Edition Friday,November 17, 2017 | Internasional Bali Post

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Friday, November 17, 2017

Da Vinci portrait of Christ sells for record $450.3 mln in New York

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Friday, November 17, 2017

NEW YORK - Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi”, sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million on Wednesday at Christie’s, more than double the old price for any work of art at auction.

The painting, only recently rediscovered, was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times Christie’s’ pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.

It beat a record set in May 2015 by Pablo Picasso’s “Les Femmes D’Alger,” which sold for $179.4 million, and constituted more than half the sale’s total of $785.9 million, which came in well above the roughly $450 million pre-sale estimate.

“Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World) was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted contest of nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.

With at least six bidders and increments coming in at more than 15 million, sustained whoops and cheers broke out in the packed salesroom as the hammer came down.

“It was a moment when all the stars were aligned, and I think Leonardo would be very pleased,” Jussi Pylkkänen, global president of Christie’s, told Reuters after the sale.

“It’s a painting beyond anything I’ve ever handled,” said Pylkkänen, the auctioneer, adding, “I should hang up my gavel.”

The restored portrait, an ethereal depiction

of Jesus Christ which dates to about 1500, is one of fewer than 20 paintings by the Renaissance artist known to still exist.

First recorded in the private collection of King Charles I, the work was auctioned in 1763 before vanishing until 1900, by which time Christ’s face and hair had been painted over - once a “quite common” practice, according to Alan Wintermute, Christie’s senior specialist for Old Master paintings.

Sold at Sotheby’s to an American collector in 1958 for only 45 pounds, it again sold in 2005 as an overpainted copy of the masterwork.

The new owner started the restoration process, and after some six years of research it was authenticated as da Vinci’s more than 500-year-old masterpiece, which culminated in a high-profile exhibition at London’s National Gallery in 2011.

Christie’s did not identify the seller, other than to say it was a European private collector who acquired the work after its rediscovery in 2005 and lengthy restoration.

Media identified him as Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who paid $127.5 million in 2013 in a private sale.

Auction highlights included Andy War-

REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Members of Christie’s staff pose for pictures next to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” painting which will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York in November, in London, Britain October 24, 2017. hol’s “Sixty Last Suppers,” a monumental work that fetched $60.9 million, exceeding the estimate.

Two Cy Twombly paintings also fared well, selling for $46.4 million and $27.3 million, both surpassing estimates. (rtr)

As ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’ Denzel Washington explores social injustice

Roman J. Israel, Esq

IBP/net

LOS ANGELES - For his latest role, as an attorney who defends young people of color imprisoned without trial, Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington weighed how family dynamics played into the lives of young criminals.

“I grew up with guys who did decades (in prison) and it had as much to do with their fathers not being in their lives as it did to do with any system,” Washington said in a recent interview with Reuters about his new film, “Roman J.

Israel, Esq.” The movie, written and directed

by Dan Gilroy, opens on Friday.

The actor plays the title role of a lawyer with encyclopedic knowledge.

Washington, recalling some of the people he grew up with, added: “By the time we got to 13, 14, different things happened. Now I was doing just as much as they were, but they went further ... I just didn’t get caught, but they kept going down that road and then they were in the

hands of the system. But it’s about the formative years. You’re not born a criminal.”

The cases explored in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” reflect a “massively important issue in our country,” director Gilroy said.

“Our prison system needs reform at a fundamental level. We have the highest incarceration rate of any place in the Western world ... It’s not racially equal, it’s not socio-economically equal,” he said. (rtr)

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Antara Foto/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/ via REUTERS

Indonesia’s Speaker of the House Setya Novanto (C) arrives at the House Plenary Session at parliament in Jakarta, Indonesia November 15, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken November 15, 2017.

Indonesian parliament speaker not hiding from graft probe - lawyer

JAKARTA - A lawyer for Indonesia’s parliament speaker denied on Thursday that the politician had gone into hiding to avoid being questioned by an anti-corruption agency over a $170 million graft investigation and said his client had a busy schedule.

Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) sought to arrest speaker Setya Novanto at his house in Jakarta late on Wednesday, but failed to find him, sparking speculation about his whereabouts.

“He is not hiding,” Novanto’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, told Reuters by telephone. “He is very busy, invited to many events and such. If he hears of violations of any law, he will discuss it with other officials,” said Yunadi.

Novanto, who is chairman of In-

donesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, was still in Jakarta, he added.

Novanto was not available for comment. He has previously denied wrongdoing but has missed repeated KPK summons for questioning in recent months, saying he was ill and needed to undergo heart surgery.

The KPK is investigating state losses amounting to about $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card scheme after allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million - generated

by marking up the costs of procurement - were divided up among politicians in parliament.

Because of the alleged embezzlement, millions of people have faced long delays in getting cards, or have been issued pieces of paper in place of a proper cards. Novanto was named a suspect in the case again last week after he had used a controversial legal manoeuvre, a pre-trial motion, to get earlier charges dropped last month.

Yunadi said on Thursday his client had been summoned by the KPK 11 times as a witness and as a suspect in the investigation. “We will file another pre-trial motion, but it is still to be decided when,” said Yunadi

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also a Golkar member, told reporters Novanto should be ready to face any legal process if called upon. Officials at the anti-graft agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah was quoted in Kompas newspaper as saying the commission had a warrant for Novanto’s arrest and called on him to surrender.

Novanto has for years been dogged by allegations of corruption, but has never been prosecuted.

In late 2015, a parliament ethics committee launched an investigation into allegations by a Freeport Indonesia executive that Novanto had tried to extort $1.8 billion

worth of shares from the local unit of the U.S. mining company.

Novanto denied the allegations but stepped down temporarily. He was reappointed as speaker a year later, after being cleared by an ethics panel.

Indonesians widely perceive parliament as one of their country’s most corrupt institutions, Transparency International says.(rtr) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http:// radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

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Friday, November 17, 2017

Bali News

International

Safeguarding the Economy of Bali and Tourism

Discussing the challenges that Bali faces

The sluggishness of both the national and global economy has been seriously affecting Bali.

Mount Agung’s recent volcanic activity and preparations for political events like the upcoming elections for governor have also added to the complexity of the multi-dimensional challenges that Bali is facing.

The Island of the Gods is also a world renown tourist destination which makes for very particular conditions.

“The regional elections will require a lot of energy. The most important thing we need to look at is how to remain resilient in the face of local, regional and international pressures. Resilience requires liquidity”, said economist, Viraguna Bagus Oka, during a discussion organized by Bali Post and Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) entitled ‘Safeguarding the Economy and Tourism of Bali’, that took place at Warung 63 on Jl. Veteran Denpasar, on Tuesday (Nov. 14).

Bali’s banking sector, continued Viraguna is scrambling to adjust to conditions brought about by the threat of Mount Agung erupting. Banks here will have to mitigate losses for at least one year. Then there is the more general shift in consumer patterns from goods-based spending to lifestyle-based spending which is posing challenges to many retail outlets.

“There are three sectors that need address these challenges with intelligence.

The Government of Bali needs to anticipate economic challenges because Bali has an iconic place on the world stage.

The business sector needs to focus on adapting to conditions and work on stimulating growth and improving efficiency.

Efficiency, however will result in layoffs.

The public also needs to adapt to the rapid change from offline to online business and promotion so as not to be crushed by increasing urbanization”, he added.

“There is a high rate of urbanization in Bali and there are also a lot of people moving to Bali from other islands. After the warning level for Mount Agung was lowered, many domestic tourists started coming to Bali, but not just to for a visit, many are running businesses too. This is a challenge for local Balinese who must learn to adapt”, explained Viraguna.

Viraguna also predicts that 2018 will pose numerous complex challenges that must be anticipated meticulously and with intelligence and steadfastness. Information technology and social media need to be mastered without abandoning

local wisdom that is much appreciated by foreigners.

Village Credit Agencies (LPD) are one example of local wisdom-based systems that are starting to catch up with developments in technology and information.

Chairman of BKD LPD Bali, I Nyoman Cendikiawan, said that 300 of the 1,433 LPDs in Bali are currently preparing to provide core banking services. Every month, they also now send data reports to the LPD Empowerment Institute so that there functioning can be evaluated as good (green), fair (yellow) or bad (red).

“LPD’s throughout Bali will gradually become standardized so as to facilitate monitoring and investigations currently conducted by the LPD Empowerment Institute of Bali”, said Cendikiawan.

Other services such as SMS banking, added Cendikiawan are already offered by some 50 PLDs. With information technology being available in villages, he said it is only a mater of time before LPDs will be forced to compete with other financial institutions. “Nevertheless, LPD’s have already anticipated this by offering simple LPD style mobile banking services”, he said.

As of September 2017, there were a total of 1,433 LPD offices in Bali with 7,890 employees, IDR 7.030 trillion in savings, IDR 7.898 trillion in deposits, IDR 13.018 trillion in total loans, IDR 427.50 billion in profits as well as IDR 17.875 trillion in total assets.

“The total amount in asset shows an increase of about IDR 1.2 trillion compared to the same period last year. This shows that our LPDs are still supported by customary villages becuae these assets are owned by customary villages and are used to encourage increasing local economic growth”, explained Cendikiawan.

Chairman of Bali’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), A.A. Ngurah Alit Wiraputra, said that Bali’s economy

has unique characteristics as it relies on the tourism sector that is dependant on the nature, customs and culture of the island. Economic policies therefor must support national ideals including social welfare justice.

“More than IDR 850 trillion of investments come into Bali, but the property of customary village only amounts to IDR 17 trillion, while Balinese businesses only amount around IDR 38 trillion. This is very worrying”, he said.

According to Wiraputra, the big question that arises: is the toursim-generated economy in the hands of the Balinese?

We can see that this is in fact not the case.

Furthermore economic development in Bali is not shared equally throughout the island. Southern Bali’s economy is growing rapidly while economic development in other regions is totally stagnant. “This gap in economic development needs to be overcome promptly and Bali’s leadership needs to have the courage to make policies that bridge this enormous gap”, he explained.

Wiraputra added that Kadin remains consistent in their dedication to supporting company’s owned by Balinese people and that hopeful the government will follow suit. District / municipal and provincial governments should be on the front lines in stimulating local economic growth so that Bali can truly belong to the people of Bali.

“The government should be willing to invest by taking an active role in aiding LPDs. If necessary, the government should buy shares that are handed over to PLDs to invest in. If people want to own shares they can buy them form the PLDs”, suggested Wiraputra. Bali, he continued also needs to create a plan for tourism over the next 20 years, 50 years and even 100 years. All this time there has been no plan for tourism at all, he lamented. (kmb32)

IBP/file

Young evacuee faces boredom and loss of playmates Although tens of thousands of residents of Karangasem who were evacuated to Klungkung have gone home following the lowered alert level for Mount Agung late last month, those who remain in evacuation are facing added pressures, such as the children who suddenly lost their playmates. The atmosphere at Swecapura Stadium evacuation post on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 15) was quiet and 13 year old Kadel Sumantra was found sitting in the corner playing with his handphone. Occasionally he would share a funny video with a friend sitting next to him and the two youngsters would laugh together for a moment.

However, these brief moments of laughter were quickly replaced with a sullen mood.

Kadek is feeling lonely since both his parents returned to Sebudi village in Selat for Kuningan. For the last few days, Kadek has been spending all his time with his grandmother and brother who is still temporarily attending school at SDN 1 Gelgel and as he has for the last eight weeks, Kadek spends his nights sleeping in the large stadium that serves as shelter.

Kadek’s cheerfulness has been fading since so many of his friends returned home from the evacuation post leaving him without any one to play soccer with or fly kites with when the winds pick up or invite him to frolic in the river. He now wakes up alone and no one calls his name. “ I was used to playing soccer in the evening and in the morning there always lots of friends around, but now things are different as everyone has gone home”, said Kadek.

This youngster wants nothing more than to go home and be with his family, but given current conditions, there is nothing he can do but wait. “I really want to go home but there is no shuttle available to take my grandmother”, he explained.

Kadek recalled his activities before being evacuated with his parents and three brothers.

“At home I used to help my parents lay black stones and would get paid IDR 50,000. I used to have lots of activities, but here I just sit and wait”, he said.

Similar miseries are also being experienced by a 48 year old villager from Bukit Galah, Selat, named Wayan Suriati who said that he feesl bored living in the evacuation post as there are no activities to relieve fatigue. This widower is anxious to follow his relatives home. “ Of course we are tired of living here but there is nobody to take me home to the corweded village, so I have to stay here and wait” she said.

Since she was first evacuated to Klungkung, Suriati has only returned home once.

She found that the atmosphere of her home had changed. The yard had become completely overgrown. Although she wanted to clean things up, she had to return to the evacuation post so she could not do much. “We were only able to go home for Galungan to pray, then we came right back here” she said. (sos)

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Activities

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

Feelin’Festive at Beachwalk Shopping Center

HOLIDAY STARTS HERE! This November Beachwalk Shopping Center is still presenting “FEELIN’ FESTIVE” by highlighting the holiday as well as festive vibes and as usual Beachwalk Shopping Center has bunch of events and promo.

YOUR REWARDS, YOUR

WAY! Not to be missed is Beachwalk “CORNER’S CLUB” – has just launched this year, a special loyalty card programme for Beachwalk Shopping Center’s loyal customers that lets them collect and redeem points with countless special gifts and fantastic vouchers. All you have to do to become

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

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

a “CORNER’S CLUB” member is just simply do a single purchase of a minimum IDR 50,000 in a single receipt and redeem it at our Customer Service, level 1. Another advantage of having “CORNER’S CLUB” is, Customers are eligible to have it’s benefits not only in Beachwalk Shopping Center but also at all the Cornerstone malls, those are: fx Sudirman, Jakarta & 23Paskal, Bandung. In addition to customers who already posses “CORNER’S CLUB” can have the opportunity to win a lucky draw to 1 night stay at The ONE Legian Bali Hotel.

Don’t miss our festive events during November 2017. “BANTEN TOURISM WEEK 2017” event on 17th-19th November 2017 & “PEACE, LOVE & HARMONY” event on 27th November – 3rd December 2017, Customers can

very well informed and learn the experience of the rich of Indonesian traditions and culture. Moreover, there is “BALI ARCH FEST” event on 20th – 26th November 2017, that’s about creative sharing & architecture exhibition. All those events will be held at Beachwalk Fountain Stage, Level 1.

Bali Starts Here. Regularly, visitors always have a chance to be interactively relish the experience and learn more about Balinese culture exclusively from Ubud regency. Every Thursday at our Fountain Stage, level 1 Beachwalk has some variant performances, like Balinese Drama Musical, Bali traditional comedy, making the offerings and the making of Balinese traditional dessert called Jaja Bali. In addition to entertain our Customers, Beachwalk will also have regular “ACOUSTIC

15

EVE” every Wednesday at 7PM . Moreover, there’s also another interactive event called “MEET THE BIRD STARS” will be held on 19th November 2017 at Deck Stage Beachwalk level 1. Customers can meet and experience the interaction with the exotic birds by Bali Bird Park.

Check out Beachwalk Shopping Center new website with a fresh design and totally brand new concept. Several new features added to ease the Customer in accessing our website, such as an interactive floor map feature. Please access our website at www.beachwalkbali.com.

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

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Friday, November 17, 2017

Fashion

International

Bali News

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

3

To increase selling value

Waste newspapers processed into tray crafts

TABANAN - Aside from being made for reading and reference materials, in fact, newspapers also have high economic value. Commonly, the waste newspapers are littered where the value is not much. However, an artisan from Pande hamlet, Kediri, I Ketut Suparta, is able to increase the value of waste newspapers by processing them into tray and other crafts.

Colombia focuses on African designers at fashion show

COLOMBIA - Colombia has held its first Africa Fashion Week – featuring designers from across the continent and the diaspora.

Organisers are hoping to make the event an annual one, to showcase Africa’s various cultures through fashion.

It’s the first of its kind to be held in Colombia, and the venue is at the famous Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira – located 180 metres underground in Cundinamarca.

“Africa Fashion Week is an event where you won’t only find fashion and physical beauty, but also soul and social inclusion,” Tatiana Laguado, spokesperson for the Cathedral, told CGTN. The event showcases colourful prints in classic styles.

“I am bringing a new collection with some trends that African people are using nowadays with very odd colours, tropical

colours that represent the lives of the millions of African people nowadays,” said fashion designer Rui Lopes.

Organisers say they want to break down any colour barriers – and celebrate Africa’s contribution to the global fashion industry.

“African women are splendid, with beautiful skin. We’re celebrating that beauty,” said Belky Arizala, the event organiser.

“It’s evident through the designs, the fabrics, the beading, the intricate embroideries.

Each of these express the unique “Africaness” of the designers.”

There is also a charitable aspect to the show – it aims to increase awareness about cancer.

Giving women who have survived the disease the opportunity to share their stories during the event. (IBP/net)

Tray handicrafts made from waste newspaper was exhibited in the Tabanan Fiesta 1 Marga subdistrict in the series of the 524th anniversary of Tabanan town on Sunday (Nov. 12). In fact, the demand is not small. Suparta claimed to start utilizing newspapers to make tray since two and a half years ago. According to him, the advantages of the tray made from waste newspapers are eco-friendly and have quality or resilience that are not inferior to wood and rattan raw materials.

Initially, Suparta was just idly trying to utilize waste newspapers to make glasses. In fact, the results were good and resilient.

From the experiment, he got an idea to take advantage of waste newspaper into a container of offerings or tray. Apparently, his efforts are not in vain as consumer demand began to arrive and develops until now.

To make a tray from waste newspaper, described Suparta, passes through several processes where before it is formed into a tray, the waste newspapers are made into small rolls and then connected with an adhesive with the length corresponding to the size of the tray to be made. After the length is appropriate, the rolled newspaper is spliced and formed into a tray. Finally, it is painted and polished so that it looks nicer, stronger and waterproof.

Tray handicraft made from waste newspaper managed by Suparta is one of the coaching members of the Tabanan Industry and Trade Agency. Currently he has been able to produce dozens of motive for his waste newspaper handicrafts. For examples, there are tray, kwangen (worship paraphernalia) holder in box and round style, tissue holder in box and round-shaped keben or oblation basket.

He told that many consumers demand for handicrafts made from waste newspapers because its raw material is unique. Not only limited to local consumers, this waste newspaper crafts are also favored by foreign tourists. Though looking unique, the price is not expensive and still affordable to consumers. He sells his craft for IDR 150,000 per piece to IDR 500,000 per piece depending on the size and complexity of the workmanship. (kmb24)

IBP/kmb24

Tray handicrafts made from waste newspaper was exhibited in the Tabanan Fiesta 1 Marga subdistrict in the series of the 524th anniversary of Tabanan town.

Road stagnant after heavy rain

Merchants’ property of Dreamland Beach swept by floods MANGUPURA — After heavy rain for almost three hours flushing a number of areas on Monday (Nov. 13), some roads were inundated high enough like the road section in Nusa Dua area and several locations in South Kuta. In addition, the water flow at the mouth of Cemongkak River located on the Dreamland Pecatu caused merchants’ property to also get drifted into the middle of the sea.

A member of Dreamland stall group, Nyoman Kondre, who met on Tuesday (Nov. 14), told the incident took place very quickly.

Incidentally that afternoon, all the stalls offering beach lounger rental were closed. Although the owners have gone home, their loungers, mattresses and umbrellas were still placed on the beach. As soon as the flood came, dozens of those beach loungers and mattresses

were swept away. “Yesterday, there were also tourists helping move the beach loungers. Fortunately, no visitors were swept away,” he said accompanied by his colleague, Made Sutikayasa, who is also a surf instructor on the beach.

Such incidents, he said, always happens every rainy season.

Normally the water flow does not sweep the beach loungers and mattresses. Only this time the river water turned right to sweep everything at the location. “Commonly, the river water flows straight to the beach, yesterday coincidentally it turned right. So, other than sweeping beach loungers and mattresses, sea sand was also swept away,” he said.

On Dreamland Beach, according to Kondre, there are 37 owners of beach lounger leasing coalesced into the Dreamland stall group.

Accidentally the tourist visit was rather quiet at that time. He estimated it happened due to bad weather condition and related to the impact of the issue of Mount Agung.

When confirmed separately, chief of Pecatu customary village, Made Sumerta, said there is indeed a seasonal river estuary.

Every heavy rain it must have been a drainage center flowing like a flood. Due to the current rapid development in the Pecatu area, the water absorption begins to decrease. To that end, he hoped the government to pay ultimate attention to such condition.

Sumerta who is also a legislator of the Badung House of Representatives appealed to the government to help do arrangement for the rivers on the track. Around the estuary of the river sits the Dreamland

attraction that is surely visited by many tourists. He worried that when tourists are lazing, they are suddenly hit by floods.

“Hopefully, the Public Works and Housing Agency (PUPR) can come down to check the condition because in the estuaries of the river sits a tourist attraction. We are afraid the beaches can be eroded by water,” he said.

Other than on Dreamland Beach, said Sumerta, the same conditions also occur on Labuan Sait Beach.

Moreover, the Labuan Sait Bridge was inundated by knee-high water.

The condition is estimated to happen because the drainage does not function optimally.

Meanwhile, Service Subdivision Head of the National Weather Services (BBMKG) for Region III Denpasar, Decky Irmawan, when confirmed on Monday (Nov.

13) said that some regions in Bali are generally hit by moderate to heavy rain, especially in Badung and Tabanan area in coastal areas.

Moreover, the rain tends to concentrate in Southern Bali coastal area to the west of Tabanan and Negara. “Moderate to heavy rains occurred during the day from about 13:30, but it varied in each region,” he said.

For Jimbaran and surrounding areas, heavy rain occurred starting about 15:40 through 17:40.

Such heavy rain flushed for approximately two hours, so he is not surprised if the rain is able to make some areas exposed to floods. “A rainfall is categorized to be medium if the amount of rainfall occurs in the range of 5-10 mm / hour, while heavy rain occurs in the range of 10-20 mm / hour,” he explained. (kmb23)

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Bali News

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Lebanon accuses Saudi Arabia of holding its PM hostage

Building and empowering the palm-leaf manuscript museum is not easy. It needs supporting by large budget and a mature plan in the utilization.

Lontar Museum assured to be built next year

AMLAPURA — The information of Dutch researchers mentioning that palm-leaf manuscripts (lontar) in Leiden Museum of the Netherlands only collects transcripts or copies will not alter the government’s plan to continue its development in the west of Candrabhuana Cultural Park.

Head of Karangasem Culture Agency, Putu Arnawa, said on Wednesday (Nov. 15), asserted that this plan is just waiting for its implementation next year to support Karangasem as Heritage City. Next year, the building facilities are ensured to have been established.

He acknowledged that building and empowering the palm-leaf manuscript museum is not easy. It needs supporting by large budget and a mature plan in the utilization. The

museum will be a complete package to support the Heritage City of central government’s program. According to him, Balinese palm-leaf manuscript certainly carries many religious values in the adaptation process with local wisdom at the time. The content is very important for us to be learned together. “The absorption of religious teachings coming from outside blending with our local culture in Bali is widely carried in the manuscript, much

more we can learn from the Balinese palm-leaf manuscript,” said Putu Arnawa.

In the current era of millennial generation, the teachings carried in the manuscripts should also be studied and understood. To find out the essence of the manuscripts in Bali, especially in Karangasem, it requires a proper museum as a place to store and learn it. “So, the existence of this museum will open our chances to repatriate the palm-leaf manuscripts as in the Leiden Museum. However, what to be repatriated is not the physical form, but the content and the values carried in them,” said Arnawa responding to a Dutch researcher, Prof. Hinzler, who assessed the effort

of repatriation of Balinese palm-leaf manuscripts from Leiden Museum to Karangasem as a futile attempt because the contents of Leiden Museum are only the transcripts.

Arnawa also asserted that every museum like Leiden would have a database of palm-leaf manuscript content. They all are well registered and available in digital version. So, the most possible effort is to copy the contents of the palm-leaf manuscripts in the museum to be further stored and learned together in the Lontar Museum of Karangasem later and so are those in other location.

For the management of the Lontar Museum, he claimed to be learning to other regions. When the build-

ing and its contents are feasible, complete with good management, it will be opened to the public and empowered.

When asked about that other area in Karangasem has also pioneered the establishment of similar palm-leaf manuscript museum, he considered it not a problem.

Precisely, it is considered very positive in the future because it can be complementary, not compete to make a museum. “Regarding the budget, I certainly do not know how much it will spend because it is the program of central government in the series of the development of Karangasem as a heritage city,” he added. (kmb31)

To reduce negative impact of gadget

Tabanan Library adds schedule of services

Head of Tabanan Library Office, I Wayan Kotio

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IBP/kmb

TABANAN — To suppress negative impact of gadgets on children while increasing their reading interest, the Tabanan Regional Library has added service schedule from six days to seven days.

Head of Tabanan Library Office, I Wayan Kotio, said on Wednesday (Nov. 15) the library services are usually open during working days namely from Monday to Saturday.

However, to increase reading interest of younger generation, the service is added to seven working days where on Sunday the service is opened in Dangin Carik Square by

using mobile library. “We integrate mobile library van with the existing playground in the corner of the square,” he said.

The mobile library service is opened from 07:00 until 09:00 Local Time. Such hours are chosen because at that time many people usually have exercise and sometimes bring along their children.

So while exercising, children can spend their time by reading.

According to Kotio the program having been started since the beginning of this year showed good results.

At the beginning when the program

was launched, no children came to read. Some just stopped by due to curiosity and looked around. In the long run, one after another came to read and even regularly followed their parents to exercise to Dangin Carik Square to read. Currently, the average visit of children reading every week reaches 30 to 50 children.

In order to attract the reading interest of children, certainly it is required the addition of book collection. To increase the book collection, Kotio said that annually his office has disbursed the fund worth IDR 11 million. (kmb24)

Yonhap via REUTERS

A damaged vehicle and debris caused by recent earthquake are seen in Pohang, South Korea, November 15, 2017.

South Korea rattled by rare 5.4-magnitude quake SEOUL - A rare earthquake of magnitude 5.4 rattled South Korea on Wednesday, its second most powerful quake on record, shaking buildings but causing no major damage or injuries.

The quake struck about 9 km (5 miles) north of the southeastern port city of Pohang, the Korea Meteorological Administration said in a news briefing.

Tremors were felt across the country but operations at nuclear reactors were not affected, the state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co said in a statement.

South Korea has relatively little seismic activity, compared with Japan to the east.

Its strongest quake on record was magnitude 5.8 in September last year.

CONFUSION South Korean test-takers ex-

pressed confusion and dejection on Thursday as the country’s highly competitive annual university entrance exam, called a “life assignment exam” by some, was postponed a week for the first time ever due to safety concerns.

South Korea postponed the exam after a rare earthquake rattled the country on Wednesday, causing damage to buildings including some schools.

The exam is life-defining for many high school seniors, as a prestigious university on one’s resume is seen a minimum for securing a place in limited corporate jobs in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is dominated by conglomerates.

Because the wrong answer to a single question in the roughly 200question exam can mean dropping in the national ranking and failure to enter one’s choice of university, tensions ran high.

“It’s a bit hellish thinking I have to do this for one more week,” said 20-year-old Cho Hyun-lee, studying at one of Seoul’s largest cram schools to take the test again after last year.

“People are dispirited, lying with their faces down.”

Some scrambled to recover books they’d thrown away yesterday or buy new ones, two testtakers told Reuters, while others “gave up”, uploading pictures of classmates sleeping or reading online comics on social media. Still others agonised over missing concerts of their favourite singers or South Korea’s largest online game exhibition this week. (rtr)

BEIRUT - France said on Wednesday that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who Lebanon’s president says is being held hostage by Saudi Arabia, will visit France with his family in coming days.

Hariri travelled to Riyadh on Nov. 3 before abruptly resigning in a televised statement a day later. He has stayed in Riyadh and top Lebanese officials and senior politicians close to Hariri have told Reuters he was forced to quit.

Hariri and Saudi Arabia have both denied he is being held in Riyadh or was coerced to resign. Hariri has said he will return to Lebanon in the next few days to formally submit his resignation.

The crisis has thrust Lebanon onto the frontline of a Middle East contest for power pitting a Saudiled bloc against Iran and its allies, including the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that he had invited Hariri to France after speaking to him and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The invitation is to visit for a few days and is not an offer of political exile, Macron said, speaking in Germany.

“We will not accept (Hariri) remaining a hostage whose reason for detention we do not know,” Lebanese President Michel Aoun said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the head of Aoun’s political party, said the situation was “not normal” but that Beirut wanted “good relations” with Riyadh.

Aoun has said he will not accept Hariri’s resignation until he returns to Lebanon to formally tender it and explain his reasons, which Hariri has said he will do in the coming days.

Saudi Arabia has long been considered Hariri’s main external supporter. Aoun is a political ally of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a powerful Shi’ite Muslim group with close ties to Iran.

Lebanon’s coalition government was formed last year through a political deal that made Aoun president, Hariri prime minister, and included members of Hezbollah in the cabinet.

Saudi Arabia last week accused Lebanon of having declared war on it because of Hezbollah’s role in other Arab countries. It regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

Riyadh’s main ally, the United States, has struck a different tone, continuing its support for Lebanon including military aid. The European Union has also repeatedly stated its support for Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees.

In an interview on Sunday night with a television station he owns, Hariri warned of economic sanctions against Lebanon and of a threat to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese workers living in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies.

“Nothing justifies Hariri’s lack of return for 12 days. We therefore consider him detained,” Aoun said.

He added that Lebanon had confirmed that Hariri’s family were under detention in their house in Saudi Arabia and were searched whenever they entered or left it.

Speaking in Italy, Foreign Minister Bassil said: “We will continue all steps...for this problem to be solved in a brotherly way through good relations that we want to have with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

He added, however: “If Saudi Arabia has a problem with Iran or with Hezbollah, they have to solve it with Iran, not with Lebanon and not with all the Lebanese.” (rtr)

REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil speaks during a meeting with Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano in Rome, Italy, November 15, 2017.

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International

Friday, November 17, 2017

BUSINESS Japan Motegi eyes higher productivity, wages to end deflation risk

TOKYO - Japan’s economy minister says policy needs to focus on raising productivity and wages to ensure an escape from deflation as the government prepares to announce a stimulus package next month.

The economy, in the midst of its longest unbroken run of growth in more than 15 years, is showing positive signs that it can shake off the risk of deflation due to an improving output gap, said Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. However, consumer prices have been slow to rise, and Motegi says the key is encouraging more corporate investment and more spending on training workers so they can secure higher-paying jobs.

“The situation is starting to change,” Motegi said after a meeting of the government’s top advisory panel.

“There are a lot of improvements in the economy that point toward an end to deflation. To make sure this happens, we need to focus on productivity and wages.”

Vanquishing deflation, or a state of falling prices that has weighed on Japan for more than 15 years, has been among the top goals of the Bank of Japan and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe since he came to power in late 2012.

Recent positive economic signs suggest Japan is breaking out the grip of deflation that has stunted growth for years, according to analysis the government submitted to the advisory panel on Thursday.

Private-sector members of the panel expressed concern that prices for services were sluggish and that improvements in productivity for some manufacturers had not lifted wages, according to a government official.

Abe has urged companies to raise salaries 3 percent next year, when companies and unions hold annual wage negotiations, but a recent Reuters poll shows that most companies will keep wage increases to between 2 and 2.5 percent.

Abe has also said he wants to offer more incentives for companies that invest in labour-saving technology and new production facilities. Japan’s core consumer price index rose 0.7 percent in September from a year earlier for the ninth straight increase, but this was still distant from the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent inflation target.(rtr)

Libyans swap jewellery for medical treatment as crisis bites

TRIPOLI - In a square behind Libya’s central bank, black market dealers, some of them armed, carry small plastic bags filled with dollars and larger ones with dinars in and out of one of many informal exchanges.

Traders buy food and other goods from abroad at the official rate and sell them at the unofficial one, pocketing vast profits; others make equally large sums by smuggling out heavily subsidised fuel.

In the back streets of the old city meanwhile, ordinary people have resorted to selling jewellery or dollars hidden at home as six years of post-dictatorship chaos take their toll.

“I haven’t been paid for four months,” said Fatima, 40, from the southern city of Sabha as she sold three small gold charms to pay for diabetes treatment for her sister, Hasina, who added: “We’re helpless, there’s nothing else we can do.”

In other signs of rising poverty, elderly women beg motorists for cash on Tripoli’s streets and families queue for charity food handouts. The U.N. estimated that about 1.3 million people in Libya need humanitarian assistance this year.

Their situation took another turn for the worse in the past two weeks after the black market rate of the dinar, which has long languished at record lows, slid again, fuelling inflation that is already around 2530 percent.

The central bank blamed the audit bureau and the U.N.-backed government for restricting letters of credit that fund basic supplies to a divided country where a security vacuum and smuggling networks have destabilised the wider region.

Officials had come across suspect requests - one to import tuna worth $120,000, more than the country consumes in a year, according to a Libyan entrepreneur who declined to be named, fearing retribution from Libya’s powerful armed groups.

Just $2.5 billion of an expected $7.4 billion of credit has been allocated, the trader said, helping knock the dinar from around 8.5

to 9.25 against the dollar on the black market. Its value has fallen by more than 600 percent since early 2014.

The economy ministry was not immediately available for comment on a complex credit system that passes through commercial banks and where the audit bureau had documented earlier abuses and lack of oversight.

“We’re talking about an extremely bad economic and financial situation,” Central Bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir said in a rare news conference on Tuesday. “Everyone, whether legislative or executive, holds responsibility equally.”

A man displays Libyan Dinar banknotes in a jewellery store in the old city of Tripoli, Libya October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017.

ELUSIVE PEACE Traders and economists say political uncertainty is a major factor weakening the currency, with U.N. talks to broker a deal between rival factions currently suspended.

Libya is struggling to fund food imports and defend its foreign reserves, which the World Bank estimates will stand at $67.5 billion at the end of this year, compared to $123.5 billion in 2012.

International experts say the only way to resolve the issue is to devalue the dinar from the official exchange rate of 1.37 to the dollar, but agreeing an economic strategy in a country dominated by armed factions with rival governments and no budgets is no simple task.

A powerful or well-connected minority who are profiting from a flourishing shadow economy have little interest in change.

The central bank did not comment on devaluation, but economists and diplomats say the bank is reluctant to devalue without a policy plan in place to deal with the resulting shock.

Libya managed this year to lift oil production to about 1 million barrels a day, but output is stuck well below the levels before the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

Revenues that normally account for about 80 percent of gross domestic product are largely used to pay salaries, including those of armed factions added to the state payroll for their role in the uprising.

Subsidies include a $4 billion-plus annual fuel subsidy that is among the most generous in the world.

Premiums on the official exchange rate and subsidised fuel make Libya “a criminal and terrorist cross-border funding paradise”, said Husni Bey, chairman of HB Group, one of Libya’s biggest private firms.

“Most instability in Libya today is of a criminal nature... due to the lack of equitable exchange rate for the Libyan dinar and the subsidies that must be changed from goods to direct cash contributions.”

Last year Libya spent around $26 billion, but earned just $6 billion. “This year we estimate that revenues should increase to around $14 billion, but spending will likely be more than double this,” said Mark Griffiths, Libya Mission Chief for the International Monetary Fund. “This is not sustainable.”

The government has sought to reduce the public salary bill by 5 billion dinars annually, clamping down on abuse by removing some

REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

100,000 people who had been claiming several salaries, according to a finance ministry report.

Libyans became used to plentiful public jobs and state handouts as Gaddafi sought to buy loyalty like other Middle Eastern oil producers.

Migrant workers used to do the manual work, now Libyans without contacts have taken their place.

Salman Rashid, a public servant, said he had received just three months-worth of pay in the past year. “It’s not enough for basic needs,” he said. “Now I work on construction sites and in buildings maintenance.” Entrepreneurs have withdrawn deposits from banks for fear of employees leaking word of them to kidnappers and others also prefer to keep money at home.

In a second shop in the old city, a woman who gave her name as Karima was changing 500 euros.

“I need to go to Tunis for surgery and am selling my foreign currency holdings,” she said. “Times are very difficult now.”

Shop owner Salahedin Zarti, 52, said up to 10 people come in daily to sell necklaces, bracelets and rings.

“In the beginning it was every day, but now I think people are starting to run out of jewellery,” he said.(rtr)

Bali News

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

Kuningan Feast, Descent of Deities to Increase Prosperity Graces

After celebrating the Galungan Day, the victory of dharma against adharma or the victory of Jayatiga against Kalatiga, the Hindu community in Bali then celebrates Kuningan falling on the Saniscara Kliwon Kuningan or Saturday (Nov. 11). The Kuningan festival begins with a ritual ceremony by slaughtering animals for offerings.

Dr. Ketut Sumadi, a lecturer at the IHDN Denpasar, said that before celebrating Kuningan, the Hindu community in Bali holds a ceremony named Pemacekan Agung on Monday after Galungan and before Kuningan. This holy day of pemacekan agung means that devotees may not be careless, must always attempt that jaya tiga is always strong within. Pemacekan Agung means that human should be really a strong person in order to be able to carry out activities, according to the tasks and obligation.

The day before Kuningan, Hindus celebrate Penampahan Kuningan whose procession is the same as Galungan, namely starting to do self-purification, so that it is symbolized with animal (pigs or chickens) slaughtering.

“It means to increase again selfawareness so as not to be tease

by the kala tiga. Therefore, one needs to strengthen himself to overcome the temptations of life. Philosophically, when doing self-contemplation we increase self-consciousness by denuding ourselves. Sadripu as the six internal enemies can sometimes make us forget,” he explained.

Sumadi asserted that on Kuningan Day the ancestors and deities come down to earth as well as bestow prosperity for humanity.

On that account, the characteristic offerings presented are yellow rice coming with tamiang, ter (arrow) and endongan. They symbolize the weapons as self-protection for

the next life based on the holy and useful knowledge.

On Kuningan, all worships must be completed before midday because it is the culmination of understanding that means never to stop before reaching the peak.

After that, it just continues. It is the reason why the Hindus offer yellow oblations symbolizing the summit of happiness, the struggle of life that must be successful.

Meanwhile, the worship is dedicated to Mahadev as the god of happiness.

On the feast of Kuningan, explained Dr. Sumadi, mankind has achieved happiness and always in-

creases the creativity and innovation. Moreover, Bali as a world’s tourist destination makes people more creative. “During the festivities, we seem to rejoice, marked with cultural performance such as ngelawang or street show. That’s why, in the past each hamlet had barong bangkung art troupe as well as other arts,” he said.

The next day, Sunday (Nov. 12) is usually celebrated with tirtayatra or pilgrimage the increase faith and devotion to God Almighty.

On that account, Hindu devotees do worship to temples. It is also resumed with social visit to relatives and friends. (kmb)

Tamba Waras Temple, a Sanctum to Invoke Recovery It is said that King of Tabanan, Cokorda Tabanan, was in serious illness. None of the royal healers could heal him. Medicine has been sought after everywhere, but nothing worked. One upon a time, there were hints in the form of revelation that there would be a medicine that could cure the king. The servants

were assigned to go to all directions.

After getting tired of wondering here and there, eventually they saw a cloud of smoke from the Batukaru forest. After being approached, the smoke came out from coconut shell.

Ultimately the servants asked for further guidance. In short, the medicine looked for has been obtained.

At the end, Cokorda Tabanan got his recovery.

Then, on the command of the king, a sanctum named Tamba Waras is established at the location. Tamba means ‘medicine’ while waras means ‘gets recovered’ as ever before. It is believed that whoever saying prayers at the temple will obtain a healing. This belief keeps growing and growing until now.

The temple belongs to one of the Catur Angga temples with the status as the sad kahyangan jagat of Bali. The Tamba Waras temple is included in the jajar kemiri. Those belonging to this temple group are the Muncaksari and the underneath Tamba Waras located at the right side of the Batukaru Temple.

Geographically, the Tamba Waras Temple is located on the south slope of Mount Batukaru,

precisely at Sangketan, Penebel, Tabanan. The temple located on the same line as the Batukaru Temple sits on the altitude of about 725 meters above sea level.

To get to this temple, pilgrims have to cover a distance of about 22 km from the town of Tabanan.

In terms of the temple structure, the Tamba Waras Temple is also nicknamed as the warehouse of universal medicine.

READ Sesarin Canang, from Folded Betel Leaf to Banknotes It is estimated to have been established in the twelfth century. Before saying prayers, all the pilgrims should first do self-purificatory rite or melukat at the sapta Ganges shower. Other than melukat at the shower, it is also resumed with the ivory coconut water. After that, the pilgrimage can continue to the main temple. (kmb)

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Jaja Iku-Iku, a Sweet and Sticky Cake Delight your senses in Balinese traditional cakes. Local community has a variety of sticky and sweet jaja (cake). Various types of cake are made specifically to be part of ritual, offered to the ancestors, while some others are made deliberately for consumption. However, all the cakes are usually used for offering other than for snacks and on the way round.

One of the cakes serving as a part of ritual, but usually presented as the offering, is the iku-iku cake.

This round and oval-shaped cake with a flat bottom like a turtle has a sweet taste and sticky. Sweet taste is prostrated not due to artificial sweetener, but it is from pure sugar. For the base, it uses banana leaf to avoid chemicals.

Jaja iku-iku is often used as a snack by farmers served in their mutual assistance. For example, it is served when transplanting paddy seedlings in mutual assistance in the fields. In such a mass activity, it is usually accompanied with the provision of small lunch party. Jaja iku-iku is served as dessert after having the main course. At that time, various cakes are usually accompanied with coffee or tea.

Allegedly the cake is the result of acculturation of Balinese-Chinese culinary tradition because every Chinese feast day, Chinese-descendant people pass this cake to their neighbors. Jaja iku-iku has round and flat shape, like a turtle is made based on or in accordance with the mold. On the top it has a variety of shapes and images. There are floral, turtle and other motif. It corresponds to the image of the mold. Commonly, it has 2 – 3 different images.

The ingredient of this cake is glutinous rice flour. As alternative ingredient, people commonly use cassava or sweet potato. Other ingredients include white sugar, palm (brown) sugar, grated coconut, salt and others.

The finely grounded flour is brewed with water (filled with hot water) and then squeezed to be smooth and supple. Optionally, it can be added with salt to taste, so as to produce a better taste. If wishing to have color, simply use natural green color of leaf in order to look more interesting.

At the same time, please prepare the sauce (to fill inside the cake), grated coconut mixed with white sugar or brown sugar and then roasted until it is evenly distributed. The sauce is then wrapped in flour to form like a small ball. Afterward, prepare the mold previously filled with clean flour, so the mold will be easily taken out. Put the flour into the mold and then pressed, so it can be shaped according to the mold. Then, take out and put on leaves and then steam. Having cooked, cool them down. Now, the cake is ready to be served. (kmb)

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Friday, November 17, 2017

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International

International

RLD

“We’re praying” Officials say India will not act on smog this year

NEW DELHI - As pollution level climbed to 12 times above the recommended limit this week in India’s capital, government officials said they knew what was needed to control the smoky haze, but nothing would be done, at least this year.

A major source of the smog at this time of year across northern India, including New Delhi, is farmers burning the stubble of the previous crop to prepare for new plantings in November.

An estimated $600 million is needed to provide farmers with alternatives, but the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition parties in power in New Delhi and nearby Punjab states are squabbling over who will pay, said three federal government officials who have been briefed on the situation.

“Nothing more is likely to happen this year,” said one of them. “We’re now praying. Only God can save us.”

The official said he had bought pollution masks for his family and installed air purifiers at his home in New Delhi, now the most polluted city in the world, according to the Brookings Institute. The city is home to more than 20 million people.

A spokesman of the federal environment ministry declined comment on federal and state governments bickering over funds to tackle the problem of stubble burning.

The provincial leaders of New Delhi and neighbouring Haryana states, after exchanging barbs on Twitter for days, agreed on Wednesday on measures to control the smog - in 2018.

As a thick blanket of haze settled over parts of northern India, including the capital, over the past few days, the official response to what has become an annual phenomenon has been marked by paralysis and lack of ownership, interviews with government officials show.

It’s not just the crop burning - a combination of industrial smog, vehicle exhaust and dust envelop the region every year as winter approaches and wind speeds drop. It’s been particularly bad this year with levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter that reaches deep into the lungs, climbing to over 600 last week, according to a U.S. Embassy measure. The upper limit for healthy air is 50, the government has said.

Respiratory diseases killed about 10 people a day in the year to March 2017 in the national capital region, according to the health ministry. The World Bank estimates pollution cost the country as much as 7.7 percent of the GDP in 2013.

In 2015, Modi launched the first national air quality index in New Delhi and promised to take steps to clean the air.

TRIED OUR BEST

Authorities temporarily banned diesel-run power generators, construction, burning of garbage and plying of trucks with non-essential goods, but construction and truck movements were allowed to resume on Thursday as pollution levels dropped.

In recent days, authorities also began to use fire engines to spray water over parts of the capital hoping it would help settle the dust. But the steps have largely proved ineffective.

“We’ve tried our best to tackle the situation, but as policymakers we’ve failed to address the main problem of stubble burning,” the government official said.

It’s not a new problem - it happens each year after mid-October when farmers start harvesting summer crops in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.

With rising labour costs and a short window to plant the next crop, most farmers burn the stubble and straw in their fields to clear them for the next planting.

Since October, more than 40,000 fire incidents have been recorded in Punjab, as farmers disposed of nearly 20 million tonnes of rice waste, environment groups said. (rtr)

REUTERS/Amit Dave

A farmer burns paddy waste stubble in a field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India November 15, 2017.

Friday, November 17, 2017

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Indonesia unveils plan to roll out 1,000 eco-mosques by 2020

KUALA LUMPUR - Worshippers in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, are set to go green with a new initiative that aims to establish 1,000 eco-mosques by 2020.

Launched this week by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the initiative will help the mosques to source renewable energy, manage their water and food needs sustainably, reduce and recycle waste and provide environmental education.

AFP

An armoured personnel carrier stations by an intersection as Zimbabwean soldiers regulate traffic in Harare on November 15, 2017. Zimbabwe’s military appeared to be in control of the country on November 15 as generals denied staging a coup but used state television to vow to target “criminals” close to President Mugabe.

Zimbabwe on knife’s edge after military seizes power HARARE - Zimbabwe was on a knife’s edge on Thursday after the military seized power in what it dubbed a targeted operation against “criminals” in the entourage of President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation for almost four decades.

It was not clear whether the apparent military coup would bring a formal end to the 93-year-old Mugabe’s rule. The main goal of the generals appeared to be preventing Mugabe’s wife Grace, 41 years his junior, from succeeding him.

Local media reported South Africa’s defence and state security ministers, dispatched by President Jacob Zuma as regional envoys, arrived in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on Wednesday night and were expected to meet both Mugabe and the military. Their ultimate goal was not clear.

Zuma earlier called for “calm and restraint” and asked the defence forces “to ensure that peace and stability are not undermined in Zimbabwe,” South Africa’s neighbour, which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past two decades.

The South African presidency said Mugabe had told Zuma over the phone that he was confined to

his home but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family safe.

Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states.

He plunged Zimbabwe into a fresh political crisis last week by firing his vice president and presumed successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75 - known as the “crocodile” - for showing “traits of disloyalty”.

The generals believed that move was aimed at clearing a path for Grace Mugabe to take over and said on Monday they were prepared to “step in” if purges of their allies did not end.

Tanks blocked roads after dark and soldiers with automatic weapons kept up their patrols, but the situation appeared calm.

Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-ageneration change for the former British colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies Mugabe’s critics have long blamed on him. (rtr)

The project will see the top Muslim clerical body work with the private sector, the government’s health and planning ministries, universities, and other religious groups in a bid to boost environmental awareness in communities across

the country.

“Most Muslims in Indonesia listen more to religious leaders than the government,” Hayu Prabowo, head of environment and natural resources at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“If an Islamic leader says something they will follow but if the government says something, they may not.” Indonesia, with 250 million people, has a mixed environmental record.

The archipelago is the world’s top thermal coal exporter and palm oil producer, which has led to the clearing and development of swathes of forest land and intense international pressure to limit deforestation.

Many of Indonesia’s rural and poorest provinces suffer regular droughts due to climate change, while children’s education is often hampered by the lack of regular

power supply.

Hening Parlan, coordinator for environment and disaster management at Aisyiyah, the women’s wing of Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, said the idea of eco-mosques stemmed from asking how to make mosques the centre for environment and education within a community.

“For many Indonesians, their understanding of the environment only happens when they see the impact of climate change (rather than through education) ... if they suffer from floods or landslides for example,” Parlan said.

She said the initiative would help mosques establish better water supplies and storage facilities, offer fundraising advice and provide funding to mosques to help them become environmentally friendly.

Solar power and biogas will also be promoted over fossil fuels and

imams will teach better environmental awareness.

The eco-mosque initiative is not the first time MUI has taken the lead on the environment - it has also issued edicts, or fatwas, on forest fires and sustainable mining.

There are more than 800,000 mosques in Indonesia but officials hope to create more eco-mosques after the initial 1,000 are established and also include other places of worship.

An eco-mosque roll-out of this scale is rare. In Dubai a mosque built in 2014 was the first to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines, while Britain, the United States, Morocco and Malaysia all have mosques aiming to be more green.

“We need concrete action to help mosques and their communities overcome the oncoming water and energy crisis by building resilience,” said Prabowo. (rtr)

IBP/net

Indonesia is second favorite destination among millennial Muslims

According to the result of Mastercard-Halal Trip Muslim Millennial Travel Report, Indonesia is the second favorite destination among millennial Muslims, with Malaysia crowned as the winner.

This shows that Indonesia’s status has improved from last year where it took the fourth spot. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya was grateful for the achievement and determined

to topple Malaysia off the first place in the near future.

“Our emotional rival is Malaysia, while Thailand is our professional rival. We need to find ways to defeat our rivals and how to catch up with them,” Arief said.

The minister urged his team to make improvements, especially in human resources since Indonesians are still lacking in foreign

language skill, “We are good at providing Muslim-friendly facilities. In fact, we took home 12 awards out of the 16 categories at the World Halal Tourism Award,” Arief said.

Below is the list of millennial Muslims’ favorite travel destinations according to Mastercard-Halal Trip Muslim Millennial Travel Report. (rtr)

10

Destination

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Sublime Dimitrov thrashes Goffin to reach semis Tepekong Dive Site AMLAPURA - Tepekong Dive Site is located in Amuk Bay Eastern part of Bali and offers some of the most impressive diving in Bali. Great walls, the canyon, strong currents coupled with superb coral and marine life makes this a dive for experienced divers only. On these excellent drift dives you can expect to see all kinds of pelagics such as grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrinchos),

eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari), barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) and the mighty oceanic sunfish (Mola-mola).

The currents bring in a lot of new water so you can normally expect excellent visibility. Conditions here are very changeable so a good guide is essential. If conditions are too rough, there are a number of other sites close by that also offer excellent diving.

Canyon / Pinnacles : On the west side of the small rocky island of Tepekong the bizarre lava mass stretches into the deep and forms a small canyon. We follow the inner edge of this canyon towards the west until we reach an twin peaked seamount: The Pinnacles. In general the Pinnacles are exposed to a mild current. This currents can at times get immensely strong and earned this dive site the nickname

The Toilet.

Lots of schooling fish are home in this currents and attract pelagic hunters like Tunas, Barracudas and Sharks. The great variety of hard and soft corals provide shelter for many reef fishes like the Angler fish on the picture on the right.

Turtles are regular visitors to this spectacular dive site as well as the legendary Mola Mola on the picture below.

Tunnel : The east side of Tepekong consists of a slope rich with hard and soft corals and sponges.

Between 18 and 24 meters are coral bommies under which Reef and Nurse Sharks can be found as well as Lobster and Sting Rays. At the southern end of the slope we find a tunnel / cave at 18 meters which exits on the other end at 28 meters in a 50 meter vertical wall.

(IBP/net)

Glyn KIRK / AFP

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov returns against Austria’s Dominic Thiem during day two of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London on November 13, 2017.

LONDON - Grigor Dimitrov stopped listening to the Roger Federer comparisons years ago but produced tennis the Swiss maestro would have been proud of to destroy David Goffin and reach the semi-finals of the ATP Finals on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old has not always handled the expectations placed on his shoulders after he won the Wimbledon junior title in 2008 with a game style uncannily like Federer’s.

But after qualifying for the ATP Finals for the first time having climbed to a career-high sixth in the world, Dimitrov is starting to revel on the sport’s biggest stages.

His 6-0 6-2 thrashing of Belgium’s Goffin in the O2 Arena followed Monday’s tense three-set win over Dominic Thiem when he

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When Dimitrov led 6-0 3-0 and 30-0 on the Goffin serve it seemed he would match one of the myriad records Federer holds - the only “double-bagel” victory achieved in the tournament.

Six-times ATP Finals champion Federer, who reached the last four on Tuesday, beat then French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-0 6-0 in 2005 when the event was held in Shanghai.

Goffin avoided that humiliation, holding serve in the 10th game, but the cheers that accompanied

Carter appears at CAS to appeal against doping test

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became the first Bulgarian to take part in the elite tournament for the top eight players in its 48-year history. Goffin, another first-time qualifier, battled to victory against hobbling world number one Rafael Nadal on Monday, but was powerless to stop Dimitrov in full flow.

Despite Wednesday’s defeat, Goffin will face Thiem on Friday for a place in the semi-finals after the Austrian beat Pablo Carreno Busta, who was drafted into the draw following Nadal’s withdrawal, 6-3 3-6 6-4.

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LAUSANNE - Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter appeared at sport’s highest tribunal on Wednesday to appeal against a positive doping test which cost his team mate Usain Bolt one of his nine Olympic gold medals.

Carter refused to speak to the media and covered his face with his hood as he left the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) building and got into a waiting taxi.

Carter retroactively tested positive for the banned stimulant

methylhexaneamine at the 2008 Olympics and was stripped of his 4x100 gold medal along with team mates Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater.

Bolt, considered the greatest sprinter of all time, had won an unprecedented gold-medal treble in the 100m, 200m and 4x100 relay in three straight Olympics between 2008 and 2016 until Carter’s test result. CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said the hearing had lasted all day. “Now there are some final submissions to be filed and a

panel will deliberate probably at the end of this year for a decision probably next year,” he told reporters. (rtr) Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter tries to hide his face from reporters upon his arrival to his appeal hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over his recent doping confirmation on November 15, 2017 in Lausanne.

that feat were out of sympathy not expectation that a contest might be about to start.

He managed another game but Dimitrov, who claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati this year and reached the Australian Open semi-finals, was on another level. He won 12 of the first 15 points, struck 18 winners, won 72 percent of his service points and only faced one break point.

“I was just thinking, there are only a few days in the year when everything you touch turns to gold and that was the first set,” Dimitrov said.

“But I work for those days. And when it comes on such an occasion, it’s special. “My movement was

great, I was reading the game really well and believing in my shots.

“The next thing you know the match is over.”

Goffin wore tape on his left knee but declared himself 100 percent fit.

“It was just a tough, tough match against Grigor who played really well. It’s life,” the world number eight said.

Thiem was dragged into a final set for a second successive match but made sure this time he would be the one holding aloft his arms in victory after firing down his 12th ace to end Carreno Busta’s hopes of advancing any further in the event. (rtr)

8

Friday, November 17, 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017

Sp rt Better late than never, World Cup beckons for Gareca

SAO PAULO - Coach Ricardo Gareca guided Peru to a long-awaited World Cup finals appearance on Wednesday and in doing so moved a step closer to fulfilling his own dream of gracing soccer’s greatest tournament. Gareca, whose side beat New Zealand 2-0 in Lima to qualify by the same score on aggregate via an interconfederation playoff, was cruelly denied the chance to take part in the 1986 World Cup finals as a player for eventual champions Argentina.

In 1985, the then striker scored the goal that guaranteed his home nation their place in Mexico, ironically against Peru, the team he would come to manage three decades later. However, Gareca did not make the final squad that, thanks largely to Diego Maradona’s guile and brilliance, would lift the title at the Aztec Stadium.

He was dropped, an experience he later described as one of the most bitter of his career.

Now, the man known as ‘The Tiger’ can look forward to a summer in Russia, with a team he has patiently built back to something resembling its best.

“Mission accomplished, thank you,” Gareca said after goals from Jefferson Farfan and Christian Ramos gave Peru a historic victory. “We have managed something very important for the country. I am very emotional.”

After coaching a slew of South American clubs, Gareca was hired as Peru manager in 2015 with the express task of taking a national side that contained plenty of talent but few big names back to the finals for the first time since 1982. His two-and-a-half years in charge started inconsistently and some Peruvians, unwilling to forget his decisive goal in 1985, were quick to call for his head.

“It was a complicated start,” Gareca admitted. “You always need a bit of luck. I am a person who believes in luck, although I believe in work above all.” He led Peru to the semi-finals of the 2015 Copa America but they struggled in the early World Cup qualifiers, winning just one of their first six fixtures.

However, they were given a huge boost in September last year when in their seventh match, Bolivia fielded an illegal player and the 2-0 defeat was overturned into a 3-0 victory by a sporting tribunal.

The decision sparked a run of form that lifted the Andean nation up to fifth place in the South American qualifying table, guaranteeing them a playoff spot against New Zealand. Both goals in the tie came in Lima on Wednesday and extended the side’s unbeaten run to 10 games, the longest any Peru team has run up in 75 years. Gareca will hope the run can continue and that in Russia, he can finally show the world what they were missing. (rtr)

Peru’s players celebrate their victory among members of the media.

REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

List of the countriesin World Cup 2018 EUROPE Russia (Qualified as hosts) France Portugal Germany Serbia Poland England Spain Belgium Iceland Switzerland Croatia Sweden Denmark

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Uruguay Argentina Colombia Peru

CENTRAL, NORTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN Mexico Costa Rica Panama

AFRICA Nigeria Egypt Morocco Tunisia Senegal

ASIA Iran Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia Australia

Atletico launch rights issue with Israeli investor president

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

General view of Jose Mourinho scarves for sale outside the stadium before the match

Manchester United reports 17.3 pct rise in first-quarter revenue English soccer club Manchester United posted a 17.3 percent rise in first-quarter revenue helped by strong growth in both broadcasting and commercial businesses.

United, whose leading players include Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, are currently top of their group in the lucrative Champions League competition and are second in the 20-team English Premier League.

The club’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the three months to Sept 30 rose to 36.6 million pounds ($48.3 million) from 31.2 million pounds a year earlier, reflecting its participation in this season’s Champions League, Europe’s top club tournament.

Revenue for the period came in at 141 million pounds, compared with 120.2 million pounds year ago.

Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has refused to commit his long-term future at Old Trafford, saying he is focused on improving the team and winning the Premier League title before the end of his three-year contract.

The 54-year-old Portuguese is nearing the halfway point of his deal and guided United to the League Cup and Europa League titles in his first season.

“I signed a three-year contract and when I signed that three-year contract it was basically to try and improve the direction of the football team,” he told the Daily

Mirror. “And obviously when we want to improve the direction of the football team, it means to try and win titles which we did already last season.

“But when we speak about titles, everyone obviously thinks about the Premier League.” United, second in the league table, have made their best start in the league since the 2012-13 title-winning season under Alex Ferguson but they are eight points behind Manchester City.

Mourinho believes the pressure to deliver his first league title at United this season is harsh as they are facing fierce competition from City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

“Of course, it is an objective but to say the only way we are improving is to win the Premier League is not quite fair because the other teams, the other five or six teams, have the same objectives, the same responsibility,” he added.

“They have the same qualities to do it, or even more because they have the stability over the past three years.”

Mourinho confirmed striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic could return to action for United before the end of the year. The 36-year-old Swede has not played since suffering a knee ligament injury in April.

“He is a lion, he is a fighter... he has the anger all the time and that’s the reason why he’s almost coming back,” Mourinho said.

“He’s reduced the timing of his recovery and he will be back in 2017, which is a magnificent recovery.” (rtr)

BARCELONA - Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo said on Thursday the Liga club have launched a rights issue with the financial input of “an important Israeli multinational”, who will purchase a 15 percent stake for 50 million euros ($58.89 million). Cerezo is the club’s majority shareholder along with chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin, and after the rights issue their share will fall from 72.5 percent to 65 percent.

The stake held by Chinese conglomerate Wanda, which owns the naming rights of the club’s new 67,000-capacity stadium the Wanda Metropolitano will fall from 20 percent to 17, although they will still be the second largest shareholder in the club.

Cerezo added that minority shareholders, who hold three percent in the club, will maintain their stake. According to reports in the Israeli media, the new investment group is lead by billionaire Idan Ofer, 62, estimated to be worth $2.6 billion.

“We’ve spent almost a year speaking to investors who want to buy shares in the club, and this morning the board approved the incorporation of 15 percent of an important company, a multinational,” Cerezo told radio station Onda Cero on Thursday.

“It’s an important Israeli group that among other businesses deals in oil and it is the one that interested the most of all the groups we dealt with. They are going to pay 50 million (euros) for 15 percent.”

Atletico, who in 2016 had debts of 483 million euros, are under renewed financial pressure after relocating from the Vicente Calderon to their new arena in September, a move Cerezo has said cost the club 310 million euros.

The club also splurged a combined 95 million euros in the summer on signing Spain internationals Diego Costa and Vitolo, who are not eligible to play until Atletico’s ban on registering new players for the illegal transfer of minors ends on Jan. 1. Israeli trading platform Plus 500 have sponsored Atletico’s shirt since 2015, paying 42.5 million euros over four years, according to the club’s accounts.

Atletico are the third most successful club in Spanish soccer, with 10 Liga titles and 10 King’s Cups to their name. In 2014, they broke Real Madrid and Barcelona’s nine-year stranglehold on the Liga trophy and reached the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, losing both times to neighbours Real. They are currently fourth in the standings on 23 points, eight adrift of leaders Barcelona, and host bitter local rivals Real on Saturday in the first city derby at Wanda Metropolitano.

According to the club’s accounts as of June 30, 2016, Atletico has revenues of 218 million euros and core profit of 24.3 million.

A big chunk of the club’s debt is guaranteed by Cerezo and Marin. The club are planning to reduce the debt with the sale of land of the site of their former Vicente Calderon stadium. (rtr)

9

Liverpool handed double injury boost ahead of Saints clash Liverpool have been handed a double injury boost as captain Jordan Henderson declared himself fit and midfielder Adam Lallana returned to full training ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Southampton.

Henderson, 27, missed Liverpool’s 4-1 win at West Ham United and both of England’s friendlies this month due to a thigh injury but completed a full training session on Wednesday.

“It was my first proper session back today,” Henderson told reporters at the premiere of Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish’s biopic later on Wednesday. “I felt good and hopefully I can play a part at the weekend.”

Dalglish recruited Henderson from Sunderland in 2011 and the England international was full of praise for the former Liverpool player and manager, whom he credits for having a huge influence on his career.

Lallana, who has not played for Liverpool this season due to a thigh injury, could return for a reunion with his former club along with winger Sadio Mane, who is recovering from a hamstring tweak on Senegal duty.

Liverpool are fifth in the standings and last beat 13th-placed Southampton in the league at St Mary’s in 2015. (rtr)

8

Friday, November 17, 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017

Sp rt Better late than never, World Cup beckons for Gareca

SAO PAULO - Coach Ricardo Gareca guided Peru to a long-awaited World Cup finals appearance on Wednesday and in doing so moved a step closer to fulfilling his own dream of gracing soccer’s greatest tournament. Gareca, whose side beat New Zealand 2-0 in Lima to qualify by the same score on aggregate via an interconfederation playoff, was cruelly denied the chance to take part in the 1986 World Cup finals as a player for eventual champions Argentina.

In 1985, the then striker scored the goal that guaranteed his home nation their place in Mexico, ironically against Peru, the team he would come to manage three decades later. However, Gareca did not make the final squad that, thanks largely to Diego Maradona’s guile and brilliance, would lift the title at the Aztec Stadium.

He was dropped, an experience he later described as one of the most bitter of his career.

Now, the man known as ‘The Tiger’ can look forward to a summer in Russia, with a team he has patiently built back to something resembling its best.

“Mission accomplished, thank you,” Gareca said after goals from Jefferson Farfan and Christian Ramos gave Peru a historic victory. “We have managed something very important for the country. I am very emotional.”

After coaching a slew of South American clubs, Gareca was hired as Peru manager in 2015 with the express task of taking a national side that contained plenty of talent but few big names back to the finals for the first time since 1982. His two-and-a-half years in charge started inconsistently and some Peruvians, unwilling to forget his decisive goal in 1985, were quick to call for his head.

“It was a complicated start,” Gareca admitted. “You always need a bit of luck. I am a person who believes in luck, although I believe in work above all.” He led Peru to the semi-finals of the 2015 Copa America but they struggled in the early World Cup qualifiers, winning just one of their first six fixtures.

However, they were given a huge boost in September last year when in their seventh match, Bolivia fielded an illegal player and the 2-0 defeat was overturned into a 3-0 victory by a sporting tribunal.

The decision sparked a run of form that lifted the Andean nation up to fifth place in the South American qualifying table, guaranteeing them a playoff spot against New Zealand. Both goals in the tie came in Lima on Wednesday and extended the side’s unbeaten run to 10 games, the longest any Peru team has run up in 75 years. Gareca will hope the run can continue and that in Russia, he can finally show the world what they were missing. (rtr)

Peru’s players celebrate their victory among members of the media.

REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

List of the countriesin World Cup 2018 EUROPE Russia (Qualified as hosts) France Portugal Germany Serbia Poland England Spain Belgium Iceland Switzerland Croatia Sweden Denmark

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil Uruguay Argentina Colombia Peru

CENTRAL, NORTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN Mexico Costa Rica Panama

AFRICA Nigeria Egypt Morocco Tunisia Senegal

ASIA Iran Japan South Korea Saudi Arabia Australia

Atletico launch rights issue with Israeli investor president

Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

General view of Jose Mourinho scarves for sale outside the stadium before the match

Manchester United reports 17.3 pct rise in first-quarter revenue English soccer club Manchester United posted a 17.3 percent rise in first-quarter revenue helped by strong growth in both broadcasting and commercial businesses.

United, whose leading players include Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, are currently top of their group in the lucrative Champions League competition and are second in the 20-team English Premier League.

The club’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the three months to Sept 30 rose to 36.6 million pounds ($48.3 million) from 31.2 million pounds a year earlier, reflecting its participation in this season’s Champions League, Europe’s top club tournament.

Revenue for the period came in at 141 million pounds, compared with 120.2 million pounds year ago.

Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has refused to commit his long-term future at Old Trafford, saying he is focused on improving the team and winning the Premier League title before the end of his three-year contract.

The 54-year-old Portuguese is nearing the halfway point of his deal and guided United to the League Cup and Europa League titles in his first season.

“I signed a three-year contract and when I signed that three-year contract it was basically to try and improve the direction of the football team,” he told the Daily

Mirror. “And obviously when we want to improve the direction of the football team, it means to try and win titles which we did already last season.

“But when we speak about titles, everyone obviously thinks about the Premier League.” United, second in the league table, have made their best start in the league since the 2012-13 title-winning season under Alex Ferguson but they are eight points behind Manchester City.

Mourinho believes the pressure to deliver his first league title at United this season is harsh as they are facing fierce competition from City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

“Of course, it is an objective but to say the only way we are improving is to win the Premier League is not quite fair because the other teams, the other five or six teams, have the same objectives, the same responsibility,” he added.

“They have the same qualities to do it, or even more because they have the stability over the past three years.”

Mourinho confirmed striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic could return to action for United before the end of the year. The 36-year-old Swede has not played since suffering a knee ligament injury in April.

“He is a lion, he is a fighter... he has the anger all the time and that’s the reason why he’s almost coming back,” Mourinho said.

“He’s reduced the timing of his recovery and he will be back in 2017, which is a magnificent recovery.” (rtr)

BARCELONA - Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo said on Thursday the Liga club have launched a rights issue with the financial input of “an important Israeli multinational”, who will purchase a 15 percent stake for 50 million euros ($58.89 million). Cerezo is the club’s majority shareholder along with chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin, and after the rights issue their share will fall from 72.5 percent to 65 percent.

The stake held by Chinese conglomerate Wanda, which owns the naming rights of the club’s new 67,000-capacity stadium the Wanda Metropolitano will fall from 20 percent to 17, although they will still be the second largest shareholder in the club.

Cerezo added that minority shareholders, who hold three percent in the club, will maintain their stake. According to reports in the Israeli media, the new investment group is lead by billionaire Idan Ofer, 62, estimated to be worth $2.6 billion.

“We’ve spent almost a year speaking to investors who want to buy shares in the club, and this morning the board approved the incorporation of 15 percent of an important company, a multinational,” Cerezo told radio station Onda Cero on Thursday.

“It’s an important Israeli group that among other businesses deals in oil and it is the one that interested the most of all the groups we dealt with. They are going to pay 50 million (euros) for 15 percent.”

Atletico, who in 2016 had debts of 483 million euros, are under renewed financial pressure after relocating from the Vicente Calderon to their new arena in September, a move Cerezo has said cost the club 310 million euros.

The club also splurged a combined 95 million euros in the summer on signing Spain internationals Diego Costa and Vitolo, who are not eligible to play until Atletico’s ban on registering new players for the illegal transfer of minors ends on Jan. 1. Israeli trading platform Plus 500 have sponsored Atletico’s shirt since 2015, paying 42.5 million euros over four years, according to the club’s accounts.

Atletico are the third most successful club in Spanish soccer, with 10 Liga titles and 10 King’s Cups to their name. In 2014, they broke Real Madrid and Barcelona’s nine-year stranglehold on the Liga trophy and reached the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, losing both times to neighbours Real. They are currently fourth in the standings on 23 points, eight adrift of leaders Barcelona, and host bitter local rivals Real on Saturday in the first city derby at Wanda Metropolitano.

According to the club’s accounts as of June 30, 2016, Atletico has revenues of 218 million euros and core profit of 24.3 million.

A big chunk of the club’s debt is guaranteed by Cerezo and Marin. The club are planning to reduce the debt with the sale of land of the site of their former Vicente Calderon stadium. (rtr)

9

Liverpool handed double injury boost ahead of Saints clash Liverpool have been handed a double injury boost as captain Jordan Henderson declared himself fit and midfielder Adam Lallana returned to full training ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Southampton.

Henderson, 27, missed Liverpool’s 4-1 win at West Ham United and both of England’s friendlies this month due to a thigh injury but completed a full training session on Wednesday.

“It was my first proper session back today,” Henderson told reporters at the premiere of Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish’s biopic later on Wednesday. “I felt good and hopefully I can play a part at the weekend.”

Dalglish recruited Henderson from Sunderland in 2011 and the England international was full of praise for the former Liverpool player and manager, whom he credits for having a huge influence on his career.

Lallana, who has not played for Liverpool this season due to a thigh injury, could return for a reunion with his former club along with winger Sadio Mane, who is recovering from a hamstring tweak on Senegal duty.

Liverpool are fifth in the standings and last beat 13th-placed Southampton in the league at St Mary’s in 2015. (rtr)

10

Destination

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Sublime Dimitrov thrashes Goffin to reach semis Tepekong Dive Site AMLAPURA - Tepekong Dive Site is located in Amuk Bay Eastern part of Bali and offers some of the most impressive diving in Bali. Great walls, the canyon, strong currents coupled with superb coral and marine life makes this a dive for experienced divers only. On these excellent drift dives you can expect to see all kinds of pelagics such as grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrinchos),

eagle rays (Aetobatus narinari), barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) and the mighty oceanic sunfish (Mola-mola).

The currents bring in a lot of new water so you can normally expect excellent visibility. Conditions here are very changeable so a good guide is essential. If conditions are too rough, there are a number of other sites close by that also offer excellent diving.

Canyon / Pinnacles : On the west side of the small rocky island of Tepekong the bizarre lava mass stretches into the deep and forms a small canyon. We follow the inner edge of this canyon towards the west until we reach an twin peaked seamount: The Pinnacles. In general the Pinnacles are exposed to a mild current. This currents can at times get immensely strong and earned this dive site the nickname

The Toilet.

Lots of schooling fish are home in this currents and attract pelagic hunters like Tunas, Barracudas and Sharks. The great variety of hard and soft corals provide shelter for many reef fishes like the Angler fish on the picture on the right.

Turtles are regular visitors to this spectacular dive site as well as the legendary Mola Mola on the picture below.

Tunnel : The east side of Tepekong consists of a slope rich with hard and soft corals and sponges.

Between 18 and 24 meters are coral bommies under which Reef and Nurse Sharks can be found as well as Lobster and Sting Rays. At the southern end of the slope we find a tunnel / cave at 18 meters which exits on the other end at 28 meters in a 50 meter vertical wall.

(IBP/net)

Glyn KIRK / AFP

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov returns against Austria’s Dominic Thiem during day two of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London on November 13, 2017.

LONDON - Grigor Dimitrov stopped listening to the Roger Federer comparisons years ago but produced tennis the Swiss maestro would have been proud of to destroy David Goffin and reach the semi-finals of the ATP Finals on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old has not always handled the expectations placed on his shoulders after he won the Wimbledon junior title in 2008 with a game style uncannily like Federer’s.

But after qualifying for the ATP Finals for the first time having climbed to a career-high sixth in the world, Dimitrov is starting to revel on the sport’s biggest stages.

His 6-0 6-2 thrashing of Belgium’s Goffin in the O2 Arena followed Monday’s tense three-set win over Dominic Thiem when he

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When Dimitrov led 6-0 3-0 and 30-0 on the Goffin serve it seemed he would match one of the myriad records Federer holds - the only “double-bagel” victory achieved in the tournament.

Six-times ATP Finals champion Federer, who reached the last four on Tuesday, beat then French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-0 6-0 in 2005 when the event was held in Shanghai.

Goffin avoided that humiliation, holding serve in the 10th game, but the cheers that accompanied

Carter appears at CAS to appeal against doping test

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became the first Bulgarian to take part in the elite tournament for the top eight players in its 48-year history. Goffin, another first-time qualifier, battled to victory against hobbling world number one Rafael Nadal on Monday, but was powerless to stop Dimitrov in full flow.

Despite Wednesday’s defeat, Goffin will face Thiem on Friday for a place in the semi-finals after the Austrian beat Pablo Carreno Busta, who was drafted into the draw following Nadal’s withdrawal, 6-3 3-6 6-4.

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LAUSANNE - Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter appeared at sport’s highest tribunal on Wednesday to appeal against a positive doping test which cost his team mate Usain Bolt one of his nine Olympic gold medals.

Carter refused to speak to the media and covered his face with his hood as he left the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) building and got into a waiting taxi.

Carter retroactively tested positive for the banned stimulant

methylhexaneamine at the 2008 Olympics and was stripped of his 4x100 gold medal along with team mates Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater.

Bolt, considered the greatest sprinter of all time, had won an unprecedented gold-medal treble in the 100m, 200m and 4x100 relay in three straight Olympics between 2008 and 2016 until Carter’s test result. CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said the hearing had lasted all day. “Now there are some final submissions to be filed and a

panel will deliberate probably at the end of this year for a decision probably next year,” he told reporters. (rtr) Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter tries to hide his face from reporters upon his arrival to his appeal hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over his recent doping confirmation on November 15, 2017 in Lausanne.

that feat were out of sympathy not expectation that a contest might be about to start.

He managed another game but Dimitrov, who claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati this year and reached the Australian Open semi-finals, was on another level. He won 12 of the first 15 points, struck 18 winners, won 72 percent of his service points and only faced one break point.

“I was just thinking, there are only a few days in the year when everything you touch turns to gold and that was the first set,” Dimitrov said.

“But I work for those days. And when it comes on such an occasion, it’s special. “My movement was

great, I was reading the game really well and believing in my shots.

“The next thing you know the match is over.”

Goffin wore tape on his left knee but declared himself 100 percent fit.

“It was just a tough, tough match against Grigor who played really well. It’s life,” the world number eight said.

Thiem was dragged into a final set for a second successive match but made sure this time he would be the one holding aloft his arms in victory after firing down his 12th ace to end Carreno Busta’s hopes of advancing any further in the event. (rtr)

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Friday, November 17, 2017

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“We’re praying” Officials say India will not act on smog this year

NEW DELHI - As pollution level climbed to 12 times above the recommended limit this week in India’s capital, government officials said they knew what was needed to control the smoky haze, but nothing would be done, at least this year.

A major source of the smog at this time of year across northern India, including New Delhi, is farmers burning the stubble of the previous crop to prepare for new plantings in November.

An estimated $600 million is needed to provide farmers with alternatives, but the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition parties in power in New Delhi and nearby Punjab states are squabbling over who will pay, said three federal government officials who have been briefed on the situation.

“Nothing more is likely to happen this year,” said one of them. “We’re now praying. Only God can save us.”

The official said he had bought pollution masks for his family and installed air purifiers at his home in New Delhi, now the most polluted city in the world, according to the Brookings Institute. The city is home to more than 20 million people.

A spokesman of the federal environment ministry declined comment on federal and state governments bickering over funds to tackle the problem of stubble burning.

The provincial leaders of New Delhi and neighbouring Haryana states, after exchanging barbs on Twitter for days, agreed on Wednesday on measures to control the smog - in 2018.

As a thick blanket of haze settled over parts of northern India, including the capital, over the past few days, the official response to what has become an annual phenomenon has been marked by paralysis and lack of ownership, interviews with government officials show.

It’s not just the crop burning - a combination of industrial smog, vehicle exhaust and dust envelop the region every year as winter approaches and wind speeds drop. It’s been particularly bad this year with levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter that reaches deep into the lungs, climbing to over 600 last week, according to a U.S. Embassy measure. The upper limit for healthy air is 50, the government has said.

Respiratory diseases killed about 10 people a day in the year to March 2017 in the national capital region, according to the health ministry. The World Bank estimates pollution cost the country as much as 7.7 percent of the GDP in 2013.

In 2015, Modi launched the first national air quality index in New Delhi and promised to take steps to clean the air.

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Authorities temporarily banned diesel-run power generators, construction, burning of garbage and plying of trucks with non-essential goods, but construction and truck movements were allowed to resume on Thursday as pollution levels dropped.

In recent days, authorities also began to use fire engines to spray water over parts of the capital hoping it would help settle the dust. But the steps have largely proved ineffective.

“We’ve tried our best to tackle the situation, but as policymakers we’ve failed to address the main problem of stubble burning,” the government official said.

It’s not a new problem - it happens each year after mid-October when farmers start harvesting summer crops in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.

With rising labour costs and a short window to plant the next crop, most farmers burn the stubble and straw in their fields to clear them for the next planting.

Since October, more than 40,000 fire incidents have been recorded in Punjab, as farmers disposed of nearly 20 million tonnes of rice waste, environment groups said. (rtr)

REUTERS/Amit Dave

A farmer burns paddy waste stubble in a field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India November 15, 2017.

Friday, November 17, 2017

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Indonesia unveils plan to roll out 1,000 eco-mosques by 2020

KUALA LUMPUR - Worshippers in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, are set to go green with a new initiative that aims to establish 1,000 eco-mosques by 2020.

Launched this week by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the initiative will help the mosques to source renewable energy, manage their water and food needs sustainably, reduce and recycle waste and provide environmental education.

AFP

An armoured personnel carrier stations by an intersection as Zimbabwean soldiers regulate traffic in Harare on November 15, 2017. Zimbabwe’s military appeared to be in control of the country on November 15 as generals denied staging a coup but used state television to vow to target “criminals” close to President Mugabe.

Zimbabwe on knife’s edge after military seizes power HARARE - Zimbabwe was on a knife’s edge on Thursday after the military seized power in what it dubbed a targeted operation against “criminals” in the entourage of President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African nation for almost four decades.

It was not clear whether the apparent military coup would bring a formal end to the 93-year-old Mugabe’s rule. The main goal of the generals appeared to be preventing Mugabe’s wife Grace, 41 years his junior, from succeeding him.

Local media reported South Africa’s defence and state security ministers, dispatched by President Jacob Zuma as regional envoys, arrived in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on Wednesday night and were expected to meet both Mugabe and the military. Their ultimate goal was not clear.

Zuma earlier called for “calm and restraint” and asked the defence forces “to ensure that peace and stability are not undermined in Zimbabwe,” South Africa’s neighbour, which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past two decades.

The South African presidency said Mugabe had told Zuma over the phone that he was confined to

his home but was otherwise fine and the military said it was keeping him and his family safe.

Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states.

He plunged Zimbabwe into a fresh political crisis last week by firing his vice president and presumed successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75 - known as the “crocodile” - for showing “traits of disloyalty”.

The generals believed that move was aimed at clearing a path for Grace Mugabe to take over and said on Monday they were prepared to “step in” if purges of their allies did not end.

Tanks blocked roads after dark and soldiers with automatic weapons kept up their patrols, but the situation appeared calm.

Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-ageneration change for the former British colony, a regional breadbasket reduced to destitution by economic policies Mugabe’s critics have long blamed on him. (rtr)

The project will see the top Muslim clerical body work with the private sector, the government’s health and planning ministries, universities, and other religious groups in a bid to boost environmental awareness in communities across

the country.

“Most Muslims in Indonesia listen more to religious leaders than the government,” Hayu Prabowo, head of environment and natural resources at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“If an Islamic leader says something they will follow but if the government says something, they may not.” Indonesia, with 250 million people, has a mixed environmental record.

The archipelago is the world’s top thermal coal exporter and palm oil producer, which has led to the clearing and development of swathes of forest land and intense international pressure to limit deforestation.

Many of Indonesia’s rural and poorest provinces suffer regular droughts due to climate change, while children’s education is often hampered by the lack of regular

power supply.

Hening Parlan, coordinator for environment and disaster management at Aisyiyah, the women’s wing of Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organisation Muhammadiyah, said the idea of eco-mosques stemmed from asking how to make mosques the centre for environment and education within a community.

“For many Indonesians, their understanding of the environment only happens when they see the impact of climate change (rather than through education) ... if they suffer from floods or landslides for example,” Parlan said.

She said the initiative would help mosques establish better water supplies and storage facilities, offer fundraising advice and provide funding to mosques to help them become environmentally friendly.

Solar power and biogas will also be promoted over fossil fuels and

imams will teach better environmental awareness.

The eco-mosque initiative is not the first time MUI has taken the lead on the environment - it has also issued edicts, or fatwas, on forest fires and sustainable mining.

There are more than 800,000 mosques in Indonesia but officials hope to create more eco-mosques after the initial 1,000 are established and also include other places of worship.

An eco-mosque roll-out of this scale is rare. In Dubai a mosque built in 2014 was the first to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines, while Britain, the United States, Morocco and Malaysia all have mosques aiming to be more green.

“We need concrete action to help mosques and their communities overcome the oncoming water and energy crisis by building resilience,” said Prabowo. (rtr)

IBP/net

Indonesia is second favorite destination among millennial Muslims

According to the result of Mastercard-Halal Trip Muslim Millennial Travel Report, Indonesia is the second favorite destination among millennial Muslims, with Malaysia crowned as the winner.

This shows that Indonesia’s status has improved from last year where it took the fourth spot. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya was grateful for the achievement and determined

to topple Malaysia off the first place in the near future.

“Our emotional rival is Malaysia, while Thailand is our professional rival. We need to find ways to defeat our rivals and how to catch up with them,” Arief said.

The minister urged his team to make improvements, especially in human resources since Indonesians are still lacking in foreign

language skill, “We are good at providing Muslim-friendly facilities. In fact, we took home 12 awards out of the 16 categories at the World Halal Tourism Award,” Arief said.

Below is the list of millennial Muslims’ favorite travel destinations according to Mastercard-Halal Trip Muslim Millennial Travel Report. (rtr)

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International

Friday, November 17, 2017

BUSINESS Japan Motegi eyes higher productivity, wages to end deflation risk

TOKYO - Japan’s economy minister says policy needs to focus on raising productivity and wages to ensure an escape from deflation as the government prepares to announce a stimulus package next month.

The economy, in the midst of its longest unbroken run of growth in more than 15 years, is showing positive signs that it can shake off the risk of deflation due to an improving output gap, said Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. However, consumer prices have been slow to rise, and Motegi says the key is encouraging more corporate investment and more spending on training workers so they can secure higher-paying jobs.

“The situation is starting to change,” Motegi said after a meeting of the government’s top advisory panel.

“There are a lot of improvements in the economy that point toward an end to deflation. To make sure this happens, we need to focus on productivity and wages.”

Vanquishing deflation, or a state of falling prices that has weighed on Japan for more than 15 years, has been among the top goals of the Bank of Japan and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe since he came to power in late 2012.

Recent positive economic signs suggest Japan is breaking out the grip of deflation that has stunted growth for years, according to analysis the government submitted to the advisory panel on Thursday.

Private-sector members of the panel expressed concern that prices for services were sluggish and that improvements in productivity for some manufacturers had not lifted wages, according to a government official.

Abe has urged companies to raise salaries 3 percent next year, when companies and unions hold annual wage negotiations, but a recent Reuters poll shows that most companies will keep wage increases to between 2 and 2.5 percent.

Abe has also said he wants to offer more incentives for companies that invest in labour-saving technology and new production facilities. Japan’s core consumer price index rose 0.7 percent in September from a year earlier for the ninth straight increase, but this was still distant from the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent inflation target.(rtr)

Libyans swap jewellery for medical treatment as crisis bites

TRIPOLI - In a square behind Libya’s central bank, black market dealers, some of them armed, carry small plastic bags filled with dollars and larger ones with dinars in and out of one of many informal exchanges.

Traders buy food and other goods from abroad at the official rate and sell them at the unofficial one, pocketing vast profits; others make equally large sums by smuggling out heavily subsidised fuel.

In the back streets of the old city meanwhile, ordinary people have resorted to selling jewellery or dollars hidden at home as six years of post-dictatorship chaos take their toll.

“I haven’t been paid for four months,” said Fatima, 40, from the southern city of Sabha as she sold three small gold charms to pay for diabetes treatment for her sister, Hasina, who added: “We’re helpless, there’s nothing else we can do.”

In other signs of rising poverty, elderly women beg motorists for cash on Tripoli’s streets and families queue for charity food handouts. The U.N. estimated that about 1.3 million people in Libya need humanitarian assistance this year.

Their situation took another turn for the worse in the past two weeks after the black market rate of the dinar, which has long languished at record lows, slid again, fuelling inflation that is already around 2530 percent.

The central bank blamed the audit bureau and the U.N.-backed government for restricting letters of credit that fund basic supplies to a divided country where a security vacuum and smuggling networks have destabilised the wider region.

Officials had come across suspect requests - one to import tuna worth $120,000, more than the country consumes in a year, according to a Libyan entrepreneur who declined to be named, fearing retribution from Libya’s powerful armed groups.

Just $2.5 billion of an expected $7.4 billion of credit has been allocated, the trader said, helping knock the dinar from around 8.5

to 9.25 against the dollar on the black market. Its value has fallen by more than 600 percent since early 2014.

The economy ministry was not immediately available for comment on a complex credit system that passes through commercial banks and where the audit bureau had documented earlier abuses and lack of oversight.

“We’re talking about an extremely bad economic and financial situation,” Central Bank Governor Sadiq al-Kabir said in a rare news conference on Tuesday. “Everyone, whether legislative or executive, holds responsibility equally.”

A man displays Libyan Dinar banknotes in a jewellery store in the old city of Tripoli, Libya October 26, 2017. Picture taken October 26, 2017.

ELUSIVE PEACE Traders and economists say political uncertainty is a major factor weakening the currency, with U.N. talks to broker a deal between rival factions currently suspended.

Libya is struggling to fund food imports and defend its foreign reserves, which the World Bank estimates will stand at $67.5 billion at the end of this year, compared to $123.5 billion in 2012.

International experts say the only way to resolve the issue is to devalue the dinar from the official exchange rate of 1.37 to the dollar, but agreeing an economic strategy in a country dominated by armed factions with rival governments and no budgets is no simple task.

A powerful or well-connected minority who are profiting from a flourishing shadow economy have little interest in change.

The central bank did not comment on devaluation, but economists and diplomats say the bank is reluctant to devalue without a policy plan in place to deal with the resulting shock.

Libya managed this year to lift oil production to about 1 million barrels a day, but output is stuck well below the levels before the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.

Revenues that normally account for about 80 percent of gross domestic product are largely used to pay salaries, including those of armed factions added to the state payroll for their role in the uprising.

Subsidies include a $4 billion-plus annual fuel subsidy that is among the most generous in the world.

Premiums on the official exchange rate and subsidised fuel make Libya “a criminal and terrorist cross-border funding paradise”, said Husni Bey, chairman of HB Group, one of Libya’s biggest private firms.

“Most instability in Libya today is of a criminal nature... due to the lack of equitable exchange rate for the Libyan dinar and the subsidies that must be changed from goods to direct cash contributions.”

Last year Libya spent around $26 billion, but earned just $6 billion. “This year we estimate that revenues should increase to around $14 billion, but spending will likely be more than double this,” said Mark Griffiths, Libya Mission Chief for the International Monetary Fund. “This is not sustainable.”

The government has sought to reduce the public salary bill by 5 billion dinars annually, clamping down on abuse by removing some

REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

100,000 people who had been claiming several salaries, according to a finance ministry report.

Libyans became used to plentiful public jobs and state handouts as Gaddafi sought to buy loyalty like other Middle Eastern oil producers.

Migrant workers used to do the manual work, now Libyans without contacts have taken their place.

Salman Rashid, a public servant, said he had received just three months-worth of pay in the past year. “It’s not enough for basic needs,” he said. “Now I work on construction sites and in buildings maintenance.” Entrepreneurs have withdrawn deposits from banks for fear of employees leaking word of them to kidnappers and others also prefer to keep money at home.

In a second shop in the old city, a woman who gave her name as Karima was changing 500 euros.

“I need to go to Tunis for surgery and am selling my foreign currency holdings,” she said. “Times are very difficult now.”

Shop owner Salahedin Zarti, 52, said up to 10 people come in daily to sell necklaces, bracelets and rings.

“In the beginning it was every day, but now I think people are starting to run out of jewellery,” he said.(rtr)

Bali News

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

Kuningan Feast, Descent of Deities to Increase Prosperity Graces

After celebrating the Galungan Day, the victory of dharma against adharma or the victory of Jayatiga against Kalatiga, the Hindu community in Bali then celebrates Kuningan falling on the Saniscara Kliwon Kuningan or Saturday (Nov. 11). The Kuningan festival begins with a ritual ceremony by slaughtering animals for offerings.

Dr. Ketut Sumadi, a lecturer at the IHDN Denpasar, said that before celebrating Kuningan, the Hindu community in Bali holds a ceremony named Pemacekan Agung on Monday after Galungan and before Kuningan. This holy day of pemacekan agung means that devotees may not be careless, must always attempt that jaya tiga is always strong within. Pemacekan Agung means that human should be really a strong person in order to be able to carry out activities, according to the tasks and obligation.

The day before Kuningan, Hindus celebrate Penampahan Kuningan whose procession is the same as Galungan, namely starting to do self-purification, so that it is symbolized with animal (pigs or chickens) slaughtering.

“It means to increase again selfawareness so as not to be tease

by the kala tiga. Therefore, one needs to strengthen himself to overcome the temptations of life. Philosophically, when doing self-contemplation we increase self-consciousness by denuding ourselves. Sadripu as the six internal enemies can sometimes make us forget,” he explained.

Sumadi asserted that on Kuningan Day the ancestors and deities come down to earth as well as bestow prosperity for humanity.

On that account, the characteristic offerings presented are yellow rice coming with tamiang, ter (arrow) and endongan. They symbolize the weapons as self-protection for

the next life based on the holy and useful knowledge.

On Kuningan, all worships must be completed before midday because it is the culmination of understanding that means never to stop before reaching the peak.

After that, it just continues. It is the reason why the Hindus offer yellow oblations symbolizing the summit of happiness, the struggle of life that must be successful.

Meanwhile, the worship is dedicated to Mahadev as the god of happiness.

On the feast of Kuningan, explained Dr. Sumadi, mankind has achieved happiness and always in-

creases the creativity and innovation. Moreover, Bali as a world’s tourist destination makes people more creative. “During the festivities, we seem to rejoice, marked with cultural performance such as ngelawang or street show. That’s why, in the past each hamlet had barong bangkung art troupe as well as other arts,” he said.

The next day, Sunday (Nov. 12) is usually celebrated with tirtayatra or pilgrimage the increase faith and devotion to God Almighty.

On that account, Hindu devotees do worship to temples. It is also resumed with social visit to relatives and friends. (kmb)

Tamba Waras Temple, a Sanctum to Invoke Recovery It is said that King of Tabanan, Cokorda Tabanan, was in serious illness. None of the royal healers could heal him. Medicine has been sought after everywhere, but nothing worked. One upon a time, there were hints in the form of revelation that there would be a medicine that could cure the king. The servants

were assigned to go to all directions.

After getting tired of wondering here and there, eventually they saw a cloud of smoke from the Batukaru forest. After being approached, the smoke came out from coconut shell.

Ultimately the servants asked for further guidance. In short, the medicine looked for has been obtained.

At the end, Cokorda Tabanan got his recovery.

Then, on the command of the king, a sanctum named Tamba Waras is established at the location. Tamba means ‘medicine’ while waras means ‘gets recovered’ as ever before. It is believed that whoever saying prayers at the temple will obtain a healing. This belief keeps growing and growing until now.

The temple belongs to one of the Catur Angga temples with the status as the sad kahyangan jagat of Bali. The Tamba Waras temple is included in the jajar kemiri. Those belonging to this temple group are the Muncaksari and the underneath Tamba Waras located at the right side of the Batukaru Temple.

Geographically, the Tamba Waras Temple is located on the south slope of Mount Batukaru,

precisely at Sangketan, Penebel, Tabanan. The temple located on the same line as the Batukaru Temple sits on the altitude of about 725 meters above sea level.

To get to this temple, pilgrims have to cover a distance of about 22 km from the town of Tabanan.

In terms of the temple structure, the Tamba Waras Temple is also nicknamed as the warehouse of universal medicine.

READ Sesarin Canang, from Folded Betel Leaf to Banknotes It is estimated to have been established in the twelfth century. Before saying prayers, all the pilgrims should first do self-purificatory rite or melukat at the sapta Ganges shower. Other than melukat at the shower, it is also resumed with the ivory coconut water. After that, the pilgrimage can continue to the main temple. (kmb)

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Jaja Iku-Iku, a Sweet and Sticky Cake Delight your senses in Balinese traditional cakes. Local community has a variety of sticky and sweet jaja (cake). Various types of cake are made specifically to be part of ritual, offered to the ancestors, while some others are made deliberately for consumption. However, all the cakes are usually used for offering other than for snacks and on the way round.

One of the cakes serving as a part of ritual, but usually presented as the offering, is the iku-iku cake.

This round and oval-shaped cake with a flat bottom like a turtle has a sweet taste and sticky. Sweet taste is prostrated not due to artificial sweetener, but it is from pure sugar. For the base, it uses banana leaf to avoid chemicals.

Jaja iku-iku is often used as a snack by farmers served in their mutual assistance. For example, it is served when transplanting paddy seedlings in mutual assistance in the fields. In such a mass activity, it is usually accompanied with the provision of small lunch party. Jaja iku-iku is served as dessert after having the main course. At that time, various cakes are usually accompanied with coffee or tea.

Allegedly the cake is the result of acculturation of Balinese-Chinese culinary tradition because every Chinese feast day, Chinese-descendant people pass this cake to their neighbors. Jaja iku-iku has round and flat shape, like a turtle is made based on or in accordance with the mold. On the top it has a variety of shapes and images. There are floral, turtle and other motif. It corresponds to the image of the mold. Commonly, it has 2 – 3 different images.

The ingredient of this cake is glutinous rice flour. As alternative ingredient, people commonly use cassava or sweet potato. Other ingredients include white sugar, palm (brown) sugar, grated coconut, salt and others.

The finely grounded flour is brewed with water (filled with hot water) and then squeezed to be smooth and supple. Optionally, it can be added with salt to taste, so as to produce a better taste. If wishing to have color, simply use natural green color of leaf in order to look more interesting.

At the same time, please prepare the sauce (to fill inside the cake), grated coconut mixed with white sugar or brown sugar and then roasted until it is evenly distributed. The sauce is then wrapped in flour to form like a small ball. Afterward, prepare the mold previously filled with clean flour, so the mold will be easily taken out. Put the flour into the mold and then pressed, so it can be shaped according to the mold. Then, take out and put on leaves and then steam. Having cooked, cool them down. Now, the cake is ready to be served. (kmb)

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Bali News

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

International

Lebanon accuses Saudi Arabia of holding its PM hostage

Building and empowering the palm-leaf manuscript museum is not easy. It needs supporting by large budget and a mature plan in the utilization.

Lontar Museum assured to be built next year

AMLAPURA — The information of Dutch researchers mentioning that palm-leaf manuscripts (lontar) in Leiden Museum of the Netherlands only collects transcripts or copies will not alter the government’s plan to continue its development in the west of Candrabhuana Cultural Park.

Head of Karangasem Culture Agency, Putu Arnawa, said on Wednesday (Nov. 15), asserted that this plan is just waiting for its implementation next year to support Karangasem as Heritage City. Next year, the building facilities are ensured to have been established.

He acknowledged that building and empowering the palm-leaf manuscript museum is not easy. It needs supporting by large budget and a mature plan in the utilization. The

museum will be a complete package to support the Heritage City of central government’s program. According to him, Balinese palm-leaf manuscript certainly carries many religious values in the adaptation process with local wisdom at the time. The content is very important for us to be learned together. “The absorption of religious teachings coming from outside blending with our local culture in Bali is widely carried in the manuscript, much

more we can learn from the Balinese palm-leaf manuscript,” said Putu Arnawa.

In the current era of millennial generation, the teachings carried in the manuscripts should also be studied and understood. To find out the essence of the manuscripts in Bali, especially in Karangasem, it requires a proper museum as a place to store and learn it. “So, the existence of this museum will open our chances to repatriate the palm-leaf manuscripts as in the Leiden Museum. However, what to be repatriated is not the physical form, but the content and the values carried in them,” said Arnawa responding to a Dutch researcher, Prof. Hinzler, who assessed the effort

of repatriation of Balinese palm-leaf manuscripts from Leiden Museum to Karangasem as a futile attempt because the contents of Leiden Museum are only the transcripts.

Arnawa also asserted that every museum like Leiden would have a database of palm-leaf manuscript content. They all are well registered and available in digital version. So, the most possible effort is to copy the contents of the palm-leaf manuscripts in the museum to be further stored and learned together in the Lontar Museum of Karangasem later and so are those in other location.

For the management of the Lontar Museum, he claimed to be learning to other regions. When the build-

ing and its contents are feasible, complete with good management, it will be opened to the public and empowered.

When asked about that other area in Karangasem has also pioneered the establishment of similar palm-leaf manuscript museum, he considered it not a problem.

Precisely, it is considered very positive in the future because it can be complementary, not compete to make a museum. “Regarding the budget, I certainly do not know how much it will spend because it is the program of central government in the series of the development of Karangasem as a heritage city,” he added. (kmb31)

To reduce negative impact of gadget

Tabanan Library adds schedule of services

Head of Tabanan Library Office, I Wayan Kotio

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IBP/kmb

TABANAN — To suppress negative impact of gadgets on children while increasing their reading interest, the Tabanan Regional Library has added service schedule from six days to seven days.

Head of Tabanan Library Office, I Wayan Kotio, said on Wednesday (Nov. 15) the library services are usually open during working days namely from Monday to Saturday.

However, to increase reading interest of younger generation, the service is added to seven working days where on Sunday the service is opened in Dangin Carik Square by

using mobile library. “We integrate mobile library van with the existing playground in the corner of the square,” he said.

The mobile library service is opened from 07:00 until 09:00 Local Time. Such hours are chosen because at that time many people usually have exercise and sometimes bring along their children.

So while exercising, children can spend their time by reading.

According to Kotio the program having been started since the beginning of this year showed good results.

At the beginning when the program

was launched, no children came to read. Some just stopped by due to curiosity and looked around. In the long run, one after another came to read and even regularly followed their parents to exercise to Dangin Carik Square to read. Currently, the average visit of children reading every week reaches 30 to 50 children.

In order to attract the reading interest of children, certainly it is required the addition of book collection. To increase the book collection, Kotio said that annually his office has disbursed the fund worth IDR 11 million. (kmb24)

Yonhap via REUTERS

A damaged vehicle and debris caused by recent earthquake are seen in Pohang, South Korea, November 15, 2017.

South Korea rattled by rare 5.4-magnitude quake SEOUL - A rare earthquake of magnitude 5.4 rattled South Korea on Wednesday, its second most powerful quake on record, shaking buildings but causing no major damage or injuries.

The quake struck about 9 km (5 miles) north of the southeastern port city of Pohang, the Korea Meteorological Administration said in a news briefing.

Tremors were felt across the country but operations at nuclear reactors were not affected, the state-run nuclear operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co said in a statement.

South Korea has relatively little seismic activity, compared with Japan to the east.

Its strongest quake on record was magnitude 5.8 in September last year.

CONFUSION South Korean test-takers ex-

pressed confusion and dejection on Thursday as the country’s highly competitive annual university entrance exam, called a “life assignment exam” by some, was postponed a week for the first time ever due to safety concerns.

South Korea postponed the exam after a rare earthquake rattled the country on Wednesday, causing damage to buildings including some schools.

The exam is life-defining for many high school seniors, as a prestigious university on one’s resume is seen a minimum for securing a place in limited corporate jobs in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is dominated by conglomerates.

Because the wrong answer to a single question in the roughly 200question exam can mean dropping in the national ranking and failure to enter one’s choice of university, tensions ran high.

“It’s a bit hellish thinking I have to do this for one more week,” said 20-year-old Cho Hyun-lee, studying at one of Seoul’s largest cram schools to take the test again after last year.

“People are dispirited, lying with their faces down.”

Some scrambled to recover books they’d thrown away yesterday or buy new ones, two testtakers told Reuters, while others “gave up”, uploading pictures of classmates sleeping or reading online comics on social media. Still others agonised over missing concerts of their favourite singers or South Korea’s largest online game exhibition this week. (rtr)

BEIRUT - France said on Wednesday that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who Lebanon’s president says is being held hostage by Saudi Arabia, will visit France with his family in coming days.

Hariri travelled to Riyadh on Nov. 3 before abruptly resigning in a televised statement a day later. He has stayed in Riyadh and top Lebanese officials and senior politicians close to Hariri have told Reuters he was forced to quit.

Hariri and Saudi Arabia have both denied he is being held in Riyadh or was coerced to resign. Hariri has said he will return to Lebanon in the next few days to formally submit his resignation.

The crisis has thrust Lebanon onto the frontline of a Middle East contest for power pitting a Saudiled bloc against Iran and its allies, including the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that he had invited Hariri to France after speaking to him and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The invitation is to visit for a few days and is not an offer of political exile, Macron said, speaking in Germany.

“We will not accept (Hariri) remaining a hostage whose reason for detention we do not know,” Lebanese President Michel Aoun said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the head of Aoun’s political party, said the situation was “not normal” but that Beirut wanted “good relations” with Riyadh.

Aoun has said he will not accept Hariri’s resignation until he returns to Lebanon to formally tender it and explain his reasons, which Hariri has said he will do in the coming days.

Saudi Arabia has long been considered Hariri’s main external supporter. Aoun is a political ally of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a powerful Shi’ite Muslim group with close ties to Iran.

Lebanon’s coalition government was formed last year through a political deal that made Aoun president, Hariri prime minister, and included members of Hezbollah in the cabinet.

Saudi Arabia last week accused Lebanon of having declared war on it because of Hezbollah’s role in other Arab countries. It regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

Riyadh’s main ally, the United States, has struck a different tone, continuing its support for Lebanon including military aid. The European Union has also repeatedly stated its support for Lebanon, which hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees.

In an interview on Sunday night with a television station he owns, Hariri warned of economic sanctions against Lebanon and of a threat to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese workers living in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies.

“Nothing justifies Hariri’s lack of return for 12 days. We therefore consider him detained,” Aoun said.

He added that Lebanon had confirmed that Hariri’s family were under detention in their house in Saudi Arabia and were searched whenever they entered or left it.

Speaking in Italy, Foreign Minister Bassil said: “We will continue all steps...for this problem to be solved in a brotherly way through good relations that we want to have with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

He added, however: “If Saudi Arabia has a problem with Iran or with Hezbollah, they have to solve it with Iran, not with Lebanon and not with all the Lebanese.” (rtr)

REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil speaks during a meeting with Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano in Rome, Italy, November 15, 2017.

14

Friday, November 17, 2017

Fashion

International

Bali News

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

3

To increase selling value

Waste newspapers processed into tray crafts

TABANAN - Aside from being made for reading and reference materials, in fact, newspapers also have high economic value. Commonly, the waste newspapers are littered where the value is not much. However, an artisan from Pande hamlet, Kediri, I Ketut Suparta, is able to increase the value of waste newspapers by processing them into tray and other crafts.

Colombia focuses on African designers at fashion show

COLOMBIA - Colombia has held its first Africa Fashion Week – featuring designers from across the continent and the diaspora.

Organisers are hoping to make the event an annual one, to showcase Africa’s various cultures through fashion.

It’s the first of its kind to be held in Colombia, and the venue is at the famous Salt Cathedral of Zipaquira – located 180 metres underground in Cundinamarca.

“Africa Fashion Week is an event where you won’t only find fashion and physical beauty, but also soul and social inclusion,” Tatiana Laguado, spokesperson for the Cathedral, told CGTN. The event showcases colourful prints in classic styles.

“I am bringing a new collection with some trends that African people are using nowadays with very odd colours, tropical

colours that represent the lives of the millions of African people nowadays,” said fashion designer Rui Lopes.

Organisers say they want to break down any colour barriers – and celebrate Africa’s contribution to the global fashion industry.

“African women are splendid, with beautiful skin. We’re celebrating that beauty,” said Belky Arizala, the event organiser.

“It’s evident through the designs, the fabrics, the beading, the intricate embroideries.

Each of these express the unique “Africaness” of the designers.”

There is also a charitable aspect to the show – it aims to increase awareness about cancer.

Giving women who have survived the disease the opportunity to share their stories during the event. (IBP/net)

Tray handicrafts made from waste newspaper was exhibited in the Tabanan Fiesta 1 Marga subdistrict in the series of the 524th anniversary of Tabanan town on Sunday (Nov. 12). In fact, the demand is not small. Suparta claimed to start utilizing newspapers to make tray since two and a half years ago. According to him, the advantages of the tray made from waste newspapers are eco-friendly and have quality or resilience that are not inferior to wood and rattan raw materials.

Initially, Suparta was just idly trying to utilize waste newspapers to make glasses. In fact, the results were good and resilient.

From the experiment, he got an idea to take advantage of waste newspaper into a container of offerings or tray. Apparently, his efforts are not in vain as consumer demand began to arrive and develops until now.

To make a tray from waste newspaper, described Suparta, passes through several processes where before it is formed into a tray, the waste newspapers are made into small rolls and then connected with an adhesive with the length corresponding to the size of the tray to be made. After the length is appropriate, the rolled newspaper is spliced and formed into a tray. Finally, it is painted and polished so that it looks nicer, stronger and waterproof.

Tray handicraft made from waste newspaper managed by Suparta is one of the coaching members of the Tabanan Industry and Trade Agency. Currently he has been able to produce dozens of motive for his waste newspaper handicrafts. For examples, there are tray, kwangen (worship paraphernalia) holder in box and round style, tissue holder in box and round-shaped keben or oblation basket.

He told that many consumers demand for handicrafts made from waste newspapers because its raw material is unique. Not only limited to local consumers, this waste newspaper crafts are also favored by foreign tourists. Though looking unique, the price is not expensive and still affordable to consumers. He sells his craft for IDR 150,000 per piece to IDR 500,000 per piece depending on the size and complexity of the workmanship. (kmb24)

IBP/kmb24

Tray handicrafts made from waste newspaper was exhibited in the Tabanan Fiesta 1 Marga subdistrict in the series of the 524th anniversary of Tabanan town.

Road stagnant after heavy rain

Merchants’ property of Dreamland Beach swept by floods MANGUPURA — After heavy rain for almost three hours flushing a number of areas on Monday (Nov. 13), some roads were inundated high enough like the road section in Nusa Dua area and several locations in South Kuta. In addition, the water flow at the mouth of Cemongkak River located on the Dreamland Pecatu caused merchants’ property to also get drifted into the middle of the sea.

A member of Dreamland stall group, Nyoman Kondre, who met on Tuesday (Nov. 14), told the incident took place very quickly.

Incidentally that afternoon, all the stalls offering beach lounger rental were closed. Although the owners have gone home, their loungers, mattresses and umbrellas were still placed on the beach. As soon as the flood came, dozens of those beach loungers and mattresses

were swept away. “Yesterday, there were also tourists helping move the beach loungers. Fortunately, no visitors were swept away,” he said accompanied by his colleague, Made Sutikayasa, who is also a surf instructor on the beach.

Such incidents, he said, always happens every rainy season.

Normally the water flow does not sweep the beach loungers and mattresses. Only this time the river water turned right to sweep everything at the location. “Commonly, the river water flows straight to the beach, yesterday coincidentally it turned right. So, other than sweeping beach loungers and mattresses, sea sand was also swept away,” he said.

On Dreamland Beach, according to Kondre, there are 37 owners of beach lounger leasing coalesced into the Dreamland stall group.

Accidentally the tourist visit was rather quiet at that time. He estimated it happened due to bad weather condition and related to the impact of the issue of Mount Agung.

When confirmed separately, chief of Pecatu customary village, Made Sumerta, said there is indeed a seasonal river estuary.

Every heavy rain it must have been a drainage center flowing like a flood. Due to the current rapid development in the Pecatu area, the water absorption begins to decrease. To that end, he hoped the government to pay ultimate attention to such condition.

Sumerta who is also a legislator of the Badung House of Representatives appealed to the government to help do arrangement for the rivers on the track. Around the estuary of the river sits the Dreamland

attraction that is surely visited by many tourists. He worried that when tourists are lazing, they are suddenly hit by floods.

“Hopefully, the Public Works and Housing Agency (PUPR) can come down to check the condition because in the estuaries of the river sits a tourist attraction. We are afraid the beaches can be eroded by water,” he said.

Other than on Dreamland Beach, said Sumerta, the same conditions also occur on Labuan Sait Beach.

Moreover, the Labuan Sait Bridge was inundated by knee-high water.

The condition is estimated to happen because the drainage does not function optimally.

Meanwhile, Service Subdivision Head of the National Weather Services (BBMKG) for Region III Denpasar, Decky Irmawan, when confirmed on Monday (Nov.

13) said that some regions in Bali are generally hit by moderate to heavy rain, especially in Badung and Tabanan area in coastal areas.

Moreover, the rain tends to concentrate in Southern Bali coastal area to the west of Tabanan and Negara. “Moderate to heavy rains occurred during the day from about 13:30, but it varied in each region,” he said.

For Jimbaran and surrounding areas, heavy rain occurred starting about 15:40 through 17:40.

Such heavy rain flushed for approximately two hours, so he is not surprised if the rain is able to make some areas exposed to floods. “A rainfall is categorized to be medium if the amount of rainfall occurs in the range of 5-10 mm / hour, while heavy rain occurs in the range of 10-20 mm / hour,” he explained. (kmb23)

2

Friday, November 17, 2017

Bali News

International

Safeguarding the Economy of Bali and Tourism

Discussing the challenges that Bali faces

The sluggishness of both the national and global economy has been seriously affecting Bali.

Mount Agung’s recent volcanic activity and preparations for political events like the upcoming elections for governor have also added to the complexity of the multi-dimensional challenges that Bali is facing.

The Island of the Gods is also a world renown tourist destination which makes for very particular conditions.

“The regional elections will require a lot of energy. The most important thing we need to look at is how to remain resilient in the face of local, regional and international pressures. Resilience requires liquidity”, said economist, Viraguna Bagus Oka, during a discussion organized by Bali Post and Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) entitled ‘Safeguarding the Economy and Tourism of Bali’, that took place at Warung 63 on Jl. Veteran Denpasar, on Tuesday (Nov. 14).

Bali’s banking sector, continued Viraguna is scrambling to adjust to conditions brought about by the threat of Mount Agung erupting. Banks here will have to mitigate losses for at least one year. Then there is the more general shift in consumer patterns from goods-based spending to lifestyle-based spending which is posing challenges to many retail outlets.

“There are three sectors that need address these challenges with intelligence.

The Government of Bali needs to anticipate economic challenges because Bali has an iconic place on the world stage.

The business sector needs to focus on adapting to conditions and work on stimulating growth and improving efficiency.

Efficiency, however will result in layoffs.

The public also needs to adapt to the rapid change from offline to online business and promotion so as not to be crushed by increasing urbanization”, he added.

“There is a high rate of urbanization in Bali and there are also a lot of people moving to Bali from other islands. After the warning level for Mount Agung was lowered, many domestic tourists started coming to Bali, but not just to for a visit, many are running businesses too. This is a challenge for local Balinese who must learn to adapt”, explained Viraguna.

Viraguna also predicts that 2018 will pose numerous complex challenges that must be anticipated meticulously and with intelligence and steadfastness. Information technology and social media need to be mastered without abandoning

local wisdom that is much appreciated by foreigners.

Village Credit Agencies (LPD) are one example of local wisdom-based systems that are starting to catch up with developments in technology and information.

Chairman of BKD LPD Bali, I Nyoman Cendikiawan, said that 300 of the 1,433 LPDs in Bali are currently preparing to provide core banking services. Every month, they also now send data reports to the LPD Empowerment Institute so that there functioning can be evaluated as good (green), fair (yellow) or bad (red).

“LPD’s throughout Bali will gradually become standardized so as to facilitate monitoring and investigations currently conducted by the LPD Empowerment Institute of Bali”, said Cendikiawan.

Other services such as SMS banking, added Cendikiawan are already offered by some 50 PLDs. With information technology being available in villages, he said it is only a mater of time before LPDs will be forced to compete with other financial institutions. “Nevertheless, LPD’s have already anticipated this by offering simple LPD style mobile banking services”, he said.

As of September 2017, there were a total of 1,433 LPD offices in Bali with 7,890 employees, IDR 7.030 trillion in savings, IDR 7.898 trillion in deposits, IDR 13.018 trillion in total loans, IDR 427.50 billion in profits as well as IDR 17.875 trillion in total assets.

“The total amount in asset shows an increase of about IDR 1.2 trillion compared to the same period last year. This shows that our LPDs are still supported by customary villages becuae these assets are owned by customary villages and are used to encourage increasing local economic growth”, explained Cendikiawan.

Chairman of Bali’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), A.A. Ngurah Alit Wiraputra, said that Bali’s economy

has unique characteristics as it relies on the tourism sector that is dependant on the nature, customs and culture of the island. Economic policies therefor must support national ideals including social welfare justice.

“More than IDR 850 trillion of investments come into Bali, but the property of customary village only amounts to IDR 17 trillion, while Balinese businesses only amount around IDR 38 trillion. This is very worrying”, he said.

According to Wiraputra, the big question that arises: is the toursim-generated economy in the hands of the Balinese?

We can see that this is in fact not the case.

Furthermore economic development in Bali is not shared equally throughout the island. Southern Bali’s economy is growing rapidly while economic development in other regions is totally stagnant. “This gap in economic development needs to be overcome promptly and Bali’s leadership needs to have the courage to make policies that bridge this enormous gap”, he explained.

Wiraputra added that Kadin remains consistent in their dedication to supporting company’s owned by Balinese people and that hopeful the government will follow suit. District / municipal and provincial governments should be on the front lines in stimulating local economic growth so that Bali can truly belong to the people of Bali.

“The government should be willing to invest by taking an active role in aiding LPDs. If necessary, the government should buy shares that are handed over to PLDs to invest in. If people want to own shares they can buy them form the PLDs”, suggested Wiraputra. Bali, he continued also needs to create a plan for tourism over the next 20 years, 50 years and even 100 years. All this time there has been no plan for tourism at all, he lamented. (kmb32)

IBP/file

Young evacuee faces boredom and loss of playmates Although tens of thousands of residents of Karangasem who were evacuated to Klungkung have gone home following the lowered alert level for Mount Agung late last month, those who remain in evacuation are facing added pressures, such as the children who suddenly lost their playmates. The atmosphere at Swecapura Stadium evacuation post on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 15) was quiet and 13 year old Kadel Sumantra was found sitting in the corner playing with his handphone. Occasionally he would share a funny video with a friend sitting next to him and the two youngsters would laugh together for a moment.

However, these brief moments of laughter were quickly replaced with a sullen mood.

Kadek is feeling lonely since both his parents returned to Sebudi village in Selat for Kuningan. For the last few days, Kadek has been spending all his time with his grandmother and brother who is still temporarily attending school at SDN 1 Gelgel and as he has for the last eight weeks, Kadek spends his nights sleeping in the large stadium that serves as shelter.

Kadek’s cheerfulness has been fading since so many of his friends returned home from the evacuation post leaving him without any one to play soccer with or fly kites with when the winds pick up or invite him to frolic in the river. He now wakes up alone and no one calls his name. “ I was used to playing soccer in the evening and in the morning there always lots of friends around, but now things are different as everyone has gone home”, said Kadek.

This youngster wants nothing more than to go home and be with his family, but given current conditions, there is nothing he can do but wait. “I really want to go home but there is no shuttle available to take my grandmother”, he explained.

Kadek recalled his activities before being evacuated with his parents and three brothers.

“At home I used to help my parents lay black stones and would get paid IDR 50,000. I used to have lots of activities, but here I just sit and wait”, he said.

Similar miseries are also being experienced by a 48 year old villager from Bukit Galah, Selat, named Wayan Suriati who said that he feesl bored living in the evacuation post as there are no activities to relieve fatigue. This widower is anxious to follow his relatives home. “ Of course we are tired of living here but there is nobody to take me home to the corweded village, so I have to stay here and wait” she said.

Since she was first evacuated to Klungkung, Suriati has only returned home once.

She found that the atmosphere of her home had changed. The yard had become completely overgrown. Although she wanted to clean things up, she had to return to the evacuation post so she could not do much. “We were only able to go home for Galungan to pray, then we came right back here” she said. (sos)

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Activities

International

Friday, November 17, 2017

Feelin’Festive at Beachwalk Shopping Center

HOLIDAY STARTS HERE! This November Beachwalk Shopping Center is still presenting “FEELIN’ FESTIVE” by highlighting the holiday as well as festive vibes and as usual Beachwalk Shopping Center has bunch of events and promo.

YOUR REWARDS, YOUR

WAY! Not to be missed is Beachwalk “CORNER’S CLUB” – has just launched this year, a special loyalty card programme for Beachwalk Shopping Center’s loyal customers that lets them collect and redeem points with countless special gifts and fantastic vouchers. All you have to do to become

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

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

a “CORNER’S CLUB” member is just simply do a single purchase of a minimum IDR 50,000 in a single receipt and redeem it at our Customer Service, level 1. Another advantage of having “CORNER’S CLUB” is, Customers are eligible to have it’s benefits not only in Beachwalk Shopping Center but also at all the Cornerstone malls, those are: fx Sudirman, Jakarta & 23Paskal, Bandung. In addition to customers who already posses “CORNER’S CLUB” can have the opportunity to win a lucky draw to 1 night stay at The ONE Legian Bali Hotel.

Don’t miss our festive events during November 2017. “BANTEN TOURISM WEEK 2017” event on 17th-19th November 2017 & “PEACE, LOVE & HARMONY” event on 27th November – 3rd December 2017, Customers can

very well informed and learn the experience of the rich of Indonesian traditions and culture. Moreover, there is “BALI ARCH FEST” event on 20th – 26th November 2017, that’s about creative sharing & architecture exhibition. All those events will be held at Beachwalk Fountain Stage, Level 1.

Bali Starts Here. Regularly, visitors always have a chance to be interactively relish the experience and learn more about Balinese culture exclusively from Ubud regency. Every Thursday at our Fountain Stage, level 1 Beachwalk has some variant performances, like Balinese Drama Musical, Bali traditional comedy, making the offerings and the making of Balinese traditional dessert called Jaja Bali. In addition to entertain our Customers, Beachwalk will also have regular “ACOUSTIC

15

EVE” every Wednesday at 7PM . Moreover, there’s also another interactive event called “MEET THE BIRD STARS” will be held on 19th November 2017 at Deck Stage Beachwalk level 1. Customers can meet and experience the interaction with the exotic birds by Bali Bird Park.

Check out Beachwalk Shopping Center new website with a fresh design and totally brand new concept. Several new features added to ease the Customer in accessing our website, such as an interactive floor map feature. Please access our website at www.beachwalkbali.com.

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

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

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

16 Pages Number 213 9th year

Price: Rp 3.000,-

Friday, November 17, 2017

Da Vinci portrait of Christ sells for record $450.3 mln in New York

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

Friday, November 17, 2017

NEW YORK - Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Christ, “Salvator Mundi”, sold for a record-smashing $450.3 million on Wednesday at Christie’s, more than double the old price for any work of art at auction.

The painting, only recently rediscovered, was the last da Vinci left in private hands and fetched more than four times Christie’s’ pre-sale estimate of about $100 million.

It beat a record set in May 2015 by Pablo Picasso’s “Les Femmes D’Alger,” which sold for $179.4 million, and constituted more than half the sale’s total of $785.9 million, which came in well above the roughly $450 million pre-sale estimate.

“Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World) was purchased by an unidentified buyer bidding via telephone after a protracted contest of nearly 20 minutes at the New York auction house.

With at least six bidders and increments coming in at more than 15 million, sustained whoops and cheers broke out in the packed salesroom as the hammer came down.

“It was a moment when all the stars were aligned, and I think Leonardo would be very pleased,” Jussi Pylkkänen, global president of Christie’s, told Reuters after the sale.

“It’s a painting beyond anything I’ve ever handled,” said Pylkkänen, the auctioneer, adding, “I should hang up my gavel.”

The restored portrait, an ethereal depiction

of Jesus Christ which dates to about 1500, is one of fewer than 20 paintings by the Renaissance artist known to still exist.

First recorded in the private collection of King Charles I, the work was auctioned in 1763 before vanishing until 1900, by which time Christ’s face and hair had been painted over - once a “quite common” practice, according to Alan Wintermute, Christie’s senior specialist for Old Master paintings.

Sold at Sotheby’s to an American collector in 1958 for only 45 pounds, it again sold in 2005 as an overpainted copy of the masterwork.

The new owner started the restoration process, and after some six years of research it was authenticated as da Vinci’s more than 500-year-old masterpiece, which culminated in a high-profile exhibition at London’s National Gallery in 2011.

Christie’s did not identify the seller, other than to say it was a European private collector who acquired the work after its rediscovery in 2005 and lengthy restoration.

Media identified him as Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who paid $127.5 million in 2013 in a private sale.

Auction highlights included Andy War-

REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Members of Christie’s staff pose for pictures next to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” painting which will be auctioned by Christie’s in New York in November, in London, Britain October 24, 2017. hol’s “Sixty Last Suppers,” a monumental work that fetched $60.9 million, exceeding the estimate.

Two Cy Twombly paintings also fared well, selling for $46.4 million and $27.3 million, both surpassing estimates. (rtr)

As ‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’ Denzel Washington explores social injustice

Roman J. Israel, Esq

IBP/net

LOS ANGELES - For his latest role, as an attorney who defends young people of color imprisoned without trial, Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington weighed how family dynamics played into the lives of young criminals.

“I grew up with guys who did decades (in prison) and it had as much to do with their fathers not being in their lives as it did to do with any system,” Washington said in a recent interview with Reuters about his new film, “Roman J.

Israel, Esq.” The movie, written and directed

by Dan Gilroy, opens on Friday.

The actor plays the title role of a lawyer with encyclopedic knowledge.

Washington, recalling some of the people he grew up with, added: “By the time we got to 13, 14, different things happened. Now I was doing just as much as they were, but they went further ... I just didn’t get caught, but they kept going down that road and then they were in the

hands of the system. But it’s about the formative years. You’re not born a criminal.”

The cases explored in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” reflect a “massively important issue in our country,” director Gilroy said.

“Our prison system needs reform at a fundamental level. We have the highest incarceration rate of any place in the Western world ... It’s not racially equal, it’s not socio-economically equal,” he said. (rtr)

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Antara Foto/Akbar Nugroho Gumay/ via REUTERS

Indonesia’s Speaker of the House Setya Novanto (C) arrives at the House Plenary Session at parliament in Jakarta, Indonesia November 15, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken November 15, 2017.

Indonesian parliament speaker not hiding from graft probe - lawyer

JAKARTA - A lawyer for Indonesia’s parliament speaker denied on Thursday that the politician had gone into hiding to avoid being questioned by an anti-corruption agency over a $170 million graft investigation and said his client had a busy schedule.

Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) sought to arrest speaker Setya Novanto at his house in Jakarta late on Wednesday, but failed to find him, sparking speculation about his whereabouts.

“He is not hiding,” Novanto’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, told Reuters by telephone. “He is very busy, invited to many events and such. If he hears of violations of any law, he will discuss it with other officials,” said Yunadi.

Novanto, who is chairman of In-

donesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, was still in Jakarta, he added.

Novanto was not available for comment. He has previously denied wrongdoing but has missed repeated KPK summons for questioning in recent months, saying he was ill and needed to undergo heart surgery.

The KPK is investigating state losses amounting to about $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card scheme after allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million - generated

by marking up the costs of procurement - were divided up among politicians in parliament.

Because of the alleged embezzlement, millions of people have faced long delays in getting cards, or have been issued pieces of paper in place of a proper cards. Novanto was named a suspect in the case again last week after he had used a controversial legal manoeuvre, a pre-trial motion, to get earlier charges dropped last month.

Yunadi said on Thursday his client had been summoned by the KPK 11 times as a witness and as a suspect in the investigation. “We will file another pre-trial motion, but it is still to be decided when,” said Yunadi

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also a Golkar member, told reporters Novanto should be ready to face any legal process if called upon. Officials at the anti-graft agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah was quoted in Kompas newspaper as saying the commission had a warrant for Novanto’s arrest and called on him to surrender.

Novanto has for years been dogged by allegations of corruption, but has never been prosecuted.

In late 2015, a parliament ethics committee launched an investigation into allegations by a Freeport Indonesia executive that Novanto had tried to extort $1.8 billion

worth of shares from the local unit of the U.S. mining company.

Novanto denied the allegations but stepped down temporarily. He was reappointed as speaker a year later, after being cleared by an ethics panel.

Indonesians widely perceive parliament as one of their country’s most corrupt institutions, Transparency International says.(rtr) News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http:// globalfmbali.listen2myradio.com or live video streaming at http:// radioglobalfmbali.com and http:// ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.