April 2, 2012

Monday, April 2, 2012

On December 18, 2007, the UnitedNations General Assembly adoptedresolution 62/139, tabled by theState of Qatar, which declares April2 as World Autism Awareness Day(WAAD) in perpetuity. Her High-ness Sheikha Mozah Bint NasserAl-Missned, Consort of His High-ness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State ofQatar, supported the campaign for aWorld Autism Awareness Daythrough the current 62nd UN Gen-eral Assembly Session, garneringconsensus support from all UnitedNations Member States.

This UN resolution is one ofonly three official health-specificUnited Nations Days and will bringthe world's attention to autism, a per-vasive disorder that affects tens ofmillions. The World Autism Aware-

ness Day resolution encour-ages all Member States totake measures to raiseawareness about autismthroughout society and toencourage early diagnosisand early intervention. Itfurther expresses deep con-cern at the prevalence andhigh rate of autism in chil-dren in all regions of theworld and the consequentdevelopmental challenges.

World Autism Aware-ness Day shines a brightlight on autism as a growingglobal health crisis. WAADactivities help to increaseand develop world knowl-

edge of the autism epidemic andimpart information regarding theimportance of early diagnosis andearly intervention. Additionally,WAAD celebrates the unique tal-ents and skills of persons withautism and is a day when individu-als with autism are warmly wel-comed and embraced in communityevents around the globe.

By bringing together autism or-ganizations all around the world,we will give a voice to the millionsof individuals worldwide who areundiagnosed, misunderstood andlooking for help.

Thank you for celebrating thewonderful people in our lives af-fected by autism on April 2 andthroughout April which is AutismAwareness Month.

Today is World AutismAwareness Day

For more than a decade,Aruban-born world travelerDr. Carlos M. Viana, OMD(China), CCN, better knownas “The Barefoot Doctor,”has been bringing his philos-ophy of holistic healing andwellness to islanders, manyof them considering him a“miracle worker” when con-ventional methodology hadpresented no relief.

Such a one was lawyerand parliamentarian AndinBikker, who testified to hispersonal successful treatmentfor extreme back pain whenordinary practitioners hadbombarded with painkillersbut offered no lasting, sub-stantive solution. He wasproud to introduce Dr. Vianafor launching of his newestbook during an elegant affairaround the pool of the DiviMega-All Inclusive Resort onFriday evening at sunset.

A modest gathering offriends and particularly sup-porters of Dr. Viana were re-galed with the story of hisstruggle to have proceduressuch as acupuncture and theprescription of proper diet,exercise and natural dietarysupplements essential in

treating many ailments,which had stumped doctors.His clinic in Kibaima hasbuilt a steady patronage, andDr. Viana’s position in thecommunity is now well es-tablished after initial skepti-cism and resistance; for thishe ardently credits the sup-port and love of his wife,“Soul Mate” Phyllis andsons, Julio and Fernando.

Receiving inscribed, com-plimentary copies of the bookwas a group of individualswho had heartily supportedhim in his efforts to bring theconcepts of natural wellnesscare and biocompatible medi-cine to Aruba, including Ed-ward Oduber of OduberAgencies, his editor, EllenKleiner, the management of

Botica Servicio, Dr. Ro-driguez, who is working withhim on a study of the localpopulation, Dentist HankMarsman, who partners withhim for biocompatible den-tistry, and in particular, JohnChemaly, Sr. publisher of BonDia, who had the vision to pro-vide Dr. Viana with a forum byencouraging him to write aweekly column for his paper.

Eventually, these hundredsof articles were collated byParvati Markus and “incu-bated…into a cohesive man-uscript.” The result,“Prescriptions from Para-dise,” is, in Dr. Viana’s words,“a guide for the layman in un-derstanding the terms andtechniques of biocompatiblemedical treatment.”

Organized in alphabeticalorder it spans a universe ofcommon ailments and under-standing the causes and howto prevent them. The doctor’slively and concise writingstyle makes such a dry subjectfascinating and entertaining.

The presence of Aruba’sMinister of Public Health &Sport, Dr. Richard Visser, todemonstrate his belief in theimportance of the book andits message was particularlygratifying to Dr. Viana,demonstrating how far the is-land has come in officiallyrecognizing alternative, ho-listic treatment and wellnesscare as a viable solution formany of the ills that plaguethe community.

Continued on pg 4

Dr. Carlos Viana Launches his latest book:

“Prescriptions from Paradise” -Introduction to Biocompatible

Medicine”

Dr. Viana with wife Phyllis

2 Monday, April 2, 2012

With the last court case wonhands down, the Aruba gov-ernment is now legally free todo business with new candi-dates interested in the defunctBushiri Hotel complex.

On Wednesday, March28th the Judge pronouncedthe sentence in the case ofBaron Investment LCC ver-sus the government of Aruba.Plaintiff in this case (Baron)urged the Court to prohibitthe government of Aruba tobequeath the property of thedefunct Bushiri Hotel to anyother party and to continuenegotiating with Baron or besued for damages for non-compliance. However, muchto the chagrin of Baron In-vestment LCC, the Judgeruled in favor of the govern-ment of Aruba and dismissedall the demands made byBaron.

Baron Investment is theGroup that qualified in sec-ond place in the Public Ten-der submitted by the formergovernment administration in2007. The current govern-ment administration had at-tempted to reach anagreement with the BaronGroup for acquiring theBushiri Hotel complex be-fore they had submitted anew Public Tender. This re-

portedly failed for a numberof viable reasons. Baron In-vestment consequently re-fused to accept thegovernment’s position on thematter and filed a court case.The Judge, however, de-clared that Baron Investmenthas no legal rights to obligethe government because theprocess that the governmenthad pursued with them wastransparent and correct.

Several weeks ago Fres-nos, the Group that the previ-ous government administrationhad negotiated with for the re-construction of the BushiriHotel complex, also lost theircase in Court which they in-timated against the govern-ment of Aruba. Fresnos hadthe full support of the previ-ous government and evenhad the former Minister ofTourism to testify in theirfavor in a court of law.

As it now stands, afterBaron Investment and Fres-nos both lost their cases inCourt, the government ofAruba can now proceed withtheir negotiations with otherparties for the new project forthe Bushiri complex.

This week the governmentreceived the advice they an-ticipated from the president ofthe commission regarding the

two remaining groups whohave indicated serious interestin acquiring and operating theformer Bushiri Hotel. It is ex-pected that by the end of thisyear the ruins of the defunctBushiri complex will becleaned up and we will beginto see construction takingplace to renew the facilitiesand return the complex towhat it was in the past.

The government’s visionis to return Bushiri to the suc-cess it once enjoyed as atraining center coupled to ahotel offering our people theopportunity to receive ‘on-the-job’ training. Aruba mustagain become (it was thisduring the years 1983 to 2003under the expert leadership ofDr. Tony Green who was Di-rector of the training schoolfrom its inception), the in-strument for exporting ourknowledge of the hotel andtourism industry.

There are currently sev-eral International institutionsinterested in the trainingschool. One of the conditionsof the project is that the oper-ator must invest at least 10million dollars in developinga training center on the com-plex or elsewhere.

By September or Octoberconstruction must havebegun on a new hotel at thesite which will contribute tothe upgrading of the entirearea and provide the areawith a brand new appeal forAruba and for practicallyevery tourist who goes bythat complex.

Aruba is drawing closer toa positive end to the ugly andsore eyed debris of the de-funct Bushiri Hotel complex.Revival is, indeed, brewingfor a new Bushiri on the L.G.Smith Blvd.’s entrance to-wards the rest of the beautifulspread of our hotel plant.

Revival brewing for thedefunct Bushiri Hotel and

school

Book the date for a veryspecial lecture by Dr. EfratTamar Kedem, Ph.D, fromIsrael!

THE MIRACLE OFMENASHE'S LOSTTRIBE-FROM NORTH-EASTERN INDIA TO IS-RAEL

The lecture will describethe Bnei Menashe commu-nity, one of the Ten Lost

Tribes of Israel that wereexiled more than 27 cen-turies ago.

DATE: Tuesday, April3rd. at 7:00 p.m.

PLACE: Beth IsraelSynagogue - A. Lacle Blvd.# 2, Oranjestad

This lecture is free andopen to the public

For more info callPhone: 582 3272

Special lecture by Dr.Efrat Tamar Kedem fromIsrael on April 3!

Mrs. Smita Purushottam,Ambassador of India in Cara-cas spent two days, March 27and 28, on Aruba duringwhich she took the time tovisit Aruba’s Prime MinisterMike Eman.

Purpose for the visit toAruba’s PM was to exploreideas for the possibilities forcooperation between Indiaand Aruba as she embarks onher tenure of service in Cara-cas. Mrs. Smita Purushottambegan her tenure of service asAmbassador in Caracas at thebeginning of this year, Janu-ary 2012. She will serve athree-year tenure as Ambas-sador of India in Caracas.

Among the topics dis-cussed with Aruba’s PM wasthe possibility for usingAruba as a stepping stone to

India in this region for amongothers, pharmaceutical busi-nesses (medicine from Indiaapproved by the USA FDA),and to become a center oftraining on advanced technol-ogy and innovation. She alsodiscussed the posibility forbringing an Indian commer-cial delegation to Aruba. TheIndian Ambassador was visi-bly impressed with the dy-namism of the island ofAruba and its people.

Mrs. Purushottam was ac-companied by Anjani Kumarfrom the Indian Embassy inCaracas, Ramchand Boolc-hand, the Honorary Consul ofIndia in Aruba, PrakashGupta of the local IndianCommunity, and PeterDavidse of the Department ofExternal Relations here.

Ambassador of Indiavisits Aruba’s PM

Monday, April 2, 2012 3

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Teenaction film phenomenon "TheHunger Games" stayed on topof the North American box of-fice for a second weekend, eas-ily outsmarting Greek godsand Snow White, industry es-timates showed Sunday.

The movie, which openedwith a record $152.5 millionlast weekend, has surged to atotal of $250 million in just 10days in theaters, Exhibitor Re-lations said on its website. Itmade $60 million this week-end.

The movie is based on abook for young adults bySuzanne Collins, in which ateenage girl played by Eliza-beth Banks fights to win adeath match TV reality showin a post-apocalyptic world.

In distant second place wasnew film "Wrath of the Titans"with $36 million.

A contemporary take on theSnow White fairy tale, "MirrorMirror" also had a disappoint-ing opening, with $22 million.Julia Roberts plays an evilqueen who seizes control of akingdom, while its exiledprincess Lily Collins seeks thehelp of seven rebels to regainher realm.

In fourth were the youthfulpolicemen of 1980s remake"21 Jump Street," which pulledin $15 million for its thirdweekend in theaters.

Fifth was the animated film"Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" with a$9 million weekend take and$190 million in the bank afterfour weekends on the bigscreen.

The Disney critical flop --and huge loss-maker -- "JohnCarter" came in sixth, with$2.25 million in its fifth week-end in theaters.

New release "Salmon Fish-ing in the Yemen," grabbed$1.75 million to land in sev-enth.

In eighth came "Act ofValor," a war film starring ac-tive duty US Navy SEALs,with $1.5 million in receipts.

"Project X," came in ninthafter snatching $1 million.

Rounding out the top 10was the Eddie Murphy com-edy "A Thousand Words," alsoearning an estimated $1 mil-lion.

'HungerGames' boxoffice king forsecond week


“Prescriptions from Para-dise” is now available atViana Healing Center and allbook stores, Gift shops andquality Health Centers. OnSaturday, April 7, Dr. Vianawill be joining the activitiesof the Book Week at Brunabookstore at 3:30 PM for abook signing. It is also avail-able on Amazon.com, whereit can also be downloaded on

Kindle. Dr. Viana is wellknown as an entertaining andinformative speaker; he canbe contacted via VibrationsPR Company. Follow hisschedule for speaking en-gagements and presentationsat www.vianaheal.com andall are welcome to join thediscussion on Facebook page:www.facebook.com/prescrip-tionsformparadise.

By Rosalie Klein

Dr. Carlos Viana Launches his latest book...Continued from pg 1

Recently ARZU Aruba, cus-tomized jewelry store waschosen to participate in theInternational Fashion Weekin Miami. This event tookplace from March 21st –24th.

ARZU designer Mrs.

Candy Rasmijn-Reino expressedthat the collec-tion presented byARZU was ahuge success.“This collectionwas of a uniquedesign, wheredifferent fabricswere mixed withstones, leatherand metal, whilefollowing thecolor trends ofthe season.” De-signers present atthe event alsohad the opportu-nity to inter-change ideaswith their peersfrom all aroundthe globe.

ARZU wasalso covered ex-tensively by thepress, such asVanidades, Fash-ion TV, In Style

and Noticiero NTN. Candy also received a full

day of training in color trendsin the fashion world and alsoon how to market a newbrand such as ARZU.

ARZU is situated at thePaseo Herencia (facing theLiberty Wall). But Candy ex-pressed that thru God’s Will

they hope to open one morestore on Aruba and two inter-national stores, with Miamiand New York in mind.

As of March 31st the col-lection used at the expositionat Fashion Week is availableat ARZU.

“Everyone is welcome todrop in and admire and pur-chase this beautiful collec-tion,” Candy stated.

ARZU participates at FashionWeek Miami

Candy (R) poses with amodel wearing her de-signs

Checking out an ARZU piece

Part of the collection by ARZU

Dr. Viana and all book recipients

With John Chemali With Andin Bikker

With Minister of Health,

Richard Visser


Last Wednesday evening autodealer Hans Schnog was hostto a VIP fet for invitees whocame to view the set of newHybrid automobiles now onsale in the Garage Cordiashowroom. According to ob-servers, the beauty of thepack is the Camry fullquipped. All the autos to besold at the Garage Cordiadealership will be “green”cars henceforth.

For the special ocassion,Mr. Chris Cooper, represen-tative of the Toyota Companyin Miami was one of the in-vited guests who also sharedsome words with the group.Cooper indicated that Aruba

is the first market in theCaribbean to introduce Hy-brid autos in such a largescale. He claimed that this isobviously due to the govern-ment’s reduction in the im-port duty tariffs for “Green”products.

Said reduction makesthese autos less expensive fora large group of people on theisland. Cooper remarked thatthe people of Aruba deservesto be applauded for taking al-ternative energy so seriouslyand for their serious concernfor the environment of Aruba.

Cooper is convinced thatthe Hybrid cars are just per-fect and fits in perfectly with

the strategy for a “green” so-ciety.

Mr. Cooper also explainedthat they imported three Hy-brid autos for this inaugura-tion of the Hybrid genre ofvehicles, but that severalmore are on their way toAruba.

Every month more Hy-brids will be coming to Arubaso as to create continuity.Chris Cooper said that he wasenchanted with Aruba andhas visited the island some 20times already. He hopes to beback for Aruba’s famous andsuccessful “Green Confer-ence.”

Thanks to reduced importduties, new “Green” carsare cheaper

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Vice President Joe Biden saidSunday President BarackObama "stated the obvious"when he assured Russia'spresident he would havemore flexibility to deal withmissile defense after US elec-tions.

In an interview with CBS's"Face the Nation," Biden dis-missed Republican criticismof Obama's remarks to Presi-dent Dmitry Medvedev inSeoul on Monday, whichwere caught on an open mi-crophone.

"Look... the president juststated the obvious," Bidensaid.

"The idea that in this elec-tion year we're going to beable to deal with an agree-ment with the Russians on

further reducing our nucleararsenals in the environmentthat we have in... Congressright now is difficult."

In their last meeting beforeVladimir Putin is inauguratedpresident in May, Obama toldMedvedev that it was impor-tant for Russia to give him"space" on all issues, but par-ticularly missile defense.

Romney, the frontrunnerto become the Republicannominee to run againstObama in November elec-tions, also attacked Obamafor congratulating Putin onhis victory in recent presiden-tial elections, polls that ac-tivists said had irregularities.

The former Massachusettsgovernor "acts like he thinksthe Cold War's still on,"Biden said.

Obama 'stated the obvious'

in Russia remarks: Biden

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Westernand Arab nations called Sun-day for Syria's Bashar al-Assad to be given a deadline tomeet the terms of a peace planas fresh clashes in a year-longuprising claimed another 40lives.

An international conferencein Istanbul by "Friends ofSyria" countries also urged theUnited Nations to act to stopthe violence, but steered clearof backing opposition appealsfor arms to fight the regimeclampdown.

In a final declaration, theconference urged Syria medi-ator Kofi Annan "to determinea timeline for next steps, in-

cluding a return to the UN Se-curity Council, if the killingcontinues."

"The regime will bejudged by its deeds ratherthan its promises. The win-dow of opportunity for theregime to implement its com-mitments to joint specialenvoy Annan is not open-ended," it added.

The gathering brought to-gether the Arab League andcountries such as the UnitedStates, France and Germany.

Assad on Tuesday said heaccepted the plan proposedby Annan. But this has notstopped the shelling of oppo-sition strongholds.

The six-point peace plancalls for an end to violence, adaily two-hour humanitarian

ceasefire and access to allareas affected by fighting, aswell as an inclusive Syrian-ledpolitical process, the right todemonstrate, and the release ofpeople detained arbitrarily.

The Istanbul gathering,which followed one in Tunis inlate February, came amid con-tinuing fighting on the groundas Damascus said it had no im-mediate plans to pull back itsforces.

Conference host Turkeywarned the world would haveno choice but to recognise Syr-ians' right to take up arms ifthe UN fails to act.

"If the United Nations Se-curity Council refrains from

taking on the responsibility,the international communitywill have no chance but to ac-cept Syrians' right to self-de-fence," Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan said as heopened the conference.

US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton criticisedAssad's regime for launchingnew assaults just days after ac-cepting the Annan plan.

"Nearly a week has goneby, and we have to concludethat the regime is adding to itslong list of broken promises,"she said, adding that Assadwas "mistaken" if he thoughthe could defeat the oppositionagainst him.

Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi urged conference partic-ipants to demand that the UNSecurity Council pass a bind-ing decision to stop the vio-lence.

Ahead of the gathering,Assad's regime declared vic-tory over rebels and againvoiced support for Annan'splan, but kept up its shelling ofrebel positions and said it hadno plans to immediately with-draw troops.

The "Friends of Syria"meeting recognised the oppo-sition Syrian National Councilas the "legitimate representa-tive" of all Syrians and the"leading interlocutor for theopposition with the interna-tional community."

SNC chief Burhan Ghaliounsaid this meant that "the gov-ernment has now become ille-gitimate."

A leading Syrian rebelmeanwhile hit out at the confer-ence for avoiding the issue ofarming the insurgents, sayingsuch meetings "prolonged" thelife of Assad's regime.

The SNC on Saturday re-newed calls for arming rebels,but the final statement of the Is-tanbul conference did not makeany reference to the pleas.

late August to get the nod atthe Republican party's con-vention.

Santorum, who has rackedup 11 victories but has lessthan half Romney's numberof all-important Republicandelegates, said Sunday hewas determined to fight ondespite Republican efforts toanoint his rival.

A fervent Catholic andstrong critic of abortion andgay rights who is popularwith evangelicals, the formerPennsylvania senator againurged voters to back him in-stead of Romney.

Romney has begun focus-ing almost exclusively on hislikely battle against Obama.

In a campaign speech onFriday in Wisconsin, he didn'tmention his Republican ri-vals once, opting instead tohighlight his and the presi-dent's "fundamentally differ-ent visions for America."

Biden, meanwhile, laidinto Romney, brushing off hisattacks on Obama's handlingof the economy.

Romney's two other oppo-nents in the Republican race-- former House of Represen-tatives speaker Newt Gin-grich and TexasCongressman Ron Paul onSunday said they were notgoing to quit, despite length-ening odds.

Paul, who has no victories,when asked if he would con-tinue, added: "Obviously,yes."

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Senior Republicans on Sun-day pushed the "overwhelm-ing" case for Mitt Romney tobe crowned the party's presi-dential election nominee, buthis main rival Rick Santorumvowed to fight on.

The White House signaledthat it, too, sees Romney asthe likely Republican chal-lenger in November withVice President Joe Biden de-voting an entire television in-terview to an attack on theformer Massachusetts gover-nor.

Three months into a bit-terly fought Republican racefor the nomination, Romneyis the clear frontrunner andpolls suggest he will winthree more primaries Tuesday-- in Wisconsin, Marylandand the US capital Washing-ton.

McConnell the Republicanleader in the Senate,did notexplicitly endorse Romneybut suggested that the partyshould follow the lead of for-mer president George H.W.Bush and Congressman PaulRyan, a leading Republicanand representative for Wis-consin, who did.

Romney, who has won 21out of 34 nominating contestsso far, is polling ahead ofSantorum in Wisconsin.

But unless Romney canclinch the 1,144 delegatesneeded for the nomination --he currently has 565 -- hecould be forced to wait until


Romney nominationpush by Republicanleaders

International News

'Friends of Syria' tightenscrews on Damascus regime

from L to R Santorum - Romney - Gingrich and Paul

US Secretary of State HillaryClinton Says Syrian PresidentAssad 'Must Go'

and forced more than 5,000 totake shelter in evacuation cen-tres.

With roads to the interna-tional airport in Nadi cut offand extreme weather expectedto continue until Tuesday, offi-cials asked airlines not to bringin any more tourists until Mon-day at the earliest.

"This action is being reluc-tantly taken by the Fijian gov-

NATADOLA-FIJI (AFP) -Flood-ravaged Fiji declared astate of emergency Sunday andwarned tourists to stay awayfor the time being, as heavyrain and high winds continuedto pound the South Pacific na-tion.

Officials said they couldnot guarantee visitors' safety inthe wake of flash floods thathave killed at least two people

Spain, Lamelas : Two firemen try to extinguish a fireburning near the village of Lamelas, close to A Capela,in the northwestern Galicia region, on April 1, 2012. A firestill active in the Fragas do Eume wildlife park in Galiciahas burned over 500 hectares, while in the neighboringregion of Asturias 28 forest fires continue to burn.

AFP PHOTO


ernment to ensure the safetyand convenience of interna-tional visitors and Fijian citi-zens seeking to return to Fiji,"Tourism Minister AiyazSayed-Khaiyum said.

The request is believed tobe unprecedented for tourist-dependent Fiji.

National carrier Air Pacificsaid it had cancelled all in-bound flights scheduled forSunday and was operatingonly limited outbound flightsfor passengers who had al-ready checked in at Nadi air-port.

Airports Fiji Limited chiefexecutive Tony Gollin saidhundreds of international pas-sengers were at the airportawaiting departure.

Many more have been un-able to reach the airport, in thewest of the main island VitaLevu, after fallen trees, land-slides and swollen rivers cutroad access.

The government declared astate of emergency in flood-af-fected areas, saying the movewould make coordinatingflood relief more effective.

"It's all about efficiency, al-lowing all parties to just go inthere and get going," a govern-ment spokeswoman said.

Police and the militarywere helping coordinate clean-up efforts but the ferociousweather meant that in someareas makeshift repairs todamaged homes were tornapart almost as soon as theywere completed.

The entire centre of Nadiwas declared off limits to thepublic because police said theforce of water running throughthe streets after the town's riverburst its banks threatened tosweep people away.

The latest flood disastercomes after a six-day deluge inJanuary claimed 11 lives.

Flood-hit Fiji declares stateof emergency

International News

by-elections, in which a totalof 45 seats were at stake -- notenough to threaten the army-backed ruling party's huge ma-jority in parliament.

US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton, in Istanbul fora meeting of the "Friends ofSyria" group, said Washingtonwas committed to supportingthe nascent reforms in Myan-mar that have been cautiouslywelcomed by the West.

Observers believe Myan-mar's new quasi-civilian gov-ernment wanted Suu Kyi towin a place in parliament toburnish its reform credentialsand smooth the way for an eas-ing of Western sanctions.

A European Union officialinvited to observe the votehailed "very encouraging"signs at the roughly dozenpolling stations her team vis-ited.

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar'sopposition claimed a historicvictory on Sunday for pro-democracy leader Aung SanSuu Kyi in her first bid for aseat in parliament, sparkingscenes of jubilation amongsupporters.

Thousands of peopleclapped and cheered outsideSuu Kyi's National League forDemocracy (NLD) headquar-ters in Yangon after the partyannounced the Nobel PeacePrize laureate had won a par-liamentary seat after by-elec-tions.

Some people danced in thestreet while others wept withjoy at the news, which if con-firmed would mark a stunningturnaround for the former po-litical prisoner, who waslocked up by the former juntafor most of the past 22 years.

Suu Kyi won an estimated99 percent of the votes inKawhmu constituency, accord-ing to NLD official Soe Win,based on the party's own tally.There was no independentconfirmation and official re-sults were expected within aweek.

The party also claimed itwas on course to win all 44seats it contested in Sunday's

Myanmar oppositionclaims landmark SuuKyi win

SANAA : A Yemeni child cries while receiving measlesvaccine during the second phase of vaccination cam-paign in the capital Sanaa on March 31, 2012. Healthworkers planned to protect 1.5 million kids living in theareas worst affected by the outbreak in the first phase ofthe campaign earlier this month as 26,000 volunteersstarted the second phase to vaccinate another 6.8 mil-lion kids. AFP PHOTO

cated to "informing" peoplewho want to end their ownlives.

More and more Dutchvoices are being raised in sup-port of a right to claim assis-tance to die with dignity after"an accomplished life" and notjust when the requirements bylaw for euthanasia are ful-filled.

A citizens' initiative called"An Accomplished Life"which supports the idea, hasalready gathered more than117,000 signatures, more thanthe 40,000 required for a de-bate in the Dutch parliament,which was held in earlyMarch.

Even with the country's lib-eral laws on euthanasia, a doc-tor still has the final saywhether the criteria have beenfulfilled for assisted suicide.

A book titled "Solution"written by Dutch psychiatristBowdewijn Chabot and pub-lished in February 2010, ex-plained how people could endtheir lives .

Some 11,000 copies havebeen sold since.

ENSCHEDE (AFP) - With adeadly dose of barbituratesstashed in his home in a smalleastern Dutch town, pensionerHans Hillebrand is a "self-de-terminist": he alone wants todecide when it's time to diewith dignity.

"I want to do it myself, tobe responsible for it myself,"the former business manager,78, told AFP he was still perkyand alert, loved tending hisflower garden, listening toopera and reading.

But the day he loses his in-dependence and the ability toparticipate in village life willbe the day to consider "goingaway." "I shall be the directorof my own final scene," hesaid.

Hillebrand is one of a grow-ing number of aging Dutchpeople who prefer to maketheir own decisions aboutwhen and where to die -- andin a dignified way.

"Senior citizens today liketo decide things for them-selves, more than previousgenerations," said Ton Vink ofDe Einder (The Ender inDutch), an organisation dedi-

not be printed without heavyedits of key details to preventthe work from being repli-cated.

A subsequent meeting of fluexperts in Geneva came to theopposite conclusion and urgedthe prestigious journals Sci-ence and Nature to print themas planned, but agreed cautionwas needed and backed a tem-porary halt to further research.

At the latest NSABB meet-ing, experts agreed unani-mously that the Wisconsinteam's research should be pub-lished in full, as planned by theBritish journal Nature.

Meanwhile, Fouchier hasinsisted that the mutant virus isnot as lethal as the public hasbeen led to believe, and urgedits publication so that scientistscan prepare remedies shouldsuch a variant arise in nature.

Bird flu is believed to killmore than half the people it in-fects, making it much morelethal than typical strains ofthe seasonal virus.


Health & Living

tween ferrets -- over fears itcould end up in the wronghands and unleash a deadly flupandemic.

After meeting to review thelatest details on March 29-30,the experts saw "new evidencehas emerged that underscoresthe fact that understandingspecific mutations may im-prove international surveil-lance and public health andsafety.

The NSABB faced criti-cism after it ruled unanimouslyin December that a pair of US-funded studies, one by a teamfrom Wisconsin and the otherled by Netherlands-based sci-entist Ron Fouchier, should

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Apanel of US science and secu-rity experts on Friday said twopapers on a mutant bird flushould be published after all,reversing its earlier decision towithhold key details.

The announcement cameafter the latest research and re-visions to the papers led by aDutch and a US team of scien-tists were reviewed by the non-governmental US NationalScience Advisory Board forBiosecurity (NSABB).

The US experts had previ-ously opposed publishing theresearch -- which showed howan engineered H5N1 flu viruscould pass easily in the air be-

US experts give nod to publishmutant bird flu studies

Dutch pensioner's decision:when to die with dignity

In a twist to this year'sEarth Hour, Dutch astronautAndre Kuipers was to ob-serve from the InternationalSpace Station countriesaround the world turn off thelights for 60 minutes and postphotos.

From Sydney's sparklingharbor to Egypt's TahrirSquare, and huge neon bill-boards that normally light upNew York's Times Square,thousands of cities and busi-nesses opted to go dark acrosssome 150 countries and terri-tories.

"Let us stand together tomake of our world a sustain-able source for our future ashumanity on this planet," for-mer South African president

Nelson Mandela urged in amessage sent to Twitter, usingthe hashtag "#EarthHour."

Organizers said the officialYouTube channel for EarthHour was seeing some 20,000visits per minute as the day

(AFP) - New York's EmpireState Building, the EiffelTower in Paris, and the SydneyOpera House were plungedinto darkness for the annualEarth Hour campaign, leadinga global effort to raise aware-ness about climate change.

The Sydney Opera House and Sydney - Australia

The Empire State Building (C) turns off its lights duringEarth Hour.


SAN FRANCISCO — Nearlyhalf of US mobile phone own-ers have smartphones, withadoption of Internet-linkedhandsets rocketing in the pastyear, according to findings re-leased by the Nielsen researchfirm.

The number of telecomsubscribers with smartphonesincreased 38 percent to ac-count for 49.7 percent of thehandset market by February,Nielsen reported.

Devices powered byGoogle-backed Android soft-ware were the most popular,accounting for 48 percent ofsmartphones owned, whileabout a third of the people hadApple iPhones, according toNielsen.

Blackberry smartphonesmade by Canada-based Re-search In Motion accountedfor 11.6 percent of the market,but buying patterns in recentmonths indicated people weremore interested in Android de-vices or iPhones.

Smartphonestaking overUS market:study

Sci-Tech

rolled on.Secretary General Ban Ki-

moon said the UN was turningoff its lights "in solidarity withthe men, women and children-- 20 per cent of all humankind-- who live with no access toelectricity," adding that theEarth Hour movement was "asymbol of our commitment tosustainable energy for all."

The Pacific island nation ofSamoa was the first to makethe symbolic gesture, withNew Zealand's city landscapeslater dramatically darkened aslights on buildings such asAuckland's Sky Tower werecut.

Since it began in Sydney in2007, Earth Hour has grown tobecome what environmentalgroup WWF says is theworld's largest demonstrationof support for action on carbonpollution.

A total of 5,251 cities tookpart in 2011, as the movementreached 1.8 billion people in135 countries, it says. New-comers to the worldwide ini-tiative include Libya and Iraq.

"Earth Hour 2012 is a cel-ebration of people power -- theworld's largest mass environ-mental event in support of theplanet," said chief executive ofWWF-Australia Dermot O'-Gorman.

"And we're seeing hun-dreds of millions of people indifferent countries around theworld take actions to go be-yond the hour in support ofpositive actions for climatechange and the planet."

The lights at the EiffelTower, however, were onlyturned off for five minutes forsecurity reasons.

The effort was also beingobserved from the Interna-tional Space Station, whereKuipers is hoping to sharephotos and live commentary ashe watches from above.

"There is no better way toraise awareness for the futureof the most beautiful planet inthe universe," he said earlierthis month.

Lights go off around globefor Earth Hour

This picture shows the leaningtower of Pisa with the lights off(right) during the Earth Hour.

(AFP) - Apple chief Tim Cookhas won over the company'semployees, according to aworkplace study released onFriday showing he may bebetter liked than his legendarypredecessor Steve Jobs.

Cook topped aGlassdoor.com ranking of cor-porate chief executives with a97 percent approval rating bythose he commands at the Cal-ifornia-based maker of iPads,iPhones, iPods and Macintoshcomputers.

In comparison, Jobs had a95 percent approval rating inthe Glassdoor ranking inMarch of last year.

Jobs's cumulative approvalrating was 97 percent when heceded the Apple helm to Cookin August of last year due to abattle with cancer, which tookhis life two months later.

"While many speculatedhow Cook would be receivedby employees and how hewould lead the tech giant, heseems to have settled in quitenicely," Glassdoor said in itsreport.

The heads of chip makerQualcomm and consultancyErnst & Young were close be-hind Cook with approval rat-ings of 95 percent each.

The list of the top five mostpopular chief executives wasrounded out by American Ex-press boss Ken Chenault andGoogle co-founder LarryPage, who were each given 94percent approval ratings.

Apple chiefa hit withworkers


MARCH 31 - APRIL 07

O’stad :’ Botica Trupiaal.’ - S.N : ‘ Serv. Seroe Preto N.V.’

FREE Coverage on our website:

www.themorningnewsaruba.com

Monday, april 2, 2012 11

Finance

YESTERdaY’S

Crossword answer

LONDON (AFP) - A menufor the last luncheon servedto first class passengers onthe doomed Titanic sold for£76,000 ($122,000, 91,000euros) at a British auction onSunday.

The menu, dated April 14,

1912 -- the night the biggest,most ambitious ship of theage hit an iceberg in theNorth Atlantic and sank,killing 1,514 people -- wasthe star lot in an auction ofTitanic memorabilia.

A Britain-based collectorbought the menu, which hadbeen on the table of Ameri-can banker WashingtonDodge, at the Henry Aldridgeand Son saleroom in Devizes,southwest England.

The dishes on offer to theship's wealthiest passengersincluded chicken a la Mary-land -- otherwise known asfried chicken with creamygravy -- and eggs Argenteuil,a plate of poached eggs withasparagus.

Titanic's last lunch menu sellsfor £76,000 in Britain

LONDON (AFP) - Argentinahas threatened to sue severalinternational banks for advis-ing firms hunting for oil offthe Falkland Islands and writ-ing reports on them, a news-paper said on Sunday.

Buenos Aires has warnedbanks including US giantGoldman Sachs, Credit Su-isse and the London-basedBarclays Capital that theyface criminal and civil actionin Argentina, the SundayTelegraph reported.

Britain and Argentina

have been engaged in a re-newed war of words over theFalklands in recent months asthe 30th anniversary of theirbrief but bloody conflict overthe archipelago in the SouthAtlantic approaches.

The island's oil reserves,which remain untapped untilnow but which analysts pre-dict could be worth tens ofbillions of dollars, have beena major source of tension be-tween the countries sincetheir discovery in 1998.

Argentina may sue banks overFalklands oil: report

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq'sKurdish region halted oil ex-ports on Sunday after Bagh-dad's top energy officialwarned it to reconsider beforefollowing through on thethreat over the government'snon-payment of funds.

The move by Kurdistan isthe latest in a long-runningrow between Baghdad andKurdish authorities in Arbil,who have squabbled overpayments, revenue-sharingand the central government'srefusal to recognise dealsKurdish officials have signedwith foreign energy firms.

Kurdistan said a week agothat it had reduced exports to50,000 barrels of oil per day,and threatened to stop exportsentirely if Iraq did not handover $1.5 billion Arbil saidwas owed to foreign oil com-panies working in the region.

On Sunday, Kurdistan fol-lowed through.

"After consultation withthe producing companies, theministry (of natural re-sources) has reluctantly de-cided to halt exports untilfurther notice," the Kurdistanregional government said in astatement on its website.

"There have been no pay-ments for 10 months, nor anyindication from federal au-thorities that payments areforthcoming."

The statement said exportswould be diverted to the localmarket for processing and re-fining.

National oil ministryspokesman Assem Jihad de-

clined to comment on the de-cision.

Before the Kurdish state-ment was released, the na-tional government's deputyprime minister for energy af-fairs warned Arbil to considerits threats and get "their acttogether."

"I would advise them, be-fore they make any threat, toconsider how much oil (rev-enue) they are getting fromother parts of the country,which is much more than theoil that is being producedthere," Hussein al-Shahristanisaid in an interview with AFPin his office in Baghdad'sheavily fortified Green Zone.

Kurds halt oil exports in payment row

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's Pana-sonic is considering shiftingall its production of mobilephone handsets overseas asearly as this summer, a reportsaid Sunday.

The electronics giant,which already produces somehandsets abroad, is consider-ing ending production at afactory in central Shizuokaprefecture, where nearly halfits handsets are made, theNikkei daily said.

Work from the Shizuokafactory will be moved to Bei-jing and Malaysia, and somewill be outsourced to othermanufacturers abroad, al-though the report did not saywhere.

The electronics giant haswarned it would see itsworst-ever net loss of 780 bil-lion yen ($9.4 billion) for theyear to March, blaming fac-tors including the strong yenand flooding in Thailand.

Panasonic to make all mobilehandsets overseas: report

Germany wants EU financial watchdogsBERLIN (AFP) - Germany wants expert watchdogs to overseepublic spending by members of the European Union to prevent fu-ture Greek-like near-bankrupcy scenarios, Spiegel magazine saidin its latest edition out Monday. Finance Minister WolfgangSchaeuble is suggesting that independent expert commissions beset up at both national and European level to do so, Spiegel saidciting an internal ministry document. The commissions would betasked with providing early warning of "abnormal developments"likely to spark a financial crisis. Germany has been called upon toprovide the lion's share of EU funds to shore up debt-ridden fellowmembers states, such as Greece.

*Roche could withdraw hostile bid of US Illumina: reportGENEVA (AFP) - Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche could withdraw itstakeover bid for US gene mapper Illumina, the SonnatgsZeitung reportedSunday, citing sources close to the deal. "Illumina would be an interestingbusiness to acquire for Roche, but it is not essential to its development,"the unnamed source told the paper. The Basel-based giant launched its bid-- previously estimated at $5.7 billion -- for Illumina on January 25. Butthe US provider of integrated systems for DNA sequencing, had opposedthe hostile move saying Roche's offer price was too low. On Thursday,Roche increased its offer price by 15 percent but it is not clear if the sweet-ened proposal will persuade Illumina's leadership to back the takeover. Ac-cording to SonnatgsZeitung, Roche will not increase its offer again.

FINANCE BRIEFS...

show since 2007.The exposition consists of 8

sub-collections; each dedicatedto experimenting with the var-ied treatment of subject, or anexercise in paint application,from blotting pointillism to ab-stract and echoes of the “psy-chedelic” style of the 60’s.

Laureen, though born andraised on Aruba, has traveledextensively and the many land-scapes in the collection reflectnot only her homeland, but thesights she has seen around theworld, in a decidedly appealingprimitive style. Since realizingher passion for art in 2003, theprolific artist has producedover 400 paintings; this is her6th solo exposition since 2004.

The works will be on dis-play until Thursday, April 5,and all are for sale. In openingthe exhibit, she offered herheartfelt thanks to UNOCA fortheir sponsorship of the expo-sition, and a supportive com-munity.

by Rosalie Klein

of color and form, and manycame to the opening of a rareevent, her new solo show at theCas di Cultura on Fridayevening March 30. This latestcollection of 50 paintings, allacrylic on canvas, demon-strates a diversity of styles andsubject matter along with theartist’s flexibility of mind intechnique. It is her first solo

Island artist Laureen Eman iswell-known in the local artlovers for her imaginative use


Exposition “Journey to New Horizons”on display for limited time at Cas diCultura

scope with an Antillean ver-sion as well. They could alsobe counted on to vigorouslysupport island foundationsand worthy causes, tirelesslydedicating their time to serv-ing the community.

Demonstrating their grati-tude for support from thiscommunity, 24ora.com con-ducted a grand 5th anniver-sary celebration in the PlazaBetico Croes on Fridayevening, March 30, begin-ning at 6:00 PM and lastingtill nearly midnight. Top localbands Tsunami, ClaudiusPhillips and OREO, Impak,Upgrade Music, RinconBoyz, Genie, OBS Brass-band, Honeypot, RandallCroes and his God Soldiersand Le Groove took to thestage to congratulate24.ora.com on their success,which was all streamed liveonline and on cable TV, ofcourse.

Management and staff ofTHE MORNING NEWScongratulate Mark, Michaeland their crew for their inno-vative work in news report-ing on Aruba, and wish themevery success.

by Rosalie Klein

Some might have thought it aconcept ahead of its time, butthere is no denying the suc-cess of Aruba’s first real-time, round the clock newswebsite, in Papiamento, sinceit first came online March 28,2007, when founder MarkBenson Denz hit the key-stroke and launched24ora.com.

Mark, a recent graduate ofLandstede College in Zwolle,The Netherlands, with a de-gree in Commercial Market-ing and CommunicationManagement, was convincedof the island’s need for sucha service, and in a short timeit expanded its capability toinclude live video streamingof events. A digital cablenews network, iTV channel49, followed a few yearslater, making 24.ora.comTHE source for current newson Aruba, in its native lan-guage.

In the five years since in-ception, 24ora.com has ex-panded from a one-manoperation to include Mark’spartner, Michal Carty, andseveral reporters and photog-raphers at the scene not onlylocally, but offering greater

24ora.com celebrates

their first lustrum

March 28, 2007 Mark launches 24 ora

Proud Dad Lenny on that fateful day 5 years ago (L),

Proud father Lenny with mark 5 years later (R)

Laureen and her work

Orchid


and drop-off; they even boasta shopping service to stockyour shelves before arrival.

Gold Coast accommoda-tions are elegant and spa-cious, offering privacy forparents or a few couples.

Beautifully appointedkitchens and bathrooms graceeach abode; barbecues andlounges are provided forfriendly cookouts and trulysavoring the island life. Allhomes come with cable TV,

high-speed fiber-optic Inter-net connection, individualwasher/dryer, and are fullyair-conditioned. Cribs, highchairs and hair dryers areavailable for a modest fee.Concierge ser vices to arrange

rental cars, spa appointments,activities and restaurant reser-vations are all part of thepackage.

Check-in for your holidayescape is conducted in thecomfort of your vacationhome, not while waiting online at check-in desk. In everyway, Gold Coast seeks topamper their guests whileproviding them with the feel-ing of being in a cozy com-munity, not the normallybustling resort, particularlyexperienced during the majorholidays. If you wish an opti-mal vacation experience withgreat savings, visit their web-site: www.goldcoastaruba.com to get acquainted withthe community and the lay-out, details and availability ofaccommodations, or call 586-2200 to talk personally to aGold Coast representative.

Aruba’s newest and most in-novative gated communityhas enjoyed steady sales sincebreaking ground, as many arefinding the secure surround-ings and outstanding ameni-ties are just what they werelooking for before conside -ring purchasing property onthe island. Some owners areusing the villas or townhomes as vacation retreatsrather than full time and aretaking advantage of GoldCoast’s rental services to turntheir investment into ready in-come.

“The greater portion ofhome owners are using their“home away from home” inAruba to escape the wintermonths, or spend holidayswith the family on the is-land,” noted Gold Coast de-veloper Fito Croes. To assistin the demand for more com-plete facilities for groupsand fa mi- lies, famed hote-lier Ed Ma-lone has beenplaced in charge of the rentalprogram.

Staying at Gold Coast is avery attractive proposition forthose traveling with groupsthat would require multiplehotel rooms. Two and threebedroom Villas or TownHomes accommodate largenumbers and offer extensiveamenities along with a finalcost resulting in considerablesavings. The community isminutes to the best beachesand all the casino action, andoffers a quiet and secludedgetaway with two swimmingpools and specialized serviceswith more on the way, such asa fitness room, tennis courtsand mini-mall. Ed canarrange maid service, babysit-ters, caterers, airline pick-up

Gold Coast Aruba:Great savings for large familieson holiday rentals

which you can spoon yourmain course, as well. Poori iscrispy fried naan, and most def-initely worth the extra two dol-lars to sample with your meal.

Our group also added an ap-petizer of crunchy Samosas, theIndian form of a potato knish,served with either cilantro orsweet and sour sauce. A platterof their Jhinga, large, crispy-fried shrimp in a delicate batteris ample enough to serve as amain course, though featuredon their appetizer menu.

As we mentioned, maincourses are served family style,in beautiful little pots that situpon a candle to keep themwarm. Our group sampled the“Mutton Saagwala,” alsoknown as “Lamb Shag” whichis cooked in a thick sauce ofyogurt and spinach, and the“Fish Hara Masala,” moist,tender chunks of fish in a richsauce featuring cilantro as themain flavoring. This is offeredin mild, medium and veryspicy, we found the mediumquite spicy enough for us; it lefta tingle on the tongue.

The family style service al-lows everyone at the table tosample a bit of this and that,and we heartily recommendyou do, to truly appreciate thisauthentic bit of India in Aruba.Open for lunch and dinner, TajMahal sports a cozy and inti-mate air-conditioned diningroom and a small outdoor ter-race for those that enjoy diningal fresco. They have an exoticdessert menu to match, but ourgroup was too stuffed to par-take; there was even enoughleft to box up and provide alunch next day for the luckyfirst person to get to it!

Located behind the RoyalPlaza Mall, across fromAruba’s Numismatic Museum,Taj Mahal offers a dining ex-perience that is truly out of theordinary; they feature an excel-lent and tasty selection for veg-etarians too. If you are a fan ofIndian food, or have been toy-ing with trying it, Taj Mahal isthe place for a very affordabledining experience and the realdeal! Call 588-4494 for reser-vations.

When Bharat Shah, originallyfrom India, but now a success-ful businessman in California,put on a spectacular weddingin Aruba for his daughter Lisaand her groom Kalpesh, theywelcomed hundreds of friendsand relatives from around theworld, including the “oldcountry.”

When all the weddingguests had finally arrived inAruba, Bharat hosted an offi-cial welcome party along theshore in Palm Beach, and hechose to have it catered by TajMahal restaurant, he was thatimpressed by their cuisine.

If you like your Indian foodauthentic, or are looking for anew and unique dining experi-ence, an evening at Taj Mahalwill deliver a memorable meal.A seemingly endless menu of-fers scores of choices for fish,chicken, lamb and vegetariandishes that are “the real deal;”discover that Indian food goesway beyond curry!

A taste-testing crew fromTHE MORNING NEWSchose a selection of their sin-gular starters and two maincourses with saffron rice,served family style, which pro-vided a fine example of theversatility of their chef.

Taj Mahal’s Tai Choice is agreat way to start the meal andbe initiated into the joys of In-dian cuisine, offering a diverseselection of traditional fa-vorites. It contains hearty por-tions of Pakoras, crispyvegetarian fritters, Aloo Tikki,potato cutlets, Chicken Tikka,tender chicken breast piecesseasoned just right, and shapedand seasoned ground lamb,charmingly dubbed “Sheik Ke-babs.” All is served on a bed ofsliced onions and brought toyour table on a sizzling platter,and you will want to dish thosesautéed onions on to one oftheir tasty Indian breads calledNaan, leaving behind not a sin-gle crumb. Main dishes are ac-companied by a choice of rice,mixed vegetables rich with gar-lic, or Naan, plain, buttered,onion or garlic, and you willwant to order an extra basket ortwo of this tasty delight, on

Taj Mahal Restaurant, anauthentic culinaryexcursion

his classics season which hadseen him highly favoured forboth this race and the Paris-Roubaix next Sunday.

Boonen too was sorry whathad befallen his rival.

Boonen - who was aided byChavanel in regulating thepace after the peloton re-grouped with 39km to go -was left with just a group of 10other riders after a crash after221km had split the peloton.

Ballan made a break for iton the third climb and wasjoined by Pozzato and Boonenwith 17km to go, with the triogradually extending their lead.

Boonen - who was worldroad race champion in 2005and has won the Paris-Roubaix three times - wasrecording his eighth win of theseason and third in 10 days.

Boonen said that a fourthParis-Roubaix next weekendwas not out of the question.

served," said China men'scoach Liu Guoliang, whoseteam won the title for the sixthtime in succession.

"The German team is thestrongest in Europe, I hopethey continue developing.

Germany put up a bravefight as their top player TimoBoll came back from 2-0 downto level the first match beforelosing 3-2 defeat to ZhangJike.

Germany's DimitrijOvtcharov was then dismissed3-0 by Ma Long, but in thethird game Patrick Baum tookthe first game against WangHao before falling to a 3-1 de-feat.

In the women's final,China's Ding Ning put her sideahead with a 3-1 win overFeng Tianwei, while compa-triot Li Xiaoxia also had fewproblems in her 3-1 winagainst Wang Yuegu.

It fell to Guo Yue to sealvictory and she dominated LiJiawei with a 3-0 win instraight games.

DORTMUND (AFP) - Chinacompleted the cleansweep ofgold medals at the world teamtable tennis championship onSunday as their women beatdefending champions Singa-pore and the men saw off Ger-many.

Both the Chinese teams aredefending Olympic championsafter their men and womenclaimed golds at Beijing fouryears ago when the team eventmade its debut and China'steams are favourites for gold atthe London Games later thisyear.

Overall, China have won 36gold medals in both the men'sand women's world teamchampionships since the tour-nament began in 1926.

After their men beat hostsGermany 3-0 in their final, theChinese dragon roared againas the women took revenge fortheir defeat two years ago inMoscow with victory overSingapore.

"Again we are world cham-pions and that is well-de-


Table Tennis: Chinasweep golds at worldteam championships

AUDENARDE-Belgium(AFP) - Belgian cyclistTom Boonen won the oneday classic Tour of Flan-ders for a record equallingthird time here on Sunday.

The 31-year-old - previ-ously a winner in 2005 and2006 - beat home Italianduo Filippo Pozzato andAlessandro Ballan in asprint finish to the 255kmrace.

Boonen admitted that hehadn't been very confidentof winning when he wasleft with just the two Ital-ians for company.

His task had been madeeasier when Switzerland'sOlympic time-trial championFabian Cancellara, the winnerin 2010, fell 62km from thefinish and was later diagnosedto have broken his right collar-bone in three places.

Cancellara, who was one ofthe pre-race favourites for thesecond one day classic of theseason, will be transferred to ahospital in Baszel, Switzer-land, where he will undergo anoperation.

It brings a premature end to

Cycling: Boonen winsrecord equalling thirdTour of Flanders

SPORTS

Basketball: US names 11-woman squadchasing fifthgold DENVER (AFP) - USA Bas-ketball Friday named the first11 members of the 12-womansquad that will seek a fifthstraight Olympic gold at theLondon Games, a group thatincludes a trio of two-timeOlympic champions.

Sue Bird, Tamika Catch-ings and Diana Taurasi, all ofwhom won gold medals at the2004 and 2008 OlympicGames, return.

Four players who haveeach earned one Olympicgold and four newcomers tothe Games are included, withthe final player to be namedat a later date.

Among the previous goldmedallists on the team, SwinCash was on the US team inAthens in 2004. Seimone Au-gusts, Sylvia Fowls and Can-dace Parker who all won goldin Beijing in 2008.

Tina Charles, Angel Mc-Coughtry, Maya Moore andLindsay Whalen are headedto their first Olympics.

All 11 play professionallyin the WNBA and most ofthem spend the US league'soff-season in playing inChina or Europe.

Five of those selected --Bird, Taurasi, Cash, Mooreand Charles -- formerlyplayed at the University ofConnecticut, whose coachGeno Auriemma will guidethe Olympic team.

Seven countries haveclaimed spots in the eventual12-nation field, includinghost country Britain. The USclinched their berth with the2010 world title, while An-gola, Australia, Brazil, Chinaand Russia have securedberths by winning their re-gional qualifying tourna-ments.

Twelve nations will fightfor the last five spots at theOlympic qualifying tourna-ment June 25-July 1 inAnkara, Turkey.

The water had so much forcein it that it pushed Mark intothe helm, snapping thepedestal clean off. We had nosteering and crew were fallingall over the boat."

The yacht was on the latestleg of the round-the-worldrace, sailing from Qingdao,China to San Francisco. Thenext leg should take race par-ticipants to New York, via thePanama Canal, the CoastGuard said.

Six of the 10 boats compet-ing have now arrived in SanFrancisco, while three otherswere expected to arrive within24 hours, said race organizers,as the stricken yacht limped to-ward land.

Guard says has 13 people onboard, is sailing under second-ary steering toward San Fran-cisco. A container ship wasalso diverted to reach them ifnecessary.

In comments posted on therace's website, South Africanskipper Juan Coetzer said theboat was hit by a massivewave at dawn Saturday.

"We were racing along in40-60 knot gusts. The sea wasalive with rage. We were mak-ing good speed... Then at ourwatch change, just before thesun came up, a monstrousfoaming swell broke over ourstern," he said. "Mark Burkeswas on the helm at the time.

85 lead. "If I'd have missedthat shot, everybody wouldhave killed me."

Bryant had never beforemissed more than 11 shots tostart a game or more than 13consecutive attempts during agame.

Despite Bryant's struggles,the Lakers led by 14 after thefirst quarter, but the Hornetshad stormed back to take a 10-point lead in the fourth.

Bryant played just over 38minutes Saturday, right aroundthe 38.6 he was averagingcoming into the contest.

left in the Lakers' NBA victoryover New Orleans.

Bryant, the league's scoringleader, finished the nightthree-for-21 from the floorwith a total of 11 points, butthe Lakers still managed tobeat the Hornets 88-85

He missed his first 15 at-tempts, and his key basketwith the clock ticking downwas his only three-pointer ineight attempts on the night.

"I'm stubborn. That's proba-bly what it is," Bryant said ofhis decision to go for the shot,which gave the Lakers an 86-

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -Kobe Bryant made just threebaskets on Saturday, but hisnightmarish night includedone dream shot: a go-aheadthree-pointer with 20 seconds

medically-trained colleagueson the craft, one of 10 similarboats taking part in the ClipperRound the World yacht race.

A long-range HC-130 Her-cules aircraft was able to dropmedical supplies late Saturday,but an attempt to lower res-cuers was thwarted because ofthe weather, and the aircrafthad to return to shore, a CoastGuard statement said.

On Sunday, a Coast Guardcutter was dispatched with ahelipad and chopper to link upwith the stricken yacht andpossibly airlift one or more ofthe injured, race organizerssaid.

The yacht, which the Coast

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - TheUS Coast Guard scrambledSunday to help a yacht hit by a"monstrous foaming swell" inthe Pacific that injured fourcrew members, including twoBritons and an Australian, of-ficials said.

The 68-foot (21-meter)"Geraldton Western Australia"was caught in severe weathersome 400 miles (640 kilome-ters) off the California coastthat swept away its steeringwheel and some communica-tions equipment, race organiz-ers said.

The injured crew memberssustained suspected brokenribs and were being treated by


US coastguards scramble to stricken yachtin Pacific

NBA: On lackluster night Bryantshines when it counts

games."I thought I played a great

match from start to end," saidDjokovic, who didn't drop a setin the tournament.

Djokovic, 24, captured his30th ATP title, and his secondthis year after his triumph atthe Australian Open. It markedhis 11th victory in the ATP'selite Masters 1000 series.

Murray had beatenDjokovic in the semi-finals atDubai in February, and theSerb was then upset by Amer-ican John Isner in the semi-fi-nals of the Indian WellsMasters last week.

Djokovic said that made thiswin, which made him the firstman since Roger Federer in2006 to successfully defendthe Miami crown, all thesweeter.

Murray, who beat Djokovicin the 2009 Miami final, wasplaying his first match sinceWednesday, when he downedJanko Tipsarevic in the quar-ter-finals.

He advanced to the titlematch on a walkover whenworld number two RafaelNadal withdrew before their

Agassi won six Miami titlesand Sampras three.

For his third straight match,Djokovic cruised through thefirst set before finding himselfin a tense tussle in the second.

However, even though thesecond set went with serveuntil the tie-breaker, it wasMurray who was under pres-sure most, fighting off breakpoints in three of his service

MIAMI (AFP) - World num-ber one Novak Djokovic de-feated Andy Murray 6-1, 7-6(7/4) on Sunday to win his sec-ond straight ATP Miami Mas-ters title and third overall.Djokovic, who won here forthe first time in 2007, becamejust the third man to win thetitle three or more times, alongwith Andre Agassi and PeteSampras.


semi-final with a left knee in-jury.

Oddly, that was Murray'ssecond walkover of the tourna-ment, after Canadian MilosRaonic pulled out of theirscheduled third-round clashwith an ankle injury.

Whether it was the layoff ornot, Murray wasn't at hissharpest, his 39 unforced er-rors making things easier forDjokovic.

His only break chance in theentire two hour, seven minuteencounter came in the fifthgame of the first set, but hewas unable to convert it and

stem Djokovic's momentum.The Serb had gained the

upper hand in the fourth gameof the opening set, which Mur-ray led 40-0 but ended up los-ing on Djokovic's secondbreak point.

Djokovic eventually closedout the opening set with hisfirst ace of the match, andMurray promptly found him-self in a 0-30 hole in the firstgame of the second -- typicalof the pressure he facedthroughout the second set.

Murray said his biggestproblem was his return game,normally his strong point.

Tennis: Djokovic downs Murray to win thirdMiami Masters

Andy Murray of Great Britain and Novak Djokovic of Serbia

pose for photographers after the final of the Sony Ericsson

Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on April 1, 2012

April 2, 2012

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Transcript of April 2, 2012