More than 30 injured in explosion in Black Sea city.

At least four people were killed and dozens injured by an explosion on Wednesday on a bus carrying Israeli tourists outside an airport in Bulgaria that the Israeli prime minister immediately blamed on Iran. The mayor of Burgas, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, said the bus was carrying Israeli tourists, but police could not immediately confirm their nationality. Police said several other buses at the site had been damaged. "I do not know what it was, but it was a very powerful blast, and I think it was something placed on purpose in the bus, which carried 47 Israeli tourists," Burgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov told BTV television, adding 33 people were injured. An Israeli witness said in an interview with Israeli army radio that the explosion was probably caused by a suicide bomber at the entrance of the bus. The explosion comes on the 18th anniversary of a 1994 bomb attack on the headquarters of Argentina's main Jewish organisation by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah suicide bomber, which killed 85 people.

CBS News: Israel blames Iran in deadly Bulgaria bus blast
Jerusalem Post: 7 dead in suicide bombing on Israeli bus in Burgas
Associated Press: Bulgaria: 4 dead as blast hits bus with Israelis

Over the past five years, the average net worth of Canadian households has exceeded that of American households. So for the the first time in history, Canadians are wealthier than Americans — by more than $40,000, on average. In 2011, the average net worth of a Canadian household was $363,202, compared to $319,970 in the U.S., according to Environics Analytics WealthScapes data published in the Globe and Mail. (‘Average net worth’ measures the total combined value of a household’s liquid and real estate assets, minus debt.)

Bloomberg: Hardheaded Socialism Makes Canada Richer Than U.S.
Daily Mail: Canadians richer than Americans for first time in history

Syria's defense minister was killed in a bomb attack on a high level security meeting in Damascus on Wednesday, state television said, as the revolt against Bashar al-Assad struck at the heart of the president's inner circle.

State television said Defense Minister Daoud Rajha was killed in a "terrorist bombing". Lebanon-based news channel al-Maydeen said several senior security officials had been killed in the attack while battles raged within sight of Assad's presidential palace. Republican Guard troops sealed off the Shami hospital near the sign of the explosion in northern Damascus, indicating senior officials were among the wounded, activists contacted by telephone had said. "The terrorist explosion which targeted the national security building in Damascus occurred during a meeting of ministers and a number of heads of (security) agencies," the television said. The start of a fourth day of fighting in the capital early on Wednesday had already brought the 16-month-old [CIA/Mossad] revolt close to the center of power.

Jerusalem Post: Syrian defense minister killed in Damascus "suicide bomb" [remote-controlled bomb]
New York Times: Attack Kills Syrian Defense Minister in Damascus
The Atlantic Wire: Bashar al-Assad's Brother-In-Law, Defense Minister Killed in "Suicide Bombing" [remote-controlled bomb]

For decades, most of the nations of the world have used the U.S. dollar to buy oil and to trade with each other. In essence, the U.S. dollar has been acting as a true global currency. [The] demand for dollars has kept prices and interest rates low, and it has given the U.S. government an incredible amount of power and leverage around the globe. - Right now, U.S. dollars make up more than 60 percent of all foreign currency reserves in the world. But times are changing. Over the past couple of years there has been a whole bunch of international agreements that have made the U.S. dollar less important in international trade. The mainstream media in the United States has been strangely quiet about all of these agreements, but the truth is that they are setting the stage for a fundamental shift in the way that trade is conducted around the globe. When the petrodollar dies, it is going to have an absolutely devastating impact on the U.S. economy. Sadly, most Americans are totally clueless regarding what is about to happen to the dollar. One of the reasons the Federal Reserve has been able to get away with flooding the financial system with U.S. dollars is because the rest of the world has been soaking a lot of those dollars up. The rest of the world has needed giant piles of dollars to trade with, but what is going to happen when they don't need dollars anymore? Could we see a tsunami of inflation as demand for the dollar plummets like a rock? The power of the U.S. dollar has been one of the few things holding up our economy. Once that leg gets kicked out from under us we are going to be in a whole lot of trouble.

The Pentagon is quickly tightening its ring of forces around Iran. As a recent report reveals a radar belt around the Persian country is almost complete, the biggest ever naval drills, involving up to 20 nations, are to take place in the Gulf waters. - The US military have asked for $12.2 million from Congress to build an AN/TPY-2 type radar station in Qatar. The construction is due be finished by the end of this month, The Wall Street Journal reports, quoting US officials. Similar radars, commonly known as X-band, are also located in Turkey and Israel’s desert of Negev. The detector in Qatar would complete the backbone of a system designed to protect Israel and Europe from Iranian ballistic missiles, say the WSJ sources. The shield would pinpoint missile launches from the north, west and south of the Persian country. There are also ambitions to deploy a THAAD (the army's first Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile-interceptor system to the region in the coming months. This independent detector may be hosted by the United Arab Emirates and, as the project sponsors say, together with X-Band will provide “an extra layer of defense.” Twenty nations to participate in Hormuz threat drills: Not satisfied with a ring of radar bases almost entirely encircling Iran, the US appears to be seeking to shatter the country’s morale as well. On Tuesday the US military is expected to announce the biggest-ever naval drills to be held in the Persian Gulf. Twenty nations are to take part in the exercises scheduled for September 16-27, US media reports say. The US and its allies will focus on detecting and destroying mines with ships, helicopters and underwater drones in the Persian Gulf and other locations in the region. The maneuvers are designed to counter Tehran’s threats to block the oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and thus cut off a fifth of the world’s crude exports in retaliation for international sanctions.

A bomb explosion has destroyed 22 US-led NATO tankers carrying fuel for US-led forces in Afghanistan's Samangan Province, an Afghan official says.

The incident took place on Wednesday after a magnetic bomb placed in a parking lot exploded, setting the fuel tankers ablaze. The tankers were parked for a rest-stop in a parking lot in Rabatak area. The vehicles were transporting fuel to Afghanistan from neighboring Uzbekistan. Last week, one truck driver was killed and four security guards were injured after Taliban militants set 12 NATO tankers on fire in Sayed-Abad district in Wardak Province. The attacks came after Pakistan agreed to reopen NATO supply routes into Afghanistan after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she regretted the death of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a US-led air strike in November 2011. The move, however, has provoked criticism from Pakistani people who poured into the streets across the country to ask the government to close the routes again.

Judge David Harvey surrendered his role in the case after making comments during a copyright discussion at an internet conference. An internet law expert, Judge Harvey had been considered the perfect choice to hear arguments on whether Dotcom and his Megaupload colleagues should be extradited by the United States to face charges of criminal copyright violation. The district court's chief judge Jan-Marie Doogue said Judge Harvey had made the decision to step down from hearing the case. Judge Harvey made the comments at NetHui during a conference discussion on copyright and trade talks with the US. He referred to a tweet which had played on a reference to cartoonist Walt Kelly: "We have met the enemy and he is [the] U.S."

The United States is facing fresh embarrassment over its use of 'black' detention sites after the European Court of Human Rights ordered Poland to hand over secret documents about its role in the War on Terror, The Daily Telegraph has learned. - Judges in Strasbourg have requested documents that contain details of how the CIA set up its "extraordinary rendition" centre outside Warsaw in 2002 where it subjected "al-Qaeda suspects" to water-boarding and other extreme interrogation techniques [torture].

A month ago, a Polish whistle-blower alleged that a document existed which allowed the setting up of the prison – including procedures to adopt in the event of an inmate's death. It was said to have been signed by the head of Polish intelligence. According to the leak, American officials "laughed" and refused to sign the document. "They considered us amateurs and explained that this kind of business could not be dealt with by means of formal agreements," the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

Polish officials have refused to confirm or deny the existence of the agreement, citing official secrets laws, as part of a four-year investigation into the jail. However, in a decision hailed by civil rights lawyers, the court has asked the Polish government to confirm the existence of the agreement and "if that document exists ... to supply a copy."

AWIP: Italian court "postpones" ruling in CIA rendition case

Gary Webb is the San Jose Mercury News journalist that was run out of his job and blacklisted from the industry for daring to report what he found out. That wasn't enough - he still wouldn't shut up. So they "suicided" him. [Video]