US Population Surpasses 300 Million
In mid-October, the US population will exceed 300 million people. This data was released by the US Census Bureau. According to its information, in 2004-2005, the US population grew by 1.7 million due to domestic births and by 1 million due to migrants. The US population crossed the 200 million mark only 39 years ago.
Kyiv Dissatisfied with Readmission Agreement with EU
Ukraine considers the European side's proposals on the readmission agreement with the EU discriminatory and unacceptable, the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union states. "The European Commission is either unfamiliar with the real state of affairs in Ukraine, or has exhausted its stock of arguments at the negotiating table to justify putting forward completely unacceptable proposals for Ukraine on the readmission agreement, which are discriminatory in nature," the press service of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU said.
As the Mission notes, the process of signing agreements on readmission and visa facilitation with the EU is being delayed not by Kyiv, but by the European side. "What is surprising is that it was the European side that, only two months after the last round of negotiations (July 20, 2006), on October 2 submitted proposals for Ukraine's consideration that discriminate against it compared to other countries in the region."
The spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for Justice, Friso Roscam Abbing, stated on October 3 on Radio Svoboda that the signing of agreements on visa facilitation and readmission between Ukraine and the EU is being delayed due to the Ukrainian side. Ukraine has been negotiating with the EU on signing a readmission agreement since 2002 and on visa facilitation since 2005.
UK Introduces Biometric Passports
British authorities are introducing passports with biometric data for their citizens. The new type of document is equipped with an electronic chip containing a photograph of its holder.
The first holders of biometric passports appeared among Britons back in March of this year. As stated by the Home Office, all passports issued in the kingdom will be supplied with an identification chip. To date, 2.4 million new-style forms have been issued. Thus, London is trying to meet the deadlines for transitioning to the new type of identification set by Washington for 27 countries whose citizens enjoy visa-free entry to the United States. The initial deadline for passport modernization, originally set for October 26, 2005, was later postponed by a year at the request of the EU, many of whose member states were not on track to issue biometric passports.
According to the head of the UK Passport Service, Bernard Herdan, the new type of document has become "the most secure passport in the history of the United Kingdom." With its help, authorities hope to prevent cases of document forgery.
How Long You Need to Work to Buy a Loaf of Bread
The cheapest capitals of EU countries in 2006, according to a study by Swiss bank UBS, were Vilnius (Lithuania), Bratislava (Slovakia), and Riga (Latvia). The most expensive EU capitals are Oslo, London, and Copenhagen.
The evaluation of European cities was carried out on 154 criteria - rent for an apartment, payments for electricity and heating, cost of food, clothing, public transport fares, etc. In addition, the UBS study included data on how long residents of different cities need to work to buy certain food items. For example, residents of Riga can buy a kilogram of bread after working the same amount as Tallinn residents - 24 minutes. This is slightly above the average for European capitals, which is 22 minutes. In Lithuania, this figure is 18 minutes. The least amount of work needed for a kilo of bread is in London and Dublin - five and seven minutes respectively.
UK Opens Coordination Center for Combating Human Trafficking
The first special center for coordinating the fight against human trafficking, the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC), has opened in the UK. According to British TV channel Sky News, the main task of the center located in Sheffield will be to coordinate law enforcement efforts against criminal groups that transport hundreds of women to the UK for prostitution.
In the current year alone, during a special four-month operation, police managed to rescue over 80 girls and young women from the hands of such groups. They were lured to the UK with attractive job offers that turned out to be nothing more than prostitution.
According to police estimates, about 80% of London prostitutes came from abroad, mainly from the Baltics and Eastern European countries. A significant portion of them fell victim to such deception. In 2005, British police conducted 343 different operations against human traffickers, making about 1,500 arrests. Law enforcement hopes that the new center will help more effectively combat human trafficking.
France to Ban Smoking in Public Places
From January 1, 2007, smoking will be banned in public places in France. Temporary transitional rules will be adopted for bars and restaurants. A similar transition period (from 9 to 22 months) has been introduced in many European countries: after it ends, a complete ban on smoking in bars, restaurants, and nightclubs comes into force.
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand stated that parliament will make a decision in October after the transitional period rules are developed. He did not rule out the possibility of creating closed ventilated rooms in public places designated for smokers, where food and drinks will not be served, so that service staff do not have to breathe tobacco smoke.
Moscow State University entered the top hundred universities
Lomonosov Moscow State University took 93rd place in the top hundred higher education institutions in the world. The 2006 ranking was compiled by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), a specialized supplement to the British newspaper The Sunday Times dedicated to education.
The compilers of the list believe that MSU lowered its indicators over the past year in parameters such as the quality of teaching subjects and the level of development of the educational base. Therefore, compared to last year's ranking, in which the Russian university ranked 79th, the university significantly lost its position. Other higher education institutions from Russia did not make it into the THES list.
The leader, as last year, was Harvard University in the United States. Second and third places were shared by British Cambridge and Oxford. Compared to 2005, they improved their indicators, moving up one spot. In addition, Imperial College London moved from 13th to 9th place, displacing American universities in the top ten.
The top hundred universities include 33 higher education institutions from the United States, as well as 15 from Great Britain. They are followed by Australia (seven universities) and France (five universities); all other countries are represented by at most three educational institutions (for example, Canada, Japan, or Germany). In total, universities from 19 countries are noted in the publication's ranking.
The THES study on the quality of international higher education is based on conclusions drawn by nearly four thousand academics worldwide. Each of them had to identify 30 universities that, in their opinion, meet certain parameters in a given specialization. Also, the ranking used feedback from more than 730 company owners who hire students and graduates of various universities.