Ivory | Common News Update

Jul82020 by adminNo Comments

Ivory Coast PM, presidential candidate Amadou Coulibaly dies

World

Ivory Coast's presidency says the country's prime minister, who is the ruling party's presidential candidate, has diedBy TOUSSAINT N'GOTTA and KRISTA LARSON Associated PressJuly 8, 2020, 8:45 PM3 min readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the presidential candidate of Ivory Coast's ruling party, died Wednesday just days after returning from two months of medical treatment in France, where he previously had undergone a heart transplant. Coulibaly's death throws the upcoming presidential election into disarray, raising concerns about who now will represent the party of President Alassane Ouattara, who is required to step down after his second term. Coulibaly, 61, had not spoken publicly about why he went to France ...

Legal EU ivory sales 'condemn elephants'

Science

The open, legal sale of antique ivory in many European countries is covering up a trade in illegal and recently poached ivory, campaigners say.Researchers from environmental group Avaaz bought 100 ivory items and had them radiocarbon dated at Oxford University. Three quarters were modern ivory, being sold illegally as fake antiques.Ivory from an elephant killed by poachers as recently as 2010 was among the items passed off as being antique. "It's sick," said Bert Wander from Avaaz, which organised the purchase of the items. "I'm looking at the trinkets we bought on my desk, and to think that an elephant with all the things we are learning about them, about their cognition and their advanced societies, and to think that one of them has died for this bracel...

Ivory trade to be banned in UK 'to protect elephants'

Science

The sale and export of almost all ivory items would be banned in the UK under plans set out by the government.Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced a consultation to end the trade in ivory of all ages - previous attempts at a ban would have excluded antique ivory produced before 1947.The government says there will be some exemptions, for musical instruments and items of cultural importance. Conservation groups have given a guarded welcome to the plan.Growing marketWhile the UK has had a ban on the trade in raw ivory tusks, it has become the world's leading exporter of legal ivory carvings and antiques in recent years. According to an Environmental Investigation Agency report, there were more than 36,000 items exported from the UK between 2010 and 2015, more than three times that...