Thursday, December 20, 2012

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L I N T E R N A T I O N A L

DPs 23 - 32

EntertainmentWEATHER FORECAsT

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Los Angeles premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s new film, “Django Unchained,” which Yahoo! Movies was scheduled to live stream Tuesday, is now canceled. Reuters reports this is unrelated to the violent nature

of the film.“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the

families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event,” a

spokesperson for The Weinstein Company said in a statement. “However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families.”

Sources confirm to omg! that the after party, which was scheduled to take place at Sky Bar at the Mondrian hotel in West Hol-lywood, is now canceled as well.

Paramount Pictures also postponed two upcoming screenings of Tom Cruise’s new

action film, “Jack Reacher,” out of respect for the Newtown families. However, it’s not just the film industry that is taking action after the Newtown tragedy.

Showtime ran a warning ahead of the Sun-day season finales of “Dexter” and “Home-land.” “In light of the tragedy that has oc-curred in Connecticut, the following program contains images that may be disturbing,” reads the disclaimer. The disclaimer continues to run on re-broadcasts of those programs.

Meanwhile, “The Voice” paid homage to Newtown during its opening number on Monday night. All four coaches joined the Season 3 contestants to perform a rendition of “Hallelujah,” as each person held up a sign with a victim’s name and age on it. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” an audience member at “The Voice” tells omg!. Similarly, “Saturday Night Live’s” cold open last week-end featured the New York City Children’s Chorus singing “Silent Night.”

Associated Press Writer

MADRID — A painting by the 80-year-old Spanish artist who became famous for her botched restoration of a Christ fresco in a small-town church has fetched €1,080 ($1,421) on eBay. The closing price Tuesday for Celia Gimenez’s oil painting “Las Bodegas de Borja” (“Borja’s Wine Cellar”) more than tripled its starting price after 52 bids.

Gimenez said the proceeds will to the Catholic charity organization Caritas. Gimenez became a sensation in August when pictures spread on the Internet of an “Ecce Homo” (“Behold the Man”) mural in the town of Borja that she disfigured while trying to restore it. Twitter users redubbed it “Ecce Mono” (“Behold the Monkey”).

The painting has since become a tourist attraction and the image has been used on T-shirts and wine labels.

‘Django Unchained’ Premiere Canceled

Hollywood Reacts to the Newtown Tragedy

Spanish botched fresco artist sells work on eBay

AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Andrew Cooper, SMPSP

This undated publicity image released by The Weinstein Company shows, from left, Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film, “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino.

While the country is still reeling from the events of Sandy Hook, Hollywood is paying its respects and standing down. Several events have been canceled and programs have been rescheduled in light of the tragedy. Even a chart-topping pop song has reportedly been drastically affected.

Furthermore, Ida Bagus Parsa said that his party had made coordination with the authority of Ngurah Rai Airport, namely PT Angkasa Pura II and relevant stakeholders regarding the service plan of Trans Sarbagita bus around the airport. Various preparations had been made and it was scheduled to oper-

ate in February or March 2013.“We have coordinated with the airport and

in the near future we will socialize it. Indeed, it needs a mature preparation since the airport expansion project is still under progress,” he said. Later on, five buses from Corridor 2 (Batubulan-Nusa Dua) would be operated to the airport.

According to Parsa, the main target of Trans Sarbagita to airport was all the airport employ-ees and office employees around the airport estimated to reach 7,000 more. So far, they were using private vehicles such as motorcycle and car so that they often kindle crowdedness in the area. “If we come into the airport, behind it occur thousands of motorcycles owned by the airport employees. They become our target to reduce the crowdedness in the area,” he said.

As planned, the Trans Sarbagita serving the airport route would operate in three shifts when the employees were going to and leav-ing the airport. “In the future, there are going to be three shifts whose service gives priority to the airport employees. Those buses will not

operate full time but at certain hours only. For instance, in the morning they will operate for 2-3 hours, in the afternoon for 2-3 hours and at night,” he explained.

Related to worries if Trans Sarbagita came into the airport would reap turmoil and rejection from taxi drivers because the buses were considered their rivals, Parsa said it was not going to happen because the segment of bus was different. “Trans Sarbagita comes into the airport with different segment and prioritizes the airport employees and will not grab taxi passengers,” he said. He affirmed that his party would still accommodate the existing inputs and made coordination with all stakeholders and socialized it. (kmb29)

IBP/File Photo

The plan of Trans Sarbagita bus to serve the route to Ngurah Rai Airport seems to be realized soon. Operation Manager of Trans Sarbagita, Ida Bagus Parsa, said that early in 2013 five units of Trans Sarbagita bus would be redirected to Ngurah Rai Airport so that they could reduce the use of private vehicles.

Early 2013, five Trans Sarbagita buses serve airport

Bali Post

DENPASAR - The plan of Trans Sarbagita bus to serve the route to Ngurah Rai Airport seems to be realized soon. Operation Manager of Trans Sarbagita, Ida Bagus Parsa, said that early in 2013 five units of Trans Sarbagita bus would be redirected to Ngurah Rai Airport so that they could reduce the use of private vehicles. “Trans Sarbagita bus really needs directing to Ngurah Rai Airport to diminish the congestion there,” he said in Denpasar.

south Korea votes in tight race on economy and jobs

Bayern marches on, schalke out of German Cup

Benghazi review finds systematic security faults

International2 Thursday, December 20, 2012 15International Activities

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, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Pujawan, Buleleng: Adnyana, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bali Putra Ariawan. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Tele-phone (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

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

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

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

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

Balinese Temple Ceremony

Calendar Event for December 12 through December 27, 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

12 Des Buda Keliwon Ugu Pura Dalem Tarukan Banjar Pu-lasari Desa Peninjoan Tembuku - BangliPura Pasek Gelgel Boading Kaba-kaba TabananPura Pemayun Banyuning Te n -gah - BulelengPura Desa Kayangan Tiga Desa Bubunan Seririt - BulelengPura Agung Gunung Raung Ban-jar Taro Kaja Taro - TegalalangMerajan Pasek Dangka Bungbun-gan

22 Des Hari Tumpek Wayang Pura Majapahit JembranaOdalan Betara ratu Gede Celuk SukawatiOdalan Betara Ratu Wedyadari Camenggaon SukawatiPura Panti Gelgel Pengembun-gan Sesetan DenpasarBetara Ratu Alit dan Ratu Lingsir Singakerta UbudPura Pedarmaan Dalem Suka-wati BesakihPura Pedarmaan Mengwi Be-sakihPura Pedarmaan Kaba-kaba BesakihPura Pedarmaan dalem Bakas BesakihPura Dadia Agung Pasek Gelgel

Pegatepan Gelgel KlungkungPura Pemrajan Agung Sulang Kec Dawan KlungkungMerajan Pasek Bendesa Kori Agung PengatepanPura Pedarmaan Dinasti dalem sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan P u r a Besakih (Dalem Klungkung)Pura Penataran Giri Purwa dan Pesraman Dusun Kuto Rejo Kendal Rejo Tegal Delimo Banyu-angi

26 Des Buda Wage Kelawu Pura Penataran Agung Teluk Pa-dang KarangasemPura Melanting Desa Cameng-gaon SukawatiPura Penataran Ped Nusa Peni-daPura Pasek Gelgel Pangembun-gan Bongkase AbiansemalPura Pasek Bendesa Reyang Gede Penebel TabananPura Pasek Gelgel Br. Jawa Ten-gah BulelengPura Gaduhan Jagat Desa Sin-gakerta UbudPura Masceti Tegeh Mancawarna Sanding TampaksiringPura Penataran Batu Lepang Kamasan KlungkungPura Paibon Pasek Gelgel Gobleg Desa Kedonganan Kuta

Pura Goa BesakihPura Basukian BesakihPenataran Agung BesakihMerajan Pasek Gelgel PejengMerajan Pasek Gelgel SonganMerajan Pasek Prateka Pekan-delan SidemenMerajan Pasek Prateka Taman Sari SukasadaPura dadia Pasek Gelgel Side-men KarangasemMerajan Pasek Gelgel Tampua-gan, Tembuku, Bangli

27 Des Purnama Kepitu Pr. Benua Besakih.Pura Dalem Desa Camenggaon - SukawatiPura Suranadhi LombokPura Narmada LombokPura Segara Ampenan LombokMr Agung Dewa Agung Klung-kung Ulah SidemenPura Gunungrene S i d e m e n - Karangasem.Merajan Pasek Gelgel AbabiMr. Pasek gelgel TistaPura Gunung Gunung - Tianyar - Kubu - KarangasemPura Pingit Klenting sari Banjar Sumberkelompok - Gerokgak - SingarajaPura Payogan Agung Kutai Kartanegara

Perched on a ‘’bukit’’, or bluff, on the spectacular Balinese coast-line with a spectacular and unob-structed view of the Indian Ocean, Fairmont Bali will offer guests 170 luxurious guest rooms and suites as well as branded residences. Denniston International, one of the industry’’s leading hospitality design and planning firms, will oversee the project with their trade-mark approach of translating local culture into contemporary design.

Guests will enjoy a variety of dining options from casual to el-egant and extensive recreational fa-cilities including a spa and 18-hole golf course. White, sandy beaches and leafy, tropical trees combine to form an enticing backdrop to an exclusive beachclub perfect for relaxing, swimming and a variety of water sports while a diverse se-

lection of indoor and outdoor venue spaces will ensure seamless events for both corporate functions, social occasions and weddings. Bali of-fers a wealth of cultural attractions as well as activities ranging from visiting Balinese temples, shopping for handicrafts and jewelry to boat-ing, or for the more adventurous, horseback riding, scuba diving, parasailing and much more.

“Our entry into Bali marks the company’’s first resort in South East Asia and will provide our guests with a rich and beautiful holiday destination in the region,” stated Jennifer Fox, President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “Ex-panding our global footprint is a key brand strategy and this resort will complement our existing hotels such as the recently opened Fairmont Makati in Manila and

Fairmont Jaipur as well as the luxurious Fairmont Jakarta which will open in 2015.”

The resort will also be home to the 80-room Raffles Bali, featur-ing one, two or three bedroom villas and branded residences with private plunge pools, outdoor din-ing and relaxation areas. Raffles is a sister brand under the parent company Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.

One of the more than 17,000 islands that make up the Indone-sian archipelago, picturesque Bali offers visitors a beautiful and di-verse natural environment, ranging from stepped rice paddies, lakes, volcanoes and beaches as well a rich and varied culture reflecting Hindu, Indian, Chinese, European and indigenous influences, for an unforgettable experience. IBP/Net

Fairmont announces new resort on BaliIBP

Fairmont Hotels & resorts today announced a new development on the southern coast of Bali, Indonesia scheduled to open in 2016.

Denpasar (Bali Post)-

Located at Seti Budi St ree t , No. 10 , Kuta , D’Topeng Museum office was damaged by dozens of anonymous people. Not only damaged the place, some of the stuffs of the most comprehensive mu-seum office in Bali were taken. The case was then reported by owner, Jo-sep Hananto Wijoyo, to Denpasar Tourism Po-lice Criminal Research as stated by its Head, PC Ambariyadi Wijaya, last Tuesday (18/12).

The report came in by

1st October 2012 under Report Number: LP.1939/X/2012/Bali/Resta Den-pasar. It was stated an expert will be requested again to help the inves-tigation, even though it has been done before. The case is still being investigated and no ac-cused could be found yet. Workers and securities of museum were forcedly banned out by these peo-ple. It is strongly suspect-ed that this was done after an agreement between the owner of D’Topeng and land owner yet to be settled.(kmb21)

Ketut Sudarjaya said on Tuesday (Dec 18) that his home was submerged due to rising water in the irrigation ca-nal near his home. The water began to overflow and soak the home yard and room since Saturday (Dec 15). Until Tuesday, the puddle was still knee-deep of adult. At that time, it rained very heav-ily. Meanwhile, the narrowing irrigation canal was unable to accommodate water so that it finally soaked his home. “I’ve been trying to make a dike to prevent water from entering the house, but because of great volume of flooding the levee was unable to stem the water coming into the house,” he said.

On the other hand, Sudarjaya said the

narrowing irrigation canal was alleged to have been caused by rampant construc-tion of villas at the village. Even, many villas were built very close to the verge of irrigation canals. As consequence, they kindled the narrowing of the canal. Besides, road construction by investors that would build villas was also alleged to have made many irrigation canals shallow that eventually emptied out into the narrowing of the irrigation canals.

“Before the construction of vil-las and bridge, our house was never flooded like this,” said Sudarjaya while adding that such flooding was due to overflowing irrigation that had happened for three times in 2010. He

had reported the incident to subdistrict officials, but there was no response.

In separate location, the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng, Putu Dana, said that until last Tuesday the BPBD had not received a report related to the flooding. Procedurally, if there was a disaster the subdistrict reported it to disaster preparedness in the BPBD. When there was a report, the BPBD would collect data on the losses and forwarded it to Social Agency to provide the assistance of food packages. “Up to now, there is no report and I’ll try to check it first to subdistrict authority,” he said. (kmb)

IBP/File

The flood which happen in Ambengan hamlet, Banjar village, Banjar subdistrict, Singaraja. The flood is alleged due to the narrowing irigation canal

Irrigation canal narrows

Two homes of resident at Banjar village inundatedSingaraja (Bali Post)—

Two houses belonging to resident of Ambengan hamlet, Banjar village, Banjar subdistrict, were submerged. The house belonged to Ketut Sudarjaya aka Guntur, 42, and Dewa Komang Satwika, 40, were submerged up to knee-deep of adult. Both homeowners and family members had fled to a safer family’s home.

Denpasar (Bali Post)—

The toddler swept away by torrent in Tebe River located on Jalan Wibisana on Monday (Dec 17) was found in lifeless condition on Tuesday (Dec 18) around 09:00 a.m. The body of tod-dler named Putu Eka Boby Putra Anggara, 5, was found by SAR team and communi-ties in the south of Pemogan Bridge on Jalan Pulau Ga-lang, Denpasar.

The body was sent to mor-tuary of Sanglah Hospital for further examination. Chief of Forensic Medicine Instal-lation of Sanglah Hospital, Dudut Rustyadi, explained if the body was received in the mortuary at 09:30 a.m. and the body was directly examined in the form of identification process and external examination.

Dudut said that based on identification process it could be ascertained if the body was Boby seen from the clothes he last worn and

the scars on his body as clar-ified by family. Meanwhile, from external examination it was found multiple bruises and open wounds, especially on facial area. “The wound was probably caused by a crash to rock or other objects when being swept away,” said Dudut. When viewed from the features of white and wrinkled palms and feet, the victim was estimated to have been submerged around 12-24 hours.

Body of the victim, ac-cording to Dudut, only un-derwent an external exami-nation and did not undergo autopsy. After the examina-tion, the body of Boby was immediately taken home by family to be buried.

According to victim’s family, the body would be buried at his home village at Ngis village, Manggis subdistrict, Karangasem. During his lifetime, Boby was still in kindergarten and known as a diligent and smart kid. (san)

Swept away by torrent, a toddler found dead

D’Topeng Museum Office damaged

3Thursday, December 20, 201214 InternationalInternational Bali NewsScience Thursday, December 20, 2012

IBP

KUTA - Companies from dif-ferent type of business join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental in Kuta Beach recently. The companies that signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were Quick-silver Indonesia, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and Garuda Indonesia. The signing was done by CEO SEA Paul Hutson from Quiksilver Indonesia, Business Services Director Bruce Waterfield from Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and EVP Heriyanto Putra from Garuda Indonesia.

Quiksilver Indonesia and Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia first joined forces in 2008 to help clean up Bali’s beaches, and have now been joined by Indonesia’s flagship Garuda Airlines in a historic benchmark that signals the start of the next phase of Indone-sia’s waste management future.

The official introduction of the Barber Surf Rake beach cleaning units that were donated by Garuda Indonesia and the signing of the MOU by the three corporations were the primary impetus for the Bali Beach Clean Up event today, which was opened by speeches from the corporate representatives.

First to take the microphone this morning was Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia’s Bruce Waterfield, who said, “We are entering a new phase in our efforts to clean up Bali, as having Garuda involved in our program will enable a change not only in how these beaches are presented to domestic and international tourists and local residents by way of the Barber Surf Rake units, but also by becoming an

“I am really sure that currently, Indonesia is the fifth biggest agri-cultural producer in the world. That is compared to China, United States and Brazil,” said Leon after the Top Ciencia Symposium in Sanur, Bali, Tuesday evening.

He noted that the responsibility of Indonesia is also to producing food for the people which have to be fulfilled by some efforts of related parties.

He said that Indonesia also targeting to become the self

Indonesia has great potency for agriculture investmentAntara

SANUR - Business Area Director for ASEAN Crop Protection of BASF Chemical Company Leon Van Mullekom said that Indonesia still has great potency for agriculture investment as the government urges food sustainability.

sufficient country for food and agriculture products.

“I believe the government and Indonesian people can reach the target by doing good collabora-tion between stakeholders and the real implementation,” he said.

He added that BASF party is ready to cooperate with the gov-ernment to enhance food sustain-ability in Indonesia.

“We have commit in crop pro-tection products, supporting the excellent research of agriculture

as well as doing research on ni-trogen technology. I believe that Indonesian agriculture has great potency to developed,” he said.

Food securityMeanwhile, Head of Research

of Development Crop Protection Asia Pacific of BASF Edson Beg-liomini said that the development of crop protection and education

course for farmers in South East Asia, especially in Indonesia, can enhance world food security.

“The AgCelence of BASF, de-signed to boost crop yields and qual-ity, can help food security. We need to improve yield by area and doing the contribution to be more self sufficient and the system also can increase the quality of the crops,” said Edson.

According to him, BASF also educated farmers to give them knowledge on agriculture tech-nology and its implementation.

“We have different name of education program for farmer in each countries. Here in Indonesia we have ‘Mitra Tani’,” he said.

He said that the program teaches the farmers and the fam-

ily how to do good farming and growing crops in better way.

“By implementing both pro-grams, the crop protection and educating the farmers, we hope that all parties could enhance the food security,” Edson said.

The symposium discussed about international research which focused on development of crop protection and the needs of the market for crop protection.

“There are a lot of ideas that we have discussed today and we need to develop this plan for the next year,” he said.

He noted that by developing the root quality, it also increased the yield of the plant so that the effort supports food security.

Companies join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental

IBP/Courtesy of Tim Hain

Companies from different type of business join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental in Kuta Beach recently. The companies that signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were Quicksilver Indonesia, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and Garuda Indonesia.

example for other Indonesian corpo-rations to follow.”

He continued, “With a growing population and poor waste manage-ment controls across the country, it is up to the industry to work with the government, local communities and industry groups to protect the very source of our existence.”

Waterfield’s speech was followed by Quiksilver’s Paul Hutson, who described the significance of the event from the perspective of a surf brand that has been doing business in Indonesian for many years, say-ing, “Quiksilver has been Indonesia for over 20 years, doing business in manufacturing, distribution and retail and we are here to stay. We are in this beach clean up program for the long term, as our future is reliant on the sustainability of healthy tourism and a healthy environment.”

Mr. Heriyanto Putra, the Execu-tive Vice President of Human Capital and Corporate Affairs at Garuda, was clearly gratified and optimistic. “We would like to express our appreciation to Coca-Cola Amatil and Quiksilver Indonesia for entering into this part-nership with Garuda Indonesia, for it is a cooperation that I strongly believe will be of benefit to all participants and to the environment,” he said.

He continued saying, “In addition to our business as the national flight carrier, we are also concerned with social issues, society and the envi-ronment. This is one of the many important programs that Garuda is implementing. As we are all aware, Bali is the most popular tourist desti-nation, so it is all of our responsibility to help preserve the nature and beauty

of Bali Island. We hope that the dona-tion of these two Barber Surf Rake units will go a long ways towards maintaining the beauty and cleanli-ness of Bali’s beaches.”

The two revolutionary Barber Surf Rake units were imported from the USA and cost approximately $50,000 USD each, and will be used to groom the beaches of Kuta, Seminyak, Legian, Jimbaran and Kedonganan.

Since June of 2008, Quiksilver In-

donesia and Coca-Cola Amatil Indo-nesia have been working together to clean up Bali’s beaches. The program started small, but working closely with the local communities of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Jimbaran and Ke-donganan, now there is a 74 person strong dedicated beach cleanup crew, 4 tractors, 3 trucks, and more than 600 trash bin placements. In this year alone, 4.5 million kilograms of trash has been collected, totaling over 14

million kilograms of trash since the program started.

In addition to their beach clean up efforts, Quiksilver and Coca-Cola Am-atil Indonesia also support Bali’s Life-guards, Indonesia’s professional surfing organization the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championships (ISC), and the Kuta Beach Turtle Conservation as well as other local Bali environmental organizations such as GUS, the ROLE Foundation and more.

The poll found 4 out of every 5 Americans said climate change will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it. That’s up from 73 percent when the same question was asked in 2009.

And 57 percent of Americans say the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about the problem. That’s up from 52 percent in 2009. Only 22 percent of those surveyed think little or noth-ing should be done, a figure that dropped from 25 percent.

Overall, 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe tempera-tures are rising, up from 75 percent three years earlier. In general, U.S. belief in global warming, accord-ing to AP-GfK and other polls, has fluctuated over the years but has stayed between about 70 and 85 percent.

The biggest change in the polling is among people who trust scientists only a little or not at all. About 1 in 3 of the people surveyed fell into that category.

Within that highly skeptical group, 61 percent now say tem-peratures have been rising over the

Science doubters say world is warmingAssociated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — A growing majority of Americans think global warming is occurring, that it will become a serious problem and that the U.S. government should do something about it, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds. Even most people who say they don’t trust scientists on the environment say temperatures are rising.

AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File

FILE - In this July 26, 2011 file photo, a Greenlandic Inuit hunter and fisherman steers his boat past a melting iceberg, along a fjord leading away from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, near Nuuk, Greenland.

past 100 years. That’s a substantial increase from 2009, when the AP-GfK poll found that only 47 percent of those with little or no trust in scientists believed the world was getting warmer.

This is an important develop-ment because, often in the past, opinion about climate change doesn’t move much in core groups — like those who deny it exists and those who firmly believe it’s an alarming problem, said Jon Kros-nick, a Stanford University social psychologist and pollster. Krosnick, who consulted with The Associated Press on the poll questions, said the changes the poll shows aren’t in the hard-core “anti-warming” deniers, but in the next group, who had seri-ous doubts.

“They don’t believe what the scientists say, they believe what the thermometers say,” Krosnick said. “Events are helping these people see what scientists thought they had been seeing all along.”

Phil Adams, a retired freelance photographer from Washington, N.C., said he was “fairly cynical” about scientists and their theo-

ries. But he believes very much in climate change because of what he’s seen with his own eyes. “Having lived for 67 years, we consistently see more and more

changes based upon the fact that the weather is warmer,” he said. “The seasons are more severe. The climate is definitely getting warmer.”

Solving a centuries-old murder mystery, researchers say Egyptian king Ramesses III likely had his throat slit by conspirators in his harem. Moreover, the body of the pharaoh’s traitorous son, Prince Pentaw-ere, may have finally been found.

IBP/ist

Mummy Murder Mystery Solved

Despite sharing 98 percent of our DNA with chimpan-zees, humans have much bigger brains and are, as a species, much more intelli-gent. Now a new study sheds light on why: Unlike chimps, humans undergo a massive explosion in white matter growth, or the connections between brain cells, in the first two years of life.

The new results, published today (Dec. 18) in the Proceed-ings of the Royal Society B, partly explain why humans are so much brainier than our near-est living relatives. But they also reveal why the first two years of life play such a key role in human development.

“What’s really unique about us is that our brains experience rapid establishment of connec-tivity in the first two years of life,” said Chet Sherwood, an evolutionary neuroscientist at

George Washington Univer-sity, who was not involved in the study. “That probably helps to explain why those first few years of human life are so criti-cal to set us on the course to language acquisition, cultural knowledge and all those things that make us human.”

ChimpanzeesWhile past studies have

shown that human brains go through a rapid expansion in connectivity, it wasn’t clear that was unique amongst great apes (a group that includes chimps, gorillas, orangutans and humans). To prove it was the signature of human-ity’s superior intelligence, re-searchers would need to prove it was different from that in our closest living relatives.

However, a U.S. mora-

torium on acquiring new chimpanzees for medical research meant that people like Sherwood, who is trying to understand chimpanzee brain development, had to study decades-old baby chim-panzee brains that were lying around in veterinary patholo-gists’ labs, Sherwood told LiveScience. [Images: Baby Chimpanzees Welcomed]

But in Japan, those limita-tions didn’t go into place till later, allowing the researchers to do live magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of three baby chimps as they grew to 6 years of age. They then compared the data with existing brain-imaging scans for six macaques and 28 Japa-nese children. The researchers found that chimpanzees and humans both had much more brain development in early life than macaques.

Human Intelligence Secrets Revealed by Chimp BrainsScholars have long been puzzled

about the death of Ramesses III, be-lieved to have ruled from about 1186 B.C. to 1155 B.C. during Egypt’s 20th dynasty. While ancient papyrus court documents show that members of the king’s harem plotted to kill him as part of a palace coup, it has remained unclear whether the assassination scheme was successful.

Researchers revisited the mummy of Ramesses III looking for answers. Their computed tomography (CT) scans revealed a serious wound in his throat. (Horus was the patron god of kings in ancient Egypt.)

“The large and deep cut wound in his neck must have been caused by a sharp knife or other blade,” the team wrote in a paper on their findings, published in the British Medical Jour-nal on Monday (Dec. 17). They added that the cut, which severed his trachea, esophagus and large blood vessels, would have killed him instantly. [See Images of Ramesses III Mummy & Scans]

The researchers also found an amu-let bearing the eye of Horus lodged in the mummy’s throat and think it served as a lucky charm.

Bali News International4 Thursday, December 20, 2012 Thursday, December 20, 2012 13International RLDW

Conservative candidate Park Geun-hye had a thin lead in polls published last week, the last allowed under election rules. Park’s left-wing challenger, Moon Jae-in, has promised to perform global pop sensa-tion Psy’s Gangnam Style “horse dance” if turnout hits 77 percent.

That turnout would signify a high level of participation by young voters who pollsters say could propel Moon into the presidential “Blue House”. With three hours until the polls close, turnout was 59.3 percent, higher than the two previous presidential elections and well on track to achieve 70 percent.

If Park wins, the unmarried 60-year old would be the first woman leader of the country, which is still largely run by men in dark suits. “I trust her. She will save our country,” said Park Hye-sook, 67, who voted in an affluent Seoul dis-trict early in the morning.

“Her father ... rescued the country,” said the housewife and grandmother, who is no relation to the candidate, reflecting the admiration many older voters feel for former president Park Chung-hee, which has translated into support for his daughter. She has pledged dialogue with impoverished North Korea, whose rocket launch last week reinforced fears it is developing a long-range missile. She has promised a tough line on the isolated North’s nuclear and missile programs.

Park, wearing a red muffler, was cheered by crowds chanting her name as she entered the polling station and urged voters to “open a new era”.

Moon is a former human rights law-yer who has promised unconditional aid for North Korea and to reintroduce an engagement policy that ushered in closer ties between the Cold War rivals.

Reuters CARACAS - Venezuela’s President Hugo

Chavez suffered a respiratory infection but is “stable” again in a Cuban hospital following cancer surgery a week ago, the government said on Tuesday. Chavez, 58, is battling to recover from a fourth operation since he was first diag-nosed with the disease in mid-2011.

“The general condition of the commander-presi-dent is stable after he was diagnosed with a respira-tory infection and the medical team treated him immediately,” Informa-tion Minister Ernesto Villegas said in the latest update on Chavez. “It has been controlled.”

Villegas said Venezuela’s so-cialist leader, who has ruled the South American OPEC nation for 14 years, had been ordered to take “complete rest” and follow medi-cal instructions strictly.

“This type of infection is one of the most common con-sequences in patients who have undergone complicated surgery, like President Chavez did last December 11,” Villegas added.

Though Venezuelan officials are upbeat about Chavez’s pos-sibility of recovery, speculation

is rife that he may have to step down from power, or might not even survive. Supporters are pray-ing for him round-the-clock in unprecedented scenes of emotion across Venezuela.

Chavez himself raised the possibility of his incapacitation before leaving for Cuba, naming Vice President Nicolas Maduro as his preferred successor and urging Venezuelans to vote for him if there is a new presidential election. He is due, however, to start a new term on Janu-ary 10.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II sat in on a Cabinet meeting Tuesday for the first time, taking a seat between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to observe the weekly discussion of government business.

Her visit is believed to be the first time a sitting monarch has attended a Cabinet meeting in at least 100 years.

Cabinet members presented her with

a gift of 60 placemats in honor of her Diamond Jubilee.

The government said the queen attended Tuesday’s meeting as an observer — not as a contributor — in honor of her 60 years on the throne. But her visit has raised some eyebrows for appearing to blur the traditional line between government and monarchy.

As head of state, the queen performs some ceremonial and formal duties related to government but must remain neutral on political matters.

South Korea votes in tight race on economy and jobsReuters

SEOUL - South Koreans voted on Wednesday in freezing winter tempera-tures for a new president in a battle between the daughter of their former military ruler and a man her father jailed for political activism. The next president of Asia’s fourth largest economy will have to deal with a hostile North Korea, under young and untested new leader Kim Jong-un, and a slowing domestic economy.

An elderly woman is assisted in cast-ing her ballot in the presidential election at a polling station in Nonsan, about 190 km (118 miles) south of Seoul, December 19, 2012.

REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

IBP/ap

Queen Elizabeth II attends UK Cabinet meeting

Chavez “stable” after respiratory infection

REUTERS/Jorge SilvaVenezuelan President and presidential candidate Hugo Chavez greets supporters during a campaign rally in the district of Catia in Caracas September 17, 2012.

A member of the group, Kadek Karyana, 40, said though having not run for a year, most members chose not to be active due to lack of transparency in the management. It was seen in the procurement of 21 cattle worth IDR 86 million. The cattle purchase by group head was not in accordance with the desire of the majority of members and without deliberation. At that time, 17 heads of cattle purchased at IDR 63 million did not meet the criteria. Most of them were skinny and if compared to market price they were far different. Seeing such condition, the members asked to

resell the cattle and replace them with the fatter ones at the same price. However, the administrator refused it.

“From the beginning, it was actually chaotic. The building procurement was without delibera-tion and accountability. Then, the members asked to replace the cattle because they were skinny, but the group head refused and asked the members to bail out if the re-selling price was cheaper. Why should we be burdened? It is a program to empower the community, isn’t it?” asked Karyana. With other members, he had repeatedly ex-

pressed the constraint to headman up to subdistrict livestock officer and county livestock agency. Ul-timately, the group head agreed to convene a meeting after being urged by headman of Nusasari.

Secretary of Merta Sari Group, Putu Pulasari, said a number of group members were indeed dor-mant due to be chaos related to cattle procurement. However, Si-mantri program remained to run as the administrators manage the cattle in the cage. Group Treasurer, Ketut Wirna, said the cattle prices were diverse and not the same. For instance, 10 cattle were valued at

IDR 3.8 million, the other at IDR 3.25 and IDR 3.5 million, while the bull was at IDR 6 million. At the moment, a catfish pond was unfinished. On that account, the budget worth IDR 200 million still remained approximately IDR 30 million.

From site observation at Sim-antri 216, there were 22 cattle and a bull. Of the 22 cattle, seven heads were not marked with number in the ear. Biogas installation had been installed and the building still looked new. Meanwhile, the catfish pond was not yet built.

When confirmed separately, group head of Merta Sari, I Made Wirya Wibawa, denied the non-transparency to members related to cattle procurement. According to him, his party had made con-sensus but delivered individually to each member. At that time, most members were still busy working on the cage building for Simantri,

whereas cattle were not available yet. “That’s why we (the board) try to find out cattle worth IDR 4 million each, while the bull at IDR 6 million. Thus, they make a total of IDR 86 million,” he said.

He denied if most group mem-bers were dormant and he said only a few were inactive. Admittedly, there were additional cattle in the cage, but they were commended by landowner where the Simantri cage was built. “The landowner commends some cattle, the inac-tive members are only two people, while the administrators are solid,” he added. At the moment, his party just needed to build a catfish pond.

Headman of Nusasari, Wayan Ardana, said the issue had been resolved amicably and they were asked to make an official report to be submitted to the province because the assistance was given by the province. (kmb26)

Negara (Bali Post)—

Four mobile towers in Melaya and Negara subdistrict were disciplined by Jembrana public order officer (Satpol PP) on Tuesday (Dec 18). Such removable cellular towers were alleged to have no permit despite hav-ing been installed for many years.

Among the four mobile towers disci-plined, there was a tower belonging to Indosat at the house of Gusti Ayu Tarsi, 47, at Palasari, Melaya. According to house owner, the tower was established five years ago but she did not know whether it was licensed or not. Furthermore, the other tower located on the land owned by Agus Sugianto belonged to XL. It had been operating since eight months ago. Meanwhile, the tower on the land of Agung Adnyani at Peh hamlet, Kaliakah village, Negara, was built three years ago.

The Head of Jembrana Public Order Of-ficer, Putu Widarta, said last Tuesday that his party raided the illegal towers after receiving information from the community. His party did not know if they were licensed or not, as there was no notification to local govern-ment. “Those towers are not permanent and can be moved by car. Supposedly, they have submitted a permit to local county govern-ment,” said Widarta.

The officer would summon the landown-ers and supervisor being responsible for the towers in order to determine the next action. It was feared the proliferation of mobile tow-ers would interfere with the radio frequency. (kmb26)

Simantri at Nusasari chaoticCattle procurement not transparent, members dormantNegara (Bali Post)—

The integrated agricultural system (Simantri) program in 2012 for the Sari Merta breeder group at Nusasari village, Melaya, turned chaotic. A number of members chose to be dormant as the group head was accused of being less transparent in the procurement of 21 cattle worth IDR 86 million. Some members and administrators met on Tuesday (Dec 18) told that some dormant members of the Simantri program was triggered by less transparency of the group head. As a group, it never made decision through consultation with members.

IBP/FileThe cows of Simantri in Nusasari, Jembrana are not being cared properly.

Interfering with frequency, mobile towers disciplined

Bali News Thursday, December 20, 2012 5InternationalThursday, December 20, 201212 International

Associated Press

ATHENS — Greece has raised 1.3 billion Euro ($1.71 billion) in a treasury bill auction at slightly lower interest rates compared with the last such sale five weeks ago.

The government’s Public Debt Management Agency said the 13-week T-bills were sold Tuesday at an interest rate of 4.11 percent, edging down from the 4.2 percent rate on Nov. 13.

Greece on Monday received a massive rescue loan installment worth 34.3 billion Euro, after completing a bond buy back deal last week, in which it paid 11.29 billion Euro to cancel debt worth 31.9 billion Euro.

The government said Tuesday that deficit cutting efforts remained on target, with the January-November shortfall at 12.9 billion Euro, compared with 21.5 billion Euro for that period in 2011.

The Washington-based lender said in a report that the region will expand by 7.9 percent in 2013 after growing 7.5 percent this year. East Asia remained resilient despite the lackluster global economy and will contribute almost 40 percent of global growth in 2012, the bank said.

The report covers countries like China, Indonesia and Thailand but excludes Japan.

China’s economy is forecast to expand 7.9 percent this year before accelerating to 8.4 percent in 2013, powered by government stimulus spending and faster approval of big investment projects and an upswing in the business cycle.

“The slowdown in China ap-

pears to now have bottomed out,” the bank said.

Signs indicate that China’s econ-omy is rebounding after growth slid to a 3 ½ year low of 7.4 percent in the latest quarter, but the recovery looks rocky. The bank’s optimism comes amid recent patchy eco-nomic data, including a plunge in export growth in November.

“The most recent data suggest that, despite further weakening in the external environment, China’s growth rate will continue to recover in the remainder of the year and into next year,” said the bank, which predicts China’s growth will ease off to 8 percent in 2014.

Excluding China, the region will expand 5.6 percent in 2012

and 5.7 percent in 2013, thanks to strong growth in the Philippines and relatively mild slowdowns in Indonesia and Vietnam.

The World Bank’s “East Asia and Pacific Update” also high-lighted possible risks, including a sharp drop in China’s “unusually high investment rate,” which would have “significant domestic and global consequences.”

The bank also worried about the outlook for the eurozone countries as they struggle to push through reforms, negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” in the U.S. and large amounts of money flow-ing into the region in search of higher returns, which could lead to inflation and asset bubbles.

Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that high-lights a struggling economy.

The Finance Ministry released data Wednesday showing the trade deficit soared nearly 38 percent last month compared to November the previous year.

November exports stood at 4.98 tril-lion yen ($59.3 billion), while imports totaled 5.94 trillion yen ($70.7 billion), making for a deficit of 953.4 billion yen ($11.4 billion).

Japanese companies are mov-ing production abroad to compete globally. Exports to China plunged following a territorial dispute that set off anti-Japanese sentiments and a boycott. Energy imports have shot up since the nuclear disaster.

The political party that made a comeback in Sunday’s election is making economic revival a prior-ity, promising public spending and an inflation target.

AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis

A worker speaks on his cellphone as he sits on scaffolding erected to dis-play Christmas decorations, with the Greek parliament in the background at the Athens’ main Syntagma square on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. Greece has raised 1.3 billion Euro ($1.71 billion) in a treasury bill auction at slightly lower interest rates compared with the last such sale five weeks ago.

Greece raises 1.3 billion euros in T-bill sale

East Asian growth to pick up in 2013Associated Press

HONG KONG — Growth in East Asia’s developing economies will pick up next year after China’s slowdown hits bottom but considerable risks remain, including the possibility of a sharp drop in investment growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, the World Bank said Wednesday.

AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa

A man walks by a securities company in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that highlights a struggling economy.

Japan reports 5th month of trade deficit

Bali PostKLUNGKUNG - HIV/AIDS cases in

Bali increased sharply. It was indicated by survey made within the past five years. In 2004, the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases remained around 600 cases, but until August 2012 it increased to 6,504 cases. Meanwhile, in Klungkung County from 2002 to August 2012 there were 159 cases recorded. The data was based on the results of Voluntary Counseling and Test-ing (VCT), 19 cases from Sero Survey and 19 other cases from blood screening in the blood transfusion unit of the Klungkung Red Cross.

Seeing such condition, the AIDS Pre-vention Commission (KPA) of Klungkung organized a one-day seminar in coopera-tion with a number of employees, woman organizations, students and community in the meeting room of Klungkung subdis-

trict head, Tuesday (Dec 18). The seminar was expected to speed up the response of community including stakeholders on HIV and AIDS with a focus on the protection against women and children. Besides, it was also expected to prevent lung infection, increase access to treatment and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Klungkung. The seminar presented several speakers, such as Partha Muliawan, a HIV/AIDS activist from the Public Health Studies, School of Medicine, Udayana University.

Regional Secretary of Klungkung, Ketut Janapria, said that HIV/AIDS was one of the important points in achiev-ing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Community was expected to protect the mother and her children from being infected by the disease in order to reduce the transmission rate of the disease. (kmb31)

In the raid, the joint team aimed at tra-ditional markets and supermarkets, such as the Kreneng Market, a grocery distributor on Jalan Gatot Subroto 1 Denpasar, fruit store in Udayana shopping complex and Tiara Dewata. “We hold this effort as a measure to protect the public (consumers) from the improper food consumption that may threaten their safety,” said the Head of Denpasar Industry and Trade Agency, I Wayan Gatra, amidst the parcel raid to one of the supermarkets in Denpasar.

Some parcels were taken as samples to be examined one by one. However, until the end of the examination the team did not found any expired goods or damaged packaging.

Previously, recognized Gatra, the Denpasar Industry and Trade Agency had sent circular to a number of companies or parcel producers and packed food to remind the employers of maintaining the parcel quality. The food on sale should pay attention to health aspect such as the hygiene, expiration and content without hazardous chemicals. “In the circular was also stated if there was any problem with the products, both in terms of expiration or content of hazardous substance, we will revoke the products and they may no longer be circulated in the market,” he explained.

Gatra added the most important in the food packaging and parcel companies was

that the store should put warranty card in-side each package. “Warranty card is very expensive and important as a guarantee to consumer. We have confidence the com-pany will certainly oversee the products on offer because reputation of the companies are at stake,” added Gatra.

Other than parcel, the joint team also checked the availability of groceries ahead of Christmas and New Year. As a result, the price of a number of basic commodi-ties such as rice, sugar and even beef had started to rise. Against the finding, Gatra said the increase happened was not due to approaching Christmas but because of natural factors (weather).

“Based on the data of market sur-vey, there is indeed price increase, where one of which is beef whose price increases by IDR 1,000 from IDR 71,000 to IDR 72,000. I think the price hike is not significant because the national beef supply indeed decreases. Meanwhile, for rice of 25 kg showed an increase of IDR 5,000. Probably, this happens because of weather factor. During rainy season, the production process is hampered because people cannot dry their grain and so on. Even, the transportation from Java to Bali is also constrained by rainy season. In essence, the basic need for Christmas and New Year in Bali has no significant increase,” he explained. (kmb28)

IBP/Yudi Karnaedi

Some parcels were taken as samples to be examined one by one. However, until the end of the examination the team did not found any expired goods or damaged packaging.

Ahead of Christmas and New Year

Denpasar government held parcels’ raidBali Post

DENPASAR - Joint team of Denpasar Municipality raided traditional markets and supermarkets ahead of Christmas and New Year 2013 on Tues-day (Dec 18). The joint team was composed of the Center for Food and Drug Administration (BPPOM) and Consumer Dispute Settlement Agency (BPSK) under coordination of the Denpasar Trade and Industry Agency.

IBP/Eka Adhiyasa

HIV/AIDS cases in Bali increased sharply. It was indicated by survey made within the past five years. In 2004, the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases remained around 600 cases, but until August 2012 it increased to 6,504 cases.

In Klungkung, 159 cases of HIV/AIDS found

BUSINESS

Thursday, December 20, 2012 Thursday, December 20, 20126 11International International

INDONESI AW RLD

“Systematic failures and leader-ship and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” the panel said.

The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confu-sion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in Eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Despite those failures, the Ac-countability Review Board deter-mined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action now. But it also said poor performance by senior managers should be grounds for disciplinary recommendations in the future.

The report appeared to break little new ground about the timeline of the Benghazi attack during which Libyan

Ambassador Chris Stevens, informa-tion specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Ty-rone Woods — who were contractors working for the CIA — were killed. Stevens’ slaying was the first of a U.S. ambassador since 1988.

But it confirmed that contrary to initial accounts, there was no protest outside the consulate and said responsibility for the incident rested entirely with the terrorists who attacked the mission.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, administration officials linked the attack to the spreading protests over an American-made, anti-Islamic film that had begun in Cairo earlier that day. Those comments came after evidence already pointed to a distinct militant attack. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on numerous TV talk shows the Sunday after the attack and used the administration talking points linking it to the film. An ensuing brouhaha in the heat of the presidential campaign eventu-ally led her to withdraw her name from consideration to replace Hil-lary Rodham Clinton as secretary of

state in President Barack Obama’s second term.

The review board determined that there had been no immediate, specific tactical warning of a potential attack on the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. However, the report said there had been several worrisome incidents in the run-up to the attack that should have set off warning bells.

While criticizing State Depart-ment management in Washington along with the local militia force and contract guards that the mission de-pended on for protection, the report said U.S. personnel on the ground in Benghazi “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation.”

It said the response by Diplo-matic Security agents on the scene and CIA operatives at a nearby compound that later came under attack itself had been “timely and appropriate” but absolved the mili-tary from any blame. “There was simply not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference.”

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” suggests the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Sen. John McCain watched the movie Monday night and says it left him sick — because it’s wrong.

McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment by his North Vietnamese captors during the Vietnam War, has insisted that the waterboarding of al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to the bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.

Yet the movie, of copy of which McCain said he received Monday, indicates that’s how the United States found the al-Qaida leader. The filmmakers fell for it hook, line and sinker, McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday.

Last year, McCain asked then-CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he said the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh infor-mation from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.

“Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Kha-lid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading infor-mation,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelli-gence Committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.

Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday strongly criticized a proposal in the country’s parliament that would ban Americans from adopting Russian chil-dren.

Sergey Lavrov’s comments — along with criticism of the proposal by other ministers — appeared to indicate pres-sure from the highest level for the State Duma to reject the proposal or eliminate it from discussion.

The proposal comes after President Barack Obama signed into law last week a bill that imposes sanctions on Rus-sians who are deemed to be connected with human rights abuses.

A retaliatory measure that passed its first reading in the Russian Duma last week calls for establishing a blacklist of Americans judged to have violated the human rights of Russians. Officials had said that would include those who abuse adopted Russian children.

But some legislators then proposed that an amendment calling for an outright ban on adoptions of Russian children by Americans. Although news reports said the measure would come up for second reading on Wednesday, it was not clear late Tuesday what version of it would be on the agenda.

“It’s not right, and I am sure that the State Duma will make the right decision in the end,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state news agency ITAR-Tass. “International adoption as an institution has a full right to exist.”

Russians have bristled at reports about the abuse of ad-opted Russian children. After long delay, an agreement on regulating adoptions was ratified by the Duma in July. The agreement was aimed at addressing concerns galvanized by the scandal over an American woman who in 2010 sent back a 7-year-old Russian boy she had adopted, saying he had behavioral problems and she didn’t want him anymore.

But lawmaker Elena Afanasiyeva, a co-author of the proposed new amendment, said the new adoption deal has not eliminated serious problems, especially the poor U.S. communications with Russian authorities about cases of abuse by adoptive parents.

IBP/ap

FILE - In this April 11, 2011, file photo, then U.S. envoy Chris Stevens attends meetings at the Tibesty Hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya

Benghazi review finds systematic security faultsAssociated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management and leadership failures at the State Department led to “grossly” inad-equate security at the mission in Benghazi.

McCain rejects torture scene in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Russian FM against any ban on US adoptions

Reuters

JAKARTA – Blue Bird Group, Indonesia’s biggest taxi operator, aims to raise around US$200 million (RM611 million) in an initial public offer-ing (IPO) in 2013, when demand for Indonesian equity is seen rebounding from 2012, sources said.

The Jakarta-based group is looking at a US$1 billion valuation for its businesses, which range from taxis to supply-chain management, and has informally discussed the plan with banks, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because the talks were not public.

Initial public offerings have been thin in Indonesia this year and the Jakarta stock market has lagged gains in Southeast Asian peers because of high valuations and concerns about the weakening rupiah.

Blue Bird is looking to sell a stake of between 20 to 40 per cent in the middle of next year, said another source, adding the company has said that it has seen compound annual growth rates of above 20 per cent in the past 30 years.

“It will be an easy sell to investors... Look at the roads in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia, they are filled with Blue Birds and you always find it hard to get a taxi in the peak hours nowadays,” said one of the sources with direct knowledge of the plan, who declined to be identified because the talks were not public.

A lack of public transport across Indonesia means car and motorbike taxis are commonly used, with Blue Bird cars widely seen by the public as the most trustworthy brand among a host of competitors.

Blue Bird, established in 1972 by Mutiara Djokosoetono, has taxi opera-tions in major cities in Indonesia including Jakarta, Bali, and Manado. The firm currently operates 21,000 taxis, according to its website. The company is planning to add around 10,000 new taxis in 2013, sources said.

Blue Bird declined requests from comment.This year Indonesia only saw several small IPOs, the biggest being a

US$228 million offering by pay-TV provider PT MNC Skyvision.Bankers say commodity firms have delayed offerings while consumer

businesses are seeing good cash flow on growing middle-class demand, leaving owners seeking pricey valuations to sell. But they expect deals to pick up next year. By contrast, Malaysia has seen multi-billion dol-lar offerings by palm firm Felda Global Ventures Holdings and IHH Healthcare Bhd this year, while Thailand emerged as an unexpected fee pool for deal-starved Asia bankers.

Lead Economist of the World Bank Ndiame Diop said that investment would be the main driver of economic growth in Indonesia.

“The investment sector accounted for 40 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of 2012,” he noted.

Diop stated that the economic recovery of Indonesia’s trade part-ners would also support the nation’s economic growth through increased exports.

“These factors have helped Indo-nesia achieve fast economic growth over the past few years, as investment reached a third of the total goods and services expenditure in Indonesia and increased 10 percent year-on-year dur-ing the third quarter,” he pointed out.

“Favourable policies attract inves-tors to a country,” Diop noted.

He stated that the government

should effectively communicate the benefits of its new regulations in order to create and maintain a conducive investment climate in the country, which in turn would lead to strong economic growth.

“However, there are many chal-lenges facing the investment sector, one of the biggest being the mini-mum wage standard issue,” Diop pointed out.

“For the example, the regional minimum wage (UMR) in Jakarta has increased by 44 percent, reach-ing Rp2.2 million, which is much higher than that of other countries. This will significantly affect Indo-nesia’s investment and business competitiveness,” he said.

“The authorities should work to-wards a minimum wage negotiation process that is holistic, technical and inclusive, involving all stakehold-

ers, including the informal sector’s employees and labourers,” Diop continued.

He stated that Indonesia’s eco-nomic growth would also be signifi-cantly influenced by global economic developments, given that its main trade partners were China, the US, and European countries.

“At this time, the negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff in the US, the economy crisis in Europe and the economic slowdown in China have not significantly affected the GDP growth of Indonesia,” Diop said.

Therefore, he urged the govern-ment to step up efforts to ensure that the Indonesian economy continued to grow at the projected rate.

“Given the uncertainties sur-rounding the global economy, this is not the right time to feel satisfied,” Diop said.

AntaraJAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa

has stated that the construction of Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) is still constrained by the subsidy schemes that hamper the development plans of Jakarta provincial administration.

“Actually, under an investment-sharing agreement, the central govern-ment and the Jakarta provincial administration will contribute 42 percent and 58 percent, respectively, to the construction of the MRT,” he said here on Tuesday.

According to Hatta, the MRT ticket fare has been set at Rp38,000 (ap-proximately US$3.95).

“The fare will burden the people,” he pointed out.Earlier, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) told Hatta that such a

high fare would be unaffordable for a majority of the city’s residents despite the provincial administrations subsidy. “We are still discussing a subsidy that would make the ticket affordable to the public without burdening the provincial administration’s budget,” he said.

Therefore, Jokowi stated that he would hold meetings to discuss the de-velopment of MRT as a means of mass transportation in Jakarta. “We will keep searching for the solution through discussions,” he continued.

Hatta said he had yet to decide on what the ideal fare for an MRT ticket should be. “We will look at the fares of other means of mass transportation, such as the electric train and the Transjakarta Busway, and then set a fare that is affordable for the public. I do not want to speculate on it before I meet Jokowi,” he added.

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

Workers load sacks of cement on to a cargo ship at Sunda Kelapa port in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. The World Bank has predicted that the Indonesia economy will grow at 6.3 percent next year, driven by high investment and domestic consumption.

Indonesia economy expect to grow at 6.3 percent in 2013Antara

JAKARTA - The World Bank has predicted that the Indonesia economy will grow at 6.3 percent next year, driven by high investment and domestic consumption.

MRT constrained by subsidy schemes

Blue Bird eyeing IPO in 2013

Thursday, December 20, 2012 7SportsThursday, December 20, 201210 InternationalInternationalDestinations

Despite the Golden State con-trolling the Hornets for most of the night, New Orleans made a furious run in the fourth to tie the game 92-92 with about four minutes remaining. Jarrett Jack responded with six free throws during a game-deciding 9-2 stretch to help Golden State (17-8) continue their sparkling start to the season.

“We had a lot of confidence tonight, a lot more confidence than in the past,” Lee told reporters after The Warriors were off to their best start since the 1991-1992 season when they started 21-8. “It’s no fun when a team’s catching up on

you like that, but I think we had confidence we could make plays down the stretch.”

One of the younger teams in the league, few expected the Warriors to open the campaign this success-fully and they are now just 1 1/2 games behind the Pacific Division lead. The Hornets (5-19) have lost eight straight, despite getting 28 points off the bench from Ryan Anderson in their latest defeat.

Also a youthful group, New Or-leans have endured a tough start and have now dropped 18 of their last 20 games. Number one overall draft pick Anthony Davis recorded 15

points and 16 rebounds in his fifth game back since missing extensive time with a ankle injury. Greivis Vasquez added 20 and 11 assists.

Golden State grabbed a 10-point lead after the first quarter and were up 90-78 midway through the fourth before the visitors fought back by outscoring the Warriors 14-2 over a three-minute stint.

“It’s just a tough loss for us, especially when you tie it up, you have a chance to win,” said Hornets coach Monty Williams. “We just haven’t found that closing mental-ity.”

Golden State Warriors’ Carl Landry (7) dunks past New Or-leans Hornets’ Ryan Anderson (33) during the second half of

an NBA basketball game in Oak-land, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 18,

2012. Golden State won 103-96.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — Britain is pumping record amounts of cash into its Olympic sport programs, aiming to win more medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 than it did as host nation in London this year.

Despite continuing austerity measures in Britain, the sports body pledged Tuesday to invest 276 million pounds ($448 million) — an increase of 5 percent — to meet a target of winning 66 medals in Brazil, one more than its record total in London.

“It’s a very, very tough ask,” Sports Minister Hugh Robertson told The Associated Press. “But there are sports that didn’t perform particularly well in London. If we can get them right and continue the improvement in other sports, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do it.”

Roared on by passionate home crowds, Britain fin-ished third in gold medals in London with 29, behind the United States and China. Britain was fourth in the overall medal count with 65, behind the U.S., China and Russia.

“We want to be the first nation in recent history to be more successful in both the Olympics and Paralym-pics, post-hosting,” said Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, the body that distributes government and National Lottery funds to Olympics sports.

Cycling produced Britain’s most medals in London with 12, followed by rowing with nine, and both sports will receive at least 30 million pounds each ($48.65 million) in an attempt to maintain their supremacy. Boxing was the biggest winner after being given 13.8 million pounds ($22.4 million) — 4.25 million pounds ($6.8 million) more than the 2009-13 cycle.

Jenson Button believes any driver moving teams for the start of Formula 1’s new rules package in 2014 will be at a significant disadvantage. F1 will switch to 1.6-litre turbocharged engines after next season. Although McLaren has not made the length of Button’s current deal public, the 2009 world champion is expected to stay at the team through 2014 at least after signing a “multi-year” deal in 2011.

“If everything goes to plan I will be still working with the same group of en-gineers and we’ll have worked together for fouryears,” he said. “So entering into a new category, which it basically is, in 2014 with the same engineers - we understand the each other in our way of

working and I think it really does help when everything changes.

“I’m really excited about 2014 and I think it will make a difference if you re-ally understand it’s not just about when you put your helmet on, it’s about what happens before you put your helmet on.” Button thinks trying to acclimatise to a new team while also coping with a major technical package change in 2014 would be extremely tough.

“If a team has a new driver in 2014, I think that’s very tricky for the driver and for the team to really understand the right direction,” Button said. Jenson But-ton F1 2012”Whereas if you have been working with the team for a long period of time you understand what you need

from the car and what works.“KERS is going to be massive in

terms of power, and it’s not going to be on a button, it’s going to be filling in the holes of torque. “So in terms of engineering there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and in terms of the drivers and engineers there needs to be a good understanding.” Button also played down concerns that the new engines would diminish F1’s spectacle.

“We talk about how the engine is go-ing to be small, it’s going to be boring, it’s going to sound rubbish... The racing in the eighties was quite fun and they didn’t have V10, V12 engines, so it will still be great racing,” he said.

Warriors beat Hornets at home to stay hotReuters

The Golden state Warriors staved off a late fourth-quarter chal-lenge to beat new orleans Hornets 103-96 for a successful home return on Tuesday. David Lee had 26 points and nine rebounds while Klay Thompson added 19 points as the Warriors triumphed in their first game at oracle Arena since a recent seven-game road trip that saw them finish 6-1.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Britain increases funds in bid for Olympic medals

Button: Team continuity vital going into 2014 F1 rules

McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button of Britain drives during the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo November 25, 2012.

REUTERS/Nacho Doce

IBP

The rulers of Mengwi were famous for the temples they built. The oldest of these is Sada Temple, a few hundred meters south of the main road in Kapal, about 15 km to the northwest of Denpasar. The name sada may derive from the Old Javanese and Sanskrit term prasada, meaning a tower temple. There is indeed a huge shrine in the shape of a tiered tower in the inner conrt. The local inhabitants call this temple a candi, meaning a funerary monument for a deceased king. According to the chronicles of the rulers of Mengwi, the son of the first Cokorda or Lord of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Panji, received a shrine in this temple after his death around 1710. The divinity of the temple is Bhatara Jayengrat, the Divine World Conqueror.

At present the complex is vener-ated and maintained by the people of Kapal, irrespectiv of their caste or kin group. It was Severly damaged during the earthquake of 1917 and was restored by the Archaeological Survey in 1948-49. The leader of the team of Balinese craftsmen was I Made Nama and is said that the con-struction of the tall tower was quite a challenge for him and his men.

The forecourt of the temple is large and spacious. A big tree grows at the center. The temple complex is surrounded by a wall of red brick constructed in the traditional way without mortar. By rubbing one stone agains the other, a fine powder

crumbles from the surface layers. When water is added to it, the stones can be simply stuck together.

A split gateway on the west side leads to the central courtyard. A second, closed gateway with a three-tiered roof on the west gives way to the inner court, in which 16 shrines are to be seen. Right in front of the gateway is the prasada and behind it a square pedestal with 54 little stone seats. These are shrines for the satya, the servants, and facing them in one shrine together in the south are the three mekel satya, their leaders.

The following story is connected with them: A long time ago, when a king of Majapahit in East Java died, he was cremated and his ashes were carried by 54 men towards the sea in a bamboo tower (bukur) with a tiered roof. The tower was placed on a little boat (kapal), on which were seated the 54 followers (patih) of the deceased and three leaders (makel). The boat, however, was stranded at sea.

This episode has been transposed to the temple and is symbolized in the stone tower at the center and in the pedestals with the 54 and 3 stone seats. The tower is in fact, a replica of the bamboo cremation structure. Close to it, to the south, is a shrine with an 11-tiered roof, called little garden with a pond” (taman). Dur-ing the temple festival on Tumpek Kuningan, its ‘water’ is used to bathe the god of the tower. This is very convenient, because then a long tour outside the temple to a bathing place is not necessary.IBP/File Photo

Sada Temple

98 InternationalThursday, December 20, 2012 International Thursday, December 20, 2012

Sp rt

It should have been 2-0 before the break, when Anatoliy Tymoshchuk struck the crossbar with a tremendous shot from distance. Play continued despite TV replays showing the ball crossed the line. Augsburg goalkeeper Alexander Manninger denied Bastian Schweinsteiger from the rebound and the Bayern midfielder struck the crossbar with an overhead kick from the second attempt.

Ribery was sent off early in the second half after an altercation with Koo Ja-Cheol. The Frenchman struck Koo lightly in the face in retaliation for a slap unseen by the referee, leav-ing the South Korean lucky to escape with just a yellow. “The red card was provoked, but it should be discussed,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

Augsburg’s penalty claims in

the 53rd— when Dante appeared to handle the ball in the area — went unheeded. Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer — who was superb throughout — denied Torsten Oehrl an equalizer, before Thomas Mueller reached the keeper’s long kick upfield and crossed for Xherdan Shaqiri to secure the re-sult with five minutes remaining.

“To have such a present, to play against Bayern with 10 men and without Ribery, and still make nothing of it, then we don’t deserve to go further,” Augsburg midfielder Daniel Baier said. The win wraps up a good few months for Bayern, which has a nine-point lead in the Bundesliga.

“Altogether I’m very happy because we played outstanding foot-ball over long periods in the first half

of the season,” Heynckes said. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

Elsewhere, Schalke’s miserable end to the year continued despite the dismissal of Huub Stevens as coach on Sunday, with the team losing 2-1 at home to Mainz. Marco Caligiuri opened the scoring for Mainz in the 30th with a fantastic strike into the right corner.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pulled one back from close range with 15 min-utes remaining, but Nicolai Mueller scored in the 83rd to ensure the 2011 champion’s seven-game run without a win continued.

“Anyone who saw that perfor-mance, especially in the second half, could see that the team played well,” Schalke’s interim coach Jens Keller said.

Associated Press Writer

MILAN — Inter Milan beat Serie B side Hellas Verona 2-0 to advance to the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Antonio Cassano put Inter ahead in the 50th after taking a pass from Fredy Guarin. Four minutes later, Guarin scored with a free kick that deflected in off Verona’s wall at the San Siro.

Inter played the final 10 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi was carried off on a stretch-er with an injury, as the home side had used all three of its substitutions. For-ward Rodrigo Palacio ended the match in goal, and performed admirably by saving a header.

Inter will next face either Napoli or Bologna, who play Wednesday. Fans clashed outside the stadium before the match and had to be separated by police.

Associated Press Writer

GENEVA — An anti-corruption panel advising FIFA wants a Euro-pean lawmakers’ group to press for “urgent” reform at football’s world governing body when it meets on Wednesday.

FIFA adviser Mark Pieth’s re-quest for support from the 47-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) hints at obstacles ahead of completing promised anti-corruption and trans-parency reforms by next May.

“It would be most welcome if the committee of the Council of Europe could add its voice to those demanding urgent change,” Pieth

Reuters

BUCHAREST - Troubled Romanian club Rapid Bucharest plan to of-fload every foreign player on their books and build a squad made up entirely of locals in an attempt to ease their wage bill.

“We renounce all foreigners,” Rapid manager Danut Perja told local media on Tuesday. “All of them will receive the documents under which their contracts are terminated unilaterally by email.”

Highly-rated Macedonia striker Blaze Ilijoski has already left Rapid while Brazilians Pecanha, Wallace, Glauber, Renan and Figueiredo, Portugal duo Rui Duarte and Filipe Teixeira, Serbians Milos Pavlovic and Nemanja Milisavljevic and Montenegrin Vladimir Bozovic are expected to follow.

Rapid, one of the most popular clubs in the Balkan country, filed for insolvency this month after running up huge debts.

The move could mean the end of professional football for the three-times league champions as Romanian soccer regulations do not allow an insolvent club to have a first-division licence.

The Bucharest-based side, who played in the Romanian Cup final in May, have spent heavily in recent years but their players have not been paid for several months.

Rapid are ninth in the standings with 26 points from 19 games, 21 points behind leaders Steaua Bucharest

Reuters

MADRID - Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been voted the best French footballer for 2012, winning the award for the second consecutive year, the Spanish club said on Tuesday. Former France international Zin-edine Zidane presented the 24-year-old with the trophy at Real’s Bernabeu stadium.

“It is an honour to receive it from Zidane because for me he is the best French footballer ever,” Benzema told the club website (www.realmadrid.com). Benzema won the award, organised by France Football, ahead of Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in voting carried out by a panel of former winners, including Zidane.

The former Olympique Lyon striker scored 21 goals in La Liga last term, helping Real win the title, and seven in the Champions League where they fell to Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

He has struggled to find the same form this season and has netted only three times in the league, missing their 2-2 draw at home to Espanyol on Sunday with a foot problem.

Reuters

MADRID - Malaga grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser through de-fender Oguchi Onyewu to draw 1-1 at third-tier Eibar in a re-arranged King’s Cup last-16 first leg tie on Tuesday.

The La Liga side, who lie fourth in the standings and who have quali-fied for the last 16 of the Champions League in their maiden campaign, had one eye on Saturday’s league visit of Real Madrid and fielded a weakened side.

They fell behind on a heavy, muddy pitch in the Basque country when Txema Anibarro netted in the 73rd minute following a free kick.

Eibar, who knocked out last year’s finalists Athletic Bilbao 1-1 on the away goals rule in the last round, came unstuck in time added on when United States international Onyewu made the most of some poor goalkeeping to head in. The return leg is at the Rosaleda next month.

AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of the Netherlands performs a bicycle kick during the German soccer cup match between FC Schalke 04 and FSV Mainz 05 in Gelsenkirchen Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012.

Bayern marches on, Schalke out of German CupAssociated Press Writer

BERLIN — Bayern Munich overcame a red card for Franck Ribery to reach the quarterfi-nals of the German Cup with a 2-0 win at Augsburg on Tuesday. Ribery set up Mario Gomez for Bayern’s opening goal in the 26th minute of the third round match, when the Frenchman got his cross in despite the attention of three defenders.

Malaga grab late draw at third-tier Eibar in Cup

Troubled Rapid plan to build all-Romanian team

Benzema named French Player of the Year

AP Photo/Antonio Calanni

Inter Milan Colombian mid-fielder Fredy Guarin, right,

celebrates with his teammate Inter Milan defender Yuto Na-

gatomo, top, of Japan, after scoring during the Italian Cup

soccer match between Inter Milan and Hellas Verona at

the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012.

Inter advances to Italian Cup quarterfinals

AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter speaks during a press conference in Tokyo Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. England’s Chelsea FC and Brazil’s Corinthians meet in the final at the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tourna-ment Sunday in Yokohama.

FIFA anti-corruption panel seeks European supportwrote in a Dec. 3 submission seen by The Associated Press.

Pieth wrote that his group, in-cluding lawyers, anti-bribery ex-perts and football officials, have already faced opposition since they began in January advising FIFA’s ruling executive committee — and challenging its authority.

“Currently there is some resis-tance to even such key suggestions, including from European associa-tions,” the Swiss law professor told the PACE committee dealing with sports issues.

The Council of Europe group meets in Paris to follow up criti-cism of FIFA this year in a report on sports governance. It also called for Sepp Blatter’s 2011 re-election as FIFA president to be investigated.

Lawmakers are scheduled to hear witnesses including former FIFA international relations director Jerome Champagne, Transparency International sports adviser Sylvia Schenk and David Triesman, the former leader of England’s failed 2018 World Cup hosting bid. Tries-man has previously alleged that several FIFA voters asked for un-ethical favors.

FIFA will be represented in Paris by executive member Theo Zwanziger. The German lawyer heads a group created by FIFA to work alongside Pieth’s team and present further reform pro-posals after a joint meeting in February.

Pieth said those priorities include setting rules to vet can-didates for FIFA positions, com-pleting contracts and spending development money from the body’s $1 billion annual in-come.

The anti-corruption panel is “actively” supporting FIFA’s revamped ethics and audit com-mittees, which were “upgrading compliance programs, conflict of interest policies and other fun-damental requirements of large economic players,” Pieth wrote.

Still, Pieth has been frustrated by Blatter’s executive colleagues blocking his “fundamental sug-gestion” that audit chairman Domenico Scala should join them as an independent member. Instead, they allowed him just to observe during discussion of financial issues.

98 InternationalThursday, December 20, 2012 International Thursday, December 20, 2012

Sp rt

It should have been 2-0 before the break, when Anatoliy Tymoshchuk struck the crossbar with a tremendous shot from distance. Play continued despite TV replays showing the ball crossed the line. Augsburg goalkeeper Alexander Manninger denied Bastian Schweinsteiger from the rebound and the Bayern midfielder struck the crossbar with an overhead kick from the second attempt.

Ribery was sent off early in the second half after an altercation with Koo Ja-Cheol. The Frenchman struck Koo lightly in the face in retaliation for a slap unseen by the referee, leav-ing the South Korean lucky to escape with just a yellow. “The red card was provoked, but it should be discussed,” said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.

Augsburg’s penalty claims in

the 53rd— when Dante appeared to handle the ball in the area — went unheeded. Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer — who was superb throughout — denied Torsten Oehrl an equalizer, before Thomas Mueller reached the keeper’s long kick upfield and crossed for Xherdan Shaqiri to secure the re-sult with five minutes remaining.

“To have such a present, to play against Bayern with 10 men and without Ribery, and still make nothing of it, then we don’t deserve to go further,” Augsburg midfielder Daniel Baier said. The win wraps up a good few months for Bayern, which has a nine-point lead in the Bundesliga.

“Altogether I’m very happy because we played outstanding foot-ball over long periods in the first half

of the season,” Heynckes said. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

Elsewhere, Schalke’s miserable end to the year continued despite the dismissal of Huub Stevens as coach on Sunday, with the team losing 2-1 at home to Mainz. Marco Caligiuri opened the scoring for Mainz in the 30th with a fantastic strike into the right corner.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pulled one back from close range with 15 min-utes remaining, but Nicolai Mueller scored in the 83rd to ensure the 2011 champion’s seven-game run without a win continued.

“Anyone who saw that perfor-mance, especially in the second half, could see that the team played well,” Schalke’s interim coach Jens Keller said.

Associated Press Writer

MILAN — Inter Milan beat Serie B side Hellas Verona 2-0 to advance to the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Antonio Cassano put Inter ahead in the 50th after taking a pass from Fredy Guarin. Four minutes later, Guarin scored with a free kick that deflected in off Verona’s wall at the San Siro.

Inter played the final 10 minutes with 10 men after goalkeeper Luca Castellazzi was carried off on a stretch-er with an injury, as the home side had used all three of its substitutions. For-ward Rodrigo Palacio ended the match in goal, and performed admirably by saving a header.

Inter will next face either Napoli or Bologna, who play Wednesday. Fans clashed outside the stadium before the match and had to be separated by police.

Associated Press Writer

GENEVA — An anti-corruption panel advising FIFA wants a Euro-pean lawmakers’ group to press for “urgent” reform at football’s world governing body when it meets on Wednesday.

FIFA adviser Mark Pieth’s re-quest for support from the 47-nation Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) hints at obstacles ahead of completing promised anti-corruption and trans-parency reforms by next May.

“It would be most welcome if the committee of the Council of Europe could add its voice to those demanding urgent change,” Pieth

Reuters

BUCHAREST - Troubled Romanian club Rapid Bucharest plan to of-fload every foreign player on their books and build a squad made up entirely of locals in an attempt to ease their wage bill.

“We renounce all foreigners,” Rapid manager Danut Perja told local media on Tuesday. “All of them will receive the documents under which their contracts are terminated unilaterally by email.”

Highly-rated Macedonia striker Blaze Ilijoski has already left Rapid while Brazilians Pecanha, Wallace, Glauber, Renan and Figueiredo, Portugal duo Rui Duarte and Filipe Teixeira, Serbians Milos Pavlovic and Nemanja Milisavljevic and Montenegrin Vladimir Bozovic are expected to follow.

Rapid, one of the most popular clubs in the Balkan country, filed for insolvency this month after running up huge debts.

The move could mean the end of professional football for the three-times league champions as Romanian soccer regulations do not allow an insolvent club to have a first-division licence.

The Bucharest-based side, who played in the Romanian Cup final in May, have spent heavily in recent years but their players have not been paid for several months.

Rapid are ninth in the standings with 26 points from 19 games, 21 points behind leaders Steaua Bucharest

Reuters

MADRID - Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been voted the best French footballer for 2012, winning the award for the second consecutive year, the Spanish club said on Tuesday. Former France international Zin-edine Zidane presented the 24-year-old with the trophy at Real’s Bernabeu stadium.

“It is an honour to receive it from Zidane because for me he is the best French footballer ever,” Benzema told the club website (www.realmadrid.com). Benzema won the award, organised by France Football, ahead of Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in voting carried out by a panel of former winners, including Zidane.

The former Olympique Lyon striker scored 21 goals in La Liga last term, helping Real win the title, and seven in the Champions League where they fell to Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

He has struggled to find the same form this season and has netted only three times in the league, missing their 2-2 draw at home to Espanyol on Sunday with a foot problem.

Reuters

MADRID - Malaga grabbed a stoppage-time equaliser through de-fender Oguchi Onyewu to draw 1-1 at third-tier Eibar in a re-arranged King’s Cup last-16 first leg tie on Tuesday.

The La Liga side, who lie fourth in the standings and who have quali-fied for the last 16 of the Champions League in their maiden campaign, had one eye on Saturday’s league visit of Real Madrid and fielded a weakened side.

They fell behind on a heavy, muddy pitch in the Basque country when Txema Anibarro netted in the 73rd minute following a free kick.

Eibar, who knocked out last year’s finalists Athletic Bilbao 1-1 on the away goals rule in the last round, came unstuck in time added on when United States international Onyewu made the most of some poor goalkeeping to head in. The return leg is at the Rosaleda next month.

AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of the Netherlands performs a bicycle kick during the German soccer cup match between FC Schalke 04 and FSV Mainz 05 in Gelsenkirchen Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012.

Bayern marches on, Schalke out of German CupAssociated Press Writer

BERLIN — Bayern Munich overcame a red card for Franck Ribery to reach the quarterfi-nals of the German Cup with a 2-0 win at Augsburg on Tuesday. Ribery set up Mario Gomez for Bayern’s opening goal in the 26th minute of the third round match, when the Frenchman got his cross in despite the attention of three defenders.

Malaga grab late draw at third-tier Eibar in Cup

Troubled Rapid plan to build all-Romanian team

Benzema named French Player of the Year

AP Photo/Antonio Calanni

Inter Milan Colombian mid-fielder Fredy Guarin, right,

celebrates with his teammate Inter Milan defender Yuto Na-

gatomo, top, of Japan, after scoring during the Italian Cup

soccer match between Inter Milan and Hellas Verona at

the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012.

Inter advances to Italian Cup quarterfinals

AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter speaks during a press conference in Tokyo Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012. England’s Chelsea FC and Brazil’s Corinthians meet in the final at the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tourna-ment Sunday in Yokohama.

FIFA anti-corruption panel seeks European supportwrote in a Dec. 3 submission seen by The Associated Press.

Pieth wrote that his group, in-cluding lawyers, anti-bribery ex-perts and football officials, have already faced opposition since they began in January advising FIFA’s ruling executive committee — and challenging its authority.

“Currently there is some resis-tance to even such key suggestions, including from European associa-tions,” the Swiss law professor told the PACE committee dealing with sports issues.

The Council of Europe group meets in Paris to follow up criti-cism of FIFA this year in a report on sports governance. It also called for Sepp Blatter’s 2011 re-election as FIFA president to be investigated.

Lawmakers are scheduled to hear witnesses including former FIFA international relations director Jerome Champagne, Transparency International sports adviser Sylvia Schenk and David Triesman, the former leader of England’s failed 2018 World Cup hosting bid. Tries-man has previously alleged that several FIFA voters asked for un-ethical favors.

FIFA will be represented in Paris by executive member Theo Zwanziger. The German lawyer heads a group created by FIFA to work alongside Pieth’s team and present further reform pro-posals after a joint meeting in February.

Pieth said those priorities include setting rules to vet can-didates for FIFA positions, com-pleting contracts and spending development money from the body’s $1 billion annual in-come.

The anti-corruption panel is “actively” supporting FIFA’s revamped ethics and audit com-mittees, which were “upgrading compliance programs, conflict of interest policies and other fun-damental requirements of large economic players,” Pieth wrote.

Still, Pieth has been frustrated by Blatter’s executive colleagues blocking his “fundamental sug-gestion” that audit chairman Domenico Scala should join them as an independent member. Instead, they allowed him just to observe during discussion of financial issues.

Thursday, December 20, 2012 7SportsThursday, December 20, 201210 InternationalInternationalDestinations

Despite the Golden State con-trolling the Hornets for most of the night, New Orleans made a furious run in the fourth to tie the game 92-92 with about four minutes remaining. Jarrett Jack responded with six free throws during a game-deciding 9-2 stretch to help Golden State (17-8) continue their sparkling start to the season.

“We had a lot of confidence tonight, a lot more confidence than in the past,” Lee told reporters after The Warriors were off to their best start since the 1991-1992 season when they started 21-8. “It’s no fun when a team’s catching up on

you like that, but I think we had confidence we could make plays down the stretch.”

One of the younger teams in the league, few expected the Warriors to open the campaign this success-fully and they are now just 1 1/2 games behind the Pacific Division lead. The Hornets (5-19) have lost eight straight, despite getting 28 points off the bench from Ryan Anderson in their latest defeat.

Also a youthful group, New Or-leans have endured a tough start and have now dropped 18 of their last 20 games. Number one overall draft pick Anthony Davis recorded 15

points and 16 rebounds in his fifth game back since missing extensive time with a ankle injury. Greivis Vasquez added 20 and 11 assists.

Golden State grabbed a 10-point lead after the first quarter and were up 90-78 midway through the fourth before the visitors fought back by outscoring the Warriors 14-2 over a three-minute stint.

“It’s just a tough loss for us, especially when you tie it up, you have a chance to win,” said Hornets coach Monty Williams. “We just haven’t found that closing mental-ity.”

Golden State Warriors’ Carl Landry (7) dunks past New Or-leans Hornets’ Ryan Anderson (33) during the second half of

an NBA basketball game in Oak-land, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 18,

2012. Golden State won 103-96.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — Britain is pumping record amounts of cash into its Olympic sport programs, aiming to win more medals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 than it did as host nation in London this year.

Despite continuing austerity measures in Britain, the sports body pledged Tuesday to invest 276 million pounds ($448 million) — an increase of 5 percent — to meet a target of winning 66 medals in Brazil, one more than its record total in London.

“It’s a very, very tough ask,” Sports Minister Hugh Robertson told The Associated Press. “But there are sports that didn’t perform particularly well in London. If we can get them right and continue the improvement in other sports, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do it.”

Roared on by passionate home crowds, Britain fin-ished third in gold medals in London with 29, behind the United States and China. Britain was fourth in the overall medal count with 65, behind the U.S., China and Russia.

“We want to be the first nation in recent history to be more successful in both the Olympics and Paralym-pics, post-hosting,” said Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, the body that distributes government and National Lottery funds to Olympics sports.

Cycling produced Britain’s most medals in London with 12, followed by rowing with nine, and both sports will receive at least 30 million pounds each ($48.65 million) in an attempt to maintain their supremacy. Boxing was the biggest winner after being given 13.8 million pounds ($22.4 million) — 4.25 million pounds ($6.8 million) more than the 2009-13 cycle.

Jenson Button believes any driver moving teams for the start of Formula 1’s new rules package in 2014 will be at a significant disadvantage. F1 will switch to 1.6-litre turbocharged engines after next season. Although McLaren has not made the length of Button’s current deal public, the 2009 world champion is expected to stay at the team through 2014 at least after signing a “multi-year” deal in 2011.

“If everything goes to plan I will be still working with the same group of en-gineers and we’ll have worked together for fouryears,” he said. “So entering into a new category, which it basically is, in 2014 with the same engineers - we understand the each other in our way of

working and I think it really does help when everything changes.

“I’m really excited about 2014 and I think it will make a difference if you re-ally understand it’s not just about when you put your helmet on, it’s about what happens before you put your helmet on.” Button thinks trying to acclimatise to a new team while also coping with a major technical package change in 2014 would be extremely tough.

“If a team has a new driver in 2014, I think that’s very tricky for the driver and for the team to really understand the right direction,” Button said. Jenson But-ton F1 2012”Whereas if you have been working with the team for a long period of time you understand what you need

from the car and what works.“KERS is going to be massive in

terms of power, and it’s not going to be on a button, it’s going to be filling in the holes of torque. “So in terms of engineering there’s a lot of work that needs to be done and in terms of the drivers and engineers there needs to be a good understanding.” Button also played down concerns that the new engines would diminish F1’s spectacle.

“We talk about how the engine is go-ing to be small, it’s going to be boring, it’s going to sound rubbish... The racing in the eighties was quite fun and they didn’t have V10, V12 engines, so it will still be great racing,” he said.

Warriors beat Hornets at home to stay hotReuters

The Golden state Warriors staved off a late fourth-quarter chal-lenge to beat new orleans Hornets 103-96 for a successful home return on Tuesday. David Lee had 26 points and nine rebounds while Klay Thompson added 19 points as the Warriors triumphed in their first game at oracle Arena since a recent seven-game road trip that saw them finish 6-1.

AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Britain increases funds in bid for Olympic medals

Button: Team continuity vital going into 2014 F1 rules

McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button of Britain drives during the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo November 25, 2012.

REUTERS/Nacho Doce

IBP

The rulers of Mengwi were famous for the temples they built. The oldest of these is Sada Temple, a few hundred meters south of the main road in Kapal, about 15 km to the northwest of Denpasar. The name sada may derive from the Old Javanese and Sanskrit term prasada, meaning a tower temple. There is indeed a huge shrine in the shape of a tiered tower in the inner conrt. The local inhabitants call this temple a candi, meaning a funerary monument for a deceased king. According to the chronicles of the rulers of Mengwi, the son of the first Cokorda or Lord of Mengwi, I Gusti Agung Panji, received a shrine in this temple after his death around 1710. The divinity of the temple is Bhatara Jayengrat, the Divine World Conqueror.

At present the complex is vener-ated and maintained by the people of Kapal, irrespectiv of their caste or kin group. It was Severly damaged during the earthquake of 1917 and was restored by the Archaeological Survey in 1948-49. The leader of the team of Balinese craftsmen was I Made Nama and is said that the con-struction of the tall tower was quite a challenge for him and his men.

The forecourt of the temple is large and spacious. A big tree grows at the center. The temple complex is surrounded by a wall of red brick constructed in the traditional way without mortar. By rubbing one stone agains the other, a fine powder

crumbles from the surface layers. When water is added to it, the stones can be simply stuck together.

A split gateway on the west side leads to the central courtyard. A second, closed gateway with a three-tiered roof on the west gives way to the inner court, in which 16 shrines are to be seen. Right in front of the gateway is the prasada and behind it a square pedestal with 54 little stone seats. These are shrines for the satya, the servants, and facing them in one shrine together in the south are the three mekel satya, their leaders.

The following story is connected with them: A long time ago, when a king of Majapahit in East Java died, he was cremated and his ashes were carried by 54 men towards the sea in a bamboo tower (bukur) with a tiered roof. The tower was placed on a little boat (kapal), on which were seated the 54 followers (patih) of the deceased and three leaders (makel). The boat, however, was stranded at sea.

This episode has been transposed to the temple and is symbolized in the stone tower at the center and in the pedestals with the 54 and 3 stone seats. The tower is in fact, a replica of the bamboo cremation structure. Close to it, to the south, is a shrine with an 11-tiered roof, called little garden with a pond” (taman). Dur-ing the temple festival on Tumpek Kuningan, its ‘water’ is used to bathe the god of the tower. This is very convenient, because then a long tour outside the temple to a bathing place is not necessary.IBP/File Photo

Sada Temple

Thursday, December 20, 2012 Thursday, December 20, 20126 11International International

INDONESI AW RLD

“Systematic failures and leader-ship and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” the panel said.

The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confu-sion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in Eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Despite those failures, the Ac-countability Review Board deter-mined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action now. But it also said poor performance by senior managers should be grounds for disciplinary recommendations in the future.

The report appeared to break little new ground about the timeline of the Benghazi attack during which Libyan

Ambassador Chris Stevens, informa-tion specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Ty-rone Woods — who were contractors working for the CIA — were killed. Stevens’ slaying was the first of a U.S. ambassador since 1988.

But it confirmed that contrary to initial accounts, there was no protest outside the consulate and said responsibility for the incident rested entirely with the terrorists who attacked the mission.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, administration officials linked the attack to the spreading protests over an American-made, anti-Islamic film that had begun in Cairo earlier that day. Those comments came after evidence already pointed to a distinct militant attack. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on numerous TV talk shows the Sunday after the attack and used the administration talking points linking it to the film. An ensuing brouhaha in the heat of the presidential campaign eventu-ally led her to withdraw her name from consideration to replace Hil-lary Rodham Clinton as secretary of

state in President Barack Obama’s second term.

The review board determined that there had been no immediate, specific tactical warning of a potential attack on the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. However, the report said there had been several worrisome incidents in the run-up to the attack that should have set off warning bells.

While criticizing State Depart-ment management in Washington along with the local militia force and contract guards that the mission de-pended on for protection, the report said U.S. personnel on the ground in Benghazi “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation.”

It said the response by Diplo-matic Security agents on the scene and CIA operatives at a nearby compound that later came under attack itself had been “timely and appropriate” but absolved the mili-tary from any blame. “There was simply not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference.”

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” suggests the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Sen. John McCain watched the movie Monday night and says it left him sick — because it’s wrong.

McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment by his North Vietnamese captors during the Vietnam War, has insisted that the waterboarding of al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to the bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.

Yet the movie, of copy of which McCain said he received Monday, indicates that’s how the United States found the al-Qaida leader. The filmmakers fell for it hook, line and sinker, McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday.

Last year, McCain asked then-CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and he said the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh infor-mation from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.

“Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Kha-lid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading infor-mation,” McCain said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelli-gence Committee, backed up McCain’s assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.

Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW — Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday strongly criticized a proposal in the country’s parliament that would ban Americans from adopting Russian chil-dren.

Sergey Lavrov’s comments — along with criticism of the proposal by other ministers — appeared to indicate pres-sure from the highest level for the State Duma to reject the proposal or eliminate it from discussion.

The proposal comes after President Barack Obama signed into law last week a bill that imposes sanctions on Rus-sians who are deemed to be connected with human rights abuses.

A retaliatory measure that passed its first reading in the Russian Duma last week calls for establishing a blacklist of Americans judged to have violated the human rights of Russians. Officials had said that would include those who abuse adopted Russian children.

But some legislators then proposed that an amendment calling for an outright ban on adoptions of Russian children by Americans. Although news reports said the measure would come up for second reading on Wednesday, it was not clear late Tuesday what version of it would be on the agenda.

“It’s not right, and I am sure that the State Duma will make the right decision in the end,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state news agency ITAR-Tass. “International adoption as an institution has a full right to exist.”

Russians have bristled at reports about the abuse of ad-opted Russian children. After long delay, an agreement on regulating adoptions was ratified by the Duma in July. The agreement was aimed at addressing concerns galvanized by the scandal over an American woman who in 2010 sent back a 7-year-old Russian boy she had adopted, saying he had behavioral problems and she didn’t want him anymore.

But lawmaker Elena Afanasiyeva, a co-author of the proposed new amendment, said the new adoption deal has not eliminated serious problems, especially the poor U.S. communications with Russian authorities about cases of abuse by adoptive parents.

IBP/ap

FILE - In this April 11, 2011, file photo, then U.S. envoy Chris Stevens attends meetings at the Tibesty Hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya

Benghazi review finds systematic security faultsAssociated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management and leadership failures at the State Department led to “grossly” inad-equate security at the mission in Benghazi.

McCain rejects torture scene in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’

Russian FM against any ban on US adoptions

Reuters

JAKARTA – Blue Bird Group, Indonesia’s biggest taxi operator, aims to raise around US$200 million (RM611 million) in an initial public offer-ing (IPO) in 2013, when demand for Indonesian equity is seen rebounding from 2012, sources said.

The Jakarta-based group is looking at a US$1 billion valuation for its businesses, which range from taxis to supply-chain management, and has informally discussed the plan with banks, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified because the talks were not public.

Initial public offerings have been thin in Indonesia this year and the Jakarta stock market has lagged gains in Southeast Asian peers because of high valuations and concerns about the weakening rupiah.

Blue Bird is looking to sell a stake of between 20 to 40 per cent in the middle of next year, said another source, adding the company has said that it has seen compound annual growth rates of above 20 per cent in the past 30 years.

“It will be an easy sell to investors... Look at the roads in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia, they are filled with Blue Birds and you always find it hard to get a taxi in the peak hours nowadays,” said one of the sources with direct knowledge of the plan, who declined to be identified because the talks were not public.

A lack of public transport across Indonesia means car and motorbike taxis are commonly used, with Blue Bird cars widely seen by the public as the most trustworthy brand among a host of competitors.

Blue Bird, established in 1972 by Mutiara Djokosoetono, has taxi opera-tions in major cities in Indonesia including Jakarta, Bali, and Manado. The firm currently operates 21,000 taxis, according to its website. The company is planning to add around 10,000 new taxis in 2013, sources said.

Blue Bird declined requests from comment.This year Indonesia only saw several small IPOs, the biggest being a

US$228 million offering by pay-TV provider PT MNC Skyvision.Bankers say commodity firms have delayed offerings while consumer

businesses are seeing good cash flow on growing middle-class demand, leaving owners seeking pricey valuations to sell. But they expect deals to pick up next year. By contrast, Malaysia has seen multi-billion dol-lar offerings by palm firm Felda Global Ventures Holdings and IHH Healthcare Bhd this year, while Thailand emerged as an unexpected fee pool for deal-starved Asia bankers.

Lead Economist of the World Bank Ndiame Diop said that investment would be the main driver of economic growth in Indonesia.

“The investment sector accounted for 40 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of 2012,” he noted.

Diop stated that the economic recovery of Indonesia’s trade part-ners would also support the nation’s economic growth through increased exports.

“These factors have helped Indo-nesia achieve fast economic growth over the past few years, as investment reached a third of the total goods and services expenditure in Indonesia and increased 10 percent year-on-year dur-ing the third quarter,” he pointed out.

“Favourable policies attract inves-tors to a country,” Diop noted.

He stated that the government

should effectively communicate the benefits of its new regulations in order to create and maintain a conducive investment climate in the country, which in turn would lead to strong economic growth.

“However, there are many chal-lenges facing the investment sector, one of the biggest being the mini-mum wage standard issue,” Diop pointed out.

“For the example, the regional minimum wage (UMR) in Jakarta has increased by 44 percent, reach-ing Rp2.2 million, which is much higher than that of other countries. This will significantly affect Indo-nesia’s investment and business competitiveness,” he said.

“The authorities should work to-wards a minimum wage negotiation process that is holistic, technical and inclusive, involving all stakehold-

ers, including the informal sector’s employees and labourers,” Diop continued.

He stated that Indonesia’s eco-nomic growth would also be signifi-cantly influenced by global economic developments, given that its main trade partners were China, the US, and European countries.

“At this time, the negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff in the US, the economy crisis in Europe and the economic slowdown in China have not significantly affected the GDP growth of Indonesia,” Diop said.

Therefore, he urged the govern-ment to step up efforts to ensure that the Indonesian economy continued to grow at the projected rate.

“Given the uncertainties sur-rounding the global economy, this is not the right time to feel satisfied,” Diop said.

AntaraJAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa

has stated that the construction of Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) is still constrained by the subsidy schemes that hamper the development plans of Jakarta provincial administration.

“Actually, under an investment-sharing agreement, the central govern-ment and the Jakarta provincial administration will contribute 42 percent and 58 percent, respectively, to the construction of the MRT,” he said here on Tuesday.

According to Hatta, the MRT ticket fare has been set at Rp38,000 (ap-proximately US$3.95).

“The fare will burden the people,” he pointed out.Earlier, Jakarta governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) told Hatta that such a

high fare would be unaffordable for a majority of the city’s residents despite the provincial administrations subsidy. “We are still discussing a subsidy that would make the ticket affordable to the public without burdening the provincial administration’s budget,” he said.

Therefore, Jokowi stated that he would hold meetings to discuss the de-velopment of MRT as a means of mass transportation in Jakarta. “We will keep searching for the solution through discussions,” he continued.

Hatta said he had yet to decide on what the ideal fare for an MRT ticket should be. “We will look at the fares of other means of mass transportation, such as the electric train and the Transjakarta Busway, and then set a fare that is affordable for the public. I do not want to speculate on it before I meet Jokowi,” he added.

AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim

Workers load sacks of cement on to a cargo ship at Sunda Kelapa port in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. The World Bank has predicted that the Indonesia economy will grow at 6.3 percent next year, driven by high investment and domestic consumption.

Indonesia economy expect to grow at 6.3 percent in 2013Antara

JAKARTA - The World Bank has predicted that the Indonesia economy will grow at 6.3 percent next year, driven by high investment and domestic consumption.

MRT constrained by subsidy schemes

Blue Bird eyeing IPO in 2013

Bali News Thursday, December 20, 2012 5InternationalThursday, December 20, 201212 International

Associated Press

ATHENS — Greece has raised 1.3 billion Euro ($1.71 billion) in a treasury bill auction at slightly lower interest rates compared with the last such sale five weeks ago.

The government’s Public Debt Management Agency said the 13-week T-bills were sold Tuesday at an interest rate of 4.11 percent, edging down from the 4.2 percent rate on Nov. 13.

Greece on Monday received a massive rescue loan installment worth 34.3 billion Euro, after completing a bond buy back deal last week, in which it paid 11.29 billion Euro to cancel debt worth 31.9 billion Euro.

The government said Tuesday that deficit cutting efforts remained on target, with the January-November shortfall at 12.9 billion Euro, compared with 21.5 billion Euro for that period in 2011.

The Washington-based lender said in a report that the region will expand by 7.9 percent in 2013 after growing 7.5 percent this year. East Asia remained resilient despite the lackluster global economy and will contribute almost 40 percent of global growth in 2012, the bank said.

The report covers countries like China, Indonesia and Thailand but excludes Japan.

China’s economy is forecast to expand 7.9 percent this year before accelerating to 8.4 percent in 2013, powered by government stimulus spending and faster approval of big investment projects and an upswing in the business cycle.

“The slowdown in China ap-

pears to now have bottomed out,” the bank said.

Signs indicate that China’s econ-omy is rebounding after growth slid to a 3 ½ year low of 7.4 percent in the latest quarter, but the recovery looks rocky. The bank’s optimism comes amid recent patchy eco-nomic data, including a plunge in export growth in November.

“The most recent data suggest that, despite further weakening in the external environment, China’s growth rate will continue to recover in the remainder of the year and into next year,” said the bank, which predicts China’s growth will ease off to 8 percent in 2014.

Excluding China, the region will expand 5.6 percent in 2012

and 5.7 percent in 2013, thanks to strong growth in the Philippines and relatively mild slowdowns in Indonesia and Vietnam.

The World Bank’s “East Asia and Pacific Update” also high-lighted possible risks, including a sharp drop in China’s “unusually high investment rate,” which would have “significant domestic and global consequences.”

The bank also worried about the outlook for the eurozone countries as they struggle to push through reforms, negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” in the U.S. and large amounts of money flow-ing into the region in search of higher returns, which could lead to inflation and asset bubbles.

Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that high-lights a struggling economy.

The Finance Ministry released data Wednesday showing the trade deficit soared nearly 38 percent last month compared to November the previous year.

November exports stood at 4.98 tril-lion yen ($59.3 billion), while imports totaled 5.94 trillion yen ($70.7 billion), making for a deficit of 953.4 billion yen ($11.4 billion).

Japanese companies are mov-ing production abroad to compete globally. Exports to China plunged following a territorial dispute that set off anti-Japanese sentiments and a boycott. Energy imports have shot up since the nuclear disaster.

The political party that made a comeback in Sunday’s election is making economic revival a prior-ity, promising public spending and an inflation target.

AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis

A worker speaks on his cellphone as he sits on scaffolding erected to dis-play Christmas decorations, with the Greek parliament in the background at the Athens’ main Syntagma square on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. Greece has raised 1.3 billion Euro ($1.71 billion) in a treasury bill auction at slightly lower interest rates compared with the last such sale five weeks ago.

Greece raises 1.3 billion euros in T-bill sale

East Asian growth to pick up in 2013Associated Press

HONG KONG — Growth in East Asia’s developing economies will pick up next year after China’s slowdown hits bottom but considerable risks remain, including the possibility of a sharp drop in investment growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, the World Bank said Wednesday.

AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa

A man walks by a securities company in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Japan is reporting its fifth straight month of trade deficits for November, marking a lengthy span of lagging exports that highlights a struggling economy.

Japan reports 5th month of trade deficit

Bali PostKLUNGKUNG - HIV/AIDS cases in

Bali increased sharply. It was indicated by survey made within the past five years. In 2004, the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases remained around 600 cases, but until August 2012 it increased to 6,504 cases. Meanwhile, in Klungkung County from 2002 to August 2012 there were 159 cases recorded. The data was based on the results of Voluntary Counseling and Test-ing (VCT), 19 cases from Sero Survey and 19 other cases from blood screening in the blood transfusion unit of the Klungkung Red Cross.

Seeing such condition, the AIDS Pre-vention Commission (KPA) of Klungkung organized a one-day seminar in coopera-tion with a number of employees, woman organizations, students and community in the meeting room of Klungkung subdis-

trict head, Tuesday (Dec 18). The seminar was expected to speed up the response of community including stakeholders on HIV and AIDS with a focus on the protection against women and children. Besides, it was also expected to prevent lung infection, increase access to treatment and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Klungkung. The seminar presented several speakers, such as Partha Muliawan, a HIV/AIDS activist from the Public Health Studies, School of Medicine, Udayana University.

Regional Secretary of Klungkung, Ketut Janapria, said that HIV/AIDS was one of the important points in achiev-ing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Community was expected to protect the mother and her children from being infected by the disease in order to reduce the transmission rate of the disease. (kmb31)

In the raid, the joint team aimed at tra-ditional markets and supermarkets, such as the Kreneng Market, a grocery distributor on Jalan Gatot Subroto 1 Denpasar, fruit store in Udayana shopping complex and Tiara Dewata. “We hold this effort as a measure to protect the public (consumers) from the improper food consumption that may threaten their safety,” said the Head of Denpasar Industry and Trade Agency, I Wayan Gatra, amidst the parcel raid to one of the supermarkets in Denpasar.

Some parcels were taken as samples to be examined one by one. However, until the end of the examination the team did not found any expired goods or damaged packaging.

Previously, recognized Gatra, the Denpasar Industry and Trade Agency had sent circular to a number of companies or parcel producers and packed food to remind the employers of maintaining the parcel quality. The food on sale should pay attention to health aspect such as the hygiene, expiration and content without hazardous chemicals. “In the circular was also stated if there was any problem with the products, both in terms of expiration or content of hazardous substance, we will revoke the products and they may no longer be circulated in the market,” he explained.

Gatra added the most important in the food packaging and parcel companies was

that the store should put warranty card in-side each package. “Warranty card is very expensive and important as a guarantee to consumer. We have confidence the com-pany will certainly oversee the products on offer because reputation of the companies are at stake,” added Gatra.

Other than parcel, the joint team also checked the availability of groceries ahead of Christmas and New Year. As a result, the price of a number of basic commodi-ties such as rice, sugar and even beef had started to rise. Against the finding, Gatra said the increase happened was not due to approaching Christmas but because of natural factors (weather).

“Based on the data of market sur-vey, there is indeed price increase, where one of which is beef whose price increases by IDR 1,000 from IDR 71,000 to IDR 72,000. I think the price hike is not significant because the national beef supply indeed decreases. Meanwhile, for rice of 25 kg showed an increase of IDR 5,000. Probably, this happens because of weather factor. During rainy season, the production process is hampered because people cannot dry their grain and so on. Even, the transportation from Java to Bali is also constrained by rainy season. In essence, the basic need for Christmas and New Year in Bali has no significant increase,” he explained. (kmb28)

IBP/Yudi Karnaedi

Some parcels were taken as samples to be examined one by one. However, until the end of the examination the team did not found any expired goods or damaged packaging.

Ahead of Christmas and New Year

Denpasar government held parcels’ raidBali Post

DENPASAR - Joint team of Denpasar Municipality raided traditional markets and supermarkets ahead of Christmas and New Year 2013 on Tues-day (Dec 18). The joint team was composed of the Center for Food and Drug Administration (BPPOM) and Consumer Dispute Settlement Agency (BPSK) under coordination of the Denpasar Trade and Industry Agency.

IBP/Eka Adhiyasa

HIV/AIDS cases in Bali increased sharply. It was indicated by survey made within the past five years. In 2004, the cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases remained around 600 cases, but until August 2012 it increased to 6,504 cases.

In Klungkung, 159 cases of HIV/AIDS found

BUSINESS

Bali News International4 Thursday, December 20, 2012 Thursday, December 20, 2012 13International RLDW

Conservative candidate Park Geun-hye had a thin lead in polls published last week, the last allowed under election rules. Park’s left-wing challenger, Moon Jae-in, has promised to perform global pop sensa-tion Psy’s Gangnam Style “horse dance” if turnout hits 77 percent.

That turnout would signify a high level of participation by young voters who pollsters say could propel Moon into the presidential “Blue House”. With three hours until the polls close, turnout was 59.3 percent, higher than the two previous presidential elections and well on track to achieve 70 percent.

If Park wins, the unmarried 60-year old would be the first woman leader of the country, which is still largely run by men in dark suits. “I trust her. She will save our country,” said Park Hye-sook, 67, who voted in an affluent Seoul dis-trict early in the morning.

“Her father ... rescued the country,” said the housewife and grandmother, who is no relation to the candidate, reflecting the admiration many older voters feel for former president Park Chung-hee, which has translated into support for his daughter. She has pledged dialogue with impoverished North Korea, whose rocket launch last week reinforced fears it is developing a long-range missile. She has promised a tough line on the isolated North’s nuclear and missile programs.

Park, wearing a red muffler, was cheered by crowds chanting her name as she entered the polling station and urged voters to “open a new era”.

Moon is a former human rights law-yer who has promised unconditional aid for North Korea and to reintroduce an engagement policy that ushered in closer ties between the Cold War rivals.

Reuters CARACAS - Venezuela’s President Hugo

Chavez suffered a respiratory infection but is “stable” again in a Cuban hospital following cancer surgery a week ago, the government said on Tuesday. Chavez, 58, is battling to recover from a fourth operation since he was first diag-nosed with the disease in mid-2011.

“The general condition of the commander-presi-dent is stable after he was diagnosed with a respira-tory infection and the medical team treated him immediately,” Informa-tion Minister Ernesto Villegas said in the latest update on Chavez. “It has been controlled.”

Villegas said Venezuela’s so-cialist leader, who has ruled the South American OPEC nation for 14 years, had been ordered to take “complete rest” and follow medi-cal instructions strictly.

“This type of infection is one of the most common con-sequences in patients who have undergone complicated surgery, like President Chavez did last December 11,” Villegas added.

Though Venezuelan officials are upbeat about Chavez’s pos-sibility of recovery, speculation

is rife that he may have to step down from power, or might not even survive. Supporters are pray-ing for him round-the-clock in unprecedented scenes of emotion across Venezuela.

Chavez himself raised the possibility of his incapacitation before leaving for Cuba, naming Vice President Nicolas Maduro as his preferred successor and urging Venezuelans to vote for him if there is a new presidential election. He is due, however, to start a new term on Janu-ary 10.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II sat in on a Cabinet meeting Tuesday for the first time, taking a seat between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to observe the weekly discussion of government business.

Her visit is believed to be the first time a sitting monarch has attended a Cabinet meeting in at least 100 years.

Cabinet members presented her with

a gift of 60 placemats in honor of her Diamond Jubilee.

The government said the queen attended Tuesday’s meeting as an observer — not as a contributor — in honor of her 60 years on the throne. But her visit has raised some eyebrows for appearing to blur the traditional line between government and monarchy.

As head of state, the queen performs some ceremonial and formal duties related to government but must remain neutral on political matters.

South Korea votes in tight race on economy and jobsReuters

SEOUL - South Koreans voted on Wednesday in freezing winter tempera-tures for a new president in a battle between the daughter of their former military ruler and a man her father jailed for political activism. The next president of Asia’s fourth largest economy will have to deal with a hostile North Korea, under young and untested new leader Kim Jong-un, and a slowing domestic economy.

An elderly woman is assisted in cast-ing her ballot in the presidential election at a polling station in Nonsan, about 190 km (118 miles) south of Seoul, December 19, 2012.

REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won

IBP/ap

Queen Elizabeth II attends UK Cabinet meeting

Chavez “stable” after respiratory infection

REUTERS/Jorge SilvaVenezuelan President and presidential candidate Hugo Chavez greets supporters during a campaign rally in the district of Catia in Caracas September 17, 2012.

A member of the group, Kadek Karyana, 40, said though having not run for a year, most members chose not to be active due to lack of transparency in the management. It was seen in the procurement of 21 cattle worth IDR 86 million. The cattle purchase by group head was not in accordance with the desire of the majority of members and without deliberation. At that time, 17 heads of cattle purchased at IDR 63 million did not meet the criteria. Most of them were skinny and if compared to market price they were far different. Seeing such condition, the members asked to

resell the cattle and replace them with the fatter ones at the same price. However, the administrator refused it.

“From the beginning, it was actually chaotic. The building procurement was without delibera-tion and accountability. Then, the members asked to replace the cattle because they were skinny, but the group head refused and asked the members to bail out if the re-selling price was cheaper. Why should we be burdened? It is a program to empower the community, isn’t it?” asked Karyana. With other members, he had repeatedly ex-

pressed the constraint to headman up to subdistrict livestock officer and county livestock agency. Ul-timately, the group head agreed to convene a meeting after being urged by headman of Nusasari.

Secretary of Merta Sari Group, Putu Pulasari, said a number of group members were indeed dor-mant due to be chaos related to cattle procurement. However, Si-mantri program remained to run as the administrators manage the cattle in the cage. Group Treasurer, Ketut Wirna, said the cattle prices were diverse and not the same. For instance, 10 cattle were valued at

IDR 3.8 million, the other at IDR 3.25 and IDR 3.5 million, while the bull was at IDR 6 million. At the moment, a catfish pond was unfinished. On that account, the budget worth IDR 200 million still remained approximately IDR 30 million.

From site observation at Sim-antri 216, there were 22 cattle and a bull. Of the 22 cattle, seven heads were not marked with number in the ear. Biogas installation had been installed and the building still looked new. Meanwhile, the catfish pond was not yet built.

When confirmed separately, group head of Merta Sari, I Made Wirya Wibawa, denied the non-transparency to members related to cattle procurement. According to him, his party had made con-sensus but delivered individually to each member. At that time, most members were still busy working on the cage building for Simantri,

whereas cattle were not available yet. “That’s why we (the board) try to find out cattle worth IDR 4 million each, while the bull at IDR 6 million. Thus, they make a total of IDR 86 million,” he said.

He denied if most group mem-bers were dormant and he said only a few were inactive. Admittedly, there were additional cattle in the cage, but they were commended by landowner where the Simantri cage was built. “The landowner commends some cattle, the inac-tive members are only two people, while the administrators are solid,” he added. At the moment, his party just needed to build a catfish pond.

Headman of Nusasari, Wayan Ardana, said the issue had been resolved amicably and they were asked to make an official report to be submitted to the province because the assistance was given by the province. (kmb26)

Negara (Bali Post)—

Four mobile towers in Melaya and Negara subdistrict were disciplined by Jembrana public order officer (Satpol PP) on Tuesday (Dec 18). Such removable cellular towers were alleged to have no permit despite hav-ing been installed for many years.

Among the four mobile towers disci-plined, there was a tower belonging to Indosat at the house of Gusti Ayu Tarsi, 47, at Palasari, Melaya. According to house owner, the tower was established five years ago but she did not know whether it was licensed or not. Furthermore, the other tower located on the land owned by Agus Sugianto belonged to XL. It had been operating since eight months ago. Meanwhile, the tower on the land of Agung Adnyani at Peh hamlet, Kaliakah village, Negara, was built three years ago.

The Head of Jembrana Public Order Of-ficer, Putu Widarta, said last Tuesday that his party raided the illegal towers after receiving information from the community. His party did not know if they were licensed or not, as there was no notification to local govern-ment. “Those towers are not permanent and can be moved by car. Supposedly, they have submitted a permit to local county govern-ment,” said Widarta.

The officer would summon the landown-ers and supervisor being responsible for the towers in order to determine the next action. It was feared the proliferation of mobile tow-ers would interfere with the radio frequency. (kmb26)

Simantri at Nusasari chaoticCattle procurement not transparent, members dormantNegara (Bali Post)—

The integrated agricultural system (Simantri) program in 2012 for the Sari Merta breeder group at Nusasari village, Melaya, turned chaotic. A number of members chose to be dormant as the group head was accused of being less transparent in the procurement of 21 cattle worth IDR 86 million. Some members and administrators met on Tuesday (Dec 18) told that some dormant members of the Simantri program was triggered by less transparency of the group head. As a group, it never made decision through consultation with members.

IBP/FileThe cows of Simantri in Nusasari, Jembrana are not being cared properly.

Interfering with frequency, mobile towers disciplined

3Thursday, December 20, 201214 InternationalInternational Bali NewsScience Thursday, December 20, 2012

IBP

KUTA - Companies from dif-ferent type of business join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental in Kuta Beach recently. The companies that signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were Quick-silver Indonesia, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and Garuda Indonesia. The signing was done by CEO SEA Paul Hutson from Quiksilver Indonesia, Business Services Director Bruce Waterfield from Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and EVP Heriyanto Putra from Garuda Indonesia.

Quiksilver Indonesia and Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia first joined forces in 2008 to help clean up Bali’s beaches, and have now been joined by Indonesia’s flagship Garuda Airlines in a historic benchmark that signals the start of the next phase of Indone-sia’s waste management future.

The official introduction of the Barber Surf Rake beach cleaning units that were donated by Garuda Indonesia and the signing of the MOU by the three corporations were the primary impetus for the Bali Beach Clean Up event today, which was opened by speeches from the corporate representatives.

First to take the microphone this morning was Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia’s Bruce Waterfield, who said, “We are entering a new phase in our efforts to clean up Bali, as having Garuda involved in our program will enable a change not only in how these beaches are presented to domestic and international tourists and local residents by way of the Barber Surf Rake units, but also by becoming an

“I am really sure that currently, Indonesia is the fifth biggest agri-cultural producer in the world. That is compared to China, United States and Brazil,” said Leon after the Top Ciencia Symposium in Sanur, Bali, Tuesday evening.

He noted that the responsibility of Indonesia is also to producing food for the people which have to be fulfilled by some efforts of related parties.

He said that Indonesia also targeting to become the self

Indonesia has great potency for agriculture investmentAntara

SANUR - Business Area Director for ASEAN Crop Protection of BASF Chemical Company Leon Van Mullekom said that Indonesia still has great potency for agriculture investment as the government urges food sustainability.

sufficient country for food and agriculture products.

“I believe the government and Indonesian people can reach the target by doing good collabora-tion between stakeholders and the real implementation,” he said.

He added that BASF party is ready to cooperate with the gov-ernment to enhance food sustain-ability in Indonesia.

“We have commit in crop pro-tection products, supporting the excellent research of agriculture

as well as doing research on ni-trogen technology. I believe that Indonesian agriculture has great potency to developed,” he said.

Food securityMeanwhile, Head of Research

of Development Crop Protection Asia Pacific of BASF Edson Beg-liomini said that the development of crop protection and education

course for farmers in South East Asia, especially in Indonesia, can enhance world food security.

“The AgCelence of BASF, de-signed to boost crop yields and qual-ity, can help food security. We need to improve yield by area and doing the contribution to be more self sufficient and the system also can increase the quality of the crops,” said Edson.

According to him, BASF also educated farmers to give them knowledge on agriculture tech-nology and its implementation.

“We have different name of education program for farmer in each countries. Here in Indonesia we have ‘Mitra Tani’,” he said.

He said that the program teaches the farmers and the fam-

ily how to do good farming and growing crops in better way.

“By implementing both pro-grams, the crop protection and educating the farmers, we hope that all parties could enhance the food security,” Edson said.

The symposium discussed about international research which focused on development of crop protection and the needs of the market for crop protection.

“There are a lot of ideas that we have discussed today and we need to develop this plan for the next year,” he said.

He noted that by developing the root quality, it also increased the yield of the plant so that the effort supports food security.

Companies join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental

IBP/Courtesy of Tim Hain

Companies from different type of business join forces to preserve Bali’s environmental in Kuta Beach recently. The companies that signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were Quicksilver Indonesia, Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, and Garuda Indonesia.

example for other Indonesian corpo-rations to follow.”

He continued, “With a growing population and poor waste manage-ment controls across the country, it is up to the industry to work with the government, local communities and industry groups to protect the very source of our existence.”

Waterfield’s speech was followed by Quiksilver’s Paul Hutson, who described the significance of the event from the perspective of a surf brand that has been doing business in Indonesian for many years, say-ing, “Quiksilver has been Indonesia for over 20 years, doing business in manufacturing, distribution and retail and we are here to stay. We are in this beach clean up program for the long term, as our future is reliant on the sustainability of healthy tourism and a healthy environment.”

Mr. Heriyanto Putra, the Execu-tive Vice President of Human Capital and Corporate Affairs at Garuda, was clearly gratified and optimistic. “We would like to express our appreciation to Coca-Cola Amatil and Quiksilver Indonesia for entering into this part-nership with Garuda Indonesia, for it is a cooperation that I strongly believe will be of benefit to all participants and to the environment,” he said.

He continued saying, “In addition to our business as the national flight carrier, we are also concerned with social issues, society and the envi-ronment. This is one of the many important programs that Garuda is implementing. As we are all aware, Bali is the most popular tourist desti-nation, so it is all of our responsibility to help preserve the nature and beauty

of Bali Island. We hope that the dona-tion of these two Barber Surf Rake units will go a long ways towards maintaining the beauty and cleanli-ness of Bali’s beaches.”

The two revolutionary Barber Surf Rake units were imported from the USA and cost approximately $50,000 USD each, and will be used to groom the beaches of Kuta, Seminyak, Legian, Jimbaran and Kedonganan.

Since June of 2008, Quiksilver In-

donesia and Coca-Cola Amatil Indo-nesia have been working together to clean up Bali’s beaches. The program started small, but working closely with the local communities of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Jimbaran and Ke-donganan, now there is a 74 person strong dedicated beach cleanup crew, 4 tractors, 3 trucks, and more than 600 trash bin placements. In this year alone, 4.5 million kilograms of trash has been collected, totaling over 14

million kilograms of trash since the program started.

In addition to their beach clean up efforts, Quiksilver and Coca-Cola Am-atil Indonesia also support Bali’s Life-guards, Indonesia’s professional surfing organization the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championships (ISC), and the Kuta Beach Turtle Conservation as well as other local Bali environmental organizations such as GUS, the ROLE Foundation and more.

The poll found 4 out of every 5 Americans said climate change will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it. That’s up from 73 percent when the same question was asked in 2009.

And 57 percent of Americans say the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about the problem. That’s up from 52 percent in 2009. Only 22 percent of those surveyed think little or noth-ing should be done, a figure that dropped from 25 percent.

Overall, 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe tempera-tures are rising, up from 75 percent three years earlier. In general, U.S. belief in global warming, accord-ing to AP-GfK and other polls, has fluctuated over the years but has stayed between about 70 and 85 percent.

The biggest change in the polling is among people who trust scientists only a little or not at all. About 1 in 3 of the people surveyed fell into that category.

Within that highly skeptical group, 61 percent now say tem-peratures have been rising over the

Science doubters say world is warmingAssociated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — A growing majority of Americans think global warming is occurring, that it will become a serious problem and that the U.S. government should do something about it, a new Associated Press-GfK poll finds. Even most people who say they don’t trust scientists on the environment say temperatures are rising.

AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File

FILE - In this July 26, 2011 file photo, a Greenlandic Inuit hunter and fisherman steers his boat past a melting iceberg, along a fjord leading away from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, near Nuuk, Greenland.

past 100 years. That’s a substantial increase from 2009, when the AP-GfK poll found that only 47 percent of those with little or no trust in scientists believed the world was getting warmer.

This is an important develop-ment because, often in the past, opinion about climate change doesn’t move much in core groups — like those who deny it exists and those who firmly believe it’s an alarming problem, said Jon Kros-nick, a Stanford University social psychologist and pollster. Krosnick, who consulted with The Associated Press on the poll questions, said the changes the poll shows aren’t in the hard-core “anti-warming” deniers, but in the next group, who had seri-ous doubts.

“They don’t believe what the scientists say, they believe what the thermometers say,” Krosnick said. “Events are helping these people see what scientists thought they had been seeing all along.”

Phil Adams, a retired freelance photographer from Washington, N.C., said he was “fairly cynical” about scientists and their theo-

ries. But he believes very much in climate change because of what he’s seen with his own eyes. “Having lived for 67 years, we consistently see more and more

changes based upon the fact that the weather is warmer,” he said. “The seasons are more severe. The climate is definitely getting warmer.”

Solving a centuries-old murder mystery, researchers say Egyptian king Ramesses III likely had his throat slit by conspirators in his harem. Moreover, the body of the pharaoh’s traitorous son, Prince Pentaw-ere, may have finally been found.

IBP/ist

Mummy Murder Mystery Solved

Despite sharing 98 percent of our DNA with chimpan-zees, humans have much bigger brains and are, as a species, much more intelli-gent. Now a new study sheds light on why: Unlike chimps, humans undergo a massive explosion in white matter growth, or the connections between brain cells, in the first two years of life.

The new results, published today (Dec. 18) in the Proceed-ings of the Royal Society B, partly explain why humans are so much brainier than our near-est living relatives. But they also reveal why the first two years of life play such a key role in human development.

“What’s really unique about us is that our brains experience rapid establishment of connec-tivity in the first two years of life,” said Chet Sherwood, an evolutionary neuroscientist at

George Washington Univer-sity, who was not involved in the study. “That probably helps to explain why those first few years of human life are so criti-cal to set us on the course to language acquisition, cultural knowledge and all those things that make us human.”

ChimpanzeesWhile past studies have

shown that human brains go through a rapid expansion in connectivity, it wasn’t clear that was unique amongst great apes (a group that includes chimps, gorillas, orangutans and humans). To prove it was the signature of human-ity’s superior intelligence, re-searchers would need to prove it was different from that in our closest living relatives.

However, a U.S. mora-

torium on acquiring new chimpanzees for medical research meant that people like Sherwood, who is trying to understand chimpanzee brain development, had to study decades-old baby chim-panzee brains that were lying around in veterinary patholo-gists’ labs, Sherwood told LiveScience. [Images: Baby Chimpanzees Welcomed]

But in Japan, those limita-tions didn’t go into place till later, allowing the researchers to do live magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of three baby chimps as they grew to 6 years of age. They then compared the data with existing brain-imaging scans for six macaques and 28 Japa-nese children. The researchers found that chimpanzees and humans both had much more brain development in early life than macaques.

Human Intelligence Secrets Revealed by Chimp BrainsScholars have long been puzzled

about the death of Ramesses III, be-lieved to have ruled from about 1186 B.C. to 1155 B.C. during Egypt’s 20th dynasty. While ancient papyrus court documents show that members of the king’s harem plotted to kill him as part of a palace coup, it has remained unclear whether the assassination scheme was successful.

Researchers revisited the mummy of Ramesses III looking for answers. Their computed tomography (CT) scans revealed a serious wound in his throat. (Horus was the patron god of kings in ancient Egypt.)

“The large and deep cut wound in his neck must have been caused by a sharp knife or other blade,” the team wrote in a paper on their findings, published in the British Medical Jour-nal on Monday (Dec. 17). They added that the cut, which severed his trachea, esophagus and large blood vessels, would have killed him instantly. [See Images of Ramesses III Mummy & Scans]

The researchers also found an amu-let bearing the eye of Horus lodged in the mummy’s throat and think it served as a lucky charm.

International2 Thursday, December 20, 2012 15International Activities

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, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Pujawan, Buleleng: Adnyana, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Bali Putra Ariawan. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Tele-phone (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

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

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

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

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

Balinese Temple Ceremony

Calendar Event for December 12 through December 27, 2012

Thursday, December 20, 2012

12 Des Buda Keliwon Ugu Pura Dalem Tarukan Banjar Pu-lasari Desa Peninjoan Tembuku - BangliPura Pasek Gelgel Boading Kaba-kaba TabananPura Pemayun Banyuning Te n -gah - BulelengPura Desa Kayangan Tiga Desa Bubunan Seririt - BulelengPura Agung Gunung Raung Ban-jar Taro Kaja Taro - TegalalangMerajan Pasek Dangka Bungbun-gan

22 Des Hari Tumpek Wayang Pura Majapahit JembranaOdalan Betara ratu Gede Celuk SukawatiOdalan Betara Ratu Wedyadari Camenggaon SukawatiPura Panti Gelgel Pengembun-gan Sesetan DenpasarBetara Ratu Alit dan Ratu Lingsir Singakerta UbudPura Pedarmaan Dalem Suka-wati BesakihPura Pedarmaan Mengwi Be-sakihPura Pedarmaan Kaba-kaba BesakihPura Pedarmaan dalem Bakas BesakihPura Dadia Agung Pasek Gelgel

Pegatepan Gelgel KlungkungPura Pemrajan Agung Sulang Kec Dawan KlungkungMerajan Pasek Bendesa Kori Agung PengatepanPura Pedarmaan Dinasti dalem sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan P u r a Besakih (Dalem Klungkung)Pura Penataran Giri Purwa dan Pesraman Dusun Kuto Rejo Kendal Rejo Tegal Delimo Banyu-angi

26 Des Buda Wage Kelawu Pura Penataran Agung Teluk Pa-dang KarangasemPura Melanting Desa Cameng-gaon SukawatiPura Penataran Ped Nusa Peni-daPura Pasek Gelgel Pangembun-gan Bongkase AbiansemalPura Pasek Bendesa Reyang Gede Penebel TabananPura Pasek Gelgel Br. Jawa Ten-gah BulelengPura Gaduhan Jagat Desa Sin-gakerta UbudPura Masceti Tegeh Mancawarna Sanding TampaksiringPura Penataran Batu Lepang Kamasan KlungkungPura Paibon Pasek Gelgel Gobleg Desa Kedonganan Kuta

Pura Goa BesakihPura Basukian BesakihPenataran Agung BesakihMerajan Pasek Gelgel PejengMerajan Pasek Gelgel SonganMerajan Pasek Prateka Pekan-delan SidemenMerajan Pasek Prateka Taman Sari SukasadaPura dadia Pasek Gelgel Side-men KarangasemMerajan Pasek Gelgel Tampua-gan, Tembuku, Bangli

27 Des Purnama Kepitu Pr. Benua Besakih.Pura Dalem Desa Camenggaon - SukawatiPura Suranadhi LombokPura Narmada LombokPura Segara Ampenan LombokMr Agung Dewa Agung Klung-kung Ulah SidemenPura Gunungrene S i d e m e n - Karangasem.Merajan Pasek Gelgel AbabiMr. Pasek gelgel TistaPura Gunung Gunung - Tianyar - Kubu - KarangasemPura Pingit Klenting sari Banjar Sumberkelompok - Gerokgak - SingarajaPura Payogan Agung Kutai Kartanegara

Perched on a ‘’bukit’’, or bluff, on the spectacular Balinese coast-line with a spectacular and unob-structed view of the Indian Ocean, Fairmont Bali will offer guests 170 luxurious guest rooms and suites as well as branded residences. Denniston International, one of the industry’’s leading hospitality design and planning firms, will oversee the project with their trade-mark approach of translating local culture into contemporary design.

Guests will enjoy a variety of dining options from casual to el-egant and extensive recreational fa-cilities including a spa and 18-hole golf course. White, sandy beaches and leafy, tropical trees combine to form an enticing backdrop to an exclusive beachclub perfect for relaxing, swimming and a variety of water sports while a diverse se-

lection of indoor and outdoor venue spaces will ensure seamless events for both corporate functions, social occasions and weddings. Bali of-fers a wealth of cultural attractions as well as activities ranging from visiting Balinese temples, shopping for handicrafts and jewelry to boat-ing, or for the more adventurous, horseback riding, scuba diving, parasailing and much more.

“Our entry into Bali marks the company’’s first resort in South East Asia and will provide our guests with a rich and beautiful holiday destination in the region,” stated Jennifer Fox, President, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “Ex-panding our global footprint is a key brand strategy and this resort will complement our existing hotels such as the recently opened Fairmont Makati in Manila and

Fairmont Jaipur as well as the luxurious Fairmont Jakarta which will open in 2015.”

The resort will also be home to the 80-room Raffles Bali, featur-ing one, two or three bedroom villas and branded residences with private plunge pools, outdoor din-ing and relaxation areas. Raffles is a sister brand under the parent company Fairmont Raffles Hotels International.

One of the more than 17,000 islands that make up the Indone-sian archipelago, picturesque Bali offers visitors a beautiful and di-verse natural environment, ranging from stepped rice paddies, lakes, volcanoes and beaches as well a rich and varied culture reflecting Hindu, Indian, Chinese, European and indigenous influences, for an unforgettable experience. IBP/Net

Fairmont announces new resort on BaliIBP

Fairmont Hotels & resorts today announced a new development on the southern coast of Bali, Indonesia scheduled to open in 2016.

Denpasar (Bali Post)-

Located at Seti Budi St ree t , No. 10 , Kuta , D’Topeng Museum office was damaged by dozens of anonymous people. Not only damaged the place, some of the stuffs of the most comprehensive mu-seum office in Bali were taken. The case was then reported by owner, Jo-sep Hananto Wijoyo, to Denpasar Tourism Po-lice Criminal Research as stated by its Head, PC Ambariyadi Wijaya, last Tuesday (18/12).

The report came in by

1st October 2012 under Report Number: LP.1939/X/2012/Bali/Resta Den-pasar. It was stated an expert will be requested again to help the inves-tigation, even though it has been done before. The case is still being investigated and no ac-cused could be found yet. Workers and securities of museum were forcedly banned out by these peo-ple. It is strongly suspect-ed that this was done after an agreement between the owner of D’Topeng and land owner yet to be settled.(kmb21)

Ketut Sudarjaya said on Tuesday (Dec 18) that his home was submerged due to rising water in the irrigation ca-nal near his home. The water began to overflow and soak the home yard and room since Saturday (Dec 15). Until Tuesday, the puddle was still knee-deep of adult. At that time, it rained very heav-ily. Meanwhile, the narrowing irrigation canal was unable to accommodate water so that it finally soaked his home. “I’ve been trying to make a dike to prevent water from entering the house, but because of great volume of flooding the levee was unable to stem the water coming into the house,” he said.

On the other hand, Sudarjaya said the

narrowing irrigation canal was alleged to have been caused by rampant construc-tion of villas at the village. Even, many villas were built very close to the verge of irrigation canals. As consequence, they kindled the narrowing of the canal. Besides, road construction by investors that would build villas was also alleged to have made many irrigation canals shallow that eventually emptied out into the narrowing of the irrigation canals.

“Before the construction of vil-las and bridge, our house was never flooded like this,” said Sudarjaya while adding that such flooding was due to overflowing irrigation that had happened for three times in 2010. He

had reported the incident to subdistrict officials, but there was no response.

In separate location, the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng, Putu Dana, said that until last Tuesday the BPBD had not received a report related to the flooding. Procedurally, if there was a disaster the subdistrict reported it to disaster preparedness in the BPBD. When there was a report, the BPBD would collect data on the losses and forwarded it to Social Agency to provide the assistance of food packages. “Up to now, there is no report and I’ll try to check it first to subdistrict authority,” he said. (kmb)

IBP/File

The flood which happen in Ambengan hamlet, Banjar village, Banjar subdistrict, Singaraja. The flood is alleged due to the narrowing irigation canal

Irrigation canal narrows

Two homes of resident at Banjar village inundatedSingaraja (Bali Post)—

Two houses belonging to resident of Ambengan hamlet, Banjar village, Banjar subdistrict, were submerged. The house belonged to Ketut Sudarjaya aka Guntur, 42, and Dewa Komang Satwika, 40, were submerged up to knee-deep of adult. Both homeowners and family members had fled to a safer family’s home.

Denpasar (Bali Post)—

The toddler swept away by torrent in Tebe River located on Jalan Wibisana on Monday (Dec 17) was found in lifeless condition on Tuesday (Dec 18) around 09:00 a.m. The body of tod-dler named Putu Eka Boby Putra Anggara, 5, was found by SAR team and communi-ties in the south of Pemogan Bridge on Jalan Pulau Ga-lang, Denpasar.

The body was sent to mor-tuary of Sanglah Hospital for further examination. Chief of Forensic Medicine Instal-lation of Sanglah Hospital, Dudut Rustyadi, explained if the body was received in the mortuary at 09:30 a.m. and the body was directly examined in the form of identification process and external examination.

Dudut said that based on identification process it could be ascertained if the body was Boby seen from the clothes he last worn and

the scars on his body as clar-ified by family. Meanwhile, from external examination it was found multiple bruises and open wounds, especially on facial area. “The wound was probably caused by a crash to rock or other objects when being swept away,” said Dudut. When viewed from the features of white and wrinkled palms and feet, the victim was estimated to have been submerged around 12-24 hours.

Body of the victim, ac-cording to Dudut, only un-derwent an external exami-nation and did not undergo autopsy. After the examina-tion, the body of Boby was immediately taken home by family to be buried.

According to victim’s family, the body would be buried at his home village at Ngis village, Manggis subdistrict, Karangasem. During his lifetime, Boby was still in kindergarten and known as a diligent and smart kid. (san)

Swept away by torrent, a toddler found dead

D’Topeng Museum Office damaged

Thursday, December 20, 2012

16 Pages Number 45th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L I N T E R N A T I O N A L

DPs 23 - 32

EntertainmentWEATHER FORECAsT

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Los Angeles premiere of Quentin Tarantino’s new film, “Django Unchained,” which Yahoo! Movies was scheduled to live stream Tuesday, is now canceled. Reuters reports this is unrelated to the violent nature

of the film.“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the

families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event,” a

spokesperson for The Weinstein Company said in a statement. “However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families.”

Sources confirm to omg! that the after party, which was scheduled to take place at Sky Bar at the Mondrian hotel in West Hol-lywood, is now canceled as well.

Paramount Pictures also postponed two upcoming screenings of Tom Cruise’s new

action film, “Jack Reacher,” out of respect for the Newtown families. However, it’s not just the film industry that is taking action after the Newtown tragedy.

Showtime ran a warning ahead of the Sun-day season finales of “Dexter” and “Home-land.” “In light of the tragedy that has oc-curred in Connecticut, the following program contains images that may be disturbing,” reads the disclaimer. The disclaimer continues to run on re-broadcasts of those programs.

Meanwhile, “The Voice” paid homage to Newtown during its opening number on Monday night. All four coaches joined the Season 3 contestants to perform a rendition of “Hallelujah,” as each person held up a sign with a victim’s name and age on it. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” an audience member at “The Voice” tells omg!. Similarly, “Saturday Night Live’s” cold open last week-end featured the New York City Children’s Chorus singing “Silent Night.”

Associated Press Writer

MADRID — A painting by the 80-year-old Spanish artist who became famous for her botched restoration of a Christ fresco in a small-town church has fetched €1,080 ($1,421) on eBay. The closing price Tuesday for Celia Gimenez’s oil painting “Las Bodegas de Borja” (“Borja’s Wine Cellar”) more than tripled its starting price after 52 bids.

Gimenez said the proceeds will to the Catholic charity organization Caritas. Gimenez became a sensation in August when pictures spread on the Internet of an “Ecce Homo” (“Behold the Man”) mural in the town of Borja that she disfigured while trying to restore it. Twitter users redubbed it “Ecce Mono” (“Behold the Monkey”).

The painting has since become a tourist attraction and the image has been used on T-shirts and wine labels.

‘Django Unchained’ Premiere Canceled

Hollywood Reacts to the Newtown Tragedy

Spanish botched fresco artist sells work on eBay

AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Andrew Cooper, SMPSP

This undated publicity image released by The Weinstein Company shows, from left, Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film, “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino.

While the country is still reeling from the events of Sandy Hook, Hollywood is paying its respects and standing down. Several events have been canceled and programs have been rescheduled in light of the tragedy. Even a chart-topping pop song has reportedly been drastically affected.

Furthermore, Ida Bagus Parsa said that his party had made coordination with the authority of Ngurah Rai Airport, namely PT Angkasa Pura II and relevant stakeholders regarding the service plan of Trans Sarbagita bus around the airport. Various preparations had been made and it was scheduled to oper-

ate in February or March 2013.“We have coordinated with the airport and

in the near future we will socialize it. Indeed, it needs a mature preparation since the airport expansion project is still under progress,” he said. Later on, five buses from Corridor 2 (Batubulan-Nusa Dua) would be operated to the airport.

According to Parsa, the main target of Trans Sarbagita to airport was all the airport employ-ees and office employees around the airport estimated to reach 7,000 more. So far, they were using private vehicles such as motorcycle and car so that they often kindle crowdedness in the area. “If we come into the airport, behind it occur thousands of motorcycles owned by the airport employees. They become our target to reduce the crowdedness in the area,” he said.

As planned, the Trans Sarbagita serving the airport route would operate in three shifts when the employees were going to and leav-ing the airport. “In the future, there are going to be three shifts whose service gives priority to the airport employees. Those buses will not

operate full time but at certain hours only. For instance, in the morning they will operate for 2-3 hours, in the afternoon for 2-3 hours and at night,” he explained.

Related to worries if Trans Sarbagita came into the airport would reap turmoil and rejection from taxi drivers because the buses were considered their rivals, Parsa said it was not going to happen because the segment of bus was different. “Trans Sarbagita comes into the airport with different segment and prioritizes the airport employees and will not grab taxi passengers,” he said. He affirmed that his party would still accommodate the existing inputs and made coordination with all stakeholders and socialized it. (kmb29)

IBP/File Photo

The plan of Trans Sarbagita bus to serve the route to Ngurah Rai Airport seems to be realized soon. Operation Manager of Trans Sarbagita, Ida Bagus Parsa, said that early in 2013 five units of Trans Sarbagita bus would be redirected to Ngurah Rai Airport so that they could reduce the use of private vehicles.

Early 2013, five Trans Sarbagita buses serve airport

Bali Post

DENPASAR - The plan of Trans Sarbagita bus to serve the route to Ngurah Rai Airport seems to be realized soon. Operation Manager of Trans Sarbagita, Ida Bagus Parsa, said that early in 2013 five units of Trans Sarbagita bus would be redirected to Ngurah Rai Airport so that they could reduce the use of private vehicles. “Trans Sarbagita bus really needs directing to Ngurah Rai Airport to diminish the congestion there,” he said in Denpasar.

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