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Purveyor's Journal42 Killed, 63 Wounded In Violence In Iraq
Source: Xinhua
BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 42 people were killed and 63 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq on Sunday, government sources said.
Up to 30 people were killed and about 40 wounded in a suicide bombing attack against a mosque in Mussaiyb town, south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.
A suicide bomber blew up himself before the sunset at a funeral held at al-Hussien mosque in Mussaiyb, some 50 km south of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, up to six people were killed in a series of explosions in the city of Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.
Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-09/29/c_132762510.htm
Russian Defense Minister Unveils Russia’s Wartime Plan
MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian defense minister unveiled Russia’s wartime plan on Friday, saying that private and state companies should be ready to provide the Russian armed forces with everything they need in case of a military conflict.
He said that oil companies, such as Gazprom, LUKoil and Rosneft “should have such reserves, procurement plans and contracts concluded beforehand.”
“These companies should clearly know, what, when and at what time they should send to us,” he said.
The same applies to transport and power generation companies, such as Russia’s rail monopoly RZD, state-run hydroelectric power holding company RusHydro and others, Shoigu said.
He said the state’s National Defense Center, acting as the general headquarters for the Supreme High Command in wartime, will be built on Moscow’s Frunzenskaya embankment.
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http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130928/183803977/Defense-Minister-Unveils-Russias-Wartime-Plan.html
New Commercial Supply Ship Reaches International Space Station After One-Week Delay
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's newest delivery service made its first-ever shipment to the International Space Station on Sunday, another triumph for the booming commercial space arena that has its sights set on launching astronauts.
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s unmanned cargo ship, the Cygnus, pulled up at the orbiting lab with a half-ton of meals and special treats for the station astronauts who assisted in the high-flying feat.
With the smooth linkup, Orbital Sciences of Virginia became only the second company to accomplish such a far-flung shipment. The California-based SpaceX company took the lead last year.
NASA officials along with White House representatives declared it a historic day.
"It was just a very, very impressive job ... I just couldn't be happier and more proud," said the NASA manager overseeing this commercial effort, Alan Lindenmoyer.
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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/u-s-world/new-commercial-supply-ship-reaches-international-space-station-after-one-week-delay
Iranian Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Facility Inspections Possible To Open Negotiations
Source: Associated Press
By PHILIP ELLIOTT | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 3 hours, 20 minutes ago in Politics
Iran would open its nuclear facilities to international inspectors as part of broad negotiations with the United States that could eventually restore diplomatic relations between the adversaries and those talks have the backing of the nation's supreme leader, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Sunday.
Zarif also said the United States and its allies must end their crippling economic sanctions as part of any deal. The Western-educated Zarif again repeated Tehran's position that it has no desire for nuclear weapons but has the right to continue a peaceful nuclear program.
"Negotiations are on the table to discuss various aspects of Iran's enrichment program. Our right to enrich is nonnegotiable," Zarif said during an English-language interview that comes amid a significant shift in U.S.-Iranian relations.
At the same time, Zarif's deputy tried to calm hard-liners' fears at home. "We never trust America 100 percent," Abbas Araghchi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars News Agency, which has close ties to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.
Read more: http://www.newser.com/article/da946hhg0/iranian-foreign-minister-says-nuclear-facility-inspections-possible-to-open-negotiations.html
Inspectors Explain How They Plan To Halt Syria's Ability To Manufacture Chemical Weapons
By TOBY STERLING | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 32 minutes ago in World
Inspectors who will oversee Syria's destruction of its chemical weapons said Sunday their first priority is to help the country scrap its ability to manufacture such arms by a Nov. 1 deadline _ using every means possible.
The chemical weapons inspectors said that may include smashing mixing equipment with sledgehammers, blowing up delivery missiles, driving tanks over empty shells or filling them with concrete, and running machines without lubricant so they seize up and become inoperable.
On Friday, the U.N. Security Council ordered the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help Syria destroy its chemical weapons by mid-2014.
On Sunday, inspectors met with media in The Hague to explain their current plan of action, which is to include an initial group of 20 leaving for Syria on Monday.
The organization allowed two inspectors to speak on condition of anonymity out of concern for their safety amid Syria's civil war; both are veteran members of the OPCW. Spokesman Michael Luhan said the men "are going to be deeply involved in Syria."
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http://www.newser.com/article/da948spo0/inspectors-explain-how-they-plan-to-halt-syrias-ability-to-manufacture-chemical-weapons.html
Borowitz Report: Boehner Advises Americans to Delay Getting Cancer for a Year
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a special Sunday radio address, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) delivered a health tip to the American people, advising them to delay getting cancer for a year.
“We’re involved in a high-stakes fight over our freedom from centralized government control of our lives,” said Mr. Boehner, speaking on behalf of his House colleagues. “You can do your part by delaying getting cancer.”
He added that heart disease, emphysema, and diabetes were among a laundry list of conditions that would be “patriotic to avoid for a year.”
“If you delay getting any of these things for the next twelve months, together we will win this fight,” he said.
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http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/09/boehner-advises-americans-to-delay-getting-cancer-for-a-year.html
Rouhani’s Iran Backers Come to His Defense After Jeers
By Ladane Nasseri and Yeganeh Salehi - Sep 29, 2013
Hassan Rouhani’s supporters came to his defense today after the Iranian president was jeered by opponents on his arrival in Tehran over the weekend for a phone conversation with President Barack Obama.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said the call underscored Iran’s “position of strength,” according to comments published in Shargh, the most popular pro-Rouhani newspaper in Tehran. “This shows that Iran has a notable status in the world for the U.S. president to be keen to show his respect,” Boroujerdi said.
--CLIP
Positive Policies
The division illustrates the balance Rouhani needs to strike between delivering on his pledges to ease sanctions on his country by engaging with world powers including the U.S., while not giving pretexts to conservative entities within the Iranian establishment to condemn his government as surrendering to Western nations.
“I hope Rouhani’s efforts work and Iranians start feeling an improvement in social and economic conditions soon,” Mansour, a 69 year-old retired oil engineer, who like others interviewed for this article asked only to be identified by his first name for security reasons. “I hope Americans do not act in a disappointing way and Iran’s conservatives let the president continue his positive policies.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-29/rouhani-s-iran-backers-come-to-his-defense-after-jeers.html
Netanyahu’s Tough Talk On Iran May Find A Less Receptive Audience
By Joel Greenberg | McClatchy Foreign Staff
JERUSALEM — A year ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu captured international attention when he drew a red line on a cartoon likeness of a bomb during a speech at the United Nations on Iran’s nuclear program.
When he addresses the world body on Tuesday, a day after meeting President Barack Obama, he will face a more daunting task.
A diplomatic offensive at the United Nations last week by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s new president, topped off by Rouhani’s phone conversation Friday with Obama have challenged Netanyahu to get his message across in a changed diplomatic landscape.
With Washington moving to negotiate with Iran about its nuclear program, Israeli officials have voiced concern about a possible weakening of economic sanctions and postponement of any military threat that could stop what they say is Tehran’s steady advance toward a nuclear bomb.
Officials say Netanyahu will present evidence of continued Iranian efforts to attain a nuclear weapon and urge the U.S. and other nations not to be taken in by what has been dubbed here as Rouhani’s charm offensive.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/29/203568/netanyahus-tough-talk-on-iran.html#storylink=cpy
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Blasts ‘Irresponsible’ Government Shutdown Threat
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, September 29, 2013 6:29 EDT
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel slammed Republican lawmakers as “astoundingly irresponsible” for threatening to shut down the government over a short-sighted political whim.
If Congress fails to agree on a new budget measure by the close of the fiscal year on Monday, officials estimate that about half of the Pentagon’s nearly 800,000 civilian workers would be placed on unpaid leave.
The US military’s nearly 1.4 million troops would stay on the job but without pay.
“When you look at the greatest democracy in the world, the largest economy in the world putting our people through this, that’s not leadership, that’s abdication of responsibilities,” Hagel told reporters on his plane as he headed to South Korea.
“This is an astoundingly irresponsible way to govern.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/29/defense-secretary-chuck-hagel-blasts-irresponsible-government-shutdown-threat/
Robert Reich Documentary ‘Inequality For All’ Is A Compelling Class Lecture On The U.S. Economy
Documentaries about economic and social ills too often turn into glorified PowerPoint displays. For all its acclaim and worthiness, that essentially describes “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“Inequality for All,” a documentary featuring Clinton administration Labor Secretary and current University of California, Berkeley, professor Robert Reich, does a bit better, perhaps because Reich, unlike Al Gore, is eminently unstiff. He’s an engaging host for what otherwise might be, well, a PowerPoint display.
Directed by Jacob Kornbluth, the film follows Reich as he crisscrosses the country on the speaking circuit. Interspersed are clips and stills from his past, including stints in the Ford and Carter administrations, as well as snippets from his large “Wealth and Poverty” classroom lectures at Berkeley.
Reich’s thesis, complete with the requisite array of graphs and flow charts, is derived from his recent book, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” He demonstrates, with breathtaking efficiency, that the 400 wealthiest people in America make more than the bottom 150 million people combined.
From this Reich derives much woe: serial financial crises, societal polarization and rage, and the diminishment of the middle class, whose wages, adjusted for inflation, have stagnated or dropped. (Paul Krugman in The New York Times recently reported that, again adjusted for inflation, the income of the top 1 percent rose 31 percent from 2009 to 2012, but the real income of the bottom 40 percent fell 6 percent.)
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/28/robert-reich-documentary-inequality-for-all-is-a-compelling-class-lecture-on-the-u-s-economy/
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