BY RACHEL DONADIO

New York Times Service

PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and

cultural misunderstandings are

running high after a U.S. college

student was found guilty here of

murdering her British housemate.

Rather than clarifying the saga

of what prosecutors said was a

sex game gone fatally awry, the

conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a

Seattle college student, for kill-

ing her roommate,

Meredith Kercher,

21, seemed only

to heighten the

confl icting public

opinions that had

formed about the

case in two years of

fi erce international

news coverage.

As the year-long

trial unfolded in the media as much

as in the courts, Knox was often de-

picted in the United States as an in-

nocent abroad, a fresh-faced young

woman caught in the vagaries of

the Italian justice system.

Yet in the Italian press, she was

a blithe, dope-smoking party girl

whose only innocence might have

been in her belief that she could get

away with murder. She had changed

her story and at one point accused

a former boss, Patrick Lumumba, of

the crime.

On Saturday, she was also

found guilty of defaming Lumum-

ba, whose defense lawyer called

her a “little she-devil” in closing ar-

guments last week.

The trial also tapped into long-

standing town-and-gown tensions

in Perugia, where residents blame

foreign students like Knox for help-

ing transform the picturesque city

into a pub crawl center.

The Knox family insisted that

the concern with this larger cul-

tural clash and the gossipy details

of Amanda’s personal life obscured

the focus on what really happened

on Nov. 2, 2007.

“It appears clear to us that the

attacks on Amanda’s character in

much of the media and by the pros-

ecution had a signifi cant impact

on the judges and jurors and ap-

parently overshadowed the lack of

evidence in the prosecution’s case

against her,” the family said in a

statement.

The family vowed to continue

its campaign to free Knox. Asked if

they would appeal, her father, Curt

Knox, replied, with tears in his

eyes, “Hell, yes.”

Knox was sentenced to 26 years

in prison, and her former Italian

boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, to

25 years. A third defendant, Rudy

Guede, 22, is serving a 30-year sen-

tence for sexual assault and mur-

der. He has admitted to being at the

house the night of the murder, and

TURN TO TRIAL, 2A

•

MiamiHerald.com

HOTEL COPIES: A copy of The Miami Herald will be

delivered to your room. A credit of US$0.25 will be

posted to your account if delivery is declined.

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONMONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

106TH YEAR, NO. 422 I ©2009 THE MIAMI HERALD

Morales easily

holds Bolivia

presidency

Analogies to Iraq

mask Afghan risk

BY FRANK BAJAK

Associated Press

LA PAZ, Bolivia — President

Evo Morales appeared headed

to easy reelection Sunday, with a

strong mandate for further revo-

lutionary change on behalf of Bo-

livia’s long-suppressed indigenous

majority.

Opponents say they fear Mo-

rales will use a consolidation of

power not just to eradicate ra-

cially based economic inequalities

but also to trample human rights

and deepen state control of the

economy.

Exit polls by two separate

polling fi rms said Bolivia’s fi rst

indigenous leader won at least

62 percent of the vote, with the

closest challenger in a fi eld of nine,

center-right former state gover-

nor and military offi cer Manfred

Reyes, winning about 23 percent.

Voters also were choosing a

new Congress, and the exit poll by

Equipos-Mori said Morales’ stri-

dently leftist Movement Toward

Socialism easily won a major-

ity in both the 36-seat Senate and

130-member lower house.

The movement secured a two-

thirds majority in the Senate but

not the lower house, according to

that exit poll.

It would need

two-thirds control

of both chambers

to dictate terms

of a law on in-

digenous territo-

rial self-rule, make

key appointments

unchallenged and

amend the consti-

tution to allow Morales to seek a

third straight term. The 50-year-

old incumbent has been evasive

on the latter issue.

The exit polls gave presiden-

tial candidate Samuel Doria Me-

dina, a centrist cement magnate,

TURN TO MORALES, 2A

•

BY DAVID E. SANGER

New York Times Service

WASHINGTON — President

Barack Obama strongly opposed

his predecessor George W. Bush’s

surge in Iraq during his presiden-

tial campaign, and even now he

has never publicly acknowledged

that it was largely successful.

But in the White House Situ-

ation Room a little more than a

month ago, he told his aides, “It

turned out to be a good thing.”

And as many of Obama’s own ad-

visors have recounted in recent

days in interviews, the decision on

the surge of 30,000 troops to Af-

ghanistan by next summer was at

least partly inspired by the success

of the effort in Iraq, which Bush’s

aides say is their best hope that

historians will give them some

credit when the history of a highly

problematic war is written.

In fact, Iraq analogies have

been fl ying back and forth so furi-

ously in recent days that Secretary

of Defense Robert M. Gates, the

only holdover from the Bush-era

Cabinet, told Congress, “This is

the second surge I’ve been up here

defending.”

But probe beneath the surface,

and it becomes clear that Obama is

heading into his new strategy with

his ears ringing with warnings —

from some of his own aides and

TURN TO STRATEGIES, 2A

• n TROOPS IN IRAQ STAND DOWN, 6A

PALIN POKES FUN AT

HERSELF AT GRIDIRON

WINTER DINNER, 5A

KUWAIT SELLS

CITIGROUP STAKE

FOR $4.1 BILLION, 1B

DOLPHINS RALLY

PAST PATRIOTS TO

TIGHTEN AFC EAST, 8B

AMERICAS................... 4

A

WORLD NEWS........... 6A

OPINION......................

7A

COMICS & PUZZLES.. 6B

INDEX

BY WILL LESTER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Presi-

dent Barack Obama is seeking

to reassure people frustrated by

high unemployment that he’s

concentrating on jobs, while de-

fending his administration’s ef-

forts to strengthen the economy

on several fronts.

“In the coming days, I’ll be un-

veiling additional ideas aimed at

accelerating job growth and hir-

ing as we emerge from this eco-

nomic storm,” Obama said. “And

so that we don’t face another cri-

sis like this again, I’m determined

to meet our responsibility to do

what we know will strengthen

our economy in the long run.”

Obama said he has no inten-

tion of backing off his admin-

istration’s efforts to overhaul

healthcare, improve education,

invest in a clean energy economy

and deal with mounting federal

debts.But he acknowledged the pain

felt by millions of the unem-

ployed. Job losses in the United

States have been the worst since

the 1930s, but new statistics

showed a relatively moderate

loss of 11,000 jobs last month.

The unemployment rate dipped

from 10.2 percent in October to

10 percent in November.

Obama has faced criticism

for tackling various problems

simultaneously while the unem-

ployment rate has been growing.

He said the economy is turning

around, even if slowly.

U.S. citizens “are in a very dif-

ferent place than we were when

2009 began,” Obama said. He cit-

ed recovery efforts as part of the

reason “we’re no longer facing the

potential collapse of our fi nancial

system or a second Great Depres-

sion. We’re no longer losing jobs

at a rate of 700,000 a month. And

our economy’s growing for the

fi rst time in a year.”

n JOBLESS RATE MAY HAVE HIT PEAK, 3B

BY MICHAEL SALLAH AND ROB BARRY

msallah@MiamiHerald.com

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands

— With federal agents pressing an

investigation into his offshore bank,

billionaire Allen Stanford drove up

a dirt road, hauling records from his

headquarters to the top of a lush,

tropical mountain.

As the sun set over the island, the

banker stuffed the papers into a steel

drum, poured gasoline over the top

and sparked a fi re — the fl ames rising

into the sky.

Months before his businesses ex-

ploded in February in a $7 billion

fraud case, Stanford embarked on a

mission to hide his fi nancial records

while trying to raise money to keep

his banking empire alive.

He would jet off to Libya to try

to convince government leaders to

invest in his offshore institution.

He would even buy two Ca-

ribbean islands — fl ipping the

properties four times to infl ate the

value of the land and pump up the

bank’s assets.

“He was desperate,” said

Jonas Hagg, a longtime

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,

executive chef who

lived on Stanford’s

yacht. “You never

knew from day

to day what

was going to

happen. He

was fl ying

by the seat of

his pants.”

Details of the

fi nal days of Stan-

ford’s banking net-

work, from court

fi lings and inter-

views with a dozen

staff members, of-

fer the most com-

plete picture so far of

how he plundered his

customers’ accounts,

TURN TO STANFORD, 4A

• Obama seeks long-term goals

SUSAN WALSH/AP

SOLACE: President Barack Obama visits job seekers at the

Pennsylvania CareerLink of Lehigh Valley in Allentown, Pa.

Murder verdict in Italy,

but the case doesn’t end

KNOX

MORALES

As his empire fell,

banker moved to keep

his fraud a secret, and

the money flowing

07PGA01.indd 1

12/7/2009 5:41:20 AM

design for impact

BY RACHEL DONADIONew York Times Service

PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings are running high after a U.S. college student was found guilty here of murdering her British housemate.

Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a sex game gone fatally awry, the conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for kill-ing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the confl icting public opinions that had formed about the case in two years of fi erce international news coverage.

As the year-long trial unfolded in the media as much as in the courts, Knox was often de-picted in the United States as an in-nocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.

Yet in the Italian press, she was a blithe, dope-smoking party girl whose only innocence might have been in her belief that she could get away with murder. She had changed her story and at one point accused a former boss, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime.

On Saturday, she was also found guilty of defaming Lumum-

ba, whose defense lawyer called her a “little she-devil” in closing ar-guments last week.

The trial also tapped into long-standing town-and-gown tensions in Perugia, where residents blame foreign students like Knox for help-ing transform the picturesque city into a pub crawl center.

The Knox family insisted that the concern with this larger cul-tural clash and the gossipy details of Amanda’s personal life obscured the focus on what really happened on Nov. 2, 2007.

“It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the pros-ecution had a signifi cant impact on the judges and jurors and ap-parently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her,” the family said in a statement.

The family vowed to continue its campaign to free Knox. Asked if they would appeal, her father, Curt Knox, replied, with tears in his eyes, “Hell, yes.”

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, to 25 years. A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 22, is serving a 30-year sen-tence for sexual assault and mur-der. He has admitted to being at the house the night of the murder, and

TURN TO TRIAL, 2A•

MiamiHerald.com

HOTEL COPIES: A copy of The Miami Herald will bedelivered to your room. A credit of US$0.25 will beposted to your account if delivery is declined. INTERNATIONAL EDITION MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2009

106TH YEAR, NO. 422 I ©2009 THE MIAMI HERALD

Morales easilyholds Bolivia presidency

Analogies to Iraq mask Afghan risk

BY FRANK BAJAKAssociated Press

LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales appeared headed to easy reelection Sunday, with a strong mandate for further revo-lutionary change on behalf of Bo-livia’s long-suppressed indigenous majority.

Opponents say they fear Mo-rales will use a consolidation of power not just to eradicate ra-cially based economic inequalities but also to trample human rights and deepen state control of the economy.

Exit polls by two separate polling fi rms said Bolivia’s fi rst indigenous leader won at least 62 percent of the vote, with the closest challenger in a fi eld of nine, center-right former state gover-nor and military offi cer Manfred Reyes, winning about 23 percent.

Voters also were choosing a new Congress, and the exit poll by Equipos-Mori said Morales’ stri-

dently leftist Movement Toward Socialism easily won a major-ity in both the 36-seat Senate and 130-member lower house.

The movement secured a two-thirds majority in the Senate but not the lower house, according to

that exit poll.It would need

two-thirds control of both chambers to dictate terms of a law on in-digenous territo-rial self-rule, make key appointments unchallenged and amend the consti-

tution to allow Morales to seek a third straight term. The 50-year-old incumbent has been evasive on the latter issue.

The exit polls gave presiden-tial candidate Samuel Doria Me-dina, a centrist cement magnate,

TURN TO MORALES, 2A•

BY DAVID E. SANGERNew York Times Service

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama strongly opposed his predecessor George W. Bush’s surge in Iraq during his presiden-tial campaign, and even now he has never publicly acknowledged that it was largely successful.

But in the White House Situ-ation Room a little more than a month ago, he told his aides, “It turned out to be a good thing.” And as many of Obama’s own ad-visors have recounted in recent days in interviews, the decision on the surge of 30,000 troops to Af-ghanistan by next summer was at least partly inspired by the success of the effort in Iraq, which Bush’s

aides say is their best hope that historians will give them some credit when the history of a highly problematic war is written.

In fact, Iraq analogies have been fl ying back and forth so furi-ously in recent days that Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, the only holdover from the Bush-era Cabinet, told Congress, “This is the second surge I’ve been up here defending.”

But probe beneath the surface, and it becomes clear that Obama is heading into his new strategy with his ears ringing with warnings — from some of his own aides and

TURN TO STRATEGIES, 2A• n TROOPS IN IRAQ STAND DOWN, 6A

PALIN POKES FUN AT HERSELF AT GRIDIRON WINTER DINNER, 5A

KUWAIT SELLS CITIGROUP STAKE FOR $4.1 BILLION, 1B

DOLPHINS RALLY PAST PATRIOTS TO TIGHTEN AFC EAST, 8B

AMERICAS................... 4A WORLD NEWS........... 6AOPINION...................... 7ACOMICS & PUZZLES.. 6B

INDEX

BY WILL LESTERAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — Presi-dent Barack Obama is seeking to reassure people frustrated by high unemployment that he’s concentrating on jobs, while de-fending his administration’s ef-forts to strengthen the economy on several fronts.

“In the coming days, I’ll be un-

veiling additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hir-ing as we emerge from this eco-nomic storm,” Obama said. “And so that we don’t face another cri-sis like this again, I’m determined to meet our responsibility to do what we know will strengthen our economy in the long run.”

Obama said he has no inten-tion of backing off his admin-

istration’s efforts to overhaul healthcare, improve education, invest in a clean energy economy and deal with mounting federal debts.

But he acknowledged the pain felt by millions of the unem-ployed. Job losses in the United States have been the worst since the 1930s, but new statistics showed a relatively moderate loss of 11,000 jobs last month. The unemployment rate dipped from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent in November.

Obama has faced criticism for tackling various problems simultaneously while the unem-ployment rate has been growing. He said the economy is turning around, even if slowly.

U.S. citizens “are in a very dif-ferent place than we were when 2009 began,” Obama said. He cit-ed recovery efforts as part of the reason “we’re no longer facing the potential collapse of our fi nancial system or a second Great Depres-sion. We’re no longer losing jobs at a rate of 700,000 a month. And our economy’s growing for the fi rst time in a year.”

n JOBLESS RATE MAY HAVE HIT PEAK, 3B

BY MICHAEL SALLAH AND ROB BARRYmsallah@MiamiHerald.com

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands — With federal agents pressing an investigation into his offshore bank, billionaire Allen Stanford drove up a dirt road, hauling records from his headquarters to the top of a lush, tropical mountain.

As the sun set over the island, the banker stuffed the papers into a steel drum, poured gasoline over the top and sparked a fi re — the fl ames rising into the sky.

Months before his businesses ex-ploded in February in a $7 billion fraud case, Stanford embarked on a mission to hide his fi nancial records while trying to raise money to keep his banking empire alive.

He would jet off to Libya to try to convince government leaders to invest in his offshore institution.

He would even buy two Ca-ribbean islands — fl ipping the properties four times to infl ate the value of the land and pump up the bank’s assets.

“He was desperate,” said Jonas Hagg, a longtime Fort Lauderdale, Fla., executive chef who lived on Stanford’s yacht. “You never knew from day to day what was going to happen. He was fl ying by the seat of his pants.”

Details of the fi nal days of Stan-ford’s banking net-work, from court fi lings and inter-views with a dozen staff members, of-fer the most com-plete picture so far of how he plundered his customers’ accounts,

TURN TO STANFORD, 4A•

Obama seeks long-term goals

SUSAN WALSH/AP

SOLACE: President Barack Obama visits job seekers at the Pennsylvania CareerLink of Lehigh Valley in Allentown, Pa.

Murder verdict in Italy, but the case doesn’t end

KNOX

MORALES

As his empire fell, banker moved to keep his fraud a secret, and the money flowing

07PGA01.indd 1 12/7/2009 5:41:20 AM

While Germany can look backon three World Cups and threeEuropean Championship titles,Spain’s success at the 1964 Eurorepresents their only trophy onthe biggest stage.

“They know how to win tour-naments, they know how to playthese games and we know wehave be careful because they arethe favourites,’’ Spain strikerFernando Torres said.

And Germany defenderChistoph Metzelder playsalongside Iker Casillas andSergio Ramos at Real Madrid.

“Our scouts have been watch-ing Spain for some time, andthey certainly know more aboutthem than I do,’’ Metzelder said.

“But I know the mentality of theplayers. I’ll give my team-matesa few tips, but it certainly won’tbe anything decisive.’’

Spain have a history of tank-ing at major championships, andfailure in the final – no matterthe performance – will in-evitably lead to fans and mediasighing that the team have justreverted to type.

A poor performance and theplayers will be likened to rabbitsfrozen in a car’s headlights. Astack of missed chances willlead to accusations that theypanic in front of goal. A shoot-out failure will be called a breakunder pressure.

And Germany’s players arerightly proud of a pedigree that

had even a relatively unheraldedline-up reaching the World Cupsemi-finals two years ago.

“In 2006, something was miss-ing,’’ defender Torsten Fringssaid. “This time we hope tobring something along, not onlyT-shirts with “Danke’’ writtenon them.’’

Germany’s only injury con-cerns are over midfieldersSimon Rolfes and Frings. Rolfesneeded six stitches for a cutabove the left eye in a 3-2 winover Turkey and is likely to bereplaced by Frings.

Spain striker David Villa, whoscored the only hat-trick at Euro2008 on his way to becomingleading scorer with four goals,will have tests on his injuredright leg before officials decidewhether he is fit to play.

With both teams in form andboth having concerns, maybe

Alonso came closest to tellingthe truth on how the players

see the match. “There’re no favourites.

The teams are prettyclose, and anything canhappen in a final.’’

A P , Vienna

Germany’s team managerlauds Spain as the best side

at this edition of Euro, but oneof his players suggests he has in-sider knowledge on how to tack-le it. A Spanish striker saysGermany are favourites for thetitle, but a team-mate says thereis little to choose between theline-ups.

The jostling for a psychologi-cal edge ahead of today’s final in

Vienna has begun, so whoknows if any of it is what

they really think? Germany’s OliverBierhoff at least

s o u n d e d

genuine when he wasted notime in building up Spain, whoruthlessly cut apart Russia 3-0on Thursday to reach the final.

Still, the team manager wenton to remind everyone thatGermany have already shownthey do not respect status bydisposing of Portugal in thequarter-finals. He probablyhoped the Spanish were listen-ing.

“We have demonstrated whatcapabilities we possess, al-though we should put Spain onestep above us,’’ Bierhoff said.“But this was the case againstPortugal as well and it doesn’t

have to be to our disadvan-tage.’’

From the outside, all thepressure seems to be on Spain,

so Bierhoff ’s wordscould be just an

attempt to sow the seeds of a lit-tle worry.

Spain are the only team at the16-nation tournament not tolose a single game and eased in-to the final by beating a Russianside that appeared rampant indisposing of the much toutedNetherlands in the quarter-fi-nals.

They have racked up 11 goalsin five matches even thoughthey had to resort to tough de-fensive tactics for a 0-0 quarter-final draw with Italy that was re-solved only by a penalty shoot-out, with their versatility, attack-ing verve and onus on the teamover individual talent raisinghopes that they are about toclinch their first international ti-tle in 44 years.

“I don’t know how it worked44 years ago, but having beenwith the boys for a month, thegroup is fantastic,’’ midfielderXabi Alonso said. “We have agreat atmosphere in the chang-ing room. That is one of the keysto our success at the moment.’’

But thinking about the past isthe last thing Spain should be

doing.

ROYALEBATTLEWE HAVEN’TPLAYED AS WEINTENDED TO...WE WILL GOBACK TO BASICS Joachim Loew

,,Europe waits for a king as flamboyantSpain meet resilient Germany in a bid to end 44 years of stylish failure

TOPSCORERS

4 David Villa (ESP)3 Hakan Yakin (SUI),

Semih Senturk (TUR)Roman Pavlyuchenko (RUS)Lukas Podolski (GER)

11 Spain10 Germany, Netherlands8 Turkey

Of the 19 timesthey have met,Germany wonthe most.

8:5HEADTOHEAD

This is the third final forSpain, who won the title in1964 and slipped in 1984

Record sixth final forGermany, who have wonin 1972, 1980 and 1996

36 EURO 2008 <%W>, <%M> <%d>, <%Y> SUNDAY XPRESS <%W>, <%M> <%d>, <%Y> SUNDAY XPRESS EURO 2008 37

OFFSIDE

Friends, royals andcountrymen pour inAlexander McQueen could be kicking it withHenry Kissinger or King Juan Carlos attoday’s final, a match that promises plentyof star power.

McQueen, the British fashion designer,and Spain’s Juan Carlos and Queen Sofiatop the list of celebrities, royals and leadersexpected to pack the stands at the ErnstHappel Stadium.

Other prominent Spaniards include

Crown Prince Felipe and Crown PrincessLetizia. German Chancellor Angela Merkelwill also be there. Not to be outdone, sowill Spanish Prime Minister Jose LuisRodriguez Zapatero.

There will be plenty of great footballers,led by Franz Beckenbauer, who ledGermany to a World Cup in 1974.

Ljunberg ends national duty Sweden captain Fredrik Ljungberg hascalled it quits from international football.

The 31-year-old former Arsenal midfieldersaid it was becoming physically too difficultto play for both West Ham and the nationalteam. Ljungberg played his first match for

his country back in 1998.“I have decided to concen-

trate on my football withWest Ham. This is where mypriority now lies,” Ljungbergsaid.

He competed in three Euros and twoWorld Cups with the Swedes, before beingnamed captain after the 2006 World Cup.

Loew’s motivational high Germany coach Joachim Loew used a secretweapon to spur his team on ahead ofsemi-final against Turkey: the ever-reliable12th man.

In a creative move, ‘Jogi’ played a three-minute film for his players, showing scenesof jubilation around Germany after theirquarter-final win again Portugal.

And it apparently worked: theMannschaft defeated the Turks 3-2. As aspecial thank you to their loyal fans, the

German team plan to travel to Berlin onMonday, no matter who wins the final.

Fortune awaits SpaniardsAll the Spanish squad members will receivebonuses of €214,000 each should they beatGermany, the Spanish Football Federationannounced.

The amount had already been decided onbefore the tournament, a federationspokesperson said. The Spaniards are seeking their first title since winning the

1964 edition. The federation spokespersondid not reveal how much the players would receive if they lost.

Trophy a short-term loanWhoever wins the trophy today, will only beable to hang on to it until the Euro 2012draw, at which point it will have to bereturned – in pristine condition – to Uefa.The winners will then receive a smaller copyto keep. Only the team that win five Euroswill be given the trophy for good.

The trophy that the victorious captain –

either Michael Ballack or Iker Casillas – willlift will be heavier by 2kg than the one thatGreek skipper Theodoros Zagorakis raised inthe Euro 2004 edition.

The trophy, which bears the name ofHenri Delaunay, former secretary-general ofthe French federation, weighs 8kg andmeasures 60 centimetres.

Final to be a special ballThe balls set to be used today have beencalled ‘Europass Gloria’. The 30 balls will becoloured silver and carry the name of thetwo finalists with the date and time of thematch. – Agencies

SPANISH TEAMDESERVE TO BETHE CHAMPIONSBUT THERE’S ONEMORE HURDLE Luis Aragones

,,

Guest performer Enrique Iglesias playswith a ball next to the Euro trophy.

Spain vsGermanyVienna | 1.45amChannel 7, 9

design for impact

design to brief

Greener AppleApple Inc. has moved up in the ‘Greenpeace Guide to GreenerElectronics’ ratings. This is because of Steve Jobs’ “GreenerApple” pledge to phase out PVC and other chemicals fromtheir product line. Nokia tops these ratings as it has alreadyphased out toxic materials. Sony, on the other hand, ranks atthe bottom of the list with LG Electronics.

10

NEW NEW

HTC TouchAs with the iPod, the iPhone hascaused quite a stir in the cell phonemarket. HTC – one of the leadingmanufacturers of Windows Mobiledevices – has responded first withthe launch of HTC Touch. The phoneuses iPhone-style finger gesturesand a stylus for input — acombination that the iPhonerubbished by using an on-screenkeyboard. The phone has alreadybeen launched in Europe, and will beavailable in North America in thesecond half of 2007. Approximatecurrent price $594.

Sansa Express A bevy of features with a price tag to shamethe Shuffle and the coveted ability to justplug and play – we aren’t talking of a dreamMP3 player but the 1GB flash-based SansaExpress. A direct-connect USB MP3 player,it supports a microSD expansion slot,protected WMAs and drag and drop. Alsosports a digital FM tuner-recorder, amicrophone and an OLED to display themenu and song information. The 3-inchlong, half-inch thick Express can be yoursfor just $59.99.

Blackberry CurveRIM gave a taste of forthcoming offerings with the Pearl, but theyhave really outdone themselves with the Curve. The design ofRIM’s latest offering packs in enough pluck to make Pearl and8800 owners go green. Its the smallest Blackberry ever made witha full QWERTY keyboard. Other important features include atrackball, good battery life, a music player, a 2 MP camera and theusual Blackberry mail. Available, starting at $499.

design to wow!

4 ADVENTUREwww.gulfnews.com/explore | August 9, 2008, Saturday

BY MARKETA HULPACHOVA

Exactly a decade haspassed since a man calledOxygen first hurled him-self across Amerika.Known for his jumpingability, Oxygen, a lankyCzech, catapulted to leg-end status by leapingacross a nearly 10ft-wideabyss separating two100ft sandstone spires.

Today, Petr Kops, 21, iswearing Oxygen's hand-me-down pants.

“I did not know Oxygenpersonally but my sisterdid,” Kops said. “I wearhis trousers for goodluck”.

Minutes later, Kops wasstanding at the edge of a70ft chasm called BrokenBones. He announcedthat he was about to dam-age his ankle — andjumped.

Extreme sport While it may seem sui-

cidal, leaping across agaping crevasse is actual-ly an extreme sport that isgaining in popularity.

Called rock jumping, orsimply jumping, thisadrenalin-charged activi-ty is taking place in theAdrspach-Teplice Rocks,a remote nature preservein the northeast part ofthe Czech Republic.

Known for its roughly 11square miles of phallicsandstone formations, theregion has been a breed-ing ground for rockclimbers, includingJaroslav Houser, 63, thepurported conqueror ofmore than 1,000 sand-stone spires.

In their frenzy to sub-due as many unclimbedtower tops as possible,seasoned climbers suchas Houser unwittinglygave rise to rock jumpingin the Adrspach.

“The objective is to getto the top of as many tow-ers as possible,” saidVladimir Prochazka,known as June Bug, a 59-year-old climber and acollector of Czech rock-climbing histories. “Youtry to reach the hardestsummit, sometimes byjumping.”

Because jumping is of-ten the most logical wayto get to a descendibletower, almost everyclimber encounters a ba-sic-level jump at one timeor another, he said.

Be prepared for painIn most cases, climbers

jump with a rope tiedaround their waist.

If they miss the landing— which is not uncom-mon — they come plum-meting into the wall ofthe base tower.

“Jumping requires fear-lessness, a fair amount ofagility and a high thresh-old for pain,” Prochazkasaid. “Broken ribs anddamaged spines are fairlycommon.” Still, there arethose who prefer to spiceup their experience byjumping without a rope.Among the most well-known of these adventur-ers are Petr Prachtel andhis wife, Zorka, whohelped create the sport inthe 1960s and 1970s, atime rock jumping’s earlypractitioners refer to as agolden age.

After meeting in col-lege, the inseparableclimbing partners be-came legendary for theirescapades on the tower

tops of the Eesky Raj na-ture preserve in the cen-tral Czech Republic.There, they pioneeredcountless jumps, some-times without the safetyof a rope.

“Back then, there wereseveral jumpers on thescene,” Prochazka said.“This healthy competi-tion helped the sportflourish.”

Oxygen unmatchedWhile many climbers

jump out of necessity,few specialise in thesport. “A few of the old-timers say that jumpinghas no place here,” Proc-hazka said. “But there isalways some lunatic whogoes crazy for it and be-comes the dominantjumper in the region”.

For years, the alpha-jumper title of theAdrspach — and somesay the world — has be-longed to Oxygen.

By the time he arrivedon the scene in the mid-1990s, local jumping afi-cionados had developed agrading system.

A Grade 1 jump is aneasy crossover from onetower to the next andmay be executed by anyreasonably skilledclimber. As the gradesrise, so do the requiredlevels of precision. AtGrade 4, the jump doesnot offer a flat landingsurface, forcing theleaper to land monkey-style, clutching thecrevices of the oppositewall.

Most of the popularjumps range from Grades2 to 3 and few jumpershave successfully landeda Grade 4. Until Oxygencame along.

Biggest one everIn 1997, Oxygen, 37,

made history with Ameri-ka — the only Grade 5jump ever recorded.

“I don’t know how heeven made it to the otherpeak — it seemed so faraway,” said Prochazka,who had witnessed theevent.

“Somehow, he managedto land on the crevice hepicked out but his bodywas leaned back and itlooked like he was in for anasty fall. Then, hesnatched a protrudingpine tree and a victoriouswar cry rang through thevalley,” he added.

Not long after his epicleap, Oxygen, whosename is Milan Zdvooily,disappeared from theAdrspach. He is a gun-smith in London and sayshe feels no need to repli-cate his jumps.

“I wonder if some crazyperson will ever dare tomake the jump,” he said,referring to Amerika.“People are always look-ing for something new, somaybe it’s possible.”

Contemporary jumpingcontinues to attract indi-viduals who appear tolack the self-preservationinstinct. Seconds afterpredicting an ankle in-jury, Kops hollered a warcry and threw himselfacross the chasm.

His sandalled feet land-ed on the opposite towerwith a flat thud and hisankle promptly swelledto twice its natural size.Kops could barely walkbut, somehow, this didnot deter him from exe-cuting two more jumps.

Rock jumping,an extreme sportof leaping across agaping crevasse, isbecoming a religionfor those seeking anadrenalin-charged life

When the day was over, henursed his injury with ahalf-litre of beverage at thebuffet near the entrance tothe Adrspach rocks.

Kops attributed his affin-ity for jumping to “cama-raderie and adrenalin”, andwhile he did not feel confi-dent enough to try tomatch Oxygen’s leap, someof the old-timers suggestedthat the future of rockjumping depended on peo-ple such as him.

“My prediction is thatjumping will only live on,thanks to a handful of indi-viduals,” Prochazka said.“The only way this wouldchange is if a new genera-tion arrived on the scene.Their thirst for adrenalincould make it a massivesport”.

— New York Times News Service

From the UAEFrom DubaiAir France flies daily via Paristo Hamburg, the closestairport.Fare: Dh5,190Lufthansa flies daily viaFrankfurt. Air France flies daily viaParis to Hamburg, theclosest airport.Fare: Dh5,190

Info courtesy: The Holiday Lounge

by Dnata. Ph 04-4298576

Czech Republic

�Go there...

It’s rock ‘n’It’s rock ‘n’ roll time!

A patron taking, what may seem like to many, a leap of faith

New

Yor

k T

imes