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<p>LONDON -- The diary of a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden reveals that al Qaeda may have been using a popular blue gemstone to help finance its operations as early as 1995.</p> <p>The day planner of Wadih el Hage, who was convicted last year of conspiracy in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, provides the strongest documentary evidence to date of al Qaeda's involvement in the tanzanite trade.</p>

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut import tariffs on textile products and metals, including steel products, to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, effective Nov. 1, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

I've been meaning to do this for a long time. Below is a fine specimen of banded tourmaline. Tourmalines like this are generated in pegmatites; see diagram below the picture, with description and link to more information. (The diagram is not from the same place as the description.) The Pegmatite Zone, from whence cometh this text: "A pegmatite is a coarse grained igneous rock (formed deep within the earth) having a grain size of 3cm or more. Mostly pegmatites are granitic in origin, that is they are composed of granite and its constituents like quartz, feldspar and mica. In addition...

President Richard Nixon personally ordered the "third-rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel in June 1972, a trusted aide has now revealed, resurrecting the scandal that led to Nixon's political ruin and forced him from the nation's highest office. Jeb Stuart Magruder, who was Nixon's assistant communications director before moving to the re-election committee, said he was privy to a telephone conversation between Nixon and John Mitchell, the campaign chairman, in which the president urged Mitchell to proceed with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate. The revelation, if true, places the Watergate burglary in a...

DJ US Tsy: Anti-Money Laundering Steps For Metals Dealers 02/19/2003 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Metals and jewelry dealers that do more than $50,000 worth of business per year would need to set up an anti-money laundering strategy, under a new proposed rule released Wednesday by the U.S. Treasury. The proposed rule covers precious metals dealers and refiners, jewelry manufacturers, loose gemstone merchants and retail stores that also act as a dealer in such items. Retail-only stores aren't covered by the rule, nor are dealers that buy or sell less than...