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End of the road for gold?

September 26, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

No, surely not. However it is time to be cautious for sure. What are the risks in gold? Or is it that there are no risks at all, as some readers would like to believe?
Well let us look at some of the risks:

1. It is not an essential commodity: You cannot eat gold. If prices go beyond a point, people will just not consume it! It is not air or water.

2. Remember in the year 2008 gold lost MORE THAN 30% of value — clearly the hedge theory goes. A hedge asset SHOULD move in the other direction, not in sympathy.

3. In the 1980s gold lost about 65% of its value in about 2 years time! Remember both these events happened against a not very strong currency — the US dollar!!

4. When fear subsides, and things return to normal, the law of demand and supply will apply to all assets — including gold.

5. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has a very high margin now for gold — and CME is a good reader of volatility. Expect volatility, margin calls, and sales by the lenders — all these do not sound good.

6. No income generating capability: If you go wrong in a portfolio of good shares (i.e. prices have fallen!) at least you are sure of getting a 2% to 4%p.a. return in dividends. This is not great, but will FORCE lenders / investors to discount the cashflow and arrive at a new price. If the company does well, dividends will increase, forcing the value to go up. Sadly in case of gold, I have to hope that there is a GREATER FOOL THEORY and I will be able to find him, so that I can sell. This is not easy.

The author P V Subramanyam is a Chartered Accountant by qualification and a financial trainer by profession. Writing being a passion he also regularly pens his thought in his blog Subramoney.com

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Just be nice to others to make the world full of kind people

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 20 (ANI): Spreading altruism through social networks can make people across the world kind to one another, says an expert.

Nicholas Christakis, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, has observed in a study that one’s kindness can turn a friend kind to someone else he/she knows.

To demonstrate this, Christakis designed a cooperation game in which 120 students were organised into groups of four, and asked to give money to their group.

The game lasted five rounds, and after each round the students were reorganised so that no two appeared in the same group twice.

At the end of each found, the participants were told how much the others in their group had given.

Christakis observed that if someone gave a dollar more than the predicted group average, the others in that group gave approximately 20 cents more than expected in the next round.

The altruism persisted into the third round, said the researcher.

A separate study conducted by Christakis’s team showed that cooperative behaviour spreads to three degrees of separation, from friend to friend to friend, reports New Scientist.

Based on their observations, Christakis and colleagues came to the conclusion that a person who is popular and well connected could have a special role to play, as his/her compassionate acts could resonate further through the network, and he/she was also more likely to benefit from other people’s kindness. (ANI)

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Shia Muslims to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lucknow, Sept 20 (ANI): A senior official of Shia Muslim community has said that Eid-ul-Fitr would be celebrated on Monday.

Kalbe Sadiq, Shia cleric and senior vice president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said here that the Ramadan moon would be sighted on Sunday.

“I can say without any doubt that in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and in India, the moon will be sighted on Sunday. Sunni, Shia and all other sects of Islam will celebrate the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday,” Sadiq said.

However, Sunni Muslims disagreed, saying they would wait for the sighting of moon before declaring Eid.

“If the moon is sighted on September 20, or if the sighting in reported form anywhere, then Eid will be celebrated on the 21st. And if it is not sighted on the 20th and there are no reports either, in that case it will be celebrated on the 22nd,” said Maulana Khalid Rasheed, head of Lucknow’s Firangi Mahal.

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims observe a daylong fast and open it in the evening.

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims throughout the world observe a joyous three-day celebration called Eid-ul-Fitr.

Eid-ul-Fitr falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month, which follows Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. It is a time to give in charity to those in need, and celebrate with family and friends the completion of a month of blessings and joy. (ANI)

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World’s longest running soap comes to an end

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 19 (ANI): The world’s longest running soap opera ‘Guiding Light’, spanning seven-decades and 15,700 episodes, has come to an end.

The American TV programme, which started as a 15-minute daily drama on NBC radio in 1937 before moving to television in 1952, was screened for the last time after a decline in the ratings in recent years.

CBS Senior Vice President Barbara Bloom said the show, that bagged dozens of awards including an Emmy, had set new heights with its treatment of social issues such as cancer, alcoholism and teenage pregnancy.

“No show in daytime or prime time, or anytime, has touched so many millions of viewers across so many years as Guiding Light,” The BBC quoted Barbara as saying.

The show is reportedly set to be replaced by a new edition of game show ‘Let’s Make a Deal’. (ANI)

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Muslims in Lucknow offer ‘Alvida Namaz’ before Eid

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lucknow, Sep 18(ANI): Muslims gathered in huge numbers at several mosques of Lucknow on Friday to offer the ‘Alvida Namaz’ marking the last Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan.

“We prayed to the Lord to raise the financial status of Muslims and also eradicate all their problems. In India, Hindu and Muslims have been living together for several centuries and we want them to be like this in future,” said Moulvi Faizul Rehman, an Islamic cleric at a mosque in Lucknow.

Highlighting the significance of the ‘Alvida Namaz’, Mohammad Sayeed, a Namazi said that it is the reason why thousands of Muslim from across the city gather to offer prayers.

“During Ramadan if we participate in the ‘Alvida Namaz’ and offer our prayers, then we get a reward for it and it will usher prosperity to us,” Sayeed said.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Hijri lunar calendar, commemorates the revelation of Quran, Islam’s holy book, and has traditionally been a time of religious fervour, settling old disputes and behaving charitably towards neighbours.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. Considered auspicious for prayers, Muslims observe the month-long fasting named ‘Roza’.

They believe this secures them a place in heaven and also brings them face to face with Allah, the Almighty, on the day of ‘Kayamat’.

The end of Ramadan heralds the festival of Eid-ul-fitr. (ANI)

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Pak Army’s plans to use private militia against Taliban may backfire: Report

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep.18 (ANI): The Pakistan Army’s initiative to sponsor local militias, or the lashkars, as they are commonly known, may have been working in its favour against the Taliban, however some people feel such move could back fire in future.

Backed by the Army, which had initiated an all out operation against the Taliban in Swat and Malakand Divisions in April, more than 8,000 villagers living across the region have joined these militias to try to keep the Taliban away from their villages.

Military officials are encouraging people to join hands with the troops against the extremists and carrying out special drives for forming such lashkars.

“The military is going village to village, speaking with elders and encouraging them to form their own lashkars and unite with existing ones,” said Swat military spokesman Major Mushtaq Khan.

While the Army considers that its initiative would yield positive results and prevent the Taliban’s onslaught in the region, experts have raised questions over it saying the move could have catastrophic effect in future.

“They could be temporarily used in some areas where the Taliban are weak or heavily resented, like in Swat. But at the end of the day, the villagers need to do their work; they can’t be armed every night,” The Christian Science Monitor quoted, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a well-known journalist, as saying.

“Creating these private militias may work in the short-run, but what if they later turn on each other to settle personal scores?” usufzai asked

Experts said the military should think twice before trying to extend the experimant into Pakistan’s other tribal agencies, where the Taliban still maintains a strong grip.

“It’s a very interesting experiment. But if it works in Swat, this can’t be replicated anywhere else, because the guys that they were pitted against were way too powerful, the murder of Qari Zainuddin was a case in point,” said Rifaat Hussain, an analyst at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. (ANI)

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UK commander says dialogue with Taliban insurgents necessary to end Afghan war

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul, Sep 18(ANI): In an ambitious aim to help bring an end to the eight-year war in Afghanistan by persuading the Taliban to lay down their arms, British Army Lt. Gen Sir Graeme Lamb said that many Taliban activists have “done nothing wrong”, rather they have taken to arms as “they have anger and grievances, which have not been addressed”.

While addressing a gathering at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) headquarters in Kabul, Lamb insisted that a dialogue with the Taliban insurgents is necessary to end the cold war.

“We need to take a good look at the people we consider to be our enemies. A lot of young men fighting us have not done anything wrong. They have anger and grievances, which have not been addressed. The better life they expected has not materialized, these are the people we must talk to, but we must make sure we have something to offer them,” The Independent quoted Lamb, as saying.

Lamb further highlighted that the NATO and British forces where not in Afghanistan to give up people’s freedom, and said: “What we do have to do is combine new culture and old culture and work out something that works. We will be listening to what our Afghan colleagues say. I will work very closely with them and let them set conditions.”

Lamb also said that their primary motive is to bring those Afghanistan citizens back into the society, who have been forced out of their society for no fault of their own.

“Judge us by not just what we say, the promises we make, but what we do, what we deliver at the end,” Lamb said. (ANI)

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Indian cricket team leaves for South Africa

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Sept 18 (ANI): The Indian cricket team left for South Africa from here on Friday to participate in the Champions Trophy.

South Africa has been a happing hunting ground for India who was runners-up in the one-day World Cup in 2003 and Twenty20 World Cup champions four years later.

India has received a boost before their Champions Trophy campaign when in-form opener Gautam Gambhir was passed fit to return after injury.

The left-hander has recovered from a groin strain and will travel with the team to South Africa, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement on Thursday.

India, already without the explosive Virender Sehwag, were sweating on Gambhir’s fitness after the Delhi batsman missed this month’s tri-series in Sri Lanka.

India won the Colombo tournament, also involving New Zealand and the hosts, and went into the prestigious eight-team event as one of the favourites after not having lost a one-day series in the past year.

India has been grouped with defending and world champions Australia, Twenty20 champions Pakistan and former champions West Indies in the preliminary phase.

A young Indian batting unit struggled against short-pitched bowling in this year’s Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Ishant Sharma will spearhead the five-man pace attack in the absence of experienced left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, who has been ruled out until the end of the year after undergoing surgery on an injured shoulder. (ANI)

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Sharad Pawar says end of season rains will help winter crops

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 18 (ANI): Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has said that late end-season rains will help India’s winter crops.

Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Pawar said, “It’s true that because paddy area transplantation has been dropped, but the late rains are very helpful particularly for Punjab, Haryana, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.”

“There would not be any pressure on food grains supply, as the stock position was good,” Pawar added.

Meteorological Department has said that since June 1, monsoon rains have been 20 percent below normal and heavy showers in the past week have reduced the total seasonal deficit by three percentage points.

Met department said the country can expect heavy rains for at least another week, but the withdrawal of the monsoon, which usually begins to wind down in early September, would be delayed.

A surge in food prices unexpectedly pushed the annual change in India’s wholesale price index into positive for the first time since late May, putting pressure on the central bank to bring forward an exit from its easy monetary policy.

The annualised wholesale price index rose by an unexpected 0.12 percent in the year to September 5, compared with the previous week’s 0.12 percent fall and analysts’ forecast of a 0.08 percent decline.

The food articles sub-index rose an annual 15.4 percent, up from the previous week’s 14.8 percent rise, as a dry spell hit nearly half of India’s districts, hurting summer crops and prompting the government to take steps to raise supplies. (ANI)

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Pakistan got 970-mn dollars and not 3-bn dollars from US

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Sep 17 (ANI): The United States has provided 970 million dollars in aid to Pakistan since the PPP-led Government came to power and not three billion dollars as claimed by US Ambassador Anne Patterson, a Pakistani Finance Ministry official has said.

The statement of US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, about giving 3 billion dollars assistance to the Zardari Government even surprised the top economic managers of the country. They were completely clueless about the figure of 3 billion dollars floated by the US.

“Out of the total 970 million dollars funding, a major chunk of 550 to 600 million dollars was in shape of the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) as it was the money which was spent by Pakistan on military’s movement and it took several months for clearance from the US authorities,” The News quoted a a senior official of the Finance Ministry, as saying.

The US has provided less than one billion dollars to Pakistan since the PPP-led government came into power, he said.

The US provided 497 million dollars in shape of CSF in May 2009. Earlier, the US provided around 100 million dollars on the same head a couple of months back – at the end of last financial year.

Around 300 million dollars were provided through USAID during the last financial year. Recently, the US authorities provided over 100 million dollars for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the Malakand Division.

“The US ambassador should provide details of 3 billion dollars assistance given to Pakistan during the last one and a half years period,” the official said.

Official sources pointed out that Pakistan was bearing the borrowing cost owing to delays in payments from the US related to the CSF. (ANI)

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Krishna in Belarus to strengthen bilateral ties

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Minsk, Sept 17 (ANI): Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has arrived here to foster bilateral ties between the two countries.

Krishna is the first Indian External Minister to visit this country.

On Wednesday, Krishna visited the Victory Square Monument in the city and paid tribute to soldiers who had laid down their lives during the World War II while fighting the Nazi invaders.

“This is the first ever visit by an Indian Minister for External Affairs to Belarus. I think it is an important visit with a view to further cement and strengthen relationship to mutual advantage,” said Ramesh Chander, Indian Ambassador to Belarus.

Krishna’s visit is being seen as important, as it would help to cement ties further between the two countries.

“In 2008, we had a 432 million trade turnover. And this year, it is likely to touch 500 million by the end of the year,” Chander added.

Krishna reviewed guard of honour of the Belarus Army at the Square. He was received by the Deputy Mayor of Minsk, Titenkov Mikhail.

On Thursday, Krishna will call on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

He will also hold talks with his counterpart Sergey Martynov. Two agreements will be signed including one on Cooperation in Physical Education and Sports and an MoU on the Establishment of a Digital Learning Centre in Minsk.

The Digital Learning Centre will impart skills in advanced computing and software creation to young Belarusian students, initially with Indian faculty members and thereafter with trained Belarusian professionals.

Krishna will also pay an official visit to Turkmenistan on September 18 and 19.

He will call on Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov and hold meetings with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.

Krishna will also have a meeting with Minister in-charge of Oil and Gas sector Baymyrat Hojamuhammedov.

Both countries will sign a cooperation agreement during the visit. By Ravi Shankar (ANI)

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Kiwi chocolatier’s meat-flavoured chocs ‘a hit with men’!

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 17 (ANI): Meat-flavoured chocolate might not be everyone’s idea of a yummy treat, but a Kiwi chocolatier’s salami-tinged creation is proving to be a hit with men.

Brainchild of Hanna Frederick, the venison chocolate truffles are made from a blend of dark chocolate and ground-up salty dried meat.

Shaped like small sausages, the sweets have a salami aftertaste, she said.dmitting it was a weird combination, she said meat and chocolate went together “amazingly well”, reports The Telegraph.

“There’s this smoky taste to start, then a strong chocolate flavour comes in, and at the end you have this wonderful taste of salami,” she told the Australian Associated Press.

She said the snack, being served as a starter to 150 people at New Zealand’s Meat Industry Association conference, has proven a hit with men “who can’t get enough of it”, but admits women have been “quieter” in expressing approval.

“Women tend to love their chocolate more fruity, more feminine, and I guess meat doesn’t have that feel to it,” she said. (ANI)

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Action plan to phase out consumption of HCFC is on track: Ramesh

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 16 (ANI): Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday that India has developed a comprehensive Road Map and Action Plan to phase-out of production and consumption of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in various sectors.

Addressing the gathering during the 15th International Ozone Day here Ramesh said: “The Government of India has taken a number of policy measures, fiscal and regulatory, to encourage the early adoption of alternative technologies in this area by existing and new enterprises.”

Ramesh hailed the Montreal Protocol as the most successful international treaty to ever achieve universal participation.

“At a time when the world is trying to solve the problem of climate change, the International Ozone Day provided a timely reminder of how international cooperation can help to solve major global environmental problems,” Ramesh added.

India is one of the first developing countries to join the Montreal Protocol and pledge its commitment to protect the Ozone Layer.

As a part of the accelerated phase-out of CFCs, India has completely phased out the production and consumption of CFCs as on 1 August 2008, 17 months prior to the agreed schedule.

Ramesh informed that over 97percent of controlled Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) have been phased out by the Montreal Protocol.

“The end of 2009 will mark another significant milestone in the history of its implementation, with the use of potent ODSs -CFCs, Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC) and Halons, except pharmaceutical-grade CFCs used in the manufacture of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) – being ceased completely,” he said

The CFCs required for manufacturing for MDIs used by Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients are still available in India, a national transition strategy to phase them out by 2013 is currently under implementation.

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank recently also launched the India: Chiller Energy Efficiency Project to accelerate the conversion of CFC-based chillers using new, more energy efficient technologies,” Ramesh said.

This year’s theme for the ozone day was ‘Universal participation – Ozone protection unifies the World.’ (ANI)

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SunTec wins two strategic customers in Middle East

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Trivandrum/United Arab Emirates, Sept 16 (ANI/Business Wire India): SunTec, the leading provider of Relationship-based Pricing and Centralized Billing solutions, has announced two strategic wins in the Middle East region, one of which has helped the company to gain a foothold in Port Operations Billing – its fifth operating domain.

One of the largest banks in UAE has invested in SunTec’s Relationship-based and Centralized Billing solution, while a leading Port Operator of the region has signed up to SunTec to automate and centralize the pricing and billing operations for their vessels as well as cargo operations, helping them to offer a convergent bill to customers and effectively manage multiple contracts.

The solution will be implemented in multiple phases at the leading bank, and by the end of phase-I in December 2009 their ‘Customer Benefits Program’ will go live for retail banking.

The bank will thus be among the first few in UAE offering comprehensive customer benefits programs. SunTec’s solution being the pivot, the bank will be able to scale up their benefits programs to customer with ease.

Furthermore, in future, the bank will leverage SunTec’s solution for streamlining and automating their pricing and billing functions across enterprise.

The solution offers pertinent pricing innovations for the leading port operator also.

The complex multi-national operations of modern-day ports call for streamlined Relationship-based Pricing. New models like cost-based billing have become more relevant, as containerised trade is gaining prominence across the globe.

The situation demands differential pricing to be offered to customers based on the value they bring in.

“With these wins, SunTec has not only gained considerable footprint in the Middle East region, but also established its multi-industry compatibility,” said Nanda Kumar, CEO of SunTec.

“We conceptualized and created our core pricing and billing platform, horizontal in nature and flexible enough to address the pricing and billing requirements of any transaction-based vertical, all the while, helping our customers to imbibe best practices from multiple industries,” added Kumar. (ANI)

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Serena Williams remains unrepentant about her US Open outburst

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New York, Sep 14(ANI): American tennis star Serena Williams has said she won’t apologise to the lineswoman for her outburst during her US Open semi-final defeat by Kim Clijsters.

“An apology from me? Know many people yell at linespeople? Players, athletes get frustrated,” The Mirror quoted Williams, as saying.

Williams lost her cool after being foot-faulted at the end of the contest. She unleashed a tirade on the line judge, briefly walked away and then returned for another blast at the line judge. he incident saw her receiving a point penalty for a second code violation, thus handing the semi-final match to Clijsters 6-4, 7-5.

Williams was unrepentant about the incident even during her post-match press conference as well, where she claimed she did not remember what she had said to the line judge.

Williams has been fined 10,000 dollars by US Open organisers for her outburst. (ANI)

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Guy Ritchie often forgets the movies he has made

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 12 (ANI): Brit filmmaker Guy Ritchie has revealed that he often forgets the movies he has made.

Ritchie, 41, has directed a number of pictures, including gangster movies ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’.

He says that he often has to reacquaint himself with his classics.

“I forget I’ve done them. So if ever they’re on, I’m unaware I had anything to do with them. If I were now to watch Snatch or Lock, Stock… I couldn’t tell you what scene was coming next,” Contactmusic quoted him as having told Britain’s GQ magazine.

“It’s embarrassing to say this but I’d probably really enjoy watching them. I’d be sitting there at the end, like a mug, clapping my own film,” he added. (ANI)

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Computer may help dictate best play to call in any game situation in football

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 12 (ANI): Researchers have developed a new computer model for football that would be able to take the play-calling load off of the coach and, through fast, real-time analysis of all the offensive and defensive possibilities, dictate the best play to call in any game situation.

Operations researcher Sharif Melouk and applied statistician Marcus Perry, both from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, collaborated with a graduate student to apply techniques often used to allocate resources in contexts like business and antiterrorist protection efforts to football play calling.

The program takes the human element out of play calling and instead uses mathematical and statistical techniques.

The new model analyzes what the opposing team is likely to do and chooses the play that will best counter it in a given game situation.

“The offense knows all the different sorts of plays they could call for a particular situation, and they’re also going to know what all the different types of defenses that the defense could throw at them,” said Melouk.

“The end result of the procedure is that you come out with some reward or some value to that particular play,” he added.

If coaches can enter accurate data into the model, then it will be effective.

The better the data, the better the performance of the model will be.

Removing the human element from play calling may improve the team’s performance, or at least provide a basis from which to compare and analyze play calling.

One interesting feature of the model is that it can reveal what both teams should do, which is called the Nash equilibrium, after the Nobel laureate John Nash.

“Basically, player two (the defense) is looking to minimize the maximum gain of player one (the offense), and player one is looking to maximize the minimum gain of player two,” said Melouk.

“There’s one point that tells you each of these players should do this one thing and they shouldn’t deviate from this particular strategy,” he added.

When there are two players in a game where both are attempting to stop the other one, sometimes it’s best to seek guaranteed modest gains instead of doing something risky.

“If we knew what play, however, that the opponent was going to choose, then we could maximize our gain,” said Perry.

“But we might be able to choose a play … such that, hey, it doesn’t matter what they choose. We’re still going to get this particular level of gain regardless,” he added. (ANI)

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US accepts Iranian offer to hold discussions

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep. 11 (ANI): The United States has accepted Iran’s proposal to hold talks, despite the Islamic republic announcing that it would not bring its future nuclear programs on the discussions table.

The decision to engage directly with Iran would put a senior representative of the Obama administration at the bargaining table, along with emissaries from five other nations, for the first time since Obama took office, the New York Times reports.

The decision is bound to raise protests from conservatives and human rights groups.

Earlier on Friday, senior administration officials said that their expectations from the talks were extremely low.

“We’ll be looking to see if they are willing to engage seriously on these issues. If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue,” paper quoted US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley, as saying.

They added that the United States could make a case for imposing far stronger sanctions on Iran if diplomatic engagements fail.

Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are going to be present on the discussion table, who in the past have negotiated with Iran even without the presence of an American representative.

Iran made its offer to meet in a five-page letter delivered to several nations on Wednesday.

But the letter said nothing about Iran’s nuclear program. However, this week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed never to halt the fuel production.

Within less than 48 hours the Obama administration said they would consider the offer to meet.

Even though it is unclear who will represent the US on the discussion table, but most probably William J. Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, will lead America.

Earlier, Burns was quoted as saying that the Obama administration had begun preparing sanctions against Iran, so that it would be ready to implement them at the end of the year. (ANI)

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