News Archive - 6 February 2014

>* Refinery maintenance season to limit crude demand* Tighter North Sea supplies support Brent* WTI-Brent spread widens* Coming up: U.S. non farm payrolls data due 1330 GMTBy Jacob Gronholt-PedersenSINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Brent crude edged higher toward $108 a barrel on Friday, on track for its second weekly...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is temporarily waiving sanctions on Iran's state broadcaster, a senior Obama administration official said late Thursday. The move could be seen as a confidence-building measure as the U.S., Iran and five other world powers prepare to open talks this month on a final...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department plans to ask Congress for $4.5 billion in extra missile defense funding over the next five years as part of the fiscal 2015 budget request, say congressional sources and an expert. Nearly $1 billion of that sum will pay for a...

>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration targeted a host of businesses across Europe and the Middle East on Thursday for evading sanctions against Iran, a signal that Washington aims to keep pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. The announcement marks the second time the United States has designated sanctions...

>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who went under the knife for nose jobs sounded a bit more nasal five months after the surgery, according to a new study from Iran. The results from 27 surgeries showed that "the voices changed in statistically significant ways, but the changes were subtle,"...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog hopes to persuade Iran in talks on Saturday to finally start addressing long-held suspicions it has worked on designing an atomic bomb, a test of whether ties really are thawing under the Islamic state's new president. The International Atomic Energy Agency has...

>Western powers, preparing for negotiations with Iran on a long-term deal defining the scope of its disputed nuclear programme, fear Arak could provide a supply of plutonium - one of two materials, along with highly enriched uranium, that can be used for the core of a nuclear weapon - once...

Australian lawyers say asylum seekers on Nauru are being held in breach of that country's constitution and want a court to rule on it.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday that no asylum seeker had reached Australia by boat in 50 days, the longest period since 2008, describing the measures to turn them back as tough but effective.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The main pro-Israel U.S. lobby came out against an immediate vote on imposing sanctions on Iran, hours after 42 Republican senators demanded a vote within days.

1330 GMT (Recasts, adds analyst quotes, updates prices) By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Brent crude steadied above $107 a barrel on Friday, heading for a second weekly gain in three on optimism U.S. jobs data due later in the day will add to recent signs of...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — He has been called a mentor to accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the man who welcomed Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan in the 1990s. He was accused of war crimes and atrocities, and even has a terror group named after him in the Philippines.

North Korea is one of the world’s riskiest countries, according to London-based risk management consulting firm, Aon Plc        

World Cup officials are pushing to get more worker to finish construction Curitiba stadium, which hosts the Australia-Spain match on June 23.

Astana, Feb 6 : Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare won the decisive doubles to give India a 2-1 win over New Zealand in the Asia/Oceania Group D here Thursday.

KARACHI: The change in India-Pakistan relations is based on three important factors, travel, trade and technology, as with the diaspora from the two countries to a third country and interacting with each other there has added a new dimension to the relationship.

Ottawa’s proposed citizenship reform will punish good immigrants by putting more hurdles for them to become full-fledged members of society, many newcomers say. They say restricting citizenship won’t strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship — an argument Immigration Minister Chris Alexander made Thursday — but discourage newcomers from full civic...

New York, Feb 6 2014 - United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and former South African President Thabo Mbeki today stressed the need for global efforts to address the problem of illicit financial flows from Africa, which have crippled the continent’s development over the last few decades.

New York, Feb 6 2014 - The United Nations today welcomed a long-sought accord to let in convoys with life-saving supplies for 500 Syrian families trapped by war in the Old City of Homs without any aid for two years, but voiced growing concern at the slow pace in ridding...

Breaking: Congress Introduces Unconstitutional Bill Against BDS. Passage Will Stifle Academic Freedom.

Three former U.S. ambassadors offered their opinions and insights on a wide range of topics, from the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran to what it takes to become a career diplomat, before more than 150 people in the second of three “conversations” sponsored by the Princeton Adult School Sunday...

The Iranian national handball team has secured third rank in the 16th Asian Senior Men's Handball Championship held in the Bahraini capital Manama.

U.S. crude oil futures traded near $98 a barrel on Friday, gleaning support from a continuing cold spell that has spurred fuel demand, as investors braced for a critical jobs report to gauge the health of the economy. * Brent crude settled up 94 cents at $107.19.

As Mideast peace negotiations near a crucial juncture, Israel's right wing is accusing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of undermining and failing to understand Israel's interests. JERUSALEM — Emerging from a black limousine, the tall man in the bushy gray wig lectures a small crowd of Israelis on...

World Cup organizers want to increase the number of workers at the delayed stadium in Curitiba that is at risk of being dropped. A FIFA consultant and a technical team from the local World Cup organizing committee made the assessment after a visit to Arena da Baixada on Thursday, an...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Federal officials said Thursday they have taken action against a collection of companies and people who allegedly supported Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Joel Kinnaman stars in Columbia Pictures' "RoboCop." Columbia Pictures Industries Director Jose Padilha on the set of Columbia Pictures' "Robocop," starring Joel Kinnaman.

U.S. Targets Companies Linked to Iran

The number of people displaced by the civil war inside Syria is expected to nearly double from some 3.5 million today to 6.5 million by the end of the year, a senior United Nations official said today.

Feb. 7, 2014, 7:58 a.m. Australia's most respected human rights lawyers have launched a constitutional challenge in Nauru to have 10 detained asylum seekers released from its detention centre, claiming it is unlawful, inhumane and degrading.

Anyone seeking an object lesson on the difficulty of restoring trust need look no further than today’s Washington. On Thursday, for example, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said the GOP majority was unlikely to pass an immigration bill because of “widespread doubt” that the Obama administration could be trusted to...

Global food prices declined for the first time in three months as lower prices for cereals, sugars, oils and meat outstripped gains in dairy values, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today.

The Iranian president said he plans to enact a national health care program by 2018 during his televised speech Wednesday, although he did not make the connection to the President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees said today it has begun a large-scale polio vaccination campaign targeting thousands of children in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus.

Germany's main carrier Lufthansa is weighing up the potential of further sanctions relief against Iran with a view to resuming work in Iran, a senior Lufthansa official says.

President Barack Obama said religious freedom is under threat, and highlighted the plight of two American Christians held in North Korea and Iran.

Although violence continues across Syria and the first round of the peace talks in Geneva yielded no progress, Syria expert Mona Yacoubian says that diplomacy is complex and negotiations will be "a months-long process."

Speaking at the annual National Prayer Breakfast this morning, President Obama vowed to promote religious freedom around the world, arguing that “freedom of religion matters to our national security.” “Around the world freedom of religion is under threat,” he told the non-denominational gathering of political...        

Turkey's parliament has approved internet controls enabling web pages to be blocked within hours in what the opposition decried as part of a government bid to stifle a corruption scandal with methods more suited to "times of coups". Social media and video sharing sites have been awash with alleged recordings...

Lower crushing on poor arrivals dragged exports

>By Behiye TanerISTANBUL Feb 6 (Reuters) - A sharp fall in the Turkish lira and rising world gold prices curbed Turkey's demand for gold in January, slashing monthly bullion imports by more than 80 percent, data from the Istanbul Gold Exchange showed on Thursday.Turkey imported only 6 tonnes of...

>"Nobody from Airbus Group participated in the trip," Rainer Ohler, head of communications for the Airbus parent group, said.A source close to the delegation had said the company had been represented in the team assembled by the main French employers' association MEDEF, comprising more than 100 executives from France's...

>DUBAI Feb 6 (Reuters) - Iran's parliament has approved politically sensitive plans to slash subsidies on fuel and food, but delayed implementation for several months while authorities try to soften the blow to consumers by handing out food packages. A clause in the budget bill for next fiscal year, which...

ALOR GAJAH, 6 Feb (Bernama) -- Migran yang gagal memasuki Australia selepas kawalan ketat pihak berkuasa negara itu kini menjadikan Malaysia destinasi pilihan mereka untuk menjalani kehidupan.

Asylum seekers discovered last night on the Indonesian coast say they were nearly ready to disembark at Christmas Island when the Australian Navy sent them back.

Vienna, Feb 6 (IANS/WAM) The basket of 12 crude oils of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stood at $102.63 a barrel Wednesday, compared to $102.55 Tuesday, according to the OPEC Secretariat.

Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the unfinished Arak nuclear reactor could be modified to produce less plutonium in a bid to reassure the West, local media reported Thursday.

Concerns about Iran have prompted Gulf states to raise their spending

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says he regrets any troubles with the distribution of a food ration to the poor, following reports that three people have died waiting for the goods in subzero weather.