Beijing wages tax war on declining birth rate, levies on contraceptives, breaks for childcare services

Today's news: Trump postpones tariff increase on furniture until 2027; Contaminated water in India leaves nine people dead and hundreds hospitalised; In Malaysia, strict measures against littering on New Year's Eve; Israel confirms ban on 37 NGOs from Gaza for violating “security standards”.

CHINA

From 1 January, China has applied a 13% tax on sales of contraceptives, while childcare services are exempt, as part of efforts to increase the birth rate. The tax reform eliminates many exemptions that have been in place since 1994, when China still applied the one-child policy. Faced with an ageing population and a slowing economy, Beijing is trying to encourage young Chinese to marry and couples to have children.

UNITED STATES - ASIA

Trump has postponed the increase in tariffs on furniture items for one year, ordering the postponement shortly before they were due to come into effect on 1 January. Postponed until 1 January 2027: 30% on certain upholstered furniture and 50% on kitchen and bathroom furniture. In October, a 10% tariff on timber and a 25% tariff on certain furniture came into effect. The higher rates would impact imports from countries such as Vietnam and China, the main suppliers of imported furniture to the United States.

INDIA

At least nine people have died and more than 200 have been hospitalised in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, after an outbreak of diarrhoea believed to be linked to contaminated drinking water. Drinking water in the Bhagirathpur area had been contaminated due to a spill, and tests confirmed the presence of bacteria in the pipes. Indore has been named India's cleanest city and has topped the national cleanliness rankings for the past eight years.

MALAYSIA

Malaysia welcomed 2026 with stricter measures against littering. New Year's celebrations saw a reduction in litter thanks to greater efforts to keep the country clean, including tougher measures against minor littering offences. According to waste disposal company Alam Flora, approximately 3.2 tonnes of litter were collected from the three main hotspots in Kuala Lumpur, an 11% decrease from last year.

ISRAEL - GAZA

Israel has confirmed that 37 humanitarian agencies (including Caritas Jerusalem and Caritas Internationalis) providing aid to Gaza have failed to meet the deadline for complying with “security and transparency standards” and will be banned. The NGOs, which had been ordered to disclose detailed information about their Palestinian staff, will now have to cease operations by 1 March. The UN warns that this will exacerbate the crisis; several NGOs claim that the requirements violate international humanitarian law and their independence.

RUSSIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on urgent military mobilisation, no longer twice a year, but throughout the year from 1 January to 31 December, affecting 261,000 people aged between 18 and 30, with training in barracks and deployment to the front in the two previous periods, from 1 April to 15 July and from 1 October to 31 December. Last year, the autumn call-up affected 135,000 people.

ARMENIA

The Armenian representative of the Gallup International Association, Aram Navasardyan, reported that according to the latest telephone surveys conducted between 24 and 27 December, the level of public confidence in the Armenian Apostolic Church is twice that of the government, with which it is in open conflict. 55.8% have “full confidence”, 15.6% “trust it enough”, while 17.8% believe in the government completely and 20.8% “only partially”.

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