Syrian military retakes airport road: Information Ministry
Syrian troops take up positions in the town of Harasta, a northeastern suburb of Damascus. (File photo)
PressTV
November 30, 2012
Syria says it has secured the road leading to Damascus International Airport, hours after heavy clashes between militants and government forces in the area led to the closure of the road.
“The road to Damascus International Airport is safe after attacks by armed terrorist groups on passing cars and the intervention of security forces,” state television quoted the Syrian Information Ministry as saying on Thursday.
The fighting in the area wounded two Austrian soldiers from a United Nations peacekeeping force earlier in the day, the Austrian Defense Ministry said in a statement. One soldier was shot in the arm and the other in the shoulder. Neither soldier is in critical condition.
The soldiers were part of a UN force deployed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Syria has been the scene of unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of security forces, have lost their lives in the turmoil.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the militants in Syria had acquired “as many as 40 shoulder-fired missile systems in recent weeks,” and “at least some” of the weaponry had been provided by Qatar.
On Wednesday, The New York Times said the US administration “is considering deeper intervention to help push [Syrian] President Bashar al-Assad from power.”
On November 26, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris had allocated 1.5 million dollars in emergency aid to the newly-formed Syrian opposition, the Syrian National Coalition.
MN/MHB
Synchronized Drone Swarm Takes Flight in Austrian Sky [video included]
Activist Post
September 7, 2012
The largest swarm of synchronized drones to date was organized by Ars Electronica Futurelab to take flight in the evening skies of Linz, Austria. The fleet of 49 quadrocopters demonstrated a pixel presentation of changing lights and formations.
Drones apparently have gone from being conspiracy theory, to media acceptance that Congress has approved drones in American airspace, to a means of artistic expression in less than a decade.
Do you think that the demonstration video below is “creative and beautiful,” as noted by one technology writer? Or do you think it is a creepy indication of a near-future of autonomous drone swarms with deadly intentions of a military nature? Please leave your opinions in the comment section below.
Read other articles by Activist Post HERE
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