Biden Hints at Executive Order on Gun Control













Vice President Biden, meeting today with outside groups on gun safety, told reporters he has already started putting together a list of recommendations that he plans to issue next Tuesday.


Biden meets with representatives of the NRA and other supporters of gun rights on the second day of this week's meetings on gun violence.


But he told reporters Thursday, during meeting a with sportsmen, women and wildlife groups, that he would deliver the list of recommendations to the president on Jan. 15, and that an improved system for background checks has emerged as a a priority for the stakeholders he's met so far.


Biden told a group of sportsmen and wildlife interest groups that he has "never quite heard so much talk about high-capacity magazines" as he has since last month's mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.


Biden met with gun-violence victims' groups and proponents of gun control on Wednesday. Thursday was his opportunity to get a different side of the story. Biden meets with the National Rifle Association and Attorney General Eric Holder meets with representatives from Wal-Mart, one of the largest sellers of firearms in the country.


Spokesmen for the NRA and Wal-Mart confirmed representatives from their organizations would be included in the meetings Thursday. The NRA said it would be represented by James J. Baker, its top lobbyist. Advocates for sportsmen, women's groups, wildlife groups and gun owners were also invited. The vice president is slated to meet with members of the entertainment industry in the evening.








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In December, the NRA called for armed officers to be placed in every school after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.


Wal-Mart initially turned down an invitation to participate in the talks but reversed its decision after it "underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person," a spokesman said.


"We take this issue very seriously and are committed staying engaged in this discussion as the administration and Congress work toward a consensus on the right path forward," David Tovar, vice president of corporate communications for Wal-Mart, said.


The latest meetings come one day after Biden held a first round of talks this week with gun safety advocacy groups and victims of gun violence. Speaking to reporters before the meeting, the vice president expressed the administration's commitment to develop effective gun policy by considering all ideas. He suggested the administration would be ready to take executive action on the issue, which would not require votes from Congress.


"We're here today to deal with a problem that requires our immediate action, urgent action. And the president and I are determined to take action," Biden told reporters before a meeting in his ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion [that] unless we can do everything, we're going to do nothing."


"There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet, but we're compiling it all with the help the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members, as well as legislative action, we believe, is required," Biden said.


Colin Goddard, a survivor of the shooting at Virginia Tech University in 2007, participated in the meeting at the White House Wednesday and said the talks gave the groups "encouragement from the highest office in the country."


"I was really encouraged by seeing how focused and determined the administration is in seeing comprehensive changes to the gun violence in America," Goddard, who is now the assistant director for federal legislation at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told ABC News. "It was really great to see even the Vice President of the United States of America supporting us. He wants to see this done to the end and bringing us all to the table to share our personal stories, share our ideas about what our proposals could be."






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U.N. envoy says 40 years of Assad family rule is "too long"


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrians believe 40 years of Assad family rule is too long, the international mediator for Syria said, the closest he has come to calling directly for President Bashar al-Assad to quit.


The remarks by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi cast doubt on the future of his peace plan, the only major diplomatic initiative to end a war the United Nations says has killed 60,000 people.


He appears to have been pushed to take a firmer stance by a speech Assad delivered on Sunday, which was billed as a new peace proposal but offered no concessions and included a vow never to talk to foes he branded terrorists and Western puppets.


"In Syria, in particular, I think that what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long," Brahimi told Britain's BBC in an interview aired on Wednesday.


"So the change has to be real. It has to be real, and I think that President Assad could take the lead in responding to the aspiration of his people rather than resisting it."


Brahimi's comments were welcomed by the opposition, which has long been angered by the U.N. mediator's refusal to take a firm position on excluding a future role for Assad.


"The statement of Lakhdar Brahimi has been long awaited," the opposition National Coalition's representative to Britain, Walid Saffour, told Reuters.


"He hasn't criticized Bashar al-Assad before, but now after he despaired of Assad after his Sunday speech, he had no other alternative than to say to the world that this rule is a family rule, and more than 40 years is enough."


Assad has ruled since 2000, taking over from his father Hafez, who seized power in a 1970 coup.


Brahimi met Assad in Damascus two weeks ago and has been convening senior U.S. and Russian officials in an effort to narrow differences between the superpowers backing either side in the war. The next round of those talks are due next week.


Brahimi said Assad had told him in December he would launch a new initiative. The veteran Algerian diplomat advised the president that any announcement should go further than previous failed proposals. He was disappointed by Sunday's speech.


MORE SECTARIAN, MORE ONE-SIDED


"I'm afraid what has come out is very much a repeat of previous initiatives that obviously did not work," Brahimi said of Assad's proposals. "It's not really different and perhaps is even more sectarian and more one-sided," he added.


"The time of reforms granted magnanimously from above has passed," Brahimi said. "People want to have a say in how they are governed and they want to take hold of their own future."


Brahimi said there was no military solution to the conflict: "The government will not win. The opposition may win in the long term, but by the time they do, there will be no Syria, so what is the victory in that?"


He said Assad had told him he wanted to run for re-election in 2014. Although Brahimi did not comment directly on whether Assad should be allowed to stand, he said the crisis needed to be resolved by the end of 2013 "or there will be no Syria".


The uprising against Assad is backed mainly by the Sunni Muslim minority, while he is supported mainly by other members of his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, and other religious minorities.


Assad's speech on Sunday was firmly rejected by Western countries and the opposition, which described it as an attempt to cling to power and thwart mediation efforts.


After three days of silence following the speech, Moscow finally offered its support on Wednesday. Assad's proposals "affirmed the readiness for the launch of an inter-Syrian dialogue and for reforming the country on the basis of Syrian sovereignty," the Russian foreign ministry said.


Western countries have been searching for signs of Moscow curbing its support for Assad, hoping that this could finally lever him from power just as Russian withdrawal of backing for Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic heralded his downfall in 2000.


Syria's state news agency, SANA, said Assad's new peace plan had been sent to the United Nations and was in line with Brahimi's peace plan.


Damascus did not immediately comment on Brahimi's remarks. But in social media, where in the past it was the opposition that usually expressed hostility to Brahimi, anger could now be heard from Assad's supporters.


"Brahimi is finished in Syria, he may as well resign," said a pro-Assad twitter user calling himself SyrianCommando.


CHANGE OF TONE


Some opposition supporters were wary of Brahimi's apparent late change of tone. Col. Abdeljabbar Oqeidi, a rebel leader in northern Syria, said he had not heard Brahimi's full remarks but it sounded as if his words were positive.


"Any initiative that doesn't require the entire regime to go and be put on trial will not be enough. We won't negotiate with that criminal or his gangs," he said by telephone.


Rebel fighter Abu Faisal, reached on Skype with the sound of exploding rockets in the background, laughed and said of Brahimi's conclusion that Syrians had enough of the ruling family: "This is a new discovery after two years? Maybe we should worship him now."


On the ground in Syria there was no let-up in fighting, despite four straight days of relentless rain, wind, hail and snowfall that weather officials in neighboring Lebanon and Israel have called the worst winter storm for 20 years.


Rebels made a new push to seize a government air base in Taftanaz in the north of the country, which they failed to take in a three-day offensive last week.


After six months of advances, the rebels now control swathes of the north and east of the country, as well as a crescent of suburbs on the outskirts of Damascus. The government still has firm control of most of the densely populated southwest near the capital, the main north-south highway, the Mediterranean coast and military bases scattered around the country from which its planes and helicopters can attack with impunity.


The extreme weather has raised concern for the 600,000 refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, displaced people within Syria and civilians, especially in rebel-held areas where fuel and food are growing scarce.


Opposition activists say dozens of people have died because of the storm in Syria. The weather claimed at least 17 lives in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.


Civilians were sheltering in caves from the rain, and using plastic tarps to make homes among abandoned Byzantine ruins known as the Dead Cities, said Fadi Yasin, an activist in northwest Idlib province.


Residents in mainly rebel-held Aleppo were burning furniture and doors to stay warm, said Michal Przedalicki, an aid worker from Czech charity People in Need working in northern Syria.


"Unfortunately, I think it is quite likely that people will die from the severe weather conditions. Already people have not been eating enough for several months, and that exposes their bodies to more disease and infection."


In Damascus, rebels freed 48 Iranian captives they had been holding since August in return for the government releasing more than 2,000 prisoners. The Iranians arrived at a hotel in central Damascus.


(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes and Alexander Dziadosz in Beirut and Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Giles Elgood)



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Football: Winning start for LionsXII






SINGAPORE: The LionsXII have got their 2013 Malaysian Super League (MSL) campaign off to a winning start with victory over Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) FA on Wednesday.

A solitary strike from captain Shahril Ishak in the 66th minute was enough to give the Singaporean side a 1-0 win at the Paroi Stadium in Seremban.

ATM FA missed a golden opportunity when Marlon James miscued three yards from goal, while defender Irwan Shah looped his shot wide late on with just ATM goalkeeper Farizal Harun to beat.

The LionsXII next face Selangor this Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium in their first home fixture of the season.

- TODAY/jc



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Pakistani army brutality may force India to rethink on peace

NEW DELHI: An angry India on Wednesday summoned Pakistani high commissioner Salman Bashir to the foreign office to lodge a strong protest over the killing and mutilation of Indian soldiers, even suggesting that the incident may force New Delhi to do a rethink on its re-engagement with Pakistan. Hours later, Pakistan reacted by accusing India of making "baseless and unfounded allegations".

With the Congress party too reacting strongly against the "barbaric act", the government seemed to recognize that the incident will "inevitably force'' India to draw conclusions about Pakistan's sincerity in carrying forward the bilateral engagement. As Pakistan remorselessly dismissed India's protest, the Indian position was endorsed by the US.

Highly-placed government sources told TOI the US had conveyed to India that Washington looked upon the incident as "a deliberate escalation of violence or reprisal". Sources said this had been "privately'' conveyed by the US to Indian authorities.

Sources here said the government was "perplexed" with Pakistan's aggression as the government in Islamabad has backed up its peace overtures with the claim that Pakistan army was on board. They recalled the discussion between the two sides only on December 27 last year in which Pakistan emphatically said that it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement of 2003, describing it as an important confidence building measure that needed to be respected in letter and spirit.

The unprovoked killing of Indian soldiers and brutalization of their bodies seems to have raised doubts about Pakistan's claim that its army was also invested in the peace process, and would make it difficult for the Manmohan Singh government to actively pursue his desire for peace, especially after the sharp political reaction to the gruesome provocation.

India desisted from expressing misgivings about the peace process against the backdrop of the outrage. Even as he insisted on the importance of ensuring that the situation did not escalate, foreign minister Salman Khurshid warned of an adverse impact on the ongoing peace process. Describing the incident as unacceptable, he said India was expecting "appropriate'' response from Pakistan over India's protest.

Khurshid said the Pakistani high commissioner had been spoken to in very strong terms. "We had discussions on 27th December on conventional CBMs like ceasefire 2003. Violations of that is a matter of great concern. And if that is not immediately contained, it would have an adverse impact on what we have been trying to do for such a long time," he said.

Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai told Bashir that the "barbaric act'' needs to be investigated by Pakistani authorities immediately and the guilty brought to book.

Pakistan though strongly rejected the Indian allegation of an "attack across the LoC on its military patrol in which two Indian soldiers were claimed to have been killed''.

"Pakistan is prepared to hold investigations through the United Nations Military Observes Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) on the recent ceasefire violations on the Line of Control,'' the Pakistani high commission said in a statement. Pakistan's offer is meaningless for India as it doesn't recognize UNMOGIP and had conveyed to the UN after the 1972 Shimla Agreement that it had no place in India.

Pakistan also talked about the need for "abiding and strengthening existing military mechanisms to ensure that there is no recurrence of such violations in future".

"Pakistan has taken a number of steps to normalize and improve bilateral relations. It is important that both sides make serious efforts in maintaining this improvement and avoid negative propaganda,'' the high commission statement said.

Khurshid insisted that India did not want an escalation in the situation. "Whatever has happened should not be escalated. We cannot and must not allow for an escalation of a very unwholesome event that has taken place," he said.

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Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer


WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported a tantalizing hint that one day, there might be.


Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.


How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in the ovaries or the lining of the uterus, and float down to rest in the cervix, where Pap tests are performed. These cells are too rare to recognize under the microscope. But researchers from Johns Hopkins University used some sophisticated DNA testing on the Pap samples to uncover the evidence — gene mutations that show cancer is present.


In a pilot study, they analyzed Pap smears from 46 women who already were diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer. The new technique found all the endometrial cancers and 41 percent of the ovarian tumors, the team reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.


This is very early-stage research, and women shouldn't expect any change in their routine Paps. It will take years of additional testing to prove if the so-called PapGene technique really could work as a screening tool, used to spot cancer in women who thought they were healthy.


"Now the hard work begins," said Hopkins oncologist Dr. Luis Diaz, whose team is collecting hundreds of additional Pap samples for more study and is exploring ways to enhance the detection of ovarian cancer.


But if it ultimately pans out, "the neat part about this is, the patient won't feel anything different," and the Pap wouldn't be performed differently, Diaz added. The extra work would come in a lab.


The gene-based technique marks a new approach toward cancer screening, and specialists are watching closely.


"This is very encouraging, and it shows great potential," said American Cancer Society genetics expert Michael Melner.


"We are a long way from being able to see any impact on our patients," cautioned Dr. Shannon Westin of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She reviewed the research in an accompanying editorial, and said the ovarian cancer detection would need improvement if the test is to work.


But she noted that ovarian cancer has poor survival rates because it's rarely caught early. "If this screening test could identify ovarian cancer at an early stage, there would be a profound impact on patient outcomes and mortality," Westin said.


More than 22,000 U.S. women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, and more than 15,000 die. Symptoms such as pain and bloating seldom are obvious until the cancer is more advanced, and numerous attempts at screening tests have failed.


Endometrial cancer affects about 47,000 women a year, and kills about 8,000. There is no screening test for it either, but most women are diagnosed early because of postmenopausal bleeding.


The Hopkins research piggybacks on one of the most successful cancer screening tools, the Pap, and a newer technology used along with it. With a standard Pap, a little brush scrapes off cells from the cervix, which are stored in a vial to examine for signs of cervical cancer. Today, many women's Paps undergo an additional DNA-based test to see if they harbor the HPV virus, which can spur cervical cancer.


So the Hopkins team, funded largely by cancer advocacy groups, decided to look for DNA evidence of other gynecologic tumors. It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test. He said the technique could detect both early-stage and more advanced tumors. Importantly, tests of Paps from 14 healthy women turned up no false alarms.


The endometrial cancers may have been easier to find because cells from those tumors don't have as far to travel as ovarian cancer cells, Diaz said. Researchers will study whether inserting the Pap brush deeper, testing during different times of the menstrual cycle, or other factors might improve detection of ovarian cancer.


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Holmes Took Disturbing Photos Before Massacre













Hours before James Holmes allegedly carried out a massacre at a Colorado movie theater he took a series of menacing self-portraits with his dyed orange hair curling out of from under a black skull cap and his eyes covered with black contacts.


A prosecutor told the court after the photographs were shown that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart."


Those haunting photographs, found on his iPhone, were shown in court today on the last day of a preliminary testimony that will lead to a decision on whether the case will go to trial. The hearing concluded without Holmes' defense calling any witnesses.


The judge's decision on whether the case will proceed to trial is expected on Friday.


Holmes, 25, is accused of opening fire on a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo., on July 20, 2012, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others during a showing of "Dark Knight Rises."


The photos presented in court showed Holmes mugging for his iPhone camera just hours before the shooting.


Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.


Half-a-dozen photos showed Holmes with his clownish red-orange hair curled out from underneath a black skull cap. He wore black contact lenses in some of the pictures.


In one particularly disturbing image, he was making a scowling face with his tongue out. He was whistling in another photo. Holmes is smiling in his black contacts and flaming hair in yet another with the muzzle of one of his Glock pistols in the forefront.








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Yet another showed him dressed in black tactical gear, posing with an AR-15 rifle.


Victims' families in the courtroom stared straight ahead, showing little emotion while the photos were shown. Tom Teves, whose son Alex was killed in the theater, kept an intense stare on the pictures.


Other photos seized from the iPhone show pictures that a detective testified were taken of the interior of the Aurora movie theater in the days leading up to the attack, on June 29, July 5 and July 11.


Before the prosecution called for the photos, public defender Tammy Brady objected. Prosecutor Karen Pearson said that the photos showed deliberation and extreme indifference. Judge William Sylvester overruled the objection and the photos were released.


In Pearson's closing statement, she said there is an abundance of direct evidence that Holmes "wanted to kill call of them. He knew what he was doing."


She said that Holmes had a "depravity of human heart" and that he "went into the theater without knowing or caring who they are." The prosecutor said he "picked the perfect venue for the perfect crime."


Pearson said prosecutors made a decision not to include all of the people who were in theaters eight and nine that night. If they had, they could have had 1,500 counts against Holmes. Instead, they included anyone who had physical injuries, including those with gunshot wounds and those who were hurt running out of the theater. There are 166 counts in all.


The judge has taken the case under advisement and there will be a status hearing or arraignment on Friday when the judge will decide whether the case will proceed to a full trial. Holmes' attorneys have not yet said whether they plan on using a insanity defense, in which case Holmes could possibly be deemed unfit to stand trial. Another possibility is that the hearing could set the stage for a plea deal.


This week's testimony has included emotional testimony from first responders, details about Holmes' elaborately booby trapped apartment, a rundown of his arsenal of legally purchased weapons and descriptions of his bizarre behavior following the shooting.



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Insight: Aleppo misery eats at Syrian rebel support


ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) - At a crowded market stall in Syria, a middle-aged couple, well dressed, shuffle over to press a folded note, furtively, into the hand of a foreign reporter.


It is the kind of silent cry for help against a reign of fear that has been familiar to journalists visiting Syria over the past two years. Only this is not the Damascus of President Bashar al-Assad but rebel-held Aleppo; the note laments misrule under the revolution and hopes Assad can defeat its "terrorism".


"We used to live in peace and security until this malicious revolution reached us and the Free Syrian Army started taking bread by force," the unidentified couple wrote. "We ask God to help the regime fight the Free Syrian Army and terrorism - we are with the sovereignty of President Bashar al-Assad forever."


While they might not be all they seemed - agents of Assad's beleaguered security apparatus want to blacken the rebels' name - their sentiments are far from rare in Aleppo, Syria's biggest city and once vibrant hub of trade and industry, whose diverse urban communities now face hardship and chaos at the hands of motley bands of fighters recruited from surrounding rural areas.


As government forces fight on in parts of Aleppo, in large areas that have been under rebel control for six months or more complaints are getting louder about indiscipline among the fighters, looting and a general lack of security and necessities like running water, bread and electricity in districts that have been pounded by tanks and hit by Assad's air force.


Recognizing that mistrust, rebel units have set up command and policing structures they see forming a basis of institutions which might one day run the whole country and which, meanwhile, they hope can show Arab and Western supporters that they have the organization to handle aid in the form of money and weapons.


For those who fear the worst for Syria now that the revolt has unleashed long suppressed ethnic and sectarian rivalries, however, evidence in Aleppo that these new institutions have had little practical impact on often rival rebel groups is ominous.


And all the while relations grow testier between the rebels and Aleppines, for whom many fighters harbor some disdain after the urbanites' failed to rise up on their own against Assad.


"PARASITES"


Rebel commanders interviewed in and around Aleppo in the past two weeks acknowledged problems within the FSA - an army in name only, made up of brigades competing for recognition and resources. But they laid much of the blame on "bad apples" and opportunists and said steps are being taken to put things right.


"There has been a lot of corruption in the Free Syrian Army's battalions - stealing, oppressing the people - because there are parasites that have entered the Free Syrian Army," said Abu Ahmed, an engineer who heads a 35-man unit of the Tawheed Brigade, reckoned to be the largest in Aleppo province.


Abu Ahmed, who comes from a small town on the Turkish border and like many in Syria would be identified only by the familiar form of his name, estimated that most people in Aleppo, a city of over two million, were lukewarm at best to a 21-month-old uprising that is dominated by the Sunni Muslim rural poor.


"They don't have a revolutionary mindset," he said, putting support for Assad at 70 percent among an urban population that includes many ethnic Kurds, Christians and members of Assad's Alawite minority. But he also acknowledged that looting and other abuses had cost the incoming rebels much initial goodwill.


"The Free Syrian Army has lost its popular support," said Abu Ahmed, who said the Tawheed Brigade was now diversifying from fighting to talking on civic roles, including efforts to restore electricity supplies and deal with bread shortages. His own wife was setting up a school after months without classes.


Hunger and insecurity are key themes wherever Aleppines gather this winter. Outside a busy bakery in one rebel-held neighborhood men complained of having to stand in line for hours in the hope of bread, and of feeling the need to arm themselves for their own protection on the streets of the city.


Schools are being stripped of desks and chairs for firewood.


LOOTING


Lieutenant Mohammed Tlas, like many FSA officers, defected from Assad's army. He now commands the 500 men of the Suqoor al-Shahbaa Brigade and put civilian complaints down to "bad seeds" who can label themselves as FSA fighters without any vetting.


"There are some brigades that loot from the people, and they are fundamentally bad seeds," he said, chain-smoking in a green army sweater as he sat at his desk in a spartan office. "Anyone can carry a rifle and do whatever he wants."


But concern about fighting other anti-Assad units holds Abu Golan back from trying to contain abuses, for now: "Are we going to be fighting Bashar and them?" Tlas asked of untrustworthy new fighters. "There's a lot of that in Aleppo ... We cannot reject them. It's not the time for that. Those are the bad seeds."


Many rebel commanders have a low opinion of their fellows. Abu Marwan, a uniformed young air force pilot leading a long siege of a government air base, described another rebel leader as running his brigade as a personal fiefdom, ignoring any semblance of military hierarchy by promoting his favorites.


"It was like the regime all over again, wanting only their own family or sect to rule," he told Reuters as a walkie-talkie cackled nearby. "After the regime falls, we still have a long battle just to clean up the revolutionaries.


"There are a lot of parasites."


REBEL POLICE


Some rebels in Aleppo have formed what they call a military police force to try to stop abuses. Headed by another defector, Brigadier-General Zaki Ali Louli, it is funded by the Tawheed and Mohamed Sultan Fateh brigades, Louli said, and aims to coordinate with others. He declined to say how many men he had.


"We're in the final stage of the revolution and the tyrant Assad regime is fading," he said in a sprawling police building where rebels in army fatigues worked in offices. "We have set up institutions that in the future will become the administration," he added of his hopes for a post-Assad role for his unit.


"In each regiment, there's a police officer whose responsibility is to observe the revolutionaries and tell us about all their observations within that regiment," he said, as he stamped paperwork. They pay particularly close attention to those who join up "on the pretence that they are fighters".


Sometimes, Louli said, "through observing them it becomes obvious to us that they are anomalous". On the alert for agents of Assad, the rebels' military police is quick to remove those it does not trust, and also vets new defectors from the army.


A sister institution deals with complaints from Aleppo civilians, said Louli, adding that he was in talks to spread that organizational model nationwide.


Such hopes for national structures reflect similar moves in the overall command of the opposition movement. After a National Coalition was formed abroad in November with Arab and Western backing, an Islamist-dominated military command was set up last month to oversee operations against Assad's forces inside Syria.


Accounts differ on how effective the new structure is but rebel leaders say there is a clearer chain of command than before, and rebel groups are more aware of who is in charge of which sectors within Aleppo and the surrounding countryside.


Lieutenant Tlas, whose Suqoor, or Falcons, brigade has been in the thick of fighting in the city, says the rebel forces now have a combined operations room and hold weekly meetings for all brigades, as well as daily gatherings of frontline commanders.


"STONE AGE"


"Basically a ministry of defense has been created. A force for Syria," he said. "But this force needs weapons and money."


That is a common refrain among those fighting Assad, and reflects frustration at hesitation among Western powers in particular to aid rebel groups whose wider goals are unclear.


The United States has branded one rebel force a "terrorist" organization, accusing it of links to al Qaeda. Most Islamist fighters - including Tlas, who sits beside a black flag bearing a religious slogan - have declared loyalty to the Western-backed National Coalition. But allies in the West remain suspicious.


While there are arms coming in from abroad, most rebels complain of a lack of weapons and a chronic shortage of ammunition, which has hampered their advance on several fronts.


Tlas said he been told that only a few thousand bullets had reached rebel forces in Aleppo province in one month and sources of revenue were drying up. In desperation, some leaders have sought out wealthy Gulf Arabs to fund their revolt.


One Kuwaiti businessman met Tlas: "He came on a tour, we showed him the different fronts, immersed him in the atmosphere of a war zone and even let him fire a rifle," he said. "He left here really happy. I thought ... he would solve everything.


"And we never heard back from him. Maybe he got scared of the rifle. That was about a month and a half ago."


As the war grinds on, and despite efforts by some commanders to create a semblance of order, some Aleppines are growing impatient with the Free Syrian Army: "We don't care about the regime," said 48-year-old Abu Majid, who worked in one of Aleppo's many textile factories. "We need peace and security."


Sitting on a plastic chair in the middle of a busy market on Thirtieth Street, Abu Majid held the rebels responsible for desperate conditions in the city: "We've gone back to the Stone Age. The Free Syrian Army must get an organized leadership.


"At the beginning people rallied behind them; now they're alienated from the rebels."


Tlas, who comes from central Syria, and other rebel commanders in the northern city bristle at such complaints, saying their men, too, are short of bread and power.


Of Aleppo's civilians, Tlas said: "They think the Free Syrian Army owns everything or that it can substitute a state."


While many people in Aleppo still say they, too, want rid of Assad, the rebels' inability to bring order or to improve the miserable conditions of the city, an ancient jewel of the Arab world now ravaged by 21st-century war, is losing them support.


"The Free Syrian Army's brand has mostly been tarnished," said Abu Marwan, the pilot.


"After it gained an international reputation for being an army that is fighting for the Syrian people, for Syria, all this stuff, these people, has diminished the value of the Free Army."


(Editing by Dominic Evans and Alastair Macdonald)



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Euro unemployment hits 'unacceptable' high






BRUSSELS: European unemployment has hit an unacceptable high, as one national leader put it on Tuesday, with dire figures in Spain highlighting a growing north-south divide that experts warn will only get worse.

The unemployment rate across the troubled 17-nation eurozone hit 11.8 per cent in November, up from 11.7 per cent in October, with the number of people out of work in the single currency area now nudging 19 million.

The 19th rise in a row for the eurozone, home to some 330 million people, represented an increase of more than two million on the dole compared with a year ago, according to data published by the EU statistics service Eurostat.

London-based IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer calculated the cumulative increase since April 2011 as 3.278 million after another 113,000 people lost their jobs.

"The only crumb of comfort was that this was the smallest rise since August, although it did follow a particularly sharp rise of 220,000 in October," Archer noted, before adding that he expected the jobless rate to "move clearly above 12 per cent during 2013."

The jobless numbers exceeded 26 million for the first time across the full 27-member European Union, which includes Britain and Poland, but the EU as a whole posted an unchanged unemployment rate of 10.7 per cent.

Such levels are "completely unacceptable," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, during a visit to Germany.

Eurostat figures showed that more jobs were lost over the past year in the eurozone, at 2.015 million, than in the 27-member EU, where the number was slightly lower at 2.012 million.

Hit by a property market bust and riddled with bad debt in its banks, Spain recorded the highest unemployment rate of all European countries -- at 26.6 per cent, worse even than bailed-out Greece.

Among under-25s, both those countries reported unemployment rates that hovered around 57 per cent.

According to figures that were seasonally-adjusted for comparative purposes, the November unemployment rate in key rival economies was 7.8 per cent for the United States and 4.1 per cent for Japan.

"2012 has been another very bad year for Europe in terms of unemployment and the deteriorating social situation," said European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor.

"The risk of poverty or exclusion is constantly growing," he said, warning that "most national welfare systems have lost much of their ability to protect household incomes."

He added in reference to Germany and other northern economies faring far better than Europe's southern Mediterranean rim: "The divergence is especially striking between the north and the south of the eurozone."

Giving his annual report on employment trends, Andor said it was "unlikely that Europe will see much socio-economic improvement in 2013" and called for "appropriate labour market reforms and improvements in the design of welfare systems."

The Commission concluded there was a divergence between "countries that seem trapped in a downward spiral of falling output, fast-rising unemployment and eroding disposable incomes, and those that have so far shown good or at least some resilience."

Southern and peripheral countries whose governments and companies face higher interest rates or lack access to market financing will continue to struggle, the EU executive warned.

- AFP/jc



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Multi Agency Centre had alerted of a terrorist raid in LoC

NEW DELHI: The Multi Agency Centre (MAC) had issued warnings in Jammu on Sunday and here on Monday to the Army about a possible terrorist raid on one of the military posts in Mendhar, raising questions if the raid was a joint operation of the Pakistani Army and terrorists.

The warning came true so precisely — unlike several occasions in the past when MAC has warned of such raids that never happened — that it has baffled sources in the intelligence agencies if a raid was in the offing over the last two days, at least since Sunday when both sides exchanged fire just before the India-Pakistan ODI here. It is also entirely possible that Tuesday's raid may not be what the warning spoke about.

The MAC warning had said that there was likelihood of a raid on a military post, or planting of mines along the patrol routes of Indian soldiers. The incident, the warning had said, would take place in Mendhar sector.

Inputs had said that the raid or mine laying was part of a coordinated terrorist effort, under Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), to attack the Indian Army. Noticeably, the warning had said that it would be a terrorist action.

However, the raid on the post manned by the 13 Rajputana Rifles unit had all tell-tale signs of an Army operation, according to Army sources. Sources in the intelligence establishment said the operation could be a joint action of the Pakistani Army and terrorists. They have been watching heightened action in the area for the past few days since the Sunday firing.

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James Holmes' Elaborate Booby Trap Plan Revealed













A gasoline-soaked carpet, loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today.


FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner told a Colorado court about Holmes' complex plans to booby trap his apartment. Gumbinner said he interviewed Holmes on July 20, hours after he killed 12 and wounded 58 during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."


"He said he rigged the apartment to explode to get law enforcement to send resources to his apartment instead of the theater," Gumbinner said.


Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.


His plan failed to prompt someone into triggering the bombs.


Gumbinner said Holmes had created two traps that would have set off the blast.


The apartment was rigged with a tripwire at the front door connected to a mixture of chemicals that would create heat, sparks and flame. Holmes had soaked the carpet with a gasoline mixture that was designed to be ignited by the tripwire, Gumbinner said.


"It would have caused fire and sparks," the agent said, and "would have made the entire apartment explode or catch fire."


Holmes had set his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music that he hoped would cause a disturbance loud enough that someone would call police, who would then respond and set off the explosion by entering the apartment.








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Gumbinner said Holmes also told him he rigged a fuse between three glass jars that would explode. He filled the jars with a deadly homemade chemical mixture that would burn so hot it could not be extinguished with water.


Holmes set a second detonation system outside the building, the agent said.


Holmes, Gumbinner said, rigged one of the triggering devices, called a "pyro trip box" with a remote control. He then took the remote control outside and placed it on top of a white trash bag near the apartment building.


Next to the remote, Holmes placed a remote control car. Inside the trash bag, he put a portable stereo set to play 40 minutes of silence, followed by loud music, the agent said.


The plan, Gumbinner explained, was for someone to hear the music and be drawn to the remote control car with what appeared to be the remote control lying next to it. When that person picked up the remote to activate the car, he or she would have unknowingly triggered the explosion in the apartment.


Holmes also left rows of white powder on the floor, which Gumbinner said was ammonium chloride. The powder, Gumbinner believes, was meant "to scare us" and would have created a large amount of smoke if it had ignited.


Prosecutors showed several photographs of the devices in court.


Earlier in the day, prosecutors played two 911 calls in court, including the very first call from movie goer Kevin Quinonez as the shooting was still underway.


At least 30 rapid-fire gunshots could be heard in the background of the 27-second call, along with screaming.


"Gunshots?" Quinonez can be heard saying.


The dispatcher pleads with Quinonez to give the theater address, but the sound of gunshots and chaos drowns him out.


"Say it loud," the dispatcher pleads before the call goes dead.


In a second call, Kaylan Bailey calls to say her two cousins, Ashley Moser and Veronica Moser Sullivan, have been shot. One is breathing and the other is not, she says.


"Are there officers near you?" the dispatcher asks.


Amid the noise and confusion, the dispatcher pleads with the Bailey to start CPR on 6-year-old Veronica Moser Sullivan, who has stopped breathing. Veronica later died.


Victims and families listening to the calls in the courtroom were weeping openly and holding hands. One woman buried her face in her hands. Holmes showed no emotion.






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