For months, I have been following the collapse of the Iranian rial, tracking black-market (free-market) exchange-rate data from foreign-exchange bazaars in Tehran. Using the most recent data, I now estimate that Iran is experiencing hyperinflation – a price-level increase of over 50%, per month. In recent days, Iranians have taken to the streets in protest over the collapse of the rial. In response, the Iranian government has cracked down on the protestors and shuttered Tehran’s foreign-exchange black market. Moreover, it has effectively cut off the supply of reliable economic information. Indeed, the signal-to-noise ratio in the Iranian economic sphere, which is normally quite low, is now even lower than usual.

An Israeli warplane fired missiles against the Southern Gaza Strip today, badly wounding two militants but also wounding eight innocent civilians, including at least three children. - The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying they were targeting the two Salafist militants, who they identified as “global jihadists.” One of the two targeted lost both legs in the attack and according to some reports has died of his wounds, though this does not appear to have been confirmed. The other was also said to be “critically injured.” The military did not comment on the innocent civilians hit during the attack, but apparently targeted the two men while they were on a motorcycle.They claimed the two were involved in a June attack along the Egyptian border fence.

We just returned from London where we shot an exclusive interview with Julian Assange - his first face-to-face Australian interview since he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. Many GetUp members have been emailing with questions they wanted Mr. Assange to answer, so we put your questions to him directly.

Now Julian Assange is wanted for questioning over alleged sexual assault in Sweden, which he says he wants to address, but can't. Instead, he's holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK. If he steps out the door he fears he'll simply be arrested, sent to Sweden and ultimately handed over to the US, where he faces life in prison and even the death penalty.

Sentenced to life in prison or even death for publishing information a government didn't want seen. Is this really our idea of democracy and freedom? Sign the PETITION to Bob Carr calling on the Australian Government to stand up for the rights of all Australian citizens, and not allow Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has comfortably won a fourth consecutive term in office after a hotly-contested presidential election in the Latin American country. - The National Electoral Council announced on Sunday that President Chavez won the majority, taking 54.42 percent of the votes, compared with 44.97 percent for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. Thousands of jubilant supporters of the 58-year-old president poured onto the streets across the capital city of Caracas to celebrate the victory, right after the electoral council president Tibisay Lucena announced the results. Lucena also said that with 90 percent of the ballots counted, Chavez took 7,444,082 votes, while Capriles secured 6,151,554 votes. She added that the turnout in the country’s election was 80.94 percent of the 19 million eligible voters. The 40-year-old opposition candidate has congratulated President Chavez for winning a six-year-term after about 14 years in office.

Russia Today: Here to stay: Chavez wins Venezuelan presidency - Photos
Tony Cartalucci: Venezuela's Victory Over Wall Street
Tony Cartalucci: US Prepares for Overthrow of Venezuela
Rachael Boothroyd: Chavez wins poll, days after largest-ever march

Turkey has returned artillery fire at Syria for a fifth consecutive day, after mortar from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. The shell landed some 200 meters inside Turkey, AP reported. According to Reuters, it hit near a plant belonging to the Turkish Grain board, several hundred meters away from the city center. No casualties have been reported. These are the latest moves in the already tense relationship between the neighboring countries. The crisis began on Wednesday, when Syrian mortar shells fired from Syria killed a woman and four children from the same family in Akcakale. The shells also wounded at least 13 people.

Stephen Lendman: Syria on the Boil
David Brown: Turkish, Syrian armies clash along border
Jason Ditz: Turkey, Syria Trade Shellings as Region Fears Wider War
Tony Cartalucci: US Now Overtly Supports MKO's Terrorist Operations (Interview)
PressTV: Erdogan tells Turks to prepare for Syria war "if necessary"

NATO forces “are fleeing Afghanistan” in “humiliation and disgrace”, proclaims the Taliban as the US-led war in the country enters its twelfth year.

Foreign forces have already started leaving the country ravaged by the war on terror the US proclaimed after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Driven by its pledge to eliminate Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, the US has been sending hundreds of troops to Afghanistan first to topple the Taliban government, which had been harboring bin Laden, and then to contain the Taliban-lead insurgency.

"And now after eleven years of unceasing terror, tyranny, crimes and savagery, they are fleeing Afghanistan with such humiliation and disgrace that they are struggling to provide an explanation," says the Taliban.

The US began the war in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. Kabul and the hard-line Taliban regime fell quickly with few American casualties, but then President George W. Bush diverted forces to Iraq. This left his NATO allies without sufficient firepower and allowed the Taliban to grow into a formidable military threat by 2006. With Western-backed President, Hamid Karzai, ascending to power, some 130,000 troops from 50 countries have been sent to support his government. But instead, a surge of violence, especially in the last five years, followed. This resulted in a total of 3,199 NATO soldiers being killed in fighting. Over 2,100 of this number are Americans, according to icasualties.com.

Philip Giraldi: Afghanistan Becomes Vietnam
Jason Ditz: America’s Longest War Moves Into 12th Year
Lee Wrights: Support Our Troops — Bring Them All Home Now
Matthew J. Nasuti: Afghan War Dead Face Lonely Journey Home
Michel Chossudovsky: Was America Attacked by Afghanistan on September 11, 2001?

Mahathir Mohamed: Receiving money from Soros and an invitation to make war a crime are two different things. In no way can one justify the other. I only wrote to Soros after he admitted that I was not wrong in my criticisms of currency trading. Some people may remember that he said I was a menace to my country. By saying that the currency control Malaysia imposed to counter the effects of currency trading was the right thing to do, he was clearly admitting that I was right and was, therefore, not a menace to my country. [...] According to Richard Miniter writing in Forbes, Soros is conducting his own foreign policy which may or may not be identical with US foreign policy. Soros believes he can use his money to set up governments which are pro-Soros or his ideals. Impoverishing countries and peoples matters little to him. Miniter went on to describe events in Georgia, where Alexander Lomaia, who went from running Soros' Open Society Georgia Foundation to become minister of education and science and later secretary of Georgia's Security Council. Georgia's opposition Labour Party leader, Shalva Natelashvili, contends that, "Effectively, George Soros is the president of Georgia, whereas (President) Saakashvili and (Prime Minister) Zurab Zhvania are his governors. Soros' foundation nominated nine ministers of the Georgian government, and all of them were appointed". And Soros claims to be promoting democracy. [H/T: Wayne Madsen]

Two films to understand the CRIIGEN study, how harmful NK603 maize and Roundup are for human health, and how GMOs are evaluated. A two-year study. Very alarming results on the proven harm of NK603 maize for rats that were given this food. Roundup harm is confirmed. French researchers secretly studied, for two years, 200 rats fed with transgenic maize. Tumors, serious disorders... full-fledged slaughter. And a bomb for the GMO industry. More information at Global Alert

Political party Pueblo Soberano and member of parliament Helmin Wiels insists that the Netherlands wanted the fall of the government because they have interest in Curacao’s gas and oil. - During a press conference, the leader brought forth some documents to indicate that there must be natural resources in the waters of Curacao. According to Wiels there are different treaties signed by the Netherlands at the United Nations which states that natural resources must be for the people and not for third parties. In 1978 this treaty was ratified in the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles. Wiels said that the war against Government Schotte was for these natural resources in the region. According to studies, it was indicated that there could be gas and oil in the waters south of Curacao and Bonaire. Since 2007, Emily de Jongh-Elhage (former prime minister of the Netherlands Antilles and current leader of the political party PAR) knew that Bonaire will become part of the Netherlands, and still they divided the natural resources between the other former Netherlands Antilles islands.

A talented head cook at a school in central Sweden has been told to stop baking fresh bread and to cut back on her wide-ranging veggie buffets because it was unfair that students at other schools didn't have access to the unusually tasty offerings. - Annika Eriksson, a lunch lady at a school in Falun, was told that her cooking is just too good. Pupils at the school have become accustomed to feasting on newly baked bread and an assortment of 15 vegetables at lunchtime, but now the good times are over. The municipality has ordered Eriksson to bring it down a notch since other schools do not receive the same calibre of food - and that is "unfair". Moreover, the food on offer at the school doesn't comply with the directives of a local healthy diet scheme which was initiated in 2011, according to the municipality. [...] Eriksson [says] that she sees it as her job to ensure that the pupils are offered several alternatives at meal times. The food on offer does not always suit all pupils, she explained, and therefore she makes sure there are plenty of vegetables to choose from as well as proteins in the form of chicken, shrimp, or beef patties.

For the first time in their lives two dozen recently rescued ducks get their first taste of life in a pond. They had been living for years with a hoarder who had them in pens without adequate access to water or proper nutrition. Read the full story HERE.