2019 to roughly 9.5 million in 2024. In 2023, India officially overtook China as the world’s most populous country.
The new tax on contraceptives has drawn ridicule and concern inside China. On social media, some users joked about stockpiling condoms before prices rise, while others argued that the cost of contraception is insignificant compared with the expense of raising a child, the BBC reported.
«I have one child, and I don’t want any more,» Daniel Luo, a 36-year-old resident of Henan province, told the BBC. He said the price increase would not change his family plans, comparing it to small hikes in subway fares that do not alter daily behavior.
Others worry the policy could have unintended consequences. Rosy Zhao, who lives in the central city of Xi’an, told the BBC making contraception more expensive could lead students or people under financial strain to take risks. She called that the policy’s most dangerous potential outcome.
A SOLUTION TO THE HOUSING AFFORDABILITY PROBLEM: MARRIAGE
China reversed its controversial one-child policy in 2015. (Adek Berry)
Health experts echoed those concerns in interviews with the AP, warning that higher prices could reduce access to contraception and contribute to more unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. China recorded more than 670,000 cases of syphilis and over 100,000 cases of gonorrhea in 2024, according to data from the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration.
China has also reported some of the highest abortion numbers in the world. Between 2014 and 2021, authorities recorded between 9 million and 10 million abortions annually, according to the National Health Commission. China stopped publishing abortion data in 2022.
Demographers and policy analysts remain skeptical that taxing contraceptives will meaningfully raise birth rates. Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, told the BBC the idea that higher condom prices would influence fertility decisions amounts to overthinking the policy.
Value-added tax revenue, which totaled close to $1 trillion last year, accounts for about 40% of China’s tax collection, according to figures cited by the BBC.
Henrietta Levin of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) described the move as symbolic, reflecting Beijing’s attempt to lift what she called strikingly low fertility numbers. She also cautioned that many incentives and subsidies depend on provincial governments that are already heavily indebted, raising questions about whether they can fund the measures adequately.
JAPAN REJECTS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE TO SAVE ITSELF FROM DEMOGRAPHIC COLLAPSE
A family of three takes a selfie at a shopping mall in Beijing as the Chinese government weighs options to increase the birth rate. (Yang Yuran/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)
Public health experts interviewed by the AP said the policy could disproportionately affect women, who shoulder most responsibility for birth control in China. Research released by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2022 found condoms are used by about 9% of couples, while 44.2% rely on intrauterine devices and 30.5% on female sterilization. Male sterilization accounts for 4.7%.
Some women say the tax revives resentment toward the government’s long history of involvement in reproductive decisions. The Communist Party enforced the one-child policy from roughly 1980 until 2015 through fines, penalties and, in some cases, forced abortions, according to the AP. Children born outside the policy were sometimes denied household registration, effectively rendering them non-citizens.
«It is a disciplinary tactic, a management of women’s bodies and my sexual desire,» Zou Xuan, a 32-year-old teacher in Jiangxi province, told the AP.
Concerns about further state intrusion have also surfaced in recent months. The BBC reported that women in some provinces have received calls from local officials asking about menstrual cycles and pregnancy plans. A health bureau in Yunnan province said the information was needed to identify expectant mothers, a move critics say risks alienating the very families Beijing hopes to encourage.
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Levin warned that such approaches could damage public trust. She told the BBC, «The [Communist] party can’t help but insert itself into every decision that it cares about. So, it ends up being its own worst enemy in some ways.»
While the government is adjusting policies once used to limit population growth, experts caution that reversing decades-long demographic trends will be much more difficult than increasing prices at the checkout counter, especially after years of policies that shaped whether families could have children.
china,reproductive health,family general,asia world regions,world
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Mexico’s most-wanted fentanyl kingpin, «El Mencho,» was captured and killed Sunday after authorities tracked his romantic partner to a secret rendezvous location over the weekend, Mexican officials revealed Monday.
The operation reportedly began Feb. 20, targeting Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho.» He carried a $15 million U.S. bounty and rose to power following the arrest of Joaquín «El Chapo» Guzmán, the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said during a news conference that military intelligence identified and located a trusted courier or guard connected to one of Oseguera Cervantes’s romantic partners.
The associate then transported the partner to a designated cabin for an overnight meeting with «El Mencho.»
A mughsot of Ruben «Nemesio» Oseguera Cervantes, known as «El Mencho,» beside graffiti depicting the letters of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, covering the facade of an abandoned home in El Limoncito, in the Michoacan state of Mexico. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images; Drug Enforcement Administration)
«On February 20, through central military intelligence work, a man of trust of one of El Mencho’s romantic partners was located, who took her to a facility in the town of Tapalpa, Jalisco,» Trevilla Trejo said.
The following day, the partner left the property, but intelligence confirmed that Oseguera Cervantes remained behind with a small security detail, prompting authorities, including Army Special Forces and the National Guard’s Immediate Reaction Force, to carry out the operation.
Security forces reportedly raided the private property after aerial surveillance spotted Oseguera Cervantes’ inner circle openly carrying illegal high-caliber weapons, including rocket launchers and long guns.
A worker sorts freshly printed copies of the newspaper PM bearing the headline «U.S. mapped ‘El Mencho’ and Mexico delivered the final blow, Caught between two fires,» following the killing of drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as ‘El Mencho,’ in a military operation, Sunday, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico,. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)
During the confrontation, Oseguera Cervantes’ security detail reportedly fired «very violently» on military personnel, triggering Special Forces to engage the attackers. Officials said eight criminals were killed in the initial phase — correcting earlier reports of four — and two military personnel were also wounded.
CARTELS OUTGUN POLICE: ROCKET LAUNCHERS SEIZED IN EL MENCHO RAID SPOTLIGHT CJNG FIREPOWER
Smoke billows from burning vehicles amid a wave of violence, with torched vehicles and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states, following a military operation in which a government source said Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as «El Mencho,» was killed, Sundya, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. (@morelifediares via Instagram/YouTube/via Reuters)
Amid the chaos at the cabins, Oseguera Cervantes and his «close circle» fled into a nearby wooded area, officials said. After soldiers located them «hidden among the brush,» cartel suspects allegedly opened fire on the troops. Military personnel then wounded «El Mencho» and two of his escorts in the shootout, according to Trevilla Trejo.
Military medics determined that Oseguera Cervantes and his two escorts were in critical condition and required immediate evacuation by helicopter. Oseguera Cervantes and his two escorts ultimately died during transport, officials said.
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Authorities noted that 2,500 reinforcements were sent to join the 7,000 already in the state to prevent further violence in the cartel’s retaliation.
Oseguera Cervantes’ capture and subsequent death marks one of Mexico’s most significant blows to drug trafficking and organized crime since President Donald Trump called for intensified crackdowns on cartel violence.
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mexican cartel violence,location mexico,drugs,crime,world
INTERNACIONAL
Liberaron bajo fianza al ex embajador británico en EEUU, Peter Mandelson: permanecerá bajo investigación por conducta indebida
La policía de Londres liberó bajo fianza al ex embajador en Estados Unidos, Peter Mandelson en la madrugada de este martes, en el marco de una investigación sobre sus vínculos con el financista estadounidense Jeffrey Epstein.
El documento oficial informó que Peter Mandelson permanece bajo fianza “y pendiente de posteriores investigaciones”, sin proporcionar detalles adicionales “para no prejuzgar la integridad de esa investigación”.
El arresto de Mandelson, de 72 años, ocurrió días después de la detención del ex príncipe Andrés, ambos implicados en indagaciones sobre conducta indebida en un cargo público relacionadas con documentos recientemente divulgados sobre Epstein.
Mandelson, figura clave en la política británica y ex enviado del Reino Unido a Washington, fue arrestado alrededor de las 17:00 (hora local) del lunes bajo sospecha de mala conducta en un cargo público.
“Un hombre de 72 años arrestado bajo sospecha de mala conducta en un cargo público ha sido puesto en libertad bajo fianza en espera de una mayor investigación”, informó el lunes la policía metropolitana en un comunicado emitido aproximadamente nueve horas después del traslado de Mandelson a una comisaría de Londres.
Imágenes difundidas por la televisión británica mostraron a Mandelson acompañado por un hombre y una mujer al salir de su residencia en el norte de Londres, después de que la policía allanara sus propiedades a principios de mes.
El arresto se produjo pocos días después de la detención de Andrés Mountbatten-Windsor, hermano menor del rey Carlos III, quien fue liberado bajo investigación en una causa separada por mala conducta en un cargo público, también relacionada con los nuevos documentos sobre Epstein.
Mandelson está siendo investigado por presuntamente haber enviado documentos confidenciales a Epstein durante su gestión como ministro del gobierno, incluso en el contexto de la crisis financiera de 2008. Hasta el momento, la policía no detalló cuáles documentos forman parte de la investigación.
En septiembre pasado, el primer ministro Keir Starmer removió a Mandelson de su puesto como enviado a Washington, luego de la publicación de documentos que documentaban el alcance de su relación con Epstein. El nombramiento desató una crisis política en Downing Street, provocando la renuncia de dos asesores principales de Starmer.
El primer ministro pidió disculpas a las víctimas de Epstein por la designación de Mandelson y acusó al ex enviado de falsear la información sobre su relación con el financista durante el proceso de selección. “Defenderemos la integridad de la vida pública y haremos todo lo que esté a nuestro alcance y en interés de la justicia para garantizar que se haga efectiva la rendición de cuentas”, expresó Starmer.
La Comisión de Inteligencia y Seguridad del Parlamento revisa actualmente los documentos vinculados al nombramiento de Peter Mandelson, aunque los archivos completos permanecen sin publicar a solicitud de la policía para no interferir con la investigación en curso.
El pasado 8 de febrero, la policía metropolitana informó que agentes del equipo de delitos especializados ejecutaron órdenes de allanamiento en dos direcciones del área de Londres: una en Wiltshire y otra en Camden. Las autoridades señalaron que estos operativos forman parte de la investigación en curso contra Peter Mandelson.
La investigación también examina la posible revelación de hechos sensibles relacionados con el rescate financiero de 500.000 millones de euros que la Eurozona evaluaba en 2010. Durante ese periodo, Peter Mandelson se desempeñaba como ministro en el gobierno encabezado por el ex primer ministro británico Gordon Brown.
El Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos difundió el 30 de enero más de tres millones de archivos vinculados al caso Epstein. Entre los documentos figuran tres pagos a Peter Mandelson de 25.000 dólares cada uno, enviados entre 2003 y 2004 desde cuentas bancarias del multimillonario.
(Con información de AFP)
International,Relations,Diplomacy / Foreign Policy,Europe
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