Nation & World Digest: Pennsylvania girl wins long US spelling bee

Pa. girl wins long US spelling bee

OXON HILL, Md.

It went on and on and on. Five spellers who seemingly had memorized the entire dictionary simply could not be stumped with any word tossed their way. It was getting late, way past bedtime and well beyond the time slot allotted by ESPN.

Finally, after 21 consecutive spellings without a miss, one of them finally flubbed a word. Eventually, the others were gone — having heard the telltale bell of elimination — except for 14-year-old eighth grader Sukanya Roy of South Abington Township, Pa., who took home the trophy and the more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

Sukanya’s winning word was cymotrichous, which relates to wavy hair.

Food pyramid out; ‘My Plate’ is in

WASHINGTON

There’s a new U.S. symbol for healthful eating: The Agriculture Department unveiled “My Plate” on Thursday, abandoning the food pyramid that had guided many Americans but merely confused others.

The new guide is divided into four slightly different-sized quadrants, with fruits and vegetables taking up half the space and grains and protein making up the other half. The vegetables and grains portions are the largest of the four.

Gone are the old pyramid’s references to sugars, fats or oils. What was once a category called “meat and beans” is now simply “proteins,” making way for seafood and vegetarian options such as tofu. Next to the plate is a blue circle for dairy, which could be a glass of milk or a food such as cheese or yogurt.

Democrats silent on Weiner photo

WASHINGTON

Publicly silent, fellow Democrats privately seethed Thursday over the distraction and furor surrounding the lewd photo sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Twitter account, even as he declared he was finished talking about it and wanted to move on.

Weiner’s one-day, pun-laden media blitz a day earlier had only raised more questions about the embarrassing flap when he conceded he wasn’t sure whether the waist-down photo of a man’s bulging underpants was of him or not. His refusal to involve law enforcement because he said as a member of Congress he shouldn’t get special treatment — instead turning the issue over to a private security company he hired — raised rather than answered questions.

Battles continue in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD

Islamist militants who flowed out of Afghanistan fought a second day of fierce battles with Pakistani security forces Thursday in one of the deadliest clashes on the Pakistan side of the frontier in months. Authorities said 63 people were dead.

Associated Press