1. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: as of April 1, the number of children aged 14 and under in Japan was 14.93 million, down about 190000 from a year earlier, the lowest since 1950. After 47 consecutive years of decline, the proportion of children in the population has dropped to the lowest level of 11.9%. Children under the age of 2 accounted for 2.65 million, the relative figure is lower than other age groups, reflecting the decline in the number of births.

2. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, announced on social media on May 3 that he would end his 27-year marriage with Melinda Gates and the couple announced their divorce. According to Forbes, Bill Gates is now the fourth richest man in the world, worth more than $130 billion, or about 841.4 billion yuan. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation currently has assets of more than $51 billion, according to Reuters. 

3. South Korea has officially lifted its nearly 14-month ban on short selling, the longest in South Korea’s history. South Korea is the last country in the world to lift the ban. The scope of lifting the ban on shorting is mainly concentrated in the Korean market with large market capitalization and rich liquidity of heavyweights, accounting for almost 80% of the total market capitalization of the South Korean stock market, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other Korean large stocks.

4. According to Agence France-Presse, May 4, the Indonesian navy said that the Chinese navy (submarine salvage ship) has arrived in Bali to help salvage the wrecked submarine Nangala, which killed 53 people last month.

5. Last summer, swimming and bathing caused a surge in the use of chlorinated tablets due to an epidemic, causing the United States to suffer the worst chlorine shortage in history, according to US media. According to the analysis, the price of chlorinated tablets in the United States may rise by 70% this year, and prices in many areas have doubled. The biological laboratory company, one of the largest producers of chlorine in the United States, was not able to resume operation until the spring of 2022 after it was damaged by the hurricane, further exacerbating the supply shortage. Some suppliers have begun to limit customers’ purchases.

6. On May 5, local time, the World Health Organization released COVID-19 ‘s weekly epidemiological report. The number of new confirmed cases worldwide remained at the highest level for the second week in a row, the report said. There were more than 5.7 million new confirmed cases worldwide last week, rising for nine consecutive weeks, and more than 93000 new deaths, rising for seven consecutive weeks. There has been a significant increase in new confirmed cases and deaths in Southeast Asia, with more than 90 percent of new confirmed cases and 25 percent of new deaths worldwide coming from India last week.

7. Us Trade Secretary Dai Qi announced in a statement that the United States will support the waiver of the intellectual property patent for COVID-19 vaccine. Prior to this, US drugmakers had a heated internal debate and vigorously fought back on the matter. Dai Qi said that the government’s move is to popularize safe and effective vaccines as soon as possible and put an end to the COVID-19 epidemic. 

8. On May 5, local time, the Ministry of Health of India released data showing that India had a total of 20665148 confirmed cases, with 382315 new confirmed cases in a single day, a figure of more than 300000 for 14 consecutive days. According to a report released by World Health Organization (WHO), 46 per cent of the new confirmed cases and 25 per cent of the new deaths worldwide came from India last week, and the WHO said the epidemic in India was spreading to the surrounding areas. 

9. The number of people facing severe food insecurity worldwide reached the highest level in the past five years in 2020, according to an annual report released by the Global Food crisis Network on May 6. In 2020, at least 155 million people in 55 countries and regions fell into crisis-level or more severe food insecurity, an increase of about 20 million over the previous year. Of these, about 133000 people in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen face the worst disaster-level food insecurity.