Will Ferrell tapped by Mardi Gras parade krewe (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? Comedian Will Ferrell has been named the god of wine for next year's Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

The Bacchus krewe of the popular Carnival season parade announced the choice Thursday.

Ferrell rose to fame on "Saturday Night Live" and has had a string of movie hits including "Talladega Nights," "Old School," and "Anchorman."

Ferrell is currently in New Orleans shooting the movie "Dog Fight." He joins a list of recent Bacchus monarchs that includes Andy Garcia, Val Kilmer, James Gandolfini, Michael Keaton and Nicolas Cage.

Other comedians who have reigned as the god of wine over the years include Bob Hope, Phil Harris, Billy Crystal, Jim Belushi, Drew Carey and Dom DeLuise.

Next year's parade will roll on Feb. 19.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_en_mo/us_people_will_ferrell

take care drake cain accuser aesop rock take care track list michael jackson trial carlos the jackal namibia

Lowe's pulling ads from Muslim show sparks protest (AP)

ALLEN PARK, Mich. ? Protesters descended on a Lowe's store in one of the country's largest Arab-American communities on Saturday, calling for a boycott after the home improvement chain pulled its ads from a reality television show about five Muslim families living in Michigan.

About 100 people gathered outside the store in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb adjacent to the city where "All-American Muslim" is filmed. Lowe's said this week that the TLC show had become a "lightning rod" for complaints, following an email campaign by a conservative Christian group.

Protesters including Christian clergy and lawmakers called for unity and held signs that read "Boycott Bigotry" and chanted "God Bless America, shame on Lowe's" during the rally, which was organized by a coalition of Christian, Muslim and civil rights groups.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat and the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan Legislature, said it was "disgusting" for Lowe's to stop supporting a show that reflects America ? the conservatives, liberals and even "the Kim Kardashians" in the Muslim community, she said.

"We're asking the company to change their mind," said protester Ray Holman, a legislative liaison for a United Auto Workers local. He said he was dismayed that the retailer "pulled sponsorship of a positive program."

A local rabbi extended his support to clergy at the protest and local Arab Americans, saying he and other Jews would have been at the protest had it not fallen during the Jewish Sabbath.

"I hope that they would likewise stand up and demonstrate should something outrageous like this take place against another religion," Rabbi Jason Miller said in a statement.

Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said Saturday that the company respected the protestors' opinion.

"We appreciate and respect everyone's right to express their opinion peacefully," she said.

The show premiered last month and chronicles the lives of families living in and around Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit at the heart of one of the largest Arab-American populations outside the Middle East.

Dearborn is home to the Islamic Center of America, one of the largest mosques in North America. Overall, the Detroit area has about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities and is served by about 40 mosques.

It airs Sundays and ends its first season Jan. 8.

The Florida Family Association has said more than 60 companies it emailed, from Amazon to McDonalds, pulled their ads from the show, but Lowe's is the only major company so far to confirm that it had done so. The group accused the show of being "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

The travel planning site Kayak.com also pulled its ads, though its marketing chief said the decision was made because the company was dissatisfied by the show's quality and TLC wasn't upfront with advertisers about how the show would be presented.

Saturday's rally was met by about 20 counter-protesters including John White, who lives in nearby Livonia and called those protesting against Lowe's "terribly misdirected." He acknowledged that he hadn't watched the show, saying he'd seen previews and read about it, but believed the company made a decision based on business, not bigotry.

"Americans are not suspicious ... of baseball-playing, apple-pie eating Muslims," he said. "It's the ones you see on the news."

The manager of the Lowe's store, Doug Casey, said the company wasn't influenced by any outside group or ideology. He said those who criticized Lowe's have a right to their opinion, but that "it's not the opinion of most of the customers I spoke to in the store today."

"I'm deeply sorry if it's caused any divide in our community," he said. "It was never our intention to offend or alienate anyone."

The hubbub didn't keep people from shopping at the store. Keith Rissman, who was buying finishing boards for windows he's installing in his mother's garage, said he supported the company.

"It's a decision they're allowed to make," the 57-year-old said. "If (people) don't want to shop here, they don't have to."

Karen Lundquist, 65, came to the store with her son even though she didn't support Lowe's decision. "It just seems like they yielded to a Christian hate group," she said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_en_tv/us_muslim_tv_show_protest

courtney stodden drake take care herman cain accuser herman cain accuser election day kawasaki disease joe frazier

Typhoon kills over 400 in southern Philippines (Reuters)

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) ? More than 400 people have been killed and hundreds more were missing after a typhoon hit the southern Philippines, National Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said on Saturday.

She said in a text message to Reuters that the death toll of 426 was expected to rise due to flash floods and landslides that forced tens of thousands to flee from their homes.

Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said the death toll was caused by flash floods in Mindanao and another island. Soldiers and police were recovering more bodies washed ashore in nearby towns.

"The death toll might still rise because there are still a lot of missing people," said Pang, adding that the hardest-hit areas were in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

Almost 400 people were unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.

Five miners were killed in a landslide in Monkayo on Mindanao and another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.

The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

"WE RAN FOR OUR LIVES"

Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said search and rescue operations would continue along the shorelines in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces.

"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon said.

"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.

Television pictures showed bodies covered in mud, cars piled on top of each other and wrecked homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.

"We ran for our lives when we heard a loud whistle blow and was followed by a big bang," Michael Mabaylan, a 38-year-old carpenter, told Reuters. He said his wife and five children were all safe.

Aid worker Crislyn Felisilda said World Vision was concerned about children who became separated from their families or lost their parents.

"Many children are looking for their loved ones," she said, adding children were "crying and staring into space."

Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, told reporters.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one meter (three feet) high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs.

"Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes," he said. "This is the worst flooding our city had experienced in years."

The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.

Six domestic flights run by Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction.

(Writing by Manny Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_philippines_weather

charlie and the chocolate factory ou football ryan torain ryan torain world series game 3 sign language alphabet texas tech

Hurd cut by Bears,?released on $100K bond

By ANDREW SELIGMAN, DON BABWIN

updated 6:21 p.m. ET Dec. 16, 2011

CHICAGO - The attorney for Sam Hurd said Friday that his client had never sold drugs to other NFL players, hoping to put any rumors to rest as the wide receiver without a team prepares to fight federal drug charges that could put him in jail for 40 years.

Less than an hour after Hurd was cut by the Chicago Bears, defense attorney Brett Greenfield told reporters that his client planned to fight the charges and wanted one thing made clear.

"Sam has asked me to address one point, with respect to the rumors that Sam has been supplying drugs to other members of the NFL, out of respect to the NFL, out of respect to teammates and out of respect to other players, he 100 percent denies that allegation," Greenfield said. "It is patently and totally false. It just didn't happen."

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said the NFL was closely monitoring the situation. Asked about a report that authorities have a list of NFL players with ties to the drug case, McCarthy said: "We are not aware of such a list."

U.S. Magistrate Young Kim ordered Hurd to surrender his passport and any firearms. Hurd is expected to be tried in Texas, where the criminal complaint was filed this week by the U.S. attorney.

Hurd, who appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit with his feet shackled, waived his right to a preliminary hearing, meaning the next step is for prosecutors to take their case before a grand jury. Several members of Hurd's family, including his wife, mother and brother, attended the hearing but he didn't appear to look at them, even as he was led out of the room. He was later released after posting $100,000 bond.

Hurd was arrested Wednesday night outside a Chicago steakhouse, according to the complaint. He allegedly told an undercover agent he was interested in buying five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week to distribute in the Chicago area.

Hurd told the agent a "co-conspirator is in charge of doing the majority of the deals" while he focused on "higher-end deals," the complaint said. He agreed to pay $25,000 for each kilogram of cocaine and $450 a pound for the marijuana, according to the charges, and then said he could pay for a kilo of cocaine ? about 2.2 pounds ? after "he gets out of practice." He walked out of the restaurant with the package and was arrested.

Hurd faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine if convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, or half a kilogram.

Teammates said they were stunned by the allegations and general manager Jerry Angelo said he was, too, as he announced the team was cutting Hurd.

"There were no facts, there were no flags, that anybody could present tangibly to say we should have known otherwise, and I want to make that perfectly clear to the public, to our fans," Angelo said Friday. "We do our homework. We do our due diligence. We did everything you could possibly do given the information that we can allocate."

The 26-year-old Hurd was in his first year with the Bears and sixth year overall in the NFL after five years with the Cowboys. Angelo said the Bears performed an extensive background check on Hurd, a San Antonio native who played at Northern Illinois, before signing him in July to a three-year deal reportedly worth up to $5.15 million, including a $1.35 million signing bonus and base pay this season of $685,000.

"We go back, we ask questions," Angelo said. "Is there something we could have done, something we should have done, in the process? Sometimes, there are glitches, but in this case, there are none. I could sit here and tell you with total transparency that we did everything we know to do in terms of our research, and there was nothing that we found that would create a flag or an alert or a real concern in Sam Hurd's case."

Asked how certain he was that other players on the Bears or around the league were not involved, Angelo said, "I can't talk about that."

"I'm certainly not going on any witch hunts about players," he added. "The one thing that we've done when there's been a wrong, we've acted. We don't justify wrongs. We've acted. We have a track record of doing that. Unfortunately, a situation arose that caught us off guard, but not to the point where we aren't going to do the right thing."

The Bears announced their contract agreement with Hurd on July 29, one day after federal authorities say he had agreed to a "consensual interview" with Homeland Security investigators over $88,000 in cash that had been seized in a car he owned in the Dallas area. The money was inside a canvas bag that authorities said was covered in a plant-like material that tested positive for "properties of marijuana."

Hurd said the money was his and that he had given the car to his acquaintance, a car shop employee, for maintenance and detail work, the complaint said.

"From my understanding, he wasn't the one that was pulled over," Angelo said. "His vehicle was pulled over. He was not the driver. That was never made public. So he was never charged with anything. There was never any record to our knowledge. And it was, from my understanding, a citation, but other than that, there was no other information that was presented to us."

Angelo would not say if the Bears would try to recoup some of the signing bonus. He also gave a terse answer when asked whether the case might affect his own future with the Bears, telling a reporter to "whistle Dixie." Angelo is under contract through 2013.

As for Hurd, receiver Earl Bennett described him as a "guy with high character who just loves to play the game of football, loves to have fun." Bennett also said he doesn't think other players are involved.

"I wouldn't think so," he said. "A lot of guys in this locker room are very high-character guys."

Coach Lovie Smith echoed that sentiment.

"We have a great group of guys," he said. "But sometimes when you're dealing with this many, it's hard to have all the players be a certain way. But you can't let that scar what else we're getting done here. It's always about the team. Every once in a while a guy will go outside what's best for the football team and there are consequences that you deal with. That's how life goes. There are life lessons that are being learned here by our football team."

Greenfield said he wasn't sure whether Hurd would try to get picked up by another team as he fights the drug case.

"Sam's a football player and he wants to play," he said. "Hopefully he'll be playing in the near future with another team."

If not, the attorney said, there are other options.

"Sam's a college grad, Sam's a scholar, Sam's a very, very smart individual," Greenfield said.

___

AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report.

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

advertisement

More news

Can Tebow beat Patriots?

PFT Picks: Mike Florio says Tim Tebow and the Broncos will beat the Patriots, and that the Colts will finally win.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45701351/ns/sports-nfl/

lady liberty the rum diary addams family in time statue of liberty gold rush alaska gold rush alaska

Jury deliberates fate of man accused of aiding al Qaeda (Reuters)

BOSTON (Reuters) ? A jury on Friday began deliberating the fate of a Massachusetts man accused of supporting al Qaeda by translating texts and videos from Arabic to English and distributing them online.

Tarek Mehanna, 29, of Sudbury, Massachusetts was arrested in 2009 and charged with "providing material support to terrorists" and other crimes, including conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and lying to law enforcement officers.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

During closing arguments on Friday, prosecutors reiterated their claims that Mehanna traveled to Yemen in 2004 to seek terrorism training, but never received it, and had planned to travel to Iraq to fight U.S. troops.

They also said he had translated Arabic messages to help further al Qaeda's cause.

Federal prosecutor Jeffrey Auerhahn said Mehanna was "a man who was motivated by" the leaders of al Qaeda.

But defense attorneys said Mehanna, a U.S. citizen, was merely trying to learn more about his Muslim heritage by studying Islamic law and translating classical texts. He traveled to Yemen to visit schools where he hoped to study, they said.

"They never gave you the whole story of who Tarek Mehanna was," defense attorney Janice Bassil said of prosecutors. "His ticket to Yemen was round-trip."

Mehanna openly opposed the U.S. military presence in Iraq and even showed admiration for Osama bin Laden's efforts to expel foreign powers from Muslim countries, defense attorneys said earlier, but he never worked for al Qaeda or had direct contact with the group.

Defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. called Mehanna "a typical American kid" who "kind of rediscovered his religion" when he was in high school and began meeting with friends to discuss Islam.

The idea that Mehanna would want to visit schools in Yemen "fit like a hand in a glove with who this man was," he argued.

Among the witnesses in the trial which began on October 28 was one of Mehanna's friends, Daniel Maldonado, a New Hampshire man serving a 10-year sentence for obtaining al Qaeda military training.

The FBI released excerpts of blogs allegedly written by Mehanna about the appeal of martyrdom and transcripts of phone conversations between Mehanna and Maldonado.

Mehanna was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Sudbury, a suburb west of Boston, and graduated with a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jerry Norton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/us_nm/us_crime_mehanna

road house who do you think you are frank mccourt ricin in god we trust ben gibbard zooey deschanel

BP gets $250M from blowout-preventer maker

NEW ORLEANS?? Cameron International, the maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer that failed to stop last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has agreed to pay $250 million to BP under a legal settlement, BP said Friday.

BP said it was "in their mutual best interests, and the agreement is not an admission of liability by either party." The companies are dropping all claims against one another, they said.

The settlement comes in advance of a federal trial over the catastrophic Gulf oil spill. The non-jury trial is slated to begin in February and determine fault in the April 20, 2010, explosion and subsequent oil spill off the Louisiana coast of more than 200 million gallons of oil.

The settlement with Cameron does not end the legal fighting over the blowout of the Macondo well, which was owned by London-based BP and two partners, MOEX and Anadarko. BP has already settled claims with those two companies and a third company, Weatherford, the maker of a part used in the well.

"Today's settlement allows BP and Cameron to put our legal issues behind us and move forward to improve safety in the drilling industry," said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.

"Unfortunately, other companies persist in refusing to accept responsibility for their roles in the accident and for contributing to restoration efforts," Dudley said in a swipe at Halliburton Corp. and Transocean Ltd. Halliburton supplied critical cement to seal the well and Transocean was the company drilling the well.

Probes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion by the federal government and independent scientists and engineers have found all three companies were at fault for a series of decisions and actions that led to the Macondo well blowout, the nation's largest offshore oil spill.

BP is engaged in an intense legal fight with Halliburton Corp. and Transocean. Earlier this month, BP went so far as to accuse Halliburton employees of covering up damaging evidence about a cement mixture Halliburton used in drilling the well.

BP said it would use the $250 million from Cameron to pay for the cost of cleaning up from the spill and paying individual damages claims by people, businesses and government entities hurt by the spill. BP said it has spent about $7.5 billion so far of those claims. But the British company faces billions of dollars in additional damages and fines.

Under the agreement, BP said Houston-based Cameron is no longer responsible for any additional cleanup costs related to the spill. But BP said the agreement does not cover civil, criminal and administrative fines and other penalties that might arise out of the court proceedings.

BP and Cameron also pledged to "improve safety in the drilling industry" and do more to improve blowout preventers.

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45695021/ns/us_news-environment/

sam houston state university sam houston state university kobe bryant wife jeff green jason trawick howard hughes barry bonds

Son has made life richer,' Bullock says

>>> with one of our favorite guests around here, sandra bullock . two years after winning the oscar she is finally returning to the big screen and the new movie is called " extremely loud and incredibly close ." sandra plays a 9/11 widow and mom to a 9-year-old boy trying to cope after their tragic loss. take a look.

>> what do you miss about him?

>> oh, i miss so many things about him.

>> i miss how he could tell the weather just by touching the window.

>> when woe cohe would come in the house and yell "what's everybody doing?"

>> he told me. he said, i really love your mother. she's such a good girl.

>> welcome back, sandra . it's nice to see you.

>> thank you.

>> i feel the need to start this interview by telling our viewers two things. one, bring tissues.

>> yes.

>> it's a very emotional and powerful movie. the second is if they're going to this movie because they want to see you, up on screen for the whole film, this is not that movie.

>> true.

>> you're in there about 15 minutes .

>> it's actually 24 minutes .

>> sorry. i miscalculated.

>> throughout the whole film. strategically placed moments.

>> yes.

>> but, no. it's truly this amazing story of this child's point of view of what happened in his life that was this horribly tragic event and to see it through his eyes is far more i think poignant and impactful than to see it through an adult's eyes.

>> i bring it up only -- first of all, you are great in those 22 minutes .

>> 24.

>> sorry. because -- 15 the way i calculate.

>> 24.

>> i like it because i like the fact that did you this. i think there are a lot of a-list actors who would have said this isn't a big enough star term for me and i admire your choice on that.

>> i've already had those moments i think. i'm -- there might be more. i don't know. but i don't know how many moments and opportunities like this there will be with stories like this, with directors and casts like this. you know, it's where, like, the rare moments in life where all the elements are there and they all come together for some strange or bigger reason and i, you know, you can't say no to that.

>> it's haunting stuff. i mean, it takes place, 9/11, or as it's called in the movie sometimes the worst day. here in new york city as those planes hit the world trade center , you were actually in the city, so this is close and personal for you as it is for a lot of people. as part of the research for this movie you went and listened to the voice mails left behind by people trapped in that tower for their families. talk to me about that.

>> the fact we were given access to them by the families or that they allowed people to have access to them is pretty --

>> why do you think they shared? were you surprised?

>> i was at first until you see the tremendous gift it was to them, left by those who are no longer here. you know, so many of them were a progression of e-mails from i'm going to be fine. everything is great. don't worry. to, we're trying to find a way out. and then of course the final outcome. but i was absolutely and still am -- it's haunting and it's inspiring that the last message inevitably was one of hope for the families left behind and i -- as a human being you don't know how to comprehend that. but i -- i am so glad that those handful of people had that gift. they didn't have the contact that they would have loved, but they are able to have this gift and the strength of the loved one just what they gave is just mind blowing.

>> let's talk about the young man who plays your son in this, thomas horn. i mean, he is in just about every scene. you're in eight minutes. but he is in about every scene here and he is extraordinary.

>> yeah, yeah.

>> when you look at him and you know this movie is going to change his career.

>> yeah.

>> what advice do you have for a young man like that?

>> you don't give someone like thomas horn advice.

>> why not?

>> because he doesn't need it. this isn't going to be his sole career. he is destined to do so many things of great worth. not that acting isn't something of great worth. but he has his -- he knows what he is here to do and he has so many interests and he might only be 13, 14. i don't know if he's 13 or 14. but he is far more educated, wiser, kind, empathetic than most adults in this room and i don't say that as a negative thing. i just say that he is an extraordinary human being and he was given this opportunity. it was something he wanted to take. and he did not shy away from it from day one. it's frightening to watch his level of professionalism. it was frightening.

>> tom hanks as well. max -- he never says a word without giving anything away about who his character is. he is a guy who either has lost the ability to speak or chooses not to speak. we don't know. and the power he brings is -- i was blown away by him.

>> yeah. the beauty of this story is it shows so many points of view of grief and how vastly different they are. and, you know, we like to see pretty grief on film but in the end you have such a cathartic response to this movie. it lets you feel what you're feeling whatever it is. you know? and it's a rare thing.

>> let's leave them laughing. let's end on a lighter note. christmas around the corner. i was reading you're going to spoil the pants off louie.

>> yes.

>> we have him in a sound proof booth down at nbc.

>> yes.

>> so he can't hear. what is the most extravagant thing you'll buy him?

>> i don't know if i've stopped.

>> what did you buy?

>> i am not going to tell you.

>> he can't hear.

>> no. i'm not going to tell you because he understands everything.

>> you bought him a plane didn't you?

>> i kind of did. i got him a g-5. maybe he'll let mommy use it. i don't know.

>> he'll grow into it. what is your favorite christmas song ? since you're musically trained.

>> yeah, because that gene did not pass on to me like sometimes two doctors don't have a surgeon child. they have, well, we've seen what happens. it's usually my favorite christmas songs are ones that are like by some beautiful choir with a great orchestration and sounds like in some holy place .

>> do you have a name?

>> no, again, because there are many. i know you want me to pick one thing but life isn't about just one thing, matt.

>> it's true.

>> i'm sorry, you guys. you have to do this every day. i have to deal with this once every two years.

>> the movie is incredible. extremely loud and incredibly close . sandra 's two minutes in this movie are just incredible.

>> why am i here? why did i show up today?

>> merry christmas .

>> you too.

>> good to see you. it opens in theaters on january 20th . and nationwide on that

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45682612/ns/today-entertainment/

lindsey lohan reed hastings cujo hpv vaccine hurricane tracking hurricane tracking flat tax