By Julia Symmes Cobb BARRANCABERMEJA, Colombia, July 9 (Reuters) – The hulking backhoe dredges up rocks and silt from the shallows of the muddy Magdalena River in the first...

The drugs and stowaways were discovered by Navy divers inside a secret compartment of the Cyprus-flagged "Prisco Alexander" located near the rudder.

Colombia’s plan to dredge its biggest river could boost coking coal output fivefold, according to the government agency overseeing the project, potentially exacerbating a global glut of the steelmaking ingredient.

A barge carrying construction materials for U.S.-based Drummond Co Inc, Colombia's second biggest coal miner, was shipwrecked at the company's port late last week, the company said on Sunday, causing leakage of some diesel fuel into the sea.

European utilities paying more to burn coal this winter is a sign of progress in Colombia, according to Alejandro Arias, whose environmental activism is helping provoke stricter pollution controls on miners.