Edisi 29 Desember 2015 | International Bali Post

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Robert Downey Jr. pardoned for drug conviction LOS ANGELES - US actor Robert Downey Jr. has been pardoned by the governor of California for a 1996 drug conviction that landed him in prison.

He “has paid his debt to society and earned a full and unconditional pardon,” Governor Jerry Brown said in his Christmas Eve pardon, which has become an annual tradition.

The “Iron Man” star, who was among 91 people pardoned for various offenses, was convicted of drug possession after he was arrested in Los Angeles and police found heroin,

A Radiohead Christmas surprise, an unused Bond song NEW YORK - Art-house rockers Radiohead offered a Christmas surprise Friday -- a new song, initially intended for the latest James Bond film.

The British band, which has not released an album since 2011 amid persistent speculation about new recordings, said it had been asked to write the theme for “Spectre,” the latest installment in the series about the dashing secret agent.

“It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much,” Radiohead wrote on its website.

“As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it,” Radiohead said, offering Christmas greetings and releasing the track free of charge.

The song, simply entitled “Spectre,” strikes a balance by staying broadly in style with Radiohead’s recent output, which has been increasingly experimental in form while keeping the structure of a pop song.

The song opens in frequent Radiohead fashion with a series of minor chords on a piano but with a backdrop of strings and synthesizers.

The lyricism relates more to the

song’s title than Bond action themes, with frontman Thom Yorke opening in his trademark falsetto, “I’m lost / I’m a ghost / Dispossessed.”

While Radiohead did not explain why the song was not used, the filmmakers eventually chose a young British singing sensation, Sam Smith, for the theme of “Spectre,” which was released in October.

Smith’s track, “Writing’s On the Wall,” is also in a minor key. It became the first Bond theme song to reach number one on the British singles charts.

News of the previously unknown Radiohead track will renew speculation on how far along the band has moved on a long-awaited ninth album.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood revealed in interviews in mid-2015 that the band was back in the studio, but gave few details on the project.

Radiohead members have been busy with side projects, with Yorke last year releasing his second solo album, “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes” -- an innovative work dominated by electronic rifts and reflections on the role of the individual in modern society. (afp)

WEATHER FORECAST 23 - 32 Dps

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015 China pours more scorn on French journalist being forced out Page 6

Chelsea can still finish in top four, insists Willian Page 8

South Korea, Japan reach landmark deal on WWII sex slaves Page 8

cocaine and a gun in his vehicle.

He was initially placed on probation but repeatedly violated the terms and was sent to prison in 1999 for under a year. He was subsequently placed on two years parole.

He completed his sentence and was discharged on December 17, 2002.

According to Brown’s pardon, Downey Jr. “since his release from custody, has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.”

The pardon does not expunge his record but restores his rights as a citizen, including the right to vote. (afp)

Bali’s economy 2015

Economic gaps remains to gape

BALI’S economic growth in 2015 still leaves a problem. The growth expected to reach 5.73 percent to 6.73 percent (in third quarter of 2015) is unable to close the opening gap between the rich and the poor. Absolutely there is an increase in the number of poor population of 760 people during the period of September 2014 to March 2015.

Based on the data of Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Bali, the increase in the number of absolute poverty happens due to the increasing poverty rates. It is caused by several factors including the income inequality rate of Balinese people tending to narrow characterized by a decrease in the number of Gini ratio of 0.4418 in September 2014 to 0.3768 in March 2015. The amount is categorized into being moderate inequality.

Such condition is also recognized by a lecturer from the Undiknas University, Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Raka Suardana.

According to him, Indonesia’s economic outlook in 2016 will slightly improve when compared to the one in 2015 due to various factors. One of them is the Fed having raised the interest rates, so that there is certainty. In addition, economy of the countries becoming the national export destination has also improved (Europe and China). Aggregatively, the world’s economy will start to improve.

Actor Baron Cohen and wife give $1m for Syrian refugees

LONDON - British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and his wife are donating $1 million (900,000 euros) to help Syrian refugees, the charities receiving the money announced Sunday.

The “Borat” star and actress wife Isla Fisher are giving $500,000 to Save the Children to pay for measles vaccinations for children in northern Syria.

They are also donating the same amount to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help refugees in Syria and neighbouring countries, particularly women and children, with health care, shelter and sanitation.

More than four million refugees have fled conflict in Syria for the relative safety of the neighbouring countries, according to the United Nations.

Millions more have been forced to leave their homes for other parts of the country.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said the money would “save many thousands of lives and protect some of the most vulnerable children”.

“By allowing us to make their generous donation to Syrian children public, Sacha and Isla are helping highlight the tragedy of the issue today,” he added.

David Miliband, the ex-British foreign secretary who is president of the IRC, called their gift a “great expression of humanity.” (afp)

REUTERS/Darren Whiteside/Files

An Airbus investigator walks near part of the tail of the AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane in Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan in this January 12, 2015 file photo.

IBP/Net

Continue to page 2 Good impact ...

Families demand apology on AirAsia crash anniversary

SURABAYA - Families of those killed in an AirAsia plane crash in Indonesia demanded Monday the airline apologise for negligence after a probe showed faulty equipment contributed to the accident, a year on from the tragedy that left 162 dead.

Flight QZ8501 plunged into the Java Sea in stormy weather on December 28 last year during what was supposed to be a routine flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Relatives of some of the passengers, AirAsia officials and the head

of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency gathered Monday in Surabaya, the country’s second-biggest city, for a private ceremony to remember those killed in the crash.

It came just weeks after Indonesian investigators’ final report showed a chronically faulty com-

ponent in a rudder control system, poor maintenance and the pilots’ inadequate response were major factors in the crash.

Ahead of the ceremony, an association set up by victims’ relatives to push for reform of Indonesia’s beleaguered aviation sector demanded an apology from AirAsia.

“We the families demand AirAsia apologise openly to victims’ families for the negligence that has resulted in fatalities,” said a state-

ment from the group.

The statement added that the families were “surprised and shocked” the report showed the chain of events that triggered the accident was set off by “negligence” with regard to the faulty component.

Sunu Widyatmoko, chief executive of AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, refused to comment on the accident report following the ceremony.

The crash of the Airbus A320-

200 was the first major setback for the Malaysia-based budget carrier after a spectacular 13-year run of success.

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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International

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

COVER STORY

Activities

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

15

Good impact ...

From page 1

Condition of the Bali’s economy, said I.B. Raka, will certainly have a good impact as well as continuously relies on the tourism service sector.

However, since most of the tourism facilities such as hotels and restaurants are owned by outsiders, of course the direct impact to Balinese people is very small.

“Have a look, the owners of facilities in the area of Bali. Hotel and tourism supporting facilities are owned by investors, so that the income from tourism will leak in the economy of Bali.

In other words, income from tourism will come out of Bali,” said I.B. Raka.

According to him, multiplier effect of the income from tourism industry will not be maximized for Bali. If this condition continues, social gap will remain to happen to Balinese people, where the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. “Probably, the gap can be getting wider,” he said.

As a result, tourism revenue evaporates and some job opportunities are also taken over by people from outside Bali, such as the laborer and construction work. “Many other jobs are also taken by people from outside Bali and the Balinese have not been aware of this. For examples, about 95 percent of job opportunities as construction worker and laborers are not taken

by Balinese. Additionally, more rough jobs, like road paving, roadwork, rice harvest and similar jobs are almost no longer worked on by Balinese people,” he said.

At a higher level, around 80 percent of top and middle management at hotel and restaurant are not held by Balinese people. “Reducing this becomes the responsibility of all parties like the government, religious and indigenous communities as well as the intellectuals of Bali by making cooperation to make people aware,” he advised.

The government, both at provincial and district / municipality level, must have a program in increasing competence. In addition, there are also regulations in the form of regional bylaw or governor or regent regulation governing the investment requirements needing the use of local people as is the case of Malaysia and Singapore.

“Governments must also be consistent with the rules of spatial plan and zoning designation, so that the development will not get stacked in South Bali. Besides, there must also be a rule governing land sales for investment, so that people will not sell their land, but only rent theirs,” he said.

Leaders, according to I.B. Raka, must constantly give awareness of the threat where Balinese people will lose their identity if people do not realize the threat, including the attack of hedonistic behavior due to giving more emphasis on materialism.

On the other hand, Bank Indonesia of Bali Representative projected that economic growth during the period of 2015 goes through slowdown as the latest development in the range of 5.73 percent to 6.73 percent (yoy) due to various factors. Inflation of Bali in 2015 is also expected to be in the range of 4.2 -5.2 percent (yoy) and inflationary pressures in the third quarter of 2015 is estimated to be slightly higher compared to the second quarter of 2015, namely in the range 6.52 to 7.52 percent (yoy). (par)

First Anniversary of the Kayon Resort IBP/kmb

The current economic downturn affects the condition of property business in Tabanan.

IBP/File Photo

Economy sluggish, property business slows down

THE CURRENT economic downturn affects the condition of property business in Tabanan. This can be seen from the stagnant growth of mortgage (KPR) disbursed by the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in 2015 and it does not increase compared to the previous year.

The applicant of mortgage over IDR 2 billion has not been recorded in 2015.

Branch Manager of the BRI Tabanan, Maidri Agung Cahyanto, explained that usually the business of house buying and selling can be seen from the increase in demand for mortgages over two billion.

Currently the most requested mortgage values at IDR 500 million downwards. “It means that it can be said if the property business declines and people currently apply for mortgage for their own use,” he said.

Further he explained that in the property business, customer

will submit a mortgage over IDR 2 billion and they will be waiting for the price increase of the house or property and then resell it.

However, in 2015 apparently the entrepreneurs getting involved in property business choose a safe position and do not apply for mortgage over IDR 2 billion.

“Apparently they are reluctant to spend in that amount. There is a fear of not getting the return considering the sluggish condition of property business today,” he said.

Based on the data in 2014,

the demand for mortgages in the BRI reached IDR 156 billion, while up to November 2015 it reached IDR 151 billion. “From this figure, the mortgage portfolio in 2014 and 2015 is almost the same.

Supposedly the increase is expected to reach 30 percent each year. But it is apparently stagnant,” explained Maidri.

He added that condition for mortgage distribution is different from the absorption of the SME sector in Tabanan.

He said that the growth trend of the MSMEs in Tabanan is quite good and even becomes a supporting and promising business sector over the years. It is seen from the contribution of the MSMEs in the rice granary area run by the BRI denoting the largest compared to other

districts / municipality in Bali.

“In Bali Province in general, the growth of the MSMEs in Tabanan is the biggest, especially for the retail business,” he said.

He explained that until now the BRI Tabanan has reached more than 500 MSMEs with an average loan distribution under IDR 5.5 billion by the end of October 2015. It is not including the distribution of mortgage and loans to the MSMEs with the average absorption of IDR 200 million downwards. He added that in general until October 2015 the loans having been distributed by the BRI to Tabanan community reached IDR 1.260 trillion and the position of public funds having been collected reached IDR 890.218 billion. (kmb24)

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Balinese Temple Ceremony

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

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

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

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

TEGALLALANG - Anniversary is a moment to continuously express gratitude and appreciation for all the achievements having been gained over the years. Coinciding with the Tumpek Landep, Saturday (Dec. 12), the entire big family of the Kayon Resort commemorated the first anniversary.

Located at The Kayon Resort, Kepitu hamlet, Kendran, Tegallalang, peak of the first anniversary was held in modest celebration by involving all the employees and also attended by Mr. I Putu Suryawan as the owner, their big families and the ranks of the Board of Director and the management team of the Pramana Experience.

Peak of the anniversary was marked with the cutting of rice cone as an expression of gratitude for the business achievement having been passed over the

years conducted by GM of The Kayon Resort, I Nengah Suweca.

“This is a moment to always express gratitude and appreciation for all the achievements having been gained over the years. The next challenge will be more severe, so that we expect all the staffs to always improve the competence, creativity and spirit of cooperation to achieve a better result,” said Nengah Suweca.

Representative of the owner I Putu Suryawan also advised all the staff, management and owner can complement each other and work together to reach better business progress in the future, considering the competition in the tourism business will always move forward. Apart from that, I Nyoman Sudirga Yusa, Director of Pramana Experience, said that he appreciated the coop-

eration having been built and nurtured over the years with the employees, staff, owners and the customer as the service users of the hospitality business. Business development and progress of the Kayon Resort is not only determined by the ability of the management, but also the real results of mutual understanding and good communication established so far. This moment is expected to be continued with other business pioneered by The Kayon Resort.

Commemoration of the first anniversary of The Kayon Resort has been carried out from November filled in with various activities. They are the implementation of the Tri Hita Karana concept. One thing making him proud on the first anniversary is that The Kayon Resort won the Luxury Hotel Award.

IBP/kmb

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Science

International

Giant comets may threaten Earth

PARIS - Planet Earth could be at higher risk of a space rock impact than widely thought, according to astronomers who suggested last week keeping a closer eye on distant giant comets.

Most studies of potential Earthsmashers focus on objects in the asteroid belt roughly between Mars, Earth’s outside neighbour, and Jupiter on its other flank, said the researchers.

But they noted that the discovery in the last two decades of hundreds of giant comets dubbed centaurs, albeit with much larger orbits, requires expanding the list of potential hazards.

These balls of ice and dust, typically 50-100 kilometres (31-62 miles) wide, have unstable, ellipti-

cal orbits that start way beyond Neptune, the most distant planet from the Sun. Their paths cross those of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, whose gravity fields occasionally deflect a comet towards Earth -- once about every 40,000-100,000 years.

As they draw closer to the Sun, the comets would gradually break up, which is what causes the trademark cometary debris tail -- “making impacts on our planet inevitable”.

“The disintegration of such giant comets would produce intermittent but prolonged periods of bombardment lasting up to 100,000 years,” the research team wrote in the Royal Astronomical Society journal, Astronomy and Geophysics.

And they argued that “assessment of the extraterrestrial impact risk based solely on near-Earth asteroid counts, underestimates its nature and magnitude.”

They noted that a single centaur contains more mass than the entire population of Earth-crossing asteroids discovered to date.

“In the last three decades, we have invested a lot of effort in

tracking and analysing the risk of a collision between the Earth and an asteroid,” said co-author Bill Napier of the University of Buckingham.

“Our work suggests we need to look beyond our immediate neighbourhood too, and look out beyond the orbit of Jupiter to find centaurs.

“If we are right, then these distant comets could be a serious hazard, and it’s time to understand them better.”

Scientists believe a comet bombardment may have kickstarted life on Earth by bringing water and organic molecules.

A comet strike is also a leading contender for having ended the

reign of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The team said no risk was “known to be imminent”, although cometary encounters were largely unpredictable.

“A centaur arrival carries the risk of injecting, into the atmosphere... a mass of dust and smoke comparable to that assumed in nuclear winter studies,” wrote the researchers, referring to the hypothesised climate effects from the soot that would be released by firestorms caused in an atomic war.

“Thus, in terms of magnitude, its ranking among natural existential risks appears to be high,” they said. (afp)

NASA suspends March launch of InSight mission to Mars

CHICAGO - NASA announced on Tuesday it has suspended the March 2016 launch of its InSight mission to Mars because of problems with a key scientific component.

The next launch window will not occur until around May 2018 and the US space agency said it

does not yet know if it will be able to continue with the mission given budget constraints.

“We either decide to go forward, or we don’t, and that depends on cost data,” John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in

Washington, told reporters.

“I don’t think anyone has a question that in 26 months we won’t be able to solve the problem.”

It will take weeks, if not months, before NASA knows how much this delay will cost, and whether it will be able to come up with the funding

to move forward with InSight. The mission has a total cost cap of $675 million and it has already spent $525 million.

The InSight lander -- which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- was

NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP

This August 2015 artist’s rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech depicts the InSight Mars lander studying the interior of Mars.

set to delve deep beneath the Red Planet’s surface in order to discover how the solar system’s rocky planets formed.

“Learning about the interior structure of Mars has been a high priority objective for planetary scientists since the Viking era,” Grunsfeld said.

“We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we’re not ready to launch in the 2016 window.”

The problematic instrument is a seismometer provided by France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), designed to measure ground movements as small as the diameter of an atom.

“It’s a hard blow,” CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall told AFP. “This is one of the risks of the job.

The good news is that our system was able to discover the problem when it was still here on Earth.”

NASA said the decision to delay follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak affecting the vacuum seal around three main sensors that is necessary in order to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment.

A leak discovered earlier this year, that prevented it from retaining vacuum conditions, was successfully repaired, and the mission team “was hopeful the most recent fix also would be successful.”

However, the instrument once again failed to hold a vacuum during testing on Monday in extreme cold temperatures.

“It’s the first time ever that such a sensitive instrument has been built,” said Marc Pircher, Director of CNES’s Toulouse Space Centre.

“We were very close to succeeding, but an anomaly has occurred, which requires further investigation. Our teams will find a solution to fix it, but it won’t be solved in time for a launch in 2016.” (afp)

International

Open space for contemporary arts

DENPASAR - Contemporary arts, including the art of dance, currently have got ample space to spread its charms in the heart of the art lovers in Bali. Excitement of Balinese people to appreciate the art exhaling new ‘breaths’ in the world of performing arts of Bali is also very encouraging. If the number of spectators used to measure the success of an art performance, the presentation of contemporary artist community can probably be judged greatly successful because it is always thronged by audience.

One of the art institutions always giving extensive space for Balinese artists that pursue contemporary art is the Art Creativity Studio (GEOKS) Singapadu, Gianyar.

When commemorating the eleventh anniversary recently, leadership of the studio Prof. Dr. I Wayan Dibia provided the opportunity for 15 young choreographers namely Adi Gunarta, Unnika, Eka Laksmi, Tita, Cakil Widyanarto, Dewa Selamat, Eni, Gung Dalem, Ari Cintia, Gung Giri, Mang Adi, Adi Siput, Suryo & Erix, Yuli and Tindak Alit to showcase the works of the newest contemporary dance. In addition to intensively cultivating contemporary dance, the young choreographers with the background of art education are also known to have a strong traditional art foundation.

To enrich the knowledge of the young choreographers, GEOKS also invited Dr. Sal Murgiyanto to discuss about the intricacies of the contemporary art.

The increasingly developed interest of young Balinese artists to pursue contemporary arts received a

Bali News

positive response from practitioner as well observer of Balinese performing arts like Prof. Dr. I Wayan Dibia who is also the founder of the GEOKS Singapadu. fFormer Head of the STSI Denpasar said that the birth of contemporary arts that in the majority ‘combines’ the elements of traditional or Balinese classical art with Western art elements proves that the movement of art activity in Bali is not stagnant.

Later on, the contemporary art will potentially enrich Balinese art and culture. “I admit that a lot of music and contemporary dance composition were born lately, both displayed at the Bali Arts Festival and on stages in Bali. In terms of quality, they are also quite encouraging,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said, it must be recognized that not all creators of the contemporary art successfully combine the artistic elements of Balinese tradition with the elements of Western art harmoniously. As a result, the ‘produced arts’ seem half-hearted. Before working on contemporary art, he hoped the artists must first strengthen their traditional art foundation having clear artistic foundation. He added that performing art has great potential to enliven the realm of Balinese performing arts. However, he still reminded that the fellow artists in Bali should not get too far or forget the Balinese traditional art development in its entirety. “It is legitimate if Balinese artists explore the contemporary area. But, strengthen first the foundations of traditional arts in order to have a clear art foundation,” he said. (ian)

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

IBP/Wira Sanjiwani

Tabanan has a great potential of becoming a tourist destination. One of them is Klecung Beach at Tegal Mengkeb village, East Selemadeg. The coastal scenery is unspoiled and untouched by human hands. On the other hand, this beach poses the point of turtle nesting.

Kelecung Beach, potential to become a tourist object

TABANAN - Actually Tabanan has a great potential of becoming a tourist destination. Unfortunately, the damage to infrastructure, in this case the road, the tourism development in the area can be potentially hampered. One of them is Klecung Beach at Tegal Mengkeb village, East Selemadeg. The coastal scenery is unspoiled and untouched by human hands. On the other hand, this beach poses the point of turtle nesting.

IBP/Sumatika

Contemporary arts, including the art of dance, currently have got ample space to spread its charms in the heart of the art lovers in Bali. Excitement of Balinese people to appreciate the art exhaling new ‘breaths’ in the world of performing arts of Bali is also very encouraging.

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Seeing this potential, the Tegal Mengkeb village plans to develop the Kelecung Beach as a tourist destination. “However, the road access to the beach is badly damaged so that it is difficult to develop the tourism on Klecung Beach,” said headman of Tegal Mengkeb, I Dewa Made Widarma.

Actually in terms of scenery, Kelecung Beach is no less beautiful. The waves are challenging for surfing. On the beach, there is also a rock named Karang Panggung usually used to organize spiritual activities such as yoga and medita-

tion. Currently the Tegal Mengkeb village is developing a turtle breeding activity as a simple way to protect the population of endangered animals while making it into a tourist attraction.

“In the past, local people collect turtle eggs to be fried and consumed.

Certainly, it is very much deplored.

To that end, since the establishment of the Pokwasmas in 2008, the eggs were collected for hatching and then the turtle hatchlings are released,” explained Widarma.

In collecting the turtle eggs, the Pokwasmas consisting of 60

people involves the surrounding community. By all means, the turtle egg is paid as much as IDR 2,000 as compensation. For the turtle conservation, Widarma said that it is financed from village treasury.

The latest turtle release amounted to some 200 heads.

Although having a great potential, the tourism development of Kelecung Beach is deplored due to the damaged road. To get to Kelecung Beach, visitors will pass through potholed road about one kilometer from Tegal Mengkeb Kelod. According to Widarma, the damaged road causes many visitors reluctant to visit Kelecung Beach.

Although wishing to develop tourism on the beach, the village has protected it by prohibiting the construction of villas and hotels around the beach so that the coastal will be well preserved. (kmb24)

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Bali News

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

International

Christmas and New Year, price of agricultural commodity rises

UK’s prime minister to visit flooded areas as rains subside

LONDON — British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to see firsthand the devastation caused by weeks of heavy rains and swollen rivers in northern England. He plans to tour the region Monday as flood waters in some areas seem to have peaked, although more rain is forecast for the middle of the week.

Major cities including York, Leeds and Manchester have been affected in a wide area roughly 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of London.

British troops have been helping emergency workers and local residents in a widespread evacuation of towns and cities. Thousands of people have lost power in recent days as the situation worsened.

The Environment Agency has issued 24 “severe” flood warnings — meaning lives are at risk — and several hundred less dire alerts.(ap)

BANGLI - Price of some agricultural commodities produced by farmers at Songan village, Kintamani has increased since the past few weeks. One of them is shallot. Previously, the price of shallot was only IDR 15,000-IDR 20,000 per kilogram, but since the past two weeks the price has jumped to IDR 30,000.

One of the Songan farmers, Prancis, said that other than shallot the commodities experiencing the price increase are chili and tomato. Previously, chili was sold for IDR 2,000 per kilogram and then it increased to IDR 15,000 per kilogram. Likewise, the price of tomato increased from IDR 1,000 per kilogram to IDR 5,000 from in the past two weeks. “The price of cabbage also increases,” he said.

He said that the price hike of some agricultural commodities at Songan is inseparable from the celebration of Christmas and New Year this time. Such price hike certainly makes him and other farmers quite happy. Similarly, he hoped the price increase can last until the next harvest.

Prancis revealed, other than being relieved with the current price hike, he also claimed to be grateful with the arrival of rainy season. With the rainy season this time, farmers can save a little bit in the matter of watering their plants whose water is taken from the lake with the help of machines.

“Previously during dry season, we have to spend approximately IDR 50,000 per day. After it rains we can save cost,” he explained.

Nevertheless, he admitted that too much rainfall can cause his plant to be perishable. (kmb40)

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

A man watches a TV screen showing Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se shake hands in Seoul, at an electronics store in Tokyo, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

The farmer of shallot in Songan Village is harvesting his crops.

IBP/Suasrina

Rainy season, crossing service to Trunyan opened and closed

The crossing to Trunyan in Kedisan Harbor.

IBP/Suasrina

BANGLI - The number of travelers making a visit to Trunyan village through Kedisan pier has increased since the school holidays in the last two weeks. Nevertheless, amid the increasing tourist visits to local village, the pier authority even imposed an open-close system. This has to be done due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Chief of the Lake Batur Transportation Provider Association (Gapasdap), Nengah Dester, recognized the increase in tourist visits during school holiday season. Such increase was dominated by domestic travelers. “Most of them are domestic travelers. During the holiday season, the increase reaches about 30 percent,” he explained.

Even though tourist visit indicated an increase, the crossing activity from the pier to Trunyan lately could not run smoothly. Pier authority was forced to impose an open-close system due to unfavorable weather conditions such as heavy rain and fog. “If the weather is bad, the crossing is closed temporarily. Earlier it was closed for an hour as it rained,” said Dester, Saturday.

Due to the temporary closure, he said that a few travelers have come to the pier to cross but finally cancelled their trip. “Just now, many travelers wanted to cross but were forced to go back because the crossing service is closed,” he added.

As has been realized, Trunyan is widely known by travelers for its unique burial tradition. To reach this village, two options of path can be passed through by travelers, namely by land route or waterway by using a boat provided at Kedisan pier.

However, compared to the land route, so far more travelers visiting Trunyan ride a boat to cross the lake.

Other than being able to explore along the lake at firsthand, the trip through the waterway is also more efficient and closer to the burial attraction. By crossing the lake, travelers only take about 15 minutes to reach Trunyan, while by land route travelers will require double travel time. (kmb40)

13

South Korea, Japan reach landmark deal on WWII sex slaves

SEOUL, South Korea — An apology from Japan’s prime minister and a pledge of more than $8 million sealed a breakthrough deal Monday on a decades-long impasse with South Korea over Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II. The accord, which aims to resolve the emotional core of South Korea’s grievances with its former colonial overlord, could begin to reverse decades of animosity and mistrust between the two thriving democracies, trade partners and staunch U.S. allies. It represents a shift for Tokyo’s conservative government and a new willingness to compromise from previously wary Seoul.

A joint statement from both countries’ foreign ministers said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women,” their euphemistic name.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Abe would be issuing a separate written statement or if it would be

directly delivered to the 46 surviving former Korean sex slaves, now in their 80s and 90s.

The language mirrored past expressions of remorse by other prime ministers, although it was seen by some in Seoul as an improvement on previous comments by the hawkish Abe government, which has been accused of whitewashing past wartime atrocities.

Another deciding factor was that the 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) came from the government, not private sources, something Tokyo has been reluctant to provide in the past.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Seoul considers the agreement “final and irreversible,” as long as Japan faithfully follows through with its promises.

Later Monday, Abe called Park and reiterated his apology. He said Tokyo would implement the deal and

called the issue settled irreversibly.

Park said she hopes the two countries will build up mutual trust and open a new era in bilateral ties based on Monday’s agreement, it said.

After phoning Park, Abe told reporters that the agreement was based on his commitment to stop younger generations from being obliged to apologize.

“Japan and South Korea are now entering into a new era,” said Abe, adding that he did not want to “pass on the burden on our children, grandchildren and their offspring to keep apologizing.... We should not drag this problem into the next generation.”

Despite the soaring official rhetoric, the initial reaction of former sex slaves was mixed. One woman said she would follow the government’s lead, while another vowed to ignore the accord because Tokyo didn’t consider the money a formal compensation.

“Isn’t it natural to make a legal compensation if they commit a crime?” said Lee Yong-su, 88, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.(ap)

Catalonia secession push in limbo after vote

MADRID — A secession drive in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia is in limbo after a far-left party could not decide whether Artur Mas should lead the regional parliament and set the region bordering France on a path toward independence by 2017.

Mas heads the “Together for Yes” alliance that won 62 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament last September.

The Popular Unity Candidacy won 10 seats and Mas needs its support to win the leadership spot and form a pro-secession parliament.

Members of the CUP voted 1,515-1,515 on the proposal for Mas to head a separatist coalition.

CUP party leaders will meet Jan. 2 to try to break the deadlock.

New elections must be called for Catalonia if no leadership deal is reached by Jan. 10.(ap)

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2015 file photo, pro Independence demonstrators wave “esteladas” or pro independence flags, during a demonstrations to show public support for the Parliament of Catalonia, in Barcelona, Spain.

12

International

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

BUSINESS

China fines global shippers on price-fixing charges

BEIJING — China fined seven foreign shipping companies that carry vehicles for automakers a total of $65 million on price-fixing charges Monday in its latest effort to end anticompetitive behavior in the auto industry.

Investigators found Europe’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen, South Korea’s EUKOR, Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and other shippers improperly coordinated bids and routes to keep prices high, the Cabinet’s planning agency said.

An eighth shipper, Japan’s NYK, was found to have colluded but was spared a fine.

Regulators have investigated or

penalized automakers, dairies and technology suppliers under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law in an effort to force down prices Chinese consumers complain are too high.

Business groups say the secretive and abrupt way investigations are conducted is alienating foreign companies. Regulators deny foreign companies are treated unfairly.

The latest penalties target “roll-

on, roll-off” shippers that move cars, trucks and construction equipment aboard specialized vessels that carry hundreds and sometimes thousands of vehicles.

Representatives of the companies met over a period of more than four years to share information and make deals to avoid competition, the National Development and Reform Commission said. It said the collusion covered routes linking China with Europe, North America and Latin America, and involved multiple auto brands.

The biggest penalty of 284

million yuan ($45 million) was imposed on EUKOR Car Carriers Inc., according to the National Development and Reform Commission. Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a Swedish-Norwegian company, was fined 45 million yuan ($7.1 million).

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. was fined 38 million yuan ($6 million).

Other companies penalized were Japan’s K Line and Eastern Car Liner Ltd. and Chile’s CSAV and CCNI. NYK was found to have colluded but was spared a fine, the

NDRC said. The company said in a separate statement that was because it cooperated with investigators.

Previously, Chinese regulators fined global auto brands and parts suppliers for enforcing minimum sticker prices and using control over supplies of spares to charge excessively high prices.

In the biggest anti-monopoly penalty to date, the U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. was fined 6 billion yuan ($975 million) in February on charges it abused its dominance in wireless technology to charge “unfairly high” licensing fees. (ap)

World’s busiest airport welcomes 100 millionth passenger ATLANTA — HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport said it hit a major milestone Sunday.

The airport that calls itself the world’s busiest announced on its social media sites said it served its 100 millionth passenger this year. That makes it the first single airport to serve that number of passengers in one calendar year.

The passenger earning the distinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed a surprised Kendrick, who walked down a red carpet as journalists and onlookers recorded the moment.

Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell says the airport had a 5 percent increase in passenger counts this year. (ap)

People cross a street in front of an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics could boost the economy by as much as one percent with construction and tourism helping to fuel growth, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

Tokyo Olympics to boost GDP TOKYO - Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics could boost the economy by as much as one percent with construction and tourism helping to fuel growth, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

Investment in Olympic-related construction, including a new stadium, will total 10 trillion yen ($83 billion) by 2020, with a building rush peaking in 2018, according to a report from the central bank.

The BoJ said the number of foreign visitors to the country was expected to reach 33 million in 2020, from 13.4 million in 2014.

It estimated that gross domestic product in the world’s number three economy in 2018 -- the high point of Olympic-related impact --

would get a boost of as much as six trillion yen, resulting in a one percent increase compared with overall GDP in 2014.

But that uptick would gradually fade by 2020, the central bank said, warning that Japan needs to create new demand so that the economic impact of the Olympics can continue after the event ends.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key salesman for Tokyo’s Olympic pitch, has been trying to beat deflation and revitalise the economy since he took office three years ago.

Tokyo staged Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, when the government pushed public and private investment projects. It also unveiled the iconic Shinkansen, or bullet train, that symb-

olised the country’s rise from defeat in World War II to its emergence as a major economic power.

In recent years, however, Japan has struggled to stimulate its increasingly fragile economy, which has suffered years of deflation.

A rapidly ageing society -- more than one in four people are over 65 -- is also weighing on the potential for future growth.

Japan’s economy saw a slight increase in the July-September quarter, growing 0.3 percent -- and reversing an earlier forecast of a contraction that had risked putting the country into recession for the second time in as many years. (afp)

International

Bali News

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Cars in long queue to outside harbor area, additional counter opened

NEGARA - Queues of private cars and buses at Gilimanuk happened the day after Christmas, Saturday (Dec. 26). Hundreds of private cars have piled up at the Gilimanuk Harbor since Saturday afternoon until the following day. The queues involved trucks and goods vehicles that were going to leave Bali simultaneously.

To speed up the queue time, the harbor authority opened additional counters and operated all the vessels. Operations Manager of the ASDP Gilimanuk, Sugeng Purwono, told reporters on Sunday (Dec. 27) that the queue after Christmas happened because vehicles coming to Gilimanuk almost simultaneously and peaked on Saturday night. The queue occurred outside the Gilimanuk harbor to Gilimanuk market or about two kilometers long.

The ASDP authority admitted to have maximized the ferry services by the opening of five docks, 24 passenger vessels and 12 landing craft tanks. The harbor also opened additional counters in front of the freighter dock specifically built for trucks and buses. The data on users of crossing services indicated a significant increase from normal days. On Friday (Dec. 25) a total of 3,717 vehicles were noted to leave Bali, while on Saturday (Dec. 26) increased to 5,578 vehicles.

The number of passengers on Saturday reached 45,718 people and it is a great increase over the previous day reaching 27,776 people. On the upcoming New Year holiday, the traffic coming out of Bali is estimated to also indicate a surge and even exceeds that of last weekend. (kmb26)

The queue of trucks and cars at the Gilimanuk Harbor.

IBP/Olo

5

Raid migrants at Serangan, several people caught DENPASAR - Population administration policing is done on an ongoing basis as having been done at Serangan village. The village located in a coastal area of Denpasar city is not free from the invasion of migrants. This happens due to strategic location of Serangan village. Although located in coastal areas, the distance to downtown Denpasar is not too far and the existing infrastructure is also very adequate.

This was conveyed by headman of Serangan, Wayan Karma, accompanied by the Section Head of Administration and Peace and Order, Arya Wirawan, on the sidelines of the population data collection at Serangan village, Saturday night (Dec. 26). The population data collection involved the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Police, pecalang (customary guard), civil defense and village officers.

In the population data collection, a total of 50 migrants were ensnared that have not reported their presence. Before doing the data collection, village officer has provided a regular dissemination of information through each hamlet, hamlet chief and PKK of Serangan village so as the migrants report their presence.

“Until now, there are some boarding house owners that are not cooperative to report their new occupants,” said Karma.

Karma said that the population policing was conducted under leadership of customary village while Serangan administrative village gave assistance. In his territory, all the migrants cannot apply for identity card according to local customary bylaw or pararem. “The migrants that can submit an identity card in the Serangan area are those having owned a permanent home,” said Karma.

Based on the Law No.23/2014 on Regional Government, the population administration data collection does not cost anything. The migrants living at Serangan village are made Social Security Identity Card (KIJS). For the making of this card, the migrants are not charged at all. Continuation of the surveillance against the migrants is carried out by local customary village. Pursuant to the decision of the Denpasar customary village No.14/12SK/MMDP/ VI/2014, the administration of migrants will be charged at IDR 100,000 for residents from outside Bali and IDR 25,000 for residents from other districts in the Bali Province.

Section Head of Administration and Peace and Order, Arya Wirawan, added that the population administration data collection must be carried out. It is meant to provide legal certainty for the migrants. “If the administration data collection has been running well, it will certainly make village authority easier to monitor the presence of those migrants,” said Arya Wirawan.

To submit the KIJS, the migrants must have a recommendation from the boarding house owner as well as local customary village whose supervision is then carried out by local customary village. The government of Denpasar essentially never prohibits migrants to stay in the city of Denpasar but they must report their presence after settling for 2 x 24 hours. (kmb12)

6

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

W

International

International

RLD

China pours more scorn on French journalist being forced out

BEIJING — China said Monday that it would impose new restrictions on media reports about domestic terrorism, as it continued to deride a French journalist being forced to leave the country after questioning Beijing’s claims about the terrorist threat it faces.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the restrictions are mandated under the country’s new anti-terrorism law passed over the weekend, but gave few details.

“The various restrictions intend to prevent copy-cat crimes, protect frontline anti-terror workers and keep society from the harm of hearsay,” Xinhua said. “It is for the common good that foreign media outlets in China as well as domestic media organizations comply with these regulations and make their due contribution to the global fight against terror.”

The new anti-terrorism law contains a clause saying that news organizations should aid in the propaganda struggle against terrorism, but offers no specifics about restrictions or penalties.

It was rubber-stamped by the national legislature on Sunday amid concerns that its requirements that tech companies share information with the government could hurt business interests and further infringe upon freedom of speech and

other human rights.

Beijing has asserted that China is a victim of global terrorism following violent ethnic clashes involving members of the Muslim minority Uighur community in the far northwest region of Xinjiang. Foreign experts, however, have argued that there is no proof of foreign ties and that the violence in Xinjiang are homegrown and largely a reaction to oppressive government policies.

The law’s passage followed China’s declaration Saturday that it will not renew press credentials for Ursula Gauthier, a longtime Beijing-based journalist for the French news magazine L’Obs, effectively expelling her following a media campaign against her for questioning the official line equating ethnic violence in Xinjiang with global terrorism.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Monday that Gauthier must leave by the end of the year after failing to apologize for a Nov. 18 story “saturated with

sympathy for terrorists.”

Gauthier’s report “blatantly championed acts of terrorism and slaughter of innocent civilians, igniting indignation among the Chinese people,” Lu said.

China’s campaign of vilification against Gauthier has drawn protests from the French government and media organizations, underscoring the government’s often hostile approach to foreign media. Journalists for China’s own entirely statecontrolled media work under much tighter restrictions.

Gauthier wrote that some of the violent attacks in Xinjiang involving Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) showed no evidence of foreign ties. She disputed China’s efforts to equate the Xinjiang struggle with the November terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, referencing Chinese leader Xi Jinping by name.

Gauthier has denied the accusations against her and said she is prepared to leave on Dec. 31.

Once she departs, she will become the first foreign journalist forced to leave China since 2012, when American Melissa Chan, then working for Al Jazeera in Beijing, was expelled. (ap)

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

11

Three policemen shot dead in Papua attack

JAKARTA - Gunmen shot dead three Indonesian police officers and stole weapons and ammunition during a raid on a police post in Papua, an official said Monday, the most serious attack on security forces in the insurgency-hit province since 2013.

Another policeman was wounded in the attack late Sunday on the post at Sinak, in mountainous Puncak district, Papua police spokesman Patridge Renwarin told AFP.

“A criminal armed group shot dead three police officers who were sitting in a guard post,” he said.

Some ammunition and rifles were stolen in the attack, and it

was believed a Papuan working at the police station might have let the assailants into the building, Renwarin said.

He said police and the military were hunting for the assailants, although it was unclear how many were involved.

Police declined to say if a particular group was suspected of

carrying out the attack, although suspicion will likely fall on the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which spearheads the remote eastern region’s separatist movement.

The OPM regularly targets security forces in the heavily militarised province, but it is rare for so many personnel to be killed in one attack.

In February 2013, suspected

OPM gunmen killed eight soldiers in one of the most serious assaults on security forces in the region’s recent history, but attacks since then have been on a smaller scale.

The latest incident followed the release from prison last month of prominent separatist leader Filep Karma, who pledged to continue to fight for Papuan independence. (afp)

forts to accelerate the development of projects to generate 35 thousand megawatts (MW) of electricity.

“In today’s meeting, I want to emphasize again that power projects to generate 35 thousand MW of electricity are needed. It is not a small figure, and therefore, I closely monitor the developments in the projects. I always summon the president director of the state-

owned electricity firm (PLN) and the relevant minister,” the president stated, while addressing investors at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Jokowi emphasized that issues related to electricity were not only the concern of the PLN, but also the state. He expressed optimism that the issue of electricity shortage in the country would be resolved soon.

Jokowi also stated that the requirement for 35 thousand MW of electricity must be met, and thus, the government had deregulated rules to accelerate development to reach the target.

The president also expressed relief on learning that the agreements related to power projects to generate 17,300 MW of electricity had been signed. (ant)

President to prioritize electrical development in eastern Indonesia

AP Photo/Rwa Faisal

Iraqi security forces enter heavy damaged downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

Iraq: Military making progress in fight for Ramadi

BAGHDAD — Iraqi military forces on Monday retook a strategic government complex in the city of Ramadi from Islamic State militants who have occupied the city since May. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool initially announced that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, had been “fully liberated.”

But Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, quickly clarified that government forces had only retaken a strategic government complex and

that parts of the city remained under IS control. IS fighters have retreated from about 70 percent of city, but still control the rest and government forces still don’t fully control many of the districts from which the IS fighters have retreated.

The Iraqi military launched a long-promised campaign to retake the city, located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, last week. Their progress had been hampered by snipers, booby traps and the destruction by IS militants of all bridges leading into Ramadi. (ap)

Families ...

a computer system in a bid to fix it. But the plane’s autopilot was disabled in the process, leading the crew to lose control.

The crash was one of several aviation accidents in the sprawling archipelago over the past 12 months.

In August, a turbo-prop plane operated by Indonesian domestic carrier Trigana crashed in the remote eastern region of Papua during a short flight in bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.

And in June an Indonesian military plane went down into a residential neighbourhood in the city of Medan, exploding in a fireball and killing 142 people. (afp)

From page 1

French journalist Ursula Gauthier, a reporter for the French news magazine L’Obs, holds a statement criticizing her from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as she sits at her desk in her apartment in Beijing, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The families also demanded the government stop AirAsia from flying the Surabaya to Singapore route, and called on Indonesian authorities to improve aviation safety following a series of air disasters in the country in the past year.

The Indonesian probe found the component, which had cracked soldering, suffered problems 23 times in the 12 months before the crash, and cited issues with maintenance.

During the ill-fated flight, the component malfunctioned several times, prompting the pilots to reset

KUPANG - The government will prioritize the development of electricity in Eastern Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has stated.

“We will focus on electrical development in the eastern part of Indonesia, because there are many people who do not receive electricity,” President Joko Widodo said on Monday.

The president said that PLTS was the best solution to overcome the

problem of the electricity crisis that is occurring in Indonesia.

“The problem of electricity does not only occur in the province, but also throughout Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesia will use solar power plants,” he reiterated.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo held a meeting with some 150 power plant investors at the State Palace on Tuesday to discuss ef-

Year-ender

Improving competitiveness of Indonesian manpower COMPETITION in the field of manpower must be directly faced by the Indonesian people at the start of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015.

New regional regulations will allow the free flow of workers among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

INDEF economist Eko Listyanto said according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in August 2015, the manpower made up of high school graduates, diploma and university graduates was 43.3 percent of the workforce, far lower than the 81.9 percent in Malaysia (Department of Statistics Malaysia) and Singapore 79.3 percent (World Bank). Further, Indonesia’s labor productivity growth in 2013 was only 3.7 percent. This number was much lower when compared to the labor force of Thailand, at 5.6 percent, and the Philippines, reported at 5.4 percent.

The World Economic Forum even ranked Indonesia as the lowest in labor efficiency among ASEAN countries in 2014-2015. This was mostly caused by low productivity among workers, frequent labor demonstrations, and the complexity of the determination of minimum wage labor.

Eko said the government can act to optimize the infrastructure of labor in Indonesia through training centers, improving the quality of foreign language use, and the use of technology.

This strategy should, at the minimum, begin among eight professions which initiated the opening of the labor market within ASEAN, including engineers, nurses, medical workers, dentists, architects, surveyors, tourism workers, and accountants.

Refri Mareni (27), a nurse at a private hospital in Batam, Riau Islands Province, said he was not worried by the flow of foreign workers into Indonesia.

For he considers the quality of Indonesian nurses and nurses from overseas to not be different, though foreigners have better more in operating medical equipment and have superior foreign language skills.

“Many Indonesian nurses still can not speak English,” noted Reni.

Agreeing with Refri, Andi Saputra (28), who works as an engineer in a multinational mining company, also said he is ready to compete with engineers from abroad. Andi noted that he feels confident about the competency of local engineers, both in terms of engineering and science, but local workers have not been as diligent in mastering a foreign language, both

in writing and speaking with expatriates.

“At the level of ‘engineer’ (engineer), in my opinion, we are ready.

But the English of our engineers is not quite good enough,” said Andi.

Eko continued, noting that other things that should be done by the government of Indonesia in improving the Indonesian workers’ competitiveness is passing legislation that provides equal support between labor and industry.

The increase in labor costs is expected to be immediately implemented, so businessmen and investors will receive a clear figure regarding remuneration in a company.

In addition, the government needs to maintain the relationship between labor and industry to assure it is always conducive for business, calling this the duty of the central and local governments.

“The conducive condition is expected to improve the efficiency of the labor market and bring in many investors,” said Eko. Meanwhile, Manpower Minister M Hanif Dhakiri claims to have three tactics in facing the implementation of AEC 2015 era that will begin next year.

The first strategy is accelerating Indonesian National Qualifications

Framework (KKNI) and the National Working Competency Standards (SKNNI) in all sectors. The second strategy is acceleration of the implementation of labor competence certifications for Indonesian workers,

which is recognized nationally and internationally. The third is controlling Foreign Workers (TKA) who come into Indonesia, as well as encouraging Indonesian workers to compete with foreign workers. (ant)

REUTERS/Randy Fabi

A police billboard showing a list of individuals, including the country’s top militant Santoso (top L), wanted in relation with terrorism cases in Poso, Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, December 19, 2015. Indonesian forces are mobilising for a manhunt in steamy jungles on the far-flung island of Sulawesi to flush Santoso, the country’s most-wanted man, from his hideout and deal a pre-emptive blow to Islamic State. The real threat could be much closer to home.

10

Destination

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

Stars steer Thunder to 122-112 win vs. Nuggets OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Thunder back from an 11-point, secondhalf deficit to beat Denver 122-112 on Sunday.

Monkey Forest UBUD - Once upon a time, try to make a visit to the Monkey Forest Ubud, a forest area in the international village of Ubud. Better known as Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, it is indeed nature conservation. Thousands of trees of different species thrive in the forest. Monkey as the inhabitant is very funny, playful and occasionally swinging on tree branches.

Spreading across the area of 12.5 hectares, it is inhabited by 563 long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). They live in the greenest village in the region. Some monkeys are lazing on the edge of the road and carrying a baby, while some others are busy playing water in the pond. So, no wonder, Monkey Forest becomes a favorite tourist attraction in Ubud.

For the people of Ubud and Bali, monkeys in the forest are considered sacred and must be well protected. People believe the monkeys are able to keep the existence of the temple against negative energy and wicked soul. The forest area has a magical aura due to the presence of three temples such as the Pura Dalem Agung, Pura Beji and Pura Prajapati estimated to have existed in the middle of the fourteenth century.

Beji Temple located near a small river has a pond to do self-purification ritually. For local community, the pond has a unique myth. Anyone (visitor) who prays and throws a coin into the pond, the prayer will get answered. Besides, the community believes that the forest is a medium to connect people with spiritual world.

IBP/kmb

AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

Denver Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne, left, has a shot blocked by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, right, on the way to the basket during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

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The Thunder pushed their lead in the Northwest Division out to 7-1/2 games, while another important result saw Boston beat New York to widen the gap between the Atlantic Division rivals and move the Celtics within a game of leader Toronto.

Westbrook’s efforts were complemented by Kevin Durant, who recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 assists.

Oklahoma City shot a season-best 57.8 percent from the field. The Thunder trailed as late as the 8:13 mark of the fourth quarter before taking control with an 11-2 run. Kenneth Faried had 25 points and 11 points for the Nuggets, who have lost five of their past six games overall and six straight games at Oklahoma City.

Boston’s Isaiah Thomas had a pair of key baskets and finished with 21 points as the Celtics defeated New York 10091 and notched a fourth straight win.

Evan Turner scored 19 for Boston, whose late five-point lead seemed vulnerable before Thomas had consecutive driving baskets to push the gap to nine and put the Celtics back in charge.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 29 points despite shooting just 11 of 26. New York shot just 37.1 percent and lost its fourth straight.

Portland’s C.J. McCollum had 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Trail Blazers to a 98-94 win against Sacramento.

An accurate Memphis led from start to finish in beating the struggling Los Angeles Lakers 112-96. (ap)

Andrea Iannone

IBP/net

Losing MotoGP tyre bonus could help in 2016, Ducati boss reckons

The Ducati MotoGP team thinks losing its dispensation to use softer tyres than Honda and Yamaha in 2016 might actually prove beneficial.

A package of measures to help the struggling Italian squad - which was later adapted into the rules as an ongoing set of dispensations for less successful manufacturers - included permission to use the softer Bridgestone tyre compounds that were available to the Open class privateers but not the other top works teams.

Ducati reaped the rewards of that allowance over 2014 and ‘15, taking 15 front row starts across the two campaigns and three poles.

But keeping up that pace in races proved harder as the tyres faded, and it could not convert those qualifying positions into any victories.

The team’s general manager Gigi Dall’Igna therefore believes being back to the same tyre choices as Yamaha and Honda in 2016 could turn out to be a bonus, with Ducati losing its dispensations under the regulations that remove the rules breaks as certain success criteria are reached.

“The softer tyre that we could use this year and not anymore next year helped us, above all in qualifying,” he said. “But for sure during the races it was not an advantage. “Maybe sometimes we could not use the best tyre.

“I cannot be sure because we could not test it, but if all or most of the [leading] factory riders were using the hardest solution, maybe this was the best choice for the race? And we could not use it. “Maybe the future could be better than the past.”

Under the tyre dispensation, Ducati was able to use the softest of the two options available to Yamaha and Honda as well as the ‘extra-soft’ choice barred to them, but it could not take whatever compound was the hardest choice available each weekend.

Ducati also had more freedom for engine development and was able to use 24 litres of fuel per race rather than rivals’ 22 - a dispensation it lost during the course of 2015 when it hit three ‘concession points’ for its podium finishes.

But Dall’Igna does not think Ducati - which has had the strongest straightline performance of the leading teams all season - will be at any disadvantage from beginning 2016 on the same litres-per-race fuel allocation as its main rivals.

“We are using 22 litres at the moment so we still have the same quantity next year and we don’t have to develop the bike in this direction,” he said. “Frankly speaking, I think we can still have an advantage in terms of engine performance at the beginning of next year.” (rtr)

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Phelps challenges former sponsor Speedo with new brand

NEW YORK - For the first time in his career, Michael Phelps is preparing for an Olympics without the support of longtime sponsor Speedo, and is instead wearing a suit designed by Aqua Sphere, a virtual unknown in swim racing that is making its Games debut at Rio de Janeiro next year.

Phelps has helped Aqua Sphere design a range of products in his name, called “MP”, with the initials

to adorn the suit, goggles and cap he will wear at Rio should he qualify for the U.S. team.

The 30-year-old, who came out of retirement last year having already amassed a record 18 Olympic gold medals at three summer Games, used the Aqua Sphere suit at the U.S. Winter National Championships earlier this month.

“When he announced he was coming back, there wasn’t a swim-

wear company that didn’t aggressively court him,” said Phelps’ agent, Peter Carlisle, who is a managing director at talent agency Octagon, a unit of Interpublic Group. “The offer that stood out as being the most compelling was launching his own brand with Aqua Sphere.”

For both Phelps and Aqua Sphere, the stakes are high as they pursue a piece of the esti-

mated $1 billion in annual sales of competitive and fitness swimwear worldwide.

Rio is the first Olympics that will feature a technical racing suit made

by Aqua Sphere, which FINA, the international governing body of swimming and water sports, has approved.

The brand faces some formidable competition from the likes of Speedo and other established

swimsuit makers, such as TYR and Arena. But if Phelps performs like he has in the past, Aqua Sphere could have a chance to break through, according to David Abrutyn, executive vice president at sports marketing firm Bruin Sports Capital.

“Everybody loves a comeback story, and Aqua Sphere could stand to benefit considerably,” Abrutyn said. (rtr)

8

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Sp rt Chelsea can still finish in top four, insists Willian

Struggling Premier League champions Chelsea can still eke out a top four finish this season and qualify for the Champions League, according to winger Willian.

Interim manager Guus Hiddink last week said a top four finish was “mathematically possible” but Chelsea dropped more points on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with Watford to drop 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

“This situation is difficult for us,” Brazilian William told the British media. “But I think we can go and win game by game and finish the league in the top four.”

The four-time league winners are in 15th place, having lost nine of their 18 Premier League games this season, which cost the manager Jose Mourinho his job earlier this month.

“I think we deserved to win (against Watford). We played well second half. Of course we were in a difficult moment in that half when Watford scored a second goal but we kept going,” added Willian.

Chelsea face Manchester

United in the league on Monday and are without striker Diego Costa, who is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card on Saturday.

They are also without Radamel Falcao, who is out due to injury, leaving Hiddink with only striker Loic Remy to lead their attack against United.

The Blues, who are winless in their last six games away from Stamford Bridge, might even miss Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who according to a media report, has not traveled with the Chelsea squad to Manchester. (rtr)

Bundesliga struggler Hannover names Thomas Schaaf as coach

HANNOVER, Germany — Struggling Bundesliga club Hannover has appointed Thomas Schaaf, who previously managed Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt, as its new coach.

Hannover announced on Monday that it has given Schaaf a contract through the end of next season. He replaces Michael Frontzeck, who re-

signed at the start of the German league’s winter break. Hannover is next-to-last in the Bundesliga standings, one point above Hoffenheim.

The 54-year-old Schaaf was Bremen’s coach from 1999 until 2013, winning the 2004 Bundesliga title and three German Cups. He took over at Frankfurt in 2014 but quit in May after falling out with the club’s board. (ap)

Man United players trying their best for van Gaal - Carrick

LONDON - Midfielder Michael Carrick accused critics of being “disrespectful” with their suggestions that Manchester United players were not trying their best for under fire manager Louis van Gaal.

United suffered their fourth successive defeat in all competition on Saturday when they were beaten by Stoke in the Premier League -- a result that extended their winless run to seven games.

“It is a bit disrespectful when people say the lads aren’t trying for the manager,” Carrick was quoted as saying by the BBC ahead of Monday’s match against Chelsea. “That hurts us - it’s not the type of people we are.”

“We haven’t won games and it is fair enough if people criticise things that have gone wrong on the pitch. “It is a horrible run, and it is a horrible feeling. It hurts badly.

“The run we’ve been on is just not good e n o u g h . We can’t hide from it, we’re not going to hide from it. That is how it is and we all need to be better.”

Saturday’s defeat marked the first time United had lost four successive competitive matches since November 1961.

Their poor run led to their elimination from the Champions League and they have also slipped out of the top four in the Premier League. (rtr)

9

Sunderland will seek new recruits in January

Sunderland will look for overseas recruits during the January transfer window, primarily to tighten their leaky backline, manager Sam Allardyce has said ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League encounter with Liverpool.

The Black Cats have already shipped 37 goals in 18 games this campaign, the most in the league, and four successive league losses has left them second from bottom in the table, five points adrift of safety.

“Probably, it’ll have to be from abroad, by the looks of what’s about and available in this

country,” Allardyce told British media. “I think it would be very difficult to secure a player from any club in the Premier League because I don’t think they’d want to let anybody go,” he added.

“So, for me, it looks like it might be from abroad, and then see where we go from there.

“We’ve got to get back to being a resilient defensive unit... but the backline and the goalkeeper have to be the ones that ultimately secure those clean sheets, so a defender’s my first priority, a central defender.

“Then we’ll move on from there. Whether we can find one

good enough is another matter.”

Allardyce also said his side were destined to be relegated if they did not regain their killer instinct in front of goal.

“At the top end, we’re not looking very clinical with the chances we had,” the former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United manager said.

“In the end, until we stop the goals going in and give ourselves an opportunity like we did at Crystal Palace (a 1-0 win in November), then we’ve got no chance. “We’re making far too many mistakes at the minute.” (rtr)

SAN SALVADOR — Authorities in El Salvador say gunmen shot and killed former national soccer team player Alfredo Alberto Pacheco at a gasoline station in a municipality west of the country’s capital.

El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office and its National

Police said unidentified assailants aboard a vehicle approached Pacheco and some of his friends in the city of Santa Ana early Sunday and opened fire. Pacheco was killed, while two people accompanying him were injured.

Pacheco was one of the players on El Salvador’s national

team who was banned for life by the Salvadoran Soccer Federation in 2013 — a punishment ratified

by FIFA — for match-fixing. He played for the Salvadoran teams FAS, Metapan and Aguila as well as the national selection. Police did not provide a motive for his killing. (ap)

Former El Salvador soccer player shot to death

Slavisa Jokanovic is new head coach at Fulham

AP Photo/Martin Meissner,file

FILE- In this Nov. 20, 2010 file picture then Bremen’s coach Thomas Schaaf shouts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Reuters / Eddie Keogh

Willian celebrates after scoring the second goal for Chelsea

LONDON — English Championship club Fulham appointed former Watford manager Slavisa Jokanovic as head coach late Sunday, 49 days after firing Kit Symons.

Jokanovic led Watford to promotion to the English Premier League last season but talks on a new contract collapsed and the 47-year-old Serb left to become boss at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He apologized to Maccabi fans for departing now, saying the Fulham position was “a very important job” and he hoped “to be there a very long time.”

If so, it will be a change to the pattern under Khan, who also owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

Since buying Fulham in July 2013, Khan has gone through several managers: Martin Jol, Rene Meulensteen, Felix Magath and Symons. (ap)

REUTERS/Jessica Orellana

A man holds up a poster next to a coffin with the body of Alfredo Pacheco, during his wake in Santa Ana, El Salvador, December 27, 2015.

8

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Sp rt Chelsea can still finish in top four, insists Willian

Struggling Premier League champions Chelsea can still eke out a top four finish this season and qualify for the Champions League, according to winger Willian.

Interim manager Guus Hiddink last week said a top four finish was “mathematically possible” but Chelsea dropped more points on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with Watford to drop 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

“This situation is difficult for us,” Brazilian William told the British media. “But I think we can go and win game by game and finish the league in the top four.”

The four-time league winners are in 15th place, having lost nine of their 18 Premier League games this season, which cost the manager Jose Mourinho his job earlier this month.

“I think we deserved to win (against Watford). We played well second half. Of course we were in a difficult moment in that half when Watford scored a second goal but we kept going,” added Willian.

Chelsea face Manchester

United in the league on Monday and are without striker Diego Costa, who is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card on Saturday.

They are also without Radamel Falcao, who is out due to injury, leaving Hiddink with only striker Loic Remy to lead their attack against United.

The Blues, who are winless in their last six games away from Stamford Bridge, might even miss Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who according to a media report, has not traveled with the Chelsea squad to Manchester. (rtr)

Bundesliga struggler Hannover names Thomas Schaaf as coach

HANNOVER, Germany — Struggling Bundesliga club Hannover has appointed Thomas Schaaf, who previously managed Werder Bremen and Eintracht Frankfurt, as its new coach.

Hannover announced on Monday that it has given Schaaf a contract through the end of next season. He replaces Michael Frontzeck, who re-

signed at the start of the German league’s winter break. Hannover is next-to-last in the Bundesliga standings, one point above Hoffenheim.

The 54-year-old Schaaf was Bremen’s coach from 1999 until 2013, winning the 2004 Bundesliga title and three German Cups. He took over at Frankfurt in 2014 but quit in May after falling out with the club’s board. (ap)

Man United players trying their best for van Gaal - Carrick

LONDON - Midfielder Michael Carrick accused critics of being “disrespectful” with their suggestions that Manchester United players were not trying their best for under fire manager Louis van Gaal.

United suffered their fourth successive defeat in all competition on Saturday when they were beaten by Stoke in the Premier League -- a result that extended their winless run to seven games.

“It is a bit disrespectful when people say the lads aren’t trying for the manager,” Carrick was quoted as saying by the BBC ahead of Monday’s match against Chelsea. “That hurts us - it’s not the type of people we are.”

“We haven’t won games and it is fair enough if people criticise things that have gone wrong on the pitch. “It is a horrible run, and it is a horrible feeling. It hurts badly.

“The run we’ve been on is just not good e n o u g h . We can’t hide from it, we’re not going to hide from it. That is how it is and we all need to be better.”

Saturday’s defeat marked the first time United had lost four successive competitive matches since November 1961.

Their poor run led to their elimination from the Champions League and they have also slipped out of the top four in the Premier League. (rtr)

9

Sunderland will seek new recruits in January

Sunderland will look for overseas recruits during the January transfer window, primarily to tighten their leaky backline, manager Sam Allardyce has said ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League encounter with Liverpool.

The Black Cats have already shipped 37 goals in 18 games this campaign, the most in the league, and four successive league losses has left them second from bottom in the table, five points adrift of safety.

“Probably, it’ll have to be from abroad, by the looks of what’s about and available in this

country,” Allardyce told British media. “I think it would be very difficult to secure a player from any club in the Premier League because I don’t think they’d want to let anybody go,” he added.

“So, for me, it looks like it might be from abroad, and then see where we go from there.

“We’ve got to get back to being a resilient defensive unit... but the backline and the goalkeeper have to be the ones that ultimately secure those clean sheets, so a defender’s my first priority, a central defender.

“Then we’ll move on from there. Whether we can find one

good enough is another matter.”

Allardyce also said his side were destined to be relegated if they did not regain their killer instinct in front of goal.

“At the top end, we’re not looking very clinical with the chances we had,” the former Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United manager said.

“In the end, until we stop the goals going in and give ourselves an opportunity like we did at Crystal Palace (a 1-0 win in November), then we’ve got no chance. “We’re making far too many mistakes at the minute.” (rtr)

SAN SALVADOR — Authorities in El Salvador say gunmen shot and killed former national soccer team player Alfredo Alberto Pacheco at a gasoline station in a municipality west of the country’s capital.

El Salvador’s Attorney General’s Office and its National

Police said unidentified assailants aboard a vehicle approached Pacheco and some of his friends in the city of Santa Ana early Sunday and opened fire. Pacheco was killed, while two people accompanying him were injured.

Pacheco was one of the players on El Salvador’s national

team who was banned for life by the Salvadoran Soccer Federation in 2013 — a punishment ratified

by FIFA — for match-fixing. He played for the Salvadoran teams FAS, Metapan and Aguila as well as the national selection. Police did not provide a motive for his killing. (ap)

Former El Salvador soccer player shot to death

Slavisa Jokanovic is new head coach at Fulham

AP Photo/Martin Meissner,file

FILE- In this Nov. 20, 2010 file picture then Bremen’s coach Thomas Schaaf shouts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Reuters / Eddie Keogh

Willian celebrates after scoring the second goal for Chelsea

LONDON — English Championship club Fulham appointed former Watford manager Slavisa Jokanovic as head coach late Sunday, 49 days after firing Kit Symons.

Jokanovic led Watford to promotion to the English Premier League last season but talks on a new contract collapsed and the 47-year-old Serb left to become boss at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He apologized to Maccabi fans for departing now, saying the Fulham position was “a very important job” and he hoped “to be there a very long time.”

If so, it will be a change to the pattern under Khan, who also owns the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

Since buying Fulham in July 2013, Khan has gone through several managers: Martin Jol, Rene Meulensteen, Felix Magath and Symons. (ap)

REUTERS/Jessica Orellana

A man holds up a poster next to a coffin with the body of Alfredo Pacheco, during his wake in Santa Ana, El Salvador, December 27, 2015.

10

Destination

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

Stars steer Thunder to 122-112 win vs. Nuggets OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds to lead the Thunder back from an 11-point, secondhalf deficit to beat Denver 122-112 on Sunday.

Monkey Forest UBUD - Once upon a time, try to make a visit to the Monkey Forest Ubud, a forest area in the international village of Ubud. Better known as Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, it is indeed nature conservation. Thousands of trees of different species thrive in the forest. Monkey as the inhabitant is very funny, playful and occasionally swinging on tree branches.

Spreading across the area of 12.5 hectares, it is inhabited by 563 long-tailed monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). They live in the greenest village in the region. Some monkeys are lazing on the edge of the road and carrying a baby, while some others are busy playing water in the pond. So, no wonder, Monkey Forest becomes a favorite tourist attraction in Ubud.

For the people of Ubud and Bali, monkeys in the forest are considered sacred and must be well protected. People believe the monkeys are able to keep the existence of the temple against negative energy and wicked soul. The forest area has a magical aura due to the presence of three temples such as the Pura Dalem Agung, Pura Beji and Pura Prajapati estimated to have existed in the middle of the fourteenth century.

Beji Temple located near a small river has a pond to do self-purification ritually. For local community, the pond has a unique myth. Anyone (visitor) who prays and throws a coin into the pond, the prayer will get answered. Besides, the community believes that the forest is a medium to connect people with spiritual world.

IBP/kmb

AP Photo/Alonzo Adams

Denver Nuggets center Joffrey Lauvergne, left, has a shot blocked by Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, right, on the way to the basket during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

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The Thunder pushed their lead in the Northwest Division out to 7-1/2 games, while another important result saw Boston beat New York to widen the gap between the Atlantic Division rivals and move the Celtics within a game of leader Toronto.

Westbrook’s efforts were complemented by Kevin Durant, who recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 26 points and 10 assists.

Oklahoma City shot a season-best 57.8 percent from the field. The Thunder trailed as late as the 8:13 mark of the fourth quarter before taking control with an 11-2 run. Kenneth Faried had 25 points and 11 points for the Nuggets, who have lost five of their past six games overall and six straight games at Oklahoma City.

Boston’s Isaiah Thomas had a pair of key baskets and finished with 21 points as the Celtics defeated New York 10091 and notched a fourth straight win.

Evan Turner scored 19 for Boston, whose late five-point lead seemed vulnerable before Thomas had consecutive driving baskets to push the gap to nine and put the Celtics back in charge.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 29 points despite shooting just 11 of 26. New York shot just 37.1 percent and lost its fourth straight.

Portland’s C.J. McCollum had 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Trail Blazers to a 98-94 win against Sacramento.

An accurate Memphis led from start to finish in beating the struggling Los Angeles Lakers 112-96. (ap)

Andrea Iannone

IBP/net

Losing MotoGP tyre bonus could help in 2016, Ducati boss reckons

The Ducati MotoGP team thinks losing its dispensation to use softer tyres than Honda and Yamaha in 2016 might actually prove beneficial.

A package of measures to help the struggling Italian squad - which was later adapted into the rules as an ongoing set of dispensations for less successful manufacturers - included permission to use the softer Bridgestone tyre compounds that were available to the Open class privateers but not the other top works teams.

Ducati reaped the rewards of that allowance over 2014 and ‘15, taking 15 front row starts across the two campaigns and three poles.

But keeping up that pace in races proved harder as the tyres faded, and it could not convert those qualifying positions into any victories.

The team’s general manager Gigi Dall’Igna therefore believes being back to the same tyre choices as Yamaha and Honda in 2016 could turn out to be a bonus, with Ducati losing its dispensations under the regulations that remove the rules breaks as certain success criteria are reached.

“The softer tyre that we could use this year and not anymore next year helped us, above all in qualifying,” he said. “But for sure during the races it was not an advantage. “Maybe sometimes we could not use the best tyre.

“I cannot be sure because we could not test it, but if all or most of the [leading] factory riders were using the hardest solution, maybe this was the best choice for the race? And we could not use it. “Maybe the future could be better than the past.”

Under the tyre dispensation, Ducati was able to use the softest of the two options available to Yamaha and Honda as well as the ‘extra-soft’ choice barred to them, but it could not take whatever compound was the hardest choice available each weekend.

Ducati also had more freedom for engine development and was able to use 24 litres of fuel per race rather than rivals’ 22 - a dispensation it lost during the course of 2015 when it hit three ‘concession points’ for its podium finishes.

But Dall’Igna does not think Ducati - which has had the strongest straightline performance of the leading teams all season - will be at any disadvantage from beginning 2016 on the same litres-per-race fuel allocation as its main rivals.

“We are using 22 litres at the moment so we still have the same quantity next year and we don’t have to develop the bike in this direction,” he said. “Frankly speaking, I think we can still have an advantage in terms of engine performance at the beginning of next year.” (rtr)

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Phelps challenges former sponsor Speedo with new brand

NEW YORK - For the first time in his career, Michael Phelps is preparing for an Olympics without the support of longtime sponsor Speedo, and is instead wearing a suit designed by Aqua Sphere, a virtual unknown in swim racing that is making its Games debut at Rio de Janeiro next year.

Phelps has helped Aqua Sphere design a range of products in his name, called “MP”, with the initials

to adorn the suit, goggles and cap he will wear at Rio should he qualify for the U.S. team.

The 30-year-old, who came out of retirement last year having already amassed a record 18 Olympic gold medals at three summer Games, used the Aqua Sphere suit at the U.S. Winter National Championships earlier this month.

“When he announced he was coming back, there wasn’t a swim-

wear company that didn’t aggressively court him,” said Phelps’ agent, Peter Carlisle, who is a managing director at talent agency Octagon, a unit of Interpublic Group. “The offer that stood out as being the most compelling was launching his own brand with Aqua Sphere.”

For both Phelps and Aqua Sphere, the stakes are high as they pursue a piece of the esti-

mated $1 billion in annual sales of competitive and fitness swimwear worldwide.

Rio is the first Olympics that will feature a technical racing suit made

by Aqua Sphere, which FINA, the international governing body of swimming and water sports, has approved.

The brand faces some formidable competition from the likes of Speedo and other established

swimsuit makers, such as TYR and Arena. But if Phelps performs like he has in the past, Aqua Sphere could have a chance to break through, according to David Abrutyn, executive vice president at sports marketing firm Bruin Sports Capital.

“Everybody loves a comeback story, and Aqua Sphere could stand to benefit considerably,” Abrutyn said. (rtr)

6

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

W

International

International

RLD

China pours more scorn on French journalist being forced out

BEIJING — China said Monday that it would impose new restrictions on media reports about domestic terrorism, as it continued to deride a French journalist being forced to leave the country after questioning Beijing’s claims about the terrorist threat it faces.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the restrictions are mandated under the country’s new anti-terrorism law passed over the weekend, but gave few details.

“The various restrictions intend to prevent copy-cat crimes, protect frontline anti-terror workers and keep society from the harm of hearsay,” Xinhua said. “It is for the common good that foreign media outlets in China as well as domestic media organizations comply with these regulations and make their due contribution to the global fight against terror.”

The new anti-terrorism law contains a clause saying that news organizations should aid in the propaganda struggle against terrorism, but offers no specifics about restrictions or penalties.

It was rubber-stamped by the national legislature on Sunday amid concerns that its requirements that tech companies share information with the government could hurt business interests and further infringe upon freedom of speech and

other human rights.

Beijing has asserted that China is a victim of global terrorism following violent ethnic clashes involving members of the Muslim minority Uighur community in the far northwest region of Xinjiang. Foreign experts, however, have argued that there is no proof of foreign ties and that the violence in Xinjiang are homegrown and largely a reaction to oppressive government policies.

The law’s passage followed China’s declaration Saturday that it will not renew press credentials for Ursula Gauthier, a longtime Beijing-based journalist for the French news magazine L’Obs, effectively expelling her following a media campaign against her for questioning the official line equating ethnic violence in Xinjiang with global terrorism.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Monday that Gauthier must leave by the end of the year after failing to apologize for a Nov. 18 story “saturated with

sympathy for terrorists.”

Gauthier’s report “blatantly championed acts of terrorism and slaughter of innocent civilians, igniting indignation among the Chinese people,” Lu said.

China’s campaign of vilification against Gauthier has drawn protests from the French government and media organizations, underscoring the government’s often hostile approach to foreign media. Journalists for China’s own entirely statecontrolled media work under much tighter restrictions.

Gauthier wrote that some of the violent attacks in Xinjiang involving Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs) showed no evidence of foreign ties. She disputed China’s efforts to equate the Xinjiang struggle with the November terrorist attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, referencing Chinese leader Xi Jinping by name.

Gauthier has denied the accusations against her and said she is prepared to leave on Dec. 31.

Once she departs, she will become the first foreign journalist forced to leave China since 2012, when American Melissa Chan, then working for Al Jazeera in Beijing, was expelled. (ap)

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

11

Three policemen shot dead in Papua attack

JAKARTA - Gunmen shot dead three Indonesian police officers and stole weapons and ammunition during a raid on a police post in Papua, an official said Monday, the most serious attack on security forces in the insurgency-hit province since 2013.

Another policeman was wounded in the attack late Sunday on the post at Sinak, in mountainous Puncak district, Papua police spokesman Patridge Renwarin told AFP.

“A criminal armed group shot dead three police officers who were sitting in a guard post,” he said.

Some ammunition and rifles were stolen in the attack, and it

was believed a Papuan working at the police station might have let the assailants into the building, Renwarin said.

He said police and the military were hunting for the assailants, although it was unclear how many were involved.

Police declined to say if a particular group was suspected of

carrying out the attack, although suspicion will likely fall on the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which spearheads the remote eastern region’s separatist movement.

The OPM regularly targets security forces in the heavily militarised province, but it is rare for so many personnel to be killed in one attack.

In February 2013, suspected

OPM gunmen killed eight soldiers in one of the most serious assaults on security forces in the region’s recent history, but attacks since then have been on a smaller scale.

The latest incident followed the release from prison last month of prominent separatist leader Filep Karma, who pledged to continue to fight for Papuan independence. (afp)

forts to accelerate the development of projects to generate 35 thousand megawatts (MW) of electricity.

“In today’s meeting, I want to emphasize again that power projects to generate 35 thousand MW of electricity are needed. It is not a small figure, and therefore, I closely monitor the developments in the projects. I always summon the president director of the state-

owned electricity firm (PLN) and the relevant minister,” the president stated, while addressing investors at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Jokowi emphasized that issues related to electricity were not only the concern of the PLN, but also the state. He expressed optimism that the issue of electricity shortage in the country would be resolved soon.

Jokowi also stated that the requirement for 35 thousand MW of electricity must be met, and thus, the government had deregulated rules to accelerate development to reach the target.

The president also expressed relief on learning that the agreements related to power projects to generate 17,300 MW of electricity had been signed. (ant)

President to prioritize electrical development in eastern Indonesia

AP Photo/Rwa Faisal

Iraqi security forces enter heavy damaged downtown Ramadi, 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015.

Iraq: Military making progress in fight for Ramadi

BAGHDAD — Iraqi military forces on Monday retook a strategic government complex in the city of Ramadi from Islamic State militants who have occupied the city since May. Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool initially announced that Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, had been “fully liberated.”

But Gen. Ismail al-Mahlawi, head of military operations in Anbar, quickly clarified that government forces had only retaken a strategic government complex and

that parts of the city remained under IS control. IS fighters have retreated from about 70 percent of city, but still control the rest and government forces still don’t fully control many of the districts from which the IS fighters have retreated.

The Iraqi military launched a long-promised campaign to retake the city, located about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Baghdad, last week. Their progress had been hampered by snipers, booby traps and the destruction by IS militants of all bridges leading into Ramadi. (ap)

Families ...

a computer system in a bid to fix it. But the plane’s autopilot was disabled in the process, leading the crew to lose control.

The crash was one of several aviation accidents in the sprawling archipelago over the past 12 months.

In August, a turbo-prop plane operated by Indonesian domestic carrier Trigana crashed in the remote eastern region of Papua during a short flight in bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.

And in June an Indonesian military plane went down into a residential neighbourhood in the city of Medan, exploding in a fireball and killing 142 people. (afp)

From page 1

French journalist Ursula Gauthier, a reporter for the French news magazine L’Obs, holds a statement criticizing her from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as she sits at her desk in her apartment in Beijing, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

The families also demanded the government stop AirAsia from flying the Surabaya to Singapore route, and called on Indonesian authorities to improve aviation safety following a series of air disasters in the country in the past year.

The Indonesian probe found the component, which had cracked soldering, suffered problems 23 times in the 12 months before the crash, and cited issues with maintenance.

During the ill-fated flight, the component malfunctioned several times, prompting the pilots to reset

KUPANG - The government will prioritize the development of electricity in Eastern Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has stated.

“We will focus on electrical development in the eastern part of Indonesia, because there are many people who do not receive electricity,” President Joko Widodo said on Monday.

The president said that PLTS was the best solution to overcome the

problem of the electricity crisis that is occurring in Indonesia.

“The problem of electricity does not only occur in the province, but also throughout Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesia will use solar power plants,” he reiterated.

Earlier, President Joko Widodo held a meeting with some 150 power plant investors at the State Palace on Tuesday to discuss ef-

Year-ender

Improving competitiveness of Indonesian manpower COMPETITION in the field of manpower must be directly faced by the Indonesian people at the start of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015.

New regional regulations will allow the free flow of workers among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

INDEF economist Eko Listyanto said according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in August 2015, the manpower made up of high school graduates, diploma and university graduates was 43.3 percent of the workforce, far lower than the 81.9 percent in Malaysia (Department of Statistics Malaysia) and Singapore 79.3 percent (World Bank). Further, Indonesia’s labor productivity growth in 2013 was only 3.7 percent. This number was much lower when compared to the labor force of Thailand, at 5.6 percent, and the Philippines, reported at 5.4 percent.

The World Economic Forum even ranked Indonesia as the lowest in labor efficiency among ASEAN countries in 2014-2015. This was mostly caused by low productivity among workers, frequent labor demonstrations, and the complexity of the determination of minimum wage labor.

Eko said the government can act to optimize the infrastructure of labor in Indonesia through training centers, improving the quality of foreign language use, and the use of technology.

This strategy should, at the minimum, begin among eight professions which initiated the opening of the labor market within ASEAN, including engineers, nurses, medical workers, dentists, architects, surveyors, tourism workers, and accountants.

Refri Mareni (27), a nurse at a private hospital in Batam, Riau Islands Province, said he was not worried by the flow of foreign workers into Indonesia.

For he considers the quality of Indonesian nurses and nurses from overseas to not be different, though foreigners have better more in operating medical equipment and have superior foreign language skills.

“Many Indonesian nurses still can not speak English,” noted Reni.

Agreeing with Refri, Andi Saputra (28), who works as an engineer in a multinational mining company, also said he is ready to compete with engineers from abroad. Andi noted that he feels confident about the competency of local engineers, both in terms of engineering and science, but local workers have not been as diligent in mastering a foreign language, both

in writing and speaking with expatriates.

“At the level of ‘engineer’ (engineer), in my opinion, we are ready.

But the English of our engineers is not quite good enough,” said Andi.

Eko continued, noting that other things that should be done by the government of Indonesia in improving the Indonesian workers’ competitiveness is passing legislation that provides equal support between labor and industry.

The increase in labor costs is expected to be immediately implemented, so businessmen and investors will receive a clear figure regarding remuneration in a company.

In addition, the government needs to maintain the relationship between labor and industry to assure it is always conducive for business, calling this the duty of the central and local governments.

“The conducive condition is expected to improve the efficiency of the labor market and bring in many investors,” said Eko. Meanwhile, Manpower Minister M Hanif Dhakiri claims to have three tactics in facing the implementation of AEC 2015 era that will begin next year.

The first strategy is accelerating Indonesian National Qualifications

Framework (KKNI) and the National Working Competency Standards (SKNNI) in all sectors. The second strategy is acceleration of the implementation of labor competence certifications for Indonesian workers,

which is recognized nationally and internationally. The third is controlling Foreign Workers (TKA) who come into Indonesia, as well as encouraging Indonesian workers to compete with foreign workers. (ant)

REUTERS/Randy Fabi

A police billboard showing a list of individuals, including the country’s top militant Santoso (top L), wanted in relation with terrorism cases in Poso, Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, December 19, 2015. Indonesian forces are mobilising for a manhunt in steamy jungles on the far-flung island of Sulawesi to flush Santoso, the country’s most-wanted man, from his hideout and deal a pre-emptive blow to Islamic State. The real threat could be much closer to home.

12

International

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

BUSINESS

China fines global shippers on price-fixing charges

BEIJING — China fined seven foreign shipping companies that carry vehicles for automakers a total of $65 million on price-fixing charges Monday in its latest effort to end anticompetitive behavior in the auto industry.

Investigators found Europe’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen, South Korea’s EUKOR, Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and other shippers improperly coordinated bids and routes to keep prices high, the Cabinet’s planning agency said.

An eighth shipper, Japan’s NYK, was found to have colluded but was spared a fine.

Regulators have investigated or

penalized automakers, dairies and technology suppliers under China’s 2008 anti-monopoly law in an effort to force down prices Chinese consumers complain are too high.

Business groups say the secretive and abrupt way investigations are conducted is alienating foreign companies. Regulators deny foreign companies are treated unfairly.

The latest penalties target “roll-

on, roll-off” shippers that move cars, trucks and construction equipment aboard specialized vessels that carry hundreds and sometimes thousands of vehicles.

Representatives of the companies met over a period of more than four years to share information and make deals to avoid competition, the National Development and Reform Commission said. It said the collusion covered routes linking China with Europe, North America and Latin America, and involved multiple auto brands.

The biggest penalty of 284

million yuan ($45 million) was imposed on EUKOR Car Carriers Inc., according to the National Development and Reform Commission. Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a Swedish-Norwegian company, was fined 45 million yuan ($7.1 million).

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. was fined 38 million yuan ($6 million).

Other companies penalized were Japan’s K Line and Eastern Car Liner Ltd. and Chile’s CSAV and CCNI. NYK was found to have colluded but was spared a fine, the

NDRC said. The company said in a separate statement that was because it cooperated with investigators.

Previously, Chinese regulators fined global auto brands and parts suppliers for enforcing minimum sticker prices and using control over supplies of spares to charge excessively high prices.

In the biggest anti-monopoly penalty to date, the U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. was fined 6 billion yuan ($975 million) in February on charges it abused its dominance in wireless technology to charge “unfairly high” licensing fees. (ap)

World’s busiest airport welcomes 100 millionth passenger ATLANTA — HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport said it hit a major milestone Sunday.

The airport that calls itself the world’s busiest announced on its social media sites said it served its 100 millionth passenger this year. That makes it the first single airport to serve that number of passengers in one calendar year.

The passenger earning the distinction is Larry Kendrick of Gulfport, Mississippi, who will receive a Nissan Altima, two free Delta round trip plane tickets and a $500 gift card. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed a surprised Kendrick, who walked down a red carpet as journalists and onlookers recorded the moment.

Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell says the airport had a 5 percent increase in passenger counts this year. (ap)

People cross a street in front of an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Dec. 21, 2015. Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics could boost the economy by as much as one percent with construction and tourism helping to fuel growth, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

Tokyo Olympics to boost GDP TOKYO - Tokyo’s 2020 Summer Olympics could boost the economy by as much as one percent with construction and tourism helping to fuel growth, the Bank of Japan said Monday.

Investment in Olympic-related construction, including a new stadium, will total 10 trillion yen ($83 billion) by 2020, with a building rush peaking in 2018, according to a report from the central bank.

The BoJ said the number of foreign visitors to the country was expected to reach 33 million in 2020, from 13.4 million in 2014.

It estimated that gross domestic product in the world’s number three economy in 2018 -- the high point of Olympic-related impact --

would get a boost of as much as six trillion yen, resulting in a one percent increase compared with overall GDP in 2014.

But that uptick would gradually fade by 2020, the central bank said, warning that Japan needs to create new demand so that the economic impact of the Olympics can continue after the event ends.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a key salesman for Tokyo’s Olympic pitch, has been trying to beat deflation and revitalise the economy since he took office three years ago.

Tokyo staged Asia’s first Olympics in 1964, when the government pushed public and private investment projects. It also unveiled the iconic Shinkansen, or bullet train, that symb-

olised the country’s rise from defeat in World War II to its emergence as a major economic power.

In recent years, however, Japan has struggled to stimulate its increasingly fragile economy, which has suffered years of deflation.

A rapidly ageing society -- more than one in four people are over 65 -- is also weighing on the potential for future growth.

Japan’s economy saw a slight increase in the July-September quarter, growing 0.3 percent -- and reversing an earlier forecast of a contraction that had risked putting the country into recession for the second time in as many years. (afp)

International

Bali News

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Cars in long queue to outside harbor area, additional counter opened

NEGARA - Queues of private cars and buses at Gilimanuk happened the day after Christmas, Saturday (Dec. 26). Hundreds of private cars have piled up at the Gilimanuk Harbor since Saturday afternoon until the following day. The queues involved trucks and goods vehicles that were going to leave Bali simultaneously.

To speed up the queue time, the harbor authority opened additional counters and operated all the vessels. Operations Manager of the ASDP Gilimanuk, Sugeng Purwono, told reporters on Sunday (Dec. 27) that the queue after Christmas happened because vehicles coming to Gilimanuk almost simultaneously and peaked on Saturday night. The queue occurred outside the Gilimanuk harbor to Gilimanuk market or about two kilometers long.

The ASDP authority admitted to have maximized the ferry services by the opening of five docks, 24 passenger vessels and 12 landing craft tanks. The harbor also opened additional counters in front of the freighter dock specifically built for trucks and buses. The data on users of crossing services indicated a significant increase from normal days. On Friday (Dec. 25) a total of 3,717 vehicles were noted to leave Bali, while on Saturday (Dec. 26) increased to 5,578 vehicles.

The number of passengers on Saturday reached 45,718 people and it is a great increase over the previous day reaching 27,776 people. On the upcoming New Year holiday, the traffic coming out of Bali is estimated to also indicate a surge and even exceeds that of last weekend. (kmb26)

The queue of trucks and cars at the Gilimanuk Harbor.

IBP/Olo

5

Raid migrants at Serangan, several people caught DENPASAR - Population administration policing is done on an ongoing basis as having been done at Serangan village. The village located in a coastal area of Denpasar city is not free from the invasion of migrants. This happens due to strategic location of Serangan village. Although located in coastal areas, the distance to downtown Denpasar is not too far and the existing infrastructure is also very adequate.

This was conveyed by headman of Serangan, Wayan Karma, accompanied by the Section Head of Administration and Peace and Order, Arya Wirawan, on the sidelines of the population data collection at Serangan village, Saturday night (Dec. 26). The population data collection involved the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Police, pecalang (customary guard), civil defense and village officers.

In the population data collection, a total of 50 migrants were ensnared that have not reported their presence. Before doing the data collection, village officer has provided a regular dissemination of information through each hamlet, hamlet chief and PKK of Serangan village so as the migrants report their presence.

“Until now, there are some boarding house owners that are not cooperative to report their new occupants,” said Karma.

Karma said that the population policing was conducted under leadership of customary village while Serangan administrative village gave assistance. In his territory, all the migrants cannot apply for identity card according to local customary bylaw or pararem. “The migrants that can submit an identity card in the Serangan area are those having owned a permanent home,” said Karma.

Based on the Law No.23/2014 on Regional Government, the population administration data collection does not cost anything. The migrants living at Serangan village are made Social Security Identity Card (KIJS). For the making of this card, the migrants are not charged at all. Continuation of the surveillance against the migrants is carried out by local customary village. Pursuant to the decision of the Denpasar customary village No.14/12SK/MMDP/ VI/2014, the administration of migrants will be charged at IDR 100,000 for residents from outside Bali and IDR 25,000 for residents from other districts in the Bali Province.

Section Head of Administration and Peace and Order, Arya Wirawan, added that the population administration data collection must be carried out. It is meant to provide legal certainty for the migrants. “If the administration data collection has been running well, it will certainly make village authority easier to monitor the presence of those migrants,” said Arya Wirawan.

To submit the KIJS, the migrants must have a recommendation from the boarding house owner as well as local customary village whose supervision is then carried out by local customary village. The government of Denpasar essentially never prohibits migrants to stay in the city of Denpasar but they must report their presence after settling for 2 x 24 hours. (kmb12)

4

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Bali News

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

International

Christmas and New Year, price of agricultural commodity rises

UK’s prime minister to visit flooded areas as rains subside

LONDON — British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to see firsthand the devastation caused by weeks of heavy rains and swollen rivers in northern England. He plans to tour the region Monday as flood waters in some areas seem to have peaked, although more rain is forecast for the middle of the week.

Major cities including York, Leeds and Manchester have been affected in a wide area roughly 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of London.

British troops have been helping emergency workers and local residents in a widespread evacuation of towns and cities. Thousands of people have lost power in recent days as the situation worsened.

The Environment Agency has issued 24 “severe” flood warnings — meaning lives are at risk — and several hundred less dire alerts.(ap)

BANGLI - Price of some agricultural commodities produced by farmers at Songan village, Kintamani has increased since the past few weeks. One of them is shallot. Previously, the price of shallot was only IDR 15,000-IDR 20,000 per kilogram, but since the past two weeks the price has jumped to IDR 30,000.

One of the Songan farmers, Prancis, said that other than shallot the commodities experiencing the price increase are chili and tomato. Previously, chili was sold for IDR 2,000 per kilogram and then it increased to IDR 15,000 per kilogram. Likewise, the price of tomato increased from IDR 1,000 per kilogram to IDR 5,000 from in the past two weeks. “The price of cabbage also increases,” he said.

He said that the price hike of some agricultural commodities at Songan is inseparable from the celebration of Christmas and New Year this time. Such price hike certainly makes him and other farmers quite happy. Similarly, he hoped the price increase can last until the next harvest.

Prancis revealed, other than being relieved with the current price hike, he also claimed to be grateful with the arrival of rainy season. With the rainy season this time, farmers can save a little bit in the matter of watering their plants whose water is taken from the lake with the help of machines.

“Previously during dry season, we have to spend approximately IDR 50,000 per day. After it rains we can save cost,” he explained.

Nevertheless, he admitted that too much rainfall can cause his plant to be perishable. (kmb40)

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

A man watches a TV screen showing Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se shake hands in Seoul, at an electronics store in Tokyo, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015.

The farmer of shallot in Songan Village is harvesting his crops.

IBP/Suasrina

Rainy season, crossing service to Trunyan opened and closed

The crossing to Trunyan in Kedisan Harbor.

IBP/Suasrina

BANGLI - The number of travelers making a visit to Trunyan village through Kedisan pier has increased since the school holidays in the last two weeks. Nevertheless, amid the increasing tourist visits to local village, the pier authority even imposed an open-close system. This has to be done due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Chief of the Lake Batur Transportation Provider Association (Gapasdap), Nengah Dester, recognized the increase in tourist visits during school holiday season. Such increase was dominated by domestic travelers. “Most of them are domestic travelers. During the holiday season, the increase reaches about 30 percent,” he explained.

Even though tourist visit indicated an increase, the crossing activity from the pier to Trunyan lately could not run smoothly. Pier authority was forced to impose an open-close system due to unfavorable weather conditions such as heavy rain and fog. “If the weather is bad, the crossing is closed temporarily. Earlier it was closed for an hour as it rained,” said Dester, Saturday.

Due to the temporary closure, he said that a few travelers have come to the pier to cross but finally cancelled their trip. “Just now, many travelers wanted to cross but were forced to go back because the crossing service is closed,” he added.

As has been realized, Trunyan is widely known by travelers for its unique burial tradition. To reach this village, two options of path can be passed through by travelers, namely by land route or waterway by using a boat provided at Kedisan pier.

However, compared to the land route, so far more travelers visiting Trunyan ride a boat to cross the lake.

Other than being able to explore along the lake at firsthand, the trip through the waterway is also more efficient and closer to the burial attraction. By crossing the lake, travelers only take about 15 minutes to reach Trunyan, while by land route travelers will require double travel time. (kmb40)

13

South Korea, Japan reach landmark deal on WWII sex slaves

SEOUL, South Korea — An apology from Japan’s prime minister and a pledge of more than $8 million sealed a breakthrough deal Monday on a decades-long impasse with South Korea over Korean women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II. The accord, which aims to resolve the emotional core of South Korea’s grievances with its former colonial overlord, could begin to reverse decades of animosity and mistrust between the two thriving democracies, trade partners and staunch U.S. allies. It represents a shift for Tokyo’s conservative government and a new willingness to compromise from previously wary Seoul.

A joint statement from both countries’ foreign ministers said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “expresses anew his most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women,” their euphemistic name.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Abe would be issuing a separate written statement or if it would be

directly delivered to the 46 surviving former Korean sex slaves, now in their 80s and 90s.

The language mirrored past expressions of remorse by other prime ministers, although it was seen by some in Seoul as an improvement on previous comments by the hawkish Abe government, which has been accused of whitewashing past wartime atrocities.

Another deciding factor was that the 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) came from the government, not private sources, something Tokyo has been reluctant to provide in the past.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Seoul considers the agreement “final and irreversible,” as long as Japan faithfully follows through with its promises.

Later Monday, Abe called Park and reiterated his apology. He said Tokyo would implement the deal and

called the issue settled irreversibly.

Park said she hopes the two countries will build up mutual trust and open a new era in bilateral ties based on Monday’s agreement, it said.

After phoning Park, Abe told reporters that the agreement was based on his commitment to stop younger generations from being obliged to apologize.

“Japan and South Korea are now entering into a new era,” said Abe, adding that he did not want to “pass on the burden on our children, grandchildren and their offspring to keep apologizing.... We should not drag this problem into the next generation.”

Despite the soaring official rhetoric, the initial reaction of former sex slaves was mixed. One woman said she would follow the government’s lead, while another vowed to ignore the accord because Tokyo didn’t consider the money a formal compensation.

“Isn’t it natural to make a legal compensation if they commit a crime?” said Lee Yong-su, 88, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.(ap)

Catalonia secession push in limbo after vote

MADRID — A secession drive in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia is in limbo after a far-left party could not decide whether Artur Mas should lead the regional parliament and set the region bordering France on a path toward independence by 2017.

Mas heads the “Together for Yes” alliance that won 62 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament last September.

The Popular Unity Candidacy won 10 seats and Mas needs its support to win the leadership spot and form a pro-secession parliament.

Members of the CUP voted 1,515-1,515 on the proposal for Mas to head a separatist coalition.

CUP party leaders will meet Jan. 2 to try to break the deadlock.

New elections must be called for Catalonia if no leadership deal is reached by Jan. 10.(ap)

AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2015 file photo, pro Independence demonstrators wave “esteladas” or pro independence flags, during a demonstrations to show public support for the Parliament of Catalonia, in Barcelona, Spain.

14

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Science

International

Giant comets may threaten Earth

PARIS - Planet Earth could be at higher risk of a space rock impact than widely thought, according to astronomers who suggested last week keeping a closer eye on distant giant comets.

Most studies of potential Earthsmashers focus on objects in the asteroid belt roughly between Mars, Earth’s outside neighbour, and Jupiter on its other flank, said the researchers.

But they noted that the discovery in the last two decades of hundreds of giant comets dubbed centaurs, albeit with much larger orbits, requires expanding the list of potential hazards.

These balls of ice and dust, typically 50-100 kilometres (31-62 miles) wide, have unstable, ellipti-

cal orbits that start way beyond Neptune, the most distant planet from the Sun. Their paths cross those of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, whose gravity fields occasionally deflect a comet towards Earth -- once about every 40,000-100,000 years.

As they draw closer to the Sun, the comets would gradually break up, which is what causes the trademark cometary debris tail -- “making impacts on our planet inevitable”.

“The disintegration of such giant comets would produce intermittent but prolonged periods of bombardment lasting up to 100,000 years,” the research team wrote in the Royal Astronomical Society journal, Astronomy and Geophysics.

And they argued that “assessment of the extraterrestrial impact risk based solely on near-Earth asteroid counts, underestimates its nature and magnitude.”

They noted that a single centaur contains more mass than the entire population of Earth-crossing asteroids discovered to date.

“In the last three decades, we have invested a lot of effort in

tracking and analysing the risk of a collision between the Earth and an asteroid,” said co-author Bill Napier of the University of Buckingham.

“Our work suggests we need to look beyond our immediate neighbourhood too, and look out beyond the orbit of Jupiter to find centaurs.

“If we are right, then these distant comets could be a serious hazard, and it’s time to understand them better.”

Scientists believe a comet bombardment may have kickstarted life on Earth by bringing water and organic molecules.

A comet strike is also a leading contender for having ended the

reign of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The team said no risk was “known to be imminent”, although cometary encounters were largely unpredictable.

“A centaur arrival carries the risk of injecting, into the atmosphere... a mass of dust and smoke comparable to that assumed in nuclear winter studies,” wrote the researchers, referring to the hypothesised climate effects from the soot that would be released by firestorms caused in an atomic war.

“Thus, in terms of magnitude, its ranking among natural existential risks appears to be high,” they said. (afp)

NASA suspends March launch of InSight mission to Mars

CHICAGO - NASA announced on Tuesday it has suspended the March 2016 launch of its InSight mission to Mars because of problems with a key scientific component.

The next launch window will not occur until around May 2018 and the US space agency said it

does not yet know if it will be able to continue with the mission given budget constraints.

“We either decide to go forward, or we don’t, and that depends on cost data,” John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in

Washington, told reporters.

“I don’t think anyone has a question that in 26 months we won’t be able to solve the problem.”

It will take weeks, if not months, before NASA knows how much this delay will cost, and whether it will be able to come up with the funding

to move forward with InSight. The mission has a total cost cap of $675 million and it has already spent $525 million.

The InSight lander -- which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- was

NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP

This August 2015 artist’s rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech depicts the InSight Mars lander studying the interior of Mars.

set to delve deep beneath the Red Planet’s surface in order to discover how the solar system’s rocky planets formed.

“Learning about the interior structure of Mars has been a high priority objective for planetary scientists since the Viking era,” Grunsfeld said.

“We push the boundaries of space technology with our missions to enable science, but space exploration is unforgiving, and the bottom line is that we’re not ready to launch in the 2016 window.”

The problematic instrument is a seismometer provided by France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), designed to measure ground movements as small as the diameter of an atom.

“It’s a hard blow,” CNES president Jean-Yves Le Gall told AFP. “This is one of the risks of the job.

The good news is that our system was able to discover the problem when it was still here on Earth.”

NASA said the decision to delay follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak affecting the vacuum seal around three main sensors that is necessary in order to withstand the harsh conditions of the Martian environment.

A leak discovered earlier this year, that prevented it from retaining vacuum conditions, was successfully repaired, and the mission team “was hopeful the most recent fix also would be successful.”

However, the instrument once again failed to hold a vacuum during testing on Monday in extreme cold temperatures.

“It’s the first time ever that such a sensitive instrument has been built,” said Marc Pircher, Director of CNES’s Toulouse Space Centre.

“We were very close to succeeding, but an anomaly has occurred, which requires further investigation. Our teams will find a solution to fix it, but it won’t be solved in time for a launch in 2016.” (afp)

International

Open space for contemporary arts

DENPASAR - Contemporary arts, including the art of dance, currently have got ample space to spread its charms in the heart of the art lovers in Bali. Excitement of Balinese people to appreciate the art exhaling new ‘breaths’ in the world of performing arts of Bali is also very encouraging. If the number of spectators used to measure the success of an art performance, the presentation of contemporary artist community can probably be judged greatly successful because it is always thronged by audience.

One of the art institutions always giving extensive space for Balinese artists that pursue contemporary art is the Art Creativity Studio (GEOKS) Singapadu, Gianyar.

When commemorating the eleventh anniversary recently, leadership of the studio Prof. Dr. I Wayan Dibia provided the opportunity for 15 young choreographers namely Adi Gunarta, Unnika, Eka Laksmi, Tita, Cakil Widyanarto, Dewa Selamat, Eni, Gung Dalem, Ari Cintia, Gung Giri, Mang Adi, Adi Siput, Suryo & Erix, Yuli and Tindak Alit to showcase the works of the newest contemporary dance. In addition to intensively cultivating contemporary dance, the young choreographers with the background of art education are also known to have a strong traditional art foundation.

To enrich the knowledge of the young choreographers, GEOKS also invited Dr. Sal Murgiyanto to discuss about the intricacies of the contemporary art.

The increasingly developed interest of young Balinese artists to pursue contemporary arts received a

Bali News

positive response from practitioner as well observer of Balinese performing arts like Prof. Dr. I Wayan Dibia who is also the founder of the GEOKS Singapadu. fFormer Head of the STSI Denpasar said that the birth of contemporary arts that in the majority ‘combines’ the elements of traditional or Balinese classical art with Western art elements proves that the movement of art activity in Bali is not stagnant.

Later on, the contemporary art will potentially enrich Balinese art and culture. “I admit that a lot of music and contemporary dance composition were born lately, both displayed at the Bali Arts Festival and on stages in Bali. In terms of quality, they are also quite encouraging,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said, it must be recognized that not all creators of the contemporary art successfully combine the artistic elements of Balinese tradition with the elements of Western art harmoniously. As a result, the ‘produced arts’ seem half-hearted. Before working on contemporary art, he hoped the artists must first strengthen their traditional art foundation having clear artistic foundation. He added that performing art has great potential to enliven the realm of Balinese performing arts. However, he still reminded that the fellow artists in Bali should not get too far or forget the Balinese traditional art development in its entirety. “It is legitimate if Balinese artists explore the contemporary area. But, strengthen first the foundations of traditional arts in order to have a clear art foundation,” he said. (ian)

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

IBP/Wira Sanjiwani

Tabanan has a great potential of becoming a tourist destination. One of them is Klecung Beach at Tegal Mengkeb village, East Selemadeg. The coastal scenery is unspoiled and untouched by human hands. On the other hand, this beach poses the point of turtle nesting.

Kelecung Beach, potential to become a tourist object

TABANAN - Actually Tabanan has a great potential of becoming a tourist destination. Unfortunately, the damage to infrastructure, in this case the road, the tourism development in the area can be potentially hampered. One of them is Klecung Beach at Tegal Mengkeb village, East Selemadeg. The coastal scenery is unspoiled and untouched by human hands. On the other hand, this beach poses the point of turtle nesting.

IBP/Sumatika

Contemporary arts, including the art of dance, currently have got ample space to spread its charms in the heart of the art lovers in Bali. Excitement of Balinese people to appreciate the art exhaling new ‘breaths’ in the world of performing arts of Bali is also very encouraging.

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Seeing this potential, the Tegal Mengkeb village plans to develop the Kelecung Beach as a tourist destination. “However, the road access to the beach is badly damaged so that it is difficult to develop the tourism on Klecung Beach,” said headman of Tegal Mengkeb, I Dewa Made Widarma.

Actually in terms of scenery, Kelecung Beach is no less beautiful. The waves are challenging for surfing. On the beach, there is also a rock named Karang Panggung usually used to organize spiritual activities such as yoga and medita-

tion. Currently the Tegal Mengkeb village is developing a turtle breeding activity as a simple way to protect the population of endangered animals while making it into a tourist attraction.

“In the past, local people collect turtle eggs to be fried and consumed.

Certainly, it is very much deplored.

To that end, since the establishment of the Pokwasmas in 2008, the eggs were collected for hatching and then the turtle hatchlings are released,” explained Widarma.

In collecting the turtle eggs, the Pokwasmas consisting of 60

people involves the surrounding community. By all means, the turtle egg is paid as much as IDR 2,000 as compensation. For the turtle conservation, Widarma said that it is financed from village treasury.

The latest turtle release amounted to some 200 heads.

Although having a great potential, the tourism development of Kelecung Beach is deplored due to the damaged road. To get to Kelecung Beach, visitors will pass through potholed road about one kilometer from Tegal Mengkeb Kelod. According to Widarma, the damaged road causes many visitors reluctant to visit Kelecung Beach.

Although wishing to develop tourism on the beach, the village has protected it by prohibiting the construction of villas and hotels around the beach so that the coastal will be well preserved. (kmb24)

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

International

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Activities

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

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From page 1

Condition of the Bali’s economy, said I.B. Raka, will certainly have a good impact as well as continuously relies on the tourism service sector.

However, since most of the tourism facilities such as hotels and restaurants are owned by outsiders, of course the direct impact to Balinese people is very small.

“Have a look, the owners of facilities in the area of Bali. Hotel and tourism supporting facilities are owned by investors, so that the income from tourism will leak in the economy of Bali.

In other words, income from tourism will come out of Bali,” said I.B. Raka.

According to him, multiplier effect of the income from tourism industry will not be maximized for Bali. If this condition continues, social gap will remain to happen to Balinese people, where the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. “Probably, the gap can be getting wider,” he said.

As a result, tourism revenue evaporates and some job opportunities are also taken over by people from outside Bali, such as the laborer and construction work. “Many other jobs are also taken by people from outside Bali and the Balinese have not been aware of this. For examples, about 95 percent of job opportunities as construction worker and laborers are not taken

by Balinese. Additionally, more rough jobs, like road paving, roadwork, rice harvest and similar jobs are almost no longer worked on by Balinese people,” he said.

At a higher level, around 80 percent of top and middle management at hotel and restaurant are not held by Balinese people. “Reducing this becomes the responsibility of all parties like the government, religious and indigenous communities as well as the intellectuals of Bali by making cooperation to make people aware,” he advised.

The government, both at provincial and district / municipality level, must have a program in increasing competence. In addition, there are also regulations in the form of regional bylaw or governor or regent regulation governing the investment requirements needing the use of local people as is the case of Malaysia and Singapore.

“Governments must also be consistent with the rules of spatial plan and zoning designation, so that the development will not get stacked in South Bali. Besides, there must also be a rule governing land sales for investment, so that people will not sell their land, but only rent theirs,” he said.

Leaders, according to I.B. Raka, must constantly give awareness of the threat where Balinese people will lose their identity if people do not realize the threat, including the attack of hedonistic behavior due to giving more emphasis on materialism.

On the other hand, Bank Indonesia of Bali Representative projected that economic growth during the period of 2015 goes through slowdown as the latest development in the range of 5.73 percent to 6.73 percent (yoy) due to various factors. Inflation of Bali in 2015 is also expected to be in the range of 4.2 -5.2 percent (yoy) and inflationary pressures in the third quarter of 2015 is estimated to be slightly higher compared to the second quarter of 2015, namely in the range 6.52 to 7.52 percent (yoy). (par)

First Anniversary of the Kayon Resort IBP/kmb

The current economic downturn affects the condition of property business in Tabanan.

IBP/File Photo

Economy sluggish, property business slows down

THE CURRENT economic downturn affects the condition of property business in Tabanan. This can be seen from the stagnant growth of mortgage (KPR) disbursed by the Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) in 2015 and it does not increase compared to the previous year.

The applicant of mortgage over IDR 2 billion has not been recorded in 2015.

Branch Manager of the BRI Tabanan, Maidri Agung Cahyanto, explained that usually the business of house buying and selling can be seen from the increase in demand for mortgages over two billion.

Currently the most requested mortgage values at IDR 500 million downwards. “It means that it can be said if the property business declines and people currently apply for mortgage for their own use,” he said.

Further he explained that in the property business, customer

will submit a mortgage over IDR 2 billion and they will be waiting for the price increase of the house or property and then resell it.

However, in 2015 apparently the entrepreneurs getting involved in property business choose a safe position and do not apply for mortgage over IDR 2 billion.

“Apparently they are reluctant to spend in that amount. There is a fear of not getting the return considering the sluggish condition of property business today,” he said.

Based on the data in 2014,

the demand for mortgages in the BRI reached IDR 156 billion, while up to November 2015 it reached IDR 151 billion. “From this figure, the mortgage portfolio in 2014 and 2015 is almost the same.

Supposedly the increase is expected to reach 30 percent each year. But it is apparently stagnant,” explained Maidri.

He added that condition for mortgage distribution is different from the absorption of the SME sector in Tabanan.

He said that the growth trend of the MSMEs in Tabanan is quite good and even becomes a supporting and promising business sector over the years. It is seen from the contribution of the MSMEs in the rice granary area run by the BRI denoting the largest compared to other

districts / municipality in Bali.

“In Bali Province in general, the growth of the MSMEs in Tabanan is the biggest, especially for the retail business,” he said.

He explained that until now the BRI Tabanan has reached more than 500 MSMEs with an average loan distribution under IDR 5.5 billion by the end of October 2015. It is not including the distribution of mortgage and loans to the MSMEs with the average absorption of IDR 200 million downwards. He added that in general until October 2015 the loans having been distributed by the BRI to Tabanan community reached IDR 1.260 trillion and the position of public funds having been collected reached IDR 890.218 billion. (kmb24)

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Balinese Temple Ceremony

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

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

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

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

TEGALLALANG - Anniversary is a moment to continuously express gratitude and appreciation for all the achievements having been gained over the years. Coinciding with the Tumpek Landep, Saturday (Dec. 12), the entire big family of the Kayon Resort commemorated the first anniversary.

Located at The Kayon Resort, Kepitu hamlet, Kendran, Tegallalang, peak of the first anniversary was held in modest celebration by involving all the employees and also attended by Mr. I Putu Suryawan as the owner, their big families and the ranks of the Board of Director and the management team of the Pramana Experience.

Peak of the anniversary was marked with the cutting of rice cone as an expression of gratitude for the business achievement having been passed over the

years conducted by GM of The Kayon Resort, I Nengah Suweca.

“This is a moment to always express gratitude and appreciation for all the achievements having been gained over the years. The next challenge will be more severe, so that we expect all the staffs to always improve the competence, creativity and spirit of cooperation to achieve a better result,” said Nengah Suweca.

Representative of the owner I Putu Suryawan also advised all the staff, management and owner can complement each other and work together to reach better business progress in the future, considering the competition in the tourism business will always move forward. Apart from that, I Nyoman Sudirga Yusa, Director of Pramana Experience, said that he appreciated the coop-

eration having been built and nurtured over the years with the employees, staff, owners and the customer as the service users of the hospitality business. Business development and progress of the Kayon Resort is not only determined by the ability of the management, but also the real results of mutual understanding and good communication established so far. This moment is expected to be continued with other business pioneered by The Kayon Resort.

Commemoration of the first anniversary of The Kayon Resort has been carried out from November filled in with various activities. They are the implementation of the Tri Hita Karana concept. One thing making him proud on the first anniversary is that The Kayon Resort won the Luxury Hotel Award.

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Robert Downey Jr. pardoned for drug conviction LOS ANGELES - US actor Robert Downey Jr. has been pardoned by the governor of California for a 1996 drug conviction that landed him in prison.

He “has paid his debt to society and earned a full and unconditional pardon,” Governor Jerry Brown said in his Christmas Eve pardon, which has become an annual tradition.

The “Iron Man” star, who was among 91 people pardoned for various offenses, was convicted of drug possession after he was arrested in Los Angeles and police found heroin,

A Radiohead Christmas surprise, an unused Bond song NEW YORK - Art-house rockers Radiohead offered a Christmas surprise Friday -- a new song, initially intended for the latest James Bond film.

The British band, which has not released an album since 2011 amid persistent speculation about new recordings, said it had been asked to write the theme for “Spectre,” the latest installment in the series about the dashing secret agent.

“It didn’t work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much,” Radiohead wrote on its website.

“As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it,” Radiohead said, offering Christmas greetings and releasing the track free of charge.

The song, simply entitled “Spectre,” strikes a balance by staying broadly in style with Radiohead’s recent output, which has been increasingly experimental in form while keeping the structure of a pop song.

The song opens in frequent Radiohead fashion with a series of minor chords on a piano but with a backdrop of strings and synthesizers.

The lyricism relates more to the

song’s title than Bond action themes, with frontman Thom Yorke opening in his trademark falsetto, “I’m lost / I’m a ghost / Dispossessed.”

While Radiohead did not explain why the song was not used, the filmmakers eventually chose a young British singing sensation, Sam Smith, for the theme of “Spectre,” which was released in October.

Smith’s track, “Writing’s On the Wall,” is also in a minor key. It became the first Bond theme song to reach number one on the British singles charts.

News of the previously unknown Radiohead track will renew speculation on how far along the band has moved on a long-awaited ninth album.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood revealed in interviews in mid-2015 that the band was back in the studio, but gave few details on the project.

Radiohead members have been busy with side projects, with Yorke last year releasing his second solo album, “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes” -- an innovative work dominated by electronic rifts and reflections on the role of the individual in modern society. (afp)

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015 China pours more scorn on French journalist being forced out Page 6

Chelsea can still finish in top four, insists Willian Page 8

South Korea, Japan reach landmark deal on WWII sex slaves Page 8

cocaine and a gun in his vehicle.

He was initially placed on probation but repeatedly violated the terms and was sent to prison in 1999 for under a year. He was subsequently placed on two years parole.

He completed his sentence and was discharged on December 17, 2002.

According to Brown’s pardon, Downey Jr. “since his release from custody, has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.”

The pardon does not expunge his record but restores his rights as a citizen, including the right to vote. (afp)

Bali’s economy 2015

Economic gaps remains to gape

BALI’S economic growth in 2015 still leaves a problem. The growth expected to reach 5.73 percent to 6.73 percent (in third quarter of 2015) is unable to close the opening gap between the rich and the poor. Absolutely there is an increase in the number of poor population of 760 people during the period of September 2014 to March 2015.

Based on the data of Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Bali, the increase in the number of absolute poverty happens due to the increasing poverty rates. It is caused by several factors including the income inequality rate of Balinese people tending to narrow characterized by a decrease in the number of Gini ratio of 0.4418 in September 2014 to 0.3768 in March 2015. The amount is categorized into being moderate inequality.

Such condition is also recognized by a lecturer from the Undiknas University, Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Raka Suardana.

According to him, Indonesia’s economic outlook in 2016 will slightly improve when compared to the one in 2015 due to various factors. One of them is the Fed having raised the interest rates, so that there is certainty. In addition, economy of the countries becoming the national export destination has also improved (Europe and China). Aggregatively, the world’s economy will start to improve.

Actor Baron Cohen and wife give $1m for Syrian refugees

LONDON - British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and his wife are donating $1 million (900,000 euros) to help Syrian refugees, the charities receiving the money announced Sunday.

The “Borat” star and actress wife Isla Fisher are giving $500,000 to Save the Children to pay for measles vaccinations for children in northern Syria.

They are also donating the same amount to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to help refugees in Syria and neighbouring countries, particularly women and children, with health care, shelter and sanitation.

More than four million refugees have fled conflict in Syria for the relative safety of the neighbouring countries, according to the United Nations.

Millions more have been forced to leave their homes for other parts of the country.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said the money would “save many thousands of lives and protect some of the most vulnerable children”.

“By allowing us to make their generous donation to Syrian children public, Sacha and Isla are helping highlight the tragedy of the issue today,” he added.

David Miliband, the ex-British foreign secretary who is president of the IRC, called their gift a “great expression of humanity.” (afp)

REUTERS/Darren Whiteside/Files

An Airbus investigator walks near part of the tail of the AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane in Kumai Port, near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan in this January 12, 2015 file photo.

IBP/Net

Continue to page 2 Good impact ...

Families demand apology on AirAsia crash anniversary

SURABAYA - Families of those killed in an AirAsia plane crash in Indonesia demanded Monday the airline apologise for negligence after a probe showed faulty equipment contributed to the accident, a year on from the tragedy that left 162 dead.

Flight QZ8501 plunged into the Java Sea in stormy weather on December 28 last year during what was supposed to be a routine flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Relatives of some of the passengers, AirAsia officials and the head

of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency gathered Monday in Surabaya, the country’s second-biggest city, for a private ceremony to remember those killed in the crash.

It came just weeks after Indonesian investigators’ final report showed a chronically faulty com-

ponent in a rudder control system, poor maintenance and the pilots’ inadequate response were major factors in the crash.

Ahead of the ceremony, an association set up by victims’ relatives to push for reform of Indonesia’s beleaguered aviation sector demanded an apology from AirAsia.

“We the families demand AirAsia apologise openly to victims’ families for the negligence that has resulted in fatalities,” said a state-

ment from the group.

The statement added that the families were “surprised and shocked” the report showed the chain of events that triggered the accident was set off by “negligence” with regard to the faulty component.

Sunu Widyatmoko, chief executive of AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, refused to comment on the accident report following the ceremony.

The crash of the Airbus A320-

200 was the first major setback for the Malaysia-based budget carrier after a spectacular 13-year run of success.

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.