
This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has gone to three scientists who developed computer programs that have become as important to chemists as test tubes. These programs accurately simulate how large, complex molecules behave and this work is central to drug discovery, materials science and much more.

The Brazilian government National Trade Council, Camex, approved the contents of a proposed trade liberalization offer to be made by Brazil involving negotiations for a wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.

French energy giant Total signed on Tuesday a deal with Uruguay’s oil company Ancap to search for oil in the northern counties of Artigas and Salto in an area of 6.200 square kilometres.

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its forecasts for global output for the sixth time since early last year, saying stronger growth in most advanced economies would fail to make up for a more sluggish expansion in the developing world

Brazil is limiting Chinese state-controlled oil companies to joint bids to develop its largest offshore oil discovery, amid concerns the players could share data and reduce competition ahead of the 21 October auction, said Brazilian officials.

A Scotland analysis paper on Defense, published on Tuesday, highlights the extent to which an independent Scotland would no longer benefit from the £34 billion annual UK defense budget, one of the largest in the world.

Americans James Rothman and Randy Schekman and Germany's Thomas Suedhof won the 2013 Nobel medicine prize for their work on how hormones are transported within and outside cells, giving insight into diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's.

The US Federal Reserve has issued a new hi-tech 100 dollar banknote comprising several new security features. It includes a blue 3D security ribbon and a bell and inkwell logo that authorities say are particularly difficult to replicate.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has kicked off a coalition reshuffle, with Scottish Secretary Michael Moore among the casualties. The Liberal Democrat's Cabinet post is being taken by the party's chief whip Alistair Carmichael, just a year before the crucial referendum on independence north of the border.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 199.1 points in September 2013, 2.3 points (1%) below its August value and down 11 points (or 5.4%) since the beginning of the year. The decline in September marked the fifth consecutive decrease in the value of the index and was driven by a sharp fall in the international prices of cereals, whereas prices of all other components of the index, namely dairy, oils, meat and sugar, rose slightly.