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Can ‘Hunger Games’ do ‘Twilight’-type $140m debut?

A Paris police official said an employee at the embassy discovered a suspicious package and stepped back in time before exploded. There was minor damage to a window but no injuries, the official said.

The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to Paris police policy.

The source of the package is not immediately clear.Police are on site at the embassy in an elegant neighborhood of

western Paris.“We are obviously deeply concerned by the explosive explosion

in Paris which occurred earlier this morning at approximately 5:15 a.m. at our facility in our embassy in Paris. We’re yet to ascertain whether the explosion actually directed against Indonesia embassy or whether by coincidence it was located or took place by the embassy,” Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

Natalegawa said there were no injuries in the attack but a window was broken.

Asked whether the embassy would be closed, the minister said the embassy would remain vigilant but the bomb wouldn’t “deter us from going on with the business of our activities.”

He said it was too early to say whether there was any link between Wednesday’s mail bomb and an attack on a Jewish school in southern France earlier this week that left three children and a rabbi dead.

AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati

Indonesia’s cus-tom officers escort

Malaysian citizen Hew Kok Seong, center, during a

press conference in Kuta, Bali, Indo-nesia on Wednes-

day, March 21, 2012. Indonesian

custom on the re-sort island of Bali said they arrested

the Malaysian man on March 19, 2012 allegedly attempt-

ing to smuggle 169 gram of metham-

phetamine.

AP Photo/Thibault Camus

Police investigators work on the site of a bomb explosion near the Indonesian Embassy, in Paris, Wednesday March 21, 2012. A Paris police official said an employee at the embassy discovered a suspicious package and stepped back in time before exploded. There was minor damage to a window but no injuries, the official said.

Blast at Indonesian Embassy in Parisno injuriesAssociated Press

PARIS — A package bomb exploded at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris on Wednesday, causing minor damage but no injuries, police and Indonesia’s foreign minister said.

Big earthquake rattles mexico, no major damage

Not Published We, the International Bali

Post, would like to apologize because we will not be pub-lished on Friday, March 23, 2012 due to Nyepi Day

Happy Nyepi Day, Caka New Year 1934

The Brazilian had a disappoint-ing weekend in Melbourne - being comprehensively outqualified by team-mate Fernando Alonso and en-during an incident-filled race before his retirement.

Although the team continues to have faith that Massa can turn his situation around, the outfit has elected to change his chassis with immediate effect – so for this week-end in Sepang he will race with chassis number 294 - to see if it was a factor in his performance.

A statement on the team’s website said: “This choice was taken to clear up any doubts about the unusual performance of his car during the weekend at Albert Park.”

AlonsoFernando Alonso is not expecting

the Malaysian Grand Prix to be any easier for his Ferrari team, saying the Italian squad will have to race defen-sively again. The Maranello outfit endured a difficult start to the season in Australia last weekend, with both Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa qualifying outside the top ten.

Alonso recovered well in the race to finish in fifth, but the Spaniard’s pace was no match to that of the leading outfits. With just one week between the Melbourne and the Sepang races, Alon-so is aware that he can’t expect things to be easier for Ferrari.

“In Malaysia, we will once again be racing on the defensive,” Alonso said on Ferrari’s website. “There’s no other way we can go about it, given that the F2012 is practically identical to what we ran in Australia. We will have to try and adapt it as well as pos-sible, knowing it won’t be easy.”

He added: “There are two points we will have to work on with great attention: finding the right compro-mise in terms of the aerodynamic balance and the tyre degradation.

“Sepang has two real straights where, because they are very long, a lack of top speed carries a higher price than in Melbourne, where the two straights on which you could use DRS were reasonably short.”

Felipe Massa gets new chassis for Malaysian Grand Prix

VAlEntIno Rossi and Nicky Hayden are confident that Ducati just needs time to fully understand its new GP12 before it can be a MotoGP front-runner again.

Speaking at the official launch of the team’s 2012 bike and revised livery, the pair said that the sheer number of chang-es compared to the 2011 Ducati meant it would take a while before it showed its true potential. The GP12 showed promis-ing form at the first winter test, but the second test was more troubled.

“I know that plenty of changes have

taken place. We have incredible competi-tion,” said Rossi. “We’ve started to work with this bike in the tests and [technical chief] Filippo [Preziosi] and the team have put in an incredible effort.

“The bike has changed so much com-pared to the model we had last year.”I think we just need some extra time to establish a sort of friendship with this bike and famil-iarise ourselves with the new concept.”

Hayden underlined that even at this early stage, it was clear Ducati had made gain with the new bike.

“I think we’ve improved in a lot of ar-

eas,” he said. “Obviously with the engine, the extra 200cc is a lot, but with the chas-sis we’ve made a big step. This chassis has more feeling and it’s easier to make adjustments, so during the weekend we can find the right way.” Rossi agreed that the fact that the bike was easier to work with would be an asset.

“What counts is improvement,” he said. “We tried to progress last year but it was very difficult. This year, race after race we will improve. “This bike is easier to work on and make adjustments. You can really fine-tune it.”

AP Photo/Brandon Malone,Pool

Mechanics for Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil change his tires during a pit stop at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, Aus-tralia, Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Felipe Massa will be given a new chassis for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix as his Ferrari team bids to get to the bot-tom of his troubles in Australia.

Ducati pair have faith in 2012 GP

Valentino Rossi

IBP/ist

InternationalThursday, March 22, 20122 Thursday, March 22, 2012 15International Sport

Bali News

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The Suns failed to score a point for more than six minutes and the Heat took full advantage, making nine free throws during the run and grabbing a 97-90 lead once the smoke had cleared. “It was either now or never,” Miami’s Dwyane Wade, who had 19 points, told reporters. “They were playing very well. We were down 10 and had to make a move.”

Chris Bosh scored a game-high 29 points, while LeBron James added 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists to help Miami (34-11) pull within 2.5 games of conference-leading Chicago.

Phoenix (23-23), who had ridden a four-game winning streak into playoff conten-tion, got a team-high 19 points from Grant Hill. Hill and James collided while chasing the ball in the final seconds of the game and Miami’s two-times MVP remained on the floor for a couple minutes before returning

Reuters

BUENOS AIRES - Juan Martin del Potro will play for Argentina in their Davis Cup quarter-final at home to Croatia next month, captain Martin Jaite said on Monday. The world number 11, set to play singles along with David Nalbandian, missed the first-round victory in Germany last month due to ATP tour commitments.

Jaite also named Juan Monaco,

Juan Ignacio Chela and doubles specialist Eduardo Schwank in his team for the tie on clay at Parque Roca.

Del Potro last played for Argen-tina in the 2011 final defeat by Spain in Seville in December. Argentina have lost all four finals they have reached, in 1981, 2006, 2008 and last year.

Jaite defended Del Potro who was criticised for missing the first-round tie. “I was informed with

plenty of notice that he wouldn’t be there against Germany, as I had asked him, and as soon as Indian Wells finished he told me he was available for Croatia,” Jaite said.

Del Potro, U.S. Open champion in 2009, reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells last week before losing to Roger Federer.

Argentina have met Croatia twice before in the Davis Cup, win-ning both ties at the quarter-final stage in 2002 and 2006.

Reuters

Tiger Woods appears recov-ered from the mild Achilles strain that forced him out of the WGC-Cadillac Championship after carding a level par 72 in the final round of the Tavistock Cup on Tuesday.

Woods, who withdrew from the final round of the WGC

event in Doral, Florida, on March 11 with a mild Achilles strain, showed no signs of distress in this week’s exhibition but was far from his top form.

Britain’s Ian Poulter was the only golfer in the elite 24 player field to shoot a higher score, returning a four-over 76 on the Lake Nona layout just outside of Orlando, Florida.

Woods is scheduled to return to the PGA Tour this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational as he continues his buildup to the April 5-8 Masters.

The former-world number one mixed two birdies with two bogeys for Team Albany on Tuesday, which finished last in the four-team competition with a two-day total score of 26-under.

Heat scorch Suns with 4th quarter run

Miami Heat’s LeBron James (1)

goes up for 2 points as Phoenix

Suns’ Marcin Gortat (4) defends

during the first half of an NBA

basketball game in Miami, Tues-

day, March 20, 2012.

Reuters

Miami - Miami’s stunning fourth-quarter run of 17 unanswered points res-cued them from the jaws of defeat in a 99-95 comeback victory over Phoenix on Tuesday. Phoenix led 90-80 with seven and half minutes left but the Heat staged a remarkable rally to turn the game on its head and give Miami their 14th straight win at American Airlines Arena.

to his feet.The Heat played without starter Joel An-

thony, who missed the game with a sprained ankle and was replaced by Dexter Pittman. The Suns’ Marcin Gortat scored 13 points and Steve Nash had nine and 10 assists.

“We want to make sure this is the toughest place to play in the NBA,” Bosh said. “The playoffs are approaching so we have to keep that mentality - defend our home court.

AP Photo/J Pat Carter

Del Potro to play for Argentina against Croatia

AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, returns a shot to Roger Federer, of Switzerland, during a match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament on Friday, March 16, 2012, in Indian Wells, Calif.

Woods shows no signs of injury at exhibition

Denpasar (Bali Post)—Information on the raid against the five

terrorist suspects on Jalan Danau Poso and Jalan Gunung Soputan on Sunday night (Mar 18) has spread internationally. Such informa-tion is feared to cause unrest among tourists that would like to spend holidays in Bali. However, so far the condition is assessed to have no impact on the tourism in Bali.

The Head of Bali Government Tourism Office, Ida Bagus Subhiksu, said on Tues-day (Mar 20) the death of five suspected terrorists in the raids held on Sunday night by Special Detachment 88 had spread to international media. It was worried to cause unrest to tourists that would holiday in Bali. However, after the incidence his party ad-mitted to have not received any reports from tourism stakeholders whether the incident affected the decline in the tourist visits.

Further he said that so far there had been no cancellation of tourist arrivals to Bali and no tourists feeling restless and asking further questions about the incident. However, to ascertain whether such incident had a direct impact on tourism in Bali his party admitted to immediately coordinate with the stakeholders such as the ASITA and GIPI Bali.

“So far no report is received regarding the cancelation from tourists. But, I need to check ahead with stakeholders whether the incident affects the cancellation of tourist arrivals to Bali. I worry the spread of this news will have negative impacts on the Bali tourism because I think this can be an extraordinary incident in the tourist destina-tion like Bali,” he said.

He added the security system should con-tinue to be tightened to provide security for

tourists. Similarly, he also asked to tighten the security at hotels, bungalows and villas to prevent the undesirable things. Active role of customary village was highly expected in preventing the entry of terrorists. The man who is taking doctoral degree in tourism studies at the Udayana University expected the police authority could immediately give information whether the five people shot dead were actually terrorists or not so that it would not cause anxiety, especially among the tourists and tourism businesspeople.

Meanwhile, Chairman of GIPI Bali, Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, said that so far the tourist visit was still normal and there were no cancellation of tourist visits. Addition-ally, no tourist wished to leave Bali earlier in response to the suspected terrorist raid. According to him, the success of Special Detachment 88 to raid the suspected terrorists

even showed off that security system in Bali had been good enough so the achievement of police officers should be appreciated.

“Up to these days, such an incident has not had any impact on the tourist visits. Hopefully, it will not have any impact in the future, either. Positively, this incident shows off that our security system has been run well as indicated by the successful raid. On the contrary, it also indicates that we have missed so the security system needs improving,” he said. He asked the security officers of small hotels or villas to tightly and carefully oversee every single guest checking in because in most cases the people reserving the room could be different from those using the room facility. Similarly, he advised in order the security officers could be give more frequent training to anticipate any potential security disturbance coming into their territory. (kmb29)

Chairman of the Indonesia Hotels and Restaurants As-sociation (PHRI) of Gianyar Chapter, Dewa Gede Arim-bawa, confirmed the matter on Tuesday (Mar 20). Neverthe-less, in response to the case all the hotels, restaurants and general public were asked to enhance their vigilance after the incident.

Favorable atmosphere were still visible within the tourism glamour of Ubud. A number of hotel management even contin-ued to sell their special package in relation to Nyepi celebration this year. Assuredly, the hotel occupancy during the celebra-

Ubud tourism unaffected

Hotel management offers Nyepi Package Gianyar (Bali Post)—

Shooting dead against the five members of terrorist network in Denpasar area has no significant impact on tourism condition, especially in Ubud, Gianyar. This condition was known based on information and observation around the Ubud area. There was no significant unrest resulting in unfavorable implications to the existing tourists or those that were going to come.

IBP/File

The tourists are enjoying their time in Ubud.

tion would reach 50 percent. “Indeed it is not too crowded because the occupancy rate in this month has not been high as in June and August,” he said.

All the tourists staying in Ubud area had been given expla-nation regarding the celebration of Nyepi by the hotel manage-ment. One of the key informa-tion provided was the reduction of services including the use of lighting on the Nyepi holiday.

As in previous years, tourists staying during the Nyepi period would get a new experience. Many foreign and domestic tourists deliberately made res-ervation coinciding with the

Nyepi period. “It will become a new experience for them when spending holidays in Bali, es-pecially in Ubud. Ambience of natural rhythm perfectly coalesces into the beauty and peace,” he explained.

Arimbawa said, in general, as the experience through the years there was a special policy from the hotel management, provided that it would not interfere with the implemen-tation of Nyepi solemnity. “Tourists strongly adhere to the implementation of Nyepi. By and large, they just pass the time by reading or swimming in hotel,” he said. (kmb16)

After raid against the suspected terrorists, tourism remains stable

3Thursday, March 22, 201214 InternationalInternational Bali NewsSport Thursday, March 22, 2012

If anyone doubted who is the best scorer to don Barcelona’s burgundy and blue, Lionel Messi ended the debate in emphatic fash-ion on Tuesday night with a hat trick to become the club’s career goals leader.

Messi broke Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year-old Barcelona record, getting his eighth hat trick of the season in a 5-3 Spanish league win over Granada that increased his goals total to 234.

“We are before the best player in absolutely every facet,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “He is capable of everything that a foot-ball player must do and he does it every three days. I am sorry for those who want to dethrone him, but he is simply different from all the rest. Messi has entered the history of the club at just 24 years of age. If he continues like this in the coming years, he will score so many goals that he will never be surpassed.”

Guardiola said that Messi was to soccer what Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan was to bas-ketball.

“Jordan dominated his sport and Messi dominates this one,”

the former Barcelona midfielder said. “The first thing about Messi to point out is his mentality. He has great quality, of course. But the important thing is his mental strength.”

While Cesar set the mark in 13 seasons from 1942-1955, Messi needed just under eight campaigns to pass his milestone.

“He is defining an era. He is the best,” Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdez said.

Nicknamed “The Flea” for his headlong, goal-bound bursts, Messi made his Barcelona debut in 2004.

He tied Cesar’s record on a left-footed shot in the 17th minute for his 232nd goal, then chipped the goalkeeper for a 3-2 lead in the 67th. He added a goal from a tight angle in the 86th, increasing his season total to a career-best 54.

A three-time FIFA player of the year, Messi has 17 goals during a seven-game scoring streak and leads La Liga with 34 goals, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The hat trick was Messi’s 18th for Barcelona and gave him 154 goals in his last 153 games over three seasons. His six hat tricks in

La Liga this season tie the record set by Ronaldo last year.

Messi has scored 153 goals in the Spanish league, 49 in the Champions League, 19 in the Copa del Rey, eight in the Spanish Supercup, four in the Club World Cup and one in the European Supercup.

Late Monday, Barcelona an-nounced Cesar’s total from 1942-55 was three fewer than the team previously said. A review by Bar-celona’s Center of Documentation and Studies and the La Vanguardia newspaper determined Cesar did not score goals attributed to him during the 1947-48, 1948-49, 1949-50 and 1952-53 seasons and also credited him with an additional goal in 1945-46.

Barcelona’s sixth consecutive league win cut first-place Real Ma-drid’s lead to five points ahead of its game at Villarreal on Wednesday.

“Messi was calm as always after the game and thanked us all for our efforts,” said Cristian Tello, who also scored for Barcelona. “I have no doubt that he will end up as the best to have ever played this sport. Each game he shows that he is on another level. He doesn’t stop surprising us.”

Agence France Presse

Mirko Vucinic’s extra-time strike sent Juventus into their first Italian Cup final since 2004 fol-lowing a 2-2 draw with AC Milan on Tuesday, giving them a 4-3 ag-gregate victory.

Milan had forced extra-time by leading 2-1 after 90 minutes but ultimately paid for their semi-final, first leg defeat at home last month.

Veteran Alessandro Del Piero had given Juve a first-half lead but second period goals from Djamel Mesbah, his first for Milan, and Maxi Lopez forced the extra pe-riod.

Vucinic’s goal ensured Juve still have not been beaten this season in 32 games, although they would have lost had the match ended after 90 minutes.

It meant first blood to Juve against the team against whom they’re also fighting for the Serie A title.

“Going through means a lot to us, we’re really proud,” said goal-scorer Del Piero.

“I’m delighted for tonight, as much for my goal as for qualifica-tion.

AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, from Argentina, reacts after scoring against Granada during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tues-day, March 20, 2012.

With hat trick, Messi sets Barcelona goals recordAssociated Press Writer

BARCELONA, Spain — Step aside John Cruyff. Move over Laszlo Kubala, Romario and Ronald Koeman. And, please, don’t even mention Ronaldinho.

Vucinic sends Juve into Italian Cup final“We’re here fighting on both

fronts and we’ll fight to the end.”Milan coach Massimiliano Al-

legri said his side had lost it in the first leg.

“I’m happy with the perfor-mance, the lads played well,” he said.

“It was a good game, I’m dis-appointed we haven’t reached the final after a game like this because the lads did everything.

“I’m disappointed to go out in this way but we were compromised already from the San Siro result.”

Milan started the game knowing they didn’t just need to win but also needed at least two goals.

They certainly made the early running but created little of any danger.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a cross-cum-shot with little power that seemed to surprise Marco Storari

in the Juve goal, but he pushed it away.

The only moment of true qual-ity in the first half came from the hosts and resulted in the deadlock being broken.

Andrea Pirlo chipped the ball down the right for the overlapping Stephan Lichsteiner, who centred for Del Piero to nip in front of Mar-co Amelia, dink it over the ‘keeper and slot into the empty net.

Allegri seemed almost to throw in the towel at half time and start to look to future league commitments as he removed star player Ibrahi-movic and thrust on Maxi Lopez, although he later revealed his top scorer had a back problem.

However, Milan hit back in surprising fashion as centre-back Philippe Mexes launched a long ball over the defence and full-back Mesbah lost his marker Simone Pepe to send a diving header into the top corner, leaving Storari helpless.

Vucinic, who was having one of his more dazzling days, lacked a finish as he waltzed into the area but hit the side-netting with his shot.

But Allegri was proved right nine minutes from time as Maxi

Lopez brilliantly held off Giorgio Chiellini on the edge of the box, turned his man, beat Leonardo Bonucci with quick feet and fired, with limited backlift, an unstop-pable shot into the top corner.

Former Milan player Marco Borriello should have won it for Juve late on but having beaten the offside trap to run onto Emanuele Giaccherini’s through ball, he first stumbled, losing the opportunity to shoot with his favoured left, and then shot weakly with his right, allowing Amelia to save easily.

The hosts could have buried the tie in the first few minutes of extra-time but Milan somehow survived.

Amelia saved from Borriello and Claudio Marchisio then sent the follow-up off target with the goal gaping.

Vucinic hit a stunning reverse pass to put Giaccherini in one-on-one but Amelia timed his dive at the forward’s feet to perfection.

Martin Caceres’s shot was then deflected off target but on 96 min-utes Vucinic finally found the net with a rocket from distance into the top corner. Milan pushed late on but couldn’t find the grandstand finish they needed.

AFP Photo/Giuseppe Cacace

Juventus’ players celebrate their qualification for the final at the end of the return match of the semi finals of the Cup of Italy match between Juventus and AC Milan in Juventus stadium in Turin. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

This matter was revealed by Chairman of the Sanur Develop-ment Foundation (YPS), Ida Ba-gus Gede Sidartha Putra in Den-pasar, Tuesday (Mar 20). Such an endeavor was intended to provide security for visitors, both foreign and domestic. Nevertheless, the incident did not cause any exodus to tourists staying in Sanur.

“We will be more vigilant on this

Singaraja (Bali Post)—Residents of Ceblong hamlet,

Sudaji village, Sawan subdis-trict, managed to build an emer-gency bridge on Tuesday (Mar 20). Personnel of the Indonesian Army (TNI) assisted by residents worked hand in hand to build an emergency bridge of bamboo rod with a length of some 10 meters. It was built to replace the permanent bridge collapsed by floods.

Construction of the emergency bridge was nearly equal to the emergency bridge established earlier at Singkung and Kaja Kauh hamlet some time ago. It was ap-propriate for pedestrians. Though only passable for pedestrian, the residents considered it very help-ful because of the distance to

Denpasar (Bali Post)—The upcoming Nyepi or Day

of Silence in fact gives contribu-tion directly to energy saving. In Bali, with the majority of the Hindus, during the Nyepi festivity the state-owned power company (PLN) can save up to IDR 4 billion a day. Spokes-person of PT PLN Bali, Agung Mastika, when contacted on Tuesday (Mar 20) said the celebration of Nyepi in Bali was admitted to save electrical energy consumption up to more than 50 percent.

“The Hindus in Bali indeed contribute greatly to save the electrical energy, especially when implementing the Nyepi celebration. It reduces the load on that day up to 50 percent,” he explained.

According to Mastika, on the whole day of Nyepi the load di-minished further than normal in Bali. Not to mention, on that day the activities would be completely deserted. On that account, the electrical including the transporta-tion activity would reduce. “The peak load varies so far between 540 MW and 545 MW will reduce to 272.5 MW,” he said.

Although the use of electri-cal energy on Nyepi reduced to more than a half, the PLN Bali distribution would still operate the electrical power on that day. “The machines remain in opera-tion and the supply of electrical energy also remains to be carried out to approximately 839,619 consumers spreading throughout Bali like on normal days,” he explained.

During the Hindus celebrated the Nyepi feast day the power plant was deliberately operated considering several vital agen-cies such as hospitals, airport and hotels still required a power supply. Agung Mastika de-scribed the power for household consumers and other parties were not disconnected even if they did not turn on electricity or use electrical energy for 24 hours. Not only that, PT PLN Bali also alerted two teams in each service area to anticipate undesirable things when the Hindus performed their absti-nences. Agung Mastika also said the outage of street lighting or traffic lights were entirely the responsibility of each regency/municipal government.

PT PLN Bali Distribution itself had a total of 724.4 MW of power supply, but 130 MW of which were temporarily out of the electrical system in Bali because the Gilimanuk power plant was undergoing mainte-nance of 24,000-hour cycles from March 1 to April 16, 2012. “The existing capacity is 594.4 MW supplied by the Pesang-garan power plant in Denpasar (224.4 MW), Pemaron power plant in Buleleng (170 MW) and Java-Bali marine cable interconnection (200 MW),” he explained.

He expected the saving of electricity on the Nyepi Day to reach 50 percent or even more. Hopefully, the entire community could continue to use the electricity wisely in the coming days. (kmb28)

After terrorist raid, Sanur tourism strictly guardedDenpasar (Bali Post)—

After the raid against the suspected terrorists on Sunday night (Mar 18), the Sanur tourist resort was strictly guarded. Other than police officers, hundreds of security from the elements of pecalang or customary security taskforce, village security assistance (Bankamdes) and the community were also deployed to secure the area before implementation of the four abstinences of Nyepi or Day of Silence.

Residents of Ceblong hamlet build emergency bridge

IBP/file

The army and villagers work hand in hand to build the tem-porary bridge.

Nyepi celebration. Moreover, after the occurrence of mutual shoots in our area, there should be an extra security carried out by involving various elements,” he said.

The raid killing five suspected terrorists, admitted IB Sidharta, had an impact on the tourism image of Sanur. On that account, his party asked the tourism stake-holders, especially hotels, to pro-

vide clear information for tourists as well as to further enhance their security systems.

“We asked the management of accommodation like hotels, vil-las or bungalows to implement a security system according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) at the entrance, front of-fice and watch the movements of every single visitor,” he said.

IB Sidharta who is also the Chairman of the Indonesia Ho-tels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) of Denpasar Chapter said that his party would implement integrated security system at each entrance to Sanur to provide com-fort and safety for tourists spend-ing holidays coinciding with the celebration of Nyepi.

“Thankfully, the occupancy rate in Sanur is not affected by the incident, although there are some tourists who wonder about the firing incident,” he said.

According to him, the hotel occupancy in Sanur area until March 2011 averagely reached

75-80 percent dominated by re-peater guests or tourists coming for more than once.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Coor-dinating Minister of Social Wel-fare, in charge of the Education and Religious Affairs, Prof. Dr. R. Agus Sartono, hoped the firing incident against the five terrorists by Special Detachment 88 in the Sanur tourist resort would not tar-nish the image of Bali tourism.

“I do hope it was only criminal a case not terrorism so as not to create a different perception within the community as it can harm the image of Bali tourism,” he said. (kmb27)

central village of Sudaji turned shorter when covered through the emergency bridge.

A local resident, Ketut Can-diyasa, said that before the flash flood he every day crossed the bridge located precisely at the area of Penarukan I Dam, Ceblong hamlet. However, since it was broken by the flooding he had to traverse a pathway that could not be passed through by motorcycle to Sanda area. Besides, if riding a motorcycle he was forced to seek detours through Lemukih, Sekumpul and finally Bebetin vil-lage. “I am from Sudaji but I live at Lemukih and often crossed the bridge to buy daily necessities. Now, there has been an emergency bridge so that I can pass it again

here. It makes me faster to reach the market than through Lemukih, then Sekumpul and Bebetin vil-lage reaching 8 kilometers,” he said.

Similar testimony was ex-pressed by Gede Putu Jelantik. He was greatly assisted with the construction of the emergency bridge. Hopefully, another emer-gency bridge could be built as soon as possible so that it could be passed through by motorcycle. Besides, the pathway precisely at Ganda Meru sub-hamlet, Ceblong hamlet, currently in severely dam-aged was expected to immediately get repaired. It was a very vital access for Ganda Meru residents to the central village. “If possible, we hope the permanent bridge and pathway could be built in our badly damaged region. In this rainy season, motorcycle cannot pass, so that we should temporar-ily walk,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the hamlet chief of Ceblong, Nyoman Adipta, con-firmed that his residents consist-ing of 78 families had difficulty to go out after the flooding disaster. They belonged to Ganda Meru sub-hamlet within the territory of Ceblong hamlet. Since the bridge cut off, his residents were forced to find a detour. Being inconve-nient with such condition, his residents then agreed to build an emergency bridge. It was built for pedestrians. “We agreed to build the emergency bridge. The budget used to purchase the materials was obtained from donations and government,” he explained.

On the other hand, Adipta said the permanent bridge would soon be built at previous loca-tion. Even, such a plan had been promised by the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng Regency. (kmb)

On Nyepi, PLN can save up to IDR 4 billion

Agence France Presse

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Wednesday con-demned as “recklessly irresponsible” claims by mining billionaire Clive Palmer that the CIA was funding a plot against the coal industry.

Palmer, Australia’s fifth-richest person and a top donor to the conservative Lib-eral/National opposi-tion, launched a tirade against the left-wing Greens Party Tuesday following the pas-sage of a new tax on mining profits.

The self-made coal tycoon accused the environmentally focused Greens, a key ally in Prime Minister Julia Gil-lard’s minority coalition government, of involvement in an American intelligence agency conspiracy.

“I think they want to promote their commodities at the expense of ours,” Palmer said, pointing to the Rockefeller Family Trust’s link with a strategy paper called “Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom” as proof.

The paper was developed by Green-peace and US group CoalSwarm, which is partly funded by the Rockefeller Trust.

Palmer pointed to the 1970s Church reports into intelligence agency abuses

following the Water-gate scandal “which sets up the Rock-efeller organisation as a conduit of CIA funding”.

He described Aus-tralian activists using the strategy report and the Greens as “a tool of the US govern-ment.”

The CIA rejected Palmer’s suggestions, telling the Australian Broadcasting Cor-poration via email: “Simply put, these al-legations are false.”

Carr slammed the comments and said they could damage Australia’s credibility abroad.

“It could create the impression that somehow we’re a risky place to do busi-ness when you’ve got such a formidable businessman... talking about a CIA plot to wreck the Australian economy,” the foreign minister told reporters.

“I think it’s a recklessly irresponsible comment that is going to have investors and the American government wondering if some part of the Australian political system has lost its collective marbles.”

Greens founder Drew Hutton, a stri-dent anti-coal and coal seam gas activist singled out for criticism by Palmer, said he was considering legal action over the remarks in which he said the billionaire had accused him of treason.

News International4 Thursday, March 22, 2012 Science Thursday, March 22, 2012 13International

US President Barack Obama will attend the nuclear security summit, along with leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. All the countries have been involved since 2003 in talks to shut down the North’s nuclear programme.

“The North’s move to launch the so-called satellite has created a new topic of discussions at the summit, and it’s an urgent timing,” Presi-dent Lee Myung-Bak said ahead of the talks to be held Monday and Tuesday.

“The five nations share similar views on this,” Lee was quoted as saying. “The best option is for the five nations to try to persuade North Korea to cancel the plan.”

The nuclear-armed North has an-

nounced it will launch a rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, a move which the US and its allies see as a pretext for a long-range missile test.

A UN Security Council resolu-tion passed after the North’s mis-sile and nuclear tests in 2009 bans a ballistic missile launch for any purpose.

Washington also says a launch would breach a bilateral deal an-nounced on February 29, which of-fered 240,000 tonnes of US food aid in return for a partial nuclear freeze and a suspension of missile tests.

“No matter what the North’s excuse is, the launch is a clear breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874,” Lee told

the International Herald Tribune (IHT), South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper and other media.

“It is breaking a promise with all the countries around the world.”

The US-North Korean deal had raised hopes of eased tensions under the North’s young new leader Kim Jong-Un.

“We had high expectations, but now we have this happening,” Lee said.

“Although we cannot say con-clusively, this new development will have a great impact on the as-sessment of the North, particularly in trust.”

The South Korean leader said the launch may bring the North “some domestic political gains, but its loss in the international community will be big”.

The South’s Unification Min-ister Yu Woo-Ik called the launch provocative and a senseless waste of money.

Reuters

TOULOUSE, France - A gunman, suspected of killing three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in the name of al Qaeda, said on Wednes-day he would hand himself over to police after an hours-long siege in which he wounded three officers.

About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armor, cordoned off an area surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighborhood in southwestern France, where the 24-year-old Muslim man was holed up. Shots were heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers had been slightly wounded.

Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the gun-man was a French citizen of Algerian origin who had been to Pakistan and Afghanistan and had shot dead the four in revenge for French mili-tary involvement abroad. He is also suspected

by authorities of killing three soldiers of North African origin last week.

“He said ... he will turn himself in this after-noon,” Gueant told BFM television, adding the man had thrown a Colt 45 pistol from the house in exchange for a “communication device”. He still has an Uzi machine gun, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and other weapons, the minister said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, campaigning for re-election in a presidential poll in five weeks time, has blamed racism for Monday’s school attack. His handling of the crisis could be a decisive factor in determining how the French people vote.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen decried the attacks as the result of France’s mistaken policy in Afghanistan and said France should wage war against “these fundamentalist po-litical and religious groups that are killing our children”.

Five nations to press N.Korea on rocket launchAgence France Presse

Leaders of five nations will discuss ways to press North Korea to scrap a planned rocket launch when they meet next week at a Seoul summit, South Korea’s president said in interviews published on Wednesday.

French school killings suspect says will surrender

Police block a street as a raid on a house to arrest suspects in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Mon-day at a Jewish school, continues in Toulouse March 21, 2012.

REUTERS/Pascal Parrot

Australian FM condemns billionaire’s ‘CIA conspiracy’

IBP/afp

Bob Carr

It would be patterned after Rus-sia’s mock flight to Mars that lasted 520 days at a Moscow research center. Six men were involved in that study, which ended late last year. They were locked in a steel capsule.

NASA’s space station program manager Mike Suffredini said before astronauts can fly beyond low-Earth orbit, they’ll have to spend more than six months aloft at a time. That’s the typical stint for space station crews. Five hundred days is more than 16 months.

The human endurance record of 14 months was set by a Russian cosmo-naut aboard the Mir space station in the mid-1990s. Only two others — both Russians — have spent as long as a full year in space. No NASA astronaut has spent more than seven months in space on a single mission.

Suffredini doesn’t expect any such Mars simulation aboard the space station to occur any sooner than two to three years. Physical as well as psychological questions will have to be addressed before anything

of that sort is attempted, he said.Steps are under way, however, for

such an effort, and scientists and flight surgeons already are working on it. The goal would be to have all the data in hand so the space station can be used as a Mars test bed before its pro-jected demise in 2020 or thereafter.

Suffredini said he expects the consensus ultimately will be to simulate “at least the first leg of a trip to a distant planet.”

NASA’s future for manned ex-ploration is up in the air as the de-bate drags on as to where astronauts should head in the decades ahead: the moon, asteroids and/or Mars. The cost promises to be a major factor, along with the development of rocketships big enough to travel so far.

Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — Allergies can cause misery for pets and hu-mans alike. But allergies in animals are not always easy to diagnose and treat. “I feel so bad because he can’t tell me what’s wrong,” said Angela Duyao of Gilroy, 80 miles south of San Francisco. Harley, her 2-year-old Shih Tzu, has food and seasonal allergies.

It took Duyao, an administra-tive assistant, 18 months and over $1,000 to find out Harley was allergic to poultry and pollen. All dogs and cats can get allergies, and the most common reaction is scratching, said veterinarian Don-na Spector, an internal medicine specialist based in Deerfield, Ill.

“Allergies are a real head-banger. They are frustrating for vets, they’re frustrating for clients and the dogs and cats itch like crazy so we know it is frustrating for them. Allergies are very challenging to diagnose accurately because it’s a diagnosis of exclusion. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time. It takes a very dedicated owner,” she said.

There are four kinds of pet aller-gies: airborne (tree, grass and weed

pollen; mold, mildew and dust mites), fleas, food and contact (like carpeting or detergent). The most common pet allergy comes from fleas.

People and pets can cause each other problems: People can be aller-gic to pet hair or dander and pets can be allergic to products humans use.

Most pet allergies cause scratch-ing. Some other symptoms include discoloration of hair between toes, rashes, open sores, watery eyes, ear infections, runny noses, vomiting and diarrhea, said Spector, a frequent guest on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” She is a consultant to the pet food company co-owned by DeGe-neres called Halo, Purely For Pets.

Spunky, an 8-year-old husky mix owned by pet sitter and pho-tographer Ashley Niels, didn’t have problems until his family moved to Austin, Texas.

In Texas, he licked himself raw, forming a hot spot on his back, Niels said. The vet put Spunky on antibiotics and gave him a steroid shot. “We didn’t have the money to do allergy testing, so we tried diet trials,” she said. But it wasn’t food. It was cedar dust and grasses. “The poor dog lived in a cone for six months,” Niels said.

Agence France Presse A drug designed to treat nervous

spasms has cleared an important early test in a project to see whether it can also cure alcoholism, French doctors said on Tuesday. Baclofen -- the lab name for a medication branded as Kemstro, Lioresal and Gablofen -- was successful in a preliminary test among a small group of alcoholics, a result that opens the way to formal clinical trials, they said.

The history of the drug goes back 50 years. It was originally designed for epilepsy before be-coming licensed to treat spasticity, but researchers are now interested in

using it to ease alcoholic craving.Interest was sparked in 2008

by a book, Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass), by cardiologist Olivier Ameisen, who self-treated his alco-holism with high doses of baclofen. The new test entailed enrolling 132 heavy drinkers who were given ba-clofen at high doses over a year.

Eighty percent either became abstinent or became moderate drinkers. By comparison, two drugs that are commonly used to treat alcoholics, naltrexon and acamprosate, yield a success rate of 20-25 percent. Side effects included fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia, diz-ziness and digestive troubles.

Lead researcher Philippe Jaury of the University of Paris-Descartes said the outcome opened the door to one-year clinical trials, expected to start in May, in which 320 alcoholics would be divided into two groups.

One batch will receive baclofen, progressively building in dosage until the craving symptoms subside, while the others will receive an inactive lookalike pill, or placebo. France’s health system is paying 750,000 euros ($469,000) of the 1.2-million-euro ($1.45-million) cost of the trial, and an unidentified donor is paying the rest, Jaury told AFP. The pre-trial study is published in a specialist jour-nal, Alcohol and Alcoholism.

AFP Photo/Mario Tama

A bar in New York City. A drug designed to treat nervous spasms has cleared an important early test in a project to see whether it can also cure alcoholism, French doctors say.

‘Anti-alcoholism’ drug clears key test hurdle

AP Photo/NASA, Paolo Nespoli

FILE - This May 23, 2011 photo released by NASA shows the International Space Station at an altitude of approximately 220 miles above the Earth, taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking.

NASA considering space station for Mars dry runAssociated Press Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station may provide the setting for a 500-day pretend trip to Mars in another few years. NASA said Tuesday that consideration is under way to use the space station as a dry run for a simulated trip to and from Mars.

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

In this March 15, 2012 photo, a four-year-old cream point Sphynx, Moshe Moshi, a hairless cat, belonging to Carol Meir of Takoma Park, Md., sits at The Big Bad Woof, a pet supplies store, in Washington.

Allergies in pets: Airborne, fleas, food, contact

Activities Thursday, March 22, 2012 5Entertainment InternationalThursday, March 22, 201212 International

Temple CeremonyCalendar Event for February March 18 through April 6, 2012

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, sail-ings, 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

18 Mar redite Umanis Merakih - Pura Parangan Tengah Banjar Ceningan Kangin - Lembongan- Pura Dalem Celuk Sukawati Gianyar

21 Mar Buda Wage Merakih - Pura Bendesa Mas Kepisah Pedungan - Denpasar Selatan- Pura Natih Banjar Kalah Batubulan- Pura Desa Silakarang Singapadu- Pura dalem Petitenget Kerobokan - Kuta- Pura Dalem Pulasari Samplangan - Gianyar- Pura Kubayan - Kepisah Pedungan - Denpasar - Selatan- Pura Pasek gelgel Banjar Tanahpegat - Tabanan- Pr. Paibon Banjar Bengkel Sumerta - Denpasar- Pura Pasek Lumintang Denpasar- Pr. Panti Penyarikan Medahan - Sanding - Tampaksiring- Pr. Pasar Agung Banjar Dauh Peken Kaba-kaba - Tabanan.

27 Mar Anggar Kasih Tambir - Pura Dalem Puri Batuan Sukawati- Pura Dalem Kediri Silakarang - Singapadu- Pura dalem Desa Sukawati- Pura Dalem Desa Singakerta - Ubud- Pura dalem Lembeng Ketewel - Sukawati- Pura Paibon Pasek Tangkas Peliatan - Ubud- Pura Puseh ngukuhin Keramas - Gianyar.- Pura Pemerajan Agung Ki Telabah Tuakilang - Tabanan- Pura Karang Buncing Blahbatuh- Pura Dalem Bubunan Seririt Buleleng- Pura Desa Badung Kota Denpasar- Merajan Pasek Gelgel Gobleg Turupinghe, Banjar, Buleleng- Pura Luwur Pedengenan Bedha Bongan - Tabanan- Mr. Dukuh Sebudi -- Mr. Pasek Ngukuhin Keramas- Pura Pucak Payongan Lungsiakan - Desa Kedewatan- Pura Tanah Kilap Denpasar Selatan- Pura Selukat Desa Keramas - Blahbatuh - Gianyar- Pura Dalem Tampuagan Desa Peninjoan - Tembuku -

Bangli- Pura Waturenggong Desa Taro- Pura Dalem Bentuyung Ubud- Pura Puseh Ubud.- Pura Dalem Peliatan Ubud.

28 Mar Buda Umanis Tambir - Pura Sari Bankar Titih Kapal

6 Apr Purnama Kedasa - Odalan Betara Turun Kabeh Besakih- Ngusaba di Pura Bukit Jati Bukit Jati - Bangli- Pura Batur Kalanganyar Bangli- Pura Masceti Pejeng Aji Tegalalang Tegalalang- Pura Dalem Tangsub Sukawati- Pura Penambangan Badung Denpasar- Ngusaba Pura Lempuyab Madia Pura Lempuyab Madia Karangasem- Ngusaba Pura Batur Bangli- Pura Desa Singakerta Ubud- Pura Pasek Gelgel Tagtag Kukuh Marga Tabanan- Pura Gaduh Ketapian Sumerta Denpasar- Pura Pasek Bendesa Batur Batur Tuak Ilang Tabanan- Pura Pasek Agung Tagtag Kelod Peguyangan Denpasar- Pura Agung Pasek Bendesa Tonja Denpasar- Pura Pasek Gelgel Angsri Baturiti- Pura Pasek Gelgel Bale Agung Subamia Subamia Beraban- Pura Dukuh Sari Belatung Bengkel Timpag Kerambitan- Pura Pusat Dukuh Sari Belatung Rendang Karangasem- Pura Pita Maha Palangkaraya Kalteng- Pura Canda Peraba Komplek Polri Jelambar Jelambar Jakarta Barat- Pura Agung Jagat Natha Kota Denpasar- Pura Pemerajan Agung Puri Petak Gianyar- Pura Dadia Agung Bendesa Tangkas Kori Agung Pusat Desa Gerih Abiansemal Badung- Pura Puseh Desa Adat Dukuh Sidemen Karangasem- Pura Jagathita Karana Samarinda- Pura Penataran Agung Sriwijaya Palembang Sumatera Selatan- Pura Agung Girinatha Semarang

IBP

JAKARTA – March 21st, 2012 –Aston International today announced the launch of the Best Price Guarantee program for its online reservation platforms on the group’s websites, www.Aston-Interna-tional.com, www.AstonBaliHotels.com, www.Quest-Hotels.com, www.FaveHo-tels.comand www.KamuelaVillas.com; Effective immediately, the program will ensure customers who book directly with Aston that they enjoy the very best avail-able rates online.

“Direct distribution via our own electronic booking platforms is faster and more cost efficient than traditional reservation channels such as voice call centers or third party distribution. We want to share these savings and produc-tivity gains and reward our customers with additional discounts on our already reasonably priced rates as long as they

use our accolade winning websites and easy to use booking engine.” said Norbert Vas, Vice President of Sales & Market-ing, Aston International Hotel & Resorts. “This Aston Best Price Guarantee will also go a long way in fostering greater customer loyalty and affinity for our brands.”

Aston entered the Indonesia market in the late nineties and has since then become the leading hospitality manage-ment company in the Indonesian archi-pelago offering a fast growing network of hotels, condotels, resorts, serviced apartments and high end villas with sup-porting offices in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bali.

Aston properties currently operate under the 5 star Grand Aston, deluxe villa Royal Kamuela and Kamuela, 4 star Aston, 3 star Aston City and Quest, boutique budget class Neo hotels and select service favehotel. IBP/Net

Best Price Guarantee for Aston Websites

Opening Friday, “The Hunger Games” has a strong shot at shattering the record March debut of $116.1 million domestically for 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland.” It would be only the second movie opening in March to top $100 million in the first weekend. Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said “The Hunger Games” could approach the $130 million to $140 million level achieved by two of the “Twilight” flicks.

“The Hunger Games” may have an edge, too. Female fans drive “Twilight,” while “The Hunger Games” has strong interest from both sexes.

“Given that this is the first installment, there’s no precedent for what this movie could do. We don’t have a track record for ‘The Hunger Games,’” Dergarabedian said. “This is one of those movies that because of that appeal to virtually every kind of audience, it could exceed even our strongest expectations this weekend. But we just don’t know. Everybody’s speculating.”

A debut of $140 million would put “The Hunger Games” into the top-five on the all-time charts for domestic opening weekends. At No. 1 is last year’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” ($169.2 million), followed by 2008’s “The Dark Knight” ($158.4 million); 2007’s “Spider-Man 3” ($151.1 million); 2009’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” ($142.8 million); and last fall’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” ($138.1 million).

Based on the first of three best-sellers by Su-zanne Collins, “The Hunger Games” stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teenager hurled into a televised fight to the death among other youths in post-apocalyptic North America.

Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — “CSI” creator An-thony Zuiker is making a movie destined for the small screen. The creator of the hit CBS television show plans to debut the as-yet-unfinished feature, “Cyberged-don,” on Yahoo in installments this fall. His latest foray into online storytelling follows his partnership on a horror series for YouTube.

It also marks Yahoo’s second stab at

tapping Hollywood talent to create origi-nal online video. In January, Yahoo said a series of 20 animated webisodes devel-oped by Tom Hanks called “Electric City” would debut on the site this spring.

Many Web video companies, including Hulu, YouTube and Netflix, are pushing to put more original video content online as they compete for people’s attention with traditional outlets like TV channels. Zuiker and Yahoo consider the online movie debut to be similar to a release in theaters.

“Instead of 5,000 theater screens, you can wake up to 50 million screens in one day,” Zuiker says. Zuiker is the movie’s executive producer, but hasn’t found a director or actors yet.

Unlike a movie, viewers won’t be charged admission. But the movie will come with ads, including ones from the maker of the Norton AntiVirus program, Symantec Corp. The movie’s episodes may also be sprinkled through different Yahoo properties such as its finance, news and entertainment sites.

Along with regular video ads, a charac-ter playing a Norton employee will have a “small but impactful” role in the movie, Zuiker says.

The plot revolves around a female gov-ernment agent who has a falling out with the law and is on the run herself, while pursuing a master hacker who wants to bring the world to its cyber-knees.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — The animated Beatles movie “Yellow Submarine” has been carefully re-stored frame-by-frame for DVD release this year. Specialists worked for four months to individually clean each frame of the 1968 sur-real tale by hand, the Beatles’ holding company Apple Corps Ltd. said Tuesday.

The specialists chose not to use automated software because of the delicate nature of the hand-drawn artwork, the company added.

The colorful movie, a fantasy that features cartoon versions of the Beatles and images from

some of their psychedelic songs, is currently out of print. It features some of the band’s greatest hits including “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” ‘’Eleanor Rigby” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

“As a fan of animation and as a film-maker, I tip my hat to the artists of ‘Yellow Subma-rine’, whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for the fantastically diverse world of animation that we all enjoy today,” said Pixar studios chief John Lasseter in the sleeve notes for the re-release. The DVD will be released on May 28, and the film’s soundtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same day.

Can ‘Hunger Games’ do ‘Twilight’-type $140M debut?Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — Fans are so hungry for “The Hunger Games” that Hollywood’s buzzing about an opening weekend to rival the $140 million debuts of some of the “Twilight” mov-ies. Early tracking pegged “The Hunger Games” at only about half that much. But box-office forecasters have been continually revising their predictions upward based on audience aware-ness and advance ticket sales.

AP Photo/Lionsgate, Murray Close

In this image released by Lionsgate, Jen-nifer Lawrence portrays Katniss Everdeen

in a scene from “The Hunger Games.”

Zuiker to debut ‘Cybergeddon’ movie on Yahoo

AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file

Anthony Zuiker

Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ movie restored for DVD

In this still undated image taken from

the animated color-ful Beatles movie,

Yellow Submarine, a surreal tale that features cartoon

versions of mem-bers of the Beatles band, and images

from some of their psychedelic songs has been restored

frame by frame, by hand, it is an-

nounced Tuesday March 20, 2012.

AP Photo/ Subafilms

Thursday, March 22, 2012 Thursday, March 22, 20126 11News

BUSINESSInternational International

Associated Press

DUBAI — Kuwait Airways says flights have resumed after workers called off a strike that has grounded its planes since the weekend.

Airline spokesman Adel Boresly said Wednesday that the carrier resumed business

Tuesday evening and that operations are now back to normal.

Government-owned Kuwait Airways began grounding flights Saturday evening in re-sponse to a strike by employees demanding higher pay. Their strike followed a work stop-page by customs officials that

blocked hundreds of trucks from crossing the border.

Kuwaitis are used to well-paying government jobs and cradle-to-grave benefits that are increasingly a burden on state finances. Calls for better working terms have grown louder in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.

The Pingtan Experimental Zone, an industrial park to be built on a fishing vil-lage in China’s Fujian Province, faces Tai-wan across the 100-mile (160-kilometer) Taiwan Strait. Beijing is touting it as an opportunity for Taiwan businesspeople to stand shoulder to shoulder with their main-land cousins, developing, managing and operating the project on a joint basis.

That has raised the ire of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the Cabinet level body responsible for relations with China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

“Pingtan can’t possibly be a cross-Strait experimental zone,” said MAC deputy head Liu Te-shun. “No agencies in the public sector would coordinate with them.”

He said the government won’t stop Taiwanese businesses from investing there, but they would operate at their own risk since infrastructure at the park could well be inadequate.

Pingtan would require substantial in-vestment in building dock facilities and highways linking the town with the capital of Fujian province.

Liu’s comments underscore Taiwan’s sensitivity about having direct government-to-government contacts with the mainland. It sees such contacts as paving the way for Beijing’s “one country two systems,” model — currently in practice in Hong Kong — which Taiwanese spurn as a re-nunciation of their sovereignty.

Despite the civil war split six decades ago, China continues to regard Taiwan as part of its territory and is committed to bringing the island of 23 million people back into the fold.

Since taking office four years ago, newly re-elected Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has made improving relations with China the centerpiece of his administration, sanction-ing a series of initiatives like hundreds of weekly cross-strait flights and a partial free trade agreement.

As a result tension between the sides dropped to its lowest level in more than six decades.

But even for the China-friendly Ma gov-ernment, Pingtan seems a bridge too far.

Economics professor Chao Chien-min of

Taiwan’s National Chengchi University said that in addition to its political ramifications, the project was troubling because of China’s attempt to lure mainland Taiwanese talent — in vital fields like banking and flat screen panel technology — with big salaries.

“Taiwan fears the Chinese are trying to weaken its economy, even though closer trade exchanges are generally welcome to help ensure peace and stability,” Chao said.

Taiwanese businesspeople have also ex-pressed skepticism over the industrial park’s infrastructure and operation.

“Big salaries may be appealing, but you must get job opportunities first,” he said.

The opposition Democratic Progres-sive Party warns that China is expanding its contacts with Taiwanese in all walks of life, largely to smooth out opposition to political talks.

It sees these efforts as a logical follow-up to the lucrative contracts the Chinese have placed with Taiwan farmers and fishermen over the past two years to try to win their political support.

Still, few analysts believe that there will be any appreciable setback to the many new deals now being negotiated to deepen cooperation between the sides in the manufacturing, banking and other service sectors.

These include ironing out the wrinkles in an existing banking initiative which allows Taiwanese and Chinese banks to set up branches in each other’s territory.

Taiwan banks want the opportunity to gain a substantial foothold in the massive mainland market without being taken over by much larger Chinese lenders, and are pressing the government to raise the 10 percent cap on total Chinese equity invest-ment in a Taiwanese lender as a sign of their goodwill.

Also on the cross-strait agenda is a cur-rency swap and currency settlement deal and a Taiwanese effort to attract mainland capital by establishing the island as a wealth management center.

These deals are negotiated by quasi-governmental agencies, rather than the gov-ernments themselves — a crucial distinction for the wary Taiwanese.

Taiwan spurns new economic overture from ChinaAssociated Press

TAIPEI — A Chinese attempt to develop a special economic zone with joint Taiwan management has run afoul of the government in Taipei, which sees it as an attempt by Beijing to make political inroads on the democratic island.

Associated Press

LONDON — Britain’s fi-nance minister is expected to announce tax breaks for both the top and the bottom of the nation’s income scale.

George Osborne, the chan-cellor of the Exchequer, is set to lay out his budget plans to the House of Commons at

midday Wednesday.Speculation has focused

on an expectation that Os-borne will announce a cut in the 50 percent tax rate assessed on income above 150,000 pounds ($238,000). That rate potentially hits 43,000 taxpayers, the top 1 percent.

News reports says Os-

borne is also likely to an-nounce an increase in the amount of income exempt from tax, which would be of greatest benefit to those with the smallest incomes.

Osborne will also be re-porting on plans to continue cutting deficits which mush-roomed following the global credit crisis.

AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari

Passengers of Kuwait Airways seen at Kuwait Airport on Sunday, March 18, 2012. Kuwait Airways, the Gulf state’s national carrier, extended flight cancellations across its route network into a second day Sunday as it scrambled to cope with a strike by workers.

Kuwait Airways resumes flights after strike halted

UK finance minister to detail annual budget

The tremor was one of the stron-gest to hit the country since the dev-astating 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1985, which killed thousands in Mexico City.

Still, no deaths were reported on Tuesday and there were major dis-ruptions to air travel or to oil instal-lations. But it scared many residents and temporarily cut off electricity to some 2.5 million users in the capital. Martha Suarez, an Argentine living in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood said she had never known anything like it.

“My TV set fell over, the build-ing felt like it was on a trampoline. This one was like no other I have felt before,” Suarez said, holding her little dog close. Scores of the houses damaged were in Ometepec, a town close to the epicenter of the quake in Guerrero, the state that is home to the popular Pacific beach resort Acapulco.

In neighboring Oaxaca, 68 mud-brick houses were damaged and at least five people were injured, one of them seriously, in the area around the town of Pinotepa Nacional near the Pacific coast, local emergency services said. Some buildings in the capital’s trendy district of Condesa were cracked by the earthquake, and residents raced out of buildings with young children and dogs in

their arms.“I swear I never felt one so strong,

I thought the building was going to collapse,” said Sebastian Herrera, 42, a businessman from a Mexico City neighborhood hit hard in 1985. Television images showed part of a bridge collapsed onto a vehicle on the outskirts of Mexico City, but Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said no one was injured and that helicopter flyovers showed there was no sign of major damage in the capital.

President Felipe Calderon also said there were no reports of serious damage, and experts said the impact did not look severe. Eqecat, a disaster modeling company whose software is used by insurers to predict exposure to natural disasters, estimated insured losses from the quake at less than $100 million.

Still, more than two hours after the quake, some residents of the capital were still too scared to return to their homes, fearing powerful aftershocks.

FELT IN GUATEMALAFear gripped many Mexico City

locals when the quake hit. “A paint-ing fell down, things started bang-ing about, and the neighbors started shouting,” said Patricia Ramirez, a 31-year old who was on the third floor of an apartment in the Condesa

neighborhood.However, Mexico City’s inter-

national airport was operating nor-mally and only a couple of flights to the United States were temporarily grounded, a spokesman said.

State oil company Pemex said all its installations on the Pacific coast were operating normally, including the country’s largest 330,000-barrel-per-day capacity Salina Cruz refin-ery. The U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, said the quake registered magnitude 7.4 and there were several aftershocks.

In Acapulco, schools were evacu-ated and some parents rushed to pick up their children, but there appeared to be no major damage to hotels or other buildings in the resort.

The White House, which has declined to confirm reports that President Barack Obama’s daughter Malia was vacationing in Mexico, said the 13-year-old was safe. “In light of today’s earthquake, we can confirm that Malia Obama is safe and was never in danger,” said Kristina Schake, communications director to first lady Michelle Obama. The quake was felt as far away as Guatemala City.

A spokesman for Mexico City’s health authorities said hospitals and clinics were operating normally al-though some patients were evacuated from damaged buildings.

Agence France Presse

A surfer was recovering Wednesday after being bitten by a shark on Aus-tralia’s Gold Coast when he fell off his board and landed on the predator.

The animal, believed to be a bull shark, bit Billy O’Leary twice, slicing his flesh down to the bone and severely damaging his Achilles tendon, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

O’Leary, 20, managed to get himself ashore at Nobbys Beach where friends bound the wound to stem the bleeding and alerted authorities.

“There were two bites. One is sort of half in his calf, that’s taken a big chunk out of that,” fellow surfer Tim Windisch told the newspaper.

“The other one is down to his heel. It’s just right down to the bone. You could see the bone.”

Chief lifeguard Warren Young said it appeared O’Leary landed on the bull shark, an aggressive species known for its tendency to attack humans.

“He feels like he perhaps landed on it -- he’s come off his board and landed on it doing an aerial,” Young said.

“That’s what he’s said to us, so maybe he’s landed on it and it’s re-acted.

“Being a small shark and the water’s a bit discoloured, you’re not going to see it... we think it was perhaps a bull shark.”

Sharks are common in Australian waters but fatal attacks are rare, with just 27 people killed in the past 22 years.

The Gold Coast is a popular tourist destination and attracts hordes of local and international visitors every year.

Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY — Four rare white rhinoceroses have died in recent weeks at an Australian zoo after displaying mysterious neurological problems such as stumbling, officials said Wednesday.

The Taronga Western Plains Zoo near the New South Wales state city of Dubbo said in a statement that it had begun a veterinary investigation to pinpoint the cause of the deaths and is working with rhino specialists in Africa and North America.

The four rhinos — Izizi, Aluka, Intombi and her daughter Amira — be-gan showing signs of neurological problems two weeks ago, an unnamed zoo official told Australian Associated Press. The first rhino died soon after the symptoms became apparent and the fourth died over the weekend, the official said.

The zoo’s general manager, Matt Fuller, said in a statement that no other species at the zoo had been affected by the illness and the surviving rhinos, which have been placed in quarantine, are healthy.

“The rhino keepers and veterinary staff know and care for every indi-vidual in the herd, so this has been a huge shock, and we’re all very sad and supporting each other through this difficult time,” Fuller said.

Intombi and Aluka were brought to the zoo from the Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2003. Amira and Izizi were born in captivity. Their ages ranged from around 7 to 16 years.

The investigation has ruled out exposure to toxins, bacterial infection, snake venom and organ failure as causes of death. Fuller was not immedi-ately available for comment on Wednesday.

REUTERS/Violeta Schmidt

Workers clear debris from a collapsed bridge that had fallen on a bus in Mexico City March 20, 2012, after an 7.4-magnitude quake shook Mexico. A major earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday, unleashing panic as it damaged scores of buildings and caused homes in the capital to bounce like “trampolines.”

Big earthquake rattles Mexico, no major damageReuters

Office workers fled into the street when the 7.4-magnitude quake shook Mexico City for more than a minute. Cell phone lines went down, buildings were evacuated, traffic snarled and the stock exchange had to suspend trading early. The quake hit hardest in the southwestern state of Guerrero, where around 800 houses were damaged, officials said. The state governor Angel Aguirre said he had reports of homes being knocked down, though state authorities could not confirm this.

Australian surfer attacked by shark

4 rare white rhinos die suddenly in Australian zoo

REUTERS/Handout/Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Two-month-old one-horned rhino Charlees romps in her enclosure at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park during her public debut in this handout photo released to Reuters on March 20, 2012.

Thursday, March 22, 2012 7Indonesia Today Thursday, March 22, 201210 InternationalInternationalDestinations

08123961594New Year Eve

MAGIC SHOW

C.0009173-rpa

Classic Stage

ChristmasKids Party

IBP

JIMBARAN - Suluban Beach is one of the places of interest belong-ing to Badung regency. It is known for its beautiful beach along with amazing wave; best for surfing. The natural beauty of the southern tip of Bali’s highland with its hollowing waves and peaceful surroundings has attracted more and more visitors to enjoy its serenity and peaceful-ness. The water is also clear.

Located a few kilometers north of the ancient temple of Uluwatu, facing the vast Indian ocean. From the parking area one must descend down stairs and pass through long narrow gap of cliff before reaching the large waves make it one of the best places for surfing in all of Bali, as surfing lovers throughout the world have already discovered.

This beach is located not so far to the north of Uluwatu, adjacent to the surf beach Bingin and Labuhan

Sait.Suluban derived from the Ba-

linese language “Mesulub” which means “to run or pass under some-thing. ”

Suluban Beach named, because visitors who want to go there must go through a rock cave on the beach before finally reaching a broad, white sand with the waves roaring fun for tourists surfers.

Coastal sea water is very clear and the waves are high enough, so that is the best known beach among surfers. In the afternoon, we could see a beautiful sunset views.

Some tourism facilities such as restaurants, bars, surf equipment rental and repair shop is available.

This beach is not too crowded like Kuta or Dreamland. So very romantic to spend time with your partner or a walk with the family.

On the rocks there is a gazebo that allows us to take photos with perfect and is the best place to look around.IBP/Net

Suluban beach

Antara

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government intends to invest in the food sector in Vietnam, Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

“At our meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Cao Duc Phat, we expressed Indonesia`s wish to make investment related to food security in Vietnam,” he said commenting on the results of his visit to Vietnam on March 15-16 to attend the 31st FAO Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Hanoi.

He said Indonesia also intended to cooperate with Vietnam in con-ducting hybrid rice research and development. Vietnam which pro-duced 24 million tons of rice per year recorded a rice surplus of 10 million tons per year, he said.

Rice consumption in Vietnam, with a population of 86 million,

currently reached 12 million tons per year, he said.

He said rice fields in Vietnam covered an area of 4.3 million hect-ares compared to 8 million hectares in Indonesia.

“After all, the country is able to harvest rice thrice a year, with the productivity of every hectare reaching 5.2 tons so its unhulled rice production reached 40 million tons per year,” he said.

Meanwhile, the productivity of Indonesia`s rice field reached 5.1 tons per hectare, with two harvests a year, he said.

The use of hybrid rice seeds would have the potential to raise the rice production to up to 9-10 tons a year, he said.

By establishing cooperation with Vietnam in the development of hy-brid rice the production of domestic food would ioncrease, he said.

“In the short run, the subsidized fuel oil price hike will have a negative impact, but this decision is very good for the economy in the medium and long terms,” IMF senior resident representative for Indonesia Milan Zavadjil said here on Tuesday.

Yet, he asked the government to keep watch for a risk of second round effect on inflation. If that was the case, Bank Indo-nesia (the central bank) must be ready to raise its benchmark interest rate, known as BI Rate.

It was not the poor but middle and high class people who had so far enjoyed very much subsidized fuels, he noted.

“It is not the poor who get the greatest benefit from subsidized fuels because they have no cars nor motorcycles. They use public transportation modes,” he said.

He described as a “good breakthrough” the government`s plan to compensate the poor for fuel price hike by providing them with a monthly cash handout of Rp150,000 each.

Under the draft revision of the 2012 state budget, the government has proposed a monthly cash handout of Rp150,000 for each poor household for nine months. The program is expected to affect 18.5 million households which make up 30 percent of low-income households.

This year`s fuel subsidy is expected to reach Rp137.4 trillion, up 11.1 percent from the 2012 budget ceiling of Rp123.6 trillion.

Antara

BOGOR - Indonesia intends to send up to 10 thousand personnel to join UN peacekeeping missions, becoming one of the 10 larg-est contributors of peacekeeping forces, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

“We now have a more challeng-ing goal to become one of the 10 countries in the world to contribute up to 10,000 peacekeeping forces,” he said in his introductory speech prior to visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon delivered his speech on “UN Peacekeeping, Challenges and Opportunities for Indonesia” here on Tuesday.

To meet the target, President Yudhoyono said Indonesia is devel-oping a peacekeeping mission cen-ter on a 261.712 thousand-hectare plot of land in Citeureup, Sentul,

Bogor, West Java.He noted that the project, which

has been underway since 2010, is expected to be completed in the 2014 fiscal year. Besides being a peacekeeping mission center, the location will also be used as a train-ing center for swift-moving forces, anti-terror units, language training and natural disaster mitigation, and will include a defense university and military sports centers.

The center, which was dedicated on December 19, 2011, is expected to function as a training center for peacekeeping forces that will be sent abroad.

President Yudhoyono said peace-keeping forces must not only have military skills, but also the skills to understand the local culture and language of the places where they are assigned.

“They have to be able to work

with military forces from various countries, have anti-terror skills and know about peacekeeping. They also must have knowledge of the culture and language of the people [resident in the locations] to which they have been assigned,” he affirmed.

Indonesia has currently deployed approximately 1.9 thousand peace-keeping personnel to Lebanon under the UN flag.

Ban Ki-Moon, meanwhile, was surprised when he visited the Peace-keeping Mission Center. At lunch, he received a traditional rice cone (a special menu generally served at anniversary events) to mark his 41st wedding anniversary.

Ban Ki-Moon, who is visiting Indonesia along with his wife Ban Soon-Taek, was given the honor of cutting the rice cone, while Presi-dent Yudhoyono looked on.

Indonesia to send up to 10,000 for UN peacekeeping mission

RI intends to invest in Vietnam`s food sector

Plan to raise subsidized fuel prices

IMF backs Indonesian governmentAntara

JAKARTA - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown its weight behind the Indonesian government`s plan to raise the price of subsidized fuel oils.

AP Photo/Dita Alangkara

Indonesian soldiers stand guard outside the presidential palace during a protest against the government’s plan to raise fuel prices in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The Indonesian government plans to raise fuel prices by about 33 percent next month to avoid a budget deficit due to expensive fuel subsidies.

Balinese Culture

98 InternationalThursday, March 22, 2012

Bali Today International Thursday, March 22, 2012

One day before Nyepi cel-ebration which fall on the ninth dead moon based on the Hindu lunar system, the Hindus in Bali carry out sacrificing ritual which is given to the lower creatures (bhuta yadnya) so it won’t disturb the live in the cosmos.

The ceremony is done based on the concept of Tri Hitakarana and it is done to preserve the harmonic relationship between human with God, human with other and human with the en-vironment. It is done in several levels, started from family level up through a nation.

The Tawur Kesanga is done in the intersection in their housing because in the concept of Bali-nese architecture, the intersec-tion is the cross of the religious orientation, earth core and the sun which has the zero value.

In Hindu, zero doesn’t mean nothing but it is similar to an empty coconut which there are something inside of it or similar to “manik ring cecupu”, the con-tain and its container, it looks empty but actually there is some-thing inside. This is the concept of God, exist but not exist, pres-ent but can not be seen.

In this context, the zero is not empty but means perfect. In Hindu, the people believe that after the negative things will be-come neutral (Pralina) after the

BE SIAP BASE KALAS(Chicken In Spiced Coconut Milk)

OVERVIEW:

Coconut is readily available and inexpensive in Bali,

so almost any type of meat or seafood is cooked in

coconut-milk gravy; this chicken dish is particularly

good.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 cup chicken spice paste

1 stalk lemon grass, bruised

1 salam leaf

600 gr chicken boneless, cubed

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black peppercorns, crushed

1 ½ cups chicken stock

1 ½ cups coconut milk, light

Fried shallots to garnish

PREPARATION:

Heat oil in heavy saucepan. Add spice paste and

sauté for 2 minutes over low heat. Add lemon grass,

salam leaf and chicken pieces and continue to sauté for

2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour in chicken stock, bring to boil and simmer for

one minute. Add coconut milk, bring to boil, and simmer

until chicken is cooked and sauce thickens. If sauce

becomes too thick, add a little chicken stock. Serve with

Nasi Kuning or steamed rice.

Helpful hints:

Do not cover the pan during cooking, this to prevent

the coconut milk from curdling. If you are worried about

cholesterol, discard the chicken skin before cooking.

Indonesian police personnel stand guard at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar on March 19, 2012 after a late March 18 raid in which Indonesian anti-terror police killed five terror suspects on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. Tourism bussinessmen critises security system in Bali that seem to be up and downs depending on the situation that happen in Bali.

INCREASING interests in endek clothes have an impact on craftsmen where the demand for endek clothes also shows a rapid growth in Klungkung Regency. Even, a single craftsman can pro-duce up to 500 meters of endek clothes every day. The endek clothes produced are divided into two types, namely plain cloth and cloth with motif. One of the handi-craftsmen is Wayan Suartika, the owner of ‘Ardini’ endek clothes handicraft at Jabon, Sampalan Tengah, Dawan Subdistrict.

IBP/Doc

Hindus Bali carry out Tawur Kesanga in Puputan Renon, Bali Island, last year. One day before Nyepi celebration which fall on the ninth dead moon based on the Hindu lunar system, the Hindus in Bali carry out sacrificing ritual which is given to the lower creatures (bhuta yadnya) so it won’t disturb the live in the cosmos.

Pecaruan Tawur Kesanga

purifying ceremony conducted on the intersection.

For that reason, the intersection is very important for the Hindus in Bali and the people are com-monly prepared an empty space in the area as the green area. The pecaruan ceremony which is held in the intersection is done by Tri

Sadaka, exactly on Tilem Chaitra (the ninth dead moon)

The purpose of the ceremony is to preserve the harmonic re-lationship between human with God, human with other and hu-man with the environment (Tri Hitakarana = three cause which lead to good things).Endek clothes of Klungkung

penetrates Italian and Japanese marketVarious handicrafts or household crafts begin to show off

their pace in Klungkung Regency. One of them is the weav-ing business of endek clothes. Amazingly, the demand contin-ues to increase, not only from the local community of Klung-kung, Bali or nationally, but also from overseas like Italy and Japan. Though an earthquake followed by tsunami disaster hit Japan, the effect is not so significant to the demand for

endek fabric from the sunrise country.

However, amidst the increasing demand, labor difficulties haunt the craftsmen. They have difficulty to obtain some labors that are willing to weave endek clothes in order they can meet consumer demand. As a result, artisans are unable to meet all requests, whereas un-til now the Klungkung Regency actually still has thousands of unemployment, both educated and uneducated ones.

Meanwhile, the Head of Klung-kung Social, Manpower and Trans-migration Services, Nyoman Rah-

ayu, said that unemployment rate in Klungkung Regency reached 4005 people from about 134,380 job seekers with age of 15 years or older. Klungkung Regency was unable to reduce the number of unemployment and to create job opportunities other than opening vacancies of civil servant aspirants each year. Rahayu also admitted that her party could not engender skilled unemployment because until now Klungkung Regency did not have a vocational training center (BLK).

This condition is certainly in con-trary to the difficulty undergone by the endek weaving handicraftsmen. Wayan Suartika also experienced similar condition. The demand for his endek weaving works (Ardini Endek Handicraft) was admitted to increase. It was not only from locally Bali (except for Gianyar) but also from outside Bali such as

Lombok up to overseas like Italy and Japan.

Formerly, to accomplish the or-ders, Suartika employed more than 200 workers. However, last year his workers only remained some 100 people. Related to decrease in the number of workers, the man familiarly addressed as Songkrong by most of his relations said that younger generation of Bali today, especially the younger generation of the serombotan (assorted sal-ads served with hot spices) land preferred to choose other jobs such as working in supermarket or a career in offices, public and private sector. In reality, income of an endek weaver was not less than a career in the office or work-ing in supermarket. “The weavers working with us get a minimum income of IDR 800,000 per month. Of course, such amount of salary cannot certainly be earned if work-

ing in supermarket,” he said.Suartika had pioneered the endek

weaving handicrafts since 1982. Initially, his business was initiated by one cagcag or non-mechanical loom (ATBM). Now, the numbers continued to increase even reached 200 units. The price of cagcag equipment reached up to IDR 2.5 million per unit. With such a amount of equipment he owned, Suartika could produce endek clothes up to 500 meters with vari-ous motifs each day.

Other than endek clothes, Klung-kung Regency also has unique weaving works, one of the products is cepuk cloth in Nusa Penida. Un-fortunately, the number of weaver in Nusa Penida has decreased. On that account, it requires serious atten-tion of government to re-encourage them, so distinctive characteristic of Klungkung can be well maintained in the future. (bal)

He stated that many hotels are not properly maintaining the security level before the incident. Only hotels in Nusa Dua area use strict security procedures. However, after the gun fire between police and the terrorists suspect in Sanur, all hotels in the area is tightly guarded.

“How long this will last? I am affarid that it is only temporary,” Ardana said. He explained that tourism is the economics source of the people in Bali so it must be preserved. “Everyone in Bali must guard Bali continuously. If the se-curity is tight then there will be no terrorist entering Bali,” Ardana explained.

He suggested that to main-

tain the security in Bali, the tax taken by the hotels and restaurants throughout Bali can be used to preserve the security.

Meanwhile, Nyoman Kan-dia, a tourism businessmen, was also stated the same thing. Bali as world tourism destination must have international level security system. “It is ashamed that the security level in Bali is not as we expected. The govern-ment must work hard to make it better,” he added.

Kandia also explained that the crimes happen to the tour-ists become headlines in their native countries. The security problem is very sensitive so the government must apply a good system to preserve it.(kmb27)

Security in Bali only temporaryBali Post

Denpasar – The tightening security after the terrorists’ raid in Sanur is supported by tourism agents. However, they urged the government to maintain the security level even tough the situation is calm. The Vice Head of Bali Travel Agent Association (ASITA), Ketut Ardana, said Wednesday, “the security of Bali must be keep tighten, not only after an incident. We need to maintain the security level at all time.”

Balinese Culture

98 InternationalThursday, March 22, 2012

Bali Today International Thursday, March 22, 2012

One day before Nyepi cel-ebration which fall on the ninth dead moon based on the Hindu lunar system, the Hindus in Bali carry out sacrificing ritual which is given to the lower creatures (bhuta yadnya) so it won’t disturb the live in the cosmos.

The ceremony is done based on the concept of Tri Hitakarana and it is done to preserve the harmonic relationship between human with God, human with other and human with the en-vironment. It is done in several levels, started from family level up through a nation.

The Tawur Kesanga is done in the intersection in their housing because in the concept of Bali-nese architecture, the intersec-tion is the cross of the religious orientation, earth core and the sun which has the zero value.

In Hindu, zero doesn’t mean nothing but it is similar to an empty coconut which there are something inside of it or similar to “manik ring cecupu”, the con-tain and its container, it looks empty but actually there is some-thing inside. This is the concept of God, exist but not exist, pres-ent but can not be seen.

In this context, the zero is not empty but means perfect. In Hindu, the people believe that after the negative things will be-come neutral (Pralina) after the

BE SIAP BASE KALAS(Chicken In Spiced Coconut Milk)

OVERVIEW:

Coconut is readily available and inexpensive in Bali,

so almost any type of meat or seafood is cooked in

coconut-milk gravy; this chicken dish is particularly

good.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 cup chicken spice paste

1 stalk lemon grass, bruised

1 salam leaf

600 gr chicken boneless, cubed

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black peppercorns, crushed

1 ½ cups chicken stock

1 ½ cups coconut milk, light

Fried shallots to garnish

PREPARATION:

Heat oil in heavy saucepan. Add spice paste and

sauté for 2 minutes over low heat. Add lemon grass,

salam leaf and chicken pieces and continue to sauté for

2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour in chicken stock, bring to boil and simmer for

one minute. Add coconut milk, bring to boil, and simmer

until chicken is cooked and sauce thickens. If sauce

becomes too thick, add a little chicken stock. Serve with

Nasi Kuning or steamed rice.

Helpful hints:

Do not cover the pan during cooking, this to prevent

the coconut milk from curdling. If you are worried about

cholesterol, discard the chicken skin before cooking.

Indonesian police personnel stand guard at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar on March 19, 2012 after a late March 18 raid in which Indonesian anti-terror police killed five terror suspects on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. Tourism bussinessmen critises security system in Bali that seem to be up and downs depending on the situation that happen in Bali.

INCREASING interests in endek clothes have an impact on craftsmen where the demand for endek clothes also shows a rapid growth in Klungkung Regency. Even, a single craftsman can pro-duce up to 500 meters of endek clothes every day. The endek clothes produced are divided into two types, namely plain cloth and cloth with motif. One of the handi-craftsmen is Wayan Suartika, the owner of ‘Ardini’ endek clothes handicraft at Jabon, Sampalan Tengah, Dawan Subdistrict.

IBP/Doc

Hindus Bali carry out Tawur Kesanga in Puputan Renon, Bali Island, last year. One day before Nyepi celebration which fall on the ninth dead moon based on the Hindu lunar system, the Hindus in Bali carry out sacrificing ritual which is given to the lower creatures (bhuta yadnya) so it won’t disturb the live in the cosmos.

Pecaruan Tawur Kesanga

purifying ceremony conducted on the intersection.

For that reason, the intersection is very important for the Hindus in Bali and the people are com-monly prepared an empty space in the area as the green area. The pecaruan ceremony which is held in the intersection is done by Tri

Sadaka, exactly on Tilem Chaitra (the ninth dead moon)

The purpose of the ceremony is to preserve the harmonic re-lationship between human with God, human with other and hu-man with the environment (Tri Hitakarana = three cause which lead to good things).Endek clothes of Klungkung

penetrates Italian and Japanese marketVarious handicrafts or household crafts begin to show off

their pace in Klungkung Regency. One of them is the weav-ing business of endek clothes. Amazingly, the demand contin-ues to increase, not only from the local community of Klung-kung, Bali or nationally, but also from overseas like Italy and Japan. Though an earthquake followed by tsunami disaster hit Japan, the effect is not so significant to the demand for

endek fabric from the sunrise country.

However, amidst the increasing demand, labor difficulties haunt the craftsmen. They have difficulty to obtain some labors that are willing to weave endek clothes in order they can meet consumer demand. As a result, artisans are unable to meet all requests, whereas un-til now the Klungkung Regency actually still has thousands of unemployment, both educated and uneducated ones.

Meanwhile, the Head of Klung-kung Social, Manpower and Trans-migration Services, Nyoman Rah-

ayu, said that unemployment rate in Klungkung Regency reached 4005 people from about 134,380 job seekers with age of 15 years or older. Klungkung Regency was unable to reduce the number of unemployment and to create job opportunities other than opening vacancies of civil servant aspirants each year. Rahayu also admitted that her party could not engender skilled unemployment because until now Klungkung Regency did not have a vocational training center (BLK).

This condition is certainly in con-trary to the difficulty undergone by the endek weaving handicraftsmen. Wayan Suartika also experienced similar condition. The demand for his endek weaving works (Ardini Endek Handicraft) was admitted to increase. It was not only from locally Bali (except for Gianyar) but also from outside Bali such as

Lombok up to overseas like Italy and Japan.

Formerly, to accomplish the or-ders, Suartika employed more than 200 workers. However, last year his workers only remained some 100 people. Related to decrease in the number of workers, the man familiarly addressed as Songkrong by most of his relations said that younger generation of Bali today, especially the younger generation of the serombotan (assorted sal-ads served with hot spices) land preferred to choose other jobs such as working in supermarket or a career in offices, public and private sector. In reality, income of an endek weaver was not less than a career in the office or work-ing in supermarket. “The weavers working with us get a minimum income of IDR 800,000 per month. Of course, such amount of salary cannot certainly be earned if work-

ing in supermarket,” he said.Suartika had pioneered the endek

weaving handicrafts since 1982. Initially, his business was initiated by one cagcag or non-mechanical loom (ATBM). Now, the numbers continued to increase even reached 200 units. The price of cagcag equipment reached up to IDR 2.5 million per unit. With such a amount of equipment he owned, Suartika could produce endek clothes up to 500 meters with vari-ous motifs each day.

Other than endek clothes, Klung-kung Regency also has unique weaving works, one of the products is cepuk cloth in Nusa Penida. Un-fortunately, the number of weaver in Nusa Penida has decreased. On that account, it requires serious atten-tion of government to re-encourage them, so distinctive characteristic of Klungkung can be well maintained in the future. (bal)

He stated that many hotels are not properly maintaining the security level before the incident. Only hotels in Nusa Dua area use strict security procedures. However, after the gun fire between police and the terrorists suspect in Sanur, all hotels in the area is tightly guarded.

“How long this will last? I am affarid that it is only temporary,” Ardana said. He explained that tourism is the economics source of the people in Bali so it must be preserved. “Everyone in Bali must guard Bali continuously. If the se-curity is tight then there will be no terrorist entering Bali,” Ardana explained.

He suggested that to main-

tain the security in Bali, the tax taken by the hotels and restaurants throughout Bali can be used to preserve the security.

Meanwhile, Nyoman Kan-dia, a tourism businessmen, was also stated the same thing. Bali as world tourism destination must have international level security system. “It is ashamed that the security level in Bali is not as we expected. The govern-ment must work hard to make it better,” he added.

Kandia also explained that the crimes happen to the tour-ists become headlines in their native countries. The security problem is very sensitive so the government must apply a good system to preserve it.(kmb27)

Security in Bali only temporaryBali Post

Denpasar – The tightening security after the terrorists’ raid in Sanur is supported by tourism agents. However, they urged the government to maintain the security level even tough the situation is calm. The Vice Head of Bali Travel Agent Association (ASITA), Ketut Ardana, said Wednesday, “the security of Bali must be keep tighten, not only after an incident. We need to maintain the security level at all time.”

Thursday, March 22, 2012 7Indonesia Today Thursday, March 22, 201210 InternationalInternationalDestinations

08123961594New Year Eve

MAGIC SHOW

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Classic Stage

ChristmasKids Party

IBP

JIMBARAN - Suluban Beach is one of the places of interest belong-ing to Badung regency. It is known for its beautiful beach along with amazing wave; best for surfing. The natural beauty of the southern tip of Bali’s highland with its hollowing waves and peaceful surroundings has attracted more and more visitors to enjoy its serenity and peaceful-ness. The water is also clear.

Located a few kilometers north of the ancient temple of Uluwatu, facing the vast Indian ocean. From the parking area one must descend down stairs and pass through long narrow gap of cliff before reaching the large waves make it one of the best places for surfing in all of Bali, as surfing lovers throughout the world have already discovered.

This beach is located not so far to the north of Uluwatu, adjacent to the surf beach Bingin and Labuhan

Sait.Suluban derived from the Ba-

linese language “Mesulub” which means “to run or pass under some-thing. ”

Suluban Beach named, because visitors who want to go there must go through a rock cave on the beach before finally reaching a broad, white sand with the waves roaring fun for tourists surfers.

Coastal sea water is very clear and the waves are high enough, so that is the best known beach among surfers. In the afternoon, we could see a beautiful sunset views.

Some tourism facilities such as restaurants, bars, surf equipment rental and repair shop is available.

This beach is not too crowded like Kuta or Dreamland. So very romantic to spend time with your partner or a walk with the family.

On the rocks there is a gazebo that allows us to take photos with perfect and is the best place to look around.IBP/Net

Suluban beach

Antara

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government intends to invest in the food sector in Vietnam, Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

“At our meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Cao Duc Phat, we expressed Indonesia`s wish to make investment related to food security in Vietnam,” he said commenting on the results of his visit to Vietnam on March 15-16 to attend the 31st FAO Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Hanoi.

He said Indonesia also intended to cooperate with Vietnam in con-ducting hybrid rice research and development. Vietnam which pro-duced 24 million tons of rice per year recorded a rice surplus of 10 million tons per year, he said.

Rice consumption in Vietnam, with a population of 86 million,

currently reached 12 million tons per year, he said.

He said rice fields in Vietnam covered an area of 4.3 million hect-ares compared to 8 million hectares in Indonesia.

“After all, the country is able to harvest rice thrice a year, with the productivity of every hectare reaching 5.2 tons so its unhulled rice production reached 40 million tons per year,” he said.

Meanwhile, the productivity of Indonesia`s rice field reached 5.1 tons per hectare, with two harvests a year, he said.

The use of hybrid rice seeds would have the potential to raise the rice production to up to 9-10 tons a year, he said.

By establishing cooperation with Vietnam in the development of hy-brid rice the production of domestic food would ioncrease, he said.

“In the short run, the subsidized fuel oil price hike will have a negative impact, but this decision is very good for the economy in the medium and long terms,” IMF senior resident representative for Indonesia Milan Zavadjil said here on Tuesday.

Yet, he asked the government to keep watch for a risk of second round effect on inflation. If that was the case, Bank Indo-nesia (the central bank) must be ready to raise its benchmark interest rate, known as BI Rate.

It was not the poor but middle and high class people who had so far enjoyed very much subsidized fuels, he noted.

“It is not the poor who get the greatest benefit from subsidized fuels because they have no cars nor motorcycles. They use public transportation modes,” he said.

He described as a “good breakthrough” the government`s plan to compensate the poor for fuel price hike by providing them with a monthly cash handout of Rp150,000 each.

Under the draft revision of the 2012 state budget, the government has proposed a monthly cash handout of Rp150,000 for each poor household for nine months. The program is expected to affect 18.5 million households which make up 30 percent of low-income households.

This year`s fuel subsidy is expected to reach Rp137.4 trillion, up 11.1 percent from the 2012 budget ceiling of Rp123.6 trillion.

Antara

BOGOR - Indonesia intends to send up to 10 thousand personnel to join UN peacekeeping missions, becoming one of the 10 larg-est contributors of peacekeeping forces, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

“We now have a more challeng-ing goal to become one of the 10 countries in the world to contribute up to 10,000 peacekeeping forces,” he said in his introductory speech prior to visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon delivered his speech on “UN Peacekeeping, Challenges and Opportunities for Indonesia” here on Tuesday.

To meet the target, President Yudhoyono said Indonesia is devel-oping a peacekeeping mission cen-ter on a 261.712 thousand-hectare plot of land in Citeureup, Sentul,

Bogor, West Java.He noted that the project, which

has been underway since 2010, is expected to be completed in the 2014 fiscal year. Besides being a peacekeeping mission center, the location will also be used as a train-ing center for swift-moving forces, anti-terror units, language training and natural disaster mitigation, and will include a defense university and military sports centers.

The center, which was dedicated on December 19, 2011, is expected to function as a training center for peacekeeping forces that will be sent abroad.

President Yudhoyono said peace-keeping forces must not only have military skills, but also the skills to understand the local culture and language of the places where they are assigned.

“They have to be able to work

with military forces from various countries, have anti-terror skills and know about peacekeeping. They also must have knowledge of the culture and language of the people [resident in the locations] to which they have been assigned,” he affirmed.

Indonesia has currently deployed approximately 1.9 thousand peace-keeping personnel to Lebanon under the UN flag.

Ban Ki-Moon, meanwhile, was surprised when he visited the Peace-keeping Mission Center. At lunch, he received a traditional rice cone (a special menu generally served at anniversary events) to mark his 41st wedding anniversary.

Ban Ki-Moon, who is visiting Indonesia along with his wife Ban Soon-Taek, was given the honor of cutting the rice cone, while Presi-dent Yudhoyono looked on.

Indonesia to send up to 10,000 for UN peacekeeping mission

RI intends to invest in Vietnam`s food sector

Plan to raise subsidized fuel prices

IMF backs Indonesian governmentAntara

JAKARTA - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown its weight behind the Indonesian government`s plan to raise the price of subsidized fuel oils.

AP Photo/Dita Alangkara

Indonesian soldiers stand guard outside the presidential palace during a protest against the government’s plan to raise fuel prices in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The Indonesian government plans to raise fuel prices by about 33 percent next month to avoid a budget deficit due to expensive fuel subsidies.

Thursday, March 22, 2012 Thursday, March 22, 20126 11News

BUSINESSInternational International

Associated Press

DUBAI — Kuwait Airways says flights have resumed after workers called off a strike that has grounded its planes since the weekend.

Airline spokesman Adel Boresly said Wednesday that the carrier resumed business

Tuesday evening and that operations are now back to normal.

Government-owned Kuwait Airways began grounding flights Saturday evening in re-sponse to a strike by employees demanding higher pay. Their strike followed a work stop-page by customs officials that

blocked hundreds of trucks from crossing the border.

Kuwaitis are used to well-paying government jobs and cradle-to-grave benefits that are increasingly a burden on state finances. Calls for better working terms have grown louder in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.

The Pingtan Experimental Zone, an industrial park to be built on a fishing vil-lage in China’s Fujian Province, faces Tai-wan across the 100-mile (160-kilometer) Taiwan Strait. Beijing is touting it as an opportunity for Taiwan businesspeople to stand shoulder to shoulder with their main-land cousins, developing, managing and operating the project on a joint basis.

That has raised the ire of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the Cabinet level body responsible for relations with China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

“Pingtan can’t possibly be a cross-Strait experimental zone,” said MAC deputy head Liu Te-shun. “No agencies in the public sector would coordinate with them.”

He said the government won’t stop Taiwanese businesses from investing there, but they would operate at their own risk since infrastructure at the park could well be inadequate.

Pingtan would require substantial in-vestment in building dock facilities and highways linking the town with the capital of Fujian province.

Liu’s comments underscore Taiwan’s sensitivity about having direct government-to-government contacts with the mainland. It sees such contacts as paving the way for Beijing’s “one country two systems,” model — currently in practice in Hong Kong — which Taiwanese spurn as a re-nunciation of their sovereignty.

Despite the civil war split six decades ago, China continues to regard Taiwan as part of its territory and is committed to bringing the island of 23 million people back into the fold.

Since taking office four years ago, newly re-elected Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has made improving relations with China the centerpiece of his administration, sanction-ing a series of initiatives like hundreds of weekly cross-strait flights and a partial free trade agreement.

As a result tension between the sides dropped to its lowest level in more than six decades.

But even for the China-friendly Ma gov-ernment, Pingtan seems a bridge too far.

Economics professor Chao Chien-min of

Taiwan’s National Chengchi University said that in addition to its political ramifications, the project was troubling because of China’s attempt to lure mainland Taiwanese talent — in vital fields like banking and flat screen panel technology — with big salaries.

“Taiwan fears the Chinese are trying to weaken its economy, even though closer trade exchanges are generally welcome to help ensure peace and stability,” Chao said.

Taiwanese businesspeople have also ex-pressed skepticism over the industrial park’s infrastructure and operation.

“Big salaries may be appealing, but you must get job opportunities first,” he said.

The opposition Democratic Progres-sive Party warns that China is expanding its contacts with Taiwanese in all walks of life, largely to smooth out opposition to political talks.

It sees these efforts as a logical follow-up to the lucrative contracts the Chinese have placed with Taiwan farmers and fishermen over the past two years to try to win their political support.

Still, few analysts believe that there will be any appreciable setback to the many new deals now being negotiated to deepen cooperation between the sides in the manufacturing, banking and other service sectors.

These include ironing out the wrinkles in an existing banking initiative which allows Taiwanese and Chinese banks to set up branches in each other’s territory.

Taiwan banks want the opportunity to gain a substantial foothold in the massive mainland market without being taken over by much larger Chinese lenders, and are pressing the government to raise the 10 percent cap on total Chinese equity invest-ment in a Taiwanese lender as a sign of their goodwill.

Also on the cross-strait agenda is a cur-rency swap and currency settlement deal and a Taiwanese effort to attract mainland capital by establishing the island as a wealth management center.

These deals are negotiated by quasi-governmental agencies, rather than the gov-ernments themselves — a crucial distinction for the wary Taiwanese.

Taiwan spurns new economic overture from ChinaAssociated Press

TAIPEI — A Chinese attempt to develop a special economic zone with joint Taiwan management has run afoul of the government in Taipei, which sees it as an attempt by Beijing to make political inroads on the democratic island.

Associated Press

LONDON — Britain’s fi-nance minister is expected to announce tax breaks for both the top and the bottom of the nation’s income scale.

George Osborne, the chan-cellor of the Exchequer, is set to lay out his budget plans to the House of Commons at

midday Wednesday.Speculation has focused

on an expectation that Os-borne will announce a cut in the 50 percent tax rate assessed on income above 150,000 pounds ($238,000). That rate potentially hits 43,000 taxpayers, the top 1 percent.

News reports says Os-

borne is also likely to an-nounce an increase in the amount of income exempt from tax, which would be of greatest benefit to those with the smallest incomes.

Osborne will also be re-porting on plans to continue cutting deficits which mush-roomed following the global credit crisis.

AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari

Passengers of Kuwait Airways seen at Kuwait Airport on Sunday, March 18, 2012. Kuwait Airways, the Gulf state’s national carrier, extended flight cancellations across its route network into a second day Sunday as it scrambled to cope with a strike by workers.

Kuwait Airways resumes flights after strike halted

UK finance minister to detail annual budget

The tremor was one of the stron-gest to hit the country since the dev-astating 8.1-magnitude earthquake of 1985, which killed thousands in Mexico City.

Still, no deaths were reported on Tuesday and there were major dis-ruptions to air travel or to oil instal-lations. But it scared many residents and temporarily cut off electricity to some 2.5 million users in the capital. Martha Suarez, an Argentine living in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood said she had never known anything like it.

“My TV set fell over, the build-ing felt like it was on a trampoline. This one was like no other I have felt before,” Suarez said, holding her little dog close. Scores of the houses damaged were in Ometepec, a town close to the epicenter of the quake in Guerrero, the state that is home to the popular Pacific beach resort Acapulco.

In neighboring Oaxaca, 68 mud-brick houses were damaged and at least five people were injured, one of them seriously, in the area around the town of Pinotepa Nacional near the Pacific coast, local emergency services said. Some buildings in the capital’s trendy district of Condesa were cracked by the earthquake, and residents raced out of buildings with young children and dogs in

their arms.“I swear I never felt one so strong,

I thought the building was going to collapse,” said Sebastian Herrera, 42, a businessman from a Mexico City neighborhood hit hard in 1985. Television images showed part of a bridge collapsed onto a vehicle on the outskirts of Mexico City, but Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said no one was injured and that helicopter flyovers showed there was no sign of major damage in the capital.

President Felipe Calderon also said there were no reports of serious damage, and experts said the impact did not look severe. Eqecat, a disaster modeling company whose software is used by insurers to predict exposure to natural disasters, estimated insured losses from the quake at less than $100 million.

Still, more than two hours after the quake, some residents of the capital were still too scared to return to their homes, fearing powerful aftershocks.

FELT IN GUATEMALAFear gripped many Mexico City

locals when the quake hit. “A paint-ing fell down, things started bang-ing about, and the neighbors started shouting,” said Patricia Ramirez, a 31-year old who was on the third floor of an apartment in the Condesa

neighborhood.However, Mexico City’s inter-

national airport was operating nor-mally and only a couple of flights to the United States were temporarily grounded, a spokesman said.

State oil company Pemex said all its installations on the Pacific coast were operating normally, including the country’s largest 330,000-barrel-per-day capacity Salina Cruz refin-ery. The U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, said the quake registered magnitude 7.4 and there were several aftershocks.

In Acapulco, schools were evacu-ated and some parents rushed to pick up their children, but there appeared to be no major damage to hotels or other buildings in the resort.

The White House, which has declined to confirm reports that President Barack Obama’s daughter Malia was vacationing in Mexico, said the 13-year-old was safe. “In light of today’s earthquake, we can confirm that Malia Obama is safe and was never in danger,” said Kristina Schake, communications director to first lady Michelle Obama. The quake was felt as far away as Guatemala City.

A spokesman for Mexico City’s health authorities said hospitals and clinics were operating normally al-though some patients were evacuated from damaged buildings.

Agence France Presse

A surfer was recovering Wednesday after being bitten by a shark on Aus-tralia’s Gold Coast when he fell off his board and landed on the predator.

The animal, believed to be a bull shark, bit Billy O’Leary twice, slicing his flesh down to the bone and severely damaging his Achilles tendon, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

O’Leary, 20, managed to get himself ashore at Nobbys Beach where friends bound the wound to stem the bleeding and alerted authorities.

“There were two bites. One is sort of half in his calf, that’s taken a big chunk out of that,” fellow surfer Tim Windisch told the newspaper.

“The other one is down to his heel. It’s just right down to the bone. You could see the bone.”

Chief lifeguard Warren Young said it appeared O’Leary landed on the bull shark, an aggressive species known for its tendency to attack humans.

“He feels like he perhaps landed on it -- he’s come off his board and landed on it doing an aerial,” Young said.

“That’s what he’s said to us, so maybe he’s landed on it and it’s re-acted.

“Being a small shark and the water’s a bit discoloured, you’re not going to see it... we think it was perhaps a bull shark.”

Sharks are common in Australian waters but fatal attacks are rare, with just 27 people killed in the past 22 years.

The Gold Coast is a popular tourist destination and attracts hordes of local and international visitors every year.

Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY — Four rare white rhinoceroses have died in recent weeks at an Australian zoo after displaying mysterious neurological problems such as stumbling, officials said Wednesday.

The Taronga Western Plains Zoo near the New South Wales state city of Dubbo said in a statement that it had begun a veterinary investigation to pinpoint the cause of the deaths and is working with rhino specialists in Africa and North America.

The four rhinos — Izizi, Aluka, Intombi and her daughter Amira — be-gan showing signs of neurological problems two weeks ago, an unnamed zoo official told Australian Associated Press. The first rhino died soon after the symptoms became apparent and the fourth died over the weekend, the official said.

The zoo’s general manager, Matt Fuller, said in a statement that no other species at the zoo had been affected by the illness and the surviving rhinos, which have been placed in quarantine, are healthy.

“The rhino keepers and veterinary staff know and care for every indi-vidual in the herd, so this has been a huge shock, and we’re all very sad and supporting each other through this difficult time,” Fuller said.

Intombi and Aluka were brought to the zoo from the Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2003. Amira and Izizi were born in captivity. Their ages ranged from around 7 to 16 years.

The investigation has ruled out exposure to toxins, bacterial infection, snake venom and organ failure as causes of death. Fuller was not immedi-ately available for comment on Wednesday.

REUTERS/Violeta Schmidt

Workers clear debris from a collapsed bridge that had fallen on a bus in Mexico City March 20, 2012, after an 7.4-magnitude quake shook Mexico. A major earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday, unleashing panic as it damaged scores of buildings and caused homes in the capital to bounce like “trampolines.”

Big earthquake rattles Mexico, no major damageReuters

Office workers fled into the street when the 7.4-magnitude quake shook Mexico City for more than a minute. Cell phone lines went down, buildings were evacuated, traffic snarled and the stock exchange had to suspend trading early. The quake hit hardest in the southwestern state of Guerrero, where around 800 houses were damaged, officials said. The state governor Angel Aguirre said he had reports of homes being knocked down, though state authorities could not confirm this.

Australian surfer attacked by shark

4 rare white rhinos die suddenly in Australian zoo

REUTERS/Handout/Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Two-month-old one-horned rhino Charlees romps in her enclosure at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park during her public debut in this handout photo released to Reuters on March 20, 2012.

Activities Thursday, March 22, 2012 5Entertainment InternationalThursday, March 22, 201212 International

Temple CeremonyCalendar Event for February March 18 through April 6, 2012

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, sail-ings, 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

18 Mar redite Umanis Merakih - Pura Parangan Tengah Banjar Ceningan Kangin - Lembongan- Pura Dalem Celuk Sukawati Gianyar

21 Mar Buda Wage Merakih - Pura Bendesa Mas Kepisah Pedungan - Denpasar Selatan- Pura Natih Banjar Kalah Batubulan- Pura Desa Silakarang Singapadu- Pura dalem Petitenget Kerobokan - Kuta- Pura Dalem Pulasari Samplangan - Gianyar- Pura Kubayan - Kepisah Pedungan - Denpasar - Selatan- Pura Pasek gelgel Banjar Tanahpegat - Tabanan- Pr. Paibon Banjar Bengkel Sumerta - Denpasar- Pura Pasek Lumintang Denpasar- Pr. Panti Penyarikan Medahan - Sanding - Tampaksiring- Pr. Pasar Agung Banjar Dauh Peken Kaba-kaba - Tabanan.

27 Mar Anggar Kasih Tambir - Pura Dalem Puri Batuan Sukawati- Pura Dalem Kediri Silakarang - Singapadu- Pura dalem Desa Sukawati- Pura Dalem Desa Singakerta - Ubud- Pura dalem Lembeng Ketewel - Sukawati- Pura Paibon Pasek Tangkas Peliatan - Ubud- Pura Puseh ngukuhin Keramas - Gianyar.- Pura Pemerajan Agung Ki Telabah Tuakilang - Tabanan- Pura Karang Buncing Blahbatuh- Pura Dalem Bubunan Seririt Buleleng- Pura Desa Badung Kota Denpasar- Merajan Pasek Gelgel Gobleg Turupinghe, Banjar, Buleleng- Pura Luwur Pedengenan Bedha Bongan - Tabanan- Mr. Dukuh Sebudi -- Mr. Pasek Ngukuhin Keramas- Pura Pucak Payongan Lungsiakan - Desa Kedewatan- Pura Tanah Kilap Denpasar Selatan- Pura Selukat Desa Keramas - Blahbatuh - Gianyar- Pura Dalem Tampuagan Desa Peninjoan - Tembuku -

Bangli- Pura Waturenggong Desa Taro- Pura Dalem Bentuyung Ubud- Pura Puseh Ubud.- Pura Dalem Peliatan Ubud.

28 Mar Buda Umanis Tambir - Pura Sari Bankar Titih Kapal

6 Apr Purnama Kedasa - Odalan Betara Turun Kabeh Besakih- Ngusaba di Pura Bukit Jati Bukit Jati - Bangli- Pura Batur Kalanganyar Bangli- Pura Masceti Pejeng Aji Tegalalang Tegalalang- Pura Dalem Tangsub Sukawati- Pura Penambangan Badung Denpasar- Ngusaba Pura Lempuyab Madia Pura Lempuyab Madia Karangasem- Ngusaba Pura Batur Bangli- Pura Desa Singakerta Ubud- Pura Pasek Gelgel Tagtag Kukuh Marga Tabanan- Pura Gaduh Ketapian Sumerta Denpasar- Pura Pasek Bendesa Batur Batur Tuak Ilang Tabanan- Pura Pasek Agung Tagtag Kelod Peguyangan Denpasar- Pura Agung Pasek Bendesa Tonja Denpasar- Pura Pasek Gelgel Angsri Baturiti- Pura Pasek Gelgel Bale Agung Subamia Subamia Beraban- Pura Dukuh Sari Belatung Bengkel Timpag Kerambitan- Pura Pusat Dukuh Sari Belatung Rendang Karangasem- Pura Pita Maha Palangkaraya Kalteng- Pura Canda Peraba Komplek Polri Jelambar Jelambar Jakarta Barat- Pura Agung Jagat Natha Kota Denpasar- Pura Pemerajan Agung Puri Petak Gianyar- Pura Dadia Agung Bendesa Tangkas Kori Agung Pusat Desa Gerih Abiansemal Badung- Pura Puseh Desa Adat Dukuh Sidemen Karangasem- Pura Jagathita Karana Samarinda- Pura Penataran Agung Sriwijaya Palembang Sumatera Selatan- Pura Agung Girinatha Semarang

IBP

JAKARTA – March 21st, 2012 –Aston International today announced the launch of the Best Price Guarantee program for its online reservation platforms on the group’s websites, www.Aston-Interna-tional.com, www.AstonBaliHotels.com, www.Quest-Hotels.com, www.FaveHo-tels.comand www.KamuelaVillas.com; Effective immediately, the program will ensure customers who book directly with Aston that they enjoy the very best avail-able rates online.

“Direct distribution via our own electronic booking platforms is faster and more cost efficient than traditional reservation channels such as voice call centers or third party distribution. We want to share these savings and produc-tivity gains and reward our customers with additional discounts on our already reasonably priced rates as long as they

use our accolade winning websites and easy to use booking engine.” said Norbert Vas, Vice President of Sales & Market-ing, Aston International Hotel & Resorts. “This Aston Best Price Guarantee will also go a long way in fostering greater customer loyalty and affinity for our brands.”

Aston entered the Indonesia market in the late nineties and has since then become the leading hospitality manage-ment company in the Indonesian archi-pelago offering a fast growing network of hotels, condotels, resorts, serviced apartments and high end villas with sup-porting offices in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bali.

Aston properties currently operate under the 5 star Grand Aston, deluxe villa Royal Kamuela and Kamuela, 4 star Aston, 3 star Aston City and Quest, boutique budget class Neo hotels and select service favehotel. IBP/Net

Best Price Guarantee for Aston Websites

Opening Friday, “The Hunger Games” has a strong shot at shattering the record March debut of $116.1 million domestically for 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland.” It would be only the second movie opening in March to top $100 million in the first weekend. Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said “The Hunger Games” could approach the $130 million to $140 million level achieved by two of the “Twilight” flicks.

“The Hunger Games” may have an edge, too. Female fans drive “Twilight,” while “The Hunger Games” has strong interest from both sexes.

“Given that this is the first installment, there’s no precedent for what this movie could do. We don’t have a track record for ‘The Hunger Games,’” Dergarabedian said. “This is one of those movies that because of that appeal to virtually every kind of audience, it could exceed even our strongest expectations this weekend. But we just don’t know. Everybody’s speculating.”

A debut of $140 million would put “The Hunger Games” into the top-five on the all-time charts for domestic opening weekends. At No. 1 is last year’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” ($169.2 million), followed by 2008’s “The Dark Knight” ($158.4 million); 2007’s “Spider-Man 3” ($151.1 million); 2009’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” ($142.8 million); and last fall’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” ($138.1 million).

Based on the first of three best-sellers by Su-zanne Collins, “The Hunger Games” stars Jennifer Lawrence as a teenager hurled into a televised fight to the death among other youths in post-apocalyptic North America.

Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — “CSI” creator An-thony Zuiker is making a movie destined for the small screen. The creator of the hit CBS television show plans to debut the as-yet-unfinished feature, “Cyberged-don,” on Yahoo in installments this fall. His latest foray into online storytelling follows his partnership on a horror series for YouTube.

It also marks Yahoo’s second stab at

tapping Hollywood talent to create origi-nal online video. In January, Yahoo said a series of 20 animated webisodes devel-oped by Tom Hanks called “Electric City” would debut on the site this spring.

Many Web video companies, including Hulu, YouTube and Netflix, are pushing to put more original video content online as they compete for people’s attention with traditional outlets like TV channels. Zuiker and Yahoo consider the online movie debut to be similar to a release in theaters.

“Instead of 5,000 theater screens, you can wake up to 50 million screens in one day,” Zuiker says. Zuiker is the movie’s executive producer, but hasn’t found a director or actors yet.

Unlike a movie, viewers won’t be charged admission. But the movie will come with ads, including ones from the maker of the Norton AntiVirus program, Symantec Corp. The movie’s episodes may also be sprinkled through different Yahoo properties such as its finance, news and entertainment sites.

Along with regular video ads, a charac-ter playing a Norton employee will have a “small but impactful” role in the movie, Zuiker says.

The plot revolves around a female gov-ernment agent who has a falling out with the law and is on the run herself, while pursuing a master hacker who wants to bring the world to its cyber-knees.

Associated Press Writer

LONDON — The animated Beatles movie “Yellow Submarine” has been carefully re-stored frame-by-frame for DVD release this year. Specialists worked for four months to individually clean each frame of the 1968 sur-real tale by hand, the Beatles’ holding company Apple Corps Ltd. said Tuesday.

The specialists chose not to use automated software because of the delicate nature of the hand-drawn artwork, the company added.

The colorful movie, a fantasy that features cartoon versions of the Beatles and images from

some of their psychedelic songs, is currently out of print. It features some of the band’s greatest hits including “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” ‘’Eleanor Rigby” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

“As a fan of animation and as a film-maker, I tip my hat to the artists of ‘Yellow Subma-rine’, whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for the fantastically diverse world of animation that we all enjoy today,” said Pixar studios chief John Lasseter in the sleeve notes for the re-release. The DVD will be released on May 28, and the film’s soundtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same day.

Can ‘Hunger Games’ do ‘Twilight’-type $140M debut?Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — Fans are so hungry for “The Hunger Games” that Hollywood’s buzzing about an opening weekend to rival the $140 million debuts of some of the “Twilight” mov-ies. Early tracking pegged “The Hunger Games” at only about half that much. But box-office forecasters have been continually revising their predictions upward based on audience aware-ness and advance ticket sales.

AP Photo/Lionsgate, Murray Close

In this image released by Lionsgate, Jen-nifer Lawrence portrays Katniss Everdeen

in a scene from “The Hunger Games.”

Zuiker to debut ‘Cybergeddon’ movie on Yahoo

AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file

Anthony Zuiker

Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ movie restored for DVD

In this still undated image taken from

the animated color-ful Beatles movie,

Yellow Submarine, a surreal tale that features cartoon

versions of mem-bers of the Beatles band, and images

from some of their psychedelic songs has been restored

frame by frame, by hand, it is an-

nounced Tuesday March 20, 2012.

AP Photo/ Subafilms

Agence France Presse

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Wednesday con-demned as “recklessly irresponsible” claims by mining billionaire Clive Palmer that the CIA was funding a plot against the coal industry.

Palmer, Australia’s fifth-richest person and a top donor to the conservative Lib-eral/National opposi-tion, launched a tirade against the left-wing Greens Party Tuesday following the pas-sage of a new tax on mining profits.

The self-made coal tycoon accused the environmentally focused Greens, a key ally in Prime Minister Julia Gil-lard’s minority coalition government, of involvement in an American intelligence agency conspiracy.

“I think they want to promote their commodities at the expense of ours,” Palmer said, pointing to the Rockefeller Family Trust’s link with a strategy paper called “Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom” as proof.

The paper was developed by Green-peace and US group CoalSwarm, which is partly funded by the Rockefeller Trust.

Palmer pointed to the 1970s Church reports into intelligence agency abuses

following the Water-gate scandal “which sets up the Rock-efeller organisation as a conduit of CIA funding”.

He described Aus-tralian activists using the strategy report and the Greens as “a tool of the US govern-ment.”

The CIA rejected Palmer’s suggestions, telling the Australian Broadcasting Cor-poration via email: “Simply put, these al-legations are false.”

Carr slammed the comments and said they could damage Australia’s credibility abroad.

“It could create the impression that somehow we’re a risky place to do busi-ness when you’ve got such a formidable businessman... talking about a CIA plot to wreck the Australian economy,” the foreign minister told reporters.

“I think it’s a recklessly irresponsible comment that is going to have investors and the American government wondering if some part of the Australian political system has lost its collective marbles.”

Greens founder Drew Hutton, a stri-dent anti-coal and coal seam gas activist singled out for criticism by Palmer, said he was considering legal action over the remarks in which he said the billionaire had accused him of treason.

News International4 Thursday, March 22, 2012 Science Thursday, March 22, 2012 13International

US President Barack Obama will attend the nuclear security summit, along with leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia. All the countries have been involved since 2003 in talks to shut down the North’s nuclear programme.

“The North’s move to launch the so-called satellite has created a new topic of discussions at the summit, and it’s an urgent timing,” Presi-dent Lee Myung-Bak said ahead of the talks to be held Monday and Tuesday.

“The five nations share similar views on this,” Lee was quoted as saying. “The best option is for the five nations to try to persuade North Korea to cancel the plan.”

The nuclear-armed North has an-

nounced it will launch a rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, a move which the US and its allies see as a pretext for a long-range missile test.

A UN Security Council resolu-tion passed after the North’s mis-sile and nuclear tests in 2009 bans a ballistic missile launch for any purpose.

Washington also says a launch would breach a bilateral deal an-nounced on February 29, which of-fered 240,000 tonnes of US food aid in return for a partial nuclear freeze and a suspension of missile tests.

“No matter what the North’s excuse is, the launch is a clear breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874,” Lee told

the International Herald Tribune (IHT), South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper and other media.

“It is breaking a promise with all the countries around the world.”

The US-North Korean deal had raised hopes of eased tensions under the North’s young new leader Kim Jong-Un.

“We had high expectations, but now we have this happening,” Lee said.

“Although we cannot say con-clusively, this new development will have a great impact on the as-sessment of the North, particularly in trust.”

The South Korean leader said the launch may bring the North “some domestic political gains, but its loss in the international community will be big”.

The South’s Unification Min-ister Yu Woo-Ik called the launch provocative and a senseless waste of money.

Reuters

TOULOUSE, France - A gunman, suspected of killing three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school in the name of al Qaeda, said on Wednes-day he would hand himself over to police after an hours-long siege in which he wounded three officers.

About 300 police, some in bullet-proof body armor, cordoned off an area surrounding an apartment in a Toulouse neighborhood in southwestern France, where the 24-year-old Muslim man was holed up. Shots were heard in the early hours of the morning, and police said three officers had been slightly wounded.

Interior Minister Claude Gueant said the gun-man was a French citizen of Algerian origin who had been to Pakistan and Afghanistan and had shot dead the four in revenge for French mili-tary involvement abroad. He is also suspected

by authorities of killing three soldiers of North African origin last week.

“He said ... he will turn himself in this after-noon,” Gueant told BFM television, adding the man had thrown a Colt 45 pistol from the house in exchange for a “communication device”. He still has an Uzi machine gun, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and other weapons, the minister said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, campaigning for re-election in a presidential poll in five weeks time, has blamed racism for Monday’s school attack. His handling of the crisis could be a decisive factor in determining how the French people vote.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen decried the attacks as the result of France’s mistaken policy in Afghanistan and said France should wage war against “these fundamentalist po-litical and religious groups that are killing our children”.

Five nations to press N.Korea on rocket launchAgence France Presse

Leaders of five nations will discuss ways to press North Korea to scrap a planned rocket launch when they meet next week at a Seoul summit, South Korea’s president said in interviews published on Wednesday.

French school killings suspect says will surrender

Police block a street as a raid on a house to arrest suspects in the killings of three children and a rabbi on Mon-day at a Jewish school, continues in Toulouse March 21, 2012.

REUTERS/Pascal Parrot

Australian FM condemns billionaire’s ‘CIA conspiracy’

IBP/afp

Bob Carr

It would be patterned after Rus-sia’s mock flight to Mars that lasted 520 days at a Moscow research center. Six men were involved in that study, which ended late last year. They were locked in a steel capsule.

NASA’s space station program manager Mike Suffredini said before astronauts can fly beyond low-Earth orbit, they’ll have to spend more than six months aloft at a time. That’s the typical stint for space station crews. Five hundred days is more than 16 months.

The human endurance record of 14 months was set by a Russian cosmo-naut aboard the Mir space station in the mid-1990s. Only two others — both Russians — have spent as long as a full year in space. No NASA astronaut has spent more than seven months in space on a single mission.

Suffredini doesn’t expect any such Mars simulation aboard the space station to occur any sooner than two to three years. Physical as well as psychological questions will have to be addressed before anything

of that sort is attempted, he said.Steps are under way, however, for

such an effort, and scientists and flight surgeons already are working on it. The goal would be to have all the data in hand so the space station can be used as a Mars test bed before its pro-jected demise in 2020 or thereafter.

Suffredini said he expects the consensus ultimately will be to simulate “at least the first leg of a trip to a distant planet.”

NASA’s future for manned ex-ploration is up in the air as the de-bate drags on as to where astronauts should head in the decades ahead: the moon, asteroids and/or Mars. The cost promises to be a major factor, along with the development of rocketships big enough to travel so far.

Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — Allergies can cause misery for pets and hu-mans alike. But allergies in animals are not always easy to diagnose and treat. “I feel so bad because he can’t tell me what’s wrong,” said Angela Duyao of Gilroy, 80 miles south of San Francisco. Harley, her 2-year-old Shih Tzu, has food and seasonal allergies.

It took Duyao, an administra-tive assistant, 18 months and over $1,000 to find out Harley was allergic to poultry and pollen. All dogs and cats can get allergies, and the most common reaction is scratching, said veterinarian Don-na Spector, an internal medicine specialist based in Deerfield, Ill.

“Allergies are a real head-banger. They are frustrating for vets, they’re frustrating for clients and the dogs and cats itch like crazy so we know it is frustrating for them. Allergies are very challenging to diagnose accurately because it’s a diagnosis of exclusion. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time. It takes a very dedicated owner,” she said.

There are four kinds of pet aller-gies: airborne (tree, grass and weed

pollen; mold, mildew and dust mites), fleas, food and contact (like carpeting or detergent). The most common pet allergy comes from fleas.

People and pets can cause each other problems: People can be aller-gic to pet hair or dander and pets can be allergic to products humans use.

Most pet allergies cause scratch-ing. Some other symptoms include discoloration of hair between toes, rashes, open sores, watery eyes, ear infections, runny noses, vomiting and diarrhea, said Spector, a frequent guest on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” She is a consultant to the pet food company co-owned by DeGe-neres called Halo, Purely For Pets.

Spunky, an 8-year-old husky mix owned by pet sitter and pho-tographer Ashley Niels, didn’t have problems until his family moved to Austin, Texas.

In Texas, he licked himself raw, forming a hot spot on his back, Niels said. The vet put Spunky on antibiotics and gave him a steroid shot. “We didn’t have the money to do allergy testing, so we tried diet trials,” she said. But it wasn’t food. It was cedar dust and grasses. “The poor dog lived in a cone for six months,” Niels said.

Agence France Presse A drug designed to treat nervous

spasms has cleared an important early test in a project to see whether it can also cure alcoholism, French doctors said on Tuesday. Baclofen -- the lab name for a medication branded as Kemstro, Lioresal and Gablofen -- was successful in a preliminary test among a small group of alcoholics, a result that opens the way to formal clinical trials, they said.

The history of the drug goes back 50 years. It was originally designed for epilepsy before be-coming licensed to treat spasticity, but researchers are now interested in

using it to ease alcoholic craving.Interest was sparked in 2008

by a book, Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass), by cardiologist Olivier Ameisen, who self-treated his alco-holism with high doses of baclofen. The new test entailed enrolling 132 heavy drinkers who were given ba-clofen at high doses over a year.

Eighty percent either became abstinent or became moderate drinkers. By comparison, two drugs that are commonly used to treat alcoholics, naltrexon and acamprosate, yield a success rate of 20-25 percent. Side effects included fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia, diz-ziness and digestive troubles.

Lead researcher Philippe Jaury of the University of Paris-Descartes said the outcome opened the door to one-year clinical trials, expected to start in May, in which 320 alcoholics would be divided into two groups.

One batch will receive baclofen, progressively building in dosage until the craving symptoms subside, while the others will receive an inactive lookalike pill, or placebo. France’s health system is paying 750,000 euros ($469,000) of the 1.2-million-euro ($1.45-million) cost of the trial, and an unidentified donor is paying the rest, Jaury told AFP. The pre-trial study is published in a specialist jour-nal, Alcohol and Alcoholism.

AFP Photo/Mario Tama

A bar in New York City. A drug designed to treat nervous spasms has cleared an important early test in a project to see whether it can also cure alcoholism, French doctors say.

‘Anti-alcoholism’ drug clears key test hurdle

AP Photo/NASA, Paolo Nespoli

FILE - This May 23, 2011 photo released by NASA shows the International Space Station at an altitude of approximately 220 miles above the Earth, taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking.

NASA considering space station for Mars dry runAssociated Press Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The International Space Station may provide the setting for a 500-day pretend trip to Mars in another few years. NASA said Tuesday that consideration is under way to use the space station as a dry run for a simulated trip to and from Mars.

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

In this March 15, 2012 photo, a four-year-old cream point Sphynx, Moshe Moshi, a hairless cat, belonging to Carol Meir of Takoma Park, Md., sits at The Big Bad Woof, a pet supplies store, in Washington.

Allergies in pets: Airborne, fleas, food, contact

3Thursday, March 22, 201214 InternationalInternational Bali NewsSport Thursday, March 22, 2012

If anyone doubted who is the best scorer to don Barcelona’s burgundy and blue, Lionel Messi ended the debate in emphatic fash-ion on Tuesday night with a hat trick to become the club’s career goals leader.

Messi broke Cesar Rodriguez’s 57-year-old Barcelona record, getting his eighth hat trick of the season in a 5-3 Spanish league win over Granada that increased his goals total to 234.

“We are before the best player in absolutely every facet,” Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. “He is capable of everything that a foot-ball player must do and he does it every three days. I am sorry for those who want to dethrone him, but he is simply different from all the rest. Messi has entered the history of the club at just 24 years of age. If he continues like this in the coming years, he will score so many goals that he will never be surpassed.”

Guardiola said that Messi was to soccer what Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan was to bas-ketball.

“Jordan dominated his sport and Messi dominates this one,”

the former Barcelona midfielder said. “The first thing about Messi to point out is his mentality. He has great quality, of course. But the important thing is his mental strength.”

While Cesar set the mark in 13 seasons from 1942-1955, Messi needed just under eight campaigns to pass his milestone.

“He is defining an era. He is the best,” Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdez said.

Nicknamed “The Flea” for his headlong, goal-bound bursts, Messi made his Barcelona debut in 2004.

He tied Cesar’s record on a left-footed shot in the 17th minute for his 232nd goal, then chipped the goalkeeper for a 3-2 lead in the 67th. He added a goal from a tight angle in the 86th, increasing his season total to a career-best 54.

A three-time FIFA player of the year, Messi has 17 goals during a seven-game scoring streak and leads La Liga with 34 goals, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

The hat trick was Messi’s 18th for Barcelona and gave him 154 goals in his last 153 games over three seasons. His six hat tricks in

La Liga this season tie the record set by Ronaldo last year.

Messi has scored 153 goals in the Spanish league, 49 in the Champions League, 19 in the Copa del Rey, eight in the Spanish Supercup, four in the Club World Cup and one in the European Supercup.

Late Monday, Barcelona an-nounced Cesar’s total from 1942-55 was three fewer than the team previously said. A review by Bar-celona’s Center of Documentation and Studies and the La Vanguardia newspaper determined Cesar did not score goals attributed to him during the 1947-48, 1948-49, 1949-50 and 1952-53 seasons and also credited him with an additional goal in 1945-46.

Barcelona’s sixth consecutive league win cut first-place Real Ma-drid’s lead to five points ahead of its game at Villarreal on Wednesday.

“Messi was calm as always after the game and thanked us all for our efforts,” said Cristian Tello, who also scored for Barcelona. “I have no doubt that he will end up as the best to have ever played this sport. Each game he shows that he is on another level. He doesn’t stop surprising us.”

Agence France Presse

Mirko Vucinic’s extra-time strike sent Juventus into their first Italian Cup final since 2004 fol-lowing a 2-2 draw with AC Milan on Tuesday, giving them a 4-3 ag-gregate victory.

Milan had forced extra-time by leading 2-1 after 90 minutes but ultimately paid for their semi-final, first leg defeat at home last month.

Veteran Alessandro Del Piero had given Juve a first-half lead but second period goals from Djamel Mesbah, his first for Milan, and Maxi Lopez forced the extra pe-riod.

Vucinic’s goal ensured Juve still have not been beaten this season in 32 games, although they would have lost had the match ended after 90 minutes.

It meant first blood to Juve against the team against whom they’re also fighting for the Serie A title.

“Going through means a lot to us, we’re really proud,” said goal-scorer Del Piero.

“I’m delighted for tonight, as much for my goal as for qualifica-tion.

AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, from Argentina, reacts after scoring against Granada during a Spanish La Liga soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tues-day, March 20, 2012.

With hat trick, Messi sets Barcelona goals recordAssociated Press Writer

BARCELONA, Spain — Step aside John Cruyff. Move over Laszlo Kubala, Romario and Ronald Koeman. And, please, don’t even mention Ronaldinho.

Vucinic sends Juve into Italian Cup final“We’re here fighting on both

fronts and we’ll fight to the end.”Milan coach Massimiliano Al-

legri said his side had lost it in the first leg.

“I’m happy with the perfor-mance, the lads played well,” he said.

“It was a good game, I’m dis-appointed we haven’t reached the final after a game like this because the lads did everything.

“I’m disappointed to go out in this way but we were compromised already from the San Siro result.”

Milan started the game knowing they didn’t just need to win but also needed at least two goals.

They certainly made the early running but created little of any danger.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a cross-cum-shot with little power that seemed to surprise Marco Storari

in the Juve goal, but he pushed it away.

The only moment of true qual-ity in the first half came from the hosts and resulted in the deadlock being broken.

Andrea Pirlo chipped the ball down the right for the overlapping Stephan Lichsteiner, who centred for Del Piero to nip in front of Mar-co Amelia, dink it over the ‘keeper and slot into the empty net.

Allegri seemed almost to throw in the towel at half time and start to look to future league commitments as he removed star player Ibrahi-movic and thrust on Maxi Lopez, although he later revealed his top scorer had a back problem.

However, Milan hit back in surprising fashion as centre-back Philippe Mexes launched a long ball over the defence and full-back Mesbah lost his marker Simone Pepe to send a diving header into the top corner, leaving Storari helpless.

Vucinic, who was having one of his more dazzling days, lacked a finish as he waltzed into the area but hit the side-netting with his shot.

But Allegri was proved right nine minutes from time as Maxi

Lopez brilliantly held off Giorgio Chiellini on the edge of the box, turned his man, beat Leonardo Bonucci with quick feet and fired, with limited backlift, an unstop-pable shot into the top corner.

Former Milan player Marco Borriello should have won it for Juve late on but having beaten the offside trap to run onto Emanuele Giaccherini’s through ball, he first stumbled, losing the opportunity to shoot with his favoured left, and then shot weakly with his right, allowing Amelia to save easily.

The hosts could have buried the tie in the first few minutes of extra-time but Milan somehow survived.

Amelia saved from Borriello and Claudio Marchisio then sent the follow-up off target with the goal gaping.

Vucinic hit a stunning reverse pass to put Giaccherini in one-on-one but Amelia timed his dive at the forward’s feet to perfection.

Martin Caceres’s shot was then deflected off target but on 96 min-utes Vucinic finally found the net with a rocket from distance into the top corner. Milan pushed late on but couldn’t find the grandstand finish they needed.

AFP Photo/Giuseppe Cacace

Juventus’ players celebrate their qualification for the final at the end of the return match of the semi finals of the Cup of Italy match between Juventus and AC Milan in Juventus stadium in Turin. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

This matter was revealed by Chairman of the Sanur Develop-ment Foundation (YPS), Ida Ba-gus Gede Sidartha Putra in Den-pasar, Tuesday (Mar 20). Such an endeavor was intended to provide security for visitors, both foreign and domestic. Nevertheless, the incident did not cause any exodus to tourists staying in Sanur.

“We will be more vigilant on this

Singaraja (Bali Post)—Residents of Ceblong hamlet,

Sudaji village, Sawan subdis-trict, managed to build an emer-gency bridge on Tuesday (Mar 20). Personnel of the Indonesian Army (TNI) assisted by residents worked hand in hand to build an emergency bridge of bamboo rod with a length of some 10 meters. It was built to replace the permanent bridge collapsed by floods.

Construction of the emergency bridge was nearly equal to the emergency bridge established earlier at Singkung and Kaja Kauh hamlet some time ago. It was ap-propriate for pedestrians. Though only passable for pedestrian, the residents considered it very help-ful because of the distance to

Denpasar (Bali Post)—The upcoming Nyepi or Day

of Silence in fact gives contribu-tion directly to energy saving. In Bali, with the majority of the Hindus, during the Nyepi festivity the state-owned power company (PLN) can save up to IDR 4 billion a day. Spokes-person of PT PLN Bali, Agung Mastika, when contacted on Tuesday (Mar 20) said the celebration of Nyepi in Bali was admitted to save electrical energy consumption up to more than 50 percent.

“The Hindus in Bali indeed contribute greatly to save the electrical energy, especially when implementing the Nyepi celebration. It reduces the load on that day up to 50 percent,” he explained.

According to Mastika, on the whole day of Nyepi the load di-minished further than normal in Bali. Not to mention, on that day the activities would be completely deserted. On that account, the electrical including the transporta-tion activity would reduce. “The peak load varies so far between 540 MW and 545 MW will reduce to 272.5 MW,” he said.

Although the use of electri-cal energy on Nyepi reduced to more than a half, the PLN Bali distribution would still operate the electrical power on that day. “The machines remain in opera-tion and the supply of electrical energy also remains to be carried out to approximately 839,619 consumers spreading throughout Bali like on normal days,” he explained.

During the Hindus celebrated the Nyepi feast day the power plant was deliberately operated considering several vital agen-cies such as hospitals, airport and hotels still required a power supply. Agung Mastika de-scribed the power for household consumers and other parties were not disconnected even if they did not turn on electricity or use electrical energy for 24 hours. Not only that, PT PLN Bali also alerted two teams in each service area to anticipate undesirable things when the Hindus performed their absti-nences. Agung Mastika also said the outage of street lighting or traffic lights were entirely the responsibility of each regency/municipal government.

PT PLN Bali Distribution itself had a total of 724.4 MW of power supply, but 130 MW of which were temporarily out of the electrical system in Bali because the Gilimanuk power plant was undergoing mainte-nance of 24,000-hour cycles from March 1 to April 16, 2012. “The existing capacity is 594.4 MW supplied by the Pesang-garan power plant in Denpasar (224.4 MW), Pemaron power plant in Buleleng (170 MW) and Java-Bali marine cable interconnection (200 MW),” he explained.

He expected the saving of electricity on the Nyepi Day to reach 50 percent or even more. Hopefully, the entire community could continue to use the electricity wisely in the coming days. (kmb28)

After terrorist raid, Sanur tourism strictly guardedDenpasar (Bali Post)—

After the raid against the suspected terrorists on Sunday night (Mar 18), the Sanur tourist resort was strictly guarded. Other than police officers, hundreds of security from the elements of pecalang or customary security taskforce, village security assistance (Bankamdes) and the community were also deployed to secure the area before implementation of the four abstinences of Nyepi or Day of Silence.

Residents of Ceblong hamlet build emergency bridge

IBP/file

The army and villagers work hand in hand to build the tem-porary bridge.

Nyepi celebration. Moreover, after the occurrence of mutual shoots in our area, there should be an extra security carried out by involving various elements,” he said.

The raid killing five suspected terrorists, admitted IB Sidharta, had an impact on the tourism image of Sanur. On that account, his party asked the tourism stake-holders, especially hotels, to pro-

vide clear information for tourists as well as to further enhance their security systems.

“We asked the management of accommodation like hotels, vil-las or bungalows to implement a security system according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) at the entrance, front of-fice and watch the movements of every single visitor,” he said.

IB Sidharta who is also the Chairman of the Indonesia Ho-tels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) of Denpasar Chapter said that his party would implement integrated security system at each entrance to Sanur to provide com-fort and safety for tourists spend-ing holidays coinciding with the celebration of Nyepi.

“Thankfully, the occupancy rate in Sanur is not affected by the incident, although there are some tourists who wonder about the firing incident,” he said.

According to him, the hotel occupancy in Sanur area until March 2011 averagely reached

75-80 percent dominated by re-peater guests or tourists coming for more than once.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Coor-dinating Minister of Social Wel-fare, in charge of the Education and Religious Affairs, Prof. Dr. R. Agus Sartono, hoped the firing incident against the five terrorists by Special Detachment 88 in the Sanur tourist resort would not tar-nish the image of Bali tourism.

“I do hope it was only criminal a case not terrorism so as not to create a different perception within the community as it can harm the image of Bali tourism,” he said. (kmb27)

central village of Sudaji turned shorter when covered through the emergency bridge.

A local resident, Ketut Can-diyasa, said that before the flash flood he every day crossed the bridge located precisely at the area of Penarukan I Dam, Ceblong hamlet. However, since it was broken by the flooding he had to traverse a pathway that could not be passed through by motorcycle to Sanda area. Besides, if riding a motorcycle he was forced to seek detours through Lemukih, Sekumpul and finally Bebetin vil-lage. “I am from Sudaji but I live at Lemukih and often crossed the bridge to buy daily necessities. Now, there has been an emergency bridge so that I can pass it again

here. It makes me faster to reach the market than through Lemukih, then Sekumpul and Bebetin vil-lage reaching 8 kilometers,” he said.

Similar testimony was ex-pressed by Gede Putu Jelantik. He was greatly assisted with the construction of the emergency bridge. Hopefully, another emer-gency bridge could be built as soon as possible so that it could be passed through by motorcycle. Besides, the pathway precisely at Ganda Meru sub-hamlet, Ceblong hamlet, currently in severely dam-aged was expected to immediately get repaired. It was a very vital access for Ganda Meru residents to the central village. “If possible, we hope the permanent bridge and pathway could be built in our badly damaged region. In this rainy season, motorcycle cannot pass, so that we should temporar-ily walk,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the hamlet chief of Ceblong, Nyoman Adipta, con-firmed that his residents consist-ing of 78 families had difficulty to go out after the flooding disaster. They belonged to Ganda Meru sub-hamlet within the territory of Ceblong hamlet. Since the bridge cut off, his residents were forced to find a detour. Being inconve-nient with such condition, his residents then agreed to build an emergency bridge. It was built for pedestrians. “We agreed to build the emergency bridge. The budget used to purchase the materials was obtained from donations and government,” he explained.

On the other hand, Adipta said the permanent bridge would soon be built at previous loca-tion. Even, such a plan had been promised by the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Buleleng Regency. (kmb)

On Nyepi, PLN can save up to IDR 4 billion

InternationalThursday, March 22, 20122 Thursday, March 22, 2012 15International Sport

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The Suns failed to score a point for more than six minutes and the Heat took full advantage, making nine free throws during the run and grabbing a 97-90 lead once the smoke had cleared. “It was either now or never,” Miami’s Dwyane Wade, who had 19 points, told reporters. “They were playing very well. We were down 10 and had to make a move.”

Chris Bosh scored a game-high 29 points, while LeBron James added 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists to help Miami (34-11) pull within 2.5 games of conference-leading Chicago.

Phoenix (23-23), who had ridden a four-game winning streak into playoff conten-tion, got a team-high 19 points from Grant Hill. Hill and James collided while chasing the ball in the final seconds of the game and Miami’s two-times MVP remained on the floor for a couple minutes before returning

Reuters

BUENOS AIRES - Juan Martin del Potro will play for Argentina in their Davis Cup quarter-final at home to Croatia next month, captain Martin Jaite said on Monday. The world number 11, set to play singles along with David Nalbandian, missed the first-round victory in Germany last month due to ATP tour commitments.

Jaite also named Juan Monaco,

Juan Ignacio Chela and doubles specialist Eduardo Schwank in his team for the tie on clay at Parque Roca.

Del Potro last played for Argen-tina in the 2011 final defeat by Spain in Seville in December. Argentina have lost all four finals they have reached, in 1981, 2006, 2008 and last year.

Jaite defended Del Potro who was criticised for missing the first-round tie. “I was informed with

plenty of notice that he wouldn’t be there against Germany, as I had asked him, and as soon as Indian Wells finished he told me he was available for Croatia,” Jaite said.

Del Potro, U.S. Open champion in 2009, reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells last week before losing to Roger Federer.

Argentina have met Croatia twice before in the Davis Cup, win-ning both ties at the quarter-final stage in 2002 and 2006.

Reuters

Tiger Woods appears recov-ered from the mild Achilles strain that forced him out of the WGC-Cadillac Championship after carding a level par 72 in the final round of the Tavistock Cup on Tuesday.

Woods, who withdrew from the final round of the WGC

event in Doral, Florida, on March 11 with a mild Achilles strain, showed no signs of distress in this week’s exhibition but was far from his top form.

Britain’s Ian Poulter was the only golfer in the elite 24 player field to shoot a higher score, returning a four-over 76 on the Lake Nona layout just outside of Orlando, Florida.

Woods is scheduled to return to the PGA Tour this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational as he continues his buildup to the April 5-8 Masters.

The former-world number one mixed two birdies with two bogeys for Team Albany on Tuesday, which finished last in the four-team competition with a two-day total score of 26-under.

Heat scorch Suns with 4th quarter run

Miami Heat’s LeBron James (1)

goes up for 2 points as Phoenix

Suns’ Marcin Gortat (4) defends

during the first half of an NBA

basketball game in Miami, Tues-

day, March 20, 2012.

Reuters

Miami - Miami’s stunning fourth-quarter run of 17 unanswered points res-cued them from the jaws of defeat in a 99-95 comeback victory over Phoenix on Tuesday. Phoenix led 90-80 with seven and half minutes left but the Heat staged a remarkable rally to turn the game on its head and give Miami their 14th straight win at American Airlines Arena.

to his feet.The Heat played without starter Joel An-

thony, who missed the game with a sprained ankle and was replaced by Dexter Pittman. The Suns’ Marcin Gortat scored 13 points and Steve Nash had nine and 10 assists.

“We want to make sure this is the toughest place to play in the NBA,” Bosh said. “The playoffs are approaching so we have to keep that mentality - defend our home court.

AP Photo/J Pat Carter

Del Potro to play for Argentina against Croatia

AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Juan Martin del Potro, of Argentina, returns a shot to Roger Federer, of Switzerland, during a match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament on Friday, March 16, 2012, in Indian Wells, Calif.

Woods shows no signs of injury at exhibition

Denpasar (Bali Post)—Information on the raid against the five

terrorist suspects on Jalan Danau Poso and Jalan Gunung Soputan on Sunday night (Mar 18) has spread internationally. Such informa-tion is feared to cause unrest among tourists that would like to spend holidays in Bali. However, so far the condition is assessed to have no impact on the tourism in Bali.

The Head of Bali Government Tourism Office, Ida Bagus Subhiksu, said on Tues-day (Mar 20) the death of five suspected terrorists in the raids held on Sunday night by Special Detachment 88 had spread to international media. It was worried to cause unrest to tourists that would holiday in Bali. However, after the incidence his party ad-mitted to have not received any reports from tourism stakeholders whether the incident affected the decline in the tourist visits.

Further he said that so far there had been no cancellation of tourist arrivals to Bali and no tourists feeling restless and asking further questions about the incident. However, to ascertain whether such incident had a direct impact on tourism in Bali his party admitted to immediately coordinate with the stakeholders such as the ASITA and GIPI Bali.

“So far no report is received regarding the cancelation from tourists. But, I need to check ahead with stakeholders whether the incident affects the cancellation of tourist arrivals to Bali. I worry the spread of this news will have negative impacts on the Bali tourism because I think this can be an extraordinary incident in the tourist destina-tion like Bali,” he said.

He added the security system should con-tinue to be tightened to provide security for

tourists. Similarly, he also asked to tighten the security at hotels, bungalows and villas to prevent the undesirable things. Active role of customary village was highly expected in preventing the entry of terrorists. The man who is taking doctoral degree in tourism studies at the Udayana University expected the police authority could immediately give information whether the five people shot dead were actually terrorists or not so that it would not cause anxiety, especially among the tourists and tourism businesspeople.

Meanwhile, Chairman of GIPI Bali, Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya, said that so far the tourist visit was still normal and there were no cancellation of tourist visits. Addition-ally, no tourist wished to leave Bali earlier in response to the suspected terrorist raid. According to him, the success of Special Detachment 88 to raid the suspected terrorists

even showed off that security system in Bali had been good enough so the achievement of police officers should be appreciated.

“Up to these days, such an incident has not had any impact on the tourist visits. Hopefully, it will not have any impact in the future, either. Positively, this incident shows off that our security system has been run well as indicated by the successful raid. On the contrary, it also indicates that we have missed so the security system needs improving,” he said. He asked the security officers of small hotels or villas to tightly and carefully oversee every single guest checking in because in most cases the people reserving the room could be different from those using the room facility. Similarly, he advised in order the security officers could be give more frequent training to anticipate any potential security disturbance coming into their territory. (kmb29)

Chairman of the Indonesia Hotels and Restaurants As-sociation (PHRI) of Gianyar Chapter, Dewa Gede Arim-bawa, confirmed the matter on Tuesday (Mar 20). Neverthe-less, in response to the case all the hotels, restaurants and general public were asked to enhance their vigilance after the incident.

Favorable atmosphere were still visible within the tourism glamour of Ubud. A number of hotel management even contin-ued to sell their special package in relation to Nyepi celebration this year. Assuredly, the hotel occupancy during the celebra-

Ubud tourism unaffected

Hotel management offers Nyepi Package Gianyar (Bali Post)—

Shooting dead against the five members of terrorist network in Denpasar area has no significant impact on tourism condition, especially in Ubud, Gianyar. This condition was known based on information and observation around the Ubud area. There was no significant unrest resulting in unfavorable implications to the existing tourists or those that were going to come.

IBP/File

The tourists are enjoying their time in Ubud.

tion would reach 50 percent. “Indeed it is not too crowded because the occupancy rate in this month has not been high as in June and August,” he said.

All the tourists staying in Ubud area had been given expla-nation regarding the celebration of Nyepi by the hotel manage-ment. One of the key informa-tion provided was the reduction of services including the use of lighting on the Nyepi holiday.

As in previous years, tourists staying during the Nyepi period would get a new experience. Many foreign and domestic tourists deliberately made res-ervation coinciding with the

Nyepi period. “It will become a new experience for them when spending holidays in Bali, es-pecially in Ubud. Ambience of natural rhythm perfectly coalesces into the beauty and peace,” he explained.

Arimbawa said, in general, as the experience through the years there was a special policy from the hotel management, provided that it would not interfere with the implemen-tation of Nyepi solemnity. “Tourists strongly adhere to the implementation of Nyepi. By and large, they just pass the time by reading or swimming in hotel,” he said. (kmb16)

After raid against the suspected terrorists, tourism remains stable

Thursday, March 22, 201216 Sport

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Can ‘Hunger Games’ do ‘Twilight’-type $140m debut?

A Paris police official said an employee at the embassy discovered a suspicious package and stepped back in time before exploded. There was minor damage to a window but no injuries, the official said.

The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to Paris police policy.

The source of the package is not immediately clear.Police are on site at the embassy in an elegant neighborhood of

western Paris.“We are obviously deeply concerned by the explosive explosion

in Paris which occurred earlier this morning at approximately 5:15 a.m. at our facility in our embassy in Paris. We’re yet to ascertain whether the explosion actually directed against Indonesia embassy or whether by coincidence it was located or took place by the embassy,” Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

Natalegawa said there were no injuries in the attack but a window was broken.

Asked whether the embassy would be closed, the minister said the embassy would remain vigilant but the bomb wouldn’t “deter us from going on with the business of our activities.”

He said it was too early to say whether there was any link between Wednesday’s mail bomb and an attack on a Jewish school in southern France earlier this week that left three children and a rabbi dead.

AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati

Indonesia’s cus-tom officers escort

Malaysian citizen Hew Kok Seong, center, during a

press conference in Kuta, Bali, Indo-nesia on Wednes-

day, March 21, 2012. Indonesian

custom on the re-sort island of Bali said they arrested

the Malaysian man on March 19, 2012 allegedly attempt-

ing to smuggle 169 gram of metham-

phetamine.

AP Photo/Thibault Camus

Police investigators work on the site of a bomb explosion near the Indonesian Embassy, in Paris, Wednesday March 21, 2012. A Paris police official said an employee at the embassy discovered a suspicious package and stepped back in time before exploded. There was minor damage to a window but no injuries, the official said.

Blast at Indonesian Embassy in Parisno injuriesAssociated Press

PARIS — A package bomb exploded at the Indonesian Embassy in Paris on Wednesday, causing minor damage but no injuries, police and Indonesia’s foreign minister said.

Big earthquake rattles mexico, no major damage

Not Published We, the International Bali

Post, would like to apologize because we will not be pub-lished on Friday, March 23, 2012 due to Nyepi Day

Happy Nyepi Day, Caka New Year 1934

The Brazilian had a disappoint-ing weekend in Melbourne - being comprehensively outqualified by team-mate Fernando Alonso and en-during an incident-filled race before his retirement.

Although the team continues to have faith that Massa can turn his situation around, the outfit has elected to change his chassis with immediate effect – so for this week-end in Sepang he will race with chassis number 294 - to see if it was a factor in his performance.

A statement on the team’s website said: “This choice was taken to clear up any doubts about the unusual performance of his car during the weekend at Albert Park.”

AlonsoFernando Alonso is not expecting

the Malaysian Grand Prix to be any easier for his Ferrari team, saying the Italian squad will have to race defen-sively again. The Maranello outfit endured a difficult start to the season in Australia last weekend, with both Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa qualifying outside the top ten.

Alonso recovered well in the race to finish in fifth, but the Spaniard’s pace was no match to that of the leading outfits. With just one week between the Melbourne and the Sepang races, Alon-so is aware that he can’t expect things to be easier for Ferrari.

“In Malaysia, we will once again be racing on the defensive,” Alonso said on Ferrari’s website. “There’s no other way we can go about it, given that the F2012 is practically identical to what we ran in Australia. We will have to try and adapt it as well as pos-sible, knowing it won’t be easy.”

He added: “There are two points we will have to work on with great attention: finding the right compro-mise in terms of the aerodynamic balance and the tyre degradation.

“Sepang has two real straights where, because they are very long, a lack of top speed carries a higher price than in Melbourne, where the two straights on which you could use DRS were reasonably short.”

Felipe Massa gets new chassis for Malaysian Grand Prix

VAlEntIno Rossi and Nicky Hayden are confident that Ducati just needs time to fully understand its new GP12 before it can be a MotoGP front-runner again.

Speaking at the official launch of the team’s 2012 bike and revised livery, the pair said that the sheer number of chang-es compared to the 2011 Ducati meant it would take a while before it showed its true potential. The GP12 showed promis-ing form at the first winter test, but the second test was more troubled.

“I know that plenty of changes have

taken place. We have incredible competi-tion,” said Rossi. “We’ve started to work with this bike in the tests and [technical chief] Filippo [Preziosi] and the team have put in an incredible effort.

“The bike has changed so much com-pared to the model we had last year.”I think we just need some extra time to establish a sort of friendship with this bike and famil-iarise ourselves with the new concept.”

Hayden underlined that even at this early stage, it was clear Ducati had made gain with the new bike.

“I think we’ve improved in a lot of ar-

eas,” he said. “Obviously with the engine, the extra 200cc is a lot, but with the chas-sis we’ve made a big step. This chassis has more feeling and it’s easier to make adjustments, so during the weekend we can find the right way.” Rossi agreed that the fact that the bike was easier to work with would be an asset.

“What counts is improvement,” he said. “We tried to progress last year but it was very difficult. This year, race after race we will improve. “This bike is easier to work on and make adjustments. You can really fine-tune it.”

AP Photo/Brandon Malone,Pool

Mechanics for Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil change his tires during a pit stop at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne, Aus-tralia, Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Felipe Massa will be given a new chassis for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix as his Ferrari team bids to get to the bot-tom of his troubles in Australia.

Ducati pair have faith in 2012 GP

Valentino Rossi

IBP/ist