News Archive - 29 December 2012

The Internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has revealed the list of most searched articles in 2012. The list reveals striking differences in what proved popular across the different language versions of the online encyclopaedia.

Although the senior men struggled, South Korean teams shined on both the continental and Olympic levels, with a Korean player named Asia's best for the first time since 1991

TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (MNA) – The domestically overhauled Tareq submarine had its first operational test and submarines of the Tareq class successfully carried out a tactical operation during the Velayat-91 naval exercise, the spokesperson for the war games told reporters on Saturday.

TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has described the relationship between Iran and Turkey as a strategic one, saying that the two neighboring countries enjoy good political relationship.

TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (MNA) – The world’s most powerful weightlifter Behdad Salimi is likely to have surgery on his shoulder, an Iranian sports official says.

In 1986, a gallon of gas was 89 cents. Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in boxing history and the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated after launch.

London, Dec. 30 (ANI): The vast majority of doctors who have been struck off in the past five years in Britain were trained abroad, new figures from the General Medical Council have revealed.

This year has seen social media officially become part of mainstream media, but what challenges will 2013 present?

TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (MNA) – Iran football coach Carlos Queiroz is a candidate to take charge of New York Red Bulls, MLS Soccer reported.

FOR the best part of 25 years, events in the Middle East have been among my main preoccupations as a journalist.

Forecasting the major international stories for the year ahead is a time-honored pastime, but the world has a habit of springing surprises. In late 1988, no one was predicting Tiananmen Square or the fall of the Berlin Wall. On the eve of 2001, the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent invasion...

This third part takes a look back at the tragic shooting during 'The Dark Knight Rises' screening, Taylor Swift 's other big feat, and best of the best TV shows in 2012 among other things.

For the tannenbaum, menorah; to reflect on the year. And, like its predecessors, Two, Oh, One and Two.

A girl is on her way home to Britain after she was abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan, police say.

A senior Iranian customs official says the Islamic Republic conducted $71.2 billion in trade of non-oil goods with other countries during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 20).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says nothing can hinder the Iranian nation's scientific progress.

Digital snapshots produce cute holiday memories for all to share, but now a similar technology may help winemakers produce superb Syrahs or marvelous Merlots.

It was a cruel, cruel year — a year that kept raising our hopes, only to squash them flatter than a dead possum on the interstate.

Frenz International Cup: Malaysia ready to make heads turn

National TV highlights for Monday, December 31.

Dec. 30, 2012, 10 a.m. THE Billy Ray Cyrus hit Achy Breaky Heart tends to polarise people. It is loved or despised and is one of those earworms you can't seem to shake out of your head.

AS Malaysia prepares for a general election, distrust of the political opposition and accusations of foreign interference have been major talking points in the political frequencies emanating from Kuala Lumpur.

Al Jazeera looks back at the biggest news stories of 2012.

Told that I was writing a column looking ahead to 2013, an old friend of mine with long experience in international affairs offered this harsh prediction: It will be another tough year - for all humanity.

For those who say having a timetable on our efforts in Afghanistan is counterproductive, the simple truth is this is our nation’s longest war. We need to put the government and the people of Afghanistan on notice that our present level of involvement will not continue indefinitely. While our withdrawal...

Thailand began their year in January at the King's Cup, taking on Denmark, Norway and South Korea in the four-team tournament.

Thailand will play in three competitions this year with the full national team taking part in the King's Cup and the Asian Cup qualifying round, while the U23 side will try to regain the SEA Games title.

Iranian warships crowded into the critically important Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but naval officials assured the world that there is nothing to fear -- these are maritime exercises, not military maneuvers. Friday marked the beginning of Iran’s six-day Velayat 91 war games. There is nothing particularly novel about these...

Back in 2000, George W. Bush was lambasted for butchering the English language by making up the word "Internets".

Shigeru Tanida, center, supervises karate students in Kuala Lumpur. Tanida, 65, has lived in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur since 2006, drawn by the year-round sunshine and far lower living costs than in Japan.

The Indian fishermen arrested for straying into Iranian territorial waters were released on Friday.According to a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (...

With 2012's clock ticking rapidly toward midnight, it's either time for New Year's predictions or resolutions. I do poorly on both! There's actually a study out - aren't you sick of studies? - that says almost half of us make New Year's resolutions but just 8 percent actually achieve their...

Iran plans to relocate an airport in the southwest of the country after discovering oil deposits under its runway, media reported on Saturday.

Iran on Saturday hanged an Afghan drug trafficker and four Iranians, three of them convicted of rape, local media reported.

“While Shia Iraqis feel a religious kinship with their fellow Iranian Shia, the ethnic divide (the Shia majority in Iraq is Arab while the Iranians are Indo-European, and never left any Arab forget it).” To elaborate, the CIA World Fact Book says that Iraq is Arab 75%-80% and Iran...

For the US, 2012 was dominated politically by November's presidential election and disputes over how to dig the country out of its financial hole. Despite much stagnation, the year brought shifts on foreign policy.

DETROIT (AP) - Tossing and shivering below deck, Hussien Karoub felt ill. In the cold, crowded conditions, sleep came seldom. When it did, it didn't last long: The cries of children and the moans of those even sicker than he was made certain of that.

Moscow, Dec 29 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Iran Saturday rejected Western media reports it was planning to close the Strait of Hormuz during a six-day naval drill that was launched Friday.

AS THE South-East Asian nation of Malaysia prepares for general elections, distrust of the political opposition and accusations of foreign interference have been major talking points in the political frequencies emanating from Kuala Lumpur.

While a vehement letter by a member of Assad's family spreads across the Arabic web, a resolution for the strife in Syria has no end in sight.

>Appointed in 2009, Dastjerdi was the first woman government minister since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. While seen as politically conservative, the gynecologist has advocated a greater role for women in society.Reports have emerged in recent weeks of shortages of some critical medicines for treatment of cancer,...

Ra'd, a surface-to-air missile, can take down medium-range airborne targets.

Whether Afshin Ghotbi will stay on his job or not is not clear after Iran suffered its second defeat in the Doha International Friendship Football Tournament on Wednesday.

After a period of four months, the Asian Champions League returns on Wednesday evening at the quarter-final stage. Eight teams are doing battle all over the giant continent and Goal.com takes a quick look at the hopeful octet.

Iran’s Navy has started the second day of a specialized naval exercise, dubbed Velayat 91 , in a vast area to display the country’s capabilities to defend its maritime borders and maintain durable peace in the region.

My dad was a mailman with a high school education, not a constitutional scholar. And although he was a deeply religious man, led by a Christian faith that informed every facet of his life, he was no theologian.

An Iranian lawmaker has warned against the ramifications of an aggravating human rights crisis in Saudi Arabia amid the growing tide of Islamic Awakening across the Persian Gulf kingdom.

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper star in "Silver Linings Playbook," one of the year's best films. Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock in "Hitchcock." Not good.

An Iranian lawmaker says the world powers have adopted a procrastination policy with regard to Iran’s nuclear energy program until Tehran’s presidential election in June 2013.

TEHRAN, Dec. 29 (MNA) – The Head of Headquarters of ‘Ninth of Dey’ Commemoration has said that 70 think tanks and 2000 western media spread hate and enmity towards Iran. “We live in a world where a nation who stands for its undisputable rights face faces so much hostility,” he...