Briefly

SOUTH AFRICA

Power crisis worsens due to faulty nuke plant

South Africa's power crisis worsened on Tuesday due to a fault at the Koeberg nuclear power plant, authorities said. Koeberg Unit One has been disconnected from the national grid due to a fault on the turbine side, electricity utility Eskom said. However, the nuclear reactor remains safe," the company added. Located 30 kilometers north of Cape Town, Koeberg is currently the only nuclear power plant on the entire African continent. Eskom said its teams are investigating the root causes of the fault, and will advise of the remedy as soon as it is established.

AUSTRALIA

Court hears final appeal by Cardinal Pell

Lawyers for disgraced Cardinal George Pell claimed the senior cleric's conviction for child sex abuse was based on "improbabilities", as they launched a last-ditch appeal in Australia's top court Wednesday. The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer, who is serving a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s, was not present for the two-day hearing in Canberra. Pell, who once helped elect popes, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex crimes. He was found guilty by a jury in December 2018 on five counts of abusing the 13-year-old choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral when he was archbishop of the city.

KENYA

Poachers kill only female white giraffe

The only remaining female white giraffe in Kenya and its calf were found dead on Tuesday following an attack by poachers at a conservancy located in the northeastern county of Garissa that neighbors Somalia. Officials said skeletons of the giraffe whose white pigment was linked to a genetic disorder, were discovered after an extended search. The female white giraffe was discovered in 2017 at the community conservancy in northern Kenya and scientists concluded it suffered from a genetic condition called leucism that inhibits skin cells from producing pigment. It gave birth to a male white calf in August. bringing to three the total number of known white giraffes in Kenya. Kenya's giraffe population is estimated at nearly 29,000 and is facing serious threats to their survival linked to diseases, poaching, habitat loss and climate change.

Xinhua - Agencies