Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, says his government will allow farmers to keep small game as a way to encourage locals’ participation in agro-tourism. He added that it is paramount for them to have a stake in the industry.
 
Speaking in a televised address Saturday, Masisi said Botswana’s tourism sector needs a boost after the severe impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
“In order to revive Botswana’s tourism sector, government shall accelerate initiatives aimed at stimulating local and international tourism by creating an enabling environment for increased investment in the tourism sector, in particular citizen participation,” he said.    
 
Masisi said, as one of the measures to boost tourism, his government will allow local farmers keep wildlife within their properties.    
   
“The agro-tourism guidelines are also being reviewed to facilitate citizens to make a decent living out of their fields (masimo) to complement agro-tourism and diversify its products. Game farming guidelines shall soon be issued to enable those Batswana who are interested to keep small game or wildlife in their fields if they meet set criteria,” Masisi said.    Botswana farmers will soon be able to diversify their activities to include keeping small game. (Mqondisi Dube/VOA)Local farmer Banks Ndebele has previously sought permission to keep small game in his property outside the capital Gaborone.
 
He said while it is a welcome initiative, the government must remove bottlenecks, which might impede the initiative’s implementation.
   
“I think it’s a welcome development. It has always been our belief that agriculture needs to be diversified. One only hopes that the government will remove bottlenecks and impediments that end up discouraging people from taking up the initiative,” Ndebele said.  
 
Tourism is a significant contributor to the southern African nation’s economy, employing nearly 100,000 people.
 
But the impact of COVID-19 has been devastating, with all bookings cancelled for the rest of the year, leaving many people jobless.
 
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As protests over the death of George Floyd grow in cities across the U.S., government officials have been warning of the “outsiders” — groups of organized rioters they say are flooding into major cities not to call for justice but to cause destruction.  But the state and federal officials have offered differing assessments of who the outsiders are. They’ve blamed left-wing extremists, far-right white nationalists and even suggested the involvement of drug cartels. These leaders have offered little evidence to back up those claims, and the chaos of the protests makes verifying identities and motives exceedingly difficult.  Police officers across the country were gearing up Saturday for another night of potentially violent clashes in major cities. Some states had even called in the National Guard to aid overwhelmed police.  The finger pointing on both sides of the political spectrum is likely to deepen the political divide in the U.S., allowing politicians to advance the theory that aligns with their political view and distract from the underlying frustrations that triggered the protests.  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday told reporters he’d heard unconfirmed reports that white supremacists were coming from elsewhere to stoke the violence and that even drug cartels “are trying to take advantage of the chaos.” John Harrington, the state’s commissioner of public safety, later said they had received intel reports on white supremacists.  “But I cannot say that we have confirmed observations of local law enforcement to say that we’ve seen cells of white supremacists in the area,” he said Saturday.But federal officials later pointed to “far left extremist groups.” President Donald Trump alleged the violence was “being led by Antifa and other radical groups.” Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.  Attorney General William Barr later seemed to echo Trump’s assertion, saying the violent incidents in Minneapolis were driven by groups using “Antifa-like tactics.” Barr vowed that federal prosecutors across the country would use federal riots statutes to charge protesters who cross state lines to participate in violent rioting.  A Justice Department spokesperson said the attorney general’s assertion was based on information provided from state and local law enforcement agencies, but did not detail what that information entailed.  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf was even more vague, declining to point to any particular ideology in his assessment. His agency has heard that “a number of different groups are involved in these whether it’s Antifa or it’s others, frankly,” he said. The groups appeared to be organized and using tactics that wouldn’t normally happen in peaceful protest, he said, though he didn’t elaborate.  While the motives behind the violence were unclear, there was firmer evidence that some of the protesters were coming to the demonstrations from outside the urban centers that have been the epicenter of the demonstrations.  In New York City, federal officials were bringing charges against several suspects, including one of two sisters from upstate New York accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail through the back window of a police van in Brooklyn, a law enforcement official said. The initially peaceful demonstrations in New York City over Floyd’s death spiraled into chaos as night fell Friday. Protesters confronted police officers, destroying police vehicles and setting fires.In Detroit, 37 of the 60 people who were arrested in overnight protests did not live in the city — and many came from nearby suburbs, police Chief James Craig said Saturday. Although Detroit is about 80% black, many of those arrested were white.”We support the right to free speech. We support peaceful protests,” Craig told reporters. “If you want to disrupt, stay home and disrupt in your own community.”Initially, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said he’d been told all of those arrested in his city Friday were from outside the state. But a spokesman said Saturday night the mayor had later learned more than half are from Minnesota.  In Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, 47 of the 57 people arrested in protest incidents through Saturday morning had provided a Minnesota address to authorities, according to Jeremy Zoss, a spokesman for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.  Carter expressed the opinion of many black activists in the Twin Cities who have expressed disbelief that local residents would destroy their own neighborhoods, burning down essential services and damaging small businesses. And while it was local protesters and groups that staged initial angry, but peaceful, demonstrations, it was agitators from elsewhere that strategically escalated the tension by causing damage and setting fires, they said. Their beliefs were reinforced by the large numbers of white people in the protests in Minneapolis.”I think about a third of the people are from out of town here to make the city burn,” said Justin Terrell, executive director of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage. “It is just putting black people in a crossfire not just between fascists and anarchists — but putting us in a crossfire with the national guard.”It’s exceedingly difficult in the chaos and dark of the events to prove these claims. The challenge is made harder in the Minnesota protest, where very few arrests were made in the first two nights of unrest. St. Paul arrest records showed 18 people were arrested on charges related to civil unrest from Thursday to early Saturday morning. Of those, only four were from outside the state; two were listed as unknown.  Still, some civil rights leaders had a clear message for anyone coming to protest, even those who show up to call for justice for Floyd.  “The moment has passed. Go home, stay away from here. We are a vulnerable population. At the end of that day if black folks can’t rebuild then the only thing we’ve done is build more power for white folks,” said Terrell. “You’re talking about years, decades of work undone by these groups — and by the officer.”Trump vowed Saturday that the “radical left criminals, thugs and others” would “not be allowed to set communities ablaze.”  “I will not allow angry mobs to dominate,” he said. “Won’t happen.”  
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Nations around the world have watched in horror at the five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of a black man being detained by police. But they have not been surprised.Racism-tinged events no longer startle even America’s closest allies, though many have watched coverage of the often-violent protests with growing unease. Burning cars and American riot police featured on newspaper front pages around the globe Sunday — bumping news of the COVID-19 pandemic to second-tier status in some places.George Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck. It was the latest in a series of deaths of black men and women at the hands of police in America.In the German capital of Berlin, hundreds of protesters picketed outside the U.S. Embassy on Saturday evening under the motto: “Justice for George Floyd.”Thousands gathered in central London on Sunday to offer support for American demonstrators. Chanting “No justice! No peace!” and waving placards at Trafalgar Square, the protesters ignored U.K. government rules banning crowds because of the pandemic.In Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper’s senior U.S. correspondent Massimo Gaggi wrote that the reaction to Floyd’s killing was “different” than previous cases of black Americans killed by police and the ensuring violence.“There are exasperated black movements that no longer preach nonviolent resistance,’’ Gaggi wrote, noting the Minnesota governor’s warning that “anarchist and white supremacy groups are trying to fuel the chaos.”In countries with authoritarian governments, state-controlled media have been highlighting the chaos and violence of the U.S. demonstrations, in part to undermine American officials’ criticism of their own nations.In China, the protests are being viewed through the prism of U.S. government criticism of China’s crackdown on anti-government protests in Hong Kong.Hu Xijin, the editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted that U.S. officials can now see protests out their own windows: “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the U.S., like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?”Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign ministry spokesperson, pointed out America’s racial unrest by tweeting “I can’t breathe,” which Floyd said before his death.In Iran, which has violently put down nationwide demonstrations by killing hundreds, arresting thousands and disrupting internet access to the outside world, state television has repeatedly aired images of the U.S. unrest. One TV anchor discussed “a horrible scene from New York, where police attacked protesters.” Another state TV message accused U.S. police agencies in Washington of “setting fire to cars and attacking protesters,” without offering any evidence.Russia also expressed a lack of shock.“This incident is far from the first in a series of lawless conduct and unjustified violence from U.S. law enforcement,’’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “American police commit such high-profile crimes all too often.’’There also have been expressions of solidarity with the demonstrators.Over the weekend, Lebanese anti-government protesters flooded social media with tweets sympathetic to U.S. protesters, using the hashtag #Americarevolts. That’s a play on the slogan for Lebanon’s protest movement — Lebanon revolts — which erupted on Oct. 17 last year. Within 24 hours, the hashtag #Americanrevolts became the No. 1 trending tag in Lebanon.In another expression of solidarity with American protesters, about 150 people marched through central Jerusalem on Saturday to protest the shooting death by Israeli police of an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man earlier in the day. Israeli police mistakenly suspected that the man, Iyad Halak, was carrying a weapon. When he failed to obey orders to stop, officers opened fire. 
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For many Americans, “space” means leaving the Earth’s atmosphere and exploring the galaxy. They think of this weekend’s Space X launch. Or going where no one has gone before on “Star Trek.”But the concept of space has a different meaning for African Americans. It’s about finding places in American society — white society — where we are free to just be. Those spaces have been shrinking in recent months. With the flames lit in Minneapolis spreading to other cities after yet another black man’s death, it felt like only an airhole was left.I am tired. Tired of how routine violence against African Americans at the hands of white people has been and continues to be. Angry as a journalist that this has happened so often that we all know the angles that must be covered, the questions to be asked, the stories to be written. Angrier still that as an African American journalist, I must explain, again and again, how dehumanizing this all is.And I think: Is doing this kind of job enough? Shouldn’t I be doing something to stop the racism, the violence against us?For years, my identities as an African American and a journalist have been in sync. Growing up, I was curious (my family would say nosy). I read my hometown newspaper religiously and watched the evening news. I especially loved how journalists used facts to shine a light on the world’s injustices while also telling stories people needed to know to make decisions in their lives. As a teenager, I attended a two-week minority journalism workshop and my career choice was set.But in recent times, the dissonance between the two parts of me has grown louder.I woke up Tuesday morning to video of George Floyd, a handcuffed man, struggling for breath while a police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. Bystanders captured the video and can be heard increasingly pleading with the officer, Derek Chauvin, and three others to come to his aid.I heard echoes of Eric Garner repeated. “I can’t breathe,” said George Floyd. My heart broke. And I cried. But as a journalist, I had to put my individual feelings on the back burner.I immediately shared that horrible video to make sure my colleagues were responding to the story quickly and covering the anger arising online, on the streets of Minneapolis and beyond. I did my part. But inside, I went from anger to rage to exhaustion.The week’s misery had begun on Memorial Day when a black man asked a white woman in Central Park to leash her dog. Birdwatcher Christian Cooper pulled out his phone. On it, he captured Amy Cooper calling police to report she was being threatened by “an African American man.”In the words of Yogi Berra, it was deja vu all over again for black folks. Cooper was later fired by the investment firm where she worked.The birdwatcher said he felt targeted — just like Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger in Georgia. He was killed when a white father and son chased him through their neighborhood and shot him in February. No charges were filed until two months later, after video of the shooting leaked online.On Friday, I awoke to the words of the president of the United States: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted, summoning the civil rights era with a phrase used in the 1960s by a Miami police chief and by George Wallace, an aggressive segregationist.If African Americans being killed by police is the throughline of our times, then the drumbeat of aggressions for existing in white spaces is the steady rhythm. No driving while black. No swimming while black. No picnicking while black. No shopping while black. No standing while black. No sleeping while black. No breathing while black.No being me while black.And all this while the coronavirus stalks black bodies, killing us disproportionately. Doctors talk about our illnesses, but they don’t delve into the systemic inequalities that bring them to bear. Being sick while black is dangerous, too.There is one space where we are welcome: jobs that, during the pandemic, have been deemed essential. We keep subways and buses moving, grocery stores stocked, food delivery services humming while many white-collar workers stay home. And white men hang governors in effigy for not reopening fast enough as African American deaths rise.Barack Obama, the nation’s first and only black president, tackled what getting back to normal means for African Americans in a statement Friday about George Floyd’s death.“We have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal,’” he said, “whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.”Part of me wants to go off and join the fight. To put aside my journalistic reserve and give full voice to my anger, my disappointment that my country doesn’t always live up to its lofty ideals of equality and justice. To build a brighter future like it seemed on “Star Trek,” where races, nationalities and even species lived together in mutual respect and Lt. Uhura’s presence as a respected, competent black officer assured little Amanda of her place among them.But I’m doing my part right where I am. I’m telling stories that help readers understand the world around them. I’m sharing the voices of the unheard and holding those in power accountable. Just as important, I am working to make our newsrooms more accurately reflect the communities we cover and to make our storytelling and our decision-making more inclusive.My voice is the voice of facts and context. My voice is the hope that they can bring the understanding and, eventually, the equality that my country’s founding documents promise.My space is the newsroom.I’m good here. 
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The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists Saturday condemned reported attacks by police and protesters against journalists covering the demonstrations across the country that erupted after the Monday death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an African American, in police custody.“Targeted attacks on journalists, media crews, and news organizations covering the demonstrations show a complete disregard for their critical role in documenting issues of public interest and are an unacceptable attempt to intimidate them,” CPJ program director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in the statement.The journalist rights group called on city authorities across the nation “to instruct police not to target journalists and ensure they can report safely on the protests without fear of injury or retaliation.”Meanwhile, the CPJ is investigating reports of attacks on and arrests of journalists in Atlanta; Las Vegas; Louisville, Kentucky; and Washington covering the unrest.Also Saturday, the Society of Professional Journalists tweeted an open letter asking protesters and police not to attack or harass journalists.”Before taking any aggressive action toward us, take a moment, take a breath, and decide to do the right thing and let us do our jobs,” the letter read in part.Protesters: Please don’t attack or harass journalists covering #protests. They want to hear and tell YOUR stories. Please read this open letter. #StPaulProtest#PhoenixProtest#ColumbusProtest#SanJoseProtest#BrooklynProtest#GeorgeFloyd#Protesthttps://t.co/cGscEtiyi9pic.twitter.com/Ozl74PqMsM— Society of Professional Journalists (@spj_tweets) May 31, 2020 
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Midnight violence erupted within two blocks of the White House on Saturday night while U.S. Park Police, the Secret Service and the National Guard defended a perimeter around nearby Lafayette Square.As pepper spray pushed back hundreds of protesters, vandals smashed windows of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in the 1400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, and a PNC bank was vandalized.Small fires were set inside two restaurants by looters across the street from the White House Historical Association, off Lafayette Square, and multistory scaffolding was also set on fire in a portion of the nearby U.S. Chamber of Commerce building under construction.Several vehicles parked on streets in the neighborhood were also vandalized and set alight.The Washington fire department responded to the larger fires, but witnesses said local police were conspicuously absent as the vandalism occurred, some of it playing out on live local and national television.VOA’s Turkish service shot this video of protesters near the White House:Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
A firework explodes by a police line as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, May 30, 2020, near the White House in Washington.Curfews have been imposed in at least 25 cities in 16 U.S. states.In Washington late Friday and early Saturday, protesters between Lafayette Square and the White House threw bricks and rocks at uniformed Secret Service officers while demonstrators repeatedly knocked over security barriers on Pennsylvania Avenue.Numerous officers and agents were injured, according to the Secret Service.“No individual crossed the White House Fence and no Secret Service protectees were ever in danger,” according to a Secret Service statement.The protective perimeter around the White House was enlarged on Saturday to a roughly six-block area.President Donald Trump, who was in the White House both Friday and Saturday night, praised the initial Secret Service response and tweeted that if demonstrators had come any closer on Friday night the authorities would have responded with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons.”Trump said Secret Service agents told him they were clamoring for engagement with the demonstrators.“We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and good practice,” he quoted them as saying.Trump appeared to invite his supporters to amass on Saturday to counter the protesters.“Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” he tweeted, using the acronym for his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”No such crowd of the president’s supporters appeared.“I call upon on our city and our nation to exercise great restraint even while the president tries to divide us,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Saturday.Trump, on Saturday, blamed the mayor for withholding Washington police assistance in Lafayette Park. The Secret Service, however, said the local police had been on the scene.“The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters, and anarchists,” said Trump in a speech at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday. “The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses, and burning down buildings.”The president, who went to Florida to witnesses the first launch into space of NASA astronauts aboard a commercial craft, said the government will not “give into anarchy, abandon police precincts, or allow communities to be burned to the ground. It won’t happen.”  
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Demonstrations in dozens of cities around the U.S. over the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died in custody of Minneapolis police, turned violent again Saturday night.  Despite curfews and troops from National Guard units in at least a dozen states being called up to help stop violence and looting, the unrest continued late Saturday.Here are the latest updates:11:20 pm EDT – The Associated Press reports that nearly 1,400 people have been arrested in 17 U.S. cities since Thursday. More than a third of those arrests were made in Los Angeles on Friday, the AP said.10:45 pm EDT – A police officer in Atlanta was injured after being struck by someone riding an all-terrain-vehicle.  The officer “sustained significant injuries,” according to the Atlanta Police Department. The rider sustained minor injuries and was arrested, the department said.BREAKING: An officer has been injured in downtown Atlanta, sources confirm to Channel 2 Action News: https://t.co/DZ4qzO4PW6pic.twitter.com/TWblHSGeIC— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) May 31, 2020 10:40 pm EDT – President Trump tweeted support for National Guard troops in Minnesota and police in New York late Saturday.  In a tweet criticizing the mayor of Minneapolis, Trump said the Guard troops should have been activated sooner.  A few minutes later, the president tweeted that “New York’s Finest – a nickname for the New York Police Department – must be allowed to do their job.The National Guard has been released in Minneapolis to do the job that the Democrat Mayor couldn’t do. Should have been used 2 days ago & there would not have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined. Great job by the National Guard. No games!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2020Protests turned violentFor the past four nights, initially peaceful protesting has degenerated into looting, arson and other violence in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul, as well as other cities across the United States.“We are under assault,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said as he promised “full strength” would be used to restore order.Governors in at least 11 other states — Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Utah, Washington, California, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas — also activated National Guard troops to help quell protests that in many areas have turned violent.Mayors across the U.S. have instituted nighttime curfews after violence occurred in their cities, including Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; Columbia, South Carolina; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The demonstrators are protesting the death of George Floyd, who can be seen in a video lying on the ground with a white officer pressing his knee into his neck. Floyd, who is handcuffed with his hands behind his back on the video, can be heard pleading repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.” 
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U.S. officials are predicting an “enhanced” Atlantic hurricane season that may create new challenges for Americans already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials briefed President Donald Trump on Thursday, outlining preparations for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.The season, which officially begins Monday, has already seen two named tropical storms, Arthur and Bertha.“The big concern this year is the Atlantic Ocean. We’re expecting an above-average year,” said Neil Jacobs, acting director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “This is above average; this does not necessarily mean they’ll make landfall.”“So you think we could have a slightly enhanced hurricane season. That’s just what we want,” Trump said. “Let’s see. Hopefully, that won’t be the case, but we’ll see.”The president and FEMA officials were quick to say that they are prepared for the abnormally active season but did acknowledge the difficulties presented by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.“There will be unique challenges in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic,” Vice President Mike Pence said. “When people are displaced by tropical storms or hurricanes, they often know and are used to congregating at a local school or a local gymnasium. There’ll be different challenges now.”FEMA released the COVID-19 Pandemic Operational Guidance for the 2020 season to help emergency managers at every level devise new strategies to evacuate, shelter and care for people, while protecting against the spread of the coronavirus, administrator Peter Gaynor said.“We’re in a really great place when it comes to funding, personnel and supplies,” Gaynor added. FEMA was recently allocated $40 billion as part of recent coronavirus emergency legislation, bringing the agency’s disaster relief fund total to $80 billion.A typical Atlantic hurricane season, which officially starts June 1 and ends November 30, produces 12 named storms, six of which become hurricanes, with three on average becoming major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 storms). This year, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting between 13 and 19 named storms, six to 10 hurricanes, and three to six major hurricanes.There is a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season. The high probability of a season with above-average activity is because of the combination of several climate factors, including warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures and reduced vertical wind shear. The absence of an El Nino pattern to suppress hurricane activity and weakened tropical Atlantic trade winds is also expected to allow a more active season, NOAA officials said in a statement.Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the coast of Florida on May 16, becoming the first named storm of 2020, continuing a six-year-long trend that a named storm forms before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
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