US student says he was beaten after Cairo arrest

Derrik Sweeney, 19, of Jefferson City, Mo., smiles as he walks with his mother, Joy Sweeney, center, and sister Ashley Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Derrik Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, 19, of Jefferson City, Mo., smiles as he walks with his mother, Joy Sweeney, center, and sister Ashley Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Derrik Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, left, walks with, from left to right, his mother, Joy Sweeney, sister Ashley Sweeney and father Kevin Sweeney after arriving at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Derrik Sweeney, center, gets hugs from his father Kevin Sweeney, left, and sister Ashley, right, as arms from his mother, Joy Sweeney, wrap around from behind after Derrik arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, in St. Louis. Sweeney and two other American students were arrested on the roof of a university building near Tahrir Square in Cairo last Sunday, accused of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters. On Thursday, a court ordered the three to be released. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Forced to lie still for hours in the dark, the American students held during protests in Egypt were told they would be shot if they moved or made any noise, one of them said Sunday on his first full day home.

"It was the most frightening experience of my life, I believe," Derrik Sweeney said.

Speaking to The Associated Press by Skype from Jefferson City, Mo., Sweeney said the evening of Nov. 20 started peacefully in Cairo, with Tahrir Square "abuzz with ideas of democracy and freedom."

The three wandered the streets and wound up in a large group of protesters outside the Interior Ministory, Sweeney said. The demonstrations escalated, with the protesters yelling and perhaps throwing stones, he said.

"Eventually the police shot back something, I'm not exactly sure what," he said. "We didn't wait to see. But as soon as we saw some sort of firing coming from the gun and heard it, the whole crowd stampeded out and we sprinted away."

He said they fled to an area that seemed calmer and were approached by four or five Egyptians in plain clothes.

The Egyptians offered to lead them to safety but instead took them into custody, Sweeney said.

They were threatened to be force-fed gasoline, beaten and forced to lie in a near-fetal position in the dark for six hours with their hands in cuffs behind their backs, Sweeney said. He said they were told: "If you move or make any noise, we will shoot you."

"They were hitting us in the face and in the back of the neck," he said. "Not to the point of bleeding or I can't say I have any lasting major scars at this point, but they were hitting us."

Sweeney is 19 and studies at Georgetown University. He was arrested along with Luke Gates, 21, who attends Indiana University and is from Bloomington, Ind., and Gregory Porter, 19, who studies at Drexel University and is from Glenside, Pa.

The students flew home Saturday after an Egyptian court ordered their release two days earlier. The three were studying abroad at American University in Cairo, which is near Tahrir Square.

A popular uprising earlier this year forced out Egypt's longtime autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak. But the democratic age that Egyptians hoped for has not followed. The military is in control, and protesters want it to hand power to civilians.

At least 43 protesters have been killed since Nov. 19 and 2,000 wounded, most of them in Cairo. Landmark parliamentary elections will start Monday.

Egyptian officials said they arrested the three students on the roof of a university building and accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

But Sweeney denies doing anything to harm anyone and said he and the other Americans weren't ever on the roof or handling or throwing explosives.

"I don't know where that rooftop idea actually came from," he said. "We were never on a rooftop, we never entered a building. The American University campus building on that street where we were arrested ? there were a lot of people that had broken in there, it was swarmed with protesters ? but we were not on there. We were on a street."

In an earlier telephone interview with the AP after he arrived at St. Louis' international airport, Sweeney said he and the other students' treatment improved dramatically after the first night. He spoke with a U.S. Embassy official, his mother and a lawyer. He said he denied the accusations during what he called proper questioning by Egyptian authorities.

"There was really marked treatment between the first night and the next three nights or however long it was," Sweeney said. "After that first night, we were treated in a just manner ... we were given food when we needed, and it was OK."

The students took separate flights out of Egypt, and Porter and Gates declined to recount details of their experience after arriving in Philadelphia and Indianapolis, respectively.

"I'm not going to take this as a negative experience. It's still a great country," Gates said.

Porter said only that he was thankful for the help he and the others received from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, administrators at the university they were attending, and attorneys in Egypt and the U.S.

"I'm just so thankful to be back, to be in Philadelphia right now," he said.

___

Associated Press photographers Jeff Roberson in St. Louis and Michael Conroy in Indianapolis contributed to this report. AP writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia, Bill Cormier in Atlanta and Andale Gross and Erin Gartner in Chicago also contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-27-Egypt-American%20Students/id-84689a1fa98c49e0beb923305ed9eb30

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Nigeria: Breakaway Biafra leader Ojukwu dies at 78 (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria ? Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, a millionaire's son who led Nigeria's breakaway republic of Biafra during the country's civil war that left 1 million dead, died in a London hospital Saturday after a protracted illness following a stroke. He was 78.

The Biafran war brought the first televised images of skeletal, starving African children to the Western world, a sight repeated in the continent's many conflicts since. Leaders said the war's end would leave "No Victor, No Vanquished" ? a claim that has yet to be fulfilled as ethnic and religious tensions still threaten the unity of the oil-rich nation more than 40 years later.

Maja Umeh, a spokesman for Nigeria's Anambra state, confirmed Ojukwu's death Saturday. Anambra state, in the heart of what used to be the breakaway republic, had provided financial support for Ojukwu during his hospital stay.

Ojukwu's rise coincided with the fall of Nigeria's First Republic, formed after Nigeria, a nation split between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, gained its independence from Britain in 1960.

A 1966 coup led primarily by army officers from the Igbo ethnic group from Nigeria's southeast shot and killed Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, as well as the premier of northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello.

The coup failed, but the country still fell under military control. Northerners, angry about the death of its leaders, attacked Igbos living there. As many as 10,000 people died in resulting riots. Many Igbos fled back to Nigeria's southeast, their traditional home.

Ojukwu, then 33, served as the military governor for the southeast. The son of a knighted millionaire, Ojukwu studied history at Oxford and attended a military officer school in Britain. In 1967, he declared the region ? including part of the oil-rich Niger Delta ? as the Republic of Biafra. The new republic used the name of the Atlantic Ocean bay to its south, its flag a rising sun set against a black, green and red background.

But instead of sparking pan-African pride, the announcement sparked 31 months of fierce fighting between the breakaway republic and Nigeria. Under Gen. Yakubu "Jack" Gowon, Nigeria adopted the slogan "to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done" and moved to reclaim a region vital to the country's coffers.

Despite several pushes by Biafran troops, Nigerian forces slowly strangled Biafra into submission. Caught in the middle were Igbo refugees increasingly pushed back as the front lines fell. The region, long reliant on other regions of Nigeria for food.

The enduring images, seen on television and in photographs, show starving Biafran children with distended stomachs and stick-like arms.

Despite the efforts of humanitarian groups, many died as hunger became a weapon wielded by both sides.

"Was starvation a legitimate weapon of war?" wrote English journalist John de St. Jorre. "The hard-liners in Nigeria and Biafra thought that it was, the former regarding it as a valid means of reducing the enemy's capacity to resist, as method as old as war itself, and the latter seeing it as a way of internationalizing the conflict."

The images fed into Ojukwu's warnings that to see Biafra fall would see the end of the Igbo people.

"The crime of genocide has not only been threatened but fulfilled. The only reason any of us are alive today is because we have our rifles," Ojukwu told journalists in 1968. "Otherwise the massacre would be complete. It would be suicidal for us to lay down our arms at this stage."

That final massacre never came. Ojukwu and trusted aides escaped Biafra by airplane on Jan. 11, 1970. Biafra collapsed shortly after. Gowon himself broke the cycle of revenge in a speech in which said there was "no victor, no vanquished." He also pardoned those who had participated in the rebellion.

Ojukwu spent 13 years in exile, coming home after he was unconditionally pardoned in 1982. He returned to politics, but lost a race for a senate seat. He was sent to a maximum-security prison for a year when Nigeria suffered yet another of the military coups that punctuated life after independence.

He later wrote his memoirs and lived the quiet life of an elder statesman until he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo for the presidency in 2003. Obasanjo served as a colonel in the Biafran war and gave the final statement on rebel-controlled radio announcing the conflict's end.

Despite the long and costly civil war, Nigeria remains torn by internal conflict. Tens of thousands have died in riots pitting Christians against Muslims in the country. Militant groups attack foreign oil firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta while criminal gangs kidnap the middle class. Poverty continues to grind the country.

The Igbos, meanwhile, continue to suffer political isolation in the country. While an Igbo man recently became the country's top military officers, others say they've been locked out of higher office over lingering mistrust from the war.

Some in the former breakaway region still hold out hope for their own voice, even their own country despite the cataclysmic losses.

As did Ojukwu himself.

"Biafra," Ojukwu told journalists in 2006, "is always an alternative."

___

Associated Press writer Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_af/af_obit_ojukwu

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Black Friday 2011: How Did The Bargain Day Become So Violent?

NEW YORK -- Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?

As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.

Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.

"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"

Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.

A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.

In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.

"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."

Black Friday ? named that because it puts retailers "in the black" ? has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.

The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.

"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity ? when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."

There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.

The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.

"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"

To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.

In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.

"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.

The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.

In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.

Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.

"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.

Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.

Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.

To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.

"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.

___

Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/27/black-friday-violence_n_1115037.html

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FBI: Jilted lover sought revenge through terror hoax

By The Associated Press

A California woman surrendered to the FBI Wednesday on charges that she called an airline to report a fake terrorist threat hours before her ex-lover was to board an international flight, authorities said.

Temple City resident Lizet Sariol called United Airlines on Sept. 25 to say there would "be an emergency" on a Las Vegas to Paris flight, according to a criminal complaint filed by the federal government.

Prosecutors allege the 45-year-old woman was seeking revenge on a man who she'd had sexual encounters with over four meetings ? and who had just unfriended her on Facebook, among other rejections.

Posing as an anonymous tipster, prosecutors said Sariol told the airline that she'd received threatening texts from the man she had the relationship with, Adnen Mansouri, and his traveling companion Salim Oumahdi, according to the complaint. Both are French.

40 Facebook messages
In the phone call to United Airlines, Sariol called the men "foreigners" and never used the words "bomb" or "terrorist," but later told federal investigators that she had suggested a terrorist threat.

Airline and federal transportation safety officials took the tip seriously and stopped Mansouri and Oumahdi at LAX, before they flew to Las Vegas on the first leg of their trip home.

At LAX, Mansouri told federal officials he was expecting to be stopped based on Sariol's threats and behavior, authorities said.

Mansouri showed federal investigators his Facebook page, where Sariol had posted more than 40 messages in the 5 days before his flight, many of them negative.

The complaint said Mansouri also provided a text message from Sariol the day of his flight: "Don't even try to get on the plane(.) called the FBI(.) Sucks to be all of you(.) Hope you all have good attorneys."

Sariol is charged with providing false and misleading information by fabricating a terrorist threat. She was being held on $20,000 bond.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/24/8993303-fbi-jilted-woman-sought-revenge-on-ex-lover-by-calling-in-fake-terror-threat

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Black Friday online sales growth lags last year (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc and other e-commerce companies had a strong "Black Friday," but the industry's growth rate lagged last year's surge in online buying on the traditional first day of the holiday shopping season.

Online shopping jumped 24.3 percent on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, versus the same period a year earlier, IBM Benchmark, which tracks transactions on websites of 500 retailers, said on Saturday.

IBM was expecting growth of about 15 percent. Higher-than-expected online buying was partly driven by increased use of mobile devices, it said.

Some of the best-performing retailers also did a good job informing consumers about online promotions ahead of the crucial post-Thanksgiving shopping day, said John Squire, chief strategy officer at IBM Smarter Commerce.

Mercent, a company founded in 2005 which helps retailers sell through e-commerce channels including Amazon, eBay and Google Inc's Internet search engine, reported a 23-percent jump in Black Friday same-store sales by clients.

"E-commerce continues to grow on an absolute basis and take additional market share from (traditional) bricks and mortar retailers," said Eric Best, chief executive of Mercent and a former Amazon executive.

Best expects a "huge" Cyber Monday - which this year falls on November 28 - but he warned that this doesn't mean the whole holiday season will be strong.

Cyber Monday is the first work day after Thanksgiving, when workers often use office computers to shop online. Last year, over $1 billion was spent on Cyber Monday, making it the heaviest online shopping day in history, according to ComScore.

"Holiday shopping is becoming more front-loaded around Black Friday and Cyber Monday," Mercent's Best said. "All of this is great news, but it's still early in this 45-day shopping season."

WEATHER EFFECT

Last year, Mercent clients saw same-store sales growth of 30 percent on Black Friday. Best said slower growth this year may have been caused by better weather.

"The weather was really good this year, which can have an effect on the amount of screen time," Best added. "People were outside shopping offline or they weren't shopping at all."

Amazon saw some of the strongest growth again this year, according to ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell on websites run by Amazon, eBay and other e-commerce companies.

ChannelAdvisor clients saw same-store sales via Amazon jump 49.8 percent on Black Friday, versus a year earlier.

Traditional retailers offered Black Friday deals earlier this year, but Amazon aggressively matched this strategy by running Black Friday promotions online starting on November 21, according to Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor.

Still, on Black Friday in 2010, ChannelAdvisor clients saw same-store sales growth of about 80 percent via Amazon, Wingo noted.

Sellers on eBay generated same-store sales growth of 15.1 percent on Black Friday this year, down from 15.5 percent year-over-year growth in 2010, he added.

MOBILE SHOPPING SURGES

Mobile shopping surged on Black Friday but remained a relatively small part of overall online commerce.

EBay said U.S. shoppers bought almost two and a half times as many items via mobile devices this past Black Friday compared to 2010.

PayPal, eBay's online payments business, saw a six-fold increase in global mobile transaction volume on Black Friday, versus the same day last year.

More than 14 percent of Black Friday traffic on retail websites came from mobile devices, up from 5.6 percent a year ago, according to IBM.

eBay said it offered an XBOX 360 250GB Kinect gaming system from Microsoft for $259.99 the evening before Black Friday that sold out in 20 minutes - at a rate of 75 units per minute.

Best sellers on Amazon.com on Black Friday included the company's Kindle Fire tablet computer, a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 Waterproof Digital Camera and a Mr. Coffee Single Serve coffee machine powered by Keurig, according to an Amazon spokeswoman.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111126/wr_nm/us_usa_retail_ecommerce

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Public restrooms ripe with bacteria, study says

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Everyone wonders what bugs might be lurking in public bathrooms. Now researchers are using novel genetic sequencing methods to answer this question, revealing a plethora of bacteria all around, from the doors and the floors to the faucet handles and toilet seats, with potential public health implications, as reported Nov. 23 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Led by Gilberto Flores and Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado, Boulder, the researchers investigated 12 public restrooms, 6 male and 6 female, in Colorado. Using a high-throughput genetic sequencing technique, they identified various bacteria on all the surfaces they tested. The floor had the most diverse bacterial community, and human skin was the primary source of bacteria on all surfaces. Interestingly, there were a few differences between the bacteria found in the male versus female bathrooms.

The sequencing approach they used also allowed them to determine the source of the bacteria they identified, including skin, soil, and urine. This methodology, according to the authors, could potentially help "analyze bathroom bacterial communities to identify proper (or improper) hygiene habitats, and that the exchange of bacteria on building surfaces may represent an important mode of pathogen transmission between individuals."

###

Flores GE, Bates ST, Knights D, Lauber CL, Stombaugh J, et al. (2011) Microbial Biogeography of Public Restroom Surfaces.PLoS ONE6(11): e28132.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028132

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115459/Public_restrooms_ripe_with_bacteria__study_says

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Concurring Opinions ? On the New York Times and Legal Education

posted by Daniel Solove

Much has already been written about David Segal?s article in the N.Y. Times, What They Don?t Teach Law Students: Lawyering.? I join the strong critiques of this piece in condemning it as a lousy piece of journalism ? more of a one-sided hack job, riddled with errors.? It belongs on the op-ed page of a trashy paper.

Segal seems to believe that if law professors just wrote less theoretical scholarship and if law schools taught more skills, then suddenly, the legal market would become a bonanza once again for law students.? The problem with this argument is that a theoretical education and scholarship by faculty does not seem to have much connection to a student?s success in the job market.? If this were the case, then nobody would hire Yale Law School graduates.

But Yale Law School graduates are doing quite well in the legal marketplace, which demonstrates that despite all the grumblings we hear about too much theory being taught, legal employers are not behaving consistently with what they are saying.

I also think Segal?s article paints a very false picture of legal education ? there?s a lot of theory, but there?s also a lot of practical skills taught too as well as practical scholarship and law professors very involved in legal practice and policymaking.? One needs only to look at the many law professors who took leaves of absence from their law schools to work in government.? Countless members of my faculty have submitted briefs and argued cases.

Beyond this point, theory is not an irrelevant waste of time.? It is essential to practice.? True, there are lawyers out there who are nothing but glorified mechanics, but the best lawyers are often ones who think deeply, who are interested in legal scholarship and ideas,.? It is easy and glib to just brush aside all legal scholarship as ?irrelevant theory? but this seems to be just an excuse for laziness.? There are a lot of great scholarly pieces out there.? With anything, there?s a lot of bad stuff too.? I could readily find many practicing lawyers who aren?t very good.? That doesn?t mean that all aren?t good.? A member of the profession would say: ?Take a closer look and consider the best practitioners before you rush to judgment.??? The same holds true for legal scholarship.? It is far too easy to make glib generalizations and find one piece with an obscure title to illustrate the point.

There are certainly problems with legal education.? But when the thoughtful points being raised by Brian Tamanaha and others are misunderstood by ill-informed hacks, the discussion devolves into irrelevancies, and there isn?t a productive conversation about how to solve legal education?s problems.? There has been a lot of criticism of legal education of late, and although some of it is justified, it is important to note that a law school education actually is a good thing for many people.? There are a number of unfortunate cases where students would have been better off without having gone to law school.? But we shouldn?t forget that there are also many success stories ? students who went to law school and got the jobs they wanted.? Students should be given a more realistic picture going into law school ? there?s no guaranteed pot of gold at the end ? but there are students for whom law school is not a good investment.? It is a problem to entice students to law school when it isn?t a good investment, but it is also a problem to dissuade students for whom law school is a good investment.

?November 24, 2011 at 11:51 pm ? Posted?in:?Uncategorized ???Print This Post

Source: http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2011/11/on-the-new-york-times-and-legal-education.html

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Egypt army picks new PM, protesters plan mass rally (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptian former prime minister Kamal Ganzouri accepted a request from the ruling generals to form a new government, state media reported, but protesters brushed away their choice and vowed to hold another mass rally on Friday to demand the army quit power.

Ganzouri confirmed he had agreed in principle to lead a national salvation government after meeting with the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the website of state newspaper Al Ahram reported, citing sources close to Ganzouri.

In an attempt to defuse protests by thousands of Egyptians frustrated by nine months of military rule, the army council promised parliamentary elections would start on time next week. It earlier said it would speed up the timetable for a handover from military to civilian presidential rule.

Violent clashes with police in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square since Saturday have killed dozens, in scenes reminiscent of the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February.

"The people demand the execution of the marshal," crowds chanted, referring to army chief Tantawi who was Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years.

Ganzouri headed a cabinet from 1996 to 1999 that introduced some economic liberalization measures. Many Egyptians viewed him as an official who was not tainted by corruption, but his record serving under Mubarak could stir opposition from those demanding a clean break with the past.

As talk of a Ganzouri appointment filtered through the crowds packed into Tahrir Square, reactions were mixed. Some said his age made him a bad choice. Ganzouri is in his late 70s.

"Ganzouri is no good for this transitional period, which needs youth leaders, not grandparents," said student Maha Abdullah.

Metwali Atta, a 55-year-old taxi driver who was camped out in Tahrir, disagreed: "I would like to see Ganzouri as prime minister. The man has a strong character, unlike (outgoing prime minister) Essam Sharaf who was easily bossed around by the military council."

In a communique, protesters called a million-man march on "the Friday of the last chance" to back demands for an immediate transfer to civilian rule via a national salvation government.

The Egyptian Independent Trade Union Federation called for a workers' march to Tahrir. Another labor rights group called for a general strike to back the protests. Labour unions played an important role in the movement that toppled Mubarak.

The heads of two political parties who took part in a meeting with the military council on Tuesday said they now regretted attending and apologized to the protesters in Tahrir.

The demonstrations appear to have polarized Egyptians, many of whom worry unrest will prolong economic stagnation.

Supporters of the army council had said they would hold a rally to back the military. In a statement on its Facebook page, the army council said it was "appealing to them to cancel the demonstration," saying it wanted to avoid divisions.

ECONOMY REELS

In fresh blows to confidence, the Egyptian pound weakened to more than six to the dollar for the first time since January 2005, and Standard & Poor's cut Egypt's credit rating.

The agency cut Egypt's long-term, foreign and local-currency sovereign credit ratings to B+ from BB-, saying a "weak political and economic profile" had worsened further.

The Central Bank raised interest rates unexpectedly in what bankers was an attempt to shore up the pound.

Egypt's ruling army council said it was doing all it could to prevent more violence. In a statement, it apologized, offered condolences and compensation to families of the dead, and promised a swift investigation into who was behind the unrest.

A ruling council member, General Mamdouh Shaheen, told a news conference the parliamentary vote, whose first stage is due to begin on Monday, would go ahead on time. "We will not delay elections. This is the final word," he said.

Another council member, Major-General Mokhtar al-Mullah, took a swipe at the demonstrators. "If we look at those in Tahrir, regardless of their number, they do not represent the Egyptian people, but we must respect their opinion," he said.

Mullah said the army hoped to form a new government before Monday to replace Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet, which resigned during this week's violence without giving a reason.

Demonstrators in Tahrir said the truce had taken hold from midnight. Cranes hauled concrete barriers, later reinforced with barbed wire, across streets leading to the nearby Interior Ministry, flashpoint for much of the recent violence.

HUMAN CHAINS

Protesters linked arms in human chains to prevent further clashes with security forces guarding the Interior Ministry.

"We have created a space separating us from the police. We are standing here to make sure no one violates it," said Mahmoud Adly, 42, part of a human cordon four people deep.

The protests in Cairo and elsewhere pose the gravest challenge to Egypt's army rulers since they took over from Mubarak, overthrown on February 11 after an 18-day uprising.

The United States and European nations, alarmed at the violence of the past few days, have urged Egypt to proceed with what has been billed as its first free vote in decades.

The army and the Muslim Brotherhood, which expects to do well in the election, say it must go ahead, but many protesters do not trust the military to oversee a clean vote. Some scorn the Brotherhood for its focus on gaining seats in parliament.

In Tahrir, two groups were chanting against other, one saying, "Muslim Brotherhood, we don't want you in the square," and another responding in a unity call, "One hand, one hand."

The military council originally promised to return to barracks within six months of the fall of Mubarak, but then set a timetable for elections and drawing up a new constitution that would have left it in power until late next year or early 2013.

Tantawi pledged this week to hold a presidential vote in June that could pave the way for a transfer to civilian rule, but the demonstrators, angered by army attempts to shield itself legally from future civilian control, are unconvinced.

"The protesters of Tahrir Square announce their absolute rejection of ... Tantawi's speech, and stress they have been humiliated that the regime moved to offer solution only after martyrs fell," the protesters' communique said.

Before the truce, protesters had fought running battles with security forces around the Interior Ministry. The bloody chaos there contrasted with normal life in streets nearby.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair, Tom Perry and Patrick Werr; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_egypt_protests

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Giving thanks helps your psychological outlook (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Count your blessings this Thanksgiving. It's good for you.

While it seems pretty obvious that gratitude is a positive emotion, psychologists for decades rarely delved into the science of giving thanks. But in the last several years they have, learning in many experiments that it is one of humanity's most powerful emotions. It makes you happier and can change your attitude about life, like an emotional reset button.

Especially in hard times, like these.

Beyond proving that being grateful helps you, psychologists also are trying to figure out the brain chemistry behind gratitude and the best ways of showing it.

"Oprah was right," said University of Miami psychology professor Michael McCullough, who has studied people who are asked to be regularly thankful. "When you are stopping and counting your blessings, you are sort of hijacking your emotional system."

And he means hijacking it from out of a funk into a good place. A very good place. Research by McCullough and others finds that giving thanks is a potent emotion that feeds on itself, almost the equivalent of being victorious. It could be called a vicious circle, but it's anything but vicious.

He said psychologists used to underestimate the strength of simple gratitude: "It does make people happier ... It's that incredible feeling."

One of the reasons why gratitude works so well is that it connects us with others, McCullough said. That's why when you give thanks it should be more heartfelt and personal instead of a terse thank you note for a gift or a hastily run-through grace before dinner, psychologists say.

Chicago area psychologist and self-help book author Maryann Troiani said she starts getting clients on gratitude gradually, sometimes just by limiting their complaints to two whines a session. Then she eventually gets them to log good things that happened to them in gratitude journals: "Gratitude really changes your attitude and your outlook on life."

Gratitude journals or diaries, in which people list weekly or nightly what they are thankful for, are becoming regular therapy tools.

And in those journals, it is important to focus more on the people you are grateful for, said Robert Emmons, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis. Concentrate on what life would be without the good things ? especially people such as spouses ? in your life and how you are grateful they are there, he said.

Grateful people "feel more alert, alive, interested, enthusiastic. They also feel more connected to others," said Emmons, who has written two books on the science of gratitude and often studies the effects of those gratitude diaries.

"Gratitude also serves as a stress buffer," Emmons said in an e-mail interview. "Grateful people are less likely to experience envy, anger, resentment, regret and other unpleasant states that produce stress."

Scientists are not just looking at the emotions behind gratitude but the nuts-and-bolts physiology as well.

Preliminary theories look at the brain chemistry and hormones in the blood and neurotransmitters in the brain that are connected to feelings of gratitude, Emmons said. And the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is also associated with positive emotions like love and compassion, seems to be a key spot, especially in Buddhist monks, Emmons said.

However it works in the brain, Emmons said there is little doubt that it works.

Emmons, who has conducted several studies on people from ages 12 to 80, including those with neuromuscular disease, asked volunteers to keep daily or weekly gratitude diaries. Another group listed hassles, and others just recorded random events. He noticed a significant and consistent difference. About three-quarters of the people studied who regularly counted their blessings scored higher in happiness tests and some even showed improvements in amounts of sleep and exercise.

Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan studied different gratitude methods and found the biggest immediate improvement in happiness scores was among people who were given one week to write and deliver in person a letter of gratitude to someone who had been especially kind to them, but was never thanked. That emotional health boost was large, but it didn't last over the weeks and months to come.

Peterson also asked people to write down nightly three things that went well that day and why that went well. That took longer to show any difference in happiness scores over control groups, but after one month the results were significantly better and they stayed better through six months.

Peterson said it worked so well that he is adopted it in his daily life, writing from-the-heart thank you notes, logging his feelings of gratitude: "It was very beneficial for me. I was much more cheerful."

At the University of North Carolina, Sara Algoe studied the interaction between cancer patients and their support group, especially when acts of gratitude were made. Like Peterson, she saw the effects last well over a month and she saw the feedback cycle that McCullough described.

"It must be really powerful," Algoe said.

It has to be potent to combat gloom many may be feeling in such uncertain times.

There have been many Thanksgivings throughout history that might challenge society's ability to be grateful. The first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims came after about half of the Plymouth colony died in the first year. Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the United States when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it in 1863 during the Civil War, the deadliest war the country has ever known. And the holiday moved to the fourth Thursday in November during the tail end of the Great Depression.

Emmons actually encourages people to "think of your worst moments, your sorrows, your losses, your sadness and then remember that here you are, able to remember them. You got through the worst day of your life ... remember the bad things, then look to see where you are."

That grace amid difficulty motif may make this Thanksgiving especially meaningful, McCullough said.

"In order to be grateful for something, we have to remember that something good happened," Peterson said. "It's important to remind ourselves that the world doesn't always suck."

___

Online:

Robert Emmons: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons/PWT/index.cfm

National Association of School Psychologists' tips on fostering gratitude in children: http://bit.ly/rHlqCz

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_sc/us_sci_psychology_of_thanks

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Nike creates jacket based on Ibra's tattoos (Reuters)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) ? Zlatan Ibrahimovic has inspired sportswear manufacturer Nike to create a jacket based on the tattoos on the Sweden and AC Milan forward's upper body.

"Tattoos are an art form and were very suitable for this project," Nike Nordic PR manager Jeannette Francke told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

"It's a very personal jacket."

Ibrahimovic will get to keep one of the four jackets made with another going on display in a store in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

"To get a jacket like this is both unexpected and fun," said the striker.

The last two will go on display in Amsterdam, where Ibrahimovic once played for Ajax, and fashion capital Milan, both of whose clubs he has represented.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oddlyenough/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/od_nm/us_soccer_ibrahimovic_jacket

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Pillow Pets As Low As $10 Shipped! | WildForWags.com ...

You can get some great deals on pillow pets today! Here are the best deals I found?

• Walgreens is offering $10 Register Rewards when you buy $30+ in Pillow Pets. They are regular price at $19.99, so that makes them $15 each WYB (2). Not the best price but if you have some Register Rewards to burn it might be a good choice for you.

Source: http://wildforwags.com/hot-deals/2011/11/24/pillow-pets-10-shipped/

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Ex-leader: Khmer Rouge atrocities are 'fairy tale' (AP)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia ? A senior Khmer Rouge leader insisted Wednesday he had no real authority during the regime's brutal rule of Cambodia and allegations he bore responsibility for its atrocities were a "fairy tale."

Head of state Khieu Samphan told a tribunal he was a figurehead leader who never joined key policy meetings in the radical communist government, which is accused of orchestrating the "killing fields" and causing the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians in the 1970s.

In his rebuttal, he said the prosecutors' opening remarks were exaggerations based mainly on unreliable old news reports and books. "You really want my head on the block," he said.

After the trial of Khieu Samphan and two other top leaders opened Monday, prosecutors have described the pitiless policies ? focused on forced labor and abolition of private property ? the Khmer Rouge imposed in an effort to build an agrarian utopia.

The tribunal is seeking justice on behalf of the estimated quarter of Cambodia's population who died from executions, starvation, disease and overwork under the Khmer Rouge rule.

The defendants are the most senior surviving members of the regime: Khieu Samphan, 80; Nuon Chea, 85, the group's No. 2 and chief ideologist; and former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 86. They are charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture, but have denied wrongdoing.

The Khmer Rouge's supreme leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 in Cambodia's jungles while a prisoner of his own comrades.

Khieu Samphan stressed the nationalist credentials of the Khmer Rouge, who first opposed French colonialism, then fought against a pro-Western regime and its U.S. backers and finally forced a showdown with neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia's traditional enemy.

He recalled that when he was young, communism gave hope to him as the best way for developing Cambodia, as it did for millions of youth for their own homelands. Yet the picture the prosecution had painted, he said, "would lead people to believe that my youth was that of a murderer."

"You seem to want everybody to listen to your fairy tale," he said.

Prosecutors have described a litany of horrors, large and small, saying the Khmer Rouge sought to crush not just all its enemies, but seemingly, the human spirit. Defense statements have lacked that emotional punch, but their emphasis on politics and history indicates that will be key to the trial.

Khieu Samphan's French lawyer, Jacques Verges, dismissed the prosecution statements as similar to the novels of Alexandre Dumas, author of dashing adventure yarns such as "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers."

Khieu Samphan has said he has known Verges since he attended university in France in the 1950s, when both were active in student movements against French colonialism.

"He and I used to attend meetings of student committees against colonialism. That's what bound us together in friendship," Khieu Samphan said in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press.

Verges has defended Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal and Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie and is noted for a slashing, sarcastic courtroom style, aimed as much at discrediting the judicial establishment as getting his clients off the hook.

Khieu Samphan, along with Verges, reminded the court that intensive U.S. bombing of his country during the Vietnam War contributed to its misery.

"Can you imagine what my country faced after such bloody killing and war?" Khieu Samphan declared.

While decrying the case against him, Khieu Samphan added that he welcomed the opportunity to explain his role to the Cambodian public.

Khieu Samphan earned a reputation for rectitude and bravery when he was a left-wing lawmaker under a repressive royalist regime in the 1960s before joining his Khmer Rouge comrades in the jungle.

Even today, there is a residue of respect for him.

Um Ros, 82, from Kandal province on the outskirts of Phnom Penh said Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary were good leaders and never committed crimes against Cambodians. He said Khieu Samphan was member of parliament for his constituency in the 1960s and always was good to people.

"Khieu Samphan is not a communist leader but a real democratic leader and I don't believe he killed Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge regime," said Um Ros, who attended the trial on Monday. He said the court arrested Khieu Samphan because it was unaware of his goodwill and clean hands.

Scholars question the professions of innocence, however.

"Khieu Samphan was promoted up the ranks of his Party and State apparati to become one of the key accomplices in the political execution machine that Pol Pot created," Cambodia expert Stephen Heder said in a 1990 study. "Khieu Samphan became an ever more important assistant to Pol Pot because he remained steadfastly loyal to his leadership and policies" while others who betrayed or were suspected of disloyalty were detained or executed.

"Khieu Samphan's political star rose literally on heaps of corpses," wrote Heder, who teaches at London's School of Oriental and African Studies and worked to help the tribunal prepare cases.

Ieng Sary also spoke briefly Wednesday to reiterate that he would not participate in the trial until a ruling had been issued on a pardon he received in 1996. The tribunal previously ruled the pardon does not cover its indictment against him. He sat in a wheelchair and complained of shortness of breath and heart problems while delivering his statement.

"I'm not surprised that Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary continue to deny their crimes as the charges against them of genocide, war crimes are very serious," said Theary Sang, a Cambodian lawyer and human rights activist who lost family members under their regime. "Even if I am not surprised, I am however disgusted by their lack of remorse for the suffering they caused. They are delusional in their denial in light of the weight of evidence against them - the mounds of skulls and bones, the horrific testimonies from every survivor of cruelty, the magnitude and scope of evil unleashed by them across the whole of Cambodia."

About 600 spectators attended on the third day of the trial, including Buddhist monks, students, civil servants and ordinary people who traveled from the provinces on transport provided free by the tribunal.

Opening statements concluded with Wednesday's hearing, and actual testimony is slated to begin on Dec. 5.

The U.N.-backed tribunal has tried just one case, convicting former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other offenses. His sentence was reduced to 19 years due to time served and other technicalities.

A fourth defendant in the current trial was ruled unfit due to illness. Political and financial pressure has raised concern that a third trial may never exist.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_as/as_cambodia_khmer_rouge

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PFT: Tebow strongly defends his love of Jesus

AP

It?s a nice, feel-good Thanksgiving week story.? Bears quarterback Jay Cutler breaks a thumb.? The Broncos have cut a former Bears quarterback who?d like to play in Chicago again.? And there?s nothing more natural than a homecoming on the fourth Thursday in November.

The only problem?? At least 22 teams can provide the flight delay and/or the traffic jam that prevents Kyle Orton from scarfing down sausage with the Superfans.

After the trading deadline, all players who are released must pass through waivers.? Priority is determined by record.? And so every team higher than the Bears in the pecking order will have dibs on Orton, if they choose to exercise it.

The Bears reportedly are No. 30 on the list.? Which means that every team except the 49ers and Packers will be able to grab him.

It doesn?t matter whether Orton ?wants? to play for the Bears.? If another team claims him, he has 2.5 million reasons to show up.

At the top of the stack, what better way to test whether the Colts are in full-blown ?Suck for Luck? mode than to see whether they?d bring in a quarterback who is significantly better than Curtis Painter or Dan Orlovsky?? They?d be crazy not to make a claim.? Unless they?re truly crazy for Andrew Luck.

The 4-6 Chiefs also need help, given the performance of Tyler Palko on Monday night.? (And with the Chiefs playing the Broncos again on January 1, there could be some strategic benefit to having him around.)? Ditto for the Redskins, whose head coach could be coaching for his job, with Rex Grossman and John Beck as the blanks in the bazooka.

And how about NFC teams that hope to pick off a wild-card berth if/when the Bears slide with Caleb Hanie or Nathan Enderle?? The 7-3 Lions, 6-4 Falcons, the 6-4 Cowboys (whose primary backup, Jon Kitna, is banged up), the 6-4 Giants, the 4-6 Bucs, and even the 4-6 Dream Team would have an incentive to block the Bears from getting their way.

Let?s also not forget about the Texans, who may not be completely sold on Matt Leinart, despite the decision to put all their eggs in a beer bong.

Finally, it would be foolish to overlook good, old-fashioned spite.? In 2002, Deion Sanders wanted to emerge from retirement and hop onto the silver-and-black bandwagon.? So the Redskins released his rights.? And former Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer, the man whose presence in 2001 prompted Sanders to pick retirement over playing, put in a waivers claim on Sanders, short-circuiting his plan.? With three NFC North teams on track to make it to the playoffs, maybe the 2-8 Vikings would be tempted to keep the Bears from getting Orton, in the hopes that they?ll have company in the non-playoff party.

That?s highly unlikely.? But the point is that there are many possible motivations, and just because the Bears want Orton and Orton wants the Bears, it doesn?t mean he?ll end up there.? Indeed, the fact that the Bears and Orton are trying to rendezvous could be the tiebreaker for a team that is thinking about disrupting that plan.

UPDATE 10:35 p.m. ET:? As a reader pointed out on Twitter, claiming Orton has another benefit.? When he leaves as a free agent in March 2012, the team that employs him for six weeks would be in line for a compensatory draft pick.? So there?s one more good reason to consider doing it.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/22/tebow-to-plummer-ill-take-every-opportunity-to-praise-the-lord/related

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In Praise of the Small Thanksgiving

Finally, we approached the buffet. In addition to traditional fare such as turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, there was smoked salmon and caviar, sushi, and at least 15 different cheeses. None of it was any good: The turkey was dry and rubbery. The mashed potatoes were tepid. (They weren?t part of the buffet but had to be ordered separately. My aunt was indignant.) Worst of all, I couldn?t eat my favorite dessert, apple pie, because it had nuts and I?m allergic to them.

At the smaller Thanksgivings at my house, the selection was less extensive but carefully tailored to our quirky palates. I made garlic mashed potatoes (extra garlic for my aunt) and apple pie (less sugar for my mom). My aunt brought her stuffing (which she always worries is too moist). My mom contributed the turkey (which she always worries is too dry), a vegetable, and the sour cranberry sauce. My grandma brings a tart cherry pie for my father. There were always plenty of leftovers.

There were no leftovers at the hotel. We dined at several large tables in a cavernous banquet hall. I squeezed between the second cousins at the kids table, waving to my parents a few tables over. I missed setting our small dining room table with the tiny seasonal gourds my mom keeps in a drawer in the basement. I missed pulling the homemade apple pie from our oven. I missed lounging in the living room as the aroma of Thanksgiving drifted through our little home.

The following year, we had Thanksgiving at our house again. My grandpa had died the previous spring, so the group was even smaller. But now I knew that was OK?better than OK, even. I was thankful that I had finally figured that out.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c1acac9e8d9a44913f604b596dd52c2e

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Penn St. taps ex-FBI director for investigation (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? Former FBI director Louis Freeh, tapped to lead Penn State's investigation into the child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach, said his inquiry will go as far back as 1975, a much longer period than a grand jury report issued earlier this month.

Freeh was named Monday to oversee the university board of trustees' internal investigation into the abuse allegations that ultimately led to the ouster of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier.

Freeh said his goal was to conduct a comprehensive, fair and quick review. His team of former FBI agents, federal prosecutors and others has already begun the process of reading the grand jury report and looking at records.

"We will immediately report any evidence of criminality to law enforcement authorities," said Freeh, who has no direct connection to Penn State.

Penn State has faced criticism since announcing that its internal investigation would be led by two university trustees, Merck pharmaceutical company CEO Kenneth Frazier and state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis.

Faculty members on Friday called for an independent investigation of how the university handled abuse allegations, and the faculty senate endorsed a resolution asking for an independent investigation.

In announcing Freeh's appointment, Frazier stressed the former FBI director's independence. Freeh will be empowered to investigate employees up to and including the board of trustees itself, Frazier said.

"No one is above scrutiny," Frazier said.

Freeh said he had been assured there would be "no favoritism." He called that assurance "the main condition of my engagement."

Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting eight boys over a 15-year period beginning in the mid-1990s. Authorities say some assaults happened on campus and were reported to administrators but not to police.

Authorities say Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999, met the children through The Second Mile, a youth charity that he started in 1977. By going back as far as 1975, Freeh's investigation would cover the entire time The Second Mile has existed and 24 of the 30 years that Sandusky worked at Penn State.

Amid the scandal, Penn State's trustees ousted Spanier and Paterno. The trustees said Spanier and Paterno failed to act after a graduate assistant claimed he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in a campus shower in 2002.

Paterno, who has the most wins of any major college football coach, has conceded he should have done more. Spanier has said he would have reported a crime if he had suspected one had been committed.

Sandusky has said he is innocent. He has acknowledged he showered with boys but said he never molested them.

Former school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and with perjury. They maintain their innocence.

Freeh founded an investigation firm, Freeh Group International Solutions, after leading the FBI from 1993 to 2001. He previously served six years as a special agent.

Freeh's law firm was hired to look into the bribery case involving FIFA's presidential election. Soccer's governing body banned candidate Mohamed bin Hammam for life for bribing voters. The ruling body also banned 11 Caribbean soccer leaders and disciplined others in the corruption scandal.

Freeh said he spoke with Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly on Sunday night and was determined not to interfere with the ongoing criminal case. A spokesman for Kelly said she was aware of the Penn State trustees' special committee, but declined comment about it.

Gov. Tom Corbett called Freeh's selection "a good one," noting his familiarity with grand juries and the role of prosecutors.

Rod Erickson, Penn State's new president, also lauded the selection. He vowed complete cooperation and said Freeh's findings "will prompt immediate actions for which I will remain responsible."

Freeh will report to a special committee comprised of six university trustees; Dan Hagen, chair of the university's faculty senate; Rodney Hughes, a doctoral student in higher education at Penn State; and retired Air Force Col. and astronaut Guion Bluford, a 1964 Penn State graduate.

Officials also announced that anyone who has information related to the probe can contact investigators at a telephone hotline ? 855-290-3382 ? and a special email, PSUhelp(at)freehgroup.com.

Meanwhile, Penn State police have referred a report of an indecent assault at an outdoor swimming pool building to the attorney general's office.

A police log noted the report referred to an incident that occurred sometime between June 1, 2000, and Aug. 30, 2000. The report was made to campus police Wednesday and was noted on Thursday's police log.

When asked if the report was related to allegations against Sandusky, Penn State Police Chief Tyrone Parham said Monday: "We can never describe anything related to a victim or suspect."

State open records laws do not require Penn State to release the full police report.

A state lawmaker who represents the State College area said he was sponsoring a bill that would reverse the exemption ? which currently applies to Penn State and three other universities that rely heavily on state funding but are independently run.

Rep. Kerry Benninghoff said a "more open climate" might prevent future scandals.

___

Associated Press writers Genaro C. Armas, Marc Levy, Fred Lief and Mark Scolforo contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_abuse

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New "Twilight" film breaks UK box office records (AP)

LONDON ? The Twilight vampires broke U.K. box office records over the weekend.

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1" grossed 13.9 million pounds ($21.8 million) on its 3-day weekend, according to U.K. and Irish distributor Entertainment One. That made it the biggest-ever opening for an American film in the U.K., fifth behind the British Harry Potter and James Bond series.

The fourth film in the "Twilight" series also had the best-ever U.K. 2D opening day Friday, surpassing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" by grossing 6.35 million pounds ($9.9 million) to Potter's 5.9 million pounds ($9.2 million).

"Breaking Dawn Part 1" now has the biggest opening for a film in the U.K. in 2011.

Directed by Bill Condon, its stars Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_en_mo/eu_britain_twilight

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Japan October exports disappoint as yen, global slowdown (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's exports fell at the fastest pace in five months in the year to October and the worse than expected result signaled more weakness ahead as a strong yen and sputtering global growth weigh on the recuperating economy.

Although Japan's economy expanded 1.5 percent in the previous quarter, rebounding from recession triggered by March earthquake and subsequent nuclear crisis, it is expected to slow sharply in October-December. Severe floods in Thailand, a major manufacturing base for many Japanese exporters, are expected to add to global headwinds faced by the world's third-biggest economy.

Exports fell 3.7 percent last month from a year earlier, far more than a 0.3 percent dip forecast by economists and the data follows the central bank's warning that government debt woes in Europe were already hurting Japan and emerging economies.

The October fall follows a 2.3 percent rise in September and was the biggest drop since a 10.3 percent fall in May, with shipments of semiconductors and other electronic goods falling due to strength in the yen.

"The global slowdown stemming from Europe's debt crisis, sluggish IT-related demand and the yen's rise which is driving production abroad were among the factors behind the decline," a finance ministry official said.

He added that the impact of Thai flooding may further hurt Japan's exports in the coming months.

Thai-bound exports fell 5.1 percent, the first annual decline in three months.

The Bank of Japan held fire last week after easing policy by boosting its asset buying scheme in October, but economists say signs of more weakness may put it under pressure to loosen monetary reins further.

"Exports will likely continue to fall for the next few months," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

"There is a chance that the BOJ will adopt further easing steps within this fiscal year. It is not yet a real crisis situation but the impact from Europe's debt woes is gradually affecting other economic regions."

One of the triggers of the October 27 monetary easing was the yen's rally to record highs against the dollar driven by investors shifting funds away from Europe and other riskier markets into highly liquid and relatively stable Japanese debt.

Some BOJ board members have argued that purchases of government bonds with short maturities worked to stabilize the foreign exchange market, BOJ minutes showed on Monday.

Just days after the central bank move, the finance ministry ordered its biggest ever single-day intervention, selling an estimated 7.7 trillion yen on October 31.

IMPORTS SURGE

Exports to China, Japan's largest trading partner, slumped an annual 7.7 percent, posting their biggest decline since May.

Shipments to the United States fell 2.3 percent, while those to European Union dropped 2.9 percent, down for the first time in five months and bringing Japan's trade surplus with the region to its smallest since 1979 for the month of October.

Imports were up 17.9 percent in October from a year earlier, against an expected 15.2 percent gain, bringing the trade balance to a deficit of 273.8 billion yen ($3.6 billion). That marked the first deficit in two months and compared with a median forecast of a 39.9 billion yen surplus.

Japan's trade balance has swung to a deficit a few times since the March disaster as exports slumped due to damaged supply chains while imports continued to increase on rising demand for crude oil and natural gas to make up for a loss of nuclear energy as well as higher oil prices.

(Additional reporting by Rie Ishiguro; Editing by Joseph Radford and Tomasz Janowski)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/bs_nm/us_japan_economy

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Physicists Dive into Oscillation Frequency of Coffee

Image: Anthony Bradshaw/Getty Images

At a recent math conference, Rouslan Krechetnikov watched his colleagues gingerly carry cups of coffee. Why, he wondered, did the coffee sometimes spill and sometimes not? A research project was born.

Although the problem of why coffee spills might seem trivial, it actually brings together a variety of fundamental scientific issues. These include fluid mechanics, the stability of fluid surfaces, interactions between fluids and structures, and the complex biology of walking, explains Krechetnikov, a fluid dynamicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In experiments, he and a graduate student monitored high-speed video of the complex motions of coffee-filled cups people carried, investigating the effects of walking speed and variability among those individuals. Using a frame-by-frame analysis, the researchers found that after people reached their desired walking speed, motions of the cup consisted of large, regular oscillations caused by walking, as well as smaller, irregular and more frequent motions caused by fluctuations from stride to stride, and environmental factors such as uneven floors and distractions.

Coffee spilling depends in large part on the natural oscillation frequency of the beverage?that is, the rate at which it prefers to oscillate, much as every pendulum swings at a precise frequency given its length and the gravitational pull it experiences. When the frequency of the large, regular motions that a cuppa joe experiences is comparable to this natural oscillation frequency, a state of resonance develops: the oscillations reinforce one another, much as pushing on a playground swing at the right point makes it go higher and higher, and the chances of coffee sloshing its way over the edge rise. The small, irregular movements a cup sees can also amplify liquid motion and thus spilling. These findings were to be detailed at a November meeting of the American Physical Society in Baltimore.

Once the key relations between coffee motion and human behavior are understood, it might be possible to develop strategies to control spilling, ?such as using a flexible container to act as a sloshing absorber,? Krechetnikov says. A series of rings arranged up and down the inner wall of a container might also impede the liquid oscillations.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ad6704c3d332ff17b1ec3a5df3f78515

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