News Archive - 5 December 2011

>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices gave up early gains on Monday after the euro slipped against the dollar on a report that several major European countries may be put on "creditwatch negative" by ratings agency Standard & Poor's. Oil's late slide erased most early gains that came on fears...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Worries of Israel striking Iran might or might not be overblown but across the region the largely hidden "cold war" between Tehran and its enemies is escalating fast, bringing with it wider risk of conflict. Speculation Israel might attack Iran's nuclear program has been rife in the...

>DOHA/LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC oil producers, at odds over supply policy since June, look set at a mid-December meeting to agree a new production target that legitimizes current cartel output at 30 million barrels a day. OPEC's leading price hawk Iran, appears to have given up its campaign to have...

>NEW DELHI/LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is becoming skeptical about slapping sanctions on imports of Iranian oil, diplomats and traders say, as awareness grows that the embargo could damage its own economy without doing much to undercut to Iran's oil revenues. Oil accounts for 50 percent of Iranian budget...

>BONN (Reuters) - Foreign governments pledged on Monday to support Afghanistan long after allied troops go home, with or without a political settlement with insurgents once seen as the best way to prevent a new civil war. At a conference of more than 80 countries but boycotted by Pakistan, they...

>LONDON Dec 5 (Reuters) - Iranians living in Britain fear the latest diplomatic storm between London and Tehran will strain links with family back home and threaten deep-rooted business and cultural relations between the two countries. Growing tensions over Iran's nuclear programme boiled over last week when protesters ransacked the...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Monday for a snap leadership vote in his Likud party, a contest he is expected to win and which could pave the way for an early national election in Israel. Some commentators said Netanyahu was quietly preparing for the possibility that...

>Western officials foresee some role for allied forces after 2014, the agreed cut-off date for the departure of most foreign combat troops, possibly in a mix of roles including training and special forces.Speaking at an international conference on Afghanistan, Salehi said: "Certain Western countries seek to extend their military...

>By David Brunnstrom and William MacleanBONN Dec 5 (Reuters) - Iran renewed an objection on Monday to foreign troops staying in Afghanistan after 2014, a reminder that an enduring international role in Tehran's neighbour may aggravate tensions between the Islamic republic and the West.Iran has been accused in the...

>But so far, at least, comments by U.S. and Israeli officials suggest that Washington's private lobbying has yet to convince Israeli hard-liners and even some moderates that alternatives, like sanctions and diplomatic pressure, will ultimately succeed in curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.It is unclear whether the differing views are...

>By Jeremy LaurenceSEOUL Dec 5 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official urged energy-starved South Korea to cut imports of Iranian petrochemicals and reduce crude oil imports from the Gulf state, as Washington applies more pressure on Tehran.Iran's nuclear ambitions, its claim to have shot down a U.S.

>SEOUL Dec 5 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. official on Monday said the situation over Iran's nuclear programme was becoming increasingly worrying and an urgent diplomatic solution needs to be found. The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails...

Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a massive, $662 billion defense bill that would require the military to hold suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates, even those captured on U.S. soil.

The US announced fresh sanctions against Iran and warned firms against dealing with Iran's finance sector.

The onslaught of 2012-Outlooks continues to unmercilessly suggest bullish biases in most risk assets, particularly higher quality equities and credit, and while almost as ubiquitously noting the binary nature of outcomes in the medium-term and significant downside potential. Most of the upside/downside biases reflect heavily on Europe's outcome which in...

DOHA: Energy-rich Qatar yesterday moved to reassure consumer countries that the Arab Spring will not disrupt supplies from the Gulf, as Saudi Arabia stressed its goal to ensure stability on oil markets.

The revolutionary movement in the Middle East has malformed into a messy affair as expected.

BAHRAIN's national futsal team's training camp in Sharjah will conclude today with a friendly match against Al Hamriya Club. This tune-up game, set to take place at Al Hamriya Club's gym at 6pm (Bahrain time), is part of Bahrain's week-long training camp to prepare for the West Asian Championship.

Crude oil futures cruised past $102 a barrel on Monday, but later lost momentum, after reports of a possible downgrade of European sovereign debt.

Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has defended the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq next month despite criticism.

LONDON (SHARECAST) - An order from Gen Mohammed Ali Jaafari, the commander of the guards, raised the operational readiness status of the country’s forces, initiating preparations for potential external strikes and covert attacks.

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania Senator, is getting some love from conservative luminaries Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as he struggles to win the hearts of voters in Iowa weeks before the presidential caucuses there.

This incident has occurred at a time when Iran is trying to contain foreign outrage over the storming of the British embassy, last week.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia says it has ratified a global treaty banning nuclear test explosions. Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty specified that the 44 countries with nuclear power or research reactors at the time needed to give formal approval before it could take effect. With...

A serious kidnapping threat to Westerners in Baghdad has forced U.S. diplomats to curtail their movements drastically ahead of the complete withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq by the end of the month.

Security is tight in Pakistan ahead of the Day of Ashura, which is the climax of a period of remembrance for Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

VIENNA, December 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Tibor Tóth, head of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), today congratulated Indonesia's parliamentarians for bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) "a significant...

Director of the Center for regional studies Richard Kirakosyan. Illustration: ankakh.com West would not start war with Iran, and all the military threats and sanctions against Teheran-only way of diplomatic pressure on this country.

Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are risking their future ties with Syria by supporting embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad now, the head of a leading Syrian opposition group says.

Kansas U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom's Western Front letter, "Justice is serving," contends that a dec ...

Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Dec 5, 2011 Israeli military planners say they are increasingly worried that problems in Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will mean that delivery of 20 of the stealthy jets ordered in October 2010 for $2.75 billion will be delayed. If the delivery timetable...

By CHAD ABSHIRE Staff Writer U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller (both D-W.Va.) and U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (also D-W.Va.) recently voted for the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill w...

Are oil prices likely to ease, possibly with the help of OPEC? Not likely, writes Irwin Kellner.

Today in History

Samsung and Apple have filed over 30 lawsuits against one another.

A list of Indian Embassies and Consulates around the world

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude fell towards $109 on Tuesday, as a warning by ratings agency Standard & Poor's that it might downgrade euro zone countries tempered hopes for a concrete resolution to the region's debt crisis. The S&P news also overshadowed ongoing tensions between OPEC producer Iran and the...

At an Iranian military base 30 miles west of Tehran, engineers were working on weapons that the armed-forces chief of staff had boasted could give Israel a "strong punch in the mouth."

THE governing Australian Labor Party at its biannual national conference which was held in Sydney on Sunday decided by a thin majority to support the Australian prime minister’s motion to scrap the party’s nonsensical and contradictory uranium export policy banning the sale of uranium to India.

The nation's economic woes mean the military has to wrap up business in Afghanistan and Iraq.

SYDNEY (AP) - Australia has expanded sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.

Since its inception. Act has been the party of American Crackpot Theories, so we should probably be thankful that the coalition agreement between Act Party leader John Banks and the Key government didn’t include a constitutional right to bear arms.

IS America in decline? Commentaries about American power trajectory often focus on the larger size of its military and economic muscles compared with other countries.

The Crown's final witness in the Kingston Mills murder trial told the court Monday that the roots of honour killings can be traced to "the control of women's bodies, and especially women's sexuality." "The way to deal with the dishonouring of the family is through bloodshed," said Shahrzad Mojab,...

International tensions with Iran grow as the third-largest exporter of oil issues a warning that it may halt production if new sanctions are imposed.

President Barack Obama's administration rejected Republican calls to fire the US ambassador to Belgium after he said that the Middle East conflict was partly to blame for anti-Semitism.

The US says it is concerned at the the loss of a Sentinel unmanned drone near the border with Iran, which Tehran says it shot down.

BONN, Dec 5: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday it was unfortunate that Pakistan had boycotted the Bonn conference on Afghanistan, but it still had a crucial role to play in the country. Afghan President Hamid Karzai also said he was prepared to work with Pakistan.

Consisting of such forms of expression as and in the subcontinent, these poetic lamentations help mourners visualise the events of Karbala and make hearts receptive to both the Imam`s grief and his message.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — This is a selection of morning calls by local research houses for the day. From OSK CI Holdings Upgrade to BUY, FV: RM0.99, Last Closed: RM0.88 On the 24 Nov ex date for entitlement to CIH’s special dividend of RM4.60, its share...

BONN, Dec 5: The Bonn conference convened on Monday to discuss Afghanistan’s future after Nato troops leave in 2014 pledged sustained support for another decade, assuring the Kabul government that “we will not let you meet the same fate as your predecessors met after the Soviet pullout”.

By Todd CampbellFeuds aren't uncommon in the Middle East. The latest scuffle between Britain and Ira...

BRUSSELS - NATO allies will strive to convince Moscow this week that their European missile shield is not aimed at Russia after the Kremlin threatened to deploy weapons systems near EU borders.

I was thinking about Iran during Thanksgiving dinner when we hosted, among others, two young Iranians. Not Iranian-Americans, but real Iranians, a beautiful young woman freshly from Isfahan and her boyfriend, a young man from Tehran .

The great holiday guillotine has now slammed down across Ms TN's diary, and so last week I saw my last shows for the year. And then, in the way of the these things, I promptly came down with a cold. I blame Melbourne's increasingly absurd weather for this, as much...

The line-up of authors at the Times of India Literary Carnival said something about the city that hosted it. Abhishek Mande reports.

Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs is once again sharing his messages from God. Paul Murphy at the Utah Attorney General's Office sent me three revelations they received today, mailed out by Jeffs' followers.

The roots of honour killings can be traced to “the control of women’s bodies, and especially women’s sexuality,” the Crown's final witness in the murder trial of four women found in the Rideau Canal, told the court Monday.

Letters from Daily News readers.

The leader of the United Arab Emirates discounted concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran in a CNN interview Monday, saying Tehran would find the ultimate weapon to be of little use.

Foreign minister Kevin Rudd has announced additional sanctions against Iran after attacks on the UK embassy and a report from the UN atomic energy agency.

The Associated Press The Associated Press SYDNEY Australia has expanded sanctions against Iran amid growing concerns over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said in a statement Tuesday that the measures will target people and companies involved in Iran's ballistic missile and nuclear programs and will...

Since its inception. Act has been the party of American Crackpot Theories, so we should probably be thankful that the coalition agreement between Act Party leader John Banks and the Key government didn’t include a constitutional right to bear arms.

Was this another Israeli attack on Iran? On November 12th, Iran lost the general in charge of its ballistic missile program, Hassan Moghadam. He died in a munitions storage site outside the capital, along with 16 other Iranians, when something exploded, leading to many other explosions.

As usual, it's the colloquial that captures it best, in this case what the witness in the stand once described as "the crude Arabic expression that 'A man's honour lies between the legs of a woman.' "

BAGHDAD — A serious kidnapping threat to Westerners in Baghdad has forced American diplomats to drastically curtail their movements ahead of the complete withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq by the end of the month. The heightened threat illuminates growing concerns about the capacity of a stepped-up U.

The banning of Battlefield 3 in Iran barely registered on the industry's radar because censorship in games is more common than we'd like to admit.

Do you think Umno will gain the support of young voters in GE13? KUALA LUMPUR, 5 DECEMBER, 2011: Muslim public relations (PR) practitioners need to pool their resources and expertise in reshaping perception and rebranding Islam, said Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

U.S. military officials said Monday they are concerned that Tehran may have an opportunity to acquire information about the classified surveillance drone program after one of the stealthy aircraft crashed in Iran while patrolling in western Afghanistan.

The radar-evading drone that crash-landed over the weekend in Iran was on a mission for the CIA, according to a senior U.S. official, raising fears that the aircraft's sophisticated technology could be exploited by Tehran or shared with other American rivals.

Aerial images show before and after views of Iranian missile testing site; Still unclear what caused damage

ISRAELI PRIME minister Binyamin Netanyahu has brought forward the primaries for the leadership of his ruling Likud party to next month, leading to speculation he may be considering a surprise early election.

U.S. intelligence believes Iranian government has captured a drone plane.

Bonn, Dec 6 (IANS) Iran does not want any form of foreign military on the soil of its neighbour Afghanistan after the scheduled pullout in 2014, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said.

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from...

Fewer than 10,000 American troops remain in Iraq as withdrawal deadline comes.

Release Time:  For Immediate Release Location:  James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 2:18 P.M. EST         MR. CARNEY:  I know you guys want to get to writing your stories, so I will obviously take your questions on the issues the President just discussed, and any others.  And I...

AMERICA yesterday branded Iran a “pariah state” and threatened it with a military strike.

After a dizzying parade of nearly 50 witnesses in 25 days, jurors in the Shafia honour killing trial heard one final prosecution witness Monday — an academic who testified that in some cultures, family honour is considered more important than human life.

The U.S. has urged Korea to join additional international sanctions against Iran to curb Tehran`s nuclear development, but it will not demand that Korea halt crude oil imports from Iran, which had been considered probable.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi and his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt have discussed the latest report by the UN atomic watchdog on Iran's nuclear activities.

COMMENTARY | By now you've read all the books about the Pearl Harbor disaster of Dec. 7, 1941. They range from those that found the single scrap of paper by some low-level analyst that never reached the top, saying the Japanese will attack Pearl Harbor. Or you've read some conspiracy...

British university experts are being recruited into a network run by GCHQ - the country's secret eavesdropping organisation - to combat new waves of cyber attacks.

Why 2011 has brought so much suffering for Pakistan's Shias

BONN, Germany (AP) - Afghanistan will need the financial support of other countries for at least another decade beyond the 2014 departure of foreign troops, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said at an international conference.

Syria's embattled government has flexed its muscles with live-fire exercises involving long-range missiles, armored units and helicopters at a time of rising regional tensions over the repression of its uprising.

The Republican Jewish Coalition will host the entire Republican presidential field – minus one - at a forum on Wednesday. The coalition decided not to invite Texas Representative Ron Paul because the group disagrees with his views on Israel, a decision that has angered Paul’s supporters. The Paul campaign found...

British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher voiced his concern Monday about stability in Lebanon, but said his country would boost its assistance profile as a result of Beirut’s payment of its 2011 dues to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

December 6, 2011

Republican White House hopefuls attacking President Barack Obama as having undermined US ties to Israel are "making everything up," Democratic Senator John Kerry charged Monday.

Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt have been named Sports Illustrated's sportsman and sportswoman of the year. Krzyzewski became the winningest coach in NCAA history last month when he earned his 903rd career victory, passing Bobby Knight. Summitt, the all-time wins leader in women's...

Kentucky maintained the top spot in the AP Top 25 poll for a second consecutive week following a victory over preseason No. 1 North Carolina. The Wildcats (8-0) received 47 first-place votes of a possible 65. Ohio State stayed at No. 2 while receiving the other 18 first-place votes. Syracuse...

Now that Herman Cain has "suspended his campaign," the race is down to three people: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich. At this point, the question isn't so much whether Gingrich can beat Romney (he can), but whether Gingrich will beat Gingrich. This task is complicated by the fact...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has praised Iran's acceptance of Afghan refugees and its efforts to block the flow of drug from Afghanistan.

Utah has indefinitely suspended starting point guard Josh Watkins for conduct detrimental to the team. First-year coach Larry Krystkowiak said Watkins would not be able to take part in team activities until he reaches certain goals. Watkins has scored in double digits in 13 straight games, including 11 points in...

A wave of bomb attacks targeting Shia pilgrims in Iraq have killed 28 people and wounded 78.

New York Islanders right wing Nino Niederreiter has been diagnosed with a concussion following a brutal hit from Dallas Stars defenseman Mark Fistric in Saturday's game. The fifth overall pick of the 2010 draft, Niederreiter exited the contest after his first shift. The 19-year-old did not return. Niederreiter has collected...

U.S. drone downed in Iran A U.S. aerial surveillance drone has reportedly crashed inside Iranian territory, according to The Washington Times. Though the circumstances surrounding the incident have not yet been clarified by U.S. officials, American authorities say that it was not due to enemy fire. Iranian...

The comings and goings, missteps and wisdom of famous people can sometimes provide useful lessons to us. Sometimes their example provides positive behavior patterns that we can learn from and profitably imitate. And, of course, we can also learn from their mistakes.