Bricklayers working in Hatfield. The construction industry took a big hit from the recession and expects the outlook to get tougher. Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian It was a bright, sunny day when 19 senior executives, each representing one of the government’s biggest suppliers, trooped into Admiralty House off Whitehall to meet the Cabinet [...]

A man collects dead fish in Donghu lake in Wuhan Photograph: STR/AP It’s always wise to be careful what you wish for. When China was poor and communist, its government disdained consumption and castigated the evils of capitalism, while in the west we argued that happiness lay in the joy of stuff. The good news [...]

A man collects dead fish in Donghu lake in Wuhan Photograph: STR/AP It’s always wise to be careful what you wish for. When China was poor and communist, its government disdained consumption and castigated the evils of capitalism, while in the west we argued that happiness lay in the joy of stuff. The good news [...]

AFP Deep-sea red jellyfish Atolla has been identified by scientists from the Queensland Brain Institute using high-tech cameras at the Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea, some 350kms north-east of Cairns. Prehistoric six-gilled sharks, giant oilfish, swarms of crustaceans and unidentified fish have been caught on camera nearly a mile beneath the sea at Osprey [...]