CHILDREN from all over Shiawassee County packed McCurdy Park in Corunna last Sunday for the Corunna Easter Egg Hunt. Temperatures were unseasonably warm, the sun was high in the sky, and most of the residual rain water had dried from the ground in time for the event. Children up to 6th-grade were allowed to participate in the hunt, with children separated into age groups. Additionally, as is customary at the Corunna Easter Egg Hunt, special needs students were given their own egg hunting area and were allowed to begin their search first. The Caledonia Township Fire Department initiated the Easter egg hunts by blowing the horn on the fire engine.

was last modified: by</s>Fifteen-month-old Charlotte Paternoster drops two eggs into her basket during the Springfield Township Parks and Recreation Annual Egg Hunt last Friday. Photo by Wendi Reardon Price</s>Dozens took part in a special kind of Easter egg hunt on April 8. Pioneers, a community service group, hosted its annual egg hunt for visually-impaired kids at the Wesley Homes Retirement Community in Des Moines. The group puts beepers in eggs so the kids can find them and trade them in for candy.

Pioneers also invited guide dog puppies to meet the kids and socialize the dogs.

One of the participants was 11-year-old Joseph — recently adopted from China by Joanne Greco. This is his first Easter and egg hunt. He knows about 50 English words so far, and one of them is now ‘beep.’</s>US special forces on Wednesday begin pulling out of Central African Republic where they deployed in 2011 to help hunt the brutal LRA warlord Joseph Kony.

The move, which was announced last month, will see US troops pulling out of the country's east where they have been helping Ugandan forces track down rebels from the feared Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

"The time has come to move forward because the organisation itself is really in a survival mode,"General Thomas Waldhauser, head of the US military's Africa Command (AFRICOM) said in a telephone briefing last week.

Several years ago it counted several thousand fighters but today has fewer than 100, with the rebels dispersed across parts of CAR, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and South Sudan.

Since it was set up by Kony in 1987, the LRA has slaughtered more than 100,000 people and abducted 60,000 children who were forced to become sex slaves and soldiers, UN figures show.

In 2011, Washington sent in around 100 US troops to eastern CAR to help regional forces hunt down Kony, adding another 150 special forces airmen three years later.

But last month, AFRICOM said it would be wrapping up the operation, which has cost between $600 and $800 million, even though Kony remains at large.

'Significant success'

"This operation was a significant success," Jeffrey Hawkins, the US envoy to CAR, told France's RFI radio in early April.

Ugandan troops, who have been in eastern CAR since 2009, are also withdrawing from the area.

Last week, the army said the mission to neutralise the LRA had been "successfully achieved" and that Kony "no longer poses any significant threat" to Uganda's national security.

Although his power is much diminished, Kony -- who combines religious mysticism with guerrilla tactics and a grim reputation for kidnapping and mutilation -- remains at large.

According to Paul Ronan of the US-based advocacy group Invisible Children, which was behind an explosive 2012 video highlighting Kony's atrocities and calling for his capture, the warlord is believed to be either in Sudan or CAR.

A self-styled prophet, Kony launched his bloody rebellion in a bid to overthrow the Ugandan government and impose a regime based on his own version of the Ten Commandments.

He is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity, where one of his commanders, Dominic Ongwen, is currently on trial.

'Why do we care?'

Earlier this year, questions appeared to arise over the level of US commitment to its various operations in Africa in the form of a set of questions posed by the transition team of incoming president Donald Trump to the State Department.

"The LRA has never attacked US interests, why do we care? Is it worth the huge cash outlays? I hear that even the Ugandans are looking to stop searching for him, since they no longer view him as a threat, so why do we?" said the document, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.

And last month, AFRICOM's Waldhauser confirmed the operations were drawing to a close, saying there were only about 100 LRA rebels and that the mission had "essentially taken that group off the battlefield."

Fears in the east

"Everywhere, in cafes, people are talking about the departure of the Ugandan and American troops," a resident of Obo, a town in CAR's southwest, told AFP by phone.

On April 17, around 6,000 people in the town took to the streets to demand that both sets of troops stay in place until they can be replaced by Central African forces.

Although there are UN peacekeeping forces from its MINUSCA mission in Central Africa, very few of them are present in the east of the country.

"This withdrawal will lead to a renewal of LRA attacks in the southeast," warned Thierry Vircoulon, a specialist on central Africa at IFRI, the French institute for international relations.

"Nobody is under any illusion that the Central African troops which are to be sent there to avoid a security vacuum will be able to neutralise the LRA."

As well as the threat from Kony's militia, the eastern region is also struggling with attacks by other "armed groups", regional police chief Ghislain Dieu-Benit Kolengo told AFP.

He was referring to rebels from the mainly Muslim ex-Seleka militia and from the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), a splinter group from a rebel force in neighbouring Chad which rights groups say executed 32 civilians and captive fighters late last year.

"Even though we are officially ending the so-called counter-LRA mission, we are certainly aware of the fact that we don't want to leave a void there," said Waldhauser.

And he said Washington would continue to offer support to African troops in the form of both "training" and "intelligence".</s>Uganda and the United States have ended a six-year hunt for elusive warlord Joseph Kony and his notorious Lord's Resistance Army. But calling off the mission, focused on Central African Republic, has left the commander of Ugandan forces in the country frustrated and advocacy groups concerned that the failure to "kill or capture" Kony could see the insurgency rebound.

Start the conversation, or Read more at IRIN.</s>The U.S. Defense Department has deployed the four CV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land vertically, to Uganda from Djibouti along with tanker refueling airplanes and 150 air crew and support personnel, said Rear Admiral John Kirby, a top Pentagon spokesman.

"Airlift has been one of the consistent requirements and requests of the African Union. We are in a position now to provide that airlift for a while and we're going to do it," Kirby said. "This is very much in keeping with the mission goals at large."

A 5,000-strong African Union Regional Task Force, supported by 100 U.S. Special Operations troops, has been hunting LRA warlord Joseph Kony and his fighters, most of whom are thought to be hiding in jungles straddling the borders of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Osprey will be used to help African Union troops respond more quickly to tips on the whereabouts of Kony, whose forces are known for their extreme violence, including chopping off limbs as a form of punishment and abducting young girls for use as sex slaves.

The CV-22 Osprey is a Special Operations variant of the aircraft, which was developed for the Marine Corps. The plane can carry about 24 troops and their gear.

The Ospreys and three refueling tankers - two C-130s and one KC-135 - will join the 100 U.S. Special Operations troops who have been in Uganda for a year advising and assisting AU forces involved in the search for Kony.

Kirby said the Ospreys would remain in Uganda only a short time before returning to their base in Djibouti but would likely return periodically to Uganda to help with the effort against Kony.

"I think it's safe to say that these aircraft and these crews will probably redeploy back over time," Kirby told a Pentagon news conference. "They probably won't be on the ground for very long, but they'll be back."

He said the additional 150 personnel consisted of air crew and maintenance personnel and would travel back and forth between Djibouti and Uganda with the planes.

Djibouti is the site of Camp Lemonnier, the only U.S. military base in Africa, which is home to some 2,500 troops who work building military ties with countries in the region.

It has been used as a base for Special Operations forces advising AU troops fighting Islamist extremists in neighboring Somalia. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Tom Brown)</s>Police are hunting a yob who hurled horse poo at anti-hunt protesters in Atherstone.

Manure was thrown at protesters at the Atherstone Hunt event in the town square on January 2.

George Bentley Brown, aged between 25 and 30, is now wanted by police.

He is described as being around 5ft 8 ins tall, of medium build and aged between 25 and 30. He is reported to have links to Nuneaton and the Humberside areas of Brigg and Wold.

A second man wanted by police is described as being in his late 40s, around 6ft tall and of medium to large build.

Police launched an investigation after a seven minute video of the vile attack was passed to them by the West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs.

A spokesperson for the group said: “People could have been seriously hurt.

A force spokesman said: “Officers in Warwickshire are keen to locate two men in connection with public order offences reported to police on Monday 2 January 2017 in Atherstone.”

Anyone who has seen either of the men, or who has any information, should call Warwickshire Police on 101 quoting reference 140 of 2 January 2017, or the independent charity Crimestoppers UK anonymously, on 0800 555 111.</s>PHOENIX — Arizona hunters still have an opportunity to receive a hunt permit-tag for select 2017 elk hunts.

There are 791 leftover hunt permit-tags — 731 for the minimal occurrence zone/low density (general) hunt in game management units 12A, 12B, 13A and 13B. All remaining hunt permit-tags will be available for purchase on a first-come, first-served basis as follows:

– By mail: Paper applications will be accepted beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, April 24, and must be addressed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn.: Draw/First Come, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086. Applications postmarked prior to April 24 will not be accepted. Note: There is no “mini” draw. Allow 10 to 15 business days to receive a hunt permit-tag by mail.

– In person: If any leftover hunt permit-tags remain, they will be available for purchase beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, May 1 at any of the seven department offices statewide.

Some of the leftover hunt permit-tags are for Hopi hunt open areas and are available to everyone, both tribal members and non-tribal members, through the first-come, first-served process.

A number of leftover hunt permit-tags remain for military hunts at Camp Navajo, for those who qualify. For more information, visit https://dema.az.gov/army-national-guard/camp-navajo/garrison-operations/camp-navajo-hunting-information, e-mail sarah.b.golabiewski.mil@mail.mil, or call 928-773-3225.

For more information, including license and hunt permit-tag requirements, view the “2017 Pronghorn Antelope and Elk Hunt Draw Information” booklet online, or call (602) 942-3000.</s>KARMICHAEL Hunt is looming as a potential Wallabies replacement for Dane Haylett-Petty if the Western Force star is unable to recover from a torn hamstring in time for June’s Test window.

Haylett-Petty will miss at least the next four weeks and possibly more after suffering the injury in the 16-7 defeat to the Chiefs on the weekend at nib Stadium.

His best hope of returning to Super Rugby action appears to be their away clash against the Queensland Reds on May 26 or at home to the Hurricanes the following weekend — the Force’s last two assignments before the competition breaks for international fixtures.

That could be enough time for Hunt — who has been one of Queensland’s standout players this season — and he’s so far mounted a compelling selection case to Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.

Hunt admitted his international ambitions were as strong as ever but wasn’t sure how Haylett-Petty’s injury might affect the landscape.

“I don’t know what’s going to go on with positions,” Hunt said.

LIVE stream 2017 Vodafone Super Rugby on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week FOXTEL PLAY trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >

READ MORE: Hunt sick of being ‘bullied’ by NSW

“I’m not one to be happy with someone’s misfortune.

“I really feel sorry for Dane and I’m not too sure what the extent is or how long he’s going to be out for.

“But he’s a loss for the Wallabies and hopefully he can get back on track as soon as possible.” The Wallabies will take on Fiji in Melbourne on June 10 before meeting Scotland in Sydney and then Italy in Brisbane.

Hunt could stand to benefit in more ways than one if he breaks through for his long-awaited Test debut during that period.

The 30-year-old is seeking a new contract for next season, with the three-year, $1.5 million deal he penned with the Reds upon leaving the AFL in 2014 set to expire.

It’s unlikely he will be able to match the salary he is currently on without a top-up from the Australian Rugby Union, which would only be forthcoming if he is playing for Australia.

“I love it here (at the Reds), but we’ll deal with that when it comes,” Hunt said.</s>press release: The 9th Annual Great Halloween Hunt is a free event for all ages that will include a scavenger hunt, crafts, games, a move, and balloon twister. Treats and entertainment are also featured. Visit the library website for more info.
The United States ended a six-year Central-African hunt for Joseph Kony.