News Archive - 7 October 2011

>* Says would review U.S. troop pullout in Afghanistan* Counterweight to China, RussiaBy Steve HollandCHARLESTON, S.C., Oct 7 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed on Friday that if elected he would ensure U.S. military supremacy worldwide as a counterweight to a rising China and...

>GENEVA (Reuters) - Syria, pledging to pursue democratic reforms, accused foreign powers on Friday of arming demonstrators and the media of waging a propaganda war against President Bashar al-Assad's government. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told the U.N. Human Rights Council that more than 1,100 security personnel had...

>Following are the last 10 winners:2011 - Liberians Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni activist Tawakul Karman for "women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."2010 - Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."2009 - President Barack Obama for efforts to...

(CNN) -- The United States called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "step down now" following the assassination of a prominent Kurdish opposition figure amid continuing violence in the nation.

TEHRAN, 8 OCTOBER, 2011: Iran will unveil a new domestically manufactured cruise missile in the near future, Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced.

Full disclosure in four parts: First, I am not a tech-savvy person and never intend to become one. Second, I am convinced that the less technology, the better the life. Third, the technology in my life consists of a laptop, basic cell phone, stereo system, DVD player, flat-screen television, ROKU...

GENEVA, Oct. 7 – As Venezuela this afternoon defended its human rights record before a mandatory examination by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva (click here for live tweets) , a coalition of dissidents and rights groups circulated an unprecedented draft resolution to UN member states (see text below),...

GENEVA, Oct. 7 – As the UN Human Rights Council this morning began its quadrennial review of Syria’s human rights record, a coalition of 20 famous dissidents and rights groups today rejected Syria’s submission as “fictional,” and circulated a draft resolution to all 193 UNGA member states to “strongly condemn”...

TEHRAN, 8 OCTOBER, 2011: Iran will unveil a new domestically manufactured cruise missile in the near future, Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced.

September 21 began as an ordinary day in Iran’s Evin Prison for Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer. Their daily exercise time concluded, and they expected the guards to blindfold them and take them back to their cells, as usual.

Protesters decry U.S., death sentence for official's assassin

There was always, at least for its critics, something preposterous about the idea of Turkey entering the European Union.

Fans of the Philippine rugby team can rejoice even more.

With a "Believe in America" banner and more than 100 Citadel cadets in the background, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laid out his vision Friday for America's future role as the world's dominant power.

The turmoil for reform sweeping most Middle Eastern oil producers is grabbing big headlines today, but that region may lose some of its economic clout in the future: there are signs that North and South America will replace the Middle East as the world's biggest oil-producing region.

Tehran, October 6 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry in a press conference on October 4 accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of making public the names of Iranian nuclear scientists.

Tehran, October 6 (KCNA) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in a diplomatic appearance on Monday strongly demanded the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq.

Tehran, October 6 (KCNA) -- Secretary General of the Supreme Council of National Security of Iran Saeed Jallili in a diplomatic appearance on Monday clarified the stand of his country supporting the struggle of the Palestinian people.

…. Kobby Acheampong, the unrepentant and unmitigating disaster from Atonsu who exhibited utter contempt for his parents by referring to them as “kokoase nkrurasefo” is hereby christened Rasputin Grigory Kobby Acheampong.

WASHINGTON -- Herman Cain suggested that Israel's conservative prime minister would be open to allowing Palestinians right of return to the lands they fled in what is now Israel. Gov. Rick Perry suggested it was possible that American troops could be sent to Mexico if drug violence there got worse.

BAHRAIN'S youth national football team bowed to Uzbekistan 0-2 yesterday in their penultimate game of the group 'C' qualifiers for next year's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Championship.

Pyongyang, October 7 (KCNA) -- Iran and United Arab Emirates on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on consular cooperation. India and Indonesia signed a new trade agreement on the same day.

(CNN) -- The possible hanging of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for converting from Islam to Christianity has exposed a division among Islamic jurists on whether Iran would be violating Islamic law by carrying out the execution.

The Iranian diving team has pocketed three gold medals and three bronze medals at the seventh Asian Age Group Swimming Championships 2011.

Mitt Romney’s big foreign policy speech was shallow and pandered to the GOP base.

Nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the 83-year-old American academic has inspired non-violent political struggle that has helped topple dictators around the world

One thing is clear, Battlefield 3 wants Modern Warfare’s crown, bad. Their latest trailer and ad campaign is entitled “Above and Beyond the Call”, and their free Battlelog service is clearly a direct competitor to MW3’s paid Elite service.

The leading Republican presidential candidates focused on defense and foreign policy Friday, topics largely overlooked up till now in a campaign that has revolved around the economy and jobs. Campaigning in South Carolina, Mitt Romney called for substantially more Navy ships, resuming the missile defense buildup begun under Republican administrations...

Iran announced that they had put into service their first squadron of twelve Iranian made Saegheh jet fighters. It was five years ago that Iran displayed a modified American F-5 fighter and proclaimed this new "Saegheh" as similar to the American F-18 jet fighter.

From the Archive: At the 10 th anniversary of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, we are re-publishing two articles by Washington insiders, CIA analyst Peter W. Dickson and lobbyist Bruce P. Cameron.

Mitt Romney, the front runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, yesterday staked out a robust foreign policy vision, dripping with American exceptionalism and featuring higher military spending and a readiness by the US to go it alone if necessary to protect its interests.

Analysts say Putin is practically guaranteed a win because political opposition has been stifled, leadership controls most media

Mitt Romney remains a high spending hawk.

Iran and a South Korean company have signed a contract to construct a 1680-kilometer pipeline to transport oil from the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Oman.

Former British MP, Martin Linton, has accused the British government of double standards over its denial to bring Israeli regime's former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, to justice.

The UK director of Aid to the Church in Need is appealing for prayer and action to spare the life of an Iranian pastor who faces execution for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. Neville Kyrke-Smith called for Christians to “speak up and pray out loud” as a decision is...

Es hat sich eine Wengung in der Geschichte der israelischen Zitrusfrüchte ergeben, die Berichten zufolge im Iran trotz eines Verbotes für Handelsgeschäfte zwischen den zwei feindlichen Staaten verkauft werden.

President Barack Obama met today at the White House with the prime minister of Tunisia, the first such visit between the U.S. chief executive and a leader of a nation in transition because of the Arab Spring civilian uprisings.

AS A country that for years engaged the world's news consciousness only in the context of its never-ending dispute with Greece over the island of Cyprus, Turkey is racing ahead of the United States and Europe to position itself as an architect of the new Middle East.

Located on the border of the Financial District and Chinatown, City View has become a new favorite dim sum restaurant

Republican White House hopeful Rick Perry tried to revive his campaign Friday but got dragged into a religious row and saw a plea to Christian voters drowned out by fast-rising longshot Herman Cain.

The Pew Research Center released an important new poll this week with a stunning conclusion: Only one-third of the Americans tasked with fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq say the effort was worth it.

Herman Cain, his campaign still on a roll, stepped up to the podium at the Value Voters Summit this afternoon to rapturous applause.

Turkey is piling pressure on Syria with border military exercises, economic sanctions and the harboring of Syrian opposition groups and army defectors, but Ankara must tread carefully to avoid arousing the suspicion of Arab states or spurring Syrian countermeasures.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi plans to visit Kuwait next week to attend the 10th ministerial meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD).

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor urged Americans to stand for persecuted Christians such a Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Israel and religious liberty.

While sectarian violence by its very nature is discriminatory, the attackers in Quetta have gone the extra step: Buses are stopped and the Shia of Hazara ethnicity are identified, lined up and shot in cold blood.

Steve Jobs, Iran, See You at the Pole

ISLAMABAD — A large crowd of Islamic militants rallied this week in the heart of Islamabad to voice support for Pakistan's army and to condemn the United States in another sign of a growing tide of extremism sweeping the country.

Cooperation between Israel and Hamas exists on several fronts, including at the Kerem Shalom terminal, where goods pass in and out of Gaza. And the more the PA challenges Israel, the more Hamas makes nice.

Rungtawan Jindasingh won two gold medals and Thailand won 12 gold medals overall at the Asian and World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships which ended yesterday.

Where can you find pyramids apart from Egypt? Maybe you've heard of the Incan pyramids in Peru, the pyramids of Nubia (Sudan), or the ruined pyramids of ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia (Iran) known as ziggurats?

TEHRAN, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A Web site is urging Iranian women to doff their headscarves for 5 seconds at 5 p.m. every Thursday.

This week on indieWIRE, we graded a slew of films out of the New York Film Festival, Michael Fassbender opened up about his amazing run this year, Werner Herzog got cast in a Tom Cruise thriller and much more. News Steve Jobs Has Died; Long Live Steve Jobs Our tribute...

Local healthcare provider Bon Secours Baltimore Health System announced a new initiative aimed to battle West Baltimore’s healthcare crisis. The announcement was made at the Bon Secours Community Support Center located at 26 N. Fulton Avenue in Baltimore City on Friday, September 30, 2011. Speakers included former Bon Secours Community...

Jobs and Apple changed how the world works and plays. They also changed film, for better and for worse.

There is a tradition of Republican presidential candidates laying out their foreign-policy views at The Citadel. John McCain did it four years ago; George W. Bush did it eight years before that. On Friday, it was Mitt Romney's turn to speak at the South Carolina military academy. "Since 1842, every...

When our service members, men and women, lay everything on the line, it's about life and death, not two opponents facing off in a game that's played for fun. 

The Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera was given a farewell call by departing Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Tuesday at the ministry.

Damir Sagolj was part of a group of journalists invited to document the food crisis in North Korea's farm belt late in September. His images, captured on a government-led tour, present a stark view of a rarely-seen region.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney believes in America . The rest of the world, though, has him pretty worried. In Romney's first foreign-policy speech on Friday, he raised a lot of spectres around the globe, according to a pre-released copy of the speech, which he's delivering today at The Citadel, the military college...

Heavy clashes broke out between protesters and police Friday on the outskirts of the Bahraini capital Manama, shortly after the funeral march for a 16-year-old who was shot by police the previous day.

Mekdad led a senior Syrian delegation to the 47-member council that examined its record in a three-hour debate on Friday as part of its regular review of all U.N. member states.

Bushehr is already being called "the next Chernobyl," but how far would a radioactive cloud from Iran's new Bushehr nuclear power plant spread? Traces of the Fukushima nuclear disaster from earlier this year have been found as far as San Francisco . It is unclear how far the impacts of a...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A bank in Jordan, a strong U.S. ally in the region, may have unknowingly moved cash for the North Koreans to finance illicit weapons programs, cables suggest.

International weapons broker Sarkis Soghanalian, who was nicknamed “The Merchant of Death” for supplying arms to dictators in Nicaragua and Iraq, has died.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could face another clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran as the cartel's oil production rises to a three-year high.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Mohammad-Ali Fathollahi has urged regional nations to savor freedom and independence by following Iran's anti-US lead.

Sabah Fadai arrives in Edmonton for MFC 31 via Iran, Turkey, the Philippines, Singapore and British Columbia. A dental student, he has put his studies on hold to punch people in the face.

Iran futsal team has been drawn in Group C of the Brazil Grand Prix 2011. The Asian powerhouse is in Group C along with the U.S., Belgium and Uruguay in the competitions, which will be held in Manaus, Brazil from October 24 to 31.

As mentioned earlier, Mitt Romney today delivered a foreign-policy/national-security speech that largely criticized President Obama. "I will not surrender America’s role in the world," Romney said at the end of the speech.

It was only a matter of time: the weakest link in the otherwise awesome idea that is a remote-controlled military, represented by the thousands of Predator and Reaper drones, has always been its biggest strength: the fact that it is remote-controlled. Which means that with no person on location, the...

As a sporting contest, it was a one-way procession as Iran's national football team warmed up for next week's World Cup qualifier with a 7-0 thrashing of an under-strength Palestine side.

Progressive TV and radio star Thom Hartmann took time off from covering Van Jones and his “Rebuild the Dream” movement on Wednesday to briefly talk to this columnist about his relationship with the Vladimir Putin regime of Russia.

Iran's ambassador to India says the banking and economic officials of the two countries have found new ways to improve bilateral oil and non-oil trade exchanges.

Angelina Jolie is taking on a new role in the United Nations, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Tuesday. According to InterAksyon, the actress will be a Special Representative on the afghan refugee situation, which is seeking to help determine the fate of 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan...

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney today accused President Barack Obama of bowing to global adversaries and promised, if elected, he’ll boost U.S. military strength by buying more Navy ships and expanding the national missile defense program.

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Azerbaijan is acquiring Israeli-designed unmanned aerial vehicles built under license in the former Soviet republic.

Critics say Turkey's Syria policy doesn't work because Assad is not reforming - but the critics are wrong.

Two weeks into the Occupy Wall Street protests, one of America’s most respected polling firms released an astonishing survey on economic divisions showing that a majority of Americans don’t think their society is divided between haves and have-nots.

Mitt Romney said he would increase defense assistance to Israel, raise the U.S. military profile near Iran and recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

TEHRAN, Oct. 7 (MNA) -- The recent escalation of tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan can be defined as a milestone in the history of the disputes between the two neighboring countries.

International weapons broker Sarkis Soghanalian, who was nicknamed "The Merchant of Death" for supplying arms to dictators in Nicaragua and Iraq, has died. He was 82.

A prominent Kurdish opposition leader was shot dead Friday in a brazen assault that came as protesters across the country demonstrated for his fledgling anti-regime movement, activists said.

> Energy...

(7 Oct 2011) Operation Dealbreaker?

American James Clad tells Geoff Cumming about his high-profile career and enduring bond with New Zealand. A life can follow many paths: the keep-your-nose-clean, job-clinging route; the roller-coaster ride; the comet that dazzles...

TEHRAN, Oct. 7 (MNA) -- Iran’s weightlifter Behdad Salimi has set a new world record in the +105kg category.

Asif Khan sits on a dirty, once-white blanket in an abandoned cinema and fights back tears of desperation.He can't find a job for his eldest son, who "even knows computers", without paying a bribe. He can't afford uniforms, books...

Iran's police chief has warned against enemy scheme to target the cultural values of the Islamic Republic through cyberspace and media outlets.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is to extend sanctions on Belarus, Iran and Syria next week in response to crackdowns on opposition movements and other rights violations, EU officials and diplomats said on Friday.

TEHRAN, Oct. 7 (MNA) -- Iran’s Paykan will play Poland’s KS Jastrzebski Wegiel on Saturday in Doha, Qatar, in its opening match of the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship.

October 7, 2011 marks the ten year anniversary of our involvement in Afghanistan, the longest war in U.S. History. So, one full decade, many lives and a few trillion dollars later, are we winning?

COMMENTARY | Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a candidate for president, delivered a foreign policy address at the Citadel in South Carolina. The speech provided a look at current foreign policy challenges and how a President Romney would deal with them.

The downfall of pro-U.S. Arab regimes in the Middle East, an emboldened Arab public angry at Israel and hostile to U.S. foreign policy, and growing assertiveness of Shiites could benefit Iran's standing in the region.

  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pledged Friday to boost the number of Navy ships and pour more money into defense, outlining proposals to strengthen the military while rejecting multilateral institutions like the United Nations when necessary. "When America is strong, the world is safer," Romney said....

We spend the day playing Battlefield 3 and give you a sample of what youll be doing on October 25.

Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps says the IRGC and Basij forces are ready to counter any threat against the country by learning from past experiences, Press TV reports.

MOSCOW -(Dow Jones)- Belarus is ready to sell a stake in one of its most prized assets, potash fertilizer producer Belaruskali, as long as the deal values the entire company at $30 billion, President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday on state radio.