Namibia

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Now a 2nd Country Will Cull Elephants to Feed Its People

Zimbabwe, Namibia both take the step

(Newser) - Zimbabwe will do what Namibia has done: It plans to cull 200 elephants to feed its people, who have been hit by an El Nino-triggered drought. The country last culled elephants in 1988, reports Reuters . "We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it,"...

President Who Helped Namibia Emerge From Apartheid Dies

Hage Geingob was the nation's first prime minister

(Newser) - Namibia's president and founding prime minister Hage Geingob died Sunday at 82 while receiving treatment for cancer, and the southern African nation quickly swore in his deputy to complete the remaining time in office. Geingob played a central role in what has become one of Africa's most stable...

Germany Admits Colonial-Era Genocide in Namibia

Country will fund $1.3B in development projects

(Newser) - Germany has reached an agreement with Namibia that will see it officially recognize as genocide the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of people and commit to spending a total of $1.3 billion, largely on development projects. The accord announced Friday is the result of more than five years...

Gay Couple Not Allowed to Bring Newborn Twins Home

Namibia won't let girls into country, where their married fathers live

(Newser) - A gay couple who lives in the African nation of Namibia saw their family expand to five with the birth of newborn twins via surrogate. One big problem: The girls aren't being allowed into the country, reports Reuters . On Monday, a Namibian court refused to let Phillip Luhl bring...

'Adolf Hitler' Elected in Landslide
'Adolf Hitler'
Elected in Landslide
Dec 3, 2020 12:21 PM CST

'Adolf Hitler' Elected in Landslide

Namibian councilman has no plans for world domination

(Newser) - The people of Oshana, Namibia, have spoken, electing a regional councilman by the name of Adolf Hitler. His full name is Adolf Hitler Uunona—he's named in election materials as Adolf H. Uunona—and like his namesake, he's no stranger to politics, having served as a councilman for...

Trophy Hunter Gets US Permit to Import Body of Rare Rhino

Michigan hunter gets dispensation in what Humane Society calls 'pay-to-slay scheme'

(Newser) - The Trump administration says it will issue a permit to a Michigan trophy hunter to import the skin, skull, and horns from a rare black rhinoceros he shot in Africa. Documents show Chris D. Peyerk of Shelby Township, Mich., applied last year for the permit required by the Fish and...

World's 5 Most Unequal Countries on Same Continent

Effects of South Africa's apartheid still felt

(Newser) - Inequality was embedded in South African culture through its apartheid system. Nearly a quarter century after its end, the country still has a long way to go. "Inequality is high, persistent, and has increased since 1994" in South Africa, which is the most unequal country in the world when...

Rhino Turns Tables on Would-Be Poacher

Suspect arrested after leg injury in Namibia

(Newser) - A rhino turned the tables on a suspected poacher in Namibia, reports the AP , charging and injuring the man while he was allegedly tracking it. The incident happened in Etosha National Park after suspect Luteni Muharukua and other alleged poachers illegally entered the wildlife area in hopes of killing rhinos...

Anthrax Eyed in Deaths of 109 Hippos
109 Hippos Turn
Up Dead in a Week
Oct 10, 2017 4:03 AM CDT

109 Hippos Turn Up Dead in a Week

Anthrax suspected of wiping out 8% of Namibia's hippo population

(Newser) - More than 100 hippos in Namibia, including some seen floating on their backs in shallow waterways this week, may have died from an anthrax outbreak that could now affect other species. Officials say 10 dead hippos were discovered in Bwabwata National Park in northeast Namibia last Sunday, followed by another...

New Nation in the News: Nambia. Sort Of
This Is Why Everyone's Talking
About Nation of 'Nambia'
the rundown
Sep 21, 2017 11:25 AM CDT

This Is Why Everyone's Talking About Nation of 'Nambia'

President Trump takes grief for referring to nonexistent country twice

(Newser) - The nation that seems to be showing up in most headlines Thursday is Nambia, mainly because it doesn't actually exist. In a speech to African leaders Wednesday, President Trump referred to "Nambia" not once but twice, first in his general introduction and then later when he mentioned that...

Germany Begins to Apologize for a Different Genocide

Historians think slaughter in Africa was the first genocide of 20th century

(Newser) - In 1907, Germans cut the head off a man in Africa and sent it, with hundreds of others, to Germany as part of research to establish white superiority. The man, Cornelius Fredericks, was a legendary Nama fighter who'd led a rebellion against occupying German forces in Namibia, and he...

In One City, Cops Crack Down on Drinking and ... Walking

Many accidents in Namibia's capital involve drunken pedestrians

(Newser) - Police in Namibia's capital are cracking down on a somewhat unlikely group, reports the BBC , following road accidents that are blamed not only on intoxicated motorists but on tipsy pedestrians. Police spokesman Edmund Khoaseb tells the Namibian that people who survive a run-in with a car will be given...

Theory May Finally Explain Fabled 'Fairy Circles'

It's a combo of plants and termites

(Newser) - Scientists are always crashing the party when they bring the likeliest but often mundane reasons for mysterious phenomena. Such is the case in Namibia, where so-called "fairy circles" that pockmark the desert are now being explained in the journal Nature as not the footprints of gods or poisoned patches...

First Mass Extinction Likely Caused by 'Utterly Weird' Animals

Animals shaped like 'Frisbees and lumpy mattresses' may have killed early Ediacarans

(Newser) - New fossil evidence dug up in Namibia lends credence to the theory that we should blame "ecosystem engineers" for the world's first mass extinction, and that's not a euphemism for man, asteroids, or aliens. Instead, per a Vanderbilt University study published in the October issue of the...

Shipwreck Found in Desert Diamond Field Solves 'Maritime Mystery'

Portuguese ship lost in 1500s yields 2K gold coins

(Newser) - Miners have been pulling diamonds from a vast area of Namibia's Namib Desert called the Sperrgebiet (or "forbidden territory") for more than a century. But in 2008, workers hunting for diamonds where the desert meets the Atlantic Ocean found something even more precious: the likely remains of...

'One of Nature's Greatest Mysteries' Appears in Australia

No one knows what's causing the so-called fairy circles

(Newser) - The fairy circles of Namibia—believed to be unique in the natural world—have long been "one of nature's greatest mysteries," according to a recently published study . Then they turned up thousands of miles away in Australia. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,"...

After Paying $350K, Texan Kills Black Rhino

It was 'an emotional thing,' Corey Knowlton says

(Newser) - The "kill a rhino" stage of the Dallas Safari Club's " kill a rhino to save the rhinos " plan is now complete. Corey Knowlton, the Texas hunter who bid $350,000 for a permit to bag a black rhino in Namibia, killed one on Monday. He was...

Scientists Make Amazing 'Fairy Circle' Finding

The circles' layout matches those of skin cells

(Newser) - The Namibian desert is home to what are called " fairy circles ": strange formations of grassless earth surrounded by grass. Almost perfect circles, they're the subject of local myths, the BBC reports. Researchers still don't know what causes them, but new findings could help them figure it...

Town's New Proposed Name Looks Like a Typo

It's !Nami#nus

(Newser) - A linguistic storm is brewing in Luderitz, where some residents of the remote Namibian town are protesting plans to change its name to !Nami#nus. Those are not typographical errors: The name, proposed by some government officials and tribal authorities, incorporates click-like sounds in the language spoken by the Nama ethnic...

Why Namibia Is Chainsawing Off Its Rhinos' Horns

A third of the world's 4,800 black rhinos live in Namibia

(Newser) - You know what they say about drastic times. Rhino poaching has gotten so much worse in Namibia in the past year that the government is moving forward with a drastic measure—cutting off the coveted horns before poachers can get to them. Unfortunately, even this may not fully deter poachers,...

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