Iran claims it has overcome sanctions

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's oil minister claimed Sunday his country has successfully overcome sanctions on the sale of its oil, state TV reported.

The U.N. and West have imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran to try to persuade it to stop its uranium enrichment project, including a ban by the EU on oil imports, but Iran remains defiant.

Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi that the industry was in "bad shape" about two months ago because of the oil embargo, "but resorting to planning in the oil industry, we left the bottleneck behind, almost." The EU imposed its embargo in July.

Ghasemi said Iran's oil sector would be able to export its oil to the "farthest spots" around the world. In contrast, China, India and Korea recently announced that they have cut back their oil imports from Iran to comply with international sanctions.

Ghasemi also said that Iran has set up its own insurance for oil tankers after Western companies refused to cover them.

"By revoking insurance, the West disrupted transportation of oil, the most important part" of trade, Ghasemi was quoted as saying.

He said since a large portion of Iran's revenue comes from oil exports, "the embargo is a very important issue."

Iran's oil exports have fallen by about half in recent months due to the punitive oil and banking measures enacted by the U.S. and Europe over concerns Tehran might pursue production of nuclear weapons. Iran denies that it is developing weapons, saying its nuclear activities are aimed at peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.

Before the fall of exports, some 80 percent of Iran's foreign revenue had come from oil sales. The drop has contributed to a plummet in the country's currency has plummeted to less than half its former value.

Due to longstanding U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil industry, the country has been suffering from lack of technology and equipment in its oil sector, but a senior official said that problem, too, is being solved.

Ahmad Qalehbani, head of state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that the country is capable of producing its own equipment for 85 percent of its needs in the oil industry.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-23-Iran-Oil%20Sanctions/id-57c00daefd594224964c9079e12d4ea7

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Kerry a familiar face on the world stage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. John Kerry, President Barack Obama's pick for secretary of state, is a familiar face to the world leaders vital to American interests.

The son of a diplomat and Obama's unofficial envoy, Kerry spent hours walking around the palace in Kabul persuading Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to agree to a runoff election in fall 2009. The relationship will be crucial in the coming months as the administration draws down U.S. forces after more than a decade of war.

In Pakistan, Kerry helped quell the anger after the U.S. incursion into the country to kill Osama bin Laden in May 2011. The uneasy ties between Washington and Islamabad will be a priority for Kerry at the State Department.

"He knows most of the world leaders," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "So when he goes into a country he will be a known quantity."

The five-term Massachusetts senator has spent his entire congressional career on the Foreign Relations Committee, the last six as chairman. He has traveled extensively both as intrepid lawmaker and administration emissary.

Fulfilling a Kerry dream, Obama on Friday tapped the 69-year-old lawmaker, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the top job at Foggy Bottom.

"I think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers, or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry," Obama said in making the announcement. "And this makes him a perfect choice to guide American diplomacy in the years ahead."

Kerry is expected to sail to confirmation, with both Republicans and Democrats praising the nomination. His friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., jokingly referred to him as "Mr. Secretary" earlier this month, a remarkable turn as just eight years ago Republicans ridiculed Kerry as a wind-surfing, elitist flip-flopper in his bid for the White House.

While Kerry has tamped down diplomatic fires for Obama, he has stepped ahead of the administration on a handful of crises. He joined McCain as an early proponent of a more aggressive policy toward Libya, pushing for using military forces to impose a "no-fly zone" over Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed rebels and citizens.

He was one of the early voices calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down as the revolution roiled the nation last year.

That independent voice may be tempered once he takes over as the administration's top diplomat.

"He's going to find what it's like to be part of an administration," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. "John's going to adapt to this well. I think he spent a lot of his time grooming to be a good secretary of state. ... I don't see any downside to this nomination."

During his tenure, Kerry has pushed for reducing the number of nuclear weapons, shepherding a U.S.-Russia treaty through the Senate in December 2010, and has cast climate change as a national security threat, joining forces with Republicans on legislation that faced too many obstacles to win congressional passage.

He has led delegations to Syria and met a few times with President Bashar Assad, now a pariah in U.S. eyes after months of civil war and bloodshed as the government looks to put down a people's rebellion. Figuring out an end-game for the Middle East country would demand all of Kerry's skills.

The selection of Kerry closes a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful who succeeded where Kerry had failed.

Throughout this past election year, Kerry skewered Obama's Republican rival, Mitt Romney, at nearly every opportunity and was a vocal booster for the president's re-election. Kerry memorably told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August: "Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago."

Kerry and McCain, defeated presidential candidates who returned to the Senate, have joined forces repeatedly during the past few decades. In July 1995, the two decorated Vietnam War veterans provided political cover to President Bill Clinton when he normalized U.S. relations with Vietnam. Clinton had been dogged by questions about his lack of military service.

Kerry, the Yale graduate who enlisted in the Navy, was an appealing presidential nominee in 2004 for his Vietnam War service. Three years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, national security credentials were critical against Bush.

But Kerry was pounded by the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, a group that made unsubstantiated claims challenging Kerry's war record of a Silver Star, a Bronze Star for combat valor and three Purple Hearts. His candidacy also was dogged by his anti-war stance in April 1971 when he testified before the committee he would later chair and famously asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

Kerry's move to the State Department will spark yet another special election in Massachusetts ? the third Senate contest since a 2010 special election following the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 2009.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who won the 2010 special election but lost last month to Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, is seen as a front-runner on the GOP side if he chooses to run again.

Possible Democratic candidates include Reps. Michael Capuano, Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch, and Ted Kennedy Jr., son of the late senator. Gov. Deval Patrick must name an interim senator to serve until the special election. Former Gov. Michael Dukakis and Victoria Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy's widow, have been suggested as possible interim senators although Patrick hasn't publicly confirmed any names.

Kerry was in Pakistan last year in the midst of a diplomatic crisis after Raymond Davis, a CIA-contracted American spy, was accused of killing two Pakistanis.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to Pakistan around that time and recalled Kerry's influence.

"I arrived in Islamabad, I think, five days after Ray Davis had been taken into a jail in the Punjab and was at very real risk of being hauled out of the jail and lynched," Coons said. "Sen. Kerry was about to show up and negotiate on behalf of the administration. And it was clear that both the diplomats and the military folks we met with viewed him as a real man of credibility and experience who was likely to contribute meaningfully to those negotiations."

Davis pleaded self-defense. After weeks of wrangling between the U.S. and Pakistan, he was released in exchange for "blood money" paid to the dead men's relatives.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who likely will take over the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the high-level relationships that Kerry "built with world leaders will allow him to step seamlessly into the position and to ensure that there is no decline in U.S. leadership on important global issues during a transition."

___

Donna Cassata can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DonnaCassataAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-familiar-face-world-stage-162357267.html

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Oklahoma Follows Texas In The Number Of Executions In 2012

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calendar:'',
week:'{week}', dayClickable:'{date}', dayCurrent:'{date}', dayNone:'', day:'{date}', search:'' }, // Stored objects $container = $(loc), now = new Date(), current = now, minDate = new Date('12/5/2007'), station = wng_pageInfo.affiliateName||'kotv', months = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'], monthLengths = [31, 28, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31], // Helper methods renderTemplate = function(tpl, vars) { var retVal = templates[tpl]; if (typeof(retVal) === 'string') { for (var i in vars) { var regEx = new RegExp('\{' + i + '\}', 'g'); retVal = retVal.replace(regEx, vars[i]); } } else { retVal = null; } return retVal; }, // Renderers makeCalendar = function(date) { // Copy the date to a new object (so as not to overwrite the original) and set us to the beginning of the month date = new Date(date); date.setDate(1); current = date; var month = date.getMonth(), year = date.getFullYear(), firstDay = date.getDay(), out = '', days = '', colCount = 0, monthLength = monthLengths[month] + (month == 1 && year % 4 == 0 ? 2 : 1); // Figure up the month length taking into consideration leap years. Not accurate to 100+ years // Render the days before the start of the month if necessary for (var i = 0; i = minDate) { tpl = 'dayClickable'; } days += renderTemplate(tpl, {date:i}); colCount++; if (colCount % 7 == 0) { out += renderTemplate('week', {week:days}); days = ''; } } // Tack on the last week if (days != '') { out += renderTemplate('week', {week:days}); } // Render to the DOM out = renderTemplate('calendar', {days:out}); out = renderTemplate('controls', {month:months[month], year:year}) + out + templates.search; $container.html(out); // Determine whether the previous/next buttons should be shown date.setDate(1); if (date 12) { month = 1; year++; } makeCalendar(new Date(month + '/1/' + year)); } }, // Init init = function() { $container.addClass('gnmCalendar'); makeCalendar(now); }; init(); };

Source: http://www.news9.com/story/20374456/oklahoma-follows-texas-in-the-number-of-executions-in-2012

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Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, c. 1924

This is a blog about the history of Washington, D.C. and its surroundings. We live in a great city, and it is important for everyone to know a little more about their communities, neighborhoods and city.

I hope you enjoy this blog. It?s been a labor of love since January 4th, 2012 and I have loved every minute of it.

Tom
[email?protected]>

Source: http://chevychase.patch.com/articles/chevy-chase-presbyterian-church-c-1924

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Holiday Pets | Steve Harvey Show

	Princess Princess is a gorgeous 9-month-old yellow Labrador Retriever. Princess is ready for brisk temperatures & snow in her down jacket and scarf. She loves to run around and play, and would make a great addition to a home with children. She is smart and is eager to learn, especially with treats, but since Princess is a baby, she?ll need enough space to run and grow, and an owner who has the time and patience to train a puppy. Click here to adopt a pet.
	Flanker Flanker?s a charming 2-year-old Pointer who?s the teacher?s pet and a quick learner. Flanker?s dressed in Hanukkah attire. He?s searching for a patient owner with a relaxed lifestyle. He would also love a family who will slowly help him come out of his shell. With a little love, Flanker will blossom into a wonderful friend for life. Click here adopt a pet.
	Wyatt Wyatt is a 2-year-old Cockapoo Mix ? a combination of a cocker spaniel & a poodle. He?s dressed as Santa Clause. Wyatt always has belly rubs on the brain. After a rough start at life, he?s is now looking forward to play and sleep in his warm forever home. Click here to adopt a pet.
	Pearl Pearl is a 1-year-old Poodle who is gentle and loving and happy to be close to you all the time. She?s dressed as Mrs. Claus. Pearl is sweet likely to quickly bond with her new owner. Click here to adopt a pet.
	Cranberry Cranberry is a 1-year-old Shih Tzu mix. She?s dressed in formal attire to ring in the new year. She?s sweet, gentle and cuddly. While she loves to be petted and held, she also enjoys long walks outside to sniff out the neighborhood. Click here to adopt a pet.
	Buddy Buddy is a 1-year-old Jack Russell Terrier dressed in a tuxedo for New Year?s Eve. He?s one of many purebreds you can find at shelters. Buddy is spunky and really loves life. He plays catch and he needs an energetic family who loves to play and be outdoors. He?s ready to meet his forever family and give them never- ending unconditional love. Click here to adopt a pet.

Special thanks to the following boutiques for the holiday clothing featured on the pets: Tails in the City and Barker & Meowsky.

Source: http://www.steveharveytv.com/holiday-pets/

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Are TV chefs' recipes good for you? See how they compare to ready ...

A serving of Jamie Oliver's Italian Pan-Seared Tuna recipe contains more than three times the recommended daily dose of salt. Photograph: Ian West/PA

Supermarket ready meals are often healthier than TV chefs' recipes, according to a study published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

The paper, 'Nutritional content of supermarket ready meals and recipes by television chefs in the United Kingdom: a cross sectional study', by Simon Howard, Jean Adams and Martin White, compared nutrient contents of supermarkets' own-brand ready meals with recipes from four TV chefs.

The celebrity chefs' recipes were found to be more unhealthy in terms of energy, fat and fibre content. Their recipes all have higher fat, saturated fat and calorie contents per serving than the supermarket ready meals. They also tend to have less fibre per serving than the microwaveable offerings of Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's.

Sarah Boseley has more on the story here, where she writes:

White and colleagues think the traffic light warning scheme should now be applied to recipes from TV chefs, who could also put nutritional values on screen, on websites and in cookery books

The BMJ study used data on 100 ready meals from Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco as well as 100 recipes taken from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food and his 30 Minute Meals, Nigella Lawson's Kitchen, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Everyday and Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy.

In aggregate terms, the chefs' recipes contained a median of 605 kcals per portion - 22% more than the ready meals studied. Sugar content was also 22% higher than in ready meals, while the recipes' fat and saturated fat content were shown to be 58% and 35% higher respectively.

The chefs' meals typically contained only half (51%) the fibre of the supermarket options, but one redeeming feature was their sodium content, which was found to be 18% lower than that of the ready meals.

Of all the meals and recipes studied, Lorraine Pascale's recipes scored the worst, with the highest calorie and saturated fat contents and the highest salt content of all the chefs' recipes. Pascale's recipes, taken from her book Baking Made Easy, fared better for fibre, where they were shown to have the third highest content per serving.

The NHS recommends that adults should not eat more than 6g of salt per day, but a single serving of Jamie's Italian Pan-Seared Tuna would put you more than three times over the limit.

A summary of the median amounts of selected nutrients is shown below, at both an aggregate and broken down level. Click the link beneath the tables to access the full data-set, including details of all 200 recipes and meals that were used in the study.

Data summary

Median amounts, aggregated

Click headings to sort table. Download the data

Category	Energy (kcal)	Protein (g)	Carb (g)	Sugar (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fat (g)	Sat fat (g)	Fibre (g)
Recipes	605	37.5	49.5	8.3	658	27.1	9.2	3.3
Ready meals	494	27.9	51.1	6.8	800	17.2	6.8	6.5

Median amounts, by chef/supermarket

Click headings to sort table. Download the data

Name	Serving size	kcal per serving	Salt per serving (g)	Sat Fat per serving (g)	Fibre per serving (g)
Sainsbury's	450	496	0.8	8	8.3
Tesco	425	481	0.9	7.4	6.4
Lorraine	443	863	2.9	23.8	5.9
Asda	400	487	0.8	4.9	5.6
Jamie 30 min meals	547.5	636	2.2	11.6	4.7
Hugh	352.25	548	1.1	11.2	2.9
Jamie Ministry of Food	676.5	589	1	5.1	2.9
Nigella	401.5	573	2	8.6	2.6

Download the data

? DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/dec/17/celebrity-chefs-recipes-less-healthy-ready-meals-data

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Parents struggle to explain shooting deaths to kids

school-shooting

Kavita Varma-White TODAY contributor

21 hours ago

A smiling 6-year-old girl who loved everything about horses. A big sister with a wide grin and dimples who was excited about making a gingerbread house. An outgoing 7-year-old boy who loved to ride his bike.

As the stories and photos of the faces of the youngest victims of the Connecticut school shooting have been released to the public, parents around the country are trying to shield their own children from the images of sweet-faced, smiling girls and boys who could easily have been their friends or classmates --and who are now dead.

?Looking at images made the whole thing that much more devastating and more real,? says Kim Reiner, a mom of kids ages 6 and 4 in Sunnyside, Queens, N.Y. One of the victims was a boy who used to live nearby and moved to Sandy Hook last year, so her community has been reeling.

?You look at the pictures and you think, it could have been my child. They look like my children. The children look like angels. They are more beautiful than you could have imagined.?

Related: How to talk to your kids about school shooting

Many parents are still wondering how to ?- or even whether they should -- explain the tragedy to children who may hear of the funerals and memorials in the coming days and yet may be too little to understand what death even means.

AFP - Getty Images

Parishioners pay their respects to the Sandy Hook victims while arriving for mass at St Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, Conn., on Sunday.

Kathy Burstein of West Palm Beach, Fla., says the TV has been turned off all weekend so her two young sons, ages 5 years?and 22 months, would not be exposed to the horrific news or see the faces of children who look just like her oldest, Andrew. Burstein is especially concerned about Andrew, who recently asked: ?Mommy, 5-year-olds can?t die, can they??

?I have not been able to figure out how to tell him [about the shootings],? says Burstein, who works in the county clerk?s office in Palm Beach County. ?I know he?s going to hear about it eventually. I do want him to hear it from me. But I also don?t.?

For parents of preschool and elementary?school age children who don't have a direct connection to Sandy Hook, but are aware of the shooting and seeing images of the young victims, a general, unemotional?conversation about death may be the best approach, suggests?Robyn Silverman, Ph.D., a child and teen development specialist in New Jersey.

While preschool-age children become aware that things in life die, like flowers, leaves on the trees or bugs, often they don?t grasp the finality. Many engage in "magical thinking" and believe that someone who dies may ?come back, says Silverman. Parents should tell the child that someone who dies is not coming back and that all living things like plants, animals and people die, Silverman says.

In elementary school, at around age 5 or 6, kids start to grasp the finality of death.?Silverman says it?s best to be honest, and keep facts concrete and simple. ?Don?t say things like, ?he went away,? or ?she went to sleep.? That is very abstract speaking and it?s confusing for kids. Use the word. ?She died,?? Silverman said.

One explanation is to tell children that when a person dies, the body stops working. Silverman says to then ask them, ?What does your body do?? and let them explain. They may say they run, jump, skip, eat and breathe. After they respond, parents can say, ?All of those things we do when we are alive. All of this stops when we die.?

Or parents can show the child a toy car or robot that has stopped working because the batteries have died. You can explain, ?Once our bodies stop working, we can?t replace the batteries.?

Kendra Ramos Velasquez, of Bellevue, Wash., has talked to her 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son about the shootings, but can?t bring herself to share anything with her daughter, 6, who has never been exposed to death and has not even experienced the death of a pet.?

?I don?t see any reason to tell her. She?s so innocent and pure and good,? says Velasquez. ?I don?t want her to go to class worrying about some bad man coming into class. She would not want to go school then.?

Jennifer Hartstein, Psy.D.,?a child, adolescent and family psychologist in New York, says it?s important for children to not confuse death with sleeping, as that can create unnecessary fear for kids.

If a child asks if such a thing can happen to them, Hartstein suggests you reinforce to your child that he or she is safe, and that you are safe, and that you don't plan on dying any time soon. Death can create a fear of this for children, she says.

And if kids ask about what happens to a person after death, Silverman says that it?s best to turn the question back to them. ?You can say, this is what I was taught, what I believe. Other people believe this. Then ask them, ?What do you believe?? They might say, ?I believe you become Superman.? Let them process it in a way that?s healthy to them,? she said.

Hartstein agrees and says it?s OK?for parents to sometimes say they don?t have an answer. ?It's OK to tell children?that people have all sorts of different ideas, and review those with them. Ask them what they think, too. They may have an idea that works for them and that provides solace.?

Dr. Bob Hilt, a?child and adolescent psychiatrist at?Seattle Children?s Hospital, says to not be surprised if your conversation about death?lasts over a longer period of time.

?You may not see an immediate, dramatic negative reaction in your child because they are processing it in a different way than you are,? Hilt said. ?It may be they pop up with questions days, weeks later.?

The parents of children who witnessed and survived the Sandy Hook shootings have a tremendously difficult situation. Jeff Dolgan, Ph.D.,?chief psychologist at Children's Hospital in Denver, worked with a team of mental health experts to help parents deal with the aftermath of the Columbine school massacre in 1999.

?That kindergartners and first-graders witnessed the killings and were whisked to safety creates an enormously complex issue for their parents: Children in that age group simply don't understand death,? Dolgan said. ?They will not be able to grasp that some of their schoolmates are gone forever.?

NBC correspondent Bill Briggs contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.today.com/moms/parents-struggle-explain-shooting-deaths-they-look-my-children-1C7626210

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