DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Mai Mahiu, Kenya CNN —Eleven people and a dog were rescued from the raging flood waters in Kenya on Wednesday, the country’s Red Cross has said. The humanitarian agency described the rescue mission as “challenging” but later offered a glimmer of hope with reports that floodwaters were gradually receding. Residents in Mai Mahiu are frantically sifting through heaps of debris to recover bodies trapped by the floods. When CNN visited the town on Tuesday, corpses could be seen accumulating beneath toppled trees and layers of mud. Evacuation from flood hit areasCitizens in the worst affected areas have been ordered to leave due to fears of more rain.

Persons: Mai Mahiu, Isaac Mwaura, William Ruto, he’s, ” Ruto, Ruto, Mwaura Organizations: Kenya CNN —, Red Cross, Residents, CNN, National Youth Service Locations: Kenya, Kitengela, Kajiado County, Nairobi, Mai

☆ Kenya: Demonstrators feared dead as protests flare over tax hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Protests broke out across Kenya, including the capital Nairobi, where Opiyo Wandayi, who leads the opposition in Kenya’s parliament told CNN that demonstrators railing against the tax hikes were forcefully dispersed by police. “I was involved in the Nairobi protests. A Kenyan opposition supporter kicks a teargas canister fired by Kenya Police officers during demonstrations in Nairobi, Kenya on July 12, 2023. Kenyan opposition supporters react and throw stones towards Kenya Police officers during demonstrations in Nairobi, Kenya on July 12, 2023. Luis Tato/AFP/Getty ImagesWandayi told CNN the tax hike has come at a steep cost for many Kenyans.

Persons: Opiyo Wandayi, “, ” Wandayi, ”, Luis Tato, Raila Odinga, Odinga, William Ruto, Wandayi Organizations: CNN —, CNN, ” CNN, Kenyan, Kenya Police, Citizen TV, Getty Locations: Kenya, Nairobi, AFP, Kajiado, Machakos ’ Mlolongo

☆ Ten lions killed in southern Kenya as human-wildlife conflict escalates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Ten lions have been killed in southern Kenya this past week, including six on Saturday alone, as human-wildlife conflict escalates in the region, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). This is “an unusually large number of lions to be killed at one go,” a spokesperson for the KWS told CNN on Sunday. The six lions that died on Saturday had killed 11 goats and one dog, the KWS said in a press release on Saturday. “The discussions centered on exploring ways to minimize the risk of human-wildlife conflict, including developing early warning systems to alert communities to the presence of wildlife in their vicinity,” said the KWS. “Further discussions centered on the wider picture of exploring human-wildlife conflict in the context of community livelihoods and benefit sharing towards a harmonious coexistence in the open community and wildlife landscapes,” it added.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have endured five failed consecutive rainy seasons since October 2020, with aid groups labeling it 'the worst drought in 40 years'. "Climate change has made this drought exceptional," said Joyce Kimutai, a climate scientist with the Kenya Meteorological Department who worked with WWA to tease out climate change's role. Unlike with extreme heat and heavy rainfall, scientists have a harder time pinning down climate change's contribution to droughts around the world. Using computer models and climate observations, the WWA team determined climate change had made the Horn of Africa's long rains from March through May twice as likely to underdeliver, and the short rains from October through December wetter. In addition to less rain falling on the Horn, a warming climate means more water is evaporating from soil and transpiring from plants into the atmosphere.

☆ Kenya's Maasai warriors gather to celebrate "Maasai Olympics," a rite of passage
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas MukoyaKIMANA SANCTUARY, Kenya, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Hundreds of youths from the Maasai pastoralists in Kenya gathered on Saturday at a wildlife sanctuary to participate in "Maasai Olympics," a ceremony promoted by conservationists as an alternative rite of passage for young men in the community. To curb the practice, Maasai cultural leaders partnered with Big Life Foundation, a conservation pressure group, to provide an alternative rite of passage, eventually giving birth to the "Maasai Olympics" in which young men compete to earn medals and cash prizes. Craig Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Big Life Foundation said the games had helped reduce the danger to lion population in the area. "(The) program has had a huge impact on the lion population and it is one of the few areas in Africa outside of protected areas where lion population is stable or growing," he said. Government-run Kenya Wildlife Services says there are about 2,000 lions in the East African country, and that the biggest threat to them and other carnivores is conflict with humans.

A senior police officer told The Star newspaper that the shooting was being treated as a case of mistaken identity. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Twitter that he had spoken by phone to Kenyan President William Ruto about the incident. Former prime minister Imran Khan condemned the death and said Sharif had been murdered for his journalistic work. “We're deeply saddened by the death of Arshad Sharif. We encourage a full investigation by the government of Kenya into his death," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.

☆ Drought forces Kenya's Maasai to sell starving cattle for a pittance
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Edwin Waita | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A man from the Maasai pastoralist community affected by the worsening drought due to the failed rainy season, attends to an emaciated cow at a livestock market in Ilbisil settlement of Kajiado, Kenya October 17, 2022. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"This is the kind of situation we have all found ourselves in, with emaciated cattle," said Maasai pastoralist Jackson Sane, speaking at a cattle market in the town of Ilbisil, south of Nairobi. "Maize meal prices have shot up, petrol too, while livestock prices have seriously depreciated," said cattle trader Joshua Kedoya. "Most of these cows you see here have lost all their calves to the drought. We sometimes manage to save a few, especially when we feed them like this but a majority of them end up dying."

☆ Kenya's drought wipes out 2% of the world's rarest zebras
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The Grevy Zebra, the world’s rarest of the zebra species, has been the worst hit species by the drought. “If the approaching rainy season fails, Grevy’s zebra face a very serious threat of starvation,” she said. “Since June, we have lost 58 Grevy’s zebra and mortality cases are rising as the drought intensifies.”Even the most drought-resistant animals are impacted. The Grevy’s Zebra Trust says it is helping endangered species survive the drought through supplementary feeding. The Grevy's Zebra Trust provides supplementary hay to help endangered Grevy's zebra survive the drought crisis in Northern Kenya.

Search resuls for: "Kajiado"

8 mentions found