News Archive - 11 March 2012

Two Palestinians were martyred in Israeli air strikes near the Gaza town of Khan Yunis on Monday morning, bringing the toll in three days of violence to 20, medics told AFP. A first man, named as 24-year-old Suleiman Abu Mutlaq, was martyred in a raid east of Khan Yunis, while...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed aside the US and Israeli military threats against the Islamic Republic, saying their options can remain on the table until they rot. The hegemonic powers frequently spout rude and bullying diatribes against the Iranian nation, Ahmadinejad said in an address to a gathering in the city...

IRI Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi has called for closer cooperation between the Islamic Republic and Zimbabwe, particularly in defense industry and trade. Salehi made the remarks during a meeting with Zimbabwean Defense Minister Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa in Tehran on Sunday. The two sides highlighted their good bilateral political relations and...

>DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a fresh tirade against the West, saying the Islamic Republic does not fear military action, Iranian media reported on Sunday. "The Iranian nation doesn't fear your bombs and warships and planes. Such weapons are worth nothing," the Fars News Agency quoted...

I.R.Iran has inked an agreement with Syria on construction of a 470 MW combined cycle power plant in Swaida city in south of the Syrian capital city, Damascus, according to IRNA. Abbas Aliabadi, managing director of Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA), added that the construction peration...

An occupying US soldier went on a shooting spree in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, killing at least 17 innocent Afghan civilians and wounding several others, according to Press TV. The shooting took place early Sunday in the district of Panjwaii in southern Kandahar province. The NATO-led International Security Assistance...

IRI Foreign Ministry in a statement Sunday condemned in strong terms the Israeli attacks against the defenseless Palestinian people in Gaza. The statement denounced the relentless aggressions as war crimes, adding that the Zionist regime's assassination of Zuhair al-Qobeisi, Secretary General of the Palestinian Popular Committee was a case of...

IRI Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi voiced on Sunday Iran’s readiness to help Zimbabwe promote its defense strength. Vahidi made the remark during his first round of talks with the visiting Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. Condemning the unjust sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, the Iranian minister hoped the country...

>* Improving U.S. economy, supply disruptions still support (Adds details)By Florence TanSINGAPORE, March 12 (Reuters) - Oil fell on Monday for the first time in four sessions, with Brent slipping towards $125 as global demand concerns took centrestage following weak Chinese exports, countering support from supply disruption worries in...

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has ended talks with President Bashar al-Assad and left Syria with little sign of progress on halting the country's growing political bloodshed. "I am optimistic for several reasons," Annan said in Damascus on Sunday. "The situation is so bad and...

>The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $3.8148 on March 9, according to the survey of gasoline retailers in the continental United States.Drivers in Denver saw the lowest pump price at $3.36 per gallon, nearly a $1 lower than the Los Angeles price...

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said it would be hard to reach a deal to halt bloodshed in Syria, but expressed optimism after meeting President Bashar al-Assad for a second day on Sunday. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be difficult but we...

>* Housing costs suggest new supply not yet on line* Analysts expect further rise in rentals; demand strong* Data unlikely to prompt any change in monetary policy* But follows news bank loan growth highest since May 2009By Asma AlsharifJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, March 11 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's annual inflation rate...

The Urbana-Champaign Peace Initiative hosted U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the McKinley Foundation on Saturday, where the senator discussed American foreign policy regarding the Middle East and tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Two recent polls show that mor...

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U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham called the civilian slayings Sunday in Afghanistan "tragic." However, the U.S. must keep fighting in Afghanistan, Graham said on ABC's "This Week."

KENOSHA — WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, visit its website at www.wgtd.org.

Oil prices fell below $107 a barrel Monday in Asia as a slowdown in China's trade suggested demand for crude could weaken.

Opening This Week Being Flynn A young man (Paul Dano) wrestles with whether to make another effort to reach out to his estranged, con-man father (Robert De Niro).

In November, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) attempted to filter 1,500 words out of SMS messages. The initiative was ridiculed into oblivion, and one thought the government would take .....

Since Friday (9 March) Israel has been under a sustained rocket and mortar attack. As of Sunday morning (Israel time), more than 130 rockets had been launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip at major population centers in southern Israel.

Editor: The opportunity for an intelligent exchange of views on U.S. foreign policy issues should be interesting and informative. Unfortunately, Carol Gladstone's Guest Column of Feb.

London/Washington (dpa) - A White House visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron presents welcome relief after a week that saw six British soldiers killed by a Taliban bomb in Afghanistan - Britain‘s worst-ever loss of life from a Taliban attack.Cameron faced criticism over the botched attempt to free...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MCT) — Despite President Barack Obama’s assurances that the United States will know if Iran begins to secretly build a nuclear bomb, some senior officials familiar with U.S. intelligence and spying capabilities in Iran are doubtful.

HOW has Barack Obama done as US president so far? Clearly many Pakistanis have a less than positive view — though interestingly, Pakistani expectations for Obama were never as high as in much of the rest of the world.

>ABILENE, Kansas (Reuters) - Former President Dwight Eisenhower is hardly mentioned during the Republican campaign for the White House this year even though the reputation of the World War Two general-turned-politician is rising among a record number of scholars studying his presidency. Some 800 scholars, journalists, graduate students and others...

MANILA, Philippines - Bad news for motorists. There's another possible oil price hike this week. Reports say diesel and gasoline prices will rise again by 25 centavos per liter.

STOCKTAKE:ARING oil prices and Iranian tensions are a source of increasing angst. Iran produces almost 3.5 million barrels per day and a supply shock would dwarf last year’s Libyan losses.

The hopes that special envoy Kofi Annan would manage to establish a ceasefire in Syria was unrealistic. But his trip was still important, says DW's Daniel Scheschkewitz.

Eyewitness News has learned some of Bill Richardson’s fees were paid by an Iranian dissident group listed on the U.S. State Department’s list of known terrorist groups.

Tehran, March 12 (IANS) Iranian and Indian business leaders have pledged to boost trade ties. Currently, the bilateral trade is worth $15 billion and expected to hit $25 billion by 2016.

Reporters Without Borders has added Bahrain and the eastern European state of Belarus to its list of Enemies of the Internet. Countries on the list are accused of cyber censorship and restricting freedom of information.

Across East Alabama, folks are downright angry about the rising costs of gas and they have every reason to be. So am I.According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.76. In February, it was $3.47. So in one month, it has...

"A Separation," a movie from Iran that was this year's Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film, is playing in area theaters. Photo: Contributed Photo / Westport News contributed

The heightened oil market irony seems to be getting out of hands. After a considerably steady journey with 15% YoY rise in January CY12, Brent crude started to escalate in February exceeding $125 per barrel.

All the pesky troubles facing politicians today will fade into irrelevancy if Israel (read Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) decides to attack Iran’s nuclear weapon capabilities.

"All options are on the table" is an oft heard phrase in the recent discourse revolving around the Iranian nuclear programme.

Asghar Farhadi, the director who won Iran's first-ever Oscar for his movie A Separation, says he would never leave his homeland despite his newfound fame - but his next film was being made abroad.

Osama Bin Laden was betrayed by one of his wives who revealed the location of his Pakistan hideaway because she was jealous of the Al-Qaeda leader's youngest spouse, it was claimed today.

That's right. Americans are way more concerned about foreign holdings of US debt than they are about the prospect of war in Iran.

When the makers of "Top Gun" were filming on board the USS Enterprise, they donated a set of black fuzzy dice to liven up the ship's otherwise drab interior.

Top U.S. officials all the way up to President Barack Obama are predicting the Syrian regime’s days are numbered.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will arrive in the U.S. this week on an official visit, AFP reported. President Barack Obama has repeatedly called the United Kingdom a good ally and has stepped up his praise in advance of Cameron's arrival. The visit will include a State Dinner at...

Days after an Indian journalist was arrested for the terror attack on an Israeli diplomat, the national security adviser of Israel Yaakov Amidror will meet home minister P Chidambaram and his counterpart Shivshankar Menon.

COMMENTARY | It is always entertaining to read what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has to say. In fact, it's one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning. Today, he did not disappoint. Come to find out, the Iranian political leader isn't afraid of any...

KUCHING: Oil and gas (O&G) players face a risk of seeing crude oil price spiralling to its all-time [...]

A Bahraini youth died over the weekend of a police gunshot wound sustained at the start of the month, the Gulf state’s main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq said.

After Abdullah Andalusi’s talk on ‘Sharia is best for the West’, some friends and I were trying to work out if there was any way of writing an article on it that was not absurd or that wouldn’t only be more boring to write than it would to read.

Fighters Who Thrilled! The Ten Most Exciting (a personal appreciation)

Today at noon Eastern, the storied aircraft carrier Enterprise, aka CVN-65 , left its home port of Naval Station Norfolk one final time for its final voyage with a heading: Arabian Sea, aka Iran. There in a week it will join CVN 72 Lincoln and CVN 70 Vinson, as well...

The streak is over. Gas prices dropped slightly last week, on Tuesday, marking the first nationwide drop since January 26, AAA Mid-Atlantic reported. Prices varied widely, with motorists seeing statio

President Barack Obama has a PR problem when it comes to Afghanistan, to say the least.

The US will continue to maintain air bases and special forces in Afghanistan post-2014 to ensure that the Taliban never comes back, a top American Senator said.

Even more important than the refusal to open the door to a potential attack by Israel on Iran was a strategic development that has not yet received the illumination it deserves: President Obama's recalibration of the alliance between the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East.

WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- One-half to two-thirds in Jordan, Iran, Algeria, the Palestinian Territories, Turkey and Lebanon are satisfied with local access to healthcare, a survey says.

For a few crazy days late in the 2008 presidential campaign, Joe the Plumber was a comet shooting across the horizon of Republican politics - a flash of heat and energy for a GOP campaign that was destined to burn out soon enough.

Hundreds of Muslim women gathered near Tunis Saturday to call for the return of the caliphate.

The Philippines will nominate the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park as its fifth Wetland of International Importance when the Ramsar Convention holds its Conference of Parties in July this year in Bucharest, Romania.

Here’s your digital ticket to hundreds of sacred places on the other side of the world.

In 2008, Hillary Rodham Clinton was defeated and discredited during the Democratic presidential campaigns. The secretary of state is now celebrated as a diplomat and rock star around the globe.

NORFOLK, Va. — When the makers of “Top Gun” were filming on board the USS Enterprise, they donated a set of black fuzzy dice to liven up the ship’s otherwise drab interior.

Stocks: Bull market enters fourth year

On the morning of May 9, 2006, Amos Yadlin, Israel’s head of military intelligence, walked away from his parliamentary committee meeting with a sense of triumph. He knew he had successfully shifted Israel’s national agenda. “Iran. The story is Iran,” said an aide, before sidestepping reporters into a waiting elevator.

Some analysts say the lack of certainty over what Israel will do is Israel’s greatest advantage — convincing the world that it will go after Iran unless the rest of the international community steps in and stops it. Others say Israel is serious in its threats and already has drawn...

Israeli officials acknowledge that the widespread acceptance in the West that Iran is on the verge of building a nuclear weapon isn’t based just on the findings of Israeli intelligence operatives, but relies in no small part on a steady media campaign that the Israelis have undertaken to persuade the...

THE global shipping slump is expected to last well into 2013 as a glut of vessels and a growing credit squeeze will challenge even the toughest companies in the seaborne sector, Moody's Investor Service said. Shipping companies, especially in the oil tanker and dry bulk sectors, already hit by worsening...

The Los Angeles Unified board may vote to eliminate a program that provides basics to students who otherwise have few choices. The students come from Peru and Korea, Malaysia and Iran. Some are teenagers, others are grandparents. And on a recent morning, as they do each day, they gathered in...

TEHERAN (AFP) - Iran on Sunday called Israel's deadly air strikes on Gaza 'war crimes' against 'the defenceless Palestinian people,' calling for an international outcry against the attacks. Related Stories Snap elections in Greece after April 15: Coalition partner Egypt court clears army doctor in 'virginity tests' case Israel Gaza...

Seized by corruption; desperate for liberation. With the country drowning under the grasp of a vicious, totalitarian military dictatorship, a revolution erupted in the Horn of Africa: a rampant rhino, ebulliently stampeding for justice.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — New gear grabbed attention at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Winter Symposium. Some improved on the current supply, such as better eye protection offered by Wiley X. Others leaped into next-generation technology, such as Sikorsky’s coaxial Raider helicopter.

Until recently, the United States was a big net importer of oil, while Britain was a small net exporter of oil. This meant that higher oil prices harmed the U.S. economy, but had a slightly positive effect on the U.K. economy. Now the two nations are switching roles.

Israel will continue air strikes against Gaza "as long as necessary," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, giving no indication that a ground operation was likely for now.

Washington, Mar 11: US President Barack Obama is set to warmly welcome UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha on an official visit with a state dinner" at the White House this week after describing the UK as "closest partner in the world."

Last year, the official Ankara decided to host the early warning radar in a military facility base near Malatya.

Joint UN-Arab League envoy acknowledges that it would be difficult to reach a deal to halt the bloodshed.

TEHRAN, March 11 (MNA) – Like many other scholars Nicholas Onuf is of the view that Hegemony is not directly dependent on military superiority.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum swung across conservative southern Missouri on Saturday, seeking to carry the momentum eastward from a big win in the neighboring Kansas caucuses by linking his chief Republican rivals to the policies of Democratic President Barack Obama.

The ten must-read comment pieces from this morning's newspapers. Simon Hughes says the Lib Dems are committed to tougher regulation of the City.

Millions of Americans are still searching for jobs or facing home foreclosures. But pockets of strength found in energy, technology, manufacturing, autos, agriculture and elsewhere are helping invigorate the broader economy. read more

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the West should drop its "bullying" stance against his country and insisted that sanctions imposed over its nuclear program were having no more than a "psychological" effect.

All of Japan's nuclear power plants will be offline by April and might never restart. That's forcing the country to increase its reliance on coal, oil and natural gas. This could cost the country an extra $100 million per day and significantly increase carbon dioxide emissions. read more

>DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates' economy grew an estimated 3.3 percent in 2011, the economy minister was quoted as saying on Sunday, slower than analysts had expected but still more than double the pace seen in the previous year. Economy Minister Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri said the...

TEHRAN - Iranian car manufacturers produced over 1.5 million cars in the first eleven months of this calendar year (started on March 21, 2011), Mehr news agency reported.

That's entertainment

(MENAFN - Arab Times) KCIC, an investment firm specializing in investments in Asia, recently held a closed session for over 75 investors and analysts in Kuwait in partnership with NBK, giving them ...

(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) The 10th International Cement Trade and Industry Conference (INTERCEM), organized by Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC), is to kick off at the Doha Sheraton Hotel on ...