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In Iraq, Little People Football Team Dreams Big

Dwarfism is a medical or genetic condition that results in stature below four foot, 10 inches, according to Little People of America, a support organisation Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP
Dwarfism is a medical or genetic condition that results in stature below four foot, 10 inches, according to Little People of America, a support organisation Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP
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In Iraq, Little People Football Team Dreams Big

Dwarfism is a medical or genetic condition that results in stature below four foot, 10 inches, according to Little People of America, a support organisation Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP
Dwarfism is a medical or genetic condition that results in stature below four foot, 10 inches, according to Little People of America, a support organisation Ahmad AL-RUBAYE AFP

Twice a week, a small football pitch in Iraq offers the 25-member national squad of little people a chance to fulfill dreams and tackle prejudice.

Omar Abdel Rahman's team has set its sights on an ambitious goal: to travel to Argentina for their first international tournament.

Despite modest means, the players come from across the country to train, leaving behind their daily troubles, discrimination and jibes.

"The team has changed the course of my life and that of the other players," said Abdel Rahman, who works in a Baghdad cafe where he prepares shishas, AFP reported.

"I'm good at football, but we're treated with contempt and it's impossible to play in mainstream teams," said Abdel Rahman, who stands at 1.42 metres (four foot, eight inches).

"But now everything is changing," said the forward, clad in a number nine jersey, with green socks hiked up to his knees.

The team has just returned from a friendly match in Jordan. Next year, they aim to travel to Argentina to take part in the tournament for little people.

In 2018, a "Dwarf Copa America" was held in Buenos Aires, the first of its kind.

The date of the 2022 edition has yet to be set, said Facundo Mariano Rojas, head of the Argentina-based international football federation for little people.

This will depend mainly on restrictions imposed for the coronavirus pandemic, he told AFP.

"We're also looking for financial resources to help the participating countries."

The matches will be played by seven-member teams in indoor stadiums and on futsal fields.

A key difference will be the size of the goals, fixed at 1.7 metres (about 5.6 feet) in height and two metres in width, compared to the regular 2.44 by 7.32 metres.

It was the Copa America that inspired Hussein Jalil to start up the Iraqi team in 2019.

Other players come from Arbil, Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk in northern Iraq, from Nasiriyah in the southeast, and the eastern city of Kut.

Salah Ahmed, a 37-year-old forward, takes time off from work as a bike-repairman to attend.

"Before joining the team, I suffered from society's attitude towards little people," said the father of one.

Dwarfism is a medical or genetic condition that results in a stature below four foot, 10 inches, according to Little People of America, a support organization.

Those with the condition, who refer to themselves as little people, face several challenges when it comes to playing football.

"Some players suffer harassment in public places and on the streets," said Jalil. "But the situation is changing, football has given them more confidence."

He pointed to other problems, such as finding football kits in the right sizes in the shops, so they have had to improvise.

There are also financial difficulties. When they travel, they have to borrow money to pay for their tickets.

"Upon our return, the youth and sports ministry reimburses up to $7,000 to cover our expenses," Jalil added.

Abdel Rahman, a father of three, said the sport needs more backing.

"In other countries, a team like ours has the support of football stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi," he said.

"In Iraq, the stars of the sport don't even know that our team exists."

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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo

Osaka has received an unusual donation -- 21 kilograms of gold -- to pay for the maintenance of its ageing water system, the Japanese commercial hub announced Thursday.

The donation worth $3.6 million was made in November by a person who a month earlier had already given $3,300 in cash for the municipal waterworks, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told a press conference.

"It's an absolutely staggering amount," said Yokoyama, adding that he was lost for words to express his gratitude.

"I was shocked."

The donor wished to remain anonymous, AFP quoted the mayor as saying.

Work to replace water pipes in Osaka, a city of 2.8 million residents, has hit a snag as the actual cost exceeded the planned budget, according to local media.

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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
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Thai Cops Go Undercover as Lion Dancers to Nab Suspected Thief

People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)
People gather to watch performers outside Emsphere shopping mall on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Horse, in Bangkok on February 17, 2026. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Thai police donned a lion dance costume during this week's Lunar New Year festivities to arrest a suspect accused of stealing about $64,000 worth of Buddhist artifacts, police said Thursday.

Officers dressed as a red-and-yellow lion made the arrest on Wednesday evening after receiving a report earlier this month of a home burglary in the suburbs of the capital, Bangkok, AFP reported.

Capital police said the reported break-in involved "numerous Buddhist objects and two 12-inch Buddha statues", along with evidence of repeated attempts to enter the house, according to a statement.

With few leads, police kept watch for weeks before hatching an unusual plan to join a lion dance procession at a nearby Buddhist temple.

"Officers gradually moved closer to the suspect before arresting him," police said.

A video released by police showed the festive lion dancers approaching the suspect before an officer suddenly emerged from the head of the costume and, with help from colleagues, pinned him to the ground.

Police estimated the value of the stolen items at around two million baht ($64,000).

The suspect, a 33-year-old man, has a criminal record involving drug offences and theft, police added.

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Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
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Sudan's Historic Acacia Forest Devastated as War Fuels Logging

Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP
Little is left of the once sprawling acacia forest south of Sudan's capital. Ebrahim Hamid / AFP

Vast stretches of a once-verdant acacia forest south of Sudan's capital Khartoum have been reduced to little more than fields of stumps as nearly three years of conflict have fueled deforestation.

What was once a 1,500-hectare natural reserve has been "completely wiped out", Boushra Hamed, head of environmental affairs for Khartoum state, told AFP.

Al-Sunut forest had long served as a haven for migratory birds and a vital green shield against the Nile's seasonal floods.

"During the war, Khartoum state has lost 60 percent of its green cover," Hamed said, describing how century-old trees "were cut down with electric saws" for commercial timber and charcoal production.

Where tall acacias once cast cool shade over a wetland just upstream from the confluence of the Blue and White Nile, barren ground now lies exposed, criss-crossed by people gathering whatever wood remains.

Hamed called it "methodical destruction", though the perpetrators remain unknown and there has been no investigation.

Similar devastation is unfolding across several regions -- including western Darfur, neighboring Kordofan and the central states of Sennar and Al-Jazirah -- as insecurity and economic collapse drive unchecked logging, according to Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

According to a 2019 study by the Nairobi-based African Forest Forum, Sudan had already lost nearly half of its forested land since 1960 due to agricultural expansion, firewood collection and overgrazing.

By 2015, the country ranked among Africa's least forested nations, with around 10 percent of its territory still covered by woodland, the study said.

The report had also warned of further degradation if reforestation and sustainable management efforts were not implemented -- concerns now compounded by the ongoing conflict.

- 'Barrier' -

Aboubakr Al-Tayeb, who oversees Khartoum's forestry administration, said the damage "affects not only Khartoum, but Sudan and the wider African continent."

"The forest was home to several migratory species from Europe," he told AFP.

More than a hundred bird species, including ducks, geese, terns, ibis, herons, eagles and vultures, had been recorded in the area, alongside monkeys and small mammals.

Al-Nazir Ali Babiker, an agronomist, said the loss of tree cover could cause more severe seasonal flooding because the "forest acted as a barrier" against rising waters.

Flooding strikes Sudan every year, destroying homes, farmland and infrastructure and leaving many families with no choice but to flee to safer areas.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has already killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and shattered critical infrastructure.

Before the fighting, forests supplied roughly 70 percent of Sudan's energy consumption, primarily through charcoal and firewood, according to data from the African Forest Forum.

Al-Sunut had also been a popular leisure spot for Khartoum residents.

"We used to come in groups to study and have a good time," recalls Adam Hafiz Ibrahim, a student at Omdurman Islamic University.

Today, wood gatherers have supplanted the usual walkers. Disregarding army notices alerting them to landmines, men and women traverse the dry, open ground that now stands where the ancient forest once grew.

"We're not cutting the trees. We just pick up whatever wood's already on the ground to use for the fire," said Nafisa, a woman in her forties navigating the dry grasslands.

"We found the trees down. We collect the wood to sell to bakeries and families," said Mohamed Zakaria, a construction worker who lost his job because of the war.

Experts say that the economic hardship caused by the war combined with a lack of enforcement has encouraged logging.

"The logging continues, because those responsible for forest protection cannot access many areas," said Mousa el-Sofori, head of Sudan's Forests National Corporation.

Efforts to replant acacias are underway, Tayeb of the Khartoum forestry administration said, but seedlings grow slowly and can take years to mature.

Restoring the lost woodlands would be "long and costly", said Sofori.

"Some of these forests were centuries old," he added.