SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Glu Mobile Inc will allow U.S. players to win cash in one of its mobile games starting next month, betting that cash-based contests will be a winning formula to expand revenue in the fledgling but potentially high-growth mobile gaming sector.

The fast-growing mobile game developer, which has struggled to report a profit since it went public in 2007, said it entered into a partnership with San Francisco startup Skillz that provides technology enabling real-money earnings from skill-based mobile games through cash tournaments.

With smartphones and tablets going mainstream and delivering gaming to a new, broader set of consumers, the mobile gaming sector is growing rapidly and attracting gamers away from console games made by publishers such as Electronic Arts Inc.

Glu will use the Skillz platform, currently only available for games running on Google Inc's Android operating system, to introduce cash tournaments in its hunting simulation "Deer Hunter Reloaded", the company told Reuters. It will expand to other Android titles in the second half of 2013.

Gamers will pay a fee to compete for cash prizes and Glu, which derives about half its revenue from the United States, hopes this paves the way for a new revenue stream in mobile gaming, CEO Niccolo de Masi said in an interview.

Real-money gaming competitions have been popular for several years through online websites such as WorldWinner and King.com but are only now moving to the mobile realm. Those games focus on skill-based contests such as "Scrabble" and "Wheel of Fortune," as opposed to casino-style games of pure chance.

CHALLENGING MARKET

While online chance-based or gambling games such as slots, in which players can wager money, are only allowed in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, real-money competitions in skill-based games are legal in the District of Columbia and 37 states in the United States.

"We're probably years away from seeing the same level of geographic legalization of chance gaming, if ever in some cases, to try and reach the same level of market coverage and penetration we've got on the skill side," de Masi said.

In mobile gaming - a tough market where it is difficult to get users to spend money, play for long sessions and keep returning to game apps - players such as Zynga Inc and Glu are scrambling to find sustainable business models and are experimenting with casino-style gambling as a promising revenue source.

The U.S. government banned online gambling in 2006, but the Department of Justice clarified its stance in late 2011, paving the way for states to unilaterally legalize some forms of online wagering. Industry analysts say widespread legalization by states of online gambling could take years.

Online gambling meanwhile is growing in popularity in Britain, where it is legal and profitable. Zynga and Glu have launched real-money gambling games such as poker and casino-style titles in Britain this year through partnerships with European mobile betting operators.

Glu has 40 million monthly active users and makes money through advertisements and the sale of virtual goods such as weapons that enhance game play. It has tied up with Activision Blizzard Inc to make mobile games for the blockbuster "Call of Duty" shooter franchise.

Founded in 2012, Skillz opened up its platform to Android game developers in April and has partnered with 15 other developers, including Canadian studio Fluik Entertainment.

Its partner Gnarly Games has so far seen greater user retention and ad revenue through tournaments, Skillz CEO and founder Andrew Paradise told Reuters in an interview.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

[More from BGR: ]

During the video interview, GameTrailers asked Mattrick about the new consoles connectivity requirements. The following is a transcription of his response:

[More from BGR: ]

Some of the advantages that you get, of having, a box that is designed to use an online state, so, that, uh, to me is the future-proof choice, and I think people, couldve arguably gone the other way if we didnt do it and fortunately we have a product for people who arent able to get some form of connectivity, its called Xbox 360.

The interviewer pressed, asking if that was really Microsofts message.Mattrick continued:

Well, if you have zero access to the internet, that is an offline device, I mean, seriously, when I read the blogs, and thought about whos really the most impacted, there was a person who said hey, Im on a nuclear sub, and I dont even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub but Ive gotta imagine its not easy to get an internet connection.

with an included Kinect sensor, one controller and a game when it launches in November this year. The video interview with Mattrick is embedded below.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For modern, harried lifestyles focused on getting and spending, fitness experts say tai chi, the ancient Chinese slow-moving exercise, can be an ideal way for anyone to stay fit.

A staple in senior citizen centers and a common dawn sighting in public parks, the practice can offer long-term benefits for all age groups.

"In this high-tech world that's all about speed, greed and instant gratification, tai chi is the antidote to bring us back to balanced health," according to Arthur Rosenfeld, a tai chi master and the author of a new book called "Tai Chi The Perfect Exercise: Finding Health, Happiness, Balance, and Strength."

"It doesn't mean you can win the marathon or clean and jerk 750 pounds or win a cycle sprint," said the South Florida resident, 56. "It's not about getting there sooner." Tai chi is more about how the body works than how it looks, and is about aging gracefully and "with less drama."

"The last time I looked, there were some 500 studies about the various physical benefits of tai chi, from improving balance and attention span to boosting the immune system to beating back the symptoms of arthritis, asthma and insomnia," said Rosenfeld.

An estimated 2.3 million U.S. adults have done tai chi in the past 12 months, according to a 2007 National Health Interview Survey.

The practice is not perfect. Tai chi "does not supply the cardiovascular component that we'd be looking for in a well-rounded routine," said Jessica Matthews, a San Diego, California-based exercise physiologist. "The exertion level, while challenging, is not going to increase your heart rate."

'GRAND ULTIMATE MOTION'

T'ai chi ch'uan, as it is formally known, derives from a form of Chinese martial arts. Explaining the slow, circular movement of the practice, Rosenfeld said tai chi is a philosophical term that means the harmonious interplay of opposing forces.

When nature encounters a strong force, the way it answers that force to maintain harmony in the world is with a spiral, he said. "Astronomers see galaxies moving in spirals, water goes down the drain in a spiral, tornados form as a spiral. We spiral in tai chi because the most effective way to move fluid through solid is a spiral."

Hawaii-based personal and group-fitness trainer Jordan Forth, who has studied tai chi since 2006, said one translation of tai chi is "grand ultimate motion."

"I recommend it to everybody," said Forth. "It teaches people to move well in multiple planes of motion with a state of awareness not cultivated in everyday fitness. Most people check out on a treadmill or during high-intensity activity."

Forth said tai chi improves mobility, movement and flexibility and can be even more dynamic than yoga, which the 35-year-old has studied since he was a teenager.

"With tai chi you're grounded the entire time," he said. "For me, (it) translates more into functional everyday movement."

Matthews, who is also a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise, said because tai chi is slow motion and low impact, many assume it's just for older people or not a viable means of exercise.

Not so, she said: Research studies have found that the practice increased mineral bone density, boosted endurance, strengthened the lower body, and eased depression.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

Firework designer

Everyone loves a good fireworks show the fluorescent bursts of light, the showers of sparks, the booms and crackles. But it's someone's job to create those fireworks namely, a chemist. That chemist designs fireworks with chemicals that emitwhen they're heated. For example, copper compounds burn blue, strontium compounds let off a crimson hue, and sodium blazes a bright yellow. The chemicals are very reactive, and sometimes dangerous. Being a firework designer usually requires a master's degree or Ph.D. in chemistry.

Space psychologist

No, a space psychologist isn't a job for someone who studies the minds of hoarders. Space psychologists study how astronauts cope with the conditions of spaceflight and the weightless . Astronauts' work is very continuous and highly regimented. The actual spaceflight involves unfamiliar physical sensations, such as weightlessness and acceleration. Space psychologists make recommendations about the best way for astronauts to perform physical and mental work, as well as rest. This profession could become increasingly important as more extended periods of space travel arise, such as manned missions to Mars. []

Sexologist

Talk about a job that raises eyebrows. Sexology is " or of the interaction of the sexes especially among human beings," according to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary. It's a broad field, using tools from biology, medicine, psychology, sociology and other fields. Sexologists study everything from puberty to sexual orientation to the mechanics of sexual intercourse. They also study sexual dysfunctions.

Snake milker

Some jobs are not for the faint-of-heart: Snake milkers are animal care specialists who extract the venom of poisonous snakes. , while not exactly milk, is nevertheless a life-giving substance (when used correctly). The venom, deadly on its own, is the main ingredient in snakebite antidotes and a wide range of medicines. Snake milkers have the job of extracting, or "milking," the toxic substance from a snake's fangs. The venom can be made into a freeze-dried powder that research laboratories use to produce drugs for blood clots, heart attacks and high blood pressure.

Scatologist

It isn't the most glamorous of careers, but scatology the scientific study of excrement can tell scientists a lot about an animal, including its habits, overall health and presence of disease. The contents of an animal's poop can reveal its diet, which tells scientists where the animal has been. The bacteria in feces provide a sampling of an animal's gut flora and fauna, which determine its health. The study of feces has also led to advances in human medicine. For example,can be an effective means of treating intractable gut infections by reestablishing a healthy bacterial equilibrium.

Laughter therapist

Laughter is the best medicine or at least, the best therapy. Laughter has been found to , among other benefits. Laughter therapists aim to make patients chuckle, but they don't use jokes or comedy. Instead, they lead exercises that help people connect with the deep, joyful laughter that babies experience.

Fermentation scientist

Beer, wine, bread, cheese, pickles, yogurt all of these foods are made by fermentation, the process by which yeast or bacteria convert sugars to acids, gases or alcohol. Fermentation scientists, or zymologists, study how these microorganisms can be used in fermentation processes, such as . Louis Pasteur was the first zymologist, discovering that yeast led to fermentation. Some universities even have programs now where students can major in fermentation sciences.

Follow Tanya Lewis on and .Follow us , & . Original article on.

Blanchard's "Champion" with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer is based on the life of former world welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith. Its world premiere at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis on Saturday comes just weeks after NBA center Jason Collins became the first active male pro athlete from one of the four major North American team sports to come out as gay.

Griffith's greatest triumph came in a nationally televised welterweight title bout in 1962 when he knocked out Benny "The Kid" Paret by battering him with 17 punches in seven seconds, sending his rival into a coma. Paret died 10 days later.

At the weigh-in, the Cuban-born Paret had angered Griffith by using an anti-gay Spanish slur. Thirty years later, Griffith was beaten and nearly killed after leaving a gay bar near Times Square.

In a 2008 biography, Griffith came out and discussed being a bisexual athlete in an era when gays were not readily accepted. Griffith originally wanted to design women's hats, but was encouraged by his employer at a Garment District factory to take up boxing to support his family in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Blanchard boxes recreationally and first heard about Griffith from his friend and trainer, former heavyweight champion Michael Bentt. He was inspired to write the opera by a quote from Griffith in the biography: "I kill a man and most people understand and forgive me. However, I love a man, and to so many people this is an unforgivable sin; this makes me an evil person."

An abbreviated version of the quote is used in the opera's climactic closing scene where an aging Griffith meets Paret's son to seek forgiveness.

"I was just compelled by the whole notion of a person who could be that accomplished and not really share the moment of winning the championship with somebody that he loved," Blanchard said in a telephone interview from his New Orleans home. "I immediately thought of the first time I won a Grammy. My wife was with me and I turned around and kissed her without thinking about it.

"It speaks volumes of where we are as a society and how we need to really check ourselves, especially those of us who call ourselves compassionate human beings."

Benny Paret Jr. and Griffith's adopted son, Luis Rodrigo, are expected to attend the premiere. The 75-year-old Griffith, who lives in a nursing home in Hempstead, N.Y., suffers from dementia pugilistica after more than 100 professional bouts and requires full-time care.

"So often we think of opera as being kind of irrelevant in many ways, but I do believe opera-going audiences these days ... want something more modern that reflects contemporary society," said OTSL Artistic Director James Robinson, who is directing the production.

When Robinson took over as artistic director in 2008, he was interested in commissioning new works by American composers and the idea of a jazz opera came up. Gene Dobbs Bradford, who runs Jazz St. Louis, recommended Blanchard because of his extensive orchestral experience that includes writing scores for more than 50 films, including most of Spike Lee's.

The 51-year-old Blanchard agreed to undertake the biggest musical project of his career in part to honor his father who could not realize his dream of being an opera singer in an era when companies didn't hire male black singers. His father performed with amateur opera groups, and Blanchard grew up listening to opera recordings at his New Orleans home.

Blanchard knows his father would have been "overjoyed" to see that his son had written an opera performed by a largely African-American cast, including Denyce Graves as Griffith's mother, Arthur Woodley as old Emile and Aubrey Allicock as young Emile. An 11-year-old from St. Louis, Jordan Jones, plays Emile as a boy.

Cristofer's first opera libretto tells Griffith's story in 10 rounds.

"I saw in Emile's life the story of a man who was fighting to reconcile who he was inside with who he was in the outside world," said Cristofer. "He was a young man who wanted to make hats and sing and play baseball and instead became a famous and successful prize fighter. He was confused about his sexual identity and that confusion led to violence. That violence led to the death of another man."

Blanchard describes his work as an "opera in jazz." His score for symphony orchestra and jazz trio uses the language of jazz its rhythms and harmonies but leaves little space for improvisation. He says his biggest challenge was learning how to write for the individual singers because each human voice has its own characteristics.

While writing "Champion," Blanchard also took a new direction with his jazz quintet. The trumpeter's album "Magnetic," released in late May, features 10 original compositions by Blanchard and his bandmates that cover a wide range of styles from the driving bop of "Don't Run," featuring special guests bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, to the spacey electronic haze of "Hallucinations," with West African guitarist Lionel Loueke.

Blanchard hopes "Champion" builds bridges between the jazz and opera audiences.

"It's also a compelling story and hopefully we'll start to engage in a more in-depth conversation about being universally tolerant in this country," he said.

____

Online:

http://www.ExperienceOpera.org

http://www.terenceblanchard.com

Hannah Warren has been unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in South Korea in 2010. Until the operation at a central Illinois hospital, she had spent her entire life in a hospital in Seoul. Doctors there told her parents there was no hope and they expected her to die.

The stem cells came from Hannah's bone marrow, extracted with a special needle inserted into her hip bone. They were seeded in a lab onto a plastic scaffold, where it took less than a week for them to multiply and create a new windpipe.

About the size of a 3-inch tube of penne pasta, it was implanted April 9 in a nine-hour procedure.

Early signs indicate the windpipe is working, Hannah's doctors announced Tuesday, although she is still on a ventilator. They believe she will eventually be able to live at home and lead a normal life.

"We feel like she's reborn," said Hannah's father, Darryl Warren.

"They hope that she can do everything that a normal child can do but it's going to take time. This is a brand new road that all of us are on," he said in a telephone interview. "This is her only chance but she's got a fantastic one and an unbelievable one."

Warren choked up and his wife, Lee Young-mi, was teary-eyed at a hospital news conference Tuesday. Hannah did not attend because she is still recovering from the surgery. She developed an infection after the operation but now is acting like a healthy 2-year-old, her doctors said.

Warren said he hopes the family can bring Hannah home for the first time in a month or so. Hannah turns 3 in August.

"It's going to be amazing for us to finally be together as a family of four," he said. The couple has an older daughter.

Only about one in 50,000 children worldwide are born with the windpipe defect. The stem-cell technique has been used to make other body parts besides windpipes and holds promise for treating other birth defects and childhood diseases, her doctors said.

The operation brought together an Italian surgeon based in Sweden who pioneered the technique, a pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria who met Hannah's family while on a business trip to South Korea, and Hannah born to a Newfoundland man and Korean woman who married after he moved to that country to teach English.

Hannah's parents had read about Dr. Paolo Macchiarini's success using stem-cell based tracheas but couldn't afford to pay for the operation at his center, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. So Dr. Mark Holterman helped the family arrange to have the procedure at his Peoria hospital, bringing in Macchiarini to lead the operation. Children's Hospital waived the cost, likely hundreds of thousands of dollars, Holterman said.

Part of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, the Roman Catholic hospital considers the operation part of their mission to provide charity care, but also views it as a way to champion a type of stem-cell therapy that doesn't involve human embryos, the surgeons said. The Catholic church opposes using stem cells derived from human embryos in research or treatment.

Macchiarini has been involved in 14 previous windpipe operations using patients' own stem cells five using man-made scaffolds like Hannah's but in adults; and nine using scaffolds made from cadaver windpipes, including one in a 10-year-old British boy.

He said only one patient died, a 30-year-old man from Abingdon, Md., who had the operation in November 2011 to treat late-stage cancer of the windpipe. He died about four months later of uncertain causes, Macchiarini said.

Similar methods have been used to grow bladders, urethras and last year a girl in Sweden got a lab-made vein using her own stem cells and a cadaver vein.

Scientists hope to eventually use the method to create solid organs, including kidneys and livers, said Dr. Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest University's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He said the operation on Hannah Warren "is really showing that the technique is workable."

Hannah had breathing difficulties at birth and Korean doctors soon discovered the missing windpipe. They reconfigured her esophagus so that a breathing tube could go down it from her mouth to her lungs. The esophagus normally runs behind the windpipe and carries food to the stomach.

Korean doctors said she couldn't live long with the tube and told her parents there was nothing more they could do.

Hannah outlived their expectations and has thrived despite the grim prognosis and other abnormalities including an undeveloped voice box that prevented her from speaking. Now that she has a windpipe and can breathe more normally, doctors expect the larynx to grow and function normally. She will work with speech therapists to help her learn to talk.

Holterman said Hannah will likely need a new windpipe in about five years, as she grows.

She breathes with help from a ventilator but no longer has a tube in her mouth that she'd lived with since shortly after birth, Holterman said. She's not yet able to eat normally, but doctors let her have her first taste ever of food a few licks on a lollipop. Her father said she already has discriminating taste and prefers chocolate Korean lollipops to the American kind.

"I asked her, 'Is it good?'" he said, "and she immediately nodded her head."

___

Online:

Regenerative Medicine: http://1.usa.gov/13IWdrx

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

The Arab German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce organized the forum and the Economic Development Board and the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry provided additional support.

This year's forum will focus on the economic environment and investment opportunities in Bahrain. The forum provides a great opportunity for Bahraini companies to discuss ways of co-operation with their peers in Germany.

The forum aims to enhance trade relations between Arab countries and Germany. The value of Arab investment in Germany totals 75 billion euros.

Bahrain's economic environment has many attractive benefits for investment. International companies and investors can use the Kingdom as a means to access the wider GCC market, which is now worth $1.4 trillion.

Around 500 delegates participate in the Forum each year. This year, delegates will discuss a variety of topics, including economic and trade issues in infrastructure, logistics, IT, manufacturing and financial services, small and medium enterprises, family businesses, and the role of businesswomen.

SOURCE Kingdom of Bahrain

A smiling, upbeat McCardel arrived in the morning at a rocky jetty in Havana's Hemingway Marina in a pink 1950s Chevy convertible. She carefully adjusted her black swim cap and goggles while her husband applied grease around the edges of her suit to prevent chafing.

"As confident as I can be. I think it's all going to work out well," the 28-year-old said. "It'll be tough, though. It's not going to be an easy ride, but we'll get through it as a team."

McCardel expects to take about 60 hours to get to the Florida Keys, a little more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the northeast, braving sharks and jellyfish along the way.

The current weather report for that window is clear. The sea off Havana was flat and glassy Wednesday, precisely the ideal conditions that McCardel's science team had forecast.

The Florida Strait has been busy the last three summers, with fellow marathon swimmers Diana Nyad and Penny Palfrey making four failed attempts at the crossing between them since 2011. Australian Susie Maroney successfully made the swim in 1997, though she did it with the benefit of a shark cage.

"It is the hardest swim in the world today," McCardel said earlier at a news conference in the Cuban capital. "No one has been able to achieve this. It's possibly harder than winning the World Cup or getting a gold medal."

The challenge also outstrips by far, at least in terms of distance, anything she's done before. McCardel, who has twice made a double crossing of the English Channel, said the most time she's spent in the water continuously is 25 hours.

She is swimming under English Channel Marathon rules, which means she cannot touch her support boat or hold onto anything. Nor can she wear a full-body wetsuit, which would help protect against exposure and jellyfish stings, or use a shark cage.

A piece of equipment called a Shark Shield creates an electromagnetic field around her in the water, discouraging the predators from getting too close.

McCardel plans to stop every half-hour or so to sip an energy drink, preferring that to solid foods.

She and her team have spent the last nine and a half months planning the trip and studying others' attempts to try to figure out why they were unable to complete the swim.

They picked June for their bid in a bit of a tradeoff: While seas are warmer later in the summer, this month typically sees lower concentrations of box jellyfish, whose dangerous stings have scuttled past attempts.

They even took the lunar cycle into account. Moonlight attracts jellyfish to the surface, and that should be less of a problem as she sets off under a new moon.

McCardel said she believes she can succeed where others fell short because she has assembled an unprecedented team that includes scientists on land who are experts on the Gulf Stream current that flows through the straits.

They will be crunching data in real time and feeding information to her support boat, a 44-foot catamaran dubbed the "Sunluver," so the mission can dodge things such as the powerful eddies that have swept others off course.

"The advantage that this gives us is that we can foresee 10, 20, 30 kilometers ahead," she said. "So if we can slightly change our course to avoid things in the future, we're less likely to get picked up by an eddy off the Gulf Stream and pushed in the wrong direction."

Still, she acknowledged there's no way to guarantee nature's cooperation.

"The Gulf Stream ... it's like a wild animal," McCardel said. "You cannot predict it that much in advance, so you cannot take historical data from Penny Palfrey or Diana Nyad's swim and say, well, this is what happened to them, therefore if we don't do exactly the same then we'll have a better outcome."

It would seem an unlikely dream for a woman who didn't even learn to swim until she was 10 years old.

McCardel, who makes a living doing first-aid training, and her husband took out a second mortgage on their Melbourne home to fund the $150,000 in costs associated with the swim.

So far they have made about half of it back through sponsorships, and leaned heavily on volunteers on donations. She's also hoping to raise money for cancer research and to support people who suffer from the disease.

At the marina Wednesday morning McCardel was just about to hop into the water when suddenly she turned around and called out for her husband, Paul.

"I love you," she said, giving him a quick kiss. "Thank you. Bye!"

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

Wine, beer and spirits manufacturers may soon have to disclose calorie content and other nutritional information on bottles and cans. But for now, such labeling remains optional.

The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which is part of the Treasury Department, proposed a labeling rule in 2007 that would require alcoholic beverage manufacturers to include calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein content on their labels, but it has yet to make a decision on whether to implement the rule. It last week that manufacturers could add this information if they wanted to.

"What's interesting to me is that the reason why beverage companies want it and consumers want it is totally different," said Sara Bleich, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "It's an example of two groups having different goals while having a sweet spot that seems to work for both."

Low-calorie beer manufacturers are hoping the labels will target people trying to lose weight, believing that's a way to boost sales, she said, adding that studies find that middle-income white women were most likely to pay attention to the labels.

And consumers want more information to make educated choices.

Even though many consumers don't understand food labels, the 15 percent or 20 percent of those who do can significantly lower their weight, Bleich said. This ultimately could lower obesity and have a positive impact on health care costs.

"I think more calories come from alcohol than people think," said dietitian Jessica Bennett, who works at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

On average, alcohol alone contains 7 calories per gram, which means it's almost as caloric as fat, Bennett said. Fat contains 9 calories per gram. Protein, on the other hand, contains 4 calories per gram.

Still, Bennett said she wasn't sure how new labels would affect alcohol consumption.

Consumers are at the mercy of their bartenders and waiters when they drink at restaurants and bars, because the bartender or waiter can give them a larger serving size, she said. Mixers, such as soda and juices can add calories, too.

"I definitely think it's going to be interesting to see how it goes," Bennett said.

What might you find on alcohol nutrition labels? We used theand theto find out.

In the raid, which comes at a time when the West is worried that extremists are increasingly joining the rebellion, the victorious fighters raised black Sunni Islamist flags over the eastern village of Hatla. In amateur videos, the fighters some wearing al-Qaida-style headbands vented anti-Shiite slurs and fired in the air.

"The homes of the infidel Shiites were burned," the voice behind the camera in one video shouted as smoke rose in the background from several houses.

In another video, the fighters pulled blankets off corpses to show them off, one with a wound to the head. A gunman talking to the camera gloated, saying, "This is your end, dogs." The videos appeared genuine and conformed with other Associated Press reporting on the events depicted.

The attack Tuesday on Hatla, in Syria's Deir el-Zour region near Iraq, underlined the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict.

The regime called it a "massacre," and some opposition members expressed concern about the nature of the attack. The U.S. and other Western nations have been hesitant to arm the outgunned and outmanned rebels because of Sunni jihadi radicals among their ranks.

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said the U.S. was "appalled by reports that rebels have killed 60 Shia in Hatla village."

"The motivations and circumstances surrounding this massacre remain unclear, but the United States strongly condemns any and all attacks against civilians," Psaki said.

The uprising began more than two years ago with peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad but later grew into a civil war that has killed more than 80,000 people.

Most of the armed rebels in Syria are from the country's Sunni majority, while Assad has retained core support among the minorities, including his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, along with Christians and Shiites.

In the past year, sectarian bitterness has grown in the conflict. Each sect has been accused of massacres against the other, and Sunni and Shiite fighters from other countries have increasingly joined the battle.

But the sense of the fight being a battle between faiths was taken up a notch after Shiite guerrillas from Lebanon's Hezbollah helped Assad's forces take the rebel stronghold of Qusair last week. Some fighters in Hatla can be heard in the video calling the attack "the first revenge for Qusair."

An activist based in Deir el-Zour said the rebel attack was in retaliation for an attack Monday by Shiites from Hatla that killed four rebels.

The town is home to several thousand people, about 30 percent of them Shiites, and was considered a pro-regime community in the Euphrates River valley, where rebels including the al-Qaida-linked group Jabhat el-Nusra have taken over much of the territory.

Rebels launched a counterattack Tuesday, said the activist, Thaer al-Deiry, who identified himself only by his nickname for fear of government retaliation, via Skype. He said some 150 Shiites from the village fled across the Euphrates to the government-held village of Jafra.

Activists said many of the dead were pro-government militiamen who had earlier attacked the rebel bases. But there were also many civilians killed in the raid, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based anti-Assad group that has a large network of activists.

"These atrocities were carried out on a sectarian basis," the Observatory said, adding that it was difficult to discern the fighters from the civilian casualties. The group posted two videos from the scene.

More people were believed killed in the fighting, including many children and civilians, according to an opposition figure who was informed of details of the attack. A Shiite mosque in the village was also set on fire, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation.

The Observatory said thousands of rebels took part in the attack, and at least 10 were killed. A Facebook page of Islamist activists in Deir el-Zour province said Jabhat el-Nusra and rebel fighters from the Free Syrian Army, the main rebel umbrella group, were involved. There was no immediate confirmation from the group, which includes many non-Syrian jihadists.

In the videos, Sunni extremists among the fighters were seen moving through streets that appeared vacant, cheering and insulting Shiites, whom they consider infidels and a breakaway sect from Islam.

"The flag of 'There is no god but God' was raised over the homes of the infidel Shiites," a voice rang out, referring to the black banners used by jihadists around the region, as others fired in the air in celebration. "The mujahedeen are celebrating entering the homes of the rejectionists," a reference to Shiites.

One fighter then addresses the camera, accusing Shiites in the Gulf state of Kuwait of financing the Shiite fighters from the village.

"People of Kuwait, Sunni people of Kuwait, you will be held responsible if you don't kill the Shiites in your country," the fighter, with a black al-Qaida type headband, said, explaining that signs of Shiite Kuwaiti funds were found in the village. "Help your religion, not necessarily the Syrian people."

In a video of a Sunni Kuwaiti cleric, Shafi al-Ajmi, hails the fall of Hatla and promises that other Shiite villages in the northern province of Aleppo will follow.

"Today we took Hatla village and we slaughtered its religious leader," he tells a cheering crowd that raised banners calling for the expulsion of the Lebanese ambassador. He was apparently speaking in Kuwait. "Like you slaughtered our women and children in Qusair, we slaughtered one of your symbols ... and his son."

A pro-Hezbollah Facebook page said the Shiite cleric was missing.

Each side has been accused of mass killings. Last month, Alawite fighters were blamed for killing dozens of civilians in two Sunni towns in western Syria, part of what rebels call an attempt by Alawites to clear their coastal heartland of Sunni communities. In the videos from Hatla, some fighters also refer to the attack as revenge from those two Sunni towns.

Radwan Ziadeh, a leading Syrian opposition figure in exile, described the attack on Hatla as a "dangerous development" triggered by Hezbollah's intervention in Syria.

"It also shows that the revolution is taking a sectarian angle. This will have effects on the long-term not only in Syria but also in Lebanon. There are dangers that that the fanatics from both sides, Shiite and Sunni will have the upper hand," Ziadeh said.

In the latest instance of Syria's violence spilling over its borders, a Syrian government helicopter fired at least two missiles at the border town of Arsal in Lebanon, officials and residents said.

The town is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and support for the Syrian rebels runs high. Scores of rebels and civilians who fled from Qusair have taken refuge there. Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman said the rockets were a "violation of Lebanon's sovereignty."

A statement issued by the Syrian military said Syria "respects Lebanese sovereignty," adding that a Syrian army helicopter was chasing armed groups some of whom fled to Lebanese territory.

Building on its victory in Qusair, the Syrian military has shifted its attention to try to clear rebel-held areas in the province of Homs, a linchpin area linking Damascus with regime strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and the northern city of Aleppo.

On Wednesday, the Observatory reported heavy clashes in the center of Homs city, mostly in the neighborhood of Wadi Sayeh. The fighting appeared to be an attempt by government forces to separate two main rebel-held areas in the city, Khaldiyeh and the city center.

The state-run news agency SANA said troops killed several gunmen in the town of Talbiseh north of Homs.

The Observatory reported fighting and shelling in the northern Damascus neighborhood of Barzeh, which has witnessed clashes between troops and rebels over the past weeks. It said there were casualties without giving figures.

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Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.