Cheat Sheet - Life in Assad’s Army

Today: Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro Found Dead , Elizabeth Wurtzel: My Tea Party Mom Loves Al Jazeera America , Putin: Gays Won't Be Punished September 04, 2013 FORCED TO KILL 1. Life in Assad's Army A soldier who escaped from Syria's brutal army tells Andrew Slater the truth about being forced to carry out the orders of the Assad regime and being imprisoned for refusing to shoot civilian protesters. Military service in Syria amounts to a brutal prison sentence of unknown length. Many of these soldiers are draftees with no ideological sympathy for the regime—they merely want to survive. Read it at The Daily Beast Shocking 2. Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro Found Dead Sentenced just a month ago to life in prison plus 1,000 years for the kidnap and sexual assault of Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus, Ariel Castro has reportedly been found dead in his cell. The body of the 52-year-old, who was being held in protective custody, was found hanging Tuesday at 9:20 p.m. at the Correction Reception Center in Orient, Ohio. He was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m., according to the Ohio State Department of Corrections. The state police and corrections department are investigating the death. Read it at 19 Action News REAL NEWS 3. My Tea Party Mom Loves Al Jazeera America Sick of hardballing, roundtabling, and punditry in general, Elizabeth Wurtzel's Tea Partier mom has turned to the new Al Jazeera America—and is loving it. Welcome back, real cable news. Read it at The Daily Beast WHO DO YOU TRUST? 4. Putin: Gays Won't Be Punished Some of his best friends are gay, OK? Vladimir Putin tried to reassure the world that neither homosexuals nor their straight supporters would be punished at the Winter Olympics, despite the new anti-gay law in Russia that bans "gay propaganda." The law had been a concern of gay athletes and advocates, some who called for a boycott of the games. Putin said that visitors would be protected from any threats and insisted that Russia does not discriminate against gays in a rare interview with the AP. "Tchaikovsky was a homosexual," he said. "Truth be told, we don't love him because of that, but he was a great musician, and we all love his music. So what? Read it at The Associated Press intel analysts absent 5. State Dept. Knew of Benghazi Risk Well, well. According to an internal government report, an independent panel of experts found the Department of State failed to protect America's high-risk embassies and consulates despite knowing they were vulnerable. This included the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, which was the site of a bloody attack on September 11, 2012. The assessment, which visited all high-risk missions, reveals that the State Department failed to identify the problematic conditions, had no matrix for determining threatened posts other than "experience and intuition," and had no intelligence analyst on staff at the five high-risk facilities. Even after Benghazi, security officials never debriefed survivors to review what went wrong. Read it at Al Jazeera America HUNTRESS DIANA Mexico Vigilante Kills Bus Drivers In response to sexual assaults. BALL AND CHAIN Cali Inmates Can Marry Same-Sex Partners But not other inmates. Getting Closer Apple Will (Maybe) Unveil iPhone September 10 There will definitely be an event. FORGOT PASSWORD? Bracelet Unlocks Devices with Heartbeat Could replace keys and PINs. DAILY GRIND Jon Stewart Returns After 12 weeks off. Rolling Stone The Worst Summer Movies of 2013 Art News Retrospective: When the WPA Was New Us Weekly Jennifer Aniston's Bikini Bod Through The Ages GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast. Up to Speed: Pre-War Politicking by Eli Lake David Frum: What I've Learned by David Frum Are the 40 Days Duo Really a Couple? by Abby Haglage

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