Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

FOOTBALL’S FUTURE: THE OTHER WORLD CUP

FOOTBALL’S FUTURE: THE OTHER WORLD CUP
Make us preferred on Google

In your Wednesday edition, Alex Kliment wrote about the World Cup and its political significance. That’s not the whole story. On the outskirts of London last week, the non-profit Confederation of Independent Football Associations and British bookmaker Paddy Power sponsored an alternative football eventfor territories and peoples whose sovereignty is not internationally recognized. The first version of this competition (2014) appeared in Sweden and the second (2016) in Abkhazia, a region that declared independence from Georgia in 1999.


Here we see the sporting rivalries of tomorrow: Iraqi Kurdistan vs Tibet, the Serbs of Hungary vs the Koreans of Japan, Greenland vs. Matabeleland, Abkhazia vs Panjab (the 2016 final), Karpatalya, a Hungarian-speaking minority in Western Ukraine, vs. Northern Cyprus (this year’s final), and the Ukrainian separatists of Donetsk vs the American and Canadian separatists of Cascadia.

The passion and fun are real, and the controversy is minimal. For now.

More For You

rotesters burn tyres and block the road in protest against rising fuel prices on the highway between Aleppo and Turkey, Syria.

rotesters burn tyres and block the road in protest against rising fuel prices on the highway between Aleppo and Turkey, Syria, September 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
Fuel price protests rock Syria Protests erupted across several regions of the country after the government on Sunday announced increases of up to 40% for diesel and 30% for gasoline. In Syria, government-related energy companies price and distribute fuels. The price hike was a response to soaring oil prices caused by the war in Iran, as well as a [...]
Illustration of the Polymarket website and logo. Polymarket is an online betting platform where users can bet on various global events, including political outcomes. Often a source of controversy, the site is banned in France, but this does not prevent a dozen bets from being placed on French current affairs.

Illustration of the Polymarket website and logo. Polymarket is an online betting platform where users can bet on various global events, including political outcomes. Often a source of controversy, the site is banned in France, but this does not prevent a dozen bets from being placed on French current affairs. Paris, France on February 5, 2026.

Photo by Christopher Charpaud/ABACAPRESS.COM.
Want to know who will win the US midterms? Forget the polls – and follow the money.That’s the idea behind political prediction markets. Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi allow people to speculate on political outcomes, turning everything from control of Congress to individual races into tradeable events. And many of these bets are big [...]
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, speaks during the Anthropic Builder Summit.

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, speaks during the Anthropic Builder Summit in Bengaluru, India, February 16, 2026.

REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh
The “prisoner's dilemma” with AI regulationIn recent days, the bosses of the top US AI companies have supported more stringent regulation of the industry. Their statements came after a viral post from an Anthropic employee who said he quit over fears that AI could “kill us all.” A strong majority of US voters want more regulation, but the [...]
Brazilian Supreme Court scandal spills into presidential race
Natalie Johnson
Lula’s lead over Bolsonaro has narrowed in recent days following a Brazilian Supreme Court scandal. Earlier this month, a police report disclosed alleged links between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and Daniel Vorcaro, the suspected ringleader of a multibillion-dollar bank fraud. Though he hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in the case, the crisis [...]