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A survey of the world’s largest free-roaming giant tortoise population has discovered that the once endangered species is thriving. A population of Aldabra giant tortoises lives on an island in Seychelles called Aldabra Atoll. The most recent survey, led by Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and the University of Exeter, revealed there were approximately 180,000 tortoises living on the island. This is the highest figure ever recorded for the species and far exceeds the human population of Seychelles. The new figure was obtained by a team who analysed five years of tortoise counts between 2018 and 2022. It is the first...

he United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladi­mir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to U.S., European and Arab officials. The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with...

A German businessman on trial for selling graphite to Iran to make rocket nozzles has admitted the offense. At the opening of his trial on April 8, the 63-year-old businessman on trial for selling Iran 16 tons of graphite to make rocket nozzles initially rejected all 12 counts of the indictment. However, in a statement read out by his lawyers, he has now admitted to the offense.