FAO, some 300, 000 hectares (1, 170 square miles) of land have simply been abandoned because of the collapse of the irrigation system and the lack of pesticides, fertilisers and machinery.

ECONOMIST: Iraq

When the land-based routes became less accessible after the collapse of the Mongol empire, European traders sought a sea-based alternative.

ECONOMIST: World trade

Scarborough Borough Council said the four privately-owned properties would have to be pulled down after "further significant land slippage earlier this week put them at risk of collapse".

BBC: Properties at Knipe Point, Scarborough

Zimbabwe's land-reform programme has been widely blamed for its economic collapse in recent years.

BBC: Ian Smith, 1976

Delta on the contracts currently points to a less than 1% chance the options will land in-the-money, which is consistent with the collapse in the value of the contracts to mere pennies today.

FORBES: Options Players Bet On New High For Target, Blue Coat Bulls Strike Out

Fire official Abdus Salam said the building had been constructed on land which was once a canal and the owner had been adding another floor to it when the collapse occurred.

BBC: Dhaka building collapse kills 23

First and foremost, getting financial reform done and making it the law of the land so that we don't find ourselves celebrating the two-year anniversary of an economic collapse with rules that continue the way they did two years ago.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing