EUROPE - The European Federation of Retirement Provision (EFRP) has appointed Patrick Burke as its new chairman.

US - The New York State Common Retirement Fund rose to $132.8bn after the fund returned just over 8% in the quarter ended September 30.

US - The funding pressures felt by US plan sponsors as a result of low interest rates will likely continue until at least late 2011 on the back of the next round of quantitative easing, Mercer said.

IRELAND - The ministry of finance has denied media reports that a proposed cut in the state pension is off the table.

GLOBAL - Fidelity snags Gartmore CIO; Hermes; UBS; T. Rowe Price

US - Former political consultant Henry "Hank" Morris, charged as part of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's probe of corruption at the state's pension fund, reached a plea deal with prosecutors, a Manhattan judge said.

CHILE - The Central Bank of Chile has raised the amount of assets pension funds can invest internationally to 80% from 60%.

CANADA - The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario hired State Street to provide custody, accounting, securities lending and investment analytics to C$15bn ($24.3bn) in assets.

The November issue of Global Pensions is out now. This month's issue includes:

GLOBAL - Have you missed the biggest stories in pensions this week? Find out below, as we list the top 10 most popular stories on www.globalpensions.com over the past seven days.