Thursday, December 5, 2013

Mandela Is Dead

You could see it coming:

Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader, dies at the age of 95

Now the battle for his money begins. 

Just wondering if Chief Luthuli got such a send off from the world press. 

And can there be any insult greater to Mandela's legacy than this (although one can hardly blame them). 

Other deaths that do not command the same pre$$ attention:

"33 people killed in Namibia crash

JOHANNESBURG — A Mozambique Airlines plane carrying 33 people crashed in a remote border area in Namibia, killing all on board, officials said Saturday. The plane went down in a Namibian national park near the border with Angola and there were no survivors, Namibian police said. The Brazilian-made Embraer 190 aircraft was carrying 27 passengers and six crew members. A team of investigators headed to the area to try to determine the cause (AP)."

"Deal aims to crack down on ivory trade" by Ray Faure |  Associated Press, December 05, 2013

JOHANNESBURG — Key states where the illegal ivory trade flourishes have pledged to take urgent measures to try to halt the illicit trade and secure elephant populations across Africa, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said Wednesday.

The agreement was reached at the African Elephant Summit convened by the government of Botswana and the environmental group held in Gaborone over the past few days.

The measures were agreed upon by key African elephant range states including Gabon, Kenya, Niger, and Zambia and ivory transit states Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia, and ivory destination states, including China and Thailand, the environmental group said in a statement.

One of the 14 measures the delegates committed to involves classifying wildlife trafficking as a ‘‘serious crime.’’ According to the environmental group, this will unlock international law enforcement cooperation provided under the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, including mutual legal assistance, asset seizure and forfeiture, extradition, and other tools to hold criminals accountable for wildlife crime.

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Also seeIvory crushed to highlight slaughter of elephants

"Rate of poaching called dire threat to elephants" Associated Press, December 03, 2013

JOHANNESBURG — As many as 20 percent of Africa’s elephants could be killed in the next 10 years if illegal poaching continues at the current rate, according to data released Monday at the opening of the Elephant Summit in Botswana.

An estimated 22,000 elephants were illegally killed across Africa in 2012, slightly lower than the 25,000 elephants poached in 2011, according to a report by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The elephant killings took place at 42 sites across 27 Africa countries, said the report....

“The situation is particularly acute in Central Africa, where the estimated poaching rate is twice the continental average,’’ he said.

The poaching data were released at the African Elephant Summit in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital.

In September 2013, cyanide was used to kill more than 300 elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park in the ‘‘worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years,’’ said the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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