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Mask Festival Brings 'Buzz and Beauty' to Benin's Capital

Paradegoers pose with an egungun, a traditional Yoruba figure, at the Porto Novo Mask Festival. Yanick Folly / AFP
Paradegoers pose with an egungun, a traditional Yoruba figure, at the Porto Novo Mask Festival. Yanick Folly / AFP
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Mask Festival Brings 'Buzz and Beauty' to Benin's Capital

Paradegoers pose with an egungun, a traditional Yoruba figure, at the Porto Novo Mask Festival. Yanick Folly / AFP
Paradegoers pose with an egungun, a traditional Yoruba figure, at the Porto Novo Mask Festival. Yanick Folly / AFP

Spectators poured into Benin's capital for a new festival celebrating traditional masks over the weekend as the West African country seeks to attract visitors and showcase its cultural heritage.
The three-day Porto Novo Mask Festival drew participants from across Benin as well as neighboring Togo and Burkina Faso, said AFP.
There was excitement in the crowd as spectators caught sight of some masked and costumed figures rarely seen outside their respective regions.
The main street hummed with traditional music while officials and members of the public watched displays of acrobatics and stilt-walkers perched on eight-meter (26-foot) poles.
Benin's government and city authorities launched the event to replace the Porto Novo International Festival, usually held in January, and there were both secular and religious masks on show.
Voodoo, known locally as Vodun, is widely practiced in Benin. It worships gods and natural spirits while showing respect to revered ancestors.
"I'm very moved -- I saw masks I'd never had the chance to see before," said Vodun religious dignitary Severin Alode, 43. "I've never seen such a buzz. It's a first."
The festival's main attractions were Gonouko, towering masked figures from Porto Novo, alongside an array of other masks and appearances from Zangbeto, traditional Vodun guardians of the night.
Even the rare Hounve mask was on display, as Vodun dignitary Adanklounon Ado Setondji explained.
"Our parents knew how to hide the Hounve, but as we are in the mindset of promotion, we have to take the masks out and show them to the public," he said.
Before the festival, rituals took place away from spectators.
Bale Atchade, a 65-year-old Vodun dignitary, said there were ceremonies centered on resolving social problems and others linked to infertility.
'Source of pride'
Ayaba Collete Dossou, a member of the national Vodun rites committee, said the Porto Novo festival showed "the beauty of our culture and our wealth."
The city's mayor Charlemagne Yankoty said the event "puts Porto Novo in the spotlight."
"The mask festival will enhance Benin's culture and reveal its full value in terms of heritage and culture," he said.
Earlier this year, the government revamped another of Benin's cultural celebrations -- its famous Voodoo festival -- in a bid to attract more visitors.
"Vodun is of economic interest to us, since tourism is an important sector," said President Patrice Talon at the festival in January.
He said he hoped that event would help explain "what Vodun is and how it is practiced" to domestic as well as foreign tourists.
There were signs his wishes were being fulfilled at the mask festival in Porto Novo, too.
Frederica Nzamba, a 30-year-old visitor with Beninese roots, told AFP she came to "better discover and understand Benin's culture" after 16 years living abroad.
The festival, she said, was a "source of pride."

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Varieties

Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed orangutan companion.

Punch's mother abandoned the macaque when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they swung into action.

Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and for a ‌sense of security, ‌so Punch needed a swift intervention, zookeeper ‌Kosuke ⁠Shikano said. The keepers ⁠experimented with substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand IKEA.

“This stuffed animal has relatively long hair and several easy places to hold," Shikano said. "We thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help ⁠Punch integrate back into the troop later ‌on, and that’s why ‌we chose it."

Punch has rarely been seen without it since, ‌dragging the cuddly toy everywhere even though it is ‌bigger than him, and delighting fans who have flocked to the zoo since videos of the two went viral, Reuters reported.

“Seeing Punch on social media, abandoned by his parents but still trying ‌so hard, really moved me," said 26-year-old nurse Miyu Igarashi. "So when I got the ⁠chance to ⁠meet up with a friend today, I suggested we go see Punch together.”

Shikano thinks Punch's mother abandoned him because of the extreme heat in July when she gave birth.

Punch has had some differences with the other monkeys as he has tried to communicate with them, but zookeepers say that is part of the learning process and he is steadily integrating with the troop.

"I think there will come a day when he no longer needs his stuffed toy," Shikano said.

Varieties

Trump Says he’s Ordering Release of Data on UFOs, Aliens

US President Donald Trump speaks aboard Air Force One (AP)
US President Donald Trump speaks aboard Air Force One (AP)
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Trump Says he’s Ordering Release of Data on UFOs, Aliens

US President Donald Trump speaks aboard Air Force One (AP)
US President Donald Trump speaks aboard Air Force One (AP)

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he is ordering federal agencies to begin “identifying and releasing” government files related to UFOs and aliens, a move sought for decades by some Americans.

“Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Trump claimed earlier Thursday that his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, made classified information public when he confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life.

“He gave classified information. He's not supposed to be doing that,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “He made a big mistake.”

During an ⁠interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen released ‌on Saturday, Obama was asked if aliens were real.

“They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in ... Area 51. There's no underground facility unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States,” Obama said.

Area ⁠51 is a classified Air Force facility in Nevada that fringe theorists have speculated holds alien bodies and a crashed spaceship. CIA archives released in 2013 said it was a test site for top-secret spy planes.

“I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” Obama said in an Instagram post on Sunday.

In the post, Obama explained his belief that aliens exist by saying the statistical odds of life beyond Earth were high because the universe is so ⁠vast. He added that the chances of extraterrestrial life visiting Earth were low given the distance.

Following his comments ⁠on Obama, Trump added that he had not seen evidence that aliens exist, saying, “I don't know ⁠if they're ⁠real or not.”

Varieties

Fossils of New Species of Huge Dinosaur Unearthed in Niger

Paleontologist Paul Sereno poses in his Fossil Lab at the University of Chicago with a reconstructed skull of the dinosaur Spinosaurus mirabilis. The photograph was released by the University of Chicago on February 19, 2026. Keith Ladzinski/Handout via REUTERS
Paleontologist Paul Sereno poses in his Fossil Lab at the University of Chicago with a reconstructed skull of the dinosaur Spinosaurus mirabilis. The photograph was released by the University of Chicago on February 19, 2026. Keith Ladzinski/Handout via REUTERS
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Fossils of New Species of Huge Dinosaur Unearthed in Niger

Paleontologist Paul Sereno poses in his Fossil Lab at the University of Chicago with a reconstructed skull of the dinosaur Spinosaurus mirabilis. The photograph was released by the University of Chicago on February 19, 2026. Keith Ladzinski/Handout via REUTERS
Paleontologist Paul Sereno poses in his Fossil Lab at the University of Chicago with a reconstructed skull of the dinosaur Spinosaurus mirabilis. The photograph was released by the University of Chicago on February 19, 2026. Keith Ladzinski/Handout via REUTERS

At a remote and barren Sahara desert site in Niger, scientists have unearthed fossils of a new species of Spinosaurus, among the biggest of the meat-eating dinosaurs, notable for its large blade-shaped head crest and jaws bearing interlocking teeth for snaring slippery fish.

It prowled a forested inland environment and strode into rivers to catch sizable fish like a modern-day wading bird - a "hell heron," as one of the researchers put it, considering it was about 40 feet (12 meters) long and weighed 5-7 tons.

The dinosaur presented a striking profile on the Cretaceous Period landscape of Africa some 95 million years ago as it hunted large fish like coelacanths in the region's waterways. Its bony cranial crest, about 20 inches (50 cm) tall, resembled a curved sword called a scimitar, and it had a large sail-like structure on its back and an elongated crocodile-like snout.

Along with the existing genus name Spinosaurus, meaning "spine lizard," the researchers gave it the species name mirabilis, meaning "astonishing," referring to ‌its crest. A genus ‌is a group of closely related species bearing similar traits. For example, lions and tigers ‌are ⁠the same genus ⁠but different species.

It is only the second known species of Spinosaurus, a dinosaur that has gained fame in popular culture for its depiction in the "Jurassic Park" movies. The other one, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, was named in 1915 based on fossils from Egypt.

Spinosaurus, the only known semiaquatic dinosaur predator, joins Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus among the largest meat-eating dinosaurs.

The two Spinosaurus species, which were contemporaneous, shared the same general body plan including long dorsal spines forming the sail-like structure and a skull adapted for hunting fish. The crest of Spinosaurus mirabilis is much larger compared to Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, and it has a more elongated snout, teeth more spread out from each other and longer hind limbs.

The researchers said its crest likely ⁠was for display, since it appears too fragile to have been used as a weapon, ‌even though it was solid bone without the air sacs present in some other ‌dinosaur crests. The crest, probably sheathed in keratin like a bull's horns, may have been vividly colored and instrumental in sexual or territorial competition ‌or recognition between individuals.

"It's about love and life - attracting a mate, defending your hot feeding shallows," said University of Chicago paleontologist Paul ‌Sereno, lead author of the research published on Thursday in the journal Science. "What else could be more important?"

The retracted location of its nostrils, farther back than usual, let it submerge most of its snout under water to stalk swimming prey for as long as necessary while breathing normally. In addition, its upper and lower rows of teeth fit neatly together during a bite, called interdigitation.

"Their large conical teeth without serrations that interdigitate form a 'fish trap' ‌that is very good at piercing and trapping slippery fish in the jaws, preventing them from sliding," said paleontologist and study co-author Daniel Vidal of the University of Chicago and Universidad ⁠Nacional de Educación a Distancia in ⁠Spain.

"Spinosaurus mirabilis has some of the most extreme piscivorous adaptations of any dinosaur, so we know it was better at preying upon fish than it would have been at preying upon other dinosaurs," Reuters quoted Vidal as saying.

Fossils of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus come from sites in Egypt and Morocco near the Cretaceous coastline of the Tethys Sea, predecessor to today's Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. That fact, plus certain skeletal traits, led some scientists to hypothesize Spinosaurus was fully aquatic, an open-water swimmer and diving pursuit predator in a marine setting.

But the Spinosaurus mirabilis fossils were found far inland, roughly 300-600 miles (500-1,000 km) from the nearest ocean shoreline. That fact, coupled with aspects of the animal's anatomy, instead point to Spinosaurus as a shallow-water predator and not fully aquatic, the researchers said.

Sereno called the Spinosaurus mirabilis discovery "the coup de grâce for the aquatic hypothesis."

Jenguebi, where the fossils were discovered, is a remote Sahara locality, with fossil-rich sandstone outcrops surrounded by sand dunes. For their 2022 expedition, the researchers set out from the city of Agadez in a convoy and drove off-road through desert terrain for almost three days, often getting stuck in the sand.

The journey paid off, as they discovered parts of three Spinosaurus mirabilis skulls and other bones, along with fossils of other creatures.

Long overshadowed in the public imagination by T. rex, Spinosaurus is now having its time in the spotlight.

"It's a dino-happening," Sereno said.