News Archive - 2 October 2011

>ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned on Sunday that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the Middle East and said U.S. security commitments should enable it to take "risks for peace." Panetta, who arrives in Israel on Monday for the first time since...

In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the...

>CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. officials have met members of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, a U.S. diplomat said, after Washington announced it would have direct contacts with Egypt's biggest Islamist group whose role has grown since U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted. Washington announced the plans in...

Nine remote-controlled drones have already been purchased, and ten others will be bought in the near future, Ahmadi-Moqaddam said.

Swedish think tank SIPRI has said in a new report that China's dependence on Russia for arms and energy imports has declined and Moscow's position when dealing with Beijing has weakened as a result.

JERUSALEM, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta left Sunday on his first trip to the Middle East since moving to the Pentagon from the Central Intelligence Agency.

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday the Arab spring has left Israel “increasingly isolated” in the Middle East and that its military might could not make up for a weakened diplomatic position.

Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I extend that hand again today.

(MENAFN - Youm7) Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa declared his electoral agenda at symposium at Cairo's Heliopolis Club Sunday, focusing on reorganizing Egypt's governance and developing ...

Genuine anti-imperialism does not lie in mere abstract anti-American/anti-west sloganeering, writes RM Karthick, a freelance writer based in Chennai. In the wake of a post-national world discourse framed by apologists of multi-national capitalism and equally regressive capitalist-bureaucratic models as upheld by states like Turkey, China and Russia - both aiding...

Saying goodbye can be difficult. Most of us know that from personal experience. It's seldom easy and often messy. But sometimes it simply has to be done.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that Israel must improve its relations with neighboring countries, saying the country is becoming increasingly isolated in the region.

(MENAFN - Arab News) It is the most important annual economic and financial platform to discus the woes, successes and challenges of the global economy and financial system. And yet while some ...

A month ago I wrote about the Judiciary's efficient and professional handling of the murder of a colleague of mine in Kericho. What I omitted was that the three young men found guilty of the crime were sentenced to death.

The UAE has the potential to invest up to $76 billion in projects to develop its hydrocarbon sector over the next five years to become the second largest Arab energy investor after Saudi Arabia, overtaking Iran, a news report has said.

(MENAFN) The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp) said that from 2012 to 2016, oil producers in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) would be forecasted to invest USD525 billion in energy ...

MOHOMMAD Tawhidi left Afghanistan for a better place, but he is still trying to help protect Hazari Afghan men, women and children being brutally killed.

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Visiting Speaker of Kuwait's National Assembly Jassem Al-Kharafi said here Sunday that Kuwait, Iran, and Saudi Arabia should work on a solution for the maritime ...

(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Iran exported some 4.5 billion cubic meters of its natural gas to Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan Republic during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year, ...

State-owned Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) plans to award $1.04 billion of contracts for work in its oil and gas fields by the year-end, it has been revealed.

By: Abby Kerson The Shahnameh is so influential in Persian culture that its characters are used as archetypes in later poetry, said Dick Davis, chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Department at Ohi...

Countries caught in diplomatic spat over sovereignty of three islands

Naft Tehran has been held back with a draw against Zob Ahan in the ninth week of the Iranian Premier League (IPL) and lost the chance to top the table.

The upcoming November 9 is the opening date of the eagerly awaited International Horticultural Exposition: Royal Flora Ratchapruek 2011, grandly organized as a tribute to H.M. the King, H.M. the Queen and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn.

Revolutionaries in both Syria and Yemen who have both been revolting against defiant despots and brutal regimes for months unified the name of their Friday demonstrations, in solidarity. On the "Friday of Victory to Syria and Yemen," activists in both countries ...

Love what you do in order to be good at it. Make sure to maintain the purpose and sense of mission. That is an eternal truth, but the older I get, the more urgent it becomes. Like many I miss my hormones, but I do think being older brings the...

The eighteenth session of the Human Rights Council came to an end in Geneva on September 30, 2011. This was the seventh regular session since the United States joined in September 2009. Though much work remains, in particular ending the Council’s disproportionate ...

Iranian male and female taekwondo players have won 11 medals in the 4th British International Open to claim the championship of the prestigious event.

Director Eva Ionesco cast young Anamaria Vartolomei as herself and Isabelle Huppert as her mother in her autobiographical debut film My Little Princess.

Russia took the news of Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin with total calm. Skeptics might even say indifference. Though the presidential elections will be held only in March, they’ve effectively taken place. Smiling joyfully, President Dmitri Medvedev passed the crown back to Prime Minister Putin, who, in turn, promised...

LARKANA, Oct 2: The Sindh government has earmarked Rs4 billion for providing free seed and fertiliser to the farmers in the rain-affected areas for Rabi crop, said Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Sunday.

The United States is deeply concerned by reports of the Iranian government’s continued repression of its people.

It is hard to believe that in a remote village in northwest China Western-looking Chinese people stage ancient Roman dances and military parades that they've inherited from their ancestors.

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Arab spring has left Israel "increasingly isolated" in the Middle East and that its military might could not make up for a weakened diplomatic position.

THE Irish boxers head into the second and final week of the world boxing championships in Baku with nine members of the 10-man team still standing and the prospect of Olympic qualification looming midweek.

UNITED NATIONS — The international LGBT rights movement has achieved enormous victories, but faces a counter-movement that is better funded and equally fervent. read more

Pune, Oct 2 : Hosts India settled for an eighth place finish after they lost all their games on the final day of the two-day Asian Women’s Rugby 7’s Championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex on Sunday.

Oil fell from a one-year low in New York, extending declines after the worst quarter since 2008, as investors speculated that a slowing U.S. economy and Europe's debt crisis will curb fuel demand.

On our MTR 1377 show today, Julian Burnside’s toxic tweet, Shane Warne, why Iran supplies us with so many “refugees”, the threat to even Phil…

An Iranian official from the oil sector says Iran has earned self-sufficiency in producing premium gasoline, which has a higher percentage of octane than the regular type, Press TV reports.

International pressure is growing for Iran to halt the execution of a pastor sentenced to death for converting to and refusing to recant Christianity.

Sunday: After months of repeated denials, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie is reportedly considering a GOP run; Also, Amanda Knox is set to make her appeal; Plus, Almost a third of a century after his death, John Wayne's possessions go to auction.

Roman descendants living in Gansu? IN a remote village in northwestern China, it might be surprising to see that Western-looking Chinese people stage ancient Roman dances and military parades that they've inherited from their ancestors.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met with a number of the participants in the fifth International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada (uprising).

A Bloomberg investigation has found that Koch Industries -- a global empire run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, prominent financial backers of conservative groups -- made improper payments to win business in other countries and "sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.

source: inquirer.net BAKU, Azerbaijan—The Philippine campaign blew hot and cold in the AIBA World Boxing Championships here last week. After three electrifying wins by Mark Anthony Barriga, Rey Saludar and Joan Tipon, a series of setbacks followed the promising start. Delfin Boholst fell Thursday, Rolando Tacuyan lost Friday, then...

The Bloomberg news investigation into Charles and David Koch has uncovered unlawful and unpatriotic environmental crimes, political donations and business decisions benefitting Iran. There are...

America's freedoms are not taken for granted by Elham Dayani, who fled Iran in 2004 seeking educational opportunities for her family elsewhere.Dayani's religion prevented her three sons from having an opportunity to be educated at Iranian colleges and universities. Dayani lived with her...

In the countries of the former USSR presidential (parliamentary) elections is often equal to the change of authority in any other way (death, monarchy, Revolution).

BOXING:ROY SHEEHAN, Michael Conlan and Joe Ward are just one win away from qualifying for the 2012 Olympics following last-32 victories at the AIBA World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan yesterday.

The protest movements rocking the Arab world are an Islamic awakening that is weakening Israel and strengthening Iran’s regional position, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Ali Alavi Gorgani told The Daily Star.

Iran's supreme leader rejected the Palestinians' U.N. statehood bid Saturday, saying any deal that accepted the existence of Israel would leave a "cancerous tumour" forever threatening the security of the Middle East.

Iranians are divided over the nature of the Arab uprisings that have swept the region, and whether the protests have strengthened or weakened Iran’s position in the Middle East, two analysts told The Daily Star in a joint interview.

Speaker Nabih Berri said after meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran Sunday that the popular uprisings in the Arab world raised concerns and fears, and predicted that developments in the region would affect Lebanon.

For 781 days Boulder's Shannon Bauer says she waited for this moment -- to be able to hug her brother.

Global oil market supply and demand is balanced, Opec rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran said at the weekend after oil prices slumped on Friday amid global economic worries.

(Thursday May 29) A CORPORAL based at RAF Halton who has been working at a prisoner of war camp in Iraq has spoken of his experiences during the conflict for the first time.

An asylum seeker being held in Western Australia's Curtin detention centre is warning that desperate detainees are on the verge of a mass protest, following a suicide attempt at the weekend.

BAGHDAD _ More than 3,000 Iranian dissidents who’d been threatened with expulsion from Iraq on Dec. 31 have applied to the United Nations for refugee status, a move that could help clear up one of Iraq’s thorniest international problems from the era of dictator Saddam Hussein, U.N. and western...

The Arab Spring that flourished in Egypt this spring has been withering this fall.

A just-published bombshell article in the November issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine implicates Koch Industries , the company controlled by Republican mega-donors Charles and David Koch , in dozens of criminal acts around the globe over the past three decades.

China's dependence on Russia for arms and energy imports has declined and Moscow's position when dealing with Beijing has weakened as a result, a Swedish think tank said.

The international community should undertake its responsibility to protect civilians in Syria, through established mechanisms without any military intervention as this would only worsen the situation, stressed Ali Sadr al-Din al-Bayanouni, former general supervisor of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.

McALLEN — Ron Paul, antagonist of the Federal Reserve and advocate for the gold standard, probably won’t capture the Republican presidential nomination. But with his libertarian leanings energizing a small though growing group of passionate conservatives, the quirky Texas congressman is proving to be a force in the 2012 contest.

Generally speaking, when most people speak about the Arab Spring, the name given the populist movement that began earlier this year that swept through northern Africa and the Middle East challenging decades of established rule, they do so with a nod to the move toward democratic rule. But those people...

A two-page letter by Adolf Hitler from 1919 -- the first written political statement of the future Fuehrer -- will be shown to the public for the first time by the Simon Wiesenthal Center at its Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Oil's ascent toward $100 a barrel, which OPEC blames on Western financial speculators, has handed Iran a windfall to help contain domestic discontent and take the sting out of sanctions designed to squeeze its economy.

AFP/Kabul Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reviewing his strategy for making peace with the Taliban after his top peace envoy was murdered, a spokesman said yesterday, as officials said the killer was Pakistani.

It has not been as busy for a long while for vessel supervisor Mohamed Qassem, who is overseeing the loading of a commercial cargo ship that has just anchored in the sparkling blue waters of Jordan’s Aqaba port.

Swapping a rain-lashed city in the Pacific Northwest for a sun-baked hill town in Italy may seem like the ultimate escapist dream. But for Edda Mellas, it has been a nightmare.

Scott Feinberg Our awards expert Scott Feinberg offers his latest take on the Oscar race. read more

Commander of the Iranian Border Guards Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaghari says Iran's borders have been sealed off against enemy infiltration.

Iran hopes to resume talks with world powers on its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a day after discussions ended in stalemate with no clear agreement to meet again.

BEIRUT — US Ambassador Robert Ford should stop meddling in Syrian affairs if he wants to avoid more ‘rotten eggs’ attacks in the future, a state-run Syrian newspaper warned on Sunday.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - The Philippine women's basketball team outclassed Bangkok Bank of Thailand, 65-54, to complete a four-game sweep of the first PSC-SBP Discovery Women's ...

BANGKOK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Thailand declared a disaster area in two provinces Sunday as flooding in the Central Plain region worsened. The declaration included all of Ayutthaya province and a swath ...

Andy Murray, shown during the U.S. open semifinals, dropped just two games Sunday in winning the championship match at the PTT Thailand Open. UPI/Monika ...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday proposed a "simple solution" to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict under which "everyone should go home."

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the West created Israel to control the Middle East, condemning the all-out Western Support for the crimes committed by the Zionist regime.

Iran's Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani as African countries have long been subjected to Western colonialism Iran seeks to expand ties with such states

Amnesty International has spoken out about the Iranian pastor facing the death penalty for not renouncing his faith, but most local activists have remained silent.

The Iranian men and women canoe polo teams have displayed their superiority by defeating their rivals in the 14th Asian Canoe Polo Championships in Tehran.

The Iranian national taekwondo squad has pocketed seven medals on the first day of the 4th British International Open.

All contact has been cut off with Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, the Iranian opposition leaders held under house arrest. The Kaleme opposition website reports that Mousavi and Rahnavard, who have been under house arrest since February, are now being held under complete quarantine.

Iranian Authorities Stay Silent About Kouhyar Goudarzi's Incommunicado Detention and the Suicides of Behnam Ganji and Nahal Sahabi

Iran's Meteorological Organization has pointed to the occupying forces in Iraq as the cause of the rise in Arabian dust haze floating into Iran and the high pollution in Iran's Western cities.

A woman in the Iranian city of Mashad has become the latest victim of Iran's longest standing and most unconventional war -- the war against fun. The young woman, whose name and age has not been disclosed, jumped to her death over the weekend of September 24-25 from the sixth...

Iranian Majlis (parliament) vice speaker Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard says the global market is in desperate need of the two million barrels of Iranian oil.

While Iran's Ministry of Oil and Central Bank have announced on several occasions that India's oil payments are up to date, the National Audit Organization says the treasury has not yet received the revenue from oil sales to India.

A Chinese official announced his country's enthusiasm for launching joint venture projects with Iran in area of solar, wind, gas and hydroelectric power plant construction.

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Russia has returned a down payment to Iran for the S-300PMU-1 air defense system. Copyrights 2008, Middle East Newsline. All rights reserved.

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TEHRAN, Oct. 2 (MNA) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is not returning to power, he is in power.

TEHRAN, Oct. 2 (MNA) – The parliamentary officials who participated in the 5th International Conference in Support for Palestine’s Intifada in Tehran issued a statement on Sunday, in which they called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on all of the occupied territories.

Iran's Namira ensemble, led by Farhad Harati, is slated to hold a concert at Tehran's Vahdat Hall to mark the International Children's Day.

TEHRAN, Oct. 2 (MNA) – Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says the only way to liberate the holy Qods is holding a national dialogue to adopt a common strategy on resistance and called on the Palestinian groups to adhere to the resistance movement.

Tehran, Oct 3 : Iran has plans to equip all of its border areas with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) within next few months, said Iran's police chief Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam said Sunday, Xinhua reported.

Canadian mobile network, MTS (no relation to the Russian company of the same name) has announced plans to deploy LTE services at some point in 2012.

Sidney Crosby is expected to miss the Pittsburgh Penguins' season-opener next week because of long-term effects of a concussion he suffered in January. After Pittsburgh practised Saturday, the ...