Syria muatating conflict

Syria's Mutating Conflict

via http://www.crisisgroup.org

Damascus/Brussels, 1 August 2012: As fighting rages in Aleppo, the combination of a regime morphing into a formidable militia and an Alawite community fearing for its survival leaves Syria's opposition – itself threatened with radicalisation – with a difficult task: to tackle its own demons, reach out to the Alawites and focus on restoring strife-torn institutions.

Syria's Mutating Conflict, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, exposes trends that, if left unaddressed, could worsen the country's already highly destructive conflict. In its effort to cling to power, the regime has compromised much of what made it a state, but preserved and even consolidated what could ensure its resilience as something more akin to a powerful, intractable militia. The opposition, even as it peels away the regime's outer layers, has failed to crack its inner core and is threatened from within, despite its efforts, by sectarianism, retaliatory violence and fundamentalism. Increasingly intertwined with what is left of the power structure, much of the minority Alawite community feels that it has to kill to survive, or be killed trying.

"The regime is unlikely to change its ways, so it is up to the opposition to prove it can take the lead in offering the country a future", says Peter Harling, Crisis Group's Syria, Egypt and Lebanon Project Director. "It is focused on its objective of annihilating the present regime, while the latter has ensured such a goal has become synonymous with the destruction of the Alawite community, intercommunal harmony and what is left of the state. The opposition needs to distinguish between these, beginning by addressing the serious challenge of radicalisation in its midst".

Increasingly entrenched and fearing neither threats nor sanctions, the regime has burned all its domestic bridges, and hardliners with little capacity for compromise are firmly in control. Seemingly indifferent to its own losses, it has survived assassinations and street fighting in Damascus and Aleppo. It is almost impossible to destroy, but it also is incapable of defeating its enemies or coming up with a political solution to end the fighting.

On the other side, civil society has developed in remarkable ways, promoting forms of solidarity that came as a surprise to Syrians themselves. Still, ominous trends exist: protracted fighting has attracted small but conspicuous numbers of jihadis to opposition ranks, nurtured fundamentalism and sparked sectarian killings and revenge attacks.

Against this backdrop, the Alawite community is running scared, having historically overinvested in state, party and security structures. If the opposition aims to destroy the regime and has no plan that ensures the Alawites a political future as real partners, then wider conflict is almost certain. If such a scenario is left to unfold, Syria's other minorities – the Kurds, Druze, Christians, Ismailis – might fear they are next. The opposition must reassure them, notably by cleansing its own ranks and developing forward-looking proposals on issues of justice, accountability, amnesty and the preservation of some of the country's institutions.

"For those Syrians who have endured seventeen months of repression, for whom the instinct of revenge must be hard to suppress, this might seem an inappropriate, unrealistic mission", says Robert Malley, Crisis Group's Middle East and North Africa Program Director. "But it is a necessary and inescapable one if the transition is to be worth the enormous price that is being paid".

source: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/Middle%20East%20North%20Africa/Iraq%20Syria%20Lebanon/Syria/128-syrias-mutating-conflict.pdf?utm_source=syriareport&utm_medium=pdf&utm_campaign=mremail

Honda Brio : Is that worth buying?

Should I buy this car?

Honda Brio menggunakan mesin Honda i-VTEC SOHC 1.3 liter 4 silinder yang mampu menghasilkan tenaga 100 daya kuda. Power yang dihasilkan diklaim Honda sebagai yang terbesar di kelasnya. Kendaraan ini menerapkan teknologi Drive By Wire (DBW), Grade Logic Control serta Shift Hold Control. Transmisinya mengadopsi sistem manual dan otomatis 5 percepatan.

Harga jual Honda Brio yakni Rp 149 juta untuk tipe S tranmisi manual, Rp 159 untuk tipe S transmisi otomatis, Rp 160 juta untuk tipe E tranmisi manual dan Rp 170 juta untuk tipe E tranmisi otomatis.

It's interesting that so many people who study psychiatric disorders also have them

James Holmes PhD student of neuroscience

Prof Rainer Reinscheid  - His research included studying molecular pharmacology and psychiatric disorders, including studies of schizophrenia, stress, emotional behavior and sleep

Anyway, this is just my rant..and This conclusion is shallow..I have been generalizing ....

Digital Mourning

In the digital age we text and tweet every thought and emotion, every LOL and OMG can become TMI, but it seems much more natural now that social media is second nature.

That said, is an expression of sympathy or announcement of the death of a loved one via email or Facebook appropriate?

Bruce Feiler, bestselling author and New York Times columnist is helping us navigate the murky waters of mourning in the digital era. There are some dos and don'ts when it comes to grieving online. First, email can actually be a convenient tool to inform friends and relatives of an illness or death.  Bruce suggested appointing a friend or family member to disseminate information and field phone calls, to make it easier on the mourners or sick loved one.

But when it comes to expressing sympathy, Bruce says the old-fashioned way is best: A handwritten note or a phone call—not a text—shows you care.

The web can serve as an excellent place for a digital memorial or information spot. Sites like CarePages and CaringBridge allow you to set up a page for either a sick or deceased loved one to share updates, funeral information, or just memories about the person. Obituary sites like tribute.com can be places to return to over and over again and read about your loved one and post comments. Even Facebook can be a place to grieve.  If you present them an obituary, they will turn the deceased's page into a memorial site. Bruce says wall posts, however, are not a good use of Facebook when it comes to a death. Send a private message, if not a phone call.

And, as I have learned from experience, the things that matter most are the personal touches, the people who stop by with meals for your family or offer to run errands for you or babysit your children while you get things done.  And don't forget to follow up a few weeks, or even months, later, and check in on the person who suffered a loss.

Grief, like a Facebook page, cannot be easily deleted.

Which city is best for culture? New research crunches the numbers

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London 2012: badminton players charged with trying to throw matches

London 2012: badminton players charged with trying to throw matches

http://gu.com/p/39dz2

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@stuartmillar159: Fact of the day RT @chaztopher: If Michael Phelps was a country, he'd be 55th on the all-time medal count.
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Syria: Shameful Performance of Western Media — english.al-akhbar.com — Readability

http://readability.com/m?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgoo.gl%2F8K1LL

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Syria: Shameful Performance of
Western Media
The performance of the Western
media (American, British, French and
others) regarding the Syrian conflict
has been quite shameful. One does
not expect much from American
media. Ill-informed foreign editors
and correspondents and political
cowardice turn American media into
tools of US foreign policy.
This is especially true when it comes
to coverage of the Middle East, where
extra political courage and
uncharacteristic level of knowledge
and expertise are rather rare, even
though they are essential to
challenging US foreign policy. But
when it comes to Syria, British media
– including the liberal Guardian which
has often been brave in challenging
Western foreign policies and wars –
have been indistinguishable from
American media.
These media have failed their readers
on many levels. Their shortcomings
can be summarized as follows:
1. Resorting to methods of
documentations that are never
accepted when covering the Arab-
Israeli conflict; like the reliance on
accounts of people through Skype
and email whose names are not
obtained through a random process,
and the reliance on Saudi or Qatari
press media offices.
2. Hiding behind the cliché that "the
Syrian government does not allow
journalists in" to justify the various
anthologies of errors contained in
media reports. Many journalists have
either been allowed in or have
managed to sneak in, so the general
disclaimer used daily in the New York
Times is inaccurate and misleads
readers. Such a disclaimer is never
used against Israel, which imposes
rigid forms of censorship on reports
emanating from Israel, especially
when Israel is perpetrating its
regular war crimes and massacres.
3. The reliance on exile Syrian
opposition reports without any
scrutiny or healthy skepticism.
4. The assumption that Saudi-funded
or Qatari-funded media outfits don't
carry the agendas of those
governments.
5. Obscuring on purpose the heavy
role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the
Syrian exile opposition in order to
project a deceptive image of a secular
opposition.
6. The role that most Western
journalists and correspondents have
played on Twitter to cheerlead the
Free Syrian Army and the Syrian exile
opposition. The pretense of objectivity
is discarded.
7. The consistent reliance (especially in
the US press) on "experts" from the
Zionist Washington Institute for Near
East Policy as if it has no ideological
lobbying agenda. Reference to that
institute only informs the readers of its
political slant – to put it mildly.
8. The deliberate distortion and mis-
characterization of one side in the
conflict.
9. The insistence that Bashar al-Assad
has no power base in Syria – outside
of the Alawi community – when the
endurance shown by the regime
requires more than a resort to brute
force, which the regime is known for.
10. The gap between past coverage of
Syria which disregarded human rights
violations by the Assad regime during
its years of understanding with
Western governments and the sudden
discovery of the brutality of the
regime.
11. The obsession with Israeli
concerns: the media audaciously
covers the Israeli-originated story
about Syrian chemical weapons
without ever mentioning the vast
arsenal of Israeli WMDs.
12. Lack of verification of published
information.
13. Blurring the lines between editorial
policies and media reports – this has
been true even in The Economist –
one of the best samples of modern
journalism.
14. Covering the story of Syria from
other capitals, primarily Beirut, where
the press corps is highly dependent
on the services, suggestions, and even
instructions of the Hariri press office.
(The former CNN bureau chief now
works for the Hariri family).
15. Fear of challenging assumptions
and orientations of Western policies.
16. Lack of irony in reporting about
Qatari and Saudi support for
democratic struggle in Syria.
17. Covering up war crimes and other
misdeeds by the Free Syrian Army.
18. The reluctance to report on
foreign jihadi fighters in Syria until the
US government admitted their
presence.
19. The tendency to echo one another
in the coverage.
20. The lack of hesitation to report lies
and fabrications as long as they serve
the cause of Western governments
and as long as they hurt the cause of
the enemy Syrian regime.
21. Disregard for the political
background of some of the sudden
opponents of the Syrian regime.
Western media have yet to report on
these personalities who have been
apologists for the Syrian regime and
who pretended that they were
opponents of the regime when it
became politically and financially
convenient.
22. The pattern of reliance on
reporters who don't know Arabic and
don't know the region continues. The
New York Times continues to send
reporters who have covered American
politics or the police beat in NYC to
cover the Middle East region.
There is no accountability and it is
unlikely that someone is going to write
a book on the shortcomings and
failures of Western media. Western
media also marketed the Libya story
and they were never made
accountable for the lies they peddled
there.
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Could This Man Lead Syria After Assad? — www.slate.com — Readability

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Want to live longer? Ditch the diet, cancel your gym session - just eat less

Forget exercise, fad diets or so-called miracle pills – if you want to live longer simply eat less, a leading scientist has claimed.

Dr Michael Mosley, a presenter on BBC science show Horizon, said ongoing research suggested that a high metabolic rate – how much energy the body uses for normal body functions – is a risk factor for earlier mortality.

And he revealed that communities in Japan and the U.S. which  follow strict, low-calorie diets  appear to have a lifespan longer than the global average.

The 55-year-old said of calorie restriction diets, which are often as low as 600 calories a day: ‘The bottom line is that it is the only thing that’s ever really been shown to prolong life.

‘Ultimately, ageing is a product of a high metabolic rate, which in turn increases the number of free radicals we consume.

‘If you stress the body out by restricting calories or fasting, this seems to cause it to adapt and slow the metabolism down. It’s a version of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”.’

Dr Mosley said he did not believe it was necessary to eat three meals a day because ‘what we think of as hunger is mainly habit’.

More...

• Why you SHOULD forgive and forget - it's good for your heart
• Overworked nurses 'put patients at greater risk of infection'

In a new Horizon programme, he also suggests that intermittent fasting could offer the same benefits as calorie restriction by reducing the growth of hormone IGF-1.

While the hormone maintains and repairs tissue, high levels have been shown to contribute towards cancer and ageing.

New approach: Forget exercise, fad diets or so-called miracle pills - if you want to live longer simply eat less, a leading scientist has claimed

His comments, made to the Radio Times, come after the Institute of Health Ageing at University College London suggested eating 40 per cent less could extend a person’s life by 20 years.

A researcher said: ‘If you reduce the diet of a rat by 40 per cent it will live for 20 per cent longer. So we would be talking 20 years of human life.

'This has shown on all sorts of organisms, even labradors.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2181370/Want-live-longer-Ditch-diet-cancel-gym-session--just-eat-less.html#ixzz22AfMLHHN

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I am listening to Black Keys / Little Black Submarines on Absolute Rockz with TuneIn http://tunein.com/station/?stationId=163547

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CS monitor report from Aleppo

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China's most incredible mother: Staggering story of the woman who saved 30 abandoned babies after finding them dumped in the street with the trash

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181017/Story-Chinese-woman-saved-30-...

A woman has been hailed a hero after details of her astonishing work with abandoned children has emerged.

Lou Xiaoying, now 88 and suffering from kidney failure, found and raised more than 30 abandoned Chinese babies from the streets of Jinhua, in the eastern Zhejiang province where she managed to make a living by recycling rubbish.

She and her late husband Li Zin, who died 17 years ago, kept four of the children and passed the others onto friends and family to start new lives.

Her youngest son Zhang Qilin - now aged just seven - was found in a dustbin by Lou when she was 82.

'Even though I was already getting old I could not simply ignore the baby and leave him to die in the trash. He looked so sweet and so needy. I had to take him home with me,' she said.

'I took him back to our home, which is a very small modest house in the countryside and nursed him to health. He is now a thriving little boy, who is happy and healthy.

'My older children all help look after Zhang Qilin, he is very special to all of us. I named him after the Chinese word for rare and precious.

'The whole thing started when I found the first baby, a little girl back in 1972 when I was out collecting rubbish. She was just lying amongst the junk on the street, abandoned. She would have died had we not rescued her and taken her in.

'Watching her grow and become stronger gave us such happiness and I realised I had a real love of caring for children.

'I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives,' she explained.

'These children need love and care. They are all precious human lives. I do not understand how people can leave such a vulnerable baby on the streets.
She is now dying from kidney failure and her husband died 17-years-ago. Lou said she loved watching the babies grow into healthy children

Lou is now dying from kidney failure. She is pictured here with two of the children she helped rescued

Lou, left, caring her the babies with her husband Li Zin. She would give them to friends and family after she rescued them

Lou, left, caring her the babies with her husband Li Zin. She would give them to friends and family after she rescued them

Lou, who has one biological daughter, Zhang Caiying and now aged 49, devoted her life to looking after the abandoned babies.

Word of her kind-hearted gestures has now spread in China, where thousands of babies are abandoned on the streets by their poverty stricken parents.

 
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    Social animals: Cows get tracking collars as scientists try to to work out how they make friends
    96-year-old dies while abseiling for charity - at a HOSPITAL

One fan explained: 'She is shaming to governments, schools and people who stand by and do nothing. She has no money or power but she saved children from death or worse.'

'In the local community she is well known and well respected for her work with the abandoned babies. She does her best. She is a local hero. But unfortunately there are far too many abandoned babies in China who have no hope of survival.

Only last week there was news of a baby lucky to be alive after having its throat cut and then put in a plastic bag and thrown in a dustbin at Anshan city, in northeast China’s Liaoning province.

The baby – a girl – was thought to be a victim of the country's one child policy where parents restricted to only having a single child prefer boys and girls are unwanted and often discarded.
Lou, who is now in hospital, has become iconic in her village and people have said she puts the government and other officials to shame

Lou, who is now in hospital, has become iconic in her village and people have said she puts the government and other officials to shame
A little boy who was found abandoned by Lou is now cared for by her older children. The family have little money but still managed to save dozens of children

A little boy who was found abandoned by Lou is now cared for by her older children. The family have little money but still managed to save dozens of children
Lou made a living from collecting and recycling rubbish, she said that she would never leave the children after coming across them, abandoned

Lou made a living from collecting and recycling rubbish, she said that she would never leave the children after coming across them, abandoned

Infanticide of 'guilt children' is still a problem in rural areas but it is rare in cities, where children are usually abandoned but not killed.

The baby's fate has horrified China. The tot was spotted when a passerby went to throw some rubbish in the bin the and saw what he thought was a dead baby in the bag.

He told police that the child was purple and had not moved until he examined the bag more closely.

A resident who witnessed the girl being taken to hospital said: 'She was still breathing and had a heartbeat. Blood from the wound stained the whole body.'

Doctors said that if the baby had been left in the bag a few minutes longer she would have died of suffocation and it had already been affected by the lack of oxygen hence the purple colour.

They said that the baby had been born premature and was probably between 32 and 34 weeks old and weighing just 1.4 kg.

A medic said that if the cut had been just a millimetre deep in the baby would have died.
Recovering: The premature baby was found in a bin, with placenta and umbilical cord still attached, in Anshan city in northeast China

The premature baby was found in a bin, with placenta and umbilical cord still attached, in Anshan city in northeast China
PREVENTING MORE THAN 400 MILLION BIRTHS WITH CONTROVERSIAL RULE

The painted sign reads, 'It is forbidden to discriminate against, mistreat or abandon baby girls'

The painted sign reads, 'It is forbidden to discriminate against, mistreat or abandon baby girls'

China's controversial 'policy of birth planning' was introduced in 1978 to reduce the strain on the country's burgeoning population and reduce the strain on resources.

It officially restricts married, urban couples to having one child and those who break the rules have to pay a fine or fee.

Those who stick to the rules are usually awarded a certificate and can benefit financially, such as receiving an additional month's salary every year until the child turns 14.

The policy allows exemptions in some cases - including rural couples, couples without siblings on either side, and ethnic minorities.

Residents of Hong Kong and Macau are exempt from the policy, as are foreign nationals living in China.

Certain rural parts of the country allow couples to have a second child if the first born is a girl but many parents feel pressured to produce an heir and end up abandoning the females.

If the second child is also a girl, no more children are allowed. It is extremely rare to find a family that has two sons.

The Chinese government claims that the policy has probably prevented more than 400 million births and in 2010 it was reported that for every 120 boys born there are 100 girls.

Critics inside China and around the world have condemned the policy and accused the government of enforcing abortions.

Despite the fact that it is illegal to kill newborn babies in the country, female infanticide and the failure to report female births is widely suspected, especially in rural areas.

An international conference on human rights, held ten years before the policy was introduced, proclaimed: 'Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children.'

Despite this, an independent 2008 survey reported that 76 per cent of the Chinese population supported the policy.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181017/Story-Chinese-woman-saved-30-...

Why you SHOULD forgive and forget - it's good for your heart

via : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2180940/Why-SHOULD-forgive-forget--good-heart.html#ixzz2269o0eRp

Those who thought about a hurtful event in a forgiving way were protected from spikes in blood pressure

• Hypertension increases the risk of heart attack and stroke

They say to err is human, to forgive divine. But new research has revealed that excusing people who have hurt you can actually boost your health.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, found those people who let go of their anger were less likely to see spikes in blood pressure.

They asked just over 200 volunteers to think about a time when a friend had offended them. Half of the group were told to think about how it had angered them while the other half were encouraged to consider it in a more forgiving way.

The particpants were then all distracted for five minutes after which they were told to think about the event again in any way they chose.

The participants were wired  up to monitors, which took blood pressure and heart rate readings.

The team, led by Dr Britta Larsen, found the angry group saw the greatest increase in blood pressure compared to the forgiving group after the first ruminating session. The effect was seen later on despite having the brief timeout period to calm down. However, there was no differences in heart rate.

The authors said that although it was small study, their research - published in the Journal of Biobehavioural Medicines - suggested forgiveness could 'lower reactivity' to stressful events and even offer 'sustained protection' from the physical impact.

Short-term rises in blood pressure are not known to be harmful. However, over a longer period high blood pressure - or hypertension - increases the risk of heart attack or stroke.

Around 30 per cent of adults in the UK have hypertension although many are unaware of it as there aren't obvious symptoms. Those most at risk are overweight, are of African or Caribbean descent, consume a lot of salt, don't exercise much, drink large amounts of coffee and are aged over 65.

The NHS recommends that all adults have their blood pressure checked every five years.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2180940/Why-SHOULD-forgive-forget--good-heart.html#ixzz2269g96O3

Backpacker Accomodation in Davao, Philiphine

It is cheap accomodation in Davao City (Php180).Finally , I got the address...actually I already called the guy last week  and booked for the placehttp://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/2503229/St.+Camillus+Dormitel%3A+Davao+City+clean+accommodations+for+Php180.

update
Just got email from the St. Camillus Dormitel
To get to the dormitel from the Davao Airport, take a cab. It's only 15 mins away from the airport. It will cost you around 110-120p. Tell the driver to pass through Dumanlas Road to get to SPMC(Southern Philippines Medical Center ) compound wherein the dormitel is located. For accommodations, it's p180 per head per night. All rooms accommodate 8 pax. So it's 540 for 3 nights. You may check us out on facebook for more photos and info. Looking forward to having you with us.

Manaf Tlass

via Yahoo News

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's most prominent defector offered himself up Thursday as a figure to unite the fractious opposition, saying he failed to persuade his former friend, President Bashar Assad, to end a bloody crackdown that has killed thousands of Syrians.

The remarks by Manaf Tlass, a Syrian brigadier general until he abandoned the regime this month, were published in a Saudi newspaper just as opposition factions gathered in Qatar to try to agree on a transitional leadership if Assad's regime falls.

Some opposition members are deeply skeptical of Tlass, believing he's far too close to the regime.

Mahmoud Othman, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, said Tlass would simply "bring back the regime with a different image."

"Those who recently defected from the regime must not take part in leading the transitional period," Othman told The Associated Press from Istanbul, where he is based. "After the transitional period, the Syrian people will choose whomever they want through the ballots."

Members of the SNC met Thursday, but made no decisions on a possible leadership to fill the vacuum if Assad falls, according to Burhan Ghalioun, a former leader of the group.

The SNC has acted as the international face of the revolution, but it has been unable to unite all dozens of disparate rebel and opposition factions under one banner.

Ghalioun said talks would continue Friday and could stretch on past this series of meetings.

Tlass, a commander in the powerful Republican Guard and the son of a former defense minister, defected three weeks ago. Although the regime has remained largely intact over the course of the 17-month-old uprising, the pace of defections appears to be picking up.

"I will try to help as much as I can to unite all the honorable people inside and outside Syria to put together a roadmap to get us out of this crisis, whether there is a role for me or not," he told the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily in an interview.

He said he was in Saudi Arabia — a key financial backer of the rebellion — to assess what kind of assistance the oil-rich nation could give to help create a new Syria. He said he does not see a future for Syria with Assad at the helm. The last time he saw the president, he said, was about a year ago.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry also announced a surprise visit by Tlass on Thursday. He attended a dinner with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who has been an outspoken Assad critic. Turkey's intelligence chief and a senior foreign ministry official also were at the dinner.

Tlass left Davutoglu's residence after about an hour, wearing a dark suit with a light blue shirt, the top buttons undone. He didn't take any questions and was driven away in the back of a BMW.

Since his defection, Tlass has spoken publicly only twice, both times to Saudi-controlled media.

Tlass, once a personal friend of Assad, told the newspaper that the regime has many good people without blood on their hands and that the country's institutions should be preserved. He said he tried to persuade the president not to listen to his inner circle of security advisers who were all recommending a harsh crackdown on the uprising.

Tlass said he defected when he realized the regime could not be deterred from its single-minded pursuit of crushing the opposition.

"Sometimes in a friendship you advise a friend many times, and then you discover that you aren't having any impact, so you decide to distance yourself," he said.

A handsome man in his mid-40s, Manaf led an extravagant lifestyle, and he and his wife were fixtures on the social scene in Syria, where he often spoke on Assad's behalf.

Tlass was also a powerful Sunni in a government dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. His father, Mustafa Tlass, was the most trusted lieutenant of the late Hafez Assad, the president's father and predecessor.

The conflict in Syria, which activists say has killed more than 19,000 people since March 2011, has drawn deep international condemnation. But world powers have few options to help beyond diplomacy — in part because of fears that any military intervention could exacerbate an already explosive battle. Syria's close ties to Iran and the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon mean that the conflict has the potential to draw in the country's neighbors.

In Washington, the Obama administration is weighing its options for more direct involvement in the Syrian civil war if the rebels opposing the Assad regime can wrest enough control to create a safe haven for themselves, U.S. officials said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says it's only a matter of time before the rebels have enough territory and organization to create such areas.

"More and more territory is being taken," Clinton said this week. "It will eventually result in a safe haven inside Syria, which will then provide a base for further actions by the opposition."

Still, U.S. officials are insisting they won't provide arms to Syria's anti-Assad forces or push for a no-fly zone over rebel-controlled areas.

For more than a week, Assad's regime has suffered a string of blows, although his forces are regaining their momentum. After a rebel rush on the capital — including a brazen bombing that killed four top regime insiders — the government routed the fighters by calling in attack helicopters and heavy weapons that devastated entire neighborhoods.

Rebels have been fighting for six days in the commercial capital Aleppo, and on Thursday they braced for a government onslaught amid reports that the regime is massing reinforcements to retake the embattled city of 3 million. They reported more intense firepower being used against them, including artillery strikes.

"Regime forces have been randomly shelling neighborhoods, and the civilians are terrified," local activist Mohammed Saeed told the AP via Skype.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington has "grave concerns" about tanks and fighter jets being used in a densely populated city.

"The concern is that we will see a massacre in Aleppo, and that's what the regime appears to be lining up for," she said.

The clashes have spread to neighborhoods close to the center of the city, which has a medieval center that is a UNESCO world heritage site.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some 130 people have been killed in Aleppo since the clashes there began last Saturday.

As the violence continues, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he fears for Syria's future. On Thursday, he paid his respects to the 8,000 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre — and said he does not want his successor to have to do the same 20 years from now in Syria.

"The international community must be united not to see any further bloodshed in Syria because I do not want to see any of my successors, after 20 years, visiting Syria, apologizing for what we could have done now to protect the civilians in Syria — which we are not doing now," he said during a visit to a memorial-cemetery complex near Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Three Stories of Extraordinary Forgiveness (via ABC News)

via http://abcnews.go.com/US/cases-extraordinary-forgiveness/story?id=16065270#

In 2010 Yvonne Stern was the target of three hits. Her husband Jeffrey Stern's former mistress later pleaded guilty to arranging them. The first two times, the bullets missed Yvonne Stern. The third time, the bullet went through her stomach, and she recovered from the injury.

Jeffrey Stern has admitted to the affair but denied ex-mistress Michelle Gaiser's allegation that he was the mastermind behind the hits. On Monday, Stern will go on trial for solicitation of capital murder. Gaiser, who got a reduced sentence in exchange for her guilty plea and cooperation with the government, is scheduled to testify against him.

Many people refuse to forgive a spouse for cheating, much less for cheating with someone who then tried -- three times -- to have them killed, allegedly with the spouse's help. But Yvonne Stern is standing by her man.

"I forgive him his indiscretions," Yvonne Stern said in a court appearance.

Here are three other stories of extraordinary forgiveness.

1. Forgiving a Harmful Prank

Which is harder to forgive: a moral lapse like cheating on your spouse or just casual, banal stupidity?

This past fall, Marion Hedges, a New York City mother of two, suffered a serious brain injury and lost the use of an eye after two teens sent a shopping cart crashing down 50 feet onto her at the East Harlem Target shopping center.

The cart hit Hedges, 47, in the head. She was briefly in a coma and spent weeks fighting for her life.

"I wish them well, I do," Hedges said recently of the boys who performed the prank; they pleaded guilty and are now serving juvenile sentences. "I feel very sorry for them. My son is 13 also, and he is a very good boy."

Hedges was at Target that day to buy Halloween candy for underprivileged children.

Hedges' father-in-law, Michael Hedges Sr., was less forgiving, saying he believed the boys should be "hung by their toenails."

2.Two Family Men

"How's your kids?"

That's the question Gary Weinstein found himself asking during a jailhouse meeting with the man who killed Weinstein's wife and two sons, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In a way it was an understandable question. Weinstein and Tom Wellinger lived within a mile of each other in Farmington Hills, Mich. They were both fathers. Their children attended the same schools.

In May 2005, Wellinger, driving with a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit, rammed into the car containing Weinstein's wife and two sons, the Free Press reported.

Members of Wellinger's family had flown to Michigan to mount an intervention about his alcoholism, the paper said. It was scheduled for the day after the accident.

Wellinger's reply to Weinstein's jailhouse question was that he hadn't seen his son in more than a year, because he was underage and therefore not allowed in the jail.

Weinstein told the Free Press that Wellinger asked if he could ever forgive him.

Weinstein answered with a question: "Can you forgive yourself?"

Weinstein has since reportedly offered to speak to Wellinger's children to help them heal while Wellinger serves his 19-30 year sentence for three counts of second-degree murder. He has also formally agreed not to block attempts for an early release, the Free Press said.

3.A Mother's Grief and Mercy

"That has to be the most gracious victim statement I've heard in this courtroom. And I'm not so sure I'd be able to be as gracious as you are, ma'am."

Rankin County (Miss.) Circuit Judge William Chapman spoke these words last Monday at the conclusion of the trial of Jermaine Tyler, 31, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported. Tyler pleaded guilty to murdering Leslie Sheppard Doame, 37, after robbing her parents' home last September.

The victim statement Chapman referenced was by Teresa Sheppard, the victim's mother, the Clarion-Ledger said. Sheppard reportedly told the court and Tyler that she and Leslie's father forgive him and love him, "because Jesus commands that we love our enemy."

"Even when her father and I were crying to the depths of our souls, our first prayers were for the murderers," she said.

Night shift and sociopolitical issue

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/29/barbara-ellen-plight-of-shift-workers?cat=commentisfree&type=article
Is the night shift a sociopolitical
issue? Findings printed in the
British Medical Journalfrom
teams of researchers in Canada
and Norway might suggest so. In
the largest analysis of shift work
and heart risk to date, involving
34 studies and more than two
million people, while there was
mainly judged no direct link to
mortality, working shifts was
discovered to raise the chances of
a heart attack by more than a
fifth, with the risk of a stroke
rising by 5%. The sharpest
increase for coronary events was
with night shifts.
Previously, shift work has also
been linked to conditions such as
diabetes, high blood pressure and
long-term disruption of sleep
patterns and body clocks. Experts
say that this could be resolved by
workers being given adequate
time (two nights minimum) to
recover properly between shifts.
Great. Problem solved. But who's
going to ensure that this is
happening?
It seems that the night-shift
worker must contend with
working in a state akin to
constant debilitating jetlag.
Furthermore, a night-shift
worker is quite probably
navigating an unregulated, or
scantily regulated, work
environment, where nobody
needs to care very much about
their basic human needs for a
minimum of two lovely big sleeps
between shifts.
Lower socioeconomic status was
taken into account in this study,
as well as poor diet and other bad
lifestyle choices, but there seems
to be no overstating the high
probability that these may be
directly related to shift work.
Shift workers are going to be
exhausted, therefore they're
going to eat like tired people
(poorly); exercise like tired
people (who's going for a jog
after a night shift?); and even, as
another study found, drive like
tired people (erratically). So, hey,
maybe they should stop doing
these terrible shifts. Silly people –
they are ruining their health!
Well, it would be nice if they

posted from Bloggeroid

Shift worker

The article below saying that the shift worker has a health risk because of how their work schedule. If you want to know more about that, you can just read here in this link 
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