African leaders are meeting in Kenya to discuss ways to stop the poaching of elephants and save the animals from extinction. The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called for decisive action to stop the illegal trade in ivory, Ann Soy is in Nairobi. When you look at the statistics in the 1930’s and 1940’s, there were about three to five million elephants, but today that population has been decimated by factor of ten. There are just about 400,000 elephants and every 20 to 40,000 are killed. So it means that in about a decade or so, if this slaughter goes on unabated, then they could face extinction. So part of goals of this meeting is to raise funds to support conservation, but the other thing that they're also talking about which they say is very important is getting communities to support anti-poaching efforts.
The embattled South African President Jacob Zuma will learn today whether the high court in Pretoria intends to reinstate nearly 800 corruption charges against him. In 2009, the acting director of public prosecutions withdrew them,a move that enabled Mr. Zuma's election later that year. The opposition Democratic Alliance says the prosecutor’s decision was politically motivated, Nomsa Maseko is in Pretoria. The Democratic Alliance wants the court to set aside the controversial decision taken in 2009 by then acting prosecutions head Mokotedi Mpshe to drop more than 700 corruption charges against the President. The decision was based on evidence that the timing of indictment against Mr.Zuma had been manipulated to block his political ambitions. The evidence emerged from spy tapes which are recording the phone conversations between South Africa's former spy chief and former top prosecutor in which they allegedly plotted to block Mr. Zuma in his quest to become president of the country.
Hundreds of demonstrators have blocked traffic outside the venue in California,where the Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump was holding a rally, a number of arrests were made, James Cook reports. Donald Trump came to California on Thursday night for a rally in Costa Messa with the Republican party's presidential nomination almost within his grasp. Outside the event,hundreds of demonstrators gathered waving anti-Trump banners and bringing traffic to a halt. The businessman, who’s vowed to deport millions of illegal immigrants, faces strong opposition in parts of California particularly among Latinos. Reports from the scene said some protestors had thrown rocks at motorists while others had jumped on top of a police car. There are no reports of serious injuries.
People in Iran are voting in parliamentary run-off elections. They would decide whether hardliners or moderate forces backing President Hassan Rouhani will control the legislature. World news from the BBC.
Civil defense workers in the Syrian city of Aleppo now say at least 55 people were killed by government airstrikes that hit a hospital on Wednesday night. The group known as the White Helmets were still digging through the rubble 24 hours after the bomb struck. More than 200 people are reported to have died in Aleppo in the past week as a result of rebel shelling as well as government airstrikes. Sam Taylor of the charity Doctors without Borders says their report. This is not the first time. This is the 7th time that a Doctors without Borders supported hospital has been attacked this year alone. And there are many more hospitals that SMF doesn't support. So these continuing attacks on medical structures is horrific.
North Korea has sentenced a Korean American man to ten years of hard labor for spying. China's state news agency said Kim Dong Chul, a US citizen, was arrested last October. Keven Kim reports from Seoul. In a news conference in Pyongyang earlier this year, Kim Dong Chul said he served as a spy for South Korea by secretly sending information on North Korea's leadership and military back to Seoul. According to North Korea's state news agency, he was detained last year while in possession documents link to North Korea's nuclear program and military facilities. Many believe Americans are often arrested and sentenced to pressure the United States for dialogue. In the past, many of the convicted have been freed when the North wishes to signal better relations with Washington. The news comes at a time of heightened military tension on the Korean Peninsula.
There are renewed fears of avalanches caused by helicopters in the upper slopes of Mount Everest. The authorities in Nepal say helicopter firms are continuing to carry out unauthorized sight-seeing flights above base camp. BBC news.