September 20, 2026

03a China

Contraceptives in China now taxed in reversal of subsidization policy

pgnewser January 14, 2026 1

For three dedaces, Chinese citizens would not pay taxes on contraceptives, which includes drugs and condoms. Now, Chairman Xi has ordered a 13% value-added tax on contraceptives to discourage fertility. The move comes as the population has dropped for three years in a row, and the drop is only expected to plummet in upcoming years.

Blurb:

China taxes condoms, contraceptive drugs in bid to spur birth rate – Reuters
from news.google.com

HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) – China removed a three-decade-old tax exemption on contraceptive drugs and ​devices from January 1 in new steps ‌to spur a flagging birth rate.

Condoms and contraceptive pills now ‌incur value-added tax of 13%, the standard rate for most consumer goods.

The move comes as Beijing struggles to boost birth rates in the world’s second-largest economy. ⁠China’s population fell ‌for a third consecutive year in 2024 and experts have cautioned the downturn will ‍continue.

China exempted childcare subsidies from personal income tax and rolled out an annual childcare subsidy last year, following ​a series of “fertility-friendly” measures in 2024, such as ‌urging colleges and universities to provide “love education” to portray marriage, love, fertility and family in a positive light.

China Fumes at Trump’s Iran Tariffs After Losing Access to Venezuelan Oil– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser January 14, 2026 0

Blurb:

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Communist Party’s state propaganda arms railed on Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25-percent tariff on countries that do business with Iran.

The president announced the policy after two weeks of protests in the country calling for an end to the brutal Islamist regime, which has responded with widespread violence that, some estimates suggest, has killed as many as 3,000 people. The “supreme leader” of Iran, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has since said in public remarks that it is the democratically elected Trump administration, and not his regime, that is on the verge of collapse, and Khamenei’s underlings have insisted that the regime has the country “under control.”

Trump has since called on Iranian protesters to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS” and suggested the White House would support them.

Chinese researchers develop high-voltage sodium–sulfur battery that could challenge lithium batteries– www.digitaltrends.com

pgnewser January 11, 2026 0

Blurb:

A team of researchers in China has just pulled the curtain back on a new sodium-sulfur battery design that could fundamentally change the math on energy storage. By leaning into the very chemistry that has historically made sulfur a headache for engineers, they have managed to build a cell that is incredibly cheap to make but still packs a massive energy punch.

The design, which is currently being tested in the lab, uses dirt-cheap ingredients: sulfur, sodium, aluminum, and a chlorine-based electrolyte. In early trials, the battery hit energy densities over 2,000 watt-hours per kilogram – a figure that blows today’s sodium-ion batteries out of the water and even gives top-tier lithium cells a run for their money.

Venezuela live updates: Delcy Rodríguez to be sworn in as leader as China calls for Maduro’s release | Venezuela– www.theguardian.com

pgnewser January 5, 2026 0

Blurb:

Delcy Rodríguez is due to be officially sworn in as Venezuela’s president shortly (at 08:00 local time; 12:00 GMT) after the country’s supreme court designated her as interim president over the weekend.

She had pledged loyalty to Nicolás Maduro on Saturday and condemned his capture as an “atrocity”, but on Sunday called for a “balanced and respectful” relationship with the US, which has warned they might make a fresh military intervention if she does not accommodate their demands.

China’s “artificial sun” just broke a fusion limit scientists thought was unbreakable– www.sciencedaily.com

pgnewser January 5, 2026 0

Blurb:

Scientists working with China’s fully superconducting Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) have successfully reached a long-theorized “density-free regime” in fusion plasma experiments. In this state, the plasma remains stable even when its density rises far beyond traditional limits. The results, published in Science Advances on January 1, shed new light on how one of fusion energy’s most stubborn physical barriers might finally be overcome on the road to ignition.

The research was co-led by Prof. Ping Zhu of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Associate Prof. Ning Yan of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. By developing a new high-density operating approach for EAST, the team showed that plasma density can be pushed well past long-standing empirical limits without triggering the disruptive instabilities that usually end experiments. This finding challenges decades of assumptions about how tokamak plasmas behave at high density.

Mexican tariffs of up to 50% hit Chinese, other non-FTA imports– mexiconewsdaily.com

pgnewser January 5, 2026 0

Blurb:

Sweeping tariff increases on imports from China and other countries without free trade agreements (FTAs) with Mexico officially took effect Jan. 1, marking a significant shift in the country’s trade policy aimed at protecting domestic industries and jobs.

The tariff modifications, published in Mexico’s Official Gazette on Dec. 30, affect 1,463 product categories across more than a dozen sectors including automotive, textiles, clothing, steel, plastics, footwear, furniture, toys, aluminum and glass. The new duties range from 5% to 50%, with the highest rates applied to vehicles from China and certain other Asian nations.