VP FACE OFF AS SHOWDOWN NEARS. Debate Preparations Begin.
GOP VP Candidate Paul Ryan starts his debate practices in Oregon today as his campaign focuses on learning how to debate opponent, Vice President Joe Biden.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT STATISTICS. Sharp Economic Slowdown.
PRC releases new data showing sputtering growth, developers and builders said they had decelerated construction to the slowest pace possible without setting off default clauses.

SEPARATE PARALLEL WORLDS. Democrats and Republicans.

Tornadoes in NYC swept out of the sea and hit areas on Saturday, blowing debris in the air, knocking out power and startling residents who once thought that twisters were mainly a Midwestern phenomenon.

Public safety officials are still assessing the damage, but no serious injuries were reported and the area affected by the storm appeared minimal.

Area residents received advance notice when The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Queens and Brooklyn at around 10:40 a.m. 30 minutes later, the storm took people by surprise anyway when it struck.

U.S. GOVERNMENT CLASSIFICATION. Terrorist Haqqani Network.
The secretary of state notifies Congress that the Pakistan-based group meets the criteria for such a terrorism classification.

PRESIDENT OBAMA.‘God Talk’.
The president has used God talk to his political advantage, while largely abandoning the practice after taking office. At the Democratic National Convention, he showed just how much it still matters.

WHITE HOUSE NEW POLICY. Drafting Standards on Cyber-attack.
A preliminary executive order could possibly accomplish what Congressional leaders could not.

The United Nations and its partners today increased their humanitarian appeal for Syria from $180 million to $347 million, due to the doubling of the number of people in need since July, to 2.5 million.

The revised Syria Humanitarian Response Plan focuses on the priority areas of health, food, livelihoods, infrastructure rehabilitation, community services, education and shelter, in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Damascus, rural Damascus, Deir Ezzor and Aleppo, as well as areas hosting large numbers of internally displaced people.

PRESIDENT OBAMA. Rallying Cry For Voters
The president accepts the Democratic renomination and seeks to recapture the confidence of US voters who continue to face economic hardships.

MITT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN. Criticized For ‘Neocon’ Foreign Policy.
Democratic party leadership on foreign policy matters is reviving memories of George W. Bush and his costly invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

TURKEY TURNS. Waking Up It's Neighbors.
Months after Ankara set out a more assertive role in the Middle East, it now appears to be importing instability from nearby countries.

NYC Council Member James Vacca, Chair of the Transportation Committee, today held a hearing to discuss a package of legislation designed to strengthen enforcement, enhance education, and improve safety among the city’s commercial cycling sector. The bills, which have the support of a diverse coalition of advocacy groups, are intended to address problems in the commercial cycling industry from two sides of the same coin.

A timely and decisive response is vital in the face of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, top United Nations officials have stressed, highlighting the need to act when a State fails to protect its own people.

“This is the ultimate test of the responsibility to protect,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks to an informal interactive dialogue of the General Assembly on the principle agreed at a summit of world leaders in 2005.