Tampa, United States | AFP | DNA tests on smuggled elephant tusks have identified three major ivory cartels in Africa and are helping investigators bolster the criminal cases against some of the most dangerous traffickers, researchers said Wednesday. Around 40,000 African elephants are killed every year for their tusks, which …
Read More »Pop star Chris Brown named in sex assault lawsuit
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | A Los Angeles woman filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Chris Brown and a fellow rapper, alleging she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted at Brown’s home during a drug- and alcohol-fueled party last year. The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, said …
Read More »45 dead in attack by armed bandits in northern Nigeria: civilian militia
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Forty-five people died in an attack by armed bandits in northern Nigeria, civilian militia members said on Sunday, amid growing levels of rural violence often involving cattle theft, robbery and kidnappings for ransom. “The 45 bodies were found scattered in the bush. The bandits pursued …
Read More »Poachers shoot dead three rhinos inside Kenyan sanctuary
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Poachers have shot dead three critically endangered black rhinos in a specially-protected sanctuary in northern Kenya, the wildlife service said Thursday. Two adults and a calf were killed inside the 83 square kilometre (32 square mile) fenced rhino sanctuary in Meru National Park and had …
Read More »13 killed as cattle rustlers attack Nigerian village
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Thirteen people were killed in prolonged clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state, police said on Thursday. The militia and cattle thieves fought a gun battle Tuesday through Wednesday in the remote village of Fankashi in the Maru district …
Read More »10 miners killed by gang in northern Nigeria: police
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | At least 10 gold miners were killed by armed men suspected to belong to a kidnapping and cattle rustling gang in the northern Nigeria state of Kaduna, police said Sunday. The bandits opened fire on a group of gold miners at a small-scale mine in …
Read More »Knife attacker kills nine children in China
Beijing, China | AFP | A knife-wielding man with a grudge killed nine middle school children and injured at least 10 others as they returned home in northern China on Friday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest such rampages in the country in recent years. The 28-year-old suspect was …
Read More »Murder hunt as fake doctors sever Indian baby’s genitals
New Delhi, India | AFP | Indian police are hunting two men posing as doctors who killed a newborn by severing his genitals in a bid to convince the mother she had given birth to a girl, officials said Friday. The pair said the eight-month pregnant woman would have a …
Read More »At UN, Colombia’s president says drugs is main threat to peace
United Nations, United States | AFP | Delivering a swansong address to the United Nations, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos called Tuesday for a shift in the global approach to drug trafficking, which he described as the main threat to peace. Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an …
Read More »Rapper Meek Mill freed after uproar over harsh term
New York, United States | AFP | Rapper Meek Mill won freedom from prison Tuesday after an unusually harsh sentence triggered protests that pointed to racial biases in US probation laws. The 30-year-old Philadelphia rapper, who was jailed in November over a case from his teenage years, was ordered out …
Read More »