Monday, 28 November 2011

Germany: UN should endorse Syria sanctions (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? The Security Council should endorse the Arab League's weekend decision to slap sanctions on Syria for its eight-month crackdown on civilians, Germany's ambassador said Monday.

"The decision of the Arab League was a really remarkable if not historic decision," said Ambassador Peter Wittig, whose country is among the 15 council members. "It was a reaction to the brutal crackdown ? and the message of course is clear. If (President Bashar) Assad doesn't heed the call, then there will be biting sanctions.

"I think the council cannot stand idly by regarding what the regional organization has said so strongly: the council should take up that decision and endorse and reinforce it. We are going to deliberate about this in the course of the day."

The Arab League actions include cutting off transactions with Syria's central bank, and would further squeeze a national economy already under sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union.

No formal action regarding Syria was on the Monday agenda for the Security Council, which was holding meetings on Yemen and Libya.

Last month, Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the bloodshed in Syria, arguing that NATO misused a previous U.N. mandate authorizing the use of force in Libya.

Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong told reporters Monday that his country has not changed its position on Syria.

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee last week voted overwhelmingly to condemn human rights violations by Assad's government and called for an immediate end to all violence. The resolution is nonbinding, however.

The nongovernmental rights group Amnesty International on Monday called on the far more powerful Security Council to impose its own sanctions on the country, including an arms embargo and a freeze of Assad's assets.

It also wants the council to refer the situation to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

"Amnesty International believes that Syria is unable or unwilling to open an impartial, independent investigation" into the crackdown, Maha Abu Shama, a rights campaigner for the organization, told a Monday briefing on the situation.

"Syrian security forces have committed human rights violations with impunity for decades," she said.

The United Nations estimates at least 3,500 people have been killed on all sides since the protests in Syria began in March. Amnesty International said it has obtained the names of more than 3,200 people, including more than 190 children, who reportedly have been killed in the unrest during that period.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_re_us/un_un_syria

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Alleged LA-area pepper-spraying shopper surrenders

A San Leandro police officer, right, holds a bloody shirt as evidence is gathered at the scene of a shooting at Wal-Mart on Hesperian Boulevard, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in San Leandro, Calif. Gunfire rang out about 1:50 a.m. and a man was shot in a robbery attempt. Despite major injuries, police said he was in stable condition. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Jane Tyska) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT

A San Leandro police officer, right, holds a bloody shirt as evidence is gathered at the scene of a shooting at Wal-Mart on Hesperian Boulevard, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in San Leandro, Calif. Gunfire rang out about 1:50 a.m. and a man was shot in a robbery attempt. Despite major injuries, police said he was in stable condition. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Jane Tyska) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT

San Leandro police officers gather evidence at the scene of a shooting at Wal-Mart on Hesperian Boulevard, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in San Leandro, Calif. Gunfire rang out about 1:50 a.m. and a man was shot in a robbery attempt. Despite major injuries, police said he was in stable condition. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Jane Tyska) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT

This photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff?s Office, shows Jerald Allen Newman, 54, after his arrest Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, at a Walmart store in Buckeye, Ariz. Buckeye police are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows Newman on the floor of the store with a bloody face after police took him to the ground. Police say he was resisting arrest but his wife and witnesses say he was just trying to protect his grandson during a chaotic rush for discounted video games. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

A woman who allegedly fired pepper spray at other customers during a Black Friday sale has surrendered to authorities, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

Police Sgt. Jose Valle said the woman who allegedly caused minor injuries to 20 shoppers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart turned herself in Friday night.

She is currently not in custody but could face battery charges, Valle said. The woman's identity was not released, but police said they plan to release more details Saturday morning.

The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale. The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping. Valle says the woman began spraying people in order to get an advantage.

The incident was among those nationwide in which violence marred the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

In the most serious case, a robber shot a shopper who refused to give up his purchases outside a San Leandro, Calif., Walmart store, leaving the victim hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Police in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco, said the victim and his family were walking to their car around 1:45 a.m. Friday when they were confronted by a group of men who demanded their shopping items. When the family refused, a fight broke out, and one of the robbers pulled a gun and shot the man, said Sgt. Mike Sobek.

Meanwhile, police in suburban Phoenix came under fire when a video was posted online showing a 54-year-old grandfather on the floor of a Walmart store with a bloody face, after police said he was subdued Thursday night trying to shoplift during a chaotic rush for discounted video games.

The video, posted on YouTube, shows Jerald Allen Newman unconscious and bloodied as outraged customers yell expletives and say "that's police brutality" and "he wasn't doing anything."

In a police report that redacted the names of officers and witnesses, Newman's wife and other witnesses said he was just trying to help his grandson after the boy was trampled by shoppers, and only put a video game in his waistband to free his hands to help the boy.

Larry Hall, assistant chief of Buckeye police, said Newman was resisting arrest and it appeared the officer acted within reason.

Hall said the officer decided to do a leg sweep and take him to the ground but the man unfortunately hit his head.

"The store was incredibly crowded, and I was concerned about other customers' safety," the officer wrote in his police report.

Hall said Newman, who had a bloody nose and received four stitches on his forehead, was booked on suspicion of shoplifting and resisting arrest.

In Sacramento, Calif., a man was stabbed outside a mall Friday in an apparent gang-related incident as shoppers were hitting the stores.

The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The stabbing stemmed from a fight between two groups around 3 a.m. in front of a Macy's department store at the Arden Fair Mall.

No arrests have been made. Police were hoping surveillance video will help identify the suspects.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-26-Black%20Friday-Shopping%20Violence/id-faef4c87a6cd4dc2be9c5e240aead529

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Sunday, 27 November 2011

Real life slaying horrifies Shakespeare town (Providence Journal)

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Stockard Channing eyes 'Other Desert' return

FILE - In this June 7, 2009, file photo, actress Stockard Channing arrives at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards in New York. Channing, the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway?s play ?Other Desert Cities,? has had to leave the production after undergoing knee surgery. The play also features Stacy Keach, Judith Light and Rachel Griffiths in her Broadway debut. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

FILE - In this June 7, 2009, file photo, actress Stockard Channing arrives at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards in New York. Channing, the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway?s play ?Other Desert Cities,? has had to leave the production after undergoing knee surgery. The play also features Stacy Keach, Judith Light and Rachel Griffiths in her Broadway debut. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

(AP) ? Stockard Channing plans to return to a Broadway stage Friday night for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her right knee just five days ago.

The 67-year-old Tony Award-winning actress said in an interview at the Booth Theatre a few hours before Friday's show time that she hopes she can reclaim her part in "Other Desert Cities" despite swelling and pain. Recovery time after surgery for such injuries is usually at least two weeks ? and that's for professional athletes.

"Obviously, I'm not out here playing football. I'm just out here walking around in high heels. So blame it on the Manolos," Channing joked.

Dressed in a black shirt and sneakers, the actress rolled up the leg on her sweat pants to reveal two small bandages around her right knee and very little swelling. She's been using crutches and a wheelchair.

"This is maybe stupid. I don't know. But if it doesn't blow up or get painful, I'm doing the right thing," she says. "I think I will be OK. I hope it will be OK."

The Jon Robin Baitz play, about a wealthy, dysfunctional family wrestling with a deep secret, opened Nov. 3. Channing felt her knee collapse backstage after the Nov. 18 evening show and missed seven performances. She underwent surgery on Monday afternoon and is taking an anti-inflammatory drug. She is also routinely icing the injury and sitting with her legs elevated.

Producers are trying to accommodate Channing by supplying her with shoes with a smaller heel on stage, slightly changing some scenes so she won't have to move around as much, and ferrying her between acts in a wheelchair. She hopes those measures will only last a few weeks but expects to miss some matinees because she doesn't want to perform twice in one day.

The play also features Stacy Keach, Judith Light, Thomas Sadoski and Rachel Griffiths in her Broadway debut. It is directed by Joe Mantello. During the performances she missed, Channing was replaced by an understudy.

Channing has been a fixture on stage, TV and film since making her debut as an undergrad in a Harvard University production of "The Threepenny Opera." She first hit Broadway in 1971 in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and her early film credits include the 1978 movie version of "Grease," in which she played bad girl Rizzo.

She won the 1985 Tony for her role in "Joe Egg," and went on to act in "Six Degrees of Separation" on stage and in the film version, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She is perhaps best known for her role as the first lady on the former NBC series "The West Wing," where she spent time in a wheelchair after breaking her left ankle.

She was last on Broadway in the 2008 update of the Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart musical "Pal Joey" and sang a beautiful rendition of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered."

"Other Desert Cities" won rave reviews this fall when it was off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater. It won the Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding off-Broadway play and was nominated for multiple Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards.

Channing stayed with the play when it jumped to Broadway and is at her droll best, looking glamorous and shooting off one-liners, like this one to her son: "It's all or nothing with your generation. Either vegans or meth addicts or both at the same time." In one scene, she boasts that she's just beaten her 40-year-old daughter at tennis ? a line that now has a new twist.

___

Online: http://www.lct.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-11-25-Theater-Stockard%20Channing/id-35f0f6b7355f42469a5b2499d3e6954f

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Saturday, 26 November 2011

Mayor: Occupy LA must leave City Hall camp Monday (Providence Journal)

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Anna Brand: Inside a Very Modern Family

My parents separated five years ago. Less than two months later, they divorced, making a quick, though not-so-clean, break from their 18-year marriage. One year later, they started going on dates. Only not with new people, but with each other... and no one else. So how did my divorced parents find themselves in an exclusive relationship, again? I'd like to think I had something to do with it.

Not too long after the messy separation, I found myself sitting across from my father in front of a hot bowl of curry. It was just like any of our other weekly dinners. Only this time, things were different. He had his hands, then dry and cracked from the frigid season, buried in his peppered hair as he asked me if he should ask my mother on a date. "Do you think she'll say yes? " he questioned.

While their divorce was harsh, it wasn't irrevocable. So, being the meddler that I am, I said she would.

"Of course she would," I guaranteed.

And so they began dating. At first, my mom was hesitant. They would see each other sporadically for mundane chores, but soon, it all became much more. Dinner and movie dates turned into weekends biking on the beach. Trips to Delaware to visit my brother at college turned into week-long vacations in Aruba and Greece. And so on, and so forth, until "sleepovers at dad's" became my mom's new Friday night ritual.

The funny thing is, they -- and shockingly, I -- act as if everything is normal. As nosy and troublesome as I am, I never ask the status of their relationship. Not only because they seem truly happy, but also because I don't really want to know all the details. However, I do become... jealous, especially when conversations like this occur:

Me: Hi
Mom: Hi, Anna
Me: So, what are you doing tonight?
Mom: Having dinner with dad, I'm staying over
Me: I thought I was having dinner with dad tonight
Mom: Ask Dad
----
Me: Hi
Dad: Hi, hun
Me: So, you double-booked me, huh?

Ultimately, I am happy for them. I am happy for the innocent way in which they hold hands, kiss each other hello, and flirt at the dinner table. I love that we can have a family outing without the bitterness that exists among so many homes (married parents, or not). Will they move in together again? Will they get remarried? I don't know, and I don't ask. Because truthfully, I don't think they know the answer either (and maybe it doesn't matter).

Watching my parents begin a new relationship in front of my eyes has been the most fascinating experience I've had in my adult life. As perplexing and rare as the situation is, I appreciate their willingness to break the mold and live without the pressures of structure.

At the very least, holidays at this modern family's house are never short of entertainment.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-brand/inside-a-very-modern-fami_b_1105874.html

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Italy's borrowing rates skyrocket, Monti scrambles (AP)

MILAN ? Italy's borrowing rates skyrocketed during bond auctions Friday, temporarily battering stock markets in Europe as the continent's escalating debt crisis laid siege to the eurozone's third-largest economy.

Italy's new government under economist Mario Monti faces a battle to convince investors it has a strategy to cut down the country's euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt. The auction results are also likely to fuel calls for the European Central Bank to use more firepower to cool down a rapidly escalating debt crisis.

Driving market fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out, like it has done with smaller nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Italy must refinance $200 billion by next April alone, but too-high borrowing rates can fuel a potentially devastating debt spiral that could bankrupt the country.

Friday's auctions showed that investors see Italian debt as increasingly risky. The country had to pay an average yield of 7.814 percent to raise euro2 billion ($2.7 billion) in two-year bills ? sharply higher than the 4.628 percent it paid in the previous auction in October. And even raising euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) for six months proved exorbitantly expensive, as the yield for that spiked to 6.504 percent, nearly double the 3.535 percent rate last month.

Following the grim auction news, Italy's borrowing rates in the markets shot higher, with the ten-year yield spiking 0.34 percentage point to 7.30 percent ? above the 7 percent threshold that forced other nations into bailouts.

Markets so far appeared to be giving Monti no honeymoon since he took power a week ago.

"Mario Monti has failed so far to impress bond markets he has the power and authority to do what is required," said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners.

Solid returns on Wall Street then helped European markets recover from earlier losses Friday.

Italy was not the only member of the 17-nation eurozone to have a disappointing auction this week. Even Germany ? the region's strongest economy and the main funder of eurozone bailouts ? suffered a shock Wednesday when it failed to raise all the money it sought, its worst auction result in decades. Spain also saw its borrowing rates ratchet sharply higher even after a landslide victory for the conservative Popular Party, which has made getting Spain's borrowing levels down its top priority.

Contagion over Europe's debt crisis also hit Hungary and Belgium. Moody's downgraded Hungary's sovereign debt to junk status, a decision that government hotly criticized. Hungary is not a member of the eurozone, but trades with many eurozone members. And the Standard & Poor's ratings agency downgraded long-term Belgian debt on Friday, citing a threat to its exports.

Monti emphasized his intention to balance Italy's budget by 2013 and to introduce "fair but incisive" structural reforms," his office said following a Cabinet meeting Friday.

Monti also has pledged to reform the pension system, re-impose a tax on homes annulled by Berlusconi's government, reduce tax evasion, streamline civil court proceedings, get more women and youths into the work force and cut political costs.

Olli Rehn, the EU's monetary chief, told reporters Italy's economic fundamentals were "solid" and praised Monti's economic reforms as "going in the right direction" but said more action was needed.

Monti's medicine ? budget rigor and growth measures while fairly distributing the social pain ? are "the right ones," Rehn said after meeting in Rome with the Italian leader. "I fully endorse them."

Rehn told Italian lawmakers they must implement the measures quickly.

"Over the longer term, productivity will depend on a well-educated labor force," Rehn said. "I am particularly concerned about high unemployment, which is a tremendous waste of talent that Europe simply cannot afford."

This week's developments have ratcheted up the pressure on the European Central Bank to step up its bond purchases in the markets, though Germany remains adamantly opposed. The current program is designed to support bond prices in the markets, thereby keeping a lid on the borrowing rates.

So far, the ECB has been buying limited amounts of bonds and has to sell an equivalent amount of assets. The ECB said Monday it bought bonds worth only euro4.5 billion ($6 billion) last week, down from euro9.5 billion ($12.7 billion) a week earlier.

Potentially, the ECB has unlimited financial firepower through its ability to print money and many countries in the eurozone, including France, want the bank to act more decisively to solve the debt crisis.

However, Germany finds the idea of monetizing debts unappealing, warning that it lets more profligate countries off the hook for their bad practices.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Consuming canned soup linked to greatly elevated levels of the chemical BPA

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found that a group of volunteers who consumed a serving of canned soup each day for five days had a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh soup daily for five days. The study is one of the first to quantify BPA levels in humans after ingestion of canned foods.

The findings were published online November 22, 2011, in the Journal of the Medical Association (JAMA) and will appear in the November 23/30 print issue.

"Previous studies have linked elevated BPA levels with adverse health effects. The next step was to figure out how people are getting exposed to BPA. We've known for a while that drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body. This study suggests that canned foods may be an even greater concern, especially given their wide use," said Jenny Carwile, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH and lead author of the study.

Exposure to the endocrine-disrupting chemical BPA, used in the lining of metal food and beverage cans, has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity in humans. In addition to the lining of food and beverage cans, BPA is also found in polycarbonate bottles (identified by the recycling number 7) and dentistry composites and sealants.

The researchers, led by Carwile and Karin Michels, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, set out to quantify whether canned-soup consumption would increase urinary BPA concentrations relative to eating fresh soup.

They recruited student and staff volunteers from HSPH. One group consumed a 12-ounce serving of vegetarian canned soup each day for five days; another group consumed 12 ounces of vegetarian fresh soup (prepared without canned ingredients) daily for five days. After a two-day "washout" period, the groups reversed their assignments.

Urine samples of the 75 volunteers taken during the testing showed that consumption of a serving of canned soup daily was associated with a 1,221% increase in BPA compared to levels in urine collected after consumption of fresh soup.

The researchers note that the elevation in urinary BPA concentrations may be temporary and that further research is needed to quantify its duration.

"The magnitude of the rise in urinary BPA we observed after just one serving of soup was unexpected and may be of concern among individuals who regularly consume foods from cans or drink several canned beverages daily. It may be advisable for manufacturers to consider eliminating BPA from can linings," said Michels, senior author of the study.

###

Harvard School of Public Health: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

Thanks to Harvard School of Public Health for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115399/Consuming_canned_soup_linked_to_greatly_elevated_levels_of_the_chemical_BPA

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Friday, 25 November 2011

NJ man acquitted of murdering 5 teenagers in '78 (AP)

NEWARK, N.J. ? A New Jersey man on Wednesday was acquitted of locking five teenagers in an abandoned home in 1978 and burning them to death in retaliation for stealing marijuana, ending a case that went cold until 2008 because no bodies were ever found.

A jury in Newark found Lee Evans not guilty of 10 murder-related counts in the deaths of the teens.

Evans represented himself and denied killing the boys.

Prosecutors sought to prove that Evans planned to kill the teenagers as payback for breaking into his apartment and stealing a pound of marijuana a week before they vanished. Evans, who ran a handyman business, often hired the teens for odd jobs and paid them in marijuana, prosecutors said.

The case largely hinged on the prosecution's star witness, Evans' cousin Philander Hampton, who agreed to testify after pleading guilty in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence and $15,000 in relocation money. It was Hampton's comments to authorities in 2008 that helped revive the long-dormant case.

Hampton testified that Evans was angry about the marijuana theft and was bent on retaliation. Hampton said he helped Evans lure the teens to a vacant Newark house after asking them to help move some boxes but then herded them into a closet and secured the door with a 6-inch nail. He said Evans poured gasoline around the perimeter, demanded that Hampton give him a match and set the house ablaze.

The bodies of 17-year-olds Melvin Pittman and Ernest Taylor and 16-year-olds Alvin Turner, Randy Johnson and Michael McDowell were never found. The boys were reported missing after the fire, and authorities at the time never connected the two events or examined the fire site as a crime scene.

The case, originally classified as a missing-persons case, went cold for decades until a pair of Newark detectives on the cusp of retirement decided to rework it as an unsolved homicide.

Several family members of the missing teenagers, many of whom attended every day of Evans' trial, said they had long believed Evans had killed their loved ones.

Evans and the attorney assisting him, Bukie Adetula, said the scenario to which Hampton testified would have been impossible and pointed out Hampton's criminal record and inconsistencies in his testimony.

Evans said he had lived and worked openly in the same community near Newark in the bordering city of Irvington, where many of the victims' families lived, and emphasized that fact as proof that he had nothing to hide.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_us/us5_missing_teens

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Father: US student arrested in Egypt called home

In this image from Egyptian state television broadcast Tuesday Nov 22 2011, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV)

In this image from Egyptian state television broadcast Tuesday Nov 22 2011, three American students are displayed to the camera by Egyptian authorities following their arrest during protests in Cairo, where an Egyptian official said they were throwing firebombs at security forces. A spokeswoman for the American University in Cairo identified the students as Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind.; Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.; and Gregory Porter, a 19 year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa.(AP Photo/ Egyptian TV)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) ? One of the three American college students arrested during demonstrations in Egypt called home Wednesday and said he was being treated relatively well but denied that he threw anything during a protest in Cairo, his father said.

The three students attend American University in Cairo, and a spokeswoman for the school said Wednesday that they were questioned by Egyptian authorities around midnight Cairo time. The school said an embassy lawyer was present for the questioning and that the consul general also spoke with the students, reporting that they are in good health and being treated well.

An Egyptian official has said the three were arrested on the roof of a university building where they were throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters near Tahrir Square. Another round of questioning was expected.

Kevin Sweeney, of Jefferson City, Mo., told The Associated Press that his 19-year-old son Derrik Sweeney spoke "very briefly" with his mother about 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday using the phone of the consul general. He said his son said he has not been tortured and that he was observing the demonstrations from the roof of a university building because he is studying Egyptian culture.

"He said he was watching from the rooftop and said he was not throwing anything and the next thing you know, they were grabbed by the police forces and hustled off and basically made into a big public display," Kevin Sweeney said.

He said the phone call Wednesday offered some relief and that his son's assertion that nothing was thrown made him more comfortable that his son would be released.

Derrik Sweeney, a Georgetown University student, was arrested along with Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind., and Gregory Porter, a 19-year-old Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa.

In Philadelphia, Drexel University spokeswoman Niki Gianakaris said in a statement that three other Drexel students are in the same study abroad program, and they remain safe.

The parents of Sweeney and Gates said that they have been in Cairo since August, studying Arabic.

Kevin Sweeney said that his son was scheduled to return home on Dec. 22. Sweeney said he hoped his son might be released in a few days and then would return home without completing the semester.

"My wishes are that he get on a plane," his father said, but added that he respected if his son decided to stay and finish the semester.

Derrik Sweeney was born in Chicago and lived in Los Angeles before the family moved to Jefferson City, Mo., roughly when he was in fifth grade. Sweeney's family says he is a principled person who stands up for his beliefs but has been a peacemaker among quarreling family members.

Earlier this year, he interned for with Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Missouri Republican. However, in high school, he volunteered for President Barack Obama's campaign. Kevin Sweeney said Wednesday his son is has become particularly concerned about economic issues and the national debt.

___

Associated Press writer Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-23-Egypt-Americans%20Arrested/id-f3f9d5da76514653af2cfac01da789d6

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Bachmann assails Obama on supercommittee breakdown, accuses president of being 'AWOL' on debt (Star Tribune)

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Thursday, 24 November 2011

A Minute With: David Fincher on his "Dragon Tattoo" (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Last year's holiday movie season seemed to belong to filmmaker David Fincher. His "The Social Network," struck the zeitgeist among movie goers, critics and awards groups.

Twenty-five days after Fincher completed "Network," the director found himself in Sweden, shooting "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

It's the English language adaptation of Swedish author Steig Larsson's first installment of his popular Millennium thriller series, with tales of avenging sexual violence against women.

Fincher's version stars Rooney Mara as a young computer hacker helping a journalist (Daniel Craig) crack a case of a missing woman. The film comes out in theaters December 21, but is already the subject of huge interest among fans.

Fincher spoke to Reuters about the film, the Swedish franchise and why he feels he'll be sitting out Hollywood's awards season this year.

Q: How is your version different from the Swedish film?

A: "I wholly respect what's been done in advance of our beginning. But I also think that we brought it a different sensibility to it, a different telling. We're doing parts of the story that were cut for length or budget in the past. There is a lot of back story and some of that stuff is channeled elsewhere in the Swedish version."

Q: Do you feel pressure to live up to fans' expectations?

A: "I live to sidestep feeling pressure. Because if you're spending $250,000 per day of shooting, you learn to deal with pressure. I feel responsibility to an author who is not going to be able to see the movie. I feel responsibility to a Swedish crew who gave everything, 12 hours a day for 100 days to help put this thing on the screen. I feel responsibility to the actors. We don't want to stink the place up. Hopefully this version will live alongside the other version."

Q: There were many actresses vying for the explosive character of Lisbeth Salander. How did you pick Rooney Mara?

A: "I didn't see Lisbeth like that. I don't see her as a kick-ass avenger. I see her as damaged goods and very real. I was never looking for her to be Joan Jett. I was looking for, 'How does a girl who's been through all the things that this girl has been through -- how does she survive, where does she find a moment of happiness, at what point in the movie does she smile'?"

Q: And Rooney answered those questions for you?

A: "These are the things that you turn to somebody, not just because they're a great actor or because they can pretend well, but because they're sort of an emotional hanger and you're putting this character, like a suit of clothes, on it. The wonderful thing about Rooney was it kept exposing itself layer after layer."

Q: You have a 17-year-old daughter. Did this story speak to a protective fatherly instinct in you?

A: "I'm not gonna deny that there are things about Rooney that are similar to different women that I have in my life. I would like to say that I felt compelled for reasons of feeling injustice. It's shocking to me the kind of depravity that the story was talking about. But it was first and foremost these two characters and the story -- this bizarre team, these bizarre lovers, these bizarre avengers. This story has a lot of the trappings of pulpy thriller fiction but it also has deeper roots and deeper resonance."

Q: Last year "The Social Network" cleaned up during awards season. Do you have any hopes for "Dragon Tattoo" doing the same this year?

A: "No. I honestly don't think that's in the cards. There's probably too much sodomy in this movie for it to be (a contender). But who knows? Maybe sodomy is big this year. (Laughs)"

Q: How about box office. Do you think the subject matter will affect the film's ticket sales?

A: "When the book was first given to me in 2006 or something, in galley form, the answer (to the question was), 'I don't know.' It was up my alley, but I didn't know if anyone was was going to read the book. That 'I don't know' thing is important to me to keep. It's the secret handshake. The fact that 60 million people have bought the books says to me that there is an audience out there who is okay with adult themes and adult material if it's done well and it has some human characters at the center of it."

Q: Would you like to continue working on the rest of the books and direct the second installment?

A: "At this point, no. But ask me again in two months. I'm so tired right now I can't think straight. You don't ask a woman in labor, 'Do you want another child?'" (laughs)

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/film_nm/us_davidfincher

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Rush Limbaugh Defends NASCAR Fans' Booing of Michelle Obama, Calls First Lady "Uppity"


Rush Limbaugh does not like Barack and Michelle Obama, particularly their desire to lower carbon emissions and the First Lady's crusade against obesity (that hits too close to home, clearly, for the radio pundit). Which is fine, he's entitled to an opinion.

Sometimes his points are clouded by obvious hatred and racism, however.

After Sunday's NASCAR race at which Michelle Obama and Jill Biden were booed, Limbaugh defended the fans who did so, while calling the First Lady "uppity" ...

Rush's argument was, by and large, legitimate and directed at media figures outraged and confused by the booing: It's not a crowd predisposed to like Obama anyway, he's at 44% approval, and people go to sporting events to escape politics.

Fair enough. But then he went overboard bashing the First Lady, who he terms "Moo-Chelle" and tears a new one for (gasp) using a private jet:

"I'll tell you something else," he said. "We don't like paying millions for Obama's vacations. A NASCAR crowd doesn't quite understand why, when the husband and the wife are going the same place, the first lady has to take her own Boeing 757 with family and kids and hangers-on four hours earlier than her husband, who will be on his 747."

"NASCAR people understand that's a little bit of a waste. They understand it is a little bit of uppity-ism. First ladies have not been known to hop their own 757s four hours ahead of their husband when they're going the same place."

The L.A. Times defines "uppity" as self-important or arrogant, historically to describe "blacks whom white people perceived as trying to rise above their station in life."

Just saying. Not the greatest word choice.

Is Rush Limbaugh racist?

Booing Michelle Obama:

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/rush-limbaugh-defends-nascar-fans-booing-of-michelle-obama-calls/

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AP Interview: Gorbachev supports Egypt protests (AP)

BERLIN ? Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose reforms emphasizing change and openness helped lead to the fall of Communism, says he sees today's protests in Egypt as "well-grounded and of vital importance."

"I am on the protesters' side," the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The comments came during the third straight day of violent clashes in Cairo between protesters and security forces. Demonstrators are calling for a "second revolution" to force out the generals who have failed to stabilize the country, salvage the economy or bring democracy since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

More broadly, Gorbachev said that leaders across the Arab world are now faced with rising calls for democracy because they have been in power for too long, and have created situations where people's voices have not been not heard.

"It's clear no one provoked them, that this conflict appeared out of the blue," Gorbachev said of the demonstrators. "Things were building up, and it all means that democracy ? the way they had it ? did not really work."

He said, however, that there was not any one-size-fits-all solution for the region.

"I don't think there will be a single model for all (the protests) developing in those countries..." he said. "Each country has its own history, culture, experience ? you can't ignore that."

Gorbachev, whose policies of perestroika and glasnost brought the democratic changes that led ? against his will ? to the 1991 Soviet collapse, was in Berlin to announce that the city would host the 2012 awards that bear his name.

The Mikhail Gorbachev Award, which is given to people who bring change to the world, will this year focus on addressing the sustainability of the world's megacities and be presented in March.

He said Russian democracy is now facing a problem with Vladimir Putin, who served two terms as president before becoming prime minister. He is running again for the presidency in the country's upcoming March election and seems certain to be returned to office.

"No matter how it formally fits the constitution, it essentially discredits democratic principles," Gorbachev said.

He said that Russia is still "very far from becoming a country with a developed, rooted democracy" and what is needed is for leaders who truly represent the people to be elected, versus those who "act based on corporate ideas and interests."

"If a true democracy (emerges) in Russia, people who enjoy respect will come to power," he said. "People who can play the role of leaders, and who can defend and express the interests of the people."

He cautioned, however, that day may still be some time in coming.

"Russia is in the middle of its way to sustainable and effective democracy," he said. "Churchill was right by saying that democracy is not the best form of government, but the rest of them are even worse."

___

Associated Press Writer Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report from Moscow.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_gorbachev

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Open Thread: There Will Be Blood (Balloon Juice)

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Wednesday, 23 November 2011

"Disastrous" bond sale shakes confidence in Germany (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? A "disastrous" German bond sale on Wednesday sparked fears that Europe's debt crisis was even starting to threaten Berlin, with the leaders of the euro zone's two biggest economies still firmly at odds over a longer-term structural solution.

Investors were also unnerved by reports that Belgium is leaning on France to pay more into emergency support for failed lender Dexia under a 90-billion-euro ($120 billion) rescue deal that had appeared done and dusted.

A special report by Fitch Ratings suggested France had limited room left to absorb shocks to its finances like a new downturn in growth or support for banks without endangering its cherished AAA credit status.

After one of the least successful debt sales by Europe's powerhouse economy since the launch of the single currency, the euro fell to 1.336 to the dollar and European shares sank to 7-week lows.

"The debt crisis is burrowing ever deeper, like a worm, and is now reaching Germany," one of the more eurosceptic backbenchers in Angela Merkel's center-right government, Frank Schaeffler of the Free Democrats (FDP) who are the junior coalition partners, told Reuters.

The German debt agency was forced to retain almost half of a sale of 6 billion euros due to a shortage of bids by investors. The result pushed the cost of borrowing over 10 years for the bloc's paymaster above those for the United States for the first time since October.

"It is a complete and utter disaster," said Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities in London.

The new bond promised to pay out a 2.0 percent interest rate -- the lowest ever on an issue of German 10-year Bunds. The auction's average yield was 1.98 percent, down from 2.09 percent for the previous benchmark in October.

Ten-year Bund yields were last up 12 basis points to 2.039 percent versus 1.946 percent for U.S. T-notes.

GERMAN EXPOSURE

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's spokesman told a news conference that the auction did not mean the government has refinancing problems and few on financial markets disagreed.

But it was a sign that as the bloc's paymaster Germany may slowly be pressured if the crisis continues to deepen. One senior ratings agency official said it could give Berlin cause to re-examine its refusal to embrace a broader solution.

"It's quite telling that there has been upward pressure on yields in Germany - it might begin to change perceptions," David Beers of Standard & Poor's told a conference in Dublin.

The borrowing costs of almost all euro zone states, even those previously seen as safe such as France, Austria and the Netherlands, spiked in the last two weeks as panicky investors dumped paper no longer seen as risk-free.

"Bunds are starting to lose their appeal because markets have to believe the euro bonds story and Germany is very close to starting, essentially, to guarantee the debt of other countries," said Achilleas Georgolopoulos, strategist at Lloyds Bank in London.

The crux of an acceleration of the crisis in the past month is Italian bond yields' jump to levels around 7 percent widely seen as unbearable in the long term, despite intervention by the European Central Bank to buy limited quantities.

Determined not to be pushed around by financial markets, Merkel is resisting calls, most notably from France, to allow the ECB to act more decisively.

In a forceful speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel issued one of her starkest warnings yet against fiddling with the bank's strict inflation-fighting mandate. She also hit back at proposals from the European Commission on joint euro zone bond issuance, calling them "extraordinarily inappropriate."

Shortly before she began speaking, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin told a conference in Paris that it was the ECB's responsibility to sustain activity in the currency bloc.

"The best response to avoid contagion in countries like Spain and Italy is, from the French viewpoint, an intervention (or) the possibility of intervention or announcement of intervention by a lender of last resort, which would be the European Central Bank," Baroin said.

STABILITY BOND

The chancellor has said the EU treaty bars the ECB from acting as a lender of last resort and printing money to buy government debt. She rejected joint "euro bonds," dismissed a proposal to mutualise the euro zone's debt stock, and rebuffed attempts to allow the bloc's rescue fund to borrow from the ECB or the IMF.

Yet at the same time, she has declared that the only answer to the crisis was "more Europe" and won endorsement from her party to press for a fully fledged European political union based around the euro zone.

The very public jousting over what to do next underscores just how divided European leaders are on how to resolve the turmoil which has accelerated to engulf big countries like Italy and Spain, and pushed out leaders in Rome and Athens.

With time running out for politicians to forge a crisis plan that is seen as credible by the markets, the European Commission presented a study on Wednesday of joint euro zone bonds as a way to stabilize debt markets.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso unveiled proposals for much more intrusive oversight of euro zone countries' budgets and efforts to meet macroeconomic targets, and set out the options for introducing common euro zone bonds.

"I welcome Barroso's proposals, which are a real step forward on many points," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager said in a statement. "It will, however, still be an uphill battle, for there are those who resist further discipline.

"Eurobonds are not a magic solution to the current crisis and could even worsen it," he said. "We have to do first things first, and that means establishing strict supervision and enforcement of budget discipline."

Another alarm bell for financial markets on Wednesday came when Standard & Poor's warned that credit ratings in the euro zone could come under renewed pressure if large parts of the currency bloc slip back into recession, as expected, next year.

Another round of poor data on Europe's manufacturing and service sectors on Wednesday added to conviction that the continent is heading into another recession.

"With so much at stake, one would expect that some accommodation can be found between euro zone monetary authorities and national policy makers that balances substantive government policy actions with more aggressive steps by the ECB to counter a renewed economic downturn," Beers said.

(Reporting by Stephen Brown, Noah Barkin, Natalia Drozdiak, Veronica Ek, Eva Kuehnen; writing by Patrick Graham and Peter Millership)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Slow paracetamol overdose warning

Taking slightly too much paracetamol day after day can be fatal, experts have warned.

A dangerous dose might just be a few pills too many taken regularly over days, weeks or months, they said.

Researchers at Edinburgh University saw 161 cases of "staggered overdose" at its hospital over a 16-year period.

People taking tablets for chronic pain might not realise they were taking too many or recognise symptoms of overdose and liver injury, they said.

The researchers told the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology that this life-threatening condition could be easily missed by doctors and patients.

Doctors may not initially spot the problem because blood tests will not show the staggeringly high levels of paracetamol seen with a conventional overdose, where someone may have swallowed several packets of the drug.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

Over time the damage builds up and the effect can be fatal?

End Quote Lead researcher Dr Kenneth Simpson

Patients who have taken a staggered overdose tend to fare worse than those who have taken a large overdose, the study suggests.

Dr Kenneth Simpson and colleagues looked at the medical records of 663 patients who had been referred with paracetamol-induced liver injury to the Scottish Liver Transplantation Unit at the university hospital.

The 161 who had taken a staggered overdose were more likely to develop liver and brain problems and need kidney dialysis or help with their breathing. They were also more likely to die of their complications.

Dr Simpson said: "They haven't taken the sort of single-moment, one-off massive overdoses taken by people who try to commit suicide, but over time the damage builds up, and the effect can be fatal."

Professor Roger Knaggs of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said patients should heed the warning.

Continue reading the main story

Recommended dose

  • Take paracetamol as directed on the packet or patient information leaflet that comes with the medicine
  • Each tablet usually contains 500mg
  • Adults can take 1-2 tablets of paracetamol 4-6 hourly, up to four times a day
  • This means you should not take more than 8 tablets (4g) in a 24-hour period
  • If you accidentally take an extra dose of paracetamol, you should miss out the next dose so that you do not take more than the recommended maximum dose for a 24-hour period.
  • If you are concerned or you feel unwell, contact your GP or call NHS Direct on 0845 4647

"If people experience pain and paracetamol doesn't help, rather than thinking a 'top up' dose may work, they should consult their pharmacist for alternative pain control or referral to someone who can help with the cause of the pain.

"The message is clear: if you take more paracetamol than is recommended, you won't improve your pain control but you may seriously damage your health.

"At this time of year people should also take care with combination cold and flu products which may have paracetamol as one of the ingredients. It's easy to take more than intended, so if in doubt consult your pharmacist."

Meanwhile, researchers at King's College London and Lund University in Sweden say they have discovered precisely how paracetamol works in the body. It is via a protein on nerve cells called TRPA1, says Nature Communications.

Now that they understand this principal mechanism, scientists can start to look for molecules that work in the same way to effectively relieve pain, but are less toxic and will not lead to serious complications following overdose.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/health-15837468

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EatingWell: The 8 Biggest Thanksgiving Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

The 8 Biggest Thanksgiving Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
By Jessie Price, Deputy Editor: Food for EatingWell Magazine

I look forward to a big festive Thanksgiving with lots of family and friends every year. I love the food and (no surprise since I'm the food editor of EatingWell Magazine) the cooking too. All this worry that Americans have over the meal seems just plain silly to me. Why does roasting a turkey inspire endless debate about how to keep the meat moist and how to know when it's done?

I'm not saying everything about my Thanksgiving meal is always perfect. In fact, one year I sloshed half the pan-drippings from the turkey onto the brown suede boots I was wearing as I pulled the bird out of my dad's tiny oven. But what's the big deal if your turkey gets a little dry or the carver cuts a few ragged edges into your perfectly roasted bird? If you're sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal with friends and family then you have plenty to be happy and thankful for.

So whether you're like me and look forward to Thanksgiving all year or you've got the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line programmed into your speed dial, take a few deep breaths and get ready for a simple, beautiful and enjoyable Thanksgiving. Here I've come up with easy solutions for eight common Thanksgiving mistakes, so you can avoid them:

Mistake 1: Getting started without a game plan. For me, the more dishes at Thanksgiving, the better. And the same goes for guests. But it can all go awry if you haven't thought through a real plan. You don't want to be stuck with an overly ambitious plan of cooking eight different dishes with only 24 hours to pull it all off. So plan in advance. Sit down, write out your guest list and your menu. Find the recipes you're going to cook and figure out what can be done in advance. Write a day-by-day plan of what you'll do on each day. Want some ideas to get started? Check out our Easy Thanksgiving Menu and Planner, with delicious recipes and detailed instructions of what to make when, starting three days before the big meal.

Mistake 2: Trying to do everything yourself. Because Thanksgiving often means many dishes and much coordination, enlist help. Otherwise you risk ending up stressed out and busy when you should be enjoying a day with family and friends.

Recipes to Try and Share: Easy Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Mistake 3: Ending up with too many dishes that need to be heated up in the oven at the same time. This goes back to making your game plan and is something we consider when we plan a Thanksgiving menu in the EatingWell Test Kitchen. How will all those dishes be cooked or reheated if you only have one oven and that oven is full of a big old bird? The solution is to make sure you incorporate dishes that can be done on the stovetop and ones that can be cooked in advance and reheated in the microwave. Also keep in mind that, after the turkey comes out of the oven, you will have about 30+ minutes while it rests-- in that time you can use the oven space to reheat stuffing or rolls for example. Another way to avoid this: Try cooking a whole turkey breast on the grill and using the oven for everything else.

Get our recipes for Smoked Turkey Breast on the Grill and 9 More of Our Best Roast Turkey Recipes.

Mistake 4: Undercooking your bird. Nobody wants to sit down to bloody-looking Thanksgiving turkey. So have patience and let your bird cook until it's done! Now the only real secret here is that you must, and I mean must, invest in a meat thermometer. They are inexpensive and you can find them at the supermarket. Forget jiggling the leg around or piercing with a fork until the juices run clear. Just get the thermometer! To properly use it, insert it into the deepest part of several areas of the bird. I temp both the breasts and thighs. And make sure not to let the thermometer touch bone. Leave it in the bird for about 20 seconds, and voil?. If you want to get fancy, try a remote digital thermometer. You can put the sensor in the bird and then read the temp from outside the oven. High-tech, convenient and nice to have... but not necessary.

Mistake 5: Overcooking your bird. All that worry about dry meat on Thanksgiving is just about overcooking it. If it's done right, which is to 165 degrees F (considered safe by the USDA), then it should stay juicy and moist. Keep in mind if you want your meat to end up at 165, then you'll need to pull the bird out of the oven when it hits between 155 and 160. The temperature will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees as the bird rests (that's called "carryover cooking"). The complicating factor here is that the breast tends to cook faster than the thighs and legs, and also will naturally dry out more because it's leaner. I like this turkey-roasting technique of protecting the breast meat with a foil deflector; the foil slows down how fast the breast cooks, so that it reaches the proper temp at the same time that the thigh meat does.

Mistake 6: Getting the skin too dark. If you ever take a look at food-magazine covers at this time of year, you know the allure of the perfectly browned roast turkey. But honestly it's quite easy to take it too far and end up with a bird that looks more charred than golden and succulent. Check the turkey often and as soon as it starts to look nice and brown, tent it with foil. Another way to slow the browning: baste the bird every hour or so. The liquid reduces the external temp of the bird, thus slowing the browning.

Mistake 7: Not using your pan drippings! Besides carving the turkey and worrying about dry meat, gravy is the other area that less-experienced Thanksgiving cooks are afraid of. But that's nonsense! I grew up watching my mom make a simple pan gravy every single Thanksgiving and I never once even saw her consult a recipe or use a measuring cup. It's just that simple.

Sure, you can make something fancy or sophisticated with added booze, wine, herbs, seasonings and what not. But the secret to any really good gravy is those fabulous pan drippings. This is where all the flavor comes from. (There's absolutely no need for bottled gravy, Kitchen Bouquet or any other trick.) At its most basic, here's the formula: Scrape everything out of your pan, let the fat separate, pour off the fat, and return the now-defatted pan drippings to the pan. Now heat the roasting pan on your burners, add a couple cups of turkey or chicken stock, let it come to a boil, slowly drizzle in a slurry of water (or broth) and flour as you whisk. My mom used to just throw a bunch of water and flour into a jar, shake it up, then add a little bit at a time, whisking and letting it bubble until it was the right consistency.

Here's a step-by-step gravy-making technique and delicious gravy recipes to get you started.

Mistake 8: Not learning how to carve a turkey. As much as I encourage cooks to delegate tasks at Thanksgiving, I must say that carving is one that I like too much to give up. It's just so darned satisfying to cut up a big bird and produce a beautiful platter of turkey. The easiest way to learn: Follow a step-by-step photo guide, like our 6 Steps to Perfectly Carve a Turkey.

What's been your biggest Thanksgiving disaster?

By Jessie Price
Jessie Price
Jessie Price is the deputy editor of food for EatingWell Magazine, where she directs all food content. Besides her work on 11 other EatingWell books, she is the author of the James Beard Award-winning The Simple Art of EatingWell and EatingWell One-Pot Meals. She lives in Charlotte, Vermont where she stays busy growing her own vegetables in the summer and tracking down great Vermont food products when she?s not working.

Related Links from EatingWell:


?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/avoiding-thanksgiving-disasters_b_1101475.html

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Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Penn State gets first victory since JoePa fired (AP)

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? The last time Penn State won a game without Joe Paterno as coach was December 1965.

That day, the Nittany Lions played tough defense to beat Maryland.

On Saturday, No. 21 Penn State earned its first victory since Paterno was fired in much the same way.

Stephfon Green ran for two touchdowns and the Nittany Lions held Ohio State scoreless in the second half of a 20-14 victory.

"We talked about the last two teams to win here were `78 and `08," said interim coach Tom Bradley, who was promoted after Paterno was ousted 10 days ago, near the end of his 46th season. "I said to them, `I want to know: How are you going to be remembered?'"

They'll be remembered as at least co-champs of the Big Ten's Leaders Division.

By clinching a share of the division title, Penn State (9-2, 6-1) set up a showdown next week at Wisconsin, with the winner playing Michigan State in the conference's first championship game on Dec. 3.

The 84-year-old Paterno won't be on the sidelines. He was ousted for failing to do more about a child sex abuse allegation against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and then on Friday, Paterno's family announced he had a treatable form of lung cancer.

After the win, however, Jay Paterno, the Nittany Lions' offensive coordinator and the son of the deposed coach, was thinking mainly about the game ahead.

"As I've been trained to do my whole life, immediately (I) began to think about next week," he said, recounting what was going through his head as he walked off the field at Ohio Stadium. "Essentially, we're in the Big Ten semifinal. I started to think about Wisconsin ? and I'll have some nightmares tonight."

Joe Paterno was a longtime assistant under Rip Engle before getting promoted in 1966. The last game Engle coached, Penn State beat Maryland 19-7 on Dec. 4, 1965. The last time Penn State won a game without Joe Paterno on staff was Nov. 12, 1949, a 28-7 victory at Temple.

The teams exchanged handshakes at midfield after the opening coin toss ? although there was a smattering of boos from the Buckeyes faithful.

It was a gesture of mutual respect and sportsmanship in the wake of the Sandusky scandal which has engulfed Penn State. In the days since Sandusky was arrested about two weeks ago for allegedly molesting eight boys over 15 years, Paterno has been fired, the former university president and the athletic director have stepped aside and the NCAA has announced it is looking into the athletic program's actions.

Bradley said he spoke about how everyone was watching to see how the Nittany Lions would react and behave.

"I challenged the guys on the team to show a lot of character and resolve," he said. "Which they did."

In what was expected to be a defensive struggle, the teams did all of their scoring in the opening half before the defenses took over.

Braxton Miller ran for a touchdown and threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Jake Stoneburner for Ohio State (6-5, 3-4), but he had an intentional grounding penalty and three incompletions on the Buckeyes' final possession.

Luke Fickell, Ohio State's interim head coach, was dogged by questions of his future. There have been numerous uncorroborated reports that the Buckeyes have already reached an agreement with former Florida coach Urban Meyer.

"I don't think this is the time nor the place," Fickell said. "We're talking about the game, and we're going to move on and talk about Michigan (next Saturday). ... Those are the things that I have no control over. So I'm not going to waste a whole lot of my energy on it."

Ohio State had one last shot to win the game, taking over after a Penn State punt with 36 seconds left. But Miller was being sacked by linebacker Nate Stupar when he was called for intentionally grounding. Miller then was misfired on three desperation heaves as a small pocket of Penn State fans ran onto the field to celebrate.

The teams were scoreless in the third quarter, thanks to a goal-line stand by the Buckeyes. Ohio State gave up the ball at its own 11 when Jordan Hall's wildcat handoff to Dan Herron was muffed in the backfield and Jordan Hill fell on the loose ball for the Nittany Lions.

Helped by two Ohio State penalties, Penn State had a first-and-goal from the 2 but failed to dent the goal line on four running plays. Storm Klein and Michael Bennett stopped Silas Redd as he vaulted the line on fourth-and-goal from inside the 1, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Bradley could have kicked a chip-shot field goal to make it a two-score lead, but that flew in the face of his pregame advice.

"There was no doubt in my mind we were going for it," he said. "I told them before the game that I'm asking those guys to go to the wall. I'm going to the wall."

The Buckeyes also turned it over on a Carlos Hyde fumble, but the Nittany Lions didn't score on that turnover either.

Matt McGloin completed 10 of 18 passes for 88 yards with one interception. Green rushed 16 times for 93 yards, with Silas Redd adding 63 yards on eight attempts.

Miller, a freshman, ran for 105 yards on 18 attempts, with Herron adding 76 on eight carries. Miller completed 7 of 17 passes for 83 yards. DeVier Posey, playing his first game after serving two NCAA suspensions totaling 10 games for accepting improper benefits, had four catches for 66 yards.

Penn State, which had scored 24 points total in its last two games, had 20 in the first half.

The Nittany Lions, ranked No. 102 in the nation in scoring at 21 points a game, needed just five plays to find the end zone. Green split two tacklers at the line after taking a direct snap and he outraced the defense for a 40-yard score that quieted a crowd of 105,493 on hand for Ohio State's senior day. He later added a 4-yard scoring run.

Ohio State fell behind 10-0 for the third game in the row later in the quarter when McGloin drove the Nittany Lions 54 yards and Anthony Fera converted a career-best 43-yard field goal. He would later top that by closing the half with a 46-yarder.

The Buckeyes, also at times offensively challenged, counterpunched on Miller's 24-yard sprint around right end for a TD and his pass to Stoneburner for another score to cut the lead to 17-14.

They'd never get closer, however.

For a day, at least, Penn State's players were able to enjoy themselves. Still, their thoughts strayed back to Paterno.

"A game is a game," McGloin said. "Whether we win or lose out there, it's not going to help him out at all. But it definitely made him feel good that we went out there and got a win."

___

Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rustymillerap .

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_t25_penn_st_ohio_st

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