World News
Air pollution still kills 1,200 children and adolescents per year in Europe
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Sylvie Claire / April 24, 2023
Even if the situation is improving, air pollution still kills 1,200 children and adolescents per year in Europe, concludes a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
As for adults, this pollution is the main environmental risk for the health of minors and reduces their life expectancy, according to this study of some thirty countries on the continent, including the 27 EU member states.
“Air pollution causes more than 1,200 premature deaths per year in Europe’s under-18s and significantly increases the risk of disease later in life,” the EEA wrote in its report.
“Despite progress over the past years, the level of several of the main air pollutants continues to remain above the recommendations of the World Health Organization, especially in central and eastern Europe, as well as in Italy, “said the organization dependent on the European Union. The plain of the Po in Italy, the zones close to the big coal power stations as well as the big cities of the center and the east of the continent are regularly pinned for the bad quality of their air.
Several European countries – including the United Kingdom and Ukraine – were not included in the study, suggesting that the continental picture is actually bleaker.
According to another report published by the EEA in November, at least 238,000 people – of all ages – died prematurely in 2020 in Europe due to air pollution in the agency’s member countries (the European Union, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein).
Although the share of children and adolescents impacted by air pollution is “relatively small” compared to the overall population, dying so early “represents a loss of potential future as well as a significant burden of chronic disease both in childhood and later in life,” the EEA says. The agency recommends focusing on air quality around schools and day care centers, as well as sports facilities and public transportation.
Its effects begin before birth, with maternal exposure to air pollution “linked to low birth weights and premature births,” the environmental agency said.
After birth, ambient pollution increases the risk of several health problems, including asthma – which affects 9% of children and adolescents in Europe – or respiratory insufficiency and infections, the agency also stresses. These effects are aggravated by the fact that children are physically more active than adults and that their small size brings them closer to pollution, especially car exhaust fumes.
All ages combined, 97% of the urban population were exposed in 2021 to air that did not meet WHO guidelines, according to the latest data released Monday.
In its November report, however, the EEA noted that the European Union was on track to meet its target of reducing premature deaths by more than 50% by 2030 compared to 2005.
In the early 1990s, fine particles caused nearly one million premature deaths in the 27 EU countries. In 2005, 431,000 people were still dying, according to the agency’s data.
However, the European situation remains better than elsewhere on the planet: according to the WHO, air pollution is the cause of seven million premature deaths per year in the world, a toll close to that caused by smoking or poor nutrition. Several hundreds of thousands of these deaths concern children under 15 years old, according to the UN organization.
These heavy assessments had led it in September 2021 to establish more binding limits for the main air pollutants, for the first time since 2005.
The most serious air pollution comes first from fine particles, which penetrate deep into the lungs. This is followed by nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), according to health agencies.
Continue Reading
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Sylvie Claire / July 21, 2024
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone on Friday, with the former US president claiming to have promised the Ukrainian president to “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia should he return to the White House. “As your next president of the United States, I will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
Donald Trump frequently claims that he would be able to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine very quickly on his return to power, but never provides details of how he would achieve this. Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the phone call, during which he congratulated the billionaire on his official nomination the previous day as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
Donald Trump’s frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as his criticism of other Nato countries, is causing concern among Ukraine’s Western allies. In February, he threatened that, if he returned to the White House, he would no longer guarantee the protection of Atlantic Alliance countries against Russia if they did not pay their share, even claiming that he would “encourage” Moscow to attack them. The former American president also used his power over the Republicans to block a $61 billion military aid package for Kiev for months in Congress, which was finally adopted at the end of April.
In his posting on X on Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said he had “agreed with President Trump to discuss, in a face-to-face meeting, the steps to be taken towards a just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.
World News
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2024
In a message on Telegram, the Ukrainian National Police said she had succumbed to her injuries in hospital after being the target of an assassination attempt.
“I always say that no place is safe in Ukraine,” lamented Lviv mayor Andriï Sadovy, denouncing a ‘heinous murder’ and offering his condolences to the victim’s relatives.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, the attack took place on Friday evening, at around 7.30pm, when an unidentified individual fired at Irina Farion, seriously wounding her in the head. “All surveillance cameras are being checked, witnesses are being interviewed and several districts (of Lviv) are being examined. All leads are being investigated, including the one leading to Russia”, reacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on X on Saturday.
Interior Minister Igor Klimenko told a briefing in Lviv on Friday evening that the suspected killer could have been lurking around Irina Farion’s home for several days.
According to him, investigators are currently focusing on the possibility of a murder motivated by a “personal grudge” linked to the victim’s activities, but are not ruling out a “commissioned assassination” either.
The 60-year-old language teacher and linguist was a member of parliament for the nationalist Svoboda party between 2012 and 2014.
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Sylvie Claire / July 18, 2024
At least six people died in a shopping mall fire on Wednesday in Zigong, southwest China, and thirty others were rescued, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said. “Rescue teams are continuing their search,” the media outlet added.
Images broadcast by the channel and others shared on social networks show thick black smoke rising from a building overlooking a shopping street in this city 1,600 kilometers from the capital Beijing, in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The fire broke out in the early evening in a shopping mall at the foot of a 14-storey building, CCTV reported.
“At 8:20 pm, the fire was extinguished and 17 people were rescued. Others are still trapped, and rescue operations are continuing”, said the station in an initial report on the situation.
Fires and other fatal accidents are frequent in China, due to the sometimes lax application of safety standards. In January, at least 39 people perished in a store fire in central China. According to the authorities, the fire started in the basement of a store when workers “broke the rules” during construction work. At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for lessons to be learned from the disaster to prevent further tragedies. The same month, a fire in a residential building claimed at least 15 lives.
World News6 days ago
Trump promises Zelensky to “end the war” in Ukraine in phone call
World News6 days ago
Former Ukrainian far-right MP murdered in Lviv: “All leads are being investigated, including Russia”
World News1 week ago
