News Archive - 14 February 2015

>BERLIN (Reuters) - Banned Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "Taxi," which shows a cabby driving an odd assortment of people around Tehran but is really a condemnation of censorship, won the Golden Bear for best film on Saturday at the Berlin International Film Festival. The award, which the director was not...

Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi won the Golden Bear top prize at the 65th Berlin film festival Saturday for "Taxi", his third movie made in defiance of an official ban. "Limitations often inspire storytellers to make better work but sometimes those limitations can be so suffocating they destroy a project...

A friend asked me last week how I would rank the Obama administration in comparison to the other presidencies of U.S. history. He finished his query by adding, “Would he be last?”

The Reporters Without Borders 2015 World Press Freedom Index stated that there were 3,719 violations of freedom of information in 180 countries in 2014 — eight percent more than a year earlier.

SYDNEY - Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday signalled a crackdown on border controls to combat terror threats, warning Australia will not let "bad people play us for mugs". Police last week said they had thwarted an alleged imminent attack after they arrested two men, both of whom arrived in...

While Presidents’ Day may be a time to reflect on the nation’s leaders, in the past two centuries, hundreds of animals have also been part of the 44 U.S. presidential administrations.

Oil prices have plummeted exponentially in the last year, consequently resulting in the lowest petrol prices for 5 years. With OPEC refusing to cut supply, Oil prices look set to continue falling; are the reasons purely supply and demand? Or are there other political objectives?

TORONTO - A seemingly chance meeting between a man accused of plotting to attack a passenger train and an undercover FBI agent who helped unravel the alleged plot in fact came about as part of an ongoing investigation, his terror trial heard Friday.

Questions of "divided loyalty" have been among the nastiest in discussions of foreign policy. A reader says we're asking the wrong questions about the Netanyahu imbroglio.

MORE VIOLENCE: Armed Houthis gather around the wreckage of a vehicle set a blaze by angry protesters after Houthis fired on them in Yemen’s central town of Ibb on Friday.

Pakistan has reportedly stressed on the need to forge a regional consensus among the "external actors" to follow a policy of non-interference in Afghanistan's internal matters, fearing that its territory may be used to wage a proxy-war, especially by India, in the post-U.S. withdrawal period.

Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Attiyah. (Reuters) An emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) here on Saturday expressed deep concerns over the worsening political and security situation in Yemen and asked the United Nations to intervene immediately.

EVEN as Americans look forward to buying Cohibas with their Amex cards, US intransigence continues to crush Cuba, writes Brian Wilson

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Nearly 100 fighters on both sides have been killed in a week of fighting in southern Syria between regime forces and rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday. The army, backed by fighters from Lebanon's powerful Shiite group Hezbollah, began ...

(Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in several cities on Saturday against the rule of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement as clashes between Houthis and Sunnis in a southern mountainous region left 26 dead. It was the second day of nationwide demonstrations against the Iranian-backed Houthis in less...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is lending his support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech to Congress on the dangers of Iran's nuclear program - an address that has antagonized the White House and divided American Jews. An outspoken New...

He compared it to basketball, because Obama

We meet a young singer-songwriter from Perth, Shameem, whose new album of neo-soul The Second City draws musical lessons from Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys, and inspiration from the teachings and poetry of the Baha’i faith. After posting demos on Myspace, Shameem was contacted by Grammy-winning producer James Bryan (Nelly...

What's a week without a snowstorm?

One man dead and three police officers injured after two gunmen fire scores of bullets at Copenhagen café holding an event in support of freedom of speech

They’re perhaps the unlikeliest of pen pals. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly sent President Obama another secret letter. The Wall Street Journal  had the scoop first. We don't know the contents of the letter but according to one diplomat who spoke to the Journal, the letter was “respectful but noncommittal.

President also tells Re/code who he considers to be top cyberthreats among state-actors

>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Former prime minister Saad al-Hariri, speaking on a rare visit marking the 10th anniversary of his father's assassination, said dialogue with Hezbollah was necessary to ease sectarian tensions in Lebanon. Five members of Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah have been indicted by an international tribunal over the 2005...

>BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Top government officials rallied behind Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez on Saturday after a state prosecutor said he would keep investigating accusations that she tried to cover up Iran's alleged involvement in a 1994 bombing. The allegations have plunged Fernandez's last year in office into turmoil at...

Today is Valentine's Day! Find out what other interesting things happened on today's date.

Since the truck-bomb assassination of the former prime minister, which led to an unprecedented popular uprising, Lebanon has navigated a perilous path of violence and political turmoil.

Feb. 15, 2015, 12:15 a.m. Mountains have a strange effect on some people. As soon as they see a soaring summit, they gear up. On go the Gore-Tex and heavy-duty boots, and off they go to pit themselves against the peak, on skis, on ropes or even on foot.

Today is Saturday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2015. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine's Day. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 14, 1929, the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned...

The US campaign against the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula won’t necessarily suffer a staggering blow, security experts say.

During the past three days, at least seven countries have closed their embassies and evacuated their personnel from Yemen. Among them are Saudi Arabia and the U.S., two of the country’s biggest financial backers and supporters of the government recently ousted by an uprising of Shiite Houthi rebels.

LAHORE: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Saturday called for joint efforts by all the institutions, especially media, to help implement the National Action Plan (NAP) for elimination of terrorism and extremism.

Abu Dhabi (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates became the latest country Saturday to suspended operations at its embassy in Yemen and evacuate staff over security concerns.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Throughout the long negotiations over the fate of Iran's nuclear program, President Hassan Rouhani has withstood scathing criticism from hard-liners at home by sticking to his case that a deal with his country's longtime enemies will bring peace and prosperity.

ASHTON Carter, a hard-charging intellectual known for blunt talk, was confirmed as US Defence Secretary yesterday, and could soon find himself at odds with a White House that has clashed with previous Pentagon chiefs.

KPCC surveyed the candidates for their thoughts and priorities on key issues facing the district. Here are candidate Dr. Richard Vladovic's responses.

TWO former mayors were arrested Saturday in an anti-drug operation of Philippine National Police...

Is intel chief Hakan Fidan Turkey’s next foreign minister?

Israeli politics will never be the same after the current campaign for the March 17 general election. The old solemn, self-absorbed, holier-than-thou images are being blown away by none other than the widely-predicted loser, Binyamin Netanyahu.

The chairman of the gas program at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies commented on the Russia's plan to construct a pipeline to Turkey, saying that it was highly realistic.

Police deployed heavily as men and women carrying Bahrain's red and white flag alongside portraits of detained activists chanted "Down Hamad", in reference to the Sunni king, witnesses said. The security measures were aimed at preventing the demonstrators from advancing towards the centre of the capital Manama, where the 2011...