Japan lifts postwar ban on lethal weapons exports
Japan has approved a sweeping reform of its defense export rules, ending decades-old restrictions that limited overseas sales to non-combat equipment. The decision, adopted by the cabinet under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, allows Japanese manufacturers to sell lethal weapons abroad for the first time since the end of World War II. The shift......
Iran war drives global battery storage surge in 2026
The conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran has accelerated global investment in battery storage, intensifying a shift already underway in power systems worldwide. Falling battery costs and rising electricity demand, driven in part by data centers, had set the stage for rapid expansion. The war has amplified this trend by pushing......
Moonshot releases kimi k2.6 to challenge leading us ai models
Moonshot AI has launched Kimi K2.6, an open-weight model designed to compete directly with leading systems developed by OpenAI and Anthropic. The Beijing-based firm made the model weights freely available on Hugging Face, positioning the release as a challenge to proprietary approaches that dominate the current artificial intelligence landscape. Benchmark......
GitHub halts Copilot subscriptions as AI coding costs surge
GitHub, owned by Microsoft, has frozen new subscriptions to its Copilot Pro, Pro+ and Student plans starting April 20, citing unsustainable computing demands driven by AI coding agents. The move follows internal concerns that resource consumption has outpaced the service’s pricing structure, with some individual requests now costing......
Fungus from NASA clean rooms survives simulated Mars journey conditions
A fungus discovered in ultra-clean assembly facilities used by NASA could withstand the extreme conditions of a journey to Mars and persist on the planet’s surface, according to new research that raises concerns about biological contamination beyond Earth. The findings, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, provide the......
Mit study identifies molecules that let gut neurons detect bacteria
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified the molecular signals that allow gut neurons to distinguish between beneficial and harmful bacteria. The work reveals a chemical communication system between microbes and the nervous system that may also exist in humans. The findings, published in Current Biology in April......
White House signals financial support for UAE amid Iran war risks
The White House said the United States is prepared to provide financial support to the United Arab Emirates if the ongoing war with Iran worsens the country’s economic outlook. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett stated that such assistance remains a contingency measure and is not expected to be required under current conditions. The......
UAE warns of yuan oil trade shift over dollar access
The United Arab Emirates has warned it may begin settling oil and gas transactions in Chinese yuan if the United States does not provide a dollar liquidity backstop. The message was delivered during high-level meetings in Washington between the UAE central bank governor Khaled Mohamed Balama, US Treasury officials, and Federal Reserve representatives.......
Dubai probes death of Egyptian doctor Diaa El Awadhi
The Egyptian doctor and social media nutrition figure Diaa El Awadhi has died in Dubai under circumstances still under official investigation. Authorities in United Arab Emirates have not confirmed a final cause of death or whether criminal factors were involved. His disappearance and the delayed discovery of his body triggered widespread......
Ukraine raises alarm over cultural plunder as Russia returns to Venice Biennale
When Alina Dotsenko returned to the Kherson Art Museum after Ukrainian forces recaptured the southern city in late 2022, she found storage rooms and shelves stripped bare. The museum's director, who had devoted five decades to building the institution, described collapsing against a wall in shock at the scale of what had been taken. Before......
France takes center stage at Rabat's international book fair in May 2026
France will serve as the guest of honor at the 31st edition of the Salon International de l'Édition et du Livre (SIEL) in Rabat, running from May 1 to 10, 2026. The designation carries particular symbolic weight this year: France is hosting the fair as an honored guest just one year after Morocco was granted the same distinction......
ISGA engineering school earns EUR-ACE accreditation across all campuses
The ISGA Engineering School has obtained the EUR-ACE accreditation for all its engineering programs and campuses, confirming its alignment with European standards in engineering education. The certification was granted following a rigorous evaluation led by the Commission des Titres d’Ingénieur under the authority of the European......
EMSI gains doctoral accreditation, marking shift in Morocco engineering education
The Moroccan School of Engineering Sciences has secured official accreditation for its doctoral program., becoming the first private engineering school in Morocco authorized to train PhD candidates in engineering sciences. The move signals a structural change in the country’s higher education system, where private institutions are taking......
China warns of El Niño risk as fossil fuel pressures rise
China’s national climate authorities have signaled the likely emergence of an El Niño event beginning in May 2026, with effects expected to persist through the end of the year. The forecast raises concerns about rising global temperatures and increased climate volatility, though experts caution against early claims of a “super......
Casablanca to launch 2026 WSL junior series season in May
Casablanca will host the opening event of the 2026 Junior Qualifying Series, marking the start of the World Surf League season for Europe and Africa. The Morocco Mall Junior Pro Casablanca will take place from May 6 to May 10 at Ain Diab beach. The competition targets surfers under 20 and introduces a joint format that allows participants......