International

• Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 09:00 UTC

  Royal Navy’s new hunter nuclear submarine “Astute” takes to the sea

  

  The biggest and most powerful attack submarine ever built for the Royal Navy, “Astute” took to the seas this weekend. “Astute” set sail from Barrow-in-Furness to start her first set of sea trials and is now heading to her homeport of Faslane on the Clyde in Scotland.

• Tuesday, November 17th 2009 - 01:02 UTC

  Repsol cutting EP investment plans to reduce costs

  

  Repsol-YPF, Spain’s biggest oil company cut its five-year exploration and production investment plan to reduce costs as the economic slowdown saps earnings. Repsol will invest an estimated 8.76 billion Euros in E&P from 2008 through 2012, down from an earlier plan to spend 9.3 billion Euros, the Madrid-based company announced Monday.

• Monday, November 16th 2009 - 23:50 UTC

  International Liberal support for Micheletti and Honduras election

  

  Honduras de facto leader Roberto Micheletti has been named vice-president of the Liberal International organization in spite of the fact he is not recognized by a majority of the international community.

• Monday, November 16th 2009 - 19:57 UTC

  New Chairman for South Georgia Association

  

  The South Georgia Association has announced the name of its new chairman.
  He is Professor David J. Drewry, a former director of the Scott Polar Research Institute and of the British Antarctic Survey and Director General of the British Council, who has recently retired as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull.

• Monday, November 16th 2009 - 14:31 UTC

  Controversy over Winnie-the-Pooh alleged unpaid royalties

  

  The family of the man who made Winnie-the-Pooh famous in the US is suing Disney over alleged unpaid royalties. The late Stephen Slesinger, who signed a licensing deal with Pooh creator AA Milne in 1931, gave the bear his red shirt and developed Pooh products.

• Monday, November 16th 2009 - 14:27 UTC

  Queen’s Speech will announce radical changes in London City banking

  

  London City regulators are to be given new powers to tear up bankers' contracts if they include excessive pay and bonus deals which might threaten the stability of the financial system.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:27 UTC

  Shimon Peres ends visit to Brazil, Sunday flies to Argentina

  

  Israeli President Shimon Peres visited the headquarters of Brazilian oil company Petrobras in Rio de Janeiro Friday, on the last day of a historic official visit to Brazil.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:25 UTC

  IMF calls on Asian countries to appreciate their currencies

  

  International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan urged Asian nations to let their currencies appreciate as part of the region’s contribution to a more balanced global recovery.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 13:19 UTC

  NASA announces discovery of “significant amount” of water in the moon

  

  It's official: There's water on the moon—and a “significant amount” of it, too, members of NASA's recent moon-crash mission, LCROSS, announced Friday. In October, NASA crashed a two-ton rocket and the SUV-size LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) into the permanently shadowed crater Cabeus on the moon's South Pole.

• Saturday, November 14th 2009 - 05:53 UTC

  Canadian cat sparks rumours of Mrs. Thatcher’s death

  

  A misconstrued text message announcing the passing of a beloved pet has sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity in Canada. Transport Minister John Baird sent a message reading: “Thatcher has died”.