News Archive - 29 August 2011

(08-29) 08:47 PDT TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran won't stop uranium enrichment activities the U.N. has demanded it halt, the country's nuclear chief said Monday. Iran says it needs stockpiles for a medical research reactor,...

As popular, street-based movements to force domestic reforms sweep through the Arab world, the only fixed criteria in this widespread social "experiment" is the dogged intervention of the United States and its allies.

> * But foreign cash appears to be still welcomed * Iran also planning refinery sell-off TEHRAN, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Iran has "excluded" Russia's Gazprom from a major oil field project, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Monday, in the latest snub to foreign investors that Tehran feels...

Tehran, August 28 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry on August 25 labeled the United States the principal sponsor of terrorism in the world.

WikiLeaks has released the remaining diplomatic cables involving Australian officials. Crikey picks through the reams of information for highlights. Read more on the blog...

Libya's rebels were on Tuesday seeking the return from Algeria of Moamer Kadhafi's wife and three children, while hunting down the longtime Libyan strongman and closing in on his hometown Sirte.

Tehran, August 28 (KCNA) -- Iran is stepping up the preparations for operating the Bushehr Atomic Power Plant. The president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on August 24 that the test of operating a turbine of reactor of the plant was successful.

Head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov says Iran and Russia are “key countries” in the combat against drug trafficking.

European Union's 27 members approve ban on crude oil imports from Syria over the Assad regime's deadly crackdown on protest • This the most damaging sanction so far enforced against Damascus • Qaddafi's wife Safia and three of his children Aysha, Hannibal and Mohammed, crossed into Algeria from Libya Monday...

A pact aimed at clearing up mistrust and confusion between Washington and Kabul about the future of U.S. troops and aid in Afghanistan has instead sowed more of the same.

TEHRAN, Aug 30, 2011 (AFP) -Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akabr Salehi has invited the head of the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) to visit Tehran, a foreign ministry statement said on Tuesday.

A member of Lebanese Amal Movement has described the abduction of Lebanon's Shia cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr as a deliberate ploy by the United States and international Zionism.

Mediterranean food may seem like a blur of hummus and kebabs to you. But we set out to explain the differenecs in various cuisines of the region.

Seven refineries will be privatized in the current Iranian year (to end March 2012), announced deputy oil minister.

TEHRAN - Iran has privatized up to 500 companies during the last six years, said Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance.

Baghdad - Commercial exchange between Iraq and Kuwait has slumped to $250 million, while Iraq's exchange with other neighboring and regional states is hitting unprecedented highs.

TANYA NOLAN: To Syria now, where opposition activists say an increasing number of Syrian army troops are defecting. One group calling itself the Syrian Free Army has posted a message on the internet, saying it can't condone the army's crackdown on protesters.

TEHRAN - The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor said the country's twelve-month inflation rate ended to the calendar month of Mordad (July 23-August 22) reached 17.2 percent, showing a modest growth despite implementing the subsidy reform plan.

Anti-graft activist Anna Hazare broke his hunger strike Sunday morning after the Indian government conceded to his demands. Hazare, a veteran advocate for social justice, was campaigning for a strong anti-corruption (Lokpal) bill with three specific components. On Saturday evening, 12 days into the high profile fast, the Indian parliament...

There has been a recent uproar surrounding the issue of apostasy amongst the Muslim community, and fingers of blame have been pointed in all directions, from Christian tuition schools to opposition leaders.

Though the country has held 2 largely free legislative polls and 2 other votes since Saddam Hussein's ouster, violence has claimed more than 100,000 lives. -AFP

There are almost as many laptops as there are rifles scattered around 2nd Squad's sleeping quarters in the old school at Combat Outpost (COP) Kowall. Mixed in with dust, sand, helmets and 40-mm grenades are Dells and MacBooks. The men who started out in 2001 as Generation Kill have transformed...

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster has opened a case for the family of Stephano "Niko" Atteya, whose father allegedly abducted him on Aug. 1 in Egypt. Shuster's office said the case assures communication between the government and the boy's family.

Shaoshan, a small town in the mountains of Hunan province, is the heart of red tourism in China. As the birthplace of Chairman Mao, it attracts millions of tourists a year, all eager to see the farmhouse where the Great Helmsman spent his childhood. But the local government isn't satisfied.

In his message on the occasion of 'International Day Against Nuclear Tests', UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said "we urgently need new progress in achieving a world free of both nuclear tests and nuclear weapons," which are increasingly being viewed as "dangerous relics of the Cold War" and are "long...

"It's very hard to take classical Persian poetry and make it sound like Al Green or Billie Holiday," says Iranian-American singer Rana Farhan. But that's just what she's been doing since an odd sequence of serendipitous events six years ago.

Iran has set its sights on developing into an exporter of radio-medicine to regional countries in the future, says the country's top nuclear official.

In a reference to countries like India, US and Pakistan, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, has said states that have not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty should do so “as a matter of priority” as voluntary moratoriums are not enough to ensure a global ban on nuclear...

arglebargle_xiv writes "Following on from Comodogate, we have another public CA issuing genuine false certificates to Iran, this time for Google. There's speculation that it's a MITM by the Iranian government, but given the existing record of CAs ready to sell certs to anyone whose check clears, it could just...

Rushing past the obvious is an occupational hazard for journalists and policymakers. Much of the official and media verbiage triggered by the rebels' capture of Tripoli from Moammar Gadhafi loyalists has missed essential contemporary and historical developments:

Arab revolutions create opportunities that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must not throw away.

WASHINGTON (AP) - More than half of Muslim-Americans in a new poll say that government anti-terrorism policies single them out for increased surveillance and monitoring, and many report increased cases of name-calling, threats and harassment by airport security, law enforcement officers and others.

Apparently, WikiLeaks might not be as secure as was thought. News is circulating that an unredacted version of diplomatic cables from the U.S. State department is available online. These unredacted documents could possibly compromise the identities of assets and agents in countries such as Israel, Jordan, Iran and Afghanistan.

Iranian discus thrower Ehsan Haddadi has advanced to the World Athletics Championships final and secured a berth in the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Edging up on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the nation will get its fill of recounting the harrowing events of that day. We will get to relive the horrors of so many innocent lives lost to those cowardly attacks, and we will remember the grim realization that followed...

Google+ may look like an social network service and act like an social network service, but it's not. It's bait. Read more on the blog...

SOME, or perhaps all, actors in the Middle Eastern drama do not necessarily view the Arab Spring the way it should be viewed — as an epic struggle between people and dictators in a landmass stretching from the Mediterranean to the Gulf. Denied participation in governance for decades and witnessing...

Ben Affleck's next has added three as Variety reports the casting of Tate Donovan, Nelson Franklin and Taylor Schilling in the upcoming Argo .

A senior member of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) has said that terrorist attacks in Iran were funded by the Western powers but were ineffective, Press TV reported.

‘I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians,” Michele Bachmann joked at a Florida campaign stop Sunday. “We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ ” That popping noise...

Looking at the evolving situation in Libya, I find it difficult to avoid comparing it to a range of similar conflict and post-conflict zones that I have been involved with in the past.

Helping Syrians liberate their country from President Bashar Assad could make the months-long drive to defeat friendless Moammar Khadafy look like a cake walk. President Obama’s successful strategy for ousting Khadafy relied heavily on isolating the tyrant, peeling off his allies, imposing international sanctions -- and getting a permission...

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has extended congratulations to the Libyan people over the victory of their revolution.

Historic rival sects, the Sunnis and Shiites worship together in the Islamic Center of Lawrence, an uncommon practice of intra-religious tolerance.

Basketball: Two local grads aid L.A.'s championship win; Glendale chapter takes third in Armenia.

Basketball: Locally-based women's team comes up short against Tehran in championship.

Official pressure mounted over the weekend for the U.S. Navy to expedite its announcement on donating the USS Iowa.

The United Nations is essential but deeply flawed. We strongly support the institution, but encourage efforts to make it more effective and efficient.

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - "Telling jokes against 'Big Brother' are tiny revolutions," George Orwell wrote. From bitter experience, Filipinos know what this author of the anti-dictatorship novel "1984" meant. Pogo and Togo poked fun, on stage, at Japanese occupiers, prompting the Kempetai to crack down. Recall the man taken...

PROFESSOR Frank Bullen says USQ was one step closer to breaking into the lucrative higher education market in Kurdistan, following a 10-day trip to the area.

Do we say "yes" to oil sands? Or do we increase our exposure to unstable world oil markets?

Delijani helped revitalize four historic downtown movie palaces and was a leader in the city's Iranian Jewish community. Ezat Delijani, a real estate magnate and philanthropist who bought four historic theaters on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles and spent millions in maintaining and upgrading them over the years, including restoring...

The United Nations today stressed that residents of a camp in Iraq housing Iranian exiles must be protected from deportation or expulsion, and pledged to continue helping the country’s Government to find a peaceful solution that conforms with international ...

When Abdelbasetal-Megrahi is buried in Libya, he will be described as a victim of the Gaddafi regime. In the UK he remains the man responsible for the destruction of Pan Am flight 103. Yet the truth behind the Lockerbie bombing remains enmeshed indiplomatic games.

John McAleese led the black-clad SAS team which blew its way into the Iranian embassy in London's South Kensington, overlooking Hyde Park, on 5 May 1980 to free hostages held by an Iranian terrorist group. The dramatic assault, broadcast live on TV in what became iconic images, turned the SAS...

In advance of President Barack Obama's speech on jobs and unemployment, Yahoo! News asked its readers and contributors to tell us what subjects they'd like to hear Obama address. Below is a first-person perspective from a reader.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the expansion of relations and collaboration between Iran and Iraq.

TRIPOLI, Libya -- An American writer and filmmaker who ended up in Libya's most notorious prison during the turmoil of the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi feared he would be one of the dictator's forgotten victims.

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian Canadian journalist and writer who was held in Iranian prison while he was reporting for Newsweek noted via Facebook on Sunday night the release of a league of prisoners in Iran. Bahari said that there are going to be about 120 people released from Iranian prison.

When eminent scholar Walter Russell Mead tackles a subject he does not do it on the cheap. One of his latest long articles attempts to discern the current trajectory of Turkey’s foreign policy and he takes his readers through quite a ride. Mead, an American history, ...

The deputy chairman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraq has called on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) terrorist groups to stop their militant attacks.

The conventional wisdom explaining the 2011 Egyptian uprisings holds that the revolution was fueled by texts, tweets, and Facebook pages. But a new study conducted by a Yale graduate student suggests the opposite about social media.

Turkey’s armed forces said yesterday some 145-160 Kurdish guerrillas were killed in the military’s air and artillery strikes in northern Iraq this month, raising the toll from between 90 and 100 rebels.

When senior American officials confirmed Saturday that a senior al Qaeda operative, Atiyah abd al-Rahman, had been killed in Waziristan, Pakistan last week, familiar headlines proclaiming that "al Qaeda #2 official killed" flashed around the world. But Atiyah abd al-Rahman was not a figure of global notoriety, like Osama bin...

It’s sunflowers instead of planes and kale instead of kerosene at legendary Tempelhof Airport, site of the Berlin Airlift and now home to one of Europe’s biggest and most unusual urban gardens.

Google's new social network, Google+, is shaping up to be a hit for the search engine giant.

Computerworld - Hackers have obtained a digital certificate good for any Google website from a Dutch certificate provider, a security researcher said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged all of its member states to ratify a treaty banning nuclear weapon tests. "Current voluntary moratoriums on nuclear weapon tests are valuable, yet they are no substitute for a global ban," Ban said in a message marking the International Day Against Nuclear...

The Superjet, aimed at regional airlines, is modern and has foreign partners, but it is up against perceptions about Russian air safety.

The attack and fire in Casino Royale in Monterrey, Mexico, resulted in 52 casualties, in another event further tied to violence from organized crime. Twitter users look for their relatives and friends, and cry over this tragedy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all nations, including the United States, Monday to ratify the United Nations-backed treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Rick Santorum pounced on fellow GOP candidate Ron Paul's assertion that U.S. intervention in the Middle East helped motivate the 9/11 attacks, saying in an e-mail to The Des Moines Register on Sunday that the Texas congressman's argument is flawed and belittling to victims of the tragedy.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz said in comments published yesterday that terrorism remains a threat for the kingdom and accused Shia Iran of targeting it.

A Palestinian man hijacked a taxi in Tel Aviv, drove it to a packed nightclub and ran over policemen at a security checkpoint before emerging to stab several bystanders.

What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm. What’s worse than discovering that the Iranian government has launched a man-in-the-middle attack against Google, silently intercepting everything from email to search results and possibly putting Iranian activists in danger?

As the publication date for former Vice President Dick Cheney's memoirs, "In My Time," approaches, more heads are exploding at the revelations being leaked from the book. George Will, for instance, was not pleased.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt says that if you don't like the highly controversial real name policy, don't use Google+.

The Belgian film "Come As You Are" directed by Geoffrey Enthoven, which takes a humorous look at sex and love for the handicapped, won top honors at the World Film Festival in Montreal on Sunday.

Iran says it’s no longer interested in talking with the West about swapping nuclear fuel rather than making its own.

share: digg facebook twitter Despite being asked by convention leaders to appear as state governor and not a presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry endorsed an aggressive foreign policy doctrine, including support for the concept of preemptive strikes, in his welcoming remarks Monday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.

BRUSSELS, Aug 29, 2011 (AFP) - The European Union moved closer Monday to banning imports of Syrian oil to punish the regime for its brutal repression of protesters, taking away a key source of cash for the country, diplomats said.

What are targeted killings? Targeted killings are used by governments to eliminate individuals they view as a threat. Generally speaking, a nation’s intelligence, security, or military forces identify the individual in question and carry out an operation intended to kill him or her.

TRIPOLI, Libya — The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing is close to death and slipping in and out of consciousness, his family said Monday, a week after the regime that protected him was ousted from power.

The latest Weekly Standard opens with a remarkable editorial on Libya, offering some of the kindest words about the Obama administration you’ll ever read in the conservative media. It’s true that the Robert Kagan piece casts the fall of the Gaddafi regime as a triumph for “the United States and...

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has "excluded" Gazprom from a major oil field project, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Monday, in the latest snub to foreign investors that Tehran feels are not fulfilling their promises.

From Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. to Egypt's peaceful revolution, civil resistance has been proven successful. Syrians especially need to stick to nonviolent tactics now after Libya's war.

Iran football coach Carlos Queiroz has called the fans to support the national team during the upcoming match against Indonesia for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

A prominent philanthropist and developer who died over the weekend was hailed Monday for his contributions to Los Angeles. Ezat Delijani fled his native Iran during the country's 1979 revolution and became a real estate magnate, notably in L.A.'s fashion...

Ron Paul has released the following extended rhetorical inquiry on what the utility of the recent expansion (through very military means) of US and European interests in Libya has been, which more than anything exposes US hypocricy when it comes to foreign national interests. To wit: "Gaddafi may well have...

Since its founding in 1948, the relationship between America's royalty in Hollywood and Israel has been temperamental.

How does Google justify its real name policy? Well, Google+ was built primarily as an identity service and will be used to help Google build future products, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said at the Edinburgh International TV Festival. ...

BERLIN (AFP) - It's sunflowers instead of planes and kale instead of kerosene at legendary Tempelhof Airport, site of the Berlin Airlift and now home to one of Europe's biggest and most unusual urban gardens.

Well, that's over with. The empty-calorie summer, with its frivolous robot fights and cowboys and aliens and smurfs and sequels and remakes and romcoms and doomed teens reaching their final decapitated destinations.

Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Fereydoun Abbasi says Tehran will continue producing 20-percent enriched uranium in the country's Fordo nuclear plant.

Iran's Halimeh and Moonlight on the Platform are slated to take part in the competition section of the 2011 Religion Today Film Festival in Italy.

As views recede, shares plummet – many 20% or 30% beneath yearly highs. Strong Q2 reports and mostly solid outlooks are forgotten literally overnight. Key economic indicators have tipped over – some precipitously – but increasingly oscillating stock prices at today’s lower levels are seen reflecting a confidence crisis, not...

Arab and international press have accused both Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, of helping Syrian authorities militarily

TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (MNA) – Heavy snowfall which was unprecedented in summer swept across Kelardasht city, northern Iran, on Monday.

The lawyer for two American men sentenced to 8-year prison sentences on charges of espionage and illegal entry says he has filed an appeal.