News Archive - 31 March 2014

>* Exports to bolstering defence industry, security ties* Export ban remains on armed conflicts, U.N. resolutions* No plan to export lethal arms such as tanks, fighter jets (Adds potential export items)By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Nobuhiro KuboTOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - Japan eased its weapons export restrictions on Tuesday in...

>UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Former U.S. embassy workers held hostage in Iran from 1979 to 1981 are outraged that Tehran has selected a new U.N. envoy who may have played a role in the 444-day crisis and want him barred from U.S. territory, lawyers for the ex-hostages...

Sri Lanka’s efforts at achieving national reconciliation and significant progress in many spheres received support of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America during the adoption of the resolution on March 27 and consideration of the High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka on March 26 at the Human Rights Council.

>TEL AVIV (Reuters) - An Israeli court convicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Monday of accepting a six-figure sum in bribes linked to a real-estate deal, probably ending any prospects of a political comeback. Olmert, a centrist credited internationally with working towards a peace settlement with the Palestinians, had...

>DUBAI, March 30 (Reuters) - Unknown assailants in a speedboat shot at a crude oil tanker as it sailed through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman on Sunday, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said.The crew of the unidentified oil tanker reported being shot at twice from close...

>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - As Moscow and the West dig in for a prolonged stand-off over Russia's annexation of Crimea, risking spillover to other former Soviet republics and beyond, here are 10 ways in which the Ukraine crisis could change attitudes and policy around the world. 1) Russia diminished: Russia's role...

>* Tehran regularly denies involvement* Saudi neighbour Yemen struggling to stabiliseDUBAI, March 31 (Reuters) - Yemen's president called on Iran to stop supporting separatists in the south and religious groups in the north of the Arabian peninsula country, which is trying to stabilise after more than two years of political...

Michael Ramirez’s editorial cartoons are getting so sad. His bankruptcy of ideas was obvious in his March 25 cartoon, which included a president from 40 years ago.

Decades of disagreements, from Cold War ideological battles to squabbles over the United States' close relationship with India's archrival, Pakistan, would take a back seat to the many shared interest...        

The United States is split by income inequality, racial inequality and housing subsidy inequality, but one architect is trying to make a small difference. Michael Pyatok, principal of Pyatok Architects in Oakland, Calif., detailed how he designs affordable housing for low-income families to more than 100 students and faculty...

WASHINGTON- In a flood of last-minute sign-ups, hundreds of thousands of Americans rushed to apply for health insurance Monday, but deadline day for President Barack Obama's overhaul brought long, frustrating waits and a new spate of website ills.

Negotiating with another country’s territory as collateral has a long history—the most obvious example is from 1938.

LNG exports to Europe could counter Russian influence on the continent.

WASHINGTON — If Republicans take control of the Senate in this year’s elections, it will be, as Vice President Joe Biden might put it more graphically, a big deal.

GEORGE TOWN: Some 60 local and foreign junior tennis players will participate in the 4th Penang-Asian Under-14 Series Tennis Championship here tomorrow.

During my Senate career, all of the discussion about energy was dominated by the issue of its shortage; America needed more...

There is a campaign poster glued to the wall at the back of the counter at NTR Printing Press where Maqbali Khan sits relaxed, smoking a cigarette on a quiet Sunday morning.

Nancy Powell also announces end of her diplomatic career

April Fools' Day, or All Fools' Day, is celebrated as the day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other. Last year, Twitter announced that it would be charging tweeters to use vowels, while consonants were free - with the exception of the letter Y. In 2013, the...

Vienna, April 1 (IANS) Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday that Iran "can become a normal country" if it dosen't seek nuclear weapon. Speaking to the reporters after the meeting with Austrian president Heinz Fischer here, Peres expressed his concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, saying the comprehensive deal over Iranian...

Over the past few weeks, another country has decided that the solution to its problems is to clamp down on the internet. In Turkey it started with the blocking of a few major social media sites, i.e. Twitter and YouTube.

A Midtown skyscraper must be forfeited by companies that control it as a front for the terror-supporting Iranian government, a Manhattan judge ruled. Proceeds from any potential sale of 650...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets supporters in Ankara, on March 31,... Read More Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets supporters in Ankara, on March 31, 2014. Even after Erdogan’s party maintained control in local elections over the weekend, state-owned banks face the prospect of a weakening economy,...

Americans are rushing to sign up for health insurance under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare programme, as a key enrolment deadline looms.

(Bonn, 31 March 2014) – The UN's climate chief Christiana Figueres today said the latest government-approved science more clearly than ever points to the extreme risks posed by climate change, as well as the many opportunities to put the world on a safer and more resilient path.

There may be no political prisoners among them, rights official says

An Idaho man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday after driving across the country to launch a one-man attack on the White House using a semi-automatic assault… Click to Continue »

Lara Setrakian is moving from Syria to the Arctic. Well, not physically. But Setrakian, the force behind the immersive website Syria Deeply , is going to next apply her laser-focused, in-depth approach to news coverage to the Arctic and its melting ice caps.

By squeezing Hamas, Israel may be handing the strip over to Iran’s proxies or, worse still, it may have to confront a territory with no government at all.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency on Tuesday said it was optimistic it had found the cause of a failed missile defense test in July 2013 and aimed to carry out a fix for the entire fleet of ground-based interceptors by the end of the year. Missile Defense Agency Director...

(AP) — A flood of last-minute applicants rushed to sign up for health insurance on Monday, deadline day for President Barack Obama's health care law, with more than 125,000 people at a time using the fragile system despite a new spate of...

The HealthCare.gov website is shown on a laptop in Washington, Monday, March 31, 2014. Today is... The HealthCare.gov website is shown on a laptop in Washington, Monday, March 31, 2014. Today is... SEIU-UHW worker Kathy Santana, left , assists Ruben Tares, 27, during a health care enrollment...

Hundreds of uninsured people waited in lines at hospitals, multicultural centers and other sites across Texas on Monday, hoping to buy a health insurance plan through President Barack Obama's federal marketplace before an 11 p.m. CDT enrollment deadline.

Technical problems cause two interruptions on HealthCare.gov, where applicants sign up for coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Families and victims of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people were awarded $907 million in compensation by a U.S. judge.

This NASA Earth Observatory image obtained on Monday shows about 105 miles of parallel line patterns and sweeping curves among the Kavir desert (Dasht-e Kavir) in Iran on Feb. 14.        

From the Archive: Many of the world’s crises, like those in Syria and Ukraine, can be better understood by factoring in Israel’s maneuvers to involve the U.S. in bombing Iran. Documents leaked by Pvt. Manning exposed how one such scheme might have played out, as Robert Parry wrote in...

New Zealand has designated a further two international terrorist groups under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, Prime Minister John Key announced today.

(The Hague, Netherlands – 31 March 2014) – Delivering its judgment on Australia’s case against Japan, which saw evidence presented during a three-week hearing last June, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today found that Japan’s Southern Ocean whale hunt was illegal under international law.

>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Sunday's resounding victory by the ruling AK Party in Turkey's local elections, undiminished by what some call an authoritarian turn by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, is likely to put already cool relations between Ankara and Brussels in the chiller. After months of revelations of high-level corruption and...

guile gahyl noun; insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity. — Dictionary.com

Christie tries to put Bridgegate behind him and lay the groundwork for a 2016 presidential run        

THE target, I repeat, isn’t the Fiba World Cup in Spain. The target is the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. Our officials have seen the light—finally. They were in the dark at the start—blinded by success initially given them by the Fiba Asia Cup in August. A quick flashback.

Tehran, April 1 (IANS) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned or commuted prison terms of 920 convicts Monday, local media reported. On April 1, 1980, Iranians voted for the establishment of the Islamic republic following a revolution which overthrew the West- backed Shah.

FOR BETTER or for worse President Obama has not acted decisively with Western allies in an effort to end the horrific civil war in Syria.

Times Square is New York's most popular tourist attraction, according to a survey of international students by Kaplan International English. (PRWeb March 31, 2014) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/04/prweb11718955.htm

* West mulls more sanctions on Russian industries * Iraq starts production at giant West Qurna-2 field * Libya Mellitah condensate exports still blocked * Brent set for first quarterly decline in three quarters * Coming Up: U.S. Midwest business index at 1345 GMT (Updates detail, prices; U.S.

Marriott Courtyard Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 10:32 P.M. AST SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  My colleague will go ahead and give a readout of the meeting, and then we'll take your questions. SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  The President had an excellent, more than two-hour meeting with King Abdullah.  And it was really...

PUTRAJAYA, March 31, (Bernama) -- The Federal Court here will hear on June 30 the appeal brought by an Iranian, who is wanted by the Thai government over the 2012 alleged bomb blast in Bangkok, on his bid to secure his release.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is in Crimea, leading a delegation of Russian officials for a meeting on what he calls the "development" of the peninsula. He is the most senior Russian to visit the region since Russia seized it from Ukraine earlier this month. His meeting Monday comes a...

March 31, 2014 4:50 PM TEHRAN (AFP) - Thousands of travellers, many of them visiting family during the Iranian new year holidays, have been rescued after being trapped by unexpected snowstorms in north Iran, a report said on Monday.        

Bulgaria has the eighth cheapest local beer in the world, shows a survey of the Global Post website, based on data of UN Office of Drugs and Crime. A half-liter bottle of locally produced beer in Bulgaria costs USD 0.77. It is the cheapest in Vietnam – USD 0.

Iran’s oil exports to its top four Asian customers increased by 17.2 percent in February from a year ago, a report says.

Thousands of travellers, many of them visiting family during the Iranian new year holidays, have been rescued after being trapped by unexpected snowstorms in north Iran, a report said today. "Since yesterday (Sunday), teams have rescued around 14,000 travellers caught in the heavy snow," Red Crescent spokesman Hossein Derakhshan told...

>* Tanker data shows Iran exports holding above 1 mln bpd through March* Higher crude exports from Iran could help cap oil pricesBy Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and James TophamSINGAPORE/TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Iran's top four crude oil buyers lifted their purchases 17.2 percent in February from a year ago,...