News Archive - 20 February 2014

>VIENNA Feb 20 (Reuters) - Six world powers and Iran made a "good start" during very productive talks this week on Tehran's nuclear programme and will meet again on March 17, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday.Ashton, speaking to reporters after three days of talks...

>BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China urged the United States on Friday to scrap plans for President Barack Obama to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama later in the day, warning it would "seriously damage" ties between the two countries. The White House National Security Council said Obama would meet...

London, Feb 21 : Britain and Iran Thursday resumed direct diplomatic relations as the Iranian embassy in London restored part of its consular operations.

Iranian Embassy in London reopens after being closed for 2 years as relations slowly thaw        

>VIENNA (Reuters) - The size of Iran's most contested uranium stockpile has declined significantly for the first time in four years following a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in November, the U.N. atomic watchdog reported on Thursday. As a result, Iran's holding of uranium gas enriched to a...

"The Past" makes conventional movies feel artificial. Watching the characters interact in this movie feels like "Here is real life," and real life just happens to be strangely compelling. There is no music on the soundtrack, and there are no flashbacks or showy devices. [...] see it twice, and...

It will be several months before an independent investigation into a fatal riot at the Manus Island detention centre will be complete.

The Iranian ambassador to Beirut says the US should win Iran’s trust in nuclear talks to help achieve a comprehensive deal over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

Nuke it from cyberspace, it's the only way to be sure The South Korean government has approved plans to develop a Stuxnet-like virus to disrupt Pyongyang’s missile and atomic capabilities, according to local reports.…

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The body of an asylum seeker who was killed in a violent breakout from an Australian-run detention camp on Papua New Guinea will be repatriated to his family in Iran, an Australian official said on Friday.

WESTERN media has thrown a lot of flak at Russia for its anti-gay laws, and it does seem strange for an ostensibly modern European country to be so medieval in its views on homosexuality. Middle Eastern nations like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon fit the stereotype of “countries that hate...

GAZA (Reuters) - Voices of construction workers and the noise from their tools used to ring out in Gaza's streets. Now hulks of unfinished buildings stand in eerie silence, and the idle builders are left to worry how to make ends meet.

LONDON/ANKARA (Reuters) - As Syria's war nears the start of its fourth year, Iran has stepped up support on the ground for President Bashar al-Assad, providing elite teams to gather intelligence and train troops, sources with knowledge of military movements say.        

Last week, federal agents arrested 56-year-old See Kee Chin, known as Alfred Chin, in Seatac for investigation of trying to smuggle equipment to China that the United State bans from export without proper licensing. On Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted Chin, from Hong Kong, for one count of violating...

President Barack Obama may not see America and Russia squaring off like diplomatic grandmasters over a Cold War-style chessboard. But he can't speak for Vladimir Putin.        

Senior U.S. officials say that Wednesday’s terror warning about international air travel, first reported by NBC News, is the result of recent chatter about Ibrahim al-Asiri, the al Qaeda bombmaker from Yemen responsible for several high-profile bombing attempts against U.S. targets.        

KARACHI: While addressing concerns over the nuclear power project (K-2/K-3), speakers at a seminar on Thursday said that the proposed twin plants could help fulfil Karachi’s growing water needs besides generating 2,200 megawatts of electricity.

LAHORE: The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified hepatitis, antibiotic resistance and unavailability of essential drugs as the emerging challenges South Asia in particular and the rest of the world in general may face in near future.

VIENNA, Feb. 20 -- Iran's stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium has declined for the first time in four years after Tehran implemented a landmark deal it signed with world powers, the UN nuclear agency said Thursday in a report.

THE European Union (EU) — whose trade with Zimbabwe in the past four years improved reaching a total of US$800 million as at end of 2012, with the terms of trade being US$200 million in the country’s favour besides billions provided in aid — this week moved to suspend its...

When Mordechai Vanunu, a humble Israeli technician who worked for years at Israel’s secret nuclear site at Dimona, spilled the beans about Israel’s nuclear weapons in 1986, very bad things happened to him.

The United States risks becoming an unworthy member of the community of the nations if it reneges on its obligations agreed under a preliminary deal between Iran and world powers, a political commentator says.

Vienna (AFP) Feb 20, 2014 Iran is sticking to a six-month nuclear freeze agreed under a November interim deal with world powers, the UN atomic agency said in new report Thursday, a month after the agreement came into force. The International Atomic Energy Agency update said that uranium enrichment to...

Friday marks the first anniversary of a shooting and ensuing car wreck on the Las Vegas Strip that claimed the lives of three people. Cab driver Michael Boldon was among those killed.

Canada is investigating one of its anti-terrorism agents for having a year-long affair with her target, an alleged Iranian spy, an official said.        

Beirut, Lebanon (UPI) Feb 20, 2013 Hezbollah is taking a beating in Lebanon from Sunni jihadists who have turned the tables on the Iranian-backed movement by battering its strongholds with a tactic the Shiite fundamentalists unleashed with deadly effect on their Israeli and U.S. foes in the 1980s -...

Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan went head-to-head on Oct. 11 to discuss their views on foreign and domestic policy.

The Brooklyn Nets are considering signing Jason Collins — the first American male athlete in a major professional league to come out as gay — to a contract, sources tell NBC News.The Nets had a private workout with Collins during the All-Star Break in Los Angeles, his hometown, the...

Also, President Obama's budget proposal will not include previous cost-of-living offer; two men who assaulted fan at Dodger Stadium plead guilty to assault; liberal groups seek rejection of Obama judicial nominee; documents show UPS pilot descended too steeply before crashing last year; Saudi man pleads guilty to attack on oil...

You would be hard-pressed to find a single, solitary soul in Egypt, who is not depressed! The painful burden of despondence and melancholy has invaded every nook and every crook, of every hide-out of this dominion.

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Federal authorities in Connecticut have seized nearly $60,000 they suspect a former Pratt & Whitney engineer received to ship military files to Iran.

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Viewers worldwide can watch Tuesday as the two men most responsible for reducing the world's nuclear weapons stockpiles reunite at the University of Indianapolis to discuss current and future global security issues. "Diplomacy in a...

Baptist Press Stories for Feb. 20 2014 --------------------------------------- Survey: Most pastors say religious liberty on decline http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?id=42044 Ronnie Floyd to be SBC president nominee http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?id=42045 Patterson: care for the immigrants among us http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?id=42046 Anti-Christian violence detailed in hearing ...

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FLORIANOPLIS, Brazil: Manchester United have no chance of winning the title season but manager David Moyes must be given more time to settle into the job, the club's former assistant coach Carlos Queiroz said on Thursday.

>"Aseman" (Sky) newspaper, a weekly magazine turned newspaper aligned with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, had quoted a political science professor describing eye-for-an-eye punishment as "inhumane.""The newspaper was banned for spreading lies and insulting Islam," an official from Tehran's Prosecutor's office told the official IRNA news agency.Numerous articles by...

The toll from Wednesday's double suicide car bombing at an Iranian cultural centre in Beirut has risen to 10, a health ministry source said. "The death toll in the blasts has risen to 10 after the remains of an additional four people found at the site of the explosion were...

Bogota's VFW Post 5561 was, at one time, a hot spot for veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam to gather together with a robust membership of nearly 500 veterans.

TRIPOLI/BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) - Two people were killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Thursday including a military commander from the Alawite minority shot dead on his way to work, security sources said, the latest spasm of violence linked to the Syrian civil war. In Beirut, a Palestinian man...

Bulgarian authorities have identified a third accomplice suspected of involvement in a 2012 bus bombing linked to an alleged Canadian member of the terrorist group Hezbollah.

KUCHING: Lebanon and Kazakhstan secured their tickets to the men ITF World Junior Tennis Competition (WJTC) Boys Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying yesterday after beating their opponents in the play-offs for 1st to 4th positions in the pre-qualifying event at Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Centre here.

The Arab Spring failed to live up to initial hopes, contributing to a downward spiral of violence and uncertainty in the Middle East ever since. Today, the situation isn’t improving¯in fact, we still haven’t hit rock bottom.

KARACHI: Government has planned to restructure Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and induct a new lot of professional and competent commercial consulars to project Pakistani goods in regional and international markets especially in new ones.

>"Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman will be traveling to Jerusalem, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai February 21-25 for consultations with their governments and representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council following P5+1 negotiations with Iran in Vienna," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said."The Under Secretary will also...

>Iran and six world powers, represented by Ashton, held the first round of talks in pursuit of a final settlement in their decade-old dispute on Tehran's contested nuclear programme in Vienna this week. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Andrew Heavens) FILED UNDER: Energy Tweet this Link this Share this...

>* Visit would be highly politically significant* Iran has traditionally had good ties with Austria* Talks over Iran's nuclear programme in ViennaBy Michael ShieldsVIENNA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Austrian President Heinz Fischer has been invited to Iran, a country keen to revive ties with the EU member that for centuries...