Gold futures plunged more than 9% on Monday, marking the biggest one-day percentage fall in 30 years and extending losses over the past two sessions to more than 13%, as the precious metal pushed deeper into bear market territory. The June contract for gold settled at 1,361.10 dollars an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, 140.30 or 9.3% lower than the previous session's close.
The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000 years, Australian and British researchers reported on Monday, adding new evidence of the impact of global warming on sensitive Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves.
The Bishop of Grantham has spoken out about the scale and cost of Margaret Thatcher's funeral. The Rt Rev Tim Ellis, from Baroness Thatcher's birthplace in Lincolnshire, has called the millions likely to be spent a mistake.
Following five hours of a long recount process Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced early Monday morning that acting president Nicolas Maduro is the new head of state, having defeated Henrique Capriles by less than a two percentage point difference.
Pope Francis, in his first major decision, set up an advisory board of cardinals from around the world to help him govern the Catholic Church and reform its troubled central administration.
Chinese capital Beijing reported on Saturday its first case of a new strain of bird flu, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time it has been found in a human outside of eastern China.
By Mike Summers (*)
The reports on the reaction in the United Kingdom to the death of Baroness Thatcher have shown a clear contrast between those who approved of her policies and those that did not. This is understandable and is no doubt true of any prime minister. However, here in the Falkland Islands there is very little difference of opinion. Margaret Thatcher is held in high regard and with deep affection by Islanders, for she is someone to whom we owe much.
Madrid's conservative-run city council said on Friday it wants to name a street in the Spanish capital after former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose legacy has proved as polarising in death as she was in life.
By Gwynne Dyer - Margaret Thatcher was the woman who began the shift to the right that has affected almost all the countries of the West in the past three decades. But it is an open question whether even the crash of 2008 and the ensuing prolonged recession have finally ended the long reign of her ideas in Western politics.
The FAO Food Price Index (FPI) crept higher by one percent in March compared with a month before, driven mainly by an 11% increase in dairy. Dairy products carry a 17% weight among the various commodity prices included in the calculation of the overall FPI.