Edition Thurday, February 8, 2018 | Internasional Bali Post

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

‘Black Panther’ gets superhero reception from critics

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Taiwan earthquake At least four people were killed and hundreds of people injured after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the popular Taiwanese tourist city of Hualien just before midnight on Tuesday.

CHINA Pu Putian Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Taiwan Taiwan Strait Strait

Taichung

LOS ANGELES - “Black Panther,” the first black standalone Marvel superhero movie, won rave reviews on Tuesday with critics praising both its adventure and its portrayal of a majestic Africa.

Directed by Ryan Coogler and featuring a predominantly black cast including Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong‘o and Angela Bassett, “Black Panther” was hailed by the Daily Beast as “a love letter to every black person” and “a correction for years of diversity neglect” by Rolling Stone.

The Disney movie, opening worldwide next week, tells the story of T‘Challa, the newly crowned king of the fictional, technologically advanced African nation Wakanda, who is challenged from factions within his own country.

TAIW AN

The movie arrives after years of criticism about the under representation of actors and filmmakers of color in Hollywood, including the #OscarsSoWhite campaign that prompted the Academy of Motion Pictures to increase diversity in its predominantly while, male membership.

It got a rare 100 percent rating from review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com and analysts REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni expect it to bring in some $150 million at the Cast member Lupita Nyong’o poses for a portrait while promoting the movie North American box office on its opening “Black Panther” in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 30, 2018. Picture weekend. (rtr) taken January 30, 2018.

Tarantino says Thurman movie car crash among ‘biggest regrets’

REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo

Director Quentin Tarantino (L) and actress Uma Thurman pose on the red carpet they arrive for the screening of the film “Sils Maria” (Clouds of Sils Maria) in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 23, 2014.

LOS ANGELES - Director Quentin Tarantino said a car crash that seriously injured Uma Thurman on the set of “Kill Bill” was one of “the biggest regrets of his life,” but denied that he forced the actress to carry it out.

Thurman, who appeared in three Tarantino movies, told the New York Times in a Saturday article that she felt Tarantino had tried to kill her in the 2003 crash, which crushed her knees and left her with a concussion.

Thurman also released video of the crash from the set of the martial arts movie, leading to harsh criticism of Tarantino on social and mainstream media. Tarantino, responding in an interview with Hollywood web-

site Deadline.com on Monday, said Thurman’s car crashed because there was an unseen curve in the road.

“Watching her fight for the wheel. ... remembering me hammering about how it was safe and she could do it. Emphasizing that it was a straight road, a straight road. ... the fact that she believed me, and I literally watched this little S curve pop up. And it spins her like a top,” Tarantino said.

“It was heartbreaking. Beyond one of the biggest regrets of my career, it is one of the biggest regrets of my life,” he added.

Tarantino denied ignoring Thurman’s anxiety about driving but acknowledged he had been mistaken

about the safety of the road.

“I didn’t force her into the car.

She got into it because she trusted me,” he said.

Tarantino said he and Thurman reconciled years ago and had talked since the New York Times story was published.

“Uma was in turmoil about the uprising against me this weekend. ...

She never meant this to roll over onto me,” he told Deadline.

The Oscar-winning director also said that incidents when he spat on Thurman and choked her with a chain were part of the filming process for “Kill Bill” and were carried out with her consent to make the scenes realistic. (rtr)

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Shake intensity

Hualien

EPICENTER Time: 1550 GMT Magnitude: 6.4 Depth: 10.6km

Tainan City

Very strong Strong

Kaohsiung

Moderate

Pacific Pacific Ocean

Ocean

Light

50 miles

Weak

50 km Sources: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Reuters J. Wu, 07/02/2018

Rescue workers are seen by a damaged building after an earthquake hit Hualien, Taiwan February 7, 2018.

At least five killed, 60 missing after quake rocks Taiwan tourist area

HUALIEN - Rescuers combed through the rubble of collapsed buildings on Wednesday, as they searched for about 60 people missing after a strong earthquake killed at least five near the popular Taiwanese tourist city of Hualien overnight. The magnitude 6.4 quake, which hit near the coastal city just before midnight (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, also injured 243 people and collapsed four buildings, officials said.

Hualien Mayor Fu Kun-chi said the number of people missing was now close to 60, although an exact figure was not provided. As many as 150 were initially feared missing. Many of the missing were believed to be still trapped inside buildings, some of which were tilting precariously, after the quake hit about 22 km (14 miles) northeast of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast. At the city’s Marshal Hotel, rescuers trying to free two trapped Taiwanese pulled out one alive, but the other person was declared dead, the government said.

Among the injured were mainland Chinese, Czech, Japanese, Singaporean and South Korean

nationals.Aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5.0 could rock the island in the next two weeks, the government said. Smaller tremors rattled nervous residents throughout the day.

Residents waited and watched anxiously as emergency workers dressed in fluorescent orange and red suits and wearing helmets searched for residents trapped in apartment blocks. Hualien is home to about 100,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the force of the quake, with around 40,000 homes left without water and around 1,900 without power. Water supply had returned to nearly 5,000 homes by noon (0400 GMT), while

power was restored to around 1,700 households.

DAMAGE, PANIC Emergency workers surrounded a badly damaged 12-storey residential building, a major focus of the rescue effort. Windows had collapsed and the building, which is around 17 years old, was wedged into the ground at a roughly 40degree angle. Rescuers worked their way around and through the building while residents looked on from behind cordoned-off roads.

Others spoke of the panic when the earthquake struck.

“We were still open when it happened,” said Lin Ching-wen, who

operates a restaurant near a damaged military hospital. “I grabbed my wife and children and we ran out and tried to rescue people,” he said.

A Reuters video showed large cracks in the road, while police and emergency services tried to help anxious people roaming the streets.

A car sat submerged in rubble as rescue workers combed through the ruins of a nearby building. President Tsai Ing-wen went to the scene of the quake early on Wednesday to help direct rescue operations.

“The president has asked the cabinet and related ministries to immediately launch the ‘disaster mechanism’ and to work at the fastest rate on disaster relief work,” Tsai’s office said in a statement.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and major Apple supplier, said initial assess-

ments indicated no impact from the earthquake.

Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers part of its territory, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck nearby on Sunday.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and some Taiwanese remain scarred by a 7.6 magnitude quake that was felt across the island and killed more than 2,000 people in 1999. (rtr) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http:// radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

2

Bali News

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Mt. Agung calms down, evacuees prefer to go home

AMLAPURA - One by one of the Mount Agung evacuees decide to return home. Although Mount Agung remains under warning alert status, evacuees consider the Mount Agung has begun to calm down. There are no more reports on earthquakes, smoke eruptions from the crater as well as activities that must be alerted.

Like at the evacuation point of Macang village, Bebandem, residents began to return home on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The evacuees from Bhuana Giri village, Bebandem, chose to go home directly instead of moving again to refuge location again. Their refuge post in the sanctuary of Macang village will also be used for the preparation of the Batara Turun Kabeh ceremony and mass cremation. “Villagers of Bhuana Giri have left Macang post today (Tuesday—Ed),” said headman of Macang, Ni Putu Dewi Suryanti.

The total number of evacuees also continued to decline. On Monday (Feb. 5), according to the latest data from Tanah Ampo Command Post, the number of evacuees remains 20,291 people, spreading across 181 evacuation points. This number seems to decline after seeing the data on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The number of evacuees remains 19,968 people spreading across 181 evacuation points.

Within the past few days, no longer seismicity of Mount Agung is recorded. Related to this phenomenon, Division Head of Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, I Gede Suantika, admitted that volcanic activities of Mount Agung has been much decreased. “In terms of seismicity, volcanic activities of Mount Agung have decreased dramatically when compared to December 2017. It means that at the end of January 2018 the number of seismicity of Mount Agung has greatly decreased dramatically. Moreover, within the past few days no earthquake is recorded by monitoring equipment,” he said.

Hence, is there any possibility if Mount Agung will return to normal or the status will be lowered from warning to watch, advisory or to normal alert level?

According to him, the possibility is very high after seeing the data that indicate drastically dropped seismicity. Seismic activity becomes one of the parameters in determining the decline of volcanic status.

“The possibility of Mount Agung to back to normal is very high. Indeed based on seismicity data after the eruption, many shallow earthquakes occurred and they were dominated by blasts. However, at the end of January, it suddenly continued to decline from 50 earthquakes per day to 10 earthquakes per day.

Moreover, there was a time where no earthquake was recorded,” he said.

Other data are obtained from deformation gauge, indicating there is no more bulging on the body of Mount Agung. It tends to experience deflation. Besides, he added that percentage of gas volume in volcanic emissions began to decline. “We will conduct an evaluation in the near future,” he said.

In the evaluation meeting will be decided the matters related to the decline of the alert status of Mount Agung which currently is still bearing the warning alert status. (kmb31)

IBP/Bagiarta

The refugees start to come home after the activity of Mount Agung decreasing

International

Constrained by lack of access for trucks

Garbage piles up on Dreamland Beach MANGUPURA - Despite being a popular tourist attraction, Dreamland Beach in Pecatu is not immune o the problem of trash accumulating from river water runoff. In fact the small rainwater-fed river estuaries along Cemongkak River are filled with garbage as seen on Monday (Feb. 5). When asked about the situation, Head of Badung Environment and Sanitation Agency (DLHK), I Putu Eka Merthawan, responded by saying said the main obstacle to cleaning up the area is that the beach cannot be accessed by garbage trucks. Cleaning up the garbage manually takes a lot of time and energy, he explained.

Merthawan explained the small lake was formed due to high tide waters accumulating and as the sand rises there is a larger area for rainwater to accumulate. Then when garbage flows down from the rivers and from the tides, it gets stuck in the large pond.

The DLHK held a meeting on Sunday (Feb. 4) that was attended by headman of Pecatu, chief of Pecatu customary village, LPM, BPD of Pecatu customary village chief, and the management of Dreamland merchants. It was decided that the location would be arranged into a new tourist attraction and that the basin in which garbage now accumulates would be fitted with a garbage barrier. Also a route will be created for garbage trucks to access the beach.

The small pond will be converted into a fishing pond. In order to attract visitors to Dreamland Beach at night, a small fountain will also be created. “We have similar potential as Singaproe’s Sentosa Island. We will create a ‘song of the sea’ attraction at Dreamland”, said Merthawan.

In order to immediately deal with the accumulation of garbage on the beach, Merthawan said he hopes to create a passageway for garbage trucks to access the beach on the right and left of the pond. Other beaches in Pecatu such as Labuan Sait Beach, Padang-Padang, Karang Boma, and Nyang-Nyang Beach are facing similar obstacles to garbage clean-up as they too do not have wide paths for garbage truck access.

When confirmed separately, chief of Pecatu customary village, I Made Sumerta, confirmed that he had met with the DLHK and that lack of raod access was a problem. Currently the only path to the beach is quite narrow, so Pecatu village plans to create a parking lot by the pond so that trucks can turn around. The location he said also needs to be equipped with a guard rail for security.

Labuan Sait Beach faces additional obstacles in terms of transporting garbage as there is only a steep and narrow path down to the beach. Sumerta therefor hopes to have a cable car installed that can be used to carry garbage from the beach.

Building a road would be very complicated, he said as the location is often used for religious ceremonies. “I think the best option is to install a cable car that can hoist the garbage up. This will be better than burning the garbage”, he concluded. (kmb23)

Tourism service business predicted to grow in 2018 DENPASAR - In 2018, tourism service sector, including transportation and culinary sector, is predicted to grow. It is in line with the certainty on the annual meeting implementation of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMFWB) in Nusa Dua this October.

An academician and economic observer, Wayan Ramantha, said that in addition to tourism business services, creative tourism supporting industries will also grow.

According to him, such big event will require a large number of souvenirs and other creative industry products for the participants of the IMF-WB. Apart from the impact of IMFWB, the industry and trade related to people’s consumption needs will also increase. This increase is in line with the national economic growth of 5.07 percent, the highest since 2014. In Bali, the household consumption sector also contribut-

ed the most to the economic growth of 5.59 percent. Its contribution reaches 2.16 percent.

An analyst of Bank Indonesia of Bali Representative Office, Umran Usman, predicted that the trade and construction business will grow in 2018. The growth of this sector is stimulated by the IMF-WB event in October 2018. It stimulates the development of projects such as the construction of Ngurah Rai underpass, Benoa tourism harbor,

completion of Suwung Landfill et cetera. With these mega projects, the construction sector will grow even higher.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, the construction sector has started to grow because there were several projects having begun to be worked on. The construction sector grew by 8.94 percent (yoy), while in quarter to quarter (qtq) the construction grew by 3.59 percent.

In addition, trade will also grow

because the project buildings also require building materials supplied by traders. On that account, the trade sector will also grow.

The growth of trading and construction businesses denoting components of supply will also drive the demand side. Thus, the government consumption will also be encouraged. The development is funded by the budget of local government and central government. (kmb42)

 Founder : K.Nadha,  General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra  Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Dewa Farendra. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto.  Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Activities

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

15

A Glittering Lunar New Year Celebration

Chinese New Year is a significant occasion that calls for memorable celebrations all over the world, and here at Bali’s Sereh Gourmet Supermarket, it is no different. Bali’s most premium supermarket is having a glimmering celebration in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year and everyone is invited to join! There will

Thursday February 8 8:00-18:00 PAID Open Water Diver Course Pantai Sanur 11:00-12:30 Manifest 3 Desires Workshop by Indri Paradiso Ubud Jalan Gautama Selatan Ubud Friday February 9 11:00-15:00 Art for BARC Ubud Gallery, Jalan Raya Pengosekan Ubud 19:30-22:30 Friday Nights with Antonio Trio Siberia Restaurant Jln. Dropped 7 Denpasar 19:00-22:00 Kanda Jazz Night-Plaga Sangria Kanda Restaurant Jl. Kanda no 8A, Denpasar 19:00-22:00 Latin Fever Birdhouse Beach Club Jl.. Sugar Ayu, Sanur

be exciting cultural performances, special dining menus at Sereh Cafe, games and even lucky draws!

For the Lunar New Year or Imlek celebrations, the entire outlet will be decked out in festive red and gold until Cap Goh Mei. On 16 February 2018, visitors can look forward to an entertaining Lion Dance and Dragon Dance performance accompanied by

a band of musicians playing large drums, cymbals, and gongs while feasting on delicious sweet treats including Moon Cakes, Dim Sum and the seasonal Nian Gao, or New Year Cake, also known in Indonesia as Kue Keranjang.

Also available is a Special Chinese New Year set menu served at Sereh Café on the day. Enjoy a

delicious meal of Balinese, Indonesian and International favourites with entertainment all night long Kizomba and Cuban Salsa Dances every Monday; an acoustic live band every Tuesday and Wednesday, live guitar performances by Ipeng every Thursday and every Sunday a live band that will make you want to get off your feet and

dance! While you’re there, do shop for the freshest quality meats and organic produce amidst impeccably arranged displays while enjoying the supermarket’s unique and cozy, welcoming interior.Sereh Gourmet Supermarket | Jl. Wanagiri 1, Jimbaran - Bali | Ph: +623614468171 |samasta@summarecon.com | www.samastabali.com

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Health

International

Bali News

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

3

Socially active older women benefit from flu vaccine

IBP/net

Parents of kids with food allergies often engage in behaviors that could trigger an allergic reaction in their child, a survey found.

Kids with food allergies often put at risk by their parents

NEW YORK - Parents of kids with food allergies often engage in behaviors that could trigger an allergic reaction in their child, a survey found.

Almost half of parents of kids with food allergies reported at least one risky behavior, such as not carrying epinephrine autoinjectors or not reading food labels.

These behaviors are likely due to knowledge gaps and misconceptions, as well as possible financial barriers, according to Dr. Julie Wang of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and her colleagues.

Wang’s team conducted the survey to better understand food allergy management behaviors and attitudes in their patients’ households. ”During our patient visits, we routinely counsel families about food allergy management to reduce the risk of allergic reactions. However, we noted that in some cases, our patients experienced allergic reactions that were associated with risk-taking behavior,” Wang told Reuters Health in an email.

“It is important to understand the barriers patients and their families face in managing their food allergies,” she said.

As reported in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Wang and her colleagues surveyed 100 English-speaking parents of children ages 6 months

to 18 years who had previously been diagnosed with food allergies and who came for follow-up visits at an urban allergy clinic.

Parents were asked about potentially risky food allergy management behaviors. For example, Wang said, ”Risky behaviors include parents giving their child the allergic food to see if the child is still allergic and not always being prepared with emergency medication, epinephrine autoinjectors, in case allergic reactions occur.”

Over 70 percent of the kids had experienced food allergy reactions in the previous year, with almost 40 percent reporting at least three reactions.

About one in four children had been treated with epinephrine at some point. About one-third had been treated in an emergency department and about 5 percent had been hospitalized in the past.

The researchers found a correction between risky behaviors and having at least one food-induced allergic reaction during the past year. In addition, parents of kids with multiple food allergies were more likely to report risky behaviors than parents of kids with one food allergy.

About 11 percent of the parents gave allergyinducing foods to their kids because they didn’t have time to read ingredient labels, and 7 percent said the cost of food was a barrier to avoiding those foods. (rtr)

TOKYO - Flu shots may be especially important for older women who are socially active, a study from Japan suggests.

In a study of people over age 65, unvaccinated women who regularly participated in two or more social activities were twice as likely to report a flu infection as those who didn’t participate in any such activities, the study authors report.

At the same time, women who were vaccinated had no additional risk.

“It has been thought that vaccine effectiveness is relatively low in elder persons . . . but our research shows some meaning for older adults,” said lead study author Dr. Yugo Shobugawa of Niigata University in Niigata, Japan.

Worldwide, the flu affects 3-5 million people annually and can result in 300,000 to 650,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In industrialized countries, most of these deaths occur among adults over age 65 who develop secondary infections such as pneumonia.

“Effectiveness of the influenza vaccine varies by season because circulating strains vary and are gradually evolving,” Shobugawa told Reuters Health by email.

“However, this suggests a need for further efforts to promote vaccina-

tion, particularly among socially active elders.”

Shobugawa and colleagues analyzed data for more than 12,200 men and 14,000 women over age 65. They examined the association between flu infection and social participation in volunteer groups, sports groups, leisure activity groups, senior citizen clubs, neighborhood associations, cultural groups, nursing care or health promotion groups, local events and grandchild-rearing support.

Among men, social participation wasn’t associated with developing the flu, and it didn’t vary among vaccinated or unvaccinated men.

Respiratory disease, however, nearly doubled a man’s chance of getting the flu, regardless of whether he was vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Vaccines may help reduce the spread of infection among social groups, the study authors wrote in the journal BMJ Open, and when no vaccine is available, nonpharmaceutical precautions such as respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette could help as well.

Although social participation increases social contact and the risk of flu infection, that doesn’t mean older adults should stop participating in their social activities, they added. (rtr)

IBP/kmb38

The Municipality Waterworks (PDAM) and Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng have been supplying clean water with tank trucks.

Two hamlets have no water due to broken pipeline

SINGARAJA — The impact of extreme weather conditions causing flash floods in Buleleng continues to be felt by local residents. The hamlets of Satria and Pelapuan, Busungbiu, have been without access to clean water since Friday (Jan 27) after flood waters damaged the main pipeline. Fortunately, the Municipality Waterworks (PDAM) and Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng have been supplying clean water with tank trucks.

On Monday (Feb. 5), Headman of Pelapuan, I Gede Darmayasa, confirmed that about 800 residents of Satria and Pelapuan do not have access to clean water in their homes and so they have been fetching water from a nearby spring to cook with and are using rainwater to bathe and wash their clothes.

Headman Darmayasa and other village authorities have therefor been trying to get help from PDAM Busunbiu who have been giving them access to their water tank. The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng has also been providing them with water.

“Before getting help, we had to get water from a nearby spring in the forest at Bolongan hamlet, Kayuputih, Banjar.

But since the spring cannot be accessed by motorcycle, we had to carry small amounts of water at a time. People were using rainwater to bathe and wash their clothes”, explained Darmayasa.

The water was cut off after a flash flood damaged a 3” wide pipe that had some 70 pieces washed away. The villagers and the water management have allocated a budget to repair the pipeline.

Originally, a budget worth IDR 50 million had been allocated for mass maintenance of the water pipeline. However since it was severely damaged before repairs could be made, the funds will be used to restore the water network. The budget however its not enough to replace the broken off pipe.

The village authorities therefor plan to flow water form the nearest spring to the water reservoir.

“We will use the same reservoir but now we will connect it to a spring that is closer. The funds for this were originally intended for maintenance for the whole system but now we have no choice but to spend it on building a new water

network”, said Darmayasa.

Separately, Chief Executive of BPBD Buleleng, Made Subur, said since Monday two water tank trucks have been deployed to bring clean water to residents of Pelapuan village after receiving a request from the village.

The BPBD and the PDAM are supplying clean water while the villagers wait for repairs to be made so that they do not have to rely on rainwater for their daily needs..

“Starting today (Jan. 5) we are deploying two tankers to the village (Pelapuan), and this will continue until the villages can complete the pipeline construction and the water-flow is functioning normally again”, explained Subur.

As might be expected residents of Pelapuan thronged the water trucks dispatched by BPBD and PDAM Buleleng. In addition to filling the roadside reservoirs, people also rushed to fill smaller containers. Many said they were grateful for the assistance which allowed then to go to work instead of having to spend their time looking for clean water. They of course look forward to having the village pipeline repaired so they can access water in their homes again. (kmb38)

Underground temporary waste disposal uses alarm

IBP/net

Flu shots may be especially important for older women who are socially active, a study from Japan suggests.

DENPASAR — Renovations to the temporary waste disposal site (TPS) on Jalan Pulau Kawe that is now underground, are now complete.

Secretary of the Denpasar Environment and Sanitation Agency (DLHK), I.B. Wirabawa Putra, said on Monday (Feb. 5) that the underground temporary waste disposal site will undergo first phase

testing soon but added that no date had been set.

Putra explained that although the site is ready to be used, they need to do some tests before the local community can use the venue to disposes of their waste. The underground waste disposal site, he said is for example equipped with an alarm that will sound then the space is full alerting a truck on

standby to transport the garbage from the site.

Previously the dump site could only accommodate 30 cubic meters of garbage but can now accommodate between 60 and 300 cubic meters of garbage. This larger capacity means that garbage will no longer spill out onto the street.

“Although the garbage depot is small it has a larger capacity

because it is now equipped with a garbage compressor. Now the space will be tidier and will not become overloaded”, he said.

The Environment and Sanitation Agency will start accepting garbage this Friday, including larger items like old furniture so that the beauty of Denpasar will not be tarnished by people’s garbage.“This Friday we are going to launch the

waste delivery program that will encourage people not to throw their garbage carelessly into the rivers and elsewhere”, added Putra.

This site will only accept garbage on Friday from 08:00 to 11:00.

The garbage will first be sorted and anything that can be sold to waste baks will be brought there, otherwise it will be taken to landfill. (kmb12)

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Bali News

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

A Russian citizen secured after damaging gamelan instrument

ASEAN hopes to expedite code of conduct on South China Sea - Singapore

GIANYAR — A foreigner was secured by residents of Pande Saba village, Blahbatuh, early morning on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The Russian woman was arrested because of destroying gamelan instruments owned by local residents. Having been traced, the foreigner was depressed so she was then taken to Mental Hospital in Bangli.

Head of the Gianyar Municipal Police, Cokorda Gde Agusnawa, conveyed the foreigner did not want to mention her name when interrogated.

She communicated in English and Indonesian though it is not so fluent.

“She is classified to be depressed. Her speech does not connect when we talk to,” he explained.

This figure of Peliatan Royal Palace, Ubud, said the officers have brought the foreign citizen to the Mental Hospital around 11:00 to be dealt with further. “She has been dealt with. If she persists, she can be deported,” he said.

A Gianyar Municipal Police officer, Wayan Nasta, explained the arrest of the Russian citizen began from the complaints of Pande hamlet residents.

The unidentified woman was reported to have committed vandalism. “The

gong gamelan instrument of the hamlet is thrown by the Russian woman and so are the cymbals,” said Nasta.

Unavoidably, the incident made local residents angry. The Russian woman having been living at Saba village for four years was secured by local residents. She was also taken to the Blahbatuh police station. After being secured in subdistrict police, she was submitted to the Gianyar Social Service. “When we secured her, many officers were kicked by her, so we then handcuffed her,” he explained.

When secured, from the mouth of the blonde woman came out smell like alcoholic beverages. This woman who is a believer also rampages and recites a mantra for several times. (kmb35)

REUTERS/Shizuo Kambayashi/Pool

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence toasts with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the opening of a state banquet hosted by Abe at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, February 7, 2018.

IBP/kmb35

The Russian woman was arrested because of destroying gamelan instruments owned by local residents.

Bali experiences surplus beef and pork

The excessive supply makes the price of pork not attractive to breeders.

IBP/kmb

DENPASAR — Bali experiences surplus pork and beef. This excessive supply makes the price of pork not attractive to breeders. Aside from pork, Bali is also surplus of beef. On the other hand, Bali imports beef for hotel, restaurant and catering needs.

Division Head of Animal Breeding and Production at the Bali Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Agency, IKG Nata Kesuma, said that Bali has surplus meat, but nationally lacks of meat. So, Bali has been able to supply the national meat needs.

In Bali, the excess supply is not accompanied with high demand even though Bali has many hotel, restaurant and catering companies that should be able to absorb local beef and pork. In fact, the consumption of local meat is not much absorbed by hotel, restaurant and catering. “We’re oversupply, but we import meat for tourism. Most hotel, restaurant and catering businesses take advantage of imported meat. It is taken from importing companies in Jakarta.

From Jakarta, it is brought in here for tourist consumption,” he explained.

Not optimal absorption of local meat happens because Bali so far has not been able to prepare the needs of quality meat in accordance with the needs of hotel, restaurant and catering business.

To that end, provincial govern-

ment has governed with the issuance of Regional Regulation (Perda) No. 10/2017. The regulation states that hotel, restaurant and catering business must absorb the local beef and pork products. Its absorption is regulated in the gubernatorial regulation (Pergub).

“The regulation is being processed at the legal bureau,” he said.

Before gubernatorial regulation is issued, his agency had provided education, dissemination and testing. The testing is conducted in terms of feeding, cage maintenance as well as meat processing. They are conducted on demonstration plots. The results are said to have approached the standards required by hotel. If the gubernatorial regulations and studies have been done, he has confidence that other breeders will follow the meat production pattern.

Previously, Chairman of Indonesian Chef Association (ICA) of Bali Chapter, I Gede Putu Hendra Mahena, said that many hotel and restaurant workers takes side in local products, especially in the matter of using local meat in cooking.

ICA has used 60 percent of local produce in its cooking, such as meat because in Bali there are now companies that applies aging process of meat before being cooked. Such aging process will facilitate chef to cook. In addition, the quality of local meat will also be better and tastier. (kmb42)

13

Pence says U.S. to announce new, tough sanctions on North Korea

SINGAPORE - The Association of South East Asian Nations is hoping to expedite negotiations on a code of conduct with China for the South China Sea but it is not realistic to expect an agreement within a year, Singapore’s defence minister said on Wednesday.

China and the 10-member ASEAN bloc adopted a negotiating framework on the code for the disputed and busy waterway, largely controlled by China but also claimed by some ASEAN states, in August and have begun talks.

“We hope it will be expedited but it’s a very, very complex issue,” Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters after a gathering of ASEAN defence chiefs.

“It’s a century’s old dispute.

Expecting (the code) in one year is just unrealistic,” he said.

ASEAN and China have hailed the conclusion of the negotiating framework as a sign of progress.

However, the failure to outline as an initial objective the need to make the code legally binding raised doubts about the effectiveness of the pact.

Signing China up to a legally binding and enforceable code for the waterway has long been a goal for claimant members of ASEAN, some of whom have sparred for years over what they

see as China’s disregard for their sovereign rights and its blocking of fishermen and energy exploration efforts.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said later on Wednesday Beijing has worked with ASEAN countries for a code of conduct that was satisfactory to all states in the region.

Still, China has been rapidly increasingly its military deployment in the South China Sea and its air force said in a statement on Wednesday that Chinese Su-35 fighter jets had recently taken part in a combat patrol over the South China Sea. It did not say when the patrol happened or over which part of the South China Sea. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday some of his ASEAN colleagues had expressed concern about activities by China in the disputed areas of the South China Sea, including land reclamations.

Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines all claim some or all of the South China Sea and its myriad shoals, reefs and islands.

Taiwan also claims it.

Singapore has taken over the role of the chairman of ASEAN for 2018 and hosted meetings of its foreign and defence ministers this week. (rtr)

TOKYO - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would soon announce new, tough sanctions to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes, calling it the planet’s “most tyrannical and oppressive regime”.

Speaking in Tokyo on his way to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Pence promised the United States and its allies, including Japan, would keep maximum pressure on Pyongyang until it took steps toward “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.

“To that end, I’m announcing today the United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever. And we will continue to isolate North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile program once and for all,” Pence said after meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Following talks that showcased the U.S.-Japan security alliance, Abe said the two had agreed they could “never accept a nucleararmed North Korea.

Pence reiterated Washington’s stance that “all options are on the

table” to deal with North Korea.

Pence’s trip to South Korea from Thursday will coincide with a visit to the Games by North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, the most senior North Korean official to enter the South since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce.

Pence had stopped short of ruling out the prospect of meeting senior North Korean officials but President Donald Trump has cast doubt on U.S. negotiations with Pyongyang any time soon. The White House has also cautioned against reading too much into remarks Pence made en route to Japan.

Pence warned against allowing North Korea, which has sent a team to the Games, to use the Olympics for propaganda.

“We will not allow North Korea to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider re-

gion,” he said.

For Friday’s opening ceremony, Pence is bringing as his guest the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died in June last year after being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months.

North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles over Japan last year, as well as a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km (2,485 miles) before splashing into the sea within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Concern about North Korea is pushing Japan to update its missile defence. Besides extending the range and increasing the accuracy of its Patriot system, it will add two U.S.-made ground-based Aegis radar stations and interceptors and plans to add to its arsenal air-fired cruise missiles that can strike North Korean missile sites. (rtr)

REUTERS/Ritchie B. Tongo/Pool/File Photo

An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation

by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015.

12

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

BUSINESS China’s winter resorts face tougher terrain despite Olympics excitement

Bali News

International

Watching Mud War or Mebuug-buugan at Kedonganan

new large outdoor ski facilities.

Operators of ski facilities say other challenges include a lack of qualified staff such as instructors and that rising costs related to staff, energy, environmental regulations, and water are putting pressure on profits.

Nanshan Ski Village in Beijing’s Miyun District, the biggest and most popular ski resort in the area, provides an example of the challenges facing new entrants to the market.

Like other ski facilities in the capital, Nanshan is easy to spot as the resort’s 100-acre white patch stands in stark contrast to the brown of the mountains that surround Beijing on three sides. Nanshan’s general manager, Hu Wei, said visits were down this winter. Last year, the resort registered 260,000 visits and another Nanshan official said the ski park was on pace for about 230,000 visits this year. “People assume right now is a period of rapid growth for the industry, but it’s actually not that easy,” said Hu. Some of the Nanshan skiers may have migrated to the larger resorts in Chongli. While Beijing ski visits fell 2 percent to 1.67 million last year, visits in Hebei province, where Chongli is located, rose 44 percent to 1.76 million, according to the Ski Industry White Book.

PUSHING AHEAD Despite the challenges, Muchenjian is forging ahead with its plans, betting on the growing number of winter sports enthusiasts in China – as well as the competitive driving force of the Beijing Olympics.

“China spends big money setting up the stage, and the performers are all foreigners,” said Liu Bo, a former trainer for national ski teams who is investing 2 billion yuan ($318.43 million) in the Muchengjian project, referring to the Olympics.

“President Xi will not allow this to happen. We have to be the leading actor in 2022.”

In addition to skiing, the resort will also include restaurants and sightseeing - a train that used to

5

After many decades, the Traditional Village of Kedonganan, Kuta honored their tradition known as ‘mebuug-buugan’ again on Thursday (Mar 3). This traditional practice was brought to life again with much enthusiasm by the youth of this village who went down to the mangrove forest in Teluk Benoa and covered their shirtless bodies with mud as they played the mire. Head of the Taruna Eka Chanti youth organization, I Wayan Yustisia Semarariana explained that this activity was brought to life again last year, after many decades of hibernation. This year, however there were far more participants than last year with over 800 youths taking part in the “mud dance” that also serves to bring young people closer to nature. By getting closer to nature together, young people’s love for the natural environment increases, as does their desire to take care of it so that it remains healthy. This includes preventing nature from being disturbed by reclamation.

MENTOUGOU - At its peak a decade ago, the Muchengjian mine churned out mountains of coal on the western outskirts of Beijing. Now, the mine in Beijing’s Mentougou district is pinning its future on whiter slopes: It plans to transform itself into a winter sports resort, turning some of the underground shafts where miners once chiselled coal into a 1.25-kilometer airconditioned track for cross country skiing.

An apres-ski spa and a department store selling winter sports gear are also on the drawing board.

Muchengjian’s planned ski resort, planned for completion later this year, is just one of many popping up across northern China as local governments look to pivot economies from heavy industry towards consumer services – and cash in on a skiing boom fuelled by rising incomes and changing consumer tastes.

Skier visits to Chinese resorts rose 15.9 percent last year to 17.5 million, according to the China Ski Industry White Book, an annual report by Carving Ski, a Beijing-based ski industry consultancy, distributor and service provider.

The boom is also underpinned by a pledge by President Xi Jinping to get 300 million Chinese on skis and skates for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. However, the rush to build slopes is raising concerns about misplaced investment that could hold back the long-term development of the industry, experts say.

“A lot of money wants to join the industry, but they have no idea” how to invest, said Bennie Wu, chief executive of Carving Ski. “We don’t want too much money to come in with no clear idea. It’s not good for the market.” China currently has more than 700 ski facilities - outdoor and indoor - nationwide, and Wu warned that some would struggle to survive after the Olympics shine wears off.

Outdoor ski resorts are also being reined in as the government steps up environmental requirements, including on the water used for snowmaking in the arid north. Chongli, a town about four hours by car from Beijing that will host Olympic ski events, spent 550 million yuan on improvements to a nearby reservoir in 2014 in order to supply 5 million cubic meters of water annually to local ski resorts for snowmaking, according to state media.

Chongli has capped the number of large resorts in the area at nine, while Beijing has also stopped approving

Thursday, February 8, 2018

“The name ‘mebuug-buugan’ comes from the Balinese word ‘buug’, meaning earth as in both ‘mud’ and ‘ land’” said spokese person, Made Sudarsana who added that they hope that the reclamation project is stopped so that this traditional activity can continue to take place. Obviously, if the reclamation project goes through, then the area where they use the mud will disappear.

Traditional Village Head of Kedongonan, Ketut Puja expressed his appreciation for the youth of Kedongan’s enthusiasm about preserving this ancestral traditional heritage that has been passed for uncountable generations. Puja explained that ‘mebuug-buugan’ is part of the Nyepi Day celebrations that serve to cleanse the macro and the micro-cosmos. He also expressed his hope that this traditional activity will not only be preserved but that it can be further developed and perhaps serve as a cultural tourist attraction as well.

Puja emphasized that his Traditional Village has taken a stance against the reclamation of Benoa Bay –not only on the grounds that it would interfere with their traditional activities but also because of the sacredness of Benoa Bay as a whole. “Our stance has already been made clear: we are opposed to the reclamation of Benoa Bay (Teluk Benoa) because it threatens both our traditions as well as the sacredness of the area” he said emphatically. (kmb) REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Skiers are transported by a chairlift at Nanshan ski resort, east of Beijing, China January 23, 2018. Picture taken January 23, 2018. carry coal will be transformed into a passenger line for tourists. The hope is that all this will provide employment for the 1,000 people who still work at the mine, which is located in a hilly area outside the capital. Other Chinese businesses are also hoping to cash in on the skiing boom.

“I don’t think we have any problems in terms of demand, because we have a large enough middle class now,” said Carving Ski’s Wu. “People are richer. They want to spend their money.” Those in the industry say it will be difficult for Chinese companies to displace foreign ski and snowboard brands due to quality differences, but that there are opportunities in snowmaking equipment, groomers and apparel.

Chairlift makers including the state-owned Beijing Materials Handling Research Institute have also begun to make inroads providing the lifts that pull or carry skiers to the tops of slopes.

Anta, China’s biggest sportswear retailer, has set up a joint venture with the Japanese ski apparel Descente and the South Korean brand Kolon, making things like ski jackets.

“Winter sports will be our No.1

hot spot in 2018,” Li Ling, vice president at Anta, said last month.

“We hope to provide affordable equipment and gear, and change the current situation where most gear is expensive.”

HAZARDOUS SLOPES The enthusiasm for winter sports and the Olympics has attracted many investors including developers like China Vanke Co and Dalian Wanda Group Co., which have built large resorts in Jilin province in the northeast. Wanda reportedly sold its Changbaishan International Resort last year amid a broad restructuring of its holdings but continues to manage and operate the resort.

Vanke is also building what will reportedly be the last large resort in Chongli as the local government caps development. Despite such high-profile resorts, Carving Ski’s Wu cautioned that less than 10 percent of China’s 703 ski locations could be considered “high-quality”.

That raises the risk that Chinese skiers, about 80 percent of which are first-timers, could lose eventually interest in the sport, hurting the long-term potential of the industry, according to industry executives.

“What we see frequently is that a lot of skiers come to a resort, take a selfie, and never come back, or come back a year later,” said Muchengjian’s Liu. To boost interest, ski training companies are being set up at resorts, inviting in instructors from countries like Canada and Austria.

Resorts – and the Chinese government – are also trying to get children hooked on skiing from a young age. One government effort involves encouraging schools to arrange ski outings for kids. On a recent weekday at Jundushan Ski Resort in northern Beijing, hundreds of young kids were participating in ski classes. “In our local Changping district nearly 20,000 students from 73 schools will try out skiing this winter,” said Qiao Wei, general manager at Jundushan. However, some serious skiers and snowboarders say China’s ski resorts still can’t compete with overseas options. Ray Ruan, a 32-year-old experienced snowboarder from Beijing, only rides in China for the convenience.

The snow quality isn’t great, he said on a recent weekday at Jundushan.

“When I have time, I still prefer to go to Japan.” (rtr)

Tegaltamu Grand Palace, a New Cultural Destination in Gianyar

Do you still remember Batubulan? The village located in the Sukawati subdistrict, Gianyar, is not only famous for its barong performing art as well as the artisans of sculpture and batik cloth. The village still making preparation to become a tourism village is also famous for royal tourist area. It is the Tegaltamu Palace which has become the most visited tourist destination. This palace with beautiful heritage is still well preserved.

Tegaltamu Grand Palace is very strategic and close to other destinations, so that it is easily reached. It is situated at Tegaltamu hamlet, Batubulan, or about 10 minutes from Sukawati, 30 minutes from Ubud and Denpasar, and about 1.5 hours from Ngurah Rai Airport by car.

Tegaltamu Grand Palace is one of the palaces remaining a descendant of King of Badung I, Kyai Anglurah Tegeh Kori Putu Agung who ruled at Tegal Badung. When there was a civil war at Tegeh Agung Palace (now Griya Jro Agung Tegal at Tegal hamlet, Badung), Kyai Anglurah Putu Agung Tegeh Kori fled to Gianyar area accompanied by 125 loyal followers. At the new

location, he then built a palace named the Tegaltamu Palace.

The name Tegaltamu was used to indicate the identity that they were ‘guests’ (tamu in Balinese) of Tegal hamlet evacuating to Gianyar. The name depicts the history of the founder namely guests originating from Tegal Badung. Refugees going to Tegaltamu have profession as merchant. “As refugees, they do not have any land to grow crops, so that the only job that could be done was becoming the dealer of arts,” said I Gusti Ngurah Pertu Agung, a descendant of Tegaltamu Palace.

Along with the development of Bali tourism, Tegaltamu Palace has been opened as a culture-based tourist destination since 1998 though it has become a tourist destination since the 1970s. Travelers from various countries come to learn Balinese culture such as dancing, playing gamelan music, preparing oblation and chanting. “Many foreigners are learning to dance, reading literature and making sculptures,” said this alumnus of the Dance Department at the ISI Denpasar.

Gung Pertu, as he familiarly addressed, said that travelers knew

Tegaltamu Palace as the center of the art and culture from several books. Many of them said the books published in the 1920s write about the uniqueness owned

by Bali. They did not only write about local culture inspired by Hinduism, but also the exotic nature of the island. One of them is about I Gusti Ngurah Tegaltamu as a famous baris (warrior) dancer as well as the monumental barong and masks having been well known across Bali.

Today, Tegaltamu Grand Palace remaining to preserve Balinese culture becomes a destination visited by foreign travelers. They want to know and learn about Balinese arts. “We open the Kori Agung dance studio in 1997 as a venue to perform art activities such as dance, vocal, literature, sculpture and gamelan play. We still maintain the style of the mask and barong art of Tegaltamu Palace incorporated in the GOAK Tegaltamu. This studio has been fostering local and international children,” he explained.

To provide a sense of security and comfort for visitors, the Tegaltamu Grand Palace makes

tourism packages. They include Tea Time—a tea ceremony while learning to dance and explore instantly about Balinese fashion within two hours and a game of culture—playing the culture-based activity. For example, there is a contest of mejejahitan (preparing oblation) and writing of Balinese scripts on palm-leaf and wearing customary clothes and Balinese dance costumes properly.

There is also lunch and dinner package with international menus served in Balinese style.

“Tegaltamu Grand Palace provides tourism services with very strong cultural roots. Travelers can see the Balinese style building. Everything is explained in details by one of the royal figures which always present information about Balinese culture correctly,” added this lecturer at the IHDN Denpasar. (kmb)

6

Thursday, February 8, 2018

W

International

RLD

Snow blankets Paris and northern France, transport disrupted

PARIS - Heavy snowfall across northern France overnight caused widespread travel disruption on Wednesday with hundreds of motorists spending the night in their cars and around 700 travellers sleeping in two Paris train stations.

REUTERS/John Schults

A wedding couple of tourists pose for their own photographer in front of the Eiffel tower on the snowcovered Pont de Bir-Hakeim bridge as winter conditions with snow and freezing temperatures hit in Paris, France, February 7, 2018.

French authorities set up makeshift shelters at roadsides across the Paris region, near Orly airport to the south of the capital and at the Austerlitz and Montparnasse stations in the city. In all, around 1,500 people had to be sheltered between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Some flights were cancelled at Orly, according to the airport’s travel information.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said authorities had worked to prevent travel chaos as much as possible but that grit on roads was not effective with heavy dumpings of snow.

“We’re facing an exceptional episode,” he told RTL radio, warding off calls to overhaul France’s transport network.

“We’re not going to adapt our infrastructure for an exceptional occurrence, for two big snowfalls that happen every four or five years.”

At least 15 cm of snow fell around the capital’s outlying suburbs, the biggest dump since 2013, the government said.

For children and the more adventurous, the weather was a godsend: some carted skis to the top of Montmartre, the steep hill in northern Paris where the Sacre Coeur is located, while impromptu snowball fights erupted on the way to schools.

But mostly it caused disruption for tourists and commuters.

The Eiffel Tower was shut to visitors on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of the heaviest snowfall, and Parisians were braced for several more days of snowstorms and freezing temperatures, with forecasts of -7 degrees centigrade on Thursday night.

Regional train services were interrupted, leaving many commuters outside Paris stranded, while inner-city bus services were cancelled and some metro lines heavily disrupted.

In L’Etang-la-Ville, a village 20 km west of Paris, people arrived at the station to find the tracks buried under snow and scant information on whether there would be any services.

“They’re saying the trains are running at a reduced speed. But they’re lying, there are no trains,” said IT technician Jean-Michel Blanchet, blaming weak investment in regional rail networks for a lack of snow-clearing equipment. (rtr)

Distant cousin of Mexican president shot dead in home state

MEXICO CITY- A distant relation of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was killed in the leader’s home city of Atlacomulco in the state of Mexico, the state prosecutors and president’s offices said on Tuesday.

The prosecutors office confirmed that Maximino Montiel Pena was shot dead at the weekend, but did not give further details and the exact circum-

s t a n c e s w e r e u n c l e a r. P e n a Nieto’s office confirmed that Montiel was a distant cousin of the president.

The importance of the city of Atlacomulco to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gave rise to the “Atlacomulco Group,” which has produced seven governors of the state, including Pena Nieto himself.

Alfredo del Mazo, the cur-

rently governor of the state of Mexico, is another distant cousin of Pena Nieto’s who came from the same group.

The state, which surrounds Mexico City, has become one of the most violent amid a wave of killings in the country. Last year more than 2,300 people were murdered in the state, five percent more than the previous year. (rtr)

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Indonesia proposes strengthening regional architecture in Indo-Pacific

JAKARTA - Indonesia has proposed strengthening of regional architecture in Indo-Pacific region during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers` Retreat in Singapore on Tuesday. The position was conveyed by Indonesia`s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi during the first gathering of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, under Singapore`s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2018, on Tuesday.

In a press release received on Tuesday, Marsudi conveyed that the Indo-Pacific region, comprising of tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia, has become a strategic region for global economic development and peace.

Marsudi encouraged ASEAN to take a step further to contribute to strengthening regional architecture in Indo-Pacific region, which is open, transparent, and inclusive based on the international law. “Becoming spectators and remaining silent are not the options for ASEAN to address challenges and opportunities in the IndoPacific region,” Marsudi remarked.

In this regard, ASEAN ministers have agreed on Indonesia`s proposal to organize a 1.5-track meeting to discuss and develop the concept of regional architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. “Amid the geo-politic and geo-economic shift and the dynamics in Indo-Pacific region, ASEAN should continue to contribute and innovate, as well as continue to interact with the world, to keep showing its centrality,” Marsudi revealed.

During the AMM Retreat, ASEAN foreign ministers also reaffirmed their commitment towards maintaining and promoting peace, security, and stability in the region. The position was conveyed in a statement by the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, at the closing event of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers` Retreat that he chaired on Tuesday.

Balakrishnan, in a press statement on Tuesday, stated that the ASEAN

ministers had also reaffirmed their commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes, including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Marsudi conveyed that the resilience of people or community needed the existence of peace, democracy, and respect to human rights ASEAN`s resilience to transform into a prosperous society within one ASEAN community cannot be separated with its achievement in the last 50 years in creating a peaceful, stable, and prosperous ecosystem in the region, Marsudi noted.

However, maintaining and promoting peace, development, and democracy remained a challenge in the region, she added. “Peace is a precondition for development. However, people also need freedom to progress and to express,” she remarked.

During the meeting, ASEAN foreign ministers also emphasized the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation in, and overflight above, the South China Sea and recognizing the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity.

“We reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities, avoid actions that may further complicate the situation, and pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” the chairman stated.

Furthermore, ASEAN ministers emphasized the importance of nonmilitarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities by claimants and all other states, including those mentioned in the Declaration of Conduct, which could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the South China Sea. (ant)

11

U.N. rights chief slams Indonesia proposal to outlaw gay, extramarital sex

JAKARTA - The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday criticised proposals in Indonesia’s parliament to criminalize gay sex and extramarital sex, saying such laws could hurt the country’s beleaguered LGBT community and other minorities. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he had raised the issue with President Joko Widodo during a three-day visit to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, where hostility toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has risen sharply in recent years.

“Discussions of (revisions to the criminal code) betray strains of intolerance seemingly alien to Indonesian culture that have made inroads here,” Zeid told a news briefing, adding that he believed the proposed rules were “discriminatory”.

“The hateful rhetoric against the LGBT community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions,” he said.

Indonesia’s parliament is currently deliberating revisions to a Dutch colonial-era criminal code, including proposals to outlaw sex outside marriage, same-sex relations, and co-habitation, all of which were previously

unregulated by law. The revisions have broad support in parliament, where few politicians have stood up for LGBT rights for fear of alienating a largely conservative voter base ahead of legislative and presidential elections next year.

Many officials in President Widodo’s government have said LGBT people, like other citizens, should be free from discrimination and violence. But top officials, including the president, have said that Indonesia’s cultural and religious norms do not accept the LGBT movement.

Activists have raised concerns that, if approved, the new rules could violate basic rights and be misused to target minorities. Currently, Indonesian law does not regulate homosexuality, except in the ultra-conservative Islamic province of Aceh.

Zeid, a member of the Jordanian royal family who has been in the U.N. post since 2014, said Indonesia was among the most progressive states in Southeast Asia on human rights.

But he also urged Jakarta to address past atrocities like the 1965 massacre of nearly half a million suspected communists, - and human rights abuses in the easternmost province of Papua, and the use of the death penalty.

“There are some dark clouds on the horizon but ... I hope the common sense and strong tradition of tolerance of the Indonesian people will prevail over populism and political opportunism,” he said. (rtr)

REUTERS/Beawiharta

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein talks to reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia February 7, 2018.

Papuan represents Indonesia at child conference in Sweden

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto

REUTERS/Jorge Adorno

WAMENA - A young Papuan from Wamena, Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, will represent Indonesia at a child conference in Sweden from Feb 9 to 18, 2018.

The First Assistant of Jayawijaya District Secretary, Wusono Wamono, stated here on Tuesday that 16-year-

old Kristian Kogoya, who will be participating in the event, will gain and share information on the rights and protective measures on violence against children to his friends in Indonesia.

“This is the second time he will represent Papua and Indonesia at

the international event. We hope he would share the knowledge gained from the event with other children,” he remarked.

Kogoya will be accompanied by Kaleb Robinson Lau from non-profit organization Wahana Visi Indonesia of Papua. Kogoya noted that the child

conference is an endeavor to end violence against children.

“UNICEF, the Swedish government, We Protect Alliance, and World Vision organizations invite Kogoya to represent Papuan and Indonesian children at the conference in Sweden, which will discuss the 2030 agenda

to end violence against children,” Robinson revealed.

Earlier, Kogoya had spoken on children issues at the International Forum held at the 8th Milestone in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2017. “In Sweden, he will speak on cases that involve children,” he concluded. (ant)

10

Destination

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

Goa Gala-gala, the underground house in Nusa Lembongan SEMARAPURA - From the first, Bali is known as one of the island with immense charm that attracts domestic and foreign travelers. The island has many natural tourist destinations, culture, art, or others who are very dear to miss.

When you visit Bali, you may want to find slightly different tourist destinations. in this case, you can choose to pay a visit to Nusa Lembongan which has many attractions ranging beaches, mangrove forests, there is even one of the unique places you can find in there.

You can visit Goa Gala-Gala as an underground house that is inspired from the Mahabharata.

This underground house built in 1961 for approximately 15 years

by Mangku Byasa using conventional tools such as crowbars. To facilitate the process of extracting the limestone, Mangku Byasa use cattle dung burned. This cave was eventually used as a residence.

This masterpiece deserves to be rewarded and included it as one of the cultural heritage sites. The beauty and uniqueness of the underground

house, many people feel curious to visit there. To find the house is also not a difficult thing to do because at the mouth of the alley there is a sign saying Underground House as a signpost. From the mouth of the alley, you can walk about 50 meters to reach Goa Gala-Gala.

When you get to be in the cave area, you will see up parts of the cave like the house in general with a yard is overgrown trees. However, there is little difference can you find in the area of the house where you can find some corner yard with gaping holes about 3 meters. Those holes are as the entrance to the access leading to the underground house. Through these holes, you could down the stairs. Furthermore, you can see the pillars of the land and the branches in different directions. Once you are inside the cave, you might feel it is like a maze.

However, you can find some space as it exists in the home such as the dining room, bedroom, and living room with seats rough-hewn stone in the soil. In addition, you also find a lot of overdraft wall used as

a Mangku Byasa meditated.

If you are also interested in visiting The Underground House in Nusa Lembongan Bali, you can access the area easily enough. The location of the cave or underground house is about 50 meters from the edge of the highway in Nusa Lembongan. Entrance tickets to all the area is twenty thousand. This is an affordable price to enjoy the uniqueness that probably will not be able you find in other places.

The underground house has doors, as well as the holes, are capable of being ventilation and air circulation so that the addresses in the cave, you will still feel cool. This cave was once believed to be used as a place to stay so that the arrangement and design that is displayed is also quite good including intake system.

Visiting unique places seem able to provide an outstanding experience. You can try to visit some tourist destinations anti mainstream, which certainly offers a different unique sensation. One of which is a visit to Goa Gala-Gala in Nusa Lembongan. (net)

Workers shovel snow at the landing zone.

Athletes, organisers locked in Pyeongchang cold war

REUTERS/Mike Blake

PYEONGCHANG - Even for cold weather warriors hardened by years of winter sports training, the icy chill of South Korea’s frigid February has come as a shock to the system in the leadup to this month’s Pyeongchang Olympics.

Plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night and rarely breaking above freezing in the day, the temperatures have put Pyeongchang on track to be the coldest Olympics in decades and present athletes with a very different set of conditions from the sunshine and slushy snow of Sochi four years ago.

The 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, where tempera-

tures dipped to minus 11 Celsius, are currently the coldest Olympics on record but recent Games in Turin, Vancouver and Sochi have all been significantly warmer.

Sporting and digital equipment appears no match for the biting cold either, with skis warped to such an extent coaches are tossing them out like “garbage” while cellphone and TV camera batteries are being rendered lifeless in minutes.

Austrian Alpine skier Marcel Hirscher said athletes were using a different pair of skis on every run as the frigid temperatures sharpened snow crystals.

“Snow crystals get really sharp when temperatures go to minus 20 degrees and the base burns,” he added.

“It’s the same as lighting a fire and burning your (ski) base because the snow crystals get such sharp edges.”

Health concerns too have risen to the fore. Norway’s cross-country team have brought some of their training indoors to prevent cold air from dam-

aging athletes’ airways while fears that an outbreak of norovirus, known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’, would sweep through the Games prompted organisers to keep infected security staff away from work.

But it is the threat of hypothermia at Friday’s opening ceremony that has set organisers on edge, with presidents, prime ministers and some 35,000 spectators scheduled to gather under the stars at Pyeongchang’s $58 million open-air Olympic stadium.

The ceremony has been slimmed down to a brisk two-hour march from the typical four-hour proces-

sion and organisers plan to dish out hats, blankets and seat-warmers to combat the cold, though that has not been enough to reassure some spectators as a number of tickets have already been returned.

Sadie Bjornsen, a cross-country skier on Team USA, told Reuters they were taking the cold threat seriously.

“We’ve got these heated jackets from Ralph Lauren, and we’ve also been told that there’s going to be a warm area that we can stand in,” she said. “After it’s over it’s about getting back on the bus as quickly as possible.” (rtr)

‘Extraordinary’ Tokyo sponsorship deals near $3bn - IOC Looking Bar Manager,Bar Staff,Host /Hostess,Cashier,Cooks,Waiter/ ess,Stewards,Jl.Arjuna Legian Krm CV:info@hoipolloibali.com

Looking for Buttler Villa, High salary in area Seminyak Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

Hotel Reservations Personnel needed in Jimbaran-Bali.Very Well Spoken And Written English is a must.Experience Work ing in the hospitality Industry is a plus.

Please send Cover letter and CV to hr@ lotus-hotel.com

Looking for Experienced Villa Garden maintenance,hard worker Good salary in area Seminyak Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

B.BP.001.01.18.0001035

B.BP.001.01.18.0001103

Looking For Staff Cook Helper, Experience 1 Year.Sent CV to: warungdua88x@gmail.com/8475139

B.BP.001.01.18.0001190

B.BP.001.01.18.0000579

B.BP.001.01.18.0000578

Looking for Staff IT/Web,Good English,Good Salary in Dps Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

B.BP.001.01.18.0000580

Bukit Pandawa Golf Looking For Junior Accountant,Bachelor Degree in Accounting,min 2 yrs experience & able to joint immediately,completed CV to byboesono@gmail.com cc mwiriani@ baliragawisata.com

B.BP.004.01.18.0001194

Sales/Marketing,for HealthCare /Beauty Care, Experience, National Area,Apply to: versaindustries4@gmail. com

Place Your Add Here

It is for Job Vacancy, Property, Selling or Buying

B.BP.031.01.18.0000667

Need Waiter/Waitess,IT/Design, Bartender,Cook for Resto in Kuta. Send CV + Foto to Email: wikamitra@yahoo. com Phone/WA :089693670981

B.BP.001.01.18.0000157

Please contact Gugiek : 08123840500

PYEONGCHANG - Record revenues from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics sponsorship programme have edged closer to $3.0 billion with more partners expected, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday. Tokyo has eclipsed all of its Olympic predecessors in terms of sponsorship proceeds by almost three times and the IOC’s coordination commission chief for the 2020 Games, John Coates, praised overall progress.

“Tokyo continues to show positive progress and meeting key milestones,” Coates told the IOC

session in Pyeongchang ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

He said new venue projects were also proceeding according to plan with the first such arena -- for badminton -- having opened late last year. Sponsorship revenues had now topped $2.91 billion, Coates said, calling the programme “extraordinarily successful”.

“There are 47 partners in total, 15 in tier one, 29 in tier two and three in tier three. $2.91 billion of national sponsorship and there is more to come,” he said.

“It is a pleasure dealing with this local organising committee,”

he said.

The London 2012 Games raised roughly $1.1 billion, while Rio de Janeiro in 2016 claimed it had slightly surpassed London, but final accounts are sketchy given investigations into corruption linked to Olympics projects in Brazil.

Tokyo initially struggled with preparations after being awarded the Games in 2013, scrapping plans for an expensive new stadium, reducing a ballooning budget from more than $26 billion to $16.8 billion and dealing with a number of environmental issues. (rtr)

IBP/net

IOC session in Pyeongchang ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

8

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Sp rt

Van Dijk prepared for frosty reception at Southampton

REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

Bayern Munich’s Mats Hummels and Niklas Sule celebrate their third goal scored by Joshua Kimmich

Bayern hit Paderborn for six to reach German Cup semis

Bayern Munich dismantled third-tier Paderborn to sweep into the German Cup semifinals with a thumping 6-0 win on Tuesday. The lower league side, who suffered successive relegations after playing in the Bundesliga three years ago, began brightly but were swiftly outclassed by visiting Bayern, who have won the competition a record 18 times.

Kingsley Coman gave Bayern the lead after 19 minutes, sweeping home from close range after Arjen Robben had missed his kick, and the France forward then teed up Robert Lewandowski with a delightful pass for the second.

Bayern effectively ended Paderborn’s resistance four minutes before halftime when a beautiful long ball from Mats Hummels found Joshua Kimmich, who beat the keeper at his near post with a calm finish.

Bayern landed a further blow 10 minutes into the second half when Corentin Tolisso headed home unmarked from a corner. Robben curled the ball home from the edge of the area and then tapped in from close range to complete an emphatic win late on. Bayer Leverkusen also reached the last four after fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Werder Bremen 4-2 after extra time.

Max Kruse and Aron Johannsson had given Bremen a two-goal lead inside seven minutes, but Julian Brandt scored either side of halftime to drag Leverkusen back into the match. Karim Bellarabi and Kai Havertz then scored late in extra time to complete a superb turnaround.

The semi-final lineup will be completed on Wednesday when last year’s runners-up Eintracht Frankfurt host Mainz 05 and VfL Wolfsburg visit Schalke 04 in the remaining quarter-final ties. (rtr)

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is prepared for a frosty reception on his return to Southampton but has said he is only focussed on a win at his former club. Liverpool made Dutchman Van Dijk the world’s most expensive defender by splashing out a world record 75 million pounds ($104.66 million) in the January transfer window after failing to agree terms during acrimonious dealings in the close season.

Van Dijk, who has made a mixed start to life at Anfield, returns to the south coast for the first time since his move and is fully aware of what the fans could have in store for him.

“Maybe they can boo the whole game. You can’t do anything about it,” Van Dijk said.

“Obviously it’ll be nice to see the players and the friends I have there but, for me, it is going to be about one thing only and that is to win the game.” Van Dijk scored the winning goal on his Liverpool debut as they beat city rivals Everton 2-1 in their FA Cup third round last month but was injured for the 4-3 home win that ended leaders Manchester

City’s unbeaten run in the league.

Liverpool have won once with Van Dijk in the team, losing 3-2 to West Bromwich Albion and drawing 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with the Dutchman conceding an injury-time penalty that allowed striker Harry Kane to equalise.

“With the football we play, the pressing, the different options with players, it is totally different here,” Van Dijk added. “So you need time to get used to everything but I am working on it every day together with the team.

“The most important thing is what happens at Melwood and what happens here with the people who care about the team... other people around, fans of other clubs, pundits, they can have their opinions, but it doesn’t really bother me.

“I am talking with the manager and everyone who can help me out.

I want to improve and get the maximum out of myself and that is what I am going to do.” Liverpool are third in the table with 51 points while Southampton are 15th with 26 points. (rtr)

Swansea win FA Cup replay 8-1, Huddersfield through to face Man United

LONDON - Rampant Swansea City thrashed fourth-tier Notts County 8-1 in a replay to reach the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday as they chalked up their biggest victory in the competition. Swansea’s fellow Premier League side Huddersfield Town fought back against second-tier Birmingham City to progress with a 4-1 extra-time replay win and will host Manchester United.

Third-tier Rochdale knocked out Championship club Millwall 1-0 thanks to Ian Henderson’s 53rd minute goal to set up a tie at home to Tottenham Hotspur or Newport

County.

Tammy Abraham, on loan from Chelsea, and Nathan Dyer both scored twice as Swansea, rejuvenated since the appointment of manager Carlos Carvalhal at the end of December, scored four times in each half against beleaguered County.

Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Tom Carroll and Daniel James were also on target for the Swans, who drew 1-1 at Meadow Lane in the first game and now face Carvalhal’s old club, secondtier Sheffield Wednesday who the

Portuguese left on Christmas Eve. Birmingham took the lead through Che Adams early in the second half, but Huddersfield drew level with an own goal from Marc Roberts after Tom Ince’s shot was parried by the keeper.

Town pulled clear in extra time with Steve Mounie heading the visitors into the lead before Rajiv van La Parra slotted in a rebound and Ince added a fourth with a fierce drive. Spurs play their fourth round replay against fourth-tier Newport County at Wembley on Wednesday after a 1-1 draw away. (rtr)

Diabate impact impresses Leicester manager Puel

Leicester City forward Fousseni Diabate has the right attributes to handle the rigours of the Premier League and has made a good early impression, manager Claude Puel said.

Diabate, 22, who can operate as a forward or on the wings, scored a brace on his debut in Leicester’s 5-1 FA Cup victory at third-tier Peterborough United last month.

The versatile Malian took up Riyad Mahrez’s position on the right side of midfield in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Swansea City, with the Algerian midfielder left out for missing training and trying to force a move away from the club.

“I think he has a lot qualities and good attributes for

the Premier League,” Puel said. “It was his second game for us and he showed a lot of quality.”

Diabete moved to Leicester in the January transfer window from French Ligue 2 side Gazelec Ajaccio on a four-and-a-half-year deal. He played 20 times in all competitions for the French second division club.

“He combined well with his team mates. He played simple passes and two touches, and made good penetration,” Puel added.

“It was a good first half and he showed some strong work defensively, and brought something to our attack.”

Leicester are eighth in the table with 35 points and travel to league leaders Manchester City on Saturday. (rtr)

REUTERS/Darren Staples

Swansea City’s Lukasz Fabianski makes a save from Leicester City’s Fousseni Diabate

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk in action

9

REUTERS/Rebecca Naden

Swansea City’s Tammy Abraham celebrates scoring their first goal with Luciano Narsingh

8

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Sp rt

Van Dijk prepared for frosty reception at Southampton

REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

Bayern Munich’s Mats Hummels and Niklas Sule celebrate their third goal scored by Joshua Kimmich

Bayern hit Paderborn for six to reach German Cup semis

Bayern Munich dismantled third-tier Paderborn to sweep into the German Cup semifinals with a thumping 6-0 win on Tuesday. The lower league side, who suffered successive relegations after playing in the Bundesliga three years ago, began brightly but were swiftly outclassed by visiting Bayern, who have won the competition a record 18 times.

Kingsley Coman gave Bayern the lead after 19 minutes, sweeping home from close range after Arjen Robben had missed his kick, and the France forward then teed up Robert Lewandowski with a delightful pass for the second.

Bayern effectively ended Paderborn’s resistance four minutes before halftime when a beautiful long ball from Mats Hummels found Joshua Kimmich, who beat the keeper at his near post with a calm finish.

Bayern landed a further blow 10 minutes into the second half when Corentin Tolisso headed home unmarked from a corner. Robben curled the ball home from the edge of the area and then tapped in from close range to complete an emphatic win late on. Bayer Leverkusen also reached the last four after fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Werder Bremen 4-2 after extra time.

Max Kruse and Aron Johannsson had given Bremen a two-goal lead inside seven minutes, but Julian Brandt scored either side of halftime to drag Leverkusen back into the match. Karim Bellarabi and Kai Havertz then scored late in extra time to complete a superb turnaround.

The semi-final lineup will be completed on Wednesday when last year’s runners-up Eintracht Frankfurt host Mainz 05 and VfL Wolfsburg visit Schalke 04 in the remaining quarter-final ties. (rtr)

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk is prepared for a frosty reception on his return to Southampton but has said he is only focussed on a win at his former club. Liverpool made Dutchman Van Dijk the world’s most expensive defender by splashing out a world record 75 million pounds ($104.66 million) in the January transfer window after failing to agree terms during acrimonious dealings in the close season.

Van Dijk, who has made a mixed start to life at Anfield, returns to the south coast for the first time since his move and is fully aware of what the fans could have in store for him.

“Maybe they can boo the whole game. You can’t do anything about it,” Van Dijk said.

“Obviously it’ll be nice to see the players and the friends I have there but, for me, it is going to be about one thing only and that is to win the game.” Van Dijk scored the winning goal on his Liverpool debut as they beat city rivals Everton 2-1 in their FA Cup third round last month but was injured for the 4-3 home win that ended leaders Manchester

City’s unbeaten run in the league.

Liverpool have won once with Van Dijk in the team, losing 3-2 to West Bromwich Albion and drawing 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, with the Dutchman conceding an injury-time penalty that allowed striker Harry Kane to equalise.

“With the football we play, the pressing, the different options with players, it is totally different here,” Van Dijk added. “So you need time to get used to everything but I am working on it every day together with the team.

“The most important thing is what happens at Melwood and what happens here with the people who care about the team... other people around, fans of other clubs, pundits, they can have their opinions, but it doesn’t really bother me.

“I am talking with the manager and everyone who can help me out.

I want to improve and get the maximum out of myself and that is what I am going to do.” Liverpool are third in the table with 51 points while Southampton are 15th with 26 points. (rtr)

Swansea win FA Cup replay 8-1, Huddersfield through to face Man United

LONDON - Rampant Swansea City thrashed fourth-tier Notts County 8-1 in a replay to reach the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday as they chalked up their biggest victory in the competition. Swansea’s fellow Premier League side Huddersfield Town fought back against second-tier Birmingham City to progress with a 4-1 extra-time replay win and will host Manchester United.

Third-tier Rochdale knocked out Championship club Millwall 1-0 thanks to Ian Henderson’s 53rd minute goal to set up a tie at home to Tottenham Hotspur or Newport

County.

Tammy Abraham, on loan from Chelsea, and Nathan Dyer both scored twice as Swansea, rejuvenated since the appointment of manager Carlos Carvalhal at the end of December, scored four times in each half against beleaguered County.

Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Tom Carroll and Daniel James were also on target for the Swans, who drew 1-1 at Meadow Lane in the first game and now face Carvalhal’s old club, secondtier Sheffield Wednesday who the

Portuguese left on Christmas Eve. Birmingham took the lead through Che Adams early in the second half, but Huddersfield drew level with an own goal from Marc Roberts after Tom Ince’s shot was parried by the keeper.

Town pulled clear in extra time with Steve Mounie heading the visitors into the lead before Rajiv van La Parra slotted in a rebound and Ince added a fourth with a fierce drive. Spurs play their fourth round replay against fourth-tier Newport County at Wembley on Wednesday after a 1-1 draw away. (rtr)

Diabate impact impresses Leicester manager Puel

Leicester City forward Fousseni Diabate has the right attributes to handle the rigours of the Premier League and has made a good early impression, manager Claude Puel said.

Diabate, 22, who can operate as a forward or on the wings, scored a brace on his debut in Leicester’s 5-1 FA Cup victory at third-tier Peterborough United last month.

The versatile Malian took up Riyad Mahrez’s position on the right side of midfield in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Swansea City, with the Algerian midfielder left out for missing training and trying to force a move away from the club.

“I think he has a lot qualities and good attributes for

the Premier League,” Puel said. “It was his second game for us and he showed a lot of quality.”

Diabete moved to Leicester in the January transfer window from French Ligue 2 side Gazelec Ajaccio on a four-and-a-half-year deal. He played 20 times in all competitions for the French second division club.

“He combined well with his team mates. He played simple passes and two touches, and made good penetration,” Puel added.

“It was a good first half and he showed some strong work defensively, and brought something to our attack.”

Leicester are eighth in the table with 35 points and travel to league leaders Manchester City on Saturday. (rtr)

REUTERS/Darren Staples

Swansea City’s Lukasz Fabianski makes a save from Leicester City’s Fousseni Diabate

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk in action

9

REUTERS/Rebecca Naden

Swansea City’s Tammy Abraham celebrates scoring their first goal with Luciano Narsingh

10

Destination

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

Goa Gala-gala, the underground house in Nusa Lembongan SEMARAPURA - From the first, Bali is known as one of the island with immense charm that attracts domestic and foreign travelers. The island has many natural tourist destinations, culture, art, or others who are very dear to miss.

When you visit Bali, you may want to find slightly different tourist destinations. in this case, you can choose to pay a visit to Nusa Lembongan which has many attractions ranging beaches, mangrove forests, there is even one of the unique places you can find in there.

You can visit Goa Gala-Gala as an underground house that is inspired from the Mahabharata.

This underground house built in 1961 for approximately 15 years

by Mangku Byasa using conventional tools such as crowbars. To facilitate the process of extracting the limestone, Mangku Byasa use cattle dung burned. This cave was eventually used as a residence.

This masterpiece deserves to be rewarded and included it as one of the cultural heritage sites. The beauty and uniqueness of the underground

house, many people feel curious to visit there. To find the house is also not a difficult thing to do because at the mouth of the alley there is a sign saying Underground House as a signpost. From the mouth of the alley, you can walk about 50 meters to reach Goa Gala-Gala.

When you get to be in the cave area, you will see up parts of the cave like the house in general with a yard is overgrown trees. However, there is little difference can you find in the area of the house where you can find some corner yard with gaping holes about 3 meters. Those holes are as the entrance to the access leading to the underground house. Through these holes, you could down the stairs. Furthermore, you can see the pillars of the land and the branches in different directions. Once you are inside the cave, you might feel it is like a maze.

However, you can find some space as it exists in the home such as the dining room, bedroom, and living room with seats rough-hewn stone in the soil. In addition, you also find a lot of overdraft wall used as

a Mangku Byasa meditated.

If you are also interested in visiting The Underground House in Nusa Lembongan Bali, you can access the area easily enough. The location of the cave or underground house is about 50 meters from the edge of the highway in Nusa Lembongan. Entrance tickets to all the area is twenty thousand. This is an affordable price to enjoy the uniqueness that probably will not be able you find in other places.

The underground house has doors, as well as the holes, are capable of being ventilation and air circulation so that the addresses in the cave, you will still feel cool. This cave was once believed to be used as a place to stay so that the arrangement and design that is displayed is also quite good including intake system.

Visiting unique places seem able to provide an outstanding experience. You can try to visit some tourist destinations anti mainstream, which certainly offers a different unique sensation. One of which is a visit to Goa Gala-Gala in Nusa Lembongan. (net)

Workers shovel snow at the landing zone.

Athletes, organisers locked in Pyeongchang cold war

REUTERS/Mike Blake

PYEONGCHANG - Even for cold weather warriors hardened by years of winter sports training, the icy chill of South Korea’s frigid February has come as a shock to the system in the leadup to this month’s Pyeongchang Olympics.

Plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night and rarely breaking above freezing in the day, the temperatures have put Pyeongchang on track to be the coldest Olympics in decades and present athletes with a very different set of conditions from the sunshine and slushy snow of Sochi four years ago.

The 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, where tempera-

tures dipped to minus 11 Celsius, are currently the coldest Olympics on record but recent Games in Turin, Vancouver and Sochi have all been significantly warmer.

Sporting and digital equipment appears no match for the biting cold either, with skis warped to such an extent coaches are tossing them out like “garbage” while cellphone and TV camera batteries are being rendered lifeless in minutes.

Austrian Alpine skier Marcel Hirscher said athletes were using a different pair of skis on every run as the frigid temperatures sharpened snow crystals.

“Snow crystals get really sharp when temperatures go to minus 20 degrees and the base burns,” he added.

“It’s the same as lighting a fire and burning your (ski) base because the snow crystals get such sharp edges.”

Health concerns too have risen to the fore. Norway’s cross-country team have brought some of their training indoors to prevent cold air from dam-

aging athletes’ airways while fears that an outbreak of norovirus, known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’, would sweep through the Games prompted organisers to keep infected security staff away from work.

But it is the threat of hypothermia at Friday’s opening ceremony that has set organisers on edge, with presidents, prime ministers and some 35,000 spectators scheduled to gather under the stars at Pyeongchang’s $58 million open-air Olympic stadium.

The ceremony has been slimmed down to a brisk two-hour march from the typical four-hour proces-

sion and organisers plan to dish out hats, blankets and seat-warmers to combat the cold, though that has not been enough to reassure some spectators as a number of tickets have already been returned.

Sadie Bjornsen, a cross-country skier on Team USA, told Reuters they were taking the cold threat seriously.

“We’ve got these heated jackets from Ralph Lauren, and we’ve also been told that there’s going to be a warm area that we can stand in,” she said. “After it’s over it’s about getting back on the bus as quickly as possible.” (rtr)

‘Extraordinary’ Tokyo sponsorship deals near $3bn - IOC Looking Bar Manager,Bar Staff,Host /Hostess,Cashier,Cooks,Waiter/ ess,Stewards,Jl.Arjuna Legian Krm CV:info@hoipolloibali.com

Looking for Buttler Villa, High salary in area Seminyak Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

Hotel Reservations Personnel needed in Jimbaran-Bali.Very Well Spoken And Written English is a must.Experience Work ing in the hospitality Industry is a plus.

Please send Cover letter and CV to hr@ lotus-hotel.com

Looking for Experienced Villa Garden maintenance,hard worker Good salary in area Seminyak Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

B.BP.001.01.18.0001035

B.BP.001.01.18.0001103

Looking For Staff Cook Helper, Experience 1 Year.Sent CV to: warungdua88x@gmail.com/8475139

B.BP.001.01.18.0001190

B.BP.001.01.18.0000579

B.BP.001.01.18.0000578

Looking for Staff IT/Web,Good English,Good Salary in Dps Hub.(0361)4490319,CV to Email: asavillasproperty@gmail.com

B.BP.001.01.18.0000580

Bukit Pandawa Golf Looking For Junior Accountant,Bachelor Degree in Accounting,min 2 yrs experience & able to joint immediately,completed CV to byboesono@gmail.com cc mwiriani@ baliragawisata.com

B.BP.004.01.18.0001194

Sales/Marketing,for HealthCare /Beauty Care, Experience, National Area,Apply to: versaindustries4@gmail. com

Place Your Add Here

It is for Job Vacancy, Property, Selling or Buying

B.BP.031.01.18.0000667

Need Waiter/Waitess,IT/Design, Bartender,Cook for Resto in Kuta. Send CV + Foto to Email: wikamitra@yahoo. com Phone/WA :089693670981

B.BP.001.01.18.0000157

Please contact Gugiek : 08123840500

PYEONGCHANG - Record revenues from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics sponsorship programme have edged closer to $3.0 billion with more partners expected, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday. Tokyo has eclipsed all of its Olympic predecessors in terms of sponsorship proceeds by almost three times and the IOC’s coordination commission chief for the 2020 Games, John Coates, praised overall progress.

“Tokyo continues to show positive progress and meeting key milestones,” Coates told the IOC

session in Pyeongchang ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

He said new venue projects were also proceeding according to plan with the first such arena -- for badminton -- having opened late last year. Sponsorship revenues had now topped $2.91 billion, Coates said, calling the programme “extraordinarily successful”.

“There are 47 partners in total, 15 in tier one, 29 in tier two and three in tier three. $2.91 billion of national sponsorship and there is more to come,” he said.

“It is a pleasure dealing with this local organising committee,”

he said.

The London 2012 Games raised roughly $1.1 billion, while Rio de Janeiro in 2016 claimed it had slightly surpassed London, but final accounts are sketchy given investigations into corruption linked to Olympics projects in Brazil.

Tokyo initially struggled with preparations after being awarded the Games in 2013, scrapping plans for an expensive new stadium, reducing a ballooning budget from more than $26 billion to $16.8 billion and dealing with a number of environmental issues. (rtr)

IBP/net

IOC session in Pyeongchang ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

6

Thursday, February 8, 2018

W

International

RLD

Snow blankets Paris and northern France, transport disrupted

PARIS - Heavy snowfall across northern France overnight caused widespread travel disruption on Wednesday with hundreds of motorists spending the night in their cars and around 700 travellers sleeping in two Paris train stations.

REUTERS/John Schults

A wedding couple of tourists pose for their own photographer in front of the Eiffel tower on the snowcovered Pont de Bir-Hakeim bridge as winter conditions with snow and freezing temperatures hit in Paris, France, February 7, 2018.

French authorities set up makeshift shelters at roadsides across the Paris region, near Orly airport to the south of the capital and at the Austerlitz and Montparnasse stations in the city. In all, around 1,500 people had to be sheltered between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Some flights were cancelled at Orly, according to the airport’s travel information.

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said authorities had worked to prevent travel chaos as much as possible but that grit on roads was not effective with heavy dumpings of snow.

“We’re facing an exceptional episode,” he told RTL radio, warding off calls to overhaul France’s transport network.

“We’re not going to adapt our infrastructure for an exceptional occurrence, for two big snowfalls that happen every four or five years.”

At least 15 cm of snow fell around the capital’s outlying suburbs, the biggest dump since 2013, the government said.

For children and the more adventurous, the weather was a godsend: some carted skis to the top of Montmartre, the steep hill in northern Paris where the Sacre Coeur is located, while impromptu snowball fights erupted on the way to schools.

But mostly it caused disruption for tourists and commuters.

The Eiffel Tower was shut to visitors on Tuesday afternoon, ahead of the heaviest snowfall, and Parisians were braced for several more days of snowstorms and freezing temperatures, with forecasts of -7 degrees centigrade on Thursday night.

Regional train services were interrupted, leaving many commuters outside Paris stranded, while inner-city bus services were cancelled and some metro lines heavily disrupted.

In L’Etang-la-Ville, a village 20 km west of Paris, people arrived at the station to find the tracks buried under snow and scant information on whether there would be any services.

“They’re saying the trains are running at a reduced speed. But they’re lying, there are no trains,” said IT technician Jean-Michel Blanchet, blaming weak investment in regional rail networks for a lack of snow-clearing equipment. (rtr)

Distant cousin of Mexican president shot dead in home state

MEXICO CITY- A distant relation of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto was killed in the leader’s home city of Atlacomulco in the state of Mexico, the state prosecutors and president’s offices said on Tuesday.

The prosecutors office confirmed that Maximino Montiel Pena was shot dead at the weekend, but did not give further details and the exact circum-

s t a n c e s w e r e u n c l e a r. P e n a Nieto’s office confirmed that Montiel was a distant cousin of the president.

The importance of the city of Atlacomulco to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gave rise to the “Atlacomulco Group,” which has produced seven governors of the state, including Pena Nieto himself.

Alfredo del Mazo, the cur-

rently governor of the state of Mexico, is another distant cousin of Pena Nieto’s who came from the same group.

The state, which surrounds Mexico City, has become one of the most violent amid a wave of killings in the country. Last year more than 2,300 people were murdered in the state, five percent more than the previous year. (rtr)

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Indonesia proposes strengthening regional architecture in Indo-Pacific

JAKARTA - Indonesia has proposed strengthening of regional architecture in Indo-Pacific region during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers` Retreat in Singapore on Tuesday. The position was conveyed by Indonesia`s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi during the first gathering of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers, under Singapore`s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2018, on Tuesday.

In a press release received on Tuesday, Marsudi conveyed that the Indo-Pacific region, comprising of tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia, has become a strategic region for global economic development and peace.

Marsudi encouraged ASEAN to take a step further to contribute to strengthening regional architecture in Indo-Pacific region, which is open, transparent, and inclusive based on the international law. “Becoming spectators and remaining silent are not the options for ASEAN to address challenges and opportunities in the IndoPacific region,” Marsudi remarked.

In this regard, ASEAN ministers have agreed on Indonesia`s proposal to organize a 1.5-track meeting to discuss and develop the concept of regional architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. “Amid the geo-politic and geo-economic shift and the dynamics in Indo-Pacific region, ASEAN should continue to contribute and innovate, as well as continue to interact with the world, to keep showing its centrality,” Marsudi revealed.

During the AMM Retreat, ASEAN foreign ministers also reaffirmed their commitment towards maintaining and promoting peace, security, and stability in the region. The position was conveyed in a statement by the Foreign Minister of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, at the closing event of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers` Retreat that he chaired on Tuesday.

Balakrishnan, in a press statement on Tuesday, stated that the ASEAN

ministers had also reaffirmed their commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes, including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Marsudi conveyed that the resilience of people or community needed the existence of peace, democracy, and respect to human rights ASEAN`s resilience to transform into a prosperous society within one ASEAN community cannot be separated with its achievement in the last 50 years in creating a peaceful, stable, and prosperous ecosystem in the region, Marsudi noted.

However, maintaining and promoting peace, development, and democracy remained a challenge in the region, she added. “Peace is a precondition for development. However, people also need freedom to progress and to express,” she remarked.

During the meeting, ASEAN foreign ministers also emphasized the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation in, and overflight above, the South China Sea and recognizing the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and prosperity.

“We reaffirmed the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities, avoid actions that may further complicate the situation, and pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS,” the chairman stated.

Furthermore, ASEAN ministers emphasized the importance of nonmilitarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities by claimants and all other states, including those mentioned in the Declaration of Conduct, which could further complicate the situation and escalate tensions in the South China Sea. (ant)

11

U.N. rights chief slams Indonesia proposal to outlaw gay, extramarital sex

JAKARTA - The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday criticised proposals in Indonesia’s parliament to criminalize gay sex and extramarital sex, saying such laws could hurt the country’s beleaguered LGBT community and other minorities. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said he had raised the issue with President Joko Widodo during a three-day visit to the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, where hostility toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has risen sharply in recent years.

“Discussions of (revisions to the criminal code) betray strains of intolerance seemingly alien to Indonesian culture that have made inroads here,” Zeid told a news briefing, adding that he believed the proposed rules were “discriminatory”.

“The hateful rhetoric against the LGBT community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions,” he said.

Indonesia’s parliament is currently deliberating revisions to a Dutch colonial-era criminal code, including proposals to outlaw sex outside marriage, same-sex relations, and co-habitation, all of which were previously

unregulated by law. The revisions have broad support in parliament, where few politicians have stood up for LGBT rights for fear of alienating a largely conservative voter base ahead of legislative and presidential elections next year.

Many officials in President Widodo’s government have said LGBT people, like other citizens, should be free from discrimination and violence. But top officials, including the president, have said that Indonesia’s cultural and religious norms do not accept the LGBT movement.

Activists have raised concerns that, if approved, the new rules could violate basic rights and be misused to target minorities. Currently, Indonesian law does not regulate homosexuality, except in the ultra-conservative Islamic province of Aceh.

Zeid, a member of the Jordanian royal family who has been in the U.N. post since 2014, said Indonesia was among the most progressive states in Southeast Asia on human rights.

But he also urged Jakarta to address past atrocities like the 1965 massacre of nearly half a million suspected communists, - and human rights abuses in the easternmost province of Papua, and the use of the death penalty.

“There are some dark clouds on the horizon but ... I hope the common sense and strong tradition of tolerance of the Indonesian people will prevail over populism and political opportunism,” he said. (rtr)

REUTERS/Beawiharta

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein talks to reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia February 7, 2018.

Papuan represents Indonesia at child conference in Sweden

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto

REUTERS/Jorge Adorno

WAMENA - A young Papuan from Wamena, Jayawijaya District, Papua Province, will represent Indonesia at a child conference in Sweden from Feb 9 to 18, 2018.

The First Assistant of Jayawijaya District Secretary, Wusono Wamono, stated here on Tuesday that 16-year-

old Kristian Kogoya, who will be participating in the event, will gain and share information on the rights and protective measures on violence against children to his friends in Indonesia.

“This is the second time he will represent Papua and Indonesia at

the international event. We hope he would share the knowledge gained from the event with other children,” he remarked.

Kogoya will be accompanied by Kaleb Robinson Lau from non-profit organization Wahana Visi Indonesia of Papua. Kogoya noted that the child

conference is an endeavor to end violence against children.

“UNICEF, the Swedish government, We Protect Alliance, and World Vision organizations invite Kogoya to represent Papuan and Indonesian children at the conference in Sweden, which will discuss the 2030 agenda

to end violence against children,” Robinson revealed.

Earlier, Kogoya had spoken on children issues at the International Forum held at the 8th Milestone in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2017. “In Sweden, he will speak on cases that involve children,” he concluded. (ant)

12

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

BUSINESS China’s winter resorts face tougher terrain despite Olympics excitement

Bali News

International

Watching Mud War or Mebuug-buugan at Kedonganan

new large outdoor ski facilities.

Operators of ski facilities say other challenges include a lack of qualified staff such as instructors and that rising costs related to staff, energy, environmental regulations, and water are putting pressure on profits.

Nanshan Ski Village in Beijing’s Miyun District, the biggest and most popular ski resort in the area, provides an example of the challenges facing new entrants to the market.

Like other ski facilities in the capital, Nanshan is easy to spot as the resort’s 100-acre white patch stands in stark contrast to the brown of the mountains that surround Beijing on three sides. Nanshan’s general manager, Hu Wei, said visits were down this winter. Last year, the resort registered 260,000 visits and another Nanshan official said the ski park was on pace for about 230,000 visits this year. “People assume right now is a period of rapid growth for the industry, but it’s actually not that easy,” said Hu. Some of the Nanshan skiers may have migrated to the larger resorts in Chongli. While Beijing ski visits fell 2 percent to 1.67 million last year, visits in Hebei province, where Chongli is located, rose 44 percent to 1.76 million, according to the Ski Industry White Book.

PUSHING AHEAD Despite the challenges, Muchenjian is forging ahead with its plans, betting on the growing number of winter sports enthusiasts in China – as well as the competitive driving force of the Beijing Olympics.

“China spends big money setting up the stage, and the performers are all foreigners,” said Liu Bo, a former trainer for national ski teams who is investing 2 billion yuan ($318.43 million) in the Muchengjian project, referring to the Olympics.

“President Xi will not allow this to happen. We have to be the leading actor in 2022.”

In addition to skiing, the resort will also include restaurants and sightseeing - a train that used to

5

After many decades, the Traditional Village of Kedonganan, Kuta honored their tradition known as ‘mebuug-buugan’ again on Thursday (Mar 3). This traditional practice was brought to life again with much enthusiasm by the youth of this village who went down to the mangrove forest in Teluk Benoa and covered their shirtless bodies with mud as they played the mire. Head of the Taruna Eka Chanti youth organization, I Wayan Yustisia Semarariana explained that this activity was brought to life again last year, after many decades of hibernation. This year, however there were far more participants than last year with over 800 youths taking part in the “mud dance” that also serves to bring young people closer to nature. By getting closer to nature together, young people’s love for the natural environment increases, as does their desire to take care of it so that it remains healthy. This includes preventing nature from being disturbed by reclamation.

MENTOUGOU - At its peak a decade ago, the Muchengjian mine churned out mountains of coal on the western outskirts of Beijing. Now, the mine in Beijing’s Mentougou district is pinning its future on whiter slopes: It plans to transform itself into a winter sports resort, turning some of the underground shafts where miners once chiselled coal into a 1.25-kilometer airconditioned track for cross country skiing.

An apres-ski spa and a department store selling winter sports gear are also on the drawing board.

Muchengjian’s planned ski resort, planned for completion later this year, is just one of many popping up across northern China as local governments look to pivot economies from heavy industry towards consumer services – and cash in on a skiing boom fuelled by rising incomes and changing consumer tastes.

Skier visits to Chinese resorts rose 15.9 percent last year to 17.5 million, according to the China Ski Industry White Book, an annual report by Carving Ski, a Beijing-based ski industry consultancy, distributor and service provider.

The boom is also underpinned by a pledge by President Xi Jinping to get 300 million Chinese on skis and skates for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. However, the rush to build slopes is raising concerns about misplaced investment that could hold back the long-term development of the industry, experts say.

“A lot of money wants to join the industry, but they have no idea” how to invest, said Bennie Wu, chief executive of Carving Ski. “We don’t want too much money to come in with no clear idea. It’s not good for the market.” China currently has more than 700 ski facilities - outdoor and indoor - nationwide, and Wu warned that some would struggle to survive after the Olympics shine wears off.

Outdoor ski resorts are also being reined in as the government steps up environmental requirements, including on the water used for snowmaking in the arid north. Chongli, a town about four hours by car from Beijing that will host Olympic ski events, spent 550 million yuan on improvements to a nearby reservoir in 2014 in order to supply 5 million cubic meters of water annually to local ski resorts for snowmaking, according to state media.

Chongli has capped the number of large resorts in the area at nine, while Beijing has also stopped approving

Thursday, February 8, 2018

“The name ‘mebuug-buugan’ comes from the Balinese word ‘buug’, meaning earth as in both ‘mud’ and ‘ land’” said spokese person, Made Sudarsana who added that they hope that the reclamation project is stopped so that this traditional activity can continue to take place. Obviously, if the reclamation project goes through, then the area where they use the mud will disappear.

Traditional Village Head of Kedongonan, Ketut Puja expressed his appreciation for the youth of Kedongan’s enthusiasm about preserving this ancestral traditional heritage that has been passed for uncountable generations. Puja explained that ‘mebuug-buugan’ is part of the Nyepi Day celebrations that serve to cleanse the macro and the micro-cosmos. He also expressed his hope that this traditional activity will not only be preserved but that it can be further developed and perhaps serve as a cultural tourist attraction as well.

Puja emphasized that his Traditional Village has taken a stance against the reclamation of Benoa Bay –not only on the grounds that it would interfere with their traditional activities but also because of the sacredness of Benoa Bay as a whole. “Our stance has already been made clear: we are opposed to the reclamation of Benoa Bay (Teluk Benoa) because it threatens both our traditions as well as the sacredness of the area” he said emphatically. (kmb) REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Skiers are transported by a chairlift at Nanshan ski resort, east of Beijing, China January 23, 2018. Picture taken January 23, 2018. carry coal will be transformed into a passenger line for tourists. The hope is that all this will provide employment for the 1,000 people who still work at the mine, which is located in a hilly area outside the capital. Other Chinese businesses are also hoping to cash in on the skiing boom.

“I don’t think we have any problems in terms of demand, because we have a large enough middle class now,” said Carving Ski’s Wu. “People are richer. They want to spend their money.” Those in the industry say it will be difficult for Chinese companies to displace foreign ski and snowboard brands due to quality differences, but that there are opportunities in snowmaking equipment, groomers and apparel.

Chairlift makers including the state-owned Beijing Materials Handling Research Institute have also begun to make inroads providing the lifts that pull or carry skiers to the tops of slopes.

Anta, China’s biggest sportswear retailer, has set up a joint venture with the Japanese ski apparel Descente and the South Korean brand Kolon, making things like ski jackets.

“Winter sports will be our No.1

hot spot in 2018,” Li Ling, vice president at Anta, said last month.

“We hope to provide affordable equipment and gear, and change the current situation where most gear is expensive.”

HAZARDOUS SLOPES The enthusiasm for winter sports and the Olympics has attracted many investors including developers like China Vanke Co and Dalian Wanda Group Co., which have built large resorts in Jilin province in the northeast. Wanda reportedly sold its Changbaishan International Resort last year amid a broad restructuring of its holdings but continues to manage and operate the resort.

Vanke is also building what will reportedly be the last large resort in Chongli as the local government caps development. Despite such high-profile resorts, Carving Ski’s Wu cautioned that less than 10 percent of China’s 703 ski locations could be considered “high-quality”.

That raises the risk that Chinese skiers, about 80 percent of which are first-timers, could lose eventually interest in the sport, hurting the long-term potential of the industry, according to industry executives.

“What we see frequently is that a lot of skiers come to a resort, take a selfie, and never come back, or come back a year later,” said Muchengjian’s Liu. To boost interest, ski training companies are being set up at resorts, inviting in instructors from countries like Canada and Austria.

Resorts – and the Chinese government – are also trying to get children hooked on skiing from a young age. One government effort involves encouraging schools to arrange ski outings for kids. On a recent weekday at Jundushan Ski Resort in northern Beijing, hundreds of young kids were participating in ski classes. “In our local Changping district nearly 20,000 students from 73 schools will try out skiing this winter,” said Qiao Wei, general manager at Jundushan. However, some serious skiers and snowboarders say China’s ski resorts still can’t compete with overseas options. Ray Ruan, a 32-year-old experienced snowboarder from Beijing, only rides in China for the convenience.

The snow quality isn’t great, he said on a recent weekday at Jundushan.

“When I have time, I still prefer to go to Japan.” (rtr)

Tegaltamu Grand Palace, a New Cultural Destination in Gianyar

Do you still remember Batubulan? The village located in the Sukawati subdistrict, Gianyar, is not only famous for its barong performing art as well as the artisans of sculpture and batik cloth. The village still making preparation to become a tourism village is also famous for royal tourist area. It is the Tegaltamu Palace which has become the most visited tourist destination. This palace with beautiful heritage is still well preserved.

Tegaltamu Grand Palace is very strategic and close to other destinations, so that it is easily reached. It is situated at Tegaltamu hamlet, Batubulan, or about 10 minutes from Sukawati, 30 minutes from Ubud and Denpasar, and about 1.5 hours from Ngurah Rai Airport by car.

Tegaltamu Grand Palace is one of the palaces remaining a descendant of King of Badung I, Kyai Anglurah Tegeh Kori Putu Agung who ruled at Tegal Badung. When there was a civil war at Tegeh Agung Palace (now Griya Jro Agung Tegal at Tegal hamlet, Badung), Kyai Anglurah Putu Agung Tegeh Kori fled to Gianyar area accompanied by 125 loyal followers. At the new

location, he then built a palace named the Tegaltamu Palace.

The name Tegaltamu was used to indicate the identity that they were ‘guests’ (tamu in Balinese) of Tegal hamlet evacuating to Gianyar. The name depicts the history of the founder namely guests originating from Tegal Badung. Refugees going to Tegaltamu have profession as merchant. “As refugees, they do not have any land to grow crops, so that the only job that could be done was becoming the dealer of arts,” said I Gusti Ngurah Pertu Agung, a descendant of Tegaltamu Palace.

Along with the development of Bali tourism, Tegaltamu Palace has been opened as a culture-based tourist destination since 1998 though it has become a tourist destination since the 1970s. Travelers from various countries come to learn Balinese culture such as dancing, playing gamelan music, preparing oblation and chanting. “Many foreigners are learning to dance, reading literature and making sculptures,” said this alumnus of the Dance Department at the ISI Denpasar.

Gung Pertu, as he familiarly addressed, said that travelers knew

Tegaltamu Palace as the center of the art and culture from several books. Many of them said the books published in the 1920s write about the uniqueness owned

by Bali. They did not only write about local culture inspired by Hinduism, but also the exotic nature of the island. One of them is about I Gusti Ngurah Tegaltamu as a famous baris (warrior) dancer as well as the monumental barong and masks having been well known across Bali.

Today, Tegaltamu Grand Palace remaining to preserve Balinese culture becomes a destination visited by foreign travelers. They want to know and learn about Balinese arts. “We open the Kori Agung dance studio in 1997 as a venue to perform art activities such as dance, vocal, literature, sculpture and gamelan play. We still maintain the style of the mask and barong art of Tegaltamu Palace incorporated in the GOAK Tegaltamu. This studio has been fostering local and international children,” he explained.

To provide a sense of security and comfort for visitors, the Tegaltamu Grand Palace makes

tourism packages. They include Tea Time—a tea ceremony while learning to dance and explore instantly about Balinese fashion within two hours and a game of culture—playing the culture-based activity. For example, there is a contest of mejejahitan (preparing oblation) and writing of Balinese scripts on palm-leaf and wearing customary clothes and Balinese dance costumes properly.

There is also lunch and dinner package with international menus served in Balinese style.

“Tegaltamu Grand Palace provides tourism services with very strong cultural roots. Travelers can see the Balinese style building. Everything is explained in details by one of the royal figures which always present information about Balinese culture correctly,” added this lecturer at the IHDN Denpasar. (kmb)

4

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Bali News

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

International

A Russian citizen secured after damaging gamelan instrument

ASEAN hopes to expedite code of conduct on South China Sea - Singapore

GIANYAR — A foreigner was secured by residents of Pande Saba village, Blahbatuh, early morning on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The Russian woman was arrested because of destroying gamelan instruments owned by local residents. Having been traced, the foreigner was depressed so she was then taken to Mental Hospital in Bangli.

Head of the Gianyar Municipal Police, Cokorda Gde Agusnawa, conveyed the foreigner did not want to mention her name when interrogated.

She communicated in English and Indonesian though it is not so fluent.

“She is classified to be depressed. Her speech does not connect when we talk to,” he explained.

This figure of Peliatan Royal Palace, Ubud, said the officers have brought the foreign citizen to the Mental Hospital around 11:00 to be dealt with further. “She has been dealt with. If she persists, she can be deported,” he said.

A Gianyar Municipal Police officer, Wayan Nasta, explained the arrest of the Russian citizen began from the complaints of Pande hamlet residents.

The unidentified woman was reported to have committed vandalism. “The

gong gamelan instrument of the hamlet is thrown by the Russian woman and so are the cymbals,” said Nasta.

Unavoidably, the incident made local residents angry. The Russian woman having been living at Saba village for four years was secured by local residents. She was also taken to the Blahbatuh police station. After being secured in subdistrict police, she was submitted to the Gianyar Social Service. “When we secured her, many officers were kicked by her, so we then handcuffed her,” he explained.

When secured, from the mouth of the blonde woman came out smell like alcoholic beverages. This woman who is a believer also rampages and recites a mantra for several times. (kmb35)

REUTERS/Shizuo Kambayashi/Pool

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence toasts with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the opening of a state banquet hosted by Abe at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, February 7, 2018.

IBP/kmb35

The Russian woman was arrested because of destroying gamelan instruments owned by local residents.

Bali experiences surplus beef and pork

The excessive supply makes the price of pork not attractive to breeders.

IBP/kmb

DENPASAR — Bali experiences surplus pork and beef. This excessive supply makes the price of pork not attractive to breeders. Aside from pork, Bali is also surplus of beef. On the other hand, Bali imports beef for hotel, restaurant and catering needs.

Division Head of Animal Breeding and Production at the Bali Animal Husbandry and Animal Health Agency, IKG Nata Kesuma, said that Bali has surplus meat, but nationally lacks of meat. So, Bali has been able to supply the national meat needs.

In Bali, the excess supply is not accompanied with high demand even though Bali has many hotel, restaurant and catering companies that should be able to absorb local beef and pork. In fact, the consumption of local meat is not much absorbed by hotel, restaurant and catering. “We’re oversupply, but we import meat for tourism. Most hotel, restaurant and catering businesses take advantage of imported meat. It is taken from importing companies in Jakarta.

From Jakarta, it is brought in here for tourist consumption,” he explained.

Not optimal absorption of local meat happens because Bali so far has not been able to prepare the needs of quality meat in accordance with the needs of hotel, restaurant and catering business.

To that end, provincial govern-

ment has governed with the issuance of Regional Regulation (Perda) No. 10/2017. The regulation states that hotel, restaurant and catering business must absorb the local beef and pork products. Its absorption is regulated in the gubernatorial regulation (Pergub).

“The regulation is being processed at the legal bureau,” he said.

Before gubernatorial regulation is issued, his agency had provided education, dissemination and testing. The testing is conducted in terms of feeding, cage maintenance as well as meat processing. They are conducted on demonstration plots. The results are said to have approached the standards required by hotel. If the gubernatorial regulations and studies have been done, he has confidence that other breeders will follow the meat production pattern.

Previously, Chairman of Indonesian Chef Association (ICA) of Bali Chapter, I Gede Putu Hendra Mahena, said that many hotel and restaurant workers takes side in local products, especially in the matter of using local meat in cooking.

ICA has used 60 percent of local produce in its cooking, such as meat because in Bali there are now companies that applies aging process of meat before being cooked. Such aging process will facilitate chef to cook. In addition, the quality of local meat will also be better and tastier. (kmb42)

13

Pence says U.S. to announce new, tough sanctions on North Korea

SINGAPORE - The Association of South East Asian Nations is hoping to expedite negotiations on a code of conduct with China for the South China Sea but it is not realistic to expect an agreement within a year, Singapore’s defence minister said on Wednesday.

China and the 10-member ASEAN bloc adopted a negotiating framework on the code for the disputed and busy waterway, largely controlled by China but also claimed by some ASEAN states, in August and have begun talks.

“We hope it will be expedited but it’s a very, very complex issue,” Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters after a gathering of ASEAN defence chiefs.

“It’s a century’s old dispute.

Expecting (the code) in one year is just unrealistic,” he said.

ASEAN and China have hailed the conclusion of the negotiating framework as a sign of progress.

However, the failure to outline as an initial objective the need to make the code legally binding raised doubts about the effectiveness of the pact.

Signing China up to a legally binding and enforceable code for the waterway has long been a goal for claimant members of ASEAN, some of whom have sparred for years over what they

see as China’s disregard for their sovereign rights and its blocking of fishermen and energy exploration efforts.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said later on Wednesday Beijing has worked with ASEAN countries for a code of conduct that was satisfactory to all states in the region.

Still, China has been rapidly increasingly its military deployment in the South China Sea and its air force said in a statement on Wednesday that Chinese Su-35 fighter jets had recently taken part in a combat patrol over the South China Sea. It did not say when the patrol happened or over which part of the South China Sea. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday some of his ASEAN colleagues had expressed concern about activities by China in the disputed areas of the South China Sea, including land reclamations.

Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines all claim some or all of the South China Sea and its myriad shoals, reefs and islands.

Taiwan also claims it.

Singapore has taken over the role of the chairman of ASEAN for 2018 and hosted meetings of its foreign and defence ministers this week. (rtr)

TOKYO - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that Washington would soon announce new, tough sanctions to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes, calling it the planet’s “most tyrannical and oppressive regime”.

Speaking in Tokyo on his way to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Pence promised the United States and its allies, including Japan, would keep maximum pressure on Pyongyang until it took steps toward “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.

“To that end, I’m announcing today the United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever. And we will continue to isolate North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile program once and for all,” Pence said after meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Following talks that showcased the U.S.-Japan security alliance, Abe said the two had agreed they could “never accept a nucleararmed North Korea.

Pence reiterated Washington’s stance that “all options are on the

table” to deal with North Korea.

Pence’s trip to South Korea from Thursday will coincide with a visit to the Games by North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, the most senior North Korean official to enter the South since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce.

Pence had stopped short of ruling out the prospect of meeting senior North Korean officials but President Donald Trump has cast doubt on U.S. negotiations with Pyongyang any time soon. The White House has also cautioned against reading too much into remarks Pence made en route to Japan.

Pence warned against allowing North Korea, which has sent a team to the Games, to use the Olympics for propaganda.

“We will not allow North Korea to hide behind the Olympic banner the reality that they enslave their people and threaten the wider re-

gion,” he said.

For Friday’s opening ceremony, Pence is bringing as his guest the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died in June last year after being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months.

North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles over Japan last year, as well as a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that climbed to an altitude of more than 4,000 km (2,485 miles) before splashing into the sea within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Concern about North Korea is pushing Japan to update its missile defence. Besides extending the range and increasing the accuracy of its Patriot system, it will add two U.S.-made ground-based Aegis radar stations and interceptors and plans to add to its arsenal air-fired cruise missiles that can strike North Korean missile sites. (rtr)

REUTERS/Ritchie B. Tongo/Pool/File Photo

An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation

by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015.

14

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Health

International

Bali News

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

3

Socially active older women benefit from flu vaccine

IBP/net

Parents of kids with food allergies often engage in behaviors that could trigger an allergic reaction in their child, a survey found.

Kids with food allergies often put at risk by their parents

NEW YORK - Parents of kids with food allergies often engage in behaviors that could trigger an allergic reaction in their child, a survey found.

Almost half of parents of kids with food allergies reported at least one risky behavior, such as not carrying epinephrine autoinjectors or not reading food labels.

These behaviors are likely due to knowledge gaps and misconceptions, as well as possible financial barriers, according to Dr. Julie Wang of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and her colleagues.

Wang’s team conducted the survey to better understand food allergy management behaviors and attitudes in their patients’ households. ”During our patient visits, we routinely counsel families about food allergy management to reduce the risk of allergic reactions. However, we noted that in some cases, our patients experienced allergic reactions that were associated with risk-taking behavior,” Wang told Reuters Health in an email.

“It is important to understand the barriers patients and their families face in managing their food allergies,” she said.

As reported in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Wang and her colleagues surveyed 100 English-speaking parents of children ages 6 months

to 18 years who had previously been diagnosed with food allergies and who came for follow-up visits at an urban allergy clinic.

Parents were asked about potentially risky food allergy management behaviors. For example, Wang said, ”Risky behaviors include parents giving their child the allergic food to see if the child is still allergic and not always being prepared with emergency medication, epinephrine autoinjectors, in case allergic reactions occur.”

Over 70 percent of the kids had experienced food allergy reactions in the previous year, with almost 40 percent reporting at least three reactions.

About one in four children had been treated with epinephrine at some point. About one-third had been treated in an emergency department and about 5 percent had been hospitalized in the past.

The researchers found a correction between risky behaviors and having at least one food-induced allergic reaction during the past year. In addition, parents of kids with multiple food allergies were more likely to report risky behaviors than parents of kids with one food allergy.

About 11 percent of the parents gave allergyinducing foods to their kids because they didn’t have time to read ingredient labels, and 7 percent said the cost of food was a barrier to avoiding those foods. (rtr)

TOKYO - Flu shots may be especially important for older women who are socially active, a study from Japan suggests.

In a study of people over age 65, unvaccinated women who regularly participated in two or more social activities were twice as likely to report a flu infection as those who didn’t participate in any such activities, the study authors report.

At the same time, women who were vaccinated had no additional risk.

“It has been thought that vaccine effectiveness is relatively low in elder persons . . . but our research shows some meaning for older adults,” said lead study author Dr. Yugo Shobugawa of Niigata University in Niigata, Japan.

Worldwide, the flu affects 3-5 million people annually and can result in 300,000 to 650,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In industrialized countries, most of these deaths occur among adults over age 65 who develop secondary infections such as pneumonia.

“Effectiveness of the influenza vaccine varies by season because circulating strains vary and are gradually evolving,” Shobugawa told Reuters Health by email.

“However, this suggests a need for further efforts to promote vaccina-

tion, particularly among socially active elders.”

Shobugawa and colleagues analyzed data for more than 12,200 men and 14,000 women over age 65. They examined the association between flu infection and social participation in volunteer groups, sports groups, leisure activity groups, senior citizen clubs, neighborhood associations, cultural groups, nursing care or health promotion groups, local events and grandchild-rearing support.

Among men, social participation wasn’t associated with developing the flu, and it didn’t vary among vaccinated or unvaccinated men.

Respiratory disease, however, nearly doubled a man’s chance of getting the flu, regardless of whether he was vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Vaccines may help reduce the spread of infection among social groups, the study authors wrote in the journal BMJ Open, and when no vaccine is available, nonpharmaceutical precautions such as respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette could help as well.

Although social participation increases social contact and the risk of flu infection, that doesn’t mean older adults should stop participating in their social activities, they added. (rtr)

IBP/kmb38

The Municipality Waterworks (PDAM) and Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng have been supplying clean water with tank trucks.

Two hamlets have no water due to broken pipeline

SINGARAJA — The impact of extreme weather conditions causing flash floods in Buleleng continues to be felt by local residents. The hamlets of Satria and Pelapuan, Busungbiu, have been without access to clean water since Friday (Jan 27) after flood waters damaged the main pipeline. Fortunately, the Municipality Waterworks (PDAM) and Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng have been supplying clean water with tank trucks.

On Monday (Feb. 5), Headman of Pelapuan, I Gede Darmayasa, confirmed that about 800 residents of Satria and Pelapuan do not have access to clean water in their homes and so they have been fetching water from a nearby spring to cook with and are using rainwater to bathe and wash their clothes.

Headman Darmayasa and other village authorities have therefor been trying to get help from PDAM Busunbiu who have been giving them access to their water tank. The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng has also been providing them with water.

“Before getting help, we had to get water from a nearby spring in the forest at Bolongan hamlet, Kayuputih, Banjar.

But since the spring cannot be accessed by motorcycle, we had to carry small amounts of water at a time. People were using rainwater to bathe and wash their clothes”, explained Darmayasa.

The water was cut off after a flash flood damaged a 3” wide pipe that had some 70 pieces washed away. The villagers and the water management have allocated a budget to repair the pipeline.

Originally, a budget worth IDR 50 million had been allocated for mass maintenance of the water pipeline. However since it was severely damaged before repairs could be made, the funds will be used to restore the water network. The budget however its not enough to replace the broken off pipe.

The village authorities therefor plan to flow water form the nearest spring to the water reservoir.

“We will use the same reservoir but now we will connect it to a spring that is closer. The funds for this were originally intended for maintenance for the whole system but now we have no choice but to spend it on building a new water

network”, said Darmayasa.

Separately, Chief Executive of BPBD Buleleng, Made Subur, said since Monday two water tank trucks have been deployed to bring clean water to residents of Pelapuan village after receiving a request from the village.

The BPBD and the PDAM are supplying clean water while the villagers wait for repairs to be made so that they do not have to rely on rainwater for their daily needs..

“Starting today (Jan. 5) we are deploying two tankers to the village (Pelapuan), and this will continue until the villages can complete the pipeline construction and the water-flow is functioning normally again”, explained Subur.

As might be expected residents of Pelapuan thronged the water trucks dispatched by BPBD and PDAM Buleleng. In addition to filling the roadside reservoirs, people also rushed to fill smaller containers. Many said they were grateful for the assistance which allowed then to go to work instead of having to spend their time looking for clean water. They of course look forward to having the village pipeline repaired so they can access water in their homes again. (kmb38)

Underground temporary waste disposal uses alarm

IBP/net

Flu shots may be especially important for older women who are socially active, a study from Japan suggests.

DENPASAR — Renovations to the temporary waste disposal site (TPS) on Jalan Pulau Kawe that is now underground, are now complete.

Secretary of the Denpasar Environment and Sanitation Agency (DLHK), I.B. Wirabawa Putra, said on Monday (Feb. 5) that the underground temporary waste disposal site will undergo first phase

testing soon but added that no date had been set.

Putra explained that although the site is ready to be used, they need to do some tests before the local community can use the venue to disposes of their waste. The underground waste disposal site, he said is for example equipped with an alarm that will sound then the space is full alerting a truck on

standby to transport the garbage from the site.

Previously the dump site could only accommodate 30 cubic meters of garbage but can now accommodate between 60 and 300 cubic meters of garbage. This larger capacity means that garbage will no longer spill out onto the street.

“Although the garbage depot is small it has a larger capacity

because it is now equipped with a garbage compressor. Now the space will be tidier and will not become overloaded”, he said.

The Environment and Sanitation Agency will start accepting garbage this Friday, including larger items like old furniture so that the beauty of Denpasar will not be tarnished by people’s garbage.“This Friday we are going to launch the

waste delivery program that will encourage people not to throw their garbage carelessly into the rivers and elsewhere”, added Putra.

This site will only accept garbage on Friday from 08:00 to 11:00.

The garbage will first be sorted and anything that can be sold to waste baks will be brought there, otherwise it will be taken to landfill. (kmb12)

2

Bali News

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Mt. Agung calms down, evacuees prefer to go home

AMLAPURA - One by one of the Mount Agung evacuees decide to return home. Although Mount Agung remains under warning alert status, evacuees consider the Mount Agung has begun to calm down. There are no more reports on earthquakes, smoke eruptions from the crater as well as activities that must be alerted.

Like at the evacuation point of Macang village, Bebandem, residents began to return home on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The evacuees from Bhuana Giri village, Bebandem, chose to go home directly instead of moving again to refuge location again. Their refuge post in the sanctuary of Macang village will also be used for the preparation of the Batara Turun Kabeh ceremony and mass cremation. “Villagers of Bhuana Giri have left Macang post today (Tuesday—Ed),” said headman of Macang, Ni Putu Dewi Suryanti.

The total number of evacuees also continued to decline. On Monday (Feb. 5), according to the latest data from Tanah Ampo Command Post, the number of evacuees remains 20,291 people, spreading across 181 evacuation points. This number seems to decline after seeing the data on Tuesday (Feb. 6). The number of evacuees remains 19,968 people spreading across 181 evacuation points.

Within the past few days, no longer seismicity of Mount Agung is recorded. Related to this phenomenon, Division Head of Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, I Gede Suantika, admitted that volcanic activities of Mount Agung has been much decreased. “In terms of seismicity, volcanic activities of Mount Agung have decreased dramatically when compared to December 2017. It means that at the end of January 2018 the number of seismicity of Mount Agung has greatly decreased dramatically. Moreover, within the past few days no earthquake is recorded by monitoring equipment,” he said.

Hence, is there any possibility if Mount Agung will return to normal or the status will be lowered from warning to watch, advisory or to normal alert level?

According to him, the possibility is very high after seeing the data that indicate drastically dropped seismicity. Seismic activity becomes one of the parameters in determining the decline of volcanic status.

“The possibility of Mount Agung to back to normal is very high. Indeed based on seismicity data after the eruption, many shallow earthquakes occurred and they were dominated by blasts. However, at the end of January, it suddenly continued to decline from 50 earthquakes per day to 10 earthquakes per day.

Moreover, there was a time where no earthquake was recorded,” he said.

Other data are obtained from deformation gauge, indicating there is no more bulging on the body of Mount Agung. It tends to experience deflation. Besides, he added that percentage of gas volume in volcanic emissions began to decline. “We will conduct an evaluation in the near future,” he said.

In the evaluation meeting will be decided the matters related to the decline of the alert status of Mount Agung which currently is still bearing the warning alert status. (kmb31)

IBP/Bagiarta

The refugees start to come home after the activity of Mount Agung decreasing

International

Constrained by lack of access for trucks

Garbage piles up on Dreamland Beach MANGUPURA - Despite being a popular tourist attraction, Dreamland Beach in Pecatu is not immune o the problem of trash accumulating from river water runoff. In fact the small rainwater-fed river estuaries along Cemongkak River are filled with garbage as seen on Monday (Feb. 5). When asked about the situation, Head of Badung Environment and Sanitation Agency (DLHK), I Putu Eka Merthawan, responded by saying said the main obstacle to cleaning up the area is that the beach cannot be accessed by garbage trucks. Cleaning up the garbage manually takes a lot of time and energy, he explained.

Merthawan explained the small lake was formed due to high tide waters accumulating and as the sand rises there is a larger area for rainwater to accumulate. Then when garbage flows down from the rivers and from the tides, it gets stuck in the large pond.

The DLHK held a meeting on Sunday (Feb. 4) that was attended by headman of Pecatu, chief of Pecatu customary village, LPM, BPD of Pecatu customary village chief, and the management of Dreamland merchants. It was decided that the location would be arranged into a new tourist attraction and that the basin in which garbage now accumulates would be fitted with a garbage barrier. Also a route will be created for garbage trucks to access the beach.

The small pond will be converted into a fishing pond. In order to attract visitors to Dreamland Beach at night, a small fountain will also be created. “We have similar potential as Singaproe’s Sentosa Island. We will create a ‘song of the sea’ attraction at Dreamland”, said Merthawan.

In order to immediately deal with the accumulation of garbage on the beach, Merthawan said he hopes to create a passageway for garbage trucks to access the beach on the right and left of the pond. Other beaches in Pecatu such as Labuan Sait Beach, Padang-Padang, Karang Boma, and Nyang-Nyang Beach are facing similar obstacles to garbage clean-up as they too do not have wide paths for garbage truck access.

When confirmed separately, chief of Pecatu customary village, I Made Sumerta, confirmed that he had met with the DLHK and that lack of raod access was a problem. Currently the only path to the beach is quite narrow, so Pecatu village plans to create a parking lot by the pond so that trucks can turn around. The location he said also needs to be equipped with a guard rail for security.

Labuan Sait Beach faces additional obstacles in terms of transporting garbage as there is only a steep and narrow path down to the beach. Sumerta therefor hopes to have a cable car installed that can be used to carry garbage from the beach.

Building a road would be very complicated, he said as the location is often used for religious ceremonies. “I think the best option is to install a cable car that can hoist the garbage up. This will be better than burning the garbage”, he concluded. (kmb23)

Tourism service business predicted to grow in 2018 DENPASAR - In 2018, tourism service sector, including transportation and culinary sector, is predicted to grow. It is in line with the certainty on the annual meeting implementation of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank (IMFWB) in Nusa Dua this October.

An academician and economic observer, Wayan Ramantha, said that in addition to tourism business services, creative tourism supporting industries will also grow.

According to him, such big event will require a large number of souvenirs and other creative industry products for the participants of the IMF-WB. Apart from the impact of IMFWB, the industry and trade related to people’s consumption needs will also increase. This increase is in line with the national economic growth of 5.07 percent, the highest since 2014. In Bali, the household consumption sector also contribut-

ed the most to the economic growth of 5.59 percent. Its contribution reaches 2.16 percent.

An analyst of Bank Indonesia of Bali Representative Office, Umran Usman, predicted that the trade and construction business will grow in 2018. The growth of this sector is stimulated by the IMF-WB event in October 2018. It stimulates the development of projects such as the construction of Ngurah Rai underpass, Benoa tourism harbor,

completion of Suwung Landfill et cetera. With these mega projects, the construction sector will grow even higher.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, the construction sector has started to grow because there were several projects having begun to be worked on. The construction sector grew by 8.94 percent (yoy), while in quarter to quarter (qtq) the construction grew by 3.59 percent.

In addition, trade will also grow

because the project buildings also require building materials supplied by traders. On that account, the trade sector will also grow.

The growth of trading and construction businesses denoting components of supply will also drive the demand side. Thus, the government consumption will also be encouraged. The development is funded by the budget of local government and central government. (kmb42)

 Founder : K.Nadha,  General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra  Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Dewa Farendra. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto.  Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Activities

International

Thursday, February 8, 2018

15

A Glittering Lunar New Year Celebration

Chinese New Year is a significant occasion that calls for memorable celebrations all over the world, and here at Bali’s Sereh Gourmet Supermarket, it is no different. Bali’s most premium supermarket is having a glimmering celebration in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year and everyone is invited to join! There will

Thursday February 8 8:00-18:00 PAID Open Water Diver Course Pantai Sanur 11:00-12:30 Manifest 3 Desires Workshop by Indri Paradiso Ubud Jalan Gautama Selatan Ubud Friday February 9 11:00-15:00 Art for BARC Ubud Gallery, Jalan Raya Pengosekan Ubud 19:30-22:30 Friday Nights with Antonio Trio Siberia Restaurant Jln. Dropped 7 Denpasar 19:00-22:00 Kanda Jazz Night-Plaga Sangria Kanda Restaurant Jl. Kanda no 8A, Denpasar 19:00-22:00 Latin Fever Birdhouse Beach Club Jl.. Sugar Ayu, Sanur

be exciting cultural performances, special dining menus at Sereh Cafe, games and even lucky draws!

For the Lunar New Year or Imlek celebrations, the entire outlet will be decked out in festive red and gold until Cap Goh Mei. On 16 February 2018, visitors can look forward to an entertaining Lion Dance and Dragon Dance performance accompanied by

a band of musicians playing large drums, cymbals, and gongs while feasting on delicious sweet treats including Moon Cakes, Dim Sum and the seasonal Nian Gao, or New Year Cake, also known in Indonesia as Kue Keranjang.

Also available is a Special Chinese New Year set menu served at Sereh Café on the day. Enjoy a

delicious meal of Balinese, Indonesian and International favourites with entertainment all night long Kizomba and Cuban Salsa Dances every Monday; an acoustic live band every Tuesday and Wednesday, live guitar performances by Ipeng every Thursday and every Sunday a live band that will make you want to get off your feet and

dance! While you’re there, do shop for the freshest quality meats and organic produce amidst impeccably arranged displays while enjoying the supermarket’s unique and cozy, welcoming interior.Sereh Gourmet Supermarket | Jl. Wanagiri 1, Jimbaran - Bali | Ph: +623614468171 |samasta@summarecon.com | www.samastabali.com

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

16 Pages Number 47 10th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

Thursday, February 8, 2018

‘Black Panther’ gets superhero reception from critics

e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Taiwan earthquake At least four people were killed and hundreds of people injured after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the popular Taiwanese tourist city of Hualien just before midnight on Tuesday.

CHINA Pu Putian Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Taiwan Taiwan Strait Strait

Taichung

LOS ANGELES - “Black Panther,” the first black standalone Marvel superhero movie, won rave reviews on Tuesday with critics praising both its adventure and its portrayal of a majestic Africa.

Directed by Ryan Coogler and featuring a predominantly black cast including Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong‘o and Angela Bassett, “Black Panther” was hailed by the Daily Beast as “a love letter to every black person” and “a correction for years of diversity neglect” by Rolling Stone.

The Disney movie, opening worldwide next week, tells the story of T‘Challa, the newly crowned king of the fictional, technologically advanced African nation Wakanda, who is challenged from factions within his own country.

TAIW AN

The movie arrives after years of criticism about the under representation of actors and filmmakers of color in Hollywood, including the #OscarsSoWhite campaign that prompted the Academy of Motion Pictures to increase diversity in its predominantly while, male membership.

It got a rare 100 percent rating from review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com and analysts REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni expect it to bring in some $150 million at the Cast member Lupita Nyong’o poses for a portrait while promoting the movie North American box office on its opening “Black Panther” in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 30, 2018. Picture weekend. (rtr) taken January 30, 2018.

Tarantino says Thurman movie car crash among ‘biggest regrets’

REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo

Director Quentin Tarantino (L) and actress Uma Thurman pose on the red carpet they arrive for the screening of the film “Sils Maria” (Clouds of Sils Maria) in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 23, 2014.

LOS ANGELES - Director Quentin Tarantino said a car crash that seriously injured Uma Thurman on the set of “Kill Bill” was one of “the biggest regrets of his life,” but denied that he forced the actress to carry it out.

Thurman, who appeared in three Tarantino movies, told the New York Times in a Saturday article that she felt Tarantino had tried to kill her in the 2003 crash, which crushed her knees and left her with a concussion.

Thurman also released video of the crash from the set of the martial arts movie, leading to harsh criticism of Tarantino on social and mainstream media. Tarantino, responding in an interview with Hollywood web-

site Deadline.com on Monday, said Thurman’s car crashed because there was an unseen curve in the road.

“Watching her fight for the wheel. ... remembering me hammering about how it was safe and she could do it. Emphasizing that it was a straight road, a straight road. ... the fact that she believed me, and I literally watched this little S curve pop up. And it spins her like a top,” Tarantino said.

“It was heartbreaking. Beyond one of the biggest regrets of my career, it is one of the biggest regrets of my life,” he added.

Tarantino denied ignoring Thurman’s anxiety about driving but acknowledged he had been mistaken

about the safety of the road.

“I didn’t force her into the car.

She got into it because she trusted me,” he said.

Tarantino said he and Thurman reconciled years ago and had talked since the New York Times story was published.

“Uma was in turmoil about the uprising against me this weekend. ...

She never meant this to roll over onto me,” he told Deadline.

The Oscar-winning director also said that incidents when he spat on Thurman and choked her with a chain were part of the filming process for “Kill Bill” and were carried out with her consent to make the scenes realistic. (rtr)

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Shake intensity

Hualien

EPICENTER Time: 1550 GMT Magnitude: 6.4 Depth: 10.6km

Tainan City

Very strong Strong

Kaohsiung

Moderate

Pacific Pacific Ocean

Ocean

Light

50 miles

Weak

50 km Sources: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Reuters J. Wu, 07/02/2018

Rescue workers are seen by a damaged building after an earthquake hit Hualien, Taiwan February 7, 2018.

At least five killed, 60 missing after quake rocks Taiwan tourist area

HUALIEN - Rescuers combed through the rubble of collapsed buildings on Wednesday, as they searched for about 60 people missing after a strong earthquake killed at least five near the popular Taiwanese tourist city of Hualien overnight. The magnitude 6.4 quake, which hit near the coastal city just before midnight (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, also injured 243 people and collapsed four buildings, officials said.

Hualien Mayor Fu Kun-chi said the number of people missing was now close to 60, although an exact figure was not provided. As many as 150 were initially feared missing. Many of the missing were believed to be still trapped inside buildings, some of which were tilting precariously, after the quake hit about 22 km (14 miles) northeast of Hualien on Taiwan’s east coast. At the city’s Marshal Hotel, rescuers trying to free two trapped Taiwanese pulled out one alive, but the other person was declared dead, the government said.

Among the injured were mainland Chinese, Czech, Japanese, Singaporean and South Korean

nationals.Aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5.0 could rock the island in the next two weeks, the government said. Smaller tremors rattled nervous residents throughout the day.

Residents waited and watched anxiously as emergency workers dressed in fluorescent orange and red suits and wearing helmets searched for residents trapped in apartment blocks. Hualien is home to about 100,000 people. Its streets were buckled by the force of the quake, with around 40,000 homes left without water and around 1,900 without power. Water supply had returned to nearly 5,000 homes by noon (0400 GMT), while

power was restored to around 1,700 households.

DAMAGE, PANIC Emergency workers surrounded a badly damaged 12-storey residential building, a major focus of the rescue effort. Windows had collapsed and the building, which is around 17 years old, was wedged into the ground at a roughly 40degree angle. Rescuers worked their way around and through the building while residents looked on from behind cordoned-off roads.

Others spoke of the panic when the earthquake struck.

“We were still open when it happened,” said Lin Ching-wen, who

operates a restaurant near a damaged military hospital. “I grabbed my wife and children and we ran out and tried to rescue people,” he said.

A Reuters video showed large cracks in the road, while police and emergency services tried to help anxious people roaming the streets.

A car sat submerged in rubble as rescue workers combed through the ruins of a nearby building. President Tsai Ing-wen went to the scene of the quake early on Wednesday to help direct rescue operations.

“The president has asked the cabinet and related ministries to immediately launch the ‘disaster mechanism’ and to work at the fastest rate on disaster relief work,” Tsai’s office said in a statement.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and major Apple supplier, said initial assess-

ments indicated no impact from the earthquake.

Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China considers part of its territory, lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck nearby on Sunday.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and some Taiwanese remain scarred by a 7.6 magnitude quake that was felt across the island and killed more than 2,000 people in 1999. (rtr) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http:// radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.