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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.

Under the terms of the deal, each Randgold shareholder will receive 6.1280 new Barrick shares for each share of the African rival, the companies said. Barrick shareholders will own about 66.6 percent of the new Barrick merged company while Randgold shareholders will own about 33.4 percent. Randgold's long-term chief executive Mark Bristow will retain that same role in the new merged company while Barrick's John Thornton will become the executive chairman. "The Boards of Barrick and Randgold believe that the Merger will create an industry-leading gold company with the greatest concentration of Tier One Gold Assets in the industry, the...

Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. is reportedly near an agreement to buy London-listed Randgold Resources Ltd. in a deal that could be worth as much as $18 billion, according to media reports. The agreement could be announced as soon as Monday, according to a report from Reuters citing a person familiar with the talks.

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Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, who told investors as recently as last month that they should own gold, cut his holdings in the metal by more than half as prices plunged into a bear market. Paulson & Co., the largest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded product for the metal, pared its stake to 10.2 million shares in the three months ended June 30 from 21.8 million at the end of the first quarter, according to a government filing Wednesday. The New York-based firm, which manages $18 billion, cut its ownership for the first time since...

France accused of genocide role Kagame denies ordering the shooting down of the Rwandan president's plane in 1994 Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused French people of "direct involvement" in the 1994 genocide. He told the French state-owned RFI radio that they provided weapons and training, and gave orders to those who killed some 800,000 people. He said the "French elements" were acting on government orders. The president was speaking a week after a French daily reported a police report that blamed him for a rocket attack that precipitated the massacre. "Sooner or later they will have to account for...