The Wall Street Journal - 24.02.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Monday, February 24, 2020 |A

WORLD WATCH WORLD NEWS

SOUTH SUDAN

Fragile Power-Sharing

Government Sworn In

South Sudan President Salva

Kiir swore in opposition leader

Riek Machar as his deputy,

marking a tentative start of a

power-sharing government be-

tween two longtime enemies

and the latest effort to end the

six-year war that has plagued

the world’s youngest nation.

The two men have spent

most of the years since South

Sudan’s 2011 declaration of inde-

pendence from Sudan fighting

each other and ignoring interna-

tional pleas to reconcile. Satur-

day’s ceremony, one day after

the two men agreed to form a

unity government, appeared to

herald a new chapter for a coun-

try that has been ravaged by

conflict since 2013.

After a nine-month delay, Mr.

Machar took his oath before dip-

lomats and regional leaders in

the capital, Juba.

Some analysts warned that it

is a matter of time before this

peace deal collapses, like previ-

ous ones.

—Nicholas Bariyo

TURKEY

Nine Dead as Quake

Strikes in Iran

Nine people were killed in

Turkey in a magnitude 5.7 earth-

quake that struck western Iran,

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin

Koca said.

The quake’s center was west

of the Iranian city of Khoy and

affected villages in the Turkish

province of Van.

Three children and four adults

were killed in Turkey’s Baskule

district, Turkish Interior Minister

Suleyman Soylu said. Mr. Koca

later updated the number of fa-

talities to nine.

The earthquake affected 43

villages in the mountainous Qot-

our area, Iran’s official IRNA

news agency said, and at least

75 people were injured.

—Associated Press

HAITI

Police and Soldiers

Exchange Fire

Off-duty police officers and

their supporters exchanged fire

for nearly two hours with mem-

bers of the newly reconstituted

Haitian army in front of the na-

tional palace, in an escalation of

protests over police pay and

working conditions.

At least three police officers

were wounded, fellow officers

said. Associated Press journal-

ists saw dozens of men who

said they were off-duty officers

march with hundreds of sup-

porters toward the palace in

Port-au-Prince, in the latest in

days of demonstrations de-

manding better pay for Haitian

law-enforcement officers.

The protest stopped outside

the army headquarters facing

the palace. Associated Press

journalists saw several soldiers

at the headquarters fire into

the air. Shortly afterward, an

exchange of fire erupted be-

tween the soldiers and police. It

wasn’t clear which side began

firing at the other first.

—Associated Press

A boy recoiled as a man in a Haitian police uniform took aim

during clashes with soldiers in Port-au-Prince on Sunday.

ANDRES MARTINEZ CASARES/REUTERS

SINGAPORE—For years, this

prosperous city-state has en-

couraged its citizens to have

more children, offering cash

grants for new parents, pro-

viding public housing for

young couples and even pass-

ing along relationship advice.

In its latest push, the gov-

ernment in January expanded

preschool subsidies and en-

hanced government support

for assisted reproduction and

fertility treatments.

But fertility in Singapore

remains in a slump—1.14 chil-

dren per woman in 2018, down

from about three in 1970, mak-

ing it among the world’s low-

est rates. Demographers say

the city-state’s difficulties re-

flect how government policies

tend to have a low impact on

raising fertility rates.

“Policies in general have a

very disappointing effect from

the policy makers’ perspec-

tive,” said Mikko Myrskyla, ex-

ecutive director of the Max

Planck Institute for Demo-

graphic Research in Germany.

Once small families and child-

lessness become commonplace,

he said, cash handouts and

subsidized kindergarten tend

not to change people’s minds,

in part because they make only

a small dent in the life-

time costs of raising a child.

“We can see many youth not

getting married and they think

twice before having kids,” said

Bhavani Perina, a 41-year-old

Singaporean with three chil-

dren who is taking a break from

her career to focus on them.

Ms. Perina said workplace

hours should be more flexible

to support working parents,

and that child-care-leave poli-

cies should be extended to

those with older children.

Falling birthrates pose a

challenge in countries around

the world. They face a future

with shrunken workforces and

insufficient tax revenue to sup-

port expanding ranks of the el-

derly. Even the U.S., once con-

sidered less vulnerable because

of high immigration and high

birthrates among some groups,

saw births in 2018 fall to their

lowest levels since the 1980s.

Manpower Josephine Teo

said in a speech last year.

Singapore’s National Popula-

tion and Talent Division,

a government unit, says that

while most young Singaporeans

want to get married and have

children, “they are increasingly

prioritizing other goals such as

furthering their education,

building their careers and

travel.” The government said

there were hopeful signs, in-

cluding that “the average num-

ber of citizen births and mar-

riages over the last five years

is higher than that in the pre-

ceding five-year period.”

Singapore is finding new

ways to bring couples together.

Deon Chan, the founder of dat-

ing agency Love Express, re-

cently received a government

grant to build an app that, she

said, will use artificial intelli-

gence to suggest romantic part-

ners for singles who attend her

events. She points to statistics

that show Singaporeans staying

single until later in life.

At one of Love Express’s re-

cent speed-dating events, held

in a luxury hotel and adver-

tised on a government web-

site, a dozen men rotated be-

tween tables of women

sipping mocktails, discussing

careers, hobbies and whether

love at first sight exists.

Jessie, a 40-year-old office

administrator, said that al-

though she would like to get

married and have children,

there was no forcing it. “It takes

two hands to clap,” she said.

BYJONEMONT

Singapore Struggles to Boost Births

Children run through a waterside park in Singapore. Fertility remains in a slump in the city-state.

WALLACE WOON/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

The question of how to

boost birthrates is taking on

new urgency amid a global

backlash against immigration.

Some economists have argued

in favor of expanding immigra-

tion as a quick way to boost

the workforce in low-fertility

societies. Instead, many such

countries have grown resis-

tant, partly because of worries

that migrants will replace de-

clining native populations.

Even Singapore’s government

is concerned about what it

calls nativist tendencies. An op-

position party’s manifesto re-

cently alleged immigration poli-

cies were “precipitating a crisis

of national identity.” A govern-

ment spokesperson said its pol-

icy has been to take in a stable

number of new citizens and per-

manent residents committed to

making Singapore their home.

Singapore publicizes its pol-

icies to support parenthood

on http://www.heybaby.sg. Benefits

include higher tax rebates for

more children, paid leave for

parents with young children

and tax benefits for work-

ing mothers whose parents

look after the grandchildren.

The government offers grants

to companies that provide

flexible work arrangements.

“We must actively lean

against the wind to make mar-

riage and parenthood achiev-

able, enjoyable and cele-

brated,” Minister for

Demographic Squeeze

Sources: World Bank; Statistics Singapore

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