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SFC, RCA Launch AlUla Cup for Falcons

The event is taking place at the Al Moghaira Village for Authentic Sports in AlUla - SPA
The event is taking place at the Al Moghaira Village for Authentic Sports in AlUla - SPA
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SFC, RCA Launch AlUla Cup for Falcons

The event is taking place at the Al Moghaira Village for Authentic Sports in AlUla - SPA
The event is taking place at the Al Moghaira Village for Authentic Sports in AlUla - SPA

The Saudi Falcons Club (SFC) and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCA) Governorate have launched the AlUla Cup for Falcons 2023, heralded as the world’s most prestigious falconry competition. The event is taking place at the Al Moghaira Village for Authentic Sports in AlUla.
Waleed Al Taweel, spokesperson for the Saudi Falcons Club, praised the partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla Governorate for its role in enriching the falconry heritage.
Al Taweel pointed out that the AlUla Cup for Falcons offers the world's most generous prize pool for falconry, totaling a staggering 60 million Riyals, SPA reported. The competition is divided into four distinct categories, catering to a diverse range of falconers.
The spokesperson highlighted that the AlUla Cup will feature an impressive lineup of six falcon breeds, appealing to both young and mature birds. The breeds include the majestic Saker, the swift Peregrine, the Pure Gyr, the Gyr cross, the Gyr-Peregrine mix, and the Gyr-Hybrid. He also noted that the registration window for the first category of the competition, which drew considerable interest, closed on the evening of December 27th after being open for three days.
Al Taweel stressed that the AlUla Cup for Falcons builds on the momentum of the prestigious King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival, which recently concluded with great success.

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UK Zoo Says Tiny Snail ‘Back from Brink’ of Extinction

This photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows a greater Bermuda snail, which is part of a breeding program, sitting under a microscope at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows a greater Bermuda snail, which is part of a breeding program, sitting under a microscope at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England. (AFP)
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UK Zoo Says Tiny Snail ‘Back from Brink’ of Extinction

This photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows a greater Bermuda snail, which is part of a breeding program, sitting under a microscope at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England. (AFP)
This photo taken on February 2, 2026 shows a greater Bermuda snail, which is part of a breeding program, sitting under a microscope at Chester Zoo in Chester, north-west England. (AFP)

A minuscule snail once thought to have disappeared has been saved from the edge of extinction, a British zoo said Saturday.

The greater Bermuda land snail had not been spotted for years until a cluster of shells was caught slithering through an alleyway in the capital Hamilton in 2014.

Some were flown to Chester Zoo, where experts spent years building up the population before they released thousands back into the wild in 2019.

Unique to Bermuda, this type of snail traces its lineage back over a million years -- a relic of the island's ancient ecosystem.

Now "we can officially say the species is back from the brink", said Chester Zoo in a statement sent to AFP.

The snail "once thought lost has officially been saved from extinction by experts in Chester Zoo, London Zoo, and Bermuda," it said.

They confirmed this after a study in the Oryx biodiversity conservation journal found that six colonies of the re-wilded snails had settled successfully on the archipelago.

"The fact that the snails are firmly established in six areas is massive," said Gerardo Garcia, animal and plant director at Chester Zoo.

From specially designed pods in northwest England, they are now breeding and roaming freely in Bermuda, he said.

"Being able to say that the snails are now safe from extinction is amazing ... and something that conservationists might get to say once or maybe twice in their whole career."

At one point, keeper Katie Kelton said the zoo housed around 60,000 snails.

It was "a lot of snails to look after ... a lot of chopping lettuce, sweet potato and carrot," she told AFP.

- Conservation 'success' story -

The snails faced many threats, including habitat loss, pesticide use, and the cannibalistic "wolf snail".

They were rescued in a process Garcia described as "a war game" with growing numbers tracked by flags pinned across a map of Bermuda.

While they cannot say the species is safe forever, he noted they now knew how to rebuild the population quickly and effectively.

But long-term recovery, he said, would go hand in hand with nature regeneration projects carried out by the Bermudian government.

Chester Zoo has now turned its attention to the lesser Bermuda land snail -- even smaller and much harder to breed.

These snails, which can reach about 23 millimeters (0.9 inches) in length, may now be extinct in the wild.

"We're considering things like seasonality, how long it takes a colony to establish and the complexity of their environments," said expert Iri Gill.

But their experience with the greater Bermuda snail should point them "in the right direction", she said.

"These snails are tiny, but this has been one of the biggest success stories in conservation."

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SpaceX Delays Mars Plans to Focus on 2027 Moon Landing

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, US June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, US June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo
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SpaceX Delays Mars Plans to Focus on 2027 Moon Landing

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, US June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, US June 5, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo

Elon Musk's SpaceX told investors it will prioritize going to the moon first and attempt a trip to Mars at a later time, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources.

The company will target March 2027 ‌for a ‌lunar landing without ‌astronauts ⁠on board, the ‌report added. The news comes after SpaceX agreed to acquire xAI in a deal that values the rocket and satellite company at $1 trillion and the artificial intelligence outfit ⁠at $250 billion.

SpaceX did not immediately respond ‌to a Reuters request ‍for comment. Musk said ‍last year that he aimed ‍to send an uncrewed mission to Mars by the end of 2026.

SpaceX is developing its next-generation Starship rocket, a stainless steel behemoth designed to be fully reusable and ⁠serve an array of missions including flights to the moon and Mars.

The United States faces intense competition this decade from China in its effort to return astronauts to the moon, where no humans have gone since the final US Apollo mission in ‌1972.

Varieties

Spain and Portugal Continue to Battle Storm Leonardo as New Storm Approaches

A mountain landslide blocks railway tracks during heavy rains, as storm Leonardo hits parts of Spain, in Benaojan, Spain, February 6, 2026. (Reuters)
A mountain landslide blocks railway tracks during heavy rains, as storm Leonardo hits parts of Spain, in Benaojan, Spain, February 6, 2026. (Reuters)
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Spain and Portugal Continue to Battle Storm Leonardo as New Storm Approaches

A mountain landslide blocks railway tracks during heavy rains, as storm Leonardo hits parts of Spain, in Benaojan, Spain, February 6, 2026. (Reuters)
A mountain landslide blocks railway tracks during heavy rains, as storm Leonardo hits parts of Spain, in Benaojan, Spain, February 6, 2026. (Reuters)

Storm Leonardo continued to batter the Iberian Peninsula on Friday, bringing floods and putting rivers at risk of bursting their banks while thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Spain and Portugal.

In southern Spain's Andalusia region, some 7,000 people have had to leave their homes due to successive storms.

Among them were around 1,500 people ordered to evacuate the mountain village of Grazalema, where Andalusia's regional leader Juan Manuel Moreno warned that aquifers were "full to the brim with water,” and at risk of collapsing.

“It's raining on already saturated ground. The land is unable to drain," Moreno said. “We urge extreme caution. This is not over.”

Spanish police said Friday they had found a body located 1,000 meters (about 0.6 miles) away from where a woman had disappeared Wednesday after she fell into a river in Malaga province while trying to rescue her dog. Police said they had not yet identified the body, but believed it belonged to the 45-year-old woman.

Another storm front, Marta, was expected to arrive Saturday, with Spain's weather agency AEMET saying it would bring even more rain and heavy winds, including to areas already drenched by Storm Leonardo.

Marta is expected to affect Portugal, too.

Of particular concern was southern Spain's Guadalquivir River, which flows through Córdoba and Seville and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean, and whose water levels have dramatically risen in recent days.

Additional rain Saturday could leave many more homes at risk in Córdoba, local authorities warned.

In Portugal, parts of Alcacer do Sal were submerged after the Sado River overflowed, forcing residents to leave the city located 90 kilometers (about 56 miles) south of Lisbon.

Alerts were issued also for regions near the Tagus River due to rising water levels.

A separate storm in late January left a trail of destruction in Portugal, killing several people, according to Portuguese authorities.