News Archive - 22 July 2012

>* Greece says it is in "great depression"* Fall in June U.S. crude demand adds to bearish sentiment* Syrian violence intensifies, adding to supply concernsBy Jessica JaganathanSINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) - Brent crude slipped to $105 per barrel on Monday as economic concerns returned to the forefront on fresh...

>HERAT (Reuters) - A gunman wearing an Afghan uniform turned his weapon against foreign trainers working for NATO in the western province of Herat on Sunday, killing three, in a grim 24 hours for the coalition which also saw five NATO soldiers killed. The latest rogue shooting by an Afghan...

>BAB AL-SALAM, Syria (Reuters) - A Syrian rebel commander told Reuters on Sunday that 11 kidnapped Lebanese Shi'ites are staying in air-conditioned rooms and are in good health but will not be released until President Bashar al-Assad leaves power and a new parliament is elected. "Their health is good and...

>Interviewed on the U.S. "Fox News Sunday" television program, Netanyahu said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government would fall, but he was more concerned about a chaotic "regime collapse" that would leave Syria's weapons sites unguarded than a regime change."We certainly don't want to be exposed to chemical weapons...

>* Police chief says chicken images may fire tensions* Fall of currency, price of feed largely to blameBy Marcus George and Yeganeh TorbatiDUBAI, July 22 (Reuters) - Earlier this month, Iran's national police chief ventured boldly into what has become known as the country's "chicken crisis". The feathers haven't stopped...

>Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said a fourth batch of 20-percent enriched fuel produced inside Iran has now arrived at the Tehran Medical Research Reactor, according to the Mehr news agency.Iran says the reactor produces medical isotopes used to treat cancer patients. Western powers believe...

>CAMP DOMIZ, Iraq (Reuters) - Syrian troops usually came before dawn, rounding up young Kurdish men to force them into an army they did not see as their own and into a fight for a government that treated them as outsiders. When they came, Syrian law student Ahmed slipped out,...

Colgate-Palm. | Coromandel Inter | Coromandel Inter | Hind. Unilever Oil futures are trading down more than 1.5% with the Asian share trading solidly lower and the euro hovering near multi-year lows hit in early trade, as Spain sparked concerns about its ability to stave off a sovereign bailout...

TEHRAN, July 22 (MNA) – French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen has faced “debilitating” problems as it refused to sell spare parts to Iran in line with the Western-led sanctions against Tehran, an official at the Iranian Ministry of Industries, Mines and Commerce says.

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2012 (AFP) - The United States (US) government has been quietly trying to block arms and oil shipments from Iran to Syria in a bid to accelerate the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, The Wall Street Journal reported late on Sunday. Related Stories Bear wanders into...

Kim's detention attracted heavy public and media interest for his dramatic life. -Korea Herald/ANN

TEHRAN, July 22 (MNA) -- Given the historical background of conflicts in the Middle East, Russia decided to support the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria from the beginning of the unrest in the country in March 2011 in order to counter the West’s interventionist policies in the region.

Those plots were thwarted for two years until the Burgas airport attack last Wednesday in which five Israelis and a Bulgarian lost their lives , Mossad spy chief Tamir Pardo and Shin Bet internal security chief Yoram Cohen informed cabinet ministers in a briefing Sunday on "counter-terrorism activity by the...

Senior Iranian lawmaker Ahmad Reza Dastgheib has described the US and Israel’s allegation about Iran's involvement in a recent bombing in Bulgaria as part of a psychological war against Tehran.

LONDON : A scandal erupting at Europe’s biggest bank HSBC has added to concerns over the state of Britain’s financial sector amid the Barclays rate-rigging affair and as the industry faces a major shake-up.

Oil prices strike two-month high; markets rattled by Spain jitters Oil prices hit two-month highs this week, driven by Federal Reserve stimulus hopes and Middle East unrest, while soyabeans soared to a record high as US supplies were hit by drought.

Agencies/Dubai Iran has arrested some of those responsible for assassinations of its nuclear scientists, state media reported yesterday, in a continued hunt for those it says are working to sabotage its nuclear programme.

MOSCOW, July 23 (Bernama) -- Governor General of Markazi Province, by referring to activities of a number of provincial companies in different areas of Russia, said there are plans for wider participation in Russian market.

Team Obama rightly blamed Iran after its proxy Hezbollah apparently blew up a bus in a terrorist operation that killed five Israelis. Then it went off the rails. “This was tit for tat,” a State Department official told The New York Times, implying that the bombing was retaliation for Israeli...

MANILA, Philippines - LPGMA-American Vinyl swept the individual and team honors of the 2012 Tour de Jakarta as Cris Joven ruled the 165-km criterium race in the streets of the Indonesian capital recently.

The possibility that the suicide bomber who blew himself up on a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria had an accomplice was gaining ground yesterday after an autopsy on the attacker.

Last week’s deadly terrorist attack against Israelis in Bulgaria may indeed prompt a “strong” response, as top Jerusalem officials warned — but not quite yet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately blamed Iran for last Wednesday’s bombing at a Bulgarian airport of a bus carrying Black Sea-bound vacationers. It killed...

The 19th International AIDS Conference opened Sunday night with an expression of gratitude for America's tremendous investments in the fight against the deadly disease — and a declaration that "we can start to end AIDS." "America has been the leading contributor to all HIV-related services and programs around the...

Recently I received an e-mail from someone who informed me that Stephen Harper had destroyed Canada. This was news to me because, even as I read his e-mail, I was sitting in Canada, which didn’t look like it had been destroyed.

It was a dark December afternoon in 2008 when a young man called at my office. He was gracious, polite, and fashionably dressed, a representative of NBC News.

In rushing to judgment blaming Iran for a bus bombing in Bulgaria, Israeli officials and neocon writers cited the conventional wisdom about Iran’s authorship of a bombing in Argentina in 1994. However, the investigation of that case was deeply compromised by political pressure, recalls Gareth Porter for Lobelog.

Iran has arrested some of those responsible for assassinations of its nuclear scientists, state media reported yesterday, in a continued hunt for those it says are working to sabotage its nuclear programme.

Israel would "have to act" if the Syrian regime collapses and there's a risk Syria's chemical weapons and missiles could fall into the hands of militant groups, Israel's prime minister warned yesterday.

The kindest thing one can say about Russia’s (and China’s) reluctance to co-operate with western countries to resolve the civil war in Syria is that both radiate paranoia.

According to the report, Israel has upped its level of security around its Olympic delegation in the wake of Wednesday's deadly suicide attack at Burgas.

Senior Iranian officials and figures, noted in scientific areas, have gathered in Tehran to remember martyred Iranian nuclear scientist Dariush Rezaeinejad, Press TV reports.

An autopsy has been performed on the suicide bomber who killed five Israeli tourists and a bus driver in Bulgaria at the Black Sea town of Burgas on Wednesday.

Shia Hizbullah’s links with Syria’s Assad give many Sunnis across the border reason to worry

It seems to have riled up some people in England.It doesn’t take much to do that. Several people, not just reviewers, took me to task for writing about what they called the working classes—something I’ve been doing for 40 years without it being challenged or even remarked. I thought...

Israel will "have to act" if the Syrian regime collapses and there is a risk Syria's chemical weapons and missiles could fall into the hands of militant groups, the Jewish state's prime minister warned. Related Stories Jellyfish-like 'Medusoid' created Iraq towns rocked by deadly blasts Children in Syria 'being murdered'...

There's no doubt that Israel is facing a complex reality, with more varied and serious threats than we've seen before.

Last week, crude prices gained a seven-day streak, when they rose to eight-week high. This was neither due to any brightening-up signs of the global economy nor any refreshed demand for oil.

Come September, Toronto becomes a mishmash of celebrities and parties, parties, parties. But beyond the red carpet, the most important part of TIFF is the actual movies.

LONDON: A scandal erupting at Europe's biggest bank HSBC has added to concerns over the state of Britain's financial sector amid the Barclays rate-rigging affair and as the industry faces a major shake-up.

DUBAI: Iran has arrested some of those responsible for assassinations of its nuclear scientists, state media reported yesterday, in a continued hunt for those it says are working to sabotage its nuclear program.

DURING a trip to Teheran in October 2011, I was astonished to see only one banner displaying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's picture.

Over the past three decades the Arab world has witnessed enormous political events. Some events of the distant past are still exercising their hidden influence in the present.

If there were one startling and apt image of today's Olympics it wouldn't be the five rings, let alone the uninspired logo for 2012.

Britain's largest bank HSBC is facing legal proceedings in the US over the sale of property in Northern Cyprus.

President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is in serious trouble. The economy will not improve significantly before the November election. Republican Mitt Romney is vastly out-raising Obama in financial contributions.

This proved an interesting book to review for two main reasons. First it discusses a region that I do not have a strong background with, the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. Balancing that however is the second factor ...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has signaled a preference in the U.S. presidential campaign by comparing Mitt Romney to his own challenger.

The West is backing Jabhat Al Nosrah, the al-Qaida branch in Syria. After Libya, only an idiot would believe a word iterated by the west and particularly, the FUKUS Axis (France, UK, US), which backed a terrorist group on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's own list of proscribed factions.

Full episode: The latest on the tragic shooting in Aurora, CO, with Police Chief Dan Oates, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Mayors Steve Hogan and Michael Bloomberg, and CBS News' Barry Petersen, John Miller, Bob Orr, Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson, plus Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on recent attacks in Bulgaria.

(CNN) - America's relationship with Israel, always reliable for campaign rhetoric, will come under renewed examination this week when presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney heads to the country as part of his foreign swing. The visit to Israel will present an opportunity and a challenge for Romney, who has consistently...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu skillfully skirted U.S. politics on Sunday by refusing to endorse either presidential candidate, but openly lamented that Iran's nuclear program remains intact four years since the last election.

BEIRUT — A new rebel group boasting some 1,000 fighters launched an operation Sunday to capture Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, while government troops using helicopter gunships and heavy artillery rolled back opposition gains in the capital Damascus.

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Whatever develops out of the bloody, chaotic mess Syria has become, it is unlikely that the short-term outcome will be good or the long-term prospects much brighter. One has only to recall the dozens of post-World War II coups that preceded the arrival of the Assad/Alawite/Baathist dictatorship in 1970, ...

Rebel forces said Sunday that they had begun a co-ordinated offensive to “liberate” Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, while government troops backed by helicopters fought back in Damascus to regain control of rebel-held neighbourhoods.

Come September, Toronto becomes a mishmash of celebrities and parties, parties, parties. But beyond the red carpet, the most important part of TIFF is the actual movies.

London: Manchester United’s Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea says he would like the the football final at the 2012 Olympics to be between Spain and Great Britain.

LONDON, Jul 20 (Reuters) Oil fell under $107 per barrel on Friday as prices eased from an eight-week high the previous session spurred by supply worries linked to tension in the West Asia and hopes of an economic stimulus in the United States.

CBS News' Barry Petersen in Aurora, CO, John Miller and Bob Orr report new information on the arrest of mass shooting suspect James Holmes' arrest and what it could say about his motive, which is still unknown.

Israeli intelligence chiefs told the cabinet on Sunday that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah had plotted attacks in more than 20 countries over the past two years, the prime minister's office said.

The "Face the Nation" roundtable, CBS News' Barry Petersen, Bob Orr, Norah O'Donnell and John Dickerson, discuss the latest on the Aurora, CO, shooting and President Obama's visit, the attacks in Bulgaria and Iran's involvement, and Mitt Romney's visit to Israel.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has denied recent rumours that Ghassem Soleimani, a commander of the Quds Force, the international branch of the IRGC, was killed in a bombing in Damascus.

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Director Fereydoun Abbasi has said that Iran is able to design the nuclear reactors needed to power the ships and submarines that it plans to equip with nuclear propulsion systems.

Dozens of Iranian women, and some men, living both inside and outside the country, have posted their pictures on the Facebook page of a newly launched campaign called, "No to Mandatory Hijab" that declares that women should have the right to choose whether or not to wear the Muslim headscarf.

The head of Iran's parliamentary economic commission announced on Saturday that there now will be three official rates of exchange for the U.S. dollar. According to the new regulations, the rate of 12,260 rials per dollar offered by the banks will now only be available for "the import of...

Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated his assertion that Iran and its “terrorist proxy” Hezzbolah is behind the recent suicide attack in Bulgaria and other similar efforts, but avoided commenting on the U.S. presidential race and Mitt Romney’s upcoming visit.

Iranian woman Nora Naraghi won her country's motorcross racing championship in 2009. She then traveled to USA in 2010 to pursue her motocross racing dream. To learn how to ride and race motocross from Stefy Bau, former 2 time Women's World Motocross Champion and owner/instructor of 211 MX school. -Mehrnaz...

Iran has called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to condemn the mass slaughter of ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and take prompt measures to stop violence in the East Asian country.

Israel's prime minister said Sunday that his country is on alert for plots to kill more of its citizens overseas, after speculation that last week's suicide bombing of a tour bus in Bulgaria was a rehearsal for a spectacular attack on Israel's Olympics team.

The appointment of Saudi Arabia's longtime envoy to the United States as intelligence chief marks an attempt to give the service a diplomatic edge at a time of turmoil in the region, analysts say.

The man is thought to be carrying a U.S. passport under the name of David Jefferson and fled following the attack which killed six people last Wednesday in the resort of Burgas.

(Staff writer) The largest-ever Rim of the Pacific exercise will conclude Aug. 7 after bringing together 21 countries, 25,000 troops, 40 ships, six submarines and 200 aircraft for a 42-day training evolution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he'll tell Mitt Romney in their July 28 meeting about Israel's wish for Mideast peace and concerns about "the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons."

WASHINGTON - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government has "fully substantiated intelligence" that Wednesday's attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was carried out by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A Russian opera singer has pulled out of the Bayreuth opera festival over Nazi tattoos on his chest days before the start of the celebration of Richard Wagner's works that was once popular with Third Reich leaders. Related Stories Iran breaks up nuclear assassination cells - media...

>THE SUNDAY TIMES:BRITISH GAS PROFITS HIKE TO IGNITE PUBLIC FURYBritish Gas is to stoke the rage over high energy prices when it unveils a 25 percent increase in profits, thanks to soaring household bills.BRITISH INSURANCE TYCOON NETS GOLDEN GOODBYEInsurance tycoon John Chairman will leave Axis Capital , the Bermuda-based...

(MENAFN) The World Steel Association said that during the first 6 months of the current year, Iran's crude steel production stood at 7.36 million tons, reported Tehran Times. Last month, the ...

SOFIA -- An autopsy of a suicide bomber who killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria shows he was different from an "Arab-looking" suspect cited by witnesses.

TEHRAN, July 22 (MNA) – Majlis speaker Ali Larijani announced on Sunday that he has no plan to run for the next presidential election.

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says the Islamic Republic has arrested the perpetrators behind the assassination of Iranian scholar Dariush Rezaeinejad.

(MENAFN) India's Essar Oil has more than tripled its monthly Iranian oil purchases to 114,700 barrels per day (bpd) in June, according to Tehran Times which cited Reuters' data. The amount ...

(MENAFN) The Iranian government plans to privatize 28 power plants by the end of the current year, with an estimated value of USD11.4 billion, reported Tehran Times. The administrator for the ...

They deny having sent a team to hunt down militants preparing an attack on its athletes. -AFP

Autopsies have provided officials with new information about the suicide bomber who killed five vacationing Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, an official said Sunday.

July 21, 2012, 8:48 p.m. | Op-ed — by Marco Levytsky Many historic precedents exist to honor struggles for democracy and human rights. Viktor Yanukovych regime’s spin doctors have reacted in typical fashion to the nomination earlier this year of Yulia Tymoshenko for the Nobel Peace Prize.

for Ukiah Daily Journal For many, the opportunity to support sheriff's deputy Mike Tobin in his fight against cancer is a small way to repay his years of service to Mendocino County.

The United States of America is going to elect a $2 billion president who won't be able to do what he promises.

Sniffle . . . Sniffle . . . What's wrong? Nothing . . . Sniffle-sniffle . . . Are you sick?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney leaves the stage after making statement on the shootings in Colorado on Friday in Bow, N.H.

The price of oil is dropping on fresh concerns about Europe's economy.

Foreign policy hasn't figured much in the presidential campaign, which is lucky for Mitt Romney. With scant foreign policy experience, Romney has had trouble projecting himself as a statesman. His foreign policy statements have veered from vague to disturbingly hawkish.

Islamabad (Dawn/ANN) - There has been considerable conjecture recently about the shift of power from the West to Asia. Is this happening?

The victims of the deadly terror strike on Israeli tourists in Bugaria's Burgas would have more, were it not for a suspected mistake in the bomber's plot, a top journalist claims. "The blast is believed to have gone off earlier than scheduled because the plan of the suicide bomber went...

(MENAFN) Iran plans to execute a three-tiered exchange rate system for different classes of imports, a sign that the government's stocks of hard currency are shrinking due to the Western sanctions, ...