Lorenzo: "In each race we're beating the best ever"

MARCA interviewed Jorge Lorenzo, and no subject was off-limits as the Spanish rider talked about all the latest in the world of motorcycle racing. Ready to battle it out with the Hondas and once again be crowned MotoGP World Champion, Lorenzo gives us some insights into the championship.

Are you on your best form at the moment as a sportsman?
I thought it would be hard to improve on last season because, apart from crashing in Assen and the last race in Valencia, I didn't finish lower than second place. It was hard to imagine improving on that performance and it's hard to believe. But I think I'm doing it.

It seems as though yourself, Pedrosa and Márquez are in another league.
Right now, our speed and level of concentration are the best ever. On accuracy as well, we're the best riders ever. If you're talking about outrageous slides and spectacular braking, we may not be the best, but on the rest, I think we are.

It didn't take long for the bad feeling in the Honda camp to come to light. Is it as obvious from close quarters?
I don't like saying things for the sake of it, if I say something, it's because I see it and because I feel that way, I'm not going to make anything up and I don't want to enter into psychological warfare. Both the riders in that garage are very competitive, Pedrosa is better than ever and Márquez still has room to improve, both want to be in front of the other at all costs. But that rivalry, if it's not properly managed, can cause problems for one or the other.

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Torres: "People remember my first year at Chelsea more than the current situation"

Fernando Torres spoke on the programme 'Intermedio' on Radio MARCA and insisted he is currently in good form at the moment. "I feel great, physically good, despite the season being a long one. I feel very comfortable, strong and quick", he said.

On the criticism that he receives from a section of the press and some fans he was very clear: "In the end I think it is people who remember my first year at Chelsea, which was not good, rather than the current situation. I am happy with how I’m playing even though I am very demanding. Things are getting back to normal for me".

The Chelsea forward also referred to the demands put on the players in the current Spain squad. "You win 3-0 in the final phase of a tournament and still people think you can do better. We have lived through generations of teams that were eliminated, that lost games or thought a 1-0 win was enough. Now the fact that winning 3-0 is not enough shows how far we have come", he explained.

Torres is certain that Italy will be a complicated opponent in the semi-finals. "All Spaniards know what Italy has meant to Spain in the history of the game. They have knocked us out of World Cups and European Championships. Now we have the wins in 2008 and last year as a reference, we know what we have to do, but a team with great players like they have can be very dangerous if it has been hurt in the past. When they have to compete they will because they have done it all their lives".

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The 167-goal Real Madrid

Ancelotti will command one of the world's most powerful offensive lines. The attacking players at his disposal: Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Jesé, Morata, Isco, Özil and Di María scored 167 goals between them last season.

These are the seven attacking players he will have at his disposal, as long as Madrid can sell the three players it has transfer-listed: Higuaín, Kaká and Callejón. A combination of power and talent which Madrid will use to win back the titles it lost last season.

Carlo leads a powerful goalscoring army with Cristiano Ronaldo at its head. The Portuguese, Benzema, Jesé and Morata will be in charge of scoring the goals. That is a good group of strikers capable of taking the pressure off Cristiano, who has been carrying the team since his arrival at Real. Since then he has been the team's undisputed top scorer season after season.

CR7 scored 55 goals last year. Jesé challenged all season for the second division's Golden Boot award and he ended the season on 22 goals, beating Butragueño's record. He kicked off the Under-20 World Cup with a brace and yesterday he scored against Ghana.

Morata isn't far behind. He scored 12 goals for Real Madrid Castilla in the few matches he played a part in. He scored the winners against Levante and Rayo, as well as winning the Golden Boot at the European Under-21 Championships with four goals.

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Obama Outlines Ambitious Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gases

WASHINGTON — President Obama, declaring that “Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction” on climate change, on Tuesday announced sweeping measures to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and prepare the nation for a future of damaging weather aggravated by rising temperatures.

• Related in OpinionEmbracing an issue that could define his legacy but also ignite new battles with Republicans, Mr. Obama said he would use his executive powers to require reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the nation’s power plants.

That was the centerpiece of a three-part plan that includes new federal spending to advance renewable energy technology, as well as spending to protect cities and states from the ravages of storms and droughts that are exacerbated by a changing climate.

Saying science had put to rest the debate over whether human activity was warming the earth, Mr. Obama said, “The question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it is too late.”

“As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say, we need to act,” he said to students and others gathered in a sunbaked quadrangle at Georgetown University. “I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that is beyond saving.”

For Mr. Obama, it was a bold attempt to stake out an achievement that could define his legacy as president. But unlike with the health care overhaul, he is being forced to rely on executive authorities, since passing legislation to address climate policy would be a near impossibility in a deeply divided Congress.

He briefly addressed the pending decision on whether to allow the construction of a 1,200-mile pipeline from oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast. Mr. Obama, who has been under heavy political pressure from opponents and supporters of the $7 billion project, said the pipeline should be built only if it did not have a major effect on the climate.

“Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of climate change,” Mr. Obama said in a statement that cheered pipeline opponents. “The net effect on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project will be allowed to go forward.”

He did not lay out the criteria for measuring the project’s effect on the climate or say how big an impact he was willing to accept. Those decisions are still months away, White House officials said.

Republicans were quick to condemn the president’s proposals, saying they constituted a government overreach that would constrict energy production and strangle the nation’s economic recovery.

“These policies, rejected even by the last Democratic-controlled Congress, will shutter power plants, destroy good-paying American jobs and raise electricity bills for families that can scarcely afford it,” Speaker John A. Boehner said in a statement released before Mr. Obama spoke.

It also fulfilled, belatedly, a promise Mr. Obama made as a presidential candidate in 2008 to tackle the threat of a warming climate. During his first term, climate change took a back seat to more pressing problems, including the financial crisis and the collapse of the auto industry, and then to his decision to make the health care overhaul his first big legislative initiative.

White House aides said the timing for Mr. Obama’s speech had been set weeks ago. But the initiative is likely to be at least somewhat drowned out by a rush of competing and compelling news: a series of major Supreme Court decisions; the drama over the travels of the National Security Agency leaker Edward J. Snowden; a debate in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform; and the failing health of Nelson Mandela, the former South African president.

Mr. Obama leaves for a weeklong trip to Africa the day after the climate speech
.

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Innovative program offers low-income families more fresh fruit and vegetables

Lower-income Minnesotans have the opportunity to buy more fresh fruit and vegetables this summer thanks to a pilot program being launched in three grocery stores across the state.

Participants enrolled in the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will use their Electronic Benefit Transfer card to buy $5 worth of say fresh strawberries or spinach and in return will receive a $5 coupon toward their next fresh produce purchase.

Participating food stores are located in Crystal, Cass Lake and Duluth, areas with high poverty rates, health disparities and “demonstrated need for healthier eating,’’ according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. DHS is conducting the program in partnership with the Minnesota Grocers Association and Minnesota Grown.

Five dollars at my neighborhood grocery buys me on sale a dozen navel oranges or two pounds of strawberries or three ears of corn, a bell pepper and a stalk of celery right now but will likely buy more as Minnesota produce ripens.

Lower-income Minnesotans have the opportunity to buy more fresh fruit and vegetables this summer thanks to a pilot program being launched in three grocery stores across the state.

Participants enrolled in the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will use their Electronic Benefit Transfer card to buy $5 worth of say fresh strawberries or spinach and in return will receive a $5 coupon toward their next fresh produce purchase.

Participating food stores are located in Crystal, Cass Lake and Duluth, areas with high poverty rates, health disparities and “demonstrated need for healthier eating,’’ according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. DHS is conducting the program in partnership with the Minnesota Grocers Association and Minnesota Grown.

Five dollars at my neighborhood grocery buys me on sale a dozen navel oranges or two pounds of strawberries or three ears of corn, a bell pepper and a stalk of celery right now but will likely buy more as Minnesota produce ripens.

On hand as well at the launch last week was Ross Safford, outreach specialist with the University of Minnesota Extension’s Simply Good Eating program, demonstrating a simple recipe for a fresh spinach-leaf and strawberry salad with a homemade, inexpensive oil and cider vinegar dressing.“We are excited about the SNAP+ ( say “SNAP plus) pilot because it puts healthy food directly in the hands of those who need it,’’ Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson said recently at Almsted’s Fresh Market in Crystal in announcing the launch. The pilot runs through Sept. 30.

Safford, trained as a chef and former director of a shelter for homeless people in Connecticut for a number of years, now teaches “food literacy,” as he puts it. That includes how to buy food economically and prepare it in tasty and nutritious ways, through the SNAP education program.

“For a lot of the people I work with, a green pepper is a luxury,” Safford told me.

What’s in the grocery cart for persons with smaller food budgets hinges on cost and hesitancy to try new foods, he said. The Simply Good Eating program also teaches cooking skills and new ways of preparing foods.  

To learn more, Safford directed me to the Simply Good Eating website which details problems some Minnesotans face: “People with limited resources often run short of food at the end of the month. Some may not realize they could make healthier choices at the store or better use of the food they bring home.” The program offers nutrition classes at schools, clinics and community events around the state.

Last year Simply Good Eating staff taught classes for nearly 70,000 individuals and worked with about 1,200 agencies, Safford said.

The $150,000 cost of the SNAP+ program is paid for through the state’s portion of a federal government bonus for increasing SNAP access for eligible residents, DHS says.

Other bonus money going toward food programs for low-income Minnesotans includes the Summer Backpack Program for kids, an effort to connect eligible low-income and Latino and Hmong communities to SNAP benefits and to expand mobile food-shelf capacity.

Besides Almsted’s the program is available at Teal’s Market in Cass Lake and Super One Foods in Duluth.

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Putin: Edward Snowden in Moscow airport but will not be extradited

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has revealed that the surveillancewhistleblower Edward Snowden is indeed in a Moscow airport, bringing an end to a global guessing game over the US fugitive's whereabouts.

The admission reversed days of Russian obfuscation and came just hours after Putin's foreign minister said Russia had nothing to do with Snowden's travel plans.

Putin said Snowden remained in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport and vowed that Moscow would not extradite the whistleblower to the US. He also insisted Russian security services had no contact with Snowden, a claim greeted with suspicion.

"Mr Snowden really did fly into Moscow," Putin said during an official visit to Finland on Tuesday. "For us it was completely unexpected."

Snowden fled Hong Kong on Sunday morning to transit via Moscow to an undisclosed third country, according to WikiLeaks, which said it facilitated his travel. He has applied to be granted political asylum by Ecuador.

Putin said Snowden remained in Sheremetyevo's transit hall, although the high-profile whistleblower has not been spotted once by the dozens of journalists swarming the airport's halls since Sunday. The airport has also hosted a heightened security service presence since Sunday afternoon.

Putin said Russia's security services "did not work and are not working" with Snowden. Snowden fled the United States before leaking documents on secret US surveillance programmes. The US has charged him under the Espionage Act.

Putin defended Russia's actions and said Snowden, possibly carrying untold amounts of government secrets, was treated like any other passenger. Yet passengers transiting through Sheremetyevo are usually given 24 hours to pass through the international transit zone.

"He arrived as a transit passenger – he didn't need a visa, or other documents," Putin said. The statement appeared to back up comments made previously by his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who insisted that Snowden "did not cross the Russian border" but did not comment on whether he was at the airport.

The US has urged Moscow to hand Snowden over. Speaking in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, said: "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice."

Putin appeared to lash out at US accusations that the Kremlin was harbouring a fugitive. "Any accusations against Russia are nonsense and rubbish," Putin said.

Putin also appeared to throw his support behind Snowden as well as the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently holed up at Ecuador's embassy in London.

"Assange and Snowden consider themselves human rights activists and say they are fighting for the spread of information," Putin said. "Ask yourself this: should you hand these people over so they will be put in prison?

"In any case, I'd rather not deal with such questions, because anyway it's like shearing a pig – lots of screams but little wool."

After leaking documents that exposed the breadth of the US surveillance state, Snowden has come under fire for seeking shelter in China and Russia, both accused of clamping down on citizens' freedoms.

Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Lavrov stressed that Russia was not involved in helping Snowden plan his travels: "I would like to say right away that we have no relation to either Mr Snowden or to his relationship with American justice or to his movements around the world."

"He chose his route on his own, and we found out about it, as most here did, from mass media," said Lavrov, lashing out angrily at suggestions that Russia was involved. "We consider the attempts we are now seeing to blame the Russian side for breaking US laws and being almost in on the plot totally baseless and unacceptable, and even an attempt to threaten us," he said.

China's top state newspaper earlier praised Snowden for "tearing off Washington's sanctimonious mask" and rejected accusations that Beijing had facilitated his departure from Hong Kong.

The strongly worded front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist party, responded to harsh criticism of China from the US for allowing Snowden to flee.

The Chinese government has said it is gravely concerned by Snowden's allegations that the US has hacked into many networks in Hong Kong and China, including Tsinghua University, which hosts one of the country's internet hubs, and Chinese mobile network companies. It said it had taken the issue up with Washington.

"Not only did the US authorities not give us an explanation and apology, it instead expressed dissatisfaction at the Hong Kong special administrative region for handling things in accordance with law," wrote Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the Academy of Military Science in the People's Daily commentary.

"In a sense, the United States has gone from a 'model of human rights' to 'an eavesdropper on personal privacy', the 'manipulator' of the centralised power over the international internet, and the mad 'invader' of other countries' networks," the People's Daily said.

The White House said allowing Snowden to leave was "a deliberate choice by the government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the US-China relationship".

The People's Daily, which reflects the thinking of the government, said China could not accept "this kind of dissatisfaction and opposition".

"The world will remember Edward Snowden," the newspaper said. "It was his fearlessness that tore off Washington's sanctimonious mask".

The exchanges mark a deterioration in ties between the two countries just weeks after a successful summit meeting between presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping. But experts say Washington is unlikely to resort to any punitive action.

A commentary in the Global Times, owned by the People's Daily, also attacked the US for cornering "a young idealist who has exposed the sinister scandals of the US government".

"Instead of apologising, Washington is showing off its muscle by attempting to control the whole situation," the Global Times said.

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Emir Abdicates as Energy-Rich Qatar Set for New Era

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, who stripped his father of the title in a 1995 coup, today handed that power to his son, saying the moment for new leadership in the world’s richest country had arrived.

“The time has come to turn a new page in our country’s journey and see a new generation assume responsibility,” Sheikh Hamad said in an address to the nation. The outgoing ruler and his son, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, later stood side by side as citizens lined up to pledge their allegiance.

Sheikh Tamim, 33, assumes leadership of a country of 1.9 million people that has developed into a regional power during his father’s 18-year reign. The emirate bought stakes in Barclays Plc (BARC), the U.K.’s second-biggest bank, and Volkswagen AG (VOW), Europe’s largest carmaker. It supported uprisings in Syria and Libya and has lent $8 billion to Egypt since the 2011 ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The outgoing emir and his prime minister, Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, “put Qatar on the map,”Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, said by phone from the Qatari capital. “There might be some shifts in emphasis and tinkering around the margins, but the main thrust of Qatari foreign policy will continue.”

Voluntary Abdication

Sheikh Tamim graduated from the U.K.’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1998 after leaving Sherborne School in England a year earlier, according to the official palace website. The fourth son of Sheikh Hamad, he has steadily acquired power since being appointed crown prince in 2003. He served as chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s primary sovereign wealth fund, and headed Qatar’s failed bid for the 2020 Olympics.

“Historic day for Qatar as new generation takes over,” U.K. Foreign Secretary William Haguewrote on Twitter.

Qatar is an “important partner” for the U.S., President Barack Obama said in an e-mailed statement.

“The United States looks forward to working with Sheikh Tamim to deepen the ties between our two countries,” he said.

Sheikh Tamim inherits power from an emir who transformed Qatar into a regional leader from a fragile, debt-ridden Persian Gulf emirate. Sheikh Hamad ruled as the country’s economy grew sevenfold and its population more than tripled. He introduced municipal elections and, a year after assuming power, started Al Jazeera, the Doha-based news network that now operates worldwide.

World Cup

Today’s announcement marks the first voluntary abdication in the emirate since 1960. Sheikh Hamad, 61 this year, overthrew his father, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani, in a bloodless coup almost two decades ago. Sheikh Khalifa had deposed his cousin in 1972.

Sheikh Tamim will lead Qatar’s effort to expand infrastructure before it hosts the 2022 soccerWorld Cup, even as gas exports level off and economic growth slows. The country plans to build a $35 billion rail network as well as a new port, highways and stadiums.

Qatar, holder of the third-largest gas reserves, produces about 30 percent of the world’s supply of liquefied natural gas, which is chilled for transport by ship. Exports of the fuel gave Qatar the largest per capita gross domestic product in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. The country plans to spend $200 billion on infrastructure before hosting the most-watched sporting event.

Setbacks

Under the outgoing emir, Qatar has also taken on an increasingly prominent foreign-policy role. It’s providing financial and military aid to the rebels seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, hosting proposed talks among the Taliban, the Afghan government and U.S. officials, and backing Hamas in Gaza.

There were setbacks, too. In Syria, peaceful protests that started in 2011 have evolved into a bloody civil war. The emirate’s support for the opposition was undermined by the rebel loss of the strategic city of al-Qusair in early June.

In Libya, where the emirate sent fighter jets to join NATO against Qaddafi in 2011, Qatar’s flag and effigies of the emir were burned last month by protesters in Benghazi who accused Qatar of funding the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatari flags were also burned in Egypt, the Al Ahram newspaper said on April 20.

“It would be good for Qatar to go back to being quiet again,” Michael Stephens, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in Doha, said in a phone interview. “Half the Arab world hates Qatar right now.”

Slowing Growth

Economic growth slowed to 6.2 percent last year from 17 percent in 2010, according to a report in May by Qatar National Bank SAQ, the country’s largest lender. Citigroup Inc. (C) estimates Qatar’s budget surplus will turn to a deficit by 2015. Money from the sovereign wealth fund will start diminishing and some investments may be sold to finance the government, Farouk Soussa, the bank’s Dubai-based chief Middle East economist said on May 20.

Qatar Holding LLC, the foreign investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund, said on June 17 it sold its 10 percent stake in Porsche Automobile Holding SE to the Porsche-Piech family. The fund holds stakes in Total SA (FP), Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN), Tiffany & Co. (TIF) and owns outright Harrods department store in London.

Credit Risk Steady

The emirate’s credit risk was little changed yesterday, rising three basis points to 88, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Abu Dhabi’s credit default swaps gained five basis points to 85. The two emirates are rated AA by Standard & Poor’s, the third-highest investment grade.

The rating won’t be “immediately affected” by the transition, S&P said in a statement. “We expect executive power to remain concentrated in the hands of the emir,” the rating company said.

Qatar’s gross domestic product will expand 5.2 percent in 2014, faster than Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the biggest Arab economies, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Its foreign policy won’t change much under Sheikh Tamim, who will probably consult his father, said Ghanem Nuseibeh, the London-based founder of Cornerstone Global Associates.

“This is a bit of internal housekeeping,” Nuseibeh said in a phone interview. “We’re unlikely to see much change in the way Qatar is run for the time being.”

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