Edisi 18 Maret 2011 | International Bali Post

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Barong Bangkung Keeps on Pursuing Its ’Prey’

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Friday, March 18, 2011

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Foster grateful for Gibson role in new movie PAGE 12 AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Men, who used to work in Libya and fled the unrest in the country, carry their belongings as they walk during a sand storm in a refugee camp at the Tunisia-Libyan border, in Ras Ajdir, Tunisia, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. More than 250,000 migrant workers have left Libya for neighboring countries, primarily Tunisia and Egypt, in the past three weeks.

Associated Press Writer TOBRUK, Libya – Libya’s opposition battled to keep Moammar Gadhafi’s forces at the gateway to rebel-held territory on Thursday, hoping for help from the U.N. Security Council before his tanks and troops break through the city of Ajdabiya.

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A senior hospital official in the city told The Associated Press that 30 people had been killed and at least 80 wounded in the fighting since Thursday night, and many more of the injured couldn’t reach the hospital. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of official retaliation.

Gadhafi’s rapid advance on the rebels appears to have spurred the United States to leave behind

weeks of doubts about a no-fly zone in Libya, and start pushing for broader U.N. authorization for international air, sea and land forces.

The Obama administration and other supporters of action against Gadhafi were pushing for a Thursday vote on a draft resolution. Russia and China have expressed doubts about the U.N. and other outside powers getting involved.

By Thursday afternoon,

Gadhafi’s army had surrounded Ajdabiya on three sides, leaving open only the road north to the larger rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

Charred vehicles, bullet-riddled pickup trucks and an overturned tank littered the desert highway where pro-Gadhafi forces had fought up to the entrance of Ajdabiya, a city of 140,000. Government troops were bringing in a stream of truckloads of ammunition,

rockets and supplies.

A rebel spokesman told The Associated Press that Benghazi, 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the north along the Mediterranean coast, was “armed to the teeth” and the opposition is ready to defend it.

More checkpoints were popping up at intersections and on main roads, manned by men in uniform armed with Ak-47s and backed by anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks. A Benghazi resident who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals said the city’s young men were volunteering to undergo basic military training.

Continued on page 6

Magnitude 5.3 quake shakes Chile, no damage seen Reuters

SANTIAGO – A magnitude 5.3 earthquake rattled central Chile on Wednesday, shaking buildings in the capital Santiago, but there were no reports of any damage or injuries, the government said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 45 miles northnortheast of the central Chilean port city of Valparaiso, at a depth of 15.3 miles. Reuters witnesses said buildings swayed in Santiago, 75 miles miles to the east.

“There are no reports of any damage or injuries,” a spokeswoman for state emergency office

Onemi told Reuters.

Quake-prone Chile’s economy is still recovering from a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake a year ago, which hammered towns, infrastructure and industries in southcentral Chile and killed more than 500 people.

Picture of boats lying on the ground beaside the sea in Dichato, 500 km south of Santiago, taken on March 12, 2011 hours after the place was hit by tsunami waves from Japan’s huge quake causing some damages.

AFP PHOTO/CLAUDIO POZO

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International

Friday, March 18, 2011

Bali News

Climate change threatens food security in Indonesia Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Climate change indicated by the prolonged rainy season with high intensity results in negative impact on the agricultural and fishery sector. As consequence, the food security in Indonesia is getting under threat leading to food crisis.

Chief Executive of the National Council on Climate Change, Prof.

(Hon.) Rachmat Witoelar, said that pressure against the food security was progressively severe considering the increase in harvest failure to a variety of agricultural commodities in different regions.

“Harvest failure does not only threaten the national food security but also has a direct impact on farmers and perpetrators of agricultural businesses so vulnerabilities in the economic and social sector are even getting higher,” said Rachmat Witoelar in Denpasar. He added, to maintain the target of agricultural production such as rice in the next 10 years was probably difficult to realize. Aside from being caused by less fertile soil, the extreme weather changes also were obstacles in achieving the production target.

“Endeavor to maintain the food security within 5 years ahead is not easy. Other than the progressively diminishing arable land, it is also kindled by global climate change having an impact on the soil directly or indirectly,” he said. Extreme weather was also recognized to disrupt the lives of coastal communities, especially fishermen. Strong winds accompanied by rainy storms and high waves caused the fishermen be unable to go to sea. As consequence, they could not get daily earnings for their survival.

“Disruption in marine transportation system does not only occur to passenger transport but also to logistic transport which resulted in the

spike in prices at various locations, especially in small islands,” he said.

In essence, various problems arising posed new challenges for the ongoing development process in Indonesia. Therefore, paradigms and approaches in the national development should be changed to anticipate the increasing impacts and to minimize the environmental degradation and the occurrence of climate change.

“Ultimately, the abundant natural resources are taken advantage instantly with the aim to bring in foreign exchange in relatively short time and generally lead to the utilization without added value. As a result, it could only engender foreign exchanges in short term and in quite low value,” he explained.

With the instant approach, many irresponsible activities occurred. The natural resources owned by Indonesia, both located in the ground, on the ground and water bodies, had lived through exploitation to move the wheels of development. Environmental damage due to irresponsible development activities had synergized and become increasingly severe due to climate changes. “Forest poses one of the assets owned by Indonesia in huge quantities. But, the use of forests, especially due to irresponsible logging, has become the biggest threat within the past few decades,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of

Postgraduate Program of Environmental Sciences, Prof. Made Sudiana Mahendra, Ph.D. said the excessive exploitation of nature had destroyed the existing balance of ecosystems. “The absence of media absorbing rainwater due to forest exploitation caused the rising waters of Lake Buyan. Additionally, it included the silting of the lake,” he said.

Additionally, it did not include in the external challenges such as global warming. The accumulated effects would be doubled. “Government must perform forest conservation and land use should be in accordance with their proper function,” he said.Many development measures in the region, assessed Sudiana Mahendra, did not comply with spatial layout plan.

Villa designation, cultivation technique that had not followed terracing pattern and agricultural activities directly at lakeside were also the causes of environmental damage. “Regional Regulation on the Regional Spatial Layout Plan (RTRW) is very supportive to prevent the environmental degradation. Moreover, the plan of investors to establish a tourism facility over the lake and on the lakeside will cause environmental damage,” he said.

Sudiana Mahendra added that people should continue to encourage and oversee the government’s policies on the spatial layout, especially the allocation for tourism and agriculture. (par)

Craft Export Value to Japan Threaten Gianyar (Bali Post) –

Due to the tsunami that happened in Japan a week ago, the value of Gianyar export crafts threaten to go less. The worry was felt by crafts entrepreneurs and cargo services which sends it to the Sakura country.

Last Wednesday (16/3) a number of Bali Post sources met some of them. According to the data, in 2010 the export value of Gianyar to Japan was third place after Europe, Brazil,

South Africa and India with value USD 4,282,212.03 from the whole USD 47,845,944.42. In January 2011 Gianyar’s export value to Japan USD 121,475.76 and in February 2011 USD 78,132.85, showing it’s still stable. “It’s not felt now but in the next month it might be felt,” Agus Bagus, a Marketing Cargo in Gianyar stated.

Meanwhile Head of Gianyar Trade and Industry Agency, Ir.

Wayan Suamba, MT, did not decline the worries felt by these businesses as it is normal. Yet it has to be tackled from happening. What’s more on Monday (14/3) there was a document stating two containers about to be sent to Japan. “We’re unsure of what the export value condition to Japan would be like but at least we know what’s going on right now so there should be ways to mend it connecting to the situation,” Suamba concluded. (kmb16)

Investors must comply with rules Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Governor of Bali Mangku Pastika calling for local companies to contribute in the Bali regional development through public investment reaped the support from academicians. Provided, investors who wanted to invest their capital should be subject to the prevailing rules.

“Anyone has the right to invest in Bali, both children of the officials and foreign investors. As long as they comply with the rules and not abuse the position of parents who happen to be a public official it does not matter,” said the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Warmadewa University (Unwar), I Wayan Arjana, in Denpasar, Wednesday (Mar 16). According to him, the presence of investors would have a positive impact on the development and economic growth in Bali. Nevertheless, government had to be selective and supportive in providing investment licenses in Bali.

“Provision of tender must be transparent and give priority to quality, regardless of status or position.

There should be no partisanship and they may not disregard the existing rules such as regulations on spatial layout planning because of having a special relation,” he said.

It was said that entrepreneurs and investors who happened to be official’s family should become a paragon for society by complying with all rules and regulations. The existence of investment would generate multiplier effects including the increased employment opportunities, enhanced ability of public spending and demand of domestic market.

“As a matter of fact, Bali absolutely needs investment in improving the macro economy. But, government must sort out the positive and negative impacts of each investment license issued,” he said.

Endeavor to encourage local investors in the development of Bali was also supported by the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Udayana University, Prof. Dr. Wayan Ramantha. Even, as a stabilizer, government was expected not only to generate local investment, but also invest in some sectors, particularly in the agricultural sector remaining to be underestimated.

“In addition to generating local investors, government also needs to make an investment such as providing adequate infrastructure in the

field of agriculture. With the support, the agricultural sector will be improved automatically,” he said.

According to him, the support of government in improving the agricultural sector was not necessarily in the form of direct support. By the provision of supporting infrastructure such as adequate ports of transportation, technology and industry in the field of agriculture would raise the sector. Those facilities would improve the growth of direct foreign investment and domestic investment in agriculture.

“Factors on minimal investors showing their interest in the agricultural sector are caused by inadequate facilities. On that account, investors have to pay more than investing in the tourism sector,” he said.

Agricultural sector, according to Ramantha, had a great impact on the macro economy. Therefore, government was necessary to give incentive in the form of ease of investment in agriculture. “To advance the agricultural sector, it is needed a comprehensive policy including the incentives to investors who are interested to invest in the sector,” he said.

Incentives could be in the form ease of licensing, tax incentives and other incentives. In addition, the investment sector had to be more driven by designing policies that were pro-investment. “Until now, the agricultural sector remains to become the sector absorbing most labor. However, the largest labor-intensive sector does not grow flourishingly. It is adequately concerned,” he explained.

Related to investment in Bali, Governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika expected the emergence of new investors who were the native people to Bali, namely investors who knew Bali for sure and loved Bali.

Thus, their investment activities would not damage the environment and nature of Bali. “Investors were not necessarily from outside Bali,” he said.

With the investment, he said, would be able to increase the employment, tax and welfare. However, he reminded that investment activity was still obliged to pay attention to environmental laws and not destructive to the noble values and local knowledge of Bali. “Personally, I do hope the emergence of Bali local investors who thoroughly love the nature and environment of Bali,” he said. (par/kmb13)

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Bali News

International

Japanese tourist visit drops by 50 percent Denpasar (Bali Post)—

Concerns of Bali tourism related to tragedy of the earthquake measuring 8.9 RS hitting Japan accompanied with tsunami last week has become a reality. One of the largest travel agencies in Bali specializing to handle Japanese market namely HIS Travel said the number of Japanese tourist visits to Bali dropped about 50 percent. Of course, it has made the shadows of concerns for the development of Bali tourism today. Moreover, Japan is the largest contributor within the big five of tourists visiting Bali after Australia.

Advisor Manager of HIS Management, Tatsuya Tanaka, accompanied by Financial Controller I Wayan Pageh, Wednesday (Mar 16), explained the latest situation on the data of foreign tourists visiting Bali that had decreased by 50 percent. “On average, our agency could bring in up to 3,000 Japanese tourists to Bali and for the services we have worked with some 200 hotels in Bali. Now, after the disaster our handling guests diminished by 50 percent,” he said.

So far, Japanese tourists had become the largest market handled by this travel agency. It consisted of guests from four major cities in Japan namely Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.

Of the four cities, Tokyo was the largest. However, his party stated that those cities were categorized to be safe.

“The four cities belong to safe and

normal category as they are very far from the epicenter of the quake particularly from the devastated towns. Probably, it reaches 300 km,” he explained.

Meanwhile, related to the dangers of nuclear radiation, Japan side had tried to deal with such horrible situation. His party convinced that Japanese communities traveling abroad were declared safe because a pretty tight detection had been carried out. But, most importantly, said Tanaka, cancellation of tourists traveling to Bali had been well informed to hotels in Bali.

Previously, the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) of Bali Chapter recorded some 1,298 room nights should be canceled a day after the disaster. From March 12 to 13, there were 38 hotels declared to have received room cancellation. The highest cancellation occurred in Kuta area

amounting to 1,151 room nights, and then followed by Tuban (114), Nusa Dua (31) and Jimbaran (2).

Nevertheless, the mega-tsunami afflicting the cherry blossom country did not cause a massive exodus of tourists.

PHRI have written to the entire stakeholders in Japan to convey its sympathy-related disasters that cost the lives of several thousands more. “In our forecast, the aftermath of Japan’s disaster can affect the macro condition of Bali tourism because the number of Japanese tourists visiting Bali still occupies the top five,” he said.

According to him, the earthquake and tsunami hitting the eastern and northern coast of Japan could affect the economic condition of Japan. As a result, the recession in Japan could trigger a broad impact on the economy of the Asia-Pacific region. (par)

FKPTPI: Agriculture Not Just Paddy Fields Denpasar (Bali Post) –

The National Lokakarya XI held

by Indonesian Agriculture University Communication Forum (FKPTPI) in Inna Grand Bali Beach Hotel, Sanur, was attended by the whole Indonesia agriculture university students last Wednesday (16/3). In the middle of the event, General Secretary of the Forum, great teacher of Solo’s Sebelas Maret University, Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Suntoro Wongso Atmojo, M.S., clarified that agriculture is not just paddy fields with their dirty farmers covered in mud but actually much wider than that and promising.

It was said many plantation and agriculture industries need promising graduates from agriculture universi-

ties such as for palm and rubber plantation. He hoped the government will be encouraging agriculture development so the people’s prosperity rises.

Udayana University (Unud) Rector, Prof. Made Bakta, stated that agriculture was the backbone in Indonsia’s construction development as most of its people works in this sector. For that it needs more attention as all this time their appreciation hasn’t been optimal when actually a profession like this is truly grateful as it increases people’s prosperity. Yet the attractions towards this study still less and so it is these universities’ responsibility to increase the studies quality, its graduate’s quality and

open up those self-entrepreneurship spirit. With that they will have a good main competence and also creating job fields.

Unud Dean of Agriculture Faculty, Prof. Dr. Ir. Made Sudana, agreed.

Agriculture universities’ curriculums have to be planned and perfected well as by being an agriculture expert that’s creative and idealistic, creating new innovations, it is hoped the agriculture will be much desired by the people as there are many graduates that have become successful such as developing fruits with no seeds, colorful orchards and other products that has high value. “We have to erase the image that farmers are poor,” Sudana concluded. (08)

Post Book Bombings, Gilimanuk Secured Tightly Negara, DenPost

Post to the book bombings which one of them hit Utan Kayu Community complex caused Head of East Jakarta Police Criminal Research, Police Commissioner Dodi Rahmawan’s left hand injured, Jembrana Police are raising awareness and security in the Bali’s entrance gate, Gilimanuk. Officers also regional intelligent community (Kominda) came down operating sweeping to all people, goods and ve-

hicles that came in and out Bali.

It took place in two locations last Tuesday (15/3) evening led by Head of Jembrana Police GAPC Irfing Jaya. For those entering was checked on the Gilimanuk exit gate which was coordinated by Head of Gilimanuk Waters Police APC Made Prihejagat. Meanwhile those exiting were at Gelung Kori, Penginuman. Every person’s identity, vehicles and its documents, all

the goods brought are raided and checked.

According to Jaya, security check has been tighter all this time either that’s in the harbor or in police stations. Yet, such incident in Jakarta alerts Bali and so security in Gilimanuk increased even tighter with 70 personnel added. Jaya also suggests the public to be careful when receiving a packet either from a person known or worse unknown. (120)

Friday, March 18, 2011

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Thai Striptease Dancer Threaten Jailed for Life For Life Denpasar (Bali Post) –

Due to smuggling 1289 ecstasies with weight 371,11 gram and 2,68 net grams methamphetamine, a Thai girl who works as a striptease dancer Uemduean Sophawet alias Emmy was stated to have violated section 112 paragraph 2, 113 paragraph 2 and 115 paragraph 2 Indonesian Republic Law No. 35 Year 2009 about narcotic drugs. Her eyes went watery after hearing her translator’s explanation that she’s threaten to spend the rest of her life in jail at Denpasar District Court last Wednesday (16/3).

In the trial led by Judge Istiningsih Rahayu, Public Prosecutor Raka Arimbawa stated the case started when accused met Alexander Vetipsky in a discothèque at Thailand where Alex straight away offered Emmy to deliver the drugs to Bali. After that the items were given in Emmy’s apartment addressed at 211 211 Kokmammung Pakam Buri Ram, Thailand 31220, which happened last 15th December 2010. The items were in packages

and Emmy was asked to swallow it one by one.

After 15 minutes of swallowing them, at the same day she went to the Airport with Alex and went by herself on a TG 431 plane. Arriving in Ngurah Rai Airport the next day, 16th December 2010, workers in the airport were suspicious of Emmy’s behavior. When her goods and her body were checked, nothing was found. And then workers held her stomach as it’s curiously hard.

“After x-rayed there were foreign or illegal items in it,” Raka Arimbawa explained.

To take it out, workers then bought her a fruit juice which caused her stomach aching and went to the toilet. Not all were taken out at once mixed with her dirt. At first 87 packs with each 12 blue ecstasy tablets, later on another packet of 168 tablets came out. The third time, another two packets with 64 tablets each. Later on was a packet of 4 tablets and the last one a packet of methamphetamine. She was then brought to Bali Police straight away. (015)

Decisive action required to restrict modern stores Denpasar (Bali Post)—

The mushrooming development of modern stores such as minimarkets, super markets, malls, hyper markets are feared to shift the existence of traditional markets and shops owned by the community.

Moreover, the products sold in modern markets, particular in minimarket are not much different from those sold in traditional shops. On that account, it is required a decisive stance to discipline the existence of modern markets.

A member of Commission C of Denpasar House, AA Susruta Ngurah Putra, who was met in his office on Wednesday (Mar 16), said the emergence of networked minimarkets in Denpasar threatened the local small businesses. In reality, the penetration of minimarkets had reached fairly small areas. According to him, this condition needed governing by stronger regulations, such as Regional Regulation.

He judged the presence of Mayoral Regulation No. 9/2009 concerning with the Re-arrangement and Restoration of Traditional Market, Shopping Center and Modern Stores, had not been adequate. It was proven by the emergence of many modern shops, especially minimarkets.

On the other hand, Chairman of Commission B, Eko Supriadi, specifically assessed the less equivocalness of civilian security guards (Tramtib) in taking action against violators of modern store business.

He pointed out that stores that had been sealed could open again a few moments later though they did not

have permission yet. “I think the action of the officers is not maximal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of Denpasar civilian security guards (Trantib) and public order officers (Satpol PP), I Ketut Nick Natha Wibawa said his party had taken decisive action against violations committed by employers of minimarket. It was proven by dozens of illegal minimarkets had been imposed with seal sanctions within the past few months. Not only that, if there were minimarkets reopened within the period of sanctions, his party even sealed the building used to operate their business.

However, Natha Wibawa admitted the act of some minimarket entrepreneurs who played hide-andseek with the officers. The seal affixed by the officer was not opened by the entrepreneurs, but they reopened their business with the existing attached seals. “Breaking the seal has been categorized into committing a crime. In this stage, it has become the authority of police,” said Nick Natha Wibawa.

This former Assistant I of Denpasar Municipality also added that city administration had currently been drafting a Mayoral Instruction in disciplining illegal minimarkets in Denpasar. The instructions would involve relevant agencies, such as the Office of Integrated Licensing, Spatial Layout Plan and Housing Services and other related institutions. “I think it is just waiting for the approval signature,” said Natha Wibawa. (kmb12)

4

News

Friday, March 18, 2011

International

Fears mount as Japan races to cool reactors Reuters

TOKYO – Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan dumped water on overheating reactors on Thursday while the United States expressed growing alarm about leaking radiation and said it was chartering aircraft to help Americans leave the country.

Engineers were rushing against time to run in a power line off the main grid to fire up the water pumps needed to cool two reactors and the spent fuel rods considered most at risk. While Japanese officials were scrambling with a patchwork of fixes at the facility, the top U.S. nuclear regulator warned that reactor No.4’s cooling pool for spent fuel rods may have run dry and another was leaking.

“There is no water in the spent fuel pool and we believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures,” Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

“It would be very difficult for

emergency workers to get near the reactors. The doses they could experience would potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time.”

The plant operator said it believed the No.4 reactor spent fuel pool still had water as of Wednesday.

U.S. officials took pains not to criticize the Japanese government, which has shown signs of being overwhelmed by the crisis, but Washington’s actions indicated a divide with the Japanese about the perilousness of the situation. “The worstcase scenario doesn’t bear mentioning and the best-case scenario keeps getting worse,” Perpetual Investments said in a note on the crisis.

Japan said the United States would fly a high-altitude drone over the stricken complex to gauge the

situation, and had offered to send nuclear experts. A State Department official said flights would be laid on for Americans to leave and family of embassy staff had been authorized to leave if they wanted.

Health experts said panic over radiation leaks from the Daiichi plant, around 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was diverting attention from other life-threatening risks confronting survivors of last Friday’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami, such as cold weather, heavy snow in parts and access to fresh water.

Officials check a visitor at a radiation screening center in Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture on March 17, 2011 some 60 kms away from the Fukushima nuclear facilities. Japanese military helicopters dumped tonnes of water onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo in a bid to douse fuel rods and prevent a disastrous radiation release.

AFP PHOTO / Go TAKAYAMA

Prince William stunned at Christchurch quake damage Agence France Presse

AFP PHOTO / POOL

Britain Prince William visits Christchurch’s Cathedral on March 17, 2011. Prince William expressed shock at the devastation in earthquakehit Christchurch after walking amid the rubble of the stricken New Zealand city to see the damage first hand.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Prince William expressed his shock at the devastation in earthquake-hit Christchurch Thursday after walking amid the rubble to inspect the stricken New Zealand city first hand. “It’s just so sad,” the Prince said as he surveyed teetering buildings in the city centre, which was razed in last month’s 6.3-magnitude tremor, adding “the scale of it is unbelievable”.

The Prince, travelling without his bride-to-be Kate Middleton, was confronted with the sight of office blocks and shops that collapsed when the February 22 quake killed about 180 people and flattened much of the city. The trip to

Christchurch, which has been rocked by constant aftershocks since the February 22 quake, was the first stop on a five-day tour of disaster-hit areas of New Zealand and Australia.

The 28-year-old displayed none of the reserve normally associated with visiting royalty, acknowledging the emotional impact the city’s plight had on him and offering heartfelt thanks to rescue workers and words of comfort to residents.

Christchurch resident James Sykes said locals appreciated his presence on a trip St James’ Palace has described as a way for the royals to show support to Australians and New Zealanders following a string of recent disasters. “I’m not what you would call a royalist but I’m just glad that someone in his shoes decided to

come down here,” Sykes said. “It shows solidarity with the people.”

Appearing relaxed and in good spirits after touching down at Christchurch airport, the Prince paused to hold an onlooker’s baby and smiled as one woman yelled out: “Thank you so much for coming to Christchurch.” But the mood became sombre when he arrived in the city centre, the area worst hit in the disaster.

He was guided into Christchurch’s “red zone”, which is still closed to the public because of the danger from damaged buildings, including the city’s landmark cathedral, reduced to a rubble-strewn shell in the quake. It was a stark contrast to the Prince’s last visit to Christchurch in 2005 during a rugby union tour by the British and Irish Lions.

Bahrain arrests 6 opposition leaders after crackdown Reuters

MANAMA – Bahrain arrested at least six opposition leaders on Thursday, a day after its crackdown on protests by the Shi’ite Muslim majority drew rare U.S. criticism and raised fears of a regional conflict.

Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters to drive protesters off the streets and clear a camp that had become a symbol of their demand for more democratic rights in the Sunniruled kingdom. Three police and three protesters died in the crackdown.

The crackdown prompted sympa-

thy protests from Shi’ites across the region, including in oil major Saudi Arabia, and analysts said it might provoke a response from Iran, which supports Shi’ite groups in Iraq and Lebanon. Oil was up over $1 on Thursday as the Gulf tensions fueled fears of further supply disruption while investors weighed the impact on energy demand from quake-hit Japan. Capital flight from Bahrain is starting to pressure its currency and threaten its position as a Gulf financial center.

Most Western nations have urged their citizens to leave Bahrain, and a spokesman said the British embassy

had organized charter flights to Dubai for Brits without other options.

Protesters are asking for the monarchy to move to a parliamentary system where cabinet is made up of elected officials, though some want a republican system. Government is at present appointed by the king and parliament has few powers.

The opposition say the current system is designed to water down the influence of Shi’ite Muslims, who say they are discriminated against in jobs, housing and politics. The government denies this. Pearl roundabout was a scene of devastation.

AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

A Bahraini Shiite cleric, chants slogans, during a protest against Saudi and Bahraini leaders in front of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, as Iranian police officers protect the Embassy, Iran, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

Activities

International

Friday, March 18, 2011

5

3V Rening Bay Resort

Launched Furniture Design Competition 2011 IBP

KEROBOKAN - 3V Rening Bay, located in Negara, Bali, is a new concept of beach front Resorts. It better defined as a family luxury destination with a heart and a soul. Combining the edge of modernity with the core of traditional and authentic Bali, 3V Rening Bay offers a unique experience based on comfort, fun, and pleasure but also on respecting and enhancing the natural environment as well as connecting and sharing with the local community. Describe Franck Girardot, Chairman and CEO of Vivalavi Holding Group which owned the 3V Rening Bay. As multinational company that operates in Bali, this resort tries to maintain the beauty of Bali by applying eco friendly furniture concept in its resort. To give and encourage eco friendly furniture use in this island, Franck said that Vivalavi Holding Group held Furniture Design Competition as the 3V Rening Bay’s corporate social responsibility initiation. ‘’The furniture design competition opens for the Indonesian design students to exercise their learning and project their talent into real life experience,” he explained.

According to Franck it is in the heritage of Indonesia that working with the nature that gives the challenge of the resort design. He would like the

Indonesian students to show their creative talents and 3V Rening Bay is keen to offer an opportunity for the students to participate in this furniture design competition to work with sustainability materials but at the same time giving functional and innovative design. ‘’One of our main purposes is to promote creativity and innovation. We want our Resort to show how modernity, creativity and design can be used to protect and leverage the natural beauty of the environment,” he further described.

The submitted designs will be selected by the Project Design Team and the 3 finalists in each category will then be judged by a team of Jury. The juries will review the student’s projects based on creativity, ergonomic, design, eco concern, costing and function and determine the winner. Last submission for the competition will be June 30th, 2011 open only for Indonesian full time or part time students.

The winning design in each category will be produced as a prototype and promoted through a series of exhibitions in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Bali.

It will be produced to be used as furniture in the Resorts. In addition, the winning designer will receive IDR 2 millions in cash, while the remaining finalists will receive IDR 1 millions in cash per project. All the designs are intellectual property of the students and they have exclusive statutory right to exercise control over copying of the work. (kmb18)

Temple Ceremony Calendar Event for March 8 through March 19, 2011 8 March Anggar Kasih Perangbakat Bukit Buluh Gunaksa - Klungkung Tirta Sudamala Bebalang - Bangli Paibon Pasek Bendesa Sangsit - sawan Buleleng Pasek Gelgel Pangi Dawan - Klungkung Gunung Tengsong Lombok - NTB Dalem Benawah Benawah - Gianyar Dalem Bitra Bitra - Gianyar Dalem Banyuning Banyuning Timur Buleleng Dalem Pauman Batan Getas Titih Denpasar Tengah Padang Tegalalang - Gianyar Merajan Pasek Gelgel Desa Sande - Pupuan Tabanan Kawitan Tangkas Kori Agung Desa Adat Pagan Denpasar Hyangaluh/Jenggala Besakih - Gianyar Merajan Pasek Lurah Tutuan Gunaksa Klungkung Merajan Pasek Gelgel SelulungSelulung Merajan Pasek Subrata Medahan Merajan Pasek Munggu Munggu Pura Tengkulak Tulikup - Gianyar Penataran Badung Ogang Village Sidemen Karangasem 9 March Buda Umanis Perangbakat Puri Agung Dalem Tarukan Tarukan Pejeng Tampak Siring-Gianyar Rambut Siwi Jembrana Batu Bolong Canggu - Kuta Pasek Marga Klaci Klaci - Tabanan Agung Pasek Dauh Waru Jembrana Ratu Pasek Sangsit Sawan - Buleleng Pasek Tangkas Darma Reyanggede Tabanan Banyuning Village Temple Banyuning Buleleng Srijon Tabanan Pasek Gelgel Lebah Pangkung Petemon

Tirta Anom Padang Sigi Sading - Tampak Siring Dadi Agung Pasek Bendesa Dukuh Manuaba Tegalalang Pedarmaan Batursari Ngilis Jegu Penebel Tabanan Puncak Mundi Nusa Penida 19 March Purnama Kedasa Odalan Betara Turun Kabeh Besakih Karangasem Ngusaba in Bukit Jati Temple Bangli Batur Kalanganyar Bangli Masceti Pejeng Aji Tegalalang - Gianyar Dalem Tangsub Sukawati - Gianyar Penambangan Badung Denpasar City Ngusaba in Lempuyab Madia Temple Karangasem Ngusaba in Batur Temple Bangli Village Temple Singakerta Ubud Pasek Gelgel Tagtag Kukuh Marga Tabanan Gaduh Ketapian Sumerta Denpasar Pasek Bendesa Batur Tuak Ilang Tabanan Pasek Agung Tagtag Kelod Peguyangan Denpasar Agung Pasek Bendesa Tonja Tonja - Denpasar Pasek Gelgel Angsri Baturiti - Tabanan Pasek Gelgel Bale Agung Subamia Beraban Dukuh Sari Belatung Bengkel Timpag Kerambitan Pusat Dukuh Sari Belatung Rendang Karangasem Pita Maha Palangkaraya Kalteng Canda Peraba Komplek Polri Jelambar Jakarta Barat Agung Jagat Natha Denpasar Pemerajan Agung Puri Petak Gianyar Dadia Agung Tangkas Kori Agung Abiansemal Badung

Balinese Temple Ceremony EVERY Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is considered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always happens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on the importance of the occasion.

The celebration is very colorful. The shrine are dressed with pieces of cloths and sometimes with brocade, sailings, decorations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold and Chinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the four corners of the shrine. In front of shrine are placed red, white or black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped in the shrines.

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

6

Friday, March 18, 2011

News ‘Callous and greedy’ woman convicted of slavery Agence France Presse

AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez

Mexican army soldiers stand outside a home where gunmen killed an elderly woman and two of her grandchildren in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico Tuesday March 15, 2011.

AP: US spy drones flown over Mexico since 2009 Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been surreptitiously flying Predator drones into Mexico for two years, helping Mexican authorities spy on suspected drug traffickers, The Associated Press has learned. The border security agency’s surveillance flights, approved

by Mexico but never announced by either country, predate occasional flights into Mexico by the U.S. Air Force’s $38 million Global Hawk drone that began last month.

Mexico’s National Security Council said in a statement Wednesday that unmanned aircraft have flown over Mexico on specific occasions, mainly along the border with the U.S., to gather information at the request of the Mexican government. The flights expand the U.S. role in the drug war, in which Americans already have been training Mexican soldiers and police as well as cooperating on other intelligence.

“When these operations are carried out, they are always done with the authorization, oversight and supervision of national agencies, including the Mexican Air Force,” the council said. It said Mexico always

defines the objectives, the information to be gathered and the specific tasks in which the drones will be used and insisted the operations respected Mexican law, civil and human rights.

The drones “have been particularly useful in achieving various objectives of combating crime and have significantly increased Mexican authorities’ capabilities and technological superiority in its fight against crime,” the council said.

The drones, which cost more than $10 million each, are equipped with cameras that can identify an object the size of a milk carton, provide realtime images to ground control operators and can fly for more than 30

hours without having to refuel, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

The Global Hawk drone operations were first reported Wednesday

by The New York Times, which said they began last month under an agreement between President Barack Obama and Mexico’s leader, Felipe Calderon. AP’s reporting found that similar operations using a different kind of drone have been going on since 2009.

The flights were quickly criticized by some Mexican politicians, who have often been sensitive to the involvement of U.S. agencies on Mexican soil.

Official: 30 killed...

hoping for a positive U.N. Security Council vote but “if not, we’ll rely on ourselves and do what we can.”

The U.S. wants the Security Council to approve planes, troops or ships to stop attacks by Gadhafi on the rebels, according to a diplomat familiar with closed-door negotiations Wednesday.

The Obama administration said it would not act without Security Council authorization, did not want to put U.S. ground troops into Libya, and insists on broad international participation, especially

by Arab states, the diplomat said.

A resident told the AP that Ajdabiya

had been hit by hours of airstrikes but it was not clear if the government or rebels, who say they have at least three planes, are carrying them out.

“Gadhafi troops have not invaded the city on foot until now,” said Moataz al-Ghariani, who lives in downtown Ajdabiya and is in touch with the rebels. “They are only imposing a siege from three fronts: the western, the southern and the eastern. No one can leave and no one can enter.” He said the rebels were surrounding a unit of Gadhafi forces at the eastern gates of the city.

From page 1 Those already trained were seeking more preparation to be battle ready.

Rebel spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said that the government tried to hit Benghazi’s airport with an airstrike but missed. The Red Cross said it was leaving Benghazi because of deteriorating security and moving to the city of Tobruk, further east.

Gheriani said by telephone from Benghazi that the opposition was

LONDON – A former hospital director who forced an African woman to work 18 hours a day became the first person in Britain to be convicted of “modern-day slavery.” Saeeda Khan, 68, was ordered to pay 49-year-old Mwanahamisi Mruke, who was trafficked from Tanzania in 2006, 25,000 pounds.

She was spared a prison sentence, but Judge Geoffrey Rivlin said this was due to her own ill health and the fact she has two adult disabled children. “You could easily have afforded to pay her a reasonable sum by way of wages,” said Rivlin during sentencing at London’s Southwark Crown Court.

“You chose to give her virtually nothing. “Your own behaviour was callous and greedy,” the judge added. Mruke was initially paid 10 pounds per week, but this allowance was stopped within a year.

Khan, who was found guilty of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation, forbade Mruke from leaving the house in Harrow, north west London, and fed her two slices of bread a day. The court had heard how Mruke was brought to Britain after working at a hospital in Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, which Khan owned.

Khan promised to pay Mruke

50 pounds a week and said she would only have to work six hours a day. “I felt like a fool, I was treated like a slave,” Mruke, who was saving up to help her daughter through college, said.

“I was hoping I would receive a salary and improve my life. But my hopes were dashed, my strength was reduced and I became unwell.”

Rivlin said Khan had told a “pack of lies” during the trial and had taken advantage of her “naive and illiterate” victim.

Mruke told the court that she would wake up at 6a.m. and then clean, garden, cook and go for walks with Khan’s sons before finally being allowed to sleep on a mattress in the kitchen at around midnight. “I feel that justice should be passed and others should learn from this. I feel terrible about her,” Mruke said.

Mruke’s plight only came to light when she was allowed to visit a doctor over her varicose veins.

Mruke’s parents both died during her three-year ordeal, but she was allowed no contact with her family in Tanzania.

Earlier, prosecutor Caroline Haughey told Southwark Crown Court: “From the moment of her arrival in England Mwanamisi was made to sleep, work and live in conditions that fall by any understanding into that of slavery.”

Huge lobster saved from the pot Reuters

LONDON – One of the biggest and oldest lobsters ever caught in Britain has been saved from the pot and will live out the rest of its long life in an aquarium. The massive crustacean measures close to one metre (3 feet) in length and weighs more than 4 kg (9 lb).

“He’s a fantastic specimen and by his size alone he has got to be at least 50 years old,” said Lindsay Holloway of the Blue Reef aquarium in Portsmouth, where the lobster now lives. “He is an amazing creature and it’s quite an achievement to have reached such

an impressive age,” he added.

The lobster was caught in around 14 feet of water by a compassionate angler fishing for sole in Bracklesham Bay, off the coast of West Sussex.

Lobsters are among the planet’s oldest inhabitants with fossil remains found dating back more than 100 million years. They are also extremely long-lived with some reaching ages of over 80 years.

The aquarium said the heaviest recorded crustacean is an Atlantic lobster nicknamed Mike who was caught in 1934 and tipped the scales at an awesome 19 kg. (London newsroom)

International

Indonesia Today

Friday, March 18, 2011

7

Indonesia denies forced religious conversions Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA – Indonesia admitted on Wednesday that soldiers had been entering mosques of a minority Islamic sect but said they had been protecting followers, escalating a debate about religious freedoms.

AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD

A man looks at trees felled by strong wind during a heavy downpour that engulfed Jakarta on March 16, 2011. The heavy downpour flooded some streets of the Indonesian capital, falled trees and collapsed traffic signs causing massive traffic jam as Indonesia suffers from effects of extreme weather conditions.

Falling trees in Jakarta hit 14 cars Antara

JAKARTA - Fourteen cars got damaged after being hit by toppled trees following torrential rains and strong winds that hit Indonesia‘s capital city, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Some of the damaged vehicles were found at Raden Saleh and Pattimura roads, said Sarum, a local resident.

Sarum, a street vendor, said the trees that the strong winds toppled at 01.30 PM local time were generally old.

“The toppled trees hit three cars which happened to pass the streets and eleven other cars parked in the area,” he said.

Meanwhile, Asep, driver of a

Grand Livina van, said he and his two passengers escaped unhurt when a tree fell on their car which was seriously damaged.

“I just passed through an access road to Pattimura road. Inside the car were me, my employer and her daughter. But, we were all safe,” he said.

The toppled tree hit Asep‘s car and damaged the back part of the ill-fated van, he said.

Shortly after the rainfall and strong wind ended, a number of Jakarta city workers cleaned broken trunks of the toppled trees from the roads, he said.

Over the past year, Indonesia has been undergoing an extreme weather phenomenon, which partly

characterizes with heavy rains and whirlwinds.

As the consequences of the torrential rains and whirlwinds, various vulnerable parts of the country have experienced flash floods and landslides.

On December 28, 2010, a landslide, for instance, ripped off the front porch of a house taking it along down the slope of a five-meter hill following heavy rain in the Gua Maria cave area in Delik village, Semarang, Central Java.

In January 2011, the extreme weather conditions that had triggered high waves in the Sunda Strait had even caused several hundred trucks stranded in Banten province over the past few days.

Terror group behind Indonesia ‘book bombs’: official Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA – A top Indonesian anti-terror official said Wednesday that regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah was behind a series of “book bombs” in the capital, one of which injured four people.

The first bomb, hidden in a hollowed-out thick book, exploded on Tuesday afternoon as police attempted to defuse it.

The package was addressed to Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a well-known liberal Muslim figure who espouses pluralism and religious tolerance.

It came with a threatening letter urging Abdalla to write a preface to the book which was entitled “They

Deserved to be Killed: Because of their Sins to Islam and Muslims.”

National Anti-Terror Agency (BNPT) chief Ansyaad Mbai told AFP: “It’s the work of terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) which has been actively launching bomb attacks in this country.”

JI is a Southeast Asian extremist group inspired by Al-Qaeda, which carries out terror attacks to destablise governments in a bid to unite the region into a fundamentalist Islamic state.

Police found two similar bombs later Tuesday in other parts of Jakarta.

One was sent to the national narcotics agency office headed by Goris Mere, a former top counter-terrorism

police official and the other sent to the house of chairman of a youth organisation Pemuda Pancasila.

“Their target is more specific now. All three bombs’ intended recipients were the group’s enemies.

The group considered them to be an obstacle to their goal in establishing an Islamic caliphate,” Mbai said.

“Pancasila is our country’s ideology they strongly opposed. It’s very clear who were the players behind these incidents,” Mbai added.

Abdalla regularly spoke out against Islamic extremism while Mere was one of top police officials who have hunted down JI members since the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, he said

An Indonesian human rights group said however it had recorded 56 cases in West Java province in which soldiers forced Ahmadiyah followers to convert to mainstream Islam.

The government denies there have been any forced conversions, saying the military intervention was to protect the Ahmadiyah from more violence.

“As long as their intention is positive — that is to ensure Ahmadiyah followers do not become the target of violence — then that’s not a human rights violation,” said Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar.

“It’s not a harmful intervention,” Akbar told reporters.

But local rights group Imparsial disputed that, saying soldiers have entered mosques, gathered the sect followers and “forced them to repent and convert to Islam”.

There has been an international outcry over the treatment of Ahmadis after an amateur video showed hundreds of Muslim fanatics armed with machetes, sticks and rocks attacking Ahmadiyah followers, leaving three dead.

There is also criticism over a decree from some provincial administrations in the world’s most populous Muslim country that

prohibited Ahmadis from displaying signs identifying their mosques and schools.

“We already checked and there’s no negative element, there’s no coercion whatsoever,” Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.

Human Rights Watch has condemned violence against the sect and urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to sack his religious affairs minister for discrimination and to lift the ban on Ahmadiyah practising in public.

Ahmadiyah, who differ from orthodox Muslims because they do not believe Mohammed was the last prophet, have been subjected to regular abuse and persecution since their sect was slapped with restrictions at the urging of mainstream Muslims in 2008.

Yudhoyono has condemned last month’s attack on the sect but defended a 2008 law banning the Ahmadiyah from spreading their faith, which is used by hardliners to justify attacks on the sect.

Indonesia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and Ahmadis has been escalating since 2008. There have been cases of Christians being beaten and churches attacked.

RI’s forex reserves reach $102.02 billion Antara

JAKARTA - Indonesia‘s foreign exchange reserves in the year ended March 10 rose to US$102.02 billion on the back of the robust domestic economy, Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution said.

“I am optimistic that the economy will continue to pick up and the economic growth will become increasingly open as we are now one step away from an investment grade,” he said when opening a national coordination meeting of regional inflation control teams here on Wednesday.

Also present at the meeting was Vice President Boediono.

Darmin said the heavy challenge that might lie ahead would be inflationary pressure particu-

larly that caused by rising commodity prices and that intensive efforts must be made to deal with it.

“The inflationary pressure caused by disruption of food supply will remain high. Unless the problem is dealt with it can raise commodity prices,” he said.

As the inflationary pressure was very much influenced by disruption of food supply it could not be dealt with merely by means of monetary policy but also comprehensive policy involving relevant parties, he said.

Looking ahead, the regional teams of inflation control must not only exchange information but also seek solution from the standpoint of food supply, ranging from production, distribution, market structure to mechanism, he said.

8

Internationa

Friday, March 18, 2011

Bali Today Governor must implement the spatial plan rule Antara

Denpasar – The special committee for analyzing the provincial rules regarding the spatial planning choose to support the decision of Bali Governor, Made Mangku Pastika.

“The Governor can carry out the rule because it is the duty of the head of the province,” the head of the committee, Wayan Disel Astawa, said.

IBP/Doc

Barong Bangkung

Barong Bangkung Keeps on Pursuing Its ’Prey’ On hearing the expressions, children then run helter-skelter regardless of the danger impeding in front them. There is a child jumping over the wall compound, running into the house and then lock the door, while some others climb up the trees nearby as they are so scared. Meanwhile, the barong bangkung (barong in the form of huge she-pig) does not want to lose its target and keeps on pursuing them.

When the children are missing from its presence, this black barong is only grunting and occasionally showing off while luring the children to go out. In the meantime, its gamelan music accompaniment named batel keeps on being played so that the show becomes more attractive. If the barong bangkung often chases the children, so the barong bangkung is also hunted by many organizers for a show.

Thus, the uniqueness of barong bangkung art show held during the period of Galungan to Kuningan festivity. By and large, the barong

show is habitually performed for 15 days starting from two days prior to Galungan (penyajaan) until Manis Kuningan. In its show, the art of barong bangkung is really different from other traditional Balinese performing arts. It does not require special stage, but it performs the show from one house’s entrance to another commonly known as ngelawang or gallivanting show.

Virtually every single region in Bali has an art tradition of barong bangkung. By performing the barong bangkung, the Hindu community in Bali believes they will be free from evil forces.

Barong bangkung has function to neutralize (nyomya) the evil forces into good forces. Yet, there are also people organizing the show just to please their grandchildren at the feast of the victory of dharma (truth) against adharma (untruth).

However, most people in the region of Tabanan believe that by performing barong bangkung

show, their pregnant she-pig cattle will give birth to many piglets. In the region of Ubud Gianyar, the presence of barong bangkung will become an interesting spectacle for tourists. Meanwhile, in the region of Badung and Denpasar, the art of barong bangkung is usually danced by adults. Then, at Gulingan Village the barong bangkung is played by two generations, namely children and the adults.

I n t h e g a l l i v a n t i n g s h o w, people do not only present the barong bangkung, but also other barongs like barong macan (barong in the form of tiger), barong landung (tall Chinese couple) and some others. These days, the gallivanting show is also commonly undertaken at hotels specifically intended for tourists. Bali Provincial Government through the annual Bali Arts Festival (BAF) regularly organizes the gallivanting show as an effort to preserve the tradition.

(BTN/015)

According to Disel, even tough the Governor will still carry out the spatial plan rule, the committee is still needed. “The committee was formed due to the problem in implementing the rule on the real life condition. The committee consist of the member of Bali House of Representative has the right to control the execution of the rule,” he added.

Disel also said that the committee is only analyzing and controlling the implementation of the rule and not for other reason so he hoped everyone supports the work of the committee.” He explained that on the rule no 16 in 2009 stated that every regency

in Bali should arrange or revise the spatial plan of their own the latest three years after the rule was established. However, the rule only can be applied after all stock holders agree on it.

Disel Astawa wanted everyone to take a look on the process of arranging the rule which make many regencies complained. “We found out that during the process of making the rule, several head of regencies had file in their complaints through the Province Development department but they didn’t get any response. We want to clear out the matter so we created the special committee,” he added.

Bali Tourist Drivers Reminded Not to Discuss Passengers The vice-chairman of the Bali Guide Association (HPI Bali), Sangtu Subaya, has issued a reminder to drivers bringing tourists around the island o tours that they are not permitted to accompany tourists on their visits to tourist objects and attractions. Moreover, drivers are being generally discouraged from giving tourist information to their passengers.

As reported by Bisnis Bali, Subaya admitted that while it is impossible to prevent the free exchange of information between drivers and their passengers inside a moving car, drivers who are not in possession of a guide license are strictly prohibited from ac-

companying their passengers when touring temples and other tourist attractions. Insisting that drivers should never purchase admission tickets for their passengers and remain near their vehicles in the parking lot, Subaya underlined that only guides licensed by the province are entitled to accompany guests through tourist objects and provide destination information.

While tourists hiring drivers are not obliged to hire tour guides, drivers attempting to fill that role are subject to apprehension by police and tourism officials who regularly patrol tourist object on the look out for unlicensed guides.

al

Friday, March 18, 2011

Balinese Culture

Indonesian Government support the effort to reduce traffic DENPASAR – Indonesian Government supported the effort by Bali’s Government to reduce the traffic problem in the island. One of them is by making alternative route especially in Ngurah Rai International Airport, Sanur, Kuta, and Nusa Dua. Ahmad Hermanto Dardak, the vice General Work Minister, said “the effort must be done by all elements in Bali.” Hermanto was in Bali to open the Regional Consultation for Eastern Indonesia by the General Work Minister 2011.

During the event, he explained that the traffic problem is currently being analyzed by all related departments in Bali. The analysis is about the ring road which connects Denpasar with Benoa and other transportation tools.

“There is great hope that the solution can solve the traffic problem and it could lead to the economics development of the people in Bali,” Hermanto said. The funding of the project is prepared from investors so it can be done immediately.

Bali Governor, Made Mangku

Pastika, said that the southern part of Bali especially in Denpasar and Badung, the traffic is very congested.

“Nowadays, the time to travel in Bali is very hard to predict because the traffic jam. In order to solve the problem, ring roads connecting Denpasar with Benoa and Nusa Dua is still being analyze,” the governor said.

There is great hope that the project can be carried out soon to solve the problem face by the famous tourism destination in the world. The traffic problem should not affect the tourism in Bali.

IBP/Eka Adhiyasa

Traffic jam in the street of Denpasar often occur because the balance of vehicles and the size of the road no longer match.

Cooked Vegetables with Grated Coconut (Urap) Ingredients * 8 oz fresh green beans * 8 oz bean sprouts * 4 carrots * 1 can bamboo shoots * ½ small cabbage * 1 cup fresh grated coconut * 1 small onion, finely chopped * ½ tsp. chilli sauce (sambal ulek) * 1 tsp. salt * 2 Tbs. lime juice * ½ tsp. dried shrimp paste (terasi) Directions Wash bean sprouts, pinching of any brown tail. Pour boiling water over bean sprouts, then rinse under cold water tap. Drain well.

String beans and cut diagonally or bite-size lengths and cook in lightly salted water until just tender. Beans should still be crisp to bite.

Scrub carrot and cut into thin strips, cook until tender.

Drain well.

Slice cabbage, discard the center stem. Blanch in boiling salted water for a minute or two, until tender but not limp. Drain and refresh with cold water.

Cut bamboo shoots into strips the same size as the beans.

Place fresh grated coconut into a bowl, add onion, chili sauce, salt, lime juice and the shrimp paste which has been grilled for a few minutes, or heated in a dry frying pan. Mix thoroughly together.

Sprinkle this grated coconut mixture over vegetables, reserving some to garnish the dish when served.

Put vegetables in a steamer and steam for 5-8 minutes.

Put the steamed vegetables to a serving dish/platter and sprinkle with reserved grated coconut mixture. Use as an accompaniment to a meal, or as a salad by itself. (http://asiarecipe.com)

Crispy Fried Tempe (Keripik Tempe) Ingredients * 600 gram tempe (fermented soybean cake) - not tofu * 200 ml water * ½ tsp. slaked lime water * 100 gr. rice flour mixed with 25 gram cornstarch * vegetable oil * Spice Paste Ingredients: * 4 candlenuts * 1 clove garlic * 1 tsp. coriander seeds * salt to taste * 1 cm fresh kencur

C.045 ibp

Directions Slice the tempe in thin 3½ x 5 cm squares. Set aside.

Mix the spice-paste together with the water and slaked lime water. Add the rice flour and cornstarch and blend till smooth.

Heat the oil in a wok, dip the tempe in the batter and deep-fry until it is golden brown and crisp.

Note: Make sure that the oil is not too hot, otherwise the batter and the tempe will not be done at the same time. (http://asiarecipe.com)

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10

Destinations

Friday, March 18, 2011

International

Penglipuran Village IBP

Penglipuran Village is a traditional countryside owning unique characteristic life, socializing and culture. It is located in Kubu Village, Bangli Sub district and Bangli Regency. The natural nature and environments of countryside is designating the pittance touch of modernization influence. This countryside is supported by cool atmosphere because it is located on the height land about 700 m above sea level and according to history of all old doyens that this countryside is taken away from the word Pengeling Pura what its meaning remember to ancestor, but there is also telling that the word of Penglipur mean the entertainer. It is said that at former empire era, all king often use this area as a place to amuse themselves, because its nature is beautiful and can give the peacefulness and inspiration at the time of experiencing a problem.

The houses exist in this countryside from north to the south is look very beautiful in particular the Balinese traditional entrance gate

which are made similar each other.

When we step down to this village, we will meet the Balinese houses are oriented northeastwards to Mount Agung which is located in north-east of Bali Island. The structure of house building between one house and others are equal in particular to condition, form, size and function from the building except building of family bed room is freeform. The family temple building is places the same direction to the Agung Mount, kitchen is located in upstate from the lawn and the building of Bale Sakaenem is the six beamed building which its function for ceremony place. The place for look after the livestock and the place to plant assorted vegetable are referred as non irrigated dry field which is called Teba. Its Construction material is made from wood except family residence. It is predominated by substance from bamboo because around this countryside is bamboo producer.

The countryside is lead by a leader which is Bendesa or Kelian or Penyarikan or Patengan and he/she is assisted by Sinoman. The social system is recognized by the 12 group

terms that are number 1 until 12 as member of Pemerincik that is commissioned member converse the problem or plan and its result is submitted to the member. They are very trusting of 12 groups and have represented the tradition in heritage

International Bali Post Classifieds BALI CENTRAL CANOPY

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away back. The Consanguinity System in this countryside is Patrilinial system that is according to father lineage. This countryside religion leader is called as Jero Bayan which is consisted of 3 Jero Bayans that is a Jero Bayan Mucuk and 2 people of Jero

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

Friday, March 18, 2011

11

BUSINESS Japan crisis spells jitters for global economy Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON – Experts are cautiously optimistic that the still-brittle global economy can absorb the shock of Japan’s triple disaster, but major risks still loom as the crisis unfolds.

As Japan has been ravaged by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency, economists have appeared confident the world’s third largest economy will bounce back and that damage to the global economy will be limited.

Many, like Nariman Behravesh, an economist at USbased IHS, predict a “large, but — probably — temporary impact on the Japanese economy,” and a “small impact on the rest of the world.”

Using previous catastrophes like the 1995 Kobe earthquake as a reference, they expect quakestruck businesses to eventually reopen.

Meanwhile tens of billions of dollars will be spent rebuilding homes, factories and infrastructure, sparking a recovery boom.

That process, they hope, will be replicated in Japan’s links with the world.

“Japan’s most important trading partners — Australia, China — will see both the most important near-term drag, and the largest medium-term benefit,” said Societe Generale’s Michala Marcussen.

The prospect of quick economic recovery will be little consolation for the millions whose lives have been turned upside down by the disaster, but will offer some solace for those across

the globe who are already worried by high unemployment and rising prices.

But as the crisis rumbles on, there are increasing warnings about how spillovers could be felt by consumers and economies across the globe, even without a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.

The most immediate problems are being felt in the manufacturing sector.

Japan has long ceased to be the world’s factory — surpassed by China, Indonesia and a host of other emerging countries — but it is still a crucial part of the global supply chain for everything from cars and computer parts.

With 11 nuclear plants shuttered and blackouts predicted until the end of April, a slowdown in Japanese production could quickly turn into a manufacturing bottleneck.

“People will be surprised by how fast prices will rise,” Jesse Toprak, an auto analyst with TrueCar.com told AFP. Toprak predicted that shuttered production could push up the cost of Japanese cars by around $1,000 dollars for some US-sold models by next week, as dealers cut discounts in the face dwindling supply.

Meanwhile production on nonJapanese cars could be slowed by a parts shortage.

“Most vehicles that are made

the United States have at least one component if not more that comes from Japan,” he said.

Rising oil prices are seen as another conduit for the crisis spreading.

Although crude costs have fluctuated in recent days as traders weighted lower short-term demand in Japan, a protracted nuclear crisis could raise demand for oil.

On Wednesday oil prices rose by 80 cents a barrel in New York and $2.10 in London, although tension in the Middle East and North Africa also played a role.

“An oil price shock would lower (global) growth substantially, but probably not cause an outright recession,” said analysts at Swiss Re. Policymakers, still chastened by the recent economic downturn, are also focused on preventing fallout in the financial markets — a now familiar conduit for crises.

Japan’s central bank has pumped $62 billion into the economy, while the Federal Reserve continued to unfurl a $600 billion in stimulus spending despite a rosier economic outlook at home.

When the yen hit a post-war high against the dollar on Wednesday, speculation raged that central banks could intervene to stop a crippling rise in the price of Japan’s exports.

Insured losses at $12-25 billion Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON – Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami last week have resulted in insured losses of between $12 and $25 billion, risk assessment firm EQECAT said Wednesday.

EQECAT said the epic magnitude-9.0 quake that struck Japan Friday and the ensuing massive tsunami were piling up “significant losses” to the insurance industry.

“EQECAT estimates total insured losses at $12-$25 billion,” the company said.

“This loss estimate encompasses the effects of earthquake shaking, ensuing tsunami and fires, and losses to automobiles, marine, life, and personal accident insurance lines,” it said.

But the loss estimates did not include the developing nuclear

crisis as Japan raced to prevent a catastrophe at quake-stricken nuclear plants.

“These estimates do not account for losses associated with the current nuclear emergency at power plants in the region,” the firm said.

EQECAT estimated that between $2.0 to $4.0 billion of the insured losses was expected to be borne by the government’s Japan Earthquake Reinsurance Pool, reducing the total losses to non-life property insurers in Japan.

The most powerful earthquake to hit Japan since record keeping began triggered a huge tsunami that swept away cars, structures and ships along the eastern coast, and impacted coastal towns across the Pacific as far away as Northern California.

The prefectures where the ground motion was the strongest,

measuring a magnitude of 6.0 on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s seismic intensity scale, are Chiba (northern) and Ibaraki, Tochigi, Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate (southern), the risk modeling firm noted.

But prefectures with significant observations of 5.0-magnitude shaking include Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Niigata, Yamagata, and Aita.

“This distinction is important — the most severe damage to property and assets will be in the areas with JMA 6, but the areas of JMA 5 are expected to have scattered pockets of damage throughout the region,” the firm said.

The largest share of the insured loss will be covered by the property insurance market, which provides earthquake insurance to individuals and businesses in Japan, it said.

Inflation pressure bubbles, home building dives Reuters

WASHINGTON – Producer prices surged in February at their fastest pace in 1-1/2 years, data showed on Wednesday, a day after the Federal Reserve said it had a watchful eye on inflation pressures it expects to subside.

In another reminder on Wednesday of headwinds facing the economy, the government said groundbreaking for new homes posted the biggest drop in 27 years in February and permits for future building reached a record low.

Economists said the jump in food and energy costs that drove the U.S. producer price index higher last month would likely steal from other spending and slow growth.

“I don’t believe that this is a general rise in prices across the board, it’s not the stuff of an inflationary spiral, but you are starting to have some pricing pressures,” said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.

The data and the escalating nuclear emergency in Japan sent U.S. stocks tumbling more than 2 percent at one point, in a third successive day of selling. Investors were still trying to come to grips with what impact the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan could have on the global economy.

Economists believe the U.S. economy should be able to withstand the shock from the oil price spike and any spillover effects from the devastation in Japan. Bond prices rose for a third straight day, sending benchmark yields to a fresh three-month low. The dollar neared a record low against the yen.

The PPI, which measures prices received by farms, factories and refineries, jumped 1.6 percent last month, the largest increase since June 2009, the Labor Department said. The gain was more than double economists’ expectations.

In the 12 months to February, producer prices were up 5.6 percent, the biggest rise since March 2010.

Economists said given the lofty level of U.S. unemployment and lack of wage-driven price pressures, they did not expect the strong producer price rises to pass through to consumers on a large scale.

“You are seeing inflation on the goods side, you don’t see it on the service side. This is a service economy and inflation will be driven more by wages and to this

point wages are reasonable,” said Levitt. “But on Main Street, you will certainly feel the shock whether it is at the gas pump or the supermarket.”

A report on Thursday is expected to show the core Consumer Price Index increased just 0.1 percent in February, according to a Reuters survey, slowing from the prior month’s 0.2 percent gain, which was the largest in more than a year.

The report on home building from the Commerce Department painted a bleak picture for a market lumbered by a vast backlog of unsold inventory.

Housing starts tumbled 22.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 479,000 units, just shy of a record low set in April 2009 and way below economists’ expectations for 570,000 units.

Permits for future building hit 517,000 units, the lowest on records dating to 1960.

While the collapse in construction led some economists to trim economic growth estimates for the first quarter, many saw the decline merely as a correction after a hefty January increase.

“We still expect that the strengthening economic recovery will spark consumer demand, leading residential construction to pick up this year,” said Celia Chen, a senior director at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

“Given their low inventories, builders will need to construct more homes to satisfy demand once it ramps up.”

A separate report showed applications for home loans dipped last week, suggesting still stunted demand ahead of the spring selling season.

The increase in wholesale prices was broad-based.

Energy prices surged 3.3 percent — the biggest advance since January 2010 and an increase that built on January’s 1.8 percent rise. Gasoline prices rose 3.7 percent to account for more than 40 percent of the overall gain in energy costs.

Food prices jumped 3.9 percent, the biggest increase since 1974, and some economists blamed the increase on bad weather.

Stripping out volatile food and energy costs, core producer prices rose 0.2 percent last month, matching expectations and easing after a 0.5 percent rise in January.

The core PPI was lifted by a 1.0 percent increase in apparel, which was the biggest rise since 1990, while passenger cars rose 0.6 percent.

12

Friday, March 18, 2011

Entertainment

International

Foster grateful for Gibson role in new movie Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN, Texas – Jodie Foster premiered the quirky but dark movie “The Beaver” at the South by Southwest Film Festival on Wednesday night, saying she’s grateful for the performance by troubled actor and friend Mel Gibson.

The film follows a depressed toy company executive who picks up a hand puppet beaver and uses it to separate himself from the negative aspects of his personality that are destroying his family and career. Foster directed the movie and plays Gibson’s wife.

“I can’t imagine anybody else doing it. He has such a deep, struggling soul that really understood the part of the movie that’s about a man in a spiritual crisis,” Foster said on

Jodie Foster walks the red carpet before a screening of her new film ‘The Beaver’ at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Foster directed and stars in the movie.

AP Photo/JackPlunkett

Danny Glover in South Africa for Aristide Associated Press Writer

JOHANNESBURG – The lawyer of Haiti’s Jean-Bertrand Aristide says actor Danny Glover has arrived in South Africa to escort the exiled former president home.

Miami lawyer Ira Kurzban flew to Johannesburg Wednesday on the same mission amid unexplained delays as the United States called for Aristide to put off his departure until Sunday’s disputed presidential runoff in his homeland. Kurzban says the star of the “Lethal Weapon” action movies arrived Thursday morning.

Aristide has been in exile seven

years. Aides say he fears that either of the two right-wing candidates running for president might reverse the decision to allow his return once elected.

Glover is among U.S. celebrities and politicians including Jesse Jackson and entertainer Harry Belafonte who have been pushing for Aristide’s return.

FILE - In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 file photo US actor Danny Glover gestures as he arrives at Rome’s main train station.

MINNEAPOLIS – Garrison Keillor plans to keep spinning tales of Lake Wobegon’s Norwegian bachelor farmers for at least a couple more years, but the host and creator of public radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” is dropping more hints that his retirement may be on the horizon.

In an interview posted Wednesday on the AARP Bulletin’s website, the 68-year-old Keillor said he plans to retire in the spring of 2013. But Keillor said he first has to find his replacement. “I’m pushing forward, and also I’m in denial. It’s an interesting time of life,” Keillor told the publication.

Keillor told The Associated Press in a follow-up e-mail

Wednesday that he’ll be 70 in the spring of 2013, “and that seems like a nice round number.”

“The reason to retire is to try to avoid embarrassment; you ought to do it before people are dropping big hints. You want to be the first to come up with the idea. You don’t want to wait until you trip and fall off the stage,” Keillor told the AP. For the first time this season, “A Prairie Home Companion” had a guest host on Jan. 15, when singer and fiddler Sara Watkins of the band Nickel Creek hosted the show from St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater, with Keillor appearing as a featured guest. Keillor said at the time that he had never gotten to see the show himself and wanted “to stand in the back of the hall and watch for a few minutes.”

Gaga, Jacobs, Olsens among the top fashion talent Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File

Garrison Keillor says retirement looms in 2013 Associated Press Writer

the red carpet before the screening.

Gibson, who recently was sentenced to 36 months of probation and ordered to attend 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of spousal battery on former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, did not attend the premiere. The battery charge was another blow to Gibson’s reputation, which took a major hit after his 2006 arrest for drunken driving. A deputy’s report leaked to the celebrity website TMZ revealed the action star had used anti-Semitic and sexist slurs. Foster, who has remained a steadfast friend of Gibson, acknowledged the battery charge made release of the film tricky.

“There were all sorts of things that were beyond our control,” she told the audience after the movie, “It’s

AP Photo/Janet Hostetter, file

FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2009 file photo, radio show host Garrison Keillor resumes work in his Prairie Home Productions office in St. Paul, Minn.

been difficult. In the last six months there hasn’t been any real audience (for the film). I think we all made the wise decision we should keep the film in some ways private and under wraps until we were ready to release.”

Foster said she has no regrets about having Gibson in the movie. “I feel incredibly grateful to have Mel’s performance in this movie and I wouldn’t change anything. For anybody who’s ever worked with Mel Gibson, he’s the most beloved actor probably in the film business, at least of the ones I’ve worked with,” Foster said.

“Obviously all sorts of stuff happened after the film finished that threw our release into a crazy pattern, but I certainly have no regrets about him being in the film or his performance.”

“The Beaver” is only the second major film that Gibson has starred in since 2002. It is scheduled to open in select theaters May 6. Joining Foster at the premiere were actor Anton Yelchin, who plays Foster’s son, and writer Kyle Killen.

NEW YORK – Lady Gaga and her wild no-holds-barred wardrobe has created a fashion revolution — and for that she’ll get this year’s style icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg and executive director Steven Kolb announced the nominees and honorees for the annual industry awards at a reception Wednesday evening at the DVF studio.

The other major prize to be awarded at the June 6 ceremony, for lifetime achievement, will go to Marc Jacobs, considered by insiders to be the most influential American designer working now.

Living up to that hype, Jacobs was also nominated in the competitive womenswear designer of the year category against Alexander Wang, and the design duo Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler.

Jacobs, in his late 40s, is one of the youngest designers to be honored with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.

Von Furstenberg said she had already received an e-mail from him joking that he’d like the award reduced to a “half-lifetime award.”

“I told him that I’m much older than him and I’m still kicking,” von Furstenberg told the crowd, which included Vera Wang, Anna Wintour, Zac Posen, and Ashley

and Mary-Kate Olsen.

The Olsens were nominated in the womenswear category for emerging talent for their collection The Row, as were Prabal Gurung and Joseph Altuzarra. Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim and Robert Geller will compete in the up-and-coming menswear designer category, and Alejandro Ingelmo, Eddie Borgo, Pamella Love and Jason Wu in accessories.

In addition to the statuette, winners named as new talent also receive a financial prize from crystal company Swarovski.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2010 file photo, Lady Gaga is seen backstage after accepting the award for Video of the Year for ‘Bad Romance’ at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Science

International

Friday, March 18, 2011

13

Study: Gene therapy improves Parkinson’s symptoms Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/NASA

In this March 15, 2011 photo provided by NASA, astronaut Scott Kelly, Expedition 26 commander, right, poses with Robonaut 2, the dexterous humanoid astronaut helper, in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.

NASA’s humanoid robot unveiled on space station Associated Press Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The first humanoid robot ever launched into space is finally free. Astronauts at the International Space Station unpacked Robonaut on Tuesday, 2 1/2 weeks after its arrival via shuttle Discovery. NASA broadcast the humorous unveiling ceremony Wednesday.

American Catherine Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli pried off the lid of the robot’s packing box, as though they were opening a coffin.

TV cameras showed lots of foam inside, but no robot. “It’s like unearthing a mummy,” radioed a payload controller at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. “Well, at least the mummy would be here,” Coleman replied. “We just have an empty box where Robonaut

is supposed to be.” Robonaut — also known as R2 — was spotted a minute later in front of a work station.

“I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of our crew,” Coleman said. “We’re going to see what Robonaut can do.” The payload controller asked if R2 was related to HAL, the sinister computer with artificial intelligence from the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“Since we found him already

LONDON – An experimental treatment improved symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in a mid-stage test, echoing results of an earlier pilot study.

The new research is the first to show positive results in a test of gene therapy against a sham operation in about three dozen U.S. Parkinson’s patients.

After six months, those who got the gene therapy scored 23 percent better on a standard test to measure motor skills while those who got the sham operation did about 13 percent better.

“Gene therapy is no longer just a theory,” said Michael Kaplitt, a neurosurgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical Center, and one of the study authors. “We are getting much closer to a reality where this treatment can be offered to patients.” Kaplitt said the results might spur similar treatments for other brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and depression.

Kaplitt and colleagues tested the gene therapy on 16 people while 21 others received a sham

surgery. The patients were aged 30 to 75 and all were taking Parkinson’s medication.

In patients with Parkinson’s disease, their brains get overactive after losing the normal supply of a chemical called GABA. The new treatment, gene therapy, works by inserting billions of copies of a gene into patients’ brains that helps them produce more GABA. For patients who got the gene therapy, doctors drilled a hole into their brains while they were still awake. Doctors then slipped in a virus engineered to bring in billions of copies of a gene to help the brain pump out more GABA. Patients who didn’t get the gene therapy had holes drilled halfway into their skull — enough to trick them they were getting the therapy but apparently not enough to do any harm.

The study was published online Thursday in the journal, Lancet Neurology. It was paid for by Neurologix Inc., the biotechnology company that devised the therapy.

Kaplitt is a company cofounder and holds stock options and many of the other authors reported ties to Neurologix and other pharmaceuticals.

controlling the space station, we’re sure that he is related to HAL. But we’ll see,” Coleman said. In a Twitter update, R2 announced: “Check me out. I’m in space!” A NASA employee on the ground posted the tweet.

Nespoli attached NASA’s waist-high R2 to a fixed pedestal, where it will remain with its fists clenched and its arms folded against its chest until testing begins in May. The robotic team at Johnson Space Center in Houston wants to see how R2 performs in weightlessness. The robot is intended as an astronaut helper, inside the space station, in the decade ahead. Legs should arrive next year.

R2’s earthbound twin spent Wednesday at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, performing demonstrations for children.

First dinosaur fossil discovered in Angola Associated Press Writer

JOHANNESBURG – Scientists say they have discovered the first fossil of a dinosaur in Angola, and that it’s a new creature, heralding a research renaissance in a country slowly emerging from decades of war.

A paper published Wednesday in

AP Photo/PaleoAngola Project/HO

In this undated photo supplied by the PaleoAngola Project, researcher Octávio Mateus analyses part of a fossilized dinosaur.

A paper published Wednesday March 16, 2011, in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences describes a classic, longnecked, elephant-sized, planteating sauropod.

the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences describes a long-necked, plant-eating sauropod, among the largest creatures ever to have walked the earth. The international team that found and identified the fossilized forelimb bone say it is from a previously unknown dinosaur, citing unique skeletal characteristics.

The fossil was found along with fish and shark teeth in what would have been a sea bed 90 million years ago, leading its discoverers to believe the dinosaur might have been washed into the sea and torn apart by ancient sharks. The new dinosaur has been dubbed Angolatitan adamastor — Angolatitan means “Angolan giant” and the adamastor is a sea giant from Portuguese sailing myths.

Matthew F. Bonnan, a sauropod

expert at Western Illinois University, was not involved with the Angolan research. But after reading the report, he said he expected their claim to have found a new dinosaur to hold up. “I think they’ve been very careful,” he said, adding the find could add to knowledge about how sauropods adapted to different environments.

Bonnan also said it was “really cool” to see such research coming out of Angola. “The neat thing about dinosaur paleontology is that it’s becoming more global,” he said, saying that was giving scientists a global perspective on the evolution of dinosaurs. “The more people and places that we involve in science, the better off we all are,” Bonnan said.

14

Friday, March 18, 2011

Sport

International

French minister against Ribery, Evra recalls Agence France Presse

PARIS – French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno said on Thursday that she hopes France coach Laurent Blanc does not recall Franck Ribery and Patrice Evra for the country’s forthcoming matches.

Ribery and Evra received bans of three and five games respectively for their roles in the France squad’s mutiny at last year’s World Cup in South Africa and have not played for Les Bleus since the end of the tournament.

Jouanno had previously stated that she considered a return for the alleged ringleaders of the World Cup strike “unacceptable” and she

AFP PHOTO/ Pedro ARMESTRE

Real Madrid’s defender Sergio Ramos (L) and French forward Karim Benzema (2nd R) vies with Lyon’s Croatian defender Dejan Lovren (R) and defender Aly Cissokho (2nd L) during the Champions League football Real Madrid vs Olympique Lyonnais in Santiago Bernabeu Stadiun in Madrid on March 16, 2011.

reiterated her stance on Thursday.

“I stand by (what I said), nothing has really changed,” said Jouanno during a visit to France’s National Rugby Centre (CNR) in Marcoussis. “There have been no excuses, no mea culpas and at the time they didn’t renounce their bonuses.

“Now, as the role of a minister is not be the France coach but to defend the values of the French team and of sport in general, I would regret it (if Ribery and Evra were recalled).”

France visit Luxembourg in a Euro 2012 qualifier on March 25 before hosting Croatia in a friendly match in Paris four days later.

Blatter hints at future retirement plans Agence France Presse

organise competition,” he said.

“I am willing to go on for the next four years. This is my wish and we will see what the congress will say.” The FIFA presidential election is due to take place in Zurich on June 1. The Swiss president has been at the FIFA helm for 13 years.

Earlier, he held talks with Football Association Malaysia president Sultan Ahmad Shah. Blatter said he welcomed any challenge for the top FIFA post, adding that he had support among Asian and Middle East countries.

“I think competition is always very good,” he said. Bin Hammam was once a close ally of Blatter and a driving force behind his campaign to be elected in 1998 but the pair fell out two years ago.

Blatter said he was unable to meet Bin Hammam as both had busy schedules. The Swiss will return to Zurich via Singapore later Thursday.

LONDON – Real Madrid reached the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in seven years by sweeping aside Lyon on Wednesday, and Chelsea relied on its first-leg goals to oust FC Copenhagen. Karim Benzema scored against his former club to help Madrid beat Lyon 3-0 and send Jose Mourinho’s side through 4-1 on aggregate. Marcelo and Angel Di Maria also found the net.

KUALA LUMPUR – Sepp Blatter, hoping to win a fourth term as FIFA president, hinted Thursday it could be his final stint as the head of football’s world governing body. “Possibly yes,” the 75-year-old said when asked if the upcoming election would be his final bid.

“There is a moment when you really have to step down and when you are not intelligent enough to tell yourself when shall be the end, then perhaps our Lord will say ‘stop it now’.” Blatter, on a whirlwind tour of Asia including East Timor, Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia, spoke amid speculation that Asian football chief Mohamad bin Hammam will run against him.

“I just passed on 10th of March 75 years. But I think I am full of energy and I have not yet finished my work to develop football and

“I’m relaxed rather than euphoric because for me this is normal,” Mourinho said. “Madrid is too big a club not to be there.” Not only does the victory end Madrid’s miserable record, but it keeps Mourinho on course to become the first coach to win the competition with three different clubs, having led Inter Milan to the trophy last season and FC Porto to the 2004 title.

While Madrid is a nine-time European champion, Chelsea has yet to conquer the continent. Having won 2-0 in the away leg at Copenhagen, Chelsea was held to a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge by the Danish champions.

“We needed to be careful at the back, any goal would have given them belief,” Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech said. “The job was done, we kept a clean sheet. The only thing missing was converting our chances.” Chelsea and Madrid will join Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Tottenham, Schalke and Shakhtar Donetsk in Friday’s draw for the last eight.

Sepp Blatter, seen here in 2010, hoping to win a fourth term as FIFA president, hinted it could be his final stint as the head of football’s world governing body.

Madrid, Chelsea into Champions League quarters Associated Press Writer

“I prefer to avoid Inter and Chelsea because emotionally it’s difficult to play against your people, your friends,” Mourinho said. It is a draw Madrid hasn’t been in since 2004, but now Mourinho will be hoping to deliver the club’s 10th European title. The away goal from the 1-1 draw in the first leg gave Madrid a slight advantage, and Marcelo made it 2-1 in the 37th minute.

The Brazilian defender played a one-two with Cristiano Ronaldo before cutting inside defender Dejan Lovren and powering a shot past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Benzema found the back of the net with a header soon after but he was ruled offside. However, the France striker scored in the 66th, latching onto Marcelo’s long pass upfield and slotting the ball through Lloris’ legs.

Madrid’s 25th straight home win in all competitions was sealed 10 minutes later by Angel Di Maria, who chipped the ball over Lloris off a header from Mesut Oezil. “We couldn’t match them tonight. We came up against a very good team that closed

us down from the outset,” Lyon coach Claude Puel said. “We couldn’t loosen up, we made a lot of mistakes and we showed nerves.”

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea never looked troubled thanks to Nicolas Anelka’s first-leg double, but Carlo Ancelotti’s club was overly relaxed against Copenhagen at times. Anelka was too casual with his flicked finish after 20 minutes, with goalkeeper Johan Wiland easily blocking the effort. And Chelsea nearly paid for it 5 minutes later when Dame N’Doye hit the post with a free kick that had beaten Cech.

“The dream would have been if the free kick had gone in,” Copenhagen coach Stale Solbakken said. “It could have changed the game pyschologically, but the better team won (over two legs).” The goal-frame was hit by the home team in the second half, when John Obi Mikel headed against the crossbar.

But the Premier League champions, who are languishing fourth domestically, are into the quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years.

AFP/File/Philippe Desmazes

Sport

International

Friday, March 18, 2011

15

Meeks, Brand lead 76ers over Clippers 104-94 Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – Jodie Meeks scored 22 points and Jrue Holiday added nine of his 20 in the final 6 1/2 minutes, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a 104-94 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Elton Brand had 19 points and 12 rebounds, helping the Sixers tie the idle New York Knicks for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Brand played for the Clippers for six seasons and left for free agency as their career rebounding leader and thirdleading scorer. Randy Foye led Los Angeles with 18 points and DeAndre Jordan added 16 points and 15 rebounds.

The 76ers didn’t treat Clippers AllStar rookie Blake Griffin too kindly on his 22nd birthday, forcing him to miss his first six shots and holding him to 14 points on 3 for 12 shooting. He scored a career-low eight points in a 105-82 loss Monday to Memphis that snapped his streak of 67 double-digit games — the longest at the start of an NBA career since David Robinson’s 77 in a row.

Griffin, who was attempting to tie

Brand’s 2001-02 single-season record of 55 double-doubles in a Clippers uniform, fouled out for the third time this season with 1:28 remaining and finished with eight rebounds. It was the fifth straight game in which he failed to record a double-double. Griffin nearly came to blows with Tony Battie after the Sixers forward committed a flagrant foul.

About 2 minutes after making his first field goal, Griffin was hacked on his way to the basket while trying to drive between Battie and Meeks with 2:28 left in the first half. Battie still had a grip on Griffin’s shirt when the usually even-tempered rookie bolted up from the floor and had to be restrained.

So did Sixers coach Doug Collins with 15.8 seconds left in the half, when he received two quick technical fouls and was ejected following Battie’s

fourth personal foul. Before he departed for the dressing room, Collins gathered his players around him and had an animated discussion with them.

Reserve Marreese Speights, who spent the entire game on the bench, also got a technical once the half ended.

The Clippers were outscored 30-19 in the third quarter. The 76ers extended their three-point halftime lead to 7759 with a 16-4 run, capped by Meeks’ 3-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes left in the period.

The Clippers got as close as 90-81 with 5:17 remaining on two free throws

by Griffin, who was serenaded by some 76ers fans seated behind the Philadelphia bench while he was at the line. But Griffin picked up his fifth foul 16 seconds later while trying to draw an offensive charge from Holiday, who came back with a 20-footer and 3-pointer on the Sixers’ next two possessions.

Nadal, Djokovic advance at Indian Wells

AP Photo/Christine Cotter

Philadelphia 76ers’ Elton Brand, left, fouls Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. The 76ers won 104-94.

Agence France Presse

INDIAN WELLS, California – World number one Rafael Nadal was tested by Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman but advanced to the Indian Wells quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win. Nadal, recovering from a left thigh injury that meant he took a break after the Australian Open, on Wednesday clinched victory in the match lasting almost two hours with a running cross-court forehand winner.

The Spaniard has been commanding the baseline all week but Devvarman proved to be a tricky opponent. “I played really badly, especially in the beginning,” Nadal said.

“After that I improved a little bit. It is much more important to win matches when you are playing bad than when you are playing well.

“I played much better in the second set. Not perfect.” Devvarman, who received a standing ovation from the crowd, made the final of the ATP Johannesburg tournament last month.

Nadal advances to the round of eight where he will face hard-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who beat Albert Montanes of Spain 7-6 (9/7), 6-2.

Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic crushed his doubles partner Viktor Troicki 6-0, 61. Djokovic, who has only lost six games in three matches, clinched the win over his Serbian countryman Troicki with a backhand winner down

Wife: Ali willing to visit Iran to free hikers Associated Press Writer

AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball during his match against Somdev Devvarman of India during the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, California on March 16, 2011.

Nadal won 7-5, 6-4. the line.

Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

“I am playing my best tennis of my In the quarter-finals Djokovic will life the last three months,” Djokovic face Frenchman Richard Gasquet, said. “It all started with my Davis Cup who defeated Andy Roddick of the wins.”Djokovic and Troicki had a United States 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). “It feels short rest before heading off to one of incredible for me to be in the quarterthe outer courts to play doubles where finals here. I did well with my serve they lost 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) to Rohan and my backhand, especially on match Bopanna of India and Pakistan’s point,” Gasquet said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In addition to sending a letter to Iran’s supreme leader seeking the release of two American hikers, Muhammad Ali’s wife says the boxing champ is also willing to go there to help make it happen. But Lonnie Ali says such a visit would depend on her husband’s health. Parkinson’s Disease has limited his speech and physical activity.

“If we thought that they would be released and if Muhammad’s presence would have some impact on that release for the good, then, yes, we would try very hard to make sure Muhammad was able to go,” Lonnie Ali said. “But a lot of that, as you know, would depend on Muhammad’s health. That’s the bottom line.”

Arguably the most prominent U.S. Muslim, Muhammad Ali made a behind-the scenes appeal to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February and released his letter

to The Associated Press on Wednesday. The letter asks Khamenei to release Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, who have been held on espionage charges since July 2009, when they were arrested while hiking in northern Iraq near the Iranian border.

A third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released on bail in September. The letter was the second one the boxing champ sent to Khamenei asking for the Americans’ release, Lonnie Ali said.

The first was sent last year just before Shourd was released, but it isn’t known whether the letter had any effect. Ali hasn’t received responses to either letter.

“Please show the world the compassion I know you have in your heart,” Muhammad Ali wrote in his second letter, asking Khamenei as a “dear brother” to show the same mercy and compassion for the two men as he did for Shourd.

Lonnie Ali said the letter was delivered via the Iranian consulate in the United Nations.

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Friday, March 18, 2011

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

Sport

Schumacher hopeful of race wins Michael Schumacher is hopeful that he and team-mate Nico Rosberg will be in a position to fight for races wins this season after getting a glimpse of Mercedes GP’s true potential in the final test last week.

AFP PHOTO/JOSEP LAGO

Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team German driver Michael Schumacher drives during a testing session on March 11, 2011 at Catalunya’s racetrack in Montmelo, near Barcelona.

Schwantz: Rider rivalry may hurt Honda Former 500cc world champion Kevin Schwantz believes the battle between Honda team-mates Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner could have a negative effect on the riders. Stoner, the 2007 world champion, left Ducati to join Honda, where Pedrosa has been the leading rider for several years. Schwantz reckons the battle between the two could lead to mistakes if one of them tries to show he is the team’s leader. “It’s a new team, a new bike, everything’s going to be a little bit different,” Schwantz told AUTOSPORT ahead of the start of the 2011 season this weekend.

“The pressure is that if Pedrosa’s in your team and he’s been there a lot longer than you, they may be listening to his direction, not yours.

“This is all stuff that can play on Casey’s mind. If Casey can just go out and race and not let the politics side of things bother him, I think Casey’s in with a shot, for sure.

“I think as Pedrosa and Stoner’s battle progresses, one of them will let the other get to him. Casey’s going to let Dani get in his head, and Casey’s going to get into Dani’s - and I think they’ll make mistakes.

“Hopefully it won’t be like Dani and Nicky Hayden in 2006, but in trying to show ‘I’m the dominant one here at Honda and you guys need to follow my direction and listen to me’, I think they might both take a little too much on their shoulders. “They’ll feel like ‘watch this, I’m going to show them’, and mistakes whether it’s crashes or just running off the track and losing a bunch of places - will be made, which will make the championship wide open.”

The American, however, is in no doubt that Honda starts the season as a very strong outfit, and he thinks Stoner could be hard to beat if he can find his form.

“I think it’s obvious watching the tests that Honda has got things right. There’s more than one guy that’s gone fast on the Honda,” he said. “You’ve got to think that if Casey can find the form that he had when he rode the Ducati to the 2007 world championship, then everybody will be lucky to find out which way he went, he’s going to go so fast...”

AFP PHOTO/KARIM JAAFAR

Honda MotoGP rider Casey Stoner of Australia takes part in the final pre-season test at the Losail International Circuit in the Qatari capital Doha on March 13, 2011 ahead of Grand Prix of Qatar to be held next week.

The Brackley-based team’s decision to hold back on a final update package until the Barcelona test meant its form was hard to predict, but a major overhaul of the W02 that helped Schumacher top the times on the final dry day of running has lifted hopes on the eve of the campaign.

And although Schumacher thinks that the full picture of the team’s competitiveness will only become clear in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, he says he has already seen enough to be confident about a successful 2011 campaign.

“My feeling is a good one,” he said in an interview with the official Mercedes GP website. “The team has been working very hard over the winter to shape our car in all of the areas which had been identified by us as needing improvement.

“The data I have seen over the winter had been quite encouraging, but then we all know that the realities of data and the race track can be quite different. As a driver, you obviously hope for a good step forward and I think this is what we have achieved.

“I am confident that we can compete for podium finishes, and I am hopeful we can fight for victories at some of the races. Saying that, we will only see the truth once the sea-

son gets underway, so I can hardly wait to go to Melbourne to finally see what the real picture is.”

As well as progress on the car front, Schumacher believes he will also do a better job in the cockpit after a sometimes difficult 2010 return. “This year feels very different indeed,” he said.

“Last year everything was new again; the testing situation, the car, the team, the structures. It was very exciting but it was still something you had to find your way through.

“Now, one year later, I know much better which areas to work in.

I am much more familiar with the team and we have a great group of very skilled and dedicated people. I enjoy what I do, I enjoy working with Mercedes, and I have never regretted my decision to return... if that is what you wanted to ask next!”

Rosberg is equally bullish about the progress that Mercedes GP has made, and was not ruling out the W02 helping him secure his maiden F1 victory.

“We’ve made good progress over the four tests. It’s perhaps been a more difficult winter than we expected but everyone has worked really hard and pushed on with the new upgrades so that we have the car that we want for the start of the season,” he said.