Apple's victory means soul-searching for Samsung

People walk past by banners advertising Samsung and Apple's smart phones at a mobile phone shop in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Samsung will offer three different choices to people interested in buying a desktop computer equipped with a redesigned version of Windows. The PCs ? previewed Tuesday at a technology conference in Germany ? are set to hit the market Oct. 26. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

People walk past by banners advertising Samsung and Apple's smart phones at a mobile phone shop in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Samsung will offer three different choices to people interested in buying a desktop computer equipped with a redesigned version of Windows. The PCs ? previewed Tuesday at a technology conference in Germany ? are set to hit the market Oct. 26. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

(AP) ? A U.S. jury's $1 billion verdict against Samsung for what rival Apple claimed was the illegal copying of its iPhone and iPad designs signals a turning point for the South Korean electronics giant known for its prowess in adapting the innovations of others and nimbly executing production.

The verdict not only jolted the world of global gadgetry but also likely sparked some soul-searching in Suwon, South Korea, where the family-run Samsung conglomerate is based.

The world's top seller of smartphones finds itself in the post-iPhone reality, where the decades-long practice of industry mimicry now can mean a bruising legal challenge.

And so Samsung finds itself back at the drawing board, to recreate itself as an innovator, not an imitator. But the switch, experts say, will be much more challenging and time-consuming than the shortcuts Samsung used to take.

"The case shows that Samsung is still inadequate in soft(ware) area, such as designs and patents," M.S. Hwang, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Samsung Securities, said in a commentary.

Samsung has a top-heavy command structure that centers on the founding family. At the apex is 70-year-old Lee Kun-hee, who inherited the mantle from his father, Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, in 1987.

The strict hierarchy has enabled speedy and bold investment and swift execution. That, plus the ability to build on the innovations of others, like Sony ? has helped Samsung become the world's largest maker of televisions, memory chips, liquid crystal display panels and now smartphones.

Its path is reminiscent of many Japanese companies, like Canon and Nikon, which started out by copying European designs and then became innovators and pace-setters in the 1960s and 70s.

"It is impossible to be an innovator from the beginning," said Chang Sea-jin, a professor at National University of Singapore. "If you don't have a technology, imitating more advanced companies is the easiest way to catch up."

Samsung has long been regarded as a "fast follower" ? imitating or licensing technologies and then competing by lowering costs, improving quality and adding functions.

It overcame its belated entry into the memory chip business in 1983 with efficient mass production and investments. Today, Samsung supplies about 30 percent of the chips that go into electronic gadgets.

In the early 2000s, Samsung claimed leadership in the global television industry.

But when Apple released its cutting-edge iPhone in 2007, Samsung employees were likely too pressed to catch up to scrutinize possible patent encroachments. South Korea also has a much less strict idea about intellectual property than the U.S., Chang said, and speedy execution is highly valued at Samsung.

Still, Samsung outsold Apple this year in smartphones by offering more variety, including low-end phones for prices-conscious consumers.

Last Friday, a jury in San Jose, California, ruled that Samsung went too far in copying the iPhone and the iPad. It awarded Apple $1.05 billion, while a judge considers whether to ban sales of eight Samsung products in the U.S. Samsung has vowed to appeal.

Samsung's stocks plunged 7.5 percent in Seoul on the first trading day after the verdict, costing $12 billion in market value. Samsung has vowed to appeal, but unsuccessful legal battles against Apple in a host of other countries means that Samsung has few choices other than to create its own design identity.

In the last few years, Samsung has been investing in design, not only in mobile phones, but also in televisions and home appliances. But the results were not near the level of revolutionizing the look and feel of a consumer electronics product or the way consumers interact with technology.

Bill Fischer, a professor at International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, says Samsung still has not breached the divide between itself and consumer electronics companies like Apple and Sony.

"They tend to take bigger risks regarding products brought to market, and they try to become creators of revolutionary new technologies," such as iPods, smartphones and Sony's Walkman music player, Fischer said in an email to The Associated Press. "This is a different mentality."

The choices that Samsung has made so far "are not choices conducive to growing the sort of design and customer-centricity that has long made Apple unique," he said.

That does not necessarily mean that Samsung must become another Apple. Samsung, which supplies mobile processors that work as a brain in the iPhone and the iPad, as well as displays and memory chips to Apple, reaches far and deep into the areas that Apple does not ? especially in electronics hardware manufacturing.

"Innovation does not necessarily mean an entire change. Doing better than the present and doing better than others are also innovation," said Lee Myoung-woo, who once led Samsung's consumer electronics businesses in the U.S. and is a professor at Hanyang University in Seoul.

"Even if other companies are not breaking away too far from the rules that Apple made with the iPhone, other companies can come up with product innovation in the areas that Apple didn't see," Lee said.

He cited the Galaxy Note as an example, a smartphone with an overblown screen that became popular.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-08-28-AS-SKorea-Apple-Samsung-Future/id-5356e885589048a596408821c4e2cd86

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Fantastical Words | Some Natural Strategies to Improve ...

Dynamics presented us all one pair of sight you?ll always remember therefore, eyesight attention needs to be a new essential portion of our overall health along with health and fitness routine. Do not let eyesight circumstances to be able to slow down what you can do to see plainly specially when there?s something which can be done to stop this. In line with the U . s . Academy regarding Ophthalmology, around 14 zillion People in america suffer from farsightedness. This is defined as the shortcoming of the face to concentrate correctly in in close proximity to things. Attention workout routines have shown to have a very helpful effect on your eye area reducing problems like far sightedness. Listed below are Some straightforward, quick and easy attention workout routines in which increase far-sightedness.

A single. Palming ? You can conduct this method successfully be preserving your sight available. Make use of your hands to pay for these. Avoid touching the tennis balls. However, it is important to ensure that your hands are firmly included to help you see night. Maintain eye covered for a couple moments. Suppose that you?re exterior glazing to the the dark from the evening, to the length. Glazing in the range is helpful mainly because it secretes stress and tension in the sight.

Two. Exercise flutter blinking ? This is defined as flashing the eyes rapidly in diverse time periods.Inhale and exhale although undertaking it. Inhaling and exhaling is important since 30% in the air flow we inhale bottles the aesthetic system. Blinking enhances the organic moisture inside the sight therefore lubricating them. This is a normal fix for dried up face. You can also carry out this method in a sluggish pace by shutting the eyes pertaining to 3 mere seconds along with having them wide open for the next 3 a few moments.

Three. Graphic Flexibility Exercise ? Based on Vision Exercises permanently Vision, the goal of this specific workout is to boost the actual focusing ability from the eye. This particular increases its ability to shift from in close proximity to far-away things. To be able to properly perform it, decide on a physical object that?s 30 toes absent. Become sitting in this particular place that you can evidently start to see the remote item you might have decided on. Carry a pen or perhaps pen 6 ins from a nose and concentrate about the compose. Next, change your current focus on the thing inside the length. This method encourages vision health through enhancing the capacity of the sight in order to redouble to a new degree and distance. As you shift your current target, breathe in and out deeply. Maintain transferring the target back and forth from the particular compose on the faraway item, moving the eyes merely not your brain Several instances.

4. Stretching out ? This is an important eye fortifying technique. It calls for transferring your vision only not necessarily your mind, as far as you can to the right then to the left. Then transfer up your eyes all the way up upwards after which all the way hand eye coordination exercises lower. Repeat 3 times. It can be necessary to total this technique with attention comes to help remedy any other stress inside eyes.
To execute vision sheets basically rotate up your eyes inside a clockwise route.

Source: http://fantasticalwords.com/some-natural-strategies-to-improve-farsightedness/

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Web Development and Internet Marketing to assist Business Grow

Web development has become the keyword currently. Every business needs a lot of publicity because there is hard competition. With the advance of the Internet age, it?s therefore become extremely important to use all the available tools of marketing, like blogs, websites, content articles and even video as well as social networking sites. If your company is an online business, the need for web based marketing solutions is sustained. The best policy is usually to hire a professional Search engine marketing or search engine Optimization Company that may offer a wide range of world wide web related marketing services, such as web designing, e-commerce remedy, lead generation, corporate id, link building and much more. To start with any such decision is taken, it must be valued that there are plenty of artificial websites out there, that happen to be run by spammers who are just running a fraud. These people often idiot those looking for Search engine optimisation support. Again, there are numerous web marketing companies that make use of what is commonly known as black hat marketing strategies, such as meta data and rewrite posting. These are usually regarded unethical. Besides, repetitive and mirror posting is also not considered acceptable as per widespread or international standards. Because your ultimate objective will be to get your web site as much publicity as well as coverage as possible, around the major search engines like Google, you have to ensure that the company that you just hire for SEO purposes does not employ any black loath or unethical way of marketing for your website or even company. This could actually negatively affect your own corporate identity. Actually, it could even resulted in termination of your list and visibility in the major search engines like Google which usually immediately strike lower any such unethical sites. There are plenty of acceptable method of improving the chances of accomplishment in business, whether you are throughout New York or Ohio or Chicago, as all you would need is actually Web design Miami, Web Development New York or Website design Chicago. You should check the history and profile from the SEO company you are employing. Hopefully, the company will even provide some of the portfolio, as an example of what are the company has done for other companies.

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You can even seek out an SEO company that could look after your internet commerce New York business. What ever be the type of business or business you own, there are several time-tested marketing strategies, which will absolutely increase traffic to your website so because of this bring more potential prospects at your doorstep. For example, most of the Web design Las vegas companies will be employing techniques like enhancing the graphics and standard look of your website, by adding better photographs, colors, backgrounds and also other special features just like analytics or stats to help you keep track of that?s visiting your website and also from which source. Aside from, these SEO businesses also specialize in making targeted or area of interest customer set for you. This can be done by using mailing lists and social networking sites. Through aggressive article marketing in which back-link to your website and then posting these articles to the top article publication sites can do a world of impact on your business.

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Source: http://blog.thorsrubberhammer.com/2012/08/web-development-and-internet-marketing-to-assist-business-grow/

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Miley Cyrus gets "Two and a Half Men" guest run

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/miley-cyrus-gets-two-half-men-guest-run-201543689.html

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Stocks to rise, markets eye central bankers

By Ryan Vlastelica, Reuters

The streak is over, but is the trend intact?

A six-week string of gains in the S&P 500 ended on Friday amid shifting expectations for central bank stimulus. Next week could bring clarity on that issue, and that could determine whether the recent rally that took the index to four-year highs will persist.?

"The streak is broken, but the trend isn't, and I think the next major move on the S&P will push us up towards 1,450 or 1,500," said Mark Arbeter, chief technical strategist for Standard & Poor's in New York. "Small- and mid-cap stocks are near their all-time highs, and if they break those highs, I think that will prompt the market to really rip higher."?

Still, the market could be in for a bumpy ride next week ahead of Friday's meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Investors are looking for clues on whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will announce a third round of quantitative easing.?

Bets on aggressive action to increase growth have spurred most of the market's recent gains, meaning any disappointment could stop the rally in its tracks. The CBOE Volatility index or VIX, a measure of investor anxiety, jumped almost 13 percent this week.?

While many analysts expect QE3 -- and Bernanke wrote a letter to a congressional panel that the Fed has room to deliver it -- the odds seemed to decline following comments on Thursday from James Bullard, a non-voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. He said the latest Fed minutes, which indicated the central bank might be ready for more stimulus, were "stale."?

"Rhetoric is going back and forth about what we can expect, and we could see some big gyrations going into the meeting, depending on the latest rumor," said Michael Matousek, senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc. in San Antonio, Texas.?

Is QE3 baked into the cake??

?

In the recent six-week winning streak, the S&P's longest since January 2011, the index climbed 4.7 percent. That could indicate QE3 has already been priced into shares.?

"I think we're priced so that we won't see a major move if something is announced," Matousek said. "But if the status quo persists, which is what I'm expecting, that could be a big disappointment."?

Daily trading volume, which has been among the lowest of the year recently, is expected to remain muted ahead of the meeting. Low volume could amplify stock swings in both directions, and there is little other news to otherwise drive trading.?

Following the Jackson Hole meeting, there will be a market holiday on Sept. 3 for Labor Day. Trading is expected to pick up after that, with a major catalyst seen on Sept. 6, when the European Central Bank has its next meeting.?

The ECB recently pledged to "do whatever it takes" to address the euro zone's debt crisis, comments that contributed to recent positive sentiment.?

Earnings season is winding down, with only five S&P 500 components scheduled to report next week, including Tiffany & Co , Joy Global Inc and H.J. Heinz.

With 98 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported results, 67 percent have topped expectations by an average surprise factor of 4.3 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. The 67 percent beat rate is higher than the long-term average of 62 percent. However, there have been some notable disappointments lately, including Hewlett-Packard Co.?

Economic indicators includes August reads on consumer confidence and sentiment, the latest read on Chicago PMI and July pending home sales. The Fed's Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal information on current economic conditions, will also be released.?

"The market is torn between macroeconomic concerns on one hand, and relatively good earnings and business trends on the other," said John Carey, who helps oversee $260 billion as a portfolio manager at Pioneer Investment Management in Boston.?

"I'm encouraged by the fundamentals out there, but unquestionably, the economy has slowed."?

The S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent this week, a relatively mild decline after six weeks of gains. On Tuesday, it surged to its highest level since June 2008 before pulling back. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 0.9 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2 percent.?

"The market has been so strong lately that there's the idea Bernanke could pull back from QE3 as a result of that," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading at Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas. "But then, all that really means is that the market is able to stand on its own two feet."?

More money and business news:

Follow NBCNews.com business on Twitter and Facebook

Quint Tatro, Tatro Capital founder & president, says now is the time to go long equities.

Source: http://marketday.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/26/13462029-wall-street-week-ahead-sp-to-rise-after-wild-ride-to-jackson-hole?lite

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Hisense Pulse Google TV box to arrive in November, cost just $99

Android Central

Just a couple of days ago, we heard word of a forthcoming $99 Google TV box from Hisense. Besides the existence of such a device, we knew very little else, only that we would be able to see it for ourselves at this weeks IFA show in Berlin. Now though, we not only have a name, we have an official announcement and release schedule for the Hisense Pulse. 

Arriving in mid-November, the Pulse will retail at the $99 mark we'd previously heard. Spec wise, the Pulse will support resolutions up to and including 1080p, have USB and HDMI ports, Ethernet and WiFi. The remote will be double sided, with a full QWERTY keyboard on one face, and a touchpad plus a dedicated Netflix button on the other. You can find the full press release after the break. 

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/M5px16P8tjY/story01.htm

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10 Online Security Tips ? Techsol Dubai - Technology Solutions ...

Internet has made a lot of things easier like sharing information across the globe, banking, shopping, networking, promoting business ideas etc. But there are potential hazards which many users are not aware of and the internet at times can be a treacherous ground to tread on. It is thus best to follow the best practices with regards to sharing sensitive information online and browsing safely.

?Important online security tips-

?

  • ????????? Avoid setting the same the password for your all your email accounts and other social networking sites. Preferably change the passwords at regular intervals of time.
  • ????????? Nowadays most sites let you adjust your settings in a way that a notification is sent to your mobile if any unauthorized person tries to access your account.
  • ????????? Ensure that email services you are relying on are secure socket layer protected. Anti-virus and firewalls provide another layer of protection.
  • ????????? For casual net surfers, an anti-virus would serve the purpose but for corporate users dealing with confidential information, privacy can be maintained by accessing through multiple IP addresses or VPN.
  • ????????? Regularly update your operating system and software in order to stay protected.
  • ????????? Being social is definitely great but choose your friends on social platforms with care. Do not accept friend requests from people you do not know as this might be a potential technique to hack into your network.
  • Undetectable malware might exist in your system so secure your potential database by installing spyware and adware?scanner.
  • Personal financial information should not be shared with emails acting suspiciously. Try to only visit EV SSL certified websites. In order to verify such certification, check if the business uses website addresses secured by VeriSign.
  • Prevent from being target of pharming which is the latest technique of online id theft. This malicious program gets fraudulently planted in your system and extracts important data.
  • Download email attachments only if you are expecting one. Do not be tempted with false messages talking about prize money and the like and avoid clicking on links associated with the same.
  • Downloading videos should be done with caution as mostly this action can bring along viruses into your system.
  • Before connecting through a Wi-fi network, make sure that it is from a legitimate service.
  • Choose to use a credit card over a debit card for online transactions.?

Rely on your common sense and follow internet security guidelines to protect yourself and your computer from hacking attempts and other forms of cyber crime.

Recommended Reading

Source: http://www.techsoldesigns.com/10-online-security-tips/

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Timeshare | Central Florida Magazine The Best of Orlando Florida

Using a period that has reached over One,900 a long time, the particular Pre-Qin Period (Only two,100 B.C.-221 W.H.) means period of time former the actual Qin dynasty (221-206) throughout China record, and it goes through Three or more distinct historical stages, particularly, the actual Xia empire (2070 B.H.-1600 T.Chemical.), the actual Shang empire (1600 T.C.-1046 N.D.), your Zhou dynasty (1046 N.C.* 221 B.H.), when the truly amazing ancient Chinese individuals produced fantastic the world with their intelligence and hard operating, like the wording in oracle your bones from the Xia-Shang dynasties and the brown items from the Shang-Zhou dynasties, that social artefacts get to be the famous designs of the historic Oriental the world.

The first genetic empire within China background, your Xia empire, ended up being established through Qi (child of Yu the Great) throughout 2070 B.Chemical, and the Website of Erlitou inside Luoyang is known as it?s initial capital in line with the most recent ancient studies, in the event the first diary (Xia Xiao Zheng) in Chinese language history seemed.

The actual star should go how the very last emperor in the Xia dynasty, Jie, ended up being overthrown through Tang (your founding father of the particular Shang empire) because of his / her cruel rule, as well as Tang had been decided because leader of your brand-new dynasty- the particular Shang empire, when the civilization has been a lot more profitable than that in the Xia dynasty using the brown merchandise, the simple porcelains and also the inscriptions in oracle bones emerging. Although the farming functioned as the principal market, wonderful advancement ended up made in the particular handmade items market inside the Shang empire, especially in your submitted in the bronze casting along with smelting technologies. The final leader from the Shang empire, Zhou, assessed excessive taxation on the working people along with got no observe associated with condition extramarital relationships, at the same time, another indigneous group guided by Vassal Ji Chang went up by slowly in the top actually reaches in the Yellowish River, as well as Ji Fa (Vassal Ji Chang?s child) went up by inside rebel 1st and also earned the actual major victory above Shang leader within the fight involving Muye, inducing the fall in the Shang dynasty as well as the rise from the Zhou empire. Ji Fa (or Emperor Wu) create the actual Zhou empire along with Haojing (present Xi?an involving Shaanxi Domain) as capital, whoever place has been significantly expanded after, extending from your Yangtze Pond inside the to the south towards the Liaoning Land in the north and through Shandong State inside the far east to Gansu Domain in the western world, along with the patriarch technique along with the governments companies had been produced inside the Zhou empire.

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As a matter of reality, the actual Zhou dynasty consists of the Western Zhou empire as well as the Far eastern Zhou dynasty, of which the actual later on is split in to the Planting season & Fall Time period (770 N.Chemical.-476 N.C) and also the Warring Condition Interval (475 B.H.-221 T.H.). Emperor Zhoupingwang transferred the main city from Haojing in order to Luoyi (current Luoyang) due to the actual intrusion through the north nomadic group within 770. B.C., since then the Zhou dynasty did start to decline, along with the controls regarding record explained to the Japanese Zhou empire (770 N.Chemical.-256 N.D.).

The fall of the actual Zhou dynasty directly triggered increasing involving 100 little States, amid which the competitions started frequently, and 7 Says separated itself with the crowed, through the battle, particularly, Qi Condition, Chu Point out, Yan Point out, Han Condition, Zhao Express, Wei Condition and also Qin Express. Shang Yang was employed as the Chancellor to handle changes in the Qin Express in 356 W.H., generating Qin Condition the best state and then, as well as Ying Zheng (ruler of Qin state) overcome the opposite six to eight claims one particular to another and proven the 1st centralized feudal nation inside China- the particular Qin empire, who was seen to the entire world as Emperor Qinshihuang.

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Source: http://www.central-florida-magazine.com/timeshare

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Death toll in Syrian town tops 120 in a week

Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa, meets with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, not shown, the head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy ending rumors that Al-Sharaa had defected to Jordan in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, August 26, 2012. Al-Sharaa's defection would have been a blow to Bashar Assad's regime but Jordan and Al-Sharaa's office had repeatedly denied that he defected. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa, meets with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, not shown, the head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy ending rumors that Al-Sharaa had defected to Jordan in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, August 26, 2012. Al-Sharaa's defection would have been a blow to Bashar Assad's regime but Jordan and Al-Sharaa's office had repeatedly denied that he defected. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, left, head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy meets with Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa , ending rumors that Al-Sharaa had defected to Jordan in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, August 26, 2012. Al-Sharaa's defection would have been a blow to Bashar Assad's regime but Jordan and Al-Sharaa's office had repeatedly denied that he defected. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

(AP) ? The bodies of more than 30 civilians ? some of them women and children ? were found Sunday in the streets of the Syrian town of Daraya southwest of Damascus, where President Bashar Assad's forces have been waging a fierce assault against rebel holdouts. The latest deaths brought the toll in Daraya to more than 120 killed in the past week alone.

The British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 32 dead bodies were found in the streets and they had been killed by "gunfire and summary executions." Among them were three women and two children, the group said.

Regime forces also used combat helicopters and tanks to pound rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo and the restive southern town of Daraa along the Jordanian border. The Observatory said it had reports of fatalities, but did not have exact numbers yet.

Activists say more than 20,000 people have died in 17 months of fighting in Syria, as an uprising that started with peaceful protests against Assad's rule has morphed into a civil war.

In Damascus, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa appeared in public for the first time in several weeks for a meeting with a senior Iranian official, ending rumors that he had defected. Reporters saw him get out of his car and walk to his office for a meeting with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy.

There have been a series of high-level defections from the Assad regime in the past few months.

Al-Sharaa was last seen at the funeral of four top security officials killed in a blast in Damascus on July 18. Since then, there had been rumors that he defected to Jordan, though al-Sharaa's office and Jordan repeatedly denied he defected. He was seen at the door of his office, shaking hands with Boroujerdi, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. He said al-Sharaa looked serious and steered away from reporters covering the meeting. He did not make a statement.

Pan-Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya reported that air force intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Hassan had been assassinated, but a senior government official denied it. The official insisted on anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media. The Al Arabiya report said Hassan, a powerful member of Assad's inner circle and religious Alawite minority, was shot dead Saturday by one of his aides who defected to the opposition.

Addounia TV, a pro-Syrian government channel, also denied the report. It said Hassan is "fine and the news about his killing is absolutely untrue."

In neighboring Jordan, officials say the country is bracing for a mass exodus of Syrians in the wake of intensified fighting.

Jordan appealed for increased international assistance to 160,000 Syrian refugees it is hosting. Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah said the refugee influx has swelled even further, with more than 2,300 Syrians crossing into Jordan on Friday ? the largest arrival in a single day since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011.

"The number of refugees is growing and our limited resources are thinning," Maaytah said. "The international community should come to the aid of the Syrian refugees."

The United Nations refugee agency said it has yet to secure half of the $190 million aid appeal launched earlier this year to support Jordan and other countries hosting some 200,000 registered Syrian refugees.

Jordanian police spokesman Col. Mohammed Khatib said a Syrian rocket fell in the northern border town of Ramtha late Saturday, but no injuries were reported. It was the seventh rocket to fall in Jordan in five days, underlining the intensity of the army assault on southern Syrian towns such as Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising against Assad.

A police statement said 200 Syrian refugees pelted stones on Jordanian security guarding their desert camp late Saturday, wounding several policemen. The refugees were protesting poor conditions at the camp.

____

Associated Press reporter Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-26-Syria/id-ef082e61184b49218e61b1388d45743c

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Amateur jihad tests Syrian rebel resources

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - Talal Mohammad is a long way from Tennessee, and he's out of his depth.

In an olive grove a few miles from the frontlines of Aleppo, he's at a loss to explain to a battle-hardened bunch of Syrian rebels what exactly this prosperous, U.S.-trained Saudi dentist is doing there - and what he can offer to their cause.

"Why have you come?" asked one of his new comrades, sharply, as they shared a traditional evening meal, the iftar to break the Ramadan fast, in the twilight of a makeshift training camp.

"Don't get us wrong," the man adds quickly, anxious to show due respect to a guest at this solemn ritual of shared faith in Islam. "We appreciate your solidarity. But if you'd brought us money and weapons, that would have been much better."

Syrians' war to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad seems to be drawing ever greater numbers of fellow Arabs and other Muslims to the battlefield, many driven by a sense of religious duty to perform jihad, a readiness to suffer for Islam.

But while some are professional "jihadists", veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan, Chechnya or Libya, who bring combat and bomb-making skills that alarm the Western and Arab governments which have cheered the rebels on, many of these foreigners have little to offer Syrians but their goodwill and prayers, and plenty have ended up floundering well beyond their comfort zone.

For some rebel commanders, they are just getting in the way.

"It's very different on the ground," Talal Mohammad conceded as he shouldered his laptop and prepared for the short trek to the Turkish border and then a flight back home to Saudi Arabia and the wife and two young daughters he had left behind three weeks earlier, expecting to take part in a swift rebel victory.

"I was going to Syria thinking the liberation was a step or two away," said Mohammad, who spent a decade studying in the United States. Instead, he found a bitter, grinding, bloody struggle in which his dental qualifications from Tennessee and a willingness to do his bit proved to be of little interest to ill-armed rebels facing Assad's tanks, artillery and warplanes.

Senior fighters around Aleppo say it is a common story:

"This week alone, I have welcomed to Syria two doctors, a lawyer, a karate trainer and a social worker from Britain," said one who goes by the name Abu Mohammed and who leads a formation known as the Soqour al-Sham, or Falcon of Syria, Brigade.

"We have no shortage of men at all," he added. But some are more trouble than they're worth.

"I realize it's a religious duty to come to Syria for many of our brothers," said Abu Mohammed. "But those who come with no idea how they can help beyond their faith can be a burden."

EMOTIONAL

In conversations with foreign volunteers encountered this month around northwestern Syria, in rebel-held territories between Aleppo and Idlib, a pattern was evident: of piety stimulated into action by graphic coverage of civilian death and suffering on Arab satellite news channels - many controlled by Assad's enemies; and of a sense of dismay among these visiting jihadists at the scale of the task facing the opposition forces.

For some, being in Syria - a historic cultural focus for the Arab world - had more to do with their personal relationship with God than practical aid for the locals. Many Syrian fighters have little time for theology, even as the conflict takes on a sectarian cast between the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels and an army dominated by Assad's Shi'ite-aligned Alawite minority.

Commanders say their rear lines are already awash with clerics eager to bolster the faith of their young warriors, but that did not stop another imam, Abu Anas, leaving his flock at his mosque in the Egyptian city of Assiut to preach to rebels in the town of Binnish, near Idlib: "I am here to perform jihad for the sake of God," the 60-year-old preacher said. "I am doing this for God, not for any gain or prestige, only to please God."

Jihad, he pointed out, was a sacred duty for Muslims but was not only about going into battle. All had their part to play.

For the Manchester-educated Kuwaiti oil engineer who calls himself Abu Hareth, it was television images of children slain in May in the village of Houla which prompted him to leave behind affluent suburban comforts and head for Syria via the rough journey over the frontier from Turkey.

"I felt I would be held responsible before God if I allowed the blood of Muslims to continue to be spilled like this," he said. Though past fighting age, he had assured himself a welcome by arranging some $2 million in charity for bereaved families.

Assad says he is the target of a foreign-orchestrated plot. Sunni Islamists have long despised the ruling family; Assad's secular, nominally socialist, father massacred thousands of Muslim Brotherhood rebels in the 1980s. Religious fighters form only a part of the present uprising, though Islamists tend to dominate among the hundreds of foreigners volunteering in Syria.

SECTARIAN

For some, underlying a desire to help fellow Muslims - who are after all dying at the hands of people who say they are of the same faith - lurks the wider sectarian confrontation across the Middle East, between the Sunni rulers of powerful Arab states and a Shi'ite camp led by Assad's ally in non-Arab Iran.

"If what is happening to Sunnis in Syria is not ethnic cleansing by the Alawites, whose hearts are filled with sectarian hatred, what is it?" asked Abu Hareth, taking a swipe at "hypocrisy" among his own Shi'ite neighbors in the Gulf, who have long complained of Sunni oppression, in Bahrain and Iraq.

Among those volunteering for the frontline was a young Iraqi from Falluja, a bastion of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. occupation and Shi'ite-led governments that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003: "For me, it's the same battle," said the man, who gave his first name as Jawad.

Though he had written his will and was ready for martyrdom, he said, he also did not want any trouble if he did return to his regular job - as an accountant for a Japanese firm in Dubai.

"America planted its Shi'ite stooges in Iraq, and America and Israel are now keeping Assad in power to stifle the awakening of the Sunnis," asserted Jawad, who said his infant sister had died in a U.S. raid in Falluja in 2004 and an elder brother was tortured to death by suspected Shi'ite militiamen.

"I am here," he said, "To avenge my sister and brother."

Though leaders of the revolt insist they can avoid a repeat of the sectarian and ethnic blood-letting seen in Iraq next door, an influx of Sunni fighters from there and elsewhere, and the mounting bitterness against not just Assad but all Alawites as the war goes on, means some Syrians now fear the worst.

Parisian physiotherapist Ahmad, 42, said a religion rooted in his Moroccan family prompted him to join the Syrian struggle and he now put his faith in the "wisdom" of clerical leaders to hold back the tide of anger: "They won't allow the Syrian people and the country to become another Afghanistan," he insisted.

But another Moroccan, Abu Qutada, a lawyer educated in Italy, said two weeks around Aleppo had convinced him the war would not end as soon as he had expected. Chatting at a rebel base near the Turkish border, he said: "Rivers of Sunni blood will flow before Syria is liberated from Assad's tyranny."

SURPRISES

Those foreign volunteers venturing into the country have often been shocked by what they find. Ahmad Bouzyan, a medical student from Sousse in Tunisia, said he was stunned by casualty counts each day that often surpassed the entire death toll for his own country's pioneering Arab Spring revolution last year.

"Every day as we sat at iftar, one or two more would be absent," he said of his comrades in arms, while preparing to return to his studies after a summer spent on the frontline around the town of Jabal al-Zawya. Only faith had kept him going when friends were killed: "We would touch the blood of a martyr and smell a fragrance and a smile would shine from his face."

Others were simply surprised at themselves.

A Saudi schoolteacher receiving his first lessons in firing a rifle could not contain his astonishment at what he was doing: "Allahu akbar!" (God is greatest) yelped the 39-year-old from Taif after losing off a couple of rounds under instruction from a Syrian rebel who barked: "Shoulders back. Don't be scared."

Giving his family name as Otaibi, the bearded teacher said he had kept his personal jihad from people back home, where the Saudi state is wary of home-grown Islamist militants despite its sympathy for the anti-Assad rebellion. In any case, few would guess where he was now: "Last time I was in Syria," he confided, "Was on vacation with a bunch of guys to have fun in Damascus."

For some, the greatest shock, however, remained how little the Syrians were interested in their foreign allies' presence and how much more pressing was the desperate need for weaponry.

Sari Oeib, a 23-year-old Libyan who saw action last year in his prosperous home city of Misrata, recalled as prepared to fly home for a break his astonishment at the price he had to pay for his rifle once in Syria - a mark of its scarcity - and how coveted his gun was by ill-armed locals fighting alongside him.

"I had to buy my AK-47 for $3,000," he said - easily 10 times the cost of such a weapon in much of the Middle East.

"And sometimes," Oeib said, "I'd feel my Syrian comrades were just waiting for me to die - to get hold of my weapon."

(Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amateur-jihad-tests-syrian-rebel-resources-090410366.html

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