News Archive - 16 January 2013

>* IAEA wants access to Parchin military site* Iran says Parchin has nothing to do with nuclear workBy Marcus George and Fredrik DahlDUBAI/VIENNA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Senior U.N. nuclear inspectors will continue their talks with Iran for a second day on Thursday, hoping to reach a long-sought agreement...

>"Contacts are still ongoing. We are waiting for the Iranians to respond," spokesman Michael Mann said, when asked about an Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) report that negotiations aiming to resolve the decade-long standoff will resume on Jan. 28 and 29.Ashton oversees contacts with Iran over its disputed nuclear...

>* IAEA wants access to Parchin military site* Iran says Parchin has nothing to do with nuclear workDUBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Senior U.N. nuclear watchdog officials began talks in Iran on Wednesday to nail down an elusive deal for access to pursue a long-stalled investigation into suspected military...

>DUBAI Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iran and six world powers will meet on Jan. 28 and 29 for a new round of negotiations over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported on Wednesday.A diplomat in Vienna, where the U.N. nuclear agency is based, suggested...

>Parliament suspended the second phase of the government's subsidy reform plan in November, saying that reductions in subsidies, which began in 2010, had contributed to higher inflation. Further cuts would harm an economy already battered by Western sanctions on the banking and energy sectors, they said.But Ahmadinejad on Wednesday...

>* Netanyahu-led right-wing on re-election course, polls show* Israeli centre-left failed to present united frontBy Ori LewisJERUSALEM, Jan 16 (Reuters) - In decline since the peace it sought with the Palestinians unravelled into violence, Israel's Labour Party looks set to regain some lost ground in next week's election after waging...

The recent decision by the General Assembly of the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state as a non-member observer was a tremendous public relations victory for the Palestinian Authority. But it improves nothing on the ground for the Palestinians.

The vote is expected to see Israel's parliament swing further to the right. -AFP

WASHINGTON: A U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith could face execution if the government is not pressured to release him, warned an international religious freedom advocacy group.

TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (MNA) – The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations has said that Iran’s nuclear facilities, including the Bushehr power plant, meet the highest international safety standards.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's premier on Wednesday dismissed President Barack Obama's reported displeasure with his hard-line policies toward the Palestinians, a sisgn that the two could be headed for a showdown.

TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (MNA) – The Iranian stage director Maryam Motaref will stage “The Knight and the Sword-bearer”, a play on a fantasy meeting of Don Quixote and Hamlet, during the 31st Fajr International Theater Festival.

Major banks, including PNC, have been battling denial-of-service attacks that have blocked some customers from accessing online accounts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - During the past two years as his frustration with a "dysfunctional" Congress has grown, President Barack Obama has resorted to bypassing the legislative branch as he did on Wednesday to implement tighter gun control laws. "Where they won't act, I will," he said in October 2011 as...

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough is expected to be named the next White House chief of staff, replacing Jack Lew after his nomination to be treasury secretary , sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters.

The British Government will host Australian diplomats in about 12 of its embassies across Africa for the two years that Australia is on the United Nations Security Council.

Banks seeking help from the U.S. government in battling a campaign of cyberattacks that defense officials say is being led by the Iranian government are unlikely to get much relief without a diplomatic solution, security experts say.

Letters from Daily News readers.

Former President George W. Bush gives opening remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for a conference titled "Immigration and 4% Growth: How Immigrants grow the U.S. Economy," Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, in Dallas.

Rumack: Can you fly this plane, and land it? Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious. Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley. -Airplane Below, Boeing's Dreamliner woes become more serious, as the FAA temporarily grounds all 787 planes.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – When Ben Affleck won best director at the Golden Globe Awards for his Iran hostage thriller, “Argo,” ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez was among those cheering the loudest. The superstar, who was at Sunday’s awards show, says she’s happy for Affleck. Lopez and Affleck, once known as “Bennifer,”...

It was cloudy the afternoon of January 3 when residents say the cluster bombs fell on the Syrian town of Latamneh.

(Reuters) - Europe, Japan and India on Thursday joined the United States in grounding Boeing Co's 787, a day after a second incident involving battery failure caused one of the Dreamliner passenger jets to make an emergency landing. Related Stories Iran-IAEA nuclear talks to go into second day Sahara Islamists...

In response to a denunciation of his policies, Mr. Netanyahu said, “I think everyone understands that only Israeli citizens will be the ones who determine who faithfully represents the vital interests of Israel.”

By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - A computer virus attacked a turbine control system at a U.S. power company last fall when a technician unknowingly inserted an infected USB computer drive into the network, ...

South Korean films had a strong showing, and Afghanistan scored its first nomination for the awards that will be decided by a jury led by Hong Kong star Andy Lau. read more

Editor: Jim Loney + 1 202 789 8015 Global Picture Desk: + 65 6870 3775 Global Graphics Desk: + 65 6870 3595 (All times GMT/ET) TOP STORIES Obama makes biggest gun-control push in decades WASHINGTON - President Obama launches biggest U.S.gun-control push in generations, urging Congress to approveassault-weapons...

Various news sites are reporting that Iran is about to try -- again -- to launch a monkey into space on a suborbital flight.

Iran is committed to keeping Lebanon out of the Syrian crisis, Tehran’s ambassador to Beirut Ghazanfar Roknabadi said Wednesday.

This past December marked the 190 th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 policy declaration by President James Monroe that essentially made Latin America the exclusive reserve of the United States.

STITTSVILLE, Ont. — Police have identified the victims — two of them children — of what they describe as a “horrific” double murder and suicide that has rocked a sleepy bedroom community on the outskirts of Ottawa. Ten-year-old Jon Alexander Corchis...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Three car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in northwest Syria on Wednesday, killing at least two dozen people in a coordinated assault on government positions, a monitoring group said.

Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran must move away from dependence on oil revenue to overcome Western sanctions that have slowed the economy and disrupted foreign trade.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee to become the next U.S. defense secretary, will face his Senate confirmation hearing on January 31, a Senate panel said on Wednesday. The Senate Armed Services Committee announcement came a day after Hagel's nomination won critical support from two leading...

The day to show off your culinary skills is Saturday, Jan. 26, and maybe you'll make an award-winning dessert pie. The Rowayton Library 's third annual Blackbird Pie Contest is on and this year the pie categories are anything goes... as long as it is baked.

Just because the endless Israel vs Iran foreplay seems to no longer be exciting the world as much as it did all throughout 2010, 2011 and 2012 when military action seemed imminent over and over, it appears the world has a new geopolitical tension point: the recent incursion into Mali...

MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Russian state-owned energy firms are preparing to move into the country's offshore polar regions.

News agency: Son of Iran opposition figure gets suspended sentence over news interviews

>It also said the two countries had reached agreements on energy transmission and electricity equipment.Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was in Iran on Wednesday, meeting officials. (Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Dan Lalor) World...

What’s the freest country in the world? It’s New Zealand, according to “Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom,” published by the Fraser Institute of Canada and the Liberales Institut of Switzerland. The rest of the top ten, in descending order: Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Ireland, United States, Denmark,...

“President Barack Obama’s broad effort to reduce gun violence will include proposed bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as well as more than a dozen executive orders aimed at circumventing congressional opposition to stricter  …

The conflict between Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s nominee for U.S. secretary of defense, and his neoconservative detractors feels personal. Hagel once disparaged the neocons as “chicken hawks,” and the neocons call Hagel “an appeaser.”

TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (MNA) – As sanctions mount against Iran, reports have gave an account of how surprised some US authorities are by Iran’s methods of bypassing the sanctions.

WASHINGTON - Four U.S. non-proliferation specialists are urging the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran and issue more explicit threats to destroy its nuclear programme by military means. read more

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- The credibility of the work of U.N. nuclear inspectors in Iran may be undermined because they rely too much on foreign analyses, a former inspector said.

Taking a 3-month course of coenzyme Q10 supplements could improve semen quality among infertile men, show researchers.

A man from southern Sweden appeared in court on Wednesday to face charges for trying to smuggle equipment to Iran that could be used to enrich uranium in violation of international sanctions.

TEHRAN, Jan. 16 (MNA) – South Korean oil import from Iran has risen 24 per cent in December, reaching 188,000 barrels compared to the same month next year.

January 16, 2013: Although there have been no more rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza this year, Hamas has been continuing to improve its ability to build rockets in Gaza. Hamas recently tested a new version of a locally made rocket.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Long-strained ties between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama sprang to the fore of Israel's election campaign on Wednesday after the U.S. president was quoted as criticising the prime minister's character. Less than a week before a January 22 ballot that opinion polls predict the right-wing Netanyahu...

January 16, 2013: In the last month Syria has fired dozens of ballistic missiles at rebel targets (either pro-rebel villages or city neighborhoods or military camps captured by the rebels).

January 16, 2013: As if Africa didn’t have enough problems, it’s recently been discovered that Iran is behind the large quantities of unidentified AK-47 ammunition flooding the continent.

January 16, 2013: After four years of no collisions between subs and surface ships in the Straits of Hormuz, it’s happened again. Sort of. On January 10th the USS Jacksonville (a 7,000 ton Los Angeles class boat) had part of a periscope sheared off by a passing fishing boat.

>The following are some of the factors that may move German stocks:DAIMLERIndicated unchangedThe European Commission will seek to prosecute nations that flout a new EU law requiring use of an environmentally friendly coolant in vehicle air-conditioning, which Daimler says is dangerous.Separately, CEO Dieter Zetsche told daily Stuttgarter Nachrichten that...

>Under the contract, Samsung plans to build a facility to help process crude from the field, whose output is forecast to reach 170,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in 2017, a target which was set by Iraq's oil ministry.Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's Gazprom, is teaming...

>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europeans' appetite for turkeys and Christmas getaways pushed up the cost of living in the euro zone in December, but the European Central Bank expects the rate of inflation to cool this year and offer some relief to households during the recession. Annual consumer inflation in the...

>The group "United Against Nuclear Iran" claims MAN was involved in the construction of oil tankers for Iran, fitting vessels with MAN engines and also selling vehicles to the country, according to a statement on the group's website, dated Jan. 9.MAN said on Wednesday that it had decided in...