Sarah Paulson Is Freaked Out by Her Own Show, American Horror Story

TV Watch

By Tim Nudd

01/24/2013 at 10:35 AM EST

Sarah Paulson, on American Horror Story

Michael Yarish/FX

It's a good thing American Horror Story wrapped up its second season Wednesday night. One of its stars, Sarah Paulson, can sleep a little easier now.

"I can't watch it at night and I'm on it," the Emmy-nominated actress, 38, tells the Associated Press.

"There are some people who like to be scared and I understand that, but I am not one of those individuals. I like to cozy up with a nice book and a bath and a teddy bear. I am not interested in being terrified before I go to sleep."

It's been a breakout year for the FX horror show, and for Paulson personally. One highlight was when Miley Cyrus, a fan of the show, started following Paulson on Twitter. "@MsSarahPaulson I can't WAIT a whole week until the next episode!" the pop star wrote at one point.

"That was pretty wild," Paulson tells the Huffington Post. "I think I tweeted her back like, 'Are you kidding? Did you follow me?' Miley Cyrus watches American Horror Story? I couldn't understand."

Paulson also earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her work on the HBO movie Game Change. She didn't win, but was still thrilled.

"It's okay to sit in the Golden Globe room and look around and think, 'Oh, Helen Mirren's a loser tonight, so is Nicole Kidman. Meryl Streep lost tonight. Jessica Lange didn't win.' If you're gonna be in the company of losers, that's the company to be in."

She adds: "I definitely have felt how wide-reaching this season has been in terms of people who have come up to me in restaurants and in New York, walking down the street. It's wild."

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Burger King drops supplier linked to horsemeat

LONDON (AP) — British and Irish burger fans could face a Whopper shortage. Burger King says it has stopped buying beef from an Irish meat processor whose patties were found to contain traces of horsemeat.

The fast food chain said in a statement Thursday that it had dropped Silvercrest Foods as a supplier for its U.K. and Ireland restaurants as a "voluntary and precautionary measure."

Last week Silvercrest, which is owned by ABP Food Group, shut down its production line and recalled 10 million burgers from supermarket shelves in Britain and Ireland after horse DNA was found in some beef products.

Burger King said the decision to drop the supplier "may mean that some of our products are temporarily unavailable." It stressed that "this is not a food safety issue."

The presence of horsemeat in beef is a sensitive issue in Britain and Ireland, which do not have a tradition of eating horses. The British tabloid The Sun reported the Burger King story under the headline "Shergar King," a reference to a famous racehorse.

Products from another Irish firm and one in Britain also were contaminated by horsemeat. Most had only small traces, but one burger of a brand sold by the British supermarket chain Tesco contained 29 percent horsemeat.

Irish food officials say an ingredient imported from an unspecified European country and used as filler in cheap burgers is the likely source of the horsemeat contamination.

Burger King says its patties are made from 100 percent beef.

Officials say the horsemeat poses no risk to human health, but the episode has raised food security worries.

More concern arose Thursday when lawmaker Mary Creagh, environment spokeswoman for Britain's opposition Labour Party, said that several horses slaughtered in the country last year had tested positive for phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory drug given to horses that can cause cancer in humans.

"It is possible that those animals entered the human food chain," she said.

The Food Standards Agency confirmed that meat from five horses had tested positive for the drug, but said none had been approved for sale in Britain. It said the relevant food safety authorities were informed in cases where the meat was exported to other countries.

The agency said no horsemeat in the current scandal contained phenylbutazone.

Very little horsemeat is sold in Britain but the country sends thousands of horses a year abroad to be killed for meat.

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Wall Street gains for seventh day, despite Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 surged through 1,500 on its seventh day of gains, underpinned by positive economic news, even as Apple shares slid nearly 11 percent following a revenue miss.

Apple Inc missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for a third straight quarter as iPhone sales were poorer than expected, fanning fears its dominance of consumer electronics is slipping. The shares dropped 10.9 percent to $457.94, wiping out about $50 billion of its market value.

Positive economic reports helped reverse the market's earlier declines. The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a five-year low, and factory activity in January neared a two-year high. It was the first time the S&P 500 had risen above 1,500 since December 12, 2007.

The domestic data chimed with those overseas showing growth in Chinese manufacturing accelerated to a two-year high this month and a buoyant Germany took the euro zone economy a step closer to recovery.

With signs the economy is improving, some investors are lauding the strength of the stock market as it shrugs off a significant slide in shares of Apple, the world's biggest company.

"The market has disconnected itself with Apple," said Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. "I think it shows great strength in the overall S&P."

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 76.46 points, or 0.55 percent, to 13,855.79. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.52 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,500.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 7.67 points, or 0.24 percent, to 3,146.00.

Apple's disappointing results drew a round of price-target cuts from brokerages. At least 14 brokerages, including Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, cut their price target on the stock by $142 on average. Morgan Stanley removed the stock from its 'best ideas' list.

Netflix Inc surprised Wall Street Wednesday with a quarterly profit after the video subscription service added nearly 4 million customers in the U.S. and abroad. Shares jumped nearly 40 percent.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer 3M Co reported a 3.9 percent rise in profit, meeting expectations, on solid growth in sales of its wide array of products, which range from Post-It notes to films used in television screens. The shares shed 0.6 percent.

Corporate earnings have helped drive the recent stock market rally. Thomson Reuters data through early Thursday showed that of the 133 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings, 66.9 percent have exceeded expectations, above the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

Investors in U.S.-based mutual funds pumped $9.32 billion into stock funds in the week ended January 16, the second consecutive week of inflows for such funds, data from the Investment Company Institute showed Wednesday.

Removing an element of political uncertainty from markets, the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a Republican plan to allow the federal government to keep borrowing money through mid-May, clearing it for fast enactment after the top Senate Democrat and White House endorsed it.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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The Lede Blog: Clinton Testifies on Benghazi Attacks

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Lede is following Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the American Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Mrs. Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.

As our colleagues Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt reported, four State Department officials were removed from their posts on last month after an independent panel criticized the “grossly inadequate” security at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

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Google Earnings Reveal Beginnings of a Facebook Problem on Search Revenue

Google beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter revenues of $ 14.42 billion, but the value of its ads continue to decline, an especially tricky problem with the company’s new search competition from Facebook. Google’s average cost-per-click decreased 6 percent from one year ago, meaning each ad it runs on its biggest business has less value than it did a year ago, continuing a fairly troubling trend for the search giant. It still managed to keep up its paid clicks by getting more and more people to use Google.

RELATED: Google Is Trying to Fix Its Targeted Ad Attitude Problem

Google has managed to offset the decline in click value with that kind of growth for almost a year now, but Facebook’s new Graph Search has the potential to offer users more personalized social-search results — and that could mean higher value for the ads next to them. How much longer can Google can maintain its delicate balance by sheer market power remains to be seen. The company is trying desperately to change its fate with a push for more Google+ integration, which would put advertisers closer to more personal Googling. But so far that hasn’t worked, if the earnings report is any indication. Google’s bet on volume will surely face a test from Facebook’s gamble on the future of social search, no matter what the rival CEOs are saying.

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Michelle Kwan Shed 'So Many Tears' on Wedding Day

01/23/2013 at 10:15 AM EST

Michelle Kwan and Clay Pell

Courtesy of Caitlin Maloney

As Michelle Kwan, dressed in a cascading veil and a classic ivory gown, walked down the aisle on Jan. 19, the figure skater was filled with the emotion of a bride on her wedding day.

"The whole energy came from family and friends," she says of the ceremony in Providence, R.I. "People were crying. There were so many tears shed, especially from me!"

Her new husband, White House staffer and Coast Guard Lieutenant Clay Pell, was also swept up in the moment. "As she was walking into the church, I could feel her," he tells PEOPLE. "I could feel this energy, this sense of grace and movement and comfort to me the whole time. This contentedness, whether we were holding hands, or hugging, or kissing – she has such warmth for me and I just felt this fire the whole day, and I still do."

Although not everything at the First Unitarian Church went as planned, the couple improvised. "The Christ candle didn't light because the wick had gone down," Kwan says. "We had both of our candles and everyone was staring at us, and we're like, 'It's not lighting!' So Clay took one of the matches and stuck it on there, we lit the match, and everyone started clapping. It turned out perfect."

After the couple walked through an arch of sabers formed by Pell's friends in the Coast Guard, they led guests in lighting sparklers before entering the Hope Club for dinner and dancing.

Olympic champion figure skater Brian Boitano, 49, spoke at the reception. "It was hard because I couldn't look at her too much because I get kind of emotional," Boitano tells PEOPLE. "It's like a little sister growing up. My brotherly instincts are on the high end for her! I think she's incredibly loyal and she is truly filled with so much grace on and off the ice."

Kwan, 32, and Pell, 31, who got engaged in September, chose "We've Only Just Begun" for their first dance. Kwan's sister Karen, 34, "tried to choreograph it," Pell says, "but we went off-script a little bit."

"We were having the time of our lives," Kwan says. "We were supposed to twirl but where the button goes to bustle my dress, it ripped off, but Clay loves to dance."

Turning to Pell, Kwan adds, "You danced like no one was watching, or people were watching but you didn't care because you were having the time of your life. I love that!"

For more on Kwan's wedding, including photos and all the details – from the dress to the decor – pick up a copy of next week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

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Foes of NYC soda size limit doubt racial fairness

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents of the city's limit on the size of sugary drinks are raising questions of racial fairness alongside other complaints as the novel restriction faces a court test.

The NAACP's New York state branch and the Hispanic Federation have joined beverage makers and sellers in trying to stop the rule from taking effect March 12. With a hearing set Wednesday, critics are attacking what they call an inconsistent and undemocratic regulation, while city officials and health experts defend it as a pioneering and proper move to fight obesity.

The issue is complex for the minority advocates, especially given obesity rates that are higher than average among blacks and Hispanics, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. The groups say in court papers they're concerned about the discrepancy, but the soda rule will unduly harm minority businesses and "freedom of choice in low-income communities."

The latest in a line of healthy-eating initiatives during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, the beverage rule bars restaurants and many other eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces. Violations could bring $200 fines; the city doesn't plan to start imposing those until June.

The city Board of Health OK'd the measure in September. Officials cited the city's rising obesity rate — about 24 percent of adults, up from 18 percent in 2002 — and pointed to studies linking sugary drinks to weight gain. Care for obesity-related illnesses costs more than $4.7 billion a year citywide, with government programs paying about 60 percent of that, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley.

"It would be irresponsible for (the health board) not to act in the face of an epidemic of this proportion," the city says in court papers. The National Association of Local Boards of Health and several public health scholars have backed the city's position in filings of their own.

Opponents portray the regulation as government nagging that turns sugary drinks into a scapegoat when many factors are at play in the nation's growing girth.

The American Beverage Association and other groups, including movie theater owners and Korean grocers, sued. They argue that the first-of-its-kind restriction should have gone before the elected City Council instead of being approved by the Bloomberg-appointed health board.

Five City Council members echo that view in a court filing, saying the Council is "the proper forum for balancing the city's myriad interests in matters of public health." The Bloomberg administration counters that the health board, made up of doctors and other health professionals, has the "specialized expertise" needed to make the call on limiting cola sizes.

The suit also argues the rule is too narrow to be fair. Alcohol, unsweetened juice and milk-based drinks are excluded, as are supermarkets and many convenience stores — including 7-Eleven, home of the Big Gulp — that aren't subject to city health regulations.

The NAACP and the Hispanic Federation, a network of 100 northeastern groups, say minority-owned delis and corner stores will end up at a disadvantage compared to grocery chains.

"This sweeping regulation will no doubt burden and disproportionally impact minority-owned businesses at a time when these businesses can least afford it," they said in court papers. They say the city should focus instead on increasing physical education in schools.

During Bloomberg's 11-year tenure, the city also has made chain restaurants post calorie counts on their menus and barred artificial trans fats in french fries and other restaurant food.

In general, state and local governments have considerable authority to enact laws intended to protect people's health and safety, but it remains to be seen how a court will view a portion-size restriction, said Neal Fortin, director, Institute for Food Laws and Regulations at Michigan State University.

___

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

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IBM's outlook lifts Dow, Nasdaq amid tech rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Wednesday as IBM and other tech companies continued a trend of results that beat Wall Street's expectations and propelled the market to a five-day advance.

Internet search company Google Inc added to the advance, rising 5.1 percent to $738.65 a day after Google reported its core business outpaced expectations. Revenue was also higher than expected.

International Business Machines Corp late Tuesday forecast better-than-anticipated 2013 results and also posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations. The results helped to allay concerns about the tech sector after Intel Corp gave a weak outlook last week. IBM, the world's largest technology services company, rose 3.8 percent to $203.57.

"Tech companies are really shattering expectations, which is obviously helping markets. There doesn't seem to be an end to this rally," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York.

But gains were limited in the S&P 500 a day after it closed at a level not seen since December 2007. Many investors were also holding off to see earnings from Apple Inc , the most valuable U.S. company which was due to report after the market closes.

McDonald's edged higher 0.2 percent to $93.11 after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter earnings, lifted by an increase in same-store sales. United Tech's earnings fell from the prior year, hurt by large restructuring charges. Shares edged up at $87.91.

On the downside, Coach Inc slumped 15 percent to $51.40 as the S&P's biggest percentage loser after reporting sales that missed expectations.

After the market closes, investors will scour Apple's results for signs the tech giant can continue to grow at an accelerated pace. The stock has been pressured recently by questions raised about demand for Apple's prospects. The stock has fallen 5 percent since the start of the year, compared with gains of 4.6 percent in the S&P 500. It rose 0.4 percent to $507.04 on Wednesday.

"If Apple comes out with a blockbuster number, that would reinforce the argument that stocks are poised to do well in the first part of 2013," Schoenberger said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 55.48 points, or 0.40 percent, at 13,767.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 0.06 points, or 0.00 percent, at 1,492.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 10.89 points, or 0.35 percent, at 3,154.06.

Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average hit five-year closing highs on Tuesday, with recent gains largely fueled by a strong start to the earning season.

According to the latest Thomson Reuters data, of the 74 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 62.2 percent have topped expectations, roughly even with the 62 percent average since 1994, but below the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.

Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings rose 2.6 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast from the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast from October 1, the data showed.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives aim on Wednesday to pass a bill to extend the U.S. debt limit by nearly four months, to May 19. The White House welcomed the move, saying it would remove uncertainty about the issue.

The debt limit issue has hung over the market for weeks, with many investors worried that if no deal is reached to raise the limit, it could have a negative impact on the economy.

(Editing by W Simon and Kenneth Barry)

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IHT Rendezvous: Two Views on Liberal Arts

This week, the IHT education section takes a look at the liberal arts, the largely North American education system that emphasizes a broad base of learning. It is slowly making inroads in Europe and Asia, where university courses have traditionally been more narrowly focused.

In Hong Kong, I met with Rebecca Chopp, the president of Swarthmore College, a top liberal arts colleges in the United States. Professor Chopp was on a whirlwind Asia tour that also included Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai and Suzhou, China. Like most college presidents on the road, she was there to visit alumni, raise funds and recruit students. She was also in a position to explain the pluses of a liberal arts education in a region where it’s still a foreign concept. She said:

“Liberal arts is founded on a whole person, developing a person athletically and academically. Liberal arts is going international. The 21st century is one of entrepreneurship and innovation. There will not be fixed careers. The liberal arts teaches you to think outside the box.”

Here’s a tidbit that didn’t make it into my article: The first semester for every student at Swarthmore is pass/fail. You cannot get an A (or a D, for that matter). Professor Chopp was frank about her own less-than-stellar academic beginnings, so maybe she is particularly forgiving of freshmen who are finding their way. She said that this system encouraged risk-taking — not something all academically driven students are wont to do. With a pass/fail system an aspiring doctor can try an art class, with no fear that it will bring down his or her grade-point average, or an artist can try a science class.

Speaking of doctors, Professor Chopp addressed a common (and inaccurate) worry about the liberal arts: that they lead to impractical degrees in obscure subjects that don’t lead to good careers. She points out that Swarthmore graduates who apply to medical school have a higher-than-average chance of getting in (81 percent).

A private liberal arts college in the U.K.?

In London, D.D. Guttenplan visited the leafy campus of Regent’s College, which is something of an anomaly in Britain. Once it gets government approval, probably next month, Regent’s will be only the second private university in the country (after the University of Buckingham).

Regent’s is also different because it is structured something like a U.S. liberal arts college – with a looser curriculum, small-group teaching, points for speaking up in class and a very international student body. (Only 15 percent come from Britain.)

Lawrence Phillips, who heads Regent’s American College (one of its specialist schools), said in an interview:

“I came here out of specific concerns about the narrowness of British universities, producing business graduates who can’t write and historians who can’t count.”

Mr. Guttenplan also spoke to foreign students like Lisa Marie Nyvoll, who said, “In Norway, you only study a single subject, and I wanted something more flexible.” You can read the full article here.

The liberal arts model is shaped like an inverted pyramid — broad on top, and then tapering down to a point. The traditional European or Asian model is shaped like a telescope — narrow and focused all the way through.

By the middle of high school, most European or Asian students have chosen their field of study and are taking courses and exams that will get them into their desired course. Meanwhile, there are 19-year-olds in America still debating whether they want to major in chemistry and minor in music. Many students and parents I meet in Europe and Asia are surprised to hear that some American students don’t declare their majors until the end of their second year – about half-way through their four-year degrees.

Do private U.S.-style colleges have a place in Britain, which has its own proud academic culture? Which system better prepares students for the real world? One that gives students three years of intense study in one field? Or one that takes four years to produce literate scientists and numerate writers?

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Canada wants RIM organic growth, may have to review handset sale

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government wants BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to continue to be a global leader and grow organically, and Ottawa may have to review a future sale of its handset business, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said on Tuesday.

“We hope to see RIM remain a global leader and player, and make sure it grows organically,” Paradis told Reuters by phone from Germany, where he is meeting with industrial leaders.

He also said the government did not intend at present to open up Canada’s telecommunications sector further to foreign investment.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer Editing by W Simon)

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