News Archive - 25 April 2012

Poland National Library will give an old map of Persian Gulf will be given to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the library curator said ina meeting with his Iranian counterpart. Referring to existing manuscripts of Holy Quran and valuable book of “Bahar-e-Danesh” in Poland National Library, Head of Library Tomasz...

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Oil prices have seen yet another increase, reaching around USD 104 per barrel amid fears that demand may rise after US crude supplies unexpectedly dropped. On Wednesday, benchmark oil for June delivery was up 28 cents to USD 103.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile...

Spanish students protested Wednesday against austerity reforms that are squeezing education spending and raising university fees, launching a series of demonstrations for the coming weeks, according to AFP. More than 100 students rallied in the university district of northwest Madrid demonstrating against the conservative government's reforms, including the fees hike...

Britain's economy has fallen back into recession for the first time since 2009 after official figures Wednesday showed that it unexpectedly contracted during the first three months of the year. The Office for National Statistics said economic output as measured by gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent in...

I.R.Iran and China will exchange experiences in development and management of human resources. The news was announced following a meeting between IRI's Vice-President for Development of Human Resources and Management, Lotfollah Forouzandeh, and Chinese Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, Yin Weiming, on Wednesday. Thet two discussed...

Another four US-led troops killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, according to Press TV. Two troops were killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, while another died of non-combat injuries in the country's eastern region. The nationalities of the soldiers have not yet...

Amnesty International censured the Bahraini authorities for “toying with the life” of a hunger striking activist who remains in captivity. The human rights group said on Tuesday that Bahraini officials are using delaying tactics against Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the prominent jailed activist who has been on a hunger strike for 75...

A group of Japanese hunger strikers are protesting in Tokyo against the government's plan to restart two nuclear reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in Japan's western Fukui province. The demonstrators, who have been camped outside Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in the central part of the capital...

>FUNDAMENTALS* U.S. crude was 6 cents lower at $104.06 a barrel by 0004 GMT, after settling up 57 cents at $104.12 a barrel in the previous session.* In London, ICE Brent crude for June delivery edged up 2 cents to $119.14 a barrel. The benchmark...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was a triumphant moment a year ago for the United States and President Barack Obama, but now the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's killing presents an election-year challenge for him and his Republican opponents. Obama is expected to acknowledge the May 1 anniversary of the daring...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military chief said he does not believe Iran will decide to build an atomic bomb and called its leaders "very rational" - comments that clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment. Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz's remarks, in an interview published on Wednesday in the left-wing Haaretz newspaper,...

>SAN ANTONIO, April 25 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Texas released British millionaire Christopher Tappin from custody on Wednesday, but ordered him to remain in the state while awaiting trial on charges he attempted to sell missile parts to Iran. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Castaneda ordered Tappin to...

>* Third site would boost defenses against Iran* Fort Drum, New York, is said to be a potential siteBy Jim WolfWASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - Republicans who control the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee called on Wednesday for studies on what could become a third missile-interceptor site in the...

>MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that Iran and Western nations had shown interest in a Russian proposal aimed to help defuse the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program, but suggested it had not been the focus of talks this month. Russia has been calling for a "step-by-step"...

>* Wall Street rises, spurred by Apple's strong results* Euro hits 3-week high as debt fears ease, then pares gains* U.S. Fed meeting awaited for hints on future policy actionBy Herbert LashNEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Global shares jumped on Wednesday, lifted by better-than-expected earnings from tech heavyweight...

>April 25 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Israel's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'A' and 'A+' respectively. The Outlooks on the Long-term IDRs are Stable. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed Israel's Short-term IDR at 'F1' and Country Ceiling at 'AA-'. The rating balances Israel's strong institutions...

* Reports Iran may halt nuclear programme dent prices * Investors waiting for hints of more U.S. easing * Coming Up: Fed statement, 1630 GMT, EIA data, 1530 GMT (Recasts, updates throughout) By Simon Falush ...

>BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria has failed to comply with a pledge to withdraw weapons from population centers, and towns where citizens met with U.N. truce monitors may have been attacked, international mediator Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. As violence flared in the Syrian...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military chief said he does not believe Iran will decide to produce an atomic bomb, describing its leadership as "very rational" in an interview published on Wednesday. Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz's characterization of Iran's rulers appeared to be at odds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's oft-stated warnings...

>* Coming up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1230 GMT* U.S. crude stocks rise for fifth consecutive week -EIA (Updates prices)By Francis KanSINGAPORE, April 26 (Reuters) - Brent crude was steady around $119 a barrel on Thursday, as optimism over a recovery in the U.S economy offset easing...

>* Investors waiting for hints of more U.S. easing* Coming Up: Federal Reserve policy statement; 1630 GMT (Updates prices)By Luke PachymuthuSINGAPORE, April 25 (Reuters) - Brent crude hovered above $118 a barrel on Wednesday as investors marked time ahead of the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy...

No data was stolen from Iran's Oil Ministry during weekend's cyber attack, official claims

`Major speech' calls for forceful US leadership – Taking advantage of all the buzz surrounding his vice presidential prospects, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a major foreign policy address on Wednesday, stepping beyond his role as the youthful face and voice of his party's outreach to tea party groups...

OUTOTEC OYJ INTERIM REPORT APRIL 26, 2012 AT 9.00 AMINTERIM REPORT JANUARY-MARCH 2012Very strong sales growth and solid order intake continuedReporting period January-March 2012 in brief (2011): * Order intake: EUR 425.4 …

 Dublin 26 th April 2012 Petroceltic International plc Preliminary Results Announcement Results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011. Petroceltic International plc ("Petroceltic" or ...

An amateur enthusiast has found evidence that hackers could exploit a security vulnerability in the systems of a company that serves power plants and military installations. 

12 Climbers summit Annapurna : early reports say 6 sherpa, a Brazilian, 2 Chinese , 2 Indians ... 04/10 - Bronze Hazelnut and team members waiting for the formation of weather conditions suitable for the summit attempt in the next 10 days.

Salem Soldiers forward Chehales Tapscott is the winner of the IBL's first Player of the Week award of the 2012 season after a dominating performance against the Bellingham Slam last weekend.

Colombo, April 25 : Sri Lanka's tea production fell 22.6 percent in March compared with the same period of 2011, said the state-run Tea Board on Wednesday fueling fears that the industry is heading for tough times.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A wiretapping network run by Chongqing officials was detected on a phone call made to Chinese President Hu Jintao in August, a discovery that helped topple the city's ambitious party chief Bo Xilai, the New York Times reported. Related Stories Briton accused in Iran missile scheme released...

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Lloyd's Register, a leading maritime risk management firm, has shut its operations in Iran and can no longer vouch for the safety of the OPEC member's fleet due to Western sanctions, the head of the company told Reuters. Related Stories Google trial docs show plans for growth...

>* Coming Up: U.S. weekly jobless claims; 1230 GMT* U.S. crude stocks rise for fifth consecutive week -EIABy Francis KanSINGAPORE, April 26 (Reuters) - Brent crude slipped below $119 a barrel on Thursday, as easing concerns of a disruption in Iranian oil exports and high U.S. crude...

>The potential Republican vice presidential candidate gave a lengthy foreign policy speech that stressed a more active U.S. role in the world but that echoed U.S. President Barack Obama's positions in some respects, notably on Syria and Iran.Rubio had tart words for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying...

BEIRUT, April 26 — Syrian forces shot dead four civilians on a bus yesterday and fighting raged near Damascus, dissidents said, as international pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad to honour UN-backed ceasefire pledges to order his troops back to barracks. In the city of Hama, an anti-Assad hotbed, an...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) took another step onto the national stage Wednesday with a foreign policy speech that positioned him squarely in the middle between a dying breed of GOP moderates and his partisan brethren who have condemned President Obama as an international weakling. Read full article >>

A peeved Carter: Bring Lee to me now! UPDATE: Acting on the orders of a federal judge in Orange County, law enforcement officials this month arrested Brad Keith Lee in Washington state for probation v

Iran is recruiting a hacker army to target the U.S. power grid, water systems and other vital infrastructure for cyberattack in a future confrontation with the United States, security specialists will warn Congress on Thursday. "Elements of the [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] have openly sought to pull hackers into...

>* Japan Q1 Iran crude imports down 22.6 pct y/y (Adds details)TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) - Japan's customs-cleared crude imports from Iran fell 6.3 percent in March from a year ago, amid tightening Western sanctions that make it difficult to do business with the Islamic Republic.The drop...

Apple's stellar earnings saw global shares jump.

A retired British businessman who was extradited to the United States over arms dealing charges has been freed on bail, a family spokeswoman said.

In the landscape of American Jewish organizations, The New Israel Fund (NIF) has long occupied a prominent place on the left side of the aisle.

A retired British businessman who was extradited to the United States over arms dealing charges has been freed on bail, a family spokeswoman said.

Marco Rubio insists he isn't running for vice president in 2012, but he is running pretty hard for something. The question is what and when. The junior senator from Florida gave a proverbial "major foreign policy address" in Washington today, after publishing an Los Angeles Times op-ed calling for the...

Washington (CNN) – Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida boosted his vice presidential buzz Wednesday as a possible running mate for Mitt Romney, giving what his office billed as a "major foreign policy speech." The freshman senator, who ran as a tea party favorite in 2010, voiced an "internationalist"...

Sen. Marco Rubio outlined his vision Wednesday of a more muscular American foreign policy, the latest salvo in his effort to elevate his profile as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney begins his search for a running mate.

Hezbollah poses no specific threat to Jewish communities in metropolitan Detroit, the FBI's head of counterterrorism in Michigan reportedly said at a suburban Detroit JCC.

President signs executive order targeting people and entities that use technology to help crush dissent.

WASHINGTON - The end of the road is near for Republican presidential wannabe Newt Gingrich, his entertaining campaign all but kaput in the wake of another humiliating trouncing in a state where he spent weeks wooing primary voters.

Military chief calls Tehran's leaders "very rational", and experts say Iran may drop nuclear programme to ease sanctions.

>* Report Iran may halt nuclear program hits prices* U.S. Fed sticks to current interest rate policy* Coming up: U.S. jobless claims data, Thursday (Recasts, updates prices to settlement and adds details)By Gene RamosNEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose in choppy trading o n...

DAKAR (Reuters) - West African regional bloc ECOWAS plans to send more than 600 troops to Guinea-Bissau in coming days with orders to protect people and institutions after a military coup there earlier this month, a senior ECOWAS source said on Wednesday. Related Stories Kurdish rebels kill 4 Guards in...

WASHINGTON: Potential Republican vice presidential candidate Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that a unilateral "military solution" from the United States may be needed to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich is expected to withdraw next week from the U.S. Republican presidential contest, people familiar with the campaign said on Wednesday, a day after Mitt Romney added to his commanding lead with primary wins in five states. Related Stories Kurdish rebels kill 4 Guards in...

The president of Iraq's self-rule Kurdish region demanded Wednesday that Shiite leaders agree on sharing power with their political opponents by September.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The fallout from the ouster of former Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai spread on Wednesday as his brother resigned as vice chairman of China Everbright International Ltd and the company moved to distance itself from the Chinese political scandal. Related Stories Kurdish rebels kill 4 Guards...

Crude oil futures climbed back up in choppy trading today.

An exhibition in Istanbul of art from the Netherlands draws parallels between the Dutch of the 17th century and the Turks of today.

They said it couldn’t be done; that the rebirth of an ancient nation would be like growing fish in the desert. But, 64 years later, Israel has accomplished both.

Lebanon, which is only decades beyond a brutal civil war, remains sharply divided over Syria, as increasingly heated rhetoric about the regime in Damascus dominates political discourse.

On this day in history...

> Energy...

>* U.S. opposes attempts to restrict use of web* Russia says cyber attacks are new level of confrontationBy Adrian CroftGARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, April 25 (Reuters) - Russia has stepped up its campaign for a globally binding treaty on cyber security, warning that many states are acquiring cyber warfare capabilities that,...

With the one-year anniversary of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden less than one week away, Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday will offer a ringing defense of President Barack Obama's national security record and hammer presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's approach to foreign policy, the Obama campaign announced...

PARIS (AP) - French presidential front-runner Francois Hollande says that if he's elected, he would immediately ask other European leaders to renegotiate the fiscal treaty aimed at reducing debts to include measures to encourage growth.

Athens (dpa) - Greece‘s finance ministry on Wednesday said the final participation rate for a debt swap deal intended to halve the country‘s massive debt was 96.9 per cent.According to a ministry, about 199 billion euros (260 billion dollars) worth of bonds had been swapped out of a...

The EU had planned to impose its ban at the start of July. Brent crude trading in New York immediately dropped on the report, as Iran accounts for about four percent of global supply.

Iran Weighs Proposal To Halt Nuclear Growth

This week's important stories told to you in 17 syllables. On the docket this week: the Secret Service, Ted Nugent and the Vatican on nuns. by Jim Poyser Barack's rare scandals remind me that George Bush's were every day USDA to let foxes of industry inspect their chickens… [ Read...

Summary Box: Report of cyberattack in Iran Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Published 07:52 a.m., Monday, April 23, 2012 A report says the Iranian oil ministry's computer network came under attack from hackers and a...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia expects to finalize its atomic energy plans this year but the U.S. nuclear industry may miss out on multi-billion dollar contracts to turn it into a reality unless Washington and Riyadh sign a non-proliferation deal soon.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces shot dead four civilians on a bus in the northern province of Idlib on Wednesday, dissidents said, as international pressure built on Damascus to honour U.N.-backed ceasefire pledges to order soldiers and tanks back to barracks. In the latest violence to undermine...

A news agency says four troops from Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards have been killed in clashes with Kurdish rebels in western Iran. Eight others were wounded.

PARIS, April 25 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia can provide only a small amount of relief in the energy sector once U.S. and European sanctions on Iran go into force in July, an analyst said.

On December 7, 2007, The New York Times reported that the CIA "in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program." Documents obtained...

Two things to listen for Wednesday: What Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tells a Senate panel about the Secret Service brothel scandal and what Newt Gingrich has to say about staying in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Napolitano's appearance before the Judiciary Committee will be the first public...

Drummers provide music along Western Main Road, St James for Hosay procession.

The major European equity benchmarks are now standing somewhat higher than where they were in early morning trading, buoyed by Apple´s positive results last night and ahead of this evening´s meeting of the Federal Reserve.

History professor and author of "Too Much to Know" Ann Blair tells us what researchers have been discovering about how earlier human societies collected, organized and used information. Our topic is the history of information. Before we broach the books, please sketch the evolution of this subject as a field...

Britain as we know it is coming to end. There is a blasphemous movement growing throughout the country whose only aim is to stamp out all signs of religion.

>LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude oil gained on Wednesday, with investors expecting that the U.S. Federal Reserve may give hints of more monetary easing, supporting demand sensitive assets. "The big focus remains on the U.S. Federal bank meeting today," says Oliver Jakob of consultancy Petromatrix.Brent crude rose...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has suggested that time is running out for Western sanctions on Iran to have a meaningful effect on Tehran's nuclear program.

President Obama said the United States "remains steadfast in its commitment to Israel's security and a comprehensive peace in the region" in an Independence Day message to Israeli President Shimon Peres.

The UN Security Council’s adoption of resolution on Syria through 2043 Russian-European project marked a new stage in addressing global and regional forces around the strategically important region of the Middle East. Russia has made input 300 observers from the previous 30, seeking to avoid discrediting missions Kofi Annan, due...

TEHRAN, April 25 (MNA) – Turkish President Abdullah Gul has called for the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program to be resolved through diplomatic channels.

(Telecompaper) The Bahrain government has increased internet security after several government websites were attacked by global hacking network Anonymous, Gulf Daily News reported. Most of the websites were targeted during the F1 weekend and have returned to normal but some continued to be inaccessible on 24 April. It is understood...

Turkish President Abdullah Gul says only diplomacy can resolve the Western dispute over Iran's nuclear energy program and Tel Aviv’s belligerent language against Tehran is “wrong.”

April 25, 2012: The United States is directly involved in a territorial dispute between China and Japan. One of the disputed Senkaku Islands has been used for American military exercises for decades and the U.S. has always ignored Chinese claims.

TEHRAN, April 25 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast has said that any decision by Western countries to impose new sanctions on Iran ahead of the talks between Tehran and world powers will affect the negotiations.

> Stocks Markets...

>BW has a "fair" business risk profile, in our view. The shipping industry is facing a prolonged downturn and we expect it to face another difficult year due to oversupply of ships, tepid demand, and high bunker fuel prices. BW also generates most of its revenues from VLCC and VLGC...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran and major nations have a "historic opportunity" to settle their decade-old nuclear dispute, but requiring the Islamic state to stop higher-grade uranium enrichment would be discriminatory, Tehran's former chief nuclear negotiator said. Hossein Mousavian, now a visiting scholar at Princeton University in the United States, voiced...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's military chief says he does not believe Iran will decide to build nuclear weapons, and that diplomatic and economic sanctions are successful in putting pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The head of Iran-Palestine Friendship Association has hailed Iran for playing a ‘pivotal’ role in the victories of the resistance front against Israel over the recent years.

About a month ago the European Union, showing it will not be trifled with, barred Bashar al-Assad ...