Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama has issued an executive order freezing all assets of the Iranian government and financial institutions being held in the U.S.

In the order, which takes effect Monday, Obama declared that all property and interests in property of the Government of Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran, that are in the United States are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in. Iranian property that comes to the U.S. or taken possession by any U.S. person were also ordered frozen.

Obama directed the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State and other U.S. government agencies to implement the order.

The President cited attempts by Iran’s central bank and other banks’ to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties and the weakness of the Islamic country’s anti-money laundering regulations as reason for issuing the order.

But the main aim of the latest sanction is to cripple Iran’s nuclear program that Washington believes is intended to make weapons of mass destruction. Tehran has repeatedly denied that it is building a nuclear bomb saying the nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The United Nations and the European Union had also imposed arms and economic embargo against Iran in an attempt to force Tehran to stop enriching uranium.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – “Underworld Awakening” came out on top of the weekend box office, taking in $25.4 million in its debut.

The film is a 3-D fourth installment of the popular vampires vs. werewolves franchise. “Awakening,” starring Kate Beckinsale, took in more than its 2009 predecessor “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans,” which started with $20.8 million, and did not feature Beckinsale.

Taking the No. 2 spot with $19.1 million was George Lucas’ “Red Tails,” a $58-million tale starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. that chronicles WWII’s African-American Tuskegee airmen.

In third place was “Contraband,” starring Mark Wahlberg and also featuring Beckinsale. The film topped the box office last week. Its 10-day total is roughly $46.1 million.

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” the 9/11 drama adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, finished in a disappointing fourth, with a lukewarm $10.5 million. The Warner Bros. flick stars Oscar winner Sandra Bullock.

Rounding out the top five was “Haywire.” The Steven Soderberg film, featuring mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, took in a dismal $9 million.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – Warner Bros. will extend the time customers have to wait to watch movies on DVDs from services such as Netflix to 56 days, more than twice as long as the current delay.

The move is a bid to bolster flagging DVD sales as well as fledging online movie service UlraViolet, which lets buyers of DVDs or movie downloads watch those movies online using computers, smartphones or tablets.

Warner Bros. has told movie rental companies that it wants the eight-week delay a standard part of its deals. Netflix has agreed to the terms, but Redbox has not yet signed on, the website AllThingsDigital reported.

Coinstar, parent company of Redstar, has deals with Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment and Paramount Studios to obtain DVDs for rental the same day they are released for sale.

In 2010, Warner Bros imposed a four-week delay on rental outlets.

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Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – In an attempt to reduce spending on national defense and strengthen domestic arms industry, Japan on Tuesday eased self-imposed arms exports ban.

The liberalization will allow hundreds of Japanese companies to take part in multinational projects of developing weapons for the first time in several decades.

“Under the new standards, Japan will be able to transport military equipment for missions of peace-building and international cooperation,” Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told reporters.

“This will mean that Japan can now address international peace cooperation and global challenges such as terrorism and piracy more proactively and effectively,” he added.

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Tampa, FL, United States (AHN) – It’s beginning to be a tough week for newspapers, with one major publication announcing a round of lay-offs, while another publisher announces bankruptcy.

Media General announced Monday that it will let go 165 staffers from the Tampa (FL)Tribune newspaper, TBO.com, and other community papers it publishes. Meanwhile, in Davenport, IL, Lee Enterprises has filed for bankruptcy. Lee Enterprises is a 121-year-old company that publishes 54 newspapers in 23 states, in addition to more than 300 weekly and specialty publications.

After the lay-offs, Virginia-based Media General will retain only 675 staffers for its Tampa-area print and online publications. The lay-offs will come in early 2012, according to rival publication St. Petersburg Times.

Lee Enterprises will attempt to refinance about $1 billion in debt, filing its bankruptcy petition in Wilmington, DE. The filing comes after Friday’s annual report, disclosing that the company is almost at its debt limit.

“Our ability to operate as a going concern is dependent on our ability to obtain approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the refinancing plan approved by creditors and to generate cash flows and maintain liquidity sufficient to service our debt,” Lee Enterprises explained.

Nationally, Lee Enterprises employs an estimated 10,700 people and owns such newspapers as St. Louis Post Dispatch, Columbus Telegram, Rapid City Journal, Post-Star in New York, and Sioux City Journal.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks cheered strong retail sales over the long Thanksgiving weekend and early forecasts of a strong showing for Cyber Monday with a strong rally.

With less than an hour in the trading day, stocks were off earlier highs but still boasted impressive gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 220 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 27 points and the tech heavy NASDAQ jumped 70 points.

Retail sales broke records over the long holiday weekend and early estimates are the Cyber Monday sales are expected to climb 20 percent over last year.

The broad based rally included retailers, financials, and technology shares. Best Buy rose nearly 3 percent. Macy soared almost 5 percent and Apple was better by more than 3 percent.

Also giving stocks room to run was news out of Europe that progress was being made in the ever growing and lengthy euro zone sovereign debt crisis.

While some analysts called the rally a technical bounce and warn markets still face numerous risks, investors welcomed the much needed gains.

Commodities were also strong. Oil rose 88 cents to $97.71 a barrel. Gold closed solidly higher on bargain hunting, rising $29 to $1709 a troy ounce, and silver, the grey metal, closed up $1.08 an ounce to settle the day at $32.06.

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Seattle, WA, United States (AHN) – Starbucks has stopped charging $1.50 for orders of coffee beans less than a pound in stores in the United States.

The Seattle-based company made the decision after being fined by the the Massachusetts Division of Standards for not disclosing the hidden charge to customers.

The fee was ended on Nov. 7 nationwide. It was charged whenever customers ordered coffee beans less than the one-pound bags readily available in Starbucks stores.

Coffee beans cost $11.95 a pound, which should be half a pound at $5.98. Customers who bought half a pound, however, paid $7.48 without being informed of the added cost.

Starbucks, like other companies, can charge additional fees for its products and services so long as it indicated these fees on price lists or informs customers before purchase.

The $1.50 extra charge by Starbucks violated consumer protection laws in Massachusetts against “unfair or deceptive” practices.

The Massachusetts Division of Standards said it became aware of the violation in August. It proceeded to investigate by buying coffee beans at Starbucks stores in Andover, Concord, Reading and other areas. Each time, the store charged the undisclosed fee.

The agency fined the stores it visited a total of $1,575. In response, Starbucks informed officials it would stop charging customers the fee in stores in Massachusetts and all other states.

“Additional fees have to be clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the consumer before the purchase,” Barbara Anthony, undersecretary of the agency’s Office of Consumer Affairs, said in a statement.

Massachusetts officials estimate about 75,000 customers in the state have paid for the extra fee without being aware of it.

A spokesman for the coffee chain, Alan Hilowitz, told the Boston Globe the $1.50 was for “additional labor and packaging” required for orders of half-pound coffee beans.

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Athens, Greece (AHN) – The 50 percent cut in the Greek debt is not yet a done deal. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou submitted the European Union-crafted deal to Greeks on Monday for a referendum vote.

Papandreou, who is aware that the austerity measures that comes with the reduction of Greek debt are not popular with his own party members and citizens, said the decision to adopt or reject the deal rests with Greeks. If they are not in favor of it, then Athens has no choice except to turn it down.

The referendum is scheduled in January. Survey results indicate that 60 percent of the country’s voters would reject the EU debt solution.

A no vote would once more throw the eurozone into crisis. Among the consequences of rejecting the deal are a full-scale default, ejection from the zone, running out of money to pay public employees and failure to deliver basic services if the troika made up of the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the European Central Bank decide not to lend more money to Greece.

It would also throw to the wind the agreements crafted by EU leaders in Brussels this week, which did not come easy because of German opposition to some of the provisions of the deal.

Markets reacted to Papandreou’s submission of the deal to a referendum. The euro slipped 2 percent against the dollar and the U.S. volatility index went up 22 percent.

Papandreou also announced to parliament that the Socialist party would submit itself to another vote of confidence. The party’s majority has been reduced to three seats and its approval rating has fallen to an all-time low due to the unpopular austerity measures.

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Paris, France (AHN) – Moody’s Investors Service warned France on Monday that it may lose its top AAA credit rating because of Paris’s support for the bailout fund and the country’s weakened finances.

The rating agency also hinted it may change France’s stable outlook to negative in the coming months, which is short of a downgrade.

Trader speculation that the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) will be used to insure the first part of losses in the event of a sovereign default has caused French 10-year notes to be the third-worst performers in the quarter, behind Greece and Belgium.

With this development, investors seek to be paid 93.2 basis points more to hold French bonds over German notes. It is up from 29 basis points in April.

Analysts explained that France offering insurance to the EFSF hikes the country’s contingent liability and places pressure on its rating. Policy makers are considering using the French guarantee to ensure that Italy and Spain could continue to access markets as the debt contagion spreads to other, weaker, eurozone members.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said the government will do everything to prevent its credit rating from being downgraded. If France does suffer a rating cut, it would be the second triple A nation to suffer a downgrade after the United States.

Moody’s pointed out that the French government has less room to move in terms of stretching its balance sheet compared to 2008 when the global financial crisis occurred.

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Armonk, NY, United States (AHN) – International Business Machines Corp. is bent on retaining its hold as the number two most valuable company in the world by expanding its $22.5-billion software business.

IBM Senior Vice President Steve Mills says the firm, which has sold its hardware business and shifted to software development, plans to spend $100 million to $300 million to buy mid-sized firms.

The expansion aims to add another $20 billion in annual revenues by 2015, which would mean that IBM must double or triple the pace of sales growth at companies it plans to buy.

IBM’s success in software development, according to the company’s chief technology officer, Dr. Jai Menon, is providing clients with solutions that are flexible to meet their needs such as computing power, storage and memory requirements.

Menon said the IT industry needs to come up with data-centric computers from the current processing-centric computers that could extract and find information in data to aid human cognition. He explained that would involve moving away from machines that compute to those that could extract information from large amounts of unstructured data.

Software accounted for 86.9 percent of IBM’s gross margins out of the $99.9 billion the IT company earned in sales last year.

Since 2006, IBM has purchased about 50 software companies in areas such as data analysis, e-commerce, supply-chain management and computer security.

IBM last week surpassed Microsoft as the second most valuable company after its market capitalization reached $214 billion.

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