“Man of Steel” Trailer to Play Before “The Hobbit”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Director Zack Snyder has told MTV News that a trailer for “Man of Steel” will play before “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” when it opens on December 14.

“It’s fun. I can’t wait for ‘The Hobbit,’ so it will be fun to see our crazy ‘Man of Steel’ trailer and then enjoy ‘The Hobbit’ because tat’s going to be great,” Snyder told the network.

A teaser trailer for the feature was released earlier this year. “Man of Steel” opens on June 14, 2013.

Both films are distributed by Warner Bros., which declined to comment.

Earlier this month, it was announced that nine minutes of the “Star Trek” sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” would be shown in 500 select theaters before the IMAX version of “The Hobbit.”

Russell Crowe stars in “Man of Steel.”

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Injection Site Infections Join Meningitis, Joint Infections from Tainted Drugs

As if the more than 14,000 people who were potentially exposed to tainted injectable drugs through back or joint injections don’t have enough on their plate, public health officials announced Nov. 20 that they are seeing an increase in serious injection site infections. These injection site infections have been reported both in individuals who have fungal meningitis or peripheral joint infections and in individuals who had neither of the illnesses.

CDC Issues Public Health Advisory

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, working closely with state public health officials whose residents may have been exposed to the tainted drugs produced and distributed by the New England Compounding Center, NECC, issued a health alert on Tuesday. In addition to updated information about the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012, the alert also explains that since Nov. 4, 61 people have been reported to have spinal or paraspinal epidural abscesses or osteomyelitis, two people had injection site infections in joints other than the spine, and an additional two individuals had these infections along with meningitis.

Those Who Received Potentially Contaminated Injections Receive New Information

USAToday.com reported that Dr. Marion Kainer , director of health care-related infections with the Tennessee Health Department and one of two doctors credited with solving the initial mystery cause of the fungal meningitis outbreak, is cautioning people who’ve received the potentially contaminated injections between May 10 and Sept. 26 not to rush to hospital emergency rooms. While it’s important such people be aware of the symptoms of injection site infections, the infections themselves develop more slowly than meningitis and are not cause for panic.

Symptoms of Injection Site Infections

One of the difficulties in recognizing the symptoms of injection site infections to the spinal area in the affected individuals is the fact that back pain is one of the principal symptoms. The people who received the outpatient injections were doing so due to chronic back pain. A change in the intensity of the pain may be difficult for the individual to notice, or even for the health care provider to discern.

Other symptoms to be alert for include changes in bowel or bladder habits; if these are noted, your health care provider should be immediately notified.

There may be no outward visible signs of the injection site infections, but a feeling of swelling under the skin or increased warmth or redness of the injection site should also be reported.

CDC Advises Health Care Providers to Order MRIs

The CDC advised health care providers to order magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, with contrast on anyone potentially exposed to the tainted injectable drugs if that person experiences any new or worsening symptoms of pain or discomfort to the back.

If injection site infection is diagnosed, health care providers are encouraged to consult early with a neurosurgeon to develop an appropriate treatment plan.

Most Recent Updates on Meningitis Outbreak Statistics

The good news is that the rate at which new cases of meningitis are being reported has been decreasing. The current case count is 490 with 34 deaths having occurred, according to the CDC . Michigan, with 164 cases reported, and Tennessee, with 82 cases reported, have the highest case counts of the 19 states involved in the fungal meningitis outbreak.

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HSBC China flash PMI at 13-month high as growth quickens

BEIJING (Reuters) – China‘s vast manufacturing sector saw expansion accelerate in November for the first time in 13 months, preliminary results from a factory survey showed, a sign that the pace of economic growth has revived after seven consecutive quarters of slowdown.

The China HSBC Flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a 13-month high of 50.4 in November, the latest indicator of recovery in the real economy after data showing solid credit growth, firmer exports and rising industrial output in the previous month.

A sub-index measuring output rose to 51.3, also the highest since October 2011.

“This reflects that conditions for smaller firms, especially exporters, are looking up,” said Li Wei, a Shanghai-based economist for Standard Chartered. “The consensus in the market is already for a small, gradual improvement.”

An uptick in key economic activity indicators in October, following encouraging signs in September, cemented the view of many analysts and investors that a rebound in the world’s second largest economy gathered momentum as it entered the fourth quarter, thanks to a raft of pro-growth policies rolled out by the government over recent months.

China is currently shuffling its senior officials after the seven top leaders of the ruling Communist Party were selected at a congress last week. The new appointments should end months of uncertainty in the highest ranks, although economic policy is not expected to change abruptly in the near-term.

Even before the congress, the central bank had moved to ease liquidity by pumping short-term cash into money markets rather than resorting to the interest rate cuts or reduction in banks’ required reserve ratios that many investors had expected.

STEADY THROUGH YEAR-END

This month’s PMI reading above 50 is likely to be seen as a turning point by the market, particularly if it is born out by the final reading due on December 1 and by official indicators.

Asian shares <.MIAPJ0000PUS> extended gains slightly after the data to stand up nearly 1 percent on the day and the Australian dollar, sensitive to demand from the biggest customer for Australia’s resources, rose as far as $ 1.04.

“This confirms that the economic recovery continues to gain momentum towards the year-end,” Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at index sponsor HSBC, said in a statement accompanying the data.

“However, it is still the early stage of recovery and global economic growth remains fragile. This calls for a continuation of policy easing to strengthen the recovery.”

With a one-month exception in October 2011, the HSBC PMI — which largely reflects the private manufacturing sector — has remained stubbornly below the 50-point level separating accelerating from slowing growth since June 2011.

Unlike the patchy results seen in previous months, in November almost all the sub-indices in the HSBC survey concurred in showing an improving economy.

The one exception was a fall in the sub-index measuring output prices, demonstrating that manufacturers are still struggling with overcapacity and relatively weak domestic demand.

That could also reflect the weight in the survey of exporting firms, which have less ability to raise sales prices, said Standard Chartered’s Li.

Indeed, China’s exporters are increasingly squeezed by rising domestic costs and competition from new international suppliers, Zhou Haijiang, head of Chinese textile exporter Hodo Group, told reporters this month.

“Not only Western countries manufacture industrial goods, but also a lot of developing countries including former socialist countries who now have market economies are all exporting, thus creating a global surplus that cannot be changed,” Zhou said.

“Because of this it is hard to raise sales prices, everyone is selling and it is hard for manufactured goods prices to rise. In some cases prices have even fallen.”

Analysts expect no further cuts to interest rates this year or next after back-to-back cuts in June and July, and only one more 50 basis point cut to banks’ required reserve ratios (RRR) in 2012 after three since late 2011 that have freed an estimated 1.2 trillion yuan for new lending.

Chinese banks are on course to make new loans worth more than 8.5 trillion yuan ($ 1.4 trillion) in 2012, expansionary versus the 7.5 trillion of new loans extended in 2011 and above the 8 trillion yuan that sources told Reuters back in February was the target for 2012.

Total social financing aggregate, a broad measure of liquidity in the economy, weakened to 1.29 trillion yuan in October, down from 1.65 trillion yuan in September, but still remained on track to hit a record 14 trillion yuan this year.

China also opened many previously-closed sectors to private investment with a view to funding new infrastructure projects and supporting economic growth without piling on more debt that local governments can ill-afford.

Although analysts expect fourth quarter GDP growth to outpace the 7.4 percent seen in the third quarter, full-year expansion for 2012 is expected to be the slowest in 13 years.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Ivory Coast: New prime minister named

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — President Alassane Ouattara has tapped Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan to serve as prime minister in a new government one week after the surprise dissolution of cabinet.

The appointment of Duncan, a member of the PDCI party of former President Henri Konan Bedie, was announced at a press conference Wednesday by Amadou Gon Coulibaly, general secretary of the presidency.

Ouattara dissolved the cabinet last week over a feud between his political party and the PDCI over proposed changes to the country’s marriage law.

The PDCI supported Ouattara in the November 2010 runoff election in exchange for the prime minister’s post, helping him defeat incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo. Gbagbo’s refusal to cede office led to five months of violence that claimed at least 3,000 lives before Ouattara’s forces won.

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Exclusive: TV networks start seven-day ratings push with advertisers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. television broadcast networks are taking the first steps to persuade advertisers to pay for commercial viewership that occurs up to seven days after a program airs, a shift that would provide a new revenue stream to help combat ratings erosion.

The networks argue that the rising popularity of digital video recorders is pushing a sizeable number of viewers to delay watching their favorite programs beyond the first three days, the time period most often used for calculating ad payments.

Some advertisers are ready to make the move to a seven-day metric. One of the big four networks, Walt Disney Co’s ABC, earlier this year reached deals with some sponsors that bring in payments for eyeballs counted between days four and seven.

The other broadcasters have begun talks with advertisers and hope to convince them to switch to the longer window in time for the “upfront” selling season that starts early next year, when billions of dollars in ad commitments will be made, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Since 2007, most TV ad time has been bought and sold based on “C3,” a ratings measurement based of the average number of commercial minutes watched during a program either live or within three days of its airing.

TV networks want advertisers to shift to “C7,” which captures commercials watched within seven days.

Advertisers hesitate to pay for the added days, particularly for time-sensitive ads pitching a department store’s one-day sale or the opening of a summer movie blockbuster. Media buyers are pushing for precise measurements of each commercial viewed, rather than an average for an entire program, as well as a tabulation of how many people are watching on mobile devices.

The debate intensified after Nielsen data showed a sharp decline in three-day viewing at the start of the fall TV season compared with last year.

The drop is partly due to “the greater penetration of DVRs and the greater usage of DVRs, which clearly have shifted the rating in the direction of C3, and ultimately, hopefully, C7,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts on a November 8 conference call.

Most viewing of network prime time shows still takes place within three days. But the post-three day viewers are growing and can be significant. Ratings for ABC comedy hit “Modern Family” increased by 5 percent, to 6.5 million viewers age 18 to 49 viewers, when counted by the C7 measurement instead of C3.

The later viewers also are among the most-coveted by advertisers, according to ABC research, which showed people who watched a show after three days were more highly educated and had higher incomes. For days four through seven, “the people who are doing the viewing are some of the most desirable available from an advertiser’s perspective,” said Charles Kennedy, senior vice president of research for ABC and the ABC Family cable network.

Earlier this year, ABC made deals with some sponsors to pay for ad time based on C7 numbers, ABC spokesman Kevin Brockman said. “We expect to do more of them if they make sense for us and our clients,” Brockman said.

At CBS, the flagship network of CBS Corp, CEO Leslie Moonves has been outspoken in pressing for a C7 metric and said it “represents a significant opportunity for us that is still in the very early stages.”

“As we move forward, we will make it a priority to get paid for all of the viewing that is going on across our shows, including DVR viewing beyond C3,” Moonves told analysts on a November 7 conference call.

Advertisers are not ready to commit to the switch and will be looking for something in return if they agree to a longer window. Timing is a big concern for many brands that want to get a message out to large numbers of consumers during a specific time period. Some commercials lose their value for sponsors over a few days.

“In moving to C7, you’ve got to be careful because you are taking away some of the advantage of why clients buy television,” said Sam Armando, director of strategic intelligence for SMGx, a division of media buying agency Starcom MediaVest Group.

Advertisers believe simply adding more days to the current metric fails to adequately capture viewership. Brands are lobbying for a more precise measurement that tracks viewership of each commercial, rather than an average for a program over a time period, they say. They also want information on how many people see their ads on programs watched on computers or Internet-connected mobile devices like phones and tablets.

“If the industry is going to make a move, we need to consider it all before we just make a little baby step to C7,” Armando said.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Edited by Ronald Grover and Andrew Hay)

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“Life of Pi” and “Rise of Guardians” Debut, but It’s Still “Twilight” Time at Box Office

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Ang Lee‘s lyrical epic “Life of Pi,” the computer-animated 3D holiday tale “Rise of the Guardians” and the “Red Dawn” reboot all debut in theaters Wednesday, as the holiday movie season kicks into high gear.

But the current No. 1, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2,” will almost surely out-earn the newcomers and dominate the Thanksgiving weekend box office, with a second week that analysts are projecting will hit $ 65 million over the five days. DreamWorks Animation‘s “Rise of the Guardians” will wind up with around $ 55 million and run second, they say.

Add in sturdy holdovers like Sony’s record-breaking James Bond movie “Skyfall” and Disney’s animated “Wreck-It Ralph,” along with expanding awards hopefuls “Lincoln” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” and it shapes up as a very busy weekend at the cineplexes.

Summit Entertainment’s “Breaking Dawn 2″ remains in 4,070 theaters after rolling up $ 141 million in its U.S. debut last weekend.

That was the year’s fourth best opening – behind “The Avengers,” “Dark Knight Rises” and “The Hunger Games” – but fell short of the franchise-best $ 142.8 million set by “New Moon” in 2009. “Breaking Dawn” is expected to play more strongly abroad than domestically, and the first-week numbers reflect that: It took in nearly $ 200 million in its first week of release overseas.

“In the U.S., it didn’t get that finale bump that the last Harry Potter movie did, which was surprising,” Exhibitor Relations senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap, “Its fan base was committed, but Summit couldn’t expand it beyond that.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ opened to $ 169 million in 2011, well ahead of “Deathly Hallows 2,” which opened to $ 125 million the previous year.

“Skyfall,” which took in $ 41 million in its second week as it became the top-grossing Bond film of all time, is looking at a five-day total of around $ 39 million, the analysts say. Its worldwide gross now stands at $ 672 million, $ 507 million of which has come from overseas.

Buoyed by surprisingly strong results, Disney is expanding “Lincoln” into roughly 2,000 theaters, up from 1,775, on Friday. The DreamWorks Oscar contender was a surprise No. 3 finisher with $ 21 million last weekend, well above analysts’ and the studio’s projections. It’s projected to finish with $ 24 million over the long weekend.

Among the newcomers, Oscar contender “The Life of Pi” is the most difficult to peg in terms of box-office potential.

It’s hard to imagine a tale tougher to bring to the screen than Yann Martel’s 2001 saga of an Indian youth lost at sea with a ravenous Bengal tiger aboard his small lifeboat and their ensuing adventures. But Lee brought martial arts (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) and gay cowboys (“Brokeback Mountain”) into the movie mainstream, and he’s employed the highest-tech digital tools to bring David Magee’s adaptation to life in 3D.

Indian Suraj Sharma, who was 17 and had no acting experience when he shot “Pi,” plays the lead and spends a good bit of the film alone in a boat with the tiger.

The critics love it (92 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes), calling it gorgeous, innovative and a provocative and soulful examination of faith. Those are admirable qualities in a film, but hardly requisites for – or a guarantee of – box office success.

Fox has the PG-rated “Pi” in 2,700 theaters and it will have the advantage of premium pricing going for it. Analysts see it opening with about $ 25 million over the five days, and feel its long-term playability will hinge on word-of-mouth and awards buzz.

In terms of the box office, the most comparable film could be last year’s Martin Scorsese-directed 3D family adventure “Hugo.” Paramount opened that film around the same time last year to $ 11 million, and it went on to make $ 73 million, $ 185 million worldwide.

With its international cast and exotic settings, “Pi” is another example of a film expected to perform far better internationally than in the U.S. Fox is rolling it out in Taiwan Tuesday, China Wednesday and Hong Kong, India and Puerto Rico this weekend. With Lee’s following in China and young star Sharma expected to draw crowds in India, those two markets should give it fast start overseas.

“Pi” was produced for $ 120 million by Lee, Fox 2000 and special effects firm Rhythm and Hues.

Distributor Paramount is rolling out DreamWorks Animation‘s computer animated family film “Rise of the Guardians” on 3,500 3D screens.

The holiday rollout is a natural for the PG-rated “Rise of the Guardians,” which has a star-studded voice cast, and is executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro and produced by Gary Goetzman.

Based on the William Joyce’s “Guardians of Childhood” series, it tells the tale of Jack Frost (Chris Pine), who gets help from Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) after the evil Pitch (Jude Law) threatens the children of the world.

Awareness of the film is strong, and the critics think it’s pretty good. Seventy percent of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are positive, 67 percent at Movie Review Intelligence. DreamWorks Animation has been on a hot streak, and this its first release since “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” which has made over $ 735 million worldwide this year.

“Red Dawn” is a remake of the 1984 John Millius war film that helped launch the careers of young stars Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey and Charlie Sheen. Released at the peak of the Cold War, its populist and patriotic themes resonated strongly. In that film, Swayze’s character leads a group of teens who turn guerrilla fighters to resist Soviet and Cuban invaders who are occupying their state.

Shot in 2009, the “Red Dawn” reboot was to have been released in 2010, but was delayed by the financial troubles of the studio behind it, MGM.

Since then, the careers of several of the film’s stars have taken off. Since shooting “Red Dawn,” Chris Hemsworth has starred in “Thor,” “The Avengers” and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” while Josh Peck was featured in “The Hunger Games.” Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas and Jeffrey Dean Morgan co-star.

This “Red Dawn” plays more like an action film and is less jingoistic than the original, and FilmDistrict has marketed that way. In addition to targeting fan boys at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and college campuses, “Red Dawn” has been show at more than 100 military bases. The cast did a special screening at Port Hueneme Naval Base in Oxnard, Calif.

Speaking of militaries, while the film was on the shelf: the filmmakers digitally turned the invaders from Chinese into North Koreans after angry denunciations of the portrayals from the Beijing press. The switch shouldn’t hurt at the Chinese box office, either.

FilmDistrict is opening the PG-13-rated “Red Dawn” in 2,600 theaters. The original made the equivalent of $ 90 million when adjusted to today’s ticket prices, while this reboot will be fortunate to make half that amount. A five-day total of around $ 15 million is what the analysts are projecting for the opening.

Fox Searchlight is rolling out “Hitchcock,” starring Anthony Hopkins as the late director Alfred Hitchcock, in 17 theaters on Friday.

Directed by Sacha Gervasi, with a screenplay from John G. McLaughlin, the film explores the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife and partner Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) while they were working on “Psycho,” one of his most successful films.

Scarlett Johansson, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, Toni Collette, Michael Wincott, and James D’Arcy co-star in the Montecito Picture Company production.

“Hitchcock” premiered at the AFI Film Festival and has been well-received by the critics. It has a 76 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Fox Searchlight plans to expand the film gradually over the next three weeks, ahead of its national release on December 14, when it will be on between 500 and 600 theaters.

The Weinstein Company is expanding its Oscar hopeful “Silver Linings Playbook” into 420 theaters. The dark romantic comedy is directed by David O. Russell and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro.

“Silver Linings Playbook” averaged $ 28,652 on 16 screens in its debut and was to have expanded into 2,000 theaters on Wednesday. But the Weinstein Co. shifted gears last week and decided on a more gradual platform release in hopes of building awards buzz. The Weinstein Co. knows Oscar campaigns; they were behind the last two Best Picture winners, “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist.”

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Japan exports dip for fifth month

20 November 2012 Last updated at 21:56 ET

Japan’s exports have fallen for a fifth straight month after demand in China and the European Union (EU) weakened.

Shipment’s fell 6.5% in October, from a year earlier. Exports to China declined 11.6% and were down 20% to the EU.

A territorial dispute with China has dented sales to Japan’s biggest trading partner, while the EU is being hurt by a continuing debt crisis.

Japan’s economy is heavily reliant on exports and a slowdown would hurt growth.

Analysts said that given the uncertain global economic conditions, Japan’s exports may continue to be weak in coming month.

“This is basically the new normal that we have to deal with, well into the next year,” Martin Schulz of Fujitsu Research Institute told the BBC.

The data comes just weeks after Japan reported that its economy contracted in the July to September period.

China impact

China is the world’s second-largest economy and has a huge domestic market that has become vital to many global and regional exporters.

Demand from its consumers is seen as key for countries such as Japan, especially in wake of a slowdown in the western economies.

Continue reading the main story

Japan is being out-competed by China, by South Korea and by its Asian neighbours”

End Quote Martin Schulz Fujitsu Research Institute

However, relations between China and Japan have soured after a territorial dispute flared up in September.

It followed Japan’s purchase of disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The move led to widespread anti-Japan protests in China, which turned violent in some areas with people directing their anger at Japanese brands.

October’s decline in exports followed a 14.1% drop in September.

Analysts said the row may continue to damage trade between the two countries.

“You can’t expect China to drive Japanese exports the way it used to, because of the boycotting of Japanese products there due to a territorial dispute,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.

‘Out-competed’

Exports to the to EU, meanwhile, have now fallen for 13 straight months.

Continue reading the main story

Analysts said that as well as the eurozone debt crisis, Japanese exporters were also hurt by the strength of the yen.

A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive to foreign buyers, and it gained nearly 7% against the US dollar between March and September this year.

Though the yen has weakened since then, it continues to remain at a level seen as too high by many businesses.

It was trading close to 81.89 yen against the US dollar in Asia trade on Wednesday.

“Japan is being out-competed by China, by South Korea and by its Asian neighbours,” said Fujitsu Research Institute’s Mr Schulz. “This is a problematic situation.”

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AP Exclusive: Syrian rebels seize base, arms trove

BASE OF THE 46TH REGIMENT, Syria (AP) — After a nearly two-month siege, Syrian rebels overwhelmed a large military base in the north of the country and made off with tanks, armored vehicles and truckloads of munitions that rebel leaders say will give them a boost in the fight against President Bashar Assad‘s army.

The rebel capture of the base of the Syrian army’s 46th Regiment is a sharp blow to the government’s efforts to roll back rebels gains and shows a rising level of organization among opposition forces.

More important than the base’s fall, however, are the weapons the rebels found inside.

At a rebel base where the much of the haul was taken after the weekend victory, rebel fighters unloaded half a dozen large trucks piled high with green boxes full of mortars, artillery shells, rockets and rifles taken from the base. Parked nearby were five tanks, two armored vehicles, two rocket launchers and two heavy-caliber artillery cannons.

Around 20 Syrian soldiers captured in the battle were put to work carrying munitions boxes, barefoot and stripped to the waist. Rebels refused to let reporters talk to them or see where they were being held.

“There has never been a battle before with this much booty,” said Gen. Ahmad al-Faj of the rebels Joint Command, a grouping of rebel brigades that was involved in the siege. Speaking on Monday at the rebel base, set up in a former customs office at Syria’s Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, he said the haul would be distributed among the brigades.

For months, Syria’s rebels have gradually been destroying government checkpoints and taking over towns in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo along the Turkish border.

Rebel fighters say that weapons seized in such battles have been essential to their transformation from ragtag brigades into forces capable of challenging Assad’s professional army. Cross-border arms smuggling from Turkey and Iraq has also played a role, although the most common complaint among rebel fighters is that they lack ammunition and heavy weapons, munitions and anti-aircraft weapons to fight Assad’s air force.

It is unclear how many government bases the rebels have overrun during the 20-month conflict, mostly because they rarely try to hold captured facilities. Staying in the captured bases would make them sitting ducks for regime airstrikes.

“Their strategy is to hit and run,” said Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general and Beirut-based strategic analyst. “They’re trying to hurt the regime where it hurts by bisecting and compartmentalizing Syria in order to dilute the regime’s power.”

The 46th Regiment was a major pillar of the government’s force near the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s economic hub, and its fall cuts a major supply line to the regime’s army, Hanna said. Government forces have been battling rebels for months over control of Aleppo.

“It’s a tactical turning point that may lead to a strategic shift,” he said.

At the 46th Regiment’s base, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Aleppo, the main three-story command building showed signs of the battle — its walls punctured apparently from rebel rocket attacks. The smaller barracks buildings scattered around the compound, about 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in size, had been looted, with mattresses overturned. A number of buildings had been torched.

Reporters from The Associated Press who visited the base late Monday saw no trace of the government troops who had been defending it — other than the dead bodies of seven soldiers.

Two of them, in camouflage uniforms, lay outside the command building. One of them was missing his head, apparently blown off in an explosion.

The rest were in a nearby clinic. Four dead soldiers were on stretchers set on the floor, one with a large gash in his arm, another with what appeared to be a large shrapnel hole in the back of his head. The last lay on a gurney in another room, his arms and legs bandaged, a bullet hole in his cheek and a splatter of blood on the wall and ceiling behind him as if he had been shot where he lay.

It could not be determined how or when the soldiers had been killed.

The final assault that took the base came after more than 50 days of siege that left the soldiers inside demoralized, according to fighters who took part.

Working together and communicating by radio, a number of different rebels groups divided up the area surrounding the base and each cut the regime’s supply lines, said Abdullah Qadi, a rebel field commander. Over the course of the siege, dozens of soldiers defected, some telling the rebels that those inside were short of food, Qadi said.

The rebels decided to attack Saturday afternoon when they felt the soldiers inside were weak and the rebels had enough ammunition to finish the battle, Qadi said. The battle was over by nightfall on Sunday. Seven rebel fighters were killed in the battle, said al-Faj of the rebels’ Joint Command. Other rebel leaders gave similar numbers.

It remains unclear how many soldiers remained in the base when the rebels launched their attack and what happened to them.

Al-Faj said all soldiers inside were either killed or captured. He said he didn’t know how many were killed, but that the rebels had taken about 50 prisoners, all of whom would be tried in a rebel court. Aside from the 20 prisoners seen at the rebel’s Bab al-Hawa base, the AP was unable to see any other captured soldiers.

The Syrian government does not respond to requests for comment on military affairs and said nothing about the base’s capture. It says the rebels are terrorists backed by foreign powers that seek to destroy the country.

Disorganization has plagued the Syrian opposition since the start of the anti-Assad uprising in March 2011, with exile groups pleading for international help even when they have no control over those fighting inside of Syria.

A newly formed Syrian opposition coalition received a boost Tuesday, when Britain officially recognized it as the sole representative of the Syrian people.

The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was formed in the Gulf nation of Qatar on Oct. 11 under pressure from the United States for a stronger, more united opposition body to serve as a counterweight to more extremist forces.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday the body’s members gave assurances to be a “moderate political force committed to democracy” and that the West must “support them and deny space to extremist groups.”

The United States and the European Union have both spoken well of the body but stopped short of offering it full recognition.

Key to the body’s success will be its ability to build ties with the disparate rebel groups fighting inside Syria. Many rebel leaders say they don’t recognize the new body, and a group of extremist Islamist factions on Monday rejected it, announcing that they had formed an “Islamic state” in Aleppo.

Anti-regime activists say nearly 40,000 people have been killed since Syria’s crisis started 20 months ago.

___

Associated Press write Elizabeth Kennedy contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

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Eric Stonestreet Wasn’t Drunk, He Swears

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

RELATED: What Happens When You Sing ‘All Night Long’ All Night Long

So if you were one of the few people watching the American Music Awards, (which no one watched) you may have seen Eric Stonestreet be a little tipsy. But that isn’t half as enjoyable as watching Eric Stonestreet watching himself be a little tipsy that night. (Also, wow, he’s sort of a bro.)

RELATED: Modern Family Is Scary

RELATED: ‘Seven Psychocats’ and the 50 Best Bond Moments in 007 Minutes

A few days ago we found out that Paul Rudd was in play called Grace on Broadway because … (wait for it) someone in the balcony puked on the audience members during the play. Four days late we can laugh at the whole thing. Mostly because we weren’t barfed on: 

RELATED: A ‘Mad Men’ Rickroll and the Man That Destroys Carnival Games

RELATED: A Video to Restore Our Faith in Humanity and a Glacier Tsunami

Here’s how to make some magic. What you’ll need: 

(1) Canadian newscaster with chubby fingers

(1) Technology

(1) Drunk piece of technology

Voila: 

And finally. Thanksgiving is upon us!  Today we’re thankful for squirrels who like to eat plastic: 

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mitt Romney a Twihard? Candidate and Wife Take in “Twilight” Finale

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – He may have missed out on becoming leader of the free world when he lost the election to President Obama, but Mitt Romney is keeping busy – with the romantic vampires and werewolves of “Twilight.”

Saturday night, he was spotted with his wife Ann heading into a showing of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ at a cineplex in Del Mar, Calif., by TMZ. After the movie, they and two young men went to a nearby pizza place, where they reportedly spoke and posed for pictures with patrons.

The Saturday night out for the Romneys was in contrast to the recent movie-viewing by the man who beat him in the election. President Obama last week viewed Oscar hopeful “Lincoln” in a special White House screening with several of the cast members and filmmakers.

There was no word on whether Romney or his wife aligned with Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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