1 of 4. A damaged tank is seen at the Free Syrian Army controlled infantry college in the country side in Aleppo December 21, 2012.

DUBAI | Sat Dec 22, 2012 6:05am EST

DUBAI (Reuters) - The installation of Patriot anti-missile batteries sent by NATO members to bolster Turkey's defenses against a possible missile attack from Syria will only harm Turkey's security, Iran's defense minister was quoted as saying on Saturday.

NATO approved Turkey's request for the air defense system earlier this month, in a move meant to calm Ankara's fears of being hit by Syrian missiles.

Iran has strongly supported its Arab ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria as he attempts to suppress a 21-month-old uprising against his rule. Tehran opposes the installation of NATO missiles as Western interference in the region and has said it could lead to a "world war.

"The installation of Patriot missiles in Turkey plays no role in establishing Turkey's security and this harms the country of Turkey," Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). "The West has always pursued its viewpoints and interests and we disagree with the presence of Western countries in regional interactions."

Vahidi also denied that Iran is training Syrian forces to battle the rebels, ISNA reported. Iran considers itself, Syria's rulers and the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah as part of an "axis of resistance" against U.S. and Israeli power in the Middle East, but has denied accusations that it helping Assad militarily.

"Syria has no need for the training of its forces by the Islamic Republic of Iran, because Syria has a powerful military which has prepared itself for involvement with the Zionist regime (Israel)," Vahidi said.

(Reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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An elderly man walks with his cane amid shoppers at the Glendale Galleria shopping mall on Black Friday in Glendale, California November 28, 2008.

CHICAGO | Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:18am EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Last October seniors got some really good news about their Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. This October? Not so much.

This year seniors have benefited from the robust 3.6 percent 2012 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Adding to the good news, they learned Medicare premiums wouldn't take much of a nick out of their inflation raise.

Next year, the Social Security COLA for 2013 is expected to be 1.4 percent - and for many seniors, much of that will be eaten up by a higher Medicare Part B premium.

We won't get the final word on the 2013 Social Security COLA until October 16, after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases inflation numbers for September. But it's not looking good for retirees on a fixed income.

To reach the yearly COLA adjustment the Social Security Administration averages together third-quarter inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). July and August reports are pointing toward a COLA of just 1.4 percent.

However, many seniors won't even get that much because of the interplay of the COLA and premiums for Medicare Part B, which covers outpatient services. These two go hand in hand since the premium is deducted from most seniors' benefits.

Last year the Part B premium rose by a modest $3.50 per month, which meant seniors kept most of that large 3.6 percent COLA. For example, a senior receiving the average monthly Social Security benefit ($1,177) received a net 3.3 percent increase.

Experts expect the Part B premium to rise from 5 percent to 10 percent in 2013; the Medicare trustees said earlier this year that a 9.2 percent increase was most likely. That translates to a $9.20 monthly increase over this year's $99.90 premium. That means some seniors will see no net increase at all, while many others will get far less than 1.4 percent.

"It certainly isn't going to be enough to face the higher heating bills and all the other higher expenses seniors will face next year," says Mary Johnson, a Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League (SCL), a nonpartisan consumer advocacy group.

The likely paltry COLA will also add to the debate over what measure of inflation is most appropriate for determining Social Security's annual benefit adjustments.

WHO PAYS THE FREIGHT

Here's how it works. By law, most Medicare enrollees can't be charged a Part B premium that produces a net reduction in Social Security benefits. Assuming the Social Security and Medicare percentages come in as forecast, this "hold harmless" feature would protect seniors with Social Security benefits of $625 or lower, according to SCL.

Seniors with higher benefits would see a small inflation raise. A senior with a $1,000 monthly benefit would see a 0.48 percent net increase after the Part B adjustment; for a $1,500 monthly benefit, the net COLA would be 0.79 percent.

The hold-harmless provision doesn't protect three groups of beneficiaries: high-income seniors, new enrollees in Medicare this year (whose benefits can't decline from one year to the next), and low-income seniors who are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. (This last group doesn't pay the premium out of pocket anyway; state Medicaid programs pick up the costs.)

High-income beneficiaries include individuals with annual income starting at $85,000 (single filers) or $170,000 (joint filers), and move up from there.

This group pays full freight on the Part B premium, plus an income-based surcharge. And the surcharges aren't limited to Part B: Extra premiums also are charged for prescription drug plans (Part D) and Medicare Advantage plans (Part C).

THE UNCOLA

This year's small COLA will figure in Washington's discussion of selecting the best inflation measure for determining Social Security's annual benefit adjustments.

Many advocates for seniors argue that the CPI-W understates the inflation that affects seniors - mainly their healthcare expenses. They've been pushing for adoption of a more realistic measure that better reflects seniors' costs - an experimental index maintained by the BLS called the CPI-E (for elderly).

Meanwhile, the key federal deficit reduction plans that have been advanced in Washington advocates moving in the opposite direction. These plans have recommended adopting a measure of inflation called the "chained CPI." That index would rise more slowly than the current measure (the CPI-W).

That debate is apt to continue for some time. Meanwhile, next year's COLA looks like an "October surprise" for seniors on Social Security.

(The writer is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

(Editing by Chelsea Emery and Prudence Crowther)

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A BAE Systems sign is seen outside the company's Warton site near Preston, northern England, in this file picture taken October 1, 2009.

BIRMINGHAM, England | Sun Oct 7, 2012 9:27am EDT

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - The proposed $45 billion merger between EADS and BAE Systems must ensure British security and jobs are preserved, finance minister George Osborne said on Sunday, just three days before a deadline for detailing the deal.

Tensions over the supermerger have spilled into the open in recent days as France, Britain and Germany jockey over the role of the state in what would be the world's largest aerospace and arms group.

"Our approach to this has been to make it very clear that our priorities are of course the national security of the United Kingdom, second: jobs and investment in the UK," finance minister George Osborne told Sky television.

"Those are the tests against which we are judging the proposal brought to us by these two companies," Osborne said.

EADS and BAE announced plans for a merger last month, but their efforts have become snagged on differences over control between France and Germany, while there are also political concerns about jobs.

British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain would veto the deal if its "red line" conditions were not met.

The merged aerospace-defence group had to be free from the control of any one government, he told BBC radio.

"It is not necessary to have no French or German government interest in the company. It is necessary to reduce that stake below the level at which it can control or direct the way the company acts," Hammond said.

EADS is controlled by a pact between the French state and two core industrial shareholders, Lagardere and German carmaker Daimler. The trio collectively own 45 percent.

France wants to keep a stake but will not rule out adding more, while Germany wants to match France's role.

Britain's stake in BAE Systems is limited to a "golden share" that gives it the power of veto over the merger.

A person familiar with the negotiations said one of the points in dispute was where the new group would be based.

The German government would like an important part of the company, or indeed possibly its headquarters, to be based in Germany, the source said, adding: "It's like a round of collective bargaining".

Time is running out before a UK regulatory deadline of October 10 for a blueprint of the deal, which affects national security interests on both sides of the Atlantic.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, additional Reporting by Gernot Heller and Tim Castle, Editing by Matt Falloon and Mark Potter and Ron Askew.)

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TORONTO | Wed Aug 1, 2012 11:27pm EDT

TORONTO Aug 1 (Reuters) - Research in Motion refuted on Wednesday a new round of Indian media reports, which claim that the BlackBerry maker has granted the Indian government the encryption keys to its secure corporate email and messaging services.

India is one of the Canadian smartphone maker's few growing markets, where it is expanding aggressively. The company is facing falling sales elsewhere as customers abandon the BlackBerry in favour of Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices using Google Inc's Android software, leading to RIM's shares falling by more than 50 percent over the past one year.

RIM, which has been grappling with the Indian government for years, reiterated that it cannot provide access to its enterprise email and messaging services as the company itself does not possess the encryption keys for the same and these remain in the control of its corporate clients.

The Economic Times, in a report on its website that cited a telecom department official and certain documents reviewed, said that RIM had provided the Indian government a solution that gave it access to corporate emails.

RIM categorically denied this claim in a statement. It has more than once refuted similar claims in India over the last two years.

"RIM is providing an appropriate lawful access solution that enables India's telecom operators to be legally compliant with respect to their BlackBerry consumer traffic, to the same degree as other smartphone providers in India, but this does not extend to secure BlackBerry enterprise communications," said Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM in a statement.

RIM gave India access to its consumer services, including its Messenger services, in January last year after authorities raised security concerns, but said it could not allow monitoring of its enterprise email.

The Indian government is fearful that encrypted BlackBerry services could be used to foster unrest or allow militants to organize or carry out attacks.

'SECURE AND ENCRYPTED'

David Paterson, RIM's head of government relations, said he is positive that the Indian government recognizes encryption is fundamental to attracting and maintaining international business in the country and that it would not make any demands that could jeopardize foreign investment in India.

"The fact is that BlackBerry enterprise communications in India remain secure and encrypted. No change has been made or ever can be made in India or anywhere," he said in an interview.

RIM has also faced similar political pressures in the Middle East and elsewhere. It also blocked pornographic sites on its browsers in Indonesia last year following government pressure.

Enterprise clients -- corporations and government agencies signed up to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server -- are assigned encryption keys stored only on individual user accounts. For such users, any data sent from a BlackBerry is scrambled at the source and reconstituted on arrival at the receiving device.

RIM has long maintained that only the sponsoring business or organization has the technical capability to grant access to encrypted enterprise email.

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