Author: admin@primenews

More than 10% of Japan’s population is now age 80 or older, the government said Monday, the latest worrying milestone in the rapidly graying country’s demographic crisis. According to figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the proportion of Japan’s elderly, defined as age 65 and above, is also at a record high, comprising 29.1% of the population – the highest rate in the world. The ministry released the figures to mark Respect for the Aged Day, a public holiday in the country, which also faces a plummeting birth rate and shrinking workforce that could impact funding for pensions and health care as…

Before Australians last voted in a referendum on First Nations people in 1967, Uncle Bob Anderson set up a table and chair at a tram stop in central Brisbane. From his rail-side office, he’d tell anyone who would stop and listen that Australia counted its horses, cows, sheep and goats, but not its Indigenous people. “My question to you is, do you think they should be?” he’d say. Some 56 years later, the Ngugi Elder sat on a chair under the hot Brisbane sun on Sunday, his wispy white hair covered in a straw hat, his presence a sign of support for another referendum…

The Lakers won five championships in the 1980s, but there will be no three-peat for the HBO series devoted to that run, “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” with the network bringing showtime to an end after two seasons. HBO confirmed that the show’s second-season finale, which premiered September 17, would serve as the series finale, adding a closing crawl that provided additional context about key players and front-office personnel, including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West. (Like CNN, HBO is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.) Ratings for the show have dropped in the seven-episode second season, which…

A plane carrying tourists has crashed in Barcelos, Brazil, leaving 14 people dead, according to CNN Brasil. The city’s mayor confirmed the accident to CNN Brasil on Saturday. The plane was carrying 12 tourists, plus a pilot and co-pilot, CNN Brasil reports. There are no survivors, Brazil’s Civil Defense said. “The passengers were going to the location to practice recreational fishing and the crash occurred due to bad weather. It was raining heavily at the time of landing,” according to CNN Brasil. Officials did not give details on the nationalities of the deceased people — CutC by cnn.com

The United Nations World Heritage Committee voted Sunday to list the Tell es-Sultan archaeological site in Jericho as a “World Heritage Site in Palestine.” The decision was made at a conference held in Riyadh, UNESCO said on its official X account, formerly known as Twitter. The Palestinian Authority welcomed the decision, while Israel expressed ire. The newly designated site, located in Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, contains ruins dating back to the ninth millennium BCE. Jericho itself is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Ministry welcomed the decision, lauding it as an acknowledgment of Jericho’s…

Protests erupted throughout Iran on Saturday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old women who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly. Video obtained by CNN showed demonstrations throughout multiple cities in Iran, including capital city Tehran, Mashad, Ahvaz, Lahijan, Arak, and the Kurdish city of Senandaj. Many of the protesters chanted, “Women, Life, Freedom” – a popular rallying cry used after nationwide protests erupted following Amini’s death last year. Some protesters also chanted death slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Authorities deployed armed guards in…

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) kicked off its first tournament in China in more than three years Monday, ending its boycott over the uncertain fate of tennis star Peng Shuai. One of China’s most recognizable sports figures, Peng was feared to be held incommunicado by the Chinese government in 2021 after she accused retired Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into sex during a years-long on-off relationship. Following the accusation, Peng disappeared from public view for more than two weeks, prompting the world’s biggest tennis stars and the United Nations to demand answers as to her whereabouts – as well as a full…

US inflation has slowed steadily from its four-decade peak last June, and it’s expected to cool further thanks to easing car prices and rents. And if the US job market slows further, that could help bring it down even more. And while rising energy costs have pushed so-called headline inflation higher – the latest Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% in August from a year earlier, a faster pace than July’s 3.2% annual rise – core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, decelerated to a 4.3% annual rate in August, slower than July’s 4.7%. All together, the data is leading economists…

The strike by the United Auto Workers union isn’t the only labor problem that automakers, and US car buyers, need to worry about. Unifor, the union that represents autoworkers in Canada, is preparing to go on strike against Ford on Monday night. Ford isn’t speaking about how it sees the contract negotiations going but Unifor President Lana Payne told CNN on Saturday that the two sides are far apart, especially on financial issues, saying the union has rejected the first two offers from Ford. “We’re not close at all. There’s a lot of work to get done to get an agreement by midnight…

Expect plenty more Champagne corks to pop in 2024, because engagements are expected to pick up steam after a pandemic-triggered drop-off. According to Signet Jewelers, the largest jewelry company in the United States, the pandemic dented sales of engagement rings as relationships faltered – or never even blossomed in the first place – as people stayed inside or avoided socializing outside of the immediate family. This trend then created an “engagement gap” since couples get engaged, on average, about 3.25 years after they begin dating, according to Signet’s proprietary data. But with the return of many pre-pandemic lifestyles, including dating, Signet (owner of…