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Dangote Refinery says it does not import refined petroleum products into Nigeria, insisting that all petrol and other fuels sold from its operations are fully refined locally. The clarification was made by the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, Mr David Bird, during a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos, amid allegations over fuel importation and local refining capacity. Bird explained that materials often mistaken for imported fuel were, in fact, intermediate feedstocks used to optimise refinery operations. He said these include high catalytic sulphur gasoline and straight-run naphtha, unfinished components that undergo extensive processing at the Lekki-based facility before becoming market-ready products. “We do not import refined fuel. Everything sold as petrol, diesel or aviation fuel is refined here in Lekki to Nigerian and international Euro-V standards,” Bird said. According to him, the use of intermediate feedstocks is standard practice in complex and me...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says more than 200 repair crews are working to restore power in Kyiv following widespread deadly Russian attacks targeting the country's energy sector. More than 1,100 apartment buildings in the capital are still without power, Zelensky said, adding that he had spoken to officials about supporting communities in other affected parts of Ukraine. In the eastern Ukrainian town of Druzhkivka, seven people were killed and fifteen injured in Russian cluster bomb strikes, the regional head said. Moscow has recently renewed its attacks after a week-long pause that US President Donald Trump had asked Vladimir Putin to observe as a fierce cold swept Ukraine. Meanwhile, US, Ukrainian and Russian officials are again meeting in Abu Dhabi to discuss details of a peace plan. However, there a few signs a breakthrough is imminent during the second round of such trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates. Russia launched a full-scale invasion ...

French police raided X offices in Paris on Tuesday as part of an investigation into the company’s use of algorithms and its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. The search was carried out by the  Paris public prosecutor’s cybercrime unit , which then summoned Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino to give evidence on April 20, according to Reuters . French prosecutors had opened the probe in 2025 following a complaint by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms  on the platform were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system. Authorities are now examining suspected algorithm abuse and fraudulent data extraction by X or the platform's executives, prosecutors said. The investigation has also broadened to include Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s company xAI and integrated into the platform, Reuters said. Britain’s privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, also said on Tuesday in a ...

Morocco  have decided to appeal a ruling that resulted in fines of $415,000 and match bans because of a chaotic Africa Cup of Nations  final, their federation said Tuesday. CAF, African football's governing body, last month fined the host and  Senegal  over unrest at last month's final in the Moroccan capital. Senegal won the game 1-0 after extra time  and decided not to appeal the ruling. The Moroccan federation and national team player Ismael Saibari  were issued fines totalling $415,000. Saibari and a teammate were also banned from games. During the final, ball boys tried to seize a towel belonging to Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy,  apparently to distract him, an incident that alone led to a $200,000 fine for the host. Morocco see CAF's sanctions as disproportionate to the incidents. "Given the incompatibility of these sanctions with the scale and severity of the incidents (...), the FRMF has decided to appeal these decision...

SINGAPORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Germany is "not in equidistance" from the United States and China, and will always be closer to Washington despite recent tensions, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said in Singapore on Monday. At a lecture hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Wadephul said the United States remains the most important partner for Europe and Germany and that Europe remains dependent on it for its security, despite issues that are currently "alienating" Washington from the region. Trump administration officials have been critical of European countries for failing to meet NATO spending targets and for being too dependent on the United States for their own defence. "Running with open arms to President Xi and saying all our problems vanished in this very moment and we are only heading to become your big partner, this would be the wrong answer," he said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Western nat...

Elon Musk just became the first person ever worth $800 billion or more after his rocket maker SpaceX acquired his artificial intelligence and social media company xAI.  Forbes  estimates that the deal, which values the combined company at $1.25 trillion, boosted Musk’s fortune by $84 billion, to a record $852 billion. Before the deal, Musk owned an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX worth $336 billion, based on a tender offer launched in December that valued the privately-held rocket maker at $800 billion. He also owned an estimated 49% stake in xAI worth $122 billion, based on a private fundraising round that valued that company at $250 billion earlier this month. After the merger, which valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion,  Forbes  estimates that Musk now owns a 43% stake in the combined company worth $542 billion. That makes SpaceX Musk’s most valuable asset by far. He also owns a 12% stake in Tesla worth $178 billion and Tesla stock option...

Ukraine's sports minister has called Fifa president Gianni Infantino "irresponsible" and "infantile" for saying that world football's governing body will look at lifting a ban on Russia. Russian national teams and clubs were suspended from all competitions  by Fifa and Uefa in February 2022 after the country's invasion of Ukraine. With the war still going on, Infantino has said  "this ban has not achieved anything" and "has just created more frustration and hatred". He added: "Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help." In response, Ukraine sports minister Matvii Bidnyi  said in a social media post:, external  "Gianni Infantino's words sound irresponsible - not to say infantile. "They detach football from the reality in which children are being killed. "Let me remind you that since the start of Russia's full-scale aggression, mor...

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has spoken out against banning Russia and Israel from international football — and also defended awarding U.S. President Donald Trump the FIFA Peace Prize in December. Both FIFA, the world governing body, and its European counterpart UEFA banned the Russian national team from competing in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine. There have been calls for FIFA and UEFA to impose a similar ban on Israel because of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the country’s support of settlements in Palestinian territories. Although Russia’s ban is yet to be lifted, Infantino claimed it “has not achieved anything” and revealed he will be looking at removing the ban, as well as potentially changing FIFA’s statutes to prevent similar sanctions in the future. Infantino was speaking in an hour-long, in-person interview with Yalda Hakim, host of The World on Sky News,  which was released online on Monday afternoon. “We have to,” Infantino responded when asked ...

GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Israel on Monday reopened the Rafah crossing to a trickle of Palestinians for the first time in months, a major step in a U.S.-backed plan to end the war, though strict Israeli security checks slowed the process. The  Rafah crossing,  standing amidst rubble and ruins, is the sole route in or out for nearly all of Gaza's more than 2 million residents. It was largely shut for most of the war, and reopening it to allow even limited access to the outside world is one of the last steps required under the initial phase of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October. The crossing reopened around 9 a.m. on Monday morning. Some 50 Palestinians had been expected to enter the enclave with a similar number exiting. Many of those seeking to depart are hospital patients awaiting specialised medical care outside Gaza. By nightfall, Israel had permitted 12 Palestinians to reenter the enclave, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said. A further...

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States will resume nuclear talks on Friday in Turkey, Iranian and U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned that with big U.S. warships heading to Iran, bad things would probably happen if a deal could not be reached. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will meet in Istanbul in an effort to revive diplomacy over a long-running dispute about Iran's nuclear programme and dispel fears of a new regional war, while a regional diplomat said representatives from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt would also participate. US NAVAL BUILDUP NEAR IRAN Tensions are running high amid a U.S. naval buildup near Iran, following a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations last month, the deadliest domestic unrest in Iran since its 1979 revolution. Trump, who stopped short of carrying out threats to intervene during the crackdown, has sin...

SINGAPORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Commodities markets slumped on Monday, led by deep losses in gold, silver, oil and industrial metals, as the choice of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair unleashed selling in risk assets that sent precious metals tumbling for a second session. Gold slid 5% to its lowest in more than two weeks, while silver fell more than 7%, following records hit by both metals last week. Oil , dropped nearly 5%, easing from multi-month highs, and London Metal Exchange copper fell 3%. "The decision by markets to sell precious metals alongside U.S. equities suggests investors view Warsh as more hawkish," said Vivek Dhar, a commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). A hawkish Fed signals interest rates will stay higher for longer, supporting the dollar and raising the opportunity cost of gold and silver, dimming their appeal. "A stronger U.S. dollar is also adding pressure on precious metals and other commodities, including oil a...

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Kremlin security official, said in remarks released for publication on Monday that the world was getting very dangerous, but that Russia did not want a global conflict. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered the biggest confrontation between the West and Moscow since the depths of the Cold War, though U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys are trying to negotiate an end to the war with Russia and Ukraine. Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, a kind of modern-day politburo of Russia's most powerful officials, praised Trump  and said it was encouraging that contacts had resumed with Washington. But Medvedev, who has repeatedly hurled invective at Kyiv and Western powers while warning of the risks of an escalation of the war towards a nuclear "apocalypse", said the West had repeatedly ignored Russian interests. "The situation is very dangerous," Medvedev ...