Iranian MPs have strongly backed the defence minister-designate, in defiance of Argentine demands for his arrest over a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires. Ahmad Vahidi faced no opposition from MPs on the third day of a debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choices for his new cabinet.
The amount of debt Britons owe fell for the first time since records began during July, figures show. People repaid £635 million more than they borrowed during the month, reducing outstanding lending to £1.456 trillion.
The Commonwealth has fully suspended Fiji after it refused to bow to demands to call elections by next year. Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma cited the Pacific island country's lack of progress towards democracy.
PetroChina plans to acquire a majority stake in Canada’s Athabasca Oil Sands which holds the largest lease in Alberta’s oil sands. The 1.7 billion US dollars deal with Asia’s largest oil company means taking control of 60% of the 1.3 million acres of oil sand leases held by Athabasca.
Almost every day there is a new dire warning about global warming. But some claims regarding global warming are more extreme than others overselling the issue and can potentially damage the argument.
91 FAO Members have agreed on an international agreement to implement “port state measures” to combat illegal fishing.
Chinese equities Monday plunged 6.74% to a three-month low as investors showed concern a slowdown in bank lending would erode economic growth, reported the Xinhua news agency. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 192.94 points to finish at 2,667.75. This was the largest daily drop for the key Shanghai index since June last year.
At least eight members of HMS Clyde's 38-strong crew have been struck down by the bug.
China has become the world's largest exporter surpassing Germany, the World Trade Organization has said. China displaced Germany, which held the No.1 slot since 2003, by a slim margin of 100 million US dollars after exporting goods worth 521.7 billion USD in the first half of 2009.
On November 5, 2008, the Chinese government released a policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean, as it had previously done so for Europe in 2003 and for Africa in 2006.