Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said Wednesday he hopes 33 miners trapped nearly a half-mile underground will be home by Christmas.

Engineers this week warned that New Orleans’ residents will still have to flee the city in the event of another Hurricane Katrina-style event, despite a massive $15bn (£9.7bn) investment in flood defences.

Almost five years to the day since Hurricane Katrina ripped across Louisiana, engineers are bracing themselves for the final phase of works to reduce the risk of storm damage to the city of New Orleans.

A crucial report into the Edinburgh Tram project, which will set out options for ending the dispute between the project’s contractors and the local authority, has been delayed by a month.

Thousands of construction professionals are to descend on the NEC in Birmingham between 18 and 20 October for the inaugural Infrastructure Show.

A residential road in Swansea is set to close permanently to traffic after the local council approved only a “minimal option” to repair it.

Tunnelling contracts for London’s £15.9bn Crossrail scheme will not be awarded until 2011, scheme promoters confirmed this week.

Contractor Costain has teamed up with Hochtief and Arup in a new alliance that will seek to design and build offshore wind farms.

Will our current tough market prove to be a catalyst for improved efficiency?

Next step for graduatesWith reference to your news item on the special meeting called by ICE president Paul Jowitt on graduate recruitment (NCE 5-12 August), the action being taken by the ICE is to be applauded and, I hope, well supported.It is indeed refreshing to see the ICE taking such a proactive approach to ensuring that our current student members remain engaged and inspired by the civil engineering profession.Howeve

The drilling now underway to save 33 men trapped deep in a Chilean mine is an unprecedented challenge, according to experts.

A huge drill began digging a planned escape route today as 33 men stuck half 800m underground in Chile became the longest-trapped miners in recent history.

In less than a week the 33 miners trapped under Chile’s Atacama Desert will have been stuck underground longer than any others in memory.

Tunnelling contracts for London’s £15.9bn Crossrail scheme will not be awarded until 2011, scheme promoters have confirmed.

Staff levels at contractor Laing O’Rourke have been slashed by almost a half from 35,000 to 18,000, the company has confirmed.

This week’s issue represents a personal milestone. Unbelievably (to me) it’s a decade since I took over as editor of NCE.

Britain’s infrastructure is costing significantly more to put in place than in mainland Europe and this cannot be allowed to continue. Total costs must be reduced before government will be willing to provide certainty and continuity in its public sector spending.

This month’s devastation caused by monsoon flooding in Pakistan could take 10 years and £10bn to repair, experts said this week.

English regional government is for the chop.

As global markets slowly begin to steady after a long recession, Australia has been able to offer its residents a more stable banking system than most.