Posts

healthy

More Than A Third Of All Global Cancer Cases Are Preventable Through Lifestyle Changes, WHO Says 

/in , /by

According to a new study and analysis from the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a third of all cancer cases globally are preventable. There are several ways in which we can reduce the odds of many different kinds of cancers developing, and a lot of it has to do with our overall lifestyle habits. 

Embed from Getty Images

The organization wrote that lung, stomach, and cervical cancers make up nearly half of those cases, meaning that millions of deadly cancers every year could be prevented through medical intervention, behavior changes, reducing occupational risks, and/or combatting environmental pollutants, according to ScienceAlert. 

The study itself was published in Nature Medicine.

“Addressing these preventable causes represents one of the most powerful opportunities to reduce the global cancer burden,” says Isabelle Soerjomataram, medical epidemiologist at WHO and senior author of the analysis.

The specific analysis found that in 2022 there were about 19 million new cases of cancer, and about 38% of those diagnoses were related to 30 changeable risk factors. 

It was reported that these risk factors include “tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, high body mass index, insufficient physical activity, smokeless tobacco (like chewing tobacco), a traditional stimulant known as areca nut, suboptimal breastfeeding, air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, infectious agents, and over a dozen occupational exposures.”

Embed from Getty Images

Smoking tobacco was the number one preventable factor associated with cancer, and was linked to 15% of all cancer cases in 2022. 

For men specifically this risk was particularly high, and smoking contributed to 23% of all new cancer cases globally in men that year. 

Air pollution also plays a major role in cancer cases, and varies by region. In East Asia, it was reported that around 15% of all lung cancer cases in women were due to air pollution. In Northern Africa and Western Asia, about 20% of all lung cancer cases in men were also due to air pollution. 

Drinking alcohol was the second changeable lifestyle factor that was linked to 3.2% (around 700,000) of all new cancer cases. 

Certain infections within the body were also linked to about 10% of new cancer cases. In women, the largest share of preventable cancers were due to high-risk human papillomavirus, or HPV, which has been known to potentially lead to cervical cancer. 

“By examining patterns across countries and population groups, we can provide governments and individuals with more specific information to help prevent many cancer cases before they start,” says André Ilbawi, WHO Team Lead for Cancer Control and co-author of the analysis.

plane

The World’s Most Punctual Airlines And Airports For 2025 Revealed

/in , /by

Aviation Analytics firm Cirium recently released their report for 2025’s most punctual airlines and airports around the world to help those planning a trip this year make the best decision for themselves.

Read more
jobs

US Lost 105,000 Jobs In October But Added 64,000 In November, Data Shows 

/in , /by

According to official data, the US labor market grew by more than expected last month, showing recovery is occurring after the damage caused by the federal government shutdown. In October, it was estimated that around 105,000 jobs were lost while 64,000 were added in November.

Embed from Getty Images

Many economists were not convinced that job growth would be as high as it was in November, with many forecasting only 40,000 to be added. 

Last month, however, the unemployment rate continued to grow, hitting a four-year high and hitting 4.6%. The latest data and job numbers are normally released monthly but were delayed due to the government shutdown. Federal government jobs declined by 162,000 in October and 6,000 in November. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that full October jobs data would not be released and November’s jobs data was delayed due to the 43-day federal government shutdown. These delays have caused a lot of questions regarding the reports accuracy. 

For example, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell warned last week that the data from BLS should be “treated with a skeptical eye” while the “hangover left from the shutdown works through the system,” the Guardian reported. 

ADP reported that the US private sector employers got rid of around 32,000 jobs in November after they added 47,000 jobs in October, showing signs of the job market weakening. 

​​The September jobs report, released late in November due to the federal government shutdown, showed that the US added 119,000 jobs, higher than economist predictions. The increase in the unemployment rate from 4.3% to 4.4% in September is the highest level since 2021. 

Embed from Getty Images

Powell himself warned that job figures are likely to be worse than the numbers reported and that Trump’s immigration policies have hurt the US labor supply, keeping the unemployment rate “relatively flat.”

He made these assumptions after the Fed announced it was cutting interest rates by a quarter point, moving towards “risk management” over concerns of a weakening labor market. 

“Labor supply has also come down quite sharply. So, you know, if you had a world where there is just no growth in workers and you really don’t need a lot of jobs to have full employment, some people argue that is what we are looking at.”

“So, there is an over-count in the payroll job numbers, we think, continuing, and it will be corrected. I don’t have an exact month in my head right now. Again, I think forecasters generally understand that. We think it is about 60,000 a month, so 40,000 jobs could be negative 20, but that could be wrong by 10 or 20 in either direction,” said Powell. 

Powell also warned that the accuracy of the jobs report data needs to be questioned due to the government shutdown. 

“We are going to get data, but we are going to have to look at it carefully and with a somewhat skeptical eye by the January meeting,” he said.

The BLS also has been under fire from the Trump administration. Back in August, Trump got rid of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer just hours after the July jobs report was published. Trump claimed that the report was “rigged” to make him look bad, which there was no actual evidence to back up.

nestle

Nestlé Adds Sugar To Infant Milk Sold In Poorer Nations, According To New Report

/in , /by

A new report has found that Nestlé, the largest consumer goods company in the world, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products that are sold in poorer nations. This directly contradicts international guidelines that are implemented to prevent childhood obesity and chronic diseases, according to The Guardian. 

The report itself came from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organization. The organization sent samples of Nestlé’s baby-food products sold in Asia, Latin America, and Africa to a Belgian laboratory for testing. 

After testing the products and examining the packaging, the report revealed the presence of sugar in the form of sucrose, or honey in samples of Nido, one of Nestlé’s milk formula brands intended for infants aged one and up. They also found it in Cerelac, a cereal that is aimed for kids aged six months and two years. 

In the main European markets for Nestlé, there are no added sugars in formulas for young children. Some cereals that are advertised for older toddlers have added sugar, but none in any product targeted at babies between six-months-old to a year. 

Embed from Getty Images

“Nestlé must put an end to these dangerous double standards and stop adding sugar in all products for children under three years old, in every part of the world,” said Laurent Gaberell, the agriculture and nutrition expert for Public Eye. 

Obesity in general is an ongoing and growing problem in lower and middle income countries. According to the World Health Organization, in Africa specifically the number of overweight children under five has increased by nearly 23% since 2000. 

The Guardian reported that worldwide, more than 1 billion people are living with obesity. 

In many countries it can be difficult for consumers to tell whether or not a certain product contains added sugar or how much is present due to how the nutritional information is printed. The labels also often have natural sugars found in milk and fruit under the same heading as any added sugars.

For European regions, the World Health Organization has guidelines that says no added sugars or sweetening agents should be permitted in any food for children under three. 

The UK recommends that children under four should also avoid food with added sugars, because of their risk of gaining weight and developing tooth decay. The US government has guidelines that simply recommend children under two avoid food and drinks with added sugars. 

The Public Eye report was written alongside the International Baby Food Action Network. Public Eye stated that data from Euromonitor International, a market-research company, showed that global retail sales for Cerelac exceeded $1 billion. The highest of those figures came from low and middle income nations; 40% of sales were within just Brazil and India. 

Embed from Getty Images

Dr. Nigel Rollins, a medical officer at the World Health Organization, said this new report shows “a double standard that can’t be justified.”

Researchers found that biscuit-flavored cereals for babies six months and older contained 6 grams of added sugar for every serving sold in Senegal and South Africa. The same exact product sold in Switzerland has no added sugars. 

In India, tests performed on Cerelac products had, on average, more than 2.7 grams of added sugar for every serving. In Brazil, two out of eight products were found to have no added sugar, but the remaining six products had about 4 grams in each serving, according to The Guardian. In Nigeria, one product had up to 6.8 grams.  

Additionally, tests on Nido brand products showed a significant variation in sugar levels, much like with Cerelac. Worldwide retail sales for Nido products have grossed more than $1 billion. 

In the Philippines, no added sugars are in products aimed for toddler consumption, however, in Indonesia, Nido baby-food products all contain around 2 grams of added sugar per 100 gram of product in the form of honey. 

“We believe in the nutritional quality of our products for early childhood and prioritize using high-quality ingredients adapted to the growth and development of children,” a Nestlé spokesperson stated. 

“[Within the] highly regulated category of baby food, Nestlé always complied with local regulations or international standards, including labeling requirements and thresholds on carbohydrate content that encompasses sugars and declared total sugars in its products, including those coming from honey,” The Guardian reported. 

“Variations in recipes depended on factors including regulation and availability of local ingredients,” the spokesperson said.

nyc

NYC Is One Of The Best Cities In The World, According To New Report

/in , /by

Every year, the Resonance Consultancy ranks the best cities in the world by analyzing over 270 cities and publishing a comprehensive list for the public to learn about some of the most famous cities in the world. 

Embed from Getty Images

The full report utilizes user-generated reviews, social media, online activity/popularity, and other statistics to create their rankings. 

According to Time Out Magazine and the report itself,  other “analyzed metrics include a wide range of factors that have historically shown positive correlations with attracting employment, investment and/or visitors to cities.”

The ninth annual report listed London as the best city in the world, followed by Paris and then New York. Tokyo and Singapore marked the fourth and fifth spots on the list. The US is also the only country with two cities in the top 10, with San Francisco being listed as number 7.

Written as “the greatest city in America” in an accompanying essay to the report, the study mentions “New York’s dizzying roster of new shows, hotels and parks” as part and parcel of its perennial appeal, despite the record real estate prices that have defined life in the city in recent years.”

According to Time Out Magazine, “In a nod to 2023 and 2024 in specific, the survey also mentions two key events that render New York the ideal destination at this precise moment in time: the celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip hop music, which was founded in the Bronx on August 11, 1973, and the 100-year anniversary of the Museum of the City of New York.”

Embed from Getty Images

The top 10 best cities in the world for 2024 are as follows: 

  1. London, UK
  2. Paris, France
  3. New York City, US
  4. Tokyo, Japan
  5. Sinagpore
  6. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
  7. San Francisco, US
  8. Barcelona, Spain
  9. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  10. Seoul, South Korea
nasa

NASA Report States There Is No Evidence That Confirms UFOs Are Extraterrestrial 

/in , /by

An independent study team from NASA has released a report on UFOs in which they stated that there is no evidence that reported UFO sightings are extraterrestrial. The US Government also now categorizes UFOs as UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena. 

During a press conference, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson discussed how NASA has scientific programs to search for signs of life on Mars and imprints of biology in our atmosphere. He discussed how he hopes the mainstream conversation regarding UAPs and UFOs is centered around science in the future. 

Embed from Getty Images

Chris Impey, a professor of astronomy who has a history of reporting on astrobiology, wrote about the recent report for the publication, The Conversation. 

Impey wrote about how the NASA study team’s report suggests that there’s “little to no evidence to suggest that UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin,” according to astronomer David Spergel. 

Only “a small handful cannot be immediately identified as known human-made or natural phenomena,” out of more than 800 unclassified sightings that have been collected by the Department of Defense. according to the report.

“Many of the recent sightings can be attributed to weather balloons and airborne clutter. Historically, most UFOs are astronomical objects such as meteors, fireballs and the planet Venus. Some sightings represent surveillance operations by foreign powers, which is why the U.S. military considers this a national security issue.”

Embed from Getty Images

“The report does offer recommendations to NASA on how to move these investigations forward,” Impey wrote. 

Data analysis from the report is“hampered by poor sensor calibration, the lack of multiple measurements, the lack of sensor metadata, and the lack of baseline data.” 

Officials described the analysis process like “looking for a needle in a haystack, or separating the wheat from the chaff. [We] needed a consistent and rigorous methodology for characterizing sightings, as a way of homing in on something truly anomalous.”

Spergel said the study team’s goal was “to characterize the hay – or the mundane phenomena – and subtract it to find the needle, or the potentially exciting discovery.

Artificial intelligence can help researchers comb through massive datasets to find rare, anomalous phenomena. AI is already being used this way in many areas of astronomy research,” according to Impey.

World Military Spending Hits $2 Trillion For First Time In History 

/in , /by

In 2021, global military spending hit an all-time high of $2 trillion, according to a report from a leading defense think-tank in Sweden. This also marks the seventh consecutive year that collective spending on the military has increased from the previous year. 

Read more
Crown

Prince William And Harry Speak Out Against BBC And ‘Deceitful’ Treatment Of Diana

/in , /by

Prince William spoke out against the BBC this week for “contributing significantly to her fear, paranoia, and isolation felt by [his] late mother, Princess Diana,” in the years before her death. The Duke Of Cambridge’s comments come after the BBC issued a statement in which they apologized for the controversial 1995 interview between BBC journalist Martin Bashir and Diana.

During the interview Diana detailed the breakdown of her relationship with Diana, and after an inquiry into the network was performed, it was found that the BBC had turned to “deceitful methods” to secure the interview in the first place.

Embed from Getty Images

A video of William condemning the BBC was uploaded to the official Twitter page of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

“What saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived. She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions. It is my firm view that this Panorama program holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialized by the BBC and others,” William explained.

William’s brother, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, issued his own statement that was just as passionate as Williams, explaining how “the ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took ]Princess Diana’] life.”

“To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it. That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these— and even worse—are still widespread today. Then, and now, it’s bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication,” he said.

Embed from Getty Images

“Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed. By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let’s remember who she was and what she stood for.”

BBC Director-General Tim Davie claimed that “the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology, and that’s what we’re offering today.

The investigation’s report was initially commissioned by the BBC and written by retired high court judge Lord Dyson. The investigation found that “Bashir had shown fake bank statements to Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, which deceived and induced him to arrange a meeting with Princess Diana. By gaining access to Princess Diana in this way, Mr Bashir was able to persuade her to agree to give the interview. This behavior was in breach of BBC guidelines.”

BBC initially launched an internal inquiry back in 1996, however, while it was concluded that the documents were forged, it also was revealed that they had nothing to do with Diana’s decision to take part in the interview. It concludes that “without justification the BBC covered up… facts as it had been able to establish about how Mr Bashir secured the interview. The BBC also failed to mention the issue at all on any news programme and thereby fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark.”

African American Friends Wearing Masks

CDC Report Claims Systemic Racism Has Made Covid-19 Deadlier For Black Americans

/in , /by

According to an internal agency report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Black Americans are at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus due to issues of fundamental racism.

Read more
Flag USA

Report Suggests Upward Mobility Easier in Canada Than in U.S.

/in , /by

One of the central themes of the American mythology is the concept of the “American Dream,” which says that in America, no matter your background, if you work hard you can achieve success and upward social mobility. The American Dream is rooted in ideals of democracy, individual rights, and equal opportunity that can be found in the country’s founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. However, a new report has found that in the United States, having wealthy parents is a better predictor of a person’s chances of success than how much they work. 

Embed from Getty Images

The report, called the World Economic Forum’s Global Social Mobility Index, ranked 82 countries according to their citizens’ capacity to realise their potential irrespective of their socioeconomic background. The report looked at five different dimensions of nations’ economies: health, education, access to technology, work, and protection of institutions. The Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, ranked nearest the top of the list, whereas France, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom all ranked ahead of the United States, which was listed in 27th place. Closer to the bottom of the list are Russia, China, Brazil, India, and South Africa; some of these countries are known for human rights violations and authoritarian regimes, which undoubtedly contribute to their lack of opportunity for upward social mobility.

The countries that provide the highest opportunity for upward social mobility are the same countries that offer their citizens access to high-quality public education, opportunities to work in good conditions, and social safety nets. In Denmark, for instance, a child who is born into poverty has a similar chance of success in life, measured by high income, as a child born with wealthy parents. In the United States, on the other hand, unfair wages and weak social safety nets makes it substantially more difficult for the children of poor parents to move up in society. In fact, the report found that in the United States, it takes five generations for a low-income family to reach median income.

Embed from Getty Images

In addition to diagnosing the problems of each country in connection with obstacles to social mobility, the report also recommends solutions for each country to engage in in order to address these deficiencies. Among the recommendations are more progressive and balanced income tax structures to prevent wealth from being concentrated in the hands of the very few and to provide funding for social safety nets. The report also advises businesses to pay more fair wages and invest in allowing their employees to develop skills that can enhance their productivity. According to Klaus Scwhab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, “the response by business and government must include a concerted effort to create new pathways to socioeconomic mobility, ensuring everyone has fair opportunities for success.”