News Archive - 8 November 2012

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed U.S. drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Thursday, an unprecedented incident that triggered a sharp warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels. The Pentagon said the November 1 intercept appeared to...

Short Highlights:

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 file photo, U.S. soldiers, part of the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) walks, as a U.S. Chinook helicopter is seen on the back ground near the place where the foundation of a hospital was laid in Shindand, Herat,...

>Iran's oil exports, the lifeblood of its economy and the major source of revenue for the government, have dropped sharply over the past year because of Western sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.This has caused a slide in Iran's rial currency, which has lost about two-thirds of its...

>* Senior army defectors seek to forge disciplined force* Siege of key town shows rebel fighters coordinating plans* Indiscipline, killings still a feature of battle* Assad forces deploy air power to keep rebels from citadelBy Erika SolomonHAREM, Syria, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Crouching in a tent among the pine trees,...

>* Assad says he will live and die in Syria* President cites of "unbearable" cost of intervention* Opposition meet in Doha amid differencesBy Rania El Gamal and Andrew HammondDOHA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad scotched any suggestion he might flee Syria and warned that any Western military intervention...

>BERLIN (Reuters) - Siemens AG aims to save 6 billion euros ($7.7 billion) by the end of its 2014 fiscal year, more than expected, as the German engineering conglomerate fights to stay competitive in a weak global economy. An industrial bellwether and Germany's most valuable company, Siemens has come...

Tightening its noose around Iran, the United States has announced a set of targeted sanctions against 17 Iranian individuals and entities related to the country’s alleged human rights violations.

Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - The number of Chinese nationals taking part in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme - an international residency scheme - is expected to increase in the next few years and spur domestic economic activities.

Kuala Lumpur: A two-day joint training workshop, aimed at promoting and strengthening the international network of high-tech clusters, is being organised here from Thursday.

Editor: Robert Birsel + 65 6870 3815 Picture Desk: Singapore + 65 6870 3775 Graphics queries: + 65 6870 3595 (All times GMT) TOP STORIES China state-owned firms say they want to get bigger BEIJING - Bosses of Chinese state-owned enterprises arguefor continued expansion at landmark Communist Party congress,defending themselves...

As an intern for Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17), I have been working [in Washington, D.C.] since September this year. It has been an all around amazing experience that I couldn’t be more thankful for. As a political science major, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else this semester.

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who was among the best-known faces of America's televangelist heyday, has asserted in a federal bankruptcy court that he never gave up ownership of his books and other teachings even though the ministry he founded used them freely, including on the Internet.

1. Irina Nagornykh article headlined "Region of Temporary Government" says President Putin has proposed to Andrei Vorobyov, the head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, to become acting governor of the Moscow region. The deputy accepted the offer; pp 1-2 (1,012 words).

The Anti-Assad Offensive: Can the West Oust Syria's Strongman?

America emerged yesterday from one of its closest fought presidential races in its history to face a new and haunting reality in world affairs.

“The best is yet to come, but we have more work to do.” That succinct acknowledgement of reality by Barack Obama on Wednesday signalled a profound shift from the euphoric chant -- “Yes, we can” -- of four years ago.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about on Friday.

>* Tensions in Iran, Syria escalate* Snowstorm in U.S. northeast triggers gasoline rationing* Coming up: OPEC monthly report for October, time unknown (Adds quote, detail)By Ramya VenugopalSINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Brent crude futures steadied above $107 on Friday and were poised to end the week with a marginal...

President Hu Jintao yesterday unveiled an ambitious plan for China to double its per-capita income by 2020. China's per capita income stood at US$4,260 in 2010, close to Jordan and Thailand, and less than one-tenth of the US's $47,140. The Chinese leader was speaking at the Communist Party Congress, which...

Washington, Nov 9 (IANS) Iranian fighter jet had attacked a US drone but missed it, the US Defense Department has confirmed.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- On October 22, 2012 the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") completely revised and reissued the foundation of the U.S. economic sanctions program prohibiting trade with Iran: the Iranian...

Australia has scrapped a controversial plan to filter the Internet, saying it will instead block hundreds of websites identified by Interpol as among the worst child abuse sites.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said problems related to his country’s nuclear program must be discussed directly with the United States, IRNA news agency reported.

The lack of references to India during the presidential debates showed how inconsequential India is from the point of view of the economy as well as Asia-Pacific tensions, says B Raman

Corms of Saffron, the world's costliest spice are these days in full bloom in the highlands of Pampore, a town 14 kilometres south of capital Srinagar. Mukhtar Ahmed reports.

On the eve of the release of Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell touted the bipartisan benefits of Virginia's budding film industry.

Ben Affleck’s third film as director entitled Argo tells an amazing but true story set against the context of the Iranian hostage crisis.

“Gentlemen, we have run out of money. Now we must think.” Winston Churchill said that. Or maybe it was the Nobel-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford. Whatever its provenance, the quip provides a good starting point for discussing the future of American military spending.

Sophisticated virus was intended to knock offline an Iranian nuclear enrichment facility but strayed from its intended target about two years ago, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

File image. Researchers have discovered why plants and animals had a hard time recovering from the largest mass extinction in Earth's history 250 million years ago. The reason: global warming.

The Australian dollar is slightly lower following falls on equity markets and increased international tensions.At 1200 AEDT on Friday, the local unit was trading at 103.92 US cents, down from 104.07 cents ...

Torture suspected after dissident blogger dies in Iranian police custody

US President Barack Obama headed back to Washington on Wednesday emboldened by his re-election but facing the daunting task of breaking down partisan gridlock in a bitterly divided Congress.

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DOHA, Qatar - Syrian opposition leaders say they have made progress toward forging a broad-based leadership group sought by the international community.

WASHINGTON, USA - President Barack Obama will meet democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein this month on a historic first visit to Myanmar by a sitting US leader in a boost to a political reform drive. The White House also said that Obama would visit Thailand...

CNN is revealing that Iranian jets last week fired repeatedly on a U.S. Air Force Predator drone conducting routine maritime surveillance in international airspace over the Persian Gulf. The two jets, Iranian Su-25 fighters piloted by members of Iran’s elite revolutionary Guard Corps force, “were never successful in hitting”...

Israel was bracing on Thursday for chillier ties with Washington, with pundits unanimous that a re-elected President Barack Obama will seek payback for Benjamin Netanyahu's supporting Mitt Romney.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The Pentagon said it is concerned about Iran's intentions in the Persian Gulf after Iranian fighters fired on a U.S. Air Force drone over international waters.

It's hardly been a secret that the French government hoped President Obama would win a second term.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- The United States designated three new sanctions against the Iranian government and its affiliates, a U.S. Treasury Department statement said.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir promised Thursday that Sudan would respond robustly to what he believes was an Israeli bombing of a Khartoum arms factory

Dr. Manoochehr Abadian Sharifabad, a board-certified pulmonary/critical care and sleep medicine specialist, has joined the medical staff of McLaren Flint.

The Pentagon disclosed today that an unarmed U.S. military Predator surveillance drone was fired at by Iranian military jets last week in international airspace over the waters of the Persian Gulf.

The police report said the East End Madrassa's school syllabus used offensive passages lifted from Iran, “challenged some of Canada’s core values” and “suggested intolerance”

WASHINGTON - Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship.

>* ECB holds key interest rate at 0.75 pct* Coming up: CFTC positions data 3:30 p.m. EST Friday (Adds closing numbers, Iran's attempted strike on U.S. drone)By Adam KerlinNEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Crude oil ended higher on Thursday, recovering from a steep plunge in the...

Freed from the pretended constraints of being listed as a terrorist entity in the USA, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) has stepped up its financial and money laundering activities in Western countries. The MEK have launched a 'basij' (all-out campaign) in their financial section. Firstly, all members and supporters have...

Act I -- Revolution and Repression Lacking cultural traditions of a free, civil society, and facing economies faltering along with most of the world, petrodollar power has overwhelmed people power, and the Arab Spring has been unable to realize a democratic evolution. Many Arab reformers (Islamist-inspired) still look to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has imposed financial sanctions against officials and government bodies in Iran that the U.S. blames for jamming satellite broadcasts and blocking Internet access for ...

Designations of Iranian Individuals and Entities for Censorship Activities Under the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act and Executive Order 13628 Press Statement Victoria Nuland Department Spokesperson , Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC November 8, 2012 Today, the U.S. Department of State reported to the Congress the...

National security reporters for both Fox News and CNN are reporting that two Iranian Su-25 fighter jets fired on an unarmed American Predator drone over the Persian Gulf. The incident sparks new questions about the aggressive intentions of Iranian government as the Islamic Republic races towards completion of a nuclear...

The re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama has focused attention on his sometimes tense personal relations with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who made no secret of his leanings toward the president's challenger. The two leaders have on occasion disagreed over major Middle East issues and some Israelis are...

Human Rights Watch Thursday urged Bahrain to retract its decision to revoke the citizenship of 31 Shiites for having "undermined state security", describing the move as a violation of basic rights.

The Prime Minister has arrived in Bali ahead of a summit of world leaders aimed at promoting democracy.

Oil Pauses in Wake of Sell-Off

ANKARA — Turkey has demanded that NATO donate U.S.-origin ballistic missile defense batteries to protect against attacks from neighboring Syria. Officials said the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has drafted a request to NATO for the Patriot BMD system.

The Secretary-General is saddened by the loss of life, and the damage to homes and infrastructure in Guatemala as a result of the earthquake that struck off the coast of the country near the border with Mexico on 7 November.

THE RESULTS: Siemens reported a 2 percent decline in fiscal fourth-quarter net profits from continuing operations to €1.48 billion ($1.89 billion). Results were weighed down by €327 million in charges related to its oil and gas business in Iran due to new U.S. and European Union trade...

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday the age of nuclear deterrence was long gone and any country still stockpiling nuclear weapons was "mentally retarded". He again denied Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, a day after the re-election victory of U.S. President...

President Bashar al-Assad said he would "live and die" in Syria and warned that any Western invasion to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond.

>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela expects international arbitration rulings by late 2013 in multi-billion-dollar claims by Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips over nationalizations by President Hugo Chavez's government, the oil minister said. Of more than 20 cases against Venezuela at the World Bank and the International Chamber of Commerce's panels, the biggest...

Being a moderate Republican can be very lonely. I supported Mitt Romney for the simple reason that I believed that he would accomplish more than our current president. In truth, there is no real Republican Party today. Will Rogers famous line -- "I'm not a member of any organized...

It is an accident of fate that the quadrennial American exercise in selecting a president happens to coincide almost precisely with the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. That episode unraveled the Carter Administration and left a legacy of U.S.-Iranian animosity...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has praised efforts by European leaders to stabilise the sovereign debt crisis.

Days of God: the revolution in Iran and its consequences by James Buchan (John Murray, £25)

Top Obama Advisers to Testify at House Hearing on Libya OPINION: A National Security 'To Do' List for Obama's Second Term OPINION: Election Outcome Means Iran Wins, Israel Loses

Iran, among other countries, immediately congratulated U.S. President Barack Obama for winning the 2012 White House race. A less joyous message was delivered by one of Iran's leaders who held out the possibility of negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program.

Los Angeles County Child Protective Services officials are planning to visit Octomom Nadya Suleman's house in California yet again after someone made an anonymous call to the agency last Friday over concerns about the welfare of her 14 children.

>* Iran's first atom energy plant plagued by delays since 1970s* Russia said it was fully operational in August* Iran's energy minister says "final tests" now conductedDUBAI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Iran's first nuclear power plant will become fully operational by early 2013, its energy minister was quoted as saying,...

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and stories that will be talked about today:

TEHRAN - Iran has frozen the import of more than 2,000 products deemed "luxury goods" to address a shortage of foreign currency caused by Western sanctions, media reports said Thursday quoting trade officials.

Wendy's reported a wider net loss for the third quarter that fell short of Wall Street expectations, but a key sales figure rose.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. election a "battleground for capitalists" while speaking at a democracy forum a day after President Barack Obama was re-elected.

U.S. stock futures are recovering a day after the largest drop on the Dow Jones industrial average this year. Trading is light ahead of the Labor Department's report on claims for unemployment benefits.

McDonald's Corp. says a key sales figure fell in October, marking the first monthly drop in nearly a decade for the world's biggest hamburger chain.

Software made by Siemens and targeted by the Stuxnet malware is still full of other dangerous vulnerabilities, according to Russian researchers whose presentation at the Defcon security conference earlier this year was cancelled following a request from the company.

WASHINGTON—Now that his re-election is secured, President Barack Obama has a freer hand to deal with a world of familiar problems in fresh ways, from toughening America's approach to Iran and Syria while potentially engaging other repressive countries such as Cuba and North Korea and refocusing on moribund Middle East...

>By Isabel ColesARBIL, Iraq Nov 8 (Reuters) - A new Turkish oil company is in negotiations to acquire several blocks in Iraqi Kurdistan in a joint venture with at least one foreign oil major and the Kurdistan Regional Government, industry sources said on Thursday.If successful, talks by the unnamed...

Tehran, Nov. 8 (Xinhua-ANI): Iranian Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli-Larijani said the Americans should win Iranians' trust in order to restore the relations between Iran and the United States, Tehran Times daily reported Thursday.

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2012) - Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSX:CNQ) (NYSE:CNQ)

Iran's official news agency says the country's military will hold "massive" air defense maneuvers in the east, starting this weekend.

Iran and Armenia have started the construction of a joint hydro-electric power plant (HPP) on the Aras River, which borders the two countries.

German industrial conglomerate Siemens said Thursday it was launching a new cost-cutting program and productivity push aimed at saving (EURO)6 billion ($7.7 billion) by 2014 in a bid to increase competitiveness.

A sober analysis assessing the possible threat of a military confrontation over Iran's nuclear program and highlighting the benefits of negotiations to avert a deeper crisis has been published by a surprising source: Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Related Stories Reality bites for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu who threw his solid...

Iranians expect heat from Obama but believe he’s less likely to use military action than Romney. By Omid Memarian.

Russia expects President Barack Obama to show more flexibility in a dispute over US missile defence plans.

Africa's leaders have been some of Barack Obama's fiercest critics, saying he has not prioritised the continent. Will his re-election change this?

>ISTANBUL Nov 8 (Reuters) - Turkey does not expect to reduce the oil and gas it imports from Iran when an exemption from U.S. sanctions expires on Dec. 3, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said, signalling once again the government wants to renew the dispensation.Turkey is seeking new...