QUICK READ

Conservation

KENYAN wildlife conservationist Dr Paula Kahumbu was awarded the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year award this week for her work in the protection of elephants.

A statement released by National Geographic said Kahumbu, who is the chief executive officer of Wildlifedirect, leads the Hands Off Our Elephants campaign with Kenya’s first lady

Margaret Kenyatta, and received a special commendation from the UN for her role in creating awareness around the crises facing the elephant population in the country. | African News

Juneteenth

THE US commemorated the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans yesterday after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signed a bill into law this week making June 19 a federal holiday.

On the day in 1865 a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they had been freed two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

The law comes a year after protests against racism following the killing of George Floyd, an African-american man, by a Minneapolis police officer. |

Botswana

BOTSWANA President Mokgweetsi Masisi has praised mining company Debswana for digging out what is believed to be the world’s third largest diamond.

The 1 098 carat rough diamond was mined at Debswana’s Jwaneng mine on June 1 and presented to the Cabinet in the capital Gaborone this week. Debswana is a joint mining venture between the government of Botswana and De Beers.

Posting on the government’s social media platforms, Masisi said on proceeds from the diamond would be used to advance national development in the country. | African News Agency (ANA)

GUNMEN kidnapped more than 80 pupils in a raid on a school in Nigeria’s north-western state of Kebbi, a teacher said on Friday.

Police said five teachers were also abducted and an officer killed in the attack on a federal government college in the remote town of Birnin Yauri on Thursday.

More than 800 Nigerian students have been kidnapped from their schools since December. Some have been freed while others remain missing. The group kidnappings have been attributed by the authorities to armed bandits seeking ransom payments. |