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The British owner of a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa has been severely mauled by a lion he hand-reared from a cub in an attack witnessed and filmed by his tourist clients. Michael Hodge, who is 71, was attacked as he walked into the enclosure of the Marakele Animal Sanctuary’s star attraction, a male lion named Shamba. Video footage of Saturday’s incident shows Mr Hodge, who moved to South Africa in 1999, walking in a relaxed manner towards the lion whilst a ranger outside the fence attempts to distract the animal.  Mr Hodge, who founded the sanctuary in South Africa’s Limpopo region with his wife Chrissy and her daughter Emma in 2010, was reportedly investigating a strange smell that had been upsetting the lion. Suddenly, Mr Hodge is seen running for the gate of Shamba’s enclosure before being brought down just short, his body crashing against the fence. Mike Hodge has been running the animal sanctuary in South Africa since 2010 Credit: Facebook A woman can be heard sobbing and screaming “Oh my god!” and “somebody help, please!” as the lion drags Mr Hodge away into a thicket. Mr Hodge is heard to cry out: “help me please”. Shots ring out, fired by the ranger, prompting Shamba to drop the injured Mr Hodge. The lion retreated a few yards from the bush where the Briton lay, but not far enough to allow a safe rescue attempt to be made. Shamba was then killed, a family friend, Bernadette Maguire, said, before Mr Hodge was rushed to a clinic 3m away in the town of Thabazimbi. He was later airlifted to a hospital in Johannesburg. Mrs Hodge said her husband had been hurt was now recovering. “He has a broken jaw and several lacerations, but is recovering well,” she said in a statement. Michael Hodge is attacked by the lion She added that the family were “devastated” over Shamba’s death. The lion, born in 2008, had been hand-reared since it was a month old, with Mrs Hodge nursing it through a near-fatal dose of colic, according to friends. Shamba was one of the most popular of the dozen or so big cats housed in the sanctuary’s “predator park”.  Tourists could pay an extra fee to be locked into a cage on the back of a pick-up vehicle. Shamba had been trained to leap onto the cage to eat freshly slaughtered chickens hung from the bars. Tourists would then photograph Shamba from just inches away as the feathers flew. “Come and take a ride on the wild side in our purpose-built Lion Mobile,” the sanctuary’s website reads. “I can promise you that Shamba will jump up and look you in the eye.” Mike Hodge and his wife Chrissy, who had reportedly nursed the lion who later launched the attack Previous visitors and volunteers said that Mr Hodge had long experience with lions, having hand-reared three from cubs. One, a lioness named Nina, even slept on his bed, according to Emerita Abadilla, a former volunteer. “She slept in Mike’s bed, washing his face and giving him a spit-bath daily at 3am,” she wrote in a blog post two years ago. Apart from lions, the sanctuary also housed at least two tigers, a species not native to South Africa.  Some visitors to the sanctuary’s Facebook page criticised the manner in which Shamba was killed and the park run — but friends also came to Mr Hodge’s defence, saying he had a “special bond” with the dead lion.

By Neha Dasgupta and Krishna N. Das NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Only a handful of India's 100 most polluted cities have drawn up plans to combat air pollution despite being asked to do so three years ago, senior government officials said on Wednesday after a damning report by the World Health Organisation. India is home to the world's 14 most polluted cities, the WHO said, based on the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic meter of air. Environment ministry officials said the WHO's findings were embarrassing but not surprising.

Arizona teachers have pledged to end a strike and return to work if the legislature approves a proposed budget deal between the governor and state lawmakers to raise their pay, despite saying the spending measure does not go far enough. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey could sign the agreement as early as Wednesday and end a walkout that kept most of Arizona's 1.1 million public school students out of class since last Thursday.

A Chinese drone company breaks the Guinness World Record for the most unmanned aerial vehicles simultaneously airborne. Rough cut (no reporter narration).

With the current popularity of all things SUV, the third-generation Cayenne is what probably generates the most to keep the lights on in the GT-division, so keeping it ahead of the game is vital. This is no superficial facelift though, as the new Cayenne E-Hybrid is going to be an improvement on the current incarnation in just about every measurable way. When using a 230-volt 32-amp connection and the optional 7.2 kW onboard charger, the battery in the new Cayenne E-Hybrid is capable of being recharged in just 2.3 hours.

China's foreign minister arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea in years as Beijing tries to mend fences with its nuclear-armed neighbour. The two-day visit by Wang Yi follows a landmark inter-Korean summit and precedes a meeting between the North's leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in coming weeks. Wang, who will meet his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho during his stay, was greeted by vice foreign minister Ri Kil Song and other officials at Pyongyang airport.

Armenia's political crisis deepened Wednesday as opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan called for protesters to block key transport links after lawmakers rejected his bid to become prime minister. Pashinyan supporters have pledged to ramp up pressure on authorities to force the ruling Republican Party, which withheld support for the protest leader despite tens of thousands massing in the streets, to quit power. "A revolution of love and tolerance is continuing," he said, also urging people to block an airport and turn out for a huge rally Wednesday evening as the crowds chanted "Nikol! Nikol!".

Obstruction is a key focus

A producer on the canceled Netflix show "Marco Polo" has accused disgraced

Veteran NBC journalist Tom Brokaw has not followed what's become a typical

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — A principal at a Michigan Catholic high school has rescinded a plan to require female students to wear "modesty ponchos" at prom if their dresses are too revealing.

Kanye West dropped by TMZ on Tuesday to tell the newsroom staff that he loves

Eighteen people have been diagnosed with the same type of rare eye cancer - including three university friends - leading researchers to push for funding to find connections, a cause, and a cure. The melanoma, a type of cancer that develops in melanin - the pigment that gives skin its colour, only occurs in about six out of one million people but at least 18 people have been diagnosed with ocular melanoma recently - curiously all have ties to one or both of the communities in Huntersville, North Carolina or Auburn, Alabama. To add to the mystery, three friends who met at Auburn University: Juleigh Green, Allison Allred and Ashley McCrary are all being treated for the disease.

Authorities have charged 57 white supremacists with crimes related to a

There was an uproar last week among Democrats, and even some Republicans,

It's the first time Shults has been seen publicly since the pulse-pounding incident.

Since the deadly "Unite The Right" rally in August, white supremacists have targeted multiple cities for rallies. Each has been determined not to be the next Charlottesville. Here’s what the people in Newnan, Georgia, had to say as the town prepared for a neo-Nazi event to take over the local park on April 21.

International Workers’ Day on May 1 is a public holiday in many countries, though some governments have clamped down on rallies and protests. Anti-capitalist protesters torched a McDonald’s restaurant and clashed with police in Paris on the fringes of a May Day rally in Paris. Shouting slogans such as “Rise up, Paris” and “Everyone hates the police”, over 1,000 youths with black jackets and face masks joined the traditional union-led demonstration for worker’s rights.

Chip Gaines dismissed an online article that accused him and his "Fixer Upper"

A Russian fighter jet has reportedly intercepted a US surveillance plane in international airspace. The Russian Su-27 jet performed an “unprofessional” but not unsafe interception of a US Navy P-8 plane that was flying over the Baltic Sea, defence officials told CNN and Fox News. "Due to standing DOD policy, we do not release the details of safe interactions," said Lieutenant Commander Zach Harrell, a spokesman for US Naval Forces Europe.