
Two US scientists won the 2012 Nobel Prize for chemistry for research into how cells respond to external stimuli that is helping to develop better drugs to fight diseases such as diabetes, cancer and depression.

Argentina is refusing to pay the 20 million dollars in ransom that New York hedge fund dealer Paul Singer is demanding in exchange for releasing the country’s Naval training vessel currently retained in the port of Tempa, Ghana, West Africa, reports the New York Post.

One in eight people worldwide still suffers from chronic hunger, the UN's food agency said on Tuesday, describing the figure as unacceptable and warning that the fight against hunger was slowing down.

By Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization - Achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the prevalence of hunger in the world by 2015 is still within reach, but a strong, sustained acceleration of efforts is needed. Progress made in the fight against hunger since the middle of the last decade has lost steam, and it is time to regain momentum.

Spain's parliament voted to block the northern region of Catalonia from holding a referendum on independence, the latest step in a growing political battle between Barcelona and Madrid in the midst of a deepening economic downturn.

Britain must cut its budget deficit and fix its economy or face long-term decline, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron will say on Wednesday, seeking to convince voters that his austerity plan is the only way forward.

Two scientists one French and an American won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for their pioneering work in quantum optics, a field that manipulates light and matter to measure very precise properties of single particles.

Untied States universities dominate the Times Higher Education global rankings for 2012-13, occupying seven of the top 10 spots, but Asian institutions are on the rise while only four Latin American figure among the best 400.

Australia has become the world's 12th biggest economy as it continues to out-grow recession-ravaged parts of Europe. New figures from the IMF confirmed Australia had replaced Spain as the 12th biggest economy as measured by GDP at market exchange rates.

World Bank has lowered its growth forecast for China citing weak demand for its exports and lower investment growth. The bank said it expects China's economy to grow by 7.7% this year, down from its projection of 8.2% in May.