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Climate Migration: Kenyan woman loses nearly all to lake

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Climate Migration: Kenyan woman loses nearly all to lake

By BRIAN INGANGA and JULIE WATSON

September 8, 2022 GMT

KAMPI ya SAMAKI, Kenya (AP) — Winnie Keben had felt blessed to be elevating her youngsters in her husband’s childhood residence locally of Kampi ya Samaki – simply over 1 / 4 mile (500 meters) from the shoreline of Lake Baringo.

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The huge freshwater lake buzzing with birds and aquatic life within the semi-arid volcanic area of Kenya’s Nice Rift Valley had lengthy been an oasis. It attracted fishers and worldwide vacationers to the group, a couple of five-hour drive from Nairobi.

However over the previous decade Lake Baringo has doubled in dimension, due primarily to heavy rainfall tied to local weather change, in response to scientists, and its fast-rising waters are more and more changing into a menace. The increasing lake has swallowed up houses and lodges and introduced in crocodiles and hippos which have turned up on folks’s doorsteps and in school rooms.

“It was not like this up to now,” Keben stated. “Individuals would transfer when the water strikes, however it will return quickly sufficient.”

Keben had by no means imagined leaving.

Then the lake took away virtually all the pieces.

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Full Protection: Local weather Migration

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EDITOR’S NOTE: That is a part of an ongoing sequence exploring the lives of individuals all over the world who’ve been compelled to maneuver due to rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and different issues prompted or exacerbated by local weather change.

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In her final moments in Kampi ya Samaki, Keben was washing off backyard filth in Lake Baringo’s refreshing waters. It had been a day of working her maize fields along with her husband. Night was falling. Her thoughts was on getting again to the home to make dinner.

Then one thing moved.

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“No sooner had I bent down to clean my proper leg, than I noticed a crocodile pop up from the waters,” she stated. “I screamed so loudly however sadly, I fell into the lake.”

The crocodile dragged her into deeper water as she tried to combat it off. Her husband ran from the fields towards her screams. However she was struggling to remain above the floor.

She managed to succeed in her hand above the water and wiggle her fingers, hoping her husband, now on the shore, would see them.

Laban Keben noticed, jumped in and grabbed her however the ferocious animal held on. Laban tried once more. And once more. After his third try, his spouse and the mom of their youngsters misplaced consciousness, he stated.

“I noticed her dying, leaving me behind,” he stated.

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He considered their daughter, barely six months previous, and their two different youngsters.

Not understanding what else to do, he began screaming for assist. One other man ran over with a machete and struck on the crocodile, Laban stated, and immediately, it swam away, leaving Winnie’s limp physique behind.

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Her leg was nothing however bones with hanging flesh, stated Laban, who together with native residents carried Winnie previous flooded roads to the closest paved one the place automobiles might get her to medical care. However on the hospital within the subsequent city, docs stated they weren’t geared up to deal with such a extreme damage.

Two hospitals later, she feared she wouldn’t survive.

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“I informed my husband to select up my youngsters and to take them to my mum, as I knew I used to be not going to make it,” she stated.

Medical doctors ended up amputating the leg to avoid wasting her life. Her mother stayed by her bedside till she was discharged from the hospital.

The household was compelled to promote their chickens, and goats to cowl her medical prices.

However whereas she was therapeutic, an incessant rain continued to fall. The lake took nonetheless extra from the Kebens. It flooded their residence and farmland.

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They left their group, the ultimate loss.

A resident from one other village, Meisori, realized of their ordeal and supplied to take them in, a gesture of kindness for which she is grateful.

However leaving Kampi ya Samaki, the place her husband and kids had been born, nonetheless hurts.

“I cherished my place very a lot, as I might do farming with my husband and lift cash for meals and faculty charges,” Winnie stated.

With just one leg, Winnie stated she now not can farm. Her husband earns a meager dwelling digging pit latrines and dealing at space farms to assist their rising household. She gave beginning to her sixth youngster final month.

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“Now we’re land beggars,” she stated.

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Baringo is one in all ten lakes in Kenya’s Rift Valley which were increasing over the previous decade. The whole Jap African rift system, which stretches south to Mozambique, and the Western Rift – all the way in which to Uganda – are additionally affected. The rainfed waters have submerged villages and islands and introduced the fierce Nile crocodiles face-to-face with residents.

The rising lake waters have displaced greater than 75,000 households, in response to a 2021 report on the increasing lakes by Kenya’s Ministry of the Setting and Forestry and the United Nations Improvement Program.

Flooding round Lake Baringo has been among the many most extreme, in response to the report, with greater than 3,000 households destroyed.

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Lake Baringo stays an essential supply of freshwater for villagers, livestock, fisheries, and wildlife. However scientists concern it might sometime merge with a big salt lake not distant, the also-expanding Lake Bogoria, contaminating the freshwater.

Keben remembers when the shoreline was a brief stroll from their residence and the hippos and crocodiles stayed deep contained in the lake.

“They by no means attacked folks or animals,” Keben stated. “In the present day they assault all the pieces.”

Keben, 28, continues to be haunted by her assault a decade in the past. She has not returned to her household’s village — even for a short go to — and with good cause. The dangers of such assaults have solely elevated: Since she left, extra crocodiles and hippos have turned up in Kampi ya Samaki.

It’s not uncommon now to see village youngsters scarred by sharp tooth marks.

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Others, like Keben, have misplaced limbs, and an unknown quantity have died.

A ten-year-old boy was lately dragged off by a hippo and has not been discovered.

Keben stated she doesn’t plan to ever return to Kampi ya Samaki. Although she longs for the group.

“That’s the place I referred to as residence,” she stated, her voice nonetheless crammed with ache.

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Watson reported from San Diego.

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Related Press local weather and environmental protection receives assist from a number of personal foundations. See extra about AP’s local weather initiative right here. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.

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Jon Hamm’s Your Friends & Neighbors Renewed at Apple TV+ Ahead of Series Premiere — Get Release Date

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Jon Hamm’s Your Friends & Neighbors Renewed at Apple TV+ Ahead of Series Premiere — Get Release Date


Jon Hamm ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’ Apple Series Cast, Release Date



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Israel keeping its ‘eyes open’ for Iranian attacks during Trump transition period, ambassador says

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Israel keeping its ‘eyes open’ for Iranian attacks during Trump transition period, ambassador says

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon tells Fox News Digital that his country is keeping its “eyes open” for any potential aggression from Iran during the Trump transition period, adding it would be a “mistake” for the Islamic Republic to carry out an attack. 

The comments come after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi vowed earlier this week that Iran would retaliate against Israel for the strategic airstrikes it carried out against Tehran on Oct. 26. Araghchi was quoted in Iranian media saying “we have not given up our right to react, and we will react in our time and in the way we see fit.” 

“I would advise him not to challenge us. We have already shown our capabilities. We have proved that they are vulnerable. We can actually target any location in Iran. They know that,” Danon told Fox News Digital. 

“So I would advise them not to make that mistake. If they think that now, because of the transition period, they can take advantage of it, they are wrong,” he added. “We are keeping our eyes open and we are ready for all scenarios.” 

ICC REJECTS ISRAELI APPEALS, ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS FOR BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, YOAV GALLANT 

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Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon tells Fox News Digital that his country is “ready for all scenarios” coming from Iran during the Trump transition period. (Fox News)

Danon says he believes one of the most important challenges for the incoming Trump administration will be the way the U.S. deals with Iran. 

“Regarding the new administration, I think the most important challenge will be the way you challenge Iran, the aggression, the threat of the Iranian regime. I believe that the U.S. will have to go back to a leading position on this issue,” he told Fox News Digital. 

“We are fighting the same enemies, the enemies of the United States of America. When you look at the Iranians, the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, all those bad actors that are coming against Israel… that is the enemy of the United States. So I think every American should support us and understand what we are doing now,” Danon also said. 

IRAN HIDING MISSILE, DRONE PROGRAMS UNDER GUISE OF COMMERCIAL FRONT TO EVADE SANCTIONS 

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House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Elise Stefanik

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is acknowledged by President-elect Donald Trump alongside Speaker of the House Mike Johnson during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 2024. Stefanik has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (Allison Robbert/Pool via REUTERS)

Danon spoke as the U.S. vetoed a draft resolution against Israel at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. 

The resolution, which was overseen by Algeria, sought an “immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire” to be imposed on Israel. The resolution did not guarantee the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas within Gaza. 

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Israeli Air Force planes departing for the strikes in Iran on Oct. 26. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

 

“It was a shameful resolution because… it didn’t have the linkage between the cease-fire and the call [for] the release of the hostages. And I want to thank the United States for taking a strong position and vetoing this resolution,” Danon said. “I think it sent a very clear message that the U.S. stands with its strongest ally with Israel. And, you know, it was shameful, too, to hear the voices of so many ambassadors speaking about a cease-fire but abandoning the 101 hostages. We will not forget them. We will never abandon them. We will continue to fight until we bring all of them back home.” 

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report. 

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Fact-check: What do we know about Russia’s nuclear arsenal?

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Fact-check: What do we know about Russia’s nuclear arsenal?

Moscow has lowered the bar for using nuclear weapons and fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead into Ukraine, heightening tensions with the West.

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Russia’s nuclear arsenal is under fresh scrutiny after an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying an atomic warhead was fired into Ukrainian territory.

President Vladimir Putin says the unprecedented attack using the so-called “Oreshnik” missile is a direct response to Ukraine’s use of US and UK-made missiles to strike targets deep in Russian territory.

He has also warned that the military facilities of Western countries allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike Russia could become targets.

The escalation comes days after the Russian President approved small but significant changes to his country’s nuclear doctrine, which would allow a nuclear response to a conventional, non-nuclear attack on Russian territory.

While Western officials, including US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, have dismissed the notion that Moscow’s use of nuclear weapons is imminent, experts warn that recent developments could increase the possibility of nuclear weapons use.

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Here’s what we know about Russia’s inventory of atomic weapons.

How big is Russia’s nuclear arsenal?

Russia holds more nuclear warheads than any other nation at an estimated 5,580, which amounts to 47% of global stockpiles, according to data from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

But only an estimated 1,710 of those weapons are deployed, a fraction more than the 1,670 deployed by the US. 

Both nations have the necessary nuclear might to destroy each other several times over, and considerably more atomic warheads than the world’s seven other nuclear nations: China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

Of Moscow’s deployed weapons, an estimated 870 are on land-based ballistic missiles, 640 on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and potentially 200 at heavy bomber bases.

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According to FAS, there are no signs Russia is significantly scaling up its nuclear arsenal, but the federation does warn of a potential surge in the future as the country replaces single-warhead missiles with those capable of carrying multiple warheads.

Russia is also steadily modernising its nuclear arsenal.

What could trigger a Russian nuclear response?

Moscow’s previous 2020 doctrine stated that its nuclear weapons could be used in response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction “when the very existence of the state is put under threat.”

Now, the conditions under which a nuclear response could be launched have changed in three crucial ways:

  1. Russia will consider using nuclear weapons in the case of a strike on its territory using conventional weapons, such as cruise missiles, drones and tactical aircraft.
  2. It could launch a nuclear attack in response to an aggression by a non-nuclear state acting “with the participation or support of a nuclear state”, as is the case for Ukraine.
  3. Moscow will also apply the same conditions to an attack on Belarus’ territory, in agreement with President Lukashenko.

Is there a rising nuclear threat?

The size of the world’s nuclear stockpiles has rapidly decreased amid the post-Cold War détente. The Soviet Union had some 40,000 warheads, and the US around 30,000, when stockpiles peaked during the 1960s and 70s.

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But FAS warns that while the overall number is still in decline, operational warheads are on the rise once again. More countries are also upgrading their missiles to deploy multiple warheads.

“In nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces,” Hans M. Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), said in June this year.

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Is the West reacting?

When Putin approved the updated nuclear protocol last week, many Western leaders dismissed it as sabre rattling.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany and its partners would “not be intimidated” and accused Putin of “playing with our fear.”

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But since Russia used a hypersonic ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead in an attack on Dnipro, European leaders have raised the alarm.

“The last few dozen hours have shown that the threat is serious and real when it comes to global conflict,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.

According to Dutch media reports, NATO’s secretary-general Mark Rutte is in Florida to urgently meet President-elect Donald Trump, potentially to discuss the recent escalation.

NATO and Ukraine will hold an extraordinary meeting in Brussels next Tuesday to discuss the situation and the possible allied reaction, according to Euronews sources.

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