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US begins evacuation of staff, lists 23 states under ‘Do Not Travel’ category

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The United States of America on Wednesday, April 8, ordered the immediate evacuation of staff across its embassy and other establishments in Nigeria.

In a travel advisory issued by the Department of State, the US urged its citizens to reconsider plans of travelling to Nigeria due to crime, unrest, kidnapping, terrorism and inconsistent availability of healthcare services.

The US also advised its citizens against travelling to states like Plateau, Jigawa, Kwara, Niger, Taraba, Borno, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Yobe and Adamawa states.

According to the advisory, the above-listed states are riddled with a high level of crime, terrorism and kidnapping.

It also listed Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara states as being a haven for unrest, crime, and kidnapping while Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers states (with the exception of Port Harcourt) are to be avoided due to crime, kidnapping, and unrest.

The advisory said, “On April 8, 2026, the Department of State authorised non-emergency U.S. government employees and U.S. government employee family members to leave U.S. Embassy Abuja due to the deteriorating security situation.

“Violent crime is common throughout Nigeria. This includes armed robbery, assault, carjacking, kidnapping, hostage-taking, roadside banditry, and rape.

“Kidnappings for ransom happen often. They primarily target dual national citizens visiting Nigeria. Americans are perceived as wealthy and are often targets of crime and kidnapping.

“Kidnapping gangs have stopped drivers on interstate roads in order to rob and kidnap victims,” the US Department of State said.

In addition, it noted that terrorists are collaborating with local gangs to plot and carry out attacks in Nigeria without warning in soft target places like shops, malls, markets, hotels, places of worship, schools, government facilities among others.

It further warned that Americans should not expect the same level of health care to be available in Nigeria as they do in the United States because Nigerian medical facilities are generally not equipped to U.S. or European standards.

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Deezer says 44% of songs uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated

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Deezer announced on Monday that AI-generated tracks now represent 44% of all new music uploaded to its platform. The company said it’s receiving almost 75,000 AI-generated tracks per day and more than two million per month.

The consumption of AI-generated music on the platform is still very low, at 1-3% of total streams, and 85% of these streams are detected as fraudulent and demonetized by the company.

The latest figure from Deezer highlights a continuous surge in AI-generated music uploads to the platform. Deezer reported receiving around 60,000 AI tracks per day in January, up from 50,000 in November, 30,000 in September, and just 10,000 in January 2025, when it first launched its AI-music detection tool.

Songs tagged as AI-generated on Deezer are automatically removed from algorithmic recommendations and not included in editorial playlists. The company announced today that it will no longer store hi-res versions of AI tracks.

The updated figure comes as an AI-generated track topped the iTunes charts last week in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, and New Zealand.

“AI-generated music is now far from a marginal phenomenon and as daily deliveries keep increasing, we hope the whole music ecosystem will join us in taking action to help safeguard artists’ rights and promote transparency for fans,” said Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier in a press release. “Thanks to our technology and the proactive measures we put in place more than a year ago, we have shown that it’s possible to reduce AI-related fraud and payment dilution in streaming to a minimum.”

Today’s announcement comes as Deezer conducted a survey last November that found that 97% of participants couldn’t tell the difference between fully AI-generated music and human-made music.

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The survey also found that 52% of respondents said 100% AI-generated songs shouldn’t be included in charts alongside human-made songs in the main charts. Meanwhile, 80% said 100% AI-generated music should be clearly labeled for listeners.

Deezer first started tagging AI tracks at the platform level in June 2025, becoming the first streaming platform to do so. Over the course of 2025, Deezer tagged more than 13.4 million AI tracks on its platform.

In February, French streaming service Qobuz announced plans to tag AI-generated content on its platform. Other major streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music, take different approaches to AI-generated music, often combining the use of filters to identify low-quality AI music with other transparency efforts left up to the distributors.

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NiMet forecasts rainfall, sunshine nationwide

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The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has predicted rainy and sunny weather nationwide from Monday to Wednesday.

‎‎NiMet’s weather outlook released on Sunday predicted sunny skies over the northern region on Monday morning, with a chance of thunderstorms.

‎‎NiMet anticipated moderate rains over parts of Taraba and Adamawa.

‎According to the agency, isolated thunderstorms with moderate rainfall are possible over parts of Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Adamawa, and Taraba during the afternoon or evening hours.

‎‎For the North-Central region, a cloudy atmosphere with intervals of sunshine is anticipated during the morning hours, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and moderate rainfall over Niger, Kogi, Kwara, and the FCT.

‎‎There is a risk of thunderstorms with moderate rainfall over parts of the Plateau, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory later in the day.

‎‎NiMet envisaged a cloudy atmosphere over the southern region during the morning hours, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and moderate rainfall over parts of Abia, Enugu, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom.

‎‎The agency predicted isolated thunderstorms accompanied by moderate rains over parts of Oyo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Osun, Ekiti, Anambra, Ondo, Ogun, Edo, Imo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Lagos, Cross River and Akwa Ibom later in the day.

‎‎NiMet forecasted sunny skies over the northern region during the morning hours on Tuesday.

‎According to the agency, there is a possibility of thunderstorms accompanied by moderate rainfall over parts of Kaduna, Adamawa and Taraba during the afternoon and evening hours.

‎‎The agency predicted a cloudy atmosphere in the North-Central region, with intervals of sunshine in the morning.‎

There is a risk of thunderstorms accompanied by moderate rainfall over parts of Benue, the Federal Capital Territory, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Plateau during the afternoon or evening hours.

‎‎For the southern region, a cloudy atmosphere is anticipated during the morning hours, with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and light rains over parts of Enugu, Imo, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom.

‎‎There is a possibility of isolated thunderstorms accompanied by moderate rainfall over parts of Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Cross River, and Akwa Ibom States during the afternoon or evening hours.

‎‎NiMet predicted sunny skies over the northern region during the morning hours on Wednesday. ‎‎It anticipated thunderstorms, with or without rain, over parts of Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Adamawa.

‎‎The agency predicted isolated thunderstorms accompanied by moderate rains over parts of Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba and Adamawa later in the day.

NiMet predicted a cloudy atmosphere in the North-Central region, with intervals of sunshine anticipated during the morning hours.

‎‎There is a possibility of isolated thunderstorms with moderate rainfall over parts of Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger, Benue, and the Federal Capital Territory during the afternoon or evening hours.

‎For the southern region, a cloudy atmosphere with intervals of sunshine is anticipated during the morning hours.

Later in the day, thunderstorms with moderate rains are expected over the entire southern region.

‎‎NiMet urged the public to take adequate precautions and ensure that loose objects are secured to prevent collisions, as strong winds may precede rainfall in areas where thunderstorms are likely.

(NAN)

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