In an interview in 2013 with the South Morning China Post, Zaw Zaw was reported as saying that his only crime was “in this poor country, I have become rich”. An inscription on the Fifa club World Cup trophy read “inspired by FIFA president Gianni Infantino”. “These developments certainly suggest that this peace prize award process is being reverse-engineered to ensure the favoured result of President Infantino,” he said. “The only year Fifa makes money is in a men’s World Cup year,” McGeehan said. “So every men’s World Cup year, you need to squeeze as much money as possible out of your host.

Hardline migration policies adopted by governments across the globe have been a boon for people smugglers, fuelling demand and allowing them to raise their prices, according to a report. More than 50,000 of them said they had used smugglers, with many of them linking their decision to the absence of accessible opportunities for legal migration. 14:07 How Europe’s immigration crackdown is fuelling smuggling gangs – videoDespite widespread assertions that smugglers are luring people into irregular migration, just 6% of the migrants surveyed said smugglers had influenced their decision. The data made it clear that smugglers were not the cause of irregular migration, said Forin. In Europe, campaigners have long warned that policymakers are pushing people towards smugglers by restricting legal migration pathways such as family reunification.

The EU is considering legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China to insulate Europe from future hostile acts, the industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, says. Underlining the threats posed by over dependency on China, Séjourné said if industry did not respond, the commission reserved the right to introduce legislation. “We would force European companies legally to diversify their sources of supply. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. after newsletter promotionOf that, “17,000 to 18,000” tonnes come from China, 1,000 are produced in the EU with the remainder from other countries.

Germany will host the 2029 Women’s European Championship after receiving the vast majority of the votes from Uefa’s executive committee. The decision came in the first round of voting, with 15 of the 17 votes going to Germany. Germany are record eight-time European champions and the 2029 tournament will come five years after the nation hosted the men’s competition. Photograph: Sven Beyrich/SPP/Shutterstock“We are proud and delighted to be hosting Uefa Women’s Euro 2029,” the DFB president, Bernd Neuendorf, said. Following the wonderful Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland, we want to set new standards.

View image in fullscreen The decision to ‘let go’ of the reins on AI is likely to come between 2027 and 2030, Kaplan says. A Harvard Business Review study in September said AI “workslop” – substandard AI enabled-work that humans have to fix – was reducing productivity. In September, Anthropic revealed its cutting-edge AI, Claude Sonnet 4.5, a model for computer coding that can build AI agents and autonomously use computers. Kaplan said allowing AIs to train the next AIs was “an extremely high-stakes decision to make”. View image in fullscreen Some of the biggest gains have been in using AIs to write computer code.

The leaders of France and Germany have a “strong willingness” to build a new fighter jet together despite bitter internal rivalries, according to the chief executive of engine manufacturer Safran. A row over who should lead between French aerospace company Dassault and the German unit of Airbus has threatened to break apart the countries’ efforts to make a next-generation fighter jet. However, many analysts and industry leaders – including Airbus’s chief executive – have openly mused about whether separate European projects should duplicate efforts to build the planes. The chief executive’s comments came during a visit to lobby UK government ministers and express willingness to invest in Britain. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter.

To hear it is to feel in your skull the brute force involved in the the development of AI technology. Even a relatively modest Google AI factory planned in Essex is expected to emit the equivalent carbon footprint of 500 short-haul flights a week. Silicon Valley has always run on youth, and if experience is needed more can be found in the highest ranks of the AI companies. When he joined OpenAI, AGI was “a very abstract, mythical concept – almost like a rallying cry for me”, he said. But Trump shows no signs of binding the AI companies’ with red tape and is piling pressure on the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, to follow suit.

When does the World Cup draw take place? The World Cup draw will start at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center at 12pm local time on Friday 5 December (5pm GMT/4am Saturday AEST). The 12 groups for the World Cup will then be formed by one team from each pot (full pots listed later). Sure, speculation is all we’ve got until the actual World Cup kicks off next year. The one who said immigrants from Haiti – who just qualified for the World Cup in heroic fashion – eat pet dogs?

Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel as they raced to help victims of devastating flooding that has killed more than 1,100 people across four countries in Asia. Millions of people have been affected by a combination of tropical cyclones and heavy monsoon rains in Sri Lanka, parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, Thailand and Malaysia in recent days. In Indonesia, at least 604 people have been killed and 464 remain missing, according to the national disaster agency. The death toll stands at 366 in Sri Lanka, with 366 missing, and 176 dead in Thailand. Three deaths have been reported in Malaysia

The world’s biggest car-sharing company, Zipcar, has said it will close its UK operation, removing access to its shared fleet across London at the end of this year. The UK operating company had 71 staff last year, according to its latest accounts. Zipcar was thought to run nearly 3,000 vehicles, including cars and vans – the majority of the 5,300 shared vehicles in the UK. “We’ve been warning for a while about the viability of car clubs in London,” said Dilks. However, the proposed UK closure would come after Zipcar (UK) reported an £11.7m loss for 2024.

Switzerland’s federal prosecutor has filed charges against the failed bank Credit Suisse and its new owner, UBS, over the long-running “tuna bonds” loan scandal that crashed Mozambique’s economy nearly a decade ago. The Swiss attorney general said on Monday that it had brought money-laundering charges against an unnamed employee of Credit Suisse, but was also taking action against the lender and its rival-turned-owner UBS. Credit Suisse had already settled the case with US and UK regulators in 2021, having paid $275m to American watchdogs and £147m to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority. The Swiss attorney general’s office accused Credit Suisse and its owner of “not taking all the required and reasonable organisational measures in the relevant period in 2016 to prevent the money laundering that was allegedly committed”. Credit Suisse had for years been mired in scandals, but panic over its future grew after its largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, ruled out any extra funding for the Swiss lender despite the growing turmoil.

Trump’s eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, formally the custodians of the family business, are conducting a global dealmaking blitz. But the Trumps’ business interests are raising questions about convictions that have been quashed, sensitive technologies transferred, tariffs eased, alliances forged. Since last year, the Trumps’ business in the region has accelerated. Four months into Trump’s second term, World Liberty announced that its USD1 digital currency had been selected for a gigantic transaction. The $2bn jump in the reserves from this one deal could end up making the Trumps’ company tens of millions annually.

It may, alarmingly, become the norm if the global “inequality emergency” continues. It is a global harm, with 90% of the world’s population living under the World Bank’s definition of “high income inequality”. His blueprint for change is contained within the G20’s first-ever inequality report, endorsed by key European, African and middle-income nations. The G20 inequality report lays out a comprehensive redesign of global economic governance reminiscent of 1944’s Bretton Woods settlement. Prof Stiglitz argues that the time has come for an International Panel on Inequality.

A Thanksgiving weekend storm system brought over a foot of snow and strong winds across the US midwest and thunderstorms across the south, as 53 million people from South Dakota to New York were under winter weather alerts. No serious injuries were reported from the car pile-up in Indiana, which was reported around 11.30am local time on Saturday, according to Indiana state police. “Folks, if you can stay home, stay home,” said Sergeant Matt Ames. Photograph: Kiichiro Sato/APSeveral areas of Iowa reported over a foot of snow on Saturday, with parts of Illinois, including Chicago, recording 5in and counting. Illinois state police reported nearly 500 auto crashes in the Chicago area on Saturday, with 66 incidents involving injuries.

Pope Leo has urged political leaders in Lebanon to make peace their highest priority in a forceful appeal as he is visiting the country, which remains a target of Israeli airstrikes, on the second leg of his first overseas trip as Catholic leader. View image in fullscreen Pope Leo is greeted by the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, as he arrives at the presidential palace in Beirut, Lebanon. View image in fullscreen Boys from the Hezbollah-run Imam al-Mahdi scouts hold portraits of Pope Leo XIV as they wait for his arrival in Beirut’s southern suburbs. View image in fullscreen Women wave Lebanese and Vatican flags as the pope motorcade drives past in Beirut, Lebanon. Leo will not travel to the south, the target of Israeli strikes, and he did not mention Israel in his speech.