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 56 8th year
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Obama visit an “opening act” for Rolling Stones concert in Cuba
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016 Obama to meet Castro faceto-face on historic Cuba trip Page 6
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HAVANA - The Rolling Stones were meant to play a rock ‘n’ roll show in Havana on Sunday but were delayed five days because of the inconvenient arrival of another foreign visitor: U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama lands on Sunday for a 48-hour visit 15 months after he reversed more than half a century of U.S. policy on Cuba and started normalizing relations with the former Cold War adversary. The Stones’ Latin American tour happened to roughly coincide and the band was at first set to play Havana on Sunday, but organizers then learned of the Obama trip and postponed the show until Friday, the band’s production manager said. “At one point we thought he (Obama) was coming to the show,” Dale “Opie” Skjerseth told reporters on Saturday from the outdoor sports complex where the Stones will play. “He’s our opening act,” Skjerseth joked. The Stones added the free show to the end of a Latin American tour, becoming the first major international rock stars to play Cuba. “They like to be the first of everything,” Skjerseth said. He said the band members were also aware their music and that of the Beatles and Elvis Presely were
once banned by the Communist government as “ideological deviation.” “They figured they’d like to come here and give it (rock) to them,” Skjerseth said. Havana is preparing for Obama with an extraordinary street-paving campaign and restricting areas he will visit for security reasons. At the same time, the groundwork for the Stones production has also been impressive if not unprecedented for Cuba. The band brought in 61 shipping containers with an estimated 500 tonnes of equipment such as the stage, speakers, lights and video screens, Skjerseth said. A Boeing 747 arrived on Friday from Mexico carrying the last of the equipment, he said. A crew of 140 Stones employees and at least 80 Cubans have set up on grounds including a football field and adjoining baseball fields with room for hundreds of thousands of spectators, who are invited to arrive for free on a first-come, first-served basis. (rtr)
NEW YORK - The $115 million a Florida jury awarded to Hulk
Hogan on Friday may seem like a big blow to the website Gawker,
Ubud tourism
‘International village’ besieged by investors
REUTERS/Tampa Bay Times
From its humble beginnings as a globally recognized tourist attraction in 1927, Ubud has grown into an ‘international village’. Today tourism management regulations have become lax and money seems to rule over other considerations –Ubud is now at a crossroads. Formerly accommodations were primarily in the form of home-stays where visitors could have a taste of the local lifestule but today city hotles are besieging the area. Real estate developers have now been leaching into surrounding areas like Payangan and Tegallalang where city hotels are also becoming rampant. Owners of large capital have their hands on through various investments in Ubud and tourism no longer rests on the carrying capacity of the people of Ubud.. From the main roads to the small lanes, foreign visitors can be seen strolling around and homestay signs are still a common sight. Local Ubud residents make their homes comfortable and inexpensive for visitors, and bars and restaurants line the main streets of Ubud. Lately, a number of minimarkets have also been dotting the landscape.
REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
Workers chat as they work at a lighting and sound tower to be used for the Rolling Stones’ free outdoor concert on March 25 at Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana sports complex, Havana, March 19, 2016.
Gawker could still win Hulk Hogan case despite $115 mln verdict
Nick Denton (L), founder of Gawker, and Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, are seen in a combination of file pool photos taken in court in St Petersburg, Florida.
Australian PM takes bold gamble, sets in motion July 2 poll Page 13
but the media company could ultimately prevail in its court battle with the flamboyant wrestler, legal experts say. Hogan had sued the website for posting a video clip in 2012 featuring him having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, the radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Both sides cast the case as a crucial test of the balance between the right to privacy and freedom of the press in the digital age, when a celebrity sex tape can reach millions of viewers with one click of a button. “The jury’s decision is somewhat of a black box,” said Mary-Rose Papandrea, a University of North Carolina law professor who previously represented the National Enquirer, a tabloid known for its aggressive reporting on celebrity scandals. “It will be much more interesting and much more important as a legal issue to see what the
appellate court says.” Hogan had argued that Gawker ignored basic journalistic ethics by failing to contact him before publishing and violated his privacy by including several seconds of explicit sexual activity as part of the video excerpt it posted. “What’s disturbing about Gawker isn’t what they do in a vacuum,” said Kenneth Turkel, one of Hogan’s lawyers, during his closing argument. “It’s how proud they are of it.” Gawker countered that Hogan’s own penchant for publicly describing his sex life in detail had made the sex tape fair game. “He has consistently chosen to put his own private life out there, over and over,” Michael Sullivan, Gawker’s lawyer, told jurors on Friday. Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, testified at trial that he made those comments while in character, not as part of his real-life persona.
Gawker’s attorneys argued that Hogan was drawing a meaningless distinction. David Marburger, a Cleveland attorney who represents media clients, compared Hogan to Donald Trump, another larger-than-life figure who has bragged about his male prowess as part of his public image. In Marburger’s view, a private video of Trump would be newsworthy because of references the Republican presidential hopeful made about his genitals during a presidential debate. “Regardless of how you judge what’s newsworthy, he’s asked for it,” Marburger said of Hogan. “He’s assumed this risk.” Gawker has at least some reason to feel more optimistic about its chances on appeal. In 2014, the Florida Second District Court threw out an injunction requiring it to take down the Hogan video that the trial judge had granted. (rtr)
Ubud... Continued on page 2
REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
Taxis are parked near the national monument as their drivers take part in a protest against what they say is unfair competition from ridesharing services in Jakarta, Indonesia March 14, 2016.
Indonesian taxi drivers to rally for ban on online taxi apps
JAKARTA - Thousands of Indonesian taxi drivers will take to the streets of the capital on Tuesday for a protest rally to demand the government prohibits ride-hailing apps like Grab and Uber, as a price war intensifies. The proliferation of cheap taxis using ride-sharing apps Go-Jek, Grab and Uber has made the traditional pick-up and drop-off taxi services unprofitable, threatening the business models of the country’s top taxi firms PT Blue Bird and Express Transindo Utama. “Online transport apps have destroyed some local taxis, mainly the small players,” said Andre Djokosoetono, director of Blue Bird, the country’s largest taxi operator. “We are fighting to make sure everyone
is treated fairly and there aren’t any players disadvantaged by these apps.” The Transportation Ministry has asked that the taxi-hailing apps be banned since they are not registered as public transport. But the Communications Ministry, which oversees the app operators, has said the firms can go on operating. Nasihin, a taxi driver for Express, said he used to earn about 250,000 rupiah ($20) a day in salary before the arrival of the ride-hailing
apps. Now he struggles to bring home a steady income. “Tomorrow, I have to go to the protest because what they are doing is illegal,” he said. “Taxi drivers are getting very angry.” The mobile apps have shaken up the market, sparking a cut-throat price war and forcing diversification away from unprofitable taxis into motorcycle taxis. Go-Jek and Grab drivers say they regularly offer rides at below cost to grab market share. The two privately held companies declined to provide details on pricing and their financial performances. “A price war is not unusual for the introduction of a businesses
like this ... as promotions are huge to seize market share,” said Patrick Walujo, co-founder of private equity firm Northstar Group, one of three investment companies that have together provided more than $200 million in funding to Go-Jek. “Perhaps Grab is hoping it can squeeze us. The reality is that because we offer multiple services and products our drivers generate more revenues, and our investors understand that.” Both Go-Jek and Grab offer cheap motorbike taxi services. Go-Jek has capped the cost of a motorbike ride at 15,000 rupiah ($1.15) anywhere in Jakarta. Last week, Grab gave first-time users up to 20 free rides. Both firms
say they have the biggest share of the motorcycle taxi business in the city of about 10 million people. “This is a growth stage where we really focus on expanding the market by investing to reach a large number of customers, so we can get large volumes,” Grab’s managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata told Reuters.(ant) 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.