Edisi 24 Agustus 2009 | International Bali Post

16

Sport

Monday, August 24, 2009

Titanic effort as wildfire reaches Athens suburbs

16 Pages Number 441 1st Year

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Toyota’s F1 future not guaranteed

Valencia-Toyota’s future in Formula 1 is not guaranteed, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the signing off of the team’s 2010 budget by its parent car company being postponed until later this year.

AP photo/Daniel Leiva

Panasonic Toyota team members move tyres over the dock at the Valencia street circuit in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009.

Vettel: I can’t afford engine failures

AP Photo/Alberto Saiz

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany watches a screen at the team’s garage during a practice session at the Valencia street circuit in Valencia, Spain, on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. The F1 European Grand Prix will take place on Sunday.

Valencia - Sebastian Vettel has warned that he cannot afford any more engine failures after losing another one of his eight unit allocation for the season in free practice on Saturday.

The Red Bull driver had already brought six of his engines into play when he suffered the failure, leaving him with just two fresh ones to deploy during the final six races of the season.

Although teams regularly swap their engines around and are able to bring back powerplants that have been used before, Vettel could face having to take a ten-place grid penalty at the first event where he brings a ninth unit into play. He is understood already to have lost at least one other Renault engine to a failure.

“From now on, there is no room for any more failures or mistakes,” said Vettel when asked by AUTOSPORT how concerned he was about his engine allocation.

“I can’t change anything now. Of course, if you want to win the championship it is not a good thing towards the end of the season because it will get tight. How tight, we will see.”

Despite being pleased with the progress that Red Bull made between Friday practice and qualifying, Vettel fears that the resurgence of McLarenMercedes will make it harder to chase down Jenson Button and Brawn in the championship. He also pointed to the McLaren KERS as a major factor in the team’s speed.

“If there is someone who is taking big points, it’s not easy to catch up when you are hunters like us,” said Vettel. “But let’s see what happens tomorrow. Fourth on the grid is not a disaster and no-one has scored any points yet.

“On this circuit last year everyone was close for instance Force India is not far off. It’s not a secret that if you have something on board [like KERS] that is worth three of fourth tenths, the rest cannot find a part that gives that much of a jump.”

Although the Japanese car manufacturer has signed the Concorde Agreement, which in theory commits it to F1 until the end of 2012, it has emerged that the team has not yet had its finances for next season officially signed off.

Toyota F1 president John Howett confirmed the delay to AUTOSPORT, and said that the worldwide economic downturn that has affected the car manufacturer meant there was now severe pressure to cut costs.

“We have submitted the budget and because of the economic situation, the Toyota group wants to wait for the full half year of the current financial year [before signing it off],” he said. “I am honestly expecting severe pressure on budget.”

AUTOSPORT understands that there is a board meeting in Japan in the middle of November where 2010 budgets will be discussed - which means a firm decision on the F1 plans may have to wait until after the current season has finished.

That situation has prompted speculation in the Valencia paddock that Toyota chiefs could spring a surprise and opt to follow Honda and BMW in pulling out of Formula 1.

Such rumours have intensified

with Toyota driver Jarno Trulli himself suggesting in Valencia that he thought another car maker could leave the sport “In this economic crisis, nothing is sure,” said Trulli, whose contract talks with Toyota for next year have stalled. “If you look back over the last year it is a disaster. Honda has pulled out, BMW has pulled out, and probably they will not be the only one.

“I think you can expect anything.

Nothing is sure at the moment, because there are plenty of things which have happened, and from one day to another the situation changes.”

He added: “You need to wait because no one knows what they can do for next year yet. Everyone has probably signed [the Concorde Agreement], I’m not really into it, but I personally think anything can happen.”

Howett has, however, moved to play talk of Toyota quitting - although drew short of saying that anything was definite.

When asked if he felt the Toyota board’s response to the budget request would be to cut the F1 programme totally, he said: “I don’t believe so. “We’ve signed [the Concorde Agreement] and we should be here for three years.”

Monday, August 24, 2009

Bali’s exports up 1.26 percent PAGE 8

Worldwide ‘Avatar’ previews thrill sci-fi fans PAGE 12

BP/Edi

Balinese artists Arini along with her granddaughters performed Pendet dance in Art Center Denpasar on Saturday, August 21st 2009. Balinese artists protested because Malaysia is using the dance in their tourism promotion.

Balinese artists protested

Antara

Pendet dances claimed by Malaysia

Denpasar – After claiming Reog Ponorogo, Malaysia is now claiming to own Pendet dance. Bali’s heritance welcoming dance is being claimed by Malaysia. The act made tenth of Balinese artists rallied to protest the misconduct.

WEATHER FORECAST CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

24 - 31

JAKARTA

25 - 35

BANDUNG

17 - 32

YOGYAKARTA

19 - 33

SURABAYA

22 - 32

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

The protest was led by Prof Wayan Dibia, MA, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar in

Denpasar Art Center on Saturday, August 21st 2009. Pendet dance performed by girls using traditional Ba-

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by Bali Record,” said Mr. Windia.

The protesters urged the government to list Indonesian arts and defend them so the arts will not being claimed by other countries. Mr. Windia said “Pendet dance is our heritage and the dance reflects Bali’s values and symbols of art. It is only owned by Hindu-Bali tradition.”

Continued on page 6

Weakened Hurricane Bill heads toward Canada Agence France-Presse

RAIN

HOTLINE

linese clothes was played several times in Visit Malaysia Year commercial.

Actually, the dance is Balinese dance performed as welcoming dance as had been passed on from centuries in Bali. “Based on our observation, the dancers in the commercial are Lusia and Wiwik, the alumni of ISI Denpasar. The recording was done two or three years ago

AFP PHOTO

A pro-Tibet activist joins thousands of Japanese climbing up Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 21, 2009. Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters performed a religious ceremony to promote world peace and call for freedom for Tibetans in China, on the flanks of Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 22.

MIAMI - A weakened Hurricane Bill bore down past the northeastern US coastline toward Canada Sunday, but it was expected to continue to lose its strength as it enters cooler waters of the Northern Atlantic.

The storm, now a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was moving far from the US New England coast, but the US National Hurricane Center (NHC)

still warned of “extremely dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents” from swells generated by the storm.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season sparked a tropical storm warning for the upscale Massachusetts island resort of Martha’s Vineyard, where US President Barack Obama and his family are heading for vacation Sunday. But only one inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain was expected to fall there.

Continued on page 6

2

International

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sport

International

News WORLD NEWS

Oil Spill PERTH, Australia Oil and gas continue to leak from a drill rig that ruptured deep under the ocean floor off Australia, but the government says there is no environmental threat to the coast.

Baltics anniversary TALLINN - First ever memorial day for victims of both the Communist and Nazi regimes. Various events planned to mark 20th anniversary of Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius human chain and the 70th anniversary of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

SEOUL - South Korea Sunday said a solemn farewell to Kim Dae-Jung, who battled dictators to bring democracy and strove to make peace with communist North Korea when he became president.

AP Photo/Paolo Lazzeroni

AC Milan’s Pato, of Brazil, right, celebrates with compatriot Ronaldinho after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Siena and AC Milan in Siena, Italy, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009.

AFP PHOTO / PARK JI-HWAN

Lee Hee-Ho (2nd L-front), the wife of the late former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, and her family walk past the memorial altar for Kim during a state funeral ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on August 23, 2009. South Korea said a solemn farewell to Kim Dae-Jung, who battled dictators to achieve democracy and strove to make peace with communist North Korea when he became president tries. His “sunshine” aid and engagement policy eased relations but failed to halt the North’s nuclear weapons drive.

Han said Kim “opened the path for inter-Korean reconciliation.”

Relations sharply worsened after current conservative president Lee abandoned the policy and linked economic aid to nuclear disarmament.

Kim was awarded the Nobel prize for the summit and for his earlier struggle for democracy.

Critics of “sunshine” said it lavished aid on the North for no tangible benefits.

The 2000 summit was marred by controversy after it emerged that Kim’s government arranged for a business group to pay the North 500 million dollars as an inducement to hold it.

But Kim never wavered on the need for reconciliation. “This is the best way to end the national tragedy and make a reunified motherland,” he said in his final speech in office in 2003.

“We will forever remember his wish for democracy and human rights as well as reconciliation and peace,” the ruling Grand National Party said in a statement.

Vatican deplores indifference to migrants after more deaths

Drought in China

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING - A drought in China’s north has damaged crops and left nearly 5 million people short of drinking water, while dry weather in the south could cause more shortages, a state news agency reports.

Source: ap

Agence France Presse

Agence France-Presse

votion allowed freedom, human rights and democracy to fully blossom in Korea, making our country today a proud and respected nation in the world.”

The government had declared six days of national mourning, with flags at half-mast. Around 24,000 people were at the funeral.

Mourners pinned yellow ribbons to parliament’s main gate. Thousands of police were deployed around the compound, where a large portrait of Kim surrounded by flowers was placed on a shrine.

After the hour-long ceremony, which began at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT), the coffin — escorted by about 30 police motorcycle outriders — was to be taken to the national cemetery.

A giant national flag will lead the procession.

Kim won office in 1997 at his fourth attempt, and was sworn in the following February at the height of the Asian financial crisis. He steered the country out of the crisis, launching major reforms and corporate restructuring.

In 2000 he met Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang for the first-ever summit in the hostile history of the two coun-

ROME - A senior Vatican official on Saturday deplored indifference with regard to migrants after 73 Eritreans were reported to have died from hunger and thirst trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

“Our so-called civilised societies have in reality developed an attitude of rejection of foreigners, resulting not only from ignorance but selfishness and refusal to share what one has with others,” Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio told Radio Vatican.

Veglio said that the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People which he heads was troubled by the “ceaseless repetition of such tragedies”.

“Every migrant is a human per-

son, who as such possesses fundamental and inalienable rights which must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance,” he said, quoting a recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. Five migrants rescued on Thursday off Italy’s southern Lampedusa island said 73 of their companions had perished during the voyage and their bodies were dumped at sea.

The emaciated survivors said their small 12-metre (40-foot) boat — which set off from Libya — had been adrift without fuel for 20 days, and that they received no help from several passing vessels.

But Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said it was “extremely unfair” to criticise or blame Malta or Italy for any deaths.

Speaking at a joint news conference

with the head of the Maltese Armed Forces Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Borg said that when the boat was first spotted, it was still in Libya’s search and rescue area. Had there been any deaths, these must have taken place in Libya’s area, he said.

The Maltese authorities were also continuing to cast doubt on the migrants’ story.

Vassallo said the boat carrying the five Eritreans was so small it was “highly unlikely” that it carried many more people.

Vassallo said the boat was first spotted by a helicopter from the European Union border agency Frontex when it was still in the Libyan search and rescue zone.

A Maltese patrol boat was sent to

investigate and approached the migrants, who immediately insisted they did not want to stop in Malta but wanted to continue their voyage to Italy. They also informed the Maltese soldiers that 73 of their compatriots had died during the voyage and accepted some crackers, water and fuel.

He said the boat looked new, was clean and was so small that not many more would have been able to fit in it. He did not exclude that they could have been transferred to the boat during the journey.

Vassallo said the Maltese continued to monitor the boat from a distance until it was close to Lampedusa.

The Italian authorities had already been informed about the migrants by then.

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15

Owen delighted by United goal breakthrough

South Korea says solemn farewell to “great leader” Kim Kim, who died Tuesday aged 85, was “a great leader of modern history” who won worldwide respect, Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo told a state funeral for the Nobel prizewinner.

Thousands of politicians, foreign dignitaries and ordinary people attended the ceremony, staged outside parliament to signify Kim’s contribution to democracy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il Friday sent envoys to Seoul to deliver his wreath.

They left Sunday before the funeral but after holding talks with current President Lee Myung-Bak, raising hopes of warmer ties after months of hostility.

Kim Dae-Jung survived assassination attempts and a death sentence in his struggle against military-backed rulers, who had presided over dramatic economic growth but trampled human rights.

Mass street protests led largely by Kim ushered in democracy in 1987.

Democratisation “was possible because you were there with your unwavering convictions and your unyielding courage,” Han said in his eulogy to Kim. “Your sacrifices, dedication and de-

Monday, August 24, 2009

Pato, Ronaldinho inspire Milan to opening win

WIGAN - Michael Owen admitted it was a relief to fire home his first Manchester United goal in the Premier League as the defending champions handed Wigan a 5-0 mauling on Saturday.

The 29-year-old England striker came off the bench on 71 minutes and, after being put through by Nani, produced a vintage finish five minutes from time.

“I probably scored the hardest chance I’ve had,” said Owen, who had failed to find the net in United’s two opening league games against Birmingham and Burnley.

“I had two chances at Burnley and one against Birmingham, but this was the fourth real opportunity I’ve had.

“I don’t think I missed a chance in pre-season, but I’ve missed a couple since the season started and as ever everyone is quick to write you off. It was as if I hadn’t scored for a couple of years.

Owen added on www.manutd.com: “That’s something I’ve had to deal with for ten odd years now and I don’t think that will change until I hang up my boots.

“It was certainly a great feeling to score. I’d got a few in preseason but there’s nothing quite like doing it in a competitive game.”

Owen, who arrived at Old Trafford from relegated Newcastle in the summer, said he believes more goals will come.

“I’d be disappointed if people didn’t think I could go on from here,” said Owen.

“I obviously believe I can as I have done throughout my career and I certainly expect to score more goals in the red shirt.”

Strike partner Wayne Rooney reached another landmark in the victory, firing in his 100th goal for the club as United bounced back in style following their shock 1-0 defeat at promoted Burnley in midweek.

“Of course it’s nice to score 100 goals for anyone, especially a team like United, so obviously I’m pleased with that,” said Rooney.

“It’s something I’ll look back on really when I’ve finished playing. I’ve still got a lot of games and a lot of goals left in me, so it’s not something I’m really too concerned with at the minute.”

Agence France Presse

ROME - Brazilians Pato and Ronaldinho proved there is life after Kaka as they inspired AC Milan to a 2-1 victory at Siena in coach Leonardo’s opening Serie A match in charge of the Italian giants on Saturday.

Pato scored a brace but it was his Brazilian compatriot Ronaldinho who created both goals to help countryman Leonardo begin his reign with a win and instantly ease the pain felt by Kaka’s switch to Real Madrid.

The teenage Pato paid tribute to his strike partner.

“Everyone’s talking about Ronaldinho, but he’s brilliant, he’s number one,” he said. “He creates many chances for the other forwards. We’re really happy with him, he’s on his way back and it’s easy playing with him.”

It was a marked turnaround for Milan, who had lost eight out of 11 pre-season friendlies and although this success against relative minnows will not be decisive in the scudetto race, Ronaldinho’s performance inspired some hope.

He may not have his explosive burst of pace of old, but he was incisive and creative, and almost scored with an ingenius second-half bicycle kick.

Leonardo praised his team for turning around their poor pre-season form.

“I’ve just seen a very positive response,” said the coach. “And most of all great pride following a pre-season that wasn’t great.

“Ronaldinho can play any role in attack and he makes others score,

that’s one of his best traits.”

Pato had the first clear chance of the game but his long range volley on 10 minutes was deflected behind for a corner.

Ronaldinho was impressive playing in the hole behind Pato and Marco Borriello, orchestrating the play from the position where Kaka used to roam.

On 19 minutes left-back Marek Jankulovski played a one-two with the Brazilian, who played him in on goal but the Czech could not beat Gianluca Curci from a tight angle.

Minutes later Pato steered home a Ronaldinho free-kick but it was ruled out as he had strayed marginally offside.

A goal was coming, though, and it arrived on 29 minutes as Ronaldinho slipped in Pato, thanks in no small part to some inattentive defending, and the teenager fired across Curci into the bottom corner.

The lead last only five minutes, though, as Siena scored with worrying ease for Leonardo.

Michele Fini’s cross into the box landed at Lukas Jarolim’s feet and the Czech was afforded time to shoot.

Marco Storari kept out that effort but Algeria forward Abdelkader Ghezzal was on hand to fire the rebound into the roof of the net.

Milan were quick out of the

blocks in the second half and Ronaldinho was again the architecht, playing Mathieu Flamini in behind the defence before the France midfielder squared to Pato for an easy tap-in.

After Curci had tipped over Ronaldinho’s acrobatic effort, Siena pushed forward and looked most likely to score but Storari kept out Daniele Ficagna’s header.

In the day’s other game, Pablo Osvaldo gained revenge on his former employers as plucky Bologna held Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw.

The Argentine forward, who has represented Italy at under-21 level, scored 24 minutes into this match with a close range header from a corner to give hosts Bologna the lead after losing marker Gianluca Comotto.

The 23-year-old, who had an unsuccessful 18-month spell in Florence before being sold to Bologna in January, twice almost doubled the hosts’ lead but French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey denied him.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli threw Romania captain Adrian Mutu into the fray in the second half and the former Chelsea forward levelled matters with a stunning volley on 64 minutes.

Fiorentina laid siege to the Bologna goal but Francesco Valiani saved a point for the hosts when he cleared Martin Jorgensen’s late shot off the line.

AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS

Manchester United’s English forward Michael Owen celebrates scoring his first league goal for the club during the English Premier League football match between Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at the DW Stadium in Wigan, north-west England on August 22, 2009.

14

Sport

Monday, August 24, 2009

International

News

International

Federer snaps losing streak against Murray to reach Cincy final

Agence France-Presse

CINCINNATI- World number one Roger Federer snapped a four-match losing streak against second-ranked Andy Murray Saturday to book his berth in the Cincinnati Masters final.

AP Photo/Al Behrman

Roger Federer, from Switzerland, hits a forehand against Andy Murray, from Great Britain, at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009, in Mason, Ohio.

Federer won 6-2, 7-6 (8).

maneuver this time, never facing a break point in a match lasting an hour and a half.

“If you let Roger play well, then he’s very, very difficult to beat,” Murray said. “The first set I was leaving the ball short and giving him a lot of second serves to look at and not making a whole a lot of returns, so I couldn’t to put any pressure on him.

“He was going for his shots because I was leaving the ball in the middle of the court.

“I was happy that I managed to up my game in the second set,” added Murray, who had two chances in the tiebreaker to force a third set.

He couldn’t however, and Federer claimed the victory when Murray double-faulted on Federer’s secondmatch point.

“He was not sure if I was going to maybe run around the backhand and thump a big forehand or maybe just chip it in,” Federer said of the pressure he was able to apply on Murray’s serve. “Maybe making him doubt a little bit brought a double fault out, I don’t know.”

Murray had given Federer his first chance to close it out when he challenged rather than playing a Federer serve - and was wrong.

Murray, who sank to his knees right after issuing the challenge, said he knew he had blown the call.

Federer had clinched the opening set with a successful challenge, af-

I am dead tired now, admits sprint-king Bolt Agence France Presse

BERLIN - Sprint king Usain Bolt admitted he is dead tired from his exertions after capturing his third gold medal of Berlin’s World Athletics Championships with Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team.

Bolt’s three medals here have replicated his gold medal hattrick from last August’s Beijing Olympics and while he has repeated his individual worldrecord breaking haul he insists he is not in the same shape he was in China.

The 23-year-old shattered his own 100m world record here last Sunday when he picked up his first gold, then set another global mark when he was victorious in the 200m final on Thursday before running Saturday’s third leg

of the relay.

The Jamaican quartet clocked a championship record of 37.31 seconds while Trinidad and Tobago took silver in a national record of 37.62sec and Great Britain the bronze in 38.02sec.

With team-mate and world 100m bronze medallist Asafa Powell carrying a groin strain, Bolt ran the penultimate relay leg and despite his claims he is jaded still had enough gas to help his team clinch victory.

“I’m really tired, I didn’t run the best leg I wanted to, but I am just happy I got the baton to Asafa (Powell) and we got it around the track,” said Bolt, who sat on the track after the baton switch to rest his weary legs.

“My first aim was to get the gold medal, so I am definitely happy.

“Maybe I didn’t look so happy, because I was tired. “I had to take a

break on the track because I was so tired.

“I was worried about Asafa going into the race, I kept asking him if he was ok, first priority is his health. “But he said he felt good and would try his best, the aim was to make sure we won.”

Having left Beijing with three world records for the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, Bolt missed out on repeating the feat in Berlin when the Jamaicans just failed to match the 37.10sec they ran in Beijing exactly a year ago.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, right, changes to Asafa Powell on their way to winning gold in the 4x100m relay during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009

ter giving himself his third set point against Murray’s serve with a textbook overhead smash.

Federer had insisted heading into the match that it held no special significance, despite Murray’s winning streak against him. He stuck to that after the victory.

“I’m playing the tournament, not the player,” he said. “I’m not going to change my tune saying, ‘Now this is going to put me as a massive favorite for the US Open and now Andy is not going to beat me next time. That’s not true. He’s a wonderful player ... and it takes a great performance to beat him these days.”

Djokovic, who is last year’s runner-up in this event, cruised through the first set and managed an early break in the second en route to the victory. He is now just 5-14 all-time against the second seeded Spaniard.

“This has been one of the best matches in the season so far,” Djokovic said. “It came in the great moment just before the US Open.

“I think I was trying to be from the first point in the control of the match, be very aggressive, and take the chances on each shot or ball that I had. “The serve was exceptionally well when it needed to be, so overall I’m very happy.”

Said Nadal, “He played really well. But I think this match gonna be a good experience for me right now.” Federer is seeking his 61st career title on Sunday.

AFP PHOTO

A pro-Tibet activist joins thousands of Japanese climbing up Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 21, 2009.

Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters performed a religious ceremony to promote world peace and call for freedom for Tibetans in China, on the flanks of Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 22.

Tibetan activists make peace pilgrimage up Japan’s Mt Fuji Agence France Presse

MT FUJI - Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters made a pilgrimage up Mount Fuji on Saturday to pray for world peace and call for freedom for themselves and other minorities in China.

“Today there are a lot of problems in China, not just in Tibet but also in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,” said Lhakpa Tshoko, the Japan and East Asia representative of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

“The nature of suffering we are enduring is the same, so we are also praying for our brothers and sisters in those regions,” he said.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending troops into the Himalayan region the previous year. The

Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The worst unrest in Tibet in years erupted in the regional capital Lhasa in March 2008. Deadly disturbances also broke out last month in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region between mainly Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

At Mt Fuji, about 50 Tibetans, Mongolians and Japanese supporters on Friday started the trek up Japan’s

highest mountain.

Bad weather prevented them from holding a sunrise prayer ceremony Saturday on the summit of the 3,776 metre (12,390 feet) high mountain, but they later performed religious rituals on the flank of the volcano.

“We chose Mt Fuji because it is a very important mountain, loved by the Japanese people and revered in the Shinto religion,” said Lhakpa Tshoko. The Dalai Lama plans to visit Japan in October.

Agence France-Presse

bases in nearby provinces, although he did not give precise figures.

“Having too many troops up there is not really good. We have a plan to change the deployment a little,” Hun Sen said during a trip to an outlying province.

He said the Thai redeployment meant that there was no fighting at the border at present.

“If anything happened, it wouldn’t take long to send our troops up again.

But I hope there won’t be any fighting there,” he added.

Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land sur-

rounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Cambodia to reduce troops at border temple

AP Photo/Matt Dunham

3

Vatican deplores indifference to migrants after more deaths

Agence France Presse

Federer downed Murray 6-2, 7-6 (10/8), his first victory against the Scot since his triumph in last year’s US Open final.

Since then, Murray had bested the Swiss superstar four times, including twice this year.

In the final, Federer will face fourth-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic who swept past Spain’s Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

Federer noted that Murray’s victories against him tended to follow a similar pattern, with the Scot rallying and playing stronger as the matches progressed. “To me it was obviously important this time the same doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“I stayed aggressive. I was always looking to make the plays, and I think in the end I deserved to win just because I wasn’t scared to go after my shots. And I think I served well today.

“It was just overall a very good performance.”

Certainly Federer, whose 15 Grand Slam titles include this year’s French Open and Wimbledon crowns, gave Murray little room to

Monday, August 24, 2009

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday he plans to reduce the number of troops stationed around an ancient border temple that has sparked bloody clashes with Thailand.

The neighbouring countries have fought several skirmishes on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

Hun Sen said Thailand now had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia would send some troops away from the area and back to their

ROME - A senior Vatican official on Saturday deplored indifference with regard to migrants after 73 Eritreans were reported to have died from hunger and thirst trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

“Our so-called civilised societies have in reality developed an attitude of rejection of foreigners, resulting not only from ignorance but selfishness and refusal to share what one has with others,” Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio told Radio Vatican.

Veglio said that the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People which he heads was troubled by the “ceaseless repetition of such tragedies”.

“Every migrant is a human person, who as such possesses fundamental and inalienable rights which must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance,” he said, quoting a recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. Five migrants rescued on Thursday off Italy’s southern Lampedusa island said 73 of their companions had perished during the voyage and their bodies were dumped at sea.

The emaciated survivors said their small 12-metre (40-foot) boat — which set off from Libya — had been adrift without fuel for 20 days, and that they received no help from several passing vessels.

But Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said it was “extremely unfair” to criticise or blame Malta or Italy for any deaths.

Speaking at a joint news conference

with the head of the Maltese Armed Forces Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Borg said that when the boat was first spotted, it was still in Libya’s search and rescue area.

Had there been any deaths, these must have taken place in Libya’s area, he said.

The Maltese authorities were also continuing to cast doubt on the migrants’ story.

Vassallo said the boat carrying the five Eritreans was so small it was “highly unlikely” that it carried many more people.

Vassallo said the boat was first spotted by a helicopter from the European Union border agency Frontex when it was still in the Libyan search and rescue zone.

A Maltese patrol boat was sent to investigate and approached the migrants, who immediately insisted they did not want to stop in Malta but wanted to continue their voyage to Italy. They also informed the Maltese soldiers that 73 of their compatriots had died during the voyage and accepted some crackers, water and fuel.

He said the boat looked new, was clean and was so small that not many more would have been able to fit in it. He did not exclude that they could have been transferred to the boat during the journey.

Vassallo said the Maltese continued to monitor the boat from a distance until it was close to Lampedusa. The Italian authorities had already been informed about the migrants by then.

Cambodia to reduce troops at border temple Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday he plans to reduce the number of troops stationed around an ancient border temple that has sparked bloody clashes with Thailand.

The neighbouring countries have fought several skirmishes on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

Hun Sen said Thailand now had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia would send some troops away from the area and back to their bases in nearby provinces, although he did not give precise figures.

“Having too many troops up there is not really good. We have a plan to change the deployment a little,” Hun Sen said during a trip to an outlying province.

He said the Thai redeployment meant that there was no fighting at the border at present.

“If anything happened, it

wouldn’t take long to send our troops up again. But I hope there won’t be any fighting there,” he added.

Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land surrounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

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News

Monday, August 24, 2009

International

Life Style

International

Iran clerics object to women ministers Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - Iran’s conservative clerics have objected to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to include three women in his new cabinet, a report said on Saturday, dealing a blow to the hardliner’s bid to secure parliament’s nod for his ministerial line-up.

Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health, and welfare and social security in his 21-member cabinet.

“Although it is a new idea to choose women as ministers, there are religious doubts over the abilities of women when it comes to management. This should be considered by the government,” Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the head of the clerics’ faction in the 290-member conservative-dominated Iranian parliament was quoted as saying by the conservative daily Tehran Emrouz.

He said the faction will seek the

opinion of the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the issue.

Ahmadinejad’s proposed cabinet, which boasts 11 new names including the three women, will face a vote of confidence on August 30.

Rahbar said leading Iranian clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi and Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayghani too wanted Ahmadinejad to reconsider his decision regarding the three women.

The nomination of females to the cabinet marks a first in the 30year history of the Islamic republic, although in 1997 then reformist president Mohammad Khatami appointed two women among his vice presidents.

In recent years Iranian women have outnumbered men in universities but they still account for only around 15 percent of the official work force. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, women have been banned from becoming judges and suffer from legal inequalities with men in marriage, divorce and inheritance.

Argentine outrage as Iran names terror suspect as minister Agence France-Presse

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina expressed outrage Friday over Iran’s nomination of a man wanted in connection to a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing that killed 85 people as the next defense minister.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tapping Ahmad Vahidi for the post is “an affront to Argentine justice and the victims of the terrorist attack” on the Jewish community center, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

News of the nomination was received “with grave concern and deserves the most energetic condemnation of the Argentine government,” it said.

In 2007, Interpol issued what it calls a Red Notice on Vahidi, a former head of Al Quds, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Interpol under the notice distributed Argentina’s arrest warrant for Vahidi to member coun-

tries.

The July 9, 1994 bombing leveled the seven-floor Argentine Jewish Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding 300. No single individual has ever been convicted for the bombing.

It was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina, which has the largest Jewish community in the Americas outside the United States, and the second large-scale anti-Jewish strike in Buenos Aires that decade.

In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was leveled in a bombing that killed 22 people and wounded 200.

In Washington, US officials reacted with concern.

“If this report is true and if this man is confirmed as a cabinet minister and is wanted by Interpol for his involvement in a terrorist act, of course this would be disturbing,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

AFP PHOTO/FARS NEWS

Ahmad Vahidi.

Monday, August 24, 2009

13

Graffiti gains ground in China Agence France Presse

BEIJING - Clean-cut 23-year-old design graduate Chen Chuang sprayed a whitewashed wall in central Beijing in broad daylight with big jagged blue letters — his clan’s signature — before scurrying away.

“It’s not really against the law,” said his friend Liu Yuchen.

AFP PHOTO / YANICK MANIENGUI

Bruno Ben Moubamba (C), presidential candidate for the upcoming (August 30) elections, is pictured during his hunger strike infront of the lower house of parliament in Libreville on August 19, 2009. Gabon’s election campaign kicked off on August 15, 2009 as contenders to succeed the late veteran president Omar Bongo Ondimba held rallies while independent candidate Bruno Ben Moubamba launched a hunger strike to demand a delay, charging that the process was marred by irregularities.

Hunger-striking Gabon presidential hopeful hospitalised Agence France-Presse

LIBREVILLE - A hunger-striking candidate in Gabon’s presidential election was admitted to hospital Saturday after his condition had dramatically deteriorated after eight days’ fasting, his supporters said.

Bruno Ben Moubamba, one of several candidates campaigning to get the election postponed, was evacuated to a hospital in the capital Libreville, said George Mpaga, the head of a network of groups supporting him.

“He fainted, we were obliged to take him to hospital” against his wishes, the leader of his campaign

Joel Mbiamany Ntchoreret said.

Earlier Saturday had said expressed about Moubamba’s condition, which he said had dramatically deteriorated.

“He is very, very weak, but he is still refusing to eat and he is refusing to be evacuated to hospital,” he told AFP. Moubamba was going into con-

vulsions and was showing signs of mental confusion, he added.

For eight days Moubamba had been camped in front of the national assembly on hunger strike. He wants the government to resign and the August 30 election to be postponed.

On Thursday, he refused a request from officials sent by the interim president Rose Francine Rogombe to halt his hunger strike Another 11 presidential candidates have also called for the election to be postponed, denouncing what they called flagrant irregularities and inequalities.

London, Edinburgh under fire over Lockerbie release Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Scotland rejected scathing criticism Saturday from the FBI over the Lockerbie bomber’s release, as the British government came under pressure to explain its role.

In a letter to Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released earlier Saturday, Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, denounced his decision to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

But the Scottish government hit back, saying that while compassionate release might not be part of the US justice system, it was a proper part of Scotland’s.

Meanwhile the British government came under pressure to explain its role in Megrahi’s release, but strongly denied Libyan claims it was linked to trade deals.

Mueller, who in 1991 was assistant attorney general in charge of the investigation of Megrahi, wrote that he was “outraged at the decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ‘compassion’”.

But a Scottish government spokesman said the decision was reached following proper procedures.

“The justice secretary reached his conclusions on the basis of Scotland’s due process, clear evidence, and the recommendations from the parole board and prison

governor,” the spokesman said.

“Compassionate release is not part of the US justice system but it is part of Scotland’s,” he added.

“Mr MacAskill could not have consulted more widely — he spoke with the US families, the US attorney general, Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and many others.

“Mr Megrahi has been sent back to Libya to die a convicted man.”

MacAskill would respond to Mueller’s letter in due course, the spokesman added.

The semi-autonomous Scottish government, based in Edinburgh, can take decisions independently of London on justice matters but not foreign affairs.

AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN

Visitors at an arts district in Beijing pose for photos in front of graffiti spray-painted on a wall on June 30, 2009. China has seen the emergence of a small but growing group of graffiti artists but unlike their counterparts in the West, who have sometimes used the art form to convey political messages, Chinese artists offer a message that has little to do with revolt or protest, with many having taken up graffiti as a trendy fad, discovered through the Internet, films, magazines and from friends who had travelled abroad.

Chen quickly added: “But once you get caught, it can be very serious.” Chen and Liu are members of a small but growing group of graffiti artists in China where the craft, once the preserve of Western countries, has taken off in the last few years.

But unlike their counterparts in the West, who have sometimes used the art form to convey political messages, Chinese artists offer a message that has little to do with revolt or protest.

“Graffiti art in China has got rid of the strong rebelliousness and confrontational attitude in Western graffiti,” said Luo Zhongli, head of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

“It is related to the aesthetics of people’s lives, and leans more towards fashion.” Chen and Liu say that most Chinese artists took up graffiti as a trendy fad, having discovered it through the Internet, films, magazines and from friends who had travelled abroad.

Most of the pair’s designs revolve around cartoons, abstract images and

colourful words such as their graffiti names — not politics.

“There are very few people doing graffiti in Beijing, and if I sign my name on the street and talk about bad things, the police will find me very quickly,” said Chen.

Another graffiti artist from the northern city of Xi’an agreed.

“There can’t be political themes, and if there are, they must be beneficial towards the government or the party,” said 18-year-old Seker, a recent high school graduate who asked to be identified only by his pseudonym.

Chen said he drew about topics that inspired him, such as the deadly Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, or even the Nanjing massacre in 1937 when Japanese invaders killed hundreds of thousands of people.

There is no specific law relating to graffiti in China, as the phenomenon is relatively new.

But Chen said he knew people who had been detained for several days and others who had been fined for spraying their designs at will.

Dollar squeeze puts imports New York painter barks for art out of reach for Venezuelans Agence France Presse

Agence France Presse

CARACAS - Venezuela may be South America’s richest oil exporter, but its population is finding many imports such as cheese, meats and wines being priced well out reach because of currency controls.

An official exchange rate of 2.15 Bolivars to the US dollar makes Caracas one of the most expensive cities the region when prices are taken at face value.

But a scarcity of the US currency since the end of 2008 because of sliding oil revenues has forced importers to turn to a parallel exchange rate that more than doubles the number of Bolivars needed to buy one dollar.

That has sent the cost of imported items skyrocketing. In just over a week, the price for a kilo of French brie cheese has jumped 190 percent to 580 Bolivars (270 dollars, or 122 dollars a pound at the official rate).

Spanish ham has gone up a similar ratio to 100 dollars a kilo (45 dollars a pound), while a bottle of basic Champagne costs 160 dollars, and a block of butter is 12 dollars at the government exchange valuation.

The multiplying expense is strangling store commerce, and drawing the ire of customers who rely on imports for many of their basic items.

“Imports are no longer affordable,” bemoaned Coromoto Bautista, picking her way through a shop. “A cosmetic product that you could buy for 12 Bolivars is now at 46 Bolivars. Meat that I paid 180 Bolivars for a month ago costs more than 300 this week,” she said.

The Venezuelan government has said it plans to introduce new measures in the next few days to “restore balance” and clamp down on market “distortions” caused by the big gap between the official and parallel rates. A devaluation, though, has so far been ruled out.

The country entirely depends on its oil exports, and the government has made no effort to be self-sufficient in food and industrial production, preferring to spend oil income on imports.

But with the global slowdown pushing oil prices down, the flow of dollars has diminished, prompting the government to choose import priorities to be paid for in greenbacks.

NEW YORK – In her Brooklyn studio the artist stretches, gazes passionately — then plunges her teeth through the canvas.

So begins another masterpiece by Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie, a Jack Russell terrier some see as rivaling the big beasts of the two-legged contemporary art world.

Switching from teeth to claws, Tillie scratches intensely at the paper, covered with vellum lathered in scarlet paint, and protected by Mylar film.

Occasionally she pauses to examine her work. Her body trembles with excitement, eyes shine, tongue lolls.

Then with a growl and a bark she’s off again, tearing, scratching, licking.

Sometimes frenzied, sometimes in a trance, she appears oblivious to an entourage of six humans, including a sculptor and painter, and two dogs.

After about 20 minutes, owner Bowman Hastie, who describes himself as the artist’s assistant, snatches the work to safety. The Mylar and vellum sheets are removed, revealing an unequal storm of red lines raging across the canvas.

The visiting artists, who’ve never seen Tillie in action, are awestruck.

“She seemed possessed. It was scary,” gasps Juan Doe, a painter and

comic book illustrator. “The piece,” he says, surveying the still wet paper, “is awesome.”

“It looks like two human lungs,” an astonished Ward Yoshimoto, who sculpts and works as a commercial photographer, exclaims.

The 10-year-old pooch, named after Hastie’s favorite childhood cheese, has built a career that New York’s army of struggling artists could only dream of matching.

She has collaborated with major established artists like Americans Tom Sachs and Jon Kessler.

Her paintings, which sell for more than 1,000 dollars, just had a solo show in Florida and are now part of an animal art exhibition in Ottawa.

In October, Yoshimoto and Doe are including her alongside human painters when a gallery they run shows at a Paris art fair.

But is Tillie an artist? Or does she just enjoy savaging paint-covered paper? Not everyone thinks the canny canine should swap her kennel for an atelier. New York’s Village Voice newspaper pithily labeled Tillie “a sham”.

Fans point out that Tillie’s work strongly resembles the output of human conceptualists selling canvases for a million dollars, or far more, at major auctions.

AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

Dog painting artist Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie, a Jack Russell terrier, looks on as owner Bowman Hastie signs copies of her biography, in New York, August 18, 2009. The 10year-old dog, has been painting since she was a puppy and collaborated with major established artists like Tom Sachs and Jon Kessler of the US. Tillie’s owner, Bowman Hastie, who describes himself as her assistant, has been promoting her paintings, which sell for over a 1,000 USD, via art shows and galleries.

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Monday, August 24, 2009

Entertainment

International

Worldwide ‘Avatar’ previews thrill sci-fi fans Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Fans wearing 3D glasses clapped as soon as James Cameron’s face appeared on screen. The filmmaker, shown in 3D, invited moviegoers to enjoy a 16-minute peek of his anticipated sci-fi epic “Avatar,” which was screened for free around the world Friday.

The footage takes viewers to the planet Pandora, where an ex-Marine (Sam Worthington) is among a group of humans who have their brains linked to cloned versions of a native species in order to safely explore the spectacular environment. Sigourney Weaver plays a botanist overseeing the exploration. She, too, embodies an avatar based on the tall, lithe, tailed, blue humanoid species that populates the planet.

Together they meet an enormous hammerhead dinosaur with a plume of multicolored spikes on its face and the snarling tiger-like creature that scares it away.

Another scene shows Worthington’s character befriending a native woman (Zoe Saldana). They discover a psychedelic forest of luminescent flowers and battle an army of flying dragons. Relying on 3D and performance-capture technology Cameron has helped pioneer, “Avatar” is an immersive blend of animation and live-action movie magic.

Fans at an IMAX screening in Los Angeles were overwhelmed by the 3D footage.

“It was almost a sensory overload,” said Ryan Moore, 23, a student at Ohio State University. “You have to be in the moment wearing

the (3D) glasses to really appreciate it.” Dwayne Smith of Venice was taken with the digital effects.

“It looked very real, especially the aliens. It looked amazingly real,” said the 45-year-old. “It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, actually.”

The free preview convinced one fan to buy a ticket on the spot. “I think it’s going to be one of the greatest movies this decade,” said 21-year-old film student Derek Nunn.

The screenings, shown on some 440 screens in 58 countries, kept social networking sites abuzz with fan feedback. One who was disappointed with the trailer said seeing the extended footage in 3D changed his mind about the movie.

“It is essential that you watch it in IMAX 3D, or 3D,” Manoj Patel of Manchester, England, wrote on the film’s Facebook page. “I just got back from watching the 15-minute footage, and I’ve got to say, my mouth was wide open all the way through.”

Response to the film’s 2D trailer, which debuted online Thursday, was mixed. Analyzing the two-minute teaser, several movie blogs — including Movieline.com and Spout blog — noted the film’s similar appearance to the 2008 animated flop

BUENA PARK - Canadian authorities on Saturday intensified the manhunt for the millionaire reality TV star accused of murdering a former swimsuit model and stuffing her naked, mutilated body in a suitcase.

AP Photo/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp

In this undated photo released in Tokyo, Japan, by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Australian actor Sam Worthington is shown in a scene in James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi adventure “Avatar.” Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp. has signed on “Titanic” director Cameron and his upcoming film “Avatar” in an advertising blitz for its TVs equipped with 3-D technology, both sides said Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. The film is scheduled to be released at movie theaters in Japan on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 by Twentieth Century Fox.

“Delgo” and other science fiction movies.

But fans who saw the footage in 3D gave it overwhelmingly positive reviews. “The trailer does not represent the movie properly,” Smith said. “The trailer short-sells it.”

Cameron said Friday he heard the trailer was a hot topic on Facebook and Twitter, but that he

lacks certain social networking skills to take part.

“I don’t even know how to Twitter,” he said in an interview. “I’m so unhip that it’s tragic.”

But the 55-year-old filmmaker, whose last flick was world box-office record-holder “Titanic” in 1997, knows how to make a splash on screen. He said his team came up

with the “crazy stunt” of inviting people to the movie theater to watch 16 minutes of “Avatar” for free.

“And it’s not even a continuous 16 minutes,” Cameron said. “There are a number of scenes, about three or four minutes apiece. And the idea was to let people come in and really sample the quality of the goods.”

“Avatar” is set for release Dec. 18.

Robin Williams says he is a “work-in-progress” dad Reuters

LOS ANGELES – Robin Williams stars in a movie called “World’s Greatest Dad,” but as a real life father of three grown kids the Oscar winner said he had to overcome dark times and was still a work-in-progress.

“I’m so proud of them in different ways, but have they always been cherubs? No, but that’s been part of the process,” Williams said in an interview.

“And am I the ‘world’s greatest dad?’ Not at all, I’m a work-inprogress, but I love them,” said Williams, whose latest of 51 movies opens on Friday.

A son from his first marriage, Zachary, 26, graduated from New York University. From his second marriage were born Zelda, 20, a budding actress, and Cody, who turns 18 this year.

The comic, who in the past has entered rehab to deal with substance abuse, said his difficulties gave his children a ready response when he questioned them about their behavior.

“They went, ‘And you had a three-year drunken relapse.’ Ah, thank you for bringing that back, my little happy creatures,” Williams quipped.

BP/doc

Robin Williams

After Zachary graduated from New York University with a degree in rhetoric, Williams joked that his son was qualified to “open a syntax repair shop.”

But Williams said he sees how Zachary has pursued his own interests, just as Zelda has made her mark in horror movies and Cody was “kind but brilliant.”

Zelda, has starred in several slasher-style flicks but Williams has begged off seeing them to avoid

watching her get “killed” on screen.

In “World’s Greatest Dad,” directed by fellow comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, Williams plays Lance, a poetry teacher whose teenage son attends the school where he works.

The son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) is a rude outcast, but when he dies suddenly, Lance sets out to rehabilitate Kyle’s posthumous image by “ghostwriting” for his son in a journal that circulates through the school.

Soon, Lance finds the disgust other students once had for Kyle transforms to idolatry. “The movie is a bit of a satire about how we rewrite people when they die,” Goldthwait said in the same interview.

“Now, suddenly everybody would let Michael Jackson baby-sit their kids,” he joked, to illustrate his point.

Goldthwait and Williams are long-time friends, having performed together several times in comedy clubs under the pseudonyms “Jack Cheese” and “Marty Fromage.”

After daughter Zelda saw this latest movie, she complained about not being warned of one scene in which Williams bares his private parts.

“Well you know,” said Williams in a Shakespearean voice, “there are some things father’s don’t talk about.”

Monday, August 24, 2009

Police scour Canada for millionaire murder suspect Associated Press Writers

‘Runway’ champ campaigns for Kidman to wear dress to start a Web site for his case.

Because, as he puts it, “I WANT that woman in my dress.”

The style-savvy actress helped set up a design contest for Vosovic and seven other top contestants from past “Runway” seasons. In a video message, Kidman asked them to create a red carpet-ready look for the upcoming premiere of her film “Nine,” which also stars Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson. She didn’t say who’d wear the chosen dress.

“As excited as we were, we certainly got it,” he said. “I mean, she has an international image to AP Photo/Lifetime, David M. Russell uphold. ... I think that she just Daniel Vosovic wanted to have a little bit of a look, so hopefully she’s watching Associated Press Writer the show, she loves what I did and NEW YORK – Fashion designer she’ll want to wear the dress.”

Representatives for Kidman Daniel Vosovic has someone very A-list in mind for the winning dress could not immediately be reached he created for the “Project Run- for comment Friday.

Vosovic, 28, is planning to deway: All-Star Challenge.”

Vosovic dreams of getting none but his namesake collection at New other than Nicole Kidman to wear York Fashion Week in February. He the elegant black-and-white en- recently published a book, “Fashsemble that secured his victory on ion Inside Out.” He was booted from “Project Thursday’s special edition of the Runway” in 2006 after making it fashion-competition franchise.

Vosovic says he feels the urge to the final round.

News

International

AP Photo/TMZ

This photo provided by TMZ, shows Ryan Alexander Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore’s March 18, 2009 wedding in Las Vegas.

Jenkins, a reality TV contestant, is charged with killing his wife, a former swimsuit model.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned, but we have to play our cards close to our chest right now,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Duncan Pound.

The search for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a 32-year-old real estate developer and investor from Calgary, is centered around Vancouver and British Columbia, said Peter Van Loan, Canada’s public safety minister.

The Mounted Police are leading the manhunt for Jenkins, who is suspected of strangling Jasmine Fiore and then reporting her missing the evening of Aug. 15 before fleeing.

Jenkins and Fiore met in Las Vegas in March and they married a few weeks later.

The couple separated shortly afterward, but had reportedly recently reconciled.

Fiore’s body was found in a trash bin in Buena Park, an Orange County city about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

Her teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off, apparently to impede her identification. Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Authorities believe Jenkins fled via car, boat and on foot to enter his native Canada.

Both Jenkins and Fiore were involved in the outer circles of the entertainment business.

Fiore was a model who worked mainly in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, doing gigs such as being bodypainted at parties, said Andrea Guevara, a friend who worked with her about five years ago coaching “margarita wrestling” teams - young women tussling each other in swimming pools of green-colored water.

Fiore’s looks meant she was often invited to parties, some hosted by celebrities, but she had more than a pretty face and alluring figure, Guevara told The Associated Press in an interview.

“She was very intelligent and well spoken,” Guevara said. “She had a positive energy and was always working. She didn’t need to have a boyfriend. She was very happy being herself.”

French men charged with paedophile offences Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - A Cambodian court charged two French men Sunday with soliciting a child prostitute and producing child pornography, a prosecutor said.

The charges were laid against Michel Jean Raymond Charlot, 62, and 60-year-old Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret, Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor Kry Sok Y said.

Charlot was arrested after he al-

legedly solicited a 16-year-old girl in Phnom Penh and took her back to his guesthouse room.

Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret was arrested later after the girl told police about him, said Keo Thea, deputy chief of the municipality’s anti-human trafficking police.

“Both of them were charged after police found a lot of pictures and videos they made while having sex with children in Thailand and Cambodia,” said Kry Sok Y.

“We have handed them to the investigating judges to question them more,” he added.

Police said they found evidence of children’s underwear, toys and sex toys, as well as the pictures and videos.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

5

PHILIPPINES OUT AFP PHOTO

A Dornier 328 plane of the SEAIR sits stuck on the grassy land on the side of the runway of the Manila’s main international airport on August 23, 2009.

Tourist plane skids off runway at Philippine airport Agence France-Presse

MANILA - A plane carrying 32 people from the Philippines resort island of Boracay skidded off the runway after landing at Manila’s main international airport on Sunday, officials said.

The small plane belonging to SEAIR, a local airline mainly serving tourist routes, was hit by crosswinds as it came in to land but no one was hurt in the incident, said airport official Harold Balucatin.

The plane got stuck in the grass at the side of the runway, he said.

The runway was temporarily closed while repair crews tried to move the plane, which suffered damage to its landing gear.

The plane was returning from Caticlan, the town that serves the island of Boracay, one of the country’s leading beach resorts, airport officials said.

Neither airport nor airline officials were able to say if there were any foreign tourists aboard the plane.

The accident came less than a month after a hard landing by a SEAIR plane at Caticlan airport forced flights there to be briefly suspended.

In January, at least two passengers were seriously injured when a small plane operated by Zest Airways missed the runway on landing and smashed into a concrete wall at the Caticlan airport.

Two Indian presidential bodyguards get life sentences for rape Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI - An Indian court Saturday sentenced two presidential bodyguards to life imprisonment for raping a teenage university student in New Delhi six years ago, a report said.

The attack in the heart of the city on the 17-year-old girl sparked outrage across India as it involved soldiers belonging to an elite unit at the presidential palace, a tourist highlight in the capital.

Two other presidential bodyguards convicted of abducting and robbing the student were sentenced to ten years each in jail, the Press Trust of India report said.

The victim, who was strolling in the park with a male friend, was attacked by the four soldiers in broad daylight in October 2003, the

prosecution said.

While two of them stood guard, the other two raped her, the court was told.

The park lies within a kilometre (mile) of the British-built, red-stone presidential palace, which is guarded by hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

There are often reports of rape in India but many women are reluctant to complain to police because of the stigma surrounding the crime and fears it could jeopardise their chances of marriage.

Members of the armed forces have been dogged in recent years by accusations of sexual misconduct.

The Indian Express newspaper described the October 2003 rape as “an unprecedented stain” on the President’s Bodyguard, which was founded in 1773 by Britain’s Governor-General Warren Hastings.

6

Monday, August 24, 2009

News

Monday, August 24, 2009

Quake in Algarve could have caused cliff collapse Agence France-Presse

LISBON - An earthquake may have played a role in the collapse of a cliff on to a packed beach in Portugal’s Algarve region, which killed five people, the country’s environment minister said Saturday.

“Several factors could have contributed” to Friday’s tragedy at the popular resort of Albufeira, “and among the probable causes we are looking into is Tuesday’s earthquake,” Francisco Nunes Correia was quoted as saying by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

The quake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale shook southern Portugal but without causing casualties or damage.

Its epicentre was 110 kilometres (65 miles) south of the city of Faro and it was felt in several tourist resorts in the Algarve.

Jose Alveirinho Dias, professor of geology at the university of the Algarve, and Orlando Boreges, president of the National Institute of Hydrology (INAG), also said the seismic vibrations could have helped cause the accident.

Portugal’s meteorological institute however was more cautious saying it was not known how unstable the cliff had been at the time.

“The level of vibrations felt at the accident spot (during the earthquake) was of very week intensity,” Fernando Carrilho, director of Meteo Portugal’s seismology and geophysics department, told reporters.

The partial collapse of the cliff on the Maria Luisa beach, which attracts foreign tourists and celebrities, killed five people and injured three according to the latest toll issued by the Civil Protection authority.

Pendet dances...

From page 1 AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

A municipality worker and a resident try to stop the fire at the mount of Penteli, early Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. A massive wildfire tore through outlying suburbs north of Athens early Sunday, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee in dramatic overnight evacuations, Fire Service and local officials said.

Titanic effort as wildfire reaches Athens suburbs Agence France-Presse

ATHENS - Firefighters waged a titanic effort on Sunday to contain a massive fire lapping at Athens’ eastern suburbs after burning a 30-kilometre (20-mile) swathe through one of the Greek capital’s last forests.

With aerial help expected from Italy, France and Cyprus, around 400 firefighters struggled through the night to contain the wildfire that has reached the residential suburbs of Agios Stefanos, Anthousa, Gerakas and Pallini where sporadic evacuations were underway.

Around 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land are believed to have been devastated according to officials’ early estimates and the blaze is feared to have damaged or destroyed scores of rural and summer homes.

The fire started late on Friday in a rural area around 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Athens, but strong winds pushed it back and forth across a forested area dotted with villages and greenhouses.

Fireproof zones erected on Mount Penteli, the last barrier to the

capital, failed to hold the flames late on Saturday when fire-fighting aircraft were withdrawn for the night, and authorities decided to protectively evacuate two childrens’ hospitals, a summer camp and a private psychiatric clinic.

“This is a very significant environmental disaster, perhaps the gravest in recent years,” the prefect of the greater eastern Athens area Leonidas Kouris told ANT1 television.

“We face a great ordeal,” Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said late Saturday after visiting the fire department operations centre, adding that fire crews were mounting a “superhuman” effort.

The wildfire on Saturday also burned around Marathon, one of the agricultural areas feeding the capital and the main source of its water

supply, and led authorities to relocate missiles and ammunition from a military camp.

The blaze evoked memories of a 2007 wave of wildfires that killed 77 people and destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of forest across the country.

No casualties have been reported so far from the fire which broke out near an area earmarked for a waste disposal facility.

With temperatures frequently running above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and seasonal strong winds, Greece is particularly vulnerable to summer fires that ravage forest and agricultural land.

Other fires continued to burn on the central Aegean islands of Skyros and Evia and the Ionian island of Zakynthos, which has been hit by repeated blazes this summer.

Meanwhile, Ida Ayu Agung Mas, the member of Indonesian Senator, is very concern on the claiming act done by Malaysia. “As the representative of Indonesian people, we supported the protest and will send this

to Malaysian government right away,” she added.

Indonesian Government must list the local arts because Malaysia had done the similar acts several times. In the protest also being performed Pendet dance by Mrs. Arini and her two granddaughters, Gung Cahya and Gung Ari.

Weakened...

From page 1 The Miami-based NHC said large swells from Bill would continue to affect much of the US east coast and Canada’s Atlantic Maritime provinces Sunday. Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were in effect for much of the coastline and some beaches were closed.

Bill moved past Bermuda earlier Saturday and swells there and in the Bahamas were set to gradually diminish overnight.

At 0300 GMT Sunday, Bill’s top winds were whizzing at 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour about 195 miles (315 km) southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts and 435 miles (705 km) south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, spinning northward at about 25 miles (41 km) per hour.

Most of the hurricane, the center said, “will pass offshore of the coast of New England overnight, be near Nova Scotia on Sunday and be near Newfoundland Sunday night.”

But it was expected to further weaken Sunday as it moved over cooler waters. “The official intensity forecast shows slow weakening through 24 hours due to cooler sea surface temperatures and increasing vertical wind shear,” the NHC advised.

In Canada, authorities issued tropical storm warnings for much of Nova Scotia’s coast while a hurricane watch was in effect for some far parts of the province and the eastern coast of Newfoundland.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the coast of Massachusetts from Woods Hole to Sagamore

Beach, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, meaning that winds of at least 40 miles (64 km) per hour could hit within the next 24-hour period.

Yacht owners battened down the hatches at Martha’s Vineyard, a popular resort for the wealthy where the US first family was due to spend a week unwinding for the first time since Obama’s inauguration in January.

The Obamas had originally planned to leave early Sunday for the holiday location but delayed their departure from Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington until 1:45 pm (1845 GMT) amid the weather concerns.

The storm would be “marginal” in strength by the time it arrived along the Canadian coast, said Peter Bowyer of the Canadian Hurricane Center in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hilda formed in the far western portion of the eastern Pacific basin on Saturday, moving westward with top winds at 40 miles (65 km) per hour, according to the NHC. At 0300 GMT, it was located 1,980 miles (3,185 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and some 1,175 miles (1,895 km) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii.

The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on November 30.

Bill’s progress follows one of the calmest starts to the hurricane season in a decade, which researchers for the state

11

BUSINESS Europe’s top tourist destinations hit by economic crisis Agence France-Presse

PARIS - Empty terrace tables at Parisian cafes. Fewer sunbathers scattered along Italian and Spanish beaches: The global economic crisis has cast a dark cloud over Europe’s top tourist destinations.

France, the world’s tourism champion with 79.3 million visitors last year, has been hit hard by the drop in foreign travelers.

The number of international visitors in France has fallen by nearly one-third in the heat of summer — July and August — after sinking by 15.5 percent in the first five months of the year, government figures show.

Spain, which fell to third place among the world’s favorite tourist destinations last year, has suffered a 10 percent drop in visits this summer following an 11.4 percent fall in the first half of the year.

And Italy’s tourism industry is forecasting an 8.3 percent reduction in foreign visitors between May and October.

As frugal foreigners stay in their home countries, Europe’s top tourist destinations are looking at their compatriots to compensate for the drop in visitors.

According to a Gallup poll, 48 percent of Europeans plan to spend their holidays in their own countries this year, compared to 43 percent in 2008.

Britons, the continent’s top travelers next to Germans, have reduced their European trips by 10 percent

amid a drop in the value of the pound.

As a result, the beaches of Spain, usually crowded with British and German tourists, are emptier than usual.

“It’s the worst summer that I have ever seen. There’s no one at the beach,” said Pedro Hervas, who sells drinks in Torremolinos on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol. Spain already lost its spot as the world’s second most visited country last year, as the United States took its place with 58 million visitors compared to 57.3 million for the European country.

The Spanish government has released one billion euros to support the country’s tourism industry.

As in other European countries, tourists are drinking and eating less in Spain’s usually bustling bars and restaurants.

The consumption of beer is expected to fall by 13.5 percent in August compared to last year, according to Spanish brewers.

Tourists are also doling out less cash in neighboring Portugal and Greece, where spending by foreign visitors has dropped by 13.2 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively, in the first half of the year.

Tourists have been more frugal on Italian beaches too.

“People rent a parasol, but they bring sandwiches,” said a spokesman for the union of Italian beach businesses.

There were 1.5 million fewer tourists on the beaches of Italy in June and July compared to last year.

Hit by a drop in demand, hotels have begun to cut their prices in Italy.

In the second quarter, room rates fell by 8.3 percent on average, while three- and four-star hotels reduced their prices by nearly 30 percent.

Only Rome, the “Eternal City,” seems to have escaped the crisis.

“Tourism is going well in Rome, but it is lower in Florence, Venice and the coast,” said the city’s deputy mayor in charge of tourism, Mauro Cutrufo.

Despite this summer of discontent, France should remain the world’s top tourist choice since travel is down in every country at “about the same rate,” said Christian Mantei, president of tourism development agency Atout France.

France depends less on summer tourism, Mantei said, adding: “We have visitors all year long in France.”

Bangladesh unveils six billion dollar plan to end power crisis Agence France-Presse

DHAKA - Energy-starved Bangladesh will invite tenders next month for a six-billiondollar power plant building program to end a chronic fuel shortage in the fast-growing economy, an official said Saturday.

Most of the power needed to end Bangladesh’s electricity shortfall would be produced at plants built by private companies to be selected by the government through competitive bidding, the official said.

“The government has approved the 410 billion taka (six billion dollar) plan,” said the head of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, A.S.M. Alamgir Kabir.

“We will now interact with private companies and invite tenders next month (to build a number of power plants). Our target is to get rid of power shortages by 2014,” Kabir told AFP. Impoverished Bangladesh has long suffered severe power outages due to demands imposed by its economy, which has been growing at around six percent annually

over the last five years.

The shortfall is especially acute in the hot summer months from April to October.

Years of under-investment have meant state-owned power plants generate only around 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day but demand is 6,000 megawatts and growing at 500 megawatts a year due to increasing industrialisation.

Kabir said most of the power would be generated by coal and diesel and furnace fuel, ending the country’s long reliance on natural gas.

AFP PHOTO / FILES / Torsten BLACKWOOD

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 21, 2008 shows the first Qantas Airbus A380 passing the Qantas fleet at Sydney International Airport after two years of production delays and 200 million USD in compensation. Australian flag-carrier Qantas on Sunday blamed flagging demand on its key London and Los Angeles routes for an 88 percent drop in annual net profit.

Qantas says LA and London routes behind profit nosedive Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE - Australian flag-carrier Qantas on Sunday blamed flagging demand on its key London and Los Angeles routes for an 88 percent drop in annual net profit.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said the two routes, once the airline’s main profit generators, were operating at a loss due to increased competition and the impact of the global financial crisis.

Joyce said that while the airline’s domestic operations were still profitable, the LA and London routes had dragged its international business into the red.

“Basically, those routes are the biggest issue,” he told public broadcaster ABC. “Those two big routes are very dependent on premium traffic. Premium traffic dropped by between 20 and 30 percent for us.”

Qantas last week announced net

profit fell to 117 million dollars (96.6 million US) in the 12 months to June, down from 969 million.

Competition in the Australia-Los Angeles route has ramped up this year with US giant Delta and Virgin’s VAustralia taking on existing players Qantas and United Airlines.

The heavy discounting that has resulted means fares on the route touching all-time lows, less than half the cost from a year ago.

Joyce predicted the trans-Pacific route and the so-called “kangaroo route” from Australia to London would return to profit once the financial crisis eased and high-yielding business-class traffic returned.

“As the economy turns, as the business market comes back, those routes will improve,” he said.

Joyce ruled out handing the routes to the airline’s discount offshoot Jetstar in a bid to make them profitable, saying they were core elements of the Qantas brand.

10

Business

Monday, August 24, 2009

Indonesia Today

International

International

Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for General Motors to decide next week who will take over its European unit Opel, in an interview to be telecast on Sunday.

AFP PHOTO DDP/THOMAS LOHNES

Picture taken on March 31, 2009 shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving a speech during her visit at the plant of car maker Opel in Ruesselsheim, western Germany.

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

Sberbank, and another from Brussels-based investment group RHJ International.

GM is believed to favour RHJ, but Germany has a clear preference for Magna.

Both bidders want to cut around 10,000 jobs at Opel, but Merkel and the German state governments where Opel has factories prefer Magna because fewer of its job cuts would fall in Germany.

The German government’s opinion is crucial because it is stumping up several billion euros in loans to sweeten to deal.

According to press reports, Germany is prepared to offer a 4.5-billion-euro (6.4-billion-dollar) loan available to Magna in an attempt to persuade GM to choose the Canadian-led offer.

Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said over the weekend there was “still room for an agreement” and that “there was a solid framework for talks to continue.”

Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - Indonesian shares are expected to face a correction next week due to a lack of positive domestic factors and sentiment being affected by volatility on regional markets, dealers said Friday.

AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO

Street vendors and customers pack a street in downtown Jakarta on August 23, 2009. - Indonesian shares are expected to face a correction next week due to a lack of positive domestic factors and sentiment being affected by volatility on regional markets, dealers said Friday.

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

Antara r pe Su ve a S

AMBON - A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit the West Southeast Maluku (MTB) district town of Saumlaki at 2:52 a.m. local time on Saturday.

The local meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG)’s spokesman, Irfan Salmet, said the epicenter of the temblor was located at 7.54 degrees southern latitude and 128 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 128 km under the sea level, or about 126 km northwest of Saumlaki.

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in Shanghai over recent sessions.

The key China index fell about three percent as a whole for the week, but had a rough ride in between — dropping 5.79 percent Monday, rebounding 1.40 percent Tuesday, dropping 4.30 percent Wednesday and gaining 4.52 percent Thursday.

The Jakarta Composite Index gained 52.97 points to 2,333.89 during the week to August 21. The rupiah ended at 10,030 to the dollar, weaker from 9,955 the week before.

But the people of Saumlaki admitted that they did not feel the earthquake because its epicenter was far away from land.

“We did not feel the quake because at the time it happened we were still sleeping soundly,” Zaki Lessy, a local resident of Saumlaki told Antara here by phone.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Also on Saturday morning at 1:48 local

time, an aftershock measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted the Sipura Mantawai region in West Sumatra.

The local meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG) said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 1.53 degrees southern latitude and 99.81 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea level, or some 77 km northeast of Sipura.

The temblor occurred 49 minutes after an earlier one measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale at 00:06 after midnight at 1.59 degrees southern latitude and 99.81 degrees eastern

longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea level.

BMG said, on Thursday, Aug 20, three earthquakes also rocked West Sumatra and North Sulawesi.

The first earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale rocked West Sumatra at 12:25 on Thursday.

Its epicenter was located 1.42 degrees southern latitude and 99.96 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 39 km under the sea surface, 67 km southwest of Padang.

Later at 7:12 p.m. local time, the second temblor measuring 5.7 on the

Richter scale rocked North Sulawesi.

The epicenter of the second quake was located 3.91 degrees northern latitude and 126.74 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km, 12 km from Melonguane.

After that the third one, which was an aftershock measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted West Sumatra at 7:34 p.m. local time at 1.48 degrees southern latitude and 99.79 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea surface, 82 km northeast of Sipura, in Mentawai.

Sumatran tiger killed in zoo, body taken away Antara

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“Our market has reached a saturation level and needs to consolidate next week.

Beside that, we’re lacking positive clues from either regional or domestic markets to drive the market up,” Ciptadana Securities head of sales John Teja told AFP. He said that the support level will be at 2,250 and resistance at 2,350.

Ciptadana Securities researcher Syaiful Adrian said trading will be cautious next week, particularly given the volatility seen

Tectonic earthquake hits Saumlaki

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7

Indonesian shares tipped for correction next week

Merkel hopes for Opel decision ‘next week’ “I regret that General Motors was unable ... to come to a decision but I hope it will soon, because it is a matter of urgency for the employees and for Opel’s economic situation,” said Merkel in the television interview.

“The sooner the better. I wanted it to come on Friday evening. Now, I hope it will be next week. Every day counts, for the workers and for the company’s economic situation,” she told ZDF television.

Excerpts of the interview were released in advance of the broadcast.

The board of General Motors — which emerged from bankruptcy protection in July — met on Friday in Detroit to mull the fate of Opel, but said in a statement the meeting ended without any decision being taken.

The board discussed two takeover offers on the table — one from Canadian autoparts maker Magna International and state Russian lender

Monday, August 24, 2009

JAMBI - Thieves killed a female Sumtran tiger (phantera tigris Sumatrae) at the Taman Rimba Zoo here early on Saturday and took the animal’s body.

Jambi police chief Adjunct Commissioner Posma Lubis said the thieves killed Shela, the tiger, and took away its body at around 3am leaving the animal’s intestines.

The police were still investigating the case and searching those that had stolen the animal weighing 125 kilograms.

He said five people had been questioned as witnesses including the head of the city’s animal husbandry service, Hanif Lubis, the head of the zoo, Adrianis and zoo keepers Widodo, M Nasir and Madikwan.

Mudikwan was the first who knew about the theft. Mudikwan was about to enter into the cage to clean

it when he saw blood, intestines and slices of meat in the cage.

The rest of the body was gone, believably taken by the thieves numbering predictably more than three persons.

Lubis said he believed they were professional because he saw no sign of damages on the cage.

Sumatran tigers which are protected have indeed been targeted by stuffing collectors and their price is high. “Seeing this police for the time being predict the actors are professional and have an international network,” he said.

The zoo initially had three Sumatran tigers namely Shela and Rangga who died a few months ago because of an illness and old age and Salma, a female tiger caught some time ago after devouring a man. Salma was released again to the forest a few months ago after being quarantined in the zoo for some time.

AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

Indonesian Muslims offer special ‘Taraweh’ prayers at Istiqlal mosque as the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in Jakarta on August 21, 2009, or Ramadan 1, 1430 in the Hijriah lunar calendar.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink and sex from dawn until dusk as life slips into a lower gear during the day.

8

International

Monday, August 24, 2009

Bali Today

Balinese Culture

Pendet is the oldest dance in Bali Antara

Bali Post/Eka

A women try to sell her souvenir to tourist that visiting Kuta Beach. The Indonesian tourist resort province of Bali was able to collect US$70.92 million in foreign exchange from its exports in the first half (January-June) of this year, a statistics official said.

Bali’s exports up 1.26 percent

DENPASAR – Pendet dance known as the welcoming dance is the one of the oldest among all the dances in Bali. I Wayan Dibia, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar, said “based on several records, the art experts in Bali agreed that Pendet dance was born on 1950.”

He said that the dance is the welcoming dance performed to open art performances or for important guest coming to Bali.

“Pendet dance usually perform by group of young girls while carrying silver grail filed with colorful flowers,” added Mr. Dibia.

The dancers will place the

flower near the audiences as the welcoming symbol and the token of appreciation. Mr. Dibia explained that the creator of the dance was I Wayan Rindi and Ni Ketut Reneng, artists from Sumertha village in Denpasar.

“The artists created a dance performed by four dances as the part of art performances in hotels throughout Bali,” he added.

In 1961, I Wayan Beratha rearranged the dance including adding it dancers into five so it became the current Pendet dance. In 1962, I Wayan Beratha created mass Pendet dance with over 800 dancers and was performed in Jakarta in the opening ceremony of Asian Games.

DENPASAR - The Indonesian tourist resort province of Bali was able to collect US$70.92 million in foreign exchange from its exports in the first half (January-June) of this year, a statistics official said.

In the meantime, non-knitted garments and ornamental products made by skillful handicraftsmen were able to contribute 18.53 percent of the export values, he said.

The local handicraftsmen also produced leather-based products.

These products contributed 2.37 percent to the export performance.

Bali’s main export destinations were Japan, which was able to absorb 27.33 percent of the exports, Singapore 13.16 percent and Hong Kong which imported 12.99 percent.

Besides the above mentioned countries, the United States also im-

ported 12.74 percent, Australia 5.95 percent and a number of other countries.

Of the five export destination countries, four importer nations significantly increased their imports, and one country, namely the United States, reduced its imports by 23.19 percent.

The four countries which increased their imports of Bali products in the first half of this year were Hong Kong (72.82 percent), Japan (37.49 percent), Singapore (18.43 percent) and Australia (1.23 percent), Ida Komang Wisnu said.

A man with his boy are cleaning a grave belong to they relatives. During the fasting month, which in this year fall on August 22 to September 23, Moslem people in Bali are visiting grave of their late relatives to honored them and taking care its grave yard.

Bali Post/Eka

Wajik

Nyoman Mandra:

Guardian of Tradition, Master of Innovation Nyoman Mandra poses a figure of painter carrying the Balinese classical school, fine arts of Kamasan Village belonging to typical style, has close relationship to the performing art, namely puppet shadow play. His expertise as an artist originates in his skill and profound knowledge on the storyline of puppet shadow as well as the history of painting art of Kamasan style where he was born.

It is undeniable that the art talent has flowed on this man of 1946born from his grandfather Rambug, the best painter in the end of the nineteenth century. In the meantime, his uncle Nyoman Dogol was one of the celebrated painters of his generation. These two painters posed artists becoming the leader in the initial brushing of the famous Kerta Ghosa Hall of Justice in Klungkung. The major resource of storylines depicted in the fine arts of Kamasan style is the epic Mahabharata and Ramayana. “My prime motivation is to preserve the

tradition of Kamasan fine arts,” he said.

Reputation of Mandra was established in terms of two aspects namely dedication in maintaining the highest standard providing the classical status to Kamasan painting style and his capability to work innovatively and enchantingly in the tradition. Learning from great artists in the past, Mandra composed the style of traditional painting art of purely his own version. His works comply with the proportion and formulated-structure in traditional aesthetic and add his own unique touch in such style.

His works are characterized by high level of smoothness. He avoids many traditional images on severe conflicts for the sake of meditative approach to the roles of Hinduism gods in Indian great epics. His composition has a tendency to focus on typicality and more steady balance than practiced by his predecessors.

Awareness on the very different composition he puts into account.

The works of Kamasan painters of the nineteenth century have complex composition, often less symmetrical and composed by related scenes. These scenes are separated by borders indicated by stone textures and other natural formations. At the end of twentieth century, the artists of Kamasan changed their awareness on the composition.

They were also influenced by the awakening of fine arts having Balinese modern style that only depicts the scene of single storyline. It is here the awareness of Mandra on composition was felt truly different from his predecessors. A group of people and piles of figure in the works of his grandfather are superseded by the accurate and more symmetrical placement.

In order to indulge the painting enthusiasts and to know further about the tradition of the painting of Kamasan style, Mandra exhibits teens of his works for some one and half a month (7 Aug-30 Sep) at Griya Santrian Gallery, Sanur. (BTN/008)

(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. Another variation is 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.

Antara

The amount of foreign exchange Bali obtained in the first half of this year recorded an increase of 1.26 percent if compared with the value of its exports in the corresponding period a year earlier, Head of the Central Board of Statistics (BPS) for Bali, Ida Komang Wisnu said here on Sunday.

He said that Bali had five primary commodities which were able to penetrate global markets, namely fishery products (fish and shrimp) which contributed 30.34 percent to the total export values.

Monday, August 24, 2009

http://image02.webshots.com

Balinese women pictured wearing Pendet’s costume. Pendet dance known as the welcoming dance is the one of the oldest among all the dances in Bali. I Wayan Dibia, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar, said “based on several records, the art experts in Bali agreed that Pendet dance was born on 1950.”

Foreign delegation took part in “Pratima Ganesha” Antara

DENPASAR – Delegations from foreign countries took part in the parade entitled “Pratima Ganesha” in Denpasar on Sunday, August 23rd 2009. The foreigners blended with the local Hindus wearing Balinese traditional clothes in the thousand years old parade. The participants were coming from India, China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Shri I Gst Ngrh Arya Wedakarna MW Suyasa, the head of World Hindu Youth Organization (WHYO) said that the parade was started in Jagatnatha Temple in the center of Denpasar through Sanur

beach and it was approximately 7 kilometers.

The event which was planed for long time was supported by the Puri Surya Majapahit Trowulan Jawa Timur and vihara throughout Bali.

Approximately 1,000 people took part in the parade which was held to commemorate the birth of Ganesha.

The parade was started with Barongsai performances and Balinese traditional music. When the participants arrived in Sanur beach, they held a ritual led by Sri Brahmanaraja from Trowulan, eastern Java. There is great hope that the event can increase the image of Bali as the spiritual island.

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)

Petitenget Temple Peti Tenget temple and beach is located at Banjar Batubelig, Kerobokan village kecamatan Kuta. To reach this object by motor vehicle from Denpasar, travel westwards more or less 10 km then turn south, or to the north from Kuta following Raya Seminyak Street.

Peti Tenget temple was built in the 15th century and it used to be a plot of extraordinary holy (Tenget) land, bush growth and dwelled by the I Bhuta Ijo demon that was trusted by Holy priest, Dang Hyang Nirartha to safeguard his holy box. The story is told that when the priest stayed at south port (now Uluwatu), a man from Kerobokan village came asking the priest for help. He wished to cultivate the plot of land without feeling fear.

The priest suggested that the people build a temple dedicated to god ‘Labuhan Masceti’ and a single closed shrine (Pagedongan) for Bhuta Ijo as a place to safeguard the priest’s box (Peti). From that time on, the temple was named Peti Tenget Temple. (BTN)

9

8

International

Monday, August 24, 2009

Bali Today

Balinese Culture

Pendet is the oldest dance in Bali Antara

Bali Post/Eka

A women try to sell her souvenir to tourist that visiting Kuta Beach. The Indonesian tourist resort province of Bali was able to collect US$70.92 million in foreign exchange from its exports in the first half (January-June) of this year, a statistics official said.

Bali’s exports up 1.26 percent

DENPASAR – Pendet dance known as the welcoming dance is the one of the oldest among all the dances in Bali. I Wayan Dibia, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar, said “based on several records, the art experts in Bali agreed that Pendet dance was born on 1950.”

He said that the dance is the welcoming dance performed to open art performances or for important guest coming to Bali.

“Pendet dance usually perform by group of young girls while carrying silver grail filed with colorful flowers,” added Mr. Dibia.

The dancers will place the

flower near the audiences as the welcoming symbol and the token of appreciation. Mr. Dibia explained that the creator of the dance was I Wayan Rindi and Ni Ketut Reneng, artists from Sumertha village in Denpasar.

“The artists created a dance performed by four dances as the part of art performances in hotels throughout Bali,” he added.

In 1961, I Wayan Beratha rearranged the dance including adding it dancers into five so it became the current Pendet dance. In 1962, I Wayan Beratha created mass Pendet dance with over 800 dancers and was performed in Jakarta in the opening ceremony of Asian Games.

DENPASAR - The Indonesian tourist resort province of Bali was able to collect US$70.92 million in foreign exchange from its exports in the first half (January-June) of this year, a statistics official said.

In the meantime, non-knitted garments and ornamental products made by skillful handicraftsmen were able to contribute 18.53 percent of the export values, he said.

The local handicraftsmen also produced leather-based products.

These products contributed 2.37 percent to the export performance.

Bali’s main export destinations were Japan, which was able to absorb 27.33 percent of the exports, Singapore 13.16 percent and Hong Kong which imported 12.99 percent.

Besides the above mentioned countries, the United States also im-

ported 12.74 percent, Australia 5.95 percent and a number of other countries.

Of the five export destination countries, four importer nations significantly increased their imports, and one country, namely the United States, reduced its imports by 23.19 percent.

The four countries which increased their imports of Bali products in the first half of this year were Hong Kong (72.82 percent), Japan (37.49 percent), Singapore (18.43 percent) and Australia (1.23 percent), Ida Komang Wisnu said.

A man with his boy are cleaning a grave belong to they relatives. During the fasting month, which in this year fall on August 22 to September 23, Moslem people in Bali are visiting grave of their late relatives to honored them and taking care its grave yard.

Bali Post/Eka

Wajik

Nyoman Mandra:

Guardian of Tradition, Master of Innovation Nyoman Mandra poses a figure of painter carrying the Balinese classical school, fine arts of Kamasan Village belonging to typical style, has close relationship to the performing art, namely puppet shadow play. His expertise as an artist originates in his skill and profound knowledge on the storyline of puppet shadow as well as the history of painting art of Kamasan style where he was born.

It is undeniable that the art talent has flowed on this man of 1946born from his grandfather Rambug, the best painter in the end of the nineteenth century. In the meantime, his uncle Nyoman Dogol was one of the celebrated painters of his generation. These two painters posed artists becoming the leader in the initial brushing of the famous Kerta Ghosa Hall of Justice in Klungkung. The major resource of storylines depicted in the fine arts of Kamasan style is the epic Mahabharata and Ramayana. “My prime motivation is to preserve the

tradition of Kamasan fine arts,” he said.

Reputation of Mandra was established in terms of two aspects namely dedication in maintaining the highest standard providing the classical status to Kamasan painting style and his capability to work innovatively and enchantingly in the tradition. Learning from great artists in the past, Mandra composed the style of traditional painting art of purely his own version. His works comply with the proportion and formulated-structure in traditional aesthetic and add his own unique touch in such style.

His works are characterized by high level of smoothness. He avoids many traditional images on severe conflicts for the sake of meditative approach to the roles of Hinduism gods in Indian great epics. His composition has a tendency to focus on typicality and more steady balance than practiced by his predecessors.

Awareness on the very different composition he puts into account.

The works of Kamasan painters of the nineteenth century have complex composition, often less symmetrical and composed by related scenes. These scenes are separated by borders indicated by stone textures and other natural formations. At the end of twentieth century, the artists of Kamasan changed their awareness on the composition.

They were also influenced by the awakening of fine arts having Balinese modern style that only depicts the scene of single storyline. It is here the awareness of Mandra on composition was felt truly different from his predecessors. A group of people and piles of figure in the works of his grandfather are superseded by the accurate and more symmetrical placement.

In order to indulge the painting enthusiasts and to know further about the tradition of the painting of Kamasan style, Mandra exhibits teens of his works for some one and half a month (7 Aug-30 Sep) at Griya Santrian Gallery, Sanur. (BTN/008)

(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. Another variation is 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.

Antara

The amount of foreign exchange Bali obtained in the first half of this year recorded an increase of 1.26 percent if compared with the value of its exports in the corresponding period a year earlier, Head of the Central Board of Statistics (BPS) for Bali, Ida Komang Wisnu said here on Sunday.

He said that Bali had five primary commodities which were able to penetrate global markets, namely fishery products (fish and shrimp) which contributed 30.34 percent to the total export values.

Monday, August 24, 2009

http://image02.webshots.com

Balinese women pictured wearing Pendet’s costume. Pendet dance known as the welcoming dance is the one of the oldest among all the dances in Bali. I Wayan Dibia, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar, said “based on several records, the art experts in Bali agreed that Pendet dance was born on 1950.”

Foreign delegation took part in “Pratima Ganesha” Antara

DENPASAR – Delegations from foreign countries took part in the parade entitled “Pratima Ganesha” in Denpasar on Sunday, August 23rd 2009. The foreigners blended with the local Hindus wearing Balinese traditional clothes in the thousand years old parade. The participants were coming from India, China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Shri I Gst Ngrh Arya Wedakarna MW Suyasa, the head of World Hindu Youth Organization (WHYO) said that the parade was started in Jagatnatha Temple in the center of Denpasar through Sanur

beach and it was approximately 7 kilometers.

The event which was planed for long time was supported by the Puri Surya Majapahit Trowulan Jawa Timur and vihara throughout Bali.

Approximately 1,000 people took part in the parade which was held to commemorate the birth of Ganesha.

The parade was started with Barongsai performances and Balinese traditional music. When the participants arrived in Sanur beach, they held a ritual led by Sri Brahmanaraja from Trowulan, eastern Java. There is great hope that the event can increase the image of Bali as the spiritual island.

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)

Petitenget Temple Peti Tenget temple and beach is located at Banjar Batubelig, Kerobokan village kecamatan Kuta. To reach this object by motor vehicle from Denpasar, travel westwards more or less 10 km then turn south, or to the north from Kuta following Raya Seminyak Street.

Peti Tenget temple was built in the 15th century and it used to be a plot of extraordinary holy (Tenget) land, bush growth and dwelled by the I Bhuta Ijo demon that was trusted by Holy priest, Dang Hyang Nirartha to safeguard his holy box. The story is told that when the priest stayed at south port (now Uluwatu), a man from Kerobokan village came asking the priest for help. He wished to cultivate the plot of land without feeling fear.

The priest suggested that the people build a temple dedicated to god ‘Labuhan Masceti’ and a single closed shrine (Pagedongan) for Bhuta Ijo as a place to safeguard the priest’s box (Peti). From that time on, the temple was named Peti Tenget Temple. (BTN)

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Business

Monday, August 24, 2009

Indonesia Today

International

International

Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for General Motors to decide next week who will take over its European unit Opel, in an interview to be telecast on Sunday.

AFP PHOTO DDP/THOMAS LOHNES

Picture taken on March 31, 2009 shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving a speech during her visit at the plant of car maker Opel in Ruesselsheim, western Germany.

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

Sberbank, and another from Brussels-based investment group RHJ International.

GM is believed to favour RHJ, but Germany has a clear preference for Magna.

Both bidders want to cut around 10,000 jobs at Opel, but Merkel and the German state governments where Opel has factories prefer Magna because fewer of its job cuts would fall in Germany.

The German government’s opinion is crucial because it is stumping up several billion euros in loans to sweeten to deal.

According to press reports, Germany is prepared to offer a 4.5-billion-euro (6.4-billion-dollar) loan available to Magna in an attempt to persuade GM to choose the Canadian-led offer.

Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said over the weekend there was “still room for an agreement” and that “there was a solid framework for talks to continue.”

Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - Indonesian shares are expected to face a correction next week due to a lack of positive domestic factors and sentiment being affected by volatility on regional markets, dealers said Friday.

AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO

Street vendors and customers pack a street in downtown Jakarta on August 23, 2009. - Indonesian shares are expected to face a correction next week due to a lack of positive domestic factors and sentiment being affected by volatility on regional markets, dealers said Friday.

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

Antara r pe Su ve a S

AMBON - A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit the West Southeast Maluku (MTB) district town of Saumlaki at 2:52 a.m. local time on Saturday.

The local meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG)’s spokesman, Irfan Salmet, said the epicenter of the temblor was located at 7.54 degrees southern latitude and 128 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 128 km under the sea level, or about 126 km northwest of Saumlaki.

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in Shanghai over recent sessions.

The key China index fell about three percent as a whole for the week, but had a rough ride in between — dropping 5.79 percent Monday, rebounding 1.40 percent Tuesday, dropping 4.30 percent Wednesday and gaining 4.52 percent Thursday.

The Jakarta Composite Index gained 52.97 points to 2,333.89 during the week to August 21. The rupiah ended at 10,030 to the dollar, weaker from 9,955 the week before.

But the people of Saumlaki admitted that they did not feel the earthquake because its epicenter was far away from land.

“We did not feel the quake because at the time it happened we were still sleeping soundly,” Zaki Lessy, a local resident of Saumlaki told Antara here by phone.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Also on Saturday morning at 1:48 local

time, an aftershock measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted the Sipura Mantawai region in West Sumatra.

The local meteorology and geophysics agency (BMG) said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 1.53 degrees southern latitude and 99.81 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea level, or some 77 km northeast of Sipura.

The temblor occurred 49 minutes after an earlier one measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale at 00:06 after midnight at 1.59 degrees southern latitude and 99.81 degrees eastern

longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea level.

BMG said, on Thursday, Aug 20, three earthquakes also rocked West Sumatra and North Sulawesi.

The first earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale rocked West Sumatra at 12:25 on Thursday.

Its epicenter was located 1.42 degrees southern latitude and 99.96 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 39 km under the sea surface, 67 km southwest of Padang.

Later at 7:12 p.m. local time, the second temblor measuring 5.7 on the

Richter scale rocked North Sulawesi.

The epicenter of the second quake was located 3.91 degrees northern latitude and 126.74 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km, 12 km from Melonguane.

After that the third one, which was an aftershock measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted West Sumatra at 7:34 p.m. local time at 1.48 degrees southern latitude and 99.79 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea surface, 82 km northeast of Sipura, in Mentawai.

Sumatran tiger killed in zoo, body taken away Antara

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“Our market has reached a saturation level and needs to consolidate next week.

Beside that, we’re lacking positive clues from either regional or domestic markets to drive the market up,” Ciptadana Securities head of sales John Teja told AFP. He said that the support level will be at 2,250 and resistance at 2,350.

Ciptadana Securities researcher Syaiful Adrian said trading will be cautious next week, particularly given the volatility seen

Tectonic earthquake hits Saumlaki

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Indonesian shares tipped for correction next week

Merkel hopes for Opel decision ‘next week’ “I regret that General Motors was unable ... to come to a decision but I hope it will soon, because it is a matter of urgency for the employees and for Opel’s economic situation,” said Merkel in the television interview.

“The sooner the better. I wanted it to come on Friday evening. Now, I hope it will be next week. Every day counts, for the workers and for the company’s economic situation,” she told ZDF television.

Excerpts of the interview were released in advance of the broadcast.

The board of General Motors — which emerged from bankruptcy protection in July — met on Friday in Detroit to mull the fate of Opel, but said in a statement the meeting ended without any decision being taken.

The board discussed two takeover offers on the table — one from Canadian autoparts maker Magna International and state Russian lender

Monday, August 24, 2009

JAMBI - Thieves killed a female Sumtran tiger (phantera tigris Sumatrae) at the Taman Rimba Zoo here early on Saturday and took the animal’s body.

Jambi police chief Adjunct Commissioner Posma Lubis said the thieves killed Shela, the tiger, and took away its body at around 3am leaving the animal’s intestines.

The police were still investigating the case and searching those that had stolen the animal weighing 125 kilograms.

He said five people had been questioned as witnesses including the head of the city’s animal husbandry service, Hanif Lubis, the head of the zoo, Adrianis and zoo keepers Widodo, M Nasir and Madikwan.

Mudikwan was the first who knew about the theft. Mudikwan was about to enter into the cage to clean

it when he saw blood, intestines and slices of meat in the cage.

The rest of the body was gone, believably taken by the thieves numbering predictably more than three persons.

Lubis said he believed they were professional because he saw no sign of damages on the cage.

Sumatran tigers which are protected have indeed been targeted by stuffing collectors and their price is high. “Seeing this police for the time being predict the actors are professional and have an international network,” he said.

The zoo initially had three Sumatran tigers namely Shela and Rangga who died a few months ago because of an illness and old age and Salma, a female tiger caught some time ago after devouring a man. Salma was released again to the forest a few months ago after being quarantined in the zoo for some time.

AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

Indonesian Muslims offer special ‘Taraweh’ prayers at Istiqlal mosque as the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in Jakarta on August 21, 2009, or Ramadan 1, 1430 in the Hijriah lunar calendar.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink and sex from dawn until dusk as life slips into a lower gear during the day.

6

Monday, August 24, 2009

News

Monday, August 24, 2009

Quake in Algarve could have caused cliff collapse Agence France-Presse

LISBON - An earthquake may have played a role in the collapse of a cliff on to a packed beach in Portugal’s Algarve region, which killed five people, the country’s environment minister said Saturday.

“Several factors could have contributed” to Friday’s tragedy at the popular resort of Albufeira, “and among the probable causes we are looking into is Tuesday’s earthquake,” Francisco Nunes Correia was quoted as saying by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

The quake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale shook southern Portugal but without causing casualties or damage.

Its epicentre was 110 kilometres (65 miles) south of the city of Faro and it was felt in several tourist resorts in the Algarve.

Jose Alveirinho Dias, professor of geology at the university of the Algarve, and Orlando Boreges, president of the National Institute of Hydrology (INAG), also said the seismic vibrations could have helped cause the accident.

Portugal’s meteorological institute however was more cautious saying it was not known how unstable the cliff had been at the time.

“The level of vibrations felt at the accident spot (during the earthquake) was of very week intensity,” Fernando Carrilho, director of Meteo Portugal’s seismology and geophysics department, told reporters.

The partial collapse of the cliff on the Maria Luisa beach, which attracts foreign tourists and celebrities, killed five people and injured three according to the latest toll issued by the Civil Protection authority.

Pendet dances...

From page 1 AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

A municipality worker and a resident try to stop the fire at the mount of Penteli, early Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. A massive wildfire tore through outlying suburbs north of Athens early Sunday, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee in dramatic overnight evacuations, Fire Service and local officials said.

Titanic effort as wildfire reaches Athens suburbs Agence France-Presse

ATHENS - Firefighters waged a titanic effort on Sunday to contain a massive fire lapping at Athens’ eastern suburbs after burning a 30-kilometre (20-mile) swathe through one of the Greek capital’s last forests.

With aerial help expected from Italy, France and Cyprus, around 400 firefighters struggled through the night to contain the wildfire that has reached the residential suburbs of Agios Stefanos, Anthousa, Gerakas and Pallini where sporadic evacuations were underway.

Around 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of land are believed to have been devastated according to officials’ early estimates and the blaze is feared to have damaged or destroyed scores of rural and summer homes.

The fire started late on Friday in a rural area around 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Athens, but strong winds pushed it back and forth across a forested area dotted with villages and greenhouses.

Fireproof zones erected on Mount Penteli, the last barrier to the

capital, failed to hold the flames late on Saturday when fire-fighting aircraft were withdrawn for the night, and authorities decided to protectively evacuate two childrens’ hospitals, a summer camp and a private psychiatric clinic.

“This is a very significant environmental disaster, perhaps the gravest in recent years,” the prefect of the greater eastern Athens area Leonidas Kouris told ANT1 television.

“We face a great ordeal,” Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said late Saturday after visiting the fire department operations centre, adding that fire crews were mounting a “superhuman” effort.

The wildfire on Saturday also burned around Marathon, one of the agricultural areas feeding the capital and the main source of its water

supply, and led authorities to relocate missiles and ammunition from a military camp.

The blaze evoked memories of a 2007 wave of wildfires that killed 77 people and destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of forest across the country.

No casualties have been reported so far from the fire which broke out near an area earmarked for a waste disposal facility.

With temperatures frequently running above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and seasonal strong winds, Greece is particularly vulnerable to summer fires that ravage forest and agricultural land.

Other fires continued to burn on the central Aegean islands of Skyros and Evia and the Ionian island of Zakynthos, which has been hit by repeated blazes this summer.

Meanwhile, Ida Ayu Agung Mas, the member of Indonesian Senator, is very concern on the claiming act done by Malaysia. “As the representative of Indonesian people, we supported the protest and will send this

to Malaysian government right away,” she added.

Indonesian Government must list the local arts because Malaysia had done the similar acts several times. In the protest also being performed Pendet dance by Mrs. Arini and her two granddaughters, Gung Cahya and Gung Ari.

Weakened...

From page 1 The Miami-based NHC said large swells from Bill would continue to affect much of the US east coast and Canada’s Atlantic Maritime provinces Sunday. Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were in effect for much of the coastline and some beaches were closed.

Bill moved past Bermuda earlier Saturday and swells there and in the Bahamas were set to gradually diminish overnight.

At 0300 GMT Sunday, Bill’s top winds were whizzing at 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour about 195 miles (315 km) southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts and 435 miles (705 km) south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, spinning northward at about 25 miles (41 km) per hour.

Most of the hurricane, the center said, “will pass offshore of the coast of New England overnight, be near Nova Scotia on Sunday and be near Newfoundland Sunday night.”

But it was expected to further weaken Sunday as it moved over cooler waters. “The official intensity forecast shows slow weakening through 24 hours due to cooler sea surface temperatures and increasing vertical wind shear,” the NHC advised.

In Canada, authorities issued tropical storm warnings for much of Nova Scotia’s coast while a hurricane watch was in effect for some far parts of the province and the eastern coast of Newfoundland.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the coast of Massachusetts from Woods Hole to Sagamore

Beach, including Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, meaning that winds of at least 40 miles (64 km) per hour could hit within the next 24-hour period.

Yacht owners battened down the hatches at Martha’s Vineyard, a popular resort for the wealthy where the US first family was due to spend a week unwinding for the first time since Obama’s inauguration in January.

The Obamas had originally planned to leave early Sunday for the holiday location but delayed their departure from Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington until 1:45 pm (1845 GMT) amid the weather concerns.

The storm would be “marginal” in strength by the time it arrived along the Canadian coast, said Peter Bowyer of the Canadian Hurricane Center in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Hilda formed in the far western portion of the eastern Pacific basin on Saturday, moving westward with top winds at 40 miles (65 km) per hour, according to the NHC. At 0300 GMT, it was located 1,980 miles (3,185 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and some 1,175 miles (1,895 km) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii.

The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on November 30.

Bill’s progress follows one of the calmest starts to the hurricane season in a decade, which researchers for the state

11

BUSINESS Europe’s top tourist destinations hit by economic crisis Agence France-Presse

PARIS - Empty terrace tables at Parisian cafes. Fewer sunbathers scattered along Italian and Spanish beaches: The global economic crisis has cast a dark cloud over Europe’s top tourist destinations.

France, the world’s tourism champion with 79.3 million visitors last year, has been hit hard by the drop in foreign travelers.

The number of international visitors in France has fallen by nearly one-third in the heat of summer — July and August — after sinking by 15.5 percent in the first five months of the year, government figures show.

Spain, which fell to third place among the world’s favorite tourist destinations last year, has suffered a 10 percent drop in visits this summer following an 11.4 percent fall in the first half of the year.

And Italy’s tourism industry is forecasting an 8.3 percent reduction in foreign visitors between May and October.

As frugal foreigners stay in their home countries, Europe’s top tourist destinations are looking at their compatriots to compensate for the drop in visitors.

According to a Gallup poll, 48 percent of Europeans plan to spend their holidays in their own countries this year, compared to 43 percent in 2008.

Britons, the continent’s top travelers next to Germans, have reduced their European trips by 10 percent

amid a drop in the value of the pound.

As a result, the beaches of Spain, usually crowded with British and German tourists, are emptier than usual.

“It’s the worst summer that I have ever seen. There’s no one at the beach,” said Pedro Hervas, who sells drinks in Torremolinos on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol. Spain already lost its spot as the world’s second most visited country last year, as the United States took its place with 58 million visitors compared to 57.3 million for the European country.

The Spanish government has released one billion euros to support the country’s tourism industry.

As in other European countries, tourists are drinking and eating less in Spain’s usually bustling bars and restaurants.

The consumption of beer is expected to fall by 13.5 percent in August compared to last year, according to Spanish brewers.

Tourists are also doling out less cash in neighboring Portugal and Greece, where spending by foreign visitors has dropped by 13.2 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively, in the first half of the year.

Tourists have been more frugal on Italian beaches too.

“People rent a parasol, but they bring sandwiches,” said a spokesman for the union of Italian beach businesses.

There were 1.5 million fewer tourists on the beaches of Italy in June and July compared to last year.

Hit by a drop in demand, hotels have begun to cut their prices in Italy.

In the second quarter, room rates fell by 8.3 percent on average, while three- and four-star hotels reduced their prices by nearly 30 percent.

Only Rome, the “Eternal City,” seems to have escaped the crisis.

“Tourism is going well in Rome, but it is lower in Florence, Venice and the coast,” said the city’s deputy mayor in charge of tourism, Mauro Cutrufo.

Despite this summer of discontent, France should remain the world’s top tourist choice since travel is down in every country at “about the same rate,” said Christian Mantei, president of tourism development agency Atout France.

France depends less on summer tourism, Mantei said, adding: “We have visitors all year long in France.”

Bangladesh unveils six billion dollar plan to end power crisis Agence France-Presse

DHAKA - Energy-starved Bangladesh will invite tenders next month for a six-billiondollar power plant building program to end a chronic fuel shortage in the fast-growing economy, an official said Saturday.

Most of the power needed to end Bangladesh’s electricity shortfall would be produced at plants built by private companies to be selected by the government through competitive bidding, the official said.

“The government has approved the 410 billion taka (six billion dollar) plan,” said the head of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, A.S.M. Alamgir Kabir.

“We will now interact with private companies and invite tenders next month (to build a number of power plants). Our target is to get rid of power shortages by 2014,” Kabir told AFP. Impoverished Bangladesh has long suffered severe power outages due to demands imposed by its economy, which has been growing at around six percent annually

over the last five years.

The shortfall is especially acute in the hot summer months from April to October.

Years of under-investment have meant state-owned power plants generate only around 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day but demand is 6,000 megawatts and growing at 500 megawatts a year due to increasing industrialisation.

Kabir said most of the power would be generated by coal and diesel and furnace fuel, ending the country’s long reliance on natural gas.

AFP PHOTO / FILES / Torsten BLACKWOOD

(FILES) This file photo taken on September 21, 2008 shows the first Qantas Airbus A380 passing the Qantas fleet at Sydney International Airport after two years of production delays and 200 million USD in compensation. Australian flag-carrier Qantas on Sunday blamed flagging demand on its key London and Los Angeles routes for an 88 percent drop in annual net profit.

Qantas says LA and London routes behind profit nosedive Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE - Australian flag-carrier Qantas on Sunday blamed flagging demand on its key London and Los Angeles routes for an 88 percent drop in annual net profit.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said the two routes, once the airline’s main profit generators, were operating at a loss due to increased competition and the impact of the global financial crisis.

Joyce said that while the airline’s domestic operations were still profitable, the LA and London routes had dragged its international business into the red.

“Basically, those routes are the biggest issue,” he told public broadcaster ABC. “Those two big routes are very dependent on premium traffic. Premium traffic dropped by between 20 and 30 percent for us.”

Qantas last week announced net

profit fell to 117 million dollars (96.6 million US) in the 12 months to June, down from 969 million.

Competition in the Australia-Los Angeles route has ramped up this year with US giant Delta and Virgin’s VAustralia taking on existing players Qantas and United Airlines.

The heavy discounting that has resulted means fares on the route touching all-time lows, less than half the cost from a year ago.

Joyce predicted the trans-Pacific route and the so-called “kangaroo route” from Australia to London would return to profit once the financial crisis eased and high-yielding business-class traffic returned.

“As the economy turns, as the business market comes back, those routes will improve,” he said.

Joyce ruled out handing the routes to the airline’s discount offshoot Jetstar in a bid to make them profitable, saying they were core elements of the Qantas brand.

12

Monday, August 24, 2009

Entertainment

International

Worldwide ‘Avatar’ previews thrill sci-fi fans Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Fans wearing 3D glasses clapped as soon as James Cameron’s face appeared on screen. The filmmaker, shown in 3D, invited moviegoers to enjoy a 16-minute peek of his anticipated sci-fi epic “Avatar,” which was screened for free around the world Friday.

The footage takes viewers to the planet Pandora, where an ex-Marine (Sam Worthington) is among a group of humans who have their brains linked to cloned versions of a native species in order to safely explore the spectacular environment. Sigourney Weaver plays a botanist overseeing the exploration. She, too, embodies an avatar based on the tall, lithe, tailed, blue humanoid species that populates the planet.

Together they meet an enormous hammerhead dinosaur with a plume of multicolored spikes on its face and the snarling tiger-like creature that scares it away.

Another scene shows Worthington’s character befriending a native woman (Zoe Saldana). They discover a psychedelic forest of luminescent flowers and battle an army of flying dragons. Relying on 3D and performance-capture technology Cameron has helped pioneer, “Avatar” is an immersive blend of animation and live-action movie magic.

Fans at an IMAX screening in Los Angeles were overwhelmed by the 3D footage.

“It was almost a sensory overload,” said Ryan Moore, 23, a student at Ohio State University. “You have to be in the moment wearing

the (3D) glasses to really appreciate it.” Dwayne Smith of Venice was taken with the digital effects.

“It looked very real, especially the aliens. It looked amazingly real,” said the 45-year-old. “It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, actually.”

The free preview convinced one fan to buy a ticket on the spot. “I think it’s going to be one of the greatest movies this decade,” said 21-year-old film student Derek Nunn.

The screenings, shown on some 440 screens in 58 countries, kept social networking sites abuzz with fan feedback. One who was disappointed with the trailer said seeing the extended footage in 3D changed his mind about the movie.

“It is essential that you watch it in IMAX 3D, or 3D,” Manoj Patel of Manchester, England, wrote on the film’s Facebook page. “I just got back from watching the 15-minute footage, and I’ve got to say, my mouth was wide open all the way through.”

Response to the film’s 2D trailer, which debuted online Thursday, was mixed. Analyzing the two-minute teaser, several movie blogs — including Movieline.com and Spout blog — noted the film’s similar appearance to the 2008 animated flop

BUENA PARK - Canadian authorities on Saturday intensified the manhunt for the millionaire reality TV star accused of murdering a former swimsuit model and stuffing her naked, mutilated body in a suitcase.

AP Photo/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp

In this undated photo released in Tokyo, Japan, by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Australian actor Sam Worthington is shown in a scene in James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi adventure “Avatar.” Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp. has signed on “Titanic” director Cameron and his upcoming film “Avatar” in an advertising blitz for its TVs equipped with 3-D technology, both sides said Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. The film is scheduled to be released at movie theaters in Japan on Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 by Twentieth Century Fox.

“Delgo” and other science fiction movies.

But fans who saw the footage in 3D gave it overwhelmingly positive reviews. “The trailer does not represent the movie properly,” Smith said. “The trailer short-sells it.”

Cameron said Friday he heard the trailer was a hot topic on Facebook and Twitter, but that he

lacks certain social networking skills to take part.

“I don’t even know how to Twitter,” he said in an interview. “I’m so unhip that it’s tragic.”

But the 55-year-old filmmaker, whose last flick was world box-office record-holder “Titanic” in 1997, knows how to make a splash on screen. He said his team came up

with the “crazy stunt” of inviting people to the movie theater to watch 16 minutes of “Avatar” for free.

“And it’s not even a continuous 16 minutes,” Cameron said. “There are a number of scenes, about three or four minutes apiece. And the idea was to let people come in and really sample the quality of the goods.”

“Avatar” is set for release Dec. 18.

Robin Williams says he is a “work-in-progress” dad Reuters

LOS ANGELES – Robin Williams stars in a movie called “World’s Greatest Dad,” but as a real life father of three grown kids the Oscar winner said he had to overcome dark times and was still a work-in-progress.

“I’m so proud of them in different ways, but have they always been cherubs? No, but that’s been part of the process,” Williams said in an interview.

“And am I the ‘world’s greatest dad?’ Not at all, I’m a work-inprogress, but I love them,” said Williams, whose latest of 51 movies opens on Friday.

A son from his first marriage, Zachary, 26, graduated from New York University. From his second marriage were born Zelda, 20, a budding actress, and Cody, who turns 18 this year.

The comic, who in the past has entered rehab to deal with substance abuse, said his difficulties gave his children a ready response when he questioned them about their behavior.

“They went, ‘And you had a three-year drunken relapse.’ Ah, thank you for bringing that back, my little happy creatures,” Williams quipped.

BP/doc

Robin Williams

After Zachary graduated from New York University with a degree in rhetoric, Williams joked that his son was qualified to “open a syntax repair shop.”

But Williams said he sees how Zachary has pursued his own interests, just as Zelda has made her mark in horror movies and Cody was “kind but brilliant.”

Zelda, has starred in several slasher-style flicks but Williams has begged off seeing them to avoid

watching her get “killed” on screen.

In “World’s Greatest Dad,” directed by fellow comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, Williams plays Lance, a poetry teacher whose teenage son attends the school where he works.

The son Kyle (Daryl Sabara) is a rude outcast, but when he dies suddenly, Lance sets out to rehabilitate Kyle’s posthumous image by “ghostwriting” for his son in a journal that circulates through the school.

Soon, Lance finds the disgust other students once had for Kyle transforms to idolatry. “The movie is a bit of a satire about how we rewrite people when they die,” Goldthwait said in the same interview.

“Now, suddenly everybody would let Michael Jackson baby-sit their kids,” he joked, to illustrate his point.

Goldthwait and Williams are long-time friends, having performed together several times in comedy clubs under the pseudonyms “Jack Cheese” and “Marty Fromage.”

After daughter Zelda saw this latest movie, she complained about not being warned of one scene in which Williams bares his private parts.

“Well you know,” said Williams in a Shakespearean voice, “there are some things father’s don’t talk about.”

Monday, August 24, 2009

Police scour Canada for millionaire murder suspect Associated Press Writers

‘Runway’ champ campaigns for Kidman to wear dress to start a Web site for his case.

Because, as he puts it, “I WANT that woman in my dress.”

The style-savvy actress helped set up a design contest for Vosovic and seven other top contestants from past “Runway” seasons. In a video message, Kidman asked them to create a red carpet-ready look for the upcoming premiere of her film “Nine,” which also stars Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Kate Hudson. She didn’t say who’d wear the chosen dress.

“As excited as we were, we certainly got it,” he said. “I mean, she has an international image to AP Photo/Lifetime, David M. Russell uphold. ... I think that she just Daniel Vosovic wanted to have a little bit of a look, so hopefully she’s watching Associated Press Writer the show, she loves what I did and NEW YORK – Fashion designer she’ll want to wear the dress.”

Representatives for Kidman Daniel Vosovic has someone very A-list in mind for the winning dress could not immediately be reached he created for the “Project Run- for comment Friday.

Vosovic, 28, is planning to deway: All-Star Challenge.”

Vosovic dreams of getting none but his namesake collection at New other than Nicole Kidman to wear York Fashion Week in February. He the elegant black-and-white en- recently published a book, “Fashsemble that secured his victory on ion Inside Out.” He was booted from “Project Thursday’s special edition of the Runway” in 2006 after making it fashion-competition franchise.

Vosovic says he feels the urge to the final round.

News

International

AP Photo/TMZ

This photo provided by TMZ, shows Ryan Alexander Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore’s March 18, 2009 wedding in Las Vegas.

Jenkins, a reality TV contestant, is charged with killing his wife, a former swimsuit model.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned, but we have to play our cards close to our chest right now,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Duncan Pound.

The search for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a 32-year-old real estate developer and investor from Calgary, is centered around Vancouver and British Columbia, said Peter Van Loan, Canada’s public safety minister.

The Mounted Police are leading the manhunt for Jenkins, who is suspected of strangling Jasmine Fiore and then reporting her missing the evening of Aug. 15 before fleeing.

Jenkins and Fiore met in Las Vegas in March and they married a few weeks later.

The couple separated shortly afterward, but had reportedly recently reconciled.

Fiore’s body was found in a trash bin in Buena Park, an Orange County city about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

Her teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off, apparently to impede her identification. Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Authorities believe Jenkins fled via car, boat and on foot to enter his native Canada.

Both Jenkins and Fiore were involved in the outer circles of the entertainment business.

Fiore was a model who worked mainly in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, doing gigs such as being bodypainted at parties, said Andrea Guevara, a friend who worked with her about five years ago coaching “margarita wrestling” teams - young women tussling each other in swimming pools of green-colored water.

Fiore’s looks meant she was often invited to parties, some hosted by celebrities, but she had more than a pretty face and alluring figure, Guevara told The Associated Press in an interview.

“She was very intelligent and well spoken,” Guevara said. “She had a positive energy and was always working. She didn’t need to have a boyfriend. She was very happy being herself.”

French men charged with paedophile offences Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - A Cambodian court charged two French men Sunday with soliciting a child prostitute and producing child pornography, a prosecutor said.

The charges were laid against Michel Jean Raymond Charlot, 62, and 60-year-old Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret, Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor Kry Sok Y said.

Charlot was arrested after he al-

legedly solicited a 16-year-old girl in Phnom Penh and took her back to his guesthouse room.

Claude Jean-Pierre Demeret was arrested later after the girl told police about him, said Keo Thea, deputy chief of the municipality’s anti-human trafficking police.

“Both of them were charged after police found a lot of pictures and videos they made while having sex with children in Thailand and Cambodia,” said Kry Sok Y.

“We have handed them to the investigating judges to question them more,” he added.

Police said they found evidence of children’s underwear, toys and sex toys, as well as the pictures and videos.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

5

PHILIPPINES OUT AFP PHOTO

A Dornier 328 plane of the SEAIR sits stuck on the grassy land on the side of the runway of the Manila’s main international airport on August 23, 2009.

Tourist plane skids off runway at Philippine airport Agence France-Presse

MANILA - A plane carrying 32 people from the Philippines resort island of Boracay skidded off the runway after landing at Manila’s main international airport on Sunday, officials said.

The small plane belonging to SEAIR, a local airline mainly serving tourist routes, was hit by crosswinds as it came in to land but no one was hurt in the incident, said airport official Harold Balucatin.

The plane got stuck in the grass at the side of the runway, he said.

The runway was temporarily closed while repair crews tried to move the plane, which suffered damage to its landing gear.

The plane was returning from Caticlan, the town that serves the island of Boracay, one of the country’s leading beach resorts, airport officials said.

Neither airport nor airline officials were able to say if there were any foreign tourists aboard the plane.

The accident came less than a month after a hard landing by a SEAIR plane at Caticlan airport forced flights there to be briefly suspended.

In January, at least two passengers were seriously injured when a small plane operated by Zest Airways missed the runway on landing and smashed into a concrete wall at the Caticlan airport.

Two Indian presidential bodyguards get life sentences for rape Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI - An Indian court Saturday sentenced two presidential bodyguards to life imprisonment for raping a teenage university student in New Delhi six years ago, a report said.

The attack in the heart of the city on the 17-year-old girl sparked outrage across India as it involved soldiers belonging to an elite unit at the presidential palace, a tourist highlight in the capital.

Two other presidential bodyguards convicted of abducting and robbing the student were sentenced to ten years each in jail, the Press Trust of India report said.

The victim, who was strolling in the park with a male friend, was attacked by the four soldiers in broad daylight in October 2003, the

prosecution said.

While two of them stood guard, the other two raped her, the court was told.

The park lies within a kilometre (mile) of the British-built, red-stone presidential palace, which is guarded by hundreds of soldiers and policemen.

There are often reports of rape in India but many women are reluctant to complain to police because of the stigma surrounding the crime and fears it could jeopardise their chances of marriage.

Members of the armed forces have been dogged in recent years by accusations of sexual misconduct.

The Indian Express newspaper described the October 2003 rape as “an unprecedented stain” on the President’s Bodyguard, which was founded in 1773 by Britain’s Governor-General Warren Hastings.

4

News

Monday, August 24, 2009

International

Life Style

International

Iran clerics object to women ministers Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - Iran’s conservative clerics have objected to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to include three women in his new cabinet, a report said on Saturday, dealing a blow to the hardliner’s bid to secure parliament’s nod for his ministerial line-up.

Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshvaraz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health, and welfare and social security in his 21-member cabinet.

“Although it is a new idea to choose women as ministers, there are religious doubts over the abilities of women when it comes to management. This should be considered by the government,” Mohammad Taghi Rahbar, the head of the clerics’ faction in the 290-member conservative-dominated Iranian parliament was quoted as saying by the conservative daily Tehran Emrouz.

He said the faction will seek the

opinion of the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the issue.

Ahmadinejad’s proposed cabinet, which boasts 11 new names including the three women, will face a vote of confidence on August 30.

Rahbar said leading Iranian clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi and Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayghani too wanted Ahmadinejad to reconsider his decision regarding the three women.

The nomination of females to the cabinet marks a first in the 30year history of the Islamic republic, although in 1997 then reformist president Mohammad Khatami appointed two women among his vice presidents.

In recent years Iranian women have outnumbered men in universities but they still account for only around 15 percent of the official work force. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, women have been banned from becoming judges and suffer from legal inequalities with men in marriage, divorce and inheritance.

Argentine outrage as Iran names terror suspect as minister Agence France-Presse

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina expressed outrage Friday over Iran’s nomination of a man wanted in connection to a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing that killed 85 people as the next defense minister.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tapping Ahmad Vahidi for the post is “an affront to Argentine justice and the victims of the terrorist attack” on the Jewish community center, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

News of the nomination was received “with grave concern and deserves the most energetic condemnation of the Argentine government,” it said.

In 2007, Interpol issued what it calls a Red Notice on Vahidi, a former head of Al Quds, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Interpol under the notice distributed Argentina’s arrest warrant for Vahidi to member coun-

tries.

The July 9, 1994 bombing leveled the seven-floor Argentine Jewish Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people and wounding 300. No single individual has ever been convicted for the bombing.

It was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina, which has the largest Jewish community in the Americas outside the United States, and the second large-scale anti-Jewish strike in Buenos Aires that decade.

In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was leveled in a bombing that killed 22 people and wounded 200.

In Washington, US officials reacted with concern.

“If this report is true and if this man is confirmed as a cabinet minister and is wanted by Interpol for his involvement in a terrorist act, of course this would be disturbing,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

AFP PHOTO/FARS NEWS

Ahmad Vahidi.

Monday, August 24, 2009

13

Graffiti gains ground in China Agence France Presse

BEIJING - Clean-cut 23-year-old design graduate Chen Chuang sprayed a whitewashed wall in central Beijing in broad daylight with big jagged blue letters — his clan’s signature — before scurrying away.

“It’s not really against the law,” said his friend Liu Yuchen.

AFP PHOTO / YANICK MANIENGUI

Bruno Ben Moubamba (C), presidential candidate for the upcoming (August 30) elections, is pictured during his hunger strike infront of the lower house of parliament in Libreville on August 19, 2009. Gabon’s election campaign kicked off on August 15, 2009 as contenders to succeed the late veteran president Omar Bongo Ondimba held rallies while independent candidate Bruno Ben Moubamba launched a hunger strike to demand a delay, charging that the process was marred by irregularities.

Hunger-striking Gabon presidential hopeful hospitalised Agence France-Presse

LIBREVILLE - A hunger-striking candidate in Gabon’s presidential election was admitted to hospital Saturday after his condition had dramatically deteriorated after eight days’ fasting, his supporters said.

Bruno Ben Moubamba, one of several candidates campaigning to get the election postponed, was evacuated to a hospital in the capital Libreville, said George Mpaga, the head of a network of groups supporting him.

“He fainted, we were obliged to take him to hospital” against his wishes, the leader of his campaign

Joel Mbiamany Ntchoreret said.

Earlier Saturday had said expressed about Moubamba’s condition, which he said had dramatically deteriorated.

“He is very, very weak, but he is still refusing to eat and he is refusing to be evacuated to hospital,” he told AFP. Moubamba was going into con-

vulsions and was showing signs of mental confusion, he added.

For eight days Moubamba had been camped in front of the national assembly on hunger strike. He wants the government to resign and the August 30 election to be postponed.

On Thursday, he refused a request from officials sent by the interim president Rose Francine Rogombe to halt his hunger strike Another 11 presidential candidates have also called for the election to be postponed, denouncing what they called flagrant irregularities and inequalities.

London, Edinburgh under fire over Lockerbie release Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Scotland rejected scathing criticism Saturday from the FBI over the Lockerbie bomber’s release, as the British government came under pressure to explain its role.

In a letter to Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released earlier Saturday, Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, denounced his decision to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

But the Scottish government hit back, saying that while compassionate release might not be part of the US justice system, it was a proper part of Scotland’s.

Meanwhile the British government came under pressure to explain its role in Megrahi’s release, but strongly denied Libyan claims it was linked to trade deals.

Mueller, who in 1991 was assistant attorney general in charge of the investigation of Megrahi, wrote that he was “outraged at the decision, blithely defended on the grounds of ‘compassion’”.

But a Scottish government spokesman said the decision was reached following proper procedures.

“The justice secretary reached his conclusions on the basis of Scotland’s due process, clear evidence, and the recommendations from the parole board and prison

governor,” the spokesman said.

“Compassionate release is not part of the US justice system but it is part of Scotland’s,” he added.

“Mr MacAskill could not have consulted more widely — he spoke with the US families, the US attorney general, Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and many others.

“Mr Megrahi has been sent back to Libya to die a convicted man.”

MacAskill would respond to Mueller’s letter in due course, the spokesman added.

The semi-autonomous Scottish government, based in Edinburgh, can take decisions independently of London on justice matters but not foreign affairs.

AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN

Visitors at an arts district in Beijing pose for photos in front of graffiti spray-painted on a wall on June 30, 2009. China has seen the emergence of a small but growing group of graffiti artists but unlike their counterparts in the West, who have sometimes used the art form to convey political messages, Chinese artists offer a message that has little to do with revolt or protest, with many having taken up graffiti as a trendy fad, discovered through the Internet, films, magazines and from friends who had travelled abroad.

Chen quickly added: “But once you get caught, it can be very serious.” Chen and Liu are members of a small but growing group of graffiti artists in China where the craft, once the preserve of Western countries, has taken off in the last few years.

But unlike their counterparts in the West, who have sometimes used the art form to convey political messages, Chinese artists offer a message that has little to do with revolt or protest.

“Graffiti art in China has got rid of the strong rebelliousness and confrontational attitude in Western graffiti,” said Luo Zhongli, head of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

“It is related to the aesthetics of people’s lives, and leans more towards fashion.” Chen and Liu say that most Chinese artists took up graffiti as a trendy fad, having discovered it through the Internet, films, magazines and from friends who had travelled abroad.

Most of the pair’s designs revolve around cartoons, abstract images and

colourful words such as their graffiti names — not politics.

“There are very few people doing graffiti in Beijing, and if I sign my name on the street and talk about bad things, the police will find me very quickly,” said Chen.

Another graffiti artist from the northern city of Xi’an agreed.

“There can’t be political themes, and if there are, they must be beneficial towards the government or the party,” said 18-year-old Seker, a recent high school graduate who asked to be identified only by his pseudonym.

Chen said he drew about topics that inspired him, such as the deadly Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, or even the Nanjing massacre in 1937 when Japanese invaders killed hundreds of thousands of people.

There is no specific law relating to graffiti in China, as the phenomenon is relatively new.

But Chen said he knew people who had been detained for several days and others who had been fined for spraying their designs at will.

Dollar squeeze puts imports New York painter barks for art out of reach for Venezuelans Agence France Presse

Agence France Presse

CARACAS - Venezuela may be South America’s richest oil exporter, but its population is finding many imports such as cheese, meats and wines being priced well out reach because of currency controls.

An official exchange rate of 2.15 Bolivars to the US dollar makes Caracas one of the most expensive cities the region when prices are taken at face value.

But a scarcity of the US currency since the end of 2008 because of sliding oil revenues has forced importers to turn to a parallel exchange rate that more than doubles the number of Bolivars needed to buy one dollar.

That has sent the cost of imported items skyrocketing. In just over a week, the price for a kilo of French brie cheese has jumped 190 percent to 580 Bolivars (270 dollars, or 122 dollars a pound at the official rate).

Spanish ham has gone up a similar ratio to 100 dollars a kilo (45 dollars a pound), while a bottle of basic Champagne costs 160 dollars, and a block of butter is 12 dollars at the government exchange valuation.

The multiplying expense is strangling store commerce, and drawing the ire of customers who rely on imports for many of their basic items.

“Imports are no longer affordable,” bemoaned Coromoto Bautista, picking her way through a shop. “A cosmetic product that you could buy for 12 Bolivars is now at 46 Bolivars. Meat that I paid 180 Bolivars for a month ago costs more than 300 this week,” she said.

The Venezuelan government has said it plans to introduce new measures in the next few days to “restore balance” and clamp down on market “distortions” caused by the big gap between the official and parallel rates. A devaluation, though, has so far been ruled out.

The country entirely depends on its oil exports, and the government has made no effort to be self-sufficient in food and industrial production, preferring to spend oil income on imports.

But with the global slowdown pushing oil prices down, the flow of dollars has diminished, prompting the government to choose import priorities to be paid for in greenbacks.

NEW YORK – In her Brooklyn studio the artist stretches, gazes passionately — then plunges her teeth through the canvas.

So begins another masterpiece by Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie, a Jack Russell terrier some see as rivaling the big beasts of the two-legged contemporary art world.

Switching from teeth to claws, Tillie scratches intensely at the paper, covered with vellum lathered in scarlet paint, and protected by Mylar film.

Occasionally she pauses to examine her work. Her body trembles with excitement, eyes shine, tongue lolls.

Then with a growl and a bark she’s off again, tearing, scratching, licking.

Sometimes frenzied, sometimes in a trance, she appears oblivious to an entourage of six humans, including a sculptor and painter, and two dogs.

After about 20 minutes, owner Bowman Hastie, who describes himself as the artist’s assistant, snatches the work to safety. The Mylar and vellum sheets are removed, revealing an unequal storm of red lines raging across the canvas.

The visiting artists, who’ve never seen Tillie in action, are awestruck.

“She seemed possessed. It was scary,” gasps Juan Doe, a painter and

comic book illustrator. “The piece,” he says, surveying the still wet paper, “is awesome.”

“It looks like two human lungs,” an astonished Ward Yoshimoto, who sculpts and works as a commercial photographer, exclaims.

The 10-year-old pooch, named after Hastie’s favorite childhood cheese, has built a career that New York’s army of struggling artists could only dream of matching.

She has collaborated with major established artists like Americans Tom Sachs and Jon Kessler.

Her paintings, which sell for more than 1,000 dollars, just had a solo show in Florida and are now part of an animal art exhibition in Ottawa.

In October, Yoshimoto and Doe are including her alongside human painters when a gallery they run shows at a Paris art fair.

But is Tillie an artist? Or does she just enjoy savaging paint-covered paper? Not everyone thinks the canny canine should swap her kennel for an atelier. New York’s Village Voice newspaper pithily labeled Tillie “a sham”.

Fans point out that Tillie’s work strongly resembles the output of human conceptualists selling canvases for a million dollars, or far more, at major auctions.

AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand

Dog painting artist Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie, a Jack Russell terrier, looks on as owner Bowman Hastie signs copies of her biography, in New York, August 18, 2009. The 10year-old dog, has been painting since she was a puppy and collaborated with major established artists like Tom Sachs and Jon Kessler of the US. Tillie’s owner, Bowman Hastie, who describes himself as her assistant, has been promoting her paintings, which sell for over a 1,000 USD, via art shows and galleries.

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Sport

Monday, August 24, 2009

International

News

International

Federer snaps losing streak against Murray to reach Cincy final

Agence France-Presse

CINCINNATI- World number one Roger Federer snapped a four-match losing streak against second-ranked Andy Murray Saturday to book his berth in the Cincinnati Masters final.

AP Photo/Al Behrman

Roger Federer, from Switzerland, hits a forehand against Andy Murray, from Great Britain, at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009, in Mason, Ohio.

Federer won 6-2, 7-6 (8).

maneuver this time, never facing a break point in a match lasting an hour and a half.

“If you let Roger play well, then he’s very, very difficult to beat,” Murray said. “The first set I was leaving the ball short and giving him a lot of second serves to look at and not making a whole a lot of returns, so I couldn’t to put any pressure on him.

“He was going for his shots because I was leaving the ball in the middle of the court.

“I was happy that I managed to up my game in the second set,” added Murray, who had two chances in the tiebreaker to force a third set.

He couldn’t however, and Federer claimed the victory when Murray double-faulted on Federer’s secondmatch point.

“He was not sure if I was going to maybe run around the backhand and thump a big forehand or maybe just chip it in,” Federer said of the pressure he was able to apply on Murray’s serve. “Maybe making him doubt a little bit brought a double fault out, I don’t know.”

Murray had given Federer his first chance to close it out when he challenged rather than playing a Federer serve - and was wrong.

Murray, who sank to his knees right after issuing the challenge, said he knew he had blown the call.

Federer had clinched the opening set with a successful challenge, af-

I am dead tired now, admits sprint-king Bolt Agence France Presse

BERLIN - Sprint king Usain Bolt admitted he is dead tired from his exertions after capturing his third gold medal of Berlin’s World Athletics Championships with Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team.

Bolt’s three medals here have replicated his gold medal hattrick from last August’s Beijing Olympics and while he has repeated his individual worldrecord breaking haul he insists he is not in the same shape he was in China.

The 23-year-old shattered his own 100m world record here last Sunday when he picked up his first gold, then set another global mark when he was victorious in the 200m final on Thursday before running Saturday’s third leg

of the relay.

The Jamaican quartet clocked a championship record of 37.31 seconds while Trinidad and Tobago took silver in a national record of 37.62sec and Great Britain the bronze in 38.02sec.

With team-mate and world 100m bronze medallist Asafa Powell carrying a groin strain, Bolt ran the penultimate relay leg and despite his claims he is jaded still had enough gas to help his team clinch victory.

“I’m really tired, I didn’t run the best leg I wanted to, but I am just happy I got the baton to Asafa (Powell) and we got it around the track,” said Bolt, who sat on the track after the baton switch to rest his weary legs.

“My first aim was to get the gold medal, so I am definitely happy.

“Maybe I didn’t look so happy, because I was tired. “I had to take a

break on the track because I was so tired.

“I was worried about Asafa going into the race, I kept asking him if he was ok, first priority is his health. “But he said he felt good and would try his best, the aim was to make sure we won.”

Having left Beijing with three world records for the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, Bolt missed out on repeating the feat in Berlin when the Jamaicans just failed to match the 37.10sec they ran in Beijing exactly a year ago.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, right, changes to Asafa Powell on their way to winning gold in the 4x100m relay during the World Athletics Championships in Berlin on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009

ter giving himself his third set point against Murray’s serve with a textbook overhead smash.

Federer had insisted heading into the match that it held no special significance, despite Murray’s winning streak against him. He stuck to that after the victory.

“I’m playing the tournament, not the player,” he said. “I’m not going to change my tune saying, ‘Now this is going to put me as a massive favorite for the US Open and now Andy is not going to beat me next time. That’s not true. He’s a wonderful player ... and it takes a great performance to beat him these days.”

Djokovic, who is last year’s runner-up in this event, cruised through the first set and managed an early break in the second en route to the victory. He is now just 5-14 all-time against the second seeded Spaniard.

“This has been one of the best matches in the season so far,” Djokovic said. “It came in the great moment just before the US Open.

“I think I was trying to be from the first point in the control of the match, be very aggressive, and take the chances on each shot or ball that I had. “The serve was exceptionally well when it needed to be, so overall I’m very happy.”

Said Nadal, “He played really well. But I think this match gonna be a good experience for me right now.” Federer is seeking his 61st career title on Sunday.

AFP PHOTO

A pro-Tibet activist joins thousands of Japanese climbing up Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 21, 2009.

Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters performed a religious ceremony to promote world peace and call for freedom for Tibetans in China, on the flanks of Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 22.

Tibetan activists make peace pilgrimage up Japan’s Mt Fuji Agence France Presse

MT FUJI - Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters made a pilgrimage up Mount Fuji on Saturday to pray for world peace and call for freedom for themselves and other minorities in China.

“Today there are a lot of problems in China, not just in Tibet but also in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,” said Lhakpa Tshoko, the Japan and East Asia representative of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

“The nature of suffering we are enduring is the same, so we are also praying for our brothers and sisters in those regions,” he said.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending troops into the Himalayan region the previous year. The

Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The worst unrest in Tibet in years erupted in the regional capital Lhasa in March 2008. Deadly disturbances also broke out last month in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region between mainly Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

At Mt Fuji, about 50 Tibetans, Mongolians and Japanese supporters on Friday started the trek up Japan’s

highest mountain.

Bad weather prevented them from holding a sunrise prayer ceremony Saturday on the summit of the 3,776 metre (12,390 feet) high mountain, but they later performed religious rituals on the flank of the volcano.

“We chose Mt Fuji because it is a very important mountain, loved by the Japanese people and revered in the Shinto religion,” said Lhakpa Tshoko. The Dalai Lama plans to visit Japan in October.

Agence France-Presse

bases in nearby provinces, although he did not give precise figures.

“Having too many troops up there is not really good. We have a plan to change the deployment a little,” Hun Sen said during a trip to an outlying province.

He said the Thai redeployment meant that there was no fighting at the border at present.

“If anything happened, it wouldn’t take long to send our troops up again.

But I hope there won’t be any fighting there,” he added.

Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land sur-

rounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Cambodia to reduce troops at border temple

AP Photo/Matt Dunham

3

Vatican deplores indifference to migrants after more deaths

Agence France Presse

Federer downed Murray 6-2, 7-6 (10/8), his first victory against the Scot since his triumph in last year’s US Open final.

Since then, Murray had bested the Swiss superstar four times, including twice this year.

In the final, Federer will face fourth-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic who swept past Spain’s Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

Federer noted that Murray’s victories against him tended to follow a similar pattern, with the Scot rallying and playing stronger as the matches progressed. “To me it was obviously important this time the same doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“I stayed aggressive. I was always looking to make the plays, and I think in the end I deserved to win just because I wasn’t scared to go after my shots. And I think I served well today.

“It was just overall a very good performance.”

Certainly Federer, whose 15 Grand Slam titles include this year’s French Open and Wimbledon crowns, gave Murray little room to

Monday, August 24, 2009

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday he plans to reduce the number of troops stationed around an ancient border temple that has sparked bloody clashes with Thailand.

The neighbouring countries have fought several skirmishes on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

Hun Sen said Thailand now had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia would send some troops away from the area and back to their

ROME - A senior Vatican official on Saturday deplored indifference with regard to migrants after 73 Eritreans were reported to have died from hunger and thirst trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

“Our so-called civilised societies have in reality developed an attitude of rejection of foreigners, resulting not only from ignorance but selfishness and refusal to share what one has with others,” Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio told Radio Vatican.

Veglio said that the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People which he heads was troubled by the “ceaseless repetition of such tragedies”.

“Every migrant is a human person, who as such possesses fundamental and inalienable rights which must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance,” he said, quoting a recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. Five migrants rescued on Thursday off Italy’s southern Lampedusa island said 73 of their companions had perished during the voyage and their bodies were dumped at sea.

The emaciated survivors said their small 12-metre (40-foot) boat — which set off from Libya — had been adrift without fuel for 20 days, and that they received no help from several passing vessels.

But Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said it was “extremely unfair” to criticise or blame Malta or Italy for any deaths.

Speaking at a joint news conference

with the head of the Maltese Armed Forces Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Borg said that when the boat was first spotted, it was still in Libya’s search and rescue area.

Had there been any deaths, these must have taken place in Libya’s area, he said.

The Maltese authorities were also continuing to cast doubt on the migrants’ story.

Vassallo said the boat carrying the five Eritreans was so small it was “highly unlikely” that it carried many more people.

Vassallo said the boat was first spotted by a helicopter from the European Union border agency Frontex when it was still in the Libyan search and rescue zone.

A Maltese patrol boat was sent to investigate and approached the migrants, who immediately insisted they did not want to stop in Malta but wanted to continue their voyage to Italy. They also informed the Maltese soldiers that 73 of their compatriots had died during the voyage and accepted some crackers, water and fuel.

He said the boat looked new, was clean and was so small that not many more would have been able to fit in it. He did not exclude that they could have been transferred to the boat during the journey.

Vassallo said the Maltese continued to monitor the boat from a distance until it was close to Lampedusa. The Italian authorities had already been informed about the migrants by then.

Cambodia to reduce troops at border temple Agence France-Presse

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Saturday he plans to reduce the number of troops stationed around an ancient border temple that has sparked bloody clashes with Thailand.

The neighbouring countries have fought several skirmishes on the disputed frontier around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

Hun Sen said Thailand now had just 30 soldiers on the border, meaning that Cambodia would send some troops away from the area and back to their bases in nearby provinces, although he did not give precise figures.

“Having too many troops up there is not really good. We have a plan to change the deployment a little,” Hun Sen said during a trip to an outlying province.

He said the Thai redeployment meant that there was no fighting at the border at present.

“If anything happened, it

wouldn’t take long to send our troops up again. But I hope there won’t be any fighting there,” he added.

Thailand in June reignited the row over the temple when it asked world heritage body UNESCO to reconsider its decision to formally list the temple in Cambodia, as ownership of land surrounding the ruins is still in dispute.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around the Preah Vihear temple for decades.

Although the World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people.

The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

2

International

Monday, August 24, 2009

Sport

International

News WORLD NEWS

Oil Spill PERTH, Australia Oil and gas continue to leak from a drill rig that ruptured deep under the ocean floor off Australia, but the government says there is no environmental threat to the coast.

Baltics anniversary TALLINN - First ever memorial day for victims of both the Communist and Nazi regimes. Various events planned to mark 20th anniversary of Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius human chain and the 70th anniversary of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

SEOUL - South Korea Sunday said a solemn farewell to Kim Dae-Jung, who battled dictators to bring democracy and strove to make peace with communist North Korea when he became president.

AP Photo/Paolo Lazzeroni

AC Milan’s Pato, of Brazil, right, celebrates with compatriot Ronaldinho after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Siena and AC Milan in Siena, Italy, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009.

AFP PHOTO / PARK JI-HWAN

Lee Hee-Ho (2nd L-front), the wife of the late former South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, and her family walk past the memorial altar for Kim during a state funeral ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on August 23, 2009. South Korea said a solemn farewell to Kim Dae-Jung, who battled dictators to achieve democracy and strove to make peace with communist North Korea when he became president tries. His “sunshine” aid and engagement policy eased relations but failed to halt the North’s nuclear weapons drive.

Han said Kim “opened the path for inter-Korean reconciliation.”

Relations sharply worsened after current conservative president Lee abandoned the policy and linked economic aid to nuclear disarmament.

Kim was awarded the Nobel prize for the summit and for his earlier struggle for democracy.

Critics of “sunshine” said it lavished aid on the North for no tangible benefits.

The 2000 summit was marred by controversy after it emerged that Kim’s government arranged for a business group to pay the North 500 million dollars as an inducement to hold it.

But Kim never wavered on the need for reconciliation. “This is the best way to end the national tragedy and make a reunified motherland,” he said in his final speech in office in 2003.

“We will forever remember his wish for democracy and human rights as well as reconciliation and peace,” the ruling Grand National Party said in a statement.

Vatican deplores indifference to migrants after more deaths

Drought in China

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING - A drought in China’s north has damaged crops and left nearly 5 million people short of drinking water, while dry weather in the south could cause more shortages, a state news agency reports.

Source: ap

Agence France Presse

Agence France-Presse

votion allowed freedom, human rights and democracy to fully blossom in Korea, making our country today a proud and respected nation in the world.”

The government had declared six days of national mourning, with flags at half-mast. Around 24,000 people were at the funeral.

Mourners pinned yellow ribbons to parliament’s main gate. Thousands of police were deployed around the compound, where a large portrait of Kim surrounded by flowers was placed on a shrine.

After the hour-long ceremony, which began at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT), the coffin — escorted by about 30 police motorcycle outriders — was to be taken to the national cemetery.

A giant national flag will lead the procession.

Kim won office in 1997 at his fourth attempt, and was sworn in the following February at the height of the Asian financial crisis. He steered the country out of the crisis, launching major reforms and corporate restructuring.

In 2000 he met Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang for the first-ever summit in the hostile history of the two coun-

ROME - A senior Vatican official on Saturday deplored indifference with regard to migrants after 73 Eritreans were reported to have died from hunger and thirst trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

“Our so-called civilised societies have in reality developed an attitude of rejection of foreigners, resulting not only from ignorance but selfishness and refusal to share what one has with others,” Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio told Radio Vatican.

Veglio said that the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People which he heads was troubled by the “ceaseless repetition of such tragedies”.

“Every migrant is a human per-

son, who as such possesses fundamental and inalienable rights which must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance,” he said, quoting a recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. Five migrants rescued on Thursday off Italy’s southern Lampedusa island said 73 of their companions had perished during the voyage and their bodies were dumped at sea.

The emaciated survivors said their small 12-metre (40-foot) boat — which set off from Libya — had been adrift without fuel for 20 days, and that they received no help from several passing vessels.

But Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said it was “extremely unfair” to criticise or blame Malta or Italy for any deaths.

Speaking at a joint news conference

with the head of the Maltese Armed Forces Brigadier Carmel Vassallo and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Borg said that when the boat was first spotted, it was still in Libya’s search and rescue area. Had there been any deaths, these must have taken place in Libya’s area, he said.

The Maltese authorities were also continuing to cast doubt on the migrants’ story.

Vassallo said the boat carrying the five Eritreans was so small it was “highly unlikely” that it carried many more people.

Vassallo said the boat was first spotted by a helicopter from the European Union border agency Frontex when it was still in the Libyan search and rescue zone.

A Maltese patrol boat was sent to

investigate and approached the migrants, who immediately insisted they did not want to stop in Malta but wanted to continue their voyage to Italy. They also informed the Maltese soldiers that 73 of their compatriots had died during the voyage and accepted some crackers, water and fuel.

He said the boat looked new, was clean and was so small that not many more would have been able to fit in it. He did not exclude that they could have been transferred to the boat during the journey.

Vassallo said the Maltese continued to monitor the boat from a distance until it was close to Lampedusa.

The Italian authorities had already been informed about the migrants by then.

z Founder : K.Nadha, z Chief Editor: ABG Satria Naradha z Managing Editor: Wirata z Editors: Alit Purnata, Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Darmasunu, Daniel Fajry, Diah Dewi, Iwan Darmawan, Martinaya, Mawa, Palgunadi, Sri Hartini, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Sutiawan, Wirya, Yudi Winanto zDenpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Mas Ruscitadewi, Oka Rusmini, Umbu Landu Paranggi, Subagiadnya, Subrata, Suentra, Sumatika, Gregorius Rusmanda, 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

15

Owen delighted by United goal breakthrough

South Korea says solemn farewell to “great leader” Kim Kim, who died Tuesday aged 85, was “a great leader of modern history” who won worldwide respect, Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo told a state funeral for the Nobel prizewinner.

Thousands of politicians, foreign dignitaries and ordinary people attended the ceremony, staged outside parliament to signify Kim’s contribution to democracy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il Friday sent envoys to Seoul to deliver his wreath.

They left Sunday before the funeral but after holding talks with current President Lee Myung-Bak, raising hopes of warmer ties after months of hostility.

Kim Dae-Jung survived assassination attempts and a death sentence in his struggle against military-backed rulers, who had presided over dramatic economic growth but trampled human rights.

Mass street protests led largely by Kim ushered in democracy in 1987.

Democratisation “was possible because you were there with your unwavering convictions and your unyielding courage,” Han said in his eulogy to Kim. “Your sacrifices, dedication and de-

Monday, August 24, 2009

Pato, Ronaldinho inspire Milan to opening win

WIGAN - Michael Owen admitted it was a relief to fire home his first Manchester United goal in the Premier League as the defending champions handed Wigan a 5-0 mauling on Saturday.

The 29-year-old England striker came off the bench on 71 minutes and, after being put through by Nani, produced a vintage finish five minutes from time.

“I probably scored the hardest chance I’ve had,” said Owen, who had failed to find the net in United’s two opening league games against Birmingham and Burnley.

“I had two chances at Burnley and one against Birmingham, but this was the fourth real opportunity I’ve had.

“I don’t think I missed a chance in pre-season, but I’ve missed a couple since the season started and as ever everyone is quick to write you off. It was as if I hadn’t scored for a couple of years.

Owen added on www.manutd.com: “That’s something I’ve had to deal with for ten odd years now and I don’t think that will change until I hang up my boots.

“It was certainly a great feeling to score. I’d got a few in preseason but there’s nothing quite like doing it in a competitive game.”

Owen, who arrived at Old Trafford from relegated Newcastle in the summer, said he believes more goals will come.

“I’d be disappointed if people didn’t think I could go on from here,” said Owen.

“I obviously believe I can as I have done throughout my career and I certainly expect to score more goals in the red shirt.”

Strike partner Wayne Rooney reached another landmark in the victory, firing in his 100th goal for the club as United bounced back in style following their shock 1-0 defeat at promoted Burnley in midweek.

“Of course it’s nice to score 100 goals for anyone, especially a team like United, so obviously I’m pleased with that,” said Rooney.

“It’s something I’ll look back on really when I’ve finished playing. I’ve still got a lot of games and a lot of goals left in me, so it’s not something I’m really too concerned with at the minute.”

Agence France Presse

ROME - Brazilians Pato and Ronaldinho proved there is life after Kaka as they inspired AC Milan to a 2-1 victory at Siena in coach Leonardo’s opening Serie A match in charge of the Italian giants on Saturday.

Pato scored a brace but it was his Brazilian compatriot Ronaldinho who created both goals to help countryman Leonardo begin his reign with a win and instantly ease the pain felt by Kaka’s switch to Real Madrid.

The teenage Pato paid tribute to his strike partner.

“Everyone’s talking about Ronaldinho, but he’s brilliant, he’s number one,” he said. “He creates many chances for the other forwards. We’re really happy with him, he’s on his way back and it’s easy playing with him.”

It was a marked turnaround for Milan, who had lost eight out of 11 pre-season friendlies and although this success against relative minnows will not be decisive in the scudetto race, Ronaldinho’s performance inspired some hope.

He may not have his explosive burst of pace of old, but he was incisive and creative, and almost scored with an ingenius second-half bicycle kick.

Leonardo praised his team for turning around their poor pre-season form.

“I’ve just seen a very positive response,” said the coach. “And most of all great pride following a pre-season that wasn’t great.

“Ronaldinho can play any role in attack and he makes others score,

that’s one of his best traits.”

Pato had the first clear chance of the game but his long range volley on 10 minutes was deflected behind for a corner.

Ronaldinho was impressive playing in the hole behind Pato and Marco Borriello, orchestrating the play from the position where Kaka used to roam.

On 19 minutes left-back Marek Jankulovski played a one-two with the Brazilian, who played him in on goal but the Czech could not beat Gianluca Curci from a tight angle.

Minutes later Pato steered home a Ronaldinho free-kick but it was ruled out as he had strayed marginally offside.

A goal was coming, though, and it arrived on 29 minutes as Ronaldinho slipped in Pato, thanks in no small part to some inattentive defending, and the teenager fired across Curci into the bottom corner.

The lead last only five minutes, though, as Siena scored with worrying ease for Leonardo.

Michele Fini’s cross into the box landed at Lukas Jarolim’s feet and the Czech was afforded time to shoot.

Marco Storari kept out that effort but Algeria forward Abdelkader Ghezzal was on hand to fire the rebound into the roof of the net.

Milan were quick out of the

blocks in the second half and Ronaldinho was again the architecht, playing Mathieu Flamini in behind the defence before the France midfielder squared to Pato for an easy tap-in.

After Curci had tipped over Ronaldinho’s acrobatic effort, Siena pushed forward and looked most likely to score but Storari kept out Daniele Ficagna’s header.

In the day’s other game, Pablo Osvaldo gained revenge on his former employers as plucky Bologna held Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw.

The Argentine forward, who has represented Italy at under-21 level, scored 24 minutes into this match with a close range header from a corner to give hosts Bologna the lead after losing marker Gianluca Comotto.

The 23-year-old, who had an unsuccessful 18-month spell in Florence before being sold to Bologna in January, twice almost doubled the hosts’ lead but French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey denied him.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli threw Romania captain Adrian Mutu into the fray in the second half and the former Chelsea forward levelled matters with a stunning volley on 64 minutes.

Fiorentina laid siege to the Bologna goal but Francesco Valiani saved a point for the hosts when he cleared Martin Jorgensen’s late shot off the line.

AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS

Manchester United’s English forward Michael Owen celebrates scoring his first league goal for the club during the English Premier League football match between Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at the DW Stadium in Wigan, north-west England on August 22, 2009.

16

Sport

Monday, August 24, 2009

Titanic effort as wildfire reaches Athens suburbs

16 Pages Number 441 1st Year

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Toyota’s F1 future not guaranteed

Valencia-Toyota’s future in Formula 1 is not guaranteed, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the signing off of the team’s 2010 budget by its parent car company being postponed until later this year.

AP photo/Daniel Leiva

Panasonic Toyota team members move tyres over the dock at the Valencia street circuit in Valencia, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009.

Vettel: I can’t afford engine failures

AP Photo/Alberto Saiz

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany watches a screen at the team’s garage during a practice session at the Valencia street circuit in Valencia, Spain, on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. The F1 European Grand Prix will take place on Sunday.

Valencia - Sebastian Vettel has warned that he cannot afford any more engine failures after losing another one of his eight unit allocation for the season in free practice on Saturday.

The Red Bull driver had already brought six of his engines into play when he suffered the failure, leaving him with just two fresh ones to deploy during the final six races of the season.

Although teams regularly swap their engines around and are able to bring back powerplants that have been used before, Vettel could face having to take a ten-place grid penalty at the first event where he brings a ninth unit into play. He is understood already to have lost at least one other Renault engine to a failure.

“From now on, there is no room for any more failures or mistakes,” said Vettel when asked by AUTOSPORT how concerned he was about his engine allocation.

“I can’t change anything now. Of course, if you want to win the championship it is not a good thing towards the end of the season because it will get tight. How tight, we will see.”

Despite being pleased with the progress that Red Bull made between Friday practice and qualifying, Vettel fears that the resurgence of McLarenMercedes will make it harder to chase down Jenson Button and Brawn in the championship. He also pointed to the McLaren KERS as a major factor in the team’s speed.

“If there is someone who is taking big points, it’s not easy to catch up when you are hunters like us,” said Vettel. “But let’s see what happens tomorrow. Fourth on the grid is not a disaster and no-one has scored any points yet.

“On this circuit last year everyone was close for instance Force India is not far off. It’s not a secret that if you have something on board [like KERS] that is worth three of fourth tenths, the rest cannot find a part that gives that much of a jump.”

Although the Japanese car manufacturer has signed the Concorde Agreement, which in theory commits it to F1 until the end of 2012, it has emerged that the team has not yet had its finances for next season officially signed off.

Toyota F1 president John Howett confirmed the delay to AUTOSPORT, and said that the worldwide economic downturn that has affected the car manufacturer meant there was now severe pressure to cut costs.

“We have submitted the budget and because of the economic situation, the Toyota group wants to wait for the full half year of the current financial year [before signing it off],” he said. “I am honestly expecting severe pressure on budget.”

AUTOSPORT understands that there is a board meeting in Japan in the middle of November where 2010 budgets will be discussed - which means a firm decision on the F1 plans may have to wait until after the current season has finished.

That situation has prompted speculation in the Valencia paddock that Toyota chiefs could spring a surprise and opt to follow Honda and BMW in pulling out of Formula 1.

Such rumours have intensified

with Toyota driver Jarno Trulli himself suggesting in Valencia that he thought another car maker could leave the sport “In this economic crisis, nothing is sure,” said Trulli, whose contract talks with Toyota for next year have stalled. “If you look back over the last year it is a disaster. Honda has pulled out, BMW has pulled out, and probably they will not be the only one.

“I think you can expect anything.

Nothing is sure at the moment, because there are plenty of things which have happened, and from one day to another the situation changes.”

He added: “You need to wait because no one knows what they can do for next year yet. Everyone has probably signed [the Concorde Agreement], I’m not really into it, but I personally think anything can happen.”

Howett has, however, moved to play talk of Toyota quitting - although drew short of saying that anything was definite.

When asked if he felt the Toyota board’s response to the budget request would be to cut the F1 programme totally, he said: “I don’t believe so. “We’ve signed [the Concorde Agreement] and we should be here for three years.”

Monday, August 24, 2009

Bali’s exports up 1.26 percent PAGE 8

Worldwide ‘Avatar’ previews thrill sci-fi fans PAGE 12

BP/Edi

Balinese artists Arini along with her granddaughters performed Pendet dance in Art Center Denpasar on Saturday, August 21st 2009. Balinese artists protested because Malaysia is using the dance in their tourism promotion.

Balinese artists protested

Antara

Pendet dances claimed by Malaysia

Denpasar – After claiming Reog Ponorogo, Malaysia is now claiming to own Pendet dance. Bali’s heritance welcoming dance is being claimed by Malaysia. The act made tenth of Balinese artists rallied to protest the misconduct.

WEATHER FORECAST CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

24 - 31

JAKARTA

25 - 35

BANDUNG

17 - 32

YOGYAKARTA

19 - 33

SURABAYA

22 - 32

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

The protest was led by Prof Wayan Dibia, MA, a lecturer in Indonesian Art Institute (ISI) Denpasar in

Denpasar Art Center on Saturday, August 21st 2009. Pendet dance performed by girls using traditional Ba-

For placing advertisment, please contact: Eka Wahyuni

0361-225764

by Bali Record,” said Mr. Windia.

The protesters urged the government to list Indonesian arts and defend them so the arts will not being claimed by other countries. Mr. Windia said “Pendet dance is our heritage and the dance reflects Bali’s values and symbols of art. It is only owned by Hindu-Bali tradition.”

Continued on page 6

Weakened Hurricane Bill heads toward Canada Agence France-Presse

RAIN

HOTLINE

linese clothes was played several times in Visit Malaysia Year commercial.

Actually, the dance is Balinese dance performed as welcoming dance as had been passed on from centuries in Bali. “Based on our observation, the dancers in the commercial are Lusia and Wiwik, the alumni of ISI Denpasar. The recording was done two or three years ago

AFP PHOTO

A pro-Tibet activist joins thousands of Japanese climbing up Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 21, 2009. Tibetan exiles and their Japanese supporters performed a religious ceremony to promote world peace and call for freedom for Tibetans in China, on the flanks of Japan’s Mt Fuji on August 22.

MIAMI - A weakened Hurricane Bill bore down past the northeastern US coastline toward Canada Sunday, but it was expected to continue to lose its strength as it enters cooler waters of the Northern Atlantic.

The storm, now a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was moving far from the US New England coast, but the US National Hurricane Center (NHC)

still warned of “extremely dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents” from swells generated by the storm.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season sparked a tropical storm warning for the upscale Massachusetts island resort of Martha’s Vineyard, where US President Barack Obama and his family are heading for vacation Sunday. But only one inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain was expected to fall there.

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