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Mali: World
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The Mali national football team, nicknamed Les Aigles (The Eagles), is the national team of Mali and is controlled by the Fédération Malienne de Football. They have never qualified for the World Cup finals; in fact, although the association was affiliated with FIFA in 1962, Mali's first World Cup qualifier wasn't played until 2000.
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Since obtaining independence from France in 1960, the people of Mali have had to contend with rebellions, droughts, one coup, and twenty-three years of military dictatorship. This combined with widespread poverty, high illiteracy levels, and a low life expectancy, has made Mali one of least developed countries in the world. Yet, despite these hardships, Mali’s has seen some positive developments in the last decade: steady economic growth, a democratically-elected civilian government committed to decentralisation, and a respite from border conflicts.
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The mining industry in Mali has recently attracted renewed interest and investment from foreign companies. Gold (Now fourth in the world for export) and phosphate are the only minerals mined in Mali although deposits of copper and diamonds do ... exist. The emergence of gold as Mali’s leading export product since 1999 has helped mitigate some of the negative impact of the cotton and Côte d’Ivoire crises.
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A native of New York City and vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, Mali himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world. Mali received a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2001 to develop "Teacher! Teacher!" a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and math which won the jury prize for best solo performance at the 2001 U. S. Comedy Arts Festival.
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Having won the inaugral world cup of Basinball, a sport admittedly known only to the pages of Mali, Mali has launched an audacious bid for the Rugby World Cup in 2015. Rival in their bid New Zealand has pointed to Mali's lack of Rugby team, Stadiums, population and existence as low points, but Mali remain confident in their bid. They have recently made applications to take part in the 2010 Football World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics, again the same issues about existence and suchlike have been raised but the Malians say this will not be a problem.
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In the 1970s to the early 1980s, Mali faced years of serious drought, causing widespread hunger, loss of livestock and the weakening of its economy. Today, Mali is one of the world’s poorest countries.
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