Quentin Tarantino: if you think “Django Unchained” is violent, try slavery

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – If you think “Django Unchained” is violent, Quentin Tarantino has a historical reality check for you: Try slavery.

The “Pulp Fiction” auteur is back with an Antebellum revenge flick that according to early screenings pours on the blood and gore. Tarantino told an audience of British Academy of Film and Television Arts members on Thursday that if anything he spared the lash in his depiction of slavery, according to the Guardian.

“We all intellectually ‘know’ the brutality and inhumanity of slavery,” Tarantino said, “but after you do the research it’s no longer intellectual any more, no longer just historical record – you feel it in your bones. It makes you angry and want to do something … I’m here to tell you, that however bad things get in the movie, a lot worse shit actually happened.”

Tarantino’s comments indicate that he anticipates the irreverent “Django Unchained” – which opens on Christmas Day – will court controversy for setting its story against the backdrop of the slave trade.

The film centers on a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) who partners with a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) to take down a plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) who controls his wife. Candie, who speaks with Magnolia-scented menace in the trailers, owns a mixed-race club in Greenville, Miss., and deals in slave-fights.

Perhaps because the film features Tarantino’s trademark sardonic humor, some early viewers have compared “Django Unchained” to the works of Mel Brooks.

“Just watched what was basically a three-hour homage to BLAZING SADDLES,”@LouLumenick tweeted.

But despite the humor, in an interview with Howard Stern this week, Tarantino indicated that he took the responsibility of depicting slavery very seriously. In particular, he said that shooting a scene where a female slave is brutalized brought him to tears and deeply impacted the crew.

“It was early on in the production, and it was the first time we started officially dealing with that kind of ugliness,” Tarantino said. “We later got used to dealing with that kind of ugliness. But that first – it was traumatizing to everybody, none less because of the fact that we were doing it in the real slave area of a real plantation where the slaves lived.

“This actually happened on the grounds,” he added. “There was blood in that ground. Those trees had memories of everything that happened there. We could feel the spirits of the old slaves on the property.”

Of course, Tarantino has taken on controversial subjects before. He turned an ultra-violent and satiric eye at the Nazis and an SD colonel nicknamed the “Jew Hunter” and turned it into “Inglourious Basterds.” Dealing with charges of insensitivity, it nonetheless collected over $ 300 million worldwide and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

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‘Post-PC’ is more than just marketing buzz for Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple (AAPL) is no stranger to ditching technologies when it deems them to no longer be useful. The company dropped the floppy disk for a CD-ROM drive on the first iMac and most recently has shifted to building MacBooks and iMacs without any physical disc drives. In his first televised interview on NBC’s Rockcenter with Brian Williams, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that he has “ditched physical keyboards” now that he spends 80% of his time using his iPad “authoring email” and “working on things.” Cook says he’s gotten quite good at typing on the screen and advises people to trust auto-correction as it’s “quite good” — though it’s a feature we still blast iOS for some five years after the first iPhone launched. But what does it mean when the boss of the country’s most valuable company and the most revered technology company in the world doesn’t even use physical keyboards anymore? Perhaps the “post-PC” era will become mainstream sooner than we thought.

For years, Apple has touted the idea that we’re entering the “post-PC” era – a period when touchscreen-equipped smartphones and tablets will eclipse desktops, notebooks and complex operating systems as they slowly fade away into a niche reserved for professionals.

While there will still be a need for notebooks, Windows PCs and Macs, the increasing numbers of smartphones and tablets sold and continued decline of worldwide PC sales support Apple’s claim that mobile is where the next tech battleground is, even if Microsoft (MSFT) thinks otherwise.

The term “dogfooding” is often thrown around between tech blogs and Cook is doing exactly that — using his “own product to demonstrate the quality and capabilities of the product.”

As Steve Jobs once said, Apple only builds products its own engineers and designers would use themselves.

Cook’s not saying, “iPads are great” for some people and some tasks. The fact that Cook uses his iPad for 80% of his work and an iPhone all the time suggests he and Apple are serious about this post-PC era. Apple wants iPads and iPhones to be great for all of your computing needs.

Apple is serious enough about it that the big boss has shifted his habits from old-school typing on actual keyboards to using virtual keyboards. And for all we know, Cook could be using even more natural human interfaces such as more voice recognition (ex: Siri in iOS and built-in dictation in OS X Mountain Lion).

Will physical keyboards go the way of the dodo in the next handful of years? It’s doubtful, but don’t be surprised if you see fewer and fewer offices with QWERTY keyboards attached to PCs and more desks and execs just carrying tablets and a smartphone on the side.

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Boehner says Obama pushing country toward “fiscal cliff”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican House Speaker John Boehner accused President Barack Obama of pushing the country toward the “fiscal cliff” Friday and of wasting another week without progress in talks.

With three weeks left before a combination of steep tax hikes and spending cuts kicks in unless Congress intervenes, Boehner said the administration had adopted a “my way or the highway” approach and was engaging in “reckless talk” about going over the cliff.

“This isn’t a progress report because there is no progress to report,” Boehner told reporters at the Capitol. “The president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff.”

Obama has insisted that tax cuts set to expire on December 31 be extended for middle-class taxpayers, but not for the wealthiest Americans. Boehner and Republicans oppose his plan to raise tax rates for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, preferring to find new revenues by closing loopholes and reducing deductions.

Boehner characterized as “reckless talk” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s comment this week that the administration was prepared to go over the cliff if tax rates for the rich were not increased.

The downbeat assessment was in line with what Boehner has offered for weeks as the two sides hold their ground on Obama’s call for raising tax rates and Republican calls for cuts in entitlements like the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs for the elderly and the poor.

Capitol Hill aides said the budget talks would be limited to Boehner and Obama and their staffs as the deadline approached, but Boehner said a telephone call between two on Wednesday and renewed staff talks on Thursday had not made progress.

“The phone call was pleasant, but it was just more of the same. Even the conversations the staff had yesterday were just more of the same. It’s time for the president, if he’s serious, to come back to us with a counter-offer,” Boehner said.

Boehner and the House of Representatives leadership submitted their terms for a deal in a letter to the White House December 3.

Both sides have submitted plans that would cut deficits by more than $ 4 trillion over the next 10 years, but differ on how to achieve them. Republicans want drastically more spending cuts in entitlement programs, while Obama wants more in tax increases and more spending to boost the sluggish economy.

Boehner will have a challenge selling whatever agreement he might reach to conservative Tea Party sympathizers in the House, some of whom are openly critical of the concessions the speaker has already made, particularly his openness to revenue increases of any kind.

But with polling showing Americans will blame Republicans if the country goes off the “cliff,” more House Republicans have been urging Boehner to get an agreement quickly, even if it means tax hikes for the wealthy.

Once the question of whether to raise tax rates is resolved, the two sides will try figure out a way to deal with the spending cuts, perhaps postponing or trimming them. They will also work toward a longer-term deficit-reduction package to be taken up after the new Congress is sworn in next month.

“It’s going to require both leaders,” Obama senior adviser David Axelrod told MSNBC. “Each is going to have to make sacrifices in order to get this done. I think everybody recognizes the consequences of not getting it done.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are “being kept in the loop,” said an aide close to both Democratic leaders, ready to work out any details.

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Rachelle Younglai, David Lawder and Richard Cowan; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Boehner: Obama insisting on 'my way or the highway'

House Speaker John Boehner today said no progress has been made in negotiations with President Obama, demonstrating the persistence of a bullheaded standoff between the two party leaders just 24 days before the fiscal cliff deadline.

"This isn't a progress report because there's no progress to report," Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters at a news conference from the Capitol this morning. "When it comes to the fiscal cliff that's threatening our economy and threatening jobs, the White House has wasted another week."

The primary sticking point continues to be a disagreement over how to address tax cuts set to expire for taxpayers making above $250,000. The president insists rates on the wealthy must increase as part of an agreement, and so far Boehner has been adamant that any new revenue included in a deal must be created by closing tax loopholes and capping deductions.

"Raising taxes on small businesses is not going to help our economy and it's not going to help those seeking work," the speaker said. "I came out the day after the election to put revenues on the table to take a step towards the president to try to resolve this. When is he going to take a step towards us?"

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

Boehner said his phone call with Obama on Wednesday was not productive, and negotiations between White House officials and the speaker's top aides this week have not brought either side closer to an agreement.

"The phone call was pleasant but was just more of the same," Boehner said. "It's time for the president, if he's serious, to come back to us with a counteroffer."

Asked whether he could find a middle ground on increasing the top tax rates while simultaneously protecting small business, the speaker seemed to suggest a hint of flexibility on what has been a red line issue for Republicans up to this point.

"There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenues that the president seeks on the table, but none of it's going to be possible [if] the president insists on his position, insists on 'my way or the highway,'" he said. "That's not the way to get to an agreement that I think is important for the American people and very important for our economy."

View ABC News' comprehensive coverage of the fiscal cliff talks.

Reports indicate that negotiations have narrowed to include only the speaker's top policy aides and senior White House officials - cutting the Senate and House Democrats out of the talks for now.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi declined to disclose when she last spoke with Obama, but she did have a photo taken with him at a White House holiday reception on Monday. Today, she expressed solidarity with her president.

"I don't necessarily talk about when and how many times I speak to the president, but I'm very satisfied with the communication that I have with the president," she said. "The president knows our views. He shares our values. We feel confident in any negotiation that he takes the lead in."

Boehner once again condemned the president's only formal offer on Nov. 29, which called for $1.6 trillion in new revenue over the next decade, presidential power over the debt limit, and about $400 billion in new stimulus spending, predicting it would be a recipe for "trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see."

"The president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff," Boehner said. "If the president doesn't agree with our proposal, I believe that he's got an obligation to families and small businesses to offer a plan of his own - a plan that can pass both chambers of the Congress. We're ready and eager to talk to the president about such a plan."

Boehner also derided the president's request for what the speaker describes as "an infinite increase in the debt limit, like forever."

As Obama and Boehner consider the options to devising a bipartisan package, congressional insiders say the pressure is on both leaders to find the right touch that will win over adequate support to pass in the House and Senate.

"The bigger issue is Boehner is on the hook to negotiate on good faith on a deal that we [House Democrats], the White House and Senate Democrats would ok that includes [increases to tax] rates," one senior House Democratic leadership aide said. "Hate to be in his position."

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US works with Russia on Syria, but wants Assad out

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that the United States and Russia are committed to trying again to get President Bashar Assad‘s regime and the rebel opposition to talk about a political transition in Syria, setting aside a year and a half of U.S.-Russian disagreements that have paralyzed the international community.

Clinton stressed, however, that the U.S. would insist once again that Assad‘s departure be a key part of that transition, a position not shared by the Russians.

In her first comments on the surprise three-way diplomatic talks held Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.N. peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Clinton said Washington and Moscow agreed to support a new mediation effort Brahimi would lead. She called Thursday’s discussions “constructive,” while adding that much work remained and suggesting that neither side shifted its fundamental position.

“We reviewed the very dangerous developments inside Syria,” Clinton said in Northern Ireland. “And both Minister Lavrov and I committed to supporting a new push by Brahimi and his team to work with all the stakeholders in Syria to begin a political transition.”

“It was an important meeting, but just the beginning,” she added. “I don’t think anyone believes there was some great breakthrough. No one should have any illusions about how hard this remains, but all of us with any influence on the process, with any influence on the regime or the opposition, need to be engaged.”

Neither Assad nor any opposition group has agreed to a cease-fire and talks. Both sides believe they can resolve the conflict militarily. Even if the U.S. and Russia reach a broader agreement on a path forward, bringing most of the world with them, it is unclear if that will have any effect on the fighting in Syria.

The 40-minute meeting with Lavrov and Brahimi immediately seemed to ease some of the tensions between the U.S. and Russia over how best to address Syria’s bloody, 21-month civil war. Through much of the conflict, the former Cold War foes have argued bitterly. The U.S. has criticized Russia for shielding its closest Arab ally. Moscow has accused Washington of meddling by demanding Assad’s downfall.

Clinton said nothing that suggested either government had changed its position, and Lavrov made no public comments after the meeting. But with rebels fighting government forces on the outskirts of Syria’s capital and Western governments warning about possible chemical weapons deployment by the Assad regime, Clinton emphasized the importance of taking another shot at a peaceful transition deal.

Diplomatic efforts are needed to gauge “what is possible in face of the advancing developments on the ground which are increasingly dangerous not only to Syrians, but to their neighbors,” Clinton said, in an apparent reference to Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, which has become the focus of Western nervousness about the civil war.

Brahimi said after the talks that he would put together a peace process based on a political transition strategy the U.S. and Russia agreed on in Geneva in June. At that time, the process quickly became bogged down over how the international community might enforce its conditions.

But instead of addressing the plan’s shortcomings, Clinton stressed its continued value, saying it would commit any future Syrian authority to democratic principles and international human rights standards.

Clinton also said the strategy would have to mean the end of the four-decade Assad regime — a contentious point with Moscow, which has insisted that Syria’s leadership is not for the United States or any other outside party to decide on.

“The United States stands with the Syrian people in insisting that any transition process result in a unified, democratic Syria in which all citizens are represented — Sunni, Alawi, Christians, Kurds, Druze, men, women. Every Syrian must be included,” Clinton told reporters. “And a future of this kind cannot possibly include Assad.”

The plan Brahimi is hoping to resuscitate was crafted earlier this year by his predecessor as the Syria peace envoy, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Annan’s plan never got off the ground, and he resigned his post in frustration.

It starts with several demands on the Assad regime to de-escalate tensions and end the violence that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011. It then requires Syria’s opposition and the regime to put forward candidates for a transitional government, with each side having the right to veto nominees proposed by the other.

If anything resembling Annan’s plan takes hold, it would surely mean the end of Assad’s presidency. The opposition has demanded his departure and has rejected any talk of him staying in power. Yet it also would grant regime representatives the opportunity to block Sunni extremists and others in the opposition that they reject.

The United States blamed the collapse of the process last summer on Russia for vetoing a third resolution at the U.N. Security Council that would have applied world sanctions against Assad’s government for failing to live by its provisions.

Russia insisted that the Americans couldn’t demand Assad’s departure. It also worried about opening the door to military action, even as Washington offered to include language in any U.N. resolution that would have expressly forbidden outside armed intervention.

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Jackson’s Hobbit: the journey begins

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Film maker Peter Jackson wants to scare children with his latest movie – and perhaps even a few grown ups.

The first of the Hobbit movie trilogy – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – is about to hit theatres, and Jackson says he’s tried to hold true to its roots as a children’s fantasy story, with scary bits.

“If they’re scared of the trolls great, if they’re scared of the goblins great, they know there are no goblins, they know there are no trolls, it’s a safe kind of danger,” he says.

The film, produced by MGM and Time Warner Inc, is the fourth in the Oscar-winning Jackson’s blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” film franchise, based on the books of author J.R.R. Tolkien.

It follows the journey of hobbit Bilbo Baggins, reluctantly pushed into travelling with 13 dwarves to steal treasure from a dragon and regain their homeland. During his travels, he comes by the ring that he later passes onto kinsman Frodo Baggins, which was at the core of the “Rings” trilogy.

Jackson says he’s worked to keep distance between the Hobbit, published in 1937, and the much darker Lord of the Rings, which came out nearly 20 years later.

“The Lord of the Rings has an apocalyptic sort of heavy themic end-of-the world quality to it, which the Hobbit doesn’t, which is one of the delights of it,” he said.

POMPOUS AND SMALL MINDED

The pointy eared, hairy footed hobbit Bilbo is played by British actor Martin Freeman, who says he’s tried to make Bilbo his own creation, a character audiences can root for despite his initial pomposity and small mindedness.

“You have to be able to follow him for the duration of the film, but I wanted him to be open and changeable and ready to be surprised,” Freeman said.

A key scene is an encounter in a cave between Bilbo and the creature Gollum, reprised in full computer generated splendor by Andy Serkis with the distinctive throaty whisper.

“It was a very rich experience,” he said, adding that playing Gollum again was “an absolute thrill”.

Such is the affection for the creature, who calls the magic ring “Precious”, that a 13 meter (42 feet) sculpture of Gollum hangs in the airport terminal at Wellington, which regards itself as the spiritual home of the Tolkien films and terms itself the “Middle of Middle Earth”.

Returning actors from the Rings trilogy, many of whom have only passing mention in the book, were no less enthusiastic. Ian McKellen returns for a leading role as the wispy-haired, grey bearded wizard, Gandalf, while Cate Blanchett is the elven queen Galadriel and Elijah Wood appears as Frodo Baggins.

“You couldn’t not come back, you had to come back,” says Hugo Weaving, the leader of the elves, Elrond.

HOBBIT – A FRAUGHT JOURNEY

The Hobbit film journey has not been without its setbacks.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, owners of the film rights to the Tolkien books, had financial woes, prompting original director Guillermo del Toro to pull out and Jackson, already script writer and executive producer, to step in.

A major labor dispute prompted threats to move production out of New Zealand, and was solved by changing labor laws, while Jackson suffered a perforated ulcer and underwent surgery, delaying the film still further.

Though only two films were planned originally, Jackson has tapped Tolkien’s appendices to the Rings to make it into three.

Audiences are also getting more visual bangs for their buck, with the movies filmed in 3D and at 48 frames per second (fps), double the industry standard.

This delivers clearer pictures, but opinion is divided, with some critics calling it cartoon-like and jarring.

Jackson says he wants to drag the iPad generation back into theatres and the romance, excitement and mystery they offer.

“It’s more realistic, it’s more immersive. I almost feel a responsibility as a film maker to try to do my part at encouraging people to come to the movies, to watch the film in a cinema,” he said.

The second film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” will be released in December next year, with the third “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” is due in mid-July 2014.

(Reporting by Gyles Beckford, editing by Elaine Lies)

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Apple and Samsung return to court to battle over $1 billion verdict

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Breast Cancer Vaccine a Reality for Women With HER-2 Negative Cancers

COMMENTARY | NeuVax, a breast cancer vaccine, is entering phase III trials. The drug’s manufacturer, Galena Biopharma, announced on Dec. 5, that it signed a distribution deal with TEVA Pharmaceuticals. TEVA will handle the global commercialization and distribution of the drug once it is out of trials. It is about time this is moving forward. We need to make progress toward ending this disease.

What is NeuVax?

A vaccine called NeuVax is close to being a reality for breast cancer patients. NeuVax is a vaccine, the first of its kind, to prevent breast cancer from recurring. A recurrence is when breast cancer returns to the same breast. If breast cancer appears in the other breast, it is not a recurrence but a new cancer.

Most women have a 15-20 percent chance of breast cancer recurring, even after a mastectomy. The implications of the vaccine are huge. It reduces the chance of breast cancer recurrence in women with node-positive, HER-2 negative breast cancers. About 75 percent of all breast cancer is HER-2 negative. The vaccine is given after the standard course of treatment is completed. It is not a replacement for radiation or chemotherapy. I would gladly try a vaccine over the currently available long-term recurrence preventions — all are hormone based and carry awful side effects.

Phase III trials

Unfortunately for me, there are no trials available in Arkansas. Even if there were, I am not eligible because my cancer is HER-2 positive, and I am thankfully, node-negative. This means that the cancer is not in my lymph system. Phase III trials are when the drug is actually tested in random settings on humans. This drug seems to be very promising. Right now, phase III trials are open in the United States and Canada. Israel will have at least four phase III trials opening soon. You can see if there are trials near you at the NeuVax website.

This vaccine has the potential to replace hormone therapies like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. Both types of drugs have serious side effects. A vaccine, taken over the course of three years, reduces the time a patient needs to take medications and it helps to prevent recurrence. Hopefully the phase III trials go well and we get this vaccine available to breast cancer patients soon.

Lynda Altman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called “My Battle With Breast Cancer.”

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NATO moving missiles, troops to Syria border

BEIRUT (AP) — As fears grow in the West that Syrian President Bashar Assad will unleash chemical weapons as an act of desperation, NATO moved forward Thursday with its plan to place Patriot missiles and troops along Syria's border with Turkey to protect against potential attacks.

Assad's regime blasted the move as "psychological warfare," saying the new deployment would not deter it from seeking victory over rebels it views as terrorists.

The missile deployment sends a clear message to Assad that consequences will follow if he uses chemical weapons or strikes NATO member Turkey, which backs the rebels seeking his ouster. But its limited scope also reflects the low appetite in Western capitals for direct military intervention in the civil war.

The U.S. and many European and Arab countries called for Assad to step down early in the uprising but have struggled to make that happen. Russia and China have protected Assad from censure by the U.N. Security Council, and the presence of extremists among the rebels makes the U.S. and others nervous about arming them.

In Dublin, Ireland, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Russia's foreign minister and the U.N. peace envoy to the Arab country for three-way talks that suggested Washington and Moscow were working toward a common strategy as the Assad regime weakens.

The diplomatic efforts to end the civil war come days after NATO agreed to post Patriot missiles and troops along Turkey's southern border with Syria after mortars and shells from Syria killed five Turks.

Germany's Cabinet approved the move on Thursday, and German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters that the overall mission is expected to include two batteries each from the Netherlands and the United States, plus 400 soldiers and monitoring aircraft.

"Nobody knows what such a regime is capable of and that is why we are acting protectively here," said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that intelligence reports raise fears that an increasingly desperate Assad is considering using his chemical weapons arsenal — which the U.S. and Russia agree is unacceptable.

The Assad regime said the NATO deployment would not make Assad change course, calling the talk of chemical weapons part of a conspiracy to justify future intervention.

"The Turkish step and NATO's support for it are provocative moves that constitute psychological warfare," Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said in an interview with Lebanon's Al-Manar TV. "But if they think this will affect our determination and work for a decisive victory in this fight against terrorism, they are very wrong."

Syria has not confirmed it has chemicals weapons, while insisting that it would never use such arms against its own people.

"I repeat for the hundredth time that even if such weapons exist in Syria, they will not be used against the Syrian people," Mekdad said. "We cannot possibly commit suicide."

Analysts say the missile deployment sends a message to Assad to keep the war in his own country.

"There is an element there of deterrence, of coercive diplomacy," said Yezid Sayigh of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "We won't go further if you don't go further."

Sayigh said it is possible that Syria, too, moved its chemical weapons to send a counter-message to the West.

Still, the missile deployment does not appear to be a step toward military intervention, he said, noting that no NATO member nations want to enter the war.

NATO officials said the Patriots will be programmed only to intercept Syrian weapons that enter Turkish airspace and will not be fired into Turkey preemptively. This means they would not target Syrian military activities that remain inside Syria.

The German Parliament is expected give its final approval in mid-December, and the Dutch are also expected to approve the move soon, allowing the plan to go ahead. Due to the complexity and size of the Patriot batteries, they will probably have to travel by sea and won't arrive in Turkey for another month.

In Syria, government forces shelled rebellious suburbs around the capital, Damascus. They also clashed with rebels in Damascus as well as in the northern city of Aleppo and elsewhere. Anti-regime activists say more than 40,000 have been killed since the country's crisis started with political protests in March 2011.

The fighting in Syria has enflamed tensions in neighboring Lebanon, where security officials said the toll in clashes between two neighborhoods in the northern city of Tripoli had risen to eight dead and more than 60 wounded.

The clashes between the two communities, which support opposite sides in Syria's civil war, started Monday, following reports that 17 Lebanese men were killed after entering Syria to fight alongside the rebels.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

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Associated Press writers David Rising in Berlin and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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South Africa military plane crashes in mountains

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African military aircraft on an unknown mission to an area near the village where former President Nelson Mandela lives crashed in a mountain range, officials said Thursday. It was unclear whether there were any survivors.

The Douglas DC-3 Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, had taken off from Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday night, said Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga, a military spokesman. On Thursday morning, soldiers found the wreckage of the airplane in the Drakensberg mountains near Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal province, some 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of the air base, Mabanga said.

Mabanga said soldiers had been sent to the scene to look for survivors. Mabanga said he did not know what the mission of the aircraft was, though it had planned to land in Mthatha in the country’s Eastern Cape. Siphiwe Dlamini, a Defense Ministry spokesman, declined to immediately comment Thursday morning.

Mthatha is about 30 kilometers (17 miles) north of Qunu, the village where Mandela now lives after retiring from public life. South Africa‘s military remains largely responsible for the former president’s medical care. However, military officials declined to say whether those on board had any part in caring for Mandela.

In November, another South African military flight crash landed at Mthatha, sending several people to the hospital with injuries. However, at that time, the military denied that those on board had anything to do with Mandela’s care.

Mandela, 94, was imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against apartheid before becoming the nation’s president in the country’s first fully democratic vote in 1994.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

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