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By Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Harley Sandoval, an evangelical pastor, real estate agent and mining entrepreneur, was arrested in July 2023 for illegally exporting 294 kilos of gold from Brazil's Amazon to the United States, Dubai and Italy. On paper, the gold was sourced from a legal prospect Sandoval was licensed to mine in the northern state of Tocantins. But police said not an ounce of gold had been mined there since colonial times. Using cutting-edge forensic technology, along with satellite imagery, Brazil's Federal Police said it was able to establish that the exported gold did not come from the Tocantins prospect. Instead, it had been dug up from three different wildcat mines in neighboring Pará, some on protected Indigenous reservation lands, according to previously unreported court documents dated November 2023 seen by Reuters. The prosecution is one of the first in Brazil using the new technology to tackle clandestine trading that may account for as much as half of the gold output of Brazil, a major producer and exporter of the precious metal. Illegal gold mining has surged at thousands of sites in the Amazon rainforest, bringing environmental destruction and criminal violence to the region. Seizures of illegally mined gold have surged seven-fold in the past seven years, according to Federal Police records obtained exclusively by Reuters. Sandoval, who has been released pending trial and continues to preach with his wife at a Pentecostal Evangelical church in the central Brazilian city of Goiania, denies the allegations. He maintains there is no way to establish where the gold was mined once it is melted down into ingots for export. "That's impossible. To export gold one always has to melt it down," he told Reuters by telephone. THE DNA OF GOLD Historically, gold is notoriously difficult to trace, especially once metal from different sources has been melted together, erasing the original signatures. After that, it can easily be traded as a financial asset or be used in the jewelry industry. But investigators say that's starting to change. A police program called "Targeting Gold" is creating a database of samples from across Brazil that are examined with radio-isotope scans and fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the unique composition of elements. The technique, long used in archaeology, was pioneered in mining by University of Pretoria geologist Roger Dixon to help distinguish between legal and stolen gold. The program developed in partnership with university researchers includes the use of powerful light beams from a particle accelerator at a Sao Paulo lab to study nano-sized impurities associated with gold, be it dirt or other metals like lead or copper, that help trace its origins. Humberto Freire, director of the Federal Police's recently-created Environment and Amazon Department, said the technology allows scientists to analyze "the DNA of Brazilian gold." "Nature has marked the gold with isotopes and we can read these unique fingerprints with radio-isotope scans," Freire said. "With this tool we can trace illegal gold before it gets refined for export." The program has helped fuel an increase in gold seizures since leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office last year — up 38% in 2023 from 2022, according to government numbers seen by Reuters. New Brazil central bank gold market regulations, including mandatory electronic tax receipts for all trades and tightened monitoring of suspect transactions, have also helped, according to Freire. "We estimate that around 40% of the gold that is extracted in the Amazon is illegal," he told Reuters. Brazil exported 110 tonnes of gold in 2020 worth $5 billion, according to official data, ranking among the world's top 20 exporters. Last year, exports were 77.7 tonnes, a drop the government attributes to improved enforcement of illegal mining. INDIGENOUS TENSIONS Lula's predecessor, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro weakened environmental controls in the Amazon. That triggered a new gold rush in Brazil, spurred by record world gold prices that were driven up by geopolitical tensions and central bank purchases, led by China. Prices have continued to new highs, trading at around $2,650 per ounce on Friday. Gold rushes have been a hallmark of mineral-rich Brazil from its Portuguese colonial past. But the latest surge in wildcat mining beginning during Bolsonaro's administration has been unprecedented. Satellite images show there are some 80,000 such prospects today in the Amazon rainforest, more than ever registered before. Once dominated by prospectors with gold pans, artisanal mining in Brazil has become an industrial-scale activity with heavy excavating machinery and million-dollar river dredgers. Criminal organizations fly people, equipment and gold into and out of the region with helicopters and planes that land at clandestine airstrips. Their excavations often leave behind gaping ponds of sludge contaminated with mercury, used to separate the gold from dirt and other minerals. Last year, thousands of miners who invaded the Yanomami territory, the country's largest Indigenous reservation on the northern border with Venezuela, brought violence and disease that caused malnutrition and a humanitarian crisis among the tribe, prompting Lula to send in troops. But many returned this year after the military pulled out. Lula, who has pledged to stamp out illegal gold mining, tried to fight back by deploying special forces of the environmental protection agency Ibama into Indigenous reservations and forest conservation parks. Police say cracking down on the organized crime gangs that back the wildcat miners is the next step in staunching an illegal trade that feeds the jewelry and watch industry in Switzerland, which buys 70% of Brazil's exported gold, according to government trade data. Amazon neighbors, including Colombia and French Guiana, are considering adopting the Brazilian gold analysis method to deal with their illegal gold trade and European governments have shown interest, including Switzerland and Britain, the top importers from Brazil after Canada, police and diplomats said. Brazil accounts for just 1% of gold imported by Switzerland, a global trade hub for the metal, and "measures are in place to import only legally mined gold," a Swiss embassy statement said. The embassy said it has set up a working group with other importing countries to study traceability and anti-counterfeiting tools. A 2022 study by non-profit watchdog Instituto Escolhas found that 52% of the gold exported from the Amazon was illegal, nearly all from protected Indigenous reservation lands or national conservation parks. A vibrant lobby for informal gold mining has survived Bolsonaro in Brazil's Conservative Congress, where pending bills propose legalizing wildcat mining. For now, though, gold samples from across Brazil are being added to a database with the help of scientists at the Federal Police's criminology institute lab in Brasilia, where forensic expert Erich Moreira Lima oversees microscopic scanning of gold nuggets that are kept in a safe. "Now that we have a team set up, we hope to analyze the 30,000 gold samples the Brazilian Geological Service has collected. In a few years, we should have mapped all Brazil's 24 gold producing regions," he told Reuters. Geologist Maria Emilia Schutesky and her team at the National University of Brasilia's geosciences lab conduct mass spectrometry scans on gold samples to identify associated molecules, such as lead, to place the gold's origins. "We researchers seek a 100% ability to trace gold, but that is more than what the police needs to prove a crime, which is just to establish that the gold does not come from where a suspects claims it is from," Schutesky said. (Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Christian Plumb and Claudia Parsons)da vinci diamonds free slot game online 。

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The experimental 12-team College Football Playoff has everyone talking different scenarios. Fans of the sport are wondering how the CFP Committee go about getting the right 12 teams in to create matchups for the masses to enjoy. People are concerned about if a 3-loss team can get in, if a team that loses its conference championship game can get in, and which conference gets the most teams in. Alabama football is No. 7 in the latest edition of CFP rankings. If it beats Oklahoma and Auburn, it’s heading to the Southeastern Conference title game A victory in the SEC Championship may get the Crimson Tide a first round bye for the playoff .Some feel that a loss for the Tide in the SEC title game would knock it out of playoff contention; however, a former Alabama head coach feels the CFP Committee is ‘suggestive’ in what it does. Nick Saban won nine SEC Championships and six national championships — including three in the CFP era — during 17 seasons at Alabama. Saban had the Tide in the playoff in eight of 10 years he coached Alabama. Alabama missed out on the dance in 2019 and 2022. He was on the Pat McAfee Show this week as he’s still bothered by the Tide not making the playoff in 2022. Alabama suffered two losses to Tennessee and LSU that year, but TCU made the CFP over Alabama and got demolished by Georgia in the CFP National Championship Game. “It was all subjective,” Saban said. “We would have been 13-point favorites over TCU if we would have played them, and they got into the playoffs and we didn’t. I’m not criticizing TCU — it wasn’t their fault — but that is the subjective part of it.” He also laughed when McAfee brought up the Georgia dominant win over TCU. “I was at that game,” Saban said. Saban knows the CFP Committee does its best to This article first appeared on Touchdown Alabama Magazine and was syndicated with permission.Alexia Nepola isn’t afraid to share her true opinion on the Real Housewives ’ fashion sense. During a Sunday, November 24, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen , the Real Housewives of Miami cast was asked, “Which Housewife city has the worst style?” Alexia, 57, wasted no time calling out two cities, saying, “I think it’s a tie between Potomac and Jersey.” Guerdy Abraira was quick to agree. “Dreadful,” she said into the microphone as the crowd cheered. Even more fans agreed with Alexia and Guerdy, 46, via social media. “I love my Potomac girls but someone needs to step in and help,” one person wrote. A second commented, “Jersey does have terrible style ..mainly their hair/makeup,” as more wrote, “It’s true.” One of the most notable Housewives in New Jersey is Teresa Giudice , whose personal style includes iridescent tops, sequin pants, graphic workout clothes , tweed sets, feathered jumpsuits and more. A post shared by TERESA GIUDICE ® (@teresagiudice) Recently, she showed off a figure-hugging outfit featuring a nude top with black shiny polka dots tucked into a latex skirt. Followers didn’t hold back while sharing their mixed opinions via Instagram. “NO,” one simply wrote, as another troll called her outfit “plastic.” While some trolls weren’t here for her outfit, others praised the getup. “I need this top! 😍,” one follower gushed as a second complimented her, “Gorgeous look 🔥.” A post shared by gizellebryant (@gizellebryant) You have successfully subscribed. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from Us Weekly Check our latest news in Google News Check our latest news in Apple News When it comes to The Real Housewives of Potomac , the cast, including Gizelle Bryant and Mia Thornton , opt for neon suits, tulle dresses, fitted ensembles, frilly blouses and more. Alexia and Guerdy tend to wear similar outfits themselves, including dramatic gowns, vibrant suits, cutout dresses and straight jeans. One of Guerdy’s most fabulous looks came last month when she rocked a sequin suit featuring a pink bra top and matching blazer and pants from Öfuurë. She styled the look with a fuchsia purse and silver earrings.

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Two weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a public hearing to take sworn testimonies from witnesses who, from inside their positions in the U.S. intelligence community and Defense Department declared in open session under penalties of perjury right there before God and you and me: 1) The U.S. government has recovered since 1947 multiple nonhuman "biologics" from UFO crash sites and has long operated a secret reverse-engineering program to glean advanced technology from recovered UFO vessels. Since the 1960s, so have our adversaries. 2) The U.S. Defense Department and intelligence agencies have created USAP (Unacknowledged Special Access Programs) that are stove piped and classified above Top Secret, circumventing the constitutionally mandated oversight of congress and in many cases, circumventing the president of the United States. These USAPs are funded by black budgets with no checks and balances. This hearing and one held just a year ago with different, equally credible witnesses, reveal the remarkable extent to which discussions around UFOs – previously mostly the domain of conspiracy theorists and believers in aliens and little green men – have now penetrated the U.S. military chain of command and the corridors of Congress. This is not Hollywood, nor a video game, or H.G. Wells, "Star Trek" or "Star Wars," et al. This, and as more testimony is set to the record, has revealed the extent that your employees are driven to lie to you about UFOs over the past 80 years. As the largest cohort to ever pass through the American population, baby boomers have witnessed as history some of the most incredible conspiracy theories ever birthed in the 20th century and beyond. I've probably followed, with varying interest, every one that pops up. I suspect you have followed your fair share as well. It's easy to go down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. It's not so easy to emerge with answers. I've been a grassy knoll shooter believer in the JFK assassination since 1963. Look where that got me. However, there is one conspiracy theory that has been and continues to be transformed into fact as time passes that coincides near perfectly with the baby boomer timeline, and is the mother of all conspiracy theories: UFOs are real and Roswell happened. Gen Z, who are our grandchildren, have created UFO memes on social media that are some of the most visited subjects of all time; followed by billions around the world. This subject has become transgenerational. If you are up for it, I am going to take you down that rabbit hole where I have already reached the other side confident that power and money have controlled the narrative, and because of that, extinction-level global crises that could have been solved with advanced non-human technologies, have gone unresolved and in fact have geometrically compounded in severity in the ensuing decades. A preliminary admonition and forewarning: What I am about to say to you is not an attempt at humor, satire, or an insane rant on something I know nothing about. I am not in need of wearing a tinfoil hat, nor am I prone to being a zealot engaging in flights of fancy. However, that is a self-assessment and I leave it up to you to decide if I have gone off the rails. If you know nothing else about me from columns over the years, you have to conclude that I am a true sponge for historical subject matter. I can't get enough and as information technology has advanced at a quantum rate, additional facts are available for consideration regarding many events that were narrowly reported at the time of occurrence. Declassification of government records and an account with the National Archives makes me the kid in the candy store. Last year when Congress passed and President Biden signed into law the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (PL 118-31), the massive bill which funds everything relating to the United States military, it also contained a provision requiring that by Oct. 20, 2024, each federal agency review, identify, and organize all UFO related records in its custody for disclosure to the public and transmission to the national archives. Last month the national archives, as required by law, released the first installment to the public, of all agency legacy records of the United States government relating to UFOs and the existence of alien non-human life. On the day of release, I downloaded the nearly one terabyte of publicly unseen and virtually unknown reports, files, photos, letters, communications and all things UFO accumulated over the baby boomer decades. I cracked my knuckles, rolled up my sleeves, and dug in. Thank God for subfreezing normal November weather. Right out of the chute, what I read and saw was amazing. I also began to get pissed off as the sheer volume of credible and verifiable information that our government has kept from us is the true story of the mother all conspiracy theories, and it has been ongoing for my entire life. What has also become truth rather than speculation is that non-human intelligent beings have targeted our and everyone else's nuclear facilities as points of interest, and in fact have and continue to launch facility incursions and active interference since the United States dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Japan to end WWII in 1945. Apparently, E.T. is just as freaked out about thermonuclear weapons as we are. We have a front row seat to the most significant rewrite of the human culture of all time. The aftershock to be felt around the world by redefining what it means to be a human is yet to be seen. What is clear is that we are not alone in the universe. What also is clear, is that the giant leaps in technology that have occurred throughout the baby boomer timeline was significantly accelerated by reverse engineering efforts by the military-industrial complex contractors on recovered alien technology. Revealed in open testimony in Congress on Nov. 13, 2024, the 2024 code word for the government reverse engineering program is "Immaculate Constellation." Prior to that day, saying that in public would get you an espionage act arrest with no bail. You don't think that we went from the Model-T to the moon in 50 years on the power of the human brain alone do you? I was reminded of what seemed to be the extremely odd warning delivered to Americans in 1961 by outgoing President Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation, which now makes a hell of a lot of sense: "A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. "American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. "The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Eisenhower, and his predecessor Harry Truman, who was president at the beginning of the UFO era, have been the only two chief executives who have been fully briefed on the existence of non-human life forms and alien technologies. Just ask Bill Clinton. I feel a little less slighted as I guess the military industrial complex couldn't trust the president who is always a short term temp worker anyway. In 1947, in the shadow of WWII, with America feeling pretty good and not too concerned about government, Truman formed the CIA and began the first disinformation and psychological operation mandates for UFO events. The counter-intelligence efforts used against American citizens were applied quickly, quietly and harshly, a key component to keeping the greatest secret never told. The disinformation delivered has been near perfect in effect as government made the choice for all of us, without a vote at all, to conceal the truth regarding UFOs because it was the early assessment that we as a society could not handle it. As I think about what this new reality means, it comes with hope, but also anger, for how many of the extinction level crises we face on Earth today, could have already been remedied had power and money not won out in 1947. For all those friends and relatives that have been long-suffering UFO believers who you called crackpots or worse all these years, you better tell them you were wrong and that you are sorry. Buy them a Roswell T-shirt for Christmas. Contrition is certainly warranted. It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, who in his 1885 work "The Fate of Evangeline," wrote, "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." It was Mr. Spock, in the 1991 movie "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," who repeated this axiom in its now proper and correct setting. Space the final frontier. Imagine that. J.W. Sayles J.W. Sayles is a Mason City resident. Opinions are his own. Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant declared for the 2025 NFL Draft on Thursday after three seasons with the Wolverines. The 6-foot-3, 339-pound junior was a third-team All-American and a second-team All-Big Ten selection this season. He had three sacks among his 32 total tackles over 12 games in 2024. As a sophomore, Grant helped the Wolverines claim the national championship with 29 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks in 15 games. "I am very appreciative to Coach (Jim) Harbaugh and coach (Sherrone) Moore and the rest of the University of Michigan staff that I have crossed paths with," Grant posted on social media. "It has been an honor to be developed into a Michigan Man." Other Michigan players who intend to leave the program for the draft include defensive lineman Mason Graham, cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland. --Field Level Media