By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

Aleppo, Syria (CNN) - They are so used to seeing blood outside Dar alShifa hospital, the magnet of all suffering in Aleppo, that passersby simply walk over it, oblivious. When they mop out the building's tiny reception area, the blood runs in small, dirty streams into the gutters. This is a hospital trying to get by day-to-day while lacking the most basic in supplies. It has itself been hit by shelling: two separate attacks have left its right side punctured with gaping holes in what was once the maternity ward.

One afternoon, a rush of the most frail and vulnerable come towards the exhausted doctors; children, some suffering from sheer terror. One is malnourished. They have cuts, bruises - but more often much worse. The government has, the doctors say, closed the main children's hospital owing to a paperwork issue, so this is where they must come.

Mohamed is aged eight and was hit by shrapnel from regime shelling in his right leg. It shattered his femur. In Europe, surgery would mean he's playing football again within months, but here a list of precarious challenges form. He remains quiet, brave, patient almost, as the doctors work out what to do. FULL POST

Part 1: Exclusive interview w/ Turkey PM

Part 1 of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan.

Part 2: Exclusive interview w/ Turkey PM

Part 2 of Christiane Amanpour's exclusive interview with Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan.

See more of Christiane Amanpour's interview with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday at 2100 CET, 2300 CET, 1700 HKT and 2200 HKT on CNN International's "Amanpour" program or here at Amanpour.com

(CNN) – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the United States is "lacking of initiative" on Syria and suggested that could be because of the upcoming U.S. election.

During a wide-ranging interview in Istanbul with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Erdogan discussed the 18-month crisis in Syria and touched on a number of other topics, including Iran's suspected nuclear program.

"Right now, there are certain things being expected from the United States. The United States had not yet catered to those expectations," the prime minister said when asked whether he was surprised the United States is not offering anything but "nonlethal support" to the opposition.

"Maybe it's because of the elections - maybe it's because of the pre-election situation in the States. Might be the root cause of the lacking of initiative. Nobody has spoken to us about their reasons, and they are not obliged to state anything. We are very thankful and pleased they have stated that they're against this regime," he said through a translator.  FULL POST

By Samuel Burke, CNN

Reports that Iran is drawing still closer to nuclear weapons capability are ratcheting up the already high tensions between Israel and its ally the United States.

According to the latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has doubled the number of centrifuges it has installed underneath a mountain at the Fordo complex, beyond the reach of an Israeli attack.

Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says there are two ways of looking at that report.

“One is that Iran has made some forward progress. But another way of looking at it is that Iran’s approach has been fairly deliberate and mindful of not wanting to cross certain red lines that could trigger military action.”

But Israeli officials have publically stated they believe Iran is ramming ahead.  FULL POST

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's visit to Iran and his statements on Syria give insight into his leadership.

Everything's just fine in Syria, at least according to President Bashar al-Assad, who appeared in an extensive interview on Syrian television Wednesday.

Assad looked relaxed as he sat down with a reporter from a pro-regime network, Al Addounia, which means "the world."

He gave the impression that despite the ongoing violence, he and his regime have everything under control. FULL POST

By Samuel Burke, CNN

“Republicans are for getting government out of the board room, so they should be for getting the government out of the bedroom,” says Ann Stone from the floor of her party’s convention in Florida. She is the chairwoman of a group called Republicans for Choice.

Talking with CNN’s Ali Velshi about abortion on Wednesday, Stone said, “If we really, truly believe [in] individual rights, this is a position that is totally antithetical to everything else the Republican Party stands for.”

The subject of abortion blew the doors off the American presidential race last week, when Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin laid out his thoughts about abortion in the case of rape. Akin said, “If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Akin comments reverberate worldwide

“That man is a class in and of himself,” Stone says dismissively. “This is not real science. And Akin actually believes this stuff.” FULL POST

From Frederik Pleitgen, CNN

Haifa, Israel (CNN) - Nine years after an American activist was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer, an Israeli civil court ruled Tuesday that Rachel Corrie's death was an accident.

Corrie, 23, was killed in 2003 while trying to block the bulldozer from razing Palestinian homes.

Her parents filed suit against Israel's Ministry of Defense in a quest for accountability and sought just $1 in damages. But Judge Oded Gershon ruled

Tuesday that the family has no right to damages, backing an earlier Israeli investigation that cleared any soldier of wrongdoing.

"I believe this was a bad day not only for our family, but a bad day for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law and also for the country of Israel," her mother, Cindy Corrie, said after the verdict.  FULL POST