OBAMA MADE A HISTORICAL TELEPHONE CALL TO THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT, ROUHANI

Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani held the first direct talks between American and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exchanging pleasantries in a 15-minute telephone call on Friday that raised the prospect of relief for Tehran from crippling economic sanctions.

Speaking at the White House shortly after the historic call, Obama said his discussion with Rouhani had shown the "basis for resolution" of the dispute over Iran nuclear programme.

The conversation, in which Obama communicated his "deep respect for the Iranian people", capped a week of diplomatic breakthroughs. Rouhani ended a five-day visit to New York for the UN general assembly with a striking offer to work rapidly to defuse tensions

MESSI AND FATHER APPEAR IN COURT OVER TAX EVASION ALLEGATION

The 26-year-old Argentine, four times Fifa World Player of the Year, and his father Jorge Messi are accused of defrauding the authorities of more than 4m euros ($5.4m; £3.4m).

They are suspected of using companies abroad - in Belize and Uruguay - to sell the rights to use Messi's image.

They both deny the allegations, which date back to 2007-09.

'Tougher line'

The striker gave a thumbs up as he arrived at the court in Gava - the affluent Barcelona district where he lives.

Messi and his father are being questioned in a closed-court session. They are accused of three counts of defrauding the Spanish state of taxes.

MUSLIM GROUP PROTEST AGINST 2013 BEAUTY PAGEANT

Security concerns are growing on the Hindu-majority holiday island of Bali, where the Miss World final is due to take place Saturday, despite hardline protests from Muslim groups and warnings that extremists could attack the pageant they deem un-Islamic.

Indonesia is officially secular, but protests by Islamic radicals in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country have pushed the authorities to move the event to Bali, instead of near the capital, Jakarta.

But things haven't calmed down, and the radicals

HOW TO MANAGE AN AVERAGE EMPLOYEE

by Sandy Pepin

As a manager or leader, you have a great opportunity to shape the experience of those on your team. You’re in the perfect spot to find out what makes them tick, positively impact their growth, and open up the road ahead of them so they can do their best work.

But when everybody’s busting a gut in the interest of doing great work, the guy who’s coasting along and doing “average” work easily stands out. Always leaving the office on time, not delivering anything over and above what’s expected, and stubbornly refusing to excel, his apparent lack of investment in the job can give you a delicate and thorny problem to deal with.

Urging your “average” performers to step up and

deliver or giving them a blistering personnel review won’t help one bit, so here are three better ways to navigate the situation.

1. Ask Them What Matters

Just because an employee doesn’t seem to

HOW TO MANAGE AN AVERAGE EMPLOYEE

by Sandy Pepin

As a manager or leader, you have a great opportunity

to shape the experience of those on your team. You’re in the perfect spot to find out what makes them tick, positively impact their growth, and open up the road ahead of them so they can do their best work.

But when everybody’s busting a gut in the interest of doing great work, the guy who’s coasting along and doing “average” work easily stands out. Always leaving the office on time, not delivering anything over and above what’s expected, and stubbornly refusing to excel, his apparent lack of investment in the job can give you a delicate and thorny problem to deal with.

Urging your “average” performers to step up and

PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S SPEECH AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY YESTERDAY. A MUST READ!

The President of the 68th Session of the

General

Heads of State and Government;

The Secretary-General;

Distinguished Delegates;

Ladies and Gentlemen

Assembly;

Mr President,

1.    On behalf of the Government and People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I salute you as you preside over the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.  I assure you of the full support and cooperation of the Nigerian delegation.

2.    I also wish to extend our commendation to the Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and place on record, Nigeria’s appreciation for his focused

KENYA SIEGE: GOVERNMENT SETS TO FORCEFULLY FREE HOSTAGE

Referring to an operation under way since earlyon Sunday, following the storming of the upmarket Westgate mall at lunchtime the previous day, a military spokesman said most of those who had been in the complex were now free.

He made no mention of killing or capturing militants but said commanders hoped to end the operation "very, very soon". Reuters journalists outside the mall heard only very occasional gunfire and an explosion. There was no clear word on the fate of people said to be held by a dozen or so gunmen in a supermarket.

Al Shabaab in Somalia said its fighters

were demanding Kenya pull out troops from its northern neighbor, where they have put the al Qaeda-affiliated group on the defensive in the past two

KENYA SIEGE: GOVERNMENT SETS TO FORCEFULLY FREE HOSTAGES

Referring to an operation under way since earlyon Sunday, following the storming of the upmarket Westgate mall at lunchtime the previous day, a military spokesman said most of those who had been in the complex were now free.

He made no mention of killing or capturing militants but said commanders hoped to end the operation "very, very soon". Reuters journalists outside the mall heard only very occasional gunfire and an explosion. There was no clear word on the fate of people said to be held by a dozen or so gunmen in a supermarket.

Al Shabaab in Somalia said its fighters

OUR CHEMICAL WEAPON WILL TAKE TIME AND MONEY TO BE DESTROYED--- ASSAD

President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday it would cost about $1 billion to get rid of Syria's chemical weapons under a U.S.-Russian deal reached last week.In an interview, Assad said his government would dispose of its chemical weapons arsenal and it would take about a year, Assad said.

"I think it is a very complicated operation technically and it needs a lot, a lot of money. Some estimated about a billion for the Syrian stockpile," he said.Asked whether he would be willing to hand over chemical weapons to the U.S. government, Assad said:"As I said, it needs a lot of money. It needs about 1 billion. It is very detrimental to the environment. If the American administration is ready to pay this money and take the responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

Assad denied that his forces were responsible

SYRIA CRISIS: REBELS BEHIND CHEMICAL ATTACK--RUSSIA

MOSCOW: Syria has turned over materialsRussia which aim to show that a chemical weapons attack last month was carried out by the rebels, a top Russian diplomat visiting Damascus says the August 21 attack precipitated the current high tensions over Syria's chemical weapons and sparked a plan under which Syria is to abandon the weapons. A report by UN investigators confirmed that chemical weapons were used Aug. 21 but did not say by which side in Syria's civil war.

On Wednesday, the deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkovwas quotedas saying that Syria told Russian officials the material "bears witness

THE FOUR GANG RAPISTS IN INDIA SENTENCED TO DEATH

An Indian court Friday sentenced to death fourmen for the gang rape and murder of a young New Delhi woman, ordering them to the gallows for a brutal attack that riveted India, where it became a symbol of the rampant mistreatment of women and the government's inability to deal with crime.

Issuing his decision, Judge Yogesh Khanna said the attack "shocked the collective conscience" of India. "In these times, when crime against women is on the rise, the courts cannot turn a blind eye toward such gruesome crimes."

After the death sentence, the wail of one

REBEL ATTACK SPREADS ACROSS CITIES. AT LEAST 6 DIED

At least six people were killed, 24 wounded,and some 200 others taken hostage after members of the rebel group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) swooped on the southern city of Zamboanga on Monday.

"More casualties are reported on the enemy side," said Mayor Isabella Climaco-Salazar, adding that the city government is "mobilizing all resources" to address the situation, which started about 1:30 am.

The mayor said clashes between government troops and the rebels already affected the villages of Santa Catalina, Santa Barbara, Talon-Talon and Mampang.

Some 2,000 villagers have fled their

homes to the city center, Climaco-Salazar said during a media briefing on Monday afternoon after she suspended classes in all schools in the city.

The rebel attack came weeks after MNLF founder Nur Misuari declared independence in Mindanao and the nearby islands of Palawan and Sabah in Malaysia,

OBAMA'S FINAL PUSH TO CONVINCE THE HOUSE ON SYRIA ATTACK( FULL TRANSCRIPT)--A MUST READ

My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria, why it matters and where we go from here. Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war. Over a hundred thousand people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, America has worked with allies to provide humanitarian support, to help the moderate opposition and to shape a political settlement.

But I have resisted calls for military action because we cannot resolve someone else's civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The situation profoundly changed, though, on Aug. 21st,

AT LAST, SYRIA SURRENDERS CHEMICAL WEAPON TO WORLD POWERS

An unexpected Russianproposal for Syria to avert a U.S. military strike by transferring control of its chemical weapons appeared to be gaining traction Tuesday, as Syria embraced it, France said it would draft a U.N. Security Council resolution to put the plan into effect, and China and Iran voiced support.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said bringing the proposal to the Security Council would enable the world to judge the intentions of Russia

and China, which until now have blocked efforts to sanction Syria for any actions during its 21 / 2-year-long civil conflict.

But major questions remain over whether Syria’s longtime patrons and critics will be able to agree on the specifics of a resolution and how Syria’s banned

5 TO-DOS AFTER YOU ACCEPT A NEW JOB

So, you’ve just accepted a new job offer. Congrats! The first thing you should do is call up your best friends and make plans to celebrate (obviously).
But after you’ve toasted to your latest success, you may find yourself in unfamiliar territory. What exactly is the proper protocol for leaving your job? And is there anything you should be doing to prepare for your new one?
As someone who just made job change #4, I can tell you that although circumstances are always different, there are certain things that can help make any transition go more smoothly. Here are five things you’ll need to know.

1. Relax, Then Go Talk to Your Boss

You may be feeling a little nervous about telling

ONE WEEK ULTINATUM TO SYRIA TO HAND OVER CHEMICAL WEAPON TO AVERT THE US ATTACK-- KERRY

The US secretary of state has said that President John Kerry added that he had no expectation that the Syrian leader would comply.
Bashar al-Assad has one week to hand over his entire stock of chemical weapons to avoid a military attack. But
Kerry also said he had no doubt that Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack in east Damascus on 21 August, saying that only three people are responsible for the chemical weapons inside Syria – Assad, one of his brothers and a senior general. He said the entire US intelligence community was united in believing Assad was responsible.
Kerry was speaking on Monday alongside the UK foreign secretary, William Hague, who was forced to deny that he had been pushed to the sidelines by the House

AMERICA WILL SUFFER LOSS IN THE SYRIA ATTACK---- IRAN

Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Thursday the United States was using a chemical attack in Syria's civil war as a pretext to interfere in the country and warned it would suffer loss from any intervention.

"In the case of Syria, the chemical attack is a pretext... The Americans try to play with words and pretend that they've become involved in this case for humanitarian aims," Khamenei told a meeting of the Assembly of Experts

"GO AHEAD AND STRIKE SYRIA" THE SENATE APPROVES OBAMA

Barack Obama's plan to launch punitive strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad received a boost on Wednesday when the Senate foreign relations committee voted in favour of military authorisation.
The influential committee voted by 10 votes to seven in favour of granting the formal military authorisation requested by Barack Obama, paving the way for a full vote on the floor of the Senate early next week in response to alleged chemical weapons use in Syria.

But the committee also voted to accept controversial amendments proposed by hawkish Republican senator John McCain that would explicitly make it a policy of the US to seek to "change the momentum of the battlefield" in ways that would force Assad to negotiate his resignation.

"It is the policy of the United States to change

IS NIGERIA ON HER OWN WAY TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE AS GOV OKOROCHA PROPOSES "A RIGHT TO ABORTION" BILL ?

OPINION: I WILL STRIKE SYRIA EVEN IF CONGRESS DOES NOT APPROVE IT----- BARAK OBAMA

September 4, 2013 – By asking Congress to approve military action in Syria, President Obama is doing the right thing. But for the wrong reason, in the wrong way and based on a wrong understanding of our Constitution.
Obama mocks Congress and the nation by saying he will strike Syria even if Congress does not approve.

The President won’t admit it, but his transparent motive for seeking the vote is naked politics. Obama wants others to take the heat for his decision and he wants them to share the blame if anything goes wrong. In his usual way, even if things go as he plans, he wants to shift blame to others for the consequences and the expense. Guesstimates range from $100-million