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500-year-old shipwreck found by diamond firm Last Updated: 1:47AM BST 01/05/2008 A shipwreck, believed to be 500 years old, containing a treasure trove of coins and ivory has been discovered off the southern African coast. The site yielded a wealth of objects including thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins A Namibian diamond company, Namdeb, said on Wednesday that it found the wreck during mining operations in the Atlantic. "The site yielded a wealth of objects including six bronze cannon, several tons of copper, more than 50 elephant tusks, pewter tableware, navigational instruments, weapons and thousands of Spanish and Portuguese...

Watchdogs hit Jefferson on ‘blood diamond’ tripsBy Susan Crabtree Posted: 01/23/08 12:01 AM [ET] Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who is fighting a wide array of corruption and bribery charges, violated House ethics rules in failing to report three trips to Botswana aimed at convincing him to oppose limits on “blood diamond” imports into the U.S., according to ethics experts. Jefferson, whose name recently turned up in the prosecution of a former diamond executive in Botswana, took four trips to that country beginning with a 2001 trip sponsored by the Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower in April 2001. Jefferson...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A small-town mayor and church pastor was in jail Monday on charges of soliciting sex over the Internet from a police detective posing as a 13-year-old girl. Allen Kauffman, 63, was arrested Friday on four counts of felony enticement of a child in the latest sting orchestrated by a police detective in another southwest Missouri town, Diamond. Prosecutors alleged in court filings that Kauffman believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old girl from the Joplin area in a Yahoo chat room last November and December. In online messages, Kauffman allegedly asked the girl for sex and...

Diamond synchatron to use x-rays to examine Dead Sea Scrolls By Nic Fleming and Roger Highfield Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 12/09/2007 Secrets contained in fragile documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls are to be revealed using one of the most powerful light sources in the Universe. British Association Festival of Science: Full coverage British scientists are using a giant instrument - in essence an extremely powerful torch and microscope combined - to read parchments that are too brittle to unroll or unfold. Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their discovery enhanced knowledge of Christianity and Judaism The Diamond synchatron...

'Biggest diamond ever' is found in South Africa By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg Last Updated: 8:48pm BST 28/08/2007 It is either the greatest diamond find in history, or a case of fool's gold. The diamond claim was met with scepticism South Africa's diamond industry was surprised by reports that a small mining firm had found a stone estimated at 7,000 carats, twice the size of the Cullinan diamond, the largest ever found. Gems cut from the 3,106-carat Cullinan, including the Great Star of Africa, became part of the Crown Jewels after it was found in Gauteng Province in 1905. But...

Mugabe moves to seize British diamond field By Peta Thornycroft in Marange Last Updated: 2:10am GMT 08/12/2006 A British-listed mining company, the first to invest in bankrupt Zimbabwe since the political crisis began, was ordered off its valuable diamond claim yesterday. Dirk Benade: watched diggers While President Robert Mugabe has seized thousands of white-owned farms since 2000 he has, up until now, left mining property alone. The claim, an extraordinary chunk of ancient tribal land in south eastern Zimbabwe, may be one of the richest diamond fields found in recent years. And the Zimbabwe government wants it. African Consolidated Resources...

Poor farmers invoke land law to get their hands on South Africa's richest diamond mine Stephen Bevan in Taaibosch (Filed: 01/10/2006) Deep in the bushveld of South Africa's far north, 20 miles down a dirt track from the nearest road, the dusty township of Taaibosch is an unlikely place to find the owners of one of the country's most valuable pieces of real estate. Yet the residents of its rows of tiny brick huts, baking in the harsh sun, may soon be declared joint proprietors of South Africa's richest diamond mine. John Matlathi, 66, the village's head man, and other...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - August 12, 2006 - Actor Lou Diamond Phillips was released from jail on his own recognizance Friday following his arrest for allegedly physically abusing his live-in girlfriend. "Our office reviewed the case today and referred it to the city attorney's hearing program. The parties will come in and sit with one of our attorneys, who will try to mediate the situation," said Jonathan Diamond, a city attorney's spokesman. "Charges could be filed down the road, but we're trying to resolve this through the hearing program," Diamond added. Phillips, best known for his roles in "La Bamba"...

Ok, I want to propose. I dont know how to go about a ring. I want something cheap but nice. She is the nicest, most understanding woman on the planet, but I dont want to look like a cheapskate. I am not that rich. going into my life savings for this. any freepers have any advice. I would like to propose on Canadian thankgiving in Oct. She lives in Toronto. plan to be moved in with her by Christmas *smile*

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION NEW RIVER, N.C. (April 18, 2006) -- The Bronze Star Medal was awarded to Master Gunnery Sgt. Norman P. Hoosier, Marine Aircraft Group-26 logistics chief, April 4, for meritorious achievement while he was deployed this past year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the 13 months Hoosier was deployed to Al Asad Air Base, he dedicated more than 2,000 hours personally installing, repairing and rebuilding more than 200 pieces of equipment. “From power generation to power delivery, to heating to cooling of spaces; anytime anything was needed, ‘Master Guns’ Hoosier and his team was on...

Associated Press MURFREESBORO, Ark. – A Kansas woman and her 12-year-old son have a 2.12-carat diamond to take back home with them after a vacation in Arkansas. A news release Saturday from the state Parks and Tourism Department said the pair – Jennifer Jones of Derby, Kansas, and her son Jacob Ballard – found the gem Friday at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only diamond-producing site open to seaching by the public. According to the news release, Jones and her son found the diamond as they looked near an old mine shaft...

Wanda Estrada's diamond ring spent almost a week at the bottom of a paper bag. Now it's back where it belongs: on her finger. A San Jose woman returned the ring Thursday afternoon to the See's Candies store in Saratoga, surprising Estrada with the three-diamond band she'd feared was gone for good. ``I'm on cloud nine now,'' Estrada said. ``I'm going to be smiling all day.'' Thea Sawyer said she was buying some Christmas gifts at See's last Friday, the same day Estrada noticed the ring had slipped off her finger. Estrada was sure it somehow dropped into a bag...

(Rochester, NY) 12/22/05 -- Some pet food contaminated with a toxic fungus is having deadly consequences. Several dogs in the Rochester area have died from the toxin and others could be sick without their owners knowing. Stores in 23 states have been notified to pull Diamond Pet Food products off their shelves. The contaminant, aflatoxin, grows on corn put in the products. The food is sold under the brand names Diamond, Country Value, and Professional. The recalled batches have date codes of March-07 through June-07 and were made at the company's plant in Gaston, South Carolina. Products from other facilities...

The Kitty Caption thread this week is dedicated to Diamond (one of my two cats). Due to a variety of health problems that surfaced recently, I was forced to put her to sleep early last week. This thread is dedicated to her memory. FR Viking Kitty – Diamond Born: Late 1992 (exact date unknown) Adopted: 17 January 1995 Died: 14 June 2005 Hey Daddy, “Get Off The Computer!” My Turn To Use It. Diamond and Houston Discuss FR Viking Kitty Matters. I’ll Feed Myself (Note: Never Let A Man Do A Cat’s Job). Before the VK Staff Gets Fed, I...

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond (Viking, 592 pp., $29.95) Jared Diamond’s bestselling Guns, Germs, and Steel argued that geography trumped culture, and that the current privileged position of the West was therefore mostly attributable to the advantageous resources in, and location of, Western countries, rather than to Europe’s singular values. Despite the allure of such a politically correct exegesis — President Clinton endorsed the book wholeheartedly — there were numerous criticisms of this determinist idea of natural accidents resulting in the present-day dominance of the West. At some point a Cleisthenes, Plato, Augustine, Magna...

Crystal-clear material is better for optics, scientific applications May 16, 2005 Researchers at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. have produced 10-carat, half-inch thick single-crystal diamonds at rapid growth rates (100 micrometers per hour) using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The size is approximately five times that of commercially available diamonds produced by the standard high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) method and other CVD techniques. In addition, the team has made colorless single-crystal diamonds, transparent from the ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths with their CVD process. Most HPHT synthetic diamond is yellow and most CVD diamond is brown, limiting their optical applications. Colorless...

SADDAM HUSSEIN has sent his personal jeweller to Thailand on a secret mission to buy millions of dollars worth of diamonds, prompting speculation that he is preparing to flee or send his family into hiding, writes Jon Swain. Sources with knowledge of the trip revealed that the jeweller travelled from Baghdad to Bangkok via Jordan. They said he bought the gems in the Thai capital in a prearranged deal. “He purchased millions of dollars worth,” said one. This was the jeweller’s second recent visit to Bangkok. Three months ago the sources said that Saddam’s son Uday had sent him to...

Man-made diamonds are now so perfect they stump the experts. The diamond industry is hoping nobody notices. Feb. 14 issue - Leo, a balding man with an Israeli accent, stands behind a glass counter in one of the hundreds of jewelry shops on 47th Street, the heart of New York's diamond district. Leo makes his living on the strength of his ability to evaluate the authenticity and value of diamonds. He is examining three small stones, each weighing less than half a carat—one pink, one colorless and a third, slightly green, called a marquise. He picks up the pink crystal...

WEST PELZER - Three people were killed when a single-engine corporate plane crashed about 10:20 a.m. in bad weather Thursday in a residential area outside Williamston, authorities said. The flight plan of the plane, a Diamond A40 model registered to Accu-Pad, Inc., a silicone products manufacturer located at 1324 Harris Bridge Road in Anderson, remains unclear. The plane clipped power lines and hit trees around an abandoned home on Hardwood Road before it began to disintegrate and hit the ground inside a field with a "catastrophic impact," Anderson County Public Safety Director Tommy Thompson said. Identities of the three victims...

ByCONAKRY, Guinea (AP) - There's lucky: Finding a diamond when you're a young miner sweating it out in the west African forests of Guinea. And there's too lucky: finding a 182-carat stone, that everyone - starting with the government of Guinea - wants a piece of. Result: the stone - four times the size of the famous Hope diamond - was tucked away Monday deep in the vaults of Guinea's Central Bank, no pictures, please. And the 25-year-old miner who found it, if not exactly in hiding, was making himself scarce. No interviews, please. State radio in impoverished, mineral-rich Guinea...

Nearly $5 million was raised for John Kerry's presidential bid and the Democratic National Committee Thursday night at a star- studded concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond performed together for the first time in 24 years. They were expected to sing their 1978 hit duet, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." Willie Nelson and Billy Crystal were also scheduled to perform. Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were among those in attendance. The concert was originally scheduled for June 7 but postponed because of the death of former President Ronald Reagan two days...

-- Researchers synthesize gem-sized diamonds of natural colour and exceptional hardness using Chemical Vapour Deposition. -- WITH U.S. GOVERNMENT DEBT now topping US$7 trillion (about US$100,000 for each family of four), and interest rates at historic lows, new life is beginning to breathe through the Canadian resource sector. One sign of this renewed vigor is a sudden surge in prospecting claims being staked throughout vast tracts of the Canadian Arctic. Over 1,500 new permits have been issued this year for Nunavut alone, compared to 190 last year. And according to the Nunavut Mining Recorder’s Office in Iqualuit, the largest number...

The biggest ever diamond has been found floating in space. The gem, estimated at close to 10 billion trillion trillion carats, is at the core of a dead star (BPM 37093) - a crystallised white dwarf. The newly-discovered diamond in the sky is a whopping great chunk of crystallised carbon 50 light-years from the Earth in the constellation Centaurus. It is 2,500 miles across (the moon is approximately 2,200 miles across) and weighs 5 million trillion trillion pounds. It has been dubbed "Lucy" in reference to the Beatles' song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Diamond specialists told the research...

Readings at the New Glasgow, N.S., public library are usually tame affairs, but then it is not every day an author appears who has written that the local population acts like it is stunned by chloroform. When Dawn Rae Downton read from her new memoir, Diamond, she was met by about 10 hecklers who did not appreciate her unvarnished portrayal of Pictou County, their rural corner of northern Nova Scotia. Ms. Downton never dreamed her book, which is essentially the story of 100 days spent caring for a dying friend, would make her Nova Scotia's own Salman Rushdie. But after...

A physicist in South Africa claims to have created a new superconducting state of matter at room temperature. Johan Prins of the University of Pretoria observed the superconducting state in experiments with diamonds that had been doped with oxygen (Semiconductor Science and Technology 18 S131).Diamond is a semiconductor and Prins has long been interested in using n-type diamond as a "cold" cathode to replace the "hot" cathodes found in television tubes and many other devices. Moreover, he believes that the results of his experiments on n-type diamond surfaces - made by exposing the diamond to energetic oxygen ions - can...

Artisanal mining was not illegal in the DRC prior to the 1980s, but diamonds could only be sold within the mining zone, or in adjacent villages. It was illegal to sell diamonds in Kinshasa and in the main urban areas in the Kasai provinces, although this was not fully respected. Corrupt officials allowed a limited trade to exist, but government attitudes vacillated and harsh measures were taken intermittently to purge the diamond fields of prospectors, especially in areas around or within the concession of La Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA), the diamond mining parastatal. MIBA provided the bulk of Zaire’s...

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (Reuters) - Sierra Leone has put border guards on alert after hearing rumors that a massive diamond was unearthed this week and that dealers may smuggle it out of the country, senior government officials said Thursday. "The Ministry of Mineral Resources has put all security measures in place to trace the whereabouts of an alleged 1,000-carat diamond said to have been found on April 22," a senior official at the ministry told Reuters. If true, the gem would be the second largest ever found. The biggest would remain the 3,107-carat "Cullinan" diamond found in South Africa in...

JOHANNESBURG, April 20 — The collapse of peace talks to end Africa's biggest war in the Democratic Republic of Congo could doom the former Zaire to prolonged conflict or even partition, analysts warned on Saturday. Worse still, they said, the crisis in the mineral-rich state would re-ignite tensions and probably more direct fighting between neighbours Rwanda and Uganda, who each support rival rebel factions in Africa's third largest country. On the economic front, failure to achieve peace in Congo would stunt economic development and deter badly-needed foreign investment in poverty-stricken and war-ridden Africa. Talks to end the war and chart...