A protective shield covering the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine can no longer provide its main containment function following a drone strike earlier this year, according to a UN watchdog.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors found that the massive structure, built over the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, had lost its “primary safety functions including the confinement capability”.
In February, Ukraine accused Russia of targeting the power plant – a claim the Kremlin denied.
The IAEA said repairs were “essential” to “prevent further degradation” of the nuclear shelter. However environmental expert Jim Smith told the BBC: “It is not something to panic about.”
Prof Smith from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, who has studied the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, said the biggest danger linked to the site was disturbing radioactive dust.
But he said that “the risk is low” because contaminated dust is contained within a thick concrete “sarcophagus” which is covered by the protective shield.
The 1986 explosion at Chernobyl blasted radioactive material into the air, triggering a public health emergency across Europe.
In response, the former Soviet Union constructed the sarcophagus over the nuclear reactor.
The sarcophagus only had a 30-year lifespan, prompting the need for the protective shell to prevent radioactive material leaking out over the next 100 years.
The IAEA said a team had completed a safety assessment of the site last week after it was “severely damaged” by the drone strike. The attack caused a fire in the outer cladding of the steel structure.
Inspectors said there was no permanent damage to shell’s load-bearing structures or monitoring systems and some repairs had been carried out on the roof.
But IAEA director general Rafael Grossi, said: “Timely and comprehensive restoration remains essential to prevent further degradation and ensure long-term nuclear safety.”
Since the beginning of December, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has been assessing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as the country continues to defend itself against Russia.
As well as assessing Chernobyl, the IAEA has been inspecting electrical substations linked to nuclear safety and security.
Mr Grossi said: “They are absolutely indispensable for providing the electricity all nuclear power plants need for reactor cooling and other safety systems.
“They are also needed to distribute the electricity that they produce to households and industry.”
In recent months, AI-generated wildlife clips have flooded social media, merging real animal behavior with playful fabrications. From leopards in backyards and raccoons riding crocodiles, to bunnies on trampolines, scientists warn that these digital deepfakes are distorting people’s sense of what the natural world looks like. And when people cannot distinguish real wildlife from digital fiction, conservation loses something essential: A public that understands what is really at stake.
Researchers at the University of Córdoba in Spain have examined how AI-generated wildlife images and videos circulating on social media can distort public understanding of animals and their habitats. The team explores how realistic synthetic content influences people’s perception of species behavior, ecological relationships, and rarity – particularly when those fabricated clips resemble real footage and spread at alarming speed across social platforms.
At first glance, it’s fair to assume these AI generated wildlife videos are harmless: A leopard strolling through a suburban backyard; a fox stealing someone’s mail; a capybara politely sharing a bathtub with a golden retriever. And my personal favorite, bunny gymnastics on the trampoline.
You absolutely know some of it is fake, but the videos are such a distraction it takes a beat to calibrate. And then reality sets in. How could these videos impact public perception of animals and their environment?
The team highlights how quickly these clips can spread. In one prominent case, an AI-generated video of a leopard entering a backyard and being chased off by a house cat earned over a million likes and more than 15,000 shares. The authors argue that such hyper-viral examples show how realistic fabrications can move through social media ecosystems at overwhelming speed, blurring the line between authentic wildlife encounters and synthetic ones.
“They reflect characteristics, behaviors, habitats, or relationships between species that are not real,” said lead author José Guerrero-Casado. “For example, we see predators and pray playing. They show us animals with human behaviors that are far from reality,”
That confusion is exactly what worries conservation scientists. Researchers argue that AI wildlife content is already reshaping how the public understands ecosystems. When fake videos make rare species look common, or portray dangerous animals as harmless companions, the baseline for what nature looks like starts to drift.
If people come to expect to see crocodiles and raccoons hanging out together, the real behavior of these species feels less remarkable, and threats to their survival feel less urgent.
While it may seem hard to grasp that such videos could take hold, believing these pairings is easier than it sounds. Imagine a young child scrolling through Instagram on an older sibling’s phone, for example. A single AI-generated clip of a crocodile and a raccoon playing then triggers the algorithm, and suddenly their feed is filled with similar scenes.
Without anyone to tell them otherwise, these fabrications become familiar. And once something feels familiar, the brain treats it as normal.
If nothing more accurate replaces that impression, the child risks growing up with a distorted baseline for how wildlife behaves and where animals belong. Especially if the videos continue to flood social media unchecked. Multiply that by millions of viewers, year after year, and the gap between digital nature and the real world widens.
For conservation groups that rely on public trust and accurate storytelling, this shift is significant. The more these fabricated moments spread across social feeds, the harder it becomes to communicate what species actually need, what habitats really look like, and how fragile many ecosystems already are.
Researchers point out that these fabrications distort three key realities: how rare an animal is, how it behaves, and where it belongs. A species that exists in only a handful of protected regions might suddenly appear in suburban neighborhoods. Predators seem gentle. Habitat boundaries dissolve.
The more these clips circulate, the easier it becomes for people to misjudge population health, misunderstand risks, or overlook the urgency of protecting the ecosystems that keep these species alive.
The clips may be digital, but the consequences are not.
Scientists studying this trend say the solution isn’t to abandon AI outright, but to understand and educate how quickly it can reshape public perception. Many conservation efforts rely on showing people what is rare, fragile, or threatened, and that depends on trust. When AI-generated wildlife becomes more visible than the real thing, that trust erodes.
“There is already a total disconnect between citizens and wildlife, which is particularly pronounced among primary school children, as we saw in the IncluScienceMe project, which demonstrates a lack of knowledge of local fauna among young children,” said co-author Rocío Serrano. “These videos create false connections with nature, as vulnerable species appear more abundant in these videos, and that is negative for conservation.”
Researchers recommend clear labeling, improvements in platform oversight, and encouraging transparency about what is real and what is synthetic. But they also stress the need for education. If people understand how these clips are made, and why they spread so easily, they are far less likely to mistake them for authentic encounters.
The reality is, now more than ever, what we see online shapes what we believe about the natural world. If AI-generated wildlife keeps filling our feeds, it becomes harder to remember how extraordinary real animals are and how vulnerable many of them have become. The clips may be entertaining, but the ecosystems they imitate are already under strain, and they cannot compete with the speed or sensational pull of a synthetic nature.
The more we learn to tell the difference, the more clearly we can see what is at stake. Real conservation begins with deep respect and understanding, and that starts with knowing which moments in our feeds come from living landscapes and which ones come from a machine.
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Bill Gates tells Al Jazeera about setbacks slowing efforts to reduce the global child mortality rate, as child deaths are projected to rise for the first time this century.
Soldiers in the West African nation of Benin have announced on national TV that they have ousted President Patrice Talon and seized power.
A message from the French embassy in Benin said gunfire had been reported near the residence of the president in the main city of Cotonou.
The soldiers also announced a suspension of the constitution, the closure of all land borders as well as the country’s airspace.
But officials close to the president say he is fine and that the small group of soldiers at the TV station did not have the backing of the regular army.
“The situation is under control. A large part of the army is still loyalist – and we are taking over the situation,” Foreign Minister Shegun Adjadi Bakari told Reuters news agency.
An unnamed person in the presidency told the AFP news agency: “This is a small group of people who only control the television. The city and the country are completely secure.”
According to the statement read out by the soldiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Tigri Pascal will be leading a military transition council.
They justified their actions by criticising President Talon’s management of the country.
Talon, 67, is due to step down next year after completing his second term in office, with elections scheduled for April.
A businessman known as the “king of cotton”, he first came to power in an election in 2016. He had promised not to seek a third term and had already named a successor.
The French Embassy has urged its citizens to stay indoors for their safety.
Benin has been regarded as one of Africa’s more stable democracies. It is the continent’s largest cotton producers, but ranks among the world’s poorest countries.
This apparent coup in Benin comes just over a week after Umaro Sissoco Embaló was overthrown as president in nearby Guinea-Bissau.
In recent years, there have been several coups in West Africa, including in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, heightening fears that the security of the region could worsen.
Benin has seen a rise in jihadist activity in recent years, as groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaeda spread to the south.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.
“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”
While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.”
Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”
On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.
“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”
He said the US should help.
“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”
The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”
JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway.
Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”
Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies.
The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.
Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.
“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”
A neo-Nazi march has been held in Sweden’s capital for the first time in 15 years, bringing together far-right white supremacist groups. Police gave permission for the rally to go ahead, to commemorate the killing of a 17-year-old with extremist ties, that used to be held annually in the early 2000s. Al Jazeera’s Nils Adler was there.
US President Donald Trump has pardoned Timothy Leiweke, the former Oak View Group CEO, who was indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly rigging bids on a University of Texas arena project.
The clemency document was released Tuesday (December 2), resolving criminal charges brought by Trump’s own Justice Department in July against Leiweke, who had served as CEO of the venue development company.
A federal grand jury accused him of “orchestrating a conspiracy” to manipulate the bidding process for what became the $338 millionMoodyCenter arena in Austin.
Leiweke had pleaded not guilty to charges carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The indictment alleged he arranged for rival Legends Hospitality to withdraw from bidding in exchange for subcontracts on the project, leaving OakView Group as the sole qualified bidder.
In July, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said: “As outlined in the indictment, the Defendant rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding.
According to court documents cited by MBW in July, Leiweke learned in September 2017 that another venue-services company planned to compete for the arena contract. He told colleagues he wanted to “find a way to get [the competitor] some of the business” and “get them to back down.”
By November 2017, Leiweke informed others he was willing to talk to the competitor about not bidding in exchange for subcontracts, but had “no interest in working with them if they intend on putting in a bid,” according to the indictment.
In February of 2018, Leiweke allegedly reached an agreement with the competitor’s CEO, “pursuant to which the competitor agreed that it would stand down and neither submit nor join an independent competing bid for the Arena Project”.
The Moody Center opened in April 2022. Oak View continues to generate revenue from the venue, according to the DOJ.
In connection with the allegations, Oak View agreed to pay $15 million in penalties, while Legends Hospitality paid $1.5 million. A separate non-prosecution agreement between the DOJ and Oak View also detailed a kickback arrangement with a ticketing company, which TicketNews and Billboard identify as LiveNation-owned Ticketmaster.
CNN reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Leiweke’s legal team included former Representative TreyGowdy, a Trump ally who lobbied the Justice Department to drop the case or grant him clemency.
Leiweke’s choice of representation was notable given his past criticism of Trump on social media, where he previously described the president as the world’s “single greatest Con man” and praised former Vice President MikePence for “standing up and fighting for the Constitution,” CNN reported, citing now-deleted tweets.
Most recently Leiweke spoke of his “profound gratitude” to Trump. In a statement to CNN, he said: “This has been a long and difficult journey for my wife, my daughter, and me. The President has given us a new lease on life with which we will be grateful and good stewards.”
DavidGerger, Leiweke’s attorney, called the pardon “the right result,” the report said.
“This has been a long and difficult journey for my wife, my daughter, and me. The President has given us a new lease on life with which we will be grateful and good stewards.”
Timothy Leiweke, Oak View Group
The pardon marks another unexpected clemency decision by Trump in recent days, following recent pardons for former Honduran President JuanOrlandoHernández, convicted on drug-trafficking charges, and Texas Democratic Representative HenryCuellar and his wife, who faced bribery allegations.
The clemency came one day after Oak View namedChrisGranger as permanent chief executive following Leiweke’s resignation after the charges were filed.
“We are happy for Tim that he can now put this matter behind him. OVG has remained steadfastly focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients under the leadership of our CEO Chris Granger.”
Oak View Group Spokesperson
Following Trump’s pardon, a spokesperson for Oak View told CNN: “We are happy for Tim that he can now put this matter behind him. OVG has remained steadfastly focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients under the leadership of our CEO Chris Granger.”
Before co-founding Oak View Group in 2015, Leiweke spent years in sports management. He previously served as president of the DenverNuggets from 1991 to 1995 and led several other professional sports franchises during his career.
Russia continued its aerial attacks on Ukraine overnight, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a “very constructive” phone call with Donald Trump’s negotiating team following three days of talks in Florida.
The mayor of Kremenchuk, a major industrial hub in central Ukraine, said the city was repeatedly struck in a “massive” attack. No deaths have been confirmed so far.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 77 Ukrainian drones in several locations.
Aerial assaults have continued even as efforts to negotiate an end to the war have intensified, including detailed Ukraine-US talks in Miami aimed at drafting a peace settlement acceptable to both sides.
On Saturday, Zelensky said he was “determined” to continue working with the US after speaking to Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at the conclusion of those negotiations.
Zelensky said they had discussed how to ensure that Russia stuck to any potential deal to end the war.
Hours later, Vitaliy Maletsk, the mayor of Kremenchuk, said his city had sustained a “massive combined strike” on its infrastructure. The extent of the damage was unclear as of Sunday morning but the mayor said water, electricity and heat had been cut off for some.
The city, which is roughly halfway between Kyiv and the frontline in the east, has been repeatedly targeted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The White House has pushed both Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a multi-point plan to end the war but there has been little sign of a breakthrough, despite both sides engaging with the US-led process.
“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelensky said on X.
“We covered many aspects and went through key points that could ensure an end to the bloodshed and eliminate the threat of a new Russian full scale invasion.”
The Russian strikes in the early hours of Sunday followed a wider attack 24 hours earlier, which drew condemnation from Kyiv’s European allies.
In a social media post, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Zelensky and offered his “full solidarity”.
“France is determined to work with all partners to secure de-escalation measures and to impose a ceasefire,” Macron added.
Macron, Zelensky, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are due to hold in-person talks in London on Monday.
Europe has pushed back against early versions of the US-led peace plan and has sought to win support from the White House for its own proposals, including comprehensive security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, including the possibility of a peacekeeping force.
Sir Keir has led the push for a so-called coalition of the willing, a loose collection of Ukrainian allies who are committed to continuing to underwrite Kyiv’s defence in the event of a ceasefire to deter a second invasion. He has called that proposal “vital” for Ukraine’s long-term security.
Also on Saturday, US and Ukrainian negotiators urged Russia to show a “serious commitment to long-term peace”.
The join statement was issued days after Witkoff returned from talks with Putin at the Kremlin which failed to produce a breakthrough.
Witkoff and Rustem Umerov, newly installed as Zelensky’s most senior negotiator, said they had “agreed on the framework of security arrangements” and “discussed necessary deterrence capabilities to sustain a lasting peace”.
