Namibia, Zimbabwe fail to get U.N. permission to export ivory

Namibia and Zimbabwe failed on Monday to convince a U.N. body on Monday that they should be allowed to export ivory - something they had argued would protect rather than further endanger Africa's elephants.

Member countries of the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted overwhelmingly to reject the proposals to sell tusks seized from poachers and taken from animals that had died naturally or been put down by the state.