Blog

A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa's government said it would not help the illegal miners. Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them [the miners] out".The move is part of the police's "Close the Hole" operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out. Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the ...

A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain - the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar. Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday - Spain's highest of the day - most of which fell in six hours. All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption. Image: Pic: Jamie Marchant Emergency services in the provi...

A man accused of being a major supplier of the boats and engines used by cross-Channel people smugglers to bring migrants to the UK has been arrested.The Turkish national, 44, was held at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Wednesday and faces extradition to Belgium to face human smuggling charges, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. He is suspected of supplying the engines and boats used by traffickers to bring migrants across the Channel.The equipment was shipped from Turkey and stored in Germany before being brought to northern France when needed.NCA director general Rob Jones hailed the arrest as an "important milestone" in one of its most "significant investigations into organised immigration crime". "We suspect that this individual is a major supplier of boats and engines to the smuggl...

A necklace believed to contain jewels from the infamous Marie Antoinette "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" has been sold for £3.7m.Set with nearly 500 diamonds and weighing about 300 carats, it smashed price expectations at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva. The Marchioness of Anglesey wore it at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, and it was also worn 16 years earlier at King George VI's crowning.However, the link to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, may have been the most intriguing selling point for the mystery buyer.Some of the jewels are believed to have been at the centre of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace - a scandal which is said to have paved the way for Antoinette's eventual downfall. The scandal erupted when a hard-up noblewoman, Jeanne de la Motte, pretended to be ...