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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

16 Pages Number 2332st Year

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

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Obama hostsKennedy Centerhonorees

Presidentinaugurate shrimp,scallop productioncenter

Not PublishedWE, the International

Bali Post would like toapologize in advance be-cause we will not be pub-lished on Wednesday, De-cember 8th and Thursday,December 9th 2010 due toGalungan Day

Happy Galungan DayHappy Galungan DayHappy Galungan DayHappy Galungan DayHappy Galungan Day

Associated Press Writer

BERLIN – Knut, Germany’s fa-vorite polar bear, has celebrated his4th birthday with a lavish party at hiszoo attended by about 250 people.

Fish and meat were served in thepolar bear’s snow-covered, outdoorenclosure at the Berlin Zoo on Sun-day, followed by a birthday cakeshaped like the number 4. As Knut

The world’s most famous polar bear Knut eats his “birthdaycake” on his fourth birthday in his snow-covered enclosure at

the Tiergarten zoo in Berlin, on December 5, 2010 in Berlin.AFP PHOTO JOHANNES EISELE

Birthday cake forGermany’s favorite polar bear

gobbled up his cake, the spectatorssang “Happy Birthday” to him, theGerman news agency DAPD re-ported.

The visitors also were given therare opportunity to feed Knut, and

he seemed to enjoy the bread, fruitand fish they brought for him.

Knut has been a star in Germanysince he was hand-raised by zookeepers after his mother rejectedhim at birth.

There was no immediate claimof responsibility for the attack, butsuspicion fell on the PakistaniTaliban and other Islamist networksbitterly opposed to the governmentand 140,000 US-led NATO troopsfighting in Afghanistan.

Pakistanishelp an injuredtribal elderupon hisarrival at ahospital inPeshawar onDecember 6,2010, followinga suicide blast.A doublesuicide bomb-ing killed 40people inPakistan’stribal badlandson December6, attackingpro-govern-ment eldersand membersof an anti-Taliban militiain a keydistrict on theAfghan border.

AFP PHOTO/Hasham AHMED

Twin suicide attack kills 40 atPakistan anti-Taliban meet

Continued on page 6

Agence France Presse

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A double suicide bombing killed 40 people in Pakistan’s tribalbadlands on Monday, attacking pro-government elders and members of an anti-Taliban mili-tia in a key district on the Afghan border. The bombers on motorbikes targeted an administra-tion compound in Ghalalnai, the main town in the tribal district of Mohmand, about 175kilometres (110 miles) northwest of the federal capital Islamabad and near the Afghan border.

“There are 40 dead and up to 60wounded,” Amjad Ali, a senior ad-ministration official in Mohmanddistrict, told AFP by telephone.

About 25 seriously woundedpeople have been transferred formedical treatment in Peshawar, the

main city in northwestern Pakistan,he said. Washington considersPakistan’s lawless northwestern tribalbelt a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the area is the focus of acovert American drone war targetingsenior Taliban militant commanders.

More than 100 people were be-lieved to have been in the compoundwhere government officials, alliedtribal elders and members of local anti-Taliban militia were meeting as thebombers struck Wednesday. Localofficial Maqsood Amin told AFP thatthe building was badly damaged. “Atleast two rooms and a verandah weredemolished,” he said. Pakistan haslong armed and supported tribesmenin a key strategy designed to protectlocal communities from Taliban en-croachments across the northwest.

InternationalTuesday, December 7, 20102

Bali News

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Diah Dewi Juniarti Editors: Gugiek Savindra,Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sri Hartini, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Wirya, Yudi

Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subagiadnya, Subrata, Suentra, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Pujawan, Buleleng: Adnyana, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bali

Putra Ariawan,Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan,. NTB: Agus Talino, Syamsudin Karim, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. Office: Jalan

Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605

Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

In Kubutambahan was organizedthe Pecaruan Panca Sata exorcismritual, while at T-junction of MayongVillage the ritual consisted ofPemahayu Jagat and Pecaruan PancaSata. In the meantime, in the LabuhanAji Temple, Temukus Village, Banjarsubdistrict, was performed thePemahayu Jagat, Nangluk Meranaand Pakelem by implementing CaturNiri, grandiose level of Tawur Balik

Denpasar (Bali Post)—So far, there is an impression that

Bali tourism is sold very cheaply.Price wars up to the unlawful prac-tices in drawing guests tending tobenefit the tourism businesspeoplewith a great capital also denote acommonplace in the world of Balitourism. To anticipate the practice,the Head of Commission I of BaliHouse, Made Arjaya, urged the pro-vincial government to immediatelyimpose a standard price for the Balitourism.

“As one of the renowned touristdestinations in the world, indeed itis time for Bali to set a standard priceof tourism both in terms of hotelrates, tour packages, transportationand other matters related to tourism.In essence, the Bali tourism may nolonger be sold cheaply,” said Arjayato Bali Post on Sunday (Dec 6).

According to Arjaya, the standardprice of Bali tourism should be setforth in legal rules in the form of re-gional regulation (Perda) prevailingthroughout Bali. In drafting the regu-lations, the Bali Provincial govern-ment definitely had to examine thematters carefully with the involve-ment of all stakeholders in the tour-ism industry. No less important, theregulations should set forth the typesof sanctions that could be imposedto the tourism perpetrators proved tohave practiced unlawful acts like theacquisition of guests by paying perhead and the like.

“In my opinion, the regional regu-lation on the standard price of tour-ism or whatever it is called will bevery urgent to be realized consider-ing the competition in the sector ofBali tourism is increasingly un-healthy. Hopefully, the relevant

Amlapura (Bali Post)—President Susilo Bambang

Yudhoyono was scheduled to inau-gurate the installation and develop-ment center of shrimp breeding(IP3U) belonging to whitelegshrimp (Litopenaues vannamei)species at Bugbug Village,Karangasem, Monday (Dec 6). Forthat purpose, the road within the ra-dius of 1 km from the location hadbeen strictly secured from Sunday(Dec 5) by police and a number ofArmed Forces personnel. Mean-while, the cleanup and decorationalong the route leading to the venuewas undertaken on Sunday.

Cleanup against the garbage wasperformed by mutual assistancewith the mobilization of severalresidents of Bugbug and studentsof the schools nearby. Similarly, theroad had been decorated with theinstallation of penjor as far as 1 km,namely from the bridge of TukadBuhu southward until reaching thevenue located at seaside whereships often stranded. Related to thesecurity, a number of local residentspassing through the locationclaimed to remain comfortable, notto be complicated.

In ancient times, this locationwas a place of caring for the lep-

Bangli (Bali Post) –HIV/AIDS sufferers in Bangli

kept increasing year to year. It isnoted until now 47 people has posi-tive HIV/AIDS when the year beforewas only 31 people. The increasingnumbers were suspected to be thepossibility of the public to have hadfree sex.

Sadly, where and who has the dis-ease in Bangli is being secreted. It isstrongly suspected that locations forfree sex are starting to spread aroundin Bangli just like in Denpasar.

Head of Bangli Region AIDS Su-pervision Commission (KPA) dr. I

Pemahayu Jagat andPemahayu Jagat andPemahayu Jagat andPemahayu Jagat andPemahayu Jagat andNangluk Merana ritualNangluk Merana ritualNangluk Merana ritualNangluk Merana ritualNangluk Merana ritualin Bulelengin Bulelengin Bulelengin Bulelengin BulelengSingaraja (Bali Post)—

Hindu devotees in Buleleng undertook a ritual named Pemahayu Jagat, Nangluk Merana andPakelem at three different locations in Buleleng Regency on Sunday (Dec 5). In the eastern re-gion of Buleleng, the ritual was centered in Kubutambahan subdistrict, in the central Bulelengwas held at Labuhan Aji Temple, Temukus Village, Banjar subdistrict and in western Bulelengwas at the T-junction of Mayong Village, Seririt subdistrict.

Sumpah and Pakelem.The Pemahayu Jagat, Nangluk

Merana and Pakelem employed buf-falo, calf, goat, male suckling pig,bangbungkem (reddish-featheredand black-nosed) dog, geese, neckstripe-feathered duck, scaly-feath-ered duck, 9-colored chicken andwas officiated by Trisadaka priestnamely comprising Ida PedandaGede Putra Keliki from Griya

Tegalalang Bangli, Ida PedandaBudha Wayan Sogata from GriyaTianyar and Ida Pedanda RsiBujangga Wisnaya Kemenuh fromGriya Wangining Temukus. Theritual attended by the Regent ofBuleleng Putu Bagiada was intendedto invoke prosperity and safety aswell as to be escaped from the natu-ral disasters recently happened inIndonesia. (kmb15)

To welcome president’s arrival,road along 1 km sterilized

rous patients, so that local residentsthen called it Lepra Beach. Recently,this extensive beach having thespread of black sand has become theplace where people amassed beachsand illegally. The beach sand wassifted where the refined sand wassold, while the coral was left behind.Due to such intensive theft action,only the coarse sand was left on thebeach.

The party of Karangasem publicorder officers (Satpol PP) onceraided the location a few months agofor several times. However, thethieves of beach sand were only pro-vided with coaching. By and large,they confessed to be poor people.They collected the beach sand be-cause they did not know if it wasprohibited. Additionally, theyclaimed to so merely as a side jobfor the sake of survival. Some sandthieves were Bugbug residents orothers from the village nearby suchas Samuh. They admitted to only siftand amass the sand. They had col-lectors and the collectors then soldthe sand to buyers bringing a truck.Even, the sand was sold to Tabananregion used to create a sculpture ormaterial for the making of concreteshrines.

Beach sand thieves captured in

the raid of public order officers wererequested not to repeat their deedsagain. Other than prohibited by theexisting regulations, even when thesand ran out, it was feared to triggerthe more severe coastal abrasion. Sofar, the abrasion was already raging,especially during the high tides. Anumber of coconut trees had col-lapsed as crushed by the marine abra-sion. In addition, the flow of the seawater on the beach was known haz-ardous. In particular season like inthe second half of January, the waveswere also often high. Rigid oceancurrents with ferocious waves re-sulted in severe coastal erosion. Anumber of fishermen were also of-ten missing, where the fate of someof them was never known.

Meanwhile, Regional Secretaryof Karangasem Regency, NengahSudarsa, when met on the sidelinesof the preparation of meeting roomand reception for SBY said thatpresident was planned to arrive onsite at 10:00 a.m. Local Time. In ad-dition to the main agenda of inaugu-rating the IP3U called as the largestin the Southeast Asia, the presidentwas scheduled to have face to facemeeting with the public. The presi-dent would be in Karangasem untilat 1:00 p.m. (013)

Tourism sold at cheap priceBali tourism needs to set stan-dard price of tourism

agencies in the Bali Provincial gov-ernment could prepare the draft ofregulations to be further submittedto the House,” he appealed.

Arjaya reminded that Bali was nolonger allowed to sell the tourism toocheaply. In years to come, he said,Bali tourism should put priority onthe quality matter by targeting ‘qual-ity tourists.’ To attract the qualitytourists, of course it had to be accom-panied by the serious efforts to in-crease the overall quality both in thefield of services, accommodation,transportation and so forth. “To getquality tourists, one of the strategiesthat should be carried out is neverselling Bali too cheaply. Currently,the rates of our hotels are too cheapand so are our transportation andfood,” he said.

Furthermore, Arjaya hoped that inthe future the Bali tourism develop-ment should pay more attention tothe carrying capacity of Bali as asmall island. According to this poli-tician from Sanur, Bali was unnec-essary to be too proud of a fantasticnumber of tourists visit but the qual-ity of tourists traveling to Bali be-longed to low quality. “We prefer themediocre number of tourist visits butthe tourists coming are really quali-fied,” he warned.

In relation to the insistence of theHouse asking the executive topromptly prepare the regulation onthe standard price of Bali tourism,Bali Post was unable to ask for con-firmation of the Head of Bali Gov-ernment Tourism Office I.B.Subhiksu or Assistant II I Ketut Wija.When contacted repeatedly, the mo-bile phone of both officials was notresponded even though they wereactive. (kmb13)

HIV/AIDS Sufferers IncreasedGusti Ngurah Rai, not long agostated that to break this spreadingdisease chain is to involve everyoneas until now it still can’t be foundwhat medicine can treat such diseaseand so it is better to be preventedrather than getting it.

His side also has asked all sidesof the public to not see the HIV/AIDS sufferers as something hor-rible as the virus only can spreadthrough free sex or through bloodand so do not excommunicate them,“Keeping to one partner is the onlygreat way to avoid this diseasespreading.” (kmb17)

3International Bali News Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Denpasar (BisnisBali) –Coming Galungan day, the de-

mand of accessories, traditionalclothing even textiles are increasing.“It’s normal to have demand suchas with coming Galungan day,” asstated by Atika Textile Shop owner,Muhammad Bakir, at Gajah MadaStreet last Sunday (5/12).

Bakir continued, the batik sutradominates the selling this time as 25pieces sold per day. This was causeddue to the price quite reachable fromIDR 200.000 to 300.000 per piece.Besides that it’s a very comfortableproduct as sutra is a better absorb-ing material and great to use in a hotand tropical weather place, “Sutrais a very strong material. Sutra’sstrength is the same as a soft wiremade from steel. Besides that, sutrais also soft when touching the skinand comfortable.”

According to Bakir, sutra canprotect us from having skin disease,so this product is still very liked bythe public. One of the batik sutracomes from Pekalongan, CentralJava, “Every sutra users will feelcooler and much drier even in hot-ter weather.”

Besides batik sutra, bordir (bor-dered) motif kebaya (woman tradi-tional blouse) and safari (man tra-ditional shirt) clothing were mostbought this time as well.

The bordir kebaya looks amaz-ing and trending with the price alsoreachable around IDR 100.000 to250.000 per pieces and it can becombined by brokat, cotton, sutra,endek, or batik textiles. Also thereare lots of bordir motifs to choosefrom.

The similar case happened at In-dia Textiles as stated by its owner,Nazar, “Almost everyday there’s aconsumer that wants batik sutra withGalungan approaching.” It is saidthis is because it is comfortable asthe material can absorb humidityand liquid due to the amino acids inthe sutra.

Nazar explained that sutra has a

The procession held in the beachshore has been a tradition since hun-dred years ago. The ceremony wasfilled with Geblongan wayangdance and Sidakarya mask dance.All the activities involved thevillage’s residents. The purpose tothe procession is to hope Bali willbe safe and far from negative eventssuch as nature disasters that has beenhappening in the country.

In this Nangkluk, there was also

Negara, DenPostHeavy rain with strong winds

hit Jembrana early morning Sun-day (5/12) causing flood hittingTembles, Penyaringan, Mendoyoand two albesia trees at Denpasar-Gilimanuk street fell down result-ing total traffic jam for about oneand a half hours.

The two trees causing MendoyoPolice furious and cut it trunks thathave closed the two way route long

SEVERE destruction on account ofrains or volcanic ashes broken out byMount Merapi turned a number of tour-ist areas within certain radius in theSpecial Region of Yogyakarta into aghost town. To restore the tourism con-dition affected by the eruption ofMount Merapi, the Ministry of Cultureand Tourism invited local and foreignjournalists to visit Yogyakarta. Here isthe report prepared by journalist of BaliPost joining the Familiarization Tripconducted on December 3-5, 2010.

On arriving at the airport of AdiSutjipto Yogyakarta, the participants offamiliarization trip consisting of do-mestic and foreign reporters went di-rectly to the area of tourist attraction ofPrambanan Temple. To reach the re-gion of the largest Hindu temple in In-donesia, it only took us a dozen of min-utes.

However, as soon as arriving at thetourist object claimed by two prov-inces, a miracle was revealed. Justimagine that location was, geographi-cally and if drawn a straight line, closerto the Mount Merapi than the area ofBorobudur Temple seemed to have notbeen bothered by the clumps of hotclouds.

Though it was once touched by thinashes of Mount Merapi, but the area of

IBP/doc

The Batik Sutra cloth is seen on a market.

Galungan Approaching,Great Price Batik SutraSells Well

unique value which is shining likepearls. This is caused by the fibroinlayers which is a protein producedby the sutra worms which forms asmicro structures of prism, “Theseprism structures were the causer tohave lights reflected and causingthese shining effect which becamethe unique interest to the users andthose who sees it.”

Besides that, sutra has a goodstrength over hot weather and noteasily burnt. One of the great thingsabout it is to protect skin from ultra-violet which damages skin.

Bordir kebaya are also very de-manded lately, “Bordir kebaya nowkeeps being a trend to the public es-pecially for the women in using itfor religious ceremonies.” Consum-ers who chose this motif came frommany kinds of classes, “The con-sumers demand over bordir kebayausually increase during Kartini Daycompared to French brokat, semiFrench brokat, also other brokat,which’s sold 30 pieces per day whileothers only 10 pieces sold per day.”

This was caused due to the mate-rials used for bordered kebaya, sutraand cotton, were felt comfortablewhen used by the consumers. Thistime, the bordir kebaya depends onthe materials, design and creation,“At this time what’s favorite wouldbe a kebaya with lots of modifica-tion or creation, as the design is flex-ible and can be suited with the needsand wants of the consumers.”

Nazar reminded, the develop-ing bordir kebaya is not far fromthe public’s enthusiast in wear-ing it in every opportunity and ahigh appreciation to one of thetraditional clothing and nationalclothing. For kebaya, it is surethat all consumers always want tofollow the newest model, “Everyyear even every month there’salways a new innovation towardsthe clothing mode or fashion sothe up to dated accessorize aremore of a trend for the youngergeneration.” (aya)

Thousands ofThousands ofThousands ofThousands ofThousands ofPrayers NangklukPrayers NangklukPrayers NangklukPrayers NangklukPrayers Nangklukat Lebih Beachat Lebih Beachat Lebih Beachat Lebih Beachat Lebih BeachGianyar (Bali Post) –

Thousands of Hindu prayers joined the nangkluk merana (cleansing ceremony) processionlast Sunday (5/12) at Lebih Beach, Gianyar. The ceremony was attended by Gianyar Regent Dr.Ir. Tjok Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati, Vice Regent, Regional Secretary and other Gianyar Gov-ernment officials. Nangkluk merana started by offering Banten Alit (small offering) to Jro MangkSegara Lebih led by Ida Pedanda (priest) Istri Grya Sunia, Kesian, Lebih Village, Gianyar.

mapekelem ritual to the mid oceanwhere Vice Regent Dewa MadeSutanaya SH with Regional Secre-tary Cokorda Gde Putra Nindia, SH,MH joined it.

A Gianyar public figure, AnakAgung Gde Mulyawan stated, thisritual has been done for genera-tions and needs to be done withgood thinking, conversations andbehavior. This Procession has beendone since Rsi Markandya where

it’s meaning and function are clear,to bring about the safety of the ex-ternal and internal and all is men-tioned on the literature “LontarPurwaka Bumi”. Moreover theritual was also to hope for fertili-zation and also in this changingsasih (month) should be seen posi-tively, pray and give offerings,hoping for safety so there’s a neu-tral balance as studied and onLontar Cuda Mani. (kmb16)

Total Traffic Jam, Flood Hit Temblesqueues. The incident hit a travelowned car yet there were no casu-alties.

The flood over Tembles Villageapparently was not the first time.The tens of houses were under wa-ter due to an overflowed irrigationcreeping over the roads and wentinto those houses that were lowerplaced. It is noted Tembles haveexperienced flood five times nowand this flood shocked the resi-

dents as they were asleep. PutuSuarsa, a resident, admitted wasforced to corner his valuables sothe waters coming in won’t dam-age it.

Residents think that the irriga-tion was too narrow so it won’t beable to adapt during heavy rain es-pecially with the rubbishes andbroken branches brought by theflood were blocked by the blockedirrigation. (120)

Miracle to legendary Hindu TemplePrambanan Temple could be said safeand undisturbed. “Miraculously, onlyPrambanan Village that was not af-fected by the eruption of Merapi,” saidDjunanto Hoetomo, one of the officersof PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur,Prambanan and Ratu Boko.

Although not affected, the tourismsector in the region also suffered. A fewstalls hawking various needs of tour-ists in the Prambanan Temple area, al-though opened as usual, they were notguarded by the owner. Seemingly theowners left the stalls unguarded be-cause only few buyers or tourists paida visit. “It was not so bad, sir, becausetourists have started coming,” saidDjunanto.

Suffering of the circle of tourismindustry in the region was originatedfrom the closure of Adi Sutjipto Air-port for several days. Although therewas an alternative for tourists to cometo Yogyakarta namely by car or train,for example, the number of foreigntourist visits in particular had fallendramatically.

The image of Yogyakarta affectedby the eruption of Merapi once echoedthroughout the country up to foreigncountries. In reality, the city ofYogyakarta is quite far from the centerof the eruption and it is safe to visit.

Such an image made the tourism dropto the bottom of a ravine. “Tourism isjust like the fast coming down of hotclouds killing many people,” saidDjunanto.

Various endeavors to restore theimage of tourism continued to be un-dertaken by the government ofYogyakarta Special Region. Tazbir, theHead of Yogyakarta Government Tour-ism Office said the matter a few daysago when his party performed a roadshow to Bali. The purpose was to in-form the world that Yogyakarta tour-ism was safe to visit. “We are just likepicking up the ball from the nest of tour-ists,” he said.

While in Bali, said Tazbir, the tour-ism components of Yogyakarta madedialogue and organized a meeting withmedia. This was carried out to provideinformation that the tourism magnetsof Yogyakarta remained very strong,so the eruption of Merapi covered byinternational media would kindle themto think and make the Mount Merapias a new tourist attraction. “We willmake the Mount Merapi as a touristattraction for domestic and foreign tour-ists by establishing a number of build-ings that will support the tourism eventhough they are not permanent build-ings,” Tazbir added.

International4 Tuesday, December 7, 2010 News

“Negotiations (with Areva) havereached an advanced stage to pavethe way for the launching of nuclearpower reactors in Jaitapur in part-nership with Indian industry,” Singhtold a joint press conference. Thedeal is short of a final sale agree-ment, but it means Arena has movedahead of competitors from theUnited States and Japan in the raceto sell reactors to India, which is in-vesting heavily in atomic energy.

Russia is already constructingtwo nuclear power units in the south-ern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. TheMaharashtra plant is set to ultimatelyhave six reactors, but the first twoare worth 7.0 billion euros (9.3 bil-lion dollars), according to the Frenchpresidency.

Sarkozy is on a four-day trip toIndia, where he is seeking deepertrade ties while acknowledging hishosts’ increased role on the worldstage. British Prime Minister David

Associated Press Writer

BEIJING – President Barack Obama urgedChina’s leader in a phone call Monday to sendBeijing ally North Korea a message that “itsprovocations are unacceptable,” while the Chi-nese leader urged restraint. Chinese PresidentHu Jintao said during the conversation thatChina was “greatly concerned” about the cur-rent tension on the peninsula and called for“calm and rational response” from all sides,China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

“The fragile security situation on the Ko-rean Peninsula, if not properly handled, couldlead to further escalation of tension, or evenrun out of control, which is not in the com-mon interests of all parties concerned,”Xinhua quoted Hu as saying.

In Washington, the White House said theleaders talked about their common interest in

Reuters

BOGOTA – At least 50 people were miss-ing in Colombia on Sunday after heavy rainscaused a landslide in the northwest of theAndean nation, relief organizations said. Co-lombia is experiencing torrential downpoursdue to the La Nina weather phenomenon. Therains and floods have killed around 170people so far this year, mostly in recentmonths, and affected 1.5 million more.

“It’s believed that there could be between50 and 60 people trapped, maybe more,”said disaster official John Freddy Rendonin the city of Medellin near where the land-slide occurred. Rendon said more than 50homes were covered in Bello municipalityin Antioquia province.

PresidentBarack Obama,together withU.S. TradeRepresentativeRon Kirk, left,and DeputyNationalSecurityAdviser MichaelFroman, right,makes astatement aboutthe US-KoreaFree TradeAgreement onSaturday, Dec.4, 2010, inWashington

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Obama urges Chinato rein in ally NKorea

peace and stability in Asia and the importanceof keeping the Korean peninsula free ofnuclear weapons.

Obama condemned North Korea’s pursuitof a uranium enrichment program as well asthe shelling of the South Korean island inwhich four people were killed, it said.

Obama “urged China to work with us andothers to send a clear message to North Ko-rea that its provocations are unacceptable,” aWhite House statement added.

China is North Korea’s most important allyand has been pressured by the U.S. and oth-ers to use its influence to rein in Pyongyangfollowing its shelling of the South Koreanisland on Nov. 23. Beijing has been reluctantto take forceful action that risks angering ordestabilizing the Pyongyang regime, prefer-ring to call for a resumption of six-nationNorth Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

At least 50 missingin Colombian landslide

The Colombian Red Cross said in a state-ment that at least 150 people were “af-fected” with an unknown number missing.It said one body had been recovered.Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santossaid on Sunday the number of homelessfrom the rains could reach 2 million.

“The tragedy the country is goingthrough has no precedents in our history,”Santos said, after flying over the coastalregion of Atlantico to see the situation firsthand. The rains have hindered coffee andcoal sectors too. In neighboring Venezuela,President Hugo Chavez blamed “criminal”capitalism for global climate phenomenaincluding the region’s rains that have alsokilled more than 30 and left tens of thou-sands homeless in his country.

AFP PHOTO/Raul ARBOLEDA

A youngster looks on as people remove rubble to find survivors following a land-slide in La Gabriela neighborhood, north of Medellin, department of Antioquia, Co-lombia, on December 5, 2010, after heavy storms.

France, India sign nuclear deal as Sarkozy visits DelhiFrance, India sign nuclear deal as Sarkozy visits DelhiFrance, India sign nuclear deal as Sarkozy visits DelhiFrance, India sign nuclear deal as Sarkozy visits DelhiFrance, India sign nuclear deal as Sarkozy visits DelhiAgence France Presse

NEW DELHI – France firmed up a 9.3-billion-dollar deal to selltwo nuclear reactors to India on Monday following talks betweenFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy and Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh. India signed a “framework agreement” withFrance’s state-run nuclear group Areva for the purchase of two reac-tors for a new plant in Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra.

Cameron and US President BarackObama have both swept through In-dia with similar messages recently,as Western nations look for exportopportunities in a fast-growing coun-try seen as a natural ally in Asia.

Sarkozy heads a delegation of sixministers and around 70 chief execu-tives, including the bosses of aircraftand defence groups Dassault Avia-tion and EADS. France recently tookover the presidency of the G20 groupof developed and major developingeconomic powers and Sarkozysought support for his agenda, whilealso strongly backing a more influ-ential role for India in world affairs.

He reiterated his support for In-dia to have a permanent seat on theUnited Nations Security Council —a key foreign policy objective forNew Delhi — and suggested itmight simply transform its currenttemporary seat in 2012.

According to the French presi-

dency, Singh has pledged his “sup-port” for Sarkozy’s G20 programme,which includes overhauling the glo-bal monetary system and combatingcommodity price volatility. France isalso seeking a slice of the billions ofdollars earmarked by India for a mili-tary upgrade, but competition isfierce among foreign arms manufac-turers and no contracts were signedon Monday.

The president and his wife CarlaBruni, a singer and former model,went sight-seeing at the ancient cityof Fatehpur Sikri on Sunday after aromantic sunset visit to the TajMahal on Saturday.

The French leader last visitedIndia in 2008, just before he mar-ried Bruni, and he vowed then toreturn with her to see the Taj Mahal,located in the city of Agra 200kilometres (120 miles) from Delhi.“It was Bruni’s first visit to the Tajand she seemed completely flooredby what she saw,” the Times of In-dia reported on Sunday.

Bruni, who is a goodwill ambas-sador for the Global Fund to FightAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, isexpected to visit an AIDS projecton Monday. Sarkozy began his tripin the southern city of Bangalore, amajor technology centre.

AFP PHOTO/POOL/LIONEL BONAVENTURE

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) and Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh (L) converse as they walk on the grounds ofHyderabad House in New Delhi on December 6, 2010.

Activities Tuesday, December 7, 2010 5International

Temple Ceremony

December 1stTemple anniversary celebrations and full moon cer-emony at :- Pura Bhatara Kawitan Pura Agung Bangli,

downtown of Bangli- Pura Pasek Gelgel, Pedungan village, south of

Denpasar- Pura Kertha, Banyuning village, downtown of

Singaraja ( north Bali)- Pura Taman, Bubunan village, district of Seririt,

Buleleng regency ( north Bali)

December 2ndTemple anniversary celebrations and full moon cer-emony at :- Pura Puseh and Desa Silakarang village district of

Sukawati village, Gianyar regency- Pura Dalem Pulasari Samprangan village, district

of Blahbatuh, Gianyar regency- Pura Natih, banjar kaloh batuan village- Pura Dalem petitenget, Kerobokan village, district

of Kuta, Badung regency

December 3rdTemple anniversary celebrations and full moon cer-emony at :- Pura Dalem Puri, Besakih village, Karangasem

regency- Pura Dalem Puri, Batuan village, Gianyar regency- Pura Dalem, Singakertha village, district of Ubud,

Gianyar regency- Pura Dalem Agung, downtown of Bangli- Pura Dalem, Ketewel village, district of Sukawati,

Gianyar regency- Pura Desa, Downtown of Denpasar- Pura Puncak Payogan, Kedewatan village, district

of Ubud, Gianyar regency

December 8thTemple anniversary celebrations and full moon cer-emony at :- Pura Merajan Agung, Batuyang village, district of

Calendar Event for December 1st through December 13th 2010

Sukawati, Gianyar regency- Pura Tanjungsari, Padangbai village, Karangasem

regency.

December 8thGalunganThis is the most important holiday symbolizing thevictory of Virtue (Dharma) upon Evil (Adharma). Theholiday is specialized by the fitting of ‘penjor’, a tallbamboo pole splendidly decorated with woven youngcoconut leaves, fruit, cakes and flowers, on the rightside of every house entrance. People are attired in theirfinest clothes and jewels this day.

December 11th Temple ceremony on this day:- Segara Temple, Jembrana Regency- Dalem Gede Temple, Losan – Klungkung Regency

December 12th- Redite Wage Kuningan, Ulihan. Balinese do

believe, this day is the return of all mighty spiritback to heaven after leaved a prosperity andlongevity to the worshipers.

Temple ceremony on this day:- Dalem Tegal Tamu Temple, Sekarmukti, Batubulan- Gianyar Regency- Kubayan Umagunung Temple, Sempidi – Badung

Regency

December 13thTemple ceremony on this day:- Dasar Gelgel Temple, Gelgel – Klungkung Regency- Pasek Tohjiwa Temple, Sawah, Selemadeg –

Tabanan Regency- Pemerajan Agung Temple, Benawah Kangin –

Gianyar Regency- Panti Pasek Gelgel Temple, Pelapuhan, Busungbiu- Buleleng Regency- Kahyangan Tulus Temple, Apuan – Tabanan

Regency

EVERY Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annualCeremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Ba-linese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine whicheach family possesses. Because of this practically every fewdays a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in someVillage in Bali. There are also times when the entire islandcelebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan,Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day,Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is consid-ered its birth day and celebration always takes place on thesame day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When newmoon is used then the celebration always happens on new moonor full moon. The day of course can differ the religious cel-ebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some templecelebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakihtemple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and mostof the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on the importanceof the occasion.

The celebration is very colorful. The shrine are dressed withpieces of cloths and sometimes with brocade, sailings, deco-rations of carved wood and sometimes painted with gold andChinese coins, very beautifully arranged, are hung in the fourcorners of the shrine. In front of shrine are placed red, whiteor black umbrellas depending which Gods are worshipped inthe shrines.

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrel-las soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, longflags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. Infront of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles,decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, riceand other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are thegirls in their colorful attire, carrying offerings, arrangementsof all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Everyvisitor admires the grace with which the carry their load ontheir heads.

Balinese TempleCeremony

IBP

DENPASAR - After recently having opened a 2 star favehotelin Surabaya’s MEX Building, Aston International announceda new Surabaya hotel project for its 3 star lifestyle Quest hotelbrand.

The new Quest Hotel will be developed by the MaspionGroup, who also is behind the Aston managed favehotel MEXBuilding, and is scheduled to be open by late 2012.

Located on Jalan Rangga Lawe in Surabaya’s Central Busi-ness District the new Quest will offer 150 stylish guest roomsand facilities correspondent to international 3 star standardsand aims to attract business and leisure travelers that are look-ing for good value and appreciate contemporary design and astimulating environment.

Quest Hotels is a new hotel brand conceptualized by AstonInternational. Quest Hotels offer stylish but uncomplicated andflexible hotels that are dedicated to providing service from theheart, uncompromising standard for safety and cleanliness andgood value for individual travelers on the go. Since its launchless than two years ago Quest has opened in Central Java’sSemarang and is in process to develop several hotels in Bali aswell as a 400 rooms plus hotel in Cebu, Philippines.

Aston International’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing,Mr. Norbert Vas, said:” Maspion is one of the most reputableconglomerates in Indonesia and we are very proud and grate-ful that Maspion has yet again chosen one of our hotel brands.The new Quest will be a perfect fit for Surabaya and bring adash of style and cheerfulness to Surabaya’s otherwise ratherpredictable 3 star hotel offerings.”

Aston International brings Quest brand to Surabaya

Tuesday, December 7, 20106 News

The Department of Conserva-tion said the bludgeoned bodies of23 fur seals had been found at theOhau Point colony, a rocky stretchof coastline near a highway thatis a breeding ground for the ani-mals.

Officials said eight pups —some just days old — were amongthose killed, and there were likelymore juveniles that had died orwould soon because their moth-ers were among those slaugh-tered. The condition of the car-casses and the wounds indicatedthe attackers had returned severaltimes to the scene, possibly for aslong as two weeks. The site is atthe bottom of a steep, 100-foot(30-meter) cliff with no easy ac-cess, and the bodies were only justdiscovered.

“To go around and club 23seals to death over a number ofdays is very deliberate and youhave to question the state of mindof someone who can carry outsuch a cruel and abhorrent at-tack,” Conservation MinisterKate Wilkinson said in a state-ment.

She appealed for assistancefrom the public to help trackdown the attackers. The colonyon northern South Island is apopular tourism spot north of thetown of Kaikoura, which is an in-ternational whale-watching cen-ter. It was re-established as abreeding colony two decades agoafter the species was nearlywiped out by hunting.

Numbering about 2 million be-fore the arrival of settlers in NewZealand, fur seals were clubbedto death by hunters in the 1800sfor their meat and pelts, but thehunts ended because of the dras-tic drop in their numbers. Themidsize seals are also found inAustralia and some Antarctic is-lands.

Oahu Point was only reoccu-pied for breeding in 1990, andabout 600 fur seal pups were born

Agence France Presse.DHAKA, Bangladesh – Sus-

pected Somali pirates hijacked aBangladeshi ship carrying nickelore in the Arabian Sea and appearheaded to the lawless East Afri-can nation, officials said Monday.

The Bangladesh-flagged M.V.Jahan Moni appears to have beenhijacked Sunday off the Indiancoast as it was heading fromSingapore to Europe, said RearAdm. Bazlur Rahman, chief of theBangladesh Shipping Department.He said authorities were in touchwith several agencies and govern-ments to rescue the ship. They havenot been in touch with the sus-pected pirates, and there has beenno demand for ransom, he said.

“This is a difficult situation. Weare trying to do whatever we can,”Rahman told The Associated Pressby phone. The 25 Bangladeshis on

Pirates hijack cargo shipwith 25 people off IndiaProtected sealsProtected sealsProtected sealsProtected sealsProtected seals

clubbed to death inclubbed to death inclubbed to death inclubbed to death inclubbed to death inNew ZealandNew ZealandNew ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand

Reuters

JERUSALEM – A forest firethat killed 42 people in northernIsrael’s Carmel region and trig-gered a broad international aid ef-fort has been extinguished, Israelipolice said on Monday. Efforts tobeat down the blaze, whicherupted on Thursday, were helpedby overnight rains, rare in aparched winter for Israel. Most ofthose killed were prison guardssent to help evacuate a jail in theCarmel mountains, south of Haifaport.

Haifa police chief AhuvaTomer, who suffered serious inju-ries in that mission, died on Mon-day, her family said.

Israeli media, which assessedthe cost of the damage at around2 billion shekels ($550 million),said most of the foreign

Agence France Presse

WELLINGTON, NewZealand – Attackers wieldingbats or clubs slaughtered twodozen fur seals, including new-born pups, over several days atone of New Zealand’s mostpopular sanctuaries for watch-ing the animals, officials saidMonday. Government officialscondemned the attacks on theprotected species as brutal andsenseless and vowed to fullyprosecute anyone involved.

there in 2004, said BruceRobertson, a seal specialist andsenior lecturer in zoology at OtagoUniversity. He said the long-termlosses for the population could bedire. The attacks killed 13 breed-ing females, which meant 13 pupsdependent on their milk would dieand fewer pups will be born nextyear, Robertson said.

“Given this colony is increas-ing in size, this loss of life is asmall setback,” he said Monday.“However, large mammal popula-tions cannot sustain the repeatedloss of breeding females (and) anyexternal influences can be detri-mental.”

Other live seals at the colonyhad been seen with injuries for theattacks, Department of Conserva-tion area manager Dave Hayessaid.

“This is a callous and cowardlyattack on seals, especially new-born pups, unable to defend them-selves against someone strikingthem with a bat or similar club-like object,” Hayes said. The

skulls of some of the dead ani-mals had been smashed, indicat-ing whoever carried out the at-tacks was considerably strong.

“It defies me as to what wouldmotivate somebody to do that,”he said. Under New Zealand law,killing or harming fur seals orother marine mammals incurs upto six months in prison or a fineof up to 250,000 New Zealanddollars (US$191,000).

A further fine of up to $7,600for each marine mammal killed orharmed can also be imposed bythe court.

The laws have been used sev-eral times in recent years, usuallyagainst people who have attackedseals in the belief they were de-pleting fish stocks for amateuranglers.

A South Island man was sen-tenced to four months in prisonearlier this year and two accom-plices were fined $3,800 and$5,400 (New Zealand dollars5,000 and NZ$7,000) respectivelyfor attacking a leopard seal.

AP Photo/New Zealand Department of Conservation

In this Dec. 2, 2010 photo provided by the New Zealand Depart-ment of Conservation, DOC officer Phil Bradfield stands next toseveral dead seals near Kaikoura on New Zealand’s South Island.

the cargo ship include the wife ofone crewman, said Capt. HabiburRahman, principal officer of thegovernment’s Mercantile Marinedepartment.

Satellite images showed theship heading toward Somalia, hesaid. It had loaded 41,000 tons ofnickel ore from Indonesia to reachGreece via Singapore, he said.

Somali pirates currently hold22 ships and 521 crew, accordingto the European Union NavalForce. Hostages and ships havebeen held for months and releasedonly for multimillion-dollar ran-soms.

Somalia has been mired in an-archy since 1991, enabling piracyto thrive off its Indian Ocean andGulf of Aden coasts. A multina-tional force patrols the seas, butthe vast distances and pirates’ability to attack further offshoremean hijackings have continued.

Israeli forest fireextinguished, 42 dead

firefighters who had answeredPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu’s appeal for helpwould depart later in the day. “Allof the fires were officially extin-guished as of midnight,” policespokesman Mickey Rosenfeldsaid.

He said eight people had beenarrested on suspicion of settingthe fire either deliberately orthrough negligence. The disasterprompted recrimination withinNetanyahu’s coalition governmentand public calls for the resigna-t ion of Interior Minister EliYishai, one of its most powerfulpartners.

The Israeli fire brigade said itwould take several days to con-firm evacuated areas of theCarmel mountain range were safe.The blaze was stopped before itcould threaten Haifa.

Doctor Jahangir Khan at the localhospital in Ghalalnai said 31 corpseshad been brought in after the attacksand confirmed that 60 were wounded.

It was the second suicide attack infive months targeting Mohmand tribalelders allied to the government. OnJuly 9, a suicide car bomb attack killed105 people in the town of Yakaghund,also in the region. Around 4,000 peoplehave been killed in suicide and bombattacks across Pakistan since govern-ment forces raided an extremistmosque in Islamabad in 2007. The at-tacks have been blamed on Taliban andAl-Qaeda-linked networks.

But Mohmand official Shamsul Is-lam dismissed suggestions that secu-rity had been too lax to stop the sui-cide bombers who travelled by mo-

Twin...From page 1

torbike.“Routine security arrangements

were in place. It is difficult to stop sui-cide bombers, they can go anywhere,”he told Pakistan’s Geo television.

“There was a meeting underwaybetween the local administration chiefand tribal elders, members of the peacecommittee (anti-Taliban militia) whenthe blast took place,” local officialMaqsood Amin told AFP. The first sui-cide bomber blew himself up at theentrance and the second inside thecompound, he added.

Pakistan flatly denies US sugges-tions it is not doing enough to tackleTaliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militantswho have carved out strongholds inthe northwest and last year inchedcloser to the capital Islamabad.

According to Pakistani military sta-tistics, 2,421 army and paramilitarysoldiers were killed in fighting from2002 until April this year.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 7Indonesia TodayInternational

AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD

In this photograph taken on December 2, 2010 a Komodo dragon prowls the shore of Komodo island, thenatural habitat of the world’s largest lizard. Indonesia has declared the islands a national park in 1980 toprotect the the Komodo dragons. The islands of Komodo and Rinca and surrounding smaller islands com-prises Komodo National Park that is located in East Nusa Tenggara province. Park authorities estimate about2,700 Komodo dragons live in the nature reserve that has been declared UNESCO “World Heritage Site.”

Antara

BENGKULU - Bengkulu‘s pro-vincial administration is continuingthe renovation of ancient FortMarlborough which was haltedsome time ago.

Governor Agusrin Najamudinsaid here on Monday that a tunnelunder the fort was being rehabili-tated to connect it with a view towerwhich is under construction.

“The rehabilitation of FortMarlborough and the constructionof the view tower will be completedbefore the end of this year,” Gover-nor Agusrin said.

According to the governor, thequality of tourism potential inBengkulu should continue to be

“I hoped the revised edition ofthe API could be immediatelymade known to the public beforethe end of this year,” BI deputygovernor Muliaman D Hadad saidat a journalist training event hereon Saturday.

He said the new API would havea time frame until 2020 followingthe start of the ASEAN EconomicCommunity period so that the na-tional banking community by thetime will have been ready to com-pete with other banks in the South-east Asian region.

“In 2020 the Indonesianeconomy is growing bigger so thatit must be supported by strongbanking and therefore as of nowpreparations towards 2020 have tobe made,” he said.

The new API is the results ofevaluation of the old API with ad-ditions such as on new initiativesaimed to push banks to grow withstronger capital.

In the new API the roles of state-owned banks and regional bankswould be strengthened with regardto their strategy and capital so thatthey could become a market leader

Antara

PEKANBARU - Twenty eightAfghan immigrants managed to es-cape from an Immigration Deten-tion House in Pekanbaru, RiauProvince, by digging under it, andoff they go.

“The 27 Afghan immigrantsmanaged dig a hole, but only oneof them failed to got away,” the headof the detention center Yanizur saidhere Sunday.

They got away on Saturday (Dec4) at 10 p.m. local time.

A guard caught one of them,Muhammad Jalile, while hiding inthe thick bushes near the detentionhouse. The escapees dug a hole un-der cell IE on the ground floor ofthe detention house. They bored the10 centimeter concrete floor undertheir beds and built an oval-shapedtunnel that is only fit for one per-son.

“We don’t know how they dug

Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - English footballclub Liverpool FC is planning toset up its first Southeast Asianacademy for young players in In-donesia next year, its coordinatorsaid Monday.

The proposal will be pushed thisweek when the Reds’ legendaryformer striker Ian Rush on Thurs-day visits the country of 240 mil-lion people, where football ishugely popular.

Rush, 49, will “give impetusand assess developments”, saidChris Wren, executive director ofthe British Chamber of Commercein Indonesia, which acts as a bridgeto the club.

“This is the first formal acad-emy pilot in Southeast Asia. It doesnot necessarily follow that a full

BI to launchBI to launchBI to launchBI to launchBI to launchnew bankingnew bankingnew bankingnew bankingnew bankingarchitecturearchitecturearchitecturearchitecturearchitectureAntara

PURWAKARTA - Bank Indonesia plans to issue a new Indone-sian Banking Architecture (API) this month which is the continua-tion of the earlier API, in line with new challenges and economicdevelopments.

in their respective region.“The role of smallholder banks

(BPR) would also be made clearso that they are not inferior com-pared to general banks,” he said.

He said the new API would alsodirect banks to ease public accessto them so that more people wouldbe involved in banking servicesand so that they would be usefulin reducing poverty.

“The banking access improve-ment and financial worthiness arethe two main topics related toboosting of banking credits,” hesaid.

Muliaman said the target of2020 was also in line with theBasel III decision that states thatall provisions in the Basel III couldbe implemented fully in 2019 suchas with regard to requirements foran eight to 10 percent capital ad-equacy ratio.

BNI‘s international and treasurydirector Adi Setianto on the occa-sion said that he also viewed thatthe revised API would have a con-sequence on national banks withregard to supervision, capitaliza-tion and competence.

Liverpool plansIndonesianfootball academy

academy will materialise,” he toldAFP.

“However, if this pilot is suc-cessful, as we believe it will be,then it makes the establishment ofa permanent academy more likely”in 2011, he added.

The academy is likely to be setup in Jakarta, with its Football As-sociation-accredited coaches com-ing from England, The JakartaGlobe newspaper reported onMonday.

Ranked a lowly 131 in the FIFAworld rankings, Indonesia none-theless comes to a virtual standstillfor events such as the World Cup.

English clubs, among themLiverpool, Manchester United andArsenal, enjoy very strong support,complete with fan clubs, in theworld’s fourth most-populatedcountry.

Twenty-eight Afghan immigrantsescape from detention house

the tunnel. We only found some steelnails around the tunnel,” Yanizursaid. The tunnel is about 1.5 metersdeep and its bottom soaked in water.The tunnel is 10 meters long.

Only two guards patrolled andmade the final checking at 9.30 p.m,Yanizur said, adding that the mouthof the tunnel covered under mat-tresses.

Yanizur said regulations at thedetention house were not so tight,enabling the prisoners to wonderaround quite freely. The immigrantsusually got together in the hall andthe cell was not locked until mid-night, he said.

The detention house managementhad coordinated with the police andthe customs of Sultan Syarif KasimAirport of Pekanbaru in taking pre-cautions to prevent the escapees fromleaving the region, Yanizur said.

The escapees were Khalid, AbdulK, Tanveer G, Abdul R, Wahab AlAbdul Husni, Muhammad Alsif,

Hasatullah, Aisan, Muhammad,Muhammad Anwar, MuhammadRezai, Muhammad Reza, HassanAhmadi, Muhammad Hussain, SyedHussain, Rahmatullah, MuhammadHussain, Ghulam Hussain,Muhammad Ali S, MuhammadHusin Mirzal, Ghulam Abdul,Muhammad Arif Ahmadi,Muhammad Yusuf, Mustofa, andJuna Khan.

Yanizur said there were five es-cape attempts in the 2009-2010 pe-riods.

Some 37 immigrants escaped inJune 2009 by climbing the prisonwall using a long sarong cloth, and11 others got way in September2009, he said.

Thirty immigrants also escapedon September 25 last year on the eveof Idul Fitri. Another escape wasalso carried out by three illegal im-migrants on October 31 2010, a dayafter Dharma Karyadhika Day com-memoration.

Bengkulu‘s Fort renovation continuesdeveloped and improved in a bid toattract as many domestic and foreigntourists as possible.

Agusrin said the renovation ofFort Marlborough was halted sometime ago because the permission todo so should be issued by the cultureand tourism minister.

The governor said Bengkulu‘s cul-tural heritage of Fort Marlboroughcould not be renovated arbitrarilywithout a permission from culture andtourism minister because it was fearedto change its historical value.

“The tunnel connecting the fortwith its external environment has al-ready been there all along but wewant to renovate it and connect itwith the view tower and to make it atourism package in the province,”

Governor Agusrin said.Besides renovating the fort with

a total fund of Rp7.5 billion and thearrangement of Panjang Beach tour-ism resort, Bengkulu provincial gov-ernment is also building of Rp30billion worth of accommodationnear Paderi Beach.

Agusrin expressed hope that themanagement of Bengkulu tourismpotential would be able to attractdomestic and foreign tourists, aswell as investors to do business intourism sector in the province.

Fort Marlborough was built byEast Indian Company from 1713-1719 during the reign of GovernorJoseph Callet. It is the strongest Brit-ish fort in Bengkulu after Fort St.George in Madras, India.

8 InternationaTuesday, December 7 , 2010

Bali Today

The head of state would also sym-bolically begin Vaname Nusantara-1shrimp harvesting on the occasion,according to the Presidential Palace’sMedia and Press Bureau in Jakarta,Monday.

The shrimp and scallop productioncenter is run under the auspices of themarine and fishery affairs ministry.

To be witnessed by the president,Marine and Fishery Affairs MinisterFadel Muhammad would presentemergency response assistance to sev-eral heads of districts which had ear-lier been hit by natural disasters.

The assistance includes 50 pack-ages of aquaculture business develop-ment assistance (BPUPB) worth Rp5billion and 2 backhoes for SlemanDistrict (Yogyakarta), 30 BPUPBpackages worth Rp3 billion and abackhoe for Magelang District (Cen-tral Java Province), 40 BPUPB pack-

Antara

DENPASAR – Bali as one ofthe favorite tourism destinationin Bali is framed by the noblevalue of Hindu. This shouldmake Bali free from all socialconflicts. The statement was saidby the spokesman of Bali PoliceDepartment, Gede SugianyarDwi Putra.

“However, every year the so-cial conflicts keep happeningand until now, there is no propersolution for the problem,” headded. When Sugianyar speak infront of Bali’s Cross ReligionForum, he explained the experi-ences of the police officers inhandling the conflict.

From the data of the policedepartment, this year there are

People reading Balinese manu-scripts known as lontar occasion-ally find slight difficulties espe-cially in the matter of lexicons.This happens because the manu-scripts often use synonyms andthey do not belong to commonwords. Nevertheless, such diffi-culty may not become a hindranceto learn the ancient heritages be-ing rich in knowledge.

There is always a solution to re-solve the problem. As other lan-guages, Balinese language also hasthesaurus known as Dasa Nama.One of the books carrying about itis a simple 67-page book writtenby I Made Gambar who deeply in-volves in Balinese ancient manu-scripts. Based on lexicons obtainedfrom several lontars he success-fully classified the field into sixcategories such as name of birds,name of trees, things or animals,homograph, Old Javanese and in-gredients of ritual.

As a matter of fact, the book re-sembles to a thesaurus, though notarranged alphabetically. It is a Ba-linese-Balinese word equivalencethat does not give the meaning withexplanation. Uniquely, it tends toprovide equivalent meaning be-longing to uncommon vocabular-ies usually found in vernacular lan-guage.

For readers who would like tolearn more about Balinese herbal,this thesaurus will be very helpful.In addition, it can enrich the Ba-linese vocabulary. For instance, inBalinese herbal manuscript, thereis a word lenge (red rice). It is notcommon to daily Balinese lan-guage that usually uses baas barak.Secondly, equivalences of hibiscus

President inauguratePresident inauguratePresident inauguratePresident inauguratePresident inaugurateshrimp, scallopshrimp, scallopshrimp, scallopshrimp, scallopshrimp, scallopproduction centerproduction centerproduction centerproduction centerproduction centerAntara

AMPLAPURA - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was scheduled to inaugurate aprime shrimp and scallop production center at Bugbug village, Karangasem District, BaliProvince on Monday.

ages worth Rp4 billion and one back-hoe for Klaten District (Central Java),50 BPUPB packages worth Rp5 billionand a backhoe for Boyolali District(Central Java), 10 BPUPB packagesworth Rp1 billion for Teluk WondamaDistrict (Papua Province), and 10BPUPB packages worth Rp1 billionand 1 backhoes for Mentawai District(West Sumatra Province).

The head of state, accompanied byFirst Lady Ani Yudhoyono, would con-clude his activity in Karangasem byplanting rain trees.

In Bali, President Yodhoyono wouldalso attend the Bali Democracy Forumfrom December 8 to 10, 2010, whichwould be participated in by 36 mem-ber countries and 28 observer nations.

Praise football teamDuring the inauguration, SBY

also praised the national football

team’s performance at the ASEANFootball Championship.

“This is a good start. It proves thatIndonesia can be successful in foot-ball,” the president said.

But he also cautioned the Indo-nesian football team not remainscontent with its victory at theASEAN championship where it hadbeaten Malaysia 5-1 and Laos 6-1.The president asked the team mem-bers to make its win a spur to furtherimprove its performance in the daysahead.

The President recalled the momentwhen he last watched a friendly matchbetween Indonesian and Uruguay. Atthe time, Indonesia was beaten 1-7 bythe World Cup 2010 finalist.

“I felt sad at the time. But the na-tional team has since continued todevelop its capability and we can seethe result now,” said Yudhoyono.

FOTO ANTARA/Nyoman Budhiana

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (middle) accompanied by Minister of Fisheries and Ma-rine Affairs Fadel Muhammad (2 left) during the inauguration of prime shrimp and scallop pro-duction center at Bugbug village, Karangasem District, Bali Province on Monday.

Dasa Nama:A simple thesauruswith huge benefits

(pucuk—common word) arewirakusuma, landa para, sumara,jakusuma, tundapala, raktajuma,warangbang, waribang,wangewarih and jaya kesuma.

Other than thesaurus, it also car-ries homograph. For example, theword antara can have Englishequivalence to the words (1) leak,(2) good, (3) smart, (4) sky, (5)soul, and (6) intermediate. Theword antara is often found used asword formation in making Balineseindividual names like Budiantaraand Sujaantara.

Hopefully, this book could helpyoung generation or whoever wish-ing to learn more about Balineseancient manuscripts. They actuallycover many aspects of life rangingfrom herbal healing (TaruPramana, Rukmini Tattwa etc.), ar-chitecture (Asta Kosala Kosali),agriculture (Shri Tattwa/Darmaning Pemaculan), astrology(Wariga Dewasa), afterlife (AtmaPrasangsa), medical code of ethic(Usada Kalimosada) and manymore.

As the treasure of indigenouswisdom, the lontar manuscriptshave provided rich inspirations tospa treatment especially in termsof boreh ingredients, Balinese mas-sage as well as elegant design tovilla and hotel properties. By learn-ing more ancient manuscripts, itwill be obtained more and moreinspirations and if combined withmodern science and technique willengender unique and elegant prod-ucts. Last but not least, let’s pre-serve and learn them. Do not letthem be obsolete in keeping withthe times without an opportunity tolearn them! (BTN/punia)

Bali is facing social conflicts30 religious or cultural conflictshandled by the police.

Among the cases are heritageland, changing caste and namesand also religious problems. Be-sides handled by the police, thecases were also handled by thelocal officers such as the head ofthe village and the elder.

Sugianyar said “the actiondone the police officers is notvery effective in handling theproblem. The conflict is only canbe solved by the nation law butonly can be solved by the locallaw.” Sugianyar also gave themessage from the head of BaliPolice Department, Ir jenHadiatmoko that the Cross Reli-gious Forum must be able to cre-ate a method to solve the socialconflicts which occur in Bali.

Balinese Culture

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 9al

C.045 ibp

Wajik(Rice Flour Cake with Palm Sugar)

Overview:There are a couple of variations on this popular cake,

which can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.It is normally served at room temperature, but can alsobe served warm topped with coconut milk. Anothervariations are to add ripe diced jackfruits (or substitutewith sultanas) after the rice is partially cooked.

Ingredients:1 cup glutinous white rice1 cup water1 pandan leaf½ cup palm sugar syrup¼ cup thick coconut milkPinch of salt

Preparation:Rinse rice very well under running water for 2 minutes

and soak for 4 hours. Rinse again until water becomesclear. Place rice, 1 cup of water and pandan leaf in ricecooker or steamer and cook for approx 20 minutes, oruntil liquid has evaporated.

Add palm sugar syrup, coconut milk and salt, andsteam for 15 minutes. Spread rice evenly 2.5 cm thickon tray and allow to cool to room temperature. Wet asharp knife with warm and cut into even squares toserve.

Helpful hint:to speed up the soaking process, pour boiling water

over the rice and let stand for 1 hour. Drain, then addanother lot of boiling water and soak for another 30minutes. If you are using a steamer to cook the rice, linethe bottom with a wet cloth to prevent the rice grainsfrom falling through. (www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Antara

DENPASAR – Neka Art Mu-seum which is located in Ubud,Gianyar will launch a book about“keris”, traditional Balineseweapon, entitled “Kris BaliBersejarah”. The launching will bedone on December 12th 2010.

Pande Wayan Sutedja Neka, theowner of the museum, said “thebook is 321 pages and will belaunched by the Secretary Generalof Indonesian Keris Association,Wiwoho BasukiTjokrohadiningrat.”

He said that the book is very in-teresting and it will attract people

Sate Lilit(Minced Seafood Satay)

Overview:This probably the most delicious satay you will ever

encounter. The delicate flavors of the shrimp and fishare greatly improved if you can find spears of freshlemongrass to use as skewers, and if you can cookthem over a fire of coconut husks rather than charcoal.Nonetheless, even with wooden skewers and a standardcharcoal grill, you will have people coming back more.

Ingredients:600 gr skinned boneless snapper fillet1 cup freshly grated coconut or1½ cups moistened desiccated coconut½ cup seafood spice paste5 fragrant lime leaves, chopped1 tsp black peppercorns, finely crushed1 tsp salt3-5 bird’s eye chilies, very finely chopped2 tbsp palm sugarLemon grass or satay skewers

Preparation:1. Mince fish fillet very finely in a food processor or

with a chopper.2. Add all other ingredients & mix well.3. Mould a heaped tablespoon full of this mixture

around a wooden skewer or over trimmed stalks oflemon grass and grill over charcoal until golden brown.

Note: This recipe won’t work with frozen fish.(www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Neka Museum to publishbook about ”keris”

The front entrance of

Museum Neka. Neka

Art Museum which is

located in Ubud,

Gianyar will launch a

book about “keris”,

traditional Balinese

weapon, entitled

“Kris Bali

Bersejarah”. The

launching will be

done on December

12th 2010.

to read it. The book is written byBasuki Teguh Yuwono, a lecturer inIndonesian Art Institute (ISI) Solo.For the first phase, the book isprinted only 1,000 exemplars.

“Basuki has been studying andanalyzing about keris for 13 yearsand he has been traveling through-out Indonesia to study about it,”Sutedja Neka added. He explainedthat the book reveal the developmentof keris in Bali and also in other areain Indonesia. “There is great hopethat the book will give the properinformation on keris especially thosestored in Neka Museum,” SutedjaNeka said.

Neka Museum launches a book

every year and currently, the mu-seum has publish 23 books.Among those books are “Kembalike Kawitan, Impian JadiKenyataan”, and “Neka art Mu-seum in modern Balinese History-Art and of time”.

There are also book about thedevelopment of tourism in Bali, oneof them was written by Prof Dr NeilLeiper, a lecturer in The School ofTourism and Hospitality Manage-ment Southern Cross University inAustralia.

The books are the token of appre-ciation and the effort of Neka Mu-seum in preserving and developingart and culture in Bali.

http://lh3.ggpht.com

Tuesday, December 7, 201010 InternationalDestinations

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Gunung Kawi is a Hindu Temple com-plex with old omission from the stone eralocated in Gianyar regency. Based on theinscription of Tengkulak A on 945 saka (Ba-linese calendar) which is released byMarakata King, the ancient omission com-plex is located at the Pekerisan River then itis called Katyangan Amarawati. PekerisanRiver is also named by Jalu which is accord-ing to the inscription chiseled on the aboveof the biggest temple door sound ‘HajiLumahing Jalu’. The name of Gunung Kawiis the name given on the omission which isrelated to the complex of temples becausethe temple on this area is like the symbolfrom the mount. There are 3 temples whichso called the name as Gunung Kawi in Balithose are Gunung Kawi in Sebatu country-side, Gunung Kawi Temple in Keliki coun-tryside and Gunung Kawi Temple in Babitracountryside. The ancient omission complexof Gunung Kawi is founded on 10 century.It is founded in the era of Udayana about989 M. At the period of Marakata governanceon 1023, the omission which is calledKatyagan Amarawati is developed and con-tinued by the governance of Anak Wungsuwhich is guess lead between the years of1049 - 1077 M.http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Gunung KawiTemple complex is consisted of 2

consecutions. The consecution in eastsidePekerisan River is consisted of 5 units andthe consecution at west side of river is 5 units,in the north is 4 units and 1 unit is locatedfar in south side separate from the others.On the above of the temple consecution inparticular to the Eastside River, there is anarticle of Kediri word type sounding ‘HajiLumahing Jalu’. Haji means a king, theLumah means a temple or Sidha Dewatameans to return to the nature of deity andIng Jalu means in Pekerisan. The Jalu meanthe Keris literal. The entire words mean thatking is made in temple form at Pekerisan.

From this article is assumed that thistemple is dedicated to Udayana King whichis also called Marakata and Anak Wungsu.The temple which is located in the west sideof river related to all king concubines. Thetemples are located far in the south side isattributed to prime minister because in thesetemple areas existing an article Rakyanwhich is namely perform for high function-ary of empire.

Buddhist Temple Complex is used as aresidence and as place for meditation. It isconsisted of some nooks and it is located inthe cross east of Pakerisan River. Other nooksare located spread out and near the templebunch.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 11

BUSINESS

Agence France-Presse

MANILA - The Philippineshas become the call centre capitalof the world, overtaking India asthe number one player in the glo-bal business outsourcing market,according to industry data and thegovernment.

President Benigno Aquino hasled celebrations in recent weeksas it has become increasingly clearthat the Southeast Asian nation hasbecome the world’s dominantplayer in the outsourced back-of-fice operations industry.

“In the past decade, the (growthin the) industry in the country hasbeen nothing short of exceptional.From a virtual non-entity in 2001,your sector has earned sunshineindustry status,” Aquino said.

At an opening of an IBMoutsourcing centre in Manila lastweek, Aquino forecast that theindustry’s revenues would hit 12-13 billion dollars next year, risingto 100 billion dollars by 2020 fora fifth of global market share.

A report from IBM released inOctober said the Philippines hadthis year passed India as the glo-bal leader in business processoutsourcing in terms of the num-ber of people each country em-ployed in the sector.

“For business support func-tions... the Philippines has takenover the lead in the global rank-ing from India, after having chal-lenged the top position for severalyears,” the report said.

The IBM report did not presentexact figures on how many peopleeach country employed in theoutsourcing industry.

But the head of thegovernment’s information tech-nology commission, Ivan Uy, said

Bernanke was asked on CBS tele-vision if the Fed might inject more thanthe 600 billion dollars planned for theNovember-to-June time frame.

“It’s certainly possible,” he said. “It depends on the efficacy of

the program. It depends, on inflation.And finally it depends on how theeconomy looks,” Bernanke added.

The interview was done Tues-day, three days ahead of the release ofmonthly unemployment figures show-ing that US unemployment rose inNovember to 9.8 percent after holdingsteady at 9.6 percent the three previ-ous months.

“Unemployment is just aboutthe same as it was in mid 2009, whenthe economy started growing. So, that’sa major concern. And it looks that atcurrent rates, that it may take someyears before the unemployment rate isback down to more normal levels,” hestressed.

Asked about inequalities,Bernanke stressed there was a yawn-ing unemployment gap based on edu-cational achievement levels.

“If you’re a college graduate,unemployment is five percent. If you’rea high school graduate, it’s ten percentor more. It’s a very big difference,”Bernanke said.

“It leads to an unequal societyand a society which doesn’t have thecohesion that we’d like to see.”

The statement on possible ad-

Agence France-Presse

PARIS - Spain’s troubledeconomy will not follow Greece andIreland in seeking international finan-cial aid, Finance Minister ElenaSalgado said in a newspaper inter-view published Monday.

Following weeks of market turbu-lence triggered by fears that Spaincould be next in line for a financialdebacle, Salgado emphatically ruledout Madrid taking a bailout.

“No”, she told Les Echos businessnewspaper, “because our (economic)fundamentals do not justify it.”

Greece fell to major imbalancesin its public accounts not only due tothe crisis while Ireland’s troubles“were caused by its banks,” sheadded.

She said that the Spanish fund tohelp restructure insolvent banks wouldbe sufficient in case of large losses.

‘Possible’ Fed will do more on joblessness‘Possible’ Fed will do more on joblessness‘Possible’ Fed will do more on joblessness‘Possible’ Fed will do more on joblessness‘Possible’ Fed will do more on joblessnessAgence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - Further Federal Reserve action to com-bat unemployment is “certainly possible,” Fed chairman BenBernanke said in an interview Sunday.

ditional action is consistent with theFed’s earlier pledge November 3 whenit rolled out a controversial 600 billiondollar spending plan to boost the USrecovery. It said at the time it wouldrevisit its action regularly and possiblybroaden or reduce its scope.

Bernanke also had some toughwords for critics of his strategy.

“What they are doing is they’relooking at some of the risks and uncer-tainties with doing this policy action,but what I think they’re not doing islooking at the risk of not acting,” hesaid.

“I think a very high unemploy-ment rate for a protracted period oftime, which makes consumers, house-holds less confident, more worriedabout the future — I think that’s theprimary source of risk that we mighthave another slowdown in theeconomy.”

He said it was critical that theUS economy not start losing groundnow.

“We need to play close atten-tion to the fact that we are recover-ing now. We don’t want to take ac-tions this year that will affect thisyear’s spending and this year’s taxesin a way that will hurt the recovery,”Bernanke said.

“That’s important. But thatdoesn’t stop us from thinking nowabout the long term structural budgetdeficit.”

Spain will not seek internationalfinancial aid In the wake of the Ireland rescue,

driven by Dublin bailing out its in-solvent banks, investors have begunto get more anxious about Spain’sheavily indebted banks which werewounded by the bursting of thecountry’s property bubble.

Investors were not reassured bySpanish government statements thatthe country will be able to master itsfiscal difficulties and relaunch growth,and drove up interest rates the statemust pay to borrow to record highs.

Even the European Commissionexpressed doubts last week about theSpanish government’s ability to re-duce its public deficit to 6.0 percentof gross domestic product next yearfrom this year’s target of 9.3 percent.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose LuisRodriguez Zapatero then announcedon Wednesday his government wouldsell 30 percent of the state-ownedlottery, 49 percent of airport manage-ment company AENA, scrap a jobssubsidy and lower taxes on small- andmedium-sized businesses.

AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD / FILES

Philippines overtakes India as call centre capitalthe Philippines had definitely by-passed India in call centre revenueswith 5.5 billion dollars last yearcompared with India’s 5.3 billiondollars.

The president of the Contact Cen-ter Association of the Philippines,Benedict Hernandez, also said thePhilippines had more than half amillion people working in call cen-tres and related services comparedwith 330,000 in India.

Hernandez said the Philippines,a former US colony, had an advan-tage due to its workforce being madeup of English speakers who had ac-cents and a culture that is closer tothose of many Western callers.

“The market over the years hasgenerated a preference for the Phil-ippines, especially the US market.There is more cultural affinity andthe language is more attuned to theUS,” Hernandez told AFP.

Uy said even Indian companieswere setting up call centres in thePhilippines to take advantage of theFilipinos’ cultural links to the West.

“Many of these Indian companiesdo outsourcing work for US com-panies and their US clients say theyprefer doing business with Filipinosso rather than lose those clients, theyto move to the Philippines,” Uy said.

Tata Consultancy Services, oneof the Indian giants in the industry,announced Monday it had launcheda business process outsourcing op-eration in Manila, its first in South-east Asia.

While business processoutsourcing has been dominated bycall centres — where hundreds ofworkers handle phone calls fromcustomers abroad — the sector nowcovers a wide area of services.

These include logistics, finance,accounting and software researchand programming, computer-aided

design, animation and graphic de-sign.

Local industry groups con-ceded that India still had a hugelead in the more complexoutsourced services such as engi-neering, software design and pro-gramming.

But the Philippines is notstanding still in that area either.

“Foreign companies come herefor voice work and then theyrealise the people they are hiringare capable of doing other workas well,” said Gillian Virata, re-search director at the BusinessProcessing Association of thePhilippines.

Any services that can be donein the back room of an office arebeing outsourced to the Philip-pines, she told AFP.

These range from finance andaccounting services, human re-source management, marketinganalysis, legal processes and re-search, medical and legal tran-scription, case writing and prepa-ration of legal briefs, Virata said.

The country’s surplus of nursesand other medical professionalscan also be harnessed for theoutsourcing of health care ser-vices such as hospital billing,management of medical healthrecords and “aftercare” of pa-tients, Virata said.

The industry is especially im-portant to the Philippines as thereare so few other sectors in aneconomy that has for decadesunderperformed, capable of em-ploying qualified people.

Nearly nine million Filipinos— about one tenth of the popula-tion — work overseas. They senthome last year 17.3 billion dol-lars, more than 10 percent of thecountry’s gross domestic product.

Photo taken onOctober 30, 2007shows Filipino callcenter personnelattending to their USclients at a newbusiness processoutsourcing office inManila. The Philip-pines has becomethe call centrecapital of the world,overtaking India asthe number oneplayer in the globalbusiness outsourcingmarket, according toindustry and govern-ment.

Entertainment InternationalTuesday, December 7, 201012

Obama remarked it was the sec-ond time this year McCartney hadvisited the White House — in Julythe former Beatles legend wasawarded the Gershwin Prize for popu-lar song, and sang “Michelle” to theFirst Lady. “It was a thrill,” saidObama. “Although apparently Pauljoked afterward that he was worriedhe might become the first guy ever toget punched out by the president.”

In the audience, McCartneypointed to his lower lip in referenceto Obama’s own busted lip, sufferedearlier this week during a basketballgame. The president’s injury cameup again a little later in his speechwhen he stumbled on the word “su-perfluous” while reading from ateleprompter about the importanceof the humanities.

“It’s hard to say. You try it whenyou’ve had 12 stitches,” Obama saidto laughs. During the pre-dinner recep-tion, McCartney talked about how hewas becoming a regular in Washing-

Agence France Presse

LOS ANGELES - Disney’s animated hit“Tangled” took the top spot in a low-earningweekend at the North American box office,outpacing a gentleman by the name of HarryPotter, preliminary data showed Sunday. Thelong-haired Disney fable netted 21.5 milliondollars, pushing past “Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows: Part One.”

The latest Potter instalment took in an esti-mated 16.7 million dollars from Friday to Sun-day, Exhibitor Relations said, taking the film’stotal US earnings to 244 million dollars as itcontinues to set records around the world. Tak-ing it off in third place was “Burlesque.” Themusical extravaganza with Cher and ChristinaAguilera brought in 6.1 million dollars.

“Unstoppable,” starring Denzel Washing-ton and Chris Pine as two daring, blue-collar

Reuters

LOS ANGELES – A jumpsuit worn byJohnny Cash set off a bidding war beforeselling for $50,000, soaring past originalestimates, during an auction on Sunday ofmemorabilia owned by the Man in Black.The blue denim jumpsuit was worn by Cashfor a rehearsal at San Quentin prison andshown in the infamous Jim Marshall pho-tograph that depicts him wagging hismiddle finger into the camera lens.

The final price surged past the sales es-timate of $3,000 to $5,000 after biddersmade offers over phone and from the gal-lery, said Julien’s Auctions.

“Johnny Cash is a true legend and hiscollectibility spans all continents,” said

Obama hosts Kennedy Center honoreesObama hosts Kennedy Center honoreesObama hosts Kennedy Center honoreesObama hosts Kennedy Center honoreesObama hosts Kennedy Center honoreesAgence France Presse

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama and his wife,Michelle, late Sunday hosted Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney and otherKennedy Center honorees in a star-studded White House reception.Country singer Merle Haggard, composer Jerry Herman, dancer-cho-reographer Bill Jones also were being honored for lifetime achieve-ment in the performing arts, and welcomed by the president before theawards ceremony at the Kennedy Center.

ton, according to local media reports.This year he also received the

George Gershwin Prize from the Li-brary of Congress. “I’m getting myown personal parking lot,”McCartney joked, according to TheWashington Post. “Things come inbundles. I’m honored to be withpeople you admire. I really admirePresident Obama and I admireHillary, too.”

Perhaps Obama’s most heartfeltpraise went to Winfrey, saying he andhis wife “personally love thiswoman.” “The more you knowOprah, the more spectacular you re-alize her character and her soul are,and the more you appreciate what awonderful, gifted person she is.”

“It’s easy to forget sometimes thatOprah was once a girl with a funnyname in a little town down South,”he said. “Nobody would have everdreamed that she would becomesomeone who moves an entire na-tion each and every day,” he added.

AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM

US singer Gwen Stefani (3L) and No Doubt band members pose on the red carpet of the Kennedy CenterHonors gala performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington on December 5, 2010.

Comedian Chris Rock entertainedthose present, telling jokes one ofwhich targeted Oprah, who was oneof Obama’s most fervent supportersduring the 2008 presidential cam-paign. Talking about Oprah and thepresident, Rock said: “He didn’t get

her a job. She got him a job!”Numerous celebrities were at the

reception — singer Diana Ross, actorsJulia Roberts, Sydney Poitier and AlexBaldwin, former secretary of stateColin Powell and outgoing House ofRepresentatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

television news host Barbara Waltersand former tennis champion JohnMcEnroe among them.

The 33rd annual Kennedy Cen-ter Honors are bestowed for exem-plary lifetime achievement in theperforming arts.

FILE — In a May23, 1993 filephoto, JohnnyCash performsat a benefitconcert inCentral Park inNew York, Cashwho was raisedon gospel musicand turned toreligion andChristian musicmidway throughhis career, willbe inducted intothe GMA GospelHall of Fame inJanuary, 2011.AP Photo/Joe Tabacca

Johnny Cash jumpsuitfetches $50,000 at auction

Darren Julien, President and CEO of Julien’sAuctions. “Bidders from around the worldparticipated in the auction, proving that theMan in Black’s legacy will forever live on.”

More than $700,000 was raised in totalfor the 321 lots offered. Among other itemsfor sale was a Martin acoustic guitar onwhich Cash wrote the first four lines of hisearly hit “I Walk the Line” and signed hisname. It also went for $50,000, topping es-timates of $20,000-$30,000.

Other memorabilia included handwrittenlyrics to dozens of obscure or unrecordedsongs. Among them was a confessional lovesong called “I Draw the Line” with the cou-plet “I have often fallen to the lure of smol-dering (cq) eyes and I’ve given in to thewilder side of me.”

‘Tangled’ shines at North American box officeheroes trying to prevent a head-on collisionwith a runaway train full of hazardous materi-als, took fourth place with 6.1 million dollarsin ticket sales.

In fifth place, the romantic comedy “Loveand Other Drugs,” starring Anne Hathaway andJake Gyllenhaal, netted 5.7 million dollars.

Meanwhile, Will Ferrell’s super-villaincomedy “Megamind” earned the sixth spot,netting 5.03 million dollars for the three-daystretch. Roadtrip comedy “Due Date,” featur-ing oddball travel companions Robert DowneyJr. and Zach Galifianakis, came in seventh with4.2 million dollars. It was trailed by anotherstrong premiere-week showing from “Faster,”in eighth place with 3.8 million dollars.

“The Warrior’s Way,” a fantasy action tale withSouth Korea’s Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth andGeoffrey Rush, in its first weekend out, hit ninthplace with 3.05 million dollars.

AP Photo/Disney Enterprises, Inc.

In this film publicity image released by Disney, Rapunzel, voiced by Mandy Moore, right, andFlynn, voiced by Zachary Levi are shown in a scene from the animated feature, “Tangled.”

International Tuesday, December 7, 2010 13Life Style

Sinterklaus officially “arrives” inthe country in mid-November, on agift-filled boat from Spain accom-panied by some 40 helpers.

It’s a fantasy event that keeps thisnation of otherwise logical, low-key, no-nonsense pragmatists fix-ated on their televisions where the“arrival” is transmitted live.

“Every town has its Saint Nicho-las, except one or two spots that arelargely Protestant,” said JohnHelsloot, a researcher at the

Associated Press Writer

TABI, Mexico – The first timeAraceli Bastida Be heard thephrase “climate change” was onTV two years ago. Then she be-gan to understand why strangethings had been happening in hervillage. Tabi was in its secondyear of drought, and the corn thatsustains the village was leftstunted on the stalks. Farmerscouldn’t bear the midday heatanymore, and were in their fieldsat dawn in order to finish beforenoon.

After a half-mile (1-kilometer)walk from school, Bastida Be’sson would return home withheadaches. Summer nights weretoo hot to sleep until after mid-night. And winters were so coldthe villagers had to buy blankets.

A year earlier, Hurricane Deanreached deep into Mexico’s rainforest, destroying Tabi’s beehivesand blowing down severalthatched-roof homes. “We don’tknow what’s going on. All we

Agence France Presse

MOSCOW - A programming er-ror may have caused a rocket carry-ing three Russian navigation satellitesto fail to reach orbit, a Russian spaceagency source told the RIA Novostinews agency on Monday. “A numberof specialists think that mistakes inthe programming of the onboardcomputer system of the Proton rocketled to the engines sending the rockettoo high and onto a faulty trajectory,”the source said.

The rocket carrying satellites forthe Russian government navigationsystem Glonass, failed to reach thecorrect orbit Sunday after blasting offfrom Baikonur cosmodrome, theRussian space agency said.

The satellites crashed into the Pa-

Programming error causedRussian satellite failure: report

cific Ocean near Hawaii, the space-craft corporation RKK Energiya saidin a statement, confirming earlier re-ports. “The Proton launch rocketfunctioned abnormally, sending thethree Glonass satellites and the up-per-stage booster rocket on the wrongtrajectory and they fell into the Pa-cific Ocean 1,500 kilometers north-west of Honolulu,” the statement said.

Once separated from the Protonlaunch rocket, the upper-stagebooster rocket with the three satel-lites aboard should have put them inorbit about 20 kilometres (12 miles)above the earth. A space agencysource told RIA Novosti that theupper-stage rocket and the satellitesimmediately disappeared from radiocoverage, making it impossible tocorrect the trajectory.

President Dmitry Medvedev or-dered the Prosecutor General YuryChaika to investigate the loss of thesatellites and name the people re-sponsible, the Kremlin said in a state-ment on its website late Sunday. Theterse statement said the president hadalso demanded an audit of spendingon the entire Glonass programme.

The failure was an embarrassingsetback for Russia’s attempt to puta satellite navigation system in placeto rival the United States’s GPS(Global Positioning System) andsteal a march on Europe’s fledglingGalileo system.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putinhas underscored the strategic signifi-cance of developing the Glonasssystem to ensure Russia’s techno-logical independence.

Graphic locating the area where a Russian rocket crashed into the sea nearHawaii on Sunday after failing to make orbit from its lift-off in Kazakhstan.

AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo

A farmer works the land while showing a group of journalists howto grow corn in the Mayan community of Tabi, in the Yucatan penin-sula, Mexico, Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. According to the UN weatheragency, 2010 is ‘almost certain’ to rank among the three hottestyears on record, and the 2001-2010 decade is undoubtedly the warm-est period since the beginning of weather records in 1850.

Mayan village in Mexicoimpacted by climate change

know is that something haschanged,” says Bastida Be, 31, whotends her own corn crop while herhusband is away working in con-struction jobs on the coast.

In Cancun, a resort 155 miles(250 kilometers) to the north, worldgovernments are grappling withTabi’s problems. A 193-nation cli-mate conference is debating mea-sures to restrain emissions of carbonand other gases that are causing theEarth’s temperatures to rise. Theyalso are discussing how to helppeople like Tabi’s 400 residents ad-just their lives to new conditions.

But the subsistence farmers ofTabi can’t wait. Their traditionalhaphazard practices, rooted in 2,500years of Mayan culture, can nolonger produce enough to feed them.The rainfall at the start of plantingseason, which once could be pre-dicted almost to the day, is now un-reliable. If the rain doesn’t comewithin four days of planting, thefarmers have to start all over, as theydid last year, losing an entireseason’s worth of seed.

Early-bird Christmas?Early-bird Christmas?Early-bird Christmas?Early-bird Christmas?Early-bird Christmas?Head to the NetherlandsHead to the NetherlandsHead to the NetherlandsHead to the NetherlandsHead to the NetherlandsAgence France Presse

THE HAGUE - While Americans are tucking into the last Thanksgiv-ing leftovers and European towns are getting Christmas decorations out ofstorage, the Dutch claim the title for the early-bird Christmas. The holidayspirit has been in full swing since mid-November, kicking off a three-weekshopping and sugar spree up to the big day this weekend, December 5, thefeast of Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaus, as he’s known here.

Meertens Institute on Dutch culturein Amsterdam, explaining the phe-nomenon. And if a town isn’t closeto one of the country’s many water-ways or canals, he comes by trainor car, said Helsloot.

Two-thirds of Dutch families of-fer their children their Christmasgifts during this period, accordingto a study by the GFK market re-search firm, which showed less thanhalf the nation got Christmas giftsat the time they’re generally offered

elsewhere in Europe— on December24 or 25.

And for a people who tend to bethrifty and shun flaunting any wealth,the Dutch open their pocket books widein the final week before December 5.

Yvonne Fernhout, spokeswomanfor the Dutch Retailers Federation,said sales in the last week are ex-pected to total 470 million euros (629million dollars) more than the aver-age weekly retail sales, which gener-ally total 1.5 billion euros.

For three weeks up to December 5,children leave their slippers in front ofthe chimney — if there is one — eachevening. In the Dutch twist on theChristmas ritual, Sinterklaus’ helper,Black Peter or Zwarte Piet, comesdown the chimney to fill them withcandies while Saint Nicholas waits onthe rooftop with his white horse.

In a picture takenon December 4,2010 people shopfor Christmas inVrijthof square inMaastricht,southern Nether-lands. WhileAmericans aretucking into thelast Thanksgivingleftovers andEuropean townsare gettingChristmasdecorations out ofstorage, the Dutchclaim the title forthe early-birdChristmas. Theholiday spirit hasbeen in full swingsince mid-November.

AFP PHOTO / MARCEL VAN HOORN

Tuesday, December 7, 201014 InternationalSport

In-form France internationalmidfielder Samir Nasri was theGunners’ match-winner at theEmirates, scoring two delightfullytaken individual goals either sideof an opportunist strike byDiomansy Kamara. Chelsea couldnot capitalise on United’s week-end off, as a late JermaineBeckford header saw Evertonemerge from their game at the de-fending champions with a 1-1draw.

Barcelona overcame the incon-venience of the Spanish air con-trollers’ strike to win 3-0 atOsasuna on Saturday and maintaintheir two-point lead at the top ofLa Liga. Pep Guardiola’s sidewere forced to travel by train andcoach to reach Pamplona, wherethey prevailed through a PedroRodriguez goal and a second-halfbrace from Lionel Messi.

Real Madrid, smarting fromtheir 5-0 humiliation at Barcelonaon Monday, returned to winningways as Cristiano Ronaldo’s

Agence France Presse

MANCHESTER - Sir AlexFerguson does not intend to rest hisbig guns for Valencia’s ChampionsLeague visit to Old Trafford on Tues-day even though Manchester Unitedhave booked their ticket into the last16 phase. Four wins from five GroupC games have guaranteed United aplace in the knockout stages with onegame to spare.

Valencia’s visit comes just sixdays before United entertain Arse-nal in a top-of-the-table PremierLeague showdown which is swiftlyfollowed by another huge game forFerguson’s men at reigning champi-ons Chelsea on December 19.

But the United manager has nointention of resting his key playersahead of those two key fixtures whenhis men take on Valencia, who arealso through to the next stage.

Although the match is effectiveya dead rubber, Ferguson wants tomake sure United to finish top of thegroup so they avoid the likes of RealMadrid and Barcelona until the lat-ter stages of the competition. As itstands, Valencia have to win at OldTrafford to finish above United.

AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi from Argentina, third left no. 10, is congratulated by teammates afterscoring against Osasuna during their Spanish La Liga soccer match at Reyno de Navarra sta-dium in Pamplona northern, Spain, Saturday Dec. 4, 2010.

Strikes, snow noStrikes, snow noStrikes, snow noStrikes, snow noStrikes, snow noproblem for Arsenal,problem for Arsenal,problem for Arsenal,problem for Arsenal,problem for Arsenal,Barca, LilleBarca, LilleBarca, LilleBarca, LilleBarca, LilleAgence France Presse

PARIS - Snow and strike action disrupted the European football programme over the week-end, but Arsenal, Barcelona and Lille were among the sides to take advantage by pulling clear intheir respective leagues. Manchester United’s game at Blackpool on Saturday fell victim to thesnow, allowing Arsenal to take over at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at hometo Fulham on Saturday.

double — his 15th and 16th leaguegoals of the season — saw them to a2-0 home victory over Valencia.

AC Milan kept hold of top spotin Serie A by beating Brescia 3-0,with Kevin-Prince Boateng claiminghis first goal for the club and ZlatanIbrahimovic netting his eighth leaguegoal this term. All is not well, how-ever, for defending champions InterMilan, who fell 10 points behindtheir city rivals after losing 3-1 atsecond-placed Lazio on Friday night.

Third-placed Juventus closed thegap on Milan to six points with a 3-1 win at Catania, while fourth-placedNapoli tackle fifth-placed Palermoon Monday.

Borussia Dortmund took anotherstep towards their first Bundesligatitle in nine years with a 2-0 win overNuremberg that stretched their leadat the summit to 10 points. Second-placed Mainz suffered a 2-1 reverseagainst Eintracht Frankfurt — theirfourth defeat in six matches.

Champions Bayern Munich lost2-0 at struggling Schalke, leaving

them 17 points off the lead andprompting coach Louis van Gaal todeclare that Dortmund are “too farahead” to be caught. Lille soared tothe top of the French top flight onSunday as a Moussa Sow hat-trickinspired them to an extraordinary 6-3 win at home to Lorient, a day afterthe match had been postponed dueto heavy snow in northern France.

Paris Saint-Germain moved intosecond place with a 3-1 win at hometo Brest, but champions Marseilleslipped to fourth after Emerse Fae’sstoppage-time strike earned Nice a1-0 win at Stade du Ray.

PSV Eindhoven and FC Twenteremain neck-and-neck on 37 pointsat the top of the Dutch standings,after PSV thrashed Heracles Almelo5-2 and their title rivals won 2-0 athome to De Graafschap.

In Portugal, With unbeaten lead-ers Porto not tackling Vitoria Setubaluntil Monday, second-placedBenfica closed the gap on their titlerivals to five points with a 2-0 winagainst Olhanense.

AP Photo/Jon Super

Manchester United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson smiles as hearrives in Manchester, England, Monday Dec. 6, 2010, to watcha training session at Carrington training ground the day beforehis team’s Champion’s League soccer match against Valencia.

Fergie to field strongside as he eyes top spot

“We will be playing a strong sidebecause we want to top the group,”said Ferguson. “Real Madrid are topof their group, Barcelona are top,Bayern (Munich) are top.

“It’s not that you’re afraid of thembut you want to keep them out of theroad until later. “Valencia will wantto be top of the group too, so itshould be an interesting game. Theychanged their system for the firsttime I can remember when theyplayed Villarreal a few weeks ago.

“They went five at the back,which is unusual for them. They’vealways had a back four with one sit-ting in front.”

United lost their position at thetop of the Premier League at theweekend after their scheduled gameaway to Blackpool on Saturday waspostponded due to a frozen pitch.

That allowed Arsenal to openup a narrow one point lead at thesummit. The postponement alsodenied United the chance to returnto winning ways after a team fea-turing the likes of Ryan Giggs,Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea andWes Brown was hammered 4-0 atWest Ham in the League Cup lastTuesday.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010 15International Sport

“It’s the best moment of my life,”said Troicki, who had lostSaturday’s doubles alongside NenadZimonjic to Llodra and ArnaudClement, forcing his team to face anailbiting last day. Djokovic markedthe historic moment by having hishead shaved courtside by his team-mates.

“It’s history. It’s our biggest suc-cess as individuals, as a team, as acountry,” said Djokovic, who haddefeated Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1, 7-5on Friday after Monfils had givenFrance the advantage with a 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 win over JankoTipsarevic.

On Sunday, Troicki had beencalled in to replace Tipsarevic in thecrucial singles and the 24-year-olddelivered in style, hitting 58 win-ners to Llodra’s 32 in the 2hr 13minencounter. Only briefly did he looklike expectation might get the bet-ter of him when, at 4-1 ahead in thethird set, he lost two quick games.

But he held his nerve to seal vic-tory when his 30-year-old opponentwas left flat-footed by a cross-courtbackhand winner. Llodra was dev-

Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. – WesleyMatthews had 26 points and thePortland Trail Blazers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 100-91victory over the Los Angeles Clip-pers on Sunday night after nearlyblowing a 22-point lead.

Brandon Roy added 14 points,Nicolas Batum had 13 points and acareer-high 13 rebounds, andMarcus Camby added 12 points anda season-high 19 rebounds for theBlazers. The six-game losing streakwas Portland’s longest since itdropped the final eight games of the2005-06 season.

Matthews, signed as a free agentfrom Utah in the offseason, startedin place of Batum at small forwardfor the fourth straight game and hasscored 23 or more in four of the lastfive games.

Eric Gordon led the Clippers, 0-10 on the road, with 24 points. BlakeGriffin had 21 points and 15 re-bounds, his eighth straight double-double. The rookie forward alsostifled LaMarcus Aldridge, who hadjust four points and five reboundsbefore fouling out. Baron Davis had14 points, eight assists and six re-bounds.

The Clippers trailed by 22 pointsat halftime but came back to cut the

Djokovic, TroickiDjokovic, TroickiDjokovic, TroickiDjokovic, TroickiDjokovic, Troickigive Serbia firstgive Serbia firstgive Serbia firstgive Serbia firstgive Serbia firstDavis Cup titleDavis Cup titleDavis Cup titleDavis Cup titleDavis Cup title

AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

Members of the Serbian national tennis team hold the Davis Cup trophy and jubilate after theyhave won the Davis Cup finals against France in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010.

Agence France Presse

BELGRADE - World number three Novak Djokovic and the unheralded Viktor Troicki sweptSerbia to an historic first Davis Cup title on Sunday, overturning an overnight deficit to beatnine-time winners France 3-2. Troicki, the world number 30, eased past Michael Llodra 6-2, 6-2,6-3, after Djokovic had crushed Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to pull his country level with his sixthwin in six Davis Cup singles rubbers this season.

astated by his defeat. “I was cryingbecause I was unable to win the lastpoint for my team and because thingsdidn’t happen the way that I wantedthem to,” he said.

Sunday’s triumph will rankalongside Serbia’s previous best glo-bal performances of the Olympicvolleyball gold medal in 2000 andthe 2001 European basketball title.It also betters the formerYugoslavia’s record in the Davis Cupwith three semi-final spots in 1988,1989 and 1991 being the best out-ings.

France captain Guy Forget de-fended his decision to select Llodradespite the left-hander having playedfor four and a half hours in Saturday’sdraining doubles. “We are in the fi-nal thanks to ‘Mika’ and Gael, let’snot forget that,” said Forget.

“I have never seen a guy returnthe ball like Troicki did today. Gaelwas outclassed by a stronger player.It’s so frustrating to have been soclose to our goal but to lose.”Djokovic comfortably sealed a sixthcareer win in six meetings withMonfils to set the stage for Troicki’s

fireworks inside a packed BelgradeArena.

“It’s one of the best matches ofmy career, in the circumstances,”said Djokovic. “I have a lot of re-spect for the French team, especiallyGael, who is a good friend.” In thefirst set, Djokovic broke Monfilstwice as he surged to a quick 6-2advantage.

The Serb broke Monfils again inthe sixth game of the second set, andthen in the final game, spreading hisarms in mock triumph towards theincreasingly vociferous partisancrowd as he surged to a 2-0 lead. Tohis credit, Monfils upped his gamein the third set, the world number 12breaking Djokovic twice — only tocancel that advantage by losing hisown service game due to a series ofunforced errors.

“I’m very disappointed, I ex-pected to play a lot better,” saidMonfils. “I gave it everything I had.After talking to Guy (Forget, teamcaptain) I tried to change tactics afew times because Novak was sostrong. He was by far the betterplayer today.”

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Portland Trail Blazers Wesley Matthews (2) drives to the bas-ket as Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Eric Gordon (10)looks on during the second half of an NBA basketball gameSunday, Dec. 5, 2010, in Portland, Ore. The Trail Blazers de-feated the Clippers 100-91.

Trail Blazers snap6-game losing streak

lead to three in the fourth. RasualButler hit two 3-pointers to cut it to92-89 with 1:29 left. With under aminute, the Clippers had a fast breakwith the chance to cut into the leador tie, but Andre Miller ripped theball away from Ryan Gomes.

After a foul, Miller made two freethrows and the Blazers led 96-91with 30 seconds left. Gordon turnedthe ball over and Batum hit two freethrows on the other end to put thegame away.

As the game got closer, it becamechippy. At the end of third, BrianCook picked up a flagrant-2 foul andwas ejected after shoving JoelPrzybilla in the chest as Przybillawent up for a layup. That led to abrief skirmish in which Davis,Przybilla, Batum and Craig Smithpicked up technical fouls

Smith was kicked out with 8:17left in the game after picking up an-other technical when he tried to goafter Rudy Fernandez and had to berestrained by former Clippers team-mate Camby. Less then a minutelater, Camby shoved Griffin to thefloor, sending the former Oklahomastar skidding out of bounds, but ap-parently out of the sight of the offi-cials. The next play, Camby wentafter Griffin again, picking up a fla-grant-1 for a hard foul as Griffinwent up to the rim.

Tuesday, December 7, 201016 SportI N T E R N A T I O N A L

The unbeaten longtime worldchampion dominated the finalrounds to win a unanimous deci-sion over Saucedo (38-5-2) on

FORMER World Rally cham-pion Petter Solberg will contest theMonte Carlo Rally in a Peugeot207. The outing will be Solberg’sfirst appearance in the Interconti-nental Rally Challenge, which kicksoff with the famous January event.

“I was very surprised whenOlivier Quesnel, director of Citroen

Chris John retainsfeatherweight title

AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah

In this Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 photo, referee Rafael Ramos raisesthe hand of WBA champion boxer Chris John of Indonesia af-ter defeating his challenger Fernando Saucedo of Argentina intheir featherweight boxing title bout in Jakarta, Indonesia. Johnretained his title for the 13th time by beating Saucedo in a unani-mous decision.

Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Chris John has retainedhis WBA featherweight title for the 13th time after defeatingFernando David Saucedo of Argentine.

Sunday at Tennis Indoor Senayanin Jakarta. John improved to 44-0-2.

John became the interim WBA

champion in 2003 by defeatingOscar Leon in Bali, then becamesuper champion after fighting toa draw against American con-tender Rocky Juarez in March lastyear. Six months later, the 31-year-old Indonesian outpointedJuarez in Las Vegas.

Those have been his only twofights in the United States.

Solberg enters Monte with Peugeot

FERNANDO Alonso has beenvoted as the best driver of 2010 inAUTOSPORT’s exclusive teamprincipals’ top 10 poll. In a now end-of-season tradition, AUTOSPORTasked each of the current 12 teamprincipals for their top 10 driverrankings of the 2010 campaign.

Their individual results, whichare kept secret, were then convertedinto the new points system (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1) and the finalscores added up to discover whichdriver the team bosses believed haddone the best job throughout thecampaign.

Although Alonso missed out on

F1 bosses vote Alonso the best of 2010the world championship followinga troubled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,the Spaniard managed to beat titlewinner Sebastian Vettel in the teamprincipals’ eyes.

Alonso beat Vettel by nine pointsoverall after the votes of all the teamprincipals were added up - movinghim up from fourth place overallwhere he was voted last season.

Although just missing out on theworld title, Alonso has said that his2010 campaign for Ferrari was thebest of his career - as he deliveredfive victories in his maiden cam-paign for the Maranello outfit.

“I am very pleased to learn that the

majority of team principals chose meas their best driver of the year, evenif it goes without saying that I wouldhave preferred to receive that acco-lade in the guise of world champion,”said Alonso. “It is yet another rea-son to claim this has been an amaz-ing season, despite the disappoint-ment at the final hurdle.

“The team and I fought all theway to the very end, without evergiving up, even when it all seemedlike a lost cause: we staged a re-markable comeback. Next year, wewill be looking to do better, but Iwill still remember 2010 as a won-derful year.”

Racing and Peugeot Sport, contactedme and asked if I would be a guestdriver for the 2011 IRC RallyeMonte Carlo in January,” saidSolberg.

“Of course I had to accept! Themanufacturer team will run the car,and they wanted to hire me for thisevent to secure a good result for the

team. “As for me, this means morecompetitive kilometres in a rally carand a new experience, as I have notentered an IRC event before. Thereis also live coverage of some of thestages, which will be exciting.”

Solberg never managed to winthe Monte when it was still a roundof the WRC. A privateer Citroendriver for the past two years sinceSubaru’s exit from the WRC, he hasyet to announce his plans for the full2011 season, but emphasised thathis Peugeot run was a one-off dealfor the Monte and he was not plan-ning a full-time IRC switch.

“This is a one-time arrangement,and I have no plans for a future inthe IRC,” said Solberg. “My plan isstill to be in the WRC, and fight forthe championship, in 2011.”

Peugeot will also enter a car forex-grand prix driver and Le Mansstar Stephane Sarrazin once again,but at present 2009 Monte winnerSebastien Ogier is not on the list forthe ’11 event.

Other leading drivers in Peugeotsin Monte Carlo include newPeugeot UK signing Guy Wilks,plus series regulars ThierryNeuville, Bruno Magalhaes andBryan Bouffier.