Prince Igor at the Israel Opera

In their first visit to Israel, the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow bring us their production of Borodin?s Prince Igor. It?s one of the prime examples of the Romantic-era Russian canon, but is not so often performed worldwide. This production gives Borodin?s interpretation of the medieval epic an elaborate, lively feel, and shows off a number of excellent singers.

Prince Igor/Photo courtesy of PR

The opera is directed by Yuri Alexandrov, who feels that this production carries a message about Russia today and tomorrow. It is a message of hope ? hope in humanity and in a better future. The opera, while it does carry a theme of nationality, focuses more on the lives of the men and women of the plot, and the overall goodness even in the potentially menacing enemy Khan. The production stresses this point, while still employing the grandeur of the choruses, which symbolize the people as a whole.

Borodin himself was a member of The Five, a group of Russian composers who often collaborated on works and ideas. The Five (who were also known as ?The Mighty Handful?) were part of the Romantic Nationalist movement in Russia, and themes of Russian history and culture were common in their work (one example is Mussorgsky?s Boris Godunov, which was staged last year at the Israel Opera). Like their predecessors, they were influenced by European ideas about music, but they wanted to create something of their own, something distinctly Russian. Prince Igor is one of the resulting works. Like his symphonic work ?In the Steppes of Central Asia?, it uses a palette of Russian melodies and ?exotic? elements that characterize the Polovtsy.

The opera opens in the town of Putivl, where Prince Igor is preparing to march against the Polovtsy (a Turkic nomadic people who inhabited the steppes of Eurasia in the Middle Ages). The stage is filled with the people of Russia, and the class system is obvious: peasants, soldiers and boyars, all united only in their singing praises to Igor, his son Vladimir, and to Russia. Suddenly every face on the stage turns to a distant point on the horizon as the sun is hidden in an eclipse. This is a bad omen, the people fear, and they try to persuade their Prince to postpone the attack on Khan Konchak?s camp. However, Igor is adamant. His wife Yaroslavna arrives to wish him well, and after a touching farewell scene he leaves her in the care of her brother, Vladimir, Prince Galitsky.

In the next act, we see Galitsky?s true nature: he is licentious at best, and cruel and unfeeling at worst. If here were crowned Prince of Putivl, he sings, he would enjoy a carefree existence. His people adore him and enjoy the lifestyle he provides, and begin plotting to crown him as their prince in Igor?s absence.

In a dramatic move from Galitsky?s drunken revelry, we now meet Yaroslavna in her quiet palace. She sings of her longing for Igor and worries over his fate. The women of Putivl enter and complain that Galitsky and his men have abducted a young girl. Yaroslavna confronts her brother, but to no avail. As they argue the boyars arrive in Putivl and announce that Igor and Vladimir have been seized by the Polovtsy, who are preparing to attack the town.

In Act II we are transported to the Polovtsian camp, where the girls are sitting around the tents and singing. Konchakovna, the Khan?s daughter, is pining for her lover, who turns out to be Igor?s son Vladimir. They share a tender love scene which is interrupted by Igor, wandering the camp and worrying about his fate, his army and Yaroslavna. A Christian Polovtsian approaches him and offers to help him escape, but he refuses, as it wouldn?t be honorable for a prince to run away.

Prince Igor and the Khan ? Prince Igor/Photo courtesy of PR

The Khan arrives, surrounded by his warriors. He offers a hand of friendship to Igor, saying that they are both khans, and therefore equals. He proceeds to show Igor his wealth and power, plying him with alcohol and bringing in troupes of dancers to entertain and tempt the Prince. Slave-girls and warriors fill the stage for the now-famous Polovtsian Dances, praising their victorious Khan.

This image of extravagant celebration swiftly turns to anguish and longing, as the scene moves back to Putivl where Yaroslavna pines for Igor and weeps over the ravaged town. A weary-looking traveler approaches her: it is Igor, who has finally managed to escape captivity. The couple celebrates their reunion in a triumphant love duet, and they are joined by the people of Russia.

One of the most common criticisms about Prince Igor is the apparent lack of any real action. None of the important events mentioned actually happen onstage: there is no intense battle-scene between the Russians and the Polovtsians, Galitsky is never crowned Prince, and Igor?s escape from the Khan?s camp is not explicitly shown. This is mostly because the way the opera was composed: Borodin (who also adapted the libretto from the original Slavic epic) worked on Prince Igor on and off over the course of eighteen years, in addition to his job as a chemist, and it was ultimately left unfinished at the time of his death. The work was completed by his fellow composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. The latter composed most of the original penultimate act, in which Igor?s escape is planned and the Vladimir-Konchakovna plotline is detailed, and this act is omitted in some productions.

However, this apparent lack of drama doesn?t minimize the operatic experience. Instead of an action-packed plot, we have a set of scenes, each distinctly different from the others, which portray the characters of the opera perfectly. The love between the two couples is illustrated in fine lyrical duets, and the rowdy Galitsky is portrayed with a kind of grotesque humor. It?s hard not to be moved by the contemplative arias of the four main characters, or to be excited by the Polovtsian Dances.

Prince Igor/Photo courtesy of PR

Russian operas of this genre often feature impressive basso roles, and this opera has two: Galitsky and Konchak. The Kolobov Novaya Opera have brought with them an array of outstanding voices. Special mention should go to Alexander Kisselev, who makes the nasty Galitsky almost likeable during his introductory aria, and then instantly despicable in his interaction with Yaroslavna. Yaroslavna herself, whose role is shared by no less than four fine soprani in this production, seems to be the morally dominant character in this opera, and Borodin gives her some of his most beautiful music ? her tender farewell to Igor in Act I, her lament in the last act. As Prince Igor, Andjey Beletsky is a fine, expressive baritone, though a little shaky in several parts. In the role of Konchakovna, sung by a contralto or a mezzo-soprano, Tatyana Tabachuk is particularly wonderful in her Act II cavatina. Alexander Bogdanov?s sweet-sounding tenor was perfectly suited to the role of the amorous Vladimir.

It?s impossible to talk about a production of Prince Igor without mentioning the chorus scenes. The people of Russia and the Polovtsians all dominate the stage during most of the scenes, and the ensembles help characterize the principals: the Russians? loyalty to Igor attest to his honorable nature despite his defeat, Galitsky?s men emphasize his licentiousness as opposed to Igor and Yaroslavna?s piety, and the Polovtsians? performance is almost an anthropological display of their nomadic culture. The Kolobov Opera Choir is sublime, both in the all-important role of the Russian people and as the colorful Polovtsians.

Director Yuri Alexandrov and his team make the most of both the stage and singers. The movements of the soloists and chorus seem at times to be perfectly timed with the music. In Act I the stage features an ornate but battle-worn gate that is brought down when the Polovtsy are preparing to enter the Putivl, and the stage is illuminated by an eerie red light which emphasizes the forthcoming battle. Later, in the Polovtsian camp, it is replaced by a background of ornate blue-tinted tents. The intricate costumes, by set and costume designer Vyacheslav Okunev, are out of this world: in Act I they emphasize the difference between the classes, and in Act II the almost magical allure of Konchak?s camp. The stage seems small for a setting of such grandeur, but this helps keep the focus on the individual characters, reminding us that though it deals with events that concern kings and nations, even they are ultimately human.

Enjoy this production to the fullest and attend the pre-performance lectures in the auditorium one hour before the show (free for ticketholders), or meet the soloists at the Opera Talkback sessions right after the show (also free). Get your tickets online or by phone at 03-692-7777.

Source: http://www.midnighteast.com/mag/?p=27731

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Google, Facebook seek to drive down cost of internet access, join Alliance for Affordable Internet

Tech titans Google and Facebook are just two of the boldface Silicon Valley names joining the fight for affordable internet access in the developing world. And to that end, the two companies -- in addition to a host of other notable tech outfits (i.e., Yahoo, Intel and Microsoft, amongst others), ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/RSMExl5vdiA/

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Libya, Somalia raids show U.S. reach, problems

By Ghaith Shennib and Abdi Sheikh

TRIPOLI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Two U.S. raids in Africa show the United States is pressuring al Qaeda, officials said on Sunday, though a failure in Somalia and an angry response in Libya also highlighted Washington's problems.

In Tripoli, U.S. forces snatched a Libyan wanted over the bombings of the American embassy in Nairobi 15 years ago and whisked him out of the country, prompting Secretary of State John Kerry to declare that al Qaeda leaders "can run but they can't hide".

But the capture of Nazih al-Ragye, better known as Abu Anas al-Liby, also provoked a complaint about the "kidnap" from the Western-backed prime minister; he faces a backlash from armed Islamists who have carved out a share of power since the West helped Libyan rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi two years ago.

In Somalia, Navy SEALS stormed ashore into the al Shabaab stronghold of Barawe in response to the attack last month on a Kenyan mall but, a U.S. official said, they failed to capture or kill the unnamed target among the Somali allies of al Qaeda.

Kerry, on a visit to Indonesia, said President Barack Obama's administration was "pleased with the results" of the combined assaults early on Saturday: "We hope this makes clear that the United States of America will never stop in its effort to hold those accountable who conduct acts of terror," he said.

Two years after Navy SEALs finally tracked down and killed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, a decade after al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, the twin operation demonstrated the reach of U.S. military forces in Africa, where Islamist militancy has been in the ascendant.

The forays also threw a spotlight on Somalia's status as a fragmented haven for al Qaeda allies more than 20 years after Washington intervened in vain in its civil war and Libya's descent into an anarchic battleground between rival bands on the Mediterranean that stretches deep south into the Sahara.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said they showed Washington would "spare no effort to hold terrorists accountable".

Yet disrupting its most aggressive enemy, in an oil-rich state that is awash with arms and sits on Europe's doorstep, may have been more the priority in the Libya raid than putting on trial a little known suspect in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

LIBYA RISKS

Clearly aware of the risks to his government of complicity in the snatching of Liby as he returned to his suburban home from dawn prayers, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said: "The Libyan government is following the news of the kidnapping of a Libyan citizen who is wanted by U.S. authorities.

"The Libyan government has contacted U.S. authorities to ask them to provide an explanation."

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, without commenting on any specific communications, said, "we consult regularly with the Libyan government on a range of security and counterterrorism issues."

Another U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the Libyan government was "appraised" of the operation, but did not specify when Libya was informed.

Liby's son, Abdullah al Ragye, 19, told reporters at the family home that men had pulled up in four cars, knocked him out with some kind of drug, dragged him from his vehicle and driven off with him in a Mercedes.

"They had a Libyan look and Libyan accents," he said. It was not clear, however, whether the men were connected to the Libyan state, which may either have sought to keep its distance or been sidelined by Washington for fear of leaks.

Abdul Bassit Haroun, a former Islamist militia commander who works with the Libyan government on security, said the U.S. raid would show Libya was no refuge for "international terrorists".

"But it is also very bad that no state institutions had the slightest information about this process, nor do they have a force which was able to capture him," he told Reuters.

"This means the Libyan state simply does not exist."

He warned that Islamist militants, like those blamed for the fatal attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi a year ago, would hit back violently: "This won't just pass," Haroun said.

"There will be a strong reaction in order to take revenge because this is one of the most important al Qaeda figures."

SOMALI CHAOS

Somalia's Western-backed government said it did cooperate with Washington, though its control of much of the country, including the port of Barawe, just 180 km (110 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, is limited by powerful armed groups.

"We have collaboration with the world and with neighboring countries in the battle against al Shabaab," Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said when asked of Somalia's role in the raid.

U.S. forces have used airborne drones to kill Somalis in the past and last year SEALs freed two kidnapped aid workers there.

Somali police said seven people were killed in Barawe. U.S. officials said their forces took no casualties but had broken off the fighting to avoid harming civilians. They failed to capture or kill their target during fighting around dawn at a seaside villa that al Shabaab said was one of its bases.

A Somali intelligence official said a Chechen commander, who might have been the Americans' target, was wounded.

In Somalia, al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab told Reuters no senior figure was present when the Americans came ashore. He said: "Ordinary fighters lived in the house and they bravely counter attacked and chased off the attackers."

A U.S. official was quoted as saying the raid was planned in response to the Westgate mall attack by al Shabaab gunmen in which at least 67 died last month. The group said it was hitting back at Kenyan intervention in Somalia, which has forced it from much of its territory. It also targeted Westerners out shopping.

AFRICAN VIOLENCE

From Nigeria in the west, through Mali, Algeria and Libya to Somalia and Kenya in the east, Africa has seen major attacks on its own people and on Western economic interests, including an Algerian desert gas plant in January and the Nairobi mall as well as the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya a year ago.

The trend reflects a number of factors, including Western efforts to force al Qaeda from its former base in Afghanistan, the overthrow of anti-Islamist authoritarian rulers in the Arab Spring of 2011 and growing resentment among Africa's poor with governments they view as corrupt pawns of Western powers.

Western intelligence experts say there is evidence of growing links among Islamist militants across northern Africa, who share al Qaeda's goal of a strict Islamic state and the expulsion of Western interests from Muslim lands.

Liby, who has been reported as having fled Gaddafi's police state to join bin Laden in Sudan in the 1990s before securing political asylum in Britain, may have been part of that bid to consolidate an operational base, analysts say.

Wanted by the FBI, which gives his age as 49 and had offered a $5 million reward for help in capturing him, Liby was indicted in 2000 along with 20 other al Qaeda suspects including bin Laden and current global leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

Charges relating to him personally accused him of discussing the bombing of the Nairobi embassy in retaliation for the U.S. intervention in the Somali civil war in 1992-93 and of helping reconnoiter and plan the attack in the years before 1998.

Obama, wrestling with the legal and political difficulties posed by prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, has said he does not want to send more suspects there. But a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council said it was still not decided where Liby would be tried.

His indictment was filed in New York, making that a possible venue for a civilian, rather than military, trial. It was unclear where Liby was on Sunday. U.S. naval forces in the Mediterranean, as well as bases in Italy and Germany, would provide ample facilities within a short flight time.

(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Bali, Mark Hosenball, Phil Stewart, Tabassum Zakaria in Washington, James Macharia in Nairobi, Patrick Markey in Tunis and Feisal Omar in Mogadishu.; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/libya-somalia-raids-show-u-threat-al-qaeda-084651085.html

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Good news for tax delinquents: shutdown halts new asset seizures: IRS

By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that it has stopped initiating new asset seizures from tax delinquents during the government shutdown and is enforcing seizures only in "extremely limited" instances.

During the shutdown, the "IRS is not sending out levies or liens," an agency spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.

Under tax law, the IRS can seize property from U.S. citizens who have not paid their taxes. Known as levies, such seizures can target bank account balances, real estate or other assets.

Levies are different from tax liens. A lien is a claim used as security for a tax debt, while a levy actually takes the assets or property to satisfy the debt.

Any levies or liens a taxpayer might receive during the shutdown were printed before the IRS closed, the agency said.

Tax professionals had expressed concern that the government shutdown had left tax delinquents defenseless against IRS asset seizures.

IRS staffers who assist delinquent taxpayers in defending themselves from collectors have been furloughed, while some IRS tax collectors who pursue individuals and businesses that are delinquent are still working through the shutdown.

The shutdown, now in its fourth day, has furloughed more than 90 percent the IRS's 94,000-person workforce.

The only enforcement actions the IRS is undertaking during the shutdown involve criminal cases or non-criminal "isolated instances where we need to take immediate action to protect the government's interest," IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said.

"For criminal issues, most IRS Criminal Investigation employees continue to work during this period," Eldridge said.

(Fixes spelling of delinquents in headline)

(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Leslie Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/good-news-tax-delinquents-shutdown-halts-asset-seizures-222324732--sector.html

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Manmohan Singh: Uttarakhand showed India's vulnerability

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday that the flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand which killed thousands have exposed India's vulnerability to natural disasters.

"The large-scale loss of life, property and public infrastructure due to rains and floods in Uttarakhand point not only to India's vulnerability to disasters but also to the need to take effective measures to prevent such disasters and contain their fall out when they occur," he said here.

Manmohan Singh was speaking at the ninth formation day of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) here.

He added that it was important to learn the right lessons from the Uttarakhand tragedy, which has also devastated the state's key pilgrimage centres.

The prime minister appreciated the role played by various agencies of the central and state governments as well as voluntary organisations and common people in rescue and relief operations in Uttarakhand.

"I also pay homage to those brave men and women from the Indian Air Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Disaster Response Force, civil administration, civilian air crew and the community at large who laid down their lives in trying to save others," he said.

He said that though the post-disaster phase of rescue and relief in Uttarakhand had been largely completed, the task of reconstruction, rehabilitation and restoration of livelihood was far from over.

Source: http://www.pardaphash.com/news/manmohan-singh-uttarakhand-showed-indias-vulnerability/722916.html

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Overflowing tank cause of new leak at Fukushima

TOKYO (AP) ? Another day, another radioactive-water spill. The operator of the meltdown-plagued Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant says at least 430 liters (110 gallons) spilled when workers overfilled a storage tank without a gauge that could have warned them of the danger.

The amount is tiny compared to the untold thousands of tons of radioactive water that have leaked, much of it into the Pacific Ocean, since a massive earthquake and tsunami wrecked the plant in 2011. But the error is one of many the operator has committed as it struggles to manage a seemingly endless, tainted flow.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday workers detected the water spilling from the top of one large tank when they were patrolling the site the night before. The tank is one of about 1,000 erected on the grounds around the plant to hold water used to cool the melted nuclear fuel in the broken reactors.

TEPCO said the water then spilled out of a concrete barrier surrounding the tank and believed that most of it reached the sea via a ditch next to the river. The company later said, however, sea water samples taken just off the plant's coast remained below detectable levels.

The new leak is sure to add to public concern and criticism of TEPCO and the government for their handling of the nuclear crisis. In August, the utility reported a 300-ton leak from another storage tank, one of a string of leaks in recent months.

That came after the utility and the government acknowledged that contaminated groundwater was seeping into ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day for some time.

TEPCO spokesman Masayuki Ono told an urgent news conference Thursday that the overflow occurred at a 450-ton tank without a water gauge and standing on an unlevel ground, slightly tilting toward the sea. The tank was already nearly full, but workers pumped in more contaminated water into it to maximize capacity as the plant was facing a serious storage crunch. Recent rainstorms that flooded tank yards and the subsequent need to pump up and store contaminated rainwater also added to the shortage, he said.

"We could have, and should have, prevented the overflow," he said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said efforts to stop leaks were still insufficient, but defended TEPCO for detecting the problem more quickly than the last time.

TEPCO said the tank and four others in the same area were already filled up to 98 percent of its designed capacity, as in many other tanks elsewhere on the plant.

Tetsuro Tsutsui, an engineer and expert of industrial tanks, said the latest problem was emblematic of how TEPCO runs the precarious plant. He said it was "unthinkable" to fill tanks up to the top, or build them on a tilted ground without building a level foundation.

"That's only common sense," Tsutsui, also a member of a citizens group of experts proposing safety measures for the plant. "But that seems to be the routine at the Fukushima Dai-ichi. I must say these are not accidents. There must be a systematic problem in the way things are run over there."

Experts have faulted TEPCO for sloppiness in its handling of the water management, including insufficient tank inspection records, lack of water gauges, as well as connecting hoses lying directly on the grass-covered ground. Until recently, only one worker was assigned to 500 tanks in a two-hour patrol.

In recent meetings, regulators criticized TEPCO for even lacking basic skills to properly measure radioactivity in contaminated areas, and taking too long to find causes in case of problems. They also have criticized the one-foot (30-centimeter) high protective barriers around the tanks as being too low.

So far, the leaks have occurred in easy-to-assemble rubber-seamed tanks that TEPCO had built quickly to accommodate swelling amounts of contaminated water, and the plant has promised to replace them with more durable welded tanks, which take more time and cost more to build. TEPCO has been criticized for building shoddy tanks to cut cost.

"As far as TEPCO people on our contaminated water and sea monitoring panels are concerned, they seem to lack even the most basic knowledge about radiation," said a Nuclear Regulation Authority commissioner Kayoko Nakamura, a radiologist.

"I really think they should acquire adequate expertise and commitment needed for the job," she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overflowing-tank-cause-leak-fukushima-064714914.html

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NYC Opera to file for bankruptcy

NEW YORK (AP) ? New York City Opera says the company will file for bankruptcy protection and wind down operations after failing to raise enough money to stage the rest of its season.

The company announced Sept. 12 that it needed $7 million by the end of September.

Spokeswoman Risa Heller said Tuesday that City Opera "did not achieve the goal of its emergency appeal. Today, the board and management will begin the necessary financial and operational steps to wind down the company, including initiating the chapter 11 process."

As of last Thursday, the company said just $1.5 million had been pledged. It hoped to raise $1 million on Kickstarter.com but a total of $301,019 from 2,108 donors was pledged on the website.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-opera-file-bankruptcy-161954514.html

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Australia crushed by South Africa 28-8

The Wallabies were handed another heavy Rugby Championship defeat by the Springboks who steam-rolled their way to a 28-8 win in their Newlands Test.

The last time the teams met the South Africans delivered a crushing 38-12 victory in Brisbane and proved that was no fluke with a first half blitz that blew the Wallabies off the park on Saturday.

Australia hadn't won at the famed Cape Town stadium since 1992 and that record was in no danger as the home side hit a 20-3 lead after only 19 minutes.

Burly hooker Adrian Strauss barrelled across in the 12th minute after an attacking line-out five metres from the tryline and then two minutes later fullback Zane Kirchner touched down.

The Springboks didn't just dominate on the scoreboard, their forwards out-muscled their opponents at the breakdown and veteran halfback and man of the match Fourie du Preez pulled the strings for his willing backs.

The shell-shocked visitors didn't get over the advantage line in the entire first half and missed 18 tackles in a telling statistic.

The Wallabies did show some heart in defence after losing flanker Michael Hooper to a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Eben Etzebeth in the 28th minute.

The lock jumped as Hooper went low, flipping the Springbok and sparking some push and shove between the teams.

French referee Jerome Garces had a busy night, dishing out another three yellow cards with two Springboks Flip van der Merwe and Duane Vermeulen, and reserve Australian lock Sitaleki Timani also spending time on the sidelines.

With halfback Will Genia starting the second half, the Australians finally settled but still struggled to find holes in the ferocious Springbok defence.

Errors proved costly with stray passes and turnovers ruining any chance to build pressure and allowing South Africa to counter attack.

Australia skipper James Horwill said the Springboks made them pay for their slow start.

'The effort was there but it was disappointing because we gifted them some points,' Horwill said.

'When we had an opportunity we made some silly errors and turned over the ball and didn't apply pressure for long enough.

'The Springboks are a very good side and they made us pay.'

The scoreline blew out to 28-3 in the 72nd minute after a brilliant pass from du Preez for winger Willie le Roux to score in the corner.

Australia's Chris Feauai-Sautia at least had one bright memory in his Test debut, scoring from a Quade Cooper cross kick in the 78th minute.

The Wallabies now travel to Argentina to face the Pumas in Rosario.

The Springboks missed the four-try bonus the point they were after to keep in touch with Rugby Championship leaders New Zealand.

'I've never been so disappointed to beat Australia by 20 points,' captain Jean de Villiers said.

They face the All Blacks in Johannesburg next Saturday.

Source: http://rss.skynews.com.au/c/34485/f/628638/s/31d14b2a/sc/26/l/0L0Sskynews0N0Bau0Csport0Carticle0Baspx0Did0F910A2970GvId0F/story01.htm

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Cuba will let athletes sign with foreign leagues

HAVANA (AP) ? Could a new wave of Cuban baseball players be headed for the major leagues without having to defect from the communist island?

Cuba announced Friday that athletes from all sports will soon be able to sign contracts with foreign leagues, a break with a decades-old policy that held pro sports to be anathema to socialist ideals.

It's a step toward the day when the road from Havana to Yankee Stadium might mean simply hopping on a plane rather than attempting a perilous sea crossing or sneaking out of a hotel at midnight in a strange land.

But American baseball fans shouldn't throw their Dodgers or Rockies caps in the air in celebration just yet. The Cold War-era embargo against Cuba means it may not happen anytime soon.

If it does come to pass, it could increase ? astronomically, in some cases ? the amount of money Cuban baseball players can earn.

Athletes' wages are not made public in Cuba but are believed to be somewhere around the $20 a month that most other state employees earn ? a tiny fraction of the millions many U.S. big leaguers make.

"It's the dream of many athletes to test themselves in other leagues ? the big leagues, if at some point my country would allow it," said Yasmani Tomas, who is one of Cuba's top talents, batting .345 last season with the powerhouse Havana Industriales.

Under the new policy, athletes will be eligible to play abroad as long as they fulfill their commitments at home, the Communist Party newspaper Granma reported. For baseball players, that means being available for international competitions as well as Cuba's November-to-April league.

"We have seen the press reports. This is an internal Cuban matter," Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. "Generally speaking, the United States welcomes any reforms that allow Cubans to depart from and return to their country."

Major League Baseball said the impact of Friday's announcement can't be predicted.

"Given that we do not have any details of this change in policy, it would be premature for us to speculate what effect it may have," the commissioner's office said in a statement. "There are no provisions in the major league rules or bylaws that make it more difficult for Cuban ballplayers to play Major League Baseball, but MLB and its clubs have and will continue to act in accordance with the laws and policies of the United States government."

President Raul Castro's government hopes the move will stem defections by athletes who are lured abroad by the possibility of lucrative contracts, a practice that saps talent from Cuba's teams.

"I think this could help stop the desertions a little bit," said Yulieski Gourriel, a talented 29-year-old third baseman who batted .314 last year for Sancti Spiritus.

"I don't even want to talk about how much I've been offered, because every time we leave the country, there are these offers. I've never paid attention because I've always said I'm not interested."

A number of his countrymen, however, are interested.

Cuban defectors now in the major leagues include outfielder Yasiel Puig, who signed a $42 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2012 and had a sensational rookie season, helping Los Angeles win its division. Hard-throwing reliever Aroldis Chapman signed a $30.25 million, six-year deal with Cincinnati before the 2010 season.

If the policy change comes to pass, "it's good for Cuba, for everybody, for the players ? more people in the big leagues, more experience for international tournaments," said Milwaukee Brewers infielder Yuniesky Betancourt, a Cuban defector who left his homeland aboard a speedboat in 2003.

Texas Rangers outfielder Leoyns Martin was surprised Friday when told about the news

"Really? Oh my gosh," said Martin, wearing his Cuba Baseball jacket from the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Martin defected after playing for Cuba's national team in a 2010 tournament in Japan.

"I don't want to talk about that," Martin said. "That's a long history in my life."

Professional sports were essentially done away with under Fidel Castro in 1961, two years after the Cuban revolution, and athletes became state employees just like factory workers and farmhands.

Sport as private enterprise was deemed incompatible with the Marxist society Castro intended to create. In 2005, he railed against the "parasites that feed off the athlete's hard work" in professional sports.

Friday's announcement is part of a trend toward relaxing that stance under Castro's brother, who became president in 2006.

Earlier this year, Cuba ended a five-decade ban on professional boxing, joining an international semipro league where fighters compete for sponsored teams and earn $1,000 to $3,000 a month.

Still, the biggest obstacle to, say, Tomas' likeness showing up on a bobblehead doll in a major league park someday may lie not in Cuba, but in the U.S.

Granma reported that Cuban athletes will have to pay taxes on any earnings from foreign clubs, an apparent conflict with the 51-year-old American embargo that outlaws nearly all U.S. transactions with Cuba unless they are specifically licensed by Washington.

The economic restrictions were imposed after Cuba nationalized American businesses and aligned itself with the Soviet Union. They have been kept in place to try to pressure the authoritarian country to allow its people more freedom.

"Our policy has not changed. Cuban players need to be unblocked by a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control in order to play for the MLB," said John Sullivan, spokesman for the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "In order to qualify, the players must prove that they have permanent residency outside of Cuba."

Cuban players who defect establish residency in another country and become free agents, eligible for any major league organization to sign. While residents of the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada are the only ones currently subject to baseball's amateur draft, MLB management hopes to start an international draft in the next labor contract, which would start in 2017.

In the interim, MLB and the union last year started a system of restraints on signing bonuses for international players.

"The Basic Agreement is unclear as to whether they'd be subject to the international signing limits," said Jay Reisinger, an agent and lawyer for several major leaguers.

Even if Cubans have trouble playing in the U.S., they might still be able to take the field in Mexico, Japan, Venezuela or other countries during their offseason, something that has happened in a few instances.

Also Friday, Granma announced raises for island athletes, including bonuses for individual and team achievement. For example, in baseball, league leaders in hitting and other categories will get an extra $41. The team that wins the title will split $2,700.

That's small change by big-league standards, but sizeable in Cuba.

"The pay raise is going to be a big help. It was time," Tomas said. "I think if we'd done it even earlier, some athletes would not have left."

___

Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo in Washington and AP Sports Writer Mike Fitzpatrick in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cuba-let-athletes-sign-foreign-leagues-003859730--spt.html

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