Monday, March 11, 2013

ORANJESTAD -- A frontal system on the Atlantic can in-fluence Aruba's waters this week. Be advised that fromMarch 11 to 15 long period northerly swells will influenceAruba. Due to Aruba's bathymetry some of these swellswill refract and make the seas near the hotel area choppyfrom time to time. Most impacted area will be low-risehotel area. Expect sea transparancy to drop and somebreakers mainly near the low-rise area and Malmokarea.On the northern shores expect rough conditionswith rip current.

WINDS : EAST WINDS 16 KTS with gusts up to 27 KTSWAVE HEIGHT : 4 to 8 feet. AVERAGE WAVE PERIOD : 6 Seconds. WAVE DIRECTION: EAST

what we thought through,was what I could bring to theamazing energy here onAruba, which is usually theway I work. It's not about me,its not about Mr. Finney, butwe can be a catalyst, we canhelp...What was alreadygoing on that we could bringtogether?

I felt that by the time I ar-rived, thanks to the great co-operation of the governmentand Alice (van Romondt ofthe Ministry of Culture) it allfell together very naturally. Ivi sited schools, I talked topeople from the sustainabilityfield and it was really fantas-tic. I am not a person whokeeps preconceived notions.

Continued on page 3

children to learn tolerance fordifferent people and respectfor the environment. Climatechange and preserving theenvironment has become an-other of her principal con-cerns, and she is now part ofa program to encourageyouth to bring these concernsand solutions home to theirfamilies. TMN was honoredto sit with her at the DiviPhoenix and discuss these is-sues.

TMN: Was Aruba a sur-prise for you on your firstvisit? Was it different thanwhat you may have perceivedas a Caribbean nation?

HRH Princess Lauren-

tien: I don't think so. Whatwas important when I camehere for the first time was,

The 2nd Aruba Women'sConference on Friday March8, International Women'sDay, was proud to welcomeHRH Princess Laurentien ofthe Netherlands as theirkeynote speaker. She stirredthe audience with her impas-sioned address and belief re-garding creativity andcredibility of youth, and con-cern for their future.

Princess Laurentien is thedaughter of Former DutchMinister of Economic Af-fairs, Laurens Brinkhorst.Her advanced studies in-cluded History, and has a BAin Political Science fromUniversity of London and aMasters Degree in Journal-ism from the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley. Shemarried HRH Prince Con-stantijn, the third andyoungest son of HRM QueenBeatrix of the Netherlands, in2001 and they have threechildren.

Princess Laurentien hasbeen a staunch advocate of li -teracy and the potential ofchildren all her adult life. Shewas appointed UNESCOSpecial Envoy on "Literacyfor Deve lopment," due to her"profound dedication to theOrganization's Ideals." Shewas a co-recipient of theMajor Bosshardt Prize in2010 for her work in combat-ing illiteracy. She also holdsthe Chair of the EuropeanCultural Foundation and theDutch Reading and WritingFoundation, among many po-sitions pertaining to chil-dren's educationaladvancement.

HRH Princess Laurentienfirst visited Aruba in 2012 topresent the second in a seriesof children's books she hasauthored, "Mr. Finny and theOther Side of the Water,"which has been translatedinto Papiamento. The series'main character is a very curi-ous and friendly dolphin. Herbooks are aimed at teaching

HRH Princess Laurentien in

exclusive interview to

THE MORNING NEWS

Monday, March 11, 2013

Alert Long period swells

to affect Aruba

TMN reporter Rosalie Klein with HRH Princess Laurentien

ing the way we produce en-ergy. Ockels surprised thestudents with the statement.,“I can tell you that one bottleof water of one liter can pro-duce electricity for the entireisland of Aruba for oneyear!”

Ockels then showed pic-tures of vehicles running onsolar energy that they usedfor a competition in Aus-tralia, and, a bus that is cur-rently under construction thatwill use clean energy. Ockelsappealed to the students totry developing sustainableenergy projects at school.

Continued on page 5

Begin with one panel and in-crease this yearly, it will helpprotect our world by chang-

Ever since his arrival here onboard his Ecolution Yacht,former Astronaut WubboOckels has been spreadinghis message of a safer worldfor this generation and forthe future...create sustainablemanagement and save ourplanet! According to Ockels,“it is not our space that isunique, it is our world, andwe must conserve it.”

In the presence of over 75students at the InternationalSchool of Aruba, WubboOckels gave an impressivepresentation of the reasons

we should work towards en-suring that we have a bettertomorrow. He had studentslisten to a recor ding ofNASA and the space shuttleduring the time that he was inspace. He explained to stu-dents how that in space thereis no gravity, everythingfloats. Even the Orange Juicethey drank became like a ballfloating in air. For the astro-nauts to be able to sleep theyhad to be tied down. In spaceeverything is dark and thereis no life. But when they lookoutside at the world, there islife there. The world is veryunique, not space, this is whywe must protect and preserveour world.

Ockels encouraged stu-dents to begin implementingsolar panels at their homes.

Former Astronaut Wubbo Ockelsvisits ISA students

His experience has shownthat our citizens have becomemuch more conscious com-pared to the past. He still en-counters some brewing spotshere and there in homes withtires, buckets or barrels con-taining water. Whenever theyencounter these on more thantwo occasions at the same re -sidence the residents arewarned and then they treat thewater with a special substanceand of course all containers areturned upside down.

In general our people havebecome very conscious of thesituation and are making surethat there are no brewing spotsin their yards. People have nofear of the visits by the depart-ment.

One of the government depart-ments which travel weeklythrough our Barrios is the de-partment for the exterminationof yellow fever mosquitoes(Gele Koorts Muskietenbestri-jding). The representatives ofthis department make every ef-fort to educate citizens on theneed to be cautious with re-spect to mosquito brewing lo-cations.

According to Sigmar Be-tancourt of the department forthe extermination of yellowfever mosquitoes, everythingis moving along nicely and weare keeping a constant control.He indicated that the situationis better now than before, espe-cially now that the rainy sea-son has passed.

2 Monday, March 11, 2013

The community is more

aware of mosquito

brewing locations

the same sense for the Arctic.This "why" is a question weneed to ask a lot more often.For me, it is a moral question.

I felt we needed a totallydifferent way for handling thisdebate. Yes, discussion of poli-cies is very important, but first,I wanted to develop a bookaround morality. I was strug-gling with the concept, then Istarted reading about whatchildren and young people aresaying about the planet. I wasmissing this authentic, "Why"that children and young peoplestill have in them. It was as ifthey are trying to be adults, buttheir authentic voice, which weso need, wasn't there. So Ithought if I develop a chil-dren's book that gives themthat anchor to have that dialog,that platform to voice theirWhy Questions to adults, as itneeded to be a reading aloudbook, then maybe it can createanother kind of dialog.

TMN: Do you find thisnext generation, at a surprisingyoung age, is showing suchconcern about the planet theywill inherit?

HRH Princess Laurentien:

Absolutely. I find this nextgeneration is better informed,more concerned and is verymotivated to do something. Itis innately there.

Ends on page 4

scientific investigation andbans military activity.) I have

but more from a strategic pointof view; working with NGO'sand corporations. Then, in2007 I had read that the Rus-sians had planted a flag 4000meters under the ice if theNorth Pole. This ignited in mea sense of amazement, which Ifind children also have, of"why are we doing this?" Thisflag became a symbol for meof how we are treating theplanet. If you think of the Arc-tic as a symbol of the earth, wereally should all have a senseof responsibility. What hap-pens to the Arctic region has animpact on the entire planet.

We should keep in mindAntarctica, where all countriesagreed this, is an area in the in-terest of all mankind. (TheAntarctic Treaty System, ATS,was established in 1961 andcurrently has 50 signatory na-tions. The parameters declarethe continent a scientific pre-serve, guaranteeing freedom of

that you have a small scale, butultimately a big reach. Youhave it all to make the ambi-tions of the Green Vision hap-pen. I said in my Women's Dayspeech that the one danger isthe fragmentation.

TMN: So instead of every-one going off in different tan-gents, there is a need to focusthat energy for cooperation andcollaboration?


tien: Yes. I think achievinggreen ambitions is like puttingtogether one gigantic jigsawpuzzle. I believe all the piecesof the puzzle already exist inAruba. The scalability and thetrue impact will be about con-necting all the pieces of thepuzzle.

TMN: What inspired youto create the series of "Mr.Finny" books?


tien: I had been working onsustainability for many years,

TMN: What was your impres-sion of the island upon yourfirst visit?


tien: There are many things Ilove about Aruba. One is thesense of hospitality; true, au-thentic deeply-ingrained, sin-cere hospitality. This is asymbol of a mindset, and themindset is "we are part ofsomething bigger. We are partof the Netherlands, part of theCaribbean, part of a world."This is why the "Green Vision"is so inspiring. so importantand feels so natural.

The sense of tremendousenergy you have here: thenumber of NGO's and initia-tives at community level andthis sense of "can do." I seepeople always looking for op-portunities, possibilities andnot thinking about all the rea-sons why you shouldn't bedoing something. I feel Arubahas everything, given the fact

Monday, March 11, 2013 3

HRH Princess Laurentien in exclusive interview to TMNContinued from page 1

Princess Laurentien appreciates a gift from TMN Reporter

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scale it up." "Ultimately, all these ac-

tions of change for consumersare really simple things. Wehave to multiply it by millionsof people, but the actual indi-vidual actions over our energysources are ultimately reallysimple."

"This is where the jigsawpuzzle comes together," poin -ted HRH Princess Laurentien."Technological transitionstake longer. It is an and/andstory; it is never an either/orstory. So AND consumer be-havior, AND green technolo-gies, AND perhaps financingmechanisms, AND insuringwe have the right policies thatstimulate investments ingreen energy, they are all partof the jigsaw puzzle. No oneshould underestimate thepower of the individual fam-ily to make a difference."

"This is where, and specif-ically in Aruba, the tremen-dous opportunities exist inconnec ting the tourism indus-try and the tourists," she con-cluded. The local communityand tourist community shouldnot be separate. Throughconnec ting children, who areso easy at this, even if theydon't speak the same lan-guage. By giving a sense tothe children, who in all mydiscussions with the localyoung people I find them somotivated to do the right thingfor their island which they areso proud of. If you find a wayof empowering them to bringthat motivation to the childrenof families visiting the island,than magic can happen. If itcan be conceptualized in theright way, then Aruba can re-ally make a difference. I hopeto work with many differentorganizations here to makethat happen."

Rosalie Klein

motivates people, they comeup with very creative solu-tions. That is my idea, takingthat input, giving it a platformand connecting it to the pro -cesses and decisions in theadult world, where we can ac-tually use it."

"As adults, we often stepover this very important un-derstanding of why people aremotivated yes or no. Thenpeople feel as if they can't doanything. When it comes tothe environment they feel in-effectual, "What does it mat-ter? What can I, as one persondo for the environment?" Agood example is this cam-paign we have with WWFand Unilever, ("Shower 5Minutes Less" being pro-moted in a test group ofDutch schools) adults wouldcall this a "warm water reduc-tion campaign." For children,the point of action is 5 min-utes less of showering. Well,let's focus on that; that is theaction. All the other stuff,which is the effect, what weultimately which to achieve,we separate. We send them ona mission: have the dialog andhave the action within yourfamily. If you then multiplythat by a hundred schools,thousands and thousands offamilies, you actually start to

All we need to do is empowerthem, give them the tools tomake it happen and give themthe podium to actually speakup. Perhaps we too quicklymay make the mistake of giv-ing them decision power, as, Ithink, it is still adults, inpower in companies and gov-ernments who ultimatelymake decisions. But we canstill use this innate motiva-tion, this thinking power ofchildren to make us think dif-ferently, and come up withnew directions for new solu-tions, which we all know areneeded. We are also breakingthrough this inter-generationlock in, we have to stimulatechildren that this is the rightway of thinking. This is howwe are creating new leadersand new mindsets.

HRH Princess Laurentienexplained "Children areteaching me that ultimately, inorder to affect change, youhave to understand why peo-ple are motivated to do some-thing that is right for theplanet. or not right for theplanet. If you understand that,you are one step further for-ward in tapping into that mo-tivation. If we can bring outthose insights, that under-standing, because they haveit, that understanding of what


HRH Princess Laurentien in exclusive

interview to TMNContinued from page 3

Mr. David Lambert wins

$1.686,29 at the Aura

Casino!

Ockels is working togetherwith the Aruba BOArubateam on making studentsaware of the importance ofusing green energy, on thebenefits of recycling actionsand on the damage that fossilfuels cause our environment.

green energy and uses theextra energy for all other ne-cessities, such as warmwater, oven, and a refrigera-tor during their voyage. Hecrossed the Atlantic from Eu-rope to Aruba without usingany combustible fossil fuel.

The ISA showed Ockels agardening project they haverecently begun as a pilotproject, producing vegeta-bles and fruit organically.

Professor Dr. Ockels ishere on Aruba with his YachtEcoluton which propels

island, such as happiness andjoy resound. Hence, Aruba isthe perfect place for filmingsuch a production. The authorsof the song believe that it wasimportant to integrate our is-land with its culture in the clip.This is also very obvious whenyou watch the video clip.What's more, you will also seethe different beautiful placesaround the island. To see theclip online, go tohttp://www.youtube.com/watch? feature=player_embed-ded&v=5v7CmKybFdM.

The Aruba Tourism Autho -rity supports this type of pro -ject where talented youngpeople in combination withtheir education can promoteour island.

"The Record Men," a localmusical group just recentlypresented their contagiousrecording clip called 'TheRhythm.' This is a productionof Stefen Bartels Daal togetherwith Patrick Graham. The pro-duction and filming of theproject took place right here onAruba.

Actors in the production aremodel Faisuli Torres, dancersof Step by Step Dance Aca -demy and a backdrop of beau-tiful landscapes of Aruba,making the clip a delight towatch.

"The Rhythm" is a combi-nation of Latin/Caribbeanmusic with Electric House andSoul.

In the song attributes of our


Local youth presents

rhythmical musical clip

recorded here

Former Astronaut Wubbo Ockels . . .Continued from page 2

against the president's wish tobe buried.

Thousands of Venezuelans,meanwhile, continued to filepast the open casket of the fire-brand leader at a military aca -demy, in a prolonged farewellto the man whose socialist re -volution heightened class ten-sions in the country of 29million.

Maduro has vowed to presson with Chavez's revolution,an oil-funded policy that hasprovided massive and popularhealth, education and housingprograms to the poor while an-gering the wealthy with expro-priations and nationalizations.

A recent survey by pollstersHinterlaces gave Maduro a 14-point advantage over Capriles,though the opposition leaderhas questioned the firm's relia-bility in the past.

The electoral council saidcandidates will be able to re -gister on Sunday and Mondayand that the campaign wouldbe short, lasting from April 2to April 11.

Chavez will cast a hugeshadow over the election,which will almost coincidewith a key anniversary in hispolitical history.

The late leader was brieflyousted on April 11, 2002, in acoup that was organized by thechamber of commerce and thetrade union with the help ofsome military officials. But hewas restored to power by loyalsoldiers on April 13 amid po -pular protests.

The government plans toembalm and preserve Chavez"like Lenin" to rest in a glasscasket "for eternity," a movedecried by the opposition,which claimed that it went

CARACAS (AFP) - Venezue-lan political parties began re -gistering candidates yesterdayfor a snap election on April 14,setting the stage for a bruisingcampaign to succeed the latepresident Hugo Chavez.

The national electoral coun-cil set the poll date on Saturdayone day after Nicolas Maduro,Chavez's handpicked succes-sor, was sworn in as actingpresident in a ceremonylargely boycotted by the oppo-sition, which slammed it as un-constitutional.

Shortly after the date wasset, the main opposition coali-tion announced it had unani-mously chosen Henrique Ca -priles, who lost to Chavez inthe October election, as itsunity candidate again.

"We have all recognizedHenrique Capriles Radonski asthe person to embody this op-tion of change," said RamonGuillermo Aveledo, executivesecretary of the DemocraticUnity Roundtable (MUD).

Capriles wrote on Twitterthat he was "grateful" for theoffer and would announcesoon whether he will acceptthe nomination. The Mirandastate governor was picked bythe MUD last year in an un-precedented primary.

Political hostilities had al-ready begun just hours afterVenezuela and more than 30foreign leaders gave Chavez arousing state funeral, withMaduro railing against the op-position and capitalism follow-ing his inauguration.

Emulating his late mentor'scombative style, the formervice president vowed "absoluteloyalty" to Chavez before don-ning the presidential sash, hisvoice cracking as he declared:"Sorry for our pain and tears;but this presidency belongs toour Comandante."

Before Maduro was swornin, Capriles denounced the in-auguration as a "constitutionalfraud" and abuse of power bythe government.

Venezuela sets first post-Chavez

election for April 14

whether we'll have or not a po-litical solution," Guterres said."But we need to be preparedfor a very strong increase ofthe present numbers."

The commissioner said theaverage daily arrivals in neigh-bouring countries were on theconstant rise as the numbersincreased from 3,000 refugeesin December to 8,000 in Feb-ruary.

"This shows you the stag-gering escalation that we arewitnessing," he said.

The conflict, which accor -ding to UN figures has cost70,000 lives, needs be stoppedwhile the international com-munity still has the capacity torespond to it, he added.

Guterres is in Turkey tomeet officials and discuss thesituation of the more than180,000 refugees who havetaken shelter in several campsset up along Turkey-Syria bor-der.

Ankara says the real num-ber is much higher as at least70,000 others live in housesthey have rented elsewhere inTurkey.

ANKARA (AFP) - The num-ber of Syrian refugees, alreadypast the million mark, coulddouble or triple by the end ofthe year if no solution is foundto the conflict, the UN HighCommissioner for Refugeessaid yesterday.

Antonio Guterres said theUNHCR could only "mitigate"the suffering of the people butthe responsibility to find a so-lution fell on "those that havepolitical responsibilities."

"Now if this escalation goeson and nothing happens tosolve the problem we mighthave in the end of the year amuch larger number ofrefugees: twice or three timesthe present level," Guterrestold reporters in Ankara.

The warning came daysafter the UN said the numberof Syrian refugees had hit onemillion, two years after the re-volt erupted.

A year ago, the UN agencyhad only registered 33,000refugees, but the numbers es-calated as the war intensified,sending waves of refugees intoneighbouring countries.

"Everything depends


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

UN: Syrian refugees may

double or triple this year

NUSAIRAT -- AFP photo shows Bedouin boys playingalong a strip of land in between of a garbage dump anda water way in a deprived area of the central PalestinianGaza Strip, close to Nusairat, on March 10, 2013. Thereare around 160,000 Bedouin in Israel, most of whom livein and around the Negev desert in the country's aridsouth.

deaths that it carried out theexecutions in part becauseBritish planes had arrived inNigeria in recent weeks to at-tempt a rescue, citing localmedia reports.

Ansaru, considered an off-shoot of the Nigerian Islamistgroup Boko Haram, backed upits claim with "screen capturesof a forthcoming video show-ing the dead hostages," SITEIntelligence Group said.

Nigeria police last monthsaid the hostages were fourLebanese, one Briton, a Greekcitizen and an Italian. A com-pany official later said theMiddle Eastern hostages in-cluded two Lebanese and twoSyrians.

British Foreign SecretaryWilliam Hague said all thehostages were "likely to havebeen killed" by their captors.

The Italian foreign ministryin a statement branded it "ahorrific act of terrorism forwhich there is no explanationexcept barbaric and blind vio-lence."

The Greek foreign ministryalso said the "available infor-mation suggests that the Greekcitizen abducted in Nigeriaalongside six nationals of other

LONDON (AFP) - Britain,Italy and Greece on Sundaysaid that a claim by a NigerianIslamist group that it had killedseven foreign hostages ap-peared to be true, while Lon-don denied it had sought tostage a rescue.

Restive northern Nigeria hasseen scores of people killedfrom Islamist-linked violence,but the hostage executionsmarked the deadliest kidnap-ping targeting foreigners in theregion in recent memory.

The Ansaru group on Satur-day announced the deaths ofall the expatriates abductedfrom a construction site ofLebanese company Setraco onFebruary 16 in Bauchi state inNigeria's restive north.

The group Ansaru said in itsstatement announcing the


countries is dead."In an email statement sent to

journalists announcing the kid-napping two days later, Ansarusaid the motives were "thetransgressions and atrocitiesdone to the religion of Allah...by the European countries inmany places such asAfghanistan and Mali".

Ansaru also claimed the De-cember kidnapping of a Frenchengineer in Katsina state, bor-dering Niger. The victim'swhereabouts remain unknown.

Seven members of a Frenchfamily, including four children,were also abducted last monthin Cameroon, and Cameroonauthorities said they were thentaken over the border intorestive northeastern Nigeria.Their whereabouts also remainunknown.

Ansaru has appeared tofocus specifically on kidnap-ping foreigners, though it hasnot been known to haveclaimed the abduction of theFrench family.

Nigeria is Africa's most pop-ulous nation and largest oilproducer, roughly divided be-tween a mainly Muslim northand predominately Christiansouth.

Britain, Italy, Greece say hostageskilled in Nigeria

International News

challenge for the Church -- ris-ing secularism.

Father Stefano Guernelli,rector of the ornate Baroquechurch in central Rome told O'-Malley: "I hope this is the lasttime you come here as a cardi-nal and I hope that if you areelected pontiff this will be thefirst church that you visit."

The Church's 115 "cardinalelectors" will meet for a con-clave in the Sistine Chapelstarting on Tuesday. The field isstill seen by Vatican experts aswide open but one favourite hasemerged -- Italian cardinal An-gelo Scola.

The conservative theologiancelebrated mass in the Churchof the Twelve Holy Apostles,surrounded by dozens of cam-eramen and photographers.

"I think he is a good man, hewould be a fine leader to helpstrengthen the Church. I ampraying for him," said 69-year-old parishioner Maria Bettini.

Salvatore Merculio, 57, a taxidriver, said: "Today is a chanceto show Cardinal Scola our sol-idarity as he prepares for theconclave, it is a momentousevent but he has the courage andgrace to face it with serenity."

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Car-dinals set for a conclave thisweek to elect a new leader forthe world's 1.2 billion Catholicscelebrated masses across Romeon Sunday, as parishionerspicked their papal favourites.

"This Sunday is also veryspecial to us because we arepreparing for the conclave, theCatholic world is united inprayer," US cardinal Sean O'-Malley, who is seen as a possi-ble contender for the papacy,said in his homily.

"Let us pray that the HolySpirit enable the Church tochoose a new pope who willconfirm us in our faith andmake more visible the love ofthe Good Shepherd," O'Malleytold parishioners in Santa Mariadella Vittoria church.

O'Malley based his homilyon the Biblical parable of theProdigal Son, who runs awayfrom home but is welcomedback with open arms by his fa-ther.

"People leave the Father, theChurch, for many reasons -- ig-norance, a poor welcome, neg-ative experiences, scandals,spiritual mediocrity," he said, inapparent reference to a key

Cardinals celebrate massesin Rome ahead of conclave

measures whose usefulnessare now questioned.

The World Bank saysthese steps cost the worldsome $54 billion (41 billioneuros at today's rates), muchof it in lost tourism revenue.

In fact, simple hygiene --washing your hands andmasking your cough --turned out to be a much moreeffective deterrent, accordingto Oxford.

"Everyone thought it wasperhaps bigger than it was,"he said of the way SARS washandled.

SARS infected about8,000 people around theworld, claiming most of its

victims in Hong Kong, Tai-wan, mainland China, Canadaand Singapore.

The first case was detectedin China's Guangdongprovince in November 2002but information about it wasnot released until February2003.

On March 12 that year, theWHO issued a global SARSalert. By July, it declared theoutbreak contained.

We may not be so luckynext time, say the experts.

The odds of a new outbreakmultiply each year as moreand more globetrotters are ex-posed to strange newpathogens before going hometo ever-more-crowded citiesand towns where disease canspread quickly.

The corona virus that causedSARS, for example, is believedto have moved from bats, torats to civets -- once a populardelicacy in southern China.

SARS was followed by the2009-2010 H1N1 "swine flu"pandemic, which scientists saidinfected more than a fifth of theworld's people and may havekilled as many as 250,000 --about the yearly seasonal flutoll.

since it was first detected inmid-2012.

The most important lessonscited by experts include infor-mation sharing, rapidly rais-ing the global alert, andfinding and containing theoutbreak source.

"We have learnt that it isimportant to say what weknow," Isabelle Nuttall, direc-tor of the alert and responsedepartment at the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)told AFP.

A lack of communicationwas a key criticism of thehandling of the 2003 out-break, with China accused oftrying to cover it up.

Since then, the world hasadopted International HealthRegulations, said Nuttall,which bind all countries to re-port any severe, new diseasewith spread potential.

SARS also showed it iseasy to overreact -- millionsof people were screened atairports with little or no suc-cess.

Flights were cancelled aspanic spread, tens of thou-sands of people were placedin quarantine in Asia andCanada, and hundreds ofschools were closed -- all

PARIS (AFP) - A decade ago,a highly contagious anddeadly new illness sent peo-ple worldwide scrambling tocancel flights and holidays asschools closed and sales ofsurgical masks spiked.

Severe Acute RespiratorySyndrome (SARS) was thefirst "new" disease of the 21stcentury to jump from an ani-mal host to humans, then eas-ily from one person toanother.

It caught the world un-awares and exposed healthsystem weaknesses in an erain which people are ever moreexposed to strange, newviruses lurking in hithertoundisturbed places.

The outbreak was con-tained within months withabout 800 deaths, settlingfears of a plague-like globalwipeout but also yielding im-portant lessons for the future.

"The experience from thefirst SARS outbreak is help-ing us now," virologist JohnOxford from the Queen MaryUniversity of London toldAFP.

The world is currently deal-ing with another coronaviruslike the one that caused SARSwhich has killed eight people

What have we learnt from SARS?


Health & Living

eases like MS, psoriasis andrheumatoid arthritis.

Autoimmune diseases de-velop when the immune sys-tem attacks rather thanprotects the host.

Other researchers foundthey could induce more se-vere forms of autoimmunediseases, and at higher rates,in mice fed a diet higher insalt than others.

"It's not just salt, ofcourse," said author VijayKuchroo, co-director of theCenter for Infection and Im-

munity at the Brigham andWomen's Hospital in Boston.

"Salt could be one morething on the list of predispos-ing environmental factors thatmay promote the developmentof autoimmunity."

In a comment on the threecompanion papers, JohnO'Shea of the National Insti-tute of Arthritis and Muscu-loskeletal and Skin Diseases inBethesda, Maryland, and Rus-sel Jones of McGill Universityin Canada, called the findings"exciting and provocative".

But they reiterated it waspremature to state that saltcould cause autoimmune dis-ease.

"This work should spur in-vestigation of tangible linksbetween diet and autoimmunedisease in people," they wrote.

PARIS (AFP) - A high-saltdiet may be a risk factor forautoimmune diseases like mul-tiple sclerosis (MS), accordingto three papers published in thejournal Nature on Wednesday.

Two of the studies showedthat salt can induce the produc-tion of aggressive cells in-volved in autoimmune diseasedevelopment in mice and hu-mans, while a third indicatedthat mice on high-salt diets de-velop a type of disease similarto human MS.

The international teams ofscientists cautioned that theseare early results that warrantfurther investigation.

In two studies in mice andhuman cells, scientists showedthat salt boosted the develop-ment of a type of immune cellknown as T helper 17, or Th17,that has been implicated in dis-

Possible link found betweensalt, autoimmune disease

said a meteorologist atthe Japan Meteorologi-cal Agency.

The phenomenonwas expected to be tem-porary, and rain shouldstrip the dust from theair, he said.

Japan and other re-gional countries havevoiced concern aboutthe impact of airbornepollution drifting fromtheir influential neigh-bor.

The toxic haze thatperiodically blanketsparts of China has been

blamed on emissions fromcoal burning in power stationsbut also on fumes from vehi-cles on the traffic-cloggedstreets of the world's largestlargest auto market.

Media reports have said thatenvironment ministers fromJapan, China and South Koreawill meet in May will discussways to combat air pollution.


GENEVA (AFP) - A number ofcountries are aggressively try-ing to control the Internet, a topUS diplomat cautioned, insist-ing Washington would give noground when it comes to curb-ing freedoms on the Web.

The fact that many countriesappeared to be investing heav-ily, "billions and billions ofdollars", in next generationsurveillance technologies wasan indication of their intentionsto clamp down on Internetfreedoms, Alec Ross, the StateDepartment's outgoing senioradviser on innovation, told re-porters in Geneva.

The clamp-down was com-ing amid a clear shift of powerall over the world from gov-ernments and other state hier-archies towards citizens andnetworks of citizens, he saidduring his last press conferencebefore leaving his governmentposition.

The fear of losing powerand control was evident at aUN gathering in Dubai last De-cember, where 89 countriessigned a controversial newglobal treaty on telecom regu-lations, Ross said, insisting thatthe US refusal to sign that

treaty should be seen as its "re-fusal to give any ground on In-ternet freedom."

He said he was "pes-simistic" about the chances ofthe world's nations quicklyreaching agreement on whatthey want the Web to look likegoing forward.

The US, he said, was ag-gressively working to help en-sure Internet freedom aroundthe world and had investedover $100 million over the pastfour years in projects aimed athelping counter crack-downmeasures from oppressiveregimes.

Among the projects was oneaimed at creating new net-works when regimes try tostrangle bandwidth and shutdown mobile networks whenthey face protests, as was thecase in Iran and in Egypt dur-ing the Arab Spring uprisings.

Another project, Ross said,was aimed at helping activistswho fear arrest and torture toquickly wipe clean their mo-bile phones and transfer theirdata and contact lists to securelocations in a cloud to ensuretheir phones aren't used totrack other activists.

Internet freedom showdownlooming: US

Sci-Tech

TOKYO (AFP) - A huge duststorm hit Tokyo Sunday, blan-keting the city with brown dustthat darkened the skies andrapidly transformed what hadbeen a clear and sunny day.

Visibility in the capital dete-riorated quickly as dry dust par-ticles whirled through the air.

Meteorologists said thephenomenon was caused by a

sudden cold front, and was notlinked with the suffocatingpollution that hung over theChinese capital Beijing lastwinter.

"A rapidly developing lowpressure system in the northwas moving down south. Itwas bringing a snow storm inthe north, and strong winds inTokyo and surrounding areas,"

Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze

JAPAN (AFP) - Pictures found in debris of the March 11earthquake and tsunami disasters are on display at theTsukidate elementary school in Kesennuma, Miyagi pre-fecture on March 10, 2013. Today marks the second an-niversary of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that sent ahuge wall of water into the coast of the Tohoku region,splintering whole communities, ruining swathes of primefarmland and killing nearly 19,000 people.


MRT 09 - MRT 16

O’stad : ‘ Botica Serv. Maria ’ - S.N. ‘ San Lucas. ’

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the federal budget in 10 years,compared to his previous onethat tried to achieve that goalin 25 years.

Ryan said the focus of theObamaCare repeal would be tostop the expansion of Medi-caid, the federal program thatprovides medical services tolow-income U.S. families.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan,chairman of the House BudgetCommittee, said yesterday thathis new budget includes the re-peal of President Obama’shealth-care reform law knownas ObamaCare.

Ryan told “Fox News Sun-day” that the new proposal willmake enough cuts to balance

WASHINGTON - PresidentBarack Obama said he islooking for compromise in thecoming months to end a two-year fight with Congress overhow to reduce the deficit,promising Americans that hewill try to find commonground with lawmakers.

Turning away from thesharp rhetoric he has used inrecent weeks to blame Repub-licans for $85 billion in gov-ernment spending cuts thattook effect March 1, Obamaon the weekend highlightedhow he is working with law-makers in Congress.

"The fact is, America is anation of different beliefs anddifferent points of view. That'swhat makes us strong, andfrankly, makes our democraticdebates messy and often frus-trating," Obama said. "But ul-timately what makes usspecial is when we summonthe ability to see past thosedifferences."

The warm and fuzzy mes-sage contrasted sharply withObama's radio addresses fromthe past two weeks, when heblasted Republicans for pro-tecting the rich and hurtingthe middle class and accusedthem of "partisan reckless-ness."

"We just need Republicansin Congress to catch up withtheir own party and the rest ofthe country," he said lastweek.

But last week, Obamaturned on a charm offensive,having lunch with Paul Ryan,the Republican chairman ofthe House Budget Committeeand the party's 2012 vice pre -sidential nominee, and dinnerwith a dozen Republican sen-ators. He described the mee -ting with senators as "an openand honest conversation" thathe plans to continue thisweek,when he plans to visit CapitolHill four times.

Obama said he will talkabout immigration reform andnew gun control proposals inthe meetings, as well as thedeficit. His visits come duringa week when both chambersare slated to unveil theirbudget plans for 2014, and theSenate also considers ways toadjust spending for the rest of2013 to try to ease the impactof the March 1 "sequester"cuts.

percent in 2009.Guest lists are down

slightly but spending is up astoday's brides and grooms digdeeper into their pockets toprovide a picture-perfectweekend of events to surroundthe ceremony. Average wed-ding cost per guest increased to$204, compared to $194 in2009. Couples are spendingmore on rehearsal dinners andmorning-after brunches. Thesurvey found 27 percent ofbrides are providing shuttlesand buses for their guests.

The most expensive placein the United States, not sur-prisingly, was Manhattan,where brides spent an average$76,678. The least expensiveweddings were found inAlaska, but even those eventscost an average of $15,504.

A wedding dress last yearcost an average of $1,211, up$90 from the previous year.

CHICAGO -- Wedding budg-ets that could break the bankappear to be back in vogue,U.S. wedding experts say.

XO Group Inc., creator ofleading wedding websites,TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com, said a survey ofmore than 17,500 U.S. bridesmarried in 2012, suggests cou-ples are feeling more comfort-able spending a boatload ofcash on their big day.

The average wedding lastyear cost $28,427, up from$27,021 in 2011, and thatdoesn't even include the ho -neymoon. The survey foundabout 1 in 8 brides (13 percent)are spending more than$40,000 on their nuptials, andnearly 1 in 4 (23 percent) saidthey didn't even have a budget.

"In 2011, budgets increasedfor the first time since the eco-nomic downturn, and this pastyear, in 2012, we saw thatwedding budgets are continu-ing to rise even more and to anall-time high since 2008," Car-ley Roney, co-founder of The-Knot, said. "Couples areincreasingly less concernedwith the economy and arecomfortable investing morethan ever in the once-in-a-life-time experience of planningtheir wedding and making it afabulous experience for theirguests."

Of the brides who were sur-veyed, 26 percent said theeconomy affected their wed-ding spending, compared to 34

Wedding budgets blossom

as economy improves

MADRID, Spain -- Photo above shows tens of thousandsof demonstrators marching in dozens of Spanish citiesyesterday to protest sky-high unemployment, what theysay is the government*s inefficient handling of the eco -nomy and corruption scandals, including one engulfingthe royal family. Rallies have been organized in Madridand 60 other cities yesterday by 150 organizations in-cluding trade unions representing the construction, carand television industries as well as police and healthservices. Spain's unemployment rate is at a staggering26 percent and the economy is immersed in its secondrecession in three years, with many young graduates andqualified professionals emigrating to find jobs elsewhere.


SAtURDAY’S

Crossword Answer

FINANCE

U.S.A.

Dutch Antilles

Canada

Britiain

Switzerland

Netherlands

Sweden

Denmark

Norway

Japan

(per 10,000)

USD

ANG

CAD

GBP

CHF

EUR

SEK

DKK

NOK

JPY

1.77

98.00

1.71

2.61

188.53

231.03

27.03

30.30

30.36

184.09

1.78

100.00

1.73

2.66

189.25

233.14

27.75

31.02

31.08

185.77

1.80

100.20

1.75

2.72

190.05

235.48

28.55

31.82

31.88

187.64

Currency

Code

Buying

ratebanknotes

Buying

ChequesSelling

Rate

Current as

03/10/13

All rates for amounts up to AWG 100.00 per item.

Obama dialsdown

budgetblame in

new tack ondeficit fight

Ryan: New House Republicanbudget includes ObamaCarerepeal


AUSTIN (AFP) - Rubber-faced comic Jim Carrey returnedto the big screen in fan-pleasing form Friday by way ofthe opening feature of the South by Southwest (SXSW)film festival. Fans of Carrey filled the vintage Paramountcinema with hoots of laughter at a movie that, unusallyfor contemporary male-oriented Hollywood adult come-dies, kept tasteless humor to a reasonably bearable min-imum. This year's lineup of SXSW films includes a FedeAlvaraz remake of Sam Raimi's 1981 horror classic "TheEvil Dead," the comedy crime drama "Spring Breakers"starring Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomaz as bikini-clad restaurant robbers, and a raft of independent docu-mentaries.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Big-budget 3D fantasy adventureflick "Oz the Great and Power-ful" debuted atop the NorthAmerican box office with ahuge $80.3 million in weekendticket sales, industry estimatesshowed Sunday.

Starring James Franco as acircus magician who ends upon the Yellow Brick Road,"The Wizard of Oz" prequeleasily topped last week'sleader, "Jack the Giant Slayer,"according to box office trackerExhibitor Relations.

"Jack," which starsNicholas Hoult in the title roleas a young farmhand battlinggiants to save a princess,brought in $10 million in itssecond week, more thanenough to keep it in secondplace but a sharp drop from itsdebut.

"Identity Thief," a comedystarring Melissa McCarthy andJason Bateman, dropped a pegto third, with $6.3 million inreceipts in its fifth week in the-aters for total earnings of$116.5 million.

"Dead Man Down," a crimedrama starring Colin Ferrell

and Noomi Rapace, debuted infourth place, picking up $5.35million.

Action film "Snitch" star-ring Dwayne "The Rock"Johnson slipped to fifth with$5.1 million in weekend sales.Not far behind at $5.06 millionwas comedy "21 & Over,"which fell from third to sixthplace in its second week out.

"Safe Haven" and "SilverLinings Playbook" held on inseventh and eighth place, re-spectively.

A romantic drama adaptedfrom a novel by NicholasSparks, "Safe Haven" made$3.8 million, while "SilverLinings," with Oscar-winnerJennifer Lawrence andBradley Cooper, garnered $3.7million.

Animated kids movie "Es-cape from Planet Earth,"earned $3.2 million, putting itin ninth place after four weeksin theaters.

Horror sequel "The Last Ex-orcism Part II," dropped to10th place in its second weekwith a box office take of $3.1million.

'Oz' conjures up N.America box office magic

SXSW film opener seesreturn of Jim Carrey

Bieber cancelsone of two Portugal datesLISBON (AFP) - Canadianteen heartthrob JustinBieber has cancelled oneof two scheduled concertsin Portugal next week, justafter completing what headmitted had been arough week in London,promoters said Saturday.The 19-year-old said he

had had a "rough week"and was "human" follow-ing the foul-mouthed con-frontation with a paparazzicameraman in London.Bieber was forced to

halt a London show for 20minutes on Thursdaynight after complaining ofbeing "light of breath" andwas later taken to hospi-tal. a few days, the 19-year-old pop sensationangered some of his fansfor being late on stage,then suffered a healthscare and was involved ina foul-mouthed confronta-tion with a photographer.M u s i c p r o m o t e r s

"Everything is new" saidon their website thatBieber cancelled his Tues-day Lisbon concert "dueto unforeseen circum-stances", but insisted theteen idol was still keen toperform on Monday.A Portuguese newspa-

per had said that, whilethe first date was sold out,ticket sales had been sus-pended for the secondnight due to insufficientdemand.

ALHAURIN EL GRANDE, SPAIN (AFP) - A picture takenon March 5, 2013 shows a mare and her foal grazing atthe Association CyD Santamaria, in Alhaurin el Grande,near Malaga. In Spain's boom years, they were a richfamily's status symbol: pet horses to ride at the week-end. Now abandoned in the crisis, they are plodding intheir tens of thousands to the slaughterhouse. At the endof a bumpy country lane in southern Andalucia, Spain'sfarming and horse-rearing heartland, Virginia Solerahelps run a shelter for the luckier cast-offs -- victims,along with millions of citizens, of Spain's abrupt eco-nomic downturn.

for dinner, until 11:00 PM. All these aspects of charm-

ing surroundings, dining alfresco with a breathtakingview (or in their enclosed air-conditioned dining room, ifyou prefer) and fine foodmakes La Trattoria El Faro thesingle dining experience thatmust not be missed before de-parting Aruba. Reservationscan be made by calling 586-0786 or 586-0787, or via e-mail link at their website,www.aruba-latrattoria.com,where you can peruse their lat-est menu, as Chef Alberto isalways devising some tastynew specialty to take advan-tage of what is fresh for theseason.

lunch stop while touring, ser -ving from 11:00 AM to 3:00PM, after which visitors canenjoy a light snack from theirPizza Mini Menu until 6:00PM when they officially open

willing to help you stay withinyour budget.

Many have taken note ofthis singular location as theplace to go for that memorableromantic meal, and their reser-

vation staff reports a waitinglist for the rail tables that offerthe best unobstructed view,recommending reservationswell in advance if this is im-portant to you.

The restaurant is now openfrom early in the day for re-freshments, and is the perfect


investment. To further en-hance this, Gold Coast man-agement have inaugurated anumber of in-house servicesand have recently become af-filiated Interval International,the world’s largest network ofvacation ownership propertieswhich provides an unlimitedinternational pool of investorsto tap for ownership and rentalprospects. Property exchangefor a vacation in another desti-nation is also availablethrough the Interval Interna-tional affiliation. Gold Coast’sown rental services have alsoproven highly successful in as-sisting owners in renting theirvillas; 24-hour security andmaintenance services also tipthe scales when it is time tomake a decision. Aside fromall this, housekeeping, childcare, catering services , carrental through its partnershipwith AVIS car rental are alsoavailable as well as pre-shop-ping services so cupboardsand refrigerators are stockedupon arrival, which can alsobe arranged through theirproperty management depart-ment. Personnel are also avail-able to assist in arrangingrestaurant reservations and is-land activities.

Visit their website: www.goldcoastaruba.com formore details and availabilityor call 586-2200 to arrange apersonal tour.

demand for Aruba and facili-ties such as those at GoldCoast, make it easy for someowners to see a valuable returnon their investment.

The design of the resi-dences and public areas isopen, airy and spacious, takingfull advantage of the island en-vironment, with quality con-struction and finishingavailable. Partnering with twoof Aruba’s top providers ofkitchens and bathrooms en-ables developers to offer cus-tom options allowing buyersto individualize their homes.An elegant and chic furniturepackage is available or islanddesigners will assist owners infinishing the décor to theirspecific tastes.

There are many aspects topurchasing property; not theleast is the future value of the

Gold Coast Aruba which whencomplete will be a communityof 260 town homes, villas andcondominiums with a stunningclubhouse complemented bytwo additional communitypool areas , The Clubhouse isabout to start construction andwill offer to the communityhomeowners and visitors 2tennis courts, full service spaand fitness center as well as astunning pool area and is ex-pected to be complete by early2013. It will also house arestaurant and mini-market.

Owners who purchasedupon the groundbreaking onlya few short years ago, are al-ready enjoying a nearly 50%appreciation on their invest-ment, particularly those takingadvantage of the on site man-agement’s rental services pro-gram. There is always a great

and all the action, and yet of-fers a quiet and secluded get-away; we are very pleased bythe response to our concept.”

Fito, with his sister Mayrinand brother Rudy operate CasBon, which has been con-structing homes and buildingdevelopments for all budgetsfor nearly twenty years. “GoldCoast Aruba is the jewel in ourcrown,” observes Fito. “Wewere very excited about thisproject and the scope of actualand planned facilities andamenities. We have spoken tocountless island visitors to findout what they would reallywant in a permanent residenceon Aruba, and took fromthere.”

Input from frequent vaca-tioners who have dreamed oftheir own home in Aruba con-tributed to the realization of

Management of Gold CoastAruba, the island’s newest andmost innovative gated com-munity, reports that sales havebeen very good and encourag-ing as the global economy re-covers and people looking topurchase vacation homes havefound that Gold Coast is anoutstanding investment value.Director of Sales, Fito Croeshas noticed a surprising per-centage of owners in reality donot spend a great amount oftime personally to use the vil-las or town homes they pur-chase, but are takingadvantage of Gold Coast’srental services to turn their in-vestment into ready income.

“The greater portion ofhome owners are using their“home away from home” inAruba to escape the wintermonths, or spend holidayswith the family on the island,”he remarked, “but I am grati-fied by how many are buyingbecause they felt secure withreal estate investment onAruba. They really study thehistory and economy of the is-land and are impressed withthe political stability and con-tinually increasing value ofprime locations. Gold Coast isin the heart of Malmok, con-sidered Aruba’s most exclu-sive community where thevalue of properties has only in-creased over time. It is onlyminutes to the best beaches

Gold Coast Aruba: This is the time to invest

Savoring the sight of aspectacular Aruban sunset andthe tiered layout of the eateryalso makes it the ideal spot formarking a special occasion,such as an anniversary or amarriage proposal, as well as aperfect venue for weddings ora celebratory party. An exten-sive and diverse menu andwine list allows those planninga special festivity will be ableto devise a memorable eventand management is ready and

Over twenty years ago, a veryclever person had the idea ofplacing a cozy little restauranton the top of the cliff adjacentto the California Lighthouse,offering the most stunningview of Aruba imaginable. LaTrattoria el Faro Blanco tookover the location some yearsago, and the restaurant’s quainttrappings, superb selection andamenable staff has made it aone of the island’s most popu-lar dining spots ever since.

Excellent dining, charming ambiance and a breathtakingview found only at La Trattoria El Faro Blanco

Stunning sunset

Risotto Frutti de Mare

Mexican fans who were stand-ing behind the dugout hurlingobjects at the players andcoaches, including baseballs.

Walker said he tried to actas a peacemaker and at theheight of the brawl he grabbedMexico's Alfredo Aceves, whoplays for the Boston Red Sox.

By the time play resumed,four Mexican players, Leon,Oliver Perez, EduardoArredondo and Aceves, andthree Canadian players,Tosoni, Pete Orr and Jay John-son had been thrown out.

Tournament officials saidthey would review the inci-dent to see if further penaltieslike suspensions were war-ranted.

ble to get three runs for theNetherlands and AndruwJones added another with asingle off relief pitcher TetsuyaUtsumi to reduce the deficit to12-4 and raise brief hopes of acomeback.

But Hayato Sakamoto fireda grand slam for a 16-4 lead inthe seventh, and closerHideaki Wakui shut out thebottom inning to bring thegame to an early halt under themercy rule.

Japan beat Taiwan 4-3 in anextra inning on Friday after Tori-tani returned home on a singlehit by Hirokazu Ibata for 3-3.

Japan are now assured of aberth in this month's four-teamfinal series, featuring two sidesfrom the Asian grouping andtwo more from pools in PuertoRico and Arizona.

solo homer in the first inning,and then Nobuhiro Matsudaand Seiichi Uchikawa crackedtwo more in the second to putJapan 6-0 up, while pitcherKenta Maeda shut out the firstfive innings.

Atsunori Inaba, with a solohomer, and Yoshio Itoi, with athree-run homer, stretched the

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar Pis-torius is a broken man "on theverge of suicide" as he fights acharge of premeditated mur-der, a friend of the Paralympicstar has said.

Pistorius stands accused ofmurdering his girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp on Valentine's Day,in a case that rocked the na-tion.

The 26-year-old SouthAfrican, who has won six goldmedals at the Paralympics,claims he shot her through abathroom door thinking shewas an intruder.

Speaking in the upcomingBBC3 documentary "OscarPistorius: What Really Hap-pened?", close friend MikeAzzie said the star was "a bro-ken man" since the incident,and his state of mind has wors-ened since he was tasked withselling his racehorses to raisemoney to pay for his spirallinglegal fees.

Azzie also said Pistorius,who is out on bail, regularlytalks about Steenkamp as heawaits his next court appear-ance on June 4.

"He just always seems tomention Reeva and to ask us topray for her and her family,"Azzie said.

"He has no confidence in histone of voice and he is just aman that is almost like some-one that is walking around incircles and doesn't know wherehe is going.

"I would say that, justspeaking to him, that he is abroken man and that I wouldgo as far to say that he wouldbe on the verge of suicide. Itreally worries me."

According to the documen-tary makers, Mentorn Media,police in Johannesburg saidthey have requested all recordsof phone calls and messagesexchanged between Pistoriusand Steenkamp on the day shewas killed.

Officers added they werealso sifting through a "mas-sive" number of texts onSteenkamp's phone, producerssaid.

There are no plans for policeto enter into a plea bargainwith Pistorius's legal team fora lesser charge, the show'smakers claimed.

The documentary, will airtoday.

Pistorius 'on verge ofsuicide', says closefriend


Sport

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan'sWorld Baseball Classic titledefence roared into life Sun-day when they hammered theNetherlands 16-4 to secure aspot in the final round in SanFrancisco.

The two-time defendingchampions smashed six homeruns at Tokyo Dome to floorthe Dutch, who earlier upsetSouth Korea and will now playCuba, whom they have alreadybeaten in the second round, ina play-off today.

Japan, missing their MajorLeague stars and with a coachunder pressure from domesticmedia, lost to Cuba during thefirst round and they struggledto an extra-inning win againstTaiwan in their opening gameof round two.

But on yesterday, openingbatter Takashi Toritani hit a

lead at 10-0 by the fourth inning.Captain Shinnosuke Abe

and Matsuda hit a double eachin the following two innings toadd two runs, while startingpitcher Maeda gave just onehit and struck out nine battersin his five innings.

In the sixth inning,Wladimir Balentien hit a dou-

Baseball: Champs Japan wins, reachfinal round

PHOENIX (AFP) - PuertoRico and the Dominican Re-public booked berths in thesecond round of the WorldBaseball Classic whileCanada battled its way pastMexico in a game marred by aninth-inning brawl.

Michael Saunders wentfour-for-four and JustinMorneau drove in three runsas Canada routed Mexico 10-3 in a Pool D contest that sawseven players ejected follow-ing a benches-clearing fight.

One of those was Mexicanpitcher Arnold Leon whodrilled Canadian batter ReneTosoni in the right scapula,leading to the brawl withCanada leading 9-3 in the top

of the ninth inning.The wild scene came mo-

ments after Canadian catcherChris Robinson began the in-ning with a bunt single. Thatprompted Mexico third base-man Luis Cruz to apparentlytell Leon to throw at the nextbatter, Tosoni.

After being hit, Tosoniwalked towards the moundand both benches emptied.Cruz, who plays for the LosAngeles Dodgers, threw thefirst punch at a Canadianplayer and the fists started fly-ing. Cruz was not thrown outof the game.

Canada pitching coachDenis Boucher was hit in theface by a bottle thrown by

Baseball: Fists fly in Canada win,Puerto Rico advances

a shot that tipped in off a de-fender.

He had many chances lateron to tie up the contest, butcouldn't get one past despitehaving himself a solid matchoverall.

Madrid will play nextagainst Mallorca at home Sat-urday, while Vigo travels toDeportivo to play a Fridaymatch.


Deportivo's chances of sur-vival weren't helped by a sec-ond consecutive win forMallorca as two goals fromAlejandro Alfaro gave them a2-1 victory over Sevilla.

Alvaro Negredo had brieflylevelled for Sevilla in the sec-ond-half but Alfaro's winner 24minutes from time moves Gre-gorio Manzano's men to withina point of safety.

Malaga, who are also inChampions League action inmidweek as they try to overturna 1-0 deficit against Porto, re-main in fourth after a 1-1 drawaway to Valladolid, whilst RayoVallecano kept up their hopesof qualifying for Europe with a2-0 win over Espanyol.

INDIAN WELLS (AFP) -Rafael Nadal made a tri-umphant return to hard-courttennis on Saturday, bookinghis third-round berth at IndianWells with a straight-sets vic-tory over American Ryan Har-rison.

Seeded only fifth in a tour-nament he won in 2007 and2009, Nadal was neverthelesssquarely in the spotlight as heplayed his first hard-courtmatch in 346 days.

After a few tense momentsin the opening set, he camethrough with flying colors,beating 73rd-ranked AmericanHarrison 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in onehour and 33 minutes.

Nadal was sidelined for

seven months recovering froma left-knee injury. The formerworld No. 1 got his comebackoff to a blazing start with threeclay-court tournaments inLatin America, with one run-ner-up finish and two titles.

But he had not played ahard-court event since pullingout in Miami with left kneetendinitis last March, and hehad not been sure he would beready to test the knee on thepunishing cement this month.

Nadal moved closer to aprojected quarter-final match-up with old foe Roger Federer,the defending champion whocruised into the third roundwith a 6-2, 6-3 victory overUzbekistan's Denis Istomin.

Federer wrapped up thematch in 57 minutes and didnot face a break point.

The Swiss great, seeded sec-ond behind world No. 1 NovakDjokovic, is seeking a firsttournament triumph of 2013after being denied title repeatsat Rotterdam and Dubai.

Tennis: Nadal triumphantin hard-court return

MADRID (AFP) - AFP) -Barcelona assistant managerJordi Roura was delighted fi-nally to keep a clean sheet asthe Catalans extended their leadat the top of the table to 14points with a 2-0 win over De-portivo la Coruna on Saturdaynight.

With a huge game to comeagainst AC Milan in the Cham-pions League on Tuesday,Roura named a much-changedside with Lionel Messi onlystarting on the bench.

However, after AlexisSanchez had given Barca a de-served half-time lead, Messicame on and sealed the threepoints with a lovely finish twominutes from time to extend his

scoring streak in the league to17 matches.

It was ending an unwantedstreak that Roura was mostpleased with though as Barcadidn't concede for the first timein 14 games stretching back toearly January.

Depor meanwhile remainrooted to the foot of the tableand it was easy to see why asthey failed to create even oneclear-cut opening against amakeshift Barca side.

The Galicians are eightpoints off safety and havingwon only three games so farthis season, manager FernandoVazquez believes they have towin seven of their remaining 11to survive.

Football: Alexis and Messi goalssee Barca past Depor

MADRID (AFP) - RealMadrid registered their sixthconsecutive victory in all com-petitions as two goals fromCristiano Ronaldo led them toa 2-1 victory over Celta Vigo.

Despite dominating for longspells in the first-half, Madridcouldn't find a way past Celtagoalkeeper Javi Varas until justafter the hour mark whenRonaldo swept home a looseball from close range.

Jose Mourinho again chooseto rotate his side after their 2-1 victory against ManchesterUnited in midweek with onlyLopez, Sami Khedira, MesutOzil and Ronaldo retainingtheir places in the side.

Ronaldo's two goals uppedhis league total to 26,equalling the amount of goalsthat Celta Vigo has scored as aclub this season.

It took some time forMadrid to alter the scoreboard,but it came in the 60th minutein usual fashion. A deep ripcouldn't find its way through a

clump of players, but it just sohappened to stop right in frontof Ronaldo, who finished itpast the goalkeeper.

Madrid's defense was farfrom effective in the secondhalf, as Celta Vigo were push-ing the ball down their throatsat will. Much of that has to fallon Pepe, the central leader ofthe defense.

. Celta's notable forwardproved to be pesky for theMadrid backs all throughoutthe second half, and it paid offas he got his side on the score-board in the 62nd minute with

Football: Ronaldo double seesMadrid past Celta Vigo


American Cloud, who wasmaking his fifth title defence.

His trainers worked to closethe cut between rounds buteach time they did it wouldstart bleeding again in the mid-dle of the later rounds as sea-son-veteran Hopkins focusedon it.

Cloud threw 650 totalpunches to Hopkins 417 but hefound himself in trouble in thering after the cut.

Referee Earl Brown ruled itto have come from an acciden-tal headbutt, but TV replaysshowed Hopkins did the dam-age with a well-timed left up-percut.

Hopkins, a former two-divi-sion champ, joked in the ringafterwards that he plans tofight another five years, wellinto his 50s.

Hopkins beat Pascal to be-come the oldest to win a majortitle, surpassing legendaryheavyweight George Fore-man's mark of 45. Hopkinsimproves to 53-6 with twodrawn and 32 knockouts.

Cloud, who was only 6 yearsold when Hopkins first steppedin the ring, drops to 24-1.

Hopkins had not foughtsince dropping a 12-round ma-jority decision to Chad Daw-son in April 2012.

COSTA MESA (AFP) - Do-minican fighter ArgenisMendez captured the Interna-tional Boxing Federation jun-ior lightweight title onSaturday by knocking outMexico's Juan Carlos Salgadoin the fourth round.

Mendez avenged a 2011loss to Salgado in his onlyprior world title bout by land-ing a hard left to the head andsending the champion to thecanvas, where he was calledout 45 seconds into the fourthround.

Mendez, who also sent Sal-gado to the canvas in the open-ing round with a hard right tothe jaw, improved to 21-2 with

his 11th career stoppage insidethe distance while Salgado fellto 26-2 with one drawn.

Salgado defeated Mendezby unanimous decision in2011 to claim the vacant titleand he had defended thecrown twice last year, both byunanimous decisions, most re-cently over Argentina'sJonathan Victor Bargos lastAugust.

Mendez won for the thirdtime since losing to Salgado,having taken a unanimous de-cision over Mexico's MatinHonorio last July to book him-self another chance at thethrone.

Boxing: Mendez takesIBF junior-lightweighttitle

NEW YORK (AFP) - BernardHopkins became the oldestboxer to win a major worldchampionship,breaking hisown record by beating TavorisCloud at the age of 48.

Hopkins scored a unani-mous 12-round decision to de-throne Cloud, who is 17 yearshis junior, for the InternationalBoxing Federation's light-heavyweight title and beat hisown record.

"The 40 and up club stillrules," Hopkins said. "I got ahistory. I got a history of de-stroying young champions andyou never seen them again."

Hopkins, who goes by thenickname 'The Executioner'was 46 in 2011 when he beat

Canada's Jean Pascal to winthe World Boxing Councillight-heavyweight crown.

Now 25 years after his firstprofessional fight, Hopkinsmade history again in his 31stchampionship bout.

Hopkins won on all threejudges scorecards, 117-111,116-112 and 116-112 againstthe previously unbeaten Cloudat the Barclays Center arena inBrooklyn, New York.

He connected on 41 percentof his overall punches andlanded 110 out of 227 powerpunches.

Hopkins landed one of hisbest punches in the sixthround which opened a nastycut over the left eye of fellow

Boxing: Hopkins makesboxing history at 48

Monday, March 11, 2013

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