Edisi 08 September 2010 | International Bali Post

16 Pages Number 171 2st Year

Lawyer: Iran woman could be stoned to death soon PAGE 6

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Balinese women deliver average of 2.1 children PAGE 8 Mount Sinabung spews volcanic smoke as seen from Tanah Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. The volcano shot volcanic ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy.

AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara

Beatles-inspired bands from world over feeling fab in US

Indonesian volcano erupts again; strongest one yet Associated Press Writer

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TANAH KARO, Indonesia – An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy. Some witnesses at the foot of Mount Sinabung reported seeing an orange glow — presumably magma — in cracks along the volcano’s slopes for the first time.

“It was really terrifying,” said Anissa Siregar, 30, as she and her two children arrived by truck at an emergency shelter near the base, adding the mountain shook vio-

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lently for at least three minutes. “It just keeps getting worse.”

Mount Sinabung’s first eruption last week caught many scientists off guard. With more than 129 active

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Angelina Jolie in Pakistan to meet flood victims

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Agence France Presse

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ISLAMABAD – Hollywood star Angelina Jolie Tuesday visited Pakistan to draw world attention towards the plight of 21 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods, the UN refugee agency said. “UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan today to meet people affected by the floods and to highlight the continued urgent need for help,” the agency said in a statement.

Jolie, the 34-year-old actress and roving envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees,

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would be travelling to affected communities in the northwest and would meet those involved in the relief efforts, it said. This is the fourth visit by Jolie to Pakistan since she became a UNHCR goodwill ambassador in 2001.

Last week Jolie released a video message appealing for greater public support for Pakistan’s relief efforts, and she has herself donated 100,000 dollars to the flood appeal.

The UNHCR is providing relief aid including shelter materials to those displaced by the disaster, which has killed 1,760 people by the official toll.

volcanoes to watch, local vulcanologists had failed to monitor the longquiet mountain for rising magma, slight uplifts in land and other signs of seismic activity.

There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in the coming weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that Singabung will go back to sleep after letting off steam.

More than 30,000 people living along the volcano’s fertile slopes have been relocated to cramped refugee camps, mosques and churches in nearby villages.

Continued on page 6

AFP PHOTO / UNHCR / JASON TANNER

A handout photo provided by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on September 7, 2010 shows Hollywood star and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie (L) visiting people displaced by the floods in northwest Pakistan at the Kandaro II Camp in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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International

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Bali News PHRI to perform an assessment on hotels in Bali Denpasar (Bali Post)—

(AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Indonesians on their motorcycles form a long queue to catch a ferry boat to go across to East Java at Gilimanuk port, west Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. The mass exodus out of Bali island and other major cities in the country is underway as thousands are preparing to head homes to celebrate Eid al-Fitr holiday. The holiday marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

On monitoring the homecoming streams of Gilimanuk-Ketapang

Two Chief Police agree to check identity of homecomers Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Chief of Bali Police Inspector General of Police Hadiatmoko performed a monitoring of homecoming passengers to Gilimanuk-Ketapang Harbor, last Monday (Sep 6). He also met and made coordination with the Chief of East Java Police Inspector General of Police Badrodin Haiti at Ketapang Harbor. Both generals mutually described about the security pattern of homecoming passengers in their respective region.

They also agreed to make anticipation by checking the identity of every homecomer going in and out of Gilimanuk-Ketapang Harbor.

Later, the identity of homecomers would get special attention. This would not only be done in the context of this Idul Fitri, but also in the future. Monitoring of homecoming passengers on that occasion was different from the previous years as it was inspected in person by the two Chief Police of the adjacent regions.

Chief Hadiatmoko said the identity check at the entrance was very important. He asked the residents wishing to enter Bali to bring along their identity document, either ID cards or seasonal identity document (Kipem). Otherwise, his party would not allow them to enter Bali. “If their identity is clear, please come to Bali.

Conversely, if theirs is unclear ... they may not enter Bali,” he asserted.

The Police Chief explained that

his party was ready to secure the homecoming passengers until the end of celebration. For this purpose, Bali Police deployed at least 1,700 personnel and of course, they were assigned at some points. “I saw the security posts have been ready, either monitoring posts, health posts or other posts,” said Chief Hadiatmoko when asked for his confirmation on the sidelines of his monitoring.

From the monitoring carried out last Monday, the stream of homecoming passengers did not show significant increase. Traffic streams in the harbor stayed quiet and smooth. It was estimated most passengers would depart on one day before Idul Fitri.

In the meantime, homecomers were expected to be careful during their journey. Chief Hadiatmoko also appealed if there were people finding a trouble on the way home they were invited to report it promptly to the nearest security post.

Meanwhile, Chief of East Java Police Badrodin stated that homecoming passengers in East Java had not indicated an increase. However, a number of homecomers from Jakarta had departed gradually. His party would take quick action to reduce long queues at the GilimanukKetapang Harbor. “We keep on watching the northern coastal route (Pantura). Likewise, we are ready to anticipate the long queues,” he asserted.

Related to the identity check of homecomers, Chief Badrodin would always perform the checks to every resident that would like to go to Bali.

He estimated there would be additional people coming to Bali on the reverse stream. “At Ketapang Harbor, the identity of homecomers entering Bali will be definitely checked. If they do not bring along their identity, we will surely return them,” he explained. (kmb21)

The Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) of Bali Chapter will perform an assessment related to the number of hotels in Bali. This assessment is conducted following the initiative of Bali Provincial Government to include the hotel business in the investment negative list (DNI).

“We are currently in the process of assessment to determine whether or not hotel is proper to be included in DNI. There is possibility that other regencies remain to require additional accommodations, because the hotel development is currently focused on the region of Badung Regency and Denpasar,” explained Ferry Markus, Secretary of PHRI of Bali Chapter in Denpasar, last Monday (Sep 6).

According to him, the initiative of Bali Provincial Government to include the hotel in DNI would benefit the entrepreneurs. Such a policy would ease the hotel management to compete so as to create a healthy and fair competition. ”DNI will ease us to compete because the number of hotels is limited. However, when a hotel property attempts to develop such as increasing the number of hotel rooms,

this regulation will result in new problems. On that account, it is necessary to make an in-depth assessment in advance,” he said.

In the assessment process to determine the carrying capacity of hotels in Bali, PHRI would involve stakeholders like Bali Tourism Board (BTB), tourism high school in Bali and hoteliers of the internal PHRI. “We must assess all regencies because many hotels or other accommodations existing in the regencies have not been registered,” he said.

Although this process might take a long time, but PHRI would promptly report the results of the assessment to the governor as a reference.

Meanwhile, related to the level of hotel occupancy in Bali prior to Idul Fitri holiday, Ferry Markus explained it would reach 90 percent.

Bali was said to be flooded with domestic tourists. Even, most hotels both star-rated and jasmine hotels in the Badung tourism region had already been booked by tourists. ”I observed that some of hotel rooms have been fully occupied by domestic and foreign tourists. Even, for the time being until Idul Fitri, all hotels averagely have been fully booked by tourists,” he said. (par)

Pratima Stealers Attacks Klungkung

Pura Dadia’s Two Statues and 1.200 Holy Coins Gone Semarapura (Bali Post) –

Stolen pratimas are happening again in klngkung and this time it’s victim is Sanggah Paibon Waris/ Pura Keluarga Dukuh, Banjar Kanginan, Paksebali, Dawan. It caused the people lost two statues made from sandal wood and 1.200 of flat holy coins. And until now, the actor behind it is still not known.

The case was known first by a resident, Ni Ketut Sudiarti (35), when she was going to get a tray.

When going in the paibon areal, she saw the pratima (ceremonial statues) saving place was in a mess state so she informed it to the other residents and asked the leaders to check what happened. After chacked, the two Dewa Hyang pratima made from sandal wood and 800 flat coins saved in Dewa Hyang Kompiyang shrine were

gone from its place. Also with the other 400 coins and two bokor (praying equipment) saved there as well were gone too. The loss reached around IDR 4.8 Million and then reported to Dawan Police.

Head of Dawan Police Sector, Adjunct Police Commissioner, IB. Syiwa and Head of Criminal Department Klungkung, Adjunct Police Commissioner, IB. Putra, when confirmed last Monday (6/9) admitted have received the report of this crime act. They were still deepening the investigation and asked witnesses’ statement, “The case is still in investigation process. We work hard to reveal who has done it.”

It was mentioned, the motif used was by digging the key hole to the saving place. Is the actor part of a network or an individual one? It was asked so as no one knows it yet. (kmb20)

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Bali News

International

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

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Homecoming Flow Increase At Terminal Ubung Denpasar (Bali Post) -

IBP/doc

Heavy rain which falls on Tuesday, September 7th 2010 made several areas in Denpasar flooded.

Two people are staying outside their house which is flooded.

Entering Lebaran H-4, Monday (6 / 9) yesterday, the number of passengers through Ubung terminal, began to be seen increase. In fact, predicted peak flow behind the largest terminal in Bali this will happen today. Even was increased, the conditions in the terminal it still looks smooth.

Ubung Terminal Unit head Nyoman Sutika met on the sidelines supervision of passengers admitted the increase was not significant.

Section, the travelers who use a bicycle more than motor or personal vehicles. In fact, for the number of passengers Ubung depart from the terminal, since the H-7 and then had fluctuated.

From the existing data in the post of mudik Ubung Terminal, shows the H-7, Friday (3 / 9) and the total vehicle fleet and passengers reaches 86 with 2863 passenger numbers of people. While the vehicles that arrive at terminals achieve 66 units of passenger vehicles with a total 1076 people. H-6 Entering the number of passengers has increased compared to day previously. The number of vehicles and passengers at the time,

reaching 128 units by 4888 the number of passengers. The same thing happened the increasing number of passengers who arrived at the terminal, ie with 100 units of passenger vehicles by 1473 people.

Sutika said on H-5 back down, ie, vehicles leaving as many as 118 units of the fleet by 4523 the number of passengers.

Vehicles arriving with a total fleet of 92 passenger 1.347orang passengers. Data ‘today (yesterday, red) can be ascertained only tomorrow (today, red),’’Sutika said yesterday. Sutika predict the most passengers in the terminal Ubung will occur in H-3 today. Because as usual, on the H-3 the number of travelers prefer in the days approaching Idul Fitri.

Compared to last year’s overall number of travelers this year, there is small increase in Terminal Ubung. Last year the number of H7 passengers to reach 2398 people with 88 units of vehicles. Followed by the H- 6 the number of passengers transported in 3011 reached 100 vehicles. On H-5 last year the number of passengers reached 4664 people with 125 AKAP vehicle. (Kmb12)

Special Troops Captured 22 Illegal Immigrants Maintain the image of MATTA Fair 2010

Denpasar (Bali Post) –

The joint team of special fast attack troops from Indonesian Republic Police and Bali Police captured 22 illegal immigrants in Kuta area last Monday (6/9). The immigrants from Afghanistan and Iran now placed at Denpasar Immigration Detention House.

According to information, those 22 illegal immigrants were captured in two different places. First, 10 were captured in Darmadi Hotel, Raya Kuta Street at 11.30, then one hour later, in a flat owned by Yuniku Susiati on the same road.

Those immigrants were said to have owned a refugee letter from the UN refugee board alias UNHCR (United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees). “The 22 illegal immigrants have been chased by the po-

lice. So as there’s information they’re in Bali, the special fast attack troops from Indonesian Republic Police coordinated with the Bali Police,” a worker explained last Monday (6/9).

Head of Bali Police Public Relations, Great Police Commissioner Gede Sugianyar DP stated the 22 immigrants captured were part of people smuggling by a syndicate member, “There are indications that the immigrants were facilitated by a syndicate member.”

The reason was these immigrants never got out of their flats. They hid inside the room and they received food, “The involved person who’s suspected a syndicate member is still being investigated.”

Meanwhile, the immigrants have been placed in the Detention House in Denpasar and for its process it was hand over to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UN board UNHCR (United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees) (jep).

Indonesia-Malaysia Tension

370 Malaysian Tourists Change Destination Kuala Lumpur (Bali Post) –

The tension between Indonesia and Malaysia affected the number of Malaysian tourists who are going to Indonesia. “I received an information that 370 Malaysian tourists have changed their tourist destination to Thailand,” Tourism and Culture Agency Domestic Promotion General Director Fathul Bahri in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (6/9).

The temporarty reason was because of the media coverage they saw caused worries. At this time, the Agency is checking which tourists have canceled their visitation and he have clarified through Malaysian media that the demo that happened was just a small

part done by Indonesian people.

Fathul also clarified, Indonesia has lots of destinations and they can choose wherever and all destinations are in suitable and safe condition to be visited. Any safety officials will respond to anarchic acts, “Indonesia is a safe and comfortable place to be visited.”

Even there are cancellation, the Malaysians enthusiasts to come to Indonesia is quite high. He gave examples on the number of visitors coming to Indonesia’s boot in Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agent (MATTA) Fair 2010 in Kuala Lumpur since 3rd September 2010.

So far, the demos in different areas are not significantly affecting Malaysian tourists’ plans. It was seen from

the Table Top and Gala Dinner held the same time as MATTA Fair, where buyers came reaching 94 Malaysian travel bureau did not at all made the demo as a reason to halt promotions of destinations in Indonesia.

Fathul hoped the commitment of two leaders of the countries will keep a good relation for MalaysiaIndonesia and will increase the number of tourists from Malaysia. At this time, Malaysia is on first place to become tourists going to Indonesia from the ASEAN countries, before was Singapore, “We hoped, the conducive condition will increase Malaysian tourists, so it will fulfill our target to be visited by 7 million foreign tourists.” (010)

Indonesian destinations DISPUTES in the Indonesia-Malaysia relations did not discourage the interest of the neighboring country’s citizens to visit Indonesia. Such a reality could be seen from their enthusiasm to visit the Indonesian booth at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair 2010 in Kuala Lumpur taking place on September 3-5, 2010. What and how is the hope of Government of Indonesia, particularly the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the most grandiose ASEAN tourism event?

Occupying a land area of 180 square meters held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur, booth of Indonesia was the largest in the arena of MATTA Fair 2010. It was so striking compared to booth of other countries. This reflected the serious desire of Ministry of Culture and Tourism to attract more tourists of Malaysia and other ASEAN countries to Indonesia.

All destinations and various supporting elements of tourism in Indonesia were brought in the most grandiose tourism exhibition in ASEAN. The arena becoming the rendezvous of buyers and sellers was so crowded with abundant people being thirsty for tourism and entertainment.

Director of Domestic Tourism Promotion, Directorate General of Marketing, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Fath Bahri, said that participation in the MATTA Fair 2010 certainly had a strategic value. Currently, in the midst of Malaysian concerns related to the tension of both countries the opportu-

nity definitely provided warranty and a real picture about Indonesia that the existing destination would remain safe and comfortable to visit.

Such commercial travel exchanges, explained Fath, was arranged in such a way as to give opportunity to the sellers from ASEAN countries in particular and the world in general. Each participant offered their products both hotel rooms and travel package to buyers selected through a scheduled agreement.

Surely the moment would, Fath said, provide a picture or image that Indonesia was rich in natural and cultural diversity that were very safe, comfortable and attractive place to visit.

For the region as well as stakeholders, Fath added, it was an arena to promote destinations, resorts and tourism facilities owned, while the industry was expected to gain new contacts in addition to permanent cooperation with the buyers, to maintain the existing markets as well as to study the trends about the latest tourism products and services in each ASEAN country in particular and the world in general.

The event was also utilized as a warranty for Malaysian tourists so they would not hesitate to come. In addition, this even was also intended to maintain and increase the number of Malaysian tourist visits that since the past two years continued to increase significantly. Even, the increase reached more than 26 percent compared to the last year’s achievement and became the highest in ASEAN that previously was dominated by Singaporean tourists. (son)

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News

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

International

Australian Labor Party wins enough support to rule AP

CANBERRA, Australia – Prime Minister Julia Gillard will lead Australia’s first minority government in 67 years after two independent lawmakers threw their support behind her center-left Labor Party on Tuesday, ending two weeks of uncertainty left by national elections that ended on a knife-edge.

Australia’s first woman prime minister promised that her government will be stable over the next three years, although the defection of a single lawmaker would bring down the Labor administration.

“Labor is prepared to deliver stable, effective and secure government for the next three years,” she told reporters.

The independents’ support means Gillard can continue with her plans to introduce a 30 percent tax on iron ore and coal miners’ burgeoning profits and make Australia’s biggest polluters pay for carbon gas emissions.

Labor gained the ability to form a government for a second term after two independent lawmakers Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott joined her coalition more than two weeks after elections failed to deliver a clear winner for the first time since 1940.

Tuesday’s decision by Windsor and Oakeshott gives Gillard’s party control of 76 seats in the 150-seat House or Representatives and avoids the need for another round of polls.

Gillard has rewarded the two rural-based lawmakers by promising 10 billion Australian dollars ($9 billion) in new investment on rural schools and hospitals.

She also announced that she had offered Oakeshott a Cabinet post,

which he had yet to accept. Windsor had said he did not want such a job in the government.

Gillard also said she would keep her promise to make her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, a senior cabinet minister.

Party powerbrokers dumped Rudd for Gillard in an internal mutiny in June in a bid to improve Labor’s standing in opinion polls.

Rudd loyalists were suspected to be behind a series of damaging leaks to the media against Gillard during her election campaign.

Labor lost 11 seats in the election, many of them in Rudd’s home state of Queensland.

Bob Katter, an independent who sided with opposition leader Tony Abbott’s conservative Liberal Party, said on Tuesday that he would have supported Labor if Rudd were still prime minister.

Gillard said voters sent her a message by almost making her government the first to lose power after a single term since 1931.

“What they are asking us to do is not to become waylaid in partisan bickering but to build for the future,” she said.

Abbott’s coalition won 73 seats and with Katter’s support commanded 74 seats. Abbott said on Tuesday that he was disappointed by

AP

Australian Federal Independent Lawmaker Bob Katter

the result and said the government should be brought down if it proves to be incompetent.

Aug. 21 elections were the first since 1940 to fail to deliver a clear winner. That parliament initially chose a conservative minority government, which was brought down when two independents switched their allegiances to Labor.

Windsor and Oakeshott, who have both championed better com-

munications infrastructure for rural areas, said Labor’s plan to introduce a AU$43 billion high-speed optical fiber national broadband network was a major factor in their decision.

Abbott’s Liberal Party had promised a smaller, slower AU$6 billion network with a range of technologies including optical fiber, wireless and DSL. “What this is, is a hard decision,” Oakeshott told reporters in announc-

ing his decision. “There’s no question about that. And on my end, it has been an absolute line-ball, points decision, judgment call, six of one, half dozen of the other. This could not get any closer,” he added.

Windsor said he believed that Gillard was more likely than Abbott to work constructively with the independents and govern for a full three-year term rather than call an early election.

US artists support Israelis’ South Korea: North Korea asks for flood aid despite tension settlement protest

AP

Cynthia Nixon

AP

AP

JERUSALEM – A dovish U.S. Jewish group says more than 150 film and theater artists have signed a letter of support for Israeli actors who refused to perform in a West Bank settlement.

The names on the letter include Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, Cynthia Nixon of “Sex and the City” and playwright Tony Kushner. It was organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace.

A group of Israeli actors sparked a vocal debate in Israel last month when they said they would refuse to perform at a new theater in the settlement of Ariel.

They aimed to protest Israeli control of the West Bank.

The actors’ boycott drew support from a group of 150 Israeli academics and dozens of authors, including well-known writers Amos Oz and David Grossman.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea requested a shipment of rice, cement and heavy equipment days after rival South Korea offered relief aid to its communist neighbor to help it recover from recent flooding, the South’s Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

Word of the communication between the two Koreas on aid came a day after the North announced it would release the crew of a seized South Korean fishing boat, in a sign that the divided countries may be talking behind the scenes in what could lead to a resumption of formal talks.

An overflowing river last month swamped farmland, houses and public buildings in the North’s northwestern city of Sinuiju and adjacent areas. State media reported that the region was “severely affected” by the flooding, though details of the damage remain unknown. North Korea observers fear the flooding has worsened the country’s chronic food shortages.

Last week, South Korea’s Red

Cross sent a message to its North Korean counterpart and proposed sending medicines, daily necessities and emergency food worth 10 billion won ($8.5 million).

The North’s Red Cross replied on Saturday that it would prefer rice, cement and heavy equipment — items it said were necessary for flood recovery efforts, according to Seoul’s Unification Ministry and Red Cross.

South Korea was reviewing the North’s request, the Unification Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. North Korea’s secretive communist regime has not confirmed making the request and its state-run media have not mentioned it.

Red Cross official Kim Sungkeun said the bulk of the aid, if sent, would be financed by the South Korean government.

The aid offer came despite continuing tension over March’s deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, an attack that the North flatly denies. In retaliation, South Korea cut off nearly all trade with North Korea but has con-

tinued shipping humanitarian aid for the vulnerable, including infants and pregnant women.

On Monday, North Korea also announced it would free a seven-man crew of a South Korean fishing boat seized a month ago in its waters, calling it a “humanitarian” gesture.

AP

A South Korean soldier walks by a huge poster depicting North Korea’s food crisis at the Korea War Memorial

Hotel Activities

International

bvilla went folk, celebrating Indonesia’s Independence Day IBP

Seminyak, Bali – Celebrating Indonesia’s 65th Independence, guests of bvilla enjoyed playing folk games on Tuesday, August 17.

There was no reason to hold back. Indonesians and foreigners had the ultimate fun in bvilla.

Guests, including from the neighboring villa complex, bvilla+pool and bvilla+seaside, gathered at the +spa lounge of the bvilla+spa to participate with villa staff on this celebration of freedom. Guests from England, Australia, and France were snacking on Indonesian traditional snack “jajanan pasar”, while listening to the Indonesian independence history being told.

Various Indonesian folk games such as running with spoon and marbles, plugging a nail in a bottle and many more were played by the foreign guests teamed up with bvilla employees. Sixteen guests and tens of staff shared good laughs throughout the day. “I can’t believe you guys have such fun traditions for celebrating national day!” said one guest before she bit the spoon and ran from the lobby down to the +spa.

Prizes to win included a romantic dinner in

the villa, couple’s massage, and bottle of wine.

All guests received a unique wooden statue as a momento. The day was concluded with Balinese buffet lunch. The grilled pork “Babi Guling” and coconut-string bean salad “lawar” were the climax of the day’s delight. This is the way to be.

IBP/doc

The guests and bvilla employees enjoying games

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

5

Hosted Bali Spa and Wellness Association gathering IBP

Bali – The Private Spa Wellness Center (TPSWC) proudly hosted the monthly Bali Spa and Wellness Association (BSWA) gathering July 30, 2010. As the founding member of BSWA, Erika Dewi, Director of Operations TPSWC, welcomed spa managers and industry partners for the first time since The Private Spa Corporation built the two-storey wellness centre. This spa is one of the first spas in the world that is devoted to balancing the body’s vibrational frequencies. Ritual therapies from ancient times have been recreated to manage stress related illnesses. The rituals include the hydrothermal biotherapy treatments, chakra balancing treatments, and more.

BSWA members toured the seven exclusive treatment rooms and high-end spa facilities such as vitality pool, steam room and far sauna, lead by TPWSC Spa Manager, Ririn Widarsih. It was a stimulating journey for the spa managers to see the Taj Mahal inspired Indian room, Arabian princess inspired Moroccan room, as well as the well-equipped Victorian room with Vichy shower, European room with pulse

light and LED machine, and Thai room with handle bars for the bare foot Thai massage.

The spa menu is tailored by experts, with 50 years of combined experience in the industry to create a spa ritual beyond pampering. The Recovery and refreshment lounges are designed for guests to linger in the spa in between and after treatment.

Healthy, fresh food and beverages are also served on demand for those who wish to spend the day in the spa.

This environmentally friendly spa strives to become “The” vibrational frequency ritual treatment spa in Bali and beyond. This spa is a turnkey project of The Private Spa Corporation, a global hub of expertise covering all aspects of a spa development, from the initial conceptualizing until the final delivery of specially crafted spa treatments and equipments. The Wellness Centre will display the Corporation’s visions of a definitive spa journey to ensure every treatment has a positive impact on the guest’s wellbeing.

“We take great pride in welcoming fellow spa professionals in Bali to show our spa even before it’s open. We are very excited to bring Bali as the world’s spa capital to the next level,” says Erika.

Temple Ceremony Calendar of Event (Sep 3- 23 2010) 4 h – “Tumpek Wayang”, day devoted to “Sanghyang Iswara”, the lord of puppeteers, when blessing ceremony is given to shadow – puppet play sets for proper function and magical power.

Temple Festival at: - Pr.aspahit, Jembrana.

- Pr. Panti Gelgel, Ds. Pangembungan, Sesetan, Badung.

- Pedharman Dalem Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan, Besakih.

- Pedharman Dalem Sukawati, Besaih.

- Pedharman Kaba-Kaba , Besakih.

- Pedharman Dalem Bakas, Besakih.

- Pr. Pedharman Mengwi, Besakih.

- Pr. Penataran Giri Purwa, Ds. Kutarejo, Tegal Dalimo, Banyuwangi.

5th _ Temple Festival at: - Pr. Maospahit, Ds. Gerenceng Denpasar.

8th _ Temple Festival at: - Pr. Ulun Kulkul, Besakih.

- Pr. Melanting, Ds. Camenggaon, Sukawati.

- Pr. Penataran Agung, Teluk Padang, Karangasem.

- Pr. Pasek Gelgel, Ds. Pangembungan, Bongkasa, abiansemal.

- Pr. Pasek Bandesa, Ds. Riyang Gede, Penebel Tabanan.

- Pr. Pasek Banjar Jawa, Buleleng.

- Pr. Gaduhan Jagat, Ds. Singakerta, Ubud.

- Pr. Masceti Tengah, Ds. Mancawarna, Tampaksiring.

- Pr. Penataran Batulepang, Ds. Kamasan, Klungkung.

- Pr. Paibon Pasek Gobleg, Ds. Kedonganan, Kuta - Pr. Pasek Gelgel, Ds. Songan, Batur,

Kintamani.

- Pr. Pasanggerahan Agung, Ds. Bebandem, Karangasem.

- Pr. Penataran Dalem Peed, Nusa Penida.

- Mr.Pasek Perateka, Ds. Pekandelan, Sidemen, Karangasem.

- Mr.Pasek Perateka Taman Sari, Sukasada.

- Pr. Kawitan Jero Wenayu, Ds. Wenayu, Bedulu, Gianyar.

- Pr. Jati, Ubud.

- Pr. Gua, Besakih.

10th _ Temple Festival at: - Merajan Geriya Kebon – Tabanan.

- Pr. Candi Gora, Ds. Tianyar, Karangasem.

14th _ Temple Festival at: - Pr. Puseh Jagat Dalem Dukut, Nusa Penida.

- Pr. Dalem, Ds. Batuyang, Batubulan.

- Pr. Pasek Magending, Kediri, Tabanan.

- Pr. Pasek Undagi, Ds. Timpag, Kerambitan, Tabanan.

- Pr. Desa + Pura Pucak, Br. Taman Bedulu, Gianyar.

- Mr.Pasek Tangkas Kori Agung, Ds. Sulahan.

- Mr.Pasek Padang Rata, Ds. Padang, Karangasem.

- Pr. Telaga Sakti/Dalem Tarukan, Ds. Ambengan, Nusa Penida.

- Pr. Dalem, Ds. Padangan, Pupuan, Tabanan.

- Pr. Yogha, Br. Teba Jero, Kaba-Kaba, Kediri Tabanan.

- Pr. Dalem Purwa, Br. Kawan, Bangli.

15th _ Temple Festival at: - Pr. Agung Pasek Gelgel, Ds. Sibang Kaja, abiansemal.

- Pr. Dalem Samprangan, Gianyar.

- Pr. Ds. Galiran, Bhakti Seraga, Buleleng.

Balinese Temple Ceremony EVERY Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is considered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always happens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on the importance of the occasion.

The celebration is very colorful. The shrine are dressed with pieces of cloths and sometimes with brocade, sailings, decorations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold and Chinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the four corners of the shrine. In front of shrine are placed red, white or black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped in the shrines.

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

News

Lawyer: Iran woman could be stoned to death soon AP

TEHRAN, Iran – The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction said Monday that he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In an unusual turn in the case, the lawyer also confirmed that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment meted out because a British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her. Under Iran’s clerical rule, women must cover their hair in public. The newspaper later apologized for the error.

With the end of Ramadan this week, the mother of two could be executed “any moment,” said her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian.

The sentence was put on hold in July after an international outcry over the brutality of the punishment, and it is now being reviewed by Iran’s supreme court.

Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes. Later that year, she was also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession that she says was made under duress.

“The possibility of stoning still exists, any moment,” Kian told The Associated Press. “Her stoning sentence was only delayed; it has not been lifted yet.”

Italy is among several countries pressing for Iran to show flexibility in the case. The country’s foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said the Italian ambassador in Iran met with authorities in Tehran who “confirmed to us that no decision has been made” about the stoning sentence.

“I interpret that in the sense that the stoning, for now, won’t take place,” Frattini said in an interview on Italian state TV. After putting the stoning sentence on hold, Iran suddenly announced that the woman had also been brought to trial and convicted of playing a role in her husband’s 2005 murder. Her lawyer disputes that, saying no charges against her in the killing have ever been part of her case file.

In early August, Iranian authorities broadcast a purported confession from Ashtiani on state-run television. In it, a woman identified as Ashtiani admits to being an unwitting accomplice in her husband’s killing.

Kian says he believes she was tortured into confessing.

In the latest twist, authorities are said to have flogged her for the publication of a photo of a woman without her hair covered in the Times of London newspaper. The woman in the photo was misidentified as Ashtiani.

She was lashed on Thursday, Kian said, citing information from a fellow prisoner who was released last week. Kian has been allowed no direct contact with his client since last month.

“We have no access to Ashtiani, but there is no reason for the released prisoner to lie” about the flogging, he said.

There was no official Iranian confirmation of the new punishment.

The woman’s son, 22-year-old Sajjad Qaderzadeh, said he did not know whether the new lashing sentence had been carried out yet, but that he also heard about the sentence from a prisoner who recently left the Tabriz prison where his mother is being held.

AFP –

Cattle are stranded by flood waters on the outskirts of Wangaratta after floods hit the northern Victoria

Floods threaten hundreds more Australian homes AFP

AP –

FILE - This undated file image made available by Amnesty International in London on Thursday, July 8, 2010, shows Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two who was sentenced to death by stoning in Iran on charges of adultery.

“Publishing the photo provided a judge an excuse to sentence my poor mother to 99 lashes on the charge of taking a picture unveiled,” Qaderzadeh told the AP. The Times apologized in its Monday edition but added that the lashing “is simply a pretext.”

“The regime’s purpose is to make Ms. Ashtiani suffer for an international campaign to save her that has exposed so much iniquity,” the newspaper said.

Another lawyer who once represented Ashtiani, Mohammad Mostafaei, said in a news conference in Paris that it was not certain if there really had been a new conviction and sentence over the photograph.

“I have contacted my former colleagues at the court who told me nothing was clear on this situation,” he said at the news conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. “There isn’t any punishment for this act in our law.”

Kouchner called the stoning sentence “the height of barbarism” and said her case has become a “personal cause” and he was “ready to do anything to save her. If I must go to Tehran to save her, I’ll go to Tehran.”

Ashtiani’s two children remain in Iran and her son is a ticket seller for a bus company in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz. He said he and his younger sister, Farideh, 18, have not seen their mother since early August.

“We have really missed her,” he said. “We expect all influential bodies to help to save her.”

The Vatican on Sunday raised the possibility of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save her life as well.

WANGARATTA, Australia – Rising flood waters threatened hundreds of Australian homes Tuesday, after scores were inundated by weekend storms which caused millions of dollars of damage, officials said.

Water police and emergency helicopters were on standby to rescue stranded residents in the southeastern state of Victoria, and the government announced the formation of a special advisory body to help direct recovery efforts.

Residents in Wangaratta, in the state’s northeast, sandbagged homes in fears that a levee would burst, while officials worried that 500 properties downstream in Shepparton could be cut off by rising waters.

The State Emergency Service said 300 homes and businesses had already been damaged to some extent by the flooding in Shepparton and towards Horsham in the state’s west after the weekend deluge.

“We’ve potentially got another 290 properties that are potentially at risk of being flooded,” a spokes-

woman told AFP. “Our main area of concern at the moment is Shepparton. The Goulburn River is still rising. It’s expected to peak later today or into tomorrow.”

Victorian Premier John Brumby said the floods had caused “significant damage” and there would be a multi-million-dollar clean-up bill.

“I’ve said that I think there will be tens of millions of dollars of damage,” Brumby told reporters.

“There will be roads, there will be bridges, there will be community infrastructure which is damaged due to inundation.”

But Brumby also said that benefits from the rains in the predominantly farming regions, which have spent the best part of a decade in drought, “far outweighs the damage that’s occurred”.

“But that equation may just change a little over the next week to two weeks,” he said, adding that further minor to moderate flooding was likely later this month in the state’s north.

Indonesian...

From page 1 But some — such as Siregar, the mother who fled with her children — have insisted on returning to the danger zone to check on their homes and their dust-covered crops.

The government sent dozens of trucks to the mountain to help carry them back before Tuesday’s eruption, which sent ash and debris shooting 3 miles (5,000 meters) into the air, said Surono, who heads the nation’s volcano alert center. Local media said ash had reached as far as Berastagi, a district 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the base of the mountain.

Surono said activity was definitely on the rise: There were more than 80 volcanic earthquakes in the 24-hour lead up to the blast, compared to 50 on Friday, when ash and debris shot nearly 2 miles (3,000 meters).

The eruption early Tuesday occurred just after midnight during a torrential downpour. Witnesses said

volcanic ash and mud oozed down the mountain’s slopes, flooding into abandoned homes. Others said saw bursts of fire and hot ash. The force of the explosion could be felt 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.

Indonesia is a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called “Ring of Fire” — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

It has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.

The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.

International

Indonesia Today

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

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Four motorists killed in West Java traffic accidents Antara

AFP PHOTO / Bay ISMOYO

Hundreds of people line up to board a passanger ship headed for Sumatra island, in Tanjung Priok port, Jakarta on September 7, 2010.

Holiday travelers pack north coastal highway Antara

INDRAMAYU - On Tuesday, only three days ahead of Idul Fitri festivity, a multitude of holiday travelers on buses, private cars, and motorbikes were streaming along the north coastal highway of Java at Indramayu district.

According to Sunarto, a traffic official here on Tuesday, the number of motor vehicles passing the highway at Indramayu continued to increase since early in the morning.

He said that as of Tuesday morning the number of passenger buses, private cars, and motorbikes increased dramatically, although the road was rather slippery following an incessant heavy rains the previous days.

“The north coastal highway here, leading to central and eastern parts of Java island, since Sunday until Monday evening was drenched by

incessant heavy rains, but it luckily turned to clear up on Tuesday morning and that the traveler could continue their trip,” Sunatro said.

On Sunday and Monday the travelers on motorbikes along that highway were hampered by the heavy rain. The rain which started on Sunday evening and continued until early Monday evening forced them to take shelter at a number of gas stations and casual markets along the way in Indramayu, West Java.

After performing their morning prayers and the rain had subsided, they continued their trips to their

respective home villages to observe the Idul Fitri festivity with relatives.

Sutrisno, one of the travelers from Jakarta who was going to his home village in Tegal, said rain from Karawang until Indramayu districts hampered his trip and would cause him to arrive late at his destination.

“The heavy rain forced us to slow down to avoid accidents that frequently happen on the northern coastal highway,” Sutrisno said, adding that he would arrive late in Tegal.

Meanwhile, another motorbike rider, Ridwan, said the rain made the road slippery and dangerous so they had to ride extra carefully to avoid accident.

“Better late than never. Heavy rain forced us to drive slowly and carefully in order to arrive safely at our home towns to observe Idul Fitry with relatives,” Ridwan said.

RI’s economic growth may exceeds 6 percent Antara

JAKARTA - The Indonesian economy could record a growth rate of over six percent in the third quarter of 2010 on the back of government and household spending, the national statistics agency said.

“It could be over six percent stimulated by government and the public’s expenditures,” Rusman Heriawan, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), said here Monday evening.

The Ramadhan fasting month and Idul Fitri Islamic festivity would be significantly contributing to eco-

nomic growth as household consumption would rise significantly during the season.

Government expenditures in the first and second quarters usually contribute negatively to growth but in the third and fourth quarters it would be different.

He said the 2010 budget was bigger than the previous year’s. Although government expenditures in the first and second quarters were low, they were expected to increase in the third and fourth quarters, Rusman said.

The country’s exports would also contribute to growth, despite a slow-

ing down in July 2010. August’s export figure was expected to be another big boost.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the government had not yet revised the economic growth target in the 2010 State Budget.

The economic growth target in the 2010 State Budget was set at 5.8 percent but in the second quarter actual growth was recorded at 6.2 percent and in the first quarter at 5.9 percent.

Agus said he was optimistic national economic growth this year would exceed 5.9 percent.

BANDUNG - Four motorists were killed in various traffic accidents in West Java province over the past four days, a police spokesman said here Tuesday.

The victims were part of the Idul Fitri exodus which had begun filling highways across Java seven days before the end of the Ramadan fasting month, chief information officer at the West Java police headquarters, Senior Commissioner Agus Riayanto, said.

Besides the four fatalities, traffic accidents also left 16 other people seriously injured, he said.

“The total amount of material losses caused by the traffic accidents is estimated at Rp133.4 million,” Riayanto said.

He said the West Java provincial police had recorded 58 traffic accidents 45 of which occurred on Idul Fitri exodus routes.

Meanwhile, the chief of the Garut district police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Yayat, said a “Budiman” passenger bus slipped into a two-meter deep ditch in the

Lewo area on Monday.

On Sunday, another passenger bus hit a pick-up truck on Malambang street in Garut district because the bus driver was drunk, he said.

“The bus driver sustained minor injuries to his head,” Yayat said.

According to the Jakarta metropolitan police, 3.6 million Jakartans would return to their hometowns for the Idul Fitri festivity on motorcycles.

“The total number of Idul Fitri travelers riding on motorbikes to their hometowns from Jakarta will increase,” Jakarta Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Boy Rafli Amar said recently Last year, some 3.1 million motorcyclists from Jakarta went upcountry in Java and Sumatra to celebrate the Idul Fitri festivity in their hometowns or villages, he said.

These Idul Fitri travelers have actually been strongly advised not to use motorcycles for the sake of their own safety. “Riding motorcycles on long distances out of town is quite risky,” he said.

Malaysia, Indonesia bid to ease tensions after maritime spat Agence France-Presse

KOTA KINABALU - Malaysia and Indonesia Monday moved to calm a maritime border dispute that has sparked angry protests, with their foreign ministers agreeing to take action to prevent a repeat incident.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman met his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa in eastern Sabah state after last month’s flare-up triggered by the detention of Malaysian fishermen and Indonesian officials in disputed waters.

In the ensuing protest, human faeces were flung at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta, forcing security at the Malaysian mission to be stepped up.

“Both nations agreed that preventive measures will be required to prevent a recurrence of the August 13 incident, and appropriate action will be taken to resolve various maritime border issues,” the two ministers said.

“Two technical meetings will be held before the end of the year,” they said in a joint statement after the meeting held in Sabah in the Malaysian part of Borneo, a vast island shared with Indonesia.

In an initial step, fishing vessels from both countries will be required to install a tracking system which will enable enforcement authorities to monitor their positions and issue warning notices in the case of encroachment.

Seven Malaysian fishermen were detained in disputed waters off southern Malaysia last month, by

Indonesian authorities who accused them of straying into their territory.

Three of the Indonesian officials were detained by Malaysian maritime authorities who intercepted the group as they were being taken back to Indonesia.

All those involved have been released but the spat saw both countries send protest notes to the other.

Anifah said the whole incident was regrettable but insisted that the detention of the Indonesian fisheries enforcement officials was in line with Malaysian standard operating procedure.

“However, in the aftermath of the incident, Malaysian enforcement officials will no longer handcuff Indonesian enforcement officials nor make them wear ‘detainee uniforms’, if and when they are detained,” he said.

Natalegawa said both sides agreed that intensifying negotiations — which have already dragged on for 16 rounds with no resolution — was the best way to avoid a recurrence of the problem.

The meetings aimed at resolving the maritime border issue will be held in Kuala Lumpur in October 11 and 12 and in Jakarta on November 23-24.

Anifah said discussions would cover zones in the Sulawesi Sea, the southernmost part of the Straits of Malacca, the South China Sea, and possibly the Singapore Straits.

Malaysia said last week that if there was no resolution, the border dispute could end up in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

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Internationa

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Bali Today

http://upload.wikimedia.org

The Balinese women preparing for religious festival.

Married Balinese women have an average of 2.1 children in accordance with the national target for 2015, head of the Bali National Family Planning Coordinating Agency I Wayan Sundra said.

Balinese women deliver average of 2.1 children Antara

DENPASAR - Married Balinese women have an average of 2.1 children in accordance with the national target for 2015, head of the Bali National Family Planning Coordinating Agency I Wayan Sundra said.

“Bali is five months early in realizing balanced population growth and prosperous happy small families,” he said.

Wayan noted Bali had successfully decreased its total fertility rate from 5.6 children in 1970 to 2.1 children in 2000. The number was smaller than targeted.

He explained the ability to maintain the average number of children at 2.1 was due to the husbands’ encouragement and the widespread use of safe contraception methods with eight out of ten reproductive age couples now being acceptors.

Wayan said besides improving its

total fertility rate, Bali was also determined to reduce the rate of unserved family planning needs from 9.1 percent to five percent of the total number of reproductive age couples.

The other strategic program was to raise the average marrying age of women from 19.8 to 21 years old. It was expected to result in more women marrying at a more mature age in the future.

Bali’s age specific fertility rate in the 15 - 19 year group was also to be decreased from 35 percent to 30 percent per thousand women and the rate of unwanted pregnancies from 19.7 percent to as little as possible.

Mountaineering In Bali, the mountains have a special significance in the Hindu Philosophy. To the Balinese the moun\tains are holy or sacred areas and for this reason many temples and shrines will be found among the lofty peaks.

Certain curtiousies should be followed by all mountain walkers which to the outsider may appear odd or strange. For example woman should not visit mountain regions during their menstrual cycle, beef, in the form of meat should not be eaten or carried there. Also whilst in the mountain, bad language or behavior must be avoided.

The mountains of Bali form part of a chain stretching from East to West and two of these mountains are in fact active volcanos. One being Mount Agung (2152 m) the highest mountain in Bali which last erupted in 1963, the other Mount Batur (1717 m) currently active.

There are three other lesser mountains mount Abang (2152 m), Mount Batuaru (2276 m) and Mount lempuyang (1058 m), and several other mountains, but many f these can be “climbed” by motor cycles or cars.

Mountain climbing in Bali is something much closer to mountain walking since most of Blai’s mountains have gentle slopes with few difficult or steep

Poor families were targeted to participate in family planning programs through the development of economically productive groups, Wayan said.

Bali’s performance in implementing family planning was remarkable even at the national level because it had as many as 555,277 acceptors or 84 percent of 648,242 reproductive age couples at the end of July 2010.

The acceptors using safe contraceptive methods numbered 32,155 including new family planning practitioners.

Most of them are housewives 47.57 percent of whom use intra uterine devices (IUDs) and the rest other effective contraceptive methods. climbs, so the equipment required is minimal. Recommended climbing gear being a hat, for sun/rain protection, stout boots, gloves (ther are many thorn bushes and plants), warm clothing, rain coat and rucksack. It is also advisable to take along a small first aid kit. Many of the mountain foot hills have quite a number of leeches in particular Mount Batukaru so it is recommended to take along cigarettes (to burn the leeches off) and to tuck your trousers into your socks.

There is in Bali an active students mountaineering clubs in Bali. Every Universities in Bali has their own club, one of them “Mapala Wanaprastha Dharma” situated in the campus of the Udayana University on Jalan P.B Sudirman Denpasar.

Leko classical dance preserved at Sibang Gede village Leko is an ancient Joged dance having its own particularity of motion and since 1930s has grown at Sibanggede Village, Abiansemal subdistrict, Badung. However, this art development had ups and downs and almost come to extinction.

The dance resembling the Legong Kraton is categorized to be rare, because in Bali the dance only exists in three regencies namely at Sibang Gede Village (Badung), Tunjuk Village (Tabanan), and Pendem Village (Jembrana).

Director of Leko Cempaka Sari, Parekan Hamlet, Sibang Gede, who is also professor at the Indonesia Institute of Arts (ISI) Denpasar, AA Kusuma Ayu Arini, told Bali Travel News that Leko of Sibang Gede originated from Perang Kurubaya Hamlet, Mengwi, Badung. Unfortunately, Leko Dance of Perang Kurubaya could not grow well.

On the contrary, it was then preserved and developed in the village of Sibanggede. “Leko Dance is almost the same as Legong Kraton, so the title of the dance is also the same. For example, there are dances entitled Condong, Kupu-Kupu Tarum, Gwak Manjus and

so forth,” she said.

Its attires are almost the same, while the difference only lies in a white shirt of Leko dance. The Legong Kraton sleeve has three basic colors namely blue, green and red decorated with golden yellow ornaments.

Its gamelan music has no difference.

Leko dance uses gamelan of bamboo xylophone called tingklik being similar to gamelan of Joged Bumbung.

Meanwhile, the gamelan of Legong Kraton is made of metal (bronze). Other difference, Leko Dance invited the audience to go on stage, called ngibing where the audience dances together.

In the 32nd Bali Arts Festival (BAF) 2010 recently, Leko Dance was performed by Sibang Gede troupe at Wantilan Hall of Denpasar Art Center. Viewers also consisting of many foreign guests were amazed by the appearance of the Leko dancers comprising pretty girls.

On that occasion, foreign visitors were given an opportunity to dance together or ngibing of which their dance movement looked funny triggering the applause and laughter of other spectators. (BTN/Yan Beryas)

Thailand asks Indonesia to explain its policies to OIC Antara

DENPASAR - Thailand has asked Indonesia to help explain its policies on Muslim minority in that country to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

Its foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, said it was one of the two issued being emphasized at the two countries’ seventh foreign ministerial meeting here on Thursday.

Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa led the country’s delegation to the meeting to discuss various issues aimed in principle at increasing and widening the spectrum of the two countries’ cooperation. The two ministers in the meeting had also paid attention to the two countries’ cooperation in the development efforts in a third country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as in countries around the region. They also sought to promote cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors.

“We thank the government and people of Indonesia for having demonstrated real deep understanding and patience with regard to our domestic political problems recently. Finally the problem has passed. We appreciate Indonesia’s stance and understanding of not showing worries overly,” Piromya said.

Indonesia has given support and encouragement to Thailand so that the political turbulance in that country

could be overcome, he said.

Regarding Thailand’s wish for Indonesia in connection with the situation in South Thailand particularly in the Pattani province where Muslims comprise the majority of the population in the region Piromya said “Indonesia is a central country that could explain about it. We appreciate Indonesia’ position with regard to it,” he said.

He said Indonesia could be seen from various perspectives from being the largest Muslim country in the world, an important member of the OIC, one of the founders of ASEAN and to being a member of Group of 20 developed and developing countries (G20) and others.

In response to it Minister Marty Natalegawa said “improving the framework of cooperation between the two countries in the midst of the 60th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations constitutes a form of diplomacy that prioritizes soft power.”

Indonesia, he said, is appreciating Thailand’s capability very much with regard to the settlement of various problems happening in that country. “Political storms” have hit that country many times and many times that country had also been able to show their capability in solving them, he said.

Marty said in terms of ASEAN Indonesia has decided that it would never become part of the problem. “We would not be like that. We will be a problem solver and this has already been recognized,” he said.

al

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Balinese Culture

Dirty, Traders in Penelokan Soon Relocated Bali Post

BANGLI - The dirty condition and the booming number of traders to be relocated to 24 kiosks that is on the west side of Batur Volcano Museum will happen. Bangli Regent, I Made Gianyar, Sh., M.Hum., last Monday (6/9) looked over the condition of traders selling in Penelokan tourist object which all this time tourists and residents thought it’s gone dirty.

Regent Made Gianyar, through Head of Public Relation and Protocol of Bangli Regence Government mentioned, all the traders this time have been staying in Penelokan area

will be soon relocated to a new kiosk.

From the dialog held by Regent with traders in that area, all the traders are ready to be relocated. With a note, this relocation will not be picky. If all will be moved, Bangli Region Government will do an arrangement also for the tourists’ routes. All the busses will be parked in the museum after they enjoyed the Volcano and Lake Batur’s scenery then directed through the forest near the museum which then continued to find Bangli unique souvenirs in the kiosk. By that there’ll be no worries for the traders because visitors will come.

In the walking path around the forest, Bangli Region Government

will place some rare faunas so it gives more tourism attractions. Also for the tourists’ safety, there will be a join work with the police, also putting special units from Civil Service Police (SatPol PP) who will secure Kintamani area.

The Regent also planned a special place for Bangli tourism information, especially in Kintamani. All the uniqueness of all the villages in Kintamani will have its information given in that place. Although to manage and maximizing Kintamani tourism, there should be a Region Company (Perusda) so there is a professional maintenance for Kintamani tourism. (kmb17)

Guling Celeng (Suckling Pig) OVERVIEW: If there’s just one dish that people remember after a visit to Bali, it’s this famous delicacy, usually known by its Indonesian name, Babi Guling.

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com

View of Penelokan, Bangli. The dirty condition and the booming number of traders to be relocated to 24 kiosks that is on the west side of Batur Volcano Museum will happen.

INGREDIENTS: 1 suckling pig, weighing about 6-8kg 1½ tbsp salt 200 shallots, peeled and sliced 100 gr cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 50 gr ginger, peeled & chopped 300 gr candlenuts, chopped 350 gr fresh turmeric, peeled &chopped 3 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed 80 gr laos, finely chopped 120 gr bird’s-eye chilies, sliced 10 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced 1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed 1 tsp dried shrimp paste, roasted 5 fragrant lime leaves, finely shredded 2 salam leaves 2½ tbsp oil 4 tbsp turmeric water PREPARATION: Ensure inside of suckling pig is completely cleaned out. Season inside and outside with salt. Combine all other ingredients, except turmeric water, and mix thoroughly. Fill inside of suckling with mixture, close belly with string or thin satay skewer. Rub the outside of the pig with turmeric water until the skin is shiny yellow.

Place suckling pig on roasting rack and roast in hot oven (220°C / 425°F) for approximately 1 hour. Rest for 10 minutes in warm place before serving. When serving, first remove the crisp skin with a strong carving knife, then loosen meat from the bones and cut into even dice or slices. Place a heaped tablespoon of stuffing on each serving plate, and then top with meat and skin.

Traditionally this dish is eaten with Jukut Nangka Mekuah and steamed rice.

Helpful hint: If you have a large barbeque with rotisserie or constantly turning spit, you can cook the pig over charcoal for an authentic Balinese flavor. (www.baliguide.com/balifood) C.045 ibp

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Destinations

International

Trunyan IBP

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com

The village of Trunyan is squeezed tightly between the lake and the outer crater rim of Batur, an almighty volcano in Kintamani. This is a Bali Aga village, inhabited by descendants of the original Balinese, the people who predate the arrival of the Hindu Majapahit kingdom in the 16th century.

It is famous for the Pura Pancering Jagat temple, but unfortunately visitors are not allowed inside. There are also a couple of traditional Bali Aga-style dwellings, and a large banyan tree, which is said to be more than 1,100 years old. At Kuban sub-village close to Trunyan is a mysterious cemetery that is separated by the lake and accessible only by boat - there is no path along the steep walls of the crater rim.

The village of Trunyan itself is situated at the edge of Batur Lake. This location is inaccessible except by boat, and it takes around half an hour across the calm waters.

Getting to Lake Batur takes around two hours drive to the northeast of Denpasar along the main road to Buleleng and through Bangli Regency.

Unlike the Balinese people, the people of Trunyan do not cremate or bury their dead, but just lay them out in bamboo cages to decompose, although strangely there is no stench. A macabre collection of skulls and bones lies on the stone platform and the surrounding areas.

The dead bodies don’t produce bad smells because of the perfumed scents from a huge Taru Menyan tree growing nearby. Taru means ‘tree’ and Menyan means ‘nice smell’.

The name of Terunyan was also derived from these two words.

The women from Trunyan are prohibited from going to the cemetery when a dead body is carried there. This follows the deeply rooted belief that if a woman comes to the cemetery while a corpse is being carried there, there will be a disaster in the village, for example a landslide or a volcanic eruption. Such events have been frequent in the village’s history, but whether women had anything to do with it is a matter of opinion...

You can visit both the village of Trunyan and the Kuban cemetery by chartered boat from Kedisan. Sadly, nowadays the boat trips are now blatant tourist traps, as touts and guides strongly urge you to donate your cash to the temple project or leave a donation for the dead. These touts ruin an otherwise fascinating experience.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

11

BUSINESS Bank of England to sit tight as recovery slows Agence France-Presse

LONDON - The Bank of England is widely expected to keep its key interest rate at a record low 0.50 percent at a meeting on Thursday amid signs that Britain’s economic recovery is slowing, analysts said.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee is also set to resist pumping billions of extra pounds (dollars) into the economy by buying up commercial bonds, they added.

In a move aimed at reviving Britain’s economy amid the financial crisis, the Bank of England decided 19 months ago to slash interest rates to their current record low level of 0.50 percent.

It also pumped the economy with 200 billion pounds (239 billion euros, 308 billion dollars) of new money under its bond purchasing programme or quantitative easing, a policy it put on hold in February.

“We expect interest rates and the asset purchase programme to be left unchanged again at the forthcoming meeting,” Capital Economics analyst Vicky Redwood said ahead of the BoE’s latest two-day meeting starting on Wednesday.

Britain’s economy grew at its fastest pace for nine years in the second quarter as construction soared, recent official data showed, but it faces a difficult future as the new government slashes spending and hikes sales tax.

Recent softer activity data “have again raised fears of a double-dip recession and strengthened the case for additional policy support,” said Barclays Capital analyst Simon Hayes.

“However, we do not believe such a move will take place this week, and our central expectation remains that policy will be on hold for the rest of the year,” he added.

British gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.2 percent between April and June to record the fastest quarter-on-quarter growth since 2001, according to the latest official data.

The BoE’s main task is to keep British annual inflation close to a rate of 2.0 percent.

Currently however it stands at 3.1 percent, while some analysts said it could spike in the new year once the government hikes the rate of VAT sales tax to 20 percent from 17.5.

“The planned VAT rise in January is expected to keep inflation above target for longer than expected,” said Redwood.

“However, the MPC seems genuinely still to believe that inflation will fall sharply in response to the large amount of spare capacity in the economy.”

Britain emerged from a record recession in the fourth quarter of 2009, a few months before a general election saw a ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition take power following defeat for the ruling Labour party.

The new government, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, has meanwhile moved swiftly to cut billions of pounds from public spending as it seeks to slash a huge pubic deficit.

Suicides, depression cost Japan 32 billion dollars Agence France-Presse

TOKYO - Suicides and depression cost the Japanese economy almost 32 billion dollars last year on top of their human toll, the government said Tuesday, the first time it released such an estimate.

Welfare payments and medical costs for the depressed, the lost incomes of those in care and those who killed themselves and other factors came to 2.68 trillion yen (31.8 billion dollars) last year, the government said.

The figure included an estimate of 1.9 trillion yen worth of income that could have been earned by the 26,500 people aged 15 to 69 who killed themselves in 2009, had they chosen to live and work one more year.

Japan, a country of about 127 million

people, has one of the world’s highest suicide rates, with 32,845 people killing themselves last year, the 12th year in a row when the number was over 30,000.

The World Health Organisation says the annual suicide rate per 100,000 is 35.8 for men, the more at-risk gender, compared with 10.1 in Britain. Seven countries have a higher rate, including Belarus at 63.3 per 100,000 men.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, a former grassroots activist, has pointed to the suicide numbers as proof of what he believes is wrong with the country, with too many people suffering economically and emotionally.

“There are many causes of suicides.

Decreasing them would be one way to build ‘a society with a minimum level of unhappiness’,” he said Tuesday, referring to one of his political slogans.

In this Sept. 1, 2010 photo, visitors wait to board a cable car in San Francisco’s Union Square. US President Barack Obama unveiled plans Monday to spend at least 50 billion dollars to expand and renew US roads, railways and airports, in a fresh bid to fire up sluggish economic growth.

Obama unveils new 50-billion-dollar infrastructure plan Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama unveiled plans Monday to spend at least 50 billion dollars to expand and renew US roads, railways and airports, in a fresh bid to fire up sluggish economic growth.

Obama, under intense pressure over a sputtering economy ahead of November’s mid-term congressional elections, in which his Democrats fear heavy losses, was set to formally announce the new funding in a speech in Wisconsin.

The event, marking Labor Day, the traditional kick-off for US election campaigns, heralds a week in which Obama also travels to another struggling state, Ohio, and holds a press conference in a bid to ease his political woes.

The White House hopes to win quick passage of the 50 billion dollar measure, which would be the “front-loaded” first part of a broader measure to reauthorize transportation funding over the coming six years.

“We’d like to pass this as quickly as possible,” a senior administration official told journalists ahead of the president’s announcement.

“The economy needs additional investment as quickly as possible, but we want to do something that will help the economy over the next six years.”

The official said the new projects would be funded, without increasing the deficit, by ending various tax breaks for oil and gas companies.

This would close “some of the tax loopholes for oil and gas companies that get subsidies from taxpayers that they don’t need,” the official said, while noting that the president was open to other funding proposals.

The 50 billion-dollar plan, to be announced at the Milwaukee Laborfest, a union gathering, also targets improvements to the US air traffic control system, an acceleration of high-speed rail projects, and establishes an “Infrastructure Bank” to coordinate federal funding and planning for projects.

It calls for the rebuilding or restoring of 150,000 miles (240,000 kilometers) of roads; adding 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) of rail and renewing 150 miles (240 kilometers) of runway.

Critics have long complained that the US highway system is crumbling and suffers from

underinvestment, so Obama will target modernizations that could quickly employ jobless workers while improving the US transportation backbone.

The plan also envisages an overhaul of technology used in the crowded US air traffic control system, including the use of satellite surveillance, which it said could reduce travel delays and airport noise.

Over the long term, Obama wants to make “a sustained and effective commitment to high-speed rail,” the official added.

It appeared unlikely however that Obama could get the plan passed through Congress before the mid-term elections, which are effectively a referendum on Democratic economic management and a 9.6 percent unemployment rate.

Opposition Republicans who slammed Obama’s 800-billion-dollar stimulus plan as a failure are also likely to hammer the proposed new investment as another example of the government doling out taxpayer dollars to little effect.

On Wednesday, Obama heads to another struggling state, Ohio, where he is expected to unveil another plank of his revised economic strategy: a series of tax breaks for small businesses worth 100 billion dollars.

On Saturday, he vowed to expand a prosperous middle class and help his compatriots achieve the American Dream.

“This Labor Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honored values and to this fundamental truth: to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling main streets and a growing, thriving middle class,” he said in his weekly radio address.

The comments came after a new Labor Department report released Friday showed the economy lost 54,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.6 percent.

Although the job losses were much less than the 120,000 slump expected by Wall Street economists, hiring was not substantial enough to help millions of crisis-hit Americans to return to work.

The government last month slashed secondquarter growth figures to 1.6 percent from 3.7 percent in the first quarter, stoking fears of sluggish future expansion and even a double dip recession.

12

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Entertainment

International

Danielle Staub leaving ‘Real Housewives’ Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Bravo is cleaning house. The network announced Monday that Danielle Staub, the firestarter on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” would not be returning to the show.

Throughout the tumultuous second season, Staub enraged Caroline Manzo, her sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita and family friend Teresa Giudice, though Staub seemed to make amends at the end of Monday’s reunion episode.

“The reunion was Danielle’s last appearance on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” said Andy Cohen, Bravo’s senior vice president of original programming and development who also hosts “The Real Housewives” reunion shows.

“We thought the hugs were a great way to end two seasons of bitterness between the women.”

It’s the latest in a series of “Real Housewives” departures. Sarcastic chef Bethenny Frankel, who starred earlier this year in the spinoff “Bethenny Getting Married?” about her nuptials and pregnancy, told Us Weekly magazine last week that she did not want to return for the New York edition’s fourth outing because last season was “scary and painful.”

“Do I expect her to be holding an apple at the beginning of the show? Probably not,” said Cohen.

“She’s had great success with her own show. On the flip side, I do hope to see her in the ‘Housewives’ universe in some way.”

Last month, energetic entrepreneur Lisa Wu Hartwell was also officially revealed to not be among the Atlanta ladies’ third season, premiering Oct. 4. Cohen said it’s because she “moved far, far, far outside of Atlanta.” NeNe Lekes, Kim Zolciak, Sheree Whitfield and Kandi Burruss will instead be joined by model Cynthia Bailey and lawyer Phaedra Parks.

“This is a fairly smooth transi-

tion,” said Cohen, “though I can’t say Phaedra is NeNe’s favorite from the get-go.” Lynne Curtain, the spacy mother of two rowdy teenage daughters introduced at the beginning of Orange County’s fourth season, posted on her Facebook profile last month that she would not be returning to the show. Cohen wouldn’t comment on the most recent cast changes with the Orange County entourage because the sixth season is currently in production.

It’s a hefty amount of turnover for the Bravo franchise. Only brash original housewife Vicki Gunvalson remains on the Orange County edition, while the New York, Atlanta and New Jersey chapters have all experienced cast changes. (“The Real Housewives of D.C.,” starring alleged White House partycrasher Michaele Salahi, is currently airing its first season.)

Members of “The Jukebox” perform during a tribute concert to The Beatles on September 6, 2010 in Washington, DC. The illusion is perfect: four boys in identical suits with matching boots, even hairstyle, the same guitars, and of course the same songs which electrify the crowd.

AFP PHOTO / M2-Maximum Media / Andrew Raitz

Beatles-inspired bands from world over feeling fab in US Agence France Presse

WASHINGTON - The resemblance was striking: four young men in suits and skinny black ties, all sporting an early-Beatles bowl haircut, with the same guitars, and of course, the songs that still make crowds go wild. Except for one difference: instead of John, Paul, George and Ringo, this Fab Four featured Diego, Juan Carlos, Francisco and Heriberto.

AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano/file

FILE - In an Aug. 2, 2010 file photo “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Danielle Staub arrives for the “Casio Shock the World 2010” event in New York. The Bravo network announced Monday, Sept. 6, 2010 that Staub would not be returning to the show.

And it wasn’t Liverpool’s Cavern Club. This was a festival for Beatlesinspired music lovers on the banks of the Potomac River outside Washington. And these crowd-pleasers were not British but Puerto Rican.

“The Jukebox,” a cover band steeped in the magic of the Beatles, was among some 50 groups who took turns making fans scream and shout at the Abbey Road on the River festival this Labor Day holiday weekend.

The event, billed as the “the world’s largest Beatles-inspired music festival,” drew groups from around the globe like Germany’s “Lucy in the Sky” and “The Norwegian Beatles,” who boast being “probably the northernmost Beatles tribute band in the world.”

Half a century after they first stepped up to the mic, the Beatles continue to inspire new generations of followers. But apart from the music that brings them together, tribute bands use a broad variety of formats.

There is everything from Jimmy Pou, a one-man orchestra specializing in George Harrison’s repertoire, to the “Newbees,” a big band with violinists, cellists and a solo singer.

Not all of them dress like the cuddly mop tops or limit themselves to music from their favorite Liverpool band. Up close, the four Puerto Rican “Beatles,” who are nearing their forties, may lack the youth of their heroes at the height of Beatlemania, even though they were not even born when the legendary

band finally split.

But they still manage to wow their audiences with their perfect English, playing hit after hit before a greying crowd that delights in the nostalgia.

“We try to look like them, but we don’t pretend to be them,” said Francisco Cairol, Jukebox’s solo guitarist who plays the role of George Harrison on stage. The group hopes to simply share a good time with their audience.

“People are happy and dancing, that’s the greatest feeling ever,” he told AFP. The 38-year-old said he and his colleagues make a living by imitating their idols, playing in several countries, including at the legendary Cavern Club and even opening a Paul McCartney concert in Puerto Rico in April.

Pusan film festival to offer record number of premieres Agence France Presse

SEOUL - One of Asia’s most prestigious film festivals will feature a record number of world premieres when it gets under way next month for a 15th year, organisers said Tuesday. The Pusan International Film Festival, to be held in South Korea’s southern city of Busan from October 7-15, will feature 308 movies from 67 countries.

Organisers said 103 films would have their first public screening at the festival, which focuses on discovering new movies and first-time directors from across Asia.

Another 52 films which were only previously screened in their countries of origin would make their international debut in Busan.

“Under the Hawthorn Tree”, a Chinese film directed by Zhang Yimou, who also directed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will open the festival.

It will close with “Camellia”, an omnibus film of three separate short pieces about the city of Busan directed

by Wisit Sasanatieng of Thailand, Isao Yukisada of Japan and Jang Jun-Hwan of South Korea. “This year is for discovering new directors who will lead the future of the film industry. This will provide an opportunity for the films to become more contemporary and more revolutionary,” organisers said in a statement.

The Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami will lead an education programme for young aspiring filmmakers from 16 countries. His “Certi-

fied Copy” earned its lead actress Juliette Binoche the Best Actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Invited guests include French actress Binoche, British actress Jane March, Tang Wei of China, Japanese actress Miyazaki Aoi and directors such as Oliver Stone of the United States, Spain’s Carlos Saura and Ann Hui of Hong Kong.

The festival will also include a forum on the illegal distribution of movies over the Internet, which is severely damaging the industry.

Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang has been chosen as Asian Filmmaker of the Year for his work in pioneering unexplored areas that overcome the limitations of the art film industry.

AFP PHOTO/KIM JAE-HWAN

Kim Dong-Ho, director of the Pusan International Film Festival, unveils programmes and events planned for one of Asia’s most prestigious film festivals at a news conference in Seoul on September 7.

The festival from October 7-15 in the southern city of Busan will feature a record number of world premieres.

Life Style

International

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

13

Landmark Istanbul hotel bids to revive glorious past Agence France Presse

AFP PHOTO/Peter PARKS

In a picture taken on August 24, 2010, people perform exercises at the Working People’s Cultural Palace on August 24, 2010.

All together now! Beijing revives mass exercises Agence France Presse

BEIJING- Liu Tao grimaces as he leaps up and down doing jumping jacks, one of the exercises he sweats through under a revived daily calisthenics routine that authorities in Beijing want all workers to perform.

Suspended three years ago due to low interest, the mass calisthenics routines favoured by late Communist leader Mao Zedong have been reinstated in the Chinese capital under a new government health push.

Every week at the Working People’s Cultural Palace, a park adjacent to the famed Forbidden City palace complex, instructors teach the moves that people are expected to perform to music broadcast twice a day on state radio.

“Young people snack a lot and sit in front of their computers all day. They don’t want to exercise,” said Liu, 28, a property manager whose employer assigned him to learn the routine so he could in turn teach his colleagues.

“So this type of activity is good for the body and the mind,” he adds, before returning to a line of people performing the moves as their instructor calls out a beat of “One! Two! Three!

Four!” Launched in 1951 by Mao,

group calisthenics evolved over the decades, combining traditional Chinese pursuits like kung fu with moves taken from more modern activities like aerobics and even bowling.

They were suspended in Beijing in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics as officials focused on Games preparations and due to a lack of interest, according to state media reports. But they’ve been brought back amid growing official concern over public health.

China’s recent prosperity has led to its citizens living more sedentary lifestyles and eating larger quantities of richer food. Associated health threats such as diabetes and heart disease have been on the rise. The Beijing Federation of Trade Unions wants the eight-

minute routine to be mandatory for all state-owned companies in the capital by 2011, and for 60 percent of workers across the city to participate.

Authorities plan to train around 5,000 instructors to teach employees how to perform the routines. Zhang Zhenying, 64, a fitness expert who teaches the exercises near the Forbidden City twice a week, hopes the routine will catch on with Beijingers.

“When they retire, before school, on holiday, travelling, they can do them, it’s so beneficial — you don’t just have to do them in the office.”

Some companies in Beijing had already established mandatory calisthenics even before authorities in the capital reinstated them.

ISTANBUL - A favourite of royals seeking luxury, writers looking for the muse, and spies, Pera Palace — Istanbul’s hotel of mysteries and pomp — has reopened after a major facelift to revive its past grandeur.

Built in the late 19th century for the passengers of the legendary Orient Express, the 115-room hotel has hosted generations of illustrious guests, from King Edward VIII and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain or the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock or Greta Garbo.

It was the place where crime writer Agatha Christie, one of the hotel’s most ardent visitors, crafted “Murder on the Orient Express”, and where Ernest Hemingway is said to have sipped at a whisky, watching the sunlight play on the waters of the Golden Horn.

Other, more discreet visitors also took up residence in the hotel. Kim Philby, British double agent in the pay of the KGB, is believed to have been among the guests at the end of World War II. He was preceded shortly by Elyesa Bazna, better known by his codename Cicero, in the service of Nazi Germany, says historian Jak Deleon in his book “A

taste of old Istanbul”.

A stay by iconic dancer and spy Mata Hari, registered among Orient Express passengers in 1897, is also very likely, according to Deleon. The histories of the express, inaugurated in 1883, and the hotel are closely linked.

Carrying travelers of a new kind — businessmen attracted by the growing Western hold on Ottoman economy, artists and wealthy adventurers in search of the exotic — the Orient Express needed a place to meet the expectations of its passengers. Construction started in 1892 and the Pera Palace opened its doors in 1895, becoming Istanbul’s most luxurious establishment.

It was the city’s first building, barring the Ottoman palace, to have electricity, and the only one to provide hot running water to its guests. The hotel’s electric elevator was unprecedented in Turkey.

But after 111 years of service, the building needed a serious renovation.

It was closed in 2006 for an inventory before renovation work started in April 2008. “It is the first renovation on such a scale in the history of the Pera Palace. Anything you can think of — every pipe, every cable — has been changed,” hotel manager Pinar Kartal Timer told AFP.

AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER

A picture taken on August 20, 2010 shows the main hall of the historical Pera Palace after restoration. When it opened in 1895, it was the most luxurious hotel in Istanbul and the first to have electricity and hot water. It was closed for extensive renovation in 2006 after 111 years of operation.

Magic mushrooms may ease anxiety of cancer: study Reuters

CHICAGO – The hallucinogen psilocybin — known by the street name magic mushrooms — may help ease the anxiety that often accompanies late-stage cancer, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin — a hallucinogen with effects similar to LSD — were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo.

Patients seemed somewhat less anxious, they reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The pilot study of 12 cancer patients was designed to prove that hallucinogenic drugs could be studied safely as a way to relieve the distress of advanced cancer.

It revives a promising field of study lasting from the 1950s to the early 1970s that suggested some patients experienced powerful and

sustained improvement in mood and anxiety from hallucinogens.

Researchers said the studies were abandoned in the early 1970s when hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD — lysergic acid diethylamide — became widely used on the streets, leading to strict federal laws regulating their use.

“Forty to 45 years ago, the culture was going through tremendous upheaval. These compounds were associated with a very politically active counterculture,” said Dr. Charles Grob of HarborUniversity of California Los Angeles Medical Center and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. “It was something of a public health crisis. Everything had to be shut down,” Grob said in a telephone interview. Federal law prohibits the use of the magic mushroom compound for any purpose. If it proves effective among late-stage cancer patients, U.S. regulators would need to make special accommodation for its use, Grob said.

14

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Sport

International

Spain’s World Cup-winning squad wins top sports prize Agence France Presse

MADRID - Spain’s World Cup-winning football squad won the prestigious Prince of Asturias prize for sport Tuesday for a victory that “made history”, the jury announced. The team delivered Spain’s first ever World Cup win, overcoming the Netherlands 1-0 in the July 11 final with a goal just four minutes before the end of extra time by Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta.

Coming on the heels of their Euro 2008 victory, it “has become one of the milestones of Spanish sport internationally,” the Prince of Asturias jury said in a statement.

“Their exemplary way of understanding football, based on sportsmanship, fair play and fellowship has brought together millions of people around a team that has made history,” it said.

The 23-man squad, including Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres, beat 17 other candidates. The award includes a stipend of 50,000 euros (64,000 dollars) and a sculpture by Joan Miro.

Eight Prince of Asturias awards are granted each year in categories including arts, literature, communications, sports and scientific research.

Named after Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe, they are presented each October in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo in a ceremony broadcast live in Spanish television.

The Prince of Asturias prize for sport was awarded last year to Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva. Past winners have also included Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal, Germany’s seventime Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, retired US athletics legend Carl Lewis and US naturalised Czech-born tennis ace Martina Navratilova.

Nearly 14 million people — out of Spain’s population of about some 47 million — watched the match on television, according to ratings firm Barlovento Comunicacion. Spain face Argentina later on Tuesday in a friendly in Buenos Aires.

AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS

(FILES) This file picture dated July 11, 2010 shows Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas (C) raising the trophy handed to him by FIFA President Sepp Blatter (4thR) and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma (3rdR) as Spain’s national football team players celebrate winning the 2010

Mourinho wants Bayern’s ‘Schweini’, Bild says Agence France Presse

Wales job interests Giggs Agence France Presse

LONDON – With John Toshack set to soon announce he will be stepping down as Wales coach, Ryan Giggs has admitted that taking on the job would be something that would interest him. After six years in charge, Toshack has come under pressure to resign, notably after an opening 1-0 Euro 2012 qualifier loss to Montenegro, although he will remain at the helm until a successor is found.

A number of names have already been linked with the role and reports suggest the Football Association of Wales could approach Giggs to gauge his interest.

But the Manchester United midfielder, who retired from international football in 2007, admits it would be hard to take up the position at the current time. The 36-yearold’s playing career may be drawing towards a conclusion but Giggs has continued to play a key role at Old Trafford in recent seasons and may not want to hang up his boots for a while yet.

He nevertheless concedes that it would be a dream to manage his country one day and knows from history that such appointments can be made very suddenly.

“If you go into management, the big job is to be in charge of your country. And I’m no different in terms of thinking like that,” Giggs, who has already taken UEFA coach-

ing badges, said in the Daily Telegraph.

“At the moment it is difficult, because I still have commitments as a player. “But I always use the Sparky (Mark Hughes) situation.

“One minute he is playing for Wales and in the Premier League with Blackburn, then the next thing you know, he is managing his country.”Sparky never really planned for that.” Eric Harrison, who was responsible for bringing Giggs and the ‘Class of 92’ through at Old Trafford, has warned him if he ends up being installed as new Wales manager he would have to end his stellar career at United.

He told the Manchester Evening News: “It is not a cushy little number and it is not a part-time post. “You are at the sharp end of things and these days I don’t believe you could combine playing for a club at United’s level and managing an international team.

“When I was with Mark (Hughes) we’d be jetting off all over the place watching future opponents. Then you would be going up and down the country checking on your players. “You couldn’t be playing for United at the weekend and be wondering and worrying about how the Welsh players are doing.

“If the vacancy does come up and Ryan is approached then he has a massive decision to make.” Harrison has no doubts Giggs is mentally tough enough to make a success of the management game and will become Wales boss eventually.

AFP PHOTO / MLADEN ANTONOV

FILES - Picture taken on May 22, 2010 shows then Inter Milan’s Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho (R) shaking hands with Bayern Munich’s midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger (L) after the UEFA Champions League final football match Inter Milan against Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.

BERLIN - Having already brought two German World Cup stars, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil, to Real Madrid, coach Jose Mourinho now has his sights on a third: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Bild reported on Tuesday.

Mourinho, who took over at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, made a beeline for the Bayern Munich midfielder after a tribute match to Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer in Germany on August 13, the daily said.

Shaking the 26-year-old by the hand and looking him in the eye, according to Bild, which didn’t cite its sources, Mourinho told him: “I wanted to get you last year, but it didn’t happen. “Next year you belong to me.” Schweinsteiger, a key playmaker in Germany’s World Cup — Joachim Loew’s side lit up the championship with demolition jobs of Australia, England and Argentina, finishing third — could indeed go to Real next year, Bild believes.

His contract at the German giants, who finished runners-up to Mourinho’s Inter Milan in last season’s Champions League, runs until 2012, and if “Schweini” doesn’t extend, 2011 would be Bayern’s last chance to cash in, the paper said.

Schweinsteiger, whom Bild believes is worth more than 30 million euros (38.4 million dollars), said previously: “I can’t and don’t want to say whether I am married to Bayern. “That wouldn’t be fair, including to the fans.” Real paid 18 million euros to get Ozil from Werder Bremem and 14 million for Khedira from Stuttgart.

Sport

International

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

15

Apologetic Federer advances to US Open quarter-finals Agence France Presse

NEW YORK - Even Roger Federer had to say he was sorry for the way he won the pivotal second-set tie-breaker over pal Jurgen Melzer and advanced to the US Open quarter-finals on Monday. The Swiss second seed won two points off forehands that hit the net cord and dropped over the net in a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 triumph over Austrian 13th seed Melzer that put the 16-time Grand Slam champion into the quarter-finals.

“You couldn’t be more lucky in a tie-breaker than he was in this tie-breaker,” Melzer said. Federer took leads and 2-1 and 5-4 with the net-cord winners, the latter setting up two points on his serve.

He won the first when Melzer sent a lob long and the last with a forehand winner to claim the set.

“I know I got really lucky,” Federer said. “Maybe I would have won the tie-breaker anyhow.

That’s the way it goes. I could see he had big frustration over the two net cords. It was a good 10 minutes for me.”

That was no consolation for Melzer. “I wasn’t happy with my fortune,” he said. It wasn’t all luck.

Federer fired 10 aces and 41 winners at Melzer, who missed on two break chances in the second game of the second set. Neither man managed another in the set, setting up Federer’s charmed tie-breaker.

“It’s a pity I didn’t win at least one set,” Melzer said. “I think I deserved the second set. I think I was the more dangerous player. I had break points. He didn’t have any.” After an early exchange of breaks in the third set, Federer denied Melzer on four break points in the fifth game to hold, then broke for a 4-2 edge, saved three more break points to hold for a 5-2 edge and held again to win the match.

“He’s a great shotmaker. He was always going to hit some good stuff,” said Federer. “He was going to come up with some good returns that caught me on my back foot.” At the net after the match, Federer apologized to Melzer.

“He was sorry for the secondset tie-breaker,” Melzer said.

Federer, a 16-time Grand Slam champion seeking his sixth US Open title and seventh final in a

row, will next face Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling, who dispatched Spanish 21st seed Albert Montanes 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Federer said. “He’s a great player.

He’s having a great last couple of years. He has always been a dangerous player but now he has been able to do it consistently.” Federer reached his 26th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, one shy of tying the all-time record streak belonging to Jimmy Connors. The last time Federer failed to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final was the 2004 French Open.

Federer’s five-year US Open reign and 40-match Flushing Meadows win streak was ended in last year’s final by Juan Martin Del Potro. If Federer does reach a seventh US Open final in a row, he will face his seventh different opponent.

(AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Roger Federer of Switzerland looks to return a shot during a match against Jurgen Melzer of Austria at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Monday, Sept. 6, 2010.

Iniesta sees WCup goal ‘a thousand ‘Teddy Bear’ Riner times’ on TV on verge of making history Agence France Presse

MADRID - Barcelona star midfielder Andres Iniesta says he has watched his World Cup-winning goal “a thousand times” on television, but it never feels as good as it did on the pitch. “I watch all my matches many times,” the 26-year-old Barcelona playmaker told the Spanish daily El Pais.

“It helps me to improve. Also, they repeat it a lot. So whether I like it or not, I have seen the goal a thousand times,” said Iniesta, favourite for the 2010 Golden Ball. “But the sensation on the pitch is unrepeatable,” he added. “Watching it is not the same as scoring it.”

Iniesta swept Spain to a thrilling 1-0 World Cup victory over the Netherlands on July 11 with an unstoppable strike past the goalkeeper from inside the box four minutes from the end of extra-time.

“There is a goal in that final which is personal, very much mine. What bothers me is that I don’t score that many goals and now none of the goals I score will be valued as much as that one.” Iniesta said he knew the ball was going in the moment he struck it.

“I know the defence won’t get to it, that the goalkeeper won’t get to it... I just have to wait for it to fall, for it to obey Newton’s Law,” he added.

“This time the apple was the ball and Newton’s head was my foot.” It was the first World Cup win for Spain, the winners of the 2008 European Championships.

The television audience in Spain when Iniesta scored was 15.6 million people for a 85.9 percent audience share, making it the most watched television broadcast in Spanish history.

Agence France Presse

(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Spain’s David Villa, left, and teammate Andres Iniesta fight for the ball during training in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday Sept. 6, 2010. Spain will play a friendly soccer match with Argentina on Sept. 7.

TOKYO - Towering French judoka Teddy Riner is aiming to become the first man to win five gold medals when the world championships return to their roots in Tokyo this week for the first time in half a century. But his Japanese rivals are out to settle scores with the Frenchman in the over-100kg class Thursday on the first day of the event and pace their country’s comeback from an unprecedented title drought in 2009.

At last year’s championships, Japanese men failed to win any gold but grabbed one silver medal and one bronze. Japanese women saved some of the country’s pride in their native sport by winning three golds and two bronzes.

The Guadeloupe-born 21-yearold Riner is hoping to win the heavyweight title for a third straight time and also retain the unlimited openclass title on the final day on Monday, adding to three world crowns he has won since 2007. Three Japanese — Shozo Fujii, Yasuhiro Yamashita and Naoya Ogawa — and David Douillet, one of the best French

judokas of all time, won four men’s world titles each before they retired.

Douillet also has two Olympic golds to his name. “It’s not for beating David but for opening a new era in judo, for going forward,” said Riner, a 204cm and 129kg giant nicknamed “Teddy Bear,” whose arsenal includes “uchimata” and “osoto-gari” leg throws.

He settled for a bronze in his Olympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Games. Japan’s Ryoko Tani is the most decorated woman. She has won the -48kg world title seven times in addition to two Olympic golds.

Japan have hosted the world judo championships four times with the first two editions in Tokyo in 1956 and 1958. The event has become an annual affair after being held every other year until 2009.

“The men will try to clear themselves of last year’s disgrace. You can expect the women to win more gold medals,” said Japanese team director Kazuro Yoshimura. Riner, who has already made history by becoming the youngest world judo champion at 18, is well aware of the stiff Japanese challenge.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

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

Sport

Sebastian Vettel: I will take the title!

A defiant Sebastian Vettel has responded to his detractors in the wake of his calamitous performance in the Belgian Grand Prix just over a week ago, by vowing to fight back stronger than ever before and insisting: “I will take the title!”

Whilst running in third position at Spa-Francorchamps, Vettel lost control of his Red Bull Racing RB6 as he lined himself up for a move on defending F1 World Champion Jenson Button directly ahead of him heading into the Bus-Stop Chicane on lap 16.

AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky

FILE - In this July 31, 2010, file photo, Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel, left, of Germany, left, and his teammate Mark Webber, of Australia, wave after the qualification for the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary. Red Bull came out of the Belgian Grand Prix with Webber on the heels of Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton, but the time is fast approaching for the Austrian team to back either the veteran Australian driver or the promise of Vettel.

De Angelis devastated over Tomizawa ALEX de Angelis said he was “totally devastated” after being involved in the accident that killed Shoya Tomizawa during the San Marino GP. De Angelis and Scott Redding hit Tomizawa after the

Japanese fell in the early part of the race.

“I’m totally devastated by what has happened to Shoya,” de Angelis said in a statement. “I feel for his family and for everyone who loved

IBP/ist

Alex de Angelis

him,” added de Angelis, who said the post-race quotes issued by his team were published before Tomizawa’s death was confirmed.

“As for the race, I gave my quotes immediately after the crash, when I didn’t yet know the seriousness of the consequences, and at the moment I don’t intend to say anymore; at times like this, everything is overshadowed.” The Suter Racing team said there was nothing de Angelis or Redding could have done to avoid the crash.

“I also feel sorry for de Angelis and our rider Scott Redding,” Suter Racing’s CEO Eskil Suter said.

“After the initial suspicion of a fractured pelvis, Scott was cleared of serious injuries.

“But mentally he is completely shattered even though nothing that happened was his fault. Today was a sad reminder that racing remains dangerous despite all improvements in track safety.” Suter admitted his team was also devastated.

“Shoya was more than a friend.

He was like a family member,” said Suter. “He was loved by everybody in the paddock and I am terribly sorry for his family and his team who suffered this tragic loss.”

Spearing into the side of the McLaren-Mercedes, the 23-year-old removed his rival from contention on the spot and did a great deal of damage to his own chances of clinching the crown into the bargain, with what was the latest in a series of impetuous, high-profile errors this season.

A resultant puncture, drive-through penalty for his indiscretion and subsequent coming-together with Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi at the same part of the circuit saw to it that the young German would leave the Ardennes with no points in his pocket and having slipped to some 31 markers adrift of new F1 2010 World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton – but the man who has set pole position for more than half of the 13 grands prix todate this year remains adamant that he will not ultimately be denied the prize he clearly believes he deserves.

“I know how good we are,” asserted the Heppenheim native in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport. “I will take the title. Someone who has the most pole positions must think that way. These 13 races have not run completely smoothly, but I’m only 31 points behind. Assuming we maintain our speed, we can catch up quickly. In the end, it makes you a better driver – but I’m also someone who can put things in the past and look ahead when the next morning comes.”