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Nigeria’s electoral commission has announced that the country’s next presidential election would take place on January 16, 2027, earlier than originally planned.The elections were initially due on February 20, 2027.The date had been criticised by the Muslim community however as it coincided with the fasting month of Ramadan.Parties will nominate their candidates between April 23 and May 30, 2026.The last presidential election in 2023 brought to power Bola Tinubu, who will seek a second term at next year’s ballot.Tinubu was elected in the first round with approximately 36% of the vote, against Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.The president last week approved a law that authorises the real-time electronic transmission of election results. Post-election disputes are common in Africa’s most populous country and, despite the deployment of new technologies by the electoral commission, the credibility of results is still regularly challenged. Source link
Briefing reporters in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said any strike against civilians anywhere – or any civilian buildings or other infrastructure is “unacceptable and…
OpenAI said on Thursday that it will set up a direct point of contact with Canadian law enforcement and improve detection of repeat violators of its “violent activities” policy to boost safety protocols in the wake of a recent school shooting. The ChatGPT maker detailed the steps in a letter to Canada’s minister in charge of artificial intelligence (AI), Evan Solomon. Ann O’Leary, OpenAI’s vice-president of global policy, wrote the letter after Canadian ministers this week urged the ChatGPT maker to boost its safety protocols quickly and warned that Ottawa would effect change through legislation if the company did not. “We remain committed to co-operating with law enforcement authorities on the investigation into the Tumbler Ridge tragedy, and we are committed to an ongoing partnership with federal and provincial governments,” O’Leary said, referring to the town in British Columbia where the shooting occurred.Ottawa summoned OpenAI’s safety team for talks this week after the company said it had not contacted police about an account belonging to the alleged shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, that it had banned. Van Rootselaar, 18, is suspected of killing eight people on February 10 before taking her own life in Tumbler Ridge.She killed her mother and brother at the family home before heading to the local secondary school, where she shot dead five children and a teacher. OpenAI said it banned her ChatGPT account last year for policy violations. The company said the account was flagged by systems that identify “misuses of our models in furtherance of violent activities” but did not provide further details.OpenAI said the issues did not meet its internal criteria for reporting to law enforcement. O’Leary said on Thursday that under the company’s “enhanced law enforcement referral protocol”, it would have referred the initial account ban in June to police if it were discovered now.She also said the company had discovered that Van Rootselaar had used a second account, which it shared with law enforcement. “We commit to strengthening our detection systems to better prevent attempts to evade our safeguards and prioritize identifying the highest-risk offenders,” O’Leary said. The company also committed to periodically assessing the thresholds used by its automated systems for identifying potential violent activities by users. Crime experts have noted that while greater scrutiny of AI platforms and social media is necessary, police or other authorities may have missed additional chances to avert one of Canada’s worst mass killings. Police said Van Rootselaar had a history of mental health problems and that they had removed and later returned guns from her home. Minister Solomon’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Source link
People buy strawberries from a produce vendor after the second Friday noon prayers of the holy month of Ramadan in the old city of Jerusalem. A woman shops for bread from a bakery after the second Friday noon prayers of the holy month of Ramadan in the old city of Jerusalem. Source link
Soufiane Saadi guides Dabida to victory in the Al Wakra Cup at Al Rayyan Racecourse. Wathnan Racing’s Dabida delivered an impressive performance to shed her maiden tag with victory in the Al Wakra Cup at Al Rayyan Racecourse on late Thursday evening. Contesting the feature event for four-year-old Purebred Arabian fillies over 2000m, the grey filly was expertly guided by Soufiane Saadi and trained by Alban de Mieulle. Travelling strongly throughout, Dabida asserted her authority in the closing stages to score by a clear length. The success also provided her owner-trainer combination with a second winner on the evening, capping a productive night at the races. Nah’ash Al Shahania took the penultimate race on the card, the Purebred Arabian Handicap (85–105) over 1400m (Class 2) for five-year-old+ and 10 runners. The six-year-old bay gelding, carrying the colours of HE Sheikha Reem bint Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Thani, from the yard of Rudy Nerbonne and partnered by Lukas Delozier, returned to winning ways after three placed finishes this campaign, registering his second success in six starts with a determined performance to score by a length while providing his trainer with a second winner on the evening and his rider with a third in succession. Fateh HCM won the opener, the Purebred Arabian Handicap (45–65) over 1200m (Class 6) for four-year-old+ and 14 runners by a length. The five-year-old grey horse, owned and trained by Osama Omer al-Dafea and ridden by Charles Boudot, was back in the winner’s enclosure following a placed effort last time, recording his second success of the season despite a wide berth in barrier 11. Earlier in the day, Anika landed the Local Purebred Arabian Novice Plate over 1400m (Class 5) for four-year-olds and 13 runners in the fourth race. The grey filly, representing Wathnan Racing, trained by Alban de Mieulle and ridden by Megane Peslier, recorded her second straight victory at just her fourth career start, which also includes a placed finish, with a commanding display to score by nine lengths from a wide draw in barrier 11.Results 56th Al Rayyan Race Meeting – Wakra CupWINNERS: (Horse, Trainer, Jockey)1. Al Wakra Cup, Purebred Arabian fillies, 4yo, 2000mDabida, Alban de Mieulle, Soufiane Saadi2. Purebred Arabian Handicap (85-105), 5yo+, 1400m Nah’ash Al Shahania, Rudy Nerbonne, Lukas Delozier3. Thoroughbred Handicap (60-80), 4yo+, 2000mMysteryofthesands, Mohammed al-Ghazali, Lukas Delozier4. Local Purebred Arabian Handicap (60-80), 4yo+, 2000mMou’nes Al Shahania, Rudy Nerbonne, Lukas Delozier5. Local Purebred Arabian Novice Plate, 4yo, 1400mAnika, Alban de Mieulle, Megane Peslier6. Purebred Arabian Premium Maiden Plate, 4-7yos, 2000mGuindol Dei Ribo, Hamad al-Jehani,, Pierre Charles Boudot7. Purebred Arabian Maiden Plate, 3yo, 1200mSpareo, Hamad Ahmed Hassan al-Malki al-Jehani, Pierre Charles Boudot8. Purebred Arabian Handicap (45-65), 4yo+, 1200mFateh HCM, Eng. Osama Omer al-Dafea, Pierre Charles Boudot Source link
Germany advises ‘urgently’ against travel to IsraeItaly urges its citizens to leave Iran; France maintains advice to citizens not to travel to Israel, West Bank Britain said yesterday it had temporarily withdrawn its staff from Iran and closed its embassy, citing the security situation in the region. US President Donald Trump briefly laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, underlining that while he preferred a diplomatic solution, he would not allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon, Reuters reported. “We have temporarily closed the British Embassy in Tehran, this will now operate remotely,” a government spokesperson said in a statement. Britain’s foreign office said its ability to assist British nationals was now extremely limited, and there was no in-person consular support available even in emergencies. Germany’s foreign ministry yesterday “urgently” advised nationals not to go to Israel as it sharpened its travel advice over increasing tensions in the Middle East, AFP reported from Berlin.“Travel to Israel and East Jerusalem is urgently discouraged,” the ministry said in an advisory on its website. The advice had previously applied only to certain parts of Israel but now takes in the whole country, a ministry source confirmed. Earlier, the US authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel as it threatened strikes on Iran and pressed its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades. The move came a day after latest Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the US seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war. Initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop “excessive demands” to reach a deal. The German foreign ministry source told AFP its embassy in Tel Aviv remained “fully operational”. Germany is “in close contact with our embassy in Tehran, including regarding the security situation of our colleagues on the ground”, the source added. However, due to diplomatic tensions with Iran, “our embassy in Tehran has not been fully staffed for some time” and is “only able to provide very limited consular assistance on the ground”, the source said. Italy’s foreign ministry has urged its citizens to leave Iran and advised extreme caution across the Middle East, citing persistently unstable security conditions, Reuters reported. “Italians in (Iran) for tourism or whose presence is not strictly necessary are urged to depart,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that travel to Iraq and Lebanon was also strongly discouraged. It advised Italian nationals in Israel to exercise maximum caution and remain vigilant.French foreign ministry reiterated its advice to nationals not to travel to Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank even for tourism or family visits as a result of the security situation in Iran, Reuters reported from Paris.On its website, the ministry also recommended French citizens already there to show great vigilance and prudence and stay away from demonstrations and rallies and identify shelters. Source link
Deep in the desert of Niger, scientists have unearthed an unknown species of dinosaur, a giant fissvery of its kind in more than a century.Around 95mn years ago, the Spinosaurus — a massive beast with a blade-shaped head crest and interlocking teeth — roamed the African continent. Scientists believe it rivalled the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex in size, measuring around 40 feet long with a 20-inch sword-like crest on its head. Researchers dug up fossils that belonged to the Spinosaurus mirabilis — or “hell heron”, in the words of Paul Sereno, the University of Chicago palaeontologist and lead author of the research published in the journal Science. “Look at the length of the skull, the length of the neck, and the length of the hind limb — you’re in heron territory.” Spinosaurus mirabilis lived when forests and rivers covered the now-barren Sahara. Previously, most spinosaurid fossils had been found near coastlines in North Africa. Some scientists thought these fish-eating creatures may have been fully aquatic, gliding through deep waters to snare prey. But this time, the fossils were discovered further inland, hundreds of miles from what would have been the nearest ocean. “I think it was an animal that could have waded easily into the water,” Sereno said.“But I do not think it was a diver, I do not think it was a good swimmer.” The search began in 2019 in the Sahara Desert, where French geologist Hugues Faure had said he found a tooth belonging to the giant predator Carcharodontosaurus in the 1950s.“We’ve got a couple of things that Faure could never dream of. We have GPS co-ordinates, we have drones and better vehicles,” said Sereno. The barren sands yielded nothing and the team, disheartened, headed back to their camp. But a Tuareg man in a black trench coat approached Sereno’s team on a motorcycle, claiming to know where “big bones” lay.After a long journey through the desert, Sereno worried they “had made a mistake”. “We jokingly said, are we still in Niger? I mean, we drove for a day and a half until we had no more gas to spare because we wouldn’t get back.” But eventually they reached a remote site where the “biggest bones… I have ever seen in my life” emerged from the ground.Far out in the desert, the researchers gaped at the six-foot-long femur, the jaw, teeth, and base of the crest. In 2022, Sereno returned with a 100-person team and 64 Nigerien guards to excavate the “earth-shattering site”. They unearthed a skull, fragments of the hind legs and several crests. “The crest was like nothing we’d ever seen before,” said Sereno.Some were brought to tears, he said, by the “overwhelming” experience.“It’s actually like looking at a digital image of your new dinosaur and gawking over it in the tent in the middle of the Sahara.” The team realised “it was a new species… and it was going to be a landmark discovery.”“That’s your Jurassic Park moment… one to remember for a lifetime.” Source link
China told its citizens yesterday to evacuate from Iran “as soon as possible”, and those in Israel to strengthen preparedness, citing a significant rise in security risks in the Middle East.“Chinese nationals currently in Iran are advised to strengthen safety precautions and evacuate as soon as possible,” the foreign ministry said in a social media statement. The US on the same day authorised the departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Israel, as it threatened strikes on Iran and pressed its biggest military build-up in the Middle East in decades. The US military is building up its forces in the region, with the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, due to arrive off the coast of key US-ally Israel. This came a day after Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the US — which have been seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war — though initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop “excessive demands” to reach a deal. Beijing’s foreign ministry told its citizens yesterday to avoid travelling to Iran for the time being “in light of the current security situation”. The foreign ministry added that its Chinese embassies and consulates in Iran and neighbouring countries will provide “necessary assistance” to Chinese citizens seeking to relocate via commercial flights or overland routes. China’s embassy in Israel, meanwhile, warned its citizens to remain highly vigilant, strengthen emergency preparedness, and avoid going out unless necessary, state broadcaster CCTV said. They should “familiarise themselves in advance with nearby bomb shelters and evacuation routes to ensure personal and property safety”, CCTV added. Source link
Teams under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres have been working on a wide-ranging set of proposals, spanning peace operations, development, human rights and humanitarian…
People sit in a cafe in the GUM department store, which is a popular destination for tourists from Arabic-speaking countries, in Moscow, Russia. In sub-zero temperatures outside Moscow, teams of husky dogs pull tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates across picturesque snow-covered fields in sleds, delighting their passengers who have never experienced a Russian winter before. Nearby, a couple from Qatar feed a small herd of deer and other tourists from the Middle East drive a hovercraft at high speed across a snowy lake. “It was like drifting in the desert but here on ice,” said Badreya Almarooqi, a tourist from the UAE at the Nazarievo Husky Park — 45km west of central Moscow — where signs are written in Arabic as well as Russian. North of the city, another group of Gulf tourists crowd into a hot air balloon to drift over a vast snowy landscape. “(It was) one of the best activities in my life!” said Ayoub Aziz, a tourist from Saudi Arabia drawn to the experience in the Dmitrov district 65km from the city centre, one of many such activity destinations dotted around the capital. Four years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, Moscow’s pivot away from the West and its quest to draw nearer to other parts of the world has produced an Arabic-speaking tourism boom. There are more direct flights between Moscow and key Gulf capitals, new visa-free regimes and closer diplomatic ties due to the roles of Gulf states in brokering prisoner exchanges or the handover of children to Ukraine. With more than 800,000 visits last year, tourists from China, long a close Russian partner, lead official figures by a long way. But Saudi Arabia secured the number two slot for the first time last year with nearly 75,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of nearly 36%, while more than 59,000 tourists came from the UAE, putting it in sixth place. “Virtually all Arab countries have at least doubled their numbers, said Alexander Musikhin, general director of the Intourist tour operator. “But there are also destinations like Saudi Arabia, which has increased its arrivals in Russia — and in Moscow in particular — by almost 15 times compared with the pre-pandemic period,” he said. Visitors from the Gulf stay in high-end hotels in the centre of the capital and are a common sight in upmarket Russia-themed restaurants and well-known shopping streets or malls. They often spend at least 200,000-300,000 roubles ($6,523) on extra services, tour operators say, and would spend more if the rules did not limit them to bringing in $10,000 in cash without a declaration. Western sanctions mean Visa and Mastercard do not work in Russia, “so it has to be in cash”, UAE tourist Rashan Godani said. Despite its war with Ukraine, Russia welcomed a total of 1.64mn tourists in 2025 according to the country’s association of tour operators, 4.5% up on 2024, but sharply down on 2018, the year Russia held the World Cup when 4.2mn foreign tourists visited. By contrast, 2.45mn Russians visited the UAE alone last year, up by nearly a quarter year-on-year, and some Russian businessmen have opened up offices in Dubai. Musikhin, the Intourist head, said fallout from the conflict was limiting growth. He cited the periodic and temporary closure of Russian airports due to Ukrainian drone attacks and the longer time it takes tourists to cross the border due to heightened security checks.“Tourists are generally understanding about this,” he said. Source link