At a superficial level, one could be excused for assuming that Iran’s position in the nuclear negotiations with the P5+1 should not be that strong. After all, Iran violated its commitment to the international community not to work on a military nuclear program, leading to the imposition of a long list of UN and unilateral (mainly US and EU) economic and financial sanctions. Moreover, when facing the P5+1 at the negotiating table, Iran faces the combined political, military and economic strength of these six powers that far outweighs its own.

But as is quite well known, for a number of reasons that go to the structure of these talks, Iran’s bargaining position has actually proven to be quite robust. One of the less appreciated, but probably more effective bargaining tactics that Iran has employed in dealing with the international community – in the hope of further strengthening its hand – is what might be called the “frame game.” This refers to Iran’s attempts to rhetorically frame issues relating to the negotiation in a manner that is in line with its own interests and positions, and with the hope of ultimately basing them as the widely accepted interpretation.

Several rhetorical tactics employed by Iran in order to turn its own messages and interpretations into the generally accepted ones can be identified. One commonly used tactic is quite straight-forward: The incessant repetition of certain messages, in every context, and at every turn, until they begin to sound like accepted common knowledge.

This tactic has been employed regarding statements that Iran has an “inalienable right” to enrich uranium; that the international community accuses Iran of working on a military program but has never come up with evidence to support this; that Iran has answered all outstanding questions to the satisfaction of the IAEA; and that Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. These statements are either untrue or only partially true, but by incessantly repeating them, Iran intends to make them sound absolutely true.

Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry's claim that Iran had been unable to accept the deal "at that particular moment". He said "no amount of spinning" could change what had happened in Geneva, but it could "further erode confidence".

Mr Zarif appeared to blame France for "gutting over half" of a US draft deal. Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany - will meet again on 20 November. Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Some reports said the latest talks failed because France had wanted to place tight restrictions on the heavy-water reactor being built at Arak; others that the Iranian government's insistence on formal recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium had been the major obstacle.

Tehran says the reactor is intended for the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes, but its spent fuel will contain plutonium suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Questions also remain over Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to a medium level of purity, or 20%. Experts say it could be enriched to 90%, the level required for a nuclear bomb, in a relatively short time.

A delegation of high-ranking US officials arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday to update the Netanyahu government on the weekend talks in Geneva about Iran’s nuclear program. The delegation is led by Wendy Sherman, the US undersecretary for political affairs, who heads the US negotiating team on the matter.

The talks between Iran and six world powers began Thursday and continued into Saturday, in an unscheduled extension. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his case against a nuclear accord with Iran directly to the American public on Sunday, appearing on American TV to decry "a very bad deal" being pursued by the Obama administration.

"All Iran gives is a minor concession of taking 20 percent enriched uranium and bringing it down to a lower enrichment," Netanyahu said on CBS TVs Face the Nation program. "But they could cover that within a few weeks, given the capabilities that they keep for enrichment." He added that the fact that the deal would not require Iran to dismantle uranium-enrichment centrifuges would effectively turn Iran into "a threshold nuclear power," able to build an atomic weapon quickly once it decided to do so.

While Washington has been trying to smooth relations with its closest ally in Europe, arguing that the US presidents had no clue about the eavesdropping program and that the NSA has stopped the surveillance of German leaders, fury was reignited when German newspapers exposed the White House statement as a blatant lie.

Bilateral relations have turned cold, with the US cowering in a defensive stance, while Germany is pressing ahead by utilizing its diplomatic and economic prowess. What started with an angry phone call between Merkel and US President Barack Obama developed into a diplomatic middle finger when German MP and Green Party member Christian Ströbele met NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Moscow on Thursday.

The top secret meeting between the two was mainly around the question of whether and under what conditions Snowden would be willing to testify on the NSA affair before an investigative committee of the German parliament or a German public prosecutor. Given that Ströbele is the most senior member in the parliamentary control committee on Germany's intelligence services, his visit holds a well-founded amount of political weight.

But German efforts to pin the US on this issue have not stopped here. Together with Brazil it has submitted an anti-spying resolution to the UN General Assembly to curb NSA surveillance. In cooperation with Paris, Berlin is demanding a "no-spying" agreement equal to the alliance known as the "Five Eyes." Germany is considering a unified position with all 27 member states to suspend free trade negotiations with the US. The amount of political and economic force Washington is facing from Berlin is mounting with every passing day and every new document leaked.

Conceived by the Intelligent Systems, Robotics and Cybernetics unit at Sandia National Laboratories, the “Multi-Modal Vehicle Concept” would travel land, sea, and air by transforming itself to accommodate different terrains. Its wings become fins as it dives into water, or underwater paddles that shed casings to reveal wheels as it moves toward land — wheels with the ability to jump 30 feet into the air. An entire campaign could be conducted by a remote operator or, more likely, semi-autonomously.

As it stands now, carrying out a similar mission would require coordinating a team of unmanned aerial, undersea, and ground vehicles made by different manufacturers with different communications systems. It would take careful planning to make sure all vehicles are in place at the right time. But Sandia says that because the Multi-Modal Vehicle is designed modularly and works off one interface, it won’t be subject to those same hang-ups, and that it can adapt mid-mission as conditions change.

“The real value added [of the Multi-Modal Vehicle] is that it allows maximum flexibility in highly complex missions without the concern over whether or not all of the vehicles are positioned just right,” said Jon Salton, a Sandia engineer working on the project. Multi-Modal Vehicle does have its limitations. Because it sheds parts and material as it transforms from one mode to another, recovery is almost impossible — making every mission an expensive one-way trip.

This information is not new, since the plan has been known to our readers for quite some time. However, the initial strategy had envisaged an attack for last August by a column of armoured tanks, supported by the US army. The Saudi Vice-Minister of Defence installed himself in Amman to oversee the formation of this army and ensure the transfer of the tanks from Saudi Arabia.

A meeting was held in Amman from 25 to 27 August 2013, chaired by CentCom Commander General Lloyd J Austin III, to prepare for the operation. For communication purposes, the crew on the first armoured tanks was to be made up of Syrians recruited from refugee camps, while mercenaries would compose the major part of the troops.

The news is that the article in Foreign Policy came out after John Kerry’s trip to Riyadh to restore good relations between the two countries. If the report is confirmed, it would prove that Saudi Arabia is going ahead with this plan even though US military forces have backed out of Syria.

Over 50 US officials are in Brussels to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which, if signed, will create the world’s largest free-trade area, which has also been dubbed an “economic NATO”. Officials meeting in Brussels this week will hammer out details to reduce trade limiting regulations. The new round of talks will focus on reducing trade barriers on investment, energy, services, and raw materials, and key agreements will be announced Friday.

‘Non-tariff barriers’ increase the cost of business, whether it’s adjusting the voltage on an electronic device, changing a car’s exhaust system to comply with local environmental regulations or a difference in opinion of which chemicals are "harmful" or "hazardous" in the respective territories. By limiting health, safety and environmental regulations in order to boost trade, the US and EU are “putting the corporation above the nation,” Glyn Moody, journalist and author, told RT in an on-air interview.

“That’s a very big assumption. People may not want to have their food less safe or environment polluted for the sake of more money,” Moody told RT. Moody also warns the trade agreement could behoove giant corporations like Monsanto, who could use the new ‘de-regulation’ to sue the EU for billions of dollars if they refuse to import GMO products.

Limited trust over the fall out of the NSA spying scandal may also put a damper on negotiations between the trade giants.

Gerhard Schröder, Germany’s Social Democrat Chancellor before being beaten by Angela Merkel in 2005, blamed Britain for the financial crisis that engulfed the eurozone and for blocking the EU measures needed to put things right.

“The problem has a name, and that's Britain. As long as the British block these moves, nothing will happen,” he said. “We can assume that Britain is no longer willing to join the euro area. Countries that are not in the euro area cannot prevent greater integration. It’s tough but you cannot say ‘I will not be there but I want a say’.”

The former chancellor’s views are important because the Social Democrats are currently holding talks with Chancellor Merkel to form a new governing coalition for Germany, a development that could damage relations with Britain.

Mrs Merkel is sympathetic to David Cameron’s calls for the EU to be reformed but the Social Democrats, that she will soon be sharing government with, are deeply hostile to the Prime Minister and British Euroscepticism. “The EU's political structure cannot remain static,” said Mr Schroeder, at an economic forum in Bregenz, in western Austria. “We need to press ahead with Europe's political unity, towards a kind of European federation.”

Amid reports that France's reservations scuppered an agreement, Mr Kerry told reporters in Abu Dhabi: "The French signed off on it; we signed off on it." Iran had been unable to accept the deal "at that particular moment", he added. Mr Kerry said he hoped in the next few months they could "find an agreement that meets everyone's standards". But he also warned that the failure to agree a deal with Iran "would be a considerable problem in a few months".

Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany - will meet again on 20 November. Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but world powers suspect it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Some reports said the latest talks failed because France had wanted to place tight restrictions on the facility in Arak.

However, US diplomats said the Iranian government's insistence on formal recognition of its "right" to enrich uranium had been the major obstacle. The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior US official as saying the P5+1 had approved a working document, but that it had been "too tough" for the Iranians.

In a statement, he said the two worst affected provinces, Leyte and Samar, had suffered massive destruction and loss of life. Thousands of survivors are still desperately waiting for the aid effort to reach them. Up to 10,000 people are feared to have been killed.

Tacloban is one of the worst affected cities. The BBC's Jon Donnison, who is there, says there does not yet seem to be an effective operation to get help to those in need. This is expected to change over the next few days, he says. More than nine million people have been affected in the Philippines. Many are now struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water.

A huge international relief effort is under way, but rescue workers have struggled to reach some towns and villages cut off since the storm. However, reports from Tacloban say that soldiers have been on the streets distributing food and water to some residents and the US military has sent marines to the city.

Jane Cocking, the humanitarian director for Oxfam, said her colleagues witnessed "complete devastation... entire parts of the coastline just disappeared". Haiyan brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft). In some places, as much as 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain fell.

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said he and other Conservatives were left "shocked" by the "tumultuous" pace of change and would have preferred for it to have "gradually taken root". He added that the Conservatives now have to "focus on the challenges ahead".

In an interview with Conservativehome, Mr Hammond said: "It was damaging because it created a perception that the leadership was in a different place to the core of the party's active supporters. Mr Cameron said at the time that he was proud of the achievement."

Despite the trees’ propensity for cooler climates, ArborGen has sought to promote the trees’ growth in the south eastern US under the notion that they will help the environment sustain itself. Yet a new report from the Center for Food Safety titled “Genetically Engineered Trees: The New Frontier of Biotechnology” details how GE trees could increase greenhouse gas emission and reduce biodiversity.

“Commercializing GE trees could be devastating to the environment,” Debbie Barker, international program director for the Center for Food Safety, told Eco Watch. “Factory forests’ will accelerate and expand large-scale, chemical-intensive, monoculture plantations. We need to understand the risks in order to determine if GE trees are a sustainable way forward or a dangerous diversion.”

Among the concerns laid out in the report is the immediate risk GE trees would pose to natural trees in the surrounding area. Not only are they expected to suck up at least twice as much water as normal trees, but GE trees are also known for their ability to spread seeds and pollens over great distances. If wild trees become contaminated they could be more vulnerable to pests and pathogens, thus risking the life span of natural US forests. The GE trees would also require substantial amounts of fertilizers and pesticides as well.

The game’s objective was to simulate and explore the potential outcomes and effects of a global financial war. At the end of the war game, the Pentagon concluded that the US dollar was at extreme risk of devaluation and collapse in the near term, triggered either by a default of the US Treasury and the dumping of bonds by foreign investors or by hyperinflation by the private Federal Reserve.

These revelations, later exposed by Rickards, were interesting not because they were “new” or “shocking.” Rather, they were interesting because many of us in the field of alternative economics had ALREADY predicted the same outcome for the American financial system years before the APL decided to entertain the notion. At least, that is what the public record indicates.

The idea that our government has indeed run economic collapse scenarios, found the United States in mortal danger, and done absolutely nothing to fix the problem is bad enough. I have my doubts, however, that the Pentagon or partnered private think tanks like the RAND Corporation did not run scenarios on dollar collapse long before 2009. In fact, I believe there is much evidence to suggest that the military industrial complex has not only been aware of the fiscal weaknesses of the US system for decades, but they have also been actively engaged in exploiting those weaknesses in order to manipulate the American public with fears of cultural catastrophe.

History teaches us that most economic crisis events are followed or preceded immediately by international or domestic conflict. War is the looming shadow behind nearly all fiscal disasters. I suspect that numerous corporate think tanks and the Department Of Defense are perfectly aware of this relationship and have war gamed such events as well. Internal strife and civil war are often natural side effects of economic despair within any population.

James Comstock told the Des Moines Register he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the former's truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes. Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson reportedly spotted the lawn care company vehicle and pursued it onto the Iowa State University campus, where a brief standoff ensued after Tyler allegedly refused orders to turn off the engine.

McPherson eventually fired six shots into the truck, two of which struck Tyler who was later pronounced dead.

It was the day after Kristallnacht, a state-sponsored spree of looting and destruction of Jewish property across Germany and Austria that marked a turning point in Nazi policy as Adolf Hitler unleashed the general population against the Jews.

"The two Nazis looked us over and after a while - this was November 10th, it was cold out - they told my father to get his hat and coat and said: 'You're coming with us,'" Drukker told Reuters on a visit to Vienna from her home in Philadelphia. "We saw from the window how they got out of the building and pushed my father into the back seat of the car that was parked in front and drove away," she said. "We didn't know where they took him or what was happening. There were rumors."

Scores of Jews were killed in the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), and thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were ransacked as law-enforcement organs looked on, signaling the start of the Holocaust. The 75th anniversary of the infamous pogrom is being marked with ceremonies in Berlin, Vienna and elsewhere this weekend.