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French court finds ‘twisted’ anaesthetist guilty of killing 12 patients

A French anaesthetist described by prosecutors as “Dr Death” has been found guilty of intentionally poisoning 30 patients and killing 12 over almost a decade as a top medic in France. Frédéric Péchier, 53, once seen by colleagues as a “star anaesthetist”, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday after state prosecutors said he was “one of the biggest criminals in the history of the French legal system”. The state prosecutor Christine de Curraize said Péchier was a “serial killer” who was “highly twisted” and had tampered with his colleagues’ paracetamol bags or anaesthesia pouches to poison patients, triggering heart attacks. Another state prosecutor, Thérèse Brunisso, said Péchier was not a doctor “but a criminal who used medicine to kill”. The victims of poisoning were aged between four and 89. The three-month trial had attempted to unpick Péchier’s reasons for poisoning patients during his work in private clinics in Besançon, in the east of France. Curraize and Brunisso said the reasons were varied. In some cases, they said Péchier intervened to resuscitate patients he had poisoned in order to pose as a hero. The court also heard he had acted to damage and discredit co-workers with whom he was in competition or in conflict, targeting their patients in order to make them look incompetent. Curraize said Péchier had a “need for power”. The court heard he poisoned patients to deal with his own feelings of inadequacy and frustrations. Killing had become “a way of life”, Curraize said. Brunisso said Péchier’s crimes had two aims: “the physical death of the patient”, but also “the slow and insidious psychological attack on his colleagues”. Péchier, who has 10 days to appeal, denied any wrongdoing throughout the trial, telling the court: “I have never poisoned anyone … I am not a poisoner.” He was described by lawyers for the victims as emotionless and lacking empathy in court. Péchier, whose father was also an anaesthetist, was described as having had a privileged upbringing and lived in a large house with his cardiologist wife and three children before he divorced. He had worked at two private clinics where patients went into cardiac arrest in suspicious circumstances between 2008 and 2017. Twelve patients could not be resuscitated and died. Over the course of the inquiry, investigators examined more than 70 reports of “serious adverse events”, medical terminology for unexpected complications or deaths among patients. Péchier’s youngest victim, a four-year-old identified as Tedy, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil operation in 2016. Tedy’s father, Hervé Hoerter Tarby, told the court: “What happened to us is a nightmare. We trusted medicine and we feel betrayed.” He said his son had spent two days in a coma with his mother kneeling by his bed and praying. The family told the court their son was used by Péchier as an object to “settle scores” between doctors, suggesting Péchier had poisoned the child to harm his colleagues’ reputations. “It’s inhuman, it’s vile,” he said. Tedy, now 14, did not want to give evidence or stand in court near Péchier, but his father read a written statement in which the boy described his “great suffering”. Tedy wrote: “I understand that, when I was only four, someone used me and my life to create problems. I need 10 minutes more than my classmates to write. I’m afraid that traces of the poisoning will stay with me all my life.” Sandra Simard was 36 in 2017 when she had a routine back operation. Her heart stopped during the operation, after an anaesthesia pouch was tampered with. She was in a coma for several days and told the court she lived with lifelong consequences. “My whole body is in pain. It’s as if I live in the body of an old person,” she said, using a walking stick in court. She said the end of the day was always worse and winter caused great suffering. “But I can’t complain, because at least I’m alive,” she said. Morgane Richard, a lawyer for several victims, told the court that Péchier used patients as “cannon-fodder, as weapons” to attack and discredit his fellow doctors who were left shocked by their patients’ unexplained adverse events. “No one among you can imagine being intentionally killed by a doctor,” she told the jury.

EU told to choose between ‘money today or blood tomorrow’ as leaders debate giving Russian assets to Ukraine – Europe live

All eyes are on Belgium’s Bart de Wever today, who has been very outspoken about what he sees as risks arising from the reparations loan, and quite open about the pressure he and his government has faced from both European allies, and from Russia. We may not get a doorstep reaction from him this morning, though, as he appears to be keen to keep his cards close to his chest, Euronews is reporting. A poll earlier this week showed he was broadly supported by the Belgian public, with more than 60% backing his opposition to the EU’s plan. But can he deal with the pressure when in the same room as Ukraine’s Zelenskyy? Earlier this month, he caused quite a stir saying at a public event that it was “complete illusion” to believe Russia would lose the war, as he complained about “incredible” pressure around the issue. In an edited transcript of the event, the La Libre newspaper quoted him as saying that “Moscow has let us know that … Belgium and I personally will feel the effect [of seizing Russian assets] for eternity,” adding: “That seems like a pretty long time.” But that’s not the only form of pressure experienced by Belgium. Belgian politicians and senior finance executives have been subject to a campaign of intimidation orchestrated by Russian intelligence aimed at persuading the country to block the use of €185bn assets for Ukraine, according to European intelligence agencies. Security officials indicated to the Guardian that there had been deliberate targeting of key figures at Euroclear, the securities depository holding the majority of Russia’s frozen assets, and leaders of the country.

Thursday briefing: How pay erosion and job shortages pushed doctors to strike again amid winter flu surge

Good morning. The “moment of crisis” for the NHS that led Keir Starmer to warn resident doctors not to strike this week is already upon us as a winter flu epidemic sweeps the country, having started weeks earlier than usual. Yet, despite the warnings, Tuesday’s last ditch talks between the government and the British Medical Association, representing 55,000 of 70,000 resident doctors in England, failed to reach agreement over pay and jobs. Early on Wednesday morning, thousands of resident, formerly known as junior, doctors went on strike, after voting overwhelmingly to do so. The five day action will be the 14th strike since 2023. Fears within the NHS that, short of dramatic intervention, the deadlocked dispute could drag on through 2026 has led to NHS bosses urging the two parties to agree to independent mediation in order to bridge the gap between them. Both sides say that patients are suffering as a result of the other side. Starmer warned the strikes were “reckless” and placed patients and the NHS in “grave danger”. The BMA say, in some regions, some life-saving treatment is restricted to office hours due to a dearth of specialists, while A&E doctors are being turned away due to a lack of training places in emergency medicine. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Denis Campbell, the Guardian’s health policy editor, to understand what’s really going on. First, the headlines. Five big stories UK news | Police in London and Manchester have pledged a further crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on anyone chanting the words “globalise the intifada” or holding a placard with the phrase on it. Trade policy | Ministers and senior MPs have warned that the UK’s agreements with Donald Trump are “built on sand” after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms. Ukraine | The UK has given its final warning to Roman Abramovich to release £2.5bn from his sale of Chelsea FC to give to Ukraine, telling the billionaire to release the funds or face court action. US news | Nick Reiner, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, made his first appearance in court on Wednesday. Sextortion | The parents of a 16-year-old who took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion gang on Instagram are suing Meta for the alleged wrongful death of their son, in the first UK case of its kind. In depth: ‘They intend to keep on striking until they get the money they want’ The dispute has been rumbling on for 33 months now, says Denis, but it has ramped up in recent days into an “increasingly bitter and public” battle with Starmer and Streeting on one side and Dr Jack Fletcher, the chair of the BMA resident doctors committee on the other. There are two main issues in play. First, the resident doctors, who Denis describes as the “workhorses of the NHS”, have had a pay rise of 28.9% over the past three years, but they argue that their pay is worse now, in real terms, than it was in 2008/2009, due to austerity and multiple below inflation pay rises. Another element to the dispute has been introduced recently. Now it’s also about jobs, Denis says, following a “particular problem which has emerged in the last couple of years.” “For young, early career doctors looking to progress their careers by moving into specialist training, as a surgeon, an A&E doctor, a psychiatrist, whatever it might be, the opportunities to do so are far fewer than the number of doctors looking to move their careers on.” This has been an established career path for generations. The issue has created a “really serious bottleneck” of many thousands of doctors who cannot progress their careers, he said, with some doctors left “literally unemployed”. “This, understandably, is a source of huge frustration.” This year, it is estimated that nearly 40,000 doctors will apply for about 10,000 specialty training places which the BMA’s Jack Fletcher warns is causing many doctors to leave the NHS altogether. *** Are the doctors asking for too much? Resident doctors are among public sector workers across the UK who have suffered a “serious erosion” in real terms value of their pay since 2008/9, due to austerity measures introduced by Conservative governments. “It’s easy to understand why those doctors are feeling very frustrated”, says Denis, at a time when inflation has been rampant, the affordability gap for people trying to buy a home has widened and they are seeing a massive cost of living pressure that everyone faces.” However, he notes, they are the only group of public sector workers who are demanding, holding out for and repeatedly striking for pay restoration. “Teachers aren’t doing that. Prison officers aren’t doing that. Social workers aren’t doing that. Bin men aren’t doing that. Firefighters aren’t doing that, GPs and consultant doctors aren’t doing that either.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, public support for the pay and jobs dispute has dwindled. The latest YouGov poll shows a significant majority, 58%, of the public thinks the doctors strikes are wrong and only 33% believed they are right. *** What is Wes Streeting’s role in all this? When Streeting became health secretary, he very quickly gave resident doctors 22.3% extra pay over two years, believing he had fixed the problem, according to Denis. But the BMA was set on a larger sum. The trouble for the health secretary is there is no easy lever to pull to resolve the dispute, says Denis. Streeting has attempted to solve the jobs issue by pledging to create more training places – which he has raised from 1000, to 2000 to 4000, in recent weeks to try to break the deadlock. The latest offer, while creating training places, would not have increased their pay this current financial year. Resident doctors, who make up about half of all NHS doctors, overwhelmingly rejected the offer in a BMA survey last week, with 83% voting against it, on a 65% turnout. NHS finances are “very tight” particularly this year when NHS England was initially forecast to end up with a deficit with an overspend of £6.6bn, with serious steps taken to reduce that to a more manageable figure. Rachel Reeves could always ease her fiscal rules and decide to free up money for the NHS – but Streeting is reluctant to give a further big pay rise to resident doctors, especially because of the risk of prompting other public sector workers to demand the same. *** How has the flu crisis played out in the dispute? Denis is quite keen to emphasise that the flu crisis happening in hospitals in England right now is a matter of fact: with more people seriously unwell because of the flu. However, he does believe that the health secretary in particular and also the prime minister have sought to “weaponise” the earlier than usual winter flu crisis as part of their public campaign to try to isolate resident doctors and get them to agree to the latest government offer. Fletcher has criticised the health secretary’s rhetoric in recent weeks. “The very professionals whose union he accused of “juvenile delinquency” will be holding overstretched services together at the peak of this flu season.” Fletcher said in his comment piece on Monday that resident doctors will be “caring for patients” over Christmas. On Wednesday, he said it was “well past the time” for ministers to come up with a long term plan on pay and jobs and that doctors going on strike were “making clear that they are willing to stand up for their profession against a totally avoidable jobs crisis”. *** How long is this likely to drag on? After nearly three years Denis still sees no end in sight for the ongoing crisis. The BMA’s legal mandate to strike runs out on the 6 January but it is balloting to seek a fresh legal mandate to strike for a further six months. If they get a yes vote they intend to embark on more strikes in February. “They intend to keep on striking until they get the money they want,” says Denis. Increasingly in the NHS, senior people who run big hospitals, are “really worried that this is just going to drag on and on” through 2026 unless something dramatic pops up. “This is not a normal industrial dispute” says Denis. “There is no compromise that I can see available. I wish it were different, for the sake of the public as patients, for the sake of the NHS which picks up the pieces, and just for sake of the public good.” What else we’ve been reading It’s behind you! Well 2025 nearly is, and December isn’t December without a trip to a pantomime. Georgie Wyatt has some tales of panto mishap direct from the (pantomime) horse’s mouth. Martin I was humoured by Stuart Heritage’s story on Susan Boyle, of Britain’s Got Talent, having the most unexpected celebrity superfan – actor Timothée Chalamet. Sundus Abdi, newsletters team There aren’t many sports where I would actually have to put weight on in order to have a fighting chance, but sumo is one of them. Robyn Vinter explores its growing popularity in the UK. Martin I enjoyed this story about Jack Chadwick rescuing an injured pigeon and discovering a hidden network of people devoted to caring for Manchester’s birds. Sundus Toni Basil is best known in the UK for smash hit Mickey, but, now 82, there is so much more to her life than that, as Steve Rose discovers in an interview that name checks Bowie, Sinatra, Elvis and more. Martin Sport Cricket | England are considering a formal complaint over the Snicko technology being used in this Ashes series after Alex Carey received a lifeline en route to a telling century on the opening day of the third Test. Football | The Macclesfield forward Ethan McLeod has died in a car accident. The 21-year-old was driving back from the club’s National League North match against Bedford on Tuesday night when the incident occurred on the M1. Boxing | Undefeated world super middleweight champion Terence Crawford announced his retirement from boxing, hanging up his gloves three months after a career-defining victory over Canelo Álvarez. The front pages “Russia targeting European finance bosses and politicians over assets,” is the splash on the Guardian on Thursday. “UK peacekeepers getting ready to deploy to Ukraine,” says the i paper. “NHS RACE AGAINST TIME,” says the Mirror. “Stand up to the unions ...ban doctors strike,” is the lead story at the Express. “Budget strikes again,” is the highlight at the Sun. “£6BN COST OF STARMER’S NEW BID TO SUCK UP TO BRUSSELS,” writes the Mail, while the Telegraph runs with: “£8 billion cost of EU student exchange.” “Police vow to stamp out chants for ‘intifada’” is the splash at the Times. “Starmer in £2.5bn Chelsea transfer demand,” says the Metro. Finally the FT with: “Warner Bros board scorns ‘illusory’ bid by Paramount.” Today in Focus The Pinochet fan with a Nazi dad: meet Chile’s next president Chile’s next president José Antonio Kast was once way out on Chile’s political fringes – considered too extreme, too rightwing, and far too conservative on issues such as contraception and abortion. Yet on Sunday, Kast won by a landslide. Santiago-based journalist John Bartlett charts his rise. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Growing up, Amelia Gentleman’s father, the artist David Gentleman, rarely gave advice. If his children wanted to draw, he handed them pencils and left them to it. Now at 95, after an eight-decade career spanning book covers, murals, stamps and protest art, he has distilled what he has learned into a book of lessons for young artists – a move that surprised even his family. Amelia reflects on the principles she absorbed simply by watching him work: build a life around what you love, don’t wait for inspiration, stay curious and organised, and find beauty in the overlooked. Above all, she writes, he taught her to keep experimenting and not be disheartened by mistakes – lessons that extend far beyond art. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Martin Belam’s Thursday news quiz Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

EU leaders urged to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defence

European leaders are being urged to decide whether to use Russia’s frozen assets to fund Ukraine’s defence at a time of unprecedented pressure from the US. At a critical summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders will be asked to make good on a promise to find urgently needed cash for Ukraine, with Kyiv under pressure to cede territory as Russia ekes out advances on the battlefield. Upon arrival at the summit, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said Europe had a choice between “money today or blood tomorrow”. He said he was “not talking about Ukraine only, I am talking about Europe. And this is our decision to make and only ours. I think all European leaders have to finally rise to this occasion.” Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, who is pushing back against a proposed “reparations loan” for Ukraine secured on Russian frozen assets, told reporters that his country absolutely needed protection against any counteraction from Moscow. De Wever said the “most probable” option to fund Ukraine was joint EU borrowing backed against unallocated funds in the EU budget. But many other member states say this is a non-starter because Hungary has already said it would veto such a plan. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, a strong advocate of the frozen assets plan, said he believed the EU could find an agreement. “I understand the concerns by some member states, particularly by the Belgian government, but I hope that we can address them together.” The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would not leave the summit without a solution that achieves financing for Ukraine. “I totally support Belgium,” she added. Speaking to European lawmakers on Wednesday, she said: “There is no more important act of European defence than supporting Ukraine’s defence.” She added that “the next days will be crucial in securing this”. Von der Leyen said Europe must take responsibility for its own security in a world she described as “dangerous and transactional”, adding: “This is no longer an option. It is a must.” Earlier this month, von der Leyen proposed two options to fund Ukraine’s urgent defence and civilian needs in 2026 and 2027: joint EU borrowing or a so-called “reparations loan” secured against Russia’s frozen assets in the bloc. Belgium, which hosts most of the €210bn (£185bn) immobilised Russian assets in the EU, says it lacks sufficient guarantees that member states would come to its aid if the scheme were to fail, leaving Brussels with a multibillion-euro bill. The Russian central bank announced this week that it was seeking $230bn (£202bn) in damages against Euroclear, the Brussels-based securities depository that holds most of Russia’s sovereign wealth in the EU. Belgium also fears courts in countries allied to Russia will move to seize western assets to enforce claims against Euroclear. Italy has emerged as an important ally. The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said using Russia’s assets frozen in Europe to help Ukraine without a solid legal basis would hand Moscow “the first victory since the start of the war”. Like Belgium, Italy argues that joint EU borrowing would be a safer way of funding Ukraine. “Italy, of course, considers sacred the principle that Russia should primarily pay for the reconstruction of the nation it attacked, but this result must be achieved with a solid legal basis,” Meloni told Italian politicians. Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he would continue fighting to make up to €90bn (£79bn) in Russian assets “usable for Ukraine’s defence”. He put the odds of winning an agreement at “50/50” in an interview with public television on Tuesday. Merz told lawmakers the sum would finance the Ukrainian army for “at least another two years”, while its use would send a clear signal to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. He said he took Belgium’s concerns seriously. “That is why I am trying with our partners to alleviate them,” Merz said – arguing the commission’s plan was “in perfect compliance with international law and international obligations”. Under the scheme, the EU would provide Kyiv with a €90bn loan funded through borrowing from Euroclear. The loan would be repaid only if and when Moscow paid reparations to Ukraine. EU officials say Russia’s claim on the assets at Euroclear, frozen soon after the full-scale invasion in 2022, would not be affected. Moscow, however, argues the move amounts to theft and has vowed to retaliate. EU officials involved in preparing the summit have suggested the reparations loan is the only real option, as use of the EU budget would require unanimity. Hungary’s government, which is hostile to Ukraine, has promised to veto any attempt to use the EU budget as collateral for a loan for Kyiv. By contrast, the reparations loan would require only a majority of EU member states, although some diplomats say it would be unthinkable to isolate Belgium. “A very large majority of member states favour the reparations loan,” one senior EU official said. “Any solution that would require unanimity, I don’t think is realistic so we are back into the reparations loan.” The EU last week used emergency powers to indefinitely freeze €210bn of Russian assets in the bloc, averting the risk of losing control of the funds if Hungary or any other Kremlin-friendly government vetoed the renewal of sanctions, which have to be renewed every six months. Belgium has suggested that such emergency powers could also be used to generate an EU loan for Ukraine secured against the budget, circumventing the need for unanimity. But other countries say that would be a legal twist too far. “This is a non-starter,” said one senior EU diplomat, who nevertheless expressed sympathy for Belgium’s position. Additional reporting by Deborah Cole in Berlin

Ten years of fortress Europe has served only cruelty, profiteers and racists. The next decade is up to us | Maurice Stierl

For a decade, Europe has remained suspended in a perpetual state of migration crisis. While the Greek word krisis refers to an exceptional moment that disrupts the normal order of things, since 2015 it has become an enduring condition in contemporary Europe. That year, 1 million people sought refuge in Europe, fleeing wars and persecution. In the ensuing decade, the issue of migration has been so thoroughly weaponised that one can hardly remember a time when it was not considered a crisis. The idea of a permanent state of emergency does not reflect a reality whereby Europe genuinely cannot cope with new arrivals. Rather, it reflects the fact that there are simply too many who profit from manufacturing a sense of crisis. Crisis narratives sustain a political economy of fear, and have driven far-reaching transformations of Europe’s border architecture and migration policy. The European border-industrial complex is booming, with profiteers including the EU border agency Frontex, whose budget has exploded from €90m in 2014 to more than €1bn this year – despite frequent allegations it is involved in human rights violations. (Frontex has denied these allegations.) Across Europe, private defence and security companies have benefited from lucrative deals that have further militarised Europe’s borders. Promising that 2015 will not be repeated, conservative and far-right political forces are on the rise across Europe, seemingly intent on whipping up anti-migrant sentiments and making racist “great replacement” conspiracies increasingly mainstream. The racist right have seized their opportunity. But the fact that Europe is an increasingly hostile environment for migrants and racialised minority groups is in large part due to the dangerous cynicism of centrist parties that seek to beat the hard right and far right at their own game. Germany serves as a paradigmatic case. Exploiting the 2015 “refugee crisis”, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) first entered the German parliament in 2017, announcing that it would “hunt” the parties of the government coalition and “reclaim our land and our people”. As leader of the opposition and as chancellor since May, the CDU’s Friedrich Merz has steered sharply to the right. Pursuing an aggressive anti-migration agenda and callously playing with sentiments that could be viewed as racist, he ominously suggested in October that Germany’s “problem in the cityscape” could only be resolved through “large-scale deportations”. Back in 2018, Merz promised to halve the AfD’s vote share. Several years of pursuing copycat politics has had the opposite effect: the AfD has surged from about 5% to 26%, now matching Merz’s CDU in polls. In the UK, the Labour government shares a similar fate. Facing abysmal popularity ratings and massive pressure from the hard-right Reform UK, the government announced “the most sweeping asylum reforms in modern times” in November. Its draconian plans will make refugee status temporary, cut benefits, tear families apart and place many people in a decades-long limbo. This approach does not contain forces on the political right: it emboldens them. While Reform welcomed the announced asylum reform, gleefully wrapping the Labour home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in its own colours on social media, the jubilant far-right activist Tommy Robinson celebrated what he referred to as the obliteration of the Overton window. For the hard right or far right all over Europe, the “gift” of migration crises and panics keeps giving. Though this should be clear to all by now, it deserves reiteration: when you engage in a politics of cruelty to outbid those whose entire political agenda appears founded on cruelty, defeat is inevitable. Even if governments succeed in implementing “tough” migration policies, or bring the number of asylum seekers down, the far right will find other racial minorities to target, scapegoat and dehumanise. None of this has quenched the far right’s desire for more anti-migrant cruelty and violence. Turning vast geographies such as the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea into death zones is not enough for those who see their fight as a civilisational one, steeped in racial mythology and “remigration” fantasies that will ultimately also turn against Europe’s minority citizens. The ideas of the far right are gathering in strength, creating alliances across the world and leading to migration being used as a vehicle for authoritarian transformation. In its recent national security strategy, Donald Trump’s administration called for an end to the “era of mass migration” and laid out plans of “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory” in order to prevent Europe’s “civilizational erasure”. In Germany, the AfD is already celebrating. What, then, does the next decade hold for fortress Europe? The EU’s chosen path seems clear. With thepact on migration and asylum coming into full force in 2026, yet another milestone in Europe’s fortification will be reached. Instead of countering the narratives around perpetual migration crisis, the pact turns crisis into policy. It will enable EU member states to accelerate border procedures, extend enforced detention and limit asylum rights when faced with “an exceptional situation of mass influx of third-country nationals”. Yet, according to Amnesty International, the “situations” covered “are so broad, vaguely defined, and overlapping that they are likely to apply regularly. Once in place, it may prove challenging to unwind these exceptions, leading to a normalisation of emergency provisions in Europe.” In a world with many reasons for forced human mobility – wars and genocides, capitalist exploitation and climate breakdown – ramped-up border security, deportations and a generalised politics of cruelty will never “solve” the issue of migration. What they will achieve is the erosion of democratic norms, the deepening of social divides and the amplification of racist hostility. Since migration has become the cornerstone of the current authoritarian turn, it is precisely around migration that resistance needs to form. How we will look back on the decade 2026-35 is ultimately up to us. Carrying out rescues in the Mediterranean, disrupting immigration raids and deportation flights, reclaiming cities as spaces of plurality and solidarity – all these are urgently needed interventions that defend our fellow human beings, and take the fight to the authoritarian forces that are growing all around us. Dr Maurice Stierl is a migration and border researcher at the University of Osnabrück, Germany Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

China to hike tax on condoms in attempt to boost falling birth rate

China is set to impose a value-added tax (VAT) on condoms and other contraceptives for the first time in three decades, as the country tries to boost its birthrate and modernise its tax laws. From 1 January, condoms and contraceptives will be subject to a 13% VAT rate – a tax from which the goods have been exempt since China introduced nationwide VAT in 1993. The measure was buried in a VAT law passed in 2024 in an effort to modernise China’s tax regime. VAT accounts for nearly 40% of China’s total tax revenue. After imposing a strict one-child policy for more than 30 years, China has over the past decade been introducing a suite of “carrots” to induce people to have more children in a bid to boost the falling birthrate. As well as raising the limit on the number of children permitted per couple to three, provinces have been experimenting with offering discounts on IVF treatment and cash subsidies for extra children. Some local governments offer newlyweds extra days of paid leave to encourage people to tie the knot. But the fact that condoms and contraceptives look set to become more expensive has been met with ridicule on social media. “What is wrong with modern society? They are truly going to extreme lengths just to make us have children,” wrote one user on Weibo. The new VAT law also includes a tax break for childcare and “marriage introduction services”. This year, the government also allocated 90bn yuan ($12.7bn) for its first nationwide childcare subsidy programme, offering 3,600 yuan annually for each child aged under three. And on Saturday it announced plans to expand its national healthcare insurance programme to cover all childbirth related expenses. But incentives have had little effect. In 2024, the birthrate was 6.77 per 1,000 people, a slight increase on 2023, but still far below historical levels. A rising death rate caused by an ageing population means China’s population has been shrinking for at least three years. Now there are concerns authorities may be turning to “sticks” to achieve the national policy goal of more babies. Women in some areas have reported receiving phone calls from local government officers asking about their menstrual cycles and childbearing plans. In December, Chinese media reported that women in a county in south-west China’s Yunnan province were being required to report the date of their last period to the local authorities. The local health bureau said the data collection was necessary to identify pregnant and expectant mothers. Responding to the news, one social media user wrote: “Today they require all women to report the time of their period, tomorrow it will be reporting the time of sexual intercourse, the day after tomorrow they’ll be calling to urge intercourse during the ovulation period … [this is] mass breeding.” Hiking taxes on condoms is largely a symbolic move. A typical packet of condoms costs 40-60 yuan ($5.70-$8.50). The contraceptive pill, which can be bought over the counter, costs 50-130 yuan per one month packet. “Now that China’s birth policy has shifted to encouraging births and no longer promotes contraception, it is reasonable to resume taxing contraceptives,” said He Yafu, an independent demographer based in Guangdong province. “However, this measure is unlikely to have a significant effect on increasing the fertility rate.” Yun Zhou, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, said that the new tax was unlikely to affect people’s decision-making, but it signified from the government “what desirable family behaviour should be”. Zhou added that if access to contraception did become difficult, “the brunt of the negative effects will be borne by women, particularly by disadvantaged women.” China’s plan to modernise its tax system includes codifying into law taxes that were previously governed by administrative regulations. But although revenues are badly needed by cash-strapped local governments, some of which have been struggling to actually pay out the childcare subsidies they have promised, the condom tax is unlikely to bring in a significant amount of money. Lee Ding, a manager at Dezan Shira & Associates, an Asia-focused professional services firm, estimates that taxing contraceptives will bring in an additional 5bn yuan annually, a drop in the ocean compared to China’s general public budget revenue of 22tn yuan ($3.1tn). “We do not believe revenue generation is the primary motivation behind extending VAT to contraceptives,” Ding said. Additional research by Lillian Yang

Islamic extremism in the Philippines: is it a terrorism hotspot, and which groups are active there?

Confirmation by authorities that the alleged gunmen in the Bondi beach terror attack, Sajid and Naveed Akram, travelled just weeks ago to the southern Philippines has sparked questions about why they went and if there are any links to reported violent Islamist extremism in the region. Authorities in the Philippines said the father and son arrived in Manila on 1 November, where they visited the city of Davao, on the island of Mindanao. Their activities in the country’s south are being investigated and it is still too early to draw any conclusions. They flew back to Sydney on 28 November. Is the southern Philippines a terrorism hotspot? The southern Mindanao region, roiled for decades by Islamist separatists, communist rebels and warlords, has long been fertile ground for jihadist groups, from those affiliated with al-Qaida, Jemaah Islamiyah and most recently Islamic State (IS). Driven by a combination of political and historical grievances and advantageous geography, Muslim separatists in the region have long sought to create an Islamic state. But analysts say most groups have been significantly weakened in recent years although there has been some sporadic clashes and incidents. The last major flare-up was in 2017, when IS-aligned militants seized the city of Marawi, which they controlled for five months before the Philippine military regained control. The conflict attracted foreign fighters and cash, and resulted in dozens of people being killed, widespread destruction, and tens of thousands displaced. Mindanao is the only region in the largely Catholic country with a significant Muslim minority. How have extremist groups been able to operate in the area for so long? Mindanao is home to dense forests, rugged mountain areas and remote outer islands, that have proved conducive to guerilla warfare and foreign fighters seeking training with groups such as Abu Sayyaf and IS-linked factions. The area also has a porous maritime border that has enabled the flow of arms and foreign fighters from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as the Middle East. Analysts say that while extremist activity has declined it has not entirely disappeared, with the remnants of IS in the Philippines largely based in Marawi and its surrounding areas. “Marawi is still a hotbed of jihadist support,” said Todd Elliott, a South-east Asia terrorism and security risk analyst with Concord Consulting. What Islamic militant groups are active in the region? Even with seriously weakened capacity, a range of militant groups remain active in the region. Abu Sayyaf, once notorious for kidnappings and bombings, has been neutralised, with most of its members having surrendered, an army spokesperson said. The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a splinter of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, still operates in Maguindanao but has been diminished by surrenders and raids. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front accepted a peace plan that created the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao in 2019 and formally renounced terrorism. The Maute Group, also known as Daulah Islamiyah, has been reduced to what authorities say is a manageable number. Isis-East Asia, a loose network of groups that have pledged allegiance to IS, has about 300 to 500 mostly Filipino and some foreign fighters who have carried out sporadic attacks in Mindanao. In December authorities killed Mohammad Usman Solaiman, an alleged high-ranking leader and bomb expert of the Daulah Islamiyah in Maguindanao del Sur. Authorities said his militant group was responsible for terror attacks, including several bus bombings in Mindanao in 2022. What attacks have taken place in the Philippines and how has the government responded? Extremist attacks have decreased significantly since the fall of IS and the Covid-19 pandemic but some isolated activity remains. The most deadly recent attack was in 2019, when twin bombings of a Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu province, killed 20 people and injured 100 more. A 2020 bombing of a cathedral and town plaza in Jolo killed 14 people. A bomb that exploded during a mass at Mindanao University in December 2023 killed four people. The Philippine government has worked to crack down on extremist groups, with a 2020 anti-terror law increasing its powers to counter violent extremism. Operations in the country’s south have resulted in the death, arrest or surrender of key Islamist extremists in recent years, severely weakening their command structures and ability to operate, the Philippine military says. The groups that remain are fragmented with diminished operational reach. With Reuters

Canada sees large drop in population amid international students crackdown

Canada experienced one of its largest drops in population in the most recent quarter, the result of a crackdown on international students. The drop marks dramatic turnaround for a country that has long pegged its economic growth to immigration. New estimates released on Wednesday by Statistics Canada showed that Canada’s population fell by 0.2% in the third quarter to stand at 41.6 million, down from 41.65 million on 1 July. It was the only other quarterly decline on record came in 2020, and was attributed to Covid-19 border restrictions. The recent decline, however, is driven largely by a drop in the number of international students studying in Canada after Ottawa pledged to tamp down on the number of study permits issued. Canada’s Liberal party, which oversaw record-levels of immigration under the tenure of former prime minister Justin Trudeau, has shifted course quickly after mounting pushback over what many saw as unsustainable migration. In the third quarter of 2023, Canada’s quarterly population growth was the highest ever since 1957, with 420,000 people added to the country over that three-month span. Non-permanent residents make up roughly 6.8% of the total population, down from 7.3% last quarter. The current prime minister Mark Carney has pledged to reduce the number of non-permanent residents in Canada to 5 per cent of the total population by the end of 2027. Part of that plan involves cutting the number of international student permits in half, from a target of 305,900 new arrivals for 2025 to 155,000 in 2026, and 150,000 in each of 2027 and 2028. At the same time, the federal government plans to gently increase the number of permanent residents admitted into Canada compared with its previously announced immigration plan. It anticipates admitting 395,000 new permanent residents in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027. The finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, recently told reporters Canada had “exceeded our capacity to welcome” and provide services to immigrants in recent years. Robert Kavcic, an economist at Bank of Montreal wrote in a note Wednesday that a “major population adjustment is well under way and it remains one of the biggest economic stories” in Canada. “In order to hit the non-permanent resident target share, we’ll need to see population growth run barely above zero through 2028, before settling back into a longer-term run rate of just under 1%.” “We’ve argued all along that the explosion in population growth – to nearly 1.3 million people within a year at one point – was playing a major role in many economic issues Canadian policymakers have been struggling to deal with,” he wrote adding he’s seen a “significant weakening” of the rental market, less pressure on services inflation and growth in real gross domestic product per capita are among the potential impacts he sees as a result of the decline. The new figures show that every province and territory reported population decreases, apart from Alberta and Nunavut, both of which had increases of 0.2%.