In pictures: Sand mining in Sierra Leone

Once synonymous with a brutal civil war, Sierra Leone was forecast to be one of the world’s fastest growing countries in 2012. On the back of the rapid economic growth, a construction boom, with new roads and buildings springing up in and around the major towns… But the construction brings with it increasing demand for sand, coming from the country’s beautiful beaches…

In Japan, a Painfully Slow Sweep

More than a year and a half since the nuclear crisis, much of Japan’s post-Fukushima cleanup remains primitive, slapdash and bereft of the cleanup methods lauded by government scientists as effective in removing harmful radioactive cesium from the environment.

Famed Roman Shipwreck Reveals More Secrets

Marine archaeologists report they have uncovered new secrets of an ancient Roman shipwreck lost off the Greek coast around 67 BC, filled with statues and the famed amazingly sophisticated astronomical calculator.