'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.



EU Commission Proposes Under-13s Social Media Ban

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a press conference on the EU regulation on the protection of children online, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 17 September 2026. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a press conference on the EU regulation on the protection of children online, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 17 September 2026. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
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EU Commission Proposes Under-13s Social Media Ban

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a press conference on the EU regulation on the protection of children online, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 17 September 2026. EPA/RONALD WITTEK
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends a press conference on the EU regulation on the protection of children online, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 17 September 2026. EPA/RONALD WITTEK

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday set out a sweeping plan to keep children safe from online dangers, proposing to ban under 13s from social media and require online services to design safe children's accounts.

The move follows similar initiatives in Australia, Britain, China, India, Turkey and several EU countries underscoring rising concerns about the impact Meta's Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, Google's YouTube and ChatGPT have on children's mental health ⁠and safety.

Australia's challenges ⁠in enforcing its world-first social media ban for children under 16 however could see Europe facing an uphill battle as well.

"Today, our children are engaging with some of the most sophisticated technology ever created, and it was not created with children's well-being ⁠and development in mind," von der Leyen told a press conference, according to Reuters.

She said the proposed EU Kids Act "will set clear boundaries in the digital world just as we do it on a daily basis in the real world".

Under the proposal, which will need to be negotiated with EU countries and the European Parliament in the coming months before it can become law, accounts for children between 13 and 15 will ⁠be ⁠under parental control.

Social media and video-sharing services, online video games, AI companions and chatbots for children below 18 will be subject to a list of dos and don'ts.

These include a ban on addictive features, profiling-based recommender feeds, infinite scroll, reward tricks and unsolicited contact from strangers. AI companions and chatbots must be turned off by default.

Online platforms must design algorithms safe for children and provide easy-to-use parental controls and tools to block and mute users.


Buckingham Palace Hits Back at Claims in Princess Diana Book

Britain's King Charles III attends The King's Foundation's Harmony in Food and Farming Summit, at the Foundation's headquarters at Dumfries House near Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady / POOL / AFP)
Britain's King Charles III attends The King's Foundation's Harmony in Food and Farming Summit, at the Foundation's headquarters at Dumfries House near Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady / POOL / AFP)
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Buckingham Palace Hits Back at Claims in Princess Diana Book

Britain's King Charles III attends The King's Foundation's Harmony in Food and Farming Summit, at the Foundation's headquarters at Dumfries House near Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady / POOL / AFP)
Britain's King Charles III attends The King's Foundation's Harmony in Food and Farming Summit, at the Foundation's headquarters at Dumfries House near Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland on September 16, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady / POOL / AFP)

Buckingham Palace has hit back at claims by the late Princess Diana's brother that King Charles III acted insensitively following her death in a car crash almost 30 years ago.

The palace issued an unusually strong statement after Charles Spencer claimed in his new memoir that the then-prince, Diana's former husband, said "rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough" days after she died in 1997.

"While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle," a palace spokesperson said late Wednesday, according to AFP.

"His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss."

"Swan Song: Diana, My Sister" is due to be published next week.

In the book, serialized in the Daily Mail, Spencer claims that Charles subjected him to a "stream of anger" after he insisted Diana would not have wanted her sons, princes William and Harry, then aged 15 and 12, to walk in her funeral procession.

"He unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. 'Rest assured', he hissed, 'we'll forget her soon enough!'," Spencer writes.

Diana, who was extremely popular in the UK, died in Paris at the age of 36 after the car she was travelling in crashed as it tried to get away from paparazzi photographers.

Her death sparked an outpouring of grief in Britain and led to accusations that the monarchy failed to show the appropriate empathy.

UK media likened the language in the palace's statement to the late Queen Elizabeth II's response in 2021 to claims of racism in the royal family from Harry and his wife Meghan.

The queen said that "some recollections may vary".


Indonesia Cash-for-photos Scheme Turns Animal Hunters Into Protectors

This picture taken on September 2, 2026 shows wildlife observer and former poacher Octavius using a mobile phone equipped with a telephoto lens to take pictures of wildlife in a forest near Labian village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)
This picture taken on September 2, 2026 shows wildlife observer and former poacher Octavius using a mobile phone equipped with a telephoto lens to take pictures of wildlife in a forest near Labian village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)
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Indonesia Cash-for-photos Scheme Turns Animal Hunters Into Protectors

This picture taken on September 2, 2026 shows wildlife observer and former poacher Octavius using a mobile phone equipped with a telephoto lens to take pictures of wildlife in a forest near Labian village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)
This picture taken on September 2, 2026 shows wildlife observer and former poacher Octavius using a mobile phone equipped with a telephoto lens to take pictures of wildlife in a forest near Labian village in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)

Indonesian villager Octavius wades through the forest in rubber boots and tattered joggers, ears pricked, eyes peeled, a telephoto lens on his phone primed to capture orangutans, monkeys or birds.

The daily photo hunt earns Octavius and hundreds of others in Borneo cash as part of a conservation program seeking to make animals worth more alive than dead.

Locals on the island have long made money from hunting wild songbirds and selling them, mainly to domestic customers.

The KehatiKu project aims to break that cycle by paying individuals in nine participating villages in West Kalimantan province for photos or recordings of animals instead.

Payments range from 5,000 rupiah (about $0.30) for observing a common bird, to 130,000 rupiah for an endangered orangutan -- the top prize.

The most successful observers earn up to 10 million rupiah a month -- equivalent to about $570, several times an average farmworker's income.

The extra cash "really helps, especially to pay for my children's college", said 50-year-old Octavius, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

The program, run by environmental consultancy Borneo Futures, began two years ago and produces data on wildlife distribution and population changes.

Most participants are small-scale farmers of rice, cacao, durian and the stimulant kratom.
Early signs suggest the scheme is working.

"People have started to realize that where previously they caught one bird and it was worth 50,000 rupiah, now they just need to take a photo, send it to us, and they can receive a payment of 5,000 to 10,000 rupiah," Borneo Futures Indonesia director Nardiyono told AFP.

"If they take just five photos, they (may) earn 50,000 rupiah, and the bird is still in their environment, still observable, and still able to reproduce, so the potential income from observing birds is far greater than from hunting birds."

That shifting logic has prompted two participating villages to voluntarily introduce hunting bans since the project started, added Nardiyono.

The program is funded by philanthropic foundations and has received about $300,000 to date, according to Borneo Futures.

Half has gone towards development, including a mobile app for uploading animal sightings and an AI system that helps humans verify observations.

So far, users have submitted over 350,000 observations, about half of which have been validated and paid for.

Invalid entries might include multiple observations of the same animal, or a species that is not on the program's list.

In September, Octavius and dozens of others gathered at the tiny office in Labian village -- population 683 -- for their monthly payments.

His share was four million rupiah, or nearly $230.

"This is a side-job; it doesn't interfere" with farming, he told AFP as he showed off a patch where he grows kratom and cacao.

"Sometimes when we're working, when everyone is gathered to collect kratom leaves, we hear birds calling, so we go over, observe them -- if we can take a photo, we take a photo; if not, we just make a sound recording."

The program's model is "likely better for both environmental and social impacts than an unincentivized, top-down conservation project design," said researcher Paul Ferraro of the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The main challenge will be maintaining funding, he added.

"People may revert to their prior behavioral patterns because the incentive payments are insufficient when the enthusiasm has waned," said Ferraro, an expert in human behavior and public policy.

For now, Borneo Futures has funding secured through 2028, and two more villages will join next month.

It pays for observations of 73 species, including birds, monkeys, wild cats and deer.

Antonia Uneng says she never has to venture too far from her home in Sungai Ajung, a village of fewer than 400 people, for observations.

She bought her first fridge with her earnings, as well as a karaoke machine, complete with flashing lights and two microphones, that occupies pride of place in her living room.

The project has given women in the village a sense of independence, said the 36-year-old part-time nursing assistant, whose husband works abroad.

"I have my own income... so I am not dependent on my husband."

Imelda, a farmer in Labian, goes into the forest daily with friends to record bird sounds and, if they are lucky, orangutans.

"It makes us healthier, walking in the forest," said the 72-year-old.

In the past, some in the community considered wild boar and deer pests for damaging their gardens and crops, she said.

But now, "we really, really want to protect them".