UK - Food prices in UK supermarkets and shops have risen by 8.3% since the start of this year, according to figures obtained by the BBC.
SINGAPORE - Sovereign funds have invested $25.5 billion so far this year to buy stakes in global companies such as Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), up 66 percent from a year earlier, Thomson Reuters data showed on Thursday.
DAMASCUS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting the leaders of Syria, Turkey and Qatar in a bid to boost efforts towards Middle East peace.
NEW YORK - A shortage of American Eagle bullion coins due to soaring demand following a recent sharp retreat in gold prices has forced the US Mint to temporarily suspend sales of the popular coins.
USA - The root of higher inflation is the government's willingness to prop up the economy through means of high money supplies.
BRUSSELS - Despite the fact that the Lisbon Treaty has been rejected by the people of Ireland, ever-closer Union is carrying on regardless. Recently the EU announced its intention to take more control over Britain.
WORLD - Whether by earthquake, flood, drought or volcanic eruption, some of the world's cities are in serious danger of disaster
LONDON - The cost of food has soared by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past year and figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that the price of fresh items has increased by 11.9 per cent.
USA - Hurricane Ike was upgraded to an 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 storm by the National Hurricane Center late Wednesday as the system roared west across the central Atlantic.
IRAQ - General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer.
UK - Heart experts said patients should continue to take an anti-cholesterol drug despite new fears it could cause cancer.
BRUSSELS - EU Ministers of Justice reached an agreement on rules that would enable judgments reached in trials in absentia to be recognised across the EU. The UK Government is currently backing the proposal, and the European Parliament endorsed it yesterday.
WASHINGTON - Food and milk from the offspring of cloned animals may have entered the U.S. food supply, the U.S. government said on Tuesday, but it would be impossible to know because there is no difference between cloned and conventional products.
WASHINGTON - The tropics seem to be going crazy what with the remnants of Gustav, the new threat from Hanna, a strengthening Ike and newcomer Josephine. Get used to it.
BRUSSELS - Europe's leaders yesterday failed to agree on sanctions against Russia as a result of profound differences of approach towards Moscow.