News Archive - 9 October 2012

Australia's Asian Cup organisers have yet to make critical decisions over match venues in hosting cities for the tournament that kicks off in January 2015 - but they would like to see the A-League go into a temporary shutdown for at least part of the three week competition.

تیم ملی فوتبال کره جنوبی در تهران تمرینات خود را آغاز کرد تهران – بازیکنان تیم ملی فوتبال کره جنوبی که امروز (سه شنبه) وارد ایران شدند، در ورزشگاه آرارات تهران، تمرینات خود را آغاز کردند

>ZTE said in a statement filed on the Shenzhen stock exchange that the U.S. company had terminated the agreement involving equipment sales in July, but added that the move will have little impact on its business.On Monday, sources told Reuters that Cisco has ended a longstanding sales partnership...

>The three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb sit near oil shipping channels at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and are claimed by both Iran and the UAE.Iran has said its sovereignty over the three islands is non-negotiable and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman...

>* Maersk Line exit another blow for ship tradeBy Jonathan SaulLONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipping company, has stopped port calls to Iran as Western sanctions pressure on the Islamic Republic mounts, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.Many of Iran's imports, including food and...

>* IMF cuts global growth forecast, sees soft landing in China* Coming up: ECB chief Mario Draghi speaks at 0730 GMT (Updates prices)By Ramya VenugopalSINGAPORE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures rose towards $113 a barrel on Tuesday after two days of losses, with supply fears due to escalating...

The House Education Committee wants members of the Attorney General¿s Office to explain their role in a moratorium on new charter schools.

Israel has abandoned plans for an imminent attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities after new intelligence said Tehran had diverted part of its uranium stockpile to a medical research reactor.

Cancer patient gets pat-down by TSA SEATTLE A Michigan woman dying of leukemia says she hopes

Great to hear that UVA is paying more attention to mental health issues. At such a high stress school, it's important to have the necessary resources ...

Warned about the consequences, singer Madonna reportedly backed out from wearing a costume that included a Muslim bridal veil combined with a US soldier's uniform.

The Virginia men’s soccer team stormed back from an early deficit Tuesday evening to earn a scintillating, next-to-last-minute 2-1 victory against No. 23 High Point. The win erased some of the disappointment of failing to score in the squad’s previous outing Friday, a 1-0 decision at No. 1 Maryland.

Junior Alex Domijan and the Virginia men’s tennis program did it again. For the third year in a row, the Cavaliers brought home the ITA All-American Championships men’s singles title, and for the second time in that span, Domijan did the honors.

WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Bernama) -- Algeria will become the third largest investor in energy sector in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries over the next five years, according to Bloomberg.

In what was at least Take 4 for Mitt Romney in trying to make a major impression of geopolitical expertise, the conservative Republican presidential candidate didn't do himself any favors. Even as President Barack Obama struggles to deal with several crises, and to recover from his sleepy Denver debate...

Shari Wilsey, who lives on Summit Avenue and therefore knows a thing or two about confiscatory property taxes, received a telephone call the other morning from a solicitor whom Wilsey believed to be representing the Pioneer Press.

The Ted actress says she finds politics "incredibly entertaining".

The U.S. and over 30 other nations recently held a joint mine clearing exercise, called the International Mine Countermeasures Exercise 2012 (September 16-27).

Fifty years ago, the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba set off the most acute crisis of the Cold War, and possibly the most dangerous moment in human history.

New York NY (SPX) Oct 10, 2012 This spring, a Swedish scientist sparked international concern with a journal article saying that radioactive particles detected in 2010 showed North Korea had set off at least two small nuclear blasts--possibly in experiments designed to boost the yields of much larger bombs. Shortly...

An Iraqi worker operates valves at the Nahran Omar oil refinery near the city of Basra in this file photo. (AP)

Brussels (UPI) Oct 9, 2012 Iran never made a reported proposal to Europe in a bid to end its nuclear standoff with the West, the country's chief negotiator says. Saeed Jalili, Iran's top negotiator with the P5+1 nations of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, Saturday...

Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) Oct 9, 2012 U.S. funding for Israel's Iron Dome counter-rocket system, a key component of the country's developing missile defense shield, could be reduced because of severe defense spending cuts. "Iron Dome will be cut," U.S. defense industry consultant Randy Jennings, a former congressional...

What U.S. companies really think about China.

Unless Barack Obama is being paid by the Koch brothers to throw the election, he still has an edge.

Another insightful article by Dr. Welsh, She shows a keen understanding of contemporary Malaysian politics. I enjoyed reading her political commentaries. UMNO will use Islam and the threat of losing Malay political hegemony to win the support and unite the Malays. This could work in their favour. UMO strategists are...

Mitt Romney has said any US military intervention to stop Iran's nuclear program is on the distant horizon.

They're promising but need to hone skills and gain further exposure. -ST

Ben Affleck has had a huge amount of 'hits', in fact, the more involved he is in the creation of a film, the more successful it seems to be. 'Good...

The former Penn State assistant coach gets 30 to 60 years in prison after lamenting that hopefully "something good will come out of this." He is expected to tell a House panel Wednesday he pleaded for more security before the ambassador and two others were killed.

TEHRAN, Oct. 9 -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi condemned on Tuesday the U.S. and European Union (EU) sanctions against the Islamic republic as contradictory to international laws, Press TV reported.

Yesterday's foreign policy speech by Mitt Romney was the worst of both worlds -- shallow rhetoric followed by a few ill-considered specifics. On the rhetorical front, we learned that candidate Romney supports a "freer, more prosperous and more peaceful world"; believes in showing "resolve"; and would promote "freedom and...

Mitt Romney said tonight he was prepared to work with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to facilitate the delivery of weapons to “moderate voices” within the Syrian resistance as a means of combating Iran’s “major role” in supporting Assad government forces. Turkey has already exchanged artillery...

President Barack Obama has signed an executive order that carries out new sanctions against Iran that Congress approved and that he signed this summer.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called yesterday for an early election, eager to strengthen his political position after signalling that any military action against Iran could be months away.

Expectations Fact Check! – Mitt Romney told Wolf Blitzer that maybe the last time Paul Ryan took part in a debate was in high school. But Shush Walshe reports Ryan has actually participated in at least eight debates during his fourteen years in congress according...

Oct 10 — What keeps the Malaysian opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance) together? The quick answer often given is the common search of political power. While power frames the relationships between three disparate political parties - Islamist PAS, secular-committed Democratic Action Party and the umbrella reform-oriented PKR of Mr Anwar ...

New York Times bestseller Azar Nafisi, author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," will speak at Vanderbilt tonight.

Actually, Netanyahu made the decision to hold early elections six months ago, but then he blinked at the last minute - and lived to regret it.

Activists on Tuesday urged democracies to speak out for the release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, fearing that pressure on Beijing has eased two years after he won the Nobel peace prize.

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that takes additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12957...

Crude-oil prices rose Tuesday afternoon as traders overlooked forecasts of economic weakness and focused on burgeoning tensions in the Middle East. Light sweet crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $3.06, or 3.4%, to $92.39 a barrel.

Likud: Led by Israel's current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Russia has signed an US$4.2bn arms deal with Iraq making it the largest weapons supplier after the US.

Perhaps more than any other male American star of his generation, Ben Affleck understands the narrative advantage of having Hollywood on your side. The Good Will Hunting co-screenwriter and co-star won an Oscar at age 25 in large part because he and collaborator Matt Damon, as struggling a...

Two decades of steady progress in reducing world hunger have come to a stop with the recession of the last four years, new figures from the United Nations reveal. Related Stories Iran accuses UN nuclear watchdog of spying and sabotage

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced an early general election in January, 2013. Most pundits agreed he would lead his Likud party’s campaign for reelection on the security ticket, namely the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to run for election on the stop-nuclear-Iran ticket opens the door for President Barack Obama, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah to put an oar in to determine its results.

TEHRAN, Oct. 9 (MNA) – The secretary general of the Followers of the Imam and Leadership Front said on Tuesday that President Ahmadinejad has fired capable ministers.

Maybe it’s because I was told there’d be no math when I got into politics, but there comes a point in every campaign when I run screaming from the torrent of poll numbers and go looking for signs and portents; moments that (rightly or wrongly) seem to me to be...

Israel and the United States are considering a joint "surgical strike" targeting Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, a former Clinton administration official who is close to the Obama administration said.

U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will visit Syria soon to try to persuade Bashar al-Assad's government to call an immediate ceasefire in an 18-month-old conflict with rebels.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday urged Iran to stay the execution of activist Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, sentenced for allegedly supporting the People's Mujahedeen of Iran.

Israel is heading to early elections amid growing tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on national television Tuesday to make the announcement. He said he is being forced to form a new government because the current coalition is not able to agree on...

A Syrian defector tells CNN's Ivan Watson what he claims were some of the inner workings of the al-Assad regime, including the president kicking tables and cursing.

Maersk Line, the world's biggest shipping company, stops calling at Iranian ports as a result of sanctions against the country.

Rap is just started to develop a following in the wartorn nation and Sosan Firooz, 23, sees it as the best way to tell her story, despite the stigma of women performing.

>WASHINGTON Oct 9 (Reuters) - A reduction in natural gas exports from Iran would not have a significant impact on world energy markets, but could affect Turkey and part of Azerbaijan, according to a U.S. report due to be released on Tuesday. The report is designed to be used...

>DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's state budget is under pressure and the government has cut spending in some areas, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying as the country struggles to cope with Western economic sanctions. "Right now in terms of the budget we are under pressure," Ahmadinejad said in a...

Three-time champions Saudi Arabia and 2007 winners Iraq will face off as the two former continental champions seek to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 following Tuesday’s preliminary round draw in Melbourne.

A month or so after the government voted to end Japan’s nuclear power industry by the 2030s, Japan is contemplating putting more reactors online if a nuclear watchdog deems it safe, according to OilPrice.com. 

Iran warns UAE it could cut relations over disputed Gulf islands controlled by Tehran

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on Tuesday applauded Denmark’s Maersk, the world’s largest shipping container company, for ending port calls to Iran. Since July 2010, UANI has been pressuring Maersk to end its business in Iran. As part of its campaign UANI ran advertisements and organized protests outside...

Kelly McParland: In Syria, Romney would repeat the mistakes of Iraq and Afghanistan, shipping arms to rebels that could turn them against the U.S. a few years later

The author admits EL James's novel is one of his least favourite books.

A recent Foreign Policy Initiative poll shows that voters find foreign policy a much more important issue than conventional wisdom would suggest.

Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, faced off against conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly, in a political debate.

The fall of the Soviet Union left the U.S. the last military superpower. Where did it all go so wrong?

GORKI, Russia (Reuters) - Russia announced on Tuesday it has signed $4.2 billion in arms deals with Iraq, making it the largest weapons supplier to the Middle East country after the United States.

Yahoo! Sports is breaking down each league for the upcoming college basketball season working backward from No. 31 to No. 1. Here's a look at our No. 28 league, the Southland Conference. In its final nine seasons in the Summit League, Oral Roberts won the regular season title five times...

A film based on the 1981 novel of British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children, has finally got a distributor in India.

A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced 22 people to lengthy jail terms for assisting the Revolutionary Guards in neighboring Iran in alleged terrorist plots against U.S. and Israeli targets in the oil-rich Caspian nation.

Netanyahu’s cartoon oversimplified the Iranian nuclear threat. That should not, however, cause us to miss the central message he was attempting to send.

Good morning. Here's what you need to know. The Nikkei fell 1 percent in overnight trading after exchanges were closed Monday, while the Shanghai Composite jumped 2 percent. European stocks were mostly in the red, with Spain down 0.9 percent and the German DAX down 0.4 percent.

More than one in five of the world's countries have suffered hyperinflation in recent history. And with 'QE infinity' around the corner, that does not bode well for your wealth, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

A source 'close to the discussions' said the strike would compose primarily of B-52 bombers (pictured) and drone support. The suggested attack is expected to last no more than a few days - or even just 'a couple of hours'.

Four facts deserve attention with regard to a potential attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The first is that the Iranian-Israeli war is already at hand. Iran launched it by sending an unmanned drone into Israeli air space Saturday, Oct. 6, breaking new ground in belligerence with a cyber attack.

The missile was deployed from Haifa, northern Israeli, an army spokesman said, but he would not confirm if it was in response to Saturday's unmanned aircraft, pictured.

>The pictures are a tiny portion of some 100,000 photos from 165 countries which were submitted by people across the world in May to the www.ADAY.org project.The 45 pictures were shown on 85,733 major digital display screens on Monday, including Times Square in New York, which organisers...

> Stocks Markets...

>RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is satisfied that oil prices have fallen to a level that does not hamper global growth, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Wednesday, signaling success in a Gulf Arab effort to keep oil prices under control despite a halving of Iranian exports because of...

>The IMF forecasts, which also include a small trade surplus this year and next, suggest that although the sanctions are damaging Iran by cutting its oil exports, they are not likely to cause a collapse of its economy.However, much of the IMF analysis is based on statistics provided by...

Crude Higher on Concerns Over Turkey-Syria Conflict

I can't contain my exploding admiration for the walloping historical quotes, bottomless knowledge, indisputable facts and depth of macro/micro philosophical and economic insight that Melanie Sturm delivers in her columns like Whac-A-Mole to all those dumb liberals.

LOS ANGELES - Rumbling into its final four weeks, the presidential campaign is playing out on both coasts and multiple fronts, with Republican Mitt Romney seeking stature on foreign affairs and President Barack Obama raising political cash by the millions.

NEW DELHI: Iran may import 2-3 million tonnes of wheat from India, India's Food Minister K.V. Thomas said on Tuesday. "Iran may buy 2-3 million tonnes from us on a long term basis," Thomas told reporters.

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make an atom bomb within two to four months and then would need an additional eight to 10 months to build the device, experts said on Monday.

Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to make an atomic bomb within two to four months and then would need an additional eight to 10 months to build the device, experts said Monday.

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