Ginnifer Goodwin Once Upon A Time Interview Listerine 21 Day Challenge

For Ginnifer Goodwin, joining the cast of Once Upon A Time has resulted in more happy endings than she could have dreamed of. Not only is the fantastic fantasy series one of ABC's biggest hits, but the show's popularity has allowed Goodwin to use her celebrity status to bring attention to worthy causes. Like she did on February 5 by helping Listerine kick off their 21 Day Challenge!

To help Americans develop better oral hygiene, and improve access to dental care for children in need, Listerine donated $21,000 after Goodwin's "swish," and will continue to donate every time someone signs up for the challenge on Facebook!

ETonline caught up with Goodwin to talk about this mighty cause and this even mightier season of Once Upon A Time (particularly what you can expect from the introduction of Snow White's mother)!


ETonline: How'd you come to partner with Listerine?


Ginnifer Goodwin: I made some friends at Listerine and they taught me a little bit about oral care. That half of adults suffer from oral disease, that the number one chronic disease among children is oral disease, that we're only taking care of 25% of our mouths when brushing alone and there are more germs in your mouth than there are people on the planet.


ETonline: Well that's a terrifying statistic.


Goodwin: Oh yeah, I immediately had the heebie jeebies when they told me that. So then they offered to donate $21,000 to Oral Health America for my first swish of the Listerine 21 Day Challenge. The thinking is it takes 21 days to form a habit and implementing that into a morning and evening routine, one can assume it will become a lifetime commitment. It's quick, easy, and inexpensive -- plus you prevent so many problems. I really couldn't turn down such a generous offer.


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ETonline: What does it mean to you to have reached a place professionally where you're able to raise so much money simply by rinsing your mouth with Listerine?


Goodwin: It's incredibly humbling, and I'm glad you're bringing it up because it's important for me to remember. A lot of times, I think that what I do for a living has no integrity. Once Upon A Time has changed that to a certain extent because the reaction we get from children out in the world is so fulfilling, I can not even articulate it. There's nothing like being greeted as Snow White by a hyperventilating child versus Ginnifer Goodwin. It makes me feel like Santa Claus. But often times, I feel like I'm so blessed, it's not fair. That what I'm doing is not contributing to the good of the world. That acting is self-centered and elitist in many way, so to be able to participate in something that gives back is so important to me. That's where I really get my rocks off. I like partnering with companies that have really accessible, really easy changes we can all make that create a difference.


ETonline: When you initially signed on to Once Upon A Time, did you, in any way, anticipate it could be as successful, creatively fulfilling and resonant with fans as it has been?


Goodwin: I never dreamed our numbers would be what they are. I knew the show would be special and I knew it was risky, so I knew it would be creatively fulfilling. And I knew I would be a geeky fan of it and that even if it only had a tiny niche audience, I would be jealous watching the show if I wasn't on it. So I knew I had to be a part of it so I wasn't green with envy every Sunday.


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ETonline: Is that what fuels which projects you sign on for?


Goodwin: Sometimes. There's always a different reason. Sometimes I make very selfish choices; like I did Once Upon A Time for my inner 8-year-old and my hypothetical future child. I've done some movies because I would regret them if I didn't, but other projects I've done because they've scared me or if I felt I needed to do a big romantic comedy to help me professionally. Then I'll take a teeny movie when I need to work on myself and become a better actor.


ETonline: I've really loved this season ... except maybe for the pink sweater-set Snow was stuck in for so many weeks.


Goodwin: Oh my god! Thank you so much for hating it with me! I truly kept joking, except I was serious, that I desperately wanted to have an actual bonfire where I burned that freaking costume. Even the costume department despised it in the end. Thank God my character had some off-camera makeover.


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ETonline: Now that she and Charming have their memories back, what's the next hurdle in their relationship?


Goodwin: Thus far, based on what we've filmed, it’s the first time they're realizing that an obstacle could be self-created as opposed to it coming from an external source because he wants to go back and she wants to stay. They're struggling right now with whether or not this particular obstacle is surmountable. Selfishly I hope that Snow White and Prince Charming end up living happily ever after -- I'm not quite sure what our version of Snow White stands for if she's not going to get that.


ETonline: Snow's mother also becomes a major player in the show, via flashbacks, over the coming weeks. What excites you about that storyline?


Goodwin: Snow White has some mother issues, and they have affected her self-definition. I think it's going to be very exciting for the audience to see what has impacted Snow White in her past and that will effect how we feel about Snow White's relationship with her own daughter. And, totally unrelated to actual storylines, I'm excited for the incredible guest stars we have coming up. Like Lesley Nichol from Downton Abbey! Mrs. Pattmore joined our cast!!!! I freaked the fudge out all over her.


ETonline: You better hope your shows stay in adjacent timeslots. I worry about you should OUAT and Downton overlap on Sunday nights.


Goodwin: Yeah, no. I won't ever let that happen. I will throw myself on the grave of Walt Disney and beg for that to never happen.

For more info on Listerine's 21 Day Challenge, click here! Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk


Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.


It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.


Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. And blacks and whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.


"We're talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs," bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study's leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.


People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.


In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.


"It's a very big difference," Judd said. "The message for people in the middle is there's a graded risk" — the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.


Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.


The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older — half of them black — from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:


Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.


—Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.


—Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.


—Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.


—Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.


"They're not mutually exclusive" — for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.


Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred. Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn't seem to affect stroke risk.


There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.


There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.


The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise and total calories consumed.


Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure — a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen — the queen of Southern cuisine — revealed she had a year ago.


The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.


"This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content," said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.


"I don't mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I'm in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don't have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff."


___


Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP


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Wall Street stymied as investors lack catalysts to trade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors, without any major economic reports to guide them, awaited fresh incentives to trade after rallies took the S&P 500 to five-year highs.


Transportation stocks were among the worst performers, weighed down by a 10 percent drop in CH Robinson Worldwide to $60.40 after the freight transport company posted a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit.


The Dow Jones Transportation index <.djt> shed 0.3 percent after closing at a record high Tuesday for a gain of more than 10 percent in 2013.


The benchmark S&P 500 index has advanced 6 percent this year, climbing to its highest since December 2007. The Dow industrials <.dji> have risen above 14,000 recently, making it a challenge for investors to push stocks higher in the absence of strong positive catalysts.


"Overall, we believe that the next near-term market dip should provide an opportunity to buy stocks ahead of rallies higher in the coming months, but we are skeptical about the long-term sustainability of these gains due to the maturing age of the bull market," said Ari Wald, equity research analyst at C&Co\PrinceRidge in New York.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 5.28 points, or 0.04 percent, at 13,984.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 0.56 point, or 0.04 percent, at 1,511.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 1.67 points, or 0.05 percent, at 3,173.25.


The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was supported by Apple Inc , which rose 1.1 percent to $462.62.


Walt Disney Co was among the bright spots, up 1.1 percent at $60.31, after the company beat estimates for quarterly adjusted earnings and gave an optimistic outlook for the next few quarters.


According to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning, of 301 companies in the S&P 500 <.spx> that have reported earnings, 68.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters. In terms of revenue, 65.8 percent of companies have topped forecasts.


Looking ahead, fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to grow 4.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


The benchmark S&P index rose 1.04 percent Tuesday, its biggest percentage gain since a 2.5-percent advance on January 2 after lawmakers agreed on a temporary delay of the "fiscal cliff."


Ralph Lauren Corp climbed 8 percent to $178.15 as the best performer on the S&P 500 after reporting renewed momentum in its holiday-quarter sales and profits.


Time Warner Inc jumped 4.4 percent to $52.15 after reporting higher fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates, as growth in its cable networks offset declines in its film, TV entertainment and publishing units.


Visa , the world's largest credit and debit card network, is expected to report earnings per share of $1.79 for its first quarter, up from $1.49 a year earlier. Smaller rival MasterCard MA.N recently reported better-than-expected results but said its revenue growth could slow in the first half of the year due to economic uncertainty.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Kenneth Barry)



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Tunisia protests after government critic shot dead


TUNIS (Reuters) - A fierce critic of the Tunisian government's dealings with radical Islamists was shot dead on Wednesday, sending protesters onto the streets two years after their Jasmine Revolution sparked revolt across the Arab world.


The headquarters of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which rules in a fractious coalition with secularists, was set ablaze after Chokri Belaid, an outspoken, secular leader, was gunned down outside his home in the capital.


His party and others in the opposition parties said they would quit the assembly that is writing a new constitution and called a general strike for Thursday when Belaid will be buried.


Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who said the identity of the attacker was not known, condemned his killing as a political assassination and a strike against the "Arab Spring" revolution. Ennahda denied any involvement.


As Belaid's body was taken by ambulance through Tunis from the hospital where he died, police fired teargas towards about 20,000 protesters at the Interior Ministry chanting for the fall of the government.


"This is a black day in the history of modern Tunisia ... Today we say to the Islamists, 'get out' ... enough is enough," said Souad, a 40-year-old teacher outside the ministry.


"Tunisia will sink in the blood if you stay in power."


Despite calls for calm from the president, who is not an Islamist, thousands also demonstrated in cities including Mahdia, Sousse, Monastir and Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of the revolution, where police fired teargas and warning shots at protesters who set cars and a police station on fire.


While Belaid's nine-party Popular Front bloc has only three seats in the constituent assembly, the opposition jointly agreed to pull its 90 or so members out of the body, which is acting as parliament and writing the new post-revolution charter. Ennahda and its fellow ruling parties have some 120 seats.


The small North African state was the first Arab country to oust its leader and hold free elections as uprisings spread around the region in 2011, leading to the ousting of the rulers of Egypt, Yemen and Libya and to the civil war in Syria.


But as in Egypt, many who campaigned for freedom from repression under autocratic rulers and better prospects for their future now feel their revolutions have been hijacked by Islamists they accuse of clamping down on personal liberties, with no sign of new jobs or improvements in infrastructure.


Tunisia's new constitution will pave the way for new elections but will inevitably be a source of friction between secularists and Islamists, just as it was in Egypt, where the president adopted sweeping powers to force it through.


The ruling parties have agreed to hold the vote in June, but that date still needs approval by the assembly.


HARDSHIP


Since the uprising, the government has faced a string of protests over economic hardship and Tunisia's future path, with many complaining hardline Salafists were taking over the revolution in the former French colony once dominated by a secular elite under the autocratic rule of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.


Last year, Salafist groups prevented several concerts and plays from taking place in Tunisian cities, saying they violated Islamic principles. That worries the secular-minded among the 11 million Tunisians, who fear freedom of expression is in danger.


Salafists also ransacked the U.S. embassy in Tunis in September, during international protests over an Internet video mocking Islam.


The embassy issued a statement on Wednesday condemning Belaid's killing: "There is no justification for this heinous and cowardly act," it said. "Political violence has no place in the democratic transition in Tunisia."


The United States urged the Tunisian government to bring his killers to book.


Declining trade with the crisis-hit euro zone has left Tunisians struggling to achieve the better living standards many had hoped for following Ben Ali's departure. Any further signs of unrest could scare off tourists vital to an industry only just recovering from the revolution.


"More than 4,000 are protesting now, burning tires and throwing stones at the police," Mehdi Horchani, a Sidi Bouzid resident, told Reuters. "There is great anger."


Jobless graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December 2010 in the city, 300 km (180 miles) southwest of Tunis, after police confiscated his unlicensed fruit cart, triggering the "Jasmine Revolution" that forced Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia less than a month later, on January 14, 2011.


President Moncef Marzouki, who last month warned the tension between secularists and Islamists might lead to "civil war", canceled a visit to Egypt scheduled for Thursday and cut short a trip to France, where he addressed the European Parliament.


"There are political forces inside Tunisia that don't want this transition to succeed," Marzouki told journalists in Strasbourg.


"When one has a revolution, the counter revolution immediately sets in because those who lose power - it's not only Ben Ali and his family - are the hundreds of thousands of people with many interests who see themselves threatened by this revolution," he added.


Belaid, who died in hospital, said earlier this week that dozens of people close to the government had attacked a Popular Front group meeting in Kef, northern Tunisia, on Sunday.


A lawyer and human rights activist, the 48-year-old had been a constant critic of the government, accusing it of being a puppet of the rulers in the small but wealthy Gulf state of Qatar, which Tunisia denies.


"Chokri Belaid was killed today by four bullets to the head and chest," Ziad Lakhader, a Popular Front leader, told Reuters.


The Interior Ministry said he had been gunned down by a man who fled on a motorcycle with an accomplice.


DENIES INVOLVEMENT


Prime Minister Jebali, a member of Ennahda, said the killers wanted to "silence his voice".


"The murder of Belaid is a political assassination and the assassination of the Tunisian revolution," he said.


Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi denied any involvement by his party in the killing. "Is it possible that the ruling party could carry out this assassination when it would disrupt investment and tourism?" Ghannouchi told Reuters.


He blamed those seeking to derail Tunisia's democratic transition: "Tunisia today is in the biggest political stalemate since the revolution. We should be quiet and not fall into a spiral of violence. We need unity more than ever," he said.


He accused secular opponents of stirring up sentiment against his party following Belaid's death. "The result is burning and attacking the headquarters of our party in many areas," he said.


Witnesses said crowds had also attacked Ennahda offices in Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia and Sfax.


French President Francois Hollande said he was concerned by the rise of violence in Paris's former dominion, where the government says al Qaeda-linked militants linked to those in neighboring countries have been accumulating weapons with the aim of creating an Islamic state.


"This murder deprives Tunisia of one of its most courageous and free voices," Hollande's office said in a statement.


Riccardo Fabiani, Eurasia analyst on Tunisia, described it as a "major failure for Tunisian politics".


"The question is now what is Ennahda going to do and what are its allies going to do?" he said. "They could be forced to withdraw from the government which would lead to a major crisis in the transition."


Marzouki warned last month that the conflict between Islamists and secularists could lead to civil war and called for a national dialogue that included all political groupings.


Ennahda won 42 percent of seats in a parliamentary election in 2011 and formed a government in coalition with two secular parties, the Congress for the Republic, to which President Marzouki belongs, and Ettakatol.


Marzouki's party threatened on Sunday to withdraw from the government unless it dropped two Islamist ministers.


(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)



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Jenny McCarthy New Talk Show Interview

While Jenny McCarthy has been acting since 1994, she's undoubtedly found bigger success when being herself. Whether it was as the host of MTV's Singled Out or the author of nine hugely successful novels, her intoxicating blend of no-holds-barred honesty and hilarious histrionics has earned her a loyal legion of fans.

Now, McCarthy hopes to dazzle her devotees with a new VH1 late night talk show, The Jenny McCarthy Show, premiering Friday at 10:30 p.m. But how will she stand out in the overcrowded marketplace? That was just one of the questions I posed when Jenny McCarthy rang me up for a chat!


ETonline: What excites you about this show?


Jenny McCarthy: I'm excited that it's actually different from everything else you've seen. If I were to compare it to anything, I'd say it's like Hugh Hefner's Playboy After Dark, which was a cool after-hours party. I've got a bartender, I've got go-go dancers, there's no script, there's no pre-interviews and the celebrities are in deep sh*t when I start asking questions. It's going to be really off the beaten path from what they're used to. I'm excited for people to see what I've worked so hard to attain at this stage in my life in terms of wisdom and life experiences.


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ETonline: Given your various books and columns, it feels like your fans have really been on that journey alongside you. Was that intentional?


McCarthy: Yeah. It was important for me to always be honest and out there. I feel like right from the get-go I made a point to stay true to who I am, to be honest, to be the girl who doesn't take herself too seriously and I always stuck with that even through the hard times when I wanted to be private. That brought me to where I am now, and I hold true to who I am to this day.


ETonline: You'll be talking about celebrities on your show. What's your take on the current state of celebrity?


McCarthy: I can tell you this, when I first moved out to LA I was hanging around a lot of Playmates and I really had to make a decision as to whether I wanted to keep going in this party-going world or stay focused on what I wanted. After a year, I purposely got into a relationship with a much older guy -- he was 45 when I was 21 -- because I wanted to stay home and not be distracted and get into the problems like Lindsay Lohan has. I mean, the same scene was there, we just didn't have the omnipresence of cameras. I knew back then that I would be tempted like everyone else, but I was going to stay home and watch Wheel of Fortune with my old man boyfriend until I could get a grip on what I was going to do.


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ETonline: When you look at the late night market, it's never been more competitive. How do you deliver on the promise of "different?"


McCarthy: A talk show is difficult because the formula is always the same: there's a host and there's guests. Really what you can change is only so much. So, I don't have any pre-interviews, which forces real conversation. Then, I have the guests out there for the entire 30 minutes. We have a pre-party, so it's a total party for 2 hours. I wanted go-go dancers. There are no sexy girls on TV anymore. What happened to the trampoline girls from The Man Show? I also have a very sexy man DJ and a very sexy man bartender right next to me, so I am pleasing all sexes and preferences.


ETonline: So you'll be drinking during the show?


McCarthy: Heavily, yes of course.


ETonline: Are you concerned about keeping yourself composed, or are you hoping to wake up and not remember the previous night's show?


McCarthy: [laughs] I'm kind of hoping that eventually does happen because it will be hilarious. But I also have to be sharp because when you're hosting a show, there's a lot of multi-tasking that needs to be done. All systems need to be working, but I am Irish and young and I like a cocktail.


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ETonline: Most people have a long list of the booze they can no longer drink after bad experiences. What are yours?


McCarthy: Bacardi was the first thing I was ever peer pressured into drinking when I was in 8th grade and threw up for 2 days, so I've never been able to drink that again. I've also discovered I'm allergic to beer and wine, so Vodka is kind of my only choice right now.


ETonline: Who are some of your dream guests?


McCarthy: To give you an example of the kind of oddity I want, a dream show would be Rebel Wilson and Tim Tebow. Me and Rebel and Tim Tebow would be a classic half-hour of television as we drink and play games.


ETonline: Besides oddity, what do you want people to get from your show?


McCarthy: 30 minutes of release. A relatable, entertaining time that doesn't make you feel like you need to take a shower afterwards. Just a good fun party that you're given VIP access to.


The Jenny McCarthy Show
premieres February 8 at 10:30 p.m.

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit


NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.


With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.


"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.


City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.


"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.


Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.


Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.


"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.


Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.


While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.


Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.


Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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S&P 500 gains more than 1 percent


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected earnings helped the outlook for profit growth while the Nasdaq also traded more than 1 percent higher.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 121.55 points, or 0.88 percent, at 14,001.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 16.25 points, or 1.09 percent, at 1,511.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 38.08 points, or 1.22 percent, at 3,169.25.


(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)



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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt


CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.


The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.


Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.


But the Shi'ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo's historic al-Azhar mosque and university.


Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a "sisterly Arab nation" and rejected the extension of Shi'ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.


Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be "a new starting point in relations between us".


However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.


"There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries," Shafai said.


"The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting ... did not serve the desired purpose."


The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.


"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.


He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.


Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.


OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES


At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.


Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.


Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies - that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran - that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.


"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.


Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.


"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.


Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.


"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."


Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.


Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.


Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo's mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.


(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)



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EU wants to tackle money laundering on gaming sites






BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union may try to counter money laundering through online betting sites by extending legislation beyond casinos to include Internet gambling.


The executive European Commission formally proposed on Tuesday to include online gaming in EU-wide legislation that seeks to combat fraud. It could become law within two years if approved by the EU’s 27 member countries.






The Commission said by currently only monitoring casinos, “other areas of gambling (are) vulnerable to misuse by criminals”.


The Commission also proposed reducing the permitted maximum for cash payments for goods and services to 7,500 euros ($ 10,200) from 15,000 euros and submitting shops and traders to a series of checks if they make or receive large payments.


About $ 1.6 trillion was laundered worldwide in 2009 – about 4 percent of the world’s economic output, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.


Online gambling is growing in popularity and companies such as Britain’s largest bookmaker, William Hill, and rivals SportingBet and Stanleybet, have benefited from the rise in demand, particularly for betting on sporting events.


But gaming firms have also protested against stricter regulation, with some countries such as Germany having increased controls on advertising, as well as limiting the amounts customers can gamble and increasing taxes on betting.


(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Nashville Sneak Peek Clip Elevator Hookup

Coming hot on the heels of their best episode to date, Nashville is turning up the heat even further this Wednesday with a brand new episode that forces Rayna to confront her feelings for Deacon -- and ETonline has a sneak peek of all the between-floors action!


RELATED - TV's 5 Hottest Elevator Hook-Ups

In I've Been Down That Road Before, Rayna is thrown for a loop now that Deacon has joined Juliette's band and can't help but think that maybe he'd be better off in her bed! Especially after the two share a steamy kiss in the elevator! WATCH!


RELATED - Does Nashville Have a Rayna Problem?


Nashville
airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.

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