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Sport
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Prost: Schumacher made the right call
BP/ist
Casey Stoner
Casey Stoner sidelined Kallio, Fabrizio in
It has been officially confirmed that Casey Stoner will miss the next three rounds of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, ending his title chances. Ducati’s 2007 world champion, who took four podiums (including two wins) from the first five rounds of this season, has been suffering from a mysterious energy-sapping illness in the five rounds since.
Stoner was sick and visibly exhausted after finishing third at Barcelona on June 14 - then struggled with ‘severe fatigue’atAssen (third) and Laguna Seca (fourth), prompting extensive medical checks after the US GP. But those found only ‘slight gastritis and mild anaemia’, a diagnosis the young Australian was openly doubtful about and he noticed no significant improvement in his physical condition at the following German (fourth) and British events (14th). Epstein Barr Virus, which can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, was suggested as one possibility but never proven. After Donington, Stoner returned to Australia during the summer break to seek consultation from trusted sports doctors. They are yet to pinpoint the prob-
lem, but think a virus during the Catalunya round triggered the fatigue problems. With medical tests continuing, Stoner will withdraw from action until Estoril on October 4 to try and regain full fitness. “After five extremely difficult races due to my health, I returned to Australia to visit the sports doctors who have looked after me for many years. We have taken the difficult decision not to contest the next three rounds of the championship, to allow my body time to recover from the recent stress,” said Stoner. “The doctors believe that during the Barcelona race I was suffering from a virus, and, that I subsequently pushed my body too hard, leading to problems that have caused my fatigue since then. The doctors are continu-
ing with many tests to try to understand these problems and make sure it does not happen again. “I have spoken with Ducati and thank them for their understanding at this time. I feel very sorry for the factory, my team, my sponsors and the fans and I am also disappointed because the bike in the last races has been very competitive. I will be doing everything possible to come back at full strength for Portugal.” Stoner was leading the world championship at the start of the Catalunya round, but has now dropped to third in the MotoGP World Championship, 37 points behind leader Valentino Rossi. In the five races since his illness, Stoner has frequently lost pace during the second half of the (dry) races.
Alain Prost says he understands Michael Schumacher’s desire to return to Formula 1, but believes the seven-time world champion made the right decision in calling off his comeback due to worries over the strength of his neck. Schumacher injured his neck in a motorcycle testing accident in February and after testing a 2007 Ferrari decided that he was not fit enough to race again in F1. Prost, who won four world titles between 1985 and 1993, told French newspaper Le Parisien that he believes Schumacher needed more time to prepare himself for a return. “The desire and motivation to return takes time to disappear, it takes several years to abandon F1,” said Prost. “Michael and I hung up our helmets for different reasons, but when
you were competitive the temptation to return when asked is great. “If there was any physical risk, Schumacher was right. The neck is crucial in motorsport and if there is pain you can quickly feel nausea and have impaired vision.” Prost also questioned whether the German’s decision was made at least partly because of question marks over his performance. “It remains to be seen if Schumacher stopped solely because of the health problem, or because when he resumed driving he realised that the task was enormous. “He has not started in F1 for three years and only had three weeks to prepare. The body changes very quickly when you stop racing, a driver does not react the same way and the vision is not as sharp.
16 Pages Number 435 1st Year e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com. Price: Rp 3.000,-
Taiwan scrambles to rescue 700 in landslide villages
Thursday, August 13, 2009
PAGE 6
ICAAP: circumcision could prevent AIDS PAGE 8
AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah
Hollywood Foreign Press give away $1.2 million PAGE 12
Indonesian National Police chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna shows a portrait of Ibrohim, a terrorist suspect who was killed in a police raid on a militant hide out in Central Java, during a press conference at the main police hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. The suspected militant slain during a 16-hour siege with counterterrorism forces last week was not Indonesia’s most-wanted militant Noordin Muhammad Top, police said Wednesday. Sukarna identified Ibrohim, who was a florist at the J.W. Marriott Hotel and Ritz-Carlton, as “a planner and arranger of the hotel bombings.”
Terror mastermind Noordin still at large: Indonesia police Agence France-Presse
WEATHER FORECAST CITY
TEMPERATURE OC
DENPASAR
21 - 31
JAKARTA
24 - 32
BANDUNG
19 - 30
YOGYAKARTA
22 - 31
SURABAYA
23 - 34
SUNNY
BRIGHT/CLOUDY
JAKARTA - Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top is still at large and was not killed in a raid on the weekend, Indonesian police said Wednesday after the latest near-miss in a six-year manhunt. DNA tests showed that a militant killed in the raid was not the alleged terror financier and recruiter, one of
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man, Ibrohim, had also been groomed to launch a suicide attack against Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Continued on page 6
Migrant workers prone to HIV/AIDS
RAIN
HOTLINE
Asia’s most-wanted men, but an accomplice who had helped plan the July 17 hotel bombings in Jakarta. The dead
Yudhoyono later this month, police said. “I announce officially that the war against terrorism has not ended yet,” police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a packed press conference, in a blow to the authorities’ efforts to crush Indonesia’s most dangerous terror network.
Bali Post
Nusa Dua – The financial crisis which happened throughout Asia
in 1997 also affected the migrant workers. Currently, many countries are limiting migration for example by limiting the work permit for migrant workers or even deported them. Without the access to proper migration service, many of the workers are looking for illegal ways which often very unsafe and it also made them prone to HIV/ AIDS. The decreasing in government financial support in handling
HIV/AIDS could also made the disease spread even more. Countries like Taiwan and Malaysia had stop publishing the work permit for foreign workers. The condition made many illegal workers entering the countries and didn’t properly record by the government. It also made the condition of the workers in those countries very poor especially the health care for the people suffering form HIV/AIDS. The report by the United Nation
showed that the female worker who lose their job in foreign countries tend to become sexual workers to survive. In Cambodia, 70,000 female workers lose their jobs since the crisis began in 1997. A research by UN Inter-Agency Project about human trafficking showed that 58% of the workers entering the sexual line of work since the crisis happened and 19% of them were garment workers. Continued on page 6
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International
Thursday, August 13, 2009
News WORLD NEWS
Costa Rican president says he has swine flu Agence France-Presse
SAN JOSE - Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has contracted swine flu, becoming the world’s first known leader to have fallen ill with the virus.
Plane crash SYDNEY - All 13 people aboard a chartered plane heading to a tourist region of Papua New Guinea were killed when the plane crashed while approaching the rugged terrain during foul weather, Australia’s prime minister says.
TV killings SAO PAULO - In one murder after another, the “Canal Livre” crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim. Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show’s host on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil’s Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Moved. By Alan Clendenning and Stan Lehman. Source: ap
“The pandemic doesn’t discriminate,” Arias said in a statement on Tuesday. “I am one more case in the country, and I am subject to the same recommendations that the health authorities have established for all the population.” The 67-year-old’s brother and chief of staff, Rodrigo Arias, earlier told a shocked nation that the president must remain isolated at home for at least a week, but will not delegate power during his absence. President Arias, a Nobel laureate who suffers from chronic asthma, was said to have had flu-like symptoms for some days, prompting medical tests. “After feeling a sore throat, headache and temperature, the president asked for a test and today (Tuesday) they confirmed he had contracted the A(H1N1) influenza virus,” said Rodrigo Arias. The veteran leader has recently been spearheading international efforts to resolve the crisis in Honduras, meeting rival factions who have clashed since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a militarybacked coup in June. Mayi Antillon, a spokeswoman for the Costa Rican government, said Arias would continue to work from
home. “He does not want to deceive the population,” she said explaining the decision to make his illness public. Arias, who insists he is not a neoliberal but rather “a modern social democrat” who wants Costa Rica to “become in 20 years Latin America’s foremost developed country,” first became president in 1986. During his first four-year term he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for negotiating peace accords which helped bring an end to Central America’s many military conflicts. After a 16-year absence from the presidential palace, he began a second term in office in 2006, following a narrow election victory in which he squeaked by his rival, center-left economist Otton Solis, by 18,000 votes. Between his two presidential terms, Arias nurtured his Arias Peace Foundation, which promotes demilitarization, as in Costa Rica, which has no standing army. Arias has been thrust back into the international spotlight through his mediation in Honduras, meeting many of the main players in the Western Hemisphere. He has produced a plan calling for Zelaya’s return to office and early
Sport
International
ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has urged photographers to respect his privacy and let him have “a bit of peace”, right-wing Italian daily Il Giornale said Wednesday. Respect for privacy “doesn’t exist any more, not for anyone,” Berlusconi told the newspaper, owned by his family’s media empire, in an interview.
“Frankly, I deserve to be left in peace a bit. That’s enough violations of privacy.” Berlusconi was particularly angered by the fact that photographers had again tried to take photos from a vantage point overlooking his luxury villa in Sardinia during a birthday party for one of his daughters on Monday night. Three photographers who tried to take photographs were arrested and had been forced to hand over
15
Gerrard out of Dutch game, Young deputises Agence France Presse
AMSTERDAM - Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has pulled out of the England squad for Wednesday’s friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam because of a groin strain with Aston Villa’s Ashley Young called on to deputise. Midfield dynamo Gerrard trained on Monday but felt a slight soreness in the leg and it was decided to pull him out of the squad as a precaution. The remainder of Fabio Capello’s squad made the trip to the Netherlands and headed off the Amsterdam Arena for a training session. Goalkeeper Ben Foster has already been replaced by Joe Hart after hurting his knee in Manchester United’s Community Shield defeat to Chelsea on Sunday. Young, who has won five caps, failed to shine brightly for England last November against Germany but then featured in a thrashing of Andorra.
Capello was quick to say the Aston Villa man was not expected to slip into the Gerrard role as “I cannot clone Stevie.” Capello told reporters: “Every player has a different style and Ashley Young is really important because he is one of the English players who can dribble and take people on one-on-one. “He has only played twice for me. The first time it was so-so. The second he played very well. “Now he needs the confidence to perform against one of the best national sides in the world.” Young will be seeking to grasp his chance with both hands against opposition who have already romped througb their World Cup qualifying
campaign and Capello said the Dutch would provide “a really important test.” England themselves have been impressive in qualifying to date and one win from their final three group games will take them through. The goalkeeping issue is a headache for Capello, though, as veteran David James is injured and with Foster also now out the spotlight will fall on West Ham’s Robert Green. It will not, however, fall on Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia, who is now qualified to play for England on grounds of residency. “Almunia, for me, is Spanish,” said Capello. “He is Spanish and he plays for the Arsenal team.”
AP Photo/Scott Heppell
Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard, right, controls the ball as Atletico Madrid’s Tomas Ujfalusi looks on during their pre-season friendly soccer match at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009.
Ibra closing in Barca now City newboy Santa Cruz AP Photo/Kent Gilbert
President Oscar Arias. elections, proposals that have so far The World Health Organization been rejected by the interim govern- on Tuesday said 1,462 people had died from swine flu, and that infecment. A business tycoon with coffee and tions were starting to decline in the sugar plantations and interests in a southern hemisphere but picking up financial group, his current term ex- in several Asian countries. By comparison, seasonal flu pires on May 8, 2010. Twenty-seven people have died causes about 250,000 to 500,000 as a result of the virus in Costa deaths a year, and results in about Rica, and about 800 people have three to five million cases of severe been infected. illness, according to the WHO.
Italy’s Berlusconi asks photographers to leave him alone Agence France-Presse
Thursday, August 13, 2009
the memory cards containing their pictures, the Italian press reported. His comments follow a deluge of reports since May on the prime minister’s private life. They include speculation over his relationship with a teenage model; the publication of pictures of topless women and a naked man at his Sardinian villa; and a call girl’s allegations that she slept with him. It was the 72-year-old premier’s attendance at the 18th
birthday party of aspiring model Noemi Letizia that prompted his second wife Veronica Lario to begin divorce proceedings. Berlusconi has denied having had a romantic relationship with the teenager. Referring to the recent articles and photographs, the prime minister has attacked what he described as an “obscene, libellous” campaign that cast Italy in a bad light and harmed the interests of the Italian people.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic
BARCELONA - Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on course to make his Barcelona debut in next week’s Joan Gamper Trophy against Manchester City. Ibrahimovic has been sidelined since his big-money move from Inter Milan last month as he underwent an operation on his fractured left hand the day after his presentation. The Sweden international was therefore unable to play any minutes during the treble winners’ threematch tour to the United States, and will also miss Sunday’s Spanish Supercup first leg against Athletic Bilbao. However, Ibrahimovic may not have to wait much longer for his first appearance for the Catalan giants, with Barca club doctor Ricard Pruna confirming the striker can took a full part in training on Wednesday morning and should be available for next Wednesday’s friendly against City at the Nou Camp. “He can exercise next to the rest of his teammates in contact, in this case with a smaller splint (on the hand),” said Pruna, who added on his club’s website that Ibrahimovic could “play some minutes in the Gamper”. Ibrahimovic joined Barca in a 66million euro cash-plus-player swap that also saw Samuel Eto’o, valued at 20million euros, go the other way to join Inter. Meanwhile, Barca could also be without Thierry Henry for this weekend’s trip to Bilbao, with the striker suffering from Achilles tendon problems that forced him to BP/ist withdraw from the France squad on Monday.
out until end of August Agence France Presse
MANCHESTER - Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz will be out of action until the end of August, the club’s manager Mark Hughes confirmed on Wednesday. When Hughes spent 17 million pounds to sign Santa Cruz from Blackburn during the close-season, he was already aware the Paraguay striker’s City debut would be put on hold due to knee surgery. But Hughes has plenty of attacking options after also signing Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos
Tevez and he plans to let Santa Cruz recover at his own pace. “We knew Roque would have a period of rehabilitation when we signed him, but we have good options up front,” Hughes told City’s website. “If we can, we want to give him the time he really needs, rather than getting him back early and having him at 70 percent. “Rather than bring him back too soon. I would rather give him the time that he needs. We are hoping by the end of the month he will be available.”
BP/ist
Roque Santa Cruz
14
Sport
Thursday, August 13, 2009
International
News
International
Federer fights off Canadian resistance to advance MONTREAL - World number one Roger Federer fought off a surprise showing from Canadian outsider Frederic Niemeyer to advance 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 Tuesday at the ATP Montreal Masters. Britain’s Andy Murray began his summer hardcourt season with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy as the Scotsman took his first step towards a possible move to the world number two ranking. Third-ranked Murray had a few niggles to iron out but was not at all dissatisfied with his showing in just over 90 minutes against the number 36 winner of last month’s Stuttgart clay title. “I shanked a few returns,” admitted Murray. “I’m hoping that will get better with a few matches. Overall, I’m pleased with the state of my game right now.” Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the 2007 Montreal champion, began his campaign over Canadian Peter Polansky 64, 7-6 (8/6). The world number four admitted to nerves. “I felt quite good, but not from the start,” Djokovic said. “The first couple of games I was sweating a lot and I was quite nervous - it was the first match after Wimbledon. It wasn’t easy to get into the rhythm. “But I managed to get my things together towards the end of the first set.” Murray is keen to bypass injury returnee Rafael Nadal this week if he can
surpass the Spaniard in Montreal. ATP calculations show that the Scot could take over the second spot from the Spaniard, whose tendinitis-plagued knees are now a constant worry. “It impossible not to think about it a little bit,” confessed Murray. “But when I’m playing my match, it’s the furthest thing from my mind. The only thing I was thinking was winning and nothing to do with rankings.” Eighth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, playing his first match on cement this summer, put out Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2) to join Murray in the last 16. In the first round, veteran Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero beat injured Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-4 in the first round as the Australian was hampered by a muscle tear he suffered last week in Washington against Juan Del Potro. “In the back of my mind, I didn’t want to do any more damage to my leg, either, obviously before going into another Masters Series next week but more the US Open in a couple week’s time,” said Hewitt, like Ferrero a former number one. Tommy Haas rallied past the huge serve of Ivo Karlovic, overcoming 19 aces in a 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory.
Bolt looks for lightning to strike again Agence France Presse
BERLIN - It’s hard to imagine bettering three Olympic gold medals and three world records but Jamaican Usain Bolt will be endeavouring to repeat the trick at the World Athletics Championships here. The 22-year-old goes into the event nigh on invincible, though, with the caveat that he has not faced major rival Tyson Gay this year.
BP/doc
Usain Bolt
While Bolt enjoyed the Beijing Games Gay - who goes into the championships as the defending champion in the 100 metres, 200m and also the 4x100m relay - endured a miserable time failing even to make the 100m final. Despite the American setting the fastest times this year in the 100m and 200m the Jamaican is confident he can see off his challenge. “Personally, no disrespect to Tyson, but that (breaking the 100m record) is going to be a hard task for him,” Bolt has said of the American. Bolt though, who attracted criticism from IOC president Jacques Rogge last year for what he saw as showing a lack of respect for his fellow athletes with his showboating style, does accept that at some point he will be beaten. “I am ready for anything that comes my way. I am not invincible, I am not unbeatable. Other people will have a good day when I don’t, but until then I’ll keep winning,” he said. Bolt and his fellow Jamaican sprinters, who dominated the Olympics climaxing with a world record in the men’s 4x100m relay, have come under a cloud with the recent revelations that five of their team-mates had tested positive for drugs, though, they were later cleared to run at the championships. However, Bolt is adamant that it won’t distract him from his target at the championships. “Definitely it’s sad to know there are still drugs (in the sport) but for me it doesn’t really matter, as long as I’m clean I’m just going forward,” he said. “It’s sad for the sport because the sport was getting on so well, I was trying to bring it back. This is probably a step backwards because people start questioning everybody, especially from Jamaica. “For me it doesn’t matter because I will be going out there, day after day, doing my best. I get tested all the time. It shows that people get tested and they get caught if they are on drugs.” Jamaica will be looking to Bolt to lift the shadows of doubt hanging over their athletes and confirm that he really is the master of the sprinting world - not just a bolt out of the blue.
3
US healthcare battle turns nasty
Agence France Presse
In his first match since winning his record 15th Grand Slam title last month at Wimbledon, Federer outlasted the 487th-ranked Niemeyer, who is retiring at the end of the season. “I’m very happy with my game. I reacted well in my first match back,” said Federer. “I played the big points well. I’m very pleased. Niemeyer, 33, saved three match points on his own serve, benefitting from a service winner and a pair of Swiss errors to hold for 4-5 and give his home Quebec crowds a thrill. But top seed Federer, a new father of twin daughters born July 23, put an end to the dream a game later as he served it out, concluding with his 12th ace of the evening. Federer, who skipped ther past five tour weeks, saved the only break point he faced in the 86minute contest. “There was a stadium full of Canadians cheering for Frederic but there were also a few for me,” Federer said. “I’m happy to be back after the long break. We played at a very high level. Frederic has a big serve and is tough.”
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Agence France-Presse
AP Photo/Roberto Schmidt, Pool
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, jokes with patients and staff of the Heal Africa clinic in Goma, Congo Tuesday Aug. 11, 2009.
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson
Roger Federer, from Switzerland, returns to Canada’s Frederic Niemeyer during second round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Montreal.
Lee and Zhou find it easy Agence France Presse
HYDERABAD - Topseeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia moved into the men’s singles third round of the World Badminton Championships with an easy 21-11, 21-14 win over Nigerian Ola Fagbemi here on Wednesday. World number one Zhou Mi of Hong Kong also found it easy, racing to a 21-11, 21-15 victory over New Zealand’s Chan Ky Michelle to advance to the women’s singles third round. “I don’t think I was at my 100 per cent best today, but so far so good,” said world number one Lee, seeking his maiden title at the championships. “I think my next match (against Tien Minh Nguyen) will be tough because I have lost to him recently in the Singapore Open.” Vietnam’s Nguyen, seeded 14th, reached the third round with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Brice Leverdez of France. Zhou, who got a first-round bye, needed just 27 minutes to beat the New Zealander in her opening match. “I am still trying to adapt to the conditions,” said Zhou,
who represented China before qualifying to play for Hong Kong in 2007. “I also quit the game for some time and then returned to achieve the number one ranking. I am happy with what I have achieved. It will be another achievement if I win the title here.” Zhou, like Lee, is aiming for a maiden World title. Third-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark and fourth-seeded Indonesian Taufik Hidayat also stormed into the men’s singles third round with straight-game victories. Gade beat Japan’s Sho Sasaki 21-11, 21-12 while Hidayat recorded a 21-17, 2115 win over Mathieu Lo Ying Ping of France. “It was easier than I expected and everything is going according to the plan,” said Gade. “I controlled the match but I have to be at my best in the remaining matches. I had a good run-up to the championships and I practised very hard.” Other men’s seeded players to advance to the third round were Yu Hsing Hsieh of Taipei, Indonesians Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana and Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong.
‘No magic wand’ for Clinton in DR Congo crash course Agence France-Presse
GOMA - From dirt paths teeming with thousands of homeless to a hospital treating a rape epidemic, Hillary Clinton saw the dire state of war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday and came away admitting she had no “magic wand” to fix it. The US secretary of state paid a brief visit to Goma, the town near the Rwanda border where a crisis of sexual violence has only grown worse since the military launched an operation against Hutu militants in January. Clinton later said she was “just overwhelmed by what I saw.” She said she met two rape victims, including one who was violated even though she was eight months pregnant, with the assailants ripping out the fetus. “It is almost impossible to describe the level of suffering and despair,” Clinton later told reporters as she headed to her next destination of Nigeria. Clinton, a passionate advocate for women’s rights, left behind her “Air Force Two” jet for a small UN aircraft to take her to Goma’s rudimentary airstrip. She insisted on heading to Goma on her 11-day trip to Africa despite concerns in some quarters about security. The result was a packed day-long schedule, with her motorcade whizzing bumpily along pot-holed roads from talks with President Joseph Kabila in a tent on the shores of glistening Lake
Kivu to brief encounters with ordinary people. Thousands of people emerged along the dirt roads around to watch, with some — mostly women — cheering as she came through while most stared in curiosity. Even on such a brief visit, Clinton saw and heard a lot. At a forum on sexual violence, activists complained angrily that the UN and non-governmental workers flocking to Goma managed only to raise the cost of living while failing to end the scurge. “We get lots of visitors here, plenty of celebrities,” said Christine SchulerDeSchryver, an activist of partially Congolese descent from the V-Day group. “But in the end, all that they leave are their business cards,” she said. Clinton, drawing on a message she and President Barack Obama have repeated across Africa, said it was ultimately up to local people to take charge of their own destiny. “I do not want to over-promise,” Clinton said. “I am not just here to leave a business card but I don’t have a magic wand either.
“What I do pledge to you is that we will work, we will work hard. We will work with your government, we will work with the groups many of you represent,” she said. “I have seen so many examples of courage. I know the Congolese people do not lack in courage,” she said. Clinton met one such example as she toured the UN-supervised Mugunga camp, home to nearly 20,000 people displaced by the conflict. Set up in 2006, the camp is a labyrnth of small dirt roads with many residents living in makeshift homes of wood or metal. Plumes of smoke rose from spots around the camp as people burn firewood to prepare food. Clinton met a 32-year-old mother of six, Chantal Mapemdo, who told her that she was too scared of the sexual violence to return to the nearby fields. Mapemdo — sporting a T-shirt that read “I am happy when I share with you” — instead started a group of women who weave baskets to earn a living. Clinton, moved by her story, looked at her firmly and told her that she was fighting on her behalf. “I just came back from a meeting with President Kabila and I told him we want to stop the violence so you can go home,” Clinton said. Clinton said she had a clear ultimate goal — to end the sexual violence. “I hope that we will see changes ... so that our children will not even know what we are talking about.”
LEBANON - “One day God is going to stand before you and judge you,” shouted a fierce opponent of US President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans, his voice trembling with anger. August, normally a sleepy month in the Washington political calendar, has been anything but this year with Obama lieutenants confronted by a deafening clamor of abuse as they try to sell his sweeping health reforms. The man quoted above was yelling right in the face of Democratic senator Arlen Specter on Tuesday at a supposedly intimate “town-hall meeting” in his home state of Pennsylvania. Similar scenes have played out across the country as Congress’s August recess has set the stage for a battle over Obama’s flagship policy to cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans. He has dispatched senators and congress people to school gymnasiums, public libraries and fire halls across the land, only to see them largely shouted down by uproarious crowds. Healthcare reform has bedeviled many administrations, including that of former president Bill Clinton who tried, and very publicly failed, to change the system. Republicans are loudly fretting over the cost of Obama’s plans, with some branding it “socialism” and warning that the soaring US budget deficit will skyrocket if the president gets his way. A 35-year-old woman won a standing ovation from the rowdy gathering in Lebanon, Pennsylvania when she called on Obama to return government to its limits as prescribed by the US constitution. “The government has the right to control our life from prebirth to death,” she said, angrily accusing Specter and Obama of seeking to transform the United States “into Russia, into a socialist country.” This is an oft-heard cry from the Republican right who have been stoking fears that the president and his allies are plotting a government takeover of the private US healthcare system and will raise taxes to boot. Opponents also claim the result would find the federal government dictating healthcare choices and ultimately lowering the standard of coverage for people who already have insurance. Democratic allies allege an orchestrated campaign of disinformation, including plots to disrupt the lawmakers’ “town hall” discussions. Top Democrats in Congress Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have criticized protestors for drowning out opposing views and described the boisterous displays as “simply un-American.” Some of the shouting has been quite extreme. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative star of one America’s most popular radio talk shows, compared Obama’s healthcare logo on Thursday to the Nazi swastika, drawing a furious response from Jewish groups. Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin wrote in an Internet post that Obama was seeking to create a “death panel” where government bureaucrats would supposedly “decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of healthcare.” Palin, a darling of the Christian conservative movement in the United States, wrote: “Such a system is downright evil.” The Obama administration has begun fighting back hard over the last week. Taking aim at what it described as “rumors and scare tactics” aimed at derailing reform, the White House unleashed a strategy adapted from his 2008 campaign trail, using a website to counter supposed smears. At a public forum Tuesday in New Hampshire, the president singled out conservative leaders and right-wing media outlets for spurring the confrontations, saying those “who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks.” Obama said his political opponents had sought to “create bogeymen out there that just aren’t real.” The healthcare battle was not expected to ease when lawmakers return in September, with Democrats desperate to meet Obama’s deadline of enacting the overhaul by the year-end. A legislative defeat for Obama could derail his whole change agenda and see a hefty chunk of his political capital eaten up within his first year in office.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
News
International
AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere
British born singer and actress Jane Birkin demonstrate her support to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi during a gathering near the Myanmar embassy in Paris, Tuesday Aug. 11, 2009. Agence France-Presse
YANGON - In the bustling streets of Myanmar’s impoverished main city, people were relieved that Aung San Suu Kyi had been spared a jail term but still yearned for her freedom. “It was like we got B grades in our exams. We cannot be totally happy, but people are glad that she is back home,” said Yangon taxi driver Tin Ko, one of few people to talk amid fears of reprisals by the military regime. “People expected already that the government would not put her in jail. Our government is very clever,” the 45-year-old said. A prison court in the city on Tuesday found the Nobel peace laureate guilty of breaching the terms of her detention, following a bizarre incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in May. Judges originally sentenced
Canada ‘reconsiders’ relations with Niger after referendum Agence France-Presse
OTTAWA - Canada said Tuesday it must “reconsider” its relations with Niger after a referendum on constitutional changes paved the way for President Mamadou Tandja to potentially rule for life. Tandja, who has been in power since 1999 in the uranium-rich west African country, won 92.5 percent of the August 4 vote to remove a two-term limit to the presidency, according to the electoral commission. “Canada is concerned at this setback, which compromises the democratic progress made by Niger over the past 10 years,” Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement.
“The authorities of Niger have ignored the protests of the country’s people, the decisions of its legitimate democratic institutions and the grave concerns expressed by the international community, including Canada’s two previous calls to the authorities to act responsibly,” he added. “As a result of this situation, Canada is obliged to reconsider the terms of its relations with the authorities of Niger.” Niger’s opposition has rejected the new constitution. The amendment also beefs up the president’s powers by making him the “sole holder of executive power.” The president will head the army, name the prime minister and have complete control over the cabinet.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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Aspirin shows promise for colon cancer patients
Quietly, Myanmar dreams of Suu Kyi’s freedom Suu Kyi to three years of hard labour and imprisonment, but Myanmar’s military leader Than Shwe signed a special order commuting the sentence to 18 months under house arrest. Analysts said the regime’s decision was partly designed to quell international concerns over her fate, but it was also meant to defuse potential public anger at home. Memories are still fresh in Myanmar of massive anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 that the military brutally suppressed. “People are glad that she is at home. She is even more popular now as the state radio and TV news made several announcements about the judgement yesterday,” said security guard Zaw Naing. “But things will be quiet again after one week as our people have to worry about their own lives. It is more important than politics.” The 50-year-old added that “even though we are struggling for our lives, people still love her and want to see her freed. We want to see there be a fair competition (in elections)”. Suu Kyi’s sentence effectively rules her out of the elections scheduled in Myanmar for 2010, as critics of the military regime had feared. She has already been confined for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the last polls held in 1990. The pro-democracy leader is considered a heroine in Myanmar, where she is widely referred to as “The Lady”. Witnesses said teashops were full of quiet chatter about her after the verdict and people were keen to read about her. “Today’s newspapers have all sold out since this morning. People are so interested in the news about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said a newspaper vendor, who asked not to be named.
Life Style
International
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – Score another win for the humble aspirin. A study suggests colon cancer patients who took the dirt-cheap wonder drug reduced their risk of death from the disease by nearly 30 percent.
AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco
People look at a burning bus after a protest by supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya in Tegucigalpa, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. Thousands opposing the coup-installed government marched into the capital Tuesday after staging weeklong walks across Honduras, producing one of the largest demonstrations in support Zelaya since he was ousted.
Pro-Zelaya protest turns violent in Tegucigalpa Agence France-Presse
TEGUCIGALPA - A demonstration in support of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya turned violent Tuesday when a group of protesters set fire to a fast-food restaurant, an AFP reporter witnessed. The protesters were returning from a mass march near the presidential palace when some began hurling rocks at a Popeyes fried chicken restaurant, and then set fire to the establishment, the reporter said. Earlier, a demonstrator on a motorcycle was shot in the ankle by a traffic policeman, enraging a crowd that then set fire to a bus, a leader of the march, Juan Barahona, told AFP. Radio stations said police were
deployed to disperse the protesters, who had gathered for the biggest show of support for Zelaya since his first aborted attempt to return to the country on July 5. Some traveled by foot from eastern and central Honduras to converge upon the capital city. “They are afraid of us because we are not afraid,” said Zelaya’s daughter, Hortensia, referring to the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti.
The National Resistance Front, which opposes the bloodless coup that sent Zelaya into exile, has held marches in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula to step up the pressure for his return. A proposal Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has acted as a mediator in the conflict, calling for Zelaya’s return to office and early elections has been rejected by the interim government. The Organization of American States (OAS) planned to send a delegation of Latin American foreign ministers to Honduras late next week or early the following week to press for a negotiated solution to the crisis.
Aspirin already is recommended for preventing heart attacks and strokes, along with its traditional use for relief of minor aches and pains. Its merit in colon cancer prevention has been tempered by its side effects, bleeding from irritation of the stomach or intestines. The new study suggests patients who already have colon cancer may benefit from taking aspirin along with surgery and chemotherapy. In a separate analysis of a subgroup of patients, only those with the most common type of tumor, those that overproduce the Cox-2 enzyme, saw a benefit. “The paper is absolutely incredible, and I don’t gush normally,” said Dr. Alfred Neugut of Columbia University Medical Center in New York who has done similar research but was not involved in the new study. In an accompanying editorial, Neugut wrote that the study “comes as close as it can to offering patients a way to help themselves.” “This is certainly something patients would want to discuss with
their doctors,” said Dr. Andrew Chan of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, which appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. It’s too early for an across-theboard recommendation however, both Chan and Neugut said. The results should be confirmed in an experiment where patients would be randomly assigned to take aspirin or a dummy pill. A study based in Singapore that’s now recruiting patients may verify aspirin’s benefit. Chan’s study was observational, meaning researchers merely observed what patients were already doing, such as taking aspirin regularly for headaches. It’s possible that factors other than aspirin accounted for the difference in cancer deaths. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States after lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 50,000 Americans will die from it this year. The researchers analyzed data
AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
Packages of aspirin fill the shelves of a drugstore, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Chicago. A study suggests colon cancer patients who took aspirin reduced their risk of death from the disease by nearly 30 percent.
from two large ongoing studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. They looked at nearly 1,300 people with colorectal cancer who’d been followed for an average of 12 years. All the patients in the study
July sees big jump in fuel efficiency of new cars Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Cars and light trucks sold in July got more miles per gallon than those sold in previous months, say researchers, who credit the Cash for Clunkers program. The average mileage for new vehicles rose from 21.4 miles per gallon in June to 22.1 mpg in July. That may not sound like much, but it’s the highest mileage researchers at the University of Michigan have seen since the Environmental Protection Agency reconfigured
mileage estimates in October 2007. It’s also the biggest one-month jump. Study co-author Michael Sivak noted the improvement came even as gas prices fell and unemployment levels shrank somewhat. Normally, those factors lead to the purchase of more gas guzzlers. The higher mileage shows the effect of Cash for Clunkers, Sivak said, and he expects the jump to be even bigger when August figures come out. That’s because the trade-in rebate program only got going late in July. The clunkers program gives people trading in certain vehicles up
to $4,500 if they increase their mileage by at least 5 to 10 mpg. A lasting trend showing a large increase in mileage for new cars sold would be unusual for this country. “We have made very little improvement over 84 years. Therefore, the changes we are seeing now are huge,” Sivak said. Those are only figures for new cars sold. Most cars on the road are older and it takes about 20 years for the fleet on the road to turn over completely. The new figures are a first step toward less pollution and less gasoline used, Sivak said.
Kuwait says foils Qaeda attack on US base Agence France-Presse
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait said on Tuesday it has foiled an attack by suspected Al-Qaeda members on the main US military base in the Gulf emirate, the first such incident in four years. Security forces have arrested six Kuwaitis who were planning to attack Camp Arifjan, and state security offices and other government buildings, according to an interior ministry statement. A US Defense Department spokesman in Washington confirmed that US forces in Kuwait were targeted for attack but said it was unclear if the suspects were linked to Al-Qaeda or that they planned to strike at Camp Arifjan. About 15,000 US soldiers are sta-
tioned in Kuwait, the oil-rich Gulf emirate which is also used as a transit point for thousands of US soldiers going to and from neighbouring Iraq. “Security forces were able to dismantle a terrorist network of six nationals belonging to Al-Qaeda that was planning to bomb Arifjan camp, state security headquarters and other buildings,” the interior ministry statement said. The suspects are being interrogated over the plot against Camp Arifjan, which lies in the desert 70 kilometres (about 40 miles) south of the Kuwaiti capital close to the Saudi border, the ministry said. Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television said the attack was supposed to be carried out during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts on around August 20.
“We congratulate the Kuwaiti government and their security forces on the apprehension of these halfdozen or so suspects,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. “I don’t think it is clear at this point that Camp Arifjan was necessarily where they were plotting their attack, but clearly US forces were among those they wanted to hit, based upon our initial assessment,” he told reporters. The suspects also were plotting to hit Kuwaiti targets but it was unclear if they were tied to Al-Qaeda or merely inspired by the network, he said. In the last incident involving AlQaeda-linked militants, suspects accused of plotting to attack US forces in the emirate and in Iraq were involved in a deadly gunfight with Kuwaiti troops in 2005.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 file photo, Vice President Joe Biden looks over a Volt concept vehicle after addressing an audience in Detroit. General Motors Corp. said Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 that its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file
had surgery for colon cancer and many also had chemotherapy. Among the 549 participants who used aspirin regularly after their diagnosis, 81 died from colorectal cancer (about 15 percent). In contrast, among the 730 people who
didn’t use aspirin, 141 died of the disease (about 19 percent). Taking into account other cancer risk factors, such as family history, the researchers calculated aspirin’s overall benefit: a 29 percent reduction in risk of cancer death.
Asian Undersea Cable Disruption Slows Internet Access A segment of the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) undersea cable network between China and Taiwan suffered a serious cable fault on Wednesday, causing Internet traffic to be rerouted onto other undersea cables and slowing Internet access for some users in Southeast Asia. At about 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, an alarm signaled a cable fault on Segment 7 of APCN2, which connects Hong Kong and Shantou, China. The disruption caused a temporary loss of service on the undersea link but all customers that use the cable were soon shifted to capacity on other cables, according to a source familiar with the situation. The APCN2 cable is owned by a consortium of 26 telecom operators from 14 different countries. The cable links Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan. The exact cause of the APCN2 fault was not immediately known. The alarm indicated the disruption was caused by a “single point of failure,” which suggests a variety of possibilities, including a technical failure or a cable cut, the source said. The incident was likely the main reason that Internet access appeared slower for some users in Singapore on Wednesday, the source said. Undersea cables are used to transport much of the world’s Internet traffic and can be easily damaged by natural disasters or
other causes. In 2006, a powerful earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan damaged several cables and slowed Internet access to a crawl for users in Southeast Asia. To what extent Singaporean users were affected by the latest disruption was not immediately clear. Singaporean Internet service provider Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), which is an investor in APCN2, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Starhub, another Singapore ISP that holds a stake in the cable, did not return a phone call seeking comment. The fault that hit APCN2 on Wednesday follows two other service disruptions that recently hit the network. One disruption affected APCN2 Segment 7, between Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the other affected APCN2 Segment 1, which connects Singapore and Malaysia. However, both of these disruptions were deemed to be “relatively minor” compared to the disruption that took place Wednesday morning, the source said. The cause of the two earlier faults on APCN2 was not immediately clear. APCN2 isn’t the only Asian undersea cable currently suffering from a service disruption. Efforts are currently underway to repair the East Asia Crossing (EAC) undersea cable after it experienced “double faults” off the coast of Taiwan last weekend, according to Roland Lim, a spokesman for Pacnet, which owns EAC.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Entertainment
International
Hollywood Foreign Press give away $1.2 million Associated Press Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – At the annual Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives away gold-and-marble statuettes. At its annual summer luncheon held Tuesday, the group gave away $1.2 million in grants to arts organizations nationwide. Warren Beatty, Rose McGowan, Eva Longoria Parker and Dylan McDermott were among the stars who joined association president Philip Berk at the Beverly Hills Hotel to present grants to 29 film schools and nonprofit groups. The private, untelevised luncheon drew scads of celebrities and industry execs, who shmoozed over champagne and fine food. “I always behave badly at events for the Hollywood Foreign Press because they’re more fun than everything else,” Beatty said as he accepted a $350,000 grant to help the
Film Foundation preserve and restore historic films. Ignoring the TelePrompTer, Beatty told the crowd he won the “most promising newcomer” award at the first Golden Globes of his career, but he misplaced the trophy. Berk promised the 72-year-old actor a replacement statuette would be in his office by next week. Other stars appearing on behalf of the grant beneficiaries also had a little fun on the podium. Longoria Parker, who accepted a grant on behalf of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, jokingly stuffed the $20,000 check into her dress. “Juno” director Jason Reitman told a personal story about his filmmaker
Investigators maintain focus on Jackson doc Associated Press Writer
father as he thanked the association for its $30,000 grant to support the Los Angeles Conservancy, which preserves historic theaters. Carla Gugino, who accepted a $25,000 grant for Inner-City Arts, skipped the TelePrompTer and spoke from the heart about the need for art in impoverished communities. “Art is not a luxury,” she said. “It is a necessity of the human soul.” Other groups awarded grants included the Lollipop Theatre Network, which provides movie screenings for hospitalized children; FilmAid International, which stages screenings and provides film education for refugees worldwide; Film Independent, which puts on the annual Spirit Awards; and the Sundance Institute. Nine film schools also received grants to support fellowships. The association has given more than $10 million in grants over the past 15 years, Berk said.
Agence France-Presse
TOKYO - Disaster-hit Japan pushed on with recovery efforts Wednesday, a day after a strong earthquake struck and three days after a typhoon brought flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 15 people. In the flood-hit western town of Sayo, 400 rescue workers and troops searched debris-strewn river banks for survivors or victims of inundations brought by Typhoon Etau that have left 17 people missing nationwide. In coastal regions near Tokyo,
where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday, hospitals were still treating some of the 120 people injured in the tremor, while officials confirmed one death caused by the quake. A 43-year-old woman found dead after being buried under a pile of
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Actress Eva Longoria, right, accepts a grant on behalf of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers as actress Rose McGowan looks on at the Hollywood Foreign Press Annual Installation luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009.
LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Postal Service is going into show biz. Sales began Tuesday of “Early TV Memories” commemorative stamps featuring classic characters from the golden 1950s. The campaign was launched at a crowded auditorium at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood. Funny man Carl Reiner kept the program running with his comments. A TV performer since 1948, he doesn’t have his own stamp. The reason: He is 87 and still alive. You have to be dead to appear on the stamps. Reiner introduced dozens of survivors of stars with stamps. Among them: Jayne Meadows, widow of Steve Allen; Grace Bradley Boyd, widow of William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy); Sam and Tracy Nelson, third generation of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson; Barbara Hale, aka Della Street, secretary to Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). The star of the show may well have been Lassie, who barked and posed on orders from his trainer. “He’s in the 10th generation of Collies,” said June Lockhart, who starred in “Lassie” from 1956 to 1964. “In all my years of working with them, not one has bitten me.” The early television shows that appear on the stamps include “I Love Lucy,” with a picture of Lucy and her friend Ethel struggling to cope with candy rolling past on a conveyor belt. Uncle Milty makes an appear-
ance, commemorating Milton Berle’s funny moments on “Texaco Star Theater.” George Burns and Gracie Allen share a comedic stamp moment, as do Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in “The Honeymooners.” Who could forget the conniving Sgt. Ernest T. Bilko played by the over-the-top Phil Silvers. There’s also the original combination comedy-game show hosted by Groucho Marx and his duck puppet from “You Bet Your Life.”
On the mysterious side are stamps honoring Alfred Hitchcock, who presented tales of suspense, and Jack Webb, who unraveled mysteries as the LAPD’s Sgt. Joe Friday on “Dragnet.” Perry Mason makes an appearance on a stamp featuring Raymond Burr, who played the star defense lawyer, and William Talman, who specialized in losing cases to Mason when playing prosecutor Hamilton Burger.
AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye
A Japanese TV crew cover the cracks following a 6.5-magnitude earthquake at a Makinohara port, Shizuoka Prefecture (State), Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. The powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 hit Tokyo and nearby areas shortly after dawn Tuesday, halting trains and forcing two nuclear reactors to be shut down for safety checks.
books in the city of Shizuoka, west of the capital, was confirmed to have died as a result of the quake, a city official said. Construction crews were meanwhile scrambling to repair a section of the Tomei Expressway, the main road artery linking Tokyo with the western city of Osaka, that was damaged in a landslide triggered by the quake. “We are trying to resume operations as quickly as possible, but we found further damage and are carefully conducting the repair work,” said Susumu Takahashi, a spokesman for Central Nippon Expressway Corp. Government inspectors were also conducting safety checks on the Hamaoka nuclear plant, which automatically shut down two reactors when the quake hit offshore 170 kilometres (105 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The tremor caused 24 minor impacts on the plant, such as cracked building walls, but caused no radioactive leak, said a company official. “An inspection team from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has entered the plant and started examining the safety conditions,” said a spokesman for the operator Chubu Electric Power Co. The quake also caused some damage to 3,300 buildings in the worst hit prefecture of Shizuoka and nearby areas, also toppling the stone wall of an ancient castle and damaging the tiled roof of a temple. Tokyo was sunny again after Typhoon Etau veered off into the Pacific Ocean after threatening to hit the capital, but elsewhere rescue workers were still digging through the rubble brought by its torrential rain storms. In Tokushima on the southwestern island of Shikoku, police found the body of a nine-year-old boy who had been missing since the weekend. In the worst-hit town of Sayo in western Hyogo prefecture, where 12 deaths were reported after a rainswollen river burst its banks and ripped away three bridges, rescue workers were searching for victims. The coastguard also deployed three patrol boats in waters near the mouth of the river to search for those still missing, a local official said.
China bloggers arrested over cannibal hoax Agence France-Presse
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Actress June Lockhart, left, with John Shaffner, Chairman & CEO Television Academy of Arts & Sciences pose for a photo with Lassie, Jr. at the TV Academy & United State Postal Service dedication ceremony for the ‘Early TV Memories’ commemorative stamps at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, Calif. on Tuesday, August 11, 2009.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Japan digs out from typhoon, quake disasters
Golden 1950s TV returns on commemorative stamps Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS – Investigators in the Michael Jackson case continue to sharpen their focus on the personal physician who was with him when he died. Dr. Conrad Murray has emerged as the central figure in the ongoing probe into Jackson’s June 25 death. And on Tuesday, local police and federal drug agents searched a Las Vegas pharmacy and uncovered evidence AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, File showing Murray legally purFILE - In this July 7, 2006 file photo, chased a potent anesthetic from Dr. Conrad Murray poses for a photo the business, according to a law in Houston. A law enforcement official says Michael Jackson’s doctor gave enforcement official who rethe pop star multiple sedatives along quested anonymity because the with a powerful anesthetic that the probe is ongoing. Murray told investigators he singer used to sleep. administered the anesthetic propofol and multiple sedatives to Jackson in his rented Beverly Hills mansion in the hours before he died, the official told The Associated Press. Propofol is normally used to render patients unconscious for medical procedures and only is supposed to be administered by anesthesia professionals in medical settings. While it is extremely strong, propofol is not a controlled substance so investigators are looking for evidence to show Murray may have been remiss in administering it in a home. A central issue for detectives on the case is what drugs were in Jackson’s system when he died and how those medications were obtained. Through a spokeswoman Tuesday, Murray’s attorney Edward Chernoff said he had no immediate comment. Murray has talked to detectives but has not spoken publicly since Jackson died. Chernoff has said Murray gave Jackson nothing that “should have” killed him and specifically said the physician did not give Jackson the narcotic painkillers Demerol or OxyContin. The cause of death for Jackson and details about what was in his system will be revealed in the final autopsy report prepared by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. The office announced Monday that it has completed its work but won’t release findings while the police investigation is ongoing. Weeks ago, authorities served search warrants at Murray’s Las Vegas home and his businesses in Las Vegas and Houston, where they seized computer hard drives, medical equipment invoices, phone records and other items. Officials also sought evidence pertaining to the purchase of propofol in those warrants. Court documents also show investigators are looking into Jackson’s interactions with at least six other doctors.
News
International
BEIJING - Police in southern China have reportedly arrested four men allegedly behind a bizarre Internet hoax which claimed cannibals were responsible for the disappearance of 10 missing people. The bloggers in Guangdong province faked photos which they claimed showed a corpse being prepared for consumption by cannibals,
the Global Times said Wednesday. “Those responsible for the post, which led to rumours of cannibals being at large in the area, are now detained,” a police official in the city of Yangjiang told the paper. The four suspects, surnamed Lei, Tan, Chen and Yu, were detained on Friday by police following an online investigation. They claimed some local villagers ate people in nearby Songbai
township and faked photographs of a corpse which they then placed on their website. The grisly claim started circulating on the Internet and caused panic when a 19-year-old woman went missing last month, the report said. But more savvy web surfers were not taken in. “It’s fake news. There are traces of Photoshop,” one Internet user was quoted as saying.
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AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade
A teacher helps a student to put on a mask, at a school in Mumbai, India, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. A regional party, the Shiv Sena distributed masks in schools as a preventive measure against swine flu.
Mumbai closes all schools over swine flu fears Agence France-Presse
MUMBAI - Indian authorities on Wednesday ordered all schools and colleges in the vast city of Mumbai to shut for a week over fears about the spread of swine flu. The state government of Maharashtra has had the highest incidence of swine flu fatalities in India, with four people dying over the last ten days in Pune, 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Mumbai. “The government has decided to close down schools, colleges and coaching classes in the entire city for a week starting on Thursday,” said Suresh Wandile, spokesman for the state’s chief minister. “We have seen a rise in cases of swine flu cases in the state. We need to take care, hence these precautionary measures,” he said, adding that all cinemas and theatres would also close for three days.
Mumbai, home of the Bollywood film industry, is a teeming industrial and financial city with an estimated population of 18 million people. Public concern in India about the spread of the A(H1N1) virus has mounted since the country’s first death from the disease on August 3. As of Wednesday, 15 people infected by the virus had died, while more than 1,000 people had tested positive, the Press Trust of India news agency said. The health ministry put the death toll at nine, saying it updated its figures every evening. With the government appealing for calm, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stressed that swine flu should be put in the context of other health risks in India. “It is not the only virus we have in our country. We have much more fatal diseases, much more costly diseases,” he told reporters in Delhi earlier this week.
The Glasgow district where death comes early Agence France-Presse
GLASGOW - The cheery mural that welcomes you to Calton not surprisingly fails to mention the dubious claim to fame of this district of eastern Glasgow — it has the lowest life expectancy in Europe. Just a few minutes’ walk from the designer boutiques of Glasgow’s handsome city centre, men can expect on average to die at 53 compared with the British national average of 77. And in an area devastated by the collapse of the steel and textile industries, women can also expect shorter lives than their counterparts elsewhere in Britain, dying on average at 75 compared to 81 nationally. While men in Glasgow as a whole lead shorter lives than elsewhere in Britain, Calton’s social problems are so deep they cause doctors and health officials to de-
spair. Dr Robert Jamieson has worked in Calton for 22 overstretched years. “Sadly we have a lot of very unwell patients. It’s not unusual to see patients who have heart attacks in their late thirties or early forties, or having strokes as well,” he says. “We have an abundance of obesity, type 2 diabetes and lung problems due to excessive smoking. “In more affluent areas you have very large geriatric problems, because of the number of patients in their eighties or nineties. “But sadly very few of our patients live until their eighties. Half the men die before 53 or 54 in this neighbourhood.” Jamieson says the chronic health problems stem from a lethal mix of a poor diet, poverty, unemployment, violence, plus heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs — and the bad habits are hard to break from one generation to the next.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
News
Thursday, August 13, 2009
French scientist dies after accident in China Agence France-Presse
BEIJING - A French woman on a scientific expedition in central China died after falling into a deep pit, state media reported Tuesday. Lagrede Malissa, 27, was among a 24-member French team studying the Karst Caves in Hubei Province, a spokesman with the
Enshi Municipal Foreign Affairs Office told Xinhua. She fell into a 210-metre (688 feet) deep pit on Saturday afternoon while trying to fix a safety pylon into the wall of the pit at a depth of 180 metres, Xinhua reported. The rocks on the wall collapsed and she plunged to her death.
Terror mastermind... From page 1
AP Photo/Taiwan Military News Agency
In this image released by the Taiwan Military News Agency, a soldier carries a survivor out of a helicopter after he was rescued from the flooded village of Namaxia following Typhoon Morakot, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan. Police said Wednesday that there is no way to know for sure how many people remain buried in the catastrophic mudslide that struck a remote mountain village in Taiwan over the weekend when the typhoon lashed the region.
Taiwan scrambles to rescue 700 in landslide villages Agence France-Presse
CHISHAN - Taiwan Wednesday began airlifting to safety more than 700 people found alive in a trio of villages flattened by muddy landslides, as the island’s death toll from Typhoon Morakot hit 66. The military launched the helicopter operation in the battered island’s south after the region was hit by its worst flooding in half a century, inundating entire villages in water and mud and cutting off all access by road. “We have found around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them,” Major-General Richard Hu said. Hu said he was unable to confirm how many people had been buried or killed by the landslide in Hsiaolin and in two other remote villages nearby. Some media reports had speculated that up to 600 people had been killed just in Hsiaolin, which vanished under a tidal wave of mud at the weekend. Rescuers had said Tuesday that around 100 people in Hsiaolin were feared to have been buried alive. “We believed that some were buried but it’s not possible to estimate how many at this moment as almost 90 percent of the houses were buried,” Hu said. Feelings were running high at a nearby school where relatives of
missing people had gathered. Police and soldiers had to push back some who tried to storm their way onto the departing helicopters. “I cannot wait any more. I want to look for my family,” a man in his 40s shouted as he argued with soldiers. He said he had not heard anything from his family since the typhoon dumped a record three metres (120 inches) of rainfall on southern Taiwan over the weekend. Chu Chia-jung, 21, said she was desperate for news with only one of her many relatives in Hsiaolin accounted for. “I’ve been really, really worried about my close relatives there,” she said. “I hope the military can speed up their search and rescue.” Authorities Wednesday said Typhoon Morakot, which also killed eight people in eastern China, had left at least 66 people dead in Taiwan. The toll included three rescuers who died when their helicopter crashed into a river in heavy fog in the southern county of Pingtung on Tuesday. “Their bodies have been found and we are working to transport the
bodies from the crash site,” a policeman told reporters. Another 61 people are missing in Taiwan and 35 others injured. Armoured vehicles, marine landing craft and rubber dinghies have been mobilised in the rescue operation, which involves more than 17,000 troops across the island, the defence ministry said. Typhoon Morakot has caused at least 7.2 billion Taiwan dollars (225 million US) in agricultural damage while nearly 30,000 houses were still without power and 750,000 homes without water, according to officials. Charities and companies have launched donation drives for flood victims, raising more than two billion Taiwan dollars as of Tuesday, reports said. Official figures were not available. Detained former president Chen Shui-bian, who is facing corruption charges, donated one million Taiwan dollars to his home county Tainan and to neighbouring Kaohsiung. Morakot is one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in 50 years. In August 1959, a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000.
“The dead body is Ibrohim... We tried to match the DNA with the sample from Johor (Noordin’s son) and it didn’t match.” Ibrohim was a florist who worked at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, where seven people including foreigners were killed in almost simultaneous suicide attacks last month. Police released new security camera footage showing a man identified as Ibrohim escorting the Marriott bomber around the hotel on July 8 and later bringing bomb-making material into the hotel’s staff-only loading bay. “Ibrohim was a planner who was always present in the meetings with Noordin M. Top,” Soekarna said. “He was going to be a suicide bomber against Cikeas,” Yudhoyono’s home outside Jakarta, the spokesman added, referring to another plot uncovered by police on Saturday. Soekarna revealed that ahead of the July 17 attacks Noordin had attended planning meetings in Kuningan, Central Java, Bekasi outside Jakarta and Mampang, a Jakarta suburb. Police killed two would-be suicide bombers and uncovered a massive cache of explosive materials during a raid on a house in Bekasi before dawn on Saturday. A truck bomb found at the house was going to be used by Ibrohim to attack Yudhoyono’s principal residence around Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations on August 17, police said. Noordin, 41, leads what he calls “AlQaeda in the Malay Archipelago”, an offshoot of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror organisation blamed for the 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people, mainly Western tourists. Police had received a tip-off that the
Migrant workers... From page 1 Dhanan Sunoto, the Secretary of Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN), said that discrimination sill happened to the people suffered from HIV/AIDS. Most of the workers suffered from HIV/AIDS didn’t allow to work abroad. “The workers should not be deported even if they suffered from HIV,” Sunoto added. Sophia Kisting, the Director of International Labor Organization (ILO), said that the current economics crisis made the human right violation increased. The pressure is keep increasing to the migrant workers and it made them must turn to informal field or re-
Islamist fanatic was hiding in a farmhouse in Central Java on Friday and launched a massive raid by scores of heavily armed counter-terror police. Local and international media reported the Malaysian had been killed during the 17-hour siege, raising hopes that the exhaustive manhunt had come to an end. But this was never confirmed by police, who used DNA samples from his son in Malaysia to confirm that Noordin was still at large. He has already escaped two earlier armed assaults on his hideouts, and his legend will only grow among his disciples and on Islamist websites if he has managed to slip away again. Pressure will also mount on Indonesia’s US-trained counter-terrorism forces to track him down before he can do further damage to the country’s hard-earned image as a stable and moderate Muslim-majority country. “All of us really hope that he can be caught soon, but the fact we’re facing now is we haven’t been able to catch him,” Soekarna told AFP, saying it was unclear if Noordin had ever been in the Central Java farmhouse. “We have foiled attacks but it doesn’t mean that they have stopped preparing more attacks, which we have to anticipate.” Noordin has allegedly plotted a series of suicide blasts against prominent Western targets in Indonesia since 2003, including two bombings at the Jakarta Marriott and a massive suicide truck blast at the Australian embassy in 2004. Three Noordin accomplices have been arrested and three killed by police in connection to the latest hotel attacks, but another three to five unidentified suspects are being pursued, Soekarna said.
turn to their native countries. Currently ILO is arranging the international human right instruments for the HIV workers. There is great hope that the instruments can be applied world wide in 2010 and the rules could decrease the discriminative policy. International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) recommended the native countries and the designated countries to responsible for the migrant workers. Both countries should create protective policies and program. The program could be social insurance policy, training for the foreign workers, making regional and national strategies to handle HIV/AIDS, and joining the civil organization in handling HIV/AIDS.(056)
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BUSINESS British official jobless rate hits 13-year high of 7.8 pct Agence France-Presse
LONDON - Britain’s unemployment rate rose to 7.8 percent in the three months to June, hitting a 13-year peak, and the number of unemployed was the highest for 14 years, official data showed on Wednesday. The latest unemployment rate, calculated according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) method, stood at the highest level since November 1996, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Market expectations had been for a lower rate of 7.7 percent, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. British unemployment, according to the ILO measure, climbed by 220,000 to 2.43 million people in the three months to June — which was the highest level since September 1995. The ONS added on Wednesday that the number of people in Britain claiming benefits increased 24,900 in
July to 1.58 million. Economist Howard Archer, at the IHS Global Insight consultancy, described the unemployment outlook as “horrible” amid a deep recession in Britain. “The outlook for the labour market still looks pretty horrible, despite mounting signs that the economy could achieve modest growth in the third quarter,” he said. “Unemployment is a lagging indicator and the sharp economic contraction suffered between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009 will continue to weigh down on the labour market for an extended period.”
Russia in talks with partners over disputed WTO bid Agence France-Presse
MOSCOW - Top officials from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were meeting here on Wednesday to discuss a plan to join the WTO as a single customs union which bewildered Western trade officials. Influential first deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and his Belarussian and Kazakh counterparts were discussing a joint strategy to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO), Shuvalov’s spokesman Alexander Machevsky said. The ministers were also scheduled to discuss a draft customs code for their three-way customs union, he added. Experts are closely watching the current negotiations for possible signs of a growing rift between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the country’s WTO entry bid. In June, Putin baffled the West by announcing that Russia would change tack on its 16-year accession process and seek membership as a single customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. WTO chief Pascal Lamy said the plan was a cause for “perplexity” as there was no precedent for customs
union joining while the United States has described idea as “unworkable”. In what many said was a rare example of Medvedev being out of step with Putin, the Kremlin chief last month said it would be simpler for Moscow to join on its own. Officials however took great pains to stress there was no conflict within the government and a source close to the talks insisted Wednesday the three nations would not abandon “the common negotiating position.” However, the customs union’s members may sign separate accession documents directly with the WTO depending on requirements of their national legislation, said the official on condition of anonymity. “Different scenarios are being worked out,” he said. “There are no contradictions. During the talks there have not been any passages regarding alleged existing discrepancies within the Russian leadership on the WTO entry,” the source said. Russia, the only major economic power still not belonging to the WTO, began negotiations to join in 1993, but talks have bogged down over disputes on a variety of issues and were set back by Russia’s war with Georgia last year.
Singapore property market booms despite deep recession Agence France-Presse
SINGAPORE - Recession? What recession? Despite Singapore’s worst economic slump since independence, the residential property sector is in the midst of a new boom reminiscent of 2007, when the city-state was known as the world’s hottest real estate market. Greed and its twin brother fear are back in play as punters stake out condo launches days before sales open, with some offering blank cheques to prebook flats, prompting the government to hint it may have to cool things down. “Some of the practices and habits that you saw in the last property boom are beginning to come back, so I think we’ll have to be careful,” said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, whose portfolio includes housing. “A little bit of speculation is inevitable in every market, but when it becomes excessive, then it is something that we should try to avoid,” he said. The minister’s words of caution fell on deaf ears. A 297-unit condo called Optima in the extreme east — well outside prime districts — sold out in within three days in early August after Mah’s warning, fetching as much as two million Singapore dollars (1.38 million US) a unit. The developer had to issue ballots “to address the needs of the genuine buyers” and disperse the huge crowd that turned up for the launch of the project, which will only be ready for occupancy in 2014, a spokesman said. Within days, some units were already being advertised for resale in the secondary market. An AFP reporter who recently walked into the sales office of another high-rise condo being built close to the Orchard Road shopping belt was treated like royalty by agents expecting to close deals within days, if not hours. Bank officers were ready to process loans on the spot. “Buy before prices go up further,” an agent whispered in his ear, gesturing to a “sky garden” bisecting the scale model of a glass-clad, 45-storey tower. Singapore’s economic output is officially forecast to shrink by four to six percent this year — less severe than earlier estimates, but still its worst economic performance on record — and office rents are still soft, reflecting weak business activity. “It is too early to celebrate,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned over the weekend as he spelled out the country’s economic prospects. “The outlook remains clouded.”
AFP PHOTO / ROSLAN RAHMAN
This photo taken on August 4, 2009 shows a woman walking past a advertisement for a new condominium to be constructed in Singapore. Greed and its twin brother fear are back in play as punters stake out condo launches days before sales open, with some offering blank cheques to pre-book flats, prompting the government to hint it may have to cool things down. The property frenzy began in middle-class condo projects due to pent-up demand from families upgrading from public to private housing but scared off by the 2007 price spiral. Their enthusiasm quickly spilled over to more exclusive developments. Prices of luxury condos — the segment worst hit by the recession — are now inching toward peak levels achieved around mid-2007, according to an analysis by business weekly The Edge. Foreign investors, including Asians looking for a secure place to park their money, are also back in the Singapore market. Singaporeans enjoy one of the world’s highest savings and home ownership rates, but most live in relatively spartan government-built flats, making owning condos an obsessive goal for families. A pension system forces them to save more than a third of their monthly
income, and the accumulated funds can be tapped before retirement to buy property, creating a massive pool of financing ready to be used when market conditions are good for buyers. Chua Chor Hoon, senior director and head of Southeast Asia research at property advisers DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, said various factors combined to spur renewed buying in Singapore properties. Signs of economic recovery, the stock market rally, the imminent completion of massive casino resorts, low interest rates and lack of confidence in complex financial products encouraged property buyers. Chua Yang Liang, head of Southeast Asia research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said demand is largely driven by buyers upgrading from government housing due to strong wealth creation in recent years, and the shrinking gap in cost between public and private housing.
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Business
Thursday, August 13, 2009
International
International
Fed to take slow road back to normal interest rates Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve is likely to wait to ensure a sustainable economic recovery is underway before lifting interest rates from the current level near zero, analysts say. The Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day policy meeting Wednesday widely anticipated to hold unchanged its key federal funds rate at a record low range of zero to 0.25 percent to spur lending and economic activity. Markets will be watching the FOMC’s statement accompanying its decision for clues about the momentum of the world’s largest economy, which seems to be
emerging from the worst slump since the Great Depression. “The economy is clearly moving into recovery, but that recovery is still extremely fragile,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. “This means that the Fed will remain vigilant in its support of credit markets and will keep rates close to zero well through the spring of next year.” Others agree that the Fed, led by
Chairman Ben Bernanke, will maintain a simulative policy. “The odds are high the Fed will err on the side of caution and boost rates later than it should,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management. “Bernanke is the premier student of the Depression. To refresh all, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates prematurely in 1931; action many historians believe is a reason why the economy turned even lower. I doubt Bernanke will risk repeating the same mistake.” Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics said he would be “astonished” to see any shift in the
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Barbed wire secures the Constitutional Court from the supporters of defeated presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri during a rally in Jakarta on August 12, 2009 as judges read their verdict on the former president’s challenge to the July 8 polls result. Megawati called for a second-round presidential election as she alleged of irreguralities in the polls.
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JAKARTA - The United States and Australian governments have promised to supply Indonesia with the types E and J giant C-130 Hercules cargo planes.
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Planning Assistant to Air Force Chief of Staff Air vice Marshal Erry Biatmoko said in Jakarta Wednesday the United States had offered to grant six type-E Hercules cargo planes which would be ready to be sent to Indonesia in 2012. “The six, actually meant for three countries in Asia and Africa, had been improved and modified before
their dispatch to Indonesia,” he said. Previously, the US government promised Indonesia six types H and J C-130 Hercules planes. The aid takes the form of price cuts under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) facility and spare parts. In the meantime, Australia offered Indonesia type-J Hercules, but still on long-term bases,” Erry said.
Indonesia had been using C130Bs since 1960 which had arrived in Indonesia in two stages. In the first stage, Indonesia bought eight C130Bs and two KC-130Bs (air-refueling capability) from Lochheed. In the second stage in 1975 after receiving a grant from the United States, Indonesia got three C-130Bs along with T-33A jet trainers and helly S-58T under the Defense Liaison Group (DLG) scheme. Not only that, but under a program of enhancing the capabilities of the Indonesian Air Force in 1980, three C-130Hs, seven C-130HS
(long body), one C-130 MP (maritime patrol), one L-100-30 (Hercules for civilian VIPs), and six L100-30s had arrived in Indonesia, for operation by PT Merpati and Pelita Air for transmigration purposes. The total of 27 Hercules planes in Indonesia are now operated by Air Force Squadron 31/Halim dan Skuadron 32/Abdurahman Saleh. Now Indonesia has one squadron of C-130 Hercules planes of different types, namely C-130 Hercules for VIPs, C-130 H/HS, C-130 B/H and C-130 BT at an average preparatory rate of 60 percent, or nine
units. In the past 10 years, the Indonesian Air Force was still using and maintaining C-130 Hercules planes under the service life extension program (SLEP), inspection repair as necessary (IRAN), and retrofit schemes at a cost of US$51 million for four planes to enable them to be on duty longer, namely 15 years. “Now the rejuvenation of two of the four Hercules planes in Singapore had been completed, and the other two will also undergoing the same treatment in Singapore and Indonesia,” Erry added.
RI-Malaysia cooperation necessary Indonesia restricts to destroy Noordin’s network ‘historic’ Myanmar meeting
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JAKARTA - The captain of a ferry which sank killing up to 335 people in January has been sentenced to nine years’ jail by an Indonesian court, his lawyer said Tuesday. The 700-tonne ferry, with a capacity of only 250 passengers, capsized and sank rapidly in heavy seas whipped up by a tropical storm in the Makassar Strait on January 11. “The judge in Pare-Pare court in South Sulawesi sentenced Sabir bin Andae on Monday to nine years’ in jail because of negligence,” lawyer Muhammad Ridwan told AFP. “The judge said the number of passengers on the ferry exceeded its capacity and Sabir only had a licence to operate vessels that weigh less than the Teratai Prima,” Ridwan said. Far from going down with the ship, the captain was one of only 35 survivors. He faced a maximum 10-year jail sentence. Ridwan said his client would appeal the sentence. “The judge also said that Sabir had failed to inform the passengers when the ferry was in trouble and about to sink. But it was hard for him to do that,” the lawyer said. “We decided to appeal against the decision because we believe that the accident was force majeure instead of negligence. It was like a lightning strike — people couldn’t get away.” Indonesians rely on ferry connections between the main islands of the massive archipelago, but accidents are common and safety regulations are badly enforced. The disaster was the worst of its kind in Indonesia since December 2006 when a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java, killing more than 500 people.
US, Australia promise Hercules planes for RI Antara
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Agence France-Presse
trillion dollars of liquidity into the stricken financial system, which some call “quantitative easing.” “The Fed and chairman Ben Bernanke have made it very clear that they will stay the course, which means don’t expect any changes in policy or wording,” said Joseph Balestrino, strategist at Federated Investors. “If anything, the Fed may acknowledge recent economic ‘improvements,’ but we don’t expect it to signal any change this year in the target federal funds rate ... Nor do we anticipate any change in its quantitative easing measures, which have worked to bring stability and liquidity to the debt markets.”
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Indonesia ferry captain jailed
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Fed’s core position, “namely that the economy will remain weak for an extended period, inflation will be subdued for the foreseeable future and policy remains on hold.” Ahead of the announcement, US stocks skidded Tuesday for a second day running. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.50 points (1.03 percent) to finish at 9,241.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite points fell 22.51 points (1.13 percent) to 1,969.73 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index retreated 12.75 points (1.27 percent) to 994.35. Next, the markets will focus on whether the Fed will adjust its unprecedented efforts to pump over one
Indonesia Today
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JAKARTA - Indonesia should cooperate with Malaysia to root out the network of fugitive terror mastermind Noordin M Top who has been operating in Indonesia since 2000. The Indonesian government and people should forge cooperation with Malaysia to arrest Noordin Mohammad Top, the Malaysian extremist wanted for masterminding a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia, Mussni Umar, the spokesman of the Indonesian delegation in the Indonesia-Malaysia Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), said on Wednesday. “The governments of the two countries should step up cooperation to ar-
rest Noordin Mohammad Top,” Umar said, adding the recent police raids on terrorist hideouts in Bekasi, West Java, and in Temanggung, Central Java, should be a good momentum for the Indonesian government to dismantle Top’s network in the country. Umar said the series of terror bombings that had happened in a number of Indonesian cities in the past few years had tarnished Indonesia’s image and created fear among the people. “Terrorism is the common enemy of Indonesia and Malaysia,” Umar said. Meanwhile, five bodies of suspected terrorists at the Soekanto police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, have been identified as Dani Dwi Permana, Nana Ihwan Maulana, Air Setiawan,
Eko Joko Sarjono, and Ibrohim. Dani and Nana were the suicide bombers at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta on July 17, 2009, while Air and Eko were terror suspects shot dead by the police during a raid on their hideout at Puri Nusapala housing complex in Jatiasih, Bekasi, West Java, on Aug 7, 2009. Air and Eko were shot dead after they tried to throw a hand- bomb at police officers conducting the raid. Police said DNA tests showed on Wednesday that the fifth body was identified as Ibrohim, a militant killed in a police raid in Temanggung, Central Java, last Saturday, and not as Noordin M Top as previously assumed.
Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA - ay after Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was handed 18 more months of house arrest, on charges of breaching the terms of her confinement. Bo Hla Tint, foreign affairs minister for the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told AFP in an email that the Myanmar embassy had lodged a complaint about the meeting with the Indonesian foreign ministry. “Regional politics or ASEAN internal politics (are) as usual taking place... We are very disappointed,” he said. The activists had hoped to make
a “historic” announcement about their joint proposal for democracy in Myanmar, but their press conference had been cancelled, they said. Indonesia is a founding member of the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is criticised for failing to speak out stongly enough against human rights abuses in member-state Myanmar. Critics have accused the military junta in Myanmar of convicting Suu Kyi in order to keep her off the scene for elections next year. The Indonesian government was “very disappointed” over the conviction, according to a foreign ministry spokesman Tuesday.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Bali Today ICAAP: circumcision could prevent AIDS
International
Balinese Culture Australian dominate tourist flow to Bali Antara
DENPASAR - Australians dominated the foreign tourist flow to Bali in the January-June period in 2009, with the number of Japanese coming in second place. The number of Australian tourists visiting the island in the period reached 182,001, up 38.9 percent from 130,970 in the same period last year, tourism operator Dewa Rai Budiasa said here on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists dropped by 10.95 percent to153,868 from 172,784. Visitors from China rose in number
Antara
NUSA DUA - Prof Dr Zubairi Djoerban, the head of the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) committees, said that circumcision is one of the methods to avoid AIDS. “The research done in various countries such as Thailand, Philippine, and United States showed that circumcision is an effective way to avoid the spread of HIV/AIDS,” he added. The World Health Organization (WHO) had also suggested circumcision to prevent HIV/AIDS. Currently, the countries in Asia Pacific are trying to socialize the method of circumcision throughout the region. However, the different religion all over Asia Pacific made it difficult to fully apply the method even if it is already proven scientifically. “What about the difference in culture and religion? This is the problem we face in socializing circumcision in the region. However, in several countries such as Philippine, circumcision is not connected with any act of religion but it mostly for medical purposes,” Zubairi said. Generally, the countries that take part in ICAAP agreed to apply circumcision as one of the method
to prevent HIV/AIDS. The implementation in each country is handed to each government. Another important problem that needs to be discussed is the universal access for people living with HIV/ AIDS. Previously, the use of condoms is recommended as one of the methods to prevent HIV/AIDS. However, the research by National AIDS handling Committee (KPAN) showed that most of the people are reluctant to use condoms. Zubairi said “the condition is proven by the number of prostitutes in Indonesia who are willing to wear condoms only 30%. This is also because the limited number of condoms seller or supplier in the prone area.” Dr Fonny J Silfanus, the Deputy Secretary of KPAN, said that KPAN will distribute fre condoms in twelve provinces in Indonesia. Those provinces are northern and southern Sumatra, Riau, Papua, and Bali. The program will start on September 2009 and it will cost 1.3 billion rupiah.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
by 55 percent from 63,000 in the first six months of 2008 to 97,914 in the same period this year, making their number the third largest. The increase in the number of Australian and Chinese visitors to Bali made the total number of foreign tourists to the island in the first six months this year rise 9.74 percent from only 927,340 in 2008 to 1,017,661 this year. He said the Australian tourists had indeed confessed that Bali was the best place in terms of natural landscape, arts and culture, security as well as comfort. He said Australian tourists felt peaceful and comfortable while in Bali
and they had spread the experience to their fellow countrymen. Dewa called for continued cooperation between the government, tourism components and the community with regard to improve the quality of service to tourists from the time they landed on the island and while they were in their hotels and on the island. He said competition in the tourism sector was increasingly tighter. Many countries also wished to collect dollars through the sector and therefore promotion and service would be vital with regard to winning the competition, he said.
Tourism Department inspect guides Antara
DENPASAR – Bali Tourism Department will keep inspecting the tour guides in order to decrease the number of guides who doesn’t have guide report. Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, the head of Bali Tourism Department, said “the inspection will be carried out regularly in order to give the sense of security for the tourists visited Bali.” All guides will be checked and if necessary they will be trained Bali Post/Edi
Participants of the ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) looking at the exhibition that conducted in conjuction with the ICAAP meeting. Prof Dr Zubairi Djoerban, the head of the 9th ICAAP committees, said that circumcision is one of the methods to avoid AIDS.
Back to nature become tourism trend IBP
Bali Post/iah
Peter Struder (middle) talking with his guests on the opening of Bali Eco Resort, Wednesday, August 12, 2009. According to Struder back to nature activities become a tourism trend in Bali. This island of paradise offers many possibilities to these kinds of activities.
DENPASAR - Back to nature activities become a tourism trend in Bali. This island of paradise offers many possibilities to these kinds of activities. Peter Struder, the owner of Bali Eco Resort said this in the grand opening of Bali Eco Resort that located at Bayad hamlet, Gianyar. According to this guy who has been living in Bali for 15 years, lots of tourists eager to experience Balinese life. He argued that without really experiencing Balinese life, ones can’t feel and know how beautiful Bali is. ‘’Kuta, Legian, Nusa Dua are not the real Bali. You have to go back to nature and experience Balinese life to know exactly the beauty of this island’’. He said from his experience dealing with overseas tourists, many were interested on Balinese activities, like planting herbal plants, making sculptures, and making oblations. So far he already dealing with 50 nationalities, most of them came from European state.
‘’Many tourists from Germany speaking countries and also lots of Indian are interesting on learning Balinese activity,’’ he stated. Struder who refuses calling his interest on tourism industry as business said nature that surrounds the resort area becomes one of many attractions offers by Bali Eco Resort. He explained there are 7 villas, 1 spa, and 1 seminary center located around one hectare land. In each villa, guests can see right to the beautiful scenery once they open the front door of the bedroom area. Manager of Bali Eco Resort Ketut Sunarta said guests will also have the opportunity to participate on local activities and sports, like badminton and football. ‘’While staying in the resort, people will be doing lots of activity, including learning to make sculptures, dance, and make oblations,’’ he stated. He added in the near time, they will build Bali Eco Agriculture in one hectare area outside the resort area, where tourists can learn to plant traditional herbs and other traditional plants.
so the guides can give the proper information to the tourists. “Currently, we are focusing on Mandarin guides because there were many reports showing that many of them didn’t have the proper licenses,” he added. Subhiksu said that the department had sent a special team to track down illegal guides or the guides who break the rules such as don’t wear traditional Balinese clothes when accompanying the tourists. The inspection was done in the
regencies that have potential tourism sites which are Badung, Gianyar, Bangli, and Karangasem regency. Subhiksu told every guides must bring their licenses and identity every where they go. The inspection team consists of officers from many departments throughout Bali such as Labor Department, Law Department, Tourists Police, and Indonesian Guide Association (HPI) Bali. Based on the current data, the number of tourists coming to Bali was 6,000 tourists a day.
Guling Celeng (Suckling Pig)
Overview: If there’s just one dish that people remember after a visit to Bali, it’s this famous delicacy, usually known by its Indonesian name, Babi Guling. Ingredients: 1 suckling pig, weighing about 6-8kg 1½ tbsp salt 200 shallots, peeled and sliced 100 gr cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 50 gr ginger, peeled & chopped 300 gr candlenuts, chopped 350 gr fresh turmeric, peeled &chopped 3 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed 80 gr laos, finely chopped 120 gr bird’s-eye chilies, sliced 10 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced 1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed 1 tsp dried shrimp paste, roasted 5 fragrant lime leaves, finely shredded 2 salam leaves 2½ tbsp oil 4 tbsp turmeric water
Preparation: Ensure inside of suckling pig is completely cleaned out. Season inside and outside with salt. Combine all other ingredients, except turmeric water, and mix thoroughly. Fill inside of suckling with mixture, close belly with string or thin satay skewer. Rub the outside of the pig with turmeric water until the skin is shiny yellow. Place suckling pig on roasting rack and roast in hot oven (220°C / 425°F) for approximately 1 hour. Rest for 10 minutes in warm place before serving. When serving, first remove the crisp skin with a strong carving knife, then loosen meat from the bones and cut into even dice or slices. Place a heaped tablespoon of stuffing on each serving plate, and then top with meat and skin. Traditionally this dish is eaten with Jukut Nangka Mekuah and steamed rice. Helpful hint: If you have a large barbeque with rotisserie or constantly turning spit, you can cook the pig over charcoal for an authentic Balinese flavor.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Bali Today ICAAP: circumcision could prevent AIDS
International
Balinese Culture Australian dominate tourist flow to Bali Antara
DENPASAR - Australians dominated the foreign tourist flow to Bali in the January-June period in 2009, with the number of Japanese coming in second place. The number of Australian tourists visiting the island in the period reached 182,001, up 38.9 percent from 130,970 in the same period last year, tourism operator Dewa Rai Budiasa said here on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists dropped by 10.95 percent to153,868 from 172,784. Visitors from China rose in number
Antara
NUSA DUA - Prof Dr Zubairi Djoerban, the head of the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) committees, said that circumcision is one of the methods to avoid AIDS. “The research done in various countries such as Thailand, Philippine, and United States showed that circumcision is an effective way to avoid the spread of HIV/AIDS,” he added. The World Health Organization (WHO) had also suggested circumcision to prevent HIV/AIDS. Currently, the countries in Asia Pacific are trying to socialize the method of circumcision throughout the region. However, the different religion all over Asia Pacific made it difficult to fully apply the method even if it is already proven scientifically. “What about the difference in culture and religion? This is the problem we face in socializing circumcision in the region. However, in several countries such as Philippine, circumcision is not connected with any act of religion but it mostly for medical purposes,” Zubairi said. Generally, the countries that take part in ICAAP agreed to apply circumcision as one of the method
to prevent HIV/AIDS. The implementation in each country is handed to each government. Another important problem that needs to be discussed is the universal access for people living with HIV/ AIDS. Previously, the use of condoms is recommended as one of the methods to prevent HIV/AIDS. However, the research by National AIDS handling Committee (KPAN) showed that most of the people are reluctant to use condoms. Zubairi said “the condition is proven by the number of prostitutes in Indonesia who are willing to wear condoms only 30%. This is also because the limited number of condoms seller or supplier in the prone area.” Dr Fonny J Silfanus, the Deputy Secretary of KPAN, said that KPAN will distribute fre condoms in twelve provinces in Indonesia. Those provinces are northern and southern Sumatra, Riau, Papua, and Bali. The program will start on September 2009 and it will cost 1.3 billion rupiah.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
by 55 percent from 63,000 in the first six months of 2008 to 97,914 in the same period this year, making their number the third largest. The increase in the number of Australian and Chinese visitors to Bali made the total number of foreign tourists to the island in the first six months this year rise 9.74 percent from only 927,340 in 2008 to 1,017,661 this year. He said the Australian tourists had indeed confessed that Bali was the best place in terms of natural landscape, arts and culture, security as well as comfort. He said Australian tourists felt peaceful and comfortable while in Bali
and they had spread the experience to their fellow countrymen. Dewa called for continued cooperation between the government, tourism components and the community with regard to improve the quality of service to tourists from the time they landed on the island and while they were in their hotels and on the island. He said competition in the tourism sector was increasingly tighter. Many countries also wished to collect dollars through the sector and therefore promotion and service would be vital with regard to winning the competition, he said.
Tourism Department inspect guides Antara
DENPASAR – Bali Tourism Department will keep inspecting the tour guides in order to decrease the number of guides who doesn’t have guide report. Ida Bagus Kade Subhiksu, the head of Bali Tourism Department, said “the inspection will be carried out regularly in order to give the sense of security for the tourists visited Bali.” All guides will be checked and if necessary they will be trained Bali Post/Edi
Participants of the ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) looking at the exhibition that conducted in conjuction with the ICAAP meeting. Prof Dr Zubairi Djoerban, the head of the 9th ICAAP committees, said that circumcision is one of the methods to avoid AIDS.
Back to nature become tourism trend IBP
Bali Post/iah
Peter Struder (middle) talking with his guests on the opening of Bali Eco Resort, Wednesday, August 12, 2009. According to Struder back to nature activities become a tourism trend in Bali. This island of paradise offers many possibilities to these kinds of activities.
DENPASAR - Back to nature activities become a tourism trend in Bali. This island of paradise offers many possibilities to these kinds of activities. Peter Struder, the owner of Bali Eco Resort said this in the grand opening of Bali Eco Resort that located at Bayad hamlet, Gianyar. According to this guy who has been living in Bali for 15 years, lots of tourists eager to experience Balinese life. He argued that without really experiencing Balinese life, ones can’t feel and know how beautiful Bali is. ‘’Kuta, Legian, Nusa Dua are not the real Bali. You have to go back to nature and experience Balinese life to know exactly the beauty of this island’’. He said from his experience dealing with overseas tourists, many were interested on Balinese activities, like planting herbal plants, making sculptures, and making oblations. So far he already dealing with 50 nationalities, most of them came from European state.
‘’Many tourists from Germany speaking countries and also lots of Indian are interesting on learning Balinese activity,’’ he stated. Struder who refuses calling his interest on tourism industry as business said nature that surrounds the resort area becomes one of many attractions offers by Bali Eco Resort. He explained there are 7 villas, 1 spa, and 1 seminary center located around one hectare land. In each villa, guests can see right to the beautiful scenery once they open the front door of the bedroom area. Manager of Bali Eco Resort Ketut Sunarta said guests will also have the opportunity to participate on local activities and sports, like badminton and football. ‘’While staying in the resort, people will be doing lots of activity, including learning to make sculptures, dance, and make oblations,’’ he stated. He added in the near time, they will build Bali Eco Agriculture in one hectare area outside the resort area, where tourists can learn to plant traditional herbs and other traditional plants.
so the guides can give the proper information to the tourists. “Currently, we are focusing on Mandarin guides because there were many reports showing that many of them didn’t have the proper licenses,” he added. Subhiksu said that the department had sent a special team to track down illegal guides or the guides who break the rules such as don’t wear traditional Balinese clothes when accompanying the tourists. The inspection was done in the
regencies that have potential tourism sites which are Badung, Gianyar, Bangli, and Karangasem regency. Subhiksu told every guides must bring their licenses and identity every where they go. The inspection team consists of officers from many departments throughout Bali such as Labor Department, Law Department, Tourists Police, and Indonesian Guide Association (HPI) Bali. Based on the current data, the number of tourists coming to Bali was 6,000 tourists a day.
Guling Celeng (Suckling Pig)
Overview: If there’s just one dish that people remember after a visit to Bali, it’s this famous delicacy, usually known by its Indonesian name, Babi Guling. Ingredients: 1 suckling pig, weighing about 6-8kg 1½ tbsp salt 200 shallots, peeled and sliced 100 gr cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 50 gr ginger, peeled & chopped 300 gr candlenuts, chopped 350 gr fresh turmeric, peeled &chopped 3 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed 80 gr laos, finely chopped 120 gr bird’s-eye chilies, sliced 10 stalks lemon grass, finely sliced 1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed 1 tsp dried shrimp paste, roasted 5 fragrant lime leaves, finely shredded 2 salam leaves 2½ tbsp oil 4 tbsp turmeric water
Preparation: Ensure inside of suckling pig is completely cleaned out. Season inside and outside with salt. Combine all other ingredients, except turmeric water, and mix thoroughly. Fill inside of suckling with mixture, close belly with string or thin satay skewer. Rub the outside of the pig with turmeric water until the skin is shiny yellow. Place suckling pig on roasting rack and roast in hot oven (220°C / 425°F) for approximately 1 hour. Rest for 10 minutes in warm place before serving. When serving, first remove the crisp skin with a strong carving knife, then loosen meat from the bones and cut into even dice or slices. Place a heaped tablespoon of stuffing on each serving plate, and then top with meat and skin. Traditionally this dish is eaten with Jukut Nangka Mekuah and steamed rice. Helpful hint: If you have a large barbeque with rotisserie or constantly turning spit, you can cook the pig over charcoal for an authentic Balinese flavor.
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Business
Thursday, August 13, 2009
International
International
Fed to take slow road back to normal interest rates Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve is likely to wait to ensure a sustainable economic recovery is underway before lifting interest rates from the current level near zero, analysts say. The Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day policy meeting Wednesday widely anticipated to hold unchanged its key federal funds rate at a record low range of zero to 0.25 percent to spur lending and economic activity. Markets will be watching the FOMC’s statement accompanying its decision for clues about the momentum of the world’s largest economy, which seems to be
emerging from the worst slump since the Great Depression. “The economy is clearly moving into recovery, but that recovery is still extremely fragile,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. “This means that the Fed will remain vigilant in its support of credit markets and will keep rates close to zero well through the spring of next year.” Others agree that the Fed, led by
Chairman Ben Bernanke, will maintain a simulative policy. “The odds are high the Fed will err on the side of caution and boost rates later than it should,” said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management. “Bernanke is the premier student of the Depression. To refresh all, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates prematurely in 1931; action many historians believe is a reason why the economy turned even lower. I doubt Bernanke will risk repeating the same mistake.” Ian Shepherdson at High Frequency Economics said he would be “astonished” to see any shift in the
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Barbed wire secures the Constitutional Court from the supporters of defeated presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri during a rally in Jakarta on August 12, 2009 as judges read their verdict on the former president’s challenge to the July 8 polls result. Megawati called for a second-round presidential election as she alleged of irreguralities in the polls.
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JAKARTA - The United States and Australian governments have promised to supply Indonesia with the types E and J giant C-130 Hercules cargo planes.
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Planning Assistant to Air Force Chief of Staff Air vice Marshal Erry Biatmoko said in Jakarta Wednesday the United States had offered to grant six type-E Hercules cargo planes which would be ready to be sent to Indonesia in 2012. “The six, actually meant for three countries in Asia and Africa, had been improved and modified before
their dispatch to Indonesia,” he said. Previously, the US government promised Indonesia six types H and J C-130 Hercules planes. The aid takes the form of price cuts under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) facility and spare parts. In the meantime, Australia offered Indonesia type-J Hercules, but still on long-term bases,” Erry said.
Indonesia had been using C130Bs since 1960 which had arrived in Indonesia in two stages. In the first stage, Indonesia bought eight C130Bs and two KC-130Bs (air-refueling capability) from Lochheed. In the second stage in 1975 after receiving a grant from the United States, Indonesia got three C-130Bs along with T-33A jet trainers and helly S-58T under the Defense Liaison Group (DLG) scheme. Not only that, but under a program of enhancing the capabilities of the Indonesian Air Force in 1980, three C-130Hs, seven C-130HS
(long body), one C-130 MP (maritime patrol), one L-100-30 (Hercules for civilian VIPs), and six L100-30s had arrived in Indonesia, for operation by PT Merpati and Pelita Air for transmigration purposes. The total of 27 Hercules planes in Indonesia are now operated by Air Force Squadron 31/Halim dan Skuadron 32/Abdurahman Saleh. Now Indonesia has one squadron of C-130 Hercules planes of different types, namely C-130 Hercules for VIPs, C-130 H/HS, C-130 B/H and C-130 BT at an average preparatory rate of 60 percent, or nine
units. In the past 10 years, the Indonesian Air Force was still using and maintaining C-130 Hercules planes under the service life extension program (SLEP), inspection repair as necessary (IRAN), and retrofit schemes at a cost of US$51 million for four planes to enable them to be on duty longer, namely 15 years. “Now the rejuvenation of two of the four Hercules planes in Singapore had been completed, and the other two will also undergoing the same treatment in Singapore and Indonesia,” Erry added.
RI-Malaysia cooperation necessary Indonesia restricts to destroy Noordin’s network ‘historic’ Myanmar meeting
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JAKARTA - The captain of a ferry which sank killing up to 335 people in January has been sentenced to nine years’ jail by an Indonesian court, his lawyer said Tuesday. The 700-tonne ferry, with a capacity of only 250 passengers, capsized and sank rapidly in heavy seas whipped up by a tropical storm in the Makassar Strait on January 11. “The judge in Pare-Pare court in South Sulawesi sentenced Sabir bin Andae on Monday to nine years’ in jail because of negligence,” lawyer Muhammad Ridwan told AFP. “The judge said the number of passengers on the ferry exceeded its capacity and Sabir only had a licence to operate vessels that weigh less than the Teratai Prima,” Ridwan said. Far from going down with the ship, the captain was one of only 35 survivors. He faced a maximum 10-year jail sentence. Ridwan said his client would appeal the sentence. “The judge also said that Sabir had failed to inform the passengers when the ferry was in trouble and about to sink. But it was hard for him to do that,” the lawyer said. “We decided to appeal against the decision because we believe that the accident was force majeure instead of negligence. It was like a lightning strike — people couldn’t get away.” Indonesians rely on ferry connections between the main islands of the massive archipelago, but accidents are common and safety regulations are badly enforced. The disaster was the worst of its kind in Indonesia since December 2006 when a ferry sank in a storm off the coast of Java, killing more than 500 people.
US, Australia promise Hercules planes for RI Antara
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Agence France-Presse
trillion dollars of liquidity into the stricken financial system, which some call “quantitative easing.” “The Fed and chairman Ben Bernanke have made it very clear that they will stay the course, which means don’t expect any changes in policy or wording,” said Joseph Balestrino, strategist at Federated Investors. “If anything, the Fed may acknowledge recent economic ‘improvements,’ but we don’t expect it to signal any change this year in the target federal funds rate ... Nor do we anticipate any change in its quantitative easing measures, which have worked to bring stability and liquidity to the debt markets.”
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Indonesia ferry captain jailed
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Fed’s core position, “namely that the economy will remain weak for an extended period, inflation will be subdued for the foreseeable future and policy remains on hold.” Ahead of the announcement, US stocks skidded Tuesday for a second day running. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.50 points (1.03 percent) to finish at 9,241.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite points fell 22.51 points (1.13 percent) to 1,969.73 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index retreated 12.75 points (1.27 percent) to 994.35. Next, the markets will focus on whether the Fed will adjust its unprecedented efforts to pump over one
Indonesia Today
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JAKARTA - Indonesia should cooperate with Malaysia to root out the network of fugitive terror mastermind Noordin M Top who has been operating in Indonesia since 2000. The Indonesian government and people should forge cooperation with Malaysia to arrest Noordin Mohammad Top, the Malaysian extremist wanted for masterminding a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia, Mussni Umar, the spokesman of the Indonesian delegation in the Indonesia-Malaysia Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), said on Wednesday. “The governments of the two countries should step up cooperation to ar-
rest Noordin Mohammad Top,” Umar said, adding the recent police raids on terrorist hideouts in Bekasi, West Java, and in Temanggung, Central Java, should be a good momentum for the Indonesian government to dismantle Top’s network in the country. Umar said the series of terror bombings that had happened in a number of Indonesian cities in the past few years had tarnished Indonesia’s image and created fear among the people. “Terrorism is the common enemy of Indonesia and Malaysia,” Umar said. Meanwhile, five bodies of suspected terrorists at the Soekanto police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, have been identified as Dani Dwi Permana, Nana Ihwan Maulana, Air Setiawan,
Eko Joko Sarjono, and Ibrohim. Dani and Nana were the suicide bombers at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in the Mega Kuningan area in Jakarta on July 17, 2009, while Air and Eko were terror suspects shot dead by the police during a raid on their hideout at Puri Nusapala housing complex in Jatiasih, Bekasi, West Java, on Aug 7, 2009. Air and Eko were shot dead after they tried to throw a hand- bomb at police officers conducting the raid. Police said DNA tests showed on Wednesday that the fifth body was identified as Ibrohim, a militant killed in a police raid in Temanggung, Central Java, last Saturday, and not as Noordin M Top as previously assumed.
Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA - ay after Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was handed 18 more months of house arrest, on charges of breaching the terms of her confinement. Bo Hla Tint, foreign affairs minister for the exiled National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, told AFP in an email that the Myanmar embassy had lodged a complaint about the meeting with the Indonesian foreign ministry. “Regional politics or ASEAN internal politics (are) as usual taking place... We are very disappointed,” he said. The activists had hoped to make
a “historic” announcement about their joint proposal for democracy in Myanmar, but their press conference had been cancelled, they said. Indonesia is a founding member of the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is criticised for failing to speak out stongly enough against human rights abuses in member-state Myanmar. Critics have accused the military junta in Myanmar of convicting Suu Kyi in order to keep her off the scene for elections next year. The Indonesian government was “very disappointed” over the conviction, according to a foreign ministry spokesman Tuesday.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
News
Thursday, August 13, 2009
French scientist dies after accident in China Agence France-Presse
BEIJING - A French woman on a scientific expedition in central China died after falling into a deep pit, state media reported Tuesday. Lagrede Malissa, 27, was among a 24-member French team studying the Karst Caves in Hubei Province, a spokesman with the
Enshi Municipal Foreign Affairs Office told Xinhua. She fell into a 210-metre (688 feet) deep pit on Saturday afternoon while trying to fix a safety pylon into the wall of the pit at a depth of 180 metres, Xinhua reported. The rocks on the wall collapsed and she plunged to her death.
Terror mastermind... From page 1
AP Photo/Taiwan Military News Agency
In this image released by the Taiwan Military News Agency, a soldier carries a survivor out of a helicopter after he was rescued from the flooded village of Namaxia following Typhoon Morakot, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Kaohsiung County, southern Taiwan. Police said Wednesday that there is no way to know for sure how many people remain buried in the catastrophic mudslide that struck a remote mountain village in Taiwan over the weekend when the typhoon lashed the region.
Taiwan scrambles to rescue 700 in landslide villages Agence France-Presse
CHISHAN - Taiwan Wednesday began airlifting to safety more than 700 people found alive in a trio of villages flattened by muddy landslides, as the island’s death toll from Typhoon Morakot hit 66. The military launched the helicopter operation in the battered island’s south after the region was hit by its worst flooding in half a century, inundating entire villages in water and mud and cutting off all access by road. “We have found around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them,” Major-General Richard Hu said. Hu said he was unable to confirm how many people had been buried or killed by the landslide in Hsiaolin and in two other remote villages nearby. Some media reports had speculated that up to 600 people had been killed just in Hsiaolin, which vanished under a tidal wave of mud at the weekend. Rescuers had said Tuesday that around 100 people in Hsiaolin were feared to have been buried alive. “We believed that some were buried but it’s not possible to estimate how many at this moment as almost 90 percent of the houses were buried,” Hu said. Feelings were running high at a nearby school where relatives of
missing people had gathered. Police and soldiers had to push back some who tried to storm their way onto the departing helicopters. “I cannot wait any more. I want to look for my family,” a man in his 40s shouted as he argued with soldiers. He said he had not heard anything from his family since the typhoon dumped a record three metres (120 inches) of rainfall on southern Taiwan over the weekend. Chu Chia-jung, 21, said she was desperate for news with only one of her many relatives in Hsiaolin accounted for. “I’ve been really, really worried about my close relatives there,” she said. “I hope the military can speed up their search and rescue.” Authorities Wednesday said Typhoon Morakot, which also killed eight people in eastern China, had left at least 66 people dead in Taiwan. The toll included three rescuers who died when their helicopter crashed into a river in heavy fog in the southern county of Pingtung on Tuesday. “Their bodies have been found and we are working to transport the
bodies from the crash site,” a policeman told reporters. Another 61 people are missing in Taiwan and 35 others injured. Armoured vehicles, marine landing craft and rubber dinghies have been mobilised in the rescue operation, which involves more than 17,000 troops across the island, the defence ministry said. Typhoon Morakot has caused at least 7.2 billion Taiwan dollars (225 million US) in agricultural damage while nearly 30,000 houses were still without power and 750,000 homes without water, according to officials. Charities and companies have launched donation drives for flood victims, raising more than two billion Taiwan dollars as of Tuesday, reports said. Official figures were not available. Detained former president Chen Shui-bian, who is facing corruption charges, donated one million Taiwan dollars to his home county Tainan and to neighbouring Kaohsiung. Morakot is one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in 50 years. In August 1959, a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000.
“The dead body is Ibrohim... We tried to match the DNA with the sample from Johor (Noordin’s son) and it didn’t match.” Ibrohim was a florist who worked at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, where seven people including foreigners were killed in almost simultaneous suicide attacks last month. Police released new security camera footage showing a man identified as Ibrohim escorting the Marriott bomber around the hotel on July 8 and later bringing bomb-making material into the hotel’s staff-only loading bay. “Ibrohim was a planner who was always present in the meetings with Noordin M. Top,” Soekarna said. “He was going to be a suicide bomber against Cikeas,” Yudhoyono’s home outside Jakarta, the spokesman added, referring to another plot uncovered by police on Saturday. Soekarna revealed that ahead of the July 17 attacks Noordin had attended planning meetings in Kuningan, Central Java, Bekasi outside Jakarta and Mampang, a Jakarta suburb. Police killed two would-be suicide bombers and uncovered a massive cache of explosive materials during a raid on a house in Bekasi before dawn on Saturday. A truck bomb found at the house was going to be used by Ibrohim to attack Yudhoyono’s principal residence around Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations on August 17, police said. Noordin, 41, leads what he calls “AlQaeda in the Malay Archipelago”, an offshoot of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror organisation blamed for the 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people, mainly Western tourists. Police had received a tip-off that the
Migrant workers... From page 1 Dhanan Sunoto, the Secretary of Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN), said that discrimination sill happened to the people suffered from HIV/AIDS. Most of the workers suffered from HIV/AIDS didn’t allow to work abroad. “The workers should not be deported even if they suffered from HIV,” Sunoto added. Sophia Kisting, the Director of International Labor Organization (ILO), said that the current economics crisis made the human right violation increased. The pressure is keep increasing to the migrant workers and it made them must turn to informal field or re-
Islamist fanatic was hiding in a farmhouse in Central Java on Friday and launched a massive raid by scores of heavily armed counter-terror police. Local and international media reported the Malaysian had been killed during the 17-hour siege, raising hopes that the exhaustive manhunt had come to an end. But this was never confirmed by police, who used DNA samples from his son in Malaysia to confirm that Noordin was still at large. He has already escaped two earlier armed assaults on his hideouts, and his legend will only grow among his disciples and on Islamist websites if he has managed to slip away again. Pressure will also mount on Indonesia’s US-trained counter-terrorism forces to track him down before he can do further damage to the country’s hard-earned image as a stable and moderate Muslim-majority country. “All of us really hope that he can be caught soon, but the fact we’re facing now is we haven’t been able to catch him,” Soekarna told AFP, saying it was unclear if Noordin had ever been in the Central Java farmhouse. “We have foiled attacks but it doesn’t mean that they have stopped preparing more attacks, which we have to anticipate.” Noordin has allegedly plotted a series of suicide blasts against prominent Western targets in Indonesia since 2003, including two bombings at the Jakarta Marriott and a massive suicide truck blast at the Australian embassy in 2004. Three Noordin accomplices have been arrested and three killed by police in connection to the latest hotel attacks, but another three to five unidentified suspects are being pursued, Soekarna said.
turn to their native countries. Currently ILO is arranging the international human right instruments for the HIV workers. There is great hope that the instruments can be applied world wide in 2010 and the rules could decrease the discriminative policy. International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) recommended the native countries and the designated countries to responsible for the migrant workers. Both countries should create protective policies and program. The program could be social insurance policy, training for the foreign workers, making regional and national strategies to handle HIV/AIDS, and joining the civil organization in handling HIV/AIDS.(056)
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BUSINESS British official jobless rate hits 13-year high of 7.8 pct Agence France-Presse
LONDON - Britain’s unemployment rate rose to 7.8 percent in the three months to June, hitting a 13-year peak, and the number of unemployed was the highest for 14 years, official data showed on Wednesday. The latest unemployment rate, calculated according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) method, stood at the highest level since November 1996, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement. Market expectations had been for a lower rate of 7.7 percent, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. British unemployment, according to the ILO measure, climbed by 220,000 to 2.43 million people in the three months to June — which was the highest level since September 1995. The ONS added on Wednesday that the number of people in Britain claiming benefits increased 24,900 in
July to 1.58 million. Economist Howard Archer, at the IHS Global Insight consultancy, described the unemployment outlook as “horrible” amid a deep recession in Britain. “The outlook for the labour market still looks pretty horrible, despite mounting signs that the economy could achieve modest growth in the third quarter,” he said. “Unemployment is a lagging indicator and the sharp economic contraction suffered between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009 will continue to weigh down on the labour market for an extended period.”
Russia in talks with partners over disputed WTO bid Agence France-Presse
MOSCOW - Top officials from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were meeting here on Wednesday to discuss a plan to join the WTO as a single customs union which bewildered Western trade officials. Influential first deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and his Belarussian and Kazakh counterparts were discussing a joint strategy to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO), Shuvalov’s spokesman Alexander Machevsky said. The ministers were also scheduled to discuss a draft customs code for their three-way customs union, he added. Experts are closely watching the current negotiations for possible signs of a growing rift between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the country’s WTO entry bid. In June, Putin baffled the West by announcing that Russia would change tack on its 16-year accession process and seek membership as a single customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. WTO chief Pascal Lamy said the plan was a cause for “perplexity” as there was no precedent for customs
union joining while the United States has described idea as “unworkable”. In what many said was a rare example of Medvedev being out of step with Putin, the Kremlin chief last month said it would be simpler for Moscow to join on its own. Officials however took great pains to stress there was no conflict within the government and a source close to the talks insisted Wednesday the three nations would not abandon “the common negotiating position.” However, the customs union’s members may sign separate accession documents directly with the WTO depending on requirements of their national legislation, said the official on condition of anonymity. “Different scenarios are being worked out,” he said. “There are no contradictions. During the talks there have not been any passages regarding alleged existing discrepancies within the Russian leadership on the WTO entry,” the source said. Russia, the only major economic power still not belonging to the WTO, began negotiations to join in 1993, but talks have bogged down over disputes on a variety of issues and were set back by Russia’s war with Georgia last year.
Singapore property market booms despite deep recession Agence France-Presse
SINGAPORE - Recession? What recession? Despite Singapore’s worst economic slump since independence, the residential property sector is in the midst of a new boom reminiscent of 2007, when the city-state was known as the world’s hottest real estate market. Greed and its twin brother fear are back in play as punters stake out condo launches days before sales open, with some offering blank cheques to prebook flats, prompting the government to hint it may have to cool things down. “Some of the practices and habits that you saw in the last property boom are beginning to come back, so I think we’ll have to be careful,” said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, whose portfolio includes housing. “A little bit of speculation is inevitable in every market, but when it becomes excessive, then it is something that we should try to avoid,” he said. The minister’s words of caution fell on deaf ears. A 297-unit condo called Optima in the extreme east — well outside prime districts — sold out in within three days in early August after Mah’s warning, fetching as much as two million Singapore dollars (1.38 million US) a unit. The developer had to issue ballots “to address the needs of the genuine buyers” and disperse the huge crowd that turned up for the launch of the project, which will only be ready for occupancy in 2014, a spokesman said. Within days, some units were already being advertised for resale in the secondary market. An AFP reporter who recently walked into the sales office of another high-rise condo being built close to the Orchard Road shopping belt was treated like royalty by agents expecting to close deals within days, if not hours. Bank officers were ready to process loans on the spot. “Buy before prices go up further,” an agent whispered in his ear, gesturing to a “sky garden” bisecting the scale model of a glass-clad, 45-storey tower. Singapore’s economic output is officially forecast to shrink by four to six percent this year — less severe than earlier estimates, but still its worst economic performance on record — and office rents are still soft, reflecting weak business activity. “It is too early to celebrate,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned over the weekend as he spelled out the country’s economic prospects. “The outlook remains clouded.”
AFP PHOTO / ROSLAN RAHMAN
This photo taken on August 4, 2009 shows a woman walking past a advertisement for a new condominium to be constructed in Singapore. Greed and its twin brother fear are back in play as punters stake out condo launches days before sales open, with some offering blank cheques to pre-book flats, prompting the government to hint it may have to cool things down. The property frenzy began in middle-class condo projects due to pent-up demand from families upgrading from public to private housing but scared off by the 2007 price spiral. Their enthusiasm quickly spilled over to more exclusive developments. Prices of luxury condos — the segment worst hit by the recession — are now inching toward peak levels achieved around mid-2007, according to an analysis by business weekly The Edge. Foreign investors, including Asians looking for a secure place to park their money, are also back in the Singapore market. Singaporeans enjoy one of the world’s highest savings and home ownership rates, but most live in relatively spartan government-built flats, making owning condos an obsessive goal for families. A pension system forces them to save more than a third of their monthly
income, and the accumulated funds can be tapped before retirement to buy property, creating a massive pool of financing ready to be used when market conditions are good for buyers. Chua Chor Hoon, senior director and head of Southeast Asia research at property advisers DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, said various factors combined to spur renewed buying in Singapore properties. Signs of economic recovery, the stock market rally, the imminent completion of massive casino resorts, low interest rates and lack of confidence in complex financial products encouraged property buyers. Chua Yang Liang, head of Southeast Asia research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said demand is largely driven by buyers upgrading from government housing due to strong wealth creation in recent years, and the shrinking gap in cost between public and private housing.
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Thursday, August 13, 2009
Entertainment
International
Hollywood Foreign Press give away $1.2 million Associated Press Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – At the annual Golden Globe Awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives away gold-and-marble statuettes. At its annual summer luncheon held Tuesday, the group gave away $1.2 million in grants to arts organizations nationwide. Warren Beatty, Rose McGowan, Eva Longoria Parker and Dylan McDermott were among the stars who joined association president Philip Berk at the Beverly Hills Hotel to present grants to 29 film schools and nonprofit groups. The private, untelevised luncheon drew scads of celebrities and industry execs, who shmoozed over champagne and fine food. “I always behave badly at events for the Hollywood Foreign Press because they’re more fun than everything else,” Beatty said as he accepted a $350,000 grant to help the
Film Foundation preserve and restore historic films. Ignoring the TelePrompTer, Beatty told the crowd he won the “most promising newcomer” award at the first Golden Globes of his career, but he misplaced the trophy. Berk promised the 72-year-old actor a replacement statuette would be in his office by next week. Other stars appearing on behalf of the grant beneficiaries also had a little fun on the podium. Longoria Parker, who accepted a grant on behalf of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, jokingly stuffed the $20,000 check into her dress. “Juno” director Jason Reitman told a personal story about his filmmaker
Investigators maintain focus on Jackson doc Associated Press Writer
father as he thanked the association for its $30,000 grant to support the Los Angeles Conservancy, which preserves historic theaters. Carla Gugino, who accepted a $25,000 grant for Inner-City Arts, skipped the TelePrompTer and spoke from the heart about the need for art in impoverished communities. “Art is not a luxury,” she said. “It is a necessity of the human soul.” Other groups awarded grants included the Lollipop Theatre Network, which provides movie screenings for hospitalized children; FilmAid International, which stages screenings and provides film education for refugees worldwide; Film Independent, which puts on the annual Spirit Awards; and the Sundance Institute. Nine film schools also received grants to support fellowships. The association has given more than $10 million in grants over the past 15 years, Berk said.
Agence France-Presse
TOKYO - Disaster-hit Japan pushed on with recovery efforts Wednesday, a day after a strong earthquake struck and three days after a typhoon brought flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 15 people. In the flood-hit western town of Sayo, 400 rescue workers and troops searched debris-strewn river banks for survivors or victims of inundations brought by Typhoon Etau that have left 17 people missing nationwide. In coastal regions near Tokyo,
where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday, hospitals were still treating some of the 120 people injured in the tremor, while officials confirmed one death caused by the quake. A 43-year-old woman found dead after being buried under a pile of
AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Actress Eva Longoria, right, accepts a grant on behalf of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers as actress Rose McGowan looks on at the Hollywood Foreign Press Annual Installation luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009.
LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Postal Service is going into show biz. Sales began Tuesday of “Early TV Memories” commemorative stamps featuring classic characters from the golden 1950s. The campaign was launched at a crowded auditorium at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in North Hollywood. Funny man Carl Reiner kept the program running with his comments. A TV performer since 1948, he doesn’t have his own stamp. The reason: He is 87 and still alive. You have to be dead to appear on the stamps. Reiner introduced dozens of survivors of stars with stamps. Among them: Jayne Meadows, widow of Steve Allen; Grace Bradley Boyd, widow of William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy); Sam and Tracy Nelson, third generation of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson; Barbara Hale, aka Della Street, secretary to Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). The star of the show may well have been Lassie, who barked and posed on orders from his trainer. “He’s in the 10th generation of Collies,” said June Lockhart, who starred in “Lassie” from 1956 to 1964. “In all my years of working with them, not one has bitten me.” The early television shows that appear on the stamps include “I Love Lucy,” with a picture of Lucy and her friend Ethel struggling to cope with candy rolling past on a conveyor belt. Uncle Milty makes an appear-
ance, commemorating Milton Berle’s funny moments on “Texaco Star Theater.” George Burns and Gracie Allen share a comedic stamp moment, as do Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in “The Honeymooners.” Who could forget the conniving Sgt. Ernest T. Bilko played by the over-the-top Phil Silvers. There’s also the original combination comedy-game show hosted by Groucho Marx and his duck puppet from “You Bet Your Life.”
On the mysterious side are stamps honoring Alfred Hitchcock, who presented tales of suspense, and Jack Webb, who unraveled mysteries as the LAPD’s Sgt. Joe Friday on “Dragnet.” Perry Mason makes an appearance on a stamp featuring Raymond Burr, who played the star defense lawyer, and William Talman, who specialized in losing cases to Mason when playing prosecutor Hamilton Burger.
AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye
A Japanese TV crew cover the cracks following a 6.5-magnitude earthquake at a Makinohara port, Shizuoka Prefecture (State), Japan, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. The powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 hit Tokyo and nearby areas shortly after dawn Tuesday, halting trains and forcing two nuclear reactors to be shut down for safety checks.
books in the city of Shizuoka, west of the capital, was confirmed to have died as a result of the quake, a city official said. Construction crews were meanwhile scrambling to repair a section of the Tomei Expressway, the main road artery linking Tokyo with the western city of Osaka, that was damaged in a landslide triggered by the quake. “We are trying to resume operations as quickly as possible, but we found further damage and are carefully conducting the repair work,” said Susumu Takahashi, a spokesman for Central Nippon Expressway Corp. Government inspectors were also conducting safety checks on the Hamaoka nuclear plant, which automatically shut down two reactors when the quake hit offshore 170 kilometres (105 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The tremor caused 24 minor impacts on the plant, such as cracked building walls, but caused no radioactive leak, said a company official. “An inspection team from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has entered the plant and started examining the safety conditions,” said a spokesman for the operator Chubu Electric Power Co. The quake also caused some damage to 3,300 buildings in the worst hit prefecture of Shizuoka and nearby areas, also toppling the stone wall of an ancient castle and damaging the tiled roof of a temple. Tokyo was sunny again after Typhoon Etau veered off into the Pacific Ocean after threatening to hit the capital, but elsewhere rescue workers were still digging through the rubble brought by its torrential rain storms. In Tokushima on the southwestern island of Shikoku, police found the body of a nine-year-old boy who had been missing since the weekend. In the worst-hit town of Sayo in western Hyogo prefecture, where 12 deaths were reported after a rainswollen river burst its banks and ripped away three bridges, rescue workers were searching for victims. The coastguard also deployed three patrol boats in waters near the mouth of the river to search for those still missing, a local official said.
China bloggers arrested over cannibal hoax Agence France-Presse
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Actress June Lockhart, left, with John Shaffner, Chairman & CEO Television Academy of Arts & Sciences pose for a photo with Lassie, Jr. at the TV Academy & United State Postal Service dedication ceremony for the ‘Early TV Memories’ commemorative stamps at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, Calif. on Tuesday, August 11, 2009.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Japan digs out from typhoon, quake disasters
Golden 1950s TV returns on commemorative stamps Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS – Investigators in the Michael Jackson case continue to sharpen their focus on the personal physician who was with him when he died. Dr. Conrad Murray has emerged as the central figure in the ongoing probe into Jackson’s June 25 death. And on Tuesday, local police and federal drug agents searched a Las Vegas pharmacy and uncovered evidence AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, File showing Murray legally purFILE - In this July 7, 2006 file photo, chased a potent anesthetic from Dr. Conrad Murray poses for a photo the business, according to a law in Houston. A law enforcement official says Michael Jackson’s doctor gave enforcement official who rethe pop star multiple sedatives along quested anonymity because the with a powerful anesthetic that the probe is ongoing. Murray told investigators he singer used to sleep. administered the anesthetic propofol and multiple sedatives to Jackson in his rented Beverly Hills mansion in the hours before he died, the official told The Associated Press. Propofol is normally used to render patients unconscious for medical procedures and only is supposed to be administered by anesthesia professionals in medical settings. While it is extremely strong, propofol is not a controlled substance so investigators are looking for evidence to show Murray may have been remiss in administering it in a home. A central issue for detectives on the case is what drugs were in Jackson’s system when he died and how those medications were obtained. Through a spokeswoman Tuesday, Murray’s attorney Edward Chernoff said he had no immediate comment. Murray has talked to detectives but has not spoken publicly since Jackson died. Chernoff has said Murray gave Jackson nothing that “should have” killed him and specifically said the physician did not give Jackson the narcotic painkillers Demerol or OxyContin. The cause of death for Jackson and details about what was in his system will be revealed in the final autopsy report prepared by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. The office announced Monday that it has completed its work but won’t release findings while the police investigation is ongoing. Weeks ago, authorities served search warrants at Murray’s Las Vegas home and his businesses in Las Vegas and Houston, where they seized computer hard drives, medical equipment invoices, phone records and other items. Officials also sought evidence pertaining to the purchase of propofol in those warrants. Court documents also show investigators are looking into Jackson’s interactions with at least six other doctors.
News
International
BEIJING - Police in southern China have reportedly arrested four men allegedly behind a bizarre Internet hoax which claimed cannibals were responsible for the disappearance of 10 missing people. The bloggers in Guangdong province faked photos which they claimed showed a corpse being prepared for consumption by cannibals,
the Global Times said Wednesday. “Those responsible for the post, which led to rumours of cannibals being at large in the area, are now detained,” a police official in the city of Yangjiang told the paper. The four suspects, surnamed Lei, Tan, Chen and Yu, were detained on Friday by police following an online investigation. They claimed some local villagers ate people in nearby Songbai
township and faked photographs of a corpse which they then placed on their website. The grisly claim started circulating on the Internet and caused panic when a 19-year-old woman went missing last month, the report said. But more savvy web surfers were not taken in. “It’s fake news. There are traces of Photoshop,” one Internet user was quoted as saying.
5
AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade
A teacher helps a student to put on a mask, at a school in Mumbai, India, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009. A regional party, the Shiv Sena distributed masks in schools as a preventive measure against swine flu.
Mumbai closes all schools over swine flu fears Agence France-Presse
MUMBAI - Indian authorities on Wednesday ordered all schools and colleges in the vast city of Mumbai to shut for a week over fears about the spread of swine flu. The state government of Maharashtra has had the highest incidence of swine flu fatalities in India, with four people dying over the last ten days in Pune, 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Mumbai. “The government has decided to close down schools, colleges and coaching classes in the entire city for a week starting on Thursday,” said Suresh Wandile, spokesman for the state’s chief minister. “We have seen a rise in cases of swine flu cases in the state. We need to take care, hence these precautionary measures,” he said, adding that all cinemas and theatres would also close for three days.
Mumbai, home of the Bollywood film industry, is a teeming industrial and financial city with an estimated population of 18 million people. Public concern in India about the spread of the A(H1N1) virus has mounted since the country’s first death from the disease on August 3. As of Wednesday, 15 people infected by the virus had died, while more than 1,000 people had tested positive, the Press Trust of India news agency said. The health ministry put the death toll at nine, saying it updated its figures every evening. With the government appealing for calm, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stressed that swine flu should be put in the context of other health risks in India. “It is not the only virus we have in our country. We have much more fatal diseases, much more costly diseases,” he told reporters in Delhi earlier this week.
The Glasgow district where death comes early Agence France-Presse
GLASGOW - The cheery mural that welcomes you to Calton not surprisingly fails to mention the dubious claim to fame of this district of eastern Glasgow — it has the lowest life expectancy in Europe. Just a few minutes’ walk from the designer boutiques of Glasgow’s handsome city centre, men can expect on average to die at 53 compared with the British national average of 77. And in an area devastated by the collapse of the steel and textile industries, women can also expect shorter lives than their counterparts elsewhere in Britain, dying on average at 75 compared to 81 nationally. While men in Glasgow as a whole lead shorter lives than elsewhere in Britain, Calton’s social problems are so deep they cause doctors and health officials to de-
spair. Dr Robert Jamieson has worked in Calton for 22 overstretched years. “Sadly we have a lot of very unwell patients. It’s not unusual to see patients who have heart attacks in their late thirties or early forties, or having strokes as well,” he says. “We have an abundance of obesity, type 2 diabetes and lung problems due to excessive smoking. “In more affluent areas you have very large geriatric problems, because of the number of patients in their eighties or nineties. “But sadly very few of our patients live until their eighties. Half the men die before 53 or 54 in this neighbourhood.” Jamieson says the chronic health problems stem from a lethal mix of a poor diet, poverty, unemployment, violence, plus heavy consumption of alcohol and drugs — and the bad habits are hard to break from one generation to the next.
4
Thursday, August 13, 2009
News
International
AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere
British born singer and actress Jane Birkin demonstrate her support to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi during a gathering near the Myanmar embassy in Paris, Tuesday Aug. 11, 2009. Agence France-Presse
YANGON - In the bustling streets of Myanmar’s impoverished main city, people were relieved that Aung San Suu Kyi had been spared a jail term but still yearned for her freedom. “It was like we got B grades in our exams. We cannot be totally happy, but people are glad that she is back home,” said Yangon taxi driver Tin Ko, one of few people to talk amid fears of reprisals by the military regime. “People expected already that the government would not put her in jail. Our government is very clever,” the 45-year-old said. A prison court in the city on Tuesday found the Nobel peace laureate guilty of breaching the terms of her detention, following a bizarre incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in May. Judges originally sentenced
Canada ‘reconsiders’ relations with Niger after referendum Agence France-Presse
OTTAWA - Canada said Tuesday it must “reconsider” its relations with Niger after a referendum on constitutional changes paved the way for President Mamadou Tandja to potentially rule for life. Tandja, who has been in power since 1999 in the uranium-rich west African country, won 92.5 percent of the August 4 vote to remove a two-term limit to the presidency, according to the electoral commission. “Canada is concerned at this setback, which compromises the democratic progress made by Niger over the past 10 years,” Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement.
“The authorities of Niger have ignored the protests of the country’s people, the decisions of its legitimate democratic institutions and the grave concerns expressed by the international community, including Canada’s two previous calls to the authorities to act responsibly,” he added. “As a result of this situation, Canada is obliged to reconsider the terms of its relations with the authorities of Niger.” Niger’s opposition has rejected the new constitution. The amendment also beefs up the president’s powers by making him the “sole holder of executive power.” The president will head the army, name the prime minister and have complete control over the cabinet.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
13
Aspirin shows promise for colon cancer patients
Quietly, Myanmar dreams of Suu Kyi’s freedom Suu Kyi to three years of hard labour and imprisonment, but Myanmar’s military leader Than Shwe signed a special order commuting the sentence to 18 months under house arrest. Analysts said the regime’s decision was partly designed to quell international concerns over her fate, but it was also meant to defuse potential public anger at home. Memories are still fresh in Myanmar of massive anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007 that the military brutally suppressed. “People are glad that she is at home. She is even more popular now as the state radio and TV news made several announcements about the judgement yesterday,” said security guard Zaw Naing. “But things will be quiet again after one week as our people have to worry about their own lives. It is more important than politics.” The 50-year-old added that “even though we are struggling for our lives, people still love her and want to see her freed. We want to see there be a fair competition (in elections)”. Suu Kyi’s sentence effectively rules her out of the elections scheduled in Myanmar for 2010, as critics of the military regime had feared. She has already been confined for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy’s landslide victory in the last polls held in 1990. The pro-democracy leader is considered a heroine in Myanmar, where she is widely referred to as “The Lady”. Witnesses said teashops were full of quiet chatter about her after the verdict and people were keen to read about her. “Today’s newspapers have all sold out since this morning. People are so interested in the news about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said a newspaper vendor, who asked not to be named.
Life Style
International
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – Score another win for the humble aspirin. A study suggests colon cancer patients who took the dirt-cheap wonder drug reduced their risk of death from the disease by nearly 30 percent.
AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco
People look at a burning bus after a protest by supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya in Tegucigalpa, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. Thousands opposing the coup-installed government marched into the capital Tuesday after staging weeklong walks across Honduras, producing one of the largest demonstrations in support Zelaya since he was ousted.
Pro-Zelaya protest turns violent in Tegucigalpa Agence France-Presse
TEGUCIGALPA - A demonstration in support of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya turned violent Tuesday when a group of protesters set fire to a fast-food restaurant, an AFP reporter witnessed. The protesters were returning from a mass march near the presidential palace when some began hurling rocks at a Popeyes fried chicken restaurant, and then set fire to the establishment, the reporter said. Earlier, a demonstrator on a motorcycle was shot in the ankle by a traffic policeman, enraging a crowd that then set fire to a bus, a leader of the march, Juan Barahona, told AFP. Radio stations said police were
deployed to disperse the protesters, who had gathered for the biggest show of support for Zelaya since his first aborted attempt to return to the country on July 5. Some traveled by foot from eastern and central Honduras to converge upon the capital city. “They are afraid of us because we are not afraid,” said Zelaya’s daughter, Hortensia, referring to the interim government led by Roberto Micheletti.
The National Resistance Front, which opposes the bloodless coup that sent Zelaya into exile, has held marches in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula to step up the pressure for his return. A proposal Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has acted as a mediator in the conflict, calling for Zelaya’s return to office and early elections has been rejected by the interim government. The Organization of American States (OAS) planned to send a delegation of Latin American foreign ministers to Honduras late next week or early the following week to press for a negotiated solution to the crisis.
Aspirin already is recommended for preventing heart attacks and strokes, along with its traditional use for relief of minor aches and pains. Its merit in colon cancer prevention has been tempered by its side effects, bleeding from irritation of the stomach or intestines. The new study suggests patients who already have colon cancer may benefit from taking aspirin along with surgery and chemotherapy. In a separate analysis of a subgroup of patients, only those with the most common type of tumor, those that overproduce the Cox-2 enzyme, saw a benefit. “The paper is absolutely incredible, and I don’t gush normally,” said Dr. Alfred Neugut of Columbia University Medical Center in New York who has done similar research but was not involved in the new study. In an accompanying editorial, Neugut wrote that the study “comes as close as it can to offering patients a way to help themselves.” “This is certainly something patients would want to discuss with
their doctors,” said Dr. Andrew Chan of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the study, which appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. It’s too early for an across-theboard recommendation however, both Chan and Neugut said. The results should be confirmed in an experiment where patients would be randomly assigned to take aspirin or a dummy pill. A study based in Singapore that’s now recruiting patients may verify aspirin’s benefit. Chan’s study was observational, meaning researchers merely observed what patients were already doing, such as taking aspirin regularly for headaches. It’s possible that factors other than aspirin accounted for the difference in cancer deaths. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States after lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that nearly 50,000 Americans will die from it this year. The researchers analyzed data
AP Photo/M. Spencer Green
Packages of aspirin fill the shelves of a drugstore, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Chicago. A study suggests colon cancer patients who took aspirin reduced their risk of death from the disease by nearly 30 percent.
from two large ongoing studies, the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. They looked at nearly 1,300 people with colorectal cancer who’d been followed for an average of 12 years. All the patients in the study
July sees big jump in fuel efficiency of new cars Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Cars and light trucks sold in July got more miles per gallon than those sold in previous months, say researchers, who credit the Cash for Clunkers program. The average mileage for new vehicles rose from 21.4 miles per gallon in June to 22.1 mpg in July. That may not sound like much, but it’s the highest mileage researchers at the University of Michigan have seen since the Environmental Protection Agency reconfigured
mileage estimates in October 2007. It’s also the biggest one-month jump. Study co-author Michael Sivak noted the improvement came even as gas prices fell and unemployment levels shrank somewhat. Normally, those factors lead to the purchase of more gas guzzlers. The higher mileage shows the effect of Cash for Clunkers, Sivak said, and he expects the jump to be even bigger when August figures come out. That’s because the trade-in rebate program only got going late in July. The clunkers program gives people trading in certain vehicles up
to $4,500 if they increase their mileage by at least 5 to 10 mpg. A lasting trend showing a large increase in mileage for new cars sold would be unusual for this country. “We have made very little improvement over 84 years. Therefore, the changes we are seeing now are huge,” Sivak said. Those are only figures for new cars sold. Most cars on the road are older and it takes about 20 years for the fleet on the road to turn over completely. The new figures are a first step toward less pollution and less gasoline used, Sivak said.
Kuwait says foils Qaeda attack on US base Agence France-Presse
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait said on Tuesday it has foiled an attack by suspected Al-Qaeda members on the main US military base in the Gulf emirate, the first such incident in four years. Security forces have arrested six Kuwaitis who were planning to attack Camp Arifjan, and state security offices and other government buildings, according to an interior ministry statement. A US Defense Department spokesman in Washington confirmed that US forces in Kuwait were targeted for attack but said it was unclear if the suspects were linked to Al-Qaeda or that they planned to strike at Camp Arifjan. About 15,000 US soldiers are sta-
tioned in Kuwait, the oil-rich Gulf emirate which is also used as a transit point for thousands of US soldiers going to and from neighbouring Iraq. “Security forces were able to dismantle a terrorist network of six nationals belonging to Al-Qaeda that was planning to bomb Arifjan camp, state security headquarters and other buildings,” the interior ministry statement said. The suspects are being interrogated over the plot against Camp Arifjan, which lies in the desert 70 kilometres (about 40 miles) south of the Kuwaiti capital close to the Saudi border, the ministry said. Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television said the attack was supposed to be carried out during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts on around August 20.
“We congratulate the Kuwaiti government and their security forces on the apprehension of these halfdozen or so suspects,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. “I don’t think it is clear at this point that Camp Arifjan was necessarily where they were plotting their attack, but clearly US forces were among those they wanted to hit, based upon our initial assessment,” he told reporters. The suspects also were plotting to hit Kuwaiti targets but it was unclear if they were tied to Al-Qaeda or merely inspired by the network, he said. In the last incident involving AlQaeda-linked militants, suspects accused of plotting to attack US forces in the emirate and in Iraq were involved in a deadly gunfight with Kuwaiti troops in 2005.
FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 file photo, Vice President Joe Biden looks over a Volt concept vehicle after addressing an audience in Detroit. General Motors Corp. said Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 that its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the mileage of the current champion, the Toyota Prius. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file
had surgery for colon cancer and many also had chemotherapy. Among the 549 participants who used aspirin regularly after their diagnosis, 81 died from colorectal cancer (about 15 percent). In contrast, among the 730 people who
didn’t use aspirin, 141 died of the disease (about 19 percent). Taking into account other cancer risk factors, such as family history, the researchers calculated aspirin’s overall benefit: a 29 percent reduction in risk of cancer death.
Asian Undersea Cable Disruption Slows Internet Access A segment of the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) undersea cable network between China and Taiwan suffered a serious cable fault on Wednesday, causing Internet traffic to be rerouted onto other undersea cables and slowing Internet access for some users in Southeast Asia. At about 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, an alarm signaled a cable fault on Segment 7 of APCN2, which connects Hong Kong and Shantou, China. The disruption caused a temporary loss of service on the undersea link but all customers that use the cable were soon shifted to capacity on other cables, according to a source familiar with the situation. The APCN2 cable is owned by a consortium of 26 telecom operators from 14 different countries. The cable links Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Japan. The exact cause of the APCN2 fault was not immediately known. The alarm indicated the disruption was caused by a “single point of failure,” which suggests a variety of possibilities, including a technical failure or a cable cut, the source said. The incident was likely the main reason that Internet access appeared slower for some users in Singapore on Wednesday, the source said. Undersea cables are used to transport much of the world’s Internet traffic and can be easily damaged by natural disasters or
other causes. In 2006, a powerful earthquake off the southern coast of Taiwan damaged several cables and slowed Internet access to a crawl for users in Southeast Asia. To what extent Singaporean users were affected by the latest disruption was not immediately clear. Singaporean Internet service provider Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), which is an investor in APCN2, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Starhub, another Singapore ISP that holds a stake in the cable, did not return a phone call seeking comment. The fault that hit APCN2 on Wednesday follows two other service disruptions that recently hit the network. One disruption affected APCN2 Segment 7, between Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the other affected APCN2 Segment 1, which connects Singapore and Malaysia. However, both of these disruptions were deemed to be “relatively minor” compared to the disruption that took place Wednesday morning, the source said. The cause of the two earlier faults on APCN2 was not immediately clear. APCN2 isn’t the only Asian undersea cable currently suffering from a service disruption. Efforts are currently underway to repair the East Asia Crossing (EAC) undersea cable after it experienced “double faults” off the coast of Taiwan last weekend, according to Roland Lim, a spokesman for Pacnet, which owns EAC.
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Sport
Thursday, August 13, 2009
International
News
International
Federer fights off Canadian resistance to advance MONTREAL - World number one Roger Federer fought off a surprise showing from Canadian outsider Frederic Niemeyer to advance 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 Tuesday at the ATP Montreal Masters. Britain’s Andy Murray began his summer hardcourt season with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy as the Scotsman took his first step towards a possible move to the world number two ranking. Third-ranked Murray had a few niggles to iron out but was not at all dissatisfied with his showing in just over 90 minutes against the number 36 winner of last month’s Stuttgart clay title. “I shanked a few returns,” admitted Murray. “I’m hoping that will get better with a few matches. Overall, I’m pleased with the state of my game right now.” Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the 2007 Montreal champion, began his campaign over Canadian Peter Polansky 64, 7-6 (8/6). The world number four admitted to nerves. “I felt quite good, but not from the start,” Djokovic said. “The first couple of games I was sweating a lot and I was quite nervous - it was the first match after Wimbledon. It wasn’t easy to get into the rhythm. “But I managed to get my things together towards the end of the first set.” Murray is keen to bypass injury returnee Rafael Nadal this week if he can
surpass the Spaniard in Montreal. ATP calculations show that the Scot could take over the second spot from the Spaniard, whose tendinitis-plagued knees are now a constant worry. “It impossible not to think about it a little bit,” confessed Murray. “But when I’m playing my match, it’s the furthest thing from my mind. The only thing I was thinking was winning and nothing to do with rankings.” Eighth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, playing his first match on cement this summer, put out Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2) to join Murray in the last 16. In the first round, veteran Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero beat injured Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-4 in the first round as the Australian was hampered by a muscle tear he suffered last week in Washington against Juan Del Potro. “In the back of my mind, I didn’t want to do any more damage to my leg, either, obviously before going into another Masters Series next week but more the US Open in a couple week’s time,” said Hewitt, like Ferrero a former number one. Tommy Haas rallied past the huge serve of Ivo Karlovic, overcoming 19 aces in a 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 victory.
Bolt looks for lightning to strike again Agence France Presse
BERLIN - It’s hard to imagine bettering three Olympic gold medals and three world records but Jamaican Usain Bolt will be endeavouring to repeat the trick at the World Athletics Championships here. The 22-year-old goes into the event nigh on invincible, though, with the caveat that he has not faced major rival Tyson Gay this year.
BP/doc
Usain Bolt
While Bolt enjoyed the Beijing Games Gay - who goes into the championships as the defending champion in the 100 metres, 200m and also the 4x100m relay - endured a miserable time failing even to make the 100m final. Despite the American setting the fastest times this year in the 100m and 200m the Jamaican is confident he can see off his challenge. “Personally, no disrespect to Tyson, but that (breaking the 100m record) is going to be a hard task for him,” Bolt has said of the American. Bolt though, who attracted criticism from IOC president Jacques Rogge last year for what he saw as showing a lack of respect for his fellow athletes with his showboating style, does accept that at some point he will be beaten. “I am ready for anything that comes my way. I am not invincible, I am not unbeatable. Other people will have a good day when I don’t, but until then I’ll keep winning,” he said. Bolt and his fellow Jamaican sprinters, who dominated the Olympics climaxing with a world record in the men’s 4x100m relay, have come under a cloud with the recent revelations that five of their team-mates had tested positive for drugs, though, they were later cleared to run at the championships. However, Bolt is adamant that it won’t distract him from his target at the championships. “Definitely it’s sad to know there are still drugs (in the sport) but for me it doesn’t really matter, as long as I’m clean I’m just going forward,” he said. “It’s sad for the sport because the sport was getting on so well, I was trying to bring it back. This is probably a step backwards because people start questioning everybody, especially from Jamaica. “For me it doesn’t matter because I will be going out there, day after day, doing my best. I get tested all the time. It shows that people get tested and they get caught if they are on drugs.” Jamaica will be looking to Bolt to lift the shadows of doubt hanging over their athletes and confirm that he really is the master of the sprinting world - not just a bolt out of the blue.
3
US healthcare battle turns nasty
Agence France Presse
In his first match since winning his record 15th Grand Slam title last month at Wimbledon, Federer outlasted the 487th-ranked Niemeyer, who is retiring at the end of the season. “I’m very happy with my game. I reacted well in my first match back,” said Federer. “I played the big points well. I’m very pleased. Niemeyer, 33, saved three match points on his own serve, benefitting from a service winner and a pair of Swiss errors to hold for 4-5 and give his home Quebec crowds a thrill. But top seed Federer, a new father of twin daughters born July 23, put an end to the dream a game later as he served it out, concluding with his 12th ace of the evening. Federer, who skipped ther past five tour weeks, saved the only break point he faced in the 86minute contest. “There was a stadium full of Canadians cheering for Frederic but there were also a few for me,” Federer said. “I’m happy to be back after the long break. We played at a very high level. Frederic has a big serve and is tough.”
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Agence France-Presse
AP Photo/Roberto Schmidt, Pool
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, jokes with patients and staff of the Heal Africa clinic in Goma, Congo Tuesday Aug. 11, 2009.
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson
Roger Federer, from Switzerland, returns to Canada’s Frederic Niemeyer during second round of play at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 in Montreal.
Lee and Zhou find it easy Agence France Presse
HYDERABAD - Topseeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia moved into the men’s singles third round of the World Badminton Championships with an easy 21-11, 21-14 win over Nigerian Ola Fagbemi here on Wednesday. World number one Zhou Mi of Hong Kong also found it easy, racing to a 21-11, 21-15 victory over New Zealand’s Chan Ky Michelle to advance to the women’s singles third round. “I don’t think I was at my 100 per cent best today, but so far so good,” said world number one Lee, seeking his maiden title at the championships. “I think my next match (against Tien Minh Nguyen) will be tough because I have lost to him recently in the Singapore Open.” Vietnam’s Nguyen, seeded 14th, reached the third round with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Brice Leverdez of France. Zhou, who got a first-round bye, needed just 27 minutes to beat the New Zealander in her opening match. “I am still trying to adapt to the conditions,” said Zhou,
who represented China before qualifying to play for Hong Kong in 2007. “I also quit the game for some time and then returned to achieve the number one ranking. I am happy with what I have achieved. It will be another achievement if I win the title here.” Zhou, like Lee, is aiming for a maiden World title. Third-seeded Peter Gade of Denmark and fourth-seeded Indonesian Taufik Hidayat also stormed into the men’s singles third round with straight-game victories. Gade beat Japan’s Sho Sasaki 21-11, 21-12 while Hidayat recorded a 21-17, 2115 win over Mathieu Lo Ying Ping of France. “It was easier than I expected and everything is going according to the plan,” said Gade. “I controlled the match but I have to be at my best in the remaining matches. I had a good run-up to the championships and I practised very hard.” Other men’s seeded players to advance to the third round were Yu Hsing Hsieh of Taipei, Indonesians Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso, Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana and Chan Yan Kit of Hong Kong.
‘No magic wand’ for Clinton in DR Congo crash course Agence France-Presse
GOMA - From dirt paths teeming with thousands of homeless to a hospital treating a rape epidemic, Hillary Clinton saw the dire state of war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday and came away admitting she had no “magic wand” to fix it. The US secretary of state paid a brief visit to Goma, the town near the Rwanda border where a crisis of sexual violence has only grown worse since the military launched an operation against Hutu militants in January. Clinton later said she was “just overwhelmed by what I saw.” She said she met two rape victims, including one who was violated even though she was eight months pregnant, with the assailants ripping out the fetus. “It is almost impossible to describe the level of suffering and despair,” Clinton later told reporters as she headed to her next destination of Nigeria. Clinton, a passionate advocate for women’s rights, left behind her “Air Force Two” jet for a small UN aircraft to take her to Goma’s rudimentary airstrip. She insisted on heading to Goma on her 11-day trip to Africa despite concerns in some quarters about security. The result was a packed day-long schedule, with her motorcade whizzing bumpily along pot-holed roads from talks with President Joseph Kabila in a tent on the shores of glistening Lake
Kivu to brief encounters with ordinary people. Thousands of people emerged along the dirt roads around to watch, with some — mostly women — cheering as she came through while most stared in curiosity. Even on such a brief visit, Clinton saw and heard a lot. At a forum on sexual violence, activists complained angrily that the UN and non-governmental workers flocking to Goma managed only to raise the cost of living while failing to end the scurge. “We get lots of visitors here, plenty of celebrities,” said Christine SchulerDeSchryver, an activist of partially Congolese descent from the V-Day group. “But in the end, all that they leave are their business cards,” she said. Clinton, drawing on a message she and President Barack Obama have repeated across Africa, said it was ultimately up to local people to take charge of their own destiny. “I do not want to over-promise,” Clinton said. “I am not just here to leave a business card but I don’t have a magic wand either.
“What I do pledge to you is that we will work, we will work hard. We will work with your government, we will work with the groups many of you represent,” she said. “I have seen so many examples of courage. I know the Congolese people do not lack in courage,” she said. Clinton met one such example as she toured the UN-supervised Mugunga camp, home to nearly 20,000 people displaced by the conflict. Set up in 2006, the camp is a labyrnth of small dirt roads with many residents living in makeshift homes of wood or metal. Plumes of smoke rose from spots around the camp as people burn firewood to prepare food. Clinton met a 32-year-old mother of six, Chantal Mapemdo, who told her that she was too scared of the sexual violence to return to the nearby fields. Mapemdo — sporting a T-shirt that read “I am happy when I share with you” — instead started a group of women who weave baskets to earn a living. Clinton, moved by her story, looked at her firmly and told her that she was fighting on her behalf. “I just came back from a meeting with President Kabila and I told him we want to stop the violence so you can go home,” Clinton said. Clinton said she had a clear ultimate goal — to end the sexual violence. “I hope that we will see changes ... so that our children will not even know what we are talking about.”
LEBANON - “One day God is going to stand before you and judge you,” shouted a fierce opponent of US President Barack Obama’s healthcare plans, his voice trembling with anger. August, normally a sleepy month in the Washington political calendar, has been anything but this year with Obama lieutenants confronted by a deafening clamor of abuse as they try to sell his sweeping health reforms. The man quoted above was yelling right in the face of Democratic senator Arlen Specter on Tuesday at a supposedly intimate “town-hall meeting” in his home state of Pennsylvania. Similar scenes have played out across the country as Congress’s August recess has set the stage for a battle over Obama’s flagship policy to cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans. He has dispatched senators and congress people to school gymnasiums, public libraries and fire halls across the land, only to see them largely shouted down by uproarious crowds. Healthcare reform has bedeviled many administrations, including that of former president Bill Clinton who tried, and very publicly failed, to change the system. Republicans are loudly fretting over the cost of Obama’s plans, with some branding it “socialism” and warning that the soaring US budget deficit will skyrocket if the president gets his way. A 35-year-old woman won a standing ovation from the rowdy gathering in Lebanon, Pennsylvania when she called on Obama to return government to its limits as prescribed by the US constitution. “The government has the right to control our life from prebirth to death,” she said, angrily accusing Specter and Obama of seeking to transform the United States “into Russia, into a socialist country.” This is an oft-heard cry from the Republican right who have been stoking fears that the president and his allies are plotting a government takeover of the private US healthcare system and will raise taxes to boot. Opponents also claim the result would find the federal government dictating healthcare choices and ultimately lowering the standard of coverage for people who already have insurance. Democratic allies allege an orchestrated campaign of disinformation, including plots to disrupt the lawmakers’ “town hall” discussions. Top Democrats in Congress Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have criticized protestors for drowning out opposing views and described the boisterous displays as “simply un-American.” Some of the shouting has been quite extreme. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative star of one America’s most popular radio talk shows, compared Obama’s healthcare logo on Thursday to the Nazi swastika, drawing a furious response from Jewish groups. Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin wrote in an Internet post that Obama was seeking to create a “death panel” where government bureaucrats would supposedly “decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of healthcare.” Palin, a darling of the Christian conservative movement in the United States, wrote: “Such a system is downright evil.” The Obama administration has begun fighting back hard over the last week. Taking aim at what it described as “rumors and scare tactics” aimed at derailing reform, the White House unleashed a strategy adapted from his 2008 campaign trail, using a website to counter supposed smears. At a public forum Tuesday in New Hampshire, the president singled out conservative leaders and right-wing media outlets for spurring the confrontations, saying those “who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks.” Obama said his political opponents had sought to “create bogeymen out there that just aren’t real.” The healthcare battle was not expected to ease when lawmakers return in September, with Democrats desperate to meet Obama’s deadline of enacting the overhaul by the year-end. A legislative defeat for Obama could derail his whole change agenda and see a hefty chunk of his political capital eaten up within his first year in office.
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International
Thursday, August 13, 2009
News WORLD NEWS
Costa Rican president says he has swine flu Agence France-Presse
SAN JOSE - Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has contracted swine flu, becoming the world’s first known leader to have fallen ill with the virus.
Plane crash SYDNEY - All 13 people aboard a chartered plane heading to a tourist region of Papua New Guinea were killed when the plane crashed while approaching the rugged terrain during foul weather, Australia’s prime minister says.
TV killings SAO PAULO - In one murder after another, the “Canal Livre” crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim. Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show’s host on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil’s Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Moved. By Alan Clendenning and Stan Lehman. Source: ap
“The pandemic doesn’t discriminate,” Arias said in a statement on Tuesday. “I am one more case in the country, and I am subject to the same recommendations that the health authorities have established for all the population.” The 67-year-old’s brother and chief of staff, Rodrigo Arias, earlier told a shocked nation that the president must remain isolated at home for at least a week, but will not delegate power during his absence. President Arias, a Nobel laureate who suffers from chronic asthma, was said to have had flu-like symptoms for some days, prompting medical tests. “After feeling a sore throat, headache and temperature, the president asked for a test and today (Tuesday) they confirmed he had contracted the A(H1N1) influenza virus,” said Rodrigo Arias. The veteran leader has recently been spearheading international efforts to resolve the crisis in Honduras, meeting rival factions who have clashed since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a militarybacked coup in June. Mayi Antillon, a spokeswoman for the Costa Rican government, said Arias would continue to work from
home. “He does not want to deceive the population,” she said explaining the decision to make his illness public. Arias, who insists he is not a neoliberal but rather “a modern social democrat” who wants Costa Rica to “become in 20 years Latin America’s foremost developed country,” first became president in 1986. During his first four-year term he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for negotiating peace accords which helped bring an end to Central America’s many military conflicts. After a 16-year absence from the presidential palace, he began a second term in office in 2006, following a narrow election victory in which he squeaked by his rival, center-left economist Otton Solis, by 18,000 votes. Between his two presidential terms, Arias nurtured his Arias Peace Foundation, which promotes demilitarization, as in Costa Rica, which has no standing army. Arias has been thrust back into the international spotlight through his mediation in Honduras, meeting many of the main players in the Western Hemisphere. He has produced a plan calling for Zelaya’s return to office and early
Sport
International
ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has urged photographers to respect his privacy and let him have “a bit of peace”, right-wing Italian daily Il Giornale said Wednesday. Respect for privacy “doesn’t exist any more, not for anyone,” Berlusconi told the newspaper, owned by his family’s media empire, in an interview.
“Frankly, I deserve to be left in peace a bit. That’s enough violations of privacy.” Berlusconi was particularly angered by the fact that photographers had again tried to take photos from a vantage point overlooking his luxury villa in Sardinia during a birthday party for one of his daughters on Monday night. Three photographers who tried to take photographs were arrested and had been forced to hand over
15
Gerrard out of Dutch game, Young deputises Agence France Presse
AMSTERDAM - Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has pulled out of the England squad for Wednesday’s friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam because of a groin strain with Aston Villa’s Ashley Young called on to deputise. Midfield dynamo Gerrard trained on Monday but felt a slight soreness in the leg and it was decided to pull him out of the squad as a precaution. The remainder of Fabio Capello’s squad made the trip to the Netherlands and headed off the Amsterdam Arena for a training session. Goalkeeper Ben Foster has already been replaced by Joe Hart after hurting his knee in Manchester United’s Community Shield defeat to Chelsea on Sunday. Young, who has won five caps, failed to shine brightly for England last November against Germany but then featured in a thrashing of Andorra.
Capello was quick to say the Aston Villa man was not expected to slip into the Gerrard role as “I cannot clone Stevie.” Capello told reporters: “Every player has a different style and Ashley Young is really important because he is one of the English players who can dribble and take people on one-on-one. “He has only played twice for me. The first time it was so-so. The second he played very well. “Now he needs the confidence to perform against one of the best national sides in the world.” Young will be seeking to grasp his chance with both hands against opposition who have already romped througb their World Cup qualifying
campaign and Capello said the Dutch would provide “a really important test.” England themselves have been impressive in qualifying to date and one win from their final three group games will take them through. The goalkeeping issue is a headache for Capello, though, as veteran David James is injured and with Foster also now out the spotlight will fall on West Ham’s Robert Green. It will not, however, fall on Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia, who is now qualified to play for England on grounds of residency. “Almunia, for me, is Spanish,” said Capello. “He is Spanish and he plays for the Arsenal team.”
AP Photo/Scott Heppell
Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard, right, controls the ball as Atletico Madrid’s Tomas Ujfalusi looks on during their pre-season friendly soccer match at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009.
Ibra closing in Barca now City newboy Santa Cruz AP Photo/Kent Gilbert
President Oscar Arias. elections, proposals that have so far The World Health Organization been rejected by the interim govern- on Tuesday said 1,462 people had died from swine flu, and that infecment. A business tycoon with coffee and tions were starting to decline in the sugar plantations and interests in a southern hemisphere but picking up financial group, his current term ex- in several Asian countries. By comparison, seasonal flu pires on May 8, 2010. Twenty-seven people have died causes about 250,000 to 500,000 as a result of the virus in Costa deaths a year, and results in about Rica, and about 800 people have three to five million cases of severe been infected. illness, according to the WHO.
Italy’s Berlusconi asks photographers to leave him alone Agence France-Presse
Thursday, August 13, 2009
the memory cards containing their pictures, the Italian press reported. His comments follow a deluge of reports since May on the prime minister’s private life. They include speculation over his relationship with a teenage model; the publication of pictures of topless women and a naked man at his Sardinian villa; and a call girl’s allegations that she slept with him. It was the 72-year-old premier’s attendance at the 18th
birthday party of aspiring model Noemi Letizia that prompted his second wife Veronica Lario to begin divorce proceedings. Berlusconi has denied having had a romantic relationship with the teenager. Referring to the recent articles and photographs, the prime minister has attacked what he described as an “obscene, libellous” campaign that cast Italy in a bad light and harmed the interests of the Italian people.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic
BARCELONA - Zlatan Ibrahimovic is on course to make his Barcelona debut in next week’s Joan Gamper Trophy against Manchester City. Ibrahimovic has been sidelined since his big-money move from Inter Milan last month as he underwent an operation on his fractured left hand the day after his presentation. The Sweden international was therefore unable to play any minutes during the treble winners’ threematch tour to the United States, and will also miss Sunday’s Spanish Supercup first leg against Athletic Bilbao. However, Ibrahimovic may not have to wait much longer for his first appearance for the Catalan giants, with Barca club doctor Ricard Pruna confirming the striker can took a full part in training on Wednesday morning and should be available for next Wednesday’s friendly against City at the Nou Camp. “He can exercise next to the rest of his teammates in contact, in this case with a smaller splint (on the hand),” said Pruna, who added on his club’s website that Ibrahimovic could “play some minutes in the Gamper”. Ibrahimovic joined Barca in a 66million euro cash-plus-player swap that also saw Samuel Eto’o, valued at 20million euros, go the other way to join Inter. Meanwhile, Barca could also be without Thierry Henry for this weekend’s trip to Bilbao, with the striker suffering from Achilles tendon problems that forced him to BP/ist withdraw from the France squad on Monday.
out until end of August Agence France Presse
MANCHESTER - Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz will be out of action until the end of August, the club’s manager Mark Hughes confirmed on Wednesday. When Hughes spent 17 million pounds to sign Santa Cruz from Blackburn during the close-season, he was already aware the Paraguay striker’s City debut would be put on hold due to knee surgery. But Hughes has plenty of attacking options after also signing Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos
Tevez and he plans to let Santa Cruz recover at his own pace. “We knew Roque would have a period of rehabilitation when we signed him, but we have good options up front,” Hughes told City’s website. “If we can, we want to give him the time he really needs, rather than getting him back early and having him at 70 percent. “Rather than bring him back too soon. I would rather give him the time that he needs. We are hoping by the end of the month he will be available.”
BP/ist
Roque Santa Cruz
16
Sport
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Prost: Schumacher made the right call
BP/ist
Casey Stoner
Casey Stoner sidelined Kallio, Fabrizio in
It has been officially confirmed that Casey Stoner will miss the next three rounds of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship, ending his title chances. Ducati’s 2007 world champion, who took four podiums (including two wins) from the first five rounds of this season, has been suffering from a mysterious energy-sapping illness in the five rounds since.
Stoner was sick and visibly exhausted after finishing third at Barcelona on June 14 - then struggled with ‘severe fatigue’atAssen (third) and Laguna Seca (fourth), prompting extensive medical checks after the US GP. But those found only ‘slight gastritis and mild anaemia’, a diagnosis the young Australian was openly doubtful about and he noticed no significant improvement in his physical condition at the following German (fourth) and British events (14th). Epstein Barr Virus, which can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome, was suggested as one possibility but never proven. After Donington, Stoner returned to Australia during the summer break to seek consultation from trusted sports doctors. They are yet to pinpoint the prob-
lem, but think a virus during the Catalunya round triggered the fatigue problems. With medical tests continuing, Stoner will withdraw from action until Estoril on October 4 to try and regain full fitness. “After five extremely difficult races due to my health, I returned to Australia to visit the sports doctors who have looked after me for many years. We have taken the difficult decision not to contest the next three rounds of the championship, to allow my body time to recover from the recent stress,” said Stoner. “The doctors believe that during the Barcelona race I was suffering from a virus, and, that I subsequently pushed my body too hard, leading to problems that have caused my fatigue since then. The doctors are continu-
ing with many tests to try to understand these problems and make sure it does not happen again. “I have spoken with Ducati and thank them for their understanding at this time. I feel very sorry for the factory, my team, my sponsors and the fans and I am also disappointed because the bike in the last races has been very competitive. I will be doing everything possible to come back at full strength for Portugal.” Stoner was leading the world championship at the start of the Catalunya round, but has now dropped to third in the MotoGP World Championship, 37 points behind leader Valentino Rossi. In the five races since his illness, Stoner has frequently lost pace during the second half of the (dry) races.
Alain Prost says he understands Michael Schumacher’s desire to return to Formula 1, but believes the seven-time world champion made the right decision in calling off his comeback due to worries over the strength of his neck. Schumacher injured his neck in a motorcycle testing accident in February and after testing a 2007 Ferrari decided that he was not fit enough to race again in F1. Prost, who won four world titles between 1985 and 1993, told French newspaper Le Parisien that he believes Schumacher needed more time to prepare himself for a return. “The desire and motivation to return takes time to disappear, it takes several years to abandon F1,” said Prost. “Michael and I hung up our helmets for different reasons, but when
you were competitive the temptation to return when asked is great. “If there was any physical risk, Schumacher was right. The neck is crucial in motorsport and if there is pain you can quickly feel nausea and have impaired vision.” Prost also questioned whether the German’s decision was made at least partly because of question marks over his performance. “It remains to be seen if Schumacher stopped solely because of the health problem, or because when he resumed driving he realised that the task was enormous. “He has not started in F1 for three years and only had three weeks to prepare. The body changes very quickly when you stop racing, a driver does not react the same way and the vision is not as sharp.
16 Pages Number 435 1st Year e-mail: info_ibp@balipost.co.id online: http://www.internationalbalipost.com. http://epaper.internationalbalipost.com. Price: Rp 3.000,-
Taiwan scrambles to rescue 700 in landslide villages
Thursday, August 13, 2009
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ICAAP: circumcision could prevent AIDS PAGE 8
AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah
Hollywood Foreign Press give away $1.2 million PAGE 12
Indonesian National Police chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna shows a portrait of Ibrohim, a terrorist suspect who was killed in a police raid on a militant hide out in Central Java, during a press conference at the main police hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. The suspected militant slain during a 16-hour siege with counterterrorism forces last week was not Indonesia’s most-wanted militant Noordin Muhammad Top, police said Wednesday. Sukarna identified Ibrohim, who was a florist at the J.W. Marriott Hotel and Ritz-Carlton, as “a planner and arranger of the hotel bombings.”
Terror mastermind Noordin still at large: Indonesia police Agence France-Presse
WEATHER FORECAST CITY
TEMPERATURE OC
DENPASAR
21 - 31
JAKARTA
24 - 32
BANDUNG
19 - 30
YOGYAKARTA
22 - 31
SURABAYA
23 - 34
SUNNY
BRIGHT/CLOUDY
JAKARTA - Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top is still at large and was not killed in a raid on the weekend, Indonesian police said Wednesday after the latest near-miss in a six-year manhunt. DNA tests showed that a militant killed in the raid was not the alleged terror financier and recruiter, one of
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man, Ibrohim, had also been groomed to launch a suicide attack against Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
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Migrant workers prone to HIV/AIDS
RAIN
HOTLINE
Asia’s most-wanted men, but an accomplice who had helped plan the July 17 hotel bombings in Jakarta. The dead
Yudhoyono later this month, police said. “I announce officially that the war against terrorism has not ended yet,” police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a packed press conference, in a blow to the authorities’ efforts to crush Indonesia’s most dangerous terror network.
Bali Post
Nusa Dua – The financial crisis which happened throughout Asia
in 1997 also affected the migrant workers. Currently, many countries are limiting migration for example by limiting the work permit for migrant workers or even deported them. Without the access to proper migration service, many of the workers are looking for illegal ways which often very unsafe and it also made them prone to HIV/ AIDS. The decreasing in government financial support in handling
HIV/AIDS could also made the disease spread even more. Countries like Taiwan and Malaysia had stop publishing the work permit for foreign workers. The condition made many illegal workers entering the countries and didn’t properly record by the government. It also made the condition of the workers in those countries very poor especially the health care for the people suffering form HIV/AIDS. The report by the United Nation
showed that the female worker who lose their job in foreign countries tend to become sexual workers to survive. In Cambodia, 70,000 female workers lose their jobs since the crisis began in 1997. A research by UN Inter-Agency Project about human trafficking showed that 58% of the workers entering the sexual line of work since the crisis happened and 19% of them were garment workers. Continued on page 6