Downpours have battered Colombia since last year, damaging infrastructure, submerging houses and killing crops and animals in what the government calls the worst natural disaster in Colombia's history.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia asked Israel on Thursday to extradite former Israeli army Lt. Col. Yair Klein, who a Colombian court has convicted and sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for training drug-traffickers' assassins in the late 1980s.

BOGOTA -(Dow Jones)- Union workers at Cerrejon LLC, Colombia's largest coal exporter, voted in favor of a strike Thursday as negotiations with the company regarding salary increases remain stalled.

Colombia's mining minister has gone to the scene of the country's latest mining disaster and says the nation has just 16 safety inspectors for 3,000 mines.

Colombia asked Israel on Thursday to extradite former Israeli army Lt. Col. Yair Klein, who was convicted by a Colombian court and sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for training drug lords' assassins in the late 1980s.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called for a mine safety review on Thursday after an explosion killed 21 miners at an underground coal pit in the northeast of the world's No. 5 coal exporter.

Ecuador and Colombia joined Brazil on Friday as the teams to advance from Group B to the second round of South American Under-20 World Cup qualifying. Ecuador defeated Bolivia 3-1 to finish with seven points, following Brazil which had already advanced with 10 points. Paraguay needed to beat Colombia to advance, but the draw meant Colombia finished on five points, Paraguay on four and Bolivia one.

Colombia asked Israel on Thursday to extradite former Israeli army Lt. Col. Yair Klein, who was convicted by a Colombian court and sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for training drug-traffickers' assassins in the late 1980s.

An explosion at a small underground coal mine in northeast Colombia killed 20 workers on Wednesday, officials said, in the latest accident to hit Latin America's mining industry.

Vice President Joe Biden assured Colombia on Friday that the White House was working hard on getting a long-delayed trade pact between their two countries passed by the U.S. Congress.