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Spain traps US ships in row over treasureBy Mike Elkin in Madrid Last Updated: 1:38am BST 07/06/2007 A Spanish court has issued a warrant for the capture and search of two American exploration ships suspected of removing sunken treasure from Spanish waters. The ships, belonging to Odyssey Marine Exploration, which is based in Florida, are docked in Gibraltar and cannot leave because Spain controls the waters surrounding the British enclave. A Spanish Culture Ministry spokeswoman said investigations by the Civil Guard, the Defence Ministry and Spanish prosecutors produced sufficient evidence to suspect that the vessels were operating illegally in the...

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Spanish government filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court on Wednesday seeking to block claims by Florida-based treasure hunters Odyssey Marine Exploration to any Spanish property recovered from shipwrecks. ADVERTISEMENT The suit does not refer specifically to Odyssey's claim on May 18 that it had legally recovered gold and silver coins worth an estimated $500 million from a colonial-era wreck code-named "Black Swan" at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean.

Democrat John Edwards has eloquently established his credentials as an advocate for the poor with a presidential campaign focused on the devastating effects of poverty in America. But the former North Carolina senator's populist drive has hit a series of troubling land mines: a pair of $400 haircuts, a $500,000 paycheck from a hedge fund, and now a $55,000 payday for a speech on poverty to students at UC Davis. The problem now facing the Democratic presidential candidate is whether the pileup of headlines, including the latest regarding hefty fees from university speeches reported Monday by The Chronicle, threatens to...

Treasure hunters who recovered a £250 million bounty from a shipwreck off Cornwall may have left the most valuable haul behind. An American salvage crew has landed 17 tons of loot from the wreck of the Merchant Royal, including 500,000 silver coins, using remote-controlled submarines. But The Mail on Sunday has learned that the vessel's greatest treasure of gold coins and bullion, at least some of which was held in a locked chest on its lower deck, is still languishing on the ocean floor.

Welcome to the Jersey Shore! Have a great time, but please don't dig too deeply in the sand in Surf City (you could get blown up), feed the seagulls in Ocean City (you could catch a disease), or draw dirty pictures in the sand in Belmar (it's rude). snip... "I used to take pictures of signs at the entrance to beaches that had long lists of all the things you couldn't do," said Dery Bennett, head of the American Littoral Society's Sandy Hook chapter. "There was one with a big word `NO' in red letters at the top and all...