News Archive - 26 March 2012

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the problems of the present world, including those of Afghanistan, stem from the expansionist policies of NATO member states, adding that the problems remain nearly insolvable as long as the policies linger. The president said the Islamic Republic will remain side by side the friendly...

The US and EU sanctions against Iran’s energy sector can trigger a recession in the eurozone and hit the global economy by dramatically lifting oil prices, an economic analyst says. Western sanctions have so far failed to halt Iran’s nuclear energy program, “but have caused an oil price spike that...

Hundreds of American people descended on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Monday evening to denounce the slaying last month of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and demand that an arrest be made in the highly charged Florida case. The rally came the same day that hundreds of people joined...

Two months after revoking Press TV's license in the UK, the British government's media tool, Ofcom, has forced the channel to pay a 100,000-pound fine, threatening to confiscate Press TV Ltd.'s properties in London, if it does not make the payment. Ofcom has also threatened to wind up Press...

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on Monday underlined the need for further expansion of all-out ties, particularly in the area of economy. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the the Fifth Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA V) underway in Dushanbe,...

A US war veteran has criticized Washington for the war in Afghanistan and the recent massacre of Afghan civilians by American troops, according to Press TV. Addressing the ‘Toronto Vigil for the Afghan Massacre,” the army-clad veteran challenged the US policy of war and its negative impacts on the lives...

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a railway construction project between Tehran and Ashgabat will develop the entire region. President Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a meeting with Turkmen Vice-President Khajeh Mohammadov Sunday evening. The meeting was held in Turkmenistan on the sidelines of the third International Nowruz Celebrations. The Iranian...

Zionist regime has escalated its arrest campaigns in lines of Palestinian citizens since the start of 2012 and rounded up around 900 including children, women, lawmakers, and ex-captives. The statistics report prepared by the human rights activist Abdulnasser Farwana and published on Saturday said that the figures cover the period...

People who sleep less than six hours per night or more than eight are more likely to suffer heart problems than people who sleep between six and eight hours, AFP quoted a US study as saying on Sunday. The findings confirm those in previous, smaller studies, but are based on...

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday regretted that the United Nations lacks a specific and transparent strategy on Afghanistan’s affairs. In a meeting with Jan Kubis, UN special envoy to Afghanistan in Dushanbe, where he is on a visit for international Norouz celebrations, President Ahmadinejad stressed that the issue of...

>* Investors' appetite for riskier assets boosted* Sudan president suspends meeting after clashes with South SudanBy Florence TanSINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - Brent held steady above $125 on Tuesday as comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve indicating easy monetary policy would remain in place for some time raised investors'...

>SEOUL (Reuters) - Japan steered off the agenda at a nuclear security summit on Tuesday to hit out at North Korea's plans for a rocket launch next month, as U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned against complacency in dealing with the threat of nuclear terrorism. North Korea and Iran's nuclear...

>* Middle East shield would focus on Gulf Cooperation Council* China, Russia seen as likely to object to such projectsBy Jim WolfWASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking to build regional shields against ballistic missiles in both Asia and the Middle East akin to a controversial defense...

>FUNDAMENTALSNYMEX crude for May delivery was up 2 cents at $107.05 a barrel by 8.36 p.m. EDT, after settling up 16 cents at $107.03 on Monday.The contract rose as high as $108.25 on Friday, the highest intraday level since March 2, supported by concerns...

>* Most sellers still dislike open credit terms* Glencore, Totsa, Mercuria also mull bigger supplies to Greece (Adds quotes, details)LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Oil trader Vitol sold a cargo of Russian Urals crude to Greek refiner Hellenic Petroleum in a rare tender, traders said on Monday as the country...

>NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters)- The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has halted payments to a Greek ship owner which transported Iranian oil for an Indian shipping company, in line with Western sanctions aimed at hindering Iranian crude exports, shipping sources told Reuters. The European Union in January placed an immediate...

President Obama says in Seoul that North Korea's nuclear program could lead to 'more broken dreams,' and that 'time is short' for Iran in its nuclear standoff. President Obama on Monday made a direct appeal to the leaders of North Korea and Iran, urging them to "have the courage" to...

>* Sees instability in ties between Pakistan, U.S.* Says NATO should contribute to Afghan rebuildingBy Roman KozhevnikovDUSHANBE, March 26 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday the United States could no longer dictate policy to the rest of the world and warned of growing instability in...

Actor has child endangerment charges dropped

OPEC will keep oil production targets on hold this month but could raise output later in the year as the world recovers from recession, pushing up demand for fuel, a Reuters poll showed Monday.

When does a rising sovereign bond yield curve signify positive sentiment? When it's at rock-bottom to start with. A steepening yield curve, as well as the rise in absolute yields, suggests that the market expects interest rates to be rising sooner than the 2015 date that the Fed has implied.

Phase II keeps progressing.

London, Mar 27 (ANI): China has sentenced more number people to death in 2011 than the rest of the world put together, Amnesty International has said.

> Stocks European Markets Markets...

A prominent Iranian Alim believes the Israeli threats of a military strike on Iran are mere psychological warfare as Tel Aviv fully understands any such venture would lead to its total destruction. “There has been some talk in the media for some time of a military move [against Iran] by...

This is a record we could gladly do without.Gasoline prices in the Chicago area shot up to their highest level ever recorded by AAA Monday, but relief may be coming.The average price of unleaded regular gas in the Chicago metropolitan area was $4.51 a gallon, surpassing by...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration wants Congress to remove Soviet-era trade restrictions that have been a sore point in U.S.-Russian relations for decades. The conditions some lawmakers are demanding to make the change, however, may only worsen America's increasingly shaky relations with Moscow.

The Government has sought to assure the investing community and other market participants that enough systems are in place to protect the integrity of the capital market.

Say you own a 20-year-old car and intend to drive it beyond the year 2050. It will need some fixing.

From mosques, to homes and streets, Pakistanis are increasingly seeing the light and realizing that year-round sun may be a cheap if partial answer to an enormous energy crisis.

Jack Tame was at Colombia University to hear formal rivals Helen Clark and Jim Bolger speak.

US President Barack Obama has issued a stark warning of the dangers of nuclear arms on the final day of a nuclear summit in Seoul. The conference has been overshadowed by North Korea's plans to launch a nuclear missile.

Thailand, as an oil importing country, is vulnerable to any hike in energy prices, which have a knock-on effect on production and transportation costs.

ISLAMABAD: There appears to be a visible decline in government interest in the Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project due to mounting pressure by the United States, according to officials privy to the deliberations related to the project.

Seoul, Mar 26: Seeking to ally apprehensions of South Korean industry regarding investment in India, in backdrop of the protests against the Posco project in Odhisha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured the South Korean industry that the Indian government will take pro-active steps to address investor grievances and improve...

Amnesty International says that a surge of executions last year in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen pushed the worldwide total higher than the year before.

Dorrien supports the re-election of Obama because he doesn't want the neoconservatives to return to power as indeed they will under Romney or Santorum.

Seoul, Mar 27 : Terming a 'world free of nuclear weapons' as the best guarantee for nuclear security, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today stressed the need of a multilateral framework that helps reduce salience of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and increase universal restraints on the first use of nuclear...

Christelle didn’t know what to say. ...

AFTER a curious and almost indefensible delay, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on the guidelines for revised terms of engagement with USA/Nato/Isaf finally tabled its recommendations to a joint session of the two Houses of Pakistan’s parliament on March 20.

Barack Obama's private conversation with Russian leader made public by hot microphone.

While in Seoul, Korea for various summit-like activities, Pres. Obama was finishing up a 90-minute private conversation with Russian Pres. Dmitri Medvedev and the press was filing in. Obama, apparently believing that he could finish one last not-for-publication remark before the reporters were in earshot, underrated the power of the...

Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - US President Barack Obama on Monday repeated his stern message to North Korea: "There will be no rewards for provocations."

Amnesty International says there was an "alarming" surge in the number of executions being carried out in a small number of countries last year.

Upon first glance, it may look like students are playing a combination of twister and risk, but elementary students are actually learning about geography.

>UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Armed "terrorist groups" in Syria have been receiving weapons from supporters in Lebanon and other states along the Syrian border, Damascus said in a complaint to the United Nations released on Monday. "Experts, officials and observers are unanimous that weapons are being smuggled into Syrian territory...

Gold Settled $23.20 Higher ... ($1685.60). Today's April Gold Futures session traded a $32.70 range as traders and investors alike viewed today's economic and geo-political news as "bullish" for precious metals. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed the NABE (National A...

Global Markets Overview - 03/26/2012

Gold, Silver and Oil Price Outlook

PAS Youth has criticised the Malaysian government's instruction to national petroleum giant Petronas to halt oil import from Iran from next month, following threats from Washington of sanctions against countries who failed to do so.

Today Ben Bernanke "surprised" the market by giving an incredibly dovish speech to an association of business economists in Virginia. The gist of the speech is that the unemployment rate remains far from normal, long-term unemployment is high as is the under-employment rate.

Headline Title:  Death penalty 2011 report 27 March 2012 Countries that carried out executions in 2011 did so at an alarming rate but those employing capital punishment have decreased by more than a third compared to a decade ago, Amnesty International found in its annual review of death sentences and...

The US will decide by the end of June whether to impose sanctions on 12 countries, including India and China, with regard to their purchase of crude oil from Iran, an official said on Monday.

Arab leaders will offer plans this week to break the political "stalemate" that has engulfed Syria but they won't demand the resignation of President Bashar Assad, Iraq's top diplomat says.

Indonesia must raise fuel prices to curb a subsidy bill that threatens to sap funds from pivotal health, education and road and port building programs, an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

On Sunday, gasoline prices are expected to rise by 2% and electricity rates are scheduled to go up 8.9%. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to moderate these large price hikes, as he and other politicians are worried about a renewed outbreak of last summer's protests.

NEW YORK - The United States was the only Western democracy that executed prisoners last year, even as an increasing number of U.S. states are moving to abolish the death penalty, Amnesty International announced Monday.Americas 43 executions in 2011 ranked...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday urged a U.S. appeals court not to interfere with its review and decision-making process over whether to remove the Iranian dissident group Mujahadin-e Khalq from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.

President Barack Obama told Russia's leader that he would have more flexibility after the November election to deal with the contentious issue of missile defence, a candid assessment of political reality that was picked up by a microphone...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will late this week launch a new diplomatic drive aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, making visits to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, officials said yesterday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says the Islamic Republic is ready to implement infrastructural projects in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

The oil market is all dressed up but has nowhere to go. Oil, that has a huge Iranian/Syria/ or country of your choice war premium built in, seems that until something happens will insist in trading in a range! Crude is giving back some of Friday's gains and seems to...

Bashir Mason became the youngest Division I basketball coach when he was promoted by Wagner on Monday.

Flexing the Truth – Which is Worse- A candidate whose staffer says he’ll act differently after the primary or a world leader who whispers to another world leader that he’ll have flexibility to act differently after the election? Concurrent examples, perhaps, of too much truth....

Over the past 10 years, we have repeatedly witnessed efforts to shut down guest speakers who present an Israeli perspective on college campuses and in communities.

Nato will announce the completion of the first stage of a controversial missile defence shield at a May summit that will not include Russian leader Vladimir Putin, its chief said yesterday.

Gasoline futures soared to a record premium over ethanol on Monday as gas prices topped $4 per gallon in some states while stocks of the biofuel were likely to continue swelling, analysts and traders said. ...

New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has reportedly restructured his contract after the worst season of his NFL career.

“I will transmit this message to Vladimir”, outgoing Russian president Dmitry Medvedev tells Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in response to the US leader’s candid assurance that he will have a freer hand after being re-elected next November. Perhaps Obama wishes the US elections ...

Analysis: Election year fuels oil conspiracy theories Houston Chronicle Copyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Published 11:29 p.m., Friday, March 23, 2012 Big oil companies and/or Wall Street speculators have inflated prices to foment voter unrest and help...

Baghdad - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will seek to showcase his country's diplomatic return to the region this week when leaders gather for the first Arab League summit in Baghdad in two decades, and the only one hosted by a Shi'ite Arab ruler.

Calling Russia our "number one geopolitical foe" in a CNN interview Monday, Mitt Romney rather unproductively distracted everyone from focusing on the critique he was making of President Obama. The Romney and Obama campaigns have been fighting back and forth Monday over Obama's comments to Russia's president Dmitri Medvedev -- caught on a...

Live coverage as the arguments over the Affordable Care Act go to the Supreme Court, and the Republican primary campaign continues • Live blogging now: Jim Newell 4.45pm: If you only read one thing about the big Supreme Court hearing today, read this: No circus would be complete without...

Gas prices have jumped more than 11 cents over the last two weeks. But could there be some relief on the horizon? The Lundberg Survey says the price at the pump may not go much higher. But as we found, drivers these days say they'll believe it when they see...

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The price of gasoline is less than a dime away from last year's high in the U.S. Gas reached a nationwide average of US$3.90 per gallon on Monday. It has risen 17 cents so far this month. Pump prices are expected to keep...

A Bolivian cargo ship, owned by an Iranian firm was on Monday hijacked, apparently by Somalian pirates in the territorial waters off Maldives, officials said, even as Maldivian forces have sought Indian Navy's help for its rescue.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s top diplomat said Monday that Arab leaders meeting in Baghdad this week will not demand the resignation of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and opposition forces there need to agree on a single strategy for ending the crisis.

US: I believe there is a window of time to solve this diplomatically but that window is closing.”

Today, United Against Nuclear Iran called on the ZTE Corporation of China to end its business in Iran, and stop enabling the Iranian regime’s surveillance activities.

In the late 1960’s, I spent my junior year of college studying in Europe. Before the start of the year, I along with all the other student participants did a 21 day whirl wind tour of the continent. It’s one of the highlights of my life but I had a ...

OIL FUTURES: Crude Ends +16c; Awaits Direction From US Oil Data

LOS ANGELES, March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Coinciding with its third anniversary, Grindr today announced that the premier all-male, location-based social networking app has amassed more than 3.5 million users. The app has become a global sensation in three short years, having...

President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett spoke to the J Street conference participants on Monday about the administration’s “commitment to a just and lasting peace”. Click here for the rest of the article...

The lecture will be co-sponsored by the Armenian Film Foundation, of which Carla Garapedian is a Board member.

Gas prices in the Chicago area shattered an all-time record last week rising to $4.53 per gallon, breaking the record of one year ago of $4.42.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Barack Obama told Russia's leader Monday that he would have more flexibility after the November election to deal with the contentious issue of missile defense, a candid assessment of political reality that was picked up by a microphone without either leader apparently knowing.

Prime Minister John Key finally got to chat with US President Barack Obama - the pair swapped pleasantries between courses as the leaders of 54 countries at the Nuclear Security Summit supped on fresh green asparagus soup and 3-week dry-aged grilled Hoengseong Korean beef tenderloins in Seoul last night. read...

President Obama is caught on tape saying he'll have 'flexibility' on missile defense after the November election. Critics question his stance on the system. SEOUL — In a private conversation made public by a live microphone, President Obama appeared to be putting off diplomatic talks with Russian leaders about a...

Turkey and Norway closed their embassies in Syria on Monday, further isolating President Bashar Assad whose forces bombarded the battered city of Homs with mortars in an effort to quell unrest.

DUSHANBE: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday urged the regional leaders to join hands in countering narco-trafficking, a major source of funding for militancy and terrorism.

COMMENTARY | According to ABC News, President Barack Obama was overheard telling Russian president Dmitri Medvedev he needed "space" and would have "more flexibility" to deal with issues like missile defense shields and Russia's response to Syria's crackdown on protesters after his re-election.

>* Oil tries to extend gains after 1.5 pct rise Friday* Coming up: API oil data 4:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday (Recasts, updates prices, market activity)By Robert GibbonsNEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - Brent crude prices edged up o n M onday as the dollar weakened after comments from...

SEOUL (Reuters) - The White House made clear on Monday that President Barack Obama would seek to put strained relations with Pakistan on a more even footing when he meets Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani at the end of a nuclear security summit in Seoul. The meeting on Tuesday...

The University of Loughborough’s School of Business and Economics is held in esteem by professionals, academics and students. The overall study experience at Loughborough is such that those who go here have helped rank it the school with the Best Student Experience five years in a row. Longborough also enjoys...