News Archive - 12 January 2012

IRI's Permanent Representative to United Nations Mohammad Khazaee said on Thursday that member states of Non-Aligned Movement have condemned terror attack on Iranian scientist and violation of Iran's airspace by the US stealth surveillance aircraft. “NAM members states supported Iran’s two proposals to condemn terror attack on Iranian Physics professor...

Former consultant to the US Foreign Ministry said that Israel has not denied assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists so it is behind these terrors. Vali Nasr added that we would not see decrease of tension between Iran and the US and it will not help Obama in the upcoming elections.

IRI Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said on Thursday night that Iran is ready to hold talks with Group 5+1 on the condition that the talks are taken serious. The speaker made the remarks at a press conference in Ankara on Thursday. Larijani pointed out that Iran's nuclear case is...

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa held private talks in Ecuador's capital on Thursday evening. A high-ranking delegation from Iran also began talks with Ecuadorian officials at the venue of Ecuador's presidential palace in Quito on Thursday evening local time. President Ahmadinejad and Ecuadorian President Rafael...

Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei in statement consoled the family of the martyred Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan who was assassinated on Wednesday in a terror attack on his car. “This cowardly act of terror, whose perpetrators and plotters will never dare admit to their dirty and...

>"We will continue our path with strong will ... and certainly we will not neglect punishing those responsible for this act and those behind it," Khamenei was quoted as saying.Iran blamed its arch-enemies, Israel and the United States, for a blast which killed the nuclear scientist in his car on...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stressed the importance of reinforcing unity and solidarity between the Iranian and Cuban nations to stand up to the extremism of the US-led imperialism. In a Thursday meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana, Ahmadinejad urged the two countries to bolster regional cooperation with regard...

Manager of the Arabic Center for Iranian studies said that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have given names of Iranian nuclear scientists to terrorists. Mohammad-Saleh Sedqian said that there are many evidences showing the role of Mosad in these assassinations. "Israel believes that it is the sole...

Processed meats raise cancer risk

>* Move comes as U.S. seeks to squeeze Tehran* Sanctions seen as signal to China oil majors* Follows trip to China this week by U.S. Treasury SecretaryBy Andrew QuinnWASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it...

>Oil prices also found support from a strong demand for Spanish and Italian debt sales that eased fears on the euro zone debt crisis and tempered risk aversion ahead of another auction from Rome later in the day.FUNDAMENTALS* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February crude rose 33 cents...

>QUITO (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday wraps up a four-nation tour of Latin America that yielded kind words from ideological allies but no clear offers to help ease Western sanctions against its nuclear program. The limited results from his tour of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador reinforce...

>* Iranian official says nuclear programme cannot be derailed* Iran paper calls for retaliation against Israeli officialsBy Parisa HafeziTEHRAN, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. allies in Asia and Europe voiced support for Washington's drive to cut Iran's oil exports, although fear of self-inflicted pain is curbing enthusiasm for an...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Italian, Spanish and Greek companies have extended most of their oil supply deals with Iran for 2012, so that most of Tehran's supplies to the European Union are likely be exempted from sanctions for at least the first half of the year. Trading sources told Reuters that...

>Boeing's 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), an ultra-large bunker buster for use on underground targets, with Iran routinely mentioned as its most likely intended destination, is a key element in the implicit U.S. threat to use force as a last report against Iran's nuclear ambitions.The behemoth, carrying more...

>* Consensus emerging on phased implementation of embargo* States worried by impact of embargo on their economies* EU ministers due to finalise sanctions on Jan. 23By David Brunnstrom and Julien ToyerBRUSSELS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - EU states drawing up details of an oil embargo on Iran have given wide backing...

>* Iran embargo phase-in plan caps gains (Updates prices, adds graphic link)By Seng Li PengSINGAPORE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Brent crude rose above $112 a barrel on Friday, boosted by worries over supply disruption from Nigeria, while easing fears on the euro zone debt crisis after positive demand in Spanish...

>* Japan says to cut oil imports from Iran* Iran says nuclear scientist killed in car bombing* Officials in Iran blame killing on Israel, U.S.By Ramin Mostafavi and Parisa HafeziTEHRAN, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The United States, which has denied any U.S. role in the killing of...

>"We have not asked companies to cut imports from Iran," Sudhir Bhargava, additional oil secretary, told reporters. He added India was looking for alternative supplies and that an existing payment mechanism was working. He didn't explain why India was looking for alternative supplies.India, Iran's largest oil buyer after China,...

>* Iran-West tension mounts after nuclear scientist killed* Nigerian oil union threatens to cut supply (Updates prices)By Seng Li PengSINGAPORE, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Brent rose above $113 on Thursday as worries about supply disruptions from Nigeria and Iran offset pressure from a high inventory build and persisting euro zone...

>TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan pledged on Thursday to take concrete action to cut Iranian oil imports in response to an appeal for support from visiting Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as Washington steps up efforts to sanction Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. Geithner welcomed Tokyo's cooperation, an encouraging sign for...

WASHINGTON — The United States denied any role in Wednesday’s killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Iranian reports said two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to Roshan’s car, killing him and his driver.

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council says the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan bears the hallmarks of a US-Israeli hit, Press TV reports.

NBC’s Richard Engel and former CIA officer Bob Baer share the latest about the assassination of a nuclear scientist in Iran. (Hardball)

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – The pump prices have jumped in all but one metro area across Northern California, according to the latest report from AAA Insurance, which tracks gas prices as a service to consumers.

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 — The United States yesterday sanctioned China’s state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran’s largest supplier of refined petroleum products, and a senior US official said an unrelated new sanctions law aimed to close down Iran’s central bank. Washington also imposed sanctions on Singapore’s Kuo...

This Day (Lagos)-A threat by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to shut down crude oil production this weekend in protest against the removal of fuel subsidy has pushed crude oil price up more than $2 to trade at $114.70 Thursday.

DGAP-News: Silvia Quandt & Cie. AG, Merchant & Investment Banking / Schlagwort(e): Sonstiges/Sonstiges Silvia Quandt & Cie. AG, Merchant & Investment Banking: In-between the lines - Bernhard Eschweiler 13.01.2012 / 07:34 - Euro debt crisis overshadows start into 2012 but something has changed - Global growth and monetary...

Iraqi authorities have detained four armed American nationals over what the officials described as suspicious activity in the capital, Baghdad, according to Press TV. Iraqi sources said the suspects, including two women, were arrested on Thursday as they were found traveling in a BMW car with a local license plate,...

China’s Wen Jiabao must balance his country’s need for Iranian crude with its budding energy partnership with Saudi Arabia on his first visit to the Gulf kingdom, a U.S.-based specialist in Middle East security said.

The Iranian government said in a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that a civilian nuclear scientist who was killed by a bomb yesterday was the latest victim of a foreign terror campaign.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner’s efforts to tighten economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program won backing from Japan after China rejected limiting oil imports from the country.

Pentagon chief Leon Panetta says US officials have "some ideas" who was behind the assassination of a nuclear scientist in Tehran this week, but insists the United States was not involved.

The move of the United States to target Iran's oil export for its nuclear defiance by imposing fresh sanctions has received a setback when Turkey said it was bound only by U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

WASHINGTON: Ron Paul’s strong early showing in the race for the Republican presidential nomination could leave rivals with a fateful choice: Tilt toward his views or risk an election-changing third party bid.

Oil prices rose to near $100 a barrel in Asia on Friday as negotiations to avert a looming strike in major oil producer Nigeria ended for the day without any result.Prices also rose as worries built up ...

No matter which party eventually takes control of the White House, Indonesia is hopeful that the United States will maintain the status quo in promoting peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, .....

SINGAPORE - Oil prices moved higher in Asian trade Friday amid the threat of a production shutdown in Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude producer.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his country's nuclear program Thursday, criticizing the United States for imposing sanctions. "The nuclear question is a political excuse. They know that Iran is not looking to make atomic bombs. Iran is not as imprudent as they are," Ahmadinejad said. "We do not believe in...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - After a year of high gas prices in 2011, what will 2012 bring? The latest forecasts call for even more pain at the pump. Many customers say they won't even look at the second line on the gas pump because it shows how little their getting for...

Japanese energy firm Inpex and French giant Total on Friday announced a huge $34 billion gas project in Australia, as Tokyo looks for alternatives to nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster....

STAMFORD -- Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz raises worries that gas prices could spike in coming months, said Nicholas Gaspereau , a Weston resident who was filling his tank at Sunoco on High Ridge Road on Tuesday.

The University of Indiana men's basketball team whittled away Minnesota's lead in the final minutes but couldn't pull off the win, losing 77-74.

"We've yet to find out how long the tension will die down"

The US is trying to urge as many countries as possible to reduce their dependence on Iranian crude.

> Financials...

The Order of Saint Helena, an Episcopal convent in Augusta, will host a seminar on Islam, Sufism and Rumi featuring the Rev. Lynn C. Bauman.

Australia Tops in Securing Nuclear Weapons; US only on the 13th

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is relying on a secret channel of communication to warn Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that closing the Strait of Hormuz is a "red line" that would provoke an American response, according to U.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the author of the controversial Protect IP Act, has bowed to public pressure and will delete the sections dealing with Domain Name System blocking.

The threat of retaliation for the scientist killings appears the be mostly contained to Iranian state media, the latest development in an escalating, multiple-front war of words

BANGKOK - Asian stock markets rose Friday, driven higher by a successful bond issue in Europe that eased worries over the continent's sovereign debt crisis. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1 per cent to 8,471.55 and South Korea's Kospi index added 0.6 per cent at 1,875.68. Hong...

SARATOGA SPRINGS — U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson on Thursday criticized Obama Administration plans for a U.S. Marine base in Australia, and said America should take an economic rather than military lead in its competition against China.

Nike has agreed to give workers in Indonesia $1m (£65,) in unpaid overtime, unions say. Related Stories Iran to discuss nuclear arms claims Cameron in first Saudi Arabia visit Space station avoids orbiting junk Japanese premier reshuffles Cabinet Man in court over Briton's murder

The Pentagon has quietly shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East after the top American commander in the region warned that he needed additional forces to deal with… Click to Continue »

ANKARA (Reuters) - The Iranian embassy in Ankara denied Thursday that four trucks being held by Turkish customs were carrying military equipment from Iran to Syria, while a spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry said an investigation was still in progress. The trucks were confiscated Tuesday in Turkey's southeast province of...

One of the men accused of murdering a British journalist in New Zealand has appeared in court. Related Stories Policeman check in Obama uncle case Iran to discuss nuclear arms claims Cameron in first Saudi Arabia visit Space station avoids orbiting junk Japanese premier reshuffles Cabinet

Controversial video shows U.S. Marines desecrating bodies of Taliban fighters.

Additional troops and warships are in place in the event a crisis erupts in the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, officials say. The Pentagon quietly shifted combat troops and warships to the Middle East after the top American commander in the region warned that he needed additional forces...

>* Azumi rejects suggestions Japan isn't committed to U.S. sanctions* Sanctions could push up oil prices and hurt global economyBy Stanley WhiteTOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japan's finance minister said on Friday that there is no confusion over the government's policy of reducing Iranian oil imports in support of...

Article blames development of the drug-resistant form on poor prescribing practices of private doctors

(MCT) McClatchy-Tribune News Service

It has been some time, since last official White House statement on a telephone conversation between US president and Israeli PM

> Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News...

>Data on Thursday showing U.S. retail sales rose at the weakest pace in seven months could lead to some pressure for export-oriented stocks, such as Li & Fung.On Thursday, the Hang Seng Index snapped a three-day winning streak, ending down 0.3 percent at 19,095.4 points, close...

– The guy on the stump looked a lot like Mr. Right. Good looks and awesome hair. Articulate. An Ivy League education and plenty of money. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts had come courting this state's Republicans Thursday, but a sizeable number appear to still be underwhelmed.

FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday the Army will withdraw two combat brigades from Europe as part of a broad reorienting of U.S. forces and instead rotate units in and out of the region, presumably from U.S. bases.

Iran likely would turn to Russia or China for help in reverse engineering a U.S. drone that landed in its territory last year because the Islamic republic lacks the manufacturing capability to replicate the technology. U.S. experts say China and Russia each have a broader scientific and manufacturing...

A Chinese dissident who wrote a critical book about Premier Wen Jiabao has fled into exile in the United States, saying Thursday that he faced physical abuse and restrictions on publishing.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has denied in the most emphatic terms that America had anything to do with the assassination this week of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran. As well she might. It was her husband, after all, who set in stone Jimmy Carter's legislation to...

A hard-line Iranian newspaper with links to the country's top authority called on the clerical establishment yesterday to fight back against Israel for the killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran.

> Energy Financials Industrials Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News...

>"I can tell you one thing: The United States was not involved in that kind of effort. That's not what the United States does," Panetta told a town hall meeting of soldiers at Fort Bliss."We have some ideas as to who might be involved but we don't know exactly...

Release Time:  For Immediate Release Location:  James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 1:42 P.M. EST     Q    Contacts?     MR. CARNEY:  I’ll never tell.     Q    Can you see?     MR. CARNEY:  No.  (Laughter.)  Who’s that asking?  (Laughter.)  I was going to try to go...

A senior U.S. State Department official overseeing sanctions on North Korea and Iran will visit South Korea early next week to explain Washington`s new sanctions on Tehran. The visit is his second to Seoul following one last month.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Washington placed sanctions on a Singapore company, as well as two more companies from China and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for selling refined oil products to Iran.

Although corporate earnings reports for the quarter ending in December have officially started this week, the news flow and the stock market have been relatively quiet. Little domestic economic data hit the tape this week, but that will change alongside a pickup in corporate earnings next week. One noteworthy piece ...

(01-12) 14:13 PST , (AP) -- Anxiety that Iranian oil would soon be forced off European markets eased Thursday, sending crude prices below $100 a barrel for the first time this year. Here's how energy contracts traded....

NEW YORK - Oil prices tumbled on Thursday in a late sell-off sparked by a report that a proposed European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude would be phased in over six months, reinforcing news already published by Reuters.

According to Sen. Marco Rubio’s Jan 10 Other Views column, U.S. silent as Ortega assaults democracy, Mahmoud Amadinejad’s and Daniel Ortega’s “attacks on democracy” in Iran and Nicaragua, respectively, are Obama’s fault.

President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed recent Israeli-Palestinian talks on Thursday as U.S. officials signaled that a Jan. 26 target date for the two sides to exchange proposals could slide.

NEW YORK — A drop in oil prices and strong bond auctions in Europe drove stocks to a slightly higher close Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose for the fourth straight day. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 21.57 points, or 0.2 percent, to end at...

The states top Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson, spent the day working his way through Treasure Coast appearances fully aware that the Obama administration is not polling well in Florida.

NBC - Iran, Nukes, And Oil - January 12, 2012(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "http://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0 …

CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has criticised External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna for his just concluded visit to Israel, saying that it would send a wrong signal. The visit came at a t...

BEIRUT – The death of a French journalist in Syria brought new calls Thursday for an independent investigation of the violence in the country after a series of mysterious attacks since December killed scores of people despite the presence of Arab League monitors.

The Associated Press The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Obama administration has hit three energy companies with sanctions for providing large amounts of fuel to Iran. The State Department says Chinese company Zhenrong brokered the delivery of more than $500 million in gasoline to Iran in a six-month period. Singapore-based Kuo...

It's official - the children of the Gaza Strip again hold the Guinness World Record for the most kites flown simultaneously - this time it was 12,350.

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel's intelligence community has determined that Iran intensified efforts to save the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials said the intelligence community has detected increased Iranian operations to help Assad maintain control of Syria.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Senior U.N. nuclear officials are set to travel to Tehran later this month for a rare visit to discuss their growing concerns that Iran may be seeking to develop atomic arms capability, diplomatic sources said on Thursday. A high-level team from the U.N. International Atomic...

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Western intelligence agencies continue to target Iran's nuclear sector. On Jan. 11, Iran reported the assassination of another senior nuclear scientist, an attack blamed on Israel.

Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney talked jobs, the national debt, national defense and the differences between himself and President Barack Obama Thursday at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The latest round of American sanctions are aimed at shutting down Iran's central bank, a senior US official said on Thursday, spelling out that intention directly for the first time.

Retail gasoline prices across Texas have jumped an average 7 cents this week. AAA Texas on Thursday reported its survey found the average price per gallon has reached $3.22. The association's survey found that nationwide gasoline prices rose 6 cents in the past week, to hit $3.38 per...

Saudi Arabia and its Arab neighbors have offered to fill any gap in energy supplies for countries that yield to pressure from Washington to curtail purchases of Iranian oil.

A follow-up to Monday’s post on the recognition in India of totally drug-resistant tuberculosis , TDR-TB: The fantastic early-warning list ProMED points out that the earliest recorded cases of TDR were not the current 12 known cases in Mumbai or the 15 cases in Iran in 2009, but rather two...

Commodities news from around the world

The Obama administration condemned an attack in Tehran that killed a nuclear scientist, and Iran threatened Israel with revenge.

A senior U.N. nuclear agency team will visit Tehran on Jan. 28 with Iran saying it is ready to discuss allegations that it was involved in secret nuclear weapons work after years of refusing to do so, diplomats said Thursday.