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Japan special envoy hopeful about release of hostage, pilot

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

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

16 Pages Number 297th year

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3,000 child soldiers released in South Sudan: UN

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Australia beat UAE 2-0 to reach final

LONDON — Benedict Cumber-batch says he was an “idiot” to refer to non-white actors as “colored.” The Academy Award-nominated actor used the word on PBS talk show “Tavis Smiley” last week while discussing diversity in the entertainment industry. He said that “as far as colored actors go,” there

were more opportunities in the U.S. than Britain, “and that’s something that needs to change.”

British anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card said it wel-comed Cumberbatch’s comments on diversity but felt the term he used was “outdated.”

In a statement Monday, Cum-

berbatch apologized for his “thoughtless use of inappropriate language.”

He said: “I’m devastated to have caused offence by using this outmoded terminology. I offer my sincere apologies. I make no excuse for my being an idiot and know the damage is done.” (ap)

PARK CITY, Utah — “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” a fiery, evocative and deeply felt look at one of rock’s most misunderstood and tragic figures, presents a portrait of a man and an artist in despair with the aid of never-before-seen home videos, personal notes and archival footage.

The film, a fully authorized account of Cobain’s life, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday and airs on HBO in May.

Director Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays in the Picture”) spent eight years putting the movie together. The insightful film pulsates with vitality and rage in its examination of the short life of Cobain, from his childhood in Aberdeen, Washington to his suicide in 1994 at the age of 27.

“He just wanted to have a family. I think the perception of Kurt all these years has been so off — this whiney white male who didn’t like fame,” said Morgen at a screening Monday. “It’s a story of a guy who dies of a broken heart. It’s a real tragedy.”

The illuminating home videos range from scenes of Cobain as a happy 2-year-old, blowing kisses at the camera and offering his cracker to the person behind the camera, to him, visibly and uncomfortably strung out and rail thin, holding his young daughter Frances Bean as his wife Courtney Love attempts to give their toddler a haircut.

The narrative is mostly linear but nonetheless experimental. Morgen uses everything from Nirvana’s music, Cobain’s private writings, drawings, to-do lists, animation and archived interviews to tell a dizzyingly complicated story. It also does not shy away from showing both the dark and lightness of Cobain, and includes honest and heartbreaking interviews with his parents, sister, stepmother, a former girlfriend and Love.

“I didn’t want to make a film about fantasy and unfortunately for the past 25 years, Kurt has represented heroin chic,” said Morgen. “It’s brutal and it’s ugly and it’s dark and you don’t want to look at it. But I felt this represented reality...it’s important for the public to stop deifying him.” (ap)

In a Facebook message, Watson said that she was a huge fan of the tale while growing up and that her “six-year-old self is on the ceiling.” She added: “Time to start some

singing lessons!”Watson had long been attached

to the project, but it’s taken several years for the film to come together. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”

director Bill Condon is taking over from the previously attached direc-tor, Guillermo del Toro.

Disney says production will begin this year. (ap)

New doc goes inside Kurt Cobain’s head

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Frances Bean Cobain, left, daughter of Kurt Cobain and executive producer of the documentary film “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” embraces her mother and Cobain’s widow Courtney Love at the premiere of the film at The MARC Theatre during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Park City, Utah.

Cumberbatch says sorry for calling black actors ‘colored’

Jonathan Short/Invision/AP, File

Emma Watson to star in live-action

‘Beauty and the Beast’NEW YORK — Emma Watson will play Belle in Disney’s live-action remake of “Beauty and

the Beast.” The Walt Disney Co. announced the casting of the “Harry Potter” star Monday, setting the prettier half of the romance at the center of the fairy tale. Who will play the Beast hasn’t yet been announced.

According to Bal i House speaker, Nyoman Adi Wiryatama, lawmakers agreed to make stern decision over the reclamation plan. He even hinted that law-makers will issue a decision to stop and reject the Benoa Bay reclamation plan.

Previously, when asked to com-ment related to the establishment of the special committee concern-ing the reclamation, Governor of Bali, Made Mangku Pastika, said it did not matter if the House es-tablished a Special Committee.

Pastika handed the issue of the reclamation project over to lawmakers to decide and issue a recommendation about whether the reclamation project should be resumed or abandoned. This sug-gests that the governor will imple-ment whatever recommendation the Special Committee puts for-ward. “Whether the project goes ahead or not highly depends on the recommendation of the House. We have no problem with following their recommendation. Whether they want to continue or to stop,

the project, it is okay”, said the governor from Buleleng.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chair-man of the Bali House, Nyoman Sugawa Korry, said that the plan to establish the Benoa Bay and Serangan Special Committee was scheduled to take place on Tuesday after the plenary session that en-dorsed the revision of the Regional Bylaw No. 1/2011 regulating the magnitude of the vehicle fuel tax. According to Korry, the joint meeting involving all factions and commissions in the House would

be held to make a decision as to whether the special committee would be established or not. He added that a decision on the

establishment of the Special Committee needed to be approved by three different factions within the House.

It is well known that so far, only two factions in the Bali House, namely the PDI-P and Democrat, are in support of the establishment of the Special Committee on the Reclamation Project. Previously, Nengah Tamba, legislator of the Democratic Party and Chairman of Commission III of the Bali House in charge of environmental, development, infrastructure and

transportation affairs, said that the Benoa Bay and Serangan Special Committee (Special Committee on Reclamation Project) would review parts of the plan to reclaim land in Benoa Bay and Serangan that have not been clear. He said that he did not want the reclama-tion of Benoa Bay to face the same fate as that of Serangan Island.

“The reclaimed land that makes up Serangan Island has been left without a clear purpose for some time. If this smaller project is non functional, the implication that worries us is that the larger plan of reclaiming land in Benoa Bay will be even worse”, said Tamba.

On the topic of the Benoa Bay reclamation plan, Tamba asked the Special Committee to sum-mon the investor (PT TWBI) to the House in order to explain the project and present its plan. “So far, the general waves of protest by society at large have resonated more that the plans of the inves-tors from whom we have heard very little. We want to give them a chance to explain what they want to create”, added Tamba.

Given that the reclamation of Serangan Island has been left dormant for so long, the Spe-cial Committee is expected to investigate why the investor has yet to build in accordance with the initial plan. “We’ll look into which aspect is not running well, whether it be a problem of capital, marketing or lack of appropriate business plan. Or perhaps the investor is just a realtor seek-ing other investors”, said the Democrat from Jembrana who is also Deputy Chairman of the Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (kmb29)

Fate of reclamation plan

Governor leaves decision to lawmakersDENPASAR - House Representative of Bali would not establish a special committee of reclama-

tion of the Benoa Bay. The decision on reclamation plan will only be discussed during an internal meeting of Bali House. That was revealed during the internal meeting of Bali House on Tuesday.

News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http://globalfmbali.listen2my-

radio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http://ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

IBP/Wawan

Band performed during a concert to reject Benoa Bay reclamation plan at Padanggalak Beach that held last year. House Repre-sentative of Bali would not establish a special committee of reclamation of the Benoa Bay. The decision on reclamation plan will only be discussed during an internal meeting of Bali House.

International2 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 15International Activities

Bali News

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

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

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GM of the Villa Kayu Raja, Gede Nik Sukarta, accompanied by GM of Maca Villas, Yoga Iswara, said the activity was a form of promotion that invited and reminded people of having commitment to maintaining the sanitation of Kuta Beach. “Kuta Beach is a barometer of Badung tourism and Bali Tourism, so that the sanitation and comfort must be maintained all the times,” he said.

The Head of Badung Government Tourism Office, Cok Darmawan, said that his party would like to express his gratitude for the care of the industry that had held the mutual cooperation through the beach cleanup. “Petitenget Beach is one of the unique destinations that can attract visitors to come to Bali. This activity poses a kind of service to make travelers more comfortable,” he said. The hotels located in coastal areas, he said, or any business located just in front of the beach should have a concern to clean up the area. Even, it has become their responsibility. (ocha)

Like father like son, this adage seems appropriate to Mario Blanco, the son of Antonio Blanco, as the only one man of the four siblings. This Ubud-born man on July 4, 1962 currently continues to uphold his obligations as the next generation in preserving his father’s legacy.

The techniques of European art in combination with the culture of his mother, Ni Ronji, Mario Blanco makes the works full of charac-teristics of western culture and Hinduism. He takes a lot of objects of offering presented to God Almighty, like a kettle or teapot. In the process, he also creates the works of figurative abstract.

The painter who is familiarly called Mr. De said that in maintain-ing and preserving the museum, his party had commitment to not only manage the works of art but also to maintain and improve the environment. “Here, we preserve and develop 180 heads of Bali starling. Some heads have been already taken care of by people un-der observation of the Conservation and Natural Resources Agency (BKSDA),” he said when met at Ronji Restaurant, Blanco Renais-sance Museum.

Moreover, he added, his party also provided facilities such as Ronji Restaurant with the view of Campuhan Hill or Cinta Hill, meeting room with a capacity of 300 people and adequate parking space. In the future, there will be a special place for visitors to paint.

“Recently, we were awarded the first prize by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy as the best tourism place in Indo-nesia setting aside nine other nominees. The next event, we will be nominated to go forward to the international scene in the United Nations Development Program in New York,” explained the hob-byist of car rally.

He stated that in the future he would keep going to work and promote Bali wherever he would go. “As a successor to the name of Blanco, I still continue the commitment of my father to the ever-echoing the name of Bali in the international community. As a simple example, I always wear Balinese traditional clothing at a specific event. In addition, the existing Ronji Restaurant here is jazzed up with Balinese dance performances,” he explained. (ocha)

IBP/kmb

Lebak Sari Group cleanup on Petitenget Beach

LEGIAN - Cheers and working hand in hand marked the activities of the staff and employees of the hotels and villas located on Jalan Lebak Sari Seminyak when hold-ing a clean-up activity on Petitenget Beach, recently. Such social action also involved the board and members of the Bali villa Association (BvA) and the Badung Government Tourism Office. Beach cleanup was a regular activity held every month by the Lebak Sari Group.

Profile

Mario BlancoKeeps on working

and recommending Ubud

IBP/kmb

MANGUPURA - Kuta Police Crim-inal Investigation Unit finally could arrest a villa burglar having taken ac-tion in nine villas occupied by foreign travelers in the area of Kuta and North Kuta, on behalf of Francisco Sinaga aka Niko, 22. The suspect was arrested at his boarding house on Jalan Nakula Gang Bisma, Legian, Kuta, Thursday (Jan 22).

As information obtained in the field on Monday (Jan 26), the suspect from Kampung Pondok Benda, Buaran village, Serpong subdistrict, South Tangerang, took action before and after the New Year 2015. During that period many foreign travelers were staying in Kuta. Such opportunity was then exploited to steal valuables owned by the travelers.

One of the villas he had broken in was Villa Yasmin located on Jalan Raya Seminyak Gang Kedaton, Kuta, Badung, Friday (Jan 2). This case was just known in following morning at approximately 9:00 a.m. “After receiv-ing the report on the case, personnel of the Police Kuta Criminal Investigation Unit made an investigation,” said a source.

Based on the results of the inves-tigation, police finally managed to

track down the suspect’s residence on Jalan Nakula Gang Bisma, Kuta. On Thursday night, a team led by Ngurah Eka Wisada immediately conducted a raid and arrested the suspect. Fur-thermore, police looked for evidences having been sold by the suspect. “The stolen goods were sold to a fence with the initials DC. From the fence, the evidence to be secured were 4 units of iPad, 2 units of iPhone 5, a Nike black cloth bag and a unit of Honda Vario 125 motorcycle with license plate DK 5911 FS,” he said.

As recognition of the suspect to the officer, he had committed the unlawful action at 8 crime scenes within Kuta area and another in North Kuta area. Meanwhile, his modus operandi was that the suspect entered the villas when the door or window was not locked.

Chief of Kuta Police, Ida Bagus Dedy Januartha, with permission from Chief of Denpasar Police, Djoko Hariutomo, when asked for his con-firmation justified the disclosure of the case. “The suspect specifically targeted foreign travelers. Now, we are still developing the case,” added Dedy accompanied by the Chief of Kuta Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Dewa Tagel. (kmb36)

Chief Representative of Bank Indonesia for Bali Region, Dewi Setyowati, viewed the policy taken by central government was already appropriate and accommodating to the economy of Bali. The relatively large and significant decline in commodities generally consumed by the people of Bali was believed to contribute to the maintenance of price stability and to the possibility of deflation in January.

“Contribution of the price de-cline (deflation) of the four com-modities against the formation of inflation rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January 2015 in Denpasar is estimated to reach -1.37 percent and CPI in Singaraja reaches -1.03 percent,” said Dewi Setyowati in Denpasar, Monday (Jan 26).

She explained that rationally the decline in fuel and LPG prices

would have subsequent impact in the form of price adjustment of other goods and services. Transpor-tation sector which was believed to adopt fuel as the largest component of operating costs should adjust through proportional reduction in transport fares.

“Similarly, restaurants and food stalls that use LPG as cooking fuel will have space for rate adjustment due to declining costs of cooking,” she said.

Meanwhile, the continued im-pact (second round effect) of some food commodities and finished food products whose transporta-tion from the location of harvest or production to market requiring transportation costs would have a chance to make price adjustment due to lower transportation costs.

“Condition of transportation tar-iff adjustment and other commodity

prices will depend on the realities faced by traders, so that the price of commodities belonging to traders can be reduced,” she explained.

Traders were expected to have a paradigm of equality in the face of fuel price hike policy where they directly responded it with the rise in the price of commodities and when the decline in fuel prices occurred, they should also make adjustment by reducing the price of commodities.

“For economic growth, the price decline in the four commodities will give a space for economic stimulus of Bali during the first quarter of 2015. For households, the decline in the price of commodities will provide additional space for the removal of allocation of expendi-ture to the consumption of goods and services or save money,” she concluded. (kmb27)

IBP/File

The seller of LPG is seen in the picture.

Decline in gasoline, LPG prices contribute to economy growth

DENPASAr - The decline in the price of gasoline, diesel fuel, 12-kg LPG and cement had contributed positively to the economic growth of Bali. The decline in the commodity prices was expected to contribute 0.1 percent to the economic growth of Bali.

IBP/Ngurah Ken

The suspect, Francisco Sinaga aka Niko, left, who burglarize villas in Kuta area.

Break in 9 villas, a burglar of tourist-targeting specialist arrested

3Wednesday, January 28, 201514 InternationalInternational Bali NewsTechnology Wednesday, January 28, 2015

BEIJING — Motorola unveiled three smartphone models on Mon-day for its return to China following a two-year absence from the most populous mobile phone market.

Motorola was a mobile phone pioneer in China but pulled out in 2013 after its acquisition by Google Inc. Computer maker Lenovo Group bought Motorola last year as part of its effort to become a global competitor in wireless devices.

“This is a day of rebirth,” said Liu Jun, Lenovo’s executive vice president, onstage at a Beijing conference center to unveil models for China.

In a crowded market, Motorola is trying to set itself apart by allow-ing buyers of its flagship Moto X to customize their phones.

Buyers can pick colors, features and exterior materials that include

Speaking to the business and politi-cal elite at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Schmidt said: “There will be so many sensors, so many devices, that you won’t even sense it, it will be all around you.”

“It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room and... you are interacting with all the things going on in that room.”

“A highly personalised, highly interactive and very interesting world emerges.”

On the sort of high-level panel only found among the ski slopes of Davos,

a panel bringing together the heads of Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Vodafone sought to allay fears that the rapid pace of technological advance was killing jobs.

“Everyone’s worried about jobs,” admitted Sheryl Sandberg, chief op-erating officer of Facebook.

With so many changes in the tech-nology world, “the transformation is happening faster than ever before,” she acknowledged.

“But tech creates jobs not only in the tech space but outside,” she insisted.

Schmidt quoted statistics he said showed that every tech job created between five and seven jobs in a dif-ferent area of the economy.

“If there were a single digital mar-ket in Europe, 400 million new and important new jobs would be created in Europe,” which is suffering from stubbornly high levels of unemploy-ment.

The debate about whether tech-nology is destroying jobs “has been around for hundreds of years,” said the Google boss. What is different is the speed of change.

DAVOS - Imagine a world where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of your DNA. Or where a department store knows from your buying habits that you’re pregnant even before your family does.

That is the terrifying dystopian world portrayed by a group of Harvard professors at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where the assembled elite heard that the notion of individual privacy is effectively dead.

“Welcome to today. We’re al-ready in that world,” said Margo Seltzer, a professor in computer science at Harvard University.

“Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible... How we conventionally think of pri-vacy is dead,” she added.

Another Harvard researcher into genetics said it was “inevi-table” that one’s personal genetic information would enter more and more into the public sphere.

Sophia Roosth said intelli-gence agents were already asked to collect genetic information on foreign leaders to determine things like susceptibility to dis-ease and life expectancy.

“We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism,” she said, referring to witch-hunts against Communists in 1950s America.

What’s more, Seltzer imag-ined a world in which tiny robot drones flew around, the size of mosquitoes, extracting a sample of your DNA for analysis by, say, the government or an insurance firm.

Invasions of privacy are “go-ing to become more pervasive,” she predicted.

“It’s not whether this is going to happen, it’s already happen-

ing... We live in a surveillance state today.”

Political scientist Joseph Nye tackled the controversial subject of encrypted communications and the idea of regulating to ensure governments can always see even encrypted messages in the inter-ests of national security.

“Governments are talking about putting in back doors for communication so that terror-ists can’t communicate without being spied on. The problem is that if governments can do that, so can the bad guys,” Nye told the forum.

“Are you more worried about big brother or your nasty little cousin?”

However, despite the pessimis-tic Orwellian vision, the academ-ics were at pains to stress that the positive aspects of technology still far outweigh the restrictions on privacy they entail.

In the same way we can send tiny drones to spy on people, we can send the same machine into an Ebola ward to “zap the germs,” Seltzer said.

“The technology is there, it is up to us how to use it,” she added.

“By and large, tech has done more good than harm,” she said, pointing to “tremendous” ad-vances in healthcare in some rural areas of the developing world that have been made possible by technology.

And at a separate session on artificial intelligence, panellists appeared to accept the limit on privacy as part of modern life.

Rodney Brooks, chairman of Rethink Robotics, an American tech firm, took the example of Google Maps guessing -- usually correctly -- where you want to go. (afp)

Internet will ‘disappear’DAVOS - Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted on Thursday that the Internet will soon be so

pervasive in every facet of our lives that it will effectively “disappear” into the background.

Privacy is dead

“It’s the same that happened to the people who lost their farming jobs when the tractor came... but ultimately a globalised solution means more equality for everyone.”

With one of the main topics at this year’s World Economic Forum being how to share out the fruits of global growth, the tech barons stressed that the greater connectivity offered by their companies ultimately helps re-duce inequalities.

“Are the spoils of tech being evenly spread? That is an issue that we have to tackle head on,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft.

“I’m optimistic, there’s no ques-tion. If you are in the tech business, you have to be optimistic. Ultimately

to me, it’s about human capital. Tech empowers humans to do great things.”

Facebook boss Sandberg said the Internet in its early forms was “all about anonymity” but now everyone was sharing everything and everyone was visible.

“Now everyone has a voice... now everyone can post, everyone can share and that gives a voice to people who have historically not had it,” she said.

Schmidt, who said he had recently come back from the reclusive state of North Korea, said he believed that technology forced potentially despotic and hermetic governments to open up as their citizens acquired more knowl-edge about the outside world. (afp)

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s president and chief operating officer, unveils the latest Motorola smartphones in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Motorola unveils 3 smart phones for return to China

leather and wood, said Rick Oster-loh, president of Motorola. The 16 gigabyte version will start at 3,299 yuan ($540).

The Moto X Pro will have a more powerful processor, bigger screen and other features. The third model, the Moto G, will start at 1,299 yuan ($212) for an 8GB model, competing with low-priced Chinese brands including rising star Xiaomi. All three models will run Google’s Android operating system.

The company also unveiled an earpiece, the Moto Hint, to go on sale later.

Mobile phone sales in China rose 24.4 percent to 112 million handsets, including 103 million smartphones, in the second quarter of last year, according to Analysys International, a research firm in Beijing.

The $2.9 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility was one of a flurry of acquisitions by Lenovo, which wants to grow faster outside its traditional personal computer business. The company also bought IBM Corp.’s low-end server busi-ness for $2.1 billion.

Motorola and Lenovo say their combined sales would make them the world’s No. 3 smartphone producer behind Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

As it tries to re-establish itself in China, Motorola faces intense competition from Apple and Sam-sung as well as ambitious local brands that include Xiaomi, Hua-wei and Vivo. Xiaomi, known for ultra-low-price handsets that cost as little as 699 yuan ($114), passed Samsung last year as the country’s most popular smartphone brand by number of units sold.

Motorola needs to stake out a clear position in a market that ranges from premium models to ultra-low-price handsets, said in-dustry analyst Zhu Dalin of Analy-sys International. “Motorola has just released three mobile phones that cover the whole price range of the market,” said Zhu. “But it has not made clear what its market position will be.”

Motorola said a Chinese ver-sion of its Moto Maker website that allows buyers to pick features for phones will be operating by the end of May. The company will face challenges in expanding Internet-based sales, an increas-ingly popular strategy in China that allows brands to hold down costs, said Zhu. “It is difficult to open a channel by relying on Lenovo, which doesn’t have the upper hand in e-commerce,” said Zhu. (ap)

“The number has exceeded the govern-ment’s target, which was set at 3.5 million visits,” a Bali tourism observer Tjok Gede Agung said.

He noted that the target to attract 4 million tourists to Bali in 2015 can be realized due to the free visa policy for several potential countries such as Australia, China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan.

According to him, Bali will continue to be the main tourism destination for foreign tourists.

Gede remarked that every month at least 310 thousand tourists visit Bali, with major-ity of them hailing from Australia, reaching 991,024 or 26.30 percent of the total number of visitors in a year.

China ranked second, with 586,197 tour-ists visiting Bali during 2014, and Malaysia stood third, with as many as 224,962 tour-ists. (ant)

DENPASAR - Bali provincial governor Made Mangku Pastika has hoped the Attorney General’s Office not to choose Bali as location to conduct execution of two Australian convicts on death row. “We hope the (execution) is not in Bali. Just a call, because I cannot decide nor reject it as this is the unitary state of Indonesia,” Pastika stated.

The two Australian convicts on the death row; Andrew Chan and

Tourist arrivals reached 3.76 million

Foreign tourists walked at Seminyak Beach, Bali Island. The provincial tourism office of Bali revealed that 3.76 million tourists visited the island in 2014, an increase of 14.94 percent as compared to last year’s recorded number of 3.27 million tourists.

DENPASAR - The provincial tour-ism office of Bali revealed that 3.76 million tourists visited the island in 2014, an increase of 14.94 percent as compared to last year’s recorded number of 3.27 million tourists.

Execution of “Bali Nine” members hoped to be outside BaliMyuran Sukumaran.

The governor is of the view that if the execution of part of the “Bali nine” case members is held in Bali, it is feared to leave psychological effect to the Australian citizens (in Bali).

“There are a great number of Australian people in Bali. Many visi-tors in Bali are Australian tourists, and they consider Bali as their own home” Pastika said.

Meanwhile, the Attorney Gen-

eral HM Prasetyo said in Jakarta on January 15 that the execution of “Bali Nine” member Myuran Sukumaran still had yet to wait for the decision of Andrew Chan`s request for pardon.

The Australian citizen has been sentenced to death for being con-victed of smuggling 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Indonesia.

The government decided recently to implement the death sentence on six narcotic convicts.

Myuran Sukumaran`s request for a presidential pardon has been turned down while that of Andrew Chan, another member of Bali Nine, is still being processed.

Prasetyo said according to regu-lations if the crime is committed by more than one, execution must be done at the same time.

Bali Nine refers to nine Aus-tralians caught on April 17, 2005 in Bali attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin to the island from Australia.

The nine people are Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Law-rence, Tach Duc Than Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens.

The district court in Denpasar, Bali, has sentenced Lawrence, Czugaj, Stephens and Rush to life in prison and Sukumaran and Chan to death.

VisitingAndrew Chan and Myuran Su-

kumaran who are in the Kerobokan Prison awaiting execution, were visited by their families on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the families did not want to give an explanation regard-ing the visit.

According to information con-firmed by Chief of Kerobokan Prison, Sudjonggo, the visit was nothing unusual. As widely publi-

ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Budhiana

A brother of Myuran Sukumaran, Chintu Sukumaran (two left) with his family visited Kerobokan Prison on Tuesday.

cized, the two Australian men who were part of being at issue consider-ing the president had refused their clemency. The two men belonging to the Bali Nine would be sentenced to death. (ant/kmb37)

International4 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 13InternationalBali News

“I hope we can all firmly work hard and join hands to cooperate, and for the two countries (Japan and Jordan) to cooperate, in order for us to see the day when the Jordanian pilot and our Japanese national Mr. Goto, can both safely return to their own countries with a smile on their faces,” Nakayama, a lawmaker send to coordinate efforts in Amman to save two Japanese hostages of the Islamic State group, said late Monday night.

It was the first mention by a Japanese official of Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who has been held by the extremist Islamic State group after crashing in December. It wasn’t clear when the pilot’s possible release had entered the picture. The issue of a prisoner swap is sensitive, given Jordanian concern over the pilot, and Nakayama emerged from the

Japanese Embassy on Tuesday with no new updates. “There are other parties involved, so I don’t want to comment on details of the negotia-tions,” he said.

Goto, a journalist, was seized in late October in Syria, apparently while trying to rescue 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, an adventurer who was captured by the militants last summer.

Over the weekend, an unveri-fied video surfaced showing a still photo of Goto, 47, holding what appears to be a photo of Yukawa’s body. It included a recording of a voice claiming to be Goto, saying his captors wanted the release of Sajida al-Rashawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in Jordan for involvement in a suicide bombing that killed 60 people.

The message retracted a demand for payment of $200 million in ran-

som for the two Japanese, made in an earlier online message, and said Yukawa had been killed. It threat-ened to kill Goto unless al-Rashawi was released.

Japanese officials are treating the video released over the weekend as authentic and thus accepting the likelihood that Yukawa was killed. However, the new message varied greatly from previous videos re-leased by the Islamic State group, and The Associated Press could not verify its contents and whether they actually reflect the group’s demands.

Securing the release of al-Rashawi would be a propaganda coup for the Islamic State, enabling the group to reaffirm links to al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Rashawi fled but was captured after her explosive belt failed to detonate in the attack in Jordan. She pleaded not guilty. (ap)

NEW YORK — Tens of mil-lions of people along the U.S. East Coast hunkered down for a storm that for most failed to live up to pre-dictions that it would be one of the worst they’d ever seen. Forecast-ers originally said the storm could bring up to 3 feet (about a meter) of snow and punishing hurricane-force winds. But early Tuesday, they downgraded most of those numbers, saying New England would fare the worst, but even then not as bad as expected.

Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service said Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get the most snow, about 2 feet (half a meter). New York could see up to 20 inches (50 centimeters), Hartford, Connecticut, up to 2 feet (half a meter), and Philadelphia and central New Jersey about 6 inches.

The National Weather Service over the weekend had issued a blizzard warning for a 250-mile (400-kilometer)swath of the region, meaning heavy, blowing snow and potential whiteout conditions.

On Monday, l ife abruptly stopped across the region as of-ficials ordered workers to go home early, banned travel, closed bridges and tunnels, and assembled their biggest plowing crews. “When

you wake up in the morning, it is going to look like a blizzard,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, echoing the concern of many gov-ernment leaders.

Light snow fell steadily early Tuesday in midtown Manhattan as a few municipal trucks rumbled down empty streets. The city had an almost eerie feel to it. No air-planes in the sky, making for an unexpected quiet.

More than 7,700 flights in and out of the Northeast were canceled, and many of them may not take off again until Wednesday. Schools and businesses let out early. Gov-ernment offices closed. Shoppers stocking up on food jammed super-markets and elbowed one another for what was left. Broadway stages went dark.

Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: “People have to make smart decisions from this point on.” Commuters like Sameer Navi, 27, of Long Island, were following the advice.

Navi, who works for Citigroup in Manhattan, said he takes a train every day and left work early Mon-day after warnings by local officials to get home before the brunt of the storm. “I did leave earlier than usual,” he said. (ap)

AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

A woman along with other protesters hold a placard and chant “Free Goto” during a rally out-side the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

Japan special envoy hopeful about release

of hostage, pilotTOKYO — A Japanese envoy in Jordan expressed hope that both Japanese hostage Kenji

Goto and a Jordanian pilot held by Islamic militants will return home “with a smile on their faces,” as questions rose Tuesday over the government’s handling of the crisis. In the Jordanian capital, Amman, Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama seemed determined, saying he believed there were “firm ties” between Japan and Jordan.

Millions hunker down as US snowstorm

totals downgraded

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

A man takes his dog for an early morning walk in the middle of an empty street in the Park Slope neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

“We managed to deport a total of 408 foreign nationals from Bali in 2014. Some 242 of them were from China,” said the Head of Bali Immi-gration Office, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, I Gusti Kompyang Adnyana, after commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Immigration Office (Class I) in Denpasar, on Monday (Jan 26).

He said that most of these Chi-nese citizens were deported from Bali for abusing their residency permits. “Most of them were abus-ing their tourist visas by working in the field of construction”, he explained.

Immigration does not know for sure why these foreign nationals were violating their stay permits. “So far we don’t know whether they did it intentionally or not. There are presently 11 people in the process of deportation.” he added.

He explained that these Chi-nese citizens were being deported through the immigration office in Bali. In order to avoid having foreigners violate their permits, Adnyana said that the Department of Immigration has frequently pro-vided information and awareness campaigns.“This education process,

he said, was carried out through tour guides, hotels, international schools and associations of mixed mar-riages, maritime offices at Benoa, cross institutions and through the general public” he said.

Adnyana revealed that based on the existing data, the number of foreigners who came to Bali throughout 2014 was approxi-mately 4.03 million and the number of people who departed from Bali was 4.11 million. “Last year, we also managed to thwart the actions of an Interpol fugitive who was also a citizen of China”, he concluded. (kmb27)

BANGLI – The bad weather that has been hitting Bangli recently, has not only resulted in landslides and flooding but has also had a severely detrimental effect on crops. Farm-ers in the area are feeling quite des-perate, including those belonging to the subak around Bebalang village. Their current crop is very differ-ent from the crop of the previous season. The amount and quality of rice produced is not nearly as good as it was before.

One of the local farmers, Ni Ketut Sasih, said that her crops have declined dramatically recently. In a good season, her crops can yield as much as 75 kg per 100 square meters. “Our harvest has now been cut in half. Previously, we got 75

kg, but now yields have dropped considerably by as much as 50 percent”, she explained on Monday (Jan 26).

The harsh conditions that farm-ers in Bangli are facing, was con-firmed, by farmer I Nengah Sariani who said: “Indeed, our crops this season have dropped to half of what they usually are”. In addition to weather problems, another thing that is making farmers dither, he told us, was those plant hoppers have eaten the grains on the stalk.

Farmers are resigned to suffer-ing the losses of production costs that were incurred before planting. They hope that the drop in crops would not happen again next sea-son. (sos)

DENPASAR – On Monday (Jan 26), the Bali Health Agency announced the laboratory results of children suffering mysterious dis-ease. The result indicated that one of the patients was suffering from Japanese Encephalitis (JE).

Pediatric patient with initial PFD was JE positive, while two patients; RA and KDFB were declared nega-tive JE negative.

Ketut Suarjaya, the Head of Bali Health Agency, explained that the JE positive patient would be handled in accordance with the standard operat-ing procedures (SOPs) of the local doctor. “Doctors already have the SOPs to handle it”, he said.

Meanwhile, when asked about

the JE negative patients, Suarjaya said that doctors would continue to look for the cause, by cultur-ing the bacteria for example”, he explained.

In the meantime, one of patient who declared JE negative seems to be doing alright but has not fully re-covered. “She has been conscious”, said her mother.

However, her condition is still far from good because she had not been able to talk, sit or do even light activities. Pediatrician Dewi Su-triani Mahalini confirmed that her condition had not changed much.

“Her condition has yet to return to what it was before”, she ex-plained. (kmb42)

IBP/File

The tourists from China arrive in Bali

Hundreds of Chinese citizens

deported from BaliDENPASAR - Chinese citizen do not only travel to Bali many of them also earn a living on the

Island of the Gods. Unfortunately their means of make a living here, is mostly illegal. Evidently, according to data collected by the Bali Immigration Office, it is predominantly citizens from what is known as the ‘Bamboo Curtain’ country, who are deported from Bali.

One patient declared to be Japanese

Encephalitis positive

IBP/Sosiawan

The farmers are harvesting their crop.

Bad weather, crop yields plummet

Indonesia Today Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5InternationalWednesday, January 28, 201512 International

BUSINESS

TANGERANG - The rejec-tion of clemency petitions for several drug convicts on death row is aimed at creating a deterrent ef-fect for narcotics smugglers, stated Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno.

“The president will continue to reject the clemency petitions from several drugs convicts. The step is being taken to create a deterrent ef-fect among the drug dealers,” Tedjo stated on Tuesday.

According to Tedjo, the govern-ment will speed up the legal process for other suspects including for the defendants to ensure their legal status.

Tedjo said the efforts are being undertaken to fight the rampant spread of drug abuse in Indonesia.

“So, we will speed up the law process. Thus, the drug dealers would not enter Indonesia as there are strict laws in place,” Tedjo stated.

In the meantime, the government will rehabilitate the drug users as another approach to handling the drug problem.

Tedjo affirmed that the integrity of law enforcers will be enhanced in order to solve the drugs issue.

“The government will take several steps to eradicate the drugs menace through cooperation with all law enforcement agencies and by implementing severe punish-ment for such criminal offences,”

Tedjo emphasized. Chief of the National Narcotics

Agency (BNN) Anang Iskandar said the death row for drug dealers is the apt approach to deter narcotic smugglers.

The chief stated that punishment is an appropriate measure, particu-larly for large-scale drug dealers.

“The deadline for implementing the punishment should not take too long as Indonesia has been a market for drug trafficking in Asia,” Anang stressed.

Following the execution of six drug convicts on death row on January 18, another 66 narcot-ics convicts sentenced to death will be awaiting their turn for execution.

The total 66 drug convicts on death row were determined based on the number of suspects who received the heaviest sentence from the court until 2014, which was 64, in addition to the two Ira-nian nationals who were recently sentenced to death by the Cibadak District Court.

Narcotics transactions across the ASEAN region have been worth some Rp110 trillion, of which Rp48 trillion worth of transactions took place in Indonesia, making the country the highest ranked in such deals.

Hence, President Joko Widodo recently declared that Indonesia was in a state of emergency with regard to drug abuse. (ant)

“It’s too low for everybody,” Khalid al-Falih told a conference.

“I think even consumers start to suffer in the long term.”

Falih also said American shale oil produc-tion is important for the world’s long-term energy future and Saudi Aramco has marked an additional $7 billion for its own shale projects.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports.

The kingdom is the world’s leading oil exporter and the top producer in the Organi-zation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

In November the cartel decided to main-tain its output ceiling at 30 million barrels per day, deepening the global price drop which began in June.

Oil was then trading at more than $100 a barrel but on Tuesday international bench-mark Brent crude for March delivery was fetching just $48.28 in Asian trade.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has been quoted as saying it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members, who account for most of the world’s crude production, do not. (afp)

SYDNEY - Qantas said Tuesday it was removing fuel surcharges from its international flights, with chief executive Alan Joyce adding that the fall in petrol prices was helping the airline’s bottom line.

Pressure had been mounting on Qantas to reconsider its use of fuel surcharges after fierce rival Virgin Australia last week scrapped such fees for its flights to the United States.

Despite the fare restructure, which will see fuel surcharges

absorbed into base fares, Qantas said overall prices would remain the same. The Australian flag car-rier argued that its ticket costs were already competitive.

“We are seeing significant ben-efit coming through on fuel and that will help our international business get back into profits and it will help Qantas invest in the customer,” Joyce said Tuesday.

He stressed that the highly com-petitive nature of the aviation mar-ket, rather than plunging oil prices,

was behind the decline in fares in recent years.

“If you look at the trends in global aviation over the past de-cade, costs and competition have been increasing while fares and airline margins have been falling,” Joyce said in a statement earlier Tuesday.

“In a highly competitive en-vironment where customers are already paying less than they were several years ago, lower oil prices can help put the industry on a more

sustainable footing.”Several international carriers

have already signalled their inten-tions to wind back fuel surcharges -- among them Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways -- amid the plunge in crude prices, which have lost more than half its value since June on weak demand and a global sup-ply glut.

Australia’s consumer watchdog said earlier this month it was inves-tigating the reasons cited for fuel surcharges and whether airlines

were making misleading, deceptive or false representations about such additional costs.

Qantas frequent flyer customers will benefit from the price restruc-ture, which means they no longer have to pay an additional fee for the fuel surcharges on top of the points they use to redeem flights.

Economy passengers could save Aus$110 (US$87) on return flights to the US and premium economy passengers Aus$130 on return fares to South Africa. (afp)

WASHINGTON — Solid eco-nomic growth will help the U.S. bud-get deficit shrink this year to its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office, according to congressional estimates released Monday.

The Congressional Budget Of-fice says the deficit will be $468 bil-lion for the budget year that ends in September. That’s slightly less than last year’s $483 billion deficit.

As a share of the economy,

CBO says this year’s deficit will be slightly below the historical average of the past 50 years.

The budget agency also says the number of U.S. residents without health insurance will drop substan-tially — from 42 million last year to 36 million this year — largely because of Obama’s health law. These numbers don’t include people who are in the U.S. illegally, who are ineligible for subsidies under the health law.

In a report released Monday, CBO projects solid economic growth for the next few years. The official scorekeeper of Congress also expects unemployment to drop slightly.

“In CBO’s estimation, increases in consumer spending, business in-vestment and residential investment will drive the economic expansion this year and over the next few years,” the report said.

CBO also cited wage increases, rising wealth and the recent decline in oil prices.

For future years however, CBO issued a warning: Beyond 2018, deficits will start rising again as more baby boomers retire and enroll in Social Security and Medicare. By 2025, annual budget deficits could once again top $1 trillion, unless Congress acts.

At that point, government pen-

sion benefits would account for one-quarter of all federal spend-ing, said CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf.

“The underlying point is that we have a handful of very large federal programs that provide benefits to older Americans,” Elmendorf said. “And with the rising number of older Americans and a rising cost of health care, those programs get much more expensive.” (ap)

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

In this Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 photo, a motorist pumps gas at a station where the cash price for regular unleaded was under $2 a gallon, in Leonia, N.J. World oil prices have fallen too far, the president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco said on Tuesday, insisting that market forces, not deliberate production cuts, must take their course.

Oil price ‘too low’: Saudi Aramco chiefRIYADH - World oil prices have

fallen too far, the president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco said on Tuesday, insisting that market forces, not deliberate production cuts, must take their course.

US deficit to shrink to lowest level of Obama presidency

Qantas drops fuel surcharges

“All of our forces are being pulled out,” said Rear Admiral Widodo, a navy official overseeing the search and rescue operation. “We apologise

to the families of the victims.”Flight QZ8501 went down on

December 28 in stormy weather, during what was supposed to be a

short trip from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

There were 162 people on board the plane, and only 70 bodies have been re-

covered. Widodo said no more victims had been found by divers involved in the search for the past two days.

Officials had been hoping to find most of the victims inside the main body of the plane.

Since Saturday, salvage teams have been using giant inflatable

bags to try to raise the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200, which is lying in the sea at a depth of around 30 metres (98 feet).

At one point, they managed to lift the main body to the surface for two minutes before a sling holding it snapped. (afp)

JAKARTA - A political observer from the University of Jayabaya, Ja-karta, Igor Dirgantara, said alleged criminalization of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been going on since a long time and continues until today. “Since then criminalization of KPK continued until today” Igor Dirgantara said on Tuesday.

KPK has allegedly become a target since it started probing a huge corruption of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Aid (BLBI) case when Antasari Azhar was chairman of KPK.

Antasari is serving a long im-prison term after the court found him guilty in a murder case during

the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Many believed that Antasari was innocent and that the murder charge against him was a fabrica-tion.

The latest move was allegedly designed to keep former President Megawati Soekarnoputri safe from being implicated in the case.

“The criminalization is suspect-ed to save Megawati from being implicated in the process of BLBI investigations by KPK, which already summoned a number of her former ministers such as Rizal Ramli and Rini Soemarno,” Igor Dirgantara said.

He said there were a number of

indications supporting the criminal-ization allegation to weaken KPK.

Many observers and sympathiz-ers had called the arrest last week of Bambang Widjajanto, a KPK deputy chairman , a criminalization in an attempt to weaken the anti graft agency.

The arrest came a few days after KPK named Comr. Gen Budi Gunawan, a corruption suspect and the charge against the police general came after President Joko Widodo picked him as the candidate to re-place police chief Gen. Sutarman.

Igor said there were a number of indications supporting the criminal-ization allegations .

Police chief detective Budi

Waseso is a loyalist of Budi Gu-nawan, who was close to Megawati, the general chairwoman of the rul-ing party PDIP, he cited.

“That is why he (Budi Waseso) did not fully comply with an instruc-tion of the acting police chief (in the arrest of Bambang Widjojanto),” he said without elaborating.

In addition, when KPK declared Budi Gunawan a corruption Budi Waseso said there had been betrayal in the police, he said.

“Budi Waseso made the state-ment when he just took over as a new chief detective and his instal-lation was made without media coverage in the main building of the police headquarters,” he added.

Another indication was Budi Waseso had never given clear rea-son for the arrest of Bambang Wi-djojanto, commissioner of the KPK, and how Bambang Widjojanto was taken to police office, he said.

He said Bambang Widjojanto once asked Budi Waseso to imme-diately report his assets to KPK not long before his arrest. Bambang Widjojanto was arrested on charge of false testimony at the Constitu-tional Court over a dispute in the election of Kotawaringin district chief in Kalimantan five years ago. At that time Bambang Widjojanto was a lawyer for the candidate that finally won the district elec-tion. (ant)

Military calls off AirAsia wreckage recoveryPANGKALAN BUN - The Indonesian military on Tuesday called off efforts to recover the

wreckage of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea last month after failing for several days to lift the fuselage.

Alleged criminalization of KPK continues

ANTARA FOTO/Lucky R.

Arrested members of the international drug syndicate led by major Hong Kong drug lord Wong Chi Ping wearing masks sit next to boxes containing some of the 862 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine before they are destroyed by National Narcotics Agency in a ceremony in Tangerang, on the outskirt of Jakarta on January 27, 2015. The illegal drugs were seized by Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency and law enforcement agencies from the international syndicate led by major Hong Kong drug lord Wong Chi Ping during a massive drug bust early January in Jakarta. Trafficking narcotics carries the death penalty in Indonesia.

Rejection of clemency petitions to deter drug dealers

Wednesday, January 28, 20156 International

W RLD 11International Wednesday, January 28, 2015

More phased releases will hap-pen in the coming weeks, said UNICEF, which helped negotiate the freedom of the children, who range in age from 11 to 17.

“These children have been forced to do and see things no child should ever experience,” UNICEF South Sudan Repre-sentative Jonathan Veitch said in a statement. “The release of thousands of children requires a massive response to provide the support and protection these children need to begin rebuilding their lives.”

They were recruited by the South Sudan Democratic Army Cobra Faction, an armed group whose leader David Yau Yau signed a peace agreement with

the South Sudan government last year. Last year 12,000 children were used as soldiers by armed forces and groups across South Sudan, said UNICEF.

Although Yau Yau’s rebellion has since been contained, South Sudan remains prone to fresh outbreaks of violence because of a rebellion led by the former deputy president.

The international community will seriously consider sanctions on South Sudan’s warring fac-tions if they don’t reach a power sharing agreement this week, said Norway’s foreign minister Borge Brende.

South Sudan’s warring fac-tions are expected to reach an agreement in peace talks planned

alongside the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Thursday, said Brende, who’s attending a preliminary A.U. executive coun-cil meeting in Addis Ababa.

Brende’s statement came days after the U.S., U.K. and Norway said they are gravely concerned with the lack of progress in the South Sudan peace negotia-tions.

Fighting broke out December 2013 between South Sudan Presi-dent Salva Kiir’s troops and those loyal to Riek Machar, Kiir’s for-mer vice president. Since then, more than 1.5 million South Sudanese have fled their homes. The two sides have signed peace agreements brokered in Ethiopia but fighting has continued. (ap)

DUBAI, United Arab Emir-ates — The city that boasts the world’s tallest building is now home to the world’s busiest air-port for international passengers too.

Dubai’s airport operator re-leased figures Tuesday showing that 70.5 million passengers streamed through the sparkling halls of the Gulf commercial hub’s main airport last year. That’s a 6 percent increase over the 66.4 million Dubai Interna-tional handled in 2013.

The rapid growth puts Dubai

squarely ahead of London Heath-row for the first time as the world’s busiest international air hub. Heathrow reported handled 68.1 million international pas-sengers in 2014.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains the planet’s busiest passenger airport overall.

But Dubai International is expanding fast, fueled in large part by the growth of hometown carrier Emirates. Yet another concourse is expected to open there later this year. (ap)

PARIS — French security forc-es detained five people Tuesday and broke up a jihadi recruit-ing network in a small southern town that has sent several French youths to fight in Syria and Iraq, the interior minister said. At least six young people from Lunel, a town of about 27,000, have died in Iraq and Syria in recent months, authorities have said.

In December the head of the local Muslim union, who also man-ages a mosque there, refused to condemn the 10 or more residents who have left Lunel to join the extremists. Instead, he charged that Hollande’s harsh rhetoric against Syrian President Bashar Assad had encouraged young people to go there to fight.

“One more network was broken up today,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday after the raids, pledging the country’s “total mobilization” against terrorism. He said he has ordered strengthened

efforts against suspected terrorists after attacks around Paris earlier this month by three Islamic radicals that left 20 people dead, including the gunmen.

The French government says a total of 3,000 citizens have links to extremist fighters in Syria and Iraq, with important contingents among both the Islamic State group and its al-Qaida rival Nusra Front.

Cazeneuve said that there are 161 investigations under way in-volving 547 people implicated in terrorist networks. Of those, 154 have been detained, and 90 have been handed preliminary charges, he said.

One of the gunmen in the Paris attacks claimed allegiance to Is-lamic State in a posthumous video. Another had ties to a jihadi network that send Frenchmen to Iraq to fight American forces during the war, and his brother was report-edly trained by al-Qaida’s Yemen branch. (ap)

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says “several” rockets have struck the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and that it re-sponded with artillery fire.

The military says sirens sound-ed in the area earlier Tuesday. The origin of the fire was not immediately clear. It comes after an airstrike last week in Syria attributed to Israel that killed six members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and an

Iranian general.A message on the Twitter ac-

count of Israeli military spokes-man Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Israel “responded with artil-lery” toward positions “that had launched the attack.” He did not elaborate.

The military also said it evacu-ated a ski resort following the fire. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.

REUTERS/MSF/Karel Prinsloo

Paramedic Gak Nyang from the Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) examines Nyoak Lam Nyoak, who is suffering from kala azar, in an MSF facility in Lankien, South Sudan, January 14, 2015.

3,000 child soldiers released in South Sudan: UN

KAMPALA, Uganda — About 3,000 children will be gradually released from an armed group in South Sudan, the United Nations children’s agency said after a group of 280 children were freed on Tuesday.

Dubai claims title of world’s busiest international airport

Police raid southern French town with strong jihadi network

Israel says ‘several rockets’ strike Golan Heights

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DENPASAR - The southern part of Denpasar is naturally protected by a greenbelt of mangrove forest. Such a well maintained forest is open to visitors. While having a stroll, visitors can get additional knowledge on the use of these coastal plants with respect to the local ecosystem. Further details about the program can be obtained at the Mangrove Information Center located on Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Suwung Kauh or between Kuta and Sanur.

The Mangrove forest extends across some 1,373.05 hectares of land, while the one intended for

recreation is 200 hectares and Man-aged by Ngurah Rai Grand Forest Park or Tahura. Its office lies in the middle of this area. For educational and conservational purposes, it has established nursery plots of ap-proximately 7,700 squaremeters, wooden trails, huts to rest and floating decks.

Condition of the mangrove for-est has declined through the years because of alteration of its func-tion as shown by layers of shrimp embankments, and the excessive falling of trees. Department of Indonesian Forestry took measures to improve the condition of the

Suwung Kauh mangrove forest through the Development Project of Sustainable Mangrove Forest Management aided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), resulting in a model sus-tainable management. Other results of the project are the issuance of the Guidebook on Planting and Seabed and a booklet on the mangroves in this country, and the rehabilita-tion of 253 hectares of mangrove forest.

Though action has been taken to improve the condition, the deterio-ration of mangroves has worsened as the efforts have not been suf-

ficient. The budget has also been limited due to the economic crisis, which meant that the project was only continued from 15 May 2001 by means of informative action of clarification on sustainable man-grove forestry management.

The Mangrove Information Cen-ter Project had a support action to increase the awareness and actions by related parties projected to end on 14 May 2004. There have been two main sub-programs and three supporting sub programs, targeted at developing the training activities and realizing the training tests to formulate a training program and

the execution of a range of surveys as well as case studies.

The sub-program consists of ecotourism towards the develop-ment of a mangrove park at the project site by establishing a visi-tors’ information center, museum, touch pool and trail, and conducting tour guide training with an aim to disseminate information useful to the general public. On the other hand, the environmental education subprogram aims to provide the public with the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge about the mangrove ecosystem through various activities.

IBP/File Photo

Mangrove Information Center of Denpasar

In the evening session, Murray struck back for the old guard, slapping down local teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 to deflate home fans pumped up by the traditional sporting rivalry with former colonial masters Britain. But it was Nadal’s 6-2 6-0 7-6(5) humbling on an unseasonably cold summer’s day that rocked Mel-bourne Park to its core and shook the biggest monkey in the men’s game off the back of Berdych.

The big-serving Czech’s 17-match losing streak to the Spaniard was the equal-longest in the professional era and snapping it was the result of a perfectly ex-ecuted plan. “Oh, it feels great,” Berdych told report-ers. “Everything was working. I was able to execute it really well.”

In an intriguing twist, the man that helped Berdych create the master plan was Dani Vallverdu, Murray’s former hitting partner and assistant coach, who parted ways with the Scot in November. Now in Berdych’s camp, Vallverdu will provide the intelligence for prepa-rations against Murray.

On the strength of Berdych’s tournament, the Ven-ezuelan has been a roaring success, with the Czech not dropping a set. The rangy 29-year-old was irresistible in the first two sets against Nadal, wrapping them up in exactly an hour and giving the 14-times grand slam champion his first grand slam bagel since the 2006 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.

“It was just not my day. I didn’t play with the right intensity, the right rhythm,” said a disappointed Nadal, who was nonetheless content with his run after coming back from injury and illness.

B l a c k - clad Murray was all b u s i n e s s against brash 19-y e a r - o l d Kyrgios and need- e d to be for much of a high-quality e n -coun-t e r on a

chilly, windy evening. Kyrgios lifted to bring the crowd into the equation, but Murray rose with him, closing out the match with a barrage of scintillating winners.

“I tried to start as quickly as possible because I know how dangerous he is,” Murray said courtside of his opponent, who dumped Nadal from Wimbledon on the way to the last eight. “I have seen his matches for the last 18 months... So I wasn’t going to under-estimate him.”

DOMINATING RUSSIANSIt was a performance that Sharapova would have

approved of after her 78-minute rout of another young upstart in Canadian Bouchard. Bouchard claimed to have gleaned a lot from her gutting French Open loss last year, overhauled by the Russian from a set down, but nothing could have prepared her for the schooling that played out.

Completely dictated, Bouchard had nowhere to hide and the five-times grand slam champion feasted upon her serve. She swooped in for the kill with a string of smoking winners, sealing it with a crunching inside-out forehand. As Sharapova blew kisses, Bouchard headed straight for the exit, biting her lip.

“Am I happy that I was able to lift my game after having a couple matches where I wasn’t satisfied? Yeah, absolutely,” Sharapova told reporters. “But the toughest is what’s to come. I hope that I’ll be able to take that and play even better.”

Third seed Halep had cruised into the quar-ter-finals by smiting lower-ranked opponents but ran head-first into a brick wall in the form

of lithe left-hander Makarova.The 26-year-old Makarova, who describes

herself as shy off-court, blew the nerve-stricken Halep away and has not lost a set all tourna-

ment. She heads into her clash with Sharapo- va fresh and in top

form. “I’m not shy on t h e tennis court. It’s

a big stage,” she said. “I never beat (Sharapova), so it will be tough.” (rtr)

NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis had 32 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as the New Orleans Pelicans stretched their season-long winning streak to four games with a 99-74 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Ryan Anderson scored 19 points and Eric Gordon added 13 for New Orleans, while Tyreke Evans tied a season high — set one night earlier — with 12 assists.

K.J. McDaniels scored 16 points for the 76ers, who lost their sixth straight. Henry Sims and Luc Mbah a Moute had 14 points. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook scored 18 points as the Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 92-84 while playing without the injured Kevin Durant.

Durant sat out after spraining the big toe on his left foot Sunday against Cleveland. Westbrook shot just 7 for 22 from the field, but was 4 for 6 and scored 11 points in the

fourth quarter to help the Thunder remain in control. Serge Ibaka added 13 points and a season-high 19 rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points, Thaddeus Young had 22 and Gorgui Dieng had a season-high 18 rebounds for the league-worst Tim-berwolves. At Los Angeles, Jamal Crawford scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Clippers held off the Denver Nuggets 102-98 for their fifth straight victory.

Matt Barnes added 18 points for Los Angeles, and Blake Griffin had 14 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 19 points and 11 assists.

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Orlando Magic 103-94 after Zach Randolph had 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tayshaun Prince scored 19 points as the Boston Celtics held on for a 99-90 road win over the Utah Jazz. (ap)

AP Photo/Michael Perez

Philadelphia 76ers’ Luc Mbah a Moute (12) drives the the basket past New Orleans Pelicans’ Ryan Anderson during the second half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 96-81.

Davis’ dunks aplenty lead Pelicans

past 76ers, 99-74

A n d y M u r -ray of Britain celebrates af-ter defeating Nick Kyrgios o f Aust ra l ia in their men’s

singles quarter-final match at the

Australian Open 2015 tennis tournament in Mel-bourne January 27, 2015.

Berdych ends Nadal tyranny,

Murray charges onMELBOURNE - Iron-willed Czech Tomas Berdych ended eight years of tyranny under nem-

esis Rafa Nadal to storm into the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday before his next oppo-nent Andy Murray restored British colonial rule to the floodlit centre court. Maria Sharapova inflicted another grand slam reality check on Eugenie Bouchard and will play an all-Russian semi-final with plucky lefthander Ekaterina Makaraova, who thrashed third seed Simona Halep on a surprising day at Melbourne Park.

98 InternationalWednesday, January 28, 2015 International Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sp rt

Australia march on to the final against South Korea at Sydney on Saturday, when the host hopes to go one step better than its 2011 final loss to Japan. South Ko-rea beat Australia 1-0 in the group stage 10 days ago. UAE, which knocked out defending champion Japan 5-4 on penalties in the quarterfinals, couldn’t find a breakthrough to spark a fightback, despite another leading performance by star Omar Abdulrahman.

UAE faces Iraq in the third-place playoff at the same venue on Friday. Australia and the UAE had never met in a competitive match, and their last two friendlies ended in scoreless draws, but the host needed only three minutes to make a dream start. Massimo Luongo’s corner was met by Sainsbury, who took advantage of some slack marking to guide in his header.

Australia’s eagerness to dominate midfield in the first half was best epitomized by Robbie Kruse, who dispossessed Abdulrahman while missing one of his boots. Kruse created the next Australia chance when the winger’s dinked cross fell close to Tim Cahill. In the ensuing scramble, Mathew Leckie’s shot was blocked, but Davidson’s follow-up shot slid past goalkeeper Majed Naser to double their advantage in the 14th.

Davidson became Australia’s 10th different scorer of the tournament. Ahmed Khalil, who was UAE’s most impressive player in the first half, fired a warn-ing of UAE’s strength in attack when his shot from a low cross hit the outside of the post. UAE started the second half better than the first, with Abdulrahman

getting on to the ball increasingly more in threatening areas, but Australia goal-keeper Mat Ryan was rarely tested.

Cahill, who was largely contained by the defense, was withdrawn for Tomi Juric just after the hour by coach Ange Postecoglou, who may have had thoughts of keeping his talis-man fresh for the final. A concern f o r

Postec-o g l o u , though, will be the fitness of left back Ivan Fran-jic, who appeared to injure his groin late, when Aus-tralia had already used its three substitutions.

From the team that beat China 2-0 in the quarter-finals, defender Matthew Spiranovic returned from suspension for Alex Wilkinson, and Mark Milligan was selected ahead of 84-cap veteran Mark Bresciano, as Postecoglou looked to swamp the midfield and deny space for UAE’s creative players.

UAE also made two changes with Walid Abbas

ROME — Napoli moved back into third place in Serie A courtesy of a controversial penalty in a 2-1 win over visiting Genoa on Mon-day. In the 73rd minute at the San Paolo stadium, the referee ruled that Gonzalo Higuain was fouled following a free kick despite what appeared to be minimal contact. After Genoa protested, Higuain converted the ensuing spot kick for his 12th goal this season.

Higuain had also scored the opener seven minutes in by heading in a rebound. Iago Falque equalized in the 56th with a shot from the edge of the area.

Napoli, which has won four of its last five matches, moved two points ahead of Lazio and Sampdoria in the race for the final Champions League spot. The southern club trails second-place Roma by six points. “We’ve got to try and catch Roma and get second place,” Higuain said. “As long as it’s math-ematically possible we have a shot.” Genoa remained seventh.

Earlier, Udinese won 2-1 at Empoli to move level with Palermo in eighth. Antonio Di Natale put Udinese in front 19 minutes in and Silvan Widmer scored the winner on the hour mark after Riccardo

Saponara had equalized with a penalty in the 37th following a hand ball by Danilo.

Udinese played the final 16 min-utes with 10 men after Panagiotis Kone picked up his second yellow card for protests. Empoli remained one point above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, struggling AC Mi-lan reported Monday that forward Stephan El Shaarawy broke a bone in his right foot at the end of a 3-1 loss to Lazio on Saturday. The Italy striker will have to wear a brace for six weeks before beginning reha-bilitation and could miss the rest of the season.

El Shaarawy also broke a bone in his left foot in 2013 and was out long-term. Lazio forward Filip Djordjevic was also injured in the match and will be out at least three months with a broken right ankle.

In other off-pitch news, Parma announced that forward Antonio Cas-sano has reached a consensual deal to terminate his contract, opening up an almost certain transfer back to Samp-doria or another club. Elsewhere, Fiorentina announced that forward Alberto Gilardino has rejoined the club on loan from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande. (ap)

BATA, Equatorial Guinea — Tu-nisia and Congo both celebrated after

a 1-1 draw at the African Cup of Nations on Monday

as both countries qualified for

the quarter-finals from Group B. T u n i -sia pro-g r e s s e d

as Group B w i n n e r ,

but substitute Loteteka Bokila’s

66th-minute equalizer was crucial for Congo as it squeezed through to the last eight through the tournament’s tiebreaker rules.

Congo finished with the same

LONDON - Scottish soccer club Rangers said on Tuesday it had struck a deal with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct for a 10 million pound ($15 million) credit facility, giving the stricken former champions time to find permanent investment. Rangers, which needed funding to survive beyond the end of January, said the 10 million pounds would be used in part to pay off a previous loan from Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct and owner of English Premier League club

Newcastle United.The agreement is secured

against the club’s assets but not its Ibrox stadium in Glasgow, some-thing Rangers had considered, much to the anger of its fans. As part of the deal a 26 percent stake in Rangers’ retail business -- a joint venture with Sports Direct -- will be given to the sporting goods re-tailer. The stake will be transferred back to Rangers when the facility is repaid, the club said.

Five million pounds of the in-terest free loan is available imme-

diately, Rangers said. A further 5 million pounds can be drawn upon if needed and after due diligence from Sports Direct, Britain’s larg-est sporting goods retailer.

Rangers, now playing in the Scottish second tier, said its finan-cial situation had been “perilous”, made worse by tumbling matchday attendances, but that it could now focus on investing in its squad and returning to profit.

The 54-times Scottish champi-ons, who reformed as a fourth-tier club in 2012 after being wound up,

rejected two takeover proposals from American financier Robert Sarver this year and have endured criticism from fans for its dealing with Ashley.

Ashley personally owns around nine percent of Rangers and saw efforts to increase his stake to 29.2 percent blocked in December by the Scottish Football Association (SFA).

Tuesday’s deal through Sports Direct, which will also see the re-tailer benefit from any shirt spon-sorship deals from the 2017/18

season for the duration of the credit facility, will increase Ash-ley’s influence at the Glasgow side without raising his own stake in the club. An SFA inquiry into alleged breaches of dual ownership rules is due to start on Tuesday.

FTSE 100-listed Sports Direct has over 430 sports stores in Brit-ain and another 270 elsewhere in Europe. Last week Ashley reduced his stake in the firm to 55.14 per-cent from 57.7 percent, raising 110 million pounds. (rtr)

LONDON - Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan has welcomed Dutchman Michael van Praag’s deci-sion to enter the FIFA presidential race, describing him as a “credible candi-date” who will add to the debate about the future of world soccer’s governing body. Van Praag, the 67-year-old head of the Dutch FA, entered the race on Monday saying he had the necessary backing of five national associations to qualify as an official candidate.

“We welcome other credible col-leagues from the football family who want to join a genuine debate about the future of FIFA,” Prince Ali said in

a statement on Tuesday.“This election campaign is not

about personalities, it is about what is in the best interests of football and the world governing body of the game go-ing forward. “It is good for democracy that Michael Van Praag has made this announcement.”

Prince Ali and Van Praag are among five men hoping to challenge incumbent Sepp Blatter when the deadline for nominations closes on Thursday.

Former FIFA deputy secretary general Jerome Champagne, former France international David Ginola

and football agent Mino Raiola are unlikely to obtain the necessary nomi-nations to have their names on the ballot paper for the vote at the FIFA Congress in Zurich on May 29.

Prince Ali, who is currently a mem-ber of the FIFA executive committee and is FIFA’s Asian vice-president, declared his candidacy this month and although he does not have the full sup-port of his own Asian confederation he does have backing elsewhere which should enable him to stand. Blatter, 78, who has been president since 1998, remains the overwhelming favourite to win a fifth term. (rtr)

AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta

Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain celebrates after scoring his second goal on a penalty kick during a Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Genoa, at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Napoli beats Genoa 2-1 with controversial penalty in Serie A

Prince Ali welcomes Van Praag’s FIFA bid

Tunisia, Congo draw 1-1, both into African Cup quarters

AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

DR Congo’s Loteteka Jeremy Bokila, left, celebrates with teammate Diedonnei Mbokani after scoring a goal during their African Cup of Nations Group B soccer match against Tunisia in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Australia’s Jason Davidson, right, celebrates with his team mate Australia’s Mark Milligan after he scores a goal during the AFC Asian Cup semifinal soccer match between Austra-lia and United Arab Emirates in Newcastle, Australia, Tues-

day, Jan. 27, 2015.

Australia beat UAE 2-0 to reach final

NEWCASTLE, Australia — Australia remained on course for its maiden Asian Cup title after defeating United Arab Emirates 2-0 in a semifinal at Newcastle Stadium on a wet Tuesday. Playing in Newcastle for the first time in almost 20 years, the Socceroos took a firm grip on the contest when defenders Trent Sainsbury and Jason Davidson punched in their first international goals inside the first 15 minutes.

Rangers FC seal funding lifeline with Ashley’s Sports Directreplacing Abdulaziz Haikal in defense, and Mohamed Abdulrahman in for Ismail Al Hammadi on the left in midfield. (ap)

AP Photo/R

ick Rycroft

points as Cape Verde, which drew 0-0 with Zambia on Monday in the other Group B game. But Congo scored more goals in the group stage thanks to Bokila’s finish from close range midway through the second half at a near-empty Bata Stadium. Both sets of players threw up their arms at the end to celebrate.

“They qualified, we qualified,” Tunisia coach Georges Leekens said. “We are both happy. Both coaches happy. Life can be good. Enjoy it.” Tunisia now plays host Equatorial Guinea in the quarters. Congo will face Republic of Congo. Tunisia had led through forward Ahmed Akaichi’s first-half header following a period of early pressure.

Ferjani Sassi had a low shot cleared off the goal-line by Congo

defender Joel Kimuaki in the 10th minute. Captain Yasine Chikhaoui then hit a whistling shot from out-side the area that Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba tipped just past the right post.

Akaichi was in the right place to re-direct the ball in from in front of goal for the opener, cheering the small group of Tunisian supporters who had to sit through rain for much of the match.

Bokila poked his shot home to draw level as Congo chased the game, and the Congolese took control for the final 20 minutes as Tunisia decided to protect the draw that guaranteed it a place in the quarterfinals. In the end, the result was good enough for both of them. (ap)

98 InternationalWednesday, January 28, 2015 International Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Sp rt

Australia march on to the final against South Korea at Sydney on Saturday, when the host hopes to go one step better than its 2011 final loss to Japan. South Ko-rea beat Australia 1-0 in the group stage 10 days ago. UAE, which knocked out defending champion Japan 5-4 on penalties in the quarterfinals, couldn’t find a breakthrough to spark a fightback, despite another leading performance by star Omar Abdulrahman.

UAE faces Iraq in the third-place playoff at the same venue on Friday. Australia and the UAE had never met in a competitive match, and their last two friendlies ended in scoreless draws, but the host needed only three minutes to make a dream start. Massimo Luongo’s corner was met by Sainsbury, who took advantage of some slack marking to guide in his header.

Australia’s eagerness to dominate midfield in the first half was best epitomized by Robbie Kruse, who dispossessed Abdulrahman while missing one of his boots. Kruse created the next Australia chance when the winger’s dinked cross fell close to Tim Cahill. In the ensuing scramble, Mathew Leckie’s shot was blocked, but Davidson’s follow-up shot slid past goalkeeper Majed Naser to double their advantage in the 14th.

Davidson became Australia’s 10th different scorer of the tournament. Ahmed Khalil, who was UAE’s most impressive player in the first half, fired a warn-ing of UAE’s strength in attack when his shot from a low cross hit the outside of the post. UAE started the second half better than the first, with Abdulrahman

getting on to the ball increasingly more in threatening areas, but Australia goal-keeper Mat Ryan was rarely tested.

Cahill, who was largely contained by the defense, was withdrawn for Tomi Juric just after the hour by coach Ange Postecoglou, who may have had thoughts of keeping his talis-man fresh for the final. A concern f o r

Postec-o g l o u , though, will be the fitness of left back Ivan Fran-jic, who appeared to injure his groin late, when Aus-tralia had already used its three substitutions.

From the team that beat China 2-0 in the quarter-finals, defender Matthew Spiranovic returned from suspension for Alex Wilkinson, and Mark Milligan was selected ahead of 84-cap veteran Mark Bresciano, as Postecoglou looked to swamp the midfield and deny space for UAE’s creative players.

UAE also made two changes with Walid Abbas

ROME — Napoli moved back into third place in Serie A courtesy of a controversial penalty in a 2-1 win over visiting Genoa on Mon-day. In the 73rd minute at the San Paolo stadium, the referee ruled that Gonzalo Higuain was fouled following a free kick despite what appeared to be minimal contact. After Genoa protested, Higuain converted the ensuing spot kick for his 12th goal this season.

Higuain had also scored the opener seven minutes in by heading in a rebound. Iago Falque equalized in the 56th with a shot from the edge of the area.

Napoli, which has won four of its last five matches, moved two points ahead of Lazio and Sampdoria in the race for the final Champions League spot. The southern club trails second-place Roma by six points. “We’ve got to try and catch Roma and get second place,” Higuain said. “As long as it’s math-ematically possible we have a shot.” Genoa remained seventh.

Earlier, Udinese won 2-1 at Empoli to move level with Palermo in eighth. Antonio Di Natale put Udinese in front 19 minutes in and Silvan Widmer scored the winner on the hour mark after Riccardo

Saponara had equalized with a penalty in the 37th following a hand ball by Danilo.

Udinese played the final 16 min-utes with 10 men after Panagiotis Kone picked up his second yellow card for protests. Empoli remained one point above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, struggling AC Mi-lan reported Monday that forward Stephan El Shaarawy broke a bone in his right foot at the end of a 3-1 loss to Lazio on Saturday. The Italy striker will have to wear a brace for six weeks before beginning reha-bilitation and could miss the rest of the season.

El Shaarawy also broke a bone in his left foot in 2013 and was out long-term. Lazio forward Filip Djordjevic was also injured in the match and will be out at least three months with a broken right ankle.

In other off-pitch news, Parma announced that forward Antonio Cas-sano has reached a consensual deal to terminate his contract, opening up an almost certain transfer back to Samp-doria or another club. Elsewhere, Fiorentina announced that forward Alberto Gilardino has rejoined the club on loan from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande. (ap)

BATA, Equatorial Guinea — Tu-nisia and Congo both celebrated after

a 1-1 draw at the African Cup of Nations on Monday

as both countries qualified for

the quarter-finals from Group B. T u n i -sia pro-g r e s s e d

as Group B w i n n e r ,

but substitute Loteteka Bokila’s

66th-minute equalizer was crucial for Congo as it squeezed through to the last eight through the tournament’s tiebreaker rules.

Congo finished with the same

LONDON - Scottish soccer club Rangers said on Tuesday it had struck a deal with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct for a 10 million pound ($15 million) credit facility, giving the stricken former champions time to find permanent investment. Rangers, which needed funding to survive beyond the end of January, said the 10 million pounds would be used in part to pay off a previous loan from Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct and owner of English Premier League club

Newcastle United.The agreement is secured

against the club’s assets but not its Ibrox stadium in Glasgow, some-thing Rangers had considered, much to the anger of its fans. As part of the deal a 26 percent stake in Rangers’ retail business -- a joint venture with Sports Direct -- will be given to the sporting goods re-tailer. The stake will be transferred back to Rangers when the facility is repaid, the club said.

Five million pounds of the in-terest free loan is available imme-

diately, Rangers said. A further 5 million pounds can be drawn upon if needed and after due diligence from Sports Direct, Britain’s larg-est sporting goods retailer.

Rangers, now playing in the Scottish second tier, said its finan-cial situation had been “perilous”, made worse by tumbling matchday attendances, but that it could now focus on investing in its squad and returning to profit.

The 54-times Scottish champi-ons, who reformed as a fourth-tier club in 2012 after being wound up,

rejected two takeover proposals from American financier Robert Sarver this year and have endured criticism from fans for its dealing with Ashley.

Ashley personally owns around nine percent of Rangers and saw efforts to increase his stake to 29.2 percent blocked in December by the Scottish Football Association (SFA).

Tuesday’s deal through Sports Direct, which will also see the re-tailer benefit from any shirt spon-sorship deals from the 2017/18

season for the duration of the credit facility, will increase Ash-ley’s influence at the Glasgow side without raising his own stake in the club. An SFA inquiry into alleged breaches of dual ownership rules is due to start on Tuesday.

FTSE 100-listed Sports Direct has over 430 sports stores in Brit-ain and another 270 elsewhere in Europe. Last week Ashley reduced his stake in the firm to 55.14 per-cent from 57.7 percent, raising 110 million pounds. (rtr)

LONDON - Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan has welcomed Dutchman Michael van Praag’s deci-sion to enter the FIFA presidential race, describing him as a “credible candi-date” who will add to the debate about the future of world soccer’s governing body. Van Praag, the 67-year-old head of the Dutch FA, entered the race on Monday saying he had the necessary backing of five national associations to qualify as an official candidate.

“We welcome other credible col-leagues from the football family who want to join a genuine debate about the future of FIFA,” Prince Ali said in

a statement on Tuesday.“This election campaign is not

about personalities, it is about what is in the best interests of football and the world governing body of the game go-ing forward. “It is good for democracy that Michael Van Praag has made this announcement.”

Prince Ali and Van Praag are among five men hoping to challenge incumbent Sepp Blatter when the deadline for nominations closes on Thursday.

Former FIFA deputy secretary general Jerome Champagne, former France international David Ginola

and football agent Mino Raiola are unlikely to obtain the necessary nomi-nations to have their names on the ballot paper for the vote at the FIFA Congress in Zurich on May 29.

Prince Ali, who is currently a mem-ber of the FIFA executive committee and is FIFA’s Asian vice-president, declared his candidacy this month and although he does not have the full sup-port of his own Asian confederation he does have backing elsewhere which should enable him to stand. Blatter, 78, who has been president since 1998, remains the overwhelming favourite to win a fifth term. (rtr)

AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta

Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain celebrates after scoring his second goal on a penalty kick during a Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Genoa, at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Napoli beats Genoa 2-1 with controversial penalty in Serie A

Prince Ali welcomes Van Praag’s FIFA bid

Tunisia, Congo draw 1-1, both into African Cup quarters

AP Photo/Themba Hadebe

DR Congo’s Loteteka Jeremy Bokila, left, celebrates with teammate Diedonnei Mbokani after scoring a goal during their African Cup of Nations Group B soccer match against Tunisia in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Australia’s Jason Davidson, right, celebrates with his team mate Australia’s Mark Milligan after he scores a goal during the AFC Asian Cup semifinal soccer match between Austra-lia and United Arab Emirates in Newcastle, Australia, Tues-

day, Jan. 27, 2015.

Australia beat UAE 2-0 to reach final

NEWCASTLE, Australia — Australia remained on course for its maiden Asian Cup title after defeating United Arab Emirates 2-0 in a semifinal at Newcastle Stadium on a wet Tuesday. Playing in Newcastle for the first time in almost 20 years, the Socceroos took a firm grip on the contest when defenders Trent Sainsbury and Jason Davidson punched in their first international goals inside the first 15 minutes.

Rangers FC seal funding lifeline with Ashley’s Sports Directreplacing Abdulaziz Haikal in defense, and Mohamed Abdulrahman in for Ismail Al Hammadi on the left in midfield. (ap)

AP Photo/R

ick Rycroft

points as Cape Verde, which drew 0-0 with Zambia on Monday in the other Group B game. But Congo scored more goals in the group stage thanks to Bokila’s finish from close range midway through the second half at a near-empty Bata Stadium. Both sets of players threw up their arms at the end to celebrate.

“They qualified, we qualified,” Tunisia coach Georges Leekens said. “We are both happy. Both coaches happy. Life can be good. Enjoy it.” Tunisia now plays host Equatorial Guinea in the quarters. Congo will face Republic of Congo. Tunisia had led through forward Ahmed Akaichi’s first-half header following a period of early pressure.

Ferjani Sassi had a low shot cleared off the goal-line by Congo

defender Joel Kimuaki in the 10th minute. Captain Yasine Chikhaoui then hit a whistling shot from out-side the area that Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba tipped just past the right post.

Akaichi was in the right place to re-direct the ball in from in front of goal for the opener, cheering the small group of Tunisian supporters who had to sit through rain for much of the match.

Bokila poked his shot home to draw level as Congo chased the game, and the Congolese took control for the final 20 minutes as Tunisia decided to protect the draw that guaranteed it a place in the quarterfinals. In the end, the result was good enough for both of them. (ap)

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DENPASAR - The southern part of Denpasar is naturally protected by a greenbelt of mangrove forest. Such a well maintained forest is open to visitors. While having a stroll, visitors can get additional knowledge on the use of these coastal plants with respect to the local ecosystem. Further details about the program can be obtained at the Mangrove Information Center located on Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Suwung Kauh or between Kuta and Sanur.

The Mangrove forest extends across some 1,373.05 hectares of land, while the one intended for

recreation is 200 hectares and Man-aged by Ngurah Rai Grand Forest Park or Tahura. Its office lies in the middle of this area. For educational and conservational purposes, it has established nursery plots of ap-proximately 7,700 squaremeters, wooden trails, huts to rest and floating decks.

Condition of the mangrove for-est has declined through the years because of alteration of its func-tion as shown by layers of shrimp embankments, and the excessive falling of trees. Department of Indonesian Forestry took measures to improve the condition of the

Suwung Kauh mangrove forest through the Development Project of Sustainable Mangrove Forest Management aided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), resulting in a model sus-tainable management. Other results of the project are the issuance of the Guidebook on Planting and Seabed and a booklet on the mangroves in this country, and the rehabilita-tion of 253 hectares of mangrove forest.

Though action has been taken to improve the condition, the deterio-ration of mangroves has worsened as the efforts have not been suf-

ficient. The budget has also been limited due to the economic crisis, which meant that the project was only continued from 15 May 2001 by means of informative action of clarification on sustainable man-grove forestry management.

The Mangrove Information Cen-ter Project had a support action to increase the awareness and actions by related parties projected to end on 14 May 2004. There have been two main sub-programs and three supporting sub programs, targeted at developing the training activities and realizing the training tests to formulate a training program and

the execution of a range of surveys as well as case studies.

The sub-program consists of ecotourism towards the develop-ment of a mangrove park at the project site by establishing a visi-tors’ information center, museum, touch pool and trail, and conducting tour guide training with an aim to disseminate information useful to the general public. On the other hand, the environmental education subprogram aims to provide the public with the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge about the mangrove ecosystem through various activities.

IBP/File Photo

Mangrove Information Center of Denpasar

In the evening session, Murray struck back for the old guard, slapping down local teenager Nick Kyrgios 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3 to deflate home fans pumped up by the traditional sporting rivalry with former colonial masters Britain. But it was Nadal’s 6-2 6-0 7-6(5) humbling on an unseasonably cold summer’s day that rocked Mel-bourne Park to its core and shook the biggest monkey in the men’s game off the back of Berdych.

The big-serving Czech’s 17-match losing streak to the Spaniard was the equal-longest in the professional era and snapping it was the result of a perfectly ex-ecuted plan. “Oh, it feels great,” Berdych told report-ers. “Everything was working. I was able to execute it really well.”

In an intriguing twist, the man that helped Berdych create the master plan was Dani Vallverdu, Murray’s former hitting partner and assistant coach, who parted ways with the Scot in November. Now in Berdych’s camp, Vallverdu will provide the intelligence for prepa-rations against Murray.

On the strength of Berdych’s tournament, the Ven-ezuelan has been a roaring success, with the Czech not dropping a set. The rangy 29-year-old was irresistible in the first two sets against Nadal, wrapping them up in exactly an hour and giving the 14-times grand slam champion his first grand slam bagel since the 2006 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.

“It was just not my day. I didn’t play with the right intensity, the right rhythm,” said a disappointed Nadal, who was nonetheless content with his run after coming back from injury and illness.

B l a c k - clad Murray was all b u s i n e s s against brash 19-y e a r - o l d Kyrgios and need- e d to be for much of a high-quality e n -coun-t e r on a

chilly, windy evening. Kyrgios lifted to bring the crowd into the equation, but Murray rose with him, closing out the match with a barrage of scintillating winners.

“I tried to start as quickly as possible because I know how dangerous he is,” Murray said courtside of his opponent, who dumped Nadal from Wimbledon on the way to the last eight. “I have seen his matches for the last 18 months... So I wasn’t going to under-estimate him.”

DOMINATING RUSSIANSIt was a performance that Sharapova would have

approved of after her 78-minute rout of another young upstart in Canadian Bouchard. Bouchard claimed to have gleaned a lot from her gutting French Open loss last year, overhauled by the Russian from a set down, but nothing could have prepared her for the schooling that played out.

Completely dictated, Bouchard had nowhere to hide and the five-times grand slam champion feasted upon her serve. She swooped in for the kill with a string of smoking winners, sealing it with a crunching inside-out forehand. As Sharapova blew kisses, Bouchard headed straight for the exit, biting her lip.

“Am I happy that I was able to lift my game after having a couple matches where I wasn’t satisfied? Yeah, absolutely,” Sharapova told reporters. “But the toughest is what’s to come. I hope that I’ll be able to take that and play even better.”

Third seed Halep had cruised into the quar-ter-finals by smiting lower-ranked opponents but ran head-first into a brick wall in the form

of lithe left-hander Makarova.The 26-year-old Makarova, who describes

herself as shy off-court, blew the nerve-stricken Halep away and has not lost a set all tourna-

ment. She heads into her clash with Sharapo- va fresh and in top

form. “I’m not shy on t h e tennis court. It’s

a big stage,” she said. “I never beat (Sharapova), so it will be tough.” (rtr)

NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis had 32 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as the New Orleans Pelicans stretched their season-long winning streak to four games with a 99-74 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Ryan Anderson scored 19 points and Eric Gordon added 13 for New Orleans, while Tyreke Evans tied a season high — set one night earlier — with 12 assists.

K.J. McDaniels scored 16 points for the 76ers, who lost their sixth straight. Henry Sims and Luc Mbah a Moute had 14 points. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook scored 18 points as the Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 92-84 while playing without the injured Kevin Durant.

Durant sat out after spraining the big toe on his left foot Sunday against Cleveland. Westbrook shot just 7 for 22 from the field, but was 4 for 6 and scored 11 points in the

fourth quarter to help the Thunder remain in control. Serge Ibaka added 13 points and a season-high 19 rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points, Thaddeus Young had 22 and Gorgui Dieng had a season-high 18 rebounds for the league-worst Tim-berwolves. At Los Angeles, Jamal Crawford scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Clippers held off the Denver Nuggets 102-98 for their fifth straight victory.

Matt Barnes added 18 points for Los Angeles, and Blake Griffin had 14 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 19 points and 11 assists.

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Orlando Magic 103-94 after Zach Randolph had 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tayshaun Prince scored 19 points as the Boston Celtics held on for a 99-90 road win over the Utah Jazz. (ap)

AP Photo/Michael Perez

Philadelphia 76ers’ Luc Mbah a Moute (12) drives the the basket past New Orleans Pelicans’ Ryan Anderson during the second half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 96-81.

Davis’ dunks aplenty lead Pelicans

past 76ers, 99-74

A n d y M u r -ray of Britain celebrates af-ter defeating Nick Kyrgios o f Aust ra l ia in their men’s

singles quarter-final match at the

Australian Open 2015 tennis tournament in Mel-bourne January 27, 2015.

Berdych ends Nadal tyranny,

Murray charges onMELBOURNE - Iron-willed Czech Tomas Berdych ended eight years of tyranny under nem-

esis Rafa Nadal to storm into the Australian Open semi-finals on Tuesday before his next oppo-nent Andy Murray restored British colonial rule to the floodlit centre court. Maria Sharapova inflicted another grand slam reality check on Eugenie Bouchard and will play an all-Russian semi-final with plucky lefthander Ekaterina Makaraova, who thrashed third seed Simona Halep on a surprising day at Melbourne Park.

Wednesday, January 28, 20156 International

W RLD 11International Wednesday, January 28, 2015

More phased releases will hap-pen in the coming weeks, said UNICEF, which helped negotiate the freedom of the children, who range in age from 11 to 17.

“These children have been forced to do and see things no child should ever experience,” UNICEF South Sudan Repre-sentative Jonathan Veitch said in a statement. “The release of thousands of children requires a massive response to provide the support and protection these children need to begin rebuilding their lives.”

They were recruited by the South Sudan Democratic Army Cobra Faction, an armed group whose leader David Yau Yau signed a peace agreement with

the South Sudan government last year. Last year 12,000 children were used as soldiers by armed forces and groups across South Sudan, said UNICEF.

Although Yau Yau’s rebellion has since been contained, South Sudan remains prone to fresh outbreaks of violence because of a rebellion led by the former deputy president.

The international community will seriously consider sanctions on South Sudan’s warring fac-tions if they don’t reach a power sharing agreement this week, said Norway’s foreign minister Borge Brende.

South Sudan’s warring fac-tions are expected to reach an agreement in peace talks planned

alongside the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Thursday, said Brende, who’s attending a preliminary A.U. executive coun-cil meeting in Addis Ababa.

Brende’s statement came days after the U.S., U.K. and Norway said they are gravely concerned with the lack of progress in the South Sudan peace negotia-tions.

Fighting broke out December 2013 between South Sudan Presi-dent Salva Kiir’s troops and those loyal to Riek Machar, Kiir’s for-mer vice president. Since then, more than 1.5 million South Sudanese have fled their homes. The two sides have signed peace agreements brokered in Ethiopia but fighting has continued. (ap)

DUBAI, United Arab Emir-ates — The city that boasts the world’s tallest building is now home to the world’s busiest air-port for international passengers too.

Dubai’s airport operator re-leased figures Tuesday showing that 70.5 million passengers streamed through the sparkling halls of the Gulf commercial hub’s main airport last year. That’s a 6 percent increase over the 66.4 million Dubai Interna-tional handled in 2013.

The rapid growth puts Dubai

squarely ahead of London Heath-row for the first time as the world’s busiest international air hub. Heathrow reported handled 68.1 million international pas-sengers in 2014.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport remains the planet’s busiest passenger airport overall.

But Dubai International is expanding fast, fueled in large part by the growth of hometown carrier Emirates. Yet another concourse is expected to open there later this year. (ap)

PARIS — French security forc-es detained five people Tuesday and broke up a jihadi recruit-ing network in a small southern town that has sent several French youths to fight in Syria and Iraq, the interior minister said. At least six young people from Lunel, a town of about 27,000, have died in Iraq and Syria in recent months, authorities have said.

In December the head of the local Muslim union, who also man-ages a mosque there, refused to condemn the 10 or more residents who have left Lunel to join the extremists. Instead, he charged that Hollande’s harsh rhetoric against Syrian President Bashar Assad had encouraged young people to go there to fight.

“One more network was broken up today,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday after the raids, pledging the country’s “total mobilization” against terrorism. He said he has ordered strengthened

efforts against suspected terrorists after attacks around Paris earlier this month by three Islamic radicals that left 20 people dead, including the gunmen.

The French government says a total of 3,000 citizens have links to extremist fighters in Syria and Iraq, with important contingents among both the Islamic State group and its al-Qaida rival Nusra Front.

Cazeneuve said that there are 161 investigations under way in-volving 547 people implicated in terrorist networks. Of those, 154 have been detained, and 90 have been handed preliminary charges, he said.

One of the gunmen in the Paris attacks claimed allegiance to Is-lamic State in a posthumous video. Another had ties to a jihadi network that send Frenchmen to Iraq to fight American forces during the war, and his brother was report-edly trained by al-Qaida’s Yemen branch. (ap)

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says “several” rockets have struck the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and that it re-sponded with artillery fire.

The military says sirens sound-ed in the area earlier Tuesday. The origin of the fire was not immediately clear. It comes after an airstrike last week in Syria attributed to Israel that killed six members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and an

Iranian general.A message on the Twitter ac-

count of Israeli military spokes-man Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Israel “responded with artil-lery” toward positions “that had launched the attack.” He did not elaborate.

The military also said it evacu-ated a ski resort following the fire. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.

REUTERS/MSF/Karel Prinsloo

Paramedic Gak Nyang from the Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) examines Nyoak Lam Nyoak, who is suffering from kala azar, in an MSF facility in Lankien, South Sudan, January 14, 2015.

3,000 child soldiers released in South Sudan: UN

KAMPALA, Uganda — About 3,000 children will be gradually released from an armed group in South Sudan, the United Nations children’s agency said after a group of 280 children were freed on Tuesday.

Dubai claims title of world’s busiest international airport

Police raid southern French town with strong jihadi network

Israel says ‘several rockets’ strike Golan Heights

Indonesia Today Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5InternationalWednesday, January 28, 201512 International

BUSINESS

TANGERANG - The rejec-tion of clemency petitions for several drug convicts on death row is aimed at creating a deterrent ef-fect for narcotics smugglers, stated Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno.

“The president will continue to reject the clemency petitions from several drugs convicts. The step is being taken to create a deterrent ef-fect among the drug dealers,” Tedjo stated on Tuesday.

According to Tedjo, the govern-ment will speed up the legal process for other suspects including for the defendants to ensure their legal status.

Tedjo said the efforts are being undertaken to fight the rampant spread of drug abuse in Indonesia.

“So, we will speed up the law process. Thus, the drug dealers would not enter Indonesia as there are strict laws in place,” Tedjo stated.

In the meantime, the government will rehabilitate the drug users as another approach to handling the drug problem.

Tedjo affirmed that the integrity of law enforcers will be enhanced in order to solve the drugs issue.

“The government will take several steps to eradicate the drugs menace through cooperation with all law enforcement agencies and by implementing severe punish-ment for such criminal offences,”

Tedjo emphasized. Chief of the National Narcotics

Agency (BNN) Anang Iskandar said the death row for drug dealers is the apt approach to deter narcotic smugglers.

The chief stated that punishment is an appropriate measure, particu-larly for large-scale drug dealers.

“The deadline for implementing the punishment should not take too long as Indonesia has been a market for drug trafficking in Asia,” Anang stressed.

Following the execution of six drug convicts on death row on January 18, another 66 narcot-ics convicts sentenced to death will be awaiting their turn for execution.

The total 66 drug convicts on death row were determined based on the number of suspects who received the heaviest sentence from the court until 2014, which was 64, in addition to the two Ira-nian nationals who were recently sentenced to death by the Cibadak District Court.

Narcotics transactions across the ASEAN region have been worth some Rp110 trillion, of which Rp48 trillion worth of transactions took place in Indonesia, making the country the highest ranked in such deals.

Hence, President Joko Widodo recently declared that Indonesia was in a state of emergency with regard to drug abuse. (ant)

“It’s too low for everybody,” Khalid al-Falih told a conference.

“I think even consumers start to suffer in the long term.”

Falih also said American shale oil produc-tion is important for the world’s long-term energy future and Saudi Aramco has marked an additional $7 billion for its own shale projects.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil company in terms of crude production and exports.

The kingdom is the world’s leading oil exporter and the top producer in the Organi-zation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

In November the cartel decided to main-tain its output ceiling at 30 million barrels per day, deepening the global price drop which began in June.

Oil was then trading at more than $100 a barrel but on Tuesday international bench-mark Brent crude for March delivery was fetching just $48.28 in Asian trade.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has been quoted as saying it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members, who account for most of the world’s crude production, do not. (afp)

SYDNEY - Qantas said Tuesday it was removing fuel surcharges from its international flights, with chief executive Alan Joyce adding that the fall in petrol prices was helping the airline’s bottom line.

Pressure had been mounting on Qantas to reconsider its use of fuel surcharges after fierce rival Virgin Australia last week scrapped such fees for its flights to the United States.

Despite the fare restructure, which will see fuel surcharges

absorbed into base fares, Qantas said overall prices would remain the same. The Australian flag car-rier argued that its ticket costs were already competitive.

“We are seeing significant ben-efit coming through on fuel and that will help our international business get back into profits and it will help Qantas invest in the customer,” Joyce said Tuesday.

He stressed that the highly com-petitive nature of the aviation mar-ket, rather than plunging oil prices,

was behind the decline in fares in recent years.

“If you look at the trends in global aviation over the past de-cade, costs and competition have been increasing while fares and airline margins have been falling,” Joyce said in a statement earlier Tuesday.

“In a highly competitive en-vironment where customers are already paying less than they were several years ago, lower oil prices can help put the industry on a more

sustainable footing.”Several international carriers

have already signalled their inten-tions to wind back fuel surcharges -- among them Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways -- amid the plunge in crude prices, which have lost more than half its value since June on weak demand and a global sup-ply glut.

Australia’s consumer watchdog said earlier this month it was inves-tigating the reasons cited for fuel surcharges and whether airlines

were making misleading, deceptive or false representations about such additional costs.

Qantas frequent flyer customers will benefit from the price restruc-ture, which means they no longer have to pay an additional fee for the fuel surcharges on top of the points they use to redeem flights.

Economy passengers could save Aus$110 (US$87) on return flights to the US and premium economy passengers Aus$130 on return fares to South Africa. (afp)

WASHINGTON — Solid eco-nomic growth will help the U.S. bud-get deficit shrink this year to its lowest level since President Barack Obama took office, according to congressional estimates released Monday.

The Congressional Budget Of-fice says the deficit will be $468 bil-lion for the budget year that ends in September. That’s slightly less than last year’s $483 billion deficit.

As a share of the economy,

CBO says this year’s deficit will be slightly below the historical average of the past 50 years.

The budget agency also says the number of U.S. residents without health insurance will drop substan-tially — from 42 million last year to 36 million this year — largely because of Obama’s health law. These numbers don’t include people who are in the U.S. illegally, who are ineligible for subsidies under the health law.

In a report released Monday, CBO projects solid economic growth for the next few years. The official scorekeeper of Congress also expects unemployment to drop slightly.

“In CBO’s estimation, increases in consumer spending, business in-vestment and residential investment will drive the economic expansion this year and over the next few years,” the report said.

CBO also cited wage increases, rising wealth and the recent decline in oil prices.

For future years however, CBO issued a warning: Beyond 2018, deficits will start rising again as more baby boomers retire and enroll in Social Security and Medicare. By 2025, annual budget deficits could once again top $1 trillion, unless Congress acts.

At that point, government pen-

sion benefits would account for one-quarter of all federal spend-ing, said CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf.

“The underlying point is that we have a handful of very large federal programs that provide benefits to older Americans,” Elmendorf said. “And with the rising number of older Americans and a rising cost of health care, those programs get much more expensive.” (ap)

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

In this Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 photo, a motorist pumps gas at a station where the cash price for regular unleaded was under $2 a gallon, in Leonia, N.J. World oil prices have fallen too far, the president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco said on Tuesday, insisting that market forces, not deliberate production cuts, must take their course.

Oil price ‘too low’: Saudi Aramco chiefRIYADH - World oil prices have

fallen too far, the president of state-owned energy giant Saudi Aramco said on Tuesday, insisting that market forces, not deliberate production cuts, must take their course.

US deficit to shrink to lowest level of Obama presidency

Qantas drops fuel surcharges

“All of our forces are being pulled out,” said Rear Admiral Widodo, a navy official overseeing the search and rescue operation. “We apologise

to the families of the victims.”Flight QZ8501 went down on

December 28 in stormy weather, during what was supposed to be a

short trip from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

There were 162 people on board the plane, and only 70 bodies have been re-

covered. Widodo said no more victims had been found by divers involved in the search for the past two days.

Officials had been hoping to find most of the victims inside the main body of the plane.

Since Saturday, salvage teams have been using giant inflatable

bags to try to raise the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200, which is lying in the sea at a depth of around 30 metres (98 feet).

At one point, they managed to lift the main body to the surface for two minutes before a sling holding it snapped. (afp)

JAKARTA - A political observer from the University of Jayabaya, Ja-karta, Igor Dirgantara, said alleged criminalization of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been going on since a long time and continues until today. “Since then criminalization of KPK continued until today” Igor Dirgantara said on Tuesday.

KPK has allegedly become a target since it started probing a huge corruption of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Aid (BLBI) case when Antasari Azhar was chairman of KPK.

Antasari is serving a long im-prison term after the court found him guilty in a murder case during

the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Many believed that Antasari was innocent and that the murder charge against him was a fabrica-tion.

The latest move was allegedly designed to keep former President Megawati Soekarnoputri safe from being implicated in the case.

“The criminalization is suspect-ed to save Megawati from being implicated in the process of BLBI investigations by KPK, which already summoned a number of her former ministers such as Rizal Ramli and Rini Soemarno,” Igor Dirgantara said.

He said there were a number of

indications supporting the criminal-ization allegation to weaken KPK.

Many observers and sympathiz-ers had called the arrest last week of Bambang Widjajanto, a KPK deputy chairman , a criminalization in an attempt to weaken the anti graft agency.

The arrest came a few days after KPK named Comr. Gen Budi Gunawan, a corruption suspect and the charge against the police general came after President Joko Widodo picked him as the candidate to re-place police chief Gen. Sutarman.

Igor said there were a number of indications supporting the criminal-ization allegations .

Police chief detective Budi

Waseso is a loyalist of Budi Gu-nawan, who was close to Megawati, the general chairwoman of the rul-ing party PDIP, he cited.

“That is why he (Budi Waseso) did not fully comply with an instruc-tion of the acting police chief (in the arrest of Bambang Widjojanto),” he said without elaborating.

In addition, when KPK declared Budi Gunawan a corruption Budi Waseso said there had been betrayal in the police, he said.

“Budi Waseso made the state-ment when he just took over as a new chief detective and his instal-lation was made without media coverage in the main building of the police headquarters,” he added.

Another indication was Budi Waseso had never given clear rea-son for the arrest of Bambang Wi-djojanto, commissioner of the KPK, and how Bambang Widjojanto was taken to police office, he said.

He said Bambang Widjojanto once asked Budi Waseso to imme-diately report his assets to KPK not long before his arrest. Bambang Widjojanto was arrested on charge of false testimony at the Constitu-tional Court over a dispute in the election of Kotawaringin district chief in Kalimantan five years ago. At that time Bambang Widjojanto was a lawyer for the candidate that finally won the district elec-tion. (ant)

Military calls off AirAsia wreckage recoveryPANGKALAN BUN - The Indonesian military on Tuesday called off efforts to recover the

wreckage of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea last month after failing for several days to lift the fuselage.

Alleged criminalization of KPK continues

ANTARA FOTO/Lucky R.

Arrested members of the international drug syndicate led by major Hong Kong drug lord Wong Chi Ping wearing masks sit next to boxes containing some of the 862 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine before they are destroyed by National Narcotics Agency in a ceremony in Tangerang, on the outskirt of Jakarta on January 27, 2015. The illegal drugs were seized by Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency and law enforcement agencies from the international syndicate led by major Hong Kong drug lord Wong Chi Ping during a massive drug bust early January in Jakarta. Trafficking narcotics carries the death penalty in Indonesia.

Rejection of clemency petitions to deter drug dealers

International4 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 13InternationalBali News

“I hope we can all firmly work hard and join hands to cooperate, and for the two countries (Japan and Jordan) to cooperate, in order for us to see the day when the Jordanian pilot and our Japanese national Mr. Goto, can both safely return to their own countries with a smile on their faces,” Nakayama, a lawmaker send to coordinate efforts in Amman to save two Japanese hostages of the Islamic State group, said late Monday night.

It was the first mention by a Japanese official of Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who has been held by the extremist Islamic State group after crashing in December. It wasn’t clear when the pilot’s possible release had entered the picture. The issue of a prisoner swap is sensitive, given Jordanian concern over the pilot, and Nakayama emerged from the

Japanese Embassy on Tuesday with no new updates. “There are other parties involved, so I don’t want to comment on details of the negotia-tions,” he said.

Goto, a journalist, was seized in late October in Syria, apparently while trying to rescue 42-year-old Haruna Yukawa, an adventurer who was captured by the militants last summer.

Over the weekend, an unveri-fied video surfaced showing a still photo of Goto, 47, holding what appears to be a photo of Yukawa’s body. It included a recording of a voice claiming to be Goto, saying his captors wanted the release of Sajida al-Rashawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in Jordan for involvement in a suicide bombing that killed 60 people.

The message retracted a demand for payment of $200 million in ran-

som for the two Japanese, made in an earlier online message, and said Yukawa had been killed. It threat-ened to kill Goto unless al-Rashawi was released.

Japanese officials are treating the video released over the weekend as authentic and thus accepting the likelihood that Yukawa was killed. However, the new message varied greatly from previous videos re-leased by the Islamic State group, and The Associated Press could not verify its contents and whether they actually reflect the group’s demands.

Securing the release of al-Rashawi would be a propaganda coup for the Islamic State, enabling the group to reaffirm links to al-Qaida in Iraq. Al-Rashawi fled but was captured after her explosive belt failed to detonate in the attack in Jordan. She pleaded not guilty. (ap)

NEW YORK — Tens of mil-lions of people along the U.S. East Coast hunkered down for a storm that for most failed to live up to pre-dictions that it would be one of the worst they’d ever seen. Forecast-ers originally said the storm could bring up to 3 feet (about a meter) of snow and punishing hurricane-force winds. But early Tuesday, they downgraded most of those numbers, saying New England would fare the worst, but even then not as bad as expected.

Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service said Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get the most snow, about 2 feet (half a meter). New York could see up to 20 inches (50 centimeters), Hartford, Connecticut, up to 2 feet (half a meter), and Philadelphia and central New Jersey about 6 inches.

The National Weather Service over the weekend had issued a blizzard warning for a 250-mile (400-kilometer)swath of the region, meaning heavy, blowing snow and potential whiteout conditions.

On Monday, l ife abruptly stopped across the region as of-ficials ordered workers to go home early, banned travel, closed bridges and tunnels, and assembled their biggest plowing crews. “When

you wake up in the morning, it is going to look like a blizzard,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, echoing the concern of many gov-ernment leaders.

Light snow fell steadily early Tuesday in midtown Manhattan as a few municipal trucks rumbled down empty streets. The city had an almost eerie feel to it. No air-planes in the sky, making for an unexpected quiet.

More than 7,700 flights in and out of the Northeast were canceled, and many of them may not take off again until Wednesday. Schools and businesses let out early. Gov-ernment offices closed. Shoppers stocking up on food jammed super-markets and elbowed one another for what was left. Broadway stages went dark.

Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: “People have to make smart decisions from this point on.” Commuters like Sameer Navi, 27, of Long Island, were following the advice.

Navi, who works for Citigroup in Manhattan, said he takes a train every day and left work early Mon-day after warnings by local officials to get home before the brunt of the storm. “I did leave earlier than usual,” he said. (ap)

AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

A woman along with other protesters hold a placard and chant “Free Goto” during a rally out-side the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

Japan special envoy hopeful about release

of hostage, pilotTOKYO — A Japanese envoy in Jordan expressed hope that both Japanese hostage Kenji

Goto and a Jordanian pilot held by Islamic militants will return home “with a smile on their faces,” as questions rose Tuesday over the government’s handling of the crisis. In the Jordanian capital, Amman, Deputy Foreign Minister Yasuhide Nakayama seemed determined, saying he believed there were “firm ties” between Japan and Jordan.

Millions hunker down as US snowstorm

totals downgraded

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

A man takes his dog for an early morning walk in the middle of an empty street in the Park Slope neighborhood in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

“We managed to deport a total of 408 foreign nationals from Bali in 2014. Some 242 of them were from China,” said the Head of Bali Immi-gration Office, Ministry of Law and Human Rights, I Gusti Kompyang Adnyana, after commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Immigration Office (Class I) in Denpasar, on Monday (Jan 26).

He said that most of these Chi-nese citizens were deported from Bali for abusing their residency permits. “Most of them were abus-ing their tourist visas by working in the field of construction”, he explained.

Immigration does not know for sure why these foreign nationals were violating their stay permits. “So far we don’t know whether they did it intentionally or not. There are presently 11 people in the process of deportation.” he added.

He explained that these Chi-nese citizens were being deported through the immigration office in Bali. In order to avoid having foreigners violate their permits, Adnyana said that the Department of Immigration has frequently pro-vided information and awareness campaigns.“This education process,

he said, was carried out through tour guides, hotels, international schools and associations of mixed mar-riages, maritime offices at Benoa, cross institutions and through the general public” he said.

Adnyana revealed that based on the existing data, the number of foreigners who came to Bali throughout 2014 was approxi-mately 4.03 million and the number of people who departed from Bali was 4.11 million. “Last year, we also managed to thwart the actions of an Interpol fugitive who was also a citizen of China”, he concluded. (kmb27)

BANGLI – The bad weather that has been hitting Bangli recently, has not only resulted in landslides and flooding but has also had a severely detrimental effect on crops. Farm-ers in the area are feeling quite des-perate, including those belonging to the subak around Bebalang village. Their current crop is very differ-ent from the crop of the previous season. The amount and quality of rice produced is not nearly as good as it was before.

One of the local farmers, Ni Ketut Sasih, said that her crops have declined dramatically recently. In a good season, her crops can yield as much as 75 kg per 100 square meters. “Our harvest has now been cut in half. Previously, we got 75

kg, but now yields have dropped considerably by as much as 50 percent”, she explained on Monday (Jan 26).

The harsh conditions that farm-ers in Bangli are facing, was con-firmed, by farmer I Nengah Sariani who said: “Indeed, our crops this season have dropped to half of what they usually are”. In addition to weather problems, another thing that is making farmers dither, he told us, was those plant hoppers have eaten the grains on the stalk.

Farmers are resigned to suffer-ing the losses of production costs that were incurred before planting. They hope that the drop in crops would not happen again next sea-son. (sos)

DENPASAR – On Monday (Jan 26), the Bali Health Agency announced the laboratory results of children suffering mysterious dis-ease. The result indicated that one of the patients was suffering from Japanese Encephalitis (JE).

Pediatric patient with initial PFD was JE positive, while two patients; RA and KDFB were declared nega-tive JE negative.

Ketut Suarjaya, the Head of Bali Health Agency, explained that the JE positive patient would be handled in accordance with the standard operat-ing procedures (SOPs) of the local doctor. “Doctors already have the SOPs to handle it”, he said.

Meanwhile, when asked about

the JE negative patients, Suarjaya said that doctors would continue to look for the cause, by cultur-ing the bacteria for example”, he explained.

In the meantime, one of patient who declared JE negative seems to be doing alright but has not fully re-covered. “She has been conscious”, said her mother.

However, her condition is still far from good because she had not been able to talk, sit or do even light activities. Pediatrician Dewi Su-triani Mahalini confirmed that her condition had not changed much.

“Her condition has yet to return to what it was before”, she ex-plained. (kmb42)

IBP/File

The tourists from China arrive in Bali

Hundreds of Chinese citizens

deported from BaliDENPASAR - Chinese citizen do not only travel to Bali many of them also earn a living on the

Island of the Gods. Unfortunately their means of make a living here, is mostly illegal. Evidently, according to data collected by the Bali Immigration Office, it is predominantly citizens from what is known as the ‘Bamboo Curtain’ country, who are deported from Bali.

One patient declared to be Japanese

Encephalitis positive

IBP/Sosiawan

The farmers are harvesting their crop.

Bad weather, crop yields plummet

3Wednesday, January 28, 201514 InternationalInternational Bali NewsTechnology Wednesday, January 28, 2015

BEIJING — Motorola unveiled three smartphone models on Mon-day for its return to China following a two-year absence from the most populous mobile phone market.

Motorola was a mobile phone pioneer in China but pulled out in 2013 after its acquisition by Google Inc. Computer maker Lenovo Group bought Motorola last year as part of its effort to become a global competitor in wireless devices.

“This is a day of rebirth,” said Liu Jun, Lenovo’s executive vice president, onstage at a Beijing conference center to unveil models for China.

In a crowded market, Motorola is trying to set itself apart by allow-ing buyers of its flagship Moto X to customize their phones.

Buyers can pick colors, features and exterior materials that include

Speaking to the business and politi-cal elite at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Schmidt said: “There will be so many sensors, so many devices, that you won’t even sense it, it will be all around you.”

“It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room and... you are interacting with all the things going on in that room.”

“A highly personalised, highly interactive and very interesting world emerges.”

On the sort of high-level panel only found among the ski slopes of Davos,

a panel bringing together the heads of Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Vodafone sought to allay fears that the rapid pace of technological advance was killing jobs.

“Everyone’s worried about jobs,” admitted Sheryl Sandberg, chief op-erating officer of Facebook.

With so many changes in the tech-nology world, “the transformation is happening faster than ever before,” she acknowledged.

“But tech creates jobs not only in the tech space but outside,” she insisted.

Schmidt quoted statistics he said showed that every tech job created between five and seven jobs in a dif-ferent area of the economy.

“If there were a single digital mar-ket in Europe, 400 million new and important new jobs would be created in Europe,” which is suffering from stubbornly high levels of unemploy-ment.

The debate about whether tech-nology is destroying jobs “has been around for hundreds of years,” said the Google boss. What is different is the speed of change.

DAVOS - Imagine a world where mosquito-sized robots fly around stealing samples of your DNA. Or where a department store knows from your buying habits that you’re pregnant even before your family does.

That is the terrifying dystopian world portrayed by a group of Harvard professors at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where the assembled elite heard that the notion of individual privacy is effectively dead.

“Welcome to today. We’re al-ready in that world,” said Margo Seltzer, a professor in computer science at Harvard University.

“Privacy as we knew it in the past is no longer feasible... How we conventionally think of pri-vacy is dead,” she added.

Another Harvard researcher into genetics said it was “inevi-table” that one’s personal genetic information would enter more and more into the public sphere.

Sophia Roosth said intelli-gence agents were already asked to collect genetic information on foreign leaders to determine things like susceptibility to dis-ease and life expectancy.

“We are at the dawn of the age of genetic McCarthyism,” she said, referring to witch-hunts against Communists in 1950s America.

What’s more, Seltzer imag-ined a world in which tiny robot drones flew around, the size of mosquitoes, extracting a sample of your DNA for analysis by, say, the government or an insurance firm.

Invasions of privacy are “go-ing to become more pervasive,” she predicted.

“It’s not whether this is going to happen, it’s already happen-

ing... We live in a surveillance state today.”

Political scientist Joseph Nye tackled the controversial subject of encrypted communications and the idea of regulating to ensure governments can always see even encrypted messages in the inter-ests of national security.

“Governments are talking about putting in back doors for communication so that terror-ists can’t communicate without being spied on. The problem is that if governments can do that, so can the bad guys,” Nye told the forum.

“Are you more worried about big brother or your nasty little cousin?”

However, despite the pessimis-tic Orwellian vision, the academ-ics were at pains to stress that the positive aspects of technology still far outweigh the restrictions on privacy they entail.

In the same way we can send tiny drones to spy on people, we can send the same machine into an Ebola ward to “zap the germs,” Seltzer said.

“The technology is there, it is up to us how to use it,” she added.

“By and large, tech has done more good than harm,” she said, pointing to “tremendous” ad-vances in healthcare in some rural areas of the developing world that have been made possible by technology.

And at a separate session on artificial intelligence, panellists appeared to accept the limit on privacy as part of modern life.

Rodney Brooks, chairman of Rethink Robotics, an American tech firm, took the example of Google Maps guessing -- usually correctly -- where you want to go. (afp)

Internet will ‘disappear’DAVOS - Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted on Thursday that the Internet will soon be so

pervasive in every facet of our lives that it will effectively “disappear” into the background.

Privacy is dead

“It’s the same that happened to the people who lost their farming jobs when the tractor came... but ultimately a globalised solution means more equality for everyone.”

With one of the main topics at this year’s World Economic Forum being how to share out the fruits of global growth, the tech barons stressed that the greater connectivity offered by their companies ultimately helps re-duce inequalities.

“Are the spoils of tech being evenly spread? That is an issue that we have to tackle head on,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft.

“I’m optimistic, there’s no ques-tion. If you are in the tech business, you have to be optimistic. Ultimately

to me, it’s about human capital. Tech empowers humans to do great things.”

Facebook boss Sandberg said the Internet in its early forms was “all about anonymity” but now everyone was sharing everything and everyone was visible.

“Now everyone has a voice... now everyone can post, everyone can share and that gives a voice to people who have historically not had it,” she said.

Schmidt, who said he had recently come back from the reclusive state of North Korea, said he believed that technology forced potentially despotic and hermetic governments to open up as their citizens acquired more knowl-edge about the outside world. (afp)

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Rick Osterloh, Motorola’s president and chief operating officer, unveils the latest Motorola smartphones in Beijing, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.

Motorola unveils 3 smart phones for return to China

leather and wood, said Rick Oster-loh, president of Motorola. The 16 gigabyte version will start at 3,299 yuan ($540).

The Moto X Pro will have a more powerful processor, bigger screen and other features. The third model, the Moto G, will start at 1,299 yuan ($212) for an 8GB model, competing with low-priced Chinese brands including rising star Xiaomi. All three models will run Google’s Android operating system.

The company also unveiled an earpiece, the Moto Hint, to go on sale later.

Mobile phone sales in China rose 24.4 percent to 112 million handsets, including 103 million smartphones, in the second quarter of last year, according to Analysys International, a research firm in Beijing.

The $2.9 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility was one of a flurry of acquisitions by Lenovo, which wants to grow faster outside its traditional personal computer business. The company also bought IBM Corp.’s low-end server busi-ness for $2.1 billion.

Motorola and Lenovo say their combined sales would make them the world’s No. 3 smartphone producer behind Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

As it tries to re-establish itself in China, Motorola faces intense competition from Apple and Sam-sung as well as ambitious local brands that include Xiaomi, Hua-wei and Vivo. Xiaomi, known for ultra-low-price handsets that cost as little as 699 yuan ($114), passed Samsung last year as the country’s most popular smartphone brand by number of units sold.

Motorola needs to stake out a clear position in a market that ranges from premium models to ultra-low-price handsets, said in-dustry analyst Zhu Dalin of Analy-sys International. “Motorola has just released three mobile phones that cover the whole price range of the market,” said Zhu. “But it has not made clear what its market position will be.”

Motorola said a Chinese ver-sion of its Moto Maker website that allows buyers to pick features for phones will be operating by the end of May. The company will face challenges in expanding Internet-based sales, an increas-ingly popular strategy in China that allows brands to hold down costs, said Zhu. “It is difficult to open a channel by relying on Lenovo, which doesn’t have the upper hand in e-commerce,” said Zhu. (ap)

“The number has exceeded the govern-ment’s target, which was set at 3.5 million visits,” a Bali tourism observer Tjok Gede Agung said.

He noted that the target to attract 4 million tourists to Bali in 2015 can be realized due to the free visa policy for several potential countries such as Australia, China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan.

According to him, Bali will continue to be the main tourism destination for foreign tourists.

Gede remarked that every month at least 310 thousand tourists visit Bali, with major-ity of them hailing from Australia, reaching 991,024 or 26.30 percent of the total number of visitors in a year.

China ranked second, with 586,197 tour-ists visiting Bali during 2014, and Malaysia stood third, with as many as 224,962 tour-ists. (ant)

DENPASAR - Bali provincial governor Made Mangku Pastika has hoped the Attorney General’s Office not to choose Bali as location to conduct execution of two Australian convicts on death row. “We hope the (execution) is not in Bali. Just a call, because I cannot decide nor reject it as this is the unitary state of Indonesia,” Pastika stated.

The two Australian convicts on the death row; Andrew Chan and

Tourist arrivals reached 3.76 million

Foreign tourists walked at Seminyak Beach, Bali Island. The provincial tourism office of Bali revealed that 3.76 million tourists visited the island in 2014, an increase of 14.94 percent as compared to last year’s recorded number of 3.27 million tourists.

DENPASAR - The provincial tour-ism office of Bali revealed that 3.76 million tourists visited the island in 2014, an increase of 14.94 percent as compared to last year’s recorded number of 3.27 million tourists.

Execution of “Bali Nine” members hoped to be outside BaliMyuran Sukumaran.

The governor is of the view that if the execution of part of the “Bali nine” case members is held in Bali, it is feared to leave psychological effect to the Australian citizens (in Bali).

“There are a great number of Australian people in Bali. Many visi-tors in Bali are Australian tourists, and they consider Bali as their own home” Pastika said.

Meanwhile, the Attorney Gen-

eral HM Prasetyo said in Jakarta on January 15 that the execution of “Bali Nine” member Myuran Sukumaran still had yet to wait for the decision of Andrew Chan`s request for pardon.

The Australian citizen has been sentenced to death for being con-victed of smuggling 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Indonesia.

The government decided recently to implement the death sentence on six narcotic convicts.

Myuran Sukumaran`s request for a presidential pardon has been turned down while that of Andrew Chan, another member of Bali Nine, is still being processed.

Prasetyo said according to regu-lations if the crime is committed by more than one, execution must be done at the same time.

Bali Nine refers to nine Aus-tralians caught on April 17, 2005 in Bali attempting to smuggle 8.2 kilograms of heroin to the island from Australia.

The nine people are Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Law-rence, Tach Duc Than Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens.

The district court in Denpasar, Bali, has sentenced Lawrence, Czugaj, Stephens and Rush to life in prison and Sukumaran and Chan to death.

VisitingAndrew Chan and Myuran Su-

kumaran who are in the Kerobokan Prison awaiting execution, were visited by their families on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the families did not want to give an explanation regard-ing the visit.

According to information con-firmed by Chief of Kerobokan Prison, Sudjonggo, the visit was nothing unusual. As widely publi-

ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Budhiana

A brother of Myuran Sukumaran, Chintu Sukumaran (two left) with his family visited Kerobokan Prison on Tuesday.

cized, the two Australian men who were part of being at issue consider-ing the president had refused their clemency. The two men belonging to the Bali Nine would be sentenced to death. (ant/kmb37)

International2 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 15International Activities

Bali News

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

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

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GM of the Villa Kayu Raja, Gede Nik Sukarta, accompanied by GM of Maca Villas, Yoga Iswara, said the activity was a form of promotion that invited and reminded people of having commitment to maintaining the sanitation of Kuta Beach. “Kuta Beach is a barometer of Badung tourism and Bali Tourism, so that the sanitation and comfort must be maintained all the times,” he said.

The Head of Badung Government Tourism Office, Cok Darmawan, said that his party would like to express his gratitude for the care of the industry that had held the mutual cooperation through the beach cleanup. “Petitenget Beach is one of the unique destinations that can attract visitors to come to Bali. This activity poses a kind of service to make travelers more comfortable,” he said. The hotels located in coastal areas, he said, or any business located just in front of the beach should have a concern to clean up the area. Even, it has become their responsibility. (ocha)

Like father like son, this adage seems appropriate to Mario Blanco, the son of Antonio Blanco, as the only one man of the four siblings. This Ubud-born man on July 4, 1962 currently continues to uphold his obligations as the next generation in preserving his father’s legacy.

The techniques of European art in combination with the culture of his mother, Ni Ronji, Mario Blanco makes the works full of charac-teristics of western culture and Hinduism. He takes a lot of objects of offering presented to God Almighty, like a kettle or teapot. In the process, he also creates the works of figurative abstract.

The painter who is familiarly called Mr. De said that in maintain-ing and preserving the museum, his party had commitment to not only manage the works of art but also to maintain and improve the environment. “Here, we preserve and develop 180 heads of Bali starling. Some heads have been already taken care of by people un-der observation of the Conservation and Natural Resources Agency (BKSDA),” he said when met at Ronji Restaurant, Blanco Renais-sance Museum.

Moreover, he added, his party also provided facilities such as Ronji Restaurant with the view of Campuhan Hill or Cinta Hill, meeting room with a capacity of 300 people and adequate parking space. In the future, there will be a special place for visitors to paint.

“Recently, we were awarded the first prize by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy as the best tourism place in Indo-nesia setting aside nine other nominees. The next event, we will be nominated to go forward to the international scene in the United Nations Development Program in New York,” explained the hob-byist of car rally.

He stated that in the future he would keep going to work and promote Bali wherever he would go. “As a successor to the name of Blanco, I still continue the commitment of my father to the ever-echoing the name of Bali in the international community. As a simple example, I always wear Balinese traditional clothing at a specific event. In addition, the existing Ronji Restaurant here is jazzed up with Balinese dance performances,” he explained. (ocha)

IBP/kmb

Lebak Sari Group cleanup on Petitenget Beach

LEGIAN - Cheers and working hand in hand marked the activities of the staff and employees of the hotels and villas located on Jalan Lebak Sari Seminyak when hold-ing a clean-up activity on Petitenget Beach, recently. Such social action also involved the board and members of the Bali villa Association (BvA) and the Badung Government Tourism Office. Beach cleanup was a regular activity held every month by the Lebak Sari Group.

Profile

Mario BlancoKeeps on working

and recommending Ubud

IBP/kmb

MANGUPURA - Kuta Police Crim-inal Investigation Unit finally could arrest a villa burglar having taken ac-tion in nine villas occupied by foreign travelers in the area of Kuta and North Kuta, on behalf of Francisco Sinaga aka Niko, 22. The suspect was arrested at his boarding house on Jalan Nakula Gang Bisma, Legian, Kuta, Thursday (Jan 22).

As information obtained in the field on Monday (Jan 26), the suspect from Kampung Pondok Benda, Buaran village, Serpong subdistrict, South Tangerang, took action before and after the New Year 2015. During that period many foreign travelers were staying in Kuta. Such opportunity was then exploited to steal valuables owned by the travelers.

One of the villas he had broken in was Villa Yasmin located on Jalan Raya Seminyak Gang Kedaton, Kuta, Badung, Friday (Jan 2). This case was just known in following morning at approximately 9:00 a.m. “After receiv-ing the report on the case, personnel of the Police Kuta Criminal Investigation Unit made an investigation,” said a source.

Based on the results of the inves-tigation, police finally managed to

track down the suspect’s residence on Jalan Nakula Gang Bisma, Kuta. On Thursday night, a team led by Ngurah Eka Wisada immediately conducted a raid and arrested the suspect. Fur-thermore, police looked for evidences having been sold by the suspect. “The stolen goods were sold to a fence with the initials DC. From the fence, the evidence to be secured were 4 units of iPad, 2 units of iPhone 5, a Nike black cloth bag and a unit of Honda Vario 125 motorcycle with license plate DK 5911 FS,” he said.

As recognition of the suspect to the officer, he had committed the unlawful action at 8 crime scenes within Kuta area and another in North Kuta area. Meanwhile, his modus operandi was that the suspect entered the villas when the door or window was not locked.

Chief of Kuta Police, Ida Bagus Dedy Januartha, with permission from Chief of Denpasar Police, Djoko Hariutomo, when asked for his con-firmation justified the disclosure of the case. “The suspect specifically targeted foreign travelers. Now, we are still developing the case,” added Dedy accompanied by the Chief of Kuta Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Dewa Tagel. (kmb36)

Chief Representative of Bank Indonesia for Bali Region, Dewi Setyowati, viewed the policy taken by central government was already appropriate and accommodating to the economy of Bali. The relatively large and significant decline in commodities generally consumed by the people of Bali was believed to contribute to the maintenance of price stability and to the possibility of deflation in January.

“Contribution of the price de-cline (deflation) of the four com-modities against the formation of inflation rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January 2015 in Denpasar is estimated to reach -1.37 percent and CPI in Singaraja reaches -1.03 percent,” said Dewi Setyowati in Denpasar, Monday (Jan 26).

She explained that rationally the decline in fuel and LPG prices

would have subsequent impact in the form of price adjustment of other goods and services. Transpor-tation sector which was believed to adopt fuel as the largest component of operating costs should adjust through proportional reduction in transport fares.

“Similarly, restaurants and food stalls that use LPG as cooking fuel will have space for rate adjustment due to declining costs of cooking,” she said.

Meanwhile, the continued im-pact (second round effect) of some food commodities and finished food products whose transporta-tion from the location of harvest or production to market requiring transportation costs would have a chance to make price adjustment due to lower transportation costs.

“Condition of transportation tar-iff adjustment and other commodity

prices will depend on the realities faced by traders, so that the price of commodities belonging to traders can be reduced,” she explained.

Traders were expected to have a paradigm of equality in the face of fuel price hike policy where they directly responded it with the rise in the price of commodities and when the decline in fuel prices occurred, they should also make adjustment by reducing the price of commodities.

“For economic growth, the price decline in the four commodities will give a space for economic stimulus of Bali during the first quarter of 2015. For households, the decline in the price of commodities will provide additional space for the removal of allocation of expendi-ture to the consumption of goods and services or save money,” she concluded. (kmb27)

IBP/File

The seller of LPG is seen in the picture.

Decline in gasoline, LPG prices contribute to economy growth

DENPASAr - The decline in the price of gasoline, diesel fuel, 12-kg LPG and cement had contributed positively to the economic growth of Bali. The decline in the commodity prices was expected to contribute 0.1 percent to the economic growth of Bali.

IBP/Ngurah Ken

The suspect, Francisco Sinaga aka Niko, left, who burglarize villas in Kuta area.

Break in 9 villas, a burglar of tourist-targeting specialist arrested

Page 13

Japan special envoy hopeful about release of hostage, pilot

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

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

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3,000 child soldiers released in South Sudan: UN

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Australia beat UAE 2-0 to reach final

LONDON — Benedict Cumber-batch says he was an “idiot” to refer to non-white actors as “colored.” The Academy Award-nominated actor used the word on PBS talk show “Tavis Smiley” last week while discussing diversity in the entertainment industry. He said that “as far as colored actors go,” there

were more opportunities in the U.S. than Britain, “and that’s something that needs to change.”

British anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card said it wel-comed Cumberbatch’s comments on diversity but felt the term he used was “outdated.”

In a statement Monday, Cum-

berbatch apologized for his “thoughtless use of inappropriate language.”

He said: “I’m devastated to have caused offence by using this outmoded terminology. I offer my sincere apologies. I make no excuse for my being an idiot and know the damage is done.” (ap)

PARK CITY, Utah — “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” a fiery, evocative and deeply felt look at one of rock’s most misunderstood and tragic figures, presents a portrait of a man and an artist in despair with the aid of never-before-seen home videos, personal notes and archival footage.

The film, a fully authorized account of Cobain’s life, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday and airs on HBO in May.

Director Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays in the Picture”) spent eight years putting the movie together. The insightful film pulsates with vitality and rage in its examination of the short life of Cobain, from his childhood in Aberdeen, Washington to his suicide in 1994 at the age of 27.

“He just wanted to have a family. I think the perception of Kurt all these years has been so off — this whiney white male who didn’t like fame,” said Morgen at a screening Monday. “It’s a story of a guy who dies of a broken heart. It’s a real tragedy.”

The illuminating home videos range from scenes of Cobain as a happy 2-year-old, blowing kisses at the camera and offering his cracker to the person behind the camera, to him, visibly and uncomfortably strung out and rail thin, holding his young daughter Frances Bean as his wife Courtney Love attempts to give their toddler a haircut.

The narrative is mostly linear but nonetheless experimental. Morgen uses everything from Nirvana’s music, Cobain’s private writings, drawings, to-do lists, animation and archived interviews to tell a dizzyingly complicated story. It also does not shy away from showing both the dark and lightness of Cobain, and includes honest and heartbreaking interviews with his parents, sister, stepmother, a former girlfriend and Love.

“I didn’t want to make a film about fantasy and unfortunately for the past 25 years, Kurt has represented heroin chic,” said Morgen. “It’s brutal and it’s ugly and it’s dark and you don’t want to look at it. But I felt this represented reality...it’s important for the public to stop deifying him.” (ap)

In a Facebook message, Watson said that she was a huge fan of the tale while growing up and that her “six-year-old self is on the ceiling.” She added: “Time to start some

singing lessons!”Watson had long been attached

to the project, but it’s taken several years for the film to come together. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”

director Bill Condon is taking over from the previously attached direc-tor, Guillermo del Toro.

Disney says production will begin this year. (ap)

New doc goes inside Kurt Cobain’s head

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Frances Bean Cobain, left, daughter of Kurt Cobain and executive producer of the documentary film “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” embraces her mother and Cobain’s widow Courtney Love at the premiere of the film at The MARC Theatre during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, in Park City, Utah.

Cumberbatch says sorry for calling black actors ‘colored’

Jonathan Short/Invision/AP, File

Emma Watson to star in live-action

‘Beauty and the Beast’NEW YORK — Emma Watson will play Belle in Disney’s live-action remake of “Beauty and

the Beast.” The Walt Disney Co. announced the casting of the “Harry Potter” star Monday, setting the prettier half of the romance at the center of the fairy tale. Who will play the Beast hasn’t yet been announced.

According to Bal i House speaker, Nyoman Adi Wiryatama, lawmakers agreed to make stern decision over the reclamation plan. He even hinted that law-makers will issue a decision to stop and reject the Benoa Bay reclamation plan.

Previously, when asked to com-ment related to the establishment of the special committee concern-ing the reclamation, Governor of Bali, Made Mangku Pastika, said it did not matter if the House es-tablished a Special Committee.

Pastika handed the issue of the reclamation project over to lawmakers to decide and issue a recommendation about whether the reclamation project should be resumed or abandoned. This sug-gests that the governor will imple-ment whatever recommendation the Special Committee puts for-ward. “Whether the project goes ahead or not highly depends on the recommendation of the House. We have no problem with following their recommendation. Whether they want to continue or to stop,

the project, it is okay”, said the governor from Buleleng.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chair-man of the Bali House, Nyoman Sugawa Korry, said that the plan to establish the Benoa Bay and Serangan Special Committee was scheduled to take place on Tuesday after the plenary session that en-dorsed the revision of the Regional Bylaw No. 1/2011 regulating the magnitude of the vehicle fuel tax. According to Korry, the joint meeting involving all factions and commissions in the House would

be held to make a decision as to whether the special committee would be established or not. He added that a decision on the

establishment of the Special Committee needed to be approved by three different factions within the House.

It is well known that so far, only two factions in the Bali House, namely the PDI-P and Democrat, are in support of the establishment of the Special Committee on the Reclamation Project. Previously, Nengah Tamba, legislator of the Democratic Party and Chairman of Commission III of the Bali House in charge of environmental, development, infrastructure and

transportation affairs, said that the Benoa Bay and Serangan Special Committee (Special Committee on Reclamation Project) would review parts of the plan to reclaim land in Benoa Bay and Serangan that have not been clear. He said that he did not want the reclama-tion of Benoa Bay to face the same fate as that of Serangan Island.

“The reclaimed land that makes up Serangan Island has been left without a clear purpose for some time. If this smaller project is non functional, the implication that worries us is that the larger plan of reclaiming land in Benoa Bay will be even worse”, said Tamba.

On the topic of the Benoa Bay reclamation plan, Tamba asked the Special Committee to sum-mon the investor (PT TWBI) to the House in order to explain the project and present its plan. “So far, the general waves of protest by society at large have resonated more that the plans of the inves-tors from whom we have heard very little. We want to give them a chance to explain what they want to create”, added Tamba.

Given that the reclamation of Serangan Island has been left dormant for so long, the Spe-cial Committee is expected to investigate why the investor has yet to build in accordance with the initial plan. “We’ll look into which aspect is not running well, whether it be a problem of capital, marketing or lack of appropriate business plan. Or perhaps the investor is just a realtor seek-ing other investors”, said the Democrat from Jembrana who is also Deputy Chairman of the Bali Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (kmb29)

Fate of reclamation plan

Governor leaves decision to lawmakersDENPASAR - House Representative of Bali would not establish a special committee of reclama-

tion of the Benoa Bay. The decision on reclamation plan will only be discussed during an internal meeting of Bali House. That was revealed during the internal meeting of Bali House on Tuesday.

News can also be heard in “Bali Image” at Global Radio FM 96.5 from 9.30 until 10.00 am. Listen to Global Radio FM at http://globalfmbali.listen2my-

radio.com or live video streaming at http://radioglobalfmbali.com and http://ustream.tv/channel/global-fm-bali.

IBP/Wawan

Band performed during a concert to reject Benoa Bay reclamation plan at Padanggalak Beach that held last year. House Repre-sentative of Bali would not establish a special committee of reclamation of the Benoa Bay. The decision on reclamation plan will only be discussed during an internal meeting of Bali House.