Edisi 14 April 2010 | International Bali Post

16 Pages Number 71 2st Year

Pakistan strike kills 71 civilians, official says

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

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PHRI and Government to take action on illegal villas PAGE 8

One Of Jesse James’ Mistresses ‘Feels Bad’ For Sandra Bullock AFP PHOTO /JOE KLAMAR

Soldiers carry the coffin with remains of late Polish First Lady Maria Kczynska after its arrival in Warsaw on April 13, 2010, the third day after a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and many of the country’s military and state elite crashed in thick fog in Russia killing all 96 people on board in a blazing inferno.

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Tears as body of Poland’s first lady returns home Associated Press Writer

WARSAW, Poland – The body of Poland’s first lady was flown home from Russia to an emotional welcome Tuesday and Parliament held a special observance in memory of the president and lawmakers killed in the plane crash.

WEATHER FORECAST CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

24 - 33

JAKARTA

25 - 33

BANDUNG

21 - 29

YOGYAKARTA

23 - 32

SURABAYA

24 - 34

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

Maria Kaczynska’s body, in a wooden casket draped with Poland’s white-and-red flag, arrived in a mili-

Marta, and by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, her brother-in-law who was also the twin of the late president.

Continued on page 6

Bali need another airport IBP

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tary CASA plane shortly after 10:30 a.m. at Warsaw’s Okecie airport. It was met by Kaczynska’s only child,

Kaczynska’s body was ferried to the Presidential Palace in the back of a Mercedes-Benz hearse, just like her husband’s was a day ago. Despite Tuesday’s being a work day, thousands of Warsaw residents lined the route, gently lobbing bouqets of tulips and roses on top of the black vehicle.

BP/ dok

Gde wiratha

Denpasar – I Gde Wiratha, a businessman in Bali, stated that the Island needs another airport.

Wiratha who own some business such as hotel, discothèque, cruise and other thinks that there are many reasons why Bali should have another airport.

“In the middle of the world trend where the economics condition is getting better so tourism will also develop and another airport will help Bali in developing the local

economy,” he added.

Countries in Asia Pacific region have already prepared their economics foundation to face the new era in 2020. Experts predict that many changes will happen during those eras, especially in the context of economics relationship in international world such as between Indonesia and China.

The relation of the two countries must be utilized by Bali to gain benefit. The willingness of Chinese government to build a bridge which connected Merak in Java with

Bakauheni in Sumatra must be used

by Bali to make the airport.

“If China wanted to build the bridge so they must be willing to build the airport. Bali is one of the most famous tourism destinations in the world so the investment won’t be useless.

Ngurah Rai International Airport is a good airport and it already gives many benefits for the people. However, the development of technology is not followed by the development of the airport.

Continued on page 6

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International

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Bali News By 2010 regional head elections

1000 police deployed, a candidate escorted by four officers Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Implementation of regional head elections was thoroughly considered by police, particularly related to the security affairs. This matter was performed by the Denpasar Metro Police and Badung Police. Far in advance, these combined forces have been preparing and finalizing themselves to secure the five-year political celebration.

In securing the upcoming event, Denpasar Metro Police and Badung Police would deploy at least 1,000 personnel. They were gathered to be provided with briefing on the security patterns applied. Even, two days ahead, the joint forces would also be trained. It was intended to refresh their memories where they could have secured the presidential election and governor election some times ago.

“They have had time to secure the presidential election and governor election. Well, we do pre-operation before the implementation of

the next election. Likewise, this also reminds them again of the related safety standards ever undertaken,” explained the Chief of Denpasar Metro Police I Gede Alit Widana during the meeting held at the Kompyang Sujana Square, Denpasar, last Monday (Apr 12).

In addition, they will also be briefed about the vulnerability of the region. There were a number of critical points that would be studied related to its characteristics. However, Chief Alit Widana did not explain in details wherever the prone locations were. “Until now, the condition in

the field is still perfectly safe. Hopefully, the elections would also run securely, orderly and smoothly,” he expected.

How about the candidates, is there any special escort? Chief Alit Widana explained, every candidate joined the election would be provided with guard services. One candidate would be escorted by four intelligence officers. “Later, the escort of the candidate will be divided into two working shifts. However, if the candidates do simakrama or visit their voters, we involve all of them,” he explained. (kmb21)

Subsidized organic fertilizer becomes backfill Negara (Bali Post)—

Dozens of bags of organic fertilizer provided by Jembrana Government to Subak Jagaraga, Penyaringan, was even made into backfill for warehouse building. Presumably, the quality of the compost fertilizers produced by factory currently getting involved in a legal case was unsatisfied, so it was made into the backfill of foundation.

Indeed, the subak got subsidy amounting to 210 tons of organic fertilizer. Such amount was allocated for 125 hectares of paddy fields of the Subak. But lately, it only left some 30 tons. By accident, about two weeks ago, at the area of subak meeting hall was being built a warehouse.

According to information, the remaining organic fertilizers were used to fill the building foundation. Allegedly, the local peasants threw the fertilizers intentionally because the quality was poor and they were afraid of the quality of crop would be bad if implementing it. On that account, rather than discharged in vain it was better to use it for backfill.

In the meantime, the Head of Subak Jagaraga, Putu Maryadi, last Monday (Apr 12) confirmed to have made the subsidized fertilizers from regency government into backfill of

the building foundation. However, it was not due to bad quality, but because the fertilizers have been damaged.

“Some were torn, so we collected and used them as backfill for the foundation. They were only about three tons,” he explained. Approximately 315 subaks did not know definitely about the result of fertilization with such organic manure because it was the first time for subak to apply the fertilizer. He added that the soil became so loose when hoed. According to him, approximately 30 tons of fertilizers left because some subak members cultivated crops of about 80 hectares.

“Some 27 of the remaining fertilizers had been sown to those crops.

But, only 3 tons were used as backfill,” said.

When contacted separately, Division Head of Agriculture at PKL Jemberana, I Nengah Ribawa, confessed to have not known about the existence of organic fertilizer provided by Regency Government that was made into backfill. According to Ribawa, the Services had instructed the heads of subak to distribute the organic fertilizers to all members. “So far, we do not know yet, I will check it later on,” he said. (sur)

Rice by organic fertilizer crushed Road project for pemelastian Tens of tons of grain pile up at rural cooperative Negara (Bali Post)—

Pilot project of Jembrana Regency Government remodeled a number of subaks to use organic fertilizer. However, the result was very disappointing. Because, the rice obtained from the milling factory was broken and had poor quality whereas tens of tons of grain were still stored in some warehouses of the village cooperatives (KUD).

Similar case happened at KUD Sapta Werdi, Tegalcangkring Village, Mendoyo. Dozens of tons of raw grain were purchased from farmers at Subak Semanggong, Pohsanten in February until last Monday (Apr 12) remained to pile up in the warehouses of that KUD. According to Manager of the KUD Sapta Werdi, Wayan Teler, such condition occurred because the rice produced from the grain was crushed and had poor quality. They have tried to mill several quintals of grain to a large Rice Milling (PP) factory in Jembrana but the results stayed crushed. Only about one percent of

whole grains were intact while others were crushed like rice flour. “For the time being, we do not dare to mill further. We are waiting for decision of the Regency Government, moreover the milled rice produced is crushed like this,” described Teler.

His party did not know what caused such poor results. However, the Agricultural Services presumed the process of field maintenance using such organic fertilizer was mistaken. For instance, it lacked for water discharge.

KUD itself also suffered a loss due to purchasing grain by guessing system.

By and large, KUD only purchased the grains from farmers. “Labor costs of guessing system is expensive. Based on calculation KUD suffers from a loss, especially if the quality of rice is poor. Now, we are just waiting for decision of Regency Government. Obviously, this is the real condition in the field,” he explained.

Just for information, Subak Semanggong with the extent of 24 hectares has harvested organic grain belonging to mentik wangi variety

since last February 2010. As planned, such organic rice products would be marketed for civil servants of Jembrana Regency. However, on seeing the rice produced was crushed, it was feared to trigger a protest from the civil servants. Moreover, the rice would be sold at more expensive price as in Klaten and Singaraja being worth IDR 10,000 per kg.

On the other hand, Division Head of Agriculture, PKL Services, I Nengah Ribawa, justified the poor result of organic rice. But, he considered the rice was still worth consuming. “Those grains had poor quality because farmers harvest them late,” he argued. Indeed the KUDs were obliged to harvest by themselves because it has become an agreement with the farmers. According to him, the rice produced per hectare reached 5 tons. Later on, it would be used as an evaluation by the regency government. Ultimately, he added the provision of fertilizer would be increased from 3 tons to 6 tons per hectare. (sur)

at Ungasan continues Mangupura (Bali Post)—

The meeting of Ungasan Customary Village decided the pemelastian road projects located at Kelod Hamlet would be continued.

The landowner Ketut Sudia was also given a grace period up to April 18 to resolve immediately the existing problem. This was revealed by the Head of Ungasan Customary Village Ketut Marcin, last Monday (Apr 12).

Marcin said based on the results of the meeting held right away last Sunday (Apr 11), it was decided if until the deadline given to the landowner concerned he did not also solve the existing problem, the customary village would soon have a meeting to discuss about the sanctions imposed to the concerned person. “If the grace period is over and still there is no settlement, then the village would impose sanction to the landowner,” Marcin said without elaborating the customary sanction intended.

Furthermore, he said, this problem arose because it was triggered by the landowner. Previously, the landowner has made agreement with the customary village to release his land for the use of pemelastian road access.

Meanwhile, regarding to the fate of the project becoming a polemic, Marcin ensured the project would persistently go ahead. The village meeting decided to continue the road construction and no body could stop the project.

Up to these days, landowner has not been willing to give comment on the issue. Based on the information, Ketut Sudia was old enough so he was reluctant to give comment.

In the meantime, the atmosphere at the location of road construction project has been conducive and no more crowds like on the previous days. However, some pecalangs (customary security officer) were seen to be in guard at location. (ded)

z Founder : K.Nadha, z Chief Editor: ABG Satria Naradha z Managing Editor: Wirata,Palgunadi z Editors: Alit Purnata, Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Darmasunu, Daniel Fajry, Diah Dewi, Mawa, Sri Hartini, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Sutiawan, Wirya, Yudi Winanto zDenpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subagiadnya, Subrata, Suentra, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Pujawan, Buleleng: Adnyana, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bali Putra Ariawan, Tabanan: Surpi. Jakarta: Nikson, Suharto Olii, Indu P. Adi, Ahmadi Supriyanto, Achmad Nasrudin, Hardianto, Darmawan S. Sumardjo, Heru B Arifin, Asep Djamaluddin, Ade Irawan, Ipik Tanoyo. NTB: Agus Talino, Syamsudin Karim, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani, Nur Haedin, Suyadnya. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. z Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. z Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publiser: PT Bali Post

Bali News

International

Buleleng Revenue Service takes action directly The Buleleng Revenue Services (Dispenda) turned out to have his own way in facing the many delinquent tax payers belonging to hotels and restaurants (PHR) that did not paid for a long time.

With the Judiciary Team of Buleleng and Commission C of Buleleng House, last Monday (Apr 12), the ranks of Dispenda came directly to the hotels and restaurants to collect the taxes by force.

Asmara, said his party could not pay the PHR because the company was not in good condition. According to him, cash flow and hotel occupancy kept on decreased to the level of 15 percent. Moreover, he argued the tourists who stayed at Waka Shorea mostly through travel agents outside the region. It was said the payments of the accommodation were often settled late by the travel agency delivering guests to the hotel where he worked.

Head of Buleleng Regional Revenue Services, Nyoman Pastika, provided a two-week deadline for the hotel management to pay off their arrears. If the time limit was ignored, then the Dispenda would no longer provide any tolerance and forward the is-

sue to be resolved through legal action. “We are still giving tolerance and the management had already signed the official report and promised to pay off within these two weeks. Otherwise, we will process this issue to legal realm because it has clearly infringed the provision of law,” he said.

According to Pastika, his office would continue to charge directly to a number of hotels that have been overdue for PHR. For the first day on last Monday, his party came to hotels and restaurants in the west regions. “Later on, we will continue to hotels located in the area of Lovina, Singaraja area and Pancasari area as well as in the eastern part of Buleleng,” he added. (kmb15)

Mouse attack at Kediri subdistrict turns malignant Tabanan (Bali Post)—

The mouse attack at Kediri subdistrict in fact was getting worse. Mice have uprooted tens of hectares of paddy which made farmers grimace due to crop failure. Besides being attacked by mice, the rice of farmers was also attacked by tungro. In this season, it was not the first but the third attack, so the losses suffered by farmers are very large.

As seen in Subak Mela, Buwit, the mouse attacks continued to escalate.

Farmers claimed that they could do nothing because the poison implemented was unable to control the mouse attack. Even, within one day, the mice could strike up to five hectares of paddy. “We can not do any-

thing so far. Here the average paddy is damaged and unable to harvest.

Later on, the mice are beyond our control. We can do nothing but surrender,” said Wayan Suja, a farmer who was found at Subak Buwit.

In Kediri subdistrict, there are 23 subaks where the mouse attack almost occurs evenly, both in the scale of mild, moderate and severe attacks causing crop failure. Subak Senapahan was also attacked bitterly of which approximately 50 hectares out of 86 hectares of paddy was ascertained to face crop failure. Similarly, Subak Gadon 3 cultivating soybean was also attacked by the mice. The bitterest attack appeared at Subak Buwit Mela where most of the rice was ensured to

face crop failures. “The mouse attack is increasingly widespread. Up to this moment, it is unable to be controlled,” said I Ketut Sukanada, Head of Subak Gadon 3, last Monday (Apr 12).

Head of Subak Association (Sabhantara Pekaseh) across Kediri subdistrict, I Wayan Badra, said a part of agricultural land with the extent of 2,286 hectares had been attacked.

Many farmers in this season would wince because they would have failed to harvest. He said, in the previous two seasons the farmers also suffered from losses due to the same mouse attack.

Such losses suffered could reach IDR 15 million per hectare. However, most farmers only had one hectare of rice field or less. (kmb14)

Dragged to Kerobokan Jailhouse, an Indian citizen continues to cry Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Muhamed Umar Rangasway, 46, a citizen of India, last Monday (Apr 12) was handed over to the Denpasar Higher Court. Together with the suspect, the investigator of Bali Police also submitted evidence in the form of canister containing 10 kg of ketamine. For his actions, the suspect is ensnared by the primary article 197 of Law No. 36/2009 concerning with Health Affairs in connection with article 53 of the Penal Code, with subsidiary of article 196 of Law No. 36 concerning with Health Affairs in connection with article 53 of the Penal Code.

The suspects having address in Tamilnadu, India, was arrested at the International Arrival Terminal of

Ngurah Rai Airport, Tuban, last Thursday (Apr 11) at about 2:00 pm Local Time. At that time, the suspect who just graduated from elementary school and worked as a driver in his home country had just come down from the Thai Airways flight. As soon as he passed the X-Ray section, his luggage drew the suspicion of Customs and Excise officers. Well, once dismantled, in fact it contained 10 kg of ketamine.

According to his legal advisor, Hussein, the suspect was simply asked to bring those materials to Bali without knowing what it contained. “On arriving in Bali, there will be a person picking it up. So, he is only as a courier with the services of about IDR 1 million,” said Hussein, who accompanied the suspect last Monday. He

added ketamine is not the raw material of methamphetamine.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor IB Candra who was handling the case said the suspect confessed to have been provided with return ticket and money worth 3500 rupees (approximately IDR 1 million) to bring those materials to Bali. “If successful, when returning to India he would be given a bonus of 5000 rupees,” said Candra.

Meanwhile, based on the information, Muhamed looked so crushed as if it was unbelievable to him the reality he experienced. Therefore, when he was in custody, the suspect seemed to cry all the time. Similarly, at the time to be taken to Kerobokan Jailhouse, this man of medium posture looked powerless to resist her pain. (015)

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One day, two temples burglarized by thief in Ubud Gianyar (Bali Post)—

Singaraja (Bali Post)—

There were four hotels and a restaurant visited last Monday. The four hotels were Menjangan Jungle and Waka Shorea at the area of Bali Barat National Park (TNBB) as well as the Hotel Aneka Bagus and Puri Mustika in western Buleleng region.

But, out of the four hotels and restaurants in the Gerokgak subdistrict only one taxpayer, namely Menjangan Jungle, paid the tax amounting to IDR 103,872,447.22.

Meanwhile, other three hotels did not pay the taxes and had to sign an official report containing the readiness of hotel to pay the tax arrears within two weeks. Otherwise, the Dispenda threatened them to put the case into legal action.

Management representative of Waka Shorea, Putu Gede Yudi

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Within a day, two cases of pretima (sanctified effigy) theft occurred in the region of Ubud, Gianyar as on last Monday (Apr 12). Two temples located at separate locations equally experienced theft by a perpetrator who was still under police investigation. The two temples were the Pura Manik Suci located at Mawang Kelod Hamlet, Pura Desa Lodtunduh and Pura Kaseh at Mas Village, Ubud.

Chief of Ubud Police, AA Gede Sena, said the case of theft with violence was still being investigated by a joint team with Gianyar criminal detective. In the action taken at both temples the thief used prying mode. However, his party had not dared to conclude if the two theft incidents taking place on same day were carried out by the same perpetrator. “We’re still doing an intensive investigation,” he explained.

Meanwhile, based on information compiled, the theft action of pretima committed at the two temples, at least has caused the loss of ten units of pretima and other sacred paraphernalia of the temple.

Most pretima and sacred things lost at Pura Kaseh, Mas Village, Ubud.

There were at least seven pieces of antique sculptures aging hundreds of years and a number of Chinese ancient perforated coins disappeared from the storage. The incident was first known by the cleaning service attendant of the temple, Wayan Lantur, who was cleaning the temple area at the time.

In the meantime, at Pura Manik Suci, three ancient statues and ancient perforated coin vanished from the temple, too. The incident was first known by the temple priest, Jero Mangku Wayan Giri, 65, which at that time was cleaning up the garbage of offerings. Seeing a number of fabrics scattered, Mangku Giri headed for the storage building and found it has been opened. Then, the paragon box and place of statues and other sacred objects have been scattered on the temple courtyard.

Against the incident, the theft of pretima case was reported to police. Police sources said the perpetrators of the pretima theft were allegedly more than two people.

Perpetrators of this theft were estimated to do his action in the morning. From the tracks, it was mentioned the perpetrator entered and exited the temple by leaping over the fences divider. (kmb16)

Fire burns out four stores at Pujung Kaja Two cars nearly scorched Gianyar (Bali Post)—

Four shop buildings located in the area of the Pujung Kaja, Tegallalang, Gianyar, last Monday (Apr 12) was burned out by fire. Some parts of the shop building complex, especially the roof, were badly damaged. In addition, there were a number of items in the store becoming the target of the savage flares.

Such raging fire incident occurred at 10:30 am Local Time. “Suddenly, the fire had been flaring grandiosely and soaring into the sky,” said Ketut Jati, 35, from Tampaksiring. Ketut Jati was one of the store tenants selling goat satay. During the incident, the three existing stores in the western side were closed. Jati who was busy selling for a living was made shocked by the flames licking the rear kitchen of a store offering the building materials belonged to Wayan Lambeg. Such huge fire was visible when Jati walked to the back side of her shop. “Actually, the fire was not visible from the front,” she explained further.

Seeing the raging flames, she called out hysterically. Afterward, it was resumed by kulkul bulus or traditional wooden bell hit continuously so it drew people to come, give aid to fight against the fire. Within few

hours later, two units of fire brigade of Gianyar Regency began to arrive at location as well as providing assistance to evacuate to the existing items in the store. Not long after, the fire eventually could be extinguished until the fire brigade could carry out the cooling process.

In that fire, two operational vehicles belonged to the building material shop almost scorched.

Even, the wooden box of truck has been licked by the fire. Meanwhile, the car inside the garage was successfully evacuated so the explosion or more losses could be avoided. It was unknown the cause of the fire. However, the fire was estimated to be caused by electrical short circuit.

Meanwhile, during the process of extinguishing, one of the officers fell down from the roof of the building.

This incident made the officer of fire brigade received intensive care from the Indonesian Red Cross of Gianyar Branch that also drove to the scene.

More ironically, after extinguishing the fire at the location, even it was then the old fire truck of fire brigade emanated smokes from the engine area. On that account, the officers were once made panic as soon as they arrived at the headquarters. (kmb16)

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News

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

9 dead as Muslim militants attack Philippine city Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines – Muslim militants disguised as policemen and army troops detonated bombs and opened fire Tuesday in a southern Philippine city, triggering clashes that killed at least nine people, officials said.

About 25 Abu Sayyaf militants were involved in the attacks in Isabela city on the island province of Basilan. The bombings and running gunbattles were one of the most daring Abu Sayyaf attacks by the alQaida-linked group in recent months, regional military commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

The dead included three marines and three militants, including an Abu Sayyaf commander identified as Bensar Indama, who wore a police camouflage uniform. The rest of the dead were civilians, Dolorfino said.

The attacks began just after the morning rush hour when a bomb in a van exploded and damaged a grandstand in a sports center. Another bomb went off an hour later at the back of a Roman Catholic cathedral, where five cars were damaged, and a third explosive was found near the residence of a local judge and detonated by troops, Dolorfino said.

Army, police and marines rapidly swarmed into the city and engaged the militants, who split into at least three groups as they withdrew. The gunbattles sparked panic and sent passers-by fleeing to take cover, officials said.

Rear Adm. Alex Pama, who heads a counterterrorism force, said the militants may have intended to detonate additional bombs and apparently tried but failed to take hostages before fleeing.

“They had a big plan, a major attack that we foiled,” Pama said.

After the first bombing at the sports complex, marines responded but were met by sniper fire that killed three of them, marine commandant Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban said.

“The marines did not know where the snipers were firing when they were ambushed and that led to the

death of three marines,” Sabban told The Associated Press.

Pama said that witnesses reported seeing that the attacks were led by a notorious Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, who has been blamed for kidnappings and beheadings, but that he managed to escape. Puruji is a brother of Bensar, who was killed by troops, Pama told The AP. Isabela is one of two Christian regions on predominantly Muslim Basilan, the birthplace of the Abu Sayyaf, which has long been blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization due to its involvement in kidnappings, bombings and other acts of banditry.

American counterterrorism troops based in a military camp in Isabela, about 550 miles (880 kilometers) south of Manila, were unaffected by the attacks and were providing intelligence to help local troops pursue the Abu Sayyaf gunmen, Pama said.

Security forces immediately set up checkpoints in Isabela and nearby towns. Military and police also strengthened security in nearby Zamboanga city, which has been hit by deadly bombings blamed on the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of at least four Muslim groups, which have been fighting for a separate homeland in the predominantly Catholic nation’s south for decades. The government has dismissed the Abu Sayyaf as a bandit group, which has been crippled by relentless U.S.-backed military offensives.

But the group, which is estimated to have more than 390 fighters, has periodically surprised authorities with high-profile attacks and is still considered a major security menace.

In February, militants raided a Basilan village, killing 11 people, including four children, in the wake of the recent killing of an Abu Sayyaf commander and the arrest of two key members. Government forces had been told to be on alert for reprisal attacks.

International

China says U.N. action on Iran must aid diplomacy Reuters

BEIJING – China said on Tuesday it wanted any U.N. Security Council action on Iran to promote a diplomatic way out of the nuclear standoff, edging closer to openly backing a resolution while hedging on sanctions.

The remarks from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu followed a meeting on Monday between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama in which, according to a U.S. official, Hu agreed his government would help craft a new Security Council resolution pressing Iran over its nuclear activities.

Jiang was not so blunt. But her comments appeared to leave scant doubt that Beijing accepts that fresh Security Council action over Iran is coming, even if China wants room to negotiate over the sanctions proposed by Western powers.

“We believe that the Security Council’s relevant actions should be conducive to easing the situation and conducive to promoting a fitting solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations,” Jiang told a news conference in Beijing, answering a question about the talks between Hu and Obama in Washington D.C. “We support protecting the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and peace and stability in the Middle East, and oppose Iran possessing nuclear weapons,” said Jiang.

China has close energy and economic ties with Iran and has been reluctant to back tougher sanctions. But China has backed past rounds of U.N. sanctions against Iran, and in New York last week five other key powers for talks on possible new sanctions.

“China seems in principle to accept that there will be a new Security Council resolution with sanctions, otherwise we simply wouldn’t have discussions on a draft,” said Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Peking University.

“But the question is what level of sanctions will be in the resolution, and that will be the focus of negotiations.”

Beijing is one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, each with the power to veto any proposed resolution.

The five powers and Germany together make up the “P5+1” group that steers international talks on the Iran nuclear dispute.

AFP/Getty Images/Chip Somodevillav

Barack Obama (right) welcomes Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. China said sanctions were not the answer to the Iranian atomic standoff, denting Obama’s hopes of sealing a deal to punish Tehran as he hosted a summit on nuclear arms.

At least 3 dead in north Ga. Navy plane crash Associated Press Writer

AFP/File/Jay Directo

A Philippine armoured personnel carrier is pictured patrolling the streets in Isabela city, on the troubled southern Philippine island of Basilan. Bomb attacks killed two people on Tuesday on the restive island where Al Qaeda-linked militants are known to operate, according to police.

MORGANTON, Ga. – Military investigators were expected to arrive Tuesday in north Georgia at the scene of a Navy plane that crashed in dense woods, killing at least three crew members.

The Florida-based T-39N Sabreliner just missed a house when it crashed Monday afternoon and authorities were looking for a fourth person believed to be aboard, officials said.

Naval Air Station Pensacola spokesman Harry White said authorities had not confirmed whether the pilot was among those killed

when the training plane went down.

No one on the ground was injured, he said.

The plane was part of Training Air Wing 6, which conducts routine cross-country missions through Fannin County, where it crashed, about two hours north of Atlanta, on the edge of the North Carolina and Tennessee borders, White said.

Searchers found three bodies. The twin-jet plane can carry two pilots and seven passengers, according to a Navy Web site.

Authorities don’t know what caused the plane to go down and were putting together an investigative team, White said. He did not re-

lease the victims’ names and said he didn’t know where the plane had originated. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the agency is not investigating the military crash.

Media outlets early on reported the plane struck a house, but Fannin County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Keith Bosen said the plane just flew very close to one.

Authorities say the plane went down in an area described by residents as having houses scattered among dense trees.

Fuel from the plane also started a brush fire that burned 10 to 15 acres, Bosen said.

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

Wednesday, April 14, 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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6

News

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Pakistani soldiers patrol in the Bajaur tribal region in March 2010. Heavy fighting killed up to 39 militants and four soldiers in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas on Monday after rebels laid siege to a remote military base.

(AFP/File/A Majeed)

Pakistan strike kills 71 civilians, official says Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Up to 71 civilians were killed in a weekend strike by Pakistani jets near the Afghan border, survivors and a government official said Tuesday — a rare confirmation of civilian casualties that risks undercutting public support for the fight against militants.

The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said authorities had already handed out the equivalent of $125,000 in compensation to families of the victims in a remote village in the Khyber tribal area.

Also Tuesday, a village elder claimed 13 civilians had been killed in U.S. missile strike on Monday night elsewhere in the northwest, contesting accounts by Pakistani security officials that four militants were killed.

Pakistan’s tribal regions are largely out of bounds for reporters and dangerous to visit because of the likelihood of being abducted by militants, who still control much of the area, making it very difficult to verify casualty figures.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas on Monday denied that any of the dead in the Pakistani air force attack were civilians, saying the army had intelligence that militants were gathering at the site of the strike. The victims were initially reported to be suspected militants.

Two survivors interviewed Tuesday in hospital in the main northwestern city of Peshawar gave the first detailed account of the attack, which took place Saturday morning.

They said most of the victims were killed when they were trying to rescue people trapped by an earlier strike on the house of a village elder.

“This house was bombed on absolutely wrong information,” said Khanan Gul Khan, a resident of the village who was visiting a relative

in hospital. “This area has nothing to do with militants.”

Khan said many of the families in the village, Sara Walla, had sons serving in the security forces and that it had a history of cooperating with the army. He said the owner of the house that was bombed initially, Hamid Khan, had two sons serving in the paramilitary Frontier Corps.

He said 68 people were killed and many more wounded. The political official said Monday that the families of 71 victims had been compensated, but did not identify them.

Dilla Baz Khan suffered a fractured arm in the second attack, which he said came around two hours after the first one.

“We were about to pull out a lady from the rubble when another jet came and bombed us,” he said from the orthopedic ward of the Hayatabad medical complex in Peshawar. “Then I lost consciousness.”

He said an official from the Khyber political administration visited him Monday and give him $220 for the loss of four relatives, including his brother. “He said we are sorry for this and we pray for your early recovery,” he said.

The Pakistani army, under heavy pressure from the United States, has moved forcefully against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the northwest over the last 18 months. It regularly reports killing scores of militants in airstrikes, but rarely says it is responsible for civilian deaths.

The offensives against militants blamed for surging attacks in Pakistan as well as across the border in

Afghanistan have displaced more than 1 million people. Pakistani politicians have either supported the operations or avoiding criticizing them, something of a change from several years ago when many backed negotiations with the insurgents.

Brief reports of significant civilian casualties in the strike Saturday have appeared in the local media in recent days, but have not attracted much attention or criticism. The army, while nominally under civilian control, is the most powerful institution in the country.

An editorial Tuesday in Dawn, a respected English-language daily, said it was clear that the dead had no links to the militants and that the incident “strengthens the hands of the Taliban.” It said around 60 people were killed.

“Such actions defy description and an explanation is in order from those who ordered the assault,” it said.

The United States also regularly attacks al-Qaida and Taliban targets in northwest Pakistan with missiles fired from unmanned drones. American officials do not acknowledge being behind the attacks, which are credited with killing scores of insurgents. Critics say those attacks also regularly claim civilian lives.

Pakistan intelligence officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said a missile attack late Monday close to the town of Miran Shah in North Waziristan killed four suspected militants. Noor Gul, a resident in the village, disputed that, saying 13 civilians, including two children, were killed.

Karadzic genocide trial to hear from 1st witness Associated Press Writer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Witness testimony begins Tuesday in Radovan Karadzic’s genocide trial, with a Bosnian Muslim testifying about the horrors of life in a notorious Serbrun detention camp during his country’s bloody 1992-95 war.

Karadzic’s case is the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal’s most important since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic died in his jail cell in 2006 before judges at the U.N. court could reach a verdict in his trial. The cases cover many of the same atrocities.

The first day of testimony against the former Bosnian Serb leader comes months after his trial started in October with the prosecutor’s opening statement. Karadzic boycotted that hearing to protest what he claimed was lack of time to prepare his defense against the 11-count indictment.

The first witness is Ahmet Zulic, a Muslim who was herded into Manjaca camp after Bosnian Serbs “ethnically cleansed” non-Serbs from the northwest Bosnian town of Sanski Most.

Karadzic, 64, is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly orchestrating atrocities perpetrated by Bosnian Serb troops and paramilitary thugs throughout the war. He faces a life sentence if convicted.

He insists he is innocent and argues Serbs were defending themselves against what he has described as a fundamentalist plot to turn Bosnia into an

Tears...

From page 1 “I’m here because it’s such a tragedy for Poland,” said Maja Jelenicka, 63. “I’m in despair. I feel as if I’ve lost a close relative. Maria Kaczynska was a wonderful woman, kind, with a heart of gold and a real first lady.”

The bodies of the first couple are to lie in state in closed coffins in the Columned Hall of the Presidential Palace, where the president appointed and dismissed governments.

The body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last president of Poland’s government-in-exile in London, will be brought back on Wednesday and his coffin will probably also be put on public display, Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz said.

Kaczorowski’s family has asked that his coffin be placed in the smaller presidential palace of Belweder, some 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the main palace.

Islamic republic.

In his own opening statement in March, Karadzic said Muslims were the first to attack in Bosnia and their fighters “had blood up to their shoulders.”

“Their conduct gave rise to our conduct,” he told judges.

Prosecutors have 300 hours to present their case. It spans the brutal Bosnian Serb campaign to drive Muslims and Croats out of large parts of Bosnia early in the war through the deadly siege and sniping campaign in the capital, Sarajevo, to the bloody climax of the conflict in Srebrenica, where Serb forces murdered some 8,000 Muslim men in Europe’s worst massacre since the Holocaust.

Karadzic was first indicted in 1995 along with his military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic, who remains on the run. Karadzic went into hiding soon after the war ended and was a fugitive from justice until July 2008 when he was arrested on a Belgrade bus. He had grown a long beard and hair and was posing as a New Age healer called Dr. Dragan Dabic.

Zulic will be followed onto the witness stand by Sulejman Crncalo, a Muslim factory worker driven out of Karadzic’s wartime power-base of Pale and into Sarajevo. There his wife was killed in the deadly bombing of a market place in 1995.

Other witnesses early in the case include diplomats involved in peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, a war correspondent and a historian.

A state funeral is likely for Saturday though Borusewicz, the top lawmaker in the Polish senate, said Sunday remained an option as well.

Investigators have suggested that human error may have been to blame in Saturday’s crash that killed the Polish president and 95 others, saying Monday there were no technical problems with the Soviet-made plane.

The Tu-154 went down while trying to land in dense fog at Smolensk in western Russia. All aboard were killed, including President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of Polish political, military and religious leaders.

They had been traveling in the Polish government-owned plane to attend a memorial in the nearby Katyn forest for thousands of Polish military officers executed 70 years ago

by Josef Stalin’s secret police.

So far, 87 bodies have been recovered and 40 of them identified, Polish Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet said.

Bali...

From page 1 Wiratha said “you can see by yourself how the airport looks like.

It gives many contributions to the government but the condition is not suitable for modern ages anymore.

The airport is already 50 years old so it is very old.”

There are several places where

the airport can be built. First is in Klungkung, it also can develop the economy in eastern part of Bali. Second is in Jembrana because it is very close to the harbor so the supply for gas is very easy to find. However need further analysis on where it must be build.(pal)

International

Indonesia Today

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

7

ADB : RI economy to grow 5.5 percent in 2010 Antara

AFP PHOTO

Indonesian soldiers and police examine a Merpati airline 737 plane after it skidded off the runway on landing in Indonesia’s West Papua city of Manokwari on April 13, 2010. The jet carrying about 100 passengers skidded off the runway into a shallow river at Rendani domestic airport, injuring some 20 people, officials said.

Passenger plane skids off runway in Indonesia Agence France-Presse

MANOKWARI - A routine domestic flight almost ended in disaster Tuesday when a jet carrying more than 100 passengers broke apart on landing in Indonesia, injuring about 20 people, officials said.

The Merpati airline Boeing 737 bounced off the tarmac at Rendani domestic airport in Manokwari, West Papua, hurtled into trees and skidded into a shallow river, director general of civil aviation Herry Bhakti Singayuda told AFP. “All the passengers were in a total panic, some even screamed and cried,” said passenger Zainal Hayat, 52, who crawled out of a crack in the fuselage and was being treated at hospital with facial injuries.

“We flew safely and the plane touched down smoothly on the runway but it just didn’t stop. It skidded very fast and I felt it hit something twice before it stopped and

tumbled down.”

“I got out through a crack in the plane near my seat.”

Singayuda said the plane came to a halt with its tail section in the river about 200 metres (yards) from the end of the landing strip.

“All 103 passengers and six crew members are safe. Some are injured.

They have been rushed to hospital,” he said.

Heavy rain and fog were suspected of playing a part in the crash, he added, although expert investigators had yet to arrive at the scene.

Manokwari Hospital emergency unit nurse Benget Hutagalung said “about 20” people had been brought

in with shattered limbs and head injuries. Witnesses said the left wing broke off as the plane smashed into the trees at the end of the runway.

The cockpit was also almost completely separated from the rest of the fusilage.

The plane was flying a routine domestic route from Sorong, also in West Papua province, to Manokwari, a distance of about 340 kilometres (210 miles).

Transport ministry experts from the capital Jakarta were on their way to the rugged province in the far east of the country to investigate the crash, an official said.

The vast archipelago of Indonesia relies heavily on air transport but has one of Asia’s worst air safety records. Merpati airline corporate secretary Sukandi suggested that rain played a part in the crash and ruled out pilot error.

JAKARTA - Rising private consumption and investment will allow the Indonesian economy to grow by 5.5 percent in 2010 from 4.5 percent last year, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s annual flagship economic publication.

The global economic recession had only had a moderate impact on the Indonesian economy, ADB in its Asian Development Outlook 2010 (ADO 2010) released Tuesday, said.

“Economic activity is forecast to quicken this year and return to the pre-recession levels of 2011, based on increasing domestic demand and supportive macro economic policies,” ADB said in its press release.

Despite the achievements, raising investment in infrastructure and generating enough jobs remain major challenges.

Growth slowed during the global recession, but not precipitously, reflecting the economy?s relatively low dependence on exports (equal to 30% of 2008 nominal GDP) and large domestic market.

The good harvests, an appreciating rupiah, and lower global food and fuel prices paved the way for inflation to abate to its lowest in almost a decade.

Inflation decelerated from 12.1 percent year-on-year in September 2008 to 2.8 percent in December 2009, averaging 5.0 percent in 2009. The unemployment rate declined slightly from 8.1 percent in February 2009 to 7.9 percent in August 2009, but employment in the formal sector increased by just 0.8 percent, or 260,000 jobs in this period.

Lower food inflation and government cash payments for poor households in early 2009 contributed to a decline in poverty incidence by about 1 percentage point to 14.1 percent in the 12 months to March 2009.

As inflation and economic activity slowed, Bank Indonesia, the central bank, lowered its policy interest rate by 300 basis points from November 2008 to August

2009 to 6.5 percent.

However, because commercial banks lagged in reducing their interest rates, these cuts had little impact on lending. Growth in credit slowed to about 10 percent in 2009, and growth in broad money supply eased to 12.4 percent by year-end.

Financial indicators strengthened as the year progressed. The rupiah appreciated against the US dollar by 18.2 percent in 2009, recovering from depreciation in late 2008. Capital inflows picked up, along with the economy, from March.

Yields on government bonds fell significantly, stock prices climbed, and credit default swaps returned to levels seen before the crisis.

Investment will strengthen in light of better global trade and financial conditions, the country’s record of solid growth, and the upgrades in its credit rating.

Foreign direct investment is expected to rebound and domestic investment will be encouraged by the quickening pace of economic activity, tax breaks, a better market for raising equity capital, and improved credit availability.

Fixed capital investment is forecast to grow by at least 6 percent in 2010, accelerating to about 9 percent in 2011. Net exports are expected to make a relatively small contribution to GDP growth in the forecast period, given that higher exports of goods and services will be accompanied by higher imports.

Based on the above factors, GDP growth is forecast to rise to 5.5 percent in 2010 and about 6.0 percent in 2011. Growth may exceed this if the government can accelerate its rollout of infrastructure investment, according to ADB. In value terms, merchandise exports in January 2010 soared by 59 percent, and imports by 45 percent, from depressed levels in the prior-year month.

For the full year, exports are forecast to rise by about 11 percent, based on the forecast increase in world trade and firm prices for commodity exports. Stronger domestic demand will propel imports by about 16 percent, ADB predicted.

Indonesia, Australia further strengthen parliamentary links Antara

JAKARTA - Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, welcomed an Australian Parliamentary delegation on a visit to Indonesia from April 11 to 16 as part of regular official exchanges to strengthen links and engagement between the two countries’ parliaments.

“The visit is part of the deepening interaction between our two democracies and reflects the importance that both countries place on their relation-

ship,” Farmer said in an Australian Embassy media release made available to Antara on Tuesday.

The delegation, led by The Hon Duncan Kerr MP, will hold a range of meetings in Jakarta including with the Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), and some Indonesian parliamentarians.

While in Jakarta, the delegation will also meet with ASEAN Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan, and

visit the Australia- Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction, a joint facility focused on strengthening national and local capacity in disaster risk reduction.

Farmer noted that the delegation will also have the opportunity to visit a number of joint Australia-Indonesia programs in Central Kalimantan in the areas of environment, health and education.

“The delegation will view activities under the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership. This Part-

nership, to which Australia has committed A$30 million, is testing approaches to reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation in the carbon-rich peat swamp forests. This work should ensure Indonesia is able to achieve significant emission reductions and benefit from international carbon markets through doing so,” Farmer said.

The delegation will also visit a health clinic while in Central Kalimantan.

Health is another major focus of the Australia- Indonesia Partnership, and

the two countries are working together to reduce maternal and baby mortality in Central Kalimantan, and throughout Indonesia.

“In Central Kalimantan the delegation will also visit one of the 2000 junior secondary schools which Australia has built or extended in 21 provinces across Indonesia. This work is improving educational opportunities and ensuring that children in the poorest and most remote areas have access to secondary education,” Farmer said.

8

Internationa

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Bali Today Bali needs 1000 CCTV cameras Antara

http://www.joneslanglasalle.co.id

The photo shows a front view of one of villas in Bali Island. The head of Hotel and Restaurants Association Indonesia (PHRI) Bali, Tjokorda Artha Ardhana Sukawati, said that the association will cooperate with the government to take action on unauthorized villas.

PHRI and Government to take action on illegal villas Antara

DENPASAR – The head of Hotel and Restaurants Association Indonesia (PHRI) Bali, Tjokorda Artha Ardhana Sukawati, said that the association will cooperate with the government to take action on unauthorized villas.

“The unauthorized villas must be stopped because it will affect the image of Bali,” he added. He also thinks that the need of standardization of the villas is very urgent because it is also one of the supporting elements in tourism.

Tjokorda Artha Ardhana Sukawati or usually called Cok Ace said “the criteria of the building must be clear and the facilities also must adequate then it can be called a proper villa.

Currently most villas don’t have the proper standard; they even don’t have security officer.”

He also explained that there are no rules that regulate the existence of the villas so there is no standard on it.

“We hope that the local government will make the rules so the number of illegal villas can be decreased. We also hope that PHRI will be involved in making the rules including in giving the permit,” Cok Ace added. Currently, there are more than 1,000 villas in Bali and the most are in Badung regency More than 700 units are spread in Badung area and some of they don’t have the proper permit. Cok Ace hoped that by the establishment of the new

PHRI committee branch Badung, the process of making the work program will be done smoothly including the action taken for the illegal villas.

While Anak Agung Gde Agung, the head of Badung regency, said that the government already prepared that program for tourism and he hope that the government will cooperate with PHRI to carry out the program.

He said that the income of Badung mostly come from tourism sector so if tourism can be managed professionally, the income will also increase.

French envoys visits disaster control center in Bali Antara

DENPASAR - French ambassador to Indonesia Philipe Zeller in the company of Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika paid a visit to disaster control center in Bali Monday.

Philipe Zeller hailed the operation of the center while hoping it will improve the integrated secu-

rity monitoring system in the island paradise.

The center has been operating since August last year, with its building and equipment provided by the French Red Cross and GTZ of Germany.

The center is run since April last year by 35 personnel recruited from the Bali provincial administration.

Made Mangku Pastika said the center operates 24 hours each day without interruption.

The integrated operation of the equipment with sophisticated technology of the Bali police and provincial administration is aimed at improving the local security maintenance system to reach international standard.

DENPASAR - The Indonesian island resort of Bali needs at least 1,000 CCTV cameras to reach security conditions meeting international standards.

The Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are needed to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors at various strategic places in Bali.

CCTV is often used for surveillance in areas that need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations, and convenience stores.

The CCTV systems may operate continuously or only as required to monitor a particular event.

“We are going to install the required number of CCTV cameras in phases, and they will be controlled from the Disaster Management Operation Control Center (Pusdalops PB) and be integrated with the Bali police,” Governor Made Mangku Pastika said here on Tuesday.

He said the installation of the CCTV cameras was expected to be completed in three

to four years, depending on the availability of funds for the project.

“It can even be completed faster because of the participation from hotels, businessmen, and tourism management,” Governor Pastika said.

He added that at least 68 CCTVs had already been put in place in the Nusa Dua resort, and almost all star-rated hotels in Bali were already using the device.

Therefore, the governor expressed hope that the installation of at least 1,000 CCTV cameras in the province could be completed in less than three or four years.

He said Pusdalops PB in cooperation with with the Bali police was now able to monitor 12 strategic locations in Bali, among others Kuta resort, Simpang-Siur Kuta, Ngurah Rai airport, Benoa port, and Batur temple in Bangli district.

“We will place cameras at six other strategic locations this year,” the governor said.

According to the governor, the installation of 1,000 CCTV cameras was part of an effort to realize security system with international standards in Bali because it was being supported by many parties.

Bali prepare 3 billion for BAF Antara

DENPASAR – Bali Government prepare 3.63 billion rupiah to carry out the 32nd annual Bali Art Festival (BAF) which will be held on June 12th through July 10 th 2010. Ida Bagus Sudhawa, the head of Bali Cultural Department, said “the fund is lesser than last year which was 3.90 billion rupiah.”

He said that even tough the fund decrease, the fund given to each art groups which will be performing in BAF will increase. The event in this year’s BAF is also increase such as the documentary film festival. This is needed to prepare Bali as the host of the International Movie Festival in 2012

Sudhawa said that if the fund decrease then affectivities in running the event must be done to carry out the event successfully. One example is the fund use for activities in 2010 is only 500 million rupiah while last year the fund was 800 million.

The rest of the fund will be given to art groups throughout Bali which will perform in BAF. Last year, the art group only received 5 million but this year become 7 million. The funding for bigger event such as the opening ceremony can be up to 30 million rupiah.

Even tough the fund is decrease but the quality of art performances and others will still become the priority.

al

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Balinese Culture

Nusa Penida keeps on ”being sold” to investors Bali Post

NUSA PENIDA - The Nusa Penida Islands continues “to be sold” to investors. Each time, the area being identical to barren and dry lands with the poorest people in Klungkung regency, every moment is explored by investors. They include those transferred in and out by the Regent of Klungkung, Wayan Candra. If not managed well, it is feared the development of Nusa Penida will not be directed properly. “At least, Nusa Penida must have a governing body managing and overseeing the development later,” said an observer who is also tourism practitioner, Bagus Sudibya when found in Nusa Penida, last Sunday (Apr 11).

According to Bagus Sudibya, the governing body would later be responsible for the development of Nusa Penida, both as a tourism area, water conservation, and other plans as

fishery city region. “Otherwise, all parties, especially Klungkung Regency, will regret later on seeing the undirected development of Nusa Penida,” he emphasized.

Especially for tourism sector, Bagus Sudibya claimed to have explored every nook and cranny of Nusa Penida and had a closer look at the existing potential. If managed well, the tourism could be very developed with different form and types from the tourism development occurred in some regions in Bali mainland today.

“We can see now, more and more investors continue to come.

Both investors brought by private sector, personal and the regent in person. In addition to the governing body, it was very important for Klungkung to have a regional spatial layout plan (RTRW) and detailed spatial layout plan (RDTR) especially that intended for Nusa Penida,” he added. Reg e n t o f K l u n g k u n g , Wa y a n Candra, expressed his readiness

to accept the arrival of investors from anywhere, both national and foreign investors.

Last Saturday (Apr 10) and Sunday (Apr 11) the Regent accompanied Korean investors to roam around the Nusa Penida. He believed the more frequently investors came to Nusa Penida their desire would be increasingly stimulated to invest in these islands. “If the investment grows, practically it had an impact on the improvement of the infrastructure,” he said.

Candra was very confident that Nusa Penida had unique characteristics appealing the interest of investors to invest their capital in Nusa Penida. In addition to a vast expanse, the marine potential it retained was comparable to other regions in Bali.

Similarly, Candra added he did not sell Nusa Penida to investors haphazardly. He might have considered it thoroughly including paying attention to how the local community accepted it. (bal)

Wajik

(Rice Flour Cake With Palm Sugar) OVERVIEW: There are a couple of variations on this popular cake, which can be stored in the refrigerator for several days. It is normally served at room temperature, but can also be served warm topped with coconut milk. Other variations are to add ripe diced jackfruits (or substitute with sultanas) after the rice is partially cooked.

INGREDIENTS: 1 cup glutinous white rice 1 cup water 1 pandan leaf ½ cup palm sugar syrup ¼ cup thick coconut milk Pinch of salt PREPARATION: Rinse rice very well under running water for 2 minutes and soak for 4 hours. Rinse again until water becomes clear. Place rice, 1 cup of water and pandan leaf in rice cooker or steamer and cook for approx 20 minutes, or until liquid has evaporated.

Add palm sugar syrup, coconut milk and salt, and steam for 15 minutes. Spread rice evenly 2.5 cm thick on tray and allow cooling to room temperature. Wet a sharp knife with warm and cut into even squares to serve.

Helpful hint: To speed up the soaking process, pour boiling water over the rice and let stand for 1 hour. Drain, and then add another lot of boiling water and soak for another 30 minutes. If you are using a steamer to cook the rice, line the bottom with a wet cloth to prevent the rice grains from falling through. (www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Ayam pelalah

(Shredded Chicken with Chilies & Lime) OVERVIEW: You can use any type of leftover chicken (roast, steamed or fried) for this delightfully tangy chicken salad INGREDIENTS: 1 whole chicken, weighing about 1.2 kg (2 ½ lb) 1 cup chicken spice paste ½ cup tomato sambal 3 tbsp freshly squeezed limejuice PREPARATION: 1. Rub the chicken outside and inside with the spice paste, and season with salt and crushed black pepper.

2. Place on wire rack in oven and roast first at 220 Celsius (420 F) for 20 min, then reduce heat to 180 Celsius (350 F) and roast until done. Frequently baste chicken with a mixture of coconut oil and chicken spice paste.

3. When cool, remove and discard the skin. Remove meat from bones and shred by hand into fine strips.

4. Combine chicken stripes with remaining ingredients. Mix well and season to taste. Serve at room temperature with steamed rice. (www.baliguide.com/ balifood)

9

10

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Destinations

International

Penelokan

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site Trunyan at Tirta Bungka, are hot springs set beside the cold waters of the lake, nature’s sauna for tired travelers who have climbed Mt. Batur.

Nearby, the hotel Tirta Yatra, is a convenient place to stay before or after climbing the volcano.

Formerly, the people of this area lived relatively unperturbed at the base of the holy volcano. In 1 91 7, Batur violently erupted destroying 65,000 homes, 2,500 temples and more than a thousand lives. Lava engulfed the village of Batur but miraculously stopped at the foot of the temple. The people took this as a good omen and continued to live there. In 1 926, a new eruption buried the entire ternpie except the highest shrine, dedicated to God in his manifestation as Dewi Danu, goddess of the lakes and waters. The villagers were then forced to resettle on the high cliffs overlooking Batur.

They brought the surviving shrine with thgm and rebuilt the temple, now known as Pura Ulun Danu of Batur village. (http:// www.balivision.com)

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FROM the bamboo forests north of Bangli, the road emerges to a lookout above a huge volcanic basin. Ribbons of black lava ripple down the valley from the misty peak of Mt. Batur. This is Penelokan, “the place to look”, where the world changes colors. Sometimes, the still lake there resembles blue glass, and at others, a sheetof platinum. In chartreuse and vermilion biouses,the mountain girisstride along the rim of an ancient crater surrounding Mt. Batur.

Legend tells of Pasupati (Siwa) dividing the sacred Hindu mountain Mahameru and placingthe halves in Bali, asthevoicanoes Gunung Agung and Batur. Next to Agung, Batur is the most revered of Baii’s mountains. Temples throughout the island honor the deity who dwells at its summit. Penelokan is atood place to make a lunch stop at one of its’high standard restaurants.

A short steep corkscrew road leads down to Kedisan on the lakeside where boats can be hired.

On the flank of the volcano oppo-

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Jl. Kepundung 67 A, e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id Jl. Palmerah Barat 21 F

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

11

BUSINESS Obama presses Hu on yuan exchange rate Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama kept up the pressure Monday on China to revalue its yuan, telling President Hu Jintao to adopt a more “market-oriented” exchange rate for the Chinese currency.

Obama stated his view that it was “important for... a sustained and balanced global economic recovery that China move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate,” said senior National Security Council official Jeff Bader after a face-to-face meeting of the two leaders.

US lawmakers have threatened sanctions against Beijing, saying that China’s action to keep the yuan artificially low against the dollar had resulted in a ballooning US trade deficit and a loss of American jobs.

But Hu delinked the yuan’s value from the US trade deficit or the nearly 10 percent unemployment grappling the United States.

“RMB (renminbi or yuan) appreciation would neither balance Sino-US trade nor solve the unemployment problem in the United States,” Hu told Obama, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency.

However the China News Service quoted Hu as saying that China “is firmly committed to the direction of reforming the RMB exchange rate regime. This is based on the needs of China’s own economic development.”

Specific reforms “will be jointly considered based on changes in the global economic situation and the situation with China’s own economy. Particularly, outside pressures will not advance (the reform),” Hu said, according to the report.

The two leaders met in Washington on sidelines of a 47nation nuclear security summit following a stormy period in USChina relations over the yuan and trade disputes as well as issues such as Internet freedom, Tibet and Taiwan.

International critics say that China keeps the rate of its yuan artificially low against other foreign currencies to boost exports.

But China defends its exchange rate policy as necessary for the survival of Chinese manufacturers and to support jobs growth.

Bader said the yuan issue cropped up as the two leaders reviewed the situation of the global economy, recovering from the worst financial crisis in decades.

Speculation mounted last week that China was preparing to alter its exchange rate policy and allow for the yuan to appreciate,

after US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made a hastily arranged visit to Beijing.

Facing election-year pressure over unemployment, US lawmakers had been pushing the US Treasury to label Beijing a “currency manipulator” — a move that would open the door to sanctions

by Washington.

But the Treasury announced the delay of a report that was due in mid-April and which could have slapped China with the “manipulator” tag, with Geithner saying there were better ways to advance US interests.

China made its currency a little flexible in 2005 following US pressure, but when the global financial crisis erupted in 2008, it repegged the yuan to the US dollar to prop up Chinese exports and revive the economy.

Between 2005 and 2008, China allowed the yuan to appreciate by about 20 percent against the dollar. Some experts however say the Chinese currency is now undervalued by up to 40 percent.

Obama also asked Hu Monday to remove China’s “market barriers” that have become a concern to American business leaders.

“The president also noted his concern over some market access issues, market access barriers, in China and the need to address them as part of the rebalancing effort,” Bader said.

He did not identify the barriers, but a recent US government report to Congress said China had erected new hurdles to foreign competition with rules favoring domestic firms.

The report by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk cited a directive by China stipulating that sellers of high-tech goods must contain Chinese intellectual property for them to be included in a government procurement catalogue.

Accredited products will be favored, according to the policy, which foreign firms say effectively excludes them from the process.

A recent American Chamber of Commerce in China survey found that 38 percent of members felt unwelcome to participate in China’s market, up from 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The survey cited discriminatory government policies and inconsistent legal treatment.

AFP PHOTO / Mandel NGAN / FILES

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) following a statement to the press at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 17, 2009. US President Barack Obama kept up the pressure Monday on China to revalue its yuan, telling President Hu Jintao to adopt a more “market-oriented” exchange rate for the Chinese currency.

China Southern swings back to profit in 2009 Agence France-Presse

HONG KONG - China Southern Airlines, the nation’s biggest carrier by fleet size, said Tuesday that it swung back to profit in 2009 helped by a government bailout and improving domestic demand.

The firm said it earned 330 million yuan (48.3 million US dollars) last year, reversing a 4.82 billion yuan loss in 2008 as the industry was hit by tumbling demand during the global financial meltdown.

In a statement posted to the Hong Kong Stock exchange on Tuesday, the company said “2009 was the most difficult year for China’s economic de-

velopment in the new century”.

“The global financial crisis spread like wildfire while the economy of the whole world recovered slowly with the international civil aviation market in continued recession.”

Revenue fell to 54.80 billion yuan, from 55.28 billion yuan in 2008, it said.

The carrier credited a rebound in domestic air travel and government aid for helping it return to the black.

Beijing has injected nearly two billion dollars into the nation’s top three carriers including China Southern since late 2008 to help them weather the slowing demand.

China Southern said its pas-

senger numbers increased 13.8 percent to 66.3 million in 2009, while its freight business rose 3.2 percent over 2008.

“Given that the international financial market is becoming stable steadily, the company expects to see a normal growth of the global economy under the recovery,” it said.

“The group is confident of ongoing improvement in its operating performance.”

Last month, China Southern said it planned to raise 10.75 billion yuan to repay bank loans and replenish its capital.

Despite the results, the carrier’s share price was down 5.76 percent to 3.60 Hong Kong dollars (0.46 US) at midday Tuesday.

12

Entertainment

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

International

One Of Jesse James’ Mistresses ‘Feels Bad’ For Sandra Bullock AP Photo/Don Ryan

Former “The Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien performs at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Ore., Monday, April 12, 2010. O’Brien, who quit the show rather than host it at 12:05 a.m. after the return of Jay Leno to late night television, is kicking off his “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” in Eugene. O’Brien is expected to return to television in November on cable station TBS.

A high-energy O’Brien opens nationwide comedy tour CONAN O’Brien, fueled by three months of unused comedy energy, kicked off a nationwide tour that evoked his late-night brand of edgy humor and brought a college-town crowd to its feet.

“This is the first time anyone has paid to see me. They’ve paid me to go away,” O’Brien told Monday’s audience of more than 2,500, an obvious reference to the former “Tonight Show” host’s $32 million exit deal with NBC in January.

His journey from “Tonight” to an out-of-work guy to a reborn stage performer was the centerpiece of the show, with a helping of familiar bits like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, songs from a guitar-playing O’Brien with former “Tonight” band members and a handful of guests. The gangly redhead worked the stage hard, joking, dancing and even making costume changes that, at one point, included a pink leather outfit.

Warning that “lawyers are watching,” O’Brien told the crowd that he was barred from performing on TV, radio or online for the near future and that ownership of some of his bits was in question. That didn’t stop him from including a Triumph routine or bringing out the Masturbating Bear, who with a small costume adjustment became the SelfPleasuring Panda.

O’Brien acknowledged that a new TV gig awaits him later this year: TBS announced Monday that he will host a four-day-a-week show at 11 p.m. Eastern time, perhaps starting in November. “You may have heard I got a new job: new assistant manager at Eugene’s Banana Republic,” he wisecracked, later acknowledging the TBS job in a parody version of “On the Road Again.” O’Brien tossed barbs NBC’s way, showing short films in which he played a bald man who introduced himself as a “generic

network executive,” boasted about heading one of the top 17 networks and introduced a new series called “I’m a Celebrity and I Eat Bark.”

Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal’s chief executive, is clean-pated, and NBC’s lineup includes “I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!”

O’Brien’s sidekick Andy Richter is along for the tour, with Reggie Watts the opening act. Among O’Brien’s debut show guests were the band Spoon and, from the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” cast member Jack McBrayer, who plays Kenneth the page. Other celebrities are expected to drop in throughout the tour, which heads to Vancouver, Canada, on Wednesday. Although he fretted at the end that the evening was mostly about him, O’Brien turned his career crisis into crowd-pleasing jokes. He recounted the “eight stages of grief” after losing a talk show, which included “Blame myself,” “Blame everyone else round me”: and “36 hours of Red Bull and Halo.”

He didn’t spend much time on the self-blame phase, O’Brien sad, “because what the hell did I do?”

The evening contained a sprinkling of four-letter words and raciness, but otherwise the show didn’t venture much across the current broadcast TV line. Audience members, who gave O’Brien a standing ovation at the beginning and end and laughs throughout, said he lived up to expectations — even if they weren’t quite sure what the show, titled “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” would include. “It was a blast. I loved every minute of it,” said Josh Minter, 34, of Eugene.

“It was awesome,” echoed Megan Raaske, 26. O’Brien’s boundless, near-manic energy was at once impressive and worrisome: Can the rail-thin comedian keep this pace up for some 30 cities more?

The tattooed porn star who sparked the beginning of the end of Sandra Bullock’s marriage has offered the actress a “heartfelt apology” for all the heartache her revelations have caused. The Oscar winner walked out on husband Jesse James last month as Michelle McGee (aka ‘Michelle Bombshell’) went public with claims of an 11-month affair with the TV mechanic.

Two other women have since come forward with similar claims, while a fourth mistress is also alleged to have been involved with James while he was married to the actress. Now, as reports suggest Bullock is on the verge of filing for divorce, McGee has issued a public apology to the star, admitting she “feels bad” for her onetime love rival.

When asked what she’d say to Bullock if the two women were ever to meet, McGee told Australian TV show TodayTonight, “I’m sorry for your embarrassment. I’m sorry all this is public. I’m sorry for everything.”

McGee then added, “She (Bullock) must be hurt, devastated, upset, embarrassed. I want to give her a heartfelt apology. I’m sorry for her embarrassment and pain. I do feel really bad about it.”

But McGee’s apology is unlikely to win Bullock over - the model insists she understands what the actress is “going through” because she was “duped” by James too when he led her to believe his marriage was over. She adds, “I feel like I was duped just as much as Sandra was. I feel like I was lied to just as much as she was. If Jesse was upfront with me in the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Heidi Montag is Writing A ‘Bourne-Meets-Barbie’ Action Flick GET ready to see a lot more Heidi Montag on the big screen.

“I’m writing a movie right now. It’s very action packed,” the bikini-clad reality star, 23, told UsMagazine.com Sunday at the opening of the Liquid Pool Lounge at Las Vegas’ Aria Resort & Casino.

“It’s Bourne-meets-Barbie,” adds Montag, referring to Matt Damon’s action flicks. Montag would would “of course” play the starring role.

“I would love to be an action star,” continues Montag, who recently Twittered she wants to to be the “blonde ‘Tomb Raider.’” She claims to have the experience. “I’ve trained in knife fighting and guns for over two years with one of the founding

members of Saw, [who] was [in] the original Delta Force. So I’ve been shooting and practicing the whole real-life action figure for years,” she said. “So I’m very excited to have action roles.”

Montag recently filmed a cameo in “Just Go With It” alongside Jennifer Aniston. Whose acting career would she rather emulate: Aniston’s or the more action-packed Angelina Jolie’s? “Actually, I want a combination of both,” says Montag, who was flanked by six bodyguards at the event. In the meantime, don’t expect her to appear on “Dancing With The Stars” any time soon. When asked if she’d compete, she told Us, “I would love to host.”

Life Style

International

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

13

World’s deepest known undersea volcanic vent found Associated Press Writer

REUTERS/Photo by Brett Eloff courtesy of Lee Berger and the University of the Witwatersrand/Handout

Handout photo released April 8, 2010 shows a cranium forming part of the holotype skeleton of Australopithecus sediba from the Malapa site in South Africa.

Ancient Pre-Human Skeleton May Contain Shrunken Brain A shrunken brain may potentially lie inside the fossil skull of a newfound candidate for the immediate ancestor to the human lineage, researchers now reveal. This new species, dubbed Australopithecus sediba, was accidentally discovered in South Africa by the 9-year-old son of a scientist. Two members of this hominid were introduced to the world last week - a juvenile male and an adult female, who might have known each other in life and who could have met their demise by falling into the remains of the cave where they were discovered.

Preliminary results from scans of the extraordinarily preserved male skull now show the presence of what could be fossilized insect eggs and a brain remnant. The hominid skull was mostly kept in the stone matrix it was found in. This helps keep the fragile fossil intact and also preserves anything that might be left inside. To scan the fossil without breaking it open, researchers used X-rays generated at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The energy range and image resolution from the Xrays generated at this synchrotron a kind of particle accelerator, or atom smasher - are far greater than that of conventional X-ray machines, capable of details going down to 700 nanometers, equal to a wavelength of red light.

An extensive two-week long investigation generated some 15 terabytes of raw data, which once processed would result in a total of 45 terabytes or more final data. That is equal roughly to half as much data as collected in the U.S. Library of Congress. Brain remnant? Soft parts of the body normally do not fossilize. Still, an extended low-density area in the rock still inside the skull could suggest brain tissue after bac-

terial decay.

“We saw this cavity near the frontal part inside the skull that had a strange shape,” said researcher Paul Tafforeau, a paleoanthropologist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

“One way to explain that cavity is that when this individual died, it was mummified, and the mummification made the brain shrink by losing water, leading to an odd shape,” Tafforeau said. “Later you had water with sediment come up, fossilizing the individual and filling the brain case, but you still had that brain remnant inside.” If it is a shrunken brain, it is perhaps one-twentieth of its original size of 420 and 450 cubic centimeters, which was already small when compared to the human brain of about 1,200 to 1,600 cubic centimeters. The shrinkage would make teasing apart its original structure virtually impossible, and the possibility of it holding any useful amounts of protein, DNA or other biomolecules is slim. “It’s quite an unexpected discovery, but for the moment, I’m not sure we can find any important information in it,” Tafforeau said. “I hope that I’m wrong. It’s too early to say.”

Scans of the fossil’s teeth to look at internal growth lines and structure

could provide the precise age at death of the individual. “In ape teeth, about 3 to 4 microns of enamel is deposited every day on a growing tooth, so each day, you get one line about that thick,” Tafforeau said. “By counting the lines, you can directly count the number of days they were alive.” By comparing his real age and his developmental level, which is roughly equivalent to that of a 13-year-old modern human, scientists can shed light on the pattern of his life history.

“The rate of development is extremely important when it comes to the evolution of hominids,” Tafforeau explained. Modern humans have an extremely slow life history that is key to the development of our brains, while australopithecines such as Lucy had more rapid ones more like that of chimpanzees. “The aim of the study of the teeth will be to see if Australopithecus sediba is still developing like other australopithecines or if its development is already showing a tendency toward Homo genus” Tafforeau said, referring to the human lineage.

Three fossilized insect eggs, each about a tenth of an inch (two or three millimeters) large, were seen within the skull, potentially hatching larvae that fed on the flesh of the hominid after death, researchers added.

LONDON – Scientists using a remote-controlled submarine have discovered the deepest known volcanic vent and say the superheated waters inside could contain undiscovered marine species and perhaps even clues to the origin of life on earth. Experts aboard the RRS James Cook said they found the underwater volcanic vent more than three miles (five kilometers) beneath the surface of the Caribbean in an area known as the Cayman Trough, a deep-sea canyon that served as the setting for James Cameron’s underwater thriller “The Abyss.”

Geologist Bramley Murton, the submersible’s pilot, said exploring the area was “like wandering across the surface of another world,” complete with spires of multicolored mineral deposits and thick collections of fluorescent blue microorganisms thriving in the slightly cooler waters around the chimneys. The scenes “were like nothing I had ever seen before,” Murton said.

Volcanic vents are areas where sea water seeps into small cracks that penetrate deep into the earth’s crust — some reaching down more than a mile (two kilometers.) Temperatures there can reach 750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius), heating the water to the point where it can melt lead. The blazing hot mineralrich fluid is expelled into the icy cold of the deep ocean, creating a smokelike effect and leaving behind towering chimneys of metal ore, some two stories tall. The spectacular pressure — 500 times stronger than the earth’s atmosphere — keeps the water from boiling.

The environment in volcanic vents may appear brutal: the intense heat and pressure combines with toxic metals to form a highly acidic undersea cocktail. But vents host lush colonies of exotic animals such as blind shrimp, giant white crabs, and even large red-lipped tubeworms whose lack of any apparent digestive system once left scientists scratching their heads. At

the base of this ecosystem present are chemical-eating bacteria who draw on the hydrogen sulphide and methane erupting from the vents to make food.

“Although those are lethally hostile conditions for surface-dwellers like us, life exists at all depths in the oceans, right down to the bottom of the deepest trenches,” said marine biologist Jon Copley in an e-mail interview from the James Cook. “We’re still figuring out how.”

Because the vent area is nearly half a mile deeper than any previously discovered, scientists speculate that it could be the hottest ever found.

Study of the vent could yield a variety of new insights into the history of the ocean, the physics of so-called “supercritical fluids” — liquids so hot they act like gasses — and the chemical makeup of the deep ocean.

Most tantalizing is the prospect that the expedition, led by geochemist Douglas Connelly of Britain’s National Oceanography Center, could also reveal a variety of new life forms specially adapted to the Trough’s punishing environment.

“The deep sea is full of surprises,” a statement posted to the expedition’s Web site said. “We may find species unlike any seen before.

The Cayman Trough may be like (Arthur) Conan Doyle’s ‘Lost World,’” a novel that imagines an area populated by prehistoric monsters hidden deep in the Amazon.

Other scientists said they were excited by the discovery. “I’m extremely curious to see and hear what they have found there in terms of biology,” said Maya Tolstoy, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. This vent and others like it are also of interest to scientists because of the role some scientists believe they played in the creation of life on earth. Copley said it has been theorized that life may have originated in similar environments early in the Earth’s history — in part because the microorganisms found in deep-sea vents appear close to some of the Earth’s most ancient organisms.

AP Photo/National Oceanography Centre

This undated photo released by the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England, Monday April 12, 2010, shows a cloud of smoky water billowing from the top of a tower of metal ore at a volcanic vent five kilometers (more than three miles) beneath the surface of the Caribbean. The vent, located in the Cayman Trough, is the deepest ever discovered, a British scientific expedition says. Experts hope that studies of the vent and the exotic creatures which bask in its warmth will yield insight into how life formed on earth, and perhaps elsewhere too.

14

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Sport

International

Camby scores 30, Blazers beat Thunder 103-95 Associated Press Writer

(AFP/File/Lionel Bonaventure)

Spanish player Rafael Nadal returns a ball to Swedish player Robin Soderling during a French Open round of 16 match at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris in 2009. Nadal’s reputation as the beast of the European clay could be due for a revision at this week’s Monte Carlo Masters as rivals begin to discover the champion at the last five editions could be beatable — even on his favoured surface.

Rivals ready to pounce on outof-form Nadal

PORTLAND, Ore. – Marcus Camby scored a season-high 30 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-95 without injured guard Brandon Roy on Monday night. The loss locked the Thunder into the eighth spot in the Western Conference, meaning they’ll face the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

Roy announced shortly before the game that he had a torn meniscus n his right knee that will also keep him out of Portland’s regular-season finale Wednesday night against Golden State.

Beyond that, the three-time All-Star’s status for the playoffs is uncertain. If the Blazers win their final game, they are assured the No. 6 seed in the West.

If San Antonio wins its finale and Portland loses, the Spurs get the sixth seed.

The Spurs beat the Timberwolves 133111 earlier on Monday night.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 30 points. Oklahoma City was coming off a 120-117 loss to Golden State on Sunday. Portland beat the Lakers 9188 in Los Angeles on Sunday, but Roy went down in the first quarter. His injury is the latest to befall the seemingly jinxed Blazers, who lost both Greg Oden and fellow center Joel Przybilla to season-ending knee injuries. A total of 13 Blazers have missed a combined 307 games this season.

Roy, who leads the Blazers with

an average of 21.5 points per game, said he wants to try and play in the playoffs.

He will be re-evaluated on Friday. Rudy Fernandez started in Roy’s place and had nine points. The Blazers jumped out to a 15-8 lead early, but the Thunder went on a 10-0 run to close the first quarter — capped by Durant’s 3-pointer — to go up 28-22. James Harden’s fastbreak slam made it 34-24 for Oklahoma City. Durant gave the Thunder their biggest lead of the first half at 48-36 with a fast-break layup.

Durant had 21 points after the first half with the Thunder leading 51-43.

Andre Miller’s hook put the Blazers ahead 53-51 and it was close the rest of the third quarter. Jerryd Bayless’ layup put Portland up 73-71 to start the fourth. Harden’s 3-pointer gave the Thunder an 84-79 lead in the fourth, but Portland pulled back in front, 8584, with Camby’s two-handed dunk with 6:50 left. Durant’s running jumper evened it at 88 before Nicolas Batum made one of two free throws for a one-point lead.

LaMarcus Aldridge’s hook shot made it 91-88 before Camby hit a pair of free throws to put Portland ahead 93-88 with 4:03 to go. Batum’s dunk and Miller’s layup extended the lead to 97-88. Nick Collison made a pair of free throws with 1:07 left to narrow it to 101-95, but that was as close as the Thunder would get. When Camby left the game with 15.9 seconds left, the sellout crowd at the Rose Garden chanted his name.

Agence France - Presse

MONTE CARLO – Rafael Nadal’s reputation as the beast of the European clay could be due for a revision at this week’s Monte Carlo Masters as rivals begin to discover the champion at the last five editions could be beatable — even on his favoured surface. “He’s been so dominant for so long on clay, but everyone knew that just couldn’t last,” said top seed Novak Djokovic Monday as he waited for his opening match in the second round later in the week.

“But his level is now down just a bit and others are starting to get confidence and the belief that they have a chance to beat him,” said the Serb, who lost high-profile 2009 clay finals with the four-time Roland Garros champion at Monte Carlo and Rome. “He’s been through some injuries and he’s not played on clay since Paris last year. But he wants to repeat his success and he’s surely motivated now that it’s clay season.”

Over the past year, the formerly invincible Nadal has been through knee injury and back problems and has begun to lose with more regularity to Top-10 players. He has not won a title since the Rome Masters last year.

Recent defeats have in-

cluded Andy Roddick in Miami, Andy Murray at the Australian Open, Nikolay Davydenko at Doha, London and Shanghai, Roger Federer in the Madrid final and Swede Robin Soderling in the Roland Garros fourth round shocker 11 months ago. Spain’s Fernando Verdasco agreed that things are changing in the game.

“He’s (Nadal) not won a title since Rome and that’s not normal,” said the number 12 who is working his way through a 2010 nerve problem in his back and trying to play through thanks to rehab and exercise.

Verdasco called Nadal’s situation “strange to people.” “He’s supposed to win every event, or almost every event, But now things are getting more equal among top players. Anyone can beat anyone,

it’s not like a year ago when Nadal and Federer dominated. “But Rafa remains number one on the clay and he’s still the player to beat at every event on this surface,” added the sixth seed. With showcase players waiting for a start, lesser seeds took centre stage.

Tenth seed Tomas Berdych showed his Miami final against Roddick was no fluke with his opening defeat of Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1, while Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis put out Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-2.

David Nalbandian’s comeback from hip surgery and abdominal injuries continued with a win over German Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-1 while Jeremy Chardy became the first French victim of the week with a loss to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant (35) drives to the basket as Portland Trail Blazer’s Marcus Camby defends in the second quarter during their NBA basketball game Monday, April 12, 2010, in Portland, Ore.

Sport

International

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

15

AC Milan official blames Calciopoli for Italian decline

Togo’s Adebayor retires from international duty

Agence France - Presse

Agence France - Presse

ROME – AC Milan vicepresident Adriano Galliani said on Monday that Italy will lose a Champions League spot to Germany as a direct result of the infamous 2006 Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. “One of the effects of the Calciopoli is to have reverberations on the UEFA index for Italy and from now on it’s practically certain that Germany will overtake us,” said Galliani.

LONDON – Manchester City and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor retired from international football on Monday, saying he was “still haunted” by the attack on his country’s team bus at the African Nations Cup. Adebayor looked on in horror as bullets riddled the bus in an attack that killed an assistant coach and the squad’s spokesman and led Togo to pull out of the tournament in January.

The former Arsenal star later admitted he feared his life was about to end during the assault in the northern Angolan province of Cabinda and he has been unable to shake off the mental scars of the incident. “Following the tragic events during January’s African Cup of Nations, in which two of my fellow countrymen were killed by terrorists in Angola, I have made the very difficult decision to retire from international football,” Adebayor told his club’s website.

“I have weighed up my feelings in the weeks and months since the attack, and I am still haunted by the events which I witnessed on that horrible afternoon on the Togo team bus. “We were just footballers going to play a football match and represent our country, yet we were attacked by people who wanted to kill us all.

It is a moment I will never forget and one I never want to experience again.” The 26-year-old scored 16 goals in 38 appearances for Togo and helped his team reach the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

He insisted he will always have a special bond with the teammates who were on the bus in Cabinda. “The people who were on that coach together will forever

“We have less than a 0.5-point avantage on Germany (at the beginning of the season), and it’s now certain that from 2012 we’re going to lose a Champions League team and even maybe in 2011.” The UEFA index is calculated on the performance of clubs in each country in European competitions during the past five seasons and determines the number of teams each country can enter for the Champions League and Europa League.

The top three in the current index — England, Spain and Italy — are allowed four teams in the money-spinning Champions League. Galliani said that the Calciopoli scandal resulted in the disappearance of some of the strongest teams in Italy, such as Juventus,

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said on Monday that Italy will lose a Champions League spot to Germany as a direct result of the infamous 2006 Calciopoli match-fixing scandal who were relegated, and their replacement by teams without the same ambitions. “With all the respect that I have for Chievo it is obvious that they couldn’t have the same objectives as Juve,” said Galliani.

“Germany are overtaking us for two reasons — one is the Calciopoli, the other is the 2006 World Cup (in Germany), which allowed new stadiums to be built. That had a positive effect with new players and more competitive teams.” He added: “If France

win the right to host Euro 2016 (for which Italy are also bidding) we will also be overtaken by them.” Several other teams were punished for trying to rig matches in the Calciopoli scandal after a number of telephone conversations between club, league and refereeing officials were intercepted and published. Juventus were relegated to Serie B and stripped of their last two titles while AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina were all handed point penalties for the next season.

Terry reveals crisis talks fired Chelsea’s title charge Agence France - Presse

LONDON – John Terry has revealed Chelsea’s stars held crisis talks with the club’s management in a successful bid to get their Premier League title challenge back on track. Just two weeks after Carlo Ancelotti’s team looked in danger of fading away in the title race, the revitalised Blues can move four points clear at the top of the table with a win over Bolton at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

It is a remarkable transformation from the weary-looking group that crashed out of the Champions League against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan and then dropped two vital points in a 1-1 draw at Blackburn. That result left Chelsea four points behind Manchester United, but an open and honest

meeting between the players, Ancelotti and his coaching staff after the Blackburn game has given Terry’s men a new lease of life. Now it is Sir Alex Ferguson’s United who are wilting under the intense pressure of fighting for first place.

United’s draw at Blackburn on Sunday has provided Chelsea with a golden opportunity to put distance between themselves and their rivals and Terry, whose team reached the FA Cup final with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in Saturday’s semifinal at Wembley, believes his club will take full advantage. “A few weeks ago it didn’t look as though we were in the running for anything really so we have turned it round,” Terry said.

“We were obviously disappointed going out of the Champions League and our focus was no longer on that, it was

John Terry has revealed Chelsea’s stars held crisis talks with the club’s management in a successful bid to get their Premier League title challenge back on track

on the league. We went to Blackburn hoping we could win and go to the top but we didn’t. We didn’t really show the fight and on the day Blackburn wanted it more than us. That was not acceptable. We had a little get-together, nothing too much, but since then we have been playing well and scoring lots of goals. We have got some big characters here, me, Lamps (Frank Lampard), Bally (Michael Ballack) and Petr Cech, those kind of players are worth their weight in gold at a bad time.

Everyone spoke their mind, we got off our chests what we were feeling, and went again. It was as simple as that.”

“I don’t want to make a big thing of it. We had the discussion between the management and players and everyone spoke honestly. It was a chance for everyone to get things off their chest.

It is important players speak their mind.

We have got big characters around and we get up and back on the horse and go again.” Now Terry’s eyes are on the double and the defender knows their destiny now lies in their own hands.

“Where we are in the league at the moment means it is down to us,” he said. “We have got Bolton at home and they are always difficult, so every fixture is tough. But if we keep working like we did in the second half and have done in the last four or five weeks, there is every chance. It is in our hands.”

be joined by a special bond - we are all brothers,” he said. “I will always have the team and the people of Togo close to my heart and wish them every success in the challenges that they will face in the future. For nine years I have played for the Togo team and, despite the events in Angola, I have some very good memories of my international career. I feel very proud to have been trusted with the position of captain of the Togolese football team. Leading your country in international competition is the ultimate honour for any player.”

With his international career now over, Adebayor will turn his focus to helping City become one of English football’s superpowers.

Adebayor has scored seven times for City since returning to action after the tragedy and struck twice in Sunday’s 5-1 win over Birmingham as Roberto Mancini’s side consolidated fourth place in the Premier League. The club, backed by their Abu Dhabi-based billionaire owners, has already spent millions in an attempt to secure qualification for the Champions League and Mancini’s men are within touching distance of reaching that goal. Whatever Adebayor achieves at City, he admits he will always retain fond memories of his time with Togo and he hopes the team can make their country proud in the future.

“Togo have some very talented players, and I dearly hope the players who remain will be able to put their memories of Angola behind them and go onto be a success for the nation,” he added. “I have enormous belief in each and every one of them, players, coaches, staff and their families.”

Manchester City and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor retired from international football on Monday, saying he was “still haunted” by the attack on his country’s team bus at the African Nations Cup

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

FIA, Briatore reach settlement

Sport

FORMULA 1’s ruling body has put an end to its dispute with former Renault members Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds after reaching a settlement with the duo. Both Briatore and Symonds had been banned from the sport for their involvement in the 2008 race-fixing scandal in the Singapore Grand Prix. Their ban, however, had been overturned by a French court because of irregularities in the process.

The FIA said it was considering appealing the decision, but that has been ruled out after reaching an agreement with the former Renault men. The agreement means neither Briatore or Symonds will be allowed to work in Formula 1 until the start of 2013 and in any other competitions registered on the FIA calendars until the end of the 2011 season. In a statement released on Monday, the FIA said both Briatore and Symonds had expressed regret and apologised for their actions.

“In return, they have asked the FIA to abandon the ongoing appeal

procedure, but without the FIA recognising the validity of the criticisms levelled against the WMSC’s decision of 21 September 2009, as well as to waive the right to bring any new proceedings against them on the subject of this affair,” the FIA said.

“Considering that the judgment of 5 January 2010 concerned only the form and not the substance of the WMSC’s decision of 21 September 2009, and that the undertakings and renunciation of all claims expressed by Mr Flavio Briatore and Mr Pat Symonds are in line with

what the WMSC is seeking, the FIA President has considered that it is in the best interests of the FIA not to allow the perpetuation of these legal disputes, which have received a great deal of media coverage and which, regardless of the outcome, are very prejudicial to the image of the FIA and of motor sport, and thus to accept this settlement solution, thereby putting an end to this affair.”

The ruling body also said it was working on a structural reform to review its statutes to “prevent other misunderstandings,” refering to the French court verdict.

Schumacher joins GPDA after all MICHAEL Schumacher has decided to join the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, backtracking on his decision to not be a part of the body. The seven-time champion, a GPDA director before retiring from the sport, had said last month that he was not planning to join the body now that he was back in Formula 1.

“I’m not intending [to join],” said Schumacher. “After all the years I have been involved in setting it up they guys have been doing a good job for three years.

“I don’t think they need me. And as I’m not here for the long-term future, only for a limited time, I don’t think I should get involved.”

Michael Schumacher has decided to join the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, backtracking on his decision to not be a part of the body

However, Schumacher has changed his mind and has decided to join the GPDA as a silent member.

“Michael always supported the work of the GPDA, for many years as a director,” said a spokesperson for the German driver. After he retired the work had been successfully

taken over by the younger drivers, and at first Michael was hesitant to join as he did not want to be involved again. But after some thoughts and discussions, mainly with Felipe Massa, he reconsidered this initial decision and will now be a silent member.”

Formula 1’s ruling body has put an end to its dispute with former Renault members Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds after reaching a settlement with the duo