Kenya’s biggest elephant (SATAO) killed by poachers

Satao lived in Tsavo East National park in northern Kenya and was celebrated as one of the last surviving great tuskers, bearers of genes that produce bull elephants with huge tusks reaching down to the ground. This news follows hard on the heels of the slaughter of another legendary tusker, Mountain Bull, deep inside the forests of Mt. Kenya .
Of all the elephants that have died in Kenya, these deaths are the hardest to bear. The grief in Kenya at the slaughter of our iconic elephants is translating into floods of tears, emotional poems, and outrage on Twitter and Facebook.
I had suspected for days that Satao was dead. The rumours were too many and they came from too many different people for them not to be true. Bad news travels fast in Kenya. Moreover, like everyone who had ever heard of Satao, I was already concerned for his safety.
I first learned about Satao through an emotional and beautifully written blog post by Mark Deeble, who described him as being so intelligent that he knew he needed to protect his enormous tusks by intentionally hiding in bushes so they couldn’t be seen. At the end of the post Mark wrote:

I am appalled at what that means – that the survival skills that the bull has painstakingly learnt over half a century have been rendered useless by the poachers’ use of mass-produced Chinese goods; GPS smart-phones, cheap motorcycles and night vision goggles.

I think the old bull knows that poachers want his tusks, and I hate that he knows.

More than anything, I hate the thought that poachers are now closing in on one of the world’s most iconic elephants.

Then in early March, during the great elephant census, we heard that the poachers had got to him. Mike Chase from Elephants without Borders reported seeing two seeping wounds on Satao’s flank. Veterinarians rushed to the scene and confirmed that these were arrow wounds.
It’s hard to imagine what was going through the minds of the poachers on the day that they approached this mountain of an elephant and shot at him with crude bows and poisoned arrows. It must have been terrifying and yet the sight of his massive gleaming tusks probably left them salivating with greed.
For days Satao must have endured excruciating pain from the festering wounds. But he recovered and we all heaved a sigh of relief when it was reported that his wounds were healing on their own. The Facebook post by Save the Elephants about his recovery attracted more 200 “get well soon” comments.
Then in the first week of June Richard Moller, Executive Director of The Tsavo Trust, found a massive elephant carcass in a swamp. “I knew instinctively in my gut that this was Satao, but there was a tiny chance that I was wrong. I had to verify it before we go public,” Richard told me.
The Tsavo Trust runs an inspirational campaign to bring attention to Kenya’s last great tuskers . Their work brings huge joy and celebration every time an elephant with tusks sweeping to the ground is found.
When I heard that Satao may have been killed, I posted a message on Facebook. I said I hoped that the rumours were wrong and that Satao was safe. I had to hastily remove the post after Richard explained: “We don’t want to alarm people if there’s even a 1% chance that Satao is still alive”.
For days Richard and (Kenyan Wildlife Service) KWS rangers visited the carcass. It was certainly a giant tusker, but it was hard to tell if this was Satao, as the face was mutilated face and the tusks gone. They flew over the park and searched for Satao, hoping against all odds that he was still alive.
Then finally, yesterday on 12 June, Richard admitted to me that his first gut feeling had been right:

Today I had to write my official report to KWS and confirm to them that Satao is dead. It was the hardest report that I have ever written, I couldn’t see past a wall of tears.

In voice choked with grief he begged me not to post anything on this blog until KWS had officially broken the news.


It is not only the rangers in Tsavo or those who knew Satao who are sorrowful, all of Kenya is in a state of deep grief. Satao was not just a Kenyan icon, he was a global treasure. He was of such a phenomenal size that we knew poachers would want him, and no effort was spared to protect him. He had 24/7 protection from KWS and conservation organizations. Even as we mourn Satao’s passing, Kenyan’s are asking: what went wrong?
It may take days for the KWS to provide more details about this terrible news. The country's authorities are loath to admit the scale of the current crisis.
According to the latest figures published by KWS, 97 elephants have been poached in Kenya so far this year . Nobody in Kenya believes this figure, which suggests that less than one percent of the national elephant population have fallen to poachers’ guns.
The official figures do not tally with the many reports of elephant killings in and around the Masai Mara, Samburu, Loita Hills, Marsabit, Tsavo, Mount Kenya, Aberdares, Shimba Hills and the north eastern coastal forests.
I estimate, from the reports I have seen, that the elephant poaching in Kenya is at least 10 times the official figures, but it is impossible to verify this as the KWS jealously guards the elephant mortality database.
A few brave people within the system describe a systematic cover up of the real figures. To many of us Kenyans, this problem is even more serious than the poaching. Our wildlife services are like the drug addicts who are the most difficult to help, those in denial that there is a problem to be fixed.
Those at the helm who craft the KWS's communications seem blissfully unaware of the damage caused to Kenya’s reputation by the lack of transparency and accountability around poaching figures.
Kenyans are angry and confused. Elephants do not belong to KWS but to the people of Kenya. Elephants are an important national asset that make a significant contribution to Kenya’s GDP through tourism. It is therefore in the national interest that the correct figures are shared with the public.
It is also confusing for donors. KWS is fighting furiously for funds to strengthen anti-poaching efforts, and massive ivory seizures also continue to snatch headlines, but according to official figures and statements, there is no elephant poaching crisis.
The appalling news of Satao’s death comes at a time when Kenya is preparing to showcase our conservation successes at the UNEP Governing Assembly which starts on 24 June. Instead Kenyan delegates will bear the heavy burden of conveying the news of the passing of this gentle, intelligent and compassionate giant.
I call on Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, to set the tone for the Governing Assembly by starting with a minute’s silence: so that delegates can reflect on their duty of care towards our fellow beings, and in memory of Satao, Mountain Bull, and all the others who have died before them.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/africa-wild/2014/jun/13/kenyas-biggest-elephant-killed-by-poachers

Troops gather at Congo-Rwanda border after clashes

By Peter Jones and Jenny Clover
KINSHASA/KIGALI (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda sent extra troops to their shared border on Thursday after gunfire briefly broke out for the second day, ending months of relative calm in the volatile region.
Congolese and Rwandan officials each accused the other's armies of mounting cross-border raids on Wednesday that prompted heavy fire between the two forces. Gunfire was reported early on Thursday morning but had ceased by 0800 local time.
U.N.-backed Congolese troops crushed an uprising last year in eastern Congo, a mineral-rich area plagued by years of war, which borders Rwanda.
A Reuters reporter near the town of Kibumba in eastern Congo saw soldiers with heavy weapons gathering on both sides of the border throughout the morning.
"There were some shots fired but very few. It has already finished," Congo's North Kivu governor, Julien Paluku, said.
"The shots came from the Rwandan troops, our forces did not respond. They have clear instructions not to shoot unless the situation becomes very serious. We are not at war with Rwanda," he told Reuters by telephone.
Rwandan officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the clashes that first erupted near Kibumba.
"I appeal for calm from both sides and urge them to take immediate steps to re-establish security in the border area," Martin Kobler, head of the U.N. mission in Congo MONUSCO, said in a statement. France's foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said he was "concerned" by the violence and called for an immediate halt to fighting.

INVESTIGATION
Kinshasa blamed Rwandan forces for provoking Wednesday's clashes by seizing and later killing a Congolese soldier.
Rwanda said its army killed five Congolese troops after they crossed the border and attacked Rwandan units, although Congo insists it lost only one soldier.
A Reuters cameraman on the Rwandan side of the border on Thursday saw five bodies lying in a beanfield wearing uniforms with the Congolese flag.
"They have surely taken some bodies, perhaps villagers, and put (Congolese army) uniforms on them," said Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende.
Residents said the Congolese soldiers were killed after they tried to steal cows, adding border incursions were frequent.
A regional inspection team was visible on the Rwandan side of the frontier, surrounded by Rwandan troops, as part of an investigation into the cause of the flare-up.
Rwandan troops have backed Congolese rebels during two wars in Congo since 1996 before Rwandan troops officially withdrew in 2003. Since then, Kinshasa and U.N. experts have repeatedly accused Kigali of backing Congolese rebels.
Rwanda denies the charges and says Congo is harbouring elements of the FDLR Hutu militia that took part in the 1994 genocide, killing at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN0EN0MZ20140612?sp=true

Man exonerated in slaying after decades in prison faces new murder charge

CHICAGO –  A Chicago man who served 32 years in prison before DNA evidence overturned his conviction in the 1980 rape and slaying of a 3-year-old girl has now been charged with killing a man after a dispute in a dice game.
Andre Davis, 53, was charged with murder Thursday in the October death of 19-year-old Jamal Harmon, whose body was found shot and stabbed in an alley. A judge ordered Davis held without bond.
A second man, Derrick Hilliard, 37, was charged Friday with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in Harmon's death.
Prosecutors allege that Davis' nephew shot and wounded Harmon in a dispute over money lost in a dice game, then Davis helped load the man -- who was still alive, according to witnesses -- into the trunk of a car.
During Thursday's court hearing, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Robert Mack said witnesses also told investigators that Davis told people he had cut Harmon's throat and intended to dump the body, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
It was unclear Friday whether Davis or Hilliard had attorneys. Davis had a public defender at Thursday's hearing, but the Cook County Public Defender's Office said Friday that it was no longer representing him. Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, which represented him in the previous case, declined to comment on Davis' arrest or whether it would be representing him in the current case.
Davis was freed from prison in 2012, after spending more than three decades behind bars following his conviction -- before DNA testing was available -- in the 1980 slaying of 3-year-old Brianna Stickle in Rantoul.
In 2004, Davis requested that evidence gathered at the crime scene be tested. The tests revealed that blood and semen found at the scene did not come from Davis.
But it wasn't until March 2012 that an Illinois appellate court ordered that Davis be granted a new trial. A few months later, prosecutors dropped the case against him, and Davis was released from the supermax prison in Tamms.

Tennessee Woman, Angela Brower, Shares Photos Of Domestic Violence Abuse

Angela Brower, 37,  like so many women in America, was a victim of abuse. The Tennessee woman decided to share her physical and emotional pain online to spread awareness about domestic violence.

Brower said she had recently broken up with her boyfriend, whom she had been dating for six months, when she began seeing signs of physical and verbal abuse. One day, he told Brower he was coming over to get his stuff, but instead, he attacked her, knocking her in the face. "The orbital bone around my eye was completely shattered and my nose was broken on both sides and very displaced," Brower told The Huffington Post.

After she woke up from the original blow, she found him beating her in the back of her head. She begged him to spare her life, along with the life of her children. After that, she decided she would never go back to him and make a real change.

After she was released from the hospital, she decided to share her horror story and progress with Facebook. "I want to raise awareness for women who are afraid and ashamed of what has been done to them," she said. "They blame themselves. I want them to know that it is not their fault."

She said this was the second time she went back to him, but this would definitely be the last. "I made a mistake and I took him back, and everything was OK for a little while," she said. "If you have never been there, you can’t understand why people go back. Women follow their heart, they love them, they want to believe them when they say they will change, they lose their friends and family and don’t feel like they have anyone.

According to WREG News Channel 3, Brower’s ex-boyfriend has been charged with aggravated assault and is being held on a $20,000 bond. Brower also started aGofundme page to help her pay for her hospital expenses. So far, the fundraiser has raised more than $11,000.

"I have health insurance, but it only covers half the costs," she said. "I don’t want to lose everything I have because I fell in love with the wrong person."

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every nine seconds in the U.S. a woman is assaulted or beaten. And an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.  

MAN PLANNED TO KILL PARENTS AND RECORD RAPING OF CHILD TO SELL ON DVD

LONGWOOD, Fla. — 

A 29-year-old Longwood man was arrested after authorities said he had plans of luring a young girl and her family to his home so he could kill her parents and then rape her.
The investigation began a week ago after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it received a tip from a confidential informant that Shawn Ryan Thomas was planning to lure the parents and a juvenile girl into a vacant house under the guise of producing a film or TV show.
Thomas then planned to kill the parents with a knife and rape and kill the child, authorities said. Thomas also planned to film the rape and produce a DVD to sell, said investigators.
According to the FDLE, Thomas lured a father, grandfather and a child to a
vacant house in Longwood on June 7 by saying he was a student making a film.
The family became suspicious and left, but agents said they believe Thomas was going to try his plan again this weekend.
The father of another girl, who had a photo shoot scheduled with Thomas over the weekend, stopped by the location early and noticed a "for sale" sign in the yard of the home.  Authorities said the father left and came back later for the appointment and noticed the sign was gone but saw there was plastic lining the floor inside.
FDLE said at the time of his arrest, Thomas had a bag containing a knife, sexual lubricant, a camera and tripod, and plastic sheets.
People who Thomas was apparently living with, who did not want to be identified said, they had no idea what he was allegedly up to.
“I think it’s very sick that he was like that,” one said. “No one knew.”
Thomas is charged with premeditated attempted homicide and attempted sexual assault on a victim under 12, along with 10 counts of possession of child pornography. He's being held without bond at the Seminole County Jail.
Neighbors were shocked to hear about the allegations.
“They need to keep him there and never let him out,” said Kisha Hogan. "They have too lenient of laws for those people. They get out and they do it all over again, and it's disgusting."

http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/longwood-man-planned-to-kill-parents-record-rape/vCdw2m/

EUROPE FACES SERIOUS THREAT FROM REFUGEES DYING AT SEA

The United Nations has been forced to consider establishing refugee holding centres in north Africa and the Middle East due to the spiralling numbers of migrants attempting perilous journeys across the Mediterranean in a desperate effort to reach Europe.
The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, has said for the first time that the large-scale processing of migrants and refugees outside Europe, in countries such as Egypt, Libya or Sudan, may be necessary as frontline authorities claim they have been abandoned by Brussels in the face of a "colossal humanitarian catastrophe".
Hundreds of thousands of people are preparing to make treacherous crossings on unseaworthy vessels from the north African coast to Greece and Italy as this summer's "boat season" gets under way, say officials. Figures for the first few months of this year already show a dramatic increase on previous years.
UNHCR's European director, Vincent Cochetel, told the Guardian: "We would not be totally against external processing if certain safeguards were in place: the right to appeal, fair process, the right to remain while appeals take place."
The EU had not found effective mechanisms to prevent migrants dying at sea, he said. Instead of focusing on ever tougher border controls, the EU needed to establish safe routes.
Campaigners for refugee rights have hitherto rejected the idea of large processing camps outside Europe, fearing refugees would be at the mercy of states with poor records on human rights and justice.
"There's no way that could work," said Judith Sutherland of Human Rights Watch (HRW). "In theory, HRW doesn't have a problem with creating channels of access to asylum in the EU from outside [but] you can't imagine [the right] conditions being met in Libya today, or indeed Egypt or Morocco."
Greece, which currently holds the EU presidency, is also pressing for the establishment of holding centres in north Africa and the Middle East in order to process refugees and migrants before they reach European soil. In addition, the Greek government is calling for an international seaborne taskforce to patrol the Mediterranean in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants. Greece will table the proposals at an EU summit next month, according to senior government officials in Athens.
"The shaping of a comprehensive immigration policy is one of the main priorities of [the Greek presidency], as well as the Italian presidency, which follows ours," Greece's deputy prime minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said.

Internet use on mobile phones in Africa predicted to increase 20-fold

Africa's claim to be the "mobile continent" is even stronger than previously thought, with researchers predicting internet use on mobile phones will increase 20-fold in the next five years – double the rate of growth in the rest of the world.
People in Africa use mobiles for online activities that others normally perform on laptops or desktop computers as the technology overcomes weak or non-existent landline infrastructure in large swaths of the world's poorest continent.
Declining prices of handsets and data, along with faster transmission speeds, mean Facebook, Twitter and cash transfer services can reach both the growing African middle class and the remotest rural areas, where villagers often find ingenious ways of keeping phones charged. Consumers in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria are increasingly using video and media services on newly affordable smartphones.
"Sub-Saharan Africa is currently undergoing a mobile digital revolution with consumers, networks and even media companies wakening up the possibilities of 3G and 4G technology," said Fredrik Jejdling, sub-Saharan Africa head of Swedish tech company Ericsson, which published its research report on Thursday. "We have seen the trend emerging over a few years but in the past 12 months the digital traffic has increased over 100%, forcing us to revise our existing predictions."
In five years, the research predicts, voice call traffic in sub-Saharan Africa will double and there will be an explosion in mobile data, with usage growing 20 times between 2013 and 2019, twice the anticipated global expansion.
By the end of 2014, it is forecast that there will be more than 635m mobile subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa. This is predicted to rise, to about 930m by late 2019, when it is estimated that three in four mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive. The growth is attributed to the rise of social media, content-rich apps and video content accessed from a new range of smartphones costing less than $50 (£30).
"The rise of cheap smartphones will allow vast portions of the population – from middle classes in cities to small businesses in rural areas – access to mobile broadband," Jejdling added. "Mobile commerce can offer endless opportunities for entrepreneurs and we've found that farmers are fans of mobile wallets – as well as teenagers wanting to watch music videos on their smartphone."
The mobile has had a unique impact on Africa because of its relative lack of physical connectivity and access to reliable electricity. The report says that 70% of users in the countries it researched browse the web on mobile devices, compared with just 6% who use desktop computers. "Mobile users in the region have shown a preference for using their device for a variety of activities that are normally performed on laptops or desktops."
Mobile banking has given consumers cheaper access to their finances, it says, reducing the need to travel to bank branches. "The large number of people in sub-Saharan Africa who do not have bank accounts suggests that mobile phones may be the only way that many people will be able to access financial services."
The authors also cite the example of MedAfrica as a mobile app providing basic information about health and medicine, reducing the need for travel and the pressure on doctors. "Affordable access to mobile broadband is not a luxury, but a necessity in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa."
Entertainment content is also a factor, with some Nollywood movies spurring smartphone uptake in Nigeria.
The sub-Saharan African countries with the most mobile subscriptions are Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana.
Analysts said the findings confirmed the trend of mobile dominance in Africa. Toby Shapshak, publisher and editor of South Africa's Stuff magazine, who gave a recent TED talk on technology in Africa, said: "Africa is a mobile-only continent. There never was a landline infrastructure to begin with, apart from urban areas. Mobile has allowed anyone to have a phone in places that were previously impassable and uncontactable. It has also been enabled, from a business perspective, by prepaid payments that handily remove the equally widespread legacy problem in that very few people have banks accounts. It really is that technology leapfrog the industry likes to talk about."
The mobile is having a profound social impact, Shapshak added, "Better and faster internet access (which is still too high despite data cost reductions) mean people can consume the news via their mobiles – something that is especially important because so many African countries still control the major media outlets."
Arthur Goldstuck, head of World Wide Worx, a technology research and strategy organisation in Johannesburg, said: "Until a few years ago the quality of access was so poor that people had the devices but weren't really using it. Now that is beginning to change. There is massive pent-up demand: suddenly the floodgates are opening."
Lower specification feature phones that can access the internet are available for less than $20 (£12), he added, while in the next few years smartphones will drop below $40 ). He described Samsung as the big winner and Chinese giant Huawei as the dark horse of the fast-developing market, with Nokia also well placed with feature phones if it moves swiftly. Apple will appeal to the high end of the market – it has 3% penetration in South Africa – but BlackBerry is on a "downward trajectory".
Goldstuck predicted: "As the cost of data goes down and quality goes up, we'll see a massive explosion of video usage."