12 May 2025 –Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, the physicist known for his pioneering work in the field, told LBC’s Andrew Marr that artificial intelligences had developed consciousness – and could one day take over the world.
Mr Hinton, who has been criticised by some in the world of artificial intelligence for having a pessimistic view of the future of AI, also said that no one knew how to put in effective safeguards and regulation.
(UNICEF)* — Measles is a highly contagious virus. For young children, it can be deadly. In too many places, low vaccination coverage is creating opportunities for measles to spread.
UNICEF/UNI578946/Saleh Elaiwa
Over the last five years, measles outbreaks have hit over 100 countries, home to roughly three-quarters of the world’s children.
But we know how to stop it. Measles vaccines are safe and effective. They are the best way to protect children from getting sick with measles and spreading it to others.
As measles cases surge, here are five things you need to know:
UNITED NATIONS, May 7 2025 (IPS)* – Since the Western Sahara War in 1975, Sahrawi refugees have resided in a collection of refugee shelters in the Tindouf province of Algeria.
Sahrawi refugees walk near the Awserd Refugee Camp in the Tindouf Province of Algeria. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider
For over 50 years, these communities have struggled to develop self-sufficiency and have been solely dependent on humanitarian aid for survival, marking one of the most protracted refugee crises in the world.
(UN News)* — Thousands of exhausted Sudanese refugees continue to flee fighting in search of safety in neighbouring Chad, aid teams said on Tuesday , as a third day of drone strikes ripped into the city of Port Sudan.
This refrain echoes through centuries of struggle—from the plantations of Saint Domingue to the besieged neighborhoods of Gaza, from the mineral-rich soil of the Congo to the burning plains of Southern Africa.
— Hunger and Sudan’s horrific war pushed Abdelminime Moussa from his homeland. Sitting in the sand at eastern Chad’s Koursigue refugee camp, the Sudanese father describes how his family fled assailants who surrounded their village in North Darfur, just across the border.
Abdelminime Moussa at the desolate Koursigue refugee camp in eastern Chad. Moussa and his family count amount the millions of refugees who escaped conflict-torn Sudan. Photo: WFP/Lena von Zabern
“We had nothing,” Moussa says of their arrival earlier this year at this desolate camp, sprinkled with white tents, thorn trees and not much else. “I manage as best as I can to feed my children.”
(New York) –The United States should not forcibly transfer migrants to Libya, where inhumane detention conditions are well-documented, including torture, ill-treatment, sexual assault, and unlawful killings, Human Rights Watch said today [9 May 2025].
Based on numerous media reports citing US officials, the Trump administration may be poised to imminently deport an unknown number of detained migrants to Libya.
A million more Somalis could be pushed into severe hunger as recurrent droughts and floods, conflict and high food prices threaten to displace families, disrupt farming, restrict market access and increase humanitarian needs.
In recent months, Somaliland has become a subject of intense, unprecedented interest for the Western media.
Somaliland National Army, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As Israeli and US officials scramble to find a destination to forcibly relocate Gaza’s population from their shattered homeland, the little-acknowledged, unrecognised breakaway statelet is increasingly viewed as an attractive option.
5 May 2025 —Madeleine had already lost her husband a few years earlier and could no longer cope with the escalating violence in her village. She decided to flee, heading for an unknown destination with her grandchildren.
Madeleine in front of her house in Bocaranga. Photo: Patricia Pouhe/NRC