Fifa will use Swiss laboratory to test samples for 2014 World Cup
Fifa has decided to use an accredited laboratory in Switzerland to analyse player blood and urine samples for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Brazil, which hosts the World Cup next summer, does not have a functioning anti-doping laboratory.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) revoked the status of the current lab in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year.
As the lab cannot be re-accredited in time for next summer, samples will be flown to Lausanne.
Fifa said in a statement: "For next year's World Cup, Fifa and Wada will ensure the best possible analysis of urine and blood samples and the proper implementation of the new strategy in the fight against doping by means of the steroid module of the athlete biological passport.
"Fifa is now taking the necessary logistical steps for the shipment of samples overseas."
Jamaica lost way on doping - Wada chief John Fahey
The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) says Jamaica has "lost its way" on drug testing for athletes.
His comments come after the country's senior drug tester said recent failed tests might be the "tip of an iceberg".
Wada president John Fahey was also critical of the attitude towards drug testing in Kenya, which has also had a number of recent failed tests.
But he admitted: "There is no power whatsoever for Wada under our code to compel anyone to do certain things."
Concerns over Jamaica's drugs testing regime were raised after former Jadco (the country's anti-doping commission) executive director Renee Anne Shirley said the agency had conducted only one out-of-competition test in the six months leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Her revelation followed a series of positive tests for Jamaican athletes and resulted in Wada visiting the country at the end of October to assess its doping policies.
Former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell, three-time Olympic gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown and Olympic relay gold medallist Sherone Simpson are among six Jamaicans who have tested positive this year.
Wada officials are due to discuss their visit to Jamaica at an executive board meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday and they could make a series of recommendations to improve the Caribbean island's anti-doping policies.
Source-BBC
Kevin Durant Scores 33, Thunder Clip Wizards In OT
Kevin Durant scored 33 points, including a game-levelling three-pointer late in regulation and the go-ahead foul shots in overtime to send the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Washington Wizards 106-105 on Sunday.
John Wall missed a driving layup attempt at the buzzer for Washington, who were seeking their third straight win. Bradley Beal scored a career-high 34 points for the Wizards.
Oklahoma City trailed 92-82 with 3:26 left with the fourth quarter, but went on a 14-4 run. Durant capped the burst with a straightaway three-pointer with 13.6 seconds left.
Minnesota's Kevin Martin scored 27 points and Kevin Love had 18 of his 25 points during a 47-point first quarter as the Timberwolves ended a 22-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 113-90 win.
Ricky Rubio had 12 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who hadn't beaten the Lakers since March 6, 2007. Minnesota took a 28-point lead during the highest-scoring quarter in franchise history and maintained a healthy advantage all night in their first win over the Lakers at Staples Center since December 2, 2005.
Steve Blake scored 19 points with five three-pointers and Jodie Meeks added 16 for the Lakers, who have lost five of seven.
At Phoenix, Eric Bledsoe scored 24 points and Markieff Morris came off the bench to score 23 as the Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Pelicans 101-94.
Morris shot nine of 12 and has gone 30 for 38 from the field over his past three games while averaging 24.7 points in that span.
Gerald Green scored 15 points and Goran Dragic added 12 for the Suns, who have won four of five.
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek became the first coach in club history to win his first four home games.
Jason Smith scored 22 points, while Jrue Holiday and Anthony Morrow each had 16 for the Pelicans.
Danny Green had 24 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for San Antonio as the Spurs pounded the New York Knicks 120-89 for their fourth straight victory.
Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points and Tony Parker had 17 in a game that was close for about three minutes. San Antonio scored the first 10 points, led by as many as 37 and were in complete control in between.
Tim Duncan took just four shots, but finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds as San Antonio shot 54 percent.
Carmelo Anthony and Andrea Bargnani both scored 16 for the Knicks.
Source-AP
Cuban leaders eye new port as economic lifeline
Life still moves slowly in this small, dusty town, where kids play freely in narrow streets nearly devoid of traffic and many people carry parasols to ward off the pounding tropical sun.
But that's all about to change. The town best known as the launch point of a mass maritime exodus to the US in 1980 is being transformed into a huge, modern, US$900 million port and special commercial zone.
The island nation's Communist authorities expect Mariel to become a centre for foreign investment. It could also position Cuba to take advantage of a trade boom if the US ever lifts its 51-year embargo and starts sending container ships south — something investors have been waiting for, in vain, for years. Others suspect the port's impact on Cuba may be more modest, reflecting the country's long-stagnant economy.
Plans to overhaul the Port of Mariel began in 2009 when officials determined the country's main harbour in Havana is too shallow for bigger, deeper-draft "post-Panamax" vessels, which starting in 2015 will begin crossing through an expanded Panama Canal and carry an increasing share of regional cargo. An automobile tunnel that traverses the mouth of Havana's bay makes it impossible to make the waterway deeper.
Even with the US embargo, the ability of Mariel to take in deeper-draft ships will let Cuba keep pace with global shipping innovations and accommodate more cargo. Hopes are equally high for the adjacent, 180-square-mile (465-square-kilometre) industrial park and special development zone, which officially launched November 1.
Source-AP
Iran Offers More Access to UN Nuclear Watchdog
Iranian officials say Inspectors from the United Nations could be allowed inside Iran's new heavy water nuclear reactor within weeks.
The spokesman for Iran's nuclear department tells the official IRNA news agency Tehran is willing to grant the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency access to its Arak reactor before the next round of talks with the agency on December 11.
But Behrouz Kamalvandi also says details of such an inspection still need to be worked out.
Iran and the IAEA signed an agreement that will allow expanded inspections of Iran's nuclear sites.
In Vienna, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said the agreement represents a good start.
"We have agreed to further cooperate with respect to the verification to be undertaken by the IAEA to resolve all present and past issues."
Amano also said he still wants Iran to answer questions about its alleged nuclear weapons program, though the issue is not specifically outlined in the deal.
Iran insists its nuclear program has always been designed for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, Iran's top nuclear negotiator is back home, touting progress in the most recent round of talks with Western powers over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sounded upbeat tone about the Geneva talks during an Iranian television talk show Monday.
"Everybody felt that considerable progress had been made. Everybody believed that there were grounds for reaching a mutual understanding and a solution, and grounds did exist. I still believe that fairly good progress was made. Let's say if we had wanted to progress by 90 percent, we did actually progress by 70 or 75 percent."
Zarif blamed the lack of a deal on divisions among the P5+1, the group that includes the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Western powers were united in their proposal and that it was Iran, which was not ready to accept the deal.
On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the key point is that negotiations are going to resume next week.
"Fault is immaterial. They didn't agree to an agreement. They're going to come back next week and continue the discussions and continue the negotiations. We've narrowed the gaps. There are still issues that remain. And that's where things stand."
US Carrier Group to Arrive in Philippines Wednesday
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington is speeding toward a relief mission in the Philippines, where hundreds of thousands are displaced and thousands more are feared dead from Typhoon Haiyan.
Pentagon spokesman George Little says the carrier and several other U.S. Navy ships will arrive in the area sometime Wednesday.
"The Philippines is a treaty ally and the United States stands by its friends and allies in times of crisis.”
The aircraft carrier, with 5,000 sailors and 80 aircraft on board, will help the U.S. provide food, water, medical supplies, shelter and hygiene products. The Pentagon notes the ship can produce more than 400,000 gallons of fresh water each day.
The official death toll reached 1,774 on Tuesday, with many fearing the final tally could top 10,000, a number given by local Philippine officials over the weekend. But President Benigno Aquino told the CNN in an interview the number was too high and a final accounting will probably be about 2,000 to 2,500 dead.
On Tuesday in Manila, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos appealed for $301 million in relief aid for the Philippines. Amos said the international response has been strong, but more needs to be done.
The U.N. says 660,000 people were displaced by Typhoon Haiyan, which plowed through the remote region late last week with historically powerful winds and tsunami-like waves.
Four days later, many have no access to food, water or medicine. Some of the most remote areas remained unreached. In the worst-hit city, Tacloban, widespread looting has been reported and dozens of rotting corpses lie in the streets.
Though aid distribution has been slow, international relief efforts have begun to pick up.
The Philippines has already sent troops to the fishing village of Tacloban. But as of Tuesday, aid distribution was slow, since soldiers there mainly worked to prevent looting and restore calm.
Photographs and video circulating showed hundreds of people returning from the hills around Tacloban, only to find mounds of wreckage where their homes had stood in the once-thriving city of 220,000 residents.
Other amateur footage showed streets that still are strewn with decomposing bodies, and dazed residents slogging through flattened neighborhoods looking for signs of life.
Elizabeth Tromans with Catholic Relief Services says there is "total devastation" in Tacloban, located on the eastern side of the island of Leyte. But she told VOA that is just the beginning.
"We're just starting to hear more and more about the devastation outside of the city. The devastation is also really widespread even on the western side of the island."
Tromans says many residents prepared emergency goods and took shelter ahead of the storm. But she said the storm was so powerful that even many of the most well-prepared are now left with nothing.
Sources-VOA
US World's Biggest Oil Producer By 2015 according to IEA
The International Energy Agency (IAE) says that by 2015 the United States will surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's biggest oil producer and is on track to become energy self-sufficient in two decades.
The IEA said Tuesday that for the next 10 years the recent U.S. and Canadian success with shale oil drilling and deepwater production in Brazil will reduce the role of the Middle East-dominated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as the world's most prominent oil producer.
But the Paris-based adviser to 28 energy-consuming nations said the U.S. position as the top world oil producer will end by the mid-2020s as resources diminish at the fields being tapped at the moment in the mid-country states of North Dakota and Texas. The IEA said Middle East countries will then provide most of the increase in the global oil supply.
In its annual World Energy Outlook, the IEA said the U.S. is moving steadily "towards meeting all of its energy needs from domestic resources in 2035." Energy self-sufficiency has long been a goal of American leaders.
Across the globe, the IEA said the demand for energy will increasingly be driven by emerging economies, and that China will surpass the United States as the world's largest oil consumer by about 2030. The report said that China, India and the Middle East will drive global energy demand one-third higher.
But the IEA said energy security throughout the world is being undermined by high prices, with oil prices averaging more than $110 a barrel since 2011.
The IEA's executive director, Maria van der Hoeven, said that such "a sustained period of high oil prices is without parallel." But the agency predicted oil will go even higher, reaching $128 a barrel by 2035.
The IEA said that while the price of oil is "relatively uniform" worldwide, natural gas prices vary widely. With huge gas production in the U.S., the IEA said American consumers and businesses pay sharply lower prices than in Europe and Japan, where much of the fuel must be imported.
China, Russia, Saudi Arabia Win Seats on UN Human Rights Council
China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Cuba have won seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The U.N. General Assembly voted Tuesday on 14 new members of the 47-seat council. The vote has upset rights groups that have spoken out against controversial candidates.
Also elected to three-year terms are Algeria, Britain, France, the Maldives, Macedonia, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa, and Vietnam.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said candidates such as as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Algeria have poor rights records at home that prevent them from being useful members of the council.
The Geneva-based U.N. Watch, which operates as a watchdog on U.N. activities overall, says allowing such nations to participate on the Human Rights Council amounts to "making a pyromaniac into chief of the fire department." It also included Cuba among the candidates to which it objects.
One of the most common complaints against these candidates is that they clamp down on political dissent. Other complaints stem from laws on organized labor, objectionable practices by security forces, and maintenance of a monopoly on power by a single political group.
Members of the Human Rights Council are elected by region. Candidates in some cases are running unopposed.
The United States is currently on the Human Rights Council. Its seat expires in 2015.
UN Approves More Troops for AU Force in Somalia
The United Nations Security Council has authorized more than 4,000 new troops for the African Union force battling militants in Somalia. This will bring the force's strength to slightly more than 22,000.
The Council also authorized the U.N. to supply Somalia's national army with food, water, fuel and other assets when it conducts joint operations with the AU force, known as AMISOM.
Britain sponsored the resolution authorizing these latest moves. London's ambassador to the U.N., Mark Lyall Grant, said AMISOM has played a huge role in weakening Somali militant group al-Shabab.
"But as recent attacks show, al-Shabab continue to pose a threat not just to Somalia but to the wider region, and now is the right time for the Security Council to act," said Grant.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack on a Kenyan mall in September that killed more than 60 people.
Grant said the extra troop strength will give AMISOM the ability to "regain the momentum against al-Shabab" and give greater protection to Somali civilians. He added that for long-term stability in Somalia, Somalis must take greater control of their own security.
Over the last two years AMISOM, Ethiopian and Somali government forces drove al-Shabab out of Mogadishu and other major cities.
The militant group still carries out periodic suicide attacks, and a new government formed last year remains fragile, as evidenced by reports this week that the president has asked the prime minister to resign.
Police Provides Crime Prevention Tips
The Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) would like to remind the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) public to remain vigilant, alert and help us (RTCIPF) prevent and reduce crime in our community. Many crimes in the TCI are crimes of opportunity, and criminals often hit the easiest target. An example of a crime of opportunity is a Burglary of a Motor vehicle. A majority of these types of crimes reported indicate that the target vehicle was left unsecure.
And often times, valuable items are left inside the vehicle in plain view. The following tips are being provided as a public service, in our attempt to help the TCI public help us reduce crime in the TCI:
• Always make sure that all vehicle windows are closed tightly, and all doors and hatches are locked / secured. Activate the alarm system if available.
• Make sure that you have your vehicle / residence keys on your person or in a secure location (do not leave keys inside the vehicle)
• During the night-time hours, attempt to park the your vehicle in well-lighted areas
• Do not leave valuables in plain sight inside the vehicle.
Many people in the Providenciales area often leave passports, ID’s, and other personal identifiers inside their vehicle’s glove compartment for convenience. This is not a good idea. The thieves know this and target vehicles accordingly. Keep all identifying information on your person or in a secure location. Criminals will often look for unsecured vehicles to burglarize or steal and tend to hit easy marks or targets of opportunity.
In conclusion, RTCIPF encourages the TCI public to join us in our efforts to reduce crime and hold those responsible for crimes accountable. Anyone witnessing suspicious behavior should notify 911. The caller should provide as much detailed information as possible (description of suspects and vehicle, specific behavior, direction of travel, etc.) Persons can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1-800-8477. Tips can also be submitted anonymously on either www.crimestoppers.tc or on Facebook as a fan of Crime Stoppers TCI. All tips are received in the USA. Please visit our web site at www.tcipolice.tc or www.facebook.com/RTCIPF for more information.