CHICAGO — Vice Presidential (VP) candidate Tim Walz led fellow Democrats in a political pep rally on Wednesday night, vowing that he and presidential running mate Kamala Harris would triumph over Republican Donald Trump in November’s US election.

The Minnesota governor, who was little known in America 15 days ago, acknowledged he had never given such a big speech but said that as a former high school football coach, “I have given a lot of pep talks.”

The crowd responded with chants of “Coach, Coach, Coach!”

Mr. Walz brought his plain-speaking style and small-town values to the national stage, joined by a litany of political luminaries and star entertainers on the third night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Mr. Walz, 60, accepted his party’s nomination for the No. 2 job.

He said America should be a place where children don’t go hungry, healthcare and housing are human rights, “and the government stays the hell out of your bedroom,” referring to Republican assaults on abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

He spoke of preserving the freedoms that Democrats say are under attack from Mr. Trump, 78, who is making his third major-party run for the White House. Mr. Walz said a second Trump White House would serve nobody except the wealthy and most extreme.

In the audience beside his mother and sister, Mr. Walz’s son Gus, 17, leapt to his feet during his father’s remarks, pointing at the stage while appearing to shout, “That’s my Dad,” and shedding tears.  Ms. Harris, 59, will address the gathering on its final night on Thursday.

WINFREY, CLINTON JOIN THE FIGHT
Media personality Oprah Winfrey joined Democratic former President Bill Clinton and others to press the case that while Mr. Trump was for himself, Ms. Harris was for the country.

“Next time you hear him, don’t count the lies. Count the I’s,” Mr. Clinton, 78, told the cheering crowd at the national convention, his 12^th at such event.

Ms. Winfrey, describing herself as an independent voter, said, “I’m calling on all you independents and all you undecided. … Decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024.”

Delegates sprang to their feet, cheering loudly when she entered the stage, a surprise addition to the program.

Vice President Harris emerged as the 2024 Democratic candidate last month following President Joseph R. Biden’s exit from the Nov. 5 race and brought the lesser-known Mr. Walz to the national stage 15 days ago.

American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder performed, actress Mindy Kaling joked about cooking with her friend Kamala.

Republican deserters joined Democratic stalwarts in supporting the Harris-Walz ticket with Wednesday’s spotlight on Jan. 6, 2021. A video showed Mr. Trump exhorting supporters that day to be strong and fight before they stormed the US Capitol to try to block Biden’s 2020 victory.

As the video played, delegates sat in silence, a sharp contrast to their roars and applause throughout the night.

Olivia Troye, who quit her White House national security job under Mr. Trump after Jan. 6, said the Republican candidate was laying the groundwork to undermine the 2024 election.

Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor of Georgia, spoke directly to the camera to tell fellow Republicans watching from home that they needed to “dump Trump.”

“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot,” he said.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was House speaker on that day, said: “Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6: He did. But let us not forget who saved democracy that day: We did.”

Polls showed Mr. Biden, 81, trailing Mr. Trump before the Democratic president ceded the party’s top spot to Ms. Harris; polls now show her besting her Republican rival in several of the states that will decide the election. 

DIVISIONS OVER GAZA PERSIST
Mr. Biden’s support for Israel’s assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, one of the most divisive issues in the party, has not featured prominently at the convention. Palestinian health officials say the offensive has killed more than 40,000 people.

The parents of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, received a standing ovation and chants of “Bring Them Home” when they took the stage. Goldberg-Polin, 23, was among more than 200 hostages taken by Palestinian Hamas militants in their Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“Bringing the hostages home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” Polin said.

Leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement, which mobilized nearly 750,000 voters during the primary elections to protest US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, said late on Wednesday that convention organizers had rejected their request to include a Palestinian speaker in the program.

A handful of allies began a sit-in outside the convention center to protest the exclusion, vowing not to move until they get a speaking slot. — Reuters

SYDNEY — When Sphen, one half of the gay penguin couple whose love captivated the world, died earlier this month in Sydney his partner Magic began to sing.

Gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic became symbols for same-sex love in 2018 after aquarium staff noticed the two males building a nest together and gave them an egg to incubate.

Their relationship would inspire a float in Sydney’s world-famous Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade and feature in the Netflix series Atypical.

Sphen was nearly 12 when he passed away earlier this month, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium said in a statement on Thursday. Gentoo penguins have an average life span of 12 to 13 years.

Staff took Magic to see Sphen’s body so he could understand that he would not be coming home. When he reached Sphen, Magic immediately started singing, followed shortly afterwards by the other 45 penguins in the colony.

Gentoo penguins can make sounds ranging from honks to brays which their partners can usually identify from the voices of other penguins in the colony.

“Sphen and Magic’s love story captivated the world and it’s been an honor to welcome local and international fans,” said Rachel Dilly, general manager at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium.

“The team’s focus is now on Magic, who will soon prepare for his first breeding season without Sphen.”

In tributes on the Aquarium website, people spoke about the joy and inspiration the penguin lovers had brought to their lives.

“Sphen’s gonna be having fun surfing the rainbow waves up there,” said Indah. “Penguin superstar, Sphen, thank you for being you. We will miss you.” — Reuters

HONG KONG/BEIJING — Mary Meng is so busy and stressed working for a Chinese tech company in Shanghai that she can’t imagine having a second child.

“The work pressure is such that you don’t even have any time to spend with your child,” said the 37-year-old mother of a primary school-aged boy. “How can I think about taking care of two children? I have no idea.”

That resonates with urban residents anywhere. But given the pace of population decline and ageing in China, the impact of the fast-paced, expensive city life on birth rates should be treated with more urgency by Beijing, demographers say.

China is rapidly running out of mothers. The number of women of reproductive age, defined by the United Nations as 15-to-49, is set to drop by more than two-thirds to under 100 million by the end of the century.

At a twice-a-decade top political gathering last month, China announced plans to build a “birth-friendly society” — pledging to implement measures long-called for by population experts, such as lowering childcare and education costs.

But, to the despair of the same experts, Beijing also vowed to encourage more people into urban areas.

This policy aims to increase housing demand to prop up the crisis-hit property sector, and revive flagging economic growth through productivity gains and stronger consumption. Urban residents typically produce and buy higher value-added goods and services than their rural counterparts.

But the fresh urbanization push overlooks basic demographic theory. In the cities, people have fewer children due to high housing costs, limited space, expensive education, and because they spend most of their day at work.

Couple infertility rates in China have also risen from 2% in the 1980s to 18%, versus around 15% globally — with doctors blaming the rise on factors such as stress related to urban jobs and industrial pollution.

Fertility rates in China’s rural areas are slightly higher at 1.54 versus the national average of 1.3 in 2020, according to the latest breakdown from China’s top economic planner, while Shanghai’s fertility rate in 2023 was 0.6 versus 1.1 nationally.

Authorities are “foolishly” driving young people “to the most birth-unfriendly big cities, which will lead to a continued decline in fertility and exacerbate the ageing crisis,” said Yi Fuxian, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“The suppression of fertility rates by population density is a biological law.”

This phenomenon has been most evident in east Asia. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan urbanized and industrialized at a faster pace than most other economies post-World War II. While China’s birth rates are also very low after decades of a strict one-child policy, not all is lost.

At 65%, its urbanization rate is lower than the 80-90% rates in Japan or South Korea — and this could give it room for maneuver, demographers say.

Improving rural living standards by providing better public services or liberalizing land rights would have a more sustainable impact on economic growth than continuing urbanization as they could improve birth rates, they say.

“The population size is always a multiplier” in the economy, said Samir KC, professor at the Asian Demographic Research Institute at Shanghai University.

‘JUST SURVIVAL’
To have a stable population, countries need fertility rates of 2.1. That means that for every woman like Meng, who only raises one child, another would need to have three.

Poppy Yu, 21, who works at a film production company in Beijing six or seven days a week, wants none.

“I don’t have the money or energy,” Yu said.

China’s “birth-friendly society” vision entails bringing down costs of parenting and education, lengthening parental leave, upgrading maternity and pediatric care and boosting child subsidies and tax deductions.

Many countries offer such incentives. But those with successful birth policies — such as France or Sweden — stand out through greater gender equality, stronger labor rights and robust social welfare.

Reducing childcare costs does not work on its own “and instead promotes a certain set of family values that demand that women take domestic responsibilities,” said Yun Zhou, demographer at the University of Michigan.

Ms. Meng believes no policy would work until Chinese people start hoping again for a better life, financially.

“Now everyone thinks there is no prospect at all,” she said. “No matter how hard you work, it is just survival.” — Reuters