The population of India, which currently ranks as the world’s 2nd most populous country with 1.3 billion inhabitants, is expected to surpass China’s 1.4 billion by 2024; and Nigeria, which ranks 7th, is expected to replace the United States as the 3rd most populous country by 2050,according to a new report by the United Nations published on Wednesday. 

The current world population of nearly 7.6 billion will increase to 8.6 billion by 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, said the report titled, “World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision.” Published by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division, the study said the growth will be spurred by the relatively high levels of fertility in developingcountries – despite an overall drop in the number of children people have around the globe.  Roughly 83 million people are added to the world’s population every year and the upward trend is expected to continue even with a continuing decline in fertility rates, which have fallen steadily since the 1960s…

Pope Francis appointed Professor Joachim von Braun as the new President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.

Professor von Braun is Ordinary Professor of Economics and Technological Change, as well as Director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany.

His goal as head of the Academy will be to seek solutions for inequality and the destruction of the environment…

The Islamic State group destroyed Mosul’s al-Nuri mosque and its iconic leaning minaret known as al-Hadba when fighters detonated explosives inside the structures on Wednesday night, Iraq’s Ministry of Defense said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi tweeted early on Thursday that the destruction was an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight for Iraq’s second-largest city…

A statement from the Institute for the Works of Religion, popularly known as the Vatican Bank, published its annual financial report on Monday, showing net gains of €36 million for the year 2016.

That figure is more than twice the €16.1 million income of the previous year, which the statement says was achieved through “a prudent approach in managing IOR’s investments in a year characterised by high volatility, global political uncertainty due to unexpected outcomes of major electoral events and low interest rates”…

Caritas in the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan has organised the distribution of food parcels for the most needy Muslim families in the poorest parts of Naur district, western urban area of the city of Amman.

The launching of the programme, organised jointly with the local Latin Catholic parish, was greeted with speeches and interventions on the part of Christian and Muslim representatives, including Jordanian priest Fr Rifat Bader, promoter of the Catholic Centre for Studies and Media…