Facebook unveils new policy for fighting ‘social harm’

Many Facebook groups based in Mali and Nigeria began sharing a video of a helicopter on December 9, claiming it showed an aircraft delivering weapons to terrorists. In Mali, the posts often accused the French government of operating the helicopter, while posts coming from Nigeria laid the blame on the Nigerian government. In reality, the video is from neither one of these countries – it was filmed in the Central African Republic during a routine supply drop.

Annalena Baerbock is Germany's first female foreign minister. According to the new government's coalition agreement, she wants to pursue a "feminist foreign policy." But opinions differ as to what that actually means.

With the Winter Olympics in Beijing set to begin in just over a month, China is sticking more than ever to its anti-Covid measures, which are among the world's strictest. The city of Xi'an has been in lockdown for almost a fortnight, all because of fewer than 2,000 Covid-19 cases. To date, only a handful of cases of the Omicron variant – all of them arrivals from abroad – have been identified.

The birth rate in the world's most populous country, China, has fallen for a fifth consecutive year to hit a record low. The population is ageing and the workforce is shrinking. Despite ending the decades-long one-child policy, the baby boom officials had hoped for never materialised. These rapidly changing demographics foreshadow a crisis that could undercut the country's economic and social stability.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday.⁣

For the first time since inception in 2004, Facebook lost about 5 lakh users on a daily basis during Oct-Dec 2021. That saw the shares of its parent company, Meta, plunge 20 percent on the exchanges, wiping off $200 bn in market capitalisation.

Inflation in Turkey has soared to nearly 49 percent - the highest level in two decades. It's another sign that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox monetary policy may not be bearing fruit. Also in the show: as energy prices surge, British authorities unveil more financial aid for electricity bills, and Facebook shares plunge as it reports a drop in user numbers for the first time.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday⁣.⁣

Poland is warmly welcoming Ukrainians fleeing the war in sharp contrast to its treatment of previous waves of refugees from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. What explains the difference?

Poland is allowing millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war access to the labor market and to health and social benefits. Polish officials are struggling to register and help all the people arriving in the country.

Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, has been designated as an "extremist" organization by a Russian court. But Meta's WhatsApp is excluded from the ban.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has expedited the "Strategic Compass" security strategy, which allows the European Union to form a rapid reaction force. Germany has offered to provide the "military core."