WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man’s body has been recovered from the site of a landslide at a gold mine in Solomon Islands, officials said.
The body was found Tuesday, a day after the landslide at the open pit mine on Guadalcanal, the largest island of the South Pacific nation. It wasn’t known if other people were still buried and a search operation would continue at the site, police said in a statement.
The slip spanned 100 meters (328 feet) on an access road leading to the pit, the statement said. The cause of the landslide wasn’t known, Prime Minister Matthew Wale told reporters on Monday.
“Of interest to the government, of course, is to find out whether this was a result of poor mining practices and perhaps the need to strengthen regulations,” Wale said. At the time he said no one was confirmed missing or killed.
The mine’s owners, Wanguo Gold Group Ltd, said in a statement Monday that none of their employees were hurt or missing and no mining equipment was damaged. Operations at the mine had resumed, the statement said.
The man killed was named by police as Ashley Olo, but officials didn't specify if he was a mine worker. Olo's body was returned to his family, said police Acting Commissioner James Aitorea.
According to local news outlets, some families reported people as missing who were not employees of the mine but so-called informal miners operating there. Local reports said the site has attracted controversy before, when local landowners and illegal miners clashed with law enforcement.
The site, near the capital Honiara, is the country's only large-scale gold mine. Operated by Gold Ridge Mining Limited, the mine has since 2019 been majority-owned by the Hong Kong-listed, Chinese-headquartered firm Wanguo Gold Group, with local landowners holding a small stake, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
It was previously owned by an Australian company, which sold the mine in 2015 because of fears it was unsafe in flooding and other natural disasters.
A truck works at a gold mine in Solomon Islands, owned by Gold Ridge Mining Limited, Aug. 5, 2025. (Chrisnrita Aumanu Leong/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
A truck works at a gold mine in Solomon Islands, owned by Gold Ridge Mining Limited, Aug. 5, 2025. (Chrisnrita Aumanu Leong/Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — At 60, Too $hort is helping usher hip-hop into what he calls its senior citizen era. Just don’t expect him to rap like one.
The Oakland hip-hop pioneer is still recording, touring and talking slick more than four decades after he began selling homemade tapes on the streets of the Bay Area. While the genre has long treated aging like an unwritten career-ending offense, Too $hort is breaking the rule and challenging the culture’s elder statesmen to keep going with him.
His latest proof is “Sir Too $hort Vol. 2: Drink & Smoke,” his 23rd studio album, produced entirely by longtime collaborator Lil Jon. It arrives Friday, exactly 20 years after the release of his enduring hit “Blow the Whistle.”
Too $hort, whose catalog also includes classics like “The Ghetto” and “Shake That Monkey,” says he isn’t interested in slowing down anytime soon. That was certainly evident when he and E-40 performed at the NFL Honors in February.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Too $hort reflected on turning 60, challenging hip-hop’s age limits, preserving the legacy of Lil Jon’s late son, DJ Young Slade, the staying power of “Blow the Whistle” and why he has no plans to stop until “the wheels fall off.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TOO $HORT: At the age of 14 or 15, my mentality was, “Let people hear this music. We’re going to rock some house parties and high school dances and sell some tapes to fans in the streets.” When I got my foot in the door, I knew this was going to be my job. It was always “till the wheels fall off.” It was never, “Let’s do this for 30 or 40 years.”
I’ve always said the day hip-hop is no longer my job is probably the day I’ll stop. But the love I have for hip-hop won’t allow me to stop recording. I’ve never taken a long break. I’ve continuously been in the studio, continuously doing shows. I just keep it going because it’s my job.
TOO $HORT: I truly love making music. It’s never felt like work. I could have stopped after “Blow the Whistle” and been like, “Story told.” But somebody’s got to go out into these uncharted waters and blaze the trail. Look at E-40,Snoop Dogg,Fat Joe and the other guys who kept going after the kids were grown and the grandkids were on the way.
Who laid the rule down that in hip-hop you gotta stop at 40? Every milestone they said was old. First it was 30, then it was 40, then it was 50. Now we got senior citizen rappers, and this ... is real. Hip-hop is entering the place where jazz, blues and R&B have older artists who are still performing and recording. We should too.
TOO $HORT: I don’t know if you could give me the ingredients and tell me how to do it again; I don’t think I could. It had to happen organically. I give Lil Jon a lot of credit because he’s made a lot of songs we’ve loved since the day they came out. We make good music together, and that’s why I’m excited for people to hear what we’re still doing 30 years after we first worked together.
TOO $HORT: His son passed away after we finished recording. We had actually done about twice as many songs as ended up on this project. I saw how it affected Jon, and I had recently lost my brother, so I knew that feeling of loss. The whole time, Slade was producing or co-producing a lot of the tracks I was working on. The first thing that came to me was that I’d be more than proud to be part of his son’s legacy and give something to the world that would help him live forever. Jon keeps saying, “Slade’s legacy,” and I’m just trying to be a part of that and show the world we lost another good, talented person.
TOO $HORT: We did one in 2020, but it wasn’t a battle. We had a good time. We did a lot of laughing, a lot of togetherness. I didn’t want to battle 40 then, and I don’t want to battle him now. That’s my best friend in hip-hop. I’d sign up for me and 40 against anybody. That’d be fun. They haven’t had two groups. … I put that out there: Who wants to battle Too $hort and E-40 in Verzuz?
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Too $hort poses for a portrait on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
