News Archive - 31 October 2011

>* UK hopes meeting will set agenda for future talks (Updates with Clinton cancelling trip, paragraph 5)By Adrian CroftLONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Ministers, tech executives and Internet activists from around the world gather in London on Tuesday to discuss how to tackle security threats and crime on the Internet...

>Clinton, speaking to the American-Turkish Council in Washington, said the "Turkish miracle" had seen that country's economy triple in size over the last decade as reforms opened up both the political and economic sectors to new competition.But she said Ankara -- which hopes to draft a new constitution by...

> So far, members have seen almost 20 of the entries, including such presumed favorites as Iran's "A Separation," Finland's "Le Havre," Israel's "Footnote" and Poland's "In Darkness."  When each country was announcing its submission, TheWrap kept a running list of the submissions with information and links to trailers,...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it had stopped funding UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency, following its vote to grant the Palestinians full membership. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters the United States had no choice but to halt funding because of U.

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States wants Afghanistan's neighbors to pledge to respect its sovereignty at regional talks this week, a U.S. official said Monday, even as Washington accuses Pakistan and Iran of meddling. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a conference in Istanbul Wednesday that the United...

>SAN ANTONIO, Tex (Reuters) - The seven-billionth human is expected to be born on Monday, but an expert who helps do the counting says that event comes as the Earth undergoes a demographic shift toward slower population growth. According to the United Nations Population Fund, the seven-billionth child is most...

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Any buildup of U.S. forces in the Gulf after their withdrawal from Iraq would be imprudent, Iran's foreign minister said on Monday, urging all nations to tread cautiously in a troubled region. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made the comments in Baghdad days after U.S.

>TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's parliament has revived its threat to call in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning, with more lawmakers signing a summons that could ultimately lead to the president's impeachment, media reported on Monday. Less than a week after the legislature dropped a four-month-old motion to summon Ahmadinejad, enough...

>The border was largely quiet since midnight when Israel, saying it had targeted a rocket-firing squad, killed two militants with an air strike in southern Gaza."As it seems, this (round of violence) appears to be behind us," Israeli Home Front Security Minister Matan Vilnai said on Army Radio.Most...

>KABUL (Reuters) - The Haqqani network, which Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan, may have been involved in a weekend bombing in Kabul that was the deadliest ground attack against Western troops in 10 years of war, officials said on Monday. The suicide bombing on Saturday,...

>Iain Lobban, director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said the attacks posed a threat to Britain's economic wellbeing."The volume of e-crime and attacks on government and industry systems continue to be disturbing," Lobban wrote in an article for the Times newspaper."I can attest to attempts to steal...

An two-day international conference on cyber security begins in London today

U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.

By Brian Aull Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in an afternoon section of an 18.03 (Differential Equations) class. Your professor is explaining how to solve a differential equation, and is interrupted mid­sentence by two surprise guests who walk into the classroom: armed men wearing military uniforms.

Rich LowryKing Features Syndicate When President Barack Obama took the podium last Friday to abruptly announce the imminent end of the Iraq War, he ended on a ringing McGovernite note: “After a decade of war, the nation that we need to build — and the nation that we will build...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.

BC-US--US-Syria-Nuclear,1st Ld-Writethru, US

REVIEW

In a clinical display by the Indian football team, the colts got off to a winning start in the AFC U-19 Qualifiers, beating 10-man Turkmenistan 3-1 at the Takhti Stadium in Tehran, Iran on Monday.

Islamabad, Nov 1 : Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held in Russia next week.

America, for all its mistakes in Iraq, at least has the comfort of knowing that it has done pretty much all it could do, within the limits of popular acceptance of the costs in blood and treasure, to open the way for a better Iraqi future.

Iran's Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Reza Mir-Tajeddini says the ongoing popular uprisings across the world show that the capitalist system of the West and the US is on the verge of collapse.

NEW YORK -- The board of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization voted Monday to admit Palestine into the organization as its newest member, and the United States promptly responded by cutting off funding for the agency. Acting under a legal requirement to cut U.S. funds to...

This editorial appeared first in the New York Times:

NEW DELHI, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - India is planning to construct a 900-km railway line connecting Chabahar port in Iran with the mineral-rich Hajigak region of Afghanistan, the Hindustan Times said on Tuesday.

Singapore Airlines on Tuesday launched a budget carrier that will fly on medium and long-haul routes, including to Australia and China.

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu told MCA president Chua Soi Lek to stop insulting himself by displaying his ignorance about Islamic law, following a series of anti-hudud remarks by the former Health minister.

Yaakov Katz, the Post's military correspondent and defense analyst, discusses Israeli foreign policy during two lectures on the Knox campus.

Now that Google has officially switched to its new version of Google Reader , complete with Google+ integration, the company is facing the right…

JERUSALEM - A decision by the U.N.'s cultural organization to admit Palestine as a member state set off a confrontation between the United States and the United Nations, threatening to strip Washington of influence in several key international agencies while cutting off a major source of contributions to...

20 Thai Crocodiles were brought to Qeshm southern Island in Iran. 20 crocodiles belonging to Crocodylus species - one of three species from the Crocodylinae subfamily extending from the ...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled a trip to London and Turkey for international conferences on cyber security and Afghanistan because of her mother's illness.

Dogwood Pavilion hosts Luisa, a Tina Turner tribute artist, for an evening performance at 624 Poirier St. Dinner starts at 6 p.m., and music will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32.55 including dinner, and there are discounts available for members. Reservations required. Information: 604-927-6098.

We hope, for their own sakes, the Libyan people resist the apparently irresistible urge to tend toward the intolerance of sharia law.

The defense chief of Iraq said the country cannot defend itself from external threats until 2020 or later, according to media reports.

China said it successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft equipped with technology that will take it one step closer to building a space station by 2020.

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama will host European Union leaders at a Washington summit on November 28 for wide-ranging talks that will focus on economic issues, the White House announced Monday.

WASHINGTON, November 1 (RIA Novosti) - U.S.-EU summit on a wide range of global issues will be held in Washington on November 28, the White House said in a statement.

The move to admit Palestine as a member state triggers laws that bar the U.S. from funding any U.N. body that makes that move. The cutoff deprives UNESCO of 22% of its funding. A decision by the United Nations' cultural organization to admit Palestine as a member state...

Indonesia's naturalised duo Greg Nwokolo and Victor Igbonefo have admitted that they are ready to wear the “Merah Putih” jersey.

Mes and Rah Ahan have played out to a goalless draw in the last match of the 12th week of the Iranian Premier League (IPL).

Dogwood Pavilion hosts Luisa, a Tina Turner tribute artist, for an evening performance at 624 Poirier St. Dinner starts at 6 p.m., and music will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32.55 including dinner, and there are discounts available for members. Reservations required. Information: 604-927-6098.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi (L) attends a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari in Baghdad Oct. 31, 2011. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Monday a U.S. plan to increase military presence in the Middle East after the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq shows...

Alleged embezzler not a security threat, but how he became a citizen under scrutiny

US President Barack Obama will host European Union leaders at a Washington summit on November 28 for wide-ranging talks that will focus on economic issues.

OPEC's Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri says the global crude oil market is balanced and the current prices are reasonable.

File photo shows a poster of the Battlefield 3 video game. Electronic Arts announced that Battlefield 3 has become its fastest selling video game ever, with players snapping up more than five million copies ...

The Obama administration has launched a revised strategy for Afghanistan that officials hope will lead to substantive negotiations with insurgents and regional support for a political end to the war. The strategy is an attempt to fold disparate policy elements into a comprehensive package as the administration tries to fashion...

Attempted rocket launch after years of sanctions holds lessons for US and Iran.

(WASHINGTON ) - US President Barack Obama will host European Union leaders at a Washington summit on November 28 for wide-ranging talks that will focus on economic issues, the White House announced Monday.

Release Time:  For Immediate Release President Obama will welcome the leaders of the European Union to a summit in Washington, D.C., on November 28th.  The President looks forward to meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and High Representative Catherine Ashton...

With its upgrade of Google Reader on Monday, Google has shut down the native social content-sharing features of the popular RSS feed manager and shifted the functionality in modified form to Google+.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The three final candidates for the presidency of East Tennessee State University have visited the campus in Johnson City. The candidates are Robert Frank, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Kent Stat...

Iran is once again in America’s cross hairs. Even before the allegations of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, concerns about Iran were high, with an impending U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq possibly leading to increased Iranian influence there. U.S. opinion and decision makers...

PETALING JAYA: National cyclists were delighted with news that Malaysia have been given two slots for road cycling at the London Olympics.

Dogwood Pavilion hosts Luisa, a Tina Turner tribute artist, for an evening performance at 624 Poirier St. Dinner starts at 6 p.m., and music will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32.55 including dinner, and there are discounts available for members. Reservations required. Information: 604-927-6098.

Saudi Arabia reportedly orders deportation of 150 Iranian pilgrims from the holy city of Medina in the west of the kingdom, accusing them of travelling there on fake visas.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the seven-billionth child is most likely to be a boy born in India or China, this week. However the trend of fertility or growth of population in the longer term is in a different direction toward slower population growth, says Dudley Poston, a...

Bandar Seri Begawan - Sumardi Jumat, 37, is all ready to flex his muscles in the WBPF Men World Bodybuilding Championships Congress in Malacca from Nov 9-14.

In 2011, around 43,000 Afghans returned to their homes from Pakistan.

Glencoe’s Leo Melamed has stopped to talk to the protesters crowding LaSalle Street and Wall Street, but you won’t see him hoisting one of their signs. “Blaming Wall Street is really silly,” maintains Melamed, who in 1972, when head of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, actually invented a new kind of...

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- An elderly Jewish New Yorker says for decades he exchanged letters with Moammar Gadhafi, the deposed Libyan dictator who was slain this month.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. At some point, both Obama and Congress would be faced with a clear choice between U.S. national interests and the demands made by Netanyahu and his powerful lobby.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a panel on Friday, October 28, 2011, entitled "U.S., U.N. Obligations to Avert Impending Humanitarian Catastrophe at Camp Ashraf," former senior U.S. national security, military and judiciary officials urged the Obama administration...

Electronic Arts said Monday that Battlefield 3 has sold five million units on a worldwide basis within its first week, the fastest-selling game in EA's history.

A woman testified Monday that a San Diego police officer touched private parts of her body and made inappropriate comments about her makeup and high-heeled shoes when he stopped her in the Gaslamp Quarter nearly two years ago.

Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi said Monday that the Syrian people calling for reforms support the regime, adding that the campaign against Syria was a Western attempt to strike one of the supporting pillars of the resistance.

Britain embroiled in a bitter political feud at the highest level of Iranian politics.

The Burmese government recently imposed new regulations restricting the ability of Christians in the country to worship, hold Bible studies and pray, according to reports.

High prices are great for oil companies, but they also attract competitors.

An electronics engineer by the name of Abdel Rahim al-Kib has been appointed Libya’s interim Prime Minister by the country’s National Transitional Council, just a week and a half after former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels October 20, effectively liberating the country. View the full article HERE .

DeWayne Wickham: A mining deal in Arizona has tangential links to Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Two Iran players banned for an 'immoral' goal celebration of a backside pinch during domestic league match.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Hadi Saei has been appointed as the technical manager of Iran’s national taekwondo team.

Iran football coach Carlos Queiroz has invited 23 players to the team for the match against Bahrain in the World Cup qualifiers. Osasuna midfielder Masoud Shojaei, who has undergone surgery for his left foot last week, has been left out of the team.

Today, Google is rolling out its update to Google Reader which features the promised user interface overhaul, and, more importantly, the new Google+ integration. Now, Google Reader users can "+1" items directly from Google Reader to share it with their friends on Google+. This feature now replaces the "Share" and...

The Indian boys got off to a winning start on the opening day of the AFC U-19 Qualifiers when they beat a 10-man Turkmenistan 3-1 in Tehran.

“Wait Until Dark” is a 1967 suspense film directed by the Alfred Hitchcock wannabe Stanley Donen. It features a masterful performance by the gracious Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman. She is menaced by criminals who think that something valuable...

Palestinian militants in Gaza renewed a rocket attack on Israel, firing seven missiles at the cities of Be'er Sheva and Sderot.

Hva er nå dette?

Non-oil foreign trade in the United Arab Emirates rose 11 percent year-on-year in the first nine months, data showed Sunday, hinting at a pick-up in economic activity on higher global oil demand and Asian growth.

Chances of a Saudi-Syrian mediation attempt breaking the Lebanese deadlock over an indictment into the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri were boosted following the release of Saudi King Abdullah from hospital, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said Thursday.

ELEVEN suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested near RAF Lakenheath today. Police took the group - all men - to Bury St Edmunds police station.

The United States downplayed a newspaper report about US firms being allowed to do business with Iran and other blacklisted countries last week, insisting its sanctions were squeezing Tehran.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to be questioned by the Iranian parliament over a financial scandal.

Esteghlal football team defeated rock-bottom Mes of Sarcheshmeh in the Iranian Professional League (IPL) thanks to a solitary strike from Milad Meydavoudi.

Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Ghanzafar Roknabadi, renewed Sunday his country's support for the ongoing Saudi-Syrian talks to break the impasse over the disputed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

Iran handball team was defeated by South Korea in the Asian qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics on Monday. In the competitions, which are underway in Seoul, South Korea, Iran lost to host South Korea 33-25. Elsewhere, Japan beat Saudi Arabia 22-21 in the other semifinal match.

The US is reportedly considering putting combat forces in Kuwait and sending more naval warships.

Today in sports: Tony La Russa exits the castle, why college football's "game of the century" is bound to disappoint, and Iran suspends two soccer players indefinitely for an "immoral" post-goal celebration. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa announced his retirement Monday, just three days after his team defeated...

The coach of Iran’s weightlifting team has said that the Iranian athletes are well-prepared for the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships, which will be held in Paris from November 5 to 13.

Nad-e Ali district in Afghanistan is expected to be handed over to Afghan forces, it has been claimed, as part of a list of provinces pending final approval by Hamid Karzai.

Indian Government officials seized the hard drives of a suspected Command and control server at a Mumbai Web hosting company as researchers continued their analysis of the Duqu Trojan.

Iranian lawmaker Ali Motahari says the parliament's bid to question President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad serves the interests of the establishment, Press TV reports.

The National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) has rejected Western media allegations that the Swiss EGL Company has imposed a ban on the purchase of natural gas from Iran.

Lebanese banks have once again proved that they can overcome all odds and come out on top after figures show they received the highest flow of deposits in the region in 2010.

AMARILLO, TX. -- A local dentist's office is using candy that's bad for kids' teeth, to encourage troops overseas. Employees at Amarillo's Pediatric Dentistry office are preparing for their big 'Candy Buyback' just three days away.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — The three final candidates for the presidency of East Tennessee State University have visited the campus in Johnson City. The candidates are Robert Frank, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Kent State University in Ohio; Brian Noland, chancellor of the West Virginia...

An Iranian lawmaker says the recent US anti-Iran allegations will cost Washington dearly and demands an official apology from the administration of Barack Obama.

Iran's football federation on Monday imposed indefinite bans on two players for their "immoral acts" during goal celebrations, state television's website reported.