News Archive - 18 August 2014

>* Brent could test $100, but should meet strong support* Coming up: U.S. API oil inventory data at 2030 GMTBy Jacob Gronholt-PedersenSINGAPORE, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Brent crude edged up towards $102 a barrel on Tuesday, but stayed near a 14-month low reached in the previous session on weak...

>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Standard Chartered Plc is close to a deal to pay between $200 million and $300 million to resolve allegations by New York’s banking regulator that it failed to review high-risk transactions, two years after agreeing to reform its practices, a person familiar with the matter said...

>VIENNA (Reuters) - The United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Monday Iran had begun implementing transparency measures ahead of an Aug 25 deadline, as part of a long-running investigation into suspected atomic bomb research by Tehran. Yukiya Amano, speaking at Vienna airport after talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in...

>LONDON (Reuters) - Following four decades of war, sanctions, nationalization and unrest, oil and gas producers are gradually adjusting to rely less on the Middle East. The countries around the Persian Gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula still contain the greatest concentration of giant and super-giant fields anywhere in the...

Iran has called on the international community, particularly humanitarian organizations, to put pressure on Israel to totally remove the blockade on the war-stricken Gaza Strip.

>By Karen FreifeldAug 18 (Reuters) - PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $25 million and its regulatory advisory unit will be suspended from certain consulting work for New York-regulated banks for two years after being accused of improperly altering a report to regulators on sanctions compliance at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ...

Telegraph View: It is hard to understand why MPs are not clamouring for a recall to discuss Iraq

Last month Christians United for Israel ( CUFI ) – the largest pro-Israel organization in America with nearly 1.8 million members (and 1.2 million Facebook followers – 15 times as many as AIPAC) – held its ninth annual Washington Summit , with 4,800 delegates from all 50 states.

 Iran's judiciary said on Monday that Yeganeh Salehi, a foreign correspondent for The National, is being held for "security issues". The statement from judiciary spokesperson Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi is the first indication of why Ms Salehi was arrested in Tehran on June 22 along with her husband Jason Rezaian,...

 A high-octane battle is on the cards when former AFC Champions League winners, the UAE's Al Ain, and Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia lock horns in the quarter-final first leg of the ACL at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday. Al Ain, who won the inaugural tournament in 2003,...

"The time will come when those countries will repent the approval of resolutions they gave in keeping with the U.S. anti-DPRK moves". The U.S. has imprudently imposed sanctions on many countries in the world.

RBA board member John Edwards says Vladimir Putin shouldn't be held responsible for rebel Russian separatists shooting down the MH17 over the Ukraine.

>INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares, dollar rise on hopes of Ukraine progress* Brent crude hits new 14-month low as supply risks ease* Gold stuck below $1,300 on stronger equities, dollar* MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt in largest drop in 8 weeks; MSCI boosts Qatar* U.S. bars all American airlines from flying over Syria*...

U.S. crude oil futures rose to recoup some losses when prices dropped as investor concerns over conflict in Iraq and Ukraine eased.

Chinese military will take steps to minimize delays to civilian flights as drones and fighter bombers join in an anti-terror drill, a spokesman for the China Air Force said Monday.

They traveled by trains, planes, and the UVa express. The newest international students were officially welcomed to their new home on the grounds.

The Atlantic interview isn?t all that it says it is when it comes to Obama

Washington and Tehran share the goal of stopping Syrian-based militants in Iraq. But experts say it's Iran, not the United States, that will most influence how the new government in Baghdad approaches internal reforms and the war in Syria. U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State militants have helped Iraqi troops...

THE notorious ­Calais migrant camp is to be bulldozed at last.

Californians should pass Proposition 34 in November, ending the death penalty in favor of life without the possibility of parole.

>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Asthma sufferers who received vitamin D supplements for six months, in addition to their regular inhalers, could breathe a little easier than those who relied only on the inhalers, in a recent study in Iran. The researchers say the results - if confirmed by larger...

TEHRAN, Iran – Phase 16 of the South Pars gas field development is undergoing a start-up safety review, according to Iranian news service Shana.

ALBANY, N.Y. - PriceWaterhouseCoopers will pay $25 million and face a two-year suspension from consulting for new bank clients in an agreement with New York regulators.

History is filled with several defining civil disobedience movements, most prominently in Egypt, India, America, Czechoslovakia and South Africa. It would however be safe to say that the PTI's is not going to be added to the list.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A Washington Post reporter and two other journalists detained last month are being held over "security issues," Iran's judiciary spokesman said Monday, offering the first official indication on why they are being held.

Aug. 13--Iran needs to import 50 airplanes annually at a cost of $2.5 million each.

>JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Even before starting work as chairman of a U.N. human rights commission investigating the Gaza war, Canadian law professor William Schabas has been vilified as an apologist for Iran incapable of setting aside his perceived anti-Israel bias. Full page adverts have been taken out against him...

>Yildiz said crude flow on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been halted as of Monday due to maintenance work. Flows through the 120,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline began at the end of 2013 but the first cargo was not loaded until May.The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, whose peshmerga...

It appears Turkmenistan is about to lose its second-best customer for natural gas, Iran. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on August 11 that his country no longer needed gas from Turkmenistan.

A major earthquake struck the western Iranian city of Abdanan on Monday, leaving 60 people injured, state news agency IRNA said. IRNA said the quake was magnitude 6.1 while the US Geological Survey (USGS) put it at 6.3.

A powerful earthquake struck early Monday in western Iran, rattling the region near the border with Iraq, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The 6.2-magnitude quake hit at a depth of around 10 kilometers (6 miles), in an area 36 kilometers southeast of the Iranian city of Abdanan, the...

Cars and trucks are selling at a brisk pace in the United States at a pace not seen since before the recession. But political turmoil and economic uncertainty in South America, Russia, Thailand and the Middle East have automakers worried about selling cars, losing money, protecting workers and recruiting new...

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal has voiced his country’s readiness to improve and expand bilateral relations with Iran.

At least 60 people injured and power cut after major earthquake struck Iran's Ilam province, according to state media.

Tehran, Aug 18 (IANS): A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck the western Iranian city of Abdanan in Ilam province Monday.