News Archive - 20 January 2012

Police in Washington, DC have arrested a dozen Occupy the Courts protesters at a demonstration against a court decision allowing limitless financing of federal elections by corporations. “I feel like corporate money is invading our politics and taking voices away from the common people. So I felt it's important to...

Islamic Republic of Iran became rotating head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for Asia. I.R.Iran will hold UNCTAD’s chair for Asia affairs in 2012 for six months. The 13th conference of UNCTAD during Iran’s chairmanship of the UN body for Asia will be...

Press TV viewers in the UK can continue to watch the news channel via the following satellites or by visiting the following websites despite the British Office of Communications (Ofcom) removing the channel from the Sky platform. You can watch Press TV broadcast from anywhere in the world by visiting...

Deputy secretary for the foreign policy and international affairs of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Baqeri arrived in the Chinese capital on Friday evening local time. Baqeri was scheduled to meet with a group of Chinese university professors, scholars, and lawmakers at the venue of Iranian Embassy in...

In a questionable move and without offering a valid response to the Press TV CEO's letters, the British Office of Communications (Ofcom) has revoked Press TV's broadcasting license and finally removed the channel from the Sky platform. Ofcom has revoked Press TV's license for what it calls breaching of the...

The head of export development for Trade Promotion Organization of Iran has said more than US$ 3.2 billion worth of technical and engineering services has been exported over past 10 months. Sohrab Salimi announced that the export of USD 3.3 billion worth of technical and engineering services abroad...

A wild crocodile swallowed a 10-year-old girl while she played in a river with her father in eastern Indonesia, according to AFP. The girl was swimming in Wailolong river on Thursday when the large crocodile suddenly appeared, swallowed her instantly and disappeared into the water, Viktor Mado Waton, Lembata district...

Iran-Russia commercial ties will expand as the two countries commercial and economic cooperation experienced a remarkable surge in December, said deputy head of Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Georgy Petrov added in a meeting with Khuzestan Governor General Jafar Hejazi that although the two's trade relations declined in 2009,...

Interim Friday prayers leader of Tehran Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati on Friday said the assassinations of young Iranian nuclear scientists showed the arrogance was completely desperate in the face of Iranian youth’s progress. Delivering his second Friday prayers sermon, Ayatollah Jannati cited said those claiming fighting terrorism are rather the ring...

An 11-year-old boy has died from tear gas fired by Bahraini forces as anti-regime protests continue despite a Saudi-backed crackdown, according to Ptress TV. Bahraini protesters are demanding the downfall of despotic Al Khalifa regime and an end to systematic discrimination. Dozens of people have been killed by regime forces...

The International Monetary Fund will next week forecast a return to recession for the eurozone in 2012, a move likely to increase the pressure on governments to contribute to its latest $600bn (£388bn) fundraising drive. The IMF is scheduled to release its revised World Economic Outlook (WEO) estimates on Monday,...

Sleeping after an upsetting experience may cement the bad feelings, researchers at the US University of Massachusetts Amherst have found. The team studied the effects of a series of highly unpleasant and neutral images on 68 female and 38 male volunteers. According to the results, participants who slept shortly after...

At least three civilians have been killed after US military forces attacked a residential area in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nagarhar. Local residents told Press TV that the victims, among them a teacher, died in the Achin district of the province, located some 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of the...

>BEIJING Jan 21 (Reuters) - China's crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose to 1.12 million barrels per day in December, the fourth-highest on record on a daily basis, Chinese customs data showed, as the world's top oil exporter pumped just under the 10 million bpd mark.Data from...

>But he added that ministers, who plan to announce the embargo at a meeting on Monday, will not come out with a detailed plan that same day on how to maintain supplies to Greece, which sources around 23 percent of crude imports from Iran.Growing Western pressure on countries not...

>NEW DELHI Jan 20 (Reuters) - India and Iran have agreed to settle some of their $12 billion annual oil trade in rupees, a government source said on Friday, resorting to the restricted currency after more than a year of payment problems in the face of fresh, tougher U.S.

>Iran said on Thursday that the assassins who killed Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, on January 11 may have used information obtained from the United Nations."The Agency has not released this man's name. We do not know him," Gill Tudor, spokeswoman for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in...

>Britain has been a focus of Iranian ire over steps to tighten sanctions over its disputed nuclear programme.Britain shut Iran's embassy in London and expelled all its staff in November after its embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran was attacked by a crowd angry at British sanctions.Press TV...

>The group, which includes Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, is expected to provide details of an offer it made to Iran in October in an effort to bring Iranians back to the negotiating table.French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that time was running out...

>TEHRAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An ally of Iran's supreme leader called on Friday for Israel to be "punished" for killing a nuclear scientist and the top U.S. general urged his Israeli ally to coordinate with Washington as crisis builds in the Middle East. Alarmed Arab neighbors in the Gulf made...

Oil prices fell on Friday, pressured by economic uncertainty ahead of a possible debt deal in Greece, concerns about China's sluggish manufacturing sector, and weak U.S. petroleum demand.

While the Washington Post and others were editorializing against various efforts by our federal government to help jump-start the electric vehicle industry, Iran was initiating war games and threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz. It has gotten so nutty that a pundit told FOX News that GM's customer-focused fix...

Washington (dpa) - US centre-right Republican hopefuls for the White House in 2012 repeatedly paint US President Barack Obama as an ideologue determined to lead the nation down a destructive road to European-style socialism.But German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s cabinet, on Friday criticized the...

Iran’s ambassador to India says that his country is thankful to India for ignoring the US sanctions, though. Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh , Iran’s ambassador to India, has been keeping a very busy schedule, what with Washington, Tel Aviv and other western capitals issuing tough statements against Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.

Why aren't they rallying behind one candidate?

LAHORE : A 100-member delegation of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( Pakistan chapter of SAARC CCI ) is leaving for New Delhi today to participate in SAARC Business Summit, Building Bridges in South Asia through economic cooperation.

From Kim Zigfeld at The American Thinker: "Last week, Americans learned that they are, or soon may be, at war with Vladimir Putin's Russia. That is, of course, unless they do just exactly what . . .

(AP) The State Department said Friday it "may have no choice" but to close the U.S. embassy in Damascus and remove all US personnel from the country wracked by a 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar Assad unless Assad's government takes extra steps to protect the mission.

>BEIJING Jan 21 (Reuters) - China diversified its spot iron ore buying away from India in 2011, largely in favour of South Africa, but failed to reduce its dependence on term purchases from top suppliers Australia and Brazil, customs data showed on Saturday. Chinese planners have said for several years...

NEW YORK—The price of oil lingered around US$100 a barrel this week, helping to keep US retail gasoline prices at their highest levels ever for this time of year. In other energy trading, natural gas fell 3 cents to finish at US$2.39 per 1,000 cubic feet.

China has once again expressed its opposition to the US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, reiterating that dialogue is the sole way to resolve the country's nuclear issue.

Americans aren't likely to find much relief from high prices at the pump as they pay post-holiday bills. Retail gas prices are at their highest levels for this time of year despite ample supplies and declining demand. That's because tension in the Persian Gulf has kept crude oil prices ar...

A pilot of a UTair Boeing 757 flying from Bangkok to Novosibirsk in Russia's Siberia region died as the plane was flying over China, officials said. Related Stories Fake Lieutenant General arrested in Pakistan Actress banned from returning to Iran after posing nude Bangladesh coup attempt: 5 members of banned...

Tehran, Jan 21 (ANI): Iranian police have shut down toy shops for selling Barbie dolls as a part of an ongoing campaign against the spread of Western decadence in the country.

The recent acidic attacks on Ken Stone’s commentary on the U.S./Iran situation are worthy of a famous quote by Mohandas Gandhi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls in Iran, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Friday.

After Salman Rushdie canceled an appearance at a literary festival in India on Friday, following death threats, two authors read aloud from his novel, "The Satanic Verses," which remains banned in India.

Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum received a standing ovation as he spoke before members of the Citadel Republican Society on Friday.

New year 2012, as expected, began with the new Ukrainian attempts to make Gazprom prices supplied Russian gas.

Blustering and fuming, Iran seems to be spoiling for war.

BEIJING, Jan 21 — China told a visiting Iranian delegation that returning to nuclear talks was a “top priority,” the Xinhua news agency said today, in a meeting highlighting Beijing‘s efforts to reduce tensions that could threaten its oil supply. The delegation, led by Supreme National Security Council deputy secretary...

Saturday, January 21st, 2012 11:41:00 KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is likely to keep its bullish momentum next week on improving investor confidence amid positive signs of a recovery in the global economy, dealers said. This week, the International Monetary Fund announced that it was planning a large expansion in its...

London, Jan 21 : British rapper Professor Green has found a mentor in Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

St. Petersburg, Jan 21 : Russia is better prepared now for the 2018 World Cup than Brazil is for the tournament just two years away, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said.

London, Jan 21 : American singer-actor Nick Jonas has joined the fight against anti-gay bullying by urging victims to "tell an authority" and put a stop to cruel taunts.

Iranian govt-funded news channel Press TV has been taken off-air in the UK after its licence was revoked.

Washington, Jan 21 : The US Congress has indefinitely postponed debate on two disputed anti-piracy bills, two days after protest blackouts by hundreds of websites including online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Cannes, Jan 21: Italian director Nanni Moretti has been named president of the jury at the 65th Cannes Film Festival to be held in May.

Moscow, Jan 21: Russia's national football team has what it takes to win its home World Cup in 2018, UEFA president Michel Platini has said.

Shirin Neshat's series of photographs along with a video installation at Gladstone Gallery perpetuate her study of the underlying conditions of power within socio-cultural structures in the Middle East.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with his Israeli counterparts Friday during a short stop in Jerusalem.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy has been moving its massive aircraft carriers in and out of the Gulf for decades, but when it sails through the Strait of Hormuz again, there will be extraordinary attention on what the Navy considers a mostly ordinary maritime manoeuvre. Iranian officials earlier...

SOPA's main piracy target: The Pirate Bay

There's growing speculation that a graduate student's killing may have been politically motivated. Nearly a week has passed since Gelareh Bagherzadeh was found shot and killed near the Galleria. Friends said Bagherzadeh, 30, was passionate about freedom and democracy. After moving to the United States about five years ago, she...

We need to challenge all these countries. But not to an arms race; rather, to what President Kennedy called a "peace race."

The Costa Concordia shipwreck off the coast of Italy has been compared to two very different historic ship disasters. The hectic passenger evacuation mirrors the panic, which ensued as the Titanic sank in 1912, according to MSNBC. The potential impact of leaking fuel on the Costa Concordia is reminiscent of...

From a repressed industry, Iranian stays sympathetic to all his characters At the start of "A Separation,"the finest film you'll see this month, a woman and her husband sit side by side but distinctly not together. We're in a Tehran magistrate's courtroom, an environment with the vague, drab air of...

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Hailong held talks with Ali Baqeri, visiting deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council on Friday, exchanging views on the Iran nuclear issue.

Crude futures slumped Friday, retreating from gains posted earlier in the week, on a weaker euro and hope for easing tensions between Iran and the West.

If Obama's entertaining performance last night at the Apollo tells me anything, it's Amateur Night in Republican-land, and they are likely to be yanked off the stage come November by Sandman Sim's hook. Prove me wrong.

Like a powder keg with gasoline too nearby, Big Guns pile up in and around the Persian Gulf as Iran's current head of state, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, keeps making warlike noises about blocking the vitally important Strait of Hormuz – through which about 25 percent of the world's economy-driving oil...

The decision would close the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and remove all U.S. workers there because of deteriorating security in Syria, an administration official tells The Associated Press.

Gas prices stay high with crude around $100 Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 01:50 p.m., Friday, January 20, 2012 The price of oil lingered around $100 a barrel this week, helping to keep retail...

One of the most senior al-Qaeda commanders killed since the death of Osama bin Laden spent four years living in Manchester and was planning attacks on the West, it can be disclosed.

If Israel or America were to launch a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, Tehran would have numerous ways of hitting back.

NEYSHABOUR, Iran, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A 5.5-magnitude earthquake that jolted the city of Neyshabour in northeastern Iran injured at least 230 people, officials said.

PARIS, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The killing of French troops in Afghanistan narrows choices in international efforts regarding hot spots in Iran and Syria.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that Iran must show a "seriousness and sincerity of purpose" if it is to resume talks with six world powers on its suspect nuclear program.

As President Bashar Assad fights off a 10-month-old uprising, Syrians have been struggling to cope with shortages of heating oil and other fuel, electricity cuts of up to 16 hours a day and dwindling bank ...

On screen and in headlines, Iran the provocateur du jour, is causing a stir. As Israel fumes, as Bibi Netanyahu ponders a pre-emptive strike, as the US watches with hawk-eyed severity over Teheran's nuclear ambition, and as an alleged Iran-backed Hezbollah rabble-rouser was arrested in Bangkok and a spectacular arsenal...

Everyone has made difficult choices and faced the consequences. But those choices and their consequences can be different in a place like Iran, a theme that carries Asghar Farhadi's insightful new movie, A Separation . [ more › ]

The Israeli and Saudi hackers have picked on stock exchanges and airlines, releasing credit card information. So far, it appears only a small number of hackers have been involved on either side, but there are concerns that the scale of the attacks could escalate.

Oil prices slid underneath $100 per barrel in New York Friday as sentiment was weakened by expectations of lower demand and traders awaited the outcome of Greek debt talks.

What else ya got? That seems to be the main question voters have for President Obama as he launches his re-election campaign in earnest. Everybody knows what Obama's top priorities were in his first term: ...

DUBAI - The UAE is looking forward to maintaining strong, fruitful and progressive relations with Tunisia, said Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

  Israeli and American politicians alike are using the same playbook — attacking the media and often diverting attention from the real problems at hand. In U.S. politics, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich gave a stunning rebuke to CNN anchor John King during the South Carolina Republican debate last ...

The owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times apologized for an opinion column in which he counted President Obama's assassination as among Israel's options in heading off a nuclear Iran.

A senior Iranian lawmaker says despite the US stepping up its psychological warfare against the Islamic Republic ahead of Iran's parliamentary elections, these plots will backfire.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures closed lower Friday for a third-straight session, pressured by concerns over Greece's debt crisis and weak U.S. gasoline demand as investors downplayed Iran's threat to global oil shipments. Oil for February delivery shed $1.93, or 1.9%, to settle at $98.46...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned yesterday that any foreign military intervention against Iran’s nuclear programme would trigger “war and chaos” across the Middle East and beyond.

The CIA's inspector general cleared the agency of any wrongdoing in its partnership with New York.

Qatar seems to be seeking a role bigger than its size both in Libya and Syria, although it is one of the smallest states in the region.

Oil has fallen below $99 a barrel on reports that "major powers" are expected to issue a statement Friday on the possibility of resuming nuclear talks with Iran.

Mumbai, Jan 20 : Alistair Pereira, a convict in the 2006 hit-and-run case that killed seven persons, surrendered before police here on Friday, a day after a local court had issued an arrest warrant against him.

Last week, the White House--in response to a New York Times report that President Obama had sent a warning to Iran's Supreme Leader against closing the Strait of Hormuz--acknowledged that it had a variety of ways to communicate with the Islamic Republic, despite the over 30 year breach in diplomatic...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday warned against military intervention in Iran, fearing that it would not stop the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program, but instead bring more chaos to the region.

DAMASCUS - Dozens of demonstrators in Damascus chanted slogans in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday and some urged him to crush armed insurgents who have joined a 10-month-old uprising against his rule.

The global formaldehyde production and consumption happed to reach a perfect balance in 2010 – the both figures reached around 29 tonnes. However, the demand is projected to go up steeply leaving the production volumes behind. Comprehensive review of the formaldehyde market is presented in the new market research report...

London (dpa) - State-backed Iranian news channel Press TV has had its licence revoked in Britain for being in breach of broadcasting rules, communications watchdog Ofcom said Friday.The glossy, English-medium channel would go off the air in Britain Friday. Its presenters have included maverick former left-wing parliamentarian George Galloway...

[Video] Perspolis Tehran – Mes Sarcheshmeh Perspolis Tehran – Mes Sarcheshmeh (W21) 03′ [0-1] Majid Bajelan Get the Flash Player to see this content. Download 76′ [1-1] Mohammad Nouri Get the Flash Player to see this content. Download 86′ [2-1] Ali Karimi (P.K.) Get the Flash Player...

Today is Friday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2012. There are 346 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Jan. 20, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4. On this date: In 1265,...

It's my birthday today, so I guess that means I can cry if I want to. Although I'm not exactly weeping, I do find myself grousing a bit about the way recent Vatican stories have played in most news coverage.

Iran's police have vowed to crack down on stores that defy a ban on selling US-made Barbie dolls, considered contraband in the Islamic republic, say reports.

South Asian countries are closely watching the ongoing contests to determine the next US Republican presidential candidate. We take a look at how analysts and bloggers view the political status quo in the United States.

A test vote in the US Congress next week on a bill to fight online piracy and counterfeiting has been postponed after protest from internet companies and search engines who fear over-regulation and censorship. Related Stories Iran targets Barbie in crackdown Debt inspectors start Athens talks Gaddafi had hidden chemical...

Steve Greenberg, an Orthodox rabbi, discusses his decision to hold a same-sex commitment ceremony and staffers discuss growing political tension over Iran.