News Archive - 13 May 2012

IRI National Freestyle Wrestling Team on Sunday won Freestyle World Cup in Baku by beating Azeri national team 4-3. Iran's National Free Style Wrestling Team had trounced the US rivals in the World Cup championships in Baku on Saturday. The Iranian team overpowered the American rivals 4 -3 in the...

As Saudi Arabia has reportedly thrown its weight behind a plan to unify the six Arab member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, analysts see the move as Riyadh’s agenda to expand its dominance over Bahrain, according to Press TV. Members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi...

“We expect measures [by the West] to gain the trust of the Iranian nation in Baghdad,” Jalili, who is also the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said in a meeting with visiting former French Socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard in Tehran on Sunday. Jalili further highlighted Iran's...

Islamic Republic of Iran is to launch Fajr satellite into space as a national defense project in June, Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Sunday. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony marking construction of a coastal waterway in Ramsar, west of Mazandaran province.

Waist to height ratio is significantly a better method to measure body fat and associated health risks than Body Mass Index (BMI), suggest new findings. A review of 31 studies including more than 300,000 men and women showed that waist to height ratio predicted diseases such as type 2 diabetes,...

IRI has helped the world Muslims to realize that they can afford to advance without the US and that Muslims must counter with the western hegemony, a senior aide to Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Khamenei told a conference on the ongoing Islamic Awakening movement in the Middle East and North...

In a first, IRI experts will build a gas refinery using totally-domestic expertise, SHANA reported Sunday, naming the parties involved as Oil Industry Research Center, Iran Gas Company, Central Iranian Oil Fields Company and Amir Kabir University. The initiative started upon a proposal six months ago and initial MoUs have...

Anti-Capitalism demonstrators from the Occupy Movement have taken to the streets in several countries across Europe to protest against economic conditions on the Global Day of Action. Hundreds of people took to the streets of London on Saturday, calling for an end to "predatory capitalism." In Germany, activists from...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed Tehran’s resolve to retain its absolute nuclear rights, urging the Western powers to correct their insulting literature in addressing the Iranian nation. “The Iranian nations will never give up its fundamental rights,” said the president on Saturday, on the third day of his trip to the...

Over six million people inspected the 25th edition of Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF), setting a record worldwide in terms of the number of visitors to any book fair ever recorded, Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) reported Saturday. The 25th edition of the major international event kicked off in Tehran...

>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude slipped towards $111 on Monday, continuing to drop for a third straight session, after talks to form a new government in Greece failed, deepening the euro zone crisis and cutting fuel demand further. Investors were cautious as a repeat Greek election will be needed if...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Greece ditching the euro, huge tax hikes and spending cuts in the United States in 2013, plus a showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions are three big political risks looming over a global economic recovery that looks more uncertain by the day. The global outlook clouded late last...

>DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are expected to announce closer political union at a meeting of Gulf Arab leaders on Monday, a Bahraini minister said, in a move dismissed by the opposition as a ruse to avoid political reform. The decision is part of efforts to increase integration...

>RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will weigh closer political union at a summit of Gulf Arab leaders on Monday aimed at pooling efforts to neutralize Shi'ite Muslim protests in the region that they believe is instigated by Iran. Iran denies that it is behind unrest among Shi'ites in...

IRI Navy warships have foiled two pirate attacks on an Iranian cargo vessel close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, off the coast of Somalia in the Horn of Africa. The Iranian freighter first came under attack on Sunday after 40 armed people on board six skiffs approached the ship at...

Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, once a Taliban deputy minister, is the latest member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council silenced by extremists.

All anyone ever wants to talk to George Stephanopoulos about is his schedule. At dinners. At parties. In elevator rides up to the top of One World Trade Center, still under construction, for a segment in a recent broadcast.

NATO chief says the alliance is determined to push ahead with building a missile defence system.

U.N. inspectors will seek access to an explosives containment chamber at talks starting today.

Tehran, May 14 : Iran's intelligence ministry has said intelligence forces and police foiled a plot by the Jundullah group to assassinate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007, the Tehran Times reported.

Supporters of same-sex marriage are expected to announce a major fundraising effort today, the first of three events this week that signal the start of the next phase of the campaign.

[Fukushima Nuclear Crisis|Simplyinfo] The mainstream media continues to ignore the heroic efforts in Japan to control the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident site which remains a huge mess. Some of this smells like the usual “no White Americans Were Harmed So We Don’t Have to Report...

Since his first House campaign a dozen years ago, would-be Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has worked diligently to cast himself as a conservative gadfly, willing to buck GOP leaders and even a Republican president. But as a result of the six-term congressman's work as a lobbyist two decades ago for ...

A brand new laptop meant for Jitiksa Solanki is now in the hands of Somali pirates

President Vladimir Putin's return as the Russian leader was not discussed seriously in this corner of the world. Like it or not, his third presidency will impact on the Asia-Pacific region in particul .....

Radical Islamic rhetoric has long targeted the destruction of Israel, but the trend is now coupled with boasts that the United States and the West are abandoning Israel. The idea is that the apathy of . . .

Camrose police are treating the death of a 61-year-old woman, who working at an assisted-care facility, as a homicide.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives is slated to vote on a resolution designed to tie the president's hands on Iran policy. The resolution, which is coming up under an expedited House procedure, was the centerpiece of AIPAC's recent conference. In fact, 13,000 AIPAC delegates were dispatched to Capitol...

The U.N. atomic watchdog will press its demand for access to an Iranian military site in talks starting on Monday that could influence the prospects for a broader diplomatic push to settle the decade-old stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Iran spurned a previously undisclosed American offer from President George W Bush of talks aimed at reaching a "grand bargain" over long-standing differences between Washington and Tehran, a leading figure in the country's theocratic regime has revealed.

Syrian forces killed at least five people when they raided a Sunni farming village on Sunday, torching homes and looting shops in what activists said is a sign of worsening relations among the country's religious groups.

The inevitable happened last week as the leading fertiliser manufacturer, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) announced a reduction of Rs.140 per bag in urea prices.

The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline may or may not happen but the two countries may well see the barter trade of wheat and urea pretty soon.

>FUNDAMENTALS* NYMEX crude for June slipped 63 cents to $95.50 a barrel by 6:21 a.m. (2221 GMT Sunday), adding to losses of nearly a dollar the previous session.* Brent crude oil eased 48 cents to $111.78 a barrel.* Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia wants an...

The CEO of JPMorgan Chase says he was "dead wrong" when he dismissed concerns about the bank's trading.

A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber.

Christine Hoyer, trails and backcountry facilities coordinator for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, has been named the park's 2011 employee of the year.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran warned Western powers on Sunday that applying pressure on Tehran could jeopardize talks on its nuclear programme, state television reported.

The road to Brazil 2014 is difficult but not impossible, Qatar coach Paulo Autuori said yesterday, as he talked up the country’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup.

Heat center Chris Bosh was ruled out of the second half of the opening game of Miami's Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday because of what the team called a lower abdominal injury.

Strong words on Israel from a top presidential candidate in Egypt.  read more

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (USA TODAY) — A little over a year ago, hundreds of thousands of people in Bahrain were coming together nightly to demand democratic reforms from the monarchs who have ruled this tiny country for decades.

A senior Iranian lawmaker says the propaganda campaign that the West has launched against the Islamic Republic is a long way off from the realities on the ground in Iran.

An Egyptian official says Israel has agreed to a proposal that would end a mass hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli jails.

A homeless man charged with killing and dismembering his friend says he can't remember much about the crime.

Yahoo says Ross Levinsohn is interim CEO; Scott Thompson leaves company.

Financial markets were gloomy last week. Driven by the highly political uncertain situation in Greece, disappointing economic data in China and reports of JP Morgan's $2B trading loss linked to synthetic credit securities, market sentiment was dampened and investors rushed to dump their risky assets and sought shelter in safe...

There is certainly a qualitative change in US-India relations and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not understating the case when she said in India recently that her country’s ties with India were ‘One of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.’

Berlin (dpa) - Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s Christian Democrats plunged to 26 per cent in a German regional election Sunday in North Rhine Westphalia state, two television exit polls showed.Merkel‘s main rivals, the Social Democrats (SPD), won 38 to 39 per cent of the votes, securing their control...

VIENNA — A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a...

A group is raising money to create a bronze, life-sized statue of the Ohioan who was the first woman to fly solo around the world. More >> Twelve people have been charged in an alleged mortgage fraud scheme in Ohio that cost lenders about $1.6 million.

A group is raising money to create a bronze, life-sized statue of the Ohioan who was the first woman to fly solo around the world. More >>

A senior Iranian lawmaker says former French socialist Prime Minister Michel Rocard’s unofficial visit to Iran indicates that the new French government is distancing itself from Nicolas Sarkozy’s policies.

NATO member states want an anti-missile defense system in case of attack from Iran or North Korea - but Russia feels threatened and has warned it will retaliate with military action.

A Florida postal worker says he became seriously ill after he handled a mysterious leaking package from Yemen. But the Postal Service denies the package ever existed.

Anxiety over anti-Semitism in Hungary is one toxic element of a broader national crisis that touches all parts of society two years after the 2010 elections swept the conservative Fidesz party to power.

You know that I am not a notorious name-dropper, so I am certain you won't mind--perhaps even are anxious to learn of it--if I tell you about the presidents I have known.

2 Turkish journalists arrive back in Istanbul after 2 months of detention in Syria

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two Turkish journalists freed after two months' captivity in Syria told on Sunday how they were held in a tiny, underground cell by gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad with guns pointed at their heads, fearing they would be killed. Reporter Adem Ozkose and cameraman Hamit Coskun...

Since his first House campaign a dozen years ago, would-be Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake has worked diligently to cast himself as a conservative gadfly, willing to buck GOP leaders and even a Republican president.

Ongoing clashes in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli between factions supporting and opposed to the revolt in neighbouring Syria left one person dead on Sunday, a source in the security forces said.

TEHRAN, May 13 (MNA) - The late Imam Khomeini’s thoughts inspired the Islamic Awakening in the world, Assembly of Experts Chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani said on Sunday.

An Iranian court has sentenced 13 people after finding them guilty of involvement in espionage activities for the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad.

Athens (dpa) - Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) in Greece on Sunday said he is refusing "to join or support" any coalition that would continue to enforce harsh austerity measures in exchange for European Union/International Monetary Fund bailouts.Tsipras, whose party came in...

A number of Louisiana visitors drive in to the state

TEHERAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that war was not essential to achieve the destruction of Israel, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. Related Stories Britons told to work harder and stop complaining Plane crashes en route to Iowa youth rally, killing 4 Chasing cell phone, US...

WASHINGTON – The race for the Republican presidential nomination is all but over, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the presumptive winner. On the Democratic side, President Barack Obama ...

Firing its 16-inch guns in the Arabian Sea, the USS Iowa shuddered. As the sky turned orange, a blast of heat from the massive guns washed over the battleship.

>ADELAIDE (Reuters) - Top crude exporter Saudi Arabia wants an oil price of around $100 a barrel and would like to see global inventories rise before demand picks up in the second half of the year, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Sunday. International Brent crude settled at $112.26...