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Iran has started up its first nuclear power plant, built by Russia in the southern city of Bushehr. Engineers from both countries are now loading fuel into the reactor under the strict control of the UN's atomic watchdog. Author and journalist Afshin Rattansi says the launch of the Bushehr plant is a victory for all nations independent of US hegemony.

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Iran is promising transparency and constructive interaction with the UN's nuclear watchdog. A few days ago, the EU's foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, called on Tehran to give evidence of its peaceful atomic intentions. In an exclusive interview for RT, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency insisted that Tehran has nothing to prove.

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The international atomic watchdog has called on Tehran to clear up all the outstanding questions on the matter. The U.S. has promised to introduce new sanctions against the country's oil industry. Washington also reportedly told Tehran to wrap up its nuclear programme by spring 2012, or it will stop holding back Israel's long-planned attack on the Islamic republic. Talk of such a strike has been heard from Israel in the past two weeks, following the IAEA's report that failed to disprove Iran's drive for nuclear weapons. But Dr Seyed Mohammad Marandi from Tehran University believes the only difference sanctions will make is expose Washington's weakening influence on the situation.

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Israel issues tenders for more settler units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds. Settlement watchdog, Peace Now says the tenders were published for a total of 18-hundred-59 settler units. According to the NGO, about two-fifths of the units will be built in occupied east Jerusalem al-Quds. The announcement comes only days after Israel gave the final approval for 15-hundred new settler units in east Jerusalem al-Quds. Israel\'s settlement activities have been a main obstacle in the so-called peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the move as a flagrant violation of international law, saying it plans to turn to the UN Security Council and international courts to stop Israel\'s illegal activities. Israel\'s settlement activities are illegal under international law.

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After a successful round of talks in Vienna between Iran and the I-A-E-A on October 29, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will travel to Tehran early next week for talks on nuclear inspections. The I-A-E-A press office says Yukia Amano will leave for Iran on Sunday to strengthen dialog and cooperation between the agency and Tehran. Iran and the Vienna-based nuclear organization began a fresh round of talks earlier this week. Amano said he made his decision to visit Iran because of the progress made in those talks.

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Iran hails world financial crisis as 'end of capitalism' Oct 15, 2008 TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian leaders say the world financial crisis indicates the end of capitalism, the failure of liberal democracy and divine punishment -- marking the superiority of the Islamic republic's political model. "The school of Marxism has collapsed and the sound of the West's cracking liberal democracy is now being heard," supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday, recalling the fate of the Soviet Union. Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is backed by Khamenei, said on Tuesday that "it is the end of capitalism." Such convictions can be traced back to the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which Ahmadinejad has sought to revive since he rose to power in 2005. The firebrand president, who has not missed a chance to denounce Western "decadence" since his election, has exploited the scale of the global crisis to play up his argument. He benefits from the luxury that the Tehran stock market has been unaffected by the losses that bourses in neighbouring Gulf states have suffered. That stability is attributable to the absence of foreign investors and to the government's firm grip on economic activity. Several Iranian newspapers, regardless of their reformist or conservative leanings, have also blamed the global economic crisis on excessive liberalism. And some officials, such as the head of Iran's electoral watchdog body, have come up with less conventional theories and branded the turmoil as "divine punishment." "These people see the outcome of their bad deeds. This problem has spread to Europe now which makes us happy. The unhappier they are the happier we become," Ayatollah Ali Janati, who heads the Guardians Council, said in last Friday's prayer sermon. Ahmadinejad has recently echoed that, saying "the reason of their defeat is that they have forgotten God and piety." The financial crisis should be a divine sign that "the oppressors and the corrupt will be replaced by the pious and believers," he said, adding that "an Islamic banking system will help us survive the current economic crisis." Ahmadinejad's administration favours such a system, based on interest-free lending, but the system has not been widely implemented and faces criticism by economists. Elected on a justice campaign, the president has gone on a spending spree to "bring the oil money to the tables" of Iranian people. But the cash injection to the economy has fuelled inflation, which has risen from around 10 percent at the time of his election to nearly 30 percent. For Iran's supreme leader, the crisis particularly signifies the superiority of the Islamic republic's political structure, which combines elements of democracy with those of a theocracy. Khamenei hailed the "victory of the Islamic revolution" in the face of Marxist and liberal ideologies. "Now there is no sign of Marxism in the world and even liberalism is declining," the all powerful leader said. The Iranian regime deems the concepts of democracy and human rights as "imperialist" tools to dominate other nations. The Islamic republic thus defends its electoral practice of vetting candidates running for public office according to their religious adherence and its judicial system, which resorts to the death penalty for serious crimes more than any country in the world except for China

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Israel is to allocate $ 250 million to further expand its settlements in the occupied West Bank territories over the next two years despite international objections. The figure is contained in the 2009-2010 budget, which passed its first reading in the Knesset (parliament) last week, army radio said Sunday. The move by the Knesset comes despite calls by the international community including Tel Aviv's staunch ally--Washington-- to Israel to halt its settlement expansion. Some 125 million dollars (90 million euros) is to be used for various security expenses, with most of the rest allocated to housing construction, the radio said. The Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog has declared that the settlement spending in the two-year budget could be far higher that by "spreading over several sections of budget." "The official figures are nothing but the tip of the iceberg and the Israelis will pay not only a political price for the settlements, but also an economic one," the head of the group Yariv Oppenheimer said. Israel's two-year 159-billion-dollar budget must pass two more readings in the Knesset. Israel's settlement activities have been described as the main obstacle in the way of peace process

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As Iran continues its efforts to cope with post-election unrest, Leader of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the country will deal with the crisis under the law while relying on national unity. The Leader said Sunday that legal measures were the only solution to the issues that the country has been facing since the 10th presidential elections on June 12. “The people\'s emotions, especially that of the youth, must not be toyed with and they should not be pitted against one another as the Iranian nation, regardless of the differences of opinion, is a united nation that has good relations with the [Islamic] establishment.” Ayatollah Khamenei went on to urge political parties not to play with one another\'s feelings and said, “If the nation and political elite are united in heart and mind, the incitement of international traitors and oppressive politicians will be ineffective.” The Leader\'s remarks came after certain European countries and the US condemned the measures taken by the Tehran government to restore stability in the country following the election, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win by a landslide. “They express their opinions about Iran in a manner that one would think all their other problems have been resolved and only the Iranian problem remains,” said Ayatollah Khamenei. “However, what they do not understand is that wherever they politically set foot in becomes tainted in the eyes of the Iranian nation.” “Their support will only have a negative effect as the Iranian nation knows during the eight-year sacred defense [the Iraq-Iran war] when their homes were bombarded and destroyed by missiles and chemical weapons were used against them, these governments showed no concern and [instead] aided the enemy of the Iranian nation.” Pointing to the crimes committed by the US and certain European countries against the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Palestine, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that their “concern and show of humanitarianism is not befitting of these governments and when they voice support for the Iranian nation and certain figures, their intentions are clear and the people are well aware of them.” Iran\'s Intelligence Minister has dismissed claims of vote-rigging in the presidential election, blaming the US and Israel for the spread of such rumors among the people. \"I announce that no organized rigging which could affect the result of the election has taken place,\" Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei said in an interview with IRIB\'s Channel Two on Sunday night. He said the nation\'s enemies conspired several months before the presidential election to stir unrest in the country and dissuade the Iranians from voting. \"Americans and Zionists sought to destabilize Iran ... they were upset with a stabilized and secure Iran ... even months before the election they started to talk about the possibility of vote-rigging in the election and they continued the course following the vote,\" Ejei said. He said the Iranian intelligence services were aware of US and Israeli plots to mar the election months before the vote, adding that Iran foiled some assassination attempts masterminded by Washington and Tel Aviv. Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of the presidential election with almost two-thirds of the votes. The announcement triggered opposition rallies in protest at the result with defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi calling for the result to be annulled. Ejei took a swipe at Mousavi, saying his demand for holding the election anew would undermine the credibility of the electoral system. The three defeated candidates -- Mousavi, Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei -- have lodged more than 600 alleged \'irregularities\' with the electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council. Mousavi and Karroubi believe these irregularities are enough for the election results to be annulled. However, the head of Iran\'s Electoral Office, Kamran Daneshjou, has criticized the complaints filed by the defeated presidential candidates for being \'too general\'. The Guardian Council has also stressed that there were no \'major\' irregularities in the presidential election.

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A senior cleric urges Iran's political parties to end their bitter row over the outcome of the June 12 presidential elections in the interest of the country. “The world has its eyes fixed on Iran's post-election developments,” said Tehran's Interim Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati. “So we need to end the ongoing dispute.” Iran became the scene of opposition rallies after the announcement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the winner of the 10th presidential election with nearly two-thirds of the vote. At least 20 people were killed and many others were injured when some protests turned violent. Iran's election watchdog, the Guardian Council, formed a "special commission" to look into the issues surrounding the election and to conduct a partial vote recount. “The Guardian Council has looked into the complaints in the past week and has provided evidence that proves the election process was fair and healthy right from the beginning,” said the Iranian Cleric. “This leaves no room for opposition.” He went on to warn that powers in the West would derive great benefits if the internal dispute continued to drag on

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IAEA resolution looms large on Israel Arab states remain adamant about bringing Israel to account for its nuclear activities by proposing a relevant draft resolution to UN's nuclear watchdog for its upcoming annual conference. As the 54th annual general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is set to convene next week, there is great international anticipation for a major focus on Tel Aviv's nuclear activities, after so many years of ignoring the issue. "The Arab Group urges to keep the item 'Israeli nuclear capabilities' on the agenda of the general conference and ... will submit a draft resolution," said the Sudanese envoy to the organization, Mahmound El-Amin on behalf of 22 Arab states, AFP reported. "The Arab Group requests the IAEA member states to support the draft resolution and vote in favor of it," he added. The Israeli regime is widely believed to have manufactured numerous nuclear warheads since 1958, a year after IAEA's inception. The agency, however, has so far refused to ratify any resolutions on Israel's nuclear activities. Former US President Jimmy Carter has attested to the existence of the Israeli nuclear arsenal, confirming that it includes between 200 to 300 warheads. Decades of recurrent reporting and aerial footage have also established the Israeli possession of atomic arms. The IAEA Director General, Yukiya Amano recently reported to the agency's Board of Governors about the nuclear program, saying that Tel Aviv was restricting the agency from examining its nuclear potentials. The report, however, merely calls on Tel Aviv to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and "place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards," with no enforcement or follow-up measures behind it. El-Amin called the report "weak and disappointing" and said that the organization uses "double standards" when it comes to Israel. Efforts by Arab states and other countries caused an NPT review conference in May to issue a statement, highlighting the importance of Tel Aviv's acceding to the treaty and its allowing the IAEA to fully inspect its nuclear sites. The United States, Israel's strongest ally, has served its Arab allies with a warning against supporting the draft resolution on Israel's nuclear activities, arguing that it poses risks to the renewed direct talks between the Tel Aviv regime and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Many Palestinian groups have already abandoned hope in the process, citing the White House's partiality in favor of the Israelis and arguing that the acting PA Chief, Mahmoud Abbas, does not represent most Palestinians. Article Source: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/142772.html

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In a TV story about a shooting that took place in a Chicago neighborhood a reporter chooses to talk to a 4 year old boy to get reaction. We apologize for the video quality but what's important here is what is said….Listen to how the news anchors promote the story...what the child says ..and how the rest of the story is read "Meanwhile two city teens are are wounded on the Southside near east 7th. There was 18 year old man and a 16 year old girl were hit The males in good condition and the girl is expected to recover. There children on the scene who all saw it al infold and had disturbing reaction. Child - No I'm not scared of nothing. Reporter- when you get older are you going to stay away from these guns Child - No Reporter - No What are you going to do when you get older Child - I'm gonna have me a gun Anchor - That is very scary indeed. So far no suspects in the shootings." At first, a viewer might think the children were hardened soon to be street criminals. But someone at Chicago's WBBM leaked the entire interview to journalism watchdog groups Again we apologize for what you see but listen to what the reporter and the child actually said. "Reporter - when you get older you gonna stay away fromall these guns Child - No Reporter - No Child - No Reporter - What are you going to do when you get older? Child - I'm gonna have me a gun Reporter - You are ( child nods) Why do you want to do that? Child - I'm gonna be the police Reporter - OK then I guess you can have one" The exchange was sent all over the internet as bloggers and media groups blasted the TV Station for editing the story in a way that made the community look more violent. The US Civil rights group the NAACP wants action taken against the reporter and the editor. In American communities of color, civic groups have long complained about how they are portrayed on television and in newspapers. While many now say this is proof positive of a pervasive and long standing trend in American media, others who watch the industry say its is and isolated incident. Journalism Scholar and author Al Tompkins spoke with WBBM's New Director. He tells Press TV the station has admitted they made a gross mistake and that personnel responsible were disciplined. WBBM would not return phone calls to Press TV but issued an apology that said in part “We accept responsibility for the mistakes that were made, both in the reporting and editing of the story. The video of the child should not have aired. ….we have followed up with our employees to make sure that we all have learned from the mistakes that were made.

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Pakistani Shias who make up nearly 20 percent of the country\'s 180 million population, has been the main target of sectarian violence. The menace has assumed deadly proportions with the beginning of the year 2013. Quetta witnessed the deadliest bombings this year with two suicide blasts that claimed the lives of over 200 Shia Muslims in the city. In another massacre, which shook the port city of Karachi, a powerful bomb with impact radius of over 700 meters exploded in a predominantly Shia neighborhood of Abbas Town. The targeted killings still continue unabated across Pakistan particularly the port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore, northern areas bordering China and northwestern Kurram agency. The Human right watchdog and other right groups point fingers towards the inaction of the government, which they say is not doing enough, or in some cases nothing. The Human Rights Watch in its last year\'s report says \"The Pakistani government should urgently act to protect the minority Shia Muslim community in Pakistan from sectarian attacks by Sunni militant groups. The government should hold accountable those responsible for ordering and participating in deadly attacks targeting Shia.\" On this week\'s INFocus we talk to Shia Muslims in Karachi to bring this issue to the limelight.

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Pakistani Shias who make up nearly 20 percent of the country\\\'s 180 million population, has been the main target of sectarian violence. The menace has assumed deadly proportions with the beginning of the year 2013. Quetta witnessed the deadliest bombings this year with two suicide blasts that claimed the lives of over 200 Shia Muslims in the city. In another massacre, which shook the port city of Karachi, a powerful bomb with impact radius of over 700 meters exploded in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Abbas Town. The targeted killings still continue unabated across Pakistan particularly the port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore, northern areas bordering China and north western Kurram agency. The Human right watchdog and other right groups point fingers towards the inaction of the government, which they say is not doing enough, or in some cases nothing. The Human Rights Watch in its last year\\\'s report says \\\"The Pakistani government should urgently act to protect the minority Shia Muslim community in Pakistan from sectarian attacks by Sunni militant groups. The government should hold accountable those responsible for ordering and participating in deadly attacks targeting Shia.\\\" On this week\\\'s INFocus we talk to Shia Muslims in Quetta to bring this issue to the limelight.

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The latest victim of Washington\'s spying scandal is Italy. Reports say America\'s spying agency snooped on everyday communications of Italians since 2010. The Italian spy watchdog called COPA-SIR recently learned that Italians too were under large scale monitoring by the US. Several Italian MPs have gone to Washington over the recent revelations. This comes as Mexican President Peno Nieto orders a probe into claims that the U-S spying agency hacked his and former President Felipe Calderon\'s emails. The allegations that Calderon was spied on from May 2010 were reported by German newspaper Der-Spiegel. The row coincides with reports that the NSA monitored millions of phone calls in France. The French government has called on the US to stop snooping on its citizens.

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he head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano says Iran has invited the UN nuclear watchdog to visit the Arak heavy water production plant in December. This marks the first concrete step under a cooperation agreement over Tehran\'s peaceful nuclear program.

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he United Nations Security Council has held a meeting to discuss the destruction of Syria\'s chemical weapons. The meeting comes as the world\'s chemical weapons watchdog prepares to ship Syria\'s chemical arms stockpile out of the country at the beginning of 2014.

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The United States has criticized the Syrian government for what it calls the slow pace in removing and destroying its chemical agents. Meanwhile, the U-S representative to the international chemical weapons watchdog has accused Damascus of delaying efforts to remove chemical agents from Syria. Robert Mikulak has told the Organization of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons\' executive council that one month after the deadline, only 4 percent of the most toxic chemicals has been removed. The Syrian government had no immediate comment but Damascus has insisted on the need to receive additional security equipment for shipping containers and high-tech electronics, to secure the convoys.

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Over the past 3 years, Egypt has turned into an inhospitable place for journalists to work in. In 2013, Egypt was listed as the third most dangerous country for a journalist to work in falling only after Iraq and Syria. According to a newly released report by the Press Freedom Watchdog, 2013 was one of the hardest years for media personnel in Egypt -- both under former president Mohamed Morsi and months that followed his removal. Violations against the press ranged from physical attacks to legal persecution under the pretext of spreading false information Last year, six journalists were killed while on the job. Another danger faced by journalists in Egypt is a growing distrust of the public against foreign news organizations.