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Police say it is not the first time Divine Muheto has driven under the influence of alcohol.

Die 13. AHV-Rente soll ab Dezember 2026 ausbezahlt werden. Die zuständige Ständeratskommission ist mit dem Vorschlag des Bundesrats einverstanden. Jedoch will sie die Finanzierung der «Dreizehnten» noch nicht jetzt regeln und auf die grosse AHV-Reform warten.

C’est avec un esprit optimiste et déterminé que le ministre de l’Industrie de la Production Pharmaceutique, Ali Aoun, a participé à la cérémonie d‘inauguration du […]

L’article Autosuffisance pharmaceutique : l’Algérie vise 85 % de couverture locale en médicaments avant 2025 est apparu en premier sur .

Andreas Reinhard (68) ruft Erfinder in der Schweiz auf, Ideen zur Nutzung von Abwärme aus Notstromaggregaten zu entwickeln. Ziel ist es, den Ukrainern im Winter ein warmes Zuhause zu ermöglichen, ohne auf Gas oder Öl angewiesen zu sein.

Chidimma Adetshina was forced to withdraw from Miss South Africa after a row over her eligibility.

Bei einem Unfall mit einem Deltasegler in Schiers wurde ein Mann schwer verletzt.

Eine neue Studie enthüllt, dass Genetik eine grosse Rolle beim Abnehmen spielt. 14 «Schlankheitsgene» wurden identifiziert, die den Gewichtsverlust beeinflussen. Experten betonen jedoch weiterhin die Bedeutung von Sport und Lebensstil.

Am 5. November wählen die USA den nächsten Präsidenten. Im Rennen ist derzeit auch Donald Trump, der bekanntlich nicht der grösste Fan von Prinz Harry ist. Doch was passiert mit dem Visum des Royals, sollte Trump gewinnen? Dazu äusserte sich nun dessen Sohn Eric.

Der deutsche Lufttaxi-Entwickler Lilium hat diese Woche Insolvenz angemeldet. Damit werden erneut die Herausforderungen Europas bei der Entwicklung neuer Technologien und der Förderung neuer Industrie-Champions deutlich.

The Commission is considering hosting a roundtable with the industry, Euractiv understands.

Les jumeaux Matthew et Michael Youlden parlent chacun 25 langues, dont la 26ème est l'umeri, qu'ils sont les deux seules personnes à savoir la parler, la lire et l'écrire, l'ayant créée eux-mêmes lorsqu'ils étaient enfants. Les jumeaux proches ont la réputation de finir les phrases de l'autre, de partager des blagues et de parler parfois leur propre langage secret .

Les jumeaux Matthew et Michael Youlden parlent chacun 25 langues, dont la 26ème est l'umeri, qu'ils sont les deux seules personnes à savoir la parler, la lire et l'écrire, l'ayant créée eux-mêmes lorsqu'ils étaient enfants. Les jumeaux proches ont la réputation de finir les phrases de l'autre, de partager des blagues et de parler parfois leur propre langage secret .

Ski-Legende Markus Wasmeier kann mit einem möglichen Comeback von Lindsey Vonn nichts anfangen. Der Doppel-Olympiasieger bezeichnet die Rückkehr der ehemaligen Speed-Queen als «Show» und «Verarschung».

Künftig könnte es neben der Ehe eine neue Rechtsform für Paarbeziehungen geben. Die zuständige Ständeratskommission hat die Eckwerte für einen «Pacte civil de solidarité» (Pacs) festgelegt. Die Verwaltung wird nun einen Gesetzesentwurf erarbeiten.

Puisque la 13e rente est prévue pour décembre 2026, la commission prend son temps pour étudier le financement.

Das Kantonsgericht Zug entschied 2022, dass der Blick mit Artikeln 2014 und 2015 widerrechtlich die Persönlichkeit von Spiess-Hegglin verletzt hat. Nun fordert sie von Ringier den daraus erzielten Gewinn zurück.

Le LOSC Lille ne désespère toujours pas à récupérer Nabil Bentaleb, qui a été victime d’un malaise cardiaque il y a quelques mois. Seulement, l’international […]

L’article Retour de Bentaleb sur les terrains : « le rêve fou » du président du LOSC Lille est apparu en premier sur .

Nach sintflutartigem Regen und Überschwemmungen in Spanien sind allein in der Region Valencia über 60 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Die Situation ist dramatisch, wie Überlebende berichten.

Who’s responsible for the below replacement fertility that’s resulting in demographic decline and population ageing in countries around the world? Credit: Shutterstock.

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Oct 30 2024 (IPS)

Alarmists, mainly politicians, economists and wealthy elites, are announcing that the world’s demographic sky is collapsing. The world’s demographic sky is not collapsing but simply changing.

And that demographic change should not be blamed on the emancipation of women. It’s also somewhat perplexing that the alarmists don’t give consideration to the failure of men as a major contributing factor to the world’s changing demographic sky.

In general, men have neither recognized nor adjusted to the major economic, social and cultural changes that have taken place at the workplace, the community and the household as well as in their personal relationships with women.

Ranging from a global low of 0.72 births per woman in South Korea, many developed and developing countries around the world had a fertility rate in the past year well below the replacement level, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States

The exceptional high rates of global population growth and relatively young age structures that were experienced during the second half of the 20th century are over.

It is also indeed the case that many countries worldwide are expected to experience population decline and population ageing over the coming decades.

In the early 1960s world population grew at a record high of 2.3 percent, global fertility rate was five births per woman and the world’s median age was 21years. Today the world’s population growth rate is estimated at 0.9 percent, the global fertility rate is slightly more than two births per woman and the world’s median age is 31 years.

By mid-century the growth rate of the world’s population is expected to decline to 0.4 percent. At that time the global fertility rate is expected to have fallen to two births per woman with the world’s median age increasing to 37 years.

The declines in demographic growth rates accompanied by population ageing are largely the result of the reproductive decisions made by millions of women and men concerning the number and spacing of births. Those decisions are based largely on their personal desires and social and economic circumstances.

The world’s population is now slightly more than 8 billion, having quadrupled during the past hundred years. Nearly all demographers appreciate that world population will likely peak during the current century

According to the United Nations projections (medium variant), the world’s population is projected to continue growing, likely peaking at 10.3 billion in about sixty years. After reaching that level, the world’s population is expected to decline slowly to 10.2 billion by the close of the 21st century (Figure 1).

 

Source: United Nations.

 

Despite the expected additional two billion people on the planet, alarmists fret by noting that for the first time since the Black Death in the 14th century, the planet’s human population is going to decline. They are distressed and declare that many countries are facing the dire prospects of demographic collapse.

The expected declines in the population size of many countries over the coming decades is largely the result of fewer births than deaths. And the reason for the fewer births is below replacement fertility levels, i.e., less than about 2.1 births per woman.

More than one hundred countries, representing two-thirds of world’s population, are experiencing below replacement fertility (Figure 2).

 

Source: United Nations.

 

In 2023, the populations of some 80 countries and areas experienced a fertility rate below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. Ranging from a global low of 0.72 births per woman in South Korea, many developed and developing countries around the world had a fertility rate in the past year well below the replacement level, including Brazil, China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States (Figure 3).

 

Source: National surveys and United Nations.

 

In the absence of compensating immigration, most of the countries with below replacement level fertility are facing the prospects of demographic decline accompanied by considerable population aging. Among the countries facing population decline in the coming years are China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea and Ukraine (Figure 4)

 

Source: United Nations.

 

Who’s responsible for the below replacement fertility that’s resulting in demographic decline and population ageing in countries around the world?

According to many alarmists, the emancipation of women is responsible because emancipated women are simply choosing not to have enough births to ensure their country’s population growth.

In large part due to the ominous concerns being raised about population decline, many government officials and wealthy elites are urging and cajoling their female citizens to have more babies. Among their various pro-natalist policies, governments are offering cash incentives, child allowances, paid parental leave, flexible work schedules, affordable childcare and financial assistance to families.

For example, China recently announced its attempt to create a “birth-friendly society”. The government has announced various incentives, including establishing a childbirth subsidy system and various tax cuts for parents. In addition, families with multiple children would be given privileges in home purchasing, housing loans and larger homes.

Despite decades of pro-natalist efforts, governments worldwide have not been able to raise their fertility rates back to the replacement level. Some demographers have concluded that once a country’s fertility rate falls well below the replacement level, i.e., under 1.8 births per woman, it’s very difficult to raise it by any significant amount despite government policies, programs and spending.

The major and often sole focus of concern of alarmists is the national economy, i.e., growth of the GNP, production, consumption, labor force size, etc. Rarely do those alarmists ring warning bells or express serious anxieties about vital non-economic matters, such as climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, gender equality and human rights.

Rather than attempting to return to the population growth rates and age structures of the recent past, government officials, their economic advisors and wealthy elites need to recognize and adjust to the changing 21st century demographic sky. By doing so, they will be better prepared to plan and adapt to the wide-ranging social, economic, environmental and climatic benefits and opportunities as well as the many challenges that lie ahead.

Again, to be clear, the world’s demographic sky is not collapsing. It is simply changing to low or negative rates of national population growth accompanied by older age structures. And also instead of blaming the emancipation of women, the alarmists should seriously consider the failure of men as an important factor contributing to the world’s changing demographic sky.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

 

The UN General Assembly votes on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 2024 (IPS)

Although classified as a compact tropical cyclone and considered one of the smallest in the North Atlantic, Hurricane Oscar has caused considerable damage in eastern Cuba since it made landfall on October 20, 2024. Cuban authorities have confirmed that the death toll has risen to seven, in additional to the damage in infrastructure. Communications and relief efforts were greatly impeded by a nationwide power grid blackout, which continues on in much of Cuba at the time of publication.

Hurricane Oscar has led to significant flooding in some of the nation’s most densely populated regions such as San Antonio. “The main concern is just very heavy rainfall that’s occurring over portions of eastern Cuba right now that are likely producing significant flooding and even potentially some mudslides in that area,” said Philippe Papin, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

“The municipalities of San Antonio and Imías have been heavily battered by this event and there have even been levels of flooding that were not historically recorded in these two areas,” said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

Harsh winds, torrential rain, and flooding from Oscar has left many civilian infrastructures compromised or completely ruined. The Cuban government informed reporters that 2-meter swells hit the coasts of Baracoa, leading to walls and roofs sustaining damage. The Guantánamo province ranks among one of the hardest hit regions, with more than one-thousand homes damaged by Oscar.

In a statement posted to X (formerly known as Twitter), the Cuban government confirmed that electricity access has been restored for approximately 88.12 percent of customers in Havana, the nation’s capital, early last week. According to the Energy Ministry of Cuba, other areas including Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba struggle to conduct their daily lives with only forty to sixty percent connectivity. Service is believed to be inaccessible to much of Cuba still.

Cuba’s health minister José Angel Portal Miranda informed reporters that the country’s health facilities relied on the use of electricity generators as healthcare personnel tended to the injured. In a televised address on October 17, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz indicated Cuba’s plan to conserve as much electricity as possible, so as to not leave the entire nation destitute. “We have been paralyzing economic activity to generate (power) to the population,” he said.

Thousands of Cubans rallied on the streets to protest the nationwide lack of power, beginning on October 21.

“We’ve gone four days without electricity. Our food is going bad. Our kids are suffering. We don’t have water”, said Marley Gonzalez, a Cuban resident who participated in the protest.

President Díaz-Canel urged protesters to voice their opinions with “discipline” and “civility” saying, “We are not going to accept nor allow anyone to act with vandalism and much less to alter the tranquility of our people. That’s a conviction, a principle of our revolution.”

Many Cubans have shifted blame to the U.S. government for its six-decade long embargo on fuel supplies to Cuba. “The most absurd thing is that they have applied a criminal blockade against us for more than 65 years. We have not had stable fuel supplies so that the system can operate at its full capacity and with all its stability,” President Díaz-Canel stated.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to these comments, explaining that the “long-term mismanagement of its economic policy and resources has certainly increased the hardship of people in Cuba”.

The recent outages have caused concern among Cuban officials and humanitarian organizations, with many fearing that the recurring blackouts could signal the wake of a humanitarian crisis. The lack of power in Cuba has made relief efforts increasingly difficult for aid personnel. According to President Díaz-Canel, much of Cuba remains inaccessible due to the effects of Oscar. “Adding a hurricane hit on top of the existing power failure can make the hurricane impact far worse, further risking lives and resulting in challenges in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the hurricane’s impacts,” said Jon Porter, a chief meteorologist for AccuWeather.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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