Latest World Bank News

In diesel-dependent East Timor, renewable energy transition remains slow despite government pledges

Sep. 10, 2024 00:34 AM EDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — East Timor is at an energy development crossroads. While the small Southeast Asian nation — and one of the world's youngest countries — has made international and domestic pledges to reduce its carbon footprint through untapped solar and other...

East Timor looks to the pope's visit as a reward after 20 years of fragile stability

Sep. 08, 2024 04:15 AM EDT

DILI, East Timor (AP) — East Timor is in a festive mood as it prepares for the arrival of Pope Francis on his first trip to the deeply Catholic country, hard on the heels of the 25th anniversary of the referendum on independence from Indonesia. Francis is due to arrive Monday in...

The trash in Mali's capital is piling up. Donkey carts are coming to help

Aug. 18, 2024 00:13 AM EDT

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — When handling the garbage of a city of over 3 million people and equipped with little more than a face mask and gloves, it helps to have a sense of humor. Yacouba Diallo decided to name the two donkeys that pull his cart after his cousins, Keita and Kanté. ...

Former Mozambique finance minister on trial in US over 'tuna bond' scandal that spurred debt crisis

Jul. 17, 2024 17:14 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The “ tuna bond ” scandal that shook Mozambique's economy is washing into a U.S. court, where a former Mozambican finance minister is being tried on charges that he took bribes to commit his country — secretly — to huge loans that prosecutors say got looted. ...

Kenya's urban population is growing. The need for affordable housing is, too

Jun. 30, 2024 00:16 AM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In the heart of the crowded Kibera neighborhood in Kenya's capital, Jacinter Awino shares a small tin house with her husband and four children. She envies those who have escaped such makeshift homes to more permanent dwellings under the government’s affordable housing...