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Thursday, July 30, 2009

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Jackson chef recalls doctor’s role, final days PAGE 12 Agence France Presse AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, file

BERLIN - Already hit by the departure of Honda, Formula One suffered another blow Wednesday as BMW confirmed they would be quitting the sport at the end of what has been a disastrous season for the German car manufacturer. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season,” BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer said.

“Of course, this was a difficult decision for us, but it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” he said.

“Premium will be increasingly defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility.

This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead.

“We are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability.

“Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us.”

While rumours of the possible departures of Renault and Toyota have been flying around the paddock all season, that of BMW comes as a surprise.

And it had looked as if the sport’s future was assured when the FIA, motor racing’s governing body, announced the completion of negotiations between the FOA (Formula One administration) and the 13 teams who will race in 2010.

It had been thought that this Concorde Agreement, meant to link the two sides until 2012, also included the BMW Sauber team.

The FIA said however they regretted the German team’s decision and hoped the sport had seen the last departure of a major manufacturer.

“The FIA regrets the announcement of BMW’s intended withdrawal from Formula One but is not surprised by it,” the FIA said in a statement.

“It has been clear for some time that motor sport cannot ignore the world economic crisis.

“Car manufacturers cannot be expected to continue to pour large sums of money into Formula One when their survival depends on redundancies, plant closures and the support of the taxpayer.”

BMW have been badly hit by the current economic crisis with profits tumbling by 89.5 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, and group sales dropping 19.5 percent in the first half of 2009.

Hard to justify spending on Formula One following a poor campaign with drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica scoring just eight points this season to leave the team eighth in the nine-team constructors’ championship.

BMW arrived in Formula One in 2000 and in 2005 took over the Swiss team Sauber, to become the BMW Sauber stable which now employs 730 people.

Their only Grand Prix win as BMW Sauber came when Kubica won in Canada in 2008, while he also achieved the team’s only pole position in Bahrain, also in 2008. The team finished third last season behind Ferrari

and McLaren-Mercedes.

Meanwhile, the FIA said they hoped there would be no more departures from the sport.

“This is why the FIA prepared regulations to reduce costs drastically,” the FIA said. “These measures were needed to alleviate the pressure on manufacturers following Honda’s withdrawal, but also to make it possible for new teams to enter.

“Had these regulations not been so strongly opposed by a number of team principals, the withdrawal of BMW and further such announcements in the future might have been avoided.

“Nevertheless, as a result of a sustained cost-cutting campaign by the FIA, new measures are in the process of being agreed which should make it easier for new teams to enter and enable existing ones to participate on much-reduced budgets.

“Hopefully it will be enough to prevent further withdrawals and provide a solid foundation for Formula One.” Meanwhile, BMW’s rival German manufacturer Mercedes confirmed their commitment to the sport.

“We regret the withdrawal of BMW from Formula One. This decision will not have the slightest influence on our commitment to Formula One,” a spokesman said.

And the Formula One teams’ organisation FOTA said they would now do all in their power to help the Swiss-based Sauber team.

“FOTA teams ... are ready to assure all the necessary support to the Swissbased team, whose membership in the association is confirmed, to continue its involvement in the F1 Sport”.

Company security guards check a vehicle entering the driveway of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta on July 29, 2009 as the building reopens for business. Insert photo: a journalist in Jakarta on July 29, 2009 points to the name of “Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top Hafidzohullah” from the page on an Internet blog purportedly speaking on behalf of a group calling itself “Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia”, claimed responsibility for the July 17 twin bombings on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the center of the Indonesian capital. The blog was posted in Indonesian and Arabia on the Google site blogspot.com on July 26 but was only discovered July 29 and reported in the Indonesia media.

FILE - The March 29, 2009 file photo shows BMW Sauber Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld of Germany, right, sliding at the start of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park racetrack in Melbourne, Australia. According to German media reports on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, BMW will leave the Formula One at the end of the season. BMW will hold a press conference later the day.

‘Al-Qaeda’ blog claims bombing as Indonesia hotels re-open Agence France-Presse

WEATHER FORECAST

JAKARTA - Two luxury hotels struck by suicide bombers less than two weeks ago re-opened Wednesday in Jakarta, as an Internet blog from “Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia” claimed responsibility for the attacks.

CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

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JAKARTA

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BANDUNG

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YOGYAKARTA

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Agence France-Presse

SURABAYA

22 - 33

MANILA - Doctors at a Philippine hospital were Wednesday trying to save a baby girl born with two heads, officials said.

The baby was born late Tuesday

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

Police said they could not tell if the claim was authentic but it was

suicide blasts, which killed seven people including six foreigners.

Continued on page 6

Baby with two heads born in Philippines

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being investigated as part of the massive probe into the July 17 twin

The message in Indonesian and Arabic is signed by “Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top” and praises two “holy warrior brothers” who blew themselves up at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta.

AFP PHOTO / NAT GARCIA

PHILIPPINES : A nurse (R) checks the vital signs of conjoined twins in Manila on July 29, 2009.

and is now under observation at the neo-natal intensive care unit of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila.

A hospital spokeswoman said the baby was stable at the moment, but said she may die if tests proved both heads shared only one set of vital organs. “The rate of survival will depend on the shared organ.

If they only have one heart, they will not survive,” the unidentified spokeswoman told local radio.

Reports said the father Salvador

Arganda was a tricycle driver. He and his wife, Chateria, already have five other children and there was no known history of twins in the family. Officials at the hospital said the extra head appeared to be a twin of the girl who failed to fully separate during the development stage in early pregnancy.

“This is the first case of its kind here in the hospital,” one Fabella doctor said, but said other hospitals in Manila have in the past recorded similar cases.

2

International

Thursday, July 30, 2009

News WORLD NEWS

Obama expresses frustration on healthcare reform Agence France-Presse

Commonwealth bloc SUVA, Fiji - Fiji will likely be suspended from the Commonwealth bloc, New Zealand says - a day after its military ruler strengthened his grip on power by replacing the ailing president Ratu Josefa with a stronger ally.

Pregnancy risk LONDON - Pregnant women who get swine flu are at least four times as likely to be hospitalized as other people with the virus, a new study says.

Tanning beds cancer LONDON International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.

SYDNEY - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday said Australia’s ban on gay marriage would remain, despite moves within his centre-left Labor Party to have it overturned.

Rudd, who considers himself a moderate Christian, won the 2007 election on a platform that supported the former conservative government’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

15

Ronaldo opens his account for Real as ‘The Pirate’ steals the show Agence France Presse

The 23-year-old Portuguese star - who cost Real around 94million euros when he joined from Manchester United - won and then converted a penalty in the 48th minute as Real set up a semi-final on Friday with Italian giants Juventus.

However, it wa sone of Real’s less high profile signings of the close season Esteban Granero otherwise known as El Pirata or The Pirate, bought from Getafe, who stole the show with a goal and created another for German international defender AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB

US President Barack Obama speaks alongside American Association for Retired Persons(AARP) President Jennie Chin-Hansen (R) on healthcare during a telephone, internet and in person, town hall meeting at AARP headquarters in Washington, DC, July 28, 2009. pushed back against Obama’s ambitious timetable for the legislation, warning they will not meet his deadline for a first vote on the two versions before they break for vacation on August 7.

Obama’s legislation hopes to reform a healthcare system that is among the most expensive in the world, seeking to offer coverage to some 47 million Americans that have none, while still reducing record public deficits.

The president has launched his own public campaign in support of the reform, which included Tuesday a public meeting in the form of a teleconference organized by the AARP, a

powerful lobby group for retired and older people.

The president faced a range of concerns, ranging from the cost of the reform at a time of massive deficits and a major recession, to questions about whether the elderly would continue to have their current health benefits.

“I’m absolutely positive that we can make the healthcare system work better, he said. “Nobody is trying to change what works in the system. We are trying to change what doesn’t work in the system.

Obama also defended providing Americans with the option to join a public healthcare program that

would compete with private healthcare options, despite strong opposition to such a provision among many in the Senate.

He also appeared to challenge lawmakers to stop holding up healthcare reform.

“Frankly, if we do this right, then all we’re actually doing is giving the American people the same option that members of Congress have, because they’ve got a pretty good deal right now,” Obama said.

“They have a bunch of options and different plans to select from. So if they’ve got a good deal, why shouldn’t you?”

Kevin Rudd : Australia firm on gay marriage ban Agence France-Presse

Thursday, July 30, 2009

MADRID - The world’s most expensive footballer Cristiano Ronaldo got off the mark for his club Real Madrid here on Tuesday as they ran out 4-2 winners over Ecuadorean side Liga de Quito in the Peace Cup.

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed rare frustration at the resistance he is facing in his efforts to overhaul the US healthcare system.

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated because this is one of those situations where it’s so obvious that the system we have isn’t working well for too many people, and that we could be doing better,” he said.

Obama made the comments as his healthcare reform legislation faces tough hurdles in Congress, where it is opposed by many Republicans, but must also overcome divisions among his own Democratic party.

Healthcare reform is a big gamble for Obama. A failure like that of former president Bill Clinton could cost him a lot of political capital and endanger his party’s chances in the 2010 midterm elections.

Republicans have launched an aggressive campaign against the reform, but fiscally conservative Democrats also form a major front of opposition to the legislation in the House of Representatives.

The package being considered in the Senate is different from that being debated in the lower chamber of Congress and the two versions will at some point need to be reconciled, further complicating the issue.

The two chambers have already

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International

Rudd said his government’s position remained unchanged amid media speculation that he will face a groundswell of support for same-sex marriage at Labor’s national conference, due to begin in Sydney on Thursday.

“We are consistent with the policy we took to the last election,” he told public broadcaster ABC. The issue was thrown into the spotlight this week when the Labor Party in Tasmania state voted for the Marriage Act to be amended to allow for

same-sex unions.

Rudd stood by his election plank, which banned same-sex marriage but endorsed a national “relationships register” provided it did not “mimic” marriage or undermine existing laws.

“I fully respect the integrity of other same-sex relationships ... but in terms of the policy, it’s a matter to which we have been committed for some time,” Rudd said.

“I fully accept it’s a matter of controversy, and there’ll be debate, and there should be. This is an open society

Christoph Metzelder.

It will have come as something of a relief to both the Real fans and Ronaldo himself that he showed soem semblance of form as he had failed to shine in the first few friendlies including a 1-0 win over Irish semi-professional outfit Shamrock Rovers last week and had been taken off at half-time.

There was one concern for Real Madrid as another of their signings French international striker Karim Benzema - who scored the goal

Arshavin plans to improve on impressive start at Arsenal Agence France Presse

LONDON - Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin is clearly a man of high standards. “I will try and show that I am better this season,” he said as he reflected on the start of his first full Premier League campaign with the Gunners.

That vow will provoke a few raised eyebrows in north London, not least among the sizeable percentage of Arsenal fans for whom Arshavin is already a bona fide terrace hero.

The Russian gave the lie to the old adage that foreign signings need at least a year to acclimatise to the unique demands of English football with his dazzling displays last season.

He may just have made 15 appearances following his January transfer window move from Zenit St Petersburg,

where we can debate and discuss these matters.”

Rudd said his government had moved rapidly to remove the “other discriminations” in national law against same-sex couples in areas such as pensions, tax and employment.

A recent poll suggested up to 60 percent of Australians supported gay marriage, and the statistics bureau in May announced it would count samesex couples who declared themselves married in the national census.

Source: ap

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against Shamrock Rovers - limped off on the hour mark after shooting with his right leg.

Juventus had earlier become the first team into the last four when they disposed of Korean side Seongnam.

Brazilian playmaker Diego - a 24.5million euros signing from German side Werder Bremen in May - was the architect of their victory creating the first goal for Vincenzo Iaquinta, then scored the second in the 53rd minute while Nicola Legrottaglie added the third 20 minutes from fulltime.

BP/doc

Andrei Arshavin

but that was enough time to notch six goals and seven assists and deliver the season’s stand-out individual performance in becoming the first visiting player to score four goals at Anfield since 1946.

Off the field Arshavin’s popularity is already high enough to come second in a supporters’ player of the year poll and see shirts bearing his name and number fly out of Arsenal’s club shop quicker even than those of Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie.

They are the sort of achievements any player would be proud of after a full season; the fact that Arshavin was able to chalk them up in four short months explains why Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was content to break the habit of a lifetime and sign an established superstar, rather than a tyro with promise.

Yet there is clearly still more to come from Arshavin.

By his own admission, he was not fully fit when he arrived in London, having not played for several weeks following the end of the Russian season.

That neutered him in his early appearances for his new club but there is no doubt the 28-year-old will be in peak condition when Arsenal open their league account against Everton on August 15.

Arshavin returned for pre-season training a week earlier than the club’s other internationals to work on his conditioning and also asked to be included in their annual curtainraiser against Barnet.

So while his fellow A-listers Fabregas, van Persie and Gael Clichy were resting their weary limbs, Arshavin was to be found pounding the turf at one of English football’s tiniest outposts, scoring his side’s opening goal in a 2-2 draw.

“For me it’s very important to get a good pre-season,” he added. “That is why I came to England one week earlier than the other internationals. I hope that will help me.”

Whether being able to field a fully-firing Arshavin from the start of the season will be enough to turn Arsenal from also-rans into genuine title contenders, or even win a first trophy since 2005, is another matter.

The man himself has warned that it will take a monumental collective effort to achieve that goal - “one player can create one moment but he cannot create a result on his own,” Arshavin suggested - but, either way, there is surely little doubt that the Russian will be one of the season’s star turns.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo controls the ball during his soccer match against Liga de Quito during the Peace Cup Andalucia 2009 soccer tournament at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza

Injured Hargreaves faces lengthy wait for United return Agence France Presse

LONDON - Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has suffered another blow after boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted the injured England star is still some way from full fitness.

Hargreaves, 28, made just three appearances last season before being forced to undergo surgery for tendinitis in both knees.

The England star hasn’t played since September 2008 and had hoped to train with the Premier League champions as they prepare for a pre-

season tournament in Germany.

But Ferguson, who had already said that he did not expect the former Bayern Munich player to return to action until September, admits Hargreaves won’t be rushed back.

“Hargreaves will not play in this tournament,” Ferguson said. “We had hoped he would be joining us, but he is still in his programme of rehabilitation.

“He has had major operations on both knees and we are not rushing that. “He is young enough to come back once he is fully fit, but we are not rushing him.”

BP/doc

Owen Hargreaves

14

Sport

Thursday, July 30, 2009

International

News

International

Descenza joins world record spree

Agence France-Presse

ROME - Mary Descenza thrust herself into title contention with the 16th world record of the swimming World Championships Wednesday, surprising herself in the heats of the 200m butterfly.

AP Photo/Michael Sohn

Mary Descenza of the United States reacts after setting a new world record in the Women’s 200m Butterfly, at the FINA Swimming World Championships, in Rome, Wednesday, July 29, 2009. Descenza clocked 2.04.14

action, with the eight fastest qualifiers all under 48 seconds.

American David Walters led the way with a time of 47.59.

Olympic gold medallist Alain Bernard was fourth-fastest in 47.80 and French teammate Frederick Bousquet sixth-quickest in 47.89. Bernard and Bousquet will be trying to bounce back in the individual event after a shock third-place finish in the 4x100m free relay on Sunday.

Canada’s Brent Hayden and Italy’s Filippo Magnini, who shared the world title in 2007, both advanced, Hayden with the fifth-fastest time and Magnini 13th in an event that is without world record-holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia because of illness.

Aleksanda Gerasimenya of Belarus notched a championship record of 27.65 to lead the way into the women’s 50m backstroke semi-finals.

Olympic silver medallist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was fastest in the heats of the 200m individual medley with a time of 1:56.34. Beijing bronze medallist Ryan Lochte also advanced, and the two will battle for the ultimate prize in the absence of world recordholder Phelps, who isn’t swimming the event this year.

After a morning off, Phelps was

due back in action on Wednesday night, trying to bounce back from a shock defeat in the final of the 200m butterfly.

Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who erased Aussie legend Ian Thorpe from the record books with his victory in the 400m free, seized Phelps’s world title and world record in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday.

Phelps insisted he wasn’t too unhappy with his swim, given the time off he took after the Olympic Games.

But the 14-time Olympic champion clearly didn’t enjoy the sensation of losing.

“I know I didn’t train much this year. For right now, I’ll take it - but I’m not pleased,” he said.

Phelps’s coach Bob Bowman was steamed that on the same day that Phelps went down, world swimming’s governing body announced that the ban of the high-tech bodysuits will be delayed until next April or May. While the technology will be rolled back, with no polyurethane allowed, it won’t go into effect in January as first expected.

“We’ve lost all the history of the sport,” Bowman said. “Does a 10year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann’s record?”

Venus and Serena advance Safin brings Indy champ Ginepri back to earth in ‘hometown’ tournament Agence France Presse

Agence France Presse

STANFORD, California – Second seeded American Venus Williams defeated Stephanie Dubois of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the 700,000 dollar WTA Bank of the West Classic.

Williams is also playing doubles with her sister Serena who had to work for her 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory over China’s Li Na in the night match.

“It was a great match to get my rhythm, hit a lot of balls and work on my shots,” said Williams, who won titles here in 2000 and 2002.

“It’s all about the mentality. I usually adjust pretty quickly. I do want to try new and different things.”

In other matches, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia outlasted Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 4-6, 75. The marathon match took two hours and 33 minutes.

Defending champion Wozniak became the first Canuck in 20 years to capture a Tour title when she won the 2008 tournament.

The sisters won their first doubles match in Stanford. They grew up five hours down the freeway in crime-plagued south central Los Angeles and in an awkward moment at Tuesday’s news

conference Venus seemed to mistake upscale Stanford for their hometown.

“We love playing in L.A. I’m sorry, not L.A., I mean California. It feels like home for us,” Venus said.

Na had her serve broken three times in the opening set but rallied in the tiebreaker from 6-2 down to level at 6-6. Serena won it on the seventh match point.

Serena rarely gives opponents credit in post-game talks preferring to discuss the high and low points of her own game. But she did manage to praised Na for the way she battled on Tuesday.

“I was playing a tough player who never gives up,” Serena said. “Obviously I can play better,” she continued. “I think I hit five first serves in the whole match. I’m a little off.

That’s fine. I’d rather be a little off now than later.”

World number two Serena had seven double faults in the first set and at one point slammed her racket to the ground in frustration.

“I was too anxious and ready to go home,” said Serena who is making her second appearance at the Stanford tournament. She has two Grand Slam wins in 2009 — Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

Venus has advanced to the finals in six of her seven appearances at the tournament.

LOS ANGELES - Eighth seed Marat Safin deflated the ego of last weekend’s Indianapolis winner Robby Ginepri with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 come from behind win to reach the second round of the Los Angeles Open Tuesday.

Safin, who last won a match in the first round at Roland Garros nearly two months ago, lifted his own spirits as he made a respectable showing in what is meant to be his final season in the game at age 29.

Safin was fresh from an exhibition win 24 here hours earlier against Pete Sampras.

“If you beat Pete Sampras you know you have a good chance of beating Robby Ginepri,” he joked.

“Robby is playing really well, coming from a title last week. He’s a tough player. The match was well-played from both of us. I got up a break in the beginning of the second set and that helped me to turn the match around.”

The Russian winner, a two-time grand Slam champion, notched eight aces and broke number 56 Ginepri five times while losing his own serve on four occasions.

American Ginepri repeated history on Sunday as he duplicated his Indianapolis title from 2005 and came to LA as a special exempt entry.

Marcos Baghdatis, a finalist at the 2006 Australian Open, claimed his first

ATP victory in a month with a 7-6 (7/ 3), 6-3 first-round decision over Canada’s Frank Dancevic.

The smiling Cypriot who was carried off court on a stretcher in the Netherlands with a knee injury the week before Wimbledon, came good after going out in the first round last week in Indianapolis as he began his summer hardcourt season.

Baghdatis is playing the event for the second time since 2005, when he lost in the first round to Juan Chela.

The world number 146 will line up against big-hitting American John Isner, who upset German fifth seed Benjamin Becker 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3).

Dancevic, a special exempt entry, was coming off a semi-final at Indy, where he lost to Sam Querrey.

Russian fifth seed Igor Kunitsyn stopped Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-2. Ernests Gulbis, loser of eight of his previous ten matches dating to late April, advanced over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 7-5, 6-2.

Number 205-ranked qualifier Carsten Ball joined fellow Australian Chris Guccione in the second round as he beat Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-2, 7-5 (8/6). The Aussie next plays third seed Dkitry

AP Photo/Danny Moloshok

Russia’s Marat Safin returns a shot against Robby Ginepri of the United States at the L.A. Tennis Open tournament, Tuesday, July 28, 2009, in Los Angeles. Safin won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Tursunov of Russia.

American Ryan Sweeting inflicted 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 pain on compatriot Taylor Dent, whose comeback after back surgeries and three compromised seasons continued to hit the wall.

3

US, China pledge common ground

Agence France Presse

“Oh my God I didn’t even think I was going that fast,” said Descenza, who clocked 2min 04.14sec to lower the previous record of 2:04.18 set by China’s Liu Zige in winning Olympic gold on August 14 last year in Beijing.

“I obviously didn’t have that in my plan, but I’ll take it,” added Descenza, a Tyr-sponsored swimmer who swam in the all-polyurethane Jaked bodysuit with the logo blacked out.

The Jaked and its brothers have contributed to an explosion of world records at these championships.

With the meet not even half over the tally of 15 world records at the 2007 worlds in Melbourne had been surpassed, and swimmers were closing in on the 25 set at the Beijing Olympics.

Descenza sliced three seconds off her personal best time, and was more than a second faster than defending champion Jessicah Schipper of Australia.

She admitted the performance upped the ante for the semi-finals and Thursday’s final.

“I guess I’m going to feel some pressure that I have to go faster. Maybe I’ll have to reassess my goals and just reorder them, get everything set up for tonight,” she said.

Heats of the men’s 100m freestyle promised sizzing semi-final and final

Thursday, July 30, 2009

AFP PHOTO/Mauricio DUENAS

Picture taken on January 24, 2009, of Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe (R) shaking hands with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez after a joint press conference in Cartagena, during an official visit to renew bilateral relations. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on July 28, 2009 in Caracsa, his decision to “freeze” relations with neighboring Colombia and recall his envoy over accusations from Bogota that Caracas has links to Colombia’s FARC Marxist guerillas.

Venezuela to ‘freeze’ ties with Colombia, recall envoy: Chavez Agence France-Presse

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decided Tuesday to “freeze” relations with neighboring Colombia and recall his envoy over accusations from Bogota that Caracas has links to Colombia’s FARC Marxist guerillas.

The move threatens to suspend billions of dollars in trade, and Chavez warned that Colombian-owned operations in Venezuela could be seized.

“In view of this new aggression by the government of Colombia I have ordered the withdrawal of our ambassador to Bogota,” Chavez said on state television.

“We will freeze relations with Colombia,” the leftist leader added.

Tensions have risen dramatically in recent weeks between Caracas and Bogota, notably over Colombia’s announcement that it had agreed to a new pact with Venezuela’s regional nemesis the United States to allow it to use military bases to conduct antidrug operations.

And on Monday, Bogota said it had captured weapons from FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America’s oldest and largest insurgency — that had been produced in Sweden and sold to Venezuela.

Chavez cited recent statements by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Vice President Francisco Santos in which they accused Caracas, “without proof” according to Chavez, of supplying arms to the rebels.

The firebrand Chavez warned that Venezuela would suspend Colombian

imports to his country, which official data show amounted to 2.62 billion dollars in the first half of 2009.

And Chavez threatened to “expropriate” Colombian-owned ventures in Venezuela if Bogota’s “aggressions” continue, he said.

“With the next aggression against Venezuela, we will simply break relations with the Colombian government on all fronts.”

Officials in Stockholm confirmed that some arms produced in Sweden and sold to Venezuela were found in a FARC camp in Colombia, and the Swedish government called on Caracas to explain how the weapons wound up in the hands of the rebels.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Caracas would respond “at the appropriate time” to the “new lies” being leveled at Chavez’s government.

Maduro said Colombia was trying to “place the blame on foreigners” for a conflict “that the authorities in Bogota have the responsibility to resolve.”

The dispute over the FARC weapons is the latest spat in an increasingly dangerous friction between Venezuela and Colombia, a close US ally in the region.

Sparks flew on July 15 when

Bogota announced that the United States was to use three bases in Colombia as staging areas for Washington’s anti-drug operations.

Chavez last week alleged “a Yankee military force” was planning to invade his country from Colombia.

Venezuela and Colombia nearly went to war last year after Colombian forces raided a FARC camp just across the border with Ecuador in late March 2008.

Bogota claims computer hard drives and flash drives recovered in the raid showed Chavez had links to both the FARC and the illegal drug trade.

Quito and Caracas broke diplomatic ties with Bogota over the action. Chavez had restored ties with Colombia, but Ecuador has not.

Chavez’s new call to freeze ties comes a day after he announced an enhanced military partnership with ally Russia.

He confirmed the purchase of Russian-made BMP3, MPR and T-72 tanks to replace Venezuela’s obsolete fleet of armored vehicles and to reinforce the country’s border with Colombia.

“We have no plans to attack anyone. We only want to defend ourselves,” Chavez said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The United States and China pledged to work together on a raft of issues from climate change to free trade to Iran as they set the stage for an era of closer cooperation.

The mood was upbeat as the Pacific powers wrapped up two days of indepth talks Tuesday, with top Chinese officials playing at a news conference with a basketball signed by hoops-loving President Barack Obama.

But even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the dialogue was more about ideas than specifics, with the two sides mostly agreeing to hold more talks on a broad swath of issues.

“Laying this groundwork may not deliver a lot of concrete achievements immediately, but every step on this path to create confidence and understanding is a very good investment,” Clinton told reporters.

The world’s largest developed and developing nations have had sometimes prickly ties, with a series of military standoffs in recent months and long-running feuds over China’s human rights record.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the two countries were committed to working together to revive the ailing global economy, and would firmly resist protectionism in the process.

Geithner said China had agreed to longstanding US economic concerns, with the two nations agreeing to treat foreign-owned firms operating in their markets equally to domestic companies in awarding government contracts.

He said China also promised it would work to boost domestic demand, making consumption a bigger slice of a giant economy fueled by a flood of manufactured exports.

“The most important thing we achieved today was to agree on this broad framework for policies and reform... to help lay the foundation for a more sustainable, more balanced global recovery,” Geithner said.

Geithner’s remarks were echoed by China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who said the two countries “will strengthen cooperation to jointly build

a strong financial system” to ensure “stability in the two countries and the world at large.”

China is the largest creditor to the heavily indebted United States and Chinese officials in recent months have worried aloud about the security of Beijing’s more than 800 billion dollars invested in US Treasury bonds.

Clinton said she raised concerns about China’s human rights record including recent ethnic violence in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

“Human rights is absolutely integral to the Strategic and Economic Dialogue,” Clinton said. “It is a part of our policy, not only with China, but with other countries.”

The Obama administration has pursued a careful line on human rights with China, criticizing many of its practices while also pledging to be respectful of Chinese culture.

Wang Guangya, China’s vice foreign minister, thanked the United States for its “moderate” stance on Xinjiang.

Dozens of Uighurs held a noisy protest, chanting “Shame on China!”, outside the White House as a motorcade of Chinese delegates arrived for the talks’ finale.

The dialogue marks the broadening of US-China talks started under former president George W. Bush, which focused on economic affairs.

Obama, addressing the opening on Monday, said that the US-China relationship was “as important as any” in the world and vowed that he would pursue “cooperation, not confrontation” as Beijing’s clout grows.

US media reported this week that China’s robust economy is on track to overtake Japan as the world’s secondlargest, perhaps by the end of 2009.

Meanwhile, during their two-day talks, the United States and China said they discussed a raft of global issues, including in-depth consultations on North Korea. Clinton said that the two countries saw eye-to-eye on Iran, fearing a “destabilizing” arms race in the region if the Islamic republic develops nuclear weapons.

The two nations — by far the biggest emitters of carbon blamed for global warming — also signed a memorandum putting the fight against climate change at the heart of their ties.

TOPSHOTS AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger (L) greets Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo after introducing him to address the US-China Business Council dinner in his and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan’s honor in Washington on July 28, 2009 at the end of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

News

International

Musharraf snubs Pakistan Supreme Court Agence France-Presse

ISLAMABAD - Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday snubbed a summons from Pakistan’s top court to explain his decision to impose a state of emergency and controversially sack judges two years ago.

A 14-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, issued notice to Musharraf to appear in person or through counsel on July 29.

But neither the former head of state, who lost power last year and has been a vocal critic of the current Pakistani administration, nor a lawyer speaking on his behalf attended the session Wednesday, said an AFP reporter.

“Is somebody appearing on behalf of general Musharraf?” asked Chaudhry to a resounding silence in the courtroom.

Malik Qayyum, who was attorney general under Musharraf, was present in court but did not rise.

Musharraf is understood to be in Britain.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, sacked Chaudhry and dozens of other senior judges in 2007, fearing that the chief justice would disqualify him from contesting a presidential election while in military uniform.

Musharraf was replaced last year as Pakistan’s president by Asif Ali Zardari, whose party won general elections and who reinstated Chaudhry and his fellow judges in March following a protracted political crisis.

Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers had organised a march on the capital Islamabad, demanding that Zardari reinstate the judges, during mass protests that risked further destabilising the nuclear-armed country.

Under Western pressure Zardari conceded to defuse the standoff with Sharif, who had urged the masses to rise up against the government.

Miliband says troops in Afghanistan in Britain’s ‘interest’ Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - British troop presence in Afghanistan is in the country’s “national security interest,” Britain’s foreign minister said Tuesday in a message to a majority of Britons who favor a troop withdrawal.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband made the comments in an interview with US Television PBS on the eve of talks here with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton.

Miliband said Britons must also understand that the US- and NATOled war in Afghanistan is complemented by a “political strategy.”

He declined to rule out further British troop increases.

Miliband issued a direct response when asked what his gov-

AFP PHOTO JOHN THYS

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

ernment tells Britons who, according to a new opinion poll, now form a majority in believing the war in Afghanistan is “unwinnable” and in wanting the withdrawal of British troops.

“We say that this mission is in Britain’s national security interest,” Miliband told his interviewer Gwen Ifill, who pointed out that July was the deadliest month for Britain’s seven-year military involvement in Afghanistan.

“After all, nearly three-quarters of the terrorist plots that have been either taken place or foiled against the UK (United Kingdom) have their links into the badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Britain’s top diplomat said.

He added that the 42-member international military coalition must remain in Afghanistan until Afghan security forces can take over.

Apart from the military efforts, he said, the coalition must pursue a “political strategy” that brings the Afghan people and neighboring countries fully on the side of the Afghan government rather than the militants.

“We all know that in the end there is no long-term military, quote, unquote, ‘solution,’” Miliband said. “The military can create the space for sustainable politics and sustainable governance...”

Miliband did not rule out the possibility of Britain contributing more troops beyond the 9,000 it currently deploys in Afghanistan — a contingent second only to the US military presence there.

Life Style

International

Scientists seek new tools to fight malnutrition Associated Press Writer

ST. LOUIS – Missouri researchers have launched a new effort in their fight against worldwide hunger: bringing together a doctor who has long treated the malnourished with plant scientists working to improve the nutritional content of food.

AP Photo/John McConnico

A woman casts her vote in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday July 29, 2009. Three months after accusations of government vote-rigging touched off street violence, Moldovans began voting Wednesday in parliamentary elections that could shift the former Soviet republic’s focus away from Russia and toward the European Union.

Moldova votes to end tense stalemate Agence France-Presse

CHISINAU - Moldovans voted Wednesday in their second parliamentary elections in less than four months, after the previous polls led to violent anti-Communist riots and a bitter political standoff.

Voting began at 7.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) and was to continue until 9.00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in an election that will determine who succeeds President Vladimir Voronin, the Communist strongman who has ruled Moldova since 2001.

The vote will affect how Moldova — a former Soviet republic that is Europe’s poorest country — steers its foreign policy between the twin demands of the European Union and Moscow. Voronin reluctantly called new elections in June after lawmakers failed to elect a new president due to a boycott by liberal opposition parties, which accused his ruling Communist Party

of stealing the last election in April.

Now around 2.6 million voters are set to choose a new parliament in this nation of 4.3 million people wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

The parliament is then supposed to select a successor to Voronin, who must step down after serving the maximum two four-year terms permitted by the constitution.

Political analysts and opinion polls predict the Communist Party will take first place, but will not win the 61 out of 101 seats needed for the party to fully control the selection of the next president.

Besides the Communists, four opposition parties are tipped to have

a chance of passing the five percent barrier needed to win seats.

In the April 5 election, the Communists won about 50 percent of the vote but were accused of fraud, prompting huge street protests and the sacking of the parliament building in Chisinau by young rioters.

Some Moldovans who cast their ballots early Wednesday voiced exasperation with the country’s ongoing political crisis.

“I am for the Communists; they create a certain stability. We can’t continue like this, with demonstrations, pogroms and repeat elections,” said Sasha, 19, a student who voted in central Chisinau.

But analysts say there is a strong likelihood that Moldova’s impasse will continue, given that the population is split between pro-opposition urban youth and older rural voters loyal to the Communists.

Uighur leader says nearly 10,000 ‘disappeared’ in China unrest Agence France-Presse

TOKYO - Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer charged Wednesday that nearly 10,000 people “disappeared” in ethnic unrest in China’s northwest this month and expressed disappointment at the US response to the violence.

Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, said that “the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people,” speaking during a Japan visit that angered the communist government in Beijing.

Speaking through an interpreter and citing local sources, she said “close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night” when authorities cracked down from July 5 on the unrest in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.

“Where did those people go?” she said. “If they died, where did they go?”

Kadeer, 62, claimed that Chinese police used machine guns to randomly shoot Uighur people after dark after the electricity was turned off, and that the following morning

large numbers of Uighur men had gone missing.

Beijing accuses the mother-of-11 and grandmother of being a “criminal” and a separatist who instigated the unrest — which the government says left 197 people dead, most of them Han Chinese killed by angry Uighur mobs.

“I was not involved in the incident,” Kadeer told the Tokyo press conference. “If China says I did it, I want them to show evidence. If the international community judges it as evidence, I would acknowledge that.”

The group hopes to create a bridge from greenhouses and labs in Missouri to health centers and farms in regions where people die from malnourishment.

Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis — the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital — have formed the Global Harvest Alliance. The partnership’s aim is to create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world’s hungry and undernourished.

Alliance researchers will look broadly at the best approaches to fight malnutrition and focus on a few of them. They’ll seek to improve enriched foods already used to treat malnourishment.

In addition, the alliance aims to help testing and distribution of crops genetically modified to boost nutritional content. They hope to provide the crops cheaply to farmers to produce more nutritious foods.

“This is not a magic bullet. It’s a part of the puzzle to helping people be healthier and have a better life,” said Roger Beachy, president of the nonprofit Danforth center, where plant research is aimed at improving health and the environment.

Dr. Mark Manary, a pediatrician who will serve as the alliance’s director, said malnourished children in Africa used to be hospitalized and given fortified milk-based treatments.

Manary, who has treated malnutrition in Africa for years, has provided an enriched peanut-butter mixture to malnourished children in the sub-Saharan country of Malawi that has led to high recovery rates.

These days, that mixture of peanuts, powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins and minerals is given to parents to feed their malnourished children at home. The new alliance will work to improve such homebased approaches in hopes of distributing them more widely as well as lowering costs.

At the same time, the alliance will seek more sustainable solutions.

“Prevention is always better than a cure,” Manary said.

Since 1999, the Danforth center has spent about $20 million trying to improve the nutritional content of cassava, a staple crop in Africa harvested for its starchy roots. The food may be best known in the United States as the basis for tapioca. Much of the funding for cassava improvements has come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Monsanto Fund and the U.S. Agency

AP Photo/Global Harvest Alliance,Danielle Matilsky

Thursday, July 30, 2009

13

Microsoft, Yahoo near Web search deal Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. appears to have finally persuaded Yahoo Inc. that together they would have a better chance of mounting a meaningful challenge to Google Inc.’s dominance of online advertising.

Details of a long-rumored Microsoft-Yahoo alliance were expected to be announced Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press.

This person spoke Tuesday night on condition on anonymity, confirming earlier reports, because the deal was not yet final.

The deal does not appear to call for Microsoft to pay Yahoo in advance, which could disappoint its investors. Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz had said she would join forces with Microsoft only for “boatloads of money.”

Instead, the companies would share revenue generated by search ads on their Web sites. Yahoo would use Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, and it is likely — though not certain — that a “powered by Bing” message will appear on Yahoo’s highly trafficked pages, according to the person who described the talks to the AP. The companies would also use Microsoft’s advertising technology to deliver appropriate ads alongside search results, while Yahoo would handle the ad sales and customer service.

The person with knowledge of the talks said it is not clear whether the final deal will also cover sales of billboard-style “display” ads, or what will happen to Microsoft’s own ad sales team.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, has been courting Yahoo for several years in hopes of expanding its share of the online search market.

After being repeatedly rebuffed,

Microsoft launched an unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety. With co-founder Jerry Yang at the helm, Yahoo put up such staunch resistance that Microsoft withdrew its last offer of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, nearly 15 months ago.

Yahoo shares have never gotten close to that level again, and the company’s market value was around $24 billion this week.

Microsoft is counting on Yahoo’s search engine, which ranks No. 2 with a worldwide market share of 8 percent, to pose a more formidable challenge to Google, which holds 67 percent of the global audience, according to the most recent data from research firm comScore Inc. In the United States, Google’s share is 65 percent, compared with roughly 20 percent for Yahoo.

Despite spending billions to upgrade its search engine, Microsoft still held just a 3 percent share worldwide and 8 percent in the U.S. in the most recent comScore tally.

The deal is likely to draw antitrust scrutiny. Last year, the U.S. Justice Department analyzed Yahoo’s plans for a search advertising partnership with Google before deciding that it would give Google too much control over the market — a conclusion loudly supported by Microsoft. The opposition forced Google and Yahoo to scuttle their deal.

Microsoft is doubling down on Internet search at the same time Google is attacking Microsoft’s bread-and-butter business of making software for personal computers.

Google is working on a free operating system for inexpensive personal computers in a move that could threaten Microsoft’s Windows franchise. If it gains traction, Google’s alternative, called Chrome OS, could divert some revenue from Microsoft while the software maker is trying to grab more of the money pouring into search advertising.

In this photo provided by Global Harvest Alliance on Tuesday, July 28, 2009, Dr. Mark Manary is seen in a recent photo with a child at the Mbiza Clinic in Mulange, Malawi. Dr. Manary of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine is already wellknown for his work on a nutritionally fortified peanut-butter based food widely used overseas to treat severe malnutrition. The pediatrician is now working with scientists from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center who focus on using biotechnology to add nutritional value to staple crops.

for International Development.

Researchers have added DNA at the cellular level to enable cassava, naturally low in protein and beta carotene, to produce high levels of those nutrients. Scientists are testing some of the genetically modified cassava plants at greenhouses in Missouri and fields in Puerto Rico.

Beachy said many poor families largely live off one type of food, like cassava or plantains, so increasing the nutritional value of such food would help address malnutrition.

Larry Beach, a USAID scientist who helps improve crops in developing countries using biotechnology, knows those working on the

alliance, but is not directly involved in it.

He acknowledged suspicions in parts of the world about biotechnology use and outside scientists proposing solutions to malnourishment.

“There’s been skepticism about providing more nutrition through food because that’s not the way it’s been done in the past,” he said.

But the Global Harvest Alliance will bring together scientists with a track record of helping the hungry and allow them to research specific needs and crops.

“One of the big problems in helping to make improvements in nutrition is the integration of what needs to be done,” Beach said.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

FILE - In this May 4, 2007 file photo of Times Square news ticker flashes a headline about Microsoft above a billboard for Yahoo in New York. Microsoft Corp. appears to have finally locked up rival Yahoo Inc. in a long-awaited Internet search partnership aimed at narrowing Google Inc.’s commanding lead in the most lucrative piece of the online advertising market. A person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press that the details of the Microsoft-Yahoo alliance are expected to be announced Wednesday July 29, 2009.

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Entertainment

International

News

International

Jackson chef recalls doctor’s role, final days

Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES – On the day Michael Jackson died, his personal chef says her first hint of something amiss was when his doctor didn’t come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought the King of Pop for breakfast each morning.

AP Photo/Nick Ut

was noon. About 12:05 or 12:10 Dr. Murray runs down the steps and screams, ‘Go get Prince!’ He’s screaming very loud. I run into the den where the kids are playing. Prince (Jackson’s oldest son) runs to meet Dr. Murray and from that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.

“I walked into the hall and I saw the children there. The daughter was crying. I saw paramedics running up the stairs.”

At that point, Chase said, the small group that was gathered — the children, their nanny, a housekeeper and Chase — held hands and began to pray. As paramedics raced up to the room, Chase recalls, “We were all praying, ‘Help Mr. Jackson be O.K.’ “Then everyone was very quiet.”

At about 1:30 p.m. she said security guards told her and other staff to leave the property because “Mr. Jackson was being taken to the hospital.”

When she came outside, she said, ambulances were in the courtyard and a crowd had gathered.

Kai Chase, Michael Jackson’s personal chef, is photographed in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday, July 28, 2009. On the day Michael Jackson died, his personal chef says her first hint of something amiss was when his doctor didn’t come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought the King of Pop for breakfast each morning.

Chase, 37, who has cooked for other celebrities and comes from a show-business family, was hired by Jackson in March, let go in May, then returned on June 2. She said the pop star’s focus was on fresh, healthy food for him and the children.

She said she prepared meals for the family and occasionally for Murray.

She said Jackson was in training for his upcoming shows in London and told her: “You have to take care of me.”

On most days, she said, Murray would bring Jackson the special fruit juice drinks Chase prepared for him, followed by granola with almond milk. For lunch, Jackson would eat with the children from a menu that included such things as spinach salad and chicken.

Murray sometimes joined them for dinner, which might be a seared ahi tuna. She said the doctor conferred with her about the 50-year-old pop singer’s food and made sure that he ate.

The only oddity was the oxygen tanks. Chase said she never asked about the purpose of the oxygen and she saw no sign that Jackson was on drugs or was in failing health.

“Normally in the morning, he would bring oxygen tanks from upstairs downstairs, one in each hand,” she said.

Hulk Hogan & Wife A life in comedy leads Apatow to ‘Funny People’ Finalize Their Divorce Associated Press Writer

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Hulk Hogan and his wife have finally reached a settlement in their divorce case.

The 55-year-old celebrity wrestler - whose real name is Terry Bollea - said in court Tuesday morning that he and his wife, Linda, have agreed to the terms of the split. The divorce was finalized during a brief hearing.

Both say they want to put aside months of bitterness and get on with their lives. They and their attorneys had publicly clashed over everything from money to Linda Bollea allowing her boyfriend to drive the couple’s vehicles.

Linda Bollea said after the hearing that “the war is over.”

The terms were not made public. In 2008 court filings, the couple’s net worth was listed at between $26 Bp/doc million and $32 Hulk Hogan and his wife million.

NEW YORK – Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” spawned one of the most vibrant and successful runs in American comedy — a frantic, four-year era capped by and summed up in the writer/director/ producer’s latest film, “Funny People.”

After the success of “Virgin,” Apatow and his comedy cohorts were essentially given the keys to studio lots. Finding themselves green-lit at every turn, the veteran comic and his close-knit group of friends dusted off their previously snubbed screenplays and took advantage of their opportunity with a nonstop flow of films.

In just four years, Apatow has either produced or helped write ten movies, among them “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” He wrote and directed his “Virgin” follow-up, “Knocked Up.” He helped make stars out of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd.

Now, like a politician spending accrued political capital, Apatow has used his leverage to make “Funny People,” a plainly ambitious 2-1/2 hour film that has Hollywood wondering if he’s overestimated his Midas touch.

“People always say that when they become successful that they’ll

make their passion project,” Apatow said in a recent interview. “But they never do.”

For “Funny People,” Apatow says he fused two ideas: a story about how surviving a near-death experience changes someone, and an abstract analysis of the nature of a comedian.

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a famous standup comedian who finds out he has a form of cancer.

Seth Rogen plays Ira Wright, a young standup taken in by Simmons.

More than anything, “Funny People” is overflowing with a love for comedy and all the wealth of experiences of a comedian, from nervously starting out to playing to a roaring packed house. It revels in the backstage banter between standups, the subtlety of good joke-telling, the competitive scrap for fame.

The entire film is imbued with Apatow’s life — he has called it “a culmination of my journey in comedy.” Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann, costars as the-girl-that-got-away (from Simmons). Their two young girls, 11year-old Maude and 6-year-old Iris, play Mann’s character’s children.

“It’s fun to see him grow as a creative person and put those life experiences into his movies,” says Mann.

“He’s not sticking to the formula of `40-Year-Old Virgin.’ He’s trying new things and experimenting.”

The film opens with a home video

PHNOM PENH - A British man became the latest suspect in Cambodia’s drive to net foreign paedophiles after he was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 12-yearold girl, police said Wednesday.

Gareth Ashley Corbett, 51, was arrested at his rented house in the popular seaside town of Sihanoukville on Tuesday, said Suon Sophan, deputy chief of the local anti-trafficking and juvenile police unit.

The arrest of Corbett was made after the underage girl, who was also allegedly abused by a US man,

GREENPEACE VIA AFP

Greenpeace activists protest outside Hewlett Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, California on July 28, 2009. Greenpeace exposed electronics giant Hewlett Packard for backtracking on its public commitment to eliminate key toxic chemicals in its products by the end of this year. Some of the Greenpeace activists climbed to the top of Hewlett Packard global headquarters and painted the message “Hazardous Products” in big, bold letters on the roof. The message, applied using non toxic children’s finger-paint, covered over 11,500 square ft., or the size of two and half basketball courts.

Greenpeace in rooftop stunt at Hewlett-Packard Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO - Activists from environmental group Greenpeace have targeted Hewlett-Packard, painting a slogan on the company’s headquarters accusing the firm of using toxic materials in its products.

Around 13 activists clambered onto HP’s Palo Alto premises before using paint rollers to daub the message “Hazardous Products” on the roof, Greenpeace spokesman Daniel Kessler told AFP. The stunt was designed to draw attention to HP’s purported use of toxic chemicals such as PVC plas-

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file

Judd Apatow

of a prank call Apatow, 41, shot in the early ‘90s when he was roommates in Los Angeles with Sandler and both were aspiring comics. (“I was directing Adam badly even then,” jokes Apatow.)

Many of the comedians who inspired or worked with Apatow through his career make cameos. One is Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”) whom Apatow interviewed when he was 15 for his Long Island high school radio show, which he used to gain access to comedians like Gary Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld to learn about the art of comedy.

5

Briton arrested in Cambodia for allegedly abusing girl

Associated Press Writer

Kai Chase, a professionally trained chef hired by Jackson to maintain a healthy food regimen, recalled in an interview with The Associated Press the singer’s final days. She also spoke about the role of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who is now the focus of a manslaughter investigation.

Chase said Tuesday that she had gotten used to seeing Murray coming and going from the mansion. The doctor usually arrived about 9 or 9:30 p.m. and would go upstairs to Jackson’s room, and she said she would not see him again before she left — sometimes late in the evening — but understood he was staying the night.

In the morning, when she arrived for work, Chase said she would see the doctor coming down the steps carrying oxygen tanks. When Murray didn’t come downstairs the morning of June 25, “I thought maybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late,” Chase said.

“I started preparing the lunch and then I looked at my cell phone and it

Thursday, July 30, 2009

tic and flame retardants, Kessler said.

“The long and short of it is that HP said that by 2007 they would phase out use of these toxi-chemicals; they then backtracked and said it would be 2011,” Kessler told AFP. “We used this event to communicate that is unacceptable.”

Greenpeace also used “Star Trek” actor William Shatner’s voice on a robocall targeting workers at HP to protest the firm’s alleged use of the chemicals, Kessler said.

HP said in a statement the company was committed to eliminating use of all brominated flame retardant/PVC from its PC products by the end of 2011.

“The unconstructive antics at HP’s headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share,” the statement said.

told authorities that the Briton had sex with her, he said.

“The arrest of the Briton was the result of testimony of the girl to police,” Suon Sophan told AFP by telephone.

The US man, Scott Alan Hecker, 44, was nabbed last week in a raid on a hotel in Phnom Penh and has been accused of committing indecent acts repeatedly against the girl and and another 14-year-old girl.

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

Sybil the Downing Street cat dies Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Sybil the cat, who moved into Downing Street shortly after Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office two years ago, has died after a short illness.

The black and white feline, named after Basil Fawlty’s wife in the hit 1970s British comedy Fawlty Towers, was brought to London by Alistair Darling after he became finance minister in Brown’s government in June 2007.

Sybil died earlier this week at the home of a family friend, a Downing Street spokesman said.

“Mew Labour is dead,” quipped the Independent daily, referring to the fact that Sybil was the first new cat in Downing Street since Tony Blair took power in 1997, after famously rebranding his party as New Labour.

Sybil’s arrival was inauspicious, it noted: weeks after she arrived, Darling was grappling with the first run on a bank in over a century at the Northern Rock, presaging last year’s full-blown global financial crisis.

Darling’s official residence is number 11, next door to Brown’s 10 Downing Street home, but a spokesman for the incoming premier admitted in 2007 that the cat would have the run of both houses.

“It’s quite difficult to confine cats, so, yes. The prime minister doesn’t have a problem with it. (The prime minister’s wife) Sarah Brown doesn’t have a problem with it,” he said at the time.

Sybil’s predecessor as chief mouser in Britain’s seat of government was Humphrey, who arrived in 1989 when Margaret Thatcher was in office, but left shortly after Blair came to power.

AFP PHOTO/Clara Molden/POOL/FILES

UNITED KINGDOM : A picture taken 11 September 2007, shows Sybil the cat at 10 Downing Street, in London.

Car behind German political scandal found in Spain: police Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - The stolen official Mercedes at the heart of a political scandal rocking Germany’s beleaguered Social Democrats has turned up in Spain, German federal police said Wednesday.

Social Democratic (SPD) Health Minister Ulla Schmidt had her driver travel more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) in the car at public expense so she could use it while she was on holiday in the

Spanish coastal city Alicante.

The car was then stolen last week, unleashing a storm of protest over what was called a waste of taxpayers’ money during a biting economic crisis, and calls for Schmidt to resign.

The timing could hardly be worse for the SPD, which is trailing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc by around 15 points in the polls less than two months before a general election.

Now the vehicle, a Mercedes Sclass saloon valued at 93,000 euros

(132,000 dollars) and not insured, has turned up again in Spain.

“The official car is back,” said a spokeswoman for the German federal police force in the western city of Wiesbaden.

She declined to provide further details but the daily Rheinische Post said the car was found late Tuesday near Alicante in good condition.

Schmidt, whose popularity has already suffered over tough health care reforms introduced in recent years, has said she was also conducting of-

ficial government business in Spain.

She has argued that it was more “economical” to have her driver bring the car to Spain than to rent a vehicle locally and that she would pay back expenses incurred for her private use of the car according to government guidelines.

However the Taxpayers’ Association, a pressure group, has estimated the cost of the Mercedes trip at nearly at “at least 9,386 euros” to cover fuel, wear and tear on the official car, road tolls and the driver’s expenses.

“What Frau Schmidt did is obscene,” member of parliament Frank Schaeffler of the opposition pro-business Free Democrats told Wednesday’s Bild newspaper.

“She has been anything but fair to the taxpayer and should step down.”

The SPD has until now stood by Schmidt but speculation was rife that she would not be included in candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s shadow cabinet, due to be presented on Thursday.

6

Thursday, July 30, 2009

News

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Iran arrests three for ‘Satan worship’: report Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - Iran has arrested three people, including a Jewish woman, in the northwestern province of Ardabil for promoting “Satan worship”, the Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

“Two men and a Jewish woman, who were promoting the cult of Satan worship among the youth of Parsabad town, have been arrested,” the news agency quoted the judiciary provincial office as saying.

More than 100 items, including goats’ heads and jewellery in the form of human skulls, have been seized from the trio, the report.

In May, Iran arrested 104 “Satanworshippers” in a raid on a concert AFP PHOTO

A picture taken on July 27, 2009 shows an online cartoon of Savita Bhabhi displayed on the screen of a computer at an undisclosed location.

Cartoon housewife tests India’s patience for porn Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI - In the land of the Kama Sutra, it was the cartoon escapades of a buxom, sexually liberated married woman that finally proved a broken taboo too far for the Indian government censors.

Savita Bhabhi, the star of her eponymous online porn strip, had titillated up to 60 million visitors monthly until the government asked Internet service providers to block the site in June.

Now she lives on in the heated debate surrounding her sudden demise.

The government issued the orders under laws normally applied to websites deemed to be a threat to national security, prompting fans to question why the axe fell on a cartoon featuring a libidinous housewife rather than the more explicit material easily accessible on the Internet.

While not entirely Indian in its creation — Savita Bhabhi is the brainchild of Puneet Agarwal, a 38-year-old British businessman of Indian-origin — observers say the storyline may have hit too close to home for government censors.

“Bhabhi” means “sister-in-law” in Hindi — specifically an older brother’s wife — and the name was ostensibly chosen to highlight her status as a married woman, making her promiscuity more scandalous.

Still, it is unclear whether the government was more outraged by what it viewed as an assault on Indian values or by the cartoon’s graphic depictions of sex.

Pornography is a thorny issue in India, but the private cubicles fitted in internet cafes show that, despite the prudish veneer, there is an appetite for x-rated material in this culturally conservative nation.

A survey conducted last year by India Today magazine found that three out of five men and one out of five women approved of pornography, which is illegal but widely available in India.

From softcore magazines to underground movie theatres offering adult entertainment for labourers and truck drivers in regional languages, there has always been an element of secrecy involved in procuring and consuming socalled “blue” goods in the country.

“Whether they accept it or not, most Indians are exposed to porn,” says Tushar Amin, editor of men’s magazine FHM India.

“To come out in the open and say that we watch this is something that takes balls, and we don’t have them as of now. But the fact is that everyone does it.”

While locally-made pornography — featuring both voluntary actors and those forced into the trade — has always found an audience, Savita Bhabhi was marketed as India’s first global porn star, with around 30 percent of web traffic coming from outside the country.

The coyly-scripted sexual scenes — where she romps with everyone from a servant boy to a bra salesman — have even been translated into French and Mandarin.

Sociologist Gita Chadha of Russell Square International College in Mumbai says the cartoon’s internationalisation has been a source of both pride and shame for Indians.

“There are those who are glorifying

the fact that it is the Indian sari-clad woman who is shown as a so-called liberated and independent person,” she says.

“But there are those who are looking at it in terms of ‘How could they do this to our mother, sister or daughter?’”

Even those involved in the adult entertainment industry accept the limits of creative expression in countries like India, says self-styled “Indian Playboy” Richard Menon, founder of USbased erotic film production house Ecstasyvision.

“The Savita Bhabhi comics were great,” says Menon, who moved to the United States in 1989, but adds: “I feel that it offended a lot of people and traditions.”

Menon believes the website ban was “justified keeping in mind what India is.”

“It has to do with how mature a society is amongst other factors.”

But Chadha and Amin agree that given the reach of the internet and the lack of control over the distribution of pornography on the street, bans like the one on Savita Bhabhi are futile.

“In a democracy particularly they don’t work and in an economy that is becoming more and more open to global markets it’s almost impossible,” says Chadha.

“We are not yet ready to accept the fact that we have the emotional or societal maturity to watch porn,” adds Amin.

in the southern city of Shiraz where people were drinking alcohol and “sucking blood”, the Jam-e Jam newspaper reported.

Over the past two years, police and security officials have warned against the emergence of “Satanist” cults accused of corrupting the young, amid a tough crackdown on “un-Islamic” attire and behaviour.

In September 2008, a senior police chief said cult members would wear “necklaces and rings with brokencross or skeleton motifs, drink alcohol and dance in their ceremonies.”

In 2007, police arrested 230 people in a raid on an illegal rock concert in a garden near Tehran. Several reports branded the party-goers as Satan-worshippers.

‘Al-Qaeda’...

From page 1 The statement said the attacks were a “martyrdom operation for jihad” intended as “retribution for the deeds of America and its agents against our Muslim brothers and holy warriors in all corners of the world”.

It described victims of the attack as “henchmen of America” and “thieves and robbers of things of value to the Muslims of this country” — a possible reference to three foreign businessmen and a diplomat who were killed.

Police have said the blasts bear the hallmarks of Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top, who heads a violent splinter faction of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network.

Noordin is suspected of masterminding suicide bombings in Indonesia in 2003, 2004 and 2005 which killed a total of 42 people and injured scores more.

Police spokesman Sulistyo Ishak said investigators were still examining the authenticity of the claim.

“We will confirm with the investigation team. It’s for them to investigate if it’s true that this (attack) was carried out by this group,” he told AFP. Terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, noted that blogs were “often used by some of the jihadi groups”.

“I just don’t know. It’s interesting this time round, if it is him, he’s only claiming to be Al-Qaeda for Indonesia and not the Malay Archipelago,” she said.

Noordin has previously said he leads a group called Al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.

JI and its allies envision much of Southeast Asia under a caliphate, or Islamic government.

Nervous staff meanwhile reopened the two hotels for business amid extra-tight security — including sniffer dogs and dozens of police — due to fears of followup attacks.

US Ambassador Cameron R. Hume attended the re-opening but there were few signs of paying guests. The hotels are owned by an Indonesian-Chinese businessman and managed by US company Marriott International.

“We have resumed our normal business operations today. We hope to be able to reach an average hotel occupancy of 60 to 70 percent like before, in spite of the bombings,” Marriott spokeswoman Ina Ilmiaviatta said.

“We have certainly increased our security measures, with some new approaches which I cannot tell you about as they’re confidential.”

The two main areas damaged by the bombs — a lounge meeting room in the Marriott and a restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton — remained closed.

Teguh Santoso, a security guard at the Ritz-Carlton for the past four years, said he was worried about another attack. Twelve people were killed in a suicide truck bombing at the Marriott in 2003.

“Frankly I’m still feeling worried even though I was on the night shift when the bomb attack happened,” he said.

“I will work with maximum efforts to improve the hotel’s security,” he added.

Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Els Ramadhinta said some staff were still receiving trauma counselling 12 days after the attacks.

Dozens of police were standing guard inside and outside the hotels, along with private security guards with sniffer dogs able to detect explosives.

The Ritz-Carlton appeared deserted but the Syailendra restaurant at the neighbouring Marriott had some lunch customers.

“I’m just curious to see what happened here after the bombings.

I’m a regular visitor to this restaurant,” Indonesian customer Esther Dinia, who works in a nearby office tower, said.

11

BUSINESS Subprime mortgage companies warn on U.S. foreclosures Reuters

NEW YORK - Companies that service risky residential mortgages are warning U.S. officials that a key program to slow foreclosures may push some financing costs higher and derail their efforts, said a leading subprime firm.

Companies forming the Independent Mortgage Servicers Coalition, service many of the riskiest mortgages made during the housing boom, making them key players in programs to rein in foreclosures. The group collects and distributes payments on more than $700 billion in loans, according to its leader, Carrington Mortgage Services of Santa Ana, California.

Their concerns about financing payments for defaulted homeowners comes as pressure mounts from Congress, regulators and state legislators for servicers to do more for the plan, which aims to slow foreclosures and modify loans. The U.S. Treasury wants the companies to spend more on its resources, including hiring staff and expanding training programs.

At least four servicers from the coalition were among the 25 meeting with the Treasury on Tuesday, where new commitments were forged to increase foreclosure prevention efforts under President Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

But manpower isn’t the main worry for the independent servicers, which don’t include large banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. Implementing the program means giving delinquent homeowners more time fix their loans, which to servicers will the boost costs of extending payments to investors as contractually promised.

Matching costs of servicing to public policy is growing increasingly difficult, said Bruce Rose, chief executive officer and general partner of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Carrington Capital Management, LLC,

which owns CMS. Rose attended the meeting with Treasury.

“We are in a position where it’s a very tough balance act, and that’s weighing heavily on us now,” said Rose, in an interview on Monday. “This is a classic case of an unfunded government mandate.”

The costs of borrowing to finance delinquent payments to bond investors far outweigh expected revenue from incentives paid by the government, Rose said. The government will pay servicers $1,000 for every loan modified, and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower stays current.

The group since September has approached the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Congress for help in funding the temporary “advances” that are fully reimbursed when a loan is modified or foreclosed, Rose said. Help offered through the Fed’s Term AssetBacked Securities Loan Facility (TALF,) which allows for the pooling of advances for sale to investors, has backfired, and is increasing financing costs, he said.

The coalition — which has included Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN.N), GMAC-RFC, and Fortress Investment Group’s (FIG.N) Nationstar Mortgage — also tried unsuccessfully to arrange liquidity via the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008. GMACRFC is no longer a member, a spokeswoman said. Standard & Poor’s this month delivered a blow to Carrington and other potential issuers of TALFeligible bonds backed by servicing advances, by sharply discounting the value of the assets that would go into

the deals, Rose said. For Carrington, that would mean just 64 cents of every dollar in assets would garner a AAA rating, the blessing required for inclusion in a TALF deal.

That is harsh, Rose said, since advances are first in line for repayment — ahead of AAA bondholders — when a bad loan is resolved. There has never been a loss on advances, but S&P told Carrington it will assume 2.0 percent losses and multiply them eight times to reflect high stress scenarios. More discounting is done for interest expense.

S&P’s assessment may not only hinder TALF funding, but “significantly” boost Carrington’s borrowing costs, Rose said. While one Carrington lender saw S&P’s assessment as baseless, another has hit the servicer with a margin call. S&P ratings and bank credit lines give servicers incentives that run counter to public policy, he said. To reduce discounts assessed by rating companies, and to lower borrowing costs from banks, servicers would have to foreclose faster, not more slowly, as would be required under Obama’s plan, he said.

The funding problem could be resolved if TALF issues would accept implicit ratings, which for advances are AAA, since they are senior to the safest bonds in the security, he said.

Unless independent servicers get new liquidity, “this is going to bring (HAMP) to a screaming halt, in at least our shop,” he said. “We are running out of capacity.” Carrington has modified about 45 percent of subprime loans in its servicing portfolio that were made from 2005 to 2007.

ECB VP Papademos presses banks to increase lending Agence France-Presse

FRANKFURT - European Central Bank (ECB) vice president Lucas Papademos urged banks again on Wednesday to step up lending, saying in a newspaper interview that it was in their own interests.

“Banks must realise that to help the

economy sufficiently is in their longterm interests,” he told the German business daily Handelsblatt.

His comments came after ECB statistics showed on Monday that eurozone lending remains weak, in particular to businesses. Concern over a possible credit squeeze is growing in the 16-nation eurozone, and especially

in its biggest economy, Germany.

Papademos agreed that banks recovering from the global financial crisis must choose carefully who they make loans to.

But he added: “It is important that banks find the right balance between reinforcing their balance sheets and providing ample credit.”

AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel

Chinese models dance next to some of the latest models by Honda automaker at the Beijing Auto Show in the Chinese capital Saturday, July 25, 2009. Honda Motor Co, Japan’s No.2 automaker, posted an 88 percent fall in operating profit as demand slumped, but beat expectations for a loss and lifted its forecast for the year on the back of an improved outlook for its global car sales.

Honda posts surprise profit, raises forecast Reuters

TOKYO - Honda Motor Co, Japan’s No.2 automaker, posted an 88 percent fall in operating profit as demand slumped, but beat expectations for a loss and lifted its forecast for the year on the back of an improved outlook for its global car sales.

Like most Japanese automakers, Honda is expected to see its earnings improve as production volumes return from the low levels since late last year when sales plunged after the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers squeezed the auto loans market and led to job losses.

Still, most auto executives have yet to call a convincing recovery in demand and are trying to battle a sales decline with cost-cutting as much of the demand in developed markets is artificially supported by government schemes to encourage consumption.

Honda, also the world’s top motorcycle maker, made an operating profit of 25.2 billion yen ($267 million) in the April-June quarter, against a profit of 210.5 billion yen a year earlier and a consensus estimate for a 106 billion yen loss in a survey of four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

It made a net 7.6 billion yen in the first quarter compared with a profit of 173.4 billion yen a year ago.

For the financial year to March 31, 2010, Honda expects an operating profit of 70 billion yen and net profit of 55 billion yen. Three

months ago, it had forecast the profits at 10 billion yen and 40 billion yen.

The maker of the popular Accord and Fit models lifted its global car sales forecast to 3.295 million vehicles from 3.210 million, for the year to March 2010.

While Honda has fared better than many rivals in Japan and China this year, as government incentives helped sales of its smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, investors are keen to see signs of a recovery in the United States and Europe, where its sales lag the market with sharp double-digit falls.

Its new Insight hybrid car has sold well at home, but it faces competition in the United States where Toyota Motor Corp’s new Prius has been stealing the show with a roomier, bigger and more fuel-efficient alternative at a deep discount to the previous version.

Honda now sees a stronger yen against the dollar, averaging 91 yen for the financial year, while it expects a stronger euro of 127 yen versus the previous 125 yen assumption.

Honda has deliberately held back shipment of the Insight to the United States to meet robust orders in Japan where the model is more profitable at current exchange rates, making it difficult to gauge latent demand in North America.

Shares in Honda have risen 44 percent in the year to date, in line with Tokyo’s transport sub-index.

Before the results were announced, Honda ended up 1.1 percent while the transport sector gained 0.3 percent.

10

Business

Thursday, July 30, 2009

International

US, China pledge cooperation, economic overhauls Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - The United States and China on Tuesday pledged cooperation and vowed to shift their economies to promote recovery from the global economic crisis and sustainable growth.

At the end of the two-day USChina Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the two countries said they had agreed to step up their cooperation on economic and financial issues and take individual measures to address their imbalances.

“The most important thing we achieved today was to agree on this broad framework for policies and reform — both China and the United States — to help lay the foundation for a more sustainable,

more balanced global recovery,” US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.

The United States agreed to promote the nation’s household savings rate, which has recently climbed back to average levels as consumers buckle down under a deep recession, as part of its recovery strategy.

The United States, saddled with a huge trade deficit with China, has long called on China to wean itself from exports and develop a more

demand-led economy.

China, for its part, committed to encouraging more domestic spending to shift its economy away from dependence on exports to fuel growth.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who co-chaired the economic track with Geithner, said the two sides agreed “to jointly build a strong financial system.”

Geithner also gave the Chinese officials assurances that President Barack Obama’s administration would reduce the yawning US fiscal deficit.

China, which has more than two trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves and is the biggest holder of US debt, said its delegation had

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

voiced concerns about the security of China’s foreign reserve investment in the US. Geithner downplayed the issue, noting that both countries had put in place massive stimulus efforts to tackle the worst global downturn in decades.

China and the United States also pledged to work together to promote free trade, fight protectionism, and reach a successful conclusion to the long-stalled Doha round of international trade negotiations.

Geithner said that the two countries, which are the world’s largest developed and developing economies, were firmly opposed to protectionism as the world recovers from financial doldrums.

Both sides agreed to treat foreign-owned firms with operations in their respective markets equally with domestic companies in government procurement deals.

The United States and China will also boost their cooperation to speed up China’s accession to the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Program.

As part of that process, China pledged to submit to the WTO in October a report on a revised offer to join the program.

The dialogue also bolstered China’s demand for a greater voice in international financial institutions, to reflect its weight as the world’s third-largest economy, behind the US and Japan.

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JAKARTA - Two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta which were struck by suicide bombers earlier this month re-opened Wednesday, a hotel spokeswoman said.

The JW Marriott and RitzCarlton hotels reopened less than two weeks after the twin blasts on July 17 killed seven people, most of them foreigners, Marriott spokeswoman Ina Ilmiaviatta said.

Marriott International manages both hotels.

“We have resumed our normal business operations today. We hope to be able to reach an average hotel occupancy of 60 to 70 percent like before, in spite of the bombings,” she said.

“We have certainly increased our security measures, with some new approaches which I cannot tell you as they’re confidential.”

The two main areas damaged by the bombs — a lounge in the Marriott and a restaurant in the RitzCarlton — remain closed.

Police believe the bombings are likely the work of a radical splinter faction of the Jemaah Islamiyah re-

gional militant network led by Malaysian-born terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top. Noordin, 44, allegedly masterminded a suicide truck bombing at the Marriott in 2003, as well as the 2004 suicide bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta and 2005 suicide attacks on restaurants in Bali.

Those attacks killed 42 people, mainly Indonesians, injured hundreds and triggered the biggest manhunt in Indonesian history.

A woman detained in connection with the bombings has identified her husband as Noordin, who is believed to have taken refuge in a Central Javanese village, marrying the woman and having two children with her.

A police raid on the village just days before the Jakarta attack found bomb-making materials buried in the yard of his home in Cilacap district.

AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah

An Indonesian man walks past by the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

The five-star hotels hit by suicide bombers in Indonesia’s capital nearly two weeks ago were reopened Wednesday with tighter security, officials said.

IMF backs Indonesia stimulus JAKARTA - Indonesia took “timely and appropriate” action to ease monetary policy last year but additional stimulus efforts should focus on fiscal policy, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

In an annual review, the IMF projected that Southeast Asia’s biggest economy would expand by 3.5 percent this year, rising to 4.5 percent in 2010. Indonesian gross domestic product grew last year by 6.1 percent.

The IMF board applauded interest rate cuts of 275 basis points to 6.75 percent, and a six-billion-dollar fiscal stimulus package equal to about 1.4 percent of GDP.

“Directors generally considered that the monetary policy easing since December 2008 was timely and appropriate in the face of decelerating inflation and weakening investment,” the review said.

“Notwithstanding the initial impact of the global crisis, the economy has rebounded in 2009,” it added, citing strong corporate balance sheets, high bank capitalisation and “mitigating policy measures”.

“These factors, combined with the stronger than expected recovery in Q1 (first quarter) of 2009, have boosted domestic and foreign investor confidence.”

The IMF supported further fiscal stimulus spending in 2010 and said increased spending, especially on infrastructure, was critical to sustain-

ing Indonesia’s recovery.

Indonesian authorities should create the “fiscal space” for extra stimulus measures by boosting tax collection and cutting energy subsidies to help fund infrastructure and social spending.

“While some directors pointed to financing and capacity constraints, most saw room for a somewhat higher fiscal deficit than currently planned,” it said.

Indonesia is the best performer in the G20 group of industrialised and developing countries after China and India.

The government has rosier GDP growth forecasts than the IMF, targeting 4.5 percent this year and six percent in 2010, underpinned by strong domestic demand.

Photo taken on July 14, 2009 and recieved on July 28, 2009 shows children observing a hole where Indonesian police uncovered bomb making materials, in the compound of a house where terror suspect Noordin Mohammad Top lived with his family, in Cilacap during a police raid three days before the July 17 twin suicide bombings of the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta.

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Bombed Indonesia hotels re-open

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International

AFP PHOTO/ROHADI

East Java preparing RP2 billion for Swine Flu prevention Antara

SURABAYA - The East Java provincial government has proposed to set aside Rp2 billion from the regional budget for the prevention and treatment of H1N1 virus or swine flu patients in the region, a local official said.

“Previously we proposed Rp1 billion through the revised financial budget (PAK),” head of the provincial health office, Pawik Supriadi, said in a hearing with the Provincial Legislative Assembly (DPRD).

The Rp1 billion budgets were combined with another financial allocation for the eradication of other contagious diseases in the province such as HIV/AIDS, TBC, Leprosy, including bird flu with the total of funds reached Rp2.8 billion, Supriadi said.”

But, the increasing number of swine flu patients had forced the provincial health service office to propose an additional allocation of budget worth Rp1 billion for the swine flu case handling, Supriadi disclosed.

“So, the total number of funds we proposed for the overcoming of the swine flu cases amounting Rp2 billion,” the official said.

Supriadi, however, disclosed that the budget will not be approved until after September 2009.

In the meantime, head of the East Java provincial DPRD’s commission C, Suhandoyo agreed on the additional budget for the swine flu prevention and the patients handling.

Meanwhile, Director General of Disease Control and Sanitation Tjandra Yoga Aditama previously said swine flu spread fast because the virus was communicated from human to human through direct contacts, coughs or items in touch with the victims.

The health ministry said in its press statement received in Jakarta on last Friday the new cases were found in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Riau Islands, Bali, Yogyakarta, North Sumatra, East Java, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

8

International

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bali Today Increasing alert in Bali Bomb “anniversary” Antara

DENPASAR – Indonesian Tour Guide Association (HPI) urged the government and Bali Police Department to increase the security especially in October because the month is the “anniversary” of Bali Bombing I and II. The first bomb exploded in Bali 2002 and the second one was in 2005.

Nyoman Kandia, the head of HPI Bali, said “Bali is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. We must be more careful especially in October. We must take preventive actions so the bomb blast will not happen again.”

The safety of Bali is the homework for the police department and also for Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika who has the experience as the head of Bali Bomb I Investigation Team.

“Everyone hope that the terrible incidents will not happen again in Bali.

I’m sure that the governor also committed to guard Bali,” he added.

Kandia said that if the Governor can not take care of Bali then he should be relieved from his duty.

He is quite certain that the condition in Bali will stay stable after the bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17th 2009. The optimism based on the number of tourist visited Bali which is very stable lately. The assistance from countries such as United States and Australia in dealing with terror-

ism also will contribute in maintaining the safety level in Bali.

Meanwhile, Bali’s Governor Made Mangku Pastika, is committed to increase the safety in Bali and will apply international standard security in Bali.

The governor planned to place at least 1,000 closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) throughout Bali. He also will rearrange Bali Security Department.

“We still need to find the best formula for the department in order to make it suitable with the current government system,” added Pastika. Bali’s Police Department also has anticipated the possibility of terrorist entering Bali by placing at least one police officer in every village.

Gede Sugianyar, the head of Public Relation Division in Bali’s Police Department, said that the officer placed in the village will act as the facilitator in maintaining the security. The step is also the part of public policeman program.

“They will work in a group and the police officers will act as the initiator,” he added. The police also closely watched the chemical movement in the market.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Balinese Culture Kambing Mekuah

Australians Still Traveling to Bali BTN

SYDNEY - Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Garuda airlines have told The Age newspaper that Australian government advice to reconsider traveling to Indonesia, including Bali, was not deterring passengers from visiting the tourist hot spot.

Australians are being warned by the Federal Government of a high risk of another terrorist attack in Indonesia following the bombings of the

JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people, including three Australians.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said Australians tended to react calmly to international threats and passengers were not canceling tickets.

“Whether or not it is stopping someone from going in and booking a flight today, it’s hard to tell,” he said.

He said passengers planning to travel to Jakarta had been of-

fered the chance to defer their travel at no cost this week.

Garuda Melbourne sales manager Ian Murton said the airline had one cancellation yesterday on a Bali flight and the passenger had told him it was due to illness.

“As of now we are monitoring the phones and we’ve had no negative reaction but some people book through wholesalers and travel agents and we might not be able to tell for another 24 to 48 hours,” he said.

Whirlwind destroyed houses Antara

JEMBRANA – Whirlwind destroyed four houses in Tegal Cangkring, Mendoyo district in Jembrana regency. In addition to destroy houses, the wind also tore down trees in the surrounding area.

The incident didn’t kill anyone in the district.

The houses belong to Wayan

Suarbawa and Ketut Nondri in Biluk Poh Kangin. The houses was badly damaged and the cost to rebuilt the house approximately 10 million rupiah. Suarbawa said “we didn’t expect the wind blow that strong. Luckily we were outside the house. There was never that kind of wind happened here. The wind blow our roof and destroy our house holds.”

Nondri also stated the similar thing. He was very surprised that the wind blow very hard. The other houses belong to Ketut Dedi and Suarjana but it only slightly damaged. The houses only damaged on the roof top.

The eye witness said that the strong wind happened for 15 minutes and everyone run from their house to find protection.

Ingredients: 600 g 0'/4 lb) boneless lamb leg or shoulder, cut in 2 cm (3/4 in) cubes 2 tablespoons oil 1 cup basic spice paste 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar 12 whole cardamom pods, braised 1 stalk lemon grass, bruised 1 1/2 cups water 2 cups coconut milk Method: Bring 3 litres (12 cups) of water to the boil in a large pot. Add lamb cubes, cook for 5 minutes then pour of the watar Heat oil, add the spice paste and coriander and fry for 2 inmutes over medium heat. Add lamb, vinegar, cardamom, lemon grass and 1 1/2 cups water.

Bring to the boil and simmer until three-quarters cooked.

Add coconut milk, bring back to boil and simmer, uncovered, until meat is tender. Should the sauce reduce too much, add a little chicken stock. The sauce should be creamy in consistency. Serve with steamed rice or compressed rice cakes, fried shallots, lemon slices and sliced celery.

Sambel Udang (Prawn Sambal)

Bali Post/Eka

High school student looking at the terrorist posters that placed by the police in the schools around Denpasar, Bali. Indonesian Tour Guide Association (HPI) urged the government and Bali Police Department to increase the security especially in October because the month is the “anniversary” of Bali Bombing I and II.

IBP

Manager Merchant Program Management Telkomsel Abdullah Fahmi receiving Indonesian Best Brand Award 2009 for Telkomsel.

Telkomsel has succeeded in receiving this annually award for 7 times in a row.

Goat is more likely to be used than lamb in Bali to make this cuny-like dish.

Helpful hint: The lamb can be replaced by either beef or chicken. (http://www.99bali.com/food/recipes)

Prawns, sold only in the coastal markets ofBali, and in the capital, Denpasar, are a rare treat for most Balinese.

Telkomsel received Platinum Award of IBBA

Telkomsel

(Balinese Lamb)

DENPASAR – Telkomsel once again received an award in Indonesian Best Brand Award (IBBA) 2009 as the best in simcard category which establish two of its product kartuHALO (postpaid) and simPATI (prepaid) as the main card choice for seven consecutive years (2003-2009).

The IBBA award is marked based on five variables which are brand popularity, advertisement popularity, customer satisfaction and loyalty, market target, and the chance of brand development in the future.

The 8th annual award had its own competence which can be the barometer of the works of Indonesian brands. The winner in each category is the one who considered successful in building the brand which leads to the customers trust.

In the IBBA 2009 survey,

Telkomsel received the best grade in cellular operator product with brand value 91.0 for kartuHALO and 86.8 for simPATI. The grade is much higher than the average index product in the telecommunication industry which is 60.5 Suryo Hadiyanto, the Manager Corporate Communications Telkomsel, said “we are very thankful for the appreciation of the people who voted for Telkomsel through kartuHALO and simPATI products as the best brands for seen consecutive years. The award shows the public trust for Telkomsel products and services which take very long process in giving the best service for the customers.”

“The telecommunication market industry is very competitive with dozen of similar brands and it is a challenge for Telkomsel to innovate in creating the competitive advantages in the products. As the service leader serving over 76 million customers, Telkomsel will

maintain the public trust in order to become the first choice product in the future,” he added.

The similar thing also stated by Asto Sunu Subroto, the Director of MARS. He said “marketing innovation is the key for a company to maintain the work of its main product. Telkomsel is able to maintain the value of their product in the society because they can create many innovations in the competitive telecommunication industry lately.”

The award as the best brand in IBBA award added other award received by Telkomsel this year, they are Forsel Award (Operator GSM Favorit), Top Brand Award (simPATI and kartuHALO), Call Center Award, Word of Mouth Marketing Award (simPATI and kartuHALO), Service Quality Award (GraPARI), Indonesia Cellular Award (Best Customer Growth), and Selular Award (Best of The Best Service Provider and Best GSM Operator).

Ingredients: 4OO g (13 oz) large prawns, peeled and cleaned pinch of salt 1/4 teaspoon powdered white pepper 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice 4 tablespoons spice paste for seafood 4 tablespoons oil 1/2 cup coconut milk pinch of sugar fried shallots to garnish Method: Season prawns with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Add spice paste and mix well. Heat oil in heavy saucepan or wok. Add prawns and saute for 2 minutes over low heat while stirring continuously. Pour in coconut milk and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes or until sauce thickens. Sea- son to taste with a pinch of sugar. Garnish with fried shallots and serve with Coconut Rice, Sambel Tomat and fresh lime.

Bali Post/Eka

Two people running in the middle of bad weather condition at Renon, Bali Island. The bad weather conditions in Bali causing whirlwind on few area, like in Jembrana regency. Whirlwind destroyed four houses in Tegal Cangkring, Mendoyo district in Jembrana regency. In addition to destroy houses, the wind also tore down trees in the surrounding area.

Helpful hints : You can use shrimps instead of large prawns, although it takes longer to peel them. If you like a generous amount of sauce, you can double the amount of coconut milk. (http://www.99bali.com/food/ recipes)

9

8

International

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bali Today Increasing alert in Bali Bomb “anniversary” Antara

DENPASAR – Indonesian Tour Guide Association (HPI) urged the government and Bali Police Department to increase the security especially in October because the month is the “anniversary” of Bali Bombing I and II. The first bomb exploded in Bali 2002 and the second one was in 2005.

Nyoman Kandia, the head of HPI Bali, said “Bali is one of the main tourist destinations in the world. We must be more careful especially in October. We must take preventive actions so the bomb blast will not happen again.”

The safety of Bali is the homework for the police department and also for Bali’s Governor, Made Mangku Pastika who has the experience as the head of Bali Bomb I Investigation Team.

“Everyone hope that the terrible incidents will not happen again in Bali.

I’m sure that the governor also committed to guard Bali,” he added.

Kandia said that if the Governor can not take care of Bali then he should be relieved from his duty.

He is quite certain that the condition in Bali will stay stable after the bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17th 2009. The optimism based on the number of tourist visited Bali which is very stable lately. The assistance from countries such as United States and Australia in dealing with terror-

ism also will contribute in maintaining the safety level in Bali.

Meanwhile, Bali’s Governor Made Mangku Pastika, is committed to increase the safety in Bali and will apply international standard security in Bali.

The governor planned to place at least 1,000 closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) throughout Bali. He also will rearrange Bali Security Department.

“We still need to find the best formula for the department in order to make it suitable with the current government system,” added Pastika. Bali’s Police Department also has anticipated the possibility of terrorist entering Bali by placing at least one police officer in every village.

Gede Sugianyar, the head of Public Relation Division in Bali’s Police Department, said that the officer placed in the village will act as the facilitator in maintaining the security. The step is also the part of public policeman program.

“They will work in a group and the police officers will act as the initiator,” he added. The police also closely watched the chemical movement in the market.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Balinese Culture Kambing Mekuah

Australians Still Traveling to Bali BTN

SYDNEY - Jetstar, Virgin Blue and Garuda airlines have told The Age newspaper that Australian government advice to reconsider traveling to Indonesia, including Bali, was not deterring passengers from visiting the tourist hot spot.

Australians are being warned by the Federal Government of a high risk of another terrorist attack in Indonesia following the bombings of the

JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people, including three Australians.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said Australians tended to react calmly to international threats and passengers were not canceling tickets.

“Whether or not it is stopping someone from going in and booking a flight today, it’s hard to tell,” he said.

He said passengers planning to travel to Jakarta had been of-

fered the chance to defer their travel at no cost this week.

Garuda Melbourne sales manager Ian Murton said the airline had one cancellation yesterday on a Bali flight and the passenger had told him it was due to illness.

“As of now we are monitoring the phones and we’ve had no negative reaction but some people book through wholesalers and travel agents and we might not be able to tell for another 24 to 48 hours,” he said.

Whirlwind destroyed houses Antara

JEMBRANA – Whirlwind destroyed four houses in Tegal Cangkring, Mendoyo district in Jembrana regency. In addition to destroy houses, the wind also tore down trees in the surrounding area.

The incident didn’t kill anyone in the district.

The houses belong to Wayan

Suarbawa and Ketut Nondri in Biluk Poh Kangin. The houses was badly damaged and the cost to rebuilt the house approximately 10 million rupiah. Suarbawa said “we didn’t expect the wind blow that strong. Luckily we were outside the house. There was never that kind of wind happened here. The wind blow our roof and destroy our house holds.”

Nondri also stated the similar thing. He was very surprised that the wind blow very hard. The other houses belong to Ketut Dedi and Suarjana but it only slightly damaged. The houses only damaged on the roof top.

The eye witness said that the strong wind happened for 15 minutes and everyone run from their house to find protection.

Ingredients: 600 g 0'/4 lb) boneless lamb leg or shoulder, cut in 2 cm (3/4 in) cubes 2 tablespoons oil 1 cup basic spice paste 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar 12 whole cardamom pods, braised 1 stalk lemon grass, bruised 1 1/2 cups water 2 cups coconut milk Method: Bring 3 litres (12 cups) of water to the boil in a large pot. Add lamb cubes, cook for 5 minutes then pour of the watar Heat oil, add the spice paste and coriander and fry for 2 inmutes over medium heat. Add lamb, vinegar, cardamom, lemon grass and 1 1/2 cups water.

Bring to the boil and simmer until three-quarters cooked.

Add coconut milk, bring back to boil and simmer, uncovered, until meat is tender. Should the sauce reduce too much, add a little chicken stock. The sauce should be creamy in consistency. Serve with steamed rice or compressed rice cakes, fried shallots, lemon slices and sliced celery.

Sambel Udang (Prawn Sambal)

Bali Post/Eka

High school student looking at the terrorist posters that placed by the police in the schools around Denpasar, Bali. Indonesian Tour Guide Association (HPI) urged the government and Bali Police Department to increase the security especially in October because the month is the “anniversary” of Bali Bombing I and II.

IBP

Manager Merchant Program Management Telkomsel Abdullah Fahmi receiving Indonesian Best Brand Award 2009 for Telkomsel.

Telkomsel has succeeded in receiving this annually award for 7 times in a row.

Goat is more likely to be used than lamb in Bali to make this cuny-like dish.

Helpful hint: The lamb can be replaced by either beef or chicken. (http://www.99bali.com/food/recipes)

Prawns, sold only in the coastal markets ofBali, and in the capital, Denpasar, are a rare treat for most Balinese.

Telkomsel received Platinum Award of IBBA

Telkomsel

(Balinese Lamb)

DENPASAR – Telkomsel once again received an award in Indonesian Best Brand Award (IBBA) 2009 as the best in simcard category which establish two of its product kartuHALO (postpaid) and simPATI (prepaid) as the main card choice for seven consecutive years (2003-2009).

The IBBA award is marked based on five variables which are brand popularity, advertisement popularity, customer satisfaction and loyalty, market target, and the chance of brand development in the future.

The 8th annual award had its own competence which can be the barometer of the works of Indonesian brands. The winner in each category is the one who considered successful in building the brand which leads to the customers trust.

In the IBBA 2009 survey,

Telkomsel received the best grade in cellular operator product with brand value 91.0 for kartuHALO and 86.8 for simPATI. The grade is much higher than the average index product in the telecommunication industry which is 60.5 Suryo Hadiyanto, the Manager Corporate Communications Telkomsel, said “we are very thankful for the appreciation of the people who voted for Telkomsel through kartuHALO and simPATI products as the best brands for seen consecutive years. The award shows the public trust for Telkomsel products and services which take very long process in giving the best service for the customers.”

“The telecommunication market industry is very competitive with dozen of similar brands and it is a challenge for Telkomsel to innovate in creating the competitive advantages in the products. As the service leader serving over 76 million customers, Telkomsel will

maintain the public trust in order to become the first choice product in the future,” he added.

The similar thing also stated by Asto Sunu Subroto, the Director of MARS. He said “marketing innovation is the key for a company to maintain the work of its main product. Telkomsel is able to maintain the value of their product in the society because they can create many innovations in the competitive telecommunication industry lately.”

The award as the best brand in IBBA award added other award received by Telkomsel this year, they are Forsel Award (Operator GSM Favorit), Top Brand Award (simPATI and kartuHALO), Call Center Award, Word of Mouth Marketing Award (simPATI and kartuHALO), Service Quality Award (GraPARI), Indonesia Cellular Award (Best Customer Growth), and Selular Award (Best of The Best Service Provider and Best GSM Operator).

Ingredients: 4OO g (13 oz) large prawns, peeled and cleaned pinch of salt 1/4 teaspoon powdered white pepper 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice 4 tablespoons spice paste for seafood 4 tablespoons oil 1/2 cup coconut milk pinch of sugar fried shallots to garnish Method: Season prawns with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Add spice paste and mix well. Heat oil in heavy saucepan or wok. Add prawns and saute for 2 minutes over low heat while stirring continuously. Pour in coconut milk and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes or until sauce thickens. Sea- son to taste with a pinch of sugar. Garnish with fried shallots and serve with Coconut Rice, Sambel Tomat and fresh lime.

Bali Post/Eka

Two people running in the middle of bad weather condition at Renon, Bali Island. The bad weather conditions in Bali causing whirlwind on few area, like in Jembrana regency. Whirlwind destroyed four houses in Tegal Cangkring, Mendoyo district in Jembrana regency. In addition to destroy houses, the wind also tore down trees in the surrounding area.

Helpful hints : You can use shrimps instead of large prawns, although it takes longer to peel them. If you like a generous amount of sauce, you can double the amount of coconut milk. (http://www.99bali.com/food/ recipes)

9

10

Business

Thursday, July 30, 2009

International

US, China pledge cooperation, economic overhauls Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - The United States and China on Tuesday pledged cooperation and vowed to shift their economies to promote recovery from the global economic crisis and sustainable growth.

At the end of the two-day USChina Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the two countries said they had agreed to step up their cooperation on economic and financial issues and take individual measures to address their imbalances.

“The most important thing we achieved today was to agree on this broad framework for policies and reform — both China and the United States — to help lay the foundation for a more sustainable,

more balanced global recovery,” US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.

The United States agreed to promote the nation’s household savings rate, which has recently climbed back to average levels as consumers buckle down under a deep recession, as part of its recovery strategy.

The United States, saddled with a huge trade deficit with China, has long called on China to wean itself from exports and develop a more

demand-led economy.

China, for its part, committed to encouraging more domestic spending to shift its economy away from dependence on exports to fuel growth.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who co-chaired the economic track with Geithner, said the two sides agreed “to jointly build a strong financial system.”

Geithner also gave the Chinese officials assurances that President Barack Obama’s administration would reduce the yawning US fiscal deficit.

China, which has more than two trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves and is the biggest holder of US debt, said its delegation had

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

voiced concerns about the security of China’s foreign reserve investment in the US. Geithner downplayed the issue, noting that both countries had put in place massive stimulus efforts to tackle the worst global downturn in decades.

China and the United States also pledged to work together to promote free trade, fight protectionism, and reach a successful conclusion to the long-stalled Doha round of international trade negotiations.

Geithner said that the two countries, which are the world’s largest developed and developing economies, were firmly opposed to protectionism as the world recovers from financial doldrums.

Both sides agreed to treat foreign-owned firms with operations in their respective markets equally with domestic companies in government procurement deals.

The United States and China will also boost their cooperation to speed up China’s accession to the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Program.

As part of that process, China pledged to submit to the WTO in October a report on a revised offer to join the program.

The dialogue also bolstered China’s demand for a greater voice in international financial institutions, to reflect its weight as the world’s third-largest economy, behind the US and Japan.

... gets maximum benefits with minimum charge Denpasar : +62 361 22-5764 Jakarta : +62 21 535-6271

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Indonesia Today

JAKARTA - Two luxury hotels in the Indonesian capital Jakarta which were struck by suicide bombers earlier this month re-opened Wednesday, a hotel spokeswoman said.

The JW Marriott and RitzCarlton hotels reopened less than two weeks after the twin blasts on July 17 killed seven people, most of them foreigners, Marriott spokeswoman Ina Ilmiaviatta said.

Marriott International manages both hotels.

“We have resumed our normal business operations today. We hope to be able to reach an average hotel occupancy of 60 to 70 percent like before, in spite of the bombings,” she said.

“We have certainly increased our security measures, with some new approaches which I cannot tell you as they’re confidential.”

The two main areas damaged by the bombs — a lounge in the Marriott and a restaurant in the RitzCarlton — remain closed.

Police believe the bombings are likely the work of a radical splinter faction of the Jemaah Islamiyah re-

gional militant network led by Malaysian-born terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top. Noordin, 44, allegedly masterminded a suicide truck bombing at the Marriott in 2003, as well as the 2004 suicide bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta and 2005 suicide attacks on restaurants in Bali.

Those attacks killed 42 people, mainly Indonesians, injured hundreds and triggered the biggest manhunt in Indonesian history.

A woman detained in connection with the bombings has identified her husband as Noordin, who is believed to have taken refuge in a Central Javanese village, marrying the woman and having two children with her.

A police raid on the village just days before the Jakarta attack found bomb-making materials buried in the yard of his home in Cilacap district.

AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah

An Indonesian man walks past by the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

The five-star hotels hit by suicide bombers in Indonesia’s capital nearly two weeks ago were reopened Wednesday with tighter security, officials said.

IMF backs Indonesia stimulus JAKARTA - Indonesia took “timely and appropriate” action to ease monetary policy last year but additional stimulus efforts should focus on fiscal policy, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.

In an annual review, the IMF projected that Southeast Asia’s biggest economy would expand by 3.5 percent this year, rising to 4.5 percent in 2010. Indonesian gross domestic product grew last year by 6.1 percent.

The IMF board applauded interest rate cuts of 275 basis points to 6.75 percent, and a six-billion-dollar fiscal stimulus package equal to about 1.4 percent of GDP.

“Directors generally considered that the monetary policy easing since December 2008 was timely and appropriate in the face of decelerating inflation and weakening investment,” the review said.

“Notwithstanding the initial impact of the global crisis, the economy has rebounded in 2009,” it added, citing strong corporate balance sheets, high bank capitalisation and “mitigating policy measures”.

“These factors, combined with the stronger than expected recovery in Q1 (first quarter) of 2009, have boosted domestic and foreign investor confidence.”

The IMF supported further fiscal stimulus spending in 2010 and said increased spending, especially on infrastructure, was critical to sustain-

ing Indonesia’s recovery.

Indonesian authorities should create the “fiscal space” for extra stimulus measures by boosting tax collection and cutting energy subsidies to help fund infrastructure and social spending.

“While some directors pointed to financing and capacity constraints, most saw room for a somewhat higher fiscal deficit than currently planned,” it said.

Indonesia is the best performer in the G20 group of industrialised and developing countries after China and India.

The government has rosier GDP growth forecasts than the IMF, targeting 4.5 percent this year and six percent in 2010, underpinned by strong domestic demand.

Photo taken on July 14, 2009 and recieved on July 28, 2009 shows children observing a hole where Indonesian police uncovered bomb making materials, in the compound of a house where terror suspect Noordin Mohammad Top lived with his family, in Cilacap during a police raid three days before the July 17 twin suicide bombings of the Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta.

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Agence France-Presse

CAMERA CCTV DIGITAL SYSTEM, SECURITY ALARM SYSTEM, ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM Ruko Graha Mahkota No. B-9, Jl Teuku Umar Denpasar

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bombed Indonesia hotels re-open

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International

AFP PHOTO/ROHADI

East Java preparing RP2 billion for Swine Flu prevention Antara

SURABAYA - The East Java provincial government has proposed to set aside Rp2 billion from the regional budget for the prevention and treatment of H1N1 virus or swine flu patients in the region, a local official said.

“Previously we proposed Rp1 billion through the revised financial budget (PAK),” head of the provincial health office, Pawik Supriadi, said in a hearing with the Provincial Legislative Assembly (DPRD).

The Rp1 billion budgets were combined with another financial allocation for the eradication of other contagious diseases in the province such as HIV/AIDS, TBC, Leprosy, including bird flu with the total of funds reached Rp2.8 billion, Supriadi said.”

But, the increasing number of swine flu patients had forced the provincial health service office to propose an additional allocation of budget worth Rp1 billion for the swine flu case handling, Supriadi disclosed.

“So, the total number of funds we proposed for the overcoming of the swine flu cases amounting Rp2 billion,” the official said.

Supriadi, however, disclosed that the budget will not be approved until after September 2009.

In the meantime, head of the East Java provincial DPRD’s commission C, Suhandoyo agreed on the additional budget for the swine flu prevention and the patients handling.

Meanwhile, Director General of Disease Control and Sanitation Tjandra Yoga Aditama previously said swine flu spread fast because the virus was communicated from human to human through direct contacts, coughs or items in touch with the victims.

The health ministry said in its press statement received in Jakarta on last Friday the new cases were found in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Riau Islands, Bali, Yogyakarta, North Sumatra, East Java, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

6

Thursday, July 30, 2009

News

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Iran arrests three for ‘Satan worship’: report Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - Iran has arrested three people, including a Jewish woman, in the northwestern province of Ardabil for promoting “Satan worship”, the Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

“Two men and a Jewish woman, who were promoting the cult of Satan worship among the youth of Parsabad town, have been arrested,” the news agency quoted the judiciary provincial office as saying.

More than 100 items, including goats’ heads and jewellery in the form of human skulls, have been seized from the trio, the report.

In May, Iran arrested 104 “Satanworshippers” in a raid on a concert AFP PHOTO

A picture taken on July 27, 2009 shows an online cartoon of Savita Bhabhi displayed on the screen of a computer at an undisclosed location.

Cartoon housewife tests India’s patience for porn Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI - In the land of the Kama Sutra, it was the cartoon escapades of a buxom, sexually liberated married woman that finally proved a broken taboo too far for the Indian government censors.

Savita Bhabhi, the star of her eponymous online porn strip, had titillated up to 60 million visitors monthly until the government asked Internet service providers to block the site in June.

Now she lives on in the heated debate surrounding her sudden demise.

The government issued the orders under laws normally applied to websites deemed to be a threat to national security, prompting fans to question why the axe fell on a cartoon featuring a libidinous housewife rather than the more explicit material easily accessible on the Internet.

While not entirely Indian in its creation — Savita Bhabhi is the brainchild of Puneet Agarwal, a 38-year-old British businessman of Indian-origin — observers say the storyline may have hit too close to home for government censors.

“Bhabhi” means “sister-in-law” in Hindi — specifically an older brother’s wife — and the name was ostensibly chosen to highlight her status as a married woman, making her promiscuity more scandalous.

Still, it is unclear whether the government was more outraged by what it viewed as an assault on Indian values or by the cartoon’s graphic depictions of sex.

Pornography is a thorny issue in India, but the private cubicles fitted in internet cafes show that, despite the prudish veneer, there is an appetite for x-rated material in this culturally conservative nation.

A survey conducted last year by India Today magazine found that three out of five men and one out of five women approved of pornography, which is illegal but widely available in India.

From softcore magazines to underground movie theatres offering adult entertainment for labourers and truck drivers in regional languages, there has always been an element of secrecy involved in procuring and consuming socalled “blue” goods in the country.

“Whether they accept it or not, most Indians are exposed to porn,” says Tushar Amin, editor of men’s magazine FHM India.

“To come out in the open and say that we watch this is something that takes balls, and we don’t have them as of now. But the fact is that everyone does it.”

While locally-made pornography — featuring both voluntary actors and those forced into the trade — has always found an audience, Savita Bhabhi was marketed as India’s first global porn star, with around 30 percent of web traffic coming from outside the country.

The coyly-scripted sexual scenes — where she romps with everyone from a servant boy to a bra salesman — have even been translated into French and Mandarin.

Sociologist Gita Chadha of Russell Square International College in Mumbai says the cartoon’s internationalisation has been a source of both pride and shame for Indians.

“There are those who are glorifying

the fact that it is the Indian sari-clad woman who is shown as a so-called liberated and independent person,” she says.

“But there are those who are looking at it in terms of ‘How could they do this to our mother, sister or daughter?’”

Even those involved in the adult entertainment industry accept the limits of creative expression in countries like India, says self-styled “Indian Playboy” Richard Menon, founder of USbased erotic film production house Ecstasyvision.

“The Savita Bhabhi comics were great,” says Menon, who moved to the United States in 1989, but adds: “I feel that it offended a lot of people and traditions.”

Menon believes the website ban was “justified keeping in mind what India is.”

“It has to do with how mature a society is amongst other factors.”

But Chadha and Amin agree that given the reach of the internet and the lack of control over the distribution of pornography on the street, bans like the one on Savita Bhabhi are futile.

“In a democracy particularly they don’t work and in an economy that is becoming more and more open to global markets it’s almost impossible,” says Chadha.

“We are not yet ready to accept the fact that we have the emotional or societal maturity to watch porn,” adds Amin.

in the southern city of Shiraz where people were drinking alcohol and “sucking blood”, the Jam-e Jam newspaper reported.

Over the past two years, police and security officials have warned against the emergence of “Satanist” cults accused of corrupting the young, amid a tough crackdown on “un-Islamic” attire and behaviour.

In September 2008, a senior police chief said cult members would wear “necklaces and rings with brokencross or skeleton motifs, drink alcohol and dance in their ceremonies.”

In 2007, police arrested 230 people in a raid on an illegal rock concert in a garden near Tehran. Several reports branded the party-goers as Satan-worshippers.

‘Al-Qaeda’...

From page 1 The statement said the attacks were a “martyrdom operation for jihad” intended as “retribution for the deeds of America and its agents against our Muslim brothers and holy warriors in all corners of the world”.

It described victims of the attack as “henchmen of America” and “thieves and robbers of things of value to the Muslims of this country” — a possible reference to three foreign businessmen and a diplomat who were killed.

Police have said the blasts bear the hallmarks of Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top, who heads a violent splinter faction of the radical Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terror network.

Noordin is suspected of masterminding suicide bombings in Indonesia in 2003, 2004 and 2005 which killed a total of 42 people and injured scores more.

Police spokesman Sulistyo Ishak said investigators were still examining the authenticity of the claim.

“We will confirm with the investigation team. It’s for them to investigate if it’s true that this (attack) was carried out by this group,” he told AFP. Terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group, noted that blogs were “often used by some of the jihadi groups”.

“I just don’t know. It’s interesting this time round, if it is him, he’s only claiming to be Al-Qaeda for Indonesia and not the Malay Archipelago,” she said.

Noordin has previously said he leads a group called Al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.

JI and its allies envision much of Southeast Asia under a caliphate, or Islamic government.

Nervous staff meanwhile reopened the two hotels for business amid extra-tight security — including sniffer dogs and dozens of police — due to fears of followup attacks.

US Ambassador Cameron R. Hume attended the re-opening but there were few signs of paying guests. The hotels are owned by an Indonesian-Chinese businessman and managed by US company Marriott International.

“We have resumed our normal business operations today. We hope to be able to reach an average hotel occupancy of 60 to 70 percent like before, in spite of the bombings,” Marriott spokeswoman Ina Ilmiaviatta said.

“We have certainly increased our security measures, with some new approaches which I cannot tell you about as they’re confidential.”

The two main areas damaged by the bombs — a lounge meeting room in the Marriott and a restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton — remained closed.

Teguh Santoso, a security guard at the Ritz-Carlton for the past four years, said he was worried about another attack. Twelve people were killed in a suicide truck bombing at the Marriott in 2003.

“Frankly I’m still feeling worried even though I was on the night shift when the bomb attack happened,” he said.

“I will work with maximum efforts to improve the hotel’s security,” he added.

Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Els Ramadhinta said some staff were still receiving trauma counselling 12 days after the attacks.

Dozens of police were standing guard inside and outside the hotels, along with private security guards with sniffer dogs able to detect explosives.

The Ritz-Carlton appeared deserted but the Syailendra restaurant at the neighbouring Marriott had some lunch customers.

“I’m just curious to see what happened here after the bombings.

I’m a regular visitor to this restaurant,” Indonesian customer Esther Dinia, who works in a nearby office tower, said.

11

BUSINESS Subprime mortgage companies warn on U.S. foreclosures Reuters

NEW YORK - Companies that service risky residential mortgages are warning U.S. officials that a key program to slow foreclosures may push some financing costs higher and derail their efforts, said a leading subprime firm.

Companies forming the Independent Mortgage Servicers Coalition, service many of the riskiest mortgages made during the housing boom, making them key players in programs to rein in foreclosures. The group collects and distributes payments on more than $700 billion in loans, according to its leader, Carrington Mortgage Services of Santa Ana, California.

Their concerns about financing payments for defaulted homeowners comes as pressure mounts from Congress, regulators and state legislators for servicers to do more for the plan, which aims to slow foreclosures and modify loans. The U.S. Treasury wants the companies to spend more on its resources, including hiring staff and expanding training programs.

At least four servicers from the coalition were among the 25 meeting with the Treasury on Tuesday, where new commitments were forged to increase foreclosure prevention efforts under President Obama’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

But manpower isn’t the main worry for the independent servicers, which don’t include large banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. Implementing the program means giving delinquent homeowners more time fix their loans, which to servicers will the boost costs of extending payments to investors as contractually promised.

Matching costs of servicing to public policy is growing increasingly difficult, said Bruce Rose, chief executive officer and general partner of Greenwich, Connecticut-based Carrington Capital Management, LLC,

which owns CMS. Rose attended the meeting with Treasury.

“We are in a position where it’s a very tough balance act, and that’s weighing heavily on us now,” said Rose, in an interview on Monday. “This is a classic case of an unfunded government mandate.”

The costs of borrowing to finance delinquent payments to bond investors far outweigh expected revenue from incentives paid by the government, Rose said. The government will pay servicers $1,000 for every loan modified, and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower stays current.

The group since September has approached the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Congress for help in funding the temporary “advances” that are fully reimbursed when a loan is modified or foreclosed, Rose said. Help offered through the Fed’s Term AssetBacked Securities Loan Facility (TALF,) which allows for the pooling of advances for sale to investors, has backfired, and is increasing financing costs, he said.

The coalition — which has included Ocwen Financial Corp (OCN.N), GMAC-RFC, and Fortress Investment Group’s (FIG.N) Nationstar Mortgage — also tried unsuccessfully to arrange liquidity via the Troubled Asset Relief Program in 2008. GMACRFC is no longer a member, a spokeswoman said. Standard & Poor’s this month delivered a blow to Carrington and other potential issuers of TALFeligible bonds backed by servicing advances, by sharply discounting the value of the assets that would go into

the deals, Rose said. For Carrington, that would mean just 64 cents of every dollar in assets would garner a AAA rating, the blessing required for inclusion in a TALF deal.

That is harsh, Rose said, since advances are first in line for repayment — ahead of AAA bondholders — when a bad loan is resolved. There has never been a loss on advances, but S&P told Carrington it will assume 2.0 percent losses and multiply them eight times to reflect high stress scenarios. More discounting is done for interest expense.

S&P’s assessment may not only hinder TALF funding, but “significantly” boost Carrington’s borrowing costs, Rose said. While one Carrington lender saw S&P’s assessment as baseless, another has hit the servicer with a margin call. S&P ratings and bank credit lines give servicers incentives that run counter to public policy, he said. To reduce discounts assessed by rating companies, and to lower borrowing costs from banks, servicers would have to foreclose faster, not more slowly, as would be required under Obama’s plan, he said.

The funding problem could be resolved if TALF issues would accept implicit ratings, which for advances are AAA, since they are senior to the safest bonds in the security, he said.

Unless independent servicers get new liquidity, “this is going to bring (HAMP) to a screaming halt, in at least our shop,” he said. “We are running out of capacity.” Carrington has modified about 45 percent of subprime loans in its servicing portfolio that were made from 2005 to 2007.

ECB VP Papademos presses banks to increase lending Agence France-Presse

FRANKFURT - European Central Bank (ECB) vice president Lucas Papademos urged banks again on Wednesday to step up lending, saying in a newspaper interview that it was in their own interests.

“Banks must realise that to help the

economy sufficiently is in their longterm interests,” he told the German business daily Handelsblatt.

His comments came after ECB statistics showed on Monday that eurozone lending remains weak, in particular to businesses. Concern over a possible credit squeeze is growing in the 16-nation eurozone, and especially

in its biggest economy, Germany.

Papademos agreed that banks recovering from the global financial crisis must choose carefully who they make loans to.

But he added: “It is important that banks find the right balance between reinforcing their balance sheets and providing ample credit.”

AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel

Chinese models dance next to some of the latest models by Honda automaker at the Beijing Auto Show in the Chinese capital Saturday, July 25, 2009. Honda Motor Co, Japan’s No.2 automaker, posted an 88 percent fall in operating profit as demand slumped, but beat expectations for a loss and lifted its forecast for the year on the back of an improved outlook for its global car sales.

Honda posts surprise profit, raises forecast Reuters

TOKYO - Honda Motor Co, Japan’s No.2 automaker, posted an 88 percent fall in operating profit as demand slumped, but beat expectations for a loss and lifted its forecast for the year on the back of an improved outlook for its global car sales.

Like most Japanese automakers, Honda is expected to see its earnings improve as production volumes return from the low levels since late last year when sales plunged after the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers squeezed the auto loans market and led to job losses.

Still, most auto executives have yet to call a convincing recovery in demand and are trying to battle a sales decline with cost-cutting as much of the demand in developed markets is artificially supported by government schemes to encourage consumption.

Honda, also the world’s top motorcycle maker, made an operating profit of 25.2 billion yen ($267 million) in the April-June quarter, against a profit of 210.5 billion yen a year earlier and a consensus estimate for a 106 billion yen loss in a survey of four analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

It made a net 7.6 billion yen in the first quarter compared with a profit of 173.4 billion yen a year ago.

For the financial year to March 31, 2010, Honda expects an operating profit of 70 billion yen and net profit of 55 billion yen. Three

months ago, it had forecast the profits at 10 billion yen and 40 billion yen.

The maker of the popular Accord and Fit models lifted its global car sales forecast to 3.295 million vehicles from 3.210 million, for the year to March 2010.

While Honda has fared better than many rivals in Japan and China this year, as government incentives helped sales of its smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, investors are keen to see signs of a recovery in the United States and Europe, where its sales lag the market with sharp double-digit falls.

Its new Insight hybrid car has sold well at home, but it faces competition in the United States where Toyota Motor Corp’s new Prius has been stealing the show with a roomier, bigger and more fuel-efficient alternative at a deep discount to the previous version.

Honda now sees a stronger yen against the dollar, averaging 91 yen for the financial year, while it expects a stronger euro of 127 yen versus the previous 125 yen assumption.

Honda has deliberately held back shipment of the Insight to the United States to meet robust orders in Japan where the model is more profitable at current exchange rates, making it difficult to gauge latent demand in North America.

Shares in Honda have risen 44 percent in the year to date, in line with Tokyo’s transport sub-index.

Before the results were announced, Honda ended up 1.1 percent while the transport sector gained 0.3 percent.

12

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Entertainment

International

News

International

Jackson chef recalls doctor’s role, final days

Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES – On the day Michael Jackson died, his personal chef says her first hint of something amiss was when his doctor didn’t come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought the King of Pop for breakfast each morning.

AP Photo/Nick Ut

was noon. About 12:05 or 12:10 Dr. Murray runs down the steps and screams, ‘Go get Prince!’ He’s screaming very loud. I run into the den where the kids are playing. Prince (Jackson’s oldest son) runs to meet Dr. Murray and from that point on you could feel the energy in the house change.

“I walked into the hall and I saw the children there. The daughter was crying. I saw paramedics running up the stairs.”

At that point, Chase said, the small group that was gathered — the children, their nanny, a housekeeper and Chase — held hands and began to pray. As paramedics raced up to the room, Chase recalls, “We were all praying, ‘Help Mr. Jackson be O.K.’ “Then everyone was very quiet.”

At about 1:30 p.m. she said security guards told her and other staff to leave the property because “Mr. Jackson was being taken to the hospital.”

When she came outside, she said, ambulances were in the courtyard and a crowd had gathered.

Kai Chase, Michael Jackson’s personal chef, is photographed in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday, July 28, 2009. On the day Michael Jackson died, his personal chef says her first hint of something amiss was when his doctor didn’t come downstairs to get the juices and granola he routinely brought the King of Pop for breakfast each morning.

Chase, 37, who has cooked for other celebrities and comes from a show-business family, was hired by Jackson in March, let go in May, then returned on June 2. She said the pop star’s focus was on fresh, healthy food for him and the children.

She said she prepared meals for the family and occasionally for Murray.

She said Jackson was in training for his upcoming shows in London and told her: “You have to take care of me.”

On most days, she said, Murray would bring Jackson the special fruit juice drinks Chase prepared for him, followed by granola with almond milk. For lunch, Jackson would eat with the children from a menu that included such things as spinach salad and chicken.

Murray sometimes joined them for dinner, which might be a seared ahi tuna. She said the doctor conferred with her about the 50-year-old pop singer’s food and made sure that he ate.

The only oddity was the oxygen tanks. Chase said she never asked about the purpose of the oxygen and she saw no sign that Jackson was on drugs or was in failing health.

“Normally in the morning, he would bring oxygen tanks from upstairs downstairs, one in each hand,” she said.

Hulk Hogan & Wife A life in comedy leads Apatow to ‘Funny People’ Finalize Their Divorce Associated Press Writer

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Hulk Hogan and his wife have finally reached a settlement in their divorce case.

The 55-year-old celebrity wrestler - whose real name is Terry Bollea - said in court Tuesday morning that he and his wife, Linda, have agreed to the terms of the split. The divorce was finalized during a brief hearing.

Both say they want to put aside months of bitterness and get on with their lives. They and their attorneys had publicly clashed over everything from money to Linda Bollea allowing her boyfriend to drive the couple’s vehicles.

Linda Bollea said after the hearing that “the war is over.”

The terms were not made public. In 2008 court filings, the couple’s net worth was listed at between $26 Bp/doc million and $32 Hulk Hogan and his wife million.

NEW YORK – Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” spawned one of the most vibrant and successful runs in American comedy — a frantic, four-year era capped by and summed up in the writer/director/ producer’s latest film, “Funny People.”

After the success of “Virgin,” Apatow and his comedy cohorts were essentially given the keys to studio lots. Finding themselves green-lit at every turn, the veteran comic and his close-knit group of friends dusted off their previously snubbed screenplays and took advantage of their opportunity with a nonstop flow of films.

In just four years, Apatow has either produced or helped write ten movies, among them “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.” He wrote and directed his “Virgin” follow-up, “Knocked Up.” He helped make stars out of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd.

Now, like a politician spending accrued political capital, Apatow has used his leverage to make “Funny People,” a plainly ambitious 2-1/2 hour film that has Hollywood wondering if he’s overestimated his Midas touch.

“People always say that when they become successful that they’ll

make their passion project,” Apatow said in a recent interview. “But they never do.”

For “Funny People,” Apatow says he fused two ideas: a story about how surviving a near-death experience changes someone, and an abstract analysis of the nature of a comedian.

Adam Sandler plays George Simmons, a famous standup comedian who finds out he has a form of cancer.

Seth Rogen plays Ira Wright, a young standup taken in by Simmons.

More than anything, “Funny People” is overflowing with a love for comedy and all the wealth of experiences of a comedian, from nervously starting out to playing to a roaring packed house. It revels in the backstage banter between standups, the subtlety of good joke-telling, the competitive scrap for fame.

The entire film is imbued with Apatow’s life — he has called it “a culmination of my journey in comedy.” Apatow’s wife, Leslie Mann, costars as the-girl-that-got-away (from Simmons). Their two young girls, 11year-old Maude and 6-year-old Iris, play Mann’s character’s children.

“It’s fun to see him grow as a creative person and put those life experiences into his movies,” says Mann.

“He’s not sticking to the formula of `40-Year-Old Virgin.’ He’s trying new things and experimenting.”

The film opens with a home video

PHNOM PENH - A British man became the latest suspect in Cambodia’s drive to net foreign paedophiles after he was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a 12-yearold girl, police said Wednesday.

Gareth Ashley Corbett, 51, was arrested at his rented house in the popular seaside town of Sihanoukville on Tuesday, said Suon Sophan, deputy chief of the local anti-trafficking and juvenile police unit.

The arrest of Corbett was made after the underage girl, who was also allegedly abused by a US man,

GREENPEACE VIA AFP

Greenpeace activists protest outside Hewlett Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, California on July 28, 2009. Greenpeace exposed electronics giant Hewlett Packard for backtracking on its public commitment to eliminate key toxic chemicals in its products by the end of this year. Some of the Greenpeace activists climbed to the top of Hewlett Packard global headquarters and painted the message “Hazardous Products” in big, bold letters on the roof. The message, applied using non toxic children’s finger-paint, covered over 11,500 square ft., or the size of two and half basketball courts.

Greenpeace in rooftop stunt at Hewlett-Packard Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO - Activists from environmental group Greenpeace have targeted Hewlett-Packard, painting a slogan on the company’s headquarters accusing the firm of using toxic materials in its products.

Around 13 activists clambered onto HP’s Palo Alto premises before using paint rollers to daub the message “Hazardous Products” on the roof, Greenpeace spokesman Daniel Kessler told AFP. The stunt was designed to draw attention to HP’s purported use of toxic chemicals such as PVC plas-

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file

Judd Apatow

of a prank call Apatow, 41, shot in the early ‘90s when he was roommates in Los Angeles with Sandler and both were aspiring comics. (“I was directing Adam badly even then,” jokes Apatow.)

Many of the comedians who inspired or worked with Apatow through his career make cameos. One is Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”) whom Apatow interviewed when he was 15 for his Long Island high school radio show, which he used to gain access to comedians like Gary Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld to learn about the art of comedy.

5

Briton arrested in Cambodia for allegedly abusing girl

Associated Press Writer

Kai Chase, a professionally trained chef hired by Jackson to maintain a healthy food regimen, recalled in an interview with The Associated Press the singer’s final days. She also spoke about the role of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who is now the focus of a manslaughter investigation.

Chase said Tuesday that she had gotten used to seeing Murray coming and going from the mansion. The doctor usually arrived about 9 or 9:30 p.m. and would go upstairs to Jackson’s room, and she said she would not see him again before she left — sometimes late in the evening — but understood he was staying the night.

In the morning, when she arrived for work, Chase said she would see the doctor coming down the steps carrying oxygen tanks. When Murray didn’t come downstairs the morning of June 25, “I thought maybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late,” Chase said.

“I started preparing the lunch and then I looked at my cell phone and it

Thursday, July 30, 2009

tic and flame retardants, Kessler said.

“The long and short of it is that HP said that by 2007 they would phase out use of these toxi-chemicals; they then backtracked and said it would be 2011,” Kessler told AFP. “We used this event to communicate that is unacceptable.”

Greenpeace also used “Star Trek” actor William Shatner’s voice on a robocall targeting workers at HP to protest the firm’s alleged use of the chemicals, Kessler said.

HP said in a statement the company was committed to eliminating use of all brominated flame retardant/PVC from its PC products by the end of 2011.

“The unconstructive antics at HP’s headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share,” the statement said.

told authorities that the Briton had sex with her, he said.

“The arrest of the Briton was the result of testimony of the girl to police,” Suon Sophan told AFP by telephone.

The US man, Scott Alan Hecker, 44, was nabbed last week in a raid on a hotel in Phnom Penh and has been accused of committing indecent acts repeatedly against the girl and and another 14-year-old girl.

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

Sybil the Downing Street cat dies Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Sybil the cat, who moved into Downing Street shortly after Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office two years ago, has died after a short illness.

The black and white feline, named after Basil Fawlty’s wife in the hit 1970s British comedy Fawlty Towers, was brought to London by Alistair Darling after he became finance minister in Brown’s government in June 2007.

Sybil died earlier this week at the home of a family friend, a Downing Street spokesman said.

“Mew Labour is dead,” quipped the Independent daily, referring to the fact that Sybil was the first new cat in Downing Street since Tony Blair took power in 1997, after famously rebranding his party as New Labour.

Sybil’s arrival was inauspicious, it noted: weeks after she arrived, Darling was grappling with the first run on a bank in over a century at the Northern Rock, presaging last year’s full-blown global financial crisis.

Darling’s official residence is number 11, next door to Brown’s 10 Downing Street home, but a spokesman for the incoming premier admitted in 2007 that the cat would have the run of both houses.

“It’s quite difficult to confine cats, so, yes. The prime minister doesn’t have a problem with it. (The prime minister’s wife) Sarah Brown doesn’t have a problem with it,” he said at the time.

Sybil’s predecessor as chief mouser in Britain’s seat of government was Humphrey, who arrived in 1989 when Margaret Thatcher was in office, but left shortly after Blair came to power.

AFP PHOTO/Clara Molden/POOL/FILES

UNITED KINGDOM : A picture taken 11 September 2007, shows Sybil the cat at 10 Downing Street, in London.

Car behind German political scandal found in Spain: police Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - The stolen official Mercedes at the heart of a political scandal rocking Germany’s beleaguered Social Democrats has turned up in Spain, German federal police said Wednesday.

Social Democratic (SPD) Health Minister Ulla Schmidt had her driver travel more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) in the car at public expense so she could use it while she was on holiday in the

Spanish coastal city Alicante.

The car was then stolen last week, unleashing a storm of protest over what was called a waste of taxpayers’ money during a biting economic crisis, and calls for Schmidt to resign.

The timing could hardly be worse for the SPD, which is trailing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc by around 15 points in the polls less than two months before a general election.

Now the vehicle, a Mercedes Sclass saloon valued at 93,000 euros

(132,000 dollars) and not insured, has turned up again in Spain.

“The official car is back,” said a spokeswoman for the German federal police force in the western city of Wiesbaden.

She declined to provide further details but the daily Rheinische Post said the car was found late Tuesday near Alicante in good condition.

Schmidt, whose popularity has already suffered over tough health care reforms introduced in recent years, has said she was also conducting of-

ficial government business in Spain.

She has argued that it was more “economical” to have her driver bring the car to Spain than to rent a vehicle locally and that she would pay back expenses incurred for her private use of the car according to government guidelines.

However the Taxpayers’ Association, a pressure group, has estimated the cost of the Mercedes trip at nearly at “at least 9,386 euros” to cover fuel, wear and tear on the official car, road tolls and the driver’s expenses.

“What Frau Schmidt did is obscene,” member of parliament Frank Schaeffler of the opposition pro-business Free Democrats told Wednesday’s Bild newspaper.

“She has been anything but fair to the taxpayer and should step down.”

The SPD has until now stood by Schmidt but speculation was rife that she would not be included in candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s shadow cabinet, due to be presented on Thursday.

4

Thursday, July 30, 2009

News

International

Musharraf snubs Pakistan Supreme Court Agence France-Presse

ISLAMABAD - Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday snubbed a summons from Pakistan’s top court to explain his decision to impose a state of emergency and controversially sack judges two years ago.

A 14-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, issued notice to Musharraf to appear in person or through counsel on July 29.

But neither the former head of state, who lost power last year and has been a vocal critic of the current Pakistani administration, nor a lawyer speaking on his behalf attended the session Wednesday, said an AFP reporter.

“Is somebody appearing on behalf of general Musharraf?” asked Chaudhry to a resounding silence in the courtroom.

Malik Qayyum, who was attorney general under Musharraf, was present in court but did not rise.

Musharraf is understood to be in Britain.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, sacked Chaudhry and dozens of other senior judges in 2007, fearing that the chief justice would disqualify him from contesting a presidential election while in military uniform.

Musharraf was replaced last year as Pakistan’s president by Asif Ali Zardari, whose party won general elections and who reinstated Chaudhry and his fellow judges in March following a protracted political crisis.

Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers had organised a march on the capital Islamabad, demanding that Zardari reinstate the judges, during mass protests that risked further destabilising the nuclear-armed country.

Under Western pressure Zardari conceded to defuse the standoff with Sharif, who had urged the masses to rise up against the government.

Miliband says troops in Afghanistan in Britain’s ‘interest’ Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - British troop presence in Afghanistan is in the country’s “national security interest,” Britain’s foreign minister said Tuesday in a message to a majority of Britons who favor a troop withdrawal.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband made the comments in an interview with US Television PBS on the eve of talks here with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton.

Miliband said Britons must also understand that the US- and NATOled war in Afghanistan is complemented by a “political strategy.”

He declined to rule out further British troop increases.

Miliband issued a direct response when asked what his gov-

AFP PHOTO JOHN THYS

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

ernment tells Britons who, according to a new opinion poll, now form a majority in believing the war in Afghanistan is “unwinnable” and in wanting the withdrawal of British troops.

“We say that this mission is in Britain’s national security interest,” Miliband told his interviewer Gwen Ifill, who pointed out that July was the deadliest month for Britain’s seven-year military involvement in Afghanistan.

“After all, nearly three-quarters of the terrorist plots that have been either taken place or foiled against the UK (United Kingdom) have their links into the badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Britain’s top diplomat said.

He added that the 42-member international military coalition must remain in Afghanistan until Afghan security forces can take over.

Apart from the military efforts, he said, the coalition must pursue a “political strategy” that brings the Afghan people and neighboring countries fully on the side of the Afghan government rather than the militants.

“We all know that in the end there is no long-term military, quote, unquote, ‘solution,’” Miliband said. “The military can create the space for sustainable politics and sustainable governance...”

Miliband did not rule out the possibility of Britain contributing more troops beyond the 9,000 it currently deploys in Afghanistan — a contingent second only to the US military presence there.

Life Style

International

Scientists seek new tools to fight malnutrition Associated Press Writer

ST. LOUIS – Missouri researchers have launched a new effort in their fight against worldwide hunger: bringing together a doctor who has long treated the malnourished with plant scientists working to improve the nutritional content of food.

AP Photo/John McConnico

A woman casts her vote in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday July 29, 2009. Three months after accusations of government vote-rigging touched off street violence, Moldovans began voting Wednesday in parliamentary elections that could shift the former Soviet republic’s focus away from Russia and toward the European Union.

Moldova votes to end tense stalemate Agence France-Presse

CHISINAU - Moldovans voted Wednesday in their second parliamentary elections in less than four months, after the previous polls led to violent anti-Communist riots and a bitter political standoff.

Voting began at 7.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) and was to continue until 9.00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in an election that will determine who succeeds President Vladimir Voronin, the Communist strongman who has ruled Moldova since 2001.

The vote will affect how Moldova — a former Soviet republic that is Europe’s poorest country — steers its foreign policy between the twin demands of the European Union and Moscow. Voronin reluctantly called new elections in June after lawmakers failed to elect a new president due to a boycott by liberal opposition parties, which accused his ruling Communist Party

of stealing the last election in April.

Now around 2.6 million voters are set to choose a new parliament in this nation of 4.3 million people wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

The parliament is then supposed to select a successor to Voronin, who must step down after serving the maximum two four-year terms permitted by the constitution.

Political analysts and opinion polls predict the Communist Party will take first place, but will not win the 61 out of 101 seats needed for the party to fully control the selection of the next president.

Besides the Communists, four opposition parties are tipped to have

a chance of passing the five percent barrier needed to win seats.

In the April 5 election, the Communists won about 50 percent of the vote but were accused of fraud, prompting huge street protests and the sacking of the parliament building in Chisinau by young rioters.

Some Moldovans who cast their ballots early Wednesday voiced exasperation with the country’s ongoing political crisis.

“I am for the Communists; they create a certain stability. We can’t continue like this, with demonstrations, pogroms and repeat elections,” said Sasha, 19, a student who voted in central Chisinau.

But analysts say there is a strong likelihood that Moldova’s impasse will continue, given that the population is split between pro-opposition urban youth and older rural voters loyal to the Communists.

Uighur leader says nearly 10,000 ‘disappeared’ in China unrest Agence France-Presse

TOKYO - Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer charged Wednesday that nearly 10,000 people “disappeared” in ethnic unrest in China’s northwest this month and expressed disappointment at the US response to the violence.

Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, said that “the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people,” speaking during a Japan visit that angered the communist government in Beijing.

Speaking through an interpreter and citing local sources, she said “close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night” when authorities cracked down from July 5 on the unrest in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang.

“Where did those people go?” she said. “If they died, where did they go?”

Kadeer, 62, claimed that Chinese police used machine guns to randomly shoot Uighur people after dark after the electricity was turned off, and that the following morning

large numbers of Uighur men had gone missing.

Beijing accuses the mother-of-11 and grandmother of being a “criminal” and a separatist who instigated the unrest — which the government says left 197 people dead, most of them Han Chinese killed by angry Uighur mobs.

“I was not involved in the incident,” Kadeer told the Tokyo press conference. “If China says I did it, I want them to show evidence. If the international community judges it as evidence, I would acknowledge that.”

The group hopes to create a bridge from greenhouses and labs in Missouri to health centers and farms in regions where people die from malnourishment.

Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis — the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital — have formed the Global Harvest Alliance. The partnership’s aim is to create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the world’s hungry and undernourished.

Alliance researchers will look broadly at the best approaches to fight malnutrition and focus on a few of them. They’ll seek to improve enriched foods already used to treat malnourishment.

In addition, the alliance aims to help testing and distribution of crops genetically modified to boost nutritional content. They hope to provide the crops cheaply to farmers to produce more nutritious foods.

“This is not a magic bullet. It’s a part of the puzzle to helping people be healthier and have a better life,” said Roger Beachy, president of the nonprofit Danforth center, where plant research is aimed at improving health and the environment.

Dr. Mark Manary, a pediatrician who will serve as the alliance’s director, said malnourished children in Africa used to be hospitalized and given fortified milk-based treatments.

Manary, who has treated malnutrition in Africa for years, has provided an enriched peanut-butter mixture to malnourished children in the sub-Saharan country of Malawi that has led to high recovery rates.

These days, that mixture of peanuts, powdered milk, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins and minerals is given to parents to feed their malnourished children at home. The new alliance will work to improve such homebased approaches in hopes of distributing them more widely as well as lowering costs.

At the same time, the alliance will seek more sustainable solutions.

“Prevention is always better than a cure,” Manary said.

Since 1999, the Danforth center has spent about $20 million trying to improve the nutritional content of cassava, a staple crop in Africa harvested for its starchy roots. The food may be best known in the United States as the basis for tapioca. Much of the funding for cassava improvements has come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Monsanto Fund and the U.S. Agency

AP Photo/Global Harvest Alliance,Danielle Matilsky

Thursday, July 30, 2009

13

Microsoft, Yahoo near Web search deal Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. appears to have finally persuaded Yahoo Inc. that together they would have a better chance of mounting a meaningful challenge to Google Inc.’s dominance of online advertising.

Details of a long-rumored Microsoft-Yahoo alliance were expected to be announced Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press.

This person spoke Tuesday night on condition on anonymity, confirming earlier reports, because the deal was not yet final.

The deal does not appear to call for Microsoft to pay Yahoo in advance, which could disappoint its investors. Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz had said she would join forces with Microsoft only for “boatloads of money.”

Instead, the companies would share revenue generated by search ads on their Web sites. Yahoo would use Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, and it is likely — though not certain — that a “powered by Bing” message will appear on Yahoo’s highly trafficked pages, according to the person who described the talks to the AP. The companies would also use Microsoft’s advertising technology to deliver appropriate ads alongside search results, while Yahoo would handle the ad sales and customer service.

The person with knowledge of the talks said it is not clear whether the final deal will also cover sales of billboard-style “display” ads, or what will happen to Microsoft’s own ad sales team.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, has been courting Yahoo for several years in hopes of expanding its share of the online search market.

After being repeatedly rebuffed,

Microsoft launched an unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety. With co-founder Jerry Yang at the helm, Yahoo put up such staunch resistance that Microsoft withdrew its last offer of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, nearly 15 months ago.

Yahoo shares have never gotten close to that level again, and the company’s market value was around $24 billion this week.

Microsoft is counting on Yahoo’s search engine, which ranks No. 2 with a worldwide market share of 8 percent, to pose a more formidable challenge to Google, which holds 67 percent of the global audience, according to the most recent data from research firm comScore Inc. In the United States, Google’s share is 65 percent, compared with roughly 20 percent for Yahoo.

Despite spending billions to upgrade its search engine, Microsoft still held just a 3 percent share worldwide and 8 percent in the U.S. in the most recent comScore tally.

The deal is likely to draw antitrust scrutiny. Last year, the U.S. Justice Department analyzed Yahoo’s plans for a search advertising partnership with Google before deciding that it would give Google too much control over the market — a conclusion loudly supported by Microsoft. The opposition forced Google and Yahoo to scuttle their deal.

Microsoft is doubling down on Internet search at the same time Google is attacking Microsoft’s bread-and-butter business of making software for personal computers.

Google is working on a free operating system for inexpensive personal computers in a move that could threaten Microsoft’s Windows franchise. If it gains traction, Google’s alternative, called Chrome OS, could divert some revenue from Microsoft while the software maker is trying to grab more of the money pouring into search advertising.

In this photo provided by Global Harvest Alliance on Tuesday, July 28, 2009, Dr. Mark Manary is seen in a recent photo with a child at the Mbiza Clinic in Mulange, Malawi. Dr. Manary of St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine is already wellknown for his work on a nutritionally fortified peanut-butter based food widely used overseas to treat severe malnutrition. The pediatrician is now working with scientists from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center who focus on using biotechnology to add nutritional value to staple crops.

for International Development.

Researchers have added DNA at the cellular level to enable cassava, naturally low in protein and beta carotene, to produce high levels of those nutrients. Scientists are testing some of the genetically modified cassava plants at greenhouses in Missouri and fields in Puerto Rico.

Beachy said many poor families largely live off one type of food, like cassava or plantains, so increasing the nutritional value of such food would help address malnutrition.

Larry Beach, a USAID scientist who helps improve crops in developing countries using biotechnology, knows those working on the

alliance, but is not directly involved in it.

He acknowledged suspicions in parts of the world about biotechnology use and outside scientists proposing solutions to malnourishment.

“There’s been skepticism about providing more nutrition through food because that’s not the way it’s been done in the past,” he said.

But the Global Harvest Alliance will bring together scientists with a track record of helping the hungry and allow them to research specific needs and crops.

“One of the big problems in helping to make improvements in nutrition is the integration of what needs to be done,” Beach said.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

FILE - In this May 4, 2007 file photo of Times Square news ticker flashes a headline about Microsoft above a billboard for Yahoo in New York. Microsoft Corp. appears to have finally locked up rival Yahoo Inc. in a long-awaited Internet search partnership aimed at narrowing Google Inc.’s commanding lead in the most lucrative piece of the online advertising market. A person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press that the details of the Microsoft-Yahoo alliance are expected to be announced Wednesday July 29, 2009.

14

Sport

Thursday, July 30, 2009

International

News

International

Descenza joins world record spree

Agence France-Presse

ROME - Mary Descenza thrust herself into title contention with the 16th world record of the swimming World Championships Wednesday, surprising herself in the heats of the 200m butterfly.

AP Photo/Michael Sohn

Mary Descenza of the United States reacts after setting a new world record in the Women’s 200m Butterfly, at the FINA Swimming World Championships, in Rome, Wednesday, July 29, 2009. Descenza clocked 2.04.14

action, with the eight fastest qualifiers all under 48 seconds.

American David Walters led the way with a time of 47.59.

Olympic gold medallist Alain Bernard was fourth-fastest in 47.80 and French teammate Frederick Bousquet sixth-quickest in 47.89. Bernard and Bousquet will be trying to bounce back in the individual event after a shock third-place finish in the 4x100m free relay on Sunday.

Canada’s Brent Hayden and Italy’s Filippo Magnini, who shared the world title in 2007, both advanced, Hayden with the fifth-fastest time and Magnini 13th in an event that is without world record-holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia because of illness.

Aleksanda Gerasimenya of Belarus notched a championship record of 27.65 to lead the way into the women’s 50m backstroke semi-finals.

Olympic silver medallist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was fastest in the heats of the 200m individual medley with a time of 1:56.34. Beijing bronze medallist Ryan Lochte also advanced, and the two will battle for the ultimate prize in the absence of world recordholder Phelps, who isn’t swimming the event this year.

After a morning off, Phelps was

due back in action on Wednesday night, trying to bounce back from a shock defeat in the final of the 200m butterfly.

Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who erased Aussie legend Ian Thorpe from the record books with his victory in the 400m free, seized Phelps’s world title and world record in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday.

Phelps insisted he wasn’t too unhappy with his swim, given the time off he took after the Olympic Games.

But the 14-time Olympic champion clearly didn’t enjoy the sensation of losing.

“I know I didn’t train much this year. For right now, I’ll take it - but I’m not pleased,” he said.

Phelps’s coach Bob Bowman was steamed that on the same day that Phelps went down, world swimming’s governing body announced that the ban of the high-tech bodysuits will be delayed until next April or May. While the technology will be rolled back, with no polyurethane allowed, it won’t go into effect in January as first expected.

“We’ve lost all the history of the sport,” Bowman said. “Does a 10year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann’s record?”

Venus and Serena advance Safin brings Indy champ Ginepri back to earth in ‘hometown’ tournament Agence France Presse

Agence France Presse

STANFORD, California – Second seeded American Venus Williams defeated Stephanie Dubois of Canada 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the 700,000 dollar WTA Bank of the West Classic.

Williams is also playing doubles with her sister Serena who had to work for her 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory over China’s Li Na in the night match.

“It was a great match to get my rhythm, hit a lot of balls and work on my shots,” said Williams, who won titles here in 2000 and 2002.

“It’s all about the mentality. I usually adjust pretty quickly. I do want to try new and different things.”

In other matches, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia outlasted Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 4-6, 75. The marathon match took two hours and 33 minutes.

Defending champion Wozniak became the first Canuck in 20 years to capture a Tour title when she won the 2008 tournament.

The sisters won their first doubles match in Stanford. They grew up five hours down the freeway in crime-plagued south central Los Angeles and in an awkward moment at Tuesday’s news

conference Venus seemed to mistake upscale Stanford for their hometown.

“We love playing in L.A. I’m sorry, not L.A., I mean California. It feels like home for us,” Venus said.

Na had her serve broken three times in the opening set but rallied in the tiebreaker from 6-2 down to level at 6-6. Serena won it on the seventh match point.

Serena rarely gives opponents credit in post-game talks preferring to discuss the high and low points of her own game. But she did manage to praised Na for the way she battled on Tuesday.

“I was playing a tough player who never gives up,” Serena said. “Obviously I can play better,” she continued. “I think I hit five first serves in the whole match. I’m a little off.

That’s fine. I’d rather be a little off now than later.”

World number two Serena had seven double faults in the first set and at one point slammed her racket to the ground in frustration.

“I was too anxious and ready to go home,” said Serena who is making her second appearance at the Stanford tournament. She has two Grand Slam wins in 2009 — Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

Venus has advanced to the finals in six of her seven appearances at the tournament.

LOS ANGELES - Eighth seed Marat Safin deflated the ego of last weekend’s Indianapolis winner Robby Ginepri with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 come from behind win to reach the second round of the Los Angeles Open Tuesday.

Safin, who last won a match in the first round at Roland Garros nearly two months ago, lifted his own spirits as he made a respectable showing in what is meant to be his final season in the game at age 29.

Safin was fresh from an exhibition win 24 here hours earlier against Pete Sampras.

“If you beat Pete Sampras you know you have a good chance of beating Robby Ginepri,” he joked.

“Robby is playing really well, coming from a title last week. He’s a tough player. The match was well-played from both of us. I got up a break in the beginning of the second set and that helped me to turn the match around.”

The Russian winner, a two-time grand Slam champion, notched eight aces and broke number 56 Ginepri five times while losing his own serve on four occasions.

American Ginepri repeated history on Sunday as he duplicated his Indianapolis title from 2005 and came to LA as a special exempt entry.

Marcos Baghdatis, a finalist at the 2006 Australian Open, claimed his first

ATP victory in a month with a 7-6 (7/ 3), 6-3 first-round decision over Canada’s Frank Dancevic.

The smiling Cypriot who was carried off court on a stretcher in the Netherlands with a knee injury the week before Wimbledon, came good after going out in the first round last week in Indianapolis as he began his summer hardcourt season.

Baghdatis is playing the event for the second time since 2005, when he lost in the first round to Juan Chela.

The world number 146 will line up against big-hitting American John Isner, who upset German fifth seed Benjamin Becker 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3).

Dancevic, a special exempt entry, was coming off a semi-final at Indy, where he lost to Sam Querrey.

Russian fifth seed Igor Kunitsyn stopped Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7-5, 6-2. Ernests Gulbis, loser of eight of his previous ten matches dating to late April, advanced over Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 7-5, 6-2.

Number 205-ranked qualifier Carsten Ball joined fellow Australian Chris Guccione in the second round as he beat Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-2, 7-5 (8/6). The Aussie next plays third seed Dkitry

AP Photo/Danny Moloshok

Russia’s Marat Safin returns a shot against Robby Ginepri of the United States at the L.A. Tennis Open tournament, Tuesday, July 28, 2009, in Los Angeles. Safin won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Tursunov of Russia.

American Ryan Sweeting inflicted 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 pain on compatriot Taylor Dent, whose comeback after back surgeries and three compromised seasons continued to hit the wall.

3

US, China pledge common ground

Agence France Presse

“Oh my God I didn’t even think I was going that fast,” said Descenza, who clocked 2min 04.14sec to lower the previous record of 2:04.18 set by China’s Liu Zige in winning Olympic gold on August 14 last year in Beijing.

“I obviously didn’t have that in my plan, but I’ll take it,” added Descenza, a Tyr-sponsored swimmer who swam in the all-polyurethane Jaked bodysuit with the logo blacked out.

The Jaked and its brothers have contributed to an explosion of world records at these championships.

With the meet not even half over the tally of 15 world records at the 2007 worlds in Melbourne had been surpassed, and swimmers were closing in on the 25 set at the Beijing Olympics.

Descenza sliced three seconds off her personal best time, and was more than a second faster than defending champion Jessicah Schipper of Australia.

She admitted the performance upped the ante for the semi-finals and Thursday’s final.

“I guess I’m going to feel some pressure that I have to go faster. Maybe I’ll have to reassess my goals and just reorder them, get everything set up for tonight,” she said.

Heats of the men’s 100m freestyle promised sizzing semi-final and final

Thursday, July 30, 2009

AFP PHOTO/Mauricio DUENAS

Picture taken on January 24, 2009, of Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe (R) shaking hands with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez after a joint press conference in Cartagena, during an official visit to renew bilateral relations. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on July 28, 2009 in Caracsa, his decision to “freeze” relations with neighboring Colombia and recall his envoy over accusations from Bogota that Caracas has links to Colombia’s FARC Marxist guerillas.

Venezuela to ‘freeze’ ties with Colombia, recall envoy: Chavez Agence France-Presse

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez decided Tuesday to “freeze” relations with neighboring Colombia and recall his envoy over accusations from Bogota that Caracas has links to Colombia’s FARC Marxist guerillas.

The move threatens to suspend billions of dollars in trade, and Chavez warned that Colombian-owned operations in Venezuela could be seized.

“In view of this new aggression by the government of Colombia I have ordered the withdrawal of our ambassador to Bogota,” Chavez said on state television.

“We will freeze relations with Colombia,” the leftist leader added.

Tensions have risen dramatically in recent weeks between Caracas and Bogota, notably over Colombia’s announcement that it had agreed to a new pact with Venezuela’s regional nemesis the United States to allow it to use military bases to conduct antidrug operations.

And on Monday, Bogota said it had captured weapons from FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America’s oldest and largest insurgency — that had been produced in Sweden and sold to Venezuela.

Chavez cited recent statements by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Vice President Francisco Santos in which they accused Caracas, “without proof” according to Chavez, of supplying arms to the rebels.

The firebrand Chavez warned that Venezuela would suspend Colombian

imports to his country, which official data show amounted to 2.62 billion dollars in the first half of 2009.

And Chavez threatened to “expropriate” Colombian-owned ventures in Venezuela if Bogota’s “aggressions” continue, he said.

“With the next aggression against Venezuela, we will simply break relations with the Colombian government on all fronts.”

Officials in Stockholm confirmed that some arms produced in Sweden and sold to Venezuela were found in a FARC camp in Colombia, and the Swedish government called on Caracas to explain how the weapons wound up in the hands of the rebels.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Caracas would respond “at the appropriate time” to the “new lies” being leveled at Chavez’s government.

Maduro said Colombia was trying to “place the blame on foreigners” for a conflict “that the authorities in Bogota have the responsibility to resolve.”

The dispute over the FARC weapons is the latest spat in an increasingly dangerous friction between Venezuela and Colombia, a close US ally in the region.

Sparks flew on July 15 when

Bogota announced that the United States was to use three bases in Colombia as staging areas for Washington’s anti-drug operations.

Chavez last week alleged “a Yankee military force” was planning to invade his country from Colombia.

Venezuela and Colombia nearly went to war last year after Colombian forces raided a FARC camp just across the border with Ecuador in late March 2008.

Bogota claims computer hard drives and flash drives recovered in the raid showed Chavez had links to both the FARC and the illegal drug trade.

Quito and Caracas broke diplomatic ties with Bogota over the action. Chavez had restored ties with Colombia, but Ecuador has not.

Chavez’s new call to freeze ties comes a day after he announced an enhanced military partnership with ally Russia.

He confirmed the purchase of Russian-made BMP3, MPR and T-72 tanks to replace Venezuela’s obsolete fleet of armored vehicles and to reinforce the country’s border with Colombia.

“We have no plans to attack anyone. We only want to defend ourselves,” Chavez said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The United States and China pledged to work together on a raft of issues from climate change to free trade to Iran as they set the stage for an era of closer cooperation.

The mood was upbeat as the Pacific powers wrapped up two days of indepth talks Tuesday, with top Chinese officials playing at a news conference with a basketball signed by hoops-loving President Barack Obama.

But even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the dialogue was more about ideas than specifics, with the two sides mostly agreeing to hold more talks on a broad swath of issues.

“Laying this groundwork may not deliver a lot of concrete achievements immediately, but every step on this path to create confidence and understanding is a very good investment,” Clinton told reporters.

The world’s largest developed and developing nations have had sometimes prickly ties, with a series of military standoffs in recent months and long-running feuds over China’s human rights record.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the two countries were committed to working together to revive the ailing global economy, and would firmly resist protectionism in the process.

Geithner said China had agreed to longstanding US economic concerns, with the two nations agreeing to treat foreign-owned firms operating in their markets equally to domestic companies in awarding government contracts.

He said China also promised it would work to boost domestic demand, making consumption a bigger slice of a giant economy fueled by a flood of manufactured exports.

“The most important thing we achieved today was to agree on this broad framework for policies and reform... to help lay the foundation for a more sustainable, more balanced global recovery,” Geithner said.

Geithner’s remarks were echoed by China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who said the two countries “will strengthen cooperation to jointly build

a strong financial system” to ensure “stability in the two countries and the world at large.”

China is the largest creditor to the heavily indebted United States and Chinese officials in recent months have worried aloud about the security of Beijing’s more than 800 billion dollars invested in US Treasury bonds.

Clinton said she raised concerns about China’s human rights record including recent ethnic violence in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.

“Human rights is absolutely integral to the Strategic and Economic Dialogue,” Clinton said. “It is a part of our policy, not only with China, but with other countries.”

The Obama administration has pursued a careful line on human rights with China, criticizing many of its practices while also pledging to be respectful of Chinese culture.

Wang Guangya, China’s vice foreign minister, thanked the United States for its “moderate” stance on Xinjiang.

Dozens of Uighurs held a noisy protest, chanting “Shame on China!”, outside the White House as a motorcade of Chinese delegates arrived for the talks’ finale.

The dialogue marks the broadening of US-China talks started under former president George W. Bush, which focused on economic affairs.

Obama, addressing the opening on Monday, said that the US-China relationship was “as important as any” in the world and vowed that he would pursue “cooperation, not confrontation” as Beijing’s clout grows.

US media reported this week that China’s robust economy is on track to overtake Japan as the world’s secondlargest, perhaps by the end of 2009.

Meanwhile, during their two-day talks, the United States and China said they discussed a raft of global issues, including in-depth consultations on North Korea. Clinton said that the two countries saw eye-to-eye on Iran, fearing a “destabilizing” arms race in the region if the Islamic republic develops nuclear weapons.

The two nations — by far the biggest emitters of carbon blamed for global warming — also signed a memorandum putting the fight against climate change at the heart of their ties.

TOPSHOTS AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger (L) greets Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo after introducing him to address the US-China Business Council dinner in his and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan’s honor in Washington on July 28, 2009 at the end of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

2

International

Thursday, July 30, 2009

News WORLD NEWS

Obama expresses frustration on healthcare reform Agence France-Presse

Commonwealth bloc SUVA, Fiji - Fiji will likely be suspended from the Commonwealth bloc, New Zealand says - a day after its military ruler strengthened his grip on power by replacing the ailing president Ratu Josefa with a stronger ally.

Pregnancy risk LONDON - Pregnant women who get swine flu are at least four times as likely to be hospitalized as other people with the virus, a new study says.

Tanning beds cancer LONDON International cancer experts have moved tanning beds and other sources of ultraviolet radiation into the top cancer risk category, deeming them as deadly as arsenic and mustard gas.

SYDNEY - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday said Australia’s ban on gay marriage would remain, despite moves within his centre-left Labor Party to have it overturned.

Rudd, who considers himself a moderate Christian, won the 2007 election on a platform that supported the former conservative government’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

15

Ronaldo opens his account for Real as ‘The Pirate’ steals the show Agence France Presse

The 23-year-old Portuguese star - who cost Real around 94million euros when he joined from Manchester United - won and then converted a penalty in the 48th minute as Real set up a semi-final on Friday with Italian giants Juventus.

However, it wa sone of Real’s less high profile signings of the close season Esteban Granero otherwise known as El Pirata or The Pirate, bought from Getafe, who stole the show with a goal and created another for German international defender AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB

US President Barack Obama speaks alongside American Association for Retired Persons(AARP) President Jennie Chin-Hansen (R) on healthcare during a telephone, internet and in person, town hall meeting at AARP headquarters in Washington, DC, July 28, 2009. pushed back against Obama’s ambitious timetable for the legislation, warning they will not meet his deadline for a first vote on the two versions before they break for vacation on August 7.

Obama’s legislation hopes to reform a healthcare system that is among the most expensive in the world, seeking to offer coverage to some 47 million Americans that have none, while still reducing record public deficits.

The president has launched his own public campaign in support of the reform, which included Tuesday a public meeting in the form of a teleconference organized by the AARP, a

powerful lobby group for retired and older people.

The president faced a range of concerns, ranging from the cost of the reform at a time of massive deficits and a major recession, to questions about whether the elderly would continue to have their current health benefits.

“I’m absolutely positive that we can make the healthcare system work better, he said. “Nobody is trying to change what works in the system. We are trying to change what doesn’t work in the system.

Obama also defended providing Americans with the option to join a public healthcare program that

would compete with private healthcare options, despite strong opposition to such a provision among many in the Senate.

He also appeared to challenge lawmakers to stop holding up healthcare reform.

“Frankly, if we do this right, then all we’re actually doing is giving the American people the same option that members of Congress have, because they’ve got a pretty good deal right now,” Obama said.

“They have a bunch of options and different plans to select from. So if they’ve got a good deal, why shouldn’t you?”

Kevin Rudd : Australia firm on gay marriage ban Agence France-Presse

Thursday, July 30, 2009

MADRID - The world’s most expensive footballer Cristiano Ronaldo got off the mark for his club Real Madrid here on Tuesday as they ran out 4-2 winners over Ecuadorean side Liga de Quito in the Peace Cup.

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed rare frustration at the resistance he is facing in his efforts to overhaul the US healthcare system.

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated because this is one of those situations where it’s so obvious that the system we have isn’t working well for too many people, and that we could be doing better,” he said.

Obama made the comments as his healthcare reform legislation faces tough hurdles in Congress, where it is opposed by many Republicans, but must also overcome divisions among his own Democratic party.

Healthcare reform is a big gamble for Obama. A failure like that of former president Bill Clinton could cost him a lot of political capital and endanger his party’s chances in the 2010 midterm elections.

Republicans have launched an aggressive campaign against the reform, but fiscally conservative Democrats also form a major front of opposition to the legislation in the House of Representatives.

The package being considered in the Senate is different from that being debated in the lower chamber of Congress and the two versions will at some point need to be reconciled, further complicating the issue.

The two chambers have already

Sport

International

Rudd said his government’s position remained unchanged amid media speculation that he will face a groundswell of support for same-sex marriage at Labor’s national conference, due to begin in Sydney on Thursday.

“We are consistent with the policy we took to the last election,” he told public broadcaster ABC. The issue was thrown into the spotlight this week when the Labor Party in Tasmania state voted for the Marriage Act to be amended to allow for

same-sex unions.

Rudd stood by his election plank, which banned same-sex marriage but endorsed a national “relationships register” provided it did not “mimic” marriage or undermine existing laws.

“I fully respect the integrity of other same-sex relationships ... but in terms of the policy, it’s a matter to which we have been committed for some time,” Rudd said.

“I fully accept it’s a matter of controversy, and there’ll be debate, and there should be. This is an open society

Christoph Metzelder.

It will have come as something of a relief to both the Real fans and Ronaldo himself that he showed soem semblance of form as he had failed to shine in the first few friendlies including a 1-0 win over Irish semi-professional outfit Shamrock Rovers last week and had been taken off at half-time.

There was one concern for Real Madrid as another of their signings French international striker Karim Benzema - who scored the goal

Arshavin plans to improve on impressive start at Arsenal Agence France Presse

LONDON - Arsenal midfielder Andrei Arshavin is clearly a man of high standards. “I will try and show that I am better this season,” he said as he reflected on the start of his first full Premier League campaign with the Gunners.

That vow will provoke a few raised eyebrows in north London, not least among the sizeable percentage of Arsenal fans for whom Arshavin is already a bona fide terrace hero.

The Russian gave the lie to the old adage that foreign signings need at least a year to acclimatise to the unique demands of English football with his dazzling displays last season.

He may just have made 15 appearances following his January transfer window move from Zenit St Petersburg,

where we can debate and discuss these matters.”

Rudd said his government had moved rapidly to remove the “other discriminations” in national law against same-sex couples in areas such as pensions, tax and employment.

A recent poll suggested up to 60 percent of Australians supported gay marriage, and the statistics bureau in May announced it would count samesex couples who declared themselves married in the national census.

Source: ap

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

against Shamrock Rovers - limped off on the hour mark after shooting with his right leg.

Juventus had earlier become the first team into the last four when they disposed of Korean side Seongnam.

Brazilian playmaker Diego - a 24.5million euros signing from German side Werder Bremen in May - was the architect of their victory creating the first goal for Vincenzo Iaquinta, then scored the second in the 53rd minute while Nicola Legrottaglie added the third 20 minutes from fulltime.

BP/doc

Andrei Arshavin

but that was enough time to notch six goals and seven assists and deliver the season’s stand-out individual performance in becoming the first visiting player to score four goals at Anfield since 1946.

Off the field Arshavin’s popularity is already high enough to come second in a supporters’ player of the year poll and see shirts bearing his name and number fly out of Arsenal’s club shop quicker even than those of Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie.

They are the sort of achievements any player would be proud of after a full season; the fact that Arshavin was able to chalk them up in four short months explains why Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was content to break the habit of a lifetime and sign an established superstar, rather than a tyro with promise.

Yet there is clearly still more to come from Arshavin.

By his own admission, he was not fully fit when he arrived in London, having not played for several weeks following the end of the Russian season.

That neutered him in his early appearances for his new club but there is no doubt the 28-year-old will be in peak condition when Arsenal open their league account against Everton on August 15.

Arshavin returned for pre-season training a week earlier than the club’s other internationals to work on his conditioning and also asked to be included in their annual curtainraiser against Barnet.

So while his fellow A-listers Fabregas, van Persie and Gael Clichy were resting their weary limbs, Arshavin was to be found pounding the turf at one of English football’s tiniest outposts, scoring his side’s opening goal in a 2-2 draw.

“For me it’s very important to get a good pre-season,” he added. “That is why I came to England one week earlier than the other internationals. I hope that will help me.”

Whether being able to field a fully-firing Arshavin from the start of the season will be enough to turn Arsenal from also-rans into genuine title contenders, or even win a first trophy since 2005, is another matter.

The man himself has warned that it will take a monumental collective effort to achieve that goal - “one player can create one moment but he cannot create a result on his own,” Arshavin suggested - but, either way, there is surely little doubt that the Russian will be one of the season’s star turns.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo controls the ball during his soccer match against Liga de Quito during the Peace Cup Andalucia 2009 soccer tournament at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza

Injured Hargreaves faces lengthy wait for United return Agence France Presse

LONDON - Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has suffered another blow after boss Sir Alex Ferguson admitted the injured England star is still some way from full fitness.

Hargreaves, 28, made just three appearances last season before being forced to undergo surgery for tendinitis in both knees.

The England star hasn’t played since September 2008 and had hoped to train with the Premier League champions as they prepare for a pre-

season tournament in Germany.

But Ferguson, who had already said that he did not expect the former Bayern Munich player to return to action until September, admits Hargreaves won’t be rushed back.

“Hargreaves will not play in this tournament,” Ferguson said. “We had hoped he would be joining us, but he is still in his programme of rehabilitation.

“He has had major operations on both knees and we are not rushing that. “He is young enough to come back once he is fully fit, but we are not rushing him.”

BP/doc

Owen Hargreaves

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

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Jackson chef recalls doctor’s role, final days PAGE 12 Agence France Presse AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY

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BERLIN - Already hit by the departure of Honda, Formula One suffered another blow Wednesday as BMW confirmed they would be quitting the sport at the end of what has been a disastrous season for the German car manufacturer. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

“The BMW Group will not continue its Formula One campaign after the end of the 2009 season,” BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer said.

“Of course, this was a difficult decision for us, but it’s a resolute step in view of our company’s strategic realignment,” he said.

“Premium will be increasingly defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility.

This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead.

“We are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability.

“Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us.”

While rumours of the possible departures of Renault and Toyota have been flying around the paddock all season, that of BMW comes as a surprise.

And it had looked as if the sport’s future was assured when the FIA, motor racing’s governing body, announced the completion of negotiations between the FOA (Formula One administration) and the 13 teams who will race in 2010.

It had been thought that this Concorde Agreement, meant to link the two sides until 2012, also included the BMW Sauber team.

The FIA said however they regretted the German team’s decision and hoped the sport had seen the last departure of a major manufacturer.

“The FIA regrets the announcement of BMW’s intended withdrawal from Formula One but is not surprised by it,” the FIA said in a statement.

“It has been clear for some time that motor sport cannot ignore the world economic crisis.

“Car manufacturers cannot be expected to continue to pour large sums of money into Formula One when their survival depends on redundancies, plant closures and the support of the taxpayer.”

BMW have been badly hit by the current economic crisis with profits tumbling by 89.5 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, and group sales dropping 19.5 percent in the first half of 2009.

Hard to justify spending on Formula One following a poor campaign with drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica scoring just eight points this season to leave the team eighth in the nine-team constructors’ championship.

BMW arrived in Formula One in 2000 and in 2005 took over the Swiss team Sauber, to become the BMW Sauber stable which now employs 730 people.

Their only Grand Prix win as BMW Sauber came when Kubica won in Canada in 2008, while he also achieved the team’s only pole position in Bahrain, also in 2008. The team finished third last season behind Ferrari

and McLaren-Mercedes.

Meanwhile, the FIA said they hoped there would be no more departures from the sport.

“This is why the FIA prepared regulations to reduce costs drastically,” the FIA said. “These measures were needed to alleviate the pressure on manufacturers following Honda’s withdrawal, but also to make it possible for new teams to enter.

“Had these regulations not been so strongly opposed by a number of team principals, the withdrawal of BMW and further such announcements in the future might have been avoided.

“Nevertheless, as a result of a sustained cost-cutting campaign by the FIA, new measures are in the process of being agreed which should make it easier for new teams to enter and enable existing ones to participate on much-reduced budgets.

“Hopefully it will be enough to prevent further withdrawals and provide a solid foundation for Formula One.” Meanwhile, BMW’s rival German manufacturer Mercedes confirmed their commitment to the sport.

“We regret the withdrawal of BMW from Formula One. This decision will not have the slightest influence on our commitment to Formula One,” a spokesman said.

And the Formula One teams’ organisation FOTA said they would now do all in their power to help the Swiss-based Sauber team.

“FOTA teams ... are ready to assure all the necessary support to the Swissbased team, whose membership in the association is confirmed, to continue its involvement in the F1 Sport”.

Company security guards check a vehicle entering the driveway of the Marriott hotel in Jakarta on July 29, 2009 as the building reopens for business. Insert photo: a journalist in Jakarta on July 29, 2009 points to the name of “Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top Hafidzohullah” from the page on an Internet blog purportedly speaking on behalf of a group calling itself “Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia”, claimed responsibility for the July 17 twin bombings on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the center of the Indonesian capital. The blog was posted in Indonesian and Arabia on the Google site blogspot.com on July 26 but was only discovered July 29 and reported in the Indonesia media.

FILE - The March 29, 2009 file photo shows BMW Sauber Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld of Germany, right, sliding at the start of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at the Albert Park racetrack in Melbourne, Australia. According to German media reports on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, BMW will leave the Formula One at the end of the season. BMW will hold a press conference later the day.

‘Al-Qaeda’ blog claims bombing as Indonesia hotels re-open Agence France-Presse

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JAKARTA - Two luxury hotels struck by suicide bombers less than two weeks ago re-opened Wednesday in Jakarta, as an Internet blog from “Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia” claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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MANILA - Doctors at a Philippine hospital were Wednesday trying to save a baby girl born with two heads, officials said.

The baby was born late Tuesday

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Police said they could not tell if the claim was authentic but it was

suicide blasts, which killed seven people including six foreigners.

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Baby with two heads born in Philippines

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being investigated as part of the massive probe into the July 17 twin

The message in Indonesian and Arabic is signed by “Abu Muawwidz Nur Din bin Muhammad Top” and praises two “holy warrior brothers” who blew themselves up at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta.

AFP PHOTO / NAT GARCIA

PHILIPPINES : A nurse (R) checks the vital signs of conjoined twins in Manila on July 29, 2009.

and is now under observation at the neo-natal intensive care unit of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila.

A hospital spokeswoman said the baby was stable at the moment, but said she may die if tests proved both heads shared only one set of vital organs. “The rate of survival will depend on the shared organ.

If they only have one heart, they will not survive,” the unidentified spokeswoman told local radio.

Reports said the father Salvador

Arganda was a tricycle driver. He and his wife, Chateria, already have five other children and there was no known history of twins in the family. Officials at the hospital said the extra head appeared to be a twin of the girl who failed to fully separate during the development stage in early pregnancy.

“This is the first case of its kind here in the hospital,” one Fabella doctor said, but said other hospitals in Manila have in the past recorded similar cases.