Author: Malebogo Putu
With 1.2 billion young people in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) expected to reach working age by 2035, the World Bank has placed job creation at the center of its latest Global Economic Prospects report, warning that current growth rates are insufficient to meet this historic challenge. The report, released Tuesday, argues that without a significant acceleration in economic dynamism, many EMDEs will struggle to create enough productive employment, particularly as economies undergo rapid structural changes driven by technology and shifting trade patterns. This “jobs challenge” is most acute in the very regions where the youth population is growing…
The global trading system is navigating its most turbulent period since the Great Depression, with U.S. tariffs reaching their highest level in nearly a century, according to the World Bank’s new Global Economic Prospects report. While the global economy has so far shown surprising resilience, the report warns that the full weight of these trade barriers is yet to be felt. The analysis details how the average effective U.S. tariff rate surged to approximately 17 percent by late 2025. This followed a period of intense policy uncertainty, including the reinstatement of broad reciprocal tariffs and additional country and sector specific…
The post pandemic economic recovery, while remarkably strong in historical terms, has been profoundly uneven, creating a widening chasm between the fortunes of advanced economies and a significant portion of the developing world, the World Bank warned in its January 2026 report. The report’s analysis reveals that while global GDP per capita is 10 percent higher than on the eve of the pandemic, the strongest recovery from a global recession in over 60 years, this figure is skewed by the performance of wealthier nations. Nearly all advanced economies are now richer than they were in 2019, but a quarter of…
The global economy has proven surprisingly resilient in the face of escalating trade tensions and policy uncertainty over the past year, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report. However, this strength is expected to fade, with global growth projected to edge down to 2.6 percent in 2026 as the effects of tariffs and fading support from temporary factors weigh on activity. The report, released Tuesday, credits the resilience to several factors, including businesses stockpiling goods ahead of tariff implementations, a surge in artificial intelligence related investment, and the adaptability of supply chains. This stronger than expected performance…
South Africa’s battle against unsolicited spam and scam calls has intensified, with Truecaller data revealing a sharp 24.3% year on year increase in identified spam calls in January 2026, rising from 2.08 billion in January 2025 to 2.58 billion. The surge highlights a persistent national crisis, even as regulatory enforcement under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) gains momentum. Truecaller’s insights, drawn from anonymized and aggregated user data extrapolated to national scale using a consistent global methodology, show blocked calls rose 19.5% (from 864 million to 1.03 billion), answered spam calls increased 6.9% (from 208 million to 222 million),…
Police in the Free State province removed significant quantities of illicit drugs from circulation over the past 24 hours through targeted patrols and community intelligence, resulting in the arrests of three men on charges of possession and dealing. In a media statement, Sergeant Mahlomola Kareli of the South African Police Service said members of the Welkom Public Order Policing (POP) Platoon 1 acted on tip offs and conducted operations in several areas. On Sunday, February 15, 2026, during crime combating patrols in Sandania, officers were approached by a concerned community member reporting drug dealing on a street corner. They intercepted…
In a ruling that legal experts are calling one of the most significant defenses of protest rights in modern British history, the High Court on Friday declared the UK government’s decision to ban the pro Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action under terrorism legislation unlawful and disproportionate. The judgment, delivered by a panel of three senior judges including the President of the King’s Bench Division, Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Jonathan Swift and Mrs Justice Karen Steyn, quashes the proscription order, but only for now. The ban remains temporarily in force pending a further hearing on February 20 to determine remedies…
The 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) convened here on Friday against a backdrop of profound geopolitical instability, with the transatlantic alliance appearing more fragile than at any point since its inception as a new world order struggles to be born. As delegates from more than 120 nations gathered at the Bayerischer Hof hotel for the three-day forum, a series of concurrent crises underscored the conference’s stark annual report title, “Under Destruction.” The gathering, once a reliable platform for Western solidarity, has instead become the stage for an unfolding drama of diplomatic realignment, economic confrontation, and questions over whether the United…
The death of Wiandre Pretorius, a man implicated in testimony before South Africa’s Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into police corruption, has intensified concerns over witness safety and violence linked to the country’s troubled law-enforcement system. Pretorius died by apparent suicide on Saturday at a petrol station in Brakpan, east of Johannesburg, according to South African police and broadcaster eNCA. His death came just days after he survived a targeted shooting outside his home in Boksburg, in Gauteng Province, where gunmen fired at least 16 shots into his vehicle. Police said Pretorius was in the presence of his partner, Juan-Mare Eksteen,…
A woman was arrested in South Africa’s Limpopo province after allegedly stabbing a co-worker multiple times inside a retail store in what police described as a premeditated attack. Police said the 39-year-old suspect was apprehended at the scene in the Namakgale policing area on Thursday morning and is facing a charge of attempted murder. The 40-year-old victim was taken to hospital with multiple stab wounds. According to a statement from the South African Police Service, the victim was on her way to work when a colleague phoned to inform her that a woman was looking for her at the store.…