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A former American diplomat who served as a U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested and accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government, according to The Associated Press. Officials say Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint. According to sources, more details about the case are expected to be made public at a court appearance Monday. One of the two people who came forward with the complaint said the Justice Department case accuses Rocha of working to promote the Cuban government’s interests.

Another of grandfather Jack Bell's stories. This one is about a 1902 gunfight grandfather was in at the bottom of a mine. Later on he was, at various times, a game warden, Deputy Sheriff of Gunnison County, Colorado and Deputy Sheriff of Verdi, Nevada. The quotes in the story come from testimonials put out to get people to buy stock in his 1906 Jack Bell Gold Mining Company when he started a gold rush in Buckskin, Nevada.

The accident in the makeshift mine occurred on Friday about 3pm local time (13:00 GMT) following heavy rains in the town of Kamituga in South Kivu province. The mine was not located on the Kamituga gold concession owned by the Canadian miner Banro Corporation, the company's chief executive said. Thousands of informal miners operate in and around mines in DRC, which produces more than half of the world's cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries. Mining accidents are common, with dozens of deaths every year in mines where often ill-equipped diggers burrow deep underground in search for ore. Last...

The Russian army and its medical personnel are being dispatched to Russia’s largest gold mine, Olimpiada, to help contain a coronavirus outbreak. Located in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai, Olimpiada employed around 6,000 people. The mine is run by Russia’s largest gold producer, Polyus. Polyus said that so far 866 peopled tested positive for COVID-19 and 2,790 tested negative. Majority of those who tested positive are not showing any symptoms, according to Russian media reports. Polyus is the only company in the region that will be testing all of its workers for the coronavirus infection, the reports said. To help the mining...

[A] storm caused a power cut and blocked their way out. Without electricity, the lifts could not bring night shift workers to the surface, but they "appear to be fine", a spokesman for their employer said. He said about 65 miners have so far been rescued and all are accounted for. South Africa is a leading gold producer, but the industry has often been accused of a poor safety record. The Beatrix mine is in Welkom town, about 290km (180 miles) south-west of Johannesburg. It is owned by Sibanye-Stillwater mining firm. It has 23 levels, going down to 1,000 metres...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — A former Iraqi intelligence officer who was said to have met with the suspected leader of the Sept. 11 attacks has told American interrogators the meeting never happened, according to United States officials familiar with classified intelligence reports on the matter. Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, the former intelligence officer, was taken into custody by the United States in July. Under questioning he has said that he did not meet with Mohamed Atta in Prague, according to the officials, who have reviewed classified debriefing reports based on the interrogations. American officials caution that Mr. Ani may...

Sitting in a courtroom three years ago, after skipping out on a sizable legal bill, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s youngest brother struck a reassuring tone: Don’t worry, the money is coming. “I deal through the Clinton Foundation,” Tony Rodham said, according to court transcripts uncovered by the New York Times. He gave his word that Hillary and Bill were setting him up with Haitian-government permits to build a $22 million housing development in the earthquake-stricken country. “I hound my brother-in-law, because it’s his fund that we’re going to get our money from,” Rodham explained, promising a $1 million check once the...

The “unfortunate accident” that the EPA had near Silverton, Colorado recently has raised all sorts of questions, not the least of which is why it took the agency 24 hours to tell anyone about it. (The folks who draw water off the river are particularly interested in that one.) But hey… accidents happen, right? I mean, it’s not like anyone could have seen it coming. Except that the EPA actually did see it coming. During a late Friday night document dump the Environmental Protection Agency lifted the mask just a bit and revealed that they knew what they were...

Full title.....Gold Mine: Hillary Clinton’s Brother Granted Super-Rare Mining Permit from Haiti After State Dept. Sent Country Billions Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, sat on the board of a self-described mining company that in 2012 received one of only two “gold exploitation permits” from the Haitian government—the first issued in over 50 years. The tiny North Carolina company, VCS Mining, also included on its board Bill Clinton’s co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), former Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. The Rodham gold mine revelation is just one of dozens featured in a forthcoming bombshell investigative book by...

A former EPA official tied to a controversy over allegations of federal overreach at an Alaska mine project has mysteriously gone off the grid, sources tell FoxNews.com, complicating lawmakers' efforts to question him. Emails from Phillip North, a now-retired Environmental Protection Agency employee, recently surfaced that seem to show the Alaska-based biologist tried to get the Pebble Mine project killed as far back as 2008. Those emails -- and memos indicating government officials worked early on with tribal leaders and environmental groups to oppose the venture -- raised questions about the agency's claims that when it ultimately vetoed the gold-and-copper...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_4546.html Travel Alert U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs This information is current as of today, Thu Nov 19 2009 21:45:59 GMT-0800 (PST). Niger November 19, 2009 The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the risks of travel to Niger due to threat of kidnapping, and recommends against all travel to Niger at this time. This Travel Alert expires February 28, 2010. On December 14, 2008, two United Nations officials, former Canadian diplomats, were kidnapped by the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) while...

WASHINGTON – A lawyer representing an Alaska gold mine urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold the mine owner's permit even though he acknowledged that the company's plan to dump metal waste into a nearby lake would kill all aquatic life. But mining company lawyer Theodore Olson told justices that the waste is more accurately defined as "fill." And, after a decade or more of mining, he said, the lake could be restocked with no permanent harm to the environment.

Opening ceremony held for gold mine By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

The rising price of gold is prompting a return to Mojave's mining roots, as the Golden Queen Mining Co. prepares to resume mining operations on Soledad Mountain just southwest of the community. Company President Lutz Klingmann outlined the company's plan for the project before a packed house Thursday at the Mojave Chamber of Commerce's regular monthly meeting. "Mining has been going on in east Kern County since before the beginning of the last century," chamber Secretary Bill Deaver said in introducing Klingmann's presentation. The company has been working toward resuming mining on Soledad Mountain for the last seven years, re-engineering...

Tonight, PBS will air "Gold Futures," a film by Hungary's Tibor Kocsis. The film focuses on residents in Romania's Rosia Montana, a rural Transylvanian town, who are divided over the benefits of a proposed gold mine. It also features Gabriel Resources, the Canadian mining company trying to convince them to relocate so it can dig for a huge gold deposit estimated at 14.6 million ounces, worth almost $10 billion. PBS describes the film as a "David-and-Goliath story." Viewers who see pristine shots of the Rosia valley won't realize the hills hide a huge, abandoned communist-era mine, leaking toxic heavy metals...

Rescued miner Todd Russell has enjoyed a drink at his favourite pub in Beaconsfield, hours after he was freed from the collapsed mineshaft. Mr Russell entered the Club Hotel about 6.30pm (AEST), to loud cheers and cries of "Toddy" from patrons. He laughed and hugged his friends after entering the hotel. Mr Russell joined Channel Nine chief executive Eddie McGuire for a quiet chat and a drink after entering the premises. The miner who was trapped for 14 nights limped into the bar wearing a pink T-shirt. The Tasmanian mine shaft hero did a high-five with locals as they gathered...

Tasmania's miracle miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb fulfilled the promise to walk out of their rock prison before daybreak this morning after surviving almost 14 nights trapped a kilometre under the earth. "Yee-hah" were the men's first words when rescuers broke through the last metre into the rockfilled cavern where the men had been trapped since Anzac Day. The men slid down a vertical tunnel, were put onto roll-up stretchers and carried 36-metres to the Beaconsfield gold mine's main shaft. The men were checked by doctors and paramedics, took a shower and then took the lift to the surface...