WORLD NEWS FLASH
WORLD
For many years, people have said there are “8 billion people on Earth.” Now, it is finally true.
According to the United Nations, the global population reached 8 billion on Nov. 15, 2022, and India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, according to World Population Prospects 2022, released on World Population Day.
“This year’s World Population Day falls during a milestone year, when we anticipate the birth of the Earth’s eight billionth inhabitant. This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “At the same time, it is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another,” he added.
The global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under 1 percent in 2020. The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. It is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.
World Population Prospects 2022 also states that fertility has fallen markedly in recent decades for many countries. Today, two-thirds of the global population lives in a country or area where lifetime fertility is below 2.1 births per woman, roughly the level required for zero growth in the long run for a population with low mortality. The populations of 61 countries or areas are projected to decrease by 1 percent or more between 2022 and 2050, owing to sustained low levels of fertility and, in some cases, elevated rates of emigration.
More than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania. Countries of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to contribute more than half of the increase anticipated through 2050.
“The relationship between population growth and sustainable development is complex and multidimensional” said Liu Zhenmin, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “Rapid population growth makes eradicating poverty, combatting hunger and malnutrition, and increasing the coverage of health and education systems more difficult.
“Conversely, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those related to health, education and gender equality, will contribute to reducing fertility levels and slowing global population growth.”
Global life expectancy at birth reached 72.8 years in 2019, an improvement of almost 9 years since 1990. Further reductions in mortality are projected to result in an average global longevity of around 77.2 years in 2050. Yet in 2021, life expectancy for the least developed countries lagged 7 years behind the global average.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all three components of population change. Global life expectancy at birth fell to 71.0 years in 2021. In some countries, successive waves of the pandemic may have produced short-term reductions in numbers of pregnancies and births, while for many other countries, there is little evidence of an impact on fertility levels or trends. The pandemic severely restricted all forms of human mobility, including international migration.
UNITED STATES
CONCERNS ABOUT YOUTH AND TOBACCO
A study released Nov. 10 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 3.08 million (11.3%) U.S. middle and high school students reported current (past 30-day) use of any tobacco product in 2022, which includes 2.51 million (16.5%) high school students and 530,000 (4.5%) middle school students.
The study assessed eight commercial tobacco products. E-cigarettes – for the ninth consecutive year – were the most commonly used tobacco product among all students (2.55 million), followed by cigars (500,000), cigarettes (440,000), smokeless tobacco (330,000), hookah (290,000), nicotine pouches (280,000), heated tobacco products (260,000), and pipe tobacco (150,000). The term “tobacco product” as used in this report refers to commercial tobacco products and not to sacred and traditional use of tobacco by some American Indian communities.
Among all race and ethnicity groups, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native students had the highest percentage of any tobacco product use (13.5%), while non-Hispanic White students reported the highest percentage of e-cigarette use (11.0%). Approximately one million youth reported using any combustible tobacco product; non-Hispanic Black students reported the highest percentage of combustible tobacco product use (5.7%), including cigar use (3.3%).
Additional groups with a higher percentage of tobacco product use were those reporting grades of mostly Fs (27.2%); those reporting severe symptoms of psychological distress (18.3%); those who identified as transgender (16.6%) or as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (16.0%); and those with low family affluence (12.5%).
“Commercial tobacco product use continues to threaten the health of our nation’s youth, and disparities in youth tobacco product use persist,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “By addressing the factors that lead to youth tobacco product use and helping youth to quit, we can give our nation’s young people the best opportunity to live their healthiest lives.”
This study’s findings, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, were based on data from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS). NYTS, a cross-sectional, self-administered survey of U.S. middle (grades 6-8) and high (grades 9-12) school students, was administered Jan. 18 – May 31, 2022. Changes in methodology limit the ability to compare estimates from 2022 with those from prior years.
Many factors contribute to youth tobacco product use, including flavors, marketing, and misperceptions of harm. Most youth who use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, want to quit.
There are, however, ongoing efforts at the national, state, and local levels to help reduce youth tobacco product use, such as enforcing the federal minimum age of sale of 21 years for all tobacco product types; FDA’s ongoing actions against sales of unauthorized e-cigarettes; state and community restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products; efforts to raise the price and prohibit public indoor use of tobacco products; media campaigns and other education efforts that warn about the dangers of tobacco product use.
WORLD
RUSSIA AND REPARATIONS
The UN General Assembly on Nov. 14 adopted a resolution that calls for Russia to pay war reparations to Ukraine, as ambassadors met to resume their emergency special session devoted to the conflict.
Nearly 50 nations co-sponsored the resolution on establishing an international mechanism for compensation for damage, loss and injury, as well as a register to document evidence and claims.
The General Assembly is the UN’s most representative body, comprising all 193 Member States. Ninety-four countries voted in favor of the resolution, and 14 against, while 73 abstained.
The vote took place in the morning, and countries returned in the afternoon to explain their decisions.
In presenting the resolution, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya used the biblical adage that “there is nothing new under the sun” as a motif throughout his remarks.
He insisted that Russia must be held accountable for its violations of international law.
“Seventy-seven years ago, the Soviet Union demanded and received reparations, calling it a moral right of a country that has suffered war and occupation,” he said. “Today, Russia, who claims to be the successor of the 20th century’s tyranny, is doing everything it can to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation, trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing.”
Speaking before the vote, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya characterized the draft resolution as “a classic example” of a narrow group of States acting not on the basis of international law, but rather trying to consecrate something that is illegal.
He said countries backing the resolution were attempting to position the General Assembly as a judicial body, which it is not.
“These countries boast about how committed they are to the rule of law, but at the same time, they are flouting its very semblance,” he added, speaking in Russian.
Mr. Nebenzya said the proposed reparations mechanism will be created by a group of countries that will decide how it functions.
“The UN will play no role in this process because the proposed mechanism is suggested to be created outside of the UN, and no one has any plans to account to the General Assembly for its activity,” he continued.
Furthermore, he had “no doubt” that the funding will come from frozen Russian assets, which total billions.
Western countries have long wanted to unfreeze these assets, he said, not to return them to their owner, or to spend them on helping Ukraine, “but rather so as to fund their own constantly growing weapons supplies to Kyiv, and covering the debts for the weapons already supplied.”
Developing: During a recent missile barrage against Ukraine, intelligence officials are reporting that some missiles struck in Poland, killing two people. Poland is a member of NATO, along with the United States. There is no clear confirmation on if it was Russia’s missile or a Ukrainian missile launched to defend against Russian missiles.
EUROPE
PONZI SCHEMERS GET BAGGED
Two suspects wanted in connection with an international Ponzi scheme which defrauded thousands of victims in the Republic of Korea have been arrested in Greece and Italy with INTERPOL support.
Polish and German suspects, aged 49 and 61 respectively, were wanted internationally under INTERPOL Red Notices issued by Korean authorities for their alleged role in the scheme, which embezzled approximately EUR 28 million from some 2,000 Korean victims.
The arrests follow coordination between the INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in Greece, Italy, Poland and the Republic of Korea as well as the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support unit, and its Cybercrime directorate.
The Polish suspect was arrested at Imola race circuit following real time information exchange between the NCB in Rome, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza Investigation unit and INTERPOL. Police at Athens International Airport arrested the German suspect as he attempted to travel to Dubai after an identity check detected his Red Notice status.
INTERPOL’s global network is further supporting on-going police investigations in Poland where criminals tied to the Ponzi scheme have allegedly scammed thousands of victims.
Posing as an investment opportunity promising attractive returns, the scheme exploited social media chat rooms to promote FutureNet, a large-scale international pyramid scheme which attracted investors via word of mouth and incited them to recruit others between 2016 and 2020.
The victims were led to believe they would benefit from their investment by buying advertisement packs and re-selling them at profit to new users via YouTube and Facebook.
The arrests come as part of INTERPOL’s Haechi initiative, supported by the Republic of Korea, which coordinates operations against cyber-enabled financial crime.
INTERPOL launched IFCACC earlier this year, to provide a coordinated global response against the exponential growth in transnational financial crime.
