News Archive - 25 October 2011

>The five were indicted on charges that they evaded U.S. export control laws by buying 6,000 of the transmitters from a Minnesota company and shipping them via Singapore to Iran, where most U.S. companies are restricted from doing business.The devices, which can be used for long-range wireless...

>(Reuters) - More democracy is bringing more political Islam in the countries of the Arab Spring, but Islamist statements about sharia or religion in politics are only rough indicators of what the real effect might be. The strong showing of Tunisia's moderate Islamists in Sunday's election and a promise by...

>Boehner, in prepared remarks for a rare speech on foreign policy, warned that Russia's response to Obama's much-vaunted outreach was "nothing short of an attempt to restore Soviet-style power and influence."Pushing for a tougher line, Boehner pressured Obama not to agree to Russia's long-sought accession to the World Trade...

>AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian army deserters killed seven soldiers in an attack on an armored convoy on Tuesday, an activist group said, a day ahead of an Arab League visit which aims to open dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents. Residents and activists said the fighting took place...

>TEHRAN (Reuters) - Could Mahmoud Ahmadinejad be Iran's last president? Some Iranians think so after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested scrapping a directly elected presidency, which critics say would weaken Iran's version of democracy and make the Islamic Republic more Islamic than republican.Ahmadinejad, whose second and final term...

>TEHRAN Oct 25 (Reuters) - Western countries supported Muammar Gaddafi when it suited them but bombed the Libyan leader when he no longer served their purpose in order to "plunder" the north African country's oil wealth, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday. While Tehran has applauded the people of...

>ERCIS, Turkey (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled a two-week-old baby girl alive from the arms of her mother, who had also survived but was still trapped in the rubble of their apartment on Tuesday, two days after a powerful earthquake in southeast Turkey. The mother was clutching the infant to her...

>VAN, Turkey (Reuters) - Fighting broke out among Turkish earthquake survivors on Tuesday as homeless families scrambled for tents after enduring two nights of biting cold under whatever shelter they can find. Complaints about poor tent distribution have been rife since Sunday's quake destroyed thousands of homes and made many...

>ERCIS, Turkey (Reuters) - Rescue workers dug deeper into collapsed buildings on Tuesday in a battle against time to find survivors from an earthquake in southeast Turkey that killed at least 366 people and made tens of thousands homeless. As hope of finding people alive under tons of rubble faded...

She is regularly seen by TV viewers as a particularly svelte and slim member of reality show The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

BEIJING : Ambassador Masood Khan has said that Pakistan has benefited a lot from Chinese investment. Talking to media persons on the sidelines of a conference here, he said Pakistan has reassured Chinese investors that the country's investment environment is safe and secure.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Middle Eastern countries without significant oil resources face a sharp slowdown in economic growth as the effects of the Arab Spring reverberate across the region, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. In a twice-yearly report, the IMF cut its economic growth forecast for the Mideast’s...

More democracy is bringing more political Islam in the countries of the Arab Spring.

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 26, the 299th day of 2011. There are 66 days left in the year.

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Oct 25, 2011 The United Arab Emirates has reopened negotiations with France for a military surveillance satellite, underlining the Persian Gulf state's concerns about Iran's expansionist policies. The move, however, could also be linked to the protracted negotiations to buy 60 Dassault Aviation Rafale...

Garry Kasparov tells Eli Lake the elections will be a “charade” and Obama’s Russia policy is a “disaster.”

Officials with Libya's interim government are reassuring the West that their religious views are moderate, after the country's interim leader called for the country's new laws to be based on Sharia, or Islamic law.

China adamantly believes that dialogue and negotiations are the proper ways to solve the Iranian nuclear issue, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday at a daily press briefing.

Pyongyang, October 25 (KCNA) -- The U.S. is intensifying its anti-Iran campaign, asserting that Iran plotted an assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is losing millions in foreign exchange as some rice exporters are allegedly indulging in duty-evasion.

Civil society organisations are calling on governments in developing countries to stop leasing and selling out land to transnational corporations because it leads to land degradation and food insecurity.

Last May, when Osama bin Laden was declared dead, Muslims saw an opportunity to dispel myths and fallacies that are manufactured by mischief-mongering groups.

The effective end of the Iraq War, coming up on its ninth year, was defined over this past weekend. "U.S. troops will be home for the holidays," promised President Barack Obama .

While other hot button issues may receive more attention from activists, the rise and expansion of nuclear weaponry is the most consequential issue facing leaders today, a former Church leader said in a lecture Tuesday. ...

In late September, Alex Fattal saw his younger brother, Josh, for the first time in over two years on the tarmac of an airport in Oman. On Saturday, the elder Fattal described a homecoming journey from the Middle East to New York City, then to the family home in Pennsylvania.

Is America in its twilight years? Patrick J. Buchanan argues it is. Americans, especially conservatives, should heed his warnings. The very future of our republic is at stake. Mr. Buchanan has written the political book of the year — and maybe of our time.

Today in History

Basketball's Bobby Knight turns 71 years old today.

ERCIS, Turkey - Families mourned outside a mosque or sought to identify loved ones among rows of bodies Monday as rescue workers scoured debris for survivors after a 7.2-magnitude quake that killed at least 279 people.

The long nightmare of the Iraq war is over - at least for Americans. President Barack Obama's decision to withdraw the remaining 40,000 American troops by Dec 31 was the correct one under the circumst .....

ABU DHABI — Bahrain is mounting a campaign to block the appointment of the new U.S. ambassador to the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom. Two petitions have been organized against President Barack Obama’s nominee for the new U.S. ambassador to Manama.

Sixty-three new citizens will be sworn in during naturalization ceremonies at 2 p.m. Friday at the Old Capitol State Historic Site.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday warned Iran that it should not meddle in Iraq when American forces leave the country at the end of this year.

NEW YORK — A crucial defense dilemma is looming under the radar screens, both over the Taiwan Straits and the Potomac; namely seriously upgrading Taiwan’s aging jet fighter force against a fast rising military threat from Mainland China.

Wushu exponents Tao Yi Jun, Tay Yu Juan and Emily Sin created history when they became the first Singaporean women to be crowned world champions. Their feat at the World Wushu Championships in Ankara .....

Back in the 1960s, during the heated national debate over the Vietnam War, Sen. George Aiken of Vermont suggested that Washington simply declare victory and bring the troops home. This, essentially, is what President Obama is doing in Iraq. Yet, just as in Vietnam, no victory has been won. And...

Saudi has been embroiled in feud with Iran over alleged plot to murder US envoy

A company in the state was duped into supplying parts used in insurgents' roadside explosives.

RIYADH, Oct 26 ― The world’s eyes are on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah today to make the widely expected choice of veteran Interior Minister Prince Nayef as his new heir, a decision that would emphasise stability in the top oil exporter. The funeral of Crown Prince Sultan yesterday set the...

Tehran, Oct 26 (IANS) At least 31 people have been arrested and another 67 questioned for alleged involvement in a $2.6 billion embezzlement case in Iran, a top official has said.

The Iranian ambassador to the UN has once again stood up for the Palestinians' right to return to their homeland and have an independent state.

How to bypass the Australian's paywall ... "Baby-face" Bernard Salt and the Courier Mail ... Front Page of the Day ... Tribune, journal of the left, faces closure after 75 years and more ... Read more on the blog...

It’s been an exciting year so far for NewsFix not only because of our launch, which is redefining the way people watch news, but because of the news itself! A heck of a lot of it has been bad, but you know, there's been a heck of a lot of...

WASHINGTON - Five people and four companies have been indicted for allegedly plotting to export 6,000 radio control devices to Iran, including 16 of the items that were found in improvised explosive devices in Iraq, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Review: The console version of EA and DICE’s eagerly anticipated Battlefield 3 is a beautiful game with a few blemishes.

Mine is a conservative workplace and that's why I was surprised to hear Luke as he looked up at the TV monitor, "Don't people realise what's going on here, Europe and the US have just come in and taken over."

With the present incumbent seen as a threat to the power of the clergy, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader suggests scrapping a directly elected presidency

Of the so-called “four kings” who combined to rescue boxing by hoisting it on their slender shoulders in the late 1970s and early '80s, it was the tall, gangly slugger from Detroit who never really got his due.

Five people and four companies are charged with smuggling U.S. technology.

Russia has warned the UN nuclear agency against issuing a negative report on Iran's nuclear energy program, saying such a move could undermine diplomatic efforts to resolve the West's dispute with Tehran.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt was peppered with a wide range of questions from economic issues to education to congressional redistricting by a standing-room-only crowd at a town hall-style forum at the Lawrence Township Municipal Building Monday night.

After their immigration to Southern California more than 30 years ago, the majority of the area’s Iranian Jewish community poured their energies into re-establishing themselves financially.

To answer the number one question: Yes, it is very pretty. Battlefield 3 has been wowing us for the last several months with screen shots that make us go all giddy, and gameplay that includes the possibility of using jets to bomb your online friends back to the Stone Age.

Celebrated Persian classical singer Salar Aghili will perform in Perth this weekend as the first stop of his inaugural Australian tour.

No description available

The people of Tunisia, Arab Spring 2011's first revolutionaries, have earned their chance to struggle with one of the 21st century's most essential political, social and cultural questions: Will democracy moderate political Islamists, or will political Islamists undermine democracy?

WASHINGTON (AP) — America's long and deeply unpopular war in Iraq will be over by year's end and all U.S. troops “will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Barack Obama declared Friday.

Think it's bad now? Just wait A top US government official believes that the internet is under fierce attack by authoritarian governments worldwide, and that the situation is rapidly deteriorating.…

WASHINGTON -- Radio-controlled parts hidden in roadside bombs in Iraq have been traced to a company in Minnesota, prompting a federal grand jury on Tuesday to indict five individuals in an alleged smuggling ring that sent as many as 6,000 of the devices from the United States to Iran for...

A nightingale's call competing with the clamour of traffic or the singsong shout of the vegetable seller, these are the sounds Canadian writer Anosh Irani recollects from Bombay, India, the city of his youth.

Obama's decision to honor Bush's 2008 withdrawal treaty is reason for Americans to celebrate.

Redistricting concerns

Secular liberals have seen their political dreams thwarted by a proliferation of factions, writesMICHAEL JANSEN

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two car bombs targeting Iranian pilgrims in Iraq's holy Shi'ite cities of Kerbala and Najaf killed at least 10 people on Monday, as the country's leaders met to try break an eight-month deadlock over a new government.

PESHAWAR : A video has emerged showing a Swiss couple kidnapped by the Taliban nearly four months ago, flanked by four masked gunmen pointing rifles at their heads.

Letters: Before slamming bonus, compare district budgets

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — With a PhD student serenading the crowd with a hip-hop song on the piano, smoke billowing from shisha pipes mixed with the ones from grilling kebabs, and Persian chatter in the air, it seems like a snapshot of a restaurant in 1970s Iran, before the...

Not his own, of course Google's director of public policy doesn't think that companies are doing enough to promote human rights around the globe, and that cozying up to repressive governments is bad business.…

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much, Brent, for that very kind introduction.

A Minnesota company’s parts ended up in explosive devices that killed and maimed American and Coalition troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an indictment filed Tuesday.

VIENNA – The 182 Member States of the highest decision-making body of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) today approved a plan to boost the organization’s on-site inspection capabilities.

Aerials shots of Van, Ercis and villages in Turkey display the ongoing rescue efforts.

Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq overnight and about 500 soldiers have crossed the border, military and security sources told Reuters Tuesday, in an escalation of hostilities.

In the eight months since the Egyptian Revolution, a radical Islamic group has risen to power, the army seems unwilling or unable to stop a growing rash of sectarian violence and the long-standing friendship between the U.S., Israel and Egypt is in serious question. 

Rached Ghannouchi, whose Islamist Ennahda party dominated Tunisia’s first free elections, is a former radical preacher with a new moderate face – once persecuted but now Tunisia’s kingmaker.

The Pendleton Springs Baptist Church will have dinner after the morning service Sunday, Oct. 30. Bring a covered dish and enjoy the day. There will be no evening service. The pastor is Rev. Walter Jarrell.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Taijp Erdogan thanked Israel for its offer of assistance in the Elimination of the devastating earthquake.

Refusal of Turkey from Armenia and Israel following the devastating earthquake in Van 23 October, perhaps unparalleled in the world practice emergency disasters.

COMMENTARY | Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at it again. In a speech today, Reuters said he believes the U.S. and European powers ordered the execution of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in a quest to steal Libyan resources.

Well known are the methods used by Washington to demonize states that do not submit. As in previous occasions with other recipients, the current disinformation operation against Iran has the clear objective of trying to move to a new stage in the imperialist intervention in the Middle East.

Leaders poured into Riyadh to offer condolences on the death of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.

Frank R. Wolf, Republican of Virginia, is challenging the legality of a meeting that the president's science adviser had with Chinese officials in the spring.

An influential US congresswoman said the line was disappearing between Hizbullah and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), in a statement that could impact $100 million in US military assistance planned for Lebanon.

COMMENTARY | In the world of politicians, black and white -- for or against -- works better to show definitiveness and decisiveness. Not one Republican politician exhibits this better than Minnesota legislator and presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, who, unlike Mitt Romney, tends to pick a side and sticks with it.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that the Obama administration shouldn’t consider Russia’s decades-long bid to join the World Trade Organization until Moscow settles its border dispute with ex-Soviet state Georgia. In a hardline speech to a conservative think tank, the Ohio Republican said Russia has displayed an...

As 2011 winds down, so does the United States’ eight-year military involvement in Iraq. President Obama has pledged to bring all U.S. troops home by Christmas, which prompts reflection, including why most Americans and Congress supported such a dubious foreign policy endeavor. Of course, that majority support turned to...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Five people were indicted for fraud conspiracy involving exports of U.S. parts to Iran that wound up in bombs in Iraq, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.

According to a blog post now making its way around the Web, Google Reader served the Iranian community as a way to get uncensored, unfiltered news outside of government control. And now, that may be over.

The demise of Google Reader's share features is affecting everyone from RSS-junkies to Iranian freedom fighters, and many of them are very displeased. Google Reader itself is very much alive and well, and in fact, the RSS reader will soon sport a slick-looking redesign. However, at some point this week,...

What led the pro-Israel community into a careful relationship with Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi a decade ago were considerations of U.S. national interests, Israel’s security needs and the claims of Libyan Jews.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday said the United States welcomed Iran's decision to join talks in Geneva, which she said should focus "first and foremost" on Tehran's nuclear program. "We are encouraged that Iran has agreed to meet in Geneva next week," Clinton said in the Kazakh capital...

The 20th World Petroleum Congress, to be held in Doha from December 4 and attended by 5,000 delegates, 500 speakers and 50 ministers, will be a carbon-neutral event, host Qatar Petroleum said yesterday.

> He pitched himself by dropping scores of names he had directed on the stage, off and on Broadway, in theater in-the-round and square, in stock and wherever he could. I asked him for a memo with a list of names he worked with who would speak in his behalf.

Iran is finding it increasingly difficult to access the financial services it needs to run its economy and may lose up to $60 billion in energy investments due to global sanctions, US officials said Wednesday.

Copyright show:  No Sitting outside a sports stadium that’s been turned into a make-shift medical center in the quake- struck Turkish city of Ercis, two emergency workers enjoyed a brief respite from their toils. read more

I USED to think 1.72m was a respectable height. Until visiting The Hague. The streets seemed full of human giraffes all in rude health. Thanks to good living standards, the Dutch are among the world's tallest people.

Electronic parts made in Minnesota were smuggled through Singapore to Iran, and some of them ended up in the remote controls of makeshift bombs seized by U.S. forces in Iraq, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Sudan sought big aid and investment pledges for its formerly war-torn east Wednesday as donors and wealth funds met in the oil-rich emirate of Kuwait. The hosts pledged $500 million while Iran promised $200 million.