Tag - children

 
 

CHILDREN

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (center) meets with advocates for the country's social media ban for children under 16 at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 29, 2026
Australia gives regulator more power to pursue Big Tech over under-16 social media ban
The move ​comes as evidence suggests children are still able to access the platforms six months ‌after the ‌world-first restrictions took effect in December.
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2026
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
LGBTQ+ people in Japan face such limited fertility treatment options, they could ultimately be deprived of the right to safely start a family.
Siranudh "Psi" Scott, a fourth-generation member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the Singha beer brand, in Bangkok on May 24
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 29, 2026
Thai beer dynasty feud casts spotlight on ‘ungrateful child’ law
The law enables parents to revoke gifts if their offspring are deemed ungrateful, physically abusive, neglectful in old age or responsible for serious reputational harm.
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2026
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
Beyond the paperwork and the language barrier, James Benstead says the hardest part about adopting in Japan was the waiting.
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jun 28, 2026
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Japan does not offer same-sex couples the same legal rights and benefits granted to married couples.
There is little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media under the law, a team of Australia-based researchers has found in a peer-reviewed study published by the British Medical Journal.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2026
Australia’s social media ban for under 16s having little impact, study shows
Underage users have been dodging the restrictions by using accounts registered to older people, setting up fake accounts, or by logging into private browsers.
Children sit together near destroyed and heavily-damaged buildings at the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on Friday.
WORLD
Jun 23, 2026
Israel targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, U.N. inquiry reports
The U.N. commission said that Palestinian children were deliberately killed during the war, including after a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025.
Children stand near a damaged car, which Palestinians say was burned by Israeli settlers, in Halhul near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on May 20.
WORLD
Jun 18, 2026
U.N. warns Israeli settlers could join blacklist for violations against children
A United Nations report says it has verified the killing of 2,668 Palestinian children in Gaza and 57 in the West Bank in 2025.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine M. Russell speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Threats to International Peace and Security on March 7, 2022.
WORLD
Jun 16, 2026
Nearly half world’s children exposed to three or more climate hazards: UNICEF
Report finds that 296 million children are exposed to the combined effects of drought, extreme heat and heat waves.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced one of the strictest online crackdowns against social media use by children in the democratic world on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 15, 2026
British prime minister announces full ban on social media for children under 16
The Labour government says its new range of child internet-use restrictions will be tougher than Australia’s limits.
Several countries have been considering ​tightening rules around AI use as well as social media use for children.
WORLD
Jun 11, 2026
Canada moves to ban social media for children under 16 and regulate AI chatbots
Companies could face penalties of 3% ​of global revenue or up to C$10 million ($7.2 million), whichever is more, for failing to comply.
The use of official digital textbooks is expected to start as early as April 2030, after they go through government inspections in fiscal 2028.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2026
Japan makes digital textbooks for schools official
Under the new legal framework, education boards will decide which type of textbooks schools under their jurisdiction should adopt — print, digital or a digital-print “hybrid.”
Nara police have arrested a self-proclaimed "messenger of God" and six others over the confinement of a company executive's teenage son at a relative's house in Yokohama.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2026
‘Messenger of God’ and six others arrested over teen’s confinement
The seven people, including a company executive, allegedly confined the executive’s teenage son to a relative’s house in Yokohama between May 6 and 8.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts a roundtable meeting for leaders of National Health Service trusts, at No. 10 Downing St. in London on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jun 10, 2026
U.K.’s Starmer to announce social media ban for under-16s in days
Two broad options are being considered: a “blanket” ban on under-16s using social media, or age restrictions on key features of social networks and apps.
Local governments are being asked to create a council that would help promote early intervention regarding youths at risk of suicide.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2026
Agency asks local authorities to set up youth suicide prevention councils
The aim is to quickly identify youths who are at risk of dying by suicide by obtaining information from schools and medical institutions, and promoting early intervention.
Japan’s population decline continues to accelerate despite some modest positive signs, highlighting the need for broader social, economic and cultural changes to raise the birth rate.
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2026
A bleak prognosis for Japan’s demographic future
The most recent government statistics show fertility rates hitting record lows — again.
The Nagoya District Court sentenced Shota Suito, a former elementary school teacher, to three years and six months in prison in Japan’s first case involving possession of AI-generated child sexual deepfakes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2026
Nagoya court recognizes AI-created explicit images as child pornography
The sentence marked the first case in Japan in which the law has been applied to the possession of AI-generated sexual deepfakes.
The Kyoto District Court in the city of Kyoto heard a complaint Wednesday from a man who says his estranged wife presented someone else's sperm as his and was able to undergo successful fertility treatment using it without his awareness.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 4, 2026
Man sues hospital after wife gives birth using someone else’s sperm
The woman was sentenced in April 2025 for forging the man’s consent form, but the hospital said it gave adequate explanation and that the man’s claims are incorrect.
Expectant mothers who were exposed to severe heat during their 19th week of pregnancy faced a 16% higher risk of preterm birth than those who were not, a study found.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 4, 2026
Extreme heat raises risk of preterm births, research shows
Findings indicate that women are particularly susceptible to the effects of heat between the 16th and 22nd weeks of pregnancy.
Asako Mito, head of the preconception care center at the National Center for Child Health and Development, said the number of high-risk pregnancies and childbirths due to such factors as advanced age, being underweight or obesity is increasing in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 3, 2026
Japan promotes preconception care amid falling birthrates
Preconception care, an initiative aimed at encouraging people to acquire knowledge on pregnancy and childbirth, has been part of government policy since 2018.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival