Lesotho discovers largest diamond

One of the world’s largest diamonds has been found in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho. The mining group, Gem Diamonds, said on Sunday that it is a near-flawless white gem weighing nearly 500 carats. It was discovered in the Letseng Mine on September 8, the company said in a press statement.It has been analyzed by experts in Antwerp and found to weigh 478 carats, with very few inclusions and of outstanding colour and clarity, the Reuters news agency reported. “It has the potential to yield one of the largest flawless D colour round polished diamonds in history,” the company said.Letseng is one of the most productive mines in history – four of the world’s 20 largest rough diamonds have been found at the mine, including the three largest found this century.Before it is cut into gems it is hard to value the diamond, but a spokesman for Gem Diamonds said a similar weight stone with lesser-quality colour and clarity had recently sold for $12 million (around 5.5 million pounds). “Preliminary examination of this remarkable diamond indicates that it will yield a record breaking polished stone of the very best colour and clarity,” Clifford Elphick, the chief executive of Gem Diamonds.The minister for natural resources in Lesotho, an impoverished mountain kingdom in eastern South Africa, praised the productivity of the mine, one of the highest in the world at more than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet). Monyane Moleleki said: “Once again Letseng has proved its ability to produce extraordinary diamonds and continues to place Lesotho at the forefront of diamond producing countries.” Letseng is 70 percent owned by Gem Diamonds and 30 percent owned by the government of Lesotho. The world’s largest diamond is the Cullinan, discovered in South Africa in 1905. It weighed more than 3,100 carats before it was cut into more than one hundred separate gems, many of which are part of the British crown jewels.

6 West Africans killed in Italy

Italian mafias have gunned down six West African migrants in the southern Italian city of Naples on Friday. The dead include three from Ghana, a Liberian and a Togolese national. The incident was linked to a drug trafficking melee with the mafia, Casalesi Clan, local police sources have alleged.The sixth victim is yet to be identified. A police officer in Castelvolturno, near where the shooting took place was quoted by a South African News Agency as saying, “There has never been so many dead in a shooting, it is a record for the region.” Media reports allege that the deceased refused to make payment to CC after a successful drug trafficking trade. The CC, who controls the drug trafficking and prostitution trade between Naples and Caseta are regarded as the most powerful mafia group in that region.Police are also investigating the shooting of a 53-year-old man 20 minutes earlier and whether there is a link between the two incidents. This development sparked demonstration by African migrants in Italy saying the six were not part of any drug trafficking group.

German kidnapped in Somalia

Gunmen have taken a German and his Somali wife hostage in the northern Somali state of Puntland, officials informed Africa News on Sunday. The kidnappers took the couples towards the mountainous areas in eastern Bossaso, police officer Ahmed Jama said. Their names could not immediately be confirmed.“The German national was visiting his wife’s relatives when the gunmen kidnapped. We have been notified that he is a Muslim with a Somali wife who resides in Bossaso,” Puntland presidential adviser, Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said.Hijackers have been holding three journalists – Amanda Linhoud, a Canadian, Prenan from Australia and Abdi Fitah from Somalia – since August 23 and are supposedly demanding 2.5 million dollars to release them.Somalia has been torn apart by more than 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Said Barre.

Zimbabwe gets 55m Euro aide

The Zimbabwean government secured 55 million euros in credit from Egypt-based African Export-Import Bank only a week after the official signing of the power sharing deal. The credit funds will be channeled to the importation of grain and oil which has been in short supply, the Sunday Mail reported.The credit facility was secured after a presentation by the country’s central bank chief, Gideon Gono, during Afreximbank’s annual general meeting in Morocco. Afreximbank’s senior director, B. Oramah, in a letter written to the Reserve Bank Governor Gono, said the credit deal was aimed at assisting Zimbabwe, currently suffering from a massive economic crisis.Afreximbank is a multilateral financial institution whose main objective is to facilitate, promote and expand intra- and extra-African trade. Norway said it would give Zimbabwe 40 million kroner (7.02 million dollars) in aid to help the country deal with a lack of food and clean drinking water and a cholera outbreak. Last week South Africa said it will appoint a special team to develop emergency intervention plan to help with the recovery of Zimbabwe’s crisis ridden agricultural sector. South Africa’s government spokesperson, Themba Maseko, said the team will be led by Agricultural, Foreign Affairs and national Treasury in collaboration with other SADC countries.