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“It didn’t happen in Afghanistan or the tribal regions in Pakistan. It actually happened in the town of Binsh in Idleb province northern Syria. The Syrian terrorists inspired by their fellows in Libya raised Al-Qaeda flag to express publicly their terrorist beliefs.
What kind of revolution that claims to demand freedom while at the same time raises Al-Qaeda flag!?”
Syrian rebels pose with Al Qaeda flag
See more related to Syria from thetimetimes.com here
It wasn’t bath salts.
According to a full toxicology report released Wednesday afternoon by the Miami-Dade medical examiner, the only drug detected in the lifeless body of infamous Miami face-chewer Rudy Eugene was marijuana.
“The department’s toxicology laboratory has identified the active components of marijuana,” the medical examiner said in a statement, according to NBC Miami. “The laboratory has tested for but not detected any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs…This includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Extasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.”
CBS Miami reports that the medical examiner’s office sought the assistance of an “outside forensic toxicology reference laboratory” to help confirm the absence of common ingredients of bath salts, a synthetic amphetamine cocktail blamed in severalrecentincidents that bear some similarity to Eugene’s attack.
“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories,” stated a press release from Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma, “marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”
The report did not address previously reported autopsy findings of what appeared to be undigested pills in Eugene’s stomach, according to the Miami Herald, and an expert told the Associate Press marijuana alone was not likely to cause such an attack.
“The problem today is that there is an almost an infinite number of chemical substances out there that can trigger unusual behavior,” said Dr. Bruce Goldberger, Professor and Director of Toxicology at the University of Florida.Goldberger said that the medical examiner’s office in Miami is known for doing thorough work and that he’s confident they and the independent lab covered as much ground as possible. But it’s nearly impossible for toxicology testing to keep pace with new formulations of synthetic drugs.
“There are many of these synthetic drugs that we currently don’t have the methodology to test on, and that is not the fault of the toxicology lab. The challenge today for the toxicology lab is to stay on top of these new chemicals and develop methodologies for them, but it’s very difficult and very expensive.” Goldberger said. “There is no one test or combination of tests that can detect every possible substance out there.”
Read the rest of the story here.
Armed rebels stormed a pro-government Syrian TV station, killing seven members of the press. The rebels detonated explosives and kidnapped other TV station employees. Targeting the press is not a pro-democratic strategy.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Gunmen raided the headquarters of a pro-government Syrian TV station early Wednesday, killing seven employees, kidnapping others and demolishing buildings, officials said. The government blamed terrorists and described the killings as a “massacre.”
An Associated Press photographer who visited the Al-Ikhbariya station’s compound said five portable buildings used for offices and studios had collapsed, with blood on the floor and wooden partitions still on fire. Some walls had bullet holes.
Al-Ikhbariya is privately-owned but strongly supports President Bashar Assad‘s regime. Pro-government journalists have been attacked on several previous occasions during the country’s 15-month uprising, although such incidents are comparatively rare.
Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi said the killings were “a massacre against the freedom of the press” in remarks broadcast on state TV. He later told reporters that it had been carried out by terrorists – the same word the government uses for rebels.
Rebels deny they target the media.
Much of the violence that has gripped Syria over the past 15 months has been sanctioned by the government to crush dissent. But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.
Many in the opposition consider the media an arm of the regime. Syria does not have a free press and most news organizations are either state-run or private bodies that carry the government’s point of view. Most of the private TV stations and newspapers are owned by politicians or wealthy businessmen who have close links to the regime.
Assad denies that there is any popular will behind the uprising, saying terrorists are behind a conspiracy to destroy the country.
Al-Zoebi, the information minister, said gunmen stormed the station’s compound in the town of Drousha, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) south of the capital Damascus, and detonated explosives. He said the attackers killed seven people and kidnapped others.
Restrictions on the media make it difficult to verify accounts of events on the ground.
An employee at the station said several other staffers were wounded in the attack, which happened just before 4 a.m. local time. He said the gunmen kidnapped him along with several station guards. He was released but the guards were not.
The employee, who did not give his name for fear of repercussions, said the gunmen drove him about 200 meters (yards) away, and then he heard the explosion of the station being demolished.
“I was terrified when they blindfolded me and took me away,” the man said by telephone.
Earlier this month, two Al-Ikhbariya employees were shot and seriously wounded by gunmen in the northwestern town of Haffa while covering clashes between government troops and insurgents.
Hours after the attack, the station was still on the air, broadcasting a rally in Damascus’ main square against the station raid.
Also Wednesday, Burhan Ghalioun, the former leader of Syria’s main opposition group, said he briefly entered rebel-held areas in the north of the country in a rare trip by the exiled political opposition to the country. Ghalioun told Al-Jazeera TV that the areas he visited in Idlib province are ruling themselves, without any regime presence.
Ghalioun, former head of the Syrian National Council, did not say when the visit happened.
“I went to see the war that the Syrian regime is staging,” Ghalioun said. “The regime continues to shell and kill.” Ghalioun said he spoke with wounded Syrians including some who lost limbs and others who were paralyzed.
He added that he was able to drive about freely and that “part of the country is liberated.”
Activists reported violence throughout Syria on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist network, said at least 10 government soldiers were killed in an ambush in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.
The group said that rebels on Tuesday were able to shoot down a helicopter gunship in Idlib province. Amateur videos showed a helicopter burning in a field but the report could not be independently confirmed.
Activists reported other clashes, mostly in Idlib and nearby Aleppo province as well as rebel-held areas in the central city of Homs that have been under government attack for nearly three weeks.
In neighboring Turkey, some 30 more Syrian soldiers defected with their families overnight, the country’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday. It was not clear if the group included any senior officers.
Assad’s regime has suffered an embarrassing string of high-ranking defections this week, with dozens of soldiers, including senior officers, reported to have fled to Turkey.
Reuters – Assad: foreign powers behind Syria violence | Video
Preparedness messages are now being tweeted, because preparedness is super trendy.
Look what Center for Disease Control (CDC) tweeted Sunday morning, June 24, 2012.
cdc.gov
Watch this video by the CDC, A New Era of Preparedness
You can view a transcript in PDF form here.
Here is an excerpt:
[Narrator] Today, there are many different kinds of threats. We are in a new era of preparedness.
[Boy] Hey, Dad!
[Narrator]And kids are a little more in-tune than we think.
