Four Rare White Rhinos Die Sudeenly in Australian Zoo

Sydney - Four rare white rhinoceroses have died in recent weeks at an Australian zoo after displaying mysterious neurological problems such as stumbling, officials said Wednesday.

The Taronga Western Plains Zoo near the New South Wales state city of Dubbo said in a statement that it had begun a veterinary investigation to pinpoint the cause of the deaths and is working with rhino specialists in Africa and North America.

The four rhinos — Izizi, Aluka, Intombi and her daughter Amira — began showing signs of neurological problems two weeks ago, an unnamed zoo official told Australian Associated Press.

The first rhino died soon after the symptoms became apparent and the fourth died over the weekend, the official said.

Three other rhinos survived, zoo spokesman Mark Williams said. Williams declined to answer further questions.

The zoo's general manager, Matt Fuller, said bacterial infections, snake venom, toxins and many types of viruses have been ruled out as possible causes.

Fuller said in a statement that no other species at the zoo had been affected by the illness and the surviving rhinos, which have been placed in quarantine, are healthy.

"The rhino keepers and veterinary staff know and care for every individual in the herd, so this has been a huge shock, and we're all very sad and supporting each other through this difficult time," Fuller said.

Fuller said results of a microscopic examination of tissue from the rhino carcasses may be available next week, but he added that it could take several weeks to get results from virology cultures.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, white rhinos are classified as near endangered with an estimated 20,000 in the wild in Africa. The zoo's rhinos are from the southern white subspecies found in South Africa and Kenya.

Intombi and Aluka were brought to the zoo from the Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2003. Amira and Izizi were born in captivity.

Their ages ranged from around 7 to 16 years.

Fuller was not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

Last Inmates Pardoned by Former Mississippi Governor Released

By Robbie Ward

Starkville, Mississippi - The last three inmates still in prison who had been pardoned by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour were released on Saturday, two days after the state's highest court cleared the way for their freedom.

The release of the prisoners could be the final chapter in a controversial saga that began in January when Barbour issued more than 200 pardons as he left office, the most in modern Mississippi history.

The pardons prompted an outcry from victims of those released and the families of victims. Many in Mississippi were perplexed why a law-and-order conservative Republican granted them.

Barbour said he showed mercy out of a spirit of forgiveness and to give the inmates a second chance.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood challenged 10 of the pardons before the state Supreme Court, which ruled on Thursday that Barbour had the constitutional authority to grant them.

"This is the end of pardon-gate," said Matthew Steffey, a constitutional law professor at Mississippi College School of Law. "The court made clear there was no clear jurisdiction to challenge a ... valid pardon."
Hood, the only Democrat to hold statewide office, said he would work with local law enforcement authorities and victims' rights advocates to amend the state constitution so that future governors abide by technical requirements in making pardons.

Proposals in the Mississippi Legislature to limit the governor's pardon authority have not advanced.
"Based on recidivism rates, some of them (pardoned) will go back and commit crimes," Hood said. "We just hope no one gets hurt."

One inmate pardoned by Barbour, a South African citizen, went from one prison to another this week. Azikiwe "Azi" Kambule left prison in Mississippi on Friday and was detained in Louisiana on an immigration charge and may be deported to his home country.

It is not clear when Kambule will be deported. He was convicted more than 15 years ago of carjacking and being an accessory to murder in the death of a Jackson, Mississippi, social worker.

Rob McDuff, who represented Kambule when he pleaded guilty to the crimes, said his youth at the time and the lengthy 35-year prison sentence were factors in Barbour granting the South African full clemency.

 "He was a 17-year-old kid in a new country who was pressured by an older person into going along while that person carjacked and killed a woman," McDuff said. "Azi was somebody who got caught up in something that went much further than anybody ever intended."

Thousands March as South Africans Strike

South Africa - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in South Africa as a trade union federation called a nationwide strike to demonstrate for improved worker rights and against plans to introduce unpopular road tolls.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), said that the country's system of casual labour, known as "labour broking" in which middlemen acted between employers and workers, amounted to "modern day slavery".

COSATU is part of a tripartite alliance with the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, and the South Africa Communist Party. But in the statement, COSATU called for protests against the government.

The body is concerned that after 18 years in power, the party revered for leading the battle against apartheid has become complacent and needs to be pushed to replace corrupt or incompetent leaders with politicians who can deliver.

"We must force the government and the ruling party, the African National Congress, to scrap the exorbitant e-tolling system and ban modern day slavery [labour broking]," COSATU said.

Police estimate 50,000 people marched in Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub. Smaller crowds turned out in Cape Town and other cities and towns.

The demonstrations progressed peacefully, although there were reports early on Wednesday that people trying to board commuter trains to work were beaten, allegedly by protesters who wanted the demonstrations to shut down commerce.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Johannesburg, said frustration with labour brokers had drawn many out to join the protests.

"They say these labour brokers exploit the workers - they don't pay them enough and that they work for long hours and they do not get any benefits like health insurance," Mutasa said.

The e-tolling system, to come into effect in April, by which South Africans would have to pay to use public roads, has also proved unpopular, our correspondent said, with strikers saying that scheme is too expensive and that the government should fit the bill of servicing and maintaining roads.

In a speech on the eve of the march, Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU's leader, said the toll road debate summed up concerns about growing inequality in South Africa.

'Fancy cars'

"The logic of those who say that the poor do not use our motorways, except by public transport, is that they should be permanently excluded from access to the best roads. They must find the potholed side-roads to get from A to B, while the rich glide along in their fancy cars," Vavi said.

"Good health and education services currently belong to the wealthier sections of society, who can afford to pay. We do not want yet another addition to the list."

In a statement, the ANC said Wednesday's demonstrations were "unnecessary, but we nonetheless respect the right of those who want to protest".

The party said it had responded to concerns that the tolls would hurt the poor by exempting the buses and taxi vans used by many poorer South Africans.

The government also capped monthly toll fees at about $70, so no driver would pay more than that no matter how much he or she used the improved roads.

Mutasa said that COSATU has had a lot of power in the past in terms of shaping South African policy.
The strike was expected to be backed by the youth league of the ruling ANC, the ANCYL, and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU).

The recently expelled chairperson of the ANCYL, Julius Malema, attended the protest briefly and was greeted to chants of his nickname "Juju", reported a local news agency, Sapa.

The marches, coming before an ANC policy-making conference in June and pivotal meeting in December to elect top party leaders, are seen by some as an attempt by COSATU to influence the ANC's course.

The ANCYL said on its website that it "fully and unreservedly supports the strike led by COSATU calling for labour brokers and immediate cancellation of e-tolling".

"We call on all members of society, particularly the youth to join in the mass protests across the country, because the issues COSATU is raising are genuine issues," the party said.

The ANC has been in power since the end of apartheid in 1994 is under pressure to show it can work more quickly to improve the lives of black South Africans, many of whom continue to live in poverty despite economic growth and greater political freedom and stability.

A quarter of South Africa's labour force is officially out of work, but experts say the percentage would be higher if the discouraged and the underemployed were counted.

Business groups have argued that instead of banning labour brokers, COSATU should work with them and the government to better regulate them.