Alabama's Saban shoots down talk of move to NFL

MIAMI (Reuters) - University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, showered with acclaim after a fourth national title, said on Tuesday he has no desire to return to the National Football League and that the college game is where he belongs.
Saban's Crimson Tide won their second successive national title on Monday and third in four years with a 42-14 hammering of Notre Dame.
The win confirms the 61-year-old as the most successful active coach in college football -- he captured his maiden title with Louisiana State University in the 2003 season.
Then came an unhappy two seasons with the NFL's Miami Dolphins that ended in 2006, but despite his well documented disappointment there has remained speculation that Saban could be tempted back into the pro game.
With five NFL teams currently having vacancies for a head coach that speculation, not surprisingly, re-emerged following Alabama's second consecutive championship.
"How many times do you think I've been asked to put it to rest? And I've put it to rest, and you continue to ask it. So I'm going to say it today, that you know, I think somewhere along the line you've got to choose," he said.
"You learn a lot from the experiences of what you've done in the past," added Saban, before reflecting on the two seasons he spent in Miami after being tempted out of the college game by then Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.
"I came to the Miami Dolphins, what eight years ago for the best owner, the best person that I've ever had the opportunity to work for? And in the two years that I was here, had a very, very difficult time thinking that I could impact the organization in the way that I wanted to or the way that I was able to in college," he said before highlighting some of the reasons he prefers working with student athletes.
"It was very difficult for me, because there's a lot of parity in the NFL, there's a lot of rules in the NFL. People say you can draft the players that you want to draft; you can draft a player that's there when you pick. It might not be the player you need, it might not be the player you want.
"You've got salary cap issues. We had them here (in Miami) You've got to have a quarterback. We had a chance to get one here; sort of messed it up," he said, referring to the missed opportunity to sign Drew Brees, later a Super Bowl winner with New Orleans.
Saban enjoys a huge amount of personal control over the entire football program at Alabama and clearly did not enjoy the more devolved power structure in the NFL.
"I didn't feel like I could impact the team the same way that I can as a college coach in terms of affecting people's lives personally, helping them develop careers by graduating from school, off the field, by helping develop them as football players, and there's a lot of self gratification in all that, all right," said Saban.
"I kind of learned through that (Dolphins) experience that maybe this (college) is where I belong, and I'm really happy and at peace with all that. So no matter how many times I say that, y'all don't believe it, so I don't even know why I keep talking about it."

Read More..

Donald to make Malaysian Open debut in March

(Reuters) - World number two Luke Donald will make his debut at the Malaysian Open this year, organizers said on Tuesday.
The tournament, co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours, is to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club from March 21-24.
"Donald's presence, like many other top players we have had in the past, will not only draw the crowd but also strengthen Malaysia's standing on the global golfing map," said Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohamad Nor, chairman of sponsors Maybank, in a statement.
Rory McIlroy, Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer and Charl Schwartzel are among the leading golfers who have played in previous editions of the tournament which this year will have an increased prize fund of $2.75 million, up $250,000 on 2012.

Read More..

Norwegian kicker dreams of NFL after viral video

Aside from his ability to boot the ball through the uprights from almost kind of angle or distance, Havard Rugland is a complete stranger to the American version of football.
And yet the 28-year-old Norwegian, without having played a single game at any level of the sport, is suddenly pursuing a shot at making it to the NFL. And it's all because of a YouTube video.
Sound incredible? Well, so are some of the kicks and tricks Rugland can pull off with his powerful left leg.
That's why the video he put together for some friends has turned him into an Internet sensation, with 2 million views and counting. And that's why the same video turned into an inadvertent auditioning tape — earning him a tryout last month with the New York Jets.
At a time when people are increasingly taking to social media to showcase their talent, Rugland might be on the verge of going from viral-video-of-the-week to pro athlete.
"I never would have thought it would come to this," he said during a recent phone interview from his home in southern Norway. "I put the film up mostly for friends and family. But as it turns out, there were a lot more people who liked it. It's overwhelming."
Must be, for someone whose only previous experience with football was the European soccer version, and who has only a sketchy familiarity with the rules of the American game. Living in Aalgaard, a town with less than 10,000 people, he started kicking for fun about a year ago after his local soccer club shut down and he needed another outlet.
Having seen other online videos of people doing tricks with Frisbees and basketballs, he figured he'd make one with footballs to showcase his booming leg. He posted it online in mid-September, and three months later he was auditioning for the Jets.
So what is it about his four-minute video — "Kickalicious" — that has people so impressed? Well, the footage of him kicking field goals from 60 yards and soccer-style volleys through the uprights is the least of it.
His more spectacular repertoire includes kicking the ball into a basketball hoop — nothing but net — and into the arms of people in moving cars, floating down a lake in a boat, or atop a hill. For his grand finale, he casually punts one football into the air, then kicks a second ball off a tee so it hits the first one in midair.
"I'm probably the most satisfied with the last kick, which is the one I've received the most compliments about," Rugland said. "I needed eight tries before I pulled it off."
He insists there was no trickery with the actual filming — done with two brothers and a friend — but said he needed several attempts to pull off some of the other kicks as well. When local media picked up his story, a Norwegian broadcaster reviewed the video to make sure it was real, silencing some skeptics who believed it must have been doctored.
And unlike so many other posted videos, interest in Rugland's kicks only grew.
While it was racking up hits in the hundreds of thousands, Rugland received an email from Scott Cohen, assistant general manager of the Jets, who was interested in giving him a workout.
Rugland wondered if he was being scammed.
"When I received that, obviously I was excited, but I had to check out the name and email address to make sure it was genuine, and not some friend who was pulling a prank," he said.
It was real. The Jets were genuinely interested — on the condition that Rugland spend some time with a kicking coach first to hone his skills. So the week after Thanksgiving, the Norwegian traveled to California to spend a few weeks with Michael Husted — a former NFL kicker who now runs a training camp in San Diego and had reached out to Rugland after seeing his video on a Facebook page.
Husted said he's often approached by soccer players interested in trying their hand — or foot, rather — at kicking field goals, hoping to become the next Sebastian Janikowski. But he had seen enough of Rugland in the video to know he was special.
"He's definitely the most impressive nonfootball kicker that I've worked with," Husted said by phone. "When he hits it, it's going to go. He hits it just as high, just as far as a lot of the NFL kickers, if not further."
In fact, Husted sees a lot of similarities between Rugland and Janikowski, the Oakland Raiders kicker from Poland. They're both left-footed, more than 6 feet tall and have the same kind of leg strength.
Rugland's video shows him hitting field goals from 60 yards with ease. The NFL record — shared by Janikowski and three others — is 63 yards.
Rugland thinks he could hit one from "well beyond" 60, and Husted said that's very possible.
"Heck, if he's in Denver he can probably hit it from 65," Husted said.
The Jets liked what they saw enough to invite Rugland back for a second audition in March.
Meantime, he wants to spend more time with Husted to refine his technique and consistency, and he's looking for a sponsor to help pay for another stay in San Diego since he would need to take an unpaid leave of absence from his job as a youth counselor for the local child protective services.
Training on his own isn't so easy these days, given the winter climate in Norway.
"It's hard to get better when you're practicing in the snow," he said.
Husted has put him in touch with an agent, Jill McBride Baxter, who is trying to get him back in the U.S.
"It's not easy," said the Los Angeles-based McBride Baxter, whose other NFL clients include Jets punter Robert Malone and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Marlon Moore. "He's got a life in Norway. He works with youth. He's got a job. He's got a dog."
He also still has a lot to work on. Power is one thing, but getting timing and technique right is equally important. Before working with Husted, Rugland had never kicked with a snap and hold.
And, of course, it remains to be seen whether Rugland can perform as well in a game situation. Some current NFL players, who had watched his video online, weren't so sure.
"It's a cool video," Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely said, "but I don't know if it necessarily translates to kicking field goals consistently in a timed, pressurized environment."
New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford agreed.
"I think he's talented, but there's a different dynamic when you have a video camera and 1,000 chances versus when there's 80,000 people screaming at you (at a game) and you only have one shot," Weatherford said. "You can't teach that skill."
Rugland, though, said he thinks his Scandinavian nerves can handle the pressure.
"It's hard to say before you've experienced it," he said. "But I imagine it will be a bit like a penalty kick in soccer. I was under a lot pressure during the (Jets) tryout, and a lot of people would freeze up at something like that because there's a lot of people watching you. But that went well, so I think I have good chances of handling it."
The Jets may not be Rugland's only hope of making the NFL. Husted said the Raiders, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles have also contacted him for scouting reports. He said the "ideal situation" for the Norwegian may be to get picked up on the practice squad by one team and spend a year honing his skills — the same route taken by Australian punter Darren Bennett in the 1990s.
Bennett was an Australian Rules football player who was given a workout by the San Diego Chargers during his honeymoon in California, and ended up becoming one of the top punters in the NFL.
Rugland thinks he can make a similar journey.
"If you have the quality that's required, you'll get the chance," he said. "I probably have to prove a bit more than others, and impress people a bit more. Those I'm competing against have played in the NFL for several years, or at least played in high school and college. But I believe in it myself, that if everything goes perfectly then it is a realistic chance. Although it's still a long way to go."
And if things don't work out with the NFL. Rugland's YouTube video may at least turn into a different kind of film.

Read More..

NHL owners to vote on contract Wednesday

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL owners will vote Wednesday on the tentative labor agreement reached with the players' union.
If a majority approves, as expected, the NHL will move one step closer toward the official end of the long lockout that began Sept. 16.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a memorandum of understanding of the deal hadn't been completed, so the union has yet to schedule a vote for its more than 700 members. A majority of players also must approve the deal for hockey to return to the ice.
"We continue to document the agreement," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Tuesday.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps can open Sunday if approval is reached on both sides. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
"(We) don't need a signed document to complete ratification process," Daly wrote, "but we do need a signed agreement to open camps. The goal is to get that done by Saturday so that we can open camps on Sunday."
The NHL has yet to release a new schedule. The regular season was supposed to begin on Oct. 11.
The deal was reached Sunday on the 113th day of the lockout and seemingly saved the season that was delayed for three months and cut nearly in half. It took a 16-hour final bargaining session in a New York hotel for the agreement to finally be completed at about 5 a.m.
The lockout led to the cancellation of at least 480 games. That brings the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum 2,178 during three lockouts under Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The damage is significant. Perhaps $1 billion in revenue could be lost this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. Players will also lose a large part of their salaries, not to mention time lost in their careers.
Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to the postponement of 30 games. Bettman became the commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the only major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.
The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 — owners originally had proposed 46 percent.
This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just more than a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

Read More..

Burundi coffee earnings fall 63 pct in December

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Burundi's earnings from coffee exports fell 63 percent in December from the previous month due to lower volumes sold, the country's industry regulator said on Monday.
"Low quantities of coffee were exported in December as most buyers in western countries were off for the holidays," said regulator ARFIC in its monthly report.
Earnings dropped to $2.1 million from $5.7 million in November, as the amount of coffee sold tumbled to 896,547 kg from 1,671,638 kg in the previous month.
ARFIC expects the central African nation to earn a total of$61.4 million from coffee exports during the 2012/2013 (April-March) crop year, slightly up from $61.2 million earned in the 2011/2012 season.
Projected high output from the world's top producers like Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia could lower coffee prices in global markets, ARFIC said.
Coffee is the country's top hard currency earner and the sector employs some 800,000 smallholder farmers in a population of eight million.

Read More..

Analysis: Fiscal crisis seen hurting tech earnings

Warning to investors: major U.S. technology companies could miss estimates for fourth-quarter earnings as "fiscal cliff" worries likely led some corporate clients to tighten their belts last month and refrain from spending all of their 2012 IT budgets.
Tech companies usually enjoy a spike in orders in December as corporations use money left over in their budgets to buy goods on their wish lists - information technology products that are nice to have, rather than essential.
But the so-called year-end budget flush was not as deep in 2012 as in typical years, according to tech analysts and other experts citing conversations with corporate technology buyers and sales sources. They said companies held back on IT purchases in December in part because of Washington's protracted negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff, which is a package of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that could have pushed the already soft U.S. economy into recession.
It took until late on January 1 for House Republican lawmakers led by John Boehner to agree to a bill to avert the cliff, which President Barack Obama signed into law the next day.
"CIOs and CFOs were not making investments," said Andrew Bartels, an analyst with Forrester Research who advises corporate technology buyers. "If Boehner and Obama had been able to strike a deal by around December 15, we would have had end-of-quarter investments."
Analysts say they expect tech spending to remain subdued through at least the first quarter, as businesses wait to see if Congress can resolve another looming fiscal fight, this time over the debt ceiling and federal spending cuts.
Wall Street has already significantly lowered expectations for the tech sector, which has been underperforming the overall market.
The Street now expects tech companies in the S&P 500 to report a 1.0 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings, against an average 2.8 percent rise for companies in the full S&P 500. Three months ago, analysts were expecting tech sector earnings to rise 9.4 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
First-quarter tech profit growth estimates have also been lowered to 2.6 percent, from 9 percent three months ago, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Greg Harrison, a corporate earnings research analyst with Thomson Reuters, said he expects analysts will cut their predictions further after tech companies report fourth-quarter results.
Intel Corp will report its quarterly earnings on January 17, the first of a group of big tech companies reliant on enterprise spending. Intel will be followed by IBM, Microsoft Corp and EMC Corp later in January. Cisco Systems Inc, Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co close their quarterly books in about a month.
Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, which manages about $54 billion, said he generally expects fourth-quarter tech results to disappoint, but has yet to determine by how much.
He expects the sluggish performance to continue into the first quarter, then improve in the second half of the year, assuming Democrats and Republicans reach a deal on the debt ceiling and spending cuts.
"So far we only have one piece," he said of the fiscal cliff deal.
USE IT OR LOSE IT
Even if Washington politicians eventually resolve their differences over fiscal issues, that is not expected to fully restore losses already caused to tech spending, experts said.
Technology projects that were axed at the end of last year will not likely be resumed any time soon because annual tech budgets are allocated on a "use it or lose it" basis, according to experts who advise companies on technology investments.
"These budgets are based on how the business is doing at the time. All of these are postponable decisions," said Howard Anderson, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and frequent adviser to chief investment officers at Fortune 500 companies.
Analysts said that makers of hardware, from computers to networking gear, likely missed out on the year-end budget flush because businesses can postpone upgrades for years by buying new software that is compatible with older equipment.
They said they expect some companies to have postponed the purchase of new PCs in the fourth quarter, which could hit the results of Windows and Office maker Microsoft, along with PC makers Dell and HP, as well as chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Nucleus Research analyst Rebecca Wettemann said some businesses likely delayed buying new PCs to avoid having to upgrade to Windows 8, which was introduced late last year.
"A new operating system causes huge disruptions for businesses," she said. "Who wants to take that on in the face of all the other uncertainty?"
Microsoft, Dell, HP and Intel declined to comment. AMD did not return requests for comment.
Beyond concerns about the U.S. economy, corporate IT buyers are also worried about the potential for further weakness in Europe and Asia.
Last Thursday, Forrester cut its closely watched forecast for 2013 global IT sales, citing the fiscal cliff debacle as one reason. Forrester now expects global IT sales to rise 3.3 percent to $2.2 trillion this year, down from its previous forecast for 4.3 percent growth.
VIRTUAL STORAGE
Analysts say the weak economy may boost adoption of recently introduced data storage technologies that allow companies to put more data on the equipment they already own, reducing the need for them to buy more hardware.
Some companies have already paid for that technology, but have yet to implement it because staff are not yet comfortable using it, said analyst Cindy Shaw of investment research firm Discern.
Shaw said that executives at those companies are likely to tell their IT staff to implement that technology to get full use out of existing equipment before they can buy more.
Storage equipment makers NetApp Inc and EMC, along with hard drive makers Western Digital Corp and Seagate Technology are likely to suffer the most from more use of the new technologies, which include storage virtualization. NetApp and Western Digital declined to comment. EMC and Seagate could not be reached for comment.
Defenders of the tech industry say the fallout from the fiscal cliff is already factored into share prices. The S&P 500 Information Technology Index has climbed 1.6 percent over the past month, below the 4.0 percent increase in the broader S&P 500 Index.
Some technology companies appear poised to outperform the pack.
Oracle Corp said on December 18 that it expects software sales growth to stay strong in 2013 despite fears about the fiscal crisis [ID:nL1E8NIEZM]. The company's earnings beat Wall Street forecasts in its most recent quarter as strong software sales offset a sharp drop in hardware revenue.
Analysts said that IBM, whose quarter ended December 31, may have fared better than other big technology companies, because it is has a large amount of recurring revenue from its services and software divisions.
"Oracle and IBM both have super strong sales teams that can bring home what they need to year after year," said Kim Forrest, senior analyst of Fort Pitt Capital.
IBM and Oracle could not be reached for comment.

Read More..

TSX drops as miners weaken, focus on U.S. earnings

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index retreated on Monday as mining stocks were pressured by softer gold prices and investors braced for the upcoming U.S. fourth-quarter earnings season.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index's <.gsptse> fall tracked declines on U.S. stock markets as cautious investors cashed in recent gains ahead of the earnings season. The U.S. results are expected to be only marginally stronger than the previous quarter's lackluster performance. <.n>
"We're in earnings season in the U.S. That might cause some kind of hesitation," said Michael Gayed, chief investment strategist at Pension Partners.
Gold prices slipped as investors eyed the outlook for U.S. budget talks and the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program. Two top Fed officials suggested on Friday the central bank may halt its bullion-friendly asset purchases by the end of the year due to an improving economy.
The Toronto index's materials group, where miners reside, finished 0.97 percent lower.
"There's going to be some kind of noise near term, most of it due to the concern about the (U.S. budget) debt ceiling coming up. That's going to cause some near-term back and forth movement," Gayed said.
The index's energy group gave back 0.65 percent as oil prices steadied after retreating earlier in the session. TD Securities downgraded several Canadian oil and gas companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 41.26 points, or 0.33 percent, at 12,499.55. Eight of its 10 main sectors fell.
Barrick Gold Corp was the biggest drag, falling 1.67 percent to close at C$33.57, while Suncor Energy Inc slipped 1.04 percent to C$33.23. Goldcorp Inc rounded off the top three negative weights on the index, giving back 1.76 percent to C$34.69.
Canadian Natural Resources was down 1.23 percent at C$29.78, while fellow oil producer Talisman Energy Inc was off 2.27 percent at C$11.62. TD Securities cut its rating on both companies.
Toronto's resource-heavy market pared some of the robust gains it made made the previous week, when the index hit a nine-month high after the landmark U.S. budget deal.
"The markets are coming off a hangover of feeling good from last week," said Barry Schwartz, vice president and portfolio manager at Baskin Financial Services.
"Until we get a good feel on the fourth-quarter earnings and the guidance for first-quarter earnings, the market will probably trade sideways," he added.
Investors were also taking in news that global regulators gave banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers.
The financial sector, the index's biggest, slid 0.04 percent. Royal Bank of Canada was down 0.43 percent at C$60.81. The Bank of Nova Scotia was up 0.1 percent at C$57.65.
In company news, Canada's airlines flew fuller planes in December, with dominant carrier Air Canada and No. 2 WestJet Airlines reporting record monthly passenger levels. Air Canada shares were up 5.08 percent at C$1.86. WestJet shares inched up 0.10 percent to C$20.23.

Read More..

Violence in Northern Ireland for 3rd day over flag

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Northern Ireland police used water cannons to fend off brick-hurling protesters in Belfast on Saturday as violent demonstrations over flying the British flag stretched into a third straight day.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating reports that a number of shots were fired at police lines. A 38-year-man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.
More than 1,000 demonstrators marched on Belfast's city hall earlier Saturday afternoon amid a heavy police presence. While the rally passed largely without incident, police then came under attack from a mob of more than 100 people hurling bricks and fireworks. Two men were arrested, police said.
Protesters have been out in force — with sometimes violent results — since a Dec. 3 decision by Belfast City Council to stop flying the British flag year-round.
Such issues of symbolism frequently inflame sectarian passions in Northern Ireland, where Protestants mainly want to stay in the United Kingdom and Catholics want to unite with the Republic of Ireland.
Many Protestants want the council to reverse its decision about the flag, and dozens of police have been injured in ensuing demonstrations.
Saturday's flare-up followed a tense Friday night in Belfast when nine police officers were injured and 18 rioters arrested during rioting. Police said that more than 30 petrol bombs were thrown at officers, along with ball bearings, fireworks and bricks as they responded to clashes in Protestant sections of the city.
Similar clashes on Thursday saw 10 police injured in east Belfast.
The controversy has also seen death threats made against politicians.

Read More..

Man arrested after shots fired at Northern Irish police in flag riots

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish police arrested a 38-year-old man on Saturday on suspicion of attempted murder after shots were fired at police officers during protests over the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall.
Police used water cannon against more than 100 protesters hurling fireworks, smoke bombs and bricks in the eastern part of the city shortly after a demonstration outside City Hall calling for the flag to be reinstated on a permanent basis.
Pro-British loyalists began rioting a month ago in the most sustained violence in the city for years after a vote by mostly nationalist pro-Irish councillors to end the century-old tradition of flying the British flag from Belfast City Hall.
The violence, which stopped over Christmas, began again on Thursday and 19 police officers have been injured since then, bringing the total number of officers hurt since early December to more than 60.
Loyalists blamed Saturday's fighting on anti-British Catholic nationalists who they said attacked them first.
Militant nationalists, responsible for the killings of three police officers and two soldiers since 2009, have so far not reacted violently to the flag protests, limiting any threat to 15 years of peace in Northern Ireland.
However, Peter Robinson, the British-controlled province's first minister, said on Friday that rioters were playing into the hands of nationalist groups, who would seek to exploit every opportunity "to further their terror aims".
At least 3,600 people were killed during Northern Ireland's darkest period as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The violence was mostly ended by a 1998 peace deal.

Read More..

Spanish police seize ancient plundered vase

MADRID (AP) — The owner of an antique shop in Spain was arrested after police investigators found a vase there dating back to the late second century B.C., officials said Saturday.
The antiquity had been illegally plundered from an Iberian era archeological site in the province of Alicante, an Interior Ministry statement said.
Inspectors found it in a cardboard box during a routine search of the shop in the eastern town of El Campello.
"We are not yet aware of the full importance of this discovery, but in 20 years' time we will still be talking about this vase," said Jose Luis Simon, an expert from the cultural heritage service of the Ministry of Culture.
Simon said the piece showed decorative paintwork from the Iberian era that tells the story of a hunter who had managed to kill a wild boar, one of the rituals of the time that proved a youth had attained the status of manhood.
He said that while fragments of vases from this antiquity exist in Spain, this was the first to be found whole, making it "of exceptional value."
Simon said the hunting sequences showed similarities to some found on an ancient Greek vase, known as a crater, in the Vatican museum in Rome.
The Interior Ministry said the inspectors who opened the cardboard box knew right away they were dealing with something out of the ordinary and requested technical backup.
"The technicians did not take long to arrive and issue a report confirming the vase's originality," Simon said.
He said it has been moved to the Alicante Archeological Museum for safekeeping.

Read More..