| | | | | | | Hello. The decline of birth rates in developed economies is a well-known trend. But it’s the result of millions of individual, intimate choices too. In South Korea, where the drop in births is the steepest, women tell Jean Mackenzie why they have chosen to live without children. I encourage you to read her illuminating piece on the issue. We’re also going back to Michigan, where more than 100,000 voters have turned their back on Joe Biden. Finally, I have news from Ukraine, Ghana, and the Vatican. |
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| | | | | | AT THE SCENE | South Korea | | Why South Korean women aren't having babies | | | | Five years ago, Yejin decided not to get married, and not to have children. Credit: Jean Chung/BBC | | Developed countries around the world are seeing birth rates fall, but none in such an extreme way as South Korea. Grim projections suggest that nearly half of its population will be older than 65 in 2075. | | | | Jean Mackenzie, Seoul correspondent |
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| When Yejin decided to live alone in her mid-20s, she defied social norms - in Korea, single living is largely considered a temporary phase in one's life. Then five years ago, she decided not to get married, and not to have children. "It's hard to find a dateable man in Korea - one who will share the chores and the childcare equally," she tells me. "And women who have babies alone are not judged kindly."
Minji, meanwhile, remembers her childhood years spent in classrooms until late at night, cramming maths, which she loathed and was bad at, while she dreamed of being an artist. "I've had to compete endlessly, not to achieve my dreams, but just to live a mediocre life," she said. "It's been so draining." Only now, aged 32, does Minji feel free, and able to enjoy herself. But she does not want to put a child through the same competitive misery she experienced. "Korea is not a place where children can live happily," she says. |
| | | | • | Doctors strike: South Korea is already dealing with a rapidly-ageing population, but government reforms to increase the number of doctors have been met with resistance from the medical community. |
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| Questions Answered | | The warning Biden cannot ignore | | | | Activists from the Listen to Michigan campaign cheered as primary results came in. Credit: Getty Images |
| | More than 100,000 Democratic voters in Michigan voted "uncommitted" in Tuesday's primary election, as a protest vote against Joe Biden. This does not threaten him for now - he still enjoyed a comfortable win and effectively can't lose the race for his party's nomination. But the rebuke does raise questions for the general contest in November. | | | | Sarah Smith, North America editor |
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| | How significant is this result? | | If all the people who withheld their support from him this time don't come out to vote for him in the general election, that could be decisive. Every vote counts in a key swing state that the US president almost certainly needs to win to have a shot at a second term. In 2016, for example, Hillary Clinton lost Michigan to Donald Trump by fewer than 11,000 ballots. | | What's at stake for the Biden campaign? | | Michigan is home to America's largest Arab-American population, most of whom are deeply upset by the devastation they see in Gaza. President Biden can't afford to ignore their demands that he call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza - rather than the temporary one that the White House has been pushing for. | | Are these voters worried about helping Donald Trump? | | I asked Leyla Elabed, who manages the "Listen to Michigan" campaign, this question. "If Biden doesn't act now, and listen to the 80% of Democrats and the 66% of Americans that want a permanent ceasefire right now, it is going to be Biden, his administration and the Democratic Party that are going to be accountable for handing the White House to Trump in November," she said. | | | | • | On the other side: Donald Trump has further cemented his status as front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination with an easy win in the Michigan primary. | | • | ‘Time to move on’: Mitch McConnell, the powerful politician from Kentucky, announced that he plans to step down as the Senate's longest-serving Republican leader in November. Watch his speech. |
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| | The big picture | | Google's 'woke' AI problem | | | | Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai has acknowledged some of Gemini's responses "have offended our users and shown bias". Credit: Google/Gemini |
| | Google’s inclusivity efforts backfired when its AI tool Gemini included a black man and an Asian woman in an image of German World War Two soldiers. The firm put its image generator on pause and said it was working on a quick fix. But AI researchers tell Zoe Kleinman there’s no easy way to inject this kind of nuance in software marred by human bias. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Capital of books | | This village near the Pyrenées is home to roughly 800 people and 15 bookshops. | | |
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| | And finally... in Vatican City | | The Sistine Chapel is the third most-visited museum in the world. Ahead of the start of the Vatican jubilee in December, curators are working hard to ensure Michelangelo’s famous frescos are preserved in all their splendour. And our reporter Sara Monetta was granted exclusive access for a close-up peek at the works. Take a look. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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– Jules |
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