The Sunday Mail
2023 was hottest on record: UN report
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record by a clear margin.
In a report on climate, it found that records were “once again broken, and in some cases smashed” for key indicators such as greenhouse gas pollution, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice cover and glacier retreat.
WMO secretary-general Andrea Celeste Saulo said the organisation was now “sounding the red alert to the world”. — theguardian.com
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First brain-chip patient plays online chess
Elon Musk’s brain-chip company Neuralink has shown its first patient moving a cursor on a computer using an implanted device.
In a nine-minute livestream on X, formerly Twitter, Noland Arbaugh uses the cursor to play chess online.
Mr Arbaugh was paralysed below the shoulders after a diving accident and received the chip implant in January.
The company’s goal is to connect human brains to computers to help tackle complex neurological conditions. — bbc.com
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Hopes of HIV cure after scientific breakthrough
Scientists claim to have eradicated HIV from infected cells using Crispr gene-editing technology, which won the Nobel Prize.
Crispr acts like molecular scissors, cutting DNA to remove or deactivate harmful sections.
The goal is to completely eliminate the virus from the body, but more research is necessary to ensure safety and effectiveness. — africanews.com
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Kenya to release cult victims’ bodies for burial
The Kenyan government says it will release some of the bodies belonging to victims of the Shakahola starvation cult this week.
At least 34 bodies have been identified and linked to their families, out of the hundreds that were exhumed last year.
The bodies of 429 people, including children, were dug up from graves in Shakahola, a remote forest outside the coastal town of Malindi. Most showed signs of starvation and assault.
Survivors and victims’ families said self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie encouraged members of his Good News International Church to move there and prepare for the end of the world. — bbc.com
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Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in US
A Rwanda-born man has been arrested in Ohio for allegedly hiding his involvement in the genocide that hit the Central African country in 1994.
Federal prosecutors accuse Eric Tabaro Nshimiye of concealing his involvement in the mass murders, including personally hacking people to death.
Nshimiye has lived in Ohio since 1995 after fraudulently gaining refugee status in the United States, prosecutors say.
He has previously denied participating in the genocide.
He is due to appear in a federal court in Boston at a later date. — bbc.com
