World leaders are older than ever; South Korea's record low birth rate drops further

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Good morning,

It's Leap Day! In Ireland, some women will propose to their partners today ☘️(which the rom-com “Leap Year” drew inspo from). How did we get an extra day every four years? Because of a 'mismatch between the calendar year and Earth's orbit.' Mo News producer Emily Gross breaks down all the fun facts in 90 seconds.

🗓 One year—when the Earth goes around the sun— is actually about 365 days and 6 hours. 4×6=24 hours, so every four years an extra day gets added.
Leap days are what keep our seasons and our calendars in sync—which, in turn, makes it possible for farmers to grow crops and communities to celebrate holidays around the same time each year.

Enjoy the bonus day!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

⚖️ JUSTICES DIVIDED OVER BUMP STOCK BAN

The Supreme Court appears divided after oral arguments yesterday on whether a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, an attachment that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire rapidly like machine guns, violates federal law.

The Trump administration issued an executive rule after the Las Vegas mass shooter used bump stocks to increase his firing speed, killing 60 people and wounding about 500 at an outdoor music festival in 2017. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in US history.

THE BAN
The case centers around how much power the executive branch had to issue that rule (without a new law from Congress), and whether a bump stock is a "machine gun" under federal law. A 1986 statute bars nonmilitary access to machine guns. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) interpreted that to include bump stocks.

Bump stocks were invented in the early 2000s.
- The feds approved their sale in 2010 after the ATF concluded the device should not be considered illegal machine guns under federal law despite allowing semi-automatic weapons to fire at a faster rate. When the ban took effect in 2019, over 520,000 bump stocks were in circulation in the US.
A Texas gun store owner challenged the rules after ATF officials made him surrender two bump stocks.
A New York Times analysis shows how the bump stocks used in Vegas allowed the firearms to fire about 90 shots in 10 seconds — a fully automatic weapon can fire 98 shots in 7 seconds
- By contrast, a semiautomatic AR-15-style assault rifle that was used in an Orlando nightclub shooting fired 24 shots in 9 seconds — 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded.
In Vegas, there were 23 assault-style rifles in the shooter’s hotel room, 14 of which were fitted with bump stocks.

The Biden administration argued to keep the Trump-era rule in place.

WHAT JUSTICES ASKED

Conservative Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said he could understand “why these items should be made illegal," but suggested doing so explicitly was Congress’s responsibility.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in contrast, said bump stocks are just “the kinds of weapons Congress was intending to bar because of the damage they do.”

The decision is anticipated to be close, and a ruling is not expected until June.

📌 MCCONNELL STEPS DOWN FROM SENATE AS RECORD NUMBER OF WORLD LEADERS ARE 70+

Voters might not be thrilled with the ages of Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, but world leaders are aging across the globe. A decade ago, among the world's 10 most populated countries, only India had a leader over age 70. Today, eight of the 10 do, and the others will likely have leaders over 70 after upcoming elections.

It comes as the top Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced his plans to step down from that position in November. However, McConnell, who turned 82 last week, will continue to serve as Kentucky's senator through his Senate term, which ends in January 2027.

BARRIER TO ENTRY
There are a few explanations for why the older leaders keep getting elected (or staying) in office.

Authoritarians not going anywhere: Xi Jinping, 70, took office in 2012 and broke with tradition when he stayed in office for a third term starting in 2022. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, 71, who is up for re-election in a couple of weeks, signed a law in 2021 to change the country's constitution so that he could stay in office until 2036.
Meanwhile, some democracies are giving establishment politicians with deep $$ pockets the boost.

Age gives you: Hopefully wisdom, but also a different set of issues to prioritize. Older leaders might have studied geopolitics longer, but critics worry that they don’t understand the growing issues like AI and climate change. Researchers have found that municipal leaders under 50 tended to allocate money to issues that impact them, like childcare.

WHAT ABOUT THE EU
European countries, none of which are in the top ten most populous countries, have older populations then the US. However, many of their leaders are younger.

France’s Emmanuel Macron, 46, came into power at 39. Italy elected its first female leader in 2022, prime minister Giorgia Meloni, when she was 45. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky is 46.
The Wall Street Journal reports that it’s easier for younger folks to get started in politics in Europe because “parliamentary democracies allow more room for younger politicians to find their feet.”

ZOOM INTO THE US
The oldest Congress on record served from 2021-2023. This term, the average age is down slightly to 57.9 years old for the House, and 64 for senators.

79% of Americans favor maximum age limits for elected officials in Washington, D.C., a Pew Research Center survey found.
Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has called for mental competency tests for politicians over 75.

🇰🇷 S. KOREA SEES RECORD LOWEST BIRTH RATE IN DEVELOPED 🌎

Fertility rates in South Korea fell for the fourth consecutive year in 2023 to a new low of 0.72 babies expected per woman, despite the government spending tens of billions on incentives over the years to increase the world’s lowest rate.

MO’ MONEY OR YOUR PROBLEM
This marks the fourth consecutive year that South Korea's rate has declined, with the 2022 birth rate at 0.78. To maintain the country's current population (51 million), women would need to have an average of 2.1 children. At this rate, the population could drop by half within the next 60-70 years.

Big spending: The South Korean government has spent $270 billion in childcare subsidies, programs to encourage couples to have more children (including cash), and assistance for infertility treatment since 2006. But these efforts have failed to reverse record-low fertility rates.
The problem: How women are treated at work. South Korea has the worst gender pay gap among developed nations. Many women want to wait to have kids until their careers are established, fearing professional consequences for having kids. The BBC recently dove into the issue further.

Low birth rates spell future trouble: a shrinking workforce = slower economic growth and troubles for social welfare (public pensions and health care) systems.

A LOOK AROUND THE 🌎
Neighboring Japan also hit a record low fertility rate of 1.26 in 2022, while China recorded 1.09, also a record low. The US has a rate of 1.7 from 2021, just above Russia’s 1.5 and Italy’s 1.3. (US population growth benefits from immigration.) The highest birth rate is in Niger, with a rate of 6.8 in 2021. Typically poorer, more agrarian countries have higher birth rates (and higher child mortality rates).

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Supreme Court to decide Trump’s lifetime immunity claim in election interference case (NBC NEWS)

📌 Idaho halts execution by lethal injection after 8 failed attempts to insert IV line (AP)

📌 Video of the devastating Texas wildfires, sparking evacuations and cutting off power to thousands of homes and businesses (MO NEWS)

📌 Federal court rules Indiana ban on gender-affirming care for minors can take effect (PBS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 French Senate votes to enshrine abortion in constitution, a world first (AP)

📌 Ghana’s parliament passed one of Africa’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills, folks could serve prison time for being gay; A look at anti-LGBTQ+ laws across Africa (SEMAFOR)

📌 UK descending into mob rule, PM warns police (BBC)

📌 Pope Francis hospitalized briefly after dealing with flu symptoms (FOX NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Google under attack for ‘woke AI’ fiasco (INSIDER)

📌 Wendy's backtracks: Says it isn't planning to introduce surge pricing (NPR)

📌 Boiling tap water can remove 80% of the microplastics in it (NEW SCIENCE)

📌 Any use of marijuana linked to higher risk of heart attack and stroke, study says (CNN)

📌 Reliance, Disney to merge India media assets to create $8.5 billion powerhouse (REUTERS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Actor Richard Lewis of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ dies at 76 (DEADLINE) Video: His 10 best ‘Curb’ Scenes (USA TODAY)

📌 James Beard Foundation honors 'beloved' local restaurants with America's Classics (USA TODAY)

📌 Andy Cohen snorts cocaine with coterie of favorite ‘Housewives,’ bombshell Leah McSweeney lawsuit claims (PAGE SIX)

📌 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were dangerously chased in New York City, NYPD says (PEOPLE)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: FEBRUARY 29

*Chicago's Playboy Club with Hugh Hefner and Playboy Bunnies. Via: Playboy.*

1692: The Salem witch trials began when warrants were issued for the arrests of Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and enslaved Tituba, accusing them of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.
1940: Hattie McDaniel became the first African American actress to win an Oscar for her role in “Gone with the Wind.”
1960: The first Playboy Club opens in Chicago with “bunnies” as waitresses.
1980: Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe becomes the first to score 800 goals in the NHL at the age of 51 — others have since hit the milestone.