S.African mine discovers 507 carat white diamond

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 JOHANNESBURG: Mining group Petra Diamonds has discovered a 507.55 carat white diamond at South Africa's Cullinan mine, one of the largest high-quality rough diamonds ever found, the firm said on Tuesday."This spectacular gemstone was recovered on Thursday 24 September and is currently with experts for analysis," said a statement released by the London-listed company which operates mainly in Africa.Initial examinations of the diamond which weighs just over 100 grams (3.5 ounces), have shown it to be of exceptional colour and clarity.The diamond is undergoing colour grading, but is believed to be a rare Type II diamond, with very low traces of nitrogen -- considered an impurity -- making them among the most transparent and colourless of the gems."The Cullinan mine has again given the world a spectacularly beautiful and important diamond... we now eagerly await the findings of the expert analysis," said Johan Dippenaar, Petra’s chief executive.The precious stone was found alongside three other special white gems of similar colour and clarity, a large diamond of 168.00 carats and two other stones of 58.50 and 53.30 carats.The mine which was previously owned by diamond mining giant De Beers, is renowned for the discovery of the famed Cullinan Diamond in 1905, which is part of the British crown jewels and weighed 3106 carats.In May 2008, the mine produced a sparkling 101.27 carat diamond, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball.The Cullinan Diamond Mine is the third richest diamond producing mine in South Africa.

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India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Suicide bombings kill 18 in Iraq

Thursday, August 13, 2009 MOSUL: At least 18 people, most of them members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect, were killed when two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Thursday in a packed cafe in northern Iraq, a local government official said.At least 31 people were also wounded after the bombers detonated suicide belts packed with explosives in the cafe in Kalaa town, in the district of Sanjar, local district chief Dakheel Qassem Hasoon, told a foreign news agency."Two suicide bombers entered the Cafe Barbaroz at 4:30 pm (1330 GMT) and blew themselves up, killing 18 civilians and wounding 31. Most of the victims were Yazidis," Hasoon said.Kalaa, northwest of the insurgent stronghold of Mosul in northern Nineveh province is predominantly populated by the minority Yazidi religious sect, as well as Arabs and Kurds.The attack is the deadliest since Monday, when 51 people were killed across Iraq, including 28 members of the tiny Shabak sect cut down when two truck bombs det...

US drones to target Taliban in Afghan war

Friday, July 31, 2009 WASHINGTON: The US military plans to use more drone aircraft to target Taliban militants in Afghanistan while focusing less on hunting down Al-Qaeda figures, report said on Thursday.Although defeating the Al-Qaeda terror network remains an overriding goal for Washington, officials now believe the best way to pursue that objective is to ensure stability in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan instead of Al-Qaeda manhunts, the paper said, citing US government and Defense Department officials.It was more important to prevent a slide towards violence and anarchy that could be exploited by Al-Qaeda, which used Afghanistan to stage its attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the officials said."We might still be too focused on Bin Laden," an official said. "We should probably reassess our priorities."The shift in priorities for the drone fleet comes despite President Barack Obama's declaration that defeating and dismantling Al-Qaeda ...

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