'Hardest Geezer' Completes in Tunisia Epic Run the Full Length of Africa

For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
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'Hardest Geezer' Completes in Tunisia Epic Run the Full Length of Africa

For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP
For the final leg of his run Cook was joined by supporters © FETHI BELAID / AFP

Russ Cook on Sunday completed a mammoth quest to run the length of Africa having overcome health scares, visa troubles and even an armed robbery.

The Briton arrived late in the afternoon at Cape Angela in Tunisia, where a sculpture marks the "northernmost point of the African continent".

The epic endeavour saw him live up to his "hardest geezer (man)" nickname to complete the more than 16,000-kilometer (9,900-mile) journey.

Cook believes he is the first person ever to run the entire length of the continent.

The 27-year-old set off from South Africa's most southerly point on April 22 last year.

By the time he crossed the finish line in Tunisia, he had taken more than 19 million steps in 16 countries, running the equivalent of 385 marathons in 351 days.

He crossed mountains, tropical forests and deserts, including the mighty Sahara.

Cook's efforts have raised over £550,000 ($695,000) for the Running Charity and for Sandblast, which raises awareness for the indigenous Saharawis of Western Sahara.

For the final leg of his run, the endurance athlete from Worthing in southern England was joined by supporters.

"Wanted to open up the last day of this project to anyone and everyone who has been watching and supporting," he said on X, formerly Twitter.

"Come and run the last marathon, the last half, 10km, five kilometres, one kilometre. Whatever you fancy," he added.

The end of the challenge was set to be celebrated with a party at a hotel in Bizerte, Africa's northernmost city.

A performance by the rock band Soft Play, formerly known as Slaves, was planned.

"Can't quite believe it but we've managed to pull off Soft Play playing the finish line party in Tunisia," he said.

"Get your daiquiris ready girls and boys this is gonna be mega," he added.

Cook joked throughout his journey that he craved a strawberry daiquiri.

It was not only the running that challenged the extreme runner. In Angola, he and his team were robbed at gunpoint, while Cook's difficulties in obtaining a visa for Algeria nearly derailed the entire project.

In the Sahara, he ran at night to escape the searing heat and scorching sun. In Nigeria, doctors told him to cut back on his daily mileage because of pains he was suffering. Cook still kept going.

Before setting off last year he said his approach to life was to throw "everything and the kitchen sink" at it.

"I'm a totally normal bloke, so if I can do this, hopefully people can apply this to their own lives in whichever way they choose," he said.

"For 99 percent of people, it's not going to be running across Africa, but it might look like chasing their dreams a little bit more," he added.

"We have met incredible people in every single country we've been to that have welcomed us with love and kindness. The human spirit is a beautiful thing," he said.



Bezos's Blue Origin to 'Pause' Space Tourism to Focus on Moon Efforts

Jeff Bezos arrives to attend Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 show in Paris, France, January 26, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
Jeff Bezos arrives to attend Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 show in Paris, France, January 26, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
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Bezos's Blue Origin to 'Pause' Space Tourism to Focus on Moon Efforts

Jeff Bezos arrives to attend Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 show in Paris, France, January 26, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
Jeff Bezos arrives to attend Dior Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 show in Paris, France, January 26, 2026. REUTERS/Abdul Saboor

Jeff Bezos's space company Blue Origin said Friday it would temporarily pause flights of its space tourism rocket to focus more resources on its lunar ambitions.

According to AFP, the company said in a statement it would "pause New Shepard flights for no less than two years" in order to "further accelerate development of the company's human lunar capabilities."

"The decision reflects Blue Origin's commitment to the nation's goal of returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence," the statement read.

New Shepard is a reusable rocket that has carried dozens of humans across the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.

But Blue Origin also aims to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX in the orbital flight market.

Last year, the company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos successfully carried out two uncrewed orbital flights using its massive New Glenn rocket, which is significantly more powerful than New Shepard.

Also last year, NASA said it was opening bids for a planned Moon mission, the third phase of the Artemis program, to compete against rival SpaceX, which the then-chief said was "behind."

Blue Origin currently has the contract for the fifth planned mission of the multibillion-dollar Artemis program.

US President Donald Trump's second term in the White House has seen the administration pile pressure on NASA to accelerate its progress to send a crewed mission to the Moon, as China carries out similar efforts.


Cuddly Olympics Mascot Facing Life or Death Struggle in the Wild

The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
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Cuddly Olympics Mascot Facing Life or Death Struggle in the Wild

The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP
The ermine and stoat mascots of the 2026 Olympic Games are everywhere, but their real-life counterparts risk dwindling in the wild. Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

Tina and Milo, the ermine and stoat mascots of the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games in Italy, are already everywhere -– smiling on stuffed animals, posters, mugs and T-shirts.

But it's another story for their real-life counterparts –- living out of sight and under pressure in the Alps as their snow cover slowly melts away due to climate change.

Ermines and stoats are the same animal -- mustela erminea -- but with the ermine sporting its white winter coat and the stoat its brown one for summer. And while they might be the face of the Olympics, they're disappearing in Italy's Alps, according to the country's only dedicated ermine researcher.

Since 2022, University of Turin doctoral student Marco Granata has been single-handedly monitoring the sinewy, hard-to-spot mammals who inhabit the same mountain peaks where the games will take place, high in the snowy Italian Alps where their winter coats camouflage them from predators.

"The ermine is like a wild ghost. It's a small, elusive animal," Granata told AFP.

"What makes it so interesting to me is the fact that it risks disappearing from entire mountains."

Easy targets

The small mammal's ability to molt -- its brown coat turning to white in November -- is what Granata calls a "super power" that's allowed it to survive for thousands of years.

But now it's a liability.

"The ermine faces a mismatch when it finds itself completely white in a world that should be white but is no longer so," Granata said.

Snow cover in the Italian Alps has decreased by half in the last 100 years, according to a study published in December 2024 in the International Journal of Climatology.

With their snow camouflage gone, the white ermines now stand out starkly against their mountain backdrop, becoming easy targets for predators such as hawks, owls or foxes.

Another problem awaits when the energetic carnivores climb to higher altitudes in search of snow -- a lack of prey.

While the ermines are compelled to ascend, the snow voles and mice they depend upon for food have no need to do so, as they don't change color.

Ski slopes also encroach on ermine habitat because of "competition for the areas where it snows the most," Granata said.

His research predicts ermine habitat in the Italian Alps will decrease by 40 percent by 2100, with ermines forced to climb by an average of 200 meters and the voles staying put.

There is little fuss made in Italy over ermines, which were once heavily hunted for their white pelts to adorn royal ceremonial robes. Scientists have paid them scant attention in recent decades, given the difficulty of gathering data on the fast-moving creatures.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's largest environmental network, last classified the ermine in 2015 as of "least concern" on a list of potentially threatened species.

But that influential list is out of date, argues Granata, who hopes his research will lead to their protection.

"The fact that a doctoral student is the expert on a species shows how little attention has actually been paid to this species," he said.

'Invisible world'

Every fall, Granata hikes Italy's Maritime Alps placing special camera traps -- plastic boxes with a motion-triggered camera inside -- that help him analyse the animal's seasonal patterns.

"You have to think like an ermine," he said, placing the box in areas where the curious mammal might go to find food.

When the snow melts, Granata collects the data from inside the boxes and watches a season's worth of videos and photos.

"It's like unwrapping a gift because you don't know what's inside... you actually see this invisible world," he said.

In one August video, an energetic stoat twists, sniffs and darts around in constant motion as he explores the box.

In October, after learning of the Games' choice of mascot, Granata launched an appeal to the Milano Cortina organizers, asking their sustainability team to help fund university research.

This week they sent a letter declining, which Granata considers a "huge missed opportunity".

The ermine, he said, isn't "just a cute little animal that roams our mountains, but a wild animal at risk of extinction".


Turaif Hosts Falcon Festival with Over 700 Participants

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
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Turaif Hosts Falcon Festival with Over 700 Participants

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA
The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs - SPA

The tenth edition of Northern Borders Falcon Festival commenced today in Turaif Governorate, in collaboration with the Saudi Falcons Club.

The event features over 700 participants, including professional, elite, and international falcon owners, as well as local amateurs.

The competition consists of 18 rounds, with total financial prizes exceeding SAR1 million, according to SPA.

The five-day festival includes various activities, including entertainment, cultural, and educational programs. It also features sections for families involved in the cottage industry, poetry evenings, and musical performances, with participation from several government agencies.