News Archive - 21 January 2015

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Iran without consulting President Barack Obama, and the White House questioned whether protocol had been violated. Setting up a diplomatic showdown on an issue that has sharply...

>"What we hope to get to in March is the agreement on all of the core elements, what commitments the Iranians would make," he said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.During the hearing, lawmakers expressed strong doubts about the Obama administration's opposition to legislation being developed in Congress...

>* Prices of food, water, electricity have risen sharply* President Rouhani pledged to end nuclear stand-off with West* But still no final nuclear deal to end sanctionsBy Parisa HafeziANKARA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - As prices of food, water and electricity rise further beyond reach, struggling Iranians are losing belief in...

Abedini is an Idaho pastor held captive in Iran

Oil Prices Tad Lower as Markets Brace for ECB Decision

Muslim population grows 24% between 2001 and 2011, slower than previous decade

Shares of Hyundai fell 29% last year when involvement in a $10 billion property purchase triggered a sharp selloff and promises of higher dividends.

Mitt Romney sounded an awful lot like a third-time presidential candidate Wednesday, telling an enthusiastic crowd the nation has problems like debt and poverty that aren't being addressed.

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) A Palestinian stabbed and wounded seven people on a Tel Aviv commuter bus and in the street in a morning rush-hour attack yesterday before he was shot by ...

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Thousands gathered in Tehran yesterday at a funeral procession for a Revolutionary Guards general killed by Israel, after his commander warned the Jewish s...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A locksmith says the service door wasn't fully locked at the apartment where a crusading Argentine prosecutor was found shot dead and investigators have revealed the exi

>INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares near 8-week high as ECB looms large* Oil prices dip ahead of looming ECB bond buying programme* MIDEAST STOCKS-Cheap oil lifts Egypt to 6-1/2-year high; Gulf weak* PRECIOUS-Gold slips from $1,300 on profit-taking ahead of ECB* U.S. Congress invites Netanyahu for Iran speech, Obama blindsided*...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Challenged before the Asian Cup to prove it can be more than a footnote in Australia's crowded sporting calendar, the national capital Canberra has responded with good attendances and an impressive audition for more prominent roles in the future.

I wanted to offer a wry chuckle before we headed into the heavy stuff about Iraq, so I tried to start this article with a suitably ironic formulation. You know, a deja-vu-all-over-again kinda thing.

Recently, we have begun to hear voices in Australia who believe that appeasing the Russian bear is in the interests of Australia, Europe, the US and the West more generally.

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday met the wife of a Christian pastor who has been jailed in Iran for over two years, vowing to work to win his release. Obama met the wife of Saeed Abedini during a visit to Boise, Idaho, where the president was selling...

Iraq's prime minister complained Monday that the international community has left his nation largely in the lurch against the extremist Islamic State movement, even as U.S. and European officials scrambled to revamp their strategy for countering Mideast-based jihadis following this month's Paris terrorist attacks. "We are in this almost...

On the morning after President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, leaves a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, after telling reporters that he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on dealing with terrorism,...

>CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro shook up complex currency controls on Wednesday and also prepared Venezuelans for a rise in the world's cheapest fuel prices in response to a recession worsened by plunging oil revenues. The socialist-run OPEC member's economy shrank 2.8 percent in 2014 while inflation topped...

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Congress signaled Wednesday that they won’t put foreign policy issues on the back burner despite cautions from President Barack Obama against interfering with ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

From the battle with the Islamic State to Iran's nuclear program, President Obama's clear signal from the State of the Union address is that cooperation with partners will continue to trump a rush to confrontation.

Gary Kroeger, who was on the show in the early 1980s, may challenge Rep. Rod Blum (R).

Crude oil prices continued lower as the IMF cut the global growth outlook and Iran hinted that oil pr...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — There is no direct evidence that an ex-CIA officer leaked details of a classified mission to a journalist, but phone and email records show the two were in frequent contact, an FBI agent testified Wednesday.

>"We assess that we still have a credible chance of reaching a deal that is in the best interest of America's security, as well as the security of our allies," Blinken said in testimony for a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.He said international negotiators' goal is to...

>"At least as of now, within the context of the negotiations, they remain a good partner," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a Senate hearing.Blinken and Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen both also testified that international sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Ukraine had not...

>Negotiators from Iran and six major powers failed to meet a self-imposed deadline in November to clinch an agreement that is seen as crucial to reducing the risk of a wider Middle East war. A deal would curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.U.S.

Transcript of President Obama's State of the Union address. Final transcript, provided by the White House, of President Obama's State of the Union address.    THE PRESIDENT:  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:    read more

The United States said Wednesday it dispatched additional ships to the Florida Straits to halt Cuban rafters but rebuffed demands for broader changes to U.S. migration rules that dominated the first day of talks between...

Four months after sweeping into Yemen's capital, rebels seized the presidential palace, but didn't overthrow the president.

Cyber security, surveillance, and a free and open internet were tech-related key words in President Obama’s State of the Union address broadcast live across the United States on Tuesday night in a 59-minute speech that acts as a policy wish list for the US President.

Likely Democratic presidential contender comes out against sanctions push

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner's decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress is the latest chapter in the growing division between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans -- and some Democrats -- on foreign policy. Like many presidents, Obama is focusing...

US President Barack Obama called for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and new initiatives to boost the middle class as he urged Americans to turn the page on years of economic woes and hard-fought wars in his sixth State of the Union address before Congress. Some highlights from Obama’s proposals:

Jan. 22, 2015, 6:08 a.m. "Hi, are you walking home?" With those seemingly friendly words, Amir Mohebbifar began a violent sexual attack on a 19-year-old woman as she walked home on the Anzac Bridge.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird plans to take a pass on this week's high-level meeting, chaired by his Norwegian counterpart, on the future of Syria at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The details are contained in a copy of Baird's updated itinerary obtained by The Canadian Press. Baird was...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Shiite rebels holding Yemen's president captive in his home reached a deal with the U.S.-backed leader Wednesday to end a violent standoff in the capital, fueling fears that a key ally in the battle against al-Qaida has been sidelined.

Iranian Gen. Mohammad Ali Allah-Dadi was killed in Sunday's air strike within Syria allegedly conducted by Israel, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said. The Iranian general was advising factions that support President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

According to Hezbollah’s official media outlet, Al Manar TV, the Israeli airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights the other day, which saw top Hezbollah and Iranian officials killed, was facilitated by an unlikely partner, Saudi Arabia. The claims came during a report on the terrorist TV channel...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s enough to make Mulder and Scully seethe with envy. Nearly 130,000 pages of declassified Air Force files on UFO investigations and sightings are now available in one place online. Declassified government records about UFOs have long existed on microfilm in the National Archives in Washington,...

>SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen's minority Shi'ite Houthi fighters took up guard at President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's home on Wednesday but said they had not toppled him, after two days of fighting which left little doubt that the enfeebled leader was now at their mercy. The Houthis, friendly to Iran, swept...

>His Houthi movement, founded by his elder brother over a decade ago and named for the family, has controlled the capital since September after winning a series of battles with army units and Sunni tribes in its northern heartland.Yet despite the Houthis' effective dominance of Yemen in recent months,...

>WASHINGTON Jan 21 (Reuters) - The swoon in oil prices means Iran will lose billions of dollars more in revenue during the seven-month extension of its temporary nuclear agreement, a U.S. Treasury Department official specializing in terrorism and financial intelligence said on Wednesday."If oil prices remain at current...

>MOSCOW Jan 21 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday there had been progress in world powers' talks with Iran on its nuclear programme and there were grounds to believe an agreement could be reached by an end-June deadline.The talks last year between Iran and the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are pushing to have a say about the ongoing international negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a move they say will further destabilize an increasingly volatile Mideast.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five-term Sen. John McCain is taking the Senate to school on foreign policy. The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman is opening his first hearing Wednesday with testimony from former national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft, both cold warriors expected to share their experiences with

MP to get Best State Award for succesful conduct of LS polls

Ukraine accused the pro-Russian separatists of seizing more territory in the east since the ceasefire deal was reached .

LONDON(Reuters) - The Bank of England voted unanimously to keep rates on hold in January for the first time since July, after two policymakers dropped their call for higher rates in the face of tumbling inflation.

By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia hit back on Wednesday at U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech, saying it showed the United States believes it is "number one" and seeks world domination. Obama said his country was upholding "the principle that bigger nations can't bully...

Prices fell by up to 5 percent on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2015 global economic forecast and OPEC member Iran hinted at further price weakness, saying its oil industry could withstand $25 oil. Russia has refused to cut production with OPEC, but Deputy Prime Minister Arkady...

>Obama called for higher taxes on the wealthy and a new authorization of military force against Islamic State militants.Republicans who are expected to vie for their party's nomination bashed Obama's tax plans and said his foreign policy lacked leadership. But likely Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said his ideas would...

>SANAA (Reuters) - Houthi fighters battled guards at the Yemeni president's private home and entered his palace on Tuesday, raising the stakes in a turbulent campaign for more political power that has enfeebled state authority and thrown the Arab state deeper into turmoil. Speaking hours after his fighters' display of...

>DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Geopolitical risk is back with a bang due to conflict in Ukraine, the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq and Syria, the politics of anger in Europe and the collapse of oil prices, but partying financial markets have barely registered it, yet. Before the annual talk-fest of...