Ryan throws 3 TDs, Falcons hold off Vikings

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By PAUL NEWBERRY

updated 5:43 p.m. ET Nov. 27, 2011

ATLANTA - Mike Smith cracked a joke after the Falcons held on for another win that was probably closer than it should've been.

"We make it exciting enough for you?" the Atlanta coach said, managing a smile.

Then he took a swig of water and breathed a sigh of relief. His team held on in a game it absolutely couldn't afford to lose.

Matt Ryan tossed three touchdown passes and the Falcons came through with a goal-line stand after Percy Harvin's 104-yard kickoff return, preserving a 24-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Atlanta (7-4) had to beat the lowly Vikings to maintain its spot in a tight NFC playoff race. Minnesota (2-9) didn't appear much of a threat without star running back Adrian Peterson, who was sidelined by a sprained left ankle. To make matter worse for the visiting team, three more players went down to injuries in the first half.

The game started according to plan for the Falcons, who raced to a 17-0 lead by halftime. Ryan hooked up with Harry Douglas on a 27-yard touchdown and Roddy White on a 6-yarder. The Vikings had only two first downs and 38 yards until their final possession of the first half, when they padded their numbers a bit against the prevent defense. Even then, Minnesota went to the locker room with five first downs and 97 yards.

Instead of putting the Vikings away, the Falcons let them back in the game.

"We know we're a lot better than that," tight end Tony Gonzalez said. "Sooner or later we're going to hit our stride."

Toby Gerhart, filling in for Peterson, scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter. Then, after Dominique Franks inadvertently touched a punt the Falcons were trying to run away from, allowing the Vikings to recover, Christian Ponder went to Harvin for a 39-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-13 to make it 17-14.

Ryan responded with two long completions to White before hitting backup tight end Michael Palmer with a 3-yard touchdown that extended the lead with 6:40 remaining.

Still, the Vikings wouldn't go away.

Harvin took the ensuing kickoff 7 yards deep in the end zone, found a wall of blockers to the right and took off right in front of the Falcons bench. Christopher Owens made a diving tackle at the 3, and that might've saved the Falcons.

"That was the most pivotal play of the game," Smith said. "We were able to put our defense out there and live to play another play."

The Vikings got it to the 1 and decided to go for the touchdown on fourth down. But Sean Weatherspoon burst into the backfield and stuffed Gerhart right after he took the handoff, throwing him for a 2-yard loss. The Falcons ran out the clock.

"When the guy comes screaming off the edge like that, you have no chance," Gerhart said.

The game was a near repeat of Atlanta's performance the previous week against Tennessee, and doesn't bode well for this team ? considered a Super Bowl contender before the season ? making a long run in the playoffs even if they do get in.

The Falcons built a 20-point lead on the Titans but staggered to the finish, barely preserving a 23-17 win.

Now, another close call.

"At the end of the day, we had more points than they did," Smith said. "That's the most important stat."

Vikings rookie coach Leslie Frazier admitted it was mistake to go for a touchdown on fourth down, instead of kicking a chip-shot field goal that would've made it a one-score game.

"That's purely on me," he said. "I let my emotions get the best of me."

The Vikings looked a lot better over the final two quarters than they did in the first two, though they were still outgained 335-226 in total yards.

"The first half was ugly," Gerhart said. "There's no rhythm. We came back after halftime and wanted to get the ball back and wanted to get a little momentum. Unfortunately, they stopped that momentum at the end of the game."

Ryan completed 27 of 34 for 262 yards and had his best efficiency rating of the season. White, showing signs of turning around a disappointing season, had his second straight big game with 10 catches for 120 yards.

"It's kind of the nature of NFL. Teams execute at a high level and things are going exactly as planned. Then there are times where you don't execute as well as you would like," Ryan said. "The most important thing is how we responded to that and played in the fourth quarter. We did a great job when we needed to score."

Ponder was 17 of 25 for 186 yards but was sacked four times and had to scramble away from pressure several more times. Gerhart managed only 44 yards rushing, while Harvin had eight catches for 95 yards to go along with his big play on the kickoff, which was the longest non-scoring return in the NFL since at least 1991.

Since then, according to STATS LLC, Kevin Faulk in 1999 and Eddie Royal three seasons ago had the longest returns that failed to reach the end zone, each covering 95 yards.

NOTES: Falcons CB Brent Grimes (right knee) went out in the first half and didn't return. ... The Vikings lost S Tyrell Johnson (hamstring), CB Asher Allen (shoulder) and deep snapper Cullen Loeffler (back). DE Jared Allen took over the snapping duties from Loeffler. ... Harvin took advantage when the Falcons dropped linebacker Curtis Lofton into coverage on the fourth-and-13. He had no chance of keeping up with the speedy receiver. "We'll take that matchup every day," Ponder said.

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Sanchez's 4 TD passes boost Jets

Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, including the winning score to Santonio Holmes with just over a minute remaining, as the New York Jets kept pace in the AFC playoff race with a 28-24 comeback victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45454700/ns/sports-nfl/

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Newsmaker: Technocrat "oil man" takes charge of Libya lifeline (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Libya's new oil minister is seen as the right kind of technocrat, deeply experienced yet not too closely tied to the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi, to help restore the OPEC member's economic lifeline after eight months of war.

Abdulrahman Ben Yazza is in his mid-50s and brings experience from both Libya's oil industry and Italian firm Eni, the largest foreign oil producer in Libya before the war.

He worked at Libya's Waha Oil company and at the state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC), culminating in a seat on the management committee. He then headed a joint venture between NOC and Eni.

"He's an excellent oil man," NOC Chairman Nuri Berruien told Reuters. "He's a first-class professional ... The most important (thing) is that he's from the oil patch. It is very important, it is good to work with people who speak your tongue."

A source close to Ben Yazza said the married father of four from Tripoli had been living in Milan for the last few years and traveling frequently to Libya.

"Ben Yazza is an old guy, well known and well liked. He knows Eni very well but that doesn't mean he will be pro-Eni ... he will be pro-Libyan," one Libyan oil industry source said.

"He's more a technocrat politician. Remember this is a transitory government, a bit like the Monti government in Italy ...It doesn't represent the power equilibrium and none of the big shots are in it."

Of all the new appointments in Prime Minister Abdurrahim El Keib's government, set to lead the country to elections next year, analysts and industry sources said Ben Yazza is seen as the most technocratic and least colored by the country's regional politics.

"In meetings he would listen to everyone's opinion," a person who worked with him at the NOC said, describing Ben Yazza as "very respectable."

NEW FACES

Before the February revolt, Libya's oil policy was run by the NOC headed by Shokri Ghanem, who defected in June and is believed to be living in Europe.

Officials have since indicated there will be changes, with plans to split commercial arrangements from policy.

Ben Yazza himself is seen as somewhat independent despite his NOC history, as a man who reportedly clashed at one point with Ghanem and who carries no strong affiliation with the ousted regime.

He is "very competent with a strong personality," one diplomatic source said.

"There were other candidates in the sector who had good international pedigrees, but they were often very closely associated with Col. Gaddafi - or they amplified their connections with Gaddafi in order to increase their prestige," said Geoff Porter, a U.S. independent expert on Libya.

"In the new post-Gaddafi Libya, they are tainted and would have been rejected by the Libyan population and by the hydrocarbon sector workers in particular."

The new set of faces will have to sustain the revival of the industry, which is returning to the international market faster than expected.

Libya holds Africa's largest oil reserves and was pumping 1.6 million barrels per day before the revolt.

Questions remain about the future, with a potential shake-up that would give more power to the oil ministry and carve up the NOC's responsibilities.

Berruien said the oil ministry and NOC would "complement each other."

Ben Yazza's appointment could see a number of former Libyan state oil company executives return to the public sector, according to political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"Highly experienced and extremely well-connected, we expect Ben Yazza to announce the recruitment of a number of his former NOC colleagues and friends to the NOC and the ministry," it said.

"The implications for the sector are good. Separating the regulatory and oversight functions from operations will remove some conflicts of interest," it said.

"Ben Yazza (will have) the opportunity to root out some of the more entrenched examples of corruption."

Still, he could encounter opposition from some workers still wary of former NOC officials. Waha Oil workers just recently ended a strike after their demands for a new chairman were met.

"Lack of experienced personnel has long been a retarding factor in the Libyan oil and gas sector and Ben Yazza will see the return of senior officials currently with IOCs (independent oil companies) as important if the sector is to reach its full potential," Eurasia said.

(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun and Christian Lowe in Tripoli, Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Jessica Donati in London; editing by Jason Neely)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/wl_nm/us_libya_oil_minister

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Douglas Knight: What Does the Bible Say About Creation and Evolution?

For more than a century the creation vs. evolution debate has raged in numerous countries, nowhere more strongly than in the United States and the United Kingdom. Its sensationalist forms are fodder for the media: the Scopes "Monkey Trial" in 1925, the Arkansas trial of 1981, the "Intelligent Design" notion, the "Young Earthers" and the continuing controversy over what to teach in schools. Science friction.

While science and religion operate with different methods, criteria, aims and subject matter, neither has to dominate the other. Our new book, "The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us" (HarperOne, 2011), engages such contemporary issues directly by exposing the variety of ways in which the texts of the Bible address them, often from quite different perspectives. We are especially attentive not only to dissimilar positions taken within the Bible but to the kinds of questions they help us frame about both the past and the present.

Creation is an excellent example of why readers need to examine the varied expressions of a theme in the Bible. Creation was a favorite topic among ancient Israel's neighbors. For example, ancient Babylonia produced a myth about a colossal battle between the gods, at the end of which the world and humanity were created. The Egyptians viewed creation more as birthing or evolving. Biblical people were no less interested in understanding their own origins.

Readers encounter the first two accounts of creation at the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a and 2:4b-25. The former pictures God as a cosmic architect, calling everything into existence over a six-day period ending with the creation of humans, followed by a day of rest. The second story starts with the formation of humanity, followed by other living beings. Not only are the sequences and details different between the two, but the literary style shifts noticeably from highly structured, repetitious, and formal in the first to plot-driven, responsive, and intimate in the second. Most likely two different authors or traditions are behind these two stories.

In neither case do we find the notion of "creation out of nothing," an idea popularized by Saint Augustine. In Genesis 2 God uses the preexisting dry dust to form the first human. In the first account, an amorphous substance and primordial waters are the stuff out of which God creates all things: "the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep." Here is a mythic fragment from earlier cultures: the Hebrew word for "deep" is tehom, which lacks the definite article "the" and thus seems to be a proper noun, "Deep," reminiscent of the Babylonian primordial goddess Tiamat, who represents the great salty abyss around and under the earth. Modern translations water down the biblical myth when they refer to "the face of the deep."

There is much more about creation than only what Genesis 1 and 2 present. The larger context is Genesis 1-11, all of which deals with primal times, and its purpose is to account for the makeup and character of the world as it exists. While the first two chapters display the orderliness and goodness of created reality, Genesis 3-11 show how humans introduce disorder and discord.

Evil is, in effect, created by humans in the Garden of Eden. The text does not say that the snake is Satan but rather the craftiest of animals. Adam and Eve decide themselves to disobey God's command by eating a forbidden fruit (not necessarily an apple), a seemingly petty violation with enormous implications because it represents disobedience against God. Next, wrongdoing escalates radically as Cain kills his brother Abel. Soon the world is awash with evil, and God sends the flood to obliterate everything. But misconduct returns soon after the waters recede, and by the end of the Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11 the human community is fragmented.

The Bible contains other creation descriptions outside of Genesis 1-11, a point generally lost in today's creation vs. evolution debate. Psalm 104 waxes poetic in its descriptions of God's creative acts, and in doing so it parallels many parts of a much older, beautiful song from Egypt, "The Great Hymn to the Aten," written around the 14th century BCE. In Job 38-41 following the long argument between Job and his friends, God responds with picturesque images of creation. Several sections in Isaiah 40-55, stemming from an unknown prophet during the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BCE, reinterpret the creation account to show a new creation that God will produce to greet the Judeans as they return from exile to their homeland.

The Bible does not claim a unified, monolithic portrait of creation. Its descriptions vary from text to text, as do its literary styles. It expresses how the material and human world came into existence, but its real message is not those external details but its insights into the nature of divinity, humanity, and the world.

To answer the perennial question "Why?", the Bible tells a story and sings a song.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-knight/creation-and-evolution_b_1087392.html

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NBA owners, players reach tentative deal

San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, left, and NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver converse in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, left, and NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver converse in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt looks on in front of a midtown office building where NBA labor negotiations are taking place in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

NEW YORK (AP) ? NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout.

After a secret meeting earlier this week, the sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, working to try to save the season. This handshake deal, however, still must be ratified by both owners and players.

"We've reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we're optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin Dec. 25," Commissioner David Stern said.

The league plans a 66-game season and aims to open camps Dec. 9.

"We thought it was in both of our best interests to try to reach a resolution and save the game," union executive director Billy Hunter said.

The Christmas Day deadline created a sense of urgency because that schedule is traditionally a showcase for the league. This season's three-game slate was to include Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch, plus MVP Derrick Rose leading Chicago into Los Angeles to face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

A majority on each side is needed to approve the agreement. The NBA needs votes from 15 of 29 owners. (The league owns the New Orleans Hornets.) Stern said the labor committee plans to discuss the agreement later Saturday and expects them to endorse it and recommend to the full board.

The union needs a simple majority of its 430-plus members. That process is a bit more complicated after the players dissolved the union Nov. 14. Now, they must drop their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota and reform the union before voting on the deal.

Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the league and the players.

The settlement first was reported by CBSSports.com.

Participating in the talks for the league were Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the labor relations committee, and attorneys Rick Buchanan and Dan Rube. The players were represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Maurice Evans, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.

When last talks broke down, the sides were still divided over the division of revenues and certain changes sought by owners to curb spending by big-market teams that players felt would limit or restrict their options in free agency.

On Nov. 14, players rejected the owners' proposal, which included opening a 72-game schedule on Dec. 15, announcing instead they were disbanding the union, giving them a chance to win several billion dollars in triple damages in an antitrust lawsuit.

Two days later, players filed two separate antitrust lawsuits against the league in two different states. On Monday, a group of named plaintiffs including Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant filed an amended federal lawsuit against the league in Minnesota, hoping the courts there will be as favorable to them as they have been to NFL players in the past.

Now, players will dismiss that lawsuit and get back to the business of basketball.

The previous CBA expired at the end of the day June 30. Despite a series of meetings in June, there was never much hope of a deal before that deadline, with owners wanting significant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the old agreement, which was ratified in 2005.

Owners wanted to keep more of the league's nearly $4 billion in basketball revenues to themselves after guaranteeing 57 percent to the players under the old deal. And they sought a system where even the smallest-market clubs could compete, believing the current system would always favor the teams who could spend the most.

Initially, the salary cap emerged as the biggest obstacle. Owners first proposed a hard cap, but players fought hard to maintain the current system that allows teams to exceed the cap through the use of various exceptions.

The league was adamant the system needed some adjustment, because the old rules gave too many advantages to teams who could afford to keep adding to their payrolls. So the league's proposals targeted the highest-spending teams, seeking to eliminate the use of the midlevel exception by teams over the luxury tax and prevent them from participating in sign-and-trade deals.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-26-NBA%20Labor/id-8dad53ebd2f44fc7b374f97d2833ae1e

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Top Marine spends Thanksgiving in Afghanistan

FILE - In this July 29, 2011 file photo, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos speaks with reporters about the Marine Corps need for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. Amos, the U.S. Marines' top general, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

FILE - In this July 29, 2011 file photo, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos speaks with reporters about the Marine Corps need for the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. Amos, the U.S. Marines' top general, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

COMBAT OUTPOST HANSON, Afghanistan (AP) ? A turkey trot it was not.

The U.S. Marines' top general, James Amos, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago.

Traveling mostly in an MV-22 Osprey, the hybrid that flies like an airplane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, Amos began shortly after daylight and finished 14 hours later ? and, improbably, managed to confront just one turkey dinner.

At one point the 65-year-old Amos referred to his unusual daytrip as the "Bataan death march," a reference to the gruesome forced march of American POWs in the Philippines during World War II.

Amos shook hands with hundreds of Marines, all veterans of tough fighting in Helmand Province, which has been a focal point of the U.S.-led strategy to counter the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The Marines have vastly improved security in Helmand over the past year, but with President Barack Obama having ordered 33,000 U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by next September, the prospects for sustaining those gains are uncertain, and the subject of debate at home.

At each stop Amos struck similar themes in pep talks to his Marines: they are coming close to winning, and when the Marine Corps leaves Afghanistan it will shift its focus to the Pacific, where he said "a whole lot of opportunities" will await a Corps no longer bogged down by land wars in the greater Middle East. He also said Thanksgiving is a time for Marines to reflect on "the unique fraternal bond" among men and women at war.

Marine Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the top enlisted Marine, who accompanied Amos, said that for most troops Thanksgiving was just another day at war ? until they finished their work.

"Then they'll have a meal of a lifetime," he said.

The feast was finally set for Amos when he arrived after dark at Camp Dwyer, the southern-most stop on his trip. He helped heap plates with roast turkey, baked ham and prime rib ? with all the traditional fixings ? and then sat amongst the troops to finish it off.

Amos said "Happy Thanksgiving" at each Marine outpost, but the troops did not seem in a festive mood ? at least in the presence of their commandant. The business of war does not take a holiday. When he asked the Marines what was on their minds, they asked about the future of the Corps, the latest of Washington's stalled budget debate, the possibility of seeing some of their retirement benefits go away, and internal Marine issues.

Some conveyed a sense of confidence that Afghanistan would soon be behind them.

At Combat Outpost Hanson, one member of the 3rd battalion, 6th Marine Regiment asked, "Who do you want us to fight next, sir?" Amos said he did not know, but he reassured the Marine that there would be no shortage of security crises in the years ahead.

At Combat Outpost Alcatraz, in Sangin district where fierce fights against the Taliban have waned only recently, the top overall commander of the war, Marine Gen. John Allen, joined Amos for a pep talk to several dozen Marines.

Allen said Marines will "go home under the victory pennant," but he stressed that the struggle to degrade Taliban influence and build up Afghan security forces ? in Helmand and throughout Afghanistan ? is far from over.

"As big as this is, and as hard as it has been, we are going to be successful here," Allen said. "We're going to win this. We're going to liberate these people, we're going to set this country up to be a free country in one of the toughest regions in the world."

There are now about 97,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. All are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

Amos clearly relished the chance to see so many combat Marines, but his trip was no joy ride. His itinerary was a closely-held secret, and the aircraft on which he flew was heavily armed.

As a CH-53 helicopter lifted off from a barren field across a dirt highway in the northern Helmand village of Puzeh, with Amos and part of his entourage aboard, a bearded special operations Marine quipped, "Cross your fingers." And then, as the chopper rose above a billowing wall of powdery dust, the Marine added, only half jokingly, "Whew! Getting the commandant shot down at your (outpost) would not be a good thing."

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-24-Thanksgiving-Marines%20at%20War/id-523e7b07e39f400085f1c6939c875831

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Asia stocks slump on Europe debt crisis impasse

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday as the results of a meeting among leaders of Europe's biggest economies disappointed investors and Portugal's credit rating was lowered to junk.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,161.87 while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 percent at 1,779.93. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.8 percent to 17,790.54 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.4 percent at 3,989.

Investment sentiment continued to wane after a meeting Thursday in Strasbourg, France of the leaders of the three biggest euro economies: Italian Premier Mario Monti, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The three leaders pledged to push for changes to European Union treaties to bring the fiscal policies of countries using the euro common currency more in line with each other.

Many investors were hoping Merkel might drop her steadfast opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank or the creation of a eurobond that would pool the debts of all countries in the currency union. Some experts believe the ECB is the only institution capable of getting Europe past its debt crisis.

Piled onto the disappointment from the Strasbourg summit was a debt demotion for Portugal.

Fitch Ratings, citing Portugal's large fiscal imbalances, its high indebtedness across all sectors and an adverse macroeconomic outlook, reduced the country's credit rating to BB+. That means Portugal is considered non-investment grade by Fitch, making it even more difficult for the struggling country to return to the bond markets.

In the U.S., markets were closed for the Thanksgiving on Thursday. A crucial test comes on so-called Black Friday ? the day that kicks off the holiday shopping season.

How well retailers do during the biggest shopping season of the year will have consequences for the still-fragile U.S. economic recovery.

The spending of consumers, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, can impact stores' expansion plans and inventory decisions into the new year. That trickles through the rest of the economy, from suppliers to jobs.

The November-December period accounts for 25-40 percent of annual sales. About a quarter of jobs in the U.S. are directly or indirectly supported by the retail industry.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-11-24-World-Markets/id-f43c13a13d504347a065b7e8771e7995

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Earth's core deprived of oxygen

Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yingwei Fei
yfei@gl.ciw.edu
202-478-8936
Carnegie Institution

Washington, D.C. The composition of the Earth's core remains a mystery. Scientists know that the liquid outer core consists mainly of iron, but it is believed that small amounts of some other elements are present as well. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the planet, so it is not unreasonable to expect oxygen might be one of the dominant "light elements" in the core. However, new research from a team including Carnegie's Yingwei Fei shows that oxygen does not have a major presence in the outer core. This has major implications for our understanding of the period when the Earth formed through the accretion of dust and clumps of matter. Their work is published Nov. 24 in Nature.

According to current models, in addition to large amounts of iron, the Earth's liquid outer core contains small amounts of so-called light elements, possibly sulfur, oxygen, silicon, carbon, or hydrogen. In this research, Fei, from Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory, worked with Chinese colleagues, including lead author Haijun Huang from China's Wuhan University of Technology, now a visiting scientist at Carnegie. The team provides new experimental data that narrow down the identity of the light elements present in Earth's outer core.

With increasing depth inside the Earth, the pressure and heat also increase. As a result, materials act differently than they do on the surface. At Earth's center are a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The light elements are thought to play an important role in driving the convection of the liquid outer core, which generates the Earth's magnetic field.

Scientists know the variations in density and speed of sound as a function of depth in the core from seismic observations, but to date it has been difficult to measure these properties in proposed iron alloys at core pressures and temperatures in the laboratory.

"We can't sample the core directly, so we have to learn about it through improved laboratory experiments combined with modeling and seismic data," Fei said.

High-speed impacts can generate shock waves that raise the temperature and pressure of materials simultaneously, leading to melting of materials at pressures corresponding to those in the outer core. The team carried out shock-wave experiments on core materials, mixtures of iron, sulfur, and oxygen. They shocked these materials to the liquid state and measured their density and speed of sound traveling through them under conditions directly comparable to those of the liquid outer core.

By comparing their data with observations, they conclude that oxygen cannot be a major light element component of the Earth's outer core, because experiments on oxygen-rich materials do not align with geophysical observations. This supports recent models of core differentiation in early Earth under more 'reduced' (less oxidized) environments, leading to a core that is poor in oxygen.

"The research revealed a powerful way to decipher the identity of the light elements in the core. Further research should focus on the potential presence of elements such as silicon in the outer core," Fei said.

###

Portions of this work were supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the National Basic Research of China, as well as the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 23-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yingwei Fei
yfei@gl.ciw.edu
202-478-8936
Carnegie Institution

Washington, D.C. The composition of the Earth's core remains a mystery. Scientists know that the liquid outer core consists mainly of iron, but it is believed that small amounts of some other elements are present as well. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the planet, so it is not unreasonable to expect oxygen might be one of the dominant "light elements" in the core. However, new research from a team including Carnegie's Yingwei Fei shows that oxygen does not have a major presence in the outer core. This has major implications for our understanding of the period when the Earth formed through the accretion of dust and clumps of matter. Their work is published Nov. 24 in Nature.

According to current models, in addition to large amounts of iron, the Earth's liquid outer core contains small amounts of so-called light elements, possibly sulfur, oxygen, silicon, carbon, or hydrogen. In this research, Fei, from Carnegie's Geophysical Laboratory, worked with Chinese colleagues, including lead author Haijun Huang from China's Wuhan University of Technology, now a visiting scientist at Carnegie. The team provides new experimental data that narrow down the identity of the light elements present in Earth's outer core.

With increasing depth inside the Earth, the pressure and heat also increase. As a result, materials act differently than they do on the surface. At Earth's center are a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The light elements are thought to play an important role in driving the convection of the liquid outer core, which generates the Earth's magnetic field.

Scientists know the variations in density and speed of sound as a function of depth in the core from seismic observations, but to date it has been difficult to measure these properties in proposed iron alloys at core pressures and temperatures in the laboratory.

"We can't sample the core directly, so we have to learn about it through improved laboratory experiments combined with modeling and seismic data," Fei said.

High-speed impacts can generate shock waves that raise the temperature and pressure of materials simultaneously, leading to melting of materials at pressures corresponding to those in the outer core. The team carried out shock-wave experiments on core materials, mixtures of iron, sulfur, and oxygen. They shocked these materials to the liquid state and measured their density and speed of sound traveling through them under conditions directly comparable to those of the liquid outer core.

By comparing their data with observations, they conclude that oxygen cannot be a major light element component of the Earth's outer core, because experiments on oxygen-rich materials do not align with geophysical observations. This supports recent models of core differentiation in early Earth under more 'reduced' (less oxidized) environments, leading to a core that is poor in oxygen.

"The research revealed a powerful way to decipher the identity of the light elements in the core. Further research should focus on the potential presence of elements such as silicon in the outer core," Fei said.

###

Portions of this work were supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the National Basic Research of China, as well as the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Institution for Science.

The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegiescience.edu) is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/ci-ecd112111.php

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Playing music alters the processing of multiple sensory stimuli in the brain

ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2011) ? Piano practicing fine tunes the brain circuitries that temporally bind signals from our senses.

Over the years pianists develop a particularly acute sense of the temporal correlation between the movements of the piano keys and the sound of the notes played. However, they are no better than non-musicians at assessing the synchronicity of lip movements and speech. This was discovered by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in a comparative study on the simultaneous brain processing of stimuli from different senses by musicians and non-musicians. The researchers also used functional magnetic resonance imaging in their study to map the areas of the brain active during this process. According to their findings, in pianists, the perception of asynchronous music and hand movements triggers increased error signals in a circuit involving the cerebellum, premotor and associative areas of the brain, which is refined by piano practicing. The study shows that our sensorimotor experience influences the way in which the brain temporally links signals from different senses during perception.

In a world full of stimuli which affect all senses, the human brain constantly has to link the impressions we perceive in a way that makes sense. We learn through experience, for example, that the synchronous events that arise in a busy bar setting, such as the lip movements of a particular person and the sound of a certain voice, belong together. HweeLing Lee and research group leader Uta Noppeney from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in T?bingen study how the brain integrates stimuli from several senses and how the circuits in the brain change as a result of learning. In their latest study, they examined how well 18 amateur pianists were able to perceive the temporal coincidence between finger movements on the piano keys and a piece of piano music and between lip movements and spoken sentences as compared with 19 non-musicians. "For this study, we availed of the fact that the pianists specifically train in an activity, in which several sensory stimuli, that is visual and auditory information, movement and the striking of the piano keys, have to be connected," explains Uta Noppeney.

During the experiment, the finger or mouth movements were advanced or delayed in relation to the sounds heard at intervals of up to 360 milliseconds. The study participants were requested to specify when asked whether the events were synchronous or asynchronous. Using the same film and sound material and the same participants, the experiments were then repeated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this case, the subjects remained passive and the machine recorded the areas of the brain that became active during the automatic perception of the synchronous and asynchronous signals.

The experiments revealed that the pianists were significantly more accurate than the non-musicians in assessing whether the finger movements on the piano and the sounds heard coincided temporally or not. "The window for the temporal integration of the stimuli in the pianists is clearly narrower than in non-musicians," says HweeLing Lee. However, the same differences were not observed in the experiments involving spoken sentences and lip movements -- both groups recorded similar performances here. In principle, asynchronicity in language and music activates the same areas in the brain. However, the fMRI scans showed that, in the experiment with the pianists, asynchronous music triggered a stronger signal in a circuit involving the left cerebellum, a premotor and associative region in the cerebral cortex than in the non-musicians.

"The processing of stimuli in the brains of the pianists points to a context-specific mechanism: as a result of their piano practice, a forward model involving the cerebellum and premotor cerebral cortex is programmed in the circuit which enables the individual to make far more precise predictions about the correct temporal sequence of the visual and auditory signals," explains Uta Noppeney. "An asynchronous stimulus triggers prediction error signal." The researchers see this as an important indication of how the brain can generally react in a flexible way to sensorimotor experience. Whether pianists would perform equally well in the assessment of violin music and whether more intensive music playing would influence language processing in the brain remain open questions. "For the next stage in the study of the processing of multiple sensory stimuli in the brain, we will have to train the participants in a specific way so that we can investigate the effects in greater detail," says Uta Noppeney.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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Journal Reference:

1. HweeLing Lee and Uta Noppeney. Long-term music training tunes how the brain temporally binds signals from multiple senses. PNAS, 2011 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1115267108

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/B0wbh8GzhM4/111124150241.htm

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Jet Airways needs to raise funds: auditors (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? The auditors of India's biggest carrier Jet Airways have warned the company required to raise funds or generate cash flows in the future to meets its obligations, including financial support to its subsidiary JetLite.

Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Chaturvedi & Shah said in a report dated Nov. 11 that raising money is crucial if Jet's accounts have to be prepared on a "going concern basis" in the future, the company the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier this month, Jet swung to a net loss, compared with a profit a year ago, hurt by rising fuel prices and a forex loss in the quarter.

In September, auditors of smaller rival Kingfisher Airlines had warned that the airline needed to infuse funds to continue as a "going concern".

India's airline sector is struggling under rising fuel costs and a heavy debt burden, making it tough for them to raise funds and forcing cancellation of aircraft orders.

(Reporting by Swati Pandey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111122/india_nm/india606555

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HBT: Players must hide their smokeless tobacco

There are so many details of the new collective bargaining agreement spinning out this afternoon in various reports and tweets that it?s probably useful to have a link to a full outline of the new deal. ?Here is that outline, courtesy of MLB.com.

One of the interesting items: a nod to the recent push, signed on by U.S. Senators and public health officials, to have baseball ban smokeless tobacco use among players. ?But it was just a nod. It won?t be banned entirely, but baseball is wanting to get it out of sight as much as it can without actually taking it out of players? mouths:

Players, managers, and coaches will be prohibited from using smokeless tobacco during televised interviews and Club appearances. In addition, at any time when fans are permitted in the ballpark, players, managers and coaches must conceal tobacco products (including packages and tins), and may not carry tobacco products in their uniforms or on their bodies. Individuals who violate the policy will be subject to discipline. The parties also agreed upon an extensive program of education and public outreach regarding the dangers of smokeless tobacco.

So you can still dip, just don?t have the can in your back pocket. ?Which is basically the exact opposite of the rule from my high school in West Virginia. ?They didn?t enforce it that much though. ?I?ll be curious to see how much MLB enforces this new rule.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/22/the-new-cba-requires-players-to-hide-their-smokeless-tobacco/related

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Research group proposes first system for assessing the odds of life on other worlds

Research group proposes first system for assessing the odds of life on other worlds

Monday, November 21, 2011

Within the next few years, the number of planets discovered in orbits around distant stars will likely reach several thousand or more. But even as our list of these newly discovered "exoplanets" grows ever-longer, the search for life beyond our solar system will likely focus much more narrowly on the relatively few of these new worlds which exhibit the most Earth-like of conditions.

For much of the scientific community, the search for alien life has long been dominated by the notion that our own planet serves as the best model of conditions best suited to the emergence of life on other worlds. And while there's an undeniable logic to seeking life in the same sort of conditions in which you already know it to be successful, there are scientists like Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist with the Washington State University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Abel Mendez, a modeling expert from the University of Puerto Rico, who also see such a model as the product of a potentially limiting form of earthling-biased thinking.

To Schulze-Makuch and his nine fellow authors ? an international working group representing, NASA, SETI, the German Aerospace Center, and four universities ? the search for life on other worlds is really driven by two questions.

"The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbor life," Schulze-Makuch said. "The second question is whether conditions exist on exoplanets that suggest the possibility of other forms of life, whether known to us or not."

In a paper to be published in the December issue of the journal Astrobiology, Schulze-Makuch and his co-authors propose a new system for classifying exoplanets using two different indices ? an Earth Similarity Index (ESI) for categorizing a planet's more earth-like features and a Planetary Habitability Index (PHI) for describing a variety of chemical and physical parameters that are theoretically conducive to life in more extreme, less-earthlike conditions.

Similarity indices provide a powerful tool for categorizing and extracting patterns from large and complex data sets. They are relatively quick and easy to calculate and provide a simple quantitative measure of departure from a reference state, usually on a scale from zero to one. They are used in mathematics, computer imaging, chemistry and many other fields.

The two indices proposed by the group mark the first attempt by scientists to categorize the many exoplanets and exomoons that are expected to be discovered in the near future in accordance with their potential to harbor some form of life.

"As a practical matter, interest in exoplanets is going to focus initially on the search for terrestrial, Earth-like planets," said Schulze-Makuch. "With that in mind, we propose an Earth Similarity Index which provides a quick screening tool with which to detect exoplanets most similar to Earth."

But the authors believe that focusing exclusively on earth-based assumptions about habitability may well be too restrictive an approach for capturing the potential variety of life forms that, at least in principle, may also exist on other worlds.

"Habitability in a wider sense is not necessarily restricted to water as a solvent or to a planet circling a star," the paper's authors write. "For example, the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan could host a different form of life. Analog studies in hydrocarbon environments on Earth, in fact, clearly indicate that these environments are habitable in principle. Orphan planets wandering free of any central star could likewise conceivably feature conditions suitable for some form of life."

The paper's authors concede that attempting to rate the probability that life of some unknown form could exist on any given world is an intrinsically more speculative endeavor. But the alternative, they argue, is to risk overlooking potentially habitable worlds by using overly restrictive assumptions.

"Our proposed PHI is informed by chemical and physical parameters that are conducive to life in general," they write. "It relies on factors that, in principle, could be detected at the distance of exoplanets from Earth, given currently planned future (space) instrumentation."

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Washington State University: http://www.wsu.edu

Thanks to Washington State University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115358/Research_group_proposes_first_system_for_assessing_the_odds_of_life_on_other_worlds

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Amid upheaval, No. 20 PSU 1 win from title game

Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley answers questions during his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

Penn State interim head coach Tom Bradley answers questions during his weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

Penn State guard Johnnie Troutman, bottom, celebrates with fans after defeating Ohio State 20-14 in an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

Penn State line backer Nate Stupar answers questions during a weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

Penn State wide receiver Derek Moye answers questions during a weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

Penn State safety Drew Astorino answers questions during a weekly NCAA college football news conference on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Penn State receiver Derek Moye is trying to ignore questions from outsiders. Safety Drew Astorino has leaned on his family for support.

Yet for all the anger, tears and upheaval in Happy Valley following child sex abuse charges more than two weeks ago against retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the 20th-ranked Nittany Lions find themselves in a remarkable position entering Saturday's regular-season finale at No. 15 Wisconsin.

One win secures Penn State (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) the Leaders Division title and a berth in the inaugural conference championship game.

"I was in the equipment room the other day and some of the players were asking the equipment managers how they were doing," interim coach Tom Bradley said Tuesday at Beaver Stadium. The players "are more concerned with how we're doing. They're a resilient group. They've stuck together. They've unified from this."

Sticking with a team-first message, the Nittany Lions have vowed to try to block out the distractions and media frenzy that has enveloped Penn State since Sandusky was charged Nov. 5.

Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno was fired four days later by school trustees ? he had announced his retirement hours earlier and bid farewell to his team in an emotional meeting ? and Bradley was picked to replace him. Paterno faced pressure from the state's top cop and university trustees for not having done more about a 2002 abuse allegation allegedly witnessed by a graduate assistant in the team showers than pass on the report to his superior.

The graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, is now the receivers coach but on administrative leave. Paterno has said specific details alleged to have occurred in a grand jury report about the Sandusky investigation were not relayed to him. Prosecutors have said Paterno isn't a target of a state investigation.

In the aftermath of Sandusky's arrest, the trustees, federal Department of Education and the NCAA have all said they are launching their own investigations.

Another shocker came last Friday, when Paterno's son, quarterback coach Jay Paterno, told Bradley on the team plane on the way to Ohio State that the 84-year-old Paterno had been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer. Bradley said he hasn't spoken to his former boss since the diagnosis.

"He wants us focusing on going to school and going to class," right tackle Chima Okoli said. "He doesn't want anyone going back to him. He doesn't want any sympathy."

Astorino's family, including uncles and cousins, has helped guide him through this stormy period. He and the other current players have been caught by a scandal involving accusations that have nothing to do with them. Sandusky retired in 1999.

"I know my parents have been there, especially the last couple weeks," said Astorino, a senior. "I've had more support than I've ever had."

Nearly everyone Moye has encountered on campus wants to talk about the situation. He tunes out their questions.

"As far as being on the players' minds, it's not a big deal for us going out there," Moye said. "We have goals that we set at the beginning of the year."

One of those goals was winning the Big Ten championship. Back in the preseason, long before the program descended into turmoil, that idea seemed a little far-fetched.

Not with newcomer Nebraska and solid Michigan State ready to pounce in the Legends Division.

And certainly not with powerhouse Wisconsin seemingly on course to steamroll its way to the Leaders Division crown.

But the Badgers stumbled at midseason to Michigan State and Ohio State in back-to-back road games. Penn State, led by star tackle Devon Still and its stingy defense, has won a slew of close games to move into position to spoil Wisconsin's dream.

The Nittany Lions lost the school's first game without Paterno as head coach in nearly a half-century, a 17-14 defeat Nov. 12 to Nebraska, before beating the Buckeyes 20-14 last week to set up Saturday's showdown at Camp Randall Stadium.

Bradley said he's kept an open-door policy and tried to be as transparent as possible with players. A team captain, Still said the players, in turn, are trying to address any issues on their own as much as possible to help the popular Bradley through the crisis, too.

"He reminds us every day this is our team," said Still, named a finalist this week for postseason awards for the nation's top defensive player and interior lineman. "We're just trying to handle as much as we can, so he has a lighter load."

Still and his teammates see the practice field as a haven, a place where there's no choice but to focus on football and get ready for a game. There will be time, though, this week, for some lighter moments with Thanksgiving approaching and most other students away on break.

The Nittany Lions plan to watch the action flick, "The Immortals," together Wednesday night before a traditional holiday turkey dinner on Thursday.

___

Follow Genaro C. Armas on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GArmasAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-11-22-FBC-T25-Penn-St-Weathering-the-Storm/id-9fbd7a6fae4a4dcc9d795f7df6999c56

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Bears QB Cutler to have surgery on broken thumb

In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 photo, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) , right, falls to the ground slowing San Diego Chargers cornerback Antoine Cason, rear, after Cason intercepted a Cutler pass in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Chicago. Also chasing on the play is Matt Forte, left. Bears coach Lovie Smith says Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his right throwing hand during their 31-20 win against the Chargers. He says it happened when Cutler helped tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 photo, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) , right, falls to the ground slowing San Diego Chargers cornerback Antoine Cason, rear, after Cason intercepted a Cutler pass in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Chicago. Also chasing on the play is Matt Forte, left. Bears coach Lovie Smith says Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his right throwing hand during their 31-20 win against the Chargers. He says it happened when Cutler helped tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 photo, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, right, falls to the ground slowing San Diego Chargers cornerback Antoine Cason after Cason intercepted a Cutler pass in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Chicago. Also chasing on the play is Matt Forte (22). Bears coach Lovie Smith says Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his right throwing hand during their 31-20 win against the Chargers. He says it happened when Cutler helped tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

FILE - In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 file photo, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, left, shakes hands with San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers after an NFL football game in Chicago. Bears coach Lovie Smith says Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his right throwing hand during their 31-20 win against the Chargers. He says it happened when Cutler helped tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)

In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011 photo, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, left, shakes hands with San Diego Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers after an NFL football game in Chicago. Bears coach Lovie Smith says Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his right throwing hand during their 31-20 win against the Chargers. He says it happened when Cutler helped tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler warms up before an NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers in Chicago, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) ? Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has a broken thumb on his right throwing hand and will undergo surgery, a major blow for a team contending for a playoff spot in the NFC.

Coach Lovie Smith said Cutler will be out "for an extended time" but expects to get him back this season. He would not say when the surgery would take place, just "hopefully fairly quick" and provided few details about the specific nature of the injury.

He did make one thing clear, though.

"Is it a season-ending injury? No," Smith said Monday. "From what I've been told right now, we can expect him back at the end of the regular season."

The regular-season finale is Jan. 1 at Minnesota.

With Cutler out, the Bears will turn to backup Caleb Hanie against Oakland this weekend. They'll also look to bring in a veteran quarterback.

Hanie has thrown just 14 regular-season passes in four years. He made some plays in the NFC championship game against Green Bay last season after Cutler was injured and Todd Collins struggled, helping keep the Bears in it, but Chicago ultimately lost to the Packers.

Cutler was injured trying to help tackle Antoine Cason on an interception return in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 31-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers, and Smith was unaware of the extent of the injury until after the game.

Cutler stayed in and finished with 286 yards passing. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another while leading the Bears (7-3) to their fifth straight win, but his injury is a big blow for a team that made a big leap into contention in the NFC.

"It's devastating," linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "It's horrible, and I felt worse for him than I did for us. It stinks for us because he's having such a great year. He's our leader. He's the guy we turn to for pretty much everything."

The Bears also lost long snapper Patrick Mannelly to a season-ending torn anterior-cruciate ligament in his knee, but the big news, obviously, was Cutler's injury.

"We're going to miss a great player for a period of time," Smith said.

With an 11-point lead and the ball on the San Diego 30, Cutler was trying to hit Johnny Knox, but the receiver slipped. Cason picked the ball off at the 20 and returned it 64 yards before being pushed out of bounds by Matt Forte at the Bears 16.

Cutler helped prevent a touchdown on the return, but paid a heavy price. He raced over and he got knocked to the ground by linebacker Donald Butler as he pushed Cason with his right hand, which smacked the turf as he fell.

Major Wright intercepted Philip Rivers in the end zone three plays later, and the Bears ran 71/2 minutes off the clock on the next possession, with Cutler completing two passes on the drive, to Matt Spaeth and Forte.

"That's a huge play in the game," Urlacher said. "Probably a 10-point swing right there, with him making that play. I wish he wouldn't have made it, I'll tell you that much. I'd take it back right now, let the guy score, because we still got the lead. It was 31-27 if he scores. It was a great play by him to keep him out of the end zone and the effort he made on the play, but like I said, we'd trade it for a touchdown right now."

This isn't completely new territory for the Bears.

Rex Grossman missed most of the year in 2005 after breaking an ankle in the preseason, forcing Chicago to go with rookie Kyle Orton, a fourth-round draft pick out of Purdue. The Bears ran a simplified offense and went 10-5 with him as their starter thanks to a dominant defense and a solid running game.

They won the NFC North at 11-5 and ultimately fell to Carolina in the playoffs.

Losing Cutler is different, though. He has been throwing well and his line has kept him upright during their five-game winning streak.

One bright spot for the Bears: They are in a relatively weak part of the schedule.

Winning at Oakland won't be easy. They still have to visit Green Bay on Dec. 25, but the other games are at home against Kansas City on Dec. 4, at Denver the following week and the finale against the Vikings on Jan. 1.

"It's kind of one of those things that's tough to deal with, when you lose a guy like Jay who's been playing really well, and a leader on the team," linebacker Nick Roach said. "But it's kind of one of those things that happen in football every week. Somebody loses a big part of their team, and that's why you have other guys on the roster who can play."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-11-21-FBN-Bears-Cutler/id-c03d20c3be17454eb66e213082a232ec

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Tunisia's newly elected assembly gets to work

The head of the Tunisian Islamist movement Rachid Ghannouchi, right, arrives at the former National Assembly near Tunis Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 where Tunisia's newly elected assembly is holding its first meeting, tasked with shaping a constitution and a democratic future for the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. The moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, has the most seats in the Constituent Assembly. Its members were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote. (AP Photo / Amine Landoulsi)

The head of the Tunisian Islamist movement Rachid Ghannouchi, right, arrives at the former National Assembly near Tunis Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 where Tunisia's newly elected assembly is holding its first meeting, tasked with shaping a constitution and a democratic future for the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. The moderate Islamist party, Ennahda, has the most seats in the Constituent Assembly. Its members were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote. (AP Photo / Amine Landoulsi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, inside the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

A soldier stands guard Monday Nov. 21, 2011, outside the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, at the former National Assembly building and where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

Workers prepare the assembly room Monday Nov. 21, 2011, at the former National Assembly building where Tunisia's new Constituent Assembly, elected in the first elections of the Arab Spring, will convene for its first meeting Tuesday. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? Tunisia's newly elected assembly held its inaugural meeting Tuesday, ready to start shaping the constitution and the democratic future of the country that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

A moderate Islamist party, Ennahda (Renaissance), won the most seats in the Constituent Assembly, and it has announced a coalition with a liberal and left-of-center party to make up the interim government. The coalition holds a comfortable majority of 139 seats in the 217-member body.

Lawmakers were elected last month in Tunisia's first free vote ? the first resulting from the Arab Spring protests.

Tunisian protesters drove out their longtime president in January, setting off revolts in other Arab countries. Tunisia's new assembly is being watched as an example amid violence in Egypt ahead of its elections and escalating tensions in Syria.

Tunisia has been spared the violent clashes of its North African and Arab neighbors, but there has been some continued unrest. Outside the assembly building in a suburb of Tunis, 1,000 people demonstrated Tuesday from dozens of different associations, many representing women calling for their rights to be guaranteed in the new constitution.

Under dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia had some of the most progressive laws for women in the Arab world, something its secular elite fear might be lost under an Islamist party.

Ennahda, as well as its coalition members, has promised to maintain women's rights.

Newly elected Ennahda candidate Souad Abderrahim, an outspoken professional who does not were the traditional Islamic headscarf, was heckled Tuesday by demonstrators demanding that she resign.

Abderrahim raised a firestorm of criticism earlier by calling single mothers a "disgrace," she later retracted her comments and described them as victims.

Also protesting were relatives of those killed and wounded in the monthlong uprising that began in December, calling for justice against the security forces.

"We will seek to ensure that the national constituent assembly will complete its tasks, write a new constitution for the country and call for new elections within a period that should not exceed one year," said the statement signed late Monday by the new coalition.

The coalition will present the assembly its candidate for interim president, veteran rights activist Moncef Marzouki who heads the liberal Congress for the Republic Party.

He will then appoint a prime minister, Ennahda's number 2, Hammadi Jebali, and Mustapha Ben Jaafar of the Ettakatol Party as the leader of assembly.

The North African country of 10 million has been essentially a one-party state since it won its independence from France in 1956, yet it was able to organize a successful election accepted by all participants in just four months.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-22-ML-Tunisia-New-Assembly/id-e4252fec37f04f0eb0fe364003528e0d

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