1. 25 Feb


    Syria’s bloody civil war will hit its two-year mark this March, and still, embattled despot Bashar al-Assad clings to power. The all-consuming war has left more than 70,000 people dead — half of them civilians. Sadly, violent conflict has become the new normal in much of Syria,  and it’s often only while taking refuge behind Aleppo’s crumbled, pock-marked walls that Free Syria Army fighters can indulge in fleeting moments of their previous lives. 

    • A soldier tries to entice a stray cat to come a little closer in Khan al-Assal on Nov. 10, 2012. (REUTERS/Zain Karam)

    • Rebels pose with their weapons and a snowman in Homs on Jan. 10.(REUTERS/Yazan Homsy)

    • A fighter finds a moment to fix himself up a bit in Aleppo on Dec. 25, 2012. (REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman)
     

  2. 29 Nov


    At 5:26 a.m. New York time (12:26 p.m. in Damascus), Syria’s internet went dark. According to two U.S. internet monitoring companies, Renesys and Akamai Technologies, Syria is now completely cut off from the e-world, with all internet connections down along with at least some phone service. “A smaller outage could be chalked up to an errant mortar shell,” but the entire country? says Sam Biddle at Gizmodo. “Only the Syrian regime has the power to create that kind of lockout at will.”“Shutting down web and phone service is a tactic increasingly pursued by countries to limit the spread of information both within the country and to the outside world,” says Shara Tibken at CNET News. Without communication, the anti-government rebels are cut off from one another, limiting their ability to fight. Why Bashar al-Assad unplugged the internet in Syria

    At 5:26 a.m. New York time (12:26 p.m. in Damascus), Syria’s internet went dark. According to two U.S. internet monitoring companies, Renesys and Akamai Technologies, Syria is now completely cut off from the e-world, with all internet connections down along with at least some phone service. “A smaller outage could be chalked up to an errant mortar shell,” but the entire country? says Sam Biddle at Gizmodo. “Only the Syrian regime has the power to create that kind of lockout at will.”

    “Shutting down web and phone service is a tactic increasingly pursued by countries to limit the spread of information both within the country and to the outside world,” says Shara Tibken at CNET News. Without communication, the anti-government rebels are cut off from one another, limiting their ability to fight. 

    Why Bashar al-Assad unplugged the internet in Syria

    (Source: theweek.com)

     

  3. 5 Sep


    Two Syrian children lay on a handmade swing in front of their tent at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan on Sept. 2: The camp was originally built to hold 500 people. Now it has 26,000. Photo: AP photo/Mohammad Hannon In August, 103,416 refugees fled Syria seeking asylum, the highest monthly total since the country’s uprising began in March 2011, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The August rush almost doubled the total number of refugees, which now stands at 235,300, in just a single month. “If you do the math, it’s quite an astonishing number,” says Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency. And that figure only reflects the people who have registered, meaning the actual numbers might be far higher. Turkey, Syria’s neighbor to the north, says it has let in 80,000 Syrians, with another 8,000 caught in a bottleneck at the border. Jordan, to the south, says that as many as 183,000 Syrians have crossed the border since the uprising began, with 1,000 more now arriving each day. Another 500 a day are going east into Iraq — up from about 500 per week in early August. Smaller numbers are going to Lebanon, which borders southwestern Syria. And meanwhile, another 1.5 million Syrians have fled their homes but remained inside Syria — meaning 8 percent of the country’s entire population is on the move. Keep reading…

    Two Syrian children lay on a handmade swing in front of their tent at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan on Sept. 2: The camp was originally built to hold 500 people. Now it has 26,000. Photo: AP photo/Mohammad Hannon

    In August, 103,416 refugees fled Syria seeking asylum, the highest monthly total since the country’s uprising began in March 2011, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The August rush almost doubled the total number of refugees, which now stands at 235,300, in just a single month. “If you do the math, it’s quite an astonishing number,” says Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency. And that figure only reflects the people who have registered, meaning the actual numbers might be far higher.

    Turkey, Syria’s neighbor to the north, says it has let in 80,000 Syrians, with another 8,000 caught in a bottleneck at the border. Jordan, to the south, says that as many as 183,000 Syrians have crossed the border since the uprising began, with 1,000 more now arriving each day. Another 500 a day are going east into Iraq — up from about 500 per week in early August. Smaller numbers are going to Lebanon, which borders southwestern Syria. And meanwhile, another 1.5 million Syrians have fled their homes but remained inside Syria — meaning 8 percent of the country’s entire population is on the move.

    Keep reading…

     

  4. 20 Aug


    According to a recent study, college students who binge drink report being significantly happier than non-binge-drinking students. Of course, their judgment may be impaired. GOOD DAY FOR: Overdue progressThe controversially exclusive Augusta National Golf Club welcomes female members for the first time in its 80-year history. [BuzzFeed] Aquatic charityA 14-year-old girl becomes the youngest person ever to swim across Lake Ontario — and raises $90,000 in the process. [GlobalPost] Party animalsA new study finds that college students who binge drink are generally happier with their social lives than those who drink less. No word on whether they’re happier with their grades. [LiveScience] BAD DAY FOR: Twi-hardsIn the wake of her cheating scandal, Twilight star Kristen Stewart drops out of the remaining press events slated to promote the franchise’s final film,Breaking Dawn Part II. Her ex-beau/co-star Robert Pattinson follows suit. [The Frisky] Flying “economy”Air France crew members ask passengers to pony up some extra cash for fuel during an emergency stop in Syria. [Consumerist] Reckless auteursA Vancouver man is arrested after he allegedly steals a gun and films himself driving around a neighborhood shooting it. [Death & Taxes]

    According to a recent study, college students who binge drink report being significantly happier than non-binge-drinking students. Of course, their judgment may be impaired.

    GOOD DAY FOR:

    Overdue progress
    The controversially exclusive Augusta National Golf Club welcomes female members for the first time in its 80-year history. [BuzzFeed]

    Aquatic charity
    A 14-year-old girl becomes the youngest person ever to swim across Lake Ontario — and raises $90,000 in the process. [GlobalPost]

    Party animals
    A new study finds that college students who binge drink are generally happier with their social lives than those who drink less. No word on whether they’re happier with their grades. [LiveScience]

    BAD DAY FOR:

    Twi-hards
    In the wake of her cheating scandal, Twilight star Kristen Stewart drops out of the remaining press events slated to promote the franchise’s final film,Breaking Dawn Part II. Her ex-beau/co-star Robert Pattinson follows suit. [The Frisky]

    Flying “economy”
    Air France crew members ask passengers to pony up some extra cash for fuel during an emergency stop in Syria. [Consumerist]

    Reckless auteurs
    A Vancouver man is arrested after he allegedly steals a gun and films himself driving around a neighborhood shooting it. [Death & Taxes]

    (Source: theweek.com)

     

  5. 18 Jul


    Syria has a huge stockpile of chemical weapons, and The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Syrian soldiers were moving some of the weapons out of storage. Syria’s former ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, said Assad is like a “wounded wolf” and would “eradicate the entire Syrian people” if the 17-month uprising against his regime gets close to toppling him. Would Syrian President Bashar al-Assad use chemical weapons on his own people?

    Syria has a huge stockpile of chemical weapons, and The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Syrian soldiers were moving some of the weapons out of storage.

    Syria’s former ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, said Assad is like a “wounded wolf” and would “eradicate the entire Syrian people” if the 17-month uprising against his regime gets close to toppling him.

    Would Syrian President Bashar al-Assad use chemical weapons on his own people?

     

  6. 5 Jun


    Syrian rebels announced Monday that they were abandoning their commitment to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s ceasefire plan, because, they said, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad had never respected it anyway. In the wake of the May 25 Houla massacre, which has been blamed on pro-Assad forces, opposition fighters had given the government until last Friday to end the violence. After the deadline passed, Free Syrian Army forces reportedly killed 80 government soldiers in a surge of attacks over the weekend. The ceasefire is history: The latest violence makes it official, says Linda Carbonell at Lez Get Real. Assad compares the killing in Homs and Houla “to a surgeon removing a cancerous growth to save the life of the patient.” When a leader considers his people to be a cancer, there can be no peace. Is Syria’s ceasefire officially dead?

    Syrian rebels announced Monday that they were abandoning their commitment to U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s ceasefire plan, because, they said, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad had never respected it anyway. In the wake of the May 25 Houla massacre, which has been blamed on pro-Assad forces, opposition fighters had given the government until last Friday to end the violence. After the deadline passed, Free Syrian Army forces reportedly killed 80 government soldiers in a surge of attacks over the weekend.

    The ceasefire is history: The latest violence makes it official, says Linda Carbonell at Lez Get Real. Assad compares the killing in Homs and Houla “to a surgeon removing a cancerous growth to save the life of the patient.” When a leader considers his people to be a cancer, there can be no peace.

    Is Syria’s ceasefire officially dead?

     

  7. 18 May


    Children of the Brazil’s Yawalapiti tribe leap into the Xingu River, two nuns brave the elements in Italy, President Obama greets ecstatic Barnard graduate, and a Yemeni boy sports the colors of Syria’s opposition flag, showing solidarity with Syrian rebels. 

    More of this week’s best photojournalism

    (Source: theweek.com)

     

  8. 8 May


    This week, Syria held its first multi-party parliamentary elections in five decades, but leading opposition groups boycotted the vote, calling it a sham, even as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime trumpeted the balloting as a milestone on the road to promised democratic reforms. The U.S. State Department took the side of the opposition, saying that holding elections now, as a United Nations-brokered deal to end the government’s deadly crackdown flounders, “borders on ludicrous.” Here, three takeaways from the controversial balloting:  1. Today, there are two Syrias“Damascus on voting day was a tale of two cities,” says Lyse Doucet at BBC News. In pro-Assad neighborhoods, Syrians waved flags, praised their president, and gushed that their votes counted. In opposition areas, “it was eerily quiet. Shops were shuttered,” and people whispered about abuses suffered at the hands of the regime’s security forces. The government wants everyone to believe it can “make room for other voices,” but the real opposition wasn’t even on the ballot.2. The election changes nothingIt doesn’t matter who sits in Syria’s toothless parliament, says Jonathan Spyer at The Jerusalem Post. “The true machinery of rule in Syria” is in the hands of the Assad family and its security services. The “real political battle in Syria” isn’t in parliament. It’s a battle for power that will be fought in the streets, and nothing will be settled until one of two things happens: Either the insurgency overthrows Assad, or his regime defeats the opposition. “The regime’s sham elections will not affect either outcome.” 3. Actually, this could strengthen Assad’s grip on powerThis was Syria’s first vote under a new constitution — a document that’s supposed to end the ruling Baath Party’s monopoly on power. But the opposition is convinced the whole thing was a charade “meant to stabilize, not diminish, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” says Abby Ohlheiser at Slate. The 250-member legislature “plays a secondary role in the rule of Syria,” and the election’s 7,000 candidates had to be approved by the government, so no matter who wins, the new parliament is expected to be awfully friendly to Assad. View more of our extensive coverage of Syria’s uprising

    This week, Syria held its first multi-party parliamentary elections in five decades, but leading opposition groups boycotted the vote, calling it a sham, even as President Bashar al-Assad’s regime trumpeted the balloting as a milestone on the road to promised democratic reforms. The U.S. State Department took the side of the opposition, saying that holding elections now, as a United Nations-brokered deal to end the government’s deadly crackdown flounders, “borders on ludicrous.” Here, three takeaways from the controversial balloting:  

    1. Today, there are two Syrias
    “Damascus on voting day was a tale of two cities,” says Lyse Doucet at BBC News. In pro-Assad neighborhoods, Syrians waved flags, praised their president, and gushed that their votes counted. In opposition areas, “it was eerily quiet. Shops were shuttered,” and people whispered about abuses suffered at the hands of the regime’s security forces. The government wants everyone to believe it can “make room for other voices,” but the real opposition wasn’t even on the ballot.

    2. The election changes nothing
    It doesn’t matter who sits in Syria’s toothless parliament, says Jonathan Spyer at The Jerusalem Post. “The true machinery of rule in Syria” is in the hands of the Assad family and its security services. The “real political battle in Syria” isn’t in parliament. It’s a battle for power that will be fought in the streets, and nothing will be settled until one of two things happens: Either the insurgency overthrows Assad, or his regime defeats the opposition. “The regime’s sham elections will not affect either outcome.” 

    3. Actually, this could strengthen Assad’s grip on power
    This was Syria’s first vote under a new constitution — a document that’s supposed to end the ruling Baath Party’s monopoly on power. But the opposition is convinced the whole thing was a charade “meant to stabilize, not diminish, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” says Abby Ohlheiser at Slate. The 250-member legislature “plays a secondary role in the rule of Syria,” and the election’s 7,000 candidates had to be approved by the government, so no matter who wins, the new parliament is expected to be awfully friendly to Assad.

    View more of our extensive coverage of Syria’s uprising

     

  9. 4 May


    A chimpanzee slurps up water, Romanians fly some kites, International Space Station crew members land in Kazakhstan, and a Syrian toddler gets a boost at a protest against President Bashar al-Assad. 

    This week’s best photojournalism is pretty amazing

     

  10. 28 Mar


    President Bashar al-Assad agreed Tuesday to a six-point peace plan drafted by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan. The catch: he’s not stepping down. Under the deal, Syria agrees to six things: (1) “Address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people” (2) Stop the fighting, and the use of heavy weapons in populated areas, with the intention to end all violence (3) Allow a two-hour daily pause in other fighting to allow humanitarian aid and evacuation of the injured (4) Release more prisoners that the regime has “arbitrarily detained” (5) Allow journalists to work in the country freely (6) Respect “the right to demonstrate peacefully.” But considering Syria’s history of “credibility gaps,” how much of this will Syria actually do?

    President Bashar al-Assad agreed Tuesday to a six-point peace plan drafted by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan. The catch: he’s not stepping down.

    Under the deal, Syria agrees to six things:

    (1) “Address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people”
    (2) Stop the fighting, and the use of heavy weapons in populated areas, with the intention to end all violence
    (3) Allow a two-hour daily pause in other fighting to allow humanitarian aid and evacuation of the injured
    (4) Release more prisoners that the regime has “arbitrarily detained”
    (5) Allow journalists to work in the country freely
    (6) Respect “the right to demonstrate peacefully.”

    But considering Syria’s history of “credibility gaps,” how much of this will Syria actually do?

     

  11. 16 Mar


    This explains a lot. Britain’s Guardian newspaper says it has obtained 3,000 emails from accounts used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma. They paint a picture of a ruling family “remarkably insulated from the mounting crisis and continuing to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle,” buying high-priced goods online, trading entertaining video clips, and downloading music from iTunes. Here, some of the most compelling revelations from the emails: The Assads listened to country music as Homs burnedThe day after Assad’s military began its deadly shelling of rebel neighborhoods in the city of Homs, the embattled dictator sent his wife a video of country crooner Blake Shelton’s song “God Gave Me You.” Asma is “an internet shopaholic”“While the country erupted” around her, Assad’s U.K.-born wife, went online to buy diamond and onyx necklaces, a Ming Luce vase, and $15,000 worth of candlesticks, tables, and chandeliers. President Assad sidestepped sanctions — to get iTunes downloadsAssad used a third party with an address in the U.S. to get around Washington’s sanctions so he could get music and apps from Apple’s iTunes. His purchases reportedly included the iPad game Real Racing 2, and tunes by singer Chris Brown. Friends abroad say: Come stay with us!A daughter of Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, recently urged Asma to convince her husband to avoid being killed by fleeing Syria, and to “re-start a normal life,” suggesting that Doha is a good place for exiled leaders. President Assad sidestepped sanctions — to get iTunes downloadsAssad used a third party with an address in the U.S. to get around Washington’s sanctions so he could get music and apps from Apple’s iTunes. His purchases reportedly included the iPad game Real Racing 2, and tunes by singer Chris Brown.  The Assads and their friends aren’t totally out of touchAsma sent a friend a note about a pair of $4,000 Christian Louboutin heels. The reply: “I don’t think they’re going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately.”  For more information on the uprising in Syria, here is a link to all our recent coverage. 

    This explains a lot. Britain’s Guardian newspaper says it has obtained 3,000 emails from accounts used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma. They paint a picture of a ruling family “remarkably insulated from the mounting crisis and continuing to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle,” buying high-priced goods online, trading entertaining video clips, and downloading music from iTunes. Here, some of the most compelling revelations from the emails:

    • The Assads listened to country music as Homs burned
      The day after Assad’s military began its deadly shelling of rebel neighborhoods in the city of Homs, the embattled dictator sent his wife a video of country crooner Blake Shelton’s song “God Gave Me You.”
    • Asma is “an internet shopaholic”
      “While the country erupted” around her, Assad’s U.K.-born wife, went online to buy diamond and onyx necklaces, a Ming Luce vase, and $15,000 worth of candlesticks, tables, and chandeliers.
    • President Assad sidestepped sanctions — to get iTunes downloads
      Assad used a third party with an address in the U.S. to get around Washington’s sanctions so he could get music and apps from Apple’s iTunes. His purchases reportedly included the iPad game Real Racing 2, and tunes by singer Chris Brown.
    • Friends abroad say: Come stay with us!
      A daughter of Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, recently urged Asma to convince her husband to avoid being killed by fleeing Syria, and to “re-start a normal life,” suggesting that Doha is a good place for exiled leaders.
    • President Assad sidestepped sanctions — to get iTunes downloads
      Assad used a third party with an address in the U.S. to get around Washington’s sanctions so he could get music and apps from Apple’s iTunes. His purchases reportedly included the iPad game Real Racing 2, and tunes by singer Chris Brown. 
    • The Assads and their friends aren’t totally out of touch
      Asma sent a friend a note about a pair of $4,000 Christian Louboutin heels. The reply: “I don’t think they’re going 2 b useful any time soon unfortunately.” 

    For more information on the uprising in Syria, here is a link to all our recent coverage. 

     

  12. 15 Mar



    10 things you need to know today: March 15, 2012

    1. ASSAD TAKES IDLIB ON ANNIVERSARY OF SYRIA UPRISING
    Thursday marks the first anniversary of the start of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. National media report that Assad’s forces have cleared rebels from the northwest city of Idlib, but the opposition continues to fight throughout the country. Meanwhile, Britain’s Guardian claims to have accessed Assads’ private emails. They show the leader seeking counsel from Iran on how to handle the uprising, while continuing to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. According to United Nations estimates, more than 8,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died in the violence, and nearly 230,000 have been displaced from their homes. 
    [Reuters]
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    2. AFGHAN ATTACKER DIES AFTER PANETTA ATTEMPT
    An Afghan man has died after stealing a truck on Wednesday and attempting to run over a group of U.S. Marines waiting on a runway for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s plane. The man, an interpreter at Camp Bastion where the attack took place, was badly burned when the vehicle burst into flames. He died while being treated for his wounds. Panetta has said that he doesn’t think he was the target of the attack. [Washington Post]
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    3. JURY AWARDS VA. TECH FAMILIES $4 MILLION EACH
    A Virginia jury on Wednesday awarded two families of the victims of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre $4 million each. The families sued the state for wrongful death saying the university failed to inform students early enough that a gunman was on the loose. It is likely the state will appeal the verdict. [CNN]
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    4. ARIZONA BIRTH CONTROL BILL ADVANCES
    Legislators in Arizona have advanced a controversial bill that would make women seeking health insurance coverage for their contraception provide evidence to their employers that they need contraception to treat medical conditions, not merely to prevent pregnancy. The American Civil Liberties Unions says the law could make it legal for employers to fire a woman if it was found she was taking birth control to prevent pregnancy. [Huffington Post]
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    5. WHITE HOUSE HOLDS GLAM DINNER FOR CAMERON
    President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Wednesday hosted British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, at a star-studded state dinner. Guests included George Clooney, Warren Buffet, Apple’s Jonathan Ive, Harvey Weinstein, and Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern. John Legend and Mumford & Sons performed. [CBS News]
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    More news you need to know

     

  13. 6 Mar


    The children of Syria’s revolution: The Red Cross is still shut out of Homs’ Bab Amro district — which was a rebel stronghold before a ruthless crackdown — and the latest reports from inside tell grisly tales of the military targeting boys for execution. Nevertheless, across the country, Syrians of all ages continue to protest President Bashar al-Assads’ violent reign. More photos available here