Edisi 12 April 2017 | Internasional Bali Post

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

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Streaming keeps Drake’s ‘More Life’ atop Billboard 200 chart LOS ANGELES - Canadian R&B artist Drake kept his reign at the top of the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Monday, boosted by strong online streaming of his “More Life” record.

“More Life” sold 16,000 albums and 86,000 songs and was streamed 167 million times in its third week of release, totaling 136,000 album units sold, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).

This is not the first time Drake has dominated the charts on the strength of streaming.

L a s t y e a r,

his “Views” album spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, regularly clocking more than 100 million streams a week.

New entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart include rapper Kodak Black at No. 3 with “Painting Pictures,” heavy metal band Mastodon at No. 7 with “Emperor of Sand” and Christian music group MercyMe at No. 10 with “Lifer.”

On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online single sales, rapper Kendrick Lamar debuted at No. 1 with his latest song “Humble” selling 111,000 copies. (rtr)

Drake performs onstage in Toronto

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian/File Photo

Janet Jackson splits with husband 3 months after birth of son-reports People magazine, Us Weekly and Entertainment Tonight all said sources had confirmed that Jackson, 50, and Wissam Al Mana had broken up after five years of marriage.

Representatives for the singer declined to confirm the split, which follows the birth in January of Jackson’s first child, a boy the couple named Eissa.

Britain’s Mail on Sunday pub-

lication, which was among the first to report the separation, quoted a source close to the singer as saying it was amicable.

It was not known when the couple separated.

“They’re both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they’re apart. It’s amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London,” the source told the Mail on Sunday.

Jackson and Al Mana, 43, married in 2012, and a year ago the singer postponed her “Unbreakable” world tour so they could focus on starting a family.

Jackson, the fiercely private youngest child of the famed Jackson singing family, had two previous marriages: a year-long union with soul singer James DeBarge in the mid 1980s, and to dancer Rene Elizondo Jr from 1991-2000. (rtr)

You can find International Bali Post at: 10 Malaika Scret 11 Snack Shack 12 Warung Lokal 13 Cokro Cafee 14 T.J.Bar 15 J & N Kebab 16 Goanna Bar 17 Batu Jimbar 18 Ramayana Cafee

Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan, center, who was injured in an attacked by unidentified assailants sits on a wheelchair as he leaves the general hospital where he was treated in to be transferred to an eye hospital, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

Janet Jackson accepts the Ultimate Icon Award during the 2015 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California, June 28, 2015.

NEW YORK - Pop star Janet Jackson has split up with her Qatari businessman husband just three months after giving birth to her first child, according to media reports.

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

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Jl. D.Poso No 68 Jl. D.Poso No. 50D Jl. D.Poso No. 39 Jl. D.Poso Sanur Jl. D.Poso Sanur Jl. D.Poso Sanur Jl. D.Poso Sanur Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur Jl. D.Tamblingan

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The supporters of NOvel Baswedan held a rally in front of KPK building on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 after Novel was attacked near his house.

Indonesia anti-graft agency defiant after top investigator attacked

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s anti-graft agency on Tuesday condemned an acid attack on one of its top investigators handling a corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of politicians, and said it would not be deterred in its fight. The corruption investigation, involving the suspected theft of $170 million from a budget to procure national electronic identity cards, is turning into one of the biggest cases the agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, has handled.

The KPK has banned the speaker of parliament, Setya Novanto, from overseas travel for six months in connection with the case, which has stirred sensational headlines in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy long burdened by endemic graft.

Early on Tuesday, an unidentified attacker threw acid at senior KPK investigator Novel Baswedan, police said.

He was being treated in hospital for injuries to his eyes and face, and police were investigating whether the attack was related to his work, said Jakarta police chief Mochammad Iriawan. It was not the first time Baswedan had been attacked and his agency said it would not

be cowed.

“We strongly condemn the uncivilized attack on Novel. Novel is us and we are the KPK. We will never stop fighting against corruption,” the KPK said in a statement.

Deputy agency chief Laode M. Syarif said police would be asked to step up security for agency officials.

“We will ask the national and city police for extra protection for KPK investigators,” he told reporters. President Joko Widodo ordered police to investigate and urged KPK officials to be vigilant.

“This is a brutal act that I strongly condemn,” Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace. “All in-

vestigators must be alert and keep working hard.”

Two suspects on trial over the graft case have told a court that at least 37 politicians benefited from the theft of funds from the ID procurement budget, including parliament speaker Novanto.

PARTY PAYMENTS? Late on Monday, the KPK banned Novanto from going overseas for six months. A KPK public relations official, Ipi Maryati, said Novanto had been banned from travel so that “whenever his information is needed in the investigation of the case, he’s not out of the country”.

Novanto, who is also the chairman of Indonesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, told media he would cooperate with authorities. He has not been charged and has previously denied wrongdoing.

Golkar’s secretary general, Idrus Marham, told Reuters the party and Novanto would respect the legal process.

“We also believe in the principle of innocent until proven guilty,” Marham said. The allegations against Novanto and others, set out in a KPK indictment, include accounts of sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million being divided up in a room in parliament among members of various parties, including the one backing President Joko Widodo.

The president’s party has said previously it was investigating the accusation and would follow the legal process.

Global anti-graft watchdog Tr a n s p a r e n c y I n t e r n a t i o n a l found in a recent survey that Indonesians perceived parliament to be their most corrupt institution.

Four years ago, the KPK had to call for support from the public to protect its headquarters after police tried to barge in to demand Baswedan be handed over to them.

At the time, he was investigating police corruption. Baswedan had also in the past been the target of an attempted hit-and-run, Maryati said.(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

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

International

Tourism office reviews hotel security system

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Advise to increase security systems

MANGUPURA - Badung tourism office will review back the hotel security system mainly the non-star rated hotels, such as budget hotels and villas. This effort is applied to ensure that the system complies with safety standards, namely the Safety Management System (SMP).

Chief of Badung Tourism Office, Made Badra, said that tourism is a sector being vulnerable to security issues.

Therefore, the standard security system becomes imperative, moreover, in the presence of suspected terrorists at Beji village, Tuban, West Java.

“Safety system of star rated hotels has already met the standards, but small hotels remain to be worrying, so that it needs to be reviewed again in order to comply with the standard operating procedures,” said Made Badra, on Monday (Apr. 10).

According to him, tourism players should reflect on the dark tragedy in 2002 that claimed many victims. “We must reflect on the incident. Therefore, I appeal to all tourist accommodation management to improve their security systems.

As a result, any undesirable things can be prevented as early as possible,” he said.

Security authority gives special attention to vital objects that become tourist destinations, such as the area of Legian, Kuta, Kedonganan and Nusa Dua. “These open objects become our worries. Hopefully, all the stakeholders and the public could remain vigilant and not to get complacent,” he said.

Along with the rampant crimes occurred and the issue of terrorist attacks against hotels in Indonesia, including in Badung, each property should have a security standard.

Such efforts are made to provide protection for visitors, including the business activities of accommodation and restaurants, so that taking action is required to secure the business premises.

“We continue to encourage the role of hoteliers and restaurateurs to create a sense of security and comfort for travelers,” he said.

The government of Badung through tourism office

performs dissemination on safety standards for tourism supporting business in Badung. The dissemination on the hotel security system, said Cok Darmawan, is meant to meet governing regulations where every effort is required to have a security management system.

He hoped that all businesses in tourism industry really follow to comply with the regulations pertaining to the business, continuity of the business operations, regarding the business certification, manpower certification as well as certification of security management system. “This should be fulfilled by all businesses that operate in Badung, including their employees,” he said.

Deputy Chairman of the Badung House of Representatives, Nyoman Karyanan, said that the public should be vigilant against terrorist attacks. Moreover, Badung relies on the tourism sector that is highly vulnerable to security issues.

“We ask the people in Bali, especially in Badung, to be vigilant against security in their respective region,” he said.

The 2002 Bali bombing tragedy happened again in 2005, said this Golkar politician from South Kuta, and became a bitter experience. Therefore, in addition to performing tight security, inspection against local migrant must also be performed.

“Inspection against local migrants does not only serve as a monitoring of citizens that want to commit negative deeds, but also a part of the orderly administration of population in the region,” he said.

He hoped that all the components have to be involved for the sake of mutual security. If the security is disturbed, the tourism climate in Badung and Bali in general will certainly not become good.

“All the interfaith leaders should continuously make coordination and gathering, so that it can monitor if there are any suspicious behavior in the environment,” he said.

On the other hand, the government of Badung also boosts the installation of 100 Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) at 79 strategic points of Kuta tourism village. These efforts are meant to provide security for visitors spending holidays in the area.

The project funded by the regional budget of Badung in

MANGUPURA - The organization of Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Event (MICE) in Indonesia is still inferior to the neighboring countries. As the data released by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in 2015, Indonesia is ranked 43rd in the world organizing a total of 78 meetings. Meanwhile, Singapore is ranked 24th with 156 meetings, Thailand ranked 27th with 151 meetings, and Malaysia ranked 35th with 113 meetings.

According to Azwir Malaon, Deputy Assistant to Development of Natural and Artificial Tourist Destinations, Ministry of Tourism, based on the data at hand, Bali is still number one in Indonesia in terms of the MICE organization compared to Jakarta. In terms of event, Indonesia is still inferior to Singapore because the facilities owned by Indonesia have not in accordance with the standard facilities required by international players. If seen, in Singapore is already complete.

“Bali is ranked first in Indonesia for MICE because like the Nusa Dua area has already been very complete and met international standards required,” he said amid the dissemination of the regulation draft related to guidelines of

MICE destination implementation 2017 on Monday (Apr. 10) in Kuta.

For Indonesia, said Azwir, the association of MICE organizers has just been established. The establishment of MICE organizers is expected to facilitate the activities outside. “At present, we try to inventory and test, so that the different strength of 16 MICE destinations can be seen. For instance, there are organizers having strength in meetings, in incentives, in conferences as well as in the events,” he said.

He explained that MICE contribution to tourism is expected to take a portion of 2 million until 2019. Therefore, the readiness to support MICE needs to be done immediately.

He said that if the 16 destinations have been declared, the improvement will start to support MICE, for example, whether Jakarta will be entirely developed for MICE or the like. So, there are some spots that will be gradually improved in accordance with international standards. “It is meant to make the 16 destinations become the entry points in performing corrections in the future,” he said.

According to him, Indonesia has many options to be developed as potential MICE destinations. However, not

2016 has approximately completed 85 percent. Placement of the 100 CCTVs is focused at crowded places. They include Kuta Beach, Jalan Poppies II, Ground Zero Tower, Centro Supermarket as well as Horse Statue of Tuban.

More interestingly, some of the 79 CCTVs are deliberately built to resemble camouflage trees. It is meant to keep the aesthetics in the region to remain unexploited. The camouflage poles are also used to avoid the appearance of monopoles in the tourism area. (kmb27)

Sunday April 16 9AM -4PM Sunday Funday: Easter Hunt Genius Cafe- Homme to the Entrepreneur BEach CLub Mertasari Beach (Next to Mercure), San

EVERY MONDAY Movie Monday19:00-21:00 Genius Cafe- Home to the entrepreneur Beach CLub Mertasari Beach (Next to Mercure), Sanur EVERY TUESDAY Ecstatic contact dance: Transformative journey Paradiso Ubud, Jalan Goutama Selatan, Ubud 100k includes dinner EVERY WEDNESDAY DEep Dive Dance Guided improvised movement 19:00-21:00 Paradiso Ubud Jalan Goutama Selatan, Ubud 100k EVERY THURSDAY African Drums with Catur SAng Klang Wijaya 16:00-18:00 Experience the healing power of drumming, all levels welcome

BY DONATION

IBP/file

the tourists are enjoying their time in Kuta. Badung tourism office will review back the hotel security system mainly the non-star rated hotels, such as budget hotels and villas.

MICE destinations in Indonesia still inferior to neighboring countries

all regions understand about MICE destinations. For this reason, the ministry of tourism through the development of destinations and tourism industry disseminated the draft of ministerial regulation related to guidelines of MICE destinations 2017.

“This ministerial regulation poses a guideline for the preparation of MICE destination in Indonesia, not only the 16 MICE destinations launched by the ministry of tourism.

It is also expected to be useful for all other destinations so that they gradually can meet the criteria and indicators for the development of MICE destination,” he said.

Head of Tourism Marketing Division, Bali Tourism Office, Nyoman Wardawan, added that MICE sector can open and expand employment and improve people’s income and welfare because MICE tourism activities can involve various sectors such as transportation, travel, recreation, accommodation, food and beverage, venue, information technology as well as commercial and financial information. “So, MICE tourism needs to be developed because it can serve as an industry that has multiplier effect,” he said. (kmb23)

 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

SUNDAY MARKETS 10AM 1PM Sunday Market at Batu Jimbar Jl. Danau Tablingan , Sanur 10AM-4PM The Sands Beach Club and Restaurant Sunday MArket Jl. Danau Tamblingan, No 27, Sanur 9:30AM-1PM Sunday Market @ Warung Sopa Jl. Sugriwas no36, Padang Tegal, Ubud 9AM-2PM Samadi Sunday Market Jalan. Padang Linjong 39, Canggu, 9AM-2PM Wednesday and Sunday Ubud Organik Market Jl. Raya Pengosekan across from Zens Hotel Tebesaya, Ubud 12PM-10PM Sunday Food Festival & Bazaar Byrdhouse Beach Club, Sanur 10AM-6PM, Mercure,last sunday of every month, jl. ,Mertasari, Sanur, fashion food and and kids activities The Coffee Spot, Jalan Peigenet 888X,Seminyak, last Sunday of every month, garage sale clothing, books, and hand-made jewellery

Activities

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

15

Bunny Adventure at Beachwalk Shopping Center

FOOD STARTS HERE! This April Beachwalk Shopping Center presents “THE ISLAND RECIPES”.

By highlighting the Food as a major theme, Beachwalk brings new atmosphere with new spirit for the shoppers to celebrate the Easter day. Furthermore, Beachwalk Shopping Center is offering a bunch of events and promo to our Customers.

Specifically, in celebrating the mood of Easter, Beachwalk shows “BUNNY ADVENTURE” which is held on 2nd – 9th April 2017. This event is enlivened with kids activity, cake demo, face painting, egg hunt, games, magic competition, and colouring competition.

The funniest part is the chance for the kids to meet the iconic bunny from Miniapolis Playground called Mr. Crick, also watching the Bunny costume parade. During this festive season Customers are able to enjoy and shop at the Easter Market which incredibly perfect for holiday gifts. This event is held at the Fountain Stage, Beachwalk level 1.

After the huge success of Cybergroove’s first Coffee event at Beachwalk Shopping Center by last 2016, now they’re back with more variant contents on “BEACHWALK COFFEE, CHOCOLATE & TEA WEEK” which will be held on 10th – 16th April 2017. Among the collaboration of some Indonesian business industries and related communities; independent roasters, creative, unique specialists as well as many enthusiasts have successfully created hyped event that cannot be missed for those lovers of all things Coffee, Chocolate and Tea! In addition Customers also can experience Free espresso training, Latte Art Smack down, exhibitions, education and a chocolate closing party on Easter Sunday like to other – there is no better place to come and check out the Easter mood at Fountain Stage, Beachwalk level 1. Aside from event “BEACHWALK COFFEE , CHOCOLATE

& TEA WEEK” Beachwalk also brings up another more exciting event “BEER, CHEESE & WINE FESTIVAL” will held on 17th – 23th April 2017. Customers who are interested in beer, cheese, wine and the hospitality industry are really most invited to come.

Every Thursday Beachwalk and HIPMI Gianyar regularly present “UBUD CULTURAL EXPERIENCE” . Both International and Domestic Customers can interactively relish the experience and learn more about Balinese culture exclusively in Ubud regency like learn traditional Balinese dance, Balinese Drama Musical, how to create Balinese offering (Canang) and Balinese traditional dessert called Jaja Bali. This cultural experience will be conducted at the Deck Stage, Beachwalk level 1.

Visitors always have the opportunity to win the various prizes on this April’s SHOP & WIN program; those are Instant Rewards and Lucky Draw. By spending at a minimum purchase of IDR 500,000 (single receipt), customers can get instant rewards such as beauty products, shopping vouchers, restaurant vouchers, and many more. There is something special on this Shop & Win April 2017, by spending minimum of IDR 1,500,000 (single receipt) customers can get instant rewards of the limited edition Easter Package from The Wedding Shop, shopping vouchers and Balinese Calendar 2017.

By spending at a minimum purchase of IDR 2,000,000 (max. 2 receipts), customers will get the chance to win special lucky draw prize 1 ticket return with fast boat Bluewater Express from Bali to Gili Trawangan.

Beachwalk Shopping Center always presents the unique experiences for tourists and shoppers. The various monthly programs offer more attractions in Kuta and emphasizing the Beachwalk Shopping Center’s tagline, “Bali Starts Here”.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Technology

International

Bali News

International

To beat China fakes, NZ and Australian produce firms raid tech larder

REUTERS/David Gray

Aleks Lajovic. Sales & Marketing Manager at Impact International which designs and manufactures food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical tubes, uses a device to demonstrates the anticounterfeiting technology located at the company’s factory located in western Sydney, Australia, February 6, 2017. Picture taken February 6, 2017.

Beyond light, solar startup seeks to plug in rural homes in Africa

DAKAR - Access to off-grid solar energy in rural areas of Africa goes beyond lighting up homes - it also enables people to connect to the wider world and boosts their economic prospects, said the head of one of the continent’s biggest solar companies.

Azuri Technologies’ entry level solar system - for which customers pay a one-off installation fee, then use scratch cards or mobile phone payments to top up on a weekly or monthly basis - provides eight hours of lighting each day.

Having power at home for the first time encourages customers to also buy mobile phones, radios and televisions, giving them regular access to the media and the internet, said Simon Bransfield-Garth, chief executive officer of UK-based Azuri.

“This is about so much more than just providing light,” Brans-

field-Garth told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “It is about changing expectations, raising aspirations, and empowering people to become part of the knowledge economy.

“One thing you can be sure of is that once people have solar power in their lives, they’ll never go back to kerosene,” he said.

Some 600 million people in subSaharan Africa - nearly two-thirds of the population - are estimated to be living without access to the main electricity grid, one in 10 of whom are using off-grid clean energy, said the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Home solar systems not only provide electricity to hard-to-reach households, but do so at a far lower cost than using diesel or kerosene for energy.

Swapping kerosene for home solar energy can cut African fami-

lies’ spending on lighting to two percent from nine percent of their household income, according to a 2016 report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based think-tank.

The pay-as-you go approach for home solar systems has proved successful as mobile money services are rapidly growing across Africa, allowing those without bank accounts to use their phones for everything from receiving remittances to paying bills.

While upfront costs are high compared to traditional fuels, the cost of producing power from solar mini-grids is expected to fall by at least 60 percent in the next 20 years.

“Solar has the power to completely transform the nature of the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa,” Bransfield-Garth said. (rtr)

Azuri Technologies

The solar panel of an Azuri solar home system installed\non a customer’s roof.

3

Anticipation of plunging into drugs

Hundreds of police personnel take urine test

WELLINGTON - As China’s middle class develops its taste for imported food and drink, fresh produce suppliers in New Zealand and Australia are topping up nature’s bounty with anti-counterfeiting technology in a bid to protect their growing business from fakes.

Suppliers of goods from fruit to wine and lamb are teaming up with makers of tracking systems, codes and powders to combat fakes that cost the global food business billions of dollars. As tech tools become cheaper, services like China’s popular WeChat smartphone app are also being deployed, offering consumers a free scanning ally to work out what’s on Chinese store shelves.

Smaller players like meat company Silver Fern Farms and Synlait Milk have tapped local tech firms like Dunedin’s Oritain, which measures food isotopes as a checkable ‘fingerprint’. But Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is also in on the act with a pilot Blockchain-based tracing system, signing up Kiwi dairy giant Fonterra and Australian vitamin supplier Blackmores as partners.

“We see the Australian and New Zealand markets setting the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to integrity, safety and quality of food supply chains,” said Maggie Zhou, Alibaba’s Australia and New Zealand managing director, in comments published to mark its project launch at a late March Canberra ceremony. “It was a natural decision to pilot a programme here.”

Dislodging counterfeit food, now a well established business of its own, presents no small challenge. Fraud costs the global food industry an estimated $40 billion a year, Alibaba said, citing research conducted

by Michigan State University.

In China, $1 billion in counterfeited goods was seized in 2014, according to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.

“Categories that are faked so regularly are the (fresh produce) ones where New Zealand and Australia are strong,” said Mark Tanner, director of Shanghai-based China Skinny, a firm that advises Western businesses operating in China.

But firms in Australia and New Zealand are prepared to go to increasing lengths to protect sales they rely on for growth.

New Zealand’s total exports to China have quadrupled to NZ$12 billion ($8.62 billion) since 2007, most of them being food and beverage products. Australia agriculture exports to China were worth around A$10 billion ($7.67 billion) in 2016, double the amount five years earlier. (rtr)

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Dewa Ketut Puspaka

IBP/file

DENPASAR - Considering many individual police are still getting involved in drug cases in Indonesia, Bali police profession and security unit routinely perform urine test. On Monday (Apr. 10) was the turn of hundreds of personnel belonging to directorate of general criminal investigation to undergo urine test in Kemala Hikmah Building of Bali Police. It is meant to anticipate police personnel from plunging into drugs and serve as surveillance effort. It was directly supervised Bali Police Regional Inspectorate, Suradiyana.

of the Bali police get involved in the abuse of the illicit goods, both as users and dealers. All police personnel will undergo urine test, and the implementation is carried out periodically and the time is not specified.

“To make Bali free from drugs, we attempt to make this cleanup starting from the Bali police personnel and civil servants,” said the graduate of the police academy in 1987.

He reminded that police personnel should be more careful in performing their tasks and not get affected in a negative association. Moreover, currently drug mafia has targeted all walks of life and has entered remote villages. If anyone involved in drug cases, it will be processed through a disciplinary hearing and the hearing of professional codes of national police to crime.

“If any police personnel are proved to get involved in drugs, they will be fired,” he added. (kmb36)

Airport development plan

According to Suradiyana, it is carried out as the implementation of leadership program in order to suppress drugs in Bali. Thus, he hoped that no personnel

SINGARAJA - Airport development plan in Buleleng remains at issue. Moreover, two major companies are rumored to try realizing it. Now, the latest information tells that the mega project is just waiting for the determination of location from the ministry of transportation.

Regional Secretary of Buleleng, Dewa Ketut Puspaka, said on Monday (Apr. 10) that until now there are two companies absolutely serious to try realizing the construction of the airport, namely PT. BIBU with its consultant and PT. Pembangunan Bali Mandiri. The big companies have gone over and conducted a study on the development plan based on the recommendation of the district government.

“Of course, the task of local government is to give recommendation. Firstly, it concretely conducts the studies, especially going deep into the feasibility study. Secondly, the companies have presented the results of its feasibility study to the ministry of transportation in order to further determine the location.

Now, the process is right there (ministry of transportation—Ed),” he said.

Realization of the location de-

All police personnel will undergo urine test, and the implementation is carried out periodically and the time is not specified.

Wait for location determination from ministry of transportation

termination is expected not to last long. It happens because there is an issue if the Ngurah Rai Airport (Badung) is already quite busy, so that the presence of Buleleng airport is very much expected, either by the district government or tourism perpetrators. “Now we hope both companies could get determination of location. Surely, it has been accompanied with technical requirements that they must comply with.

So, the airport construction can be realized in Buleleng,” he said.

Puspaka admitted the development plan has rolled out long enough. However, until now it has not been realized. He confirmed that mechanism of the airport development has its stages. If the location has been specified, the construction cannot be guaranteed immediately, but there is still possibility to make a study.

“Moreover in Bali, the impact of investment activities should be studied in depth, especially in the matter of its geophysical, social, cultural and biological aspect.

Any problems during the operation should be anticipated. Hopefully, people do not assume if the construction could be realized soon,” he said. (kmb45)

IBP/kmb36

4

Bali News

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Roadside shade trees imperil people’s home

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Myanmar reiterates no ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, even as investigations go on

NEGARA - A number of residents living at the roadside of Denpasar-Gilimanuk, Pohsanten village, Mendoyo, complain about imperiling roadside shade trees that have not been pruned.

The trees do not only branch out toward road body but also toward people’s home.

IBP/kmb26

The trees do not only branch out toward road body but also toward people’s home.

Some residents met on Monday (Apr. 10) admitted to be afraid as the trees are not pruned. Moreover, the branches are extending toward their home. Indeed not long ago some of the trees at roadside have been pruned. However, the trees pruned were only located in southern side.

They hoped the trees in the northern side can also be pruned because it is harmful to their home. “I’m afraid that they collapse toward the house. Every storm, I am quite concerned,” said Lina, 32, one of the local residents. At least four shade trees lining along the road endanger

people’s homes in the northern side of the road. Residents claimed to have reported it to local village officials.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Jembrana, I Ketut Eko Susila Artha Pramana, confirmed that so far the pruning remains to run regularly managed by the agency he leads. Related to the report of residents, he has received it. “We will follow it up.

Every month, it is usually performed every two weeks eastward and westward,” he explained.

He added that pruning is given priority to trees endangering road

users especially rain tree. “We prioritize the most endangering trees.

For example, the trees standing out to the road body, and rain tree is prone to collapse,” he explained.

Pruning is also waiting for coordination with relevant agencies such as police authority and the PLN. So far, the problem of pruning trees is electrical cables and road traffic. According to him, the first step is managed by municipal police, and the pruning has covered all the subdistricts in Jembrana. Admittedly, it does not include the entire trees, but will be done on a regular basis. (kmb26)

Regent expects central parking development starts this year

BANGLI - Regent of Bangli, I Made Gianyar, hoped the central parking development plan near the entrance area of Kintamani tourist attraction could begin this year.

It has been allocated this year’s regional budget of Bangli worth IDR 6 billion.

Met amid the monitoring of the national exam on Monday (Apr. 10), Regent Made Gianyar asked relevant agency handling the central parking development in Kintamani to optimally realize the plan this year. Moreover, the plan has been specified in the regional budget. “We’ve allocated as much as IDR 6 billion. Do not say it cannot be done at the beginning. If so, it is just like giving up before entering the war,” he explained.

Gianyar asked relevant agencies to attempt anything that can be done this year. Do not let the budget allocated this year become unused. If it must be accompanied with feasibility study, he requested to do it immediately. “Do not talk only, but must be worked on. If talk only, it will never finish. Hopefully, it could be begun this year,” he said.

Previously, subdistrict head of Kintamani, Wayan Dirgayusa, when contacted last week revealed that physical development plan of the central parking in Kintamani possibly cannot be realized this year. The land to be used for the central parking construction so far is indeed ready. However, prior to doing physical development the district government will remain to conduct a feasibility study.

Similar opinion was expressed by the Regional Secretary of Bangli, Ida Bagus Putra Giri. Possibly the workmanship of the central parking development can be started in 2018.

This year, his agency will still conduct a feasibility study expected to take place for six months. This will be followed with communication to several parties and local community. The communication is conducted to discuss and look for common ground related to some things where one of which is about the use and management. It is important to anticipate legal problems between the government and the public that may arise later on. (kmb40)

I Made Gianyar

IBP/kmb40

13

KCNA via REUTERS File Photo

A general view of an annual central report meeting in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 9, 2017.

South Korea warns of N.Korea “provocations”, US navy group approaches

SEOUL - South Korea’s acting president warned on Tuesday of “greater provocations” by North Korea as tension on the Korean peninsula rises over concern the North may conduct a test of its military hardware in coming days.

A U.S. Navy strike group led by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is en route to the western Pacific with talk of military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria.

South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn ordered the military to intensify monitoring of the North’s activities and to ensure close communication with the ally the United States.

“It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,” said Hwang, acting leader since former President Park Geun-hye was removed over a graft scandal.

The North convenes a Supreme People’s Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved.

Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong Un. A military parade is expected in the North’s capital, Pyongyang, to

mark the day. North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.

The North’s foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency earlier on Tuesday, said the U.S. navy strike group’s move near the Korean peninsula showed America’s “reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase”.

“We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves,” an unidentified ministry spokesman said.

SANCTIONS WARNING Delegates from around the North have been arriving in Pyongyang ahead of the assembly session. They visited statues of previous leaders Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, state media reported.

North Korea is emerging as one of the most pressing foreign policy problems facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

North Korea has conducted five

nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nucleartipped missiles that can reach the United States.

The Trump administration is reviewing its policy towards North Korea and has said all options are on the table, including military strikes.

The U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson cancelled a planned trip to Australia and was moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters over the weekend.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Florida last week and Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear programme.

China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carried out nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said.

As well as the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, there are several other North Korean anniversaries in April that could be opportunities for weapon tests, South Korean officials have said.

The North is seen ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, with movements detected by satellites at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. (rtr)

YANGON - A senior Myanmar government official on Tuesday denied there was ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in the troubled northwestern state of Rakhine, where a military operation aimed at the minority has forced 75,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

Attacks on Myanmar border guard posts in October last year by a Rohingya insurgent group ignited the biggest crisis of country leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s year in power.

A UN report in February said Myanmar’s security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes against Rohingya during their campaign against the insurgents, which may amount to crimes against humanity.

The military has denied the accusations, saying it was engaged in a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

Thaung Tun, a recently appointed National Security Adviser, reiterated the claim made by Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi during a recent interview when she said “ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening”.

“There is no ethnic cleansing of Muslim minority in Rakhine,” Thaung Tun told a group of diplomats in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. “It is a matter of people on different sides of the divide and the government is striving to overcome the situation and to close the gap.”

His comments come amid several ongoing investigations into the allegations, including one mandated by Suu Kyi’s government and chaired by the vice-president and former head of military intelligence, Myint Swe. Last month, the top UN human rights body agreed to send an international fact-finding mission to investigate the allegations - a move that Myanmar has opposed.

While the UN February report stopped short of explicitly labelling the actions of the security forces as ethnic cleansing, it said the violence committed against the Rohingya “has been described in other contexts” as ethnic cleansing.

It also expressed “serious concerns” that the attacks were a result of a “purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas”.

Thaung Tun said the government needed time and space to address the issues and “where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing, we will take firm action in accordance with the law”.

He added the government had initiated the process of closing down some of the camps where tens of thousands of Rohingya internally displaced people have lived since clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012, but did not provide any specifics of what is likely to be an extremely complex process. (rtr)

REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A Rohingya girl gestures while reciting a poem at a makeshift school at Balukhali Makeshift Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh April 10, 2017.

12

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

BUSINESS US stock indexes eke out tiny gains, led by energy

U.S. stock indexes eked out tiny gains Monday as news of several corporate deals helped lift the market. Energy stocks led the gainers as the price of crude oil rose for the fifth day in a row.

Phone companies were the biggest laggard. Gold fell and the dollar weakened versus the yen and euro.

“There’s not a lot of impetus to move markets today,” said David Schiegoleit, managing director at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank. “The market is just biding time until we get more data.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.62 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,357.16. The DOW JONES industrial average rose 1.92 points, or 0.01 percent, to 20,658.02. The Nasdaq composite index added 3.11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,880.93.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.36 percent from 2.38 percent late Friday.

The major indexes veered lower soon after the market opened on Monday, but moved into positive territory by midday. They spent much of the afternoon drifting between small gains and losses.

Trading was mostly quiet ahead of the Good Friday holiday, when U.S. markets will be closed. In addition, no major economic reports are due out this week, though the next cycle of company earnings reports kicks off on Wednesday.

“There are a lot of things coming up on the horizon, with earnings, Fed-speak and things like that,” said Schiegoleit. “In terms of everything else, the market is in a wait-and-see mode.”

Several oil industry stocks got a boost from rising crude prices.

Hess climbed $1.92, or 4 percent, to $49.97. Rig operator Transocean rose 32 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $12.75.

Benchmark crude oil closed higher for the fifth day in a row, adding 84 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $53.08 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, gained 74 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $55.98 a barrel in London. Traders bid up shares in several companies announcing deals.(ap)

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference after a two day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2017.

Fed Chair Yellen says economy close to achieving Fed goals

ANN ARBOR — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that the central bank is close to achieving its goals on employment and inflation. Her remarks could be seen as providing support for gradual increases in interest rates. While expressing satisfaction with how the economy is performing, Yellen did voice concerns about moves in Congress to limit the Fed’s independence.

AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2014 file photo, people pass a Wall Street subway stop, in New York’s Financial District. Most WORLD STOCK indexes fell Friday, April 7, 2017, while oil prices rose after the U.S. fired missiles at Syria during President Donald Trump’s first meeting with China’s president, leaving investors on edge.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

5

To Maintain Peace, Residents Preserve Tradition of Burning “Memedi”

Bungaya customary village, Bebandem, Karangasem, is one of the old villages in Bali. Every customary and religious ritual at the village takes place uniquely. One of them can be seen in the implementation of usaba mumu or familiarly known as usaba memedi. It’s named as usaba memedi because the ritual is marked with the ‘burning’ of memedi (spirits). The procession is carried out amid the pounding sounds of kulkul (wooden split drum) throughout customary hamlet and clan temples at night. How does the implementation look like?

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

Yellen told an audience at the University of Michigan that unemployment is now below the point the Fed views as full employment, dipping to 4.5 percent in March.

A key inflation gauge is moving toward the Fed’s 2 percent target for price stability.

Yellen did not specifically address the timing for future rate hikes, but her remarks support the view that future hikes are coming. The Fed last raised rates in March, a quarter-point move that was the second increase in three months. “We are doing pretty well” in terms of the Fed’s goals, Yellen said. “The economy is growing at a moderate pace.”

The Fed’s next meeting is May 2-3 and most private economists believe a rate hike at that time is unlikely. But they say rates could be

Bali News

International

raised at the June meeting and again in September. In her comments, which came in the form of a discussion led by Susan M. Collins, dean of the university’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Yellen expressed concerns about moves in Congress to limit the central bank’s independence.

She specifically mentioned legislation that would subject the Fed’s decision on interest-rate policies to review by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress. She also cited a proposal to require the Fed to follow a specific formula for setting interest rates with any deviation from that formula subject to GAO reviews.

“Our independence is under some threat,” Yellen said, citing

the various bills that have been introduced. She said these changes could end up harming the Fed’s ability to manage the economy to promote low unemployment and guard against accelerating inflation.

“The independence of a central bank to make decisions about monetary policy free of ... political pressures is very important,” Yellen said.

Last week, the Fed revealed that officials had discussed at their March meeting the timing for the start of a process of reducing the central bank’s holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities, which the Fed purchased as a way to lower long-term interest rates and jump-start economic growth following the 2007-2009 recession.

The minutes of the Fed’s March discussion showed that officials discussed beginning to reduce the Fed’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet by the end of this year — sooner than many investors had been expecting. (ap)

Usaba mumu is held once a year falling in January (Balinese seventh month). This year, peak of the implementation took place on Wednesday (Jan. 18). Fifteen days in advance, residents have looked for ritual paraphernalia ingredients such as young coconut leaf, fruit, palm leaf and others at local customary village. ‘’Usaba Mumu’’ di Desa Adat Bungaya Then, three days before the peak of procession, all the people create the figure of memedi made from various leaves, such as the leaf of aba, bamboo, eggplant and pulet. The leaves are arranged in such a way to form humanoid figure coming with tribal marking by using lime betel.

“This paraphernalia is ritualized first in the morning at respective family temple. At night, it is taken out for the ritual procession,” said the apparatus of Bungaya customary village, I Gede Adi Krisna Widana, just before the peak of the ritual began.

At the peak of usaba mumu, thousands of families at Bungaya village have been busy with ritual preparations from the morning.

Krisna said that before sunrise, the whole customary village apparatus

come out to village temple or Bale Agung temple to prepare all means of rituals such as pras daksina, bayuan and kelanan.

In the meantime, all people have prepared ritual paraphernalia known as penyagaan (guard) made from palm tree stem from the morning. It is made to resemble a human figure decorated with various means such as coconut leaf arrangement and wild cherry fruit. The penyagaan means that people must be able to control their passions as preparation to pay homage.

The guard figure is placed in front of their respective alley. It will be dismantled at midday, after going through particular ritual.

“According to local belief, all the guard figures can later be mounted again in paddy fields or anywhere in order to avoid any catastrophe,” said Krisna.

In the afternoon, the whole community, especially women, will say prayers at Pemuhunan Temple.

This temple is quite unique located under a sacred banyan tree without any shrines. Prior to the prayers, thousands of women are sitting around a banyan tree along with their offerings before the worship

around 22:00 On the other hand, men are preparing the memedi figure that will be burned at the location of guard figure in the morning.

After completing the ritual at the Pemuhunan Temple, then memedi figure is burned simultaneously marked with the sounds of kulkul at 15 customary hamlets and clan temples that keep pounding until the procession is over. Burning the memedi figure has the meaning of

burning all the natures of anger and negative traits in human beings, so that people can live harmonious and peaceful life.

The ashes are ritualized again after formed into human figure at the location of burning. When everything is over, the offerings prepared are immediately offered at the ash-made figure. “After the procession, it usually rains at the night symbolizing if the ritual has run smoothly,” said Krisna.

Three days after this procession, the entire local residents say prayers at the village temple. This process is called ngelisin where all pilgrims invoke holy water.

After making introspection for three days, all the local people go through life with a new atmosphere.

Basically, this procession symbolizes the journey of self-control and restores the butha kala to maintain the balance of macrocosm and microcosm. (kmb)

Bignay Salad Rich in Vitamin C Bignay salad can serve as tasty snack. Approximately in the 1980s, bignay salad was very popular in the community because it was easy to get the ingredients and prepare. Children did not need to prepare permanent ingredient, they were just enough to bring bamboo crusher and a bamboo blade to pound.

During fruit season, they always brought the crusher everywhere. When finding bignay trees, they would climb and then picked for the making of salad.

Although the bignay tree did not belong to their father, grandfather, or uncle, they still took it. Understandably, village life was still had high sense of brotherhood and mutual assistance, so as not to mind when people’s bignay fruit was picked.

Each child had a traditional tool used to make the bignay salad. When the fruit season ended, the tool would be kept tidily so that it could be used in the following season. The spices in used were very simple, namely, salt and chili only. Children were enough to bring salt because chili could be taken anywhere or people’s moor. It is different from the bignay salad on sale that applies complete sauces.

It is very rare to find a merchant serving bignay fruit. If available, it will be sold by particular merchants. Besides, it is hard to get the fruits and this rare type of fruit is expensive. In addition, children of current generation rarely know this fruit. They do not know, so that not many of them choose this type of salad.

Bignay fruit has a rounded shape but is smaller that grape. When being ripe, it will turn blackish red.

But when young and green, it tastes sour. The red one tastes a bit sweet. When turning into blackish red, it means that it has been ripe, so that it will taste sweeter. As a seasonal fruit, it usually bears fruit at the beginning of the year.

Today, it is hard to find bignay. Its trees are rare because it has become extinct. If available, it will be located in the areas that are difficult to reach so that it is also rather difficult to pick. Probably some regions still have it but in restricted number. Actually this bignay fruit has many benefits as containing vitamin C functioned as an antioxidant and booster of immunity and digestion. (kmb)

6

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

W

International

RLD

Risk of mass starvation rapidly rising in Africa, Yemen, U.N. warns

GENEVA - The risk of mass starvation in four countries -- northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen - -is rapidly rising due to drought and conflict, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Some 20 million people live in hard-hit areas where harvests have failed and malnutrition rates are increasing, particularly among young children, it said.

In South Sudan alone -- where the United Nations declared famine in some areas in February -- “a further 1 million people are now on the brink of famine”, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

“We are raising our alarm level further by today warning that the risk of mass deaths from starvation among populations in the Horn of Africa, Yemen and Nigeria is growing,” Edwards told a news briefing.

“This really is an absolutely critical situation that is rapidly unfolding across a large swathe of Africa from west to east,” he said.

People are on the run within their countries and

there are also greater numbers of South Sudanese refugees fleeing to Sudan and Uganda, according to the UNHCR, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

A preventable humanitarian catastrophe, possibly worse than that of 2011 when 260,000 people died of famine in the Horn of Africa, half of them children, “is fast becoming an inevitability”, Edwards said.

“Always the problem that we have with humanitarian crises in sub-Saharan Africa is that they tend to get overlooked until things are too late,” he said. “A repeat must be avoided at all costs.”

UNHCR is scaling up its operations but is stymied by a severe funding shortfall, with some of the country programmes only funded at between 3 and 11 percent, he said.

Overall the United Nations has appealed for $4.4 billion for the four countries but has received less $984 million or 21 percent to date, Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. (rtr)

AP Photo

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 5, 2017, Abuk Garang holding her 7-month-old son William Deng sits against a tree as she and others walk to a food distribution site in Malualkuel in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan.

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

11

Indonesia’s “marathon” probe of politicians to test graft battle

REUTERS/Louis Nastro/File Photo

A United Airlines Boeing 787 taxis as a United Airlines Boeing 767 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, U.S. on February 7, 2015.

United Airlines under fire after passenger dragged from plane; officer put on leave NEW YORK - United Airlines sparked outrage on Monday for the treatment of a passenger who was physically dragged off a plane the airline had overbooked, and one of the security officers involved in the incident was placed on leave pending an investigation.

Videos posted online by other passengers showed a man screaming as officers yanked him from his seat on United Flight 3411 before it departed from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday.

The man, who appeared to be Asian, was seen being dragged down the aisle on his back by his hands, body limp, bleeding from the mouth, glasses askew and shirt pulled up above his navel.

The videos sparked outrage on social media, the second time in less than a month that United was criticized for its treatment of passengers.

In a letter circulated to employees and seen by Reuters, United Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz did not apologize for the way the passenger was handled, writing that the passenger had “defied” security officers.

Munoz said there are lessons the company can learn from this situ-

ation, though he impressed that he “emphatically” stands behind his employees.

“We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation),” Munoz wrote. “When we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.”

The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement that one of the officers did not follow protocol and added that he had been placed on leave pending a review for actions not condoned by the department.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said it was reviewing whether United complied with overbook rules that require airlines to set guidelines on how passengers are denied boarding if they do not volunteer to give up their seats.

“While it is legal for airlines to involuntarily bump passengers from an oversold flight when there are not enough volunteers, it is the airline’s responsibility to determine its own fair boarding priorities,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement. (rtr)

JAKARTA - A corruption investigation into dozens of politicians is a cause for concern in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, but no other country has taken such a tough stance against graft over the past decade, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

The anti-graft agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, has put on trial two suspects and is looking into claims that at least 37 people benefited from the theft of $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card.

The accusations in a KPK indictment letter say sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million were openly divided up in a room in parliament. Those implicated include members of President Joko Widodo’s ruling party, a minister, the speaker of parliament and opposition party members.

The scale of the alleged theft has created sensational headlines, even in a country long used to epic corruption scandals.

The fact that it involves parliament will be less of a surprise. In a survey by global watchdog Transparency International, Indonesians perceived the parliament as the country’s most corrupt institution.

“If you see...so many corruption cases and (think) that means there is so much corruption, fine. But on the other hand, you can see too how Indonesia is being very tough in combating corruption,” Kalla said in an interview when asked what the e-KPT (electronic Resident Identity Card) case.

Despite repeated efforts by politicians and police to undermine it, the KPK has remained one of Southeast Asia’s most effective and independent agencies. It investigated 91 people last year, a record in its 15-year history, data provided by the agency showed.

“No other country has within 10 years jailed nine ministers and 19 (provincial) governors, and other high-ranking officials and members of parliament,” Kalla told Reuters.

The World Economic Forum’s 2015-16 Global Competitiveness Report said its data suggested efforts to tackle corruption were paying off, with Indonesia “improving on almost all measures related to bribery and ethics”.

Even so, Indonesia ranked 90 out of 176 countries in Transparency’s annual Corruption Perceptions index last year, on par with countries such as Liberia and Colombia.

PERFECT CONVICTION RECORD

The KPK, which claims a 100 percent conviction record, has 1,200 staff and can wiretap without a warrant. Once it begins an investigation, there is no legal mechanism to halt it.

But taking on vested interests can come with a cost. Four years ago, the KPK had to call in public support to barricade its headquarters after a squadron of police demanded the handover of an investigator who was probing graft among top police officers.

Then there was the jailing of former KPK chief, Antasari Azhar, who claims he was framed for murder to derail an investigation into voting fraud during the 2009 presidential election. He was granted clemency this year. Indonesian media have splashed the graft scandal on front pages, though President Widodo has urged the public to presume innocence until proven guilty.

The probe also comes as religious and political tensions are running high, with a bitterly fought Jakarta election emerging as a proxy fight ahead of 2019 presidential vote.

However, the fact that those identified in the KPK indictment come from most of the main parties and that any probe is likely to be lengthy should limit political fallout.

“From the start, we understood that this will not be a short process. We say it is like running a marathon,” KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo told a briefing, where he said the agency would eventually go after the big fish implicated. (rtr)

AP Photo/Heri Juanda

In this Monday, March 20, 2017 photo, a Sharia law official whips a man convicted of adultery with a rattan cane in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province each face up to 100 stroke of the cane after neighbors reported them to Islamic religious police for having gay sex.

Two Indonesians face 100 strokes of cane if found guilty of gay sex

BANDA ACEH - Two Indonesians are to go on trial in an Islamic court for having gay sex and could receive 100 strokes of the cane if found guilty, officials in the conservative province of Aceh said, sparking calls from a rights group for their release.

Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that criminalises same-sex relations and that uses sharia as its legal code in addition to the national criminal code.

“The case has been sent to the sharia court of Aceh...

It involves sodomy which can be punished by 100 lashes,” Marzuki, head of investigations with Aceh’s religious police, said on Monday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Indonesia to release the men who were detained last month after vigilantes reported them to religious police for allegedly engaging in gay sex.

“These men had their privacy invaded in a frightening and humiliating manner and now face public torture for the ‘crime’ of their alleged sexual orientation,” HRW’s Phelim Kine said in a statement. “Indonesian

authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the two men.”

In 2014, Aceh enacted a law that punishes anybody caught engaging in consensual gay sex with 100 lashes, 100 months in jail or a fine of 1,000 grams of gold.

It also sets out punishment for sex crimes, unmarried people engaging in displays of affection, adulterous relationships and underage sex.

Authorities in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island caned 339 people in 2016 for a range of crimes, according to HRW. Religious police in Aceh have also been known to target Muslim women without head scarves or those wearing tight clothes, and people drinking alcohol or gambling.

Two women were detained in October last year on suspicion of being lesbians after they were seen hugging in public, and were made to undergo “rehabilitation”, according to media reports.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has faced growing pressure since highranking government officials last year expressed reservations about activism by its members. (rtr)

10

Destination

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

No Shanghai surprise but Ferrari confirm challenge

Uluwatu Temple

MANGUPURA - Uluwatu Temple, or Pura Luhur Uluwatu, one of six key temples believed to be Bali’s spiritual pillars, is renowned for its magnificent location, perched on top of a steep cliff approximately 70 metres above sea level. This temple also shares the splendid sunset backdrops as that of Tanah Lot Temple, another important sea temple located in the island’s western shores. Pura Luhur Uluwatu is definitely one of the top places on the island to go to for sunset delights, with direct views overlooking the beautiful Indian Ocean and daily Kecak dance performances.

Balinese architecture, traditionallydesigned gateways, and ancient sculptures add to Uluwatu Temple’s appeal. Without a doubt, what makes Uluwatu Temple spectacular is its cliff-top setting at the edge of a plateau 250 feet above the waves of the Indian Ocean. ‘Ulu’ means the ‘top’ or the ‘tip’ and ‘watu’ means a ‘stone’ or a ‘rock’ in Balinese.

Several archaeological remains found here prove the temple to be of megalithic origin, dating back to

around the 10th century. There are two entrances to Uluwatu Temple, from the south and the north. A small forest lies at the front and hundreds of monkeys dwell here. They are believed to guard the temple from bad influences. The serpentine pathway to the temple is fortified by concrete walls on the cliff side. It takes about an hour to get from one end to another as there are several fenced points along the way to stop. The views from the bottom of the water surging up against rocks and the ocean horizon are remarkable. The Balinese Hindus believe that the three divine powers of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva become one here. That belief results in making Uluwatu Temple a place of worship of Siva Rudra, the Balinese Hindu deity of all elements and aspects of life in the universe. Pura Uluwatu is also dedicated to protect Bali from evil sea spirits.

Inscriptions mention that Uluwatu Temple was instigated by Mpu Kunturan, a Majapahit monk who also participated in establishing several other important temples in Bali such as Pura Sakenan in Denpasar, about

1,000 years ago. A holy priest from eastern Java, Dhang Hyang Dwijendra, then chose Uluwatu Temple to be his spiritual journey’s final worshiping place. Balinese Hindu devotees believe that he reached the highest spiritual point of oneness with deities by a strike of lightning and completely disappeared. Legend, however, says that Dhang Hyang Dwijendra (also frequently referred to by name as Danghyang Nirartha) was the architect of Uluwatu Temple and several other temples in Bali, Lombok, as well as Sumbawa. Until 1983, Pura Uluwatu was hardly accessible and a lightning strike in 1999 set some parts of the temple on fire.

The temple has had some restorations since it was first built.

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Highlights and Features Behind the main shrine in one of the courtyards of Uluwatu Temple lies a Brahmin statue facing the Indian Ocean, considered as a representation of Dhang Hyang Dwijendra. The two entrances to the temple area are split gates with leaves and flowers carvings. In front of each

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of them are a couple of sculptures shaped like a human body with an elephant head. A heritage of the 10th century is the one-piece winged stone gate to the inside courtyard of Pura Uluwatu. Winged gates are not commonly found on the island.

An addition to Pura Uluwatu in the 16th century is Pura Dalem Jurit.

There are three statues in it, one of them is of Brahma. There are two stone troughs in the temple area. If both of them are joined, they create a sarchopagus (Megalithic coffin).

Uluwatu Beach, below the cliff, is one of Bali’s best internationallyknown surfing spots.

Good to Know Every six months according to the Balinese 210-day Pawukon cycle, big temple anniversary celebrations are held at the temple. The temple’s keeper, the royal family of Jro Kuta from Denpasar, are patrons for the event. Precautionary signs warn visitors of the monkeys grabbing attractive items such as sunglasses and cameras. However, they can be calmer when approached with peanuts

or bananas, lending an opportunity to retake stolen possessions. There hasn’t been any significant erosion on the shoreline underneath the temple’s towering cliff. Believers regard it as a manifestation of the divine power that protects Pura Uluwatu. Public facilities are available, but not in the temple area. Unlike some other tourist destinations in Bali, Uluwatu Temple area has limited amounts of hassling vendors. Visitors must wear a sarong and a sash, as well as appropriate clothes common for temple visits. They can be hired here.

The best time to visit is just before sunset. A Kecak dance is performed everyday at the adjacent cliff-top stage at 18:00 to 19:00. Visitors are charged a nominal fee. What makes it the most favourite venue to watch a Kecak dance is the sunset background of the performance. There’s no public transportation to get here and going back in to town will be difficult without any prearranged ride or taxi. A guide is not necessary, though helpful. The service offered is hassle-free at very minimum prices.

(IBP/net)

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AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Utah Jazz’ Boris Diaw (33) drives to the basket against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, April 10, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.

Jazz end Warriors’ 14-game win streak with 105-99 victory

OAKLAND — Outside of giving Kevin Durant some additional time on the court, Golden State coach Steve Kerr thought it was more important to rest his starters in the fourth quarter than try to extend the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.

With the playoffs starting this weekend, it was an easy decision.

Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 18 rebounds and Joe Johnson added a key 3-pointer with 80 seconds remaining and the Utah Jazz beat Golden State 105-99 on Monday night to snap the Warriors’ 14-game winning streak.

“A win is a win,” Gobert said.

“They didn’t put their starters back in at the end but we were still in the game. We know the playoffs are going to be a different atmosphere but it’s still a great win.”

Kerr, his team already assured of the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, sat most of his starters for the entire fourth quarter and the Jazz

(50-31) took advantage to end a seven-game losing streak at Oracle Arena.

“We didn’t have any injuries so that’s all good,” Kerr said. “They got 12 more field goal attempts than us. That was the difference in the game.”

Stephen Curry had 28 points in three quarters for the Warriors (66-15), while Durant added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in his second game back following a knee injury.

With nothing at stake for the Warriors, the Jazz rode Gobert’s seven-point fourth quarter to their first win at Oracle Arena since April 7, 2013.

Gobert’s follow shot gave Utah an 83-82 lead with 7 minutes left.

He later scored on an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Boris Diaw, then blocked a shot by Patrick McCaw to preserve the Jazz’s lead.

Utah won despite being without Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood and Raul Neto, all of whom have been nursing nagging injuries.

Golden State was also shorthanded, as Kerr rested Klay Thompson. He was joined on the bench in the fourth by most of the rest of the starters. Durant and Zaza Pachulia were the lone exceptions and Durant joined his teammates on the bench early in the final quarter.

That opened the door for Utah and the Jazz closed strong down the stretch.

George Hill had 20 points and Johnson finished with 19, including five 3s. (ap)

SHANGHAI - Lewis Hamilton may have taken the spoils in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix but Sebastian Vettel’s second-place finish provided clear evidence that Ferrari appear more than capable of taking the fight to the Briton’s Mercedes tam.

Vettel sprung something of a surprise when he won last month’s season opener in Australia and despite racing on a vastly different layout in much cooler weather, there was little to choose between the pair for the second weekend in a row.

The results in Melbourne and Shanghai have raised hopes that the early-season rivalry between a duo with seven Formula One championships between them and locked on 43 points apiece in the overall standings, could become a full-blown title duel.

The China performance in particular also erased any lingering doubts about the championship credentials of the sport’s most successful team, for whom the season-opening triumph marked a welcome return to form after a winless 2016.

“On a track and in conditions which were very different from those we had in Melbourne, we proved that we have a strong car,” Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said.

Ferrari have looked competitive since pre-season testing and there was very little to choose between Germany’s Vettel and Hamilton in terms of pace and performance throughout the Shanghai weekend.

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda went so far as to suggest that Vettel had the speed to seize Ferrari’s first pole position since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2015 but Hamilton did just enough in qualifying to secure top spot.

“The explanation is that Ferrari grew up in the Barcelona tests, won the first race and is still on the way up,” said the 68-year-old Austrian, a three times Formula One world champion.

The outcome of the race could also have been different had Vettel’s gamble to pit under the virtual safety car on the opening lap not been undermined when the actual safety car was deployed following crash a few laps later.

The strategy left him bottled up behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, but the four-times champion was able to match Hamilton lap for lap once he found a way past the cars in his path.

“In the mixed conditions it felt like we were the quickest, we were the quickest, man,” the 29-year-old enthused to his team over the radio. “Couldn’t prove that but next time we will.”

Mercedes, who have swept to a hat-trick of both driver and constructor titles over the last three years, are certainly feeling the heat from their Italian rivals.

“I hope they’re feeling the spirit,” triple champion Hamilton said after Sunday’s race, referring to his team. “I hope they’re feeling the fight... because it’s on.” (rtr)

REUTERS/Andy Wong/Pool

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel drives his car into the pit lane during the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai April 9, 2017.

8

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Sp rt Argentina sack coach Bauza, line up Sevilla’s Sampaoli

BUENOS AIRES - Twice World Cup winners Argentina sacked coach Edgardo Bauza on Monday after a string of poor results in South American qualifying left them struggling to reach the 2018 finals in Russia. Media reports suggest Sevilla’s Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has never disguised his ambition to take charge of the national team and steered neighbouring Chile to the Copa America title in 2015, will step into the vacancy.

“We’ve reached an agreement, we’ve told Bauza he’s ceased to be the national team coach,” the Argentine FA’s recently elected president Claudio Tapia told reporters after a meeting at the organisation’s Buenos Aires headquarters.

Argentina, whose captain Lionel Messi has been banned for four matches for insulting a match official, are fifth in the South American group with four qualifiers remaining. The top four in the 10-nation group go through to the 2018 finals in Russia, while the fifthplaced country qualifies for a playoff against a team from Oceania. Bauza presided over eight matches, all 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with three wins, two draws and three defeats.

If the AFA can successfully prize Sampaoli away from Sevilla at the end of the season, he would have until August 31 to prepare for Argentina’s next qualifier, a tricky trip to play Uruguay in Montevideo. Tapia has announced a news conference for Tuesday to give details of Bauza’s departure and his possible successor.

The new AFA leadership made the decision to

dispense with Bauza after Argentina were lucky to beat Chile 1-0 at home with a Messi penalty then lost 2-0 away to Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz last month.

Argentina, who had Messi suspended before the Bolivia game, could be without their talisman in Uruguay and at home to Peru and Venezuela later this year unless they manage to get the ban reduced on appeal.

If the appeal fails, Messi would only come back for the final, potentially decisive qualifier away to Ecuador at high altitude in Quito in October.

Bauza was appointed last July by Armando Perez, who headed a FIFA committee that administered the AFA and prepared it for the presidential election that Tapia won last month. Messi had quit international football after Argentina’s second successive Copa America final defeat on penalties by Chile in the United States in June, having missed the opening spot kick in the shootout.

Bauza persuaded Messi to return in August and the captain responded with a goal in a 1-0 home win over Uruguay on Sept. 1. The 59-year-old’s team were unconvincing, though, with draws away to Venezuela and Peru, losses to Paraguay and Brazil and a win over Colombia between September and November.

Messi missed all but the Brazil and Colombia matches through injury.

Sampaoli quit as Chile coach after lifting the 2015 Copa America but had just taken charge at Sevilla when the Argentina job became vacant last July after Gerardo Martino resigned. The AFA would have to pay a buyout clause to trigger Sampaoli’s release from Sevilla. (rtr)

Argentina’s soccer team head coach Edgardo Bauza gestures.

REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci/File Photo

9

US Soccer: Trump encouraging a World Cup with Mexico, Canada

Glum Wenger counts cost of Arsenal’s latest defeat

LONDON - Arsenal’s despondent manager Arsene Wenger was left to assess the consequences of a “damaging” and “worrying defeat” after a toothless 3-0 reverse at relegation-threatened CRYSTAL PALACE on Monday left their topfour aspirations in jeopardy. After a run of five defeats in eight PREMIER LEAGUEgames, Arsenal have fallen from second to sixth -seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester City who have played a game more.

In late January, Wenger’s side were the nearest challengers to leaders Chelsea but they now find themselves level on points with seventh-placed Everton, who have played two matches more.

During Arsenal’s plummet out of title contention only West Ham United and the bottom two, Middlesbrough and SUNDERLAND, have collected fewer points.

“It’s damaging, of course” Wenger, who has led Arsenal to 20 successive top-four finishes, told Sky Sports. “It’s very worrying and disappointing the way we lost the game. “On that front, that is the most difficult for us. It has consequences on our chances to be in the top four.

“Every defeat is a big worry.

I’ve managed over 1,100 games for Arsenal and we’re not used to that.

It’s a big worry. “Unfortunately, it is like that and we have to respond

very quickly and not accept it. I’m disappointed and determined to put things right.”

DIFFICULT DEFEAT

The manner of the defeat at a buoyant Selhurst Park was of particular concern for a side who were outmuscled and outplayed in a performance that reflected a dire few months for the Gunners.

Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic scored for Palace, who were dominated the match and could have scored more goals. Arsenal, meanwhile, did not have a single shot on target in the second half.

Amid widespread concern about the team’s recent performances under Wenger from disgruntled supporters, the Frenchman has had to deal with almost incessant questioning about his future.

“I face it in every press conference at the moment but tonight I’m not in the mood to speak about it,” he told the BBC. “Tonight the worry is not me, it’s the fact we lost a big game and that’s a big worry. We are in a difficult position.

“What counts is how we perform on the pitch, the players and myself and I feel everyone is focused in the club to do it.” Arsenal now face lowly Middlesbrough in the league next Monday before an FA CUP semi-final against Manchester City. (rtr)

Far from impeding a World Cup bid, souring diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico emboldened those country’s soccer leaders to find common ground through pursuing one of the biggest events in sports. The U.S. could have gone it alone trying to host the 2026 World Cup, but it is seeking goodwill from FIFA and its neighbors by joining forces with Mexico and Canada.

“Especially with what’s going on in the world today, we believe this is a hugely positive signal and symbol of what we can do together in unifying people,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said at Monday’s bid launch, “especially in our three countries.”

Gulati didn’t directly mention President Donald Trump in that particular remark, but the impact of the policies of the fledging administration on a World Cup bid involving feuding neighbors was a constant theme during the event atop the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan.

Trump has derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals, and vowed to build a wall on the border. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto recently canceled a trip to Washington over Trump’s insistence that Mexico pay for the wall.

Such tensions are at odds with the apparent glowing endorsement by Trump of Mexico’s participation in a World Cup bid that currently faces no competitors.

“We have very specifically addressed this with the president,” Gulati said of the Trump controversies. “He is fully supportive of the joint bid, encouraged the joint bid, and is especially pleased with the fact Mexico is participating.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Gulati later clarified that he had not directly spoken to Trump. “I’m not on the phone with the president or sitting down to dinner with him,” Gulati said. “But he knows what we want to do.”

Gulati maintained that he’s “not at all concerned about some of

the issues that other people may raise.” Another of those issues are Trump’s plans — since stopped by courts — to bar new visas for people from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya. FIFAPresident Gianni Infantino said last month that all players, team officials, and support staff from the 48 finalists “need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious.”

The 2026 World Cup will be the first tournament since FIFA expanded the field from 32 nations. A triple-hosted tournament poses logistical challenges trying to accommodate 48 teams, but the plethora of soccer facilities in North America offers some certainty to FIFA after likely challenging tournaments in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

“A good signal to the rest of the world is that this can be done without necessarily building infrastructure or venues specifically for one event,” Gulati said. The U.S., which hosted the World Cup in 1994, would dominate by staging 60 games, including all from the quarterfinals and on.

Mexico and Canada would have to settle for 10 games each.

As a consolation, Mexico wants the opener at its 87,000-capacity Azteca Stadium if it becomes the first three-time World Cup host.

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada all expect to qualify automatically — as the last co-hosts South Korea and Japan did in 2002 — but the FIFA Council has the final decision on the 2026 slots. The quota of finalists for CONCACAF, the North and Central American and Caribbean region, will double to at least six under the new format.

The hosting rights are due to be awarded by FIFA in 2020.

Africa and South America are eligible to bid but no countries from those continents have publicly declared an interest. “We heard something about Morocco,” Gulati said, “but we don’t know yet.” Argentina and Uruguay are keen on co-hosting the centenary World Cup in 2030.

FIFA rules currently prevent 2026 bidders from Europe and Asia because they will have hosted

the previous two tournaments. The U.S. participated in the 2018 and 2022 bidding contest but lost in a hotly disputed vote that sparked corruption investigations. The fallout from the two FIFA executive committee votes included the forced departure of long-standing president Sepp Blatter and the criminal indictments in the U.S. of more than 40 people.

The procedure will change for the 2026 World Cup with the entire FIFA membership, which stands at 211, having a vote. Details of the host cities for 2026 are yet to be announced but the U.S. portion of the bid will rely on the gleaming stadiums opened by the NFL in the past two decades.

Among the possible venues are MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (82,500 capacity); AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (80,000); Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (68,500); Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts (66,000); and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (69,500).

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (71,000) is set to open this year and an 80,000-seat stadium for the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California, in 2019.

The Washington Redskins also hope for a new home.

Chicago’s Soldier Field is the only one of the 1994 venues likely to be used, having undergone a complete renovation. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, also has been modernized and a soccer-style roof over the seats was added.

As well as the Azteca Stadium in Mexico, there are relatively new venues in Monterrey (BBVA Bancomer, 52,000, 2015) and Guadalajara (Estadio Chivas, 45,000, 2010).

Canada’s largest arena is Commonwealth Stadium (56,000) in Edmonton, Alberta, which was renovated ahead of the 2015 Women’s World Cup. BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia (54,500) was used in 2015. Montreal’s Olympic Stadium (56,000) and Toronto’s Rogers Centre (53,000) are less ideal for soccer in their current states. (ap)

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Victor Montagliani, left, President of the Canadian Soccer Association, Sunil Gulati, center, President of the United States Soccer Federation, and Decio de Maria, President of the Mexican Football Federation, show their unified bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup, Monday, April 10, 2017, in New York.

8

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Sp rt Argentina sack coach Bauza, line up Sevilla’s Sampaoli

BUENOS AIRES - Twice World Cup winners Argentina sacked coach Edgardo Bauza on Monday after a string of poor results in South American qualifying left them struggling to reach the 2018 finals in Russia. Media reports suggest Sevilla’s Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli, who has never disguised his ambition to take charge of the national team and steered neighbouring Chile to the Copa America title in 2015, will step into the vacancy.

“We’ve reached an agreement, we’ve told Bauza he’s ceased to be the national team coach,” the Argentine FA’s recently elected president Claudio Tapia told reporters after a meeting at the organisation’s Buenos Aires headquarters.

Argentina, whose captain Lionel Messi has been banned for four matches for insulting a match official, are fifth in the South American group with four qualifiers remaining. The top four in the 10-nation group go through to the 2018 finals in Russia, while the fifthplaced country qualifies for a playoff against a team from Oceania. Bauza presided over eight matches, all 2018 World Cup qualifiers, with three wins, two draws and three defeats.

If the AFA can successfully prize Sampaoli away from Sevilla at the end of the season, he would have until August 31 to prepare for Argentina’s next qualifier, a tricky trip to play Uruguay in Montevideo. Tapia has announced a news conference for Tuesday to give details of Bauza’s departure and his possible successor.

The new AFA leadership made the decision to

dispense with Bauza after Argentina were lucky to beat Chile 1-0 at home with a Messi penalty then lost 2-0 away to Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz last month.

Argentina, who had Messi suspended before the Bolivia game, could be without their talisman in Uruguay and at home to Peru and Venezuela later this year unless they manage to get the ban reduced on appeal.

If the appeal fails, Messi would only come back for the final, potentially decisive qualifier away to Ecuador at high altitude in Quito in October.

Bauza was appointed last July by Armando Perez, who headed a FIFA committee that administered the AFA and prepared it for the presidential election that Tapia won last month. Messi had quit international football after Argentina’s second successive Copa America final defeat on penalties by Chile in the United States in June, having missed the opening spot kick in the shootout.

Bauza persuaded Messi to return in August and the captain responded with a goal in a 1-0 home win over Uruguay on Sept. 1. The 59-year-old’s team were unconvincing, though, with draws away to Venezuela and Peru, losses to Paraguay and Brazil and a win over Colombia between September and November.

Messi missed all but the Brazil and Colombia matches through injury.

Sampaoli quit as Chile coach after lifting the 2015 Copa America but had just taken charge at Sevilla when the Argentina job became vacant last July after Gerardo Martino resigned. The AFA would have to pay a buyout clause to trigger Sampaoli’s release from Sevilla. (rtr)

Argentina’s soccer team head coach Edgardo Bauza gestures.

REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci/File Photo

9

US Soccer: Trump encouraging a World Cup with Mexico, Canada

Glum Wenger counts cost of Arsenal’s latest defeat

LONDON - Arsenal’s despondent manager Arsene Wenger was left to assess the consequences of a “damaging” and “worrying defeat” after a toothless 3-0 reverse at relegation-threatened CRYSTAL PALACE on Monday left their topfour aspirations in jeopardy. After a run of five defeats in eight PREMIER LEAGUEgames, Arsenal have fallen from second to sixth -seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester City who have played a game more.

In late January, Wenger’s side were the nearest challengers to leaders Chelsea but they now find themselves level on points with seventh-placed Everton, who have played two matches more.

During Arsenal’s plummet out of title contention only West Ham United and the bottom two, Middlesbrough and SUNDERLAND, have collected fewer points.

“It’s damaging, of course” Wenger, who has led Arsenal to 20 successive top-four finishes, told Sky Sports. “It’s very worrying and disappointing the way we lost the game. “On that front, that is the most difficult for us. It has consequences on our chances to be in the top four.

“Every defeat is a big worry.

I’ve managed over 1,100 games for Arsenal and we’re not used to that.

It’s a big worry. “Unfortunately, it is like that and we have to respond

very quickly and not accept it. I’m disappointed and determined to put things right.”

DIFFICULT DEFEAT

The manner of the defeat at a buoyant Selhurst Park was of particular concern for a side who were outmuscled and outplayed in a performance that reflected a dire few months for the Gunners.

Andros Townsend, Yohan Cabaye and Luka Milivojevic scored for Palace, who were dominated the match and could have scored more goals. Arsenal, meanwhile, did not have a single shot on target in the second half.

Amid widespread concern about the team’s recent performances under Wenger from disgruntled supporters, the Frenchman has had to deal with almost incessant questioning about his future.

“I face it in every press conference at the moment but tonight I’m not in the mood to speak about it,” he told the BBC. “Tonight the worry is not me, it’s the fact we lost a big game and that’s a big worry. We are in a difficult position.

“What counts is how we perform on the pitch, the players and myself and I feel everyone is focused in the club to do it.” Arsenal now face lowly Middlesbrough in the league next Monday before an FA CUP semi-final against Manchester City. (rtr)

Far from impeding a World Cup bid, souring diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico emboldened those country’s soccer leaders to find common ground through pursuing one of the biggest events in sports. The U.S. could have gone it alone trying to host the 2026 World Cup, but it is seeking goodwill from FIFA and its neighbors by joining forces with Mexico and Canada.

“Especially with what’s going on in the world today, we believe this is a hugely positive signal and symbol of what we can do together in unifying people,” U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said at Monday’s bid launch, “especially in our three countries.”

Gulati didn’t directly mention President Donald Trump in that particular remark, but the impact of the policies of the fledging administration on a World Cup bid involving feuding neighbors was a constant theme during the event atop the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan.

Trump has derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals, and vowed to build a wall on the border. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto recently canceled a trip to Washington over Trump’s insistence that Mexico pay for the wall.

Such tensions are at odds with the apparent glowing endorsement by Trump of Mexico’s participation in a World Cup bid that currently faces no competitors.

“We have very specifically addressed this with the president,” Gulati said of the Trump controversies. “He is fully supportive of the joint bid, encouraged the joint bid, and is especially pleased with the fact Mexico is participating.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Gulati later clarified that he had not directly spoken to Trump. “I’m not on the phone with the president or sitting down to dinner with him,” Gulati said. “But he knows what we want to do.”

Gulati maintained that he’s “not at all concerned about some of

the issues that other people may raise.” Another of those issues are Trump’s plans — since stopped by courts — to bar new visas for people from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya. FIFAPresident Gianni Infantino said last month that all players, team officials, and support staff from the 48 finalists “need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious.”

The 2026 World Cup will be the first tournament since FIFA expanded the field from 32 nations. A triple-hosted tournament poses logistical challenges trying to accommodate 48 teams, but the plethora of soccer facilities in North America offers some certainty to FIFA after likely challenging tournaments in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

“A good signal to the rest of the world is that this can be done without necessarily building infrastructure or venues specifically for one event,” Gulati said. The U.S., which hosted the World Cup in 1994, would dominate by staging 60 games, including all from the quarterfinals and on.

Mexico and Canada would have to settle for 10 games each.

As a consolation, Mexico wants the opener at its 87,000-capacity Azteca Stadium if it becomes the first three-time World Cup host.

The U.S., Mexico, and Canada all expect to qualify automatically — as the last co-hosts South Korea and Japan did in 2002 — but the FIFA Council has the final decision on the 2026 slots. The quota of finalists for CONCACAF, the North and Central American and Caribbean region, will double to at least six under the new format.

The hosting rights are due to be awarded by FIFA in 2020.

Africa and South America are eligible to bid but no countries from those continents have publicly declared an interest. “We heard something about Morocco,” Gulati said, “but we don’t know yet.” Argentina and Uruguay are keen on co-hosting the centenary World Cup in 2030.

FIFA rules currently prevent 2026 bidders from Europe and Asia because they will have hosted

the previous two tournaments. The U.S. participated in the 2018 and 2022 bidding contest but lost in a hotly disputed vote that sparked corruption investigations. The fallout from the two FIFA executive committee votes included the forced departure of long-standing president Sepp Blatter and the criminal indictments in the U.S. of more than 40 people.

The procedure will change for the 2026 World Cup with the entire FIFA membership, which stands at 211, having a vote. Details of the host cities for 2026 are yet to be announced but the U.S. portion of the bid will rely on the gleaming stadiums opened by the NFL in the past two decades.

Among the possible venues are MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (82,500 capacity); AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (80,000); Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (68,500); Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts (66,000); and Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (69,500).

Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (71,000) is set to open this year and an 80,000-seat stadium for the Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, California, in 2019.

The Washington Redskins also hope for a new home.

Chicago’s Soldier Field is the only one of the 1994 venues likely to be used, having undergone a complete renovation. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, also has been modernized and a soccer-style roof over the seats was added.

As well as the Azteca Stadium in Mexico, there are relatively new venues in Monterrey (BBVA Bancomer, 52,000, 2015) and Guadalajara (Estadio Chivas, 45,000, 2010).

Canada’s largest arena is Commonwealth Stadium (56,000) in Edmonton, Alberta, which was renovated ahead of the 2015 Women’s World Cup. BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia (54,500) was used in 2015. Montreal’s Olympic Stadium (56,000) and Toronto’s Rogers Centre (53,000) are less ideal for soccer in their current states. (ap)

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Victor Montagliani, left, President of the Canadian Soccer Association, Sunil Gulati, center, President of the United States Soccer Federation, and Decio de Maria, President of the Mexican Football Federation, show their unified bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup, Monday, April 10, 2017, in New York.

10

Destination

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

No Shanghai surprise but Ferrari confirm challenge

Uluwatu Temple

MANGUPURA - Uluwatu Temple, or Pura Luhur Uluwatu, one of six key temples believed to be Bali’s spiritual pillars, is renowned for its magnificent location, perched on top of a steep cliff approximately 70 metres above sea level. This temple also shares the splendid sunset backdrops as that of Tanah Lot Temple, another important sea temple located in the island’s western shores. Pura Luhur Uluwatu is definitely one of the top places on the island to go to for sunset delights, with direct views overlooking the beautiful Indian Ocean and daily Kecak dance performances.

Balinese architecture, traditionallydesigned gateways, and ancient sculptures add to Uluwatu Temple’s appeal. Without a doubt, what makes Uluwatu Temple spectacular is its cliff-top setting at the edge of a plateau 250 feet above the waves of the Indian Ocean. ‘Ulu’ means the ‘top’ or the ‘tip’ and ‘watu’ means a ‘stone’ or a ‘rock’ in Balinese.

Several archaeological remains found here prove the temple to be of megalithic origin, dating back to

around the 10th century. There are two entrances to Uluwatu Temple, from the south and the north. A small forest lies at the front and hundreds of monkeys dwell here. They are believed to guard the temple from bad influences. The serpentine pathway to the temple is fortified by concrete walls on the cliff side. It takes about an hour to get from one end to another as there are several fenced points along the way to stop. The views from the bottom of the water surging up against rocks and the ocean horizon are remarkable. The Balinese Hindus believe that the three divine powers of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva become one here. That belief results in making Uluwatu Temple a place of worship of Siva Rudra, the Balinese Hindu deity of all elements and aspects of life in the universe. Pura Uluwatu is also dedicated to protect Bali from evil sea spirits.

Inscriptions mention that Uluwatu Temple was instigated by Mpu Kunturan, a Majapahit monk who also participated in establishing several other important temples in Bali such as Pura Sakenan in Denpasar, about

1,000 years ago. A holy priest from eastern Java, Dhang Hyang Dwijendra, then chose Uluwatu Temple to be his spiritual journey’s final worshiping place. Balinese Hindu devotees believe that he reached the highest spiritual point of oneness with deities by a strike of lightning and completely disappeared. Legend, however, says that Dhang Hyang Dwijendra (also frequently referred to by name as Danghyang Nirartha) was the architect of Uluwatu Temple and several other temples in Bali, Lombok, as well as Sumbawa. Until 1983, Pura Uluwatu was hardly accessible and a lightning strike in 1999 set some parts of the temple on fire.

The temple has had some restorations since it was first built.

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Highlights and Features Behind the main shrine in one of the courtyards of Uluwatu Temple lies a Brahmin statue facing the Indian Ocean, considered as a representation of Dhang Hyang Dwijendra. The two entrances to the temple area are split gates with leaves and flowers carvings. In front of each

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of them are a couple of sculptures shaped like a human body with an elephant head. A heritage of the 10th century is the one-piece winged stone gate to the inside courtyard of Pura Uluwatu. Winged gates are not commonly found on the island.

An addition to Pura Uluwatu in the 16th century is Pura Dalem Jurit.

There are three statues in it, one of them is of Brahma. There are two stone troughs in the temple area. If both of them are joined, they create a sarchopagus (Megalithic coffin).

Uluwatu Beach, below the cliff, is one of Bali’s best internationallyknown surfing spots.

Good to Know Every six months according to the Balinese 210-day Pawukon cycle, big temple anniversary celebrations are held at the temple. The temple’s keeper, the royal family of Jro Kuta from Denpasar, are patrons for the event. Precautionary signs warn visitors of the monkeys grabbing attractive items such as sunglasses and cameras. However, they can be calmer when approached with peanuts

or bananas, lending an opportunity to retake stolen possessions. There hasn’t been any significant erosion on the shoreline underneath the temple’s towering cliff. Believers regard it as a manifestation of the divine power that protects Pura Uluwatu. Public facilities are available, but not in the temple area. Unlike some other tourist destinations in Bali, Uluwatu Temple area has limited amounts of hassling vendors. Visitors must wear a sarong and a sash, as well as appropriate clothes common for temple visits. They can be hired here.

The best time to visit is just before sunset. A Kecak dance is performed everyday at the adjacent cliff-top stage at 18:00 to 19:00. Visitors are charged a nominal fee. What makes it the most favourite venue to watch a Kecak dance is the sunset background of the performance. There’s no public transportation to get here and going back in to town will be difficult without any prearranged ride or taxi. A guide is not necessary, though helpful. The service offered is hassle-free at very minimum prices.

(IBP/net)

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Utah Jazz’ Boris Diaw (33) drives to the basket against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, April 10, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.

Jazz end Warriors’ 14-game win streak with 105-99 victory

OAKLAND — Outside of giving Kevin Durant some additional time on the court, Golden State coach Steve Kerr thought it was more important to rest his starters in the fourth quarter than try to extend the longest winning streak in the NBA this season.

With the playoffs starting this weekend, it was an easy decision.

Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 18 rebounds and Joe Johnson added a key 3-pointer with 80 seconds remaining and the Utah Jazz beat Golden State 105-99 on Monday night to snap the Warriors’ 14-game winning streak.

“A win is a win,” Gobert said.

“They didn’t put their starters back in at the end but we were still in the game. We know the playoffs are going to be a different atmosphere but it’s still a great win.”

Kerr, his team already assured of the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, sat most of his starters for the entire fourth quarter and the Jazz

(50-31) took advantage to end a seven-game losing streak at Oracle Arena.

“We didn’t have any injuries so that’s all good,” Kerr said. “They got 12 more field goal attempts than us. That was the difference in the game.”

Stephen Curry had 28 points in three quarters for the Warriors (66-15), while Durant added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in his second game back following a knee injury.

With nothing at stake for the Warriors, the Jazz rode Gobert’s seven-point fourth quarter to their first win at Oracle Arena since April 7, 2013.

Gobert’s follow shot gave Utah an 83-82 lead with 7 minutes left.

He later scored on an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Boris Diaw, then blocked a shot by Patrick McCaw to preserve the Jazz’s lead.

Utah won despite being without Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood and Raul Neto, all of whom have been nursing nagging injuries.

Golden State was also shorthanded, as Kerr rested Klay Thompson. He was joined on the bench in the fourth by most of the rest of the starters. Durant and Zaza Pachulia were the lone exceptions and Durant joined his teammates on the bench early in the final quarter.

That opened the door for Utah and the Jazz closed strong down the stretch.

George Hill had 20 points and Johnson finished with 19, including five 3s. (ap)

SHANGHAI - Lewis Hamilton may have taken the spoils in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix but Sebastian Vettel’s second-place finish provided clear evidence that Ferrari appear more than capable of taking the fight to the Briton’s Mercedes tam.

Vettel sprung something of a surprise when he won last month’s season opener in Australia and despite racing on a vastly different layout in much cooler weather, there was little to choose between the pair for the second weekend in a row.

The results in Melbourne and Shanghai have raised hopes that the early-season rivalry between a duo with seven Formula One championships between them and locked on 43 points apiece in the overall standings, could become a full-blown title duel.

The China performance in particular also erased any lingering doubts about the championship credentials of the sport’s most successful team, for whom the season-opening triumph marked a welcome return to form after a winless 2016.

“On a track and in conditions which were very different from those we had in Melbourne, we proved that we have a strong car,” Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said.

Ferrari have looked competitive since pre-season testing and there was very little to choose between Germany’s Vettel and Hamilton in terms of pace and performance throughout the Shanghai weekend.

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda went so far as to suggest that Vettel had the speed to seize Ferrari’s first pole position since the Singapore Grand Prix in 2015 but Hamilton did just enough in qualifying to secure top spot.

“The explanation is that Ferrari grew up in the Barcelona tests, won the first race and is still on the way up,” said the 68-year-old Austrian, a three times Formula One world champion.

The outcome of the race could also have been different had Vettel’s gamble to pit under the virtual safety car on the opening lap not been undermined when the actual safety car was deployed following crash a few laps later.

The strategy left him bottled up behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, but the four-times champion was able to match Hamilton lap for lap once he found a way past the cars in his path.

“In the mixed conditions it felt like we were the quickest, we were the quickest, man,” the 29-year-old enthused to his team over the radio. “Couldn’t prove that but next time we will.”

Mercedes, who have swept to a hat-trick of both driver and constructor titles over the last three years, are certainly feeling the heat from their Italian rivals.

“I hope they’re feeling the spirit,” triple champion Hamilton said after Sunday’s race, referring to his team. “I hope they’re feeling the fight... because it’s on.” (rtr)

REUTERS/Andy Wong/Pool

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel drives his car into the pit lane during the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai April 9, 2017.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2017

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International

RLD

Risk of mass starvation rapidly rising in Africa, Yemen, U.N. warns

GENEVA - The risk of mass starvation in four countries -- northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen - -is rapidly rising due to drought and conflict, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Some 20 million people live in hard-hit areas where harvests have failed and malnutrition rates are increasing, particularly among young children, it said.

In South Sudan alone -- where the United Nations declared famine in some areas in February -- “a further 1 million people are now on the brink of famine”, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

“We are raising our alarm level further by today warning that the risk of mass deaths from starvation among populations in the Horn of Africa, Yemen and Nigeria is growing,” Edwards told a news briefing.

“This really is an absolutely critical situation that is rapidly unfolding across a large swathe of Africa from west to east,” he said.

People are on the run within their countries and

there are also greater numbers of South Sudanese refugees fleeing to Sudan and Uganda, according to the UNHCR, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

A preventable humanitarian catastrophe, possibly worse than that of 2011 when 260,000 people died of famine in the Horn of Africa, half of them children, “is fast becoming an inevitability”, Edwards said.

“Always the problem that we have with humanitarian crises in sub-Saharan Africa is that they tend to get overlooked until things are too late,” he said. “A repeat must be avoided at all costs.”

UNHCR is scaling up its operations but is stymied by a severe funding shortfall, with some of the country programmes only funded at between 3 and 11 percent, he said.

Overall the United Nations has appealed for $4.4 billion for the four countries but has received less $984 million or 21 percent to date, Jens Laerke of the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. (rtr)

AP Photo

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 5, 2017, Abuk Garang holding her 7-month-old son William Deng sits against a tree as she and others walk to a food distribution site in Malualkuel in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan.

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

11

Indonesia’s “marathon” probe of politicians to test graft battle

REUTERS/Louis Nastro/File Photo

A United Airlines Boeing 787 taxis as a United Airlines Boeing 767 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, U.S. on February 7, 2015.

United Airlines under fire after passenger dragged from plane; officer put on leave NEW YORK - United Airlines sparked outrage on Monday for the treatment of a passenger who was physically dragged off a plane the airline had overbooked, and one of the security officers involved in the incident was placed on leave pending an investigation.

Videos posted online by other passengers showed a man screaming as officers yanked him from his seat on United Flight 3411 before it departed from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday.

The man, who appeared to be Asian, was seen being dragged down the aisle on his back by his hands, body limp, bleeding from the mouth, glasses askew and shirt pulled up above his navel.

The videos sparked outrage on social media, the second time in less than a month that United was criticized for its treatment of passengers.

In a letter circulated to employees and seen by Reuters, United Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz did not apologize for the way the passenger was handled, writing that the passenger had “defied” security officers.

Munoz said there are lessons the company can learn from this situ-

ation, though he impressed that he “emphatically” stands behind his employees.

“We sought volunteers and then followed our involuntary denial of boarding process (including offering up to $1,000 in compensation),” Munoz wrote. “When we approached one of these passengers to explain apologetically that he was being denied boarding, he raised his voice and refused to comply with crew member instructions.”

The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement that one of the officers did not follow protocol and added that he had been placed on leave pending a review for actions not condoned by the department.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said it was reviewing whether United complied with overbook rules that require airlines to set guidelines on how passengers are denied boarding if they do not volunteer to give up their seats.

“While it is legal for airlines to involuntarily bump passengers from an oversold flight when there are not enough volunteers, it is the airline’s responsibility to determine its own fair boarding priorities,” a DOT spokesperson said in a statement. (rtr)

JAKARTA - A corruption investigation into dozens of politicians is a cause for concern in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, but no other country has taken such a tough stance against graft over the past decade, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.

The anti-graft agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, has put on trial two suspects and is looking into claims that at least 37 people benefited from the theft of $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card.

The accusations in a KPK indictment letter say sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million were openly divided up in a room in parliament. Those implicated include members of President Joko Widodo’s ruling party, a minister, the speaker of parliament and opposition party members.

The scale of the alleged theft has created sensational headlines, even in a country long used to epic corruption scandals.

The fact that it involves parliament will be less of a surprise. In a survey by global watchdog Transparency International, Indonesians perceived the parliament as the country’s most corrupt institution.

“If you see...so many corruption cases and (think) that means there is so much corruption, fine. But on the other hand, you can see too how Indonesia is being very tough in combating corruption,” Kalla said in an interview when asked what the e-KPT (electronic Resident Identity Card) case.

Despite repeated efforts by politicians and police to undermine it, the KPK has remained one of Southeast Asia’s most effective and independent agencies. It investigated 91 people last year, a record in its 15-year history, data provided by the agency showed.

“No other country has within 10 years jailed nine ministers and 19 (provincial) governors, and other high-ranking officials and members of parliament,” Kalla told Reuters.

The World Economic Forum’s 2015-16 Global Competitiveness Report said its data suggested efforts to tackle corruption were paying off, with Indonesia “improving on almost all measures related to bribery and ethics”.

Even so, Indonesia ranked 90 out of 176 countries in Transparency’s annual Corruption Perceptions index last year, on par with countries such as Liberia and Colombia.

PERFECT CONVICTION RECORD

The KPK, which claims a 100 percent conviction record, has 1,200 staff and can wiretap without a warrant. Once it begins an investigation, there is no legal mechanism to halt it.

But taking on vested interests can come with a cost. Four years ago, the KPK had to call in public support to barricade its headquarters after a squadron of police demanded the handover of an investigator who was probing graft among top police officers.

Then there was the jailing of former KPK chief, Antasari Azhar, who claims he was framed for murder to derail an investigation into voting fraud during the 2009 presidential election. He was granted clemency this year. Indonesian media have splashed the graft scandal on front pages, though President Widodo has urged the public to presume innocence until proven guilty.

The probe also comes as religious and political tensions are running high, with a bitterly fought Jakarta election emerging as a proxy fight ahead of 2019 presidential vote.

However, the fact that those identified in the KPK indictment come from most of the main parties and that any probe is likely to be lengthy should limit political fallout.

“From the start, we understood that this will not be a short process. We say it is like running a marathon,” KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo told a briefing, where he said the agency would eventually go after the big fish implicated. (rtr)

AP Photo/Heri Juanda

In this Monday, March 20, 2017 photo, a Sharia law official whips a man convicted of adultery with a rattan cane in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Two men in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province each face up to 100 stroke of the cane after neighbors reported them to Islamic religious police for having gay sex.

Two Indonesians face 100 strokes of cane if found guilty of gay sex

BANDA ACEH - Two Indonesians are to go on trial in an Islamic court for having gay sex and could receive 100 strokes of the cane if found guilty, officials in the conservative province of Aceh said, sparking calls from a rights group for their release.

Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that criminalises same-sex relations and that uses sharia as its legal code in addition to the national criminal code.

“The case has been sent to the sharia court of Aceh...

It involves sodomy which can be punished by 100 lashes,” Marzuki, head of investigations with Aceh’s religious police, said on Monday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Indonesia to release the men who were detained last month after vigilantes reported them to religious police for allegedly engaging in gay sex.

“These men had their privacy invaded in a frightening and humiliating manner and now face public torture for the ‘crime’ of their alleged sexual orientation,” HRW’s Phelim Kine said in a statement. “Indonesian

authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the two men.”

In 2014, Aceh enacted a law that punishes anybody caught engaging in consensual gay sex with 100 lashes, 100 months in jail or a fine of 1,000 grams of gold.

It also sets out punishment for sex crimes, unmarried people engaging in displays of affection, adulterous relationships and underage sex.

Authorities in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island caned 339 people in 2016 for a range of crimes, according to HRW. Religious police in Aceh have also been known to target Muslim women without head scarves or those wearing tight clothes, and people drinking alcohol or gambling.

Two women were detained in October last year on suspicion of being lesbians after they were seen hugging in public, and were made to undergo “rehabilitation”, according to media reports.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has faced growing pressure since highranking government officials last year expressed reservations about activism by its members. (rtr)

12

International

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

BUSINESS US stock indexes eke out tiny gains, led by energy

U.S. stock indexes eked out tiny gains Monday as news of several corporate deals helped lift the market. Energy stocks led the gainers as the price of crude oil rose for the fifth day in a row.

Phone companies were the biggest laggard. Gold fell and the dollar weakened versus the yen and euro.

“There’s not a lot of impetus to move markets today,” said David Schiegoleit, managing director at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank. “The market is just biding time until we get more data.”

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.62 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,357.16. The DOW JONES industrial average rose 1.92 points, or 0.01 percent, to 20,658.02. The Nasdaq composite index added 3.11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,880.93.

Bond prices rose. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.36 percent from 2.38 percent late Friday.

The major indexes veered lower soon after the market opened on Monday, but moved into positive territory by midday. They spent much of the afternoon drifting between small gains and losses.

Trading was mostly quiet ahead of the Good Friday holiday, when U.S. markets will be closed. In addition, no major economic reports are due out this week, though the next cycle of company earnings reports kicks off on Wednesday.

“There are a lot of things coming up on the horizon, with earnings, Fed-speak and things like that,” said Schiegoleit. “In terms of everything else, the market is in a wait-and-see mode.”

Several oil industry stocks got a boost from rising crude prices.

Hess climbed $1.92, or 4 percent, to $49.97. Rig operator Transocean rose 32 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $12.75.

Benchmark crude oil closed higher for the fifth day in a row, adding 84 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $53.08 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, gained 74 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $55.98 a barrel in London. Traders bid up shares in several companies announcing deals.(ap)

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference after a two day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2017.

Fed Chair Yellen says economy close to achieving Fed goals

ANN ARBOR — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Monday that the central bank is close to achieving its goals on employment and inflation. Her remarks could be seen as providing support for gradual increases in interest rates. While expressing satisfaction with how the economy is performing, Yellen did voice concerns about moves in Congress to limit the Fed’s independence.

AP Photo/Richard Drew, File

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2014 file photo, people pass a Wall Street subway stop, in New York’s Financial District. Most WORLD STOCK indexes fell Friday, April 7, 2017, while oil prices rose after the U.S. fired missiles at Syria during President Donald Trump’s first meeting with China’s president, leaving investors on edge.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

5

To Maintain Peace, Residents Preserve Tradition of Burning “Memedi”

Bungaya customary village, Bebandem, Karangasem, is one of the old villages in Bali. Every customary and religious ritual at the village takes place uniquely. One of them can be seen in the implementation of usaba mumu or familiarly known as usaba memedi. It’s named as usaba memedi because the ritual is marked with the ‘burning’ of memedi (spirits). The procession is carried out amid the pounding sounds of kulkul (wooden split drum) throughout customary hamlet and clan temples at night. How does the implementation look like?

REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

Yellen told an audience at the University of Michigan that unemployment is now below the point the Fed views as full employment, dipping to 4.5 percent in March.

A key inflation gauge is moving toward the Fed’s 2 percent target for price stability.

Yellen did not specifically address the timing for future rate hikes, but her remarks support the view that future hikes are coming. The Fed last raised rates in March, a quarter-point move that was the second increase in three months. “We are doing pretty well” in terms of the Fed’s goals, Yellen said. “The economy is growing at a moderate pace.”

The Fed’s next meeting is May 2-3 and most private economists believe a rate hike at that time is unlikely. But they say rates could be

Bali News

International

raised at the June meeting and again in September. In her comments, which came in the form of a discussion led by Susan M. Collins, dean of the university’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Yellen expressed concerns about moves in Congress to limit the central bank’s independence.

She specifically mentioned legislation that would subject the Fed’s decision on interest-rate policies to review by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress. She also cited a proposal to require the Fed to follow a specific formula for setting interest rates with any deviation from that formula subject to GAO reviews.

“Our independence is under some threat,” Yellen said, citing

the various bills that have been introduced. She said these changes could end up harming the Fed’s ability to manage the economy to promote low unemployment and guard against accelerating inflation.

“The independence of a central bank to make decisions about monetary policy free of ... political pressures is very important,” Yellen said.

Last week, the Fed revealed that officials had discussed at their March meeting the timing for the start of a process of reducing the central bank’s holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities, which the Fed purchased as a way to lower long-term interest rates and jump-start economic growth following the 2007-2009 recession.

The minutes of the Fed’s March discussion showed that officials discussed beginning to reduce the Fed’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet by the end of this year — sooner than many investors had been expecting. (ap)

Usaba mumu is held once a year falling in January (Balinese seventh month). This year, peak of the implementation took place on Wednesday (Jan. 18). Fifteen days in advance, residents have looked for ritual paraphernalia ingredients such as young coconut leaf, fruit, palm leaf and others at local customary village. ‘’Usaba Mumu’’ di Desa Adat Bungaya Then, three days before the peak of procession, all the people create the figure of memedi made from various leaves, such as the leaf of aba, bamboo, eggplant and pulet. The leaves are arranged in such a way to form humanoid figure coming with tribal marking by using lime betel.

“This paraphernalia is ritualized first in the morning at respective family temple. At night, it is taken out for the ritual procession,” said the apparatus of Bungaya customary village, I Gede Adi Krisna Widana, just before the peak of the ritual began.

At the peak of usaba mumu, thousands of families at Bungaya village have been busy with ritual preparations from the morning.

Krisna said that before sunrise, the whole customary village apparatus

come out to village temple or Bale Agung temple to prepare all means of rituals such as pras daksina, bayuan and kelanan.

In the meantime, all people have prepared ritual paraphernalia known as penyagaan (guard) made from palm tree stem from the morning. It is made to resemble a human figure decorated with various means such as coconut leaf arrangement and wild cherry fruit. The penyagaan means that people must be able to control their passions as preparation to pay homage.

The guard figure is placed in front of their respective alley. It will be dismantled at midday, after going through particular ritual.

“According to local belief, all the guard figures can later be mounted again in paddy fields or anywhere in order to avoid any catastrophe,” said Krisna.

In the afternoon, the whole community, especially women, will say prayers at Pemuhunan Temple.

This temple is quite unique located under a sacred banyan tree without any shrines. Prior to the prayers, thousands of women are sitting around a banyan tree along with their offerings before the worship

around 22:00 On the other hand, men are preparing the memedi figure that will be burned at the location of guard figure in the morning.

After completing the ritual at the Pemuhunan Temple, then memedi figure is burned simultaneously marked with the sounds of kulkul at 15 customary hamlets and clan temples that keep pounding until the procession is over. Burning the memedi figure has the meaning of

burning all the natures of anger and negative traits in human beings, so that people can live harmonious and peaceful life.

The ashes are ritualized again after formed into human figure at the location of burning. When everything is over, the offerings prepared are immediately offered at the ash-made figure. “After the procession, it usually rains at the night symbolizing if the ritual has run smoothly,” said Krisna.

Three days after this procession, the entire local residents say prayers at the village temple. This process is called ngelisin where all pilgrims invoke holy water.

After making introspection for three days, all the local people go through life with a new atmosphere.

Basically, this procession symbolizes the journey of self-control and restores the butha kala to maintain the balance of macrocosm and microcosm. (kmb)

Bignay Salad Rich in Vitamin C Bignay salad can serve as tasty snack. Approximately in the 1980s, bignay salad was very popular in the community because it was easy to get the ingredients and prepare. Children did not need to prepare permanent ingredient, they were just enough to bring bamboo crusher and a bamboo blade to pound.

During fruit season, they always brought the crusher everywhere. When finding bignay trees, they would climb and then picked for the making of salad.

Although the bignay tree did not belong to their father, grandfather, or uncle, they still took it. Understandably, village life was still had high sense of brotherhood and mutual assistance, so as not to mind when people’s bignay fruit was picked.

Each child had a traditional tool used to make the bignay salad. When the fruit season ended, the tool would be kept tidily so that it could be used in the following season. The spices in used were very simple, namely, salt and chili only. Children were enough to bring salt because chili could be taken anywhere or people’s moor. It is different from the bignay salad on sale that applies complete sauces.

It is very rare to find a merchant serving bignay fruit. If available, it will be sold by particular merchants. Besides, it is hard to get the fruits and this rare type of fruit is expensive. In addition, children of current generation rarely know this fruit. They do not know, so that not many of them choose this type of salad.

Bignay fruit has a rounded shape but is smaller that grape. When being ripe, it will turn blackish red.

But when young and green, it tastes sour. The red one tastes a bit sweet. When turning into blackish red, it means that it has been ripe, so that it will taste sweeter. As a seasonal fruit, it usually bears fruit at the beginning of the year.

Today, it is hard to find bignay. Its trees are rare because it has become extinct. If available, it will be located in the areas that are difficult to reach so that it is also rather difficult to pick. Probably some regions still have it but in restricted number. Actually this bignay fruit has many benefits as containing vitamin C functioned as an antioxidant and booster of immunity and digestion. (kmb)

4

Bali News

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Roadside shade trees imperil people’s home

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

Myanmar reiterates no ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, even as investigations go on

NEGARA - A number of residents living at the roadside of Denpasar-Gilimanuk, Pohsanten village, Mendoyo, complain about imperiling roadside shade trees that have not been pruned.

The trees do not only branch out toward road body but also toward people’s home.

IBP/kmb26

The trees do not only branch out toward road body but also toward people’s home.

Some residents met on Monday (Apr. 10) admitted to be afraid as the trees are not pruned. Moreover, the branches are extending toward their home. Indeed not long ago some of the trees at roadside have been pruned. However, the trees pruned were only located in southern side.

They hoped the trees in the northern side can also be pruned because it is harmful to their home. “I’m afraid that they collapse toward the house. Every storm, I am quite concerned,” said Lina, 32, one of the local residents. At least four shade trees lining along the road endanger

people’s homes in the northern side of the road. Residents claimed to have reported it to local village officials.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive of the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Jembrana, I Ketut Eko Susila Artha Pramana, confirmed that so far the pruning remains to run regularly managed by the agency he leads. Related to the report of residents, he has received it. “We will follow it up.

Every month, it is usually performed every two weeks eastward and westward,” he explained.

He added that pruning is given priority to trees endangering road

users especially rain tree. “We prioritize the most endangering trees.

For example, the trees standing out to the road body, and rain tree is prone to collapse,” he explained.

Pruning is also waiting for coordination with relevant agencies such as police authority and the PLN. So far, the problem of pruning trees is electrical cables and road traffic. According to him, the first step is managed by municipal police, and the pruning has covered all the subdistricts in Jembrana. Admittedly, it does not include the entire trees, but will be done on a regular basis. (kmb26)

Regent expects central parking development starts this year

BANGLI - Regent of Bangli, I Made Gianyar, hoped the central parking development plan near the entrance area of Kintamani tourist attraction could begin this year.

It has been allocated this year’s regional budget of Bangli worth IDR 6 billion.

Met amid the monitoring of the national exam on Monday (Apr. 10), Regent Made Gianyar asked relevant agency handling the central parking development in Kintamani to optimally realize the plan this year. Moreover, the plan has been specified in the regional budget. “We’ve allocated as much as IDR 6 billion. Do not say it cannot be done at the beginning. If so, it is just like giving up before entering the war,” he explained.

Gianyar asked relevant agencies to attempt anything that can be done this year. Do not let the budget allocated this year become unused. If it must be accompanied with feasibility study, he requested to do it immediately. “Do not talk only, but must be worked on. If talk only, it will never finish. Hopefully, it could be begun this year,” he said.

Previously, subdistrict head of Kintamani, Wayan Dirgayusa, when contacted last week revealed that physical development plan of the central parking in Kintamani possibly cannot be realized this year. The land to be used for the central parking construction so far is indeed ready. However, prior to doing physical development the district government will remain to conduct a feasibility study.

Similar opinion was expressed by the Regional Secretary of Bangli, Ida Bagus Putra Giri. Possibly the workmanship of the central parking development can be started in 2018.

This year, his agency will still conduct a feasibility study expected to take place for six months. This will be followed with communication to several parties and local community. The communication is conducted to discuss and look for common ground related to some things where one of which is about the use and management. It is important to anticipate legal problems between the government and the public that may arise later on. (kmb40)

I Made Gianyar

IBP/kmb40

13

KCNA via REUTERS File Photo

A general view of an annual central report meeting in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang April 9, 2017.

South Korea warns of N.Korea “provocations”, US navy group approaches

SEOUL - South Korea’s acting president warned on Tuesday of “greater provocations” by North Korea as tension on the Korean peninsula rises over concern the North may conduct a test of its military hardware in coming days.

A U.S. Navy strike group led by a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is en route to the western Pacific with talk of military action by the United States gaining traction following its strikes last week against Syria.

South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn ordered the military to intensify monitoring of the North’s activities and to ensure close communication with the ally the United States.

“It is possible the North may wage greater provocations such as a nuclear test timed with various anniversaries including the Supreme People’s Assembly,” said Hwang, acting leader since former President Park Geun-hye was removed over a graft scandal.

The North convenes a Supreme People’s Assembly session on Tuesday, one of its twice-yearly sessions in which major appointments are announced and national policy goals are formally approved.

Saturday is the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country’s founding father and grandfather of current ruler, Kim Jong Un. A military parade is expected in the North’s capital, Pyongyang, to

mark the day. North Korea often also marks important anniversaries with tests of its nuclear or missile capabilities.

The North’s foreign ministry, in a statement carried by its KCNA news agency earlier on Tuesday, said the U.S. navy strike group’s move near the Korean peninsula showed America’s “reckless moves for invading had reached a serious phase”.

“We never beg for peace but we will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs in order to defend ourselves by powerful force of arms and keep to the road chosen by ourselves,” an unidentified ministry spokesman said.

SANCTIONS WARNING Delegates from around the North have been arriving in Pyongyang ahead of the assembly session. They visited statues of previous leaders Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, state media reported.

North Korea is emerging as one of the most pressing foreign policy problems facing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

North Korea has conducted five

nuclear tests, two of them last year, and is working to develop nucleartipped missiles that can reach the United States.

The Trump administration is reviewing its policy towards North Korea and has said all options are on the table, including military strikes.

The U.S. Navy strike group Carl Vinson cancelled a planned trip to Australia and was moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters over the weekend.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Florida last week and Trump pressed Xi to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear programme.

China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carried out nuclear or long-range missile tests, a senior official in Seoul said.

As well as the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth, there are several other North Korean anniversaries in April that could be opportunities for weapon tests, South Korean officials have said.

The North is seen ready to conduct its sixth nuclear test at any time, with movements detected by satellites at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. (rtr)

YANGON - A senior Myanmar government official on Tuesday denied there was ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in the troubled northwestern state of Rakhine, where a military operation aimed at the minority has forced 75,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

Attacks on Myanmar border guard posts in October last year by a Rohingya insurgent group ignited the biggest crisis of country leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s year in power.

A UN report in February said Myanmar’s security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes against Rohingya during their campaign against the insurgents, which may amount to crimes against humanity.

The military has denied the accusations, saying it was engaged in a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

Thaung Tun, a recently appointed National Security Adviser, reiterated the claim made by Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi during a recent interview when she said “ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening”.

“There is no ethnic cleansing of Muslim minority in Rakhine,” Thaung Tun told a group of diplomats in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. “It is a matter of people on different sides of the divide and the government is striving to overcome the situation and to close the gap.”

His comments come amid several ongoing investigations into the allegations, including one mandated by Suu Kyi’s government and chaired by the vice-president and former head of military intelligence, Myint Swe. Last month, the top UN human rights body agreed to send an international fact-finding mission to investigate the allegations - a move that Myanmar has opposed.

While the UN February report stopped short of explicitly labelling the actions of the security forces as ethnic cleansing, it said the violence committed against the Rohingya “has been described in other contexts” as ethnic cleansing.

It also expressed “serious concerns” that the attacks were a result of a “purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas”.

Thaung Tun said the government needed time and space to address the issues and “where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing, we will take firm action in accordance with the law”.

He added the government had initiated the process of closing down some of the camps where tens of thousands of Rohingya internally displaced people have lived since clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012, but did not provide any specifics of what is likely to be an extremely complex process. (rtr)

REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A Rohingya girl gestures while reciting a poem at a makeshift school at Balukhali Makeshift Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh April 10, 2017.

14

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Technology

International

Bali News

International

To beat China fakes, NZ and Australian produce firms raid tech larder

REUTERS/David Gray

Aleks Lajovic. Sales & Marketing Manager at Impact International which designs and manufactures food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical tubes, uses a device to demonstrates the anticounterfeiting technology located at the company’s factory located in western Sydney, Australia, February 6, 2017. Picture taken February 6, 2017.

Beyond light, solar startup seeks to plug in rural homes in Africa

DAKAR - Access to off-grid solar energy in rural areas of Africa goes beyond lighting up homes - it also enables people to connect to the wider world and boosts their economic prospects, said the head of one of the continent’s biggest solar companies.

Azuri Technologies’ entry level solar system - for which customers pay a one-off installation fee, then use scratch cards or mobile phone payments to top up on a weekly or monthly basis - provides eight hours of lighting each day.

Having power at home for the first time encourages customers to also buy mobile phones, radios and televisions, giving them regular access to the media and the internet, said Simon Bransfield-Garth, chief executive officer of UK-based Azuri.

“This is about so much more than just providing light,” Brans-

field-Garth told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “It is about changing expectations, raising aspirations, and empowering people to become part of the knowledge economy.

“One thing you can be sure of is that once people have solar power in their lives, they’ll never go back to kerosene,” he said.

Some 600 million people in subSaharan Africa - nearly two-thirds of the population - are estimated to be living without access to the main electricity grid, one in 10 of whom are using off-grid clean energy, said the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

Home solar systems not only provide electricity to hard-to-reach households, but do so at a far lower cost than using diesel or kerosene for energy.

Swapping kerosene for home solar energy can cut African fami-

lies’ spending on lighting to two percent from nine percent of their household income, according to a 2016 report by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK-based think-tank.

The pay-as-you go approach for home solar systems has proved successful as mobile money services are rapidly growing across Africa, allowing those without bank accounts to use their phones for everything from receiving remittances to paying bills.

While upfront costs are high compared to traditional fuels, the cost of producing power from solar mini-grids is expected to fall by at least 60 percent in the next 20 years.

“Solar has the power to completely transform the nature of the rural economy in sub-Saharan Africa,” Bransfield-Garth said. (rtr)

Azuri Technologies

The solar panel of an Azuri solar home system installed\non a customer’s roof.

3

Anticipation of plunging into drugs

Hundreds of police personnel take urine test

WELLINGTON - As China’s middle class develops its taste for imported food and drink, fresh produce suppliers in New Zealand and Australia are topping up nature’s bounty with anti-counterfeiting technology in a bid to protect their growing business from fakes.

Suppliers of goods from fruit to wine and lamb are teaming up with makers of tracking systems, codes and powders to combat fakes that cost the global food business billions of dollars. As tech tools become cheaper, services like China’s popular WeChat smartphone app are also being deployed, offering consumers a free scanning ally to work out what’s on Chinese store shelves.

Smaller players like meat company Silver Fern Farms and Synlait Milk have tapped local tech firms like Dunedin’s Oritain, which measures food isotopes as a checkable ‘fingerprint’. But Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is also in on the act with a pilot Blockchain-based tracing system, signing up Kiwi dairy giant Fonterra and Australian vitamin supplier Blackmores as partners.

“We see the Australian and New Zealand markets setting the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to integrity, safety and quality of food supply chains,” said Maggie Zhou, Alibaba’s Australia and New Zealand managing director, in comments published to mark its project launch at a late March Canberra ceremony. “It was a natural decision to pilot a programme here.”

Dislodging counterfeit food, now a well established business of its own, presents no small challenge. Fraud costs the global food industry an estimated $40 billion a year, Alibaba said, citing research conducted

by Michigan State University.

In China, $1 billion in counterfeited goods was seized in 2014, according to the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition.

“Categories that are faked so regularly are the (fresh produce) ones where New Zealand and Australia are strong,” said Mark Tanner, director of Shanghai-based China Skinny, a firm that advises Western businesses operating in China.

But firms in Australia and New Zealand are prepared to go to increasing lengths to protect sales they rely on for growth.

New Zealand’s total exports to China have quadrupled to NZ$12 billion ($8.62 billion) since 2007, most of them being food and beverage products. Australia agriculture exports to China were worth around A$10 billion ($7.67 billion) in 2016, double the amount five years earlier. (rtr)

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Dewa Ketut Puspaka

IBP/file

DENPASAR - Considering many individual police are still getting involved in drug cases in Indonesia, Bali police profession and security unit routinely perform urine test. On Monday (Apr. 10) was the turn of hundreds of personnel belonging to directorate of general criminal investigation to undergo urine test in Kemala Hikmah Building of Bali Police. It is meant to anticipate police personnel from plunging into drugs and serve as surveillance effort. It was directly supervised Bali Police Regional Inspectorate, Suradiyana.

of the Bali police get involved in the abuse of the illicit goods, both as users and dealers. All police personnel will undergo urine test, and the implementation is carried out periodically and the time is not specified.

“To make Bali free from drugs, we attempt to make this cleanup starting from the Bali police personnel and civil servants,” said the graduate of the police academy in 1987.

He reminded that police personnel should be more careful in performing their tasks and not get affected in a negative association. Moreover, currently drug mafia has targeted all walks of life and has entered remote villages. If anyone involved in drug cases, it will be processed through a disciplinary hearing and the hearing of professional codes of national police to crime.

“If any police personnel are proved to get involved in drugs, they will be fired,” he added. (kmb36)

Airport development plan

According to Suradiyana, it is carried out as the implementation of leadership program in order to suppress drugs in Bali. Thus, he hoped that no personnel

SINGARAJA - Airport development plan in Buleleng remains at issue. Moreover, two major companies are rumored to try realizing it. Now, the latest information tells that the mega project is just waiting for the determination of location from the ministry of transportation.

Regional Secretary of Buleleng, Dewa Ketut Puspaka, said on Monday (Apr. 10) that until now there are two companies absolutely serious to try realizing the construction of the airport, namely PT. BIBU with its consultant and PT. Pembangunan Bali Mandiri. The big companies have gone over and conducted a study on the development plan based on the recommendation of the district government.

“Of course, the task of local government is to give recommendation. Firstly, it concretely conducts the studies, especially going deep into the feasibility study. Secondly, the companies have presented the results of its feasibility study to the ministry of transportation in order to further determine the location.

Now, the process is right there (ministry of transportation—Ed),” he said.

Realization of the location de-

All police personnel will undergo urine test, and the implementation is carried out periodically and the time is not specified.

Wait for location determination from ministry of transportation

termination is expected not to last long. It happens because there is an issue if the Ngurah Rai Airport (Badung) is already quite busy, so that the presence of Buleleng airport is very much expected, either by the district government or tourism perpetrators. “Now we hope both companies could get determination of location. Surely, it has been accompanied with technical requirements that they must comply with.

So, the airport construction can be realized in Buleleng,” he said.

Puspaka admitted the development plan has rolled out long enough. However, until now it has not been realized. He confirmed that mechanism of the airport development has its stages. If the location has been specified, the construction cannot be guaranteed immediately, but there is still possibility to make a study.

“Moreover in Bali, the impact of investment activities should be studied in depth, especially in the matter of its geophysical, social, cultural and biological aspect.

Any problems during the operation should be anticipated. Hopefully, people do not assume if the construction could be realized soon,” he said. (kmb45)

IBP/kmb36

2

Bali News

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

International

International

Tourism office reviews hotel security system

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Advise to increase security systems

MANGUPURA - Badung tourism office will review back the hotel security system mainly the non-star rated hotels, such as budget hotels and villas. This effort is applied to ensure that the system complies with safety standards, namely the Safety Management System (SMP).

Chief of Badung Tourism Office, Made Badra, said that tourism is a sector being vulnerable to security issues.

Therefore, the standard security system becomes imperative, moreover, in the presence of suspected terrorists at Beji village, Tuban, West Java.

“Safety system of star rated hotels has already met the standards, but small hotels remain to be worrying, so that it needs to be reviewed again in order to comply with the standard operating procedures,” said Made Badra, on Monday (Apr. 10).

According to him, tourism players should reflect on the dark tragedy in 2002 that claimed many victims. “We must reflect on the incident. Therefore, I appeal to all tourist accommodation management to improve their security systems.

As a result, any undesirable things can be prevented as early as possible,” he said.

Security authority gives special attention to vital objects that become tourist destinations, such as the area of Legian, Kuta, Kedonganan and Nusa Dua. “These open objects become our worries. Hopefully, all the stakeholders and the public could remain vigilant and not to get complacent,” he said.

Along with the rampant crimes occurred and the issue of terrorist attacks against hotels in Indonesia, including in Badung, each property should have a security standard.

Such efforts are made to provide protection for visitors, including the business activities of accommodation and restaurants, so that taking action is required to secure the business premises.

“We continue to encourage the role of hoteliers and restaurateurs to create a sense of security and comfort for travelers,” he said.

The government of Badung through tourism office

performs dissemination on safety standards for tourism supporting business in Badung. The dissemination on the hotel security system, said Cok Darmawan, is meant to meet governing regulations where every effort is required to have a security management system.

He hoped that all businesses in tourism industry really follow to comply with the regulations pertaining to the business, continuity of the business operations, regarding the business certification, manpower certification as well as certification of security management system. “This should be fulfilled by all businesses that operate in Badung, including their employees,” he said.

Deputy Chairman of the Badung House of Representatives, Nyoman Karyanan, said that the public should be vigilant against terrorist attacks. Moreover, Badung relies on the tourism sector that is highly vulnerable to security issues.

“We ask the people in Bali, especially in Badung, to be vigilant against security in their respective region,” he said.

The 2002 Bali bombing tragedy happened again in 2005, said this Golkar politician from South Kuta, and became a bitter experience. Therefore, in addition to performing tight security, inspection against local migrant must also be performed.

“Inspection against local migrants does not only serve as a monitoring of citizens that want to commit negative deeds, but also a part of the orderly administration of population in the region,” he said.

He hoped that all the components have to be involved for the sake of mutual security. If the security is disturbed, the tourism climate in Badung and Bali in general will certainly not become good.

“All the interfaith leaders should continuously make coordination and gathering, so that it can monitor if there are any suspicious behavior in the environment,” he said.

On the other hand, the government of Badung also boosts the installation of 100 Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) at 79 strategic points of Kuta tourism village. These efforts are meant to provide security for visitors spending holidays in the area.

The project funded by the regional budget of Badung in

MANGUPURA - The organization of Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Event (MICE) in Indonesia is still inferior to the neighboring countries. As the data released by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in 2015, Indonesia is ranked 43rd in the world organizing a total of 78 meetings. Meanwhile, Singapore is ranked 24th with 156 meetings, Thailand ranked 27th with 151 meetings, and Malaysia ranked 35th with 113 meetings.

According to Azwir Malaon, Deputy Assistant to Development of Natural and Artificial Tourist Destinations, Ministry of Tourism, based on the data at hand, Bali is still number one in Indonesia in terms of the MICE organization compared to Jakarta. In terms of event, Indonesia is still inferior to Singapore because the facilities owned by Indonesia have not in accordance with the standard facilities required by international players. If seen, in Singapore is already complete.

“Bali is ranked first in Indonesia for MICE because like the Nusa Dua area has already been very complete and met international standards required,” he said amid the dissemination of the regulation draft related to guidelines of

MICE destination implementation 2017 on Monday (Apr. 10) in Kuta.

For Indonesia, said Azwir, the association of MICE organizers has just been established. The establishment of MICE organizers is expected to facilitate the activities outside. “At present, we try to inventory and test, so that the different strength of 16 MICE destinations can be seen. For instance, there are organizers having strength in meetings, in incentives, in conferences as well as in the events,” he said.

He explained that MICE contribution to tourism is expected to take a portion of 2 million until 2019. Therefore, the readiness to support MICE needs to be done immediately.

He said that if the 16 destinations have been declared, the improvement will start to support MICE, for example, whether Jakarta will be entirely developed for MICE or the like. So, there are some spots that will be gradually improved in accordance with international standards. “It is meant to make the 16 destinations become the entry points in performing corrections in the future,” he said.

According to him, Indonesia has many options to be developed as potential MICE destinations. However, not

2016 has approximately completed 85 percent. Placement of the 100 CCTVs is focused at crowded places. They include Kuta Beach, Jalan Poppies II, Ground Zero Tower, Centro Supermarket as well as Horse Statue of Tuban.

More interestingly, some of the 79 CCTVs are deliberately built to resemble camouflage trees. It is meant to keep the aesthetics in the region to remain unexploited. The camouflage poles are also used to avoid the appearance of monopoles in the tourism area. (kmb27)

Sunday April 16 9AM -4PM Sunday Funday: Easter Hunt Genius Cafe- Homme to the Entrepreneur BEach CLub Mertasari Beach (Next to Mercure), San

EVERY MONDAY Movie Monday19:00-21:00 Genius Cafe- Home to the entrepreneur Beach CLub Mertasari Beach (Next to Mercure), Sanur EVERY TUESDAY Ecstatic contact dance: Transformative journey Paradiso Ubud, Jalan Goutama Selatan, Ubud 100k includes dinner EVERY WEDNESDAY DEep Dive Dance Guided improvised movement 19:00-21:00 Paradiso Ubud Jalan Goutama Selatan, Ubud 100k EVERY THURSDAY African Drums with Catur SAng Klang Wijaya 16:00-18:00 Experience the healing power of drumming, all levels welcome

BY DONATION

IBP/file

the tourists are enjoying their time in Kuta. Badung tourism office will review back the hotel security system mainly the non-star rated hotels, such as budget hotels and villas.

MICE destinations in Indonesia still inferior to neighboring countries

all regions understand about MICE destinations. For this reason, the ministry of tourism through the development of destinations and tourism industry disseminated the draft of ministerial regulation related to guidelines of MICE destinations 2017.

“This ministerial regulation poses a guideline for the preparation of MICE destination in Indonesia, not only the 16 MICE destinations launched by the ministry of tourism.

It is also expected to be useful for all other destinations so that they gradually can meet the criteria and indicators for the development of MICE destination,” he said.

Head of Tourism Marketing Division, Bali Tourism Office, Nyoman Wardawan, added that MICE sector can open and expand employment and improve people’s income and welfare because MICE tourism activities can involve various sectors such as transportation, travel, recreation, accommodation, food and beverage, venue, information technology as well as commercial and financial information. “So, MICE tourism needs to be developed because it can serve as an industry that has multiplier effect,” he said. (kmb23)

 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

SUNDAY MARKETS 10AM 1PM Sunday Market at Batu Jimbar Jl. Danau Tablingan , Sanur 10AM-4PM The Sands Beach Club and Restaurant Sunday MArket Jl. Danau Tamblingan, No 27, Sanur 9:30AM-1PM Sunday Market @ Warung Sopa Jl. Sugriwas no36, Padang Tegal, Ubud 9AM-2PM Samadi Sunday Market Jalan. Padang Linjong 39, Canggu, 9AM-2PM Wednesday and Sunday Ubud Organik Market Jl. Raya Pengosekan across from Zens Hotel Tebesaya, Ubud 12PM-10PM Sunday Food Festival & Bazaar Byrdhouse Beach Club, Sanur 10AM-6PM, Mercure,last sunday of every month, jl. ,Mertasari, Sanur, fashion food and and kids activities The Coffee Spot, Jalan Peigenet 888X,Seminyak, last Sunday of every month, garage sale clothing, books, and hand-made jewellery

Activities

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

15

Bunny Adventure at Beachwalk Shopping Center

FOOD STARTS HERE! This April Beachwalk Shopping Center presents “THE ISLAND RECIPES”.

By highlighting the Food as a major theme, Beachwalk brings new atmosphere with new spirit for the shoppers to celebrate the Easter day. Furthermore, Beachwalk Shopping Center is offering a bunch of events and promo to our Customers.

Specifically, in celebrating the mood of Easter, Beachwalk shows “BUNNY ADVENTURE” which is held on 2nd – 9th April 2017. This event is enlivened with kids activity, cake demo, face painting, egg hunt, games, magic competition, and colouring competition.

The funniest part is the chance for the kids to meet the iconic bunny from Miniapolis Playground called Mr. Crick, also watching the Bunny costume parade. During this festive season Customers are able to enjoy and shop at the Easter Market which incredibly perfect for holiday gifts. This event is held at the Fountain Stage, Beachwalk level 1.

After the huge success of Cybergroove’s first Coffee event at Beachwalk Shopping Center by last 2016, now they’re back with more variant contents on “BEACHWALK COFFEE, CHOCOLATE & TEA WEEK” which will be held on 10th – 16th April 2017. Among the collaboration of some Indonesian business industries and related communities; independent roasters, creative, unique specialists as well as many enthusiasts have successfully created hyped event that cannot be missed for those lovers of all things Coffee, Chocolate and Tea! In addition Customers also can experience Free espresso training, Latte Art Smack down, exhibitions, education and a chocolate closing party on Easter Sunday like to other – there is no better place to come and check out the Easter mood at Fountain Stage, Beachwalk level 1. Aside from event “BEACHWALK COFFEE , CHOCOLATE

& TEA WEEK” Beachwalk also brings up another more exciting event “BEER, CHEESE & WINE FESTIVAL” will held on 17th – 23th April 2017. Customers who are interested in beer, cheese, wine and the hospitality industry are really most invited to come.

Every Thursday Beachwalk and HIPMI Gianyar regularly present “UBUD CULTURAL EXPERIENCE” . Both International and Domestic Customers can interactively relish the experience and learn more about Balinese culture exclusively in Ubud regency like learn traditional Balinese dance, Balinese Drama Musical, how to create Balinese offering (Canang) and Balinese traditional dessert called Jaja Bali. This cultural experience will be conducted at the Deck Stage, Beachwalk level 1.

Visitors always have the opportunity to win the various prizes on this April’s SHOP & WIN program; those are Instant Rewards and Lucky Draw. By spending at a minimum purchase of IDR 500,000 (single receipt), customers can get instant rewards such as beauty products, shopping vouchers, restaurant vouchers, and many more. There is something special on this Shop & Win April 2017, by spending minimum of IDR 1,500,000 (single receipt) customers can get instant rewards of the limited edition Easter Package from The Wedding Shop, shopping vouchers and Balinese Calendar 2017.

By spending at a minimum purchase of IDR 2,000,000 (max. 2 receipts), customers will get the chance to win special lucky draw prize 1 ticket return with fast boat Bluewater Express from Bali to Gili Trawangan.

Beachwalk Shopping Center always presents the unique experiences for tourists and shoppers. The various monthly programs offer more attractions in Kuta and emphasizing the Beachwalk Shopping Center’s tagline, “Bali Starts Here”.

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

16 Pages Number 69 9th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Streaming keeps Drake’s ‘More Life’ atop Billboard 200 chart LOS ANGELES - Canadian R&B artist Drake kept his reign at the top of the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Monday, boosted by strong online streaming of his “More Life” record.

“More Life” sold 16,000 albums and 86,000 songs and was streamed 167 million times in its third week of release, totaling 136,000 album units sold, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).

This is not the first time Drake has dominated the charts on the strength of streaming.

L a s t y e a r,

his “Views” album spent 13 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart, regularly clocking more than 100 million streams a week.

New entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart include rapper Kodak Black at No. 3 with “Painting Pictures,” heavy metal band Mastodon at No. 7 with “Emperor of Sand” and Christian music group MercyMe at No. 10 with “Lifer.”

On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online single sales, rapper Kendrick Lamar debuted at No. 1 with his latest song “Humble” selling 111,000 copies. (rtr)

Drake performs onstage in Toronto

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian/File Photo

Janet Jackson splits with husband 3 months after birth of son-reports People magazine, Us Weekly and Entertainment Tonight all said sources had confirmed that Jackson, 50, and Wissam Al Mana had broken up after five years of marriage.

Representatives for the singer declined to confirm the split, which follows the birth in January of Jackson’s first child, a boy the couple named Eissa.

Britain’s Mail on Sunday pub-

lication, which was among the first to report the separation, quoted a source close to the singer as saying it was amicable.

It was not known when the couple separated.

“They’re both busy people but determined to be good parents, even if they’re apart. It’s amicable and Eissa will stay with his mother, who is basing herself in London,” the source told the Mail on Sunday.

Jackson and Al Mana, 43, married in 2012, and a year ago the singer postponed her “Unbreakable” world tour so they could focus on starting a family.

Jackson, the fiercely private youngest child of the famed Jackson singing family, had two previous marriages: a year-long union with soul singer James DeBarge in the mid 1980s, and to dancer Rene Elizondo Jr from 1991-2000. (rtr)

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Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan, center, who was injured in an attacked by unidentified assailants sits on a wheelchair as he leaves the general hospital where he was treated in to be transferred to an eye hospital, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

Janet Jackson accepts the Ultimate Icon Award during the 2015 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California, June 28, 2015.

NEW YORK - Pop star Janet Jackson has split up with her Qatari businessman husband just three months after giving birth to her first child, according to media reports.

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The supporters of NOvel Baswedan held a rally in front of KPK building on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 after Novel was attacked near his house.

Indonesia anti-graft agency defiant after top investigator attacked

JAKARTA - Indonesia’s anti-graft agency on Tuesday condemned an acid attack on one of its top investigators handling a corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of politicians, and said it would not be deterred in its fight. The corruption investigation, involving the suspected theft of $170 million from a budget to procure national electronic identity cards, is turning into one of the biggest cases the agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, has handled.

The KPK has banned the speaker of parliament, Setya Novanto, from overseas travel for six months in connection with the case, which has stirred sensational headlines in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy long burdened by endemic graft.

Early on Tuesday, an unidentified attacker threw acid at senior KPK investigator Novel Baswedan, police said.

He was being treated in hospital for injuries to his eyes and face, and police were investigating whether the attack was related to his work, said Jakarta police chief Mochammad Iriawan. It was not the first time Baswedan had been attacked and his agency said it would not

be cowed.

“We strongly condemn the uncivilized attack on Novel. Novel is us and we are the KPK. We will never stop fighting against corruption,” the KPK said in a statement.

Deputy agency chief Laode M. Syarif said police would be asked to step up security for agency officials.

“We will ask the national and city police for extra protection for KPK investigators,” he told reporters. President Joko Widodo ordered police to investigate and urged KPK officials to be vigilant.

“This is a brutal act that I strongly condemn,” Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace. “All in-

vestigators must be alert and keep working hard.”

Two suspects on trial over the graft case have told a court that at least 37 politicians benefited from the theft of funds from the ID procurement budget, including parliament speaker Novanto.

PARTY PAYMENTS? Late on Monday, the KPK banned Novanto from going overseas for six months. A KPK public relations official, Ipi Maryati, said Novanto had been banned from travel so that “whenever his information is needed in the investigation of the case, he’s not out of the country”.

Novanto, who is also the chairman of Indonesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, told media he would cooperate with authorities. He has not been charged and has previously denied wrongdoing.

Golkar’s secretary general, Idrus Marham, told Reuters the party and Novanto would respect the legal process.

“We also believe in the principle of innocent until proven guilty,” Marham said. The allegations against Novanto and others, set out in a KPK indictment, include accounts of sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million being divided up in a room in parliament among members of various parties, including the one backing President Joko Widodo.

The president’s party has said previously it was investigating the accusation and would follow the legal process.

Global anti-graft watchdog Tr a n s p a r e n c y I n t e r n a t i o n a l found in a recent survey that Indonesians perceived parliament to be their most corrupt institution.

Four years ago, the KPK had to call for support from the public to protect its headquarters after police tried to barge in to demand Baswedan be handed over to them.

At the time, he was investigating police corruption. Baswedan had also in the past been the target of an attempted hit-and-run, Maryati said.(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.