A Super Bowl Preview for People Who Don’t Know Football

Once a year, a lot of people are forced to pretend to care about football.

Some friend or partner with them drag them to a Super Bowl party, and although it may be worth it just to experience the expensive commercials, unhealthy eating, excess alcohol, the hilariously stupid halftime show, the Puppy Bowl or drunk people wear unattractive props, many people would rather spend three hours passing a stone than watching the actual game.

It's no wonder. Soccer lacks the artful, accessible flow of football or basketball, it's an inscrutable sport of course, hampered by sharp short game action comic (s according to the Wall Street Journal, only about 11 minutes of actual football is played during a football game, while a full 67 minutes airtime spent on the players stand around). The constant stoppages, mysterious and baffling terminology penalties (eg, "without prejudice to the quarterback") make this game one pain in the ass to watch for anyone who has not been taking for years.

Pope challenges China with HK bishop ordination

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI insisted Saturday on his exclusive right to ordain bishops as he consecrated a Chinese prelate in an implicit challenge to attempts by China's official church to ordain bishops without his approval.

Monsignor Savio Hon Tai-Fai, a 60-year-old Salesian prelate from Hong Kong recently named to the No. 2 spot in the Vatican's missionary office, was one of five bishops ordained by Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica.

His elevation comes amid a new low point in relations between the Holy See and Beijing over the Chinese state-backed church's ordination of bishops without papal consent.

Benedict didn't refer specifically to China in his homily but insisted in general on the duty and need for the pope to name bishops to ensure apostolic succession. He said one of the key jobs of a bishop is to ensure that there is an "uninterrupted chain of communion" with the apostles.

"You, my dear brothers, have the mission to conserve this Catholic communion," Benedict said. "You know that the Lord entrusted St. Peter and his successors to be the center of this communion, the guarantors of being in the totality of the apostolic communion and the faith."

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951 shortly after the communist seizure of power. Although only state-backed Catholic churches are recognized, millions of other Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.

Dialogue has been used to ease tensions, but a main sticking point has been the Chinese church's insistence that it - not the pope - has the right to appoint bishops. It maintains that Rome's position amounts to interference in its internal affairs.

Nuclear arms treaty being finalized in Munich

MUNICH (AP) -- The U.S. and Russia finalize a nuclear arms treaty Saturday, a key foreign policy goal of President Barack Obama that will limit the number of atomic warheads the two former Cold War foes are allowed to possess.

The New START treaty was approved by the U.S. Senate in December after Obama pressed strongly for its passage, and Russia ratified the deal last month.

The treaty goes into effect when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton exchanges the ratification papers with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

New START is a cornerstone of Obama's efforts to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia.

Clinton said that the treaty is "another example of the kind of clear-eyed cooperation that is in everyone's interests."

In addition to New START, she said the U.S. is in talks with Russia about how the two countries can work together to address issues that affect their common security, while maintaining strategic stability.

Egypt VP Target of Assassination Attempt That Killed Two Bodyguards, Sources Tell Fox News

Before becoming Egypt's vice president in late January,
Omar Suleiman was known for his strong-arm tactics as one
of the region's most feared and revered intelligence chiefs.

A failed assassination attempt on Egypt's vice president in recent days left two of his bodyguards dead, sources tell Fox News.

Such an attempt on the life of Omar Suleiman would mark an alarming turn in the uprising against the government of President Hosni Mubarak, who only recently named Suleiman as vice president in an effort to quell the unrest and possibly line up a successor.

A senior Obama administration official confirmed that the attack happened soon after Suleiman was appointed, on Jan. 29. The official described it as an organized attack on Suleiman's motorcade.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined to address the assassination reports when asked earlier by Fox News.

"I'm not going to ... get into that question," Gibbs said.

Clinton warns of "perfect storm" in Middle East

MUNICH (Reuters) - The Middle East faces a "perfect storm" of unrest and regional leaders must quickly enact real democratic reforms or risk even greater instability, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.

Clinton, speaking at a security conference in Munich, said lack of political reform, coupled with a growing young population and new Internet technologies, threatened the old order in a region crucial to U.S. security.

"The region is being battered by a perfect storm of powerful trends," Clinton said. "This is what has driven demonstrators into the streets of Tunis, Cairo, and cities throughout the region. The status quo is simply not sustainable."

Clinton's speech did not discuss in detail the political unrest in Egypt, which many analysts say is dominating discussions behind the scenes at the Munich conference which brings together a number of leaders, lawmakers and analysts.

But she underscored Washington's new public push for speedy political reform among its Middle East allies, which include not only Egypt and Jordan but global oil giant Saudi Arabia and Yemen, an impoverished state now central to the U.S.-led war against al Qaeda.

"This is not simply a matter of idealism; it is a strategic necessity. Without genuine progress towards open and accountable political systems, the gap between people and their governments will grow, and instability will only deepen. All of our interests will be at risk," she said.