Lebanon Army Offers Tourists Helicopter Joyrides

Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun at a handover ceremony of four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft given by the US, June 12, 2018. (AFP)
Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun at a handover ceremony of four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft given by the US, June 12, 2018. (AFP)
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Lebanon Army Offers Tourists Helicopter Joyrides

Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun at a handover ceremony of four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft given by the US, June 12, 2018. (AFP)
Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun at a handover ceremony of four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft given by the US, June 12, 2018. (AFP)

The Lebanese army will start offering tourists helicopter joyrides this week in a bid to boost the coffers of one of the crisis-hit country’s key institutions.

An economic crisis that the World Bank describes as likely one of the world’s worst since the 1850s has hit the Lebanese military hard, leaving it struggling to pay troops enough to live on.

In an announcement on its website, the army said it would be offering civilians the chance to see “Lebanon... from above” with 15-minute flights.

The joyrides on board the army’s Robinson R44 Raven helicopters would start on Thursday and would be open to passengers aged three and above, AFP reported.

Up to three people would be allowed aboard per flight, which costs about $150 and is to be paid in cash.

The aim is “to encourage Lebanese tourism in a new way, in addition to supporting the air force,” a military source told AFP.

The economic crisis has eaten away at the value of soldiers’ salaries and slashed the military’s budget for maintenance and equipment.

Toward the middle of last year, the army said it had scrapped meat from the meals offered to on-duty soldiers, due to rising food prices.

Lebanon has been without a functioning government since a massive blast in Beirut in August last year killed more than 200 people and ravaged swathes of the Mediterranean port city.

Politicians have failed to agree on a new cabinet line-up even as foreign currency cash reserves plummet, causing fuel, electricity and medicine shortages.

Earlier this month, France hosted a donor conference at which 20 nations agreed to provide emergency aid to Lebanon’s military.



Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
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Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)

The number of births in Japan last year fell below 700,000 for the first time on record, government data showed Wednesday.

The fast-ageing nation welcomed 686,061 newborns in 2024 -- 41,227 fewer than in 2023, the data showed. It was the lowest figure since records began in 1899.

Japan has the world's second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the situation a "quiet emergency", pledging family-friendly measures like more flexible working hours to try and reverse the trend.

Wednesday's health ministry data showed that Japan's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman is expected to have -- also fell to a record low of 1.15.

The ministry said Japan saw 1.6 million deaths in 2024, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Ishiba has called for the revitalization of rural regions, where shrinking elderly villages are becoming increasingly isolated.

In more than 20,000 communities in Japan, the majority of residents are aged 65 and above, according to the internal affairs ministry.

The country of 123 million people is also facing increasingly severe worker shortages as its population ages, not helped by relatively strict immigration rules.

In neighboring South Korea, the fertility rate in 2024 was even lower than Japan's, at 0.75 -- remaining one of the world's lowest but marking a small rise from the previous year on the back of a rise in marriages.