Africa

The Socceroos victory over Iraq secures huge revenue streams as well as helping the game's credibilityIt was only a little over two weeks ago when qualification for the World Cup looked problematic for Australia. For Asia, the top two teams in each group automatically qualify. Australia sat equal third with Oman on six points, one point behind second-placed Jordan and seven points behind its greatest Asian rival, Japan. Although Australia and Iraq had a game in hand, such was the confidence level that Football Federation Australia CEO, David Gallop, went on the offensive by declaring that World Cup qualification was no longer a pre-requisite for the game's success.Gallop's point wasn't without merit – many students of the game in Australia have long argued that sustainability would depend on the success of the domestic league, not World Cup qualification. But one wonders whether Gallop's position was more about readying fans for potential non-qualification than it was about long-term structural changes in the game.And here's why. This is what qualification means for Australia.1) Ker-ching!That's the sound of the cash register as Gallop's finance department works on their 'best option' financial scenario for the next four years. The A-League may be the engine room of growth, but World Cup participation gives a turbo-boost. In 2010, Fifa gave more than $12m to each of the 32 countries who qualified for the South Africa World Cup. Team transport and accommodation costs are met separately by Fifa, and if a team progresses beyond the first round, they get more. FFA can expect a windfall from Fifa of at least $14 million for 2014; the world governing body is extraordinarily wealthy and tends to build-in increases each tournament. Many of FFA's commercial agreements – for example, the naming rights sponsor for the Socceroos, Qantas – have substantial bonuses attached to qualification and each time Australia make it, more sponsors circle around wanting to be part of the game.Of course, the players get their fair share also. A collective bargaining agreement signed in January 2011 will see the 23-man squad in Brazil receive a share in a minimum of $5m. In South Africa, the players received $200,000 each.2) The battle for hearts and mindsOver the years, professional football in Australia has struggled for financial sustainability because it has struggled in the battle for 'hearts and minds'. There are many reasons why but the one that underpins everything, including the frustration of supporters of the game, is that football is not part of the mainstream national sporting culture, a culture that sees sport as an intrinsic part of the Australian character. Sport has long played an important social and cultural role in Australia, but when it comes to football, it has historically related to communities which have just 'arrived'. Nowhere is this more apparent than in how football is portrayed by some sections of the Australian media.However, every time Australia make the World Cup, there is a tectonic shift in culture and attitude. People who wouldn't normally give 'soccer' a second thought realise there's a giant global party going on involving an Australian team and they want to be part of it. By the time the 2018 World Cup in Russia takes place, this cumulative impact, together with the shifting demographics of the Australian population, will mean that football will cement its cultural standing in Australia. That is not to say the 'local' code of Aussie Rules or the other imported English code of rugby league will be supplanted in their respective geographical markets, but football will be a clear second.3) Football credibilityCrucial to the code's credibility in Fifa and international eyes will be how Australia perform at the World Cup. If the Socceroos are not competitive, the impact of making it will be diluted at home and not add to Australia's standing and potential influence within the international football community.Last time ar

Last week we released Part 1 of our two-part article series on which 10 energy stocks we liked best. Below are our next five picks. 1. Anadarko Petroleum (APC) Anadarko Petroleum is a large, United States-based crude oil and natural gas exploration and production company. The firm markets, processes, produces, develops, and explores for crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Most of Anadarko's revenues come from onshore United States as well as deep-water operations in Algeria and the Gulf of Mexico. Other deep-water operations include operations along both coasts of Africa, Brazil, China, Indonesia, and New Zealand.Proved oil and gas reserves were 2,560 million barrels of oil equivalent BOE in 2012 with a reserve mix of 46% liquids and 54% natural gas. Last year, total production increased 10% and we expect this number to increase going forward as Anadarko plans to spend about $5.5 billion on

Google says you can pull an Internet signal from 12 miles in the sky, anywhere in the world.Baloney? No, balloony.The company is testing the idea of putting a network of helium balloons in the sky to provide Internet service to far-flung regions that largely lack it, including parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, The Associated Press says.Read 6 remaining paragraphs on MoneyTalksNews.com.

It's no strange thing for a designer's work to inspire a music video, but until Prabal Gurung said he took cues for ICB's Resort 2014 collection from Solange Knowles's video for her single "Losing You," we'd rarely heard of it happening the other way around. The video, which Knowles shot in the streets of Cape Town, South Africa, gave Gurung a starting point for the colors and patterns in this collection - one of which is based on the wallpaper of one of the buildings in the video. But while the clothes are vibrant, they're also fairly grounded. Gurung wanted the clothes to make sense for November, when Resort collections end up in stores, so while there are healthy shots of bright red, emerald green, and sapphire, there's also a lot of black. The shapes, while edgy, are wearable and fun - like a striped bomber jacket with generous sleeves and a green and blue dress with an asymmetrical skirt. Photo courtesy of ICB

by Justin Stoler, John R. Weeks, Richard Appiah Otoo Rapid population growth in developing cities often outpaces improvements to drinking water supplies, and sub-Saharan Africa as a region has the highest percentage of urban population without piped water access, a figure that continues to grow. Accra, Ghana, implements a rationing system to distribute limited piped water resources within the city, and privately-vended sachet water–sealed single-use plastic sleeves–has filled an important gap in urban drinking water security. This study utilizes household survey data from 2,814 Ghanaian women to analyze the sociodemographic characteristics of those who resort to sachet water as their primary drinking water source. In multilevel analysis, sachet use is statistically significantly associated with lower overall self-reported health, younger age, and living in a lower-class enumeration area. Sachet use is marginally associated with more days of neighborhood water rationing, and significantly associated with the proportion of vegetated land cover. Cross-level interactions between rationing and proxies for poverty are not associated with sachet consumption after adjusting for individual-level sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health, and environmental factors. These findings are generally consistent with two other recent analyses of sachet water in Accra and may indicate a recent transition of sachet consumption from higher to lower socioeconomic classes. Overall, the allure of sachet water displays substantial heterogeneity in Accra and will be an important consideration in planning for future drinking water demand throughout West Africa.

I suppose this was inevitable:Critics are outraged at the price tag of President Barack Obama's trip to Africa this month, which is slated to cost as much as $100 million in the midst of sequester-related budget cuts.More...

Federal authorities have accused two New York men of assembling a portable X-ray weapon that they intended to use to secretly sicken opponents of Israel.

President Barack Obama has offered a new twist to John F Kennedy's historic 1963 call for liberty - "Ich bin ein Berliner".

President Jacob Zuma says he knows nothing about assets and cash totalling almost R10bn that was stashed in the country by ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Gary Kirsten says the Proteas choked in their Champions Trophy semi-final against England, faltering in a crunch match yet again.