SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Mobile devices have changed how we handle severe weather. Instead of being isolated in our homes, reading books printed on paper by candle light, we share constant updates and photos in real time on social networks. We keep ourselves entertained with ebooks, games and videos on smartphones and tablets.

With the severe winter weather pounding the East Coast this weekend, we have a few suggestions for helpful apps apps to add to your collection. They'll let you follow the weather in real-time, file your own first person reports from the ground, handle any emergencies and even stay cozy.

You should also double check that you're stocked up on the essentials, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video and a few fresh games (the canned goods and bottled water of storm apps).

A blizzard can result in a power outage, so if you only have one mobile device it's wise to keep app usage to a minimum. We've collected these other great tips on keeping your devices powered up.

DarkSky

The Dark Sky app is for weather watchers craving instant information. Yes, the weather report said it would snow this evening, but where exactly are those clouds and flakes right now? The $3.99 iPhone and iPad app taps into the free radar data available from the U.S. government to predict rainfall and snow for your exact area by the hour. There's a slick radar map that can show what the clouds will be up to at a specific time. The app, which started as a Kickstarter campaign in 2011, is great if you want to make a last minute run to the store for string cheese and wine provisions.

WeatherMob

WeatherMob mixes the social with the snow. Put on your amateur meteorologist hat and file a weather report on the free iPhone app. Pick an icon to describe what the weather is doing, how you're feeling, and what the activities the weather is good for. You can add your own text descriptions and attach photos or videos of the weather in action. Once you've shared your hyperlocal weather report, check out what people nearby or in different parts of the city are experiencing, maybe start following your favorites. The app also has also a basic weather forecast and Twitter and Facebook integration.

Track the storm with a timeline, map

mPING

Like WeatherMob, the mPING Android and iOS apps want you to share information about weather around you. But this is scientific tool, a joint project by the University of Oklahoma and the National Sever Storms Laboratory (NOAA), and it is only interested in precipitation. Use the free apps to pick a type of precipitation, such as snow, sleet, or rain. If it's hailing, you can include a photo and measurement of the hail. The research project sends the data to NOAA where researchers compare the anonymous citizen-reports to official radar images. The reports are also displayed on the official project website. The project will use the data to improve radar and weather forecasting technology.

Seamless

When its miserable outside, the last thing you want to do it go out to pick up food. If you neglected to stock up on rations ahead of time, or are just really craving Thai, you can use Seamless' free iOS, Android or BlackBerry apps to order delivery or takeout. Available in 40 cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston and D.C., Seamless streamlines ordering out by letting you order and pay for food from various restaurants from one mobile device. No phone calls necessary. There is some bad weather etiquette you should follow if you plan on using Seamless this weekend. The company gave some tips to East Coasters ahead of the blizzard, reminding them to be patient and allow extra time for deliveries and to tip their brave delivery people extra well.

Flashlight apps

If the lights go out, you'll find these practical little tools very helpful. There are no shortage of flashlight apps in the Android and iOS app stores that use the LED flash on your camera or the screen itself. iPhone users should check out the free Flashlight by Rik app, which lets you control the intensity of the light, turn on a strobe or send out SOS signals. If you are worried about having to communicate entirely by Morse code, the Morse-It iPhone app converts text to the proper flashes. Android users can download the free Tiny Flashlight + LED which is flashlight that also has text to Morse code support.

Survival Guide

Even if the snow doesn't plunge our cities into darkness and everyone-for-themselves chaos, the free Survival Guide iOS app could come in handy. Based on the "U.S. Military Survival Manual FM 21-76, it's basically a book in app form. Chapter 15 is dedicated to cold weather survival, including first aid, shelter and finding food. It has tips like not overheating when you're outside, as the sweat can cool your body and make your clothing less insulated. The guide also covers how to prepare yourself mentally for survival situations, where to find water, fire-building instructions, signaling techniques and traps for catching animals should your Seamless app stop working.

Winter Survival Kit

If you have to travel at all during severe weather, install the practical and helpful Winter Survival Kit app on your phone before you hit the road. It does things you can probably already handle from your phone, such as call 911, tell you where you are and send notifications to family and friends. It has some unique features, like sending your location to emergency services and calculating how long you can afford to run your car engine before you run out of gas or are at risk of carbon monoxide poising. It can also store all your emergency contacts for roadside assistance and insurance policies. It's available for Android and iOS devices.

Fireplaces

Let's not end this list on a gloomy note. Instead, how about snuggling up next a cracking fire with some hot coco and a loved one. If you don't have a fireplace in your house or apartment, try this chillier but still soothing alternative, the $.99 FirePlace app for the iPhone and iPad, which simulates a roaring fire on your screen. You can even sync the flames up with your favorite cold weather songs. Lucky Android users can enjoy a realistic fire while using their device with the free FirePlace Live Wallpaper. And anyone with the Netflix app can relax with the hit film, "Fireplace for Your Home."-www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: CNN

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has abruptly reversed course on his plan to get badly needed medical supplies into Syria by way of a Canadian aid organization.

Just days after travelling to Jordan to announce some $2-million in aid, Mr. Baird confirmed Wednesday that the government will not be providing the money to the group known as Canadian Relief for Syria.

“We wanted to ensure that supplies could make their way to the victims of the Assad regime in the best way possible, and that it wouldn’t fund things like warehouses and infrastructure,” Mr. Baird said.

He said concerns about where the money would be going arose after the announcement, when the government sat down with the group to reach a contribution agreement.

“The current intention will not be pursued,” he said. “We will find alternatives.”

It remains a “top priority” of the federal government to assist the victims of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, whether they be opposition fighters, civilians or others caught in the crossfire, he added.

“The situation in Syria is a top priority for me, for my department and for our allies, and that’s why we’ll be moving as expeditiously as we possibly can.”

Momtaz Almoussly, a spokesman for the aid group, expressed shock Wednesday at the sudden about-face, insisting no one ever said the money would be used for anything but medical supplies and equipment.

“Maybe they sent an e-mail or something, but nobody has spoken to us from the government about this decision,” Mr. Almoussly said. He declined to comment further, saying he needed some time to figure out what had happened.

Mr. Baird’s announcement prompted questions about why the group was being singled out for foreign aid when there are more established organizations on the ground.

A report earlier Wednesday had suggested the Canadian group was chosen for its ability to ensure opposition forces receive care.

But the doctors on the ground weren’t going to single out anyone, Mr. Almoussly said in an interview Wednesday before the decision was made to revoke the funding.

“The treatment centre, when it receives a patient, they don’t ask are you a civilian, are you from the left or from the right,” he said in an interview.

“It’s just a medical centre.”

At a news conference earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended his government’s choice.

“I’m told that our officials have done due diligence on all the organizations to which we’ve given money,” he said.

“I’m told they have the appropriate connections by which to deliver aid on the ground. And as I say, it is our officials who carefully research these groups and make sure they fit the needs of the government of Canada.”

Mr. Almoussly echoed those comments and said he didn’t know how the impression was formed that those networks would channel aid specifically to rebel groups.

“Because maybe of our connections and networks in areas that are difficult for international organizations, they labelled us that way,” he said. “But as I said, medical relief is impartial.”

Western countries have largely stopped short of providing material aid to the network of opposition forces in Syria who have been fighting against Mr. Assad’s regime since last year.

The United Kingdom recently announced funds to supply communications equipment, body armour and medical supplies and said the equipment was only for those not directly involved in the fighting.

Mr. Baird said Wednesday that Canada’s aid money was not directly intended for opposition forces.

“The sad reality is that far too much of the hospital and health care system has collapsed in Syria because of the war,” he said.

“Civilians are suffering greatly — whether it’s someone with a heart attack or a woman giving birth — so this medical assistance will go to support all the victims of Assad.”

That includes those fighting against the regime, but the money was never intended to help the opposition’s military effort, Mr. Baird said. “It’s entirely 100 per cent medical supplies.”

Canada has so far channelled the lion’s share of its aid for Syria through groups like the International Red Cross.

But the Syrian government has been severely restricting the number of visas available for foreign aid workers, making it difficult for outside groups to intervene.

This week, the United Nations humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos is in Syria to press for more access for aid.

But she told the BBC on Wednesday that the Syrian government doesn’t want international aid groups on the ground because they fear they’ll assist rebel forces.

Mr. Almoussly said his group’s network of medical staff is already there and can move around with ease.

He said the money was going to be used to purchase medical supplies that would be brought into the country via Jordan and Turkey.

“Canadians should know that they can help, they can make a difference,” he said. “It’s unacceptable to see people dying from non-fatal wounds due to the lack of medical treatment.”

The UN released a report Wednesday accusing Mr. Assad’s forces and their militia backers of war crimes in the killings of more than 100 civilians — nearly half children — in the village of Houla in May.

It said the civil war was moving in a “brutal” direction on both sides.

The report was the first time the U.S. has described events in Syria’s civil war as war crimes and could be used in possible future prosecution against Mr. Assad or others.—www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: theglobeandmail

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — Researchers from the University College London were able to design a radar that can reportedly identify frequency changes, thus enabling them to detect moving objects and people. Karl Woodbridge and Kevin Chetty built a radar prototype that has a similar size of a suitcase. Inside the radar is a radio receiver that is composed of two antennas and a signal-processing unit. The researchers said that they were able to use the device to determine a person’s location, speed and direction.

Interestingly, they also said that the device can see through a one-foot-thick brick wall and that it can remain undetected because it doesn’t emit radio waves. The researchers are hoping that the finished product will one day be used in the military. “The device could become sensitive enough to pick up on subtle motions the ribcage makes during breathing, which would allow the radar to detect people who are standing or sitting still,” said Woodbridge.—www.shafaqna.com/english

Source: Ubergizmo

SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) — Syrian National Council members in Saudi Arabia are coordinating with tribes along the borders of Syria to smuggle weapons to the Free Syrian Army. The Al-Fawarha, Bani Khaled and Al-Turki clans just inside the Lebanese border are particularly active, playing a key role in supplying arms, SNC members say.

Syrian National Council member Muhammad Mazeed Al-Tarkawi, who is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told the Saudi-based Arab News recently that several tribes are ferrying weapons to Syria on roads through Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Al-Tarkawi also said that the Al-Rafayah and Horan tribes in Jordan are also funneling arms to Syria from Jordan. From Iraq, the Al-Hasaka and Al-Raqqa clans are providing support, but no weapons.

The estimate of the number of people who have been killed in the 16 months of violence in Syria is nearing 18,000 and the conflict has been designated a civil war by the International Committee for the Red Cross. A Syrian expatriate living in Jeddah and involved in the SNC’s activities said the council is working with the tribes. He spoke on the condition that he remain anonymous.

“There is coordination among the various clans on the Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia borders to deliver thousands of rounds of ammunition, sniper rifles and anti-armor missiles,” he told The Media Line. “About 20 percent of all the weapons going to Syria are coming from tribes.”

Delivery across the border is further arranged by covert US personnel in Turkey with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood acting as a go-between and financing coming from Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Although some Saudi private citizens provide financing, the Saudi government has taken no official position in arming rebels despite its support of the Free Syrian Army’s campaign to overthrow the Bashar Assad regime. The government sees Assad’s close relationship to Iran a threat to Saudi Arabia’s interests. The Saudi press almost daily denounces Assad as a tyrant and murderer.

But Saudi Arabia does not want to get involved in the weapons export business and prefers diplomatic channels to aid rebels. The government often pressures its clerics to suspend fund-raising drives to arm opposition forces because Saudi leaders fear money will be diverted to al-Qaida operatives inside Syria.

However, the smuggling operations follow a request from Saudi King Abdullah in March for Jordan to open its borders to permit the shipment of weapons into Syria. King Abdullah had promised economic assistance in exchange for Jordan’s cooperation. Saudi Arabia already provides a generous aid package to Jordan. In 2011, it gave the country nearly $1.5 billion to ease its budget deficit.

Tribe members have reported that security along the Jordan-Syria border still remains tight, making deliveries to opposition forces difficult, said the SNC official in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the flow of arms from Turkey have slowed considerably as border security tightened since Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet in June, he said.

Saudi Arabia is home to an estimated 400,000 Syrian expatriates who work as engineers, physicians and mostly mid-level managers in private companies. Nearly half of the Syrian expat community lives in Jeddah, and about 30 are members of the SNC. The SNC is said to represent most of the Syrian expatriate community.

Syrian expats sending aid to the Free Syrian Army have operated inside Saudi Arabia with relative impunity. “We haven’t seen anything from the Syrian citizens here that requires special attention from us in terms of investigating their activities involving the trouble in Syria,” said a Saudi Ministry of Interior official, who spoke to The Media Line on the condition his name not be published.

In addition to coordinating efforts to send weapons home, Syrian expats have established bazaars in several Jeddah neighborhoods, including Old Jeddah, to raise money to send food and medical supplies to towns and villages hit by violence.

But Yalda, 27, a Syrian living in Jeddah and who described herself as an Assad loyalist, said the percentage of pro-government supporters are probably higher, but they keep a low profile to avoid reprisals from Free Syrian Army sympathizers.

“The people against our government are portrayed as heroes, but did anyone stop to think where those weapons go to?” Yalda said. “Except for the SNC, the opposition is not identified. Those weapons are going to gangsters and terrorists. They are not going to help free anybody.”— www.shafaqna.com/english/

SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) — Syrian National Council members in Saudi Arabia are coordinating with tribes along the borders of Syria to smuggle weapons to the Free Syrian Army. The Al-Fawarha, Bani Khaled and Al-Turki clans just inside the Lebanese border are particularly active, playing a key role in supplying arms, SNC members say.

Syrian National Council member Muhammad Mazeed Al-Tarkawi, who is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told the Saudi-based Arab News recently that several tribes are ferrying weapons to Syria on roads through Turkey, Iraq and Jordan. Al-Tarkawi also said that the Al-Rafayah and Horan tribes in Jordan are also funneling arms to Syria from Jordan. From Iraq, the Al-Hasaka and Al-Raqqa clans are providing support, but no weapons.

The estimate of the number of people who have been killed in the 16 months of violence in Syria is nearing 18,000 and the conflict has been designated a civil war by the International Committee for the Red Cross. A Syrian expatriate living in Jeddah and involved in the SNC’s activities said the council is working with the tribes. He spoke on the condition that he remain anonymous.

“There is coordination among the various clans on the Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia borders to deliver thousands of rounds of ammunition, sniper rifles and anti-armor missiles,” he told The Media Line. “About 20 percent of all the weapons going to Syria are coming from tribes.”

Delivery across the border is further arranged by covert US personnel in Turkey with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood acting as a go-between and financing coming from Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Although some Saudi private citizens provide financing, the Saudi government has taken no official position in arming rebels despite its support of the Free Syrian Army’s campaign to overthrow the Bashar Assad regime. The government sees Assad’s close relationship to Iran a threat to Saudi Arabia’s interests. The Saudi press almost daily denounces Assad as a tyrant and murderer.

But Saudi Arabia does not want to get involved in the weapons export business and prefers diplomatic channels to aid rebels. The government often pressures its clerics to suspend fund-raising drives to arm opposition forces because Saudi leaders fear money will be diverted to al-Qaida operatives inside Syria.

However, the smuggling operations follow a request from Saudi King Abdullah in March for Jordan to open its borders to permit the shipment of weapons into Syria. King Abdullah had promised economic assistance in exchange for Jordan’s cooperation. Saudi Arabia already provides a generous aid package to Jordan. In 2011, it gave the country nearly $1.5 billion to ease its budget deficit.

Tribe members have reported that security along the Jordan-Syria border still remains tight, making deliveries to opposition forces difficult, said the SNC official in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the flow of arms from Turkey have slowed considerably as border security tightened since Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet in June, he said.

Saudi Arabia is home to an estimated 400,000 Syrian expatriates who work as engineers, physicians and mostly mid-level managers in private companies. Nearly half of the Syrian expat community lives in Jeddah, and about 30 are members of the SNC. The SNC is said to represent most of the Syrian expatriate community.

Syrian expats sending aid to the Free Syrian Army have operated inside Saudi Arabia with relative impunity. “We haven’t seen anything from the Syrian citizens here that requires special attention from us in terms of investigating their activities involving the trouble in Syria,” said a Saudi Ministry of Interior official, who spoke to The Media Line on the condition his name not be published.

In addition to coordinating efforts to send weapons home, Syrian expats have established bazaars in several Jeddah neighborhoods, including Old Jeddah, to raise money to send food and medical supplies to towns and villages hit by violence.

But Yalda, 27, a Syrian living in Jeddah and who described herself as an Assad loyalist, said the percentage of pro-government supporters are probably higher, but they keep a low profile to avoid reprisals from Free Syrian Army sympathizers.

“The people against our government are portrayed as heroes, but did anyone stop to think where those weapons go to?” Yalda said. “Except for the SNC, the opposition is not identified. Those weapons are going to gangsters and terrorists. They are not going to help free anybody.”— www.shafaqna.com/english/

SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association) — We think you’ll all agree that currently existing car headlights are really bad when faced with heavy rain or snow. The light they emit gets reflected from raindrops and snow flakes and obstruct a clear view of the road.

What if we told you that there is already a solution to this problem thanks to the latest invention by some Carnegie Mellon scientists. Using some impressively accurate cameras and super-fast computers they managed to predict the trajectory of each rain drop and stream the light between them.

It may sound mind-blowing but they actually got a working prototype and at about 18 mph, they were able to reduce glare from rain drops by 70% with only a 5% loss of light intensity. Snowflakes are larger and slower and therefore more difficult to track, which means 15% of light is lost and around 60% of the snowflakes are avoided.

Here’s a video that shows the whole thing in action.

It’s certainly impressive, but sadly the invention far from prime time just yet. Even its creators can’t yet give us a time frame as of when it might make it to actual production vehicles.—www.shafaqna.com/english