Edisi 26 Juni 2009 | International Bali Post

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Friday, June 26, 2009

Simoncelli to join Gresini in 2010

Sport

municator. We have established a good feeling with him already and that facilitated negotiations over a contract that we have signed for 2010.”

“Also, Honda rates Simoncelli highly and believes he is a rider with great potential for the future, so Honda is very pleased that we are welcoming Simoncelli next season.”

The team also confirmed the exten-

Last year’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim ran at a loss of approaching six million Euros, with the 2010 race forecast to run at a similar deficit. Ecclestone has written to organisers indicating that he is open to talks over the future of the race. A German event is crucial to a championship that includes Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as five German drivers including Sebastian Vettel, whose profile has risen massively in recent months.

Nurburgring, which alternates the staging of Germany’s grand prix with Hockenheim, is already concerned about the financial im-

PAGE 6

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Security tightens in Kuta beach PAGE 8

sion of its agreement with title sponsors San Carlo.

“We’re extremely happy to be able to make this important announcement: renewing our agreement with San Carlo, who have shown great belief in us and continue to support our targets for next year, and the agreement with Marco Simoncelli to race with us in MotoGP,” Gresini added.

plications of having to run a race every year, meaning that it is not necessarily able to take over the event on a full-time basis. Gunther Oettinger, the prime minister of Baden-Wurttemberg - the region in which Hockenheim is located, is planning to meet with Ecclestone in the next month, and is also pushing for funding from the national government. This gives hope that, despite the City Council’s decision, Hockenheim could still have an F1 future.

Hockenheim could also be a candidate venue for the FOTA breakaway series, if it goes ahead.

6 die in flooding in eastern Czech Republic Associated Press

Hockenheim loses government backing Hockenheim’s chances of holding the German Grand Prix next season have been dealt a major blow, with the local government refusing to continue to underwrite the loss-making race.

Hockenheim City Council - a 94 per cent shareholder in the track - has voted unanimously to drop the race, according to the Deutsche Presse Agentur, although it is understood that should Bernie Ecclestone be willing to negotiate a cheaper deal, the race could continue in 2010 - the final year of its current F1 contract.

16 Pages Number 400 1st Year

Friday, June 26, 2009

Reigning 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli will join the Honda Gresini team in MotoGP next season. The 22-year-old, who has seven 250cc victories to his name, will race for the Italian squad in 2010 after completing this year’s championship in the lower category.

“Marco has that determination and character that we want from a rider as part of his DNA and we are sure we can look ahead to exciting times with him,” said team boss Fausto Gresini.

“Marco has shown over the past couple of years that he has the ability to be a major force in the premier class, as well as being a great com-

Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis declines: UN

Perez Hilton Sues Black Eyed Peas Manager PAGE 12

AFP

Reigning 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli will join the Honda Gresini team in MotoGP next season.

WEATHER FORECAST CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

22 - 31

JAKARTA

24 - 32

BANDUNG

20 - 28

YOGYAKARTA

21 - 32

SURABAYA

25 - 32

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

PRAGUE - At least six people have drowned in flooding that has hit the eastern Czech Republic after heavy rains, officials said Thursday.

Lukas Humpl, spokesman for the regional rescue service, said three people died in the town of Jesenik nad Odrou on Thursday morning. Rescue workers are still searching the town as waters gradually recede, Humpl said.

He said three other people died in nearby towns. In addition, two people died of heart problems while rescuers were struggling to reach them.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated throughout the region and a number of roads and railway lines have been closed as rivers flooded their banks.

The country’s security council will meet later Thursday to assess the situation at the request of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. Fischer expressed his sympathy to the people in the affected area.

The situation remained tense in neighboring Austria Thursday, where driving rain over the past few days caused major flooding in northern, central and eastern parts of the country.

While the water levels of a number of rivers dropped overnight as the downpours diminished, authorities warned that thunderstorms and sporadic showers could cause more problems.

Thousands of firefighters and other rescue crews continued to drain buildings and soaked streets throughout the affected regions.

Continued on page 6

Lebanon re-elects Berri as parliament speaker Agence France-Presse

RAIN

HOTLINE AFP

The F1 drivers while racing at Hockenheim.

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AP Photo/CTK, Jaroslav Ozana

Firefighters on truck powers through high water in Jesenik nad Odrou, North Moravia, on Thursday, June 25, 2009. North Moravia has been hit by heavy rains, causing swollen rivers have flooded hundreds of houses and roads in the Vsetin, North Moravia, and Novy Jicin areas.

AFP PHOTO/RAMZI HAIDAR

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

BEIRUT - Shiite leader Nabih Berri was re-elected to a fifth consecutive term as parliament speaker on Thursday, consolidating his position as one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians.

He was elected by 90 out of 128 votes to enter his 17th straight year as speaker. Twenty-eight legislators cast blank ballots.

“Those who cast blank ballots today I am sure will re-elect me in

four years,” Berri said in his acceptance speech as celebratory gunfire broke out across Beirut.

His re-election comes less than a month after a tightly contested general election saw Berri and his allies in a Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Iran defeated by a Western-backed alliance for the second time in four years.

Berri, who effectively paralyzed parliament for 18 months after five Shiite ministers resigned from cabinet in November 2006, pledged on

Thursday to promote reforms and urged Lebanese leaders to form a national unity government.

A former pro-Syrian militia chief who has held a pivotal role in postcivil war Lebanon, Berri was first elected in 1992, and then again in 1996 and 2000 during the deployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon.

After their withdrawal in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Berri held onto his position as head of Lebanon’s assembly.

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International

Friday, June 26, 2009

News WORLD NEWS

South Carolina governor admits affair Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on Wednesday admitted conducting a months-long affair with a woman in Argentina, but refused to answer questions about whether he would resign from office.

Iranian radio AMSTERDAM - Until the Iranian election this month, Holland’s Radio Zamaneh was more interested in underground music, alternative literature and interviews with Iranian cultural figures than with politics. Now it is one of the few Persian-language sources of unfiltered information for Iranians whose access to news has been strictly controlled since mass protests erupted over disputed presidential elections.

Politkovskaya MOSCOW Russia’s Supreme Court throws out the acquittal of three men accused of murdering journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya and orders a new trial in the case.

Slain singer CAIRO - An Egyptian court ratifies the death sentence of an Egyptian real state mogul and his associate who were convicted in the killing of a Lebanese pop star.

Source: ap

The conservative Republican governor from the southeastern US state made the admission at a press conference he had called to explain his mysterious disappearance over several days last week.

After detailing his previous adventure trips, “profound frustrations” and “emotional” exhaustion following the recent legislative session, he eventually acknowledged having an extramarital affair.

“So, the bottom line is this: I have been unfaithful to my wife,” Sanford, 49, told a crush of reporters.

Sanford’s admission comes in the wake of a similar revelation from another rising Republican star, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who last Tuesday admitted cheating on his wife but did not resign his US Senate seat.

Sanford, once considered a potential Republican contender for the presidential nomination in 2012, said he would resign from his position as head of the Republican Governor’s Association, but refused to say whether he would give up his post as South Carolina’s top executive.

First elected governor in 2002, Sanford has one year left in his second term, and is constitutionally prohibited from running for another term.

The press conference was called after days of speculation as to where Sanford spent a period of five to seven days during which his staff, and even his wife, were unable to confirm his whereabouts.

Sanford’s staff at first said he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but then retracted that statement, provoking a media frenzy that culminated in Wednesday’s bizarre press conference.

The governor spent much of his opening remarks offering apologies — to his wife and four children, his friends, supporters and voters from South Carolina — before announcing his adultery.

Sanford said he had spent a week with a woman in Argentina with whom he had conducted a months-long affair that developed out of an initially “very innocent” eight-year friendship conducted mostly via email.

“It developed into something much more than that,” Sanford admitted.

The governor, whose voice wavered as he brushed away tears, lamented the consequences of his affair.

“I hurt a lot of different folks. All I can say is that I apologize,” he said.

Sanford left unexplained how he first made contact with his distant mistress, but said their relationship began via “casual” emails.

South Carolina’s largest newspaper, The State, on its website printed excerpts of what it says were romantic emails exchanged between Sanford and the woman, identified only as Maria.

“Please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul,” Sanford wrote, according to the paper.

AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wipes his tears as he admitted to having an affair during a news conference in Columbia, S.C Wednesday, June 24, 2009, and said he is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

The scandal also raised concerns about the governor’s previous travel.

Washington-based Politico magazine reported that he has taken at least three taxpayer-paid trips to Argentina since taking office, although it was unclear if he had met the woman on those trips.

The governor said Wednesday he paid for his latest trip himself, and that it came five months after he first admitted his indiscretions to his wife and began attempting to reconcile with her.

“Oddly enough, I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina,” Sanford said.

The affair is likely to deal a deathblow to Sanford’s political future as a Republican candidate who had appealed to constituents with strong family values.

Sanford’s wife Jenny, who was not

at the press conference, issued a statement saying she had asked her husband to leave their home for a trial separation two weeks ago.

“We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago,” the statement said.

“I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.”

The mother of four said she was open to a reconciliation.

“I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work towards reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.”

Blair ‘will cooperate’ with widened British Iraq inquiry Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Former premier Tony Blair will cooperate “fully” with a new British probe into the Iraq war, officials said Wednesday, as the government conceded the inquiry will have the power to apportion blame.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the investigation, announced last week to fulfil a pledge for a probe once British troops have mostly left Iraq, would be independent and able to criticise whoever it wants.

“It can praise or blame whoever it likes. It is free to write its own re-

port at every stage,” Miliband said, in what was widely seen as a concession on the remit of the probe originally intended only to learn lessons from the war.

He was speaking during a parliamentary debate sparked by an opposition call to rethink the inquiry’s terms of reference. Concerns were raised about how much of the inquiry would be conducted behind doors and whether witnesses would be under oath.

There has been much speculation over whether Blair, who controversially took Britain into the 2003 Iraq war alongside then US president George W. Bush, would give evidence — and crucially, whether it would be in public.

The former prime minister’s spokesman said Blair would cooperate with the probe, chaired by Sir John Chilcott, whatever its format.

“As we’ve said all along it is for Sir John Chilcott and the prime minister to agree the format of the inquiry and of course Mr. Blair will fully cooperate with whatever they agree,” the spokesman said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown drew criticism that the probe would be a whitewash when he announced last week that it would be held in private, but Chilcott has since said he wants as much as possible to be heard in public.

Miliband, formerly close to Blair before being named foreign secretary

when Brown became premier in June 2007, denied the government’s initial position was because Blair refused to be quizzed in public.Blair’s spokesman quoted him as saying on Tuesday in New York: “I don’t know how many times I’ve answered questions about Iraq in public, including now. There’s no problem for me answering questions in public.”

The main opposition Conservatives put a motion to parliament Wednesday calling for a re-think of the inquiry’s remit, which was defeated by 299 votes to 260 — but only after six hours of passionate debate.

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International

Friday, June 26, 2009

15

United States celebrate huge victory over Spain Agence France - Presse

BLOEMFONTEIN - Brilliant tactics helped the United States pull off a stunning 2-0 win over Spain and reach the Confederations Cup final, something coach Bob Bradley described as huge.

A first half strike from Villarreal’s Jozy Altidore and another 16 minutes from time by Fulham’s Clint Dempsey did the damage on Wednesday in what will go down as one of the biggest victories in US football history.

They also had a flawless performance by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and a commendable defensive display to thank for earning them a shot at the trophy on Sunday against either Brazil or hosts South Africa. “When you play Spain you certainly have to work very hard as a group to defend.

We made a special point to close down Xavi as best we could to prevent his penetrative passes,” said Bradley.

“We felt strongly that when we got the ball we needed to be aggressive and have the confidence that we could keep the ball and move it. We did a very good job of sealing down the middle of the field. Our backline did very well. It was a team effort to just try and make sure our defending was good and look for moments to score.”

Howard put the shock win down to “hard work and commitment to each other”. He added: “Football is a funny thing...you need to take your chances in front of goal and we defended like bandits. We rode our luck.” It was a remarkable upset on a freezing night that not only ended

Spain’s record of 15 consecutive wins but also prevented them from surpassing Brazil’s 35-match unbeaten run.

Spain will have to be content with going into the history books level with the South Americans after their first loss since November 15, 2006. “For us it’s a big night, huge,” added Bradley. “We’re excited to be in the final and when you’re there you have a chance to win. The motivation will be very high.”

Spain had won all three previous encounters but the United States’ miracle run to the last four, qualifying on goals scored after finishing level with Italy on goal difference, showed they could not be underestimated.

Spain had the first chance of the match but the US weren’t sitting back and Charlie Davies sent a spectacular bicycle kick flashing just wide.

With Dempsey firing a long range drive close soon after it was clear they meant business. At the other end Cesc Fabregas sent a cross in from the left which Fernando Torres volleyed just past the post.

(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

USA’s Clint Dempsey, right, controls the ball as Spain’s Sergio Ramos, left, looks on during their Confederations Cup semifinal soccer match at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The US won 2-0 and advanced to the final.

Del Bosque pays tribute after Spain streak ends We’re hurting, says Xavi

Agence France - Presse

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa - Spain coach Vicente del Bosque paid tribute to his team Thursday after their phenomenal unbeaten run was ended by the United States, vowing they would bounce straight back. The European champions were heavily favoured to make the Confederations Cup final but were outfoxed by the Americans late Wednesday to lose 2-0 in a major upset.

It not only brought an abrupt halt to their world record 15 consecutive wins, in which they conceded just two goals, but also prevented them from surpassing Brazil’s 35-match unbeaten streak.

Spain will have to be content with going into the history books level with the South Americans after their first loss since November 15, 2006.

“We are in the world of sport and it was a strong rival and I cannot be unhappy with the effort made by the team. We did everything we could,” said Del Bosque, who tasted his first defeat since taking over the national team. “It’s never good to lose and we are not used to it but there always comes a moment. We’ve finished the Confederations Cup and we’ll try to win the next match then try to think about our qualification for the World Cup.”

Spain had won all three of their previous encounters with the United States but were undone by Bob Bradley’s tactics, with Barcelona’s influential midfielder Xavi successfully stiffled in the middle. Add in a solid defensive display and a fine performance by Everton’s Tim Howard in goal and it is the United States who will contest the final on Sunday in Johannesburg against Brazil or South Africa.

Despite a long, gruelling season, Spain can’t escape the freezing South African winter just yet with the third-place playoff game on the same day in Rustenburg. “We did a good analysis of the rival,” said the pokerfaced Del Bosque, who had spent the days before the match studying videos of the United States.

They do not spend much time in midfield, they go straight for goal.

We tried to go down the wings because it was too tough for us through the middle. We had many opportunities and they really closed the door for us while our attackers had real problems with their defence.”

The 58-year-old denied that his team were complacent or were thinking about the final before getting through the semis. “No, we are sportsmen and we have to accept this defeat. But fortunately we have a team that can bounce back and has a very good future ahead,” said the former Real Madrid boss.

Agence France - Presse

(AP Photo/Paul White)

Spain’s coach Vicente del Bosque gestures during their Confederations Cup Group A soccer match against South Africa at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Saturday, June 20, 2009.

BLOEMFONTEIN - Barcelona midfielder Xavi says Spain are hurting after failing to make the final of the Confederations Cup. The maestro, who was effectively shut down by the United States in their upset 2-0 in the semi-finals on Wednesday, was disappointed that the European champions’ dreams of another title were shattered.

“It’s a big disappointment and it hurts not to be in the final because we would have liked to be there,” he told reporters. “Nothing went right for us during the match. We had a lot of scoring chances, but none of them went in. It’s a real shame, but I do not believe it is necessary to jump to any negative conclusions. It is important, however, to learn from this defeat.”

The defeat ended Spain’s 15-match unbeaten streak but Xavi denied they had become too confident. “I don’t think this is a lesson in humility for us because the main identity of this team is humility and hard work,” he said.

“We do not have to prove anything. We have a great group of players and our desire and efforts have always been demonstrated on the pitch.”

Captain Iker Casillas admitted the team lost concentration on a freezing night in Bloemfontein. “Something like this had to happen one day and that day was now,” he said. “It was one of those games where you play 10 times and you win nine of them. Well, as it would turn out, we lost. We missed a lot of goalscoring chances and we paid for our two defensive errors.”

Spain must now lift themselves for a third-place play-off against the losers of Thursday’s semi-final between defending champions Brazil and hosts South Africa. “It’s clear that this defeat, our first, really hurts, but now we must play the match for third and fourth placing,” said Xavi.

14

Sport

Friday, June 26, 2009

News

International

International

Federer concerned over betting worries LONDON - Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer admitted on Wednesday that he was concerned over the danger posed by betting in tennis. The world number two was reacting to reports that unusual betting patterns on Austrian number 26 seed Jurgen Melzer’s 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over America’s Wayne Odesnik in the first round here were “very visible”. sets. I didn’t have any knowledge of any betting. I was surprised this morning to read it in the papers.

“Even if he was fit, I would beat him on three sets on grass. I’m now in a strange position. I’m getting asked questions about something I have nothing to do with. It’s bad for tennis.”

Betfair spokesman Mark Davies told the BBC: “We have a memorandum of understanding with the Tennis Integrity Unit which allows them to see patterns of all the betting which takes place on our site and we alerted them to this.

“It was extremely visible to all our customers, the price moving in as quickly as it did. There was a lot of chat about it on our forums. So we would have liaised with the Tennis Integrity Unit and then they can make a judgment whether there is something more sinister in this or whether it is just a question of people being aware of a player who was already significantly under-rated carrying an injury that meant that he was likely to lose.”

3

Clinton welcomes USAID Sudan murder verdicts

Agence France - Presse

The Tennis Integrity Unit is expected to look into the match although there is no suspicion of any wrongdoing. “We don’t talk about it in the locker room, but it’s happened more frequently than we talk about it,” said Federer.

“If it’s happening or not, we are suspecting. We’re not sure.

But, of course, it has no place in tennis. It’s hard to control. But I’m sure the ATP (Association of Tennis Professional) and the ITF (International Tennis Federation), we’re trying our best to catch those guys - if there are any out there. I think we should have massive bans on those who get caught.

We talk about it in the Player Council. Those are things definitely we’re trying to fight. We have a good set-up, so we can’t avoid that there are some funny results sometimes here and there.

That doesn’t mean it’s really happening.”

Melzer, who is not under suspicion, told the Press Association: “I played my match. I won in three

Friday, June 26, 2009

Agence France-Presse

AP Photo/MEHR, Bagher Nassir

In this image issued by the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, greets the media before a meeting with Belarus Parliament speaker Semyon Sharetsky, unseen, in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday June, 24, 2009.

(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Roger Federer of Switzerland plays a return shot to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain during their second round singles match at Wimbledon, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Mirza hoping for tennis take-off in India

Shaq dealt to Cleveland in blockbuster trade, report

Agence France - Presse

Agence France - Presse

LONDON - Sania Mirza hopes that within a few years she won’t be the only Indian tennis star battling at the highest level. Mirza said there was finally plenty of talent beginning to come through the ranks as interest in the sport picks up. And though the 22-year-old does not feel lonely on the tour, she is aware of the pressure on her shoulders as India’s only top-100 player.

“I hope there’s a lot more tennis players, especially women, come up from India,” she said. “We seem to have a lot of talent and with the right kind of backing I hope that we can have instead of just one player playing out there, about five or six. One of the reasons is people aren’t very tennis aware in the country,” she told AFP. “Cricket is more like the sport that people like to play and the masses connect with, but it’s getting better. I don’t know when but hopefully in a few years it will get better and we will have more than one player on the tour. At least there’s a lot of interest and that’s a start.

I remember when we used to play under-10s we were struggling to have eight people fill the draw and now they have draws of 32 and 64 for under 10s and 12s which I think is a big step.”

Mirza’s face is plastered on posters and billboards throughout India and she recognises that she is carrying the weight of national expectation. “There’s always pressure, especially in a country like India where there’s so many people,” she said.

CLEVELAND - The LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired 15-time National Basketball Association all-star Shaquille O’Neal in a blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN reported on Wednesday.

The trade would not only pair O’Neal with superstar James but would also give struggling Phoenix two solid additions in Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. O’Neal, a fourtime NBA championship winner and former first overall pick of the Orlando Magic (1992), would become a dominant force for the Cavaliers.

Nothing is official although ESPN says the trade has been agreed to in principle and an announcement is expected on Thursday.

O’Neal is set to make 20 million dollars in 2009-10. Cleveland unloads Wallace’s 14 million dollar contract and Pavlovic’s five million dollar deal.

O’Neal led the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive NBA titles from 2000-2002.

The 37-year-old giant centre won the most valuable player award in 2000. The Lakers traded O’Neal to Miami and he led the Heat to the title three years ago.

He averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 75 games last season as Phoenix missed the playoffs. Cleveland hopes O’Neal can help the city break its championship drought. The Ohio city hasn’t won an American sports championship since 1964, the year the gridiron Browns won the National Football League title.

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Sania Mirza of India plays a return shot to Sorana Cirstea of Romania during their second round singles match at Wimbledon, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

“But I’ve learned to deal with it over the years and I take it in my stride and that’s how it’s supposed to be, that’s something that’s not in my control. I just have to change the negative pressure into the positive and try and take all the support and go out and perform.”

Mirza, ranked 85 in the world, tumbled out of Wimbledon in the second round, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Romanian number 28 seed Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday. The pair are good friends off the court but fought a close battle on it. “We are professionals and we go out there and give our best, and we come off and we’re friends again. I came back and she was eating lunch with my dad so just before the match we actually had a laugh about that. I just saw her for five minutes.”

(AP Photo/Matt York)

In this April 3, 2009 photo, Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal runs up the court against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Phoenix.

Ahmadinejad tells Obama to stop meddling in Iran Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned his US counterpart Barack Obama on Thursday to stop meddling in Iran’s affairs as the regime clamped down further on the opposition despite growing global concern.

His blunt message came as a top dissident cleric warned Iran’s rulers that their suppression of protests over the disputed election that returned Ahmadinejad to power could threaten the very foundations of the Islamic regime.

“I hope you (Obama) will avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

He said Obama’s comments were similar to those of his predecessor George W. Bush — who took a hard line against Iran — and could torpedo any possible dialogue between the two arch-foes.

“Will you use this language with Iran (in any future dialogue)? If this is your stance, there will be nothing left to talk about,” said Ahmadinejad.

Since taking office Obama has made diplomatic overtures towards Iran, after three decades of severed ties and a standoff with the international community over Tehran’s nuclear drive.

But he has been increasingly critical of the June 12 vote and voiced outrage at the crackdown on protesters who have staged mass demonstrations against what they charge was a rigged election.

Dissent is growing among top figures in Iran, with Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri issuing a new warning to the clerical regime as it battles its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful,” Montazeri said in a statement to AFP. Montazeri, once tipped as a possible successor to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also called for an “impartial” committee to be set up to resolve the crisis.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who has ruled over the nation for 20 years — has insisted he will not back down over the vote and the regime’s security forces are moving swiftly to stop public protests.

In the face of the crackdown, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist parliament speaker who came a distant fourth in the June 12 vote, cancelled a mourning ceremony Thursday but plans to hold it next week, his party website said.

A large force of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside parliament on Wednesday, according to a witness.

Another witness reported seeing police charge at passers-by, who dispersed into nearby streets, with some reports of shots being heard.

At least 17 people have been killed in the post-election violence, state media reports say, but there is no independent confirmation of the toll as the foreign media is barred from the streets.

Despite the restrictions, images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.

The authorities have also intensified a crackdown on opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has branded the election a “shameful fraud” after he lost heavily to Ahmadinejad.

Reports said on Thursday that Iran has jailed more than 140 prominent political activists, journalists and university lecturers since the election, including Mousavi supporters.

The authorities have also spoken of arrested many hundreds of protestors over the unrest, including some people it said had British passports. Iran has also arrested two foreign reporters working for US publications.

In the latest diplomatic snub, the United States said it would no longer issue invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 Independence Day parties at US embassies.

Iran has accused the United States and its close ally Britain in particular of stoking trouble, with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announcing on Wednesday that Tehran may downgrade ties with London.

The two governments have already expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, while a number of other European nations have hauled in Iranian envoys for a dressing down.

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday welcomed the death sentences handed down against four Islamists in Sudan who killed a US aid worker and his driver.

“I believe the guilty verdicts handed down today are an important step in bringing justice for John Granville and Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers murdered in Sudan in 2008,” Clinton said in a statement.

“They were dedicated to bringing peace and stability to Sudan and we honor their memory,” the top US diplomat added.

Granville, 33, and Abbas, 40, were fatally shot in their car on January 1, 2008 while returning from a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Authorities charged five young men with the double murder.

Judge Ahmed al-Badri handed down the much-anticipated sentence in a North Khartoum courtroom, where he sentenced four of the five to death.

Mohamed Mukawi, Abdelbasit Hajj al-Hassan, Mohammed Osman Yousef and Abdelraouf Abu Zeid Mohamed Hamza all received the death penalty for their roles in the killings.

The fifth defendant, Mourad Abdel Rahman Abdallah, received a two year prison sentence because his role was limited to supplying the weapon for the attack, the judge said.

Abdullah has been in jail since January 2008, making him eligible for release in January 2010.

Hamza, one of the four defendants sentenced to death, is the son of the head of a Sudanese Muslim group that is considered peacful and does not have a political affiliation.

The group, Ansar al-Sunna, is linked to Wahhabism, the conservative form of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Washington has had tense relations with Khartoum since the beginning of the 90s.

Sudan is on the US list of countries that harbor terrorists and became the target of US economic sanctions in 1997.

However, despite these differences, FBI agents cooperated with the Sudanese authorities to investigate the two murders.

Russian president arrives in Namibia Agence France-Presse

WINDHOEK - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday arrived in Namibia to discuss investment in exploration and mining of mineral resources, energy, power and transportation.

The first visit by a Kremlin leader, at the head of a delegation of hundreds, has put the emphasis on reviving cooperation in uranium mining and energy production.

Talks to expand economic ties will be a focus of talks between Medvedev and Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Medvedev is expected to visit Okapuka lodge, near Windhoek and afterwards meet Namibia founding father Sam Nujoma.

Russian officials from state diamond monolopy Alrosa, natural gas giant Gazprom, uranium miner AMRZ and others are with Medvedev.

Medvedev has already visited Egypt and Nigeria on the tour. On Wednesday he announced that Russia was ready to invest billions of dollars in Nigeria’s energy sector.

The two countries signed a series of agreements with Gazprom unveiling plans to link vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe via a Trans-Saharan pipeline.

Medvedev will visit Angola on Friday.

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News

Friday, June 26, 2009

International

Venezuela’s Chavez sees CIA hand in Iran unrest Agence France-Presse

MARACAY - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the CIA of being behind anti-government protests rocking Iran, and reaffirmed his support for Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Chavez, who has tried to cultivate ties with the Islamic republic, said the “imperial hand” of the US Central Intelligence Agency — and of Europe — was behind postelection clashes that has killed at least 17 people.

“People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States,” he said.

“From my point of view that is what is happening in Iran.”

Chavez made his comments late Wednesday on the sidelines of a gathering of Latin American leftist leaders in Maracay, central Venezuela.

“Ahmadinejad won the elections legally, we are absolutely sure we know quite a lot about Iranian politics,” Chavez said.

Iran has also claimed the CIA

is behind protests in Iran.

Chavez’ comments echo earlier support for the Iranian president, who the Iranian state says won reelection this month.

In a radio and television address on Sunday, Chavez said: “We call on the world to respect Iran because there are attempts to undermine the strength of the Iranian revolution.”

Venezuela announced on Wednesday that it had decided to exchange ambassadors with the United States, ending a diplomatic spat that led to tit-for-tat expulsions of the envoys in September.

Chavez was at a meeting Wednesday of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a group he has described as an “anti-imperialist” regional trade bloc.

Chavez was joined by Evo Morales of Bolivia, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa.

In a final communique the group expressed support for “the Islamic revolution in Iran, the institutions of the Islamic republic and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Decades missing in Vietnam, ‘they’re going home now’

AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki

U.S. and Vietnam flags fly together on the USNS Bruce C. Heezen, an oceanographic survey ship, atTien Sa Port in Danang, Vietnam, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Agence France-Presse

DANANG - The hot sun was almost unbearable but Alan Segal took off his only protection, a US Marines baseball cap, and held it over his heart to honour fellow servicemen whose names he did not even know.

Beside him another US veteran of the Vietnam War, Rick Janovick, 58, saluted as a military honour guard carried two flagdraped coffins up a ramp and into a US Air Force transport plane taking them home 34 years after the war ended.

Segal and Janovick, who have chosen to live where they once

fought, were among dozens who witnessed Wednesday’s repatriation ceremony which came as the US and Vietnam step up cooperation in the hunt for missing servicemen.

Among the guests were crew from the USNS Bruce C. Heezen, the first US Navy ship to join the search effort. The ship has just completed a 12-day survey for missing American aircraft in waters off central and south-central Vietnam.

The two sets of remains sent home on Wednesday came from the land but US officials hoped the Heezen’s involvement would speed up the search for underwater sites, meaning the remains of airmen still missing at sea could, in the future, also be repatriated with dignity.

Since Vietnam and the US began cooperating more than 20 years ago in the search for the remains of missing US servicemen, more than 600 have been repatriated but about 1,300 are still unaccounted for in Vietnam, the US says.

The Heezen is a civilianmanned oceanographic survey ship ideal for detecting aircraft crash sites on the ocean floor, officials said.

At its heart is an air-conditioned room of humming computers and monitors showing data gathered by the ship’s sonars and other instruments.

Life Style

International

Telescope finds space blobs are pubescent galaxies Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Mysterious space blobs aren’t infant galaxies as astronomers once thought. Scientists say they mostly consist of galaxies going through puberty, all hot and bothered. A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other space and ground telescopes comes up with an explanation for these high-energy glowing blobs that have been observed for about a decade.

AFP PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL

GERMANY, Berlin : (From L to R, sitting) Sub munitions victims and Ban Advocates Branislav Kapetanovic of Serbia, Soraj Ghulan Habib of Afghanistan and Berihu Mesele of Ethiopia pose with Green Party cochairwoman Claudia Roth (2nd from L standing), vice President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Thierse (3rd from L, standing), and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gernot Erler (4th from L, standing) pose in front of Berlin’s parliament building during a public event June 24, 2009, prior to a two-day conference on the destruction of cluster munitions stockpiles which begins in Berlin June 25, 2009.

US, Israel, Russia absent at Berlin cluster bomb talks Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - Delegates from over 80 countries pledging to destroy their cluster bombs started a two-day conference in Berlin on Thursday to assess progress since a 2008 agreement banning the weapons.

Absent however were United States, Israel, Russia and Georgia — countries which have used cluster bombs in recent years and which refuse to sign up the agreement. China, India and Pakistan also stayed away.

A cluster bomb is a weapon fired by artillery or dropped by aircraft that splits open and scatters multiple — often hundreds — of smaller submunitions, or bomblets, over a large area.

Often many of these bomblets fail

to explode immediately and can lie dormant for many years, killing and maiming civilians — many of them children — long after the original conflict is over.

First employed by the German Luftwaffe on the English town of Grimsby in 1943 and by the Red Army the same year, their use really took off in the US bombing of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1960s and 1970s.

Most recently they were deployed by both sides in Georgia’s war with

Russia in 2008, and in Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon in 2006, rights groups say, and by the United States and allies in Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in 2001-02.

They were also put to deadly effect by NATO in Serbia in 1999, by the British in the Falkland Islands in 1982, during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, by Ethiopia and Eritrea, by Morocco and by Sudan, these groups say.

According to a 2006 report by Handicap International, there have been at least 11,000 recorded and confirmed post-conflict casualties and that the actual number — levels of reporting being low — may be as high as 100,000.

Briton details claim of torture in Bangadesh Agence France-Presse

LONDON - A Briton who claims to have been tortured in Bangladesh with the complicity of MI5 agents said Thursday he was accused of organising the 2005 London suicide bombings, and threatened with rape.

Jamil Rahman, who says he faced repeated beatings by Bangladeshi agents over more than two years, claimed Bangladesh agents tried to force him to say he was an Al-Qaeda militant behind the July 7 attacks.

“They stripped me naked and said that if I didn’t say what they wanted me to say, they would rape me and my wife and burn her and other family members,” he told the BBC. “They told me to say I was al

Qaeda and the organiser of the 7/7 bombings” which killed 56, added Rahman, who is taking legal action against Britain’s Home Office over the alleged abuse.

Rahman says he was arrested in 2005 by police in Bangladesh, where he had settled after marrying a Bangladeshi woman. Over three weeks of interrogation, he agreed to make taped confessions to terrorist offences.

After his release, he was frequently summoned for fresh interrogations by security service MI5 and Bangladeshi officials over the next two years, he told the Guardian newspaper last month.

In the new BBC interview, Rahman said MI5 appeared to be the driving force behind his mistreat-

ment in Bangladesh.

“It was all to do with the British.

Even the Bengali intelligence officer told me that they didn’t know anything about me, that they were only doing this for the British,” he told the broadcaster.

The Home Office denied the allegations. “We firmly reject any suggestion that we torture people or ask others to do so on our behalf. Mr Rahman has made a lot of unsubstantiated allegations.

“They have not been evidenced in any court of law,” said a spokesman. The claims come after British police said in March they would investigate claims that MI5 was complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan.

Friday, June 26, 2009

AP Photo/ Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/IoA, S.Chapman

This 2009 handout image provided by NASA is a composite image from a number of telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which shows a space blob in both optical and infrared light.

The blob is the yellow mass of gas. Inside it is an adolescent galaxy in white. The red spots are galaxies seen in the infrared spectrum.

Astronomers looked at 29 of these gaseous blobs in one distant area of the universe, dating back to more than 11 billion years ago. One theory was that they were young galaxies cooling off. But the new research says they are hot and chaotic with gas halos, growing supermassive black holes and about to stabilize. The blobs are the adolescent galaxies and the hydrogen gas, leftover from their creation.

Study lead author James Geach of Durham University in England said in an e-mail that the reason chaos is occurring in the blobs “is due to the violent processes occurring in the galaxies, black hole growth, starbursts, mergers. They’re having a final ‘tantrum’ before they’re done growing and then ‘passively’ evolve to the present day. “These could be the signal of galaxies coming of age,” Geach said later in a telephone news conference.

The research published this month in the Astrophysical Journal “is very exciting” and emphasizes the importance of black holes in the evolutions of galaxies, said Baron Martin Rees, England’s royal astronomer who was not involved in the research. The growth of the interior black holes are related to the growth of the galaxies.

But these “blobs” are special cases. It is unlikely that our Milky Way galaxy went through this process billions of years ago, Rees said.

The Milky Way is too small. The black holes in the middle of the galaxies that are part of these blobs are at least 300 times more massive than the black hole inside our galaxy, he said.

Heads of top U.S. companies snub blogs, Facebook: study Reuters -

NEW YORK - The heads of the top U.S. companies might be engaged in the boardroom, but they’re switched off when it comes to social media, according to a new study that said CEOs should be more connected to their customers. Research conducted by the blog UberCEO.com looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog — and found they were mostly absent from the rapidly growing social media community.

The study found only two CEOs had Twitter accounts and 81 percent of CEOs did not have a personal Facebook page. Only 13 CEOs had profiles on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Three CEOs stood out with more than 80 connections but they were all from tech-

nology companies — Michael Dell from computer maker Dell Inc., Gregory Spierkel from technology products distributor Ingram Micro Inc., and John Chambers from Cisco Systems Ltd. Three quarters of the CEOs did have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those had limited or outdated information such as incorrect titles, or lacked sources.

Not one Fortune 100 CEO had a blog. “It’s shocking that the top CEOs can appear to be so disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating. They’re giving the impression that they’re disconnected, disengaged and disinterested,” said Sharon Barclay, editor at UberCEO.com who runs executive PR firm Blue Trumpet Group.

“No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely, but they’re missing a

fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience and raise their company’s visibility,” Barclay said, referring to financial reporting regulations aimed at protecting investors.

Social networking sites are booming, with the latest figures by Nielsen Online showing the number of minutes spent on them in the United Sates doubling over the past year.

Research conducted by the blog UberCEO.com looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog .

13

AFP/AFP

A third of the world’s open water sharks — including the great white and hammerhead (seen here being photoghaphed by a diver) — face extinction, according to a major conservation survey. Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Third of open ocean sharks face extinction: study Agence France - Presse

PARIS – A third of the world’s open water sharks — including the great white and hammerhead — face extinction, according to a major conservation survey. Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The main culprit is overfishing. Sharks are prized for their meat, and in Asia especially for their fins, a prestige food thought to convey health benefits.

The survey of 64 species of open water, or pelagic, sharks — the most comprehensive ever done — comes days before an international meeting on high-seas tuna fisheries that could potentially play a role in shark conservation.

For decades, significant numbers of sharks — including blue and mako — have perished as “by-catch” in commercial tuna and swordfish operations.

More recently, the soaring value of shark meat has prompted some of these fisheries to target sharks as a lucrative sideline, said Sonja Forham, Policy Director for the Shark Alliance, and co-author of the study. The Spanish fleet of so-called surface longline fishing boats ostensibly targets swordfish, but 70 percent of its catch, by weight, from 2000 to 2004 were pelagic sharks.

“There are currently no restrictions on the number of sharks that these fisheries can harvest,” Fordham told AFP by phone. “Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas.” Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because most species take many years to mature and have relatively few young.

Scientists are also set to meet in Denmark to issue recommendations on the Atlantic porbeagle which, despite dwindling numbers, failed to earn protection at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 2007. Canada led the charge to block the protective measure, supported by Argentina, New Zealand and some Asian countries. Europe is the fastest growing market for meat from the porbeagle and another species, the spiny dogfish.

The demand for shark fins, a traditional Chinese delicacy, has soared along with income levels in China over the last decade. Shark carcasses are often tossed back into the sea by fishermen after the fins are cut off.

Despite bans in international waters, this practice — known as “finning” — is largely unregulated, experts say. The report identified the great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead sharks, as well as giant devil rays as globally endangered.

The smooth hammerhead, great white, basking, and oceanic whitetip sharks are listed as globally vulnerable to extinction, along with two species of makos and three types of threshers.

Some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 80 percent in the past decade alone, according the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The IUCN issues the Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive and authoritative conservation inventory of the world?s plants and animals species.

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Friday, June 26, 2009

News

Friday, June 26, 2009

Australian city on croc alert Agence France-Presse

SYDNEY - Australia’s northern city of Darwin was on high alert on Thursday after a large crocodile was spotted prowling the city’s beaches.

Lifesavers hunted the animal on jetskis and swimmers were urged to stay out of the water after the threemetre (10-foot) saltwater croc was seen near shore trying to snap up dogs.

Surf Life Saving NT chief execu-

tive Tony Snelling said extra volunteers had been called in to watch for the animal.

He expressed concern over the “hundreds, if not thousands” of people who flock to night markets on Darwin’s Mindil Beach to watch the sunset.

The Northern Territory has suffered two fatal crocodile attacks already this year and is estimated to have Australia’s largest population of the animals — some 80,000.

US winding down Afghan poppy destruction: envoy Agence France-Presse

AP Photo/Guillermo Arias

A Mexican soldier patrols the area where drugs were found at the crafts market in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis declines: UN Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis fell last year while production of stimulants rose, the UN drugs chief said Wednesday as he presented the United Nations’ annual report on drugs.

“The embedded story in this report is that the markets for the three main drugs — cocaine, heroin and cannabis — are on a downward trend,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime executive director Antonio Maria Costa told reporters in Washington.

But production of man-made amphetamine-type stimulants — including methamphetamines and ecstasy, which is harder to track — was up, the report showed.

“What was once a cottage industry has become big business,” it noted, citing industrial-sized laboratories in southeast Asia, especially in the Greater Mekong region.

Global drug watchdogs cannot spot cultivation sites of amphetamines by satellite, as they can of cannabis, heroin or cocaine, because the synthetic drugs that can be produced anywhere from a tiny garage to a sprawling factory, said Costa.

“But we have evidence concerning consumption as well as access to medical treatment for the consequences of heavy amphetamine use,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and Brazil have seen significant spikes in amphetamine use, said Costa.

Meanwhile, consumption of cannabis, the most widely used drug in the world, dropped in developed countries, especially among young people. However the psychoactive component in marijuana, THC, has almost doubled in 10 years, the 305-page report said.

Production of opiates fell by 16 per-

cent and shifted its epicenter from Burma to Afghanistan, Costa told reporters.

On the sidelines of the news conference, Costa said the international effort to combat production of opiates is concentrating on “creating conditions where prices are so low that farmers will turn to alternative crops.”

Afghanistan has helped in that quest by producing about twice as much opium as there is demand around the world, forcing prices to decline significantly, Costa said.

Global production of cocaine was down by eight percent last year, seizures were sharply up, and consumption in the United States — where cocaine is “the drug of choice,” according to Costa — was also down.

“Law enforcement has done wonders regarding cocaine... seizing not quite half but 42 percent of total production last year,” said Costa.

“In the United States, you see purity going down to less than 50 percent and prices going up,” both indicative of a shrinking market, said Costa.

Another sign that US cocaine use is on the wane was the “very significant decline in positive workforce tests for cocaine,” he said.

Even in Spain, Britain and Italy, where Costa said cocaine use had grown “like a runaway train” since 2000, usage of the drug was stabilizing.

There are between 20-24 million serious drug users around the world, or less than one percent of the world’s

population, and around 200,000 people die annually of drug-related causes, Costa said.

Both statistics are far below the third of the world population who use tobacco, the five million who die yearly of tobacco-related causes and nearly two million who die because of alcohol, and are “evidence that controls on drugs have contained the problem, at least in terms of casualties,” said Costa, rejecting calls to legalize narcotics.

“While changes are needed, they should be in favor of different means to protect society against drugs rather than by pursuing the goal of abandoning protection,” he said in a preface to the report.

In some countries, five times as many people were jailed for using drugs as for trafficking.

“This is a waste of money for the police, and a waste of lives for those thrown in jail,” noted Costa.

“Go after the piranhas, not the minnows,” he added.

Costa hailed the success of a global effort spearheaded by the UNODC to bolster the fight against drug traffickers in West Africa, which has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of African drug couriers crossing into Europe.

“That is not an indication that West Africa is free of any trafficking,” he said.

“But it is evidence that when humanity gets together and does something, the impact is felt on the ground.”

WASHINGTON - The United States is winding down efforts to destroy poppy in Afghanistan, the US regional envoy said Wednesday, after criticism that the zealous US approach has pushed peasants toward the Taliban.

Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said President Barack Obama’s administration was making “significant adjustments” from the previous George W. Bush team in a bid to root out Islamic extremism.

“We are downgrading our efforts to eradicate crops — spraying — a policy we think is totally ineffectual,” Holbrooke testified before Congress.

He said the money spared would be devoted to stopping trafficking, pursuing drug lords and helping farmers grow other crops.

“We’re not downgrading narcotics, we’re downgrading crop eradication,” Holbrooke said.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world’s heroin, much of which emanates from the southern province of Helmand, where Taliban-led insurgents are waging a bloody campaign against Western and Afghan forces.

Critics, even within the NATOled coalition in Afghanistan, have feared that the United States was pushing impoverished peasants into the Taliban by destroying their key cash crop while funding the extremists.

“Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars we’ve spent on crop eradication has not done any damage to the Taliban. On the contrary, it’s helped them recruit,” Holbrooke said.

“In my experience,” the veteran US diplomat and negotiator said, “this is the least effective program ever.”

Holbrooke said the Obama administration was also ramping up agricultural aid to provide Afghans

with alternative livelihoods.

But his view was challenged by Representative Mark Souder, a member of Bush’s Republican Party, who said Afghanistan was already “the breadbasket of the world” until poppy became more lucrative.

“There has to be some disincentive to plant heroin in addition to an incentive to plant other crops,” Souder said.

“It will not suffice to say, ‘Plant corn,’ when you can get incredible amounts more dollars” with poppy, he said.

General Chip Gregson, the assistant secretary of defense for Asia, said the long-term solution was to improve security and infrastructure in Afghanistan to allow more legitimate agriculture.

“Eradication by itself hurts the farmers,” Gregson told the hearing.

“The people who are making money off the drug trade are not the subsistence farmers — they are the middlemen.”

The Taliban had clamped down on opium production when it imposed its austere brand of Islam on Afghanistan during its five-year rule, which ended in a US-led military operation after the September 11 attacks.

But opium production has since soared into an industry estimated by some experts to be worth 100 million dollars a year, providing a major source of funding for the Taliban.

Antonio Costa, director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said eradication of crops had not worked in Afghanistan and it was more effective to go after high-value targets such as laboratories.

Costa, in Washington to present the annual UN report on drugs, said market forces were also helping. He said Afghanistan was producing double the world demand for opium — sending prices tumbling.

“We want basically conditions where prices are so low that farmers will turn to alternative crops,” Costa said.

6 die...

From page 1 In some places, such as the Medieval town of Steyr in Upper Austria province, cleanup efforts were under way after the water began receding.

In the capital Vienna, the famous Albertina museum began evacuating its storage facility - filled with 950,000 pieces of priceless art - as a precaution after traces of humidity were detected.

11

BUSINESS Expats in Asia best paid, but U.S. and UK-based suffer: poll Reuters

SINGAPORE - Want the good life despite the dire economy? Head east, according to a survey showing some of the world’s highest-paid expatriates live in Asia and the Middle East.

A third of all expats in Russia — the highest proportion in the world — earn more than $250,000 a year, followed closely by expats in Japan and Qatar, according to the 2009 Expat Explorer survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International, the offshore financial services arm of HSBC Holdings.

Between a third and a quarter of foreigners working in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and India earned annual wages of more than $200,000, while countries such as Malaysia, China and India, were ranked among the cheapest for accommodation.

“Asia is home to the highest paid expats in the world, with one in four expats earning more than $200,000 per year,” said the survey (here).

Russia was ranked the number one country overall for expats in terms of wealth. The rest of the top nine were all in Asia and the Middle East.

Building a nest egg is one of

the perks of expat life for many people, and the survey showed that Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, India and the United Arab Emirates were the top five countries where people have increased their savings.

But the global economic crisis has taken a heavy toll on expats in Britain and the United States, where close to a quarter are considering returning home, compared to just 15 percent overall, due to the high cost of living, lack of savings and lower wages.

Generous salaries are also relatively scarce in Australia and Belgium, the survey showed.

More than 60 percent of expats in both countries earn under $100,000, making them the poorest expats wage-wise when compared to a global average of 35 percent.

“We have seen some interesting trends in terms of how expats are reacting to the credit crunch, but what is also interesting to see is that they remain a wealthy group of individuals,” Paul Say, head of marketing and communi-

cations for HSBC Bank International, said in a statement.

“Over half the expats surveyed are actually earning $100,000 and over — no mean feat More than two-thirds of expatriates worldwide said the credit crisis had changed the way they spend their money, with luxuries and day-to-day spending the most affected. Nearly 40 percent said they were saving more for a rainy day.

Over half of the expats in Japan — the highest globally at 53 percent — said they were cutting back on holidays and other perks, while almost one in two expats in Thailand and Hong Kong — the second and third globally, were also scaling back.

In contrast, two-thirds of expats living in Qatar said the global financial crisis would not change their spending attitudes at all, followed by more than half of those living in Bahrain, which HSBC said indicated that some oil-rich Gulf Arab states have not been hit as hard by the downturn.

UBS names new Asia Pacific CEO Reuters

HONG KONG - UBS AG on Thursday announced the appointment of Chi-Won Yoon as chairman and CEO of Asia Pacific, succeeding Rory Tapner, who is leaving the bank after 25 years.

Yoon joined UBS in 1997 as Head of Equity Derivatives, becoming Head of Asia Equities in 2004, Head of Asia Pacific Equities in 2008, and Head of Equities and Fixed Income for the region earlier this year.

Yoon inherits a franchise with a strong equities and M&A platform across Asia Pacific. But the bank also faces several challenges.

Among the first obstacles is getting the new leadership in place. Robert Rankin, the region’s former head of the investment bank, stepped down earlier this year. People inside and outside the bank credited Rankin with playing a key role in building UBS’ business in Asia.

The bank filled Rankin’s

shoes with its Asia Pacific head of M&A and its head of Financial Institutions Group.

UBS, like it’s peers, also lost a lot of bankers in Asia, either through layoffs or to other banks.

After posting huge losses from exposure to subprime mortgage securities, the bank severely cut back on bonuses, which prompted many to leave.

The bank also lost two highly respected Asia Pacific derivatives bankers earlier this year and a team of bankers in that group to a rival.

But despite some setbacks, UBS has kept its Asia Pacific franchise largely in tact, remaining one of the top equities house in the region.

In addition to 9,500 employees in Asia Pacific, the bank says it has the largest wealth management business in the region.

Tapner took over the top Asia role in April 2004, after 5 years in London as joint global head of investment banking. In an interview with Reuters, Tapner said he will fly back to London on Friday to be

with his family. His wife and four children remained in London during his Asia tenure, he said, knowing how much travel time he’d have to log as CEO of the region.

“The targets he set, to substantially grow our revenues and profits from the region, have all been achieved, and the share of group revenues represented by APAC now exceed 20 percent,” said UBS CEO Oswald Grubel in an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

“This from a business that represents only 6 percent of the group’s balance sheet and risk weighted assets, and employs 11 percent of our global workforce.”

Tapner also led the execution of the bank’s China strategy, the memo says.

Yoon holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s in Finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After starting out as an electrical engineer for the U.S. space shuttle program, he joined Wall Street in 1986 covering derivatives.

REUTERS/Jim Young

The U.S. Federal Reserve is reflected in a car as a security officer patrols the front of the building in Washington, June 24, 2009. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stuck to its huge program of buying government and mortgage debt, which is designed to keep borrowing costs low and boost recovery, and said it saw signs that the deep U.S. recession was easing.

Fed holds policy steady sees recession easing Reuters

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stuck to its huge program of buying government and mortgage debt, which is designed to keep borrowing costs low and boost recovery, and said it saw signs that the deep U.S. recession was easing.

The U.S. central bank kept interest rates near zero percent and signaled less concern on deflation, which is considered a threat to the economy because a pattern of falling prices causes consumers and businesses to delay purchases, dragging the economy down further.

It also said inflation would “remain subdued for some time” and provided no hint on an imminent exit from bold policy easing, despite fears among investors the huge U.S. stimulus could stoke price increases.

“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic contraction is slowing,” the Fed said in its policy statement at the end of a two-day meeting. “Conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months.”

The Fed said it decided to hold overnight interest rates in a zero to 0.25 percent range — the level reached in December — and repeated that rates would likely stay unusually low for some time.

But the Fed cautioned that the economy would remain weak for a time, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell on the news. Economists said the Fed’s outlook means rates will be on hold until well into 2010.

“The Fed is highly likely to hold short rates at rock-bottom levels until the volume of economic ‘slack’ ... is

substantially lessened, which means short rates are unlikely to rise any time soon,” Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut, wrote in a client note.

The dollar extended gains against the euro and the yen while prices on U.S. government debt fell in disappointment that the Fed did not increase its purchases of longer-dated Treasuries.

Nine out of the 15 primary dealers polled by Reuters said the Fed will raise interest rates in 2010, and six said the central bank will wait until 2011 before hiking rates.

With the benchmark interbank lending rate virtually at zero, the Fed has focused on driving down other borrowing costs by buying mortgage-related debt and U.S. government bonds.

In its statement, the Fed said it would hold to a previous pledge to buy $1.45 trillion in mortgage-related securities and $300 billion in longer-term government debt.

The central bank dropped a phrase it had used in its April statement in which it warned inflation could run below desired levels for a time — a suggestion that officials were worried about the risk of a troubling downward spiral in prices.

It also did away with a sentence in the April statement that referenced various emergency liquidity programs devised by the Fed during the crisis to stop credit markets freezing.

“The statement wisely avoiding confusing the market with exit strategy discussions but may have signaled a slight backing away from extraordinary support by dropping reference to the ‘range of liquidity programs’,” Michael Feroli, an economist with JP Morgan Chase, said in a note to clients.

10

Business

Friday, June 26, 2009

International

International

Toyota’s new boss warns of two more tough years Reuters

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp’s new president, the grandson of the group’s founder, warned on Thursday the auto industry faces another two tough years as he outlined his strategy to return the world’s No.1 car company to profit.

Toyota aims to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift its focus to marketing a region-specific vehicle line-up, rather than offering a full line-up in every region, Akio Toyoda told his first media conference in the job.

Most of Toyota’s factories around the world are underused as a global recession hammers car sales, sending two of America’s three big car makers into receivership.

Facing a second year of record losses, Toyota aims to cut costs from its already lean operations so it can be profitable using just 70 percent of its factory capacity.

“We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses,” Toyoda told reporters.

Toyoda said European efforts would focus on hybrid models.

Its remodeled Prius hybrid, launched last month, has been a rare

bright spot, winning more than 180,000 orders in Japan.

Production has been limited to two plants so far, creating a bottleneck for delivery, while analysts say the fuel-sipping model could eat into sales of Toyota’s other more profitable cars.

Toyoda has said he aims to steer the company “back to basics” — a promise also made by his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, when he took over in 2005 as Toyota’s factories scrambled to meet soaring demand.

The push for profits would not involve plant closures, Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi told the news conference.

“Right now, the market is very

tough. But in two years, or at most three years, it will recover so we want to make sure we have the means to meet demand then,” said Niimi, who heads manufacturing operations in Toyoda’s new-look executive team.

At the annual meeting this week, Toyota promised shareholders to do better to recover from a 461 billion yen ($4.8 billion) operating loss.

For the year to March 2010, it has forecast an even bigger loss, of 850 billion yen, although consensus forecasts are for a much smaller loss of 495 billion yen.

Unlike bankrupt U.S. rivals Chrysler and General Motors, Toyota has said it plans to ride out the downturn without slashing full-

Indonesia Today

time jobs.

Many industry executives have said recent sales trends in major markets such as the United States and Japan indicate that demand has bottomed, but opinion is divided over when it will recover convincingly.

In the United States, Toyota’s biggest and until recently most profitable market, its sales have dropped 38 percent year to date.

Data issued on Thursday showed Toyota’s global production, including units Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, fell 38 percent last month, to 501,685 vehicles.

Market share in Japan fell 1.3 percentage points despite a midmonth launch of the Prius.

REUTERS/Beawiharta

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

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

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Children play at a paddy field which is covered in mud June 24, 2009 after a mud eruption at Carenang district in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province. A mud eruption occurred last week when a worker was creating a well to supply drinking water for a local health facility, a district official said on Wednesday.

Global fund helping NTB address HIV/AIDS, Malaria problems Antara

Hub:

SICA SECURITY Rimo Trade Center Jl. Diponogoro Lt. II No. C5 Telp. 8047438 233259 ext. 209

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MATARAM - The Geneva-based Global Fund has provided Rp7.05 billion in funds for addressing three diseases, including malaria and HIV/ AIDS, in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

“The three diseases include Malaria and HIV/AIDS, which have infected many people in this region,” dr. Ida Bagus Djelantik, head of the Environment and Disease Control Unit of the NTB health service, said here on Thursday.

The international financial assistance will last for five years, and around Rp4.87 billion has been used from March 2008 until February 2009.

ents, significantly up to 3,577 clients in 2006, 3,572 clients in 2007, and 5,513 clients in 2008. From January to May 2009 there were 2,670 clients.

The number of HIV/AIDS cases in 2007 was 70, and down to 51 cases in 2008. From January to May 2009, the number of HIV/AIDS cases was 31, he said.

Malaria is quite common in NTB and foreign tourists are recommended to get anti-malaria injection before visiting the province.

In 2008, five NTB residents died of malaria, down from 17 deaths in the previous year.

“The number of malaria cases in 2008 was 303, also down from 613 cases in 2007,” he said.

Indonesia’s Pertamina buys BP West Java gas field

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The foreign aid is used for medicine supply and training courses for paramedics, NGO activists and journalists.

Some 19 journalists from several print and electronic media are currently attending a training course in order to improve the role of the media in helping address the HIV/ AIDS problem in NTB. The number of the HIV/AIDS cases in NTB has continued to increase, especially after the operation of five VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV) clinics on Lombok Island, in NTB Province.

The client visit rate for having HIV tests continues to increase annually. In 2005, there were 548 cli-

G.2090-ibp

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina said on Thursday it had agreed to buy BP’s (BP.L) stake in an offshore oil and gas block in West Java for $280 million, as it seeks to increase its upstream business.

BP had put up for sale a 46 percent stake in the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block, which Pertamina said currently produces 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and around 220 billion British thermal units of gas a day.

The oil major has said it wanted

to sell its stake because the block did not fit in with the company’s long-term strategy.

Pertamina’s president said the firm would be the operator of the block and would fund the purchase using its own equity.

“Pertamina plans to increase the production of oil and gas from the block,” Karen Agustiawan said at a signing ceremony.

Other major shareholders in ONWJ include China’s CNOOC (0883.HK) with 36.72 percent and Japan’s Inpex (1605.T) with 7.25 percent.

BP had previously said the sale would not affect BP’s other interests in Indonesia, which include the $5 billion Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Papua.

Pertamina has said it intends to expand its upstream activities to help boost oil and gas production, and was looking at several potential oil and gas fields in the country.

Last December, Pertamina said it was seeking a 30 percent stake in a gas field operated by Inpex in the Timor Sea. However, there has been no deal so far for Pertamina to participate in the field.

Friday, June 26, 2009

7

Six soldiers being interrogated over Papua shooting incident Antara

JAYAPURA - Six members of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) are being interrogated about Monday’s shooting of a young boy near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border in Keerom District, Papua.

“Correct, we are examining six soldiers who were patrolling an area near the border when the shooting of Izak Psakor happened,” Colonel Muhammad Gulton, commander of the Military Police of the Cenderawasih XVII Military Region, told reporters seeking confirmation a number of soldiers had been detained over the case here on Thursday.

The Papua Military Police had also sent a team to the location of the shooting incident, he said.

“We will also call witnesses and the victim to get further information,” he said.

He said that based on data collected earlier, it was doubted that Pesakot’s wound was caused by a bullet from a TNI soldier’s gun as the hole in his chest was very small.

“The guns of TNI soldiers patrolling border areas are of the SS1 type which fire bullets that leaves quite big holes in the targeted bodies. Besides, we also did not find any bloodstains at the location of the incident. There should have been bloodstains if somebody was shot there,” he said.

However, he said, if the soldiers were found guilty, they would be legally processed in accordance with existing laws.

According to information the TNI had collected, the incident happened when six border patrol soldiers who were walking toward Kilometer 500 encountered five local residents, one of whom was suspected of carrying a gun.

Upon seeing the approaching soldiers, the local residents ran, ignoring three warning shots from the soldiers. The soldiers then returned to their post. In the afternoon, the soldiers returned to the shooting location but found nothing suspicious.

The next day, Tuesday (June 23), at around 8 am local time, the soldiers received a report from locals that one resident had been shot in he chest with the bullet piercing his shoulder.

However, Frengky Psakor, Kibai kampong chief, gave a different version of the incident. Izak, his brother Wens Psakor, Wens’ wife Sisilia and daughter Margaretha (two years old) were on their way home from Skotyauw inside PNG after attending a traditional ceremony.

At incident’s location, around three kilometers from their kampong, Kibai, at around 2 pm local time on Monday (June 22), they heard the barking of a dog belonging to the border patrol soldiers. As the dog was barking at them, they became scared and climbed into trees.

“TNI dogs are very dangerous, and according to information from the TNI itself, the only way to avoid such dogs was by climbing into a tree or jumping into a river,” Psakor said.

Wens confirmed Frengkys’ account and added it was raining heavily at the time and difficult to a climb into a tree as it was slippery.

“It so happened Izak was carrying a backpack so it was difficult for him to climb up a tree. When he was releasing his backpack and tried to climb into a tree, gunshots were heard twice, and then my younger brother (Izak) collapsed,” Wens Psakor said.

He said he had shouted for help twice before he heard the gunshots.

“After Izak was shot, I tried to carry him, but he refused, saying that he was shot, and he later fell unconscious,” Wens said.

8

International

Friday, June 26, 2009

Bali Today

Balinese Culture SBY-Boediono billboards dominate Denpasar

31 Bali Art Festival Schedule st

Antara

Friday, June 26 10.00 – 11.30 Leko Pancadarwa Pendem from Jembrana regency located at Kalangan Ayodya 10.00 – 11.30 Handicraft festival located at Wantilan 16.00 – 18.00 Topeng Prembon parade by Topeng Prembon Sanggar Seni Jenggala troupe from Sedah Abianbase, Gianyar located at Wantilan 20.00 – 22.00 Wayang Kulit by Wayang Kulit Bunter Tangi troupe from Terusan Lelateng, Jembrana regency located at Gedung Kriya 20.00 – 23.00 Balinese Song Festival by Buleleng, Klungkung, and Bangli located at Ardha Candra open stage

REUTERS/Murdani Usman

A tourist sits near her surfboard at Kuta beach, Bali Island, December 23, 2008. Lifeguard officers (Balawista) increased the safety level in Kuta beach because the number of visitors increasing greatly during the holiday season.

Security tightens in Kuta beach Antara

DENPASAR – Lifeguard officers (Balawista) increased the safety level in Kuta beach because the number of visitors increasing greatly during the holiday season. I Made Suparka, the coordinator of Badung’s Balawista, said “the officers warned and forbid anyone to swim in the dangerous area marked by red flags. We tighten the safety level because there are so many visitors in the beach.”

The visitors of Kuta beach only can swim in the area between the yellow flags. “The visitors crowded in the afternoon and it was dominated by the domestic tourists. The foreigners usually come on July, especially those from Australia,” added Suparka.

Currently, the condition of Kuta beach is quite calm and the waves only up to 1.5 meters high. Few days ago, the waves were 2 or 3 meters high and it usually brought in strong current.

Suparka said “the condition of the sea

is unpredictable, that’s why we always stay alert. The visitors also must pay attention more on the rules.”

Sometimes, the officers are having trouble in monitoring the visitors because often they swim in the dangerous area.

“Maybe they chose to swim in the more crowded area because often the dangerous area is the one they are looking for.

However, we always on guard to anticipate any problems,” he said.

The main cause of accident is the current. The current is very hard to pre-

dict that’s why the officers always marked the string current area with red flags. The number of lifeguard officers in Badung regency is not adequate to cover the entire coastline. Currently, Badung has 128 officers but the ideal number should be doubled.

To overcome the problem, the Balawista is focusing in the certain area considered dangerous. There are six posts, each consist of eight officers.

Saturday, June 27 10.00 - 11.30 and 11.00 – 12.30 Karawitan Genggong by Sekar Sari troupe from Br. Munduk, umbung Baturiti, Tabanan regency located at Kalangan Angsoka and Kalangan Ayodya 16.00 – 18.00 Topeng Prembon with title ”Niluh Ponjen” by Seni Werdi Senggita troupe from Kerambitan, Tabanan regency located at Kalangan Ayodya 19.00 - 21.00 Contemporary art by Semut troupe from Tabanan located at Wantilan 20.00 - 23.00 Balinese Song Festival by Karangasem, Jembrana, and Tabanan located at Ardha Candra open stage Sunday, June 28 10.00 - 12.00 Children fashion show at Ksirarnawa 10.00 - 12.00 Dance and instrument creation by Tari Bali Wira Kencana troupe from Jakarta located at Wantilan.

10.00 - 12.00 Children Gambuh with title “Pangkep Kabalan” by Kertha Jaya troupe from Denpasar located at Kalangan Ayodya 15.00 - 20.00 Teenager fashion show at Ksirarnawa 16.00 - 18.00 Topeng Prembon parade by Topeng Eka Murti troupe from Desa Pakraman, Tegeh Baturiti, Tabanan located at Wantilan 20.00 - 22.00 Calonarang by Universitas Hindu Indonesia Denpasar located at Gedung Kriya 20.00 - 22.00 Dramatari Arja by RRI Denpasar located at Kalangan Ayodya

Six performances in the BAF Antara

DENPASAR – Six performances were held in the 13th day of the 31stannual Bali Art Festival (BAF) in Art Center Denpasar. The performances started in the morning and carried on until the evening.

The performances were jogeg bumbung which is popular socialize dance for youngster in Bali. The dance was performed by sekaa joged bumbung Winangun Semara

Mandoyo from Jembrana. The performance followed by kerawitan gambang, an instruments used in Pitra Yadnya ceremony or Ngaben.

The gambang was performed by art group from Denpasar in Angsoka stage. Then, there were also pragmentari parade from four regencies in Bali, they were Jembrana, Bangli, Badung, and Denpasar.

Made Santha, the head of Art Division in Bali Cultural Department said that the art performances in the

Friday, June 26, 2009

evening were wayang kulit performance entitled “Arjuna Pasupati” played by Anom Ranuara from Denpasar.

While in the Ardha Candra open stage, there was singing competition. The participants must sing Balinese songs and they came from Badung, Gianyar, and Denpasar.

The perfoamnce was a part of the 220 performances during the PKB. The Bali Art Festival will be closed on July 11th 2009.

Bali Post/Eka

Balinese artists playing Gambang instrument during the 31st Bali Art Festival at Art Center, Denpasar. Six performances were held in the 13th day of the 31st annual Bali Art Festival (PKB) in Art Center Denpasar. One of them is kerawitan gambang, an instruments used in Pitra Yadnya ceremony or Ngaben. The gambang was performed by art group from Denpasar in Angsoka stage.

DENPASAR - Billboards and street banners of presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono (SBYBoediono) dominate Denpasar city and environs.

The pictures of Yudhoyono and Boediono on the billboards and the street banners also are more impressive than those of the two other pairs, namely Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto, and Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto.

Billboards and street banners with Yudhoyono and Boediono’s pictures can be seen in many corners across Denpasar city.

A spokesman of the Denpasar chapter of the Yudhoyono-Boediono success team, Anak Agung Alit, said the SBY-Boediono billboards and street banners were so prominent and numerous thanks to the active participation and cooperation of Yudhoyono’s supporters and sympathizers in the island resort of Bali.

He said Democratic Party legislative candidates who prevailed in the past legislative election had taken the initiative to set up the SBY-Boediono billboards and street banners.

According to Anak Agung, nine of the 45 seats in the Bali Provincial

Legislative Assembly (DPRD) for the 2009-2014 periods were won by Democratic Party candidates.

The nine legislative candidates from the Democratic Party cooperated in setting up the billboards and street banners at strategic corners of Denpasar city.

Anak Agung said that besides the billboards and street banners, thousands of T-shirts with Yudhoyono and Boediono’s picture on them had been distributed all over Bali.

He said added that for Denpasar Barat subdistrict alone with 43 villages, around 30,000 T-shirts had been dis-

tributed.

The T-shirts were provided by the SBY-Boediono success team in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Bali General Election Commission (KPU) member Udi Prayudi said presidential aspirants Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri were scheduled to hold campaign dialogs in Bali on Saturday (June 27) and Sunday (June 29) respectively.

Before Yudhoyono and Megawati’s campaigns in Bali, the third candidate Jusuf Kalla had his turn in the resort island last Saturday (June 29) and Sunday (June 21).

Visitors using masker enter the Sanglah hospital building on Thursday, June 25, 2009.

The Sanglah hospital is the place to quarantine a 22-year-old British woman tested positive for swine flu.

Bali Post/Edi

Ikan Bali (Bali Fish)

Ingredients 1 Fish, about 650-900g dressed Weight.

Preferably sea bass or Mackerel 1 t Salt Oil, for deep frying 2 T Margarine or oil 2 sm Onions, sliced 1 t Sambal Oelek 1/2 t Laos 1/2 t Lemon grass 3 T Tamarind juice Pinch of ground ginger 1 t Brown sugar 1 T Sweet soy sauce Directions Cut fish into serving portions and rub salt all over.

Feep-fry and drain on absorbent paper.

Heat oil and saute sliced onions until lightly brown.

Add sambal oelek, laos, lemon grass, tamarind juice, ginger, brown sugar and soy sauce. Heat thoroughly.

Place fried fish in deep serving dish and pour sauce over it. Serve with rice. (http://asiarecipe.com)

Gulai Daun Singkong Tumbuk (Grilled Fish with Greens)

Ingredients 1/2 Piece fresh ginger, sliced 1 sm Onion, sliced 1 Or 2 fresh, hot red -chilies, seeded, sliced 1/2 ts Salt 1/4 ts Sugar 1/4 ts Turmeric 2 c Coconut milk 1 Whole red snapper or -similar fish, about 1 pound 1 sl Laos [Galangal S.C.] 2 Stalks lemon grass or two -slices lemon 1/4 lb Spinach or Swiss chard, -coarsely chopped Directions Process the ginger, onion, chili, salt, sugar, turmeric and 1/4 cup of the coocnut milk into a smooth paste. Set aside Grill fish over charcoal or in a gas or electric broiler for 2 minutes on each side.

Put the remaining coconut milk and the spice paste in a large skillet and bring to a boil over moderate heat.

Add the laos and lemon grass and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the fish and greens, cook for 15 minutes basting occasionally. Serve warm.

Serves 4 with rice and other dishes. (http:// asiarecipe.com)

9

8

International

Friday, June 26, 2009

Bali Today

Balinese Culture SBY-Boediono billboards dominate Denpasar

31 Bali Art Festival Schedule st

Antara

Friday, June 26 10.00 – 11.30 Leko Pancadarwa Pendem from Jembrana regency located at Kalangan Ayodya 10.00 – 11.30 Handicraft festival located at Wantilan 16.00 – 18.00 Topeng Prembon parade by Topeng Prembon Sanggar Seni Jenggala troupe from Sedah Abianbase, Gianyar located at Wantilan 20.00 – 22.00 Wayang Kulit by Wayang Kulit Bunter Tangi troupe from Terusan Lelateng, Jembrana regency located at Gedung Kriya 20.00 – 23.00 Balinese Song Festival by Buleleng, Klungkung, and Bangli located at Ardha Candra open stage

REUTERS/Murdani Usman

A tourist sits near her surfboard at Kuta beach, Bali Island, December 23, 2008. Lifeguard officers (Balawista) increased the safety level in Kuta beach because the number of visitors increasing greatly during the holiday season.

Security tightens in Kuta beach Antara

DENPASAR – Lifeguard officers (Balawista) increased the safety level in Kuta beach because the number of visitors increasing greatly during the holiday season. I Made Suparka, the coordinator of Badung’s Balawista, said “the officers warned and forbid anyone to swim in the dangerous area marked by red flags. We tighten the safety level because there are so many visitors in the beach.”

The visitors of Kuta beach only can swim in the area between the yellow flags. “The visitors crowded in the afternoon and it was dominated by the domestic tourists. The foreigners usually come on July, especially those from Australia,” added Suparka.

Currently, the condition of Kuta beach is quite calm and the waves only up to 1.5 meters high. Few days ago, the waves were 2 or 3 meters high and it usually brought in strong current.

Suparka said “the condition of the sea

is unpredictable, that’s why we always stay alert. The visitors also must pay attention more on the rules.”

Sometimes, the officers are having trouble in monitoring the visitors because often they swim in the dangerous area.

“Maybe they chose to swim in the more crowded area because often the dangerous area is the one they are looking for.

However, we always on guard to anticipate any problems,” he said.

The main cause of accident is the current. The current is very hard to pre-

dict that’s why the officers always marked the string current area with red flags. The number of lifeguard officers in Badung regency is not adequate to cover the entire coastline. Currently, Badung has 128 officers but the ideal number should be doubled.

To overcome the problem, the Balawista is focusing in the certain area considered dangerous. There are six posts, each consist of eight officers.

Saturday, June 27 10.00 - 11.30 and 11.00 – 12.30 Karawitan Genggong by Sekar Sari troupe from Br. Munduk, umbung Baturiti, Tabanan regency located at Kalangan Angsoka and Kalangan Ayodya 16.00 – 18.00 Topeng Prembon with title ”Niluh Ponjen” by Seni Werdi Senggita troupe from Kerambitan, Tabanan regency located at Kalangan Ayodya 19.00 - 21.00 Contemporary art by Semut troupe from Tabanan located at Wantilan 20.00 - 23.00 Balinese Song Festival by Karangasem, Jembrana, and Tabanan located at Ardha Candra open stage Sunday, June 28 10.00 - 12.00 Children fashion show at Ksirarnawa 10.00 - 12.00 Dance and instrument creation by Tari Bali Wira Kencana troupe from Jakarta located at Wantilan.

10.00 - 12.00 Children Gambuh with title “Pangkep Kabalan” by Kertha Jaya troupe from Denpasar located at Kalangan Ayodya 15.00 - 20.00 Teenager fashion show at Ksirarnawa 16.00 - 18.00 Topeng Prembon parade by Topeng Eka Murti troupe from Desa Pakraman, Tegeh Baturiti, Tabanan located at Wantilan 20.00 - 22.00 Calonarang by Universitas Hindu Indonesia Denpasar located at Gedung Kriya 20.00 - 22.00 Dramatari Arja by RRI Denpasar located at Kalangan Ayodya

Six performances in the BAF Antara

DENPASAR – Six performances were held in the 13th day of the 31stannual Bali Art Festival (BAF) in Art Center Denpasar. The performances started in the morning and carried on until the evening.

The performances were jogeg bumbung which is popular socialize dance for youngster in Bali. The dance was performed by sekaa joged bumbung Winangun Semara

Mandoyo from Jembrana. The performance followed by kerawitan gambang, an instruments used in Pitra Yadnya ceremony or Ngaben.

The gambang was performed by art group from Denpasar in Angsoka stage. Then, there were also pragmentari parade from four regencies in Bali, they were Jembrana, Bangli, Badung, and Denpasar.

Made Santha, the head of Art Division in Bali Cultural Department said that the art performances in the

Friday, June 26, 2009

evening were wayang kulit performance entitled “Arjuna Pasupati” played by Anom Ranuara from Denpasar.

While in the Ardha Candra open stage, there was singing competition. The participants must sing Balinese songs and they came from Badung, Gianyar, and Denpasar.

The perfoamnce was a part of the 220 performances during the PKB. The Bali Art Festival will be closed on July 11th 2009.

Bali Post/Eka

Balinese artists playing Gambang instrument during the 31st Bali Art Festival at Art Center, Denpasar. Six performances were held in the 13th day of the 31st annual Bali Art Festival (PKB) in Art Center Denpasar. One of them is kerawitan gambang, an instruments used in Pitra Yadnya ceremony or Ngaben. The gambang was performed by art group from Denpasar in Angsoka stage.

DENPASAR - Billboards and street banners of presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono (SBYBoediono) dominate Denpasar city and environs.

The pictures of Yudhoyono and Boediono on the billboards and the street banners also are more impressive than those of the two other pairs, namely Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto, and Jusuf Kalla and his running mate Wiranto.

Billboards and street banners with Yudhoyono and Boediono’s pictures can be seen in many corners across Denpasar city.

A spokesman of the Denpasar chapter of the Yudhoyono-Boediono success team, Anak Agung Alit, said the SBY-Boediono billboards and street banners were so prominent and numerous thanks to the active participation and cooperation of Yudhoyono’s supporters and sympathizers in the island resort of Bali.

He said Democratic Party legislative candidates who prevailed in the past legislative election had taken the initiative to set up the SBY-Boediono billboards and street banners.

According to Anak Agung, nine of the 45 seats in the Bali Provincial

Legislative Assembly (DPRD) for the 2009-2014 periods were won by Democratic Party candidates.

The nine legislative candidates from the Democratic Party cooperated in setting up the billboards and street banners at strategic corners of Denpasar city.

Anak Agung said that besides the billboards and street banners, thousands of T-shirts with Yudhoyono and Boediono’s picture on them had been distributed all over Bali.

He said added that for Denpasar Barat subdistrict alone with 43 villages, around 30,000 T-shirts had been dis-

tributed.

The T-shirts were provided by the SBY-Boediono success team in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Bali General Election Commission (KPU) member Udi Prayudi said presidential aspirants Yudhoyono and Megawati Soekarnoputri were scheduled to hold campaign dialogs in Bali on Saturday (June 27) and Sunday (June 29) respectively.

Before Yudhoyono and Megawati’s campaigns in Bali, the third candidate Jusuf Kalla had his turn in the resort island last Saturday (June 29) and Sunday (June 21).

Visitors using masker enter the Sanglah hospital building on Thursday, June 25, 2009.

The Sanglah hospital is the place to quarantine a 22-year-old British woman tested positive for swine flu.

Bali Post/Edi

Ikan Bali (Bali Fish)

Ingredients 1 Fish, about 650-900g dressed Weight.

Preferably sea bass or Mackerel 1 t Salt Oil, for deep frying 2 T Margarine or oil 2 sm Onions, sliced 1 t Sambal Oelek 1/2 t Laos 1/2 t Lemon grass 3 T Tamarind juice Pinch of ground ginger 1 t Brown sugar 1 T Sweet soy sauce Directions Cut fish into serving portions and rub salt all over.

Feep-fry and drain on absorbent paper.

Heat oil and saute sliced onions until lightly brown.

Add sambal oelek, laos, lemon grass, tamarind juice, ginger, brown sugar and soy sauce. Heat thoroughly.

Place fried fish in deep serving dish and pour sauce over it. Serve with rice. (http://asiarecipe.com)

Gulai Daun Singkong Tumbuk (Grilled Fish with Greens)

Ingredients 1/2 Piece fresh ginger, sliced 1 sm Onion, sliced 1 Or 2 fresh, hot red -chilies, seeded, sliced 1/2 ts Salt 1/4 ts Sugar 1/4 ts Turmeric 2 c Coconut milk 1 Whole red snapper or -similar fish, about 1 pound 1 sl Laos [Galangal S.C.] 2 Stalks lemon grass or two -slices lemon 1/4 lb Spinach or Swiss chard, -coarsely chopped Directions Process the ginger, onion, chili, salt, sugar, turmeric and 1/4 cup of the coocnut milk into a smooth paste. Set aside Grill fish over charcoal or in a gas or electric broiler for 2 minutes on each side.

Put the remaining coconut milk and the spice paste in a large skillet and bring to a boil over moderate heat.

Add the laos and lemon grass and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the fish and greens, cook for 15 minutes basting occasionally. Serve warm.

Serves 4 with rice and other dishes. (http:// asiarecipe.com)

9

10

Business

Friday, June 26, 2009

International

International

Toyota’s new boss warns of two more tough years Reuters

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp’s new president, the grandson of the group’s founder, warned on Thursday the auto industry faces another two tough years as he outlined his strategy to return the world’s No.1 car company to profit.

Toyota aims to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift its focus to marketing a region-specific vehicle line-up, rather than offering a full line-up in every region, Akio Toyoda told his first media conference in the job.

Most of Toyota’s factories around the world are underused as a global recession hammers car sales, sending two of America’s three big car makers into receivership.

Facing a second year of record losses, Toyota aims to cut costs from its already lean operations so it can be profitable using just 70 percent of its factory capacity.

“We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses,” Toyoda told reporters.

Toyoda said European efforts would focus on hybrid models.

Its remodeled Prius hybrid, launched last month, has been a rare

bright spot, winning more than 180,000 orders in Japan.

Production has been limited to two plants so far, creating a bottleneck for delivery, while analysts say the fuel-sipping model could eat into sales of Toyota’s other more profitable cars.

Toyoda has said he aims to steer the company “back to basics” — a promise also made by his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, when he took over in 2005 as Toyota’s factories scrambled to meet soaring demand.

The push for profits would not involve plant closures, Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi told the news conference.

“Right now, the market is very

tough. But in two years, or at most three years, it will recover so we want to make sure we have the means to meet demand then,” said Niimi, who heads manufacturing operations in Toyoda’s new-look executive team.

At the annual meeting this week, Toyota promised shareholders to do better to recover from a 461 billion yen ($4.8 billion) operating loss.

For the year to March 2010, it has forecast an even bigger loss, of 850 billion yen, although consensus forecasts are for a much smaller loss of 495 billion yen.

Unlike bankrupt U.S. rivals Chrysler and General Motors, Toyota has said it plans to ride out the downturn without slashing full-

Indonesia Today

time jobs.

Many industry executives have said recent sales trends in major markets such as the United States and Japan indicate that demand has bottomed, but opinion is divided over when it will recover convincingly.

In the United States, Toyota’s biggest and until recently most profitable market, its sales have dropped 38 percent year to date.

Data issued on Thursday showed Toyota’s global production, including units Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, fell 38 percent last month, to 501,685 vehicles.

Market share in Japan fell 1.3 percentage points despite a midmonth launch of the Prius.

REUTERS/Beawiharta

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Children play at a paddy field which is covered in mud June 24, 2009 after a mud eruption at Carenang district in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province. A mud eruption occurred last week when a worker was creating a well to supply drinking water for a local health facility, a district official said on Wednesday.

Global fund helping NTB address HIV/AIDS, Malaria problems Antara

Hub:

SICA SECURITY Rimo Trade Center Jl. Diponogoro Lt. II No. C5 Telp. 8047438 233259 ext. 209

G.1044-ibp

G.1039-ibp

G.1036-ibp

G.2055-ibp

THE CCTV SYSTEM TOTAL SOLUTION

MATARAM - The Geneva-based Global Fund has provided Rp7.05 billion in funds for addressing three diseases, including malaria and HIV/ AIDS, in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

“The three diseases include Malaria and HIV/AIDS, which have infected many people in this region,” dr. Ida Bagus Djelantik, head of the Environment and Disease Control Unit of the NTB health service, said here on Thursday.

The international financial assistance will last for five years, and around Rp4.87 billion has been used from March 2008 until February 2009.

ents, significantly up to 3,577 clients in 2006, 3,572 clients in 2007, and 5,513 clients in 2008. From January to May 2009 there were 2,670 clients.

The number of HIV/AIDS cases in 2007 was 70, and down to 51 cases in 2008. From January to May 2009, the number of HIV/AIDS cases was 31, he said.

Malaria is quite common in NTB and foreign tourists are recommended to get anti-malaria injection before visiting the province.

In 2008, five NTB residents died of malaria, down from 17 deaths in the previous year.

“The number of malaria cases in 2008 was 303, also down from 613 cases in 2007,” he said.

Indonesia’s Pertamina buys BP West Java gas field

Specialis in :

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

Telp. 254-908 ; 254-909 Fax. 254-961

G.1042-ibp

Reuters

G.1043-ibp

The foreign aid is used for medicine supply and training courses for paramedics, NGO activists and journalists.

Some 19 journalists from several print and electronic media are currently attending a training course in order to improve the role of the media in helping address the HIV/ AIDS problem in NTB. The number of the HIV/AIDS cases in NTB has continued to increase, especially after the operation of five VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV) clinics on Lombok Island, in NTB Province.

The client visit rate for having HIV tests continues to increase annually. In 2005, there were 548 cli-

G.2090-ibp

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina said on Thursday it had agreed to buy BP’s (BP.L) stake in an offshore oil and gas block in West Java for $280 million, as it seeks to increase its upstream business.

BP had put up for sale a 46 percent stake in the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block, which Pertamina said currently produces 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and around 220 billion British thermal units of gas a day.

The oil major has said it wanted

to sell its stake because the block did not fit in with the company’s long-term strategy.

Pertamina’s president said the firm would be the operator of the block and would fund the purchase using its own equity.

“Pertamina plans to increase the production of oil and gas from the block,” Karen Agustiawan said at a signing ceremony.

Other major shareholders in ONWJ include China’s CNOOC (0883.HK) with 36.72 percent and Japan’s Inpex (1605.T) with 7.25 percent.

BP had previously said the sale would not affect BP’s other interests in Indonesia, which include the $5 billion Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Papua.

Pertamina has said it intends to expand its upstream activities to help boost oil and gas production, and was looking at several potential oil and gas fields in the country.

Last December, Pertamina said it was seeking a 30 percent stake in a gas field operated by Inpex in the Timor Sea. However, there has been no deal so far for Pertamina to participate in the field.

Friday, June 26, 2009

7

Six soldiers being interrogated over Papua shooting incident Antara

JAYAPURA - Six members of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) are being interrogated about Monday’s shooting of a young boy near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border in Keerom District, Papua.

“Correct, we are examining six soldiers who were patrolling an area near the border when the shooting of Izak Psakor happened,” Colonel Muhammad Gulton, commander of the Military Police of the Cenderawasih XVII Military Region, told reporters seeking confirmation a number of soldiers had been detained over the case here on Thursday.

The Papua Military Police had also sent a team to the location of the shooting incident, he said.

“We will also call witnesses and the victim to get further information,” he said.

He said that based on data collected earlier, it was doubted that Pesakot’s wound was caused by a bullet from a TNI soldier’s gun as the hole in his chest was very small.

“The guns of TNI soldiers patrolling border areas are of the SS1 type which fire bullets that leaves quite big holes in the targeted bodies. Besides, we also did not find any bloodstains at the location of the incident. There should have been bloodstains if somebody was shot there,” he said.

However, he said, if the soldiers were found guilty, they would be legally processed in accordance with existing laws.

According to information the TNI had collected, the incident happened when six border patrol soldiers who were walking toward Kilometer 500 encountered five local residents, one of whom was suspected of carrying a gun.

Upon seeing the approaching soldiers, the local residents ran, ignoring three warning shots from the soldiers. The soldiers then returned to their post. In the afternoon, the soldiers returned to the shooting location but found nothing suspicious.

The next day, Tuesday (June 23), at around 8 am local time, the soldiers received a report from locals that one resident had been shot in he chest with the bullet piercing his shoulder.

However, Frengky Psakor, Kibai kampong chief, gave a different version of the incident. Izak, his brother Wens Psakor, Wens’ wife Sisilia and daughter Margaretha (two years old) were on their way home from Skotyauw inside PNG after attending a traditional ceremony.

At incident’s location, around three kilometers from their kampong, Kibai, at around 2 pm local time on Monday (June 22), they heard the barking of a dog belonging to the border patrol soldiers. As the dog was barking at them, they became scared and climbed into trees.

“TNI dogs are very dangerous, and according to information from the TNI itself, the only way to avoid such dogs was by climbing into a tree or jumping into a river,” Psakor said.

Wens confirmed Frengkys’ account and added it was raining heavily at the time and difficult to a climb into a tree as it was slippery.

“It so happened Izak was carrying a backpack so it was difficult for him to climb up a tree. When he was releasing his backpack and tried to climb into a tree, gunshots were heard twice, and then my younger brother (Izak) collapsed,” Wens Psakor said.

He said he had shouted for help twice before he heard the gunshots.

“After Izak was shot, I tried to carry him, but he refused, saying that he was shot, and he later fell unconscious,” Wens said.

10

Business

Friday, June 26, 2009

International

International

Toyota’s new boss warns of two more tough years Reuters

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp’s new president, the grandson of the group’s founder, warned on Thursday the auto industry faces another two tough years as he outlined his strategy to return the world’s No.1 car company to profit.

Toyota aims to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift its focus to marketing a region-specific vehicle line-up, rather than offering a full line-up in every region, Akio Toyoda told his first media conference in the job.

Most of Toyota’s factories around the world are underused as a global recession hammers car sales, sending two of America’s three big car makers into receivership.

Facing a second year of record losses, Toyota aims to cut costs from its already lean operations so it can be profitable using just 70 percent of its factory capacity.

“We want to do everything possible to avoid a third consecutive year of losses,” Toyoda told reporters.

Toyoda said European efforts would focus on hybrid models.

Its remodeled Prius hybrid, launched last month, has been a rare

bright spot, winning more than 180,000 orders in Japan.

Production has been limited to two plants so far, creating a bottleneck for delivery, while analysts say the fuel-sipping model could eat into sales of Toyota’s other more profitable cars.

Toyoda has said he aims to steer the company “back to basics” — a promise also made by his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, when he took over in 2005 as Toyota’s factories scrambled to meet soaring demand.

The push for profits would not involve plant closures, Executive Vice President Atsushi Niimi told the news conference.

“Right now, the market is very

tough. But in two years, or at most three years, it will recover so we want to make sure we have the means to meet demand then,” said Niimi, who heads manufacturing operations in Toyoda’s new-look executive team.

At the annual meeting this week, Toyota promised shareholders to do better to recover from a 461 billion yen ($4.8 billion) operating loss.

For the year to March 2010, it has forecast an even bigger loss, of 850 billion yen, although consensus forecasts are for a much smaller loss of 495 billion yen.

Unlike bankrupt U.S. rivals Chrysler and General Motors, Toyota has said it plans to ride out the downturn without slashing full-

Indonesia Today

time jobs.

Many industry executives have said recent sales trends in major markets such as the United States and Japan indicate that demand has bottomed, but opinion is divided over when it will recover convincingly.

In the United States, Toyota’s biggest and until recently most profitable market, its sales have dropped 38 percent year to date.

Data issued on Thursday showed Toyota’s global production, including units Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, fell 38 percent last month, to 501,685 vehicles.

Market share in Japan fell 1.3 percentage points despite a midmonth launch of the Prius.

REUTERS/Beawiharta

International Bali Post Classifieds Contact us

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

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

r pe Su ve a S

Children play at a paddy field which is covered in mud June 24, 2009 after a mud eruption at Carenang district in Serang, Indonesia’s Banten province. A mud eruption occurred last week when a worker was creating a well to supply drinking water for a local health facility, a district official said on Wednesday.

Global fund helping NTB address HIV/AIDS, Malaria problems Antara

Hub:

SICA SECURITY Rimo Trade Center Jl. Diponogoro Lt. II No. C5 Telp. 8047438 233259 ext. 209

G.1044-ibp

G.1039-ibp

G.1036-ibp

G.2055-ibp

THE CCTV SYSTEM TOTAL SOLUTION

MATARAM - The Geneva-based Global Fund has provided Rp7.05 billion in funds for addressing three diseases, including malaria and HIV/ AIDS, in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

“The three diseases include Malaria and HIV/AIDS, which have infected many people in this region,” dr. Ida Bagus Djelantik, head of the Environment and Disease Control Unit of the NTB health service, said here on Thursday.

The international financial assistance will last for five years, and around Rp4.87 billion has been used from March 2008 until February 2009.

ents, significantly up to 3,577 clients in 2006, 3,572 clients in 2007, and 5,513 clients in 2008. From January to May 2009 there were 2,670 clients.

The number of HIV/AIDS cases in 2007 was 70, and down to 51 cases in 2008. From January to May 2009, the number of HIV/AIDS cases was 31, he said.

Malaria is quite common in NTB and foreign tourists are recommended to get anti-malaria injection before visiting the province.

In 2008, five NTB residents died of malaria, down from 17 deaths in the previous year.

“The number of malaria cases in 2008 was 303, also down from 613 cases in 2007,” he said.

Indonesia’s Pertamina buys BP West Java gas field

Specialis in :

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

Telp. 254-908 ; 254-909 Fax. 254-961

G.1042-ibp

Reuters

G.1043-ibp

The foreign aid is used for medicine supply and training courses for paramedics, NGO activists and journalists.

Some 19 journalists from several print and electronic media are currently attending a training course in order to improve the role of the media in helping address the HIV/ AIDS problem in NTB. The number of the HIV/AIDS cases in NTB has continued to increase, especially after the operation of five VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV) clinics on Lombok Island, in NTB Province.

The client visit rate for having HIV tests continues to increase annually. In 2005, there were 548 cli-

G.2090-ibp

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s state energy firm Pertamina said on Thursday it had agreed to buy BP’s (BP.L) stake in an offshore oil and gas block in West Java for $280 million, as it seeks to increase its upstream business.

BP had put up for sale a 46 percent stake in the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) block, which Pertamina said currently produces 22,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and around 220 billion British thermal units of gas a day.

The oil major has said it wanted

to sell its stake because the block did not fit in with the company’s long-term strategy.

Pertamina’s president said the firm would be the operator of the block and would fund the purchase using its own equity.

“Pertamina plans to increase the production of oil and gas from the block,” Karen Agustiawan said at a signing ceremony.

Other major shareholders in ONWJ include China’s CNOOC (0883.HK) with 36.72 percent and Japan’s Inpex (1605.T) with 7.25 percent.

BP had previously said the sale would not affect BP’s other interests in Indonesia, which include the $5 billion Tangguh liquefied natural gas project in Papua.

Pertamina has said it intends to expand its upstream activities to help boost oil and gas production, and was looking at several potential oil and gas fields in the country.

Last December, Pertamina said it was seeking a 30 percent stake in a gas field operated by Inpex in the Timor Sea. However, there has been no deal so far for Pertamina to participate in the field.

Friday, June 26, 2009

7

Six soldiers being interrogated over Papua shooting incident Antara

JAYAPURA - Six members of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) are being interrogated about Monday’s shooting of a young boy near the Papua New Guinea (PNG) border in Keerom District, Papua.

“Correct, we are examining six soldiers who were patrolling an area near the border when the shooting of Izak Psakor happened,” Colonel Muhammad Gulton, commander of the Military Police of the Cenderawasih XVII Military Region, told reporters seeking confirmation a number of soldiers had been detained over the case here on Thursday.

The Papua Military Police had also sent a team to the location of the shooting incident, he said.

“We will also call witnesses and the victim to get further information,” he said.

He said that based on data collected earlier, it was doubted that Pesakot’s wound was caused by a bullet from a TNI soldier’s gun as the hole in his chest was very small.

“The guns of TNI soldiers patrolling border areas are of the SS1 type which fire bullets that leaves quite big holes in the targeted bodies. Besides, we also did not find any bloodstains at the location of the incident. There should have been bloodstains if somebody was shot there,” he said.

However, he said, if the soldiers were found guilty, they would be legally processed in accordance with existing laws.

According to information the TNI had collected, the incident happened when six border patrol soldiers who were walking toward Kilometer 500 encountered five local residents, one of whom was suspected of carrying a gun.

Upon seeing the approaching soldiers, the local residents ran, ignoring three warning shots from the soldiers. The soldiers then returned to their post. In the afternoon, the soldiers returned to the shooting location but found nothing suspicious.

The next day, Tuesday (June 23), at around 8 am local time, the soldiers received a report from locals that one resident had been shot in he chest with the bullet piercing his shoulder.

However, Frengky Psakor, Kibai kampong chief, gave a different version of the incident. Izak, his brother Wens Psakor, Wens’ wife Sisilia and daughter Margaretha (two years old) were on their way home from Skotyauw inside PNG after attending a traditional ceremony.

At incident’s location, around three kilometers from their kampong, Kibai, at around 2 pm local time on Monday (June 22), they heard the barking of a dog belonging to the border patrol soldiers. As the dog was barking at them, they became scared and climbed into trees.

“TNI dogs are very dangerous, and according to information from the TNI itself, the only way to avoid such dogs was by climbing into a tree or jumping into a river,” Psakor said.

Wens confirmed Frengkys’ account and added it was raining heavily at the time and difficult to a climb into a tree as it was slippery.

“It so happened Izak was carrying a backpack so it was difficult for him to climb up a tree. When he was releasing his backpack and tried to climb into a tree, gunshots were heard twice, and then my younger brother (Izak) collapsed,” Wens Psakor said.

He said he had shouted for help twice before he heard the gunshots.

“After Izak was shot, I tried to carry him, but he refused, saying that he was shot, and he later fell unconscious,” Wens said.

6

Friday, June 26, 2009

News

Friday, June 26, 2009

Australian city on croc alert Agence France-Presse

SYDNEY - Australia’s northern city of Darwin was on high alert on Thursday after a large crocodile was spotted prowling the city’s beaches.

Lifesavers hunted the animal on jetskis and swimmers were urged to stay out of the water after the threemetre (10-foot) saltwater croc was seen near shore trying to snap up dogs.

Surf Life Saving NT chief execu-

tive Tony Snelling said extra volunteers had been called in to watch for the animal.

He expressed concern over the “hundreds, if not thousands” of people who flock to night markets on Darwin’s Mindil Beach to watch the sunset.

The Northern Territory has suffered two fatal crocodile attacks already this year and is estimated to have Australia’s largest population of the animals — some 80,000.

US winding down Afghan poppy destruction: envoy Agence France-Presse

AP Photo/Guillermo Arias

A Mexican soldier patrols the area where drugs were found at the crafts market in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis declines: UN Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis fell last year while production of stimulants rose, the UN drugs chief said Wednesday as he presented the United Nations’ annual report on drugs.

“The embedded story in this report is that the markets for the three main drugs — cocaine, heroin and cannabis — are on a downward trend,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime executive director Antonio Maria Costa told reporters in Washington.

But production of man-made amphetamine-type stimulants — including methamphetamines and ecstasy, which is harder to track — was up, the report showed.

“What was once a cottage industry has become big business,” it noted, citing industrial-sized laboratories in southeast Asia, especially in the Greater Mekong region.

Global drug watchdogs cannot spot cultivation sites of amphetamines by satellite, as they can of cannabis, heroin or cocaine, because the synthetic drugs that can be produced anywhere from a tiny garage to a sprawling factory, said Costa.

“But we have evidence concerning consumption as well as access to medical treatment for the consequences of heavy amphetamine use,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and Brazil have seen significant spikes in amphetamine use, said Costa.

Meanwhile, consumption of cannabis, the most widely used drug in the world, dropped in developed countries, especially among young people. However the psychoactive component in marijuana, THC, has almost doubled in 10 years, the 305-page report said.

Production of opiates fell by 16 per-

cent and shifted its epicenter from Burma to Afghanistan, Costa told reporters.

On the sidelines of the news conference, Costa said the international effort to combat production of opiates is concentrating on “creating conditions where prices are so low that farmers will turn to alternative crops.”

Afghanistan has helped in that quest by producing about twice as much opium as there is demand around the world, forcing prices to decline significantly, Costa said.

Global production of cocaine was down by eight percent last year, seizures were sharply up, and consumption in the United States — where cocaine is “the drug of choice,” according to Costa — was also down.

“Law enforcement has done wonders regarding cocaine... seizing not quite half but 42 percent of total production last year,” said Costa.

“In the United States, you see purity going down to less than 50 percent and prices going up,” both indicative of a shrinking market, said Costa.

Another sign that US cocaine use is on the wane was the “very significant decline in positive workforce tests for cocaine,” he said.

Even in Spain, Britain and Italy, where Costa said cocaine use had grown “like a runaway train” since 2000, usage of the drug was stabilizing.

There are between 20-24 million serious drug users around the world, or less than one percent of the world’s

population, and around 200,000 people die annually of drug-related causes, Costa said.

Both statistics are far below the third of the world population who use tobacco, the five million who die yearly of tobacco-related causes and nearly two million who die because of alcohol, and are “evidence that controls on drugs have contained the problem, at least in terms of casualties,” said Costa, rejecting calls to legalize narcotics.

“While changes are needed, they should be in favor of different means to protect society against drugs rather than by pursuing the goal of abandoning protection,” he said in a preface to the report.

In some countries, five times as many people were jailed for using drugs as for trafficking.

“This is a waste of money for the police, and a waste of lives for those thrown in jail,” noted Costa.

“Go after the piranhas, not the minnows,” he added.

Costa hailed the success of a global effort spearheaded by the UNODC to bolster the fight against drug traffickers in West Africa, which has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of African drug couriers crossing into Europe.

“That is not an indication that West Africa is free of any trafficking,” he said.

“But it is evidence that when humanity gets together and does something, the impact is felt on the ground.”

WASHINGTON - The United States is winding down efforts to destroy poppy in Afghanistan, the US regional envoy said Wednesday, after criticism that the zealous US approach has pushed peasants toward the Taliban.

Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said President Barack Obama’s administration was making “significant adjustments” from the previous George W. Bush team in a bid to root out Islamic extremism.

“We are downgrading our efforts to eradicate crops — spraying — a policy we think is totally ineffectual,” Holbrooke testified before Congress.

He said the money spared would be devoted to stopping trafficking, pursuing drug lords and helping farmers grow other crops.

“We’re not downgrading narcotics, we’re downgrading crop eradication,” Holbrooke said.

Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of the world’s heroin, much of which emanates from the southern province of Helmand, where Taliban-led insurgents are waging a bloody campaign against Western and Afghan forces.

Critics, even within the NATOled coalition in Afghanistan, have feared that the United States was pushing impoverished peasants into the Taliban by destroying their key cash crop while funding the extremists.

“Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars we’ve spent on crop eradication has not done any damage to the Taliban. On the contrary, it’s helped them recruit,” Holbrooke said.

“In my experience,” the veteran US diplomat and negotiator said, “this is the least effective program ever.”

Holbrooke said the Obama administration was also ramping up agricultural aid to provide Afghans

with alternative livelihoods.

But his view was challenged by Representative Mark Souder, a member of Bush’s Republican Party, who said Afghanistan was already “the breadbasket of the world” until poppy became more lucrative.

“There has to be some disincentive to plant heroin in addition to an incentive to plant other crops,” Souder said.

“It will not suffice to say, ‘Plant corn,’ when you can get incredible amounts more dollars” with poppy, he said.

General Chip Gregson, the assistant secretary of defense for Asia, said the long-term solution was to improve security and infrastructure in Afghanistan to allow more legitimate agriculture.

“Eradication by itself hurts the farmers,” Gregson told the hearing.

“The people who are making money off the drug trade are not the subsistence farmers — they are the middlemen.”

The Taliban had clamped down on opium production when it imposed its austere brand of Islam on Afghanistan during its five-year rule, which ended in a US-led military operation after the September 11 attacks.

But opium production has since soared into an industry estimated by some experts to be worth 100 million dollars a year, providing a major source of funding for the Taliban.

Antonio Costa, director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said eradication of crops had not worked in Afghanistan and it was more effective to go after high-value targets such as laboratories.

Costa, in Washington to present the annual UN report on drugs, said market forces were also helping. He said Afghanistan was producing double the world demand for opium — sending prices tumbling.

“We want basically conditions where prices are so low that farmers will turn to alternative crops,” Costa said.

6 die...

From page 1 In some places, such as the Medieval town of Steyr in Upper Austria province, cleanup efforts were under way after the water began receding.

In the capital Vienna, the famous Albertina museum began evacuating its storage facility - filled with 950,000 pieces of priceless art - as a precaution after traces of humidity were detected.

11

BUSINESS Expats in Asia best paid, but U.S. and UK-based suffer: poll Reuters

SINGAPORE - Want the good life despite the dire economy? Head east, according to a survey showing some of the world’s highest-paid expatriates live in Asia and the Middle East.

A third of all expats in Russia — the highest proportion in the world — earn more than $250,000 a year, followed closely by expats in Japan and Qatar, according to the 2009 Expat Explorer survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International, the offshore financial services arm of HSBC Holdings.

Between a third and a quarter of foreigners working in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and India earned annual wages of more than $200,000, while countries such as Malaysia, China and India, were ranked among the cheapest for accommodation.

“Asia is home to the highest paid expats in the world, with one in four expats earning more than $200,000 per year,” said the survey (here).

Russia was ranked the number one country overall for expats in terms of wealth. The rest of the top nine were all in Asia and the Middle East.

Building a nest egg is one of

the perks of expat life for many people, and the survey showed that Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar, India and the United Arab Emirates were the top five countries where people have increased their savings.

But the global economic crisis has taken a heavy toll on expats in Britain and the United States, where close to a quarter are considering returning home, compared to just 15 percent overall, due to the high cost of living, lack of savings and lower wages.

Generous salaries are also relatively scarce in Australia and Belgium, the survey showed.

More than 60 percent of expats in both countries earn under $100,000, making them the poorest expats wage-wise when compared to a global average of 35 percent.

“We have seen some interesting trends in terms of how expats are reacting to the credit crunch, but what is also interesting to see is that they remain a wealthy group of individuals,” Paul Say, head of marketing and communi-

cations for HSBC Bank International, said in a statement.

“Over half the expats surveyed are actually earning $100,000 and over — no mean feat More than two-thirds of expatriates worldwide said the credit crisis had changed the way they spend their money, with luxuries and day-to-day spending the most affected. Nearly 40 percent said they were saving more for a rainy day.

Over half of the expats in Japan — the highest globally at 53 percent — said they were cutting back on holidays and other perks, while almost one in two expats in Thailand and Hong Kong — the second and third globally, were also scaling back.

In contrast, two-thirds of expats living in Qatar said the global financial crisis would not change their spending attitudes at all, followed by more than half of those living in Bahrain, which HSBC said indicated that some oil-rich Gulf Arab states have not been hit as hard by the downturn.

UBS names new Asia Pacific CEO Reuters

HONG KONG - UBS AG on Thursday announced the appointment of Chi-Won Yoon as chairman and CEO of Asia Pacific, succeeding Rory Tapner, who is leaving the bank after 25 years.

Yoon joined UBS in 1997 as Head of Equity Derivatives, becoming Head of Asia Equities in 2004, Head of Asia Pacific Equities in 2008, and Head of Equities and Fixed Income for the region earlier this year.

Yoon inherits a franchise with a strong equities and M&A platform across Asia Pacific. But the bank also faces several challenges.

Among the first obstacles is getting the new leadership in place. Robert Rankin, the region’s former head of the investment bank, stepped down earlier this year. People inside and outside the bank credited Rankin with playing a key role in building UBS’ business in Asia.

The bank filled Rankin’s

shoes with its Asia Pacific head of M&A and its head of Financial Institutions Group.

UBS, like it’s peers, also lost a lot of bankers in Asia, either through layoffs or to other banks.

After posting huge losses from exposure to subprime mortgage securities, the bank severely cut back on bonuses, which prompted many to leave.

The bank also lost two highly respected Asia Pacific derivatives bankers earlier this year and a team of bankers in that group to a rival.

But despite some setbacks, UBS has kept its Asia Pacific franchise largely in tact, remaining one of the top equities house in the region.

In addition to 9,500 employees in Asia Pacific, the bank says it has the largest wealth management business in the region.

Tapner took over the top Asia role in April 2004, after 5 years in London as joint global head of investment banking. In an interview with Reuters, Tapner said he will fly back to London on Friday to be

with his family. His wife and four children remained in London during his Asia tenure, he said, knowing how much travel time he’d have to log as CEO of the region.

“The targets he set, to substantially grow our revenues and profits from the region, have all been achieved, and the share of group revenues represented by APAC now exceed 20 percent,” said UBS CEO Oswald Grubel in an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

“This from a business that represents only 6 percent of the group’s balance sheet and risk weighted assets, and employs 11 percent of our global workforce.”

Tapner also led the execution of the bank’s China strategy, the memo says.

Yoon holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s in Finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After starting out as an electrical engineer for the U.S. space shuttle program, he joined Wall Street in 1986 covering derivatives.

REUTERS/Jim Young

The U.S. Federal Reserve is reflected in a car as a security officer patrols the front of the building in Washington, June 24, 2009. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stuck to its huge program of buying government and mortgage debt, which is designed to keep borrowing costs low and boost recovery, and said it saw signs that the deep U.S. recession was easing.

Fed holds policy steady sees recession easing Reuters

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stuck to its huge program of buying government and mortgage debt, which is designed to keep borrowing costs low and boost recovery, and said it saw signs that the deep U.S. recession was easing.

The U.S. central bank kept interest rates near zero percent and signaled less concern on deflation, which is considered a threat to the economy because a pattern of falling prices causes consumers and businesses to delay purchases, dragging the economy down further.

It also said inflation would “remain subdued for some time” and provided no hint on an imminent exit from bold policy easing, despite fears among investors the huge U.S. stimulus could stoke price increases.

“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic contraction is slowing,” the Fed said in its policy statement at the end of a two-day meeting. “Conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months.”

The Fed said it decided to hold overnight interest rates in a zero to 0.25 percent range — the level reached in December — and repeated that rates would likely stay unusually low for some time.

But the Fed cautioned that the economy would remain weak for a time, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell on the news. Economists said the Fed’s outlook means rates will be on hold until well into 2010.

“The Fed is highly likely to hold short rates at rock-bottom levels until the volume of economic ‘slack’ ... is

substantially lessened, which means short rates are unlikely to rise any time soon,” Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut, wrote in a client note.

The dollar extended gains against the euro and the yen while prices on U.S. government debt fell in disappointment that the Fed did not increase its purchases of longer-dated Treasuries.

Nine out of the 15 primary dealers polled by Reuters said the Fed will raise interest rates in 2010, and six said the central bank will wait until 2011 before hiking rates.

With the benchmark interbank lending rate virtually at zero, the Fed has focused on driving down other borrowing costs by buying mortgage-related debt and U.S. government bonds.

In its statement, the Fed said it would hold to a previous pledge to buy $1.45 trillion in mortgage-related securities and $300 billion in longer-term government debt.

The central bank dropped a phrase it had used in its April statement in which it warned inflation could run below desired levels for a time — a suggestion that officials were worried about the risk of a troubling downward spiral in prices.

It also did away with a sentence in the April statement that referenced various emergency liquidity programs devised by the Fed during the crisis to stop credit markets freezing.

“The statement wisely avoiding confusing the market with exit strategy discussions but may have signaled a slight backing away from extraordinary support by dropping reference to the ‘range of liquidity programs’,” Michael Feroli, an economist with JP Morgan Chase, said in a note to clients.

12

Entertainment

Friday, June 26, 2009

Michael Madsen is $4 Million In Debt

Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen’s financial woes continue to worsen - the movie tough guy owes thousands of dollars to Hollywood pals Pierce Brosnan and Quentin Tarantino.

The star filed for bankruptcy earlier this month and the legal papers reveal he is heavily in debt to both stars.

The papers, obtained by TMZ.com, state Madsen owes $25,000 in personal loans to the actor, and $1 million to his Reservoir Dogs director, Tarantino. The website reports Madsen is nearly $4 million in debt overall, which is barely covered by his monthly income of $3,392.

Meanwhie BreakPacked with amazing fight scenes and surprising plot twists, noir thriller Break

debuts on DVD July 14 from Cinema Epoch. Featuring an ensemble cast of comic book style characters including veteran actors Michael Madsen and the late David Carradine, this independent film shares the seedy, urban underworld of Frank (Frank Krueger), a detached hit man hired by the city’s crime boss to carry out his dying wish. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurette, cast interviews and deleted scenes.

“Break” had a successful run on the festival circuit, picking up awards for Best Action Film, Best Drama and Best Screenplay.

“Break” is a stylistic noir drama about an introverted hit man, Frank, who is contracted to carry out an unusual job. When the city’s crime boss, known only as The Man (Chad Everett), discovers that he’s terminally ill, he enlists Frank to carry out his own assassination.

The Man, selfish and jealous, doesn’t want to die alone and makes it clear to Frank that he must also take out the woman he loves.

When Frank discovers that The Woman (Sarah Thompson) is his own long lost lover, Frank alters the job making himself the next mark.

Riddled with dark humor and visual spectacle, an action-packed chain of events ensue as Frank and The Woman take on the enemies set out before them while attempting to free themselves from The Man’s jealous grip.

Emma Watson To Quit Acting Harry Potter star Emma Watson plans to quit the movie business once she wraps up work on the wizard franchise - because she doesn’t have a “burning passion” for acting. The 19 year old, who will take up a place at England’s Cambridge University in the autumn, admits she doesn’t have a strong desire to continue working in film once her Harry

Emma Watson

Potter contract expires.

The star, who plays nerdy Hermione Granger in the magical film franchise, admits she will only be tempted back to the business if she finds a role she is extremely passionate about. She tells Teen Vogue magazine, “There’s not, like, a burning passion in me that I have to act and I don’t care what I do.

Until something comes along that I feel as strongly about as I did Hermione - like, I felt that it was life or death - I don’t want to act again.”

Meanwhile Watson has finally stepped out in public with her boyfriend - after more than a year of dating.

Is Emma too young for a 27year-old? The 19 year old showed off Jay Barrymore, who is eight years her senior, as she filmed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment of the wizard franchise, in Scotland over the weekend.

And the actress wasn’t shy about being seen with the 27 year old financier, who she has been in a relationship with since March 2008 - she was photographed openly kissing and cuddling her blond boyfriend.

International

Perez Hilton Sues Black Eyed Peas Manager A new front has opened in the battle between Perez Hilton and the Black Eyed Peas manager accused of hitting him: a civil lawsuit. The homosexual celebrity blogger sued the Peas’ manager in Los Angeles on Wednesday for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

He is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $25,000.

The suit states Hilton is seeking to protect his rights to free speech and claims Molina attacked him because he made critical comments about the Black Eyed Peas’ new album.

Molina was arrested in Toronto early Monday after he allegedly punched Hilton following a heated argument between the blogger and Black Eyed Peas leader will.i.am. An e-mail sent to the group’s publicist was not immediately returned Wednesday.

He may have been born Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., but his name on the streets is Perez Hilton, blogger extraordinaire. The founder of /PageSixSixSix.com, now / perezhilton.com, rose to minor infamy for his up-to-theminute posts on the latest celebrity happenings and mishappenings (usually with his own offensive, albeit tonguein-cheek doodles superimposed onto tabloid photographs of the subject du jour).

Hilton has befriended many of the celebrities he’s lampooned, including Kathy Griffin and possibly even his namesake, Paris Hilton, and was the star of his own reality show, What Perez Sez. In a somewhat bizarre case of life imitating art, Hilton’s notoriety left him victim to the paparazzi’s lens on more than one occasion. Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

LOS ANGELES – Harmless comic characters or racist robots?

The buzz over the summer blockbuster “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” only grew Wednesday as some said two jive-talking Chevy characters were racial caricatures.

Skids and Mudflap, twin robots disguised as compact hatchbacks, constantly brawl and bicker in rap-inspired street slang. They’re forced to acknowledge that they can’t read.

One has a gold tooth.

As good guys, they fight alongside the Autobots and are intended to provide comic relief. But their traits raise the specter of stereotypes most notably seen when Jar Jar Binks, the clumsy, broken-English speaking alien from “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” was criticized as a caricature.

One fan called the Transformers twins “Jar Jar Bots” in a blog post online. Todd Herrold, who watched the movie in New York City, called the characters “outrageous.”

“It’s one thing when robot cars are racial stereotypes,” he said, “but the movie also had a bucktoothed black guy who is briefly in one scene who’s also a stereotype.”

“They’re like the fools,” said 18year-old Nicholas Govede, also of New York City. “The comic relief in a degrading way.”

Not all fans were offended. Twin brothers Jason and William Garcia, 18, who saw the movie in Miami, said they related to the characters — not their illiteracy, but their bickering.

“They were hilarious,” Jason said. “Every movie has their standout character, and I think they were the ones for this movie.”

In Atlanta, Rico Lawson said people were reading too much into the characters. “It was actually funny,” said Lawson, 25, who saw the movie with his girlfriend in Atlanta.

That was the aim, director Michael Bay said in an interview.

“It’s done in fun,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”

Bay said the twins’ parts “were kind of written but not really written, so the voice actors is when we started to really kind of come up

Hong Kong tycoon hoped feng shui could bring back husband Agence France-Presse

HONG KONG - A Hong Kong bartender-turned-soothsayer, fighting for the 13 billion dollar estate of Nina Wang, told a court Thursday the tycoon had asked if she could get her kidnapped husband back using feng shui.

Perez Hilton

Jive-talking twin Transformers raise race issues Associated Press Writer

News

International

with their characters.”

Actor Reno Wilson, who is black, voices Mudflap. Tom Kenny, the white actor behind SpongeBob SquarePants, voices Skids.

Wilson said Wednesday that he never imagined viewers might consider the twins to be racial caricatures. When he took the role, he was told that the alien robots learned about human culture through the Web and that the twins were “wannabe gangster types.”

“It’s an alien who uploaded information from the Internet and put together the conglomeration and formed this cadence, way of speaking and body language that was accumulated over X amount of years of information and that’s what came out,” the 40-year-old actor said.

AP Photo/Paramount Pictures

In this film publicity image released by Paramount Pictures, twin robots, Skids, left, and Mudflap are shown in a scene from, ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

AP Photo/Kin Cheung

Feng shui adviser Tony Chan Chun-chuen, center, arrives at a Hong Kong court Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Chan is expected to testify on his claim of being the beneficiary of Asia’s richest woman Nina Wang’s multibillion dollar estate.

On the second day of his testimony in the epic court battle over Wang’s estate, feng shui master Tony Chan said Wang only spoke about her missing husband, Teddy, on one occasion.

“She asked me whether it’s possible to get Teddy back by using feng shui,” Chan told the court.

The ancient Chinese system of channeling energy is extremely popular in Hong Kong and experts can charge huge sums for advice. Wang became fascinated with it in the years before she died, the court has heard.

Hong Kong’s High Court will decide whether Wang, who at one stage was Asia’s richest woman, left her entire fortune to Chan when she died of cancer in 2007 aged 69.

Opposing Chan’s claim is Wang’s Chinachem Charitable Foundation, which is now controlled by her siblings, who say a will awarding Chan the huge fortune is a fake. Before her death, the pigtailed, mini-skirt-wearing mogul fought a bitter eight-year court battle against her father-in-law for the estate of her late husband Teddy, who was kidnapped for the second time in 1990.

Friday, June 26, 2009

5

Exorcism that killed boy

French church members jailed Agence France-Presse

CAYENNE - A French Guiana court has jailed four church members for up to 12 years for the exorcism of an epileptic teenager who was found dead attached to a cross.

The members of the Celestial Church of Christ were jailed on Wednesday for terms of three to 12 years for “wilful violence that caused death” for 15-year-old Roger Bosse in 2005 in the south American territory.

The court heard that the mother

of the boy, who suffered from mental illness, had brought him to the church for help and was told he was possessed by the devil.

The church members beat the boy repeatedly over a three-day period with reeds and belts and attached him to a cross for the last two days, the position in which he died. A postmortem showed that he had probably died from suffocation.

The Celestial Church of Christ was founded in the west African state of Benin in 1947 and claims millions of adherents worldwide.

‘Sex-bribe’ lecturer arrested in Malaysia Agence France-Presse

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian anti-graft authorities have arrested a lecturer who is accused of demanding sex and money from students in return for giving them pass grades in exams, a top official said Thursday.

The unnamed university lecturer from Selangor state, described as a foreigner in his 40s, was arrested Wednesday after a 24-year-old student lodged a complaint to the AntiCorruption Commission (ACC).

“We are investigating the case. I cannot reveal further details until he

is charged in court,” the ACC deputy head Abu Kassim Mohamed told AFP. “We will try to complete our investigation as soon as possible since it involves a foreigner,” he added.

Abu Kassim did not elaborate.

According to a report in the Star newspaper, the lecturer was said to have approached the victim and told her she did not score a high enough grade in the qualifying exam to continue her Master’s degree.He is then alleged to have demanded sex and money from the student in return for giving her an improved grade, but was refused by the woman, the report added.

Get your European Business Bachelor’s Degree at Stenden University Bali Stenden University Bali is a joint venture between Stenden University The Netherlands and STIE Triatma Mulya in Bali.

Stenden University is an originally Dutch institution with more than 100 years of experience in education. It was first established in 1904 and developed into a global university with currently more than 10.000 students attending its programs in one of the universities’ global campus sites (The Netherlands, South Africa, Qatar and Thailand).

As its newest addition, Stenden University Bali will open its doors in September 2009, offering the 4 year International Hospitality (Hotel) Management (IHM) program completely identical to the highly innovative and excellently rated IHM program as it is given in the Netherlands.

From September 2009 onwards, local and expatriate students living in Indonesia who are interested in obtaining a double Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (European and Indonesian), will have the unique possibility to continue with their undergraduate program at Stenden University Bali without the necessity of going abroad.

Although students at Stenden University Bali can follow the full 4 year program in Bali, they are allowed to follow a part of the IHM

program at another Stenden global campus site. This is called Grand Tour©, a Study Abroad program in which students from a Stenden campus can study for a module or semester at another Stenden campus site.

The Grand Tour program enables students at Stenden University Bali to combine a period of residence abroad with an educational program. The student will gain academic credits towards their degree in Bali.

Deadline for application is August 1, 2009. The application form can be downloaded from the website at www.stenden.com/bali.

For more information about the program and the admission requirements, please contact the details below.

Stenden University Bali Ms Maria Lee (Marketing Assistant) Jalan Kubu Gunung, Banjar Tegal Jaya Dalung, Kuta Utara, Badung Bali 80361 Indonesia Tel 0361 412970 Fax 0361 439298 maria.lee@stenden.com www.stenden.com/bali Adv.388444

4

News

Friday, June 26, 2009

International

Venezuela’s Chavez sees CIA hand in Iran unrest Agence France-Presse

MARACAY - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the CIA of being behind anti-government protests rocking Iran, and reaffirmed his support for Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Chavez, who has tried to cultivate ties with the Islamic republic, said the “imperial hand” of the US Central Intelligence Agency — and of Europe — was behind postelection clashes that has killed at least 17 people.

“People are in the streets, some are dead, they have snipers, and behind this is the CIA, the imperial hand of European countries and the United States,” he said.

“From my point of view that is what is happening in Iran.”

Chavez made his comments late Wednesday on the sidelines of a gathering of Latin American leftist leaders in Maracay, central Venezuela.

“Ahmadinejad won the elections legally, we are absolutely sure we know quite a lot about Iranian politics,” Chavez said.

Iran has also claimed the CIA

is behind protests in Iran.

Chavez’ comments echo earlier support for the Iranian president, who the Iranian state says won reelection this month.

In a radio and television address on Sunday, Chavez said: “We call on the world to respect Iran because there are attempts to undermine the strength of the Iranian revolution.”

Venezuela announced on Wednesday that it had decided to exchange ambassadors with the United States, ending a diplomatic spat that led to tit-for-tat expulsions of the envoys in September.

Chavez was at a meeting Wednesday of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a group he has described as an “anti-imperialist” regional trade bloc.

Chavez was joined by Evo Morales of Bolivia, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa.

In a final communique the group expressed support for “the Islamic revolution in Iran, the institutions of the Islamic republic and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

Decades missing in Vietnam, ‘they’re going home now’

AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki

U.S. and Vietnam flags fly together on the USNS Bruce C. Heezen, an oceanographic survey ship, atTien Sa Port in Danang, Vietnam, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Agence France-Presse

DANANG - The hot sun was almost unbearable but Alan Segal took off his only protection, a US Marines baseball cap, and held it over his heart to honour fellow servicemen whose names he did not even know.

Beside him another US veteran of the Vietnam War, Rick Janovick, 58, saluted as a military honour guard carried two flagdraped coffins up a ramp and into a US Air Force transport plane taking them home 34 years after the war ended.

Segal and Janovick, who have chosen to live where they once

fought, were among dozens who witnessed Wednesday’s repatriation ceremony which came as the US and Vietnam step up cooperation in the hunt for missing servicemen.

Among the guests were crew from the USNS Bruce C. Heezen, the first US Navy ship to join the search effort. The ship has just completed a 12-day survey for missing American aircraft in waters off central and south-central Vietnam.

The two sets of remains sent home on Wednesday came from the land but US officials hoped the Heezen’s involvement would speed up the search for underwater sites, meaning the remains of airmen still missing at sea could, in the future, also be repatriated with dignity.

Since Vietnam and the US began cooperating more than 20 years ago in the search for the remains of missing US servicemen, more than 600 have been repatriated but about 1,300 are still unaccounted for in Vietnam, the US says.

The Heezen is a civilianmanned oceanographic survey ship ideal for detecting aircraft crash sites on the ocean floor, officials said.

At its heart is an air-conditioned room of humming computers and monitors showing data gathered by the ship’s sonars and other instruments.

Life Style

International

Telescope finds space blobs are pubescent galaxies Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Mysterious space blobs aren’t infant galaxies as astronomers once thought. Scientists say they mostly consist of galaxies going through puberty, all hot and bothered. A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other space and ground telescopes comes up with an explanation for these high-energy glowing blobs that have been observed for about a decade.

AFP PHOTO JOHN MACDOUGALL

GERMANY, Berlin : (From L to R, sitting) Sub munitions victims and Ban Advocates Branislav Kapetanovic of Serbia, Soraj Ghulan Habib of Afghanistan and Berihu Mesele of Ethiopia pose with Green Party cochairwoman Claudia Roth (2nd from L standing), vice President of the German Parliament Wolfgang Thierse (3rd from L, standing), and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Gernot Erler (4th from L, standing) pose in front of Berlin’s parliament building during a public event June 24, 2009, prior to a two-day conference on the destruction of cluster munitions stockpiles which begins in Berlin June 25, 2009.

US, Israel, Russia absent at Berlin cluster bomb talks Agence France-Presse

BERLIN - Delegates from over 80 countries pledging to destroy their cluster bombs started a two-day conference in Berlin on Thursday to assess progress since a 2008 agreement banning the weapons.

Absent however were United States, Israel, Russia and Georgia — countries which have used cluster bombs in recent years and which refuse to sign up the agreement. China, India and Pakistan also stayed away.

A cluster bomb is a weapon fired by artillery or dropped by aircraft that splits open and scatters multiple — often hundreds — of smaller submunitions, or bomblets, over a large area.

Often many of these bomblets fail

to explode immediately and can lie dormant for many years, killing and maiming civilians — many of them children — long after the original conflict is over.

First employed by the German Luftwaffe on the English town of Grimsby in 1943 and by the Red Army the same year, their use really took off in the US bombing of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1960s and 1970s.

Most recently they were deployed by both sides in Georgia’s war with

Russia in 2008, and in Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon in 2006, rights groups say, and by the United States and allies in Iraq in 2003 and in Afghanistan in 2001-02.

They were also put to deadly effect by NATO in Serbia in 1999, by the British in the Falkland Islands in 1982, during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, by Ethiopia and Eritrea, by Morocco and by Sudan, these groups say.

According to a 2006 report by Handicap International, there have been at least 11,000 recorded and confirmed post-conflict casualties and that the actual number — levels of reporting being low — may be as high as 100,000.

Briton details claim of torture in Bangadesh Agence France-Presse

LONDON - A Briton who claims to have been tortured in Bangladesh with the complicity of MI5 agents said Thursday he was accused of organising the 2005 London suicide bombings, and threatened with rape.

Jamil Rahman, who says he faced repeated beatings by Bangladeshi agents over more than two years, claimed Bangladesh agents tried to force him to say he was an Al-Qaeda militant behind the July 7 attacks.

“They stripped me naked and said that if I didn’t say what they wanted me to say, they would rape me and my wife and burn her and other family members,” he told the BBC. “They told me to say I was al

Qaeda and the organiser of the 7/7 bombings” which killed 56, added Rahman, who is taking legal action against Britain’s Home Office over the alleged abuse.

Rahman says he was arrested in 2005 by police in Bangladesh, where he had settled after marrying a Bangladeshi woman. Over three weeks of interrogation, he agreed to make taped confessions to terrorist offences.

After his release, he was frequently summoned for fresh interrogations by security service MI5 and Bangladeshi officials over the next two years, he told the Guardian newspaper last month.

In the new BBC interview, Rahman said MI5 appeared to be the driving force behind his mistreat-

ment in Bangladesh.

“It was all to do with the British.

Even the Bengali intelligence officer told me that they didn’t know anything about me, that they were only doing this for the British,” he told the broadcaster.

The Home Office denied the allegations. “We firmly reject any suggestion that we torture people or ask others to do so on our behalf. Mr Rahman has made a lot of unsubstantiated allegations.

“They have not been evidenced in any court of law,” said a spokesman. The claims come after British police said in March they would investigate claims that MI5 was complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan.

Friday, June 26, 2009

AP Photo/ Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/IoA, S.Chapman

This 2009 handout image provided by NASA is a composite image from a number of telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which shows a space blob in both optical and infrared light.

The blob is the yellow mass of gas. Inside it is an adolescent galaxy in white. The red spots are galaxies seen in the infrared spectrum.

Astronomers looked at 29 of these gaseous blobs in one distant area of the universe, dating back to more than 11 billion years ago. One theory was that they were young galaxies cooling off. But the new research says they are hot and chaotic with gas halos, growing supermassive black holes and about to stabilize. The blobs are the adolescent galaxies and the hydrogen gas, leftover from their creation.

Study lead author James Geach of Durham University in England said in an e-mail that the reason chaos is occurring in the blobs “is due to the violent processes occurring in the galaxies, black hole growth, starbursts, mergers. They’re having a final ‘tantrum’ before they’re done growing and then ‘passively’ evolve to the present day. “These could be the signal of galaxies coming of age,” Geach said later in a telephone news conference.

The research published this month in the Astrophysical Journal “is very exciting” and emphasizes the importance of black holes in the evolutions of galaxies, said Baron Martin Rees, England’s royal astronomer who was not involved in the research. The growth of the interior black holes are related to the growth of the galaxies.

But these “blobs” are special cases. It is unlikely that our Milky Way galaxy went through this process billions of years ago, Rees said.

The Milky Way is too small. The black holes in the middle of the galaxies that are part of these blobs are at least 300 times more massive than the black hole inside our galaxy, he said.

Heads of top U.S. companies snub blogs, Facebook: study Reuters -

NEW YORK - The heads of the top U.S. companies might be engaged in the boardroom, but they’re switched off when it comes to social media, according to a new study that said CEOs should be more connected to their customers. Research conducted by the blog UberCEO.com looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog — and found they were mostly absent from the rapidly growing social media community.

The study found only two CEOs had Twitter accounts and 81 percent of CEOs did not have a personal Facebook page. Only 13 CEOs had profiles on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Three CEOs stood out with more than 80 connections but they were all from tech-

nology companies — Michael Dell from computer maker Dell Inc., Gregory Spierkel from technology products distributor Ingram Micro Inc., and John Chambers from Cisco Systems Ltd. Three quarters of the CEOs did have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those had limited or outdated information such as incorrect titles, or lacked sources.

Not one Fortune 100 CEO had a blog. “It’s shocking that the top CEOs can appear to be so disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating. They’re giving the impression that they’re disconnected, disengaged and disinterested,” said Sharon Barclay, editor at UberCEO.com who runs executive PR firm Blue Trumpet Group.

“No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely, but they’re missing a

fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience and raise their company’s visibility,” Barclay said, referring to financial reporting regulations aimed at protecting investors.

Social networking sites are booming, with the latest figures by Nielsen Online showing the number of minutes spent on them in the United Sates doubling over the past year.

Research conducted by the blog UberCEO.com looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog .

13

AFP/AFP

A third of the world’s open water sharks — including the great white and hammerhead (seen here being photoghaphed by a diver) — face extinction, according to a major conservation survey. Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Third of open ocean sharks face extinction: study Agence France - Presse

PARIS – A third of the world’s open water sharks — including the great white and hammerhead — face extinction, according to a major conservation survey. Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The main culprit is overfishing. Sharks are prized for their meat, and in Asia especially for their fins, a prestige food thought to convey health benefits.

The survey of 64 species of open water, or pelagic, sharks — the most comprehensive ever done — comes days before an international meeting on high-seas tuna fisheries that could potentially play a role in shark conservation.

For decades, significant numbers of sharks — including blue and mako — have perished as “by-catch” in commercial tuna and swordfish operations.

More recently, the soaring value of shark meat has prompted some of these fisheries to target sharks as a lucrative sideline, said Sonja Forham, Policy Director for the Shark Alliance, and co-author of the study. The Spanish fleet of so-called surface longline fishing boats ostensibly targets swordfish, but 70 percent of its catch, by weight, from 2000 to 2004 were pelagic sharks.

“There are currently no restrictions on the number of sharks that these fisheries can harvest,” Fordham told AFP by phone. “Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas.” Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because most species take many years to mature and have relatively few young.

Scientists are also set to meet in Denmark to issue recommendations on the Atlantic porbeagle which, despite dwindling numbers, failed to earn protection at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 2007. Canada led the charge to block the protective measure, supported by Argentina, New Zealand and some Asian countries. Europe is the fastest growing market for meat from the porbeagle and another species, the spiny dogfish.

The demand for shark fins, a traditional Chinese delicacy, has soared along with income levels in China over the last decade. Shark carcasses are often tossed back into the sea by fishermen after the fins are cut off.

Despite bans in international waters, this practice — known as “finning” — is largely unregulated, experts say. The report identified the great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead sharks, as well as giant devil rays as globally endangered.

The smooth hammerhead, great white, basking, and oceanic whitetip sharks are listed as globally vulnerable to extinction, along with two species of makos and three types of threshers.

Some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 80 percent in the past decade alone, according the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

The IUCN issues the Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive and authoritative conservation inventory of the world?s plants and animals species.

14

Sport

Friday, June 26, 2009

News

International

International

Federer concerned over betting worries LONDON - Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer admitted on Wednesday that he was concerned over the danger posed by betting in tennis. The world number two was reacting to reports that unusual betting patterns on Austrian number 26 seed Jurgen Melzer’s 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over America’s Wayne Odesnik in the first round here were “very visible”. sets. I didn’t have any knowledge of any betting. I was surprised this morning to read it in the papers.

“Even if he was fit, I would beat him on three sets on grass. I’m now in a strange position. I’m getting asked questions about something I have nothing to do with. It’s bad for tennis.”

Betfair spokesman Mark Davies told the BBC: “We have a memorandum of understanding with the Tennis Integrity Unit which allows them to see patterns of all the betting which takes place on our site and we alerted them to this.

“It was extremely visible to all our customers, the price moving in as quickly as it did. There was a lot of chat about it on our forums. So we would have liaised with the Tennis Integrity Unit and then they can make a judgment whether there is something more sinister in this or whether it is just a question of people being aware of a player who was already significantly under-rated carrying an injury that meant that he was likely to lose.”

3

Clinton welcomes USAID Sudan murder verdicts

Agence France - Presse

The Tennis Integrity Unit is expected to look into the match although there is no suspicion of any wrongdoing. “We don’t talk about it in the locker room, but it’s happened more frequently than we talk about it,” said Federer.

“If it’s happening or not, we are suspecting. We’re not sure.

But, of course, it has no place in tennis. It’s hard to control. But I’m sure the ATP (Association of Tennis Professional) and the ITF (International Tennis Federation), we’re trying our best to catch those guys - if there are any out there. I think we should have massive bans on those who get caught.

We talk about it in the Player Council. Those are things definitely we’re trying to fight. We have a good set-up, so we can’t avoid that there are some funny results sometimes here and there.

That doesn’t mean it’s really happening.”

Melzer, who is not under suspicion, told the Press Association: “I played my match. I won in three

Friday, June 26, 2009

Agence France-Presse

AP Photo/MEHR, Bagher Nassir

In this image issued by the semi-official Iranian Mehr News Agency, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, greets the media before a meeting with Belarus Parliament speaker Semyon Sharetsky, unseen, in Tehran, Iran on Wednesday June, 24, 2009.

(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

Roger Federer of Switzerland plays a return shot to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain during their second round singles match at Wimbledon, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Mirza hoping for tennis take-off in India

Shaq dealt to Cleveland in blockbuster trade, report

Agence France - Presse

Agence France - Presse

LONDON - Sania Mirza hopes that within a few years she won’t be the only Indian tennis star battling at the highest level. Mirza said there was finally plenty of talent beginning to come through the ranks as interest in the sport picks up. And though the 22-year-old does not feel lonely on the tour, she is aware of the pressure on her shoulders as India’s only top-100 player.

“I hope there’s a lot more tennis players, especially women, come up from India,” she said. “We seem to have a lot of talent and with the right kind of backing I hope that we can have instead of just one player playing out there, about five or six. One of the reasons is people aren’t very tennis aware in the country,” she told AFP. “Cricket is more like the sport that people like to play and the masses connect with, but it’s getting better. I don’t know when but hopefully in a few years it will get better and we will have more than one player on the tour. At least there’s a lot of interest and that’s a start.

I remember when we used to play under-10s we were struggling to have eight people fill the draw and now they have draws of 32 and 64 for under 10s and 12s which I think is a big step.”

Mirza’s face is plastered on posters and billboards throughout India and she recognises that she is carrying the weight of national expectation. “There’s always pressure, especially in a country like India where there’s so many people,” she said.

CLEVELAND - The LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired 15-time National Basketball Association all-star Shaquille O’Neal in a blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN reported on Wednesday.

The trade would not only pair O’Neal with superstar James but would also give struggling Phoenix two solid additions in Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. O’Neal, a fourtime NBA championship winner and former first overall pick of the Orlando Magic (1992), would become a dominant force for the Cavaliers.

Nothing is official although ESPN says the trade has been agreed to in principle and an announcement is expected on Thursday.

O’Neal is set to make 20 million dollars in 2009-10. Cleveland unloads Wallace’s 14 million dollar contract and Pavlovic’s five million dollar deal.

O’Neal led the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive NBA titles from 2000-2002.

The 37-year-old giant centre won the most valuable player award in 2000. The Lakers traded O’Neal to Miami and he led the Heat to the title three years ago.

He averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds in 75 games last season as Phoenix missed the playoffs. Cleveland hopes O’Neal can help the city break its championship drought. The Ohio city hasn’t won an American sports championship since 1964, the year the gridiron Browns won the National Football League title.

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Sania Mirza of India plays a return shot to Sorana Cirstea of Romania during their second round singles match at Wimbledon, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

“But I’ve learned to deal with it over the years and I take it in my stride and that’s how it’s supposed to be, that’s something that’s not in my control. I just have to change the negative pressure into the positive and try and take all the support and go out and perform.”

Mirza, ranked 85 in the world, tumbled out of Wimbledon in the second round, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Romanian number 28 seed Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday. The pair are good friends off the court but fought a close battle on it. “We are professionals and we go out there and give our best, and we come off and we’re friends again. I came back and she was eating lunch with my dad so just before the match we actually had a laugh about that. I just saw her for five minutes.”

(AP Photo/Matt York)

In this April 3, 2009 photo, Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal runs up the court against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Phoenix.

Ahmadinejad tells Obama to stop meddling in Iran Agence France-Presse

TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned his US counterpart Barack Obama on Thursday to stop meddling in Iran’s affairs as the regime clamped down further on the opposition despite growing global concern.

His blunt message came as a top dissident cleric warned Iran’s rulers that their suppression of protests over the disputed election that returned Ahmadinejad to power could threaten the very foundations of the Islamic regime.

“I hope you (Obama) will avoid interfering in Iran’s affairs,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

He said Obama’s comments were similar to those of his predecessor George W. Bush — who took a hard line against Iran — and could torpedo any possible dialogue between the two arch-foes.

“Will you use this language with Iran (in any future dialogue)? If this is your stance, there will be nothing left to talk about,” said Ahmadinejad.

Since taking office Obama has made diplomatic overtures towards Iran, after three decades of severed ties and a standoff with the international community over Tehran’s nuclear drive.

But he has been increasingly critical of the June 12 vote and voiced outrage at the crackdown on protesters who have staged mass demonstrations against what they charge was a rigged election.

Dissent is growing among top figures in Iran, with Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri issuing a new warning to the clerical regime as it battles its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful,” Montazeri said in a statement to AFP. Montazeri, once tipped as a possible successor to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also called for an “impartial” committee to be set up to resolve the crisis.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who has ruled over the nation for 20 years — has insisted he will not back down over the vote and the regime’s security forces are moving swiftly to stop public protests.

In the face of the crackdown, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist parliament speaker who came a distant fourth in the June 12 vote, cancelled a mourning ceremony Thursday but plans to hold it next week, his party website said.

A large force of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside parliament on Wednesday, according to a witness.

Another witness reported seeing police charge at passers-by, who dispersed into nearby streets, with some reports of shots being heard.

At least 17 people have been killed in the post-election violence, state media reports say, but there is no independent confirmation of the toll as the foreign media is barred from the streets.

Despite the restrictions, images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.

The authorities have also intensified a crackdown on opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has branded the election a “shameful fraud” after he lost heavily to Ahmadinejad.

Reports said on Thursday that Iran has jailed more than 140 prominent political activists, journalists and university lecturers since the election, including Mousavi supporters.

The authorities have also spoken of arrested many hundreds of protestors over the unrest, including some people it said had British passports. Iran has also arrested two foreign reporters working for US publications.

In the latest diplomatic snub, the United States said it would no longer issue invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 Independence Day parties at US embassies.

Iran has accused the United States and its close ally Britain in particular of stoking trouble, with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announcing on Wednesday that Tehran may downgrade ties with London.

The two governments have already expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, while a number of other European nations have hauled in Iranian envoys for a dressing down.

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday welcomed the death sentences handed down against four Islamists in Sudan who killed a US aid worker and his driver.

“I believe the guilty verdicts handed down today are an important step in bringing justice for John Granville and Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers murdered in Sudan in 2008,” Clinton said in a statement.

“They were dedicated to bringing peace and stability to Sudan and we honor their memory,” the top US diplomat added.

Granville, 33, and Abbas, 40, were fatally shot in their car on January 1, 2008 while returning from a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Authorities charged five young men with the double murder.

Judge Ahmed al-Badri handed down the much-anticipated sentence in a North Khartoum courtroom, where he sentenced four of the five to death.

Mohamed Mukawi, Abdelbasit Hajj al-Hassan, Mohammed Osman Yousef and Abdelraouf Abu Zeid Mohamed Hamza all received the death penalty for their roles in the killings.

The fifth defendant, Mourad Abdel Rahman Abdallah, received a two year prison sentence because his role was limited to supplying the weapon for the attack, the judge said.

Abdullah has been in jail since January 2008, making him eligible for release in January 2010.

Hamza, one of the four defendants sentenced to death, is the son of the head of a Sudanese Muslim group that is considered peacful and does not have a political affiliation.

The group, Ansar al-Sunna, is linked to Wahhabism, the conservative form of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia.

Washington has had tense relations with Khartoum since the beginning of the 90s.

Sudan is on the US list of countries that harbor terrorists and became the target of US economic sanctions in 1997.

However, despite these differences, FBI agents cooperated with the Sudanese authorities to investigate the two murders.

Russian president arrives in Namibia Agence France-Presse

WINDHOEK - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday arrived in Namibia to discuss investment in exploration and mining of mineral resources, energy, power and transportation.

The first visit by a Kremlin leader, at the head of a delegation of hundreds, has put the emphasis on reviving cooperation in uranium mining and energy production.

Talks to expand economic ties will be a focus of talks between Medvedev and Namibia’s President Hifikepunye Pohamba.

Medvedev is expected to visit Okapuka lodge, near Windhoek and afterwards meet Namibia founding father Sam Nujoma.

Russian officials from state diamond monolopy Alrosa, natural gas giant Gazprom, uranium miner AMRZ and others are with Medvedev.

Medvedev has already visited Egypt and Nigeria on the tour. On Wednesday he announced that Russia was ready to invest billions of dollars in Nigeria’s energy sector.

The two countries signed a series of agreements with Gazprom unveiling plans to link vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe via a Trans-Saharan pipeline.

Medvedev will visit Angola on Friday.

2

International

Friday, June 26, 2009

News WORLD NEWS

South Carolina governor admits affair Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford on Wednesday admitted conducting a months-long affair with a woman in Argentina, but refused to answer questions about whether he would resign from office.

Iranian radio AMSTERDAM - Until the Iranian election this month, Holland’s Radio Zamaneh was more interested in underground music, alternative literature and interviews with Iranian cultural figures than with politics. Now it is one of the few Persian-language sources of unfiltered information for Iranians whose access to news has been strictly controlled since mass protests erupted over disputed presidential elections.

Politkovskaya MOSCOW Russia’s Supreme Court throws out the acquittal of three men accused of murdering journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya and orders a new trial in the case.

Slain singer CAIRO - An Egyptian court ratifies the death sentence of an Egyptian real state mogul and his associate who were convicted in the killing of a Lebanese pop star.

Source: ap

The conservative Republican governor from the southeastern US state made the admission at a press conference he had called to explain his mysterious disappearance over several days last week.

After detailing his previous adventure trips, “profound frustrations” and “emotional” exhaustion following the recent legislative session, he eventually acknowledged having an extramarital affair.

“So, the bottom line is this: I have been unfaithful to my wife,” Sanford, 49, told a crush of reporters.

Sanford’s admission comes in the wake of a similar revelation from another rising Republican star, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, who last Tuesday admitted cheating on his wife but did not resign his US Senate seat.

Sanford, once considered a potential Republican contender for the presidential nomination in 2012, said he would resign from his position as head of the Republican Governor’s Association, but refused to say whether he would give up his post as South Carolina’s top executive.

First elected governor in 2002, Sanford has one year left in his second term, and is constitutionally prohibited from running for another term.

The press conference was called after days of speculation as to where Sanford spent a period of five to seven days during which his staff, and even his wife, were unable to confirm his whereabouts.

Sanford’s staff at first said he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but then retracted that statement, provoking a media frenzy that culminated in Wednesday’s bizarre press conference.

The governor spent much of his opening remarks offering apologies — to his wife and four children, his friends, supporters and voters from South Carolina — before announcing his adultery.

Sanford said he had spent a week with a woman in Argentina with whom he had conducted a months-long affair that developed out of an initially “very innocent” eight-year friendship conducted mostly via email.

“It developed into something much more than that,” Sanford admitted.

The governor, whose voice wavered as he brushed away tears, lamented the consequences of his affair.

“I hurt a lot of different folks. All I can say is that I apologize,” he said.

Sanford left unexplained how he first made contact with his distant mistress, but said their relationship began via “casual” emails.

South Carolina’s largest newspaper, The State, on its website printed excerpts of what it says were romantic emails exchanged between Sanford and the woman, identified only as Maria.

“Please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul,” Sanford wrote, according to the paper.

AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wipes his tears as he admitted to having an affair during a news conference in Columbia, S.C Wednesday, June 24, 2009, and said he is resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

The scandal also raised concerns about the governor’s previous travel.

Washington-based Politico magazine reported that he has taken at least three taxpayer-paid trips to Argentina since taking office, although it was unclear if he had met the woman on those trips.

The governor said Wednesday he paid for his latest trip himself, and that it came five months after he first admitted his indiscretions to his wife and began attempting to reconcile with her.

“Oddly enough, I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina,” Sanford said.

The affair is likely to deal a deathblow to Sanford’s political future as a Republican candidate who had appealed to constituents with strong family values.

Sanford’s wife Jenny, who was not

at the press conference, issued a statement saying she had asked her husband to leave their home for a trial separation two weeks ago.

“We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago,” the statement said.

“I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.”

The mother of four said she was open to a reconciliation.

“I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work towards reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance.”

Blair ‘will cooperate’ with widened British Iraq inquiry Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Former premier Tony Blair will cooperate “fully” with a new British probe into the Iraq war, officials said Wednesday, as the government conceded the inquiry will have the power to apportion blame.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the investigation, announced last week to fulfil a pledge for a probe once British troops have mostly left Iraq, would be independent and able to criticise whoever it wants.

“It can praise or blame whoever it likes. It is free to write its own re-

port at every stage,” Miliband said, in what was widely seen as a concession on the remit of the probe originally intended only to learn lessons from the war.

He was speaking during a parliamentary debate sparked by an opposition call to rethink the inquiry’s terms of reference. Concerns were raised about how much of the inquiry would be conducted behind doors and whether witnesses would be under oath.

There has been much speculation over whether Blair, who controversially took Britain into the 2003 Iraq war alongside then US president George W. Bush, would give evidence — and crucially, whether it would be in public.

The former prime minister’s spokesman said Blair would cooperate with the probe, chaired by Sir John Chilcott, whatever its format.

“As we’ve said all along it is for Sir John Chilcott and the prime minister to agree the format of the inquiry and of course Mr. Blair will fully cooperate with whatever they agree,” the spokesman said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown drew criticism that the probe would be a whitewash when he announced last week that it would be held in private, but Chilcott has since said he wants as much as possible to be heard in public.

Miliband, formerly close to Blair before being named foreign secretary

when Brown became premier in June 2007, denied the government’s initial position was because Blair refused to be quizzed in public.Blair’s spokesman quoted him as saying on Tuesday in New York: “I don’t know how many times I’ve answered questions about Iraq in public, including now. There’s no problem for me answering questions in public.”

The main opposition Conservatives put a motion to parliament Wednesday calling for a re-think of the inquiry’s remit, which was defeated by 299 votes to 260 — but only after six hours of passionate debate.

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International

Friday, June 26, 2009

15

United States celebrate huge victory over Spain Agence France - Presse

BLOEMFONTEIN - Brilliant tactics helped the United States pull off a stunning 2-0 win over Spain and reach the Confederations Cup final, something coach Bob Bradley described as huge.

A first half strike from Villarreal’s Jozy Altidore and another 16 minutes from time by Fulham’s Clint Dempsey did the damage on Wednesday in what will go down as one of the biggest victories in US football history.

They also had a flawless performance by Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and a commendable defensive display to thank for earning them a shot at the trophy on Sunday against either Brazil or hosts South Africa. “When you play Spain you certainly have to work very hard as a group to defend.

We made a special point to close down Xavi as best we could to prevent his penetrative passes,” said Bradley.

“We felt strongly that when we got the ball we needed to be aggressive and have the confidence that we could keep the ball and move it. We did a very good job of sealing down the middle of the field. Our backline did very well. It was a team effort to just try and make sure our defending was good and look for moments to score.”

Howard put the shock win down to “hard work and commitment to each other”. He added: “Football is a funny thing...you need to take your chances in front of goal and we defended like bandits. We rode our luck.” It was a remarkable upset on a freezing night that not only ended

Spain’s record of 15 consecutive wins but also prevented them from surpassing Brazil’s 35-match unbeaten run.

Spain will have to be content with going into the history books level with the South Americans after their first loss since November 15, 2006. “For us it’s a big night, huge,” added Bradley. “We’re excited to be in the final and when you’re there you have a chance to win. The motivation will be very high.”

Spain had won all three previous encounters but the United States’ miracle run to the last four, qualifying on goals scored after finishing level with Italy on goal difference, showed they could not be underestimated.

Spain had the first chance of the match but the US weren’t sitting back and Charlie Davies sent a spectacular bicycle kick flashing just wide.

With Dempsey firing a long range drive close soon after it was clear they meant business. At the other end Cesc Fabregas sent a cross in from the left which Fernando Torres volleyed just past the post.

(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

USA’s Clint Dempsey, right, controls the ball as Spain’s Sergio Ramos, left, looks on during their Confederations Cup semifinal soccer match at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The US won 2-0 and advanced to the final.

Del Bosque pays tribute after Spain streak ends We’re hurting, says Xavi

Agence France - Presse

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa - Spain coach Vicente del Bosque paid tribute to his team Thursday after their phenomenal unbeaten run was ended by the United States, vowing they would bounce straight back. The European champions were heavily favoured to make the Confederations Cup final but were outfoxed by the Americans late Wednesday to lose 2-0 in a major upset.

It not only brought an abrupt halt to their world record 15 consecutive wins, in which they conceded just two goals, but also prevented them from surpassing Brazil’s 35-match unbeaten streak.

Spain will have to be content with going into the history books level with the South Americans after their first loss since November 15, 2006.

“We are in the world of sport and it was a strong rival and I cannot be unhappy with the effort made by the team. We did everything we could,” said Del Bosque, who tasted his first defeat since taking over the national team. “It’s never good to lose and we are not used to it but there always comes a moment. We’ve finished the Confederations Cup and we’ll try to win the next match then try to think about our qualification for the World Cup.”

Spain had won all three of their previous encounters with the United States but were undone by Bob Bradley’s tactics, with Barcelona’s influential midfielder Xavi successfully stiffled in the middle. Add in a solid defensive display and a fine performance by Everton’s Tim Howard in goal and it is the United States who will contest the final on Sunday in Johannesburg against Brazil or South Africa.

Despite a long, gruelling season, Spain can’t escape the freezing South African winter just yet with the third-place playoff game on the same day in Rustenburg. “We did a good analysis of the rival,” said the pokerfaced Del Bosque, who had spent the days before the match studying videos of the United States.

They do not spend much time in midfield, they go straight for goal.

We tried to go down the wings because it was too tough for us through the middle. We had many opportunities and they really closed the door for us while our attackers had real problems with their defence.”

The 58-year-old denied that his team were complacent or were thinking about the final before getting through the semis. “No, we are sportsmen and we have to accept this defeat. But fortunately we have a team that can bounce back and has a very good future ahead,” said the former Real Madrid boss.

Agence France - Presse

(AP Photo/Paul White)

Spain’s coach Vicente del Bosque gestures during their Confederations Cup Group A soccer match against South Africa at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Saturday, June 20, 2009.

BLOEMFONTEIN - Barcelona midfielder Xavi says Spain are hurting after failing to make the final of the Confederations Cup. The maestro, who was effectively shut down by the United States in their upset 2-0 in the semi-finals on Wednesday, was disappointed that the European champions’ dreams of another title were shattered.

“It’s a big disappointment and it hurts not to be in the final because we would have liked to be there,” he told reporters. “Nothing went right for us during the match. We had a lot of scoring chances, but none of them went in. It’s a real shame, but I do not believe it is necessary to jump to any negative conclusions. It is important, however, to learn from this defeat.”

The defeat ended Spain’s 15-match unbeaten streak but Xavi denied they had become too confident. “I don’t think this is a lesson in humility for us because the main identity of this team is humility and hard work,” he said.

“We do not have to prove anything. We have a great group of players and our desire and efforts have always been demonstrated on the pitch.”

Captain Iker Casillas admitted the team lost concentration on a freezing night in Bloemfontein. “Something like this had to happen one day and that day was now,” he said. “It was one of those games where you play 10 times and you win nine of them. Well, as it would turn out, we lost. We missed a lot of goalscoring chances and we paid for our two defensive errors.”

Spain must now lift themselves for a third-place play-off against the losers of Thursday’s semi-final between defending champions Brazil and hosts South Africa. “It’s clear that this defeat, our first, really hurts, but now we must play the match for third and fourth placing,” said Xavi.

16

Friday, June 26, 2009

Simoncelli to join Gresini in 2010

Sport

municator. We have established a good feeling with him already and that facilitated negotiations over a contract that we have signed for 2010.”

“Also, Honda rates Simoncelli highly and believes he is a rider with great potential for the future, so Honda is very pleased that we are welcoming Simoncelli next season.”

The team also confirmed the exten-

Last year’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim ran at a loss of approaching six million Euros, with the 2010 race forecast to run at a similar deficit. Ecclestone has written to organisers indicating that he is open to talks over the future of the race. A German event is crucial to a championship that includes Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as five German drivers including Sebastian Vettel, whose profile has risen massively in recent months.

Nurburgring, which alternates the staging of Germany’s grand prix with Hockenheim, is already concerned about the financial im-

PAGE 6

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Security tightens in Kuta beach PAGE 8

sion of its agreement with title sponsors San Carlo.

“We’re extremely happy to be able to make this important announcement: renewing our agreement with San Carlo, who have shown great belief in us and continue to support our targets for next year, and the agreement with Marco Simoncelli to race with us in MotoGP,” Gresini added.

plications of having to run a race every year, meaning that it is not necessarily able to take over the event on a full-time basis. Gunther Oettinger, the prime minister of Baden-Wurttemberg - the region in which Hockenheim is located, is planning to meet with Ecclestone in the next month, and is also pushing for funding from the national government. This gives hope that, despite the City Council’s decision, Hockenheim could still have an F1 future.

Hockenheim could also be a candidate venue for the FOTA breakaway series, if it goes ahead.

6 die in flooding in eastern Czech Republic Associated Press

Hockenheim loses government backing Hockenheim’s chances of holding the German Grand Prix next season have been dealt a major blow, with the local government refusing to continue to underwrite the loss-making race.

Hockenheim City Council - a 94 per cent shareholder in the track - has voted unanimously to drop the race, according to the Deutsche Presse Agentur, although it is understood that should Bernie Ecclestone be willing to negotiate a cheaper deal, the race could continue in 2010 - the final year of its current F1 contract.

16 Pages Number 400 1st Year

Friday, June 26, 2009

Reigning 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli will join the Honda Gresini team in MotoGP next season. The 22-year-old, who has seven 250cc victories to his name, will race for the Italian squad in 2010 after completing this year’s championship in the lower category.

“Marco has that determination and character that we want from a rider as part of his DNA and we are sure we can look ahead to exciting times with him,” said team boss Fausto Gresini.

“Marco has shown over the past couple of years that he has the ability to be a major force in the premier class, as well as being a great com-

Global use of cocaine, heroine and cannabis declines: UN

Perez Hilton Sues Black Eyed Peas Manager PAGE 12

AFP

Reigning 250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli will join the Honda Gresini team in MotoGP next season.

WEATHER FORECAST CITY

TEMPERATURE OC

DENPASAR

22 - 31

JAKARTA

24 - 32

BANDUNG

20 - 28

YOGYAKARTA

21 - 32

SURABAYA

25 - 32

SUNNY

BRIGHT/CLOUDY

PRAGUE - At least six people have drowned in flooding that has hit the eastern Czech Republic after heavy rains, officials said Thursday.

Lukas Humpl, spokesman for the regional rescue service, said three people died in the town of Jesenik nad Odrou on Thursday morning. Rescue workers are still searching the town as waters gradually recede, Humpl said.

He said three other people died in nearby towns. In addition, two people died of heart problems while rescuers were struggling to reach them.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated throughout the region and a number of roads and railway lines have been closed as rivers flooded their banks.

The country’s security council will meet later Thursday to assess the situation at the request of Prime Minister Jan Fischer. Fischer expressed his sympathy to the people in the affected area.

The situation remained tense in neighboring Austria Thursday, where driving rain over the past few days caused major flooding in northern, central and eastern parts of the country.

While the water levels of a number of rivers dropped overnight as the downpours diminished, authorities warned that thunderstorms and sporadic showers could cause more problems.

Thousands of firefighters and other rescue crews continued to drain buildings and soaked streets throughout the affected regions.

Continued on page 6

Lebanon re-elects Berri as parliament speaker Agence France-Presse

RAIN

HOTLINE AFP

The F1 drivers while racing at Hockenheim.

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0361-225764

AP Photo/CTK, Jaroslav Ozana

Firefighters on truck powers through high water in Jesenik nad Odrou, North Moravia, on Thursday, June 25, 2009. North Moravia has been hit by heavy rains, causing swollen rivers have flooded hundreds of houses and roads in the Vsetin, North Moravia, and Novy Jicin areas.

AFP PHOTO/RAMZI HAIDAR

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

BEIRUT - Shiite leader Nabih Berri was re-elected to a fifth consecutive term as parliament speaker on Thursday, consolidating his position as one of Lebanon’s most influential politicians.

He was elected by 90 out of 128 votes to enter his 17th straight year as speaker. Twenty-eight legislators cast blank ballots.

“Those who cast blank ballots today I am sure will re-elect me in

four years,” Berri said in his acceptance speech as celebratory gunfire broke out across Beirut.

His re-election comes less than a month after a tightly contested general election saw Berri and his allies in a Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Iran defeated by a Western-backed alliance for the second time in four years.

Berri, who effectively paralyzed parliament for 18 months after five Shiite ministers resigned from cabinet in November 2006, pledged on

Thursday to promote reforms and urged Lebanese leaders to form a national unity government.

A former pro-Syrian militia chief who has held a pivotal role in postcivil war Lebanon, Berri was first elected in 1992, and then again in 1996 and 2000 during the deployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon.

After their withdrawal in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, Berri held onto his position as head of Lebanon’s assembly.