Thursday, May 31, 2012

BP announces plans to sell stake in TNK-BP

BP logo

BP has announced that it is going to try to sell its stake in the TNK-BP Russian oil joint venture.

In a short statement, the oil company said it had received "unsolicited indications of interest" in acquiring its shares.

BP has informed the other shareholder in TNK-BP, Alfa Access Renova, that it plans to pursue a sale.

It warned that there was no guarantee that such a transaction would take place.

Earlier in the week, Mikhail Fridman, TNK-BP's chief executive, announced he would be stepping down in 30 days "for personal reasons".

TNK-BP is a joint venture between BP and Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), a group of Russian billionaires that includes Mr Fridman.

Last year, BP had to abandon plans to form another joint venture with rival Russian oil firm Rosneft after AAR launched a legal challenge.



Source & Image : BBC

Afraid to Speak Up at the Doctor’s Office

Thomas Barwick/Getty Images

A friend of mine, a brilliant and accomplished academic in her 70s who once specialized in history and literature, recently phoned to ask for medical advice after being discharged from the hospital for what sounded like a mini-stroke. Ever eager to learn something new, she pressed me on “the latest research” and asked what doctors around the country were doing for her condition.

We discussed a few research studies, diagnostic tests and treatment options, but when I suggested she speak with her primary care doctor and perhaps a neurologist, her end of the line went silent. I wondered if my cellphone had dropped the connection or, for a single harrowing second, if my friend was having another strokelike event.

Doctor and Patient
Doctor and Patient

Dr. Pauline Chen on medical care.

When she finally spoke again, her once-confident voice sounded nearly childlike. “I don’t really feel comfortable bringing it up,” she said. While her doctor was generally warm and caring, “he seems too busy and uninterested in what I feel or want to say.”

“I don’t want him to think I’m questioning his judgment,” she added. “I don’t want to upset him or make him angry at me!”

For over a generation now, efforts to make health care more patient-friendly have focused on getting patients and doctors to work together to make decisions about care and treatment. Numerous research papers, conferences and advocacy organizations have been devoted to this topic of “shared decision-making,” and even politicians have clambered aboard the train, devoting several provisions in the Affordable Care Act to “preference-sensitive care.”

But one thing has been missing in nearly all of these earnest efforts to encourage doctors to share the decision-making process. That is, ironically, the patient’s perspective.

Now a study published in the most recent issue of Health Affairs has begun to uncover some of that perspective, and the news is not good. In our enthusiasm for all things patient-centered, we seem to have, as the saying goes, taken the thought of including patient preferences for the deed.

The researchers conducted several focus groups with 48 patients from five primary care physicians in the San Francisco Bay area. First, they showed the patient participants a short video on several equally effective but very different treatment approaches for a heart ailment. Then, they asked them questions about what they did with their own doctors when faced with a choice among several treatment options that might be equally effective but could differ in lifestyle effects, cost or range of complications. Finally, the researchers asked the participants if they were comfortable asking doctors about different treatments, discussing their values and preferences or disagreeing with their doctors’ recommendations.

The participants responded that they felt limited, almost trapped into certain ways of speaking with their doctors. They said they wanted to collaborate in decisions about their care but felt they couldn’t because doctors often acted authoritarian, rather than authoritative. A large number worried about upsetting or angering their doctors and believed that they were best served by acting as “supplicants” toward the doctor “who knows best.” Many also believed that they could depend only on themselves for getting more information about treatments or diseases. Some even said they feared retribution by doctors who could ultimately affect their care and how they did.

The findings fly in the face of previous optimistic assumptions about shared decision-making that were based mostly on studies that examined physicians’ intent, but not patient perceptions. “Many physicians say they are already doing shared decision-making,” said Dominick L. Frosch, lead author of the new study and an associate investigator in the Department of Health Services Research at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute in California. “But patients still aren’t perceiving the relationship as a partnership.”

Interestingly, most participants in this study were over 50, lived in affluent areas and had either attended or completed graduate school. “It’s hard to think that people from more disadvantaged backgrounds would find it any easier to question doctors,” Dr. Frosch said.

Do you feel you need to act differently with doctors? Join in the discussion below.

While understanding health care issues and making themselves heard in discussions were not difficult in general for the participants in the study, the skills and confidence they had in other settings appeared to have little relevance once they were in their doctors’ offices. They could not speak as easily as they normally did. “People experience a different sense of self in the doctor-patient interaction,” Dr. Frosch observed. “The clinical context creates a reluctance to be more assertive.”

Dr. Frosch and his colleagues are working on a larger study examining the extent to which patients feel constrained. And they have plans to study whether there are better ways to encourage patient engagement.

Systemic changes to increase shared decision-making must be addressed as well. Care organizations and doctors’ practices must be restructured to allow more in-depth conversations; clinicians need to be reimbursed for the time required for more meaningful conversations; and health care systems must adopt rigorous quality standards that measure and value real patient engagement in decisions.

“We urgently need support of shared decision-making that is more than just rhetoric,” Dr. Frosch said. “It may take a little longer to talk through decisions and disagreements; but if we empower patients to make informed choices, we will all do much better in the long run.”



Source & Image : New York Times

Indian private army chief shot dead

Brahmeswar Singh

The head of a banned upper caste private army has been killed by unknown gunmen in the northern Indian state of Bihar, police say.

Brahmeswar Singh headed the Ranvir Sena, an organisation alleged to have carried out numerous mass killings of low caste villagers.

Police said that Mr Singh was accused of more than 200 murders, all of which he denied.

Rural Bihar is a feudal society where caste barriers are rigidly enforced.

Police said Mr Singh, who was also known as Barmeshar Mukhia, was gunned down by unknown assailants in Arrah in Bihar's Bhojpur district.

He formed the Ranvir Sena in 1992 and fought with lower caste groups and Maoists who opposed the upper-caste landlords.

Mr Singh spent nine years in prison on various charges and was released on bail in May 2011.

His private militia was accused of carrying out several massacres, including one in Lakshmanpur Bathe area in 1997, in which 58 dalits or "untouchables" were killed.

Mr Singh always said he was fighting for the rights of farmers.



Source & Image : BBC

Attacks rock Baghdad, leave dozens dead and injured







An Iraqi policeman stands guard at the site of a blast as people inspect damages in Baghdad on May 31, 2012.

An Iraqi policeman stands guard at the site of a blast as people inspect damages in Baghdad on May 31, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS



  • NEW: Casualties in a car bomb attack in a Shiite area rise to 11 dead and 36 injured

  • It is unclear who committed the attacks and whether they are linked

  • The attacks occur in several Baghdad neighborhoods

  • Spate of violence comes after scores were killed during attacks in April





Baghdad (CNN) -- A series of explosions in a three-hour period shook several areas in Baghdad on Thursday morning, leaving at least 14 people dead and dozens injured, Iraqi police said.

It was unclear who committed the attacks and whether they were linked.

One of the explosions occurred in Sulaa, a Shiite neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad. A parked car bomb exploded outside a gas station in a busy area, killing at least 11 people and wounding 36 others, police said. Initial reports gave a lower number of casualties.

In a Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, bombs planted near two homes left two people dead and seven others wounded.

In another Sunni neighborhood, four people were wounded after a roadside bomb exploded on a busy road.

Four police officers were also wounded after a roadside bomb exploded in a Sunni district in the southern part of the capital, police said.

Also in western Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near the home of an adviser of Iraq's Council of Ministers, police said. The government official and his family was not home during the attack, but a bystander was killed and four others were wounded.

Thursday's spate of violence comes after scores were killed during attacks last month. According to the Interior Ministry, 126 people were killed in violence and 271 were wounded in April.


Source & Image : CNN World

House Rejects Ban on Sex-Selection Abortions







The House voted today to reject a measure that would have banned sex-selection abortions in the United States, pitting Republicans and Democrats in a showdown over a woman's right to choose, which opponents contended was "intended to chip away at woman's right to obtain safe, legal medical care."



The measure, known as the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA), was defeated 246-178. Under suspension of the House rules to permit consideration of the bill more quickly, approval of the measure was subject to a two-thirds majority, and with 414 members voting Republicans fell 30 votes short of passage.



The bill was perceived by Democrats as political maneuver to coax liberal lawmakers into supporting the bill or face the prospect of an onslaught of campaign advertisements this fall highlighting a lawmaker's vote to support sex-selection abortions.



Still, only 20 Democrats took the bait and broke from their party to vote with the majority of Republicans. Seven GOPers opposed the measure.



The House debated the bill Wednesday, but a vote was postponed until Thursday afternoon.



After the plight of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng captured international headlines this month, Republicans had hoped to capitalize on the momentum of that awareness to ensure that sex-selection abortions are not legal in the United States.



Many nations with staunchly pro-choice/pro-abortion rights laws and protections nevertheless ban sex-selection abortions. Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands all have laws banning sex-selection abortions.



Earlier this week, a pro-life group released an undercover video purportedly showing a Planned Parenthood counselor in Texas assisting a woman seeking a sex-selection abortion. Gendercide, the practice of killing baby girls or terminating pregnancies solely because the fetus is female, is estimated to have produced a "gender imbalance" of more than 100 million girls around the world.



"For most of us, Mr. Speaker, 'it's a girl' is cause for enormous joy, happiness and celebration," Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said on the House floor Wednesday. "But in many countries including our own, it could be a death sentence. Today the three most dangerous words in China and India are, 'It's a girl.' We can't let that happen here."

Also Read


Source & Image : Yahoo

British woman held over Bali cocaine haul taken to hospital

Rachel Dougall and Julian Ponder arrested

A British woman being held in Bali over a £1.6m cocaine haul has been taken to hospital after complaining of illness.

Speaking to the BBC from hospital, Rachel Dougall said she had insomnia and had not slept or eaten for days

Ms Dougall was arrested by Indonesian police on suspicion of drug trafficking at the end of May, along with two other Britons and an Indian national.

They were held following the arrest of Lindsay Sandiford, 55, who was allegedly caught with 4.8kg of drugs.

Speaking to the BBC's Indonesia correspondent, Karishma Vaswani, Ms Dougall said she had been given a sedative on arrival at hospital.

While maintaining her innocence, she also complained that she had not been able to shower, and badly wanted to return home to bathe.

The two other Britons are Julian Ponder and Paul Beales.

Ms Dougall and Mr Ponder are believed to be a couple from Brighton with a young daughter.

After being arrested by Indonesian police, Ms Dougall shouted through the bars of her cell to an ITV News crew at Bali police headquarters: "It's a fit-up; get us a decent lawyer."

She said she was being treated "badly".

Indonesian customs officers earlier said the four Britons could face the death penalty.

But officials are also reported to have said that Mrs Sandiford, 55, originally from Redcar, Teesside, whose last known address was in Cheltenham, may be spared the death sentence because she helped to catch three other suspected members of the smuggling operation - who according to Indonesian law could face a firing squad.

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws in the world.

The death penalty has been used in the past for drug traffickers, but in recent years it has been applied infrequently.

More than 140 people are on death row in the country, a third of them foreigners.



Source & Image : BBC

China's manufacturing sector falls sharply

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- China's all-important manufacturing sector took a hit in May, as the country's factories continue to struggle amid global economic woes.

The National Bureau of Statistics said Friday that its official index of purchasing managers' sentiment dropped to 50.4 in May, its lowest level in five months, from 53.3 in April.

The index bottom out at 49 in November. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while readings below 50 indicate contraction.

Meanwhile, HSBC also issued a report Friday morning showing that factory output fell to 48.4 in May, with average input costs falling for the first time since January. The weak report from the banking company signals the seventh straight month of declining manufacturing activity in China.

"Companies cited muted global demand conditions as the main reason behind the overall decrease in export sales," the HSBC stated in its report.

The banking company's report also stated that the country's employment fell at the fastest rate in 38 months -- the sharpest decline in more than three years.

Manufacturing accounts for more than a third of the Chinese economy, so the PMI reports are one of the country's most closely watched indicators.

As global economic growth has slowed in the last year, exports to Europe -- China's largest foreign market -- has taken a hit as the debt-ridden region teeters on the brink of recession.  



Source & Image : CNN Money

China factor to dominate top defence summit

Members of Chinese military honour guard stand in a line at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 9 April 2012

In the absence of a formal defence alliance like Nato, the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore has become the pre-eminent annual security gathering in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Dr John Chipman, the director-general and chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, who organise the gathering, "the Shangri-La Dialogue is now commonly referred to as the 'indispensable forum' for Asian defence diplomacy."

This year defence ministers and senior officials from some 27 countries are gathering in Singapore.

The US defence secretary is a regular participant as too are senior officials from China, Australia, Japan, Canada, India, Indonesia and a host of smaller Asian countries.

One of the great benefits of this gathering is that unlike a formal summit there is no communiqué to be worked on.

The plenary sessions are often used by ministers to launch trial balloons or make new policy pronouncements and, John Chipman asserts, "the event as a whole allows the defence establishments to 'take the pulse' of the prevailing mood in the region".

This may be the most dynamic part of the world in economic terms but it is also one of major security challenges.

To old disputes like the tensions between China and Taiwan or those between North and South Korea can be added a host of new problems, many of them focused on the competition for natural resources in the South China Sea.

Recent weeks, for example, have seen serious tensions between China and the Philippines.

Living with a rising and sometimes more assertive China is a perennial theme at these gatherings. But, as Dr Chipman said, this year events in China itself give the discussion an added dimension.

"Given the leadership transition in China, it is hard to predict how other ministers will address the China question during this summit. There is bound to be a great deal of discussion about the South China Sea," he said.

The bubbling Korean crisis too is bound to figure. The North has stepped up its rhetorical assaults on the South and has threatened to conduct a new, third, nuclear test.

Dr Chipman notes that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is so delicate now that most of the debate on this at the dialogue will be in private rather than in public.

Of course strong economies combined with the perception of growing threats mean that more money is being spent on weaponry and defence equipment.

China itself has deployed its first trial aircraft carrier, it has developed a stealth fighter, it is expanding both its navy and its civilian maritime patrol force and it has begun to deploy a ballistic missile capable, potentially, of striking at US aircraft carriers far out at sea.

Other countries are responding by beefing up their own air and maritime forces - submarines and maritime patrol aircraft are a popular option.

India is modernising its air force and developing a capability to launch ballistic missiles from submarines.

There are also hopes in some quarters that the US will begin to deploy new naval assets of its own to bases in the region, like the ultra-modern Littoral Combat Ships.

Inevitably, says Dr Chipman, this is all going to colour much of the discussion in Singapore.

"With defence expenditure in Asia rising above that in Europe this year there is bound to be a debate about whether this is all about modernisation or significantly about competition."

"Most Asians are keen on a multipolar Asia, and fear that China likes multipolarity on the global level but is less keen on it in the region," he said.

"Equally, many are worried that if the US gets the tone and content of its policy wrong then there could be unnecessary US-China tensions."

"The net effect is to impose on Asian middle and rising powers more responsibility for themselves shaping the debate."

"Look to Indonesia, Australia and others to try to define the terms of the security debate more forcefully at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue," he said.

Two key speeches are likely to set the tone at this year's gathering.

The meeting will be opened by Indonesian President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. How will he frame the policy challenges in the region and situate Indonesia in the multipolar Asia that is emerging?

Equally, the US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's speech will be closely watched. As the draw-down in Afghanistan begins the Obama administration has announced a US "pivot" back towards Asia.

What exactly does this mean in defence terms?

Mr Panetta's speech is entitled "US Defence Policy in an Era of Austerity". Does the US have the resources to maintain its interests in the Middle East and elsewhere whilst reaffirming its role as an Asian power?

Dr Chipman will be listening as closely as the rest.

How, he asks, will Mr Panetta balance reassurance to allies, outreach to new, potential partners and the need for a pragmatic, if hard-headed, defence relationship with China? Watch this space.



Source & Image : BBC

Edwards Acquitted on 1 Count, Mistrial on Others





GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — John Edwards' campaign finance fraud case ended in a mistrial Thursday when jurors acquitted him on one of six charges but were unable to decide whether he misused money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he ran for president.


The trial exposed a sordid sex scandal that unfolded while Edwards' wife was dying of cancer, but prosecutors couldn't convince jurors that the ex-U.S. senator and 2004 vice presidential candidate masterminded a $1 million cover-up of his affair.


"While I do not believe I did anything illegal, or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong and there is no one else responsible for my sins," Edwards said on the courthouse steps.


He also said he had hope for his future.


"I don't think God's through with me. I really believe he thinks there's still some good things I can do."


Edwards would have faced up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges. He did not testify, along with his mistress Rielle Hunter and the two donors whose money was at issue.


Jurors acquitted him on a charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions, involving $375,000 from elderly heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon in 2008. He had also been charged with illegally accepting $350,000 from Mellon in 2007, other donations from wealthy Texas attorney Fred Baron, filing a false campaign finance report and conspiracy.


The jurors, who deliberated nine days, did not talk to the media as they left the courthouse. Several media organizations, including The Associated Press, have filed a motion asking for the names to be released but the judge has refused to release the information for at least a week.


Federal prosecutors are unlikely to retry the case, a law enforcement official told AP on the condition of anonymity because the decision will undergo review in the coming days.


The case was thrown into confusion earlier Thursday after observers filled the courtroom expecting to hear a verdict on all six counts. Jurors had sent a note to U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Eagles, reading, "we have finished our deliberations and have arrived at our decision on counts one through six."


But when the jury came into court, the foreman said jurors only had a decision on one count. Eagles sent jurors back to deliberate. About an hour later, the jury sent another note saying it had exhausted its discussions.


When the not guilty verdict was read, Edwards choked up, put a single finger to his lip and took a moment to compose himself. He turned to his daughter, Cate, in the first row and smiled.


After Eagles declared a mistrial and discharged the jury, Edwards hugged his daughter, his parents and his attorneys. Later, he thanked the jury and his family, even choking up when talking about the daughter he had with his mistress Rielle Hunter.


He called Frances Quinn Hunter precious "whom I love, more than any of you can ever imagine and I am so close to and so, so grateful for. I am grateful for all of my children."


The 6-week-long trial recounted the most intimate details of Edwards' affair with Hunter, including reference to a sex tape of the two together that was later ordered destroyed and the drama of Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, tearing off her shirt in front of her husband in a rage about a tabloid report of the affair.


It also featured testimony that sometimes read like political thriller, as aide Andrew Young described meeting Edwards on a secluded road, and Edwards warning him, "you can't hurt me."


Prosecutors said Edwards knew of the roughly $1 million being funneled to former aide Andrew Young and Hunter and was well aware of the $2,300 legal limit on campaign donations.


Edwards' attorneys said prosecutors didn't prove that Edwards knew that taking the money violated campaign finance law. They said he shouldn't be convicted for being a liar, and even if he did know about some of the money, it was a gift, not a campaign contribution.



Source & Image : New York Times

Freaks, Geeks and Microsoft







When the Kinect was introduced in November 2010 as a $150 motion-control add-on to Microsoft’s Xbox consoles, it drew attention from more than just video-gamers. A slim, black, oblong 11½-inch wedge perched on a base, it allowed a gamer to use his or her body to throw virtual footballs or kick virtual opponents without a controller, but it was also seen as an important step forward in controlling technology with natural gestures.


In fact, as the company likes to note, the Kinect set “a Guinness World Record for the fastest-selling consumer device ever.” And at least some of the early adopters of the Kinect were not content just to play games with it. “Kinect hackers” were drawn to the fact that the object affordably synthesizes an arsenal of sophisticated components — notably, a fancy video camera, a “depth sensor” to capture visual data in three dimensions and a multiarray microphone capable of a similar trick with audio.


Combined with a powerful microchip and software, these capabilities could be put to uses unrelated to the Xbox. Like: enabling a small drone to “see” its surroundings and avoid obstacles; rigging up a 3-D scanner to create small reproductions of most any object (or person); directing the music of a computerized orchestra with conductorlike gestures; remotely controlling a robot to brush a cat’s fur. It has been used to make animation, to add striking visual effects to videos, to create an “interactive theme park” in South Korea and to control a P.C. by the movement of your hands (or, in a variation developed by some Japanese researchers, your tongue).


At the International Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, used his keynote presentation to announce that the company would release a version specifically meant for use outside the Xbox context and to indicate that the company would lay down formal rules permitting commercial uses for the device. A result has been a fresh wave of Kinect-centric experiments aimed squarely at the marketplace: helping Bloomingdale’s shoppers find the right size of clothing; enabling a “smart” shopping cart to scan Whole Foods customers’ purchases in real time; making you better at parallel parking.


An object that spawns its own commercial ecosystem is a thing to take seriously. Think of what Apple’s app store did for the iPhone, or for that matter how software continuously expanded the possibilities of the personal computer. Patent-watching sites report that in recent months, Sony, Apple and Google have all registered plans for gesture-control technologies like the Kinect. But there is disagreement about exactly how the Kinect evolved into an object with such potential. Did Microsoft intentionally create a versatile platform analogous to the app store? Or did outsider tech-artists and hobbyists take what the company thought of as a gaming device and redefine its potential?


This clash of theories illustrates a larger debate about the nature of innovation in the 21st century, and the even larger question of who, exactly, decides what any given object is really for. Does progress flow from a corporate entity’s offering a whiz-bang breakthrough embraced by the masses? Or does techno-thing success now depend on the company’s acquiescing to the crowd’s input? Which vision of an object’s meaning wins? The Kinect does not neatly conform to either theory. But in this instance, maybe it’s not about whose vision wins; maybe it’s about the contest.


Theodore Watson bought a Kinect as soon as the gadget was available. He soon acquired 15 more. He admits to a “slight addiction” to the game Call of Duty, but he does not use any of his Kinects to play games. Watson is an artist and a designer who lives in Brooklyn, and his work uses closed-circuit security cameras, graphics cards and gaming hardware “tweaked,” he notes, “for our purposes.”


To use a Kinect with a computer instead of an Xbox, Watson needed a “driver” (basically a bit of software) that did not exist. He joined a small, far-flung, highly dedicated and technically sophisticated community effort dubbed OpenKinect, which sprang up immediately after the Kinect was introduced, to write the code that would make this possible. At the same time, Adafruit, a hobbyist-focused electronics company based in New York, offered $1,000 to the first person or group to write the necessary code in an open-source format.


At the time — this was shortly before the 2010 holiday season — Microsoft’s primary Kinect focus was the mainstream game-playing market. Its first response to OpenKinect seemed predictable: CNET reported an unnamed spokesperson declaring that the company “does not condone the modification of its products” and would “work closely with law enforcement . . . to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.” Adafruit increased its prize, ultimately to $3,000. Within days a developer in Spain posted videos demonstrating that he made his Kinect work with a P.C. OpenKinect refined and spread the open-source driver code, and a variety of “Kinect hacks,” as they came to be called, proliferated in YouTube videos. (An early example involved a Kinect used to create a version of the hand-swipe control contraption Tom Cruise used in “Minority Report.”) Soon Watson and his wife, Emily Gobeille, posted their own video, in which her hand movements were captured by a Kinect and translated onto a screen displaying a computer-generated bird figure, which she controlled like a high-tech puppet.



Source & Image : New York Times

Aung San Suu Kyi asks for help to meet Burma's needs

Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi (C) talks with delegates during the 21st World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok on 31 May, 2012

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for help to meet the country's needs.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Bangkok, she said job creation and training was vital for Burma's young population.

She added that when investment comes into the country, then it should not fuel corruption or inequality.

Burma's military-backed civilian government has started a series of reforms to open up the country.

''I am here not to tell you what to do but to tell you what we need,'' she said in her first major speech outside of Burma for more than 20 years.



Source & Image : BBC

State media: Doctors stop medicating Argentine 'miracle' baby







Doctors are keeping Luz Milagros hydrated and on a ventilator, but have stopped medications.

Doctors are keeping Luz Milagros hydrated and on a ventilator, but have stopped medications.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS



  • Medical tests show that only 10% of the baby's brain is functioning

  • Her mother says doctors have stopped medicating Luz Milagros Veron

  • The baby was pronounced dead and withstood more than 10 hours in a morgue refrigerator

  • "She is in another fight from which she is going to come out again," her mother says





Buenos Aires (CNN) -- Doctors have withdrawn medications and begun palliative care for a premature baby who survived hours in a morgue refrigerator in Argentina, state media reported.

The baby's survival grabbed global headlines last month and prompted her parents to give her a new name: Luz Milagros, the Spanish words for light and miracles.

But medical tests have determined that only 10% of 2-month-old Luz Milagros Veron's brain is functioning, her mother told reporters.

"Doctors say that she will not be a complete child. They decided to stop medicating her so that she doesn't suffer anymore," mother Analia Bouguet said, according to Argentina's state-run Telam news agency.

Pronounced dead after her premature birth on April 3, the baby withstood more than 10 hours in a coffin inside a morgue refrigerator before being found alive.

This week, Bouguet said that her family was keeping its faith that the baby would survive and that her brain would heal.

"She came out of death, she came out of a drawer and she is in another fight from which she is going to come out again," she said, according to Telam.

Doctors decided not to perform surgery and to withdraw medications, but would keep the baby hydrated and on a ventilator, Telam reported.

The baby was flown to Buenos Aires for neurological testing earlier this week. Before she was transported, doctors said she had suffered health complications after having seizures.

Every, doctor, nurse and morgue worker who dealt with the baby at the hospital in northern Argentina where she was born has been suspended while authorities investigate, officials have said.

In April, the hospital's director said proper protocol had been followed.

The baby had no vital signs when she was born, hospital director Dr. Jose Luis Meirino said.

The gynecologist on hand didn't find any signs of life, so he passed the baby to a neonatal doctor who also didn't find vital signs, Meirino said.

The doctors observed the baby for a while, and only then pronounced her dead.

Two morgue workers then put her body inside a little wooden coffin and placed it in the morgue.

"Up to that point, there were still no vital signs," the hospital director said.

That night, Bouguet insisted on seeing her daughter's body.

"They put the coffin on top of a stretcher and we looked for a little crowbar to open it because it was nailed shut," father Fabian Veron told a local television station in April. "It was nailed shut. I put the crowbar in there and started prying. I took a breath and took the lid off."

Bouguet approached the baby's body, touched her hand, and heard a cry, Veron said.

Standing in front of a Buenos Aires hospital Wednesday, Bouguet asked for prayers for her daughter.

"She demonstrated that she is strong and for some reason God has kept her alive until now," she said, according to Telam. "Everything that happened cannot be in vain."


Source & Image : CNN World

Syria blames rebels for Houla massacre

General Qassem Jamal Suleiman

A Syrian investigation into the Houla massacre has blamed the atrocities on rebels trying to provoke international intervention.

The official in charge of the inquiry categorically denied any government role in last week's killings.

Activists say Syrian troops or pro-government militia were behind the deaths of more than 100 people - many of them children.

The US ambassador to the UN called the Syrian account "a blatant lie".

"There is no factual evidence, including that provided by the UN observers that would substantiate that rendition of events," Susan Rice said.

UN observers have said government forces were active in the area at the time.

General Qassem Jamal Suleiman, who headed the Syrian government's commission of inquiry into the massacre, said hundreds of rebel gunmen carried out the slaughter after launching a co-ordinated attack on five security checkpoints.

He told a news conference that the aim had been to implicate the government and to ignite sectarian strife in Syria.

"Government forces did not enter the area where the massacre occurred, not before the massacre and not after it," he said.

He said the victims had been families "who refused to oppose the government and were at odds with the armed groups".

"The aim of these armed groups is to bring foreign military intervention against the country in any form and way," he added.

The killings in Houla triggered worldwide condemnation and led many Western powers to expel Syrian diplomats.

UN observers said some of the victims were killed by shell fire but most appeared to have been shot or stabbed at close range. The dead included 49 children and 34 women.

The UN Human Rights Council - the world's leading human rights body - is due to hold an emergency meeting on Syria on Friday at which it is expected to condemn the violence in Houla.

Syria has said special prayers for the victims will be held at mosques across the country on Friday.

A draft resolution, backed by the EU, condemns what it calls "the wanton killings of civilians... by pro-regime elements", and demands that Syria allow human rights investigators and aid agencies into the country immediately.

About 300 UN observers are currently in Syria as part of a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

A key element of the plan is a ceasefire supposed to have gone into effect on 12 April. However, reports of violence and deaths have since continued daily.

The BBC's Paul Wood, who was recently in Syria, says the ceasefire exists in name only.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticised Russia's policy toward its ally Syria, saying it was contributing towards a potential civil war.

Russia and China have both renewed their opposition to tougher UN Security Council action against
Syria.

Mrs Clinton said the case for military intervention was growing stronger every day.

"[The Russians] are telling me they don't want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going to help to contribute to a civil war," she told an audience in Copenhagen.

On Friday, Ms Rice also criticised Moscow over reports from human rights groups and Western diplomats that a Russian ship had recently delivered weapons to Syria.

Activists say as many as 15,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, although the government disputes the figures.



Source & Image : BBC

Syria civil war threat grows after Houla massacre

Destruction in Rastan on 16 May (image from Syrian opposition Shaam News Network)

Is Syria edging nearer to civil war? The BBC's Paul Wood, who has spent the past three weeks reporting undercover inside Syria, says the threat is growing.

"God will take revenge for us" - it's a declaration heard in the Sunni villages around Homs, from people who feel powerless, desperate, and bitter.

This has not yet become a war of neighbour against neighbour, village against village; majority Sunnis against the ruling Alawite minority, their Shia and Christian allies. But there has been such terrible loss in some communities that it could become that.

The massacre in Houla was different in scale, but not in nature, from what has been happening in this part of Syria throughout this year. The pattern: the army shells a rebel-held area; then the paramilitary shabiha, "the ghosts", go in, cutting throats.

When we first heard wild stories of people being "slaughtered like sheep" - several months ago now - it seemed like hysteria, later to be retold as propaganda. But there are many bodies bearing such wounds and numerous eyewitnesses to such crimes.

Back in March, I spoke to a man who described hiding in a field and watching while members of his family were killed, soldiers and shabiha holding them on the ground, a boot to the back, a knife to the throat. He watched his 12-year-old son die in agony in this way. Houla is terrible but not unique.

Often, when a Sunni area is attacked, the shabiha come from the neighbouring Shia and Alawite villages. Pro-democracy activists accuse the regime of deliberately recruiting death squads like this to fuel sectarian hatred. That way, it is claimed, the minorities who now support President Bashar al-Assad will fear what will happen to them if they abandon him.

It is not all one-sided. There has been revenge by the Sunnis. Individual shabiha who are captured are routinely executed by the armed rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). I've been told of this several times by rebel fighters. The pro-democracy activist, Wissam Tarif, says there has been "vendetta[-style], family against family retaliation."

But this is not yet a case of whole villages being massacred simply because they belong to one sect. And the battle lines are not, yet, purely sectarian. On the government side there are still many Sunni members of the army, a majority in fact; there are even Sunni shabiha. On the rebel side there are a few Christian and Alawite members of the FSA.

The risk is that events like Houla will make people retreat further into their own communities. The regime already likes to portray the uprising as the voice of a Sunni Muslim underclass.

Om Omer, a refugee and a mother of six children, voiced Sunni grievances to me when I met her fleeing Homs. She was wondering what had become of her husband, though she assumed he was dead at the hands of a shabiha death squad. She told me what her life was like before the uprising.

"My husband is a labourer. If he worked, we ate. If he didn't, we starved. We already had a war with life, before the war with Bashar al-Assad." She went on: "Their sect [the Alawites] is full. Ours [the Sunnis] is hungry." She concluded: "Freedom will come to everyone. We will pay the cost of it: the martyrs' [cemetery] plots."

It is sentiment like that - as much as ideals about democracy - which is underpinning support for the FSA. Everywhere I went, on this latest trip to Syria, I heard complaints against the ruling Alawite minority. The risk is that the whole Alawite community will be punished for the sins of the regime.

Many FSA volunteers have told me they are fighting for a secular and open democracy. But others have said they want to kill Alawites and Shias. "Just those with blood on their hands," some add.

The FSA are just - barely - hanging on, under enormous pressure from the government forces. Fighters are selling their furniture to buy bullets. But the Sunnis are the overwhelming majority in Syria. If the conflict becomes openly and simply sectarian, then the advantage in numbers would be with the rebels.

We are not there yet, but the atmosphere is more threatening than it has ever been. In my many visits to Syria, and the area around Homs over the past eight months, Sunnis in the uprising would deny that sectarian bloodletting could ever happen in Syria. That's Iraq, not us, people would tell me; there's no tradition of that here.

On this trip I met an activist who used to say this as well. Not any longer. "The civil war has begun," he told me. "We will look back at this time, and say this was when it started."



Source & Image : BBC

Political Truce for a Portrait Unveiling







WASHINGTON — When former President George W. Bush returned to the White House on Thursday to unveil his official portrait, he brought along his wife, Laura; his parents, George and Barbara; daughters, Jenna and Barbara; and a couple of hundred cheering and whooping former staff members.


“Behave yourselves,” a grinning Mr. Bush said to the audience, which included his longtime political guru Karl Rove and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Turning to President Obama with a look of mock chagrin, Mr. Bush said, “Thank you so much for inviting our rowdy friends to my hanging.”


That wisecrack was one of a series uncorked by the 43rd president, who was making a rare re-emergence into the glare of TV cameras. And it captured the peculiar nature of this White House ritual, in which the president and his predecessor are meant to banish partisanship in favor of civility, bonhomie and even grace.


Mr. Obama, whose re-election bid is based on stoking fears of returning to the failed policies of Mr. Bush, praised his predecessor as having “extraordinary strength and resolve” after the Sept. 11 attacks. Americans, he said, will never forget the image of him standing atop the rubble of the World Trade Center, bullhorn in hand.


“Plus,” Mr. Obama said, smiling at Mr. Bush, “you also left me a really good TV sports package. I use it.”


It was not clear whether Mr. Obama was lauding or tweaking Mr. Bush when he recalled the chaotic months after the 2008 election. “We wouldn’t know until later just how breathtaking the financial crisis had been,” he said.


Then the president invited Mr. and Mrs. Bush to the stage, where they lifted black sheets to unveil portraits by a Texas artist, John Howard Sanden. Mr. Bush is depicted in the Oval Office before one of his favorite artworks, a 1929 Western painting, “A Charge to Keep,” which he used as the title for his memoir. Mrs. Bush is depicted in a midnight-blue gown, standing in the Green Room, which she helped refurbish in 2007.


Mr. Bush thanked Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, for their hospitality in feeding 14 members of the Bush family. He steered clear of substantive remarks about Mr. Obama’s presidency, instead jesting about how the White House collection would now start and end with a George W. (the other being George Washington).


He reminded Mrs. Obama that when British soldiers set fire to the White House in 1814, another first lady, Dolley Madison, saved the portrait of the first George W. “Now, Michelle,” he said, gesturing to his newly unveiled painting, “if anything happens, there’s your man.” And he told Mr. Obama that as he wrestled with tough decisions, he could always “gaze at this portrait and ask, ‘What would George do?’ ”


Mr. Bush’s voice caught once, when he paid tribute to his father, “Number 41,” who he said “gave me the greatest gift possible: unconditional love.” Former President George Bush sat in the front row in a wheelchair.


Mrs. Bush got off a few good lines of her own, telling Mrs. Obama that “nothing makes a house a home like having portraits of its former occupants staring down at you from the walls.” And Mrs. Obama noted approvingly that Jenna and Barbara were “just a mess,” wiping away tears as they watched their parents.


In addition to Mr. Rove and Mr. Rumsfeld, the audience included former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; Alberto R. Gonzales, the former attorney general; and Andrew Card, who served as chief of staff. Mr. Rove sat in the second row, exchanging pleasantries with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.


But Mr. Bush was clearly the big draw. He has been in something of a self-imposed political exile since he left office, offering only a fleeting endorsement of Mr. Romney — “I’m for Mitt Romney,” he said to ABC News — as the doors of his elevator closed after a speech in Washington.


Mr. Bush offered his predecessor, Bill Clinton, a similarly gracious unveiling in 2004. But earlier in history, the presidential historian Michael Beschloss noted: “You had presidents hiding the portraits of predecessors they didn’t like. In recent years instead, this has become a rare presidential ritual of national bipartisanship.”



Source & Image : New York Times

Egypt state of emergency lifted after 31 years

Protest in Tahrir Square, 29 May 2012

Egypt's state of emergency, that gave security forces sweeping powers to detain suspects and try them in special courts, has ended after 31 years.

It has been in place without interruption since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Lifting the law was a key demand of activists in last year's uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's military rulers, who took charge after the ousting of Mr Mubarak, indicated they would not renew the law.

Some Egyptians had feared the country - preparing for a presidential election run-off- would be left in a power vacuum without the law, which expired at midnight on Thursday.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) issued a statement to reassure the country that it will "continue to carry its national responsibility in protecting the country until the transfer of power is over".

"This is huge," said Hossam Bahgat, a human rights activist who had long campaigned to lift the law.

"What is really crucial is the message. The security forces operated under a culture that told them they were constantly above the law. Now they need to abide by the existing legislation and they won't enjoy any extra-legal powers."

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner described the lifting of the emergency law as "a step in the direction" towards democratic transition.

The emergency law was a key feature of the rule of President Mubarak, who repeatedly broke promises to lift it.

At one point, human rights groups estimated there were more than 10,000 people in detention - many of them disappearing in Egyptian prisons.

In January the head of Scaf, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, partially eased the law except in the cases of "thuggery", without explaining exactly what that meant.

The interior ministry is currently dealing with at least 188 people under the law, according to Human Rights Watch.

However, there are some who believe the state of emergency should have been renewed.

Cairo resident Reda Abdel Fatah told Reuters: "The army should continue until the end of the transitional period, because if they leave now it will be chaos."

Egypt is preparing for a run-off vote in the presidential elections which will be held on 16-17 June.

The two contenders are the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi and former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq, who was President Mubarak's last prime minister.



Source & Image : BBC

Tipping iceberg captured on video by tourist





A tourist has captured some rare and startling video of an iceberg tipping over. The tourist was traveling on a boat near the Upsala Glacier in Argentina and caught the unexpected moment.


Writing on YouTube under the name "osibaruch," the tourist says:


"While we were passing by it with a catamaran, the huge berg lost a part of itself (look at the right side sinking) and then flipped over with a huge roar. In the process of melting this happens all the time, but it is seldom that it is captured on video WHEN it happens..."


The Upsala Glacier has been melting for a number of years and is often cited as evidence of global climate change. The BBC reports that the glacier, once the largest in South America, has been retreating at a rate of about 600 feet a year. Some scientists say the melting is a result of other factors and is not connected to climate change.



The tourist originally captured the video in March but first posted it online this week.




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Why the Chinese are flocking to U.S. colleges







A view of McCosh Hall, built in 1906, on the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. William Bennett says many Chinese want their children to attend U.S. universities.

A view of McCosh Hall, built in 1906, on the Princeton University campus in New Jersey. William Bennett says many Chinese want their children to attend U.S. universities.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS



  • William Bennett: Many Chinese yearn to send their children to U.S. universities

  • Bennett: Chinese students better prepared in science, math; parental expectations higher

  • In China, U.S. colleges represent freedom, individualism, self-improvement, he says

  • He warns that U.S. must approach education as focused as the Chinese





Editor's note: William J. Bennett, a CNN contributor, is the author of "The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood." He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.

(CNN) -- American higher education is in the cross hairs of a heated national debate over the value and cost of a college degree. Yet in China, our fiercest global economic competitor, the popularity of American colleges and universities might be at an all-time high.

I just returned from a trip to Beijing, where I spoke with Chinese parents about the value of American education, where we excel and where we fall short. Not surprising was the extent to which the Chinese value education, especially primary and secondary education, and yearn for their children to attend American universities, and if possible, stay in America.

When I engaged Chinese parents about their children, they would often say, "My son (or daughter) is going to Princeton (or fill in the elite American university)." I would respond, "Great! What year is your son or daughter right now?" And they would say, "Three years old."


William Bennett
William Bennett


This passion for education starting at such an early age is powerful. After meeting with Chinese teachers, parents and children, three differences were immediately clear.

First, their children are better educated than American children in the STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering and math. High standards and high expectations are the norm in China, not the exception, as is often the case in the United States.

Second, Chinese parents will sacrifice almost anything for their child's education. They realize firsthand, "History is a race between education and catastrophe," as H.G. Wells put it. In China, the disposable income of middle-class families is more likely to be spent on education than leisure or entertainment.

Third, to the Chinese people, American universities, for all their shortcomings and blemishes, are still beacons of freedom, individualism and self-improvement. To them, our universities are emblems of the highest achievement.

In Asia, they have a saying: "The protruding nail gets hammered down." In America, we give awards for protruding nails.

Our standards should be higher and our achievement better, but we still remain a land of unlimited opportunity. Each of my speeches in China began by reminding the Chinese people of the three, quintessential American values engraved, on our currency: Liberty, In God We Trust and E. Pluribus Unum.

Politically, we may be at odds with the Chinese regime, but its people desperately long for a taste of American autonomy. RISE China, the private international education company that invited me to China and for which I am a compensated senior adviser, focuses on teaching idiomatic English to Chinese students to help them get into American universities.

It also helps Chinese students develop confidence, initiative, commitment and active learning -- all qualities that are cherished by our higher institutions.

As a result, the number of Chinese undergraduate students in the U.S. has doubled in the past two years. In the 2006-07 academic year, 9,955 Chinese undergraduates enrolled in U.S. schools. The next year, that figure jumped to 16,450, and by 2010-11, 56,976 undergraduates enrolled in the U.S. China exports more of its students to the U.S. than to any other country. They are already reaping the benefits educationally and economically.

In February 2011, in a meeting with Silicon Valley's biggest entrepreneurs, President Barack Obama asked Steve Jobs of Apple what it would take to make iPhones in the U.S. rather than China. Jobs replied that those jobs aren't coming back. The New York Times reported it this way: "Apple executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that "Made in the U.S.A." is no longer a viable option for most Apple products."

The Chinese realize the potential of American universities when engaged properly.

When a student approaches the university with a specific degree focus, applies it with diligence and finances it soundly, understanding the commitment he or she is making, the American university system is still the best in the world. American students must begin approaching their higher education just as smartly and seriously, or our academies will be filled with aspiring and inquiring minds from elsewhere.

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Source & Image : CNN Opinion

Why the Syrian regime is killing babies







People gather at a mass burial for victims in Houla in this handout image dated May 26.

People gather at a mass burial for victims in Houla in this handout image dated May 26.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS



  • Frida Ghitis: The Houla massacre caused much of the world to gasp

  • She says the regime is killing civilians, even children, to maintain a balance of terror

  • Syria's regime is choosing to follow path Iran used in crushing Green revolution, she says

  • Ghitis: It's not a surprise that Iranian forces are in Syria, helping the regime





Editor's note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer/correspondent, she is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."

(CNN) -- When a slow-motion massacre has unfolded over the course of 15 months, it's easy to lose the world's attention. But even the most jaded gasped in horror as news emerged of the latest carnage inflicted on the Syrian people. The images from the town of Houla defied belief.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went on a systematic killing spree, murdering at least 108 people. Most shockingly, the killers targeted women and children. A U.N. representative said the victims included 49 children who were younger than 10. The al-Assad regime denied it carried out the atrocities, but U.N. officials said they saw clear evidence that the Syrian government was involved in the attacks.

Why would a regime, even a brutal dictatorship, send its thugs to kill women and children, even babies? Does it make any sense, even by the twisted logic of armed conflict and tyranny?


Frida Ghitis
Frida Ghitis


In a most perverse, sickening way, it makes perfect sense. And for the logic underlying this most inhuman tactic, one need only look at what has transpired in recent months and years as uprisings have sprung throughout the region, from Iran to Tunisia.

Now that Tehran has -- perhaps accidentally -- revealed that it has sent some of its forces to help al-Assad, the strategy has become even easier to understand.

The Syrian dictator is trying to restore a balance of fear, perhaps the most powerful weapon in the hands of tyrants throughout history. Killing children is supposed to intimidate the opposition.

A couple of days after the Houla massacre, a top commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Ismail Ghani, told a reporter from Iran's Isna news that "before our presence in Syria, too many people were killed by the opposition but with the physical and nonphysical presence of the Islamic republic, big massacres in Syria were prevented." Isna quickly deleted the interview, but the news was out.

Ghani is the deputy commander of the Quds Force, whose mission is "extraterritorial operations," or revolution beyond Iran's borders.

Western diplomats are pushing for a negotiated settlement, but Syria, Iran's only ally in the Arab world, is following what looks very much like an Iranian script, using blunt force to put down anti-government protests.

That's what Iran did in 2009 when the so-called Green Revolution arose after the disputed presidential elections. Tehran used its paramilitary Basij militias to brutally suppress the protests. But that was before the Arab uprisings showed people throughout the Middle East that sometimes revolutions do succeed.

When al-Assad scans the horizon, he sees what happened to other Arab dictators. The presidents of Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen have lost power. The example of Moammar Gadhafi does not seem to apply to him so far, since opinion in the West until now has leaned against direct military intervention

A reign of terror helped al-Assad's father, the feared Hafez Assad, keep power for three decades, and then hand the country to his son as if it amounted to private property to be inherited by the next generation. When the elder Assad faced an uprising in 1982, he ordered his loyal army to pulverize the opposition. The entire town of Hama was razed to the ground. Estimates of the dead range from 10,000 to 30,000 killed by Assad's troops. That put a quick end to the revolt.

The younger al-Assad is trying to do his father proud. But, despite the mounting death toll, he has lost the weapon of fear. Already 13,000 people are said to have died in the Syrian uprising. Despite that, the protesters are not staying home.

Al-Assad, incidentally, denies any responsibility for the Houla massacre. He blames "terrorists," but nobody's buying his denials. Witnesses say, and the evidence confirms, that government troops started firing tank shells and mortars at protesters during the Friday demonstration that has become a ritual of the anti-dictatorship movement. But the worst was yet to come.

Houla is a Sunni Muslim town, a stronghold of the anti-Assad movement. It is also home to a military college, from where the tank and mortar fire came. U.N. observers found evidence of tank shells, which are not part of the opposition's arsenal.

Before long, paramilitary forces known as the Shabiha -- the Syrian version of Iran's Basij -- joined the fight, assaulting demonstrators with gunfire and knives. By nightfall, the attacks became the worst of nightmares. The Shabiha, gangs of thugs and criminals, mostly belong to the president's Alawite sect. According to the U.N., about 20 people were killed by artillery fire. Most of the others were murdered execution-style in their homes. In some cases, entire families were killed.

In the face of the heart wrenching death toll, the U.S., the West and the rest of the world are feeling renewed pressure to take action. The Syrian opposition and some in the region have called for intervention, but few are inclined to step in.

Some observers, including Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, say the U.S. should step back, arguing that as tragic as the situation is, there are many other problems of greater importance.

But the probable presence of Iran in Syria highlights just how important this battle is, and not just for the Syrian people. The U.S. and the rest of the world should care about Syria not only for humanitarian reasons, but because the entire Middle East is now in play.

If al-Assad survives, it will mark a victory for anti-American, anti-democratic forces in the Middle East. It will tilt the balance of power in the region in favor of dictatorship, in favor of the use of force and fear as the instrument of power and in favor of a regime in Tehran whose aim is to export its brand of retrograde, anti-American, anti-women, anti-gay, freedom-suppressing revolution.

If al-Assad falls, it will mark a major defeat for Iran, one that will alter the region in ways that, while not certain to follow American wishes in every respect, has the potential to eventually improve stability.

This is the Syrian people's fight, and there's no need now to put American "boots on the ground." But the U.S. government has a long menu of options to help bring about the end of the despicable al-Assad regime.

No choice is without risk, and no route is assured of success, but it is clear that those seeking to overthrow the al-Assad regime should receive more active help from the West. The riskiest course of action is to stay on the sidelines and let Bashar al-Assad murder his people while we look the other way.

The killing of children by a regime determined to intimidate the opposition made that point abundantly clear.

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Source & Image : CNN Opinion