International

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 21:29 UTC

  Brazil and UK ready to sign huge defence contract, say media reports

  

  Brazil with a defence market described as “one of the fastest growing in the world” will be signing a defence agreement with the UK which should open the way for a deal worth “billions of dollars”, according to reports in the Brazilian and UK media.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 08:33 UTC

  One in three adults worldwide overweight and one in nine obese

  

  “Obesity rates have doubled worldwide since 1980,” according to a study published Friday as part of a series in the Lancet that also looked at global blood pressure and cholesterol trends.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 08:26 UTC

  Pod of 80 whales beached on New Zealand coast; at least 14 dead

  

  At least fourteen whales from a pod of more than 80 beached on the New Zealand coast have died, with officials fearing others may be stranded elsewhere after freeing themselves on Saturday.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 08:08 UTC

  South American/Arab leaders’ summit in Peru suspended

  

  The III South America/Arab (Aspa) countries leaders’ summit scheduled for mid February in Peru has been postponed announced in Cairo the Deputy Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Heli.

• Saturday, February 5th 2011 - 08:31 UTC

  US expects next Egyptian government to honour peace agreements with Israel

  

  United States expects the Egyptian government to honour previous peace agreements with Israel regardless of who is in power, the White House said Friday.

• Saturday, February 5th 2011 - 03:45 UTC

  China’s appetite for luxury goods fuels record sales and profits for Louis Vuitton

  

  China's appetite for luxury goods fuelled a record year for sales and profits at world industry No. 1 LVMH, (Louis Vuitton) prompting boss Bernard Arnault to say the market had entered a “new growth cycle”.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 21:07 UTC

  France and FAO call for greater regulation to curb commodities speculation

  

  France and the U.N. food agency FAO warned on Friday about the risk of a new global food crisis and ensuing riots, calling for greater regulation to curb speculation on commodities markets.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 05:18 UTC

  US and Egyptian officials discussing transition plan without Mubarak

  

  United States and Egyptian officials are discussing a plan that would see embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately, according to a published report.

• Friday, February 4th 2011 - 05:04 UTC

  Army poised for endgame in Egypt

  

  By 3pm last Friday afternoon, the protesters in central Cairo were chanting: “Where is the army? Come and see what the police are doing to us. We want the army.” And that is the main question, really. Where is the Egyptian army in all this?

• Thursday, February 3rd 2011 - 22:53 UTC

  Copper hits a record price of 10.000 US dollars per ton and could keep soaring

  

  Copper hit a record price of 10,000 USD per ton on Thursday on the back of growing worldwide economic optimism and concerns about the impact of an Australian cyclone on stretched global supplies.