Briefly

SOUTH KOREA

President proposes pension fund reform

South Korean President Yoon Sukyeol pledged on Thursday to reform the country's multibillion-dollar pension scheme. South Korea has the world's lowest birth rate and a rapidly aging population. The number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime dropped to 0.72 last year, far below the so-called replacement rate needed to keep a population stable. The country's pension fund is the world's third largest, but with insufficient new contributors due to the demographic crisis, the fund is expected to deplete rapidly.

CANADA

Wildfires push nation into top 4 CO2 emitters

Record wildfires last year bumped Canada into the top four CO2-emitting countries in the world, according to a study on Wednesday that also cast doubt on its forests' future ability to capture and store significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Last year saw a catastrophic number of wildfires across the country, with 15 million hectares, or about 4 percent of Canada's total forest area, burned and more than 200,000 people displaced.

RUSSIA

1 killed, 2 injured in Belgorod strikes

One person has been killed and two injured in strikes in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the regional governor said on Thursday. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that "the town of Shebekino was targeted by Ukrainian forces "and "unfortunately, one person was killed". Two other people were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, he said, while the airstrikes also damaged an administrative building. Russia's defense ministry said on Thursday it had shot down a drone over Belgorod overnight.

Agencies Via Xinhua