News Archive - 23 September 2012

1st Half – Highlights   2nd Half – Highlights

>* Ban, Ahmadinejad also discussed Syria crisisBy Louis CharbonneauUNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the dangers of incendiary rhetoric when two men met in New York on Sunday before this week's annual gathering of world leaders at the U.

>* IAEA wants to investigate suspected atom bomb research* Israel has increased hints of air strikes on Iran* Iranian commander says Iran could strike first (Adds commander's comments, IAEA no comment)By Yeganeh TorbatiDUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - A senior Iranian lawmaker accused the UN nuclear watchdog on Sunday of passing...

>"Siemens does not have any business ties with Iran's nuclear programme and does not supply any technical equipment for it," a spokesman for the Munich-based multinational company said.Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian Parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, said on Saturday that intelligence and security officials had...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If you thought Mitt Romney was the only presidential candidate whose problems were piling up in the final stretch of the 2012 election campaign, think again. From Middle East upheaval to the troubled Afghan war effort to a more assertive Russia, President Barack Obama is facing pressures...

>* Detention comes as brother Mehdi expected in Iran* Influential Rafsanjani family under pressure since 2009By Yeganeh TorbatiDUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The daughter of influential former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was taken to prison late on Saturday to serve a six-month sentence for "spreading anti-state propaganda," Iranian media...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has displayed a new, all-Iranian made air defense system that is reportedly an upgrade to an earlier Russian-made mobile model. The system was on show today during a military parade in Tehran commemorating the start of the Iraq- Iran war 32 years ago. read more

AS Harry Potter: The Exhibition in Singapore is about to disapparate, it might seem that the island republic will be losing its greatest recent cultural treasure. It will certainly be losing a lot of TM (trademark) symbols — the first paragraph of the exhibition website contains no less than three.

US President Barack Obama said Sunday night on CBS “60 Minutes” that he understands and agrees with Netanyahu’s insistence that Iran not be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons as this would threat both countries, the world in general and kick off an arms race.

So there I am, pulling into a gas station in my town, and Tarek is smiling. He owns the station, and right now he’s charging me $4.25 a gallon. American motorists may not be better off than they were

Economies in the Middle East and North Africa are coping with the aftermath ofthe Arab Spring uprisings and an unstable global environment. Many have boostedfiscal spending to sustain growth and head off popular discontent, putting thegovernment finances of some under pressure, although the budgets of most Gulfoil exporters are still...

Candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have very different visions for America.

>The Hang Seng index has risen for three straight weeks helped by commodities-related sectors. The index closed up 0.7 percent on Friday.However Chinese shares on the mainland slumped to their worst week in 11 months last week on dwindling expectations that the authorities will further ease policy, particularly...

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude futures fell towards $110 in early Asian trade on Monday, dragged down by a firm dollar and worries about weak economic growth in key consumer nations. Although central banks in the United States, Europe and Japan have announced measures aimed at keeping asset markets well...

Zookeepers were alerted by cries of distress from the mother panda, Mei Xiang.

Smoke from the fires forces residents to wear protective masks.

President Barack Obama, defending his foreign policy record at a time of anti-American rage in the Muslim world, fired back at suggestions from Republican Mitt Romney that the president has been weak with allies and enemies alike.

September 24, 2012 8:38 AM UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Britain, France and Germany have officially called for new European Union (EU) sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, diplomats said on Sunday.

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This week, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) will be headquartered inside the Warwick New York Hotel.

>* Many Iranians see new crackdown on Internet freedom* Google, Gmail blockedDUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Iran plans to switch its citizens onto a domestic Internet network in what officials say is a bid to improve cyber security but which many Iranians fear is the latest way to control their...

TEHRAN: An Iranian MP has accused the Germany company Siemens of implanting tiny explosives inside equipment the Islamic Republic bought for its disputed nuclear program, a charge the company denies.

FILE - This photo released on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, claims to show the chief of the aerospace division of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, left, listening to an unidentified colonel pointing to a U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel drone which Tehran says its...

An emaciated teenage Georgia boy told police he was forced to kneel for hours at a time by his stepfather and mother, who now face charges of child cruelty after allegedly confining the teen in a bedroom for years and then...

Hollywood is in photo-finish mode with three new movies bunched up tightly for the No. 1 spot during a sleepy weekend at the box office.

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh who is in charge of the Revolutionary Guards missile systems said Sunday: "In circumstances in which they (the Israelis) have prepared everything for an attack, it is possible that we will make a pre-emptive attack. But we do not see this at the moment."

Police are investigating a homicide that occurred Saturday afternoon in Mt. Airy. Around 3:02 p.m. Saturday.

>The Islamic state tightened its cyber security after its disputed nuclear programme was attacked in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which caused centrifuges to fail at the main Iranian uranium enrichment facility.Tehran, whose nuclear programme is suspected by the West of being aimed at developing a bomb, accused...

>Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made the comments to Iran's state-run Arabic language Al-Alam television, according to a report on the network's website."Iran will not start any war but it could launch a pre-emptive attack if it was sure that the enemies...

>The hacking of websites and corporate networks at Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc began in late 2011 and escalated this year, people familiar with the situation told Reuters."We officially announce that we haven't had any attacks," Head of Iran's civil defence agency Gholam...

Describing not being able to visit India for over 12 years as a “long exile,” India-born writer Salman Rushdie says that being denied a visa and Indian embassies abroad keeping away from him was a...

(MENAFN) National Petrochemical Company (NPC) of Iran's managing director, Abdolhossein Bayat, announced that the firm plans to issue bonds worth USD490 million in autumn to fund petrochemical ...

Here are the latest jail booking reports from Hamilton County and Walker County: Hamilton County: ADAMS, ROBERT LEE 7751 NAUTICAL WAY CHATTANOOGA, 37416 33 Chattanooga DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE UNL. CARRYING OR POSSESSING WEAPON UNLAWFUL PARKING BELL, GREGORY LEBRON 4004 HIGHLAND AVENUE CHATTANOOGA, 37410 ...

DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Iran's crude oil sales dived tojust 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July, due to Westernsanctions, but are likely to have bounced back last month, asenior Iranian legislator was quoted as saying on Sunday. Iranian officials usually play down the impact of U.S. andEuropean...

September 23, 2012 8:16 PM TEHERAN (AFP) - Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike if Israel prepares to attack it, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander told the broadcaster Al-Alam on Sunday, a day after his boss warned conflict was inevitable.

Syrian opposition figures called Sunday for the overthrow of President Bashar Assad at a rare meeting of anti-regime groups held in the government-controlled capital Damascus, a possible attempt by the gathering to position itself as an alternative to the armed rebellion.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Thirty years ago Hafez al-Assad cut phone lines from Hama to stop word spreading of his bloody crackdown on an uprising in the city, ensuring that the 1982 Syrian revolt was crushed and many thousands killed before the world even knew of it. Three decades on, his...

Last month the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps discovered an electronic monitoring device near the Fordo uranium enrichment facility, the Sunday Times reported Sunday, citing Western intelligence sources.

Romney did|not serve Missing in Romney’s convention speech was any mention of the Afghan war or the three generations of Romney mens participation in the military, because there hasn’t been any. Romney received four deferments while other young men were drafted. He went to France on a Mormon mission. When...

U.S. Navy sailors practice fire out to sea from aboard the USS Ponce, a floating base to support mine countermeasure operations, in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. More than 30 nations are participating in an exercise responding to simulated sea-mine attacks in international waters _ a...

The SNP said the Liberal Democrats are celebrating a job half-done on child detention, as Home Office figures show the number of children being detained doubled in the last year.

Because of international divisions over the 18-month-old Syria conflict, the UN is holding no formal meeting on the civil war. -AFP

Egypt's president stressed the need for his country to have a bigger role in international affairs, using his first local television interview to urge the Syrian government to end the carnage coursing through Cairo's onetime ally. Related Stories Somali café owner defiant after latest brush with death Julius Malema on...

Twelve fighters were killed in northern Yemen in ongoing clashes between Shiite tribesmen allied with the country's former leader and ultra-conservative Sunnis, security officials said, as the new president grapples with challenges to his authority. Related Stories Syrian air strike kills 54 as Iraq denies arms aid Bashar al-Assad defiant...