When energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said recently that “coal is going nowhere” and that scientists were perfecting technology to burn it cleanly, he was making two promises at once. The first is political: that South Africa will not abandon the resource that still keeps the lights on, nor the communities that mine it. The second…
Long lines formed at gas stations in Tehran Tuesday after the United States announced fresh sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran into submission. Washington has turned to pulling economic levers six months into a war on Iran that has ground to a stalemate militarily, with peace talks stalled and most traffic through the crucial Strait of…
Oil prices fell more than 3% on Tuesday as the U.S. pivots to economic sanctions rather than military strikes to pressure Iran. Brent futures, the international benchmark, dropped 3.9% to close at $88.58 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude lost 3.1% to settle at $82.36 a barrel. Prices have fallen more than 5% this…
House and Senate Republicans on Friday criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs on ground beef imports, with lawmakers from agricultural states decrying the impact Trump’s decision will have on farmers. Nebraska’s GOP senators, Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, said in separate posts on X that Trump’s decision was unwise. “I’m extremely disappointed by…
Africa grows plenty of cotton. It just does not make much of it into clothes. A new $5 billion plan aims to change that, turning a scattered collection of cotton producers into a regional textile industry. The road out of Koudougou in Burkina Faso is lined with cotton fields that stretch toward the horizon, broken only by…
For many South Africans, starting a business can feel out of reach. Manufacturing in particular brings to mind large factories, expensive machinery and a sizeable workforce. Advances in laser technology have changed that, opening the door for entrepreneurs to start manufacturing from home, a garage or a small workshop. Modern laser engraving machines can produce…
Gianni Infantino’s position as world football’s most powerful administrator appeared more secure on Thursday after senior Fifa executives backed him to remain president despite his failed attempt to overhaul the commercial operations behind competitions including the World Cup. Following a meeting with Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafström and members of the organisation’s management board in…
Successfully stopping Gianni Infantino’s FIFA plan to sell World Cup profits to private investors was the first half of a high-stakes game in global soccer politics. The second half kicked off Saturday with what seemed a clear aim of ending Infantino’s decade-long presidency. “No option should be off the table,” said European soccer body UEFA,…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — “What is the plan before we get back to a stage where we are burying people?” When Belinda Tewela, a South African healthcare worker, took the microphone at the International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, she did not speak about billion-dollar funding gaps or international policy. She spoke about…
Published On 29 Jul 202629 Jul 2026 FIFA’s bombshell proposal to sell stakes in a $20bn commercial subsidiary has drawn strong criticism from football’s regional confederations, which said they were blindsided by the world governing body’s plan to bring private investors into the game. The Confederations of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) and…
