Hassan Rouhani takes early lead in Iran Election

Via various online sources

Moderate reformist candidate Hassan Rouhani has taken an early lead in the Iran Presidential Elections. Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is coming in second place.  Informed sources say the voter turnout in Iran’s 11th presidential election has been around 80 percent, Press TV reports. With 2.9m ballots counted, the cleric had 1.46m votes, or 49.87%, well ahead of Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, with 488,000 votes, or 16.65%.

Obama, Romney hold round 3 presidential debate

Via Press TV

US President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney have held the third and final debate of the US presidential campaign, which focused on international affairs.

On Monday, Obama and Romney met for the 90-minute debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, the biggest swing state.

The debate touched on a broad range of issues, including the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the threat of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, and the US-led war in Afghanistan. The two candidates also talked about Iran's nuclear energy program and trade with China.

Romney faulted President Obama's leadership on the Middle East.

"We certainly can't kill our way out of the mess," the former Massachusetts governor said.

Obama responded by saying Romney had changed his position on foreign policy over and over again and warned that he lacked the consistency needed to be a commander-in-chief.

"On a whole range of issues, whether it is in the Middle East, Afghanistan, whether it is in Iraq, whether it is in Iran, you have been all over the map," the president said.

And he challenged Romney's claim that he had run down the armed forces to levels not seen since early in the 20th century.

"You mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed," he said to laughter from the audience.

On Syria, Romney said he did not want military intervention in the country. Instead, Washington should play a bigger role in financing and arming the insurgents, he suggested.

Obama also voiced support for the armed groups fighting against the Syrian government.

“…we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we are helping the opposition. But we also have to recognize that for us to get more entangled militarily in Syria is a serious step," Obama said.

Both candidates repeated the accusation that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons and expressed strong support for Israel, the only player in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons.

"Israel is a true friend. It is our greatest ally in the region. And if Israel is attacked, America will stand with Israel. I've made that clear throughout my presidency," Obama said.

The 57th US presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 6, 2012.

Zionist and Al Qaeda: No difference

Via Press TV

The CEO of Press TV says the al-Qaeda and the Zionists act in the same ways when it comes to committing crimes.

“The Zionists and the Americans, who are apparently the al-Qaeda’s enemies, have gone to the point that today their infantry, which is al-Qaeda, commits the same crimes that the Zionists did in Lebanon and Palestine,” Dr. Mohammad Sarafraz said in an interview with IRIB late Thursday.

Regarding the assassination of Press TV’s correspondent in Syria, Maya Nasser, Sarafraz said that Naser and his colleagues had received 'numerous death threats' months before his murder.

He said the Press TV and Al-Alam Damascus Bureau had received numerous threatening messages over the past few months, adding journalists working for the two Iranian news networks had been directly and repeatedly threatened with death.

Sarafraz said that such threats were part of Western efforts to block the free flow of news dissemination on the regional developments including what is going on in Syria.

"The enemy now targets the free flow of news dissemination and anyone trying to express views that are different from the enemies is either intimidated as part of the psychological warfare so that they fail to do their job efficiently, or the threats are actually carried out and the news person is assassinated,” the top IRIB official added.

Insurgents in the Syrian capital of Damascus attacked Press TV staff, killing the Iranian English-language news network’s correspondent, Maya Naser, and injuring Press TV and Al-Alam Damascus Bureau Chief Hosein Mortada, on Wednesday.

Naser was shot and killed by a sniper, while Mortada, a Lebanese national, was shot and wounded in the back.

The two were covering twin bomb blasts, which targeted the military command building in the Syrian capital and killed at least four Syrian security forces.

Who is Fooling Who? Netanyahu has lost his wits over Iran: Mofaz

Via Press TV

The three integral men

The leader of the Israeli opposition party Kadima has blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his war rhetoric against Iran, saying the hawkish premier has “lost his wits”.

“He seems to have lost his wits, and rather than making thought-out, responsible decisions, he is creating the sense of an impending war,” Shaul Mofaz said Sunday, following his last week’s meeting with Netanyahu where they discussed Iran.

Netanyahu seemed “confused, stressed out and unfocused” over the issue of Iran, Mofaz added.

“The prime minister has lost the faith of the security chiefs, United States President [Barack] Obama, and [Israeli] President Shimon Peres,” said Mofaz. “This is a bankrupt leadership.”

He added that there is a direct relation between Tel Aviv’s bellicose rhetoric against Iran and the economic woes in Israel.

“You cannot put the country into the frenzy of war,” he said. “There is a direct correlation between the talk of war, the economic situation, and people’s despair.”

Recently, thousands of Israelis have held demonstrations in Tel Aviv, protesting against social inequality and the government’s austerity measures.

Israeli demonstrators, furious and concerned about a potential Israeli attack on Iran, have also been protesting against the warmongering policies of the Israeli regime in the recent months.

Mofaz also supported the remarks made earlier Sunday morning by former Israeli Supreme Court justice Eliyahu Winograd, who described the talk by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak about an aggression on Iran as “extremely irresponsible.”

According to Mofaz, Winograd “joins a long list of people” who have expressed strong opposition to a possible Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic.

“Winograd’s primary arguments against an early strike have also been voiced by every head of the defense establishment, the president of the United States, and an ongoing stream of highly placed administration visitors” to Israel, Mofaz said.

The US, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program with Tel Aviv repeatedly threatening Tehran with a military strike.

Iran refutes the allegations and maintains that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has every right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Iranian officials have also promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country.

When will institutional racism end in America?

Via PressTV

New York City Police has shot dead a 51 year old African America for wielding a knife at them.  Police spokesman Paul Browne said on Sunday that officers approached Darrius Kennedy while he was smoking, he became nervous, and pulled out a knife from his pocket.
Officers fired twelve shots at Kennedy, and he was hit seven times -- three times in the chest, twice in the left arm, once in the left calf, and once in the groin.
The two police officers, who were involved in the excessive use of force, have been placed on administrative duty.
Officers said Kennedy was wielding a knife and the shots were in self-defense. However, the victims’ family argued that the situation should have been handled better.
In an interview with Press TV on April 16, Malcolm X’s grandson, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, said that African Americans are murdered with impunity in the US because the system is unjust. 

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/13/255955/nyc-police-kills-african-american-man/