The United Nations reveals global Population hits eight billion and India is expected to surpass China as the most populous country in the next year, notes Grumpy Editor.

Global population has more than tripled since 1950 as mortality dropped and life expectancy increased, due in  large part to better sanitation, access to clean drinking water and the development of vaccines and antibiotics, along with improved nutrition, adds the U.N.

It points out between 1990 and 2019, human life expectancy at birth increased by almost nine years to age 72 but people in the poorest nations died about seven years earlier than the global average due to high levels of child and maternal mortality, war and the HIV epidemic.

Although humanity is larger than it has ever been, the world population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950 as families have fewer children while the population is expected to peak at 10.4 billion in the 2080s and remain at that level into the 2100s, according to U.N. projections.

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

NORTH KOREA INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE ABLE TO STRIKE U.S. MAINLAND.  North Korea fires one of the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles it has ever launched with the potential trajectory to strike the U.S.  mainland.  The Communist nation has fired at least 88 ballistic and other missiles this year.

GANNETT CONTINUES TO SLASH COSTS.  Gannett’s news division, in the third move to slash costs in the last six months, on Dec. 1 and 2 is set to inform those affected by another round of layoffs.  

U.S. PARTS FOUND IN DOWNED DRONES.  Intelligence collected from downed Iranian drones in Ukraine shows most of the parts are manufactured in the U.S., Europe and other allied nations, reveals The Wall Street Journal.

OWL STUCK IN PICKUP GRILLE IS RESCUED.   Wildlife rescuers in Colorado’s Colorado Springs area remove a great horned owl embedded in the front grille of a pickup truck.  The owl is recovering.

SALMON ROUTE GETS A BOOST.  A U.S. agency seeking to restore habitat for endangered fish gave final approval to decommission four dams straddling the California-Oregon border.  The removal is expected to improve the health of the Klamath River, the route Chinook salmon and endangered coho salmon take from the Pacific Ocean to their upstream spawning grounds.

AIRPOWER MISSES MARK.  All branches of the military are falling far short when it comes to keeping an array of war planes and attack helicopter fleets "mission capable," according to a government watchdog report.