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 89 7th year
Price: Rp 3.000,-
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
WEATHER FORECAST 23 - 32 Dps
Bobbi Kristina Brown has opened eyes
Japan’s leader sends offerings to controversial war shrine Page 6
ATLANTA — Bobby Brown’s lawyer issued a statement Monday saying the singer’s daughter has “opened her eyes” nearly three months after being found unresponsive in a bathtub in her Georgia home. Attorney Christopher Brown said he issued the statement to clarify comments the singer made during a concert over the weekend about his daughter’s condition. The statement goes on to say that “there has been improvement” in her condition. However, it also adds that Bobbi Kristina Brown is just now beginning rehabilitation “and the quality of her life will not be known for years to come.” Bobbi Kristina Brown is the only child of Bobby Brown and the late
Whitney Houston. Houston was found face-down and unresponsive in about a foot of water in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills hotel room Feb. 11, 2012, just before the Grammys. She later died, and authorities concluded she had accidentally drowned. Investigators found a dozen prescription-drug bottles in the suite and listed heart disease and cocaine use as contributors to her death. On Saturday night, an emotional Bobby Brown told concertgoers that Bobbi Kristina was “awake” and “she is watching me.”
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Taylor Swift accepts the milestone award at the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, April 19, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.
Real’s Rodriguez may hold key amid injury crisis Page 8
How countries cope with migrants arriving by boat Page 13
Bali suitcase murder
Bobby Brown’s wife, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, added in the statement that during the concert, Brown “made an attempt to correct the negative comments he must endure on a daily basis from both family and the public regarding his daughter’s medical condition.” “He is encouraged by the steps that Bobbi Kristina has made since her hospitalization on January 31, 2015,” Etheredge-Brown said. “She has made it out of ICU, opened her eyes, and started a rehabilitation that will be long and hard.” (ap)
US couple given long jail terms
Christine Cornege/New Zealand Herald via AP
AC/DC drummer’s kill threat just Swift awarded milestone award at ACM an ‘angry call’
ARLINGTON, Texas - Taylor Swift returned to her country roots at the American Country Music (ACM) Awards and celebrated with her mother and father. A video package highlighting her career and success played before Swift was awarded the 50th Anniversary Milestone Award, also given to Lambert, Strait, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney. Swift’s mother, who recently announced she is battling cancer, presented the award to her 25year-old daughter with emotional words. “I am a very proud mom,” said Andrea Swift, who also called Swift “brave enough to explore her musical curiosity.” Taylor Swift thanked the country world for showing grace when she announced the release her first fullblown pop album, the top-selling “1989,” last year. “I am so happy I learned how to write songs in a town like Nashville,” said Swift, who sat in the audience with her father, Scott Swift. (ap)
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Wednesday, April 22, 2015
TAURANGA, New Zealand - AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd on Tuesday made a surprise guilty plea on a charge of threatening to kill, with his lawyer describing the veteran rocker’s offence as “just an angry phone call”. Rudd had previously denied all allegations against him, but changed his plea on the first day of his trial at Tauranga District Court in New Zealand, also admitting two minor drug possession charges. As a result, judge Robert Woolff adjourned the matter after just 10 minutes and extended Rudd’s bail until a sentencing hearing on June 26. While threatening to kill carries a potential jail term of seven years, Rudd’s solicitor Craig Tuck said the 60-year-old would apply for a discharge without conviction. “What we can see now is that this matter was essentially just an angry phone call that resulted in police getting a search warrant... that was it,” Tuck told reporters outside the court. Rudd was arrested in November
at his waterfront mansion in the North Island coastal town of Tauranga, with court documents revealing he was accused of threatening to kill a former employee. He was allegedly upset about poor organisation at a function to launch his solo album “Head Job” in August, calling an associate four weeks later to say he wanted the exemployee “taken out”, then phoning the man and threatening his life. He allegedly offered the associate “NZ$200,000 ($153,000), a motorbike, one of his cars or a house”. When police raided Rudd’s home, they found 0.478 grams (0.017 ounces) of methamphetamine and 91 grams (3.21 ounces) of cannabis, the documents said. Rudd initially faced another charge of “attempting to procure murder”, but it was dropped after prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence. A second charge of threatening to kill -- relating to the ex-employee’s daughter -- was dropped on Tuesday. (afp)
In an interview with the ChicaDENPASAR - A US couple were given long jail terms Tuesday for the “sadistic” murder of the woman’s mother, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase outside a luxury hotel on In- go Tribune newspaper in February, Mack said she was “petrified” and donesia’s Bali island. Tommy Schaefer, 21, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Sheila von Wiese Mack on the resort island and jailed for 18 years. His girlfriend and the victim’s daughter, 19-year-old Heather Mack who was pregnant at the time of the crime, was found guilty of assisting in the murder and given a 10-year prison term. Schaefer wept in the Bali court as judges recounted harrowing details of the case, in which he beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during a blazing row in the five-star resort, before he and his girlfriend dumped the body in a taxi. “The defendant’s actions disturbed the public and can be considered sadistic,” said Judge Made Suweda as he sentenced Schaefer. The case sent shockwaves across the tropical holiday island that welcomes millions of foreign visitors each year. Schaefer’s jail term was the same as that recommended by prosecutors. He escaped a death sentence, the maximum term for premeditated murder in Indonesia. Heather Mack, who hid in the bathroom while Schaefer attacked her mother, was found guilty of the lesser charge of assisting in the murder. Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year jail term but Suweda said judges decided to give her a lighter sentence as she needed to care for her baby daughter, who was born last month. Von Wiese Mack’s badly beaten body was discovered in a taxi outside an upmarket resort on Bali last August. After her killing, the couple -- from the Chicago area -fled to another part of Bali where police arrested them. Schaefer confessed to the killing during his trial but claimed he
was defending himself during an argument with von Wiese Mack, who was unhappy that her daughter was pregnant. Prosecutors alleged that Schaefer “blindly hit” von Wiese Mack with the fruit bowl in a fit of rage after she directed a racial slur at him. Schaefer is black. While her mother was being murdered, Mack hid in the bathroom and the couple then stuffed
the body into the suitcase together, according to her indictment. The pair were tried separately. Handing down the verdict in Schaefer’s case, Suweda said he was “legally and convincingly” guilty of premeditated murder. Mack’s baby girl Stella is staying with her in Bali’s notorious Kerobokan jail, where prisoners live in cramped, insanitary conditions and drug abuse is widespread.
revealed that she was sharing a cell with 10 other women. “I loved my mom with all my heart and miss her every day,” she said. The case involved a lengthy investigation, with assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Locals and foreigners alike were horrified at the rare murder on Bali, a pocket of Hinduism in Muslimmajority Indonesia famed for its
palm-fringed, pristine beaches. Foreign visitors sometimes run into trouble on the tropical island, although they normally fall foul of Indonesia’s tough anti-drugs laws, which include the death penalty for smuggling narcotics. (afp) 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.
REUTERS/Darren Whiteside
Tommy Schaefer of the U.S., cries inside a Denpasar court on the Indonesian resort island of Bali April 21, 2015. An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced Schaefer to 18 years in prison for the murder an American woman whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase on the resort island of Bali.