News

Robots beat human records at Beijing half-marathon

Published

7 months ago

April 19, 2026

The winning runner at a Beijing half-marathon for humanoid robots finished the race today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — significantly faster than the human world record of 57 minutes recently set by Jacob Kiplimo.

Comparing human and robot running times may seem unfair; one social media user observed, “my car can outrun a cheetah too.” Still, the winning time is a massive improvement over last year’s race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes. (Back then, I scoffed that this “would not be an impressive time for a human.”)

The Associated Press reports that this year’s winner was built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor. It seems the winning robot wasn’t actually the fastest, as a different Honor robot finished in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But that one was remote controlled — the 50:26 robot was autonomous and won due to weighted scoring.

About 40% of participating robots competed autonomously, while the remaining 60% were remote controlled, according to Beijing’s E-Town tech hub. Not all of them did as well as Honor’s robots, with one robot falling at the starting line and another hitting a barrier.

News

2027: Ex-APM, SDP, PDP candidates supporting Tinubu, he'll get 80% Ekiti votes – Oyebanji

Published

31 minutes ago

November 5, 2026

PlateauReports

The Governor of Ekiti State, Abiodun Oyebanji, on Thursday assured President Bola Tinubu that the past governorship candidates of the Social Democratic Party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Allied Peoples Movement, APM, are supporting his reelection bid.

Speaking during the APC's Ekiti State 2027 presidential campaign rally, the governor said no President has been as good to the people of the state as Tinubu.

Oyebanji said, "Mr President, Ekiti people have spoken and we have listened to the candidates of the SDP, PDP, and APM that we contested the June governorship election together, all three of them are now united to ensure that we deliver Mr President in January.

"I stand to be corrected that since the creation of Ekiti State, no President has been this good to Ekiti people. In May this year, Mr President sent the Vice President to Ekiti twice for us to commission some projects and to campaign. He sent the Vice President with one simple message – if we were happy with the performance of the governor, please return his promise.

"On June 20, the opportunity presented itself, you filed out and returned APC with an unprecedented vote of 85.7 percent, it has never happened in the history of this state, that victory is not for me; it's for Bola Tinubu, it's APC's victory.

"You told the President that you are happy with what he has done in the last four years, evidence said I will do more for Ekiti on one condition – return me back as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

Oyebanji assured Tinubu to relax because he will get 80 percent votes from Ekiti State.

He added: "Mr Vice President sir, our message to Mr President is that 'ki won lofokan bale,' there is no problem in Ekiti State. We have made up our mind that come January 16, we are going to double the tally of what we did in June this year.

"Ekiti is united and I have all the candidates of other political parties that contested with me here, all our former governors, Fayose, Niyi Adebayo, Fayemi are physically present here. Oni sent his apologies, I can say this boldly here that there is no problem in Ekiti.

"We will return the President with nothing less than 80 percent of the votes and that is a charge to Ekiti people."

2027: Ex-APM, SDP, PDP candidates supporting Tinubu, he’ll get 80% Ekiti votes – Oyebanji

Health

British national tests positive for Ebola in DRC

Published

2 hours ago

November 5, 2026

PlateauReports

A British national has tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UK government has confirmed.

According to the BBC, the British man tested positive for the virus while in the DRC. Reuters subsequently reported that he would be medically evacuated to the UK for specialist treatment. However, the exact time of the evacuation was not immediately known.

This marks the first confirmed case of a British national contracting the virus during the ongoing outbreak in the DRC, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives.

Ebola is a viral disease that can cause severe illness and spreads mainly through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person.

Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, muscle pain, weakness, and diarrhoea.

“The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated,” a UK government spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“Further information will be shared in due course as appropriate. The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low.”

Ebola outbreak

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola virus, and was first declared in DRC in May 2026.

According to the latest figures from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the outbreak had recorded 10,563 confirmed cases and 5,130 deaths across five countries as of 1 November 2026.

The DRC accounts for the majority of the cases, with 10,532 confirmed cases and 5,126 deaths. The outbreak has affected eight provinces in the country.

Kenya has recorded nine confirmed cases and two deaths, while Uganda has recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths, alongside one probable case and one probable death.

Nigeria confirmed its first case on 20 October after a traveller with a history of travel to Uganda tested positive for the virus. The patient was subsequently medically evacuated to Switzerland for treatment.

READ ALSO: Resident doctors commend Uba Sani for prioritising healthcare workers’ welfare

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 62 contacts linked to the Nigerian case had been identified and were under follow-up as of 29 October.

Symptoms and transmission

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has explained that Ebola survivors may transmit the virus through sexual intercourse if it persists in their semen after recovery.

However, survivors who have met the criteria for discharge from treatment are not expected to transmit the virus through sweat or saliva, as the virus is cleared from their blood.