Iran has opened a new gold processing plant, reportedly the biggest in the Middle East, hoping to double its production of precious metals. Using a unique technology, Tehran says it will now mine up to three tons of gold per year.

Iranian TV reported that the opening ceremony was attended by First Vice President Ishaq Jahangiri.

The new facility is located near one of the country's richest mines, Zareh Shuran. It is located 35 kilometers from the city of Takaab in northwest Iran, in an area where gold, silver, and mercury are extracted.

The gold ore reserves of the Zareh Shuran mine are estimated at 20 million tons.

According to authorities, the plant's production can reach three tons of gold per year and thus can double the total of Iran's gold production.

Worth over $31 million, according to IRNA, the plant will use a new technology which was created in Iran.

It is expected that the plant's gold production capacity will soon reach six tons per year. Silver and mercury productions are expected to hit 2.5 and 1.5 tons, respectively.

This implementation is part of the so-called "economy of resistance," which Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, introduced in February.

The policy includes domestic economy building with maximum utilization of the country's resources, as well as the promotion of a knowledge-based economy and innovation. The ultimate goal is to become the No. 1 knowledge-based economy of the region.

Iran is still under tough sanctions that were imposed in 2012 over its nuclear program, which the West claims is aimed at developing atomic weapons. However, Iran says the program is for peaceful, civilian purposes.

World powers are demanding that Iran restrict its nuclear program so that it cannot be used to build atomic weapons.

Iran is currently facing a November 24 deadline to reach an agreement on its program, within the framework of year-long diplomatic talks.

Beaumont, California -- Black Friday is still about three weeks away, but two friends in Beaumont are already camping out, ready to cash in on holiday deals.

Vicky Torres and her friend Juanita Alva picked out their spots in front of the Best Buy in Beaumont last Wednesday.

They're ready for the long haul, stocked with mittens, snacks and hot coffee.

"We're good to go," Torres said.

Alva and Torres switch off sleeping at the store overnight, saving each other's spot. Alva's husband takes part if for some reason, they both need to leave.

"The point is to get the sales, because everybody is on a fixed income and we don't have that kind of money to splurge," Alva's husband said.

When stores open for Black Friday, Alva and Torres are hoping to get a 50-inch, high-definition TV for $199.

They say they get to talk to a lot of people while waiting out here. People say a lot of different things.

"They say you're dedicated. That's cool. Some say you're stupid," Torres said.

"They say they're crazy, but then they come and ask us can you save a spot in line, or can you do this for us? We're not here for that. We're just here to get our stuff and that's it," Alva's husband said.

An upstate New York shopping mall is threatening to fine retailers about $200 an hour if they fail to open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Walden Galleria, a suburban Buffalo retail complex with more than 200 stores, told store managers in a meeting last week that they must open their doors when the shopping center opens on the holiday, or pay penalties specified in leases, 10 managers told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. Waiting until midnight to open may cost stores $1,200 or more.

Struggling to compete with big-box stores and online retailers, shopping malls around the country plan to kick off Black Friday early by opening on Thanksgiving. The malls are trying to keep up with stores like Kmart, Target and Walmart, which have all pushed holiday shopping's start date to turkey day.

It's not uncommon for mall property managers to penalize stores for time spent closed when the rest of the mall is open. Though the practice still can ignite controversy. In Albany, New York this year when a shopping mall refused to close despite a snowstorm, stores stayed open to avoid fines and many workers complained.

In an aftermath of what can be termed as the most disturbing and horrific example of sexual exploitation of a young child, the cruel couple Patricia and Matthew Ayers have been given an extraordinary punishment of 2,340 years behind bars collectively. Man received 750 years while woman received 1,590 years in jail.

The couple pleaded guilty to the charge of exploiting a child in their care. The Federal Judge while giving out the sentences addressed the defendants and said that "I have been on the bench since 1998 and this is the worst case I have personally dealt with. ... You robbed this child of her childhood and her soul, and a maximum sentence is the only sentence appropriate."

The case came into limelight during December 2012 in Alabama after a friend of the couple informed local law enforcement authorities about the ongoing exploitation after seeing digital pornographic photographs of the female child given by Patricia Ayers.

The Nebraska Medical Center said that the US doctor was sicker than any of other patients transferred from West Africa and treated for Ebola in the US.

The US resident arriving from Sierra Leone to the United States for Ebola treatment is "critically ill", the Nebraska Medical Center said Saturday.

"The third patient to be treated at Nebraska Medicine - Nebraska Medical Center with the Ebola virus is now scheduled to arrive at Omaha's Eppley Airfield at 4:00 p.m. CST [22:00 GMT]. We have received word he is critically ill - possibly sicker than any of the other patients transferred from West Africa and treated for Ebola in the United States," the Nebraska Medical Center said on its Facebook page.

Earlier on Saturday, the US State Department confirmed that the medical center is ready to receive the patient on Saturday afternoon.

Italy hit by strikes and violent demonstrations as anger towards soaring unemployment and economic crisis boils over onto the streets

Italy was hit by strikes, violent demonstrations and protests against refugees on Friday as anger and frustration towards soaring unemployment and the enduring economic crisis exploded onto the streets.

Riot police clashed with protesters, students and unionists in Milan and Padua, in the north of the country, while in Rome a group of demonstrators scaled the Colosseum to protest against the labour reforms proposed by the government of Matteo Renzi, the 39-year-old prime minister.

Eggs and fire crackers were hurled at the economy ministry.

On the gritty, long-neglected outskirts of Rome there was continuing tension outside a centre for refugees, which was repeatedly attacked by local residents during the week.

A group of 36 teenage migrants had to be evacuated from the centre in Tor Sapienza, a working-class suburb, on Thursday night after the authorities said the area was no longer safe for them.

The Missouri chapter of the Ku Klux Klan is threatening to use "lethal force" against protesters in Ferguson who threaten their safety, equating some demonstrators to "terrorists."

Frank Ancona, leader of the KKK's Missouri operations, has been distributing fliers in the metropolitan St. Louis area warning protesters in Ferguson that those who have threatened police officers and their families will be met with violence themselves.

The flier, obtained by Vice News, is addressed to "the terrorists masquerading as peaceful protesters." It also states that they have "awakened a sleeping giant."

"You have been warned by the Klu Klux Klan!" it continues. "There will be consequences for your actions against the peaceful, law abiding citizens of Missouri."

This kind of behavior is not exactly unusual for the KKK, which has circulated similar letters in various cities across the United States. But the delivery of these fliers comes at a particularly sensitive time in Ferguson and the surrounding St. Louis area.

Residents are currently waiting to hear whether or not a grand jury will bring criminal charges against Officer Darren Wilson, the white officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown. The 18-year-old's death sparked massive, weeks-long protests, which made headlines around the country after police deployed a number of controversial crowd-control tactics - the use of tear gas and the establishment of a no-fly zone over the city, for example.

Westminster, Massachusetts -- In the aftermath of an emotional public hearing on the town's proposed tobacco-sales ban, some residents were discussing the possibility of recalling the Board of Health members who proposed the new policy.

If the residents did want to recall the Board of Health, Town Clerk Denise MacAloney said they would only be able to recall two of its members. Since 1995, the town has had a bylaw providing for recall elections, but the bylaw states that an elected official with six months or less left in his or her term is not eligible for recall.

"(Board of Health chair) Andrea Crete's term is up on April 28, so she wouldn't be eligible," MacAloney explained.

Police dressed in riot gear arrested dozens of Walmart workers and their supporters who were peacefully protesting outside a Walmart store in Pico Rivera, Calif., last night.

The protest followed an earlier sit-in strike at another nearby Walmart. Pictures of those protesters with their mouths taped and holding signs were tweeted with the hashtag #Walmartstrikers.

Protesters were arrested in Pico Rivera for refusing to move after being ordered to do so by police.

"I have two sons and it's their future that I'm concerned about, mainly. Walmart is setting the trend for all companies," a Walmart employee named Denise told KTLA. "If we don't change it now, the future of our youth is in dire straights."

The protesters want the multibillion-dollar company to pay all employees at least $15 per hour and give workers full-time hours, which would qualify them for health insurance.

A 91-year-old Polish woman was declared dead and spent hours in a morgue before waking up, to the astonishment of hospital staff and relatives. Her demise and resurrection had apparently created an appetite, as she ate soup and pancakes.

Janina Kolkiewicz was declared dead by local medics in a small town of Ostrow Lubelski in eastern Poland, reported TVP public broadcaster. She had no pulse, was not breathing and her eyes didn't react to light.

But 11 hours later she woke up inside a body bag in the cold chamber of the local morgue. The dramatic event happened on November 6, but the information emerged in the local press only on Thursday.

"I was sure she was dead," Kolkiewicz's doctor, Wieslawa Czyz, who has 28 years of medical practice, told TVP. "I'm stunned, I don't understand what happened. Her heart had stopped beating, she was no longer breathing."