The Renaming of Nations

Throughout history, the global map has been constantly redrawn, not just by shifting borders, but by nations choosing to redefine their own identities on the world stage.

In 2002, East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century and adopted the Portuguese name of Timor-Leste. 

Following this trend of official updates, Cape Verde changed its UN-recognized English name to Cabo Verde in 2013. 

The Kingdom of Swaziland rebranded as Eswatini in 2018. 

A year later, the Republic of Macedonia officially became North Macedonia. 

And more recently, Turkey registered its name change to Türkiye with the United Nations in 2022. 

Finally, on June 26, 2026, the Pacific island nation of Nauru reclaimed its traditional indigenous identity by officially becoming the Republic of Naoero. 

Malaysian women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan are just one match away from winning their second World Tour title of the year after storming into the Taipei Open final on Saturday. 

The world No. 5 took 35 minutes to sweep aside American world No. 27 Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai 21-15, 21-17 in the last four.