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Tag: belong

  • ‘The wolf does not belong here’: German summit convened after animal attacks

    ‘The wolf does not belong here’: German summit convened after animal attacks

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    German farmers, conservationists and politicians have met at a wolf summit to discuss the animal’s future amid concerns that its population is out of control.

    The farmers’ union is calling for a relaxation of rules over when wolves, strictly protected under EU law, can be shot, after a series of highly publicised deadly attacks on farm animals.

    It has said that people in rural areas are fearful for their lives as well as the lives of their animals, with many farmers expressing concern for their livelihoods.

    Germany is home to an estimated 161 packs of wolves (of between eight to 12 animals each) according to the Federal Wolf Documentation and Advisory Office. A further 43 pairs and 21 individual animals were also registered.

    Bavaria’s governor, Markus Söder attends a farmers’ meeting in Oberaudorf, Germany
    Bavaria’s governor, Markus Söder, attends a farmers’ meeting in Oberaudorf, Germany, on Wednesday. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AP

    Numbers have increased year on year since the wolf was placed under species protection in 1990, after it was considered to have more or less become extinct at the end of the 19thcentury.

    The southern state of Bavaria has already taken its own decision to allow farmers to actively kill wolves where livestock is thought to be under particular threat.

    Its leader, Markus Söder, visited an alpine village on Thursday that has reportedly been the scene of attacks on grazing animals, where he said the future of farming was in danger if wolf populations were not brought under control.

    “I’ll say it quite clearly, the wolf does not belong here,” Söder told a gathering of farmers and their families in Oberaudorf. “We have introduced a new wolf bylaw … one breach is sufficient and the wolf can be removed from a region.”

    Bavaria’s governor, Markus Söder attends a farmers’ meeting in Oberaudorf, Germany
    Söder’s CSU party has said it would like to see the elimination of all wolves from Germany. Photograph: Peter Kneffel/AP

    His Christian Social Union (CSU) has said it would like to see the elimination of all wolves from Germany. Its larger sister party, the centre-right CDU, has called for hunting rights to be expanded to include wolves.

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    Harald Ebner, of the Greens party, head of the federal committee for environment and nature protection, said it would be wrong for such permission to be granted. “The quick call to arms is no solution and the perpetual appeal for wolf-free zones and quotas contravenes EU law and will bring no relief to keepers of grazing animals,” he said.

    The environment minister, Steffi Lemke, also of the Greens, has argued for increasing protection both for grazing animals and wolves. “We cannot in good conscience, call for the protection of animals in African countries at the same time as saying here that it is not possible to protect the wolf,” she said

    The farmers’ union in Brandenburg, northern Germany, home to the largest number of wolves in the country with an estimated 47 packs and 14 pairs, is calling for a quota that could be shot legally each year, drawing on wolf population control measures in Finland and Sweden.

    Brandenburg permitted wolves to be shot in specifically defined cases in 2022, after a series of livestock killings. A male wolf was killed in March after 76 livestock deaths were attributed to it.

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    #wolf #belong #German #summit #convened #animal #attacks
    ( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

  • Telangana: Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi don’t belong to BC community, says Uttam

    Telangana: Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi don’t belong to BC community, says Uttam

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    Hyderabad: Telangana senior congress leader and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy clarified that Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi do not belong to the BC community, refuting the ‘false claims’ made by the BJP.

    He expressed astonishment at the BJP’s attempts to garner sympathy for the two notorious ‘scamsters’ by wrongly associating them with the BC community.

    He addressed a dharna of the BC Welfare Association organized by its Telangana State President, Jajula Srinivas Goud, at Jantar Mantar, Delhi on Wednesday.

    “Nirav Modi is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of nearly Rs. 14,000 crore, while Lalit Modi allegedly embezzled thousands of crores from Indian cricket fans and tarnished the reputation of Indian cricket worldwide. Both scamsters are reportedly living a luxurious life somewhere in Europe. It is perplexing that the BJP would choose to use these controversial figures in their campaign, falsely associating them with the BC community,” he said.

    Uttam Kumar Reddy endorsed the demand for a BC census in the country. He stated that the Congress party fully supports it at both the AICC and TPCC levels. He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the welfare of the BC community and asked why a BC Census has not been conducted, a demand made by BCs across the country.

    He also emphasized the BC community’s long-standing demand for a separate ministry in the union government, similar to those for SC, ST, and Minority affairs. “The absence of such a ministry, despite the community’s requests for the past nine years, is quite astounding,” he said.

    He also concurred with the BC Welfare Association’s demand for the removal of the creamy layer from the BC reservation quota.

    Uttam Kumar Reddy asserted that the BC quota in jobs and education should be increased proportionately to their population, on par with SCs and STs.

    He said that previous Congress governments implemented several measures to improve the lives of BCs at the national level and in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. He accused the BJP government of completely neglecting the welfare of the BC community in the last nine years.

    However, he alleged that BJP leaders were misusing the name of the BC community to shield scamsters like Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi by disseminating false propaganda. “The BC community is both laughing at and shocked by the BJP’s propaganda tactics,” he said.

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    #Telangana #Nirav #Modi #Lalit #Modi #dont #belong #community #Uttam

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • ‘That could be one of our balloons’: Hobbyist says downed object may belong to amateur club

    ‘That could be one of our balloons’: Hobbyist says downed object may belong to amateur club

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    U.S. officials still haven’t said what the three objects were, but President Joe Biden said Thursday they were “most likely balloons” connected to either private companies or involving scientific research.

    “When I heard that [it was a] silver object with a payload attached to it, that could be one of our balloons,” a member of the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade told POLITICO in a phone interview. The member was granted anonymity because the group has agreed not to talk to the media.

    Government officials have reached out to some of the hobby group’s members, the person said. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command said the FBI had contacted the club but did not provide more details. The FBI did not return a request to comment.

    National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the U.S. can’t confirm reports that the balloon belongs to the club. “We haven’t recovered it so it’s very difficult until you can get your hands on something to be able to tell,” he said. “I mean we all have to accept the possibility that we may not be able to recover it.”

    For months, the hobby group tracked its balloon using an antenna attached to the craft, using GPS to estimate where it was. Based on their data, the balloon should have been over Alaska when it went offline.

    But hundreds, if not thousands, of objects are floating in that jet stream at any given time, so no one can be sure what was shot down unless you “go through the Yukon and trudge through the snow,” the member said.

    “Think about it. We know where the balloon was off the coast of Alaska. We know where it was, if all was well,” the member said. “We know that it didn’t wake up that morning. We know [American forces] shot something down, and the thing they described as having shot down is not inconsistent with what we’re flying out there. So, that’s that.”

    Balloons flown by the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade are no different from the $10 to $15 balloons children buy for parties, the person said. They’re not specifically designed for scientific purposes. The Sidewinder missile used by the Air Force to shoot down the object over the Yukon costs roughly $400,000.

    “Unless it has Mickey Mouse ears and F-22 pilots got sharp eyes and can discern that, it’s not clear exactly what you’re looking at. But the point is that it is not at all a huge reach,” to assume it’s the group’s balloon, the member said.

    Kirby said the U.S. stands by the decision to shoot down the objects.

    “Given the situation we were in, the information available, the recommendation of our military commanders, it was exactly the right thing to do at exactly the right time,” he said.

    “And, frankly, given the circumstances in light of what happened with the spy balloon, wouldn’t that be a better outcome, if it turns out that they were in fact, civilian, or recreational use, or weather balloon and therefore benign, which is what the intelligence community thinks,” Kirby added. “Isn’t that a better outcome than to have to … to think about the possibility of greater threats to our national security?”

    While it’s unfortunate that the balloon is missing, the person said it’s better for the U.S. to be safe than sorry when it comes to protecting its airspace.

    “I’m an American and I don’t want anything bad to happen to our country. If they don’t know, I’d rather that they err in shooting down $100 worth of balloon stuff than have something bad go over Canada or the United States,” the member said, adding that they’re “not angry at all.”

    Kelly Garrity, Lee Hudson and Lawrence Ukenye contributed to this report.

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    #balloons #Hobbyist #downed #object #belong #amateur #club
    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )