Rawalpindi: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kistafin Monday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at GHQ on Monday.

During the meeting matters of mutual interest, regional security situation and cooperation in various fields were discussed, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) media release.

Speaking on the occasion, the COAS hoped that law and order situation in Kazakhstan was restored soon.

Referring to Afghanistan, the COAS stressed upon the need for sincere international efforts to avert a humanitarian crisis there.

General Bajwa said Pakistan remained committed to cooperate with its international partners for peace in the region.

The visiting dignitary appreciated Pakistan’s role and efforts for regional stability and pledged to play his role for further improvement in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan at all levels.

Beijing: China’s birth rate dropped to a record low of 7.52 per 1,000 people in 2021, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday.

China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit to try and counter a rapidly ageing population, but many couples do not want to have more children because of the high cost of urban living.

Country’s birth rate was the lowest since 1949 when the statistics bureau began collating the data.

The natural growth rate of China’s population, which excludes migration, was only 0.034% for 2021, the lowest since 1960.

As per chief economist at Pinpoint Asset management, Zhiwei Zhang, “The demographic challenge is well known but the speed of population ageing is clearly faster than expected”.

“This suggests China’s total population may have reached its peak in 2021. It also indicates China’s potential growth is likely slowing faster than expected,” added Zhang.

As per official data, there were 10.62 million births in 2021.

Twitter said on Monday it will expand its test feature which allows users to flag misleading content on its social media platform to Brazil, Spain and the Philippines.

The company had introduced the pilot test of the feature in August last year, as a part of its effort to reduce misinformation on its platform.

It was first tested in the United States, Australia and South Korea.

Since it was first announced, Twitter said it has received around 3 million reports from users who have used it to flag tweets which they believe are in violation of its policies.

The social media giant last year launched another program called Birdwatch, which lets participants write notes and provide additional context to misleading tweets, though those notes are held on a separate website.

SOURCE: REUTERS