News Archive - 18 November 2012

1st Half – Highlights   2nd Half – Highlights

Varzesh az Negahe 2: Ali Sanei & Torabian   Torabian

>YANGON (Reuters) - Barack Obama became the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar on Monday, trying during a whirlwind six-hour trip to strike a balance between praising the government's progress in shaking off military rule and pressing for more reform. Obama's first stop was a meeting with President...

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to...

>In an interview with the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani also said Israel would not halt its offensive in Gaza unless it met strong resistance."The nature of Israel means that it will not stop its aggression unless there is firm resistance like what happened...

>Iranian officials said about 200 Syrian "political characters" had participated but there was no indication that the Syrian National Coalition, a new umbrella opposition group led by Sunni Muslim cleric Mouaz Alkhatib, had attended.Iran has strongly supported Assad and has accused Western and Arab nations of fomenting violence in...

Asylum seekers accused of rioting in Nauru have been involved in a two-hour stand-off and emotional protests over fears they will not get a fair trial.

(MENAFN - Arab News) Mortgage finance, housing development, construction (contracting), and consumer lending will serve as major drivers for growth in the medium term for the Saudi economy, ...

(MENAFN - Arab News) Israel yesterday threatened to expand its assault on Gaza as it pressed ahead with a fifth day of strikes, killing 21 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Of the overall ...

World oil markets arewell supplied despite the loss of nearly 1 million barrels a dayof crude from Iran following sanctions by the United States andEuropean Union, the head of the International Energy ...

(MENAFN - Arab News) When the Israeli-Gaza conflict started to heat up and a senior Hamas leader, Ahmad Al-Jabari, was assassinated, I decided not to write anything about this conflict. My weekly ...

ORUMIYEH, Turkey, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Deputy Governor General of West Azarbaijan province Gholamreza Dizajnejad said on Saturday that Iran and Turkey will soon jointly build an industrial city on border area, Iran's IRNA reported.

Day one of this outstanding auction includes a collection of Persian items once belonging to Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran from 1951-1953.Beverly, MA (PRWEB) November 16, 2012 On offer are important Persian items from the estate of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran from 1951-1953. Included...

President Obama's re-election is a welcome. A Republican win would have further widened class, race and ethnic rifts in America's highly unequal society, strengthened a Rightward economic tilt domesti .....

The Apache Corporation announced its $2 million donation to the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering during a news conference at 11 a.m. Friday.

People around the world are keeping a close eye on developments in the Middle East, including many people in the Capital Region.

Crude oil futures extended its last week’s rally, approaching the $88 a barrel mark in Asia electronic trades today.

Iran has condemned the international community's indifference to the Israeli regime's aggression against the Gaza Strip, Press TV reported.

In reply to What 'No Advantage' Really Means : “ No advantage” means that a fair share of the 20,000 places on Australias Humanitarian Immigration Programme can be made available for the 800,000 refugees that the UNHCR is caring for around the World and assessed to be in need of...

Canada's diplomats in Moscow will have to work another three years in an embassy compound that's vulnerable to terrorist attack and the prying eyes of foreign spies, The Canadian Press has learned.

What is worse: Iran getting the bomb, or Israel (and perhaps the U.S.) attacking Iran?

LOS ANGELES - The final chapter of the blockbuster "Twilight" vampire film franchise earned some $138 million in its debut, taking a huge bite out of weekend movie ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.

Qassam » Hamas militants are woven into general population. Maghazi Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip • From the time he was a boy, Ali al-Manama dreamed of joining the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Hamas movement.

How will the key regional powers react to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas? Deakin University's Damien Kingsbury examines the options. Read more on the blog...

LONDON : A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip would lose Israel much international sympathy and support, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Sunday.

(CNN) - Sen. John McCain suggested Sunday that former President Bill Clinton once again try his hand at forging peace between the Israelis and Palestinians as another day of violence lit up the sky on the border between Israel and Gaza. Israeli Defense Forces aircraft struck targets in Gaza on...

Touring the luxurious campus of the American University of Sharjah last week, I was yet again struck by what money, especially petrodollars, can buy. Sharjah is an emirate of the United Arab Emirates, located adjacent to Abu Dhabi. Designed by the ruler of Sharjah, Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, one...

When Ivan Glasenberg walked into a members-only club in London’s Mayfair district on Sept. 7 at about 2 a.m. to see a customer, he’d just played what’s seen as the winning hand in negotiations to seal a $30 billion takeover.

LATEST NEWS> Israeli air strike kills 11 civilians in Gaza - Hamas > Obama: "Preferable" to avoid Israeli ground invasion > Arab League chief, ministers to visit Gaza on Tuesday > U.N.'s Ban to visit Egypt for talks on Monday > Palestinian Authority seeks urgent Arab League summit...

GENEVA (15 November 2012) – A group of United Nations experts today urged the Government of Iran to undertake a thorough, independent and impartial investigation of the death in custody of Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti, particularly the allegations of torture, and to make the result of such an investigation public.

Death and taxes are no longer as certain as Benjamin Franklin’s famous saying would have it. Taxes aren’t paid by the rich. Death in a secular and medicalised world has been made into something to be put off.

RAVES TO THE Chronicle! Your editorial recommendations made the losers the winners! MY STOVE IS BROKE and I don't have any heat and everybody in the world is calling wanting something for something. Now, who do I call? MR.

Israeli ground forces are poised to invade the Gaza Strip for the first time in almost four years amid efforts by Egypt and Turkey to help end the rocket battles that have killed 71 Palestinians and three Israelis.

Britain's communists warned that the world was becoming increasingly dangerous as the US and other capitalist powers step up their drive for domination and monopoly.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Rebels in Congo were on the outskirts of the eastern city of Goma on Sunday after pushing back U.N. peacekeepers and government troops, but a spokesman said they did not plan to take the city. Related Stories Fuel rationing in New York City extended through Friday...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU foreign ministers will on Monday thrash out positions on increasingly thorny problems in the Middle East, but the bloc will likely not follow France in giving full recognition to the new Syrian opposition, diplomats said. The European Union has long called for unification of the fractious...

The Treasury, the FSA and UKFI all want the lender to offload the subsidiary - Citizens - to boost its reserves.

An Israeli soldier stands on the border with Syria at the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on Tuesday. / Uriel Sinai, Getty Images

Syria's regime on Sunday slammed as "hostile" a French decision to host an opposition ambassador, as its forces bombarded southern districts of the capital and clashes raged nationwide.

The U.S. and Britain on Sunday warned about the risks of Israel expanding its air assault on the Gaza Strip into a ground war, while vigorously defending the Jewish state's right to protect itself against rocket attacks.

(AP Photo/Eyad Baba). Palestinians stand near the rubble of the building of Attia Abu Inkara, a Hamas militant leader, following an Israeli air strike in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012.

ANALYSIS/OPINION: With each new story, each new interview, every congressional hearing, it becomes clearer that the Obama administration presented a false picture of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. One can invoke either the "bozo theory" or the "conspiracy plot" in an attempt...

Four years after the last major conflict in the region, Israel and Hamas are once again on the brink of war in Gaza. So what is the group, and what does it hope to achieve by its rocket attacks on Israeli targets?

>By Aseel KamiBAGHDAD Nov 14 (Reuters) - The din of power generators, tangle of jerry-rigged electric wiring and hassle of security checkpoints are all part of the movie business in Iraq, not to mention the lack of studio space and dearth of experienced crews.But actors like Sadiq Abbas are...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat said on Sunday Iran had unloaded fuel from its first atomic power plant as part of a normal technical procedure linked to transferring responsibility for the plant from Russian engineers. The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report two days ago...

Forty-one Iranian political prisoners in section 350 of Evin Prison have written a letter to protest the transfer of Abolfazl Abedini, the person who is "the most informed" about the alleged torture of Sattar Beheshti by his interrogators.

Tehran says the United States has denied visas to Iranian officials hoping to attend a United Nations meeting in New York.

The western sanctions against Iran have had dire consequences for Armenia, including an acute shortage of food and agricultural products in the country, the Armenian media said.

The United States has denied visas to Iranian officials hoping to attend a UN meeting in New York, Iran's state news agency has reported.

Ali Karimi and Mohsen Bengar of Iran have been nominated for the 2012 AFC Player of the Year award on Sunday. Japan, Korea Republic and China have a player each in the list.

The head of the Iranian Association of Pharmacists says the price of medical products has risen by 245 percent, and infant formula and medical drugs for special diseases are in short supply at Iranian pharmacies.

Alahverdi Dehghan, the Iranian MP for Varzaghan, reported today that only 15 percent of the necessary housing has been completed for the victims of the earthquake that struck the region last August, and 5,000 families are still facing the cold without adequate shelter.

Iraq and Russia have been getting cosy lately with high ranking visitors and multi-billion dollar arms deals. Is this friendship just a business opportunity? Related to events in Syria or Iran? Or something more sinister?

AP NewsAlert TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Bus overturns in southwest Iran, killing 21 students, state radio says.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the country is prepared to "significantly expand" its operation in Gaza as "Operation Pillar of Defence" enters its...

As the second innings of bilateral cooperation between India and the U.S. kicks off after the lull in activity forced by the high-voltage U.S. election campaign, both sides expect broad continuity...

DAMASCUS - Syria on Sunday slammed as “hostile” a French decision to host an ambassador from the opposition National Coalition, as regime forces bombarded southern districts of the capital and clashes raged nationwide.

Amid controversy and two wars, he's led a classic turnaround by running the Agency like a business.

As I wrote before the summer, the Turkish government has launched a campaign to encourage citizens to bring their gold investments out from under their mattresses (an estimated 5,512 tonnes).

An Israeli police explosives expert examines the remains of a rocket, fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza, after it landed in the southern city of Ashkelon on Sunday.

Iran held Sunday a conference to reconcile Syria's government with opposition factions and end the country's civil war, the official IRNA news agency reported.

A group of leading medical bodies has called on the Government to set a minimum alcohol price of 50p per unit to tackle "head on"...

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey tells msnbc’s Alex Witt that Iranians have manipulated Hamas, exploiting years of multigenerational hate and supplying the terrorist group with weapons. (msnbc)

Islamabad, Nov 18 (IANS) Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has refused to attend the upcoming D−8 conference in Pakistan as Dhaka first wants an apology from Islamabad over the war crimes allegedly committed during the 1971 war.

Syrian National Coalition looks to EU to lift arms embargo as Syrian government meets preferred opposition in Tehran.

The foreign secretary says Israel risks losing sympathy from the international community if it launches an invasion of the Palestinian territory with ground troops.

>Israel began air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, with the declared goal of deterring Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, from launching rockets that have plagued its southern communities for years.Hamas' armed wing said on Saturday it had launched an Iranian-made Fajr-5 rocket at Tel...