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 take a closer look.
Officials said it was too early to value the stone or decide how it would be sold. Another smaller diamond from the same mine in Botswana was sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem.
“This is history in the making,” said Naseem Lahri, Botswana managing director for Lucara Diamond Corp., the Canadian mining company that found the diamond. “I am very proud. It is a product of Botswana.”
Lucara said in a statement Wednesday that it recovered the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in central Botswana. Lucara said it was a “high-quality” stone and was found intact. It was located using X-ray technology designed to find large, high-value diamonds.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said in a statement.
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan Diamond that was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The famous Cullinan was 3,106 carats and was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British Crown Jewels.
A bigger, less pure black diamond was discovered in Brazil in the late 1800s, but it was found above ground and was believed to have been part of a meteorite.
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of natural diamonds behind Russia and has unearthed all of the world’s biggest stones in recent years. The Karowe Mine has produced four other diamonds over 1,000 carats in the last decade.
Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe Mine in 2019, was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. It was bought by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed amount.
The 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from Botswana’s Karowe Mine, was bought by a British jeweler for $53 million in 2017. Another diamond from Karowe, The Constellation, was sold for the record $63 million.
Diamonds are formed when carbon atoms are squeezed together under high pressure deep underground. Scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old and some of them more than 3 billion years old.
The biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats
https://arab.news/43jha
The biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats
- Lucara Diamond Corp. said it found the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in central Botswana
- It is the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the 3,106 carats Cullinan Diamond that was discovered in South Africa in 1905
Never argue: 115-year-old British woman, now the world’s oldest, gives her recipe to long life
- “Never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like,” she said from her nursing home in Surrey
- She was born on Aug. 21, 1909, in the village of Shipton Bellinger in the south of England
LONDON: For Ethel Caterham, the trick to a long life — and in her case, it really has been — is not to argue.
Caterham, who is 115, became the world’s oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, after Sister Inah Canabarro , a Brazilian nun and teacher, died on Wednesday at the tender age of 116.
“Never arguing with anyone, I listen and I do what I like,” she said from her nursing home in Surrey, southwest of London, on the secret to her longevity.
She was born on Aug. 21, 1909, in the village of Shipton Bellinger in the south of England, five years before the outbreak of World War I. She was the second youngest of eight siblings.
Travel has been in her blood, it’s clear. In 1927, at the age of 18, Caterham embarked on a journey to India, working as a nanny for a British family, where she stayed for three years before returning to England, according to the GRG.
She met her husband Norman, who was a major in the British army, at a dinner party in 1931, and they were stationed in Hong Kong and Gibraltar, the GRG said. They had two daughters whom they raised in the UK Norman died in 1976.
Hallmark Lakeview Luxury Care Home in Camberley, where Caterham is a resident, posted pictures of her cutting a cake and wearing a “115” tiara in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“Huge congratulations to Lakeview resident, Ethel on becoming the oldest person in the world! What an incredible milestone and a true testament to a life well-lived,” it said in an accompanying statement. “Your strength, spirit, and wisdom are an inspiration to us all. Here’s to celebrating your remarkable journey!”
The title of the oldest person ever is held by French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122 years 164 days, according to Guinness World Records.
Climate change takes spice from Indonesia clove farms
- Colonial powers once sought to wipe out cloves grown by locals on the eastern Indonesian island of Ternate to safeguard their monopoly over the prized crop
TERNATE: Colonial powers once sought to wipe out cloves grown by locals on the eastern Indonesian island of Ternate to safeguard their monopoly over the prized crop. Today farmers say the gravest threat to their plants is climate change.
“Today... rainfall is high. It’s okay for planting, but it’s uncertain for harvesting. It’s often unpredictable,” farmer Jauhar Mahmud, 61, told AFP.
Nestled on the fertile foothills of Indonesia’s Mount Gamalama volcano, Jauhar proudly shows off his favorite clove tree, which once reliably delivered profitable produce.
The fragrant flower buds that form the spice can only deliver their prized smell and taste in specific temperature and humidity ranges.
In a good season, the best of Jauhar’s 150 towering trunks can spurt 30 kilogrammes of the aromatic spice used for medicine, perfumes, cigarettes and food flavourings.
But bad weather is becoming more frequent, causing uncertainty that makes prices fluctuate from $5.30 to $7.40 per kilogramme and life increasingly tough for farmers.
Food and Agriculture Organization data from the past two decades shows Indonesia’s clove yields vary significantly, more than rival producers. The yield in 2023, the last year data is available, was almost a quarter lower than a 2010 peak.
“We’re actually losing money. Cloves do not bear fruit every year. They depend on the season,” said Jauhar, who represents 36 clove farmers on the island.
Many are taking on other jobs as yields that typically arrive in August and September dwindle.
Jauhar sells spice-infused drinks and bamboo on the side to make ends meet, and some are considering abandoning the crop altogether.
“Farmers are now reluctant to harvest because of the high cost and minimal return,” he said.
Indonesia accounts for more than two-thirds of global clove production, according to the FAO, though the majority is consumed domestically.
Since 2020, it has fallen behind Madagascar as the world’s top exporter of the spice, World Bank trade data shows.
Centuries ago, Ternate’s farmers defied colonial orders to eradicate their clove production by planting out of sight of the Dutch.
The island’s then-favorable climate kept the crop alive.
Clove trees can take more than a decade to mature, and flowers can only be harvested in a small window that depends heavily on weather conditions.
But climate change caused mainly by burning fossil fuels like coal has changed global weather patterns.
Ternate is drier overall, but when rain does come, it is often in intense, damaging bursts.
That is consistent with broader trends linked to climate change. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, and rain can fall erratically and in large amounts when it comes.
Farmers like Lakina, who owns 10 clove trees, say the crop no longer offers the same returns.
“In the past, I could get five to six sacks in one harvest,” said the 52-year-old. Now she fills two to three sacks, she said.
The changing weather affects other aspects of the trade.
Imba, a 62-year-old clove farmer with 70 trees, says it used to take three-and-a-half days to dry the cloves, but “because of the rain” it now takes at least five days.
Scientific research bears out the farmers’ observations.
In 2023, researchers at Indonesia’s University of Pattimura found clove yields were falling on Haruku island south of Ternate.
They said rainfall increased 15 percent in recent decades, along with extreme weather events that harm crops.
It has left clove farmers struggling.
“Communities living in coastal areas and small islands are especially vulnerable,” said Arie Rompas, Greenpeace’s forest campaign team leader.
“The productivity of their precious clove and nutmeg trees is dropping, and they are facing post-harvest problems with increased heat and humidity.”
At a spice sorting shop, the pungent warm smell of clove fills the air as workers scoop a pile into bags for weighing.
The men send them off to a warehouse where a mechanical sorting tray shakes the cloves, removing dirt and unwanted foliage before export to China.
For these clove sellers, climate change means lower quality and falling prices.
“If it’s too hot, the crop is no good. Too much rain, no crop. This year there was too much rain,” said supplier Rumen The.
He says prices almost halved from the start of last year from 150,000 rupiah per kilogramme to 80,000 in the harvest season, but were back up to 115,000 today as supply dwindled.
Production “is probably 30 to 40 percent” down on recent years, he added.
Jauhur urges rich spice-importing countries “to think about global climate issues” that threaten its future.
Despite the challenges, he says there are powerful “historical and emotional reasons” to continue farming.
“Our parents maintained cloves in clove’s oldest region in the world,” he said.
“They planted... to bring pride to future generations.”
From the longest conclave to anti-popes: 10 fun facts about the secret voting to elect a pope
- The periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a whole genre of historical trivia
- The last time a pope was elected who was not a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378
VATICAN CITY: “Conclave,” the movie, may have introduced movie-goers to the spectacular ritual and drama of a modern conclave, but the periodic voting to elect a new pope has been going on for centuries and created a whole genre of historical trivia.
Here are some fun facts about conclaves past, derived from historical studies including Miles Pattenden’s “Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450–1700” and interviews with experts including Elena Cangiano, an archaeologist at Viterbo’s Palazzo dei Papi (Palace of the Popes).
The longest conclave in history
In the 13th century, it took almost three years – 1,006 days to be exact – to choose Pope Clement IV’s successor, making it the longest conclave in the Catholic Church’s history. It’s also where the term conclave comes from – “under lock and key,” because the cardinals who were meeting in Viterbo, north of Rome, took so long the town’s frustrated citizens locked them in the room.
The secret vote that elected Pope Gregory X lasted from November 1268 to September 1271. It was the first example of a papal election by “compromise,” after a long struggle between supporters of two main geopolitical medieval factions – those faithful to the papacy and those supporting the Holy Roman Empire.
‘One meal a day’ rule
Gregory X was elected only after Viterbo residents tore the roof off the building where the prelates were staying and restricted their meals to bread and water to pressure them to come to a conclusion. Hoping to avoid a repeat, Gregory X decreed in 1274 that cardinals would only get “one meal a day” if the conclave stretched beyond three days, and only “bread, water and wine” if it went beyond eight. That restriction has been dropped.
The shortest conclave ever
Before 1274, there were times when a pope was elected the same day as the death of his predecessor. After that, however, the church decided to wait at least 10 days before the first vote. Later that was extended to 15 days to give all cardinals time to get to Rome. The quickest conclave observing the 10-day wait rule appears to have been the 1503 election of Pope Julius II, who was elected in just a few hours, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni. In more recent times, Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on the fifth ballot, Benedict XVI won in 2005 on the fourth and Pope Pius XII won on the third in 1939.
The first conclave in the Sistine Chapel
The first conclave held under Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel was in 1492. Since 1878, the world-renowned chapel has become the venue of all conclaves. “Everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God, in whose sight each person will one day be judged,” St. John Paul II wrote in his 1996 document regulating the conclave, “Universi Dominici Gregis.” The cardinals sleep a short distance away in the nearby Domus Santa Marta hotel or a nearby residence.
The alternative locations
Most conclaves were held in Rome, with some taking place outside the Vatican walls. Four were held in the Pauline Chapel of the papal residence at the Quirinale Palace, while some 30 others were held in St. John Lateran Basilica, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva or other places in Rome. On 15 occasions they took place outside Rome and the Vatican altogether, including in Viterbo, Perugia, Arezzo and Venice in Italy, and Konstanz, Germany and Lyon, France.
The alternative popes, or anti-popes
Between 1378-1417, referred by historians to as the Western Schism, there were rival claimants to the title of pope. The schism produced multiple papal contenders, the so-called anti-popes, splitting the Catholic Church for nearly 40 years. The most prominent anti-popes during the Western Schism were Clement VII, Benedict XIII, Alexander V, and John XXIII. The schism was ultimately resolved by the Council of Constance in 1417, which led to the election of Martin V, a universally accepted pontiff.
A challenge to personal hygiene
The cloistered nature of the conclave posed another challenge for cardinals: staying healthy. Before the Domus Santa Marta guest-house was built in 1996, cardinal electors slept on cots in rooms connected to the Sistine Chapel. Conclaves in the 16th and 17th centuries were described as “disgusting” and “badly smelling,” with concern about disease outbreaks, particularly in summer, according to historian Miles Pattenden. “The cardinals simply had to have a more regular and comfortable way of living because they were old men, many of them with quite advanced disease,” Pattenden wrote. The enclosed space and lack of ventilation further aggravated these issues. Some of the electors left the conclave sick, often seriously.
Vow of secrecy
Initially, papal elections weren’t as secretive but concerns about political interference soared during the longest conclave in Viterbo. Gregory X decreed that cardinal electors should be locked in seclusion, “cum clave” (with a key), until a new pope was chosen. The purpose was to create a totally secluded environment where the cardinals could focus on their task, guided by God’s will, without any political interference or distractions. Over the centuries, various popes have modified and reinforced the rules surrounding the conclave, emphasizing the importance of secrecy.
Youngest pope, oldest pope
Pope John XII was just 18 when he was elected in 955. The oldest popes were Pope Celestine III (elected in 1191) and Celestine V (elected in 1294) who were both nearly 85. Benedict XVI was 78 when he was elected in 2005.
A non-cardinal pope and non-Italian pope
There is no requirement that a pope be a cardinal, but that has been the case for centuries. The last time a pope was elected who wasn’t a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378. He was a monk and archbishop of Bari. While the Italians have had a stranglehold on the papacy over centuries, there have been many exceptions aside from John Paul II (Polish in 1978) and Benedict XVI (German in 2005) and Francis (Argentine in 2013). Alexander VI, elected in 1492, was Spanish; Gregory III, elected in 731, was Syrian; Adrian VI, elected in 1522, was from the Netherlands.
Cha-ching! Millions of dimes spill onto Texas highway after truck rolls
- Tractor-trailer involved in the accident was loaded with 8 million ten-cent coins
ALVORD, Texas: Talk about some serious coin.
Millions of coins spilled onto a Texas highway this week after a tractor-trailer hauling $800,000 in dimes rolled over in an accident, authorities said.
The spillage led to the closure of a portion of the southbound lanes of US 287 in Alvord for about half a day as workers got on their hands and knees to pick up the coins in addition to using brooms and shovels and large industrial vacuums.
The tractor-trailer rolled onto its side at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday after veering off the road and overcorrecting, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The highway reopened at about 7 p.m. that day, DPS said.
The driver and a passenger were transported to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, DPS said.
Alvord is located about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Dallas.
The tractor-trailer appears to be part of the fleet of trucks operated by Western Distributing Transportation Corporation, which has a division that moves cargo for the government in armored vehicles with armed personnel. A person answering the phone at the company Thursday said they had no comment.
The US Mint says on its website that it’s the nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coins. A message left with the agency on Thursday was not immediately returned.
India probes snake in school lunch after 100 children fall sick
- The meal was served last week in a government-run school in the city of Mokama in Bihar
- The incident sparked angry demonstrations from the children’s families
NEW DELHI: India’s human rights body said Thursday it was investigating reports more than 100 children fell sick after eating a school lunch served after a dead snake was found in the food.
“Reportedly, the cook served the food to the children after removing a dead snake from it,” the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said in a statement.
The meal was served last week in a government-run school in the city of Mokama in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, it said.
The commission demanded local government officials and police investigate media reports that “more than 100 children fell ill” after eating the school lunch.
The incident sparked angry demonstrations from the children’s families.
“The news about the children falling ill, due to the consumption of the midday meal, led to the blocking of the road by the protesting villagers,” it said.
Free lunches are offered to millions of children in government schools throughout India, seen by authorities as a way to encourage children to continue their education.
The commission said it demanded a “detailed report” from senior state officials and the police, to include “the health status of the children.”
It said the report, if confirmed, poses the “serious issue of violation of the human rights of the students,” the statement added.
In 2013, 23 schoolchildren died after being served a meal laced with pesticides in Saran district of Bihar. The disaster prompted the government to improve food safety in schools.
