UN: World population to reach 8.1B in 2025
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations forecast Thursday that the world’s population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025, with most growth in developing countries and more than half in Africa. By 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion.
India’s population is expected to surpass China’s about 2028 when both countries will have populations of about 1.45 billion, according to the report on “World Population Prospects.” While India’s population is forecast to grow to about 1.6 billion and then slowly decline to 1.5 billion in 2100, China’s is expected to start decreasing after 2030, possibly falling to 1.1 billion in 2100, it said.
The report found global fertility rates are falling rapidly, though not nearly fast enough to avoid a significant population jump over the next decades. In fact, the U.N. revised its population projection upward since its last report two years ago, mostly because of higher fertility projections in the countries with the most children per women. The previous projection had the global population reaching 9.3 billion people in 2050.
Germany to set up $10.6B flood fund
BERLIN – Germany will create a fund of up to $10.6 billion to pay for the damage caused by recent flooding, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.
The country, which has Europe’s biggest economy, won’t raise taxes to cover the costs and will raise borrowing, Merkel said after meeting Germany’s 16 state governors.
The cost of the fund, meant to finance long-term rebuilding, will be split equally between the federal government and the states; details of financing have yet to be finalized but Merkel said issuing government bonds is one possibility.
The Elbe, the Danube and other rivers overflowed their banks following persistent heavy rain, causing extensive damage over the last two weeks in southern and northeastern Germany. The water is slowly receding in most areas.
Argentine train wreck kills 3, injures hundreds
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – One commuter train slammed into another that had stopped between stations during the morning commute Thursday in suburban Buenos Aires, killing three passengers and injuring more than 300 on a line that has been under government control since a crash last year killed 51 people.
The state-run train agency dismissed possible brake failure as a cause and suggested that the conductor was at fault.
Satellite images show the train had braked normally at the previous station, and then rolled past four functioning warning signals without stopping before the crash, the agency said.
The conductors of both trains and their assistants were ordered detained by a judge for investigation on charges of “wreaking havoc followed by death,” the state news agency Telam reported.
Gitmo official: Hidden microphones now gone
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cub – The officer in charge of the operations of the Guantanamo Bay prison says hidden listening devices have been removed from rooms used by defense lawyers to meet with prisoners.
Army Col. John Bogdan said the microphones disguised to look like smoke detectors were not used to monitor private conversations between lawyers and their clients. But Bogdan said he had the devices pulled out of the rooms to remove any doubts.
He testified Thursday during a pretrial hearing for the prisoner charged with war crimes for allegedly orchestrating the deadly bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.
Lawyers for the accused bomber and for the prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks in late January had expressed alarm over the possibility of eavesdropping on their private meetings.
China’s Shenzhou 10 docks with space lab
BEIJING – China’s latest manned space capsule docked with an orbiting space station Thursday, and the three astronauts climbed aboard what will be their home for the next week, state media reported.
Automated controls guided the Shenzhou-10’s docking with the space lab, the Xinhua News Agency said. After entering the space lab, the crew exchanged their space gear for blue jumpsuits, Xinhua said.
During their 12-day stay at the lab, the astronauts will perform a manual docking exercise and conduct scientific experiments. They also will deliver a series of science lectures – part of an outreach to increase the space program’s popularity among younger Chinese.
The lab, the Tiangong-1, is an experimental space station. In operation for less than two years, it will be taken out of use later this year and replaced by a larger, more durable module by 2020.
Sunni governor escapes assassination in Iraq
BAGHDAD – Iraqi officials say that the governor of Iraq’s northern Sunni-dominated province of Ninevah has escaped an assassination attempt that left two people dead and three others wounded.
Two provincial police officials said that the Thursday-night attack occurred when a car bomb went off next to the motorcade of Atheel al-Nujaifi in the volatile city of Mosul, 220 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Police said the governor, the brother of parliament speaker Osmam al-Nujaifi, escaped unhurt but two civilian passers-by were killed.
A hospital official confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.
Associated Press
