Shells smashed into a central prison in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, killing some prisoners, a rights group said Sunday, part of a long battle for control of the ancient city.The explosions killed six prisoners, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which communicates with a network of activists on the ground. The explosives hit on Friday night, the Observatory said. It was not clear who fired the shells.
With government forces stepping up offensives, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood called on the U.S. and Europe to send arms."Providing the Free Syrian Army and the revolutionary rebels with appropriate arms is more urgent now than at any time in the past," the movement wrote on social media sites. "We feel cheated and disappointed because the U.S. and Europe have backed out from arming the FSA," it said.
Last month the U.S. decided in principle to provide some weapons to rebel forces, though Western countries are concerned they might land in the hands of extremist Sunni Muslims fighting with the rebels.The forces include an al-Qaida-linked group which has been fighting for weeks to seize control of the prison in Aleppo, besieging it. The Observatory estimated some 120 prisoners have died in the jail since April from fighting, illness and rtls.
Syria's state run news agency SANA said "a number" of rebels were killed in the shelling but did not give an exact number.Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is near the border with Turkey. Many of its ancient monuments and its marketplace, once a magnet for tourists, have been destroyed in fighting.Rebels and government forces also clashed near the Shiite towns of Nubul and Zahra in Aleppo province, the Observatory and pro-rebel activists reported. The towns have been besieged since at least May by hard-line Sunni rebels seeking to dislodge their enemies.
The Observatory said fighting killed three regime troops, including one foreigner, code for a fighter from the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah.Rebels claim that Assad's forces and Hezbollah fighters are in the two towns. A hard-line Sunni brigade warned last week it would punish Shiites for harbouring the forces, suggesting the towns' populations of some 40,000 Shiites could be targeted.
The fighting underscores the growing sectarian nature of the two-year uprising against Assad's regime. It began as peaceful protests but turned into an armed rebellion after a brutal government crackdown. It has since taken on regional dimensions, with Hezbollah fighters joining Assad's forces. Foreign Sunni fighters have joined predominantly Sunni Syrian rebels who are formed in bands ranging from secular to hard-line Islamists.
At home, Assad draws support largely from Syria's minorities, including fellow Alawites -- followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- as well as Christians, Shiites and Sunnis who fear the hard-line rebels.In recent weeks, Assad's forces, bolstered by Hezbollah fighters, have pushed back to seize rebel-held areas in several parts of Syria.
In the central Syrian city of Homs, Assad's forces fired mortar shells from a stronghold of buildings on the edge of the rebel-held area of Khaldiyeh, trying to flush out fighters, said two activists.Explosions could be heard as they spoke via Skype.The shells were exploding in the densely-built area surrounding the 13th-century mosque of Khalid Ibn al-Walid, famous for its nine domes and two minarets, said a Homs-based activist identified as Nedal. He said parts of the wall surrounding the historic complex were blown away. Other parts were damaged in previous rounds of fighting.Khaldiyeh-based activist Abu Bilal said fighters were low on weapons. He said the international community, despite promises to arm rebels, had left them hanging in Homs.
"They have sold Homs to the enemy," he complained.The U.N. warns the some 4,500 residents in besieged, rebel-held areas of Homs face a humanitarian catastrophe. On Friday, the divided U.N. Security Council failed to approve a statement calling on the Syrian government to allow immediate access to trapped civilians there. Russia, Syria's closest ally, demanded that the statement should also call for immediate access to the towns of Nubul and Zahra.
Private ownership of firearms, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment, creates an interesting dichotomy for American citizens and the recent blitzkrieg of anti-gun legislation has only served to heighten the resolve of the two diametrically opposed camps.
I don’t mean to oversimplify a complex issue, but here is how it generally breaks down: gun advocates proclaim that in the hands of responsible, law-abiding citizens, firearms are used every day for recreation, competition, to protect lives, homes, and personal property, as well as secure and safeguard personal liberties.
Individuals opposed to firearms, I believe, envision and portray guns primarily as agents of death and destruction, and as such, the number and types of firearms, ammunition, and magazines possessed by individual citizens should be strictly controlled and monitored by the federal government.
At present, U.S stock trading data offered by China's portals and vertical financial websites are usually delayed by 15 minutes or are operated with BATS (Better Alternative Trading System), a small-sized e-trading platform based in the U.S. that only offers real-time data for a limited number of stocks sold on US exchanges. The lack of real-time data has put Chinese investors at a disadvantage when trading on the primary exchanges in the U.S. At a time when traders buy and sell stocks very quickly based on the latest news, delayed information could no longer satisfy Chinese investors' demands.
Currently, investment in U.S stocks is heating up, but none of the financial institutions in China have been able to provide free real-time U.S exchange quotes to Chinese investors. "We are elated to place real-time market data in the hands of tens of millions of investors in China," said Brian Hyndman, Senior Vice President, NASDAQ OMX Global Data Products, "With NASDAQ Last Sale, Tencent subscribers have instant access to the best-priced stock quotes and last sale data in all U.S.-listed securities, enabling them to be better informed when making trading decisions."
Tencent Portfolio, as the only authorized mobile application approved by NASDAQ, can now provide free access to real-time updates of U.S stock-trading information on both the iPhone and Android platforms. Tencent is a fast-moving company and today's announcement is expected to ignite a reshuffling of the industry. Tencent Portfolio will not only stand out from competing stock applications, but will also stimulate the industry to pay close attention to offering real-time equity data services.
The Vice President of Tencent Mobile Media Product Huang Hai said, "The real-time quote service offered by Tencent Portfolio will cover all stocks listed in the U.S. exchanges. Following the rollout of free real-time data for the Hong Kong exchanges, we are now doing the same for the U.S. Tencent Portfolio aims to provide a free service to investors that includes the latest and most precise stock quotes so they can accurately grasp the investment opportunity."
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