The biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats

August 23, 20241:23 AM ET
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi holds the 2,492-carat diamond that was unearthed at one of its mines and will be put on show, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Gaborone.

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GABORONE, Botswana — The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday.
The Botswana government says the huge 2,492-carat diamond is the second-biggest ever discovered in a mine. It’s the biggest diamond found since 1905.
The as-yet-unnamed diamond was presented to the world at the office of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs approximately half a kilogram and Masisi was one of the first to get to hold it.
“It is overwhelming,” Masisi said. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time.” He gasped and said “wow” before calling senior government officials over to ..

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Yes there is famine in Sudan. So why isn’t ‘famine’ being declared?

August 21, 20241:04 PM ET
Hawa Miso, 70, collects leaves to use as vegetables on the hillside near the Rabang camp for internally displaced persons in Rabang, in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. Approximately 10 million Sudanese have been displaced by the civil war that broke out in 2023. A team of experts backed by the United Nations believes the country is experiencing famine. But the government does not agree.

Guy Peterson/AFP via Getty Images

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Guy Peterson/AFP via Getty Images

Is there famine in Sudan?
This month a group of United Nations-backed experts looked at the data and concluded the answer is yes.
But no official declaration of famine has been made.
As it turns out, making such a pronouncement comes with its own set of rules and regulations.
So … what constitutes a famineLet’s start with a definition.
In the 1980s, a series of devastating famines struck several countries in Africa — including the infamous famine in Ethiopia in..

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The Urgency of the Situation in Sudan

August 19, 202410:40 AM ET

Some 12 million people are displaced in Sudan as the military government battles a powerful paramilitary group. There is acute hunger and risk of famine for many. Peace talks hoping to resolve the crisis are being held in Geneva this week. We hear about the chances that those talks will succeed and details about conditions on the ground in Sudan.

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Crypto-currency Captive in Nigeria; German Chancellor Turned Fictional Crime Sleuth

August 7, 20245:41 PM ET

A popular book and TV series in Europe imagines the straight-laced former German chancellor Angela Merkel solving crimes in her retirement. We unpack the premise’s popularity. And an American has been jailed in Nigeria over a dispute the country has with the crypto-currency exchange Binance. Some say the man is effectively being held hostage.

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Islamic extremist group kills 32 people in attack on beachfront in Somalia’s capital

August 3, 20242:14 PM ET
An ambulance is seen on the beach following an attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Saturday.

Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

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Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

At least 32 people were killed and 63 others were wounded in an attack that included a suicide bombing and gunfire in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, according to police.
The assault, which began late Friday, took placenear a hotel on Lido Beach, a popular hangout spot for Mogadishu residents. A police spokesperson said one soldier died and the rest of the deceased and injured were civilians.
Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the Friday attack. Three insurgents died in a gunfight with law enforcement while one was captured alive, according to police.
A woman reacts while walking in a street as smoke billows in the background from an explosive-laden car diffused by the Somali police in Mogadishu on Saturday.

Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images

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“We are hungry!” Nigerians Protest Soaring Food and Fuel Costs

August 2, 20245:43 PM ET
In Nigeria, even two meals a day is becoming unaffordable to many. Demonstrators are protesting food inflation of more than 40 percent, and fuel costs that have tripled. And in China, live-streamers digitally clone themselves, raising questions about the future of labor in the age of A.I.
Enlarge this imageLabour unionists march in the streets of Lagos, Nigeria on Friday to protest the soaring cost of living under the West African nation’s new president.

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Labour unionists march in the streets of Lagos, Nigeria on Friday to protest the soaring cost of living under the West African nation’s new president.

Marcus Ayo/AP

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‘Enough is enough’ : Nigerians take to street in protest over a cost-of-living crisis

August 1, 20241:44 PM ET
A woman protest against hardship on the street of Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Thousands of mostly young people poured onto the streets across Nigeria on Thursday as they protested against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse some of the protesters in the capital, Abuja.

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LAGOS, Nigeria -At least seven people have been killed in Nigeria during nationwide protests against the rising cost of living and bad governance. Thousands of protestors have held demonstrations in several Nigerian cities. In some cities, the demonstrations were met with a heavy police presence.
Six people were killed in the city of Minna, northern Nigeria, when police moved to dismantle a roadblock protesters had erected, blocking a major expressway. Another person was killed in the populous northern state of Kano, as police clashed with demonstr..

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US veteran arrested for role in failed Venezuelan coup

US veteran arrested for role in failed Venezuelan coup

FILE – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro speaks at the Supreme Court of Justice in Caracas, Venezuela, July 31, 2024. U.S. officials announced Wednesday the arrest of a U.S. veteran who has claimed responsibility for an armed raid in 2020 that failed to remove Maduro.

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