News Archive - 3 February 2015

>MONTREAL (Reuters) - The United Nations aviation agency said at a major safety conference on Tuesday it will press ahead with plans to establish a warning system for airlines on conflict zone risks despite reservations from Russia. Aviation officials also rallied behind a plan to track commercial aircraft in a...

>BUENOS AIRES Feb 3 (Reuters) - An Argentine prosecutor found dead in mysterious circumstances last month had drafted a request that President Cristina Fernandez be arrested for conspiring to derail his probe into the deadly bombing of a Jewish center, the investigator into his death said on Tuesday.The papers...

>* Origin sometimes disguised, specifications altered - sources* Sanctions have hit Iran's crude exports, hammering economyBy Rania El GamalDUBAI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Iran is sidestepping Western sanctions and managing to sell hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fuel oil every month through companies based in the U.S.-allied...

When Benjamin Netanyahu faces the Congress next month, two things are unlikely to come up in his speech: a consideration of diplomatic protocol and an analysis of the efficacy of sanctions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog won’t be debating each other ahead of Israel’s March election, but English speakers in Tel Aviv who packed an event hall here got the next best thing: Candidates from five parties came out for a panel-style discussion on topics ranging from...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama's pick as Pentagon chief for his final two years in office, says Congress needs to restore stability to the defense budget and the Pentagon must do its part by ending wasteful practices that undermine public confidence in military spending.

Banish any nagging doubts that new Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie isn’t up to the job. He assumes his throne bearing an endorsement from none other than the disgraced Sheldon Silver,...

And then there was one. The winning design for the new hedge maze to be built on the front lawn of the Stanley Hotel comes from New York City. A seven-member panel of judges selected the Mairim Dallaryan Standing's entry following deliberations Tuesday night at the Stanley Hotel.

WASHINGTON - A group of Canadian veterans received the United States' highest civilian award Tuesday for their role in a legendary military unit whose exploits dazzled moviegoers at home and tormented Nazis abroad.

Days after the visit, he again traveled to Washington and held a bilateral meeting with the US president. This was the first official visit of a Pakistani prime minister to Washington in over a decade. The cost of the visit was Rs35 million.

TORONTO - A plan to derail a train travelling between Canada and the U.S. was a "very simple" idea that would kill scores of people and pave the way for more acts of terrorism, the trial of two men accused in the alleged plot heard Tuesday.

An Egyptian engineer (Mostafa Ahmed Awwad) was arrested in November 2014 and charged with espionage.

Argentine judges refuse to hear the case against the President that got a prosecutor killed last month. Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was investigating the 1994 bombing of AMIA, a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, that killed 84 people.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s clandestine spy agency has a notoriously dark past that includes its failure to prevent a major attack on a Jewish community centre, then allegedly sabotaging the investigation into what happened.

Sen. Thom Tillis explains why restaurants should have a choice in whether workers should wash.

With World Wetlands Day marked this week (February 2), Fonterra and the Department of Conservation (DOC) are continuing their work to improve the health of five key catchments across New Zealand, through their Living Water partnership.

President Barack Obama said a new video that purports to show ISIS burning a Jordanian pilot alive in a cage is an example of how the group is ideologically "bankrupt" and "only interested in death and destruction."

A Canadian law professor has resigned as the head of a UN commission tasked with investigating possible war crimes in Gaza last summer. The appointment of William Schabas last year to head the commission had drawn strong criticism from Israel and the Harper government.

Palestine has been granted membership into the International Criminal Court.

The 114th Congress so far has displayed all the dominant traits inherited from its parents – the 113th and 112th congresses. It's all about honoring past promises and settling old scores.

The House Armed Services Committee chairman is positioning his panel to tackle sequestration.

It looks like Russia is trying to make a...

VIENNA (AP) — Diplomats say the U.S and Iran are discussing a compromise that would let Iran keep much of its uranium-enriching technology but reduce its potential to make nuclear weapons.

WASHINGTON, Conn. - Cassandra De Pecol may be just 25 but she’s got big plans — to break a world record, to travel the globe, to work for world peace and inspire young people to live their dreams.

SINGAPORE: The Middle East crude market strengthened slightly on Tuesday as DME Oman's discount to Dubai narrowed.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama's pick as Pentagon chief for his final two years in office, says Congress needs to restore stability to the defense budget and the Pentagon must do its part by ending wasteful practices that undermine public confidence in military spending.

An undercover FBI officer who gained the trust of two men accused of planning a terrorist attack on a train travelling between Canada and the U.S. is telling their trial how he first came to learn of their plot. The undercover officer — whose recorded conversations with the pair...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli voters' security concerns have boosted Benjamin Netanyahu's popularity in the past month, helping him to skirt criticism of a widened rift with the White House as he aims for a fourth election success. With violence on the Lebanese border and worries about Iran's nuclear program high...

It was a hell of a ride to our hellish sister planet. Eight long years of studying Venus is way more than ESA scientists were expected from its mission. Venus Express spacecraft that launched on Nov. 9, 2005 and entered the orbit of its target planet on Apr. 11, 2006,...

ESA's Vega rocket, with IXV on top, now awaits its fourth flight with liftoff on 11 February at 13:00 GMT (14:00 CET) from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called for scrapping a U.N. commission tasked with investigating potential war crimes committed last summer in Gaza after reports emerged that its chief resigned amid accusations he was biased against Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the resignation Tuesday of the head of a U.N. inquiry into alleged war crimes during last summer's conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

Responsible media reported that ISIS hackers briefly took over the Twitter account of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Jan. 12. Unfortunately, many people interpreted the news incorrectly, and believed that terrorists had commandeered CENTCOM’s computer system.

If you still haven't seen the new movie Michael Mann movie "Blackhat" with Chris Hemsworth playing the lead, you won't be getting any new insights into how hackers work.

February 3, 2015: The Mali peacekeeping force, composed of 11,000 French and (mainly) African troops, turned out to be in more danger than expected. After two years of effort 44 peacekeepers have been killed.

Sen. Marco Rubio's long condemned the Obama administration's Cuba policy. But on Tuesday, he's flexing his muscles as a new subcommittee chairman to do something about it.

Four months after announcing it would slash the amount of gas it buys from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Russian energy behemoth Gazprom has revealed the extent which its imports from Central Asia will fall this year.   On February 3, Vice Chairman Alexander Medvedev told an investment summit in Hong Kong...

>ANKARA/LONDON (Reuters) - Iran is sweetening the terms it offers on oil development contracts to draw the interest of foreign investors deterred by sanctions and low crude prices, as its pragmatic president seeks to deliver on his promise of economic recovery. Tehran is engaged in talks with world powers about...