On Saturday Pope Francis will lead thousands in St Peter’s Square in a prayer vigil for peace.

During his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis said: “We will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace.”

The vigil will include a recital of the rosary, eucharistic adoration, Scripture readings, a papal blessing and remarks by Pope Francis, said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi. During the event, which will last from 7 p.m.-11 p.m, priests will be available to hear confessions.

For all Catholics, the Pope has proclaimed Saturday a “day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East and throughout the world.” On fast days, adult Catholics in good health are expected to eat only one full meal.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/09/03/pope-calls-all-catholics-to-pray-and-fast-for-syria-on-saturday/

Source: Associated Press

Iran's foreign minister says he sent a message on Twitter saying "Happy Rosh Hashana," a local news website reported, in what is likely a small diplomatic step toward easing the hostilities between his nation and Israel.

Mohammad Javad Zarif told tasnimnews.com in an article published late Thursday night that he sent the message because Iran has a small Jewish community. But the message comes as Israel and Iran view each other with suspicion and contempt over Iran's nuclear program and former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denials that the Holocaust took place.

A subsequent Zarif's tweet read: "Iran never denied it. The man who perceived to be denying it is now gone. Happy New Year." It came after an account attributed to Christine Pelosi, daughter of U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, replied to Zarif's Rosh Hashana tweet with: "The New Year would be even sweeter if you would end Iran's Holocaust denial, sir."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Iran-s-FM-confirms-he-sent-Rosh-Hashana-tweet-4791352.php

But on Aug. 4, Sunni rebels positioned in Salma and Doreen captured Blouta and 10 other Alawite villages before dawn. Some 105 Alawite women and children were taken hostage in the raids. Although regime forces won back the villages 15 days later, the captives remain in the custody of Katibat il Muhajiroon, or the Battalion of Emigrants, a hard-line group of foreign fighters led by a Libyan, Abu Jaafar il Libi.

"At first I thought it couldn't be true," said Talal, speaking from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. He called his wife's cellular phone. Somebody picked up but didn't speak.

"I could hear screams and cries and shouts of 'Allahu akbar' (God is great)," and then the line went dead, said Talal. He called and sent text messages requesting information about his family. All went unanswered.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/5/an-alawite-man-shopetoreunitewithhiscapturedfamily.html

Video of the hostages:

Crime statistics and a Gender Scorecard compiled by women's rights activists have put chilling new perspective on an age-old social ill in India: Bride-burning and other "dowry crimes" take the life of a woman every hour.

Despite a rapidly expanding middle class, enviable economic growth and measurable strides in modernization since India's 1947 independence, dowry deaths continue to rise year on year, as does the related plague of "cruelty by husband and relatives" -- the crime defined as torture committed against women in pursuit of more marriage bounty from their parents.

India's National Crime Records Bureau last week reported that 8,233 Indian women were killed in 2012 in dowry-related violence, or nearly one per hour. The incidence of dowry deaths grew by nearly 3% over the previous five years, and torture at the hands of a husband or family increased by 5.4%, with 99,135 cases reported by survivors in 2011.

The scope of the problems is likely to be wider than the statistics suggest, as many women and their parents are reluctant to seek prosecution for fear of scandal that would destroy their other daughters' chances of getting married, analysts say.

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-india-dowry-deaths-20130904,0,7340130.story

Some pundit said when he tossed it to congress to vote, he already knew the outcome or had calculated the votes. That made sense to me.

Now we hear it's going to be a lopsided vote in the house.

Throwing it to congress put the congressional war mongers in the crosshairs of the anti-war public, (polling 93% against the war).

The president can go to the next AIPAC conference and say, "I tried to help you guys, why did YOU GUYS let me down in congress".

Plus we're not talking about other things...

win-win-win

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/9132644/Leaders-exchange-small-talk-amid-tensions/

While hitting the breakfast television circuit on Thursday, Palmer also made accusations on the Nine Network's Today show about Murdoch's estranged wife, Wendi Deng.

"You know, Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng is a Chinese spy, and that's been right across the world," he alleged.

"She's been spying on Rupert for years, giving money back to Chinese intelligence. Read the truth about it.

"She was trained in southern China. I'm telling you the truth, I'm telling you the truth.''

A stunned Today host Karl Stefanovic interrupted Palmer, questioning whether he had "lost the plot".

But Palmer continued: "Wendy Deng is a Chinese spy, that's why Rupert Murdoch got rid of her, and that's the truth. And this guy wants tocontrol Australian politics.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/9130313/Rupert-Murdochs-wife-is-a-Chinese-spy

They're fed up with the state legislators who focus on California's big-city needs. They're tired of bureaucrats in Sacramento who govern from afar and by decree.

And they're still miffed they didn't win their sovereignty when they had the chance more than 70 years ago.

So on Tuesday, supervisors in the far northern province of Siskiyou County decided to make things right: They voted to secede from California.

In a 4-1 vote that revitalized a regional secession movement that supporters hope will one day lead to creation of the new state of Jefferson, county supervisors approved a declaration that called for breaking away from the Golden State.

Far from a symbolic ploy, the secessionists hope their bold gesture will inspire supervisors in neighboring counties to take a stand, follow suit and join the cause. Granted, independent statehood would still require the highly unlikely approval of state and federal lawmakers - but Jefferson rebels say they're still true believers.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Feisty-Siskiyou-County-votes-to-secede-from-state-4787299.php

Al-Qaida-linked rebels launched an assault Wednesday on a regime-held Christian village in the densely populated west of Syria and new clashes erupted near the capital, Damascus — part of a brutal battle of attrition each side believes it can win despite more than two years of deadlock.

As the world focused on possible U.S. military action against Syria, rebels commandeered a mountaintop hotel in the village of Maaloula and shelled the community below, said a nun, speaking by phone from a convent in the village. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The attack came hours before a Senate panel voted to give President Barack Obama authority to use military force against Syria — the first time lawmakers have voted to allow military action since the October 2002 votes authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-09-04/french-parliament-to-debate-syria-strikes

Ma'loula or Maaloula (Aramaic: מעלולא‎, Maʿlūlā; Arabic: معلولا‎ Maʿlūlā ) is a village in the Rif Dimashq Governorate in Syria. The town is located 56 km to the northeast of Damascus, and built into the rugged mountainside, at an altitude of more than 1500 metres. It is known as one of three places where Western Aramaic is still spoken, the other two being the nearby villagesJubb Adin and Bakh'a.

Thousands of people in one of Africa’s poorest countries are going hungry because of a biofuels “land grab” by a firm that receives funding from the Department for International Development, a charity claims.

ActionAid accuses the Swiss company Addax Bioenergy of threatening livelihoods in rural communities in Sierra Leone, where it runs an extensive sugar-cane plantation.

Addax, which will soon begin the first commercial shipping of biofuels from Africa to Europe, receives funding from a UK-based development fund that received just under $150m (£97m) from DfID in 2012-13.

The Addax project, set up in 2008, saw the company take a 50-year lease on 57,000 hectares of land in the Makeni region of northern Sierra Leone. Due to begin exporting in 2014, the project will produce 85 million litres of ethanol a year, for petrol – enough to meet 12 per cent of the UK’s ethanol consumption in 2011/12.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/biofuel-project-funded-by-uk-leaves-africans-without-food-8793617.html