Blatter’s comments, made on Monday via social media, lend high-profile support to a controversial warning issued by Mark Pieth, the Swiss anti-corruption lawyer who once worked with FIFA Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has waded back into global football’s biggest political fault line, openly backing calls for fans to boycott World Cup matches in the…
Gaborone — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the Botswana Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPRR) Project, which will support the strengthening of the country’s ability to withstand future pandemics, climate-related illnesses, and everyday health challenges. The project will help strengthen critical medicine supplies, accelerate detection of disease outbreaks, and make life-saving…
Addis Abeba — For more than three decades, Somaliland has occupied a peculiar and increasingly indefensible position in international politics. It fulfills every empirical and legal criterion of statehood: clearly defined borders rooted in colonial demarcations, a permanent and civically engaged population, functioning government institutions, and a demonstrable capacity to conduct foreign relations. Yet for…
The world is now using so much fresh water amid the consequences of climate change that it has entered an era of water bankruptcy, with many regions no longer able to bounce back from frequent water shortages. About 4 billion people – nearly half the global population – live with severe water scarcity for at…
The world has moved beyond a water crisis and into a state of global water bankruptcy, says a new flagship report released on Tuesday by UN researchers. For decades, scientists, policymakers and the media warned of a “global water crisis,” implying temporary shock – followed by recovery. What is now emerging in many regions, however,…
Reuters The exiled son of the last Iranian shah (king) has called on the world to help protesters topple Iran’s government, saying he is confident “the Islamic Republic will fall – not if, but when”. Reza Pahlavi, a US-based opposition leader, asked the world to target Iran’s Revolutionary Guard leadership, which he said would “facilitate…
FIFA said on Tuesday it received more than 500 million ticket requests for the 2026 World Cup during a 33-day application window that closed this week, describing it as a new milestone in world sporting history. The tournament, which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada and feature 48 teams for the first…
In his final annual address outlining his priorities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is “brimming with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability” – even as international cooperation is fraying at the moment it is most needed. Speaking in the General Assembly, he said the global system was under unprecedented strain from wars, division,…
The World Bank has cautioned that the expiration of the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in late 2025 poses a serious threat to African exports, warning that the loss of preferential access to the U.S. market could undermine economic growth in several Sub-Saharan African countries at a time when the region’s recovery…
A photograph shows a sign at the Congress Centre on the opening day of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2023. Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images Global power rivalries and strategic standoffs top the list of most severe near-term risks heading into 2026, according to the World Economic…
