Nearly a third of the 260 miners stuck underground following an accident at a Sibanye-Stillwater SSWJ.J gold mine in South Africa were brought to the surface on Friday, the company said, as a senior union official confirmed there had been no injuries.The miners were stuck underground after the hoist system used to access a shaft at the Kloof gold mine - one of Sibanye's deepest, situated about 37 miles west of Johannesburg - was damaged in an accident on Thursday.WHITE HOUSE SHUTS DOWN REPORTER'S 'RIDICULOUS' CHALLENGE OF WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN FARMER DEATHSSibanye said 79 of the employees had been brought to the surface by 1:30 p.m. local time in the first phase of an operation to extract the miners."The remaining 181 employees ... have been provided with food and will be hoisted to surface as soon as safety to hoist is confirmed," Sibanye said in a statement.A company spokesperson told Reuters late Friday afternoon that the process was expected to be completed "soon.""Fortunately there were no fatalities or injuries," National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Health and Safety Chairperson Duncan Luvuno told journalists at the site. "But for ... 24 hours people were not eating or drinking anything. This is not adequate. Some have chronic diseases."Journalists were barred by security guards from getting near to the mine shaft, but a Reuters reporter saw some of the miners, looking tired but in good health, walk to the perimeter of the company grounds and board buses.Relatives of those still in the mine, however, expressed shock and worry that their loved ones remained underground."I haven't slept a wink," said Mamodise Mokone, whose husband was among the miners. "I just want to tell the management or whoever is in charge: I just want my husband out alive."Sibanye earlier said all the workers were safe after what it called a "shaft incident" in the Kloof 7 shaft and were gathered at an assembly point as efforts were launched to bring them out of the mine.Johannesburg-based Sibanye is among only a few South African miners squeezing profits from some of the world's deepest and costliest gold mines. Sibanye is digging for gold at depths of roughly two miles at the Kloof 7 shaft.The Kloof mine, which accounts for 14% of Sibanye's total gold output, also operates two other shafts. The company mines platinum-group metals in South Africa and the United States as well.Mining accidents are not uncommon in South Africa, where many abandoned mines have been taken over by informal diggers.Earlier this year, at least 78 bodies were pulled from an illegal gold mine after police cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to crack down on illegal mining activity.

Suspected human smugglers were arrested this week while allegedly attempting to hide migrants inside modified hay bales, officials said.Deputies conducting a routine traffic stop on a pickup pulling a hay trailer Tuesday near Flatonia, Texas, noticed that the bales inside the trailer had been hollowed out to create compartments, the Fayette County Sheriffs Office said.After looking more closely, the deputies noticed there were people inside the bales in "dangerously confined spaces" below a metal framework and layers of hay."This method of concealment is not only deceptive but incredibly dangerous to human life," the sheriffs office said in a release. "Smugglers continue to use increasingly creative and hazardous techniques to transport individuals across Texas highways."SUSPECTED TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBER AMONG 5 ARRESTED IN HUMAN SMUGGLING BUST: TEXAS SHERIFFU.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said deputies did a closer inspection after reaching out to the Border Patrol's Sector Intelligence Unit for assistance when inconsistencies emerged as they questioned the driver and passengers of the pickup.Twelve migrants were found hidden inside the hay bales.The driver, Delbert Flanders, 44, of Kansas, was taken to a hospital for treatment, and the accused coordinators of the operation Adanaylo Lambert, 22, and Lency Delgado Fernandez, 25 were taken into custody and face federal and state human smuggling charges.US STING SNARES ARMED FELON SMUGGLERS TIED TO FOREIGN PRISON GANG, CARTEL: POLICEThe migrants were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for processing.In a separate incident, two human smugglers were sentenced May 15 after a series of high-speed chases near the border.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPA judge sentenced Juan MiguelRegalado to 66 months in prison, while SamuelGrajeda Jr. was previously sentenced to 30 months.Both must also serve three years of supervised release.

Germany may reinstate compulsory military service if a revamped volunteer system fails to meet recruitment goals, the defense minister said in comments published Saturday.In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Boris Pistorius laid out a timeline for Germanys new military service model, which aims to bolster the understrength army. The initial program will rely on voluntary enlistment, but Pistorius warned that could change.PUTIN CONSCRIPTS 160K MEN AS RUSSIA EYES UKRAINE OFFENSIVE"If the time comes when we have more capacity available than voluntary registrations, then a decision may be made to make recruitment mandatory. That is the roadmap," he said.He said the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz is moving quickly on a new military service bill and hopes it will come into force as early as January 2026.The debate over reinstating conscription in Germany has been intensifying as concerns rise about national defense readiness and evolving security threats in Europe.Germany suspended its draft in 2011, but has struggled to meet troop targets as defense demands grow following Russias 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Pistorius also said the military service plan would include efforts to reactivate more reservists.

On April 19, U.S. Olympic middle distance runner Nikki Hiltz posted a TikTok video that included footage of an interview with women's marathon runner Natalie Daniels. The post came just two days before Daniels was set to compete in the Boston Marathon, and just six months after she gave birth to her first child.Hiltz's TikTok opened with a clip of Daniels sharing how she considered not competing in the marathon because biologically male trans athletes would be competing in the women's field. The clip was originally from a promotional interview with the activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics.In the same post on the popular social media platform, Hiltz encouraged Daniels to drop out because of her concerns about trans inclusion, while disagreeing with the new mother's stance against it.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMFor Hiltz, the post was in line with the athlete's regular TikTok content, which often shows the Olympian promoting pro-transgender beliefs and arguing against opposition to trans inclusion in sports. Hiltz is a biologically female athlete who competes in the women's category, while identifying as transgender and non-binary.Soon after Hiltz's TikTok post went live, the reaction from it was aimed at Daniels, who said many of Hiltz's followers and fans began to send her startling messages."I didn't think there would be this rabid cruelty," Daniels told Fox News Digital of the response she received from the interview. "People were trying to find us when we were in Boston."Daniels alleges one person told her, "'I live in Boston, and if I see you on the street, Im going to hunt you down.'"CALIFORNIA GIRLS' TRACK ATHLETE OPENS UP ON LOSING 1ST-PLACE TITLE TO TRANS COMPETITORThe new mother said the worst alleged comment she saw was from a person who said, "'I hope that your son comes out as trans and never speaks to you again.'" Her son was only six months old at the time.Daniels said she ultimately takes responsibility for the messages directed towards her and her family. Still, she cited Hiltz's TikTok for contributing to the backlash."[Hiltz] has freedom of speech also. So [Hiltz's] opinion is just as valid to be shared as mine is," Daniels said. "I think [Hiltz] encouraged a pile-on that got really out of hand, probably, I think, very quickly I think the fact that [Hiltz] didn't do anything about it is unsurprising."I think I'm ultimately responsible for what I said. And I know that what I said was said out of love and a desire to continue supporting and encouraging women and women's sports."Still, it didn't make the experience any easier for Daniels."The very hateful messages were upsetting. There were a few times where I would just be, I don't want to cry, but a few times I would just start crying," she said. "And I would tell my husband, Im sorry, it's just like a lot, it's a lot to deal with, to have people being like Youre this evil hateful bigot,' or 'You're stupid.'""Instead of having this very rational engagement, they went straight to threats and violence."Fox News Digital reached out to Hiltz's talent agency, Hawi Management, for a response.When the day of the Boston Marathon came, April 21, Daniels was prepared for potential attacks and heckling against her on the course after getting messages warning her of it, she alleges. But instead, she only ever heard roaring chants of support, she claims. She even had one of her best finishes, reaching the finish line in 2:50:04 in 110th place.The love continued on social media, as she saw an outpouring of praise and respect that eventually overshadowed the support she was getting for standing up for women's sports and appearing in the XX-XY Athletics interview to begin with.For Daniels, it helped validate a decision that she made, partially due to the experience of becoming a new mother. Daniels said that during her pregnancy, a trip to an obstetrician included a survey that assumed the only reason she was pregnant was due to failed birth control, and not her own intentions."In society, I just feel like there is this reductive definition of what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a woman is basically one thing, and it's access to abortion. And in our culture, that just kinda seems like that's all any of us are supposed to care about," Daniels, a native of Virginia, said. She added that the survey, and the growing cultural stigmatization of pregnancy, fed right into her passion for protecting female athletes from trans inclusion as well."I know those things may be different things, but it all ties into this dehumanization of women. To me it feels like in this culture, in this political climate, womanhood is this incredibly nebulous, undefinable thing," she added.The decision earned Daniels praise and support during the marathon and online but not from her running club, Light Horse Track Club in Washington, D.C., which she alleges was more aligned with Hiltz than her.Daniels said she was confronted by the decision to appear in the XX-XY Athletics interview by the club's leadership.Daniels said she offered to make a statement clarifying that her stance wasn't meant to attack trans people for their identities, but to stand up for women like herself. But that wasn't going to be enough, she said.She alleges they offered to let her continue running for the club if she would issue an apology and publicly recognize the ability for a biological male to become a woman, which she refused to do.Daniels alleges that she was told by the club that in order to appease its directors, she had to share a statement on social media that read: "'I now understand that a person can take hormones and surgery, and they can become a woman.'""I was like, I am not going to do that. I cannot do that It goes completely against my Christian values," she said. "It goes completely against what I know about how God works."Daniels said she then found out about her removal from the team via a text message and email from the board while she was sitting on her patio.So now, she is starting her own running club with XX-XY Athletics and founder Jennifer Sey.And while she is still adjusting to the regular online hate, and even the occasional heckle from spectators at competitions, Daniels said she is looking forward to raising her family and embracing her new role in the movement to keep trans athletes out of women's sports.The Light Horse Track Club did not immediately respond to Fox News Digitals request for comment.Follow Fox News Digitals sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

'The Big Weekend Show' panelists discuss President Donald Trump's plan to defend the United States against any potential attacks.

Bidens decline, Democrats future, Tax bill

USAAs Poppy Wall of Honor returns to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for Memorial Day, honoring 600,000 fallen service members with a powerful display of remembrance and patriotism. (Credit: USAA)

'The Big Weekend Show' panelists discuss President Donald Trump's speech to West Point graduates.

'The Big Weekend Show' panelists discuss President Donald Trump's plan to defend the United States against any potential attacks.

Bidens decline, Democrats future, Tax bill