News Archive - 15 December 2012

1st half 2nd half

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's army chief of staff warned NATO on Saturday that stationing Patriot anti-missile batteries on Turkey's border with Syria was setting the stage for world war. General Hassan Firouzabadi, whose country has been a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the 21-month uprising against his rule,...

>Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, died in Friday's shooting spree in the town of Newtown, Connecticut, including 20 children and six adults killed at the school and one adult killed at a nearby site, police said.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast described the killings as "tragic," according to Iran's...

>Turkey asked NATO for the Patriot system, designed to intercept aircraft or missiles, in November after talks about how to bolster border security after repeated episodes of gunfire spilling into Turkish territory from Syria's civil war."Each one of these Patriots is a black mark on the world map, and...

>Sri Lanka raised the price of a litre of gasoline by 10 rupees to 159 rupees ($1.24), a record high level in terms of the local currency.Susantha Silva, the managing director of Ceypetco said the state-run firm's losses stood at 75 billion rupees ($583.43 million) at the...

KANGAR, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) vice-chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr Kamarudin Hussin received the World Inventor Grand Order of Merit award at the World Inventor Award Festival (WIAF) 2012 held in Seoul, South Korea yesterday.

CHAMPAIGN — Chris Herren saw himself in Thursday’s crowd. As the former NBA player spoke at Combes Gym to nearly 2,000 teenagers from throughout central Illinois, he interrupted himself for a brief comment directed at two students sitting in the upper west balcony. “You can sit tight, or you can...

TEHRAN, Dec. 16 (MNA) –Egyptians queued to vote on Saturday on a constitution promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood as the way out of a prolonged political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation.

TEHRAN, Dec. 16 (MNA) – In the last few days, the media in every nook and cranny of the planet has been abuzz with “news” about the Syrian military loading “precursor chemicals for the deadly sarin nerve gas into aerial bombs” and “awaiting final orders from President Bashar al-Assad” before...

Even though Syrian rebels now hold vast swathes of territory, President Bashar al-Assad's regime has stood firm despite predictions of its fall.

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...

OPEC considers oil output, Iran-Saudi rivalry Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 6:47 a.m., Tuesday, December 11, 2012 VIENNA (AP) — Tough decisions await OPEC oil ministers sitting down this week for a policy meeting.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A top Iranian military commander warned Turkey on Saturday against stationing NATO anti-missile systems on its territory, saying such a move risks conflict with Syria.

The United States stepped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program on Thursday, imposing sanctions on seven companies and five individuals, including Iran's atomic energy chief.

A former prominent Iranian diplomat recently won a UK High Court ruling blocking his extradition to the U.S., where he was wanted for allegedlly seeking to export banned material to Iran.

The frozen conflict threatening to heat up again

The consumer price index dropped by 0.5% in November, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported Friday. The major drop was a surprise to analysts.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Peacemaking with the Palestinians, once the main issue by far in Israeli politics, has been strikingly absent from the campaign for next month's general election. After years of public frustration with failed peace efforts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's badly divided challengers are trying instead to tap the...

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The governor of Nigeria's volatile Kaduna state and a former national security adviser were among six killed when a helicopter crashed in the southerly oil-producing Bayelsa state on Saturday, officials said. Related Stories Iran warns against Patriot deployment on Syria frontier Mandela had gallstones removed, recovering...

John F. Kerry and Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s likely picks to head his second-term national security Cabinet, have much in common, including decorated service in Vietnam and opposition to the Iraq war. Read full article >>

Khaled Al-Enazi, left, and Abdullah Al-Khaledi. About three weeks have passed since the tragic murder of Saudi diplomat Khaled Al-Enazi, but Yemeni security officials are hitting dead ends in their search for the killer, Saudi and Yemeni officials here said yesterday.

The administration backed down from one confirmation fight -- and may be running into another one.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Iranian Air Force has surprised the U.S. military with the interception of a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, a report said.

The United States can make money and help the planet by lifting export restrictions.

For some time now, a certain strategic vision has been gaining traction: The United States is becoming energy-independent, paving the way for its political retreat from the Middle East and justifying its strategic "pivot" toward Asia. This view seems intuitively correct, but is it?

A trilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the governments of Pakistan, Turkey and Afghanistan. Its objective: to promote trade between the three countries and enhance economic co-operation.

Chairman of Iran's Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi has warned that deployment of NATO Patriot missiles along Turkey's border with Syria can pave the way for a “world war.”

1. "Argo" – Directing just his third feature, Ben Affleck has come up with a seamless blend of detailed international drama and breathtaking suspense, with just the right amount of dry humor to provide context and levity.

Russia’s decision to stop using the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan will not hurt its security, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

With the United States running a huge deficit, the incomes of the “99 per cent” stalled, the fiscal cliff approaching fast, the nation’s dependence on external financing from China acute, and Washington gridlock a recurrent political condition, this may seem like an odd moment to be bullish on America. But...

Oil prices rose on Friday on expectations for improved demand in China after data showed the manufacturing sector of the world's No. 2 oil consumer expanded in December at its fastest pace in more than a year.

TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (MNA) – Editor-in-Chief of NNI commented on the Pakistani people position on US sanctions on Iran, saying that Pakistani nation and state believe that Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear energy, and that sanctions are illegal and unfair.

The Lebanese Army arrests a six-member gang for circulating forged foreign currencies in the market.

Is This Driller a "Buy Low" Scenario?

UNITED NATIONS: World leaders expressed shock and horror after a gunman massacred 20 small children and six teachers Friday in the US state of Connecticut, one of the worst school shootings in history.

TEHRAN, Dec. 15 (MNA) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just issued a report finding that the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide reached a record high this year, many of whom were jailed on the untenable pretext that they were terrorist sympathizers.

Too Big to Fail, the bitter banking epithet of the bailout years, found its mirror this week in New York, where HSBC, the London-based banking giant, agreed to pay $1.9 billion to settle a money-laundering complaint.

“The presidential election will be held simultaneously with Iran’s fourth city council elections,” Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said.

>* Violence moves President Obama to tears* Monsignor describes scene as "just brutal"By Chris Kaufman and Hilary RussNEWTOWN, Conn., Dec 15 (Reuters) - Residents of the small Connecticut community of Newtown were reeling on Saturday from one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, as police sought...

Iran was quick on Saturday to express condolences after the "tragic" shooting rampage that left 26 people dead, including 20 small children, at an elementary school in the United States.

Russia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin distances himself from a statement issued following a recent meeting he took part in along with his counterparts from Iran, Syria and China.

December 15, 2012: In North Korea the government was forced to quickly re-open the Chinese border, despite earlier orders to close the border for the December 7-18 mourning period for Kim Jong Il (who died a year ago).

December 15, 2012: At the end of November Iran announced a new class of warships, the Sina-7 class frigates. All that was shown was pictures of the completed hull and superstructure. The ship had yet to be fitted out with weapons, electronics or most other equipment.

The secret, one-on-one nuclear negotiations President Barack Obama launched with Iran have run into a blank wall.

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - For the year of 2013, TD Securities analysts are more bullish on growth prospects given their view that underlying fundamentals are much improved, "as evidenced

Syrian government troops have launched a major attack on rebel-held areas south of the capital Damascus, opposition activists said on Saturday.“The Syrian troops are trying, under a barrage...

Digital photography may be the wave of the future, but celluloid was behind two of this year's biggest contenders. read more