march 28, 2012

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) - AUS Supreme Court justiceseen as a key swing votechallenged landmark healthcare reforms Tuesday, as ar-guments focused on whetherAmericans can be forced tobuy health insurance.

On the second day of hear-ings likely to have a huge po-litical impact, JusticeAnthony Kennedy appearedskeptical about the constitu-tionality of President Barack

Obama's signature legisla-tion.

"I understand that we mustpresume laws are constitu-tional, but, even so, when youare changing the relation ofthe individual to the govern-ment in this, what we canstipulate is, I think, a uniqueway, do you not have a heavyburden of justification toshow authorization under theconstitution?" Kennedy said.

Continued on pg 2

US Supreme Courtreveals splits onhealth mandate Olivia Croes, coordinator of

the Commission on HumanRights of Aruba at the De-partment of External Rela-tions, spoke, by invitation ata recent seminar organizedby the Law Faculty of theUniversity of Aruba.

During Olivia Croes’ pres-entation, she shed light ingeneral terms on the differenttreatise of the United Nationspertaining to human rights,which Aruba is expected toimplement. The ESOCULtreaty is one such treatywhich was already put intopractice in Aruba as of Janu-ary 1st, 1986.

Reportedly, whenever acountry ratifies a treaty, itcarriers certain obligations. Itis in that context, with respectto the treatise that the Inter-national Committee of theUnited Nations has placedmechanisms of supervisionbased on the following for-mat:

A. Regular reporting(every 4 years)

B. Discussion of the re-ports during a constructivedialogue with the interna-tional Committee.

The last discussion of the

ESOCUL report was held inGeneva, Switzerland inNovember 2010. An Arubandelegation was present at thisgathering where they pre-sented and elaborated on theAruba report as part of aDutch Kingdom delegation.

An InterdepartmentalCommission on HumanRights was instituted inAruba in 1993. This com-misssion has the task of re-porting on treaties in force onAruba, and to advise the gov-ernment regarding humanrights matters. In addition,the Commission has the taskof providing the community

at large with information andto promote the awareness ofhuman rights matters in gen-eral on the island.

Olivia Croes in her pres-entation also focused on theimplementation of the humanrights that are anchored in theHuman Rights Treaty, such asthe rights related to social se-curity, the right to education,the right regarding the equal-ity of men and women, andfamily rights, which include,among others, legislation onthe matter of domestic vio-lence.

Continued on pg 2

Aruba’s Department of ExternalAffairs deliberated on theimplementation of Human

Rights Treatise

An opponent of U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform

2 Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mention was also made of atopic currently high on the in-ternational agenda, which ishuman trafficking. Croes alsoinformed about Aruba’s Na-tional Social Dialogue begunin 2010 with the participationof all social partners. Men-tion was also made of the im-portance of introducingcourses and training sessionsfor the community, while im-plementing human rights as atopic in the curriculum of ourschools.

Obviously, we recognizethat the full implementationand execution of laws insur-ing the enforcement humanrights, in practice, is a longand continuous process.

The Department of Exter-nal Affairs expressed theirappreciation to the Universityof Aruba for their initiativein conducting such an in-formative and relevant semi-nar for our community.

Photo shows Dr. RolandoOostland, visiting Professorof People’s Rights at the Uni-versity of Aruba and SeniorJurist at the Department ofConstitutional Affairs andLaws of the Dutch Ministryof External Affairs, OliviaCroes of the Department ofExternal Affairs, professorDr. Michiel de Vries whoteaches Public Governance ofSmall-scale Legal entities atthe University of Aruba.

Aruba’s Department of External Affairsdeliberated on the implementation ofHuman Rights TreatiseContinued from pg 1

(AFP)--He was quizzing So-licitor General Donald Ver-rilli defending the AffordableCare Act -- a main plank ofwhich will require all Ameri-cans to buy health insurance-- raising doubts whether thekey reforms would survive.

The court's conservativeChief Justice John Robertsappeared ambivalent how-ever in a nine-member courtthat otherwise seemed di-vided along ideological linesthat favor conservatives.

The exchanges came onthe second of three unprece-dented days of oral argu-ments in what is perhaps thecourt's biggest case since ithad to decide on the Al Goreversus George W. Bush 2000election.

The health care reform --signed into law in 2010 -- hasbeen touted as a Democraticdream of generations, extend-ing health care coverage to 32million Americans who arecurrently uninsured.

Republicans argue that itis an affront to the civil liber-ties and personal freedoms

enshrined in the US Constitu-tion.

Obama meanwhile onTuesday accused his Repub-lican rivals of wanting to turnback "decades of progress,particularly for women'shealth."

The conservative justiceszeroed in on questions aboutthe limits of whether the gov-ernment can require individ-uals to buy health careinsurance, or set penalties forfailing to do so, with the chiefjustice making the point thatthe law could be "a slipperyslope."

The exchanges came onthe second of three unprece-dented days of oral argu-ments in what is perhaps thecourt's biggest case since ithad to decide on the Al Goreversus George W. Bush 2000election.

The health care reform --signed into law in 2010 -- hasbeen touted as a Democraticdream of generations, extend-ing health care coverage to 32million Americans who arecurrently uninsured.

US Supreme Court reveals splitson health mandateContimued from pg 1

Since joining the “TogetherWe Can Save” Team, EPIstudent volunteers haveadded tremendously to thesuccess of the campaing tomake consumers consciousof ways to reduce the con-sumption of water and elec-tricity. The results of thiscampaign has been very suc-cessful and impacting in allour barrios. For the last twoweekends the large group ofEPI students have been hand-ing out bags containing arti-cles that can be used toreduce the monthly cosump-tion of water and electricity.

On this last Saturday ofMarch and on Sunday, April1st, from 9:00 in the morningthe energetic group of EPIstudents together with theHunto Nos Ta Spaar Team

will hit the srteets again. Thistime they will be headed toSan Nicolaas, leaving the SanNicolaas YMCA for the SanNicolaas barrios with theirbags of ‘goodies’ to help savewater and electricity.

The barrios to be visitedare: Brazil, Mabon, CuraCabay (south side), the Vil-lage, Esso Heights, De Vuyst,Juwana Morto, Zeewijk, andJaraweg. Organizers claimthat this is going to be an-other very big action wherenumerous homes will be vis-ited that will receive the bagsand a wealth of information.

The primary goal of thiscampaign is to make peopleaware of the simple, practicalchanges they can make intheir homes that will reducetheir consumption of water

and electricity and save themlots of money on theirmonthly utility bills. Thereare numerous terstimoniesfrom citizens who are reapingthe beneifts of the changesthey made.

The organizers have in-formed that this campaigncould not have been realizedwithout the support of severalkind sponsors. The HuntoNos Ta Spaar Team is grate-ful to: De Palm Tours, And-ina Ice, Victoria BottlingCompany, Subway, SuperFood, YMCA San Nicolaas,Fast Delivery and TropicalBottling Company for theirtremendous cooperation andsupport. The contribution andsupport of these sponsoreswas invaluable.

The Hunto Nos Ta SpaarTeam, which is a project ofELMAR, WEB and UtilitiesAruba N.V., is also verygrateful to the Aruban com-munity for their contributionin making the campaign sucha success. The Team is cer-tain that many more citizensare now aware of what is nec-essary to reduce their ex-penses. They also hope thatour citizens are making theinvestments necessary tocontinue reduing theirmonthly utility bills and sav-ing money that can be usedon other valuable matters.

Final weekend to spread the goodiesto save On water and electricity

tion sessions on Permacultureand other educational ses-sions on the planting and careof fruit trees. This project is atremendous example of howdepartments can work to-gether for the benefit of ourcommunities. The govern-ment is very pleased with thefact that through this kind ofproject our citizens are nowable to produce their ownhealthy natural food.

Special thanks and appre-ciation from the Minister wasin order for FCCA for theirsupport, and the entire SantaRosa ‘family’ expressed theirgratitude to FCCA and thecommunity for their valuablesupport and cooperation.

manpower needed for theProject, the equipment, twoto three trucks of water perweek and the guidance andcare that the trees will re-quire. FCCA on the otherhand, will purchase the 100fruit trees. All of the fruittrees will be purchased fromSanta Rosa. The fruit trees tobe planted are, among others,Bananas, Yellow and RedCashew, Pomegranates, RedGuava, Knips, Aruban Man-goes, Papaya, Soursap andTamarind trees. In the futurethey will plant more citrictrees such as Limes, Man-darins and Oranges.

Santa Rosa is also plan-ning on conducting informa-

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 3

At the beginning of theyear the government had an-nounced that Santa Rosawould initiate a project called“Ten Thousand Fruit Treesfor Aruba.” It was felt thatthere is the need to re-intro-duce the planting of fruittrees in different areas onAruba, and especially in thehousing projects in the bar-rios.

After some research, itwas noted that certain hous-ing projects do have space forplanning fruit trees. SantaRosa proposed the FCCAhousing project in the southside of Cura Cabay in SanNicolaas. After receiving theapproval of the Minister, the

Management of Santa Rosamet with two directors ofFCCA to discuss this fruittrees project. Santa Rosa ex-plained how such a programwould have multiple benefitsfor the inhabitants in thehousing project. For one, itwill teach them the impor-tance of horticulture, sec-ondly, it will help them in thefuture to have their own pro-duction of fresh fruit close totheir homes and so doing willreduce the cost of purchasingfruit.

Still another benefit willbe the social aspect of such aprogram. This, they believewill bring people together inthe community and learn the

value of working together tomake such a project a suc-cess.

The two entities, FCCAand Santa Rosa have reachedan agreement to start this in-teresting program on MondayMarch 26…hence; yesterdaythey began the work inearnest on this project.

On the 1st of April theMinister, together with theManagements of FCCA andSanta Rosa will officiallyplant the first of 100 fruittrees in Cura Cabay whichwill be the kick-off of theplanting of 10 thousand fruittrees across the entire island.

It has been agreed thatSanta Rosa will provide the

Ten thousand fruit trees for Aruba starts with 100in Cura Cabay!


CAPE TOWN (AFP) - Athief in South Africa wascaught red-handed when heknocked on the door of ahouse asking for work --wearing the clothes that hehad earlier stolen from theowners.

"When I opened the door Iwas surprised because he waswearing our clothing," theowner, who did not want benamed, was quoted by TheTimes newspaper on Tuesdayas saying.

The man knocked on thefront door of the house in

East London, in SouthAfrica's Eastern Cape, onSunday to ask for gardeningwork wearing the owner'sshoes, socks, belt, a pair oftrousers and one of his fi-ance's blouses.

The resident then went tocheck his storeroom, whereitems were being storedahead of a move, which hesaw had been looted.

"I could not believe theaudacity of this guy. I de-tained him after that andcalled the police.

S.Africa thief asks for job at housewearing owner's clothes

Cas Animal Foundation,which rescues abandoneddogs and cats off thestreets, warns pet ownersthat a virulent strain ofdistemper is sweepingthrough the canine popu-lation at present. A num-ber of infected dogs havebeen taken off the street,but were beyond saving; afew are now quarantinedand receiving treatment.

Distemper can be pre-vented by making sureyour dog has been prop-erly vaccinated and thebooster shots are current,as well as making sure tokeep them within the con-fines of one’s propertyand not allowing them toroam the neighborhood.

Distemper is mostdeadly to young puppiesup to six months old. Thevirus is passed by aerosoldroplets in bodily fluids andexcretions from an infecteddog, which often has flu-likesymptoms of runny nose andeyes, coughing, vomiting anddiarrhea, facilitating thespread of the virus.

Kirsten Arndt, founder ofCas Animal, warn those thatcare about their dogs to keepthem within their yards andmake sure their vaccinationsare up to date. If the dogshows any sort of symptoms,get it to the vet immediately.Involuntary twitching is an-other symptom of distemper,but sometimes the virus doesnot show any symptoms andattacks the nervous systemdirectly, causing the dog tosimply collapse.

If you see a dog on the

street you suspect has distem-per, call Kiki at 742-8732 andshe will take it to the vet andattempt to save it, if possible;even if not, it will help stemthe spread of the disease.This has been her mission inlife since coming to live onAruba 15 years ago, rescuingthe stray, abandoned andabused dogs of the island.She cares for nearly100 dogsand puppies in her home thatshe has converted into a no-kill shelter, while strugglingto raise the funds for a properfacility on land she has al-ready been awarded by thegovernment.

Her costs for feeding themare astronomical, as well asher veterinary bills. If anyonewishes to help, they can sup-port her cause by donations

in the form of payment tothe Cas Animal Founda-tion account at the Contr-eras Veterinary Clinics inShaba or Savaneta, or toAnimal Care Clinic inParadera, phone number582-8382, as well asmaking donations di-rectly to the foundation’saccount: Cas AnimalFoundation, CMB Bankaccount # 25762110.

If you are not an islandresident and wish toadopt a dog, Kiki hasmany that could use agood home and will assistyou in the process, as it ismuch easier to return tothe U.S. with an Arubandog than you might think.They require examinationand certification by aqualified vet to pass quar-antine standards prior todeparture; Kiki will also

help in obtaining a dog trans-port and getting them to theairport, if needed.

Cas Animal Cont’d

Take care of your dogs; distemperis loose on Aruba

In recent times, the sale ofgoat milk has become quitepopular during the flea mar-kets at Santa Rosa. And, ac-cording to Santa Rosa, theywant to help the communityto diversify and begin usingas much local products aspossible.

Today, March 28th SantaRosa will offer a special work-shop about producing cheesefrom goat milk. The workshopwill be held in the main con-ference room at Santa Rosa

from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Mr. Luis Fernando

Sanchez Pabon will be incharge of the presentation.Sanchez Pabon is an author-ity on the production of lac-tose products. Sanchez Pabonwill explain in detail the pro-duction process for makingcheese from goat milk andwhat are other products onecan extract from fresh goatmilk.

Sanchez Pabon was in-vited to Aruba by CunucuAruba Dushi Tera along withSanta Rosa.

The organizers are con-vinced that this workshopwill be of great benefit to allwho attend.

This Sunday, CunucuAruba Dushi Tera will host atremendous fresh goat milksale event. Once you attendthis workshop you will becertain to be able to produceyour own cheese from goatmilk.

The workshop is being of-fered completely gratis to theentire Aruban community.Organizers expect everyoneto take good advantage ofthis unique opportunity, afirst for Aruba.

Don’t miss tonight!Santa Rosa teaches Arubahow to produce cheese!

Wednesday, March 28 , 2012 5

UNION, S.C. -- The gangfrom Aruba is ready to tackleanother season with the Ame-rican Drag Racing League.With partners Aruba.com andAlltel Wireless behind them,the crew is hoping to start the2012 season off right. Theteam, which spends its off se-ason spread between the shopbase in Union, S.C, school inOrlando, Fla. for driver Tre-vor Eman, and the team’s ho-meland of Aruba, is backtogether again, and the reu-nion is already producingpromising results from a pre-season test session at Braden-ton Motorsports Park inBradenton, Fla. in prepara-tion for the ADRL seasonopener in Baytown, Tx.

“We were fortunate withfour days of great weather,”told driver Trevor Eman. “Itwas a great time for the crewand me to get back into theswing of things. After notbeing in the car for fivemonths you wonder if you re-member how to do every-thing right, and often all ittakes is that one first pass tofeel right back at home be-hind the wheel. Our crew alsodidn’t skip a beat and picked

right back up where we leftoff after Dallas. It feels reallygood to have everyone backtogether and be back at itagain.

“Over all we were pleasedwith our test session results.We had our backup motor inthe car, so we weren't veryfast, but the point of the testsession was mostly for every-body to get comfortableagain.

We were also testing diffe-rent things, which we wouldusually not be willing to try

during competition. So we le-arned what we can do andalso what we cannot do.Trying new things and diffe-rent combinations really paysoff when line up against thecompetition on race day.

“Our motor is back fromJon Kaase's shop,” Emancontinued, “and we are confi-dent he put a lot of work overthe off season finding usevery little horsepower wecan use.”

With Kaase power underthe hood and the backing of

fans across the United Statesand Aruba, Eman and teamare excited to get back to thetrack and hopefully representtheir backers in the winner’scircle.

“We can't wait to get backout there this year and dowell, hopefully win a coupleof races and most importantlyrepresent our country andmain sponsor, Aruba, toge-ther with our associate spon-sor Alltel Wireless.

“We'd like to invite every-body to come by our pit area

in Baytown and pick up somefree information about Aruba,and check out the race car aswell. We love meeting all ourfans!

“Last year at Baytown wedid not do as well as we hadhoped. It was the only racewhere we missed the qualif-ying field, so we’re really lo-oking to redeem ourselvesand get the year started off inthe right direction. If we hadjust qualified at that race, wewould have been in the Battlefor the Belts field at that endof last year. So, to say theleast, we have unfinished bu-siness at Royal Purple Race-way. It just goes to show youthat every single pass downthe track counts. We’re goingto work hard this year tomake every pass the best itcan be for this Aruba Team,starting with Baytown.”

Keep up with Team Arubaat www.facebook.com/tea-marubaracing and on Twitter@TeamArubaRacing. Findrace results, team updates, vi-deos and photos. Also leaveyour comments to cheer onTeam Aruba!

For more on your Aruba va-cation visit www.Aruba.com.

Team Aruba looking to wrap up unfinishedbusiness at baytown

hour.Natural gas generates

slightly less than that, but stan-dard coal plants emit nearly1,800 pounds an hour. Renew-able energy such as solar andwind -- along with nuclearpower -- produces far less.

Electricity generation in theworld's largest economy ac-counts for 41 percent of thecountry's carbon emissions,which scientists blame for theplanet's rising temperaturesand increasingly severeweather.

The Obama administrationhas vowed to reduce US car-bon emissions, but its effortsface strong opposition from in-dustry and the rival Republi-can Party, many of whosemembers question the sciencebehind climate change.

UN-led negotiations on anew climate treaty have alsomade little concrete progress,with China -- which has sur-passed the United States as thetop carbon emitter -- demand-ing greater US commitment.

Republican House SpeakerJohn Boehner accused Obamaof siding with a political baseof environmentalists instead ofAmericans hit by high energyprices.

"This rule is a dramaticoverreach and a heavy blow toone of America's richest natu-

WASHINGTON (AFP) - TheUnited States on Tuesday setthe first nationwide carbonstandards on power plants,seeking to curb emissionsfrom the burning of coal andrevive the flagging fightagainst climate change.

After more than a year ofdeliberations on the politicallycharged proposal, PresidentBarack Obama's administra-tion said it would only applythe rules to future sites andgave coal-fired plants decadesto meet the new standards.

Lisa Jackson, head of theEnvironmental ProtectionAgency, said she was approv-ing the regulations in a hope to"enhance the lives of our chil-dren and our children's chil-dren" and to spur US globalleadership in clean energy.

"We know that the potentialimpact of climate changetouches everything fromtourism to agriculture and willhave an extraordinary environ-mental and economic footprintif allowed to proceedunchecked," she told reporterson a conference call.

Jackson said that after a 12-month grace period for sitesunder construction, the agencywould not allow power plantsto emit more than 1,000pounds (454 kilograms) ofcarbon pollution per megawatt


ral resources -- coal -- that thepresident once heralded butnow ignores," Boehner said ina statement.

Proposals by Obama's alliesto set up a nationwide systemto curb carbon emissions havedied in Congress.

Democratic RepresentativeHenry Waxman, an architectof the ill-fated climate legisla-tion, called the power plantstandards "a breakthrough"and praised Obama for "listen-ing to scientists, not extremistswho deny the existence of cli-mate change."

Coal is among the most po-litically sensitive areas due toits impact on domestic em-ployment. Coal accounts forabout half of US power --more than any other source --but 81 percent of carbon emis-sions from the electricity sec-tor, according to governmentdata.

Jackson was quick to saythat the Obama administrationsaw a future for coal, sayingthat it "will remain an impor-tant part of America's electric-ity generation mix."

She said that the agencywill still allow new coal plantsto maintain emissions abovethe limits if the operators agreethat the level will averagebelow the 1,000-pound thresh-old over a 30-year period.

The Obama administrationhas supported research into so-called carbon capture, whichwould hold back emissionsfrom the burning of coal.Some environmentalists havecriticized such efforts as costlyand unproven.

Kassie Siegel of the envi-ronmental group the Centerfor Biological Diversity wel-comed the new standards butcriticized the administrationfor giving existing powerplants "a free pass."

US sets new carbon standardfor power plants

International News

pipedream.Before flying to Havana,

Benedict visited a shrine out-side Santiago, Cuba's secondlargest city.

The pontiff's Cuba visit co-incides with the 400th anniver-sary year of the discovery of asmall wooden statue of OurLady of Charity of El Cobrefloating in the water off theshores of eastern Cuba.

The pope offered a prayerto the beloved wooden statueof the virgin, patron saint ofCuba, asking that she help thecountry on its "path of renewaland hope."

The pontiff, on his first tourof Spanish-speaking LatinAmerica and the first visit toCuba by a pope in 14 years, isseeking to bolster closerchurch-state ties with Havana.

Benedict called on inhabi-tants of this mainly secular is-land nation to embraceCatholic teachings, which fordecades had been banned fol-lowing the communist revolu-tion, but have been toleratedsince a thaw began a few yearsago.

Benedict has no plans tomeet with members of theCuban opposition, a decisionwhich has drawn criticismfrom dissidents, democracyadvocates and some membersof the media. Among thoseseeking an audience with thepontiff are leaders of theLadies in White one of the is-land's best-known rightsgroups.

HAVANA (AFP) - Pope Bene-dict XVI arrived in HavanaTuesday after calling for Cubato open up more, promptingthe vice president to declare nopolitical reforms were on thehorizon for the communist-ruled island.

The 84-year old pontiff wasdue to meet President RaulCastro at the Palace of theRevolution, the seat of com-munist power, and possiblywith revolutionary icon FidelCastro, the current president'sbrother, Vatican officials said.

But just as the pope arrivedfor a visit that includes a hugemass Wednesday, Cuba's vicepresident declared there wouldbe "no political reforms" intro-duced on the communist is-land, despite a call one dayearlier from Benedict forgreater openness.

At the start of his visit onMonday, Benedict urged tensof thousands at a mass insoutheastern Santiago to helpconstruct a "renewed and opensociety."

But Cuba's leadership in-sists democracy already existshere, and sees the papal visit asa way to show to the world thatit is tolerant and open to reli-gious expression.

Murillo, who is in charge ofcarrying out the economic re-form program ordered over thepast few years by PresidentRaul Castro, said Tuesday thata radical overhaul of thefounding model of the revolu-tionary society here was a

Pope's visit to Havanafuels political debate

Santiago de Cuba : A man shouts slogans against com-munism and the dictatorship, before the arrival of PopeBenedict XVI arrives at Revolution Square in Santiago deCuba.

Obama and other leaders toscrap a satellite launch plannedfor April.

Obama had repeatedly de-nounced the rocket launch,which is seen by the US and itsallies as a disguised ballisticmissile test.

The US leader had stressedhis country was not hostile tothe North's people but wasscathing about its leaders'record and urged them to"have the courage to pursuepeace".

North Korea responded byannouncing it would go aheadwith what it calls a peacefulsatellite launch and toldObama to drop his "confronta-tional mindset".

Obama in 2009 declared hisvision of a world without nu-clear weapons and the follow-ing year hosted a Washingtonsummit, aimed at securing ordestroying the world's stocksof plutonium and HEU by2014.

Highlighting the threat, anInterpol representative told thesession there was "lots of evi-dence" that Al-Qaeda woulduse nuclear weapons if it hadthem, according to German

SEOUL (AFP) - World leadersincluding US President BarackObama called Tuesday forstrong steps to combat nuclearterrorism, wrapping up a 53-nation summit overshadowedby North Korea's plannedrocket launch.

The leaders from 53 na-tions, including China's HuJintao and Pakistan's primeminister Yousuf Raza Gilani,called in a communique forsteps to minimise civilian useof highly enriched uranium(HEU), which can be used tomake bombs.

They also called for safe-guarding world stockpiles ofHEU and plutonium, and tight-ening security of radioactivematerial that could be used tocreate a "dirty" bomb.

The North's nuclear andmissile ambitions were not of-ficially on the agenda, but theywere the focus on the sidelines,and for Obama throughout histhree-day visit to South Korea,a close US ally.

The North stole some of thelimelight right up to the end,releasing a statement just be-fore the close of the summitsnubbing demands from

HOMS : A handoutpicture releasd bythe official Syriannews agency SANAshows PresidentBashar al-Assad (C)shaking hands with alocal resident duringhis visit to the BabaAmr neighbourhoodin the restive city ofHoms on March 27,2012. Assad touredthe former rebelstronghold, assuringresidents that thebattered neighbour-hood would be re-built and that normallife would resume.AFP PHOTO

Exclusion zone aroundNorth Sea platformafter gas leakGas leaking from a North Seaplatform forced the evacua-tion of a second rig on Tues-day, as coastguards bannedships and aircraft from travel-ling within miles of the acci-dent.

French oil giant Total,which operates the strickenElgin platform 150 miles (241kilometres) off Aberdeen onScotland's east coast, said theleak was the most seriousproblem it had faced in theNorth Sea in a decade.

More than 300 people havebeen evacuated from two rigssince the leak was discovered

A cloud of gas has report-edly surrounded the platform,while Total confirmed therewas a six-mile-long sheen onthe water nearby.

Total said it was taking "allnecessary measures" to try toidentify the source and causeof the leak and to bring itunder control, but the com-pany's shares plunged 5.85percent on the French stockmarket to close at 38.56euros.


delegation sources. Interpol said there were

3,000 cases in 119 countries inwhich nuclear material hadgone missing.

Lee said the world still hassome 1,600 tons of HEU and500 tons of plutonium --enough to make more than100,000 nuclear weapons.

Leaders also tackled thethreat posed by looselyguarded radioactive material inhospitals and other sites.

On Monday France, Bel-gium, and the Netherlands --three of the world's top suppli-ers of medical isotopes -- an-nounced plans eventually tophase out the use of HEU inthe production process, undera deal with the United States.

World leaders vow to acton nuclear terror threat

International News

small companies and entrepre-neurs who want Washington toreduce the red tape that stiflesinnovation, economic growthand job creation."

House Majority Leader EricCantor said the JOBS Act "rep-resents an increasingly rarelegislative victory in Washing-ton where both sides seized theopportunity to work together,improved the bill and passed itwith strong bipartisan sup-port."

With unemployment andthe sluggish recovery key is-sues in his reelection bid,Obama earlier this year pushedfor measures to aid small busi-nesses and start-up companiesthat create most of the newjobs in the US economy.

Republicans hail the elec-tion-year bill as a job-creator,but some Democrats have saidit is only a minor fix for the ail-ing US economy, and that itcould leave consumers and in-vestors exposed to fraud be-cause it does not provideenough financial oversight.

A provision of the JOBSAct would allow small enter-prises to more easily go publicif they wish, by stripping outcertain accounting restrictionsfor newly public companies.

Such "emerging growthcompanies" would enjoy re-laxed rules under the Securitiesand Exchange Commission,and while this part of the billcan be seen as a reduction oftransparency, it will make run-ning a newly public companyless expensive.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - TheUS House of Representativespassed a broadly supported,Senate-approved jobs billTuesday, with the White Houseand Republican leaders alikehailing it as an example of rarebut vital bipartisan coopera-tion.

With both chambers ofCongress approving the Jump-start Our Business Startups(JOBS) Act, which helps smallfirms raise capital, the non-controversial legislation nowgoes to the Oval Office forPresident Barack Obama's sig-nature.

"We are pleased Congresstook bipartisan action to passkey initiatives the presidentproposed last fall to help smallbusinesses and start-ups growand create jobs," White Housespokeswoman Amy Brundagesaid in a statement.

"We applaud Republicansand Democrats for working to-gether, but there is still muchmore work to be done to createjobs and strengthen the (USeconomic) recovery."

The Silicon Valley-backedbill, a collection of six meas-ures which sailed through theHouse 380-41 after bouncingbetween the House and Senatein recent weeks, was amendedto include extra investor pro-tections in crowdfunding, theincreasingly common practiceof using the Internet to gathercapital investment.

Republican SpencerBachus, chairman of the HouseFinancial Services Committee,called the bill "a victory for

US Congress passes jobsbill, sends it to Obama

time on Sunday at the Ameri-can College of Cardiology an-nual conference.

The drug is a fully humanmonoclonal antibody that in-hibits PCSK9, a protein thatreduces the liver's ability to re-move LDL cholesterol fromthe blood.

"Early studies have shownthat AMG 145 lowers levels ofPCSK9 in the body and bringsLDL-cholesterol levels downas a result," said a statementby Sean Harper, executive vicepresident of Research and De-velopment at Amgen.

More data from the phase 2study is expected later thisyear.

Finding alternate ways totreat high cholesterol is impor-tant for many patients who ei-ther cannot tolerate statintherapy or who have difficultygetting their cholesterol countslow enough with diet changesand contemporary statins.

High LDL cholesterol is aleading factor in the develop-ment of heart disease and isconsidered a major publichealth issue worldwide.

(AFP) - A monthly injection ofan experimental drug made bythe US biotech firm Amgen re-duced patients' cholesterol byup to 66 percent, according toa small study described at aUS cardiology conference.

The early phase 1 clinicaltrial, designed mainly to see ifthe treatment was safe, fol-lowed 51 patients who re-ceived a shot of the drug,AMG 145, either once everytwo or every four weeks.

Among trial subjects werealready taking high doses ofcholesterol-lowering drugs,known as statins, and who gotthe shot every two weeks, thedangerous type of cholesterol(LDL) in their bodies droppedby an average of 63 percent bythe eighth week.

And those who were onlow doses of statins and re-ceived the drug every fourweeks saw a slightly higheraverage drop in LDL choles-terol -- 66 percent by the endof the same time period.

No deaths or adverseevents were recorded duringthe preliminary study, whichwas presented for the the first

using a vein taken from some-where else in the patient'sbody.

The type of angioplasty ex-amined in the study, known aspercutaneous coronary inter-vention (PCI), involves a smallincision to thread a balloon, awire stent or a tube through theblocked artery to keep it open.

Still, the evidence does notsuggest that bypass surgery isthe right option for everyone.

The research was presentedat the 61st scientific meetingof the American College ofCardiology.

CHICAGO (AFP) - Patientswho undergo bypass surgeryfor heart disease have betterlong-term survival rates thanthose who opt for less invasiveprocedures like angioplasty, amajor US study showed.

The study looked at datafrom 190,000 US patients andfound that those who had by-pass surgery had a lower deathrate in the first four years (16.4percent) compared to thosewho had angioplasty (20.8 per-cent).

Bypass operations involveopen heart surgery to create adetour around a blocked artery


Health & Living

Survival odds betterwith bypass thanangioplasty: study

Monthly shot lowerscholesterol 66 percent:study

A normal BMI is typically18.5 to 24.9, while people whofigure lower are consideredunderweight and those above25 are overweight.

"Adults who consumedchocolate more frequently hada lower BMI than those whoconsumed chocolate lessoften," said the study led byBeatrice Golomb and col-leagues at the University ofCalifornia San Diego.

"Our findings -- that morefrequent chocolate intake islinked to lower BMI -- are in-triguing," it added, calling formore detailed research andperhaps a randomized clinicaltrial of chocolate's metabolicbenefits.

While the research stoppedshort of establishing a reason-able or beneficial limit forchocolate-eating, expertsurged moderation.

"Before you start eating achocolate bar a day to keep the

(AFP) - Healthy people whoexercise and also eat chocolateregularly tend to have a lowerbody mass index than thosewho eat the rich brown sweetsless often, a US study sug-gested .

The survey of a populationof more than 1,000 adults,published as a research letterin the Archives of InternalMedicine, reinforces the no-tion that chocolate packs hearthealthy benefits, despite itshigh calorie and sugar content.

People in the study, whoseages ranged from 20 to 85, re-ported eating chocolate an av-erage of twice a week andexercising an average of 3.6times a week.

Those who said they atechocolate more often than thenorm tended to have a lowerratio of weight over height, acalculation made by taking aperson's weight and dividing itby their height times two.

doctor away, remember that achocolate bar can contain over200 calories which mostlycome from saturated fats andsugar," said Nancy Copper-man, director of Public HealthInitiatives at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish HealthSystem in New York.

"Consider limiting yourchocolate fix to a one ounce(28 grams) portion of darkchocolate or adding cocoapowder which is very low infat to your food once a day,"said Copperman, who was notinvolved in the study.

Chocolate's benefits arerooted in antioxidant polyphe-nols which can improve bloodpressure, and also help lowercholesterol levels and bloodsugar.

Other studies have evenlinked chocolate to a lowerrisk of death by heart attack.

Chocolate's curious abilityto improve heart health is usu-ally considered as part of alifestyle that includes exerciseand moderation in diet, ac-cording to Suzanne Stein-baum, director of women andheart disease at Lenox HillHospital in New York, whowas not involved in the study.

"We have seen in multiplestudies the benefits of choco-late, and yet again, we see aspart of an overall healthylifestyle, chocolate does notadd to weight gain, but in fact,might help control it," shesaid.

Chocolate-eaters have lower bodymass: study

assistant professor of chem-istry at Haverford College inPennsylvania.

"We would not expect deep-water corals to be impacted bya typical oil spill, but the sheermagnitude of the DeepwaterHorizon oil spill and its releaseat depth make it very differentfrom a tanker running agroundand spilling its contents," shesaid.

"Because of the unprece-dented nature of the spill, wehave learned that its impactsare more far reaching thanthose arising from smallerspills that occur on the sur-face."

More study is needed to de-termine if the coral will re-cover, but the findings so farsuggest that there was a seri-ous impact on deep sea animallife around the broken well,said lead researcher CharlesFisher, a professor of biologyat Penn State University.

"Our ongoing work in theGulf will allow us to better un-

(AFP) - The 2010 BP oil spillthat spewed from a brokenwell on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor damaged coral as far asseven miles (11 kilometers)away, according to a scientificstudy.

A team of US researchersused underwater vehicles anda process called two-dimen-sional gas chromatography tomatch the source of the petro-leum hydrocarbons they foundwith those that emerged fromthe BP spill.

They found that coral alongthe sea floor near the well wascovered with some sort ofbrown material and appearedto show signs of tissue dam-age. A survey of coral 12 miles(20 kilometers) from the Ma-condo well showed no suchdamage.

Since sea bed coral liessome 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)below the surface, it is not usu-ally harmed by spills from oiltankers, according to leadstudy author Helen White, an


(AFP) - A Taiwanese womancommitted suicide while chat-ting to friends on Facebookafter growing suspicious thather boyfriend was having anaffair, police and media saidTuesday.

Lin Mei-heng, 31, postedmessages on the social net-

working site saying shewanted to take her life while athome in a suburb of Taipei onMarch 17, the Apple Dailynewspaper said.

She also posted photos ofcharcoal burning in her stove -- before shutting the windowsof her flat, so it filled with

noxious fumes and she suffo-cated, according to the report.

It said nine of her friendshad attempted to dissuade herfrom taking her life, but nonealerted the police.

Police confirmed she wasfound dead the following dayby her boyfriend at the flat.

The police said they closedthe case based on an investiga-tion conducted by forensic ex-perts, which showed she wasnot murdered.

But details of her final mo-ments did not surface until aweb user involved in the chatinformed the Daily.

"Even we were surprisedwhen reading the newspaperreport today," a police officer,speaking on condition ofanonymity, told AFP.

Taiwan woman 'commits suicide'during Facebook chat

derstand the long-term effectsof the spill on the deep sea,and to constrain the footprintof the impact zone for deep-water corals around the Ma-condo well," he said.

The study is published inthe Proceedings of the Na-tional Academy of Sciences,and includes experts fromTemple University, the WoodsHole Oceanographic Institu-tion, and the US GeologicalSurvey.

The April 20, 2010 explo-sion on the BP-leased Deep-water Horizon drilling rigkilled 11 workers when flam-mable gas leaked from thewell and ignited.

The oil spill that followedblackened beaches in five USstates and devastated the GulfCoast's tourism and fishing in-dustries.

It took 87 days to cap BP'srunaway sea floor well as itspewed 4.9 million barrels(206 million gallons) of oilinto the Gulf of Mexico.

Sci-Tech

gent interlocutory relief to en-sure consumers are madeaware of the correct technicalcapabilities of this device."

The watchdog said it wasseeking an injunction to sales,"pecuniary penalties, correc-tive advertising and refunds toconsumers affected".

California-based Apple an-nounced last week that it soldthree million of the latesttablet computers in its firstweekend on the market -- thestrongest iPad launch yet.

The latest case is not thefirst time Apple's technologyhas landed in Australia'scourts. The firm is locked in alegal battle with rival Samsungover tablet patents, part of awider global tussle over su-premacy of the US$100 billionmarket.

(AFP) - Australia said Tuesdayit would take Apple to court formisleading consumers oversales of its new iPad, claimingadverts that it can connect to a4G network was misleading.

The Australian Competitionand Consumer Commission(ACCC) said it would be seek-ing orders against Apple in theFederal Court on Wednesdayover its local "iPad with WiFi+ 4G" promotion, which itclaims is false advertising asthe new gadget works on a dif-ferent 4G frequency to thatavailable in the country.

"It represents to Australianconsumers that the product"iPad with WiFi + 4G" can,with a SIM card, connect to a4G mobile data network inAustralia, when this is not thecase," the ACCC said.

"The ACCC is seeking ur-

Apple to face Australiancourt over iPad

BP oil spill sullied sea floor coral

Everyday green lifestyle tips:*Reuse colorful materials from around the house, suchas maps and magazines. *If you use wrapping paper and orare given it on a gift by someone else,salvage the paper for future gifts andcollect the intact bows. You’ll be sav-ing dollars, trees, and landfill space. *Keep old squeeze bottles from yourkitchen to use as bottles for your hair-care and cosmetic needs. Plastic saladdressing and cooking-oil bottles canbe cleaned and refilled with soap, lo-tion, or shampoo.*Instead of using plastic bags for produce try reusablebags-they are better for the environment & keep producefresher.


MARCH 24 - MARCH 30

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

FREE Coverage on our website:

www.themorningnewsaruba.com


Finance

YESTERDAY’S

Crossword Answer

(AFP)--The eurozone cameunder new pressure to boostthe firepower of its debt res-cue fund on Tuesday, with the34-nation OECD pressing fora safety net of at least 1.0 tril-lion euros ($1.33 trillion).

"The European firewallsshould be expanded furtherand made more credible torestore confidence," the Or-ganisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentsaid in a report on the euro-zone economy.

"To ease market tensions,the funds should be availableon a scale sufficient to with-stand possible future requestsfor financial assistance," saidthe Paris-based economicforum.

Eurozone finance minis-ters are meeting on Fridayand Saturday in Copenhagento decide whether to increasethe size of their debt rescuemechanism amid resurgentconcerns about the financial

health of Spain.The OECD said the refi-

nancing needs of vulnerableeurozone nations could top1.0 trillion euros over thecoming two years and in ad-dition contributions may benecessary to recapitalisebanks.

Spain faces refinancingneeds of some 370 billioneuros over the next threeyears, while Italy will need750 billion euros to financeits debt.

"Although it is unclearthat funds on this scale wouldever need to be drawn down,the availability of crediblefirewalls may enhance confi-dence," the OECD reportsaid.

OECD calls for 1.0-tn-euro

eurozone debt fund

NEW YORK (AFP) - Supplyfears pushed oil prices higherin New York Tuesday amidrising conflict between Sudanand oil-rich South Sudan anda Total North Sea productionplatform shutdown due to amajor gas leak.

New York's main contract,West Texas Intermediate(WTI) crude for May, rose 30cents from Monday to closeat $107.33 a barrel.

In London, Brent NorthSea crude for delivery in Mayfell 11 cents to settle at

$125.54 a barrel.Oil prices had climbed

modestly in both marketsMonday, but profit takingwas muted Tuesday.

In New York, "the marketwas loathe to sell off becauseof Iran and tensions there, butthere wasn't much today with(US) economic news," saidMatt Smith at Summit En-ergy.

In addition to the long-running strains over oil pro-ducer Iran's nuclear program,geopolitical tensions in east-ern Africa helped to keepprices buoyed.

A South Sudan officialsaid Sudanese warplanes onTuesday launched air raids onits oil-rich areas.

"It appears the dispute iswidening, increasing the like-lihood that the 350,000 bar-rels per day of shut-inproduction will remain of-fline for a protracted period,and placing further pressureon heavy, sweet crude sup-ply," JPMorgan Chase ana-lysts said in a research note.

Meanwhile, a big gas leakfrom a North Sea platformoperated by French energygiant Total forced the evacu-ation of a second rig on Tues-day.

Anglo-Dutch oil and gasgiant Shell, meanwhile, saidit had evacuated nearby facil-ities as a precautionary meas-ure.

"Exactly how Total in-tends to regain control of theleak remains unclear at thisjuncture, but if, as some re-ports indicate, a relief well isnecessary, then the loss ofproduction may be pro-longed," the JPMorgan Chaseanalysts said.

World Bank gives Mozambique $110 million in aidMAPUTO (AFP) - The World Bank will provide $110 million (82.5million euros) to Mozambique to help boost the country's miningsector and simplify business regulations, a spokesman said on Tues-day. "The amount is the equivalent of $110 million, in support ofthe government of Mozambique's poverty reduction priorities. Thisis to be disbursed this year for the state budget," World Bankspokesman for Mozambique Rafael Saute told AFP.

*Georgia Forbes editor quits over 'censorship'TBILISI (AFP) - The editor-in-chief of the Georgian edition of'Forbes' magazine said on Tuesday he had resigned over pressurefrom the publishers to stop covering an anti-government billionaire.Editor-in-chief Revaz Sakevarishvili told Georgian media he hadquit over "censorship" on the coverage of billionaire Bidzina Ivan-ishvili, who has vowed to oust President Mikheil Saakashvili'sparty at parliamentary polls this year. "I made the decision to resignon the grounds that there is serious pressure aimed at suppressingeditorial independence and establishing censorship," Sakevarishviliwas quoted as saying by InterPressNews agency.

*Main Greek parties pledge low-budget electoral campaignATHENS (AFP) - Greece's main parties pledged to keep a lid onspending in the upcoming electoral campaign as the countrylabours to apply a tough economic overhaul in the midst of a bitingrecession. "We will try to eliminate printing costs," Fofi Gennimata,a spokeswoman for the socialist party Pasok told reporters on Tues-day. "There will be no posters, we do not want to litter cities," shesaid. Pasok's rivals, the conservative New Democracy party, an-nounced on Monday that its campaign would respect the "hardship"facing millions of Greeks.

*BP sells North Sea gas assets for $400 million LONDON (AFP) - British energy group BP said Tuesday it hasagreed to sell assets including gas fields in the North Sea to Anglo-French peer Perenco for $400 million (300 million euros) in cash.The deal to sell southern gas assets (SGA) further helps BP to un-lock billions of dollars to meet compensation costs linked to the2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused by a blast on the BP-leasedDeepwater Horizon platform. The assets include a number ofmanned and unmanned platforms off the coast of Yorkshire, north-ern England, and a terminal at Dimlington.US judge OKs wiretap evidence in Gupta insider trialNEW YORK (AFP) - A US judge said he will allow prosecutorsto play recordings of wiretapped phone conversations in the insidertrading trial of former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta. JudgeJed Rakoff's ruling, made public in court papers Tuesday, was ablow to Gupta, whose scheduled May 21 criminal trial will be amajor step in New York federal prosecutors' ongoing crackdownagainst insider trading. Gupta's lawyers had sought to suppress thegovernment wiretaps. The former Goldman Sachs director and for-mer partner at McKinsey & Co is accused of passing inside tips tohis friend and convicted insider trader Raj Rajaratnam.

*Rediscovered Cezanne painting up for auctionNEW YORK (AFP) - A rare watercolor by Post-impressionistmaster Paul Cezanne, thought to have been lost, has reemerged andis expected to fetch between $15 million and $20 million at auctionin New York, Christie's said Tuesday. The study for the painting"Joueur des cartes" ("Card Players") was last seen in public in 1953but has now been found in a private collection in Texas, the auctionhouse said. It will be a highlight of the auction house's Impression-ist sales in New York on May 1.

Supply worries supportNew York oil prices

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

0.98

1.770

2.770

1.9603

2.3431

0.2550

0.3048

0.3011

213.36

1.78

1.00

1.790

2.820

1.9675

2.3645

0.2622

0.3156

0.3038

215.31

1.80

1.002

1.880

2.870

1.9755

2.3883

0.2702

0.3236

0.3163

217.47

Currency

Code

Buyingrate

banknotes

Buying Cheques

SellingRate

Current as of

3/27/2012

FINANCE BRIEFS...

ings" and paired with threeJakuchu paintings of Buddhistdeities -- opens to the publicFriday for only one monthafter a six-year restoration ef-fort.

Ito Jakuchu, who was bornto a wealthy merchant familyin 1716, decided in 1755 to de-vote himself exclusively toZen meditation and painting.He spent nearly a decade pro-ducing the scrolls throughpainstaking pigmentation.

Jakuchu once said he didnot intend his work to be un-derstood for 200 years.

The paintings were initiallynot for public viewing and in-stead assisted meditation at theBuddhist temple of Shokoku-ji in Kyoto.

The temple donated thescrolls to the Imperial House-hold in 1889 in gratitude forrestoration of the building.

Japan said it was makingthe major cultural exchange inpart to show gratitude for as-sistance by the United States,its main ally, following theMarch 11, 2011 tsunamitragedy.

AKB48 -- a girls band cladin school uniforms namedafter Tokyo's mecca of geekculture, Akihabara -- is one ofthe world's highest-grossingacts with more than $200 mil-lion in CD and DVD sales lastyear.

AKB48 is also one of thelargest musical acts, with atotal of about 90 girls dividedinto teams who put on dailyshows of bubble gum pop andsynchronized dancing.

On the eve of two shows ata Washington theater, three ofthe AKB48 girls visited a localschool where they told wide-eyed seven-year-olds aboutJapan and their success acrossthe Pacific.

Despite AKB48's success inJapan, few of the Americanchildren were familiar with theband until a teacher likened thegroup to Justin Bieber.

of Washington's cherryblossom trees, whichwere initially a gift fromTokyo and have turnedinto one of the US capi-tal's most popular touristdraws.

As thousands strolledthrough central Wash-ington to enjoy the fleet-ing beauty of the cherrybloom, the NationalGallery of Art unveiledan exhibition fromJapanese master ItoJakuchu and pop sensa-tions AKB48 flew in fortwo free shows.

The Imperial House-hold lent Jakuchu's 30bird and flower paintingson silk scrolls, markingthe first time the medita-tive masterpiece hasbeen shown in its en-tirety out of Japan.

Earl Powell III, direc-tor of the NationalGallery of Art, said

Monday that the exhibitionwas a once-in-a-lifetime op-portunity for the public to see"the most important and re-markable collection of flowerpainting ever in the history ofJapan."

The collection -- known as"Colorful Realm of Living Be-

WASHINGTON (AFP) -Japan is presenting to theUnited States highlights of itsculture both old and new, witha rare exhibition of elaboratecenturies-old nature scrollsand performances by a top-selling pop band.

Japan is seeking to make themost of the 100th anniversary


Japan classic paintings,pop idols hit US

with no time limit, allowingfor reading across devices.Parents can share purchased e-books with their own children,as long as they're under 18.

At last, Harry Potter's adven-tures are available electroni-cally. The seven novels aboutJK Rowling's boy wizard arefor sale as e-books and audiobooks on the author's Potter-more website, the site's cre-ators announced Tuesday.

The first three books willsell for $7.99 while the re-maining four will sell for$9.99. Digital audiobooks arealso available for $29.99 and$44.99, respectively, and areread by the very British JimDale.

Not always a fan of the lat-est technology, Rowling fa-mously wrote the Potter seriesby hand. Through the years,Rowling and her representa-tives expressed two reasons forbeing slow to the e-bookworld: a fear of online piracyand the desire for readers toexperience her books the old-fashioned way.

The Harry Potter bookshave sold more than 400copies and been translated intomore than 60 languages.

The books are being sold inboth ePub and Kindle format,and as such will work acrossall Kindle devices and readingapps, Barnes & Noble Nooks,iOS and Android, Sony Read-ers, Kobo, and other devices.Buyers will be allowed todownload the books for per-sonal use "up to eight times,"

'Harry Potter' seriesfinally available as e-books

Journalists examine art during the press preview of "Col-orful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by ItoJakuchu.

Ito Jakuchu's Peonies and Butter-flies, from Colorful Realm of LivingBeings.

When SEAmagine started16 years ago, "yachts weren'tbig enough to hold sub-marines. The evolution we'veseen over the last five, sevenyears is interest from the pri-vate sector and it's directly re-lated to the yachts, themega-yacht industry," Kohnensaid.

One recent private clienthas a specially designed 82foot (25 meter) catamaran witha helicopter deck and sub-mersible launch. Another did-n't need any particular designchanges to hold his sub-mersible, but that's only be-cause he has a 280 foot (85meter) "luxury ship."

"A submarine -- it's not justa jet ski," Kohnen said.

His craft retail at between$1 million and $3 million. Butthe annual upkeep of $15,000-$20,000 is practically sparechange to the super rich and afraction of what it costs to flyan executive jet.

A company called US Sub-marines targets an even furtherfrontier, offering luxury subsin addition to the more com-mon submersibles.

Business is growing in thesmaller craft sphere, especially"from the scientific commu-nity and very much more fromthe film community," MarcDeppe, an executive with sub-sidiary Triton Submarines, toldAFP.

What they'd like to findnow, Deppe said, is the world'sfirst private owner of a full-blown submarine -- a modernday Captain Nemo.

US Submarines offers the"Nomad," described as havingan interior equivalent to a per-sonal jet plane, the "Seattle,"comparable in comfort to alarge yacht, and the amazing"Phoenix."

This vessel, a full 213 feet(65 meters) long, would beable to cross an ocean, divingwhenever weather got rough,and has so much room itwould carry its own mini-sub.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Jetplane, tick. Private island, tick.Chopper, tick. Submarine?

When director JamesCameron descended to the bot-tom of the Pacific on Monday,he not only shed light on theworld's deepest ocean, but theworld's most exclusive hobby:private submarine voyages.

The phenomenally prof-itable director of "Avatar" pi-loted an ungainly looking,bright green, one-seat sub toan amazing 36,000 feet, or11,000 meters, down into theMariana Trench.

Only the third person to gothere, Cameron led the mis-sion, which was entirely pri-vately funded.

Meanwhile, on the otherside of the globe, anothermega-rich man with a sub,Richard Branson, is plotting topenetrate the Atlantic's deepestpoint, the Puerto Rico Trench.

For a man who's done ex-treme sailing and hot air bal-looning, a jaunt miles underthe ocean in a James Bond-style, winged mini-sub is thelogical next step. He dreams offinding "Spanish galleons" or"a species that hasn't been dis-covered."

"It's enormously excitingthat the oceans can now be ex-plored and we have the vehi-cles to do that," Branson toldAFP from his private NeckerIsland in the Caribbean.

Charles Kohnen, co-founderof submarine builders SEAm-agine, said private sub ownersare still a tiny group -- perhapsless than a dozen individuals -- but that the general trend ofever fancier toys for billion-aires is likely to change that.

Most underwater craft onthe civilian market are techni-cally called submersibles,meaning they have only lim-ited autonomy and need yachtsto act as motherships. Truesubmarines are more closelyrelated to the naval equiva-lents, although both types canmake safe journeys to at least500 feet (150 meters), and inmost cases a great deal further.

Wednesay, March 28, 2012 13

ters, caterers, airline pick-upand drop-off; they even boasta shopping service to stockyour shelves before arrival.

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

parents or a few couples.Beautifully appointedkitchens and bathrooms graceeach abode; barbecues andlounges are provided forfriendly cookouts and trulysavoring the island life. All

homes come with cable TV,high-speed fiber-optic Inter-net connection, individualwasher/dryer, and are fullyair-conditioned. Cribs, highchairs and hair dryers areavailable for a modest fee.

Concierge ser vices to arrangerental cars, spa appointments,activities and restaurant reser-vations are all part of thepackage.

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

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

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

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

Gold Coast Aruba:Great savings for large familieson holiday rentals

Submarines -- the ultimate toyfor the super rich

James Cameron Submarine

by fellow Brazilian Marcelo.Benzema added a third

shortly before the final whis-tle, tapping home after a su-perb pass from Mesut Ozil.

Real coach Jose Mourinho,bidding to win the trophy for athird time with a differentteam having won with Portoand Inter Milan, was pleasedwith his team's performance.

"I am happy because myteam took to the task seriouslyand dominated the gameagainst a team that gave us alot of headaches," said Mour-inho.

Kalou's goal in Lisbon putsChelsea firmly on course toreach their sixth ChampionsLeague semi-final in nine sea-sons and gives interim coachRoberto Di Matteo an unex-pected chance of collectingtwo pieces of silverware asthey are also in the FA Cupsemi-finals.

Goalscorer Kalou saidChelsea's united dressingroom had made victory possi-ble.

"We played as a team andwhen you play as a team itmakes it easier to win," hesaid. "Any goal is important.I'm just happy to have scored."

However, Chelsea's formerBenfica midfielder Ramireswas circumspect about theirchances of wrapping up thelast four spot.

"We have to remain calm,because Benfica will undoubt-edly give us a hard match inthe second leg," said the 25-year-old Brazilian.

"We have to keep our feeton the ground because thereare still 90 minutes to play andI know the strength of Benfica.We can't party too early."

6-0 victory over Chineseeighth seed Li Na, the Russianbeauty snapping a four-matchlosing streak to the Asian star.

"I came into this match los-ing to her the last few times,"Sharapova said. "I reallywanted to change that."

The match began with fiveconsecutive service breaks butSharapova found her form at4-3, winning the last eightgames of the match and 12points in a row in one stretchto move on after 68 minutes.

"I was really consistent inconditions where it was a littlegusty and blowing around andI faced a tough opponent too,"Sharapova said. "I did a goodjob of maintaining my consis-tency throughout the wholematch."

Sharapova will next face thewinner of a later match be-tween US 10th seed SerenaWilliams and Denmark'sfourth-seeded Caroline Wozni-acki.

Sharapova, like Nadal, is athree-time Miami runner-up

who has never won the crown.British fourth seed Andy

Murray ousted French 13thseed Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4.

The Scotsman, who couldface Nadal in the semi-finals,booked a last-eight dateagainst Serbian ninth seedJanko Tipsarevic, who de-feated Bulgaria's Grigor Dim-itrov 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.

US eighth seed Mardy Fishoutlasted Spanish 12th seedNicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7(2/7), 6-3 in other fourth-roundmatches.

Next for Fish will be com-patriot Andy Roddick, whoeliminated Roger Federer inthe third round, or Argentina'sJuan Monaco.

winner of a later match be-tween Spanish fifth seedDavid Ferrer and Argentina's11th seed Juan Martin DelPotro.

Nadal, a three-time Miamirunner-up who has never liftedthe trophy, ousted Japanese 16thseed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4.

Nadal fired eight aces andwon 65 percent of first-servepoints while saving six of the

eight break points he faced toadvance in two hours and 11minutes, improving to 16-3 onthe season.

"The beginning was verytough," Nadal said. "I startedplaying more aggressively. Atthe end of the first set, I feltthat I started to win my serveseasier than him. I believe thatI had more the control of thegame.

The Spaniard will face thewinner match between Frenchsixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsongaand German 19th seed FlorianMayer.

On the women's side, sec-ond seed Sharapova advancedto the semi-finals with a 6-3,

MIAMI(AFP) - Top-rankeddefending champion NovakDjokovic and world numbertwos Rafael Nadal of Spainand Maria Sharapova of Rus-sia advanced at the $9.6 mil-lion ATP and WTA Miamihardcourt tournament on Tues-day.

Serbian star Djokovic, win-ner of the past three GrandSlam singles crowns, reachedthe quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over French 17thseed Richard Gasquet.

Djokovic will next face the


Tennis: Djokovic, Nadal,Sharapova advance atMiami

PARIS (AFP) - Real Madridand Chelsea took giant stridestowards the ChampionsLeague semi-finals on Tues-day as they both recordedaway wins in their quarter-final first leg matches.

A double from Frenchstriker Karim Benzema in-spired nine-time winners Realto a 3-0 victory over Cypriotsurprise packages APOELNicosia and all but ensured alast four spot against the win-ners of Marseille and BayernMunich.

A second-half goal fromSalomon Kalou gave Chelseaa 1-0 win over Portuguese out-fit Benfica - ironically the onlyside playing on Tuesday thatdidn't field a Portugueseplayer in their starting line-up- to inflict the hosts first homedefeat in Europe this term.

It puts the English side in astrong position for next week'ssecond leg and a semi-finalagainst either holdersBarcelona or AC Milan.

APOEL had worked won-ders to reach this stage - un-precedented for a Cypriot club- but their limitations werepainfully exposed by a Realside bursting with superstarsthe hosts lacked.

APOEL's tactic of holdingout for a draw - they failed tomuster a shot on goal - workeduntil well into the second-halfbut then Benzema redeemedhimself for a terrible miss inthe first-half.

The Frenchman broke thedeadlock with just over a quar-ter of an hour remaining witha diving header from substituteKaka's left-wing cross.

Kaka scored the secondafter great work down the left

Football: Real andChelsea in poleafter away day wins

Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Kei Nishikori of Japan

SPORTS

Maria Sharapova of Russia in action against Li Na of China

his first major triumph nextweek at Augusta National.

The 38-year-old English-man has finished in the topthree at five of the past 10major championships, includ-ing runner-up in both the Mas-ters and British Open in 2010and joint-third at the 2011 USOpen and the 2009 BritishOpen and PGA.

"I think it proves I'm capa-ble of winning major champi-onships," Westwood said onTuesday. "Lot of Top-3s andjust have to keep doing thatand put myself in position --when I get the chance, take itthe next time."

Instead of hanging his headover near-misses, Westwoodhas taken confidence fromcoming so close.

A reason for that is sharpen-ing his skills in the week be-fore a major rather than restingor playing practice rounds.

"I like to be competitive theweek before the Masters,"Westwood said. "It's a toughtest at Augusta. If you don't gointo it competitively sharp,you are not going to hit all thegreens, going to have to get upand down.

Houston offers fast greensto prepare Westwood for theundulating and lightning-quick putting surfaces on offerat the Masters.

Westwood skipped an earlypractice round at Augusta Na-

HOUSTON (AFP) - WorldNo. 3 Lee Westwood has takenhis Masters preparation to theUS PGA Houston Open thisweek with hopes of pulling off

anapolis last month in theSuper Bowl.

This marks the ninth sea-son where a defending cham-pion will host the NFLopener. Home teams woneach of the prior eight con-tests, including Green Bay'striumph over New Orleanslast year.

The Giants have won fiveof their past six gamesagainst Dallas but trail 56-41with two drawn in the all-time rivalry.

A complete NFL scheduleis expected to be announcednext month.

The New York Yankees startthe season with questions abouttheir starting rotation. JobaChamberlain suffered a dislo-cated ankle in a freak trampo-line accident and Andy Pettittehas come out of retirement totake a run at a starting job.This could also be the finalseason for famed Yankeescloser Mariano Rivera.There are five new managers,including Mike Matheny, whoreplaces La Russa in St. Louis,and Dale Sveum, who guidesthe Chicago Cubs, a team try-ing to end a championshipdrought dating to 1908.

the Los Angeles Rams routedDetroit 44-7 on September22, 1948.

Facing the Cowboys in theopener will mean the Giantsare starting the new cam-paign aginst the same oppo-nent they played to close the2011 season. New York won31-14 on January 1 to claimthe last vacant NFL playoffberth.

After a 9-7 season, the Gi-ants went on a stellar playoffrun of four triumphs to cap-ture the title, completing thestreak by defeating the NewEngland Patriots at Indi-

NEW YORK (AFP) - Thereigning Super Bowl cham-pion New York Giants willplay host to arch-rival Dallason September 5 in the 2012National Football Leagueseason opener, the league an-nounced on Tuesday.

The game will be playedon a Wednesday, one nightearlier than usual, to avoid aconflict with US PresidentBarack Obama's expectedspeech at the Democratic Na-tional Convention on Sep-tember 6.

It will be the NFL's firstgame on a Wednesday since


NFL: Giants to host Cowboysin Obama-shifted opener

Pujols, Darvish spark hope as .....

continued from page 16

World No. 3 Lee Westwood, pictured here in 2010

St. Louis Cardinals 2011 World Series Champions

tional this year, saying thecourse changes so much forthe tournament that the bene-fits were minimal.

What he will also have todeal with is a star-studdedfield of in-form players includ-ing World No. 1 Luke Donald,World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and14-time major winner TigerWoods coming off the end ofa 2 1/2-year US PGA windrought.

"It's a marketing man'sdream to get everybody play-ing well going into the firstmajor," Westwood said. "It'sgood for golf."

And no stage in golf everyseason has rivaled AugustaNational for intense drama, es-pecially on the back-nine onSunday when no lead is safe.

"That's the beauty of Au-gusta," Westwood said. "If youplay well you have a goodchance to make a few birdies.If you get out of position, youcan make bogeys fast. The 2and 3-shot swings are possiblearound there."

Golf: Westwood takes Masterspreparation to Texas


tional League Most ValuablePlayer Pujols, who signed a10-year deal worth $250 mil-lion with the Angels.

One of the more excitingsignings in the off-season wasthe Rangers' acquisition ofDarvish, a 25-year-old right-handed sensation.

The two-time defendingAmerican League championsspent the most money ever toobtain a Japanese prospect.

The Rangers posted a win-ning bid of $51.7 million justfor the right to talk withDarvish about a deal, thatmoney going to the Fighterswhen Darvish signed a six-year deal with Texas worth$56 million plus incentives onJanuary 18.

Darvish was 93-38 with a1.99 earned-run average over164 starts over seven years inJapan, where he was twicenamed the league Most Valu-able Player.

Last season, Darvish went18-6 with a career-low 1.44earned-run average and a ca-reer-best 276 strikeouts in 232innings with six shutouts.

MLB will implement a newexpanded playoff format thisseason by adding two wildcardteams, moving to a 10-gamepost-season.

An elimination game be-tween two wildcard teams inboth the National League andthe American League will beheld prior to the best-of-fivedivisional series.

Oakland took a chance insigning free agent MannyRamirez, who agreed to aminor league contract worth$500,000.

MLB reduced Ramirez'ssteroid suspension to 50games from 100 after he tooklast season off. Ramirez re-ported to camp and in his first18 at-bats in spring training hita disappointing .167.

continues on page 15

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -Slugger Albert Pujols andJapanese pitcher Yu Darvishwill try to help new teammateswin a World Series title in the2012 Major League Baseball(MLB) season that openstoday.

Pujols helped the St. LouisCardinals win last year'sWorld Series but is now play-ing for the Los Angeles Angelswhile Darvish, a former starwith the Nippon Ham Fight-ers, was signed by the WorldSeries losers, the TexasRangers.

MLB's season opener todayin Tokyo when the OaklandA's face the Seattle Marinerswhile the other 28 clubs con-tinue training camps and pre-season exhibition games.

The North American openercomes April 4 when the MiamiMarlins debut their new state-of-the art ballpark by hostingthe Cardinals, followed by a fullschedule of games the next day.

The Cardinals will try to re-peat behind one of the bestpitching rotations in baseball,but they are still sorting outsome position battles in otherareas.

Even with ace Chris Car-penter starting the year on theinjury list, the Cards' pitchingshould strike fear into oppos-ing lineups.

"It's going to be tough nothaving (Carpenter), but wedidn't have (Adam Wain-wright) last year. We stepped itup and did what we had to do,"pitcher Jake Westbrook said.St. Louis edged Texas fourgames to three in the best-of-seven World Series, includinga dynamic 11th-inning contestin game six and a rainout in St.Louis that extended the dramaan extra day.

But the Cardinals are with-out former manager Tony LaRussa, who announced his re-tirement after the Cardinals'title run, and three-time Na-

Baseball: Pujols,Darvish sparkhope as season begins

march 28, 2012

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