News Archive - 16 December 2011

>The service said in a statement that the material could be obtained only "as a result of a nuclear reactor's operations" but did not say when it had been discovered at Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport.The material triggered an alarm in the airport's radiation control system and a luggage search...

>South Korea's finance ministry said it said it would keep bank accounts held by the Iranian central bank in Seoul open so as not to distrupt crude oil supply from the Gulf nation that supplies almost 10 percent of its oil needs.Legislation passed in Washington this week sought to...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama assured Jewish voters on Friday he remains committed to Israel's security and a two-state solution with the Palestinians as he defended himself against attacks on his policy from Republican presidential challengers. Obama, who has been criticized by Republicans and some in the American Jewish...

When people say factually inaccurate things, you can often tell whether they're deliberately mischaracterizing the truth or whether they just don't know what they're talking about. With Michele Bachmann, I really can't quite tell.

President Barack Obama has taken his containment policy through partnership to a new level this week by crowning Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki as a strategic player in the Arab-Iranian-Turkish equation.

>* Indian PM seeks to calm local concerns over nuclear power* Two countries urge Iran to cooperate with nuclear inspectorsBy Alexei AnishchukMOSCOW, Dec 16 (Reuters) - India plans to start up a Russian-built nuclear power plant within weeks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday, expressing confidence that the government...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Russia is emerging as the winner from international sanctions against Syria and stands to benefit even more if the European Union bans imports of Iranian crude, keeping Russia's Urals crude at stiff premiums for months more. Urals crude already has been fetching premiums over the North Sea...

  Iran will hunt down more U.S. spy drones if America continues to violate its air space, a senior Iranian military official warned Friday, the latest in triumphant rhetoric from Tehran over the capture of the unmanned aircraft two weeks ago. Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, Iran's former defense minister,...

Russia`s Federal Customs Service on Friday said it has seized radioactive material from the luggage of a man who was preparing to take a commercial flight from Moscow to Tehran. His whereabouts are unknown. A statement issued by the customs service said it discovered 18 pieces of radioactive metal which...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey, with strong backing from its Arab and Western allies, very much wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down -- but not just yet. Under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his post-Islamist ruling party Turkey has become the main organizing hub for Syria's opposition -- the...

>SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Ron Paul staged a strong defense of his anti-war views on Thursday in an outburst on foreign policy that might lose him support from fellow Republicans. Paul came into the debate rising in the polls, admired by many Republicans in the early-voting states...

What happened this year on the southern shore of the Mediterranean was far more than an outburst of political resistance

An army spokesman said emergency workers had recovered 97 bodies, most of them children, who drowned in floods.

Tehran, Dec 17 (ANI): A senior Iranian military official has warned that Tehran would hunt down more US surveillance drones if America continues to 'violate its air space'.

President told an audience of soldiers at Fort Bragg that the final pullout after nearly nine years of conflict is an 'historic' moment Barack Obama marked an end to a war he once described as "dumb" by declaring the conflict in Iraq a success and saying the last US troops...

Japan produced the lion's share of positive headlines when they claimed their fourth Asian title in memorable fashion. -AFP

I am writing this email to urge Americans to stand with me and support Israel during this most crucial time. Now, more than ever, Israel needs the support of the American people and government, to help her to combat the daily attacks it must face.

Fair enough. Barack Obama didn't appease Osama bin Laden. He killed him. And for ordering the raid and taking the risk, Obama deserves credit. Credit for decisiveness and political courage.

Artur Baghdasaryan is also scheduled to hold a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Partushev.

(MENAFN - Arab News) Arab stock markets closed lower last week as investors focused attention on fourth quarter results and steps being taken by European policymakers to come to grips with the euro ...

MOSCOW — Russia seized luggage containing the radioactive isotope sodium-22 yesterday at a Moscow airport from a passenger who was to travel on a flight to Tehran, the customs service said.“Tests showed that the sodium-22 could only have been obtained as the result of the work of a nuclear...

Tarek Mehanna’s lawyers summed up his defense with the same question that’s been asked since the Sudbury man’s arrest on terror-related charges more than two years ago: Who is Tarek Mehanna?

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the body has never entered any negotiations to persuade Baghdad to extend the presence of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Iraq.

SAADA, Yemen -- In the streets of this city's medieval quarter, the toll of Yemen's hidden wars became clear.

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TOKYO -- The Japanese government on Friday declared that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had reached a stable state known as "cold shutdown," a benchmark for progress in the fraught effort to decommission its reactors, expected to take four decades. But the formal status change at the plant, experts cautioned,...

Long after the cancer diagnosis of Christopher Hitchens, his columns and essays appeared regularly, savaging the royal family, revelling in the death of Osama bin Laden or pondering the letters of poet Philip Larkin.

Keynote Address at the International Crisis Group's "In Pursuit of Peace" Award Dinner Remarks Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Pier Sixty at Chelsea Pier New York, NY December 17, 2011 SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. (Applause.) Oh, my goodness. Well, if it ever were a secret. (Laughter.) Thank...

AIDS in Odessa How has AIDS affected society, people and culture in the Ukranian port town of Odessa? New Photography in China How has urbanization affected the way the Chinese express themselves?

The heart of Egypt's protests, which continue to take place today, is Tahrir Square. Tahrir anchors central Cairo, a neighbourhood with clothing shops, book vendors, restaurants and cafes. Nearby are government institutions, including the hulking, tan administrative building known as the Mogamma, which has been described as a "Kafkaesque monument...

"I'm back here ... behind the building ... see me waving my arms?" And there was Wayne Sneed, standing in the back parking lot of a Cordova office building, directing a GPS-challenged reporter to the offices of Orphanos, the Christian foundation Sneed established in 1997 to help children, particularly orphans, throughout...

The world is closing in on Iran , but not aggressively enough. It's time for Europe to deal the final blow.

This won’t be Vietnam, exactly. No helicopter whisking the last remaining Americans off the roof of the embassy. A contingent of 16,000 State Department contract employees — more than 5,000 of them armed mercenaries — will be staying on, running what’s left of the American operation in Iraq.

Intellpuke: This commentary was written by Spiegel Online journalist David Gordon Smith, writing under the German news magazine's column "The World From Berlin", which includes editorial comments by various German news organizations.

Eloquent, intemperate, urbane ... always a militant humanist. A farewell to Christopher Hitchens.

Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, "Islamic fascists" and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday at a hospital in Houston. He was 62.

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 6, the 340th day of 2011. There are 25 days left in the year.

A masterful essayist for whomnothing was sacred, he aroused praise and scorn in equal measure.

Video game systems are generating remarkable sales this holiday season. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is leading the pack (a million units sold just over the Black Friday weekend), while Sony and Nintendo also report higher than expected figures. Clearly driving the boom?

A year after Qatar became the first Arab country to win the right to host the World Cup, the tiny but wealthy Persian Gulf nation is immersed in efforts to make more history by bringing the Olympics to the Middle East in 2020. Flush with billions of dollars from oil...

Oil prices hovered below $98 a barrel Tuesday in Asia amid expectations Europe's debt crisis will hurt the continent's economic growth and demand for crude.

Oil prices inched down below $100 a barrel Wednesday in Asia amid expectations OPEC will likely keep its output quotas unchanged.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday portrayed the U.S. economy as slightly healthier and held off on any new steps to boost growth.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday defended a decision to begin collecting his pension early in addition to drawing a $150,000 salary as governor as nothing "out of the ordinary" since they are funds he accrued through his military and public service.

Colombo, Dec 17 : Iran is interested in attracting Sri Lankan banks and joint ventures in petroleum and pharmaceutical sectors.

Yahoo shares dropped Wednesday after Goldman Sachs advised investors to sell the struggling Internet company's stock.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil edged lower in volatile trading on Friday, posting a second consecutive weekly loss as caution about Europe's debt crisis and year-end positioning continued to spark selling into rallies. Weak trading volume as the holiday season approaches contributed to the choppy trading and both Brent and...

PESHAWAR, Dec 16: Iran and the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry have underscored the need to exchange delegations and hold exhibitions to promote trade between the two sides.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday ended the “Istanbul Process,” a three-day, closed-door international conference hosted by the State Department on measures to combat religious “intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization.” The conference was intended to “implement” last March’s UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18, on the same...

"A lot of American blood was spilled," he said. "Our American soldiers and Marines gave their best, and they were willing to give their lives not only for the Iraqi people, but also for their band of brothers." Danny Koch

Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt has acknowledged the extraordinary talent of Iranian experts in cyber warfare, reacting to the Iranian Army's recent downing of an aggressive US spy drone.

The United States, facing a rising China but a tighter budget, expects to station several combat ships in Singapore and may step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand, a naval officer said.

A former contract worker for a Boeing subsidiary that designs and builds aerial drones for the U.S. government and other clients pleaded not guilty in federal court this week to stealing a maintenance manual for the top-secret technology.

At 'center of nuclear weapons universe' 500-member paramilitary security force trains for worst-case scenarios Iran Warns of Downing Other U.S. Drones in Its Skies Drone Downed by Jammed GPS?

Yahoo! News - The CIA and the U.S. military may have a serious security flaw to deal with if an Iranian engineer's story proves to be true. Speaking to Christian Science Monitor (CSM), he detailed how a team of specialists from his country hacked into a …

By George Washington. Cross posted from Washington's Blog . If you want to know what the United States would look like after this bill is passed, just look at what’s been happening in Russia:  The Russian government has been crushing dissent under the pretext of enforcing copyright law.

Men described as defectors from the armed forces ambush a convoy of four jeeps on the outskirts of Hama Eight Syrian soldiers have been gunned down in an apparent revenge attack after security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed five civilians. In an incident that was seen as further...

Moscow, Dec 16: The Prime Minister of the Republic of India H.E. Dr Manmohan Singh paid an official visit to the Russian Federation from 15-17 December 2011 at the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation H.E. Dmitry Medvedev.

Listen to the Audio JUDY WOODRUFF: The next chapter in the WikiLeaks saga. Ray Suarez has our report. RAY SUAREZ: The normally tight security at Fort Meade, Md., outside Washington was tighter still today. It was the first court appearance for Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, accused as the prime...

Listen to the Audio JIM LEHRER: And to the analysis of Shields and Brooks, syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks. Mark, last night, Gingrich was clearly the major target of just about everybody. How did he go through it? MARK SHIELDS: Well, Jim, there's a great...

News items from around the world

Byrne Creek secondary has students from 70 different countries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is investigating a combination of pilot error and mechanical failure as possible causes for the crash of a classified U.S. drone in Iran and does not believe Iran brought down the plane, according to two U.S. government officials. The unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel...

Commenting on Iran's recent downing of an aggressive US drone, a former CIA agent says the Iranian Army's experts managed to hack the aircraft's cyber system and then brought it down.

The U.S. government lost a spy drone over Iran. Is it part of an ongoing covert war? Either Iranian forces shot it down or it fell out of the sky. We may never know which, but now the Obama administration wants it back. Iran says no.

U.S. Attorney's Office says groups associated with Hezbollah bought cars through dealerships across the country, then resold them to help launder money and fund the terrorist organization.

The Vatican is engaged in an attempt to resolve the nine-month-old crisis in Syria, while the United States is preparing to strike a deal with Iran to secure its vital interests in the region following its withdrawal from Iraq.

First Read: Rick Perry says Ron Paul's isolationist policies "make me nervous" and slammed Newt Gingrich's attempts to distance himself from the label of "lobbyist."

A year ago on Dec. 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire in despair with poverty and absence of any hope.

Christopher Hitchens, a Washington-based author, essayist and polemicist who waged verbal battle on behalf of causes left and right, has died aged 62.

The number of registered Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon has nearly reached the highs of April, which saw an influx of some 5,000 displaced cross the border.

Paul Bucha of Ridgefield. Photo: File Photo / CT In 2003, it was shock and awe and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, more than eight years later, it's over.

THE LEADING candidates for the Republican presidential nomination defended themselves against attacks by less favoured rivals in the 13th and last televised debate before the January 3rd Iowa caucuses.

The UN Security Council has decided to unfreeze the assets of two Libyan banks that had been under the control of Moammar Gadhafi.

Too little, too late A consortium of companies has published a set of security practices they want all web authentication authorities to follow for their secure sockets layer certificates to be trusted by browsers and other software.…

MALAYSIA opened accounts with two bronze medals in the final round of the ACC Asia Cup at the Kuala Lumpur Velodrome yesterday, which was marked by Fakhruddin Daud delivering his first medal at senior level in the 1km time trial.

President Barack Obama won several standing ovations at the URJ biennial. He pledged to support Israel and touted the social justice values at the core of the Reform movement.

KUALA LUMPUR: National back up squad riders made a positive start in the 2011 ACC Track Asia Cup at the Kuala Lumpur Velodrome, Cheras by winning two bronze medals here yesterday.

Almost simultaneous with the Interior Minister Rehman Malik's thank-you Taliban statement, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, head of the Bajaur Agency faction of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), disclosed that his group is in dialogue with the government to clinch a peace deal.

Conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh blasted Ron Paul during his radio broadcast Friday over Paul‘s statements at Thursday evening’s presidential debate. The Texas congressman said he would not sanction Iran even if the U.S. was privy to intelligence that Iran had a nuclear weapon.

With the rise of the Internet, digital piracy is a problem and copyright laws need some updating. Guest columnist Alex Alben cautions against a too-heavy hand that could hurt legitimate platforms.

Take everything that Iran says about its captured U.S. drone with a grain of salt. But its new claim that it spoofed the drone’s navigational controls isn’t implausible.

By Lauren Goodrich/ Stratfor/ Austin, Texas -- Tensions between the United States and Russia have risen in the past month over several long-standing problems, including ballistic missile defense (BMD) and supply lines into Afghanistan. Moscow and Washington also appear to be nearing another crisis involving Russian accession to the World Trade...

The omnibus appropriations deal made last night to stave off a government shutdown included a tiny change of 19 words that will allow the White House to issue an executive order that would dramatically increase the amount of disclosure around hidden political spending.

President Obama can't show enough love for the Jewish vote – er, community.

KUALA LUMPUR: Rain called a halt to the proceedings on the opening day of the final leg of the Track Asia Cup cycling championships as Malaysia bagged two bronze medals at the Cheras Velodrome yesterday.

Russian authorities found radioactive material on the luggage of a passenger on a flight from Moscow to Tehran.

The U.S. Congress has approved a controversial defense bill that would deny terror suspects, including U.S. citizens, the right to trial, permit authorities to detain them indefinitely and require the U.S. military to handle terror-suspected foreign nationals.

Republican White House hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney took aim at President Barack Obama more than each other late on Thursday in their final debate before the first nominating event in Iowa.

(CNN) – Texas Gov. Rick Perry expressed dismay on Friday over rival Ron Paul's call at Thursday night's debate to ease sanctions on Iran. "I was really taken aback by the power of [Paul's] statement from the standpoint of allowing the Mullahs and a madman to come into possession of...

The United States on Friday handed its last prisoner in Iraq, a Hezbollah operative accused of plotting the killing of five US soldiers, to Iraqi authorities, sparking a political furor in Washington.

President Obama today said his administration has done more than any other to support Israel and declared his commitment to Israel’s security to be “unshakable.” “I am proud to say that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel’s security than ours. None....

If QUALCOMM has anything to say about it, our GPS and location services will be much more accurate shortly. The company has announced that its Snapdragon S2 and S3 platforms now support Russian...

President Obama told a gathering of Reform Jewry not to let anyone challenge his record of support for Israel, which he said was “unprecedented.”

Inspectors at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport said Friday they had found 18 cylinders of radioactive Sodium-22 in luggage bound for Iran and were searching for the shipment's owners.

(CNN) – Michele Bachmann accused fellow GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich of talking down to her at the debate Thursday night, saying the former House speaker is "memory challenged." "Well, frankly, I thought that it was outrageous and insulting, the way that he seemed to treat me like I...

On Friday, U.S forces transferred the last prisoner they had been holding in Iraq over to Iraqi officials, CNN reports. Ali Mussa Daqduq, a senior Lebanese militant suspected of helping plot a 2007 ambush in Karbala that killed five U.S troops, was transferred into Iraqi custody, National Security...

Release Time:  For Immediate Release Gaylord Hotel National Harbor, Maryland 2:37 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you so much.  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Please, please have a seat.  You’re making me blush.  (Laughter.)  Thank you, Eric, for that extraordinary introduction and for...