Wall Street pulls flat as Apple pares losses, retailers gain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks pared losses and pulled near the unchanged mark on Tuesday as tech heavyweight Apple came off earlier lows and economic data helped retailers advance.

Apple fell for the third day in a row as the biggest drag on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx> after reports on Monday of cuts to orders for iPhone parts. Shares were down nearly 2.5 percent at $489.11, rebounding somewhat from a session low of $483.84, its lowest level since February.

Retailer stocks advanced and helped to minimize the market's decline after a government report that retail sales rose more than expected in December was seen as a favorable sign for fourth-quarter growth. However, a separate report showed manufacturing activity in New York state contracted for the sixth month in a row in January.

"It's trying to push its way up in here, the question is, has Apple stabilized maybe a little bit down here? The retail sales numbers were really good, much better than expected this morning and that is helping the whole retail group," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

"The bulls are clearly trying to take control of this market and hold it up here. There is clearly buying on any of the dips."

American Eagle Outfitters Inc gained 4 percent to $20.43 and Gap Inc rose 3 percent to $32.32. The Morgan Stanley retail index <.mvr> climbed 1.2 percent.

Investors also continue to eye the looming debt ceiling debate. On Monday, President Barack Obama rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling. The United States could default on its debt if Congress does not increase the borrowing limit.

Resolving the debt ceiling debate is more a question of how than if. Investors don't expect a U.S. default, but they are also wary of another eleventh-hour agreement like the one in August 2011.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> shed 1.42 points, or 0.01 percent, to 13,505.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> dipped 0.46 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,470.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 6.30 points, or 0.20 percent, to 3,111.20.

An expected lackluster earnings season also kept investors from taking aggressive bets. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.8 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Homebuilder Lennar reported a sharp rise in quarterly profit, but the stock fell 2.1 percent to $40.16 on worries that growth in orders was slowing. The PHLX housing sector index <.hgx> declined 0.3 percent.

Express Inc surged 22.5 percent to $17.22 as the biggest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange after the apparel retailer raised its fourth-quarter and full year 2012 outlook.

Dell Inc shares added to earlier gains, up 5 percent to $12.91 after sources said talks to take the computer maker private are in an advanced stage.

Facebook declined 1 percent to $30.66 after the company unveiled a "graph search" feature that CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would help its billion-plus users sort through content within the social network and its content feeds.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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France to stay in Mali until stability restored

BAMAKO/DUBAI (Reuters) - France will end its intervention in Mali only once stability has returned to the West African country, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday, raising the prospects of a costly, drawn-out operation against al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Paris has poured hundreds of soldiers into Mali and carried out air raids since Friday in the northern half of the country, which Western and regional states fear could become a base for attacks by Islamist militants in Africa and Europe.

Thousands of African troops are due to take over the offensive but regional armies are scrambling to accelerate the operation - initially not expected for months and brought forward by France's bombing campaign aimed at stopping a rebel advance on a strategic town last week.

"We have one goal. To ensure that when we leave, when we end our intervention, Mali is safe, has legitimate authorities, an electoral process and there are no more terrorists threatening its territory," Hollande told a news conference during a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, accompanying Hollande, said the offensive against the Malian rebels could take some time, and the current French level of involvement could last weeks. Elections, however, would take months to organize.

French aircraft earlier hit rebels with fresh air strikes and a column of dozens of French armored vehicles rumbled into the dusty riverside capital of Bamako overnight, bringing to about 750 the number of French troops in Mali.

Paris has said it plans to deploy 2,500 soldiers in its former colony to bolster the Malian army and work with the intervention force provided by West African states.

West African defense chiefs met in Bamako on Tuesday to approve plans for speeding up the deployment of 3,300 regional troops, foreseen in a United Nations-backed intervention plan to be led by Africans.

Nigeria pledged to deploy soldiers within 24 hours and Belgium said it was sending transport planes and helicopters to help, but West Africa's armies need time to become operational.

Mali's north, a vast and inhospitable area of desert and rugged mountains the size of Texas, was seized last year by an Islamist alliance combining al Qaeda's north African wing AQIM with splinter group MUJWA and the home-grown Ansar Dine rebels.

Any delay in following up on the French air bombardments of Islamist bases and fuel depots with a ground offensive could allow the insurgents to slip away into the desert and mountains, regroup and counter-attack.

The rebels, who French officials say are mobile and well-armed, have shown they can hit back, dislodging government forces from Diabaly, 350 km (220 miles) from Bamako on Monday.

Residents said the town was still under Islamist control on Tuesday despite a number of air strikes that shook houses.

An eye witness near Segou, to the south, told Reuters he had seen 20 French Special Forces soldiers driving toward Diabaly.

Malians have largely welcomed the French intervention, having seen their army suffer a series of defeats by the rebels.

"With the arrival of the French, we have started to see the situation on the front evolve in our favor," said Aba Sanare, a resident of Bamako.

QUESTIONS OVER READINESS

Aboudou Toure Cheaka, a senior regional official in Bamako, said the West African troops would be on the ground in a week.

The original timetable for the 3,300-strong U.N.-sanctioned African force - to be backed by western logistics, money and intelligence services - did not initially foresee full deployment before September due to logistical constraints.

Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Guinea have all offered troops. Col. Mohammed Yerima, spokesman for Nigeria's defense ministry, said the first 190 soldiers would be dispatched within 24 hours.

But Nigeria, which is due to lead the mission, has already cautioned that even if some troops arrive in Mali soon, their training and equipping will take more time.

Sub-Saharan Africa's top oil producer, which already has peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur and is fighting a bloody and difficult insurgency at home against Islamist sect Boko Haram, could struggle to deliver on its troop commitment of 900 men.

One senior government adviser in Nigeria said the Mali deployment was stretching the country's military.

"The whole thing's a mess. We don't have any troops with experience of those extreme conditions, even of how to keep all that sand from ruining your equipment. And we're facing battle-hardened guys who live in those dunes," the adviser said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

FRENCH LINING UP SUPPORT

France, which has repeatedly said it has abandoned its role as the policeman of its former African colonies, said on Monday that the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Germany had also offered logistical support.

Fabius has said Gulf Arab states would help the Mali campaign while Belgium said on Tuesday it would send two C130 transport planes and two medical helicopters to Mali following a request from Paris.

A meeting of donors for the operation was expected to be held in Addis Ababa at the end of January.

Security experts have warned that the multinational intervention in Mali, couched in terms of a campaign by governments against "terrorism", could provoke a jihadist backlash against France and the West, and African allies.

U.S. officials have warned of links between AQIM, Boko Haram in Nigeria and al Shabaab Islamic militants fighting in Somalia.

Al Shabaab, which foiled a French effort at the weekend to rescue a French secret agent it was holding hostage, urged Muslims around the world to rise up against what it called "Christian" attacks against Islam.

"Our brothers in Mali, show patience and tolerance and you will win. War planes never liberate a land," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab's spokesman, said on a rebel-run website.

U.S. officials said Washington was sharing information with French forces in Mali and considering providing logistics, surveillance and airlift capability.

"We have made a commitment that al Qaeda is not going to find any place to hide," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters as he began a visit to Europe. Panetta later said the U.S. had no plans to send troops to Mali.

"I don't know what the French endgame is for this. What is their goal? It reminds me of our initial move into Afghanistan," a U.S. military source told Reuters.

"Air strikes are fine. But pretty soon you run out of easy targets. Then what do you do? What do you do when they head up into the mountains?"

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Raissa Kasolowsky in Abu Dhabi; Felix Onuah in Abuja and Tim Cocks in Lagos; Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Michelle Nichols Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Richard Valdmanis in Dakar; Joe Bavier in Abidjan; Jan Vermeylen in Brussels; Writing by Pascal Fletcher and David Lewis; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Giles Elgood)

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Cuban hospital carefully guards Hugo Chavez’s privacy

HAVANA (Reuters) – You would never guess that one of the world’s most famous heads of state, Venezuelan president and self-proclaimed revolutionary Hugo Chavez, is battling cancer at Havana’s Center for Medical-Surgical Research (CIMEQ).

At the weekend there was no visible increase in security at the hospital’s main entrance, where guards in olive green uniforms checked the comings and goings of visitors and waved on dallying reporters.

The sprawling, three story complex that is run by the Cuban Interior Ministry is located in leafy Siboney, one of the country’s most exclusive neighborhoods on the western edge of the Cuban capital, and just minutes from the home of Fidel Castro.

It has been a month since the once feisty and now cancer-stricken Chavez, leader of one of the world’s biggest oil producing nations, was operated on for a fourth time at the hospital. This time around, there have been no glowing reports of recovery.

CIMEQ’s best known patient, Fidel Castro, 86, has been treated there since 2006 when he was operated on for intestinal bleeding, forcing him to cede power to his brother Raul Castro.

Ironically Chavez, who often visited the man he refers to as his mentor during Castro’s ordeal, has now become CIMEQ’s second best known patient. In a dramatic reversal of fate, it is Fidel Castro who has been repeatedly at the 58-year-old Venezuelan president’s bedside, beginning with his first operation in 2011.

Hazy Venezuelan government communiques speak of unexpected bleeding during Chavez’s most recent surgery and a lung infection that has kept the 58-year-old Chavez in a “stable” but “delicate” state since mid-December.

There has not been a word, nor even a tweet from the usually vociferous Chavez. His Twitter account, with almost 4 million followers, went silent after November 1.

Meanwhile, Chavez’s family has been holding vigil in Havana, as other Venezuelan leaders and various Latin American heads of state come and go in a show of support. The presidents of Argentina and Peru visited over the weekend.

What the operation involved, and even the type of cancer attacking Chavez and its exact location, are considered state secrets.

VIP FACILITIES OFF LIMITS

CIMEQ, according to various Cuban doctors and nurses, is the Caribbean island’s finest medical facility, boasting up to date equipment and pharmaceuticals and with the authority to call in the country’s top specialists and support staff from other hospitals, as has been done in Chavez’s case.

“CIMEQ exists in the 21st century and is the equal to some of the best facilities in the world, while the rest of the country’s hospitals remain at 20th century levels,” said one local doctor who requested her name be withheld.

“There are no shortages of supplies and medicines and the food is great,” she added.

The hospital treats mainly interior ministry personnel, their families and area residents free of charge.

In a land where complaints are common, it is hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about the place, except that it is reserved exclusively for the elite.

“Unfortunately, I lost my father to cancer at CIMEQ less than a year ago,” said 47- year-old Agustín Daniel.

“He was treated for years at CIMEQ and the care was exquisite. He died because cancer kills and sometimes there is no solution,” the self-employed interior decorator said.

CIMEQ also boasts a wing for foreigners willing to pay for their care, as well as special VIP facilities for Cuba’s top leaders and important figures from other lands.

“Distinguished personalities from the arts, sciences and politics from all over the world have received attention in its modern and efficient installations,” the hospital‘s Web Page (www.cimeq.org)states.

Little is known about the hospital’s VIP accommodations, where Chavez is being treated, except that they are equipped with the latest technology and that those who work there are often sequestered for periods of time. Like all CIMEQ staff, they are sworn to secrecy at the risk of losing their licenses and criminal prosecution.

“The VIPs are treated on the third floor which is off limits to most staff even if they work for the Interior Ministry and wear uniforms under their white coats,” a doctor who has worked at CIMEQ said.

“The elevators to the third floor have guards and if the patient goes outside part of the grounds are closed off,” he said, adding, “no one knows what goes on up there.”

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

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Justin Bartha The New Normal Interview

Save for Burt and Kurt Hummel, creating empathetic families has never been Ryan Murphy's strong suit. In fact, he's built an incredibly successful empire on the backs of the dysfunctional McNamara, Harmon and McQueen/McPherson clans. But with The New Normal, Murphy and co-EP Ali Adler have presented one of the most adorable blending broods currently on TV, reminding the world that it truly does take a village.

In tonight's all-new episode, titled Stay-At-Home Dad, that fact is hammered home in both Brian and David as each believes he could trade in his career for a permanent position driving carpool. ETonline caught up with star Justin Bartha to talk about this episode (one of his favorites yet), what it means to be part of a show like The New Normal and why he signed up in the first place.

ETonline: The evolution of the show, and its characters, has been great to watch. What have you thought of the season so far?

Justin Bartha: The first season of a TV show is very hard, and in trying to speak objectively, I think we started off on a high note. It's very hard to get your footing so fast. There's a lot of early episodes that I think are really great television. As everyone gets to know these characters and how they relate to each other, we're settling into something that feels like a family, which I think every show tries to obtain.

RELATED - Ryan Murphy Makes ET's Entertainers Of the Year List

ETonline: What have you enjoyed learning about David as the season progresses?

Bartha: On a TV show, since you get a chance to sit with a character for a long slow burn, there's a certain point where you start thinking as the character, and your point of view changes as the character's point of view changes. The heart of our show is the way this group of people connect and how their points of views change as the characters get to know each other, so that's been the biggest enjoyment for me. David's evolution is such a living thing, and because the other actors are so talented, everything is changing week to week because of what the actors are doing with their characters.

ETonline: I've loved the flashbacks we've seen of Brian and David's pre-pilot lives. How helpful has it been to have a tangible reference point like that?

Bartha: Oh my god, it's absolutely invaluable. Those are some of the most fun things to shoot because the show is about how all these characters from different backgrounds and points of view relate to each other and evolve over this short amount of time. In the episodes coming up, you'll see snippets of them as children, which really helps the audience fill in the pieces of who these people are. And for the viewers stuck on the sexuality aspects, those moments really show how everyone is the same at their core.

RELATED - 6 Best New Shows of 2013

ETonline: There was so much controversy around the show before it actually premiered, now that The Million Moms have marched away, what kinds of reactions have you gotten from fans?

Bartha: The fans have been overwhelming generous and nice. Because of how strong the writing is and how talented this cast is, the material is handled with such respect, so I think the fans are responding because it's kind of a fresh take on what a half-hour comedy is. We didn't want to do the usual sitcom, obviously you can't get away from certain aspects of that, but we wanted to have a different vibe, and I think people are responding to that fresh take while also loving the characters.

ETonline: Would you have been interested in doing a more traditional sitcom?

Bartha: The one thing we all talked about before I even signed on to do the show is that we all [Ryan Murphy, Ali Adler, Andrew Rannells] very much wanted to portray a couple in the most realistic way possible. That includes intellectually, comically, sexually. Everything has to be on the table because the only way people will care about the characters is if they seem authentic. It was a concerted effort to do that, and that's part of the journey -- not everything is funny all the time, you can't always have characters hanging out and making quips. And if they are, they're probably hiding something. We wanted to be as real as possible, and if it's grounded in that reality, even if it's uncomfortable for some people, hopefully it will transcend the usually throwaway entertainment you see on other channels.

ETonline: What can you tease about tonight's episode?

Bartha: For me, this is very much the epitome of what our show is trying to say. I love this episode. You'll see a jumping off point to the guys as fathers, and for whatever fantasy you have about what it's like to be a parent, actually being a parent is nothing like that. It's not to be taken lightly, and they both feel they have what it takes, in different ways, to quit their lives and just be a dad. Brian and David both have these fantasies and they get a chance to practice with Shania. You'll see how they both take on the responsibility of actually being a father and if they have what it takes.

ETonline: Speaking of Bebe Wood [who plays Shania], I am astounded by her performance every week. How cool is it to see such a young actor bring so much to the table?

Bartha: What's interesting about Bebe is you forget she's a child. There are very rare moments on set where she acts like a little kid. Sometimes Andrew and I will turn to one another and say, "Oh yeah, she is a child!" You honestly forget because she's so fantastic -- she's my favorite actress right now. She's such a fun person to be in a scene with and she's genuinely funny. A lot of times, especially with kid actors, they're just reciting lines and those become funny because a kid is saying it. Bebe has the unique ability to actually make something funny. I don't even know how that works. It's so much fun to watch.

The New Normal airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

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Experts: Proposed NY gun law might hinder therapy

NEW YORK (AP) — Mental health experts say a new tougher New York state gun control law might interfere with treatment of potentially dangerous people and even discourage them from seeking help.

The law would require therapists, doctors, nurses and social workers to tell government authorities if they believe a patient is likely to harm himself or others. That could lead to revoking the patient's gun permit and seizing any guns.

In interviews Tuesday, one expert called the new law meaningless and said he expects mental health providers to ignore it, while others said they worry about its impact on patients.

Dr. Paul Appelbaum at Columbia University said the prospect of being reported to local mental health authorities and maybe the police might discourage people from revealing thoughts of harm to a therapist, or even from seeking treatment at all.

"The people who arguably most need to be in treatment and most need to feel free to talk about these disturbing impulses, may be the ones we make least likely to do so," said the director of law, ethics and psychiatry at Columbia. "They will either simply not come, or not report the thoughts that they have."

"If people with suicidal or homicidal impulses avoid treatment for fear of being reported in this way, they may be more likely to act on those impulses," he said.

Currently a mental health professional has a duty to protect potential victims of a patient, but there are several ways to do that, he said. The patient can be committed to an institution, voluntarily or not, or his medication can be changed to reduce the risk, or the intended victim can be warned, he said.

The patient's family can be asked to lock up any guns in the house, or to keep an eye on the patient to see if he's doing something that could bring on violence, like drinking or skipping his medications, Appelbaum said. The family could then notify the mental health professional.

This flexibility allows a therapist to deal with a risk of violence without breaching confidentiality in all cases, he said. And even if those steps are enough to blunt the danger, the proposed law would still require that the patient be reported to mental health authorities, he noted.

"It undercuts the clinical approach to treating these impulses, and instead turns it into a public safety issue," Appelbaum said.

He also noted that in many mass shootings in the past, the gunman had not been under treatment and so would not have been deterred by a law like the proposed measure.

Dr. Steven Dubovsky, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University at Buffalo, called the new measure meaningless. "It's pure political posturing" and a deceptive attempt to reassure the public, he said.

The intent seems to be to turn mental health professionals into detectives and policemen, he said, but "no patient is going to tell you anything if they think you're going to report them."

A therapist who took the measure seriously would have to warn patients about revealing anything incriminating, which would destroy the doctor-patient relationship, he said.

At the same time, he said the law can't be taken seriously because therapists won't be held liable if they don't report a patient they think is dangerous.

He thinks most therapists will ignore the law and continue to handle cases as they do now.

Dr. Mark Olfson, a psychiatry professor at Columbia, said that if the new law is "crudely applied," it could "erode patient trust in mental health care professionals," essential for effective care. Yet, he said, "if the law is implemented in a clinically well-informed manner, it holds the promise of helping to protect patients and the general public."

Eric Neblung, president of the New York State Psychological Association and a psychologist in Nyack, NY, called the new measure "a helpful step" but said it doesn't address a more fundamental need — improved access to mental health services.

---

Medical writer Lindsey Tanner reported from Chicago.

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Apple demand worries weigh on S&P, Nasdaq

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street dipped on Monday as concerns about demand for Apple products sent shares of the tech heavyweight lower and investors faced a busy week for earnings in what is expected to be a uninspiring quarter.

Apple lost 3.2 percent to $503.60 as the biggest weight on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx> indexes after reports that the tech company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock earlier hit a session low of $498.51, the first dip below $500 since February 16.

"It's clear from them reducing their supply orders that the sales haven't met their expectations, though certainly the orders they put into place for the iPhone 5 displays were higher than those that were in place for the prior phone," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"Certainly, the rate of growth that they had - the tremendous surge in their revenue, stock price, all things do eventually slow and come down, so it's not a big surprise - the big question always is when."

Apple suppliers also lost ground, with Cirrus Logic off 8.7 percent to $28.82 and Qualcomm down 1.4 percent to $63.98. The S&P tech sector <.gspt> declined 1 percent as the worst performer of the 10 major S&P sectors.

The pace of earnings season picks up this week with 38 S&P 500 companies set to report, including Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Intel and General Electric .

Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

President Barack Obama warned Congress at a news conference on Monday that a refusal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling next month, leading to a government shutdown, could trigger economic chaos.

"Again, we are dealing with a public relations type of approach trying to get to (Obama's) preferred result," Jankovskis said.

Separately, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (0200 EST).

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 0.76 points, or 0.01 percent, to 13,489.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> shed 4.24 points, or 0.29 percent, to 1,467.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 16.42 points, or 0.53 percent, to 3,109.21.

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc slumped 8.9 percent to $7.19 after the electronics and appliance retailer cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year.

Transocean Ltd has disclosed that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the offshore rig contractor and is looking to increase that holding. Its shares advanced 0.9 percent to $54.58.

The Dow, which does not list Apple as one of its components, fared better than the other two indexes as Hewlett-Packard rose 3.7 percent to $16.75 after JPMorgan upgraded its rating on the stock and raised its price target to $21 from $15.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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Syria war envelops region in "staggering" crisis: aid agency

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, an international aid agency said on Monday.

Opposition activists said an air strike on rebel-held territory southwest of Damascus killed 20 people, including women and children, adding to the more than 60,000 people estimated to have been killed in the 21-month-old conflict.

Over 600,000 Syrians have fled abroad - many to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan - as violence has spread and international efforts to find a political solution have sagged.

Refugees interviewed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) cited sexual violence as a major reason they fled the country, the New York-based organization said in a 23-page report on the crisis published on Monday.

Gang rapes often happened in front of family members and women had been kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed, it said.

"After decades of working in war and disaster zones, the IRC knows that women and girls suffer physical and sexual violence in every conflict. Syria is no exception," the group added.

Rebels and government forces have both been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, which began with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011.

The unrest turned violent after government forces fired on demonstrators and has since become a full-scale civil war.

Fierce winter weather has worsened the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees. The IRC urged donors to step up planning and funding in the expectation that more Syrians will flee.

"Nearly two years into Syria's civil war, the region faces a staggering humanitarian disaster," the IRC report said.

AIR POWER

Despite advancing in Syria's north and east and winning support from regional powers like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Syrian rebels have been unable to break a military stalemate with government forces elsewhere.

They have struggled to counter government air power in particular, making it hard for them to take and hold territory crucial to Assad's grip on power, including major cities.

An activist in Moadamiyeh, a rebel-held town southwest of Damascus, said an air strike there killed 20 people on Monday.

Activist video footage showed images of the limp body of a boy being pulled out from broken concrete, his back covered in dust and his front in blood.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said at least 13 people had died in the air raid but the toll was likely to rise.

Syrian state television said "terrorists" - its word for rebels - had fired a mortar from the Damascus suburb of Daraya on a civilian building in Moadamiyeh, killing women and children.

The reports could not be independently verified because of government restrictions on independent media in Syria.

Syrian warplanes also bombarded the strategic Taftanaz air base that rebels seized last week, the Observatory said.

In another sign of escalating bloodshed, Human Rights Watch said it had evidence that government forces had used multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver Egyptian-made cluster munitions in recent attacks.

"Syria is escalating and expanding its use of cluster munitions, despite international condemnation of its embrace of this banned weapon," it said.

DEADLOCK

Syria's rising death toll has brought international intervention no closer. The United States and Russia have been deadlocked over how to resolve the crisis.

Moscow - which has continued to back its long-standing ally and arms client Assad - urged the opposition on Sunday to make its own proposals in response to a speech by Assad a week ago.

The speech, which offered no concessions, was criticized by the United Nations and United States. Syrian rebels described it as a renewed declaration of war.

Talks between Russia and the United States in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough.

As diplomatic efforts have stalled, the conflict has continued to draw in Syria's neighbors.

A mortar round apparently fired from Syria crashed in a field in Turkey overnight close to a refugee camp housing thousands of Syrians along the border, Turkish state media said.

NATO troops have begun deploying Patriot defense missiles in Turkey against a potential attack from its southern neighbor. The missiles are expected to be operational by the end of the month. Turkey is a strong supporter of the Syrian rebels.

NATO said Syrian government forces had launched a short-range, Scud-style ballistic missile on Sunday, bringing to more than 20 the number launched in the past month.

The missiles, apparently fired against opposition targets, landed in Syrian territory, mostly in northern Syria, a NATO spokeswoman said in Brussels, but some of the missiles landed "quite close" to the Turkish frontier.

(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut and Adrian Croft in Brussels; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Come for a Tour of China’s Unlicensed ‘World of Warcraft’ Theme Park

World of Warcraft Theme Park

Image credit Francesca Timbers

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 20 Tweets That Prove Skittles’ Social-Media Team Inhaled the Rainbow]

Changzhou, China is home to a bizzarre world of rides, food and fun: A World of Warcraft-style theme park that’s completely unlicensed by Blizzard, maker of the Warcraft series.

The park opened in the summer of last year. It reportedly cost $ 48 million to build and is “pretty huge,” according to Reddit user Francesca Timbers who originally posted these pictures republished here with permission.

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“I thought it was great,” posted Timbers. “A lot of the rides used 4-D and special effects, which I hand’t experienced much of before. There was a good roller coaster with loops, where you are lying horizontally, face forward, like you are flying. That was my favourite ride. The water log ride (‘splash of monster blood’) was pretty good too.”

Another weird tidbit: Some rides have a “happiness index,” showing, we believe, the intensity of the ride.

While most of the park is Warcraft-flavored, one section is dedicated to another Blizzard favorite: Starcraft.

For the rest of Timbers’ pictures and more details about her trip to the utterly weird theme park, visit her Reddit thread. Would you book a trip to China to get out to this theme park?

Images courtesy Francesca Timbers

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mindy Kaling TCA Interview 2013

Life after The Office has treated Mindy Kaling well.

The multi-talented actress not only stars in her own show The Mindy Project, she is also the creator as well as a producer and a writer on the Fox series.

ET caught up with Mindy in Pasadena at the TCA Winter Press Tour to talk about what it's like balancing all those roles.

More TCA: 'PLL' Preview: Making Sense Out of Tragedy

"Writing and acting actually makes it a little bit easier, because I have a direct line to the writer," Mindy said.However, she added that it's hard to "stop thinking about being a producer when I'm on stage, and just kind of giving myself over to the part."

Luckily, the Emmy-nominated actress doesn't feel spread too thin.

"I don't think of them as two different roles anymore... I feel both at the same time."

Mindy also dished on some guest stars she'd like to score for the show.

"I love Danny McBride, and I love Reese Witherspoon," Mindy said. "They're both so funny, and they're both such good actors. I just think they would be a lot of fun to have on set."

See Also: 'Arrested Development' Cast Talks Their Comeback

As far as guest stars we can expect to see this season, Mindy dropped one name.

"We have some good guest stars. Seth Rogen is coming to do an episode."

Mindy's pretty excited about that one-- and fans of the pairing will get a chance to see it again this summer, on a bigger screen.

"Seth I love. I'm in his movie [This is the End, out in June]."

The Mindy Project airs Tuesday nights on Fox. To see more of our TCA interview with Mindy, see the video above.

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest flu seasons in recent memory.

The latest numbers do show that the flu surpassed an "epidemic" threshold last week. That is based on deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 122 U.S. cities. However, it's not unusual — the epidemic level varies at different times of the year, and it was breached earlier this flu season, in October and November.

And there's a hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots, like in the South. Still, officials there and elsewhere are bracing for more sickness

In Ohio, administrators at Miami University are anxious that a bug that hit employees will spread to students when they return to the Oxford campus next week.

"Everybody's been sick. It's miserable," said Ritter Hoy, a spokeswoman for the 17,000-student school.

Despite the early start, health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot. The vaccine is considered a good — though not perfect — protection against getting really sick from the flu.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii.

The number of hard-hit states fell to 24 from 29, where larger numbers of people were treated for flu-like illness. Now off that list: Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.

Recent flu reports included holiday weeks when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to get a better picture, CDC officials said Friday. Experts say so far say the season looks moderate.

"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday in a teleconference with reporters.

The government doesn't keep a running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills about 24,000 people in an average year. Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu this season.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Since the swine flu epidemic in 2009, vaccination rates have increased in the U.S., but more than half of Americans haven't gotten this year's vaccine.

Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, officials said.

To find a shot, "you may have to call a couple places," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, who tracks the flu in Iowa.

In midtown Manhattan, Hyrmete Sciuto got a flu shot Friday at a drugstore. She skipped it in recent years, but news reports about the flu this week worried her.

During her commute from Edgewater, N.J., by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."

The vaccine is no guarantee, though, that you won't get sick. On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that sends them to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine. That's in line with other years.

The vaccine is reformulated annually, and this year's is a good match to the viruses going around.

The flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in flu-like illnesses caused by other bugs, including a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." Those illnesses likely are part of the heavy traffic in hospital and clinic waiting rooms, CDC officials said.

Europeans also are suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo have also reported increasing flu.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.

Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.

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Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

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Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

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