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In 2025, Singapore has reclaimed its crown as the world’s most powerful passport with visa-free access to an extraordinary 195 of the 227 global destinations included in the list. As reliable as fireworks at midnight to ring in January 1st, the new year also brings with it the annual results of the Henley Passport Index....

Swiss glaciers, once a symbol of the Alps' enduring beauty, are rapidly vanishing, with their volume shrinking by 10% between 2022 and 2023 alone. A September 2023 study by the Swiss Academy of Sciences paints a bleak picture of the ongoing glacial retreat, a process that is accelerating far faster than many anticipated. In fact, experts claim...

An interim report by United Nations experts, released Wednesday, has outlined how the M23 rebel group, with alleged support from neighboring Rwanda, has seized towns in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and established parallel governance structures to control key mines and trade routes since April. The ongoing violence in eastern Congo persists despite...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday reassured the public that the risk of avian influenza, or bird flu, remains low, despite the first U.S. death from the H5N1 virus in Louisiana. WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said the virus is "not circulating in humans but jumping into humans" through exposure to poultry or...

Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye visited several mining sites in the country's central and eastern regions on Saturday, calling for reforms in the sector and encouraging the youth to engage in productive work. Ndayishimiye began his visit at the Nyabikere cassiterite mining site in Karusi Province, operated by the Shishikara Light Cooperative. During the visit,...

The government of Burundi has granted a mining permit for cassiterite, Colombo-tantalite, and associated minerals in the Murehe area of Busoni Commune, Kirundo Province, to SOTREVO Mining Company Limited, following an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday, December 23, 2024. The meeting, chaired by President Evariste Ndayishimiye, focused on a single...

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Félix Tshisekedi visited Burundi on Sunday in what the Burundi State House described as a "friendly visit" aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two nations. “This marks a new impetus for multi-sectoral cooperation within both bilateral and regional frameworks,” the State House said in a post on X,...

Former Burundi Vice President Gervais Rufyikiri has returned to the country after nearly nine years in exile. Rufyikiri fled Burundi in 2015 amid the political crisis triggered by then-President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a controversial third term in office. At the time, Rufyikiri, who was serving as second vice president, opposed Nkurunziza’s bid and fled the...

Sheikh Nayabagabo Salum was formally invested as the new Mufti (Leader) of the Islamic Community of Burundi (COMIBU) in a ceremony at the Ingoma Stadium in Gitega. Chaired by Sheikh Gihete Youssuf, the event was a solemn occasion marked by mutual pledges of support and commitments from both the newly appointed Mufti and the Islamic community.

Al Tompkins is one of America’s most requested journalism and multi-media instructors. Having made 50 years as a journalist, author and was The Poynter Institute's senior faculty for broadcasting and online. Tompkins is the recipient of some of journalism’s highest awards including The National Emmy, the Japan Prize, The American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel, The Peabody, 7 National...