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Labels: LifestyleiPhone, iPad and Mac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.Feds: 2nd inmate who escaped Chicago jail captured
Labels: Health
This undated photo provided by the FBI shows , Kenneth Conley one of two inmates who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012.
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AP Photo/FBI,HONS
(AP) CHICAGO -- The second of two bank robbers who escaped last month from a high-rise federal jail in downtown Chicago was captured Friday at an apartment complex across the street from a suburban police department, authorities said.
Kenneth Conley was arrested in Palos Hills, according to U.S. Marshals Service spokeswoman Belkis Cantor. She said someone called local police Friday morning thinking they recognized Conley. FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde said the Palos Hills Police Department took him into custody.
Conley fled the Metropolitan Correctional Center last month with Joseph "Jose" Banks, apparently by smashing a hole in a wall at the bottom of a narrow cell window and squeezing through before scaling down about 20 stories using a knotted rope made out of bed sheets. Banks was arrested without incident two days later at a home on the city's North Side.
A man who answered the phone at a number listed for Conley's brother, Nicholas Conley, in Orland Hills refused to answer questions and asked that the family be left alone. A message left for Conley's mother was not immediately returned.
This undated photo provided by the FBI shows Jose Banks, one of two inmates who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. Chicago Police Sgt. Michael Lazarro says their disappearance was discovered at about 8:45 Tuesday morning. Lazarro says the pair used a rope or bed sheets to climb from the building. (AP Photo/FBI,HONS
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Uncredited
Jail officials did not notice for hours on the morning of the escape that Banks and Conley were gone. Surveillance video from a nearby street showed the two hopping into a cab shortly before 3 a.m. on Dec. 18. They had changed out of their orange jail-issued jumpsuits.
When the facility did discover the two men were gone around 7 a.m., what was found revealed a meticulously planned escape, including clothing and sheets shaped to resemble a body under blankets on beds, bars inside a mattress and even fake bars in the cells.
A massive manhunt involving state, federal and local law enforcement agencies was launched, as SWAT teams stormed into the home of a relative of Conley only to learn the two escapees had been there and left. The authorities searched other area homes and businesses -- even a strip club where Conley once worked.
Law enforcement officials left a host of questions unanswered, including how the men could collect about 200 feet of bed sheets and what they might have used to break through the wall of the federal facility.
Conley, 38, pleaded guilty last October to robbing a Homewood Bank last year of nearly $4,000. He wore a coat and tie during the robbery and had a gun stuffed in his waistband.
Banks, 37, known as the Second-Hand Bandit because he wore used clothes during his heists, had been convicted of robbing two banks and attempting to rob two others. Authorities say he stole almost $600,000, and most of that still is missing.
Why U.S. lives under the shadow of 'W'
Labels: WorldJulian Zelizer says former President George W. Bush's key tax and homeland security policies survive in the age of Obama
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Julian Zelizer: For all the criticism Bush got, two key policies have survived
- He says fiscal cliff pact perpetuates nearly all of Bush's tax cuts
- Obama administration has largely followed Bush's homeland security policy, he says
- Zelizer: By squeezing revenues, Bush tax cuts will put pressure on spending
Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and of "Governing America."
Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- Somewhere in Texas, former President George W. Bush is smiling.
Although some Democrats are pleased that taxes will now go up on the wealthiest Americans, the recent deal to avert the fiscal cliff entrenches, rather than dismantles, one of Bush's signature legacies -- income tax cuts. Ninety-nine percent of American households were protected from tax increases, aside from the expiration of the reduced rate for the payroll tax.
Julian Zelizer
In the final deal, Congress and President Barack Obama agreed to preserve most of the Bush tax cuts, including exemptions on the estate tax.
When Bush started his term in 2001, many of his critics dismissed him as a lightweight, the son of a former president who won office as result of his family's political fortune and a controversial decision by the Supreme Court on the 2000 election.
But what has become clear in hindsight, regardless of what one thinks of Bush and his politics, is that his administration left behind a record that has had a huge impact on American politics, a record that will not easily be dismantled by future presidents.
The twin pillars of Bush's record were counterterrorism policies and tax cuts. During his first term, it became clear that Obama would not dismantle most of the homeland security apparatus put into place by his predecessor. Despite a campaign in 2008 that focused on flaws with the nation's response to 9/11, Obama has kept most of the counterterrorism program intact.
Opinion: The real issue is runaway spending
In some cases, the administration continues to aggressively use tactics his supporters once decried, such as relying on renditions to detain terrorist suspects who are overseas, as The Washington Post reported this week. In other areas, the administration has expanded the war on terrorism, including the broader use of drone strikes to kill terrorists.
Now come taxes and spending.
With regard to the Bush tax cuts, Obama had promised to overturn a policy that he saw as regressive. Although he always said that he would protect the middle class from tax increases, Obama criticized Bush for pushing through Congress policies that bled the federal government of needed revenue and benefited the wealthy.
In 2010, Obama agreed to temporarily extend all the tax cuts. Though many Democrats were furious, Obama concluded that he had little political chance to overturn them and he seemed to agree with Republicans that reversing them would hurt an economy limping along after a terrible recession.
Opinion: Time to toot horn for George H.W. Bush
With the fiscal cliff deal, Obama could certainly claim more victories than in 2010. Taxes for the wealthiest Americans will go up. Congress also agreed to extend unemployment compensation and continue higher payments to Medicare providers.
But beneath all the sound and fury is the fact that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, for most Americans, are now a permanent part of the legislative landscape. (In addition, middle class Americans will breathe a sigh of relief that Congress has permanently fixed the Alternative Minimum Tax, which would have hit many of them with a provision once designed to make sure that the wealthy paid their fair share.)
As Michigan Republican Rep. Dave Camp remarked, "After more than a decade of criticizing these tax cuts, Democrats are finally joining Republicans in making them permanent." Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new legislation will increase the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years.
The tax cuts have significant consequences on all of American policy.
Opinion: Christie drops bomb on GOP leaders
Most important, the fact that a Democratic president has now legitimated the moves of a Republican administration gives a bipartisan imprimatur to the legitimacy of the current tax rates.
Although some Republicans signed on to raising taxes for the first time in two decades, the fact is that Democrats have agreed to tax rates which, compared to much of the 20th century, are extraordinarily low. Public perception of a new status quo makes it harder for presidents to ever raise taxes on most Americans to satisfy the revenue needs for the federal government.
At the same time, the continuation of reduced taxes keeps the federal government in a fiscal straitjacket. As a result, politicians are left to focus on finding the money to pay for existing programs or making cuts wherever possible.
New innovations in federal policy that require substantial revenue are just about impossible. To be sure, there have been significant exceptions, such as the Affordable Care Act. But overall, bold policy departures that require significant amounts of general revenue are harder to come by than in the 1930s or 1960s.
Republicans thus succeed with what some have called the "starve the beast" strategy of cutting government by taking away its resources. Since the long-term deficit only becomes worse, Republicans will continue to have ample opportunity to pressure Democrats into accepting spending cuts and keep them on the defense with regards to new government programs.
Politics: Are the days of Congress 'going big' over?
With his income tax cuts enshrined, Bush can rest comfortably that much of the policy world he designed will remain intact and continue to define American politics. Obama has struggled to work within the world that Bush created, and with this legislation, even with his victories, he has demonstrated that the possibilities for change have been much more limited than he imagined when he ran in 2008 or even in 2012.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.
GIC names Lim Chow Kiat as new group CIO
Labels: Technology
SINGAPORE: The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) has named Lim Chow Kiat as its next group chief investment officer, effective 1 February 2013.
GIC said in a statement on Friday that Mr Lim will succeed Mr Ng Kok Song who is retiring.
Mr Lim, 42, is currently GIC's deputy group chief investment officer. He joined the sovereign wealth fund in 1993 after graduating with first class honours in accountancy from Nanyang Technological University.
He was appointed head of GIC's Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Department, as well as deputy president of GIC Asset Management (GAM) in 2008.
He became president of GAM in July 2011 and deputy group CIO in April 2012.
- CNA/al
Boehner's emotional remarks
Labels: Lifestyle
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Venezuela's Chavez fighting severe lung infection
Labels: HealthVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during Brazilian Foreign Minister's official visit at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on Nov.1, 2012. / LEO RAMIREZ/AFP/Getty Images
Updated 10:35 PM ET
CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuela's government says President Hugo Chavez is being treated for "respiratory deficiency" after complications from a severe lung infection.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas provided the update on Chavez's condition Thursday night. He read from a statement saying that Chavez's lung infection had led to "respiratory deficiency" and required strict compliance with his medical treatment.
The government expressed confidence in Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called a "psychological war" in international media surrounding the president's condition.
Chavez hasn't been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 operation in Cuba. Venezuela's opposition has demanded more specific information from the government about his health.
Ex-USC Player: Painkiller Injections Caused Heart Attack
Labels: Business
Despite stated label risks of possible fatal heart attack, stroke or organ failure, college football players across the country are still being given injections of a powerful painkiller on game days so they can play while injured, an ABC News investigation has found.
The drug, a generic version of Toradol, is recommended for the short-term treatment of post-operative pain in hospitals but has increasingly been used in college and professional sports, and its use is not monitored by the NCAA, the governing body of college sports.
Only two of the country's top football programs, Oklahoma and the University of Nebraska, reported to ABC News that they have limited or stopped the use of the drug in the wake of growing concern about its risks.
Which Top-Ranked College Football Teams Use Toradol?
Oklahoma said it stopped using the painkillers in 2012 after using them repeatedly in 2010 and 2011.
Nebraska said its doctors now restrict its use.
SEND TIPS About Painkiller Use in College Sports to Our Tipline
"While team physicians reserve the option to use injectable Toradol, it is rarely prescribed, and its use has been avoided this season following reports of heightened concern of potential adverse effects," Nebraska said in a statement to ABC News.
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Despite Risks, College Football Still Uses Powerful Painkiller Watch Video
The top two college football programs, Notre Dame and Alabama, refused to answer questions from ABC News about the painkiller. They play for the national college championship on Jan. 7.
Controversy surrounding the drug has grown this year following claims by former USC lineman Armond Armstead that he suffered a heart attack after the 2010 season, at age 20, following shots of generic Toradol administered over the course of the season by the team doctor and USC personnel.
"I thought, you know, can't be me, you know? This doesn't happen to kids like me," Armstead told ABC News.
The manufacturers' warning label for generic Toradol (ketorolac tromethamine) says the drug is not intended for prolonged periods or for chronic pain and cites gastrointestinal bleeding and kidney failure as possible side effects of the drug.
In addition, like other drugs in its class, the generic Toradol label warns "may cause an increased risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction (heart attack), and stroke, which can be fatal."
"This risk may increase with duration of use," the so-called black box warning reads.
In a lawsuit against the school and the doctor, Dr. James Tibone, Armstead claims the school ignored the stated risks of the drug and never told him about them.
"He was a race horse, a prize race horse that needed to be on that field no matter what," said Armstead's mother Christa. "Whether that was a risk to him or not."
Armstead says he and many other USC players would receive injections of what was known only as "the shot" in a specific training room before big games and again at half-time.
"No discussion, just go in. He would give the shot and I would be on my way," Armstead told ABC News.
Armstead said the shot made him feel "super human" despite severe ankle, and later shoulder pain, and that without it, he never could have played in big USC games against Notre Dame and UCLA.
"You can't feel any pain, you just feel amazing," the former star player said.
USC declined to comment on Armstead's claims, or the use of Toradol to treat Trojan players.
An ABC News crew and reporter were ordered off the practice field when they tried to question USC coach Lane Kiffin about the use of the painkiller. USC says the ABC News crew was told to leave because they had not submitted the appropriate paperwork in advance to attend the practice session.
Look beyond the fiscal cliff
Labels: WorldSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Dean Baker: Budget deficit is not the only top issue in our national economic policy
- Baker: Fiscal cliff debate has been a distraction of the bigger problem of a downturn
- He says fears of big deficits are preventing us from boosting the economy more
- Baker: Given the economy's weakness, the government has to run big deficits
Editor's note: Dean Baker, an economist, is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a progressive economic policy organization. He is author of "The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive."
(CNN) -- We have just passed into the new year, and the distractions created by the debate over the fiscal cliff appear to be behind us. Maybe.
That debate has been part of a larger distraction -- the concern over budget deficits at a time when by far the country's most important problem remains the economic downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble. The obsession with budget deficits is especially absurd because the enormous deficits of recent years are entirely the result of the economic downturn.
In spite of this, the leadership of both parties has elevated the budget deficit to be the top and virtually only issue in national economic policy. This means ignoring the downturn that continues to cause enormous amount of unnecessary suffering for tens of millions of people.
Dean Baker
But fears of big deficits are preventing us from giving the same sort of boost to the economy that got us out of the Great Depression. The explanation is simple: profits have returned to prerecession levels.
Opinion: Cliff deal hollow victory for American people
This means that from the standpoint of the people who own and run American businesses, everything is pretty much fine. Moreover, they see the deficits created by the downturn as providing an opportunity to go after Social Security and Medicare.
The Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan organization involving many of the country's richest and most powerful CEOs, sets out to do just that. It has become standard practice in Washington for Wall Street types and other wealthy interests to finance groups to push their agenda.
The Campaign to Fix the Debt involves the CEOs themselves directly stepping up to the plate and pushing the case for cutting Social Security and Medicare as well as lowering the corporate income tax rate.
It's clear what's going on here. We don't need any conspiracy theories.
iReport: What's your message for Washington?
CEOs from both political parties have openly come together to demand cuts in Social Security and Medicare, two programs that enjoy massive political support across the political spectrum. The wealthy are joining hands without regard to political affiliation to cut benefits that enjoy broad bipartisan support among everyone who is not rich.
President Barack Obama has an opportunity to show real leadership. He should explain to the public the basic facts that all budget experts know: We do not have a chronic deficit problem. The big deficits are the result of collapsed economy. The priority of the president and Congress must be to put people back to work and bring the economy back up to speed.
Fiscal cliff deal: 5 things to know
When the housing bubble burst, annual spending on residential construction fell back by more than 4% of GDP, which is $600 billion in today's economy. Similarly, consumption plunged as people drastically curtailed their spending in response to the loss of $8 trillion in housing bubble generated equity.
There is no easy way for the private sector to replace this demand. Businesses don't invest unless they see demand for their products, regardless of how much love we might shower on the "job creators." In fact, if anything, investment is surprisingly strong give the large amount of excess capacity in the economy. Measured as a share of GDP, investment in equipment and software is almost back to its prerecession level. It is hard to envision investment getting much higher, absent a major boost in demand from some other sector.
This is why it is necessary for the government to run large deficits. Ideally, the money would be spent in areas that will make us richer in the future: Education, infrastructure, research and development in clean energy, etc. There is just no way around a large role for the government given the economy's current weakness.
Big issues still pending
Obama needs to explain this simple story to the country. The rich of both parties will hate him for going down this route. They will use their powers to denounce him. But the American people support Social Security and Medicare, and they support an economy that creates jobs for ordinary workers.
Obama needs the courage to tell the truth.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Baker.
Creative industry in China on the rise
Labels: Technology
SHANGHAI: The creative industry is becoming a new growth area of the Chinese economy.
As one of the cities boasting the fastest growth in this sector, Shanghai's municipal government is injecting another US$32 million to further support its development.
Located in one of Shanghai's creative industry parks, KRT is a young local design firm. It is known for doing detailed work that showcases its customers' unique character.
From a three-member team redesigning apartment bathrooms, it now has 20 employees and focuses on high-end residential design and construction projects in the millions of dollars.
Kevin Hsu, design director of KRT Architecture & Interior Design Co., said: "In the past few years, we moved up from doing designs for small projects to big ones for really high-end customers. We don't need to do as many projects as we used to. Instead, we only need five to 10 projects a year to achieve the same amount of growth and profit as before."
Located five minutes away is Adopted -- formed only four months ago. It makes phone accessories which are sold by Apple.
Its small size did not stand in the way of a collaboration with the tech giant.
David Watkins, founder of Adopted, said: "Pretty much the entire team has a lot of experience working for building products for the Apple's retail eco-system. And as a small company, we are able to react and be a lot more nimble than a lot of larger companies."
According to CCID Consulting, China's largest consulting firm, the value of the creative industry in China exceeded US$172 billion in 2011, and the average annual growth rate was more than 26 per cent over the past five years.
This growth can be attributed to the higher value placed on the industry amid the realisation that China needs to move beyond just manufacturing.
In recent years, China's central and local governments have launched various plans to support the industry -- including encouraging schools to set up creative industry departments, and giving subsidies and tax relief to companies in this sector.
For example, Shanghai has just injected another US$32 million into the industry, which will be used to grow the industry, including training more local talents and attracting overseas talents to come to Shanghai.
The total value of the sector in China is expected to reach US$331 billion by 2014 - almost double its current value.
-CNA/ac
U.N.'s Syria death toll jumps dramatically to 60,000
Labels: LifestyleSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- United Nations' Navi Pillay: "We have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns"
- Syrian planes hit Damascus suburbs and other targets, killed dozens at a fuel station
- Al-Nusra Front is among three factions attacking the Taftanaz military air base in northern Syria
- The militant group is a cover for al Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. State Department says
(CNN) -- The overall death toll in devastated Syria has surpassed an estimated 60,000 people, the United Nations said Wednesday, a dramatic figure that could skyrocket as the civil war persists.
To put it in perspective: 60,000 people is roughly the population of Terre Haute, Indiana; or Cheyenne, Wyoming. It's how many people would fit in Dodger Stadium, and it's more than the 50,000-plus U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam.
The figure is about 15,000 higher than the death toll CNN had cited from a collection of sources.
It's "truly shocking" and shameful, said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who blamed the international community for inaction.
"Collectively we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns," she said. "While many details remain unclear, there can be no justification for the massive scale of the killing highlighted by this analysis."
Inside Syria, anti-government activists brought their personal perspective to the new death estimate: "No wonder!" Hama activist Mousab Alhamadee said. "We live on the ground and we see the massacres daily."
Western and Arab nations have denounced President Bashar al-Assad's regime, but they have been been reluctant to intervene in hopes of ending the warfare.
They haven't been successful in forging tough action against Syria at the U.N. Security Council because of opposition from Russia and China, both of which have long had friendly relations with and economic ties to Damascus. While some countries have passed along weapons to the rebels, the larger world community has avoided being drawn into a war, fearing a bloody quagmire, such as the Vietnam War for the United States or the invasion of Afghanistan for the Russians.
Echoing the fears of U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Pillay worried about more deaths "unless there is a quick resolution to the conflict."
"I fear thousands more will die or suffer terrible injuries as a result of those who harbor the obstinate belief that something can be achieved by more bloodshed, more torture and more mindless destruction," she said.
Pillay said the number of deaths is higher than expected.
"This massive loss of life could have been avoided if the Syrian government had chosen to take a different path than one of ruthless suppression of what were initially peaceful and legitimate protests by unarmed civilians," she said.
"As the situation has continued to degenerate, increasing numbers have also been killed by anti-government armed groups, and there has been a proliferation of serious crimes including war crimes, and -- most probably -- crimes against humanity, by both sides."
The 60,000, she said, "is likely to be an underestimate of the actual number of deaths." Citing the discovery of mass graves in newly liberated government bases, Alhamadee, the activist, said: "The number I think is far greater than this, and lots of people are missing."
"The recording and collection of accurate and reliable data has grown increasingly challenging due to the conflict raging in many parts of the country," Pillay said.
Rupert Colville, a U.N. spokesman, agrees that the number "is probably a minimum" and reflects a killing field of war crimes.
"There's not a shadow of doubt now that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed. That said, in each individual case, the final judgment has to be made by a court. It's hard to quantify at this point," he said.
"This is a classic case of a conflict that's spiraling downwards, becoming ever more ghastly. We've seen this before in the Balkans and other places. The worse it becomes, the more difficult it is to resolve."
Ahawa, who posted a reaction on CNN.com's comment section, sees a dark future for Syria, regardless. "Syria is doomed, no matter who wins, the terrorist rebels or the terrorist regime, the country ... will take tens of years to rebuild,' Ahawa wrote. "Even if Assad is toppled in the next few months, sectarian fighting will still go on for years."
Wimcorbijn, another CNN.com commenter, accused Western and Arab nations of wanting to topple al-Assad at any cost.
"I think the best bet for Syria now is to keep Assad as leader," wimcorbijn wrote. "It is the right time for (countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to step in and support to help to defeat the rebels. Once the rebels are defeated, they can force to introduce democracy as well as political reforms in Syria."
Air attacks, shelling, tank fire, bomb attacks, street-to-street fighting and sectarian fighting have all contributed to the rising toll, Pillay said. Deaths have increased from 1,000 a month in the summer of 2011 to more than 5,000 a month since July, she said.
Collectively we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns.
Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Deaths have been most prevalent in Homs, the Damascus outskirts, Idlib, Aleppo, Daraa and Hama. More than three-quarters of the victims are male, and 7.5% are female, Pillay said. The gender of the others isn't clear, and analysts couldn't "differentiate clearly between combatants and non-combatants."
The inability of the U.N. Security Council and the international community to stop the violence "shames us all," she said.
Read more: Syria's grim toll continues into 2013
Death estimates have varied among opposition groups that have issued daily counts. For example, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 46,000 people have died since March 2011.
U.N. data specialists counted 59,648 people reported killed in Syria between March 15, 2011, and November 30, 2012, Pillay said. Scores of deaths were reported every day in December.
Related: 2013 prediction: 100,000 deaths
Latest clashes
On Wednesday, fighting sent the daily death toll higher. More than 207 people were killed, mostly in and around Damascus, according the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria.
Syrian government warplanes hammered the Damascus suburbs and other targets. At least 74 people died and dozens were wounded in the Damascus suburb of Mleiha when government planes carried out an airstrike on a fuel station, the LCC said, citing initial reports. The toll of "martyrs" will probably rise "due to continuous pulling of the bodies from under the rubble," the LCC said.
Aerial shelling also was reported in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, in the cities of Aleppo and Deir Ezzor and other locations.
-Estimated Syrian civil war deaths: 60,000
-Estimated Syrian population: 22,530,746
-Percentage of Syrian population killed: .26%
Sources: CIA World Fact Book, United Nations
In Idlib province, Syrian rebels, including jihadists, fought to wrest a key military air base from government forces Wednesday, the opposition said, as anti-regime fighters kept up the heat on al-Assad's forces. Al-Nusra Front, a militant group that the United States designated last month as a terrorist movement, is among three rebel factions attacking the base, rebels said in a statement.
"The battle to liberate Taftanaz military airport has started," the rebels said. "Taftanaz airport has been delivering horrors to Muslims. The warplanes fly from there on a daily basis, to throw explosive barrels on villages and towns."
Read more: Deadly day in Syria as diplomats talk
The other factions participating in the effort are Battalions of Ahrar Al-shaam and the Islamic Forefront. Ahrar is an Islamist coalition with some Salafist elements that cooperates with the Free Syrian Army. The Islamic Forefront is a larger umbrella group of Islamist organizations; one of its members is Ahrar.
About 400 soldiers are based at the airport, along with a number of pro-government militia.
At the base are 30 planes, including transportation craft and fighting jets; seven armored vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers; artillery and rocket launchers.
Casualties have been reported on both sides in the fighting, but precise numbers were not available because the government has restricted international journalists' access.
Read more: Refugee figures fail to give true picture of Syria crisis
Read more: Marriage destroyed by war
CNN's Joe Sterling, Salma Abdelaziz and Yousuf Basil reported from Atlanta, and Kareem Khadder contributed to this report from Jerusalem
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