Post for Italy's Dr Subtle sparks fury over political perks

ROME | Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:20pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - The nomination of a former Italian prime minister notorious for collecting multiple state pensions to a lucrative new job has sparked fury among Italians fed up with the privileges of a political class seemingly immune to austerity.

Veteran two-time centre-left premier Giuliano Amato, 75, nicknamed "Dr Subtle" for his political acumen, was named as a constitutional court judge on Thursday.

Viewed as the ultimate political insider, who collects multiple state pensions worth over 31,000 euro ($41,200) a month before tax, Amato was touted for both prime minister and president in turmoil following a deadlocked February election.

His nomination by President Giorgio Napolitano to a post that will earn him an extra 427,000 euros gross a year - twice they pay of a U.S. Supreme Court judge - quickly drew public ire as Italy struggles to plug its budget deficit amid the longest recession since World War Two.

"The country is still at the mercy of the usual suspects," lawmaker Roberto Fico of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement wrote on Facebook. "Italy can no longer be condemned to be a slave to these characters."

Other deputies protested against the decision in parliament.

Anger at revolving-door politics propelled the 5-Star Movement to a quarter of the vote on pledges to cut politicians' salaries - 60 percent higher than the European average - and kick the old guard out of parliament.

Construction worker Tonino Cortese, 53, said a privileged caste appeared to be untouched by austerity while ordinary people paid through tax hikes and cuts to public services.

"Any one of them earns 10 times what I do. I've worked hard every day of my life and it's getting harder to find work," said Cortese, smoking a cigarette outside a Rome building site. "We the citizens are paying for the crisis. It doesn't touch them."

Giulia Rocca, a 23-year-old student, shared his outrage.

"I don't even know what to say," said Rocca. "One group has all the power in Italy and it feels like we can't do anything. We are all fed up and we can't put up with it anymore."

As prime minister in 1992, Amato famously asked Italians "to put one hand on their hearts and get their wallets out with the other" when he imposed a 0.6 percent levy on bank accounts in a "blood and tears" austerity drive following a currency crisis.

(Reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Paul Taylor)

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Cubans make yellow-ribbon appeal to U.S. over imprisoned spies

1 of 9. People stand with Cuban intelligence agent Rene Gonzalez (C), released two years ago and now living in Cuba, during a gathering in front of the U.S. Interests Section diplomatic mission in Havana September 12, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Desmond Boylan

By Marc Frank

HAVANA | Thu Sep 12, 2013 2:42pm EDT

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba held a day of protest on Thursday over four intelligence agents imprisoned in the United States, displaying yellow ribbons to show national support for bringing the men home on the 15th anniversary of their arrest in Florida.

It was the largest anti-U.S. protest staged in the communist country since President Raul Castro took over from his ailing brother Fidel in 2006.

The men were convicted in 2001 of conspiring to spy on Cuban exile groups and U.S. military activities as part of an espionage ring called the "Wasp Network."

A fifth Cuban agent, Rene Gonzalez, who was released two years ago and now lives in Cuba, headed the public drive for the return of his colleagues, who are considered national heroes at home and are known in the United States as the "Cuban Five".

Raul Castro took part in a televised cultural event in their honor on Wednesday evening and a concert with top Cuban performers was scheduled on Thursday in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

Many of the country's 11.2 million residents joined the protest, according to sources in different cities. Yellow ribbons hung from trees, lamp posts and car antennas from Havana to Camaguey city in central Cuba and eastern Santiago.

The Chicago-born Gonzalez, 57, who returned to Cuba this year after renouncing his U.S. citizenship, said in a televised address last week that yellow ribbons, symbolizing longing for absent loved ones, were meant to resonate with the "average American."

The United States and Cuba do not have diplomatic relations but have lower level interests sections in each other's capital.

The agents' case has dogged the already-hostile U.S.-Cuba relations and gained greater attention after the 2009 arrest of U.S. contractor Allen Gross in Cuba. He was sentenced to 15 years for his role in a U.S. government effort to set up an underground Internet network on the Caribbean island.

Havana has linked the fate of its agents with that of Gross, stating a humanitarian solution is needed for both cases.

Cuba says its agents were unjustly convicted and says they were mainly collecting information on Cuban exile groups planning violent actions against Cuba.

One agent, Gerardo Hernandez, is serving a double life sentence after being convicted of involvement in the shooting down of two U.S. planes in 1996 flown by an exile group that dropped anti-government leaflets over Havana. He denied the charge.

The other three are serving sentences ranging from 18 years to 30 years.

(Editing by David Adams and David Storey)

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50 years after Birmingham bombing, U.S. mayors vow renewed racism fight

By Verna Gates

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama | Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:29pm EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - From lunch counters to public buses, the battle over racism in the United States during the 1950s and 60s took place in cities, and five decades later mayors of some of the country's largest urban areas have vowed to carry on the fight for civil rights.

Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday where the 50th anniversary of the bombing of a black church will be remembered this week, civic leaders called for an end to modern discrimination in areas like jobs, housing and transportation.

"Cities are the place where hope hits the street, and where the hard work of government happens," said Mitch Landrieu, mayor of New Orleans, during a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting taking place this week.

Landrieu was among 50 mayors nationwide who on Thursday joined a newly created U.S. Coalition Against Racism and Discrimination by signing a pledge to end racism in their own cities.

The 10-point plan calls on mayors to use their bully pulpits to push for diversity and equality while enacting policies that support programs such as post-release employment for prisoners, affordable daycare, fair housing, community events and education celebrating diversity.

The action comes as Birmingham remembers the 50th anniversary this week of the racial bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four girls and galvanized the civil rights movement.

On Friday, as part of its commemoration activities, the conference will host former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was an 8-year-old girl in Birmingham at the time and lost her friend, 11-year-old Denise McNair, in the explosion.

The official ceremonies feature U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and will happen on Sunday, September 15, in Birmingham.

McNair, as well as 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley perished in the blast. The bomb set by members of the Ku Klux Klan sparked passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Fifty years on, however, black children are still three times more likely to be impoverished, blacks and Hispanics have a higher unemployment rate than whites, and minorities are disproportionately imprisoned, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Birmingham was the epicenter of the civil rights struggle as its citizens enacted change on a local level long before federal law caught up to them.

Clashes over whites-only waiting rooms in train stations, segregated bathrooms and water fountains, and other disparities in the laws regarding minorities resulted in change that turned activists like Rosa Parks, who refused to give her seat to a white person on a city bus in 1955, into civil-rights heroes.

"The marches in Birmingham were about toilets, parks and zoning, the things real people can change," said Christopher Cabaldon, mayor of West Sacramento, California, who signed the pledge. "Cities have always been the center, the focus, of civil rights progress."

(Reporting by Verna Gates; Writing by Karen Brooks; Editing by Greg McCune and Andrew Hay)

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Saucy party ad spices up dull German election campaign

BERLIN | Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:19am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) - A satirical party has spiced up a dull German election campaign with a television advert depicting a 90-second sex scene, blurred but leaving little to the imagination.

Die Partei (The Party), whose policies include building a wall around Germany and putting Chancellor Angela Merkel on trial in a cage, said the ad was designed to represent its family policy.

Election rules require broadcasters to give parties advertising time to use as the parties see fit.

Merkel, with a comfortable lead in the polls over a so-far relatively toothless opposition, has opted for a bland campaign, short on specifics, that emphasizes business-as-usual.

Germany's top selling newspaper Bild called the advert, which aired at 10:30 p.m. after the main news, complete with steamy sound track of sighs and groans, a "climax" of the campaign. It said only three viewers had called national broadcaster ZDF to complain.

"Is anyone watching this political broadcast by Die Partei on ZDF and thinking what in God's name is this?" asked twitter user Katharina. Other users described it as the "best political broadcast ever".

Die Partei failed to meet the legal requirements to stand in the last federal election, but this time is fielding dozens of candidates - with next to no hope of getting any into parliament on September 22.

It described its advert, which ends with the slogan "Vote for The Party and you'll feel good", as having confused "dozens of pensioners".

Among its other policies is a plan to frack Environment Minister Peter Altmaier to release his "enormous energy resources".

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Miss America hopeful is a national guard sergeant - with tattoos

1 of 4. Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, is seen on stage during the bathing suit portion of the preliminary round of the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in this September 10, 2013, file photo.

Credit: Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Files

By Victoria Cavaliere

NEW YORK | Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:43pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Kansas woman hoping to be crowned the next Miss America on Sunday night keeps her personal mission statement close to her heart: it's tattooed on her torso.

Miss Kansas Theresa Vail became the first Miss America contestant to visibly show her tattoos during competitions this week, pageant officials said. Her two pieces of ink are expected to be on display during Sunday's nationally televised pageant.

Tattoos aren't the only thing that sets Vail, 22, apart from her beauty queen competitors. She's also a member of the Kansas National Guard, making her the second contestant in the history of the Miss America Pageant to be an active member of the military.

Sergeant Vail, who lists her hobbies as hunting, archery and cooking, addressed her tattoos on her personal blog. She said her decision to not cover them during the contest was an attempt to challenge traditional definitions of beauty and femininity.

"I do not want to shock the nation when I'm seen in a swimsuit, bearing my marks," she wrote. "I am opting to show them proudly."

Her goal, she said is "empowering women to OVERCOME stereotypes and break barriers."

Vail's two tattoos include her "personal mission statement," the Serenity Prayer, down the right side of her torso. It reads "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference."

Her other tattoo is the insignia of the U.S. Army Dental Corps on her left shoulder. Vail says she hopes to go on to dental school in the future.

The 2014 Miss America will be crowned Sunday night.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Andrew Hay)

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Russian Bolshoi acid attack victim to return to Moscow

Sergei Filin, artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet, attends a news conference in the university hospital in the western German city of Aachen March 15, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay

MOSCOW | Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:56pm EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet is returning to Moscow from Germany following eight months and 22 operations on his eyes and face after an acid attack that nearly blinded him, the theatre's spokeswoman said.

Sergei Filin will fly in on Saturday and take part in the troupe's reunion after holidays on Tuesday, the spokeswoman said. She could not say what role he might play in the troupe in the future.

"The troupe hopes very much that Sergei will recover and come back," Katerina Novikova said. "To what extent he will be able to take part in the life of the troupe, that will become clear in the nearest future."

Filin had the power to make or break careers at the Bolshoi, a world-renowned symbol of Russian culture, and the January 17 attack put the ballet's bitter internal rivalries in the spotlight.

Novikova said in June Filin could not see out of one eye at all and vision in the second one was severely damaged. She had no fresh details on his health on Thursday.

One of the Bolshoi's top dancers, Pavel Dmitrichenko, is on trial on charges of ordering the attack. He and his two alleged accomplices face up to 12 years in jail if convicted.

Dmitrichenko, who made his name playing villains in Swan Lake and Ivan the Terrible, told the court he was upset with the management and Filin, but that he only wanted the artistic director beaten up, not attacked with acid.

Russia dismissed the long-serving head of the Bolshoi in the aftermath of the incident, and entrusted another experienced theatre manager with the mission to rebuild the theatre's reputation.

"From the very first day after this horrid event took place, everybody (in the theatre) felt we want to prove to ourselves and Sergei and the whole world that we are worthy and apt. The best thing we can do for Sergei is to do our job well, that is dance," Novikova said.

(Reporting by Catherine Koppel; Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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Welsh Anglicans vote to allow women bishops

LONDON | Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:02pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - The Anglican Church in Wales voted on Thursday to allow the ordination of women bishops, putting pressure on the Church of England, the last part of Britain and Ireland to hold onto the men-only rule.

Disagreements over whether women can become bishops and over gay relationships have roiled the 80-million strong Anglican Communion - the world's third largest Christian grouping after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

The Welsh vote will intensify the spotlight on the Anglican leader, Archbishop Justin Welby, who wants to speed up plans to allow women bishops in England. Scotland and Ireland allow female bishops although none have been ordained.

In Wales, following hours of lengthy debate, each of the Church's three electoral colleges voted in favour of the move, with all seven bishops backing the change which will come into force in a year's time.

Women already serve as Anglican bishops in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, but Anglican churches in many developing countries oppose any female clergy and are working together to shield themselves against such reforms.

A Church of England synod will consider draft legislation in November but opposition from traditionalists remains. Its law-making body voted in favour of women bishops in July but it is unlikely that final approval will come before November 2015.

The Church in Wales said there were huge cheers after the bill was passed and Bishop John, who seconded the bill, tweeted "We can by God's grace ordain women to the episcopate. Thank you Governing Body."

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Powerhouses Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein cap New York Fashion Week

Models present creations from the Ralph Lauren Spring/Summer 2014 collection during New York Fashion Week, September 12, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:20pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Fashion Week drew to a close on Thursday with prim, 1960s-inspired looks from Ralph Lauren and ragamuffin chic from Calvin Klein.

Among the last of hundreds of fashion shows that filled the week, the trend-setting Lauren went relentlessly black and white - a theme among many designers this week - then switched to eye-popping fluorescents.

His black wool crepe ottoman jacket worn over a knitted vest, white cotton shirt and black tie, along with black silk shorts and patent leather Mary Jane shoes brought to mind a tomboyish schoolgirl.

Black-and-white checked pantsuits in the Charlie Chaplin-meets-Annie Hall mode featured oversized lapels.

The youthful looks were accessorized with newsboy caps or Harry Potter-style spectacles.

Balancing out the collection were blocks of unearthly fluorescents, including searing neon leather jackets topping miniskirts.

The fashion world's attention now turns to spring and summer 2014 collection shows in London, Paris and Milan.

After Lauren's late 20th-century classics, the Calvin Klein womenswear collection on Thursday looked post-apocalyptic.

The outfits seemed fiercely scavenged, as though designer Francisco Costa had rummaged through piles of admittedly high-end scraps of silk and leather.

Several dresses consisted of broad hoops of fabric encircling the body but without quite lining up - there were no clean vertical lines here.

A knee-length skirt in faded emerald had excesses of fabric flapping off one side. Sleeves on the matching top ended at the elbow in dangling loose threads.

Indeed, the fraying hems brought the threat of unraveling everywhere, making the outfits seem loaded with back stories.

A black coat gaped open at the back - as if whoever had been stitching it ran out of thread or just gave up before finishing it.

It could easily have been a mess, but the highly engineered tailoring and the careful proportions gave beauty to the collection.

New York-based designer Anna Sui hewed close to her comfort zone, playing up elements from the late 1960s and early 1970s such as crocheted vests and fringe, mostly in warm tones and golds.

Among Sui's free-spirited, bohemian looks were kimonos, tunics and caftans of lace and printed or iridescent chiffon. Flowing scarves lent an air of Stevie Nicks to the presentation.

Dresses and tops came in crinkled chiffon, and floor-length gowns were gold lace.

For Sui's menswear, velvet and suede were the order of the day, in tones of teal and rose.

(Additional reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Eric Walsh)

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London fires up catwalks, aims for spot as global 'fashion destination'

1 of 7. Models are reflected in mirrors backstage at the Felder Felder Spring/Summer 2014 collection during London Fashion Week September 13, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Olivia Harris

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Li-mei Hoang

LONDON | Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:51pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - British designers kicked off the London leg of the fashion calendar's womenswear season on Friday with a call to celebrate London as a global "fashion destination" on a par with Paris, Milan and New York.

Known for its edgy street style, London is often called fashion's loveable rogue for its eclectic mix of new designers and established brands such as Burberry, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood's Red Label.

Many of the country's major fashion names, such as Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Victoria Beckham and Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label, unveil their collections abroad, however.

On a rainy London morning, British Fashion Council (BFC) chairman Natalie Massenet declared London Fashion Week open and said the council would promote "London street style (which) inspires trends around the world".

"It is paramount that we secure London's reputation as a place where fashion stars are born," she told fashionistas just arrived from New York's fashion week at a breakfast. "We want to cement London's reputation as the destination for fashion."

Massenet introduced a team of experts who will work to promote British fashion through five pillars - reputation, business, investment, digital innovation and education - including James McArthur, chief executive of handbag designer Anya Hindmarch, and Peter Fitzgerald, country sales director at Google UK.

An industry worth 21 billion pounds ($33 billion), fashion is Britain's largest employer of all the creative industries, according to the BFC.

"We want to support the CEOs, the pattern-cutters, the PR directors, marketing directors, sales directors and of course the designers of the future in order to inspire more people to join this industry," Massenet said.

COLOURFUL COLLECTIONS

Despite a still struggling global economy, British fashion brands are hoping to cash in on evidence of a rebound in the luxury sector as solid demand in Japan and the United States has combined with a recovery in Europe to offset a slowdown in China.

London-based Turkish designer Bora Aksu was the first to showcase his spring/summer 2014 creations with a colorful collection he said was inspired by his homeland.

In a palette of baby blue, shocking pink and canary yellow, models wore cropped jackets, pencil skirts and cotton dresses with silk panels and knitted details.

"It was lots of hand-woven textiles from Turkey as well as geometric silk mesh, some chiffons plus knitted cottons," Aksu told Reuters backstage. Like other designers, he acknowledged a still tough market for luxury goods but said demand was there.

"I don't think (demand) really will disappear because there is always the taste for it," he said. "But it probably will never be like before."

British luxury brand DAKS, founded in 1894 and long known for its tailoring, presented what it called a "romantic, sophisticated and metropolitan" collection.

To the sound of "La Vie en Rose", models strutted down in large trousers and full-length skirts as well as in billowing transparent capes. DAKS' check pattern was not forgotten on dresses, appearing in pleated dresses and folds.

Using dusty pink, cognac and black and white, creative director Filippo Scuffi said he aimed for a collection that could be worn season after season.

"My inspiration is from the chic woman, timeless woman, international woman," he told Reuters. "At this time customers want something made nicely, in nice colors, shapes, not burnt out in two months."

British celebrity favorites Julien Macdonald and House of Holland will unveil their collections on Saturday. Later in the week, Matthew Williamson, Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Mulberry and Burberry will showcase their designs.

"London ... lives and breathes creativity, (it) is the crucible for fashion design talent," said Katherine Ormerod, senior fashion news and features editor at Grazia magazine.

"I think that is what is in its character, it's where people ... come and make their mark on the industry even if French or Italian - if they want to launch a line they will come to London."

(Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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Britain's Prince William to leave military

Britain's Prince William takes part in a trade on the trading floor of BGC Partners in London September 11, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Chris Jackson/pool

LONDON | Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:18am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prince William, who became a father for the first time in July, is to step down from the military and will focus on his charity and royal duties for the immediate future, his office said on Thursday.

William, 31, second in line to the throne, has been working as a search and rescue helicopter pilot with Britain's Royal Air Force in north Wales and has spent 7-1/2 years in the armed forces.

"This is a transitional year for him," a spokeswoman said. "He's going to take this year to focus on his charity work, his royal engagements and particularly his work in the field of conservation."

The prince is considering options for a future role in public service and will not be going into full-time royal duties yet, she said.

"It will be a very busy year for him: he's got quite a lot on, so you'll see him out and about quite a lot," she added.

Most pressing for William will be his role as a father following the recent birth of son Prince George, while he and wife Kate are due to move into their official renovated residence at London's Kensington Palace in the next few weeks.

There has also been speculation in the media that William, Kate and baby George will make an official visit to Australia next year.

"It is fair to assume that they will be taking a tour in 2014," said the spokeswoman, adding the birth of his son had not played a role in his decision to quit the armed forces.

William, known as Flight Lieutenant Wales to his colleagues, began military life in the army as a lieutenant in the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals before joining the RAF.

As a search and rescue pilot, he conducted 156 operations, helping 149 people in the process, said Wing Commander Mark "Sparky" Dunlop, his squadron commander.

"These missions were conducted across Wales, northwest England and the Irish Sea in a range of weather conditions which tested the crew's airmanship skills and determination," he said. "I have flown with him and been very impressed with his flying ability and I'd be happy to fly with him again."

(Reporting by Michael Holden, editing by Paul Casciato)

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France heading for small but high-quality 2013 wine vintage

View of the Chateau de Laubade's vineyards in Sorbets, Southwestern France, August 24, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Bruno Martin

By Sybille de La Hamaide

BORDEAUX, France | Fri Sep 13, 2013 5:26am EDT

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - French wine producers said they were expecting a small but high-quality 2013 vintage after violent storms and the coldest spring in more than 25 years afflicted vineyards.

Output was expected to fall to some of the lowest levels in two decades in many parts of the world's largest wine-producing country, they said, as the harvest started in the south.

But dry and warm summer weather that helped ripen the grapes should keep up the quality, barring any more problems with the weather, they added.

"Everything is in place, producers are optimistic," Jean-Philippe Gervais, technical director of the Burgundy Wine Board, told Reuters.

Raging storms and hail destroyed up to 90 percent of the vines in parts of the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions this summer, while cool and damp conditions across the country in June hampered grape growth.

This prompted the agriculture ministry to cut its estimate for this year's wine output on Monday.

France is now expected to produce 44.5 million hectoliters (hl) of wine in 2013 - the equivalent of nearly 6 billion 75-centilitre (cl) bottles - above last year's weather-hit harvest of 41.4 million hl but well below average.

Prices should rise in consequence but only modestly as producers feared losing clients.

"In 1991, we lost part of the harvest of white (grapes). Prices rose and that made us lose some of our markets. The lesson has been learned," said Olivier Bernard, head of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, which promotes nearly 140 of the region's top producers.

MORE AND BETTER CHAMPAGNE

Champagne lovers were due to have a better year, producers said. "This year's harvest is looking very good and much better than in 2012," said Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger, executive chairman of Taittinger champagne, one of the last remaining major family-owned brands.

He expected a 30-50 percent rise in output on last year, which was particularly bad in the north.

Further south in the Beaujolais region, Frederic Laveur, who promotes wines from the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages areas, said a late-June flowering had led to smaller bunches of grapes and, therefore, smaller quantities of juice.

"To compensate it will ripen faster, easier, and the juice will be more concentrated," he said.

Overall, grape-picking will start two to three weeks later than normal because of the slow development of the fruit, said producers. Red grape picking was not expected to start until early October in the Bordeaux region, they added.

But, weather allowing, there was still time for good quality grapes to develop. "There is a great potential for red wines' quality but like in tennis matches, it is the last set that determines the winner," said Paul Pontallier, director of the prestigious Chateau Margaux label.

(Additional reporting by Catherine Lagrange in Lyon, Claude Canellas,; Gus Trompiz and Astrid Wendlandt in Paris; Editing by Ingrid Melander/Mark Heinrich)

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Engineers, insurers on edge as Costa Concordia salvage nears

An aerial view shows the Costa Concordia as it lies on its side next to Giglio Island taken from an Italian navy helicopter August 26, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi

By James Mackenzie

ROME | Fri Sep 13, 2013 9:10am EDT

ROME (Reuters) - When salvage teams begin hauling the wrecked Costa Concordia liner upright on the Italian island of Giglio next week, the financial stakes for insurers will be almost as enormous as the awe-inspiring feat of engineering.

According to reinsurer Munich Re, the overall insurance loss from the accident could surpass $1.1 billion. As much as half of that may be swallowed up by the cost of the salvage operation.

"I think now it's the most expensive wreck removal operation in history," said Rahul Khanna, a former tanker and bulk carrier captain and now a senior marine risk consultant with the shipping insurance arm of Allianz.

"We have our fingers crossed on it and we just hope that this is a success because if it is not, I don't even want to think what the financial consequences would be," he said.

The cost of the salvage operation, which a senior official from the ship's owner Costa Cruises this week estimated at 600 million euros ($800 million) "and rising", is already expected to be greater than the value of the vessel itself.

That compared with other complex salvage operations like the MV Rena, a huge container ship which sank in New Zealand in 2011, whose salvage costs are estimated at around $240 million.

The sheer scale of the Costa Concordia, a vast floating hotel which was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it went down, make the recovery one of the most complex ever attempted.

Lying on its side on a rock shelf just outside the harbor mouth, the 114,500 tonne vessel is the length of three soccer pitches and appears almost as big as the tiny Tuscan port where it was holed and sunk with the loss of 32 lives on January 13 last year.

A multinational team of 500 salvage engineers has occupied the island for most of the past year, stabilizing the hulk and preparing for the start of the lifting work, which is expected to begin at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Monday.

If all goes as planned and the weather remains fine, a so-called "parbuckling" operation will see the ship rotated by a series of cables and hydraulic machines, pulling the hulk from above and below and slowly twisting it upright.

Engineers say they are confident the 12-hour parbuckling project will work but there is no 100 percent guarantee that nothing will go wrong.

"The size of the ship and her location make this the most challenging operation I've ever been involved in," said Nick Sloane, a South African with three decades of experience who is leading the project for contractors Titan Salvage.

Once the ship is upright, it will be stabilized before being eventually towed away to be broken up for scrap. Alternative approaches, such as breaking the ship up on the spot, were rejected as too complicated.

CHALLENGES

By coincidence, the salvage operation will take place on the same day as the annual conference of the International Union of Marine Insurance in London.

"And as you can imagine, there'll only be one subject of conversation," said one industry executive.

Cruise ships have traditionally been among the safest big vessels but the insurance industry has faced a growing challenge from a new breed of superships like the Costa Concordia and the monstrous new bulk cargo carriers that have emerged with the rise in global trade volumes.

Around two-and-a-half times the size of the Titanic, the Costa Concordia was typical of the latest generation of cruise liners, built to carry thousands of passengers and keep them entertained with restaurants, cinemas and bars.

Similar developments have been seen with the bulk cargo carriers, the largest of which can carry up to 18,000 20-foot-long containers.

"These are massive ships now and if something goes wrong we have some serious challenges, especially where they're pushing the boundaries of design," Khanna said.

Insurance underwriters have grappled with the new risk profile presented by the massive new ships and considerable attention has been focused on the cost of recovery and repairing environmental damage in case of any accident.

"If such a vessel were to get into trouble or run aground in a remote location, it might take up to two years just to remove the containers," he said. "These are the kind of things which worry the industry."

As the salvage teams in Giglio start their preparations, the experience gained in shifting the Costa Concordia should provide some guide as to how feasible other difficult wreck recoveries may prove in the future.

"This whole operation is very new so everybody is very keen to look at how it is done and hopefully it will be successful," Khanna said.

($1 = 0.7514 euros)

(The story corrects size relative to Titanic)

(Additional reporting by Eleanor Biles; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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U.S. to fund preservation of 11th-century monastery in Nepal

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU | Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:20pm EDT

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - The United States will help to preserve an 11th-century monastery in Nepal, a Buddhist shrine also deeply revered in neighboring Tibet, by donating $87,800 to protect it from flooding, the U.S. embassy said.

The money from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, created in 2001, will be used for projects at the Richenling Monastery in Halji village, about 355 km (221 miles) northwest of Kathmandu, capital of Hindu-majority Nepal.

"This historic monastery is at risk of destruction due to flooding from a rapidly forming glacial lake to the north," the embassy said in a statement.

Buddhists make up 9 percent of Nepal's 26.6 million people, the second-biggest religious group in the country.

Two years ago, Halji village was hit by floods that destroyed mud homes and killed cattle but caused no human casualties. Residents believe they were protected during the disaster by the monastery that stands close to the Halji river.

Nepal has more than 3,200 glaciers in the Himalayas. Scientists say 14 of them are at risk of causing flooding due to global warming, threatening millions of people downstream.

The U.S. fund to preserve cultural heritage has supported at least 750 projects in more than 120 countries, the embassy said.

Nepal has received more than $1.8 million from the fund to restore and preserve ancient monuments and other cultural sites. The United States is a major donor to Nepal, which gets nearly two-thirds of the cost of its economic development from foreign aid.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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In Scotland's borderland, enthusiasm for independence elusive

1 of 22. Scottish and English flags flutter in the wind and rain at the border between England and Scotland at Carter Bar September 6, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville

By Hannah Vinter

COLDSTREAM | Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:43am EDT

COLDSTREAM (Reuters) - The old battlefields where Englishmen and Scotsmen once shed each other's blood are a reminder of historic enmities in the border region.

But with a year to go before Scotland votes on independence, enthusiasm for a break between the two countries is hard to find in its towns and farming communities.

The 96-mile (154-km) border cuts across mainland Britain from the North Sea to the Irish Sea, through an area that was fought over and the scene of cross-border raids for centuries.

The apparent lack of support for independence, gauged by conversations with borderers, suggests Scots here will not be swayed by old rivalries - something that the "Yes" campaign has tried to capitalize on.

"I think it's introducing one level of uncertainty that we do not require at this time," said Stephen Rendle, managing director of a tweed and cashmere mill in the Scottish Borders town of Hawick.

"Everybody I know feels Scottish enough, the identity of our company is Scottish enough, it's not going to be enhanced. And we only see it as an additional cost coming."

With just a few percent of Scotland's 5 million population, opinion here is not necessarily a barometer for the rest of the country. But polls show the Scottish National Party's (SNP) push for independence, something opposed by the British government and the opposition Labour party, faces an uphill struggle.

A survey this month showed only 25 percent of Scots backed independence, while 47 percent opposed. However, with just a year to go before the September 18, 2014, referendum, enough voters are "don't knows" to swing the vote.

The SNP, which runs Scotland's devolved government, says full independence will boost democracy and allow Scots to unshackle themselves from what they say is Britain's unrepresentative government.

In the last British general election, Prime Minister David Cameron's ruling Conservative party won only 16.7 percent of the vote. It holds only one of Scotland's 59 parliamentary seats as a result, a state of affairs that prompted jokes that there were more pandas in Scotland than Conservative lawmakers.

But opponents of independence say Scotland would be worse off economically and have far less influence in the world if it went it alone. And if it did break away, both camps agree that Britain's own global clout and the future of its Scotland-based nuclear deterrent would come under pressure too.

INTERTWINED

Along the border, where farming and tourism form the backbone of the economy, locals lead lives that straddle both countries. They do not welcome the prospect of formal division.

"I live in England, I work in Scotland. Where's my taxes going?" asked Paul Goodwin, landlord of "The First and Last" pub located just inside Scotland and decked out with Scottish flags, even though Goodwin himself is English.

Across the border in England, local historian Clive Hallam-Baker flies an English flag outside his house - a gesture he describes as a tongue-in-cheek response to Scots symbols. Yet his day-to-day life is entirely integrated with Scotland.

"Virtually all our services come from across the border. Scottish telephone, Scottish power, Scottish post office, we have a Scottish post code, we bank in Scotland at the Bank of Scotland," he said.

Hallam-Baker is chairman of the Remembering Flodden Project, a small charity dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the 1513 Battle of Flodden, a bloody defeat of the Scottish by the English that took place close to his house.

Events devoted to the battle - whose 500th anniversary was marked on Monday - bring together people from England and Scotland.

Gerald Tait, secretary of the Flodden 1513 Club, which commemorates the Scots who died in the battle, lives in Coldstream but is originally from northern England.

"Probably two thirds of the club are Scottish-born, but the rest are from over the border. There's very good banter," he said.

The culture of the border area is partially shaped by a long period of turbulence from the 13th to early 17th Century, when the region was lawless and roamed by Reivers, families who would mount cross-border plundering raids.

Towns in the Borders region of southeast Scotland hold annual "Common Ridings" or festivals, when residents ride out on horseback in a tradition dating back to the times when borderers would ride the boundaries of their lands to protect them.

The Ridings are a Scottish affair, but the history of the Reivers helps bind the area together, according to Wayne Lewins, who has run a pub in Coldstream for over a decade, although he is originally from just south of the border.

"The Scottish Reivers went south and did their raping and pillaging, and then the Northumbrian (English) Reivers went north and did their raping and pillaging. They're all related somehow, somewhere along the line."

Paul Wheelhouse, a pro-independence cabinet member of the devolved Scottish government, said the vote in the Borders region is tight, with many still undecided.

Independence could boost strong economic and cultural ties between the north of England and Scotland, he said.

Publician Lewins disagreed.

"Most of the Borders people are quite happy with the way things are. They like the status quo as it is. It works," he said.

(Editing by Andrew Osborn and Angus MacSwan)

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Language row erupts over planned Belgian stadium

BRUSSELS | Thu Sep 12, 2013 12:09pm EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A day after agreement was finally reached to build a new national stadium in Belgium, a dispute has broken out in the linguistically split country over the language to be used there.

The planned 60,000-seater stadium is to be the centerpiece of Brussels' bid to host matches during the 2020 European soccer championships, replacing the current 45,000 capacity King Baudouin stadium.

The venues are little more than a kilometer (1 mile) apart, but while the present stadium is in officially bilingual but largely French-speaking Brussels, its planned successor is in the exclusively Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

Flemish politicians are bristling at the thought of Brussels extending its francophone culture beyond its borders, leading Flemish Sports Minister Philippe Muyters to say language rules must be respected.

"One of the underlying elements should be an agreement on the use of Dutch there," Muyters, a member of the Flemish separatist N-VA party, told the television program Terzake on Wednesday, hours after the agreement was reached.

Rudi Vervoort, premier of the Brussels region, responded in an interview on La Premiere radio station on Thursday, saying 'Dutch only' could not be the rule at a national stadium.

"Dutch will be secondary, as French will be secondary. We will mainly talk English," he said. "The stadium will not be brought down by the use of languages."

Language is a frequent flashpoint in Belgium, where the wealthier Flemish majority fiercely protects its Dutch language and culture and is constantly on the look-out for encroachments by French speakers, particularly in areas surrounding Brussels.

The country went for 19 months without a new government after 2010 elections due to differences between French-speaking and Flemish parties.

The issue has flared again as politicians seek vie for votes at next year's regional, European and federal elections.

Earlier this month, the council of the Flemish district of Menen, which borders France, decided that it would no longer tolerate the use of French in its town hall, saying anyone who did not speak Dutch must rely on hand gestures instead.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Paul Taylor)

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Michelle Obama pushes water as 'best energy drink'

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Fashion designers look to patents to fight knockoffs

By Erin Geiger Smith

NEW YORK | Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:32am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Design companies tending to the details of fashion shows have more to think about than skirt lengths and handbag clasps - they must decide whether to seek U.S. patent protection for their looks.

Diane von Furstenberg, famous for her wrap dresses, has a design patent on a chain mail-style bag. The popular French line Celine has one on the envelope-style handbag sported by countless fashion experts at New York Fashion Week.

This summer alone, brands including Alexander Wang, Balenciaga and Tod's all were granted design patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on accessory designs, records show.

Because U.S. copyright and trademark laws often do not apply to new, logo-free designs, designers are applying for design patents to protect clothing and accessories from being targets for knock-offs, industry attorneys said.

While some brands, such as Gucci, have been obtaining design patents for decades, it is becoming more the norm for fashion companies to do the same, said intellectual property attorney Steve Nataupsky.

Design patents protect the way something looks, as opposed to more commonly known utility patents, which protect the way something is used and works.

Design patents have garnered attention in recent years due to the high-profile, high-stakes legal battles between Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co over smartphones and tablets.

A jury awarded Apple more than $1 billion last year, although a federal judge eventually cut the award by 40 percent and ordered a retrial on some of the damages.

While statistics are not available for all fashion-related design patents specifically, design patent applications have increased overall each year since 2009.

Because design patents are only available for creations with some originality, companies must carefully evaluate which designs, or portions of designs, deserve protection, said attorney Harley Lewin, who represents brands including Wang and von Furstenberg.

Fashion companies patent designs that they anticipate are going to be "big style setters" and "have a lifetime of at least a couple of years," said attorney Stephen Soffen, who has worked with Valentino and Versace.

Wang, for example, in 2011 was granted a patent for a "stud with grooves." He wanted a patent because he intended to use the studs on handbags and garments and felt they would be identifiable to his brand, Lewin said.

Wang also got patents for several other versions of studs, as well as a shoe with a cape flowing from the ankle strap, U.S. patent records show.

Savvy fashion brands also evaluate what not to patent, said attorney Elizabeth Ferrill.

If a design patent covers an entire design, those who copy it can generally escape liability as long as there are some differences between its product and the original.

And if part of a design, such as a complicated purse handle, is particularly expensive or complex, it is less likely a company seeking to make a cheaper version will copy that portion, Ferrill said.

As a result, companies might exclude that element from the patent application, so if someone copies the rest of the item, the brand will have leverage to stop them.

Design patents, which last 14 years, also offer an advantage to designers who want to keep their looks secret until they hit the runway, lawyers said.

Although applications are generally filed before goods are shown to the public, the U.S. patent office does not publish the applications until a patent is granted.

That publication typically happens a year or more after the filing, giving the goods time to find space on boutique shelves.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Leslie Adler)

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Artist Liu Bolin hides in plain sight at Beijing theatre

1 of 8. Artist Liu Bolin removes a face mask, that was painted to match the colours of a seat in a theatre, after his latest project in Beijing, September 12, 2013. Liu, the Chinese artist known as ''the invisible man'' for using painted-on camouflage to blend into the backdrops of his photographs, has done it again by making himself and other participants ''disappear'' into the red seats of a Beijing theatre. Called ''Red Theatre'', the latest project is Liu's third to make a group vanish and one of more than 100 ''invisible works'' he has completed since 2005. Liu covered a similar ''red chair'' topic in 2010 at Milan's La Scala opera house, but said he also wanted to do it in China. Picture taken on September 12, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Lee

BEIJING | Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:16am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Liu Bolin, the Chinese artist known as "the invisible man" for using painted-on camouflage to blend into the backdrops of his photographs, has done it again by making himself and 22 others "disappear" into the red seats of a Beijing theatre.

Liu, who says the invisibility is a metaphor for the plight of ordinary people in modern society, spent hours motionless with the models as his team of painters painstakingly mimicked the colors and lines of the plush seats on their clothes, faces and hair.

"In China, people have maintained the red-themed uniformity lifestyle for a long time, especially common people. They have even injected the uniformity of behavior or thinking into their blood," Liu told Reuters Television at the event on Thursday.

"I would like to question this issue through this work and tell the audience and people who have interest in my work that this issue has some problems."

Also a sculptor, the 40-year-old artist has won international recognition with exhibitions in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Latin America.

Liu's "Hiding in the City" series featured him hidden in plain sight against monuments, murals, buildings and scenes of everyday life in Beijing, Venice, New York and other places.

Called "Red Theatre", the latest project is Liu's third to make a group vanish and one of more than 100 "invisible works" he has completed since 2005. Liu covered a similar "red chair" topic in 2010 at Milan's La Scala opera house, but said he also wanted to do it in China.

The invisibility theme was originally done as a protest against the demolition of Liu's studio when authorities razed an artists' village in Beijing but then he fell in love with this way of presenting his ideas.

Liu, who used his techniques to disguise the rock band Bon Jovi for the cover of their latest album "What About Now", spends three or four hours to finish a work with a relatively simple background but up to four days when dealing with more complex surroundings.

At the theatre, Liu and the others put on army fatigues and face masks to protect their skin before being painted. Dong Zhaoyan, a 32-year-old saleswoman, said enduring hours of absolute stillness was worth it to take part in Liu's creation.

"I have no idea how my face looks right now," said Dong. "Being at this event means so much to me."

(Reporting by Sabrina Mao; Writing by John O'Callaghan)

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Leonardo da Vinci's notebook on flight comes to Washington

Leonardo da Vinci describes the use of flight testing apparatus to understand aerodynamics, in this undated illustration, released on September 12, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Smithsonian Libraries, from the original at the Biblioteca Reale, Turin, Italy/Handout via Reuters

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:03pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than five centuries after he scribbled in the pages of a well-worn pocket notebook, Leonardo da Vinci's seminal document detailing how humans might emulate the flight of birds has landed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Steps from the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer in a shaded corner of the vast museum on Washington's Mall, da Vinci's "Codex on the Flight of Birds" goes on display on Friday for about six weeks.

Created by the Italian Renaissance visionary between 1505 and 1506, at the same time he was painting the "Mona Lisa," the codex contains the essentials of aeronautics, gleaned from da Vinci's observations of kite birds wheeling overhead.

The 18 pages of the notebook are written in the artist's idiosyncratic backwards mirror script and include drawings of the joints in bird wings, along with the ideas of lift and drag, air flow and gravity.

"When the bird beats its wings and waits to gain height, it raises the shoulders and beats the tips of the wings towards itself, thus condensing the air that stands between the tips of his wings and its chest," da Vinci wrote on one page, according to an English translation. "This makes the bird rise upward."

To aeronautical experts, the da Vinci codex on bird flight seems to have almost mystical powers.

Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said his heart started beating a bit faster when he was allowed to turn the pages of the codex during a 2011 visit to its home at Italy's Biblioteca Reale di Torino, or Royal Library of Turin. The codex is on loan from the library.

"I was so hesitant about going through the pages, but it is amazing, the things that Leonardo thought when he was drawing on this thing 500 years ago," Elachi said during a media preview of the Washington exhibit. "And basically that's the foundation of how we do flights."

Elachi wore gloves to avoid damaging the fragile notebook. In its Washington display, the document is in a sealed case and no photographs are permitted. But there are computer screens where visitors can turn the pages of a digital version of the codex, showing da Vinci's script and drawings on one side, facing the English translation on the other.

The 8-by-6-inch (20-by-15-cm) codex has traveled to the United States only once before, in 2008, and rarely leaves Italy, the museum said.

The notebook also includes some philosophical musings on lying, drawings of a leaf and the muscles in a human leg, and even a shopping list.

The codex has traveled to France, Siberia, Britain and back to Italy. A digitally scanned version of it is now on the Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the red planet in August 2012.

One of da Vinci's ideas from the codex was to have leather bags filled with water to cushion any fall from flight by a human pilot. Elachi pointed out that this system is not far from the air bags that cushioned earlier rovers' landing on the Martian surface.

"Just imagine, 500 years ago, where he had no tools, no mathematical equations that we have now, no wind tunnels," Elachi said. "He basically was able, just by observation, to come up with a lot of the theories of what we do now."

More information and images from the exhibit are available here

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

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Van Gogh copies in 3D look almost real, cost 25,000 euros

1 of 9. A copy of the Vincent Van Gogh painting ''Wheatfield under Thunderclouds'' (1890) is seen in this handout photo provided by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to Reuters on September 11, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Relievo, Wheatfield under Thunderclouds. Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam/Handout via Reuters

By Sara Webb

AMSTERDAM | Fri Sep 13, 2013 3:03pm EDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - It would be the envy of forgers: a technology that can mint near-perfect reproductions of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings at a rate of three a day, with differences only experts can detect.

So far, five of the Dutch painter's best-known works, including "Sunflowers" and "The Harvest", have undergone the treatment in a project backed by Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum using technology developed by the Fujifilm unit of Fujifilm Holdings Corp.

"This is the next generation of reproductions. In the past we had lithographs, then photographs, first black and white, then color. Now these are reproductions in three dimensions," Axel Rueger, director of the museum, said.

Each numbered copy on canvas with relief costs 25,000 euros ($33,300). The complex production process means only three can be produced a day, although prices may come down as production becomes cheaper and easier, Rueger said.

That's more than the usual $15 university dorm poster of "Sunflowers" but a lot less than the $82.5 million Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito paid in 1990 for Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr Gachet" at a Christie's auction, or the $53.9 million Australian businessman Alan Bond paid for "Irises" in 1987.

The market is unlikely to feel any impact from the cheaper but technically proficient copies, one art expert said. "I don't see any harm done to rich Van Gogh collectors globally," Jop Ubbens, head of Christie's in Amsterdam, told Reuters.

"It is a brilliant innovation from a merchandising perspective by the museum reaching out to a total new target group, something completely different and very creative."

Like many arts institutions hit by government budget cuts, the Van Gogh Museum is turning to the private sector and commercial ventures for funds.

It hopes to raise tens of millions of euros for its own renovation and research by selling the three-dimensional reproductions, known as "Relievos".

The original work is copied using Fujifilm's Reliefography technique, which combines a three-dimensional scan of the painting with a high-resolution print.

A copy of the painting is first made on canvas, producing a colorless relief. Ink is applied so the brush strokes match those in the original. The image is framed and the same process is used to apply copies of the torn and splotchy official stamps stuck to the back of the frame and canvas.

Van Gogh's paintings appear highly textured as he used a technique known as "impasto", where the paint is applied thickly to the canvas, showing the brush or knife strokes.

"It's reasonably difficult to see the difference between the copy and the original. Maybe the edges of the brush strokes are not quite so sharp on the copy and the overall sheen is fairly even, whereas on the original the varnish can vary," Rueger said.

The Van Gogh Museum picked five of the artist's most famous works for the first set of Relievos, including "Almond Blossom" (1890), "Wheatfield under Thunderclouds" (1890) and "Boulevard de Clichy" (1887), as well as "Sunflowers" (1889) and "The Harvest" (1888).

For each of the five paintings, the museum is producing a limited edition of 260 reproductions.

Luxury hotels and casinos are possible buyers, and some may be used for educational purposes, Rueger said.

"Van Gogh is very popular in Asia, and Hong Kong is a very commercial market," Rueger said. "People in Asia have different attitude to reproductions. There was a lot of interest there."

(Reporting by Sara Webb; Editing by Michael Roddy and Sonya Hepinstall)

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Abu Dhabi employees in fix over losing Dubai life

By Stanley Carvalho and Praveen Menon

ABU DHABI/DUBAI | Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:08am EDT

ABU DHABI/DUBAI (Reuters) - When American Stephen Perry lost his job at a bank in Dubai following the emirate's debt crisis in 2009, he was lucky to be hired by one of neighboring Abu Dhabi's government firms.

He didn't move house, so it didn't disrupt his wife's job or the kids' schooling, despite the daily 130-kilometre (80 mile) commute each way. That was still better than the nearly 200 kms he used to put up with in the United States, and he considered it a price worth paying to keep the liberal, cosmopolitan lifestyle in Dubai.

But now Perry is in a dilemma and might not be able to manage the commute after all.

Last September, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven Gulf emirates, told state employees that if they lived outside its city limits they would not be eligible for housing allowance, which accounts for about a third of their salaries.

The government has said the new rule was aimed at cutting traffic and road accidents, a nod to the risk of commuting on the busy desert highway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But analysts and industry experts say the policy is designed to help absorb a glut of new high-end homes in Abu Dhabi and revive state developers such as bailed-out Aldar.

"Many new units have come up in Abu Dhabi, reaching the peak of its development cycle. The move is to create new demand and make sure the vacancy rates don't reach high levels," said Matthew Green, research head at property consultancy CBRE in Dubai.

The Abu Dhabi government declined to comment on the rulings implications for the property market.

About 10,000 new houses are expected to hit the market by the end of the year, with a further 43,000 by the end of 2015.

With Dubai's property market still yet to fully recover from the crisis, Abu Dhabi's attempt to boost its own struggling real estate sector once again highlights the competition and shifting dynamics between the two tiny sheikhdoms.

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is keen to keep more of the wealth it generates, rather than having to support its flashy neighbor. Dubai's passion for tall towers and fancy hotels landed the emirate with massive debts, forcing Abu Dhabi to step in with a $20 billion bailout.

Home to the world's largest shopping mall, the tallest building and a palm-shaped artificial island, Dubai, the Middle East's party capital, has a 90-percent expatriate population.

"Dubai has something for everyone, and for an expatriate like me it is home; I don't feel out of place. I think I am echoing the sentiments of many expatriates," said Sandra Haddad, a Lebanese national who works in Abu Dhabi's aviation sector.

AN EMOTIONAL ISSUE

While Abu Dhabi is trying to shake off its more staid image by hosting an annual Formula One race and developing branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums, Dubai remains a bigger draw for shoppers and tourists.

Dubai's restaurants, hotels and nightclubs have helped it stage a gradual recovery, in contrast to Abu Dhabi, which is still struggling to emerge from the crisis.

Lower rents, better schools and hospitals make Dubai more expat-friendly, and thousands commute from there to Abu Dhabi for work.

Precise figures for the number of Abu Dhabi government employees living outside the emirate have not been released, but analysts have estimated it at roughly 15,000-20,000. Including family members, that would mean around 50,000 people could be affected by the change of rules on housing allowance.

With the rule set to be implemented at the end of this month, people are fearful they will have to move if it is strictly enforced. Some have asked their employers for exemptions.

"The commuting and accidents argument is convenient. It was never about roads," said one western executive working for an Abu Dhabi government department.

"A home is an emotional issue. You can't tell someone where to live. There ought to be some give and take."

The Abu Dhabi government said some exceptions could be made, but declined to elaborate.

"The circular is binding on all Abu Dhabi government employees. Nonetheless, special cases that require exception will be considered and assessed. Appropriate decisions will be made to each case separately," it said in a statement.

PAPER RESIDENCY

In the meantime, employees' attempts to work around the rule are fuelling a recovery in Abu Dhabi's rental market, with people taking out leases on studios and one-bedroom apartments to prove residency on paper while continuing to live in Dubai.

"My spouse has a job in Dubai, our kids are at a crucial stage of high school. I've taken up a studio in Abu Dhabi that swallows up half my rental allowance," said one government employee.

Rents for studios and one-bedroom apartments have jumped by 25 percent in areas such as Khalifa city on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, according to Mahmoud Hussain, a manager with property consultants Cluttons.

Dubai, on the other hand, will lose out if its current residents move or spend less time in the emirate, analysts said.

Overall, prime residential rents in Abu Dhabi grew 8 percent in the first quarter this year and remained stable in the second.

"This can partly be attributed to the government regulations to reduce the level of commuting from Dubai," said David Dudley, regional director of Jones Lang LaSalle, adding other factors such as government spending may have also contributed.

But some are skeptical that the new rule will have much impact.

"Not everyone is going to make the move, so rush hour traffic won't decrease, nor will we see a surge in demand for homes in Abu Dhabi, at least in the short term," said an executive of an Abu Dhabi government-owned entity, who declined to be named.

"We have to be civilized and make exceptions based on the merits of the case," he said.

(This Sept 8 story corrects company name to CBRE in paragraph 7)

(Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Will Waterman)

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Joyous Afghans celebrate football win with dancing, gunfire

1 of 3. Afghan football fans celebrate winning the South Asian Football Federation championship after their team defeated India during the final match, in the streets of Kabul September 12, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL | Thu Sep 12, 2013 4:34am EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai embraced Afghanistan's victorious football team on Thursday, hours after they united the nation in a rare moment of shared joy, but officials also told jubilant Afghans to stop firing guns into the air in celebration.

The national men's team beat India 2-0 to win the South Asian Football Federation championship in Kathmandu late on Tuesday, Afghanistan's first international football title, sending tens of thousands of joyous Afghans into the streets.

Fans in cars and on motorbikes joined others on foot, cheering, blowing horns and waving Afghan flags throughout the night. Many danced in the streets of the capital, Kabul, after crowding around television sets in their homes, restaurants and coffee shops to watch the match.

"Now I know what being proud feels like, this is the happiest time in my life," said fan Ahmad Bashir, an Afghan flag draped over his shoulders.

"I have no idea what we will do if we ever win the World Cup," he said.

Most of those out in the streets of the strictly conservative Muslim country were men, although some families in cars joined in the celebrations, many shouting "Zendabad Afghanistan!" (Long Live Afghanistan!).

Afghans have struggled under the weight of three decades of conflict, stretching back through the occupation by former Soviet forces, a civil war, austere rule under the Taliban and then another 12 years of war since the Taliban were toppled.

Such celebrations would have been unimaginable under the Taliban, who banned music and television and forbade women access to education and most public gatherings.

The Taliban also banned most sport, and even used the national football stadium in Kabul for public executions.

"Our youths proved that we have the ability to make progress and win," Karzai said in a statement issued by the presidential palace. Karzai's office tweeted a picture of him watching the match in the palace.

Celebrations continued throughout Thursday, a brief respite for Afghans who fear increased violence as most foreign troops prepare to leave by the end of next year.

The night erupted into gunfire in Kabul and elsewhere across Afghanistan immediately after the match as fans fired AK-47 assault rifles - commonplace in many Afghan households - and even machine-guns into the air in celebration.

Witnesses said many of those firing into the air had been police. The gunfire panicked some residents, who feared an attack by the Taliban, and led to warning sirens being sounded in some foreign embassies.

The Afghan interior ministry and the intelligence agency congratulated the national football team in a statement.

They had to send out a second statement on Thursday urging people to stop the celebratory gunfire because of the risk posed by bullets falling back to earth.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

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Pope Francis to drive his own 'popemobile' inside Vatican City

Pope Francis (R) is presented with a Renault 4 car during a private audience with Don Renzo Zocca at the Vatican in this picture taken September 7, 2013 and released by Osservatore Romano September 10, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Osservatore Romano

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY | Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:15am EDT

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis plans to drive around Vatican City at the wheel of a "popemobile" that is a lot like him: frugal, clad in white, and with a fair bit of mileage.

The 1984 Renault 4 economy car with 300,000 km (186,000 miles) on the clock was given to him by a 70-year-old priest from northern Italy, Father Renzo Zocca, who took the pope for a spin inside the walls of the tiny city-state.

"I think the pope will drive it a bit himself inside the Vatican," the Holy See's deputy spokesman, Father Ciro Benedettini, said on Thursday.

After the pope appealed to priests several months ago not to drive expensive cars but to save money and give it to the poor, Zocca wrote him a letter saying he had used the same car for decades and wanted to give it to the pope as a symbolic gift.

He brought it last weekend, along with some of his parishioners, to the Vatican, where the pope told him he knew how to drive it because he had had a Renault 4 in Argentina.

The pope, 76, then got in and drove it, Zocca told the Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana (Christian Family).

Francis, who, as a cardinal in Buenos Aires, traveled by subway, has shown a predilection for simple means of transport even after his election in March as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years.

On the night of his election, he shunned the bulletproof papal Mercedes limousine and rode in a minibus with the cardinals who had chosen him to lead the Roman Catholic church.

During his trip to Brazil in July he was driven around Rio de Janeiro in a small silver Fiat at his own request, and when he visited a refugee centre in Rome on Tuesday, he used a Ford Focus from the Vatican's car pool.

Francis has shunned the spacious and luxurious papal apartments used by his predecessors and has opted to live in a small suite in a Vatican guesthouse.

And while Francis will likely never need them in Rome, which is hit by serious snow only about once every 25 years, Zocca's snow tires are still in the trunk.

"You never know," he told Famiglia Cristiana.

(Editing by Louise Ireland and Paul Casciato)

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