Edition Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | International Bali Post

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

16 Pages Number 252 10th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Dr Who will be back - but not until 2020

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

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside Parliament with a giant “Vote Down Brexit” spelled out in illuminated letters, as Theresa May answered questions in the House on the postponement of a crucial parliamentary vote on the Brexit agreement struck with EU leaders in London on December 10, 2018.

LONDON - Doctor Who fans will have to wait until 2020 for the next series, although there will be a special episode on New Year’s Day to keep them happy.

The eleventh season of the hit series ended on Sunday evening with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor answering distress calls from a battle-scarred planet.

Work has already begun on the next series, which will feature the Doctor and her companions Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gil and Tosin Cole.

Head writer Chris Chibnall said: “We’re off again! Well we never actually stopped.

“As Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends have been winning the hearts of families across the nation this autumn, we’ve been busy with a whole new set of action packed adventures for the 13th Doctor.

“We adore making this show and have been blown away by the response from audiences, so we can’t wait to

bring more scares, more monsters and more Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole to BBC One. Brilliant!”

Whittaker is the first female Doctor and her performance has attracted positive reviews, although there has been some criticism that the series’ storylines have become too politically correct.

Before Chibnall signed up, the show’s stories had been criticised for being too convoluted.

BBC director of content Charlotte Moore said: “I know Chris and the whole team are already working on a whole new set of exciting adventures.

“In the meantime we’ve got a very special episode on New Year’s Day for everyone to enjoy.” (IBP/net)

Jodie Whittaker is the first female Dr Who.

IBP/net

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint says ‘I couldn’t guess how much money I have’

Actor Rupert Grint

IBP/net

LONDON - Actor Rupert Grint has said he has no idea how much money he has earned and is not really motivated by money - despite being said to be worth £28m.

The Harry Potter star told The Radio Times he couldn’t even begin to guess, other than knowing he was “comfortable”.

The 30-year-old appeared as Ron Weasley in eight full-length Harry Potter feature films as well as accompanying games.

The films’ other stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, are thought to have earned similar

amounts of money.

He said: “I actually don’t know how much I have. I couldn’t even really guess.

“It doesn’t really motivate me too much. It makes you comfortable, that’s the good thing about it, I think.

“I’m glad it’s there but I’m not really that focused on it.”

Grint has gone on to have a successful career after the last Potter franchise in 2011, appearing in Sky One’s Sick Note and AMC’s Snatch reboot in the last few years.

This Christmas he is starring

in Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders on BBC One, with John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot.

But after being in the public eye for so long - having been cast in his first Harry Potter film at the age of 11 - he said of fame: “I struggle to remember life before it.

“I think I lost myself a little bit along the way.”

“Sometimes you just want to go to B&Q.” He said he took a break after the Harry Potter films ended because he had a feeling he “had missed out on normal things”. (IBP/net)

You can find International Bali Post at: 1 Kuta Beach Club Jl. Bakung Sari Kuta 2 Wen Dys Kuta the Coffe Bear Jl. Pantai Kuta 3 Seminyak Paradiso Bali Hotel Jl. Camplung Tanduk 4 Ramayana Resort&Spa Jl. Bakung Sari Kuta 5 The Lokha Legian Resort&Spa Jl. Padma Legian Kuta 6 66 Corner Live Sport Emtertaiment Jl. Doble Six/Werkudara 23 7 Leghawa Grill Jl. D.Tamblingan No. 51 8 Retno Barr dan Restoran Jl. D.Tamblingan No.126 A Sanur 9 Elkomedor Jl. D.Tamblingan 140

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

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

19 Smirnof Cafee Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 20 Legwa Hotel Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 21 Nu Laser Cafee Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 22 Ganesa Book Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 23 All For Daiving Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 24 Barocca Jl.Petitenget 17 DKerobokan 25 Lantern Jl.Petitenget 17E Kerobokan 26 Shearlock Jl.Petitenget 17C Kerobokan Klod 27 Cafe Degan Jl.Petitenget 9 Kerobokan Klod

28 Kopi Made Jl. Raya Puputan No. 106 Dps 29 Dimsum Manan Jl. Raya Niti Mandala Renon No 148 30 Furama Jl. Raya Niti Mandala No. 148 Renon 31 Warung Subah Renon Jl. Mohamad Yamin No.18 32 Ayam Betutu khas Gilimanuk Jl. Merdeka No.88 Renon 33 Bali Bakery Jl. Hayam Wuruk 184 Denpasar

May tours Europe in desperate bid to save Brexit deal

Tolga AKMEN / AFP

Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May launched a tour of European capitals on Tuesday in a desperate bid to salvage her Brexit deal, a day after delaying a parliamentary vote on the text to avoid a crushing defeat.

May held talks in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte before heading to Berlin to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel as she struggles to unite British lawmakers behind her faltering plan.

She was then to see EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

“I’m surprised because we had reached an agreement on the 25th of November” at the last EU summit, Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, dubbing Brexit a “surprise guest” at this week’s summit.

“The deal we have achieved is the best deal possible, it’s the only deal

possible. There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation but of course there is room, if used intelligently, to give further clarification and further interpretations,” he said.

- ‘A political declaration’ Tusk said the other 27 EU leaders would discuss Brexit at a special meeting on Thursday, at the start of a pre-planned summit in Brussels which May will attend.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE that Dublin ruled out changes to the wording of the withdrawal agreement but said there could be “a political declaration coming from a European Council”.

“The Irish government doesn’t have an issue with providing reassurance if that’s helpful,” he said.

The embattled May is facing a rebellion in her own party and from parliamentary allies over a clause in the deal relating to Northern Ireland that is threatening to sink both the agreement and her leadership.

“I will now do everything I possibly can to secure further assurances,” May told mutinous MPs Monday on her dash to Europe ahead of the EU summit.

If no deal is secured, Britain will still have to leave the EU on March 29 with the government warning a no-deal Brexit will be hugely damaging to the economy.

Anand Menon, European politics professor at King’s College, London, said May needed Brussels to make it “absolutely clear” no major concessions are on offer -- no matter who is prime minister.

“What they might do is add some language to the political declaration, not the withdrawal agreement,” he added.

“I imagine they’ll add some language saying that both sides remain convinced that we’ll never need to use the backstop”.

the backstop clause designed to keep open Britain’s border with Ireland, May conceded she expected to lose and delayed it.

The decision sent the pound plunging and both sides said they would step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

May suffered a barage of scathing headlines on Tuesday, with the Sun calling her move a “Brexmas Turkey” while the Guardian called it “desperate”.

- Lawmaker outrage MPs had been due to vote on Tuesday on the deal with Brussels, which covers the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union after 46 years.

But facing a huge rebellion of her own Tory MPs, primarily over

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.

Continued to page 6

2

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

IBP/ap

“Bali Nine” Lawrence banned from entering Indonesia for life

Renae Lawrence, a member of “Bali Nine” drug smugglers, has been banned from re-entering the Indonesian territory for life, after her release and deportation to her home country Australia in November.

“Certainly, she would be banned from entering Indonesia for the rest of her life. As of now, she is in the administrative custody in the immigration detention room at the Ngurah Rai Airport, while waiting for her deportation,” Head of Bali`s Immigration Office, Agato Simamora, noted during a press conference here on Wednesday.

The official release paper of the only female member of the nine drug smuggling group was announced on Wednesday, after she had served 13 years behind bars from her actual 20 years of imprisonment.

Lawrence was arrested at Bali airport in 2005, along with the other eight Australians, for their

role in an attempt to smuggle 8.1 kilograms of heroin out of the country. She was arrested with around 2 kilograms of heroine strapped to her back and legs.

At present, the official stated that she would be transferred to the Ngurah Rai Airport, but would not be sent all the way to Australia due to return-to-base possibility from the Australian immigration authority.

“We would just ensure that she leaves the Indonesian territory, and then we would coordinate with the

local authority,” Simamora noted.

When Lawrence returns home, she is expected to face a New South Wales Court for an alleged highspeed chase in a stolen car case in March 2005; however, Simamora remarked that the Indonesian authority has not yet received any requests from their Australian counterpart for any particular treatment related to her case.

“We are aware that Australian law is very different from Indonesian law; so basically, she is just a foreigner who has finished her sen-

tence and does not have residence permit anymore,” he explained.

Simamora emphasized that Lawrence would not receive any special treatment during her deportation process, such as waiting in the VIP room.

“The most important thing is the security. We will not take her through VIP line at the Ngurah Rai Airport,” he elaborated, adding that the authority would not consider Lawrence and her family`s request for some special treatments. (ant)

Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos among those shortlisted as Bali United’s new coach

IBP/net

For Bali United fans, it’s been all drama, defeat, and deliberation of late. After coach Widodo Cahyono Putro was dropped following three successive losses, angry supporters lit up firecrackers and flares at the team’s penultimate match on Sunday against Persija Jakarta.

While temporary coach Eko Purdjianto fills in, the club’s CEO, Yabes Tanuri, is faced with the task of finding the man to turn things around next year.

Under consideration is Real

Madrid legend, Roberto Carlos, says Yabes. “Many foreign coaches have sent their CV to Bali United’s management. One of them is former Brazil national team left-back, Roberto Carlos. But we still haven’t made a decision on who will fill the role,” Yabes said.

According to an article in Bola, Tanuri claimed that there were 30 other names of potential coaches for Bali United, including Philippine national team coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson, and former Glasgow

Activities

International

Rangers player and international coach, Pieter Huistra.

Despite all the speculation, it seems that Tanuri is in no rush to make a decision. He was quoted by the Tribun network as saying, “We will not choose a coach who wants to dismantle the framework of the Bali United squad…Especially if he wants to replace the squad with players from the national team. If he wants that, it’s better he only trains the national team.” (ant)

 Founder : K.Nadha,  General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra  Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra.

Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Mudiarta, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Bagiarta, Klungkung: Sosiawan. 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

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

15

COACH PRESENTED STUART VEVERS’ PRE FALL 2019 COLLECTION IN FIRST EVER RUNWAY SHOW IN CHINA “Coach Lights Up Shanghai” Presented at West Bund Art Center

Coach today announced that the brand presented Creative Director Stuart Vevers’ Pre Fall 2019 men’s and women’s collection in the brand’s first ever runway show in China, at West Bund Art Center in Shanghai this evening. The show, Coach Lights Up Shanghai, and subsequent after party coincided with the brand’s 15th anniversary in China.

Inspired by Coach’s optimistic and inclusive attitude, the event brought together two of the world’s most unique, vibrant cities – Shang-

hai and New York – and celebrated their energy with a neon spectacle highlighting the “bright lights, big city” attitude they share.

The collection represented a sensory experience that explores the unique attitude of New York City––and Coach’s place within it. A twilight world where rockand-roll’s elegance is suggestive of Alice Cooper’s bold early 1970s aesthetic. Elongated tailoring and tall, patchwork shoes. Exaggerated handkerchief hems on floral dresses. Lightly draped, soft leather

and suede jackets––like a secondskin. Brightly colored, cloud-like shearling “chubby” jackets and loveworn mohair sweaters­­––boldly graphic like vibrant abstract paintings. The Dreamer bag evolves with a dressed-up kisslock closure, lavish crafted patchwork over Coach’s Signature pattern.

Collaborations with contemporary creatives based in China are at the heart of the collection as they reimagined Coach’s beloved dinosaur, Rexy. Sui Jianguo’s T-Rex sculpture is photographed

to create a distorted photo print.

Music collective YETI OUT incorporated Rexy into their signature graphic round face. Zhu Jingyi playfully recontextualized the brand’s mascot in an authentic ink drawing and graphic artist Guang Yu reinterpreted Rexy in a fierce hand-drawn graffiti print.

Mr. Vevers presented his latest collection to an audience that included actress and current face of the brand’s fragrance, Chloe Grace Moretz; Chinese actor and current brand ambassador Timmy

Xu; Japanese actress, model and current brand ambassador Kiko Mizuhara; Sui Jianguo; Thomas Bray of YETI OUT; Zhu Jingyi; Guang Yu; Liu Wen; Ji Soo and Rosé of BLACKPINK; Hannah Quinlivan; AMIAYA; Nick Chou; Billie Wang; Dylan Xiong; Lawrence Wong; Vivian Li; Yvonne Ching; Tim Yu; AWAKEN; Hao Boys; Janice Man; Fazura; Fattah Amin; De Cao; Chau Bui; Valerie Thomas; Arifin Putra; as well as key editors, stylists, retailers and influencers.

14

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Technology

International

Heavy screen time appears to impact childrens’ brains: study

WASHINGTON - Researchers have found “different patterns” in brain scans among children who record heavy smart device and video game use, according to initial data from a major ongoing US study.

The first wave of information from the $300 million National Institute of Health (NIH) study is showing that those nine and 10-year-old kids spending more than seven hours a day using such devices show signs of premature thinning of the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer that processes sensory information.

“We don’t know if it’s being caused by the screen time. We don’t know yet if it’s a bad thing,” said Gaya Dowling, an NIH doctor working on the project, explaining the preliminary findings in an interview with the CBS news program 60 Minutes.

“What we can say is that this is what the brains look like of kids who spend a lot of time on screens.

And it’s not just one pattern,” Dowling said.

The NIH data reported on CBS also showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens score worse on language and reasoning tests.

The study -- which involves scanning the brains of 4,500 children -- eventually aims to show whether screen time is addictive, but researchers need several years to understand such long-term outcomes.

“In many ways, the concern that investigators like I have is, that we’re sort of in the midst of a natural kind of uncontrolled experiment on the next generation of children,” Dimitri Christakis, a lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ most recent guidelines on screen time, told 60 Minutes.

Initial data from the study will begin to be released in early 2019.

IBP/kmb The academy now recommends parents “avoid digital media use -- except video chatting -- in chil- The NIH data reported on CBS also showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens score dren younger than 18 to 24 months.” (afp) worse on language and reasoning tests.

Exoskeleton for construction workers available in 2020 The batteries that power the suit last for eight hours on a single charge and can be swapped in and out without losing power.

IBP/net

AN electric exoskeleton that enables the wearer to lift 90kg for extended periods has been introduced

by US firm Sarcos, and is due to be commercially available in 2020.

The Guardian XO Max (pictured) is a full-body exoskeleton that has been in development for 17 years, at an R&D cost of $175m (£136.5m).

The batteries that power the suit last for eight hours on a single charge and can be swapped in and out without losing power. The suit requires 400W of power while walking at human speed, and it takes about a minute for operators to get in and out of it.

Sarcos says the suit contains a “suite of sensors integrated into the exoskeleton, allowing the operator to intuitively control the robot in a way that leverages his or her instincts and reflexes, and minimises the need for human training”.

The Guardian XO Max has a strength amplification of 20 to 1, making 45kg feel like 2.3kg. The full weight of the suit and anything being carried is transferred through the suit’s structure to the ground.

Ben Wolff, Sarcos Robotics chairman, said: “There are many misperceptions regarding the commercial readiness and viability of full-body industrial exoskeletons that are capable of substantially increasing human strength and endurance, including the amount of power required to operate these machines.”

Sarcos will start shipping the Guardian XO Max in 2020.

In October, Willmott Dixon announced that it was trialling a “bionic vest” for workers, in what it claimed was an industry first.

The company is partnering with with robotics company Eksobionics, which has devised an upper body exoskeleton vest – called the Eksovest – that supports the arms during heavy lifting.

It is being used on the Cardiff West Community High School site. The company plans to demonstrate the Eksovest at other sites across the country before introducing it as standard, depending on how the trials perform. (IBP/net)

Bali News

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

3

After obstructing Chinese mafia network

Visiting interest of Chinese tourists declines

MANGUPURA — Government of Badung district eradicating Chinese mafia network suspected of selling cheap Bali tourism in China has an impact on the arrival of tourists to Bali, especially Badung. At least, there has been a decline of around 7.5 to 8 percent of tourist arrivals from the country.

Head of the Badung Tourism Office, I Made Badra, acknowledged the decline in tourist arrivals from China.

However, his office stressed that closing the shop does not mean hostile to Chinese tourists. On that account, his office has tried to make a recovery directly to China to coordinate with the local government.

“Deputy Governor together with the Bali Tourism Office and the Regional Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD) just arrived from China to do a recovery and approach with the Chinese government,” said Made Badra, recently.

According to him, the government has sought to restore the arrival of Chinese tourists. Indeed the closing of shops declared to have relations with the practice of Bali being sold cheaply had an impact on the visits of Chinese tourists. Related to this, Chinese government also stopped travel agencies in the country alleged to get involved.

“However, we hope that with this recovery effort, it will increase tourist arrivals, especially those of the middle high class,” he said.

Regarding the achievement of tourist visit targets in Badung towards the end of 2018, he stated that until November there had been 6 million more than the target of 6.5 million foreign tourists. He is optimistic the target can be reached this December because every day he said there are 27 flight slots with total arrivals of around 14,000 to 15,000 people.

“Moreover, with the arrival of foreign tourists from India and Russia as the results of previous tourism promotions, definitely it (the target) can be achieved,” he concluded. (kmb27)

At least, there has been a decline of around 7.5 to 8 percent of tourist arrivals from China.

IBP/kmb

Next year, Tourism Office works on mascot dance and gamelan

BANGLI — Bangli Tourism and Culture Office will work on a district mascot dance in 2019.

Aside from the mascot dance, the office will also work on four gamelan compositions. Later on,

IBP/kmb40

Aside from the mascot dance, the office will also work on four gamelan compositions.

the mascot dance and gamelan music will be performed in every activity in the region and at the villages.

Division Head of the Art Affairs at the Bangli Tourism and Culture Office, Nyoman Wiradana, stated on Sunday (Dec. 9) that in the process of mascot dance, his office will involve various components starting from the community, Cultural Advisory and Guidance Assembly (Listibya), and the art academicians. The office will ask for a lot of input regarding the planned workmanship of the mascot dance.

“For Bangli, what is right for the mascot and so is the right flower for the mascot of Bangli. We will ask for their opinions and input,” he explained.

He explained, the making of the mascot dance for Bangli district to have a branding that can become the pride of the community. Wher-

ever the mascot dance is performed, people will identify that the dance is owned by Bangli. The mascot dance will later be staged at each ceremony, both in the regions, schools and villages or hamlets.

Wiradana revealed that Bangli district actually had a dance frequently performed. The dance in question is the dance of Sekar Sandat (ylang-ylang). Unfortunately, the dance has now been already used as a mascot by other district. “So, we will make another dance which is different from other districts,” he said.

He further said that in 2019, aside from working on the mascot dance, his office will also work on four new gamelan compositions.

Two of them, mentioned Wiradana, are entitled Tabuh Ngwangun Desa, and Tabuh Suksma Bangli.

Composition of these four gamelan music is the idea of the Regent of

Bangli, I Made Gianyar. Later on, after the gamelan is completed, Regent Made Gianyar is going to get involved in presenting the gamelan composition.

“It becomes a motivation and stimulus for the community to take part in preserving cultural arts. Though having busy schedules, he still has a concern for Balinese arts, so why people don’t want to spend a little time to help preserve our art and culture,” asked Wiradana.

To finance the composition of the mascot dance and four gamelan music, the Tourism and Culture Office has allocated a budget of around IDR 300 million in the 2019 Regional Budget. “So far, we have Kertaning Wingkang Ranu Dance posing a dance of our greatness. “It is worked on as a form of our pride in the Batur Geopark that we have,” he added. (kmb40)

4

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Poor drainage system and untreated environment

California nuns stole schools funds for Vegas gambling, travel

Govt assessed to only pursue awards

DENPASAR - Denpasar City is the center of all Balinese people’s activities. One of the important factors in the urban area is drainage system. In the Denpasar City, it is currently not well organized, so that during rainy season floods occur.

Moreover, flood incident almost occurs every year, but this problem has not been resolved until now, and even tends to increase both in terms of frequency, depth and duration.

Besides, the poor drainage and unkempt environment are the failure of the regional government as just competing for various awards, such as Adipura and others. However, in reality the drainage system remains very bad and the environment is not maintained so that brings in natural disasters such as floods and landslides claiming fatalities and material casualties.

A lecturer at the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya, Eddy Setiadi Soedjono, PhD., judged that almost every city in Indonesia, including Denpasar City, has ‘poor’ drainage system. Drainage systems such as sewers made on roads are only planned to hold road water.

Meanwhile, the water entering the sewer comes from housing, offices, hospitals and others. So, this is one of the causes of flooding. Actually, the drainage development plan must be able to accommodate water flow from anywhere, not just road water.

“From the beginning, there was no harmonious concept of planning drainage. Thus, flooding becomes something real and does not only happen in the City of Denpasar. Similar incidents also happen to other cities in Indonesia,” said Eddy Setiadi on the sidelines of the FGD on the Challenges and Strategies for Clean Water Supply in Bali’ held by the Alumni Association of the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (IKA ITS)

Surabaya for Bali Region at Puri Ayu Hotel Denpasar, Jalan Sudirman No. 14A, Saturday (Dec. 8).

In addition, he said that at present the sewerage condition is very terrible because almost all wastewater is discharged into sewers, so that rainwater cannot be accommodated for flow. Even though Denpasar City currently has sewerage specifically for flowing wastewater, it is considered inadequate because it can only accommodate 10 percent of the total population of Denpasar City. “Ironically, other than having small-sized drainage, it is also disposed of wastewater. So, the quality of flooded water is terrible because the wastewater is mixing with rainwater. We then suffer twice losses, as other than being hit by flood, the water quality is mixed with wastewater,” he said.

Therefore, the drainage problem in the future should be resolving through management of how to plan a good drainage system, making detailed plans, restructuring institutions and related regulations, and fostering community participation to help resolve the drainage problem. “At least, this plan can be set forth in the Regional Spatial Plan, even though our national budget (APBN) is not much for it, but how all regencies / municipality in Bali unite to propose it, so that Bali gets a budget for it. By that way, the planning of the drainage system in Bali will be better in the future,”

LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP

IBP/kmb

Flood incident almost occurs every year, but this problem has not been resolved until now, and even tends to increase both in terms of frequency, depth and duration. he said.

Meanwhile, an academician from the Udayana University, Dr. I Putu Anom, said that the government is currently pursuing various kinds of awards, such as Adipura. However, in reality it does not pay attention to a good drainage system, and the environmental conditions are still not maintained optimally. Supposedly, every ceremony that means “Kertih” must be implemented with concrete actions to care for the earth as a place to live in. Moreover, the rituals held with great funds and inspired by prayers will not be meaningful if there is no concrete action to save nature.

“Sorry, when it comes to the prayers, many people can memorize it, but many don’t understand the meaning

and there is no real and right action for saving nature,” said Putu Anom.

An observer of Bali Spatial, Prof.

Dr. Putu Rumawan Salain, stated that spatial plan, masterplan, and even the execution using pre-cast concrete in the channel and drainage construction had already been owned by the Denpasar City government. However, the integration for primary, secondary and tertiary channels with the rivers has not run optimally. Therefore, the masterplan is necessary to be reviewed by making canals at critical points in the clogging of waterways by utilizing technological sophistication. Moreover, the flow of water through sewers does not only come from road water, but also from residential, offices and even from rivers

of other areas. Thus, the capacity of gutter cannot accommodate a very large volume of water, causing water overflow, not to mention the garbage also clogs the sewer.

In addition, he said that nowadays a lot of housing directing the roof funnels to the road, so that the rainwater does not fall on the yard but flows directly onto the road. The government is urged to immediately crack down on such house buildings, so that flood problems that cause the less optimal drainage function to drain water can be resolved. In addition, the awareness of all levels of society is required to increase clean cultural awareness. If necessary, every household must have biopore in their home yard, so that it has water absorption. (win)

Makepung Lampit for entertainment in Jembrana

IBP/olo

Makepung or buffalo race as one of the rich cultural traditions of Jembrana district continues to be developed in order to remain sustainable.

MAKEPUNG or buffalo race as one of the rich cultural traditions of Jembrana district continues to be developed in order to remain sustainable. Other than Makepung in a sandy circuit involving two blocks namely the East and West Ijogading, lately the Makepung is also organized into entertainment or tourist attraction. One of them is the Makepung Lampit which takes place in muddy rice fields.

Makepung Lampit or Makepung Betenan is known for its more friendly appearance because it doesn’t race and the jockey rarely beats the buffaloes to get hurt. So, this attraction using buffalo is even more acceptable to foreign tourists. A pair of buffaloes is joined together with modified plow made thinner and sloping.

The jockeys are not absolute to wear complete clothing like the

makepung in circuit race. Sometimes they just wear sarong but shirtless.

However, the jockeys still use the headdress of makepung. Likewise, a pair of buffaloes put into the race only use simpler accessories, namely on the head of the buffalo and flags.

This activity is routinely held by farmers and buffalo owners around Peh and Manistutu as training before competing. Moreover, when approaching the rice planting season in the subak (irrigation cooperative) area. Makepung lampit deliberately takes the location in the rice fields before the planting season.

The time of attraction is very limited as only held before the rainy season, so this becomes a barrier for tourists to witness. A number of ideas emerged to further provide interesting elements to Makepung, one of which is Makepung Pasih.

It is almost similar to Makepung

Lampit, but this one is more entertaining to visitors as carried out on the beach with sandy sea beds.

Some beach spots in Jembrana can be used for this attraction.

Coordinator of Makepung in Jembrana, I Made Mara, said there is a legitimate development of Makepung carried out including one of them is the Makepung Lampit. Now, according to him, Makepung Lampit has become an annual agenda in addition to the Regent Cup and Jembrana Cup held annually. However, he admitted the intensity of Makepung Lampit is indeed less than Makepung in circuit because it is waiting for planting time in the fields. This inspired the idea proposing the Makepung Pasih. According to Mara, Makepung attraction on the beach has never been held but does not matter. (olo)

13

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a special address to the nation, his first public comments after four weeks of nationwide ‘yellow vest’ (gilet jaune) protests, on December 10, 2018, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris.

‘Yellow vests’ denounce Macron speech as ‘charade’

LE BOULOU - Groups of “yellow vest” protesters across France responded scathingly to the “crumbs” offered by President Emmanuel Macron in a speech intended to defuse their revolt, but others acknowledged his efforts.

“Nonsense,” “a charade”, “a bluff” and “a drop in the ocean,” were among the immediate reactions that greeted the head of state’s televised speech Monday evening announcing an increase in the minimum wage and a range of other financial measures.

At a roundabout in the southern town of Le Boulou, some 150 “yellow vests” gathered around a loudspeaker listened carefully to the president’s words before starting to shout in chorus.

“He is trying to do a pirouette to land back on his feet but we can see that he isn’t sincere, that it’s all smoke and mirrors,” said JeanMarc, a car mechanic.

“It’s just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation,” said Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic who donned the yellow vest a fortnight ago.

“All this is cinema, it doesn’t tackle the problems of substance,” he told AFP before taking part in blocking the Boulou turnpike on

the French-Spanish border.

“We’re really wound up, we’re going back to battle,” he said.

Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed, an AFP photographer said.

“Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it’s too late,” said Gaetan, 34, one of the “Rennes Lapins Jaunes” (Yellow Rabbits of Rennes). “For us, this speech is nonsense.”

- ‘A charade’ In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, “yellow vests” gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.

“Too bad, blew it again!” exclaimed Etienne. “Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,” laughed Hubert.

Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 “yellow vests” watched

Macron’s speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.

“Sir feels bad,” Elisabeth, a 66year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had “hurt some”.

“It was about time,” added Damien, in his thirties. “Liar,” a woman shouted.

“He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,” said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.

In the southern commune of Realmont, “gilets jaunes” from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.

“The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,” said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.

For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, “it’s a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don’t have more money.” (afp)

LOS ANGELES - Two Catholic school nuns in California have admitted to embezzling about $500,000, and using the funds over the years for travel and gambling in Las Vegas, their order said on Monday. Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who are said to be best friends, took the money from tuition, fees and donations at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

“We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account,” an attorney for the school told parents and alumni at a recent meeting, the Press-Telegram reported.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the missing money was discovered during a routine audit and it is believed the nuns operated their scheme over at least a decade.

Kreuper was principal at the school for 29 years until her retirement earlier this year. Chang was a teacher for 20 years and she also retired this year.

“Our community is concerned and saddened by this situation and regret any injury to our long relationship with the families of the school,” the Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the nuns’ order, said in a statement sent to AFP. “The Sisters of St. Joseph both desire and intend to make complete restitution to St. James School.”

- ‘Deep remorse’ Parents were informed about the nuns’ misdeeds in a November 28 letter from the school’s pastor, Monsignor Michael Meyers.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, states that Kreuper and Chang had taken a

“substantial” amount of school funds for their personal use and the matter was uncovered during an audit conducted after Kreuper’s retirement.

“Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers,” Meyers wrote. “They and their order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school.”

He added that no other school staff were implicated in the theft and that police had been alerted.

Meyers said the school did not wish to pursue criminal proceedings against the pair, who spent decades as students’ moral enforcers.

However, Adrian Alarcon, the head of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, told AFP on Monday that the Archdiocese didn’t want to just let the matter drop and planned to “become a complaining party.”

The nuns allegedly got away with their crime by depositing some checks made out to the school for tuition and other fees into a bank account different than the one used by the school.

Meyers told parents in his letter that the two Sisters were cooperating with an investigation to determine the full amount of misappropriated funds.

“I want to assure you that the investigation has disclosed that, notwithstanding this misappropriation, no student or program at St. James has suffered any loss of educational resources, opportunities, or innovations,” he added. “In sum, the education of your children has not and will not be affected by these events.” (afp)

IBP/net

Two Catholic school nuns in California have admitted to embezzling about $500,000, and using the funds over the years for travel and gambling in Las Vegas, their order said on Monday.

12

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

BUSINESS German trade surplus narrows as imports outpace exports

BERLIN - Import growth outpaced that of exports in October in Germany, narrowing the trade surplus of Europe’s largest economy.

The Federal Statistical Office said Monday that October exports were up 0.7 percent and imports up 1.3 percent compared with September, in calendar and seasonally adjusted terms.

That lowered the trade surplus to 17.3 billion euros ($19.74 billion) in October, from 17.7 billion euros in September.

Compared to October 2017, exports to European Union nations rose 8.1 percent, and those to other countries were up 9.2 percent, in unadjusted figures.

Imports from inside the EU rose 7.5 percent in October 2018 compared to the same month in 2017, while imports from countries outside the bloc were up 8.3 percent. (ap) The sun is about to rise over the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.

May pushes Brexit deal as EU court offers way out

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday began a final push to persuade parliament to back her Brexit deal as the European Court of Justice ruled Britain was free to halt withdrawal from the bloc unilaterally.

The court ruling will fuel calls for a second referendum to stop Brexit and comes on the eve of a once-in-a-lifetime vote by MPs that will determine the fate of Brexit and could lead to May’s downfall.

Her splintered government appears to be facing a heavy defeat in parliament on Tuesday on the draft withdrawal agreement she signed with Brussels last month.

The text defining terms on which the island nation leaves its main trading partner after 46 years is the most important to go before the House of Commons in years.

A big loss could spark immediate challenges to May from both within her Conservative Party and the opposition Labour ranks. It would also leave the tortuous Brexit

process in a state of flux -- and raise the prospects of a no-deal scenario -- less than four months before the March 29 departure date.

May is under pressure to delay the vote and attempt to negotiate more concessions ahead of a planned summit with 27 fellow EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

But Environment Secretary Michael Gove, an influential Brexit backer, told BBC radio that the vote would go ahead and cast doubt on any major re-negotiation.

He warned that “a fundamental re-opening” of the withdrawal agreement risked EU countries wanting to change it “in a way that may not necessarily be to our advantage”.

EU leaders have ruled out any change to the divorce deal but some EU officials have mentioned the possibility of changes to the accompanying political declaration on future trade ties between Britain and the EU after Brexit.

Gove warned fellow MPs that

voting down the current Brexit deal on the table risked “either potentially no Brexit... or we could have a situation where we have the very uncomfortable circumstances of no deal”. The Bank of England and the Treasury warn that Britain crashing out of the EU could trigger an economic crisis.

Asked if a parliamentary defeat for May could actually strengthen her hand in any re-negotiation, he said: “No, I think it would be the equivalent of breaking the cricket bat in half before the captain went to the crease”.

- ‘Risk’ of Labour in power May spoke with EU President Donald Tusk and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and was reportedly meeting MPs on Monday in an attempt to win them over.

May’s team insists that her vision offers the cleanest break between the UK and EU that Brexit supporters could hope for at this late stage.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, May also raised the spectre of an early election and a possible return to power of the Labour Party for the first time since 2010.

May said the prospects of opposition leader “Jeremy Corbyn getting his hands on power is a risk we cannot afford to take.”

Newspapers have identified more than six current and former ministers in May’s cabinet who are also ready to run for her job should she falter over the coming days.

While not ruling himself out of the race, Gove said it would be “extremely unlikely” he would be prime minister.

“Talk about the leadership at the moment is a distraction from the critical question” of the Brexit deal, he said.

EU supporters, meanwhile, hailed the European Court ruling spelling out that the consent of other EU member states is not required for Britain to revoke its intention to leave.

“The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU,” the court said. But Gove said: “We don’t want to stay in the EU... We voted very clearly”.

- Token concessions May would have a tough job securing better divorce terms acceptable to the Northern Irish DUP party that has propped up her government for more than a year.

European officials said they might be able to find a way to offer a token concession that May could take back to London.

The two sides might “work on the (accompanying) protocol or clarify a point that is deemed important so that she can take it back to parliament,” an informed European source told AFP on condition on anonymity.

May would then be expected to submit the touched-up version for a second vote at an unspecified date in December or January. (afp)

International

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

5

Penting Traditional Musical Instrument, Ancient Art of Karangasem from Dutch Colonial Period

Bali is indeed a unique and interesting region because they still maintain their cultural heritage along with traditions and customs. In fact, there are still many Balinese traditions need to be developed or minimally promoted in order not to become extinct and are no longer recognizable.

Thus, it must be attempted to revive so that they can be recognized again by the community. It is very unfortunate if the culture disappears from their society, so finding and revitalizing cultural heritages having been approaching extinction can also increase the cultural wealth belonging to Balinese people and surely it will have an impact on cultural tourism in Bali.

In general, the Balinese culture having not been recognized by Balinese people is very diverse. One of them is in the form of typical musical instrument of Karangasem. It is known as penting musical instrument.

According to A.A. Gede Krisna Dwipayana, a penting craftsman and troupe member of Merdu Komala Karangasem, it is based on the strings stretched from the tip to the base of the tool when picked will produce maklenting sound, so that it is better named as penting.

Furthermore, he said that similar musical instrument can also be found in Lombok named penteng. Then, in Banjarmasin it is named as anting, while in Japan it is known as Taishogoto. Nevertheless, he said that such penting musical instrument indeed originates from Bali precisely in Karangasem because the name of the parts uses Balinese vocabularies. In addition to the strings called pentang, there is also a resonance box that must have a hollow (pelawah) and special keys to produce tones known as pakocet. Besides, there are canten and pangiret as parts of the string regulator.

“After I searched for information and consulted to several higher priests having close relations to Karangasem palace, it turns out that penting art has emerged along with the art of cekepung, rebana and rudat in Karangasem. Moreover, during the Dutch colonial period, this kind of art was once staged in an art event called Ngeraja Kuning or similar to the current Bali Arts Festival (BAF) held to honor the Dutch King at that time,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that condition of this art is unstable or facing ups and downs. After being observed, design of the tool and components are very simple. Then, he concluded that young generation is less interested to play it because it is designed like a box and still gives old-fashioned impression. Actually according to him, this art is unique and has the potential to become a typical art of Karangasem like jegog in Jembrana district.

Chief of Merdu Komala Penting art troupe of Karangasem, Wayan Widana, said that based on stories of his elders, before 1963

the musical instrument was rampant and trendy but faded after the eruption of Mount Agung. After that, it reappeared and dimmed in 1965 due to the Communist 30 September Movement (G30S/PKI) in Bali.

Then, it re-emerged but in the 1990s faded again as a result of the development of new entertainment media such as radio and TV so that people feel reluctant to learn it and many senior figures already died. Finally in the 2000s the penting art began to rise again marked by the establishment of this penting art troupe. Widana further added that initially this penting musical instrument only used slendro musical scale. After further development, it finally becomes like the current one where it applies pelog scale and even seven-tone scale.

Uniqueness and advantages of this instrument, according to him, is rich in tone and having many patet (tonal hierarchical system) so that it can be used to accompany various types of gamelan music such as pegongan, angklungan, pejogedan, sadur and selonding.

Moreover, it can also be used to accompany modern pop songs including national songs as it can also follow the seven tones.

“So, do not be surprised if this instrument is often played in Panca Yadnya rituals and its gamelan composition will be adjusted to the designation of the play, whether it is Dewa Yadnya, Pitra Yadnya, Manusa Yadnya, Rishi Yadnya or Bhuta Yadnya because this instrument is flexible and can be categorized into Panca Gita as well,” said Wayan Widana.

AS a traditional musical instrument, the type of music genre that can be played certainly becomes one of the important things.

The no less important of a musical instrument is how to play it in order to produce a

beautiful sound. If it is not maximized, the instrument will be useless. This is also valid for penting musical instrument because other than having unique shape and producing distinctive sound, the most important is to be recognized and understood is the way or technique to play the instrument.

According to A.A. Gede Krisna Dwipayana, Bali basically has been familiar with percussion musical instrument such as two-sided drum (kendang), gender and so on, while the unique penting belongs to stringed instrument like guitar.

Thus, moving the concept or familiarizing ourselves from percussion to stringed musical instrument played using pangotek or pick on guitar and maximize it is surely not easy and needs to be familiarized. Maximizing the pangotek is rarely noticed by elderly penting player so that the gamelan composition presented with penting becomes imperfect.

In addition, the tetekepan or variation of the string plucking is usually missed because there is a technique of one-to-one plucking, some of which has three-time reciprocating, some are also turned-on and turned-off and there is even a plucking technique of turned on-turned-off and turned-on again. All the types of plucking must be mastered as the needs of the gamelan composition being played.

“Unless familiarized and maximized, the sound produced will not become good.

Moreover, the player cannot understand the types of tetekepan so the gamelan is unable to produce a good tone that should be beaten alternately,” he said.

Apart from the kotekan and tetekepan, this musical instrument has other uniqueness namely at the same time when the right hand plucking the left hand is mandatory to

play the keys like playing piano to produce a tone.

However, the uniqueness precisely becomes the hardest point because it must play ‘intact’ where when moving finger from one key to the next keys, the first tone may not still be pressed when it should have moved to the second tone. Otherwise, the tone will be mixed, like the dong sounds like deng.

Wayan Widana also said that the difficulty of playing this penting instrument is when looking for a tone by pressing the keys.

This musical instrument should be placed sideways on the lap and simultaneously has to pluck the strings and move the fingers of the left hand like playing piano in order to get the desired tone.

He added the performance of this musical instrument is not necessarily played alone but must be paired with other musical instruments such as petuk, 2 pieces of kendang (two-sided drum), flute, lincik, gong tulu, kempur and so on. Of course, to adjust the tone of penting instrument to the other instruments in group needs to be trained continuously. This instrument belongs to traditional and modern one.

It is said to be traditional because other than used to accompany gamelan composition, it is also included in the element of Panca Gita, while it is said to be modern because of being assisted with sound system so that it produces better and stronger sound and longer radius as well as uses 7-9 strings of guitar.

“In the past, before using guitar strings, it used the Vespa clutch string. Moreover, previously it is said to also use fishing lines.

According to a senior figure, it once used the fiber of banana tree,” he said. (kmb)

6

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

W

RLD

Fighting climate change in the shadow of Mount Everest

NEPAL - Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal’s Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold -- were they not a portent of catastrophic floods.

Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation at the mercy of a warming planet.

Those tasked with staving off disaster fear a ‘glacial lake outburst flood’ -- sending torrents of water, mud and rock hurtling downstream -- could reach as far as Nepal’s densely populated southern plains, wiping out roads, vital energy projects and entire villages in its path.

“The risk is getting bigger,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate scientist from the Kathmandubased International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

“These valleys are getting more populated, and infrastructure is developing rapidly.”

Hundreds of these lakes have appeared out of nowhere in the Himalayas in recent decades. A 2014 survey found one quarter of Nepal’s glaciers shrunk between 1977 and 2010, leaving behind 1,466 lakes.

Twenty-one have been identified as potentially dangerous and Nepal is racing to stay a step ahead of disaster, as global warming reshapes its mountain geography.

“As a small country, there is little we can do to stop what is happening to our glaciers,” said Rishi Ram Sharma, the director general at Nepal’s department of hydrology and meteorology.

“But we have to do what we can do to adapt and protect our people.”

tal challenge posed by glacial lakes, which are often remote and very difficult to access.

Yaks and helicopters transported materials and teams of workers to the high-altitude region, where they toiled in thin air for six months until a drainage canal and early-warning system were installed.

The lake was lowered by 3.5 metres, draining more than five million cubic metres of water.

“Now, you have a channel. So any water that accumulates is drained out. That is how the risk is lowered,” said Deepak KC, a climate change analyst from the United Nations Development Programme that backed the project.

- Living in fear -

- Climate victims -

Nepal’s fastest-growing lake, Imja once posed little threat to the villagers of Surke, a picturesque hamlet perched high in the Everest region.

In the early 1980s, the small lake at the foot of the Imja glacier at 5,010 metres (16,437 feet) was unremarkable.

But by 2014, it had more than tripled in size, contained only by a natural wall of debris, known as a moraine, which experts warned might not hold back the waters much longer.

A year later, when a massive earthquake struck Nepal, villagers in Surke assumed Imja had collapsed and would soon bury them all.

“We were terrified the quake would trigger a flood from the lake. All of us ran for safety,” villager Phudoma Sherpa told AFP. The lake miraculously held -- sparing the 12,000 people directly in its path.

But the quake served as a wake-up call for policymakers.

Experts told the government that the gigantic glacial lakes were effectively a ticking time bomb.

With thousands of lives at stake, a massive undertaking began in late 2016 to drain Imja, which then measured 150 metres deep and two kilometres (1.2 miles) long.

Only the second operation of its kind in Nepal’s history, the project was a testament to the monumen-

IBP/net

Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal.

The project cost $7.4 million, an expensive commitment for a nation heavily reliant on its wealthier neighbours and on international aid that contributed 12 percent to its GDP in the last fiscal year.

In this case, over 80 percent of the money came from the Global Environment Facility, an international fund that provides green financing to developing countries. The rest was covered by UNDP. With a paltry economy and 26 million people, Nepal has a tiny carbon footprint compared to its giant patrons China and India, major polluters that are home to a third of humanity.

Melting glaciers from climate change pose a huge threat to Nepal -- as well as an undeserved extortionate burden, authorities say.

“We feel as if we have been penalised for the mistakes we never made,” President Bidya Devi Bhandari told world leaders at a climate summit in Poland this month.

“We are compelled to spend (a) significant amount of our national income in addressing disasters-induced problems.”

Nepal is asking the global community for further assistance to fight climate change.

For those no longer living under Imja’s shadow, the cost is well worth it.

“There was a sense of fear before, but we feel a lot safer now,” said Sherpa. (afp)

International

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

11

Surviving bleached Barrier Reef coral ‘more resilient to heat’

SYDNEY - Corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef that survived bleaching from rising sea temperatures were more resistant to another bout of hot conditions the following year, scientists said Tuesday, a “silver lining” for the embattled ecosystem.

The 2,300-kilometre (1,400mile) lo n g U N ES C O Wo r ld Heritage-listed reef off Australia’s northeastern coast was hit by back-to-back bleaching in 2016 and 2017.

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.

Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonise them.

Swathes of coral died or were damaged in the unprecedented successive events, particularly the more heat-susceptible branching corals that are shaped like tables.

But Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University, who has been leading the surveys of bleached corals, found in the latest study, published in Nature Climate Change, that the response of the reef was different between the two years.

“We were astonished to find less bleaching in 2017, because the temperatures were even more extreme than the year before,” Hughes said.

The northern part of the reef, which was worst-affected in 2016, bleached “much less” in 2017 even though some of the

May...

From page 1

The right-leaning Daily Telegraph carried the headline “the lady is for turning”, an uncomplimentary comparison to former leader Margaret Thatcher.

- Government ‘ in complete disarray’ -

In a sign of the uproar, an opposition Labour MP was ejected from the House of Commons after picking up the ceremonial mace in protest at the government’s conduct.

The mace -- a symbol of royal authority required to sit in its place for parliament to pass laws -- was last taken from its place in protest in 2009.

Leader of the House and Tory

reefs underwent similar levels of heat stress in both summers.

In the central regions, the levels of bleaching for both years were observed to be the same, even though the heat exposure was higher in 2017, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, in the southern region -- the least-affected -- corals that suffered minor bleaching in the first year showed no bleaching in the second.

“That surprised us, because if the southern corals had behaved the same way in year two as in year one, we should have seen 20 or 30 percent of them bleach, and they didn’t,” Hughes told AFP. “So it looks like the history of their experience in year one has toughened them up so that they’ve acclimatised to moderate levels in year two of heat exposure... It’s something of a silver lining.”

Hughes said it was too early to say whether the reef -- the world’s largest living structure -- could be hit by another bleaching event in early 2019, after a spring heatwave in adjacent Queensland state.

Global coral reefs risk catastrophic die-offs if Earth’s average surface temperature increases two degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, earlier research has shown.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth’s marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish. (afp)

MP Andrea Leadsom defended May on Tuesday saying she was aiming to secure “legally-binding reassurances” that Britain would not be indefinitely stuck in a backstop customs arrangement.

“The EU is always in a position where it negotiates at the last possible moment,” she told BBC Radio 4. She said the assurances could take the form of “an addendum”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to table a no-confidence vote in the prime minister.

“The government has lost control of events and is in complete disarray,” he said. But Labour said it would hold off on trying to unseat May for now. (afp)

Indonesia holds pilot program on oil palm for peace

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs` Policy Review and Regional Development Agency is cooperating with Jambi University to hold an Oil Palm Course for Peace (OPCP) event on Dec 10-14 in Jambi, province of Jambi.

The statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Review and Regional Development Agency for America and Europe, received in Jakarta, Monday, revealed that the event is a pilot project aimed at providing training in sustainable palm oil management to smallholders.

The training also provided a platform for sharing best practices

between Indonesia and Colombia in exploring the potential of agriculture to create peace.

The OPCP event was officially opened by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Fachir at the International Airport Hotel in Soekarno Hatta, Tangerang, on Monday afternoon.

A total of 13 participants, comprising six from Indonesia; two

each from Thailand, Colombia, and Timor Leste; and one from the Philippines, took part in the 2018 OPCP. The participants will attend training activities in Jambi that are coordinated by the Jambi University. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cooperated with other partners, including PT Perkebunan Nusantara VI and PT Asian Agri, in implementing this training.

The initiative for OPCP began with the Helsinki Process peace agreement, in which the Indonesian Government allocated several land

areas and budgets that were then managed by former combatants into agricultural land.

This effort served as one of the approaches to re-integrate former combatants into the community and some of the agricultural land is used as palm oil plantations.

Colombia has also employed a similar approach in its peace efforts, including through the Cacao for Peace Program in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP. With such experiences, Indonesia and Colombia will collaborate to share best practices on the

utilization of agricultural policies in creating peace, increasing the productivity of palm oil farmers, and managing sustainable palm oil.

During the OPCP training, participants will be trained on policies, findings, and facts as well as organizational structures for palm oil companies, in general, as well as palm oil related research and development. This is in addition to the field visits conducted to palm oil companies, so far, certified under the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil, or ISPO, scheme and a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, in Jambi. (ant)

Five saltwater crocodiles trapped in Riau`s Singingi District

PEKANBARU - Five saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) were trapped in an irrigation dam for farming land in Kuantan Singingi District, Riau Province, amid flooding inundating the area, a local government official stated.

“These crocodiles emerged in Talontam Village, Benay Subdistrict, as the Kuatan River overflowed, and they got trapped in the irrigation dam`s water

flow,” Head of the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Suharyono stated here on Monday.

Suharyono said shortly after receiving a report from the Benay Sub-district authorities on Sunday (Dec 9), he had sent a rescue team to catch the notorious man-eaters trapped in the irrigation dam.

The rescue team members had arrived on Sunday afternoon. They

found that one of the five saltwater crocodiles was caught by several local residents and handed it over to the Benay Sub-district police, he revealed.

On knowing about this development, the BKSDA rescue team members had coordinated their endeavor with the head of Benay Sub-district, head of Talontam Village, and local police to catch the rest of the four crocodiles, he

stated.

“The rescue team has, so far, secured one crocodile that the people caught. It will then be moved to the Kasang Kulim Zoo for care. We want to ensure the exact number of crocodiles reportedly trapped and that should be evacuated,” Suharyono stated.

The BKSDA has coordinated with the Kasang Kulim Zoo authorities to care for the caught

crocodile, as a suitable cage and pond had yet to be provided for this aquatic reptile, he noted.

Hence, the crocodile will first be rehabilitated at a BKSDA partner or be released into its natural habitat, he noted.

According to National Geographic, these saltwater crocodiles are found in the “freshwater regions of eastern India, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia.” (ant)

10

Destination

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Yeh Mampeh Waterfall

SINGARAJA - Yeh Mampeh Waterfall is a beautiful secret waterfall situated in the tranquility of Les Village, northern part of Bali Island. It is secluded set between the high cliff bank and surrounded by fresh and serenity atmosphere that make it as an ideal for relaxation or a choice of place to visit when traveling to Bali.

What is really enjoyable is that you need to hike from parking area to the waterfall. The hike is quite easy & flat. Kids or elderly visitors won’t get exhausted to hike to the waterfall. Once you get to the waterfall you will see some local people taking a bath in this waterfall.

You’ll have to be prepared to see male nudity if some local people take a bath in the waterfall.

Many local people in Les village often also call Yeh Mampeh “Moboran. There are 3 levels of waterfall in this area, but only one of them is easy to reach by hiking. The other waterfalls are very hard to reach by hiking. Yeh Mampeh waterfall is a beautiful hidden waterfall located in the serenity of Les Village. It is an ideal place for relaxation or a very good choice of place to visit when you travel to Bali. Inspite of the long distance from Denpasar, it is blessed by the wonderful nature,

peaceful atmosphere with natural sound of the place and splash water from the waterfall. The adventure to explore Yeh Mampeh Waterfall begins when you step up to the hill and meet the wonderful nature until you arrive at the site.

Despite long distance from Denpasar, it is blessed by the beautiful nature, peaceful ambiance with natural sound of nature and splash water from the waterfall. Yeh Mempeh Waterfall is located in Les Village, Tejakula District and Buleleng Regency, Singaraja Bali. It is taking 3 hours drive from Denpasar city or 1,5 hours from Kintamani, one of the famous tourist destinations in Bali Island with spectacular Batur Volcano and Lake. Yeh Mampeh Waterfall still rarely visited by tourists because the location is bit far from any tourist destination in Bali. The adventure to explore Yeh Mampeh Waterfall is begun when step up to the hill and meet the beautiful natures until arriving at the spot. The waterfall is well featured by the clear water those are come from Batur lake. The location is really in the secluded hill of Les Village, a traditional village in bit far from the bustle city of Denpasar offer the peaceful ambiance and bring us one with nature. It is one

of the recommended Bali Waterfalls to visit when you go to the north part of Bali for excursion and discover the beauty of nature that Yeh Mampeh waterfall offered.

The hiking adventure to reach the spot is relatively easy since there was good access managed by local people. It is recommended to bring mineral water when you go for trekking and explore the hidden beauty of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall.

The name of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall derives from Balinese words“Yeh Mempeh”. In which Yeh mean water meanwhile Mampeh mean fly or splash. According to the local folk tale that there was once a big flood occurring in the river at this village but suddenly there is a big stone which retain the flood and make the water splash and fly or sprinkle to the area . Slowly this place is well known as a fly waterfall or Yeh Mampeh Waterfall. The waterfall is very wonderful with virgin nature surrounding it. You can play on fresh water or go for swimming while enjoying the beautiful nature. It is recommended to bring changing clothes when you visit this site.

The big rocks in the river are one of the magnificence of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall. (IBP/net)

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Westbrook, George spark as Thunder mute Jazz

LOS ANGELES - Paul George led the scoring with 31 points while Russell Westbrook bagged his sixth tripledouble of the season on Monday as the Oklahoma City Thunder downed the Utah Jazz 122-113.

George made five three-pointers with three rebounds and three assists as the Thunder bounced back from their upset loss against the Chicago Bulls on Friday to improve to 17-8.

Former NBA MVP Westbrook’s triple included 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

George was assisted in the scoring meanwhile by New Zealand center Steven Adams, who finished with 22 points from 29 minutes on court.

Dennis Schroder had 23 points from the bench. Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Utah with 19 points. The Jazz fell to 13-15 with the defeat.

In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid meanwhile set aside his recent indifferent form to score 24 points as the 76ers kept up the pressure on Eastern Conference leaders Toronto with a 116-102 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Cameroon big Embiid has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with his form since the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, last week voicing unhappiness at his new positional role in the team following Butler’s arrival.

Against Detroit on Monday, Butler left the court with a groin strain towards the end of the first quarter to allow Embiid to carry the offensive load for the Sixers.

The 24-year-old had no difficulty imposing himself, adding eight rebounds and three assists in addition to his double-digit points tally.

Ben Simmons had 18 points along with Furkan Korkmaz, who had 18 points from the bench for Philadelphia. Simmons also had 10 rebounds to complete a double-double.

Copyright 2018 NBAE Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images/AFP

Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder handles the ball against the Utah Jazz on December 10, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Small forward Luke Kennard led the scoring for Detroit with 28 points while Andre Drummond had 21 points.

The win saw the Sixers improve to 19-9 to hold onto the third place in the Eastern Conference, two games back from leaders

Toronto.

Milwaukee are second with 18-8 after easing past the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-92 rout on Monday.

The Bucks were without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scratched from the

starting line-up after complaining of a sore neck. With Antetokounmpo missing, Eric Bledsoe led the scoring with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points with five rebounds and five assists. (afp)

Badminton’s Lee reveals tears over cancer diagnosis

Place Your Add Here

It is for Job Vacancy, Property, Selling or Buying Please contact Gugiek : 08123840500

Lee Chong Wei

IBP/net

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian badminton great Lee Chong Wei has revealed how he broke down in tears after learning he had nose cancer -- and detailed the “nightmare” treatment that left him unable to speak or eat.

Lee, who is eyeing a return to action next year, told The Star that he was about to leave for a training session when his wife broke the news, after she received a call from a doctor.

“She came towards me, hugged me and cried. I knew it was bad news. It’s nose cancer, she broke the news,” the 36-year-old said, according to the Malaysian newspaper.

“My badminton bag slipped from my grasp and I started to cry too. I slumped on the sofa crying

and asked why it had to be me.”

The three-time Olympic silver medallist said the cancer was detected following a check-up in July, after he had been unwell.

It wasn’t until September that officials revealed he had cancer and was having treatment in Taiwan -- opting for specialists there rather than in China, where he feared his story may be leaked, or Japan or South Korea because of the language barrier.

Lee, the former long-time world number one, said he went through 33 sessions of proton therapy treatment, where beams are aimed at the cancer, calling it “a nightmare”.

“By the third week, it has taken a toll on my throat. I could not speak or eat,” he said.

“I’m just so glad that the worst

is over now.”

Lee, now down to 15th in the world rankings, is expected to return to training next month, although he is still waiting for the all-clear from his doctors.

He said his comeback was motivated by the prospect of playing a fifth Olympics at Tokyo 2020, after finishing runner-up in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

“I really want to go for one more Olympics to make it my fifth consecutive appearance,” said Chong Wei. “No athlete from Malaysia has ever competed five times at the Olympics and I want to create history. It’s not an easy feat to make it to five Olympics, that’s equivalent to 20 years!” (afp)

8

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Bayern Munich’s striker Thomas Mueller reacts reacts during the German first division Bundesliga football match Bayern Munich vs Nuremberg on December 8, 2018 in Munich.

Winners and losers as buoyant Bayern head to Ajax for showdown Christof STACHE / AFP

Resurgent Bayern Munich head to Ajax for Wednesday’s Champions League group showdown with clear winners and losers among the star-studded squad after Niko Kovac’s decision to end rotation.

“We want to keep going,” said Leon Goretzka, now a firm fixture in central midfield alongside Joshua Kimmich with Bayern having won their last three games after Saturday’s 3-0 league home win over Nuremberg.

“Now we travel to Amsterdam and want to finish first in the group - that’s important for us.”

Bayern need just a point at Ajax’s Johan Cruyff Arena to win Group E with the Bavarian giants currently top of the table, two points ahead of their Dutch rivals, and both teams already into the last 16.

A 5-1 thrashing of Benfica at the Allianz Arena a fortnight ago, with Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben both scoring twice, signified an end to the poor results of October and November which also saw Bayern slide down the Bundesliga table.

Bayern have now clawed their way back up to third in the league and coach Kovac has taken a gamble by ditching rotation, risking ruffled egos with stars left on

the bench.

“The rhythm is there, the boys are in the flow - that’s why we don’t want to change anything,” explained Kovac. His decision has significant winners and losers.

World Cup winners - Germany defender Mats Hummels, and Spain midfielder Javi Martinez languished on the bench against Nuremberg alongside Euro 2016 winner Renato Sanches.

Martinez and Sanches find their path blocked by Kimmich and Goretzka, both 23, who each hit the woodwork against Nuremberg.

“Both have a very good understanding of football and read the game well,” said Kovac, at the helm at Bayern since July. “They get on well off the pitch and are in the national team together.

“It’s an axis that’s really fun right now - not only for those two, but the whole team in the last three games.”

However, Hummels looked like he was having anything but ‘fun’, storming through the mixed zone after Saturday’s win without a word as Jerome Boateng and

Niklas Suele are now established as Kovac’s centre-backs.

Disgruntled stars watching from Bayern’s bench has caused problems for Kovac’s predecessors and Robben’s imminent return from a thigh injury threatens Serge Gnabry’s place on the right wing.

Thiago Alcantara, a second-half replacement on Saturday who is returning to fitness after a knee injury, threatens to break up Kimmich and Goretzka’s partnership in central midfield.

However, Kovac’s decision has reaped dividends in attack with striker Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals in his last three games, supported by Thomas Mueller who is revelling in the attacking midfield role.

“At the start (of the season), we rotated as the coach tried to find the right team,” said director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic. “Perhaps it was too much and some players didn’t know where they fitted in.

“In the last few games, Niko hasn’t done that and the team looks good.” (afp)

Sterling has endured abuse for years, claims Neville

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville claims Manchester City star Raheem Sterling endured years of “vicious” abuse before the alleged racist slurs directed at him by Chelsea fans on Saturday.

Sterling was subjected to reported racist abuse from Chelsea fans during City’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have suspended four supporters while they continue their investigation into the incident.

Neville, who worked with Sterling during his time as assistant to former England boss Roy Hodgson, says the abuse at Chelsea is far from the first time the City winger has taken the brunt of vitriolic public criticism.

Neville revealed Sterling approached him for advice during Euro 2016 when abuse from fans and media for his poor performances became too much for him to take.

“He came to see me one-on-one in 2016, I think it was three or four days before the Iceland game,” Neville said on Sky Sport’s Monday Night Football.

“Before the tournament, he was getting so much stick. We were aware of that as a coaching staff that fans were on to him, media were on to him.

“It then continued into the stadium, to the point where there were boos and groans.

“He accepted that he would get criticism playing for England, he accepted he would get scrutinised as an England player, he didn’t want any special treatment.

“But it was so vicious, he felt so targeted, he didn’t know what to do about it. I saw someone who has a great mentality and is tough, but a level of vulnerability.”

Silva has last laugh as Everton escape against former club Watford Marco Silva had the last laugh against his former club Watford as Everton defender Lucas Digne’s last-gasp free-kick rescued a dramatic 2-2 draw at Goodison Park on Monday.

Everton manager Silva was facing Watford for the first time since his acrimonious departure from Vicarage Road in January.

The 41-year-old was sacked

by Watford after less than a year in charge, with the club’s owners blaming Everton’s interest in the Portuguese coach for distracting him from his job.

Convinced he treated them disrespectfully by showing interest in Everton, the Watford fans who travelled to Goodison Park waved

inflatable snakes and directed abusive chants at Silva.

With just seconds to go, it seemed Silva would be bitten by his old employers. Everton’s Richarlison, signed from Watford by Silva, put the hosts ahead in the first half.

Seamus Coleman’s own goal drew Watford level after the break and Abdoulaye Doucoure’s header put them in front before Everton midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson had a penalty saved by Ben Foster.

But Digne came to Silva’s rescue in the sixth minute of stoppagetime to deny Watford the revenge they so badly wanted.

Insisting he didn’t care about silencing the Watford taunts, Silva said: “Of course not. I didn’t see

anything. It’s not important to me.What I can control is my players. “It’s a difficult match to talk about. We lost our focus completely for their goals.”

Eventually hired by Everton in May, Silva summed up the difficult nature of his Watford exit last week when he made it clear he was unsentimental about facing his old club.

Watford are still waiting for the Premier League to settle their complaint against Everton for the alleged illegal approach for Silva.

And the Silva feud threatened to spill onto the pitch after Watford captain Troy Deeney last week said he would “smash” Richarlison for leaving the Hornets.

- ‘Been carrying this for years’ -

Neville admitted he and his fellow England coaches failed to properly acknowledge some of the criticism of former Liverpool star Sterling was racially motivated.

“Really as a coach, I’m being honest, I didn’t really know how to deal with it,” he said.

“The abuse he received, particularly after the tournament, and the language that was used against him, I have not seen before. “He was willing to stand up and carry on playing to an outstanding level, but he has been carrying this for years, not just Saturday.

“This isn’t just a Chelsea fan at the weekend, this has been going on for years for him. He came to see me in 2016, was it happening to him before that?

“It is a really difficult situation. He is a tough lad, a tough cookie, to come through the scrutiny he’s come through like he has done is a miracle almost.”

Neville said Sterling was not the only black England player he knew to have suffered from such discrimination. (afp)

Lindsey PARNABY / AFP

Everton’s Portuguese manager Marco Silva (L) shouts instructions to his players from the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Watford at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on December 10, 2018.

Adrian DENNIS / AFP

Manchester City’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (L) vies with Chelsea’s Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in London on December 8, 2018.

9

- Richarlison strikes -

Yet it was Richarlison who did the early damage as the Brazil forward put Everton ahead in the 15th minute with his eighth goal in 14 Premier League appearances -- three more than he managed in 38 games for Watford last season.

Watford were left frustrated by the goal as they appealed in vain for offside against Theo Walcott during a move that ended with Andre Gomes crossing for Richarlison to stroke a cool finish past Ben Foster.

Some players opt not to celebrate when they score against their former teams.

But in keeping with the fractious mood, Richarlison, who had been targeted by some crunching Watford tackles, had no qualms about sprinting away in jubilation.

Roberto Pereyra squandered a good chance to equalise when the Watford forward headed wide from Ken Sema’s cross. Pereyra curled a free-kick just wide and Deeney saw his strike saved by Jordan Pickford after the interval.

Watford’s pressure paid off in the 63rd minute when Pereyra met Kiko Femenia’s cross with a shot that cannoned off the post and hit Coleman as he tried to control it before bouncing into the net.

That self-inflicted wound was followed by more defensive chaos as Watford snatched the lead two minutes later.

Pereyra was the catalyst again with a cross that looped up to Doucoure, who rose above Coleman to head home from close-range. The drama wasn’t over and Everton squandered a chance to equalise when Christian Kabasele’s foul on Yerry Mina earned the hosts a 68th-minute penalty.

Sigurdsson took the spot-kick, but his shot was too close to Foster and the Watford keeper saved with his legs.

But Everton kept pushing and were rewarded in the final seconds of stoppage-time when Kabasele handled and Digne curled a fine free-kick into the top corner for his first goal since his move from Barcelona. (afp)

8

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Bayern Munich’s striker Thomas Mueller reacts reacts during the German first division Bundesliga football match Bayern Munich vs Nuremberg on December 8, 2018 in Munich.

Winners and losers as buoyant Bayern head to Ajax for showdown Christof STACHE / AFP

Resurgent Bayern Munich head to Ajax for Wednesday’s Champions League group showdown with clear winners and losers among the star-studded squad after Niko Kovac’s decision to end rotation.

“We want to keep going,” said Leon Goretzka, now a firm fixture in central midfield alongside Joshua Kimmich with Bayern having won their last three games after Saturday’s 3-0 league home win over Nuremberg.

“Now we travel to Amsterdam and want to finish first in the group - that’s important for us.”

Bayern need just a point at Ajax’s Johan Cruyff Arena to win Group E with the Bavarian giants currently top of the table, two points ahead of their Dutch rivals, and both teams already into the last 16.

A 5-1 thrashing of Benfica at the Allianz Arena a fortnight ago, with Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben both scoring twice, signified an end to the poor results of October and November which also saw Bayern slide down the Bundesliga table.

Bayern have now clawed their way back up to third in the league and coach Kovac has taken a gamble by ditching rotation, risking ruffled egos with stars left on

the bench.

“The rhythm is there, the boys are in the flow - that’s why we don’t want to change anything,” explained Kovac. His decision has significant winners and losers.

World Cup winners - Germany defender Mats Hummels, and Spain midfielder Javi Martinez languished on the bench against Nuremberg alongside Euro 2016 winner Renato Sanches.

Martinez and Sanches find their path blocked by Kimmich and Goretzka, both 23, who each hit the woodwork against Nuremberg.

“Both have a very good understanding of football and read the game well,” said Kovac, at the helm at Bayern since July. “They get on well off the pitch and are in the national team together.

“It’s an axis that’s really fun right now - not only for those two, but the whole team in the last three games.”

However, Hummels looked like he was having anything but ‘fun’, storming through the mixed zone after Saturday’s win without a word as Jerome Boateng and

Niklas Suele are now established as Kovac’s centre-backs.

Disgruntled stars watching from Bayern’s bench has caused problems for Kovac’s predecessors and Robben’s imminent return from a thigh injury threatens Serge Gnabry’s place on the right wing.

Thiago Alcantara, a second-half replacement on Saturday who is returning to fitness after a knee injury, threatens to break up Kimmich and Goretzka’s partnership in central midfield.

However, Kovac’s decision has reaped dividends in attack with striker Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals in his last three games, supported by Thomas Mueller who is revelling in the attacking midfield role.

“At the start (of the season), we rotated as the coach tried to find the right team,” said director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic. “Perhaps it was too much and some players didn’t know where they fitted in.

“In the last few games, Niko hasn’t done that and the team looks good.” (afp)

Sterling has endured abuse for years, claims Neville

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville claims Manchester City star Raheem Sterling endured years of “vicious” abuse before the alleged racist slurs directed at him by Chelsea fans on Saturday.

Sterling was subjected to reported racist abuse from Chelsea fans during City’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have suspended four supporters while they continue their investigation into the incident.

Neville, who worked with Sterling during his time as assistant to former England boss Roy Hodgson, says the abuse at Chelsea is far from the first time the City winger has taken the brunt of vitriolic public criticism.

Neville revealed Sterling approached him for advice during Euro 2016 when abuse from fans and media for his poor performances became too much for him to take.

“He came to see me one-on-one in 2016, I think it was three or four days before the Iceland game,” Neville said on Sky Sport’s Monday Night Football.

“Before the tournament, he was getting so much stick. We were aware of that as a coaching staff that fans were on to him, media were on to him.

“It then continued into the stadium, to the point where there were boos and groans.

“He accepted that he would get criticism playing for England, he accepted he would get scrutinised as an England player, he didn’t want any special treatment.

“But it was so vicious, he felt so targeted, he didn’t know what to do about it. I saw someone who has a great mentality and is tough, but a level of vulnerability.”

Silva has last laugh as Everton escape against former club Watford Marco Silva had the last laugh against his former club Watford as Everton defender Lucas Digne’s last-gasp free-kick rescued a dramatic 2-2 draw at Goodison Park on Monday.

Everton manager Silva was facing Watford for the first time since his acrimonious departure from Vicarage Road in January.

The 41-year-old was sacked

by Watford after less than a year in charge, with the club’s owners blaming Everton’s interest in the Portuguese coach for distracting him from his job.

Convinced he treated them disrespectfully by showing interest in Everton, the Watford fans who travelled to Goodison Park waved

inflatable snakes and directed abusive chants at Silva.

With just seconds to go, it seemed Silva would be bitten by his old employers. Everton’s Richarlison, signed from Watford by Silva, put the hosts ahead in the first half.

Seamus Coleman’s own goal drew Watford level after the break and Abdoulaye Doucoure’s header put them in front before Everton midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson had a penalty saved by Ben Foster.

But Digne came to Silva’s rescue in the sixth minute of stoppagetime to deny Watford the revenge they so badly wanted.

Insisting he didn’t care about silencing the Watford taunts, Silva said: “Of course not. I didn’t see

anything. It’s not important to me.What I can control is my players. “It’s a difficult match to talk about. We lost our focus completely for their goals.”

Eventually hired by Everton in May, Silva summed up the difficult nature of his Watford exit last week when he made it clear he was unsentimental about facing his old club.

Watford are still waiting for the Premier League to settle their complaint against Everton for the alleged illegal approach for Silva.

And the Silva feud threatened to spill onto the pitch after Watford captain Troy Deeney last week said he would “smash” Richarlison for leaving the Hornets.

- ‘Been carrying this for years’ -

Neville admitted he and his fellow England coaches failed to properly acknowledge some of the criticism of former Liverpool star Sterling was racially motivated.

“Really as a coach, I’m being honest, I didn’t really know how to deal with it,” he said.

“The abuse he received, particularly after the tournament, and the language that was used against him, I have not seen before. “He was willing to stand up and carry on playing to an outstanding level, but he has been carrying this for years, not just Saturday.

“This isn’t just a Chelsea fan at the weekend, this has been going on for years for him. He came to see me in 2016, was it happening to him before that?

“It is a really difficult situation. He is a tough lad, a tough cookie, to come through the scrutiny he’s come through like he has done is a miracle almost.”

Neville said Sterling was not the only black England player he knew to have suffered from such discrimination. (afp)

Lindsey PARNABY / AFP

Everton’s Portuguese manager Marco Silva (L) shouts instructions to his players from the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Watford at Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on December 10, 2018.

Adrian DENNIS / AFP

Manchester City’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (L) vies with Chelsea’s Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in London on December 8, 2018.

9

- Richarlison strikes -

Yet it was Richarlison who did the early damage as the Brazil forward put Everton ahead in the 15th minute with his eighth goal in 14 Premier League appearances -- three more than he managed in 38 games for Watford last season.

Watford were left frustrated by the goal as they appealed in vain for offside against Theo Walcott during a move that ended with Andre Gomes crossing for Richarlison to stroke a cool finish past Ben Foster.

Some players opt not to celebrate when they score against their former teams.

But in keeping with the fractious mood, Richarlison, who had been targeted by some crunching Watford tackles, had no qualms about sprinting away in jubilation.

Roberto Pereyra squandered a good chance to equalise when the Watford forward headed wide from Ken Sema’s cross. Pereyra curled a free-kick just wide and Deeney saw his strike saved by Jordan Pickford after the interval.

Watford’s pressure paid off in the 63rd minute when Pereyra met Kiko Femenia’s cross with a shot that cannoned off the post and hit Coleman as he tried to control it before bouncing into the net.

That self-inflicted wound was followed by more defensive chaos as Watford snatched the lead two minutes later.

Pereyra was the catalyst again with a cross that looped up to Doucoure, who rose above Coleman to head home from close-range. The drama wasn’t over and Everton squandered a chance to equalise when Christian Kabasele’s foul on Yerry Mina earned the hosts a 68th-minute penalty.

Sigurdsson took the spot-kick, but his shot was too close to Foster and the Watford keeper saved with his legs.

But Everton kept pushing and were rewarded in the final seconds of stoppage-time when Kabasele handled and Digne curled a fine free-kick into the top corner for his first goal since his move from Barcelona. (afp)

10

Destination

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Yeh Mampeh Waterfall

SINGARAJA - Yeh Mampeh Waterfall is a beautiful secret waterfall situated in the tranquility of Les Village, northern part of Bali Island. It is secluded set between the high cliff bank and surrounded by fresh and serenity atmosphere that make it as an ideal for relaxation or a choice of place to visit when traveling to Bali.

What is really enjoyable is that you need to hike from parking area to the waterfall. The hike is quite easy & flat. Kids or elderly visitors won’t get exhausted to hike to the waterfall. Once you get to the waterfall you will see some local people taking a bath in this waterfall.

You’ll have to be prepared to see male nudity if some local people take a bath in the waterfall.

Many local people in Les village often also call Yeh Mampeh “Moboran. There are 3 levels of waterfall in this area, but only one of them is easy to reach by hiking. The other waterfalls are very hard to reach by hiking. Yeh Mampeh waterfall is a beautiful hidden waterfall located in the serenity of Les Village. It is an ideal place for relaxation or a very good choice of place to visit when you travel to Bali. Inspite of the long distance from Denpasar, it is blessed by the wonderful nature,

peaceful atmosphere with natural sound of the place and splash water from the waterfall. The adventure to explore Yeh Mampeh Waterfall begins when you step up to the hill and meet the wonderful nature until you arrive at the site.

Despite long distance from Denpasar, it is blessed by the beautiful nature, peaceful ambiance with natural sound of nature and splash water from the waterfall. Yeh Mempeh Waterfall is located in Les Village, Tejakula District and Buleleng Regency, Singaraja Bali. It is taking 3 hours drive from Denpasar city or 1,5 hours from Kintamani, one of the famous tourist destinations in Bali Island with spectacular Batur Volcano and Lake. Yeh Mampeh Waterfall still rarely visited by tourists because the location is bit far from any tourist destination in Bali. The adventure to explore Yeh Mampeh Waterfall is begun when step up to the hill and meet the beautiful natures until arriving at the spot. The waterfall is well featured by the clear water those are come from Batur lake. The location is really in the secluded hill of Les Village, a traditional village in bit far from the bustle city of Denpasar offer the peaceful ambiance and bring us one with nature. It is one

of the recommended Bali Waterfalls to visit when you go to the north part of Bali for excursion and discover the beauty of nature that Yeh Mampeh waterfall offered.

The hiking adventure to reach the spot is relatively easy since there was good access managed by local people. It is recommended to bring mineral water when you go for trekking and explore the hidden beauty of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall.

The name of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall derives from Balinese words“Yeh Mempeh”. In which Yeh mean water meanwhile Mampeh mean fly or splash. According to the local folk tale that there was once a big flood occurring in the river at this village but suddenly there is a big stone which retain the flood and make the water splash and fly or sprinkle to the area . Slowly this place is well known as a fly waterfall or Yeh Mampeh Waterfall. The waterfall is very wonderful with virgin nature surrounding it. You can play on fresh water or go for swimming while enjoying the beautiful nature. It is recommended to bring changing clothes when you visit this site.

The big rocks in the river are one of the magnificence of Yeh Mampeh Waterfall. (IBP/net)

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Westbrook, George spark as Thunder mute Jazz

LOS ANGELES - Paul George led the scoring with 31 points while Russell Westbrook bagged his sixth tripledouble of the season on Monday as the Oklahoma City Thunder downed the Utah Jazz 122-113.

George made five three-pointers with three rebounds and three assists as the Thunder bounced back from their upset loss against the Chicago Bulls on Friday to improve to 17-8.

Former NBA MVP Westbrook’s triple included 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

George was assisted in the scoring meanwhile by New Zealand center Steven Adams, who finished with 22 points from 29 minutes on court.

Dennis Schroder had 23 points from the bench. Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Utah with 19 points. The Jazz fell to 13-15 with the defeat.

In Philadelphia, Joel Embiid meanwhile set aside his recent indifferent form to score 24 points as the 76ers kept up the pressure on Eastern Conference leaders Toronto with a 116-102 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Cameroon big Embiid has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with his form since the acquisition of Jimmy Butler, last week voicing unhappiness at his new positional role in the team following Butler’s arrival.

Against Detroit on Monday, Butler left the court with a groin strain towards the end of the first quarter to allow Embiid to carry the offensive load for the Sixers.

The 24-year-old had no difficulty imposing himself, adding eight rebounds and three assists in addition to his double-digit points tally.

Ben Simmons had 18 points along with Furkan Korkmaz, who had 18 points from the bench for Philadelphia. Simmons also had 10 rebounds to complete a double-double.

Copyright 2018 NBAE Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images/AFP

Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder handles the ball against the Utah Jazz on December 10, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Small forward Luke Kennard led the scoring for Detroit with 28 points while Andre Drummond had 21 points.

The win saw the Sixers improve to 19-9 to hold onto the third place in the Eastern Conference, two games back from leaders

Toronto.

Milwaukee are second with 18-8 after easing past the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-92 rout on Monday.

The Bucks were without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scratched from the

starting line-up after complaining of a sore neck. With Antetokounmpo missing, Eric Bledsoe led the scoring with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Malcolm Brogdon had 18 points with five rebounds and five assists. (afp)

Badminton’s Lee reveals tears over cancer diagnosis

Place Your Add Here

It is for Job Vacancy, Property, Selling or Buying Please contact Gugiek : 08123840500

Lee Chong Wei

IBP/net

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian badminton great Lee Chong Wei has revealed how he broke down in tears after learning he had nose cancer -- and detailed the “nightmare” treatment that left him unable to speak or eat.

Lee, who is eyeing a return to action next year, told The Star that he was about to leave for a training session when his wife broke the news, after she received a call from a doctor.

“She came towards me, hugged me and cried. I knew it was bad news. It’s nose cancer, she broke the news,” the 36-year-old said, according to the Malaysian newspaper.

“My badminton bag slipped from my grasp and I started to cry too. I slumped on the sofa crying

and asked why it had to be me.”

The three-time Olympic silver medallist said the cancer was detected following a check-up in July, after he had been unwell.

It wasn’t until September that officials revealed he had cancer and was having treatment in Taiwan -- opting for specialists there rather than in China, where he feared his story may be leaked, or Japan or South Korea because of the language barrier.

Lee, the former long-time world number one, said he went through 33 sessions of proton therapy treatment, where beams are aimed at the cancer, calling it “a nightmare”.

“By the third week, it has taken a toll on my throat. I could not speak or eat,” he said.

“I’m just so glad that the worst

is over now.”

Lee, now down to 15th in the world rankings, is expected to return to training next month, although he is still waiting for the all-clear from his doctors.

He said his comeback was motivated by the prospect of playing a fifth Olympics at Tokyo 2020, after finishing runner-up in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

“I really want to go for one more Olympics to make it my fifth consecutive appearance,” said Chong Wei. “No athlete from Malaysia has ever competed five times at the Olympics and I want to create history. It’s not an easy feat to make it to five Olympics, that’s equivalent to 20 years!” (afp)

6

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

W

RLD

Fighting climate change in the shadow of Mount Everest

NEPAL - Formed in the shadow of Mount Everest, the turquoise depths of Nepal’s Imja glacial lake would be a breathtaking miracle of nature to behold -- were they not a portent of catastrophic floods.

Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal, an impoverished nation at the mercy of a warming planet.

Those tasked with staving off disaster fear a ‘glacial lake outburst flood’ -- sending torrents of water, mud and rock hurtling downstream -- could reach as far as Nepal’s densely populated southern plains, wiping out roads, vital energy projects and entire villages in its path.

“The risk is getting bigger,” said Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a climate scientist from the Kathmandubased International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

“These valleys are getting more populated, and infrastructure is developing rapidly.”

Hundreds of these lakes have appeared out of nowhere in the Himalayas in recent decades. A 2014 survey found one quarter of Nepal’s glaciers shrunk between 1977 and 2010, leaving behind 1,466 lakes.

Twenty-one have been identified as potentially dangerous and Nepal is racing to stay a step ahead of disaster, as global warming reshapes its mountain geography.

“As a small country, there is little we can do to stop what is happening to our glaciers,” said Rishi Ram Sharma, the director general at Nepal’s department of hydrology and meteorology.

“But we have to do what we can do to adapt and protect our people.”

tal challenge posed by glacial lakes, which are often remote and very difficult to access.

Yaks and helicopters transported materials and teams of workers to the high-altitude region, where they toiled in thin air for six months until a drainage canal and early-warning system were installed.

The lake was lowered by 3.5 metres, draining more than five million cubic metres of water.

“Now, you have a channel. So any water that accumulates is drained out. That is how the risk is lowered,” said Deepak KC, a climate change analyst from the United Nations Development Programme that backed the project.

- Living in fear -

- Climate victims -

Nepal’s fastest-growing lake, Imja once posed little threat to the villagers of Surke, a picturesque hamlet perched high in the Everest region.

In the early 1980s, the small lake at the foot of the Imja glacier at 5,010 metres (16,437 feet) was unremarkable.

But by 2014, it had more than tripled in size, contained only by a natural wall of debris, known as a moraine, which experts warned might not hold back the waters much longer.

A year later, when a massive earthquake struck Nepal, villagers in Surke assumed Imja had collapsed and would soon bury them all.

“We were terrified the quake would trigger a flood from the lake. All of us ran for safety,” villager Phudoma Sherpa told AFP. The lake miraculously held -- sparing the 12,000 people directly in its path.

But the quake served as a wake-up call for policymakers.

Experts told the government that the gigantic glacial lakes were effectively a ticking time bomb.

With thousands of lives at stake, a massive undertaking began in late 2016 to drain Imja, which then measured 150 metres deep and two kilometres (1.2 miles) long.

Only the second operation of its kind in Nepal’s history, the project was a testament to the monumen-

IBP/net

Scientists warn that as climate change causes Himalayan glaciers to melt at an alarming rate, lakes like Imja could swell further and eventually collapse, triggering a terrifying deluge in Nepal.

The project cost $7.4 million, an expensive commitment for a nation heavily reliant on its wealthier neighbours and on international aid that contributed 12 percent to its GDP in the last fiscal year.

In this case, over 80 percent of the money came from the Global Environment Facility, an international fund that provides green financing to developing countries. The rest was covered by UNDP. With a paltry economy and 26 million people, Nepal has a tiny carbon footprint compared to its giant patrons China and India, major polluters that are home to a third of humanity.

Melting glaciers from climate change pose a huge threat to Nepal -- as well as an undeserved extortionate burden, authorities say.

“We feel as if we have been penalised for the mistakes we never made,” President Bidya Devi Bhandari told world leaders at a climate summit in Poland this month.

“We are compelled to spend (a) significant amount of our national income in addressing disasters-induced problems.”

Nepal is asking the global community for further assistance to fight climate change.

For those no longer living under Imja’s shadow, the cost is well worth it.

“There was a sense of fear before, but we feel a lot safer now,” said Sherpa. (afp)

International

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

11

Surviving bleached Barrier Reef coral ‘more resilient to heat’

SYDNEY - Corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef that survived bleaching from rising sea temperatures were more resistant to another bout of hot conditions the following year, scientists said Tuesday, a “silver lining” for the embattled ecosystem.

The 2,300-kilometre (1,400mile) lo n g U N ES C O Wo r ld Heritage-listed reef off Australia’s northeastern coast was hit by back-to-back bleaching in 2016 and 2017.

Bleaching occurs when abnormal environmental conditions, such as warmer sea temperatures, cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, draining them of their colour.

Corals can recover if the water temperature drops and the algae are able to recolonise them.

Swathes of coral died or were damaged in the unprecedented successive events, particularly the more heat-susceptible branching corals that are shaped like tables.

But Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University, who has been leading the surveys of bleached corals, found in the latest study, published in Nature Climate Change, that the response of the reef was different between the two years.

“We were astonished to find less bleaching in 2017, because the temperatures were even more extreme than the year before,” Hughes said.

The northern part of the reef, which was worst-affected in 2016, bleached “much less” in 2017 even though some of the

May...

From page 1

The right-leaning Daily Telegraph carried the headline “the lady is for turning”, an uncomplimentary comparison to former leader Margaret Thatcher.

- Government ‘ in complete disarray’ -

In a sign of the uproar, an opposition Labour MP was ejected from the House of Commons after picking up the ceremonial mace in protest at the government’s conduct.

The mace -- a symbol of royal authority required to sit in its place for parliament to pass laws -- was last taken from its place in protest in 2009.

Leader of the House and Tory

reefs underwent similar levels of heat stress in both summers.

In the central regions, the levels of bleaching for both years were observed to be the same, even though the heat exposure was higher in 2017, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, in the southern region -- the least-affected -- corals that suffered minor bleaching in the first year showed no bleaching in the second.

“That surprised us, because if the southern corals had behaved the same way in year two as in year one, we should have seen 20 or 30 percent of them bleach, and they didn’t,” Hughes told AFP. “So it looks like the history of their experience in year one has toughened them up so that they’ve acclimatised to moderate levels in year two of heat exposure... It’s something of a silver lining.”

Hughes said it was too early to say whether the reef -- the world’s largest living structure -- could be hit by another bleaching event in early 2019, after a spring heatwave in adjacent Queensland state.

Global coral reefs risk catastrophic die-offs if Earth’s average surface temperature increases two degrees Celsius (36 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, earlier research has shown.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth’s marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish. (afp)

MP Andrea Leadsom defended May on Tuesday saying she was aiming to secure “legally-binding reassurances” that Britain would not be indefinitely stuck in a backstop customs arrangement.

“The EU is always in a position where it negotiates at the last possible moment,” she told BBC Radio 4. She said the assurances could take the form of “an addendum”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing calls to table a no-confidence vote in the prime minister.

“The government has lost control of events and is in complete disarray,” he said. But Labour said it would hold off on trying to unseat May for now. (afp)

Indonesia holds pilot program on oil palm for peace

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs` Policy Review and Regional Development Agency is cooperating with Jambi University to hold an Oil Palm Course for Peace (OPCP) event on Dec 10-14 in Jambi, province of Jambi.

The statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Policy Review and Regional Development Agency for America and Europe, received in Jakarta, Monday, revealed that the event is a pilot project aimed at providing training in sustainable palm oil management to smallholders.

The training also provided a platform for sharing best practices

between Indonesia and Colombia in exploring the potential of agriculture to create peace.

The OPCP event was officially opened by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A. M. Fachir at the International Airport Hotel in Soekarno Hatta, Tangerang, on Monday afternoon.

A total of 13 participants, comprising six from Indonesia; two

each from Thailand, Colombia, and Timor Leste; and one from the Philippines, took part in the 2018 OPCP. The participants will attend training activities in Jambi that are coordinated by the Jambi University. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cooperated with other partners, including PT Perkebunan Nusantara VI and PT Asian Agri, in implementing this training.

The initiative for OPCP began with the Helsinki Process peace agreement, in which the Indonesian Government allocated several land

areas and budgets that were then managed by former combatants into agricultural land.

This effort served as one of the approaches to re-integrate former combatants into the community and some of the agricultural land is used as palm oil plantations.

Colombia has also employed a similar approach in its peace efforts, including through the Cacao for Peace Program in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP. With such experiences, Indonesia and Colombia will collaborate to share best practices on the

utilization of agricultural policies in creating peace, increasing the productivity of palm oil farmers, and managing sustainable palm oil.

During the OPCP training, participants will be trained on policies, findings, and facts as well as organizational structures for palm oil companies, in general, as well as palm oil related research and development. This is in addition to the field visits conducted to palm oil companies, so far, certified under the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil, or ISPO, scheme and a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, in Jambi. (ant)

Five saltwater crocodiles trapped in Riau`s Singingi District

PEKANBARU - Five saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) were trapped in an irrigation dam for farming land in Kuantan Singingi District, Riau Province, amid flooding inundating the area, a local government official stated.

“These crocodiles emerged in Talontam Village, Benay Subdistrict, as the Kuatan River overflowed, and they got trapped in the irrigation dam`s water

flow,” Head of the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Suharyono stated here on Monday.

Suharyono said shortly after receiving a report from the Benay Sub-district authorities on Sunday (Dec 9), he had sent a rescue team to catch the notorious man-eaters trapped in the irrigation dam.

The rescue team members had arrived on Sunday afternoon. They

found that one of the five saltwater crocodiles was caught by several local residents and handed it over to the Benay Sub-district police, he revealed.

On knowing about this development, the BKSDA rescue team members had coordinated their endeavor with the head of Benay Sub-district, head of Talontam Village, and local police to catch the rest of the four crocodiles, he

stated.

“The rescue team has, so far, secured one crocodile that the people caught. It will then be moved to the Kasang Kulim Zoo for care. We want to ensure the exact number of crocodiles reportedly trapped and that should be evacuated,” Suharyono stated.

The BKSDA has coordinated with the Kasang Kulim Zoo authorities to care for the caught

crocodile, as a suitable cage and pond had yet to be provided for this aquatic reptile, he noted.

Hence, the crocodile will first be rehabilitated at a BKSDA partner or be released into its natural habitat, he noted.

According to National Geographic, these saltwater crocodiles are found in the “freshwater regions of eastern India, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia.” (ant)

12

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

BUSINESS German trade surplus narrows as imports outpace exports

BERLIN - Import growth outpaced that of exports in October in Germany, narrowing the trade surplus of Europe’s largest economy.

The Federal Statistical Office said Monday that October exports were up 0.7 percent and imports up 1.3 percent compared with September, in calendar and seasonally adjusted terms.

That lowered the trade surplus to 17.3 billion euros ($19.74 billion) in October, from 17.7 billion euros in September.

Compared to October 2017, exports to European Union nations rose 8.1 percent, and those to other countries were up 9.2 percent, in unadjusted figures.

Imports from inside the EU rose 7.5 percent in October 2018 compared to the same month in 2017, while imports from countries outside the bloc were up 8.3 percent. (ap) The sun is about to rise over the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.

May pushes Brexit deal as EU court offers way out

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday began a final push to persuade parliament to back her Brexit deal as the European Court of Justice ruled Britain was free to halt withdrawal from the bloc unilaterally.

The court ruling will fuel calls for a second referendum to stop Brexit and comes on the eve of a once-in-a-lifetime vote by MPs that will determine the fate of Brexit and could lead to May’s downfall.

Her splintered government appears to be facing a heavy defeat in parliament on Tuesday on the draft withdrawal agreement she signed with Brussels last month.

The text defining terms on which the island nation leaves its main trading partner after 46 years is the most important to go before the House of Commons in years.

A big loss could spark immediate challenges to May from both within her Conservative Party and the opposition Labour ranks. It would also leave the tortuous Brexit

process in a state of flux -- and raise the prospects of a no-deal scenario -- less than four months before the March 29 departure date.

May is under pressure to delay the vote and attempt to negotiate more concessions ahead of a planned summit with 27 fellow EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.

But Environment Secretary Michael Gove, an influential Brexit backer, told BBC radio that the vote would go ahead and cast doubt on any major re-negotiation.

He warned that “a fundamental re-opening” of the withdrawal agreement risked EU countries wanting to change it “in a way that may not necessarily be to our advantage”.

EU leaders have ruled out any change to the divorce deal but some EU officials have mentioned the possibility of changes to the accompanying political declaration on future trade ties between Britain and the EU after Brexit.

Gove warned fellow MPs that

voting down the current Brexit deal on the table risked “either potentially no Brexit... or we could have a situation where we have the very uncomfortable circumstances of no deal”. The Bank of England and the Treasury warn that Britain crashing out of the EU could trigger an economic crisis.

Asked if a parliamentary defeat for May could actually strengthen her hand in any re-negotiation, he said: “No, I think it would be the equivalent of breaking the cricket bat in half before the captain went to the crease”.

- ‘Risk’ of Labour in power May spoke with EU President Donald Tusk and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and was reportedly meeting MPs on Monday in an attempt to win them over.

May’s team insists that her vision offers the cleanest break between the UK and EU that Brexit supporters could hope for at this late stage.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, May also raised the spectre of an early election and a possible return to power of the Labour Party for the first time since 2010.

May said the prospects of opposition leader “Jeremy Corbyn getting his hands on power is a risk we cannot afford to take.”

Newspapers have identified more than six current and former ministers in May’s cabinet who are also ready to run for her job should she falter over the coming days.

While not ruling himself out of the race, Gove said it would be “extremely unlikely” he would be prime minister.

“Talk about the leadership at the moment is a distraction from the critical question” of the Brexit deal, he said.

EU supporters, meanwhile, hailed the European Court ruling spelling out that the consent of other EU member states is not required for Britain to revoke its intention to leave.

“The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU,” the court said. But Gove said: “We don’t want to stay in the EU... We voted very clearly”.

- Token concessions May would have a tough job securing better divorce terms acceptable to the Northern Irish DUP party that has propped up her government for more than a year.

European officials said they might be able to find a way to offer a token concession that May could take back to London.

The two sides might “work on the (accompanying) protocol or clarify a point that is deemed important so that she can take it back to parliament,” an informed European source told AFP on condition on anonymity.

May would then be expected to submit the touched-up version for a second vote at an unspecified date in December or January. (afp)

International

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

5

Penting Traditional Musical Instrument, Ancient Art of Karangasem from Dutch Colonial Period

Bali is indeed a unique and interesting region because they still maintain their cultural heritage along with traditions and customs. In fact, there are still many Balinese traditions need to be developed or minimally promoted in order not to become extinct and are no longer recognizable.

Thus, it must be attempted to revive so that they can be recognized again by the community. It is very unfortunate if the culture disappears from their society, so finding and revitalizing cultural heritages having been approaching extinction can also increase the cultural wealth belonging to Balinese people and surely it will have an impact on cultural tourism in Bali.

In general, the Balinese culture having not been recognized by Balinese people is very diverse. One of them is in the form of typical musical instrument of Karangasem. It is known as penting musical instrument.

According to A.A. Gede Krisna Dwipayana, a penting craftsman and troupe member of Merdu Komala Karangasem, it is based on the strings stretched from the tip to the base of the tool when picked will produce maklenting sound, so that it is better named as penting.

Furthermore, he said that similar musical instrument can also be found in Lombok named penteng. Then, in Banjarmasin it is named as anting, while in Japan it is known as Taishogoto. Nevertheless, he said that such penting musical instrument indeed originates from Bali precisely in Karangasem because the name of the parts uses Balinese vocabularies. In addition to the strings called pentang, there is also a resonance box that must have a hollow (pelawah) and special keys to produce tones known as pakocet. Besides, there are canten and pangiret as parts of the string regulator.

“After I searched for information and consulted to several higher priests having close relations to Karangasem palace, it turns out that penting art has emerged along with the art of cekepung, rebana and rudat in Karangasem. Moreover, during the Dutch colonial period, this kind of art was once staged in an art event called Ngeraja Kuning or similar to the current Bali Arts Festival (BAF) held to honor the Dutch King at that time,” he said.

Furthermore, he said that condition of this art is unstable or facing ups and downs. After being observed, design of the tool and components are very simple. Then, he concluded that young generation is less interested to play it because it is designed like a box and still gives old-fashioned impression. Actually according to him, this art is unique and has the potential to become a typical art of Karangasem like jegog in Jembrana district.

Chief of Merdu Komala Penting art troupe of Karangasem, Wayan Widana, said that based on stories of his elders, before 1963

the musical instrument was rampant and trendy but faded after the eruption of Mount Agung. After that, it reappeared and dimmed in 1965 due to the Communist 30 September Movement (G30S/PKI) in Bali.

Then, it re-emerged but in the 1990s faded again as a result of the development of new entertainment media such as radio and TV so that people feel reluctant to learn it and many senior figures already died. Finally in the 2000s the penting art began to rise again marked by the establishment of this penting art troupe. Widana further added that initially this penting musical instrument only used slendro musical scale. After further development, it finally becomes like the current one where it applies pelog scale and even seven-tone scale.

Uniqueness and advantages of this instrument, according to him, is rich in tone and having many patet (tonal hierarchical system) so that it can be used to accompany various types of gamelan music such as pegongan, angklungan, pejogedan, sadur and selonding.

Moreover, it can also be used to accompany modern pop songs including national songs as it can also follow the seven tones.

“So, do not be surprised if this instrument is often played in Panca Yadnya rituals and its gamelan composition will be adjusted to the designation of the play, whether it is Dewa Yadnya, Pitra Yadnya, Manusa Yadnya, Rishi Yadnya or Bhuta Yadnya because this instrument is flexible and can be categorized into Panca Gita as well,” said Wayan Widana.

AS a traditional musical instrument, the type of music genre that can be played certainly becomes one of the important things.

The no less important of a musical instrument is how to play it in order to produce a

beautiful sound. If it is not maximized, the instrument will be useless. This is also valid for penting musical instrument because other than having unique shape and producing distinctive sound, the most important is to be recognized and understood is the way or technique to play the instrument.

According to A.A. Gede Krisna Dwipayana, Bali basically has been familiar with percussion musical instrument such as two-sided drum (kendang), gender and so on, while the unique penting belongs to stringed instrument like guitar.

Thus, moving the concept or familiarizing ourselves from percussion to stringed musical instrument played using pangotek or pick on guitar and maximize it is surely not easy and needs to be familiarized. Maximizing the pangotek is rarely noticed by elderly penting player so that the gamelan composition presented with penting becomes imperfect.

In addition, the tetekepan or variation of the string plucking is usually missed because there is a technique of one-to-one plucking, some of which has three-time reciprocating, some are also turned-on and turned-off and there is even a plucking technique of turned on-turned-off and turned-on again. All the types of plucking must be mastered as the needs of the gamelan composition being played.

“Unless familiarized and maximized, the sound produced will not become good.

Moreover, the player cannot understand the types of tetekepan so the gamelan is unable to produce a good tone that should be beaten alternately,” he said.

Apart from the kotekan and tetekepan, this musical instrument has other uniqueness namely at the same time when the right hand plucking the left hand is mandatory to

play the keys like playing piano to produce a tone.

However, the uniqueness precisely becomes the hardest point because it must play ‘intact’ where when moving finger from one key to the next keys, the first tone may not still be pressed when it should have moved to the second tone. Otherwise, the tone will be mixed, like the dong sounds like deng.

Wayan Widana also said that the difficulty of playing this penting instrument is when looking for a tone by pressing the keys.

This musical instrument should be placed sideways on the lap and simultaneously has to pluck the strings and move the fingers of the left hand like playing piano in order to get the desired tone.

He added the performance of this musical instrument is not necessarily played alone but must be paired with other musical instruments such as petuk, 2 pieces of kendang (two-sided drum), flute, lincik, gong tulu, kempur and so on. Of course, to adjust the tone of penting instrument to the other instruments in group needs to be trained continuously. This instrument belongs to traditional and modern one.

It is said to be traditional because other than used to accompany gamelan composition, it is also included in the element of Panca Gita, while it is said to be modern because of being assisted with sound system so that it produces better and stronger sound and longer radius as well as uses 7-9 strings of guitar.

“In the past, before using guitar strings, it used the Vespa clutch string. Moreover, previously it is said to also use fishing lines.

According to a senior figure, it once used the fiber of banana tree,” he said. (kmb)

4

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

Poor drainage system and untreated environment

California nuns stole schools funds for Vegas gambling, travel

Govt assessed to only pursue awards

DENPASAR - Denpasar City is the center of all Balinese people’s activities. One of the important factors in the urban area is drainage system. In the Denpasar City, it is currently not well organized, so that during rainy season floods occur.

Moreover, flood incident almost occurs every year, but this problem has not been resolved until now, and even tends to increase both in terms of frequency, depth and duration.

Besides, the poor drainage and unkempt environment are the failure of the regional government as just competing for various awards, such as Adipura and others. However, in reality the drainage system remains very bad and the environment is not maintained so that brings in natural disasters such as floods and landslides claiming fatalities and material casualties.

A lecturer at the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya, Eddy Setiadi Soedjono, PhD., judged that almost every city in Indonesia, including Denpasar City, has ‘poor’ drainage system. Drainage systems such as sewers made on roads are only planned to hold road water.

Meanwhile, the water entering the sewer comes from housing, offices, hospitals and others. So, this is one of the causes of flooding. Actually, the drainage development plan must be able to accommodate water flow from anywhere, not just road water.

“From the beginning, there was no harmonious concept of planning drainage. Thus, flooding becomes something real and does not only happen in the City of Denpasar. Similar incidents also happen to other cities in Indonesia,” said Eddy Setiadi on the sidelines of the FGD on the Challenges and Strategies for Clean Water Supply in Bali’ held by the Alumni Association of the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (IKA ITS)

Surabaya for Bali Region at Puri Ayu Hotel Denpasar, Jalan Sudirman No. 14A, Saturday (Dec. 8).

In addition, he said that at present the sewerage condition is very terrible because almost all wastewater is discharged into sewers, so that rainwater cannot be accommodated for flow. Even though Denpasar City currently has sewerage specifically for flowing wastewater, it is considered inadequate because it can only accommodate 10 percent of the total population of Denpasar City. “Ironically, other than having small-sized drainage, it is also disposed of wastewater. So, the quality of flooded water is terrible because the wastewater is mixing with rainwater. We then suffer twice losses, as other than being hit by flood, the water quality is mixed with wastewater,” he said.

Therefore, the drainage problem in the future should be resolving through management of how to plan a good drainage system, making detailed plans, restructuring institutions and related regulations, and fostering community participation to help resolve the drainage problem. “At least, this plan can be set forth in the Regional Spatial Plan, even though our national budget (APBN) is not much for it, but how all regencies / municipality in Bali unite to propose it, so that Bali gets a budget for it. By that way, the planning of the drainage system in Bali will be better in the future,”

LUDOVIC MARIN / POOL / AFP

IBP/kmb

Flood incident almost occurs every year, but this problem has not been resolved until now, and even tends to increase both in terms of frequency, depth and duration. he said.

Meanwhile, an academician from the Udayana University, Dr. I Putu Anom, said that the government is currently pursuing various kinds of awards, such as Adipura. However, in reality it does not pay attention to a good drainage system, and the environmental conditions are still not maintained optimally. Supposedly, every ceremony that means “Kertih” must be implemented with concrete actions to care for the earth as a place to live in. Moreover, the rituals held with great funds and inspired by prayers will not be meaningful if there is no concrete action to save nature.

“Sorry, when it comes to the prayers, many people can memorize it, but many don’t understand the meaning

and there is no real and right action for saving nature,” said Putu Anom.

An observer of Bali Spatial, Prof.

Dr. Putu Rumawan Salain, stated that spatial plan, masterplan, and even the execution using pre-cast concrete in the channel and drainage construction had already been owned by the Denpasar City government. However, the integration for primary, secondary and tertiary channels with the rivers has not run optimally. Therefore, the masterplan is necessary to be reviewed by making canals at critical points in the clogging of waterways by utilizing technological sophistication. Moreover, the flow of water through sewers does not only come from road water, but also from residential, offices and even from rivers

of other areas. Thus, the capacity of gutter cannot accommodate a very large volume of water, causing water overflow, not to mention the garbage also clogs the sewer.

In addition, he said that nowadays a lot of housing directing the roof funnels to the road, so that the rainwater does not fall on the yard but flows directly onto the road. The government is urged to immediately crack down on such house buildings, so that flood problems that cause the less optimal drainage function to drain water can be resolved. In addition, the awareness of all levels of society is required to increase clean cultural awareness. If necessary, every household must have biopore in their home yard, so that it has water absorption. (win)

Makepung Lampit for entertainment in Jembrana

IBP/olo

Makepung or buffalo race as one of the rich cultural traditions of Jembrana district continues to be developed in order to remain sustainable.

MAKEPUNG or buffalo race as one of the rich cultural traditions of Jembrana district continues to be developed in order to remain sustainable. Other than Makepung in a sandy circuit involving two blocks namely the East and West Ijogading, lately the Makepung is also organized into entertainment or tourist attraction. One of them is the Makepung Lampit which takes place in muddy rice fields.

Makepung Lampit or Makepung Betenan is known for its more friendly appearance because it doesn’t race and the jockey rarely beats the buffaloes to get hurt. So, this attraction using buffalo is even more acceptable to foreign tourists. A pair of buffaloes is joined together with modified plow made thinner and sloping.

The jockeys are not absolute to wear complete clothing like the

makepung in circuit race. Sometimes they just wear sarong but shirtless.

However, the jockeys still use the headdress of makepung. Likewise, a pair of buffaloes put into the race only use simpler accessories, namely on the head of the buffalo and flags.

This activity is routinely held by farmers and buffalo owners around Peh and Manistutu as training before competing. Moreover, when approaching the rice planting season in the subak (irrigation cooperative) area. Makepung lampit deliberately takes the location in the rice fields before the planting season.

The time of attraction is very limited as only held before the rainy season, so this becomes a barrier for tourists to witness. A number of ideas emerged to further provide interesting elements to Makepung, one of which is Makepung Pasih.

It is almost similar to Makepung

Lampit, but this one is more entertaining to visitors as carried out on the beach with sandy sea beds.

Some beach spots in Jembrana can be used for this attraction.

Coordinator of Makepung in Jembrana, I Made Mara, said there is a legitimate development of Makepung carried out including one of them is the Makepung Lampit. Now, according to him, Makepung Lampit has become an annual agenda in addition to the Regent Cup and Jembrana Cup held annually. However, he admitted the intensity of Makepung Lampit is indeed less than Makepung in circuit because it is waiting for planting time in the fields. This inspired the idea proposing the Makepung Pasih. According to Mara, Makepung attraction on the beach has never been held but does not matter. (olo)

13

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a special address to the nation, his first public comments after four weeks of nationwide ‘yellow vest’ (gilet jaune) protests, on December 10, 2018, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris.

‘Yellow vests’ denounce Macron speech as ‘charade’

LE BOULOU - Groups of “yellow vest” protesters across France responded scathingly to the “crumbs” offered by President Emmanuel Macron in a speech intended to defuse their revolt, but others acknowledged his efforts.

“Nonsense,” “a charade”, “a bluff” and “a drop in the ocean,” were among the immediate reactions that greeted the head of state’s televised speech Monday evening announcing an increase in the minimum wage and a range of other financial measures.

At a roundabout in the southern town of Le Boulou, some 150 “yellow vests” gathered around a loudspeaker listened carefully to the president’s words before starting to shout in chorus.

“He is trying to do a pirouette to land back on his feet but we can see that he isn’t sincere, that it’s all smoke and mirrors,” said JeanMarc, a car mechanic.

“It’s just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation,” said Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic who donned the yellow vest a fortnight ago.

“All this is cinema, it doesn’t tackle the problems of substance,” he told AFP before taking part in blocking the Boulou turnpike on

the French-Spanish border.

“We’re really wound up, we’re going back to battle,” he said.

Less than an hour after the presidential address, the A9 toll booth from Spain was completely paralysed, an AFP photographer said.

“Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it’s too late,” said Gaetan, 34, one of the “Rennes Lapins Jaunes” (Yellow Rabbits of Rennes). “For us, this speech is nonsense.”

- ‘A charade’ In the northwest, at a roundabout at the end of the A28 in Montabon, near Le Mans, “yellow vests” gathered under a heated tent to watch the president on TV, sharing a picnic.

“Too bad, blew it again!” exclaimed Etienne. “Santa Claus has nothing in his sack,” laughed Hubert.

Over in eastern France, at the Cafe de la Paix in Commercy, about 15 “yellow vests” watched

Macron’s speech with a glass of Picon and a basket of fries, interrupting the presidential address with ironic sneers.

“Sir feels bad,” Elisabeth, a 66year-old retiree, said mockingly as the president acknowledged that he had “hurt some”.

“It was about time,” added Damien, in his thirties. “Liar,” a woman shouted.

“He is being held hostage so he drops some crumbs,” said Jonathan, a 35-year-old official.

In the southern commune of Realmont, “gilets jaunes” from all four corners of the department of Tarn gathered at the roundabout to heave a sigh and release nervous laughter.

“The people asked him to resign and he puts plasters on third-degree burns (...) this is total rubbish,” said Pierrot, an RSA artist in Albi.

For Luc, a pizza chef in Marseille, “it’s a charade. He announces bonuses to be paid by employers but how will they do it? They don’t have more money.” (afp)

LOS ANGELES - Two Catholic school nuns in California have admitted to embezzling about $500,000, and using the funds over the years for travel and gambling in Las Vegas, their order said on Monday. Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who are said to be best friends, took the money from tuition, fees and donations at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

“We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account,” an attorney for the school told parents and alumni at a recent meeting, the Press-Telegram reported.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the missing money was discovered during a routine audit and it is believed the nuns operated their scheme over at least a decade.

Kreuper was principal at the school for 29 years until her retirement earlier this year. Chang was a teacher for 20 years and she also retired this year.

“Our community is concerned and saddened by this situation and regret any injury to our long relationship with the families of the school,” the Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the nuns’ order, said in a statement sent to AFP. “The Sisters of St. Joseph both desire and intend to make complete restitution to St. James School.”

- ‘Deep remorse’ Parents were informed about the nuns’ misdeeds in a November 28 letter from the school’s pastor, Monsignor Michael Meyers.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, states that Kreuper and Chang had taken a

“substantial” amount of school funds for their personal use and the matter was uncovered during an audit conducted after Kreuper’s retirement.

“Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers,” Meyers wrote. “They and their order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school.”

He added that no other school staff were implicated in the theft and that police had been alerted.

Meyers said the school did not wish to pursue criminal proceedings against the pair, who spent decades as students’ moral enforcers.

However, Adrian Alarcon, the head of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, told AFP on Monday that the Archdiocese didn’t want to just let the matter drop and planned to “become a complaining party.”

The nuns allegedly got away with their crime by depositing some checks made out to the school for tuition and other fees into a bank account different than the one used by the school.

Meyers told parents in his letter that the two Sisters were cooperating with an investigation to determine the full amount of misappropriated funds.

“I want to assure you that the investigation has disclosed that, notwithstanding this misappropriation, no student or program at St. James has suffered any loss of educational resources, opportunities, or innovations,” he added. “In sum, the education of your children has not and will not be affected by these events.” (afp)

IBP/net

Two Catholic school nuns in California have admitted to embezzling about $500,000, and using the funds over the years for travel and gambling in Las Vegas, their order said on Monday.

14

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Technology

International

Heavy screen time appears to impact childrens’ brains: study

WASHINGTON - Researchers have found “different patterns” in brain scans among children who record heavy smart device and video game use, according to initial data from a major ongoing US study.

The first wave of information from the $300 million National Institute of Health (NIH) study is showing that those nine and 10-year-old kids spending more than seven hours a day using such devices show signs of premature thinning of the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer that processes sensory information.

“We don’t know if it’s being caused by the screen time. We don’t know yet if it’s a bad thing,” said Gaya Dowling, an NIH doctor working on the project, explaining the preliminary findings in an interview with the CBS news program 60 Minutes.

“What we can say is that this is what the brains look like of kids who spend a lot of time on screens.

And it’s not just one pattern,” Dowling said.

The NIH data reported on CBS also showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens score worse on language and reasoning tests.

The study -- which involves scanning the brains of 4,500 children -- eventually aims to show whether screen time is addictive, but researchers need several years to understand such long-term outcomes.

“In many ways, the concern that investigators like I have is, that we’re sort of in the midst of a natural kind of uncontrolled experiment on the next generation of children,” Dimitri Christakis, a lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ most recent guidelines on screen time, told 60 Minutes.

Initial data from the study will begin to be released in early 2019.

IBP/kmb The academy now recommends parents “avoid digital media use -- except video chatting -- in chil- The NIH data reported on CBS also showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens score dren younger than 18 to 24 months.” (afp) worse on language and reasoning tests.

Exoskeleton for construction workers available in 2020 The batteries that power the suit last for eight hours on a single charge and can be swapped in and out without losing power.

IBP/net

AN electric exoskeleton that enables the wearer to lift 90kg for extended periods has been introduced

by US firm Sarcos, and is due to be commercially available in 2020.

The Guardian XO Max (pictured) is a full-body exoskeleton that has been in development for 17 years, at an R&D cost of $175m (£136.5m).

The batteries that power the suit last for eight hours on a single charge and can be swapped in and out without losing power. The suit requires 400W of power while walking at human speed, and it takes about a minute for operators to get in and out of it.

Sarcos says the suit contains a “suite of sensors integrated into the exoskeleton, allowing the operator to intuitively control the robot in a way that leverages his or her instincts and reflexes, and minimises the need for human training”.

The Guardian XO Max has a strength amplification of 20 to 1, making 45kg feel like 2.3kg. The full weight of the suit and anything being carried is transferred through the suit’s structure to the ground.

Ben Wolff, Sarcos Robotics chairman, said: “There are many misperceptions regarding the commercial readiness and viability of full-body industrial exoskeletons that are capable of substantially increasing human strength and endurance, including the amount of power required to operate these machines.”

Sarcos will start shipping the Guardian XO Max in 2020.

In October, Willmott Dixon announced that it was trialling a “bionic vest” for workers, in what it claimed was an industry first.

The company is partnering with with robotics company Eksobionics, which has devised an upper body exoskeleton vest – called the Eksovest – that supports the arms during heavy lifting.

It is being used on the Cardiff West Community High School site. The company plans to demonstrate the Eksovest at other sites across the country before introducing it as standard, depending on how the trials perform. (IBP/net)

Bali News

International

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

3

After obstructing Chinese mafia network

Visiting interest of Chinese tourists declines

MANGUPURA — Government of Badung district eradicating Chinese mafia network suspected of selling cheap Bali tourism in China has an impact on the arrival of tourists to Bali, especially Badung. At least, there has been a decline of around 7.5 to 8 percent of tourist arrivals from the country.

Head of the Badung Tourism Office, I Made Badra, acknowledged the decline in tourist arrivals from China.

However, his office stressed that closing the shop does not mean hostile to Chinese tourists. On that account, his office has tried to make a recovery directly to China to coordinate with the local government.

“Deputy Governor together with the Bali Tourism Office and the Regional Tourism Promotion Board (BPPD) just arrived from China to do a recovery and approach with the Chinese government,” said Made Badra, recently.

According to him, the government has sought to restore the arrival of Chinese tourists. Indeed the closing of shops declared to have relations with the practice of Bali being sold cheaply had an impact on the visits of Chinese tourists. Related to this, Chinese government also stopped travel agencies in the country alleged to get involved.

“However, we hope that with this recovery effort, it will increase tourist arrivals, especially those of the middle high class,” he said.

Regarding the achievement of tourist visit targets in Badung towards the end of 2018, he stated that until November there had been 6 million more than the target of 6.5 million foreign tourists. He is optimistic the target can be reached this December because every day he said there are 27 flight slots with total arrivals of around 14,000 to 15,000 people.

“Moreover, with the arrival of foreign tourists from India and Russia as the results of previous tourism promotions, definitely it (the target) can be achieved,” he concluded. (kmb27)

At least, there has been a decline of around 7.5 to 8 percent of tourist arrivals from China.

IBP/kmb

Next year, Tourism Office works on mascot dance and gamelan

BANGLI — Bangli Tourism and Culture Office will work on a district mascot dance in 2019.

Aside from the mascot dance, the office will also work on four gamelan compositions. Later on,

IBP/kmb40

Aside from the mascot dance, the office will also work on four gamelan compositions.

the mascot dance and gamelan music will be performed in every activity in the region and at the villages.

Division Head of the Art Affairs at the Bangli Tourism and Culture Office, Nyoman Wiradana, stated on Sunday (Dec. 9) that in the process of mascot dance, his office will involve various components starting from the community, Cultural Advisory and Guidance Assembly (Listibya), and the art academicians. The office will ask for a lot of input regarding the planned workmanship of the mascot dance.

“For Bangli, what is right for the mascot and so is the right flower for the mascot of Bangli. We will ask for their opinions and input,” he explained.

He explained, the making of the mascot dance for Bangli district to have a branding that can become the pride of the community. Wher-

ever the mascot dance is performed, people will identify that the dance is owned by Bangli. The mascot dance will later be staged at each ceremony, both in the regions, schools and villages or hamlets.

Wiradana revealed that Bangli district actually had a dance frequently performed. The dance in question is the dance of Sekar Sandat (ylang-ylang). Unfortunately, the dance has now been already used as a mascot by other district. “So, we will make another dance which is different from other districts,” he said.

He further said that in 2019, aside from working on the mascot dance, his office will also work on four new gamelan compositions.

Two of them, mentioned Wiradana, are entitled Tabuh Ngwangun Desa, and Tabuh Suksma Bangli.

Composition of these four gamelan music is the idea of the Regent of

Bangli, I Made Gianyar. Later on, after the gamelan is completed, Regent Made Gianyar is going to get involved in presenting the gamelan composition.

“It becomes a motivation and stimulus for the community to take part in preserving cultural arts. Though having busy schedules, he still has a concern for Balinese arts, so why people don’t want to spend a little time to help preserve our art and culture,” asked Wiradana.

To finance the composition of the mascot dance and four gamelan music, the Tourism and Culture Office has allocated a budget of around IDR 300 million in the 2019 Regional Budget. “So far, we have Kertaning Wingkang Ranu Dance posing a dance of our greatness. “It is worked on as a form of our pride in the Batur Geopark that we have,” he added. (kmb40)

2

Bali News

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

International

IBP/ap

“Bali Nine” Lawrence banned from entering Indonesia for life

Renae Lawrence, a member of “Bali Nine” drug smugglers, has been banned from re-entering the Indonesian territory for life, after her release and deportation to her home country Australia in November.

“Certainly, she would be banned from entering Indonesia for the rest of her life. As of now, she is in the administrative custody in the immigration detention room at the Ngurah Rai Airport, while waiting for her deportation,” Head of Bali`s Immigration Office, Agato Simamora, noted during a press conference here on Wednesday.

The official release paper of the only female member of the nine drug smuggling group was announced on Wednesday, after she had served 13 years behind bars from her actual 20 years of imprisonment.

Lawrence was arrested at Bali airport in 2005, along with the other eight Australians, for their

role in an attempt to smuggle 8.1 kilograms of heroin out of the country. She was arrested with around 2 kilograms of heroine strapped to her back and legs.

At present, the official stated that she would be transferred to the Ngurah Rai Airport, but would not be sent all the way to Australia due to return-to-base possibility from the Australian immigration authority.

“We would just ensure that she leaves the Indonesian territory, and then we would coordinate with the

local authority,” Simamora noted.

When Lawrence returns home, she is expected to face a New South Wales Court for an alleged highspeed chase in a stolen car case in March 2005; however, Simamora remarked that the Indonesian authority has not yet received any requests from their Australian counterpart for any particular treatment related to her case.

“We are aware that Australian law is very different from Indonesian law; so basically, she is just a foreigner who has finished her sen-

tence and does not have residence permit anymore,” he explained.

Simamora emphasized that Lawrence would not receive any special treatment during her deportation process, such as waiting in the VIP room.

“The most important thing is the security. We will not take her through VIP line at the Ngurah Rai Airport,” he elaborated, adding that the authority would not consider Lawrence and her family`s request for some special treatments. (ant)

Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos among those shortlisted as Bali United’s new coach

IBP/net

For Bali United fans, it’s been all drama, defeat, and deliberation of late. After coach Widodo Cahyono Putro was dropped following three successive losses, angry supporters lit up firecrackers and flares at the team’s penultimate match on Sunday against Persija Jakarta.

While temporary coach Eko Purdjianto fills in, the club’s CEO, Yabes Tanuri, is faced with the task of finding the man to turn things around next year.

Under consideration is Real

Madrid legend, Roberto Carlos, says Yabes. “Many foreign coaches have sent their CV to Bali United’s management. One of them is former Brazil national team left-back, Roberto Carlos. But we still haven’t made a decision on who will fill the role,” Yabes said.

According to an article in Bola, Tanuri claimed that there were 30 other names of potential coaches for Bali United, including Philippine national team coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson, and former Glasgow

Activities

International

Rangers player and international coach, Pieter Huistra.

Despite all the speculation, it seems that Tanuri is in no rush to make a decision. He was quoted by the Tribun network as saying, “We will not choose a coach who wants to dismantle the framework of the Bali United squad…Especially if he wants to replace the squad with players from the national team. If he wants that, it’s better he only trains the national team.” (ant)

 Founder : K.Nadha,  General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra  Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra.

Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Mudiarta, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Bagiarta, Klungkung: Sosiawan. 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

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

15

COACH PRESENTED STUART VEVERS’ PRE FALL 2019 COLLECTION IN FIRST EVER RUNWAY SHOW IN CHINA “Coach Lights Up Shanghai” Presented at West Bund Art Center

Coach today announced that the brand presented Creative Director Stuart Vevers’ Pre Fall 2019 men’s and women’s collection in the brand’s first ever runway show in China, at West Bund Art Center in Shanghai this evening. The show, Coach Lights Up Shanghai, and subsequent after party coincided with the brand’s 15th anniversary in China.

Inspired by Coach’s optimistic and inclusive attitude, the event brought together two of the world’s most unique, vibrant cities – Shang-

hai and New York – and celebrated their energy with a neon spectacle highlighting the “bright lights, big city” attitude they share.

The collection represented a sensory experience that explores the unique attitude of New York City––and Coach’s place within it. A twilight world where rockand-roll’s elegance is suggestive of Alice Cooper’s bold early 1970s aesthetic. Elongated tailoring and tall, patchwork shoes. Exaggerated handkerchief hems on floral dresses. Lightly draped, soft leather

and suede jackets––like a secondskin. Brightly colored, cloud-like shearling “chubby” jackets and loveworn mohair sweaters­­––boldly graphic like vibrant abstract paintings. The Dreamer bag evolves with a dressed-up kisslock closure, lavish crafted patchwork over Coach’s Signature pattern.

Collaborations with contemporary creatives based in China are at the heart of the collection as they reimagined Coach’s beloved dinosaur, Rexy. Sui Jianguo’s T-Rex sculpture is photographed

to create a distorted photo print.

Music collective YETI OUT incorporated Rexy into their signature graphic round face. Zhu Jingyi playfully recontextualized the brand’s mascot in an authentic ink drawing and graphic artist Guang Yu reinterpreted Rexy in a fierce hand-drawn graffiti print.

Mr. Vevers presented his latest collection to an audience that included actress and current face of the brand’s fragrance, Chloe Grace Moretz; Chinese actor and current brand ambassador Timmy

Xu; Japanese actress, model and current brand ambassador Kiko Mizuhara; Sui Jianguo; Thomas Bray of YETI OUT; Zhu Jingyi; Guang Yu; Liu Wen; Ji Soo and Rosé of BLACKPINK; Hannah Quinlivan; AMIAYA; Nick Chou; Billie Wang; Dylan Xiong; Lawrence Wong; Vivian Li; Yvonne Ching; Tim Yu; AWAKEN; Hao Boys; Janice Man; Fazura; Fattah Amin; De Cao; Chau Bui; Valerie Thomas; Arifin Putra; as well as key editors, stylists, retailers and influencers.

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

16 Pages Number 252 10th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Dr Who will be back - but not until 2020

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

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside Parliament with a giant “Vote Down Brexit” spelled out in illuminated letters, as Theresa May answered questions in the House on the postponement of a crucial parliamentary vote on the Brexit agreement struck with EU leaders in London on December 10, 2018.

LONDON - Doctor Who fans will have to wait until 2020 for the next series, although there will be a special episode on New Year’s Day to keep them happy.

The eleventh season of the hit series ended on Sunday evening with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor answering distress calls from a battle-scarred planet.

Work has already begun on the next series, which will feature the Doctor and her companions Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gil and Tosin Cole.

Head writer Chris Chibnall said: “We’re off again! Well we never actually stopped.

“As Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor and friends have been winning the hearts of families across the nation this autumn, we’ve been busy with a whole new set of action packed adventures for the 13th Doctor.

“We adore making this show and have been blown away by the response from audiences, so we can’t wait to

bring more scares, more monsters and more Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole to BBC One. Brilliant!”

Whittaker is the first female Doctor and her performance has attracted positive reviews, although there has been some criticism that the series’ storylines have become too politically correct.

Before Chibnall signed up, the show’s stories had been criticised for being too convoluted.

BBC director of content Charlotte Moore said: “I know Chris and the whole team are already working on a whole new set of exciting adventures.

“In the meantime we’ve got a very special episode on New Year’s Day for everyone to enjoy.” (IBP/net)

Jodie Whittaker is the first female Dr Who.

IBP/net

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint says ‘I couldn’t guess how much money I have’

Actor Rupert Grint

IBP/net

LONDON - Actor Rupert Grint has said he has no idea how much money he has earned and is not really motivated by money - despite being said to be worth £28m.

The Harry Potter star told The Radio Times he couldn’t even begin to guess, other than knowing he was “comfortable”.

The 30-year-old appeared as Ron Weasley in eight full-length Harry Potter feature films as well as accompanying games.

The films’ other stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, are thought to have earned similar

amounts of money.

He said: “I actually don’t know how much I have. I couldn’t even really guess.

“It doesn’t really motivate me too much. It makes you comfortable, that’s the good thing about it, I think.

“I’m glad it’s there but I’m not really that focused on it.”

Grint has gone on to have a successful career after the last Potter franchise in 2011, appearing in Sky One’s Sick Note and AMC’s Snatch reboot in the last few years.

This Christmas he is starring

in Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders on BBC One, with John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot.

But after being in the public eye for so long - having been cast in his first Harry Potter film at the age of 11 - he said of fame: “I struggle to remember life before it.

“I think I lost myself a little bit along the way.”

“Sometimes you just want to go to B&Q.” He said he took a break after the Harry Potter films ended because he had a feeling he “had missed out on normal things”. (IBP/net)

You can find International Bali Post at: 1 Kuta Beach Club Jl. Bakung Sari Kuta 2 Wen Dys Kuta the Coffe Bear Jl. Pantai Kuta 3 Seminyak Paradiso Bali Hotel Jl. Camplung Tanduk 4 Ramayana Resort&Spa Jl. Bakung Sari Kuta 5 The Lokha Legian Resort&Spa Jl. Padma Legian Kuta 6 66 Corner Live Sport Emtertaiment Jl. Doble Six/Werkudara 23 7 Leghawa Grill Jl. D.Tamblingan No. 51 8 Retno Barr dan Restoran Jl. D.Tamblingan No.126 A Sanur 9 Elkomedor Jl. D.Tamblingan 140

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

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

19 Smirnof Cafee Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 20 Legwa Hotel Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 21 Nu Laser Cafee Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 22 Ganesa Book Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 23 All For Daiving Jl. D.Tamblingan Sanur 24 Barocca Jl.Petitenget 17 DKerobokan 25 Lantern Jl.Petitenget 17E Kerobokan 26 Shearlock Jl.Petitenget 17C Kerobokan Klod 27 Cafe Degan Jl.Petitenget 9 Kerobokan Klod

28 Kopi Made Jl. Raya Puputan No. 106 Dps 29 Dimsum Manan Jl. Raya Niti Mandala Renon No 148 30 Furama Jl. Raya Niti Mandala No. 148 Renon 31 Warung Subah Renon Jl. Mohamad Yamin No.18 32 Ayam Betutu khas Gilimanuk Jl. Merdeka No.88 Renon 33 Bali Bakery Jl. Hayam Wuruk 184 Denpasar

May tours Europe in desperate bid to save Brexit deal

Tolga AKMEN / AFP

Embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May launched a tour of European capitals on Tuesday in a desperate bid to salvage her Brexit deal, a day after delaying a parliamentary vote on the text to avoid a crushing defeat.

May held talks in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte before heading to Berlin to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel as she struggles to unite British lawmakers behind her faltering plan.

She was then to see EU President Donald Tusk and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

“I’m surprised because we had reached an agreement on the 25th of November” at the last EU summit, Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, dubbing Brexit a “surprise guest” at this week’s summit.

“The deal we have achieved is the best deal possible, it’s the only deal

possible. There is no room whatsoever for renegotiation but of course there is room, if used intelligently, to give further clarification and further interpretations,” he said.

- ‘A political declaration’ Tusk said the other 27 EU leaders would discuss Brexit at a special meeting on Thursday, at the start of a pre-planned summit in Brussels which May will attend.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE that Dublin ruled out changes to the wording of the withdrawal agreement but said there could be “a political declaration coming from a European Council”.

“The Irish government doesn’t have an issue with providing reassurance if that’s helpful,” he said.

The embattled May is facing a rebellion in her own party and from parliamentary allies over a clause in the deal relating to Northern Ireland that is threatening to sink both the agreement and her leadership.

“I will now do everything I possibly can to secure further assurances,” May told mutinous MPs Monday on her dash to Europe ahead of the EU summit.

If no deal is secured, Britain will still have to leave the EU on March 29 with the government warning a no-deal Brexit will be hugely damaging to the economy.

Anand Menon, European politics professor at King’s College, London, said May needed Brussels to make it “absolutely clear” no major concessions are on offer -- no matter who is prime minister.

“What they might do is add some language to the political declaration, not the withdrawal agreement,” he added.

“I imagine they’ll add some language saying that both sides remain convinced that we’ll never need to use the backstop”.

the backstop clause designed to keep open Britain’s border with Ireland, May conceded she expected to lose and delayed it.

The decision sent the pound plunging and both sides said they would step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

May suffered a barage of scathing headlines on Tuesday, with the Sun calling her move a “Brexmas Turkey” while the Guardian called it “desperate”.

- Lawmaker outrage MPs had been due to vote on Tuesday on the deal with Brussels, which covers the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union after 46 years.

But facing a huge rebellion of her own Tory MPs, primarily over

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.

Continued to page 6