A baby female hippo made her first trip outside her enclosure at Basel Zoo in Switzerland after being born May 3. Newborn hippo Serena and her mother Helvetia went for a walk and took a swim in the small river in the outdoor area on June 1. The zoo reported the 29-year-old mother went through the birth without problems and has been taking good care of the calf. Hippos give birth and suckle their young exclusively in bodies of water, one of the safest places in nature for this species. Baby hippo Serena and her mother Helvetia go for a…
Author: zenger.news
An Israeli architecture student used colorful Lego bricks to spruce up a wall damaged during last month’s rocket attacks. Raz Sror, an architecture student at Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, is based in the satellite town of Ramat Gan, a municipality adjacent to Tel Aviv. The area was affected by rocket fire last month. The attack followed tensions over Israeli policing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the planned evictions of Palestinians from the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem. Militant terrorist group Hamas fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem and other cities. Israel responded by…
KAMPALA, Uganda — On the morning of June 1, shooters ambushed Uganda’s minister of Works and Transport and former Army commander General Edward Katumba Wamala’s convoy near his home in the capital Kampala, killing his daughter and driver and injuring him. The statements released by both police and the army said four assailants on two motorcycles with hidden number plates trailed Wamala from his home in Kampala for 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) before spraying his vehicle with bullets soon before 9 a.m. Wamala traveled with his daughter, Brenda Nantogo, 26, who had just returned to the country after completing her Master’s…
LOKICHAR, Kenya — When Kenyan President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta announced in August 2019 that the country had joined the oil-exporting nations, Abraham Lokopir, a businessman in Lokichar, Turkana County, saw an opportunity. “I took a bank loan and built a hotel and lodgings thinking we were headed into oil production big time,” he told Zenger News. “I was targeting the workers in the oil project, but now the town is empty, and my businesses have all failed and left me deep in debt. I am doomed!” Since the maiden sale of 200,000 barrels of crude to the United Kingdom-based ChemChina UK…
A 42-year-old elephant at Hagenbeck Zoo has been selected to try to predict team results at the UEFA European Championship this month. Yashoda, the oldest elephant at the Hamburg, Germany, zoo, was chosen to predict outcomes of the German national team. She will make the “predictions” a day before the game by sniffing and picking [what could turn out to be] the winning flag out of a box. If she pulls both flags at the same time, the expected result would be a draw. “Our female elephant Yashoda is predestined for the predictions,” animal keeper Michael Schmidt said. “She is…
MELBOURNE, Australia — Victoria Police will have 450 officers patrolling the state’s roads to make sure Melbourne residents comply with Covid restrictions. The rules have been eased in regional Victoria, and police say there is a risk people will be tempted to break the rules over the weekend and head to country Victoria. “Please do not bother, we have an enormous amount of police dedicated to this operation to ensure that people do comply with the chief health officer’s directions,” said Rick Nugent, Deputy Commissioner, on June 4. He said the state’s tourist hotspots would be a particular focus. Commissioner Nugent warned people…
SYDNEY — Financial regulators are keeping an eye on Australia’s booming housing market, but at this stage, they are comfortable that lending standards have not been relaxed. New lending figures for April are released on June 4, which potentially will see a further rise in new housing loans after increasing 5.5 percent to a record high in March, to be a huge 55.3 percent higher than a year earlier. The strength in lending has gone hand-in-hand with rising house prices, which nationally stand over 10 percent higher than a year earlier. Lending has largely been secured by owner-occupiers, and particularly first…
PARRAMATTA, Australia — As a police officer, David Vidal has seen many bodies, but he cannot rid himself of the moment he had to identify his high-achieving son. “That image of Aaron on the table, lying with his life and soul squeezed out of him, replays in my head again and again,” said Vidal, Chief Inspector, to Parramatta District Court on June 4. “I cannot burn that from my memory.” Constable Aaron Vidal, an expectant father in his dream career alongside his father in the New South Wales Police Force, was killed on his way home from work in June 2020. The four-year Army…
SYDNEY — The weary New South Wales Labor Party will meet on June 4 for the first time since its leader Jodi McKay stepped down, sparking a drawn-out process to choose her successor. Kogarah Member of Parliament Chris Minns and former leader Michael Daley are expected to put their names forward once nominations for the leadership open at the caucus meeting at 11am. Daley, who represents the seat of Maroubra, says he already has the 15 signatures he needs to back his nomination. His younger rival, Minns, is confident he’ll exceed the threshold and take over the leadership role. More than 20…
MELBOURNE, Australia — New Zealanders trapped in Victoria due to the Covid-19 lockdown will soon be able to return after completing a fortnight in quarantine-like conditions. Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins claimed that Kiwis would have completed a fortnight in isolation and would be able to return home from June 9 if they had not been to an exposure site and could produce a recent negative test. “With a negative test, we can have a good degree of confidence that the risk of them coming home with Covid is very low,” he said. Following the Victorian Government’s decision to extend their lockdown restrictions, New…