Latest news with #CAPE_TOWN
CNA
3 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
New prospects get test opportunity as South Africa name squad to tour Zimbabwe
CAPE TOWN : South Africa handed an opportunity for test debuts to five uncapped players who were named on Friday for the two-test series in Zimbabwe later this month. Several senior players are to be rested for the two tests in Bulawayo with coach Shukri Conrad picking a 16-player squad to be led by captain Temba Bavuma. There is a first call-up for the batting duo Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Lesego Senokwane and fast bowler Codi Yusuf while hard-hitting Dewald Brevis and off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen return to the squad in search of a first cap. The 19-year-old Pretorius had a breakout domestic season in both first-class and Twenty20. He struck three centuries in five first-class games at an average of 72.66, while Senokwane, 28, was a significant run scorer in the Cricket South Africa 4-day competition. The 27-year-old Yusuf finished the domestic season with a bowling average of 22.39. The squad also sees the recall of batsman Zubayr Hamza, who last played a test against New Zealand in early 2024. Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs will be rested for the Zimbabwe trip while the fast bowling trio of Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee and Lizaad Williams were not considered for selection because of fitness issues. "We've opted to rest some players to manage their workload ahead of a busy season," said Conrad at a virtual press conference, but for the others "this tour provides the ideal platform to expose them to the demands of Test cricket and see how they respond". South Africa, who meet Australia in the World Test Championship final at Lord's starting on Wednesday, take on Zimbabwe in their first test at the Queens Club from 28 June-2 July with the second at the same venue from July 6-10. Temba Bavuma (captain), David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Corbin Bosch, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Lesego Senokwane, Prenelan Subrayen, Kyle Verreynne, Codi Yusuf.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Science
- Associated Press
Cutting off rhinos' horns is a contentious last resort to stop poaching. A new study found it works
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Cutting off the horns of sedated rhinos with a chainsaw has been viewed by wildlife conservationists in Africa for more than 30 years as a necessary evil to save the iconic endangered species from poaching. They hoped the drastic action was working, but evidence was scarce. Now, a study published Thursday in the academic journal Science has found that dehorning rhinos has led to a large reduction in poaching in game reserves in and around the Kruger National Park in northern South Africa — an area that's home to 25% of the world's rhinos and is especially vulnerable to poaching. The results of the seven-year study that ended in 2023 are seen as long-awaited evidence that removing rhinos' horns — which needs to be done every one to two years because they grow back — helps them survive, even if the animals lose part of their makeup. Consistently reduced poaching The conclusions seem obvious. Lucrative illegal markets in parts of southeast Asia and China crave rhino horns for use in traditional medicines, and removing the rhinos' horns take away what poachers are after. But Tim Kuiper, a biodiversity scientist at South Africa's Nelson Mandela University and the lead author of the study, said it was new to have long-term data from multiple sites on dehorning rhinos. He said the study, conducted between January 2017 and December 2023, focused on 11 reserves in the Kruger area and compared data from eight that dehorned their rhinos against the three that didn't. It also analyzed data from the reserves before and after they dehorned their rhinos. The study showed that dehorning consistently reduced poaching, Kuiper said. It found that the dehorning of more than 2,000 rhinos resulted in a 78% reduction in poaching in those eight reserves, providing some confirmation that such an invasive intervention was worth it. 'It is a big part of what a rhino is, having a horn,' Kuiper said. 'So having to remove it is kind of a necessary evil, if I can put it that way. But it's very effective. There's no doubt it saved hundreds of rhinos' lives.' South Africa has the largest numbers of black and white rhinos. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya also have significant populations. There are around 17,500 white rhinos and 6,500 black rhinos left in the world, with black rhino numbers reduced from 70,000 in 1970 to less than 2,500 by the time poaching reached a crisis point in the mid-1990s, according to the Save the Rhino organization. Dehorning was not always accepted Dehorning rhinos started in southern Africa as early as 1989. It has not been accepted without question. There has been opposition from animal rights activists but also questions from conservationists over what impact it has on a rhino's wellbeing, and what a future might look like with more hornless rhinos. Vanessa Duthe, a rhino researcher in South Africa not involved in the study, said rhinos use their horns to defend themselves against predators, to compete for territory and, in the case of black rhinos, to look for food. There is also evidence that dehorned rhinos adjust their movements to live in smaller ranges, she said. She said conservationists don't know the full impacts of dehorning, but research had found it had no adverse effect on rhinos' breeding rates or mortality rates. 'What we do know is that the benefits of dehorning by far outweigh any ecological cost that we're aware of today,' Duthe said. She said dehorning a rhino now takes around 10 minutes and the process causes minimum distress. Blindfolds and earmuffs are put on sedated rhinos during dehorning, which also provides an opportunity to microchip rhinos and collect samples that aid research. Only one part of the battle Conservationists agree that dehorning alone will not end rhino poaching and Kuiper said he saw it as a short-to-mid-term solution. Other efforts like more effective law enforcement and better support for game rangers on the frontline are key. While South Africa has helped pull rhinos back from the threat of extinction, more than 400 rhinos a year are still killed by poachers in the country. The dehorning study was a collaboration between scientists from three South African universities, Oxford University in England and game reserve managers and rangers. It also involved the South African National Parks department, the World Wildlife Fund and the Rhino Recovery Fund. ___ AP Africa news:
CNA
7 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Astronomers fear impact of Musk's Starlink on South Africa mega-telescope observations
CAPE TOWN :Astronomers working with South Africa's SKA telescope are pushing authorities to ensure that any licensing agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink will protect their groundbreaking observations, a senior scientist said. Discussions to bring Musk's internet service Starlink in South Africa have already been contentious, with parent company SpaceX criticising local shareholding laws while backing equity equivalent programmes. Attaching astronomy-linked licensing conditions may further complicate attempts to introduce Starlink to the country of Musk's birth, where he has already said he is deterred by government Black empowerment policies. South Africa said it will review its Information and Communication Technology sector rules but will not back down on government policies to transform the economy three decades after white-minority rule ended. Scientists fear South Africa's Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Mid), the world's most powerful radio telescope together with another array co-hosted in Australia, will have their sensitive space observations distorted by Starlink's low-orbiting satellites. "It will be like shining a spotlight into someone's eyes, blinding us to the faint radio signals from celestial bodies," Federico Di Vruno, co-chair of International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky, told Reuters in a telephone interview. Di Vruno said the SKA Observatory, where he is spectrum manager, and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) were lobbying for license requirements to reduce the impact on observations in certain frequency ranges, including some that SKA-Mid uses. That could direct Starlink to steer satellite beams away from SKA receivers or stop transmission for a few seconds to minimise interference, he said. South Africa's current SKA antennae, in the remote Northern Cape town of Carnarvon, use the 350 megahertz to 15.4 gigahertz bandwidth, a range also used by most satellite operators for downlinks. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa regulator and Starlink did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about the scientists' concerns. MAJOR OBSERVATIONS South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope, a precursor to SKA-Mid which will be incorporated into the larger instrument, has already discovered a rare giant radio galaxy that is 32 times the size of the Milky Way. Last year, it found 49 new galaxies in under three hours, according to SARAO. SKA Observatory, an international body, also campaigns for conditions on licensing agreements with other major satellite operators such as Amazon and Eutelsat's OneWeb to ensure quiet skies amid a boom in new satellite launches.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
First group of 49 white South Africans leaves for the US after Trump offered them refugee status
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February. The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Monday morning local time, according to Collen Msibi, a spokesperson for South Africa's transport ministry. They are the first Afrikaners — a white minority group in South Africa — to be relocated after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 7 accusing South Africa's Black-led government of racial discrimination against them and announcing a program to offer them relocation to America. The South African government said it is 'completely false' that Afrikaners are being persecuted. The Trump administration has fast-tracked their applications while pausing other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court. Refugee groups have questioned why the white South Africans are being prioritized ahead of people from countries wracked by war and natural disasters. Vetting for refugee status in the U.S. often takes years. The Trump administration says the South African government is pursuing racist, anti-white policies through affirmative action laws and a new land expropriation law it says targets Afrikaners' land. The government says those claims are based on misinformation and there is no racism against Afrikaners and no land has been expropriated, although the contentious law has been passed and is the focus of criticism in South Africa. South Africa also denies U.S. claims that Afrikaners are being targeted in racially motivated attacks in some rural communities. Instead, the South African government said Afrikaners — who are the descendants of Dutch and French colonial settlers — are "amongst the most economically privileged" in the country. The first Afrikaner refugees were traveling on a flight operated by the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based charter company Omni Air International, Msibi said. They would fly to Dakar, Senegal and stop there to refuel before heading for Dulles. They departed from OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, where they were accompanied by police officers and airport officials when they checked in. Msibi said they would have to be vetted by police to ensure there were no criminal cases or outstanding warrants against them before being allowed to leave. The South African government said there was no justification for them being relocated but said it wouldn't stop them and respected their freedom of choice. They are expected to be greeted at Dulles by a U.S. government delegation, including the deputy secretary of state and officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose refugee office has organized their resettlement. The flight will be the first in a 'much larger-scale relocation effort,' White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday. Miller said that what was happening to Afrikaners in South Africa "fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.' 'This is persecution based on a protected characteristic — in this case, race. This is race-based persecution,' he said. The HHS Office for Refugee Resettlement was ready to offer them support, including with housing, furniture and other household items, and expenses like groceries, clothing, diapers and more, a document obtained by The Associated Press said. The document said the relocation of Afrikaners was "a stated priority of the Administration.' There are around 2.7 million Afrikaners among South Africa's population of 62 million, which is more than 80% Black. They are only one part of the country's white minority. Many in South Africa are puzzled by claims that Afrikaners are persecuted and meet the requirements to be relocated as refugees. They are part of South Africa's everyday multi-racial life, with many successful business leaders and some serving in government as Cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. Their language is widely spoken and recognized as an official language, and churches and other institutions reflecting Afrikaner culture hold prominence in almost every city and town. The Trump administration has criticized South Africa on several fronts. Trump's February executive order cut all U.S. funding to South Africa over what it said was its anti-white stance and also accused it of pursuing an anti-American foreign policy. It cited South Africa's ties with Iran and its move to lodge a genocide case against U.S. ally Israel over the war in Gaza as examples of it taking "aggressive positions towards the United States." ___ More AP news on the Trump administration:
CNA
09-05-2025
- Sport
- CNA
South Africa appoint Conrad as white-ball coach
CAPE TOWN :South Africa have named Shukri Conrad as their limited overs coach after he led the country to the World Test Championship final where they face Australia at Lord's from June 11-15. The 58-year-old Conrad, who took over the Test team in January 2023, replaces Rob Walter, after he resigned last month for personal reasons, and will be in charge across all formats. "Coaching the Test side has been the greatest privilege of my cricket journey, and to now oversee the white-ball teams as well is something unbelievably special," Conrad said in a statement from Cricket South Africa. "South African cricket has incredible white-ball talent. There's a strong foundation to build on, and I believe we have what it takes to achieve something special." South Africa will co-host the next 50-over Cricket World Cup in 2027 along with Zimbabwe and Namibia. A veteran of the domestic coaching circuit, Conrad has enjoyed great success, leading to the WTC final appearance. South Africa also made the final of last year's T20 World Cup, but let a commanding position slip as they lost to India, and reached the semi-finals of the 2023 50-over World Cup and the recent ICC Champions Trophy. Their next limited overs assignment is a tri-series in Zimbabwe that also involves New Zealand in July. Later in the year they tour Australia, England and India.
