Syria’s Assad shown on TV after bombing

Syria’s Assad shown on TV after bombing

beirut

Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance Thursday since a bomb killed some of his top lieutenants, looking calm and composed on state TV even as his forces turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and rebels seized two of the country’s border crossings.

The unprecedented attack on Assad’s inner circle Wednesday, along with the government’s inability to crush the rebels after five days of intense clashes in the Syrian capital, point to an unraveling of his grip on power after 16 months of violence.

Troops can march in uniform in event

camp pendleton, calif.

The Defense Department on Thursday announced it is allowing service members to march in uniform in a gay pride parade for the first time in U.S. history.

In a memorandum sent to all its branches, the department said it was making the allowance for San Diego’s Gay Pride Parade on Saturday even though its policy generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades.

The Defense Department said it did so because organizers had encouraged military personnel to march in their uniform and the event was getting national attention.

CDC: Whooping cough rising in US

atlanta

The U.S. appears headed for its worst year for whooping cough in more than five decades, with the number of cases rising at an epidemic rate that experts say may reflect a problem with the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Nearly 18,000 cases have been reported so far — more than twice the number seen at this point last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. At this pace, the number for the entire year will be the highest since 1959, when 40,000 illnesses were reported.

Nine children have died, and health officials called on adults — especially pregnant women and those who spend time around children — to get a booster shot as soon as possible.

Ex-tech charged in hepatitis C outbreak

concord, n.h.

A hospital worker accused of injecting himself with stolen drugs and contaminating syringes that infected at least 30 patients with hepatitis C was charged Thursday with federal drug crimes.

David Kwiatkowski, a former technician at Exeter Hospital, was arrested Thursday morning at a Massachusetts hospital where he was receiving treatment. U.S. Attorney John Kacavas called Kwiatkowski a “serial infector” who worked in at least six other states, including one in which he is a suspect in a similar incident involving a hospital operating room. Kacavas declined to name any of the other states.

Native Americans celebrate white bison

goshen, conn.

The birth of a white bison, among the rarest of animals, is bringing Native Americans who consider it a sacred event to celebrate at one of the least likely of places, a farm in New England.

Hundreds of people, including tribal elders from South Dakota, are expected to attend naming ceremonies this month at the northwestern Connecticut farm of Peter Fay, a fourth- generation Goshen farmer.

Word spread rapidly after the arrival of the white bison, which experts say is as rare as one in 10 million, and Fay invited Native Americans for the ceremonies at his farm below Mohawk Mountain.

Associated Press