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US Take China ‘at Word’ on North Korea Sanctions
Saturday April 21, 2012
WASHINGTON - The United States said it believed China's assurances that it is abiding by sanctions on North Korea after charges that Beijing supplied technology for a missile launcher. IHS Jane's Defense Weekly said that UN officials are investigating allegations that China violated sanctions imposed by the Security Council after North Korea unveiled the 16-wheel launcher ...
Iran Urges Bahrain to End ‘Suppression’
Saturday April 21, 2012
Iran urged Bahrain on Friday to "end suppression and pay attention to its people's demands," ahead of the controversial Grand Prix race there, the official IRNA news agency reported. Clashes between security forces and protesters left several people wounded across Bahrain's Shiite villages ahead of the Formula 1 race, and authorities beefed up security ...
North Korea Vows Retaliation over Rocket
Thursday April 19, 2012
PYONGYANG - North Korea has warned of retaliation after the US scrapped food aid over its rocket launch, raising fears of a new nuclear test, as China reportedly suspended a refugee deal with its wayward ally. In a defiant statement late Tuesday, the nuclear-armed North said it was no longer bound by a bilateral agreement to halt testing ...
Israel Never Ruled Out Attacking Iran: Barak
April 18, 2012
ERUSALEM — Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday his country has never promised the United States it would hold off from attacking Iran while nuclear talks were taking place.The comments, in which Barak said that a diplomatic push to reach a compromise with Iran ...
Syria Must Allow Observers Full Access: Ban
April 17, 2012
BEIRUT — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday the Syrian government is responsible for guaranteeing U.N. observers full freedom of movement to monitor the country's tenuous cease-fire, which appeared to be unraveling as regime forces pounded the opposition stronghold of ...
Nuclear Talks Gave Iran ‘Gift’: Netanyahu
April 16, 2012
JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister says Iran got" gift" from the world's big powers at nuclear talks this weekend.
Officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany met with Iran in Istanbul to discuss the country's nuclear ...
Clinton Asks China to Voice Concern to N. Korea
April 15, 2012
BEJING - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked her Chinese counterpart to convey US concern to Beijing's ally North Korea after its defiant but unsuccessful rocket launch.
Clinton, who was heading Friday to a summit in Colombia, spoke by telephone with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi as she sought a ...
Iran, 6 Powers May Make Progress at Nuclear Talks
April 14, 2012
ISTANBUL — After years of failure, Iran and the six world powers may finally make some progress on nuclear negotiations when they meet again Saturday if each side shows willingness to offer concessions the other seeks.But even if the two sides find enough common ground, they ...
No ‘New Cold War’ In Asia: Clinton
April 12, 2012
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday the United States was not seeking conflict with a rising China but urged emerging powers to act more "constructively" in the world.As academics in China and elsewhere increasingly speak of US decline, Clinton offered a robust defense of the United States and said ...
Iran Can Stand 2-3 Year Oil Blockade: Ahmadinejad
April 11, 2012
DUBAI - Iran has enough funds to withstand a total embargo on its oil sales for two to three years, Iranian media quoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying days before the resumption of talks with world powers on Tehran's nuclear program.
The European Union is set to impose a total embargo on Iranian crude oil from July following similar measures imposed by the United States ...
Iran Rules Out Conditions to Talks: Salehi
April 10, 2012
DUBAI - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran would not agree to world powers imposing pre-conditions ahead of the resumption of nuclear talks later this week, Iranian media reported on Monday.
"Setting conditions before the meeting means drawing conclusions, which is completely meaningless and none of the parties ...
Zardari and Manmohan Singh Agree to Promote Bilateral Relations
April 09, 2012
NEW DELHI - President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Sunday discussed all bilateral issues and agreed to further improve and promote these ties. The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh accepting the invitation of President Zardari to visit Pakistan and said that the dates for his visit will be finalized later ...
Country Can Produce Nuclear Weapons: Iran Lawmaker
April 08, 2012
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has the knowledge and scientific capability to produce nuclear weapons but will never do so, a prominent lawmaker has said.
Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam is a parliamentarian not a government official and his views do not represent the Iranian government's ...
Sarkozy Seen Losing Runoff despite Gains
April 04, 2012
PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy may top the first round of a presidential election this month but still lose a runoff on May 6 as most fringe voters say they will back Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, opinion polls ...
Iran Vows to Stick to Nuclear ‘Path’
April 03, 2012
TEHRAN - Iran declared on Monday it will not be swayed from its nuclear "path" by sanctions, a week before talks with world powers that are increasingly seen as a last chance for diplomacy in its showdown with the West.
"The sanctions may have caused us small problems but we will continue our path," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi vowed in an ...
Coalition Moves to Fund Rebels: Syria Conference
April 02, 2012
ISTANBUL — A coalition of at least 70 countries pledged several million dollars a month Sunday and communications equipment for Syrian rebels and opposition activists, signaling deeper involvement in the conflict amid a growing belief that diplomacy and sanctions alone can't end the regime's repression.
The shift by the U.S. and its Western and Arab allies toward seeking ...
Assad Must Match Words with Deeds: Clinton
March 29, 2012
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s reported acceptance of a peace plan by envoy Kofi Annan must be matched by “immediate actions.”
Clinton’s comments came after aides to Annan said the Assad government has accepted a six-point proposal by the UN-Arab League ...
World Leaders Vow to Act on Nuclear Terror Threat
March 28, 2012
SEOUL - World leaders including US President Barack Obama called Tuesday for strong steps to combat nuclear terrorism, wrapping up a 53-nation summit overshadowed by North Korea's planned rocket launch. "Today we have set a new milestone in making the world a safer and more peaceful place," South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who ...
Germany Opens to Raise Crisis Firewall to $930 Bn
March 27, 2012
BERLIN — Germany has backed down from its resistance to boosting Europe's financial firewalls, after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was open to temporarily boosting the eurozone's bailout funds to €700 billion ($930 billion). But the move still falls short of what may be needed to protect Italy and Spain from collapse. ...
US, Turkey Agree ‘Non-Lethal’ Aid for Syria Rebels
March 26, 2012
WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed Sunday on the need to send "non-lethal" aid to Syrian rebels, including communications equipment, a US official said.
The two men agreed that a "Friends of Syria" group meeting ...
Annan Takes Syria Peace Plan to Russia
March 25, 2012
Moscow - Syrian peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Moscow on Saturday to gauge how far Russia was willing to push its Arab ally after joining a UN call on regime forces to pull back from protest cities.
Annan will meet President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday and then hold talks starting Tuesday in China -- the other Security Council member resisting ...
Global Economy on Recovery Path, Risks Remain
March 19, 2012
BEIJING - The global economy has stepped back from the brink of danger and signs of stabilization are emerging from the euro zone and the United States, but high debt levels in developed markets and rising oil prices are key risks ahead, the IMF said on Sunday.
"The global economy may be on a path to recovery, but there is ...
Egypt’s Islamists to Play Key Role in Constitution
March 18, 2012
CAIRO— Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament has overwhelmingly voted in favor of ensuring that its own lawmakers will comprise the bulk of a panel that will write the country's constitution.
Lawmakers Saturday voted on the criteria for the makeup of a 100-member panel drafting the document. The Islamists, who dominate ...
US Denies Sending Warning to Iran via Russia
March 17, 2012
WASHINGTON - The United States denied on Thursday a Russian media report that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had asked Russia to warn Iran that it was facing its "last chance" to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program diplomatically.
"The secretary did not send a warning to the Iranians through ...
US, Russia to Talk Syria at Key UN Mideast Meeting
March 13, 2012
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria's president on Monday to take swift action to end his regime's bloody crackdown and appealed to the divided U.N. Security Council to speak with one voice and help Syria "pull back from the brink of a ...
Iran Nuclear Talks will Fail Under Pressure: Larijani
March 08, 2012
TEHRAN - Talks on Iran's controversial nuclear program will fail if world powers use "pressure" during the negotiations, Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said on Wednesday.
"They (world powers) should pay attention that if they want to continue pressure in the talks, it will achieve nothing," Larijani ...
IAEA Has “Serious Concerns” as Iran Boosts Nuclear Work
March 06, 2012
Iran has tripled its monthly production of higher-grade enriched uranium and the U.N. nuclear watchdog has "serious concerns" about possible military dimensions to Tehran's atomic activities, the agency's chief said on Monday. As International Atomic Energy Agency head Yukiya Amano voiced his concerns at an IAEA ...
Putin Wins Russian Presidential Election
March 06, 2012
KABUL - Vladimir Putin has won his third term as Russia's president, securing nearly 64% of the vote, election officials said according to the BBC.
He has spent the past four years as Russia's prime minister because the constitution would not allow him three consecutive terms as ...
Iran Increasing ‘Secret Aid’ to Syria
March 05, 2012
Iran is stepping up its military and intelligence support for Syrian government troops in their crackdown against opposition strongholds, The Washington Post reported late Saturday. Citing three unnamed US officials with access to intelligence reports from the region, the newspaper said Tehran had increased supplies of arms and other aid ...
Russia, China Joins UN Council in Syria Rebuke
March 04, 2012
Russia and China joined other U.N. Security Council members on Thursday in expressing "deep disappointment" at Syria's failure to allow the U.N. humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos to visit the country and urged that she be allowed in immediately.The 15 nations on the council also said in a unanimously agreed statement ...
European states sign new fiscal treaty
March 03, 2012
BRUSSELS (AP) -- The leaders of 25 European countries on Friday signed a new treaty designed to prevent the 17 members of the eurozone from living beyond their means and avoid a repeat of the region's crippling debt ...
North Korea to Suspend Nuclear Activities: US
March 01, 2012
WASHINGTON - the United States said Wednesday North Korea has agreed to suspend nuclear activities and accept a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests, in a breakthrough in negotiations with the secretive communist nation.
The announcement comes little more than two months after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il, and suggests North Korea has met the key ...
Situation in Syria Deteriorating: UN Rights Chief
February 29, 2012
GENEVA — there needs to be an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Syria, the U.N. human rights chief declared Tuesday, saying the situation has deteriorated rapidly as the Assad regime steps up its onslaught against the opposition. Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the world has to take action to ...
Syrian Regime Must Agree to Cease-Fire: Clinton
February 25, 2012
TUNIS, Tunisia — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Syrian regime will have "more blood on its hands" if it doesn't immediately comply with cease-fire demands being issued by a group of 70 Western and Arab nations. In opening remarks to an international conference of the Friends of Syria group, Clinton said the regime of ...
Russia Warns against ‘Catastrophic’ Attack on Iran
February 23, 2012
MOSCOW — Russia on Wednesday warned a strike against Iran could have "catastrophic" consequences and urged nations not to draw early conclusions from this week's failed mission by UN nuclear experts.
"The scenario of military action against Iran would be ...