LEHTIKUVA

According to a new analysis by researchers at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, deforestation worldwide proceeded more or less as anticipated from the trends established over the last 15 years, despite the significant upheavals in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers analysed historical deforestation data (2004-2019) from the Terra-i pantropical land cover change monitoring system to forecast expected deforestation trends for 2020 in the publication "Has global deforestation accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic?" released in mid-November 2022.

Rescued refugees and migrants stand aboard a boat at the town of Paleochora, southwestern Crete island on November 22, 2022, following a rescue operation. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Globally one in eight or over one billion people today are migrants with 281 million international migrants and many million individuals who are stateless, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

Climate change, rising inequality, conflicts, trade, and population growth are accelerating these trends, WHO said in a statement.

As interest rates are rising, more households come under pressure to mitigate their loans and stabilize their financial situation. These, developments and other necessities have prompted innovations in the Fintech industry. The industry is changing fast and disruptions such as digital banking, cloud lending and blockchain are becoming common terms. One term reappearing frequently is loan consolidation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is the best protection against the measles virus. The CDC reports that two doses of the MMR vaccine provides 97 percent protection against measles and one dose provides 93 percent protection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday (local time) said that measles immunization had dropped significantly since the coronavirus pandemic began, resulting in a record high of nearly 40 million children missing a vaccine dose last year.

"There is now an imminent threat of measles spreading to different regions around the world as COVID-19 has led to a steady decline in vaccination coverage and weakened surveillance of the disease," said WHO and CDC in a joint report.

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

A top EU official has said that Brussels is concerned about recent layoffs at Twitter and gaps in the social network's content moderation practices.

"The recent layoffs @Twitter and today's results of the Code of Conduct against #Hate Speech are a source of concern. In my meeting at Twitter's HQ, I underlined that we expect Twitter to deliver on their voluntary commitments and comply with EU rules, including #GDPR & #DSA," EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders tweeted.

World Health Organisation headquarters, Geneva, north and west sides. Photo: Yann Forget

The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking to rename monkeypox to "MPOX" to destigmatize the virus, according to a US newspaper report.

The decision follows growing pressure from Biden officials, who privately asked WHO to change the name, The Politico reported. The report said this decision could be announced on Wednesday.

Photo: Kindred Group

Kindred Group has received a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 10.9 million from the Swedish Gambling Authority for shortcomings in its work against money laundering and financing of terrorism.

Kindred Group plc’s (Kindred) wholly owned subsidiary, Spooniker Ltd (Spooniker), has today received a warning and a sanction fee of SEK 10.9 million by the Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA).

LEHTIKUVA

Globally, two-thirds of young people do not achieve basic skills that they ought to learn in school, finds a new study by the ifo Institute. “These are alarming numbers,” says Ludger Wößmann, Director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education. The figure for the UK is 19.0 percent, for the US it is 24.7 percent, and for Canada it is 14.9 percent – but for Estonia, for example, it is only 10.5 percent. “This means a total loss of USD 700 trillion in global economic output over the remainder of the century,” says ifo researcher Sarah Gust.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri (L), heads the closing session of the COP27 climate conference, at the Sharm el-Sheikh International Convention Centre in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of the same name, on November 20, 2022. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 closed today with a breakthrough agreement to provide "loss and damage" funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters.

"This outcome moves us forward," said Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary. "We have determined a way forward on a decades-long conversation on funding for loss and damage - deliberating over how we address the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst impacts of climate change."

The world's population is projected to reach 8 billion people on Tuesday, according to the UN estimates, which consider this a milestone in human development.

The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.