january 18. 2012

in prison if found guilty.The captain told interroga-

tors he was at the helm of theship when disaster struck butdid not abandon ship. He saidhe fell into the sea and couldnot get back on board the tilt-ing vessel, the Corriere dellasera newspaper said.

His lawyer backed theclaim, telling journalists:"The ship at that moment wastilted over by 90 degrees."

"You try and get back ontoa boat that is at a 90 degreesangle without a helicopter,"Leporatti said.

The vast Costa Concordiacruise ship carrying over3,000 passengers sank afterhitting a rock and turningover on its side. At least 11people have died and dozensare still missing.

ROME (AFP) - The captainof a luxury liner which ranaground off the coast of Italywill be released from prisonbut put under house arrest,his defence lawyer told jour-nalists yesterday.

Judge Valeria Montesar-chio ruled that Costa Concor-dia captain FrancescoSchettino should be placedunder house arrest, lawyerBruno Leporatti said.

Schettino is awaiting trialon accusations of multiplemanslaughter and abandon-ing ship while passengerswere still on board.

He was arrested on Satur-day after chief prosecutorFrancesco Verusio said hewas an escape risk.

Verusio told journaliststhat Schettino risked 15 years

ficer Leonardo Donato fromNoord, Officer Davidson Ed-uards from San Nicolas andOfficer Lubienshka Dijkhofffrom Santa Cruz Precinct.

Also cited that morningfor exceptional performancewere Officers Richard vanden Berg, Edgar Maduro andRoene Holewijn. Their fastthinking saved the life of afellow officer who had aheart attack in the middle ofthe night while on duty onDecember 28, 2011.

Continued on page 3

missioner of Police AdolfoRichardson at police corpsheadquarters in Macuarimayesterday morning to awardcommendations to 4 Officersof the Year 2011 for consis-tent dedication to service, and3 in particular who saved thelife of one of their fellow of-fers by their cool heads andquick action.

Police officers from the 4precincts, Oranjestad, SantaCruz, Noord and San Nicolaswere honored for outstandingperformance of their duties.They were Officer EduardoBremo from Oranjestad, Of-

Aruba’s Minister of Justiceand Education, Arthur Dow-ers, joined the Chief Com-

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Check it out at: http://www.themorningnewsaruba.com/index.php/photography-contest

Police Officers of the Year 2011

receive commendations from

Minister of Justice

Special recognition for 3 officers performing above

and beyond the call of duty

Italy cruise captain to be

put under house arrest

Leonardo Donato

Eduardo Bremo

Davidson Eduards Lubienshka Dijkhoff

compensation. The team can

be contacted attelephone 583-6405 or 588-1339and will respondto and emergencycall to their hot-line 592-3231, atany hour. QuotaClub reiteratedtheir support ofthe importantwork of this de-partment, particu-larly in their rolein assisting vic-tims of domesticviolence.

by Rosalie Klein

ized team with the policecorps.

The Victim Response Teammoved recently to police juris-diction, being formally a partof the Ministry of Social Af-fairs. They provide counselingand legal assistance for victimsof crimes, and in particular in-cidents of domestic and childabuse.

The unit has regular officehours daily from 7:30 AM toNoon and 1:00 to 4:30 PM inthe afternoon and are locatedwithin Police Headquarters atMacuarima 65. Personnel arecomprised of police officers,psychologists and social work-ers specialized in the laws re -gulations victim assistance andteers Ivy Simon

and GladysKock in presen -ting to Aruba’sVictim Re-sponse Team,as part of theKorps PolitieAruba, (PoliceCorps) KPA,logo shirts, hatsand informativeflyers whichthey sponsored.

Minister ofJustice and Ed-ucation, ArthurDowers ac-cepted andthanked themfor this show ofcommunity sup-

port and recognition for theimportant work of this special-

Quota Club President MariaGonzales was joined by volun-

Quota Club supports KPA Victims Response Team

2 Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Minister Dowers with Quota PresidentMaria Gonzales

Project Manager Ivy Simon with OfficerDijkhoff

Quota Club Volunteers with Trudy Hassell and AdofoRichardson

closed out the year with an in-crease of 7.2% overall.

There was a drop in arrivalsfrom Holland in December.Scandinavia, Iataly, Germanyand the United Kingdom allregistered increases, respec-tively 4%, 13.87%, 20.9% and11.2%.

Aruba envisions great chal-lenges in 2012 for our tourism.However, if we band together,work hard together with allpartners contributing, wewould be more than able andprepared to face the challengesand to continue this trend ofsuccessful tourism develop-ment and growth!

and the Southeast with 5.7%.As to Canada, we saw a

considerable increase, reach-ing an impressive 6.4% in-crease in visitors from Canada.

Likewise, the South Amer-ican market registered a re-markable increase of 12.3% invisitors from this region. In2010 we received 20.923 visi-tors from South America,while in 2011 this amount wasincreased to 23.505 visitors.

The only Latin-Americanmarket which registered a de-crease in the month of Decem-ber was Brazil. This de - creasewas 2.3%. Vene zuela on theother hand recovered greatlyshowing a whopping increaseof 13.1% of Vene zue lan visitorsvisiting the island in the monthof December.

Colombia also performedtremendously with a growth of2.4%, and Argentina increasedtheir visitor arrivals to Arubaby 91.5%

With respect to the Euro-pean market, eventhough De-cember closed out with a slightdrop in arrivals from Europe....0.9%, the overall 2011 per-formance was positive. They

ORANJESTAD -- The lastmonth of the year behind us,December 2011 marked an ex-ceptionally positive year forAruba’s tourism. There was awhopping increase of 4.9% inthe amount of visitors to the is-land.

The number of visitors forDecember 2011 was 81.455compared to 77.662 in Decem-ber 2010.

The government is con-vinced that this was achievedthrough a combination of ef-forts. For one, there was a con-certed effort to work closelywith our partners, and se -condly to ensure that the qua -lity of the Aruba product is ofthe highest quality and finallythrough a planned diversifica-tion of the tourism markets.

The North American mar-ket saw an increase of 2.3% invisitor arrivals. North Americaincludes the USA and Canada.The US market alone saw anincrease of 1.8% with every re-gion showing an increase. TheNortheast grew by 0.3%, theWestern region with 6.8%, theMid-Atlantic region with0.7%, the Mid-West with 1%

Aruba rejoices over 4.9% tourismincrease in December 2011!

House in

Oranjestad

Property Land

For info call

5643713 or

6607469

FOR SALE

number of cruise visitors forDecember 2010 was 82.775cruise visitors....a whoppingincrease of 24.8%!

There was also a sizeableincrease in the number ofcrew members on the islandin December...39.850, whichwas an increase of 16% com-pared to December 2010.

With respect to the num-ber of cruise calls, there were49 calls in December 2011and 47 calls in December2010. As for the number ofcalls for the entire year, therewas an increase of 19 calls,which means 314 in 2010 and333 calls in 2011!

The government expects2012 to be exceptionally po -sitive and expects to surpass600.000 cruise visitors. Ro -yal Caribbean Internationalhas already announced thatAruba will be on their itine -rary with their luxury liner,Vision of the Seas. Aruba canexpect 5 calls representing 10thousand cruise visitors! Allindications are that we canexpect a fantastic tourismyear!

ORANJESTAD -- The posi-tive 2011 tourism results forAruba was both in tourismstay over visitors and incruise tourism. The cruisetourism goal for 2011 was setat a 5% growth rate, but thegrowth rate reached5.4%...slightly more than wasexpected! This amount repre-sents a whopping 599.973cruise visitors compared to569.242 cruise visitors of2010.

Obviously, Aruba inves -ted much time, money and ef-fort into the marketing of theisland to the cruise industry.

The cruise industry is animportant segment in ourgeneral tourism. Cruise visi-tors contribute economically,and more importantly everycruise visitor is a potentialstay over visitor. For this rea-son Aruba has placed a greatdeal of emphasis on the totalquality of the Aruba product!

Throughout 2011 we sawan increase in our cruise visi -tors. The month of Decemberwas especially remarkablewith 103.268 cruise visitorsdescending on our wharf. The

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 3

Almost 600.000 cruise

visitors to Aruba in 2011!

The doctors attending thestricken officer reports his col-leagues’ adept application ofCPR and emergency responsesaved his life, and reportedtheir exceptional action to po-lice officials. “It is good toknow you are there to supportyour fellow police officerswith the proper knowledge andapplication of life-saving tech-niques,” Police CommissionerRichardson told the two offi-cers attending when presentingtheir commendations alongwith Deputy Police Commis-sioner Trudy Hassell.

by Rosalie Klein

Police Officers of the Year 2011... Continued from page 1

Minister Dowers, Dolfi Richardson, Trudy Hassell with officers of the year

Van den Berg and Maduro honored for action above andbeyond

and two levels of RococoPlaza. Just browsing this hugecollection of tasteful arrange-ments is an adventure, becausethere is so much to see.

From rich hand carvedwooden furniture, to fineporcelain, paintings, orientalrugs, bronzes and wooden sta -tues comprising various collec-tions and diverse eras, over -whelming; it takes time to ab-sorb everything.

Louis XV Antiques & Cu-riosities celebrates their 25thanniversary till end of themonth, with a 25% discount.The shop is open daily from 9a.m. – 1 p.m. and from 3:00 to5:30 p.m.

To get an entertaining im-pression of the inventory, feelfree to visit their website:www.antiquesaruba.com

the largest in the Caribbeanand occupies several rooms

The day has already passedwhen 25 years ago the first An-tique shop on Aruba was estab-lished in the unique RococoPlaza in Tanki Leendert; partsof which are constructed withbuilding materials from the17th century. The Austrian redcopper onion towers are moststriking and come from an au-thentic landmark.

When the shop was new,and being a concept unheard ofon Aruba, the question was fre-quently asked if there was anentrance fee required to enter.This spurred the idea to form aflea market in the inner-courtto make it more comfortableand to attract customers fromall walks of life.

The flea market provedvery popular, increasing in sizeand now stretched out to oc-cupy the parking lot the firstSunday of every month. Tem-porary suspended due to Car-naval activities, it will startagain on the March 4.

Until then, this small An-tique shop has grown to one of


website. The Clown Doctors ofAruba greatly appreciate themany years of continued sup-port. Masha danki!

welve years ago a new foun-dation saw the light: the ClownDoctors of Aruba. This foun-dations has as its goal to bringa ray of sunshine in the lives ofthose who have not much tosmile about. Children in thehospital, mentally challengedchildren and the elderly re-ceive regular visits fromclowns to brighten up theirlives.

Donations help pay for theclowns' salaries or there is sup-port in other ways. And that iswhere Caribmedia comes in.Almost since its beginning,Daphne Lejuez' firm has sup-ported the foundation by de-signing its website as well ashosting it.

High time for presidentPeter Balliere to say a heartfelt,huge ‘thank you’ to Daphneand her excellent Caribmediateam, who recently launchedthe renewed Clown Doctors

A heartfelt ‘Thank You’

to Caribmedia from the

Clown Doctors of Aruba

Rococo Plaza Antiques celebratingsilver anniversary

While announcing the Officers of the Yearat Police Headquarters in Macaurima yes-terday morning, Chief Commissioner ofPolice Adolfo Richardson and DeputyCommissioner Trudy Hassel singled outthe 15 members of Aruba’s MotorcycleCorp for the honor of Police Team of theYear 2011.

“If any group has embodied the princi-ples all police personnel aspire to, over thepast year we all agree, it has been Aruba’sMotorcycle Corp,” stated Officer Hassellwhen presenting the Team Leader RobertKock with a trophy on behalf of all themotorcycle cops. “They are first on thescene during incidents and organize by-standers in a polite and profes-sional manner; they work till allhours of the night and havedemonstrated true teamwork andesprit de corps.”

Motor Unit Police receivingcitations for their outstandingperformance are Officers Kock,Pieters, Reuters, Pietersz, Lu-idens, Meye, Wever, Geerman,Boekhoudt, Gomez, Croes,Tromp, Croes, Visser and Wing.

Following the informalawards ceremony, all thosebeing honored enjoyed a con-genial celebration for their dedi-cation to duty. Unfortunately, notall could be present, as a portionof the team was attending totheir duty on Aruba’s streets.

by Rosalie Klein


Motorcycle Corp announced Police Team of the Year

Group of the Year Motor Unit

Team leader Robert Kock accepts for the Motor Unit

cials at Livorno, the biggestport in the region, have re-vealed his uncooperative atti-tude following the collision.

Having told passengers theliner had suffered an electricalfault, Schettino hesitated overabandoning ship and then leftbefore the last passengers hadbeen evacuated -- and refusedto go back on board to super-vise the rescue.

"You must tell us howmany people, children, womenand passengers are there andthe exact number of each cate-gory," the official tells Schet-tino, according to the transcriptof the conversation.

"What are you doing? Areyou abandoning the rescue?"the official says.

Insults flooded Italian so-cial networks, with the Cor-riere della Sera reporting thatangry comments on Twitterblasted Italy's "most hatedman."

"He is a yellow-belliedcoward who ran away with histail between his legs, andthought only of saving his ownlife rather than the passen-gers," said one.

on cruise ships since 2002 andwas promoted to captain in2006, was described by one in-vestigator as someone "whowould drive a luxury bus onthe motorway like it was a Fer-rari".

Europe's largest cruise op-erator, which owns the CostaConcordia, accused the captainof an "inexplicable" error anddisassociated themselves fromhim.

Schettino denied abandon-ing ship and said he had savedhundreds if not thousands oflives, according to his lawyerBruno Leporatti. The captain"carried out a brilliant ma-noeuvre" after the collision,and had "kept his wits abouthim", managing to steer thevessel towards the shore and"save a number of lives."

But according to investiga-tors, the flooded engine roomswould have made it impossiblefor him to navigate the ship,which drifted close to the tinyport on Giglio Island beforelurching over to one side.

Witness testimony and therecordings of conversationsbetween the captain and offi-

ROME (AFP) - The captain ofthe cruise liner which ranaground off Italy's coast hasbeen branded a reckless show-off who refused to listen to or-ders and operated the ship as itif was a speed boat.

Mario Palombo, a formercaptain of the doomed CostaConcordia with whom Schet-tino served as first mate forfour years, told investigatorsthat he was "too high-spiritedand a dare devil," local mediareported.

"It was bravado, Schettinowas showing off, clowningaround, it was incredibly stu-pid. I would sentence him notonce but 10 times," said an-other former captain whoworked with the ship's ownerCosta Crociere. "The rock wasclearly signed on all the ship-ping maps," he told AFP.

One of the officers on theConcordia, Martino Pelle-grino, told investigators thatSchettino, from the Amalficoast region near Naples, ruledwith "an inflexible authority...against which no-one couldmake their voices heard."

Schettino, who had worked

cupy Washington" and "Occu-py DC" demonstrators.

Washington's Mayor Vin-cent Gray last week asked theNational Park Service to evictprotesters to eliminate rats andtrash and allow restoration ofthe park at one site, in theMacPherson Square area nearthe White House.

The Occupy movementtook its cue from mass protestsagainst budget cuts and unem-ployment in Europe and says itis also inspired by democracyrevolutions in North Africa.

grassy areas the surround thebuilding.

As they chanted and bran-dished placards amid a steadywinter drizzle, the protesterswielded signs urging lawmak-ers to "Come out of your ivorytower and hear the people."

Another told lawmakersthat "We are here to be heard."

The demonstration includedsome protesters who had cometo Washington from out oftown, and others who alreadyhave been protesting for weeksat one of two downtown Wash-ington sites inhabited by "Oc-

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Law-makers returning from a three-week winter break weregreeted yesterday by hundredsof protesters from the "Oc-cupy" movement, who gath-ered outside the US Capitolbuilding to decry the corrup -ting influence of money in po -litics.

The protesters with the so-called Occupy Congress group-- met by scores of uniformedpolice officers -- were deniedentry to congressional corri-dors, and said they planned tospend the entire day on the have preyed on endangered

Key Largo wood rats whileother pythons have eaten en-dangered wood storks.

"By taking this actiontoday, we will help preventfurther harm from these largeconstrictor snakes to nativewildlife, especially in habitatsthat can support constrictorsnake populations across thesouthern United States and inUS territories."

US authorities have spentmillions of dollars in theFlorida Everglades due to thethreat posed by the big snakes,"an amount far less than isneeded to combat theirspread," the FWS added.

Five other non-nativesnakes remain under conside-ration for listing as "injurious,"including the reticulatedpython, boa constrictor, De-Schauensee’s anaconda, greenanaconda and Beni anaconda.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - TheUnited States announced yes-terday it is banning the importof Burmese pythons and threeother species of giant constric-tor snakes due to the dangerthey pose to local wildlife.

The formal ban on import-ing or transporting across statelines the Burmese python, theyellow anaconda and thenorthern and southern Africanpythons will take effect inabout two months, said theFish and Wildlife Service.

According to the decision,the four big snakes are consi -dered "injurious wildlife" andthe ban aims to halt theirspread in the wild. People whoown them as pets would notlikely be affected by the newrestrictions.

"Burmese pythons have al-ready caused substantial harmin Florida," said FWS directorDan Ashe, noting that they


INTERNATIONAL NEWS US bans import ofBurmese pythons

In this photo provided by the Everglades National Park,the carcass of a six-foot alligator is shown protrudingfrom the mid-section of a 13-foot Burmese python.

Hundreds take part in 'OccupyCongress' protest

Captain of doomed Italian liner a'high-spirited dare devil'

signed by its leader Riyadh al-Asaad, a dissident colonel.

The United Nations haspledged to assist the Arab mis-sion deployed in Syria sincelast month, saying Monday itwould start training the bloc'sobservers within days.

cuss the fate of its widely crit-icised observer mission in theviolence-stricken country.

From its base in Turkey, theSyrian Free Army (SFA) calledon the 22-member ArabLeague to "quickly transfer thecase of Syria to the UN Secu-rity Council," in a statement

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syriayesterday ruled out any de-ployment of Arab troops asproposed by Qatar to halt 10months of deadly unrest, asarmy defectors appealed to theUN Security Council to inter-vene in the crisis.

"Syria rejects the state-ments of officials of Qatar onsending Arab troops to worsenthe crisis... and pave the wayfor foreign intervention," theforeign ministry said.

"The Syrian people refuseany foreign intervention in anyname. They will oppose anyattempt to undermine the sov-ereignty of Syria and the in-tegrity of its territory," it saidin a statement.

In an interview with US te -levision aired at the weekend,Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamadbin Khalifa Al-Thani, said hefavoured sending Arab troopsto Syria to "stop the killing."

The Arab League is due tomeet on Syria on Saturday-Sunday and expected to dis-

by a day.But EU president Herman

Van Rompuy finally an-nounced the original date ofJanuary 30, despite difficul-ties for Belgian authorities inguaranteeing normal servicein Brussels and potential em-barrassment for new premierDi Rupo.

Three union movementsuniting behind the strike callsaid negotiations with thegovernment on further likelyspending cuts demanded byEU partners to stay within setdeficit targets had proved "in-conclusive".

Fearing new austeritymeasures on top of existingcuts amounting to more than12 billion euros ($15 billion)for 2012, they demandedfresh talks with the govern-ment.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - Belgiantrade unions yesterday calleda general strike for January30, the date of a summit ofEuropean Union leaders inthe capital Brussels.

Terming the strike "in-evitable" after tense negotia-tions with Socialist PrimeMinister Elio Di Rupo's go -vernment, the unions said in astatement that the action was"patently required to convincethe government and employ-ers to take fully into accountthe social reality for workersand those on benefits."

Advance warning of strikeaction last week saw EUleaders toy with reschedulingtheir latest talks on the Euro-pean economy and the debtcrisis, with Italian PrimeMinister Mario Monti sayingit had been brought forward


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

AFP photo shows ousted Egyptian President Hosni

Mubarak being wheeled on a stretcher into the police

academy during his murder trial in Cairo on January 9,

2012. Mubarak returned yesterday to court where his de-

fence began a five-day challenge to calls for the ex-

strongman who was ousted from power last February 11

to be executed for the deaths of hundreds of pro-democ-

racy protesters.

Mubarak defence challenges

death penalty call

Belgian unions call general

strike for EU summit date He could not be reached toconfirm the statement.

Yesterday, some 50 troopsstill occupied the main protestsite in Lagos, but militarycheckpoints set up the previousday on major roads appearedto have been removed. Dozensof soldiers however kept watchat some of Lagos' flashpoints.

Nigerians rushed to petrolstations to refuel and traffic re-turned to roads.

Newspapers also slammedthe deployments, which cameas President Goodluck Jona -than appeared on televisionearly Monday to announce a30 percent decrease in theprice of petrol.

"To some Lagosians, thesight of heavily armed soldierson all of the city’s biggest ex-pressways could only mean

one thing: a coup," an analysisin Punch newspaper said.

"It wasn’t a military coup.What Lagos experienced was amilitary occupation ordered byPresident Goodluck Jonathan."

The strike over fuel pricesthat had begun on January 9had shut down Africa's mostpopulous nation and largest oilproducer while also bringingtens of thousands out into thestreets in protest.

But early Monday, with thestrike and protests set to pressahead for a sixth day after aweekend pause for both ac-tions, armed soldiers occupiedmain protest sites in bothLagos and the capital Abuja.

A number of civil societyand political groups have beenorganising the protests andseveral vowed to push ahead.

LAGOS (AFP) - A militarycrackdown on protests inNigeria drew harsh criticismyesterday after the country'sunions ended a week-longstrike over fuel costs followingthe president's decision to re-duce petrol prices.

The governor of Lagosstate, which includes Nigeria'seconomic capital, strongly cri -ticised the deployment oftroops who shot into the airand chased away protesterswith armoured vehicles onMonday.

Local media also reported astatement said to be fromNobel literature prize winnerWole Soyinka, one of thecountry's most respectedvoices, that demanded "the im-mediate and unconditional re-moval of these soldiers."

Anger at military crackdown afterNigerian fuel strike ends

Syria rejects Arab troops, UN urgedto step in


Health & Living

verse reactions to drinks likeRed Bull and V jumped fromjust 12 in 2004 to 65 in 2010.

Over the seven years to2010, 297 calls for assistancewere recorded with at least 128people hospitalised with symp-toms including heart palpita-tions, agitation and stomachupsets.

Of these, 20 people had

SYDNEY (AFP) - Researchersin Australia called for healthwarnings on caffeine-loadedenergy drinks following aspike in the number of peoplereporting medical problemsafter drinking them.

Health professionals fromthe University of Sydney'sMedical School and the NewSouth Wales Poisons Informa-tion Centre said reports of ad-

more serious issues, such asseizures and hallucinations.

The study, published in theMedical Journal of Australiaon Monday, said the averageperson affected was 17 yearsold and that they often mixedenergy drinks with alcohol.

"Our study demonstrates theextent of the growing problemin Australia with energy drinkconsumption and toxicity, par-ticularly among adolescents,"the study's authors wrote.

"Given the clear evidence oftoxicity and the growing num-ber of hospitalisations associ-ated with consumption ofenergy drinks... health author-ities should increase awarenessof the problem, improve pack-age labelling and regulate caf-feine content."

They recommended that "la-belling and any marketing ofthese products should includeappropriate health warningsand the national poisons hot-line number". A can of energydrink may contain up to 300milligrams of caffeine -- com-pared to an average 65-120mgfor a cup of drip coffee -- andPoisons Centre medical direc-tor Naren Gunja called formore thorough regulation.

"Things to look at wouldbe... how much caffeine dothese drinks contain, howmany can you buy at once,what age should you be whenyou buy them, should there bean age limit to being sold thedrinks," he said.

Australia experts call for energydrink warnings

Risk factorsTeenagersWomen and girls, two to

seven days before their periodsPregnant womenPeople using certain med-

icationsOther risk factors include:*Direct skin contact with

greasy or oily substances, or tocertain cosmetics applied di-rectly to the skin

* A family history of acne— if your parents had acne,you're likely to develop it, too

* Friction or pressure onyour skin caused by variousitems, such as telephones orcellphones, helmets, tight col-lars and backpacks

* Stress doesn't cause acne,but if you have acne already,stress may make it worse

Lifestyle and home reme-dies

*Wash problem areas with agentle cleanser.

*Try over-the-counter acnelotion to dry excess oil andpromote peeling. Look forproducts containing benzoylperoxide or salicylic acid asthe active ingredient.

*Avoid irritants. * Watch what touches your

face. *Don't pick or squeeze

blemishes. Always talk with your doc-

tor before trying a natural rem-edy. Dietary supplements cancause side effects and mayalter the safety and effective-ness of certain medications.

DefinitionAcne is a skin condition thatoccurs when your hair folliclesbecome plugged with oil anddead skin cells.

Depending on its severity,acne can cause emotional dis-tress and lead to scarring of theskin.

Causes Three factors contribute to

the formation of acne: *Overproduction of oil

(sebum)*Irregular shedding of dead

skin cells resulting in irritationof the hair follicles of yourskin

*Buildup of bacteriaFactors that may worsen

acneThese factors can trigger or

aggravate an existing case ofacne:

Hormones. Androgens arehormones that increase in boysand girls during puberty andcause the sebaceous glands toenlarge and make more sebum.Hormonal changes related topregnancy and the use of oralcontraceptives can also affectsebum production.

Certain medications. Drugscontaining corticosteroids, an-drogens or lithium are knownto cause acne.

Diet. Studies indicate thatcertain dietary factors, includ-ing dairy products and carbo-hydrate-rich foods — such asbread, bagels and chips, whichincrease blood sugar — maytrigger acne.

Acne mythsContrary to what some

people think, these factorshave little effect on acne:

Greasy foods and chocolatehave proved to have little to noeffect on the development orcourse of acne.

Dirty skin. Acne isn'tcaused by dirt. In fact, scrub-bing the skin too hard orcleansing with harsh soaps orchemicals irritates the skin andcan make acne worse. Simplecleansing of the skin to removeexcess oil and dead skin cellsis all that's required.

Normal Acne Cystic Acne

ACNE

This file photo shows cans of various energy drinks, dis-played at a store in the US.

Russian space agency Roscos-mos.

Roscosmos is currentlylooking into the possiblecauses of its latest major spacemishap, after the probe, whichwas launched in November,met an inglorious end Sundaywhen it crashed back intoEarth over the Pacific Ocean.

Deputy Prime MinisterDmitry Rogozin said Tuesdaythat most of the agency's fail-ures were aftershocks follow-ing the industry's dark periodof the 1990s, when poor fund-ing could have led to produc-tion of faulty equipment.

"If we confirm the fact of aforeign influence on our space

(AFP) - Russia on Tuesdaysaid the failure of its Phobos-Grunt probe for Mars couldhave been caused by radiationfrom US radars, in its latest al-legation of Western interfer-ence in its space programme.

"There is such a theory,"Yury Koptev the head of thescientific committee of statetechnology company RussianTechnologies told the RIA-Novosti news agency.

"To test (the theory), anequipment block similar to theone on Phobos-Grunt will beexposed to radiation from thepossible unintentional expo-sure to American radars," saidKoptev, a former head of


NEW YORK - Wikipedia, thepopular community-edited on-line encyclopedia, will blackout its English-language sitefor 24 hours starting at mid-night Eastern Time onWednesday to seek supportagainst proposed U.S. anti-piracy legislation thatWikipedia founder JimmyWales said threatens the futureof the Internet.

The service will be thehighest profile name to join agrowing campaign that willsee it black out its page so thatvisitors will only see informa-tion about the controversialStop Online Piracy Act(SOPA) and the Protect Intel-lectual Property Act (PIPA).

The information will urge

Wikipedia readers to contacttheir local congressman to voteagainst the bills. Other smallersites leading the campaign in-clude Reddit.com and Cheeze-burger.

The decision to black outthe site was decided by votingwithin the Wikipedia commu-nity of writers and editors whomanage the free service, Walessaid. The English languageWikipedia receives more than25 million average daily visi-tors from around the world, ac-cording to comScore data.

The bills pit technologycompanies like Google Inc andFacebook against the bill's sup-porters, including Hollywoodstudios and music labels,which say the legislation is

needed to protect intellectualproperty and jobs.

The SOPA legislation underconsideration in the House ofRepresentatives aims to crackdown on online sales of piratedAmerican movies, music orother goods by forcing Internetcompanies to block access toforeign sites offering materialthat violates U.S. copyrightlaws. Supporters argue the billis unlikely to have an impacton U.S.-based websites.

U.S. advertising networkscould also be required to stoponline ads, and search engineswould be barred from directlylinking to websites found to bedistributing pirated goods.

Google has repeatedly saidthe bill goes too far and couldhurt investment. Along withother Internet companies suchas Yahoo, Facebook, Twitterand eBay, it has run advertise-ments in major newspapersurging Washington lawmakersto rethink their approach.

White House officialsraised concerns on Saturdayabout SOPA saying they be-lieve it could make businesseson the Internet vulnerable tolitigation and harm legal activ-ity and free speech.

Wikipedia Plans 24-Hour Blackoutto Protest U.S. Piracy Law

(AFP) - Rising human carbondioxide emissions may be af-fecting the brains and centralnervous systems of sea fish,with serious consequencesfor their survival, accordingto research released.

Carbon dioxide concentra-tions predicted to occur in theocean by the end of this cen-tury will interfere with fishes'ability to hear, smell, turn andevade predators, the researchfound.

The Australian ResearchCouncil's Centre of Excel-lence for Coral Reef Studiessaid it had been testing theperformance of baby coralfishes in sea water containinghigher levels of dissolvedCO2 for several years.

"And it is now pretty clearthat they sustain significantdisruption to their centralnervous system, which islikely to impair their chancesof survival," said PhillipMunday, a professor who re-ported the findings.

In a paper published in thejournal Nature ClimateChange, Munday and his col-leagues also detail what theysay is world-first evidencethat high CO2 levels in seawater disrupts a key brain re-ceptor in fish.

This causes markedchanges in their behaviourand sensory abilities.

"We've found that elevatedCO2 in the oceans can di-rectly interfere with fish neu-rotransmitter functions,which poses a direct and pre-

viously unknown threat tosea life," said Munday.

The team began by study-ing how baby clown anddamsel fishes performedalongside their predators inCO2-enriched water.

They found that while thepredators were somewhat af-fected, the baby fish sufferedmuch higher rates of attrition.

"Our early work showedthat the sense of smell ofbaby fish was harmed byhigher CO2 in the water,meaning they found it harderto locate a reef to settle on ordetect the warning smell of apredator fish," said Munday.

The team then examinedwhether fishes' sense of hear-ing -- used to locate andhome in on reefs at night, andavoid them during the day --was affected.

"The answer is, yes it was.They were confused and nolonger avoided reef soundsduring the day. Being at-tracted to reefs during day-light would make them easymeat for predators."

The research also showedthat the fish also tended tolose their natural instinct toturn left or right -- an impor-tant factor in schooling be-haviour.

Munday said around 2.3billion tonnes of human CO2emissions dissolve into theworld's oceans every year,causing changes in the chem-ical environment of the waterin which fish and otherspecies live.

Carbon dioxide affecting fish brains:study

Sci-Tech

equipment over the part ofEarth we cannot see, we willcome to different conclusions,"he told Interfax in apparent ref-erence to the West.

Roscosmos mentioned thepossibility of foreign interfer-ence last week when the cur-rent agency chief VladimirPopovkin openly asked why itsfailures often occurred whencraft were over the westernhemisphere.

"I do not want to blameanyone, but today there aresome very powerful counter-measures that can be usedagainst spacecraft whose usewe cannot exclude," he told theIzvestia daily on January 10.

Phobos-Grunt was one ofthe more high-profile mishapscosting $165 million and car-rying also a Chinese satellite itwas supposed to release in theMars orbit.

It struck less than threemonths after an unmannedProgress supply ship bound forthe International Space Stationcrashed into Siberia.

Russia also lost three navi-gation satellites as well as anadvanced military satellite anda telecommunications satellitein the past year.

US may be behind Mars probefailure: Russia

The Phobos-Grunt space probe being fitted to a deliveryrocket.


JAN 14 - JAN 21

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

FREE Coverage on our website:

www.themorningnewsaruba.com

NEW YORK(AFP) - US giantKraft Foods said yesterday itwould slash 1,600 jobs inNorth America this year aheadof a move to split its busi-nesses into two separate enti-ties.

"When we announced ourdecision to create two world-class companies last August,we said both would be leaner,more competitive organiza-tions," said Irene Rosenfeld,Kraft chairman and chief exec-utive, in a statement.

The job cuts will touch op-erations in the United Statesand Canada, a big chunk ofthem in sales and corporate op-erations. Twenty percent of thepositions are currently vacantanyway, Kraft said.

The cuts do not includemanufacturing facilities, thecompany said, while suggest-ing that sector could be af-fected later.

sidiary of the Irish supplierESB.

European powerhouse Ger-many was the only eurozonecountry to be neither down-graded nor put on negative out-look, and its rail operatorDeutsche Bahn was removedfrom negative outlook andgiven a stable AA rating.

S&P placed the variousstate-owned or government-linked companies on warninglast month that it was examin-ing their creditworthiness, andtook the decision to down-grade or lower outlooks afterthe parent states were down-graded.

PARIS (AFP) - Four days aftercutting nine European states'credit ratings, Standard andPoor's began to downgradetheir public utilities yesterday,piling further pressure on thedebt-ridden eurozone.

In France, which on Fridaylost its AAA top rating, theagency downgraded energygiant EDF and electric gridmanager RTE from AA- to A+and national rail operatorSNCF from AA+ to AA.

Paris airport operator ADPwas warned it had been put on"negative outlook", whichmeans that S&P will review itsstatus and expects to down-grade it.

The Irish gas firm BordGais Eireann was put on nega-tive outlook, as was Dublinairport and the Electricity Sup-ply Board (ESB).

Finland's electricity systemoperator Fingrid Oyj wasplaced on negative outlook, aswere Netherlands gas firmsEBN, GasTerra and Neder-lanse Gasunie and the Dutchrail company NS Groep.

From outside the eurozone,Northern Ireland ElectricityLtd. was also placed on nega-tive outlook, as it is a sub-

Standard and Poor's starts

to downgrade EU utilities

which organised the auction,said it received 4.6 billioneuros' ($5.9 billion) worth ofbids for 1.5 billion euros ofsix-month bonds, at an averageyield of 0.2664 percent.

On Monday, the Standardand Poor's ratings agencydowngraded the EFSF by onenotch to AA+ but said it wouldrestore its top AAA ranking ifthe fund obtains additionalguarantees.

European Union presidentHerman Van Rompuy said inMadrid that the downgradewould have no impact on thefund's capacity to act, andnoted that neither Moody's In-vestors Service nor Fitch Rat-ing had cut the rating.

Spain's borrowing costsplummeted in an auction of12- and 16-month paper, al-lowing it to raise 4.88 billioneuros with demand outstrip-ping supply by more than threetimes.

They also enabled thebanks to refinance their ownborrowing.

But the ECB operation wasnot likely to free up credit inthe system, Hugh said, becausethe banks were using themoney to avoid writing off ex-isting bad loans instead oflending to new businesses.

"That's what is freezing thewhole thing up," he said.

European stock marketsclosed higher with London'sFTSE index up 0.65 percent at5,693.95 points, Paris' CAC-40index up 1.40 percent at3,269.99 points and Frankfurt'sDAX 30 up 1.82 percent at6,332.93 points.

The euro jumped to$1.2762 in afternoon Londondeals from $1.2667 late inNew York on Monday.

With plenty of ECB moneyin the banks' pockets, the debtauctions passed off smoothly.

Demand outstripped supplyby more than three to one infirst-ever auction of six-monthdebt by the European FinancialStability Facility, the backstopfor eurozone sovereigns incase of collapse.

Germany's Bundesbank,

MADRID (AFP) - Cash-flushinvestors snapped up eurozonedebt yesterday despite a slewof sovereign downgrades,pouring money into the re-gion's bailout fund as well asinto Spanish and Greek paper.

Buyers lined up for the debtauctions, showing a new ap-petite for risk since the Euro-pean Central Bank loanednearly half a trillion euros at arock-bottom rate to the region'sbanks last month.

Standard & Poor's down-grades of nine European na-tions' sovereign ratings onFriday including Spain's, andits decision to remove the eu-rozone bailout fund's AAA ra -ting on Monday, failed todissuade investors.

"It was expected because itis all to do with the ECB'sthree-year long-term refinan -cing operation," said EdwardHugh, an independent econo-mist based in Barcelona.

The three-year loans fromthe Frankfurt-based centralbank, carrying a one-percentinterest rate, allowed the banksto buy up sovereign bonds andpocket the higher returns, hesaid.

Investors snap up eurozone debtdespite downgrades

aHmEdabad-- Vijay Nakra(L), Vice President, Sales -mahindra and mahindraLtd. poses with a mahin-dra's Sports utility Vehicle(SuV) ' XuV 500 ' during thelaunch at Courtyard bymariott in ahmedabad onJanuary 17, 2012.

a uS $14.4 billion multi-national group based inmumbai, India, mahindraemploys more than 144,000people in over 100 coun-tries. (aFP PHOTO)


Finance

YEStERDAY’S

Crossword AnswerU.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

1.74

2.68

188.24

225.74

24.79

29.67

28.75

229.87

1.78

100.00

1.76

2.73

188.96

227.80

25.51

30.39

29.47

231.97

1.80

100.20

1.78

2.79

189.76

230.09

26.31

31.19

30.27

234.30

Currency

Code

Buying

rate

banknotes

Buying

ChequesSelling

Rate

Current as of:

01/17/2012

All rates for amounts up to AWG 100,000

Hamburg - - aFP photo shows an airbus a380 of thearab airline Emirates standing on the tarmac, seenthrough a window with the logo of aircraft manufacturerairbus, in Hamburg, northern germany, where airbusheld its new year's press conference yesterday. airbussaid it outgunned american rival boeing in 2011, winninga dominant two-thirds market share with a record num-ber of aircraft orders and expected clear skies ahead.

Airbus stays ahead of Boeing

with record 2011 orders

Kraft Foods to axe

1,600 jobs

ment stop Rushdiefrom entering thecountry because ofhis allegedly blas-phemous writingabout Islam.

The novelist spenta decade in hidingafter Iranian spiritualleader AyatollahRuhollah Khomeiniissued a fatwa in1989 calling for hisdeath for passages inhis novel "The Sa-

tanic Verses", which wasbanned in India.

"His books have hurt and in-sulted Muslims and Islam --how can he be a guest of thiscountry?" Mufti Abul QasimNomani, the seminary vicechancellor, told AFP.

"We are not going to sayanything about our plans ifRushdie comes to India. Weare still in talks with the gov-ernment and we are hopeful itwill ban him."

The seminary, which is oneof the world's most importantIslamic universities, is knownfor its conservative teachingsthat are thought to have shapedthe views of radical Islamistgroups such as the Taliban.

Clerics from the seminaryhave denied trying to whip upreligious tension ahead of stateelections starting next monthin Uttar Pradesh, where nearly20 percent of voters are Mus-lims.

Free speech activists con-demned attempts to preventRushdie from appearing at thefestival.

The Jaipur Literature Festi-val, which does not charge forentry, attracts tens of thou-sands of Indian and overseasbook fans every year withcrowds able to mix with fa-mous authors in the grounds ofan old palace.

Rushdie, who won theBooker Prize for his 1981novel "Midnight's Children",previously attended the eventin 2007 without attractingprotests.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Britishauthor Salman Rushdie'splanned appearance at a liter-ary festival in India wasthrown into doubt on Tuesdaydue to security concernscaused by protests from influ-ential Muslim clerics.

Rushdie was due to speak atthe five-day event that startson Friday in the city of Jaipurin the state of Rajasthan, buthis name has been droppedfrom the programme of events.

Festival organisers, who de-clined to be named, said thatRushie's advertised appear-ances had been removed fromthe programme for securityreasons, but that he was stillexpected to attend.

"He will not be in India on(Friday) January 20 due to achange of schedule. The festi-val stands by its invitation,"festival producer Sanjoy Roytold AFP, without giving fur-ther details.

Rajasthan chief ministerAshok Gehlot told the NDTVnews channel on Tuesday that"Salman Rushdie's presencedoes have security implica-tions and we are keeping aclose watch and have been intouch with the organisers.

"At the same time we can'tprevent him from comingsince he is a PIO (Person of In-dian Origin)," Gehlot added,referring to Mumbai-bornRushdie's status as a perma-nent visa holder.

Last week, the DarululoomDeoband seminary in thenorthern Indian state of UttarPradesh demanded the govern-


Rushdie in doubt for

India festival after

threats

A picture shows Indian-born author SirSalman Rushdie.


pick-up and drop-off; theyeven boast a shopping serviceto stock your shelves beforearrival.

Gold Coast accommoda-tions are elegant and spa-cious, offering privacy for

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Check-in for your holidayescape is conducted in thecomfort of your vacationhome, not while waiting online at check-in desk. Inevery way, Gold Coast seeksto pamper 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 op-timal vacation experiencewith great savings, visit theirwebsite: www.goldcoas-taruba. com to get acquaintedwith the community and thelayout, details and availabil-ity of accommodations, orcall 586-2200 to talk person-ally to a Gold Coast repre-sentative.

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 serv-ices with more on the way,such as a fitness room, tenniscourts and mini-mall. Ed canarrange maid service,babysitters, caterers, airline

Gold Coast Aruba:Great savings for large familieson holiday rentals

in particular is excellent; ex-tremely moist and tasty. Athick cut of filet mignon usu-ally requires cutting intosmaller sections to cook fully,especially if your preferenceis medium-well to well done.

Le Petit Café is particu-larly well known for its“Land and Sea” specialty,filet mignon and lobster tail;a gourmet treat when servedin their signature fashion. Therestaurant also offers a di-verse menu of pastas andtempting gourmet appetizerssuch as seafood crepes,crispy calamari, and escargot.For family members in themood for something differentthere are several dishes tochoose from, such as chickenparmesan, so a large familywith different ideas of whatthey want for dinner can eas-ily be accommodated.

We all know that breakfastis the most important meal ofthe day, and Le Petit Café hasalso long been famous for thebest value for breakfast onAruba. They still offer anAmerican breakfast for $6.95and a full breakfast buffet for$10.95, another unbeatablevalue!

Le Petit Café is also lo-cated in the Paradise BeachVillas, so whether you arestaying in Oranjestad, PalmBeach or Eagle Beach, a LaPetit Café restaurant can befound only a short stroll awayfrom you resort, a perfect wayto begin or end your day!

In a time when diningchoices and critiques arebased on value for your dol-lar, an old favorite, Le PetitCafé, still offers one of thebest values not only in price,but quality, quantity and am-biance.

Le Petit Café in PalmBeach offers charming sur-roundings reminiscent of aEuropean outdoor café. Sur-rounded by Old Worldgaslights and an abundanceof flora, it provides a delight-ful and romantic setting. InOranjestad, diners can enjoya breathtaking view of theharbor; particularly as the sundips over the horizon and thelights of town set the watersaglow. Taking advantage oftheir Early Bird Special notonly offers a great price for adelicious meal, but put you inthe right place at the righttime to enjoy Aruba’s mostspectacular daily perform-ance; our stunning sunsets.

The Early Bird special of-fers a choice of a full sizedchicken breast, a hefty portionof filet mignon or freshgrouper fillet accompanied bya well-stuffed baked potato,rice or french fries. There is achoice of soup or salad as astarter, and ice cream fordessert, all for a modest$21.50; an unbeatable pricefor a great meal on Aruba!

Cooking your main courseon the stone is a supremelyhealthy method of prepara-tion, seasoned to perfectionand using no fats or oils. Fish

Steak on a Stone-Le

Petit Café’s specialty

"As a result, Heart of Mid-lothian FC are being chargedunder SPL Rule A3.1 with fail-ing to behave with the utmostgood faith to the SPL.

"A hearing date will be no-tified to the club in duecourse."

Under SPL rules, Heartscould now be hit with a fine,be docked points or be hit witha transfer embargo.

Hearts had earlier on Tues-day hit back saying they hadpaid the wages.

"The club totally refutes thesuggestion made in today'sstatement from the SPL that itfailed to comply with thisorder," Hearts said on theclub's website.

"The club has made pay-ment of the remuneration toeach of the players on January16, 2012 and has documentaryevidence to this effect."

GLASGOW (AFP) - Heartswere officially charged by theScottish Premier League onTuesday after failing to paytheir players on time for thefourth month in a row, the SPLannounced followng a boardmeeting.

The club faces a charge of"failing to behave with the ut-most good faith" for failing tomeet a midnight deadline forpayment of January salaries.

Following the board meet-ing the SPL's board of direc-tors issued a statement.

"The Scottish PremierLeague Board met this eveningto consider the alleged failureby Heart of Midlothian FC tocomply with the terms of theorder made by the SPL on Jan-uary 4, 2012 that the club paythe January wages due to therelevant players on the due dateof January 16, 2012.

not appeared hampered by theinjury. But the late hourseemed to affect the 30-year-old American, who struggledto subdue the challenge fromthe unheralded Paszek.

"I think I was a wee bittight out there today. I alwaysget a little nervous in my firstround matches," she said.

Williams, who has neverlost in the first round in her 46grand slams, appeared frus-trated at times as she alter-nated between makingscintillating winners and sim-ple errors.

While smashing 34 winnerspast the Austrian, she alsomade 26 unforced errors tokeep Paszek in touch.

But although Paszek foughthard throughout, the power ofWilliams proved decisive andthe American finished stronglyto move into a second roundclash against Czech BarboraZahlavova Strycova.

forum. I think it was construc-tive."

Roddick added that themen's tennis circuit needed"fundamental" change to givemore power to the players.

He said: "I don't think it'ssmart for us to ask for permis-sion to have less events. Thatseems ridiculous if you'relooking at tennis as a business.

"Russia's Alex BogomolovJr, who earlier tweeted strongsupport for a players' strike,also said it was inspiring to seeplayers united -- but he wasmore cagey on calls for awalk-out on Tuesday.

"Everybody is on the samepage and everybody wants togrow the game and make itbetter. We'll see what hap-pens," Bogomolov Jr said.

"The way everybody issticking by each other, the wayeverybody is on the samepage, is inspiring," he added.

cially from the top players, in-cluding myself... it's obviousthat we need some change.

"But I prefer talking in de-tail about these things morebehind closed doors."

Federer Monday said he hadno hard feelings towards worldnumber two Nadal, who admit-ted that he regretted making hiscomments in public.

And Andy Roddick said thetwo had been "the model of arespectful rivalry" and "the lastthing I worry about is Rogerand Rafa getting along".

But the former world num-ber one said there was a strongmood for change among play-ers after the "passionate" pre-tournament meeting.

"I don't think it was anangry meeting. I feel like itwas an opportunity to maybearticulate our issues," he said."There's not a lot of timeswhen you can get 140 guys inthe same room in an open

MELBOURNE (AFP) -Novak Djokovic Tuesdaycalled for talks to improveconditions in tennis to be kept"behind closed doors" after apublic disagreement betweenRafael Nadal and Roger Fed-erer at the Australian Open.

Players Saturday met newmen's tour chief Brad Drewettin Melbourne on the eve of theevent and are reportedly un-happy over Davis Cup sched-uling and their share of prizemoney at grand slams, amongother issues.

After the players' meetingRafael Nadal accused RogerFederer of not doing enough toback fellow professionals, ex-posing a rift between the twolong-time rivals on how to im-prove conditions.

"It's obvious that there are alot of players in men's tennisthat are, you know, complain-ing about the schedule and sea-son," said Djokovic, aftercruising through his first roundmatch in Melbourne againstPaolo Lorenzi.

"They don't even need tosay much. But just looking atthe injuries that we have, espe-


Tennis: Djokovic urges talks'behind closed doors'

MELBOURNE (AFP) - Five-time champion SerenaWilliams moved into the sec-ond round of the AustralianOpen in the early hours ofWednesday morning with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Austria'sTamira Paszek.

In a match that didn't startuntil 11:30 pm on Tuesday,following Lleyton Hewitt'sfour-hour win over GermanCedrik-Marcel Stebe, the12th-seeded Williams over-came a tenacious Paszek inone hour and 20 minutes.

The 13-time grand slamwinner has now won 15 con-secutive matches at Mel-bourne Park following her titlewins in 2009 and 2010.

She missed the 2011 Openwith injury and appeared indoubt for this year's tourna-ment after injuring her ankle inBrisbane two weeks ago.

Williams moved wellthroughout the match and did

SPORTS

Tennis: Williams bargesthrough in late-night win

Football: Hearts chargedover non-payment ofplayers

ury watchmaker Hublot inShanghai.

Maradona began feelingpain after a match on Saturdayand was later admitted to hos-pital in Dubai.

He said he still had stomachpain and a slight fever butadded: "I say to all those wholove me, I'm fine, I'm doingfine as coach in Dubai."

The 1986 World Cup-win-ner signed a contract with Al-Wasl in June, 11 months afterhe was dismissed as the man-ager of Argentina's nationalteam.

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Argen-tine football legend DiegoMaradona reassured his fanshe was feeling fine Tuesdayafter undergoing treatment forkidney stones.

The 51-year-old said he willbe fit to supervise Thursday'straining session with his Dubaiclub Al-Wasl in preparation fortheir match against Sharjah onJanuary 23.

"Yesterday I was in a hospi-tal bed for an operation forkidney stones, but I had to behere in China," he said duringa charity event for Swiss lux-

Football: Maradona 'fine'after kidney stonetreatment

Sharapova pummelledArgentina's Gisela Dulko6-0, 6-1 in less than anhour.

"I knew I had a toughopponent today," a de-lighted Sharapova said af-terwards. "I focused onevery point and took hertime away -- she's aplayer who loves time onthe ball."

Estonia's Kaia Kanepi,who won the Brisbanetournament, beat Swe-den's Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-4 to reach the secondround.

Japan's Kei Nishikoricame through in three setsagainst Stephane Robertof France and bullet-serv-ing Canadian MilosRaonic, a winner this

month in Chennai, eclipsedItaly's Filippo Volandri for theloss of just six games.

Spanish fifth seed DavidFerrer beat Portugal's RuiMachado in straight sets, andSerbia's Viktor Troicki camethrough in five against formerFrench Open champion Juan-Carlos Ferrero.

Meanwhile, second seed Kvi-tova and Sharapova, the worldnumber four, made convinc-ing starts at sun-drenchedMelbourne Park.

As temperatures againclimbed past 30 degrees Cel-sius (86 degrees Fahrenheit),Kvitova raced past Russia'sVera Dushevina 6-2, 6-0 and

Odom drained a three pointer

with just four seconds left in

the first to give the Mavericks

an 18-15 lead heading into

the second quarter.

The Lakers shot 41 per-

cent and Bynum had 10

points as the Lakers led 39-

35 at the half.

But Los Angeles struggled

mightily in the third quarter

scoring just two points in one

eight-minute stretch and

shooting just three-of-19

from the field.

"We were a little dis-

jointed offensively," said

Lakers coach Mike Brown.

Bryant missed a jump shot

in the closing minute before

Dallas' Jason Terry hit a one-

handed pullup from six feet

with 10 seconds left to tie the

game 70-70.

The Lakers then ran the

clock down to the final sec-

onds, setting the stage for

Fisher's game-winning shot

from beyond the arc.

The win give the Lakers

nine consecutive wins at

home and six victories in

their last seven games.

NBA: Fisher continues... continued from page 16

tion.Valcke was accompanied

by the country's sports Min-ister Aldo Rebelo and byBrazilian football iconRonaldo, who last year ac-cepted an invitation to be-come head of the 2014 WorldCup organizing committee.

"We also have a strongcommitment from the Con-gress to vote on the 2014 billin the first part of March,"said Rebelo, who acknowl-edged that a few points re-mained to be solved.

"But it will be done," hepledged. "I want to reassureeverybody of the willingnessand commitment of President(Dilma Rousseff) and thegovernment of Brazil tomake every effort to make the

2014 FIFA World Cup a suc-cess."

FIFA, keen to prevent salesof tickets on the black market,has agreed to lower prices ofadmission tickets for studentsand seniors in line with theWorld Cup Law.

Discount tickets represent10 percent of total tickets forthe World Cup in a countrywhere the minimum wage is$332 per month.

This week, Valcke is tovisit soccer stadiums in thenortheastern cities of Fortalezaand Salvador de Bahia -- twoof the 12 Brazilian cities that

BRASILIA (AFP) - VisitingFIFA's general secretaryJerome Valcke called here forquick legislative approval of abill on Brazil's hosting of the2014 soccer World Cup.

"There is a time you haveto give birth to this law," Val-cke told reporters. "We are socloser to give birth to this law,the nine months are over, weare ready to bring it out."

The bill gives FIFA exclu-sive rights to pictures, soundand other forms of expressionlinked to the World Cup andslaps penal and financial sanc-tions for any illegal reproduc-

Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits areturn against Paolo Lorenzi ofItaly in their first round


will stage World Cup games.Brazilian authorities are

racing to build or renovate the12 stadiums in time for one ofthe world's premier sportingevents.

On Thursday, Valcke is tomeet the local World Cup or-ganizing committee in Rio.

During his Brazilian tour,he was also to confer withmembers of the governmentand lawmakers, including for-mer World Cup winner Ro-mario who last week saidBrazil will not be "100 percentready" for the World Cup.

"I think that (Brazil) won'tbe 100 percent ready. Of the12 stadiums (that are to stageWorld Cup events) maybe 10will be ready," the retired foot-ball star said in his interviewwith the magazine Istoe.

"As to work on publictransportation, none of thecities involved will be able tocomplete it fully," said Ro-mario, who is now a lawmakerwith Brazil's Socialist Party(PSB).

He also warned that thetotal cost for staging the WorldCup could jump from an esti-mated $44 billion to $55.5 bil-lion.

Valcke said he planned toreturn to Brazil in March to as-sess progress in World Cuppreparations.

FIFA urges Brazil Congress toquickly pass World Cup bill

Djokovic dazzles in...continued from page 16

Handout picture released byBrazil's Ministry of Sports ofFIFA secretary generalJerome Valcke giving a pressconference after a meetingabout the issues concerningthe preparations for the Brazil2014 FIFA World Cup.

Odom received a standingovation from the pro-Lakerscrowd when he came into thegame off the Mavericks'bench in the first quarter. Lak-ers guard Fisher was one ofthe first to greet him walkingover to shake his hand as thecrowd stood and applauded.

"I talked with him aboutjust competing as hard as hecould and letting everythingelse take care of itself," Dallascoach Rick Carlisle said.

Odom finished with 10points on four-of-12 shootingfrom the field. Germany'sDirk Nowitzki led the Maver-icks with a game-high 21points.

The game started slowly forthe star players of both teams.Reigning NBA finals MVPNowitzki shot zero-for-five inthe first quarter and KobeBryant went zero-for-four.

continues on page 15

Los Angeles star KobeBryant struggled from thefield and finished with just 14points, snapping his streak of40 points or more at fourgames.

Andrew Bynum led theLakers with 17 points and 15rebounds. But it was Fisher'sdramatic final basket thatlifted the Lakers to the win asthey gained a small measureof revenge over Dallas whichswept Los Angeles out theplayoffs.

The two teams met in lastyear's NBA quarter-finals withthe Mavericks winning in fourstraight, eliminating the Lak-ers from the post-season andsending their iconic coach PhilJackson into retirement.

Odom was playing in hisfirst game at Staples Centerarena since being traded bythe Los Angeles to the Maver-icks before the start of the sea-son.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -Derek Fisher hit a clutchthree-pointer with just 3.1 sec-onds left as the Los AngelesLakers rallied in the fourthquarter to beat the DallasMavericks 73-70 on Monday.

It was the first three pointerof the game for the Lakerswho spoiled the return ofLamar Odom to Staples Cen-ter arena.

"I am never the first option,but my teammates trust me,"said Fisher, who has made acareer of making seeminglyimpossible game-winningshots for the Lakers over his15-years in the NBA.

"This is what I do. Regard-less of how many shots I getthroughout the game with mywisdom and my experience Ihave to trust my offence."

The Lakers had missed all10 three-point attempts priorto Fisher draining his game-winning dagger.


MELBOURNE (AFP) -Novak Djokovic made a daz-zling start to his AustralianOpen defence Tuesday but hisclose rival Andy Murray wasslower off the blocks andhome hope Samantha Stosurbecame the first big name tofall.

World number oneDjokovic powered past ItalianPaolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, ina comprehensive victory inwhich he even won a pointwith an audacious trick shotbetween his legs.

By contrast Murray, run-ner-up to the Serb last year,was embarrassed by a near-identical party-piece fromRyan Harrison before subdu-ing the American 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Injury-plagued Australianveteran Lleyton Hewittground out a trademark late-night, four-hour marathon 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win against83rd-ranked German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe to set up a sec-ond-round match with AndyRoddick.

Five-time women's cham-pion Serena Williams dis-patched Austria's TamiraPaszek in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 but was not off the courtuntil nearly 1:00 am, as thematch only began at 11:30 pmfollowing Hewitt's win.

But Australia's US Openchampion Stosur became amajor casualty as she froze infront of her home fans, allow-ing Romania's Sorana Cirsteato record a famous straight-sets victory.

Wimbledon championPetra Kvitova and glamorousRussian Maria Sharapova, the2008 Open winner, bothstarted strongly and 2008 run-ner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsongawent through alongside fel-low French seeds Gael Mon-fils and Richard Gasquet.

However, Djokovic lookedthe pick of the men's playersas the Wimbledon and USOpen champion launched his

pursuit of a third straightgrand slam title in style, ex-emplified by his crowd-pleas-ing trick shot.

Leading 3-0 in the thirdand standing on the baseline,Djokovic turned his back tothe court and clipped a shotbetween his legs to the flum-moxed Lorenzi, who embar-rassingly netted.

It was a sign of overflow-ing self-belief in the Serb,who won 10 of 11 finals andwent 70-6 last year -- despitebeing derailed by injuriesafter the US Open -- in a sea-son described by some as thebest in tennis history.

"I just have more confi-dence that I'm playing onright now. I just believe that Ican win, especially againstthe biggest rivals in the majorevents," Djokovic said.

Later Murray, seekingBritain's first male grand slamtitle since 1936, became thefirst top-four man to concedea set before gaining the meas-ure of Harrison -- apart fromthe American's trick shotwhile trailing in the fourth.

"Today was a bit of ashock to the system," saidMurray, referring to the hotafternoon weather. "It wasgood to get used to playing inthat heat again because Imight have to a bit furtherdown the line."

Stosur, who has only wonone match in three tourna-ments this year, all in Aus-tralia, put in an error-strewnperformance as she becamethe latest women's grand slamchampion to fail in her verynext major.

"There's not any otherword for it but a total disap-pointment," she said.

"It's not through lack oftrying or not wanting it oranything like that. I mean,you can't pick the times thatyou want to play well," Stosuradded.

continues on page 15

Tennis: Djokovicdazzles in tripleslam quest

NBA: Fisher continues Mr Clutchrole for Lakers

january 18. 2012

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