Fascinating documentary goes behind the scenes of thriving scrap trade Sydenham Scrap Metal yard in south London turns over £7million a year Boss Michael, 31, says: ‘I’ve no exams but I run a multi-million business’ Self-employed ‘scrappers’ collect waste from the streets and sell it to him Scrappers with lorries earn £800 a day; others with pony and trap just £12 Getting Rich In The Recession: Scrappers will be on […]

American Airlines and US Airways have settled an anti-trust suit with US regulators, paving the way for their proposed merger to be finalised. The merger would create the world’s largest airline. As part of the agreement, which must still be approved by a judge, the airlines will give up slots at several US airports. The two companies argued the consolidation was necessary to their survival. The US Justice Department had […]

Elephants and humans are coming into contact with each other more often in Malaysia. The areas where elephants used to roam are being built upon or used for agriculture. Some favour relocating them to a national park – but is this the right thing to do? There were only two things that scared our native guides: Tigers and elephants. When I asked them what was dangerous about the jungle they […]

The crocodile soon realised that it had bitten off more than it could chew by grabbing the large animal Amusing pictures were captured in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park by photographer Ian Salisbury Images reminiscent of Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling’s story How The Elephant Got His Trunk This young elephant got more than he bargained for when he ambled up to a water hole to slake his thirst. Just […]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS DR Congo’s M23 militia has announced it will disarm Situation in Congo remains uncertain, says Vava Tampa Conflict is driven by groups wanting access to Congo’s valuable minerals Numerous U.N.-backed peace deals have so far failed to bring peace Recent military gains against the M23 militia in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo are an encouraging development, a respite from the impasses faced by Congo. But […]

Some 9.3 million people in Syria – or about 40% of the population – now need outside assistance, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has said. This figure has risen by 2.5m from the 6.8m total the UN gave in September. The Syria crisis “continues to deteriorate rapidly and inexorably”, Ms Amos told the UN Security Council. Meanwhile, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is due to hold talks with US and […]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Amateur video apparently shows a Saudi man berating and beating a migrant worker The man appears to be angry because he thinks the worker has spoken to his wife Saudi government-backed Human Rights Commission says it’s investigating the video Rights groups have documented widespread abuse of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia A video that appears to show a Saudi man beating a migrant worker is causing growing outrage […]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Study shows low level pirates earn up to $75,000 a vessel Low level pirates are mostly foot soldiers sent to the high seas to do the dirty work Piracy off the Horn of Africa hauled in about $400 million in ransom in the past several years Financiers, considered the “money kingpins,” earned the most loot Pirates off the Horn of Africa hauled in hundreds of millions of […]

Investigators in Bosnia have uncovered a mass grave thought to contain several hundred bodies of victims of the conflict that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia two decades ago. The remains are believed to be those of victims of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity from Prijedor and its surroundings, killed in the summer of 1992, according to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The site, at Tomasica in Prijedor […]

It was a distinctly unspooky location. A cash point in a bright, blaring underground train station. But there I stood among 20 strangers, all of us on the trail of phantoms. Look at the skyline and all you see of Hong Kong is an ultra-modern city with glistening buildings scraping the clouds or hugging the harbourfront in weird and wonderful shapes. But lurking in between them are pockets of old […]