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Egypt unrest: Military apologises for protest deaths
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) said it regretted "the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt's loyal sons". The violence, which began on Saturday, is the worst since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February. Scaf also said elections would start as scheduled on Monday. There had been speculation that they might be delayed. In an announcement on Thursday, council member Maj Gen Mukhtar al-Mouallah said the parliamentary elections would be held on schedule. A presidential poll is to take place by June next year. He said those responsible for deaths and injuries would be held to account, and that protesters arrested since Saturday would be released immediately. Compensation would be paid to the families of the dead, Gen Mouallah added. Late on Wednesday, two members of the council appeared on state TV to offer "condolences to the entire Egyptian people". One of them, Maj Gen Muhammad al-Assar, extended "the regret and apology of the entire armed forces on the tragedy that occurred". He added: "Our hearts bled for what happened. We hope that this crisis will end and, God willing, it will not be repeated again." The generals urged Egyptians not to compare them to the former
regime of Mr Mubarak, insisting they were not seeking to cling to power. The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the generals' tone was completely different from the fairly confrontational address by the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, public opinion is divided on the forthcoming parliamentary elections, writes the BBC's Jeremy Bowen. Some Egyptians want them to go ahead unhindered, while others believe the military must be swept from power first. The main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not supporting the protests and expects to do well in the elections. Witnesses said that two groups were chanting against other in Tahrir Square on Thursday - one saying "Muslim Brotherhood, we don't want you in the square" and the other responding with a call for unity. Street battles continued late into Wednesday night. They were heaviest around the fortified interior ministry off Tahrir Square in Cairo. The clashes were followed by a truce, which appears to be holding. But the protesters have vowed to continue occupying the square until the country's military rulers stand down. One young woman in the square, Safaa Ali, told the BBC: "I'm here because our sisters and brothers
Photos: AP
Egypt's ruling military has apologised for the deaths of about 38 protesters in clashes with police, as protests continue in Cairo and other cities
Ramy Yaacoub, Free Egyptian Party: "We are deeply concerned about the security situation"
have been arrested and killed over there [the interior ministry]." She said she disagreed with holding elections next week, adding: "We don't trust the army any more. We don't trust them to be the ones supervising the election." A doctor who only gave his name as Hassan, said he wanted elections to go ahead. "This election is really crucial," he told the BBC. "We need to move forward. We can't just keep running in circles. What's happening here is not in the best interest of Egypt." The US embassy in Cairo announced on Thursday it would donate $100,000 (£64,000) for humanitarian aid to victims of the violence. Protests in Alexandria have
been on a smaller scale, but one demonstrator said there was continuing unrest early on Thursday outside the security headquarters. Egypt's health ministry revised the death toll from 35 to 38 on Thursday, the official Mena news agency reported. Of the deaths, 33 were in Cairo, two in Alexandria, two in Ismailiya and one in Marsa Matruh, a ministry spokesman said. The number of people injured since Saturday was 3,256, he added. On Wednesday, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the "clearly excessive use of force" by Egypt's security forces and called for an independent inquiry.
The protests have continued despite an attempt by Field Marshal Tantawi to defuse the situation by promising presidential elections by June - six months sooner than planned. He also accepted the resignation of the civilian cabinet appointed by the military. But in his address on Tuesday, Field Marshal Tantawi offered no apologies. Meanwhile ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Egypt's sovereign credit rating to B+, with a negative outlook. S&P said the cut reflected Egypt's "weak political and economic profile". www.bbcnews.com
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Egypt military ‘appoints Tourism & Evironment The previous military-appointed civilian cabinet resigned earlier this week in the wake of violent protests in Cairo and other cities. The military council has said parliamentary elections will begin across Egypt next week as scheduled. Clashes near Cairo's Tahrir Square have subsided but protesters are calling for more rallies on Friday. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf ) is overseeing a transition to civilian rule following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February. Despite promises by the council to speed up the process, many Egyptians fear the military intends to cling to power. Mr Ganzouri headed Egypt's government from 1996 to 1999 under Mr Mubarak. State newspaper al-Ahram said on its website that Mr Ganzouri had agreed in principle to lead a national salvation government after meeting Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the military council. Mr Ganzouri, who has distan-
Photo: AP
Kamal Ganzouri as new PM' Egypt's military rulers have appointed ex-prime minister Kamal Ganzouri to form a new government, state media say. ced himself from Mr Mubarak's regime, has been suggested as a possible presidential candidate. Military apology The BBC's Yolande Knell, in Cairo, says Mr Ganzouri was in talks with military leaders earlier on Thursday. During his term as prime minister, he was known as the "minister of the poor" because he was seen as representing the less well-off, and he remains popular with Egyptians, she says. Earlier on Thursday, military leaders apologised for the deaths of about 38 protesters in clashes with police since Saturday. The violence has been the worst since February. Maj Gen Muhammad alAssar expressed "the regret and apology of the entire armed forces on the tragedy that occurred".
He added: "Our hearts bled for what happened. We hope that this crisis will end and, God willing, it will not be repeated again." Activists are urging mass protests on what they call "the Friday of the last chance" to demand an immediate transfer to civilian rule. They want Monday's elections postponed until the military steps down. However, many other Egyptians want elections to go ahead unhindered. The main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not supporting the protests and expects to do well in the polls. Much of the violence has taken place in a street leading from Tahrir Square to the interior ministry. Soldiers have now set up
Kamal Ganzouri previously served as prime minister under Hosni Mubarak
Hanging Out
barricades of cement, metal bars and barbed wire to separate protesters and security forces. On Tuesday, Field Marshal Tantawi accepted the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's cabinet and sum-
moned political leaders to discuss a way forward.He sought to defuse the protests by promising presidential elections by June - six months sooner than planned. www.bbcnews.com
Slinky music echoes a little eerily along deserted terraces; this is twilight in the twilight zone. We were a party of three - the only guests in a 550-bedroom hotel. The only arrivals from Europe this winter have been the migratory starlings which squeal and bustle deafeningly as they roost in the neatly-trimmed palm trees. November on Egypt's northern coast is hardly peak season, of course, but the simple truth is that the television images of political violence in Cairo and Alexandria have put tourists off. Holidaymakers like history but they don't like finding themselves in the middle of it. Catastrophic figures Mohammad Hassin, one of the managers in the al-Masr hotel, supervised the 45-man team that made our breakfast. Staff have been laid off and salaries cut. He admits that it's not a happy time in the Egyptian travel industry - but he hopes for better times to come when the political situation stabilises again. "We work this year at about 40% capacity. We have the usual number of staff working here. Their wages are half the usual level. Things are so, so bad this year," Mr Hassin says. He makes the point that the dramatic scenes of street unrest in February which made foreigners
nervous didn't last - but the damage is done, nonetheless. Tourism matters hugely to the Egyptian economy: this is a vital source of jobs and of hard currency. And the country has been blessed by providence with beautiful coastlines to north and south and the extraordinary treasures of the ancient civilisation of the Pharaohs in between. But none of that matters if tourists in Germany, Italy and the UK see pictures of rioting on TV and decide to go to Turkey instead. And there's evidence that's what they did after the revolutionary upheaval in February. Tourist numbers in March were down 60% on the same month in the previous year and tourist spending was down 66%. They are catastrophic figures when the holiday industry accounts for more than 10% of Egypt's national income. Salafist hopes But, of course, if the tourist industry in Egypt is to recover, it will be in a new and democratic Egypt - and that may yet bring problems of its own. A short distance along the coast from our hotel, we found the town of Marsa Matrouh - a conservative and religious place where black-robed women wear the veil.
A local hi-fi dealer advertises the power of a set of speakers by blasting verses of the Koran out into the high street at full volume. In Matrouh, the centre of a governorate which relies heavily on tourism, religious candidates are expected to do well when the region finally gets to vote next week. The leader of the local party of Salafists, Islam's puritan fundamentalists, told me he expects to top the polls. If Jabr Awad Allah is right, that might spell bad news for the local holiday trade: he wants to ban booze and bikinis, and he believes in segregated beaches for men and women too. Mr Awad Allah, a lawyer, is a thoughtful and personable man, who says Egyptians have a right to rule their own country as they please - exactly the same rights as the British, the French and the Americans enjoy in their countries. "Of course we have to prohibit selling alcohol," he said. "It's prohibited in the Koran, and it's my right as a Muslim to practise sharia in my country, in my home and in my community. "The lack of alcohol and bikinis won't stop open-minded progressive people visiting. Alcohol is not essential to life - you don't die if you don't drink alcohol," Mr Awad Allah adds.
Photo: AP
Egypt's tourism hit hard by ongoing unrest
Many tourists, especially from the West, are avoiding Egyptian beaches this year
Manager's fears I didn't have to travel far to find the other side of the argument.Around the corner from the headquarters of the Salafist part in Matrouh is the Riviera Beach Hotel. Potential customers shouldn't be deterred by the sight of the four tanks parked within 100 metres (yards) of the front door. They are there to protect the nearby headquarters of the local council, although they do make for a disconcerting view from the hotel terrace. Deputy manager Hossam alBana says the violent upheavals of 2011 have taken a toll on business. He's worried that any perception that Egypt was following its revolution with a sudden surge of legislation inspired by religious fervour would be a disaster.
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"We're deeply afraid of the Islamic groups at the moment," he says. "It's probable that they will come to power. They will ban alcohol, bikinis and the beach because on Islamic TV they say that's part of their plan. "I've got no real problem with that - just not now, not in this political phase while we're building the country." So the managers of Egypt's tourist trade have plenty to worry about as 2011 ends - but at least in deserted hotels like the al-Masr, they have time on their hands to do the worrying. Getting the starlings back year after year is easy - getting those foreign tourists to return is going to be a lot harder. www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
3
International November 25 - December 1, 2011
It should "start to bite" into emissions by 2020, Chris Huhne said. He embarked on a potential crash course with developing countries by suggesting each should pledge action appropriate to its level of development. The developing world's overt line is to keep the firewall between "rich" and "poor" in the UN climate convention. In a speech at London's Imperial College, Mr Huhne observed: "China is not, and will not be, the same as Chad or India. "We need to move to a system that reflects the genuine diversity of responsibility and capacity, rather than a binary one that says you are 'developed' if you happened to be in the OECD in 1992." Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Kuwait all exceed the EU average percapita GDP, while Brunei, Israel, The Bahamas and South Korea are among those not far behind. Yet the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) puts them all in the big basket of "developing countries". The developing world, through the powerful G77/China bloc, maintains that western countries are the only ones that must make actual cuts in their
The UK's climate secretary has called on delegates at next week's UN climate summit to agree on a way to deliver a legally-binding global treaty by 2015. emissions because of the historical responsibility they bear. Nations that industrialised first - such as the UK, US and Germany - have put much more CO2 into the atmosphere than others; and their primary responsibility is enshrined in the UNFCCC. Mohammed Al-Sabban, Saudi Arabia's chief climate negotiator, put the point forcefully this week in an email to BBC News. "Saudi Arabia, along with other developing countries, cannot accept to re-negotiate the existing UNFCCC convention its principles, its commitments, or any of its provisions," he wrote. "The differentiated responsibility between developed and developing countries was based on the historical responsibility of the developed countries, and has nothing to do with the new economic reality of some developing countries, as some developed countries are arguing."
Instead, he said, developed nations inside the Kyoto Protocol - all bar the US, basically - must re-negotiate future emission cuts inside the protocol's mechanisms. A number - Canada, Japan and Russia - have made plain that they will not do that. And Mr Huhne said that although the EU was not opposed to Mr Al-Sabban's position, the Kyoto Protocol countries only account for 15% of the world's emissions, so it would not be enough on its own to meet internationally agreed climate targets. A technical briefing note prepared for a recent meeting of the BASIC group of countries (Brazil, South Africa, China and India) argued that climate targets could be met if the traditional "rich" bloc went into "negative" emissions - sucking more CO2 from the air than it emits - between now and 2050. Bridging the divide Mr Huhne's comments reflect the
France and Germany plan changes to EU treaties The announcement came after their first meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti since he took office. Mr Sarkozy said they would "propose modification of treaties to improve eurozone confidence so there is more integration and convergence". Mrs Merkel said they would not change the role of the European Central Bank. The modifications are to be proposed over the next few days, but no details have yet been released. France and Germany disagree about whether the ECB should act as lender of last resort and whether bonds should be issued by the whole of the eurozone instead of individual countries. Mr Monti laid out his economic programme to his French and German counterparts, including undertaking to balance Italy's budget in 2013. At 118% of annual economic output, Italy has a high level of overall debt, but the country has managed to service similarly high debt levels for the past 20 years. The main problem with the Italian economy is weak growth the country has averaged 0.75% growth a year over the past 15 years. The yield on Italian 10-year bonds has jumped back above 7%, which is seen as the point at which the cost of borrowing becomes unsustainable. It had dropped below that level the day after Silvio Berlusconi stood down. The three leaders have agreed to meet again in Rome soon. German bonds
4 The International weekly
Photo: AP
UK calls for new legal climate deal by 2015
The meeting came a day after a German bond auction failed to raise the target amount. On Wednesday, Germany sold just 3.6bn euros ($4.8bn; ÂŁ3bn) worth of 10-year bonds, from 6bn euros on offer. In an unusual move, Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, said on Thursday that reports it had bought up some of the remaining bonds were incorrect. "We do not finance the government, that is absolute rubbish," Bundesbank board member Joachim Nagel told the Reuters news agency. In an official statement, the bank said: "The Bundesbank serves as a technical service provider in the issuance of federal government bonds and does not hold any German government bonds on its own account. "Underbiddings have occurred from time to time in recent months and cannot be seen as a general mistrust in government securities". It said bonds that were not taken up by investors in an auction were sold later on the secondary market. Eurobonds On Wednesday, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso launched a consultation on whether the 17 eurozone countries could issue joint stability bonds. But Mr Barroso stressed that the creation of the bonds would require much greater scrutiny of the budgets and economic policies of individual members. Germany opposes both the issuing of joint bonds and greater
involvement for the European Central Bank (ECB) in bailing out troubled economies. Its government is concerned that joint bonds would reduce pressure on member states to reduce their debt burdens. On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that it was important that the ECB should be allowed to intervene in the debt crisis. "It's urgent. It will be discussed this very day in Strasbourg," he told France Inter radio. Gavin Hewitt, the BBC's Europe editor, said that Mr Sarkozy and Mrs Merkel seem to have made "a truce" on the role of the ECB. There was, he said, "a deal to agree to disagree. President Sarkozy said that in order to ensure the independence of the ECB 'no positive or negative demands should be made of it.' That seemed to be a temporary declaration of a cease-fire between France and Germany." Portuguese strikes Also on Thursday, Portugal had its debt rating cut by Fitch to so-called "junk" status, and warned it could be cut again. Fitch made the downgrade because of its "large fiscal imbalances, high indebtedness across all sectors and adverse macroeconomic outlook".Portugal, along with Greece and the Irish Republic, has received bailout funds from the eurozone. The news came as a 24-hour general strike in Portugal brought the country to a halt in protest against austerity measures. www.bbcnews.com
fact that some developing countries do privately accept that revisiting the existing definition of "rich" and "poor" would be a good idea. In a meeting in the UK parliament last month, Xie Zhenhua, the minister in charge of China's climate policy, did not rule out the possibility that it could begin to cut its emissions soon after 2020, rather than just restrain their rise as it does now. "China will make commitments that are appropriate for its development stage," he said. In recent days, a number of nations - including the US and Japan - have said a new climate treaty cannot be countenanced before 2018, and probably not by
2020, putting a dampener on the fortnight-long UN negotiations that open in Durban, South Africa, on Monday. But Mr Huhne pointed to scientific studies showing emissions should have begun to fall by that date, or shortly afterwards; which means the terms of a new treaty should be negotiated by 2015. "We won't get that signed and sealed at Durban; but if we can at least get everybody agreed on what the objective is, that means we can then go on to do the details and get global emissions coming down well in time for 2020," he told BBC News. www.bbcnews.com
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has signed a law creating a truth commission to investigate human rights abuses, including those committed during military rule in 196485. Ms Rousseff - then a left-wing rebel - was tortured in jail under military rule
Brazil's Dilma Rousseff approves truth commission law The commission will have the power to summon witnesses under oath and access all government documents. But an amnesty law means its findings will not lead to any prosecutions. More than 400 Brazilians were killed under military rule. Ms Rousseff was among thousands who were tortured. Secrecy President Rousseff will appoint the seven-member commission, which will have two years to complete its report on abuses between 1946 and 1988. She also approved a Law of Access to Public Information, which lifts the indefinite secrecy of public documents, making them open to the public after a maximum of 50 years. The truth commission was proposed under the previous presi-
dent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. At the time, military commanders were reported to be unhappy at the proposal, fearing it would threaten the 1979 amnesty law that protects the armed forces - as well as former left-wing rebels - from prosecution for political violence. Some human rights groups have expressed disappointment that the commission's investigation will not be followed by prosecutions, as has happened in other South American countries. More than 400 people were either killed or abducted and never seen again during military rule in Brazil - a far smaller number than in neighbouring Argentina and Chile. But thousands of Brazilians were tortured, exiled or deprived of their political rights. www.bbcnews.com
International November 25 - December 1, 2011
British Columbia's highest court has ruled that Canada's anti-polygamy law should stand.
Opponents say the move will have a drastic effect on smaller retailers
India to open market to global supermarket chains Food Minister KV Thomas said the cabinet has agreed to 51% foreign ownership of multi-brand retail stores, allowing groups like Wal-Mart and Tesco to open stores. Such operators currently can only sell wholesale in India and not directly to customers. A decision on the issue has been pending for two years. Mr Thomas told reporters that the cabinet decided to raise the cap on foreign investment in single-brand retailing - such as Apple or Reebok - to 100%, from its current 51%. "Consumers will have many more choices," said Gibson Vedamani, of the Retailers Association of India. "It will truly be a borderless world in terms of products available." Supporters of the move say it will increase competition and quality while reducing prices, which have been hit by close to double-digit inflation. Opponents say the multi-nationals will squeeze out India's smaller and poorer traders and drive down prices paid to India's farmers. 'Completely opposed' One cabinet ally of the ruling Congress party, Dinesh Trivedi of the Trinamool Congress, said his party was "completely opposed to it". He said: "My suggestion in the cabinet meeting will be that an all-party meeting should be called to discuss this sensitive matter before taking it up in the cabinet." The main opposition Bharatiya
India has approved long-awaited proposals to open up the retail market to global supermarket chains. Janata Party is opposed to the proposal and there have been street protests by traders. BJP politician Murli Manohar Joshi said the move was "a tool to kill the domestic retail industry". But Gibson Vedamani, a board member of the Retailers Association of India, told Agence France-Presse: "If this proposal gets through, consumers will have many more choices - it will truly be a borderless world in terms of products available." Trade Minister Anand Sharma said before the decision that there was "a broadbased consensus" in the cabinet in favour of the proposal. However, some analysts have pointed to the potential political fallout and say there may be another move to postpone any decision. The multi-nationals have long been eyeing the lucrative Indian market. Any easing could eventually come with strict controls, for example on local sourcing and levels of investment. www.bbcnews.com
they go ahead and enforce those laws rather than single out our culture?" she told the Associated Press. The Supreme Court's decision could lead to prosecutions of members of the FLDS who practice polygamy in a settlement called Bountiful, in the south-east of the province. The FLDS split from the mainstream Mormon church over the issue of polygamy, and has an estimated 10,000 followers in parts of the US and Canada. Warren Jeffs, the group's leader, is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting two child brides. www.bbcnews.com
Libya's interim PM unveils new government line-up The new government is tasked with drafting a constitution and holding democratic elections by next June. Correspondents say the lineup is aimed at soothing the rivalries between regional factions. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has accepted that Col Gaddafi's captured son Saif alIslam will be tried in Libya, not The Hague. ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the court had issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam on war crimes charges because Libya's justice system was not up to it. He said this was no longer the case, but that the ICC would help in any trial. Rebel commanders Libya's interim Prime Minister, Abdurrahim al-Keib, was elected by the National Transitional Council (NTC) last month. The NTC is a coalition of rival factions that came together to oust Col Gaddafi, who was killed in his birthplace, Sirte, on 20 October. Mr Keib gave the post of defence minister to Osama al-Juwali, the local military commander of the western town of Zintan. On Saturday, his fighters captured Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam. The interior ministry went to Fawzi Abdelal, one of the Misrata rebel leaders, whose fighters captured Muammar Gaddafi in October. Other key appointments include Abdurrahim Bin Yazza - a former executive with the Italian oil giant ENI - as head of the oil and gas ministry and Ashour Bin Khayal, as interim foreign minister. There had been suggestions that Libya's deputy UN ambassador, Ibrahim Dabbashi, was a contender for the foreign minister post, but he was not in the final line-up. The BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli, says the first test of the new government will be to successfully centralise Libya's political and military powers.
Photo: AP
gious freedom. Justice Bauman said the government's case had shown the law limits the harms expected to rise from polygamy, including spousal abuse, child neglect, and higher infant mortality. The judge said, however, that the law should be changed to avoid criminalising the actions of minors in polygamous marriages. Anne Wilde, a Mormon fundamentalist from Utah, testified at the hearing in support of striking down the law. "There are already laws in place to address any criminal activity in any marriage lifestyle. Why don't
Photo: AP
Chief Justice Robert Bauman said the ban on multiple marriages was consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case comes after a judge threw out polygamy charges against two bishops of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Justice Bauman said the law "minimally impairs religious freedom". "I have concluded that this case is essentially about harm," he wrote in his decision. "The salutary effects of the prohibition far outweigh the deleterious." Culture or criminality? Winston Blackmore and James Oler, the two rival bishops involved in prior polygamy charges, have said the law denied them their constitutional right to reli-
Photo: AP
Canada judge backs anti-polygamy law
Libya's interim PM said he chose his cabinet in order to include all Libya's regions
Libya's interim PM has named a new transitional cabinet, the first step to forming an elected government. Only then will the government be able to proceed with drafting a constitution and eventually hold Libya's first democratic elections in its modern history, our correspondent says. Fair trial Saif al-Islam had been on the run since NTC forces took Tripoli in August, six months into the uprising. Since he was arrested on Saturday, Libya's new government has insisted that he will face a fair trial locally. As Mr Moreno-Ocampo arrived in Libya, Libya's Justice Minister Mohammed al-Allagui said: "In a nutshell, we are not going to hand him over," reported the AFP news agency. The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Col Gaddafi's spy chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, who was regarded as the late leader's right-hand man - and one of the regime's most-feared figures. Libya's government says Mr Sanussi, a brother-in-law of Col Gaddafi, was arrested at his
sister's home in the southern town of Sabha on Sunday. Mr Keib has promised that Saif al-Islam will receive a fair trial after concerns were raised about the possibility of ill-treatment given the killing of Col Gaddafi after his capture in Sirte. The International Red Cross said on Tuesday that it had visited Saif al-Islam, who's being held in Zintan. A Red Cross spokesman, Steven Anderson, said he appeared to be in good health, but would give no more details. Col Gaddafi was overthrown and his supporters defeated after a nine-month insurgency that began in the eastern town of Benghazi and eventually swept across the rest of the country. Militias in different areas, joined by defectors from the army, were aided by Nato forces who bombed Col Gaddafi's forces under a UN mandate to protect civilians. www.bbcnews.com
The International weekly
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International November 25 - December 1, 2011
Smartphone shipments to China rose to a record 24m during the period, compared with 23m for the US, according to research done by Strategy Analytics. The consultancy said shipments to China were boosted by "a wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands". This is the first time that China has overtaken the US in smartphone market. "China's rapid growth has been driven by an increasing availability of smartphones in the retail channels," said Tom Kang, of Strategy Analytics. The company said that while shipments to China grew by 58% sequentially during the period, those to the US fell by 7%. 'Mobile computing boom' China is the world's biggest market for mobile phones with almost 952m users, and continues to grow at a fast pace. At the same time, there has
Photo: AP
China overtakes US as world's largest smartphone market China has become the world's largest smartphone market by volume after it overtook the US in the third quarter. been a push by mobile phone operators to get more users to sign up for 3G services. Analysts said that as consumers take up these services, the demand for gadgets such as smartphones is likely to rise further. "China is now at the forefront of the worldwide mobile computing boom," said Neil Mawston, Executive Director of Strategy Analytics. "China has become a large and growing smartphone market that no hardware vendor, component maker or content developer can afford to ignore," he added.
Low-cost smartphones by local manufacturers such as ZTE have contributed to the sector's growth
www.bbcnews.com
Nokia Siemens to cut 17,000 jobs, 23% of its workforce
US growth revised down for third quarter Revised figures from the US Commerce Department show gross domestic product grew at an annual pace of 2% in the period, down from the previous estimate of 2.5%. Despite the downward revision, the quarter's growth was still up from the AprilJune period's 1.3% figure. The revision was largely due a prior overestimate of restocking by firms. Japan's earthquake seriously disrupted the global supply chain earlier in the year. High energy prices have also weighed heavily on consumer spending.However, continued restocking and lower fuel prices recently, has led economists to speculate that US fourth-quarter growth could rise to an annualised rate of more than 3%, which would be the fastest in 18 months. Vimombi Nshom, economist at IFR Economics, said: "Although growth was downsized, it's still the strongest showing of 2011, with GDP's largest component - consumer spending - holding on to its developments from Q2." Consumer spending growth was revised slightly down to 2.3% from 2.4%, but it was still the quickest pace since the fourth quarter of 2010. The Commerce Department said that
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after-tax corporate profits increased at a 3% rate after rising 4.3% in the second quarter. Export growth was stronger than previously estimated, rising at a 4.3% rate instead of 4%. Imports increased at a much slower 0.5% rate rather than 1.9%.
'Disappointing' The report showed that real disposable income fell 2.1% in the third quarter after declining 0.5% in the prior three months. There were also small revisions to business investment, which rose at a 14.8% rate instead of 16.3%.Despite the latest GDP data being broadly welcomed by many analysts, Michael Mullaney, fund manager at Fiduciary Trust, said: "This is somewhat disappointing. "The positives are that personal consumption is still OK, but I'm concerned because that seems to be coming at the expense of personal savings. "We're in the camp that there's at least a 50% chance of a double dip so it doesn't surprise us that the number is softer." www.bbcnews.com
The cuts from its 74,000-strong workforce should help reduce costs by some 1bn euros ($1.35bn; ÂŁ860m), the company said in a statement.The loss-making venture, owned by Finland's Nokia and Germany's Siemens, has faced stiff competition from rivals such as Huawei and Ericsson. The owners are considering listing the venture as a separate company. "This is a big move. I believe the goal is an Initial Public Offering [flotation]. That cannot be done with the current structure and operation models," said Jari Honko, an analyst at Swedbank. Nokia Siemens chief executive Rajeev Suri described the planned layoffs as "regrettable but necessary". "As we look towards the prospect of an independent future, we need to take action now to improve our profitability and cash generation," Mr Suri said. "These changes didn't come out of the blue. When a new chairman was appointed earlier, they signalled that a strategy update would be coming," said Sami Sarkamies an analyst at Nordea Bank. Cuts of this size were likely to be carried out in different phases said Sarkamies. He said they were likely to have a positive effect on the company's share price. "Savings of 1bn euros could translate into a ten-cent earnings per share improve-
Nokia Siemens may be floated on the stock market
ment for Nokia," explained Sarkamies. Traders use earnings per share as a key measure to value companies listed on the stock exchange. The firm, which is a joint venture between Finland's Nokia and Germany's Siemens, has said the restructuring program will involve cuts across operations worldwide. Shares in Nokia Siemens rose more than 2% to 4.27 euro after the announcement. Nokia Siemens has been squeezed by market leader Ericsson and increasing competition from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE. It is not alone in the industry in announcing large-scale job cuts. French rival Alcatel Lucent cut 12,500 jobs in 2007 while Ericsson cut 5,000 jobs in 2009 and a further 1,500 in 2010. Struggling Canadian giant Nortel eventually filed for bankruptcy protection. In its last trading statement the firm posted a 16% rise in sales to 3.4bn euro ($4.6bn; ÂŁ2.9bn) which it said was "driven primarily by growth from the acquired Motorola Solutions networks assets". In September, Nokia and Siemens had announced 500m euro of additional funding for the joint venture to strengthen the firm's financial position www.bbcnews.com
November 25 - December 1, 2011
Most liveable alien worlds ranked Hanging Out
Among the most habitable alien worlds were Saturn's moon Titan and the exoplanet Gliese 581g thought to reside some 20.5 lightyears away in the constellation Libra. The international team devised two rating systems to assess the probability of hosting alien life. They have published their results in the journal Astrobiology. In their paper, the authors propose two different indices: an Earth Similarity Index (ESI) and a Planetary Habitability Index (PHI). "The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbour life," said co-author Dr Dirk SchulzeMakuch from Washington State University, US. "The second question is whether conditions exist on exoplanets that suggest the possibility of other forms of life, whether known to us or not." As the name suggests, the ESI rates planets and moons on how Earth-like they are, taking into account such factors as size, density
Scientists have outlined which moons and planets are most likely to harbour extra-terrestrial life.
and distance from the parent star. The PHI looks at a different set of factors, such as whether the world has a rocky or frozen surface, whether it has an atmosphere or a magnetic field. It also considers the energy available to any organisms, either through light from a parent star or via a process called tidal flexing, in which gravitational interactions with another object can heat a planet or moon internally. And finally, the PHI takes into account chemistry - such as whether organic compounds are present - and whether liquid solvents might be available for vital chemical reactions. The maximum value for the Earth Similarity Index was 1.00 for Earth, unsurprisingly. The highest scores beyond our solar system were for Gliese 581g (whose existence is doubted by
some astronomers), with 0.89, and another exoplanet orbiting the same star - Gliese 581d, with an ESI value of 0.74. The Gliese 581 system has been well studied by astronomers and comprises four - possibly five - planets orbiting a red dwarf star. HD 69830 d, a Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting a different star in the constellation Puppis, also scored highly (0.60). It is thought to lie in the so-called Goldilocks Zone - the region around its parent star where surface temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for life. The highly rated worlds from our own solar system were Mars, with a value of 0.70, and Mercury, with 0.60. The Planet Habitability Index produced different results. The top finisher here was Saturn's moon Titan, which scored 0.64, followed by Mars (0.59) and
Jupiter's moon Europa (0.47), which is thought to host a susbsurface water ocean heated by tidal flexing. The highest scoring exoplanets were, again Gliese 581g (0.49) and Gliese 581d (0.43). In recent years, the search for potentially habitable planets outside our solar system has stepped up
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several gears. Nasa's Kepler space telescope, launched into orbit in 2009, has found more than 1,000 candidate planets so far. Future telescopes may even be able to detect so-called biomarkers in the light emitted by distant planets, such as the presence of chlorophyll, a key pigment in plants. www.bbcnews.com
Carbon nanotube ‘space Jawbones are ‘shaped camouflage' coating invented by diet', a study finds Champions League
The study has shown that jaws grew shorter and broader as humans took on a more pastoral lifestyle. Before this, developing mandibles were probably strengthened to give hunter-gatherers greater bite force.The results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This is a fascinating study which challenges the common perception that there has been little recent change in the morphology of humans," said anthropologist Jay Stock from the University of Cambridge. Many scientists have suggested that the range of skull shapes that exist within our species is the result of exposure to different climates, while others have argued that chance played more of a role in creating the diversity we see in people's profiles. The new data, collected from over 300 skulls, across 11 populations, shows that jaws shortened and widened as humans moved from hunting and gathering to a more sedentary way of life. The link between jaw morphology and diet held true irrespective of where people came from in the world, explained anthropologist Noreen von CramonTaubadel from the University of Kent. Concurrently crooked It would be tempting to conclude that this is evidence for concurrent evolutionary change - where jaw bones have evolve to be shorter and broader multiple, independent times, she told BBC News. But the sole author of the paper suggested that the changes in human skulls are more likely driven by the decreasing bite forces required to chew the processed foods eaten once humans switch to growing different types of cereals, mil-
king and herding animals about 10,000 years ago. "As you are growing up... the amount that you are chewing, and the pressure that your chewing muscles and bone [are] under, will affect the way that the lower jaw is growing," explained Dr von Cramon-Taubadel.She thinks that the shorter jaws of farmers meant that they have less space for their teeth relative to hunter-gatherers, whose jaws are longer.
Teeth-pulling tale
The nanotubes are one-atom thick sheets of graphene wrapped into cylindrical tubes. Engineers from University of Michigan found they could be used to obscure objects so that they appeared to be nothing more than a flat black sheet. The team suggest "forests" of the material may one day be used to cloak spacecraft in deep space. The group says the technology works because the nanotubes' "index of refraction [is] very close to that of air". This means they slow down light to a similar degree. As a result there is very little scattering of light as it passes from the air into the layer of nanotubes.
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"I have had four of my pre-molars pulled and that is the only reason that my teeth fit in my mouth," said Dr von CramonTaubadel. Ever since that time, she has wondered why so many people suffer with teethcrowding. "I think that's the reason why this result resonates with people," she said. Dr Stock added: "[The finding] is particularly important in that it demonstrates that variation that we find in the modern human skeletal system is not solely driven by population history and genetics." These results fit with previous evidence of both a reduction in tooth and body size as humans moved to a more pastoral way of life. It also helps explain why studies of captive primates have shown that animals tend to have more problems with teeth misalignment than wild individuals. Further evidence comes from experimental studies that show that hyraxes rotund, short-tailed rabbit-like creatures have smaller jaws when fed on soft food compared to those fed on their normal diet.
Hidden tank
Haofei Shi, the report's lead author, said the material "acts as a perfect black cloth that can completely conceal the 3D structure of the object". To put his theory to the test his team etched a tiny 3D image of a tank out of silicon. When viewed through a microscope the tank's contours could be clearly seen under white light. However, when the nanotube coating was applied the tank's structure disappeared and could not be distinguished from the background. The research will be published in an issue of the Applied Physics Letters journal. The group is not the first to suggest carbon nanotubes could be used to create an invisibility cloak. A scientist at the University of Texas at Dallas recently demonstrated that transparent sheets of the material, which looked like threads, vanished from view when placed in a liquid and were heated. Dr Ali Aliev said the material created
Culture
Real Estate www.bbcnews.com
Tiny carbon tubes can be used to hide three-dimensional objects from view, according to a team of researchers.
a mirage effect, causing light to bend around it. He likened the effect to "puddles of water" that seem to appear on road surfaces when viewed from a distance on a hot day.Dr Aliev suggested the material might one day be scaled up to hide large objects including military vehicles.
Other planets Carbon nanotubes' light absorbing properties are also the focus of research at Nasa. The space agency revealed earlier this year that it was studying using the substance to create a new kind of black paint. The coating can absorb more than 99% of visible, ultraviolet, infrared and nearinfrared light. Nasa suggested it could be used in detectors and instrument components where stray-light causes problems. Since the material reflects hundreds of times less light than the paints currently used, the agency said it could help create equipment capable of measuring distant objects such as planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. "This is a very promising material," Nasa scientist Ed Wollack said. "It's robust, lightweight, and extremely black. It is better than black paint by a shot." www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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Sciencie & Techologic November 25 - December 1, 2011
There are on average 3.74 degrees of separation between any one Facebook user and another, a study suggests. chologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s involved delivering a letter. Volunteers were asked to make sure it reached a specific person, but they were told to only pass it through personal acquaintances who already knew each other. The problem was that this only involved a few hundred initial subjects, and there was no way to know that the routes the letters took were the most direct ones possible. Facebook's data scientist Lars Backstrom was able to work with a much bigger data sample. His social network had 721 million members at the time of the experiment - representing around 10% of the global population - with a total of 69 billion friendships between them. Despite the vast quantity of data, Mr Backstrom and four researchers from the University of Milan were able to crunch the data using a 24-core computer with a 1
terabyte hard disk. They said the hardware cost no more than a couple of thousand pounds. Celebrities' "Facebook Pages" were excluded and the test was carried out before the network introduced "Subscriptions", a feature designed to link users to other people they might be interested in, even if they are not acquaintances.
Stabilising Facebook limits users to having 5,000 friends, but the median figure was far lower at just 100 contacts, or 0.000014% of Facebook's total membership. Despite this relatively small number, the results showed 99.6% of all pairs of users were connected by five degrees of separation, and 92% were connected by four degrees. On average, the distance between any two members was 3.74 degrees. That was shorter than the
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's public page does not reveal how many friends he has
average 4.28 degrees of separation registered by Facebook's 2008 membership, when the network was smaller. However, the researchers say the average distance "appears now to be stabilising", sug-
gesting that even if the other nine tenths of the world join Facebook, our degree of separation will not get much smaller. www.bbcnews.com
World's ‘lightest material' Secret net Tor asks users to unveiled by US engineers
Low-density The resulting material has a density of 0.9 milligrams per cubic centimetre. By comparison the density of silica aerogels - the world's lightest solid materials - is only as low as 1.0mg per cubic cm. The metallic micro-lattices have the edge because they consist of 99.99% air and of 0.01% solids. The engineers say the material's strength derives from the ordered nature of its lattice design. By contrast, other ultralight substances, including aerogels and metallic foams, have random cellular structures. This means they are less stiff, strong, energy absorptive or conductive than the bulk of the raw materials that they are made out of. William Carter, manager of architected materials at HRL, compared the new material to larger low-density structures. "Modern buildings, exemplified by the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge are incredibly light and weight-efficient by virtue of their architecture," he said.
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"We are revolutionising lightweight materials by bringing this concept to the nano and micro scales." Robust To study the strength of the metallic micro-lattices the team compressed them until they were half as thick. After removing the load the substance recovered 98% of its original height and resumed its original shape. The first time the stress test was carried out and repeated the material became less stiff and strong, but the team says that further compressions made very little difference. "Materials actually get stronger as the dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale," said team member Lorenzo Valdevit. "Combine this with the possibility of tailoring the architecture of the micro-lattice and you have a unique cellular material." The engineers suggest practical uses for the substance include thermal insulation, battery electrodes and products that need to dampen sound, vibration and shock energy.
Onion router
www.bbcnews.com Photo: AP
The substance is made out of tiny hollow metallic tubes arranged into a micro-lattice - a criss-crossing diagonal pattern with small open spaces between the tubes. The researchers say the material is 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and has "extraordinarily high energy absorption" properties. Potential uses include next-generation batteries and shock absorbers. The research was carried out at the University of California, Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology and is published in the latest edition of Science. "The trick is to fabricate a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a human hair," said lead author Dr Tobias Schaedler.
The Tor Project offers a channel for people wanting to route their online communications anonymously. It has been used by activists to avoid censorship as well as those seeking anonymity for more nefarious reasons. Use of Amazon's cloud service will make it harder for governments to track, experts say.
Amazon's cloud service - dubbed EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) offers virtual computer capacity. The Tor developers are calling on people to sign up to the service in order to run a bridge - a vital point of the secret network through which communications are routed. "By setting up a bridge, you donate bandwidth to the Tor network and help improve the safety and speed at which users can access the internet," the Tor project developers said in a blog. "Setting up a Tor bridge on Amazon EC2 is simple and will only take you a couple of minutes," it promised. Users wishing to take part in the bridging project, need to be subscribed to the Amazon service. It normally costs $30 (ÂŁ19) a month. However, Amazon is currently offering a year's worth of free storage as part of a promotion, which Tor developers believe their users will qualify for. Amachai Shulman, chief technology officer of data security firm Imperva believes that cloud services could have a big impact on Tor. "It creates more places and better places to hide," he said. "With cloud services it will be easier to create a substantial number of bridges. Amazon is hosting millions of applications and it will be difficult for governments to distinguish between normal access to Amazon's cloud and Tor access," he said. Tor is short for The Onion Router, so named because of the multi-layered nature of the way it is run. It is also known as the dark net. It has been in development since 2002 and works by separating the way communications are routed via the internet from the person sending them. Data is sent through a complex network of 'relays' or bridges run by volunteers around the world. When someone receives data routed via Tor it appears to come from the last person in the relay rather than from the original sender. Internet addresses are encrypted to add to anonymity.
The Onion Router is so named because it is multi-layered with no clear centre
Ugly face The Tor Project has been praised for offering people living in repressive regimes an opportunity to communicate freely with others without fear of punishment. Activists have used it in Iran and Egypt. But it is also used to distribute copyrighted content. The people behind the Newzbin 2 website are suggesting its members use the network to continue sharing illegal downloads after BT blocked access to the site in the UK. Tor is also used by people wanting to share images of child abuse. Hacktivist group Anonymous recently launched Operation Darknet which targets such abuse groups operating via the network. "There is an ugly face to Tor," said Mr Shulman. "Studies suggest that most of the bandwidth is taken by pirated content." While cloud services are unlikely to make Tor mainstream, the more bridges there are, the more anonymous the network becomes. Imperva research estimates that there are currently "a few thousand" exit nodes on Tor - the points at which communications reveal themselves on the wider internet. "There could be far more other nodes but it gives a sense of the size of the community," said Mr Shulman.Access to Tor is not limited to fixed line communications. Android users can access it via an application called Orbot and earlier this week Apple approved Covert Browser for iPad to be sold in its App Store, the first official iOS app that allows users to route their online communications through Tor. www.bbcnews.com
Photo: AP
The number of degrees represents the number of people in a friendship chain, excluding the people at either end. Or, as the authors put it: "When considering another person in the world, a friend of your friend knows a friend of their friend." The study was carried out in May and involved all of the social network's active members. Facebook defines a user as active if they have logged on at least once over the past 28 days. Kevin Bacon The experiment is the biggest test to date for an idea first proposed by the Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy in 1929. He suggested there were six degrees of separation between any two people in the world. The theory was made popular by a play, movie and later a trivia game in which players try to link the actor Kevin Bacon to another Hollywood star within six steps. Testing that the hypothesis proved true for the wider population has long posed a challenge. Deep data A previous attempt by the psy-
Photo: AP
Facebook users average 3.74 degrees of separation
November 25 - December 1, 2011
Aids-related deaths ‘down 21% from peak', says UNAids
'End in sight?' This latest analysis says the number of people living with HIV has reached a record 34 million. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the most dramatic improvement, with a 20% rise in people undergoing treatment between 2009 and 2010. About half of those eligible for treatment are now receiving it. UNAids estimates 700,000 dea-
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Aids-related deaths are at the lowest level since their 2005 peak, down 21%, figures from UNAids suggest. ths were averted last year because of better access to treatment. That has also helped cut new HIV infections, as people undergoing care are less likely to infect others. In 2010 there were an estimated 2.7m new HIV infections, down from 3.2m in 1997, and 1.8m people died from Aids-related illnesses, down from 2.2m in 2005. The figures continue the downward trend reported in previous UNAids reports. The UN agency said: "The number of new HIV infections is 30-50% lower now than it would have been in the absence of universal access to treatment for eligible people living with HIV." Some countries have seen particularly striking improvements. In Namibia, treatment access has reached 90% and condom use rose to 75%, resulting in a 60%
drop in new infections by 2010. UNAids says the full preventive impact of treatment is likely to be seen in the next five years, as more countries improve treatment. Its report added that even if the Aids epidemic was not over: "The end may be in sight if countries invest smartly."
Champions League 'Promising moment'
The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres urged governments to keep up their funding.MSF's Tido von Schoen-Angerer, said: "Never, in more than a decade of treating people living with HIV/Aids, have we been at such a promising moment to really turn this epidemic around. "Governments in some of the hardest hit countries want to act on the science, seize this moment and reverse the Aids epidemic.
Rewards The researchers placed thirsty rats in boxes with a snout-sized hole in each of three walls and exposed them to brief blasts of odours through the middle hole. There were three different smells: a mix of 10 chemicals from fruits, oils, and cleaning agents; the same mixture with one chemical replaced by another; and the same mixture minus one of the chemicals. When the rodents identified one smell, they were rewarded with a sip of water by going to the hole in the left side wall, for another smell they received water by going to the right side wall. Rats could readily distinguish
Access to combination HIV therapy has significantly improved
But this means nothing if there's no money to make it happen." The International HIV/Aids Alliance said: "We welcome the ongoing commitment of UNAids to changing behaviours, changing social norms and changing laws,
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Sense of smell 'can be improved through training' The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, also suggests if we do not use our sense of smell, we begin to lose it. The New York University Langone Medical Center team says their work also raises hopes of reversing loss of smell caused by ageing or disease. But a UK expert thought that was unlikely. Impairment in the sense of smell is associated with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and even normal ageing. Exactly why smell weakens remains a mystery, but the Langone team have pinpointed a half-inch-sized area of the rat brain called the piriform (olfactory) cortex where the problems appear to occur.
Photo: AP
Globally, the number of new HIV infections in 2010 was 21% down on that peak, seen in 1997, according to UNAids 2011 report. The organisation says both falls have been fuelled by a major expansion in access to treatment. Its executive director, Michel Sidibe, said: "We are on the verge of a significant breakthrough." He added: "Even in a very difficult financial crisis, countries are delivering results in the Aids response. "We have seen a massive scale up in access to HIV treatment which has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people everywhere."
between odours when a chemical had been replaced in one mixture, but when one component had simply been removed, they could not differentiate. The researchers anaesthetised the rats and inserted electrodes into their brains. Within the olfactory bulb, each smell produced a different pattern of electrical activity. But in the piriform cortex the odours that rats could tell apart produced distinct patterns of activity, while those they could not distinguish produced identical patterns. The researchers then trained a new group of rats to discriminate between the odours the first animals could not tell apart by rewarding them over and over with sips water for choosing the appropriate hole. In the rats' piriform cortex, activity patterns elicited by these similar odours were now different as well. A third group of animals were trained to ignore the difference between odours the first rats could readily distinguish by giving them water at the same hole after exposure to either odour. This effectively dulled their sense of smell: the rats could not tell one smell from the other, even for a reward. Their loss of discrimination was reflected in the piriform cortex, which now produced similar electrical patterns in response to both odours.
Tests on 75 volunteers revealed the compound bisphenol A (BPA) was readily ingested and detected in large amounts in the urine, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports. Past studies have linked high BPA levels with adverse health effects. In the EU the chemical is already banned from baby bottles. But it is still used in cans as a coating to prevent rusting and keep the food fresh. Some soft drink cans and bottles also contain BPA. Dr Jenny Carwile, lead author of the latest study at the Harvard School of Public Health, said: "We've known for a while that drinking beverages that have been stored in certain hard plastics can increase the amount of BPA in your body. This study suggests that canned foods may be an even greater concern, especially given their wide use." Worrying levels Her team asked the volunteers to eat either a freshly made 12oz serving of vegetarian soup or one out of a can once a day for five days. After a weekend of rest, the groups switched over so that the fresh soup group now ate the canned variety and vice-versa. Tests on their urine revealed detectable BPA in 77% of samples after fresh soup consumption and 100% of samples after canned soup consumption.
Real Estate 'Use it or lose it'
Lead researcher Prof Donald Wilson said: "We located where in the brain loss of smell may happen. "And we showed that training can improve the sense of smell, and also make it worse. "Our findings suggest that while olfactory impairment may reflect real damage to the sensory system, in some cases it may be a 'use it or lose it' phenomenon." Andrew McCombe, honorary secretary of the British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists ENTUK, said there was good evidence that keeping mentally active was good for brain function. However, he said training our sense of smell was only likely to be helpful in its long-term preservation. He said: "Loss of sense of smell is fortunately not too common but it is miserable when it happens as you usually lose your sense of taste - particularly flavour - to some extent too. "Whilst interesting research, I am not sure it's going to suddenly lead to a significant change in the way we treat loss of sense of smell which sadly is usually permanent and complete when it happens."
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Eating canned soup ‘poses a chemical risk'
Culture The sense of smell can be improved through training, a study on rats suggests.
alongside efforts to improve access to HIV treatment. "For bigger and better impact though, we must not be complacent. There is still much more to do."
A serving of tinned soup a day appeared to increase BPA 20-fold. The average concentration of BPA was 1.1 ?g/L after fresh soup consumption compared to and 20.8 ?g/L after eating soup from a tin. The researchers say levels like these are "among the most extreme reported in a nonoccupational setting". The study did not look at what the health impact of this might be, but they say this warrants further investigation, even if rises might be temporary. Fellow researcher Karin Michels said: "The magnitude of the rise in urinary BPA we observed after just one serving of soup was unexpected and may be of concern among individuals who regularly consume foods from cans or drink several canned beverages daily. "It may be advisable for manufacturers to consider eliminating BPA from can linings." The UK's Food Standards Agency said: "Our current advice is that BPA from food contact materials does not represent a risk to consumers but the agency will be looking at this study, as it would at any new piece of work, to see if it has any implications for our advice to consumers." The North American Metal Packaging Alliance said that BPA is "highly unlikely" to affect health. www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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Health November 25 - December 1, 2011
When British conductor and musician Clive Wearing contracted a brain infection in 1985 he was left with a memory span of only 10 seconds. The infection - herpes encephalitis - left him unable to recognise people he had seen or remember things that had been said just moments earlier. But despite being acknowledged by doctors as having one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever, his musical ability and much of his musical memory was intact. Now aged 73, he is still able to read music and play the piano and once even conducted his former choir again. Now researchers believe they are closer to understanding how musical memory is preserved in some people - even when they can remember almost nothing of their past. At a Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington this month, a group of German neurologists described the case of a professional cellist, referred to as PM, who contracted herpes encephalitis virus in 2005. He was unable to retain even simple information, such as the layout of his apartment. But Dr Carsten Finke of Charite University Hospital in Berlin says he was "astonished" that the cellist's musical memory was largely intact and that he was
still able to play his instrument. The brain's medial temporal lobes, which are largely destroyed by severe cases of herpes encephalitis are "highly relevant" for remembering things such as facts and how, where and when an event happened. "But this case and also the Clive Wearing case suggest that musical memory seems to be stored independently of the medial temporal lobes," Dr Finke says. Musical therapy He has also studied the case of a Canadian patient who in the 1990s lost all musical memory after having surgery that damaged another part of the brain known as the superior temporal gyrus. This has led him to conclude that the structures of the brain used for musical memory "might be the superior temporal gyrus or the frontal lobes". Dr Finke says more research is needed to confirm this hypothesis. "But what is really new in this case is that we could show that in such a severe and dense amnesia there's still an island intact of memory, the musical memory," he says. Dr Finke thinks it may be possible to use this to improve PM's rehabilitation and that of other amnesiacs. "It's very interesting to know that in these patients the memory is intact at all, so it could be used
Tumours ramp up recycling efforts A report in Science Translational Medicine showed that protein recycling was accelerated in more than 30 types of cancerous cell. When scientists interrupted the process in mice with cancer, the tumours began to shrink. The results were described as "exciting" and as a new target for drug development. The recycling process studied was "chaperone-mediated autophagy" (CMA). It is a normal part of a cell's routine, removing damaged goods and recycling the raw materials. Prof Ana Cuervo, one of the researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, believes cancerous cells are using this process in order to fuel their abnormally rapidly growth. "Cancer cells seem to have learned how to optimise this system to obtain the energy they need," she said. When they studied a variety of tissues, including lung, breast and liver, they found the level of CMA activity was higher in cancerous cells than normal ones. The researchers then used a virus to infect cells with short snippets of genetic material, which would turn off the recycling process. Using the virus slowed the
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Protein recycling in the body could be a critical part of tumour formation, researchers believe. growth of the tumours in mice with human lung cancers. Prof Cuervo said it resulted in "dramatic tumour shrinkage and almost complete blockage of metastasis [spreading]". The scientists believe their findings could lead to an anticancer drug. By finding a chemical which would interfere with the recycling process they hope to be able to mimic the effect the virus had. Prof Andrew Thorburn at the University of Colorado, and Jayanta Debnath of the University of California, San Francisco, described the study as "exciting". "CMA inhibitors could be useful for cancer therapy, as they should inhibit tumour growth and also reduce the ability of tumour cells to metastasise." However, they warned that "we do not currently have a feasible method to selectively inhibit CMA in patients". www.bbcnews.com
as a gateway to these patients. You could think about maybe coupling special music to activities like taking medication. "They can also do musical therapy, starting to play music again and by doing this gaining some quality of life," he says. Such techniques should be applicable to both musicians and non-musicians as they share the same memory systems. "We know that musicians have differently adapted brains - some areas of the brain are larger than in non-musicians, but it's not so easy to think that they develop a new system," he says. Damaged lobes Musical memory isn't necessarily the same as other types of memory, says Dr Clare Ramsden a neuro-psychologist with Britain's Brain Injuries Rehabilitation Trust, which is studying the case of three musicians, including Mr Wearing. "That's potentially because it isn't just knowledge. It's something you do," Dr Ramsden says. Different aspects of playing music involve different parts of the brain, she has concluded. "The research we're doing is starting to show that people with damage to mainly their frontal lobes, their musical skills are affected differently to people like Clive whose medial temporal lobes are damaged. "Clive can still play and read music, but people with frontal lobe injuries might have difficulty reading and performing a piece of music for the first time, but are better at pieces they already know," Dr Ramsden says. Prof Alan Baddeley of the University of York, who has writ-
ten study papers on Mr Wearing, said he was not surprised by the findings of the German team. "PM's case is a very good example that memory isn't unitary, that there's more than one kind of memory," he said. "Amnesia doesn't destroy habits, but sufferers do lose the ability to acquire and retain information about new events."
Handel's Messiah Clive Wearing's wife Deborah has written a book, Forever Today, about how their lives have been affected by his amnesia. She says all his musical skills are still intact. "If you give Clive a new piece of music he sight reads it and plays it on the piano, but you can't say he's learnt it," she told the BBC World Service. But she adds: "Clive has no knowledge of ever having played the piano or whether he still can." He has lived in specialist residential care since 1992, having spent his first seven years of ill-
ness in a secure psychiatric unit. "Even though he's had a piano in his own room for 26 years he doesn't know it until it's pointed out to him." Ms Wearing says her husband's performance does improve, when he plays a piece regularly, even though he has no memory of having played the piece or anything else before. However, she says he does remember things he has known all his life or performed regularly. "He learnt Handel's Messiah as a child and can still sing it," she says. She says he remembers her and their mutual love and that music is a wonderful pastime for both of them. "Music is a place where we can be together normally because while the music's going he's totally himself. He's totally normal. "When the music stops he falls back into this abyss. He doesn't know anything about his life. He doesn't know anything that's happened to him ever in his life." www.bbcnews.com
Bionic contact lens ‘to project emails before eyes' Photo: AP
Scientists are trying to understand how amnesiacs can lose all memory of their past life - and yet remember music. The answer may be that musical memories are stored in a special part of the brain.
Photo: AP
How can musicians keep playing despite amnesia?
A new generation of contact lenses that project images in front of the eyes is a step closer after successful animal trials, say scientists. The technology could allow wearers to read floating texts and emails or augment their sight with computer-generated images, Terminator-syle. Researchers at Washington University who are working on the device say early tests show it is safe and feasible.But there are still wrinkles to iron out, like finding a good power source. Currently, their crude prototype device can only work if it is within centimetres of the wireless battery. And its microcircuitry is only enough for one light-emitting diode, reports the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. But now that initial safety tests in rabbits have gone well, with no obvious adverse effects, the researchers have renewed faith about the device's possibilities. They envisage hundreds more pixels could be embedded in the flexible lens to produce complex holographic images. For example, drivers could
wear them to see journey directions or their vehicle's speed projected onto the windscreen. Similarly, the lenses could take the virtual world of video gaming to a new level. They could also provide upto-date medical information like blood sugar levels by linking to biosensors in the wearer's body. Delicate materials Lead researcher Professor Babak Parviz said: "Our next goal is to incorporate some predetermined text in the contact lens." He said his team had already overcome a major hurdle to this, which is getting the human eye to focus on an image generated on its surface. Normally, we can only see objects clearly if they are held several centimetres away from the eye. The scientists, working with colleagues at Aalto University in Finland, have now adapted the lenses to shorten the focal distance. Building the end product was a challenge because materials used to make conventional con-
The vision is to stream real-time information in front of the eyes
tact lenses are delicate. Manufacturing electrical circuits, however, involves inorganic materials, scorching temperatures and toxic chemicals. Researchers built the circuits from layers of metal only a few nanometres thick, about one thousandth the width of a human hair, and constructed light-emitting diodes measuring one third of a millimetre across. Dr Parviz and his team are not the only scientists working on this type of technology. A Swiss company called Sensimed has already brought to market a smart contact lens that uses inbuilt computer technology to monitor pressure inside the eye to keep tabs on the eye condition glaucoma. www.bbcnews.com
November 25 - December 1, 2011
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Tourism
November 25 - December 1, 2011 Photo: AP
YAXUNÁ AND IZAMAL Monumental Mayan Centers
this city with sites in the Puuc, especially with Kabah: the designs carved on the stones of the plaza in which the House of the Queen stands are reminiscent of similar elements on the Kodz Pop at Kabah, as is the of bundles of reeds on the walls, a motif typical of the Puuc. The landscape visible from the summit of the mound known as the Green House is evidence of what was probably an intensive agriculture that must have sustained the large population of the north of the Peninsula. Besides the building of this enormous Acropolis, there are other structures, such as the Ball Court and large architectonic complexes which still await archaeological studies o shed new light on the long history of Yaxuná.
IZAMAL
Photo: AP
Yazumá (“Turquoise House” is full of monumental buildings and surrounded by fields and dense vegetation. It is at the western end of the longest pre-Hispanic road yet discovered: the sacbé that joins the city to Cobá, the great pre-Hispanic city in Quintana Roo, 62 miles away. The most recent explorations have brought to light two important periods in the occupation of Yaxuná. In some substructures burials have been found belonging to the earliest inhabitants, prior to the 5th century AD and contemporary with those Oxkintok. In the Early Classical of Late Precassical periods, monolithic blocks were used for construction. Yaxuná appears to have reached its zenith in the 10th century. Sculpture lends significance to the architectonic spaces, and links
This city, once an enormous Mayan Ceremonial center, is said to be older that Chichén and Uxmal. It lies 45 miles from Mérida, and is also known as “the city of the three cultures” since it combines preHispanic, Colonial and modern features. From the archaeological remains existing around the modern city of Izamal, it is possible to calculate that the pre-Hispanic settlement covered an area of approximately 3.85 square miles. Some 80 pre-Hispanic
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structures have been found in the city including the Kinich Kak Moo pyramid, which is the third largest pre-Hispanic structure in Mexico by volume. Thanks to the Chumayel Chilam Balam, we know that Izamal was an important ally of the people inhabiting Chichén Itzá in their struggle against Mayapán. The colonial city was built the pre-Hispanic on (the Spanish built the present Franciscan monastery, which has the largest enclosed atrium in Latin
America, using stones from ancient buildings), which can be seen destroyed. However, the buildings which can be seen today in the center of the city survived, as did numerous preHispanic platforms in the environs, resembling hills and giving Izamal its name. Few archaeological studies have been carried out at Izamal and most of them concentrate on the Kinich Kak Moo pyramid. The existence of a sacbé measuring some 20 miles has been demonstrated, linking Izamal with the preHispanic city Aké to the east, and leading towards Kantunil was a major regional power center. The site has a history of development which begins in the Upper Preclassical period, around 300 BC, up to the Late Postclassical, and even until the Spanish conquest. Recent work has shown that to the south of the central zone there is an area which might have been inhabited by an elite group, judging from the quality of the construction observed in the residential platforms which existed there, and that to the west there was more populous area that grew up alongside the sacbé leading to Aké. The oldest part of the settlement remained in the central zone of the modern city, and has suffered the most destruction. Only the large constructions survived, thanks to their size.
November 25 - December 1, 2011
Experts say the "remarkable" species is the only orchid known to consistently flower at night, but why it has adopted this behaviour remains a mystery. The plant was discovered by a Dutch researcher during an expedition to New Britain, an island near Papua New Guinea. The findings appear in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. "It was so unexpected because there are so many species of orchids and not one was known [to flower] at night only," said co-author Andre Schuiteman, senior researcher and an orchid expert at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. "It was quite remarkable to find one, after so many years of orchid research, that is nightflowering," he told BBC News. The specimen was discovered by co-author Ed de Vogel during a field trip in a region of lowland rainforest on the Pacific island. One-night stand Its unique flowering behaviour only came to light after the specimen was taken back to the Netherlands. Dr de Vogel took the plant home in an attempt to understand why its buds appeared to wither when they reached a size that would normally produce 2cm flowers. To his surprise, he observed the flowers open a few hours after dusk and remain open until a few hours after sunrise. The flowers opened for one night only, explaining why the buds appeared to be preparing to open one day, yet be withered the next day. The specimen has been identified as belonging to the Bulbophyllum genus, which with about 2,000 species - is the largest group in the orchid family. While there are a number of orchids that do attract nighttime pollinators, B. nocturnum is the first known species that exclusively flowers at night. Mr Schuiteman said it still remained a mystery why the plant had developed such behaviour. "We think related species are pollinated by tiny flies that think they are visiting fungi," he explained. "The flowers mimic fungi, that's what the details of the flowers look like they do. "The flies are looking for somewhere to lay eggs, and it is most probably [a species] that forages at night." He added: "The orchid probably has a smell, not detectable by humans, to attract insects from a distance - and when they are nearby, the shape and physical aspects of the flower probably play a role too. 'Double-edged sword' Mr Schuiteman said the exact reason why B. nocturnum only flowered at night would remain a mystery until further field studies had been completed. However, time may be against them as the location in western New Britain where the original specimen was found lay
within a logging area. "It was previously inaccessible but now the area has been opened by logging," Mr Schuiteman said, adding that was an area that needed to be explored because there were probably many more species waiting to be described. He said the logging activity was a double-edged sword because Papua New Guinea's government had granted logging licences in the area meant that it created roads that had allowed the plant hunters to carry out their exploration, yet it was an activity that could threaten the long-term survival of the species. "My colleague who discovered it got permission from the logging company to go into the area, they even gave him a car to use. "They realised that it would have been a shame to log the trees and destroy the orchids because they would be left lying on the ground exposed to full sunlight." He called for areas to be left untouched: "It is the government that gives permits to log a particular area, so we should be asking them to protect areas and not issue permits for everything."
Protection boosted for tuna, sharks and swordfish The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat) decided to implement an electronic system for recording bluefin catches. Research shows catches have been far higher than skippers have declared. The meeting, in Turkey, also gave extra protection to the silky shark, whose numbers are falling because of fishing. Tuna boats often snare this species by accident; and now, fishermen will have to release them alive. Government delegates also voted through a minimum legal size for swordfish, and will draw up a comprehensive recovery plan in 2013. But proposals for protecting the porbeagle shark, classified as vulnerable to extinction on the internationally recognised Red List, were rebuffed. The most controversial issue on the agenda - illegal fishing for the lucrative bluefin in Libyan waters during the height of this year's civil conflict, which BBC News revealed earlier this month - will be addressed in a separate meeting next year. Conservation groups gave a mixed reception to the outcomes. "Iccat's new bluefin tuna electronic catch documentation scheme is an important and positive leap forwards in the monitoring of the fishery and protection of the species," said Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries for WWF in the Mediterranean region. A report from the Pew Environment Group last month showed that last year 140% more bluefin meat entered the market from the Mediterranean than was declared, largely because the
Photo: AP
Botanists discover ‘remarkable' night-flowering orchid
Tourism & Evironment
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Most of the bluefin will end up in Japanese markets such as Tsukiji in Tokyo
paper-based catch recording system was open to abuse. The new system will not, however, track bluefin through the "farms" or "ranches" where they are fattened for eventual sale, usually to Japan. "The continued absence of data on quantity and size of bluefin tuna caged in fattening farms creates a black hole and provides an easy facility for the laundering of illegal, unregulated and unreported catches of Mediterranean bluefin tuna," said Dr Tudela. Although the focus of Iccat meetings is often on the Mediterranean, the body also regulates fishing across a huge swathe of the Atlantic Ocean. This includes waters off the west coast of Africa which are beginning to see heavy fishing. Here, Iccat governments voted to restrict the use of fish aggregating devices (Fads) which attract tuna and sharks, and whose use often leads to significant catch of
unwanted species and juve-niles. The Istanbul meeting also produced some good news for birds in the south Atlantic. Longline boats, which tow lines tens of kilometres long carrying thousands of baited hooks, will have to use at least two out of three methods proven to reduce the accidental catch of albatrosses and other ocean-going giants. The three strategies comprise deploying streamers from the back of the boat to scare birds away, setting lines at night, and adding weights to their hooks so they sink too deep for the birds to reach. "This is a great day for albatrosses and other seabirds which die needlessly every minute of the day, accidental casualties in the tuna and swordfish fisheries," said Dr Cleo Small of the RSPB and BirdLife International. www.bbcnews.com
Hanging Out
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Culture November 25 - December 1, 2011
Real Estate or X'Tabay Ix Tabay The Ix Tabay or X'Tabay Mayan Legend is a fallen ancient Mayan goddess, before Christianity she was referred to as "Ixtab" the goddess of suicide. The Ix Tabay legend remains in the Maya communities of today as an "existing and very real deadly spirit of the night. Such spirit takes the form of an extremely attractive woman, incredibly sensuous and beautiful, that appears to solitary males especially during full moon. She always awaits the male near a Ceiba tree trunk; where she seats and combs with sensuous delicate strokes her long dark beautiful hair, so long that it falls beyond her hips. This sensual being awaits and calls upon the poor male soul, whether he is drunk or not, old or young she has no preference; her voice is so inviting, her body so sensual, and her eyes so fascinating that the men have a hard time resisting her advances; most of them give in to her seduction, as she moves smiling and joyfully giggling into the dark forest. A sensual game of hide and seek is played for a few minutes by the male and this deceitful dark spirit with increasing tones of sexuality until the X'Tabay lets him embrace her; at that moment, her sensual game turns into deadly terror for the poor male as he tries in vain to free himself from her arms now in the form of thorny branches and her face full of spines, hate, and a vivid desire to devour him alive. Few males have encounter the X'tabay and have lived to tell their story; most of them are found dead next morning at the trunk or roots of the Ceiba tree, wrapped with thorny branches and terror showing in their distorted faces. The X'Tabay is the Queen Goddess of Suicide in the Pantheon of ancient Mayan gods, deities and the underworld demons. The Maya culture is unique in its inclusion of a goddess of suicide in its embracing deadly deities and gods
Ah Puch, God of Death Mayan depictions of Ah Puch were either of a skeletal figure that had protruding ribs and a death's-head skull or of a bloated figure that suggested an advancing state of decomposition. Because of his association with owls, he might be portrayed as a skeletal figure with an owl's head. Like his Aztec equivalent, Mictlantecuhtli,
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Ah Puch frequently wears bells. Ah Puch was the God of Death, Underworld, Disaster, Darkness. Ah Puch ruled Mitnal, the lowest level of the Mayan underworld. Because he ruled death, he was closely allied with the gods of war, disease, and sacrifice. Like the Aztecs, the Mayans associated death with dogs owls, so Ah Puch was generally accompanied by a dog or an owl. Ah Puch is also often described as working against the gods of fertility. Mayans were much more fearful of death than other Mesoamerican cultures — Ah Puch was envisioned as a hunting figure that stalked the houses of people who were injured or sick. Mayans typically engaged in extreme, even loud mourning after the death of loved ones. It was believed that the loud wailing would scare Ah Puch away and prevent him from taking any more down to Mitnal with him.
Fashion & People Restaurantes
K'inich Ajaw, God of the Sun K'inich Ajaw is portrayed in the various phases of the sun as it travels across the sky and then down through the underworld at night. Sometimes, for example, K'inich Ajaw is portrayed as the "Jaguar Sun," the aspect of the sun in the underworld. Other times, K'inich Ajaw looks a lot like Itzamna or a bearded man. K'inich Ajaw is the God of Sun, War, Blood-letting rituals, Human sacrifice, Divine kingship, Poetry, Music . And it was the son of Itzamna or the aspect of Itzamna that existed during the day. Mayan warriors participated in blood-letting dance rituals to honor K'inich Ajaw. Mayan rulers believed that they were the descendants of K'inich Ajaw and would assume his identity during festivals honoring him. Ulike impersonators of gods in other cases, though, they would not be ritually sacrificed. K'inich Ajaw was protector of the city of Izamal.
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Culture November 25 - December 1, 2011
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Leonardo: National Gallery to act over ticket resales The National Gallery in London is to take action against the resale of tickets for its "blockbuster" Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. The gallery said tickets that have been resold will be cancelled without refund and holders refused admission. The £16 exhibition tickets are now being resold on eBay and Viagogo for up to £400. "We are obviously very disappointed at the resale of these tickets for profit," a spokeswoman said. "The resale of tickets for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition is against the terms and conditions of their sale and this information is printed on the tickets. "Our website clearly states: 'Tickets that have been resold will be cancelled without refund and admission will be refused to the bearer.'" The spokeswoman said the gallery was contacting companies and websites that were accommodating ticket resales, requesting that they "stop immediately".
She declined to comment on which methods were being used to identify resold tickets, but said it was the first time the gallery had taken such measures. Ed Parkinson, director of Viagogo, described demand for the tickets as "unprecedented". He said: "Terms and conditions that aim to prevent people reselling tickets are unfair - if someone has paid for a ticket they can no longer use, they have the right to recoup their cost." 'Hottest ticket' Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan focuses on the artist's formative years as a court artist in the 1480s and 1490s and runs until 5 February. Crowds of people turned out for the opening on 9 November. It is thought to be the most complete display of the artist's
Seven of the nine paintings in the exhibition have not been seen in public before
work ever shown and features seven paintings which have never been seen in public before. Critics have showered praise on the exhibition, with the Daily Telegraph's Richard Dorment calling it "the hottest ticket in town". Ticket reselling for exhibitions,
concerts and festivals has become common practice in recent years. However, a spokesman from the Department for Culture Media and Sport said there were no plans to tackle the issue at this current time. "The Culture, Media and Sport select committee found no
public consensus to clamp down on secondary ticketing. "The government maintains that position and there are no plans to to look at it again." www.bbcnews.com
Damien Hirst skull to display in Turbine The gold and silver coins are 10cm across and are legal tender
Sculptor's £100k Olympic gold coin revealed The UK's first Kilo coin - one of just 60 to be produced - is worth £100,000 as it contains 1kg of fine gold.A silver Kilo worth £3,000 designed by artist, composer and writer Tom Phillips was also revealed. Both coins are UK legal tender and 2,012 silver Kilos will be produced.The Queen personally approved both designs in order for them to become legal tender. The obverse of the coins features her effigy, created by sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley, whose design of Her Majesty appears on all UK and Commonwealth coinage since 1998. Sir Anthony Caro's design represents how the Games focus on success and pushing the body and mind to their limits as well as the long heritage of the Olympics. His coin is framed by a laurel wreath and the London 2012 logo, and depicts the sports equipment used for weightlifting, boxing, football and athletics. During the manufacturing of the gold Kilo, a special press and production technique was used to achieve the highest ever relief on a coin struck by the
Royal Mint. However because of its worth and size, it is unlikely to go into circulation. The silver Kilo design focuses on the idea of teams working in unison to achieve success and victory, featuring the words "Unite our dreams to make the world a team of teams". It also has images of celebratory flags creating a sun for the Games while also representing the Olympic flame. Both coins are accompanied by individually numbered Certificates of Authenticity. Sir Anthony Caro has personally signed and numbered the certificates for each gold Kilo coin. Sir Anthony's works have played a key role in the development of contemporary sculpture. He was knighted in 1987 and was the first British sculptor since Henry Moore to receive the Order of Merit in 2000. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently featured a major exhibition of his works. Phillips's works are displayed in some of the world's most prominent galleries, including London's Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. www.bbcnews.com
For the Love of God will be displayed until 24 June. The exhibition, featuring his "pickled shark", runs from 4 April to September. Tate said the skull, appearing for the first time in a UK public gallery, may be viewed "alternatively as a glorious, devotional, defiant or provocative gesture in the face of death itself". The work, which will be housed in a viewing room in the east end of the Turbine Hall, was sold to an investment group in 2007 with Hirst retaining part-ownership. He has described For the Love of God, the platinum cast of a 35-year-old 18th century European man covered in 8,601 jewels, as an "uplifting" piece that "takes your breath away". 'Great place' The skull has previously been shown at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, in 2008, and Florence's Palazzo Vecchio, in 2010-2011. Hirst said in a statement released on Monday that he was "really pleased" the skull would be on display in such a "great place". Tate added: "Visitors will be given the opportunity to view For the Love of God as an independent exhibit or as a culmination of many of the themes revealed in the exhibition." The display, which surveys the artist's work from the late
A £50m Damien Hirst diamond-encrusted skull will be shown in Turbine Hall to accompany a Tate Modern retrospective of his work from 4 April. 1980s onwards, is described as the first substantial Hirst exhibition in the UK. It will be part of the London 2012 Festival - the grand finale of the Cultural Olympiad. It features more than 70 of his works, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living with a suspended shark in formaldehyde. Works featuring cabinets displaying pills, medical instruments and packaging will also feature as well as paintings from Hirst's spot series. Other highlights include two-part installation In and Out of Love - which features butterflies and has not seen since since its creation in 1991 - and 1992's Pharmacy. A Thousand Years 1990, featuring flies living in a rotting cow's head and dying on an insect killer, will also be included. The British artist, who rejects suggestions his works are a standing joke against the art estab-
lishment, first came to public attention with his 1988 Freeze exhibition of his own and fellow students' work in a disused warehouse in London. Charles Saatchi was among visitors and, within a year, he had bought two of Hirst's medicine cabinet exhibits. Hirst went on to become a household name partly due to the attention his controversial artworks attracted. www.bbcnews.com
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November 25 - December 1, 2011
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The My Week With Marilyn star will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Actress award at a ceremony in January. Announcing the award, festival chairman Harold Matzner praised Williams as a performer with an "exceptional blend of talent, versatility and grace". The actress stars as screen siren Monroe in Simon Curtis' new film. It tells of the tumultuous making of The Prince and the Showgirl in 1956, during which Monroe clashed with director Laurence Olivier and escaped from the pressures of her life during a brief dalliance with young assistant Colin Clark. "Every generation, the cinema has a few performers who mesmerise audiences," Matzner said. "Michelle Williams epitomises these qualities as she continues to accept challenging role after challenging role." The star was nominated for a best actress Oscar last year for her performance in Blue Valentine and also received a nomination for supporting actress in 2006's Brokeback Mountain. Past recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard,
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Michelle Williams to receive Palm Springs film honour
Tourism & Evironment
Recordings must be over 25 years old to qualify for the Grammy Hall Of Fame
Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon among Grammy inductees
Michelle Williams plays Marilyn Monroe in her latest film, My Week With Marilyn
Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams is to be honoured at the Palm Springs International Film Festival next year. gious Chairman's award, and actress Glenn Close would also receive a career achievement award. www.bbcnews.com
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Noel Gallagher rubbishes Out Photo: AP
The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) has delayed its annual awards by a day to allow members to see Hollywood's remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Established in 1973, more than 850 recording have been recognised in the Hall of Fame. Past inductees include The Beatles and Bob Dylan. "The Recording Academy is dedicated to celebrating a wide variety of great music and sound through the decades," Mr Portnow said in a statement. "We are especially honoured to welcome this year's selection of some of the most influential recordings of the last century. "Marked by both cultural and historical significance, these works truly have influenced and inspired audiences for generations." The event, which will take place at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, will be broadcast live on US network CBS.
Bond theme claims The ex-Oasis guitarist had been linked with writing the official song for the upcoming SkyFall due for release in October 2012. In a blog post on his website Noel Gallagher called the song rumours "bizarre". He said he had not had any contact from the film's makers and that no meetings had taken place.
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Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet. It was previously announced that George Clooney would be honoured at the festival with its presti-
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Hanging delays NY Critics awards
NYFCC chairman John Anderson said the move ensured voters "have the opportunity to see all of the eligible films". The group will vote on 29 November and will announce its winners via Twitter. The awards will be handed out at a ceremony on 9 December. "We were looking forward to voting on 28th November, but due to conflicting schedules, we have made the decision to move back a day," Anderson said in a statement.
The list, made up of both albums and singles, also includes Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It? and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive. Recording Academy president Neil Portnow said the music has "influenced and inspired" people for generations. The 54th Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on 12 February. A recording of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered 48 years ago, also features on the list, along with Exile on Main St by the Rolling Stones and Anything Goes by Cole Porter. Other well-known albums on the list include Santana's self-titled debut, which was released in 1969, and Bill Cosby's comedy record, I Started Out As A Child.
Questionable 'source'
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo stars Rooney Mara in the lead role
The original 2009 Swedish film, based on Stieg Larsson's book was well received by critics and was named best film not in the English language by Bafta. Fight Club director David Fincher's version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, is not due for release in the US until 21 December. While distributors frequently
offer critics the chance to view films before their release date, Sony was not able to offer any screenings of the film until 28 November. Last month, the NYFCC announced it was bringing its awards forward two weeks, making it the first US critics' group to announce its picks for the best cinema of the year.
He wrote: "I don't know whether you've seen a story that's doing the rounds about me being offered the job of penning the tune for the new James Bond film? "Apparently, I'm being courted by '007 bosses.' "A meeting will be 'taking place in the next few days!' With some guy called 'Michael G. Wilson' (whoever he is)! "A 'source' says, 'nothing has been signed or made official' Of course it hasn't! Who is this 'source'? Has he been on the 'sauce?'" Previously Adele had been linked with performing the
Riviera Maya www.bbcnews.com
new Bond theme. Rapper Tinie Tempah seemingly confirmed that she was lined up to sing it back in September. "I was with her yesterday and she was telling me about it. That's amazing," he said. www.bbcnews.com
Entertainment November 25 - December 1, 2011
Photo: AP
Natalie Wood: A Hollywood enigma The mysterious death of Natalie Wood has remained one of Tinseltown's most enduring mysteries. in the company of adults," she recalled of her early years. "I was very withdrawn, very shy, I did what I was told and I tried not to disappoint anybody." At the age of 16, she starred opposite the 24-year-old James Dean in A Rebel Without A Cause. The film, which saw Wood receive the first of three Oscar nominations, came out in the same year that Dean was killed in a car accident, and rapidly became a cult hit. A significant role in The Searchers, with John Wayne, also marked the debut of Wood's younger sister, Lana, who would go on to achieve stardom in her own right - in TV's Peyton Place and as Bond girl, Plenty O'Toole. By now Wood was making headlines, dating a string of older men, including, it is alleged, the 43-year-old director of Rebel Without A Cause, Nicholas Ray. Other boyfriends included Dennis Hopper and Elvis Presley, whom she dubbed "square". But it was the studio-arranged date with childhood crush Robert Wagner that was to have the most profound impact on her personal life.
High point The couple shared their first date on her 18th birthday, and married a year later. But the marriage rapidly ran into trouble. The pair separated in June 1961 further damaged no doubt by the box office failure of their joint project, All the Fine Young Cannibals. Splendour in the Grass marked a high point in Wood's acting career, winning her first Oscar nomination for best actress, as well as nominations for the Golden Globes and the Baftas.
US drama Dexter has been commissioned for at least two more series The green light for series seven and eight came after the show's star, Michael C. Hall, signed a new contract. Reports suggested Showtime, the network which airs Dexter in the US, had struggled to reach a decision over the actor's pay. Showtime haven't released details of his new deal. Dexter focuses features forensics expert Dexter Morgan who moonlights as a serial killer. The show will now be on air until at least 2013. Dexter has been a ratings hit for the Showtime network since its debut in 2006 and the current series, the sixth, has been the most popular so far,
averaging five million viewers. Speaking about its renewal, Showtime president, David Nevins said: "Dexter's enormous success is a real tribute to the great achievements of its cast, producers and the powerhouse performance of Michael C. Hall." He added: "The series is bigger than it's ever been in its sixth season, both in terms of audience and its impact on the cultural landscape." Dexter has been nominated for numerous Golden Globes and Emmy awards. In 2010, Michael C. Hall won the Golden Globe for best actor in a Drama.
From child star to starlet, Wood was at the peak of her celebrity in the early 60s
It also paved the way for her relationship with co-star Warren Beatty. Wood was, arguably, at the peak of her powers: 1961 also saw the release of hit musical West Side Story - with Wood in the leading female role of Maria. The film won 10 Oscars, including best picture. Wood built on her stardom with the 1962 musical Gypsy, and 1963's Love with the Proper Stranger, which saw her win her third Oscar nomination as a shop assistant facing unwanted pregnancy. At 25, Wood remains the youngest person to have received three Oscar nominations to date. But the actress was never to win any. Not all her movies won her admiration, however, with Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965) both poorly received. In 1966, Wood was named the Harvard Lampoon's Worst Actress of the Year, but was deemed "a good sport" by the university paper when she unexpect-
edly turned up to collect it. Many fans consider subsequent two films with Robert Redford, Inside Daisy Clover and This Property Is Condemned, to be the most notable of Wood's career. And, while neither achieved box office success, both won her Golden Globe nominations. It was at this point in her life that the actress suffered a breakdown, leading to an acting hiatus of some three years. Reportedly she turned down lead roles in The Great Gatsby and Bonnie and Clyde during this period. She returned to the big screen in 1969 with the box office smash Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, a swingers' comedy about the sexual revolution. It was believed to have earned her $3 million after she negotiated a 10% share of the film's profits. By now, Wood was married to British producer Richard Gregson, whom she had dated since her break-up with Beatty in 1966. The couple had a daughter,
Natasha Gregson in 1970. They separated a year later. Shortly after their divorce was finalised, in July 1972, Wood reconciled with and remarried Wagner. Their daughter, Courtney, was born two years later, when she was 33. Following the birth of her children, Wood stepped away from acting, making only five films between the age of 28 and her death, at 43. Prior to her unexpected death, she was working on sci-fi film Brainstorm, with Walken. A standin was used to complete her unfinished work on the film, which was released posthumously in 1982. Following her death, Wagner won custody of Wood's daughter Natasha, and raised her alongside sister Courtney. Her well-documented fear of water prefaced her tragic death. "I've always been terrified, still am, of water," the star said, shortly before she died in 1981. www.bbcnews.com
Lady Gaga ‘doesn't condone' Adele fan abuse on Twitter She said: "Anyone that would say anything negative about Adele, I wouldn't support."I haven't read anything specifically that was said but if anything was said, absolutely I wouldn't condone anything like that." Lady Gaga opened Thursday night's Children In Need Rocks charity concert at Manchester's MEN Arena performing Born This Way, Edge Of Glory and Marry The Night.The singer said she loves the cause and says it's similar to her own anti-bullying charity, which she launched earlier this year with her mother, Cynthia Germanotta. 'Mutual love' She says that's another reason why she wouldn't want her fans, who she calls Little Monsters, writing abusive messages about Adele. "I love her immensely," she said. "She's very sweet and we've exchanged a few emails about our mutual love for one another. "I wish her all the best in her recovery for her vocals and I can't wait to
Photo: AP
The award-winning actress was just 43 years old when she died during a boat trip off the coast of California in 1981. The mother-of-two is believed to have slipped and drowned following a night of partying with her actor husband Robert Wagner and then co-star Christopher Walken. But rumours of foul play have continued to circulate for 30 years, amid witness reports of a row and pleas for help from the water. Her tragic demise prompted a media frenzy and her funeral was attended by stars from across the globe. Small wonder. Wood was no ordinary jobbing actress: her career had seen her rise from the child star of one of Hollywood's most beloved Christmas hits to the Oscar-nominated starlet of Rebel Without A Cause and West Side Story. Born in 1938 in San Francisco to Russian parents, Natalia Zakharenko was the middle child of an ambitious mother. A fleeting screen role won her the attention of director Irving Pichel, who gave her her first major role, at the age of seven, in Tomorrow is Forever, opposite Orson Welles. The role prompted her mother to move the entire family to Los Angeles against her father's will. But her instincts proved correct. Welles later remembered the young Natalia as "so good, she was terrifying". The following year, she was cast as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street, and went on to become one of the best-known child stars of that era. "I spent practically all my time
hear her new music."She's an amazing success in the US and in the UK and it's wonderful to see such strong women thriving in pop music." At the weekend, Lady Gaga revealed that she would returning to the UK on tour next year. She's promising an even more extravagant set than she used on last year's Monster Ball. "This is a bigger and better, more beautiful, more amazing ver-
sion of the Monster Ball," she said. "The Monster Ball will never die. It was created by the fans and I'm more than confident that this will be the show of their dreams. "I was hoping that Born This Way would be the album of their dreams. "I'm very happy and blessed that we have sold so much in such little time and I can't wait to go on tour." www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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November 25 - December 1, 2011
Ricco loses appeal over suspended sentence Photo: AP
A Toulouse court upheld the June 2010 verdict, when Ricco was found guilty of "using a poisonous substance". Ricco tested positive for Cera, an advanced version of the banned blood-booster EPO, after winning two mountain stages on the 2008 Tour. Ricco has five days to appeal against the latest court ruling. Ricco's lawyer Annamaria Tripicchio-Rogier tried to get the charges dropped because Ricco had already been charged by a court in Italy in February 2010. She said: "We're not pleading in favour of doping, far from it. Mr. Ricco made a mistake and admitted it. "But given the fact he's already been condemned for the same thing by an Italian court, he can't be condemned again by another tribunal." Ricco also lost his appeal against a fine of 3,000 euros (£2,600). Ricco had won two stages of the 2008 Tour before he was disqualified. He served a 20-month ban and was also tried and fined 5,710 euros (£4,930) by a court in Padua. Ricco has not raced since being investigated by Italy's anti-doping body over reports he performed a blood transfusion on himself at his
Ricco was riding for Spanish team Saunier Duval at the 2008 Tour
Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco has lost his appeal against a two-month suspended prison sentence for doping during the 2008 Tour de France. home near Modena in February. He was subsequently sacked by his Dutch team Vacansoleil-
DCM after the incident.
Photo: AP
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa vows to improve in 2012 Felipe Massa says he knows he needs better results in 2012 to earn a new contract with Ferrari. Massa, who has yet to finish on the Formula 1 podium this year, will reach the end of his current deal at the end of next season. Ahead of Sunday's seasonending Brazilian Grand Prix, Massa said: "This is not the only moment [in my career] that I have to do a good job to renew. "Other times it has happened. I need a good year to continue." The Brazil race is Massa's 100th for Ferrari, and the 30year-old from Sao Paulo is hopeful the work behind the scenes at the team will lead to a more competitive car in 2012. "It was not a very good year, it was not an easy year," he added. "To have a competitive car, the work is not only now but a few months ago. We wish to have a car more competitive so that we can play for the championship from the beginning to the end and not just some races. "Although my year was not good, I rely on the strength of the fans, as always. The excitement is always high when I go home." On Tuesday Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said Massa must prove himself next year if he is to stay with the team. "We expect great things from him in 2012, and then we'll decide how to proceed. Let's say he'll have to prove himself," said Di Montezemolo. Di Montezemolo gave his team a mark of six out of 10 for a disappointing year. "I'd give a five, which I'll raise to six considering the effort and the victory at Silverstone exactly
The last of Massa's 11 career grand prix wins came at Interlagos in 2008
60 years after Ferrari's first win in Formula 1," he explained. "The season started badly, we didn't interpret the regulations well and we didn't take risks in the technology of our project." Di Montezemolo is certain that they will perform better next year. Massa's home grand prix at Interlagos closes the season, with the 30-year-old driver trailing team-mate Fernando Alonso by 137 points in the championship standings. Massa joined Ferrari from Sauber for the start of the 2006 season and dramatically lost out to Lewis Hamilton by a single point in the 2008 title race. However, he has struggled for form following a fractured skull sustained during qualifying at the Hungary Grand Prix in 2009. His progress this year has been hampered by a series of clashes and a deteriorating relationship with rival Hamilton. "Massa has been with us for quite a few years," added Di Montezemolo. "Even if he didn't have such a great season or much luck, we can't question the ability of a driver who was winning the title three years ago, and who has always been fast and competitive."
Tourism & Evironment www.bbcnews.com
Manchester City reveals record £194.9m loss
Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings is determined to prove his "innocence to the world" following a life ban for a second doping offence.
But the operating loss does not include the club's huge sponsorship deal with Etihad Airlines, worth a reported £35m a year, or revenues from this season's Champions League campaign. Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules, which come into full effect in 2013-14, say clubs must break even over three years. However the latest figures fall outside the accounting window for that. The previous biggest Premier League loss was £141m reported by Chelsea in 2005 - when they went on to win the league. The scale of City's losses reflect the investments made by owner Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi, who has spent more than £460m on players since taking over the club in 2008. Since then, City have been transformed into the current Premier League leaders. Brian Marwood, chief football operations officer at the club, told the BBC: "We know that we still have an awful lot of work to do but I think it's exactly where we said we would be in terms of the initial investment.
18 The International weekly
"Over a period of time we are fully aware we have to be compliant and there's a lot of work going on to make sure that's achieved." He added that the club was working with Uefa all the time and was "comfortable" with the governing body's new rules.
'No repeat' It is the second year in a row that City has made big losses. In 200910, it reported an operating loss of £126m. But chief operating officer Graham Wallace said the losses "will not be repeated on this scale in the future". Turnover hit £153.2m, up from £125.1m in 2009-10. This was driven by a 49% jump in commercial partnership revenue to £48.5m. Income from television rights rose by 27.4% to £68.8m, thanks largely to the club's third-place finish in the Premier League, winning the FA Cup and a run to the last 16 of the Europa League. Match day ticket sales were up 8.2% to £19.7m. But wage costs continue to
exceed turnover, rising from £133m in 2009-10 to £174m in 2010-11. Abu Dhabi concerns Although City's results next year will be boosted by the 10year sponsorship deal with UAE's Etihad, questions have been raised about the £400m agreement. Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi, which is also the home of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the emirate's ruling Al-Nahyan family. Concerns have been raised that the deal has been inflated to help City meet Uefa's financial fair play rules. Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has said: "Are Etihad, City and Sheikh Mansour related parties? If they are, it's up to Uefa to rule on them." Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has also claimed the deal "raises the real question about the credibility of financial fair play". Uefa has confirmed it is looking at the deal to see if the club is taking advantage of its links with Abu Dhabi to circumvent its strict new financial rules.
Steve Mullings vows to clear name after doping ban The 28-year-old tested positive for the banned diuretic furosemide, which can act as a masking agent for other drugs. He previously served a twoyear ban after testing positive for excessive levels of testosterone in 2004. "Myself and my attorneys are focusing our time and energy on proving my innocence to the world," Mullings said. The sixth fastest man of all time over 100m is expected to appeal against the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), after Jamaica's antidoping disciplinary panel imposed the life-long ban.
Hanging Out www.bbcnews.com
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"I am extremely disappointed in the decision made by the panel on Monday afternoon," he told BBC Sport. "I am unable to comment any further on this matter." His attorney, Alando Terrelonge, said the decision was unfair based on the evidence presented to the panel. "There was no evidence before this panel to indicate that Mr Mullings either deliberately took a drug to enhance his performance or mask the presence of other drugs that he was taking to enhance his performance," he said. www.bbcnews.com
Sports November 25 - December 1, 2011
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Corsica to host 2013 Tour de France start The 100th staging of the Tour de France will start from Corsica in 2013. It will be the first time the Mediterranean island has hosted a stage in the prestigious threeweek race. Corsica is the only metropolitan region of France never to have hosted a stage and more details are set to be revealed on Tuesday, 6 December. The 2012 race starts on 30
Mo Farah won 5,000m gold at the 2009 championships in Berlin
June, with Australia's Cadel Evans starting the defence of his title in the Belgian city of Liege. Corsica has held the past two editions of the two-day Criterium International, with Luxembourg's Frank Schleck winning this year's race. www.bbcnews.com
The BBC has won the TV, radio and online rights to the 2015 and 2017 World Athletics Championships.
Photo: AP
The event returns to the BBC after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) won the pan European rights. As an EBU bid partner, the BBC will be the sole UK free to air broadcaster in Beijing in 2015 and London two years later - returning after a six-year gap. "We're delighted the Championships are returning to the BBC," said Barbara Slater, Director BBC Sport. "The 2017 Championships, taking place at the Olympic Stadium will be a huge moment for UK athletics, helping to deliver the Olympic Legacy, and we're thrilled to be bringing the event to our audiences." The BBC broadcast the 2009 championships in Berlin when middle-distance runner Mo Farah won gold in the 5,000m, but missed out in the bidding for the 2011 and 2013 Championships. The news follows the announcement on Wednesday that the BBC will continue broadcasting the Six Nations Championship until 2017.
Photo: AP
BBC wins broadcast rights to 2015 and 2017 World Championships
Robert Kubica to miss start of 2012 season Renault have announced that driver Robert Kubica will miss the start of the 2012 season. His car left the road at high speed and hit a crash barrier, leaving him trapped for more than an hour. He suffered partial amputation of his forearm and numerous fractures to his right elbow, shoulder and leg. "Even if I've been working very, very hard over the course of the last few weeks, I came to the conclusion that I am not yet certain to be ready for the 2012 season," added Kubica. "I have called the team and I have informed them of the situation." Kubica requires a further operation next week to remove a pin from his elbow. Only then will he be able to return to full physical training for the first time. In a statement, Renault said it "remains committed to helping Robert as much as possible in his recovery process".
Salman Butt, the former captain of Pakistan's cricket team, was one of three players jailed
It added: "A test car is ready and waiting for him and a dedicated crew is on stand-by. "Of course, Robert will remain a member of the [Renault] family in 2012 and he is already, through his management, holding talks about renewing his contract for the following season."The final race of the 2011 season takes place in Brazil on Sunday.The opening 2012 race is in Australia on 18 March. Eric Boullier, Renault team principal, said: "Everybody in the team is, of course, very disappointed today. "Robert not driving in Australia at the start of next season is not what we were all hoping for. However, he has taken a very mature decision, acting in the best interests of [the team]." www.bbcnews.com
Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir lose sentence appeal
Photo: AP
The Pole, 26, is struggling to recover from serious injuries sustained in a rally crash in February.Renault had been hoping Kubica would be fit to resume his role as the team's number one driver from the start of 2012. "This was a difficult decision to make, but it is the most reasonable one," said Kubica. "My recovery is still very encouraging and my doctors keep being impressed. I just need more time, as I want to be 100% ready before I commit to anything driving-related." Renault said it would talk to "a few drivers" as it assesses its options for next season. Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna currently hold the race seats, while test driver Romain Grosjean is also a possible candidate. Kubica, who finished the 2010 season in eighth in the driver standings, suffered terrible injuries when he crashed on the first stage of the Ronde di Andora rally in Italy on 6 February.
The pair were not present at the Court of Appeal in London for the proceedings before the Lord Chief Justice and two other judges. Butt, 27, was jailed for 30 months and Amir, 19, received a six-month term. They were sentenced over a plot to bowl deliberate noballs in a Test match against England. Bowler Mohammad Asif, 28, and cricket agent Mazhar Majeed were also jailed. The judges rejected a plea that Butt's sentence was "manifestly excessive" and the argument that Amir should have been given a suspended sentence. Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge said the corruption had been "carefully prepared" and the cricketers had betrayed their team, their country, their sport and the "followers of the game throughout the world". If corruption continued then the enjoyment of those who watch cricket would "eventually be destroyed", Lord Judge said. 'Broken man' Butt's lawyer Ali Bajwa had argued his sentence was "out of proportion to the seriousness of the offence that was committed". Mr Bajwa described Butt as a broken man in a state of "ruin and disgrace", adding that the
very fact of imprisonment "amounted to exceptional punishment".Amir's lawyer Henry Blaxland argued for a suspended sentence that would allow his immediate release. Amir would have remained in the UK to carry out any community service, Mr Blaxland added. Butt was jailed for his role as the "orchestrator" of the plot to bowl deliberate no-balls in the Test at the Lord's cricket ground in London last summer. Amir was detained for six months in a young offenders institution after admitting bowling two intentional noballs at Lord's.The men were arrested after the fourth Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010. An undercover News of the World reporter had paid Majeed ÂŁ150,000 for details of the precise timing of no-balls, which were duly delivered as promised.Such actions can be valuable on the spot-fixing betting market, which involves betting on the finer details of sporting contests. In February, all three cricketers were banned from playing for five years by the International Cricket Council. They are appealing against the suspensions. www.bbcnews.com
Robert Kubica crashed during the Ronde di Andora rally on 6 February The International weekly
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Fashion & People November 25 - December 1, 2011
House of Holland Designer, Henry Holland is prove some people go to a hotel or restaurant and look at the walls and just see wallpaper. But for him, that really was his “inspiration” In dazzling greens and metallic, digitalized and screen-printed, a very young full collection, that mix the hotness, bright and sexiness for a girl who shares the liberty and comfort of being funny and natural at the same time.
He also, use a little bit of GOGO 70´s inspiration and of course the humble banana leaf became a major fashion statement in the hands of Holland.
Holland amped-up the embellishment volume with swathes of silk fringing, draped over dresses, dangling from shoulders, and embellishing the tops of socks, worn with metallic, highheel platforms.
20 The International weekly
Ready to wear: Like a disco-star´
Restaurantes Hoteles
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Fashion & People November 25 - December 1, 2011
Prince Charles met rescue teams, emergency services and others who responded to the Gleision tragedy. He is patron of an appeal fund for the families, which has so far raised £750,000. The mineworkers' union NUM said the prince had shown an "immediate and sincere interest" in the events. David Powell, 50, Charles Breslin, 62, Philip Hill, 44, and Garry Jenkins, 39, lost their lives in the disaster. A major rescue operation was launched when the drift mine flooded on 15 September. Initially it was hoped the men would be found alive and during the operation their families gathered at the Rhos Community Centre near Pontardawe to wait for information. Rescuers worked through the night to try to reach them but their bodies were recovered the following day. About 200 people gathered at Rhos Community Centre for the prince's visit on Friday afternoon and the local school closed early. They greeted him as he embarked on a walkabout after he arrived by helicopter in a field next to the community centre. 'Like a tsunami' He then met the rescuers inside
Photo: AP
Prince Charles meet Gleision Colliery rescue teams The Prince of Wales has met some of those involved in attempts to rescue four miners who died when a Swansea Valley pit flooded in September the centre before speaking to the families of the miners in private. One of the rescuers, Huw Jones, described to the prince what had happened during the rescue attempt, showing him a map of the mine and photographs taken at the scene. Mr Jones, who was a friend of Mr Jenkins, said rescuers had waded through thick sludge hoping to access areas where the miners might have taken refuge. "We cleared a hell of a lot of water and everyone worked together very well," he said. "It was not until we heard that the last person had been found dead that you realised how tired you were." He said that early in the rescue his team had been driven on by a tapping noise which they had hoped was being made by a survivor. That hope eventually proved groundless but all the men were eventually found close to areas where, with different circumstances, they could have survived. In the end the force of the water
Japan's Emperor Akihito leaves Tokyo hospital The emperor, 78 next month, initially suffered from a cold, high fever and had symptoms of bronchitis, the Imperial Household Agency said. Crown Prince Naruhito took over his official duties while he was ill. Emperor Akihito ascended to the throne after the death of his father Emperor Hirohito in 1989. Palace officials said Emperor Akihito would resume his duties as soon as his health allowed. The emperor was taken to the University of Tokyo Hospital earlier this month. His initial week-long stay was extended with a temperature running as high as 39C (102F) and a persistent cough. He was later diagnosed as suffering mild bronchial pneumonia with prolonged bronchitis. Earlier this year, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck the main island of Honshu, Emperor Akihito made a rare public televised address; the following month, he and Empress Michiko, 77, travelled to the disaster area. Emperor Akihito had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003 and suffered stress-related health issues in late 2008, including an irregular pulse and stomach bleeding. The following year, the royal agency said he would cut back on official duties such as speeches and meeting foreign dignitaries. As the titular head of state, he plays a largely ceremonial role, but is held in deep respect by many Japanese. www.bbcnews.com
which raced through the tunnel where they were working had an immediate and devastating effect. Mr Jones, pointing to a section of tunnel on the map, said: "It would have been like a tsunami. They had no chance whatsoever. They would have been washed away."
Private donation An appeal fund was set up following the tragedy to help the men's families and the three survivors of the tragedy, with Prince Charles as its patron. Peter Hain, Labour MP for Neath, also a patron of the appeal fund, spoke of the prince's eagerness to help in the aftermath of the disaster. He added that Prince Charles had given a substantial private donation to the fund himself. Wayne Thomas, general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Wales, said many in the community appreciated the prince's support. "Prince Charles showed an
Prince Charles was given details about the rescue attempt
immediate and sincere interest in these horrendous and devastating events," said Mr Thomas. "He is of course patron of the appeal and his visit is evidence of how sincere he is about that." The fund is around £750,000, according to the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (Ciswo), which has now taken over the running of the appeal. This includes Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan's pledge of a 25% equivalent gift aid on contributions. Mr Thomas added: "Money is still coming in and there are still a lot of events taking place. The response has been phenomenal.
"I don't think anyone involved with this appeal ever envisaged that much support would come forward." The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (Ciswo) has now taken over the running of the appeal fund, which it says has reached about £750,000. Next Friday a memorial service will be held in Pontardawe for the four miners as well as five-year-old schoolboy Harry Patterson.He died following an accident on the drive of his house, near Pontardawe, two days before the mine tragedy. www.bbcnews.com
How the future George VI sought refuge in Powys village But less widely known is the role of a mid Wales village in tackling another of the future monarch's afflictions. The then Prince Albert sought refuge for three weeks in Llangurig, Powys, while recuperating from a duodenal ulcer. He rested in the village in September 1917, shortly after serving in the Battle of Jutland during World War I. The King's Speech picked up seven Baftas on Sunday with its focus on his relationship with his speech therapist, initially in secret, as he tried to overcome his impediment. Years earlier, aged 22, he had arrived in secret in Llanidloes by royal train, and was driven to the estate of Harry Lloyd-Verney at Clochfaen, less than a mile from Llangurig. The prince, an officer in the Royal Navy, had been mentioned in dispatches during the Battle of Jutland off Denmark, but after returning home he was said to have suffered severely from the effects of the ulcer. It was decided that he should be sent somewhere to recuperate, and eventually spent three weeks at the home of LloydVerney, a senior member of the royal household at the time.Lloyd-Verney's home was no stranger to royalty. In the late 19th Century, two sons of the King of Siam - a country which later became Thailand - stayed at his family estate. On the banks of the River Wye among the rolling hills of Plynlymon, Llangurig, near Llanidloes, was probably seen as the perfect location for Prince Albert to recuperate. But during his stay, his condition did not improve, and he wrote to his father, George V, about his plight. James Stirk, who helps to run Clochfaen as a bed and breakfast and holiday cottage business, said: "My grandfather bought the house [from the LloydVerneys] in 1928. "It was medically recommended that Prince Albert, as he was then, should
spend some time at the Clochfaen estate. "He was suffering from a duodenal ulcer, but when he was in Llangurig it is was undiagnosed. "He had just served at the Battle of Jutland, which was one of the greatest sea battles of all time, and he was particularly ill. He had been mentioned in dispatches during the battle. "I don't know how his stay came about, but Harry Lloyd-Verney was a senior member of the royal household, later becoming Queen Mary's (George VI's mother) private secretary. "Lloyd-Verney had just completed a new house (on the estate) in 1915, and perhaps there was a discussion: 'You have a new house. Prince Albert is very unwell, would you like to take him for a holiday?' "It was a healthy and tranquil place and probably seemed an ideal location for the prince. "He travelled to Llangurig with his doctor Louis Greig and stayed for three weeks. According to a biography of George VI by (John) Wheeler-Bennett, Prince Albert wrote to his father from Clochfaen, depressed and saying he was not getting better and he needed an operation."
Brass crown During his stay, the young prince worshipped at the parish church and the pew he sat in bears a brass crown and a plaque marking his visit, said Mr Stirk. A manned sentry box was placed at the entrance of Clochfaen, while a butcher's in nearby Llanidloes, which supplied the house with meat during Prince Albert's visit, displayed the royal coat of arms above the shop doorway in latter years. It is still there, although the butcher's is now a clothes store, Mr Stirk explained. As well attending church, Prince Albert, a keen follower of country pursuits,
The film The King's Speech continues to pick up plaudits for its account of George VI's struggle with his stammer. shot game on the estate. Meanwhile, Mr Stirk's business partner Kevin Hughes said the future monarch was reputed to have ridden a pig in a light-hearted moment and, more conventionally, a motorcycle.Prince Albert was never to return to the area. But nearly 70 years later in 1986, the roof of the village church was in need of repair and it was suggested the fund-raising committee write to his widow, the Queen Mother, to ask her for her support. Mr Stirk said: "A letter came back from the Queen Mother saying her husband had always fondly remembered the LloydVerneys and the time he spent in Wales. "She sent a Royal Albert bone china tea service, which was sold to raise money for the church. Eventually £80,000 was raised towards the repairs." The King's Speech won seven of its 14 nominations in the British academy awards, the Baftas, winning both best film and outstanding British film. Colin Firth, who plays George VI, won best actor.The film also leads the nominations for this year's Oscars with 12 nods, including best film and best actor for Firth. www.bbcnews.com
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What to do November 25 - December 1, 2011
What to do NOVEMBER Exhibition “Calaveras” All November Centro Maya Playa del Carmen Collective Exhibit “Calaveras” Until November 30 House of Culture Chetumal Monday to Friday - 8 am to 8 pm Collective Exhibit “Trazos del Caribe” Cultural Center of Bellas Artes Until December 10 Monday to Friday Chetumal. 10 am to 7 pm Exhibit “Casualidad” By Pérez Gutiérrez "el Coze" Drawing-painting urban art
Until December 30 (Wednesday to Sunday) Artezissimo Gallery Puerto Morelos. 2pm to 6 pm.
Friday 25 Riviera Maya Jazz Festival Presenting: A tribute to Eugenio Toussaint with Enrique and Fernando Toussaint and Enrique Pat Jon Anderson Stanley Clarke Mamita’s Beach Playa del Carmen. 7pm Theater Carretero Group "De Vuelta" With Amalia Martini and Elian Abatemarco Dir: Fabián Carrasco House of Culture Puerto Morelos. 7:30 pm
Saturday 26 Workshop “How brew your organic garden” Cover: 250 pesos 16 Street between 65 and 70 Street Information: porlatierramoce@gamaiil.com Playa del Carmen. 10 am to 12:30 horas Riviera Maya Jazz Festival Presenting: Alex Otaola Richard Bona Los Yellowjackets Mamita’s Beach Playa del Carmen
Feature Film to Benefit Equine AC Presenting: “Toy Story at Christmas” Functions: 12, 4 and 6 pm 150, 180 and 20pesos Cancun Theater Hotel Zone Cancun
Sunday 27 Presentation of the book "Dragon of Autumn" By Ivan Ramon Suarez Caamal Pictorial Exhibition "The Look" By Ruben Solorzano Cultura Center Playa del Carmen. 7:30 pm
Tuesday 29 Contest - Opening “Chef of the Year” (III Semifinal 2011-2012) Date: 29 and November 30 Riviera Maya Technological University Playa del Carmen. 9 a.m.
Wednesday 30 Contest - Opening “Chef of the Year” (III Semifinal 2011-2012) Date: 29 and November 30 Riviera Maya Technological University Playa del Carmen. 9 a.m.
Workshopr “Mayab flowers” By Amori Penélope Cover: 330pesos Place: Suuk Palapa Playa del Carmen. 4 to 7 pm
Soren Kierkegaard Quotes Danish Philosopher (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855) Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.
Be that self which one truly is. Once you label me you negate me. Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.
Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.
Don't forget to love yourself. Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.
It belongs to the imperfection of everything human that man can only attain his desire by passing through its opposite. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
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Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown. Purity of heart is to will one thing.
To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.
November 25 - December 1, 2011
Weekly Horoscope
Sudoku
November 25 - December 1, 2011
Aries
Libra
Far be it for anyone to suggest you might not have been quite 'right' about something but yes, there is the high probability that ou'll soon need to agree that it's worth trying another course of action. This is particularly true if educational, legal or overseas career interests are involved. Given the 'high' you could experience midweek, giving way with grace might not cost you too much: it might also earn you significant points from someone who's not entirely sure of your long-term commitment to a project. Seeing you as a team player could make significant difference. In particular, those born under the Mutable signs of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces should be SO impressed with the mature way you're handling developments.
This period could be very important - especially if you're involved in legal matters, higher education or publishing. It's also possible that a new code of living or religious thought is taking hold. It may be that the cosmos if offering you time out to consider which f your many talents you should develop between now and May. It is possible that dramas in the lives of those closest to you will require a review of travel arrangements or contracts. These may well provide you with perfect opportunity to break old habits and to test a more Buddhist approach to events. In this, you could be much assisted by someone who lives a long way away.
Taurus For a variety of reason - most likely involving very long-term planning - you may feel the need to discuss deep matters (Life, sex, death and taxes). This probably isn't so much because there's a pending difficulty - but more because it's expedient (saving you money or emotional angst). Restructuring and agreeing new rules of engagement might take a few weeks yet bring you into contact with someone (a Capricorn?) whose calm professionalism makes dealing with complex issues almost pleasurable. Of course, it's always possi-
Scorpio Events during the first half of what promises to be a fairly dramatic week should make it clear that efforts have been made on your behalf and that your working schedule will be altered as a result. The 'bad' news is that it could take a few weeks for these to be fully implements (possibly taking until the Full Moon on December 10th or a few days later). What should be clear though is that a matter in which you have invested considerable time and energy will bear fruit and was worthy of your persistence. Indeed, coinciding with the eclipse you could receive a compliment that makes clear someone really admires your doggedness.
ble that the weight of certain thoughts has resulted in you feeling physically below par. Space-clearing exercises could make all the difference.
Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing. Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.
Garlic Soup Ingredients 3/4 cup garlic cloves, peeled 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups milk 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup peeled and cubed potatoes salt and pepper to taste
To prepare (12 servings) Chop garlic in a food processor to a coarse paste, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic paste and cook just until the paste begins to color, stirring constantly. Stir in the chicken broth and wine. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the milk, cream and potato and simmer for another 30 minutes. Puree soup in blender, return to saucepan and simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve with buttered French bread.
Gemini It's just possible that the cosmos will ask you to consider where you are in terms of relationships and if one is as good for you as you believe it to be. This is probably far more than just a commitment issue and may be more about how you have fun both together and independently. In fact, you might decide that a spell apart would be good for your partnership - which may well survive given this exercise. Another possibility is that it's your relationship with yourself that's up for review - perhaps because of health issues. It may be that you need a little space to think clearly before you make a decision affecting where and how you work.
Cancer It may be that you've been gearing up for a change to your working routine. Don't be disappointed if all doesn't go quite according to plan - it may be that adjustments have to be made to accommodate the needs of someone who's working in another country or whose educational programme means they can't be released to take part in a project just yet. Maddening as this might be, it would give you the opportunity to fine-tune a back-up operation. For the last year or so you've probably become ever-more accomplished in crisis management - see developments this week as being just another part of the roller coaster and know that once Neptune arrives in another Water sign next year, you'll really come into your own.
Leo Anticipate a change of pace as the Sun moves from Scorpio to Sagittarius and is almost immediately eclipsed! Affairs of the heart could be affected. It's perhaps as likely that the cosmos is offering an opportunity to learn more about your propensity to commit yourself before you really know enough! There may well be challenges - despite the fact that others have 'given their word' midweek. This may be one of those occasions where you need to locate your sense of humour - and quickly! At a different level entirely a legal loophole could have your full attention.
Virgo You may have felt this wave coming: career developments threatening to derail established domestic conditions. Once again the family commitments of those around you could disturb calm thinking. Yet it's crucial that you do try to focus. You're likely to be sensitive to both - which means you're likely to tune into the opportunities. And yes, that might mean agreeing to go back over decisions taken three weeks ago and even agreeing to be part of a rescue operation. Resist the urge to think that there have been errors or 'learning experiences'. Rather this was a consultative process that will enable to you improve work-life balance before the Full Moon (December 10th)
Sagittarius There are so many possibilities - but they include saying 'au revoir', reviewing travel arrangements and/or dealing with a partner who needs support you may not feel able to give. The problem here is that you may already have too much on your plate! A flurry of activity suggests you may be asked to cover for someone unable to fulfil an obligation. It shouldn't take too much to tune into the fact that developments are now coming through thick and fast and that by the Full Moon (December 10th) you'll need to make clear where you stand.
Capricorn Mars is now moving through another of the Earth signs (Virgo). It doesn't leave this area until early July next year. It's likely then that both extending your knowledge base - and passing on what you know (training others) will be subjects for discussion. It may be that with others 'moving on', that changes in the workplace will require your input as replacements and reorganisations are carried out. And yes, you might not be entirely happy - even feeling overstretched. Yet another part of you could see this as an opportunity. Building your power base or at least affirming your position is probable before the lunar eclipse next month. In a way this is a mini re-run of events that took place in May/June - the big difference now being that you can see just how much others need you.
Aquarius These could coincide with several ripples in your social life and, in the working scene, associations which support you through network and distribution. If you have anything important to mail, try to get it done early in the week and, if sending things overseas, think about taking extra insurance cover. A singular development on the family front (with financial implications) could take place midweek - bringing to a conclusion hassles that began some years ago. With this resolved, and after the solar eclipse, thoughts could turn to travel and adventure.
Pisces It's not at all uncommon for humans to react to solar eclipses even before they occur. So it's entirely possible that you're already embarked on career change. As you know, your sign is depicted as two fish swimming in opposite directions. Think of one of them as being superefficient and the other as being permanently caught in a dream world. You perhaps need the former to take over as you clear up a mess. The more creative side of your being should work well a group of people who lack your ability to swim to the heart of an issue.
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Cancún & Riviera Maya
November 25 - December 1, 2011
www.elquintanarroense.com/international
Week in Pictures
Dancers of the Folkloric Ballet of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, performing during a festival in Bogota, Colombia.
Chalk messages mark the spot where protesters were pepper-sprayed by police at an Occupy University of California rally. The campus police chief has been put on administrative leave.
Cookies in the shape of singer Lady Gaga go on display inside Gaga´s Workshop at Barneys department store in New York. The shop is teaming up with the flamboyant pop singer for a Christmas holiday campaign with her interpretation of Santa´s Workshop.
A Buddhist monk cleans up a temple after flood water recede in Ayutthaya province, Thailand. More than 500 people have lost their lives as a result of the floods.
A woman holds a paper dove during a march to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Lima, Peru.
Final checks to lighting artist Bruce Munro´s latest installation Field of Light in the grounds of the Holbourne Museum in Bath, England. The winter experience, which will be switched on at the weekend, consist of more than 5,000 bulbs of light, threaded with fibre optic cable and planted in the grounds of the museum.