Six In The Morning

Elite Iranian unit’s commander says his forces are in Syria

　

By Babak Dehghanpisheh, Monday, September 17
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said Sunday that members of its elite Quds Force are inside Syria but are not involved directly in military work, the first time a senior official has publicly admitted the involvement of Iranian military personnel in the Syrian conflict. The Iranian’s comments are one of the clearest signs yet that the conflict in Syria has evolved into a broader regional showdown with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah supporting the government of President Bashar al- Assad and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar supporting the rebels. Both sides have been accused of funneling arms into the country.

Whatever happened to Occupy?
A year ago, thousands converged on Wall Street, leading to a wave of global anti-capitalist protests. Laurie Penny visits Zuccotti Park in New York and talks to the remaining 'Occupiers' trying to rejuvenate the movement

LAURIE PENNY MONDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2012
Rina can't sleep. It's two-thirty in the morning and on Wall Street, on a small strip of pavement outside Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, about 50 people are sleeping rough. They are rolled in blankets and sleeping bags, hoods pulled up around their ears against the drone of traffic and far-away sirens. One police car is on patrol to keep an eye on them. They smoke and ask passers-by for water. Some of them are a bit grubby. A slogan chalked on the pavement reads: "The dirty ones are on Wall Street." There's a point being made with this strategic sleeping.

Japan-China island dispute prompts more protest
China has declared successful its recent naval patrol of disputed islands claimed by Japan, after a second day of anti-Japanese protests. The mass protests, rare in China, were overseen by police squads.


China's news agency Xinhua quoted the deputy head of China Marine Surveillance, Xiao Huiwu, as saying the ships' transit through island waters on Friday had "demonstrated China's jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets." Japan, which calls the island group Senkaku, on Sunday called on China to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens and businesses. "This situation is a great disappointment," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told Japanese television. "I would like to urge the Chinese government to protect their safety."

British press slams 'perverts, peeping Toms' over topless Kate pics
September 17, 2012 - 9:11AM

Megan Levy Breaking news reporter
The British press has branded the editors of a French magazine that published topless photographs of Kate Middleton as "grinning perverts" while the photographer has been labelled a "peeping tom" as the royal family deals with its second nude photo scandal in as many months. Even the notorious tabloid The Sun, which sensationally ran photographs of Prince Harry naked in Las Vegas and regularly features topless glamour models on page three, has described the photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge lounging by a pool as "grossly intrusive" and shots that no decent British newspaper would "touch with a bargepole".

Mohamed Morsi: A spectacular balancing act
Egypt's president has the ability to dominate domestic politics. Now he has to find a way to appease the US after the embassy attack.

16 SEP 2012 10:03 - IAN BLACK
Mohamed Morsi struck a pose that hovered between the dignified and uncomfortable as he spoke in the sprawling headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels on Thursday. Egypt's president was seeking a €1-billion loan he hoped would be a lifeline for his country's ailing economy. Unfortunately, the issue in the spotlight was the attack on the US embassy in Cairo two days earlier. Until then Morsi had said only that he was ordering Egypt's foreign ministry to sue the US makers of the film Innocence of Muslims—the tacky, low-budget 14-minute trailer that triggered protests across the Arab and Islamic worlds and provided cover for a pre-planned armed assault that killed the US ambassador to neighbouring Libya.

Report: Iranian bounty on author Salman Rushdie raised
An Iranian religious foundation has reportedly raised the amount it would pay for the killing of Salman Rushdie, author of a novel considered blasphemous by Iranian clerics.

By Nasser Karimi, Associated Press / September 16, 2012
A semi-official religious foundation in Iran has increased a reward it had offered for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie to $3.3 million from $2.8 million, a newspaper reported, days after protests coursed through the Muslim world over alleged insults to the prophet Muhammad. Hardline Jomhoori Eslami daily and other newspapers reported on Sunday that the move appeared to be linked to protests over an amateurish anti-Islam film, which crowds in some 20 countries said drove them to defend their faith — in some cases by attacking American embassies.