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Eurozone seeks bailout funds from China
After meeting Chinese leaders, Klaus Regling said there were no formal negotiations and would be no deal now. It is thought China may pay about 70bn euros ($100bn) into the fund, which is expected to be boosted to 1tn euros. Meanwhile French President Nicolas Sarkozy said debt-ridden Greece's entry to the eurozone was a mistake. Greece was "not ready" when it joined in 2001, he said, adding that it could be rescued thanks to a new deal on the debt crisis. European leaders worked into the early hours of Thursday in Brussels to secure an agreement aimed at preventing the crisis from spreading to larger eurozone economies. The deal triggered a worldwide shares rally. 'Regular buyer' Beijing has made it clear that it will demand strong guarantees on the safety of any contribution it might make. Mr Regling, who is chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), said he was not negotiating with China as a potential investor but holding consultations to decide the terms for raising the money. "Don't expect any precise outcome of our talks," he said, quoted by AFP news agency. "I cannot say today, and it's certainly far too early to say what kind of amounts might be envisaged."
He said China had been a regular buyer of EFSF bonds in the past. He would present the fund's bonds as a potential commercial investment to China, he said, adding that Beijing regularly needed to find safe investments for its trade surpluses. "I am optimistic that we will have a longer term relationship," he said. Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said there was work still to be done. "We need to wait for the technicalities to be clear and also to carry out serious studies before we can decide on investment," he said, quoted by AFP. "We hope that all these technical and specialised arrangements can be thrashed out at an early date and can be implemented and feasible. That will be very important for the effectiveness" of the fund. The President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has said he believes China will invest in Europe only if there are incentives for it to do so. "I don't think that China will just come in as a white knight to try to provide money just to bail out Europeans," he told the BBC. But investor Jim Rogers said China was prepared to help. "From China's point of view, it's cheap foreign aid. They'll buy goodwill. I guess they'll put up some money," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The suggestion that China
Photos: AP
The head of the eurozone's bailout fund is beginning attempts to persuade China to invest in a scheme to help rescue member countries facing debt crises.
Klaus Regling: ''These are regular consultations at an early stage and there will be no conclusions''
should use its financial clout to assist the eurozone met with mixed reactions on the streets of Beijing. "If we have the ability to help them then we should, but there is no feeling of pride in that," said Xu Juan - a 27-year-old employee of an international trade firm. "We need to focus on doing a good job on developing our own country."
What you need to know about Mexico's Day of the Dead
Mexico’s Carnivalesque remembrance of departed souls, Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead, 1-2 November), is one of the world’s most universally familiar festivals. Culture
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Wang Xiaodong, a 23-year-old univeristy student, said "With the global economy everybody prospers together or becomes weaker together, so we just have to endure this tough time together." The framework for the new EFSF bailout fund is to be put in place in November. Germany, as the largest eco-
nomy in eurozone, is expected to be the largest contributor. Asian markets rose for a second day on Friday and bank stocks in Europe continued to rally, a day after the deal was reached. www.bbcnews.com
Adele cancels all 2011 live dates
Singer Adele has cancelled all her remaining live dates and promotional appearances for 2011 after suffering continuing problems with her voice. Culture 13
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October 29- November 3, 2011
For many onlookers, the issues they face may seem complicated and interconnected. But essentially they boil down to four big dilemmas. How these dilemmas are resolved will decide whether the eurozone stays together, or ultimately unravels despite the latest agreement. Borrowers vs Lenders Like the US and UK, Europe faces an enormous overhang of accumulated government and private-sector debt, much of which is now not repayable. So the question is, how much gets written off, and who picks up the tab? For the eurozone as a whole, the debt problem is comparable with that of the US, and potentially manageable. The problem is that some eurozone countries are much more heavily indebted than others. In October's deal some private sectors lenders have already agreed to write down the value of Greek debt by half. Investors also think the Portuguese, Irish, and even the Spanish and Italian governments, may eventually follow suit. But when bad debts get written off, someone has to take a loss. While some of those debts are held in the US, UK or elsewhere overseas, most of it is held by the European banks, and increasingly by the European Central Bank (ECB). This is the primary reason for the recent loss of confidence in the European banking system. But while Germany can afford to rescue its banks, as the Irish Republic has already demonstrated, other countries may not be able to rescue theirs. The October package calls for banks to invest more than 100bn euros building up their capital, but it is not yet clear if they will be able to do so without intervention from governments. If other European countries join Greece in writing off their debts, banks may need even more money. Ultimately Germany and other less-indebted countries may have to bear much of the cost of rescuing the eurozone's banks as well as its weaker governments. Austerity vs Growth
Photo: AP
Europe's big dilemmas Tourismfour & Evironment In October, Europe's leaders reached yet another wide-ranging deal to prevent economic problems from causing financial meltdown in the eurozone. Like everywhere else, most European governments have seen their borrowing balloon during the recession and anaemic recovery. At the same time, fears over southern European governments' ability to repay their debts mean their borrowing costs have also gone through the roof. Under pressure from Germany and the ECB, all of these countries have been pushing through painful spending cuts and tax rises. To set a good example, Germany has even donned the hairshirt itself, promising to eliminate its own modest deficit by 2013. But here's the problem: Austerity is killing growth throughout Europe. And with less profits to tax and more dole cheques to write, weak growth makes it even harder for governments to cut their borrowing and repay their debts. In order to turn the slowing eurozone economy around, the ECB now looks set to slash interest rates from their current 1.5%. The central bank considered buying up more Italian and Spanish debt, pumping cash into the financial system and easing the pressure on those countries to slash their borrowing. But this move has always been strongly opposed by German members of the ECB. Another option to stimulate growth is for the few other countries that markets are still willing to lend to to borrow and spend more, offsetting spending cuts in southern Europe. Yet for Germany, who can currently borrow at unprecedentedly cheap interest rates, borrowing is anathema. Discipline vs Solidarity Germany's view on the eurozone crisis is simple. Southern European governments borrowed recklessly at the cheap interest rates available inside the euro. Now they are being punished by markets, and must learn discipline. Germany wants other governments to incorporate strict budg-
et rules into their constitutions to stop such recklessness in future. But rules, with penalties attached, may not be credible. Imposing a fine on an over-indebted government is rather like kicking someone when they are down. Indeed, just such a "stability pact" of budget rules, insisted on by Germany at the euro's creation, was quickly broken with impunity by Germany itself. Moreover, the focus on discipline misses a bigger point. While Germany's view may be apt for Greece - whose government cheated on its borrowing statistics to qualify for the euro in the first place - it is grossly unfair for Spain. Before the financial crisis, Spain's government had lower debt levels than Germany's, and (unlike Germany) actually spent less than it earned in taxes. But the country experienced a property bubble that then burst spectacularly, leaving its economy high and dry. Wages, inflated during the good years, are now uncompetitive, and unemployment has shot up to 20%. Yet, inside the euro, Spain cannot devalue to regain a price advantage. Nor can it necessarily expect the ECB to cut interest rates or buy up its debts. Being put a fiscal straitjacket as well just makes things worse. Compare this with the US state of Michigan, where the collapse of the US car industry has spelled disaster. Unlike in Europe, the US has a federal government that can tax other states in order to help out Michigan, by paying for unemployment benefits and rehabilitating the big car companies. If the euro is to function in the future, economists warn, then a similar system of centralised fiscal transfers will be needed there too. And in the current crisis, again it is Germany that would foot much of the bill. Europe vs the Nations On the face of it, the big polit-
Decision time for the euro is fast approaching
ical standoff in Europe is one of paymaster Germany versus bankrupt southern Europe. For German voters, their country's post-War economic miracle was built on a hard currency, prudent finances, and strong exports. It is hard for German voters to fathom that these very virtues are at the heart of the current crisis. But Germany has everything to lose if it does not help the south out, and the eurozone unravels. If the Greeks, Italians and others default on their debts, German and French lenders would be the biggest losers. If they also leave the euro, it would be a legal and financial disaster for all concerned. Moreover, German export success for the past decade has been built on the weaker, more competitive exchange rate that came with sharing a currency with southern Europe.Without the euro, safe haven Germany could expect its currency to shoot up, with devastating consequences for the country's export-driven industry. Southern Europeans meanwhile would see their currencies plummet outside the euro, leading to rises in inflation and their cost of living as painful as the austerity they are protesting against. Yet these stark realities are not widely appreciated in Germany or its neighbours. Because the real problem is that there is nobody who can credibly speak for the common interest of Europe. Since its inception in the 1950s, the European project has
Hanging Out
been run and controlled by a club of national governments. The political process has been one of haggling behind closed doors, with issues presented to electorates as a matter of competing national interests. But such haggling is dangerous in a financial crisis. Any solution must be agreed by 17 governments, and ratified by 17 parliaments, an impossibly slow process. And the longer it takes, the more bitter each dispute risks becoming, and the greater the market's loss of confidence in the euro becomes, undermining Europe's fragile economy. The European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, has tried to speak for the common interest, pleading for the Commission to take the lead in solving Europe's problems. But he is a political appointee, and as such, he is easily ignored by national leaders and scarcely noticed by the wider public. Perhaps, if Mr Barroso were an elected leader, he could guide European public opinion towards a comprehensive solution to the crisis that balanced the interests of the different nations. But as it is, the European public is very far from understanding the issues, or agreeing to the greater economic and political integration that may be needed to save the euro.Sadly, this political dilemma is one that may not have a workable solution. www.bbcnews.com
Riviera Maya Eurozone emergency deal: Key elements The key elements of an emergency "three-pronged" deal to fix the eurozone's debt crisis, which was clinched after marathon talks in Brussels.
Greek debt Private banks holding Greek debt will accept a write-off of 50% of their returns. The move is expected to cut the nation's debt load to 120% of its GDP in 2020. Under current conditions, it
would have grown to 180%. Reluctant banks had initially offered a 40% "haircut", but the deal was finally agreed after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined direct negotiations on the issue on Thursday morning. Bailout fund The firepower of the main euro bailout fund - known as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) - is to be boosted
from the 440bn euros set up earlier this year to 1tn euros. There is about 250bn euros left available in the EFSF, which the summit statement said could be leveraged 4-5 times. This can be done in two ways: •By offering insurance to purchasers of eurozone members' debt - in principle making their bonds more attractive to investors and thereby lowering governments' borrowing costs. •And by setting up a special
investment vehicle which big private and public investors, including countries such as China, could contribute to. Both means could be used simultaneously depending on circumstances, the summit statement said. The framework for the new, increased fund should be in place in November. Bank recapitalisation European banks will be required to raise about 106bn euros in new capital by June 2012.
Champions League
It is hoped that this would help shield them against losses resulting from any government defaults and protect larger economies - like Italy and Spain from the market turmoil. "We have reached an agreement which I believe lets us give a credible and ambitious and overall response to the Greek crisis," was how Mr Sarkozy summed up the deal. www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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International October 29- November 3, 2011
The protesters want work on the multi-billion dollar dam stopped, arguing that it will displace thousands of indigenous people and damage the environment. The protesters, many from indigenous groups, left the site after several hours following a judge's order. The government says the project is crucial to meeting energy needs. The Indian Missionary Council (Cimi), an organisation backed by the Catholic Church, said more than 600 Indians, fishermen and locals occupied the site and the road leading to it. Cimi called on the government to send representatives to negotiate with the indigenous groups, who they say would suffer from the building of the dam. "In the face of the government's intransigence and its insistence on disrespecting us, we now occupy the Belo Monte construction site and block access to it from the Transamazon highway," Cimi said on its website. A judge subsequently issued
Photo: AP
Brazil Amazon campaigners occupy Belo Monte dam Hundreds of campaigners occupied the construction site of the Belo Monte dam project in the Brazilian Amazon. an order for the demonstrators to leave, which they agreed to respect. "We left as peacefully as we entered. It was a peaceful protest to draw attention to this project that spells death for the Amazon," Cimi spokesman Eden Magalhaes told the AFP news agency. Legal battle Building work on the dam was halted last month after a judge ruled against it on environmental grounds, but the construction of accommodation blocks for the project's workers was allowed to continue. Judge Carlos Castro Martins barred any work that would interfere with the natural flow of the Xingu river. He ruled in favour of a fisheries group which argued that the Belo Monte dam would affect
local fish stocks and could harm indigenous families who make a living from fishing. Judge Martins barred the Norte Energia company behind the project from "building a port, using explosives, installing dikes, building canals and any other infrastructure work that would interfere with the natural flow of the Xingu river, thereby affecting local fish stocks". He said the building of canals and dykes could have negative repercussions for river communities living off small-scale fishing. The consortium behind the project is expected to appeal against the decision. In June, the Brazilian environment agency backed the construction, dismissing concerns by environmentalists and indigenous groups who argue that it will
Indigenous groups have been protesting against the project for years
harm the world's largest tropical rainforest and displace tens of thousands of people. The agency, Ibama, said the dam had been subjected to "robust analysis" of its impact on the environment.
The 11,000-megawatt dam would be the third biggest in the world - after the Three Gorges in China, and Itaipu, which is jointly run by Brazil and Paraguay. www.bbcnews.com
'Mission accomplished' Continue reading the main story Analysis Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent Ostensibly the mission was all about protecting civilians. But without Nato air power the rebels would have been swept from the battlefield. Some countries like Russia and China, while not standing in the way of the Nato mission, believe that the alliance exceeded its mandate. That is a debate that will impact on efforts to secure similar mandates in the future. Libya's interim authorities still have their security concerns. There are fears Gaddafi loyalists could still cause trouble. That is why Libyan officials wanted the mission extended. But in reality that is a job for Libyans themselves. Nato was never going
4 The International weekly
Nato strikes inflicted major damage on pro-Gaddafi forces
to be in the business of securing the country's long borders. The resolution came despite a call by Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) for Nato to continue its military action. The Libyan envoy to the UN had said the NTC needed more time to assess its security needs. But Security Council diplomats told reporters that the mandate to protect civilians had been accomplished, and any further security assistance would have to be negotiated separately. Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the UN resolution "reflects that we have accomplished our mandate to protect the civilian population of Libya". He said he did not expect Nato to have a major role in postconflict Libya. "If requested we can assist the new Libyan government in the transformation to democracy, for instance with defence and security sector reform, but I wouldn't expect new tasks beyond that," he said. During its seven-month Libyan campaign, the alliance has carried out some 26,000 sorties and almost 10,000 strike missions. Correspondents say the oper-
ations have played a crucial role in helping remove Col Muammar Gaddafi, who was toppled in August and killed last week. Russia, China, South Africa, India and Brazil had strongly opposed the strikes, accusing Nato of going beyond the UN mandate. But on Thursday the US envoy to the UN, Susan Rice, said history would regard the intervention as "a proud chapter in the Security Council's experience". Meanwhile, UK officials have been working to prevent the proliferation of weapons left over from Gaddafi's rule. "We're trying to get to the bottom of what might be there and what might not be there," the UK's head of Joint Operations, Air Marshall Sir Stuart Peach, told reporters on Thursday. A team of UK experts have been working alongside Libyan and US counterparts since September to track down man-portable air defence systems (Manpads), the British ministry of defence said. More than 800 bunkers across Libya have been inspected so far, a spokesman said. www.bbcnews.com
Experts have separated around 300lb (136kg) of high explosives from the bomb's uranium "pit". Weighing 10,000lb, the B53 was the size of a minivan and said to be 600 times more destructive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. It was first put into service at the height of the Cold War in 1962, and remained in the US arsenal until 1997. The bomb was designed to hit targets deep underground, such as bunkers in which military and civilian leaders might be sheltering. Carried by B-52 bombers, the "bunker busters" used five parachutes to land softly on their targets before detonating a nine megaton explosion, in effect simulating an earthquake. They have been superseded by bombs that burrow into the ground and then explode. The first B53s were destroyed in the 1980s but several remained in service until 1997, when they were all retired. 'Significant milestone' A dismantling programme had to be specially designed for the B53s, which were made with older technology and by scientists who have since retired or died. The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has said the programme, which was completed once this final bomb had been dismantled, is a year ahead of schedule. The head of the NNSA, Thomas D'Agostino, called the
Photo: AP
The United Nations Security Council has voted to end international military operations in Libya next Monday. In March the council voted to authorise "all necessary measures" to protect civilians, after thenleader Muammar Gaddafi launched a deadly assault on protesters against his rule. Last week Nato and its partners, which had been conducting air strikes, said the campaign would end on 31 October. Libya's new government declared the country liberated on Sunday. On Thursday the council unanimously approved a resolution ending the mandate for foreign military action at 23:59 Libyan time on 31 October. UK Foreign Minister William Hague said the vote was a "milestone towards a peaceful, democratic future for Libya".
Photo: AP
UN Security Council votes to end Libya operations Last Cold War-era B53 nuclear bomb dismantled in Texas
The huge B53 bears the distinctive design of an air-delivered bomb
decommissioning of the last B53 a "significant milestone". "The world is a safer place with this dismantlement," he said. "The B53 was a weapon developed in another time for a different world. Today, we're moving beyond the Cold War nuclear weapons complex that built it toward a 21st Century nuclear security enterprise." After disassembly, the uranium pits from the bomb will be temporarily stored at the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas, where Tuesday's dismantling was carried out.The plant is the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility in the US. The plant is likely to be involved with future disassembly projects as older weapons are retired. According to figures released by the US state department in May 2011, the US has 5,113 nuclear warheads in its current stockpile, down from 31,255 in 1967. www.bbcnews.com
International October 29- November 3, 2011
The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia. It means a first-born daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would take precedence over younger brothers. The ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic was also lifted. Under the old succession laws, dating back more than 300 years, the heir to the throne is the firstborn son of the monarch. Only when there are no sons, as in the case of the Queen's father George VI, does the crown pass to the eldest daughter. The succession changes will require a raft of historic legislation to be amended, including the 1701 Act of Settlement, the 1689 Bill of Rights and the Royal Marriages Act 1772. The change to the Royal Marriages Act will end a position where every descendant of George II is legally required to seek the consent of the monarch before marrying. In future, the requirement is expected to be limited to a small number of the sovereign's close relatives. Announcing the succession changes, Prime Minister David Cameron said they would apply to descendents of the Prince of Wales. They will not be applied retrospectively. "Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen," he said. "The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic - this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we have become." Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was an extraordinary moment: "I'm very enthusiastic about it. You would expect the first Australian woman prime minister to be very enthusiastic about a change which equals equality for women in a new area." She said the changes appeared to be straightforward. "But just because they seem straightforward to our modern minds doesn't mean that we should underestimate their historical signifi-
Photo: AP
Girls equal in British throne succession Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession laws. cance, changing as they will for all time the way in which the monarchy works and changing its history." But the campaign group Republic - which wants an elected head of state in Britain - said "nothing of substance" had been changed. "The monarchy discriminates against every man, woman and child who isn't born into the Windsor family. To suggest that this has anything to do with equality is utterly absurd," spokesman Graham Smith said. Queen's speech On scrapping the ban on future monarchs marrying Roman Catholics, Mr Cameron said: "Let me be clear, the monarch must be in communion with the Church of England because he or she is the head of that Church. But it is simply wrong they should be denied the chance to marry a Catholic if they wish to do so. After all, they are already quite free to marry someone of any other faith." The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said the elimination of the "unjust discrimination" against Catholics would be widely welcomed. "At the same time I fully recognise the importance of the position of the established church [the Church of England] in protecting and fostering the role of faith in our society today," he said. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond also welcomed the lifting of the ban but said it was "deeply disappointing" that Roman Catholics were still unable to ascend to the throne. "It surely would have been possible to find a mechanism which would have protected the status of the Church of England without keeping in place an unjustifiable barrier on the grounds of religion in terms of the monarchy," he said. "It is a missed opportunity not to ensure equality of all faiths when it comes to the issue of who can be head of state." In her opening speech to the
summit, the Queen did not directly mention the royal succession laws, but said women should have a greater role in society. "It encourages us to find ways to show girls and women to play their full part," she said. Previous attempts The BBC's royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, said this was a hint that the Queen herself backed the change. The Queen will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee next year and there are already two generations of kings-in-waiting - Prince Charles and his son Prince William. In January 2011, Labour MP Keith Vaz tabled a Succession to the Crown Bill in the Commons to end gender discrimination in the succession to the throne. He said his bill - due for its second reading on 25 November could be used to introduce the reforms announced in Perth. "As a society that values gender equality so highly, this is a long overdue," he said. "We will now have modern laws that fit our modern monarchy." The royal author Robert Hardman said there had been 11 attempts in recent years by individual MPs and peers to change the succession laws. The laws are not a matter for the 54-nation Commonwealth as a whole, only for the 16 countries which have the Queen as their head of state, known as realms. These are Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Papua New Guinea, St Christopher and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, Barbados, Grenada, Solomon Islands, St Lucia and the Bahamas. Chogm summit Mr Cameron said the realms would work to implement the changes but that for historic reasons the UK would have to publish its legislation first. The necessary changes to laws will be introduced in the next session of Parliament and New Zealand will lead a working group
If Prince William and Kate had a daughter first, she would take precedence over younger brothers
co-ordinating the measures across the other nations. In his speech, the prime minister also praised the Queen's 60 years of public service and announced the creation of a Diamond Jubilee Trust to help those in need across the Commonwealth. The trust will be chaired by former Prime Minister Sir John Major. Mr Cameron said Britain would make a multi-million pound donation to the grantmaking body and encouraged
other commonwealth nations to do the same. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (Chogm) are held every two years, and present an opportunity for the 54 nations with current or former ties to Britain to discuss a range of issues. The Chogm summit will also discuss economic growth, climate change and human rights at this year's meeting. www.bbcnews.com
India: Tibetan exiles walk on ‘home soil' in Dharamsala An art exhibition in the Indian town of Dharamsala has given many exiled Tibetans a chance to walk on the soil of their homeland for the first time. Tibetan artist Tenzin Rigdol ferried 20,000kg soil from Tibet to Dharamsala, home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile, for his exhibit. Around 6,000 Tibetans have visited the installation which opened on Wednesday. For many, the chance to walk
on the Tibetan soil has been an emotional experience. The exhibition is titled "Our Land, Our People"."Walking on genuine Tibetan soil, I felt as if I was returning home to my native land after 51 years. I was born in Tibet. Since my escape in 1959, I have not had the opportunity to go back," said
57-year-old Phuntsog Namgyal. "I felt the same emotion in my heart as if I was back in Tibet," he said.
'Feeling lucky' Some Tibetans reacted to the exhibition by bending down to pray on the soil. Others even tried to taste it, in an attempt to connect with their homeland. "I was born in India so it's the first time I have walked on Tibetan soil. I feel so lucky and I'm now
sure I'll be back in Tibet one day. It gives me hope," said Tsering Dolma, 29. Artist Tenzin Rigdol said he was inspired to build the exhibit after this father died in exile without being able to fulfil his last wish to return home. A tray of soil was taken to the Dalai Lama who blessed it, then he wrote the word Tibet in Tibetan language on it. "It was incredibly uplifting to see His Holiness carve the most simple and powerful message on the soil, unequivocally claiming
it as Tibet - his and our beloved homeland," Mr Rigdol said. The artist refused to say exactly where in Tibet the soil had come from and how it was transported to India, because of security concerns. However, he said he had filmed the process and would release it at a later date. Mr Rigdol invited Tibetans living in Dharamsala to help him dismantle the exhibit by taking bags of soil home with them. www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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China ‘won't follow US' on carbon emissions Hanging Out
Early peak China's emissions have risen sharply in recent years due to rapid industrialisation, fuelled mainly by coal burning. In terms of national emissions, it has overtaken the US. But because its population is so much bigger, its per-capita emissions are currently much lower - but rising fast. An analysis released last month by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) put China's annual emissions at 6.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person, compared to the US figure of 16.9 tonnes - although other analyses put the US figure higher, around 20 tonnes. But the Chinese number has tripled since 1990, says the JRC - and could rise to US levels within six years.
China will not allow its carbon dioxide emissions per person to reach levels seen in the US, according to the minister in charge of climate policy.
However, Mr Xie, speaking to a group of UK parliamentarians, said China would not "follow the path of the US" and allow percapita emissions to rise that high. "We are making efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions and our carbon intensity is decreasing," he said. "We want to reach the peak as soon as possible."
Targets overtaken China's current five-year plan projects economic growth of about 40% from 2010 to 2015, but a 17% fall in carbon intensity - the CO2 output for each unit of GDP growth. A longer-term goal is to boost energy efficiency by 40-45% from 2005 levels by 2020. The minister emphasised that in a domestic context, these targets are legally binding. If China does develop along these lines, its per-capita emissions will soon overtake those in several EU nations. In fact the JRC analysis says it has already overtaken France, which uses nuclear reactors to generate 80% of its electricity, and Spain. At some point, it will come under pressure internationally to
begin to cut its emissions rather than just restraining their rise. Asked whether that could happen soon after 2020, Mr Xie said it would depend on what level of economic development had been reached. "China will make commitments that are appropriate for its development stage," he said. "Since we have declared a lowcarbon and green development path, China will follow this path." Whether a Chinese peak after 2020 would be able to help constrain climate change within limits often regarded as "safe" is another question. A study published over the weekend in the journal Nature Climate Change showed that if global emissions do not peak and begin to fall by 2020, keeping the global average temperature rise since pre-industrial times below 2C will be difficult.
Hydro is China's dominant low-carbon technology
now share common interests. This is one of the reasons why China and European countries are exploring the potential for collaboration in areas such as novel fuels. Another is that western engineering expertise allied to Chinese manufacturing could result in "green" products at low price. For the UK, part of the idea is to rebuild bridges that were singed, if not burned, after Copenhagen when Ed Miliband - then climate secretary and now leader of the opposition - blamed Chinese negotiators for scuppering the talks. Mr Xie's visit was facilitated by Global Legislators Organisation for
Riviera Maya Joint projects
Since the UN climate summit in Copenhagen two years ago, the political scene on climate change has shifted markedly, with members of established negotiating blocs reaching out to countries that have not traditionally been allies but which
a Balanced Environment (Globe) International, the worldwide association of parliamentarians. Lord (Michael) Jay, Globe's vice president, suggested it was vital to make progress at this year's UN summit in Durban, South Africa. "We hold the planet in trust for future generations," he said. "And that puts a lot of responsibility on our shoulders before and after Durban." And Mr Xie suggested that Europe and China could work together to push things forward. "Let's join hands to push the US to take action," he said. www.bbcnews.com
Ancient supernova IQ ‘can change in teenage years' Champions League mystery solved A mystery surrounding the first recorded supernova - seen by Chinese astronomers in AD185 - has been solved. The supernova RCW 86 lit up the sky for eight months, documented at the time as a "guest star". In more recent times, astronomers have wondered how it grew so large, so fast. Space telescope observations now suggest that before exploding, a wind of material from the star blew a cavity around it, into which the supernova could expand much more quickly. The supernova, about 8,000 light-years away, is huge - if the infrared light it emits could be seen by our eyes, it would appear to be as large in the sky as the full Moon. The findings, published in the Astrophysical Journal, combine existing data from the Chandra Xray telescope and the XMMNewton Observatory with recent images from the US space agency Nasa's Spitzer and Wide-field Infrared Survey (Wise) telescopes.
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Both of these telescopes are sensitive to infrared light, giving a picture of the conditions of material that is at fairly low temperatures in the supernova remnant. Taken together, the data show that the supernova initially expanded into a comparatively empty "cavity", meaning its material could quickly expand unimpeded. However, the case is not closed for RCW 86; these cavities are associated only with what are called core-collapse supernovas, but the Chandra and XMMNewton observations show evidence of a great deal of iron in the remnant - associated instead with Type 1A supernovas. "Modern astronomers unveiled one secret of a two-millenniaold cosmic mystery only to reveal another," said Bill Danchi, a programme scientist for the Spitzer and Wise missions. "Now, with multiple observatories extending our senses in space, we can fully appreciate the remarkable physics behind this star's death throes, yet still be as in awe of the cosmos as the ancient astronomers."
Until now the assumption has been that intellectual capacity, as measured by IQ, stays quite static during life. But tests conducted on teenagers at an average age of 14 and then repeated when their average age was nearly 18 found improvements - and deterioration. The findings are published in the journal Nature. They have implications for how pupils are assessed, and the age at which decisions about their futures are made. This study involved 19 boys and 14 girls, all undergoing a combination of brain scans and verbal and non-verbal IQ tests in 2004 and then in 2008. The results show that a change in verbal IQ was found in 39% of the teenagers, with 21% showing a change in "performance IQ" - a test of spatial reasoning. The findings are seen to have greater validity because for the first time the variations in IQ correlated with changes in two particular areas of the teenagers' brains. An increase in verbal IQ corresponded with a growth in the density of part of the left motor cortex - a region activated during speech. And an increase in non-verbal IQ correlated with a rise in the density of the anterior cerebellum - an area associated with movements of the hand.
The work was led by Professor Cathy Price of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London and is published in the journal Nature. The paper suggests that the results could be "encouraging to those whose intellectual potential may improve and‌ a warning that early achievers may not maintain their potential". Professor Price said: "We have a tendency to assess children and determine the course of their education relatively early in life. "But here we have shown that their intelligence is likely to be still developing."We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early age when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years." The research did not seek to understand the causes of the changes. One explanation is that teenagers mature at relatively different ages - with "early" and "late" developers - while relative standards in education may play a part too. One of the participants, Sebastian Friston, now aged 23, recorded a marked increase in IQ between the two tests - from average to one of the highest categories. Educated in the state sector, he told me he had struggled in his early years, needing remedial maths tuition, but is now planning a doctorate in computer engineering.
UEFA CUP
Culture
Real Estate
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Intellectual performance can both improve and deteriorate in adolescence
"I think the change came in school I started doing subjects that really interested me, that I was engaged in, then I found it easier and far more interesting." The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, one of many projects supported under its programme of Understanding the Brain. Future work may focus on how adaptable the brain may be beyond teenage years, and the implications for tackling mental diseases and other neurological conditions. www.bbcnews.com
Photo: AP
Xie Zhenhua, vice chair of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that to let emissions rise that high would be a "disaster for the world". Chinese per-capita emissions may reach US levels by 2017, a recent study said. Mr Xie was speaking during a visit to the UK that explored cooperation on clean energy and climate issues. It included signing a Memorandum of Understanding with UK Energy and Climate Secretary Chris Huhne on areas for joint research.
Photo: AP
October 29- November 3, 2011
Science & Technologic Photo: AP
October 29-November 3 2011
Steve Jobs: Biographer Walter Isaacson hails Apple boss The genius of Apple founder Steve Jobs lay in his ability to connect poetry to technology, Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson has said.
United Nations sets global broadband targets It calls on all countries to put in place broadband strategies by 2015.By that time it wants to see 60% of people in the developed world online, with a slightly lower target of 50% for people living in the developing countries. It also wants net access to be made available to 40% of households in the developing world by 2015. It emphasised that broadband services must be "affordable" amounting to less than 5% of average monthly incomes. The four targets have been set by the UN's broadband commission for digital development. "These targets are ambitious but achievable, given the political will and commitment on the part of governments, working in partnership with the private sector," said Dr Hamadoun Toure, the secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU will be charged with measuring each country's progress towards the targets, with an annual broadband report, ranking nations in terms of broadband policy, affordability and uptake.
The United Nations has set "ambitious" new targets for broadband uptake around the world. Slow speeds To coincide with the new goals, the ITU has unveiled a minireport looking at the current state of connectivity around the world. It finds that internet users now makes up 20% of the world's population up from 13% in 2008. The report shows that the world's top broadband economies are all located in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. While the majority of broadband connections in the Republic of Korea run at speeds of at least 10Mbps (megabits per second), countries such as Ghana, Mongolia, Oman and Venezuela offer much slower connections, rarely exceeding 2Mbps. Oliver Johnson, an analyst with research firm Point Topic, thinks that new league tables will force countries to think about broadband. "Countries have to pay attention or risk becoming seriously
uncompetitive," he said. He also expects to see the EU making it easier for customers to buy services from a wider range of providers. "Why can't you buy your football feed from Greece or your IP or broadband service from the organisation that offers the best price, regardless of where they are in Europe?" he asked. In the UK it is estimated that 8.7 million adults have never used the internet. Race Online - the body charged with getting more people using the net - has begun a new campaign urging net-savvy individuals to 'give an hour' to someone new to the web. The BBC is backing the campaign, and on its website presenters and others celebrities explain how and who they intend to help. www.bbcnews.com
iPod creator switches attention to ‘smart' thermostats Tony Fadell caused surprise when he quit Apple in 2008 after heading its music player division. Fortune magazine once tipped him as a successor to former chief executive, Steve Jobs. Mr Fadell has now revealed his efforts went into the Learning Thermostat. The smart device adjusts the temperature based on the presence of people and their habits. It can "learn" about a house's cooling and heating patterns to optimise its performance, and adjust itself to the weather conditions. Mr Faddell said the device could cut 20 to 30% off the average household's energy bill. He said it is also possible to control the $249 (ÂŁ156) thermostat remotely via a smartphone app. The price is around fifteen times higher than what basic ther-
mostats sell for in the US.
Smart gadgets There are also alternative "smart" models on the market. A Canadian firm Ecobee produces web-connected programmable "green" thermostats. But according to Mr Fadell's company, Nest, the Learning Thermostat is more user-friendly, and has the advantage of being able to "observe" household members and their surroundings. Using a motion sensor, it can detect whether or not anyone is home - and if the house or flat is empty, it goes into the energy-saving mode by turning down the heater or air conditioner. Beyond thermostats Smart thermostats are just one kind of the growing number of
"intelligent" devices that are connected to the web and able to interact with humans and among themselves. Smart meters and smart grids are among the best known ones, but companies are also experimenting with smart parking places, smart tags at retail stores and even a so-called Urban operating system aimed at controlling devices of a future smart city. The tech website CNET, which interviewed Nest's co-founder Matt Rogers, says the start-up is likely to move beyond smart thermostats in the years to come. "You don't hire a crack team to build a product. You hire them to build a company," the site quoted Mr Rogers as saying. www.bbcnews.com
Temper and fury Isaacson said he warned Jobs there would be things he would not like in the book. But the only input the Apple boss asked for was to choose his biography's cover. "He hated the cover that they originally put on it," Isaacson told ABC. "And so I heard his temper, that fury he sometimes has, and he said: 'I'll only work with you if you let me have some input in the cover.'" Steve Jobs commissioned Walter Isaacson to write his biography in 2004, before Isaacson knew about Jobs' struggle with cancer. "I thought: he's young, has got a long career ahead of him. Then when he was sick I decided this is the most innovative guy, the guy who is connecting poetry to technology and it would be a great thing to do," the writer said. Isaacson said that Jobs "wanted the truth out", but also wanted the biography to be a way for his children to know him better. "No other great leader has ever opened up this way," he said.
Intense emotions In his 627-page book Isaacson chronicles Steve Jobs' life from his childhood, through the creation and establishment of Apple, the battles with Microsoft and his great rival Bill Gates, his departure from and return to the company he founded, and its continuing
long boom since the start of the 21st Century. While much of the story is familiar, especially to Apple fans and followers, Isaacson unique access offered him the chance to paint a full picture of Steve Jobs' life. Over the course of dozens of interviews, Isaacson interviewed Jobs at home, in his childhood neighbourhood and at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. "His genius was the ability to connect poetry to technology. That art and technology thing. I mean Bill Gates has astonishing mental processing power. But he didn't have that sort of feel for design and art," he told ABC News on Monday. That way of thinking permeated Jobs' search for treatment when he was diagnosed with cancer. "Once he decided to get the surgery, he said: 'I should have gotten it earlier.' "I mean it took him a few months before he decided to get the surgery. He was just searching, he was always on the search including when it came to his cancer," the author said.
'Greatest CEO ever' Last week, a private memorial service was held at the Apple headquarters for company staff, celebrating the life of Steve Jobs.A video of the 90minute memorial service was posted on Apple's website late on Sunday evening, viewable using Apple's Safari web browser on Mac computers. Speakers included chief executive Tim Cook, board member and former US Vice President Al Gore, and Jonathan Ive, the British designer responsible for many of Apple's iconic products. Mr Cook described his friend as "the greatest CEO ever". Mr Ive described Steve Jobs as his closest and most loyal friend. In pre-released extracts from Isaacson's biography, Jobs called Jonathan Ive his "spiritual partner". The memorial service was also attended by his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. www.bbcnews.com Photo: AP
Net users account for just 20% of the world's population according to the ITU
Isaacson's book Steve Jobs, released on Monday, is based on over 40 interviews, some of which took place in the Apple co-founder's living room. Speaking to ABC News, Mr Isaacson said Jobs intended to wait six months after publication before reading the book. Instead he died on 5 October, aged 56, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The volume is the only authorised biography of the man who transformed the Silicon Valley and built one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson, talks about Jobs' battle with cancer
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Tourism
It is no great secret why Cancún, and to a larger extent the Yucatán Peninsula, has become Mexico's top tourist destination. Some people are lured by the simple pleasures of a white sand beach, turquoise waters and perhaps a little partying here and there. Others find themselves drawn to the preHispanic Maya ruins, the ample ecotourism activities and the abundance of natural wonders. Here are 10 picks to keep you on the go while touring the peninsula:
Cancún A spring break rite-of-passage carries on year round in Cancún's high-gloss hotels and throbbing discos. If that is not your thing, an alternate version of the city beckons in downtown Cancún, where a local arts scene has taken root. Most of the action centres around Parque las
Palapas, downtown's main stage for free open-air cultural events.
Tulum The Maya, who ruled these lands long before the Spanish conquest, knew a thing or two about beachfront real estate. Not only do the ruins at Tulum afford a spectacular view of the region's signature green and turquoise waters, but it is also a fascinating 13th-century walled city that stood as one of the last Maya strongholds.
Isla Mujeres What is not to like about an island where golf carts are the main mode of transportation? A half-hour boat ride from Cancún, low-key Isla Mujeres offers a refreshing break from the notably more hectic pace of the mainland. A sight well
worth the visit is the Isla Mujeres Turtle Farm, a sanctuary that releases more than 60,000 hatchlings a year.
Río Secreto The Maya believed that some underground rivers and cave systems were gateways to the underworld. And as amazing as it may sound, some of the limestone formations that make up Rio Secreto's sinkholes started taking shape about 50 million years ago. A three-hour tour leads through stunning caverns while you wade through water.
Playa del Carmen With a notably more European air than gringo-friendly Cancún, Playa del Carmen is the hot ticket if you are looking for a hipper, more scaled-down beach resort
October 29- November 3, 2011
town. Ferries leave Playa del Carmen for Isla Cozumel, Mexico's largest island, where you can go diving and explore the coral reefs made famous by Jacques Cousteau.
MUSA These recently inaugurated underwater “museums” offer a one-of-a-kind opportunity to check out more than 400 sculptures submerged in the shallow waters off the coasts of Isla Mujeres and Cancún. The MUSA collection includes hundreds of life-sized concrete figures sculpted by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor, and it is all part of a conservation effort to draw people away from damaged coral reef areas. Aqua World in Cancún provides snorkelling and scuba tours of the sculptures.
Isla Holbox A low-key island that sits on a nature reserve, Isla Holbox seems to go over well with unassuming types. Bird-watchers also get a kick out of Holbox, which is home to more than 150 species. For an experience like no other, from midMay to mid-September, you have the rare opportunity to swim with whale sharks.
Mérida Lying inland about 20 miles from the coast, Mérida may not get the hype of Cancún or some of the peninsula's coveted beach destinations, but it is a city steeped in colonial history and therein lies its appeal. Famous for its colonial architecture, museums and Yucatecan cuisine, Mérida has long been considered the region's cultural capital. About an hour away are the well-preserved Maya ruins of Uxmal.
Chichén Itzá It would certainly be a glaring omission to exclude one of the “new seven wonders of the world” from any top 10 list, even though skeptics say Chichén Itzá's new and improved wonder-like status is nothing more than the result of an internet popularity contest. Say what they will, these Maya ruins are nonetheless remarkable and downright intriguing.
Xcalak The no-frills Costa Maya beach town of Xcalak has managed to dodge the development bullet, but there is no telling how long that will last. North of Xcalak, the laid-back town of Mahahual recently saw a cruise-ship dock go up, making Xcalak all the more attractive if you are seeking a remote beach getaway. www.bbcnews.com
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October 29- November 3, 2011
Global warming ‘confirmed' by independent study The Berkeley Earth Project has used new methods and some new data, but finds the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa. The project received funds from sources that back organisations lobbying against action on climate change. "Climategate", in 2009, involved claims global warming had been exaggerated. Emails of University of East Anglia (UEA) climate scientists were hacked, posted online and used by critics to allege manipulation of climate change data.
Fresh start
UEA's Climatic Research Unit (CRU), from which the e-mails that formed the basis of the "Climategate" furore were hacked two years ago. "Our biggest surprise was that the new results agreed so closely with the warming values published previously by other teams in the US and the UK," said Prof Muller. "This confirms that these studies were done carefully and that potential biases identified by climate change sceptics did not seriously affect their conclusions." Since the 1950s, the average temperature over land has increased by 1C, the group found. They also report that although the urban heat island effect is real - which is well-established - it is not behind the warming registered by the majority of weather stations around the world. They also showed that in the US, weather stations rated as "high quality" by Noaa showed the same warming trend as those rated as "low quality".
Tourism & Evironment
The Berkeley group says it has also found evidence that changing sea temperatures in the north Atlantic may be a major reason why the Earth's average temperature varies globally from year to year. The project was established by University of California physics professor Richard Muller, who was concerned by claims that established teams of climate researchers had not been entirely open with their data. He gathered a team of 10 scientists, mostly physicists, including such luminaries as Saul Perlmutter, winner of this year's Nobel Physics Prize for research showing the Universe's expansion is accelerating. Funding came from a number of sources, including charitable foundations maintained by the Koch brothers, the billionaire US industrialists, who have also donated large sums to organisations lobbying against acceptance of man-made global warming. "I was deeply concerned that the group [at UEA] had concealed discordant data," Prof Muller told BBC News. "Science is best done when the problems with the analysis are candidly shared." The group's work also examined claims from "sceptical" bloggers that temperature data from weather stations did not show a true global warming trend. The claim was that many stations have registered warming because they are located in or near cities, and those cities have been growing - the urban heat island effect. The Berkeley group found about 40,000 weather stations around the world whose output has been recorded and stored in digital form. It developed a new way of analysing the data to plot the global temperature trend over land since 1800. What came out was a graph remarkably similar to those produced by the world's three most important and established groups, whose work had been decried as unreliable and shoddy in climate sceptic circles. Two of those three records are maintained in the US, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). The third is a collaboration between the UK Met Office and
'Time for apology'
Prof Phil Jones, the CRU scientist who came in for the most personal criticism during "Climategate", was cautious about interpreting the Berkeley results because they have not been published in a peerreviewed journal. "I look forward to reading the finalised paper once it has been reviewed and published," he said. "These initial findings are very encouraging, and echo our own results and our conclusion that the impact of urban heat islands on the overall global temperature is minimal." The Berkeley team has chosen to release the findings initially on its own website. They are asking for comments and feedback before preparing the manuscripts for formal scientific publication.
In part, this counters the accusation made during "Climategate" that climate scientists formed a tight clique who peer-reviewed each other's papers and made sure their own global warming narrative was the only one making it into print. But for Richard Muller, this free circulation also marks a return to how science should be done. "That is the way I practised science for decades; it was the way everyone practised it until some magazines - particularly Science and Nature - forbade it," he said. "That was not a good change, and still many fields such as string theory practice the traditional method wholeheartedly." This open "wiki" method of review is regularly employed in physics, the home field for seven of the 10 Berkeley team. Bob Ward, policy and communications director for the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment in London, said the warming of the Earth's surface was unequivocal. "So-called 'sceptics' should now drop their thoroughly discredited claims that the increase
in global average temperature could be attributed to the impact of growing cities," he said. "More broadly, this study also proves once again how false it was for 'sceptics' to allege that the emails hacked from UEA proved that the CRU land temperature record had been doctored. "It is now time for an apology from all those, including US presidential hopeful Rick Perry, who have made false claims that the evidence for global warming has been faked by climate scientists."
Ocean currents The Berkeley group does depart from the "orthodox" picture of climate science in its depiction of short-term variability in the global temperature. The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is generally thought to be the main reason for inter-annual warming or cooling. But by the Berkeley team's analysis, the global temperature correlates more closely with the state of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index - a measure of sea surface tempera-
ture in the north Atlantic. There are theories suggesting that the AMO index is in turn driven by fluctuations in the north Atlantic current commonly called the Gulf Stream. The team suggests it is worth investigating whether the long-term AMO cycles, which are thought to last 65-70 years, may play a part in the temperature rise, fall and rise again seen during the 20th Century. But they emphasise that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) driven by greenhouse gas emissions is very much in their picture. "Had we found no global warming, then that would have ruled out AGW," said Prof Muller. "Had we found half as much, it would have suggested that prior estimates [of AGW] were too large; if we had found more warming, it would have raised the question of whether prior estimates were too low. "But we didn't; we found that the prior rise was confirmed. That means that we do not directly affect prior estimates." The team next plans to look at ocean temperatures, in order to construct a truly global dataset. www.bbcnews.com
Hanging Out
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October 29- Novembar 3, 2011
Photo: AP
Lack of outdoor play linked Riviera Maya to short-sighted children The time children spend outdoors could be linked to a reduced risk of being short-sighted, research suggests.
Champions League
such as increased use of distance vision, reduced use of near vision, natural ultraviolet light exposure or physical activity, are most important. There are also other factors to consider, he said.
Risk and benefit "Any increase in time spent outdoors must be weighed against exposure to UV radiation - and the increased risk of skin cancer, cataracts and other cancers. "On the other hand, increasing outdoor physical activity could protect against diabetes and obesity, vitamin D deficiency and osteoporosis, for example," he said. Short-sightedness is a common eye condition that causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close objects can be seen clearly. Myopia is the medical term for short-sightedness. It is much more common today in the UK and the United States than it was just 30 to 40 years ago. Approximately 1-2% of five- to sevenyear-olds in the UK have myopia. About five million British people are short-sighted and some 200,000 of them will be seri-
UEFA CUP Natural light exposure is just one potential factor in a child's eyesight.
Culture ously short-sighted. In some parts of Asia, more than 80% of the population suffers from short-sightedness.Short-sightedness results from excessively long growth of the eyeball, or a steeply curved cornea. Dr Susan Blakeney, optometric adviser at The College of
Optometrists, said children were normally born long-sighted. "As they grow they become less long-sighted so that by the time children stop growing their eyesight should be perfect. "If a child is not born long-sighted enough then they will overshoot
and end up short-sighted. This tends to happen around puberty. "There are numerous factors which could influence that journey - the question is what is the key bit that really makes a big difference." www.bbcnews.com
Consumers ‘don'tReal pay attention to nutrition labels' Estate
Using an eye-tracking device, researchers from Minnesota also found that the average consumer only reads the top part of a food content label. They studied 203 people while looking at 64 different grocery products on a computer screen. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association published the results. In the study, participants were asked to view three elements on a typical food product - the nutrition contents label, a picture and list of ingredients, and a description of the product with price and quantity information on the left, on the right or in the centre of the packaging.One third of the participants each saw the nutrition label in one of those positions and were asked whether they would consider buying the product. Participants were aware that their eye movements would be tracked, but unaware that the study was investigating nutrition information.
Position test When the nutrition contents label was presented in the centre, subjects read one or more sections of 61% of the labels compared with 37% and 34% of labels among par-
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Nutrition labels should be placed in the centre of food packaging, rather than in one corner, if shoppers are going to read them, says a US study.
ticipants randomly assigned to view labels on the left and right hand sides of the screen. In addition, labels in the centre of the product were seen to receive more than 30% more viewing time than the same labels when positioned to one side of the product. The researchers also observed that most consumers view the contents of the label nearest the top more than those at the bottom of the label. The study says that many more participants said they looked at the content of the nutrition labels than actually did when their viewing of the labels was tracked and measured. Only 9% of participants actually looked at the calorie count for almost all products in the study, compared to 33% who said they did when asked. Researchers Dan Graham and Robert Jeffrey, from the division of epidemiology and community health
at the University of Minnesota, said: "The results of this study suggest that consumers have a finite attention span for Nutrition Facts labels. "Although most consumers did view labels, very few consumers viewed every component on any label."These results differed from the self-reported survey responses describing typical grocery shopping and health behaviours submitted by the participants." They also said the location of the labels on the packaging made a difference. "Consumers are more likely to view centrally located labels and nutrients nearer the label's top. "Because knowing the amounts of key nutrients that foods contain can influence consumers to make healthier purchases, prominently positioning key nutrients, and labels themselves, could substantially impact on public health." A spokesman from the Food
Fashion & People Restaurantes
and Drink Federation said they were aware that consumers often do not read labels."Any research that adds to our understanding of what would encourage consumers to use the information provided is welcomed. "The transferability of this research to the UK shopping experience is unclear, as the study is based on computer simulation
and uses information in a format that is quite different from what is found on packs in the UK." But she said: "We support the provision of clear, simple front of pack nutrition labelling which the authors conclude would address the concerns raised by their research." www.bbcnews.com
Photo: AP
An analysis of eight previous studies by University of Cambridge researchers found that for each additional hour spent outside per week, the risk of myopia reduced by 2%. Exposure to natural light and time spent looking at distant objects could be key factors, they said. The studies involved more than 10,000 children and adolescents. Researchers are presenting their findings at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting in Florida. Dr Justin Sherwin and his research team concluded that shortsighted children spent on average 3.7 fewer hours per week outdoors than those who either had normal vision or were long-sighted. But they said the reasons why were not yet clear. They expected to find that children who spent more time outdoors also spent less time doing activities like reading, studying or playing computer games, but no such link was found in two of the eight studies which looked at this relationship. However, Dr Sherwin said they would now need more precise data to try to understand which factors,
October 29-November 3, 2011
The International weekly
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Culture October 29-November 3, 2011
Real Estate
Fashion & People
I
ts papier-mâché skeletons and candy skulls are as recognisable as the jacko’-lanterns at Halloween. Westerners find the Latino rave from beyond the grave, with its upbeat treatment of immortality, both fascinating and confronting. In anticipation of the gloriously grisly event, stores and markets fill with miniature coffins, skulls and skeletons made of chocolate, marzipan, paper, cardboard or clay. Many are engaged in highly un-skeletonlike activities such as riding bicycles, playing music or getting married. In a belief system inherited from the Aztecs, Mexicans believe their dead are lurking in Mictlan, a kind of spiritual waiting room, and they can return to their homes at this time of year. Families thus begin preparations to help the spirits find their way home and to make them welcome, starting with an arch made of bright-yellow marigolds - a symbolic doorway from the underworld. An altar is erected and piled high with offerings to the invisible visitors: flowers, ribbons, coloured candles, tamales (steam-cooked cornmeal dough), fruit and corn. Two important additions are a container of water, because the spirits arrive thirsty after their journey, and pan de muertos (bread of the dead). The loaf is made with egg yolks, fruits and tequila or mezcal, and is adorned with, or shaped as, a symbol of death. The first day, Día de Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels), is dedicated to dead children, and the toys they once loved are placed on the altar. The rituals are particularly important if the household has suffered a bereavement in the previous year. Women will spend all day cooking the
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Restaurantes Hoteles
Business
Mexico’s Carnivalesque remembrance of departed souls, Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead, 1-2 November), is one of the world’s most universally familiar festivals. favourite food of the dead relative for the customary feast, in which friends and family gather to toast the ghostly visitors. The event climaxes with a visit to the cemetery. There might be a funfair en route, with neon-lit rides and stands selling crucifix waffles
and cooked cactus snacks. Families will devote a day to cleaning the graves, decorating them with candles and flores del muerto (flowers of the dead), having picnics and dancing to mariachi bands. By now, the streets are full of papiermâché skeletons, which are life-size but could
Tourism
never pass for the real thing in their dresses, jewellery, flowery boas and hats. A cigarette dangles jauntily from a white hand, a hoop earring hangs against a bare jawbone. Again, such apparitions can be traced back to Aztec lore. The death god, Mictlantecutli, is often depicted with a skull-like face in pre-Hispanic artefacts. The skeletal street urchins became a major fixture in the late 19th Century, when the great engraver José Guadalupe Posada used the occasion to satirise society and explore the theme of death as the ultimate leveller. In his famous calaveras, skeletal figures cheerfully engage in everyday life, working, dancing, courting, drinking and riding horses into battle. One of his most enduring characters is La Calavera Catrina, a female skeleton in an elaborate lowcut dress and flamboyant flower-covered hat, suggestively revealing a bony leg and an ample bust that is all ribs and no cleavage. The event is, like many aspects of post-colonial Mexico, a melange of influences. Its origins stretch back to the Aztec month of Miccailhuitontli, which was dedicated to deathly Mictlantecutli's equally scary wife, Mictecacihuat. It originally fell around August, but the Christian conquistadors, hoping to assimilate the heathen holiday through their favoured tactic of cultural mestizaje (mixing), moved it to the day after All Saints' Day.Celebrations take place all over the country, but their heartland is southern Mexico, where indigenous culture is strongest. www.bbcnews.com
October 29-November 3, 2011
Adele cancels all 2011 live dates
Charlie Sheen's Anger Management show gets spot on FX The previously-announced show had been looking for a network but FX has now confirmed it will broadcast an initial 10 episodes in summer 2012. Sheen, 46, will play an anger management therapist whose unusual methods causes chaos for his patients. In March, the actor was sacked from his previous role in Two and a Half Men after a series of public outbursts. His new series is loosely based on the 2003 film of the same name starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. Production of the show will start in early 2012 and FX confirmed that Sheen will have a "significant ownership stake" in the series. The president of FX Networks, John Landgraf, called the show a "wonderful, hilarious vehicle for Charlie's acting talents, and a character we are very much looking forward to seeing him play".
Charlie Harper in Two and a Half Men and was said to earn $1.25m (ÂŁ773,000) an episode. Warner Bros. sacked him in March. Production of the show had been suspended in January 2011 to allow Sheen to go into rehab for reported drug and alcohol abuse. Filming was then officially halted in February after the actor insulted Chuck Lorre, the show's producer and co-creator, in several interviews. Sheen's character was later killed off and replaced by a new character played by Ashton Kutcher. The actor recently settled his lawsuit with the show over his sacking and at last month's Emmy TV awards he appeared to have made peace with his former colleagues. Presenting an award, he wished the show well "from the bottom of my heart" and added: "We spent eight wonderful years together and I know you will continue to make great television."
Tourism & Evironment
www.bbcnews.com
Making 'peace' Adele cancelled her US tour earlier this month
Singer Adele has cancelled all her remaining live dates and promotional appearances for 2011 after suffering continuing problems with her voice.
Sheen was the highest paid actor on US television while playing
www.bbcnews.com Photo: AP
A statement on her website said she was undergoing surgery "to alleviate the current issues with her throat". "As a result, doctors have ordered her to rest her voice and completely recuperate before looking to schedule any work commitments," it said. The statement added the singer was expected to make a full recovery.Adele cancelled her 10date US tour earlier this month after being diagnosed with a vocal cord haemorrhage. The singer had been due to perform six dates in the UK next month, which had been postponed from September after she suffered from a severe cold and chest infection. The singer wrote on her website earlier this month that she was "heartbroken and worried" by the ongoing problems with her voice. "I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully, or I risk damaging my voice forever," she said. Adele won best female artist and best track at Q magazine's music awards earlier this week.
Acting unions criticise IMDb in age row The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) said the site was "facilitating age discrimination". They claim actors are losing work because of details published on site. It comes after a US actress sued Amazon, which owns the Internet Movie Database, for more than $1m (ÂŁ621,000) after it posted her age. The unnamed actress claims the website misused her legal date of birth after she signed up to the IMDbPro service in 2008. She believes revealing her age could lose her acting opportunities. In a joint statement, the unions said: "An actor's actual age is irrelevant to casting. What matters is the age range that an actor can portray. "For the entire history of professional acting, this has been true but that reality has been upended by the development of IMDb as an industry standard used in casting offices across America." 'Take responsibility' The unions said IMDb publishes the dates of birth of thousands of actors "without their consent, most of them not celebrities but rankand-file actors whose names are unknown to the general public". "When their actual ages then become known to casting personnel, the 10+ year age range that many of them can portray suddenly shrinks, and so do their opportu-
Hanging Out Martin, who joined Twitter in September 2010, has more than 1.7 million followers
IMDb is an online database of movies, television shows, actors and other showbiz personnel
Two US acting unions have criticised movie website IMDb over its policy of giving actor's ages and dates of birth. nities to work," they added. SAG and AFTRA said IMDb had the power to "remove the temptation for employers to engage in age discrimination", saying the site had to "step up and take responsibility for the harm it has caused". A spokesman for Equity, the UK's acting union, said it agreed with their US counterparts. "The important element in this case is the playing range of an
actor, not their actual age. "It is a well-established practice in casting that actors provide their playing age and Equity supports SAG and AFTRA's view that IMDb's use of a performer's actual age could lead to age discrimination." A spokesperson for Amazon was not available for comment.
Steve Martin to publish book of tweets "Due to absolutely no demand, soon I'm publishing a book of my tweets," he wrote on his Twitter account. "Many of your replies included! All my profits to charity." The book will be released by Grand Central Publishing in June 2012 with the title: "The Ten, Make that Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make that Ten." Asked on Twitter why anyone would buy the book when they could just read through his old tweets, he replied: "Because I'll edit out all the garbage." Martin's recent tweets include, "love to shake hands with the paparazzi when I have a bad cold", "have just been diagnosed with a
Riviera Maya www.bbcnews.com
borderline personality" and "I thought I should tell you that I am now awake - this is for real fans only". Earlier this year, Martin told chat show host David Letterman: "I come on your show and there's 5 million people watching, I know that at least 3 million have absolutely no interest in what I'm doing. "But I can be on Twitter, I have about 800,000 followers, and I can actually talk to them directly." Martin, 66, the star of films including Roxanne, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, joined Twitter in September 2010 and now has more than 1.7 million followers. www.bbcnews.com The International weekly
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October 29-November 3, 2011
The organiser of the race, held for the second time on 16 October, is trying to renegotiate the cost of the contract. But speaking at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, Ecclestone said: "There are lots of things you can't afford; you don't have to have it." Ecclestone added that he had "no idea" whether the race would be held in 2012. The new track was built in Yeongam in the south-east of South Korea, 230 miles from capital city Seoul, as part of a plan to develop that area of the country. But it has met with local opposition since the inaugural race in 2010 because of high costs. The race fee has been reported by local media in South Korea as ÂŁ52m - believed to be the highest on the F1 calendar. The current deal, which runs until 2016, is also said to include a 10% year-on-year "escalator", as is usual in F1 race contracts. The track was envisaged as the first stage of a redevelopment, including a marina and new town. But no new buildings were built between the inaugural race and this year's event. Asked if he was disappointed that the track had been hastily patched up for 2011, Ecclestone said: "It is a disappointment, it really is. They didn't get behind it. It was a big enough effort to get it on in the first place." Ecclestone arrived in India for the new race stil basking in the
Photo: AP
Bernie Ecclestone casts doubt on Korean Grand Prix Tevez has not played for City since they beat Birmingham on 21 September
Manchester City's Carlos Tevez may sue Roberto Mancini
'Magic' Indian F1 circuit delights Bernie Ecclestone
Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has cast doubt on the future of the Korean Grand Prix, just over a year since the country hosted its first race. afterglow of the announcement of a second race in the United States, overlooking New York City in the state of New Jersey. The last US race was in 2008 at Indianapolis, but a new one will take place next year in Austin, Texas, before the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey in 2013. The New Jersey race marks the culmination of 40 years of attempts to establish a race in or close to New York. "[Double 1960s world champion] Graham Hill and I tried to do it in Central Park - that's how long ago it was," said Ecclestone.
"It's going to be perfect. We need another two [races], it's a big country. "It's more or less New York though it is in New Jersey. You'll see Manhattan.McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, who won at Indianapolis in 2008, said: "Mega, mega. I've been waiting for a race near New York. "That will be able to compete with places like Singapore - maybe they'll do it at night too. I'm massively excited and there is a huge following in the States, it's an area where we should be going."
Carlos Tevez may sue Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini for defamation of character, according to sources in the Argentine striker's camp.
Tourism & Evironment www.bbcnews.com
Photo: AP
Stosur & Zvonareva reach last four at WTA Championships US Open champion Samantha Stosur secured her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Championships in Istanbul with a commanding 6-1 6-0 win over Li Na. The White Group match was a decider to see who would join Victoria Azarenka in the last four but French Open winner Li succumbed in 66 minutes. Vera Zvonareva also made the semis at the expense of Agnieszka Radwanska who lost 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to Petra Kvitova. Wimbledon champion Kvitova had already qualified and will play Stosur. Zvonareva, who squeezed through via a better games percentage than Radwanska and world number one Caroline Wozniacki after they all recorded one win, will play Belarusian Azarenka on Saturday. Poland's Radwanska, the world number eight who was the last player to qualify for the event, needed only to win a set to claim the runners-up spot in the Red
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group ahead of Russian Zvonareva, the rival she beat on Thursday from three match points down. Radwanska was 5-2 ahead in the first set and at deuce in the eighth game, but eventually succumbed to the Czech number three seed Kvitova."I just found the rhythm when I really needed it," said Kvitova. Australian Stosur proved far too strong for China's Li, with a highly effective top-spin serve and some powerfully struck groundstrokes. "It was a very solid match for me, she said. "I felt really good out there again and hit lots of winners and moved well." Azarenka, already sure of finishing top of her group, lost her third and last round-robin match 5-7 6-4 6-4 to France's Marion Bartoli, a substitute for the injured
Stosur has dropped only one set in her six matches against Li
The breaches of contract cited by City include "an obligation to participate in any matches in which the player is selected to play for the club when directed by a club official". Tevez has been advised that Mancini's post-match comments, where he said Tevez refused to play, could amount to defamation. A City spokesman told BBC Sport they will not be commenting on the development but added that owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak are supporting Mancini unequivocally. Tevez, who has 14 days to appeal to the club board against the charge, continues to assert that at no time during the Champions League match in Germany in September was he told he was to be brought on to play and he is understood to be considering his legal options. He and his advisors believe that none of the five reasons given by City for upholding the charge of misconduct, which the club published on their website on Wednesday, are correct. "There is nothing to stop this case being made," defamation lawyer Colin Gibson told the BBC News Channel. "Tevez says that he would have played and he says that Mancini told the television cameras and told the country that he refused to play. "It could damage Tevez's reputation - all he does is play football - so it is a real case. But
Hanging Out Maria Sharapova who withdrew after two matches.Bartoli has now finished the 2011 season with 58 wins, second only to world number one Caroline Wozniacki, and played more matches than any other player - 82, two more than Wozniacki. www.bbcnews.com
I think it is incredibly unlikely that it will come to court." City have decided not to extend the two-week suspension already served by Tevez. The player, who has not played since the Carling Cup match against Birmingham on 21 September, is therefore theoretically available for selection for City's Carling Cup fourthround tie at Wolves on Wednesday. But a departure from Eastlands in January seems inevitable, with Tevez having trained alone since returning to the club after suspension. Mancini is also unlikely to wish to unsettle a squad that is now five points clear at the top of the Premier League after thrashing city rivals Manchester United 6-1 on Sunday. Tevez was signed by then City manager Mark Hughes in the summer of 2009 and has since scored 53 goals in 91 appearances. In May, he captained the club to FA Cup triumph, with a 1-0 victory over Stoke in the final at Wembley, City's first major trophy in 35 years. However, he has also twice asked for a transfer away from Eastlands and looked set to get his wish before a proposed ÂŁ40m move to Brazilian side Corinthians fell through. He has made five appearances for City this season, but only two starts, and is yet to score. www.bbcnews.com
October 29- November 3, 2011
What to do OCTOBER Plastic Exhibition “Identidad de la cultura maya” (Mayan Cultural Identity) By Ana Cimá Velázquez Museography: Daniel Altamirano Until November 2 No cover At the Gallery Cultural Center Playa del Carmen. 7:30 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.
Saturday 29 Workshop Organic orchards Permaculture design and biodynamic farming Until November 5 Instructors Laura 984 80 470 88 Monica 984 807 90 92 Lupita 984 115 44 90 Place: Ak Lu'um International School Playa del Carmen. 9 am to 1 pm
Dance, poetry and live music night By Grupo Antal Flamenco No cover Benito Juárez Park Cancun. 8 pm Photo exhibit “Vida y muerte” (Life and death) Until November 15 Luxury Avenue Cancun
Collective Exhibit “Calaveras” Painting workshop for children Until November 30 House of Culture Chetumal Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm
Sunday 30 Live music By: Grupo Natural Mystic (reggae-rock-jazz) Benito Juarez Park Cozumel. 8 a 9:30 pm
Weekly Horoscope October 29-November 3, 2011
Aries
Libra
The Sun now joins Mercury and Venus in another Mars-ruled sign. You may now be ready to make investments that are actually joint enterprises. Yes, only a few weeks ago the accent was on independence and freedom - now it seems you're ready to join forces. This could apply as much to romantic activity as business but even then practicalities (shared financial responsibility) seems part of the equation). As seems to be the case with you generally though, perhaps you need to do this as though embracing a fight. So argument is likely - this being your way of fuelling and energising. Deals with those born under Earthy Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn should get off to a flying start.
Heavy emphasis on that area of your chart that's
Taurus Later this week Jupiter, in your sign, is at the opposite end of the sky to the Sun. Recently someone notified the coastguard that a ship might be in trouble: they'd confused Jupiter's starriness for a flare. And that says it all really - though there may be confusion, it's likely that there will also be action-stations - and perhaps in a good way. At last a close partner or colleague seems to understand what you've been saying for months. It appears
NOVEMBER
they're now ready to uproot/invest or generally do whatever it takes to anchor you both. With Venus and Mars moving into their
Tuesday 1 6th Festival of Life & Dead Traditions Xcaret Park Starting at 4:00 pm
Wednesday 2 6th Festival of Life & Dead Traditions Xcaret Park Starting at 4:00 pm
Dance “Dances of Universal Peace Meditation in movement” With Jorge Arjun Calero and Malika Elena Salazar (From Colombia) Phone: 984 8036943 Place: Palapa Suuk Wednesday at 4 pm Thursday at 10 am and 7 pm Playa del Carmen
right=angle phase, partnerships of all kinds may be challenged.
all about values and what you stand for (and yes, how much cash you have at the bank), suggests financial matters could dominate. With your ruling planet (Venus) also in square angle to Mars, it may be that you find yourself at odds with someone close. This needn't be a big deal - and may be just another cosmic balancing test. It's probable that you'll find harmony before the weekend and highly likely that the two apparently opposing views will each have had some merit. Developments on the career front are very likely: expect to tune into ways of enhancing your position and to feel repowered following words of encouragement.
Scorpio This lunation coincides with both Venus and Mars reaching a key phase in their cycle and that in turn suggests you and a close colleague or partner may have reached a turning point. Given a superb aspect between Jupiter and Pluto an element of financial good fortune (wealth even) could be a factor. How - and where to invest may be the subject of much discussion. There's also the possibility of discussing a long trip or even pondering a legal matter and associated costs. You'll experience a surge of energy that puts you in fight-mode. Your obvious determination to succeed might be so apparent that others quickly cave in to your requests.
What's most interesting though is the anticipated arrival of someone who could act as a kind of referee or arbitrator - and not before time.
Sagittarius Gemini Remembering that we are now all living through a 'revolutionary' period, this could result in many challenges. It won't be surprising if you're asked to take sides. For that matter though you might also find you're ready to show compassion to those whose plight you're only now aware of. All this could put considerable strain on your very sensitive nervous system. It's important then that you look after your health - and even modify your diet to one that helps reduce stress. With transport a potential difficulty - not to mention mail that's short on facts and demanding, you may find you spend a considerable amount of time in 'fight' mode.
Cancer This is actually quite a good image for you needing to keep feelings hidden - especially if you want to preserve a relationship which you sense is not in as good a shape as it could be. Even if you manage to exercise maximum understanding, you could feel oh-so-stretched in the latter half of the week - though that might be for as many positive as negative reasons. It may be that someone close has at last realised if they want to effect change they have to DO something. You could feel anxious about finances - yet know that longterm security occasionally requires risk - as now.
It might help to view this as a week of preparation and investment. Yes, such matters probably bore you at many levels, yet this time could be a little different. A joint financial arrangement: perhaps involving someone overseas might require attention you're happy to give. They're probably right and you do need now to look 'under the hood' and check that all is running as you would like. In the process you might decide you need to part with a bank or company that's no longer delivering the service you require.
Capricorn So, now you know who's up for responsibility and who can't cope. Soon you may need to decide whether or not you're going to hand around or if it's time to move on. It may be time to think about joining a new team. This lunation coincides with Venus and Mars appearing as if at right angles. It may be that a partner or close colleague thinks you should have made a move some time back. They may now be more insistent that you take steps to move away from a situation which they may perceive as toxic. With Jupiter in excellent angle to Pluto they may be right. It's not guaranteed but a little luck could come your way and break deadlock - perhaps paving the way for satisfactory career developments before your birthday.
Aquarius Probably wise to come to a decision before the
Leo On the considerable upside, Jupiter (presently at the top of this solar chart) makes good aspect to Pluto: suggesting positive developments both in your career and with in anything to do with property. You might still experience angst (remember you are a Faxed sign and don't 'do' change very easily). It's perhaps time to be kind to yourself. Of course it would help hugely if those close to you were clear about their aims. But perhaps they are in dream-mode and too wistful or unsettled. A deep breath may be needed before you take action which has been brewing for months.
Virgo Concentrated planetary activity in an area of your solar chart associated with local transport and with 'light' reading and early education suggests all three issues might surface this week. At one level this could be about learning a new language: at another about adopting new routes. It's just possible too that change in the neighborhood will bring with them the challenge of making new friends. This might not be a problem to you - but could be to a close friend or partner who perhaps doesn't appreciate the way you're choosing to spend time. Of course, another possibility is getting to grips with a script or novel. In whatever way there's strong need to extend your world and embrace new concepts: possibly with the assistance of a Taurus or Leo.
weekend though - especially if property matters are involved. Might a partnership be involved? It seems you might need to make a decision in this area of your life too. With 'overseas' type deals already under discussion (ie. Not at all local), one of the big issues for you is just how glued you are to staying put - and whether you have the means (energy and finance-wise) to take advantage of what could be a very good offer. It's just possible that someone needs to see how much effort you're prepared to put in to making a project work: Does suggest a fresh start!
Pisces For all sorts of reasons you could experience tension this week - perhaps even just by tuning into what's going on in the lives of others. It may be that you sense (before they do) that they're going to make decisions which have the potential of causing them long term difficulties. Yet you might be wrong. Indeed, it's just possible that your intuition is a little wonky presently. True, you're probably right to identify high drama. It's just that for some people this could be the breakthrough they've longed for. And for you? Well, as Jupiter and Pluto move into excellent aspect at the end of the week, it's just possible you could find even keel and secure some kind of deal that others view as being another example of you 'pulling the rabbit from the hat'.
The International weekly
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Cancún & Riviera Maya
October 29- November 3, 2011
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Week in Pictures
A Sotherby´s employee holds a 110.03 carat sun-drop diamond. The diamond is the largest yellow pear-shaped diamond in the world, and is expected to fetch between 7-9m ($1115m) when it is sold at auction at Sotherby´s Action house in London.
Production has started on the medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Some 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals are being made at the Royal Mint´s headquarters in Llantrisant, in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Ballet dancers performing during a dress rehearsal of Samsara by Spain´s Victor Ullate in Madrid.
Artist Andy Bergholtz arranges his pumpkin sculpture during an exhibition in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A Buddhist monk walks in a flooded street in central Bangkok. Thailand has been hit by heavy monsoon rains since July, leading to flooding which has affected swathes of the country and left more than 360 people dead.
Visitors take a picture of themselves with a mobile phone in front of one of 10 bronze sculptures titled Nuestros Silencios (Our Silences) by Mexican artist Rivelino, during an exhibition at Plaza de la Constitucion in Mexico City.