News Archive - 21 December 2011

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent futures rose towards $108 on Thursday, gaining for a fourth straight day, as a sharp drop in U.S. crude stocks overshadowed persistent worries that the euro zone debt crisis would curtail global oil demand. U.S. government data showed domestic crude stocks fell 10.6...

>Ten journalists were killed in Pakistan, most of them murdered, making it the most dangerous country for news coverage for the second year running.With pro-democracy demonstrations prompting violent reprisals from Arab governments, the number of reporters killed in the Middle East doubled to 20 this year.A similar number...

>France had appealed against a decision by a lower EU court that ordered the European bloc to remove the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) from its terrorism list, but the European Court of Justice rejected the appeal.It upheld a 2008 decision by the ECJ's court of first instance,...

>RIYADH/TEHRAN (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told U.S. diplomats that by toppling the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the United States had presented Iraq to Iran "on a golden platter." That assessment, recorded in a 2005 embassy cable released by WikiLeaks, was affirmed in the eyes of Saudi...

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister said on Wednesday Iraq would invite more regional meddling in the country's affairs if its leaders failed to solve quickly a political crisis between the Shi'ite-led government and Sunni rivals. "This aggravation is not in anybody's interests," Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd, told Reuters in...

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority rejected a call for all-party talks on Wednesday, ignoring U.S. pressure for dialogue to resolve a sectarian crisis that has erupted since American forces left the country this week. With fears mounting that the nation of 30 million might one day fragment...

>BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq on Wednesday extended a year-end deadline to close an Iranian dissident camp by six months, responding to a request by the U.N., which is mediating the resettlement of its more than 3,000 residents, to delay the closure. The 25-year-old Camp Ashraf, home to the...

>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Press freedom groups condemned the arrests of dozens of journalists across Turkey this week, which rights groups say could make it one of the countries with the most reporters in jail. France-based Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday it was "astonished" at the scale and manner of...

>PARIS/ANKARA (Reuters) - Relations between France and rising regional power Turkey are likely to nose-dive after a vote in the French parliament on Thursday that would make it a crime to deny that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians was genocide. Faced with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's open hostility to...

>DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Nation's top human rights official said on Wednesday Bahrain was failing to prosecute security forces who tortured people during anti-government protests in February and was still using excessive force against civilians. "We continue to receive reports of the repression of small protests in Bahrain," U.

>"The five were kidnapped on Wednesday at 0630 a.m. while heading to their work place ... We demand their immediate release," Mehr quoted a statement issued by the Iranian embassy in Damascus as saying.Syria's state news agency SANA reported that eight engineers "of different nationalities" had disappeared after heading...

>* Traders do not see Tupras buying extra from IranLONDON Dec 21 (Reuters) - Turkey's biggest crude oil importer Tupras has renewed its annual deal to buy crude oil from Iran for 2012, at almost the same volumes as this year, industry sources familiar with the matter said.They said...

Beirut — Government forces surrounded residents of a restive Syrian village in a valley and killed all those trapped inside — more than 100 people — in a barrage of rockets, tank shells, bombs and gunfire that lasted for hours, a witness and two activist groups said Wednesday.

City Tree Commission plays important role I was disturbed by comments from the acting Urban Forestry Manager Karen DeMaria in the article on the Little White House tree-cutting dispute. She said... read more

With the only hurdle to entry in the New Hampshire presidential primary being a $1,000 filing fee, all sorts of fringe candidates are on the ballot as options for voters next month. One of them is Rockport resident Vermin Supreme.

(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Qatar's biggest shopping carnival of the year, the Doha Trade Fair (DTF) 2012, is geared up to welcome thousands of expected visitors from home and throughout the region ...

The founders of Google Inc. and eBay Inc. attacked Hollywood-backed anti-piracy legislation in the U.S. House and Senate that they said would threaten the technology industry and lead to Web censorship.

(MENAFN - Arab News) Fitch Ratings says in its latest global Sovereign Review and Outlook report that although growth in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will slow in 2012 to 4 percent from ...

Higher demand from emerging economies also raises outlook for oil consumption

Cancer weakened, but did not soften Christopher Hitchens. He did not repent or forgive or ask for pity. As if granted diplomatic immunity, his mind's eye looked plainly upon the attack and counterattack of disease and treatments that robbed him of his hair, his stamina, his speaking voice and eventually...

KARACHI: Fruit exporters have urged the commerce minister to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Indonesia before next month to avail the duty relaxation under the agreement by January 2012.

The rupee volatility has taken a toll on the rupee trade with Iran even before it could take off. Exporters to the region have been left to fend for themselves, as both governments wait for the rupee to stabilise.

MADRID, Dec 21, 2011 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday launches a television news service for Spanish-speakers worldwide, the channel said.

When Heidi Elneil was a little girl growing up in Moorpark, her faith came up in school only when her mother visited her classroom once a year to read a book about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. That changed on Sept. 11, 2001, after which the middle school student...

As North Korea transitions from the era of bad-hair Kim Jong Il to that of buzz-cut Kim Jong Un, foreign-policy mavens advise us that ensuring stability in the peninsula obliges us to closely follow China’s cues. OK: Beijing does hold some important cards to taming the world’s worst...

Kissinger’s new book “On China” has not touched on South Asia in the context of Sino-American relations. There are a few passing references on Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, but not on Nepal or Bangladesh. It does not see what the countries in China’s neighbourhood think about China, and Sino-American relations...

Behzad Khalilzadeh was a reporter in Tehran when he says a confidential source in Iran’s intelligence agency gave him a tip about the grim fate of Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi, who died in an Iranian prison

But GCC states still have ample fiscal reserves to stimulate their economies if needed

The final Morgan face-to-face poll for the year is a surprisingly good one for Labor, producing a set of primary vote figures that scans out to 50-50 on two-party preferred if minor party and independent preferences are allocated in the same proportions as per the 2010 election result (the method...

SINGAPORE - Oil prices hovered below US$99 a barrel Thursday in Asia as signs of improving U.S. crude demand were offset by ongoing concerns about Europe's debt crisis. Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 10 cents to $98.77 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading...

Within moments of the announcement of the death of Kim Jong Il, the fastest brains in the West were firing away with clever comments about how the 2011 deaths of Kim, Moammar Gadhafi and Osama Bin Laden reflected well on President Barack Obama and were somehow linked. Some threw in...

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN)- At least 26 bodies of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and several other countries whose boat sank in Prigi water, Trenggalek, East Java, were found in Banyuwangi waters, East Java, on Wednesday night.

Kota Kinabalu: National archer Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh will be looking forward to another great season in the coming new year.

The gloves off between Selangor exco Dr Hasan Ali with the backing of tok guru Nik Aziz and his son, PAS Youth Deputy Chairman Nik Abduh aided by former PAS Secretary General Nashruddin Mat Isa versus PAS Deputy President Mat Sabu and Selangor PAS Deputy Commissioner Khalid Samad.

Here's the top 10 odd stories from around the world found on the 3 News website in 2011.

Oil prices slightly higher Associated Press Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 07:17 a.m., Wednesday, December 21, 2011 NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices rose Wednesday after an industry group said U.S. crude supplies fell last...

The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says, during the 2000s, the country managed to deter an invasion planned against it by its enemies.

Sixty-six journalists were killed and more than 1,000 arrested this year. -AFP

All Hollywood wants for Christmas this year is to see Congress pass the Stop Online Piracy Act — and the industry’s thrown Santa-sacks of cash at lawmakers in hopes of making the copyright scofflaws on their “naughty list” disappear. But the law, which would empower the US government to start...

Oil gained for a fourth day in New York after U.S. crude inventories declined the most in a decade as refiners sought to reduce tax bills, signaling tighter supplies in the world’s biggest consumer of the commodity.

The intelligence operative sits in a leather club chair, laptop open, one floor below the Hilton Kuala Lumpur’s convention rooms, scanning the airwaves for spies.

Paris - Sixty-six journalists were killed worldwide in 2011, many of them covering Arab revolutions, gang crime in Mexico or political turmoil in Pakistan, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Thursday.

CURSING is a human trait rooted in culture. Sometimes it has religious sanction, at other times it exudes political exigency.

At this time of Christmas and thoughts of peace on earth we should reflect that the world over most of public opinion is ignorant of just how much violence has declined over the last 3,000 years.

North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Il's death is raising tough questions not only of policy but also of protocol, with major world powers divided on whether and how to offer condolences.

The idea that the Gulf Cooperation Council move from cooperation to unity is highly significant. The idea put forward by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz at the GCC’s 32nd Summit in Riyadh has been hailed by other regional leaders who have pledged to...

Little masters match wits at international U-5 chess tourney

Former US president Bill Clinton said in a television interview to be shown Wednesday that President Barack Obama should not rule out military action on Iran, but there might be other ways "to skin the cat."

UNITED NATIONS — US Ambassador Susan Rice urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to redouble efforts to implement sanctions against Iran, saying tougher action could slow the country’s nuclear program and “show Iran there is a price to pay for its deception.”

Iraq's government has marked its first anniversary in turmoil with escalating tension between factions.

An Iranian-American ex-Marine accused of spying on his ancestral homeland helped develop an electronic translator for U.S. troops but wouldn't have been involved in espionage, a onetime colleague said Wednesday.

“Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear!” is the headline circulating on Facebook as we face the current eurocrisis and potential second wave of global financial crisis. But this headline could also describe the recent panic around Swedbank, soon after Latvijas Krajbanka was declared bankrupt.

Flowers of War has a multitude of advantages over its rivals in the Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Arab League officials arrive in Syria on Thursday to prepare for monitors overseeing an Arab peace plan, after activists said President Bashar al-Assad's forces carried out the deadliest assault in their nine-month crackdown on protests.

US Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has lashed out at Washington's engagement in 'perpetual war,' calling on the US administration to mind its 'own business.'

The history of our relations with the Continent has for centuries been one of persistently trying to stand apart and just as persistently having to get involved at the last. It's going to be exactly the same with the euro.

IRAN SAID yesterday that five of its technicians had been kidnapped in the Syrian city of Homs, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

BY ALL accounts, 2011 was a particularly eventful year. Leadership was tested and found wanting, governments fell, economies were shaken, natural calamities wrought huge destruction and uncertainty stalked the planet like never before.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday his country would become a major gasoline exporter by 2013, despite the West’s toughest ever sanctions on the Islamic state.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the Persian Gulf Arab states' repeated allegations against Tehran of intervention in the countries.

Ron Paul's 2012 campaign is beginning to gather some serious steam. He has polled first in some Iowa polls and third in national polls.

Tehran (AFP) Dec 21, 2011 Iranian officials, lawmakers and media on Wednesday worriedly snapped their focus on to their country's sanctions-hit economy amid a sudden and accelerating plunge in the currency. The currency, the rial, was trading at 15,800 to the dollar - its lowest point ever, and an indication...

The family of a Flint native, held in Iran, accused of being a CIA spy. says they were urged to keep quiet with the promise of an eventual release.

Four passengers have been killed after a boat filled with Indonesians going home for Christmas sank.

Nepal has endorsed a pact that will enable it connect the railway lines it is planning to develop with Asian and European networks to facilitate the uninterrupted movement of people and goods.

CALGARY, Alberta – Imperial Oil Ltd. said Wednesday it will go ahead with an $8.9 billion Canadian (US$8.6 billion) expansion to its Kearl oil sands mine in Alberta. The Calgary-based oil producer and refiner said the second phase of the project is slated to begin producing 110,000 barrels...

The Cabinet has decided to disallow new cars or old cars without CNG kits to be fitted with new kits.

The standoff over Iran's nuclear program heads into 2012 with virtually no positive signs for movement. Domestic politics in Tehran and Washington make conciliatory initiatives unlikely. read more

Jamie Dimon, the highest-paid chief executive officer among the heads of the six biggest U.S. banks, turned a question at an investors’ conference in New York this month into an occasion to defend wealth.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri won over the weekend Iran's backing for a Saudi-Syrian initiative to break the deadlock in Lebanon over an international court to try his father's assassins, with the Iranian administration reiterating the need to bolster Lebanese national unity to face threats, sources close to Hariri said.

NEW YORK: Oil prices rose strongly for a second day running on Wednesday after official data showed that crude inventories fell by far more than expected in the United States.

Robert Siegel speaks with Dennis Ross, counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Ross recently left his post as special assistant to President Obama on Iran and the Middle East at the National Security Council. Ross' involvement with Middle East diplomacy dates back to the Reagan administration. They...

Everyone will agree that 2011 was a busy year in the field of data security, so as the year draws to a close it seems appropriate to begin the process of distilling our experiences into "lessons learned" that we can take into 2012. read more

— Mehdi Kiawer’s Canadian dream has been met with a sea of red tape and a devastating delay.

New poll finds most think crude will stay strong

MIRI: Sejajar dengan usaha membantu penuntut pascasiswazah dalam penyelidikan, Sekolah Perniagaan di Curtin Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) baru-baru [...]

What Egyptian women are showing us today is truly revolutionary because they are refusing to be sidelined in determining the future of their country. They were and are a part of Egypt's revolution.

Classroom costs Congratulations to Waukegan for being able to add 116 classrooms to multiple schools throughout their school district. However, I have to ask one question. Isn’t close to $320,000 per classroom a little exorbitant? I don’t understand how this could happen in a city which is on the verge...

Iran Wednesday launched the Hispan TV, a Spanish-language TV channel, to strengthen closer ties with the Spanish-speaking nations, the official media reported.

Frankincense, a festive fragrance that has been harvested in the wild in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa since ancient times, is declining so dramatically that production of the resin could be halved over the next fifteen years, according to a new study published in the Journal of...

ILIGAN, PHILIPPINES - Philippine President Benigno Aquino Tuesday announced a state of national calamity after a review of the situation in typhoon hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in the Mindanao region where the death toll has reached 957.

WASHINGTON - The US government is alarmed by the prospect of a group of European scientists publishing details of how they have created a deadly strain of avian flu that can infect and kill millions of people.

An Italian oil tanker with five crew members seized by Somali pirates in February has been freed, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

Indonesian military investigating claims three soldiers were involved in last weekend's asylum seeker boat tragedy.

R. Kelly says he is ready to film another 22 chapters of his hip-hopera, 'Trapped in the Closet'

A summary of trading in key commodities markets overseas:ENERGYOil prices rose Wednesday after a government report showed a dramatic drop in US crude supplies.Benchmark crude rose $US1.43 to $US98.67 a ...

Baghdad (AFP) Dec 21, 2011 Iraq's government marked its first anniversary Wednesday in turmoil as its premier urged Kurd officials to hand over the Sunni vice president on terror charges, in a row that has raised communal tension. Washington has urged calm, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened to replace...

The European Union is now blocking importation of lethal injection technology into the United States

Baghdad (AFP) Dec 21, 2011 With US forces having completed their pullout, Iraqis are hopeful their country will regain its lofty status in the Arab world, but one group expects little to change for the better: women. Until the 1980s, Iraqi women were widely considered to have more rights than...

In the last installment of our informal survey of Iraqis around the country on the pullout of U.S. forces, we visit Babil Province, home to the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has determined that Malta was being used as a front to deliver missiles and other military equipment to Iran. Copyrights 2008, Middle East Newsline.

COMMENTARY | Rasmussen has released a poll that has further muddied the waters in the less than two weeks leading to the Iowa caucus. It places Mitt Romney in the lead at 25 percent, with Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich trailing at 20 percent and 17 percent.

Last week famed journalist Christopher Hitchens succumbed to esophageal cancer, leaving behind a legacy we can all learn from

Find out how your senator voted on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has significantly changed its assessment on Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities. Officials said the U.S. intelligence community now believes Iran was capable of nuclear weapons assembly based on its capacity to enrich uranium and develop a warhead.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have rallied in support of President Bashar al-Assad government in the capital Damascus, chanting slogans in favor of his planned reforms.

An e-mail tips the scales at about "two-ten thousandths of a quadrillionth of an ounce." But what the Internet is doesn't matter; what it carries, that matters. Ideas aren't like chairs or tables. They have their own physics. They make their own weight.

Republican White House hopeful Ron Paul, courting Iowa voters who are key to his campaign, called Wednesday for a "minding our own business" US foreign policy and an end to "perpetual war."

> The festival's board of directors voted to approve the new tenures on Tuesday, as well as to give Fremaux more power, according to several reports. Also read: Iran Blasts Cannes' von Trier Banishment; Director Defends Festival Fremaux has served as the festival's artistic director since 2008. The new contract give...

The year 1989 brought along a geopolitical quake of big magnitude, too little anticipated by specialists – historians, politologists, sociologists economists etc. One by one, like in a classic domino scheme, communist regimes in the Centre and South East of Europe collapsed like sand castles.