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The global trading order is under siege, World Trade Organization director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned as delegates convened for the WTO ministerial in Yaounde, calling the disruption the most severe the system has faced in eight decades. "The world order and the multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed," she said, stressing: "We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today." With 166 member states represented, the WTO meets in the Cameroonian capital amid stark divisions among…

After 18 years away, Eritrea is finally stepping back onto Africa’s biggest football stage, set to “host” Eswatini in a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier that will be played on neutral ground in Morocco. The preliminary round first leg is scheduled for the 20,000-seat Stade d'Honneur, shifted from East to North Africa because Eritrea does not have a stadium that meets international standards. The Red Sea Camels have not featured in the AFCON since a 2008 qualifier ended in a draw in Eswatini, the country formerly known…

Wednesday March 25, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — A Somali military court has handed down a 10-year prison sentence in a case prosecutors say involved plans to track and potentially target one of the country’s most recognizable athletes, boxer Ramla Ali, during her visit to Mogadishu. On Tuesday, the court convicted Abdisalaam Mohamed Hassan, widely known as “Aamusane,” of membership in al-Shabab and sentenced him to a decade behind bars. Prosecutors told the court he had been part of the group since 2014 and accused him of…

Joan Laporta was reelected as FC Barcelona president, securing a new five-year mandate with 68% of the vote in a member ballot that reaffirmed his grip on the club’s future and its most consequential rebuilding effort in a generation. Barcelona announced the result shortly after midnight in the Catalan capital. Víctor Font, Laporta’s only rival, conceded earlier in the evening and congratulated the incumbent on what he called an “unquestionable victory.” The club said more than 48,000 of its 114,000 eligible members cast…

Joan Laporta has secured another five-year term as FC Barcelona president, winning a members’ vote that cements his control of the club at a pivotal moment for its finances, stadium rebuild and sporting project. Shortly after midnight in Barcelona, the club announced Laporta’s victory. With the count complete, Barcelona said Laporta received 68% of ballots cast. His only challenger, Víctor Font, conceded earlier in the evening, congratulating Laporta for what he called an “unquestionable victory.” More than 48,000 of Barça’s…

Reuters says it has identified the elusive British street artist Banksy as Robin Gunningham, a Bristol-born man who later used the name David Jones, following an extensive investigation that links immigration records, eyewitness accounts and past legal documents to murals the artist claimed in Ukraine in 2022. The news agency’s probe centers on a series of stencil works Banksy posted on Instagram in late 2022 as his own, painted on shattered buildings around Kyiv. Witnesses in the village of Horenka told Reuters an ambulance…

On the 11th anniversary of his disappearance, human rights groups renewed calls for truth and accountability in the case of pro-democracy activist Itai Dzamara, who was abducted outside a barber shop in Glen View, Harare, on March 9, 2015, and has not been seen since. Dzamara’s disappearance remains unresolved a decade after the incident that shocked Zimbabwe and drew attention to the risks faced by vocal critics of the country’s former president, Robert Mugabe. Amnesty International Zimbabwe said Dzamara’s family has…

ST. CLOUD, Minnesota — When Abdi Daisane first resettled in the United States in 2009, he called family overseas to describe a freedom that felt radical after years in a Kenyan refugee camp: no one demanded to see his papers. In Minnesota, he didn’t live at a checkpoint. Seventeen years later, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surged into Minnesota in recent months, that assurance unraveled. Daisane, who owns Blooming Kids Child Center in St. Cloud and is running for an open state House seat, found himself…

Kharkiv, Ukraine — On a frigid Friday morning, as children climbed the steps from Lyceum No. 105 — an underground school purpose-built to shield them from Russian airstrikes — municipal crews were out in force. They hacked at ice, scooped slush, and scrubbed sidewalks clean. The joke among Ukrainians about Kharkiv’s devotion to well-groomed streets survives even here, under constant threat from the sky. The city authorities have had little rest since February 2022. Vladimir Putin’s forces have pounded Ukraine’s…

Four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine marks a grim anniversary as President Volodymyr Zelensky declares that Vladimir Putin has failed to break the country and vows to seek a “strong, dignified, and lasting” peace on Ukraine’s terms. In a video address to the nation on the fourth anniversary of the February 2022 invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine had “preserved” its statehood and would “do everything to achieve peace — and to ensure there is justice.” Any agreement, he added, “must not simply be signed, it must…