GABORONE, Botswana — Hopes of a quick military intervention by African armies against the Islamic State insurgents in Mozambique were dashed after African presidents failed to turn up to receive a crucial report. Four presidents from the South African Development Community failed to meet on April 29 to consider a report on deploying troops to fight the militants in Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. The presidents are Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi of Botswana, the chairperson of the committee; Filiipe Jacinto Nyusi of Mozambique; Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa; and Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe. They make up the block’s committee…
Author: zenger.news
DÉTROIT, États-Unis — Ambas Bay is a small cove roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of the Cameroonian city of Douala that opens into the Gulf of Guinea. A British missionary, Alfred Saker, purchased land along the Ambas Bay coast to establish a settlement for freed slaves in 1858. More than 160 years later, this historical fact takes on new meaning as Cameroon enters its fourth year of a protracted civil conflict, dubbed the “Anglophone Crisis” in the international press. The conflict pits the central government in the capital, Yaoundé, and two Anglophone provinces, which developed out of Ambas Bay named…
SYDNEY — Australian state Queensland’s most endangered mammal has reached a significant milestone with conservationists saying their population has grown above 300. When the northern hairy-nosed wombat was first surveyed in the early 1980s there were just 35 found in Queensland. In 1992, the mammal was listed as endangered in Queensland under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992, but as critically endangered nationally under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 lays down a legal framework for the protection and management of fauna, flora, heritage places, and ecological communities, both on…
CANBERRA, Australia — Biosecurity controls will be beefed up in a bid to protect Australian agriculture from devastating diseases and pests. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on May 4 travel to Beef 2021 in Rockhampton to make an AUD 371 million ($287.09 million) funding announcement one week ahead of the federal budget. “Australia’s biosecurity system protects AUD 42 billion ($32.50 billion) in inbound tourism, AUD 53 billion ($41.01 billion) in agricultural exports, and 1.6 million Australian jobs across the supply chain,” Morrison said. “This investment is about building a protective ring around Australia to safeguard our industry as well as the…
CANBERRA, Australia — A lot of environmental harm can occur in two years, senators have been warned as they probe planned changes to protection laws. Threatened Species Recovery Hub director Brendan Wintle said Australia was already a world-leader in extinctions. Since 1985 threatened bird populations have declined by 50 percent or more. “We’re in a really dreadful situation. We really need positive change,” Wintle told a Senate inquiry in Canberra on April 4. Australia’s environmental protection laws were recently declared as not fit for purpose in a once-in-a-decade review of the bill. Former competition watchdog Professor Graeme Samuel led the review…
A panda cub is perfecting her climbing skills in her playpen at a theme park in Japan. “Fuhin” Kaedehama is a giant panda cub at Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture. In the newest video from the park, the young panda can be seen discovering a log play set in her pen. The cub enthusiastically starts climbing on it, charging up and then trying to descend. Fuhin may not have mastered all her climbing skills, but appears to have plenty of fun, even as she took a few tumbles. Next to the adventurous cub, her mother, Ryohama, can be seen happily…
Across the Philippines, scores of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) sit silently, waiting to kill, as communist and jihadist insurgents use large numbers of these crude weapons to harm Philippine soldiers and civilians. In recent months, the United States has launched initiatives to help its former colony and oldest Asian ally increase its defense capabilities in the interest of border security and counter-terrorism efforts. The Philippines remains the largest recipient of U.S. defense aid in Asia despite tensions in recent years centered on allegations of human-rights violations by the regime of President Rodrigo Duterte. When U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J.…
A team of researchers has recovered nuclear DNA from several Neanderthal humans without fossilized remains by investigating the sediment at three prehistoric caves. This could open a new door for cloning Neanderthals, as bones or other remains will no longer be required to learn more about cave-dwelling populations. “Genetic enginery has made a fundamental leap in the last few years. All human beings have 40 percent of the genome of Neanderthals,” he said. “With technology, we could even eventually fabricate a Neanderthal, but the question would be what for?” said Eudald Carbonell, co-director of the excavations at the Atapuerca archeological…
SYDNEY — He’s suffered through the Great Depression, witnessed the technological revolution, survived two world wars and a pandemic, and lived under 24 prime ministers. But now Australia’s oldest 12-year-old, Ginger Meggs, has reached another milestone. It’s his 100th birthday. Once dubbed Down Under’s Peter Pan by former Prime Minister John Curtin, Australia’s favorite boy made his debut as part of the Us Fellers comic strip in Sydney’s Sunday Sun newspaper in 1921. Ginger Meggs has outlived its creator Jimmy Bancks and three successors but is still published daily in 34 countries, including Australia, making it the nation’s longest-running comic strip. To celebrate, the great-great…
PARRAMATTA, Australia — Stretched emergency services are urging Australia’s New South Wales residents to dial triple zero only in genuine emergencies, as new figures show the line is being bombarded with thousands of non-urgent calls. More than 1000 people rang for an ambulance for constipation in the 12 months to March 31, 2021, New South Wales Ambulance (NSW Ambulance) and New South Wales Police (NSW Police). As per the officials, 662 people called up about a toothache, 215 for earaches and 167 for boils, while 157 calls came from people struggling to sleep and 16 for hiccups. All up, NSW Ambulance…