News Archive - 10 March 2011

Thanks to my friends at the Gallup Organization, our partner around the new Gallup-Operation HOPE Financial Literacy Index, I now have the data-backed evidence to "make the case" for the power of innovation and ideas in the success of nations; here in America and around the world. Based on...

>MANAMA (Reuters) - A schoolyard scuffle gets out of hand. A fight over a parking space turns into a neighborhood brawl. A car accident near a protest camp brings out vigilantes. Each incident was small in itself, a handful injured each time, but together they signal rising tensions between Sunni...

>Moscow could use its clout, siding with fellow permanent U.N. Security Council member China, to temper Western policy and influence global actions, as it has done with Iran in an eight-year-long stand-off over its disputed nuclear activity.Sergei Lavrov said Western discussion of proposals for a no-fly zone over...

>TAWKE, Iraq (Reuters) - In this part of Iraq, the hillsides sweat oil. Without any coaxing, the sticky black treasure oozes from the layered rock and gathers in pools that bubble as dissolved gases surface. Gradually, as the crude slips down the hillsides, it solidifies into a grey mass that...

Oil prices fell to near $104 a barrel Wednesday in Asia amid mixed signs about U.S. demand from a crude and gasoline supply report.

In your years of spring cleaning, no doubt you've unearthed a strange something or two from the depths of your pantry or fridge.

SALINAS Both the San Benito boys' and girls' track and field teams defeated their respective opponents in Palma and Notre Dame on Thursday at Palma High School in Salinas, Baler coach Iran White said. Follow Free Lance Sports on Twitter. No scores or official results were reported at press time,...

An attempt by Somali security forces to free a Danish family from a pirate gang on Thursday turned deadly after the would-be rescuers walked into an ambush, a pirate and a security official said.

CAIRO -- Saudi police opened fire Thursday to disperse a protest in the section where minority Shiites live, leaving at least one man injured, as the government toughened its efforts to prevent a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world from reaching ...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude fell to below $115 on Friday on easing fears of unrest spreading in Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, as a quite start to the planned "day of rage" ...

1. (SBU) OVERALL CRIME AND SAFETY:

Master of Ceremonies Sean Balingit, who is the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce vice-president and Beaumont Planning Commission chairman, looks on as members of Tahquitz High School’s JROTC presents the colors at the opening ceremony of San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital’s 60th anniversary celebration.

For the first time, a Chinese military think tank has released a report on global nuclear, titled the "Global Nuclear Posture Review 2010-2011," on March 10.

Around the world, authoritarian regimes have tried to keep their citizens from hearing news of the protests raging throughout the Middle East and in their own countries. Some have tried shutting down cellphone and internet service, but that has only sparked new flames of anger and discontent.

After nearly six decades and 20,000 hours of jetting around the world, golf great Arnold Palmer says his days of flying solo are finished.

By TOM HOWELL JR. Andrew Hallajian, an attorney who recently set up shop in Newton, wants to help people with the legal side of adoption, a complex yet rewarding process that can take people around the globe.

Iran's permanent envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has denounced a British draft resolution as a diplomatic failure for London at the agency's Board of Governors, noting that unresolved legal issues have been left unanswered in the proposal.

share: digg facebook twitter Oil markets may have heard the message — prices fell Wednesday for a second straight day to near $104 per barrel. Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon, acknowledged Wednesday while speaking to reporters in New York that $4 gasoline would strain the budgets of American...

Omar Bravo is somewhat of a footballing legend back in his native Mexico; at least at the club level, coming from Club Deportivo Guadalajara, where he amassed 107 goals over two stints with the club that signed him as a youth player and was groomed as a prized member of...

Forecasting the future is hazardous but essential business. Extrapolating emerging trends into the future is necessary not just to equip ourselves for what might happen but to help avert crises and mitigate risk. A conference earlier this month at Wilton Park on what the world would look like in 2030...

Ever since the term "String of Pearls" was coined by a team of experts at United States-based consultancy Booz Allen in 2004, journalists and academics have overplayed China's supposedly malevolent involvement with countries along its Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC), which stretch from the South China Sea to the Indian...

Ultimatums have gotten a bad name, probably because of what happened in the run-up to World War I. But what distinguishes a "just ultimatum" from megalomaniacal posturing or propagandistic invective?

BRUSSELS : Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Thursday approved a resolution in which they condemned Iran's execution of a Dutch-Iranian woman and called for new sanctions against the regime.

With the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East obsessing world leaders and the public, Iran has used the distraction to up its involvement in Afghanistan a notch. News broke this week that NATO forces last month seized some 50 Iranian rockets concealed in a truck convoy. The weapons...

Former President George H.W. Bush calls public service a "noble calling." Thursday night in College Station, Bush honored the life of a man who lived that out in the public and private eye.

China's nuclear arsenal poses the most serious "mortal threat" to the United States among nation states, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate on Thursday. In candid testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr. Clapper said he considered China the most significant threat among nation states, with ...

One can’t think of Iraq today without picturing dusty soldiers, frightened children and wounded civilians, and it has become difficult to envision this country in happier times. Iraq was once the center of the Sumerian civilization — the earliest known civilization on Earth. read more

KUCHING: Malaysian food and beverage (F&B) companies have concluded sales of US$16.2 million during the recent four-day Gulfood 2011 exhibition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). An additional US$28.5 million sales are being negotiated.

By Tom Bronzini Special to the Acorn Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressing a capacity crowd at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza’s Kavli Theatre on Monday, said the revolutionary events unfolding in the Middle East pose tremendous opportunities for the West but also the prospect of instability and...

A report from a leading Chinese think tank suggested that major countries in regional nuclear talks should reflect on their policies due to the lack of progress in Iran and the Korean Peninsula.

Frank Segers Germany’s decline in total box office last year may actually enhance the role of the Berlin International Film Festival in the nation’s theatrical commerce. read more

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The markets crashed Thursday on global economic fears. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 228.48, or 1.87%, to 11,948.61. The S&P 500 was down 24.91, or 1.89%, to 1,295.11. The Nasdaq fell 50.11, or 1.84%, to 2,701.02.

Why Obama needs to support the opposition as the Arab world awakens

CAIRO -- Saudi police opened fire Thursday to disperse a protest in the section where minority Shiites live, leaving at least one man injured, as the government toughened its efforts to prevent a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world from reaching the k...

As unrest escalated across the Middle East, activists in Saudi Arabia demanded a political voice as well. Rather than promises of democracy, they got a $36 billion handout and a slap down from Islamic clerics.

Royal wedding boost for ceramics industry - Yesterday, 19:58 Stoke-on-Trent was once the centre of the global ceramics industry but many factories have been forced to close in recent years. Now the ...

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that Libyan leader Muamar Gadhafi was positioned to defeat anti-government rebels.

With autocratic regimes tumbling around the region, well-educated young Syrians want - and deserve - a taste of freedom.

Testimony on Thursday by the director of national intelligence has prompted a leading Senate Republican to call for his resignation, and Senate Intelligence Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, called James Clapper's comments "a problem" and declined to say she had confidence in him when asked by CNN.

Four members of one family have been charged with agreeing to sell 22 jet engines that were supposed to go to Iran, an embargoed nation, federal authorities say.

The Saudi Arabian government made good on its pledge to crack down on any hint of dissent yesterday, opening fire on protesters who had gathered to voice their discontent at the country's repressive political system.

Is Qaddafi’s brutal crackdown killing over a thousand protesters the dominant narrative? Is his invocation of Libyan nationalism not being unwittingly promoted by aggressive Western plans to “impose” a no-fly-zone and that this tends to neutralise the earlier narrative?

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Republicans and conservatives aren't your usual merry pranksters. Playing pranks at the expense of politicians, pundits and other deserving targets is supposed to be the province of Democrats and liberals. It turns out that conservatives are pretty good at it. The sting that bounced two senior executives from their ...

Pro-vegetarian author, reality TV contestant and PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich was scheduled to duke it out tonight with Columbia's Parliamentary Debate team over the question "Is Eating Meat Ethical?" Peta2, PETA's youth division has held these debates at colleges all over the country, from the University of Texas...

The Obama administration defended its top intelligence official after he startled senators at a hearing Thursday by asserting that he thought Libya's Muammer Gadhafi would prevail in his battle against opposition forces. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also said that he believes China and Russia pose the great state...

JEFF FAVRE PRODUCTION: The Girl Who Would Be King, Absolute Theatre, El Centro Theatre; The Glass Menagerie, Center Theatre Group, Mark Taper Forum; Leap of Faith, Center Theatre Group, Ahmanson Theatre; Road to Saigon, East West Players, David Henry Hwang Theater; Something Happened, Pacific Stages; The Subject Was Roses, Center...

The top U.S. intelligence official, said China and Russia were the biggest mortal threats to the U.S., alarming senators who thought that Iran and North Korea fit the bill more. James Clapper's statement that Gadhafil will likely remain also raised some senatorial eyebrows. read more

SEATED at the entry to the little bridge leading to El Cayuelo, Dalexi González Madruga, once again ran over the passwords that he had to give when an unknown person turned up: an expected arrival that, for him, had made sleep hard to come by the previous night.

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On March 19, President Barack Obama will embark on his first tour of selected Latin American nations since taking office two years ago. Stops on his trip will include Brazil, an emerging world power, Chile, a stable U.S. ally, and El Salvador, a Central ...

We've all seen it before. It's the fourth quarter of the championship basketball game. With only seconds left the winning team aimlessly passes or dribbles the ball mid-court to run out the clock. When it comes to international relations the game is not so dissimilar. With a deftness that...

At least one man was injured when police opened fire to disperse the crowd in the mainly Shiite city of Qatif. The rare violence raised concern about a crackdown ahead of more planned protests after Friday prayers in different cities throughout the oil-rich kingdom. read more

Artist Helen Zarin was born in Iran and started to paint when she was 5 years old. There she studied under well-known Persian artist and teacher Saber before moving to Europe, and finally to the United States in 1993. Zarin's Copyright 2011 Vail Daily. All rights reserved. This material may...

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper this afternoon was asked for his best assessment of the military situation on the ground in Libya. “This is kind of a stalemate back and forth, but I think over the longer term that...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Shots were heard when Saudi police dispersed a demonstration by Shi'ite protesters in the oil-producing Eastern province on Thursday, the eve of a round of demonstrations in the region against its political leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Higher oil prices are slowing global economic growth, and the impact is likely to spread in coming months. Oil prices helped raise the U.S. trade deficit to a seven-month high in January, when crude prices were $87.50 a barrel....

The nation's top intelligence officer has created another stir with comments today that Russia and China pose the greatest mortal threat to the United States.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a further strengthening of bilateral ties with Syria, saying the two countries already enjoy close brotherly and sustainable relations.

>A late recovery in oil prices on news of shots being fired to break up a protest in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern province failed to lift the downbeat mood across the complex, with gold falling more than 1 percent and cattle and coffee dropping from records hit in the last...

Capsule reviews, by Standard-Examiner movie critic Steve Salles, of next Tuesday's releases: THE FIGHTER **** (R) Language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality. This could easily be dismissed as just another boxing movie with pretty boy Mark Wahlberg. But it's so much more, and that has everything to do...

The hostage-takers, led by the founder of the Hanafi Movement in the United States , Hamaas Abdul Khaalis , threatened to kill more people—in all, 149 hostages were held at the District Building, the D.C. offices of B'nai B'rith, and the Islamic Center of Washington on Embassy Row—unless a...

ABC News' Karen Travers reports: In the signature event of his five-day trip abroad, Vice President Biden called for Russia to make further progress on democratic reforms and reiterated the Obama Administration’s support for Russia’s entry into the World Trade...

WASHINGTON — Opposition sources said Syrian Air Force officers were flying some of the MiG-23 and MiG-25 fighter-jets ordered to attack rebel-held towns in Libya. They said at least one Syrian Air Force officer was killed and identified after his plane was downed.

Violence between Shia and Sunni parents at school as Gulf nation braces itself for Friday's march on the royal court.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much. I want to congratulate the Chairman upon assuming this important post at such a critical moment in world history, not just American history.

UAE foreign minister: Gulf nations pledge $20 billion over 10 years in aid to Oman, Bahrain

As protests have spread and governments have been toppled in North Africa and the Middle East, one key question has been whether the rulers in Saudi Arabia would come under such pressure. read more

CAIRO - SAUDI police opened fire on Thursday to disperse a protest in the section where minority Shi'ites live, leaving at least one man injured, as the government toughened its efforts to prevent a wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world from reaching the kingdom. The rare violence raised concern...

My name is Bruce Klingner. I am Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation.

Israel may ask the United States for $20 billion more in security aid, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Wall Street Journal. The aid is needed to help manage threats arising from the recent uprisings in the region, the Journal reported.

In an escalation of efforts to stop protests, Saudi police opened fire on a protest rally Thursday in the kingdom's oil-producing east.

With more than 5 million people dying each year from its effects, tobacco smoking is one of the leading causes of death around the world. Even with the Surgeon General's warnings, the number of smokers remains high, and according to the FDA, 50 percent of the people who recover from...

DUBAI, March 10 (Reuters) - Arab uprisings that have spread to the conservative Gulf region face a crucial test this week in Saudi Arabia where activists have made unprecedented calls for mass protests against the kingdom's absolute monarchy.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 10 (UPI) -- European security authorities are concerned about reports that al-Qaida and its North African affiliate, determined to strike the United States and its allies, are recruiting European operatives able to blend into Western societies and evade capture.

The following special report on oil (LA Blog Only, leverageacademy.com/blog) discusses the oil market, providing reasons to be bullish on the commodity given unrest in the Middle East, Nigerian elections in April, and rising domestic consumption in oil producing countries, including Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iran. According to the article,...

Sen. Lindsey Graham wants Director of National Intelligence James Clapper gone after latest comments Clinton to Meet With Libyan Opposition Leaders Qaddafi Fires Rockets at Key Oil Port Brazilian Reporter Held in Libya, Another Missing VIDEO: Rebels Lack Leadership

For a mother who lost her son to violence, Illinois' decision to abolish the death penalty is a betrayal. But to a father who lost two daughters and a grandson, it's simply the Christian thing to do.

Ask any Clevelander about what they remember from the late 1970s and a few things come to mind—the great blizzard of 1978, the election of Dennis Kucinich as mayor in 1977 and the fatal car bombing of Danny Greene in the same year.

WASHINGTON, March 10 (UPI) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency should suspend membership privileges for Iran and Syria for stonewalling, a U.S. lawmaker said.

FY 2012 Budget Request Testimony Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Statement before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Washington, DC March 10, 2011 SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much. I want to congratulate the Chairman upon assuming this important post at such a critical...

So we now have the magic number. Yesterday the government released data from the 2010 census and — no shocker here — Cleveland’s population took a 17 percent hit, dropping some 80,000 individuals. The current figure is 396,815, a new 100-year low.

All it took was a few words in a Bahrain school yard. Suddenly, Shiite and Sunni girls were scuffling, then parents rushed to the scene and finally police and parliament members arrived to try to separate an angry faceoff between loyalists praising the Sunni rulers and Shiites cursing their names.

New York Republican Rep. Peter King Thursday opened the first of a series of hearings to examine the threat he"s calling the "radicalization of American Muslims."

Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has hailed the Non-Aligned Movement's (NAM) “invaluable” support of Tehran's nuclear program.

Lebanese Shiite leader Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who has been missing for 33 years, is still alive and in detention in Libya, his daughter said.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. #8212; For a mother who lost her son to violence, Illinois' decision to abolish the death penalty is a betrayal. But to a father who lost two daughters and a grandson, it's simply the Christian thing to do.

TEHRAN, March 10 (Reuters) - Iranian security forces have killed three people in the western province of Kurdistan who were behind an attack on a group of environmental workers, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

With today's launch of the BuddyGuard app for iPhone, consumers around the world can convert their handsets into personal protection devices designed to reinforce personal safety precautions, aid public safety personnel in emergency situations and, in some cases, to deploy private search and rescue services from the leading global provider...

INDONESIA bought three million tonnes of Australian wheat for the first time last year, cementing itself as our top customer.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania health officials say renewed inspections uncovered poor conditions at two Philadelphia-area abortion clinics in the months after a drug investigation revealed a "house of horrors" facility operating for years in the city.

Remember the Ikea Cookbook Homemade is Best ? Well, it's back and it's in motion. Now the photographer behind the Swedish retailer's cookbook, Carl Kleiner , has teamed up with Eric Severin and Evelina Bratell to make a whimsical nine-part video series. The videos demonstrate cracking eggs , chopping carrots ,...

MANAMA, Mar 10 (Reuters) Sectarian clashes erupted at a school in Bahrain today, fuelling fears a planned march on the royal court tomorrow could inflame the Gulf island where a majority of citizens is Shi'ite but the ruling family is Sunni.

Lebanon has published a comprehensive book on the history of old religions written by Beirut-based Iranian Professor Raouf Subhani in Arabic.

>MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden told Vladimir Putin on Thursday the United States was determined to strengthen economic ties with Russia, but gently rebuffed the prime minister's call for visa-free travel between the nations. Biden, on a visit to Moscow to keep up the momentum in President Barack...

A final deal for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline is as good as done, officials at the Asian Development Bank stated. Turkmenistan aims to deliver natural gas through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

TOWARDS the end of her 30-minute address to the United States Congress, Julia Gillard's voice wavered momentarily, straining under the weight of occasion and as she reprised her schoolgirl reaction to an awe-inspiring moment in history.

Most important world events of 2010 1. WikiLeaks An online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public. In April 2010, WikiLeaks published gunsight footage from the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike in which Iraqi civilians and journalists were killed by an Apache helicopter, as the Collateral...

Vienna (AFP) March 9, 2011 World powers urged Iran to cooperate with the UN atomic watchdog Wednesday, otherwise it could soon face further censure for blocking the investigation into its controversial nuclear drive. "We call on Iran to cooperate fully with the (International Atomic Energy) Agency," the so-called P5+1 grouping...

Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says the West has launched an Iranophobia scheme to “overshadow” Tehran's peace efforts in the region.