The world population will be 8.09 billion on New Year’s Day

The world population increased by more than 71 million people in 2024 and will be 8.09 billion people on New Year’s Day, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Monday.

The 0.9% increase in 2024 was a slight slowdown from 2023, when the world population grew by 75 million people. In January 2025, 4.2 births and 2.0 deaths were expected worldwide every second, according to the estimates.

The United States grew by 2.6 million people in 2024, and the U.S. population on New Year’s Day will be 341 million people, according to the Census Bureau.

The United States was expected to have one birth every 9 seconds and one death every 9.4 seconds in January 2025. International migration was expected to add one person to the U.S. population every 23.2 seconds. The combination of births, deaths and net international migration will increase the U.S. population by one person every 21.2 seconds, the Census Bureau said.

Senator’s son sentenced to 28 years for killing deputy during car chase

The adult son of North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer was sentenced to serve 28 years in prison Monday in connection with a wild chase in which he fled from a hospital and drove into a deputy’s vehicle, killing the deputy.

Ian Cramer, 43, pleaded guilty in September to all of the charges against him, including homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and drug- and driving-related offenses. Those charges are related to a Dec. 6, 2023, chase and crash that killed Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin, 53.

State District Judge Bobbi Weiler handed down the sentence of 38 years with 10 years suspended, three years of probation and credit for more than a year served in jail. She also included recommended treatment for addiction and mental health. But he likely won’t serve the full 28 years, the judge said.

“The (state) Department of Corrections has their own policy on how much time you’re going to serve,” Weiler said. “These are not mandatory minimums, which means that you’re probably going to serve a small portion of that 28 years and be out on parole, so that’ll ... give you an opportunity to have a second chance that Deputy Martin does not have, nor does his family have.”

Investigators find an anchor drag mark on the Baltic seabed

Finnish investigators probing the damage to a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables said they found an anchor drag mark on the seabed, apparently from a Russia-linked vessel that has already been seized.

The discovery heightened concerns about suspected sabotage by Russia’s “shadow fleet” of fuel tankers — aging vessels with obscure ownership acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.

The Estlink-2 power cable, which transmits energy from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on Dec. 25 after a rupture. It had little impact on services but followed damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage.

Finnish police chief investigator, Sami Paila, said late Sunday the anchor drag trail continued for “dozens of kilometers (miles) ... if not almost 100 kilometers (62 miles).”

At least 66 die after a truck plunges into a river

At least 66 people have died after a truck plunged into a river in southern Ethiopia, a hospital director said Monday.

The accident took place Sunday when an old, overcrowded truck that was contracted by wedding guests fell off the Gelan Bridge, where villagers said traffic crashes have happened before.

The medical director at Bona General Hospital in the southern Sidama region, Lemma Lagide, told The Associated Press on Monday that 64 people died on-site and two others at the hospital.

He said those patients in need of more sophisticated critical care were transferred to a bigger hospital in Hawassa.

Delays in rescue efforts in the remote village were blamed for the high number of casualties. Villagers said they tried to save people from the raging river only with sticks.

Country confirms arresting Italian journalist

Tehran confirmed Monday that an Italian journalist has been arrested on charges of violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, state media reported.

The country’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees media activity, said in a statement that Cecilia Sala traveled to Iran on Dec. 13 on a journalist visa and was arrested six days later, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The statement said Sala’s case is under investigation, adding that the Italian embassy in Tehran was informed after her arrest. The ministry said Sala’s arrest was carried out under relevant regulations and she was granted consular access. She has contacted her family by phone.

On Friday, Italy’s foreign ministry said the Iranian police detained Sala in the Iranian capital on Dec. 19, while she was working with Iranian authorities “to clarify the legal situation of Sala and to verify the conditions of her detention.”

Prosecutor charges 13 in a deadly canopy fall that fueled mass protests

Serbia’s public prosecutor on Monday indicted 13 people, including a former minister, over the collapse of a concrete canopy that killed 15 last month and triggered weeks of massive anti-government protests.

The suspects were charged in the northern city of Novi Sad, where the Nov. 1 collapse happened, with committing a grave criminal act against public safety and irregular execution of construction work. If convicted, they face up to 12 years in prison.

The huge concrete canopy was part of a railway station building, which was renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure deal with Chinese companies. Many in Serbia believe that the work on the station was sloppy due to rampant corruption, and caused the canopy to crash down.

Serbia’s Prime Minister Milos Vucevic said the indictment “confirms that no one has an intention to hide, conceal or obstruct anything.”

Court convicts the parents of a teenage boy who shot dead 10 people in a school

A court in Serbia on Monday convicted the parents of a teenage boy who last year shot dead nine pupils and a school guard and wounded six more people in a school in central Belgrade.

The Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Vladimir Kecmanovic, father of the boy, to 14 years and six months in prison for “grave acts against public safety” and for child neglect. The mother, Miljana Kecmanovic, was sentenced to three years in prison for child neglect but was acquitted on charges of illegal possession of weapons.

The shooter, identified as Kosta Kecmanovic, was 13 years old when he committed the crime and therefore too young to face a trial, according to Serbian law. His parents were detained soon after the shooting and charged for failing to keep the weapons out of reach of their son.

The boy used his father’s guns to open fire on his fellow pupils and others. He walked into the school and first opened fire in the hall before heading into a classroom where he continued shooting. Elementary schools in Serbia cater for children 7 to 15 years old.

— Denver Post wire services