Stories for November 2015

Wednesday, November 11th 2015 - 05:50 UTC
Germany mourns one of the architects of modern, unified Europe, Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt, who served as West German Chancellor from 1974 to 1982, has died aged 96, his office says. Mr. Schmidt, who was a Social Democrat, was an architect of the European Monetary System, which linked EU currencies and helped pave the way to the euro. He also helped to consolidate Germany's post-war economic boom.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 09:31 UTC
Sofia and its variants, is the most popular baby name in the world

A new study by naming expert Laura Wattenberg has found that Sophia, and its variants including Sofia, is the most popular baby name in the world. Wattenberg collected name statistics from 49 countries, and Sophia, which means “wisdom” topped lists in nine countries, including Italy, Slovakia, Russia and Mexico.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 08:40 UTC
Global temperatures are 1.02C above 1850/1900 average, and climbing, warns UK Met Office

Global temperatures are set to rise more than one degree above pre-industrial levels according to the UK's Met Office. Figures from January to September this year are already 1.02C above the average between 1850 and 1900.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 08:05 UTC
Brazil's mining disaster forces cities 300km downstream to cut drinking water supply

Mud and wastewater from burst dams at a Brazilian iron ore mine cut off drinking water and raised health and environmental concerns in cities more than 300 km downstream on Monday, amid increasingly dire search efforts in a village devastated by the mudslides.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 08:00 UTC
China imports drop for twelfth month running: 18.8% in October

China saw imports drop for the twelfth month in a row in October giving further cause for concern over the Chinese economy. Imports by the world's biggest trader of goods fell 18.8% from a year earlier to $130.8bn, a slight improvement on September's 20.4% decline.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 07:39 UTC
Oil megaprojects won't stay on the shelf for long

One casualty of the oil price downturn could be the megaproject. For years, as conventional oil reserves depleted and became increasingly hard to find, oil companies ventured into far-flung locales to find new sources of production.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 07:22 UTC
Falklands will attend BOT Joint Ministerial Council in London on December

The Falkland Islands will be attending the fourth meeting of the British Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) will be held in London on 1 - 2 December at Lancaster House, which will be hosted by FCO Minister for the Overseas Territories James Duddridge MP.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 07:13 UTC
Brazilian economy forecasted to contract 3.10%, says central bank survey

Brazil's economy will contract by 3.10% this year, with the inflation rate hitting 9.99%, the Central Bank said Monday, citing its weekly survey of private sector economic analysts. Last week, analysts said they expected Brazil's economy to contract by 3.05% this year and the inflation rate to be 9.91%.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 06:49 UTC
Another can of worms in Petrobras: 1.2bn dollars for a century old Texas refinery

Brazilian officials are investigating allegations that Petrobras overpaid hundreds of millions of dollars for the Pasadena, Texas, refinery and funneled money into a massive kickback scheme that's led to dozens of convictions and arrests and fueled calls for the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, who chaired the company until 2010.
Tuesday, November 10th 2015 - 06:33 UTC
FAO food commodity prices rose in October 3.9%, but 16% down from a year earlier

The FAO Food Price Index averaged nearly 162 points in October, up 3.9% from September, while still down 16% from a year earlier. FAO's latest Cereal supply and Demand Brief slightly trimmed its October 2015 forecast for global cereal production and now projects production at 2.53 billion tons, 1.1% below last year's record output