News Archive - 15 February 2013

1st Half – Highlights 2nd Half – Highlights

>SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Kim Kwang-jin says that when he worked for North Korea's state insurance company in Singapore in 2003, he stuffed $20 million into two suitcases one day and sent it to Pyongyang as a special gift for then leader Kim Jong-il. He received a medal for that,...

>* U.N. says ready to consider sanctions on Yemen spoilers* Iran denies any connection to the weapons (Adds British U.N. envoy comment)By Michelle NicholsUNITED NATIONS, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council warned on Friday against attempts to destabilize Yemen with weapons shipments as the country...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Major powers plan to offer to ease sanctions barring trade in gold and other precious metals with Iran in return for Iranian steps to shut down the nation's newly expanded Fordow uranium enrichment plant, Western officials said on Friday. The officials said the offer is to be...

>* Iran-UN failed talks revive supply concerns* Coming up: US Industrial output at 1415 GMT (Updates prices)By Ramya VenugopalSINGAPORE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Brent crude eased below $118 per barrel on Friday and was heading for its first weekly loss in five after disappointing euro zone data revived concerns about...

New Delhi, Feb. 16 (ANI): Close on the heels of the Aero-India show organized by the country's defence establishment in Bengaluru, where over 70 countries participated and displayed their products, the Government of India had to face another controversy following the report in Italy that the Rs.3546 crore AgustaWestland...

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on the European Union to devote “critical effort” to avoid confrontation over Iran’s nuclear energy program.

Welcome to It's Debatable, which we hope to develop into a weekly feature on the Saturday Commentary pages. We say "we hope" because that depends on some of you (see box at right.

CARACAS (AFP) - Supporters of President Hugo Chavez displayed new confidence on Saturday after the government released the first post-surgical photos of the ailing Venezuelan leader, in which he appears bed-ridden but smiling in the company of his daughters.

"The next proposal is remarkably close to the old one," said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Editor: Ron Popeski + 65 6870 3958 Picture Desk: Singapore + 65 6870 3775 Graphics queries: + 65 6870 3595 (All times GMT) TOP STORIES North Korea uses cash couriers, false names to outwitsanctions SEOUL/UNITED NATIONS - North Korea, sanctioned by the UnitedStates since the 1950s and later by the...

The following is President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address as prepared for delivery and released by the White House.

Gold prices finished nearly 1.8 per cent lower on Friday, extending a week-long trend when several bearish factors, including a rising dollar ahead of the G20 meeting, conspired to push prices below key chart support levels to lows last seen in August.

Senate Republicans presumably hope that the 10-day delay they have forced on a vote to confirm their former colleague, Chuck Hagel, as secretary of defense may serve to ratchet up pressure on him regarding a cause dear to many in their party caucus: nuclear weapons. Much has been made...

TEL AVIV -- Even as Israel faces a number of growing threats in the Middle East, it has actually become safer. That’s according to Israel’s own Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, which concluded in a report that the country became more secure in 2012, dire forecasts...

A perfect storm slammed gold and silver prices Friday. Selling from celebrity hedge fund managers, tighter U.S. sanctions in Turkey's gold-for-gas trade with Iran, liquidations ahead of the

Running ahead in most polls, President Rafael Correa is expected to win this Sunday’s presidential race and may even avoid a runoff

Imaginative literature has contributed to the progress of civilization and to the dynamism of society. Fiction empowers individuals’ imaginations to transcend the empirical constraints that circumscribe them.

WASHINGTON - The United States Friday called on North Korea not to take any further provocative steps, as a US think tank said Pyongyang was preparing a launchpad that could pave the way to firing a long-range missile.

'THE ART OF CLEAN UP' HITS SHELVES TUESDAY

So what does all this latest angry maneuvering around former Senator Chuck Hagel's confirmation as secretary of defense amount to? Not that much, actually. Hagel's die-hard neoconservative opponents, permanently angered by his opposition to an Iraq War which they can't admit was a debacle, keep trying to move the...

Preventing armed conflict, keeping peace, and rebuilding war-torn states remain among the most intractable challenges facing the international community.

San Jose Olympian Eric Guerrero says IOC decision to exclude wrestling is unjustified

Would Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel help set the stage for a war with Iran? Or would the Republican former senator, who seems on track to be confirmed late this month, put the brakes on a possible military confrontation with Tehran over its nuclear program? The answer is yes, some veteran...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have found a boatload of reasons to try to sink Chuck Hagel's hopes of becoming the next defense secretary.

Syrian rebels captured a military airbase in the north on Friday and geared up for a major battle against loyalists as the opposition said it refuses to accept President Bashar al-Assad in talks on the 23-month conflict.

BEIRUT—Intense clashes between the Syrian army and rebel fighters near the country's second-largest airport killed around 150 people in recent days, anti-regime activists said Friday, pointing to the significance both sides in the country's civil war place on controlling key infrastructure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The weeklong Senate recess gives more time for opponents of Chuck Hagel to sharpen attacks against the defense secretary nominee.

>AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's opposition coalition is ready to negotiate President Bashar al-Assad's exit with any member of his government who has not participated in his military crackdown on the uprising, coalition members said on Friday. Syrian authorities have given no formal response to several offers of talks in recent...

TEHRAN , Iran (AP) — Iran has ordered a six-month ban on pistachio exports to try to control the price of the nut, which doubled in the past month.

Leading negotiators for the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency left Tehran this morning after another round of talks with Iranian nuclear inspections accomplished absolutely nothing. Herman Nackaerts of the International atomic Energy Agency arrived Vienna this morning to report that no progress had been made on an agreement to inspect Iran 's...

The United States and Russia have grappled over Iran’s nuclear ambitions in recent years, but the three nations are now joining forces for the right to keep on grappling in the Olympics after International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials recommended scrapping the ancient sport of wrestling this week.

With world powers set to resume what have been off-and-on talks with Iran on its nuclear program, Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton underscored their preference for a diplomatic solution when they met in Washington Thursday.

France, a key player in the P5+1 talks with Iran on its contentious nuclear programme, on Friday asked India to 'convince' its 'close friend' Tehran to enter into serious negotiations and respect international obligations with regard to nuclear non-proliferation.