Senegal’s president congratulated the Lions of Teranga Tuesday for their “historic” victory in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Morocco, after tens of thousands of football fans crowded the streets of Dakar for a celebratory homecoming parade.The players and coaches brandished their trophy from an open-top bus for more than seven hours as they …
The US Supreme Court hears arguments on Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire a Federal Reserve governor, a case which could have far-reaching consequences for the independence of the central bank.Trump sought in August to dismiss Fed governor Lisa Cook, a key official serving on the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee, accusing her of mortgage fraud. She denies the charges.The conservative-dominated Supreme Court barred Trump from immediately removing Cook, allowing her to remain in her post until it could hear the case contesting her dismissal.In a sign of the significance of the case and public support for Cook, Fed Chair Jerome Powell plans to personally attend Wednesday’s Supreme Court hearing, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.Powell’s expected appearance comes as the Trump administration intensifies its pressure campaign targeting the central bank, including the opening of a criminal investigation into the Fed chief.Earlier this month, Powell revealed that US prosecutors had launched an inquiry into him over an ongoing renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.Powell has dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to influence the central bank’s interest rate setting, and the heads of major central banks have thrown their support behind him.Trump’s bid to fire Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s board of governors, and the probe into Powell are a dramatic escalation of the president’s efforts to control the Fed.Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed for spurning his demands to slash interest rates more aggressively.By ousting Cook, the Republican president could potentially add another voice to the Fed’s board to try and shift interest rates in his favored direction.The case’s outcome could also determine if legal protections for the Fed — against political pressure — hold up, or if the president can take aim at members of the Fed’s leadership.Former Fed chiefs have recently warned that undermining central bank independence risks “highly negative consequences for inflation” and the functioning of economies.- ‘No cause exists’ -The Supreme Court has overwhelmingly sided with Trump since he returned to office, allowing mass firing of federal workers, the withholding of funds appropriated by Congress and racial profiling in his sweeping immigration crackdown.The court recently allowed Trump to fire members of other independent government boards, but created a carveout for the Fed in its ruling.Federal law says that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.”President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook previously said in a statement.In his announcement that Cook would be removed, Trump pointed to a criminal referral from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s director — a staunch ally of Trump — to the attorney general.The referral, Trump said, provided “sufficient reason” to believe that Cook might have made “false statements” on one or more mortgage agreements, allegedly claiming two primary residences, one in Michigan and another in Georgia.Cook has not been charged with a crime and the alleged false statements occurred before she was in her current position.Cook took office as a Fed governor in 2022 and was reappointed to the board in 2023.
The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.”Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world’s new water realities,” read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).These terms were “framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided” when the world had already moved into a “new phase”, it said.The report proposes the alternative term “water bankruptcy” — a state in which long-term water use exceeds resupply and damages nature so severely that previous levels cannot realistically be restored.This was reflected in the shrinking of the world’s large lakes, the report said, and the growing number of major rivers failing to reach the sea for parts of the year. The world has lost enormous proportions of wetlands, with roughly 410 million hectares — nearly the size of the European Union — disappearing over the past five decades.Groundwater depletion is another sign of this bankruptcy.Around 70 percent of major aquifers used for drinking water and irrigation show long-term declines with rising “day zero” crises — when demand exceeds supply — the “urban face” of this new reality.Climate change was compounding the problem, spurring the loss of more than 30 percent of the world’s glacier mass since 1970 and the seasonal meltwater relied upon by hundreds of millions of people.- ‘Be honest’ -The consequences were visible on every inhabited continent, but not every country individually was water bankrupt, UNU-INWEH director and report author Kaveh Madani told AFP.Madani said the phenomenon was a “warning” that a policy rethink was essential.Instead of approaching water scarcity as something temporary, governments must “be honest” and “file for bankruptcy today rather than delaying this decision”, he said.”Let’s adopt this framework. Let’s understand this. Let us recognise this bitter reality today before we cause more irreversible damages,” Madani added.The report draws on existing data and statistics and does not provide an exhaustive record of all water problems, but attempts instead to redefine the situation.It is based on a peer-reviewed report, soon to be published in the journal Water Resources Management, that will formally propose a definition of “water bankruptcy”.The report “captures a hard truth: the world’s water crisis has crossed a point of no return”, Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, wrote in a statement.Some scientists not involved in the report welcomed the spotlight on water but warned that the global picture varied considerably and a blanket declaration might overlook progress being made at a local level.
The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.”Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world’s new water realities,” read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).These terms were “framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided” when the world had already moved into a “new phase”, it said.The report proposes the alternative term “water bankruptcy” — a state in which long-term water use exceeds resupply and damages nature so severely that previous levels cannot realistically be restored.This was reflected in the shrinking of the world’s large lakes, the report said, and the growing number of major rivers failing to reach the sea for parts of the year. The world has lost enormous proportions of wetlands, with roughly 410 million hectares — nearly the size of the European Union — disappearing over the past five decades.Groundwater depletion is another sign of this bankruptcy.Around 70 percent of major aquifers used for drinking water and irrigation show long-term declines with rising “day zero” crises — when demand exceeds supply — the “urban face” of this new reality.Climate change was compounding the problem, spurring the loss of more than 30 percent of the world’s glacier mass since 1970 and the seasonal meltwater relied upon by hundreds of millions of people.- ‘Be honest’ -The consequences were visible on every inhabited continent, but not every country individually was water bankrupt, UNU-INWEH director and report author Kaveh Madani told AFP.Madani said the phenomenon was a “warning” that a policy rethink was essential.Instead of approaching water scarcity as something temporary, governments must “be honest” and “file for bankruptcy today rather than delaying this decision”, he said.”Let’s adopt this framework. Let’s understand this. Let us recognise this bitter reality today before we cause more irreversible damages,” Madani added.The report draws on existing data and statistics and does not provide an exhaustive record of all water problems, but attempts instead to redefine the situation.It is based on a peer-reviewed report, soon to be published in the journal Water Resources Management, that will formally propose a definition of “water bankruptcy”.The report “captures a hard truth: the world’s water crisis has crossed a point of no return”, Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, wrote in a statement.Some scientists not involved in the report welcomed the spotlight on water but warned that the global picture varied considerably and a blanket declaration might overlook progress being made at a local level.
The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new classification was required.”Water stress and water crisis are no longer sufficient descriptions of the world’s new water realities,” read a new report by the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).These terms were “framed as alerts about a future that could still be avoided” when the world had already moved into a “new phase”, it said.The report proposes the alternative term “water bankruptcy” — a state in which long-term water use exceeds resupply and damages nature so severely that previous levels cannot realistically be restored.This was reflected in the shrinking of the world’s large lakes, the report said, and the growing number of major rivers failing to reach the sea for parts of the year. The world has lost enormous proportions of wetlands, with roughly 410 million hectares — nearly the size of the European Union — disappearing over the past five decades.Groundwater depletion is another sign of this bankruptcy.Around 70 percent of major aquifers used for drinking water and irrigation show long-term declines with rising “day zero” crises — when demand exceeds supply — the “urban face” of this new reality.Climate change was compounding the problem, spurring the loss of more than 30 percent of the world’s glacier mass since 1970 and the seasonal meltwater relied upon by hundreds of millions of people.- ‘Be honest’ -The consequences were visible on every inhabited continent, but not every country individually was water bankrupt, UNU-INWEH director and report author Kaveh Madani told AFP.Madani said the phenomenon was a “warning” that a policy rethink was essential.Instead of approaching water scarcity as something temporary, governments must “be honest” and “file for bankruptcy today rather than delaying this decision”, he said.”Let’s adopt this framework. Let’s understand this. Let us recognise this bitter reality today before we cause more irreversible damages,” Madani added.The report draws on existing data and statistics and does not provide an exhaustive record of all water problems, but attempts instead to redefine the situation.It is based on a peer-reviewed report, soon to be published in the journal Water Resources Management, that will formally propose a definition of “water bankruptcy”.The report “captures a hard truth: the world’s water crisis has crossed a point of no return”, Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the WaterAid charity, wrote in a statement.Some scientists not involved in the report welcomed the spotlight on water but warned that the global picture varied considerably and a blanket declaration might overlook progress being made at a local level.
The world is entering an era of “global water bankruptcy” with rivers, lakes and aquifers depleting faster than nature can replenish them, a United Nations research institute said on Tuesday.It argues that decades of overuse, pollution, environmental destruction and climate pressure had pushed many water systems so beyond the point of recovery that a new …
UN report declares global state of ‘water bankruptcy’Wed, 21 Jan 2026 01:15:40 GMT Read More »
Russia’s interior minister began a visit to ally Cuba on Tuesday, a show of solidarity after US President Donald Trump warned that the island’s longtime communist government “is ready to fall.”Trump this month warned Havana to “make a deal,” the nature of which he did not divulge, or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was ousted by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off. “We in Russia regard this as an act of unprovoked armed aggression against Venezuela,” Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told Russian state TV Rossiya-1 of the US actions after landing in Cuba.”This act cannot be justified in any way and once again proves the need to increase vigilance and consolidate all efforts to counter external factors,” he added.The Russian embassy in Havana said the minister would “hold a series of bilateral meetings” while in Cuba.Russia and Cuba, both under Western sanctions, have intensified their relations since 2022, with an isolated Moscow seeking new friends and trading partners since its invasion of Ukraine.Cuba needs all the help it can get as it grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades and now added pressure from Washington.Trump has warned that acting President Delcy Rodriguez will pay “a very big price” if she does not toe Washington’s line — specifically on access to Venezuela’s oil and loosening ties with US foes Cuba, Russia, China and Iran.On Tuesday, Russia’s ambassador to Havana, Victor Koronelli, wrote on X that Kolokoltsev was in Cuba “to strengthen bilateral cooperation and the fight against crime.”The US chief of mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, meanwhile, met the head of the US Southern Command in Miami on Tuesday “to discuss the situation in Cuba and the Caribbean,” the embassy said on X.The command is responsible for American forces operating in Central and South America that have carried out seizures of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil and strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.- Soldiers killed -Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the revolution that swept communist Fidel Castro to power in 1959.Havana and Moscow were close communist allies during the Cold War, but that cooperation was abruptly halted in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet bloc.The deployment of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island triggered the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow came close to war.During his first presidential term, Trump walked back a detente with Cuba launched by his predecessor Barack Obama.Thirty-two Cuban soldiers, some of them assigned to Maduro’s security detail, were killed in the US strikes that saw the Venezuelan strongman whisked away in cuffs to stand trial in New York.Kolokoltsev attended a memorial for the fallen men on Tuesday.
