News Archive - 24 August 2012

1st Half – Highlights     2nd Half – Highlights — SOON !

First Half: 2nd Half:

>Iran hopes to earn diplomatic kudos by hosting a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement from August 29-31 at a time when the West is seeking to cripple its economy and isolate it diplomatically over its disputed nuclear program.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already said he will attend, defying...

>* Western diplomats allege clean-up work thereVIENNA Aug 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. think-tank published satellite imagery on Friday which it said showed "pink coloured material" covering a building at a sensitive military site in Iran which U.N. nuclear inspectors want to visit.The Institute for Science and...

>* Brahimi hesitated before taking job* Looking for fresh approach to ending the conflictBy Michelle NicholsUNITED NATIONS, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that he was "honored, flattered, humbled and scared" at the prospect of leading international efforts to broker...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran failed on Friday to strike a deal aimed at allaying concerns about suspected nuclear weapons research by Tehran, a setback in efforts to resolve the stand-off diplomatically before any Israeli or U.S. military action. A flurry of bellicose rhetoric...

>Netanyahu made the remarks to a visiting U.S. congressman the day after diplomatic sources told Reuters that Iran had installed more uranium enrichment machines in an underground bunker, potentially paving the way for a significant expansion of its nuclear work."Only yesterday we received additional proof that Iran is...

>* Iran in diplomatic spotlight as it hosts global summit* Says U.S. policies have failed to isolate it* Over 30 heads of state, UN chief to attend Tehran meeting* Syria could expose divisions between membersBy Marcus GeorgeDUBAI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Iran hopes to earn diplomatic kudos over the...

>ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Talal Mohammad is a long way from Tennessee, and he's out of his depth. In an olive grove a few miles from the frontlines of Aleppo, he's at a loss to explain to a battle-hardened bunch of Syrian rebels what exactly this prosperous, U.S.-trained...

>* Iran holding talks with U.N. nuclear watchdog* Tropical storms around Gulf of Mexico in focus (Updates prices, storm details, adds quote)By Alex LawlerLONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $115 a barrel on Friday as signs of weakness in the global economy weighed on the demand outlook,...

>* Sources say Iran instals extra centrifuges at Fordow* IAEA inspector wants clarity on open questionsVIENNA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian envoy, speaking on Friday shortly before talks resumed with the U.N. nuclear watchdog about the Islamic state's atomic activities, said he expected progress.The two sides...

Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan Horse or it is on the cusp of a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Augusta Opens Its Doors; Judge OKs Clinic Cuts

Bob Carr defends the government's decision to send a diplomat to a meeting of world leaders in Iran.

New UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that he was "scared" at the size of the task of ending the Syria conflict.

Summer blockbusters have played out, movies are getting more serious, and Oscar races are heating up. It must be Hollywood's fall season.

American journalist Austin Tice, shown in this July photo, has been missing in Syria for more than a week. / By James Lawler Duggan, AFP/Getty Images ISTANBUL (AP) — In television footage of a van's interior, a journalist for a U.S.-funded network sits silently behind a Japanese correspondent...

Chairman of Iran's Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi has hailed the victory of resistance in Syria, saying it gave an important lesson to Arab and Muslim countries.

[...] after Labor Day weekend, experts believe gas prices will fall as the busy summer driving season ends and refiners switch to making less expensive gasoline blends. In San Antonio, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline sold for an average $3.52 a gallon on Tuesday, just 4 cents...

Watch Video | Listen to the Audio JEFFREY BROWN: Margaret Warner takes it from there. MARGARET WARNER: And with me is Leonard Spector, who is at Monterey Institute of International Studies as deputy chief of its nonproliferation center. He held a similar post at the Department of Energy during the...

Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- Events took place in foreign countries to celebrate the 52nd anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's start of the Songun revolutionary leadership between August 13 and 16.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said after Mitt Romney's birth-certificate comment that the presumed Republican nominee had "embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them."

Mir Hossein Mousavi, arguably Iran's most prominent opposition figure, has returned to house arrest after undergoing a brief round of heart examinations at a Tehran hospital.

Pyongyang, August 24 (KCNA) -- Order of DPRK Friendship Second Class was awarded to Morteza Moradian, Iranian ambassador to the DPRK.

The Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has described the country’s new round of negotiations with the agency as “constructive,” Press TV reports.

Nation & World briefing DENVER -- The man accused of opening fire on an Aurora movie theater told a classmate he wanted to kill people four

News items from around the world

Some of our special stories in July focused on the heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, the press corps going soft on Mitt Romney’s deceptions, the Left’s failed electoral tactics, and tragic cases of American gun violence.

Tropical Storm Isaac is bearing down on Haiti with wind gusts clocked at 65 miles per hour. Scott Pelley speaks with meteorologist David Bernard about where Isaac could be headed and what to expect from the massive storm.

LONDON,: Oil fell below $115 a barrel on Friday as signs of weakness in the global economy weighed on the demand outlook, although a host of supply-side concerns kept losses in check.

In an epic $1.05 billion verdict Friday in the widely watched intellectual-property case between Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Korea: 005930), a jury in California decided for Apple and against Samsung on six of seven patent-infringement claims centered on mobile devices.

THE war in Syria indicates that the Assad regime has lost most of its positions, some of its top military leaders, the majority of its regions and all of its land crossings. And Russia has sent 17 warships to support President Bashar Assad.

However, without innovative solution, breakthrough unlikely as the BJP shows no signs of backing off.

PROBABLY the single major achievement of the Islamic Solidarity Summit that concluded recently in Makkah is the recognition of the present pitiable conditions of the Muslim Ummah.

I DO not have any problem with Alawite Shiites. In fact, majority of my teachers were Shiite Arabs. Until today, I have not severed relations with them. We never had any problem because of sectarian issue.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow is open to the idea of new nuclear arms cuts on a reciprocal basis and if Washington addresses its concerns about a U.S.-led missile defence system in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday that he would send U.S. troops to Syria if needed to prevent the spread of chemical weapons.

ASPEN — Prince Bandar bin Sultan, chief of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency and still an Aspen property owner, is apparently alive and well despite rumors in early August that he had been assassinated in an explosion.

Reuters/Dubai Iran hopes to earn diplomatic kudos over the coming week as it hosts a summit of 120 developing nations, but any jubilation could turn sour over starkly different views on the bloody conflict in Syria.

Marine Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills' comments came last week at a conference in Baltimore during which he explained how U.S. commanders considered cyber weapons an important part of their arsenal.

NEW YORK: Oil prices dropped on Friday amid renewed talk about the release of strategic reserves and as traders kept an eye on a tropical storm that could disrupt offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

TODAY: BKK Weather 33C; Hot, cloudy, rain; Euro:US 1.2663, Euro:Baht 40.22, SET Index: 1232 BANGKOK BRIEF: Kittiratt says he "white lies" to help country. MP demands faster probe of ...

The Smart-Gilas Pilipinas remained in contention for the championship in the 34th William Jones Cup after it dealt the previously undefeated Iran its first loss with a 77-75 squeaker yesterday at the TPEC Gym in Taipei, Taiwan.

Darius Guppy, the convicted fraudster who once sought Boris Johnson's help in a plot to beat up a journalist, has launched a libel action over claims that he has become a stooge of the Iranian regime. Guppy achieved notoriety in 1993 when he was jailed for an £1.8m insurance...

Representatives of local media outlets locked horns with government officials Friday over inaccurate reports that were broadcast on the fate of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria.

A deal could be reached as early as next month according to inside sources - this could include a non-prosecution agreement, protecting the bank against criminal action.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former world chess champion turned Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov was cleared on Friday of taking part in an unsanctioned protest over the conviction of punk band Pussy Riot in a rare Moscow court ruling in his favour. Related Stories Jailed Western Sahara activists stage 48-hour hunger strike...

Spy satellites can no longer monitor Tehran's alleged efforts to clean up the nuclear site.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspected the latest achievements in the defense sector by the Defense Ministry and its attached organizations on Persian Defense Industry Day.

To reinforce his image of 'Mr Clean', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seriously considering addressing the nation on the issue of coalgate and the impasse in Parliament with opposition Bharatiya Janata Party not allowing the House to run.

U.S. benchmark crude oil futures settled slightly weaker Friday, capping turbulent trading with a wary outlook on whether a brewing storm will pose a threat to key U.S. Gulf Coast oil production and refining operations.

HSBC Holdings Plc, which is under investigation by U.S. regulators for laundering funds of sanctioned nations including Iran and Sudan, is in talks to settle the matter, two people with knowledge of the case said.

Day two of Dublin's Tall Ships Festival saw a parade by most of the 1,800 crew members who took part in the race.

Oil Ends the Session Slightly Lower

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Friday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on Swatch CEO Nick Hayek to identify Swatch’s business partners in Iran that are members of the Iranian regime and/or IRGC.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday after a report that the International Energy Agency is likely to tap strategic oil reserves as soon as September, dropping its resistance to a U.S.-led plan. U.S. crude losses were limited because of the threat to Gulf of...

Search our Archives! A senior Hamas official said in a televised sermon that he wished for the annihilation of every single Jew and American. Jewish Democrats slammed Republicans for planning a tribute to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) at the Republican convention.

>NEW YORK (Reuters) - One way to win a court case is to get the United States Congress to change the rules of the game midstream. A little-noticed provision tucked into the latest Iran sanctions bill may have done just that for American victims of a 1983 bombing of the...

Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan Horse or it is on the cusp of a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. What’s alarming is not just Iran’s increasing store of uranium or the growing sophistication of its rocketry. It’s also the increasingly menacing annihilationist...

The northern Syrian city of Aleppo continues to be pounded by government forces.

Energy Markets Being Driven by Fear

NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC called for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani's immediate release when he appears in an Iranian court. Nadarkhani, accused of apostasy, already has spent more than 1,000 days in prison in Rasht. Iranian authorities may bring him back to court on Monday, ahead of the original...

STATE DEPARTMENT – Sectarian violence in Syria is spilling across the Lebanese border with new clashes Friday in Tripoli. The fighting in Tripoli broke a fragile cease-fire between Sunni Muslim and Alawite neighborhoods. The violence mirrors battles across the border in Syria where mainly-Sunni militia are fighting forces of President...

November's presidential election offers Americans one of the starkest choices in years. On this, at least, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can agree.

One of the biggest names in the American foreign policy world, India-born Fareed Zakaria was accused of plagiarism recently— and the attacks followed fast and furious.

>"The discussions today were intensive but important differences remain between Iran and the U.N. that prevented agreement," the International Atomic Energy Agency's chief inspector, Herman Nackaerts, told journalists after meeting an Iranian delegation in Vienna."At the moment we have no plans for another meeting." Stocks Markets United...

Gabi Ashkenazi, the former Israeli military chief of staff, said that the threat to Israel from a nuclear Iran was not imminent.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Leading Iranian opposition figure Mirhossein Mousavi, hospitalised for tests on his heart, was taken back to his house on Friday where he has been held by authorities for more than a year, an opposition website said.

() The U.S. military has been launching cyberattacks against its opponents in Afghanistan, a senior officer said last week, making an unusually explicit acknowledgment of the oft-hidden world of electronic warfare.

Portugal have been drawn with FIFA Futsal World Cup holders Brazil while two-time winners Spain have a test against Iran after the groups were set for November's finals in Thailand.

Charles Krauthammer: Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan Horse or it is on the cusp of a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities

[Aswat Masriya]President Mohamed Mursi's imminent visit to Iran to take part in the non-alignment summit scheduled for August 30 is partly "a protocol" as Egypt will head the non-alignment movement for three years, Yasser Ali, spokesperson of the presidency, has said.

Writer Arzhang Davoodi, who is facing fresh charges after being imprisoned in Iran for nearly nine years, must be released immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International said. August 24, 2012 International Writer Arzhang Davoodi, who is facing fresh charges after being imprisoned in Iran for nearly nine years, must be released...

THE Arab Spring throws up opportunity and pain without discrimination. But the dilemma it conjures for Hassan Nasrallah and his Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement is truly exquisite.

THE Smart-Gilas Pilipinas national team bounced back from a sorry loss by taking down erstwhile undefeated Iran, 77-75 in the 34th William Jones Cup yesterday in Taiwan.

American journalist Austin Tice, shown in this July photo, has been missing in Syria for more than a week. / By James Lawler Duggan, AFP/Getty Images ISTANBUL (AP) — In television footage of a van's interior, a journalist for a U.S.-funded network sits silently behind a Japanese correspondent...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Opponents of Egypt's president scuffled with his supporters on Friday during a demonstration that was billed as a test of Mohamed Mursi's popularity on the street but which managed to muster only modest numbers against his rule. Related Stories Europe's big bang for bank rules set to...

If you have a moment, read the introduction to the Times's "Room for Debate" feature, which this…

Indo-European tongues traced back more than 8,000 years to present-day Turkey

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to agree a settlement in the next two months with U.S. and UK authorities investigating its role in an interest-rate rigging scandal, according to industry sources, regulatory officials and lawyers familiar with the case. The part-nationalised bank, which is 82...

Israel's home front defense is in better shape than it was in the past, but chances are that in wartime, its missile-defense system will primarily secure strategic sites, not civilian populations.

The taxi driver who hit and killed a pedestrian in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood earlier this month was Reza Eslaminia, a member of the infamous Billionaire Boys Club who was sentenced to life in prison in 1988 for the murder of his father, according to four sources, including a police...

Economic issues will dominate the U.S. 2012 presidential elections, but it is the return of the neoconservatives that will overshadow the discourse on foreign policy — and China.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich hit back at the European Union over jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday, saying he would not pursue integration with the EU at the price of allowing it to interfere in her case. Related Stories Amplats says 100 workers return to South...

Deals of the Day compiles this morning’s biggest news about mergers and acquisitions, banking, bankruptcy and more.

New York police say eight people have been shot outside the Empire State Building, and the shooter is dead.

Earlier this morning, a 13-year-old boy, who was headed to a store after midnight, was shot in the back in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Ronald Wallace Jr. died on the way to the hospital. [ more › ]

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The "Fifty Shades" phenomenon may only get hotter this fall. Booksellers and publishers expect at least a dozen novels to benefit from E L James' multimillion-selling erotic trilogy, a list-topper since early spring, and new ones continue to be acquired. Releases likely to catch...

(Reuters) - Two people have been killed and at least eight others were wounded in a shooting outside of the Empire State Building in New York City on Friday, according to a New York police source. Related Stories Murdoch's Sun defies royals, prints naked Harry pics Europe's big bang for...

The current debate over the Affordable Healthcare Act (i.e., “Obamacare”) seems to have a lot of rhetoric and very few answers to effectively dealing with the cost of healthcare.

LONDON: Oil prices dropped Friday at the end of a volatile week for crude markets amid clouded outlooks for economic stimulus as well as energy demand and against a backdrop of Middle East tensions.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates A Tehran shoe factory is abandoned by its European leather suppliers. Iranian cooking oil manufacturers are operating at nearly half capacity because they cant get enough imported grains.

Oil Prices Fall as European Equities Drop