Zimbabwe issues permits for cull of at least 50 elephants
HARARE (Reuters) -Zimbabwe has issued permits to cull at least 50 elephants on a reserve where there are three times more elephants than the habitat can sustain, wildlife authorities said on Tuesday.
The Save Valley Conservancy in southern Zimbabwe is home to roughly 2,550 elephants, whereas it has a "carrying capacity" of 800 elephants, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said in a statement.
The conservancy already moved 200 elephants to other reserves over the past five years to try to manage its elephant population.
Meat from the cull will be distributed to local people to eat, while the ivory from the killed animals will be handed over to the parks authority.
Zimbabwe is home to one of the largest elephant populations worldwide, and climate change has worsened human-wildlife conflict as elephants encroach on areas where people live in search of food and water.
The Southern African country authorised another cull last year of about 200 elephants, the first since 1988. At the time authorities said they would distribute meat from the cull to communities affected by a severe regional drought, shortly after Namibia said it would do the same.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
IAEA chief relays Iran warning against Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities
CAIRO (Reuters) -International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said Iranians warned him that an Israel strike on the country's nuclear facilities could cause Iran to be more determined about developing a nuclear weapon, according to an interview broadcast and published on Monday. 'A strike could potentially have an amalgamating effect, solidifying Iran's determination – I will say it plainly – to pursue a nuclear weapon or withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,' Grossi said in the interview, published on the Jerusalem Post website and broadcast on i24 TV on Monday. Grossi, however, doubted that Israel would strike Tehran's nuclear facilities, the Jerusalem Post reported. The Iranian nuclear program "runs wide and deep," Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. "Disrupting them would require overwhelming and devastating force." Tehran and Washington have recently engaged in Oman-mediated nuclear talks. Iran is set to hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable". Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran. "I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "That could change at any moment." Trump and Netanyahu are expected to speak over the phone on Monday.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Paraguay president's X account likely hacked in Bitcoin scheme
ASUNCION (Reuters) -Paraguay's government on Monday said that President Santiago Pena's X account had likely been hacked after the leader appeared to promote trading of cryptocurrency Bitcoin. "The president's official X account has presented irregular activity which suggests possible unauthorized entry," the government said in a statement. A post on Pena's account in English, with a Spanish-language statement purporting to be from the government, had declared that the Latin American country had made Bitcoin legal tender and that it would roll out a $5 million Bitcoin-backed reserve fund. The government asked citizens to ignore posts from the account until official confirmation was made available. Paraguay's national cybersecurity team was working with X to investigate the situation, the government added. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Russia Won't End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out' of Baltics: Moscow
The Ukraine war won't end until NATO withdraws troops from the Baltics, a top Russian official has warned. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister responsible for U.S. relations, nonproliferation and arms control, made the remarks in an interview with state-run news agency Tass. Newsweek has reached out to the Kremlin and NATO for comment by email. Ryabkov's comments mark a shift in the Kremlin's position. He suggested that the conflict's roots lie not only in Ukraine itself but in NATO's eastward expansion. According to Ryabkov, the withdrawal of NATO forces from the Baltics would help bring an end to the war. NATO maintains a strong military presence in the Baltic States, with multinational battle groups and brigades stationed in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The military alliance bolstered its presence in the region in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It said in an update on June 6 that the eight battle groups "demonstrate the strength of the trans-Atlantic bond and the Alliance's solidarity, determination and ability to respond to any aggression." Also, Sweden and Finland have switched from being neutral to joining NATO since the invasion. The Kremlin had said Ukraine must abandon its ambitions to join NATO as a condition for ending the war, but Ryabkov appeared to signal to Tass that the alliance must withdraw completely from the Baltics as well. In the article titled "Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov: It is impossible to resolve the conflict until NATO pulls out," the official argued that resolving the conflict in Ukraine requires addressing what he described as the root causes. "The American side requires practical steps aimed at eliminating the root causes of the fundamental contradictions between us in the area of security. "Among these causes, NATO expansion is in the foreground. Without resolving this fundamental and most acute problem for us, it is simply impossible to resolve the current conflict in the Euro-Atlantic region." Ryabkov suggested NATO's eastward expansion was central to the war. "Given the nature and genesis of the Ukrainian crisis, provoked by the previous U.S. authorities and the West as a whole, this conflict naturally acts, well, if you like, as a test, a trial, which checks the seriousness of Washington's intentions to straighten out our relations," he said. Last month, three Russian sources with knowledge of Washington-led negotiations told Reuters that Putin's conditions for ending the Ukraine war include a written pledge from Western leaders to halt NATO's eastward expansion. A senior Russian source with knowledge of top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters in an article published on May 28: "Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price." A second source told Reuters: "Putin has toughened his position." Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, told Tass: "Trump's return to the White House, declaring his commitment to a political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, has become a reason for cautious optimism in terms of a potential normalization of relations with the United States, but also in a broader sense. "It was in this vein that the presidents of Russia and the United States held four telephone conversations. Our side expressed gratitude for the United States' support in resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, interrupted by the Ukrainian side in 2022. "But Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin also confirmed the basic principle of the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict within the framework of political and diplomatic efforts. Otherwise, long-term peace cannot be ensured, and in concrete terms, it is necessary to exclude any opportunity for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to take advantage of the pause for a respite and regroup their forces." Moscow and Kyiv will continue to launch strikes on each other's territory, with the war in Ukraine showing few signs of a peace deal in the near future. Related Articles Ukraine's F-16 Took Down Russian Fighter Jet in 'Historic First': ReportPutin's War Machine Dealt a Double Blow by KyivPutin Approves Military Plans Through to 2050Most Russians No Longer See US as Enemy Nation: Poll 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.