Compiled by DIVYA THERESA RAVI, ALLISON LAI and R. ARAVINTHAN
FREE durians are being offered to get more couples to legally register their marriages in north Sumatra, Indonesia.
China Press reported that the campaign, confirmed by the Religious Affairs Ministry and reported by The Jakarta Post, is currently limited to a branch office in Tapanuli Utara, a landlocked regency in the province.
Officials say it is meant to raise awareness that formal registration protects legal rights, especially for women and children.
Indonesia has seen a sharp decline in registered marriages. Statistics showed that the numbers fell from about two million in 2018 to 1.4 million in 2024.
The durian giveaway has gone viral online, drawing praise for its creativity but also scepticism from critics who say falling marriage rates are driven more by economic pressures, rising living costs and changing values.
> A tofu shop in Jinan, China, faced an online backlash after a worker was fired when his daughter asked the boss for two hours off so they could have a Lunar New Year reunion meal, Oriental Daily reported.
The daughter, surnamed Li, wanted a meal with her father before she returned to Hangzhou for work, saying they had only managed to eat together once during the holiday period due to his long working hours.
She claimed the request was rejected and her father was later dismissed, prompting her to confront the owner outside the shop in a scene that went viral.
Local human resources officials had since intervened, saying they would help protect the worker’s rights if the shop owner is found to have breached labour laws.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
