Food commodities prices are likely to stay high and volatile in the medium term, while a repeat of the 2007-2008 price spikes is seen as a realistic possibility, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday. Between 2006 and 2008, international prices for basic food commodities shot up by 60% while grain prices doubled.
Mismanagement and growing needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth with extinction rates 4 to 6 times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins, say scientists at the Diversitas 2nd Open Science Conference, in Cape Town, South Africa.
General Motors and affiliate companies in China sold almost 1.3 million cars in the first nine months of 2009, with September a record month, according to a release from the main offices in Detroit.
The Royal Navy warship HMS Argyll is to have her missile system upgraded in a major £19m refit in Fife. The Type 23 frigate has just arrived in Rosyth, Scotland for a year-long overhaul by 120 Babcock staff who will provide her with new electronic guns.
Mijail Gorbachev, the last leader of the defunct Soviet Union said that the “world was a safer place during the Cold War” and warned that the major current risk to the world is the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The British Government is to sell off £16 billion of assets as part of moves to restore stability to the public finances, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to announce. Details of an initial round of sales that could raise £3 billion - including the Tote, the Dartford crossing, the Channel Tunnel rail link, and the Student Loan book.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has praised the way China does business in Africa, criticising the West for basing relations with the continent on aid. Huge Chinese investment in African companies and infrastructure is helping Africa develop, Mr Kagame said.
Simpsons matriarch Marge Simpson is gracing the cover of Playboy magazine, becoming the first cartoon character in the publication's history.
With a handshake and applause they began to repair almost a century of hatred and animosity. This was a deal the international community wanted, and it was there to show its support as Turkey and Armenia stepped out of the past to build a new future.
Brand America is now ranked #1 by global citizens, according to the GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, a division of GfK Custom Research North America. Results from the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI), which measures the global image of 50 countries, show the United States taking the top spot as the country with the best overall brand, up from seventh last year.