End of an era as China scraps one-child policy

Beijing

CHINA has officially ended its one- child policy, according to a communiqué issued at the close of the fifth plenum of the Communist Party's Central Committee on Thursday night.

"China will allow all couples to have two children, abandoning its decades-long one-child policy," Xinhua News Agency reported, quoting the communiqué without providing any specific reason for the sudden change in policy.