A former official of the Indian Home Ministry on Sunday disclosed that a member of the secret service team had accused incumbent governments of “orchestrating” the terror attack on Indian Parliament and the 26/11 carnage in Mumbai. The former Indian investigator Satish Verma has said India itself was behind attacks on Parliament in Delhi and Mumbai.
According to Indian media‚ the fake encounter case involving a senior officer Under-Secretary of Interior Ministry Ishrat Jahan has submitted an affidavit in the court stating that a member of CBI and SIC investigation team Satish Verma told him that in the terrorists attacks on Parliament in Delhi and Mumbai terror attacks were pre-planned.
A key government official, RVS Mani said Satish Verma, until recently a part of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe team, told him that both the terror attacks were set up “with the objective of strengthening the counter-terror legislation”. Mani has said that Verma narrated that the December 13, 2001 (attack on Parliament) was followed by Pota (Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act) and 26/11 2008 (terrorists’ siege of Mumbai) was followed by amendment to the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act).
The official has alleged that Verma levelled the damaging charge while debunking IB's inputs labelling the three killed with Ishrat in the June 2004 encounter as Lashkar terrorists. Contacted by Times of India, Verma refused to comment. "I don't know what the complaint is, made when and to whom. Nor am I interested in knowing.
I cannot speak to the media on such matters. Ask the CBI," said the Gujarat cadre IPS officer who after being relieved from the SIT is working as principal of the JunagadhPoliceTrainingCollege. India had accused Pakistan of involvement in both the attacks and started a propaganda campaign maligning Pakistan-based organisations and its agencies for the attacks. Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab have already been hanged by Indian government in the parliament and 26/11 cases, respectively.
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ANN ARBOR (Michigan): Hyundai Motor Co's factories have reached their maximum capacity to build cars, and that's costing the company sales in a growing US market, its American CEO said on Friday.
Hyundai's US sales are up only 1.9 per cent for the first half of the year, less than a quarter of the overall market's 8.4 per cent growth rate, according to Autodata Corp Industry analysts are predicting that sales will rise as high as 15.5 million cars and trucks this year, a million more than last year, and there are predictions of nearly 16 million in 2014.
A Hyundai factory near Montgomery, Alabama, that makes the Elantra compact and Sonata midsize car, the company's two top-selling vehicles, is at capacity, as is a plant in West Point, Georgia, run by sister company Kia where Hyundai's popular Santa Fe crossover utility vehicle is made. Other models are made at factories in Korea. US CEO John Krafcik said both US plants are on the maximum three shifts with workers on maximum overtime, yet they still can't keep up with demand.
"We have tapped everything at this point," he told reporters at an event at its US research center held to show off a refreshed 2014 Equus luxury car. "There's nothing left."
Yet Krafcik says Hyundai has decided not to build another US. factory at this point, instead taking at least a two-year break to concentrate on quality and customer satisfaction.
"I don't know that there's another example in another industry, in our industry, where a company that so clearly had growth potential decided to pass, to make sure that everything is OK, and to build stronger operating systems so that in five or 10 years there would be a stronger company at a higher volume level," Krafcik said.
Hyundai had record sales for the first six months of the year at 361,010. Krafcik said the company has only enough inventory in the US. to supply dealers for 44 days. That's the second only to Subaru with 31 days, he said. Hyundai, he said, also isn't spending much money on discounts to sell its vehicles.
Hyundai's sales grew by more than 20 per cent in 2010 and 2011, but slowed last year to about 9 per cent.
The lack of factory capacity means that Hyundai likely underestimated the pace of the US auto sales recovery, said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for the TrueCar.com auto pricing site. Because of that, the company is missing out on much of the expected growth in auto sales this decade, he said. Auto sales have rebounded from a 30-year low of 10.4 million in 2009.
"Not being able to participate fully in that growth and capturing market share cannot be a good thing," Toprak said. "At the end of the day, if you're not selling cars, you're missing an opportunity."
The company's slower growth this year is all related to its lack of factory capacity and has nothing to do with fierce competition in the key small and midsize car markets, Krafcik said. The slower-than-market sales growth also is not related to the US. Environmental Protection Agency's determination that Hyundai and Kia overstated gas mileage claims on window stickers of 900,000 vehicles in the past three years, he said.
The inflated mileage was uncovered late last year by the Environmental Protection Agency in an audit of gas mileage tests by the two South Korean automakers. The agency monitors automobile fuel economy.
The EPA found inflated mileage on 13 models from the 2011 through 2013 model years, including Hyundai's Elantra and Tucson. The window sticker mileages were overstated on about one-third of the cars sold by the companies during the three years.
The companies were forced to knock one or two miles (1.6 or 3.2 kilometers) per gallon (3.8 liters) off the window stickers. Some models lost three or four miles (4.8 or 6.4 kilometers) per gallon.
A EPA spokeswoman said on Friday that its investigation into the overstated mileage is continuing.
Company executives have apologized for the discrepancies and promised to compensate customers because they're using more gasoline than expected. The executives said the higher mileage figures were unintentional, caused by errors in following EPA mileage test procedures.
Hyundai and Kia are owned by the same company and share factories and research. Their cars have the same underpinnings but different styling and performance.
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| Typhoon Soulik lashed coastal Fujian province with winds of 118 kilometres per hour (73 mph) when it made landfall. |
Soulik lashed coastal Fujian province with winds of 118 kilometres per hour (73 mph) when it made landfall but had weakened to a tropical depression as it moved inland, the China Meteorological Administration said.
More than half a million people were evacuated from Fujian and neighbouring Zhejiang as the typhoon approached, with 5,500 soldiers deployed to carry out relief work if needed.
Xinhua news agency said almost 31,000 ships were called back to port and 20 flights cancelled.
Soulik brought torrential rain to Xiamen, with 24 centimetres of rain falling on the port city from Saturday to Sunday.
Rivers swelled beyond warning levels in some areas, and waves up to 10 metres (33 feet) high pounded sea defences in Ningde city.
In Taiwan, two people were killed, one was missing and 104 were injured by the storm, with one town reporting widespread landslides and floodwaters a storey high.
The northern village of Bailan saw the heaviest rain, with 90 centimetres (35 inches) falling in 48 hours, with winds gusting up to 220 kilometres per hour.
While Soulik wrought havoc in Taiwan, tearing roofs from homes and causing landslides that blocked roads, eastern China escaped its full force.
"Billboards have been shattered and trees have been uprooted" but no deaths or injuries were reported, Xinhua said.
The storm was set to dump up to 18 centimetres of rain on parts of eastern China over 24 hours as it moved further inland, forecasters said.
Downpours have already hit wide swathes of China over the past week, leaving dozens dead in rain-triggered landslides.
Officials were calculating the cost of the storm, with the Zhejiang city of Wenzhou alone facing a direct economic loss of 210 million yuan ($34 million), the agency said.
In Taiwan thousands of soldiers and workers spent Sunday cleaning up , with hundreds of fallen trees being removed in the capital Taipei.
In Puli, a small township in the central Nantou county, dozens of soldiers equipped with trucks and buckets helped residents whose homes were flooded when river banks burst.
Wu Yuan-ming, a township government official, told AFP: "The most difficult part of the work is the removal of the thick mud in the houses and roads. It may take three days to finish the work."
Damage to the agricultural sector was estimated to be Tw$250 million ($8.5 million), according to the government.
NOTTINGHAM: England were on the brink of winning the first Test against Australia after more umpiring controversy dogged the Ashes series opener at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Australia were 174 for six at stumps on the fourth day, still needing a further 137 runs to reach their victory target of 311 after they lost three wickets for three runs late in the day.
No side has made more to win in the fourth innings of a Trent Bridge Test than England's 284 for six against New Zealand in 2004.
But the fact teenage debutant Ashton Agar, who in Australia's first innings made 98, the highest score by a Test No 11, was still there was a warning to Ashes-holders England they had work left to do if they were to go 1-0 up in this five-match series.
Brad Haddin was 11 not out and Agar, promoted to No 8, one not out.
England captured the prize scalp of Australia captain Michael Clarke when Stuart Broad had the tourists' best batsman caught behind by wicketkeeper Matt Prior for 23 off an excellent full-length delivery that saw Australia decline from 161 for three to 164 for six in the space of 18 balls.
Left-hander Phil Hughes, playing back to another sharply spun Swann delivery, just pitched in line before striking the batsman plumb in front of his stumps on the back leg for a duck.
Australia had frustrated England before opener Shane Watson was lbw to a Broad inswinger for 46.
Then to what became the last ball before tea, Ed Cowan edged part-time spinner Joe Root to Jonathan Trott at slip.
Before tea Chris Rogers, playing his second Test five years after his debut, completed a maiden Test fifty off 104 balls with eight fours.
But soon after tea, Rogers tamely chipped James Anderson to Ian Bell at midwicket.
Earlier, Bell's 109 had been the cornerstone of England's second innings 375.
Bell, 95 not out overnight, shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 138 with Broad (65). (AFP)
Australia were 174 for six at stumps on the fourth day, still needing a further 137 runs to reach their victory target of 311 after they lost three wickets for three runs late in the day.
No side has made more to win in the fourth innings of a Trent Bridge Test than England's 284 for six against New Zealand in 2004.
But the fact teenage debutant Ashton Agar, who in Australia's first innings made 98, the highest score by a Test No 11, was still there was a warning to Ashes-holders England they had work left to do if they were to go 1-0 up in this five-match series.
Brad Haddin was 11 not out and Agar, promoted to No 8, one not out.
England captured the prize scalp of Australia captain Michael Clarke when Stuart Broad had the tourists' best batsman caught behind by wicketkeeper Matt Prior for 23 off an excellent full-length delivery that saw Australia decline from 161 for three to 164 for six in the space of 18 balls.
Left-hander Phil Hughes, playing back to another sharply spun Swann delivery, just pitched in line before striking the batsman plumb in front of his stumps on the back leg for a duck.
Australia had frustrated England before opener Shane Watson was lbw to a Broad inswinger for 46.
Then to what became the last ball before tea, Ed Cowan edged part-time spinner Joe Root to Jonathan Trott at slip.
Before tea Chris Rogers, playing his second Test five years after his debut, completed a maiden Test fifty off 104 balls with eight fours.
But soon after tea, Rogers tamely chipped James Anderson to Ian Bell at midwicket.
Earlier, Bell's 109 had been the cornerstone of England's second innings 375.
Bell, 95 not out overnight, shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 138 with Broad (65). (AFP)
CAIRO: Investigators began questioning Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi and members of his Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday over their involvement in a 2011 prison break, judicial sources told AFP.
The inquiry follows allegations that Morsi and senior Brotherhood members escaped from Wadi Natrun prison during the uprising that ended former president Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.
Investigators are examining whether foreign groups such as Palestinian
Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah were involved in the jailbreak.
State Security prosecution service investigators interviewed Morsi at an
undisclosed location, the judicial sources said. It came hours after the public prosecutor received complaints against Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders, accusing them of spying, inciting violence and
damaging the economy.
Morsi, who was overthrown by Egypt's powerful army on July 3, is being held in a "safe place", interim leaders have said. His supporters accuse the military of violating democratic principles by removing an elected leader from office, and have vowed to keep fighting for his
reinstatement.
The interim authorities are working to an army-drafted roadmap, and Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi is closer to forming a cabinet.
Parliamentary and presidential elections are expected next year.
Finally, Dwight Howard felt Houston’s warm — a good 100 degrees worth of warm — embrace.
He was hugged by Hall of Famers at Toyota Center and hailed by throngs, an estimated 10,000 strong, outside. He was celebrated and cheered, welcomed as everything from a worthy member of the lineage of Rockets superstar centers to “the missing piece,” as Hakeem Olajuwon put it, to a championship team.
Yet for all the famous faces and all the festivities, Howard was simply happy. He is the Rockets’ center, having made his choice he said just for himself. All the insinuations and accusations were gone, at least inside that arena and on that downtown street. The shots that he said had thickened his skin were put aside.
Howard, 27, did not mind the expectations. He spoke of winning an NBA championship. He endorsed Rockets coach Kevin McHale’s suggestion he should dominate as he had when he had become Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s target for two seasons of trade talks, roster manipulations and all-out recruiting pitches. He beamed that famous smile hour after hour.
Finally, as he took a seat in Rockets owner Leslie Alexander’s suite, he drank it all in, and said he was at last content and at home.
“It’s a great feeling,” Howard said. “All the stuff I’ve been through and the way people have tried to have me perceived, it’s a good feeling to be loved. It’s a good feeling to be wanted. After all these years, people still genuinely care. It means a lot.
“It’s a new beginning. A new age; that’s our team motto. But it’s really a new beginning for me. Coming here, having my family at the press conference. This didn’t happen when I first got in the NBA. It’s a great feeling. And then, having the fans and everybody show up, all the people who showed up today, it’s really, really big for me. I haven’t eaten all day, but I’m full. And I say I’m full it’s because people here just filled my heart with joy.”
‘One big family’
Howard had said all along that was what he wanted to find as a free agent, listing his happiness second after the pursuit of a championship-caliber team.
This was the message Alexander delivered two weeks ago in Los Angeles when he and Howard walked away from a dinner meeting at the Hotel Bel-Air and found a bench to talk privately. Howard said the conversation that night might have done more to convince him than anything else said by that large delegation of Rockets representatives, or the groups that would follow.
Alexander would not share what he said, but the point was clear.
“The theme was if he comes here it will be more like one big family,” Alexander said. “He will be taken care of. We take care of our players. And he’ll enjoy himself in a different atmosphere than he’s used to.”
Howard did not feel that level of acceptance in his one season with the Lakers. But by Saturday at Toyota Center, when Alexander introduced him, he left the script he had prepared to hit on that theme again.
“Happiness is really part of it,” Alexander said. “If you can be a great player and can’t be happy, what good is it? He will be very happy here. Dwight recognized his childhood dreams would come true as a Rocket.
“Dwight is a great player. I don’t think people realize how great he is. He’s going to show that in Houston. He’s going to have the staff around him. He’s going to have the players around him. And you’re also going to see what an engaging personality he is. He likes to smile. He’s a warm, engaging guy. People think because he smiles, he doesn’t care as much. That’s stupid. It’s just stupid.”
Those impressions of Howard have been common throughout his career before his indecision about remaining in Orlando or leaving L.A. led to other labels. Long before his seriousness was questioned on the cover of Sports Illustrated, his father questioned his 10-year-old son’s unrelenting smile on the court, approving only when Howard proved he could win happily.
Joy, winning can coexist
“You can do both,” said Rockets coach Kevin McHale, whom Howard called ‘Old School.’ “When I was back in college this guy in East Lansing, Magic Johnson, kicked my tail in college. Kicked my tail in the pros, too. He smiled while he did it. He had fun. You have to play hard. I don’t have any problem at all with Dwight having fun. You’re supposed to have fun. We’re truly blessed to play in the NBA. It is the best job you’ll ever have in your life. If you can’t enjoy it, you’re crazy.”
But McHale does have high expectations. He said he expects nothing less than domination.
“He can dominate the game so many different ways and he has dominated,” McHale said. “He’s had multiple seasons he’s been the most dominant big man in the NBA. He’s in his prime. Can he improve? Will he improve? Absolutely. You’re not taking a guy that’s not a well-established player. He has been the dominant big man in the NBA for multiple years.”
Howard, 6-11, said later that is what he expects, too.
“Before I got injured,” he said, “that’s what I did every night.”
Howard, 6-11, said later that is what he expects, too.
“Before I got injured,” he said, “that’s what I did every night.”
But Howard chose the Rockets to chase a championship and knew that he will be measured against that standard. He reached the Finals in 2009 with the Orlando Magic, and the conference finals the next season. He has not won a playoff round in the four seasons since.
Following a feeling
“We have a great opportunity,” Howard said. “I’m not going to get up here and say we’re going to win five championships. I’m not going to do that. If we really dedicate ourselves and sacrifice everything we got for a championship, at the end of the season, we should be holding the trophy.”
For now, he was happy just to start over. Saturday marked not just the beginning of his tenure with the Rockets, but the end of the tumult of the previous two seasons, the end of the free-agency decision. The spotlight will follow him. The pressures and expectations will not change. But he seemed at peace with all of that, ready to embrace Houston back and to call, even a sweltering summer afternoon, “a beautiful day.”
“I had a good feeling in my soul about everything, the direction of the team, Les, Kevin, Daryl, everybody,” Howard said. “I just had a good feeling about what they were trying to accomplish. Talking to the guys, I just felt good about the situation.
“The one thing I kept telling myself is ‘I want to get past all of this. I’m not going to let this defeat me.’ Last year, I was really coming back off of injuries. I fought through that. This season, I get to start fresh. All that stuff is behind me. There’s no looking back. I know I made the right decision. I’m just ready. I’m ready.
“It’s a beautiful day, man. I’m excited to be here. I’m glad to have all that stuff over with and have a chance to start fresh. I’m looking forward to this opportunity. I think it’s going to be great. I’m ready. I’m ready.”
A pilotless aerial vehicle on Saturday fired two missiles in the Mir Ali Tehsil of North Waziristan, killing as many as two people, a private TV channel reported. The aircraft fired the missiles at two people riding a motorcycle in Mossaki village in Mir Ali.
This is the second strike this month. Earlier in July, a drone had fired missiles on a house in Sarai Darpakhel. The attack destroyed the house and a vehicle parked next to it killing as many as 17 people. The drone attack was the biggest launched this year and the second since Nawaz Sharif came to power.
On June 7, seven suspected terrorists were killed and three injured when a drone attacked a compound in Mangroti village in the Shawal tehsil of North Waziristan, according to government officials.
The White House said Friday that Russia granting political asylum to Edward Snowden would be on par with providing the National Security Agency leaker with a “propaganda platform” to further harm the United States.
During a scheduled briefing in Washington, DC Friday afternoon shortly after Mr. Snowden issued a statement of his own from Moscow, White House spokesperson Jay Carney said the administration’s position on the leaker remains that he should be extradited to the US to face charges of espionage.
“Our position on Mr. Snowden and the felony charges against him and our belief that he ought to be returned to the United States to face those felony charges is as it was,” Carney told reporters during an afternoon White House press conference.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have discussed the Snowden issue on the phone, according to Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
“The telephone conversation, suggested by Washington, took place between the Russian and the US presidents. Putin and Obama exchanged views on questions of bilateral partnership and security. Edward Snowden’s case was also discussed.”
Earlier, Carney confirmed that Obama had previously scheduled a phone conversation with the Russian leader for later Friday, during which the topic of Snowden’s plight was expected to be addressed. Carney declined to make any comments about the phone call before it took place, but said, “I’m sure President Putin is aware of our views about Mr. Snowden.”
“The telephone conversation, suggested by Washington, took place between the Russian and the US presidents. Putin and Obama exchanged views on questions of bilateral partnership and security. Edward Snowden’s case was also discussed.”
Earlier, Carney confirmed that Obama had previously scheduled a phone conversation with the Russian leader for later Friday, during which the topic of Snowden’s plight was expected to be addressed. Carney declined to make any comments about the phone call before it took place, but said, “I’m sure President Putin is aware of our views about Mr. Snowden.”
Snowden announced earlier that he was officially seeking asylum from Russia. He has been awarded protection from a number of countries including Venezuela and Bolivia, but flight restrictions have left him unable to exit the transit lounge of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport.
“I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted,” Snowden wrote in a statement released early Friday by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. “I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.”
Picture released by Human Rights Watch shows US National Security Agency (NSA) fugitive leaker Edward Snowden (C) during a meeting with rights activists, with among them Sarah Harrison of WikiLeaks (L), at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, on July 12, 2013.(AFP Photo / Human Rights Watch)
During the address hours later across the pond, Carney said the White House has communicated to Russia and a number of other countries that Snowden be sent back to the US immediately.
“I would simply say that providing a propaganda platform for Mr. Snowden runs counter to the Russian government’s previous declarations of Russia’s neutrality, and that they have no control over his presence in the airport,” Carney said.
“It’s also incompatible with Russia’s assurances that they do not want Mr. Snowden to further damage US interests. But having said that, our position also remains that we don’t believe this should — and we don’t want it to — do harm to our important relationship with Russia, and we continue to discuss with Russia our strongly held view that there is absolutely legal justification for him to be expelled, for him to be returned to the United States, to face the charges that have been brought against him for the unauthorized leaking of classified information,” the spokesman said.
When asked if there would be any repercussions with regards to US/Russia relations if Snowden’s latest asylum request is granted, Carney told reporters, “I’m not going to speculate about something that hasn’t happened.”
“What I would say is we don’t believe this issue should do harm to the relation between Russia and the United States, and we are working with the Russians and have made clear to the Russians our views about the fact that Mr. Snowden has been charged with very serious crimes and that he should be returned to the United States,” Carney said.
Back home, said the spokesman, Snowden will “be granted full due process and every right available to him as a United States citizen facing our justice system under the Constitution.”
“He is accused of leaking classified information, has been charged with three felony counts and should be returned to the United States where he will be afforded full due process,” said Carney.
Supporters of the whistleblower have argued otherwise, however, and have cited the treatment of WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning as a reason to keep Snowden far away from the clutch of American authorities. Manning, who is currently on trial for his own leaks in Ft. Meade, Maryland, spent roughly ten months in isolation within a military brig in northern Virginia upon being arrested in 2010 on suspicion of cooperating with WikiLeaks. In all his pre-trial detainment extended for over three full years and included treatment that a special rapporteur for the United Nations has condemned as tantamount with torture.
“We know from at least three national security reporters that their sources are hesitant to speak to them,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a conference call with RT last month, “and explicitly cite the treatment of Bradley Manning as a reason as to why they are hesitant to disclose abuses by the United States government in the national security sector.”
“So already the Manning prosecution is harming the quality of Western Democracy and the quality of reporting in the press,” added Assange. “It is clear to me at this stage that Mr. Snowden will be very aggressively — is being very aggressively — pursued by the US national security sector.”
Assange himself has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for over a year awaiting safe passage to Latin America where he has also been granted asylum but unable to exit the building without risking arrest.
Russian lawyer Genri Reznik (C) speaks to journalists after arriving at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow July 12, 2013.(Reuters / Tatyana Makeyeva)
In his statement issued through WikiLeaks Friday, Snowden said he was appealing to human rights organizations since he believes that the US has committed multiple constitutional violations and infringed on Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by preventing him from traveling to the countries that have granted him protection.
“These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum,” said Snowden.
When asked Friday if the White House is engaged in an unlawful campaign to deny Snowden “his right to seek asylum,” Carney smirked and said, “No, it is not.”
“He has been charged under the law with three felonies — very serious crimes — and every aspect of the United States system of justice is available to him upon his return to the US to face those charges,” said Carney. If Snowden is sent back to America, he insisted, he will “face justice in a system that affords defendants all the rights that every American citizen enjoys.”
Finally, Dwight Howard felt Houston’s warm — a good 100 degrees worth of warm — embrace.
He was hugged by Hall of Famers at Toyota Center and hailed by throngs, an estimated 10,000 strong, outside. He was celebrated and cheered, welcomed as everything from a worthy member of the lineage of Rockets superstar centers to “the missing piece,” as Hakeem Olajuwon put it, to a championship team.
Yet for all the famous faces and all the festivities, Howard was simply happy. He is the Rockets’ center, having made his choice he said just for himself. All the insinuations and accusations were gone, at least inside that arena and on that downtown street. The shots that he said had thickened his skin were put aside.
Howard, 27, did not mind the expectations. He spoke of winning an NBA championship. He endorsed Rockets coach Kevin McHale’s suggestion he should dominate as he had when he had become Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s target for two seasons of trade talks, roster manipulations and all-out recruiting pitches. He beamed that famous smile hour after hour.
Finally, as he took a seat in Rockets owner Leslie Alexander’s suite, he drank it all in, and said he was at last content and at home.
“It’s a great feeling,” Howard said. “All the stuff I’ve been through and the way people have tried to have me perceived, it’s a good feeling to be loved. It’s a good feeling to be wanted. After all these years, people still genuinely care. It means a lot.
“It’s a new beginning. A new age; that’s our team motto. But it’s really a new beginning for me. Coming here, having my family at the press conference. This didn’t happen when I first got in the NBA. It’s a great feeling. And then, having the fans and everybody show up, all the people who showed up today, it’s really, really big for me. I haven’t eaten all day, but I’m full. And I say I’m full it’s because people here just filled my heart with joy.”
‘One big family’
Howard had said all along that was what he wanted to find as a free agent, listing his happiness second after the pursuit of a championship-caliber team.
This was the message Alexander delivered two weeks ago in Los Angeles when he and Howard walked away from a dinner meeting at the Hotel Bel-Air and found a bench to talk privately. Howard said the conversation that night might have done more to convince him than anything else said by that large delegation of Rockets representatives, or the groups that would follow.
Alexander would not share what he said, but the point was clear.
“The theme was if he comes here it will be more like one big family,” Alexander said. “He will be taken care of. We take care of our players. And he’ll enjoy himself in a different atmosphere than he’s used to.”
Howard did not feel that level of acceptance in his one season with the Lakers. But by Saturday at Toyota Center, when Alexander introduced him, he left the script he had prepared to hit on that theme again.
“Happiness is really part of it,” Alexander said. “If you can be a great player and can’t be happy, what good is it? He will be very happy here. Dwight recognized his childhood dreams would come true as a Rocket.
“Dwight is a great player. I don’t think people realize how great he is. He’s going to show that in Houston. He’s going to have the staff around him. He’s going to have the players around him. And you’re also going to see what an engaging personality he is. He likes to smile. He’s a warm, engaging guy. People think because he smiles, he doesn’t care as much. That’s stupid. It’s just stupid.”
Those impressions of Howard have been common throughout his career before his indecision about remaining in Orlando or leaving L.A. led to other labels. Long before his seriousness was questioned on the cover of Sports Illustrated, his father questioned his 10-year-old son’s unrelenting smile on the court, approving only when Howard proved he could win happily.
Joy, winning can coexist
“You can do both,” said Rockets coach Kevin McHale, whom Howard called ‘Old School.’ “When I was back in college this guy in East Lansing, Magic Johnson, kicked my tail in college. Kicked my tail in the pros, too. He smiled while he did it. He had fun. You have to play hard. I don’t have any problem at all with Dwight having fun. You’re supposed to have fun. We’re truly blessed to play in the NBA. It is the best job you’ll ever have in your life. If you can’t enjoy it, you’re crazy.”
But McHale does have high expectations. He said he expects nothing less than domination.
“He can dominate the game so many different ways and he has dominated,” McHale said. “He’s had multiple seasons he’s been the most dominant big man in the NBA. He’s in his prime. Can he improve? Will he improve? Absolutely. You’re not taking a guy that’s not a well-established player. He has been the dominant big man in the NBA for multiple years.”
Howard, 6-11, said later that is what he expects, too.
“Before I got injured,” he said, “that’s what I did every night.”
Howard, 6-11, said later that is what he expects, too.
“Before I got injured,” he said, “that’s what I did every night.”
But Howard chose the Rockets to chase a championship and knew that he will be measured against that standard. He reached the Finals in 2009 with the Orlando Magic, and the conference finals the next season. He has not won a playoff round in the four seasons since.
Following a feeling
“We have a great opportunity,” Howard said. “I’m not going to get up here and say we’re going to win five championships. I’m not going to do that. If we really dedicate ourselves and sacrifice everything we got for a championship, at the end of the season, we should be holding the trophy.”
For now, he was happy just to start over. Saturday marked not just the beginning of his tenure with the Rockets, but the end of the tumult of the previous two seasons, the end of the free-agency decision. The spotlight will follow him. The pressures and expectations will not change. But he seemed at peace with all of that, ready to embrace Houston back and to call, even a sweltering summer afternoon, “a beautiful day.”
“I had a good feeling in my soul about everything, the direction of the team, Les, Kevin, Daryl, everybody,” Howard said. “I just had a good feeling about what they were trying to accomplish. Talking to the guys, I just felt good about the situation.
“The one thing I kept telling myself is ‘I want to get past all of this. I’m not going to let this defeat me.’ Last year, I was really coming back off of injuries. I fought through that. This season, I get to start fresh. All that stuff is behind me. There’s no looking back. I know I made the right decision. I’m just ready. I’m ready.
“It’s a beautiful day, man. I’m excited to be here. I’m glad to have all that stuff over with and have a chance to start fresh. I’m looking forward to this opportunity. I think it’s going to be great. I’m ready. I’m ready.”
