Iran does not plan to produce nuclear weapons, the country's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali-Hamenei said on Iranian television on Tuesday.

"Iran does not seek to produce nuclear weapons - the possession of such arms makes no sense," Ali-Hamenei said. "No sensible nation is interested in building nuclear weapons."

However, he reiterated that the Islamic Republic would continue pursuing nuclear technology to generate electricity, saying, "We will continue moving down this path even if it causes envy among our enemies".

Tehran has dismissed Western suspicions that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program. The Islamic Republic has also consistently maintained that it has the right to peaceful nuclear research.

Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya, police say.

A convicted murderer and child sex offender is challenging being labelled a "psychopath" as he heads toward his first parole hearing after 13 years in jail.

Phillip John Smith's lawyer, Tony Ellis, told a High Court judge yesterday that if Smith was shown to have a history of psychopathy his chance of getting parole was "not good".

The procedure leading to the assessment was not properly done, Mr Ellis said.

"In essence you need a good psychological report to get out, and if it is tainted by all this it is not going to happen."

Mohammad El-Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said here Monday the UN nuclear watchdog has no evidence proving that Iran was building a nuclear bomb, but affirmed that the Iranian nuclear file was part of security of region.

"We are saying that (we have no evidence about Iran's manufacturing of nuclear bomb) and we can't know the intentions of Iran in future," El-Baradei addressed a World Economic Forum's (WEF) session about new strategies to achieve stability.

©Unknown

The bridge of the USS Bon Homme Richard, January 1964. Just months later, the guy on the right would guide his ship into the Tonkin Gulf, and the young man on the left would begin a remarkable transformation into a brooding rock god. The Bon Homme Richard, by the way, was launched on April 29, 1944, under the sponsorship of Catherine McCain, the grandmother of a certain presidential contender.

Until around 1913, Laurel Canyon remained an undeveloped (and unincorporated) slice of LA - a pristine wilderness area rich in native flora and fauna. That all began to change when Charles Spencer Mann and his partners began buying up land along what would become Laurel Canyon Boulevard, as well as up Lookout Mountain. A narrow road leading up to the crest of Lookout Mountain was carved out, and upon that crest was constructed a lavish 70-room inn with sweeping views of the city below and the Pacific Ocean beyond. The Lookout Inn featured a large ballroom, riding stables, tennis courts and a golf course, among other amenities. But the inn, alas, would only stand for a decade; in 1923, it burned down, as tends to happen rather frequently in Laurel Canyon.

"I mean, fuck, he auditioned for Neil [Young] for fuck's sake."

Graham Nash, explaining to author Michael Walker how close Charlie Manson was to the Laurel Canyon scene.

©Geffen

During the ten-year period during which Bruce, Novarro, Mineo, Linkletter, Stevens, Tate, Sebring, Frykowski and Folger all turned up dead, a whole lot of other people connected to Laurel Canyon did as well, often under very questionable circumstances. The list includes, but is certainly not limited to, all of the following names:

A judge this morning overturned the "whole life" jail tariff of a psychopath who murdered a North East skin specialist.

Reginald Wilson, serving life for killing Dr David Birkett at his Middlesbrough home in 1990, can now ask the Parole Board to free him next month

©www.arna.info

Ashraf Abu-elhaje, an actor (1996) in the theatre of Jenin refugee-camp. Ashraf leads a large group of fighters in the battle of Jenin 2002. Ashraf was killed by a rocket fired from a helicopter.

Last night I sat through the screening of a documentary called "Arna's Children". Arna was a Jewish woman, who moved to Jenin refugee camp in Palestine and there created a center for children. The screening was organized by the 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign' to mark the 60th Anniversary of Al-Nakba - the Palestinians "day of Catastrophe" when the state of Israel was illegally established on their land. The film is the work of Juliano Mer-Khamis, Arna's son and an actor. Through the creative arts and games, Arna tried to help the Palestinian children of the camp express their feelings of anger, frustration and helplessness as they see their houses demolished by Israeli tanks, their people murdered by Israeli soldiers.

Juliano created a theatre group as part of Arna's center for children which helped give a voice and meaning to the lives of Palestine's children. It also allowed them to dream of a better future. But living in Jenin camp, under the occupation and brutal oppression by the IDF, we follow their lives to see that they did not become actors, painters, teachers, doctors, whatever it was they dreamed of. Many grew up to become resistance fighters, two of them killed by the Israeli army during fights, one during a "suicide attack".

Subject: Copyright Infringement Notice from Deathby1000Papercuts.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:32:43 -0500
From: Ginn A Veve
To: sott@sott.net

Subject: Notice of Copyright Infringement

This notice is to Sott.net, the next notice will be sent to your server.
This is the second notice I've sent your website which was ignored. Your
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I've read the claptrap posted at your site on how you obtain your
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violation of copyright infringement. Our posts, far less 'esoteric' than
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The current copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on
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"He was great, he was unreal - really, really good."

"He had this kind of music that nobody else was doing. I thought he really had something crazy, something great. He was like a living poet."

©Steven Johnson

[Today's first trivia question: both of the above statements were made, on separate occasions, by a famous Laurel Canyon musician of the 1960s era. Both quotes were offered up in praise of another Laurel Canyon musician. Award yourself five points for correctly identifying the person who made the remarks, and five for identifying who the statements refer to. The answers are at the end of this post.]