financial crisis

A group of migrant workers abandon their attempt to cross into the United States near Douglas, Arizona, and head back to the town of Agua Prieta, Mexico, in this photo taken in 2005. This year, they might not even have come. Find out why.

Curtis Franklin, left, has been shining shoes in San Francisco for more than 20 years. His job never seems to go out of style. Customers can always be found, no matter how bad the economy is. And it is bad right now. Find out what the US government said last week.

This month on Spotlight Audio: The mountains of New York state. Better communication by e-mail. Romance at Peggy's Place. The disaster in Japan. And, as always, a short story: this time, "The house of my heart".

In only 15 years, South Africa lost 20 per cent of its professionals — about 800,000 people — to emigration. White South Africans saw few opportunities at home and better pay abroad. But the 2010 World Cup began to change all that. South Africans are coming home.