Day: April 26, 2022

KAMPALA, Three female lions have been found dead with their bodies slumped against an electrified fence of a safari lodge in Uganda, bordering the famous Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) says it suspects that the adult lioness and two cubs may have been electrocuted.

UWA spokesman Bashir Hangi described the deaths of the animals as a “big blow” in a country with only 400 lions left.

There is currently no law in Uganda that regulates land use in areas bordering national parks.

Several lions have died in recent years at Queen Elizabeth National Park in what appears to be an increase in human-wildlife conflict.

In March last year, six lions were found dead and dismembered in what officials said was a case of suspected poisoning. Four suspects are currently in court.

The largest number of lions so far killed was in 2018, when 11 lions including eight cubs were poisoned. Five lions also died under similar circumstances in 2010.

Across the continent, lion populations are on the decline with the species considered vulnerable by the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

Source: Nam News Network

MOGADISHU, The Speaker of Somalia’s Senate has been re-elected, a key step for the country to be able to hold presidential elections.

Abdi Hashi Abdullahi was re-elected by the 54-seat upper house during a vote that took place in a highly secured compound in the capital, Mogadishu.

His appointment means all that remains before presidential elections can take place is to vote for the Speaker of the 275-member lower house, the chamber of parliament which wields more power and influence in Somalia.

The country uses a complex and indirect political system and political parties do not contest elections. Nor do one-person-one-vote elections take place.

Instead, the lower house is chosen by delegates appointed by clan elders and members of civil society who are selected by regional state officials. Senators represent Somalia’s five regional states. The two houses vote for a president.

The country has missed several deadlines to conclude elections, resulting in sanctions against MPs by the US.

The rivalry between the country’s president and the prime minister has fuelled the delays, which militants have capitalised on by stepping up attacks in Mogadishu and targeting electoral delegates.

Source: Nam News Network

Dallas, Luka Doncic delighted the crowd in his first home playoff game coming off a calf injury.

Frustrated the Utah Jazz as well.

The young Dallas superstar had 33 points and 13 rebounds while also being thrown to the court on a hard foul that led to Hassan Whiteside’s ejection as the Mavericks routed the Jazz 102-77 on Monday night for a 3-2 lead in their first-round series, AP reports.

Doncic made his series debut in Game 4 at Utah, when the Jazz scored the last five points in the final 31 seconds for a one-point win that evened the series. He never let Game 5 get close.

“For his second game, it looks like he’s been playing this whole series,” coach Jason Kidd said. “His conditioning, his effort on the defensive end. As we talk about rebounding, he’s one of the best for us and he did that tonight.”

After the first four games were decided by eight points or less, Utah never had a chance after a nearly six-minute scoreless drought in the second quarter that fueled a 22-4 Dallas run on the way to a 52-36 halftime lead.

Game 6 is Thursday night in Salt Lake City, with the Jazz regaining their formidable home-court edge, but facing the long odds of just 18% of teams winning a series after dropping the fifth game when the teams split the first four.

The Mavericks haven’t advanced in the postseason since winning the 2011 championship. Utah is in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, but has yet to get past the second round in that stretch.

Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points and Rudy Gobert added 17 points and 11 rebounds in the lowest-scoring game for the Jazz since they lost by 50 at Dallas (118-68) on Nov. 14, 2018. They were 3 of 30 from 3-point range (10%) and shot 38% overall.

Donovan Mitchell, who averaged 30 points in the first four games, scored just nine and missed all seven of his 3-pointers before leaving with a left hamstring injury in the fourth quarter. He will get an MRI on Tuesday.

“They’ve scrambled extremely hard,” said Mitchell, who is shooting 20% from 3-point range after being well over 40% the past two playoff years. “It’s a lot to continuously run teams off the line, and they’ve done a good job of it. They’ve made us uncomfortable.”

Doncic had already matched Utah’s entire output in the third quarter with 19 points when he returned midway through the fourth. Whiteside challenged an attempted dunk and flung Doncic to the court after they got tangled up.

Whiteside was assessed two technical fouls after shoving Dorian Finney-Smith and going nose-to-nose with Reggie Bullock as coaches from both sides frantically tried to keep players separated. Finney-Smith and Bullock also got technicals, and Bullock was ejected because it was his second of the game.

“It was nothing,” Doncic said. “It’s playoffs, man. There’s going to be always attention, but it was nothing. I tried to dunk it. Wasn’t successful. These things happen in the playoffs.”

Jalen Brunson, who carried most of the offensive load for Dallas when Doncic was sidelined, scored 24 points. Finney-Smith added 13, and Dwight Powell got the crowd going early with all eight of his points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first.

Doncic, his left calf covered in a black wrap under white leggings, kept a raucous crowd rolling with several nifty moves and high-arcing 3-pointers.

The first highlight came late in the first half when Doncic drove all the way to the rim with Gobert guarding him, stopped and faked the 7-foot-1 center several times before turning his back to the basket and spinning a reverse layup off the glass and in as Gobert fouled him.

The exclamation point was in the third quarter, when Doncic hit consecutive 3s for a 74-46 lead, doing a shimmy in front of the fans to his left after the second one went in. The 23-year-old sensation swished another 3 for a 79-46 lead right after blocking Clarkson’s shot from deep.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

It’s the second year in a row for the Mavericks to have a 3-2 lead in the first round. They couldn’t finish off the Los Angeles Clippers at home in Game 6 last season, losing the series in Game 7 at LA.

“I don’t even remember that,” Finney-Smith said before smiling. “I don’t even remember last year. Nah, but we put ourselves in a great spot. We’ve just got to handle our business in Utah.”

TIP-INS

Jazz: After dominating the boards in the first two games, Utah has slowly surrendered its edge as the series has progressed. The Mavs outrebounded them 49-40. … Bojan Bogdanovic, who scored 26 and 25 points in the first two games in Dallas, was 0 of 9 from the field and scored just two.

Mavericks: The 77 points were the first allowed by Dallas this season. … G Frank Ntilikina was available for the first time in the series after being out with a non-COVID-19 illness. He didn’t play.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

The death toll from African migrant boats that sank off Tunisia at the weekend rose to 20 people, a judicial official said, the latest migrant boat disaster off Tunisia.

The coast guard recovered three more bodies on Monday, said Mourad Turki, spokesperson for Sfax Courts, Reuters reports.

Seventeen bodies were recovered at the weekend after four boats carrying 120 African migrants to Italy capsized off the Tunisian city of Sfax.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Authorities in Cameroon say anglophone separatists have joined forces with Nigerian militants to shut down nearly all trade across the two countries’ border. Cameroon depends on Nigeria for 70% of basic commodities and most of them are transported across the land border. Authorities say about 90% of trade has been halted as militants from both sides attack and abduct merchants.

Njume Peter Ambang is a lawmaker from Cameroon’s restive southwest region on the border with Nigeria. He said fighters within the past two months have taken control of many businesses, including palm oil plantations in Ndian, a division in the Southwest region.

“Maritime business has collapsed. The oil business has all collapsed. Palm oil fields have been seized by the separatists. They harvest the crops, they mill and sell. These guys are working with area boys (armed groups) in Nigeria,” he said.

Ambang was speaking in the Ndian capital, Mundemba, Sunday during a meeting to plead with local fighters to drop their guns and stop harassing merchants.

Cameroon’s military says several hundred fighters chased from towns and villages during raids by government troops relocated to the border with Nigeria. The military says the fighters have killed at least two dozen merchants and abducted scores of others for ransom since January.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, or ADF, one of the largest separatist groups in Cameroon.

He said many fighters have been deployed to the border with Nigeria but denies they fled intensive fighting with Cameroonian government troops.

Daniel said Cameroon’s separatists collaborate with Nigeria’s Eastern Security Network of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a secessionist group that advocates for the creation of an independent state in eastern Nigeria.

Daniel said the Ambazonia and Biafra groups are collaborating to help each other and undermine government control of the border area.

“We want to put in place our own security network to regulate trade and to control the movement of goods and persons between Biafra and Ambazonia. We will no longer allow Cameroon and Nigeria to enforce their law on the border between Biafra and Ambazonia. We will put an end to the exploitation of the Biafra people as well as the Ambazonia people as we work in alliance with our counterparts across the border in Biafra land,” he said.

Daniel said the ADF and IPOB have been able to stop both Cameroon and Nigeria from collecting revenue from the sales of basic commodities and cash crops including rice, maize, tubers, plantain and cocoa in border localities.

He also said fighters are punishing merchants who collaborate with the two governments by paying taxes or agreeing to be escorted by government troops.

Nigeria and Cameroon have promised to crush all separatists who do not surrender.

The two countries’ governments announced in February 2021 that they would work together to combat separatists and armed groups.

Cameroon this week said it deployed more troops to the border to protect civilians, merchants and their goods.

Source: Voice of America