Indian Oil Supply Has Been Stopped By Iran

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Iran has upped the ante in an oil payments row with India and halted crude supplies in August, company sources said on Thursday, forcing Indian refiners to seek shipments from alternative suppliers including top exporter Saudi Arabia.
Since December, India and Iran have struggled to find ways for New Delhi to pay for 400,000 barrels per day or 12 percent of its oil demand after the Reserve Bank of India halted a clearing mechanism under US pressure.
That move won praise from Washington, which is using sanctions in a bid to get Tehran to halt its nuclear programme.
Indian firms Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd , Iran’s biggest Indian client, BPCL , IOC , HPCL and Essar buy crude from the Islamic Republic and their collective debt to Iran since the crisis broke out has risen to more than $5 billion.
None of the five refiners have received a crude supply plan from Iran for August loading cargoes, officials and executives at the companies said on condition of anonymity.
Iran has told BPCL, HPCL and Essar that they will receive no supply in August, said a source at Saudi Aramco, which has been approached by these companies for extra volumes. IOC and MRPL have so far not asked for additional Saudi oil. MRPL is still hopeful it will get a late allocation from Iran, a company source said.
“BPCL, HPCL and Essar have told us that they have not received allocation (from Iran for August). They did not get a response from Iran and they want to secure supplies,” an executive with Saudi Aramco, who declined to be named, said.
Iran sent refiners a letter on June 27 threatening to halt supplies and has followed through on its threat. Iran refused to sell crude to India’s second-largest refiner BPCL in August because it could not pay, a BPCL source said. BPCL has secured oil from Saudi Arabia instead, the source added.
“So there will be no supplies from Iran in August but we have arranged volumes from Saudi Arabia,” the source said.
Iran is India’s second-biggest supplier and refiners had already turned to the world's top exporter Saudi Arabia and other Middle East producers the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq for extra barrels to replace those at stake.

Racist Killer Was Executed In Texas

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Authorities in Texas executed a racist killer who went on an anti-Muslim shooting rampage following the 9/11 attacks after pleas by one of his victims for his life to be spared were rejected.
Mark Stroman, 41, was pronounced dead late Wednesday from a lethal injection administered at a jail in Huntsville, Texas, a decade on from a shooting spree which left two people dead and seriously wounded a third victim, Rais Bhuiyan.
"I am at peace," said Stroman in his final statement. "Hate is going on in this world and it has to stop. Hate causes a lifetime of pain. Even though I lay here I am still at peace."
The execution was carried out at at 8:53 pm (0153 GMT Thursday) after a request by Bhuiyan for a stay of execution was denied by a judge.
Stroman's attorney, Lydia Brandt, told the final court appeal that Stroman became "emotionally overwhelmed" after the al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, fed by a pain that was quickly replaced by "rage." "He became obsessed with 'fighting back' against the Muslims who attacked America," said Brandt.
But according to Brandt, Stroman "would not know the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim, or between Arabic and Urdu."
Four days after the attacks, Stroman killed his first victim in Dallas: Waqar Hasan was a Pakistani Muslim, and Stroman shot him without asking any questions. Hasan died instantly.
On September 21, Stroman pulled up at a gas station where Bhuiyan was working in the Dallas area and shot him in the face. Bhuiyan survived but only after losing the use of one eye.
The third and final victim of Stroman's rampage was Vasudev Patel, a Hindu. It is for Patel's death that Stroman was sentenced to capital punishment in April 2002.
During his sentencing, according to images shown on CBS, Stroman brandished an American flag and claimed his affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood, a group of white supremacists.

Private Data Of Asif Zardari Have Been Targeted

President Asif Ali Zardari was among individuals whose personal data was clandestinely obtained by private investigators at the behest of a newspaper owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch.
Nick Davies, a journalist writing for The Guardian who has doggedly exposed the dubious news-gathering practices in the British press, mentions that Zardari’s credit-card statement was obtained by a private investigator for The Sunday Times.
Davies, an award-winning journalist whose revelations led to the current phone-hacking imbroglio, details several instances of unethical and illegal practices on Fleet Street in his book, ‘Flat Earth News’. In a revealing chapter titled ‘The Dark Arts’, Davies writes: “One investigator described being hired by the Sunday Times to target Asif Zardari, the husband of the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto, whose credit-card statement he supplied so that Sunday Times reporters could find out where he had been staying and what he had been spending his money on.
“Davies does not mention the year when Zardari was targeted, but Zardari is known to visit Britain often. He reportedly owns a neo-Tudor mansion in Surrey.
Meanwhile, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted for the first time as he joined the fast-growing social networking site Twitter on Thursday.
The first tweet by Bilawal, whose handle is @BBhuttoZardari, read: @AseefaBZ how do i fix my profile picture so our faces aren’t cut off?
This was in response to his sister Aseefa Zardari’s tweet, who welcomed him on Twitter addressing him as the ‘real Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’.
Bilawal has gained popularity within nine hours of his joining as around 421 people have begun to follow him on the site. Bilawal himself is following 22 people and has tweeted around 13 times since his arrival, most of his tweets thanking followers who welcomed him to the site.
He is following prominent people on the site including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan Ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani and Shehrbano Taseer, daughter of former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. He is also following his siblings Aseefa and Bakhtawar Zardari who have been active on the site for some time now.
Bilawal, who turns 23 this September, is two years away from being eligible to run for a provincial or national assembly seat.

Saudi Arabia Has Banned The Use Of iPhone In Security Institutions

The home ministry of the Saudi Arabia has banned the use of iphone and galaxy tablets in the security institutions of the country. According to Arab Satellite TV Channel to ensure the safety of these institution the ban ban has been implemented since 17th of this month. The high technological apparatuses can be hacked easily.
The security sources have confirmed the news. The Information technology experts have also confirmed that due the use of these latest communication apparatuses the personal life of an individual or security institutions can be affected.

Congress Panel Of US Rejects Proposal To Cut Off All The Aid To Pakistan

A US Congress panel on Thursday rejected a proposal to cut off all aid to Pakistan due to concerns over the country's relationship with militants after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee easily rejected the measure, with five lawmakers voting yes and 39 voting no. But the bill in its current form would still impose tighter controls over aid, making it contingent on measurable progress by Pakistan.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, had offered the amendment to a spending bill for the year starting in October that would have barred any US funds to provide assistance to Pakistan.
Rohrabacher raised questions about how Pakistan was using assistance from the United States at a time that Washington is seeking to curb spending to tame a ballooning debt.
President Barack Obama's administration recently suspended about one-third of its $2.7 billion annual defense aid to Pakistan. But it has assured Islamabad it is committed to a five-year, $7.5 billion civilian package approved in 2009 that aims to build schools, infrastructure and democratic institutions.

Why Did The Gold Price Jump To The Sky?

It was considered a safe investment to purchase dollars, in the near past. From common man to governments used to buy dollars and felt proud of it. The country having foreign exchange reserves in dollars was lucky. But, now the situation has been quite changed due to the weakening of economy of USA and decline in value of dollar is occurring gradually. The countries having huge foreign exchange reserve in dollars are worried. The countries include China ($ 2.622 trillion),Japan ($1.96 trillion), Russia ($ 284 billion), Saudi Arabia ($ 465 billion), Taiwan ($ 387 billion), Brazil ($ 290 billion), India ($ 284 billion), South Korea ($ 274 billion), and Hong Kong ($ 268 billion).
When the news spread in the world about the likely weaker position of dollars, economist are suggesting to common people and the governments to invest in precious metals like gold and silver. Following the suggestions the riches people and various governments are buying gold and silver, the prices of both the metals jumped to very high level with in 2-3 years.
Russia has recently bought 50 tons gold, even the International Financial Institutions like IMF and World Bank are purchasing gold instead of dollars. They know that if America will make them collapse if it too reaches to default stage. China last year had foreign reserves of $ 3 trillion but it bought gold for $400 billion during 2011. China, Russia India and other countries are converting their foreign exchange reserves in other currencies. The problem with China is that USA owes its debt worth more than one trillion dollars. It is forced to take financial steps that must make dollar stable otherwise its loan and reserves will become zero. It looks like USA is such a Titanic that if sank will drown many countries with it.
China is trying to make its own or some other currency should get the status of world reserve currency. When an alternate currency replaces dollar it would be easier to declare USA a default state. Till that time world will have to tolerate falling and collapsing USA.

Certain Symptoms Of Parkinson's Disease Can Be Cured By Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine may be effective in battling certain symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and lessening side effects from the drugs used to treat the condition, according to a new study.
Researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University said Gouteng, a traditional Chinese herb used to treat hypertension, helped patients better communicate and made them less prone to depression and sleeping difficulties. "There is no cure for Parkinson's right now, but the study showed Chinese medicine can help treat the disease," a university spokesman told the reporter.
Parkinson's is a progressive motor-system disorder which usually affects people over the age of 50, although it can strike earlier, often causing severe symptoms including body trembling, stiffness and loss of balance.
The condition is usually treated with a drug called levodopa, which the brain converts into dopamine to relieve the symptoms, but it can also cause nausea and hallucinations.
The Baptist University study found that patients who took Gouteng together with levodopa experienced fewer side effects from the drug while showing a marked improvement in their communication skills.
Li Min, an associate professor who led the study, said the findings could also help boost the profile of Chinese medicine. "They provide not only pharmacological proof of the efficacy of Gouteng in treating Parkinson's disease, but will also help promote the effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicine to the international medical arena," she said.
Li, whose team has applied for a US patent told the South China Morning Post that she expects the herb would start being used to treat the disease after the second phase of the study in 2013.