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Rhino killings on the rise in South Africa

AFP

At least 249 rhinos were killed the first six months of this year in South Africa, the environment minister said Saturday, partly pushed by the easing of lockdown curbs that increased movement of poachers.

South Africa is home to nearly 80 percent of the world’s rhinos but their horns are prized in traditional medicine in Asia, and poachers have continued to mount an onslaught on the species.

The figure represents 83 more rhino killings compared with the same period in 2020.

The bulk of the slaughter happened at the famed Kruger National Park where 132 rhinos were killed.

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“From January to the end of June 2021, 249 rhino have been poached for their horn in South Africa,” said Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries in a statement.

Creecy said lifting the stringent lockdown “appears to have seen an increase in rhino poaching in the first six months of 2021”, with noticeable increased poacher pressure in the Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State provinces where a large number of private rhino reserves are found. 

The ministry said it was monitoring the increased pressure seen on private rhino reserves as they play a significant role in rhino protection. 

Rhinos are killed for their horns, highly prized across Asia for traditional and medicinal purposes.

The trade is lucrative and thousands of rhinos have been poached in South Africa over the past decade.

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Usually sold in powdered form, rhino horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human fingernails.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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