"Iran MPs draft bill on 60% uranium enrichment" (PressTV)

Funny that I saw this first at PressTV:

Iranian lawmakers have drafted a bill that would oblige the government to produce 60-percent enriched uranium in line with the requirements of the nation’s civilian nuclear program.

Signed by 100 legislators, the draft was presented to the Presiding Board of Majlis on Wednesday.

“If the bill is approved, the government will be obliged to complete nuclear infrastructure at Fordo and Natanz [facilities] if sanctions [against Iran] are ratcheted up, new sanctions are imposed, the country’s nuclear rights are violated and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s peaceful nuclear rights are ignored by members of P5+1,” Iranian lawmaker Seyyed Mehdi Mousavinejad said on Wednesday.

The bill would oblige the government to put the Arak heavy water reactor into operation and enrich uranium to the 60-percent purity level in order to provide fuel for submarine engines if the sanctions are tightened and Iran’s nuclear rights are ignored, the MP underscored.

The draft bill comes as key members of the US Congress introduced a bill last week, which proposes boycotting Iranian oil exports within a year and the blacklisting of Iran's mining, engineering and construction industries.

The Senate bill also calls for "diplomatic, military and economic support" for Israel should Tel Aviv decide to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Moreover, the administration of US President Barack Obama on December 12 issued new sanctions against more than a dozen companies and individuals for “providing support for” Iran’s nuclear energy program.

The US Treasury Department said it was freezing assets and banning transactions of entities that attempt to evade the sanctions against Iran.

This is while under a nuclear agreement reached in Geneva last month, the United States should not impose fresh economic sanctions against Iran over the next six months.

Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice said on December 23 that Washington seeks to include "triggers" in any final nuclear deal with Iran to automatically re-impose sanctions if Tehran violates the terms of the agreement.

"We will not construct a deal or accept a deal in which we cannot verify exactly what they are doing. And if they're caught, we will ensure that the pressure is re-imposed on them," Rice said on CBS news program "60 Minutes."

"Activists in Fisheries Visit Statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il"

Now that the nasty business of the well-deserved demise of Traitor Jang Song Thaek is starting to fade from memory, things can get back to, um, normal:

The participants in the meeting of activists in fisheries of the Korean People's Army Sunday laid a floral basket before the statues of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il in the compound of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces.

They lined up in front of the statues with deep reverence for the great men of Mt. Paektu before placing the floral basket and bouquets before the statues.

They made a bow to the statues with great pride of achieving signal successes in carrying out the behests of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the policy of the Workers' Party of Korea by conducting a dynamic fishing drive as intended by supreme leader Kim Jong Un.

"Traitor Jang Song Thaek Executed"

Someone from the list of Commie Goyim just got executed. Some of the news coverage noted the vituperative language of this press release, but it isn't that remarkable. The language routinely used to refer to whoever is in power in South Korea at any given time is quite similar:

Upon hearing the report on the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the service personnel and people throughout the country broke into angry shouts that a stern judgment of the revolution should be meted out to the anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional elements. Against the backdrop of these shouts rocking the country, a special military tribunal of the DPRK Ministry of State Security was held on December 12 against traitor for all ages Jang Song Thaek.

The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state.

The tribunal examined Jang's crimes.

All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of hearing and were admitted by him.

A decision of the special military tribunal of the Ministry of State Security of the DPRK was read out at the trial.

Every sentence of the decision served as sledge-hammer blow brought down by our angry service personnel and people on the head of Jang, an anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional element and despicable political careerist and trickster.

The accused is a traitor to the nation for all ages who perpetrated anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of our party and state and the socialist system.

Jang was appointed to responsible posts of the party and state thanks to the deep political trust of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il and received benevolence from them more than any others from long ago.

He held higher posts than before and received deeper trust from supreme leader Kim Jong Un, in particular.

The political trust and benevolence shown by the peerlessly great men of Mt. Paektu were something he hardly deserved.

It is an elementary obligation of a human being to repay trust with sense of obligation and benevolence with loyalty.

However, despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him.

From long ago, Jang had a dirty political ambition. He dared not raise his head when Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were alive. But, reading their faces, Jang had an axe to grind and involved himself in double-dealing. He began revealing his true colors, thinking that it was just the time for him to realize his wild ambition in the period of historic turn when the generation of the revolution was replaced.

Jang committed such an unpardonable thrice-cursed treason as overtly and covertly standing in the way of settling the issue of succession to the leadership with an axe to grind when a very important issue was under discussion to hold respected Kim Jong Un in high esteem as the only successor to Kim Jong Il in reflection of the unanimous desire and will of the entire party and army and all people.

When his cunning move proved futile and the decision that Kim Jong Un was elected vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea at the Third Conference of the WPK in reflection of the unanimous will of all party members, service personnel and people was proclaimed, making all participants break into enthusiastic cheers that shook the conference hall, he behaved so arrogantly and insolently as unwillingly standing up from his seat and half-heartedly clapping, touching off towering resentment of our service personnel and people. [...]

And rightly so!

Meet the new Iran, same as the old Iran--PressTV makes David Duke look subtle

You may recall that one of the Ahmadinejad pronouncements reported last year in English at the website of IRNA, Iran's most official news agency, is that somebody called "Zionists" "have been inflicting very heavy damage and suffering on the whole humanity for over two thousand years." That sort of thinking lives on in an article that appeared today at PressTV under the title "World War Z and wrath of Netanyahu":

[...] There are not, or rather-should not be-any "surprises" associated with the rise of Jewish power, the creation of the "Jewish state" and the present World War Z that mankind faces these days. Indeed, everything that has taken place, particularly over the course of the last century viz-a-viz the wars, the bloodshed and the nearly complete meltdown of established world order was/is as predictable as the proverbial slaughter at the henhouse after the jackals were put in charge of security.

The sad truth is that everything mankind needs to know about the deadly, radioactive nature of this political, social and cultural "element" on the periodic table of human ideas has been sitting there, screaming out to civilized man for literally thousands of years. Jewish power and violence, Jewish power and genocide, Jewish power and economic despoliation, Jewish power and corruption, none of this began in 1948 with the creation of Israel. It did not begin in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve, as some like to imagine.

It did not even begin with the writing of a literary abomination known as the Babylonian Talmud.

It--the criminal, barbaric nature of Jewish power--has been there from the beginning, congenital from its birth, the moment a penniless nomad begins hearing voices in his head promising him kingdoms, riches and power beyond his wildest dreams, accompanied by the moral justification for doing whatever needs to be done in attaining these items, including lying, genocide, and theft. [...]

That's a fairly small part of a long article. It all sounds as Nazi as the above excerpt does. Anyone with a serious interest in the Middle East should read it all.

"Arafat widow to challenge French forensic probe" (Ma'an)

This story has ceased to be useful to the Mondoweiss agenda, but it keeps getting better for irony fans:

The widow of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat pledged Friday to challenge a French inquiry which found his death to have been from natural causes, rather than poison as Palestinians suspect.

"A request for further expert opinion will be submitted in the next few days to investigating judges in (the Paris suburb of) Nanterre," Suha Arafat's French lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur told AFP.

Suha Arafat lodged a murder complaint in Nanterre in July last year after an Al-Jazeera television documentary linked Arafat's 2004 death at a military hospital near Paris to polonium poisoning.

"After consultations with many legal experts and with the Swiss institute which examined samples from the martyr Arafat's remains, and having compared the French and Swiss reports, we have decided to turn to the French legal system to challenge the findings in the French medical report," she told AFP by phone.

How do you use a "legal system" to "challenge" scientific conclusions? This should be interesting for some time to come although many of the people who saw articles such as this one will miss out on the fun.

"President Assad: Achieving N. Rights Result of Iranians’ Resistance" (Fars News)

Assad is pleased.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a phone talk with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani underlined that Tehran’s resistance against the greediness of the world powers led to the achievement of the country’s nuclear rights during the recent meeting in Geneva.

According to Syrian TV, President Assad told his Iranian counterpart that Iran’s diplomatic success in talks with the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Geneva was because of the Iranians’ resistance in achieving their rights.

He added the success also shows the strong position of the Iranian leadership in making independent decisions.

Iran and the G5+1 reached a final deal on Sunday morning after days of hard work and intensive negotiations.

After endorsing the agreement with the world powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined that the six world powers have recognized Iran’s enrichment program. [...]

"Palestinians Visit Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum" (Korean News)

O great day:

Ismail Ahmed Mohamed Hasan, Palestinian ambassador to the DPRK, and his embassy officials visited the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum Wednesday on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the State of Palestine and on the Day of the World Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

They paid tribute to the statue of President Kim Il Sung waving back to the cheering people at the square where the military parade was held to celebrate the war victory.

They paid homage to the sculpture "Victory" in the Monument to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War in memory of the officers and men of the heroic Korean People's Army.

Being briefed on the fact that the KPA and the people of the DPRK defeated the U.S. imperialists for the first time in history under the leadership of Generalissimo Kim Il Sung, they looked round the museum.

The ambassador noted that through the visit he came to know better about the feats the President performed by leading the war to victory and the indomitable fighting spirit of the Korean people.

"IRGC Commander: West's Change of Tone Resulted from Iran's Success in 20% Enrichment" (Fars)

They're in a gloating mood:

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said the western states changed their behavior towards Iran’s nuclear program from an imperative mood to a begging mood after Tehran gained access to above 20 percent uranium enrichment capability.

“Before achieving the 20 percent uranium enrichment, the Europeans and representatives of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) were telling our (negotiating) team proudly and arrogantly that we did not have the technology and capability to enrich uranium to higher levels, and advised us that we would be better off if we gave up enrichment to break the sanctions instead of insisting on this technology,” General Salami told FNA on Tuesday.

The IRGC lieutenant commander said the western countries sometimes said that Iran was not in a position to have access to nuclear technology and that this issue only belonged to the developed world and even if Iran could gain access to it, it still wouldn't be able to turn and establish it in the form of a technology.

“However, when the martyred nuclear scientist Shahriyari gave us access to 20 percent enrichment and they realized this and martyred him, all their imperative, bold and boastful talks changed into request and begging,” General Salami said.

Salami pointed to the Sunday deal between Iran and the six world powers and said "this is just the beginning of a process. We think about a comprehensive agreement and believe that they should lift all sanctions in lieu of the flexibility we have displayed, otherwise this path is reversible". [...]

Ain't understanding mellow?

"Iran rejects ‘one-sided’ US Fact Sheet on N-deal" (PressTV)

Hmmmmm.

Iran Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham says the "Fact Sheet" released by the White House over the nuclear deal between Tehran and the six major world powers is a one-sided interpretation of the agreement reached in Geneva.

“What was released on the White House website as the Fact Sheet was a one-sided interpretation of the text agreed on in Geneva and some descriptions and terms in this sheet are inconsistent with the text of the Joint Action Plan,” Afkham said on Tuesday.

Following the announcement of the Iran-Sextet agreement, titled the Joint Action Plan, the White House released a fact sheet explaining the deal and the US efforts in the negotiations.

“Unfortunately, certain media outlets have translated and released this fact sheet, which is contrary to the reality, as the text of the Geneva agreement,” she added.

After more than four days of intense negotiations, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- plus Germany, sealed an interim deal in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 24. The agreement aims to pave the way for the full resolution of the West’s decade-old dispute with Iran over its nuclear energy program.

Afkham further noted that the outcome of the agreements reached during the Geneva talks are incorporated in the four-page text of the Joint Action Plan.

“Every word and sentence of this text has been compiled based on the considerations of all sides and one of the reasons behind the prolongation of these negotiations was the care put into choosing and inserting words in the text of the Joint Action Plan, particularly by the negotiating delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian spokesperson pointed out.

In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the six world powers have agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against Iran over the next six months.

According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the deal allows Iran to continue its activities at Arak, Fordow and Natanz facilities. The agreement also stipulates that no additional sanctions will be imposed on Tehran within the next six months over its nuclear energy program.

Iran's PressTV explains that all recent history is the unfolding of an evil plan created by Bernard Lewis

Kevin Barrett seems to be winning the craziness contest among all the writers for Veterans Today featured in the Iranian Press. I think he'll be leading the pack for some time to come, don't you?

[...] When the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1990, the global elite needed a new enemy to justify their wars, oppression, and plunder. Zionist extremist Bernard Lewis, an advisor to the US, UK, and Israeli governments, proposed a solution: A “Clash of Civilizations” targeting the Islamic world. With communists gone, Muslims would serve as the new global bogeyman.

Lewis wrote a strategy paper for Benjamin Netanyahu entitled “Terrorism: How the West Can Win.” As the title suggests, that paper covertly proposed that since Muslims were not prone to terrorism, the West should commit massive acts of false-flag terrorism and falsely blame those crimes on Muslims. That way Islam and Muslims could be smeared as “terrorists,” and “the West” (meaning Israel and the military-industrial complex) could “win.”

The Western elite took Lewis's advice and engineered a series of false-flag terror attacks blamed on Muslims, beginning with the FBI's bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. When the half-empty, money-hemorrhaging, condemned-for-asbestos Twin Towers were over-insured and then blown up in 2001 in a made-for-television public relations spectacular, the War on Islam - euphemistically referred to as the “war on terror” - was officially launched. One could argue that 9/11 was just another typical Madison Avenue product-launch, with the “war on terror” being the product ... except that in this case the public relations gimmick included the murder of almost 3,000 innocent bystanders. [...]

As President John F. Kennedy suggested in 1963, we are all Berliners. Fifty years after JFK was murdered by the military-industrial complex and the Zionists, we are all still Berliners in the shadow of the Wall; we are all still living behind a massive barrier of fabricated fear, oppression, and lies.

Are you content to live out your life as just another brick in the wall? Or will you join those of us who are confronting the Zionists and the military-industrial complex and saying: “Tear down this wall!”

I cut out much of the material that develops the wall theme referred to in this last paragraph. You're free to read the whole article if you feel like indulging your morbid curiosity a bit.

"The U.S. is the root cause of all sorts of evils and misfortunes in the world and disturber of peace and cancer-like existence." (Korean News)

I almost used the article's actual title: "Minju Joson Flays U.S. President for Hunting People for Fun." Not bad at all, right? Anyway, the sentence I used for the post-title is actually the summing-up sentence at the end. Let's read the article that leads up to that sentence, shall we?

Recently a book was released to show the personality of U.S. President Obama.

The book says in detail how Obama organized "anti-terror war" and murdered people.

In particular, the book refers to the fact that Obama, laureate of Nobel Peace Prize, killed a lot of civilians by hundreds of drone strikes at Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. It reveals the fact that Obama unhesitatingly said himself that he is good at man-hunting.

Minju Joson Sunday observes in a commentary in this regard:

As soon as the book was released, it sparked off great uproar among the readers.

A lot of people expressed hatred for the personality of the U.S. president and skepticism about the "anti-terror war" of the U.S.

From its beginning this war was not for world peace and stability but for the implementation of the U.S. strategy for world domination.

What matters is how the Obama administration behaved quite contrary to the expectation of the world community.

The U.S. has wantonly infringed upon the independent rights of sovereign countries while resorting to the highhanded and arbitrary practices in the international arena under the pretext of "routing terrorists".

To cite its drone strikes as an example, the U.S. indiscriminately mounted drone attacks despite strong protest of relevant countries, massacring innocent civilians.

As seen above, the U.S. does not care at all whether independent rights of sovereign countries are abused or not and innocent civilians are killed by its high-handed and arbitrary acts.

As the book says, the U.S. is pleased to see guiltless people mercilessly killed.

The U.S. is the root cause of all sorts of evils and misfortunes in the world and disturber of peace and cancer-like existence.

"It was disgusting indeed for her to speak English and French . . ."

I haven't posted a good North Korean tirade against whoever is in power in South Korea lately:

A spokesman for the Policy Department of the DPRK National Defence Commission (NDC) released a statement on Thursday disclosing the true colors of Park Geun Hye of south Korea as a despicable sycophant and traitor and maniac keen on confrontation with compatriots.

Prior to her trip to West European countries, she even talked about "north-south summit" in a bid to improve her image. However, this only revealed her vulgar personality, the statement said.

It was disgusting indeed for her to speak English and French with much effort in the UK and France, it noted, and went on:

Park made "speeches" in poor foreign languages as she was steeped in such idea of slavish submission to the marrow of her bones that she should obey and please big countries under any circumstances.

She, bereft of national identity to say nothing of elementary dignity as a politician, donned dresses not suited to her position. Her behavior during her foreign trips was reminiscent of a poodle.

Nothing is more foolish than trying to find even a shred of independent stance in her as she is kowtowing to foreign forces but enforcing brutal "yusin" dictatorship inside south Korea, turning it into mayhem and regarding fellow countrymen as a principal enemy and a target of confrontation and war.

She pledged not to rule out even a war to cope with "provocation" from someone, kowtowing to her American master. This makes it clear that Park and her group are waiting for a chance to launch a war after working out a dangerous scenario for confrontation with compatriots.

Park is the root cause of all disasters on this land as she is always going into extremes.

"IRGC Commander: US Deeply Fearful of War with Iran"--"they saw the Iranian nation's subordination to its Leader"! (Fars News)

Nothing screams "dictatorship" at you like a military boast that simultaneously sucks up to the Supreme Big-guy:

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari underlined that Washington fears military engagement with Iran more than any other country.

“The Americans' statement about having the military option on the table is a lie. Americans don't know that we know they are afraid of attacking Iran more than any other country; there is absolutely no such thought in the minds of the US statesmen, but they talk about it (to use it) as a political tool anyway,” General Jafari told reporters in the Southwestern city of Ahwaz on Sunday.

He said the US deployed troops in all its bases in the neighboring countries of Iran from 2003 to 2007 in a bid to surround the Islamic Republic for a military attack, and added, “They intended to launch a direct military attack on the country, but when they saw the Iranian nation's subordination to its Leader, they felt scared and escaped.”

In similar remarks earlier today, Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi also said Washington's allegations about the continued possibility of military action against Iran are nothing, but a bluff.

General Naqdi pointed to US President Barack Obama’s recent remarks who said that military option is on the table, and said, “These are just boastful remarks and bluffing because the US army and its economy are weak and their people do not accept to go to (another) war.”

“The US does not have a strong logic and reasoning and it is, thus, forced to always resort to the language of force,” he said.

He reiterated that Iran will surely continue its fight against the global arrogance, and said, “Neither the (military) options on the table nor their execution can intimidate us, let alone boasting about them.”

Every now and then American statesmen warn that the military option against Iran is still on the table, while facts on the ground show Washington incapable of even conducting a limited war, or surgical military operation, against Tehran. [...]

"Ahmadinejad son accuses Hashemi of fabrication" (Mehr News)

This is a little heard to follow, but fascinating:

A son of Iran’s ex-president has accused Hashemi of inventing his memoirs of Imam Khomeini.

Mehr News quoted that Mehdi Ahmadinejad, ex-president’s son, on his webpage derided Hashemi’s account of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and the first leader of the Revolution.

Mehdi Ahmadinejad posted on his webpage an evaluation of Hashemi’s memoirs where Hashemi Rafsanjani related that Imam (Khomeini) would seek to remove the motto of ‘death to America’ at that time.

“I would petition to the respected figure who said that Imam agreed to remove the motto, to say what he would remember about Imam, otherwise we would be told that Imam did not mean America was Great Satan, but he meant that ‘how mischievous child would America be!’

Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to Mush Jong Rooms

Prepare to be inexpressibly moved:

Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, provided field guidance to the newly built Central Mushroom Research Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.

The Institute with a total plottage of at least 6 100 square meters has its building, mushroom growing rooms for research and raw materials store, etc. It is a mushroom research center built according to the noble intention of Kim Jong Un making a new history of industrialization of mushroom growing.

After going round the room dedicated to the history of the institute, he dropped in at different places including various research rooms, laboratories, e-library, products storing room and mushroom growing grounds to learn in detail about its construction and research work.

He was pleased that not only different research rooms and labs and mushroom growing grounds but corridors leading to offices, main building and annexes, vestibule and resting place and all other aspects have been built in a peculiar style to be impeccable.

He noted that the institute has a very important duty and role to perform in thoroughly carrying out the behests of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il on turning the DPRK into a huge producer of mushroom.

There is now a brisk drive for mushroom production in different parts of the country in hearty response to the appeal of the Party and large capacity mushroom farms and production bases are now under construction there, he said, adding that scientific research should be given precedence in order to put mushroom production on an industrial and scientific basis.

He underscored the need for the institute to study and round off varieties of edible and medical mushroom growing technologies, intensify the work for solving the issue of substrate suited to the topographical peculiarities and satisfactorily produce and ensure spores necessary for mushroom growing.

Calling for providing proper scientific and technological guidance to the mushroom producing units, he underlined the need to consolidate the data base related to the research and cultivation of mushroom and actively apply advanced technology and widely disseminate it among the relevant units.

He called on the officials and researchers of the institute to register shining scientific research successes and thus turn the institute into a scientific research center to bring substantial benefits to the people.

Recalling that he gave an instruction on completing the construction of the institute till the anniversary of the party, he noted a unit of the KPA carried out it without fail as the KPA considers it a bounden duty to implement the order of the supreme commander at any cost under any circumstances. He noted with great satisfaction that this is the true nature of the revolutionary army and he felt proud of assigning the task to the People's Army. [...]

"Song 'Ode to the Motherland' Created in DPRK"

I wonder who did the creating. One person? A committee?

A song "Ode to the Motherland" was recently created in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a national treasure.

The song, vibrant with feelings of ardent love for the motherland, reminds one of the tireless efforts devoted by President Kim Il Sung and general secretary Kim Jong Il for the prosperity of the country and the wellbeing of its people.

It also reflects the steadfast will of the Korean people to glorify the socialist motherland, built and developed by the President and the leader.

Lyric and melodic, the song is a favorite for everyone.

In the 1st stanza, the song says that one can enjoy a worthwhile life only under the care of the motherland.

In the 2nd and 3rd stanzas, it speaks highly of the DPRK where everything serves for the popular masses.

In the 4th and 5th stanzas, it calls for devoting one's all to the prosperity of the country led by Marshal Kim Jong Un.

Inspired by the song, the DPRK people have turned out in the efforts for the prosperity of the country with their strong will to further glorify the history of Kim Il Sung's nation and Kim Jong Il's Korea.

Yom Kippur

Gemar Chasimah Tovah!

Easy Fast!

Here is "Yom Kippur in a Nutshell" from chabad.org:

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year--the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence  of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement -- "For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d" (Leviticus 16:30).

For twenty-six hours--from several minutes before sunset on Tishrei 9 to after nightfall on Tishrei 10--we "afflict our souls": we abstain from food and drink, do not wash or anoint our bodies, do not wear leather shoes, and abstain from marital relations.

Before Yom Kippur we perform the Kaparot atonement service; we request and receive honey cake, in acknowledgement that we are all recipients in G-d's world and in prayerful hope for a sweet and abundant year; eat a festive meal, immerse in a mikvah, and give extra charity. Late afternoon we eat the pre-fast meal, following which we bless our children, light a memorial candle as well as the holiday candles, and go to the synagogue for Kol Nidrei services.

In the course of Yom Kippur we hold five prayer services: Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur; Shacharit--the morning prayer; Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service; Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah; and Ne'illah, the "closing of the gates" service at sunset. We say the Al Chet confession of sins eight times in the course of Yom Kippur, and recite Psalms every available moment.

The day is the most solemn of the year, yet an undertone of joy suffuses it: a joy that revels in the spirituality of the day and expresses the confidence that G-d will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness. When the closing Ne'illah service climaxes in the resounding cries of "Hear O Israel... G-d is one" and a single blast of the shofar, followed by the proclamation, "Next year in Jerusalem." Then joy erupts in song and dance (a Chabad custom is to sing the lively "Napoleon's March"), followed by the festive after-fast meal, making the evening after Yom Kippur a Yom Tov (festival) in its own right.

"Kim Jong Un Congratulates Syrian President on His Birthday"

Life is good for dictators these days:

Kim Jong Un, first chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to Bashar Al－Assad, president of the Syrian Arab Republic, on his birthday.

The message said:

I extend warm congratulations and greetings to you on your 48th birthday.

The Korean people send invariable support and solidarity to the Syrian government and people in their just struggle to defend the sovereignty and security of the country.

I sincerely hope that you will always keep yourself in good health to achieve fresh success in your responsible work, convinced that the long-standing bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation will grow stronger in future.

Rosh Hashanah

What is this Rosh Hashanah business anyway?

The festival of Rosh Hashanah --the name means "Head of the Year" --is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G-d's world.

Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, "all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep," and it is decreed in the heavenly court, "who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise." But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependant upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.

The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which represents the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the "Ten Days of Repentance" which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac's place as an offering to G-d; we evoke Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, the shofar is sounded 100 times in the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.

Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year's blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year." c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse, "And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea." And as with every major Jewish holiday after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a blessing on the Challah.

May you be sealed and inscribed for a good and sweet year.

"Kim Jong Un Provides Field Guidance to Sea Fish Breeding Station"

The "last instruction of Kim Jong Il" was "to breed lots of tasty and nutritious sturgeon and send them to Okryu Restaurant"? Wow, and you thought this was going to be the usual, run-of-the-mill "Dear Leader gives field guidance to lemonade stand" article, didn't you?

Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, provided field guidance to Ryongyon Sea Fish Breeding Station.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, Ri Yong Gil, Jang Jong Nam, Pak Jong Chon, Pak Thae Song, Hwang Pyong So and Ma Won Chun.

Kim Jong Un first looked round the monument to the field guidance given by leader Kim Jong Il standing in the compound of the station.

He learned about how the station has implemented the instructions given by the leader, recalling that he gave an instruction on breeding in sea water sturgeon, etc. living in fresh water after acclimatizing them to it, having an insight into the fact that if some freshwater fishes live in sea, they look nice in color and become tastier.

At indoor pond No.1 he asked from where sturgeon fries the station gets and what is production cycle and quantity and to which units they are supplied.

It is the last instruction of Kim Jong Il to breed lots of tasty and nutritious sturgeon and send them to Okryu Restaurant, he said, urging the station to thoroughly implement Kim Jong Il's instruction.

Kim Jong Un looked at sea cucumber bred in outdoor fish pond of the station.

He was satisfied to learn that the station cut down by half the production cycle as compared with other countries by studying and rounding off sea cucumber culture method of Korean style.

After going round the station, he gave precious instructions which would serve as guidelines for improving and strengthening its business activities.

To make people get real benefits is as important as building the breeding station into a modern one and registering successes in fish culture and research into fish breeding, he noted, underscoring the need to properly choose the units to be provided with fishes on the basis of calculation of the production, arrange well aquatic products supplying bases having restaurants and shops in Pyongyang and put their operation on a normal footing.

He noted that if the issue of fish food urgently needed for fish culture is to be solved and business activities are to prove profitable, it is necessary to mass-produce high quality fishes including sturgeon and export them to foreign markets.

He called for scrupulously organizing the work for successfully producing processed caviar recognized as high quality food worldwide, in particular, to get profits.

In the coming year, I hope you, too, will be "scrupulously organizing the work . . . in particular, to get profits." Kesiva vechasima tova!