Behind Iran's new face

September 26, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “charm offensive” is indeed charming.

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Nearly a dozen of Syria’s powerful rebel factions, including one linked to Al Qaeda, formally broke with the main opposition group in exile Wednesday and called for Islamic law in the country, dealing a severe blow to the Western-backed coalition.The new alliance is a potential turning point, entrenching the schism within the rebellion and giving President Bashar al-Assad fuel for his long-stated contention that his regime is battling Islamic extremists.

Unanimous but far from united, the Senate advanced legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown on Wednesday, the 100-to-0 vote certain to mark merely a brief pause in a fierce partisan struggle over the future of President Obama’s signature health-care law. The vote came shortly after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz held the Senate in session overnight with a near-22-hour speech that charmed the tea party wing of the GOP, irritated the leadership, and was meant to propel fellow Republican lawmakers into an all-out struggle to extinguish the law.

Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday his country is ready to negotiate and has “nothing to hide” as world powers prepare to revive stalled talks over Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities. Iran has agreed to meet with six world powers today on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to try to restart nuclear negotiations that stalled in April.

Rescuers struggled Wednesday to help thousands of people injured and left homeless after their houses collapsed in a major earthquake in southwestern Pakistan as the death toll from the massive tremor the day before rose to at least 271.

Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis left a note saying he was driven to kill by months of bombardment with extremely low-frequency radio waves, the FBI said Wednesday in a disclosure that explains the phrase he etched on his shotgun: “My ELF Weapon!” Alexis did not target particular individuals during the Sept. 16 attack in which he killed 12 people, and there is no indication the shooting stemmed from any workplace dispute, said an FBI spokeswoman.

Egyptian security forces on Wednesday shuttered the main office of the newspaper of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party and confiscated equipment, journalists from the Freedom and Justice daily said.

Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA won the America’s Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Spithill steered Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States.

FBI agents began fingerprint, DNA, and ballistic analysis Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, to help determine the identities and nationalities of victims and Al Shabab gunmen who attacked a shopping center, killing more than 60 people.

Compiled from wire service reports

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