News Archive - 1 March 2014

A senior Iranian lawmaker says Tehran will seriously deal with the Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group should they commit any brutal act against kidnapped Iranian border guards.

Indian media highlights gas link with Oman, Iran

The Turkish PM has condemned leaked recordings of him and his son allegedly discussing hiding money as fake.

I notice that recently your newspaper appears to be obsessed with the Gov. Chris Christie story and is extremely lacking in coverage of far more important and significant world events.

Indonesian officials have been told that an intercepted fishing boat that held asylum seekers was blown up.

TEHRAN — Only a handful of countries rival Iran for having the slowest Internet speeds in the world. Simple online tasks can take hours, infuriating some who see the sluggishness as emblematic of a broader paralysis.        

Over 80 people have been executed in Iran so far this year, marking a rise in its use of capital punishment.

The Obama administration has several diplomatic and economic options for checking Russia's military incursion in Ukraine. But it is doubtful any would be very effective, experts say. WASHINGTON — President Obama has a variety of ways he can make good on his threat to make Russia pay "costs" for its...

Syria says it is ready to co-operate with a rare UN Security Council resolution for humanitarian access.

Lisa Wilson-Foley, July 31, 2012. Photo: Jason Rearick | Buy this photo Lisa Wilson-Foley, July 31, 2012. Photo: Jason Rearick | Buy this photo The closest thing to a ballot box in John G. Rowland's world is a switchboard -- and it is still lighting up.

Prosecutors have accused deposed Mohamed Morsi of leaking state secrets to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday that Russia's dispatch of troops to Ukraine flouted international law and warned he was courting political isolation if the incursion continues.

Henry Kissinger once pointed out that since Peter the Great, Russia had been expanding at the rate of one Belgium per year. All undone, of course, by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the (20th) century.”

The watchdog tasked with destroying Syria's chemical weapons has failed to agree on what to do about delays.

Russia approved the use of military force in Ukraine on Saturday, despite warnings of consequences from the West, and Ukraine responded by saying any invasion into its territory would be illegitimate.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY : The struggle comes when we sense a gap between the clock and the compass - when what we do doesn't contribute to what is most important in our lives.

Russia approved the use of military force in Ukraine on Saturday, despite warnings of consequences from the West, and Ukraine responded by saying any invasion into its territory would be illegitimate.

PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday claimed he would end electricity loadshedding within three years. It is an unbelievable promise, but one that Pakistan needs most urgently.

NEW YORK: A son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and former Al-Qaeda spokesman goes on trial in New York Monday, accused of conspiracy to kill Americans and supporting terrorists.

Russia approved the use of military force in Ukraine on Saturday, despite warnings of consequences from the West, and Ukraine responded by saying any invasion into its territory would be illegitimate.

Reach tens of thousands of people instantly by advertising with Ekklesia. Find out more A team of workers from Christian Aid will today head for Basra to give out water and essential medical supplies, the charity announced.

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- The Hamas regime was said to have lost the financial support of its major Middle East backers. Military sources said Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip no longer benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars from such allies as Iran and Qatar.

Tehran, March 2 (IANS) Iran and Poland are determined to boost their cooperation in diverse areas, their foreign ministers said Saturday. Referring to the historic relations between the two countries, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif called for enhancement of political, cultural and economic relations, Xinhua reported. There are many untapped...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Al Qaida was believed to have maintained a core leadership in Egypt. A leading counter-insurgency specialist told Congress that Egypt has become a haven for top operatives of Al Qaida.

MANILA (The PCIJ Blog/Pacific Media Watch): Media organisations and netizens in the Philippines marked the 28th anniversary of the EDSA "People Power" Revolt this week with a Black Tuesday campaign to protest the Cyber Libel provision ...

Russia's upper house of parliament has approved President Putin's request for Russian forces to be used in Ukraine. Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in the Ukrainian region of Crimea, where many ethnic Russians live.

Exclusive: Russia’s parliament has approved President Putin’s request for the use of force inside neighboring Ukraine, as the latest neocon-approved “regime change” spins out of control and threatens to inflict grave damage on international relations, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains.

WASHINGTON — Here’s how Washington state’s members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending Feb. 28. By a vote of 232 for and 182 against, the House on Feb. 27 passed a Republican bill (HR 3193) to reduce the authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Why did Russian President Vladimir Putin risk political isolation, sanctions and other U.S.-led retaliatory measures with a surprise incursion into neighboring Ukraine? Click to Continue »

Borussia Dortmund built on their midweek Champions League victory over Zenit St Petersburg by going second in the Bundesliga with a 3-0 win over Nuremberg.

March 2, 2014, 3:04 a.m. The bulbous orange lifeboat wallowing in the shallows off the coast of Central Java is an unlikely looking weapon - but it's proving highly effective in Australia's military campaign against asylum seekers.

US President Barack Obama's national security team met to weigh policy options after Russia's parliament endorsed military action in Ukraine.

Five Iranian soldiers who were abducted in early February by extremists and taken across the border into Pakistan have been released, the army's deputy chief of staff said.

President Barack Obama arrives to speak about Ukraine in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2014. Obama's statement comes as his administration is expressing growing concern over Russian intentions in Ukraine.

In the wake of recent visit of Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Pakistan's policy position on Syria keeps coming up for public debate, as much for the initial obfuscation on the part of government on the outcome of visit as for the spanner thrown in the works by a...

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to invade Ukraine poses one of the biggest dangers to regional security since the Berlin Wall fell. Analysts say there may not be much the West can do.

TORONTO, Canada: Tired of being on the receiving end of human rights concerns by Washington, Iran has responded with its own scathing report on rights violations by the United States.

The moral issue, which encompasses the driving force behind punishment, is based on the concept of revenge. Human development and progress has not impeded the base and animalistic feeling of revenge.

Senior Minister for Human Resources D.E.W. Gunasekara said we have to identify the three elements in the whole Geneva scenario such as US and Western global strategy and geopolitics, the genuine human rights and reconciliation process and the propaganda drive carried out by the Western funded NGOs under...

Berlin (AFP) - An Arjen Robben hat-trick helped Bayern Munich open up a 20-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 5-1 win over ten-man Schalke 04, who suffered a second drubbing in four days.

Eintracht Braunschweig and Borussia Moenchengladbach drew 1-1 in the Bundesliga on Saturday thanks to both goalkeepers scoring own-goals. First, Braunschweig gifted Gladbach a first-half lead when Iran goalkeeper Daniel Davari turned the ball into his own net before Marc-Andre Ter Stegen committed a similar blunder at the other end. The...

WASHINGTON — Despite blunt warnings about costs and consequences, President Barack Obama and European leaders have limited options for retaliating against Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, the former Soviet republic now at the center of an emerging conflict between East and West. Pro-Russian supporters rally outside the Consulate General of...

The astronaut suits are falling apart. Those somewhat beautiful space suits that several generations recognize as the gear worn by the courageous space pilots who walked in space and even walked on the moon are being preserved by the Smithsonian. They are history, they are cool… but they were never...

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes has added Petron Blaze swingman Marcio Lassiter and Rain Or Shine backcourt star Paul Lee to the national pool ...

They hope the pro-Israel group can turn the tide in their quest for a vote on new Iran sanctions.

KUCHING: It has been a very busy and taxing two weeks for the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) as it hosted four team competitions back-to back at its tennis centre at Jalan Crookshank.

In a move European leaders characterized as “unthinkable in the 21st century in Europe,” the Russian Parliament on Saturday approved military action in Ukraine.

The Russian parliament has approved Vladimir Putin’s request to use military force in Ukraine (ominously, not just Crimea which Russian forces already control). Ukraine’s weak interim government has ordered mobilization. European heads of state have scheduled meetings for Monday (I guess they don’t want to spoil their weekends), and President...

When writer Moniro Ravanipour stepped onto the plane in Iran bound for the United States, she was uneasy about leaving her home country behind. “Transforming Artists,” a University Forum lecture on Monday, was comprised of a sampling of the former Black Mountain Institute writer’s memoir.

Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah holds talks with Iranian official Alaeddine Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy.

Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - Pakistani officials on Saturday said they had rescued 11 kidnapped foreigners - eight Iranians, two Tunisians and one Yemeni national - in the southwest town of Turbat near the Iranian border. The security officials told AFP that those freed did not include a group of Iranian...

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Ukrainian people must be allowed to determine the fate of their own country, rejecting any foreign meddling in the internal affairs of Ukraine.

Turkey's parliament has passed a bill to close down thousands of private schools, many of which are run by an influential Muslim cleric embroiled in a bitter feud with the government.

Although Edmond Memorial High School is the third district school to kick off its community service project, they were the first Edmond school to become involved in their community with a fundraiser.

DUBAI (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani urged Iran's military leaders on Saturday to let diplomacy prevail in dealing with potential foreign threats, in a clear reference to efforts to end the nuclear dispute and decades of hostile relations with the West.        

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's president says the Islamic Republic rejects the manufacture of nuclear weapons out of principle, not because it is prevented so by treaties.        

In a letter to US Congress, 40 American non-governmental organizations have called for supporting negotiations with Iran “towards a comprehensive nuclear agreement.”

TEHRAN, March 1 (Bernama) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for expansion of relations with Iran in all spheres during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New Delhi on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is warning Russia "there will be costs" for any military maneuvers it launches in Ukraine, a move U.S. and Ukrainian officials say they believe to be already underway.

Saudi Arabia has hit back at Russian criticism of its reported plans to supply shoulder-launched missiles to Syrian rebels, saying it was Moscow's support for Damascus that was prolonging the conflict. A spokesman told the official SPA news agency late Friday that the foreign ministry had been "astonished by Russian...

In a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New Delh i on Friday, Khurshid praised the implementation of the nuclear deal clinched between Iran and the P5+1 in Geneva last November.

The aim is reportedly to secure an agreement before the end of March, expert says