Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief has drafted a plan to cause an environmental disaster in the Strait of Hormuz to block seaborne oil exports with the goal of removing economic sanctions imposed on Tehran, the weekly Der Spiegel said in an unsourced report.

There was no independent confirmation of the report.

The German newsmagazine reported that Mohammad Ali Jafari's plan, codenamed "Muddy Water", envisages the Iranians steering a tanker onto the rocks in the Strait, the world's most important oil shipping waterway.

A new study from Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute finds that the number of Pakistani civilians killed in drone strikes are "significantly and consistently underestimated" by tracking organizations which are trying to take the place of government estimates on casualties, which the Obama administration won't comment on because the drone war is technically secret.

The study "warns that low civilian casualty estimates may provide false assurance to the public and policymakers that drone strikes do not harm civilians." Many low-ball estimates - like those from Long War Journal and New America Foundation - are due to reliance on news reports, which "suffer from common flaws" like trusting "anonymous Pakistani government officials or unnamed witnesses for the claim that 'militants' - rather than civilians - were killed."

The New York Times public editor is attacked for suggesting the paper should "aggressively challenge" government claims on drones

As I noted on Sunday, the New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan devoted her weekly Sunday column to an excellent critique of her paper's coverage of US drone attacks. While noting that the Times has done some good work in attempting to bring transparency to the Obama administration's secret killings - in particular its May "kill list" article revealing that Obama adopted a ludicrously broad definition of "militant" that skews the "data" on civilian deaths - she then wrote:

"Since the article in May, its reporting has not aggressively challenged the administration's description of those killed as 'militants' - itself an undefined term. And it has been criticized for giving administration officials the cover of anonymity when they suggest that critics of drones are terrorist sympathizers."

There are, to put it mildly, numerous reasons for serious skepticism when it comes to administration claims about its drone program and civilian deaths. For one, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, was conclusively proven to be spouting outright lies about civilian deaths from US drones.

No matter who "wins", humanity loses.

Every four years, the deck chairs of the political Titanic that is the American empire get rearranged in the choreographed spectacle of another presidential "election". The 2012 charade is particularly disgusting; the lies more blatant and shrill, as the world continues to burn.

It is critical to focus on the cold, ugly reality facing the world with either prospective White House occupant.

On one side, the Obama administration, and the traditional brand of neoliberal imperialism and international consensus, and false domestic populism. On the other side with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, militant right-wing extremism, an apocalyptic war agenda and the politics of sadism at home.

The interests of the elite (Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberger, etc.) is dutifully served with either Obama or Romney in the White House. The question for the elite is purely over style and execution.

Obama has been a servile facilitator and protector of the political establishment; an insidious capitulator and "consensus man". For Wall Street's billionaires, the Pentagon's warmongers, and Washington's most shamelessly corrupt, there has been no greater gift than Obama and his presidency. But with Romney and Ryan, the agenda simply speeds up and destroys faster, more violently, with true theocratic maniacal fervor.

The final choice will not be made by voters (who will be disenfranchised again, via electronic vote fraud and other manipulations), but by the criminal elements who seize final control of the apparatus over the final month of the "contest".

The "children" are being allowed to fight it out amongst themselves. The side with ultimate command of the corporate media propaganda, the most effective back door deals, and the most effective dirty tricks and election night shenanigans, will prevail, the pre-determined result promptly encrypted into the software of controlled Diebold voting machines.

European satellite provider Eutelsat SA says it has stopped the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels following an order by the European Commission, Press TV reports.

The company ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on Monday.

In a separate statement emailed to Press TV, Arqiva said that the decision was made by the EU Council.

"We terminated the contracts because it was the order of the European Commission. We have to follow it," Karen Badalov, area management of Eutelsat SA told Press TV.

For those individuals on the planet with their eyes open, with fear in their hearts and a deep pain that has numbed their souls, today is not beautiful. The light at the end of the tunnel is awful in its vivid portrayal of the horror that awaits all of us, and we have no one to blame for the situations that we find ourselves in other than ourselves.

EU moves closer to new Iran sanctions

The European Union provisionally approved new economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Friday, with senior diplomats giving their backing to measures against Tehran's banking sector, industry and shipping.

How refreshing. For the Iranians who are currently watching as their economy is destroyed by sanctions, as they are threatened with war on a daily basis by those in America and Israel, the now Nobel-Laureate EU champions the rights of the people to watch their children starve, all while the president of the parliament has "overwhelming emotion for awarding of Nobel Prize to EU." It must be terribly difficult to live comfortable lives, gut the economies of member states, and war-monger. I can just see historians' confusion: "so did peace actually mean malicious cruelty to the 'people' of the 21^st century?" Yes, yes it did. No one could make up the unimaginable evil that we are party to.

When I first saw the headline in the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, I thought it was a joke and wondered if the WSJ had started publishing satirical pieces. But when it appeared to be genuine that the EU was this year's recipient of the Nobel peace prize, I checked to see which other mainstream propaganda outlets were carrying the story. To my surprise it was real and I was immediately reminded of the absurdity of the US government's war commander-in-chief (assassination 'kill list' to boot) receiving the prize in 2009.

My second reaction was to write a satirical piece, putting forward an equally unlikely candidate organisation for a peace prize such as the Federal Reserve or U.S. Congress. But it would have been too easy to mock the Nobel committee and, in any event, like many others, I really wanted to know the reason behind the choice. Reading some of the comments on The Telegraph and The Guardian, it's clear there is an overwhelming sense of bewilderment and frustration at what a farce the Nobel peace prize has become.

Now, It's pretty clear that the European Union is no Mother Teresa! But what on earth is the reason behind the EU winning the (formerly) preeminent international peace prize? Here are some ideas I've come up with so far:

1. The committee has been corrupted by political and corporate influences
2. The committee has been tasked with extending the limits of Orwellian double-speak
3. A publicity stunt
4. A smokescreen
5. An insiders' joke

Dozens of olive trees were set ablaze in a Palestinian village early on Saturday, in an attack that villagers and Palestinian security officials blamed on Jewish settlers.

Residents of Qaryut village, 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of the West Bank city of Nablus, said that the fires had been set at several different spots simultaneously and security officials said the evidence pointed to an arson attack by residents of the neighbouring settlement of Eli.

Seventy of the village's olive trees were cut down in the early hours of Wednesday, the first day of the olive harvest, a period when Jewish settlers have in the past raided Palestinian farmers and their crops.

Figures released last year by the international aid group Oxfam indicated there are approximately 9.5 million olive trees in the West Bank, where the crop is a vital source of revenue for Palestinian farmers.

In a good year, the olive harvest contributes around $100 million (77 million euros) in income to some of the poorest Palestinian communities.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Release Number: R3-12-16

Philadelphia,Pennsylvania - On October 18, 2012 at 10:18 a.m. EDT, more than one million people across five states and the District of Columbia are scheduled to take part in the first ever Great SouthEast ShakeOut. The ShakeOut is a regional earthquake drill in which participants simultaneously practice the recommended action during an earthquake. This action is known as "Drop, Cover, and Hold On", which means:

• DROP to the ground
• Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
• HOLD-ON to it until the shaking stops

The states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia are encouraging their schools, businesses, organizations, government agencies, communities, and households to participate in this historic event. These states are being supported by the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and many other local, state, federal and volunteer partners. CUSEC coordinates a similar drill across nine Central U.S. states, which had more than 2.4 million participants in February, 2012.

This regional earthquake drill comes on the heels of the one year anniversary of the August 23, 2011 M5.9 Mineral, Virginia earthquake. Last year's earthquake caused significant damage in Louisa County, Virginia, and also millions of dollars in damages in Washington, D.C. The event is free and open-to-the-public, and teaches easy to do, yet potentially life-saving information.

Two and a half weeks ago I wrote a column for Fox News Opinion calling on Hillary Clinton to quit as Secretary of State. As more information comes out about what really led to ambassador Chris Stevens's death on September 11, we're hearing growing murmurs demanding the same thing. It's not a full-throated chorus yet. But yesterday's hearings in front of the House Government Oversight Committee are encouraging others to join in.

They certainly confirm three damning facts about our Secretary of State.

First, she and her Washington minions ignored repeated direct calls for help with security in Benghazi, including from the ambassador himself, and warnings about a possible attack on the anniversary of 9/11. According to the State Department's security chief Andrew Wood, getting "security in Benghazi was a struggle" without end.

Twice the man in charge of security for our diplomats in Libya, Greg Nordstrom, begged the State Department for more security in Benghazi after no less than 48 security "incidents" there, including two bombings.