News Archive - 8 December 2011

TEHERAN (AFP) - Iran made a formal protest on Thursday over a US drone entering 'deep' into its eastern airspace last week, and aired footage of what appeared to be the downed aircraft on state television. Swiss ambassador Livia Leu Agosti was summoned to the foreign ministry and told the...

ADAM GOLDMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON Long after he vanished in Iran, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson reappeared in a video and a series of photographs sent to his family over the past year, transforming a mysterious disappearance into a hostage standoff with an unknown kidnapper, The Associated Press has learned.

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude fell below $108 on Friday, on growing concern that European policy makers will fail to deliver a concrete plan to tackle the euro zone debt crisis at a key meeting, an outcome likely to hurt prospects for demand. Hopes for a resolution to the region's...

>They are not likely make an explicit call yet for an embargo on Iranian crude oil, which EU diplomats have began discussing this month as a way to strengthen Europe's response to mounting Western concerns that the OPEC producer has worked to design a nuclear weapon.The International Atomic Energy...

>A South Carolina woman at a Perry campaign event asked him to comment on the two wars in which the United States was involved. "She asked about Iran, Afghanistan," Perry said.Members of the audience shouted out "Iraq," and Perry stopped himself. "Excuse me, I mean Iraq," he continued. "That'll...

>TEHRAN (Reuters) - The threat of military strikes on Iran has upturned the quiet and comfortable lives once enjoyed by many Iranians, ushering in a new era of struggle and fear. Like many Iranians, Maryam Sofi says the West and Iran are locked in a dangerous game. "I don't think...

>DOHA (Reuters) - Hackers are bombarding the world's computer controlled energy sector, conducting industrial espionage and threatening potential global havoc through oil supply disruption. Oil company executives warned that attacks were becoming more frequent and more carefully planned."If anybody gets into the area where you can control opening and...

>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday that time was running out to conclude a missile defense deal with NATO, as the alliance insisted it would press ahead with a project it says is aimed at countering threats from states such as Iran. Moscow is seeking legal guarantees that NATO's...

>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - As Islamist groups emerge triumphant in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan seems decided to act as their mentor -- and to throw its weight behind the Syrian opposition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, a former ally.

>The ECB is expected to cut rates to 1 percent and unveil a new package of bank aid on Thursday, a day ahead of a European Union summit market participants hope will come up with a plan to tackle the region's debt crisis.Brent crude rose 59 cents to $110.

>"In accordance with the cybercrime law, access to this website is not possible," read a notice to anyone inside Iran trying to visit iran.usembassy.gov.The semi-official Fars news agency commented on the blocking of the U.S. website, saying, "A decisive reaction by Iranian authorities has neutralized another...

>Paolo Scaroni said that while Eni could make do without Iranian crude if the EU were to ban imports, it hopes its oil debt repayments will not be affected."We are more concerned about the payments in crude that NIOC is paying to us," he said."We still have to...

WASHINGTON — A swaggering President Obama yesterday dared Republicans to go toe to toe with the man who killed Osama bin Laden. Responding to GOP criticism that his Middle East and Iran policy is one of “appeasement,” Obama for the first time publicly flexed his ample “I killed bin Laden”...

THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged private industry to protect Internet freedoms on Thursday, saying it was vital to promote online rights amid restrictions in Russia, Syria and China.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is apologizing to the teen who insulted him over Twitter last week. "My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms," Brownback said in a statement to Yahoo! News on Monday. Brownback Communications Manager Sherriene...

BMW motorcycle shop opens in Pensacola

Santino's celebrates new location in Gulf Breeze

>Iran is India's second-biggest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia and exports total about $12 billion a year, meeting about 12 percent of India's import needs.India and Iran have been struggling to find a permanent mechanism to settle their bilateral trade, especially since December when India's central bank scrapped a...

TOKYO: Japan on Friday decided to extend its sanctions on Iran after similar moves by other nations to beef up international measures against Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Global investors, skeptical about President Barack Obama’s ability to turn around the economy, nonetheless aren’t enamored with the Republican alternatives.

Iran has strongly censured the violation of its airspace by a US spy drone, urging the United Nations to condemn such contravention and adopt necessary measures to end these “dangerous and illegal” acts.

Company set to upgrade Saudi Arabia's Patriot air and missile defence system

S Korea Finance Minister: Inflation To Remain Unstable In Near Term

Either Allah really like them, or something seriously fishy happens. It kind of reminded me of the Apache downed during last Iraqi war.

6:45 a.m.—“I know it’s time to get up,” I yell at my alarm. I’ve been awake since 6 a.m., trying to decide if coffee/life are exciting enough to get up… 6:50 a.m.—…as it turns out, they are. I have 25 minutes for coffee and...

Four Small-Cap Energy Stocks to Watch: Josh Young

In October, the War in Afghanistan reached its 10-year anniversary. Our invasion of Afghanistan was launched as a direct result of the events of 9/11, with a goal to eradicate Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the various terrorist factions based there. Rushing headlong into the ...

In a two-hour long battle on Nov. 26 the use of American airpower led to the unprecedented death of 24 Pakistani soldiers and officers. This was a U.S. rather than a NATO operation because American forces were known to operate in the area, and the U.S. government has...

The rules this year are different. Many states won?t be winner-take-all. That means there?s still plenty of time for Romney to grow on people or for Gingrich to stumble again or for some other candidate to rise. This could go on for a while.

ISFAHAN, December 9, 2011 (AFP) - Zahra Nazer's fingers work deftly on the loom, rapidly weaving each colourful silk thread into a carpet that will take more than a year to complete.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Long after he vanished in Iran, retired FBI agent Robert Levinson reappeared in a video and a series of photographs sent to his family over the past year, transforming a mysterious disappearance into a hostage standoff with an unknown kidnapper, The Associated Press has learned. In the...

Microsoft Corp. said it will release a security update on Tuesday to protect personal computers from getting attacked by Duqu, a mysterious virus that researchers suspect was built by the same group behind Stuxnet. Stuxnet is the piece of malicious software, or malware, that security experts say was used last...

The siege lasted five hours, starting with a call on a loudspeaker to surrender and ending with the crash of missiles from a US helicopter gunship.

THE HAGUE -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other international leaders urged countries and private businesses on Thursday to fight increasing efforts to restrict access to the Internet by repressive governments and even some democratic ones.

The November release of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission's (USCC) annual report on the state of US-Sino relations certainly covered its fair share of the traditional suspects.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran displayed an aircraft Thursday that it said was a U.S. spy drone brought down last week by an "electronic ambush," a feat that prompted boasts of Iranian technological prowess in the face of increased hostility from the West.

Montreal - China's Tianchen Engineering Corp has agreed with Turkey to build an underground natural gas storage facility at Lake Tuz in central Anatolia, south of Ankara. The project will be completed in two stages and be constructed to hold up to 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas.

‘Getting Off the Sidelines’ event kicks off Lifetime Television’s 2012 Every Woman Counts Campaign Most are aware that the United States elects a lower percentage of women officials to public office than many other countries, but even so, Sam Bennet’s experience may come as a shock. Bennet, president of The...

The Republican candidates are taking aim at Iran, some with big guns. At the Republican Jewish Coalition this week in Washington, D.C., Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum spoke boldly about their positions on Iran, according to Politico.com. Iran's nuclear ambition, Perry said,...

Some of us believed that at the end of the Cold War in 1991 American and Soviet nuclear rockets would be left to rust and rot in their silos. Indeed, we actually saw the Ukraine, where the Soviets made most of their rockets and based many, calling in American engineers...

A U.S. official confirms that the aircraft is an RQ-170 drone, which Iran says it brought down. Iran protests what it says was a violation of its airspace. Iranian television aired video Thursday of what it said is an American surveillance drone that the country's armed forces claimed to...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian television showed video Thursday of what it said is an American unmanned surveillance drone that the country's armed forces brought down last weekend.

Paul is ramping up his efforts in Iowa, where the caucuses are less than a month away.

Pyongyang, December 8 (KCNA) -- Iran turns against any forms of foreign military presence on the soil of its neighboring Afghanistan, the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday.

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- The White House said on Thursday that the United States will continue to seek opportunities for cooperation with Russia, based on mutual respect and common interests, Xinhua news agency reported.

The US president reiterates his aggressive policy vis-à-vis Iran's peaceful nuclear program, saying all options -- including military action -- are on the table for hindering the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities.

Google has stated it neither works with or supports Carrier IQ, the network analytics software at the center of a privacy storm , which has been associated with Android since the video was posted showing it operating on an Android-powered HTC phone.

The people have been screwed, the former Utah governor told a crowd of nearly 150 at a town hall meeting at Milford High School on Thursday night.

Tehran’s capture of a largely intact, top-secret U.S. drone, which it displayed on state television, not only lays bare America’s surveillance program over Iran, but also puts sensitive, advanced technology in hostile hands.

In June 2011, the ACLU filed suit against the State Department to enforce a FOIA request seeking 23 embassy cables previously disclosed by WikiLeaks. The agency released redacted versions of 11 and withheld the other 12 in full.

Oil price climbs to $102 a barrel on Europe hopes Associated Press Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Published 08:30 a.m., Monday, December 5, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are climbing on hopes that European leaders...

If Rick Perry has his way, the United States of America will look a lot more like Texas.

*

Conference on Internet Freedom Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Fokker Terminal The Hague, Netherlands December 8, 2011 var runVideo_6109709_pre = function() { if (typeof BrightcoveExperience == "undefined" && typeof embedded_plugin_status[2] == "undefined") { embedded_plugin_status[2]=1; embedded_plugin_Q[2] = new Array(); embedded_plugin_Q[2].push(runVideo_6109709 ...

Do you think Umno will gain the support of young voters in GE13? WASHINGTON, 9 DECEMBER, 2011 : The White House said on Thursday that the United States will continue to seek opportunities for cooperation with Russia, based on mutual respect and common interests, Xinhua news agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized companies for selling surveillance tools to repressive regimes in a speech on Thursday in the Netherlands, in which she called on the private sector to carry out "human-rights due diligence" before selling sensitive technology.

We have updated this story as details emerge A police officer was shot and killed early this afternoon on Virginia Tech's campus during a routine traffic stop, putting the campus on lockdown for several hours. The suspect fled the scene, and police later found another body, along with a gun,...

Washington (AFP) Dec 7, 2011 - The United States has doubts Iran will be able to make use of the highly sophisticated technology found in a stealth drone that crashed in Iran during a reconnaissance mission, a US official said Wednesday. The RQ-170 Sentinel high-altitude stealth drone was on a...

After touting his military experience and announcing the endorsements of local veterans aboard an aircraft carrier outside Charleston, S.C., Thursday morning, Rick Perry predicted that a slip-of-the-tongue during his afternoon town hall in Okatie would be the headline that comes out of his day campaigning in the Palmetto...

The liberal democracies that were expected to take root in the wake of the Arab Spring have been stillborn, their place taken by religious hardliners who pose a threat to the region, moderate Muslims and the West

German companies play an important role in the market for surveillance technology used by Arab despots to spy on their people. In this industry worth billions, the companies also earn their money using methods that have been outlawed in their home country.

Vladimir Putin says Hillary Rodham Clinton's criticism of Russian parliamentary elections emboldened protesters. The incident may further damage already strained U.S.-Russia ties. The Russian leader on Thursday accused Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of inciting protests against his country's troubled parliamentary elections, an unusual personal attack suggesting...

For University of Idaho graduate student Maziar Alchgar, living with his wife Rostamian Kiakojuri in eastern Idaho has its challenges. The pair, who do not have the same name because it isn't customary in Islamic culture, are from Iran. While America is feeling more and more like home, Iran is...

As usual, Professor Paul Krugman's piece in the Monday morning New York Times is causing a great deal of chatter among the political types. Krugman points out just how inept the Republican field is. In some cases he takes a scalpel (and in others a machete) to surely the weakest...

SUNSPORT looks at Ukranian minnows FC Metalist Kharkiv who City or United may face

BRUSSELS — Officials clashed at a NATO-Russia meeting over a missile defense shield in Europe on Thursday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterating a Kremlin threat to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad after NATO’s chief accused Russia of wasting money.

Washington (AFP) Dec 8, 2011 - American experts are analyzing Iranian footage of what appeared to be a downed US drone that allegedly entered Iran's airspace last week, the Pentagon said Thursday. "We've had a chance to look at the imagery. We have people looking at it," said Captain John...

The U.S. Department of State is launching a Virtual Embassy Tehran website to penetrate the electronic curtain of isolation the Iranian leadership has imposed on its people. This initiative does not represent a change in the U.S. diplomatic relationship with ...

WASHINGTON - Crude oil prices have gone from $75.67 per barrel on October 4 to $100.99 in the second week (Dec. 5 through 9) in December while retail gasoline prices have dropped 15 cents during this same period.

President Obama has been accused of appeasement by both political supporters and foes. Liberals says he's been too willing to compromise. Republicans say he's not doing enough to constrain U.S. enemies in the Middle East, specifically Iran. At a news conference Thursday, Obama said, "Ask Osama bin...

TEHRAN — Iranian state TV broadcast video Thursday of what it said was the high-tech U.S. drone that Tehran says its forces downed earlier this week. The government also lodged a diplomatic complaint over the violation of its airspace. More than two minutes of footage showed Iranian military officials ...

FOREIGN MINISTER ROSENTHAL: Okay. Let me, on my part first, welcome Secretary of State Clinton to the Netherlands, after a long trip through Asia, back home, Europe. Secretary Clinton – Hillary, dear Hillary – you have shown great leadership in ...

SECRETARY CLINTON: Very much like the logo, a great image of the skyline, which I know very well I want to thank the Secretary General as he leaves, for his outstanding leadership and the opportunity that we’ve had to work together. And we’ll continue ...

Republicans told Attorney General Eric Holder to fire some subordinates over the flawed Operation Fast and Furious.

BANGSAR, Heritage Row and now, introducing Mid Valley, where climbing up the floors gives you more than just vertigo in the clubbing scene.

As Islamist groups emerge triumphant in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems decided to act as their mentor...

>(Reuters) - The chance of a military strike on Iran has roughly tripled in the past year, the senior geopolitical risk analyst at Barclays Capital said on Thursday. New York-based analyst Helina Croft, writing in a note titled 'Blowback: Assessing the fallout from the Iranian sanctions', said even increased sanctions...

Microsoft today announced it will issue 14 security bulletins next week to patch 20 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer (IE), Office, and Windows Media Player.

President Obama held a brief but wide-ranging news conference Thursday. He began with a brief statement criticizing Senate Republicans for blocking his nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also responded to questions talked about Iran, Plan B, a proposed extension of unemployment insurance benefits and Osama bin...

International oil experts say possible EU-imposed embargo on Iran's oil sector will hurt the European states, which are beset with economic crisis, more than Iran as the country will find new customers.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry is correcting himself after saying the US is at war in Iran instead of Iraq.

A super sci-fi-looking C.I.A. drone called the RQ-170 Sentinel, one of which helped with the Osama Bin Laden raid, was lost over Iran on Sunday, when the Iranian government claimed to have shot it down, possibly while it was collecting intelligence on their nuclear program.

Good afternoon. I want to thank Jamestown for holding this important conference and Glen Howard for inviting me to address it. I’m pleased to have become a regular at Jamestown Conferences and almost feel like this is a homecoming of sorts – this ...

Iranian documentary 'This is Not a Film' gets things started

BOSTON & JOHANNESBURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American Tower Corporation (“American Tower”) (NYSE: AMT) and MTN Group Limited (“MTN Group”) (JSE: MTN) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to establish a new joint venture tower company in Uganda ("ATC Uganda"), which will acquire all of the existing tower sites from...

The unmanned U.S. drone Iran said Sunday it had captured was programmed to automatically return to base even if its data link was lost, one key reason that U.S. officials say the drone likely malfunctioned and was not downed by Iranian electronic warfare.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil futures fell for a second straight day on Thursday as disappointing comments from the head of the European Central Bank increased doubts among investors that the region's debt crisis will be contained. The ECB cut interest rates as expected, but following the move, ECB...

Tehran, Iran— Iranian state TV broadcast video Thursday of what it said was the high-tech U.S. drone that Tehran says its forces downed earlier this week, and lodged a diplomatic complaint over the violation of its airspace.

President Barack Obama today forcefully rejected Republican accusations that his foreign policy is timid and amounts to a policy of “appeasement.” “Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaida leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is...

The Western media has acknowledged to Iranian people's right to hate Britain revealing the long history of the UK's hostilities toward the Iranian nation.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The British anti-war movement Stop the War Coalition (STWC) has hosted a meeting in London to raise concern and awareness about plots in the making to launch an invasion on Iran.

Britain, the US and the Israeli regime are leading a war campaign against Iran to re-colonise the oil-rich country and plunder its vast resources.

Bahrain has ordered the public prosecutor to investigate all deaths and torture cases implicating the police as part of efforts at political reconciliation following a crackdown on pro-democracy protests earlier this year.

The Opportunity Project (opportunityindex.org) calls itself a campaign to promote "access to the American Dream." Its state-by-state report ranks upward mobility. Instead of looking only at gross domestic product and poverty, the index weighs such things as household income, percentage of children in preschool, and crime. Here are...

The world will run out of oil by 2053 according to predictions heard at the World Petroleum Congress.

With the icy riposte "ask Osama bin Laden," President Barack Obama on Thursday rebutted Republican claims he is blind to the threat from radical "thugs" and guilty of appeasing US enemies.

Iran is planning to increase oil production by 45,000 barrels per day next year, Central Oil Fields Company director Mehdi Fakour said.

For photographer Massoud Hossaini, the personal and professional came to a head while shooting blast at Shia shrine.