News Archive - 11 February 2014

>By Jeff Mason and Steve HollandWASHINGTON Feb 11 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued a sharp warning on Tuesday to companies eyeing business deals with Iran, saying the United States would come down like a "ton of bricks" on those that violated sanctions against Tehran.Obama, speaking at a joint...

SINGAPORE Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures climbed above $100 per barrel on Wednesday, buoyed by data from the American Petroleum Institute that showed crude stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels at a key U.S. delivery hub. Expectations of increased demand due to cold weather...

BOOSTING TIES: US President Barack Obama holds talks with his French counterpart Francois Hollande in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Brussels, 11 February 2014 (ITUC OnLine): The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) deplores the denial of bail once again for the 21 Cambodian workers who remain in prison. An appeal was immediately filed with the Supreme Court.

Moscow, Feb 12 (IANS) Russia Tuesday dismissed the US sanctions against Iran as "illegitimate", Xinhua reported. The unilateral sanctions have no legal ground and will destroy "a healthy and positive basis for further progress to settle the Iranian nuclear issue", Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters at the...

At least 500 women and children were among civilians evacuated from the besieged old city of Homs over the past few days during the ongoing humanitarian operation being undertaken by the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Juggling a pair of tenuous diplomatic efforts, President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to come down like "a ton of bricks" on businesses that violate Iranian sanctions while nuclear negotiations are underway. He also conceded "enormous frustration" with stalled Syrian peace talks and offered little hope of...

THOUGHT OF THE DAY : The more involved you are, the more significant your learning will be.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will yesterday highlight a new national security dimension to America’s oldest alliance as he deploys the full pageantry of a state visit for France’s President Francois Hollande.

>In a speech marking the 35th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Rouhani also attacked economic sanctions imposed by the West as "brutal, illegal and wrong" and said countries in the region had nothing to fear from Iran.Iran's military test-fired two new domestically made missiles on Monday, a gesture...

>Obama, speaking at a joint news conference at the White House with French President Francois Hollande, said France and other allies were committed to enforcing existing sanctions against Iran to dissuade it from furthering its nuclear program. As part of that, he cited recent U.S. actions against companies and...

>Iran has curbed its higher-grade uranium enrichment and won limited relief from sanctions under the November 24 deal that is to run for six months. The two sides are to resume talks on February 18 on a final overall settlement to the decade-old dispute.But Washington has stressed that the...

>* Refinery to cost at least $3 bln, have up to 300,000 bpd capacity* Some earlier Indonesian attempts to set up joint refineries have stalled (Adds Indonesian official's quotes, details of deal)By Eveline DanubrataJAKARTA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - An Iranian oil firm and an Indonesian company are looking to build...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are quietly trying to get out of a business few people know they are even in: trading supplies of raw uranium known as yellowcake. In the last four years, the banks have amassed low-grade stockpiles of the nuclear fuel ingredient larger than...

>DUBAI (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani dismissed on Tuesday a Western assertion that military force could yet solve a decade-old nuclear dispute if negotiations proved fruitless, pledging that Iran would pursue peaceful atomic research "forever". In a speech marking the 35th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Rouhani also attacked...