News Archive - 5 July 2012

Iran invited Egypt’s first democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi to participate in the forthcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the Iranian capital, Tehran. In their first telephone conversation on Wednesday, IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extended his congratulations to his Egyptian counterpart over his recent victory in Egypt’s presidential election and wished...

Libyans are preparing to cast their ballots in the first elections following four decades of rule under dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The vote will take place on Saturday for the election of members of a General National Congress, which will appoint a new government and a panel to draft a new...

The largest Presbyterian group in the United States is pondering divesting from three companies whose products the Zionist regime of Israel uses to facilitate its occupation of the West Bank. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has denounced the three companies -- Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Motorola -- for...

IRI foreign ministry summoned German Ambassador to Tehran Bernd Erbel over the bad and improper behavior of a police officer with an Iranian diplomat in Frankfurt. Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi said that one of the Iranian consular members in Frankfurt was attacked by an African woman on Monday while...

The government of China announced that it has no plan to take part in the so-called “Friends of Syria” conference which is scheduled to be held in the French capital, Paris, on Friday. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, said on Thursday that his country has been invited to the...

Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab called on the international community to take necessary measures to stop the Bahraini regime’s brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, Press TV reports. The silence of the European community and the United States is a go-ahead signal and a green light for the Al...

The Zionist regime's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was involved in smuggling nuclear triggers out of the United States carried out by a network of front companies, a report says. According to a Wednesday article posted on antiwar.com, the FBI partially declassified and released additional pages from a 1985-2002 investigation...

Palestinians called for an international investigation into the death of former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat. On July 3, al-Jazeera reported that the findings of nine-month laboratory research conducted at the Institute of Radiation Physics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, suggested the former Palestinian leader may have...

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in a meeting with new Portuguese ambassador to Tehran, despite suffering lots of hardships due to Europeans’ behavior, Iran has never been after taking revenge. According to the IRNA Wednesday night news team, the IRI Presidential Office information website further reported President Ahmadinejad as...

Demonstrators from all over the United States gathered in Philadelphia for the Occupy National Gathering which culminates on Wednesday, according to Press TV. Thousands of 99-percenters and war veterans on Tuesday organized coordinated protests ahead of July 4th, the 236th anniversary of US declaration of independence from Britain. The veterans...

Switzerland decided to suspend arms shipments to the United Arab Emirates following a report that Swiss-made hand grenades are being used by militant groups in Syria. The measure was taken on Wednesday after the Sonntagszeitung newspaper published a photograph taken of one such device in possession of anti-Damascus rebels in...

>PARIS (Reuters) - Reports of the defection of a general and personal friend of Bashar al-Assad will cheer the Syrian leader's enemies at a meeting in Paris on Friday of the Western and Arab states that want to drive him from power. A source in the exiled opposition said Manaf...

>* Iran to ship at most 1.1 mln bpd in July, half of 2011 avg* Japan, S.Korea halt Iran imports this month* Iran forced to store more crudeSINGAPORE/TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Iran will see its July oil exports more than halved from regular levels seen last year...

>Japan and South Korea, among Iran's top oil buyers, have halted all Iranian imports this month due to sanctions imposed by Brussels on Sunday that aim to cut Iran's oil revenues and force Tehran to curb its disputed nuclear program.Exports in July will fall to a maximum of 1.

>* Previous forecast had been for a rise in output* Sees investment rising to 11.5 bln stg in 2012By Sarah YoungLONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Britain will pump fewer barrels of oil this year than last, predicted industry body Oil & Gas UK, after the temporary closure of a...

>* Big oil firms seen unlikely to exploit loophole* Switzerland a major hub for physical oil trading* Swiss president defends neutrality on Iran (Recasts, adds background, quote from President in paras 11-13)By Emma FargeGENEVA, July 5 (Reuters) - The Swiss government will not match European Union sanctions on Iran, deciding...

>"Everybody was calculating that I would fall in a small amount of time. They all miscalculated," Assad told the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet, which has published excerpts from its interview with the Syrian leader over the past three days.He said Syria, where an initially peaceful revolt against 42 years of...

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude futures fell more than $1 on Friday to stand below $100 per barrel as stimulus moves by central banks failed to allay investor concerns about demand, although supply worries stemming from a labor dispute in Norway are expected to check losses. Central banks in China, the...

No dossier, no amount of dramatic TV debates will help in countering Pakistan's use of terrorism against India. Only an effective and deniable deterrent power and in the form of our capability to carry out deniable covert actions against terrorists based in Pakistani territory can help.

Washington — The Food and Drug Administration said it will begin cracking down on companies that market versions of the painkiller oxycodone that have not undergone federal review.

6 July 2012- Minister Francisco Noel R. Fernandez III of the Philippine Embassy in London was elected as Vice Chairman of the 22 nd Session of the Assembly of the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), representing the Asia-Pacific Region. The IMSO convention was held at the INMARSAT Headquarters in London...

Editorial board member gave unauthorized speech to Iranian group in June Pulitzer Prize-winningcolumnist Clarence Page is being reprimanded for an unauthorized paid speech delivered to an Iranian group designated as a terrorist organization, but he will keep his job at the Chicago Tribune.

“Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has said he will do ‘the opposite’ of Barack Obama when it comes to Israel.” — The Guardian, June 17

As part of extensive war games, Iran test-fired medium-range missiles capable of hitting US bases in the region or Israel.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko (R) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (L) walk past Belarus honour guard during their meeting in Minsk on May 31, 2012.

Wikimedia Commons, the most popular website for sharing and using photographs, has compiled the best features pictures from 2011.

The latest and strongest U.S.-backed European Union sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil took effect Sunday and by Tuesday Tehran admitted that the sanctions were hurting. The effects were seen immediately in rising prices and dwindling stocks of foreign currency.

European Union sanctions on Iran officially went into effect this month but for oil, the $100-a-barrel level remains well out of reach for the U.S. benchmark and lower prices may soon follow.

The Global Innovation Index published by INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), ranks 141 countries on the basis of their innovation capabilities.

Barack Obama on Thursday played the anti-China card beloved of US presidential candidates, covering his flank against the more direct Beijing bashing of his Republican foe Mitt Romney. Obama announced ...

PARMA, Ohio: A wistful Barack Obama has reached the moment common to all political careers - when leaders realize the end is closer than the beginning. For sure, the US president is banking on another four-and-a-half years before he steps off the global stage.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he is indifferent to Japan’s angry reaction to his trip to one of the Kuril Islands earlier in the week after a senior Japanese official said the visit would damage bilateral relations.

An Australian government warning about travel to Christchurch is hurting tourism and is unneccessary, New Zealand officials say.

SAN DIEGO — You’ve probably heard of the Congressional Black Caucus, or perhaps the Progressive Caucus. But what about the drone caucus? Officially, it’s the Unmanned Systems Caucus.

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Banks and financial institutions in the UAE have started searching for any accounts, investments, money deposited and transferred by 139 top Syrian regime officials including President Bashar Al Assad, his family, political associates, ministers, military top-brass along with 59-public sector institutions and agencies with wide tentacles.

Amid its strategic pivot toward the Asia-Pacific, Americaâs long-standing alliance with South Korea is expected to deepen to better deal with an increasingly bellicose North Korea and a rising China .....

A major Canadian bank has begun to close the accounts of some of its customers to comply with new federal regulations that govern economic sanctions against Iran.

Press Release First Time: U.N. Rights Body Defies U.S. with "Right to Peace" Resolution Giving Legitimacy to Terror

Football's world governing body ends its ban on female players wearing item, with new designs eliminating injury risk.

The U.S. State Department is investigating the shipment of computers and other sophisticated high-tech gear to the governments of Iran and North Korea by a United Nations organization, despite U.S. and U.N.

I'm not saying the waitress was a Communist, but when you're wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a Communist, the customer wonders how to tip. Maybe patrons should run out of the restaurant without paying, so they don't perpetuate the system of capitalist oppression?

The 30 June Geneva conference called by UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan represented perhaps a last chance for world powers to agree a peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis.

British police raid house less than a mile from Olympic site.

Amer Abdel-Razeq, 49, who lives in Al-Maghazi Refugee Camp in the centre of the Gaza Strip, is trying to avoid walking past the grocery shop near his home because he can't pay for the groceries he bought in June for his family.

Much has been written about the barbarous massacre in the Syrian administrative area of Al-Houla on 25 May 2012, in which 108 persons are known to have died including 49 children.

Ever since the protests started against the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, the Gulf countries have adopted a tough posture by criticising and condemning the reactions of the Syrian government and squarely putting the blame upon it for the unfolding situation.

During the opening days of the Egyptian revolution, I managed to keep a good part of my attention focussed on the international reaction to the events in Egypt and the rest of the Arab region.

New report blames pilots for Air France Flight 447 crash.

Compiled byBRIAN O'CONNELL

Mohamed Morsi's speech at the Cairo University shortly after taking oath as Egypt's first freely-elected civilian president was down-to-earth enough to help dispel misconceived concerns, especially among the Western capitals that the Arab world's most populous country or the most important country of the Middle East was being taken over...

Iran has been under United Nations sanction concerning international technology sharing for more than five years - So why, exactly, has a United Nations agency been sharing "standard information-technology equipment" with the country recently?

PARIS (AP) — The United States and its European and Arab partners will threaten the Assad regime with global sanctions if it fails to quickly implement a Syrian peace plan that includes the appointment of a new interim government, U.S. officials said Thursday on the eve of an 80-nation...

Afghan central bank inspector Fahim Satari stands in Kabul airport in front of a local businessman headed for Dubai, counting by hand the stack of $100 bills that police found the passenger carrying to the gate.

Preventive military action should be viewed with a healthy skepticism and used as a measured response to a defined imminent threat. It goes without saying that it should only be used after reasonable diplomatic efforts have failed.

This should be huge news. According to Barbara Slavin, the veteran Middle East reporter, the Iranian government has issued a 10-page paper suggesting the resolution of its conflict over its nuclear program through comprehensive negotiations with the west. A ten page document given Tuesday (July 3) to Iran experts...

This one is being carried out by short sighed and ego-centric politicians, who occupy government portfolios and seats in the national parliament. Is it time for a new revolution?

THE Indonesian government has confirmed that it would not accept the towing back of asylum seeker boats to its shores, sources say.

Oil rises above $84 amid tighter Iran sanctions Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 10:31 p.m., Monday, July 2, 2012 SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil rose above $84 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as tighter sanctions...

IRAN has claimed BBC hackers doctored a poll by state television which suggested 63 per cent of Iranians want uranium enrichment curbed in return for an end to western sanctions.

✔ Pick of the Pack Exhibit: 'Samurai, the Warrior Transformed' During World War II, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania named Chiune Sugihara signed thousands of Japanese visas for Polish Jews who had lined up outside his embassy, desperate to escape the Nazi purge. Sugihara's superiors had told him to ...

US scrutiny of UN aid to Iran, NKorea prods UN agency to tighten procedures on sanctions

ZURICH, July 6 — Soccer's rulemakers and its governing body FIFA bowed to pressure yesterday when they finally approved the use of goal-line technology and agreed to allow Muslim women players to wear a headscarf. The first decision followed widespread calls from players, coaches and the media, after a series...

McCaskill's subcommittee is look at issues related to sanctions on Iran.

Obama's Secretary of State has been a great success, but her eyes are on a bigger prize, says Tim Stanley

Brothers Adam and David Knott have been named in ParalympicsGB's six-man goalball squad for London 2012. (PRWeb July 05, 2012) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9672708.htm

Cameras were rolling as Afghan forces returned fire against Taliban fighters.

A GENERAL in the elite Syrian Republican Guards is said to have defected to Turkey, in the first such reported loss of a high-ranking military supporter of president Bashar al-Assad since the rebellion against him started 16 months ago.

Syria is in revolt. Negotiations with Iran are complicated. Egypt's political future is up for grabs. The United States has a significant stake in the outcome of these Middle Eastern challenges. Yet unfortunately, these dynamic changes are happening at precisely the least serious time of our national conversation --...

Happy Independence Day Mr. President, My name is Sahar Sabet. I am a 19-year-old Iranian-American student. Four years ago, I saw my sister vote for you, and I could not wait to be old enough to vote for change like my sister. Mr. President, I am writing you because...

DUBAI (Reuters) - An 11-year-old boy arrested on charges of taking part in street unrest in Bahrain must be monitored by authorities for a year, a juvenile court ruled on Thursday, in a case criticized by rights groups.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - In what would be the most high-profile defection from the inner circle of the Syrian leadership, Manaf Tlas, a friend of President Bashar al-Assad and a brigadier in his Republican Guard, was reported on Wednesday to have fled to Turkey.

ZURICH (Reuters) - A ban on the use of the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, for Muslim women soccer players was lifted by the sport's rulemakers on Thursday. The garment had previously been banned due to safety concerns and because it was not recognized in the laws of the game. The...

>* Iran oil exports falling due to sanctionsBy Jonathan SaulLONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - A South Korean ship classification society on Thursday sidestepped calls from a U.S. lobby group to halt its verification work in Iran, saying it was concerned that vessel safety and marine environment protection could be...

An Iranian military commander said that his country has detailed contingency plans to strike nearly three dozen U.S. military bases in the region should Iran be attacked, local media reported Wednesday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Sat between Egypt's two top generals, newly elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi oversaw a passing out ceremony of military recruits on Thursday in a rigidly choreographed scene that could almost have been taken from the era of Hosni Mubarak. Related Stories Iran losing billions as oil exports...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has escaped sweltering Washington but she won't be getting much of a respite from the heat as she crisscrosses Europe, Asia and the Mideast to deal with some of the world's most inflamed crises.

Ceremony culminates nationwide celebration of the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution PHILADELPHIA, July 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the centerpiece of the nationwide celebration of the U.S. Constitution's 225th anniversary, the National Constitution Center's 2012...

Iran and Syria have resumed working together to fight Western sanctions on their oil as shipping records showed two Iranian vessels have delivered diesel to Syrian ports over the past week, the first fuel shipments from Iran in about three months.

Copyright show:  No When it comes to the brewing arms race in the Caspian Sea region, no one can accuse Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov of navel-gazing. Ashgabat is now able to back its claims to some energy-rich patches of the sea with considerable firepower. read more

>* MRPL may lift four aframax cargoes instead of five* Essar to buy about 4 mln bbls from Iran in JulyNEW DELHI, July 5 (Reuters) - India has started loading Iranian crude in tankers owned by the Islamic Republic, industry sources said, marking a shift from a decades-old policy that...

>* Experts doubt Iran can make such underwater vessels* But may provide pretext for enriching uranium further* Iran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons capabilityBy Fredrik DahlVIENNA, July 5 (Reuters) - Iran's announcement that it plans to build its first nuclear-powered submarine is stoking speculation it could serve as a...

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin says progress was made during the latest round of negotiations in the form of an expert-level meeting between Iran and the six world powers.

Frankfurt (dpa) - The European Central Bank (ECB) did not discuss extra measures such as buying government bonds or offering more cheap loans to banks at a meeting in which it lowered eurozone interest rates to 0.75 per cent, its president said Thursday."We did not discuss any other...

This week marks a fourth round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) on Iran's controversial nuclear program.

Tanzania said Thursday it is investigating US accusations it reflagged Iranian oil tankers to help Tehran evade US and EU sanctions. "If we confirm that there are Iranian ships flying Tanzania's flag, ...

Warming waters cited as key factor new Spanish health study By Summit Voice SUMMIT COUNTY — The impacts of global warming are often described in the context of human activities or how it will affect charismatic megafauna and visible landscape features. But at a much more fundamental biological level, increasing...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian troops pushed into the rebel-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun on Thursday, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad said he would have been toppled like the shah of Iran if his people had not been behind him.

New Delhi, Jul 5 : Bouyed by India, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to South Asia rose by 23 per cent to 39 billion dollar in 2011 following declines in 2009 and 2010, UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2012 released here today said.

A member of Iran's Majlis says the United States has received the message of the country’s recent Great Prophet 7 missile drill, stressing that Iran’s Armed forces have detailed information about US military bases in regional countries.

Russia has proposed imposing a five-year moratorium on sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea to safeguard stocks, Federal Fishery Agency head Andrei Krainiy said on Thursday.

The Energy Report - Showdown in the North Sea

Historically lacking in fossil-fuel resources, Israel now faces the challenge of managing its new huge natural gas discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea.

Crude Changes Little Although Inventory Probably Dropped Last Week

Prince William and Kate Middleton are front and center at highly watched games.

Encouraging factory orders data and an uptick in commodity prices lifted the benchmarks to their third-straight day of gains. Additionally, lingering hopes of economic measures by the central