News Archive - 5 October 2014

>* Brent could fall to $90, first time since June 2012By Keith WallisSINGAPORE Oct 6 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures fell to near $92 a barrel on Monday, extending this year's rout that saw the international benchmark hit a 27-month low in the previous session due to a strong U.

>LONDON Oct 5 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton, the world's largest diversified miner, said it aimed to squeeze more tonnage from its iron mines at less expense per tonne as it aims to overtake rival Rio Tinto as the world's lowest-cost producer. "We will continue to squeeze the lemon because at...

Millions of Iranian Muslims across the country are celebrating Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), which marks the culmination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 16 insurgents from al Qaeda's Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, were killed in clashes with Shi'ite group Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on Sunday after launching a major offensive, a source close to Hezbollah said. Hundreds of the Sunni Muslim insurgents attacked at least 10 Hezbollah...

>* Revolutionary Guards will want say in choosing next Supreme Leader* Lengthy political transition could lead to unrest* Next leader unlikely to wield as much power as KhameneiBy Babak DehghanpishehBEIRUT, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Images of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appearing frail and in bed have raised questions...

An analysis suggests that ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists.

Posted: Friday, September 26, 2014 4:11 am | Updated: 8:02 am, Fri Sep 26, 2014. More American-led airstrikes targeted oil installations and other facilities in territory under the control of the Islamic State group in eastern Syria, activists say.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. decision to strike the Khorasan Group to stop a possible terror attack represents a significant expansion of the largely secret war against core al-Qaida, a group President Barack Obama has proclaimed was "a shadow of its former self."

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - The leader of Shiite rebels who swept through Yemen's capital vowed on Tuesday to go after al-Qaida's branch in the country, a show of the group's strength and confidence as it ignored calls by the government for its fighters to leave the city.

Sexy is in the eye of the beholder — and these men’s mags have a lot to behold. Details puts Ben Affleck on its cover, and inside we get an...

PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale said it plans to finish an internal investigation into dollar transfers made on behalf of entities based in countries subject to U.S. sanctions, linked to talks with the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, by the end of next year.

The sharemarket has started the week with losses, led down by losses in the big miners and banks, but volumes remained low as most states celebrated Labour Day.

AN endurance runner and peace activist attempting to reach Bermuda in a homemade floating "Hydro Pod" has been rescued by the US Coast Guard after he began suffering from fatigue.

Russian diplomacy has always frowned on sanctions as tool for international policy. This is not only because the West has applied sanctions to countries with longstanding relations with Moscow such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Iran — and now, Russia itself.

STAFF REPORTS Tehran Foster rushed for two touchdowns to help the Gaffney ninth grade football team to a 31-0 shutout win over Rock Hill on Thursday. Grayson Houey added a rushing touchdown and Cameron Rice returned an interception for a touchdown for the Indians, who improve to 4-2. In jayvee...

Tehran has called on Cairo to open Egypt’s Rafah border crossing, Gaza's only exit route not controlled by Israel, to enable humanitarian aid to be delivered to Palestinians, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Tuesday.

A British-Iranian woman held in a Tehran prison for more than three months after going to a men's volleyball match has gone on hunger strike, her family have revealed.

VIDEO: Israeli PM: We must defeat ISIS and thwart Iran's nuclear plans

A new report from an arms tracking group highlights how easily munitions shipped to the Middle East shift from one owner to another.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he supports President Obama's plan to fight the Islamic State group and that Israel will do whatever it can to participate in the coalition. "We are ready to support and help in every way that we're asked, but these are things we ...

These panoramas taken by astronauts from the International Space Station show the tropical blue waters of the Persian Gulf and then the dust-filled skies as a major dust storm obscures the Gulf and its northern shoreline. Strong north winds often blow across the region in summer, churning up dust from...

Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director, right, and Daniel Benjamin, the Norman E. McCulloch Jr. Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, have a public conversation about international issues in the Cook Auditorium at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H., on Sept. 30, 2014. Morell will be...

The latest outrage from the United Nations’ increasingly oxymoronic Human Rights Council is a report praising the human rights record of — hold your nose ...

Today is Monday, October 13, the 286th day of 2014. There are 79 days left in the year.Highlights in history on this date:1775 - The U.S. Navy is founded as the Continental Congress orders the construction of a naval fleet.1792...

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), sometimes called ISIS or IS, is a Sunni extremist group that follows al-Qaida's anti-West ideology and sees a holy war against the West as a religious duty.

The X-POGO Stunt Team is a returning favorite for Mumfest, which will be Saturday and Sunday on the New Bern waterfront.

Netanyahu, in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” called the administration’s condemnation of the project “baffling.”

In most Islamic countries, clothing regulations are nowhere near as restrictive as you might think.

Their sweep out of the north upended the country, but Sunni extremists may fight back.

Pakistan has 'cautiously' (actually, reluctantly) welcomed the signing of Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) by Afghanistan and the US, says a press report.

Watch Video IVETTE FELICIANO: In rapid succession, ISIS’ recent beheadings of American journalists James Foley, Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines shocked and outraged the public, and prompted an American military response. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. IVETTE FELICIANO: And...

The birth of gotcha journalism and empty-suit candidates can be traced back to Gary Hart's ill-fated boat trip

The Syrian Kurdish party is in favor of constitutional recognition of the rights of Kurds, while wanting to preserve a united Syria, plenipotentiary representative of the Kurdish party Democratic Union Ali Muhammad said at a roundtable at RIA Novosti.

CUBA: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro says Cuba has lost its “best friend” with the death of Venezuela’s Socialist President, Hugo Chavez, earlier this month.

Every week thousands of children travel in unseaworthy boats from Africa to Europe. Some of those who made it to Sicily share their stories

Foreign Minister of the Assad regime Walid al-Muallem said that the attack of Turkey on the Ad Dawla al-Islamiyya/Islamic State (IS) would be regarded by Damascus, as an act of aggression.

The slump in global crude oil prices is not a blip and rates are unlikely to touch $110 a barrel anytime soon. The European benchmark Brent recently tumbled to $90 a barrel, its lowest level in 27 months.

Russian nuclear experts have presented a project for the new Iranian nuclear power plant Bushehr-2 at a seminar in Tegeran, Rosatom's Atomenergomash stated in a Friday release.

Researchers at Trustwave have provided CSO with an inside look at the Magnitude Exploit Kit's infrastructure. Linked to attacks against PHP.net and Yahoo, this kit has gone from obscurity to a certified threat in a short amount of time, while generating more than $60,000 USD per week in income.

A judge was moved by an impassioned plea from a young offender who wants to be "a better dad, a better son" and get on with his life.

Mursitpinar (Turkey) (AFP) - The blasts over the Syrian town of Kobane as Kurdish fighters battle Islamic State (IS) jihadists can be clearly seen and felt the short distance away over the Turkish border.

Japan plans to launch bilateral talks with France, Australia, Israel and Estonia in fiscal 2014 through next March to boost its ability to fight cybercrime ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a government source said Sunday.

Two months ago on the James River in Virginia, the Navy made a technological breakthrough. For the first time, the service launched a fleet of “swarm boats” against a fake enemy target. It wasn’t the boats that were impressive, but the way they were being operated: There were no sailors...

Elaborate ad campaigns were meant to stop refugees seeking protection in Australia. Guess what they cost.

Korea regained Asian supremacy in basketball, thanks in large part to a disciplinary action that kept Marcus Douthit out of the quarterfinal game between the hosts and Gilas Pilipinas in the 17th Asian Games last week.

SPENDING one of the special days with my family and in-laws is indeed a delightful feeling. This is what Muslims normally feel after spending a...

Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 28-year-old law graduate of London university SOAS, began the protest after being kept in solitary detention for the last 100 days

She is Google's secret weapon, charged with guarding the world's most valuable brand.Parisa Tabriz is the company's ace up its sleeve - a young professional hacker they call their "Security Princess".As a "white-hat hacker", the...

A secretive group of the world's most powerful oil ministers will soon gather in Vienna to take arguably one of the most important decisions that could affect the still fragile world economy: whether to cut production of crude to...

Team Philippines averted a gold medal-less campaign in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, but the country still endured one of its worst showings in the quadrennial sports conclave pitting the continent’s best athletes.

AS SOMEONE who has consistently advocated a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians based on a two-state solution, I was appalled to hear the speech delivered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly.

Elaborate ad campaigns to stop refugees seeking protection in Australia cost almost $23m a year.

NEW YORK—A blond, white Red Riding Hood lost in a forest of faceless Muslim wolves : This is how Homeland ’s creators have chosen to represent their show as it begins its fourth season, which sees CIA officer Carrie Mathison stationed in Pakistan. It is also the perfect encapsulation of...

The Obama administration's muscular counter-terrorism campaign against a dangerous Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen is facing a new threat from the sudden military gains and growing political influence of a Shiite Muslim rebel group backed by Iran, according to U.S. officials.

Elaborate advertising campaigns commissioned by the Labor and Abbott governments to stop refugees seeking protection in Australia has cost taxpayers almost $23 million in one year.

(CNN) — An ultra-marathoner trying to “run” from Florida to Bermuda in a human-powered inflatable bubble was rescued Saturday morning, October 4th after he signaled for help, the Coast Guard said. Reza Baluchi, according to his website, has set a goal of running across more than 190 recognized nations to...

October 5, 2014 Return of the Taliban to Afghan Mainstream Politics BA HAMZAH[1] Leaders of Unity Government of Afghanistan The American-sponsored Unity Government in Afghanistan could not have come at the difficult moment. Without the support of the undefeated Taliban, the Unity Government may not last beyond 2016 when American...

XI Metropolis World Congress to begin tomorrow at Hyderabad

Iran plans to launch four new satellites with domestically-designed carriers into the space in the near future, the deputy director of Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets, unleash a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the dreaded outfit. The group urged its members to plan for war with Iran...

Malaysia's failure to achieve its eight gold target at the just concluded Asian Games in Incheon has nothing to do with luck but because the country aimed low, a veteran newsman said today. Former New Straits Times editor-in-chief Datuk A. Kadir Jasin had cutting words for Malaysian sports officials today...

The heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states said in a joint statement Friday that negotiations on Ukrainian reconciliation should continue until the crisis is completely resolved.

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Congress has raised the prospect that the United States would approve an inadequate nuclear agreement with Iran. The House of Representatives urged the administration of President Barack Obama that Washington might endorse an agreement that would enable Teheran to pursue a nuclear program.

Break 150 gold-medal mark on the final day of the Asian Games; South Korea finish second with 79 gold medals.

Alphonse and Denyse Nigena and their three children, who arrived in Ladner in November 2011 thanks to help from the Ladner Christian Reformed Church, have since relocated to Houston, B.C.

INCHEON, South Korea - Asia's athletes put on world-class performances and China stepped towards the 2016 Olympics but controversy was never far away at an engrossing Asian Games. Between the "Gangnam Style" opening ceremony and Saturday's spectacular close, 17 world records fell and dozens of potential Olympic champions were unearthed.

Prepare for a bout of seasickness-induced inspiration Reza Baluchi, a well-known extreme marathon runner, was attempting to travel around the Bermuda Triangle (from Miami to Bermuda to Peurto Rica, and then back to Miami, approximately 1,033 miles one way) using only an inflatable bubble. Baluchi's mission was to raise money...

The spy drama will see Claire Danes building a new life full of hardships on new posting

>* Steel exports help counter oil sales lost due to sanctions* Plans to produce 55 mln T by 2025, with 10 mln T exported* Foreign firms line up to tap Iran steel sector - TehranBy Maytaal Angel and Svetlana BurmistrovaLONDON/MOSCOW, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Iran is increasing steel exports and...