Elephant crushes, kills suspected poacher
JOHANNESBURG • A suspected rhino poacher was trampled to death by an elephant and his body devoured by lions in South Africa's Kruger National Park, officials said yesterday.
South African rangers have recovered the skull of the man in the vast Kruger sanctuary. According to a park spokesman, rangers were alerted after the victim's alleged accomplices told his family that he had been crushed to death by an elephant.
He said a pride of lions, thought to have been in the area, were believed to have devoured the man's remains.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
EU palm oil plan: Jakarta, KL object
JAKARTA • Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad have signed a joint letter of objection to the European Union over its plan to phase out the use of palm oil in renewable fuel, an Indonesian official said.
Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top producers of the vegetable oil, have both threatened a World Trade Organisation challenge against the EU over its plan to phase out the use of palm oil by 2030 in renewable transport fuel.
REUTERS
German woman raped, killed in Thailand
BANGKOK • A 26-year-old German woman was raped and killed on an island in Thailand, police said yesterday.
The woman's body was found on Sunday on Ko Sichang, in the Gulf of Thailand, around 75km from the capital Bangkok, the police said.
A 24-year-old suspect who works as a municipal trash collector was in police custody and has confessed to the crime, according to Ko Sichang police chief Ungkul Sarakul.
DPA
London starts new pollution charge
LONDON • Motorists in London driving older, more polluting vehicles were set to start paying a new charge from yesterday as part of one of the world's toughest vehicle emissions programmes.
The ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) charge for certain polluting vehicles is a £12.50 (S$22) fee to enter the centre of the British capital under Mayor Sadiq Khan's plans to reduce air pollution.
Anyone driving a diesel car around more than four years old and a petrol car around more than 13 years old will pay the charge, although the vehicle's declared emissions will be the official measure.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE