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Uganda reports second Ebola death, a 4-year-old, WHO says

KAMPALA, UGANDA — A second Ebola patient, a 4-year-old child, has died in Uganda, the World Health Organization said, citing the country’s health ministry.

The fatality brings the number of confirmed cases in Uganda to 10.

The East African country declared an outbreak of the highly infectious and often fatal hemorrhagic disease in January after the death of a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital of Kampala.

The WHO’s Uganda office posted late on Saturday on X that the ministry had reported “an additional positive case in Mulago hospital of a 4 1/2-year-old child, who tragically passed away” on Tuesday.

Mulago is the country’s sole national referral hospital for Ebola cases.

The ministry said on Feb. 18 that all eight Ebola patients under care had been discharged but that at least 265 contacts remained under strict quarantine in Kampala and two other cities.

Ebola symptoms include fever, headache and muscle pains. The virus is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. 

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‘Bernd das Brot,’ a depressed German loaf of bread, has spent 25 years as a TV cult classic

berlin — Forget SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street and the sourdough starter craze — a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a children’s television program that accidentally became equally popular with adults.  

A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, “Mist!” (Think “Crap!” in English.)  

Played and voiced by puppeteer Jorg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and can’t wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper. This year, his friends — a sheep and a flower bush — are urging him to become a bread influencer.  

Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernd was drawn by Tommy Krappweis, who modeled it after co-creator Norman Coster’s face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, a German children’s public television channel.

Comic artist Georg Graf von Westphalen designed Bernd as a pullman loaf — white bread typically sliced for sandwiches — with short arms and a permanent scowl. Bernd channels German stereotypes with his grumpy disposition, penchant for complaining, and dry sense of humor and irony.  

Bernd’s first episode aired on KiKA in 2000 alongside his more optimistic pals, Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush. 

A reluctant popularity  

Because KiKA is a children’s channel, there was typically dead air from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

On Jan. 1, 2003, the network put Bernd’s short episodes into the night loop for the first time. The move brought an adult audience into Bernd’s world, often those sitting at home and smoking pot, or returning after a long night of partying.  

The night loop cemented his popularity as a German cult classic.  

In 2004, Bernd won the Adolf Grimme Prize, the German television equivalent of an Emmy. The jury said he represents “the right to be in a bad mood.”  

“Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self-irony. And perhaps the most important point is: It’s totally OK if you don’t feel well sometimes. That’s completely fine,” Krappweis said in a KiKA Q&A about Bernd’s anniversary.  

Bernd’s broken heart 

Bernd is depressed for a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the mascot for a bakery’s advertising campaign (that’s how he ended up as a TV presenter, as a last resort).  

But it’s in Episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernd’s broken heart. “A long, long time ago I fell in love with a beautiful, slim baguette. She was so incredibly charming and funny,” Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. 

But unfortunately it was in vain. “She only had eyes for this run-of-the-mill multigrain bread with its 10 types of grain. It was so depressing.”  

The kidnapping 

Despite Bernd’s best efforts — one of his catchphrases is “I would like to leave this show” — the episodes have never become stale. He sings, he dances, he’s been to space. He’s the star of merchandise, a video game and headlines like “Give Us Our Daily Bernd.”  

He was even kidnapped. In 2009, his 2-meter-tall statue was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall in Erfurt, where KiKA is based.  

A claim of responsibility surfaced on YouTube, by sympathizers of a group of demonstrators who were protesting a company that had produced cremation ovens for the Nazis’ Auschwitz extermination camp. The demonstrators, however, denied involvement in Bernd’s kidnapping, and the video was removed from the internet.  

Bernd was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.  

KiKA is honoring Bernd’s 25th anniversary, despite his complaints. New episodes, an update to his hit song, and online activities for kids and adults alike will be featured.  

The celebrations are at hand, as Bernd’s birthday is Feb. 29. The latest series will premiere in September as Bernd, Chili and Briegel launch the social media channel “Better with Bernd” in their efforts to make him into a bread influencer.  

The trio will present inventions to make school, and life, easier for viewers, but naturally their concoctions backfire. Bernd instead becomes a defluencer — and an involuntary trendsetter. 

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Singer Charli XCX wins top prizes at BRIT Awards

LONDON — Singer Charli XCX, whose album Brat inspired a cultural phenomenon last summer, was the big winner at the BRIT Awards, Britain’s pop music honors, in London on Saturday, picking up five prizes.

Brat, which inspired fans to film themselves dancing to its tracks and whose lime green cover look was adopted by U.S. presidential hopeful Kamala Harris’ campaign on social media after the singer referenced her in a post, won the coveted album of the year category.

Charli XCX, who had led nominations, was also named artist of the year and best dance act. Her single Guess, featuring Billie Eilish, won song of the year, beating tracks including the Beatles’ Now and Then. 

The 32-year-old pop star won her first BRIT, songwriter of the year, earlier this week.

“I’ve always felt like an outsider in the industry but particularly in the British music industry and so it feels really nice to be recognized on this album,” she said as she received the album of the year award.

“I would just like to share this with all artists who have ever felt that they need to compromise to be recognized and to have their moment in the sun because I think I’m living proof that maybe it takes a long time, but … you don’t need to compromise your vision.”

Jazz quintet Ezra Collective was named group of the year.

“This moment right here is because of the great youth clubs and great teachers and the great schools that support young people playing music,” drummer Femi Koleoso said in one of several of the night’s acceptance speeches that called for more support for young musicians and grassroots venues.

U.S. singer Chappell Roan won international artist of the year while her track Good Luck, Babe! won international song of the year.

Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter was named as the first international recipient of the global success award, which recognizes artists with “phenomenal global sales,” following in the footsteps of One Direction, Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.

The ceremony also featured a tribute dedicated to late One Direction singer Liam Payne, who died in October after falling from a third-floor hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires, shocking fans of the boy band, one of the most popular of all time. 

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David Johansen, singer from New York Dolls punk band, dies at 75

NEW YORK — David Johansen, the last surviving member of the glam and protopunk band the New York Dolls who later performed as his campy, pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75. 

Johansen died Friday at his home in New York City, according to Rolling Stone, citing a family spokesperson. It was revealed in early 2025 that he had stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor. 

The New York Dolls were forerunners of punk and the band’s style — teased hair, women’s clothes and lots of makeup — inspired the glam movement that took up residence in heavy metal a decade later in bands like Faster Pussycat and Motley Crue. 

“When you’re an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it’s pretty gratifying,” Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011. 

Rolling Stone once called the Dolls “the mutant children of the hydrogen age” and Vogue called them the “darlings of downtown style, tarted-up toughs in boas and heels.” 

“The New York Dolls were more than musicians; they were a phenomenon. They drew on old rock ‘n’ roll, big-city blues, show tunes, the Rolling Stones and girl groups, and that was just for starters,” Bill Bentley wrote in “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen.” 

The band never found commercial success and was torn by internal strife and drug addictions, breaking up after two albums by the middle of the decade. In 2004, former Smiths frontman and Dolls admirer Morrissey convinced Johansen and other surviving members to regroup for the Meltdown Festival in England, leading to three more studio albums. 

In the 1980s, Johansen assumed the persona of Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-styled lounge lizard who had a hit with the kitschy party single “Hot, Hot, Hot” in 1987. He also appeared in such movies as “Candy Mountain,” “Let It Ride,” “Married to the Mob” and had a memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Bill Murray-led hit “Scrooged.” 

Johansen was in 2023 the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” which mixed footage of his two-night stand at the Cafe Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through his wildly varied career and intimate interviews. 

“I used to think about my voice like: ‘What’s it gonna sound like? What’s it going to be when I do this song?’ And I’d get myself into a knot about it,” Johansen told The Associated Press in 2023. “At some point in my life, I decided: ‘Just sing the (expletive) song. With whatever you got.’ To me, I go on stage and whatever mood I’m in, I just claw my way out of it, essentially.” 

David Roger Johansen was born to a large, working-class Catholic family on Staten Island, his father an insurance salesman. He filled notebooks with poems and lyrics as a young man and liked a lot of different music — R&B, Cuban, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding. 

The Dolls — the final original lineup included guitarists Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and drummer Jerry Nolan — rubbed shoulders with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan the early 1970s. 

They took their name from a toy hospital in Manhattan and were expected to take over the throne vacated by the Velvet Underground in the early 1970s. But neither of their first two albums — 1973’s “New York Dolls,” produced by Todd Rundgren, nor “Too Much Too Soon” a year later produced by Shadow Morton — charted. 

“They’re definitely a band to keep both eyes and ears on,” read the review of their debut album in Rolling Stone, complimentary of their “strange combination of high pop-star drag and ruthless street arrogance.” 

Their songs included “Personality Crisis” (“You got it while it was hot/But now frustration and heartache is what you got”), “Looking for a Kiss” (I need a fix and a kiss”) and a “Frankenstein” (Is it a crime/For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?”) 

Their glammed look was meant to embrace fans with a nonjudgmental, noncategorical space. “I just wanted to be very welcoming,” Johansen said in the documentary, “’cause the way this society is, it was set up very strict — straight, gay, vegetarian, whatever… I just kind of wanted to kind of like bring those walls down, have a party kind of thing.” 

Rolling Stone magazine, reviewing their second album, called them “the best hard-rock band in America right now” and called the wiry, gravelly-voiced Johansen a “talented showman, with an amazing ability to bring characters to life as a lyricist.” 

Decades later, the Dolls’ influence would be cherished. Rolling Stone would list their self-titled debut album at Number 301 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing “it’s hard to imagine the Ramones or the Replacements or a thousand other trash-junky bands without them.” 

The Dolls, representing rock at its most debauched, were divisive. In 1973, they won the Creem magazine poll categories as the year’s best and worst new group. They were nominated several times for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but never got in. 

By the end of their first run, the Dolls were being managed by legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren, who would later introduce the Sex Pistols to the Dolls’ music. Culture critic Greil Marcus in “Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century” writes the Dolls played him some of their music and he couldn’t believe how bad they were. 

After the first demise of the Dolls, Johansen started his own group, the David Johansen band, before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter. 

He is survived by his wife, Mara Hennessey, and a stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey. 

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Judge blocks Trump order threatening funding for transgender youth care

SEATTLE — President Donald Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge’s ruling in Seattle late Friday. 

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration — Colorado has since joined the case. 

King’s temporary order expired Friday, and she held arguments that day before issuing a preliminary injunction blocking most of Trump’s plan pending a final decision on the merits of the case. 

The judge found the states lacked standing on one point: the order’s protections against female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is already illegal in the four states that are part of the lawsuit, and the judge said the record “is bereft of any evidence” that the plaintiffs plan to perform such procedures. 

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown praised the ruling. An email message was sent to the White House seeking comment. 

Two of Trump’s executive orders are at issue in the case. 

One, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism,” calls for stripping federal money from programs that “promote gender ideology.” 

The other, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” calls for the federal government to cut off research and educational grants for institutions, including medical schools and hospitals, that provide gender-affirming care to people under age 19. Several hospitals around the country ceased providing care, including puberty blockers and hormone treatments, following the order. 

Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care, and Trump’s “Protecting Children” order suggests that practice could end. It also raises the prospect that medical professionals could be criminally charged for providing gender-affirming care under a law that bans medically unnecessary genital mutilation of underage females — a notion that the states suing Trump call repugnant and legally unsupportable. 

Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth — a condition called gender dysphoria — are far more likely to suffer from severe depression and to kill themselves if they do not receive treatment, which can include evaluation by a team of medical professionals; a social transition, such as changing a hairstyle or pronouns; and eventually puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors. 

In her ruling Friday, the judge said the order was not limited to children or to irreversible treatments and that it doesn’t target medical interventions performed on cisgender children. 

“In fact, its inadequate ‘means-end fit’ would prevent federally funded medical providers from providing necessary medical treatments to transgender youth that are completely unrelated to gender identity,” she wrote. “For example, a cisgender teen could obtain puberty blockers from such a provider as a component of cancer treatment, but a transgender teen with the same cancer care plan could not.” 

In his arguments Friday, Washington Assistant Attorney General William McGinty stressed the urgency of the issue. 

“There are going to be young people who are going to take their lives if they can no longer receive this care,” he said. 

King, the judge in Seattle, grilled Justice Department attorney Vinita Andrapalliyal in court about the meaning and effect of Trump’s executive orders. 

The judge continued to press, saying she was “looking for a legitimate government interest” that would justify Trump’s orders. 

The four Democratic attorneys general suing in Seattle argued that the orders violate equal rights protections, the separation of powers and the states’ right to regulate issues not delegated to the federal government. 

The Trump administration disputed those claims in court filings. “The President’s authority to direct subordinate agencies to implement his agenda, subject to those agencies’ own statutory authorities, is well established,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. 

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2 lunar landings in a week for NASA’s private moon fleet

WASHINGTON — More than 50 years passed between the last Apollo mission and the United States’ return to the lunar surface, when the first private lander touched down last February 2024.

Now, starting Sunday, two more missions are set to follow within a single week, marking a bold push by NASA and its industry partners to make moon landings a routine part of space exploration.

First up is Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”

After launching in January on a 45-day journey, it is targeting touchdown near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the moon’s northeastern near side, at 3:34 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Along the way, it captured stunning footage of the moon, coming as close as 100 kilometers above the surface.

The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, carries 10 instruments, including one to analyze lunar soil, another to test radiation-tolerant computing and a GPS-based navigation system.

Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.

On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence — creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow first documented by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.

Hopping drone

Blue Ghost’s arrival will be followed on March 6 by Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, featuring its lander, Athena.

Last year, Intuitive Machines made history as the first private company to achieve a soft landing on the moon, although the moment was tempered by a mishap.

Coming down too fast, one of the lander’s feet caught on the lunar surface, tipping it over and causing it to rest sideways — limiting its ability to generate solar power and cutting the mission short.

This time, the company says it has made key improvements to the hexagonal-shaped lander, which has a taller, slimmer profile than Blue Ghost and is around the height of an adult giraffe.

Athena launched Wednesday aboard a SpaceX rocket, taking a more direct route toward Mons Mouton — the southernmost lunar landing site ever attempted.

It carries an ambitious set of payloads, including a unique hopping drone designed to explore the moon’s underground passages carved by ancient lava flows, a drill capable of digging 3 feet beneath the surface in search of ice and three rovers.

The largest, about the size of a beagle, will connect to the lander and hopper using a Nokia cellular network in a first-of-its-kind demonstration.

But “Grace,” the hopping drone — named after computing pioneer Grace Hopper — could well steal the show if it succeeds in showing it can navigate the moon’s treacherous terrain in ways no rover can.

NASA’s private moon fleet

Landing on the moon presents unique challenges due to the absence of an atmosphere, making parachutes ineffective. Instead, spacecraft must rely on precisely controlled thruster burns to slow their descent while navigating hazardous terrain.

Until Intuitive Machines’ first successful mission, only five national space agencies had accomplished this feat: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and Japan, in that order.

Now, the United States is working to make private lunar missions routine through NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, a public-private initiative designed to deliver hardware to the surface at a fraction of traditional mission costs.

These missions come at a pivotal moment for NASA amid speculation that it may scale back or even cancel its Artemis lunar program in favor of prioritizing Mars exploration — a key goal of President Donald Trump and his close advisor, SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

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What is Ramadan and how do Muslims observe the Islamic holy month?

CAIRO — Observant Muslims the world over will soon be united in a ritual of daily fasting from dawn to sunset as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan starts.

For Muslims, it’s a time of increased worship, religious reflection, charity and good deeds. Socially, it often brings families and friends together in festive gatherings around meals to break their fast.

Ramadan is followed by the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Ramadan’s religious rituals and spiritual essence unite diverse Muslim communities around the world. The plights of some fellow Muslims and some issues that have resonance beyond borders — including conflicts and political turmoil — can become part of the focus of the month’s prayers, giving or advocacy for many.

This year, Ramadan is approaching as the fragile ceasefire deal — which has paused over 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, which the U.S., the U.K. and other Western countries have designated a terror group — nears the end of its first phase. Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and destroyed vast areas of Gaza.

The war was sparked by an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel in which Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. For some Muslims, Ramadan also comes amid changes in their countries. In the Middle East, for instance, this will be the first Ramadan for Syrians since the Syrian government fell in a stunning end to decades of the Assad family rule.

When is Ramadan? Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar; the month cycles through the seasons. The start of the month traditionally depends on the sighting of the crescent moon. This year, the first day is expected to be on or around March 1. The actual start date may vary among Muslim communities due to declarations by multiple Islamic authorities around the globe on whether the crescent has been sighted or different methodologies used to determine the start of the month.

Why and how do Muslims fast? Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, along with the profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. Muslims see various meanings and lessons in observing the fast. It’s regarded as an act of worship to attain God-conscious piety and one of submission to God.

The devout see benefits including practicing self-restraint, growing closer to God, cultivating gratitude and empathizing with people who are poor and hungry.

The daily fast in Ramadan includes abstaining from all food and drink – not even a sip of water is allowed – from dawn to sunset before breaking the fast in a meal known as “iftar” in Arabic.

Those fasting are expected to also refrain from bad deeds, such as gossiping, and to increase good deeds.

Muslims typically stream into mosques for congregational prayers and dedicate more time for religious contemplation and the reading of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Charity is a hallmark of Ramadan.

Among other ways of giving, many seek to provide iftar for those in need, distributing Ramadan boxes filled with pantry staples, handing out warm meals alongside such things as dates and juice or helping hold free communal meals. Muslims eat a pre-dawn meal, called “suhoor,” to hydrate and nurture their bodies ahead of the daily fast.

Are there exemptions from fasting? Yes. There are certain exemptions from fasting, such as for those who are unable to because of illness or travel. Those unable to fast due to being temporarily ill or traveling need to make up for the missed days of fasting later.

What are some cultural and social traditions associated with Ramadan? Muslims are ethnically and racially diverse and not all Ramadan traditions are rooted in religion. Some customs may transcend borders, while others can differ across cultures.

Many social rituals center on gathering and socializing after the daily fast. Some Muslims decorate their homes, put out Ramadan-themed tableware and centerpieces or throng to markets and Ramadan bazaars.

In Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, Ramadan is typically a festive time. Colorful lanterns, in different shapes and sizes, dangle from children’s hands and adorn homes or the entrances of buildings and stores. Ramadan songs may be played to welcome the month.

Ramadan’s soundscape in Egypt has traditionally included the pre-dawn banging on drums by a “mesaharati” who roams neighborhoods, calling out to the faithful, sometimes by name, to awake them for the suhoor meal.

New tv shows, communal meals

A lineup of new television series is another fixture of the month in some countries, and advertisers compete for the attention of viewers.

In various regions, some Muslims worry that the month is being commercialized, and that an emphasis on decorations, TV shows, outings or lavish iftar banquets, especially in the social media era, can detract from Ramadan’s religious essence.

Others feel that a balance can be struck and that, done in moderation, such rituals are part of the month’s festive spirit.

In Indonesia, some Ramadan rituals vary across regions, reflecting the diversity of local cultures.

People in Indonesia’s deeply conservative Aceh province slaughter animals during Meugang festivities. The meat is cooked and shared in a communal feast with family, friends, poor people and orphans.

Hundreds of residents in Tangerang, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta, flock to the Cisadane River to wash their hair with rice straw shampoo and welcome the fasting month with a symbolic spiritual cleansing.

Across Sumatra island, after evening prayers, many boys and girls parade through the streets, carrying torches and playing Islamic songs.

In India, where the country’s Muslim minority encompasses more than 200 million people, stalls lining many streets sell such things as dates, sweets and freshly cooked food.

At night, some New Delhi neighborhoods become lively as Muslims head to mosques to attend prayers. Some Indian Muslims also visit Sufi shrines decorated with lights and colorful flowers.

In the United States, where Muslims make up a diverse minority, gathering at mosques and Islamic centers when possible for iftar meals and prayers provides many Muslim families with a sense of community.

Some Muslims also organize or attend interfaith iftar meals. Some big U.S. retailers have started catering to Ramadan shoppers, selling such things as Ramadan-themed decor. 

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Measles: What to know, how to avoid it

Measles is rarely seen in the United States, but Americans are growing more concerned about the preventable virus as cases continue to rise in rural West Texas.  

This week, an unvaccinated child died in the West Texas outbreak, which involves more than 120 cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the last confirmed measles death in the United States occurred in 2015.  

There are also nine measles cases in eastern New Mexico, but the state health department said there was no direct connection to the outbreak in Texas. Here’s what to know about the measles and how to protect yourself.  

What is measles?

It’s a respiratory disease caused by one of the world’s most contagious viruses. The virus is airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It most commonly affects kids.  

“On average, one infected person may infect about 15 other people,” said Scott Weaver, a center of excellence director for the Global Virus Network, an international coalition. “There’s only a few viruses that even come close to that.”  

Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash. The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC. 

There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable. People who have had measles once can’t get it again, health officials say.  

Can measles be fatal?

It usually doesn’t kill people, but it can. Common complications include ear infections and diarrhea. But about 20 percent of unvaccinated Americans who get measles are hospitalized, the CDC said. Pregnant women who haven’t gotten the vaccine may give birth prematurely or have a low-birthweight baby.  

Among children with measles, about 1 in every 20 develops pneumonia, the CDC said, and about one in every 1,000 suffers swelling of the brain called encephalitis — which can lead to convulsions, deafness or intellectual disability.  

It’s deadly “in a little less than 1% of cases, mainly in children,” said Weaver, who works at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. “Children develop the most severe illness. The cause of death in these kinds of cases is usually pneumonia and complications from pneumonia.”  

How can you prevent measles?

The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.  

“Before a vaccine was developed in the 1960s, everybody got” measles, Weaver said. “But then when the vaccine came along, that was a complete game-changer and one of the most successful vaccines in the history of medicine.”  

There is “great data” on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, he said, because it’s been around for decades. “Any of these outbreaks we’re seeing can easily be prevented by increasing the rate of vaccination in the community,” he said. “If we can maintain 95% of people vaccinated, we’re not going to see this happening in the future. And we’ve slipped well below that level in many parts of the country.”  

Vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.  

Do you need a booster if you got the MMR vaccine a while ago?

Health care professionals are sometimes tested for antibodies to measles and given boosters if necessary, Weaver said — even if they’ve already had the standard two doses as a child. He said people at high risk for infection who got the shots many years ago may also want to consider getting a booster if they live in an area with an outbreak.  

Those may include family members living with someone who has measles or those especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases because of underlying medical conditions.  

“But I don’t think everyone needs to go and run out to their doctor right now if they did receive two doses as a child,” he said. “If people would just get the standard vaccination, none of this would be happening.”

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Voices Unheard: Living with disability in Libya

Khalid Al-Khateb was born in Libya in the 1990s without the use of his legs. Despite wars and economic collapse in his country, the greatest challenge he has faced is trying to function in a world where disabilities are mostly ignored. From Tripoli, Libya, Malik Ghariani has this animated story.

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Gene Hackman likely died Feb. 17, last day of activity on pacemaker, official says

Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman likely died on Feb. 17, the last day there was any activity on his pacemaker, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. “According to the pathologist,” Mendoza said, “that is a very good assumption that was his last day of life,” nine days before investigators found his body.

The bodies of Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64, a classical pianist, were found, along with the dead body of one of their three dogs, Wednesday in their home in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico.

The initial findings of autopsies on the couple revealed that Hackman and his wife both tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning and “no external trauma” was reported to either of them.  Mendoza said, “There were no apparent signs of foul play.”

However, the couple’s “manner and cause of death has not been determined,” according to the sheriff. “The official results of the autopsy and toxicology reports are pending.”

Investigators have retrieved an assortment of prescription and over-the-counter medications, in addition to cellphones and records from medical diagnostics testing from the house.

“I’m pretty confident there is no foul play,” Mendoza said Friday on The Today Show. He said the autopsy results “will steer us in the right direction” in determining what happened to Hackman and his wife.

Without the autopsy, the sheriff said, it is difficult to determine how long the couple had been dead.

A search warrant affidavit issued Thursday said the circumstances surrounding the couple’s deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”

Mendoza told The Today Show that several doors around the house were unlocked and one door in the rear of the house was open. Earlier reports said the front door was open.

Hackman’s body was found near the rear of the house, while his wife’s body was found in a bathroom. The dead dog’s body was found in a dog crate, not far from Arakawa’s body. The couple had three German shepherds. The other two dogs were found alive and healthy at the property.

The search warrant affidavit also revealed that police called the Santa Fe Fire Department and the New Mexico Gas Company to Hackman’s residence, but no toxic fumes or leaky pipes were found on the grounds.

Storied career

Hackman had a lengthy career on stage and screen, including appearing in Broadway shows, on television and in more than 80 films.

He won an Oscar for best actor for his role in the 1971 film The French Connection and a best supporting Oscar for the 1992 film Unforgiven.

Hackman’s resume featured three other Oscar nominations, including his breakout role in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 as well as I Never Sang for My Father in 1970 and Mississippi Burning in 1988.

His work crossed genres as he appeared in action movies, thrillers and off-beat comedies.

In addition to his award-nominated works, he was also known for roles in films such as The Poseidon Adventure, Young Frankenstein, Superman, Hoosiers, The Birdcage, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

His last film was Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.

His loss was immediately felt throughout the entertainment community as fellow artists praised him on social media. Director Francis Ford Coppola and actor Morgan Freeman were among those who posted their remembrances of the actor.

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration,” Coppola posted on Instagram. “Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss and celebrate his existence and contribution.” Hackman starred in Coppola’s 1974 film The Conversation.

Freeman posted on Instagram: “One of the personal highlights of my career was bringing the French Film Gardé a Vue (Under Suspicion) to life with the incredibly gifted Gene Hackman. And of course… Unforgiven. Rest in peace, my friend.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Measles cases rise to 146 in outbreak that led to first US measles death in 10 years

DALLAS, TEXAS — The number of people with measles in Texas increased to 146 in an outbreak that led this week to the death of an unvaccinated school-aged child, health officials said Friday. 

The number of cases — Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years — increased by 22 since Tuesday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said cases span over nine counties in Texas and 20 patients have been hospitalized. 

The child who died Tuesday night in the outbreak is the first U.S. death from the highly contagious but preventable respiratory disease since 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official and a vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services was watching cases but dismissed the outbreak as “not unusual.” 

But on Friday afternoon, Kennedy said in a post on X that his heart went out to families impacted by the outbreak, and he recognized “the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers.” 

Kennedy also said his agency will continue to fund Texas’ immunization program and that ending the outbreak is a “top priority” for him and his team. 

The virus has largely spread through rural, oil rig-dotted West Texas, with cases concentrated in a “close-knit, undervaccinated” Mennonite community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton has said. 

Gaines County has a strong homeschooling and private school community. It is also home to one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% skipping a required dose last school year. 

Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs. Anton has said the number of unvaccinated kids in Gaines County is likely significantly higher because homeschooled children’s data would not be reported. 

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years. Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death. 

Vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic, and most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. 

The U.S. had considered measles eliminated in 2000, which meant there had been a halt in continuous spread of the disease for at least a year. Measles cases rose in 2024, including a Chicago outbreak that sickened more than 60. 

Eastern New Mexico has nine cases of measles, but the state health department said there is no connection to the outbreak in West Texas. 

At a news conference Friday in Austin, officials urged people to get vaccinated if they are not already. 

“We’re here to say quite simply: Measles can kill, ignorance can kill and vaccine denial definitely kills,” said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat. 

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WHO says water contamination suspected in Congo village hit by illness 

BASANKUSU, Democratic Republic of Congo — Authorities investigating the deaths of at least 60 people in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo suspect the water source in one of the areas may have been contaminated, the World Health Organization said Friday. But the agency said it’s too early for a definitive conclusion.

Doctors are investigating more than 1,000 illnesses that have emerged since late January in five villages in Congo’s Equateur province, where high rates of malaria have complicated efforts to diagnose the cases and where officials have said they’ve been unable so far to confirm the main cause.

WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said during an online briefing Friday that for one of the villages there is “a very strong level of suspicion … related to the poisoning of a water source.”

Ryan did not clarify whether he was referring to contamination by accident, negligence or deliberate action. He also did not identify the village where the poisoning was suspected.

“We will not stop investigating until we are sure that the true cause or the absolute cause of what is occurring here is fully investigated,” Ryan said.

Illnesses were first detected in late January in the village of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours.

Twelve cases and eight deaths in total have been recorded in Boloko, with no new cases recorded since January, officials say, adding that nearly half of deaths there occurred within hours of the onset of symptoms.

The village of Bomate in Basankusu health zone, around 200 kilometers from Boloko, has been hit the most: 98% of the cases and 86% of deaths have been recorded there, health officials say.

WHO said on Thursday that hundreds of the patients have tested positive for malaria, which is common in the region. In addition to common malaria symptoms such as fever and body aches, patients have also shown symptoms such as chills, sweating, stiff neck, runny or bleeding nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.

The health crisis has caused fear among residents, some of whom have said they fled the villages to avoid falling sick.

Experts say that access to the sick has been hindered by the remote locations of the affected villages and that several people died before medical teams were able to reach them.

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Investigation into deaths of Gene Hackman, wife continues in New Mexico

Authorities are continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64, a classical pianist. The couple were found dead, along with one of their dogs, Wednesday in their home in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico.  

Investigators have retrieved an assortment of prescription and over-the-counter medications, in addition to cellphones and records from medical diagnostics testing from the house.  

“I’m pretty confident there is no foul play,” Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday on The Today Show. He said the autopsy results “will steer us in the right direction” in determining what happened to Hackman and his wife.  

Without the autopsy, the sheriff said, it is difficult to determine how long the couple had been dead.  

A search warrant affidavit issued Thursday said the circumstances surrounding the couple’s deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.” 

Mendoza told The Today Show that several doors around the house were unlocked and one door in the rear of the house was open. Earlier reports said the front door was open.   

Hackman’s body was found near the rear of the house, while his wife’s body was found in a bathroom. The dead dog’s body was found in a dog crate, not far from Arakawa’s body.  The couple had three German shepherds. The other two dogs were found alive and healthy at the property.  

The search warrant affidavit also revealed that police called the Santa Fe Fire Department and the New Mexico Gas Company to Hackman’s residence, but no toxic fumes or leaky pipes were found on the grounds.  

Storied career 

Hackman had a lengthy career on stage and screen, including appearing in Broadway shows, on television and in more than 80 films. 

He won an Oscar for best actor for his role in the 1971 film The French Connection and a best supporting Oscar for the 1992 film Unforgiven.  

Hackman’s resume featured three other Oscar nominations, including his breakout role in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 as well as I Never Sang for My Father in 1970 and Mississippi Burning in 1988.  

His work crossed genres as he appeared in action movies, thrillers and off-beat comedies.  

In addition to his award-nominated works, he was also known for roles in films such as The Poseidon Adventure, Young Frankenstein, Superman, Hoosiers, The Birdcage, and The Royal Tenenbaums.  

His last film was Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.  

His loss was immediately felt throughout the entertainment community as fellow artists praised him on social media. Director Francis Ford Coppola and actor Morgan Freeman were among those who posted their remembrances of the actor.   

“The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration,” Coppola posted on Instagram. “Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity. I mourn his loss and celebrate his existence and contribution.” Hackman starred in Coppola’s 1974 film The Conversation.  

Freeman posted on Instagram: “One of the personal highlights of my career was bringing the French Film Gardé a Vue (Under Suspicion) to life with the incredibly gifted Gene Hackman. And of course… Unforgiven. Rest in peace, my friend.”  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Southern Africa pushes for better energy access

GABORONE, BOTSWANA — Southern Africa energy experts and political leaders pledged to improve access to energy at a summit in Botswana this week. The commitments come as most countries in the region still rely on coal, a major contributor to global warming.

More than 500 participants from 16 Southern African Development Community, or SADC, member states, as well as other African countries, participated in the energy gathering.

Moses Ntlamelle, a senior SADC programs officer, said pursuing a more inclusive transition to cleaner energy was one of the resolutions that regional representatives adopted at the summit.

“The region is recommended to expedite just energy transition and explore the development of a regional renewable energy market,” he said. “This is to ensure that nobody is left behind. … Inasmuch as we are going for cleaner energy, we must ensure that this energy transition is just to everybody.”

Botswanan President Duma Boko spoke about the need to end energy poverty.

“Countries across the SADC region face challenges related to energy poverty,” Boko said. “This constrains our economies, leaving millions of people, especially in rural areas, without access to critical services like health, education, communication, among others. A clarion call for an energy-secure region is, therefore, urgent in order to drive industrialization and integration of our economies.”

Most Southern Africa countries rely on coal for energy. Boko called on the region to cut its dependence on fossil fuels and speed up the transition to green energy.

“We should incentivize renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects and initiatives, enforce environmental protections and establish clear roadmaps for a just and equitable energy transition, which is relevant to the realities of our countries and region,” he said. “As a region, let us set tangible targets not only to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels but also to increase the use of renewables.”

Yunus Alokore, a technical expert at the intergovernmental organization East Africa Center for Renewable Energy and Efficiency, told VOA that if Africa wants to accelerate its transition to sustainable energy, several key elements are needed.

“There has to be policies in place and regulatory framework,” Alokore said. “What this does is that it creates transparent, long-term, consistent target, which is something that investors and development partners need.”

Alokore said access to finance is also key.

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Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky dies at 88

MOSCOW — Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, who was famously defeated at the height of the Cold War, has died at 88, the Russian Chess Federation announced Thursday.

“The tenth world champion Boris Spassky has died at 88,” the Russian Chess Federation said in a statement on its website, calling this a “great loss for the country.”

The statement did not say when exactly he died or from what cause.

Spassky is best remembered for his duel with American Bobby Fischer in 1972, which was emblematic of the confrontation between East and West.

The iconic Cold War duel has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries and films. Most notably it inspired the Walter Tevis novel The Queen’s Gambit, which was adapted into the acclaimed Netflix series in 2020.

Spassky became world champion in 1969 and held the title until he played the match that would define his career, facing the eccentric American prodigy.

With the Soviet Union having dominated the game for years, Spassky faced a must-win situation and initially took the lead.

But the American roared back to win, ending an unbroken streak of Soviet world champions since 1948.

Although the loss was a slap in the face for Moscow, Spassky admitted decades later it was a relief to be rid of a “colossal responsibility.”

Born in 1937 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, Spassky showed prodigious talent early, becoming junior world champion and the youngest grandmaster in history at the time at 18. 

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With $500B US investment, Apple pulling away from China, analysts say

Apple announced this week it would spend $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years and create 20,000 jobs, signaling its pro-U.S. jobs and investment policy. U.S. President Donald Trump also announced he would double tariffs on China, where most Apple products are made. Michelle Quinn reports.

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Harsh flu season has health officials worried about brain complications in children

WASHINGTON — This year’s harsh flu season — the most intense in 15 years — has federal health officials trying to understand if it sparked an increase in a rare but life-threatening brain complication in children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 19,000 people have died from the flu so far this winter, including 86 children. On Thursday, the CDC reported at least nine of those children experienced brain complications, and it has asked state health departments to help investigate if there are more such cases.

There is some good news: The CDC also reported that this year’s flu shots do a pretty good job preventing hospitalization from the flu — among the 45% of Americans who got vaccinated. But it comes a day after the Trump administration canceled a meeting of experts who are supposed to help choose the recipe for next winter’s flu vaccine.

Still, it’s not too late to get vaccinated this year: “If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, get it because we’re still seeing high flu circulation in most of the country,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Flu shot effectiveness varies from year to year. While not great at blocking infections, the vaccine’s main role “is to keep you out of the hospital and to keep you alive,” said Vanderbilt University vaccine expert Dr. William Schaffner.

Preliminary CDC data released Thursday found that children who got this year’s vaccine were between 64% and 78% less likely to be hospitalized than their unvaccinated counterparts, and adults were 41% to 55% less likely to be hospitalized.

Earlier this month, state health departments and hospitals warned doctors to watch for child flu patients with seizures, hallucinations or other signs of “influenza-associated encephalopathy or encephalitis” — and a more severe subtype called “acute necrotizing encephalopathy.” Encephalitis is brain inflammation.

On Thursday, the CDC released an analysis of 1,840 child flu deaths since 2010, finding 166 with those neurologic complications. Most were unvaccinated children. But the agency concluded it’s unclear if this year’s nine deaths with those complications — four of whom had the worse subtype — mark an uptick.

There’s no regular tracking of those neurologic complications, making it hard to find the answers. In California, Dr. Keith Van Haren of Stanford Medicine Children’s Health said earlier this month that he’d learned of about 15 flu-related cases of that severe subtype from doctors around the country and “we are aware of more cases that may also meet the criteria.” He did not say how many died.

O’Leary, with the pediatricians’ academy, said parents should remember this complication is rare — the advice remains to seek medical advice anytime a child with flu has unusual or concerning symptoms, such as labored breathing.

Doctors see more neurologic complications during severe flu seasons — they may be linked to particular influenza strains — and survivors can have ongoing seizures or other lingering problems, he said.

Meanwhile, vaccine makers are gearing up for the monthslong process of brewing next winter’s flu shots. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee was supposed to meet on March 13 to help choose which flu strains to include but with that meeting’s cancellation, it’s unclear if the government will decide on its own.

“The FDA will make public its recommendations to manufacturers in time for updated vaccines to be available for the 2025-2026 influenza season,” Andrew Nixon, communications director for the Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email.

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Modern-day moonshot blasts off from Earth

A public-private partnership aims for a dark landing on the moon. Plus, a look at why Mars is red, and a phenomenon known as a planetary parade. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.

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Katy Perry, Gayle King to join Blue Origin spaceflight

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — Katy Perry and Gayle King are headed to space with Jeff Bezos’ fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, and three other women.

Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin, announced the all-female celebrity crew on Thursday. Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and former TV journalist, picked the crew who will join her on a 10-minute spaceflight from west Texas, the company said.

They will blast off sometime this spring aboard a New Shepard rocket. No launch date was given.

Blue Origin has flown tourists on short hops to space since 2021. Some passengers have gotten free rides, while others have paid a hefty sum to experience weightlessness.

It was not immediately known who’s footing the bill for this upcoming flight.

Sanchez invited singer Perry and TV journalist King, as well as former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, research scientist Amanda Nguyen and movie producer Kerianne Flynn.

This will be Blue Origin’s 11th human spaceflight. Bezos climbed aboard with his brother for the inaugural flight.

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Epic journey of bringing ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ to the screen

The first of two seasons of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude has hit the screen. Netflix is currently working on the second season of this attempt to bring the author’s sprawling masterpiece to the screen. Veronica Villafane has the story.

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Actor Gene Hackman, wife found dead at New Mexico home

Oscar-winning American actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead Wednesday at their home in the southwestern U.S. state of New Mexico.

Authorities said they were investigating what caused their deaths but that foul play was not suspected as a factor.

Authorities said they went to the home to do a welfare check and found the 95-year-old Hackman and his wife, 64-year-old pianist Betsy Arakawa, dead along with their dog.

Hackman had a lengthy career on stage and screen, including appearing in Broadway shows, on television and in more than 80 films.

He won an Oscar for best actor for his role in the 1971 film The French Connection and a best supporting Oscar for the 1992 film Unforgiven.

Hackman’s resume featured three other Oscar nominations, including his breakout role in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967 as well as I Never Sang for My Father in 1970 and Mississippi Burning in 1988.

His work crossed genres as he appeared in action movies, thrillers and offbeat comedies.

In addition to his award-nominated works, he was also known for roles in films such as The Poseidon Adventure, Young Frankenstein, Superman, Hoosiers, The Birdcage, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

His last film was Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 

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Japan’s births fell to record low in 2024

TOKYO — The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 720,988 in 2024 for a ninth consecutive year of decline, the health ministry said on Thursday, underscoring the rapid aging and dwindling of the population.

Births were down 5% on the year, despite measures in 2023 by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government to boost child-bearing, while a record number of 1.62 million deaths meant that more than two people died for every new baby born.

Although the fertility rate in neighboring South Korea rose in 2024 for the first time in nine years, thanks to measures to spur young people to marry and have children, the trend in Japan has yet to show an upturn.

Behind Japan’s childbirth decline are fewer marriages in recent years, stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Takumi Fujinami, an economist at the Japan Research Institute.

Although the number of marriages edged up 2.2% to 499,999 in 2024, that came only after steep declines, such as a plunge of 12.7% in 2020.

“The impact could linger on in 2025 as well,” Fujinami said.

Unlike some Western countries, only a few of every 100 babies in Japan are born out of wedlock, suggesting a stronger correlation between marriages and births.

News this week that South Korea’s fertility rate rose to 0.75 in 2024 from 0.72 in 2023 suggested the neighboring nation’s demographic crisis might have turned a corner.

In Japan, the most recent data shows the corresponding figure for the average number of babies a woman is expected to have during her reproductive life came in at 1.20 in 2023.

While it was too early for any meaningful comparison between the figures in the two countries, Fujinami warned, it was important for both to improve job opportunities and close the gender gap to encourage young people to marry and have children.

Experts believe South Korea’s positive turn resulted from government support in the three areas of work-family balance, childcare and housing, as well as a campaign for businesses to nudge employees towards parenthood. 

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