Hillary Clinton hospitalized with blood clot

FILE - In this June 10, 2011 file photo, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves as the arrives at Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia. Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month. Spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File)

FILE - In this June 10, 2011 file photo, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves as the arrives at Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia. Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month. Spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was admitted to a New York hospital Sunday after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.

Clinton's doctors discovered the clot Sunday while performing a follow-up exam, her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said. He would not elaborate on the location of the clot but said Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants and would remain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital for at least the next 48 hours so doctors can monitor the medication.

"Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion," Reines said in a statement. "They will determine if any further action is required."

Clinton, 65, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in mid-December as she recovered from a stomach virus that left her severely dehydrated. The concussion was diagnosed Dec. 13 and Clinton was forced to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East that had been planned for the next week.

Clinton was also forced to cancel Dec. 20 testimony before Congress about a scathing report into the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The report found that serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed.

Some conservative commentators suggested Clinton was faking the seriousness of her illness and concussion to avoid testifying, although State Department officials vehemently denied that was the case.

Lawmakers at the hearings ? including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to succeed Clinton ? offered her their best wishes.

The former first lady and senator, who had always planned to step down as America's top diplomat in January, is known for her grueling travel schedule. She is the most traveled secretary of state in history, having visited 112 countries while in the job.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-30-Clinton/id-a53e2a98427e4f749e5f8afbbc73d36f

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Briton held in Africa trying to join terror group

Britain News.Net Saturday 29th December, 2012

Ahmed Shaheen, 26, from London, was detained on the border between Mauritania and Mali as he tried to cross the Sahara on foot to reach the desert stronghold of the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Daily Mail reported.

The British Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of the detention of a British national in Mauritania.

Shaheen, described as of Asian origin and wearing a beard, was staying with a nomad family in the small oasis town of Walata, around 1,100 km from the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. He was allegedly posing as an expert in traditional communities.

The daily said he had attended prayers at an ancient mosque but was later reported missing. He said he planned to walk across the desert to Timbuktu, in Mali.

He was stopped by nomad tribesmen on Christmas Day and taken to security services operating in the border area who arrested him.

Shaheen reportedly told Mauritanian Police he was trying to reach Timbuktu to join the AQIM.

Citing Mauritanian news agency Sahara Media, the daily said jihadists from various countries, including instructors from Pakistan, have been flocking to Mali to fill the ranks of AQIM ahead of an armed assault by a UN-backed multi-national force to oust the militants.

The Islamists took control of Timbuktu in April after a military coup left Mali's army in disarray.

Source: http://www.britainnews.net/index.php/sid/211647164/scat/fad6c6ce3bc72160

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State Dept. warns Americans about Haiti travel

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The State Department has issued a revised Haiti travel advisory, warning Americans planning to travel to the Caribbean island nation about robbery, lawlessness, infectious disease and poor medical facilities.

"U.S. citizens have been victims of violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, predominantly in the Port-au-Prince area. No one is safe from kidnapping, regardless of occupation, nationality, race, gender or age," the department said.

The new travel warning was released Friday to replace a less strongly worded advisory issued in June.

In recent months, travelers arriving in Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city, on flights from the United States have been attacked and robbed after leaving the airport. This year, at least two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in robbery and kidnapping incidents, the State Department said.

"Haitian authorities have limited capacity to deter or investigate such violent acts or prosecute perpetrators," the department said.

The State Department also noted that while the incidents of cholera have declined, the disease persists in many areas of Haiti. Medical facilities, including ambulance services, are particularly weak.

"Thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit Haiti each year, but the poor state of Haiti's emergency response network should be carefully considered when planning travel. Travelers to Haiti are encouraged to use organizations that have solid infrastructure, evacuation and medical support options in place," the department said.

___

Online:

Haiti Travel Warning: http://tinyurl.com/bnrfqtx

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/state-dept-warns-americans-haiti-travel-060552347.html

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In Brazil, a river dam collides with the past

SANTO ANTONIO, Brazil ? The wind blows in from the river, mingling with the scent of the day's last meal in the kitchen. The smells of work and home for Valcione da Silva. He sits on a worn bench and watches children play on the floor, laughing. Somewhere outside, a siren begins, long and loud.

Da Silva reaches beneath his bench to retrieve two knives, double-edged like daggers. They're not weapons, he says, clattering them together. They're special fishing tools. "Only wood," he says. He ignores the siren.

He pulls out what appears to be a string of plastic Coke bottles dangling from a belt. "Look," he says, pressing into the side of a bottle. It flexes open along a slit in the plastic. When he lets go, it springs closed again. "Very simple. I can keep them alive in here." His fish are delicate, he says.

A moment later a thunderous WHOOMP shakes the little home, and a concussion rolls the air like a wave on the river. Dirt dances on the floor. The nearly bare shelves rattle. Another WHOOMP, and outside in the yard, the leaves of Da Silva's mango tree flicker green and silver.

Da Silva walks to his doorway with his wooden daggers, and looks like a man standing at the edge of the world.

Over the last year the villagers around him have packed up and left. A few days ago the school closed, because all but Da Silva's children had left. His wife was the teacher, so she continues their lessons at home. Santo Antonio would look like a ghost town, except that bulldozers have leveled all the empty homes.

Da Silva watches the trucks as they rumble past, carrying countless tons of earth, blown with dynamite from the hillsides where he was born.

"I want to stay and fish," the 36-year-old says. But it's early December, and he'll have to leave soon; clever men with clipboards have outmaneuvered him.

In the morning, he says, he will do the only thing within his power. He'll break the law.

***

Progress and the past are colliding at Da Silva's doorway.

His small home sits at the foot of the Belo Monte dam site, where a consortium is building the third-largest dam in the world, almost four miles across the Xingu River, a $16-billion construction project in the heart of the Amazon basin.

Indigenous peoples and environmental groups have cried out against the dam for reasons local and global; the people here depend on the mighty Xingu River ? one of the Amazon's largest tributaries ? for transportation, and their livelihoods. Environmental groups say the dam will destroy rain forest that the world needs to breathe. The builders counter that millions of Brazilians need the electricity, and construction continues.

There had always been talk of a gigantic dam. During the dictatorships of the 1970s, important men made speeches about the riches of the Amazon, waiting to be discovered.

In 1972, President Emilio Medici showed up with a construction crew just outside Santo Antonio. The president cut down a Brazil nut tree ? a symbol of the rain forest ? and stood on its fresh stump to make a speech about bringing industry, roads and population to the Amazon. Part of the plan, starting in 1975, was to build a massive hydroelectric dam.

There's a pattern, in Brazilian history, of industries focusing on one natural resource, stripping it, and moving on to another. When Portuguese colonials arrived, the Brazil nut tree was so plentiful that the explorers named the country after it. Now the trees are endangered. Later prospectors found so much gold that they named an entire state Minas Generais, or General Mines. The gold is dwindling too. The same happened with the rubber trees, and the diamonds.

The Amazon's river system, though, seemed to resist progress for many years. The first bridge in the entire Amazon basin wasn't built until 2010. The area was too difficult to reach. Too wild a riverbed. Populated by too wild a people.

The dictator's workers symbolically paved the top of the stump where Medici stood to make his speech, and today it stands shrunken and cracked. Now an enormous concrete power pole looms over the stump. It's one of an endless series of identical towers, marching electricity to the reawakened site of the dam called Belo Monte: the Beautiful Mountain.

***

Men came to Da Silva's door a couple of years ago, and knocked.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/Iem3nE1agwA/la-fg-brazil-amazon-dam-20121230,0,3080185.story

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Consumer sentiment weakens as fiscal crisis looms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer confidence fell more than expected in December, hitting a four-month low as a looming fiscal crisis sapped what had been a growing sense of optimism about the economy.

Other data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to nearly its lowest level in 4 1/2 years, while new home sales last month hit their highest level since April 2010.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 65.1 from 71.5 in November.

Gauges of business sentiment have weakened recently on worries about $600 billion in tax hikes and government spending cuts scheduled for early January. Now consumers also appear apprehensive, a sign worries about the so-called "fiscal cliff" could bite into household spending.

"People are hearing about (the cliff) and it negatively impacts confidence and investor sentiment and even holiday sales," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at Landcolt Capital in New York.

Also, with business sentiment weakening in recent months as the fiscal cliff has approached, many economists think hiring may remain sluggish even as the pace of layoffs ease.

The Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000, the Labor Department said. That was lower than analysts' forecasts for 360,000 new claims last week.

"This recent improvement in the claims data is potentially a favorable signal for the labor market," said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

After spiking in the wake of a mammoth storm that ravaged the East Coast in late October, the weekly levels of new claims have now dropped to their lowest levels since the early days of the 2007-09 recession. The four-week moving average fell 11,250 last week to 356,750, the lowest since March 2008.

The claims data for last week has no direct relation to the Labor Department's monthly employment report, but suggests the surge in layoffs since the recession has at least run its course.

Companies in recent months have been adding to their payrolls at a lackluster pace, and analysts expect the monthly employment report due on January 4 will show 143,000 jobs created in December, down from 146,000 in November.

Analysts said the holiday season can make it more difficult to seasonally adjust the claims data, another reason to be cautious.

"There is usually a high margin of error in predicting the monthly payroll number," said Michelle Meyer, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch at New York. "That's even more the case this month from the residual effects of the hurricane and year-end seasonal adjustments," she said.

U.S. stocks opened flat, while longer-dated U.S. Treasuries rose after the data and after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it was unlikely a budget deal would be reached before year end.

Following a truncated holiday break in Hawaii, U.S. President Barack Obama has returned to Washington to restart negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff, which if not averted would likely put the U.S. economy back into recession.

The signs of progress in the claims data also included a caveat, at least for the latest week.

Obama declared Monday a holiday for federal workers and many state offices followed suit and were unable to provide complete data for last week's jobless claims. Data for 19 states was estimated, a Labor Department official said.

Fourteen of those states, including Texas and California, submitted their own estimates, which tend to be fairly accurate because the state officials work with a significant amount of data, the Labor Department official said.

Analysts said the holiday season was another reason to be cautious about the report's positive tenor. Also, with business sentiment weakening in recent months as the fiscal cliff has approached, many economists think businesses are holding back on hiring.

"A significant improvement in labor market conditions ahead of any resolution to the fiscal cliff is unlikely," said Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays in New York.

Separately, the Commerce Department said new U.S. single-family home sales accelerated in November to a 377,000-unit annual rate while the median sales price jumped 14.9 percent from the same month in 2011, signs that the U.S. housing recovery is gaining some steam.

In a fourth report, the Chicago Federal Reserve said its index of factory activity in the U.S. Midwest increased in November to 93.7 from a revised 92.2 in October.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Additional reporting by Richard Leong and Ryan Vlastelica in New York; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jobless-claims-fall-trend-reading-four-half-low-133656610--business.html

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Editorial: All I want for Christmas is a new HTC Nexus

To this day, I remain in love with my HTC One X, but its fate has already been sealed. Soon enough, this fast and beautiful smartphone is going to find a new life in a drawer that holds my spare change, sunglasses, checkbook and various receipts. Is it wrong to relegate one of the best phones on the planet to my stash of odds and ends? Perhaps, but the past few months have taught me that excellent hardware alone doesn't make a device that's sufficient for enthusiasts.

Like many, I've been waiting for an upgrade to Jelly Bean ever since HTC first promised it back in July. I have no doubt that the company is working hard to prepare the Android 4.1 update for its customers, but the software is already past its expiration date. Google has moved onto something better. Quite frankly, I'm no longer willing to perpetually live behind the curve. I want to play with new toys as they come out, and that's wholly impossible outside of the Nexus ecosystem.

Why should HTC care about my personal revelation, or the desire of anyone else who wants to stay on the cutting edge? Well, I'd like to offer the simple suggestion that enthusiasts matter. Take any introductory marketing class and you'll learn the early adopters -- in other words, the nerds who like playing with the very latest stuff -- set trends and influence others. Companies should be falling over themselves to cater to this influential segment, and yet within the Android ecosystem, that's the exception to the rule. There's only one device for sale today that's suitable for enthusiasts, and it's high time for that to change.

Continue reading Editorial: All I want for Christmas is a new HTC Nexus

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/P-xdsG3oRX8/

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Loan types, Small Business Info

Here?s what you should know:
1. There are fewer small business loans being awarded these days.
2. Most lenders specialize in certain loan types.
3. Not all business loans are going to be right for your business.
4. Interest rates vary based on the loan type and whether or not the loan is secured or unsecured.

Secured and unsecured loans:
1. A secured loan is a loan that is backed by collateral. It offers lower interest rates, and longer term loans.
2. An unsecured loan is based on credit worthiness and financial strength of the company. These are typically short term loans that need to be paid back within a year.

Interest rates:
1. The type of loan you get will impact the amount of interest you will pay.
2. Interest rates vary from about 5% to as much as 35% or more.
3. The cost of the loan depends on the loan type, the loan product, and the terms of the loan.

If you want to benefit your business the most, and get the best loan to help your business succeed, then you need to understand the wide variety of loan products available, and how to increase your chances of getting funding by selecting the loan that fits your business needs best.

The following lists a few of the loan products available to businesses, and the average interest rates they tend to carry.
? SBA loans- 5.8-8.5%
? Accounts receivable factoring loans- 10-15%
? Merchant cash advance- 18-22%
? Start-up loans- 5-7.5%
? Franchise start up loans- 10-30%
? Business acquisitions- 4.75-7.5%
? Line of credit- 5-24%
? Professional loans- 5-10%
? Equipment financing- 8-25%
? Construction financing- 7-8%
? Hard money equity loan- 15-30%
? Working capital loans- 3-7%
? A/R or P.O. Financing- 8-30%
? Peer to peer loans- 6-36%
As you explore your business finance options, you will see that your business may benefit from a certain loan type over another. Take the time to understand which loans are secured and which are unsecured. Which are short term, and which are long term. Determine if a start up loan or a SBA loan is going to be the best option for you to get your business going, if an equipment loan, or a professional loan is going to be the best for your business, etc. Compare the interest rates, the terms of the loan, and more.

Not all lenders offer all loans, taking the time to understand the loans that are available to small businesses, and which is best for you, will help you minimize the list of potential lenders, and choose one that may be able to increase your chances for financing.

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Source: http://businessknowledgesource.com/smallbusiness/loan_types_034567.html

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Fiscal Fail: Government Agencies Plan Few Significant Changes For January, Despite Cliff Hype

WASHINGTON - On Jan. 1, 2000, the world awoke to find that little had changed since the night before. After years of hype around what was then called Y2K -- the fear that computer systems across the globe would collapse, unable to handle the year shifting from '99 to '00 -- the date change turned out to be a momentous non-event.

Next week, the United States is in for much the same, after months of frantic hype about the economic disruption that awaits if Congress and the president fail to reach a deal and the federal government goes "over the fiscal cliff."

The so-called fiscal cliff is a combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1. But the agencies responsible for implementing those changes, including the IRS and the Pentagon, are well aware that congressional and White House negotiators will most likely come to some sort of deal within weeks or months -- and so they are planning to carry on as usual, according to a broad review of private and public government plans.

In other words, there will be no cliff. There won't even be a slope. Congress and the president can have their public and private dramas, but the government officials responsible for carrying out their eventual orders have seen this movie before, and they know how it ends.

An IRS spokesperson said the agency is not commenting on possible fiscal cliff consequences beyond a letter it sent to Congress last week. That letter's purpose was to inform lawmakers just how many taxpayers would see higher tax bills if the alternative minimum tax (AMT) isn't patched. But the letter also holds clues to the agency's broader plans -- or lack thereof. The IRS told lawmakers it would not reprogram its system to account for the possibility the AMT would not be patched because "if Congress were to act at some point next year to enact a new AMT patch, the time and substantial expense necessary for the IRS to reprogram its systems ... would ultimately be wasted."

The IRS also isn't commenting on how it will handle tax withholding from paychecks in the new year, but if it uses the same reasoning it has applied to the AMT, there is no reason to believe the agency will reprogram all its computers to begin immediately withholding higher amounts come January. Such an effort would be wasted if Congress ends up extending tax cuts for those making less than $250,000, as it is broadly expected to do, even by House Republicans.

The IRS might be able to move more quickly on the end of the payroll tax holiday, which both parties have signaled they will let expire. But even if the IRS can immediately implement a payroll tax hike, and employers can instantly begin witholding at higher rates, a person making $50,000 a year will see $40 or so less in his or her first paycheck of 2013.

Other agencies are planning to do just as little as the IRS to prepare for a fall off the fiscal cliff. On Friday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta assured his personnel that nothing would change come January, saying that no layoffs would be announced in the near future, nor would any be announced without extensive advance notice.

The Government Accountability Office, charged with overseeing other government agencies, itself is not planning any January changes. Instead, the GAO is backloading any possible cuts toward the end of the fiscal year in June and assuming a deal will be reached before then, according to a source at the agency who isn't involved with the press operation.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu also said no immediate cuts are in the works, though he did not rule out future furloughs. "I do not expect our day-to-day operations to change dramatically on or immediately after January 2, should sequestration occur," Chu wrote in an email to staff on Thursday. "This means that we will not be executing any immediate personnel actions, such as furloughs, on that date."

On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency sent out a memo that read almost identically to Chu's, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also told her staff not to worry about department operations come January, according to a staffer there. At the Federal Trade Commission, workers were told the same. "I hope all of you have heard reassurances from your supervisors that, should the Congress and White House fail to avoid the 'fiscal cliff' triggers on January 1, the FTC will remain fully able to meet its payroll and support its mission. We have planned for this contingency and you should continue to do your work and not worry," reads a memo sent to employees.

[HuffPost readers: Do you work at a federal agency? If so, send any fiscal cliff guidance you've received from your bosses to ryan@huffingtonpost.com.]

Much like government workers, for the vast majority of the population, life on the other side of the cliff will be no different than life on this side. Those most likely to get hit, however, are the jobless, who would see unemployment benefits cut off. (They would be eligible for back benefits once a deal is cut.)

The most substantial fiscal cliff pain, then, will likely be felt by House Republicans. Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, a strongly conservative Republican, laid out on Thursday what has increasingly become conventional wisdom across party lines.

"If we go over the fiscal cliff, the president just comes back and says, 'OK, we're going to give tax cuts to everybody under $250,000.' Who's going to vote against that? Everybody'll vote for that. Everybody," Burton told reporters in the Capitol. "Because it will be just a fait accompli. You won't be voting on whether you're going to do away with a tax cut, you're going to be reimposing tax cuts for everybody under $250,000. So the Republicans are in an untenable situation."

Laura Bassett, Sabrina Siddiqui and Jason Cherkis contributed reporting.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/22/fiscal-fail-cliff_n_2353619.html

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An Incomplete Library of the Hometown Pets - Balloon Juice

By John Cole December 21st, 2012

Lots of bitching, pissing, and moaning about the lack of pet pictures, so I walked around the house and took some candids of most of the animals. I?m not going to even bother trying to photgraph my brother?s cats Speak and Whisper, who are here on vacation and crashing in the basement. I just know they are alive because there is shit in the litter box, their food and water bowls go down, and I don?t smell rotting flesh. They are that sketchy.

First, our LORD AND MASTER IN ALL HIS MAJESTIC SHMOO GLORY:

Next, the lovely and always perfect angel, Lily, who may, IMHO, be the greatest animal who has ever lived and who is the only thing in this world that reminds me I am capable of unconditional love:

I wake up every morning with that dog snoring into my armpit, and should I outlive her, I may just lose my will to live.

Up next, my brother?s dog Ellie, who has been here for a week and will remain for several more while my whole family is on vacation. For those of you wondering why I am not on vacation with them, I will only answer that I would rather shower in prison than share a beach house with my family and 10 dogs. I much prefer my current situation, which is me and my animals and a couple of my families pets here. Regardless, here is the Ellie, who, with one ear up and one ear down, always dials the cute up to eleven:

And finally, the bitch. Rosie refused to come when I called because she knew I wanted something- in this case, a picture. So, because she is a fucking Jack Russell Terrorist, she refused to respond to ?Who wants a treat,? ?Who wants to go for a walk,? or ?Who wants to go out.? She knew the human was up to some shit, and said, in her own special way- ?FUCK OFF.? So, having never had a love/hate relationship quite like this, I got on my stomache and snapped this picture of her being a bitch underneath my bed:

I swear to FSM, I will outwit this god damned JRT before one of us dies. Most of our conversations end with me saying ?I wish I had left you on the side of the road.? Then, when I am not paying attention, she ends up on my lap and I pet her for an hour while watching the Steelers or something else engrossing before recognizing which dog I am giving the love.

Jack Russell Terriers are smarter than you. Recognizing that is the first step towards dealing with the situation.

Source: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/12/21/an-incomplete-library-of-the-hometown-pets/

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Palestinians begin returning to Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria

Palestinians are returning to their refugee camp after fighting sent them fleeing, but the number fleeing Syria or facing internal displacement continues to rise.

By Arthur Bright,?Staff writer / December 20, 2012

? A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

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Europe Editor

Arthur Bright is the Europe Editor at The Christian Science Monitor.? He has worked for the Monitor in various capacities since 2004, including as the Online News Editor and a regular contributor to the Monitor's Terrorism & Security blog.? He is also a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

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Refugees have started returning to the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria after fighting between rebels and government-allied forces sent them fleeing, but the status of the Palestinian refugees, along with hundreds of thousands of others displaced by the Syrian conflict, remains a top concern for observers outside the country.

The Associated Press reports that, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,?"hundreds of people have returned" to Yarmouk?after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad drove out as many as two-thirds of the camp's 150,000 residents by United Nations estimates.

The battle at Yarmouk, located in southern Damascus, began Dec. 14, as pro-Assad Palestinian fighters attacked anti-Assad Palestinian rebels based in the camp. Al Jazeera English reported yesterday that although Syrian troops did not participate in the fighting within the camp, they provided support to the pro-Assad fighters, cutting off the camp from the outside and launching air strikes into the camp, which reportedly killed at least eight people on Dec. 16.

Al Jazeera noted that pro-Assad newspaper Al-Watan reported earlier this week that the government was preparing for a major assault on Yarmouk.

AP adds that while fighting has eased, some rebels still remain in the camp. Damascus-based Palestinian official Khaled Abdul-Majid told the AP that Cairo-based Palestinian leaders are negotiating the rebels' exit.?Palestinian refugees in Syria have been divided over which side to ally themselves with in the ongoing civil war.?

Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been affected by the conflict. Some 1 million people are expected to have fled Syria by mid-2013, and another 2 million have already been displaced within the country, reports BBC. The UN has issued an appeal for $1.5 billion?for relief efforts in Syria.

The UN has registered more than half a million refugees so far, with between 2,000 and 3,000 arriving every day in countries neighboring Syria.

"Unless these funds come quickly, we will not be able to fully respond to the life-saving needs of civilians who flee Syria every hour of the day ? many in a truly desperate condition," Panos Moumtzis of the UNHCR said.

"We are constantly shocked by the horrific stories refugees tell us," he added. "Their lives are in turmoil. They have lost their homes and family members. By the time they reach the borders, they are exhausted, traumatised and with little or no resources to rely on.

UN officials said they would need to provide food, shelter, medicines and even schools for them over the next year.

Syria is home to nearly half a million Palestinian refugees living in 12 camps around the country, including Yarmouk, according to the AP. Al Arabiya reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday called on the UN to help the Palestinian refugees displaced by the fighting in Syria to return to Gaza and the West Bank.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/PyOqoEd-9eY/Palestinians-begin-returning-to-Yarmouk-refugee-camp-in-Syria

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