Size Matters: UN Fixes the World Map

The United Nations on September 04 voted for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map toward one more accurately reflecting countries' true size, a resolution sponsored by African states to counter perceptions that the continent is peripheral. 

Togo led the initiative to advance the African Union campaign to limit use of the Mercator map, which distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles. It makes Greenland appear roughly the same size as Africa, though the latter is about 14 times larger. 

"A fair world begins with a fair map", ⁠Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey ⁠told Reuters ahead of Friday's vote. 

The resolution promotes ‌the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately portrays the size of the continents. It is not legally binding and it "in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited", the Togolese ministry said in a statement. 

The ⁠resolution passed in the UN General Assembly by a vote of 164 to one, with six abstentions. The United States, the only country to vote against the resolution, said it promoted an "ideological agenda" and was a distraction ‌from the "genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations". What BS! 

The Mercator map remains widely used in classrooms, but Togo hopes to change its school geography materials by the end of the year, Dussey told Reuters. 

"Togo will be ​the first country to change our own geography books", Dussey said. "In the classroom, we need to change it to give an example to ⁠all the countries in the world". 

His country will press other governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to ⁠move away from the centuries-old Mercator projection, Dussey said, adding that Equal Earth offers "the best perception" of ⁠the ⁠world. 

Dussey linked the campaign to adopt the map to wider African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies, while saying it was not an attack on Europe or any other civilization. 

The Mercator map's widespread use is a consequence of colonization, he insisted. 

"The world is ⁠changing. Africa also is changing".

From Donald Trump:

There's absolutely no need for words because it is self-explanatory.

AI Slop Map of Africa at AIDS Conference

A US State Department map of Africa mislabeled every country they depicted during a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference (July 26-31, 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

The slide was so egregiously wrong that multiple attendees whipped out their phones to get a shot of it; Emily Bass, a writer and AIDS expert, wrote about it at length. 

"The US government's failure to catch this error before displaying the slide at the top international AIDS conference in the world, in a session that featured the Director General of Nigeria as an invited guest, is not only disrespectful to African collaborators, it's also a significant tell", wrote Bass.

Senior officials from several African governments were reportedly among those present. 

The map shows six countries receiving US health funding and none of them are correctly named or placed. Nigeria has migrated north to become landlocked in the Sahara. Mozambique has roughly replaced Ethiopia. The Ivory Coast was placed in southern Africa, far from any coast, its name an ignored clue. Uganda and Malawi are not so far off, but drawn with wrong borders. Cameroon was named but assigned no territory at all. While one country on the Gulf of Guinea – a hypothetical union of Ghana, Benin and Togo? – went unnamed. Perhaps that is Cameroon now. 

The speaker was Jeff Graham, the US health envoy who oversees PEPFAR (⁠President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), a United States government initiative.

Whoever ⁠created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work. And Reuters reviewed video of the presentation and concluded that the map was AI slop. 

A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. 

The company said they were investigating the report. The State Department said they took "full responsibility" and blamed a staffer who changed the slide deck shortly before the event. 

This sort of thing is normal in the Trump administration. Last year, the White House's "Make America Healthy Again" report cited studies that did not exist, with fabricated references and other hallmarks of AI slop.

Junta-led Sahel States Formally Leave ECOWAS

On January 29, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formally left ECOWAS, the West African regional bloc, after more than a year of diplomatic tensions.

The withdrawal has shaken the Economic Community of West African States that many consider to be the continent's most important regional group and which this year marks their 50th anniversary. 

While ECOWAS work out the terms of their future relationship with the three countries, they say they will continue to recognize all passports and identity cards bearing the ECOWAS logo held by citizens from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. They will also remain in the bloc's free-trade scheme.

West Africa observers are already concerned the withdrawal will worsen security in the region. The Sahel – the semi-arid region just south of the Sahara Desert that includes the three said countries – is wracked with jihadist insurgencies and now accounts for "almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally", a senior UN official said in April.

And in a sign of the doubts within ECOWAS, Togo and Ghana have normalised their relations with the three states.  

Yesterday's Champions League match pitting Liverpool against PSV Eindhoven wasn’t a dead rubber, despite little riding on it for the former. Even as Arne Slot rotated his squad and leaving behind nine senior players at Anfield. 

The much-changed Liverpool finished top of the Champions League group phase despite losing their 100% winning record after defeat to PSV Eindhoven – the latter won 3-2 – in a five-goal thriller.

In an action-packed first half, Cody Gakpo put the Reds ahead from the penalty spot in the 28th minute in his home city against his former club after a Rood-witten midfielder had fouled Federico Chiesa. The Reds-and-Whites equalised in the 35th minute but five minutes later, Liverpool's lead was restored when Chiesa's shot was deflected to Harvey Elliott, who scored his second Champions League goal in consecutive games. 

And then, two quick goals (45, 45+6) from the Eredivisie leaders turned the game around for them.