News Archive - 15 March 2014

>PARIS (Reuters) - France will not "close its eyes" to the Syrian conflict despite other crises taking center stage, French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday, promising to increase efforts to reach a political solution. More than 140,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled abroad as...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The search for Flight 370 turned into a criminal investigation Saturday, after Malaysia declared that the plane had been deliberately diverted and then flown for as long as seven hours toward an unknown point far from its scheduled route of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

‘If and when Al Assad becomes candidate, then it’s very difficult in moving ahead in peace process,’ Ban says

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is to pay an official visit to Turkey in the coming months, says Iran’s foreign minister.

Iranian national wrestling team has thrashed Armenia 8-0 in the Freestyle Wrestling World Cup 2014 in the United States.

Back in September, John Kerry told Washington Democrats that America faced a “Munich moment” in deciding how to respond to Syria’s use of chemical weapons. He called Bashar al-Assad a...

A power struggle between two Palestinian terrorist groups could be fueling the furious wave of rocket attacks on Israel in recent days, as the rival jihadist groups battle each other for money and popular support.

LONDON: Felix Magath was adamant rock bottom Fulham could still escape relegation after the German manager picked up his first victory at the club with a 1-0 triumph over Newcastle United on Saturday.

Documentary film-maker and political activist best known for Blacks Britannica and Occupied Palestine The Oscar-nominated documentary-maker and political activist David Koff, who has died aged 74, was remarkable in that his work made waves on four continents. Best known in Britain for his film Blacks Britannica (1978), which portrayed the...

The missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has been an enigma and grabbed the attention of millions. Now, a former CIA agent gives his thoughts to what might have happened to the plane.

THE most renowned culinary offering named for Ukraine’s fair capital is probably not being consumed extensively in Kiev as Ukraine faces the loss of Crimea and possibly other eastern parts of the country.

I was running home from the newsagents’ two evenings ago when I bumped into my neighbour Ben Okri, the Nigerian writer, whom I’ve known for 25 years. We talked about our travels and I said I’d been in Lahore last week.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On the eve of the vote in Crimea over whether to break away from the Ukraine and join Russia, the two countries engaged in hand-to-hand fighting in the Freestyle Wrestling World Cup in California. Ukrainian heavyweight Alen Zasieiev beat Arslanbek Aliev in a hard-fought match, the only...

A WEEK and a half ago, I went looking for the pink women’s buses said to be found at the bus terminal near the Islamabad Secretariat, finally spotting one lone minibus — looking like a pink blob in the distance — parked in a rather deserted terminal space.

Exclusive: Sen. John McCain is baiting President Obama for making America “look weak” and is demanding more aggressive responses toward Syria, Iran and Russia. Thus, Obama faces a turning-point moment when he must confront neocon warmongering or surrender to it, reports Robert Parry.

Washington accuses China of launching cyber attacks against the US, but it deployed the Stuxnet computer virus against Iran's peaceful nuclear program that was the biggest act of cyber warfare, a political commentator says.

On Thursday, Barack Obama was talking tough about Russia. His secretary of state, John Kerry, issued an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin. If Putin did not stop his troops massing on the Ukrainian border, “there will be a very serious series of steps on Monday.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran has sent aid to refugees escaping the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR), which is forcing many of the country’s Muslims into neighboring states.

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian authorities have prevented attempted sabotage at the country's heavy water nuclear reactor, a senior official said Saturday without giving specifics as to the nature of the attempted disruption or its suspected initiator.

The Malaysian Insider March 16, 2014 Indian military authorities have dismissed the possibility that the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared eight days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, could have flown over India on its way to Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan in Central Asia, the Times of India...

Dream magazine shot Steph Jeavons on Porthmadog beach in North Wales, as part of its March launch issue. Film by Neil Carey. Read more at dreammagazine.co.uk

The situation around the "South Stream" is getting increasingly tenser. While the EU is looking for leverage over Moscow in light of the developments in Ukraine and Crimea, Gazprom is confidently implementing its "South Stream" project, including land areas of individual EU countries.

The Clinton administration documents show the president’s aides grappling with terrorism as a rising phenomenon, particularly after the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. That attack killed 19 U.S. servicemen and left hundreds injured. A federal judge later ruled that Hezbollah carried out the bombing under...

Nazanin Boniadi is getting deeper into the espionage and intrigue of "Homeland." Boniadi, who guest-starred on the Showtime drama's third season, will be a series regular when "Homeland" returns for its fourth season.

New Delhi, March 15: Malaysia today asked India and eight other countries for sensitive radar data, armed with the strongest evidence yet that the missing Flight 370 was deliberately commandeered into either of two air corridors stretching up to central Asia or the southern Indian Ocean.

Fulham manager Felix Magath believes the 1-0 win over Newcastle will give the Cottagers the confidence to climb out of their predicament at the bottom of the Premier League.

On 6 February 2014, five Iranian border guards were kidnapped by a Pakistan based terrorist group called " Jeishol-adl (The Army of Justice)". The following petition has been issued in support of the abducted soldiers and signed by large number of artists, scholars, athletes, journalist and activists.

The search for the missing MH370 flight has been expanded to two areas, five days after the jet disappeared.

Militants in the Gaza Strip have fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel, causing chaos.

A judge has handed down a three year sentence for a former refugee who smuggled his family into Australia.

Iran has denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing in the face of new allegations.

Malaysian authorities are feeling the heat over their handling of the search for the missing aircraft.

Following the release Friday of his report to the Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, U.N. Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed urged Tehran to engage with U.N. mandates - firstly by permitting him to enter the country. "Nobody has been able to go to Iran as a...

>* Iran wants economic sanctions lifted* Banks wary of falling foul of U.S. regulations* Iran keen to speed up humanitarian trade planBy Jonathan Saul and Parisa HafeziLONDON/ANKARA, March 13 (Reuters) - Despite a diplomatic thaw, Western banks are steering clear of attempts by Iran to get them involved in...

"It is like a terrifying nightmare that just keeps going on and on." The words of a doctor from rural Damascus. The Syrian conflict which has its…        

The Israeli PM is determined to contain Iran's nuclear program and 'protect the state of Israel.'

Iran's foreign minister has rejected allegation that Tehran tried to ship missiles to the Gaza Strip.

The White House was warned of imminent action by Russia and was not caught off-guard by the Ukraine crisis.

Iran says nuclear talks with world powers have been useful, but more discussions are needed.

Iran Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has called for international support in the fight against drug trafficking.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops advanced in a major rebel-held town near the Lebanese border amid heavy bombardment from warplanes, artillery and tanks as the country's bloody conflict marked its third anniversary Saturday, state media and activists said.

ISLAMABAD: Researchers in Industrial University of Behbehan, Iran has produced the gel of hemp pulp nanofiber used in kraft paper production.

A former asylum seeker who came to Australia by boat 12 years ago has been sentenced to three years and six months jail for helping others make the same journey, with a judge finding he was partly motivated by financial gain.        

By Charles Krauthammer WASHINGTON -- The president of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council challenges critics of President Obama's Ukraine policy by saying "What are you going to do, send the 101st Airborne into Crimea?

It's hard to see crippling sanctions at a modern shopping mall in north Tehran the shops are stocked, the cafes are full. The latest western electronics even iPhones and iPads, are available for those who can afford it. But talk to middle class Iranians and you hear dire stories. The...

Mark Isaacs was only 24, with no social work training, when the Salvation Army offered him an overseas welfare job in late September, 2012.

Step-by-step guide to update international variant of Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300) to I9300XXUGNB6 Android 4.3 stock firmware

A senior Obama administration official said Friday that U.S. frictions with Russia over Ukraine have not interfered with discussions concerning pending Iran nuclear negotiations, and expressed hope that the deepening conflict “will not put these negotiations at risk.”

TEHRAN, March 15(Bernama) -- The United Nations (UN) special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will travel to Tehran on Sunday to hold meetings with Iranian officials on the Syrian crisis.

ISLAMABAD, March 15 (Bernama) -- Pakistan has said that it was considering some proposals to implement the Iran gas pipeline, Iran's IRNA news agency reported.

TEHRAN, March 15 (Bernama) -- The Iranian, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers agreed on a three-year cooperation programme in different areas, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference in the Turkish city of Van on Friday.

Have you given any thought to your freedom to read lately? In many countries around the world, books are challenged or banned from schools and libraries on a regular basis. In so many places, certain books are not available simply because someone thought people shouldn’t be allowed to read them.

The Syrian crisis can be resolved only through negotiations that include all groups in Syrian society.

In this March 12, 2014 photo, Italian Luigi Maraldi whose stolen passport was used by a passenger boarding a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, shows his passport as he speaks to a reporter at Phuket police station in Phuket province, southern Thailand.

Iran, Russia and China are in touch to reach common ground in the lead-up to a new round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the P5+1 group, a top Iranian negotiator says.

Our withdrawals from Iraq, and now imminently from Afghanistan, are not the reason that we find ourselves dealing with governments in both these countries that are not doing as we think they should.