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Satiriker Andreas Thiel blickt auf TV-Auftritt bei Roger Schawinski zurück, der seine Karriere veränderte. Trotz Verlust von Theaterengagements bereut er den Auftritt nicht und sieht ihn als Chance für Neues.

Wim Ouboter will es wissen: Der Erfinder des Elektrominis Microlino lanciert eine spezielle Version für Amerika. Ohne Türen und ohne Dach soll der Microlino Spider vor allem in Wohnquartieren zum Einsatz kommen. Auf dem Weg zur Arbeit oder zum Shoppen.

Alice Weidels Live-Gespräch mit Elon Musk hielt selten, was es versprach. Doch die Interventionen des Milliardärs in Europa erhöhten am Donnerstag den Druck auf die EU-Kommission, die Wirksamkeit ihrer Digitalgesetzgebung unter Beweis zu stellen.

En Serbie, comme dans le reste du monde, des enfants naissent avec les caractéristiques de l'un et l'autre sexe. En théorie, les opération de « normalisation » ne se pratiquent plus, mais il reste très difficile de grandir dans une société dominée par la classification binaire féminin/masculin.

- Articles / Santé, Radio Slobodna Evropa, LGBT, Serbie, Société, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

En Serbie, comme dans le reste du monde, des enfants naissent avec les caractéristiques de l'un et l'autre sexe. En théorie, les opération de « normalisation » ne se pratiquent plus, mais il reste très difficile de grandir dans une société dominée par la classification binaire féminin/masculin.

- Articles / Santé, Radio Slobodna Evropa, LGBT, Serbie, Société, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Aujourd'hui dans l'Expresso : Mayotte, ou l'enjeu des Outre-mer pour la France et l'UE, l’avenir des réfugiés syriens électrise la campagne électorale allemande, la Roumanie en passe de devenir le premier producteur de gaz de l’UE.

Written by Pieter Baert.

Equality between men and women is one of the key foundational principles of the European Union. Despite much progress, however, significant gaps persist between men and women regarding employment opportunities and income levels. Taxation can either mitigate or exacerbate these gender inequalities. On 13 January 2025, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC) is due to hold a public hearing on the topic.

Implicit gender biases in joint taxation systems

In general, Member States do not differentiate explicitly between men and women in their tax systems. However, certain tax provisions may inadvertently carry implicit gender biases, often rooted in broader socio-economic and cultural factors.

One notable example is joint taxation, where married couples (or civil partners) file joint declarations, with household income taxed as a single unit. While a joint declaration does decrease the overall tax burden for the household, especially where there is significant income disparity between the two partners, it can also lead to a disproportionately higher marginal tax rate for the secondary earner (lower income earner), who often is a woman. This effect can make additional earnings less financially rewarding, discouraging women from entering the labour market or transitioning from part-time to full-time employment.

The consequences of these tax structures can contribute to broader gender inequalities by limiting women’s career advancement and undermining their economic independence in the long term. Joint taxation systems are increasingly being phased out, although several (European) countries continue to have them in place, on either a voluntary or a mandatory basis.

Although taxation remains largely a national prerogative, the European Commission has actively encouraged Member States to reform tax incentives that deter secondary earners from participating in the labour market. For example, the European Commission argued that Germany’s national recovery and resilience plan failed to address concerns about the country’s joint taxation system (‘Ehegattensplitting’), which, in the Commission’s opinion, reduces women’s potential for participating in the labour market.

VAT rates on feminine hygiene products and gender-based price discrimination

Over the years, the tax cost of menstrual products has been a topic of growing public debate. Since these products are used exclusively by women, the issue has gained attention for its gendered economic impact. Advocates for lowering or removing value added tax (VAT) on menstrual products argue that the tax places an unfair, systematic financial burden on women, and contributes to ‘period poverty‘. Unlike other consumer products, these goods are considered a matter of necessity rather than an expression of consumer choice.

In April 2022, a revision of the EU VAT Directive introduced greater flexibility for Member States to reduce VAT rates on female sanitary products. This change allowed Member States to lower the VAT rate to as little as 0 %, compared with the previous minimum rate of 5 % (Annex III, paragraph 3). The European Parliament urged Member States to take advantage of this increased flexibility. However, while several Member States have since reduced their VAT rates on such goods, practices remain quite divergent, as illustrated in Figure 1 below.

VAT rate on tampons (EU, 2024)

Tax policy experts are generally cautious about VAT rate reductions, citing the likelihood for suppliers to bypass these reductions by increasing their profit margins instead. However, a recent study by academics from the University of Vienna, which looked at VAT rate cuts on menstrual products in Austria, Belgium, France and Germany, found that the tax reduction had been fully passed on to consumers over time. With the lower price, households purchased products of higher quality, and low-income households increased their purchase volume of menstrual products, highlighting the potential of such reforms to improve access for disadvantaged groups.

While reducing VAT rates is one approach to making female hygiene products more affordable, some Member States and local governments have chosen to provide these goods for free in schools, public restrooms and other public spaces.

A related, and puzzling, phenomenon is that of gender-based price discrimination. Although not an explicit tax as such, this refers to the situation where women sometimes incur extra costs for products and services marketed to them compared with similar items for men, with the products differing often only in superficial aspects, such as colour, name or description. Common examples include shampoo, razors and hairdressing services. While no comprehensive EU-wide research has been conducted to assess the prevalence of such practices, a study by the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency examined over 1 500 products in Germany and found that female variants were priced higher in 2.3 % of cases, while male variants were more expensive in 1.4 % of cases.

EU Directive 2004/113 already prohibits discrimination in access to goods and services based on gender. In 2023, the European Commission said it had no plans at the time to introduce additional measures in that directive to address gender price discrimination.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Taxation’s impact on gender equality in the EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Dani Olmo darf nun doch für Barcelona spielen. Während sich Klub-Präsident Joan Laporta auf unangemessene Art darüber freut, zeigen sich Liga-Konkurrenten über den Entscheid empört.

Selon les autorités, l'attaque a eu lieu sur l'une des positions militaires les mieux équipées du Bénin dans le nord du pays.

Selon les autorités, l'attaque a eu lieu sur l'une des positions militaires les mieux équipées du Bénin dans le nord du pays.

Press Briefing on Launch of 2025 World Economic Situation and Prospects Report at the United Nations Headquarters. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 2025 (IPS)

In the past few years, the world economy has made significant strides in mitigating inflation, unemployment, and poverty. Despite this, global growth has yet to regain its pace from before the pandemic.

This can be attributed to a host of issues that are plaguing the world, including climate shocks, armed conflicts and rising geopolitical tensions. These issues have disproportionately adverse effects on developing nations. It is imperative to come up with a solution that advances economic growth for all in order to get back on track with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Several structural factors, including high depth burdens, limited fiscal space, weak investments, and low productivity growth, continue to hinder the economic prospects for developing countries. Climate change and the geopolitical tensions pose additional risks,” said Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Li Junhua.

On January 9, the United Nations (UN) released a report titled World Economic Prospects 2025 that detailed the global economic situation as well as measures that can be taken to alleviate economic distress. According to the report, the world economy has remained relatively “resilient” over the course of 2024, despite extensive occurrences of climate-driven disasters and armed conflicts. Economic development is predicted to increase by 2.9 percent in 2025, which is virtually unchanged from 2024’s rate. This is still far below the rate of average economic growth recorded prior to 2020.

Major world economies, such as the United States, the European Union, and Japan, have experienced gradual economic recoveries in the past year. On the contrary, developing nations continue to struggle with high rates of youth unemployment, poverty, and inflation, all contributing to lower rates of economic growth.

Demographic pressures and increasingly high labour market demands have created bouts of unemployment among younger generations in developing nations. According to figures from the report, rates of youth unemployment remain a pressing concern in Western Asia, North Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Approximately 20 percent of young people in these areas are unemployed. High numbers of these populations rely on informal employment, which often yields low pay and few to no benefits. Due to limited fiscal space in these national economies, there have been lower rates of job creation and young people struggle to enter labour markets.

Most young workers still lack social protection and remain in temporary jobs that make it hard for them to get ahead as independent adults. Decent work is a ticket to a better future for young people. And a passport for social justice, inclusion and peace. The time to create the opportunities for a brighter future is now,” said Sara Elder, the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Head of Employment Analyses and Public Policies.

ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo adds that “none of us can look forward to a stable future when millions of young people around the world do not have decent work and, as a result, are feeling insecure and unable to build a better life for themselves and their families.”

Although global rates of inflation have trended downward in recent years, developing countries continue to face high levels of inflation in their economies. According to the Director of Economic Analysis and Policy Division at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Shantanu Mukherjee, the global rates of inflation were estimated to be six percent in 2024 and projected at 5.4 percent in 2025. These numbers are 1.5 times those for developing nations.

“That’s a sign of how severe the cost of living crisis is for most of us outside of this room. In 2024, if you look at the amount of public money that was used to service debt, the median country allocated 11.1 percent of its revenue. That’s more than 4 times the amount for the median developing country. Even among developing countries, there are variations with the least developing countries tending to be systematically worse in relative terms,” said Mukherjee.

Additionally, although global rates of poverty have declined significantly, extreme levels persist in Africa. Climate shocks, armed conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic have all caused widespread economic issues around the world, with Africa bearing the worst impacts. According to figures from the report, numbers of Africans living below the poverty line have trended upward in recent years.

Furthermore, in the world’s most conflict-affected states, such as the Gaza Strip, economies have seen considerable declines, with widespread poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, and limited access to basic services becoming increasingly regular. According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), due to extensive warfare and damage to critical infrastructures in Gaza, the local economy has been decimated and approximately 69 years of economic progress have been erased.

To effectively foster global economic growth, it is crucial to tackle the climate crisis. According to the World Economic Forum, it is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions and extreme weather events will cut average global incomes by 20 percent. Additionally, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), if yearly emissions stay the same, countries will need to spend at least 387 billion a year by 2030 to combat climate-related damages.

Global cooperation is also essential in boosting global economic growth, especially for developing nations. To build a more sustainable future with lower carbon emissions, technologies must be set in place that foster the use of renewable energy sources. In the UN DESA report, it is stated that a new commitment was created by a group of developed countries to mobilize a fund of 300 billion dollars annually by 2035 to support the implementation of renewable energy infrastructures.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Die Vereinbarung zwischen OMV und Uniper über Gaslieferungen aus dem Schwarzmeerprojekt rückt Rumäniens Potenzial als Energieversorger in den Fokus. Das Abkommen stärkt die Rolle des Landes in Europas Energiemarkt.

Seit Sommer gehört José Blesa zum Trainerteam des FC Basel. Wie der ehemalige Ernährungsberater von Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo beim FCB gelandet ist. Und warum er Goalie Marwin Hitz vor einem Spiel weniger zu essen gibt als den anderen Spielern.

Bulgarischen Exporte werden nach dem Beitritt des Landes zur Eurozone voraussichtlich um jährlich um 5,8 Prozent wachsen, erwartet der Warenkreditversicherer Allianz Trade in einer veröffentlichten Analyse.

Credit: United Nations

By Shibu Thomas
NEW JERSEY, USA , Jan 10 2025 (IPS)

India has surged forward as the world’s fifth-largest economy and has now surpassed China to claim the title of the most populous nation. However, this rapid ascent is not without its challenges; rising unemployment and inflation loom large, threatening demographic dividend and its ambitious goal of sustaining a 7 to 8% GDP growth.

Projections indicate a staggering population of 1.7 billion by 2050, intensifying issues like employment elasticity, soaring poverty rates, urban congestion, environmental pollution, and the depletion of natural resources. These escalating challenges risk irreversible ecological damage, threaten the delicate balance of species and habitats and post serious ramifications for public health and sustainability.

Confronting sustainable development in this context, especially amidst the aspirations of a vibrant youth bulge, is an urgent and formidable task. A powerful and cost-effective solution lies in consciously reducing our human footprint. We must urgently integrate population planning into climate change initiatives and sustainable development goals to forge long-term policies that protect our planet.

This calls for incorporating population discussions into broader environmental strategies, empowering women through education and access to reproductive health services, and launching targeted initiatives in high-fertility districts by building collaborative networks among governments, NGOs, and local communities.

The demographic landscape of India is currently at a critical juncture, presenting significant challenges in managing its rapidly growing population. Over the past 50 years, India’s population has nearly tripled, raising serious concerns about the future. With 18% of the world’s population concentrated on just 2.4% of the land area, accommodating further growth is an urgent and unmistakable challenge.

This issue has sparked contrasting viewpoints within the country, with some unequivocally regarding the expanding working-age population as a demographic dividend, while others firmly perceive it as a potential crisis that demands immediate attention.

The current demographic trends in India paint a picture of urgency, demanding immediate action to address job creation. The unemployment rate is 8.5%, and 14.9% (MPI) are impoverished. There is a significant wealth disparity, with the top 10% holding more than 60% of total wealth, while the bottom 50% has experienced a decline in wealth.

The education system is under strain, with over 1.2 million children out of school in 2022-23, struggling to accommodate the expanding population. Urbanization is further burdening infrastructure and essential services. Public healthcare expenditure remains low at 2.1% of the GDP, highlighting the need for universal health coverage. The growing population places immense pressure on arable land, exacerbating land degradation and impacting the resource base.

Furthermore, the expanding population and increased affluence have led to a rapid surge in energy production and consumption, contributing to air pollution and global warming. These environmental challenges are significantly impacting public health and hindering sustainable development.

Despite advancements in agricultural productivity with the Green Revolution, a significant proportion of the population still grapples with inadequate access to proper nutrition, highlighting the urgent need to address food sustainability. The increasing population will continue to strain damaged ecosystems, reducing their resilience and elevating the risk of epidemics, soil desertification, and biodiversity loss.

India’s current demographic landscape is marked by a burgeoning working-age population 500 million, offering significant development potential in contrast to China’s diminishing population. However, India’s population growth may present challenges due to its relatively smaller land area and lower GDP than China.

While China’s one-child policy facilitated rapid economic growth, there are varying perspectives on India’s fertility rate, which has reportedly dropped below the replacement level of 2.1. Some advocate for population policies, while others question the necessity of such measures, citing historical resistance to India’s coercive population policies in the 1980s.

Despite a 7.2% growth rate in 2022-23, resulting in six million jobs, the working population increased by 10 million, leading to “jobless growth.” Although the fertility rate is declining, scientific models project that India’s population may not necessarily decrease due to “population momentum.”

Historical efforts in the 1970s and 80s aimed at promoting family planning through diverse media and public outreach initially showed promise. However, the efficacy of these initiatives has waned over time, leaving the challenge of unchecked population growth as a critical issue that remains to be effectively addressed.

The reluctance to address this matter is deeply rooted in political, religious, and cultural concerns. Rapid economic growth and advancements in science and technology have intensified human activity, making it challenging to control. Regulating human population growth is crucial for sustainable development, and historical evidence from the 1960s indicates that uncontrolled population growth leads to resource scarcity.

Failure to manage human populations may undermine afforestation and infrastructure development efforts. Additionally, unchecked unemployment, particularly among well-educated young men facing limited opportunities, has been linked to increased political violence.

India has established an ambitious objective to attain net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070, notwithstanding projections indicating a population surge of 2 billion. A 2024 UNDP survey reveals that 77% of Indian citizens advocate for more robust governmental climate action.

The I=PAT framework emphasizes that environmental impact (I) is influenced by population size (P), level of affluence (A), and technology (T). India’s middle class currently accounts for 31% of the population and is expected to grow to 38% by 2031 and 60% by 2047, increasing per capita consumption. It is important to note that the only variable that can be directly managed is human footprints (P).

Given the complex nature of the issue and the underlying social frameworks, concentrating solely on persuading individuals to adopt less environmentally detrimental behaviors is ineffective and potentially counterproductive. It is imperative to destigmatize and integrate population growth discussions into environmental dialogues.

Government, communities, and individuals advocating proactive measures should collectively shoulder this responsibility. Our focus should pivot towards modifying systems and structures to incentivize communities to voluntarily refrain from procreation for a year, thereby driving significant behavioral shifts on a large scale.

The government should prioritize high-fertility districts in overpopulated states, particularly in northern India, and urgently improve access to contraceptives and family planning services in these areas.

The state of Kerala exemplifies that birth rates are lower where women have access to education, healthcare, and the ability to control the number of children. Better-educated women tend to have fewer children, which also signals increased gender equality. Empowering women and their active participation in decision-making can significantly reduce population growth, offering hope for a more sustainable future.

In conclusion, the interplay between India’s population growth, environmental sustainability, and public health presents a complex challenge that requires immediate and strategic action. To address this issue effectively:

1). Integrate population discussions: Establish forums and partnerships that unite policymakers, environmentalists, and community leaders to incorporate population growth into broader environmental strategies.

2). Empower women: Invest in educational programs and enhance access to reproductive health services, particularly in high fertility districts, to enable women to make informed choices about their families.

3). Implement targeted initiatives: Develop and support government initiatives focused on reducing birth rates in overpopulated areas while promoting sustainable practices at the community level.

4). Foster collaboration: Encourage partnerships among governments, NGOs, and local communities to promote conscientious living and embrace eco-friendly practices.

The time is now to act with purpose. Collective decisions made today will determine the quality of life for generations to come. By adopting these recommendations, the nation can forge a legacy that ensures not just prosperity but also the well-being of every citizen.

Dr. Shibu Thomas; M.D.S, M.S. is an Independent Global Health and International Security Analyst based in New Jersey, U.S.A; an Alumnus of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University and Former Assistant Professor at Ajman University, U.A.E.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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La Serbie a annulé un certain nombre de contrats d’armes avec la Russie, selon les annonces du chef d’état-major général, Milan Mojsilović, sans préciser si le pays allait rompre ses liens avec le Kremlin.

Spaniens Regierung unter Ministerpräsident Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) hat eine zehntägige Frist gesetzt, um eine vorübergehende Lösung für die überfüllten Aufnahmezentren für unbegleitete Minderjährige auf den Kanarischen Inseln zu finden.

Nach wie vor wüten im Raum Los Angeles die Flammen. Mittlerweile sind es bereits fünf Feuer gegen die die Einsatzkräfte kämpfen. Vor allem das Palisades-Feuer, aber auch das Eaton-Feuer machen den Feuerwehrleuten grosse Schwierigkeiten.

Die Arbeitslosigkeit hat in der Schweiz im vergangenen Jahr zugenommen, nachdem sie 2023 noch auf ein sehr tiefes Niveau gefallen war. Im Monat Dezember allein hat sich der Anstieg der Arbeitslosenquote primär saisonal bedingt fortgesetzt.

L’accord entre la compagnie pétrolière autrichienne OMV et la société allemande Uniper pour la fourniture de gaz provenant de mer Noire, dans la zone économique exclusive (ZEE) de la Roumanie, a mis en lumière l’important potentiel d’approvisionnement en gaz du pays.