Edisi 1 Februari 2010 | International Bali Post

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border

16 Pages Number 21 2nd Year

PAGE 6 e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.

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Monday, February 1, 2010

Tourists are playing parasailing on Tanjung Benoa beach on Sunday, January 31st 2010. in addition to the beautiful beach, the tourists can enjoy many games such as jet ski, water ski, fly fish, banana boat, and others on the beach

Sharing of VoA for the Region Should be Fought PAGE 8

Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with ‘Hurt Locker’ PAGE 12

IBP/edi

U.S. beefing up missile defenses in Persian Gulf Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration edges toward imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, it has begun upgrading its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials said Saturday.

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The United States has quietly increased the capability of landbased Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is beefing up the presence of ships capable of knocking down hostile missiles in flight. The officials discussed aspects of the defensive strategy on condition of anonymity because some elements are classified.

The moves have been in the works for months and are part of a broader adjustment in the U.S. approach to missile defense, including in Europe and Asia. Details have not been publicly announced, in part because of diplomatic sensitivities in Gulf countries which worry about Iranian military capabilities but are cautious about acknowledging U.S. protection.

The administration will send a review of ballistic missile strategy to Congress on Monday that frames the larger shifts. Attention to defense of the Persian Gulf region, a focus on diffuse networks of sensors and weapons and cooperation

with Russia are major elements of the study, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Russia opposed Bush administration plans for a land-based missile defense site in Eastern Europe, and President Barack Obama’s decision to walk away from that plan last year was partly in pursuit of new capabilities that might hold greater promise and partly in deference to Russia.

One military official said the adjustments in the Gulf should be seen as prudent defensive measures designed to deter Iran from taking aggressive action in the region, more than as a signal that Washington expects Iran to retaliate for any additional sanctions.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with numerous allies during a visit to London this week. She told reporters that the evident failure of U.S. offers to engage Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program means the U.S. will now press for additional sanctions against the Iranian government.

Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. Central Command chief who is responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, mentioned in several recent public speeches one element of the defensive strategy in the Gulf: upgrading Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft but now

can hit missiles in flight.

In remarks at Georgetown Law School on Jan. 21, Petraeus said the U.S. now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Gulf region — two each in four countries.

He did not name the countries, but Kuwait has long been known to have Patriots on its territory.

Continued on page 6

AFP/POOL/File/Ziv Koren

A US Army officer attends a joint Israeli-US military training at the site where batteries of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles system are stationed in Tel Aviv in 2009. The US administration is speeding up deployment of defenses against potential Iranian missile attacks in the Gulf to heed off any possible retaliation, The New York Times reported Saturday.

2

International

Monday, February 1, 2010

Bali News The picture shows the condition of the forest in Penyaringan, Mendoyo, Jembrana regency. The damage is very severe and it could disturb the surrounding area

BP/doc

Illegal Logging at Penyaringan Become more Severe Forest Like a Football Field Negara (Denpost)—

Discipline operation against illegal logging at the area of Penyaringan, Mendoyo was executed last Saturday (Jan 30). Even, that discipline operation was led in person by the Regent of Jembrana Gede Winasa accompanied by Deputy Regent of Jembrana Putu Artha, Head Jembrana Estate, Forestry and Maritime Services (Perkutut) IGN Sandjaja, Head of Mendoyo Subdistrict Nengah Ledang and Head of Penyaringan Village Ketut Winarya.

The discipline was also carried out by the ranks of public order officers (Satpol PP) of Jembrana Regency, Forest Police of Jembrana, Mendoyo Sector Police and the subak members and Penyaringan villagers. Based on the observation of last Saturday from the border of village, the forest was beginning to be totally cut down and even tens of hectares of forests have been bare. It was just like a football field.

Some have already been planted with banana, elephant grass, durian and other plantation crops.

The officials felt concerned with the forest condition of Penyaringan forest that was originally sustainable has turned bald because of illegal logging action. Last Saturday, their plants were cut down by officers and local residents.

Several members of local subak admitted to object if forest was plot like that. “Now the authorities may not sleep anymore. They should perform disciplining because with the growing deforestation, the water is increasingly difficult and divided,”

he explained.

Wayan Sukanta serving the Treasurer of Subak Tibubeleng, Penyaringan expected the government to more strictly prohibit local residents to enter the forest. “We want a legacy for our children and grandchildren by preserving the forests. If neglected, it will become more severe,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Regent of Jembrana Gede Winasa expected residents to keep the forest properly and prevent everybody from entering the woods. “We must have a commitment to preserve the forest, do not let anyone get into the woods for any reason,” he explained.

Head of Penyaringan Village, I Ketut Winarya, said his party had already organized a meeting and attended by a number of community representatives of Tibu Beleng Kaler becoming the adjoining village to the forest fully supported the regulations to preserve the forest. According to agreement of residents and community leaders that on that day they would go into the woods and disci-

pline the illegal logging activity. Previously a number of perpetrators, especially residents of Tibu Beleng Kaler started to go into protected forests and plant production forest as their garden.

Hundreds of members belonging to three subaks consisting of Subak Tibu Beleng, Subak Penyaringan and Subak Jagaraga refused the activity of the adjoining village to the forest and supported the attitude of his own village.

Head of Perkutut Jemberana , IGN Sandjaja, said his party was very concerned with the activities of the residents. Whereas previously the forests Penyaringan was the most conserved among the others. Additionally, Penyaringan also had a strong awig-awig or customary village regulation saying nobody is allowed to enter the forest and violators against the regulation will be imposed with sanction. Sandjaja assessed the there was social change in society so that the adjoining communities had intention of reaching the forest for their interests. (021)

Increase rapidly

Diarrhea Case at Sanglah Hospital Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Cases of diarrhea at Sanglah Hospital during the past three months increased significantly. Most cases of diarrhea were caused by rotavirus, and more likely to attack a toddler. “The cause of diarrhea could be bacteria and viruses. Its name is rotavirus and the development of this virus is very good in transitional season like this month,” said the Head of IKA Lab of Sanglah Hospital, IGNP Arhana.

The case of diarrhea caused by rotavirus at Sanglah Hospital during the past three months increased sharply. In November 2009, cases of diarrhea due to rotavirus reached 31 people and increased to 37 people in last December.

Within this January the case has reached 40 people and estimated to reach 50 people at the end of the month.

Fundamentally, diarrhea caused by rotavirus has no medicine. It is different from disease caused by bacteria that must be treated with antibiotics. “So not all diarrheas should be given antibiotics. It must be observed from the cause first, whether due to bacteria or viruses,” said Arhana.

As a matter of fact, diarrhea does not cause a death. But diarrhea will have a very dangerous impact on dehydration which may lead to fatal complications and cause death. “Here, it may be the shortage of parental knowledge. Most cases of diarrhea caused death was due to taken late to hospital and the child

was suffering from dehydration and complications,” he added.

Then, how do we know that children suffer from diarrhea and dehydration? According to Arhana, an easy way is to compare their urine color and frequency of urination than their usual condition. For example, children under two years usually urinates for five to six times a day. When children with diarrhea, see their urine. When the color begins to change from clear to dark and frequency of urine begins to decrease less than five times or not at all, it is necessary to watch out for dehydration.

If you have seen these signs, parents should provide their children with fluids and provide sugar-salt fluid. If this does not work, then need to be treated at hospital.

Administration of sugar-salt fluid to children suffering from dehydration by a standard, according to Arhana, is adjusted to the volume of fluid they secrete. Every secretion both in the form of feces or vomit, the children should be given fluid intake. “The challenge is rough, but it must be done to prevent dehydration,” he said. There is also an easy way to keep children away from diarrhea, namely by applying the hand washing culture and healthy eating. Most parents often forget to wash their hands with soap while feeding their children, so that they are often afflicted by diarrhea. (kmb24)

Rifa May be Fired from Golkar Singaraja (Bali Post)—

A former Buleleng legislator that is still active in the management of Buleleng Regional Executive Board (DPD) of Golkar or Functional Group Party, Gede Rifa Gotama, was ensured to be imposed with sanctions by the parent party. It was decided in a meeting of the Buleleng Golkar Party in Buleleng, last Saturday (Jan 30), concerning with the case of Gotama Rifa arrested when organizing a drug party at Sidatapa Village.

“Based on the result of the meeting, we must impose a sanction to Rifa,” said the Head of DPD of Buleleng Golkar Party, Nyoman Sugawa Korry, after the current meeting.

According to Sugawa Korry, sanction imposed was adjusted to Article 25 of the organizational regulation (PO) No.01/DPP/Golkat/XII/ 2005 about organizational sanctions.

There is mentioned, that if the cadres are charged with criminal minimally 5 years in prison and if it has been decided at the first level of the

court so the concerned cadre is provisionally suspended from the party membership and management. And if the case has had a permanent legal power and the cadre is found guilty then the sanction is dismissal.

Sugawa Korry said Golkar would not intervene and interfere with the legal process in the Rifa’s case and submit fully to the law enforcement officers to deal with in accordance with applicable law. On the other side, Golkar of Buleleng declared very concerned and expressed regret to the case afflicting Rifa Gotama.

“To Buleleng community, please do accept our apologies for what happened to our cadre, Rifa Gotama,” Sugawa Korry said.

As reported, Rifa Gotama who is now serving as Deputy Head of DPD of Buleleng Golkar Party was arrested by Narcotic Unit of Buleleng Resort Police when holding a drug party at Sidatapa. Apart from Rifa, police also arrested four other suspects who joined in the party of such illicit goods. (kmb15)

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Bali News

International

Monday, February 1, 2010

3

Handling of KKM Cases Incomplete

Vulnerable by Regional Leader Election Amlapura (Bali Post)—

BP/ist

The holy temple in each house in Bali or usually called “Sanggah”

Shrine Could be Set up on the Second Floor Although it is not found the reference in the literature of religion (or in the palm manuscript), the placement or shrines or merajan upstairs—on second floor, third floor, and so on—is considered proper in relation to the concept of Tri Angga (vertical orientation) and Tri Mandala (horizontal orientation). A lecturer at the Denpasar State Institute of Hindu Dharma, Gde Rudia Adiputra, Prof. Dr. IB Gunadha from Hindu University of Indonesia (Unhi), and the Head of Hindu Dharma Council of Indonesia (PHDI) Dr. IGN Sudiana, last Saturday (Jan 30) said that Hinduism was flexible enough, including in the implementation of the Tri Hita Karana concept, in this case the element of Parahyangan (spiritual aspect).

When limited urban space becomes a constraint to place the shrine directly touching the ground, Hindu devotees at urban area have a choice to put their merajan shrine on the second floor or the top floor, in the Northeast direction.

Associated with the concept of Tri Anga and Tri Mandala, the placement of merajan shrines on top floor like that can be justified, considering the limited land availability. Phenomenon like this has emerged in Bali since 1980, especially in urban area. Viewed from the concept of Tri Mandala, the placement of merajan shrines is right because its position lies on the Utama Mandala In view of the Tri Anga concept, merajan shrine on the top floor fills the position as the head (ulu).

Prof. IB Gunadha said, in principle, shrines were established to connect ground to sky where devotees worshiped the Supreme God, Bhatara and ancestral souls. Therefore, shrines stood on land and rose to the top. In horizontal context, the making of shrines was based on the concept of Asta Kosala Kosali, Tri Mandala, Asta Bumi and so forth. In this regard, there

was a clear spatial division, where the spiritual region (utama mandala), the human area or residence (madya mandala) and human activity (kanista mandala) horizontally. If the place allowed, indeed it was the concepts of making such holy place.

But when people faced constraints limited land, mainly in urban areas, the establishment of shrine or merajan remains to adhere to that concept but done vertically. “Because of limited land, shrine or merajan is placed on the top floor (utama mandala), while on the basement is the place to carry out daily activities (madya and kanista mandala),” he said while stating that merajan on the second floor was no problem. However, the room right under the shrines should not be used for kitchen and bathroom. If used as garage or stall is allowed. But, the best use is for library and storing ritual paraphernalia. In order to look beautiful, shrine or merajan also needed to be planted with trees or flowers in pots.

IGN Sudiana also agreed with IB Gunadha that space under the merajan should not taken advantage

for activities that did not support the sanctity. For example, the floor under shrines should not be used for toilet or bathroom. Floor or the room under shrines was good for library, space to put oblation equipment and the like. “Provided under the shrine is not used for toilet or bathroom, it can be used for placing or storing goods, selling goods, and garage,” he said.

Since it concerned with the sense, added IGN Sudiana and Gede Rudia, the placement of shrines on the second floor was up to each devotee.

However, if associated with the concept of Tri Mandala and Tri Anga and associated with the limited land, actually the shrines on the second floor were still justified. Indeed, continued IGN Sudiana, the reinforced concrete beam of the shrine has been connected to the ground. However, if devotees were not comfortable with that condition considering the pedagingan or fives kinds of metal used as holy foundation as if did not touched the earth, it could be resolved by placing a pipe containing soil directly implanted into the earth. (08)

The handling of Karangasem Building Cooperatives (KKM) case until now has not completed, both its legal law and refund of customer’s money. It is prone to cause turmoil by the regional leader election on the upcoming May 4.

It was said by members of parliament of Karangasem, I Nyoman Sadra and Chairman of the Alliance of Concerned Welfare Society (Apisemar) Nyoman Pasek, last Saturday (Jan 30) in Karangasem. Due to vagueness of the case, community especially customers of the KKM both those living in Karangasem and outside Bali experience restlessness. “Most of their money has not been refunded. At least, the party KKM has sent short message service (SMS) for four times informing the postponement of the refunds. Up to these days, there is no certainty when the case could be resolved. Actually, many customers as conveyed through the mass media, should pay interest and debt repayments because their money put in the cooperative was obtained from lending from village credit agency (LPD), creditor or banks,” said Sadra.

Pasek said, recently was heard that one of the suspects in the case, namely I Gede Putu Kertia, would take part in the designation of regent candidate.

Meanwhile, the refund of customer’s money has not yet completed. This would become a big question mark for the customers. Customers worried if the money that has not been refunded would be used to fight in the upcoming regent election. “The case inviting vulnerability should be completed first, with the hope the regent election later could run smoothly,” firmly Pasek.

He also said the current case was like a time bomb or a fire in the husk. Community did not know to whom to complain. In addition to the unresolved refund, the case of two suspects comprising former Chairman I Gede Putu Kertia and former General Manager Nengah Wijanegara was incomplete. The case of both suspects suspended whether investigators of Bali Police would resume it or not.

In the meantime, Pasek said the case of the destruction and burning down of private home belonged to the Karangasem

Regent I Wayan Geredeg with dozens of suspects was unclear either. “Those legal cases become a big question mark for the community because it indicates no legal certainty. Eradication of case dealer in Bali especially in Karangasem does not exist,” said Pasek firmly.

Pasek added, police, Special Committee for KKM at Karangasem House, and Assistant Team for the KKM case led

by Regional Secretary of Karangasem, Nengah Medium Sudarsa, should be responsible or provide legal certainty for the community. “Do not pretend not to know about the anxiety of community, because they continue to assess the performance of government and law enforcement,” asserted Pasek.

As one of the client’s legal authority, he said that most customers having money in the KKM less than IDR 10 million have not been received their refund as much as 100 percent, let alone having money over IDR 10 million. For customers who had money more than IDR 10 million had been promised a refund of 30 percent returned with a promise would be included as members with the right to get a membership card and if any profit sharing, while members prefered a refund of 40 percent would have no right for membership.

Meanwhile, the party of KKM continued to delay the withdrawal of customer ’s money. Until now at least four times KKM management sent SMS of delay, by reason that its party was still holding a meeting. KKM’s legal counsel in Karangasem House some time ago argued that the money of customers that has not been returned only remained 1 percent. The reason they have not returned the money of customers because the data is unclear because its CPU remained to be confiscated by investigators of Bali Police.

The case of raids at the headquarters of KKM Subagan, Karangasem Friday (Feb 20) last year has passed nearly year.

Similarly, legal case of both suspects Kertia and Wijanegara remains unclear until now. Both suspects were once arrested at Headquarters of Bali Police but they were then on the loose.

Meanwhile, the promise of total customer’s refunds of about IDR 550 billion until now is not clear either. (013)

4

News

Monday, February 1, 2010

International

January death rate signal of tough year in Afghan war AFP

KABUL (AFP) – The Afghan war has notched up another grisly record, with the number of international troops to die in the fight against the Taliban the highest for the month of January since the war began.

With tens of thousands more international troops being deployed to Afghanistan this year, analysts and officials are warning the deaths of 44 foreign soldiers in January is a sign of things to come.

The record death toll comes as the Kabul government and its international partners shift the war’s emphasis from battleground to development, and start focusing on attempts to convince Taliban infantry to lay down their arms.

In the meantime, experts say more troops means more casualties as foreign forces take the fight to the Taliban — with a major offensive planned for this week likely to be the first of a battlescarred year.

“With more foreign forces, and the enhanced quality and quantity of Afghan forces, the enemy will use all its capacity to show that the surge is causing further instability,” said defence ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi.

“When the fight increases, the area of the fight expands accordingly, so the casualties will increase,” he told AFP. The 113,000 troops fighting the Taliban under US and NATO com-

mand are being supplemented with another 40,000 arriving up to August, to fight with and train up Afghanistan’s security forces.

January’s foreign troop deaths, reported by independent website icasualties.org, which keeps a running tally, compares with 25 in January 2009.

The number of Americans who died last month in the conflict now in its ninth year was almost double the number for January last year, at 29 compared with 15, the website says.

The January death toll follows records set in 2009 for total foreign troop deaths — 520 compared to 295 the year before — and Afghan civilians, which the United Nations put at 2,412, against 2,118 in 2008.

“This year will be the worst fighting year in the last 30 years of war, because the soldiers being deployed here are not coming to play, they are coming to put pressure on the Taliban to accept peace talks,” said Ahmad Massoud, economics professor at Kabul University.

Some 10,000 US Marines have poured into the Marjah region of Helmand province, preparing to flush the Taliban out of their major stronghold.

The offensive is expected to get under way this week, and has been preceded by minor operations in the surrounding area, where most of the world’s opium is produced and which helps to fund the insurgency.

AFP/File

US soldiers stand guard near Camp Phoenix in Kabul on January 26. The Afghan war has notched up another

AP – FILE

In this July 20, 2006 photo, a U.S.-made Patriot missile is launched during the annual Han Kuang

China: Taiwan arms sales harm national interest AP

BEIJING – China’s foreign minister warned that U.S. plans to sell $6.4 billion of arms to Taiwan will harm Chinese efforts to unify peacefully with the island, the ministry said Sunday, after China suspended U.S. military exchanges and threatened unprecedented sanctions against American defense companies.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said the planned weapons sales to self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, were a “crude interference in China’s internal affairs” and would hurt its national security.

Beijing’s strong response to Friday’s U.S. announcement of the weapons sales, while not entirely unexpected, was swift and indicated that it plans to put up a greater challenge than usual as it deals with the most sensitive topic in U.S.-China relations.

“This is the strongest reaction we’ve seen so far in recent years,” said Stephanie T. Kleine-Ahlbrandt, northeast Asia project director for

the International Crisis Group.

“China is really looking to see what kind of reaction it’s going to receive” from President Barack Obama, she said.

China’s Defense Ministry said the arms sales would cause “severe harm” to overall U.S.-China cooperation. Vice ministerial-level talks on arms control and strategic security were postponed.

Defense Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said the Chinese military would fight any move to hurt the country’s sovereignty.

“We will never give in or compromise in this issue,” Huang said in a statement.

In comments made during a visit

to Cyprus on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yang urged Washington to respect China’s interests and revoke the arms sale decision immediately to avoid undermining bilateral relations, the Foreign Ministry said. He said the U.S. sales “jeopardized China’s national security and China’s peaceful reunification efforts.”

The warning came as the U.S. seeks Beijing’s help on issues including the global financial crisis and nuclear standoffs in North Korea and Iran. Tensions were already high after recent U.S. comments on Internet freedom and a dispute between Google and China, as well as Obama’s plan to meet with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama this year.

China’s Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman that the sales of Black Hawk helicopters, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles and other weapons to Taiwan would “cause consequences that both sides are unwilling to see,” the ministry said.

Malaysian couple fined buffalo over affair : report AFP

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A tribal court in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island has fined a man and his lover four buffalo and a pig for having an extramarital affair, a report said Sunday.

The pair were convicted by the Penampang Native Court after the man’s wife lodged a complaint, the

Star newspaper said. The wife said her husband and the woman were living together and were caught in shorts and sarong when she confronted them.

Judge William Sampil said the court had found evidence of an intimate affair despite their defence as being just “best friends.”

The judge ordered the man and his lover to pay compensation of four buffalo, a pig and a fine of 2,000

ringgit (586 dollars).

Indigenous people make up less than one percent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.

A little egret stands atop a water buffalo. A tribal court in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island

AFP/File

International IMIGRATION Australian Consulate General Jalan Tantular 32 Renon Denpasar Phone: +62 361 241118 Fax: +62 361 221195 (General) +62 361 241120 (Immigration)

General Info

Monday, February 1, 2010

HOSPITAL Denpasar There are 4 major hospitals usually used by foreigners Denpasar General Hospital (RSUP Sanglah), Kasih Ibu Hospital, Rumah Sakit Wongaya and Rumah Sakit Dharma Husada.

HOSPITAL Bangli Bangli General Hospital Jl. Kesumayuda 27, Bangli Phone : +62 366 91521 Gianyar

Royal Danish & Norwegian Mimpi Resort Jimbaran, Bali Phone +62.361.701 070 The Czech Republic Jalan Pengembak No. 17 Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.286 465 France Consulate Agency Jalan Merta Sari Gang II No. 8 Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.285 485 The Federal Republic of Germany Jalan Pantai Karang No 17 Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.288 535 The Republic of Hungary Jalan By Pass No 219 Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.287 701 Italian Consulate Jalan By Pass Ngurah Rai Jimbaran, Bali Phone +62.361.701 005 Honorary Consulate of Mexico Jalan Mohamad Yamin 1 A, Renon, Denpasar, Bali Phone +62.361.223 266 Honorary Consulate of The Netherlands Jalan Raya Kuta 127, Bali Phone +62.361.761 506 Honorary Consulate of Spain Komplek Istana Kuta Galleria Blok Vallet 2 No 11. Jalan Patih Jelantik Kuta, Bali Phone +62.361.769 286 USA Consulate Agency Jalan Hayam Wuruk No. 188 Denpasar, Bali Phone +62.361.222 426 Consulate General of Japan Jalan Raya Puputan No. 170 Renon, Denpasar, Bali Phone +62.361.227 628 Honorary Consulate of British Jalan Tirta Nadi No. 20 Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.270 601 Swiss and Austria Consulate Jalan Patih Jelantik, Komplek Pertokoan Istana Galleria Phone +62.361.751 735 Honorary Consulate of Brazil Jalan Legian No. 186, Bali Phone +62.361.757 775 Honorary Consulate of Thailand Jalan Raya Puputan Renon 81, Denpasar, Bali Phone +62.361.263 310 Embassy of India Jalan Raya Puputan Renon 42-44, Denpasar, Bali Phone +62.361.241 978 Honorary Consulate of Sweden anf Finland Segara Village Hotel, Jalan Segara Ayu, Sanur, Bali Phone +62.361.282 223 Honorary Consulate of Malaysia Alam Kulkul Boutique Resort, Jalan Pantai Kuta, Bali Phone +62.361.752 520

RSUP Sanglah is the main provincial public hospital. Its facilities have improved since the emergency ward had been built in 1991. Difficult/critical cases would not become a problem anymore since it has complete equipments. It is located on Jl. Kesehatan Selatan 1 Sanglah Denpasar with : Phone : 227 911 – 15 Fax : 226 363 Kasih Ibu Hospital is a private hospital which caters for less serious cases such as diarrhea, intestinal disorders, anemia, asthma and minor accidents. Kasih Ibu is also equipped to care for pregnant women. This hospital is located on Jl. Teuku Umar 120 Denpasar.

Phone : 223 036 Fax : 268 690.

Rumah Sakit Wongaya (Public Hospital; Psychiatric Unit) Jl. Kartini, Denpasar.

Phone : 222 142.

Rumah Sakit Dharma Husada , (Private) Jl. Sudirman No 50, Denpasar Phone : 227 560, 234 824 In relating with health, Bali also has insurance and medical evacuation company, that is: AEA International - SOS Assistance Bali.

PT Abhaya Eka Astiti, Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai No. 24X, Kuta 80361.

Phone : 755 768 Fax : 755 768 One thing that should be noted by tourists here is that the Blood Bank in Bali normally carries no stock of Rhesus (Rh) Negative blood.

Badung Bali Medical Clinics There are some medical clinics that are well known by foreigners in Bali. Some of them are western owned and operated : Bali International Medical Center (BIMC) Bali International Medical Centre (BIMC) provides excellent Primary Health Care & Emeregency Medical Services for tourists, traveler, and expatriate living in Bali.

Emeregency Room, Ambulance, Clinic Services, Insurance & Medical Evacuations also available. Open 24 hours Phone : 761 2631. Located Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai No.100X, Kuta, Bali 80361 - Indonesia. http://www.bimcbali.com International SOS Clinic Bali Opened in 1999, offers International SOS members and visitors to Bali comprehensive primary health care and 24-hour emergency medical service.

Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai 505X, Kuta 80361, Bali - Indonesia Phone : 720 100 Fax : 721 919 E-mail : info@sos-bali.com ttp ://www.sos-bali.com Bali Nusa Dua Emergency Clinic Jl Pratama No. 81 Phone : 771 324 Kuta Clinic Jl. Raya Kuta Phone : 753 268 Dental Clinic Dr Indra Guizot, Jl. Patimura 19, Denpasar Phone : 222 445, 234 375 DDS. Ritjie Rihartinah, Jl Pratama No. 81 Nusa Dua Phone : 771 324 Retno W. Agung, Jln. Bypass Ngurah Rai No.4A Br. Tamansari – Sanur Phone : 288 501

Clinic Mas Jl. Raya Mas, Ubud Phone : +62 361 974573 Toyo Clinic Jl. Pengosekan, Ubud Phone : +62 361 978078 Permata Bunda Clinic Jl. Patih Jelantik 50 X, Gianyar Phone : +62 361 942082 Ubud Clinic Jl Raya Ubud No.36 Campuhan, Ubud Phone : +62 361 974911 Gianyar General Hospital Jl. Ciung Wanara 2, Gianyar Phone : +62 361 943049 Karangasem Karangasem General Hospital Jl. Ngurah Rai, Karangasem Phone : +62 363 21001 Klungkung Klungkung General Hospital Jl. Flamboyan 40-4, Klungkung Phone : +62 366 21371 Negara Negara General Hospital Jl. Gelar, Negara Phone : +62 365 41006 Tabanan Laboratorium Clinic Jl. Gunung semeru No. 8, Tabanan Phone : +62 361 819260 Mengwi Clinic Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai 46, Tabanan Phone : +62 361 880550 Darma Kerti Hospital Jl. Teratai 16, Tabanan Phone : +62 361 812359 Tabanan General Hospital Jl. Pahlawan 14, Tabanan Phone : +62 361 811027 Singaraja Prodia Clinic Jl. RA Kartini 12, Singaraja Bali 0362 - 24-516 Singaraja Hospital Jl. Ngurah Rai 30, Singaraja Bali 0362 - 22-573 Pet Clinics Kayumas: (0361) 226934 Sayang Binatang: (0361) 483121 Satwa Kertha Husada: (0361) 263018 Pantai Sindhu: (0361) 287518 Sidakarya: (0361) 724492 Pedungan: (0361) 720026

TAXIS Praja Taxi : (0361) 289090 Bali Taxi : (0361) 701111 Ngurah Rai Taxi : (0361) 724724 Pan Wirthi Taxi : (0361) 723366 Komotra Taxi : (0361) 758855

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Monday, February 1, 2010

News Iran puts 16 opposition supporters on trial AP

AP –

American citizen Laura Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, speaks as Nicole Lankford, left, 18, of Middleton

Haiti detains Americans taking kids across border AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.

The Baptist church members from Idaho called it a “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission,” meant to save abandoned children from the chaos following Haiti’s earthquake. Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Whether they realized it or not, these Americans — the first known to be taken into custody since the Jan. 12 earthquake — put themselves in the middle of a firestorm in Haiti, where government leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to child trafficking.

“In this chaos the government is in right now we were just trying to do the right thing,” the group’s leader, Laura Silsby told The Associated Press at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a Monday hearing before a judge.

Silsby said they only had the best of intentions and paid no money for the children. She said her group obtained them through a well-known Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn’t consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. “By no means are we any part of that.

That’s exactly what we are trying to combat,” she said.

Social Affairs Minister Yves

Cristallin told reporters the Americans were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Cristallin said the 33 children were lodged late Saturday at an SOS Children’s Village outside of Port-auPrince. SOS Children’s Villages is a global nonprofit based in Austria.

Many children in Haitian orphanages aren’t actually orphans but have been abandoned by family who cannot afford to care for them. Advocates both here and abroad caution that with so many people unaccounted for, adoptions should not go forward until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them.

UNICEF and other NGOs have been registering children who may have been separated from their parents.

Relief workers are locating children at camps housing the homeless around the capital and are placing them in temporary shelters while they try to locate their parents or a more permanent home.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti sent consular officials, who met with the detained Americans and gave them bug spray and MREs to eat, according to Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and 18-year-old daughter were being held.

“They have to go in front of a judge on Monday,” Lankford told The Associated Press.

“There are allegations of child trafficking and that really couldn’t be farther from the truth,” he added. The children “were going to get the medical attention they needed. They were going to get the clothes and the food and the love they need to be healthy and to

start recovering from the tragedy that just happened.”

Haiti has imposed new controls on adoptions since the earthquake, which left thousands of children separated from their parents or orphaned. The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking.

Silsby said they had documents from the Dominican government, but did not seek any paperwork from the Haitian authorities before taking 33 children from 2 months to 12 years old to the border, where Haitian police stopped them Friday evening. She said the children were brought to the pastor by distant relatives, and that the only ones to be put up for adoption would be those without close family to care for them.

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as people from Texas and Kansas. Idaho friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

“The plan was never to go adopt all these kids. The plan was to create this orphanage where kids could live.

And kids get adopted out of orphanages. People go down and they’re going to fall in love with these kids, and many of these kids will end up getting adopted.”

“Of course I’m concerned for my wife and my daughter,” he added.

“They were hoping to make a difference and be able to help those kids.”

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran put 16 opposition supporters detained during anti-government protests last month on trial Saturday on charges of rioting and conspiring against the ruling system, Iran’s state media reported.

The defendants face charges ranging from plotting against the establishment to violating security regulations, said the official IRNA news agency.

Five of those on trial, including two women, were accused of “moharebeh,” or defying God, a charge that could carry the death penalty, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

The new prosecutions, coupled with the execution on Thursday of two men accused of involvement in antigovernment groups, could mark an attempt by Iran’s hard-line leaders to intimidate the opposition before a new round of street demonstrations expected in February.

Those who stood trial Saturday — including a follower of the Baha’i faith, an alleged communist and a student activist — were detained during anti-government demonstrations on Dec. 27. At least eight people were killed and hundreds more were arrested in those rallies, during which opposition activists and security forces clashed. The violence was the worst since authorities launched a harsh crackdown immediately after Iran’s disputed presidential election in June.

The protesters have presented Iran’s cleric-led establishment with its biggest challenge since the 1979 revolution despite a brutal crackdown that has left hundreds imprisoned.

IRNA quoted a prosecutor identified only by the last name of Farahani as saying in court that some of the defendants had confessed to spying, planning bomb attacks and damaging

public and private property. He also said some of the defendants had sent videos of the clashes between protesters and Iranian police to “foreign hostile networks,” IRNA reported.

Human rights groups have cautioned that such confessions are often made under duress in Iran.

The ISNA news agency quoted the student activist on trial, who was not named, as telling the court Saturday that he had given interviews to the foreign media about the protests since the “doors of the domestic media are closed to us.”

Iranian authorities have banned many newspapers and news Web sites and detained many opposition journalists after the election.

The new trial comes amid a sweeping crackdown by Iran’s clerical leaders against opposition activists in a bid to crush the challenge that has emerged to their rule in the wake of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection in June. The opposition says Ahmadinejad’s victory was fraudulent.

Iran’s hard-line government has quashed opposition rallies and tried more than 100 political activists in a mass trial that started in August, sentencing 11 people to death and more than 80 people to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.

On Thursday, authorities hanged two men who had been convicted of belonging to “counterrevolutionary and monarchist groups,” plotting to overthrow “the Islamic establishment” and planning assassinations and bombings.

The men were arrested months before the election. But they were brought before judges in the same mass trial that started in August in an attempt by the leadership to show that the political opposition is in league with violent armed groups in a foreign-backed plot to overthrow the Islamic system.

U.S. beefing up...

From page 1 A military official said Saturday that the three other countries are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain — which also hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters — and Qatar, home to a modernized U.S. air operations center that has played a key role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In a presentation Jan. 22 at the Institute for the Study of War, Petraeus explicitly linked the actions to concerns about Iran.

“Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front, and, indeed, it has been a catalyst for the implementation of the architecture that we envision and have now been trying to implement,” he said.

He said that “architecture” includes the extra Patriot batteries “that weren’t there, say, two years ago.”

“Other countries have certainly increased their Patriots, a whole host of different systems; Aegis ballistic missile cruisers are in the Gulf at all times now,” Petraeus added.

The Aegis ships are equipped with a missile known as the SM-3, which gained international acclaim in February 2008 when a souped-up version was launched from a Navy cruiser in the Pacific and shot down a failing U.S. satellite in space.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has spoken publicly about a new approach to missile defenses, both in Europe and the Gulf.

“I don’t want to get into it in too much detail,” Gates said in September, “but the reality is we are working both on a bilateral and a multilateral basis in the Gulf to establish the same kind of regional missile defense that would protect our facilities out there as well as our friends and allies.”

Gates said the adjusted approach is based in part on a belief by U.S. intelligence that Iran has not been progressing as fast as previously believed on development of a long-range ballistic missile, but is concentrating more heavily on short- and medium-range missiles of the sort that the Patriot and the Aegis systems are designed to defend against.

International

Indonesia Today

Monday, February 1, 2010

7

Navy has difficulties monitoring waste dumping Antara

AFP PHOTO / ATAR

Suspected Afghan illegal immigrants rest at a police station in Medan after being brought in for questioning on January 30, 2010. Indonesian police said they had detained 26 Afghan migrants who were in transit in the province of North Sumatra, possibly bound for Australia.

Police in Medan arrest 26 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan Antara

MEDAN - Police in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday arrested 26 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan.

The immigrants were arrested in Pasar III area on Jalan Datuk Kabu, Percut Sei Tuan, Deli Serdang, according to a source. The immigrants

were undergoing questioning at the police station in Medan.

One of them, Zaki, said they arrived in Medan on Saturday in the

waters he did not know its name.

He said they fled Afghanistan because they could no longer stand the situation there. They had chosen Indonesia because they considered it being actively involved in international peace processes.

“Indonesia is also considered a safe country,” he said.

LIPI launches beyonic technology for organic fertilizer making Antara

BOGOR - The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has launched microbe-based Beyonic technology for organic fertilizer making.

Such a technology was launched

by Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata before LIPI chief Prof Umar Anggara Jenie at Bogor‘s Cibinong Science Center in West Java on Saturday.

LIPI Biological Institute Deputy Prof Endang Sukara in his presentation on the Beyonic technology said the application of such a mechanical sciences was one of the solution to the problem of soil quality decline caused by excessive use of commercial fertilizer.

“The use of microbe should be a good alternative that can be developed continually to increase agriculture productivity by reducing excessive use of commercial fertilizer,”

Endang said.

According to him, the government in 2010 would allocate Rp11.86 trillion subsidy funds for the production of 11.76 million tons of organic fertilizer.

But unfortunately the organic fertilizer subsidy was used largely by big producers and a little by the farmers.

“Therefore, LIPI wants the farmers to be self-reliance in producing organic fertilizer by using Beyonic technology,” Endang said, adding the microbe used in the technology was safe.

“The microbe used in such a technology is the local one which is safe and pure because it is kept by Biotechnology Culture Collection which has been registered at the World Federation for Culture Collection (WFCC),” Endang said.

He said a lot of imported microbe was not absolutely reliable and was

even feared to destroy our environment. According to Endang, several types of organic fertilizer such as BioPoska, Kompenit, Biomat, Biorhizin, Kedelai Plus, BioVam and Katalek had been marketed.

Meanwhile Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata said the technological innovation result should immediately be exploited by technical department in order to make Indonesia free from relying on foreign industry.

“If such a beneficial technology failed to be synergized with technical department, it would be useless,” the minister said, adding that development in Indonesia was in great need of technological products.

He admitted that a number of technical departments had yet to understand that the results of technological research at home had been able to meet national demands.

DENPASAR - It is difficult to monitor foreign ships dumping waste in international waters that has eventually polluted the Batam coastline, navy chief of staff Vice Admiral Agus Suhartono said here on Saturday.

“Because the area is narrow it will be our waters that will suffer the pollution from wastes dumped by ships in the waters outside ours,” he said.

He said the activity had so far been carried out in the waters outside our territory while our patrol boats only operated in the country‘s territorial waters.

“We have the boats standing by in our territory,” he said.

He said the naval patrol boats had never known the ships that had dumped wastes in the sea causing pollution on the coast and waters of Batam island.

“Our boats only find the waste

but not the ships that have dumped it,” he said.

He said the Indonesian navy was eager to seize the ships that have caused pollution in the country‘s waters. He said the navy would probably develop a radar system to monitor the movement of ships likely to dump wastes.

“We will also stand by. We will implement it,” he said.

Seven navy ships conduct patrol between Indonesia and Singapore waters and four others in the Malacca Strait every day.

He said the number is sufficient to patrol the narrow area.

Every north monsoon oil sludge flows in the Batam island waters.

Tons of oil sludge polluted Tanjung Memban in January this year.

When discovered the sludge had reached the coast and stucked to the sand so that it was difficult to remove. The waste has damaged the waters ecosystem of the coast of Batam island.

Rescue team trying to evacuate six missing hikers Antara

SUKABUMI - A team of 32 rescue workers is trying to evacuate six hikers who have gone missing on Mount Salak in West Java, a spokesman said on Sunday.

The evacuation effort followed a report that they were found alive by an advance rescue team in Cihideung river on the slope of Mount Salak the day before, head of the Gunung Halimun Salak National Park (TNGHS) spokesman Bambang Supriyanto said.

“The joint team of rescue workers left for the scene on Sunday at about 07.23 a.m. Up till now I have yet to receive any information about the truth of the report. I hope the report is true so the rescue team can evacuate them,” he said.

The six hikers are identified as

Febri alias Pelor, Wildan alias Brutus, Adit alias Gobleng, Zaki alias Pokker, Urham and Unan.

They are all students of the Yogyakarta-based state Islamic university (UIN).

Supriyanto said the students took an illegal track at Curug Nangka, Bogor district, to climb the mountain. He said Mount Salak had been declared off-limits to hikers since early this year because of extreme weather. The mountain will be open again to hiking on Feb 28.

He said the joint team of rescue workers conducted their search and evacuation efforts only on Sunday after similar efforts were impeded by thick cloud last Saturday.

The six students who began climbing the mountain on Jan 24 were supposed to return on Jan 27, he said.

President commissions single window exportimport service Antara

JAKARTA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officiated at the opening of a single window export-import service system at Jakarta‘s Tanjung Priok port on Friday to increase the country‘s bargaining power.

The integrated system called the Indonesia National Single Window provides application and standard information process and

exchange facilities electronically.

It covers all processes connected with the flows of export-import goods. The system makes it possible for data and information to be submitted at once, synchronizes data and information processing and integrates the flow of business processes involving customs, licensing, export-import, port, payment, shipping and logistical systems as well as other systems connected with export-import handling.

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Internationa

Monday, February 1, 2009

Bali Today Sharing of VoA for the Region Should be Fought Bali Post

DENPASAR - The ranks of Badung House consider the potential regional income through the visa on arrival (VoA) should be fought. The reason for this is the result of VoA to the region remains zero. Whereas, VoA is “mining site” of foreign exchange to Bali that must be returned, in relation to the strengthening the tourism supporting sector, especially the custom and culture.

This matter was revealed by a member of Badung House, I Wayan Puspa Negara, last Saturday (Jan 30). He described, the increase of VoA tariff for foreign tourists visiting Indonesia from USD 10, for the period of a seven-day visit to USD 25 for a period of maximum 30-day visit, has been effective since January 26, 2010.

Puspa argued, with the increase of VoA tariff, the results of its sharing should increase. Moreover, during this time Bali was proud as a region yielding large foreign exchange earners in the nonoil sector. But it never did rise, the division was never obtained.

“Apparently, this is a policy that has not been properly socialized. Moreover, as far as we know,

sharing of VoA for the region is nil.

Therefore, to increase this VoA central government should understand. There must be proportional sharing for the region as other regions engendering oil or mine product or other mineral products obtaining a large amount of results like Riau,” he said.

Furthermore, he said, Bali ought to obtain the proportional gain of the VoA, in relation to boost the development of tourism infrastructure in particular, especially for strengthening the customs and culture. “Thus, the results of VoA must be disbursed for example, to repair and arrange the tourist attractions, customs and cultural development, improvement or rehabilitation budget for temple, village hall, budgets for the arts and others,” asserted Puspa. (ded)

http://www.indoflyer.net

People taking a queue to pay the airport passangers service charge. The ranks of Badung House consider the potential regional income through the visa on arrival (VoA) should be fought.

Bali’s government urge the Fortification Needed For Traditional Culture establishment of business school The Research of BPSNT Were Questioned?

Antara

Bali Post

DENPASAR – Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika, urged that there is a special school for traders so the people in Bali can create their own business or become entrepreneurs. “Bali should have school for traders of business school. Currently, there are only schools for workers,” he said.

The governor explained that the schools only created graduates who are ready t become employee whether it’s in the government office of in the private sectors.

Bali’s government must consider establishing business schools in Bali. In order to do so, the government must cooperate with many companies including the banking industry. The governor said that one of the weakness of the Balinese people are they can not trade or sell something.

“We have the fund, we have the market, everything, but we are still lacking of human resources. The ability of the Balinese people to make use of the financial source is still very low,” he added. Personally, the governor wanted to train many under graduates that are still unemployed.

IB Kade Perdana, the Director of Sinar Harapan Bali bank, said that the idea

DENPASAR - Along with the global development, there is an emerging need for a cultural paradigm shift. On one hand there is a high culture (adiluhung) which is needed to be maintained and preserved, but on the other hand there are also developed cultures. In this context, the researchers in cultural fields should also see this phenomenon. Even so, the preservation efforts of the traditional cultural art from the government are continuously required, so the high culture heritages are always in a sustainable condition. It was said by a lecturer from the Graduate Cultural Studies Program of Udayana University (UNUD) Dr. I Gde Mudana, M.Si. as a research proposal reviewer for the Center of History and Preservation of Traditional Values (BPSNT) for Bali, NTB, NTT, Directorate General of Cultural Value, Arts and Film, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, on Thursday (28 / 1).

In addition to the questionable results of BPSNT’s research for Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB), and Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) provinces concerned by The Inspectorate of Culture and Tourism, the researches are still considered to be needing increase in depth of contents. Through proposal reviewing activities involving experts in each field, it is expected the quality of BPSNT’s researches will increase and therefore benefit the

http://disdikpora.baliprov.go.id

Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika, urged that there is a special school for traders so the people in Bali can create their own business or become entrepreneurs. of the governor is very good. He said that the banks have many credits that can be given to the businessmen.

“If the number of businessmen increases, it will be very good for the banking industry and eventually it will increase the economics condition of the Balinese people,” he added.

society. Given the width of its territory reaching three provinces- Bali, NTB and NTT, which also handles 58 tribal ethnicities – BPSNT should be granted the status of the Echelon II. Head of BPSNT for Bali, NTB and NTT, Drs. I Made Purna, M.Si., encountered in the 2010 proposal reviewing event held in a local office, said one of the impact of the development being carried out is the social and cultural change. These changes can also cause the shifting and change of historical values as well as traditionalism. Therefore, both historical and traditional values should be recorded through researches for the younger generation not to lose its trail in the future. In order to improve the quality of culture and tourism research results, it is necessary to have a proposal reviewing before the researchers went down to the location.

Reviewing was associated with the proposal’s use of methodologies, concepts, theories, and research techniques. Experts who analyze the BPSNT research proposal are: Prof. Dr. I Gde Parimartha, Dr. I Gede Mudana, M.Si., Dra. S. Swarsi, M.Si., and Drs. I Made Purna, M.Si. ‘’The proposal reviewing activities are expected to alleviate understanding on the correct procedure to be used and the conduct in undertaking a research, so quality results will actually be achieved’’, he said while recalling that BPSNT have already produced 310 pieces of research titles since founded in 1995. (08)

al

Monday, February 1, 2009

Balinese Culture Balinese Food Culture

Keeping the customers through innovations IBP

DENPASAR – Innovation is one of the strategic ways to make a business survive in the business works also can keep the customers loyalty. Base on the thought, J.CO and BreadTalk, two famous brand in the bakery industry, keep creating innovations in products that their launch.

According to The Senior Marketing Communications Manager J.CO Donuts and Coffee Gita Herdi on Friday, during the opening of J.CO and BreadTalk on Denpasar Junction, the two brands always come up with new products in every two months. The never ending innovations have to be done to make customers always come back to the bakery shop. Besides, added Gita, customers always want to try a new flavor and to be pampered by something delicious.

She admitted that the launch of new flavors able to keep the customers’ loyalty. In fact, because the innovations, J.CO already have eight outlets outside Indonesia; five stores in Malaysia and the other three are in Singapore. ‘’We also want to open the store at China, Vietnam, Philippine, and other countries,” said Gita.

Bali Post/iah

To survive in the bakery business, one should make some innovations. – Innovation is one of the strategic ways to make a business survive in the business works also can keep the customers loyalty.

Gita explained even though Yin Yang. This beverage is a mix donuts and bakery are common between Italian Coffee and Japanese products in the food industries, milk tea. ‘’All the ingredients in this through innovations the two items beverage are healthy for the body. can be a promising business. This is Meanwhile on the opening of can be seen in the J.CO’s business BreadTalk third outlets, this bakery performance for the past for years shop offers three variants that only since it’s been launched on Jakarta. can be found in Denpasar Junction J.CO, according to Gita, already has outlet. Apart from this three new sixty six outlets in Indonesia and variants, this boutique bakery is also eight outlets outside Indonesia. offerings other soft and tasty bakerEspecially in the J.CO second ies every day. There are around 160 outlets opening on Bali, the donuts variants of bakeries that created by shop launch a new beverage called BreadTalk. (iah)

Your gastronomical experience in Bali is as enchanting and full of discovery as your cultural experience. I am a total believer that a significant portion of traveling should also involve your tastebuds.

Of course, if you prefer to stick with cheeseburger or a Colonel Sanders’ meal-deal, or to drink your regular Bud light in your Hard Rock Cafe, they all exist in Bali as well. But we know that’s not why you come to Bali, is it?

What’s in a meal?

Well, typically, a meal consists of a plate of steamed rice, and a number of main courses. Instead of eating one course at a time a la Western meals, the main courses, and sometimes including the soup, are all eaten at once. Soup is poured over the rice much like a steak sauce is poured over the steak. Desserts are mostly tropical fruits, which by themselves are enough of a feast and a reason to visit Bali!

Balinese usually eat three meals in a day, with lunch as the primary, heaviest meal. Breakfast can be as light as a cup of coffee (which is usually not light), or a plateful of “nasi goreng” or fried rice. Lunch is the heaviest meal, with a plate of steam rice (or a mound if you prefer), accompanied by a number of main courses, usually consisting of a meat or fish dish, a vegetable dish, and a soup. Dinner is a smaller version of lunch. Desserts for both lunch and dinner can vary from various kinds of fruits, depending on the season, to a specially prepared dessert like pisang goreng (fried banana fritters) or tape (fermented sticky rice).

Desserts The primary desserts in Bali as well as in the rest of Indonsia is fruit, which is available in more varieties than you can think of. There are literally tens or even hundreds of different kinds of bananas alone, from a small, pinky-sized, gold-colored bananas to a foot or foot-and-a-half, dark green ones.

One favorite dessert is pisang goreng or fried banana fritter. Traditionally, my mother would make pisang goreng for afternoon snack. And you can find numerous street vendors who would make these and other snacks out in the open air (with all the dusts from bemo spicing the food).

Drinks There are various kinds of beverages that are unique to Bali or to Indonesia.

Cendol: jello-like consistency, green pieces of tapioka, mixed with water and santan or coconut milk, and sweetened by a liquified gula jawa or brown sugar Air kelapa muda (Young coconut juice): Fruit juice: you can find various kinds of fruit juice drinks, from papaya to markisah (passion fruit) to sirsak (Dutch durian).

For alcoholic beverages, there are two primary drinks:

Brem (Rice wine): As described above, brem is a by-product of tape.

The wine comes out of the rice because of fermentation. Arak: arak is a kind of hard liquor. It is fermented from the sap of a special kind of palm tree.

BP/doc

The people are watching “jogged bumbung”, a traditional Balinese dance which is famous among the youth in Bali.

Additionally, there are variants of non-alcoholic beverages above that have met Balinese creativity and outside influence, resulting in various kinds of interesting drinks. Air kelapa muda (young coconut juice) with various kinds of liquors like rum or tequila can be found in many restaurants, presented attractively in the coconut fruit itself. And what can be more interesting than a Pina-Colada like drink served inside a freshly cut out pineapple? (http://asiarecipe.com)

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Destinations

Monday, February 1, 2010

International

Gua Gajah - Elephant Cave

http://belajartda.files.wordpress.com

WELCOME to Gua Gajah (Elephant Cave) which is located in west side of Bedulu countryside, Blah Batuh Sub district and Gianyar Regency. It is about 27 km from Denpasar town. This cave is built at crevasse edge from the federation of 2 rills that is called Pangkung River , where the irrigation is mixed with Petanu River flow. The federation area of two rivers is called Campuhan/ Mixture. It owns the magical energy on the basis of Rwabineda Concept/two different matters on this basic concept hence Gua Gajah (Elephant Cave) is intentionally built among two rivers.

The word of Gua Gajah is anticipated coming from the word of Lwa Gajah, the name of Buddhist Temple or hermitage for Buddhist monk. The Gua Gajah’s name is written on Negarakeertagama papyrus which is compiled by Mpu Prapanca on 1365 M. Lwa or Lwah/loh mean the river and it reflect to the meaning that the hermitage is located at Gajah River or in Air Gajah. In the year inscription 944 Saka, it is mentioned with the name of ‘ser ring Air Gajah’ that is meaning the Subak leader in Air Gajah. The word has mentioned that the hermitage of Lwa Gajah is located in Subak Air Gajah.

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There is a relief which is almost looking like the form of mountain on the entrance of this cave. It was carved many designed on the relief like grove with the stick, close leaf, animal for example forest pig, tortoise and specters. The cave mouth is decorated by the bas-relief with the eye turn around to the right or west side. There is an article letter of Kediri type from the early of 11 century was written on the wall left side or east side. There is a pool (Patirthaan) as a place to take the holy Tirtha water for Hindu ceremony which is located in the middle of the cave courtyard.

This Holy Pool is previously piled up by land and it has been found on 1954 by Krijgsman from the Ancient Department. The Holy pool is equipped by the statue douche which is parallel arranged in two groups.

Since it is appointed as tourist destination, Gua Gajah is many visited by tourist everyday due to it is strategically located on the main road Ubud – Kintamani. Kintamani Volcano Tour is one of the famous land tour in Bali usually put this tourist destination on the tour itinerary. It was well completed by public facilities like toilet, parking area and souvenir shops available. (www.balistarisland.com)

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Monday, February 1, 2010

11

BUSINESS Economy soars 5.7 percent, fastest in 6 years Reuters

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP

A worker takes inventory of new Toyota cars at Hanlees Hilltop Toyota January 29, 2010 in Richmond, California. Toyota will announce next week its plans to fix more than 2.3 million cars and trucks with accelerator pedals that have the potential to stick.

U.S. satisfied with recall fix, Toyota chief apologizes Reuters

WASHINGTON - U.S. safety regulators are satisfied with a Toyota Motor Corp. plan for fixing an accelerator problem that is part of a widening global recall and unprecedented sales and production halt, a government official said on Saturday.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) engineers have reviewed Toyota’s proposal for preventing gas pedals in eight models from sticking and have raised no objections, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has yet to be publicly announced.

Toyota has issued a series of recent recalls covering 5.6 million vehicles in the United states due to sudden acceleration in some vehicles. It is the largest ever recall for Toyota and among the biggest for an automaker in U.S. history.

The problem has affected popular selling Toyota cars as well as its luxury Lexus models and is suspected of causing crashes that led to 19 fatalities over the past decade, government officials have said.

Nearly 2 million vehicles also have been recalled in Europe. PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Saturday it would recall 100,000 Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1 models made at a factory in the Czech Republic where the French group and Toyota jointly make cars.

Some 75,000 Toyota vehicles have been recalled in China.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda apologized for the recall, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

“We’re extremely sorry to have made customers uneasy,” Toyoda said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in com-

ments that were broadcast by NHK. Toyoda last commented publicly on the matter in October, when he expressed regret for the deaths of four people in a California crash linked to the defects last year.

Most of the vehicles recalled in the United States were singled out over concerns that gas pedals could get jammed on floor mats. Toyota is modifying gas pedals, redesigning floor mats, and taking other steps to address that issue.

The subject of the fix reviewed

by NHTSA this week and expected to be announced by Toyota within days covers more than 2 million vehicles equipped with gas pedals that may not spring back as designed.

The remedy being readied by Toyota and its accelerator supplier, CTS Corp, involves a shim, also called a spacer, that will be placed in the accelerator to keep it from sticking, sources have said.

NHTSA regulators are not required to approve the remedy but they can reject the approach if they consider it inadequate.

Toyota said in a statement late on Saturday that it had reviewed the pedal fix with NHTSA and was finalizing details.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said last week that NHTSA, which is part of his agency, closely reviewed the proposal.

LaHood said he was satisfied with Toyota’s overall response to the acceleration issue, which has dented its reputation and prompted rivals, like government-owned General Motors Co., to try and lure its customers to their brands with incentives.

As part of the recalls, Toyota has been forced to suspend sales of eight models in the United States, including its Camry sedan, the best-selling car in the world’s second-biggest auto market. It also temporarily halted production of the eight models at six U.S. and Canadian plants.

Sources briefed on Toyota’s U.S. sales plans told Reuters on Friday the sales shutdown would continue until at least mid-February.

A resumption assumes a smooth and swift rollout of a remedy to fix faulty accelerators in vehicles already sold or for sale at dealerships, the sources said.

Toyota announces third-quarter financial results on February 4. Analysts estimate the sales halt could cost Toyota at least $550 million in operating profit per month.

Separate congressional committees have scheduled hearings into the matter next month. LaHood, NHTSA Administrator David Strickland and Toyota North American President Yoshimi Inaba are expected to testify.

WASHINGTON - The economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the fourth quarter, surprising economists, as businesses curbed their aggressive cut in stocks and stepped up spending.

The robust growth pointed to a sustainable recovery in a crucial period before government stimulus plans run out and was good news for an administration amid political difficulties.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 5.7 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its first estimate for the quarter. It was a strong end to a year in which the economy shrank by 2.4 percent — the worst performance since 1946.

While much of the growth resulted from companies’ drawing down inventories more slowly than they did earlier in the year rather than from a surge in domestic demand, economists said it was still a positive report.

“The data shows that the necessary transition from government stimulus to private sector spending is under way, which is essential to sustain the economic expansion,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.

U.S. stocks initially rallied on the eye-catching growth number but ended down on worries about credit troubles in Europe.

Stock market losses fed investors’ preference for safe-haven U.S. government bonds, while the U.S. dollar rallied against major currencies.

Getting the economy on a sustainable growth track remains one of the key challenges facing President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday outlined measures to create jobs and nurture the recovery.

The government will release its closely watched employment report for January next Friday. A Reuters survey forecast payrolls grew by 5,000 jobs after an 85,000 drop in December.

The economic picture was further brightened by a jump in Midwest business activity in January to its highest level in four years, while consumer confidence hit a two-year high.

Economists said they expected the lift from inventories to fade over time, with economic growth moderating in the second half of the year.

“The economy’s engine is running, but to some degree we’re

still in a ditch spinning our wheels.

With fiscal and monetary fuel running out, we need job growth to get us firmly on the road to recovery,” said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial in Boston.

The slowing rate of inventory reduction in the fourth compared to the third quarter lifted GDP by nearly 3.4 percentage points, the biggest contribution inventories have made to GDP growth since the fourth quarter of 1987.

When businesses sell off inventories, there is less of a need to step up production and it weighs on GDP. With the liquidation rate slowing, GDP was boosted.

But even with inventories stripped out, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, accelerating from the 1.5 percent increase in the third quarter. That reflected relatively strong performance from other segments of the economy, particularly business investment.

Still, this measure of final demand is meager compared with most normal recoveries, implying the Federal Reserve can bide its time before raising interest rates.

Consumer spending increased at a 2 percent annual rate, contributing 1.44 percentage points to GDP. In the third quarter, consumer spending had risen at a 2.8 percent pace, supported by the government’s “cash for clunkers” program.

Business investment grew at 2.9 percent rate, the first increase since the second quarter of 2008, as the drag from the troubled commercial real estate was offset by robust spending on equipment and software.

“The solid increase in investment in equipment and software, if confirmed, might indicate that a more solid recovery is under way,” said Harm Bandholz, an economist at UniCredit Research in New York.

Some economists said it suggested a budding confidence that could lead to hiring.

Third-quarter growth was put at 2.2 percent after an earlier estimate of 3.5 percent.

The growth of spending on new home construction braked sharply in the fourth quarter to an annual rate of 5.7 percent from an 18.9 percent pace in the third quarter.

Home building has received a lift from a popular tax credit for first-time buyers, but recent data have hinted at some weakness. Export growth outpaced imports, narrowing the U.S. trade gap and adding half a percentage point to GDP growth in the last quarter.

12

Monday, February 1, 2010

Entertainment

International

Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with ‘Hurt Locker’ Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Kathryn Bigelow and “The Hurt Locker” became official awards-season front-runners Saturday after Bigelow won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America.

The 58-year-old filmmaker is the first woman to win the guild’s top honor, which positions her and the film as shoe-ins for the Academy Awards. The DGA boasts that its winner has gone on to win the Oscar all but six times since 1948.

“This is the most incredible moment of my life,” Bigelow said backstage. She downplayed her gender, saying, “I suppose I like to think of myself as a filmmaker.”

Still, she was the only nominated director who earned accolades for her physique as well as her filmmaking.

Bigelow was up against Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds,” Jason Reitman for “Up in the Air,” Lee Daniels for “Precious” and her ex-husband James Cameron for

“Avatar.”

“Hurt Locker” star Jeremy Renner called Bigelow “a warrior, my champion and the most fortunate actor’s director.”

Tarantino praised her as “queen of directors.” He said his fellow nominees have been spending so much time together, they have become “like a superstar rock band and we’re going to go on tour together.”

Clutching a shiny medallion as a souvenir of his DGA nomination, Tarantino said, “I don’t give a (expletive) who wins, I am so happy to have this.”

Daniels said the nominated directors, who have seen each other regularly throughout Hollywood’s awards season, are “like a support

Taylor rehearses, Ke$ha shares Grammy dreams

AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File

Kesha

to the Grammys. Now that I’m gonna be on the stage it’s pretty surreal, so I can only dream that maybe next year I can find my name in one of the categories,” she said.

And while she’s dominated the airwaves with her party girl anthem, she took a bit of offense — playfully, of course — when she was described as such on Saturday.

“Define party girl, because yeah, I’m a walking good time, but I’m not like some starlet who goes out, doesn’t wear underwear, gets a DUI,” said Ke$ha.

“I’m so not that girl. But I am like a walking good time, but I’m having a good time just walking around here. I feel like a more proper title for myself would be a dance commander,” she said.

Associated Press Writer A SWIFT REHEARSAL

LOS ANGELES – The music world is celebrating all over town this weekend with tributes, rehearsals, parties and, of course, a gift suite or two in anticipation of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night at Staples Center. Here’s a look.

Ke$ha — who has the No. 1 song in the country with her dance groove “TiK ToK” — spent part of Saturday afternoon at the Grammys Styling Studio, picking out accessories and other fashions available for talent who are taking part of the show.

While she’s not up for any awards, the singer is presenting the best new artist category. Ke$ha’s debut album was released this month, and she hopes next year she’ll be at the Grammys for a different reason.

“It’s been a dream of mine to go

Taylor Swift performed a rollicking version of her hit “You Belong With Me” as she rehearsed for her big Grammy moment, but she may have provided the most excitement when she came off the stage. Several young fans were waiting anxiously as Swift gave a couple of quick television interviews. Afterward, she posed for pictures, and made one young man swoon when she shook his hand.

Swift was among a parade of Alist artists rehearsing at Staples Center on Friday, including Dave Matthews, Maxwell, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli, Drake, Eminem and Lil Wayne.

As for Swift, she said she planned a low key night at her hotel after rehearsal, but with a treat — In-N-Out Burgers.

group” for one another.

“We have each other’s backs,” he said. He told Bigelow, “You are bold. You are brave. You are gutsy.”

Reitman told the winning director that he grew up watching her films.

“You are more than a great director, you are one of the greats,” he said. “I’m in awe of you, too.”

Cameron praised his competitors as “truly excellent and brilliant filmmakers.” Bigelow said just being nominated for the Directors Guild honor is “kind of the pinnacle for the already wild ride ‘The Hurt Locker’ has put me on.”

The six-hour affair at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel drew a spate of celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster, Jon Cryer, Cheryl Hines and Jason Bateman. All but Jolie served as presenters during Saturday’s ceremony. Carl Reiner hosted the event recognizing achievements in directing, as he has for 22 years.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

Director Kathryn Bigelow poses with her nomination plaque for best feature film director in the press room at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010.

22-year-old goes from Miss Va. to Miss America Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS – A 22-year-old Virginia woman who said she once thought her only talent was singing is the nation’s newest Miss America, emerging from a field of 53 contestants picked for their beauty, compassion and interview savvy. Caressa Cameron, a broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, now plans a second year away from college as she travels extensively to raise money for charity and carry the 89-year-old pageant’s crown.

“I hope to gain inspiration, I hope to gain momentum so that when this 365 days is over, I can shoot through the moon,” Cameron told The Associated Press.

Cameron, the first black Miss America since Ericka Dunlap in 2005, says she wants to get a master’s degree and eventually become a news anchor.

Cameron, the daughter of a background researcher for the government and a contractor, said she was inspired to compete in pageants at age 14, when Miss Virginia 2003 Nancy Redd visited her school.

“At that time, all I knew that I could do was sing — that’s all I had,” the Fredericksburg, Va., native said.

Cameron said that after that visit, she decided to try out for a school musical, which snowballed into more opportunities in the arts, drama and other areas.

“More doors and more doors continued to open,” she said. “It’s so important that we reach our young people, because there are so many young people that are at the very same crossroads that I was at.”

“We need those people to let them know that just because your circumstances are a certain way, you don’t have to succumb to them,” she said.

“You can do something amazing, like become Miss America.”

The last Miss America from Virginia was Nicole Johnson in 1999.

Cameron won the title and a $50,000 scholarship Saturday night

after strutting in a skintight yellow dress, belting Beyonce’s “Listen” from “Dreamgirls” and advising parents to limit video games and television when asked about childhood obesity during an onstage interview.

“We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little,” she said. “Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like.”

Miss California Kristy Cavinder was the first runner-up, winning $25,000.

AP Photo/Eric Jamison

Host Mario Lopez watches Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron react after being crowned Miss America by Miss America 2009 Katie Stam, Saturday Jan. 30, 2010 in Las Vegas.

Life Style

International

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2009 file photo, the Kindle 2 electronic reader is shown at an Amazon.com news conference in New York.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he was told Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, that its books would be removed from Amazon.com, as would e-books for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file

Books pulled from Amazon.com in pricing dispute Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – New copies of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” Andrew Young’s “The Politician” and other books published by Macmillan were unavailable Saturday on Amazon.com, a drastic step in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he was told Friday that its books would be removed from Amazon.com, as would e-books for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader. Books will be available on Amazon.com through private sellers and other third parties, Sargent said.

Sargent met with Amazon officials Thursday to discuss the publisher’s new pricing model for e-books. He wrote in a letter to Macmillan authors and literary agents Saturday that the plan would allow Amazon to make more money selling Macmillan books and that Macmillan would make less. He characterized the dispute as a disagreement over “the longterm viability and stability of the digital book market.”

Macmillan and other publishers have criticized Amazon for charging

just $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, a price publishers say is too low and could hurt hardcover sales, which generally carry a list price of more than $24.

Macmillan is one of the world’s largest English-language publishers. Its divisions include St. Martin’s Press, itself one of the largest publishers in the U.S.; Henry Holt & Co., one of the oldest publishers in America; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; and Tor, the leading science-fiction publisher.

Sargent credited Amazon in his letter, calling the company a “valuable customer” and a “great innovator in our industry.”

But, he wrote, the digital book industry needs to create a business model that provides equal opportunities for retailers. Under Macmillan’s model, to be put in place in March, e-

books will be priced from $12.99 to $14.99 when first released and prices will change over time.

For its part, Amazon wants to keep a lid on prices as competitors line up to challenge its dominant position in a rapidly expanding market. The company did not immediately return messages seeking comment Saturday.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Sony Corp.’s e-book readers are already on sale. But the latest and most talked about challenger is Apple Inc., which just introduced the long-awaited iPad tablet computer and a new online book store modeled on iTunes. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, suggested publishers may offer some e-titles to Apple before they are allowed to go on sale at Amazon.com

Monday, February 1, 2010

13

China’s online travel market booming Agence France Presse

BEIJING - China’s online tourism market is booming as an increasingly wealthy middle class travels for pleasure and the use of credit cards and the Internet soars, analysts say.

As millions of people pack their bags for Lunar New Year holidays, the busiest travel period of the year, many will have booked their trips home online, according to Chinese Internet research and consulting firm iResearch.

Revenue from online flight, hotel and package tour bookings will hit 4.75 billion yuan (695.8 million dollars) in 2010, up 27 percent from last year, iResearch says, with that figure due to balloon to 9.01 billion yuan by 2013.

“People’s lifestyle attitudes have changed and their spending ability has improved and people now view holidays as part of a healthy lifestyle,” the firm said in its latest report on the fast-growing sector.

China’s travel industry generated 1.3 trillion yuan in revenue in 2009, up nine percent from 2008, state media reported earlier this month, citing figures from the National Tourism Administration.

While a separate figure on overall bookings revenue was not available, China Market Research Group

senior analyst Ben Cavender estimated online bookings accounted for 8-10 percent of the market.

“More and more consumers are turning to the Internet to book trips,” Cavender told AFP, adding he expects online bookings to make up 15-16 percent of the total within two years.

“Consumers are becoming more and more comfortable with the concept of online purchases... and the use of credit cards has exploded over the last few years,” Cavender said.

China has at least 384 million Internet users, according to official figures, more than any other country in the world and the number of credit cards issued has ballooned.

As the nation’s 1.3 billion people become wealthier — urban and rural per capita income each rose more than eight percent in 2009 — more and more Chinese are taking holidays.

In 2009, the number of domestic tourist trips rose 11 percent to 1.9 billion from a year earlier, state media reported, citing tourism bureau figures, indicating some people went on more than one holiday during the year.

The number of overseas tourist trips increased 3.6 percent to 47.5 million compared with 2008, according to the report.

AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN

Travellers pull and carry their luggage to catch their train at the main railway station in Beijing on January 31, 2010. China’s online tourism market is booming as an increasingly wealthy middle class travel for pleasure with millions of people packing their bags for Lunar New Year holidays, the busiest travel period of the year.

Asian companies hope to reap iPad boom Agence France Presse

The picture shows a kind of iPad BP

/ist

TAIPEI - The iPad may have been designed in the United States, but Apple’s money-spinning products are manufactured in the high-tech factories of east Asia.

If the new tablet computer

follows the iPhone and iPod by capturing the imagination of consumers around the globe, component makers in Taiwan, China and South Korea will reap the benefits.

“The iPad is likely to stimulate global demand for high-tech products and components,” said James Chen, the vice president of Taiwanbased display and touch panel maker Wintek Corp.

Confidentiality agreements between Apple and its suppliers

means no company is willing to openly discuss who does what, but analysts are free to make informed guesses.

Wintek is widely seen as a likely supplier of iPad parts, although Chen declined to either confirm or deny the company’s involvement.

The new touchscreen device, which was unveiled Wednesday, seeks to establish an entire new category between laptop and smartphone, but it does so by combining well-known components, most

of them produced in Asia.

While the touchscreens are widely thought to be made by companies like Wintek, the chips are likely to come from companies such as Japan’s Toshiba and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.

South Korea’s LG Display is named as a probable supplier of the displays, while Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, a veteran Apple supplier, is believed to be in charge of assembly.

14

Sport

Monday, February 1, 2010

International

Bryant powers Lakers to victory over Philadelphia Agence France Presse

PHILADELPHIA - Kobe Bryant’s return to his hometown of Philadelphia gave 76ers fans plenty of chances to boo him as he led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-91 NBA victory.

Bryant, who was born in Philly and attended high school here, scored 24 points as Sixers fans jeered but jockeyed for position to take his photo.

“It was a like a trip down memory lane for me,” Bryant said.

“It was exciting.”

Bryant led Lower Merion High School to a state championship in

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, left, dunks as Philadelphia 76ers’ Thaddeus Young looks on in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, in Philadelphia.

1996 and visited his old school on Thursday.

He said this was the first year he’d felt chills when he was introduced from Lower Merion High.

“I think because when you get older, you get more and more nostalgic,” said Bryant, 31. “You start reminiscing on where everything started. It kind of creeps in on you.”

Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Sixers effort.

The two let their teammates carry the load in the first half, scoring two points apiece.

Bryan set the tone early in the third, however, when he caught the first pass and drained a shot.

After a brief scare when Bryant banged his knee in clash with Elton Brand, Bryant continued to show his Most Valuable Player credentials.

Bryant scored 14 points in the third as Iverson, a former MVP, did what he could with 15 points in the third.

But the Lakers managed to build a 16-point lead to put themselves in charge in the final quarter. Iverson said he was focused on trying to win the game, not concerned with outdueling Bryant.

“It’s evident that he is one of the best ever to do it,” Iverson said. “He goes out there night in and night out and plays the same way every night.”

Contador unfazed over threat of Armstrong Agence France Presse

VIENNA - Tour de France champion Alberto Contador insists the thought of having seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as his main rival in this year’s race is not keeping him awake at night.

The Spaniard, Tour champion in 2007 and 2009 and Tour of Italy and Spain winner in 2008, believes he will have more than the American to deal with.

Contador overcame tensions within Astana, the team Armstrong joined last year to make his comeback to the sport, to win the 2009 edition thanks to crushing performances in the mountains and final time trial.

Armstrong battled to finish third, and then promptly announced the creation of a new team, Radio Shack, that he hopes to lead to victory in 2010.

Although an outright Contador v Armstrong clash is mouth-watering, the Spaniard said he believes it may not be the only one on the horizon.

At Astana’s team presentation here Saturday, Contador said he believed there could be up to 10 real challengers for the race’s prestigious yellow jersey.

“Of course Lance will be one of my rivals this year but I’m more relaxed,” said the 27-year-old, who finished last year’s race over four minutes ahead of Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck.

“I’m not the only big favourite.

There’s a group of around eight to 10 riders who could throw their hat in for a victory at the Tour.”

Armstrong, third at 5:24 last July, boosted his chances of an eighth Tour win by taking the bulk of last year’s Astana team with him to Radio Shack, including American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Kloden.

Although an almost unrivalled climber and a strong time triallist, the

AFP PHOTO / SAMUEL KUBANI

Astana team leader Alberto Contador (2nd L) of Spain waves during the oficial presentation of the Astana cycling team in Vienna on January 30, 2010.

big question supporters of Contador will want to ask is whether his team, which now includes disgraced Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov, are up to the job.

Vinokourov returned to cycling last year following a two-year ban for doping. He and the entire Astana team, when it was under different management, were thrown off the 2007 Tour de France.

Vinokourov said there was only one objective on the team’s mind: “The aim is to win the Tour de France for Astana and show that, with Alberto Contador, we are the best team in the world,” he said.

“I think that with his talent and my experience, I can count on him to succeed.”

Former Tour winner Oscar Pereiro, who was on the brink of retirement before he joined Astana with five other Spaniards, said there is no doubt who they will be racing for.

“When Alberto is in this team, all riders work for Alberto, this team is Alberto... and others,” Pereiro, the 2006 Tour de France winner, joked to journalists.

“He’s the best rider of the world and for the other riders, it’s a motivation.”

From a total of 27 riders Astana counts 13 Kazakhs, seven Spaniards, three Italians, two Australians, as well as one Ukrainian and a Slovenian.

Contador has one year left on his contract with the team, which he unsuccessfully tried to leave after his second Tour triumph. For now, he is giving nothing away about possible future destinations.

“It’s only January. There’s a big possibility that I will stay longer with Astana. But there are other possibilities,” he said.

AFP/DDP/File/Jens Koehler

Germany’s Sebastian Sylvester, pictured in 2009, retained his IBF middleweight world title here on Saturday when American challenger Billy Lyell retired in the 10th round.

Sylvester retains world title Agence France Presse

NEUBRANDENBURG Germany’s Sebastian Sylvester retained his IBF middleweight world title here on Saturday when American challenger Billy Lyell retired in the 10th round.

Sylvester, 29, was recording his 33rd victory, 16 inside the distance, in 36 bouts against an opponent who was experiencing his eighth

defeat in 29 combats - clearly out of his depth and who had never fought outside the United States.

Sylvester, who took the lightlyregarded IBF belt last September when he beat Dominican Giovanni Lorenzo on points after previous holder and fellow German Arthur Abraham surrendered it to move up a weight, had been lined-up to originally fight Spaniard Pablo Vavascues, but he failed a dope test.

Sport

International

Monday, February 1, 2010

15

Terry ends troubled day with Chelsea winner Agence France Presse

AFP PHOTO/MIGUEL RIOPA

Real Madrid’s captain Raul Gonzalez (L) and teammate French forward Karim Benzema (C) run for the ball next to Deportivo Coruna’s Argentinian defender Diego Colotto (R) during their Spanish league football match at the Riazor Stadium in La Coruna, northwestern Spain, on January 30, 2010.

Benzema double keeps Real in Barcelona slipstream Agence France Presse

BARCELONA - A delightful back-heel from Jose Maria Gutierrez set up Karim Benzema for the first of a brace as Real Madrid, without suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, beat Deportivo La Coruna 3-1 on Saturday.

The win kept Real five points behind Barcelona who had earlier defeated Sporting Gijon 1-0 to stay top of La Liga in a game which also saw the champions reach the 50goal mark for the league season.

Esteban Granero headed Real ahead after 13 minutes with the game played out in the home side’s half at the Riazor where the Madrid giants had not won for almost 20 years.

With Felipe Luis injured, Manuel Pablo moved to the left-hand side and the defence never looked comfortable especially against the pace of Benzema.

Raul Gonzalez had the chance to add to the lead with a close-range volley before a moment of real quality from Guti.

Through on goal instead of shooting on his weaker right foot, he back-heeled the ball into the path of Benzema to slot home.

Deportivo had their chances in the second half as Real took their foot off the gas and in a late rally Ivan Riki scored a penalty. The last word though was from Benzema who wrapped up the scoring in injury time.

“We went out to get the result from the very start even though this

was not a win at all costs game. We knew how to deal with an important match against a good side,” said Real coach Manuel Pellegrini.

“I am very happy with the win because it was in a stadium which traditionally has been a difficult place to come for Real Madrid and also because we played well, although it did get a bit tight at the end.”

Barcelona stayed top after Pedro Rodriguez scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon.

Mate Bilic went close with a header for the home side before Pedro put the visitors ahead with a clinical finish from a defence-breaking through ball by Andres Iniesta on the 30-minute mark.

“This is a good result for us because we played in a stadium where very few teams have won,” said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.

“My only regret is that is that we did not make the right decisions in the final moments of the game that would have made the result a lot more comfortable.”

Sporting coach Manolo Preciado though felt that the free-kick that led up to Barca’s goal was not correctly taken.

“That goal was first of all an er-

ror from the referee and then from us but this is part of football, sometimes it goes for you and others not,” he said.

A Luis Garcia strike saw Espanyol overcome Athletic Bilbao 1-0 in a scrappy match to give them breathing space at the bottom of La Liga earlier Saturday.

The home side dominated from the start a match in which injury-hit Athletic were never able to get into their stride.

The Athletic keeper Gorka Iraizoz made a couple of important interventions in the first half but he was powerless to block Garcia’s close-range winner on 58 minutes after good work from Javi Marquez down the left wing.

The result moves Espanyol six points clear of the relegation zone but for Athletic, who are chasing a place in Europe, they have now lost back-to-back games.

Despite only managing a draw away to lowly Tenerife, Valencia are well placed to qualify for the Champions League but on Sunday they face a crucial game against fellow aspirants Sevilla who have dropped off the pace since Christmas after losing three of their last four matches.

LONDON - Chelsea captain John Terry put the controversy over his private life to one side by scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory at Burnley as his side went four points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Terry, whose position as England captain was called into question after newspapers published details of his alleged affair with the ex-girlfriend of former Blues team-mate Wayne Bridge, scored eight minutes from time on Saturday when he headed in a corner for only his second goal this season.

“He’s a fantastic player. Every game he plays very well,” said Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti. “He’s an important player for us. All of Chelsea support him.”

Nicolas Anelka had given Chelsea a 27th-minute lead at Turf Moor when the France striker turned in Florent Malouda’s cross while, seven minutes later, Terry was booked for a clumsy challenge on Robbie Blake.

Relegation candidates Burnley levelled in the 50th minute when a ball over the top of Alex found Steven Fletcher who beat the defender before shooting past Petr Cech.

Chelsea’s victory means they will still be top of the table regardless of the result of Sunday’s clash between title rivals Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.

Earlier, Tottenham stayed fourth with a 1-1 draw at Birmingham. But Spurs’ rivals for a place in next season’s Champions League, Liverpool and Aston Villa, both won to keep up the pressure.

Liverpool beat Bolton 2-0 to stay a point adrift of Spurs with Villa, who have a game in hand, two points behind after defeating Fulham by the same scoreline in a match where Gabriel Agbonlahor scored both goals.

At the other end of the table, second from bottom Hull failed to climb out of the relegation zone after a 2-2 draw with Wolves.

Everton made it four league wins from five with a 1-0 victory away to Wigan while Blackburn Rovers and West Ham shared the points in a goalless draw.

Spurs’ Jermain Defoe broke the deadlock at St Andrews when he blasted the ball past Joe Hart with 21 minutes left. But Birmingham rescued a point through Liam Ridgewell’s 90th minute equaliser.

“We deserved to win but the goal we gave away was horrendous,” said Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp.

At Anfield, Dirk Kuyt put Liverpool ahead eight minutes before half-time. Liverpool went 2-0 up when Emiliano Insua’s 25-yard shot took a huge deflection off Bolton’s Kevin Davies for a 70th minute own-goal.

“I am pleased with the result and the second half but not too happy with the first half - but at the end of the day we needed to win and we won,” said Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.

Agbonlahor put Villa in front five minutes before half-time at Craven Cottage when he headed past Fulham’s Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

And there was still time for Agbonlahor to make it 2-0 ahead of the interval when, in the 44th minute, he curled a shot past Schwarzer from 15 yards.

Villa manager Martin O’Neill said Agbonlahor deserved his double after a frustrating match during the midweek goalless draw with Arsenal.

“Gabriel taking those two goals today were as much about his performance against Arsenal on Wednesday night. He got his deserts today and he was fantastic,” said the Villa manager.

At the KC Stadium, former Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink fired Hull into an 11th minute lead with a 20-yard shot.

But Wolves were level four minutes after half-time after a comical own-goal where Hull’s Anthony Gardner sliced an unthreatening Ronald Zubar cross over the head of goalkeepeer Boaz Myhill.

However, minutes later Hull were back in front when Stephen Hunt scored from the penalty spot after Zubar jumped into Jozy Altidore only for Matthew Jarvis to draw Wolves level in the 67th minute.

Tim Cahill was once again Everton’s star as the Australia midfielder headed in his sixth goal of the season six minutes from time away to Wigan.

AP Photo/PA, Martin Rickett

Chelsea’s John Terry, centre, scores during the English Premier League soccer match against Burnley at Turf Moor, Burnley, England Saturday Jan. 30, 2010. The match ended 2-1 to Chelsea.

16

Sport

Monday, February 1, 2010

Diffuser row could hit 2010 season

Formula 1 could be heading for more controversy surrounding double diffusers this season, amid predictions from leading teams that some of their rivals have pursued ‘extreme’ solutions in the area of car design.

BP/ist

The diffuser used in Timo Glock’s Toyota last season.

Hamilton urged team to sign Button LEWIS Hamilton has revealed that he strongly pushed for McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh to sign Jenson Button as his team-mate even before the squad started talking to the world champion.

Speaking to the British print media during yesterday’s McLarenMercedes MP4-25 launch, Hamilton said Button had always been his first choice partner for 2010.

“Something you won’t know is that I actually called Martin and said ‘What about Jenson?’, which was before they had negotiations,” said Hamilton. “At the time I was calling them and asking them, ‘What’s going on? I keep reading all these different stories about different drivers.

What’s happening?’.

“Fortunately I would be told who they were talking to, but I had absolutely no input into who they would pick. So I would say, ‘Have you spoken to this person? Have you spoken to Jenson?’.

“And why Jenson? Because he is the best driver there is, and they wanted to get the best driver possible.

“I just wanted to find out because people kept asking me as to who was going to be my team-mate.” Hamilton emphasised that he had no desire to

see former team-mate Heikki Kovalainen leave McLaren, but had got the impression the team wanted to make a change. “I was happy with the team-mate I had, but it seemed like they were looking for someone else,” said the former champion.

With the opening rounds of the 2009 championship overshadowed by protests and an FIA appeal court hearing about the legality of the twin floor concept, there had been hopes that the subsequent clarity of the rules would help the sport avoid a repeat this time out.

However, amid suggestions that teams have exploited the rules even further, there are now fears that there could even be more protests in the weeks ahead.

McLaren engineering director Paddy Lowe said at the launch of his team’s 2010 challenger on Friday that his team had pushed the diffuser regulations as far as it felt was possible.

“This is the first car in which we have had a clean sheet of paper to really exploit the interpretation [of diffusers] that was developed last year for a design of floors,” said Lowe.

“You will see we have produced a fairly extreme incarnation of that but we won’t be alone in that. We believe you will see some pretty extreme solutions on our competitors’ cars as well.”

The potential for these extreme solutions has led to Ferrari voicing fears that not every team is operating within the interpretation of the regulations that it feels is in place.

“We were and still are convinced that the double diffuser concept was illegal,” Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“We feel there may still be interpretation over this, as the rules leave the door open to many possibilities. It’s up to the FIA to supervise, but we are rather worried.”

Piero Ferrari added: “I expect a Ferrari worthy of the title, unless someone interprets the rules differently.”

Lowe is more confident, however, that the rules are clear enough - and that the matter will not require intervention from the FIA. “We think the interpretation is very clear,” he said. “In certain aspects we have sought guidance from the FIA and they have come out with very clear interpretation, understanding and guidance - and we think that has been made available to all the teams.

“We are hoping for a much cleaner start to the season then we had a year ago in terms of the teams’ collective understanding of the basis from which we go racing.”