More births for 2024 CHINA’S birth rate increased last year, with the number of newborns climbing to 9.54 million thanks to more government support and a slight effect from Chinese people wanting to have children during the Year of the Dragon. The birth rate rose to 6.77 per 1,000 people last year from 6.39 the year before, according to data the National Bureau of Statistics released Friday. The number of newborns increased by 520,000 compared with year 2023. Novel drugs for medical insurance CHINA will introduce a new category of innovative medicines to its public medical insurance system to encourage drug development. The new Category C, with the first edition to be released this year, will focus on innovative drugs that have high clinical demand but are expensive to develop, the National Healthcare Security Administration announced Friday. Human traffickers arrested CHINESE and Thai police have captured 12 suspects allegedly involved with a cross-border human trafficking group based in Myawaddy, Myanmar, and are chasing other suspects of the group, the Ministry of Public Security said Friday. Since December last year, the criminal group has posted a large number of fake notices in WeChat groups to “recruit” actors, models and crew members, the ministry said in a news release. The victims would be lured to Thailand before being sold to telecom fraud parks. | 