International

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 10:40 UTC

  Major missile systems upgrade for Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll

  

  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.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 07:58 UTC

  Gorbachev says the world was a safer place during the Cold War

  

  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.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 07:47 UTC

  British government to sell assets to help balance public finances

  

  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.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 06:56 UTC

  African leader praised China’s way of making business and criticizes West

  

  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.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 06:54 UTC

  Playboy magazine targets Simpons generation with Marge in the cover

  

  Simpsons matriarch Marge Simpson is gracing the cover of Playboy magazine, becoming the first cartoon character in the publication's history.

• Sunday, October 11th 2009 - 11:31 UTC

  Turkey-Armenia begin to repair 96 years of hatred and animosity

  

  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.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 17:13 UTC

  United States with the status of the “world’s most admired country”

  

  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.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 16:56 UTC

  Nobel Prize to Obama and multilateralism

  

  The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday it has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to United States President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 12:00 UTC

  FAO targets 2050 and how to feed a population of 9.1 billion

  

  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Thursday major investment needs to be made in developing world agriculture. The FAO says that with rapid population growth and changing diets, agricultural production will need to grow by 70% before 2050.

• Friday, October 9th 2009 - 11:55 UTC

  Turbulence ahead for world rice market as stockpiles plunge

  

  Rice stockpiles of the world’s five largest exporters are forecast to plunge by a third to the lowest level in five years, and below last year when prices surged to a record, according to Concepction Calpe, senior economist at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.