News Archive - 4 March 2011

>GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States will strongly support a Swedish effort to have the U.N. Human Rights Council appoint a special investigator into rights violations in Iran, U.S. ambassador Eileen Donahoe said on Friday. She told a news briefing the idea had backing from a wide range...

>COLORADO SPRINGS (Reuters) - The U.S. military will face a complex array of security threats long after the Afghan conflict ends, and the Air Force cannot fall back into the habit of planning mainly for the wars of the 20th century, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned on Friday. In...

> * Ship owners must notify underwriters on Libya trips (Adds further comment, detail last four paragraphs) By Jonathan Saul LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - London's marine insurance market has added Libya to a list of areas deemed high risk as violence escalates in Africa's third-largest oil producer, a senior...

It's bad enough George Steinbrenner was likened to Darth Vader when the Red Sox called his Yankees the Evil Empire. Now it turns out the late Boss was compared to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. An American diplomat called the Islamic leader "The George Steinbrenner of Iran" in a 2009...

LONDON, March 5, 2011 (AFP) -The price of a barrel of crude could double if the unrest in the Arab world deteriorates, oil trader turned British international development minister Alan Duncan warned Saturday.

TEHRAN, March 5 (MNA) -- The chief executive officer of the Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Company, Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, has tendered his resignation to Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.

TEHRAN, March 5 (MNA) – Iranian warships pay tribute to the martyrs of the Egyptian military on their way back to home, Tehran’s charge d'affaires to cairo Mojtaba Amani has said.

05 March 2011- The Philippine Embassy in Tehran and the Filipino community in Iran commemorated the 25 th Anniversary of the EDSA People Revolution at the Embassy Chancery on February 25. In attendance were the officers and staff of the Embassy, who wore yellow outfit and about fifty officers and...

The people of Tunisia and Egypt brought down two ruthless dictatorships supported politically, economically and militarily by the imperialist U.S. and EU. They did so through massive insurrectionary movements, with a marked democratic and anti-imperialist revolutionary tendency.

TEHRAN, March 5 (MNA) -- Major General Qasem Suleimani has said the late Imam Khomeini’s pronouncements are echoing throughout the world.

As violence raged on and blood flowed freely in Libya yesterday, President Obama and his key advisers redou bled their head-scratching, giving every impression of working hard to figure out just what the heck to try next. With luck, perhaps someday soon, they will stumble on some semblance of a...

By Arun Kumar, Washington, March 4 : Vikramaditya Singh, the son-in-law of India's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh, has been fined $100,000 and sentenced to three years' probation by a US district court for allegedly trying to sell prohibited items to Iran.

The average price of gasoline in the Upstate soared more than 4 cents a gallon overnight. Look up cheap gas prices in your community and share those you have seen on your drive in.

MARXISM? GOOD. Capitalism? Bad. Very, very bad. And the United States? Why, it is "the most violent nation-state in history." No, we're not quoting Nikita Khrushchev or Hugo Chavez. Not Moammar ...

CAIRO Spring may be weeks away, but for Egyptians it is already here. It arrived when President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down after 31 years, triggering euphoria not seen here since the 1952 coup that ended the monarchy. Like everything Egyptian, this political spring is a jumble of...

Pakistani Senate Chairman Farooq Naek says Islamabad attaches great importance to its political, economic, and cultural relations with Iran and is seeking to deepen bilateral ties on multiple fronts.

A high-ranking Ukrainian trade official has praised the Islamic Republic's progress in the oil and gas sectors, saying Kiev is interested in increasing its participation in Iranian oil projects.

Iran has disavowed any desire to develop nuclear weapons. In the face of claims by the West that it already has an advanced nuclear weapons program underway, Iran's foreign minister says the development or use of nuclear weapons contradicts Iran's religious principles.

Demonstrations have spread across parts of the Middle East and Africa. Here is the latest from each country and the roots of the unrest.

Jason Toews jokes that the firm he runs has become "the 900-pound gorilla" of the online gas-price information war.

The South Caucasus country of Georgia could become a drug transit corridor bridging up central Asia and western Europe, a U.S. report has said.

After five years of part-time work, 3 1/2 years of coursework and another year shooting the documentary, he had collected his case studies.

Letters: Cities should work with, not against inspector

Frank Chirkinian, the longtime golf producer for CBS who helped turn the Masters into one of the most watched events in sports television, has died. He was 84.

The UN has quietly made way for Iran to join the global body's Commission on the Status of Women Friday.

People the world over have taken Gene Sharp’s path from dictatorship to democracy

PETALING JAYA: Asian bourses closed the last trading day of the week in positive territory with the regional benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index rising to a two-week high on a brighter outlook for the global economy after reports showed that the United S...

An Arab Jew argues for bridging East and West with peace and justice for all.

share: digg facebook twitter U.S. gasoline prices averaged $3.47 a gallon Friday, the highest level since Oct. 6, 2008. Gasoline prices have jumped by 6 percent in Texas this week alone, to an average $3.36 a gallon, at a time when fuel prices historically have yet to...

Libya, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea and... Syria: according to the last Bush administration, these half-dozen nations comprise the Axis of Evil. Yet walking by the Mediterranean coast, threading through the timeless streets of Damascus or clambering around a desert citadel, it is hard to reconcile Syria as a "rogue...

COMMENTARY | Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posses an interesting question: What is the Obama Doctrine? This question has arisen most recently because of the President's lackluster response to the Libyan Civil War.

David Bacon, Truthout: "On January 29, 1993, workers at the Versatronex plant in Sunnyvale, California, filed out of its doors for the last time. Seventeen years have passed since, but there are still electronics workers in Silicon Valley who remember the company's name.

Colonel Gaddafi is delusional and unfit to lead his country, according to the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Release Time:  For Immediate Release Via Teleconference 1:06 P.M. EST MR. VIETOR: Thank you very much. Thank you, guys, for getting on today. We appreciate it. We were just hoping to give you guys a sense of what the President’s -- or I’m sorry, the Vice President’s schedule is...

By 1448 GMT

WASHINGTON -- Voices around the world, from Europe to America to Libya, are calling for U.S. intervention to help bring down Moammar Gaddafi. Yet for bringing down Saddam Hussein, the U.S. has been denounced variously for aggression, deception, arrogance and imperialism.

BEIRUT: The Lebanese basketball 'Final Eight' playoff gets off to a fitting climax this weekend with the top two teams coming head-to-head to fight out the top seed. After this weekend, the remaining top four teams - Champville, Riyadi, Sagesse and Mouttahed Tripoli - will meet up in a 'Final...

BEIRUT: Toward the end of the narrative unfurling in her first book, "Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love, and War," the journalist Annia Ciezadlo gets a curious piece of advice from a wrinkled old man, "one of the antediluvian leftists who held court drinking and chain-smoking all day...

The demonstration of about 2,000 people in Beirut on Feb. 27 calling for an end of sectarianism in Lebanon was wonderful news. Lebanon is finally awakening from a phase of political cynicism and the belief that nothing will ever change. The demo showed that the potential to unite around one...

Asian stocks rose this week as better-than-estimated economic data from South Korea to the U.S. eased concern about surging oil prices following tension in North Africa and the Middle East.

But when the discussion with Iranian officials turns from weather to the sweeping regional developments, the expressions of surprise and bemusement turn to one of determination and confidence. The officials say Iran sees Arab revolutions

The US military will face a complex array of security threats long after the Afghan conflict ends, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned.

Despite facing intense pressure from parts of the international community to relinquish power, the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi can still count on the continued support of some prominent world leaders, say analysts.

Thank goodness it's Friday. Time for Weekend Reading , a Friday feature for Business Insider readers who find themselves looking for a wider view of what is happening in the news.

With the price of oil climbing amid Middle East instability, some believe another energy crisis is on the way.

Financial markets' manic mood swings continued Friday, as another jump in oil prices helped fuel a modest pullback in stocks in favor of classic hiding places -- Treasury bonds and precious metals. April crude futures in New York closed up...

A pot of cyclamen can provide a jolt of color for gardeners who are tired of winter.

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is cautioning against those who support arming opposition forces in Libya, saying that you have to be "extremely careful if you take action" in the Middle East. Webb brought up the fact that those calling for force and arms supplies to rebel forces attempting to oust...

THE Islamic regime in Tehran has a fragile grasp on reality at the best of times. But its take on the logo for the 2012 London Olympics surpasses even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's memorable ''the Holocaust is a lie'', and ''in Iran we don't have homosexuals'' acid trips.

Russia's arms industry looks to be the big loser from U.N. sanctions imposed on Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan regime as it fights its own people for survival.

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American power is on the decline and nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East today. The paradox is out there for all the world to see: as revolutions in the name of democracy flourish across the world, the globe's traditional beacon of hope and freedom has...

DUBAI - The UAE owns a third of the world’s trade of dates, ranking first in exports, and second in imports in 2009, according to a study conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade on the domestic and international trade of dates.

Remember the autumn of 2008? There were people at the US Treasury Department and The Federal Reserve and The White House who were sleeping two or three hours a night, trying to keep up with events and developments and news , as the financial system melted down. They looked like...

To intervene or not to intervene? That is the question. The readiness of delusional dictator Muhammad Gaddafi to kill the Libyans who he says all 'love' him - but have unusual ways of showing it - returns us to a pivotal argument of our time.

A member of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi's family said relatives were unable to meet him and his wife despite a top judiciary official saying the couple were at home and not in detention, Karroubi's website reported Friday.

LONDON - Crude oil rose on Friday, with Brent staying above $115 a barrel, as unrest continued in Libya.

Talks of a Libyan civil war have been rejected as people rally in major squares and take the fight straight to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Oil prices trumped the job figures today. Violence in Libya trumps 8.9% unemployment and a 3.1% gai

Microsoft has changed how it delivers an update that disables AutoRun, a Windows feature that big name worms, including Conficker and Stuxnet, have used. If AutoRun is disabled, USB flash drives don't automatically launch.

>WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will make a one-day trip to Germany next Tuesday for talks on the economy and on events in Libya and Iran, the Treasury Department announced on Friday. Geithner will make stops in Frankfurt and Berlin for economic talks. "He...

FRIDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- Poor diagnosis and ineffective treatment of diabetes may put millions of people worldwide at risk for early death, a new study finds.

An accumulation of odds and ends have been stacking up in the last few weeks, so below is an educational potpourri on matters affecting local school districts.

A Florida high school baseball player named Austin Glorius had a glorious day at the plate yesterday. 5 homers and 17 RBIs -- both tied records. And yes, his team won.

(Reuters) - Crude oil rose on Friday, with Brent pushing toward $116 a barrel, as Libyan security forces began a violent crackdown on protesters in Tripoli and clashed with rebels near the major oil terminal of Ras Lanuf.

Complete Show MP3 Funding Cuts Hit Low-Income Women Hard Kathy Kneer joins us to discuss the effects of recent legislation that would eliminate funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood. MP3 Sharing Natural Resources Michael Klare discusses the natural resources the...

In an instant, the disappearance of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson in Iran went from a cold case to something very hot. After nearly four years without word about what happened to Levinson, his family received proof late last year that the father of seven was alive. It was a...

Israel and the US created the Stuxnet worm to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme, a leading security expert has claimed.

The five-year goal reflects concerns about the effects of high fuel costs on national security, inflation, trade and pollution.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is renewing U.S. appeals to Iran for information about a retired FBI agent who vanished four years ago on the Iranian island of Kish, as evidence has surfaced that he is still alive and being held.

> * U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls data eyed * Carrefour hit by talk of board dissension on spinoff plans * For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU] By Blaise Robinson PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - European stocks were up around midday on Friday, gaining ground for the second day...

Evidence emerged recently that former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran four years ago, is alive. The U.S. government says he is being held somewhere in Southwest Asia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is appealing to Iran to secure his release.

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WPP (NASDAQ:WPPGY) today reported its 2010 Preliminary Results. Billings up 12.6% to £42.684 billion. Reported revenue up 7.4% to £9.331 billion, up 5.6% in constant currency. Like-for-like revenue up 5.3%. Headline EBITDA up 15.8% to £1.439 billion from...

Rebels in North Yemen claim military forces fired rockets at their anti-government protest killing two people and wounding seven.

Oil prices rose to near $103 a barrel Friday in Asia as Libyan government and rebel forces dug in amid fierce fighting, raising investor fears of protracted oil output cuts in the OPEC nation.

WPP, the British adveristing agency which reported jump in profits on Friday, has resorted to English football to explain how the world continues to move at very different speeds, both geographically and functionally.

Obama: The violence in Libya must stop.

In an instant, the disappearance of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson in Iran went from a cold case to something very hot...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Major grain importing countries are set to build more storage silos and expand strategic stocks after seeing the role played by record food prices in political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are among nations which have already unveiled...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — George Steinbrenner often compared himself to powerful, iron-fisted leaders.

West Ham's gain is Leyton Orient's loss. That's as simple as you can make it. This week the Government, the Mayor of London and the Premier League all approved the Hammers' move into the Olympic stadium at Stratford. As a result, a big club wins and a small club loses.

Voices around the world, from Europe to America to Libya, are calling for U.S. intervention to help bring down Moammar Gaddafi. Yet for bringing down Saddam Hussein , the U.S. has been denounced variously for aggression, deception, arrogance and imperialism.

Four years after a retired FBI agent mysteriously vanished inside Iran, US officials have received irrefutable proof he is alive.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the United States said Thursday that the State Department has evidence that 63-year-old Robert Levinson, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who disappeared four years ago, is alive and being held in southwestern Asia. Based on past promises of cooperation in...

NEW YORK: Oil prices retreated Thursday from two-year highs set a day before as investors took out profits and hoped that the conflict in Libya might be resolved by international mediation.

Feng shui means wind and water in Chinese. It is the concept of creating harmony in one’s environment with specific placement of items and lighting to increase the energy, or ch’i.

Vikramaditya Singh, son-in-law of RLD leader Ajit Singh, has been sentenced to six months of home confinement by a US court and now faces deportation after he was caught in a federal sting operation selling military grade micro wave radios to Iran.

WASHINGTON - Four years after a retired FBI agent mysteriously vanished inside Iran, U.S. officials have received irrefutable proof he is alive, a dramatic development that has sharply intensified secret negotiations to bring him home, The Associated Press has learned.

Two Iranian warships that passed through the Suez Canal last month en route to Syria are due to make the return journey in the next few hours. The Alvand, a frigate and its supply ship the Kharg will pass from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

Thanks to Muammr Gaddafi’s airstrikes near a Libyan oil terminal, and protests in Iran adding to the continuing chaos in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), on Wednesday, March 2, Brent oil settled at its highest level since August 2008 at $116.35 a barrel, while WTI futures on NYMEX...

WASHINGTON—Four years after a retired FBI agent mysteriously vanished inside Iran, U.S. officials have received irrefutable proof he is alive, a dramatic development that has sharply intensified diplomatic efforts to bring him home, The Associated Press has learned.

> * Previous year's earnings were 754.3 cents * Shares down 1 pct vs slightly firmer index JOHANNESBURG, March 4 (Reuters) - MTN Group (MTNJ.J), Africa's largest mobile phone operator, said it expects full-year earnings to rise by as much as 23 percent. MTN, which is due to...