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By Suleiman Ugbokhe The Executive Chairman of Etsako East local government area, Hon. (Mrs) Benedicta Ebuehi, has congratulated the Governor of Edo state, His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki on his emergence as a consensus governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. The PDP governorship primaries held earlier today at the Ogbemudia stadium, Benin City saw the other contender, Hon. Kenneth Imasuangbon, dropping out of the race and pledging his support for Governor Obaseki. Another notable candidate for the primaries, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama had also earlier stepped down for Governor Godwin Obaseki. The noble actions of the two contestants paved the way for Governor Godwin Obaseki to emerge as the PDP candidate unopposed. In her congratulatory message to Governor Obaseki, Hon. (Mrs) Benedicta Ebuehi, who has consistently stated that a second term of office for the governor was nonnegotiable, praised him for his doggedness, adding that his victory in the primaries is a testimon...

Share Image copyright TANZANIA MINISTRY OF MINERALS Image caption Mr Laizer - holding up the precious stones - plans to build a school and a shopping centre in his community A small-scale miner in Tanzania has become an overnight millionaire after selling two rough Tanzanite stones - the biggest ever find in the country. Saniniu Laizer earned £2.4m ($3.4m) from the country's mining ministry for the gemstones, which had a combined weight of 15kg (2.3 lb). "There will be a big party tomorrow," Mr Laizer, a father of more than 30 children, told the BBC. Tanzanite is only found in northern Tanzania and is used to make ornaments. It is one of the rarest gemstones on Earth, and one local geologist estimates its supply may be entirely depleted within the next 20 years. The precious stone's appeal lies in its variety of hues, including green, red, purple and blue. Its price value is determined by rarity - the finer the colour or clarity, the higher the price. Media caption Ta...

Image copyright HAMZA IBRAHIM Image caption The men slept inside the warehouse for about three months and were not allowed out Police in Nigeria have rescued 300 people they say were locked in a rice-processing factory and forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown. From the end of March the men were allegedly not allowed to leave the mill in the northern city of Kano. The workers were promised an additional $13 (£10) a month on top of their $72 monthly salary - those who did not accept were threatened with the sack. Five managers at the Indian-owned mill have been arrested. The company, called Popular Farms, has not responded to BBC requests for comment. BBC Africa Live: Updates from the continent Police spokesman Abdullahi Haruna told the BBC that the plant had now been shut down and the owners were being investigated for "holding the men against their will". Some of the men say were forced to work most of the time during their incarceration, with little food. "W...

Share this with Face Share Image caption Pinduoduo's Colin Huang is still valued at about $5bn less than Tencent's founder A former Google employee was briefly ranked the second richest person in China, following a surge in sales at his e-commerce business, Pinduoduo. Colin Huang was valued at $45.4bn (£36.4bn) by  Forbes , on Sunday, ahead of Alibaba's Jack Ma but behind Tencent's Pony Ma. Mr Huang was previously an intern at Microsoft and then spent three years as an engineer at Google. “These three years were incredibly valuable to me,” he  blogged in 2016 . “Google gave me far more than I contributed.” According to Forbes , a slip in Pinduoduo's value has since given Mr Ma back the second spot. Shopping games Mr Huang founded Pinduoduo in 2015. And the company became particularly popular in China during the Covid-19 pandemic, with orders increasing from 50 million to nearly 65 million per day. Its novel features include team buying, where customers come together...

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus. The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say. The drug is part of  the world's biggest trial testing existing treatments  to see if they also work for coronavirus. It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say. Media caption Katherine Millbank spent 15 days in hospital and was put on the drug trial And it could be of huge benefit in poorer countries with high numbers of Covid-19 patients. The UK government has 200,000 courses of the drug in its stockpile and says the NHS will make dexamethasone available to patients. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was a gen...