In a bid to recover part of Argentina's lost cultural heritage, create more jobs and stir up nationalist pride in an election year, President Cristina Fernandez has decreed that certain broadcast TV shows must be dubbed instead into Argentina's lyrical brand of Spanish, though stipulating the language must be "neutral" enough for all Latin Americans to understand.

The move won praise from Argentine film director Carlos Mentasti, whose most recent hit, "A Chinese Tale," beautifully captures a Buenos Aires culture clash. He complains that something important is lost when kids grow up listening to voice-overs that sound nothing like how their families and neighbors talk.

"Impregnated by television and videogames, Argentine kids often use, from a very young age, words that aren't part of our idiosyncrasy," Mentasti said. "That's why supporting everything that's ours when it comes to culture is always positive."

That hasn't stopped the move from being lampooned on social media around Latin America, playing on the stereotype that Argentines consider themselves more European and therefore superior to all their neighbors.

The Argentine way of speaking is highly distinctive, especially when served up in the "porteno" accent that instantly marks people from the nation's capital. Spanish here was heavily influenced by the waves of European immigrants who arrived in South America a century ago, and Argentines still employ grammatical constructions considered a bit archaic in many other Latin American countries.

A page for parodies on Facebook, fed by Twitter with the hashtag #doblajesargentinos, has earned 60,000 likes as people invent new Argentine subtitles for classic movie scenes. For example, while "Play it again, Sam" in Casablanca, directly and neutrally translated, might be expressed as "Tocala de nuevo, Sam," someone suggested that Argentine dubbers would employ an off-color chant crowds shout at rock concerts to encourage bands to play an encore.

Much of the slang Argentines speak daily is too raw to be printed in family newspapers, but there have been tamer posts, too, like an Argentine Darth Vader saying "Lucas, soy tu viejo," as in, "Luke, I'm your old man" rather than "Luke, I'm your father."

The measure implements a never-enforced, 25-year-old law requiring that foreign-language shows, movies and commercials that are broadcast on local television must be dubbed by actors who share "the phonetic characteristics" of Argentines.

All such content must be registered with the government, and any station or content provider failing to comply will be fined. The money will go to fund Argentina's filmmaking industry.

The decree is great news for local actors who will get more work dubbing and be able to charge intellectual property rights for movies, Argentine Dubbing School director Dany de Alzaga said. But the July 15 decree, which gives government regulators until Sept. 15 to implement the law, left many questions unanswered and provided for several major exceptions.

It ruled out new voice-overs for imported content that arrives already dubbed in another country's Spanish. It applies only to broadcast television, not cable TV or films shown in movie theaters, and it can only be enforced for content aimed solely at Argentine audiences, exempting shows that are broadcast to many countries. Weeks after the decree, the two government agencies in charge of implementing the law are still waiting for guidance from the presidency on how to go about it.

The law doesn't say who is expected to foot the bill for the new dubbing, and it is also unclear how it will affect subtitles.

A group representing the hearing-impaired is concerned enough to circulate an online petition insisting that dubbing not replace subtitles that make watching television possible for more than a half-million Argentines who have hearing disabilities.

Others say the move has less to do with culture than stoking nationalism ahead of midterm congressional elections on Oct. 27.

But for many Argentines, those criticisms and the ribbing of their Latin American neighbors is of secondary concern. They say Argentine culture must come first, and that citizens have a right to listen to programs that sound right to them.

"It's true that Argentines feel quite different. It's also true that this 'neutral' or 'Latin-American' tone we hear on many programs doesn't represent us," said philosopher and writer Alejandro Rozitchner. "I don't know if this law is good or bad, but it's true that years and years of watching dubbed programming generates feelings of something foreign: We don't speak this way."

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* Over 120 NHL players expected to compete in Olympics (Recasts with quotes and details)

By Steve Keating

July 19 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) reached an agreement to free players for the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Friday after nearly four years of intense and sometimes bitter negotiations.

After the 2010 Vancouver Games unhappy NHL owners signaled through Commissioner Gary Bettman that they were prepared to end their Olympic participation, triggering years of talks followed by months of grinding negotiations before finally producing the long-awaited deal.

"The National Hockey League features the most international player population in professional sports, and our outstanding athletes take tremendous pride in representing their homelands on the global stage," Bettman said in a statement.

"The decision to participate in the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi was in many ways a difficult one but one that we know will be well received by our players and, most importantly, by the vast majority of our fans and sports fans everywhere."

News of an agreement was welcomed by both players and hockey fans around the world, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who tweeted, "I'm pleased to hear that @NHL players will be competing in #Sochi. Like all Canadians I can't wait to see how Team Canada takes shape!"

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who scored the overtime goal against the United States that gave Canada the gold medal in Vancouver, could not hide his delight about getting the chance to defend the country's Olympic title.

"I'm glad that we are going and obviously excited to kind of start the process," Crosby said on a conference call. "The biggest thing is just representing your country.

"Anybody who gets the chance to do that there is a lot of pride that comes with that and being Canadian and playing hockey that's a dream come true."

As part of the agreement, the NHL will halt its 2013-14 regular season to allow about 120 players the chance to compete in the Feb. 12-23 tournament.

Few other details of the deal were immediately available, however, the list of NHL demands was long and well-known.

LOUDLY COMPLAINED

NHL owners had loudly complained about what they perceived as second class treatment by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and wanted some form of compensation for shutting down operations in the middle of the season and turning over their most important assets - the players.

The key issues standing in the way of an agreement were believed to centre on insurance, travel, access to players and hospitality for players' and owners' families.

The NHL also wanted to be treated more like a rights holder or top sponsor such as McDonald's, allowing the league greater access to video and other Games-related media material so it can trade on the Olympic brand to help sell and promote its product.

Negotiations were often contentious with Bettman arguing the league did not necessarily need the Olympics while IIHF chief Rene Fasel insisted they did, telling CBC in an interview earlier this year; "I think Gary has no other choice. He has to come to Sochi."

Since the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, when NHL players made their Olympic debut, owners insisted they have seen diminishing returns on their investment, particularly when the event is held outside North America and games cannot be aired in prime time.

But the NHL was under increasing pressure to get a deal done with many Russian players, including Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin, warning they would compete in Sochi no matter what the league decided.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also urged the NHL to get a deal done while NBC, which paid $775 million for the U.S. broadcast rights to the Sochi Games, would have expressed its hopes at having NHL players in Russia after inking a 10-year $2 billion television deal with the league.

"Although there were many details to discuss with our partners NHL and NHLPA, there was never any doubt in my mind that we would not continue the tradition from Nagano, Salt Lake City, Turin and Vancouver," said Fasel, who is also a member of the powerful IOC executive committee, in a statement. "The modern Olympic era is about sportive competition on the highest possible level.

"This is what fans around the world expect from a 100-metre race or downhill skiing and this is also what they are entitled to expect from our sport." (Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank Pingue)

"It's a bit hard for me to decide who to support," Francis, an Argentine whose parents hailed from northern Italy, said in an audience with players and officials at the Vatican ahead of the fixture, which has been organized in his honor.

"It's a good thing it's a friendly, and make sure that it really is," the pontiff told the two sides who will play at Rome's Olympic Stadium in their first meeting in 12 years.

"You might not realize it but for so many people who look at you with admiration you are a model, for better or for worse, so be aware of this and give an example of fair play, respect and altruism" said the former Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, who is an avid football fan.

"Here in the Vatican they tell me off for being undisciplined," joked Francis, who is known for breaking with stiff Vatican protocol.

His audience included Italian striker Mario Balotelli, whose volatile character has got him into trouble in the past, but who will miss Wednesday's match because of a knee injury.

There had been speculation that the Pope would attend the match, which is the pick of a crop of international friendlies on Wednesday, but Italian coach Cesare Prandelli said Francis had been advised against it by his staff.

Argentine captain Lionel Messi, who will also miss Wednesday's game with a muscle strain, said it had been "a very special day, unforgettable." He was due to fly back to his Barcelona club after the audience.

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said he hoped the two sides, who have won six World Cups between them, would meet again in the final of next year's tournament in Brazil.

"Two teams with the history of Argentina and Italy have the right to dream (of World Cup victory)," he said at a joint news conference with Messi. "A team with the good luck to have a player like Messi has every chance to win the World Cup."

(Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Barry Moody and Tony Goodson)

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Fernando Alonso set the record straight on Thursday about a rare public rebuke from Ferrari for unflattering comments he made about his car last month.

"I think it was wrong information coming to the president," he said of comments made by Ferrari's Luca Di Montezemolo and published on the team website on the driver's 32nd birthday and the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari said at the time that Montezemolo had "tweaked" Alonso's ear after the Spaniard, asked by Italian reporters what kind of a car he wanted as a present, had replied: "The one the others have".

Speaking to reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso said Ferrari had gone back through recordings of his news conferences and found "nothing different to any other grand prix, nothing different in the team.

"I tried to push for the best for the team and for our performance," he added.

The double world champion also shrugged off speculation surrounding his future, with rumours running wild after his manager Luis Garcia Abad was seen entering the Red Bull motorhome in Hungary for discussions with team principal Christian Horner.

Abad said he had been discussing rising Spanish prospect Carlos Sainz junior, a Red Bull young driver and son of the former world rally champion.

"I think the president is a very intelligent man to separate what is rumours and what can be true. He never asked me anything," said Alonso, when asked whether he would be at Ferrari next year.

"We have both been in F1 for many years now and we know what the Summer break means in terms of rumours so there were never questions. He is the man that helps all of us to keep our heads down, our feet in the ground and committed to the team."

GOOD BREAK

Alonso, who is third overall and 39 points behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel after 10 of 19 races, said the feverish speculation and intense attention went with the territory of being a Ferrari driver.

"The lesson is that anything we do, the repercussion of being in Ferrari or the repercussion of what Ferrari does is bigger than any other. This is the best team in the world," he declared.

The Spaniard pointed out that he gave news conferences in three different languages, two of them foreign. "And I am from the north, so don't speak perfect Spanish," he added.

He said he had remained in close contact with the team throughout the August break and had talked to Montezemolo daily.

"In the first days (it was) because of this press release (the rebuke) etc and now for different things, not only F1 but also holidays, Real Madrid's start, Juventus that won the Italian Cup," he explained.

"It was a very good summer and now we have the batteries full for this championship."

Vettel has won four races this season while Alonso, who led the German at the same point last year, has just two to his credit.

The Spaniard, who was pitched out of last year's race at Spa by Lotus's Romain Grosjean in a first lap collision that earned the Frenchman a one race ban, said Ferrari needed to keep believing they could turn the situation around.

"The last two or three seasons we have some good examples of what we can do, what we can hope for if we do things right. For this, we need to improve the car, we need to make some parts work," he said.

"The first step in that programme is here in Spa, to try to see some performance gain and try to deliver what people expect from us." (Editing by Ed Osmond)

Senior author Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc said the study also indicates parents and school districts need not be worried about the harmful effects of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer programs on straight students.

There are "some schools, some boards of trustees or even parents (that) are concerned about whether or not we should have these kinds of policies," Saewyc said.

"I would think that the research that we've just done and the evidence it provides should help alleviate some of those concerns around whether or not this has an impact, or at least is linked to better outcomes for not just lesbian, gay and bisexual teens but also for teens in general."

The study, published recently in the Journal of Preventative Medicine, showed students at schools with anti-homophobia policies and gay-straight alliances tended to abuse alcohol less, regardless of sexual orientation.

"Nobody's actually proposed using gay-straight alliances as an anti-drug strategy, or to reduce problem substance use in schools," Saewyc said in an interview Tuesday.

But "this study suggest(s) that both the anti-homophobia policies and gay-straight alliances may be important tools to include in the tool-kit ... that schools use to prevent problem drinking and other harms from alcohol and drug use."

Anti-homophobia policies may include anti-bullying codes that specifically mention harassment based on sexual orientation. Gay-straight alliances tend to be student-led organizations that provide a supportive environment for LGBTQ youth and their straight allies.

The study, published in the Journal of Preventive Medicine, looked at alliances and anti-homophobia policies at 280 B.C. high schools. Of those schools, 23 had long-established groups, while 37 had long-established anti-homophobia policies.

Researchers analysed data from nearly 22,000 high school students who participated in the 2008 B.C. Adolescent Health Survey, which asked questions about sexual orientation, drinking and marijuana use.

What Saewyc and her team found was that girls of all sexual orientations, as well as straight boys, were less likely to participate in risky alcohol use if their school had introduced anti-homophobia policies or a gay-straight alliance more than three years earlier. The study also showed that amongst those students, there was a lower rate of other problems associated with alcohol, including black-outs, problems at school, family arguments about using alcohol, and even car accidents.

"For the lesbian and bisexual girls, it seems fairly likely that having a gay-straight alliance in your school, even if you're not participating in it, is creating a safer space for you," she said. "Now for heterosexual students, that's not what you expect ... but people forget that when it comes to anti-gay bullying, heterosexual students can be targeted too."

Saewyc noted that as many as two-thirds of youth who have faced discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation "actually identify as straight."

"They're perceived as gay, or students are actually just using anti-gay terms because it's the meanest thing they know that they think they can still get away with," she said. But "when you have anti-homophobia policies in place (and) gay-straight alliances in place, that appears to change the environment in the school and that also will influence the health outcomes for straight kids."

There were no significant effects for gay or bisexual boys.

In the wake of the study's findings, counsellor Nancy Kartsonas said school districts across B.C. need to take note.

"There are many school districts that do not have anti-homophobia or discrimination policies, or they are not being fully enforced by the code-of-conduct in the schools," Kartsonas, who has counselled students at Vancouver high schools for more than 20 years, said in an interview Tuesday.

Kartsonas said there are still far too many news reports about tragic incidents involving youth who felt ostracized because of their sexual orientation.

"Within the schools I think we need to capitalize on the current research that's occurring at the university level and look at that for best practice," she said.

Dara Parker is the executive director of Vancouver-based resource centre Qmunity. She said the UBC study "is a concrete example of what we know to be true homophobia doesnt only affect LGBTQ youth, it affects all youth."

Parker said the study affirms the need for funding for anti-homophobia work by B.C. school boards, as currently "only 22 of 60 have LGBTQ policies, and only one has a dedicated anti-homophobia co-ordinator."

Kartsonas temporarily served as a sponsor for a gay-straight alliance and has also sponsored anti-homophobia initiatives within schools and the community. She said she has seen up close the impact these programs can have on youth.

"Many students are very fearful of identifying themselves or outing themselves publicly in the school, and as a counsellor ... sometimes they will confide privately about their personal issues," she said.

"But these clubs provide safety for the kids, and there are students who have been in life-threatening situations prior to joining these types of groups and then they find the support of peers and are able to overcome obstacles."

* NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown loses separate appeal

By Jonathan Stempel

July 31 (Reuters) - A divided U.S. federal appeals court rejected Electronic Arts Inc's effort to throw out a lawsuit by former collegiate athletes who accused the company of using their images in video games without permission.

By a 2-1 vote, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said EA's use of the athletes' likenesses in its NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball games did not deserve protection as free expression under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Samuel Keller, the former Arizona State University quarterback, and eight other plaintiffs had claimed that EA used their identities and likenesses without compensation.

The decision upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California and sets the stage for Keller to seek class-action status on behalf of other athletes.

"It says that athletes do have a right of ownership in their images, even after they leave college," said Robert Boland, a sports law professor at New York University's Tisch Center. "While it doesn't change the status of athletes now in college, it begins to shape their financial rights in their images."

EA plans to appeal.

Wilken also oversees a four-year-old antitrust lawsuit led by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, among the plaintiffs in the Keller case, over whether athletes should share in profit from the National Collegiate Athletic Association's broader use of their names and likenesses.

Billions of dollars may be at stake in that case.

In a separate decision on Wednesday, using a different legal test, the same 9th Circuit panel unanimously upheld another judge's dismissal of National Football League Hall of Famer Jim Brown's trademark case against EA over the use of his likeness in its Madden NFL video game.

RECREATING A QUARTERBACK

Writing for the Keller majority, Circuit Judge Jay Bybee said EA's games lacked "significant transformative elements" to defeat the athletes' right-of-publicity claims, and that NCAA Football "literally recreates Keller in the very setting in which he has achieved renown."

The judge noted that in the 2005 edition, Arizona State's virtual starting quarterback shared Keller's height, weight, facial features, hair color and style, home state, playing style, school year, skin tone, throwing arm, uniform number and visor preference.

He said the case recalled No Doubt's successful 2011 court challenge against Activision Blizzard Inc's use of its likeness in its "Band Hero" video game, whose expressive elements were "manifestly subordinated" to a desire to "commercially exploit" the pop group's fame.

Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas dissented, saying the majority view threatens all realistic depictions of actual people, even if those depictions are incidental.

"This logic jeopardizes the creative use of historic figures in motion pictures, books, and sound recordings," he wrote. "Absent the use of actual footage, the motion picture 'Forrest Gump' might as well be just a box of chocolates."

In the Brown case, Bybee concluded that the likeness of the former Cleveland Browns running back was "artistically relevant" to Madden NFL, and that Brown did not show that EA explicitly misled consumers about his involvement in the game.

"As expressive works, the Madden NFL video games are entitled to the same First Amendment protection as great literature, plays, or books," Bybee wrote.

The 9th Circuit took more than a year to decide both cases. The Keller decision echoed a May 21 ruling by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that revived a similar lawsuit against EA by former Rutgers University quarterback Ryan Hart. EA is based in Redwood City, California.

ANTITRUST CASE

"We're pleased with the outcome regarding Jim Brown's likeness, but equally disappointed with the ruling against First Amendment protection in the Keller case," EA spokesman John Reseburg said. "We believe the reasoning in Judge Thomas' dissent in that decision will ultimately prevail as we seek further court review."

Steve Berman, a lawyer for Keller, in an email said he is "pleased with the win" in his case and will pursue class certification. "No reasonable person can dispute they use the players' likeness (and) doing so violates the law," he said.

Ronald Katz, a lawyer for Brown, had no immediate comment on the decision against his client.

The O'Bannon antitrust lawsuit seeks to force the NCAA to give athletes a cut of its profits from broadcasts, memorabilia sales and other business activities featuring them.

Wilken in June heard oral arguments on whether to certify a class of thousands of athletes. She has yet to rule.

The NCAA did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for comment.

On July 17, the NCAA said it will not renew a contract that expires next June to license its name and logo for EA's college football game. EA stopped producing NCAA Basketball in 2010.

In afternoon trading, EA shares were up 0.3 percent at $26.16.

The cases are In re: NCAA Student-Athlete Name & Likeness Licensing Litigation, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 10-15387; and Brown v. Electronic Arts Inc in the same court, No. 09-56675.

UBI said the sale of Lausanne-based BDG would have no significant impact on the group's income statement or its capital ratios.

UBI did not disclose a price for the sale of BDG, which has about 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) in total funding and would be merged into Banque Cramer & Cie, possibly by the end of the year. ($1 = 0.7490 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by David Cowell)

The working lunch marked the first meeting between the head of the central government's liaison office and the full membership of Hong Kong's Legislative Council since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Not all lawmakers attended, however, and Beijing's representative Zhang Xiaoming seemed to dampen the mood further by flatly ruling out the right of Hong Kong residents to nominate their own candidates in future elections for chief executive, Hong Kong's top local leader.

Lee Cheuk-yan Lee, a member of the council's pan-democratic camp, told reporters after the meeting that Zhang's out-and-out rejection calls into question Beijing's commitment to the substance of democracy, and not just its superficial appearance.

"So again, the talk on universal suffrage is actually suggesting that there is not going to be a genuine one," Lee said.

When China regained Hong Kong, it agreed to allow the special administrative region to keep its own political system and Western-style civil liberties such as freedom of speech until 2047. Beijing has pledged to let Hong Kongers pick their chief executive no earlier than 2017 and the entire legislature by 2020, but residents of the city are frustrated that there have been few signs of progress.

Anxiety that Hong Kong will be denied full democracy has grown in recent months after Beijing officials said the city's next leader must be acceptable to the central government.

Many residents fear the rights and freedoms they enjoy will be eaten away by mainland China's growing influence. Further complicating the relationship: City residents are increasingly irritated by a flood of mainland visitors to Hong Kong 35 million last year alone.

Tuesday's meeting came after tens of thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets July 1 to demand promised democratic reforms, along with the resignation of their widely-disliked. Beijing-backed leader, Leung Chun-ying, who has been beset by one controversy after another since he took office a year ago.

Zhang said the central government is serious about eventually allowing all Hong Kongers to vote for the chief executive, who is now selected by a small, Beijing-controlled body. But he echoed Beijing's insistence that all candidates must be deemed acceptable by the mainland government.

He also criticized a proposal calling for at least 10,000 people to peacefully block roads in Hong Kong's central business district in July 2014 if the government fails to outline a plan for full democracy.

"No matter how nicely the initiator of the movement put his words, no matter how he packaged the idea or beautified it, illegal is illegal," Zhang said.

Pro-Beijing lawmakers were upbeat about the meeting, with one, Tam Yiu-chung, calling Zhang's remarks "very positive."

Political scientist Sonny Lo of the Hong Kong Institute of Education said the meeting was intended to demonstrate that Beijing is responding to concerns and to tamp down some of the outrage behind this month's massive pro-democracy rally.

Beijing wishes to "demonstrate to the pan-democrats and people of Hong Kong that the central government is heeding the voice of the public," Lo said.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Eight-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao believes he has two or three years of fighting left before he quits the sport and still retains the hope of securing a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Two straight defeats, the second a brutal sixth round knockout by old foe Juan Manuel Marquez in December, prompted pundits and fans to suggest retirement for the 34-year-old Filipino.

But he will step back in the ring after an extended break on November 24 to take on American Brandon Rios for a first fight in Macau, keen to re-establish himself as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

"Great opportunity for me to give a good show for the people, to get back my name into the top of boxing," the Filipino congressman told reporters in Singapore on Friday on the latest leg of the promotional tour for the bout.

"Brandon Rios is a good boxer, tough opponent and I believe we can give a good fight. Especially his style and my style it is very good to fight each other, we can create a lot of action in the ring."

The 27-year-old Rios, an aggressive former lightweight world champion known as 'Bam Bam', will provide a stern test for Pacquiao although he lacks the box office numbers that a fifth bout with Marquez or a first with Mayweather could bring.

Pacquiao, who said three years ago his mother had given her blessing for him to fight once more, remains open to both options and has no plans to call it quits any time soon.

"I'm not really sure (how many fights left) as long as I can still fight I can fight. In my mind right now, maybe I can still fight maybe two to three years from now," said Pacquiao, who has amassed a 54-5-2 record with 38 knockouts.

"I tell you frankly, honestly in myself I can still fight and I feel strong. If there is something wrong in my body or something wrong in my boxing skill I have to think about that and think about retirement.

"But since I lost the last fight, I never feel something in my body, I still feel strong and I can still fight."

PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER

Pacquiao, whose power punching from both hands and lightning speed helped him win titles from flyweight through to light middleweight, said he had trained every day since the Marquez defeat and that his body was 'addicted to exercise'.

But having achieved so much already and with the lucrative Mayweather clash appearing destined to never happen, talk returns to retirement.

His Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who also represents Rios, acknowledged politics and not boxing was Pacquiao's main focus.

"What is the end game with Manny? The end game is to run and win for the highest possible office in the Philippines, boxing is just a way-station for Manny Pacquiao," the veteran promoter told reporters. "I think he has much to offer his country.

"He will know when to call it quits in boxing and it may very well be before a normal fighter would call it quits because he has what I think are more important things to accomplish."

For now though, fighting in Asia and putting on an entertaining show for the high number of Filipino fans expected to take the two-hour flight to Macao is Pacquiao's focus.

China's gambling enclave also means no long haul flying to America for training, but Pacquiao acknowledged the 1130 a.m. local fight time to cater for the U.S. television audience would be slightly problematic and require 0400 wake up calls.

Pacquiao, though, made strong hints about future fights in the region instead of America, with Arum touting the Philippines and Singapore as possible venues.

A move that Arum hoped might finally lead to Mayweather, one of the true greats of the sport, getting in the ring with Pacquiao.

"Never say never," Arum said of the possible match up.

"I think when Floyd realizes the economic benefits of doing a fight in Asia, maybe at the new Singapore stadium ... maybe that will open up a dialogue for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight in Asia."

(Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)