It's a Girl for Rosie O'Donnell




Celebrity Baby Blog





01/09/2013 at 03:30 PM ET



It’s baby number five for Rosie O’Donnell!


The comedian and wife Michelle Rounds welcomed daughter Dakota through adoption on Saturday, Jan. 5, her rep confirms to PEOPLE. Weighing in at 5 lbs., 5 oz., “moms and baby are healthy and happy.”


O’Donnell, 50, Tweeted the happy news Wednesday.


“We [are] thrilled to announce the arrival of [our] daughter Dakota – #withloveandthanks – AMEN,” she writes, sharing a snapshot of herself cuddling with Rounds and their new baby.


O’Donnell is already mom to children Vivienne, 10, Blake, 13, Chelsea, 15, and Parker, 17, with her ex, Kelli Carpenter.


After suffering a heart attack and dealing with Rounds’ desmoid tumors diagnosis last year, O’Donnell tells PEOPLE, “I will gladly stay home. I want to try to work hard at getting myself healthy, on Mich and I getting started and maybe finding a baby.”


Rosie O'Donnell Welcomes Daughter Dakota
Courtesy Rosie O’Donnell


– Sarah Michaud with reporting by Liz McNeil


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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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Wall Street up after Alcoa earnings news

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday as Alcoa's better-than-expected revenue and a positive outlook boosted investor confidence ahead of an earnings season expected to show lackluster results.


The session's rise was the first of the week after the market retreated from the S&P 500's highest point in five years, hit last Friday. Worries about a weak earnings season kept the markets down earlier in the week.


Shares of Alcoa Inc were trading flat after early gains, following the company's earnings release after the bell on Tuesday. The largest U.S. aluminum producer said it expects global demand for aluminum to grow in 2013.


Traders have been cautious as the current quarter was shaping up like the previous one, with companies lowering expectations in recent weeks, said James Dailey, portfolio manager of TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


"So the big question and focus is on revenue, and Alcoa had better-than-expected revenue," which calmed the market a little, Dailey said.


Overall, corporate profits were expected to beat the previous quarter's meager 0.1 percent rise. Both earnings and revenues in the fourth quarter were expected to grow by 1.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.


The lowered expectations also leave room for companies to surprise investors even if their results are not particularly strong, analysts said.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 59.47 points, or 0.45 percent, at 13,388.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 3.86 points, or 0.26 percent, at 1,461.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 14.93 points, or 0.48 percent, at 3,106.74.


Clearwire Corp shares jumped 7.7 percent to $3.15 after Dish Network bid $2.28 billion for the company, trumping a previous Sprint offer and setting the stage for a takeover battle for the wireless service provider that owns crucial mobile spectrum.


Herbalife Ltd stock rose 4 percent to $39.89 following news that hedge fund manager Dan Loeb took a stake of more than 8 percent in the nutritional supplements seller, according to a regulatory filing. Prominent short-seller Bill Ackman had previously accused the company of being a "pyramid scheme," which Herbalife has vehemently denied.


Facebook Inc shares rose above $30 per share for the first time since July 2012, trading up 4.7 percent at $30.43. Facebook, which has been tight-lipped about its plans after its botched IPO in May, invited the media to its headquarters next week.


Apollo Group Inc slid after heavier losses early on, a day after it reported lower student sign-ups for the third straight quarter and cut its operating profit outlook for 2013. Apollo's shares were last off 6.6 percent at $19.55.


(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)



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Venezuela court endorses Chavez inauguration delay


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's top court endorsed the postponement of Hugo Chavez's inauguration this week and ruled on Wednesday that the cancer-stricken president and his deputy would continue in their roles, despite a cacophony of opposition complaints.


Critics had argued the 58-year-old's absence from his own swearing-in ceremony on January 10 meant a caretaker president must be appointed. Chavez has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost a month following surgery in Cuba.


"Right now we cannot say when, how or where the president will be sworn in," Supreme Court Chief Judge Luisa Morales told a news conference.


"As president re-elect there is no interruption of performance of duties ... The inauguration can be carried out at a later date before the Supreme Court."


The decision opens the door in theory for Chavez to remain in office for weeks or months more from a Cuban hospital bed - though there is no evidence he is even conscious.


It leaves the South American country in the hands of Vice President Nicolas Maduro, as de facto leader of the government.


The opposition say that is a brazen violation of the constitution, and that Maduro should leave office on Thursday when the current presidential term had been due to expire.


They say National Assembly boss Diosdado Cabello, another powerful Chavez ally, should take over the running of the country while new elections would be organized within 30 days.


Maduro would be the ruling Socialist Party's candidate.


Government leaders insist Chavez, 58, is fulfilling his duties as head of state, even though official medical bulletins say he suffered complications after the surgery, including a severe lung infection, and has had trouble breathing.


His resignation or death would transform politics in the OPEC nation, where he is revered by poor supporters thankful for his social largesse, but denounced by opponents as a dictator.


RALLY PLANNED FOR THURSDAY


Moody's Investors Service warned on Wednesday that Venezuela's sovereign credit rating, already at junk status, faces short-term risks over any political transition.


Prices of Venezuela's widely traded bonds have soared lately on Chavez's health woes, but dipped this week as investors' expectations of a quick government change apparently dimmed.


The president has undergone four operations, as well as weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, since being diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in his pelvic area in June 2011.


He looked to have staged a remarkable recovery from the illness last year, winning a new six-year term at a hard-fought election in October. But within weeks of his victory he had to return to Havana for more treatment.


The government has called for a huge rally outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Thursday, and allied leaders including Uruguay's Jose Mujica and Bolivia's Evo Morales have said they will visit - despite Chavez's absence.


Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, a close friend, has announced plans to visit Chavez in Cuba on Friday.


The unprecedented silence by Chavez, who is well known for his hours-long rambling speeches, has convinced many Venezuelans that his 14 years in power may be coming to an end.


Unlike after his previous operations in Cuba, no photographs have been published of him recuperating, and social media in Venezuela is buzzing with rumors he is on life support.


Cabello, the pugnacious head of the National Assembly, has repeatedly ruled out taking over as caretaker president to order a new presidential election, saying Chavez remains in charge.


"Tomorrow we will all go to the Miraflores palace," he told a televised Socialist Party meeting on Wednesday. "The people will be invested as president. We are all Chavez!"


(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga and Diego Ore; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)



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Nintendo president describes Wii U sales as ‘not bad’






Nintendo’s (NTDOY) new Wii U gaming console came out of the gate strong and saw first-week sales reach 400,000 units in the U.S., however sales have since stalled and the system has been labeled a flop by some. While consumer interest in the company’s new console has slowed right out of the gate, Nintendo’s president recently said that he isn’t worried even though sales aren’t where he hoped they would be.


[More from BGR: Smooth sailing is over for Apple]






“At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn’t as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview with Reuters. “But sales are not bad, and I feel it’s selling steadily.”


[More from BGR: New ‘higher-end’ iPhone reportedly launching by June, low-end model could be coming as well]


The executive declined to give specific details on sales or forecasts, although he did say that Nintendo plans to focus on developing attractive software for its 3DS handheld to appeal to new users, and will seek new ways to increase Wii U sales in a changing market.


Nintendo previously announced that it hopes to sell 5.5 million Wii U devices by the end of March and more than 24 million Wii U games in the same timeframe.


This article was originally published by BGR


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Harley Pasternak: How Better Sleep Keeps Your Weight Down






Only on People.com








01/08/2013 at 03:45 PM EST







Harley Pasternak


Courtesy Harley Pasternak


Sleep well, stay lean!

When I don't get a good night's sleep, I'm exhausted, grumpy and starving! Needless to say, I don't have the energy to do my daily workout, and I eat everything in sight. After a few sleepless nights, I swear I feel myself actually getting a little heavier ... and I probably am!

There are several reasons why not getting enough (quality) sleep can make you gain weight.

The first has to do with your hormones – specifically, ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is an appetite-stimulating hormone produced in your stomach that tells your body when it should eat. Leptin influences energy expenditure and basically tells you when to stop eating. When you don't get enough sleep, your leptin levels decrease, so you feel less satisfied and eat more to compensate. And your ghrelin levels rise, so your appetite increases. Studies have shown that you may eat up to 20 percent more food because of this.

The second factor has to do with how lack of sleep leads not only to poor food choices but to decreased energy expenditure during the day. When we're tired, we're more likely to choose convenience over health when it comes to meals and snacks. We tell ourselves it's easier and faster to stop at the drive-through on the way home rather than prepare a nutritious meal. Also, we're more drawn to sugary sweets for an energy boost, which are just empty calories. Plus, we don't have the energy to go through the normal motions of our day, much less exercise, so we're burning minimal calories.

Finally, the longer you're awake, the more time you have to eat. If you eat dinner at 7 and don't go to bed until 12:30, you're probably going for a late snack. If you go to bed before you get hungry again, you're saving hundreds of calories and getting the rest your brain and body needs.

So let's resolve this year to get more sleep. Here are some tips my clients have shared with me over the years that have helped them get more zzz's.

1. Get ready for bed as soon as you get home.

This stops the "I'm too tired for bed" cycle that many of us know all too well – eating dinner and then watching TV or reading until we're already half asleep. Right when you get home, change in to your comfy clothes, wash your face, take out your contacts, etc. This mentally and physically prepares us for bed.

2. Make your bedroom a tech-free zone.

TVs and iPads and phones give us unnecessary stimulation when we're supposed to be relaxing. Then all night they're chirping and chiming at us – jeopardizing the quality of our sleep, which can be just as harmful as diminished quantity.

3. Be active all day.

Studies show that people who are physically active get more quality sleep than those who aren't. Go for a walk in the morning before work, and after dinner.

4. Have a caffeine cut-off.

As a self-professed coffee addict, this one is the hardest for me. Over years of trial and error, I've found that if I cut off caffeine intake by 2 p.m., I have a more restful night's sleep.

5. Plan ahead for tomorrow.

This one is key for my wife. Every night she lays out what she's going to wear the next day, and packs her lunch and snacks and sticks them in the fridge. She goes to bed knowing she won't have to scramble in the morning, which helps her rest easier.

6. Try sensory deprivation.

Don't laugh, but my wife and I both sleep with earplugs in. We find that by shutting out any and all sounds, we fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Try it. You'll see what I mean.

What are your favorite sleep tips? Tweet me @harleypasternak – and let me know.

Check back every Wednesday for more insider tips from celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak on Hollywood's hottest bodies – and learn how to get one yourself! Plus: Follow Harley on Twitter at @harleypasternak

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Wall Street indexes slide, AT&T down

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dropped on Tuesday as investors pulled back from last week's rally on the "fiscal cliff" deal in Washington, and ahead of what is expected to be a weak earnings season.


AT&T Inc stock dropped 1.5 percent to $34.42, making it one of the biggest drags on the S&P 500, after the company said it sold more than 10 million smartphones in the quarter. This figure beat the same quarter in 2011, but also meant increased costs for the wireless service provider.


Providers like AT&T pay hefty subsidies to handset makers so that they can offer device discounts to customers who commit to two-year contracts.


After a 4.3 percent jump in the two sessions around the close of the fiscal cliff negotiations, the S&P has fallen and investors have found few catalysts to extend the rally that took the benchmark to five-year highs.


"We had a brief respite courtesy of what happened on the fiscal cliff deal and the flip of the calendar with new money coming into the market," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.


"But now the stark reality of uncertainty with regard to earnings, plus the negotiations on the debt ceiling, are there and that doesn't give investors a lot of reason to take bets on the long side."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 73.68 points, or 0.55 percent, at 13,310.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> dropped 7.31 points, or 0.50 percent, at 1,454.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 12.53 points, or 0.40 percent, at 3,086.29.


Fourth quarter profits are expected to beat the previous quarter's lackluster results, but analyst estimates are down sharply from October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.


With AT&T's fall, the S&P telecom services index <.gspl> was the worst performer of the 10 major S&P sectors, down 2.6 percent.


Sears Holdings shares dropped nearly 5 percent to $40.79 a day after the company said Chairman Edward Lampert would take over as CEO from Louis D'Ambrosio, who is stepping down due to a family member's health issue. The U.S. retailer also reported a 1.8 percent decline in quarter-to-date sales at stores open at least a year.


Markets went lower as some of the first reported earnings were weak.


"It doesn't seem to be bouncing back, it might stay here or sell off a little further," said Stephen Carl, head of U.S. equity trading at The Williams Capital Group in New York.


Shares of restaurant-chain operator Yum Brands Inc fell 4.2 percent to $65.03 a day after the KFC parent warned sales in China, its largest market, shrank more than expected in the fourth quarter.


GameStop was one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 as shares slumped 5.4 percent to $23.41 after the video game retailer reported low customer traffic for the holiday season and cut its guidance.


Shares of Monsanto Co gained 2.5 percent to $98.40 after reaching a more than four-year high at $99.99. The world's largest seed company raised its earnings outlook for fiscal year 2013 and posted strong first-quarter results.


Education provider Apollo Group and Dow component Alcoa Inc , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, round out the start of earnings season after the closing bell.


(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)



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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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Sony unveils Xperia Z Android phone with full HD display









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