Friday, June 7, 2013

Hulu Plus gets a whole new look on the iPad, focuses on discovery

Hulu Plus gets a whole new look on the iPad

Hulu may be constantly on the brink of a buyout, but that doesn't mean the current owners are just sitting about waiting for some high roller to come along. In fact, over the last couple of months the streaming service has undergone a pretty impressive transformation. There have been a few new features added and some licensing deals struck. But, most noticeably, Hulu Plus has received a spiffy new look across almost all platforms. Today it's the iPad's turn to cash in and the new experience has a heavy focus on discovering content. Tapping on a show brings up the "discover" panel, which provides you with a quick shortcut to play the first, next or latest episode (depending on where yo left off) along with details about the program. If you want to keep looking, but don't want to drop back out to the card-like UI of the home screen, swiping left or right will take you to the next collection or season. If you're in the middle of watching an episode of SNL then remember you forgot to add the latest episode of Misfits to your queue, you can pinch the video to minimize it quickly add it then pop back to a full screen of Weekend Update without skipping a beat. Of course, multitasking is in-app only -- so you wont be able to shrink the episode down to the corner while you search for stills from Good Burger. There are also a bunch of more minor tweaks, such as inline clip playback and curated collections. After the break you'll find the complete changelog as well as a video walk through of the updated app.

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Source: Hulu, Hulu Plus (App Store)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Ez8Ppp5W2Tc/

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The Daily Roundup for 06.06.2013

DNP The Daily RoundUp

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_rlCwAvbnoY/

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How To Get Started with Speed Reading Techniques

Avoid being intimidated with speed reading techniques because they are simple in concept, and not only that, they are easy to understand and put into practice. But putting them into practice is the operative phrase, but do remember that you will be using your brain in a new way with reading. After a lifetime of reading in a certain way, it only stands to reason that you won't change overnight. But if you put your mind to it, then your intent can make all the difference in the world.

If you want to get your feet wet with using speed reading software, then that's not a problem. You can go to Bing and find them, and you will not need to mess with a paid type of software. How you approach learning how to improve your reading rate is up to you and whatever works the best, and you'll find that paid-for software is not all the expensive. On the other hand, if you're new to this, then using free apps will give you an idea about how they work, and then you can always upgrade to a nice program that costs, but the benefits may be worth it. If there's a subject you really need to learn well, then you can include both speed reading and making mind maps. Use Bing to search on mind maps if you're unsure about what they are, but they are easy to make, and you can even get free mind mapping software. But what they will do is develop a rich database of relevant information on the topic under consideration. This should be done in the preparation part before you do hardcore speed reading. Or another approach is make a mind map based on what you already know about the topic.

Understand that making the decision to learn how to speed read should be a total goal, and that just means you should practice it all the time. If you have software, then don't just use it while you're doing the training exercises because any time you read, and this includes anything on the net, you should use the techniques you learn. Also, if you're using the finger pacing method, then it may be awkward to use your finger with the monitor. At some point you should wean yourself off the pacing method, and then you're capable of training your mind to keep pace all on its own. Just like anything else you're learning for the first time, learning speed reading techniques will feel different. You may feel discouraged at first, but just forget about that because you'll get better. Just give it a sincere effort for a few weeks and you'll see the difference, and you can make progress pretty quickly, but then you need to keep going to make it second nature.

For more information about increase brain power, check out the
Good Grades Guide. I'm sure you'll like it!

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-to-get-started-with-speed-reading-techniques-332472

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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Rapid, irregular heartbeat may be linked to problems with memory and thinking

June 5, 2013 ? People who develop a type of irregular heartbeat common in old age called atrial fibrillation may also be more likely to develop problems with memory and thinking, according to new research published in the June 5, 2013, online issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"Problems with memory and thinking are common for people as they get older. Our study shows that on average, problems with memory and thinking may start earlier or get worse more quickly in people who have atrial fibrillation," said study author Evan L. Thacker, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "This means that heart health is an important factor related to brain health."

The study involved people age 65 and older from four communities in the United States who were enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study. Participants did not have a history of atrial fibrillation or stroke at the start of the study. They were followed for an average of seven years, and received a 100-point memory and thinking test every year. People who had a stroke were not included in this analysis after the stroke. Of the 5,150 participants, 552, or about 11 percent, developed atrial fibrillation during the study.

The study found that people with atrial fibrillation were more likely to experience lower memory and thinking scores at earlier ages than people with no history of atrial fibrillation. For example, from age 80 to age 85 the average score on the 100-point test went down by about 6 points for people without atrial fibrillation, but it went down by about 10 points for people with atrial fibrillation.

For participants ages 75 and older, the average rate of decline was about three to four points faster per five years of aging with atrial fibrillation compared to those without the condition.

"This suggests that on average, people with atrial fibrillation may be more likely to develop cognitive impairment or dementia at earlier ages than people with no history of atrial fibrillation," Thacker said.

Thacker noted that scores below 78 points on the 100-point test are suggestive of dementia. People without atrial fibrillation in the study were predicted on average to score below 78 points at age 87, while people with atrial fibrillation were predicted to score below 78 points at age 85, two years earlier.

"If there is indeed a link between atrial fibrillation and memory and thinking decline, the next steps are to learn why that decline happens and how we can prevent that decline," said Thacker.

The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/4JFBj7OllzM/130605185933.htm

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Senators blast military response to sex assaults

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, during the committee's hearing on pending legislation regarding sexual assaults in the military. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, during the committee's hearing on pending legislation regarding sexual assaults in the military. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., top right, questions military leaders on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, as the committee investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. Fellow committee members are, from left, Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, right, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to investigate the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military. From right are, Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, and Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. Fro right to left are: Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, Judge Advocate General of the Army Lt. Gen. Dana K. Chipman, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James F. Amos, and Staff Judge Advocate to the Marine Corps Commandant Maj. Gen. Vaughn A. Ary. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As Congress investigates the growing epidemic of sexual assaults within the military, the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 4, 2013, to demand answers from top uniformed leaders about whether a drastic overhaul of the military justice system is needed. From right to left are, Judge Advocate General of the Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard C. Harding, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Judge Advocate General of the Navy Vice Adm. Nanette M. DeRenzi, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Brig. Gen. Richard C. Gross, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(AP) ? U.S. senators dressed down senior military leaders Tuesday, led by female lawmakers, combat veterans and former prosecutors who insisted that sexual assault in the ranks has cost the services the trust and respect of the American people as well as the nation's men and women in uniform.

Summoned to Capitol Hill, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the beribboned four-star chiefs of the service branches conceded in an extraordinary hearing that they had faltered in dealing with sexual assault. One said assaults were "like a cancer" in the military.

But they strongly opposed congressional efforts to strip commanders of their traditional authority to decide whether to level charges in their units.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, especially the panel's seven female senators, grilled the chiefs about whether the military's mostly male leadership understands differences between relatively minor sexual offenses and serious crimes that deserve swift and decisive justice.

"Not every single commander necessarily wants women in the force. Not every single commander believes what a sexual assault is. Not every single commander can distinguish between a slap on the ass and a rape because they merge all of these crimes together," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

Frustration among the senators seemed to boil over as they discussed recent high-profile cases and statistics on sexual assault that underscored the challenges the Defense Department and Congress face.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Navy veteran of Vietnam, said a woman came to him the previous night and said her daughter wanted to join the military. She asked McCain if he could give his unqualified support to her.

"I could not," McCain said. "I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over the continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military. We've been talking about the issue for years, and talk is insufficient."

The committee is considering seven legislative proposals, including one introduced by Gillibrand that would deny commanders the authority to decide when criminal charges are filed and remove the ability of senior officers to convene courts-martial.

More than 40 senators are sponsors or co-sponsors of the proposals, several of which have overlapping provisions. A bill by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., would provide any victims with a special military lawyer who would assist them throughout the process. Another, sponsored by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would require any service member found guilty of rape or sexual assault receive a minimum punishment of a dismissal or a dishonorable discharge. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a bill with provisions that require commanders to submit reports of sex-related offenses to more senior officers within 24 hours.

Dempsey and the service chiefs warned against making the dramatic changes called for in Gillibrand's legislation. Removing commanders from the military justice process, Dempsey said, would undercut their ability to preserve good order and discipline in their units.

"We cannot simply legislate our way out of this problem," said Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff. "Without equivocation, I believe maintaining the central role of commander in our military justice system is absolutely critical to any solution."

But Gillibrand defended her proposal, which has garnered 18 co-sponsors in two weeks. She said victims of sexual assault are reluctant to report the crimes to their commanders because they fear their allegations will be dismissed and they might face retaliation. Aggressive reforms in the military's legal code are needed to force cultural changes, she said.

"You have lost the trust of the men and women who rely on you," Gillibrand said. "They're afraid to report. They think their careers will be over. They fear retaliation. They fear being blamed. That is our biggest challenge right there."

Dempsey and the service chiefs told the committee they back Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's April recommendation to change the Uniform Code of Military Justice and largely strip commanding officers of the power to toss out a military verdict. That change is included in several of the Senate proposals including Gillibrand's and is likely to be adopted by the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday in its version of the annual defense policy bill.

But Gillibrand and several other senators said that wasn't nearly enough.

Several members of the committee noted that American allies including Great Britain, Israel and Australia have already have taken serious cases outside the chain of command. The U.S. military leaders said they had just begun to study the changes to see how they might apply to this country.

The committee's Democratic chairman, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, opened the hearing by saying the problem of sexual assault "is of such a scope and magnitude that it has become a stain on our military." Levin has not endorsed any of the bills.

The military leaders didn't dispute Levin's assessment.

"Sexual assault and harassment are like a cancer within the force, a cancer that left untreated will destroy the fabric of our force," Odierno said. "It's imperative that we take a comprehensive approach to prevent attacks, to protect our people, and where appropriate, to prosecute wrongdoing and hold people accountable."

While acknowledging the problem and accepting that legislation is inevitable, the military leaders insisted that commanders keep their authority to handle serious offenses including sexual assault cases that occur in their units.

The Air Force's top officer, Gen. Mark Welsh, said, "Commanders having the authority to hold airmen criminally accountable for misconduct ... is crucial to building combat-ready, disciplined units."

But, their voices rising, female members of the committee complained that the military's reporting process fails to recognize the seriousness of rape.

"This isn't about sex," said McCaskill, a former county prosecutor in Missouri. "This is about assaultive domination and violence. And as long as those two get mushed together, you all are not going to be as successful as you need to be at getting after the most insidious part of this, which is the predators in your ranks that are sullying the great name of our American military."

The Pentagon estimated in a recent report that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 assaults in 2011, based on an anonymous survey of military personnel. While the number of sexual assaults that members of the military actually reported rose 6 percent to 3,374 in 2012, thousands of victims were still unwilling to come forward despite new oversight and assistance programs aimed at curbing the crimes, the report said.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested that youth is partly to blame for the problem. "The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23," he said. "The hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur." But Chambliss also said the military and Congress need to do far more to stop sexual assaults from occurring.

Commanders and senior enlisted troops are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their units don't develop climates conducive to sexual assaults and harassment. But Dempsey said that he and other military leaders haven't kept their fingers on the pulse of their units as closely as they should over the past decade due to the heavy pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think I took my eye off the ball a bit in the commands that I had," said Dempsey, who spent more than three years as a commander in Iraq.

Dempsey also said in response to a question from McCain that there are gaps in the way the services screen prospective recruits that could allow an individual with a history of sex-related crimes to join.

"There are currently, in my judgment, inadequate protections for precluding that from happening," Dempsey told McCain. "So a sex offender could, in fact, find their way into the armed forces of the United States."

The committee's hearing, which lasted nearly eight hours with testimony from three different panels of witnesses, came as a string of incidents has raised doubts about how aggressively the services are acting to change their cultures and eradicate sexual assaults.

Last week, the Pentagon said the U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three football team members sexually assaulted a female midshipman at an off-campus house more than a year ago. A lawyer for the woman says she was "ostracized" on campus after she reported it.

In recent weeks, a soldier at the U.S. Military Academy was charged with secretly photographing women, including in a bathroom. The Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit was arrested on charges of groping a woman. And the manager of the Army's sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was relieved of his post after his arrest in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-04-Military%20Sexual%20Assault/id-76fa13e5ef6648449917ed40a1c7dffe

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Behavioral Telescope Shows How Cooperation Works

Nature?s games aren?t all ?red in tooth and claw? competitions. Evolution can create stable cooperation. ?Behavioral telescopes? provided by a new kind of logic have revealed laws of team productivity that are almost mathematical moral truths.

Game theory is to the behavioral universe what the telescope was to Galileo, or calculus to Newton?a powerful new tool for probing previously unsolvable problems. Modeling the agency and behavioral contingency that are key in biology, but don?t exist in physics, required new logic. Using these ?behavioral telescopes? to scan for patterns in distant effects, scientists are discovering an evolutionary ethics that increases social productivity.

Game theory?s most studied scenario is the Prisoners Dilemma, which due to its origin in Cold War nuclear strategy, assumes everyone is untrustworthy. Its two players can?t communicate but must choose to either cooperate or defect. If both cooperate each payoff = Reward, if only one defects his payoff = Temptation while the cooperator payoff = Sucker, and if both defect each payoff = Punishment. In strong versions payoffs are ranked: Temptation > Reward > Punishment > Sucker. Conventional thinking says that since the other player is ?rational? and can?t be trusted, he will defect. So it?s ?rational? for you to defect. This ?logic? guarantees poor outcomes. But evolution has a smarter solution.

Computer contests of iterated Prisoner?s Dilemmas show, as Sam Harris notes, ?that evolution probably selected for two stable orientations towards human cooperation tit-for-tat?and permanent defection.? Permanent defection yields the low payoffs of ?red in tooth and claw? zero-cooperation. In tit-for-tat a player cooperates initially then mimics the other player?s last move. Thus tit-for-tat-players retaliate if defected against, but forgive a defector that starts cooperating. Once established in a population tit-for-tat provides higher productivity for all, and can become an ?evolutionarily stable strategy,? which means it can?t be beaten by other approaches. Even with short-term incentives for defection, cooperation can thrive.

It wasn?t humanly possible to tackle game-theory problems until computers enabled large-scale simulations. But evolution has been doing precisely that for hundreds of millions of years, running trials of what Darwin called ?endless forms most beautiful? and similarly endless varieties of behavioral strategies, and naturally selecting adaptations that are more productive. Species that evolved tit-for-tat behaviors could overcame the productivity ceiling of short-sighted selfish competitions.

Key games in our nature, such as group hunting, have greater incentives for cooperation and disincentives for defection than Prisoners Dilemmas. Christopher Boehm has shown that hunter gathering cultures have punished uncooperative behaviors for perhaps 10,000 generations.

As Steven Pinker notes, ?The emotions of sympathy, gratitude, guilt, and anger allow people to benefit from cooperation without being exploited by liars and cheats.? Our highly interdependent social species has evolved mechanisms to create trustworthy team behaviors and to punish team disruptors. Any science that can?t see this moral math isn?t seeing humans clearly.

Illustration by Julia Suits, The New Yorker Cartoonist & author of The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions.

Previously in this series:

It Is in Our Nature to Be Self-Deficient
Inheriting Second Natures
Our Ruly Nature
It Is in Our Nature to Need Stories
Tools Are in Our Nature
We Fit Nature To Us: Evolutions two way street
Justice Is In Our Nature

Source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/06/05/behavioral-telescope-shows-how-cooperation-works/

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Austria withdrawing UN troops from Golan Heights

BEIRUT (AP) ? Austria announced it is withdrawing 377 U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights after Syrian rebels briefly overran a crossing point near the border with Israel on Thursday, a development that has deepened concerns the civil war is spreading to neighboring countries.

Fighting between President Bashar Assad's forces and mainly Sunni rebels has already spilled over Syria's borders into Turkey and Lebanon, where factions that support opposing sides have frequently clashed. From the Israeli side of the Golan, tanks and armored vehicles could be seen from about a kilometer (half mile) away in the Syrian-controlled part of the territory. Thick smoke and flames rose from the area and a large fire raged.

Also Thursday, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri tapped into the deepening Sunni-Shiite rift stemming from the conflict, calling on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise to the overthrow the regime, set up Islamic rule in Syria and prevent a U.S.-allied government from taking over after Assad, whose regime is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot group of Shiite Islam.

Al-Zawahri also urged Sunnis to "rise above their differences" and fight expanding Shiite influence in Syria. The authenticity of al-Zawahri's message, which came in an audio recording on the Internet, could not be independently confirmed but it was posted on a militant website commonly used by al-Qaida.

Al-Zawahri has repeatedly called for holy war in Syria and has blasted Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militants and Iran for supporting Assad. He joins other Sunni leaders who have used the sectarian undertones of the conflict to widen support for the rebels.

Hezbollah has a vested interest in the survival of Assad's regime. It deepened its involvement in the civil war by sending fighters over the past month to battle rebels in Qusair, an overwhelmingly Sunni town and an opposition stronghold in western Syria.

After a grueling three-week battle, the Syrian army on Wednesday regained control of Qusair, which has served as a conduit for shipments of rebel weapons, fighters and supplies smuggled from Lebanon. For the regime, the town was equally important since it lies between Damascus, the seat of Assad's government, and the Alawite heartland near the Mediterranean coast.

Islamic militant groups, such as the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, are the most organized and most effective force fighting on the rebel side in Syria. The U.S. and its European allies, who have backed the opposition, share Israel's concern about the influence of Islamic radical factions in the rebel ranks.

Highlighting the growing tension in the region, Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh warned the Syrian ambassador there to stop criticizing his host country or risk expulsion. Syrian ambassador Bahjat Suleiman is an ardent critic of Jordan's policies toward his country, accusing it of siding with anti-Assad forces.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Fayman and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said the fighting over the border position in the Golan, a demilitarized area in the plateau captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, made it necessary to withdraw their troops.

"The development ... has shown that further waiting can no longer be justified," a joint statement said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it regretted the decision and hoped that it would not lead to "further escalation in the region."

Israeli officials say the fall of the fall of the "symbolic" Quneitra border position, which lies along an important route to Damascus, would have a greater impact on the Syrian war than the Jewish state. Quneitra is the only crossing along the cease-fire line and primarily serves the U.N. peacekeepers and Druse villagers moving between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled Golan.

Israeli military officials, who earlier had said the crossing had fallen to the rebels, said the situation at the border by early afternoon remained "fluid" and fighting was still raging on the Syrian side of the border. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential strategic assessment.

The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels attacked Syrian regime checkpoints and their armored vehicles, and briefly took control of the crossing, located near the old city of Quneitra.

The activist group, which relies on a network on informants inside Syria, said there were intense clashes between regime forces and rebels in the area. No casualties were immediately reported.

Austria has contributed peacekeepers since the start of the Golan mission in 1974 to separate Israeli and Syrian forces, and its soldiers make up the largest contingent in the 900-strong force, which also includes peacekeepers from the Philippines and India. Croatia withdrew its contingent in March amid fears they would be targeted in fighting at the border area.

Israel and Syria agreed to creation of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force after Syria launched military action in 1973, in a failed effort to retake the area it lost to Israel in 1967. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it expected the United Nations to uphold that commitment.

The Philippine military announced that one of the country's peacekeepers was wounded in the leg by artillery or a mortar shell that landed at Camp Ziouni, a logistics base, earlier Thursday during fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces.

Syrian state-owned Al-Ikhbariyah TV denied that the rebels control the crossing, saying the army was pursuing "terrorists" ? a term the government uses for opposition fighters ? in the Golan.

The Israeli military did not confirm the crossing was overrun by Syrian rebels, but said the area had been declared a "closed military zone" and was off-limits to journalists because of fighting nearby.

The Syrian conflict started in March 2011 as peaceful protests against Assad's regime, then turned into a civil war after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a harsh government crackdown on dissent.

The conflict has also created a refugee flow of some 1.6 million people, most of whom are currently in neighboring countries.

The aid group Doctors without Borders warned Thursday that the needs of civilians in Syria and neighboring countries far outstripped the relief currently being supplied, urging the international community ahead of a humanitarian conference in Geneva on Friday to ramp up its aid supply .

There have been previous incidents in the Golan, with gunfire and mortar shells striking the Israel-controlled zone in recent months. Israel believes most of the fire is incidental spillover but in some cases it has said the strikes were deliberate.

In one such incident last month, Syrian troops targeted an Israeli jeep they said had crossed the cease-fire line into the Syria-controlled sector. Syria said it launched two missiles in self-defense, accusing Israel of violating the cease-fire deal.

In the latest spillover in Lebanon, 10 rockets fired from Syria hit the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek shortly before midnight Wednesday, wounding one person and causing damage, according to a Lebanese army statement.

The statement said troops clashed with gunmen near the border town of Arsal after gunmen fired at a military post in the area. It said two gunmen, one of them Syrian, were killed in the overnight fighting and the rest fled.

___

Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press writer Aaron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/austria-withdrawing-un-troops-golan-heights-161203350.html

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