South Korea and Ireland sit on opposite sides of the world, but putting them on the same map reveals a surprisingly modest difference in their physical size.

South Korea had a national land area of 100,472 sq km in 2025, according to official Korean statistics. Ireland is roughly 70,000 sq km, meaning South Korea is only about 1.4 times larger.

The graphic overlays Ireland on South Korea , stretching it across much of the country's southern and central regions. The comparison is broadly accurate as a visual illustration, although exact overlays depend on the map projection and whether inland waters are included in the area measurement.

The bigger difference is population.

The United Nations estimates South Korea's population at about 51.7 million in 2025, compared with about 5.3 million in Ireland. That means South Korea has close to 10 times as many people, despite having less than one-and-a-half times the area.

The difference is reflected in population density. UN data puts South Korea at about 522 people per sq km, compared with roughly 78 per sq km in Ireland.

South Korea's geography also makes that density more striking. The Korean government says roughly 75% of the Korean Peninsula is mountainous, concentrating much of the population and development into a smaller amount of suitable land.

The map's basic point therefore holds up. Ireland is considerably smaller than South Korea, but not dramatically so.

South Korea has roughly 30,000 sq km more territory, an area equivalent to about 43% of Ireland itself.

One distinction is important, however. The graphic is comparing South Korea with Ireland, not the entire Korean Peninsula. North and South Korea together cover about 223,400 sq km, more than three times the area of Ireland.

So while the two countries look surprisingly comparable when placed on top of each other, their populations tell a very different story. South Korea fits nearly 52 million people into an area only around 40% larger than Ireland.

The world ’s largest cities looked very different in 1700, with major urban centres concentrated across Europe and Asia, centuries before rapid industrialisation produced today’s megacities.

Historical population estimates are not exact, but research based on the work of urban historians Tertius Chandler and George Modelski provides one of the most detailed records of city populations before modern censuses. Researchers have since digitised and mapped their historical data.

The map highlights cities believed to have had populations of roughly 100,000 or more around 1700, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Istanbul, Cairo, Isfahan, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Kyoto and Edo, now Tokyo.

Around 1700 , Istanbul, then widely known in Europe as Constantinople, and Edo are both estimated at 700,000 people, making them two of the largest cities in the world. Beijing was also enormous, with estimates around 650,000.

China already had a particularly strong network of large cities. Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guangzhou were among its important urban centres, reflecting a long-established urban system that predated the industrial transformation of Europe. Historical research shows that Chinese cities remained among the world's largest for centuries.

Japan also had several major cities. Edo was expanding rapidly under the Tokugawa shogunate, while Kyoto and Osaka were important political, cultural and commercial centres.

Europe also had a growing collection of large cities, but London stood out.

Its population rose from roughly 120,000 in 1550 to around 550,000 to 575,000 by 1700. By then, London had overtaken other European cities in size and accounted for roughly one in 10 people in England .

Paris was also approaching the half-million mark, while Naples, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Milan and Moscow were among Europe's other large urban centres. Estimates cited in historical urban research put Istanbul at about 700,000, London at 550,000, Paris at 530,000 and Naples at just over 200,000 around 1700.

Miller generates the highest Google search interest among the beer brands compared in 30 US states, giving it a much wider geographic lead than Coors, Bud Light and Budweiser, according to an analysis of Google Trends data.

The map shows Miller leading across much of the West, Midwest and parts of the South and Northeast, including Washington, Oregon, Montana, Kansas, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Massachusetts . A published analysis of the same data confirms Miller as the leading brand in 30 states.

Coors ranks second, leading in eight states, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas , Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. Colorado is the only state where Blue Moon comes first in the analysis.

The results become more mixed further east. Bud Light leads in Ohio and North Carolina, while Budweiser tops Missouri and New Hampshire. Heineken comes first in New York and Florida. Guinness leads in Georgia and South Carolina, while Busch tops Illinois and Indiana.

There is an important distinction behind the headline. The map is based on Google Trends search interest, not beer sales, surveys of drinkers or consumption figures.

Google says Trends uses a sample of searches and adjusts the results according to the total number of searches in each place and time period. Its figures therefore show relative search interest, rather than the actual number of searches or purchases.

So saying Miller is the most popular beer in 30 states goes further than the underlying data supports. A more accurate description is that Miller had the highest Google search interest among the beer brands included in the comparison in 30 states.

That distinction matters because people can search for a beer without buying or drinking it, while many purchases never involve a Google search.

Even with that limitation, the map reveals a striking regional pattern. Miller leads in well over half of the states, while no other brand comes close to matching its geographic reach in this particular Google Trends comparison.

Coors has a noticeable western and south-western presence, while several other brands lead only in small clusters of states.

Google also warns that Trends values are normalised rather than absolute. A beer leading searches in one state does not necessarily mean that state generated more searches for it than another state. The result simply shows which of the compared brands had the strongest relative search interest there.

Spain has undergone a major demographic shift over the past three decades, with roughly one in five residents now born outside the country, compared with only a small fraction in the mid-1990s.

Spain had 49.57 million residents on January 1, 2026, according to provisional data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). Of those, 10 million were born abroad, crossing the 10-million mark for the first time. That leaves about 39.57 million people born in Spain, or roughly 79.8% of the population.

The graphic puts the Spain-born share at 97.31% in 1996 and 79.33% in 2026. The 2026 figure is close to the official INE data, although the latest January figures imply a share of about 79.8%, rather than exactly 79.33%. Differences can result from the reference date or dataset used.

Spain was overwhelmingly a country of Spanish-born residents in the mid-1990s. Since then, large-scale immigration from Latin America , other parts of Europe, Africa and elsewhere has changed the country's population.

The shift has continued in 2026. By July 1, Spain's population had risen further to 49.80 million, while the number of foreign-born residents reached 10.29 million. That means around 20.7% of Spain's residents were born abroad, leaving roughly 79.3% born in Spain.

That July figure is important because it means the graphic's 79.33% national figure is broadly accurate for mid-2026, rather than for January 1.

INE also makes an important distinction between foreign-born residents and foreign nationals. Spain had 10.29 million foreign-born residents in July, but only 7.44 million residents with foreign nationality. Many people born abroad have acquired Spanish citizenship.

The map shows some of the lowest Spain-born shares in the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Madrid and parts of the Mediterranean coast, while several inland and western regions remain much more heavily Spain-born.

This reflects decades of immigration concentrating around large cities, tourism centres, agricultural areas and regions with strong labour demand. The geographical difference is now large enough that the demographic profile of Madrid or the Balearic Islands looks very different from that of Extremadura.

Spain's overall population is still growing despite fewer Spain-born residents. INE said the country's recent population increase came from growth in the foreign-born population, while the number of residents born in Spain declined.

By July 2026, Spain had 444,205 more residents than a year earlier, an annual increase of about 0.9%.

Asia accounts for the largest share of the world economy , but the exact percentage depends heavily on how countries are grouped and whether GDP is measured at market exchange rates or purchasing power parity.

The graphic puts Asia at 37% of global GDP, followed by North America at 30% and Europe at 24%. South America is shown at 4%, Africa at 3%, and Oceania at 2%.

Those figures are broadly plausible for nominal GDP, but they should not be treated as exact without a year and source. The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook database, released in April 2026, provides GDP at current US-dollar prices for individual economies and regional groups, but it does not publish this exact six-continent breakdown.

The broad picture is clear. Asia contains several of the world's largest economies, including China, Japan, India and South Korea, while North America's total is heavily driven by the United States. Europe remains another major economic centre, with Germany, the UK, France and Italy among its biggest economies.

World Bank figures also show how concentrated global output remains. The world produced about $111 trillion in nominal GDP in 2024, with East Asia and the Pacific alone accounting for roughly $32 trillion. Europe and Central Asia produced about $29.3 trillion, although these World Bank regions do not correspond exactly with geographical continents.

Africa's share remains much smaller despite being home to about a fifth of the world's population. Sub-Saharan Africa produced around $2 trillion in nominal GDP in 2024, according to World Bank data.

The ranking can change substantially when GDP is adjusted for purchasing power parity, which accounts for differences in local prices. The IMF estimates that emerging and developing economies collectively account for a majority of world GDP under the PPP measure, giving greater economic weight to countries such as China and India.

Java is the world's most populous island, packing more than 150 million people into a land area that makes up only a small fraction of Indonesia.

Indonesia's 2020 census counted 151.6 million people on Java, equal to 56.1% of the country's population , even though the island accounts for only about 7% of Indonesia's territory.

More recent estimates put Java's population at roughly 157 million in 2024, making the graphic's figure of 156.4 million broadly reasonable, depending on the year and whether nearby islands such as Madura are included.

That population would make Java larger than the vast majority of the world's countries. Only a small group, including India, China, the United States , Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Brazil, have national populations clearly above Java's current level. UN estimates put India at about 1.44 billion people in 2024, while Indonesia had about 282 million.

The concentration is particularly striking because Java is only about 132,600 square kilometres in area. The island includes Jakarta as well as major cities such as Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang and Yogyakarta.

Java's dominance within Indonesia has slowly declined. Its share of the country's population fell from 59.1% in 2000 to 57.5% in 2010 and 56.1% in 2020, according to Indonesian government figures, as population growth and migration increased the share living on other islands.

The map's main message is therefore accurate, although the exact comparison changes as populations grow or shrink. Java remains the most populous island on Earth, with more residents than most entire countries.

Former Libyan leader, the late Muammar Gaddafi, proposed breaking up Switzerland and dividing its territory between Germany, France and Italy in 2009, during a bitter diplomatic dispute between Libya and Switzerland.

Gaddafi first raised the idea during the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, in July 2009, rather than during his separate state visit to Italy in June. He argued that Switzerland's German-speaking areas should become part of Germany, French-speaking areas should go to France and Italian-speaking areas should join Italy.

Libya later tried to put the proposal before the United Nations General Assembly. A UN spokesman said the request was rejected because it went against the principles of the UN Charter, which protects the sovereignty and existence of member states. The proposal was never placed on the General Assembly's agenda.

The extraordinary proposal came as relations between Libya and Switzerland were deteriorating. The dispute began after Gaddafi's son Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were briefly detained in Geneva in July 2008 following allegations that they had mistreated two domestic employees.

Libya responded with measures against Swiss interests, while two Swiss businessmen were prevented from leaving Libya for more than a year, deepening the diplomatic crisis.

The map broadly represents Gaddafi's idea, but it should not be read as an official or detailed territorial plan.

His proposal was based broadly on Switzerland's German, French and Italian-speaking regions, and there was no internationally accepted partition map. Switzerland remained fully sovereign, and the proposal went nowhere at the UN.

The Amazon rainforest stretches across eight South American countries and French Guiana, making it the world's largest tropical rainforest and one of the planet's most important ecosystems.

The Amazon biome covers about 6.7 million square kilometres , according to WWF. It extends across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, as well as French Guiana, an overseas territory of France.

Brazil contains by far the largest share. WWF estimates that roughly three-fifths of the Amazon biome is in Brazil, followed by Peru, Colombia, Venezuela , Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador and French Guiana by area.

The attached graphic gives Brazil a 64% share and Peru a 10% share, but these figures should be treated with caution. Different sources use different boundaries for the Amazon rainforest, Amazon biome, and Amazon basin, resulting in different percentages. WWF sources commonly put Brazil's share at around 60%.

The Amazon also holds extraordinary biodiversity. WWF says the region contains about 10% of Earth's known species, while its vast river system plays an important role in freshwater flows and climate regulation.

The forest crosses national borders, making its protection an international issue. Eight Amazon countries are members of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, signed in 1978 to promote cooperation across the region. French Guiana is part of France and is not one of the treaty's eight member states.

The Amazon faces continuing pressure from farming, cattle ranching, logging, mining, infrastructure development and climate change . WWF says protecting the forest requires cooperation across the countries that share it rather than action by any single government.

The Americas can be divided in several ways , depending on whether the focus is geography, language or culture. Terms such as North America, Latin America and Hispanic America often overlap, but they do not mean the same thing.

The map captures many of these differences, although some of its boundaries and population figures depend on which definition is being used.

Geographically, North America includes Canada, the United States , Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The United Nations divides North America into Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean.

One point that often confuses people is Mexico. The UN places Mexico in Central America for statistical purposes, but Central America itself forms part of the wider North American region.

South America includes countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Venezuela.

Latin America is not simply another name for South America. It generally covers parts of the Americas where Spanish, Portuguese and, under some definitions, French-derived cultures and languages predominate.

That means Mexico is both North American and Latin American, while Brazil is both South American and Latin American.

The UN uses the statistical grouping Latin America and the Caribbean, covering Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Hispanic America refers mainly to the Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas. It therefore includes Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and many other countries, but excludes Portuguese-speaking Brazil.

Ibero-America is broader, generally bringing together Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas . Anglo-America usually refers mainly to English-speaking Canada and the United States.

These labels show why one country can belong to several regions at once. Mexico can be North American, Latin American, Hispanic American and Ibero-American, depending on the context.

The map should therefore be read as a guide rather than a single official division of the Americas. Regional definitions vary, particularly when they are based on language, culture or history rather than physical geography.

The map shows Ukrainian, Turkish, Romanian and Syrian citizens as the largest non-German nationality in different German states in 2024. Importantly, the figures refer to citizenship, not ethnic background or country of birth.

The map shows Ukrainian citizens as the largest foreign nationality in many northern and eastern states, including Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, as well as Lower Saxony.

Germany had about 1.33 million Ukrainian citizens at the end of 2024, up sharply from around 155,000 in 2021. The increase largely followed the arrival of people fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Turkish citizens were still the largest foreign-national group in Germany overall in 2024, numbering about 1.54 million. The map shows them leading in several western states.

Germany’s large Turkish population has roots in decades of migration, particularly the recruitment of Turkish workers by West Germany beginning in the 1960s.

The citizenship figures do not include all people of Turkish background because many now hold German citizenship.

The map identifies Romanian citizens as the largest foreign nationality in Bavaria.

Across Germany, about 910,000 Romanian citizens were registered at the end of 2024. That made Romanians one of the country’s largest groups of EU citizens.

Germany’s Central Register of Foreigners recorded about 14.06 million foreign citizens at the end of 2024. The largest groups included around 1.54 million Turkish, 1.33 million Ukrainian and 910,000 Romanian citizens.

The figure had risen from about 10.92 million in 2018, showing how quickly Germany’s foreign population has grown in recent years.

The map therefore highlights two major migration stories. Turkish communities reflect decades of migration to Germany, while the rapid rise in Ukrainian citizens is largely a result of displacement following Russia’s invasion.

Lions once lived across large parts of Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Today, they are mainly found in scattered areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with the only wild population outside Africa surviving in India.

The latest IUCN Cat Specialist Group assessment estimates that lions occupied about 566,675 square kilometres in 2025, equal to just 6.13% of their historic range. Their range is estimated to have fallen by 34% between 2004 and 2025.

Lions disappeared from Europe around the first century CE. They later vanished from North Africa , the Middle East and most of Asia between the 1800s and mid-1900s as hunting, habitat loss and other pressures reduced their numbers.

Africa remains the main home of wild lions, particularly eastern and southern Africa . The IUCN Cat Specialist Group estimates that Africa had around 22,000 to 25,000 adult and subadult lions in 2025.

Their populations are increasingly separated from one another as their habitat becomes fragmented. Lions are especially vulnerable in West Africa, where populations have suffered severe declines. Earlier regional assessments estimated fewer than 250 adult lions there, leading to the West African population being classified as Critically Endangered.

Across their range, lions face pressure from habitat loss, declining prey, conflict with livestock owners and other human activities. The species remains classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Outside Africa, wild lions now survive only in Gujarat, India.

India's 2025 lion count recorded 891 Asiatic lions, up from 674 in 2020, an increase of about 32%. Their distribution has also expanded as lions move into areas beyond the Gir protected landscape.

The recovery is significant because lions once lived across a much larger part of Asia, from the Middle East through Iran and Pakistan into India. By the early 20th century, they had been reduced to the Gir region of Gujarat.

A strengthening El Niño could push about 49 million additional people into acute food insecurity by the end of 2027, with Central America and parts of Africa facing some of the sharpest increases, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

WFP analysed 45 vulnerable countries and estimated that the number of people facing acute food insecurity could rise from about 225 million to 274 million, an increase of roughly 22%.

The agency expects El Niño to peak between September and December 2026, but disruptions to rainfall, agriculture and harvests could extend its impact through 2027.

Latin America and the Caribbean could see more than 16 million additional people affected, while Central America could record an 83.1% increase in acute food insecurity, the largest proportional rise in WFP's analysis.

El Niño can disrupt normal rainfall patterns, causing drought in some areas and heavier rainfall or flooding in others, threatening crops and rural livelihoods.

Eastern and Southern Africa could add more than 18 million people facing worsening food insecurity, while West and Central Africa could add nearly 6 million.

Many communities in these regions depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture, leaving food production particularly exposed to prolonged drought or disrupted rainy seasons.

WFP estimates that 8.2 million additional people in Asia and the Pacific could face acute food insecurity as El Niño compounds existing economic, climatic and humanitarian pressures.

The agency and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation are expanding anticipatory measures, including cash assistance, drought- and flood-resistant seeds, livestock protection and improved water access.

WFP said early intervention will be critical. Its projections indicate that 274 million people across the 45 countries studied could face acute food insecurity by the end of 2027 if El Niño's expected effects materialise.

A total solar eclipse swept across Spain on Wednesday evening, briefly plunging parts of the country into darkness as the Moon completely covered the Sun in the first total eclipse visible from mainland Spain in more than a century.

The August 12 eclipse crossed northern Russia , Greenland, Iceland and the Atlantic before reaching the Iberian Peninsula, according to NASA. Spain was one of the final major land areas along the path of totality.

The Moon’s shadow moved across northern and eastern Spain, with totality visible from areas including A Coruña, Oviedo, León, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Valencia, as well as parts of the Balearic Islands.

Totality occurred at around 8:28 p.m. in León, 8:29 p.m. in Zaragoza and 8:32 p.m. in Valencia, according to NASA calculations. The fully eclipsed phase generally lasted less than two minutes.

The timing made the Spanish eclipse particularly striking. The Sun was already low on the western horizon when the Moon blocked it, creating a brief period of darkness shortly before sunset.

Outside the path of totality, millions of people still witnessed a deep partial eclipse. Madrid and Barcelona experienced about 99% solar coverage, while southern Spain also saw most of the Sun obscured.

The event marked the beginning of an unusual three-year sequence of major solar eclipses over Spain.

A second total solar eclipse will cross southern Spain on August 2, 2027, followed by an annular solar eclipse on January 26, 2028, according to Spain’s National Geographic Institute.

Scientists also used Wednesday’s eclipse to study the Sun and Earth’s atmosphere. NASA-backed research included observations of the solar corona and measurements of atmospheric changes caused by the sudden loss of sunlight.

For Spain, the brief spectacle represented a rare astronomical milestone, with the Moon’s shadow crossing the country and delivering totality to parts of the Iberian Peninsula for the first time in generations.

The battle for control of the U.S. Senate is tightening ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with competitive races emerging in several states that are currently held by both Republicans and Democrats.

Republicans hold a 53–47 Senate majority, leaving Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take control, provided they retain all the seats they currently hold.

An Aug8 polling tracker shows particularly close contests in Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio and Texas , while Democrats hold stronger polling positions in Georgia, Minnesota and North Carolina.

In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Senator Dan Sullivan are nearly tied at 46.5% and 46.2%, respectively, according to the tracker. Nebraska is also close, with independent Dan Osborn at 45.6% against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts at 44.5%.

Republicans hold narrow polling advantages in Michigan and Iowa, while Republican Senator Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown are separated by less than one percentage point in Ohio.

Democrats lead the displayed matchups in Georgia, North Carolina and Minnesota. Texas has also emerged as a competitive contest, with Democrat James Talarico narrowly ahead of Republican Ken Paxton in the tracker.

The tracker rates seven Senate contests as toss-ups, although independent election forecasters differ over which races fall into that category.

The regular 2026 Senate cycle covers 33 Class II seats, with additional special elections increasing the number of contests on the ballot.

With Democrats needing four Republican-held seats while protecting their own vulnerable races, a widening group of states could determine which party controls the Senate after November.

Canada is the nearest foreign country to a vast stretch of the northern and eastern United States, while Mexico dominates much of the South and Southwest, according to a geographic map illustrating which foreign country lies closest to different parts of U.S. territory.

The map divides the United States according to straight-line proximity to foreign territory rather than political, economic or transport links. That produces some less obvious results, particularly in Florida, Alaska and the Pacific.

Canada emerges as the nearest country across much of the northern United States, extending from the Pacific Northwest through the Midwest and into the Northeast. Mexico is closest across much of California, the Southwest, Texas and sections of the southern United States.

The physical borders help explain much of that pattern. The U.S.-Mexico land boundary stretches 3,144 km , according to the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Florida is where the map becomes considerably more complex.

The Bahamas is shown as the closest foreign country to much of the Florida peninsula and parts of the southeastern U.S. The Bahamian island chain sits remarkably close to Florida. Bimini, the westernmost district of the Bahamas, is about 80 kilometres or 50 miles east of Miami, according to geographic information published by the Bahamas government.

Cuba becomes the nearest foreign territory to parts of southern Florida and the Florida Keys, according to the map.

The result means that proximity in the southeastern United States cannot be understood simply by looking at America's two land-border neighbours. Caribbean islands can be geographically closer than either Canada or Mexico.

Alaska produces perhaps the map's most striking result.

Canada remains the nearest foreign country across much of Alaska, but Russia takes that position in parts of the state's far west.

The National Park Service says mainland Alaska and mainland Russia are separated by about 55 miles, while the Russian island of Big Diomede and the American island of Little Diomede are only about 2.5 miles apart in the Bering Strait.

NOAA similarly places the distance between Russia and Alaska at their closest mainland points at around 53 miles.

That makes Russia physically closer to parts of the United States than many Americans may assume from conventional world maps.

Eighty-one years after the first atomic bomb was used in warfare, the missions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain among the most consequential and contested military actions in modern history, killing tens of thousands of people immediately and exposing many more to burns, injuries and radiation.

The two attacks were carried out by U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 bombers operating from Tinian in the Mariana Islands, roughly 2,500 km south-east of Japan . The National Archives says the bombings on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, devastated the two Japanese cities and contributed to the end of World War Two.

The missions broadly correspond to the routes shown in the accompanying map, although the Nagasaki operation was more complicated than a direct Tinian-to-Nagasaki flight.

On Aug. 6, Colonel Paul Tibbets piloted the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress assigned to the 509th Composite Group, from Tinian towards Hiroshima.

The aircraft carried Little Boy, a uranium-based atomic bomb. At about 8:15 a.m. local time, the weapon was released over Hiroshima and detonated roughly 1,600 feet above the city, according to the National WWII Museum. The museum estimates that about 80,000 people died as a result of the initial explosion, while subsequent deaths from injuries and radiation pushed the toll higher.

The Smithsonian says the Enola Gay's weapon was the first atomic bomb used in combat. Its records describe Little Boy as a highly enriched uranium weapon using a gun-type design.

The destruction was immense. Smithsonian historical records cite U.S. estimates of 60,000 to 70,000 people killed or missing and about 140,000 injured in Hiroshima, illustrating why casualty figures can differ depending on the period and methodology used.

Three days later, on August 9, another B-29, Bockscar, left Tinian under the command of Major Charles Sweeney carrying Fat Man, a plutonium implosion bomb.

One important detail is missing from simplified maps of the mission. Nagasaki was the secondary target.

Bockscar initially flew towards Kokura, a major military-industrial centre on the Japanese island of Kyushu. Smoke and haze obscured the target, however, preventing the crew from making the required visual bombing run. The aircraft eventually diverted to Nagasaki.

The bomb was dropped at about 11 a.m.

The National WWII Museum estimates that roughly 40,000 people were killed by the initial detonation, with tens of thousands more dying later from injuries and radiation exposure. The city's terrain limited some of the blast effects, but areas around ground zero were devastated.

With fuel running dangerously low after the mission, Bockscar flew to Okinawa, where it landed before eventually returning to Tinian. That explains the Okinawa leg depicted on the map.

No nuclear weapon has been used in armed conflict since the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

That distinction has made the two cities enduring symbols of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear warfare, while the decision to use the bombs continues to generate debate among historians over military necessity, alternatives available to U.S. policymakers and the factors that ultimately drove Japan to surrender.

More than one in five people are already aged 65 or older in a growing group of advanced economies, concentrated heavily in Europe and East Asia, as falling birth rates and longer life expectancy accelerate a demographic shift with consequences for labour markets, pensions and healthcare systems.

According to the United Nations Population Division , people aged 65 and over now make up more than 20% of the population in several countries, with Europe dominating the list and Japan standing out in Asia.

The trend reflects what the United Nations describes as an inevitable outcome of the demographic transition. Declining fertility combined with longer life expectancy progressively increases the share of older people in national populations.

Japan remains the clearest example of the shift.

People aged 65 and over numbered 36.24 million in 2024, accounting for a record 29.3% of Japan's population, according to the country's Statistics Bureau. At the same time, children under 15 represented just 11.2%.

Japan's total population fell by 550,000 to 123.8 million in 2024, marking its 14th consecutive annual decline. Official Japanese statistics, drawing on UN comparisons, have identified Japan as having the world's highest proportion of people aged 65 and over among 200 countries and territories.

The ageing trend is already reshaping employment. Japan had 9.14 million workers aged 65 and above in 2023, accounting for 13.5% of all employed people, according to the Statistics Bureau.

Europe represents the largest geographical concentration of countries where at least one-fifth of residents are 65 or older.

The trend is not new. Eurostat reported that 20.6% of the European Union's population was already aged 65 or above in 2020, up three percentage points from 2010. Italy stood at 23.2%, while Greece and Finland were each at 22.3%, Portugal at 22.1%, Germany at 21.8% and Bulgaria at 21.6%.

More recent UN analysis confirms that the demographic shift is continuing. France and Sweden are among countries where more than 20% of residents were aged 65 or older in 2024.

The ageing of Europe and Japan is closely connected to another demographic milestone. The UN says populations in 63 countries and areas, representing 28% of the world's population in 2024, had already reached their population peak. The group includes Germany, Japan, China and Russia .

Two demographic forces are pushing populations towards older age structures.

Fertility has dropped below the roughly 2.1 births per woman required for long-term population replacement without migration in more than half of the world's 235 countries and areas, according to the UN. Meanwhile, global life expectancy recovered to 73.3 years in 2024, after falling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those trends mean ageing will extend far beyond the countries currently highlighted on the map.

By the late 2070s, the UN projects that the global population aged 65 and above will outnumber children under 18. People aged 80 and above are expected to outnumber infants under one as early as the mid-2030s.

Sicily is home to more than 5 million people , making it the most populous island in the Mediterranean, while Italy accounts for three of the region's 10 largest islands by population, according to the latest official demographic estimates.

With a population of approximately 5.01 million, Sicily ranks well ahead of Sardinia, which has about 1.65 million residents. Cyprus, an independent island nation in the eastern Mediterranean, is third with around 1.39 million inhabitants.

Spain's Mallorca follows with roughly 940,000 residents, while the Greek island of Crete ranks fifth at about 620,000. Malta, Europe's smallest EU member state, has around 480,000 people living across its main island.

The remainder of the top 10 includes Corsica in France (370,000), Euboea in Greece (190,000), Djerba in Tunisia (180,000) and Rhodes in Greece (120,000).

The Mediterranean, covering about 2.5 million square kilometres, is bordered by 22 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa. Throughout history , its islands have served as strategic centres for trade, migration and military power, linking three continents through one of the world's busiest maritime regions.

Sicily's large population reflects its size and historical role as a crossroads of Mediterranean civilisation. Covering about 25,700 square kilometres, it is the Mediterranean's largest island by area and has been shaped by successive Greek, Roman, Arab, Norman and Spanish influences. Today, Palermo and Catania remain among southern Italy's largest urban centres.

Sardinia, Italy's second-largest island, is known for its mountainous interior and scattered settlements, while Cyprus combines one of the eastern Mediterranean's largest populations with a strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East . The island has remained politically divided since 1974 between the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish-controlled north.

Mallorca, Crete, Malta and Rhodes have become major tourism destinations, collectively attracting tens of millions of visitors each year. Despite their relatively modest resident populations, their seasonal populations rise sharply during the summer as international tourism peaks.

Population rankings among Mediterranean islands have remained relatively stable in recent decades, although demographic trends vary. Larger islands such as Sicily and Sardinia face ageing populations and lower birth rates, while Cyprus and Malta have recorded stronger growth, partly driven by immigration .

The figures are based on the latest estimates published by national statistical offices, Eurostat, the United Nations Population Division, and official government demographic agencies.

Air conditioning remains uncommon across much of Europe despite increasingly frequent summer heatwaves, with ownership concentrated in the continent's warmer southern countries, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Eurostat.

The map highlights wide differences in household air conditioning ownership across Europe, reflecting long-term variations in climate, income, housing design and energy demand.

Greece has the highest rate among European countries, with 99% of households equipped with air conditioning. It is followed by Italy (55%), Spain (55%), Türkiye (35%), Portugal (35%) and Bulgaria (30%). France records 25%, while Romania has 26%. Several Balkan countries range between 25% and 35%.

Ownership is considerably lower across much of northern and western Europe. Germany records 19%, the Netherlands 22%, Belgium 22%, the United Kingdom 5%, Finland 4%, Norway 3%, Sweden 3%, Denmark 3%, Estonia 3%, Latvia 3%, Lithuania 3%, Ireland 2% and Iceland just 1%.

The International Energy Agency says Europe has historically had lower demand for residential cooling than many parts of Asia, the Middle East and North America because much of the continent has traditionally experienced milder summers. Instead, homes have generally been designed to retain heat during winter rather than dissipate it during hot weather.

However, climate change is increasing demand for cooling. The Copernicus Climate Change Service says Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with heatwaves becoming more frequent, longer-lasting and more intense. Southern Europe has experienced repeated summers with temperatures exceeding 40°C, while countries farther north have also recorded unprecedented heat extremes.

The IEA estimates that air conditioner ownership is strongly influenced by average summer temperatures, household income and electricity access. Countries with hotter climates and higher disposable incomes typically have higher adoption rates, although energy costs and building regulations also affect installation.

The European Commission has encouraged member states to improve building insulation, passive cooling techniques, tree cover and energy-efficient construction to reduce dependence on mechanical cooling while adapting to rising temperatures.

Energy experts note that although air conditioning protects public health during extreme heat, rapid growth in cooling demand can place significant pressure on electricity grids during summer peak periods unless accompanied by greater energy efficiency and renewable generation.

Workers in Northern and Western Europe can afford Grand Theft Auto VI after just a few hours of work, while employees in parts of Eastern Europe may need more than a full working week, highlighting the continent's wide wage disparities.

A map published by The World in Maps and Maven Mapping estimates the number of work hours required to purchase Rockstar Games' upcoming title by comparing average hourly earnings with the retail price of the game. The calculation is based on a mathematical formula using national wage data and the game's standard retail price.

The lowest work requirements are found in Northern Europe.

Denmark leads the ranking at 1.61 hours, followed by Iceland (1.70), Norway (1.77) and the Netherlands (1.61). Workers in Germany require 2.32 hours, while France needs 2.67 hours and Sweden 2.78 hours.

The figures reflect the region's high average wages and purchasing power. Eurostat data consistently show that Northern and Western European economies record some of Europe's highest earnings, supported by strong labour markets and high productivity.

The contrast becomes more pronounced further east.

The study estimates that workers in Ukraine need 31.12 hours of work to buy GTA VI, the highest figure on the map. Belarus follows with 19.9 hours, while Russia stands at 16.23 hours. Several Balkan countries also require considerably longer working times than Western Europe, including North Macedonia (25.15 hours), Albania (20.62 hours) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (18.56 hours).

These differences reflect substantial wage gaps across Europe despite increasing economic convergence in recent years.

GTA VI launch adds to industry pricing debate

The affordability comparison comes as Rockstar Games prepares to launch Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Rockstar has confirmed a standard edition price of US$79.99, ending months of speculation that the game could become the first major AAA release to exceed US$100.

Although the game's price is broadly consistent across many developed markets after currency adjustments, the number of hours required to earn that amount varies dramatically because of differences in wages, living standards and purchasing power.

The comparison illustrates that the cost of a global entertainment product can differ significantly in practical terms depending on where consumers live and work. Even with similar retail prices, purchasing power remains one of the clearest indicators of economic inequality across Europe.

One of the best-known examples is China itself . The country's official Chinese name Zhōngguó literally means "Middle Country" or " Central State." The term dates back more than 2,000 years and originally referred to the central kingdoms of ancient China before becoming the modern name of the People's Republic of China.

Japan's Chinese name, Rìběn , translates literally as "Sun Origin" or "Origin of the Sun." The name reflects Japan's position east of China, where the sun appears to rise. It gave rise to the widely known expression "Land of the Rising Sun," a description that has been associated with Japan since at least the Tang Dynasty.

South Korea is known in Chinese as Hánguó, meaning "Han Country," a reference to the ancient Samhan confederacies that existed on the Korean Peninsula rather than China's Han dynasty.

Several names preserve historical kingdoms. Mongolia (Měnggǔ) is a phonetic rendering of "Mongol," while Vietnam (Yuènán) literally means "South of Yue," reflecting the ancient Yue peoples who once inhabited parts of southern China and northern Vietnam. The name was officially adopted by Emperor Gia Long in the early 19th century.

Some country names appear unusual when translated word for word because the characters were selected mainly for their sound. For example, India (Yìndù) is a phonetic adaptation derived from the Sanskrit Sindhu through Persian and other intermediary languages. Likewise, Indonesia (Yìndùníxīyà) and Malaysia (Mǎláixīyà) are transliterations whose individual characters have little connection to the countries themselves.

Other names combine sound with meaning. Russia (Éluósī) is largely phonetic, while Thailand (Tàiguó) includes the character 泰, meaning "peaceful" or "great," combined with 国, meaning "country."

According to linguists, Chinese country names have evolved over centuries as diplomacy, trade and contact with neighbouring civilisations expanded. While many modern names were standardised during the late Qing dynasty and the early 20th century, they continue to reflect layers of history stretching back to ancient Chinese records.

More than 95% of people own their homes in Romania and Slovakia, while Germany has Europe's lowest homeownership rate at 47.2%, highlighting a sharp divide between Central and Eastern Europe and much of Western Europe, according to the latest Eurostat housing data.

Romania tops the European rankings with 95.0% of residents living in owner-occupied homes, closely followed by Slovakia (94.3%), Croatia (93.1%), Lithuania (92.6%), Hungary (91.6%) and Slovenia (91.0%).

High ownership rates also extend across Eastern Europe, including Poland (87.1%), Bulgaria (86.0%), Latvia (87.4%), Estonia (83.7%) and Czechia (74.7%).

On the contrary, renting is far more common in several Western European economies. Germany records the continent's lowest homeownership rate at 47.2%, meaning a majority of households rent their homes. Switzerland follows at 42.0%, while Austria (54.5%), Türkiye (56.9%), France (61.2%), Denmark (60.9%) and the United Kingdom (64.5%) also report comparatively lower ownership rates.

Southern Europe generally records higher levels of ownership. Spain stands at 73.7%, Portugal at 75.9%, Italy at around 75%, and Greece at 69.7%, reflecting long-standing cultural preferences for homeownership and high levels of inherited property.

According to Eurostat, the gap between East and West is rooted largely in the political and economic transformations that followed the collapse of communist governments in Central and Eastern Europe. During the 1990s, many countries sold large stocks of state-owned housing to tenants at heavily discounted prices, rapidly increasing owner occupation.

Germany followed a different path. A large, well-regulated rental market, strong tenant protections, long-term lease security and relatively stable rent controls have made renting a common and socially accepted choice. Similar conditions exist in Switzerland and Austria, where institutional landlords play a larger role in the housing market than in much of Eastern Europe.

Housing affordability, mortgage availability, demographics and taxation also influence ownership rates. In recent years, rising interest rates and higher house prices have made first-time home purchases more difficult across much of Europe, although ownership patterns remain broadly unchanged.

Eurostat notes that homeownership does not necessarily indicate greater household wealth, as housing quality, mortgage debt and property values vary significantly between countries. Nevertheless, the figures illustrate how historical housing policies continue to shape where Europeans buy and where they rent.

South Africa recorded 26,232 murders during the 2024/25 financial year, exceeding the combined total of homicides reported across dozens of countries in Europe, North America, East Asia and Oceania, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The comparison highlights the scale of South Africa's violent crime challenge. Countries shaded in blue on the accompanying map, including Canada, nearly all European countries, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and several Gulf states, collectively recorded around 22,000 homicides in the latest available official data, compared with South Africa's more than 26,000.

According to SAPS crime statistics, South Africa averaged about 72 murders every day during the 2024/25 reporting period. The country's homicide rate stood at approximately 43 murders per 100,000 people, placing it among the highest in the world outside active war zones.

Police data show that the provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape consistently account for the largest share of murders. Firearms remain the most common weapon used in homicides, while many killings are linked to organised crime, gang violence, interpersonal disputes, robberies and gender-based violence.

The UNODC has repeatedly identified Southern Africa as one of the regions with the world's highest intentional homicide rates. Unlike many high-income countries, where homicide rates are typically below 2 per 100,000 people, South Africa's rate is more than twenty times higher than those recorded in countries such as Japan, Norway, Switzerland and Singapore.

Crime analysts say the comparison reflects not only population differences but also significant disparities in homicide rates. While the countries highlighted in blue collectively have populations exceeding one billion people, many have experienced decades of declining violent crime through stronger policing, judicial systems, firearm regulation and social interventions.

The South African government has identified violent crime as a national priority. Authorities have expanded specialised police units , intensified operations against illegal firearms and organised crime syndicates, and increased investment in forensic services.

However, researchers argue that reducing homicide will also require tackling poverty, unemployment, substance abuse and inequality, which are widely recognised as drivers of violent crime.

The straight-line distance from Monte Caburaí to the southern border is roughly 4,390 kilometres (2,730 miles). By comparison, the distance from Monte Caburaí to Canada's southern mainland border is approximately 4,300 kilometres, making Canada's closest point slightly nearer than Brazil's own southern extremity.

The counterintuitive result stems from the curvature of the Earth rather than the familiar flat world maps. Because the globe narrows toward the poles, travelling north across the Caribbean and eastern North America reaches southern Canada in fewer kilometres than travelling south through the full length of Brazil.

The finding also reflects Brazil 's enormous north-south span. Covering 8.5 million square kilometres, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by land area and stretches across more than 39 degrees of latitude, according to IBGE and the CIA World Factbook.

Many people mistakenly believe Brazil's northernmost point lies at the Amazon River or near the Equator. In fact, Monte Caburaí sits north of the Equator, meaning part of Brazil lies in the Northern Hemisphere. The Equator crosses the states of Amazonas, Pará, Amapá and Roraima, placing about 7% of Brazil's territory north of the line.

Brazil's geographic dimensions have produced several other unusual distinctions. The country borders every South American nation except Chile and Ecuador, has the world's longest continuous tropical coastline at nearly 7,500 kilometres, and spans four time zones.

Geographers say such comparisons illustrate why great-circle distances—the shortest routes over the Earth's curved surface—often differ from impressions created by two-dimensional maps. They are the same principles used by airlines when plotting transcontinental flights that appear to curve over the Arctic but are actually the shortest paths between destinations.

The price of 1GB of mobile data varies dramatically across the world, with consumers in some countries paying hundreds of times more than those in the cheapest markets.

Travellers in particular are vulnerable as roaming costs can be much, much higher.

Don’t overpay for data when you travel. Get an eSIM from The World in Maps’ partner, Gjirafa Travel, with an exclusive 10% discount .

This map shows prices according to Cable.co.uk. United Kingdom-based price comparison website analysed thousands of mobile data plans across more than 230 countries and territories to calculate the average cost of 1GB of mobile data in U.S. dollars.

Israel remained one of the world's cheapest places to buy mobile data, with intense competition among network operators helping keep prices exceptionally low. Italy, France, India and Fiji also ranked among the least expensive markets, where 1GB typically costs well below the global average.

At the other end of the scale, Zimbabwe had the world's highest average price for 1GB of mobile data, followed by countries including Equatorial Guinea, Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands. Many of the most expensive markets are characterised by limited competition, small subscriber bases or the high cost of providing telecommunications infrastructure in remote locations.

The United States ranked among the more expensive developed economies. While Americans generally benefit from extensive 4G and 5G coverage, average mobile data prices remain significantly higher than in many European and Asian countries because of differences in market competition, spectrum costs and pricing strategies.

Across Europe, prices are generally lower than in North America, supported by highly competitive mobile markets and regulatory policies that encourage consumer choice. Italy has consistently ranked among the cheapest countries globally for mobile data, while Nordic countries and parts of Central Europe also record relatively low prices.

In Asia, India continues to offer some of the world's lowest mobile data costs. Analysts attribute this to fierce competition following the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, which triggered a prolonged price war and dramatically reduced mobile internet prices while accelerating nationwide data consumption.

By contrast, several African countries display wide differences in pricing. Markets with greater network competition, such as Kenya and Nigeria, tend to offer lower prices than countries where operators face higher infrastructure costs, currency pressures or limited economies of scale.

Cable.co.uk notes that price alone does not necessarily reflect value. Consumers in higher-priced markets may receive faster download speeds, broader rural coverage or larger bundled service packages, while lower prices often result from intense competition rather than lower operating costs.

Produced in partnership with Gjirafa travel - the cheapest way to stay online while abroad.

Argentina became only the second nation in FIFA Men's World Cup history to finish as runners-up four times after losing the 2026 final to Spain, matching Germany's long-standing record for the most defeats in football's biggest match.

The defeat added the 2026 tournament to Argentina's previous runner-up finishes in 1930, 1990 and 2014, according to FIFA records. Despite those losses, Argentina remains one of the tournament's most successful nations, having won the World Cup in 1978, 1986 and 2022.

Germany also lost four World Cup finals, in 1966, 1982, 1986 and 2002, while winning the trophy four times in 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014. No other country has reached the final and lost on as many occasions.

The Netherlands ranks next with three runner-up finishes, having lost the finals in 1974, 1978 and 2010. The Dutch have reached three World Cup finals but are yet to win the tournament.

Several countries have finished as runners-up twice. Czechoslovakia lost the 1934 and 1962 finals before the country's peaceful dissolution in 1993. Hungary was beaten in the 1938 and 1954 finals despite producing one of the greatest international teams of the 20th century. Italy finished second in 1970 and 1994, while France lost the finals in 2006 and 2022. Brazil's only runner-up finishes came in 1950 and 1998.

Sweden and Croatia are the only nations to have finished second once without subsequently reaching another World Cup final. Sweden lost to Brazil in the 1958 final on home soil, while Croatia was beaten by France in 2018, its first appearance in a World Cup final.

Since the inaugural FIFA World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, only 13 countries have reached the men's World Cup final. Eight have gone on to lift the trophy, while five- the Netherlands, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Croatia- have never won the tournament.

The Empire of Japan reached its largest territorial extent in 1942, controlling vast areas across East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific after a series of rapid military victories during the early stages of World War II.

At its peak, Japan directly ruled or occupied territories stretching from Manchuria and Korea in Northeast Asia to Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, French Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and parts of New Guinea, according to historical records from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the U.S. Office of the Historian and the National WWII Museum.

Japan's imperial expansion had begun decades earlier. Following victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), it annexed Taiwan in 1895 and Korea in 1910. In 1931, Japanese forces invaded Manchuria, establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo the following year before launching a full-scale invasion of China in 1937.

The attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 in Japan) brought the United States into World War II and enabled Japan to rapidly expand across the Pacific. Within months, Japanese forces captured Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and Burma, securing access to vital resources including oil, rubber and tin.

By mid-1942, the empire controlled an area of roughly 7.4 million square kilometres, making it one of the largest empires in Asia's modern history. Japanese leaders promoted the expansion as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, presenting it as a regional bloc free from Western colonial rule. Historians, however, note that many occupied territories experienced military rule, forced labour, economic exploitation and widespread human rights abuses.

The empire's expansion reached a turning point after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, where Japan lost four aircraft carriers to the United States. Historians widely regard the battle as a decisive shift in the Pacific War, ending Japan's strategic offensive.

From 1943 onward, Allied forces steadily recaptured Japanese-held territory through campaigns across New Guinea, the Philippines, Burma and the Central Pacific. The war ended after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki on August 9, followed by the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Manchuria.

Japan announced its surrender on August 15, 1945, with the formal Instrument of Surrender signed aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

Following the war, Japan lost all overseas territories acquired since the late 19th century and came under Allied occupation until 1952. The post-war constitution, which came into force in 1947, renounced war as a sovereign right and remains a defining feature of Japan's political system.

FC Barcelona supplied more players to Spain's 2026 FIFA World Cup-winning squad than any other club, underlining the Catalan club's continued influence on the national team after Spain secured its second men's world title.

The squad featured a strong domestic core, with Barcelona contributing eight players, the largest representation of any club. Atlético Madrid followed with four players, while Athletic Club provided three and Real Sociedad one, reflecting the continued importance of La Liga in producing Spanish internationals.

Spain's success was also built on players competing abroad. The English Premier League accounted for the largest overseas contingent, with Arsenal contributing three Spain internationals, while Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Crystal Palace each had one player in the squad.

Paris Saint-Germain was the only French club represented, while Celta Vigo also contributed one player from Spain's domestic league.

The composition of the squad illustrates the growing international footprint of Spanish footballers. According to FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players and UEFA competition records, increasing numbers of Spain internationals now develop in La Liga before moving to Europe's biggest leagues, particularly the Premier League.

Barcelona's influence remains closely tied to its renowned La Masia academy, which has produced generations of Spain internationals. The club previously formed the backbone of Spain's teams that won UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012, with players such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Piqué and Carles Puyol central to that era.

The 2026 champions continue that tradition. Barcelona's representatives included several of Spain's most influential performers throughout the tournament, reinforcing the club's role as the country's leading developer of elite talent.

The Premier League's seven representatives also demonstrate England's growing appeal to Spain's top players. Arsenal had the largest contribution among English clubs with three internationals, while Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Crystal Palace each added one.

Spain lifted its second FIFA Men's World Cup after conceding just one goal across the entire competition, setting a new record for the fewest goals allowed by a World Cup-winning team, according to FIFA statistics.

That lone goal came during Spain's meeting with Belgium. Every other opponent—including knockout-stage rivals- failed to score against the eventual champions, as Spain finished the tournament with a series of clean sheets that surpassed the previous World Cup record.

Before 2026, the best defensive performances by a men's World Cup winner belonged jointly to Spain in 2010, Italy in 2006 and France in 1998, each conceding only two goals on their way to the title. Spain's latest campaign reduced that benchmark even further.

The record reflects the strength of Spain's defensive unit throughout the tournament. Goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders combined to frustrate opponents over seven matches, allowing just a single goal while guiding the team to the championship.

The achievement also continues Spain's remarkable World Cup defensive record. Across its two title-winning campaigns in 2010 and 2026, Spain conceded only three goals in 14 matches, the fewest combined total for any nation that has won multiple FIFA Men's World Cups.

Belgium's goal therefore carries a unique distinction. While it was not enough to prevent elimination, it remains the only goal scored against the eventual champions during the entire tournament.

Spain's defensive record complements its attacking success and underlines why the 2026 side is likely to be remembered as one of the most defensively efficient champions in FIFA World Cup history .

Australia sourced much of its imported urea from the Middle East and Southeast Asia in 2024, with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia emerging as its largest suppliers, according to World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS) trade data .

The map highlights Australia's dependence on imported urea, a nitrogen-rich fertiliser widely used to boost crop yields and also an essential ingredient in AdBlue, the diesel exhaust fluid required by many heavy vehicles to reduce emissions.

Saudi Arabia was Australia's largest individual supplier by trade value in 2024, exporting more than US$221 million worth of urea to Australia, according to WITS data based on UN Comtrade statistics. Indonesia also ranked among the country's biggest suppliers, alongside the United Arab Emirates, Oman, China and several other trading partners.

Australia imported around US$1.45 billion worth of urea from all countries in 2024, making it one of the world's five largest urea importers by value behind Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States.

Urea is the world's most widely used nitrogen fertiliser because it contains about 46% nitrogen, making it highly effective for crops including wheat, barley, canola, cotton and sugarcane. Australia imports most of its nitrogen fertiliser requirements despite being a major agricultural exporter, as domestic production has not kept pace with demand.

The country's reliance on overseas suppliers has become increasingly important during periods of global disruption. Supply chains have faced pressure in recent years from geopolitical tensions, shipping disruptions and export restrictions by some producing countries, leading to higher fertiliser prices and renewed discussions about Australia's fertiliser security .

Australia is pursuing greater domestic production capacity through new fertiliser projects, but imported urea is expected to remain a key component of the country's agricultural supply chain for the foreseeable future.

Spain has become the first country in football history to simultaneously hold the FIFA Men's and FIFA Women's World Cup titles , following the men's victory at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The achievement adds another milestone to Spanish football after the women's national team won the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand , defeating England 1-0 in the final through Olga Carmona's first-half goal.

Three years later, Spain's men's team completed the double by lifting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making the country the only reigning champion in both senior FIFA tournaments simultaneously.

The feat has never previously been achieved by traditional football powers such as Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina or France. While several nations have won both the men's and women's World Cups at different times, none has held both titles simultaneously.

Spain's rise has been built on sustained success across multiple competitions. Since 2023, the women's side has also won the inaugural UEFA Women's Nations League in 2024, while the men's team captured UEFA Euro 2024 before adding the World Cup two years later.

Spain's men's and women's national teams draw heavily from clubs in La Liga and Liga F, while academies such as FC Barcelona's La Masia have produced international stars including Lamine Yamal, Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas.

The country is also one of only a handful of countries to have won both senior FIFA World Cups. The men's team secured its first title at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after defeating the Netherlands, while the women's breakthrough came in 2023.

FIFA's two flagship tournaments remain the pinnacle of international football . The men's World Cup, first held in 1930, has been won by only eight nations. The Women's World Cup, launched in 1991, has produced five champions before Spain joined the list in 2023.

In many U.S. states, the highest-paid public employee is not a governor, judge or university president, but a college football coach , highlighting the sport's immense economic and cultural influence.

Data from state payroll records analysed by USA Today, ESPN and Business Insider show football coaches top public salary rankings across much of the South, Midwest and West. Many earn multimillion-dollar compensation packages that far exceed those of elected officials.

The trend reflects the financial strength of major college football programmes. Top universities regularly generate more than $100 million annually through media rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and merchandise, while conferences such as the SEC and Big Ten benefit from multibillion-dollar broadcasting deals .

Coaches at public universities, including Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas, have earned contracts worth more than $8 million per year, making them among the highest-paid public employees in the country.

The pattern is most visible in states where college football is deeply embedded in local culture . In contrast, some Northeastern and West Coast states are led by medical school executives, university administrators or other public officials on state payroll lists.

The growing salaries continue to fuel debate over public spending, particularly as universities navigate rising tuition costs and a rapidly changing college sports landscape shaped by athlete compensation and NIL agreements.

For supporters, elite coaches generate revenue and national visibility that justify their pay. Critics argue the gap between coaching salaries and those of educators or public servants raises broader questions about priorities in public higher education.

Spain and Argentina will contest the 2026 FIFA World Cup final after defeating France and England, respectively, continuing the long-standing dominance of European and South American nations at football's biggest tournament.

Spain beat France 2-0 in Arlington, Texa s, with Mikel Oyarzabal opening the scoring from the penalty spot before Pedro Porro sealed victory in the second half. The win sends Spain into its first World Cup final since lifting the trophy in South Africa in 2010 and gives La Roja the chance to win a second World Cup title.

A day later, defending champions Argentina overturned a second-half deficit to defeat England 2-1 in Atlanta. Anthony Gordon gave England the lead, but late goals from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez, both created by Lionel Messi, completed a dramatic comeback and secured Argentina's place in a second consecutive World Cup final.

The latest results reinforce a remarkable trend. Since 2010, only 11 countries have reached the men's FIFA World Cup semi-finals. Europe accounts for seven of them: Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Croatia, Belgium and England. South America has supplied Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, while Morocco became the first African nation ever to reach the last four at the 2022 tournament.

Spain's return ends a 16-year wait since Andrés Iniesta's extra-time winner against the Netherlands delivered the country's first World Cup title. France , champions in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, saw their bid for a third title halted by the reigning European champions.

Argentina, meanwhile, continues one of the most consistent runs in modern World Cup history. The Albiceleste reached the semi-finals in 2014, won the title in 2022 and have now advanced to another final in 2026, remaining on course to become the first men's team since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup.

England's appearance marked its second semi-final in three tournaments after reaching the last four in 2018, while France and England will now meet in the third-place playoff.

The final between Spain and Argentina also guarantees another chapter in football's enduring continental rivalry. Every FIFA Men's World Cup champion since the tournament began in 1930 has come from either Europe or South America . Europe has produced five winning nations: Germany, Italy, France, Spain and England, while South America has supplied Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

On Sunday, July 19 , Spain will seek a second World Cup title, while Argentina will attempt to lift a fourth World Cup and become the first nation in more than six decades to successfully defend the men's trophy.

Europe's supermarket landscape remains highly fragmented, with domestic grocery chains continuing to dominate national markets despite decades of international expansion by retailers such as Lidl and Aldi, according to industry data and company market reports.

The map highlights the supermarket brands most closely associated with each European country , illustrating how consumer loyalty, local competition, and national retail traditions have enabled many homegrown chains to retain leadership positions.

In the United Kingdom, Tesco remains one of the country's largest supermarket groups by market share, ahead of rivals including Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi and Lidl, according to Kantar. Across the Irish Sea, Dunnes Stores and SuperValu continue to compete for the top position in Ireland's grocery market.

Domestic retailers lead several of Europe's largest economies.

In France, major chains including E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Intermarché, U and Monoprix dominate food retailing. E.Leclerc has consistently held the country's largest grocery market share, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Germany's supermarket sector is led by retailers such as Edeka, REWE, Netto and Kaufland, while discount chains Aldi and Lidl, both founded in Germany, have expanded into dozens of international markets and become two of Europe's largest food retailers by revenue.

In Spain, Mercadona remains the clear market leader, accounting for more than one-quarter of national grocery sales, according to Kantar. Other major Spanish retailers include Carrefour, Lidl, Dia, Eroski and Alcampo.

Northern Europe is also characterised by powerful domestic brands. ICA leads Sweden's grocery market, Coop and REMA 1000 are among Norway's largest supermarket groups, while S Group and Kesko's K-Citymarket are major players in Finland.

In Central and Eastern Europe, national chains remain particularly influential. Biedronka is Poland's largest supermarket network, operating more than 3,700 stores, while Romania's market includes Profi, one of the country's biggest convenience and supermarket operators.

Turkey's retail sector is dominated by discount chains BİM, A101 and ŞOK, which together operate tens of thousands of stores nationwide and have reshaped grocery shopping through low-price formats.

According to EuroCommerce, food retail is one of Europe's largest private-sector industries, employing millions of people and serving hundreds of millions of consumers every day. While international retailers continue expanding across borders, the continent's grocery market remains defined by strong national brands that have adapted to local shopping habits, pricing preferences and consumer tastes.

Whether you are a geography geek or a US president, maps are a good place to start.

From the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Caucasus, Iran borders seven countries on land and six more across water.

It is also one of the world ’s oldest continuous civilisations, with a history that spans more than 4,000 years.

Today, with nearly 90 million people and a landmass exceeding 1.6 million square kilometres, Iran stands as one of the Middle East’s largest and most consequential states.

Iran’s terrain is defined by mountains and arid expanses, with little continuous flat land. The Zagros and Alborz mountain ranges dominate much of the landscape, while the Iranian Plateau forms its core.

To the east, vast deserts such as the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut stretch across large swathes of the country. These physical features are not just geographic, but they also shape settlement patterns, climate conditions and the development of infrastructure.

Historically, Iran was the centre of powerful empires that influenced language, trade, science and culture far beyond its borders. That legacy still runs through modern Iran, visible in its identity and regional reach. Despite invasions by Greeks, Ottomans, Russians and the British, the country has maintained a strong sense of sovereignty and identity.

Iran is far more complex, both from the inside and the outside. Farsi remains the dominant language, but the country is home to a diverse mix of ethnic groups, including Azeris, Kurds, Baloch and Arabs, all of whom contribute to its cultural and political fabric.

As an energy giant, Iran sits on some of the world’s largest oil and gas reserves , holding roughly 10% of global oil and 15% of natural gas resources.

That alone makes it a major player in global energy markets. Despite heavy international sanctions, Iran continues to export large volumes of oil, primarily to China, demonstrating its resilience and continued relevance in global supply chains.

Its economy, valued at over $400 billion, blends state control with private enterprise, anchored by energy, manufacturing and a growing technology sector.

Modern Iran, however, cannot be understood without the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

It overthrew a Western-backed monarchy and replaced it with a theocratic system that still defines the country today.

And since the Revolution, Iran has pursued an independent and often confrontational foreign policy , positioning itself as a regional power and a counterweight to Western influence.

Its network of regional alliances, often referred to as the “Axis of Resistance”, extends its influence beyond its borders, reaching into Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Many of these connections relate to Iran's position as the dominant power of the Shia sect of Islam. In other cases, allies were drawn to Tehran by a mutual hatred of Israel.

The country is also enduring one of its worst environmental crises in decades, after more than five consecutive years of drought have pushed it toward what experts describe as “water bankruptcy.” Reservoirs are drying up, major cities are nearing “day zero” water shortages, and as many as 28 million people now face unreliable access to water. 

Even geography beyond its borders carries political weight.

The body of water to its south has been known in Iran and elsewhere for over 2,500 years as the “Persian Gulf.” Still, some Arab states refer to it as the “Arabian Gulf,” creating an ongoing geopolitical dispute.

For Iran, the name is not just symbolic; it is tied to history, identity and sovereignty.

At the edge of Iran’s southern coastline lies its most powerful strategic asset: the Strait of Hormuz.

This narrow waterway connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and carries more than 20% of the world’s oil supply.

It is one of the most critical chokepoints in global trade. Iran controls the northern side as well as a series of islands, and that gives it enormous leverage.

Over the decades, Tehran has repeatedly threatened to disrupt traffic through the strait during times of conflict.

And in 2026, those threats became reality, sending shocks through global energy markets.

At the same time, geopolitical tensions have sharply intensified. Following Israeli strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites in February 2026, the United States joined the conflict with direct attacks, triggering a broader regional confrontation that continued for days.

The situation has since escalated into a wider crisis affecting global energy routes. Iran has launched retaliatory missile and drone attacks, while disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil transit chokepoint, have sent shocks through global markets.

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Despite their very different historical paths, the two countries share an unexpected similarity: their geographic outlines appear remarkably alike when placed side by side on a map.

Yet beyond that coincidence, the stories of Yugoslavia and Iran reveal two very different political journeys shaped by revolution, empire, and regional power struggles.

Yugoslavia: A Balkan Federation born from war

Yugoslavia was created after World War I in 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, bringing together several South Slavic territories that had previously been part of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. In 1929, the state officially became known as Yugoslavia, meaning “Land of the South Slavs.”

After the Second World War, the country was transformed into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito, a communist revolutionary who led the anti-Nazi resistance movement during the war.

According to Britannica , Tito established a federation consisting of six republics, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro and Macedonia, along with two autonomous provinces within Serbia.

Unlike most Eastern European communist states, Yugoslavia pursued an independent path during the Cold War. Tito broke with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1948, allowing Yugoslavia to operate outside the Soviet bloc while still maintaining a socialist system.

The country later became a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, positioning itself between the Western and Soviet camps.

Yugoslavia covered roughly 255,800 square kilometres and stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Balkan interior, encompassing mountains, coastlines and fertile plains.

Iran: A state rooted in ancient civilisation

Iran’s history stretches back thousands of years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited political regions in the world. The country was historically known as Persia, home to powerful empires such as the Achaemenid Empire , founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BCE, which once ruled territory from the Mediterranean to Central Asia.

Modern Iran began to take shape during the 20th century under the Pahlavi dynasty, which pursued rapid modernisation and centralisation of the state. In 1979, however, the Iranian Revolution transformed the country into an Islamic republic following the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The revolution, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reshaped Iran’s political system and its relationship with Western powers.

Today, Iran is one of the largest countries in the Middle East, covering about 1.65 million square kilometres, according to the World Bank and CIA World Factbook. Its geography includes vast deserts, major mountain ranges such as the Zagros and Alborz, and strategic access to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes.

Although Yugoslavia and Iran share surprisingly similar outlines on a map, their physical geographies and political histories developed independently.

Yugoslavia’s borders were shaped largely by European treaties, ethnic distributions and post-war political arrangements, while Iran’s boundaries reflect centuries of imperial expansion and negotiations with neighbouring states.

Cartographers often point out that such similarities are simply the result of how natural features, coastlines and historical borders intersect over time.

The dissolution of Yugoslavia

While Iran remains a single nation-state, Yugoslavia no longer exists. After the death of Tito in 1980, economic instability and rising nationalism weakened the federation. The country ultimately collapsed during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, which followed the declarations of independence by several republics.

Between 1991 and 2006, Yugoslavia gradually fragmented into the independent states known today as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo.

These nations include China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Japan, the Philippines, and Egypt, an eclectic mix of economic powerhouses, emerging markets, and developing nations that collectively influence global decisions on trade, climate, security, and migration.

India and China alone account for over one-third of all humans, but their demographic paths are diverging rapidly. India has officially surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation, a milestone confirmed in the UN’s 2023 World Population Prospects.

India ’s median age is just 28, compared to China’s 39, giving it a much larger working-age population and potentially shifting economic influence in Asia.

Economists, including analysts at the International Monetary Fund, note that this workforce advantage could help India accelerate industrial growth if job creation and education keep pace.

Africa’s largest populations, Nigeria and Ethiopia, are expected to grow dramatically over the next three decades. Nigeria alone could surpass 375 million people by 2050 to become the world’s third most populous nation . The World Bank warns that rapid growth without matching investment in infrastructure, food systems, and education could strain resources, but it also points to Africa’s youth as an engine for innovation and entrepreneurship in a world facing labour shortages elsewhere.

On the other side of the spectrum are countries like Japan and Russia, where populations are shrinking. Japan’s fertility rate remains one of the lowest in the world, and its population is ageing faster than any other major economy.

Russia faces a similar demographic decline, further impacted by migration and the consequences of the war in Ukraine. Both countries illustrate the serious economic and social challenges tied to shrinking labour forces, from reduced productivity to increasing pressure on healthcare and pension systems.

These demographic realities are shaping today’s global news. At recent G20 , UN, and COP28 meetings, leaders acknowledged that population trends directly affect climate negotiations, energy planning, and economic cooperation.

New projections from the UN Population Division show that population growth will be heavily concentrated in Africa and parts of Asia, while Europe, the Americas and Oceania face slowdowns or long-term declines.

These shifts will redefine economies, migration patterns, and geopolitical power in the decades ahead.

According to the latest forecast , Africa is set to become home to 4.6 billion people by 2100, more than tripling its current population. Asia, which today holds nearly 60% of the world’s people, is projected to decline slightly to around 3.8 billion.

Meanwhile, Europe is expected to shrink to 592 million, and Latin America to 380 million, reflecting ageing populations and persistently low birth rates. North America will grow modestly to 710 million, driven largely by migration, while Oceania is expected to reach 73 million.

These numbers arrive at a time when many nations are already struggling with demographic challenges. In 2025, countries from Japan to Italy are dealing with shrinking workforces and rising dependency ratios, prompting governments to rethink labour policies, immigration rules, and social welfare systems.

The UN has warned repeatedly that demographic imbalance is becoming a defining global issue, one that will influence economic growth, energy demand, and even climate strategy.UN Policy Brief: https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/policy-briefs

Africa’s projected surge reflects both its young population and improvements in health outcomes. The continent currently has a median age of around 19, compared to 42 in Europe.

If managed well, this growth could provide a powerful economic engine, similar to the demographic boom that propelled China’s rise in the late 20th century. But the UN also cautions that without strong investments in education, infrastructure, and job creation, the rapid expansion could deepen inequality and strain public services.

Asia’s projected decline highlights a different challenge. China’s population has already started shrinking, and India is expected to stabilise mid-century before beginning its own decline.

Falling fertility rates, a trend seen across most of Asia , have raised concerns about future economic productivity. The Guardian recently reported that several Asian governments are offering financial incentives to encourage births, yet early results remain limited.

Meanwhile, Europe and parts of Latin America may face some of the world’s steepest demographic contractions. These regions are already experiencing school closures, labour shortages and increased reliance on migration to sustain their economies.

The IMF notes that countries with ageing populations could see slower GDP growth unless they adopt major policy reforms and attract foreign labour.

North America stands out for its relative demographic stability, largely due to immigration. The United States, in particular, continues to rely on migrants to expand its workforce, even amid political debates over border control. Current U.S. economic legislation and election-year discussions highlight how migration remains central to sustaining the country’s long-term population growth.

Oceania, while small in absolute numbers, is projected to continue growing but faces unique challenges tied to climate change. Rising sea levels threaten several Pacific Island nations, prompting discussions about potential displacement and migration corridors long before the end of the century.

Asia remains home to the vast majority, as more than 1.6 billion Muslims are in Indonesia , Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, forming the core. Indonesia alone has over 240 million Muslims, more than any other country in the world.

Africa follows with approximately 763 million Muslims, reflecting Islam’s long historical influence across North, West, and East Africa.

The above map breaks down the distribution clearly:

Many Muslim-majority countries have some of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing populations . This positions them at the centre of future global workforce trends and economic potential.

Nations like Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Egypt have median ages below 25, meaning they will significantly influence global markets and labour dynamics in the coming decades.

Additionally, Muslim-majority regions hold critical economic power. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region contain over 48% of the world’s proven oil reserves and nearly 40% of global natural gas reserves, giving these countries major leverage in international energy markets.

Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are now also among the world’s most active investors, shaping sectors from technology to real estate across Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The bold emblem, an AK-47 crossed with a hoe, set over an open book, often sparks curiosity, debate, and fascination. However, the story behind it is deeply tied to the country’s history, its struggle for liberation, and the turbulent security challenges that still shape the region today.

Mozambique adopted its flag in 1983, less than a decade after gaining independence from Portugal. The AK-47 symbolises the armed resistance led by FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique), which fought a 10-year guerrilla war using widely available Soviet-designed Kalashnikov rifles.

The rifle represents “defence and vigilance,” the hoe symbolises agriculture, and the book stands for education, together forming a vision of a nation that must protect itself while rebuilding.

Globally, the AK-47 is notorious for appearing in the flags and emblems of revolutionary movements, but in terms of national flags, Mozambique is the only country where the weapon remains officially included.

The Kalashnikov’s ubiquity in liberation struggles across Africa and Asia is well-documented, with the small-arms trade monitoring group Small Arms Survey noting that the AK-47 became a political and cultural icon precisely because of its durability, affordability, and availability.

While many Mozambicans see the rifle as a powerful reminder of hard-won freedom, others argue it sends the wrong message in an era where countries are under pressure to curb conflict and disarm militias.

Calls to remove the AK-47 have surfaced repeatedly, particularly from civil society groups who say the symbol conflicts with modern priorities such as peacebuilding and economic development.

However, attempts to redesign the flag have failed. In 2005, a parliamentary committee proposed a new design without the weapon. Yet the ruling party maintained that removing the rifle would erase an essential part of the nation’s identity and history.

The symbolism of arms on national symbols has gained renewed attention as Mozambique continues to battle insurgency in its northern Cabo Delgado region. The conflict, driven by extremist groups aligned with the Islamic State, has displaced over a million people since 2017.

In 2017, the Portuguese Parliament passed Law No. 11/2017, mandating at least one vegan option in all public-sector canteens, including schools, universities, hospitals, and prisons.

The law was heavily supported by the animal rights party PAN (People–Animals–Nature) and framed as a step toward inclusivity and sustainability.

This decision marked a rare moment when ethics, public health, and environmental concern converged into law. According to the European Commission , food-related emissions account for nearly 31% of global greenhouse gases, pushing governments to rethink how food is supplied in public spaces.

Furthermore, the World Health Organisation (WHO) notes that plant-based diets can significantly reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and obesity, aligning the law with long-term public health goals.

This year’s major UN climate reports have emphasised food-system reform as essential to meeting global climate targets. The UN Environment Programme stated that shifting toward plant-based diets could slash agricultural emissions and land use dramatically.

Meanwhile, the global conversation around veganism has expanded beyond animal ethics. In 2024–2025, rising food prices, supply chain shocks, and conflict-driven shortages have pushed public institutions to reevaluate their menu strategies .

However, while several countries are introducing plant-forward guidelines, none have legislated a mandatory vegan meal nationwide. The UK, Germany, and the Netherlands have debated similar policies but stopped short of legislation. Some cities, like New York City, have introduced plant-based hospital meals by default, but not through national law.

From the North Atlantic’s isolation to Central Europe’s dense multilingual corridors, the Germanic languages continue to evolve in ways that mirror Europe’s ongoing transformations.

The languages are traditionally divided into two major branches: North Germanic, which is spoken largely in Scandinavia , and West Germanic, which includes English, German, Dutch, Frisian, and Scots.

On the map above, Icelandic and Faroese dominate the North Atlantic fringes, Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish sweep across Scandinavia, and German, Dutch, Frisian, Scots, and English cover much of Western and Central Europe.

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica , the Germanic language family is descended from a common Proto-Germanic ancestor emerging around the mid–1st millennium BCE.

Additionally, the world’s most widely spoken Germanic language, English, owes its global dominance to centuries of colonisation and international trade . There are over 1.4 billion English learners and speakers globally, making it a defining linguistic force in diplomacy, science, and technology.

Meanwhile, German remains the most widely spoken native language within the European Union, a fact with cultural and political implications amid ongoing debates over EU unity and economic leadership.

The North Germanic languages, though spoken by smaller populations, have some of the highest literacy rates and strongest preservation efforts in the world. Icelandic, for instance, deliberately resists borrowing from other languages, implementing unique Icelandic terms for modern concepts.

The Nile, which stretches an extraordinary 6,650 km, remains not only the longest river in Africa but one of the longest on Earth. It threads through 11 countries, from Burundi and Uganda to Sudan and Egypt, forming the backbone of agriculture and life along its banks.

Nearly 300 million people depend directly on the Nile Basin for survival.

Flowing west to east, the Niger River, at 4,200 km, is the lifeline of West Africa, curving through Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria before emptying into the Gulf of Guinea.

It supports millions of farmers and fishers and anchors some of the region’s largest urban centres. The Niger Basin Authority notes that the river sustains over 160 million people in nine countries.

In Central Africa, the Congo River runs 4,700 km, carving through one of the world’s largest rainforest ecosystems. It carries more water than any river in Africa and is second only to the Amazon globally.

The Congo Basin is home to over 80 million people and provides critical carbon storage for the planet, a fact repeatedly emphasised in global climate discussions.

To the south, the Zambezi River, which spans 2,600 km, crosses Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is the river behind Victoria Falls and fuels major hydroelectric projects such as the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, which power much of southern Africa.

Despite the continent's numerous water resources, the Horn of Africa continues to experience climate-driven droughts alternating with destructive floods, which amplify tensions over Nile water rights.

Hydropolitics, the politics of water, is increasingly shaping diplomatic relations. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), for instance, remains a focal point of negotiation between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

A new global map, shared by The World in Maps, puts that playful divide into perspective in the most striking way yet.

Spread across the continents, the map paints the world in three simple colours. Deep red dominates as a reminder that the vast majority of countries, from South America to Europe to Africa, embrace “football” as the only appropriate name for the game.

Then there are the pockets of teal of the United States, Canada, Australia and a few others, proudly holding on to “soccer.” And sprinkled across Asia are patches of yellow, representing countries where different terms blend or shift depending on region or generation.

The term "soccer "actually originated in England in the late 1800s, an abbreviated form of “association football,” which was shortened to “assoc” and then “soccer.” The word stuck overseas long after the British abandoned it.

Today, the global governing body FIFA consistently refers to “football,” reinforcing its place as the sport’s international identity.

Yet even with history and institutions behind it, language has always belonged to people first — and in North America , “soccer” has grown into its own cultural marker. The term helped distinguish the sport from American football, and over time, it became part of the rhythm of everyday conversation.

Worldwide, the sport remains unmatched. FIFA estimates that over 5 billion people engaged with the 2022 World Cup, half the planet, united for a few weeks by goals, heartbreak, and magic.

The release of this map feels especially timely as nations prepare for a packed football calendar. The world is looking forward to the 2026 World Cup, which will be shared by three countries — the U.S., Mexico and Canada — all with distinct football cultures, different histories, and even different names for the same sport.

From Breton to Walloon in southern Belgium, from the fading echoes of Picard in the north to the bold resilience of Occitan in the south, these linguistic zones tell a story far older than either republic.

According to UNESCO , several languages are classified as “severely endangered” or “definitely endangered,” including Breton, Alsatian, Provençal and Picard, reflecting a decline in use among younger generations.

For France, this linguistic diversity has long been a delicate topic. The country’s strict approach to linguistic unity dates back to the 19th century, when the government promoted French as the sole national language, at times forcefully.

Today, regional languages remain legally recognised as cultural heritage but not as official languages of education or public administration. A 2021 attempt to expand regional-language immersion schools triggered a national debate, eventually reaching France’s Constitutional Council, which struck down parts of the reform.

Belgium, however, offers a contrasting picture. There, language defines political organisation itself as Dutch (Flemish), French, and German, and each shapes the borders of the country’s federal regions.

Walloon and Picard, although less dominant than French today, continue to carry cultural influence in Wallonia. The Belgian government’s long-standing language policies and protections aim to keep multilingualism at the heart of national identity.

UNESCO’s report on AI and endangered languages argues that technological tools may play a key role in revitalising traditions once feared lost.

Meanwhile, political debates in France over decentralisation, rural identity, and cultural autonomy have intensified in the run-up to next year’s European elections. Several regional groups argue that cultural heritage, including language, should be part of broader European policies on diversity.

There are 12 sovereign states in South America, each with a distinctive flag that carries culture, history and identity.

Some share colour palettes, for example, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador all draw on yellow-blue-red stripes linked to the independence era of Simón Bolívar. Others, like Brazil’s green-diamond-blue-circle design, embody unique national motifs.

But these flags aren’t just aesthetic; they signal something deeper about where the region stands and where it could go.

Economically, the region is facing slower growth amid mounting global headwinds. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects roughly 2.0 % growth for 2025 for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the wider region is wrestling with rising debt, tariffs, and volatility.

At the same time, South America is increasingly thrust into the global spotlight for other reasons: energy, critical minerals, climate, and geopolitics. A recent news feature reported that major oil producers are looking to Brazil, Guyana and Argentina to drive more than 80 % of global non-OPEC oil-production growth over the next five years, a significant pivot for the continent.

And in the lithium-rich salt flats of Bolivia, once hailed as the “Dubai of South America ” for battery-metal prospects, disappointed locals, Indigenous communities, and environmental groups are pushing back as promise turns into frustration.

Meanwhile, in regional diplomacy, the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) remains an evolving bloc with economic, political and trade ambitions.

Saladin, born in Tikrit in 1137, rose to prominence as the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. After becoming vizier in Egypt, he replaced the Fatimid Caliphate and established a Sunni-led state centred in Cairo, which remained his capital.

Britannica notes that by the late 12th century, Saladin controlled Egypt, Syria, Yemen, the Hejaz, and parts of North Africa, creating the most unified political entity the region had seen in generations.

From Cairo , the heart of his administration, the Ayyubid state extended north toward Damascus , Jerusalem , and Aleppo , and eastward into Yemen and the Hejaz. These regions were not just territories; they were economic and spiritual centres that gave Saladin both strength and legitimacy.

After taking control of Egypt , Saladin deliberately moved to claim Damascus because it was seen as the symbolic seat of Syrian power.

Of course, Saladin is best known internationally for recapturing Jerusalem in 1187 after the Battle of Hattin. That single event reshaped the Crusades and positioned him, in both Muslim and Western sources, as a figure of military brilliance and political restraint.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art highlights that even chroniclers on the opposing side described him as generous, diplomatic and unusually humane for a wartime leader.

Many regions central to Saladin’s empire, Syria, Yemen, Palestine, and Egypt, remain at the core of today’s global discussions about conflict, humanitarian crises and foreign intervention.

For instance, Serbia is believed to have lost between 16% and 27.8% of its population during the war, placing it among the hardest-hit nations in proportional terms.

Meanwhile, Western European nations such as France lost around 4.3% to 4.4% of their populations.

These figures help explain why social and political life across Europe and beyond was permanently transformed: a generation of young men lost, entire communities disrupted, and the demographic shock rippling into post-war unrest and reconstruction.

For smaller states or those deeply entangled in fighting, the losses were especially devastating.

In today’s global context, the map also resonates with how we understand modern conflict and its ripple effects. As the world watches ongoing conflicts, whether in parts of Africa, Eurasia or the Middle East , the notion that war doesn’t just kill those who fight but also destabilises societies remains painfully relevant.

Furthermore, remembrance efforts continue to highlight the war’s legacy. In northern France, for example, dozens of remains of WWI soldiers are still being discovered each year, an enduring testament to how the conflict ’s footprint remains in the landscape.

The remains of a World War I soldier unearthed during construction work in France were laid to rest on Wednesday, June 12, 2025. Serjeant Henry Ashton from Derbyshire, who lost his life at the age of 44 in 1917 during an operation near Lens, received a dignified burial more than a century after his passing.

"It has been a privilege to identify Sjt Ashton, and to be able to organise this burial service for him. When you consider the half a million men still missing from the First and Second World Wars, every one we can identify feels like an achievement," Alexia Clark, the UK's Ministry of Defence's War Detective, said.

According to Britannica , party systems are broadly categorised as two-party, multiparty, or single-party, depending not only on the number of parties but also on how effectively they compete for control and share power.

In a two-party system, such as in the United States, two main political parties dominate elections and governance, often marginalising smaller players.

In contrast, multi-party systems, like those in much of Europe, allow for several influential parties to form coalition governments, creating a more flexible yet sometimes unstable political environment.

Meanwhile, dominant-party systems, seen in places such as Singapore and South Africa , feature competitive elections where one party nonetheless maintains long-term control, often blurring the line between democracy and monopoly.

A 2025 Pew Research Centre survey across 24 countries revealed that in 15 of them, no political party received a positive rating from a majority of citizens, a stark indicator of widespread political fatigue and disillusionment with established systems.

Analysts suggest that 2025 may mark a new wave of political disruption as voter frustration, digital activism, and populist movements challenge long-standing institutions.

These shifts are already visible in real-world events. In Portugal, the rise of the right-wing populist party Chega broke the country’s half-century pattern of two-party politics, a dramatic realignment that many view as symbolic of a broader European trend.

Across the world, Singapore continues to embody the stability and control of a dominant-party system as the People’s Action Party (PAP) has extended its unbroken rule since 1959.

For centuries, the Dutch have reclaimed land from the sea using polders (enclosed tracts of drained land) and a complex network of dikes, canals, and pumping stations. The country’s lowest point, the Zuidplaspolder, sits about 6.76 meters below sea level.

Today, roughly 9 million people, more than half the population, live in areas that would flood without active water management.

The entire system is maintained by the “Delta Works,” a world-renowned flood defence network built after the devastating 1953 North Sea Flood that killed more than 1,800 people.

According to the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute ( KNMI ), sea levels along the Dutch coast are rising about 3 to 4 millimetres per year, roughly double the global average.

Land subsidence adds to the threat as parts of the west are sinking as peat soils dry and compact. The government ’s Delta Programme 2025 warns that even a 1-meter sea-level rise could overwhelm existing defences by 2100, forcing massive infrastructure upgrades and potentially displacing thousands of residents.

Utrecht University researchers caution that a rise of 2 to 5 metres, which could occur in worst-case global warming scenarios, would make large parts of the Netherlands “unlivable” without dramatic adaptation.

The Netherlands’ situation is not isolated. From Venice to Bangladesh, low-lying regions face similar risks from sea-level rise and coastal flooding. Yet few countries have done as much as the Dutch to prepare.

Still, climate activists warn that even Dutch innovation has limits. Last week, artists installed red figures in Amsterdam’s canals to protest inaction on the climate crisis ahead of COP30 in Brazil, noting that “one-third of the Netherlands already lies below sea level.”