July 27, 2012

crops are produced."That expansion of D3 or

extreme conditions intensifiedquite rapidly and we wentfrom 11.9 percent to 28.9 per-cent in just one week," BrianFuchs, a climatologist andDrought Monitor author, toldAFP.

"For myself studyingdrought, that's rapid. We've seena lot of things developing withthis drought that were unprece-dented, especially the speed."

Continued on page 6

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thedrought in America's breadbas-ket has intensified to an un-precedented scale, expertswarned yesterday, driving con-cern over food price rises ifcrops in the key producer aredecimated.

The US Drought Monitorreported almost a threefold in-crease in areas of extremedrought over the past week inthe nine Midwestern stateswhere three quarters of thecountry's corn and soybean

and ELMAR to prepare a busi-ness-economical analysis. Andbased on this it was decided tonot implement the 22% in-crease.

Based on a number of fa-vorable factors, among others,the Windmill park, price ofcrude internationally hasdropped, the government didnot collect dividends, WEB hashad the opportunity to recoverlast year’s loses, they informedthe government that they canfactor in a reduction on waterand electricity tariffs. Al-though, ELMAR, reportedly,still has some recovering to dofrom their losses.

Continued on page 5

guard their financial obliga-tions, yet they concluded thatthe proposed increase was notsustainable economically.

The government chose todiscuss the matter in our SocialDialogue. There they discussedwhat would be bearable for theeconomy of the island and forthe consumer. WEB, ELMARand UTILITIES made a pres-entation during the Social Dia-logue after which the MinistersEman and de Meza sat downwith the commercial partnersand the Unions of the SocialDialogue and deliberated ex-tensively on the matter.

The government then in-structed the Board of Commis-sioners of Utilities for WEB

According to Aruba’s Ministerof Finance, our national SocialDialogue is something integraland crucial for the managementof the government and is not aninstrument to be used onlywhen difficult decisions are tobe made, but also for decidingon positive matters. It is in thiscontext that the governmenthas decided to go back to theSocial Dialogue table to delib-erate over the decision to re-duce the water and electricitytariffs.

We want to govern this is-land in continuous dialoguewith our social partners and wehave committed ourselves tothis, said Minister de Meza ofFinance. He went on to saythat, ... “there must be a con-sensus in the Social Dialoguebecause the decision will affecteveryone, families, commerceand the economy of Aruba ingeneral.”

Minister de Meza remi-nisced about the past whenWEB NV had proposed a 22%increase in the electricity tariff,the government stepped in andadvised that that was too highand not responsible and wouldhave a negative socio-eco-nomic effect on the island.While the government under-stood WEB’s position to safe-

National Social Dialogue to decide on

reduced tariffs for water & electricity

Minister Ing. Mike de Meza

“Ningun forza natural ta suficientemente fuerte pa kibra locualDios a duna nos 235 aña pasa”

Minister ing. Mike de Meza ta felicita iglesia Catolico y muyen especial parokia Sta. Anna cu su celebracion di 235 aña diexistensia sirbiendo e districto di Noord y Aruba en general.Cu Dios sigui proteha y bendiciona parokia di Sta. Anna ydrama su bendicion riba parokiano, sirbidor y pastornan.

Ta e gran union y fe di nos pueblo cu a yuda reconstrui e misapa asina e por sigui briya cu amor den nos comunidad.

“God is love”John 3:16

Friday, July 27, 2012

US drought woes deepen

Delay in receiving construc-tion material for the construc-tion of the rotunda at theairport caused an abruptchange in the time line for thestart of the project. JossyKock of the Public WorksDepartment, in charge of theproject, shared with the pressthat nonetheless the prepara-tion work is continuing at thesite and by the end of the firstweek in August they will def-initely close the intersectionin front of the airport.

Delay in the delivery ofthe asphalt to prepare the al-ternative roads also played arole in the decision to delaythe work for a couple ofweeks more. Everything isnow in place and they areready to proceed according toplanning. The traffic lights atthe airport intersection willbe switched off on August 5thfor all traffic.

Kock assured us that de-spite the short delay, this willnot affect their orignal plan ofthe project. The original planis to complete the construc-tion of the rotunda in front ofthe airport by the end of No-vember, for the latest by thebeginning of December.DOW is committed to keep-ing this date. The work willbe carried out by MNO Ver-vat Company.

Continued on page 5

Airport intersection to close

on August 5th!

Statement.” He con-tinued to assure thegovernment that byAugust 31st theyearly 2011 FinancialStatement and allothers before it willbe submitted to theAruba Parliament.According to Werle-man, by submittingthe 2011 FinancialStatement and all theothers before it theSupreme Audit Bu-reau, Parliament andthe government ofAruba will be, hence-forth, completely upto date; and we mustensure that this re-mains this way.

Werleman ex-plained that the bottomline ofthe budget is the annual Finan-cial Statement. In hiswords,...”the community hasthe right to know exactly howtax monies they paid was used,and our job is to gauge thiscarefully.”

He assured the governmentthat they will do their job withdue dilligence and that in thefuture Aruba will continue toreceive the yearly well-pre-pared Financial Statements.

Early this week, President ofthe Supreme Audit Bureau,Gabriel Werleman accompa-nied by members of the coun-cil, Frederick Nuboer, JennyCroes and Maruschka Tromp,gladly received the first annualFinancial Statement of Arubafrom the Prime Minister andMinister of Finance.

Upon receiving the docu-ment,Werleman stated, ... “Ithank the government for sub-mitting the 2011 Financial

2 Friday, July 27, 2012

Supreme Audit Bureaureceived first annualFinancial Statement!

“These vehicles are anotherinstrument to help our policeto provide the service and se-curity that our communitydeserves,” according toRichardson.

He assured everyone thatthe Police Force will con-tinue the good work they aredoing, and thanked all thosewho worked on the selectionand preparation of the vehi-cles and the Public Works de-partment for their coopera -tion in the process.

Signal for their work. Schnogindicated that these vehicles arevery safe and comfortable.With the lease contract, hiscompany is responsible for themaintenance and regular serv-ice of the vehicles.

Chief of Police, DolfiRichardson, congratulatedthe Aruban public first of all,then his force for such an ex-cellent fleet of new vehicles,which he claims will defi-nitely improve the quality ofthe work of the Police Force.

to function optimally formany years and that canguarantee that the police canget to where they need to bequickly and safely.”

Garage Cordia proprietor,Hans Schnog, mentioned hissatisfaction for the quick deliv-ery of the vehicles by the TOY-OTA company, and for the factthat they were able to workwith local companies to com-plete the specifications for thevehicles. He thanked Pro-Mo-bile, Art & Design and Federal

community, especially be-cause each vehicle complieswith international standardsfor police vehicles, and iswhat the Police Force neededand deserves.

With respect to the choiceof vehicle, the Minister indi-cated that he was pleased thatthis was left to be decidedupon by a commission whodid the meticulous evaluationto determine which type ofvehicle best complies withwhat the Force requires. SaysMinister Dowers ...“our Po-lice Force has vehicles thatcan get to practically any areaon the island. They have afleet of vehicles guaranteed

On Tuesday afternoon twentytwo sparkling new ToyotaPrado and four Toyota LandCruiser were turned over tothe Aruba Police Force by theGarage Cordia Auto dealer inCamacuri. According to pro-prietor of the dealership, theytook on the challenge to com-ply with all the requirementsof the Police Force for thesevehicles and can now lookback at a tremendous job ofcoordination and meticulouspreparation of each vehicle.

The Minister of Justiceconsiders the acquisition ofthe 24 brand new vehicles animportant achievement forthe Police Force and the local

Friday, July 27, 2012 3

Police Force outfitted with brand new vehicles

Warrant Holders Association,established in 1990 to mark its150th anniversary and the 90thbirthday of Queen Elizabeth,The Queen Mother. QEST pro-vides scholarships to preserverare skills and enable talentedcraftsmen and women whohave demonstrated promiseand passion for their craft toachieve greater levels of ex-pertise through study withmasters from around theworld. This limited edition isbeing sold to raise funds forthe QEST Diamond Jubilee

Appeal for £100,000 each;John Walker & Sons has gua -ranteed £100,000,000 from thesales to QEST.

This most historic and ele-gant VIP event for Aruba wel-comed island elite anddignitaries, culminating in theunveiling of the Diamond Ju-bilee issue by Romar TradingCEO Milton Harms and JohnCurry, Sales Manager of Ven-ture Markets for Diageo, theworldwide distributors ofJohnnie Walker blendedwhiskies. Glasses of top of theline Johnnie Walker Blue weredistributed to the audience fora final toast to Queen Elizabethand the continuance of atten-tion to excellence in all things,from premium liquors to thefine craftsmanship involved inthis memorial issue.

by Rosalie Klein

Philip Lawson Johnston withwildlife scenes from TheQueen’s Sandringham andBalmoral Estates.

All of the English artisanscontributing to this comme -morative vintage, like John

Walker & Sons, have beenawarded the title of Royal

Warrant Holders by the monar-chy, a badge of honor and

consistent excellence. JohnWalker & Sons received

theirs from King George Vin 1934.

QEST Scholar Laura Westwill created a

hand-bound arte-fact book, whichwill be personal-ized with thename of eachbuyer by QESTScholar and Cal-ligrapher SallyMan gum. Shedeploys speciallypreserved inksand nibs used byroyal scholarsfrom over 200years past. Thebook tells thestory of crafts-manship behind Diamond Ju-bilee by John Walker & Sonsand all the craftsmen who hada role in its creation and com-pletion.

The Queen Elizabeth Scho -larship Trust (QEST) is thecharitable arm of the Royal

monwealth.The crystal decanters were

created by Baccarat, a com-pany known for over 200 yearsas the ultimate in luxury crys-tal. It is diamond shaped andfaceted to produce the samescintilla as a rare quality gemand stands on a base of six ra-dial legs to reflect each decadeof The Queen’s enduring reign.

The silver adornments tothis work of art were alsohand-crafted by Scottish sil-versmiths Hamilton & Inches,including the John Walker &Sons Royal Warrant, for Bri-tannia. They alsocrafted the de-canter’s collar in-laid with a halfcaret dia-mond of finequality, andthe silverkey for thec a b i n e t .Each de-canter is ac-companied by apair of specially de-signed lead crystalglasses by CumbriaCrystal, each hand-en-graved by artist

Beveridge and ApprenticeBlender Matthew Crow to cre-ate a select blended whiskyfrom exceptional casks ofgrain and malt whiskies dis-tilled in 1952, the year ofHRM Queen Elizabeth’s coro-nation. Over sixty artisanswere involved in the finalpresentation, including thecompany’s Master CooperDavid Taylor, who createdtwo small marrying casks of arare oak, which allowed theflavors to combine graduallyand be closely monitored, be-fore this special whiskey was

bottled on February 6,2012, 60 years

to the daya f t e r

The

Q u e e nascended to

the throne. The Diamond Jubilee issue

comes encased in a hand-crafted wooden cabinet byN.E.J. Stevenson, incorpora -ting oak and native Caledonianpine from The Queen’s San-dringham and Balmoral Es-tates and decorated with finemarquetry, using timber ve-neers from around the Com-

A glittering VIP event definedby “island chic” was con-ducted at Aruba’s Archeologi-cal Museum on Wednesdayevening, July 25, to unveil oneof the sixty Diamond Jubileecommemorative issues pro-duced by the famous JohnWalker & Sons distillery,which was purchased byRomar Trading of Aruba.

Johnnie Walker GlobalBrand Manager Tom Joneswas on island to explain theexquisite craftsmanshipthat went intoevery as-pect ofthis

s p e -cial issuein honor ofthe 60th anniversarycelebration of the reign ofHRM Queen Elizabeth II. Thisis the second time in the his-tory of England’s monarchythey are celebrating a diamondjubilee, the first having beenfor Queen Victoria in 1897.

To mark this grand occa-sion, John Walker & Sonscharged Master Blender Jim


Romar Trading and Johnnie Walker unveil the Diamond

Jubilee Commemorative

Milton Harms CEO of Romar TradingGlobal Brand Ambassador Tom Jones with Blue Label

Antoni Gario, Ingrid Does and Minister de Meza

A toast to Queen Elizabeth

The decanter sparkles like a diamond

Diageo SM Venture Mar-kets John Curry

The faceted decanter

the rotunda where they canchoose to either go to SantaCruz, San Nicolaas, or to the

Traffic coming from Oran-jestad will be deviated near theFire Station driving on the al-ternative road running parralelwith the airport gate up to thesmall rotunda. There they canturn right to go to San Nicolaasor continue on to go to Way-aca. The Public Works Depart-ment will make sure that therewill be signs everywhere to di-rect motorists how to travel.These signs will be illuminatedfor perfect vision both day andnight.

Alternative Routes:

The alternative route fromSan Nicolaas to Playa will befrom where there is now a tem-porary small rotunda. Get onthis rotunda and continue tofollow the road to the airport,go down and then get back onthe main highway. The trafficcoming from San Nicolaaswanting to go to Santa Cruzshould also get on the rotunda,then turn right to enter Wayacaand follow on down toCumana.

Traffic coming fromCumana heading towards theairport will pass by Arubus andgo up, then turn right to reach

For more information con-tact Cede Bienal at 297-5886868 or via email:[email protected].

interactive and artistic expe-rience in an unconventionalspace, surrounded by Giantson the Island.

The Prome Encuentro Bi-enal Arte Contemporaneo diCaribe (1st Biennale Con-temporary Art of theCaribbean Encounter) Foun-dation invites Aruba to ex-perience the teacher’s sideof invited artist in the paral-lel program Luis Salazar.This activity is part of theeducative program of theProme Encuentro Bienal.

Luis Salazar is one of theartists of the Foundation IN-SIGHT for the arts Aruba,and his artistic labor in-cludes a series of eventswhere children can be partof his work and finalizes inhis grand expo, planned forAugust 17.

Children between the agesof 7 – 12 are invited this Sat-urday at the Wilhelminaparkto come and enjoy a creative,


have presented different op-tions to the government andthey will do presentations forthe Social Dialogue. In thefinal analysis the Social Dia-logue will be expected to reacha consensus on how this will allfactor out. It is believed that thereduction in the tariffs will bearound 20% and providingthere is no dramatic change inthe international market,should be maintained for manyyears, according to the govern-ment.

The government, the primaryshareholder of both utilitycompanies and the one respon-sible for the management of theeconomy of the island and thetariffs in general; has thereforeinformed WEB that they havescheduled a Social Dialogue todiscuss and reach a consensuson the matter. The Social Dia-logue will determine whatstructure to use for the decreasein the water and electricity tar-iffs for the future going for-ward.

Both WEB and ELMAR

National Social Dialogue . .Continued from page 1

Sat. July 28: Artist Luis Salazar invites kidsto come and paint at Wilhelmina Park, during the public art expo Giants in the City

Airport intersection to

close ... Continued from page 2

joint efforts to combat off-shore tax evasion and makeour tax systems more effi-cient and fair," Treasury Sec-retary Timothy Geithner saidin a separate statement.

In late June, the UnitedStates announced progress intalks toward striking a taxdeal with Switzerland, aswell as another with eco-nomic partner Japan.

In particular, Switzerlandand the United States havebutted heads over the rules.

The wealth are hiding atleast $21 trillion in accountsoutside their home country,according to a study releasedthis week by activist groupthe Tax Justice Network.

Two senior US Demo-cratic senators, Dick Durbinand Carl Levin, say tax-haven abuse costs US taxpay-ers an estimated $100 billiona year in lost revenue.

Their agreement sets aframework for reporting cer-tain financial account infor-mation to tax authorities,followed by automatic ex-change of the informationunder existing bilateral taxtreaties or related agreements.

"We look forward toquickly concluding bilateralagreements based on today'smodel," the six countries saidin a joint statement.

The US FATC law hasbeen controversial in manycountries because it requiresbanks to reveal informationabout their clients.

Until now, tax agreementshave only provided for theexchange of information "ondemand," meaning a countrywould already suspect possi-ble tax evasion before re-questing the information.

"Today's announcement isan important milestone in our

WASHINGTON (AFP) - TheUnited States and five Euro-pean countries announcedyesterday an agreement tofight offshore tax evasionthrough automatic informa-tion exchanges.

"This in an important stepforward in establishing acommon approach to combattax evasion based on auto-matic exchange of informa-tion," the US, Britain, France,Germany, Italy and Spainsaid in a joint statement.

The partners said theyagreed on implementation ofa 2010 US law on reportinginformation and withholdingtax provisions.

The so-called "modelagreement" supplements theUS Foreign Account TaxCompliance Act (FATCA)targeting non-compliance byUS taxpa yers using foreignaccounts.

US, 5 others strike pact against

tax evasion

drought is going to persistthrough the next couple ofmonths at least and conditionsare not overly favorable to seeany widespread improve-ment," he added.

President Barack Obama'sadministration has opened upprotected US land to helpfarmers and ranchers hit by thedrought and encouraged cropinsurance companies to forgocharging interest for a month.

Officials have said thedrought will drive up foodprices since 78 percent of UScorn and 11 percent of soybeancrops have been hit and theUnited States is the world'sbiggest producer of thosecrops.

The current drought hasbeen compared to a 1988 crisisthat cut production by 20 per-cent and cost the economy tensof billions of dollars.

Almost two-thirds of the con-tinental United States is nowsuffering drought conditions,the largest area recorded sincethe Drought Monitor projectstarted in 1999.

"If you are following thegrain prices here in the US,they are reflecting the antici-pated shortages with a price in-crease," Fuchs said.

"In turn you're going to seethose price increases trickleinto the other areas that usethose grain crops: cattle feed,ethanol production and thenfood stuffs."

In some rural areas, muni -cipal water suppliers are talk-ing about mandatory res -trictions because they haveseen such a dramatic drop inthe water table that they fearbeing unable to fulfill delive -ries to customers, Fuchs said.

"Things have really deve -loped over the last two monthsand conditions have worsenedjust that quick and that is reallyunprecedented," he said.

"Definitely exports aregoing to suffer because there isgoing to be less available andthe markets are already reflec -ting that.

"It's anticipated that this


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

US drought woes deepenContinued from page 1

Disabled children suffering the effects of the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India take part ina "Special Olympics" to protest against London 2012 sponsor Dow Chemical. Theevent is aimed at raising awareness about the legacy of birth defects and pollutionfrom the accident at a factory owned by US chemical company Union Carbide, whichwas bought by Dow in 1999, organisers said. (AFP PHOTO)

ALEPPO (AFP) - Fightingraged in Syria's second cityAleppo yesterday afternoon, awatchdog said, as regimeforces shelled a village in Dam-ascus province, killing fivechildren.

A security source told AFPtroops were preparing tolaunch an all-out offensive onrebel-held districts of Aleppo.

Intermittent clashes were re-ported in the Damascus districtof Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, with theBritain-based Syrian Observa-tory for Human Rights watch-dog saying at least sevenpeople were killed there.

Regime forces pounded thesouthern Salaheddin and east-ern Jazamati districts ofAleppo, the country's commer-cial hub, the Observatory said.

Across Syria, at least 114people were killed yesterday,including 61 civilians, 32regime troops and 21 rebels,according to the group.

Regime forces shelled thevillage of Yalda, just south ofthe capital Damascus, killing16 civilians, among them fivechildren and four women, theObservatory said.

"The villagers are terrified,"the Syrian Revolution GeneralCommission said in a state-ment, adding that "there aredifficulties helping thewounded. Some houses col-lapsed with people still insidethem."

The violence came as rebelsand troops prepared for a majorbattle in Aleppo.

"The special forces were de-ployed on Wednesday andThursday on the edges of thecity, and more troops have ar-rived to take part in a gene -

In his remarks yesterday,Castro offered to meet with USleaders to discuss any issuesthey have with his governmentor country.

"Any day they (Americans)want it, we will sit with themat a negotiating table," theCuban president proclaimed,clad in military dress.

But he insisted the conver-sation would go both ways:"Equal to equal, we will alsodiscuss subjects concerning theUnited States."

made no mention of the con-troversial death on Sunday ofone of the island's most fa-mous dissidents, OswaldoPaya.

Washington has demandeda "full and transparent investi-gation" of Paya's death, whichCuban authorities say was acar accident. It has also de-nounced "the climate of re-pression in Cuba," saying thecommunist government needsto do better at respecting inter-national human rights, includ-ing free speech.

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba'scommunist regime yesterdaymarked 59 years since thelaunch of the revolt that ledthem to power, using the occa-sion to offer a meeting withlongtime foe, the UnitedStates.

President Raul Castro, inhis impromptu remarks at theclose of the celebrations, alsodenounced opposition groupshe compared to Libyan andSyrian rebels in the "ArabSpring."

However, the president

ralised counter-offensive todayor tomorrow," a security sourcesaid.

Rebels also said a regimeassault appeared imminent.

"We expect a major offen-sive at any time, specifically onareas across the southern belt,from east to west," ColonelAbdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, aspokesman for the rebel FreeSyrian Army in Aleppo, toldAFP via Skype.

Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, which is close to theregime, led yesterday with theheadline "Aleppo, the motherof all battles."

For five hours on Wednes-day night, without let-up, gov-ernment forces bombarded thesouthwestern quarter of Sala-heddin, which is almost en-tirely under rebel control, anAFP correspondent witnessed.

The rebels admitted to thecorrespondent that they are nomarch for the military andmany share the certainty theywill die in the expected assault.

In the meantime they pre-pared to confront the troops,filling sandbags to erect barri-cades and moving a bus intoposition to block a street. Somealso belt out slogans to givethemselves courage.

In southern Damascus,street battles were also foughtyesterday morning in theYarmuk Palestinian refugeecamp, the Observatory said.

Elsewhere in the city, an ac-tivist in the southern neigh-bourhood of Tadamun, whogave his name as Abu Qais al-Shami, said several districts inthe southern part of the citywere under assault yesterdayby regime forces.


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Clashes rage in Aleppo,

114 killed across Syria

Cuba offers meeting with longtimefoe US

ment that lets disabled peoplecontrol a computer cursor withjust their eyes -- with a pricetag of under $30 (25 euros).

Other technologies requireelectrode implants in the brain,an expensive procedure.

Such technology offershope for restoring some levelof independence to people suf-fering from multiple sclerosis,Parkinson's disease, musculardystrophy and spinal cord in-juries or amputees.

In the EU alone, there weremore than 16 million peoplewith disabilities who wouldbenefit from such a system, anearlier study had found.

your 'metrosexual' men whoare very concerned with theirappearance," Ziegler added.

"But I think there's still thatportion of men who may nothave been interested, but whoare hearing about them, andwho are willing to try... andthen think, 'This isn't so bad' -- and they're going back."

Mintel, which interviewedabout 2,000 men and womenfor its report, also found themarket for grooming andbeauty services growing at ahigher rate among Hispanics,blacks and Asians of both gen-ders.

Blacks are especially keenon nail care, while Hispanicsand, to a lesser extent, Asiansare more interested in facialsand massages, Ziegler said.

Coming out of the reces-sion, Ziegler said, there is a"shift away from DIY," withAmerican consumers return-ing to salons for such treat-ments as hair coloring thatthey had opted to do at hometo save money.

and 20 percent had treatedthemselves to a facial.

"The men's market is grow-ing, although it's (still) a smallportion" of the overall marketfor beauty health and services,said Amy Ziegler, global per-sonal care analyst at Mintel inChicago.

She attributed the trend inpart to a growing number ofmale-specific salons -- oftenpromoted through socialmedia -- "that are not so scary,and less intimidating" than tra-ditional, female-oriented es-tablishments.

"The men who are engaged(with going to salons) are veryengaged. You can call them

CHICAGO (AFP) - Men stillmake up a small portion ofsalon customers in the UnitedStates, but their numbers aregrowing, especially in the 18-34 age group, a global marketresearch group said.

In a report aimed at thesalon industry, Mintel saidTuesday that 52 percent of themen it surveyed had gone tosalons, which it broadly de-fined as anything from a lux-ury spa to a corner barbershop.

Fifty-eight percent saidthey'd gone for a mere haircut.But among males aged 18-34,25 percent said they had gonefor a manicure or pedicure,

Younger American males venturinginto salons: study

Health Tip: Help Kids Have an Active Summer-- It's summertime, and the living is easy for kids out of

school. But parents should help their children stay ac-

tive while the weather is hot.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests how

kids can enjoy a healthy summer vacation:

•Encourage kids to visit with friends in person, instead

of chatting with them on the phone.

•Shut down the computer and video games, and have

the kids go outside for a game of tennis, a hike or

rollerblading.

•Enroll the kids in a community sports league or sign

them up to run or walk in a 5k.

•Volunteer the kids for a summer camp, clean-up effort,

community garden or project to build homes.

•Have the kids babysit and take their charges for bike

rides or to the park.


Health & Living

port by Jean Lorenceau ofFrance's CNRS research insti-tute.

Lorenceau's system, stilljust a prototype, compensatesfor saccadic, or jumpy, eyemovements to allow a smoothwriting style.

After four half-hour trainingsessions, his subjects wereable to write at a rate of about25 letters per minute.

Similar systems exist, butnone that allow a person totrace their own letters with thislevel of precision.

In July, engineers said theyhad built a device using mass-produced video gaming equip-

PARIS (AFP) - A French re-searcher has built a device al-lowing disabled people towrite or draw on a computerscreen using only their eyes, areport said Thursday.

With head-mounted cam-eras monitoring their eyemovements, test subjects wereable to write and draw on ablank computer screen in thelatest breakthrough for peopletrapped in immobility by dis-ease or accident.

"For persons deprived oflimb movement, this offers afast, creative and personalmeans of linguistic and emo-tional expression," said the re-

All eyes on new writing device for thedisabled

down time is now infrequent.At the Olympics, athletes

are expected to share theirTwitter handles, and tweettheir experiences using thesite.

Twitter, which allows itsmembers to post brief com-ments, links or pictures, claimsto have more than 140 millionactive users, with the largestnumber being in the UnitedStates.

A recent survey found onein seven Americans who goonline use Twitter and eightpercent do so every day.

boat was up to 5,000 yearsold. "It goes back to the era ofPharaoh Den, one of the FirstDynasty kings," he said in astatement.

The six-metre (19.6 feet)long and 1.5-metre wide boat"is in good condition," headded. Its planks are now un-dergoing renovation before itis put on display in a museum.

The pharaohs believed thatsolar boats, buried close tothem at death, would transportthem in the afterlife.

In 1954 an Egyptian ar-chaeologist discovered whatmay be the Pharaoh Khufu's43-metre solar ship, made ofcedar, in a Giza pyramid. The4,500 year-old intact vessel ison display near the pyramid.

This file photo shows storm clouds gathering over Vic-toria Harbour in Hong Kong. More than 100 people wereinjured and trees were ripped from the ground on July 24as typhoon Vicente lashed Hong Kong, packing winds inexcess of 140 kilometres (87 miles) an hour, accordingto officials.

AFP/PHOTO


NEW YORK (AFP) - Twitterwent down for around 30 min-utes on Thursday, leaving mil-lions of users without updatesfrom friends, celebrities andnews providers a day ahead ofthe opening of the SummerOlympics.

Twitter accounts accessedby AFP from its Washingtonoffice showed no or patchy up-dates from around 1600 GMT,but the service was graduallyrestored, with many usersposting messages expressingrelief.

And many took to Twitterafter it was restored to jokeabout the outage.

"Wow. Wasn't sure I'd sur-vive that @twitter outage. Ieven took to Facebook. Des-perate times call for desperatemeasures. Thankful it's back,"Michael Schlact tweeted.

"Took time during theTwitter outage to explore someself-improvment," Jason Car-lin tweeted. "I've written twonovels, learned Esperanto, andknitted a sweater."

Last month the service wastaken down for several hoursby what the company de-scribed as a "cascading bug,"but the cause of Thursday's

problem was not immediatelyclear.

In its early days, Twitterwas notoriously unstable andwould display a picture knownas the "fail whale" on its homepage when it experienced oneof its frequent outages.

The service has becomemore reliable over the pastcouple of years, however, and

Twitter hit by new mystery outageSci-Tech

CAIRO (AFP) French archae-ologists have discovered aroughly 5,000-year-oldpharaonic solar boat in an ex-pedition in Abu Rawash, west

of the Egyptian capital, theantiquities ministry said onWednesday.

The antiquities minister,Mohammed Ibrahim, said the

French archaeologists unearthpharaoh boat

(AFP) - Apple pitched securitymeasures in its mobile gadgetson Thursday during its firstpresentation at a premier gath-ering of hackers and those in-tent on thwarting cyberattacks.

The unprecedented talk byApple head of software plat-form security Dallas De Atleyat the 15th annual Black Hatconference in Las Vegas cameas hackers increasingly targetsmartphones at the heart of In-ternet Age lifestyles.

. "When we were develop-ing the iPhone we realizedthere were aspects that make itdifferent from computers,"

"Security is architecture; youhave to build it in from thevery beginning .”De Atley saidto a packed Caesars Palaceballroom.

De Atley spent an hour pro-viding insights into encryp-tion, software keys and othersecurity features built into theiOS operating system foriPhones, iPads and iPod touchdevices.

Hacking attacks on mobiledevices, especially Applegadgets or those powered byGoogle-backed Android soft-ware, were hot topics at BlackHat, where developers voiceddoubt that device makers aredevoted to security.

Unlike other speakers at theweeklong gathering, De Atleydid not field questions fromthe audience. Instead, hebrushed aside queries as hewas ushered quickly out a sidedoor after his talk.

Apple pitches gadget securityto hacker crowd


JULY 21 - JULY 28

O’stad :’ Botica Oduber N.V.’ - S.N : ‘ Botica San Nicolas N.V.’

FREE Coverage on our website:

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reported earnings of $3.41 pershare, up 56 percent from thesecond quarter of 2011.

Excluding the one-timegains, EPS was roughly $1.80,well below Wall Street's $1.95estimate.

Total revenues rose 1.5 per-cent, to $127.4 billion, widelytopping expectations of $115.1billion.

Oil-equivalent productionfell 5.6 percent; excluding cer-tain impacts, production wasessentially flat, the oil and nat-ural gas giant said.

NEW YORK (AFP) - US en-ergy giant ExxonMobil postedstrong profit gains for the se -cond quarter yesterday, boos tedby a one-time gain and drops incapital and exploration spend-ing and divestments.

Net income was $15.9 bil-lion in the April-June period,an increase of 48.6 percentfrom a year ago, lifted by $7.5billion in gains related to di-vestments and tax-relateditems, including the reductionof its stake in Japanese firmTonenGeneral Sekiyu.

Exxon Mobil Corporation

exxonMobil's Q2 profitsoars on one-time gain

terrorists and drug dealers ac-cess to America's financialsystem.

In a 330-page report, theUS Senate found the lenderallowed affiliates in countriessuch as Mexico, Saudi Arabiaand Bangladesh to move bil-lions of dollars in suspectfunds into the United Stateswithout adequate controls.

The report said HSBC'sMexican affiliate "trans-ported $7.0 billion in physi-cal US dollars to (HSBC's USarm) HBUS from 2007 to2008... raising red flags thatthe volume of dollars in-cluded proceeds from illegaldrug sales in the UnitedStates."

"Grupo Financiero HSBC,S.A. de C.V. (HSBC Mexico)paid a fine imposed by theNational Banking and Secu-rities Commission, amount-ing to MXN379m in con -nection with non-compliancewith anti-money launderingsystems and controls," said astatement.

"The infringements relatedto the late reporting of 1,729unusual transactions, the fai -lure to report 39 unusualtransactions, and 21 adminis-trative failures," HSBC said.

HSBC earlier this monthapologised and a senior exec-utive resigned after US law-makers accused Europe'sbiggest bank of giving Iran,

LONDON (AFP) - Britishbank HSBC said yesterday itsMexico unit had paid a finetotalling 379 million Mexi-can pesos ($27.5 million) toMe xico's banking regulatorfor breaching anti-moneylaundering controls.

HsBC Mexico pays $27.5 mn fineover laundering probe

soared over seven percent ear-lier this week -- the level thatforced Ireland, Portugal andGreece into bailouts -- thebank has come under increas-ing pressure to restart the pro-gram.

And Draghi's hints had animmediate impact on borrow-ing costs, with Spain's shoot-ing below the seven-percentmark and Italian costs plum-meting to just above six per-cent.

The comments also sentstock markets into euphoricmood and boosted the euro onthe foreign exchange marketsafter several days of painfuldeclines amid fresh specula-tion the eurozone might im-plode or Spain might need abailout.

ABN Amro economist NickKounis said that Draghi had"opened the door for a restartof the central bank's govern-ment bond purchase program,"untapped since February.

LONDON (AFP) - EuropeanCentral Bank chief MarioDraghi vowed unconditionalsupport for the beleagueredeuro yesterday, sending mar-kets soaring orbit as traderseyed further action from thebank to shore up the eurozone.

In apparently unscriptedcomments in London, the nor-mally reserved Draghi said hisinstitution was "ready to dowhatever it takes to preservethe euro. And believe me itwill be enough".

Stressing that the euro was"irreversible", Draghi said thatpart of his bank's remit was tokeep sovereign debt levelsunder control when they ham-pered the proper functioning ofinterest rate policy.

Analysts saw Draghi's com-ment as a hint the ECB couldsoon reintroduce its hotly con-tested program of buying upthe bonds of struggling euro-zone countries that has laindormant for several months.

As Spanish borrowing costs

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Moody's on Wednesdaydowngraded the outlook for17 German banks after a sim-ilar move against the govern-ment's credit rating earlierthis week.

Moody's cut the outlookon a swathe of state-backedregional banks, known inGermany as landesbank, butalso included IKB DeutscheIndustriebank and DeutschePostbank.

Many of the landesbankhave struggled since the 2008financial crisis and amid Eu-rope's ongoing economic cri-sis, which has seen growthslow.

Moody's noted that sev-eral of the banks held debtthat was guaranteed by theGerman central or regionalgovernments.

It warned more down-grades could come if therewas a "further deteriorationof the creditworthiness" ofthe Germany's cen tral or re-gional governments.

On Monday, Moody's cutGermany's ratings outlookfrom "stable" to "negative,"citing exposure to Europeanfinancial woes and the possi-ble cost of more bailouts.

That was the first step to-ward stripping Germany ofits coveted AAA credit rating,a stark warning that no one,not even Europe's largesteconomy, is immune fromthe eurozone's rolling crisis.

still a confidential investiga-tion they won't be in a positionto answer that question untilthe remaining investigation isbrought to its natural conclu-sion."

The three banks are on thepanel that sets the US dollar in-terbank lending rate -- which isthe benchmark for a range ofconsumer products and isthought to have been widelyabused.

Already Barclays has beenfined $452 million by US andBritish regulators for its role inthe scandal.

The US Securities and Ex-change Commission and theUS Department of Justice aresaid to be investigating.

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Treasury Secretary TimothyGeithner said yesterday he didnot know whether three majorUS banks were involved in themanipulation of a key bench-mark borrowing rate.

Answering Senate BankingCommittee questions aboutBank of America, Citibank andJP Morgan Chase's possibleroles in the global Libor fixingscandal, Geithner referred law-makers to investigators.

Asked whether he wasaware of possible wrongdoing,Geithner said: "We don't knowthat. But I think that is a ques-tion you need to refer to the en-forcement agencies."

"But I think that you aregoing to find, because this is


FINANCE

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Geithner unaware of US

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Moody's

lowers

outlook for 17

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ECB chief vows total supportfor euro, markets surge

national anthem will be sungoutside Congress.The movement is to mark

the anniversary in the centralcity of Cordoba.With the slogan "As banner

to victory", Buenos Airesmeanwhile called for a meet-ing in the National Library infront of the Evita Monument.The General Confederation

of Labor was also holding itsown commemoration at itsheadquarters."We take your (Evita's)

name as a banner against socialinjustice and exclusion," saidone of the many union sloganspublished in Thursday's news-papers.Over 30,000 copies of

Pigna's biography "Jirones desu Vida" (Bits of Her Life),about Evita's ascent from streetto chic and power, have sold inless than a month.And she is also being re-

membered with the reissuingof novels and biographies aswell as with exhibitions ofphotographs and memorabilia.

NEW YORK (AFP) - A USjudge said Thursday hewill rule later in the yearon whether to dismisscharges Canadian actressGenevieve Sabourinstalked Hollywood starAlec Baldwin. Lawyers forSabourin, whom Baldwinaccuses of sending lovestruck emails and cominguninvited to his Manhattanapartment, asked the NewYork criminal court to tossthe case "on constitu-tional grounds," amongothers. Judge Mark Whiteset a September 19 hear-ing for his ruling on thedefense motion. Sabourin,40, was arrested on April 8following a complaint byBaldwin, who said shewas harassing him withemails, asking him tomarry her, and turning upat his Greenwich Villageapartment in Manhattan.

star's sudden death in June2009 from an overdose ofPropofol, a powerful anes-thetic.Entertainment media por-

trayed the 82-year-old Jacksonfamily matriarch's absence asan abduction by Michael's sib-lings, who are allegedly furiousthey did not inherit any of thesinger's assets.Paris fueled the speculation

with a series of tweets in whichshe insisted her grandmotherwas "missing" and wrote"something is really off, thisisn't like her at all... I wannatalk directly to my grand-mother."But Katherine Jackson in-

sisted she was visiting a spa inArizona to rest and that rumorsof a kidnapping were false,telling ABC News "My chil-dren would never do anythingto me like that."Prince Michael was not con-

vinced."As long as I can remember

my dad had repeatedly warnedme of certain people and theirways," he wrote in a lengthytweet. "Although I am happymy grandma was returned,after speaking with her I real-ized how misguided and howbadly she was lied to. I'm reallyangry and hurt."

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -Katherine Jackson returnedhome to her grandchildrenThursday after a family battleled a US judge to transfer theguardianship of late singerMichael Jackson's three chil-dren to his nephew TJ.Jackson's 14-year-old daugh-

ter Paris -- who had been broad-casting her fears about hergrandmother's whereabouts onTwitter for days -- tweeted"grandma's here! #thankyougod"early Thursday morning.Katherine Jackson, the late

singer's mother, was grantedcustody of Paris, PrinceMichael, 15, and Blanket, 10after their father's death.Judge Mitchell Beckloff

suspended that arrangement onWednesday because she hadleft the family home in Los An-geles.She vowed later Wednesday

to fight to regain legalguardianship of the children."I am devastated that while

I've been away, my grandchil-dren have been taken awayfrom me, and I'm coming hometo see about that," KatherineJackson said in an interviewwith ABC News.The fractious family has

been embroiled in legal and fi-nancial disputes since the pop

12 Friday, July 27 , 2012

Katherine Jackson backhome with grandchildren

in an exclusive Buenos Airesdistrict.And a mural depicting Evita

painted in a hospital bearingher name will be inauguratedby the governor of BuenosAires province, Daniel Scioli.There will also be a musical

tribute on the stairs of the Ar-gentine Congress, with the par-ticipation of baritone ErnestoBauer and soprano EugeniaFuente along with a school or-chestra of 60 youths.At 2325 GMT, the precise

moment when Evita died, the

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Ar-gentinians, including PresidentCristina Kirchner, pay tributeto Eva Peron Thursday on the60th anniversary of the na-tional icon's premature death.Kirchner was to eulogize

Evita, whose death from can-cer at the age of 33 shocked thenation, at a ceremony expectedto draw 60,000 people 40 kilo-meters (25 miles) northeast ofhere.To mark the occasion, a new

100 peso bill -- equivalent toabout 22 US dollars -- was un-veiled Wednesday imprintedwith the image of Eva Peron.The banknote shows the late

first lady in profile, her blondhair swept back into the classicchignon hairstyle she usuallywore.Kirchner called it a fitting

tribute, noting it marked "thefirst time in 200 years that awoman appears on a (national)bill".Another commemoration

was scheduled to take place atLa Recoleta cemetery, whereMaria Eva Duarte de Peron,the glamorous second wife ofpresident Juan Peron, is buried

Argentina remembers Eva Peron60 years after her death


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

Idaho potatoes, is enough tobe shared by two. He wasvery amused to watch a fa-mous French chef demon-strating the best way tomake fried potatoes on agourmet cooking show andcould only comment “Hestole my recipe!” Try themthe English way-with vine-gar, and you’ll wonder howyou ever ate fries without it.This same 5-star chef alsoswears by Gouda as the besttopping for the ideal gour-

met cheeseburger. If you are a fan of crispy

friend onion rings, as we are atTHE MORNING NEWS, youcannot leave there without try-ing their secret recipe batter-dipped gourmet rings, madefrom fresh, not frozen onions.Unquestionably, the best wehave had anywhere, and forthose that like a little spice, thefried jalapeños are a real treat.Aaron and Rosie have ex-panded their menu to accom-modate certain tastes anddietary needs; they offer a tastygrilled chicken sandwich aswell.

5 Burgers Aruba is openfor lunch & dinner – dailyhours are Noon to 10-ish; de-livery is available to both thehigh-rise and low-rise hoteland beach district for ordersover $50. Enjoy a great lunchwithout ever leaving thebeach by calling 586-3904.However, we suggest youstop by and enjoy their au-thentic, heartfelt hospitality; itis not unusual for the ownerswhen things are not too busy,to sit and chat while sharingtheir knowledge of the island.Totally yummy and fun plus agreat deal for a quality burger,they are definitely worth avisit

Expatriates from Boston,Massachusetts,residingon Aruba, Aaron andRosie Walisever are liv-ing their dream: a homeon paradise while wel-coming all and sundry totheir proud undertaking, 5Burgers Aruba. Somemay be quite well ac-quainted with a nationallyknown U.S franchisebearing the name “5”,and patrons can expectthe same great quality be-tween the buns, but an ex-panded menu and Rosieand Aaron’s fanaticaldedication to giving theircustomers what they re-ally want has resulted ina unique menu.

“You never get a secondchance to make a first impres-sion,” comments Aaron; andupon entering 5 BurgersAruba in The Village Mall inPalm Beach, one is struck byutterly spotless surroundingsand a smiling, friendly, atten-tive service crew. Of course,the main item on the menu isburgers-the way they weremeant to be, thick and juicy,made fresh daily and 100%pure beef, the kind that madethe hamburger a traditionalAmerican treat.

Prices vary only slightlybetween regular and small(basically 2 patties or 1) withspecialty items such as GoudaBurger, Farmer’s Burger, ManBurger (almost 12 ounces ofchoice beef), and a WesternBurger with crispy onionrings and BBQ sauce. All ofthese can be personalizedwith an incredible array oftoppings, (mushrooms,jalapeño peppers, bacon,cheese, lettuce, tomato…whatever the list goes on) atabsolutely no extra cost.

5 Burger portions areENORMOUS! Aaron sug-gests that even their smallserving of fries, which aremade from hand-cut fresh

Adorable and affordable;5 Burgers Aruba offersan island twist to thegreat American Burger

Rosie and Aaron love their Burger

too

Gouda Burger 2

LONDON (AFP) - Prince William and his wife Kate wel-comed the Olympic flame to Buckingham Palace onThursday, the penultimate day of its marathon journeythat culminates at the London Games opening cere-mony. The rising excitement was displayed at Bucking-ham Palace where thousands cheered on charityworker Wai-Ming Lee as he picked up the torch underthe gaze of Prince William. Kate, William and his brotherPrince Harry applauded as the torch was brought intothe palace grounds. The flame was on a tour of someof central London's most famous landmarks before itfinally makes its dramatic entrance at the Olympic Sta-dium today. The royals all wore Great Britain team t-shirts as the flame made its way to Hyde Park, wherean expected crowd of 80,000 were set to greet the torchat a concert marking the start of the Games.

return to the top remains asstrong as ever.

Djokovic, who has beendrawn to play Italy's FabioFognini in the first round ofthe Olympics, concedes Fed-erer is the favourite to wingold.

But he believes the sched-ule and unique atmosphere ofthe Olympics -- unlike thebest of five set Grand Slams,the men's event will beplayed over three sets untilthe final -- means moreshocks are likely.

"Roger, as a recent Wim-bledon winner, stands proba-bly the best chance to win thegold, because of his career,his success and his history.He is the number onefavourite, then you have(Andy) Murray, myself and(Jo-Wilfried) Tsonga,"Djokovic said.

"But the Olympics is dif-ferent to other tennis events.You don't represent yourself.It is playing for your countryand it feels like a team com-petition."

Like many of his rivals,Djokovic has opted to staynear Wimbledon rather thanrisk being stuck in traffic onthe long journey from theAthletes' Village in east Lon-don to the All England Clubon the other side of the capi-tal.

But Djokovic, who won abronze medal on his onlyother appearance at theGames in Beijing in 2008, isstill a huge fan of theOlympic spirit.

"It is great to be alongsideall the best athletes in theworld. On Wednesday I camewith all the tennis team fromWimbledon to pay a visit tothe Athletes' Village,"Djokovic said.

"We saw an incredibleamount of athletes goingaround and it is just a differ-ent feeling. You can see somany excited faces and seethat everyone has an extramotivation."

While Djokovic can't waitto get back on court for thefirst time since Wimbledon,before that he has the honourof carrying the Serbian flag atFriday's opening ceremony.

to meet Federer in the final ofthe Olympic tennis event,which is being held at the AllEngland Club from Saturday,and the world number two isdesperate to make amends forhis Wimbledon exit.

After a remarkable 2011,when he recorded one of thegreatest individual seasons intennis history and a dominantstart to 2012, Djokovic hascome up short in the last twoGrand Slams, losing toRafael Nadal in the FrenchOpen final and Federer atWimbledon.

But he insists his desire to


LONDON (AFP) - NovakDjokovic has warned RogerFederer there is no chance hewill suffer an Olympic hang-over despite losing his Wim-bledon title and worldnumber one ranking to theSwiss great.

Djokovic was forced tosurrender his Wimbledoncrown earlier this month asFederer defeated the Serb inthe semi-finals and went onto knock him off the top ofthe world rankings by win-ning the title for a record-equalling seventh time.

The 25-year-old is seeded

No hangover from Wimbledonwoe, says Djokovic

Most of Djokovic’s training emphasized fitness and a propertennis diet.

Summer Olympics:

July 27 - August 12

T h e 1 0 0 - y e a r - o l dMrs. Diana Gouldsmiles, waves andholds the Olympicflame aloft as shecompletes her sec-tion of the torchrelay in the LondonBorough of Barnet.Diana is still activeat her grand age andrecently took upyoga. Gould said thewalk had not beentoo difficult. "Thesun was a bit hot,but the walk wasfine. Absolutely. Iused to live in Hen-don, so I knewwhere I was walking.Fine."

The Barcelona 1992 Games mark the beginning of theflamboyant opening torch ignitions that has been theOlympic norm since. An archer who competed in theParalympic Games, Antonio Rebollo lit the flame by fir-ing a burning arrow towards the cauldron. Well, actuallyhe didn’t, but it seemed he did. Rebollo was instructedto overshoot the cauldron for safety measures (al-though shooting a flaming arrow into the Barcelonanight sky isn’t probably that much safer), and the caul-dron was gradually releasing fuel into the air, so whenthe flaming arrow passed over it, it ignited itself, trick-ing the eye.

Joe Frazier and Russian Vadim Yemelyanov fight in asemifinal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. Fra-zier went on to win gold.

VIENNA (AFP) - Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen stayed incommand of the Austrian Open at Atzenbrugg near Vi-enna on Thursday's second day before storms forced asuspension of proceedings with some players still un-finished. Olesen managed to finish his 18, hitting a 68after his sweet 64 of Wednesday, a round which matchedthe course record, to head the leader board at 12 underpar, three shots ahead of nearest rival Thomas Levet ofFrance. Next came England's Richard Bland at eightunder and on seven under the trio of Dutchman WillBesseling, local hero Bernd Wiesberger and Oscar Flo-ren of Sweden, all of whom were safely in the clubhousebefore play was called to a halt. Olesen's co-leader fromthe first round, Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal, had a difficultday, struggling at two over par after nine holes for theround and six under for the championship before theweather forced him inside. Several other players werealso still to finish when the bad weather struck includingOliver Wilson of England, six under for the competitionafter four, and Niclas Fasth of Sweden, who was fiveunder after five. Defending champion Kenneth Ferrie ofEngland completed his round but a one-over 73 afterWednesday's 70 left him 11 shots off the pace at oneunder for the competition. Organisers ruled that no moreplay was possible in the competition on Thursday, say-ing the action would resume today.

successfully perhaps by hisMcLaren team-mate and com-patriot Jenson Button whowound up second after chal-lenging pace-setter Alonso.

Hamilton said: "In terms ofJenson's result it was fantastic,but for me - looking at thepace I had even with the issuesI had, my diff was quite badlydamaged and my left rear cor-ner destroyed plus my floor -knowing I had lost so muchdownforce and was still com-petitive was comforting."

Hamilton is currently fifthin the driver's standing with 92points, 62 behind Alonso,while Button is further behindin seventh with 68points.

would find a way to do harmeven if he can't get his handson firearms.

"I don't think firearms useshould struggle and be pun-ished. I don't think firearmsports should be linked withthat. Bulgaria is really strict onweapons and I have seen somecrime with weapons."

Milev was worried when hesaw news of the shooting inEurope because one of hisOlympic teammates, KeithSanderson, was going to seethe movie at midnight, but notin the Denver suburb of Au-rora where the attacks weremade.

Kim Rhode, a women's trapand skeet shooter seeking amedal in her fifth consecutiveOlympics, stressed the bene-fits from her years with guns,including her Olympic doubletrap gold at age 17 in 1996.

"Our sport is a sport. It'scompletely different from anisolated incident like this," shesaid. "It's very important to usour sport is not generalized.The lines get blurred betweennews and a sport that teachesdiscipline, respect, about theoutdoors and teaces familiesand youth about the sport.

Olympic men's skeet cham-pion. "We are one of the safestsports going. Our guys aresafety-minded first. There aremore injuries in ping pongthan there are in shooting."

Bulgarian-born Emil Milev,a three-time BulgarianOlympian who took a 1996silver medal in rapid fire pistoland became a US citizen in2009, said that anyone whowould attack people in such afashion would harm evenwithout guns.

"It's not the gun that kills.It's the person that kills,"Milev said. "For me, this is nota person. There's somethingwrong with his head. He

LONDO (AFP) - US Olympicshooting competitors hopethose watching the LondonGames do not link theirfirearm sports with the shooterwho killed 12 people andwounded 58 others at anAmerican theatre last week.

But the Olympic medallistssaid they could see how thehorrific incident last week at amidnight screening of the newBatman movie "The DarkKnight Rises" might be gener-alized with their rifle, pistoland shotgun disciplines.

"It's going to affect the par-ticipants of our sport. It'sgoing to have an affect on cer-tain perceptions of America,"said Vincent Hancock, a USArmy soldier and defending


US shooters say don't link usto Batman horror

US shooter Kim Rhode

SPORTS

BUDAPEST (AFP) - LewisHamilton has admitted he can-not afford another non-pointsfinish at this weekend's Hun-garian Grand Prix if he wantsto stay in contention for thisyear's world championship.

The 27-year-old McLarendriver retired from last week-end's German Grand Prix aftera puncture stole any chance hehad at fighting for victory,while race-winner SpaniardFernando Alonso of Ferrariextended his lead in the titlerace.

The 2008 champion, whowound up 19th at the Euro-pean Grand Prix in Valencia inJune, admitted last weekend'sresult had been another majorblow to his title hopes and felthe could not afford to finishoutside the points again.

"It was as big a dent as youcould probably take, just asValencia was," he said,"through a season I don't thinkthere could be a bigger dent.

The Englishman did, how-ever, take some respite fromthe improved performance ofhis car, demonstrated more

Formula One: Hamiltonadmits title challengeon the line

EVIAN-LES-BAINS (AFP) - American Stacy Lewis shot acourse record 63 in the opening round of the Evian Mas-ters in France on Thursday, her scorching form matchingthe 30-degree heat. Runner-up behind Japan's AiMiyazato last year, Lewis had a flawless nine-birdieround to lead by two shots from South Korea's Park HeeYoung. Another South Korean, Lee Ilhee, was in thirdplace on 66. Lewis had seven birdies in a row from theseventh and then added more at the 17th and 18th forthe terrific nine-under-par score. Swede Helen Alfreds-son, the only three-time winner, shot 63 on her way tovictory in 2008, but Lewis's score counts as a new recordas the course has been lengthened in preparation for thetournament becoming the fifth women's major next year.Park, who made her big breakthrough with a debut winon the LPGA Tour at the Titleholders Championship lastseason, also had a blistering birdie run. She made fivebirdies in a row from the fifth and had eight in all. Heronly bogey was at the fourth and her great round camejust days after she switched to a belly putter. But two bignames struggled. Japan's Ai Miyazato, the defendingchampion, opened with a 71, while the best of the sixFrench players was Karine Icher, who had five birdies onthe front nine in a 68.South Korea's Choi Na Yeon, winnerof the US Women's Open earlier this month, had a 75,and world number one Yani Tseng of Taiwan shot 76.

seemed happy with the condi-tions in London.

"Our experience has beennothing but positive," saidScott Blackmun, US OlympicCommittee chief executive of-ficer.

The rising excitement wasdisplayed at BuckinghamPalace where thousandscheered on charity workerWai-Ming Lee as he picked upthe torch under the gaze ofPrince William.

Lee, 38, said the experience"was exhilarating and over toosoon" and revealed that PrinceWilliam had joked to him"don't drop it".

Meanwhile, the Games wasrocked by a doping scandalafter Greece's world indoorhigh jump champion DimitrisChondrokoukis was barred forfailing a drugs test.

His coach and father Kyri-akos Chondrokoukis said hisson had tested positive forstanozolol, the steroid used bydisgraced sprinter Ben John-son at the 1988 SeoulOlympics.

It adds to a humiliating startto the Olympics for Greece,which was forced on Wednes-day to send home triplejumper Voula Papachristou fora racist tweet which poked funat Africans living in the coun-try.

Meanwhile, Games organ-isers tried to downplay a mix-up which saw North Korea'swomen football team walk offthe pitch in an embarrassingstart to the competitive actionat the Games.

The International OlympicCommittee apologised to theNorth Korean delegation afterits players were shown ongiant screens next to SouthKorea's flag, at their openeragainst Colombia on Wednes-day at Hampden Park in Glas-gow.

"This was an honest mis-take, honestly made,"Cameron said."

past as head of the 2002 Win-ter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"We are holding anOlympic Games in one of thebusiest, most active, bustlingcities anywhere in the world,"Cameron said.

"Of course it's easier if youhold an Olympic Games in themiddle of nowhere."

Cameron said he wouldtake personal responsibility forthe security of the Games,which are guarded by Britain'sbiggest ever peacetime force.

Britain has deployed an ad-ditional 4,700 troops in recentdays to make up the shortfallin guards supplied by giantcontractor G4S, taking thetotal military deployment to18,200.

Romney told NBC News onWednesday that "the storiesabout the private security firmnot having enough people, thesupposed strike of the immi-gration and customs officials -- that obviously is notsomething which is encourag-ing".

It was "hard to know justhow well it will turn out", headded.

But he struck a more diplo-matic note after talks withCameron later.

"I am very delighted withthe prospects of a highly suc-cessful Olympic Games,"Romney said.

The US team meanwhile

LONDON (AFP) - PrimeMinister David Cameron in-sisted Thursday that Britainwould deliver a memorableOlympics after US presiden-tial hopeful Mitt Romneybacktracked on barbed com-ments he made about the Lon-don Games.

With excitement mountingon the eve of the opening cer-emony, Prince William, hiswife Catherine and PrinceHarry welcomed the torch toBuckingham Palace wheretens of thousands of spectatorshad gathered.

But Romney, in London toattend today's opening of theGames, said the preparationshad been "disconcerting",pointing to the failure of a pri-vate security contractor to pro-vide the number of guards ithad promised.

The Republican candidatealso wondered aloud whetherthe British public would getbehind the first Games to beheld here since 1948.

On the eve of the Olympics,Cameron said security "mat-ters more than anything else",and said he was convinced theGames would prove thatBritain could stage a world-class event.

Cameron also said he wassure Britons would get behindthe Games despite an eco-nomic downturn -- and took anapparent swipe at Romney's


(AFP) - Thirteen clubs and 44people including Juventuscoach Antonio Conte and Ital-ian international LeonardoBonucci have been called toappear before a disciplinarycommission of the ItalianFootball Federation (FIGC)on August 2 as part of an on-going probe into a match-fix-ing scandal, the FIGC said onThursday.

Juventus' Serie A winningcoach Conte was implicated inthe "Calcioscommesse" affairafter one of his former playersFilippo Carobbio accused himof complicity in a fixed matchduring his time as coach ofSiena in the 2010/11 season.

Carobbio claims Conteknew of an agreement to drawa match against Novara, afterwhich both teams were pro-

moted to Serie A. Bonucci, who played in

Euro 2012 despite suspicionshanging over him, is accusedwith having being involvedwith match fixing when heplayed for Bari during the2009-2010 season.

Other players such as Ital-ian defender Daniele Por-tanova of Bologna are in thesame situation as Bonucci andrisk a three-year suspension.

Italian internationals Si-mone Pepe and Marco Di Vaioare also being probed for al-leged sporting fraud.

Promoted Serie A sideTorino risk also starting theseason with points penalty,while Serie B side Lecce riskbeing relegated to the third di-vision.

Thirteen Italianclubs in dock overmatch-fixing

Cameron hits back after barbed

Romney comments

July 27, 2012

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Transcript of July 27, 2012