Gibson, Maddon win Managers of Year; La Russa 3rd (AP)

NEW YORK ? Moments after his team lost a day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium in late September, Joe Maddon wandered into the Tampa Bay clubhouse.

The twin defeats left the Rays in a precarious position with only a week remaining in the regular season. Rather than raise his voice, Maddon delivered a simple message.

"You guys are great," Maddon recalled telling them, "and I know you can still do this."

Eternally optimistic, Maddon won the AL Manager of the Year award Wednesday. He certainly clinched the honor in the last month, when Tampa Bay overcame a nine-game deficit and trumped Boston for the wild-card spot.

Kirk Gibson, meanwhile, took a more stern approach starting in spring training. He even brought three Navy SEALs to camp.

The SEALs wrote D, W and I on a board. The letters stood for a sense of purpose, not a traffic offense: "Deal With It."

"They bought into it," said Gibson, voted the NL Manager of the Year after the guiding the Arizona Diamondbacks to a worst-to-first finish.

Gibson was a clear choice for guiding the Diamondbacks to a runaway NL West title. A former MVP as a rough-and-tumble outfielder, he was honored in his first full season as a big league manager.

"I certainly had a vision," Gibson said during a conference call while on vacation in northern Michigan, adding, "It's certainly not all because of me."

Maddon was an easy pick in winning the AL award for the second time. The Rays made the biggest September rally in baseball history for a team that claimed a playoff berth, sealing it on the final day of the regular season.

"I like to think of it as a validation of the Rays' way of doing things," Maddon said of the award during a conference call while visiting family and friends in Hazleton, Pa.

Maddon led Tampa Bay to the playoffs for the third time in four years. After that, his name popped up in speculation about managerial openings with Boston, the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis. The Cardinals have already hired Mike Matheny.

"I don't want to have to go anywhere else," Maddon said.

The awards were announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The NL Cy Young winner will be revealed Thursday, with Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers the leading candidate.

Gibson and the Diamondbacks went 94-68, a year after he took over in midseason as Arizona went 65-97. Stressing fundamentals and details from the first day of camp, the 54-year-old Gibson pushed his team into the playoffs, where it lost to Milwaukee in the 10th inning of the deciding Game 5 in the opening round.

Gibson drew 28 of the 32 first-place votes and got 152 points. He was the only manager in either league to be listed on every ballot.

Ron Roenicke of the NL Central champion Brewers was second with three first-place votes and 92 points. Tony La Russa of the World Series champion Cardinals was third with the other first-place vote and 24 points. Voting was completed before the start of the playoffs.

Maddon added to the AL honor he won in 2008. The 57-year-old manager who likes to speak on a vast array of subjects ? he mentioned Mozart, his iPad and a puppy on his conference call ? never panicked during a trying year.

The Rays cut $30 million in payroll during the winter, losing the likes of Carl Crawford, Matt Garza and Carlos Pena. The Rays' big addition, slugger Manny Ramirez, retired during the first week instead of facing a 100-game suspension for a second positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.

The Rays overcame an 0-6 start and injuries to star Evan Longoria and others, relying on a pitching staff anchored by All-Stars James Shields and David Price and recently picked AL Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson.

Tampa Bay won its final five games, rallying from a 7-0 deficit against the Yankees on the last day to finish 91-71 and earn a playoff spot. The Rays lost to Texas in the first round.

"My goal has been to make the Rays into the next century's Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals," he said.

Maddon drew 26 of 28 first-place votes and had 133 points. Jim Leyland of the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers got the other pair of first-place votes and 54 points and Ron Washington of the AL champion Rangers was third with 31.

Gibson was a two-time World Series champion, winning with Detroit and the Dodgers. He was the fourth former MVP to win the manager award, joining Joe Torre, Frank Robinson and Don Baylor.

Gibson hit two especially memorable home runs during his 17-year career. He connected for the shot that clinched the 1984 crown for the Tigers in Game 5 against San Diego, and launched a bottom-of-the-ninth, pinch-hit homer off Dennis Eckersley to lift the Dodgers over Oakland in the 1988 opener, hobbling around the bases and pumping his arm.

As a player, Gibson acknowledged he sometimes was "a little emotional ... a little stupid."

"As a manager, you can't lose your composure," he said.

Gibson and Bob Melvin (2007) have won the manager award with Arizona. Gibson received a three-year contract extension after the season, with options for two more years.

"I still want to win a World Series as a manager," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_managers_of_the_year

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Science panel: Get ready for extreme weather

A Thai Muslim girl is silhouetted against floodwaters as she rides a boat on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Nearly a third of Thailand's 77 provinces, including Bangkok, have been hit by floods since late July. More than one-fifth of the country's 64 million people have been affected, and at least 567 have died. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

A Thai Muslim girl is silhouetted against floodwaters as she rides a boat on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Nearly a third of Thailand's 77 provinces, including Bangkok, have been hit by floods since late July. More than one-fifth of the country's 64 million people have been affected, and at least 567 have died. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

FILE - Maarten van Aalst, leading climate specialist for the Red Cross and Red Crescent, speaks about how climate change will affect people and assets during the presentation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report at a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in this April 11, 2007 file photo. Top international climate scientists and disaster experts meeting in Africa had a sharp message Friday Nov. 18, 2011 for the world's political leaders: Get ready for more dangerous and "unprecedented extreme weather" caused by global warming. (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi, File)

(AP) ? Think of the Texas drought, floods in Thailand and Russia's devastating heat waves as coming attractions in a warming world. That is the warning from top international climate scientists and disaster experts after meeting in Africa.

The panel said the world needs to get ready for more dangerous and "unprecedented extreme weather" caused by global warming. These experts fear that without preparedness, crazy weather extremes may overwhelm some locations, making some places unlivable.

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a special report on global warming and extreme weather Friday after meeting in Kampala, Uganda. This is the first time the group of scientists has focused on the dangers of extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, droughts and storms. Those are more dangerous than gradual increases in the world's average temperature.

For example, the report predicts that heat waves that are now once-in-a-generation events will become hotter and happen once every five years by mid-century and every other year by the end of the century. And in some places, such as most of Latin America, Africa and a good chunk of Asia, they will likely become yearly bakings.

And the very heavy rainstorms that usually happen once every 20 years will happen far more frequently, the report said. In most areas of the U.S. and Canada, they are likely to occur three times as often by the turn of the century, if fossil fuel use continues at current levels. In Southeast Asia, where flooding has been dramatic, it is likely to happen about four times as often as now, the report predicts.

One scientist points to this year's drought and string of 100 degree days (38 Celsius) in Texas and Oklahoma, which set an all-time record for hottest month for any U.S. state this summer.

"I think of it as a wake-up call," said one of the study's authors, David Easterling, head of global climate applications for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "The likelihood of that occurring in the future is going to be much greater."

The report said world leaders have to prepare better for weather extremes.

"We need to be worried," said one of the study's lead authors, Maarten van Aalst, director of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre in the Netherlands. "And our response needs to anticipate disasters and reduce risk before they happen rather than wait until after they happen and clean up afterward. ... Risk has already increased dramatically."

Another study lead writer, Chris Field of Stanford University, said scientists aren't quite sure which weather disaster will be the biggest threat because wild weather interacts with economics and where people live. Society's vulnerability to natural disasters, aside from climate, has also increased, he said.

Field told The Associated Press in an interview that "it's clear that losses from disasters are increasing. And in terms of deaths, "more than 95 percent of fatalities from the 1970s to the present have been in developing countries," he said.

Losses are already high, running at as much as $200 billion a year, said Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, a study author.

Science has progressed so much in the last several years that scientists can now attribute the increase in many of these types of extreme weather events to global warming with increased confidence, said study author Thomas Stocker at the University of Bern.

Scientists were able to weigh their confidence of predictions of future climate disasters and heat waves were the most obvious. The report said it is "virtually certain" that heat waves are getting worse, longer and hotter, while cold spells are easing.

The report said there is at least a 2-in-3 chance that heavy downpours will increase, both in the tropics and northern regions, and from tropical cyclones.

The 29-page summary of the full report ? which will be completed in the coming months ? says that extremes could get so bad at some point that some regions may need to be abandoned.

Such locations are likely to be in poorer countries, van Aalst said in a telephone interview, but the middle class may be affected in those regions, which aren't specifically identified in the report. And even in some developed northern regions of the world, such as Canada, Russia and Greenland, cities might need to move because of weather extremes and sea level rise from man-made warming, he said.

In places like van Aalst's native Netherlands, citizens will have to learn how to handle new weather problems, in this case heat waves.

And it's not just the headline grabbing disasters like a Hurricane Katrina or the massive 2010 Russian heat wave that studies show were unlikely to happen without global warming. At the Red Cross/Red Crescent they are seeing "a particular pattern of rising risks" from smaller events, van Aalst said.

Of all the weather extremes that kill and cause massive damage, he said, the worst is flooding.

There's an ongoing debate in the climate science community about whether it is possible and fair to attribute individual climate disasters to manmade global warming. Usually meteorologists say it's impossible to link climate change to a specific storm or drought, but that such extremes are more likely in a future dominated by global warming.

Jerry North, a scientist at Texas A&M University who wasn't part of the study, said he thought the panel was being properly cautious in its projections and findings, especially since by definition climate extremes are uncommon events. MIT professor Kerry Emanuel thought the panel was being too conservative when it comes to tropical cyclones.

The panel was formed by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organization. In the past, it has discussed extreme events in snippets in its report. But this time, the scientists are putting them together.

The next major IPCC report isn't expected until the group meets in Stockholm in 2013.

___

Online:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/

NOAA on weather extremes: http://1.usa.gov/sYQQRv

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-11-18-Climate%20Extremes/id-6fe2ed01ed49479380b48e34499de857

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Natalie Wood Case Reopened: Boat Captain Blames Robert Wagner (VIDEO)

Natalie Wood Case Reopened: Boat Captain Blames Robert Wagner (VIDEO)

Actress Natalie Wood’s death has always remained mysterious, but was chalked up to an accidental drowning in the 80s.? But now the captain of the [...]

Natalie Wood Case Reopened: Boat Captain Blames Robert Wagner (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/8zFZMhvXR68/

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Palestinian 'freedom riders' board Israeli buses in protest

Drawing what they say are parallels between Israeli policies in the West Bank and the laws in the Jim Crow American South, Palestinian activists emulating the 'freedom riders' of 1961 attempted to ride into Jerusalem on an Israeli bus today.

Kokhav Ya'akov and Hizma Checkpoint, West Bank

Decked-out in T-shirts bearing slogans such as ?dignity,? ?freedom,? and ?justice,? and wearing the symbolic black and white Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves, six Palestinian activists waited at a bus stop this afternoon with a group of Israeli settlers.

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The group planned to board an Israeli bus just outside the Israeli settlement of Kokhav Ya'akov, mimicking the African-American "freedom riders" who rode interstate buses through the American South to protest against segregation 50 years ago. While Palestinians are not explicitly barred from riding the Israeli buses, they enter parts of the West Bank and Israel that most Palestinians cannot enter.

?Under Israeli law we are forbidden to visit Jerusalem. It?s a racist law like the Jim Crow laws and the apartheid laws in South Africa,? says Bassal Araj, a 27-year-old pharmacist whose family is originally from a small village near Jerusalem. ?We want to show the world that this is not a country of democracy. It is a country of apartheid and injustice.?

Also dubbing themselves the ?freedom riders,? the activists hoped to highlight what they say are Israel?s policies of occupation and segregation, similar to those imposed on African-Americans before the civil rights movement upended the infamous Jim Crow laws. The bus companies Egged and Veolia carry those living in Israeli settlements in the West Bank into Israel,?stopping?primarily?in locations that Palestinians are not allowed to access.

The activists say the buses are merely a symbol of a wider prohibition: the ban on West Bank Palestinians entering Jerusalem.

?There are about 2 million Palestinians in the West Bank that are not allowed to enter East Jerusalem and Israel except with a special permission,? says Sari?Bashi, director of Gisha, an Israeli rights organization focused on Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel took over and later annexed East Jerusalem after conquering the area in the 1967 war. Most Palestinian residents of the West Bank are now barred from entering East Jerusalem, and they say this is akin to segregation.

?East Jerusalem is occupied territory under international law,? says Ms. Bashi. ?And folks from the West Bank should have the right to access services there ? schools, universities, hospitals.?

Several buses shuttling Israeli settlers and visitors into Israel drove past the crowd of activists, journalists, and settlers waiting at the bus stop in front of a picture of Meir Kahane, an American-Israeli extremist who preached the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. It was unclear if they were specifically avoiding the activists or if they were simply deterred by the unusually large crowd. ?

?What are they doing here?? asks Sabina, a resident of the nearby settlement Psagot who declined to give her last name, referring to the Palestinian activists.? She argues that if she were to do what they are doing, she might not be safe. ?If I was going to Ramallah, and [I weren't stopped by Israeli authorities], they would kill me.? Although she says she?doesn?t mind if Palestinians ride the bus with her, Sabina says she believes they could use the opportunity to attack Israelis.

Eventually, bus number 148 halted at the bus stop, and the?activists and a crowd of?journalists began to board. Most of the Israeli riders seemed confused but unalarmed ? until one of activists began waving a large Palestinian flag. A settler tried to pull it out of his hand and a brief yelling match ensued. The bus began moving toward Jerusalem.?

?The first thing I will do if I reach Jerusalem is go to pray at Al-Aqsa mosque ? and then go to the churches,? said Mr. Araj as the bus approached the Hizma checkpoint on the road to Jerusalem.? If he makes it, it will be his first visit to the city in 12 years, aside from a brief trip to a Jerusalem court a year ago, in the back of an Israeli Defense Forces jeep.

At the checkpoint, the bus was boarded by members of the Israel Border Police, who asked for the activists' identification.??Do you have permit?? an officer asked one of the activists, referring to a document that gives some West Bank Palestinians permission to enter Israel. The activist did not.??No? Then come with me.?

But activists refused to leave the bus, despite the officer?s commands. Eventually the bus pulled out of the checkpoint vehicle line and stopped in a parking lot where, after an hour, all the activists were removed by Israeli security forces.

?What happened today was an unfortunate, unnecessary, provocative incident,? said Israeli Police Spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld. Thousands of Palestinians regularly enter Israel to work or to receive medical care with proper documentation, he says. Several hundred Palestinians are stopped weekly, either while entering illegally or already in Israel.?

?Border police work 24/7 to stop people from jumping the wall and entering Israel,? he says. ?Usually they are just sent back. It?s a normal procedure.?

The six activists were detained. They have since all been released, according to the Associated Press.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/xYoA4byjXzk/Palestinian-freedom-riders-board-Israeli-buses-in-protest

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Engineering prize to be worth ?1m

A ?1m prize - named after the Queen - is to be awarded for exceptional advances in engineering.

The prize, funded by an endowment from a number of engineering companies, will be awarded biannually to an individual or team of up to three people.

It is designed to raise the profile of engineering and the recipients can be of any nationality.

The Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize was officially launched at London's Science Museum on Thursday.

It was attended by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition, to show cross-party support.

The fund behind it will be managed by an independent trust that is chaired by Lord Browne, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a former chief executive of BP.

But the award organisers will not disclose how much money they have raised, saying only that they have received long-term commitments.

Commenting on the prize, Lord Browne said engineering "underpins every aspect of our lives", adding that it forms a "bridge between scientific discovery and commercial application".

He added: "Too often the engineers behind the most brilliant innovations remain hidden. The Queen Elizabeth Prize aims to change that. It will celebrate, on an international scale, the very best engineering in the world."

Prime Minister David Cameron

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Prime Minister David Cameron: ''We don't do enough to recognise engineering''

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, commented: "I am delighted that the Queen has put her name to this prestigious prize, which I hope will carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes."

"For too long Britain's economy has been over-reliant on consumer debt and financial services. We want to rebalance the economy so that Britain makes things again - high-skilled, high-value manufacturing and engineering should be a central part of our long-term future."

According to campaigners Engineering UK, there are upwards of 550,000 engineering companies in the country, but they are facing a major shortfall in the workforce.

This shortfall of engineers is estimated to reach about 600,000 by 2017, they say.

'Significant benefit'

Imran Khan, director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case), said the prize was a "fantastic way" to raise the profile of science and engineering as a driver of economic growth.

But he explained: "Our research base and workforce need to be the best in the world in order to compete - the current cuts we're seeing to science and engineering will hamper that.

"None of the main political parties have yet put science and engineering at the heart of their economic plans, and we hope that today's announcement will see that beginning to change."

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said the prize "flies in the face of the myth that engineering is a part of Britain's past... We are bringing engineering home".

The Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "We now face huge global challenges in the future ranging from climate change and famine to an ageing population in the West. Just as engineering has helped us meet the big challenges in the past, it will be engineering that helps us meet these new challenges."

Tim Routsis, the chief executive of engineering firm Cosworth welcomed the prize, saying it would "shine a light" on the vital role of the discipline to the UK economy.

"Will the Queen Elizabeth Award carry the same stature as the Nobel Prizes? Not until engineering is better understood," he said, adding: "And certainly not while there are so many talking about UK engineering as if it died out decades ago."

The organisers said the prize would be awarded for "a groundbreaking advance in engineering which has created significant benefit to humanity".

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-15756113

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Beijing is wary of Obama's assertive China policy (AP)

BEIJING ? While Beijing's public response to President Barack Obama's more muscular China policy has been muted, behind the scenes the U.S. president's sudden moves to contest rising Chinese power are setting the capital on edge.

During his ongoing nine-day swing through the Asia-Pacific region, Obama has already unveiled a plan for an expanded U.S. Marines presence in Australia, advocated a new free-trade area that leaves China out, and called on Beijing not to buck the current world order.

The Beijing government is trying to understand the shift, tasking academic experts to review the initiatives and submit options on how to respond.

"The U.S. is overreacting," said Zhu Feng, an international relations expert at Peking University who was asked to study Washington's moves and make recommendations. He said the government may feel bewildered by the Obama initiatives.

Meanwhile, state media are warning of a new U.S. containment strategy.

"The U.S. sees a growing threat to its hegemony from China. Therefore, America's strategic move east is aimed in practical terms at pinning down and containing China and counterbalancing China's development," the official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary.

Obama told the Australian Parliament on Thursday that the U.S. intends "to deter threats to peace" and will remain an Asia-Pacific power. On Friday, Obama will become the first U.S. president to attend a summit of East Asian leaders, a region that China sees as its rightful sphere of influence.

Obama is also pushing for the rapid expansion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-backed free trade agreement that so far has drawn mostly smaller countries. Japan and Canada have expressed interest in joining, while Beijing has been left out.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called it natural for the U.S. and Australia to improve relations, just as China wants to do with each, but said such improvements "should take into consideration the interests of other countries."

Despite its evident wariness, the Chinese government appears to be in watching mode. Obama has repeatedly said in public remarks that the U.S. welcomes China's rise and wants it to play a role as a responsible power. Both sides have much at stake and their economies ? the world's largest and second largest ? are deeply intertwined, doing $456 billion in trade, overwhelmingly in China's favor.

Beijing can ill afford a serious rift with Washington. The normally risk-averse authoritarian leadership is preparing for a politically tricky handover of power to a new generation of leaders next year. And, while the U.S. suffers from high joblessness, anemic growth and other economic woes, China also is challenged by a slowing of its robust growth that could see unemployment and banks' bad loans rise at a time when Chinese have come to expect ever-higher standards of living.

Managing those expectations has become difficult, particularly in regard to the United States. Beijing has played up its handling of Washington, especially after President Hu Jintao held a pomp-filled summit with Obama in Washington in January, and repeatedly invoked the leadership's intention to build a constructive partnership.

Yu Wanli of Peking University's School of International Studies said many Chinese would likely view Obama's new posture as a betrayal of that professed partnership and that could narrow Beijing's options, forcing a tougher response.

"Public opinion may put the Chinese government in an embarrassing situation," said Yu, who specializes in U.S.-China relations.

A reliably nationalistic media that pander to the Chinese sense of patriotism and deep-seated suspicion of the U.S. have already sounded the alarm. The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper, hit hard upon the theme of besiegement. It quoted a People's Liberation Army major general as saying that the expanded U.S. training and deployment base in Australia was one of a series of U.S. installations to "encircle China from the north to the south of the Asia-Pacific region."

In a separate article entitled "Six ways of countering the eastward movement of American strategy," the Global Times alleged the U.S. was seeking to weaken China by nurturing hostile forces within the country while wrecking Beijing's relations with its neighbors. It suggested Beijing reduce its massive purchases of U.S. government debt ? which have helped keep U.S. interest rates low ? to get Washington to stop meddling in the South China Sea, where China is asserting claims to islands, reefs and atolls contested by five other governments.

"As long as we stick to our guns, time will be on our side," it said.

___

Associated Press writers Charles Hutzler and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_re_as/as_china_wary_of_the_us

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Sandusky TV interview could haunt him at trial (AP)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky's admission that he showered with and "horsed around" with boys could be used by prosecutors trying to convict him of child sex-abuse charges.

Experts in criminal law and crisis management questioned Sandusky's decision to give a TV interview in which he said there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation.

"Mr. Sandusky goes on worldwide television and admits he did everything the prosecution claims he did, except for the ultimate act of rape or sodomy? If I were a prosecutor, I'd be stunned," said Lynne Abraham, the former district attorney of Philadelphia. "I was stunned, and then I was revolted."

Abraham, who led a grand jury probe involving 63 accused priests from the Philadelphia archdiocese, was retained this week to lead an internal investigation of The Second Mile, the children's charity founded by Sandusky, from which he allegedly culled his victims.

The child sex-assault charges filed against Sandusky this month have toppled Penn State's longtime football coach, Joe Paterno, and the university's president, Graham Spanier. The school's athletic director and vice president are accused of not reporting what they knew to police and have left their posts.

Sandusky is charged with abusing eight boys over the span of 15 years. He told NBC on Monday that he was not a pedophile but, in retrospect, should not have showered with boys.

"I could say that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact," Sandusky said Monday on NBC News' "Rock Center." "I am innocent of those charges."

When NBC's Bob Costas asked him whether he was sexually attracted to underage boys, Sandusky replied: "Sexually attracted, no. I enjoy young people, I love to be around them, but, no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."

Sandusky apparently decided to talk to Costas by phone Monday at the last minute, with the blessing of his attorney, Joseph Amendola, who was in the studio.

"What was especially astonishing about Sandusky's interview is ? and this will be the big moment in court ? is when he stumbled over the question about whether he was sexually attracted to children," said crisis management expert Eric Dezenhall, who runs a Washington consulting firm. "That may not be legal proof that he's guilty, but it is certainly not helpful, to struggle with the question."

The state grand jury investigation that led to Sandusky's arrest followed a trail that goes back at least 13 years, leading to questions from some quarters about whether law enforcement moved too slowly.

The grand jury report detailed a 1998 investigation by Penn State police, begun after an 11-year-old boy's mother complained that Sandusky had showered with her son in the football facilities. Then-District Attorney Ray Gricar declined to file charges.

Another missed opportunity came in 2002, the grand jury said, when then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno that he had witnessed Sandusky sodomizing a child in the team's showers. McQueary later spoke to Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and vice president for business Gary Schultz. They are now accused of breaking the law by not going to police.

McQueary's actions also have been scrutinized, with some suggesting he didn't do enough after witnessing child sex-abuse.

McQueary told a friend from Penn State that he stopped the alleged assault and went to the police about it. The friend made an email from McQueary available to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.

In the email dated Nov. 8 from McQueary's Penn State account, the former Nittany Lions quarterback wrote: "I did stop it, not physically ... but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room... I did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police....no one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds...trust me."

Added McQueary: "Do with this what you want...but I am getting hammered for handling this the right way...or what I thought at the time was right...I had to make tough impacting quick decisions."

Emails to McQueary from AP were not immediately answered.

The case apparently took on new urgency two years ago, when a woman complained to officials at her local school district that Sandusky had sexually assaulted her son. School district officials banned him from school grounds and contacted police, leading to an investigation by state police, the attorney general's office and the grand jury.

Gov. Tom Corbett took the case on a referral from the Centre County district attorney in early 2009 while he was serving as attorney general.

He bristled Tuesday when asked whether it was fair for people to criticize the pace of the probe.

"People that are saying that are ill-informed as to how investigations are conducted, how witnesses are developed, how backup information, corroborative information is developed, and they really don't know what they're talking about," he told reporters.

The attorney general's office declined to comment on the pace of the investigation.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported Monday that only one trooper was assigned to the case after the state took it over in 2009. It wasn't until Corbett became governor early this year that his former investigations supervisor in the attorney general's office, Frank Noonan, became state police commissioner and put seven more investigators on it, the newspaper said.

Noonan's spokeswoman, Maria Finn, said Tuesday that manpower was increased in the case this year, but she could not confirm the numbers reported by the newspaper.

"The investigation, at the time, was gaining momentum," Finn said. "There were more leads, there were more things to do at that point. It's not that the state police weren't doing anything and Noonan comes in and changes things."

With the case now drawing global media attention and potential civil litigants watching from the sidelines, Sandusky went on the offensive in the NBC interview.

"I would knock my client over the head with a two-by-four before I would let them do it, but it cuts both ways," said criminal defense lawyer Mark Geragos, who represented O.J. Simpson and other celebrity defendants. "If prosecutors use it, it can end up being testimony without cross examination."

He called the Penn State an unusual case that may call for unusual tactics, given the "instantaneous uproar to convict the guy."

Penn State's trustees have hired the public relations firm Ketchum, which through corporate communications director Jackie Burton said only that "the details of all our client assignments are confidential."

Paterno, who authorities say fulfilled his legal responsibilities and is not considered an investigative target, has hired Washington lawyer Wick Sollers. Sollers told the AP on Tuesday he was "not in a position to comment just yet."

Also Tuesday, lawyers for Schultz and Curley issued a statement in which they said it was "a travesty" that prosecutors sought to delay their clients' preliminary hearing until next month.

"Mr. Curley and Mr. Schultz are anxious to face their accusers, clear their good names and go on with their lives," said attorneys Caroline Roberto and Tom Farrell.

The attorney general's office declined to comment.

Sandusky's next court date is Dec. 7, when he is due for a preliminary hearing in which a judge would determine if there's enough evidence for prosecutors to move forward with the case.

___

Dale reported from Philadelphia. Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pa. AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_abuse

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Military college 'sorry' about sex abuse inaction

The president of The Citadel said Monday he was "profoundly sorry" the South Carolina military college failed to tell police about child sexual abuse allegations against a man who had served as a summer camp counselor at the institution.

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Earlier Monday, the college released documents linked to a 2007 internal probe into the allegations, including a 160-page interview with the former camper who filed the complaint against Louis Neal "Skip" ReVille, the counselor.

The Citadel first disclosed the matter on Saturday in the wake of unrelated allegations of child sexual abuse by a former assistant football coach at Penn State University.

Sandusky: 'I am innocent of those charges'

The college, located in Charleston, said on Saturday it had investigated in 2007 the allegations against ReVille ? who was arrested last month on separate charges of abusing five boys ? but did not report the matter to police.

Citadel President John Rosa told a news conference on Monday: "This should have been reported (to police)."

"We're profoundly sorry, sorry that we didn't pursue it more. We acted on what we thought was our best information. ... We're all held accountable," Rosa told reporters.

"I am saddened and sickened that someone so close has betrayed our trust," Rosa added.

Story: Penn State assistant coach: 'I did the right thing'

ReVille was arrested last month on charges of abusing boys in the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant and police have said he has admitted to the crimes, with more charges pending.

A graduate of The Citadel, ReVille had worked as a counselor at the school's camp for three summers between 2001 and 2003. The Citadel closed its camp in 2006. ReVille had also worked elsewhere as a school principal and sports coach.

The Citadel said it was now sharing all its information with police, and had hired a consulting firm to review the college's procedures in the matter and recommend improvements.

Pornography
In 2007, the former Citadel summer camper said that five years earlier, when he was 14, ReVille had invited him and another camper to his room, showed them pornography on his computer, and that they had masturbated.

Rosa said the 2007 abuse complaint came to his office, and that The Citadel's in-house counsel interviewed the young man and his family. He said that at the time, he did not believe he was required by state law to report child sexual abuse.

Mandatory reporters under South Carolina law include school teachers, school counselors and school principals.

Story: When abusers are 'like us,' how can they be stopped?

"The way I understand the law, in 2006 and 2007 we were not required to mandatorily report," Rosa said. "That's certainly no excuse. The law has been changed. Today we are."

"Mr. ReVille is responsible for what happened to other victims," Rosa said. "By not doing enough, we play a critical role in the events."

The documents released by the college include a 160-page interview with the camper, who told The Citadel's attorney Mark Brandenburg that he and other campers used to hang out in ReVille's room "and then one night, he pulled out a pornographic video and put it in and started masturbating."

"He encouraged everyone in the room to join in. And they did. And I guess he made an agreement with these kids that he would keep buying them Chinese food and pizza and all these good things and give them privileges if they continued to come to his room," the interview document said.

In 2006, The Citadel settled a civil lawsuit by child victims of sex crimes by another Citadel summer camp counselor, U.S. Marine officer Michael Arpaio, for $3.8 million, said Jeff Perez, vice president for external affairs. Arpaio was court-martialed by the U.S. Marine Corps, Perez said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45300940/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Smith defensive gem lifts 49ers over Giants 27-20 (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? The San Francisco 49ers wanted a statement game to show the skeptics they're a legitimate winner. Justin Smith batted down Eli Manning's pass in the closing seconds of the New York quarterback's latest comeback try, and San Francisco stopped the Giants on fourth down for a 27-20 victory in Sunday's NFC showdown to boost their chances of a first-round playoff bye.

With his team trailing, Manning completed a pair of long fourth-down passes and got the Giants to the red zone with 1:53 to go. Unlike last week's rally by New York (6-3) at New England, Smith thwarted the final chance with a leaping right-handed smack of the ball on fourth-and-2 from the 10.

The 49ers (8-1) ? with a five-game cushion in the division ? won this one without relying on star running back Frank Gore, whose franchise-record streak of five straight games with 100 yards rushing ended with a knee injury and his first career game with zero yards.

Jim Harbaugh's NFC West-leading Niners rolled off their seventh straight victory to extend their best start since 1997, and matched the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers for the most wins in the NFL.

Vernon Davis leaped from the 4-yard line over safety Kenny Phillips into the end zone to complete a go-ahead 31-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter.

Kendall Hunter ran for a 27-yard touchdown in the fourth, moments after Carlos Rogers made his second interception of the day.

David Akers kicked four field goals, setting up one with a surprise onside kick, as the 49ers won their most meaningful home game at Candlestick Park since coming from 24 points down to stun the Giants 39-38 in the NFC wild-card game on Jan. 5, 2003.

That was one of the best comebacks in NFL playoff history and a monumental collapse for the Giants.

Alex Smith led the comeback this time after Manning threw a go-ahead 13-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham late in the third quarter. Manning then hit Hakeem Nicks for a 32-yard TD with 8:37 remaining before getting that last chance.

Manning completed an 18-yard pass to Manningham on fourth-and-6 and then a 10-yarder to Victor Cruz on fourth-and-5 on the last-ditch drive. Manning just overthrew Manningham in the end zone with 2:52 left.

While it's the 49ers defense that has been so dominant stopping the run ? now 31 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher ? the Giants had to think they had solved San Francisco by stopping Gore.

But Smith completed at least three passes to four different receivers, including tight end Delanie Walker's six receptions for 69 yards.

It was a day of defense. San Francisco had 77 total yards rushing to 93 for New York.

The first half featured seven possessions, five field goals and no punts.

Gore, the two-time Pro Bowler, already was nursing a tender right ankle that has bothered him on several occasions this season before hurting his knee Sunday and watching much of the second half in a red jacket on the sideline.

Gore has 7,196 yards rushing and needs 149 more to pass late Hall of Famer Joe Perry (7,344) for the most in franchise history.

Manning finished 26 for 40 for 311 yards and two TDs with two interceptions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_giants49ers

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Huntsman: Foreign aid cuts 'political sound bite'

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, speaks with his family after the debate at the Benjamin Johnson Arena, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 in Spartanburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, speaks with his family after the debate at the Benjamin Johnson Arena, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011 in Spartanburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman is promoting U.S. foreign aid as a sound investment, arguing that his opponents are opting for "sound-bite campaigning" when they advocate eliminating it.

Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," Huntsman said there are areas that are critical to Washington, adding, in his words, "if they're in America's interest, we get some return on that invested dollar." He adds, "To wish it all away, I think, is a political sound bite."

The former Utah governor and President Barack Obama's first ambassador to China also supports a continued U.S. relationship with Pakistan, linking continuing financial assistance to reform, stability in the country and expanded markets. Huntsman also said in the Sunday interview that Pakistan risks becoming a failed nation and the U.S. must maintain ties with Islamabad.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-13-Republicans-Huntsman/id-c9dba498661d47f3a9151d5f6dcee801

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