The information from the min-istry is in line with a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which excludes Indonesia from the list of countries and territories with active Zika virus transmission.

Earlier, certain Korean media had reported that a Zika virus case was found in Jambi in early 2015.

Ambassador Prasetio pointed

out that it was incorrect to presume that the Zika virus had spread in Indonesia.

In fact, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the Research Center of the Indonesian Ministry of Health had reaffirmed the absence of cases involving the Zika virus in 2016.

In the past few weeks, the Indo-nesian government has implemented

several measures to prevent the entry of the virus into the country, such as by raising alertness at its health of-fices across all airports and seaports in Indonesia.

Zika virus resembles dengue virus

Zika virus and dengue hemor-rhagic fever (DHF) virus have simi-lar symptoms including; high fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. In addition to non-specific symptoms such as these however, the zika virus also causes symptoms such as redness on the skin, pain in muscles and joints and enervation.

On that account, the treatment

of both diseases is almost the same, namely by fluid therapy using in-travenous infusion of crystalloid or colloid fluids. “The Zika virus can generally be cured within a period of 7-12 days” said Made Ary Sarasmita, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Udayana University, recently.

Some people have been specu-lating that there is a correlation be-tween the incidence of microsephaly (smaller than usual size of head) in children born of mothers who have been infected with the zika virus, however, so far there has been no statement from the Ministry of Health saying that there is any proof

of this in Indonesia. “The Ministry of Health of the RI suspects the virus can pass from pregnant mothers to their baby” added Saramitra.

Manifestations of zika viral infec-tion can also be seen in the decrease of platelets but not as specifically as in the case of dengue infection.

POLICIES allowing foreign ownership of up to 100 percent of investments in the tourism sec-tor would be disastrous for the sustainability of Bali’s economy. Such a policy will shift the enjoy-

ment of economic growth into the hands of people from outside of Bali

and leave native entrepreneurs in a tight spot.Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and

Industry (Kadin) of Bali, A.A. Ngurah Alit Wirapu-tra, stated that the Bali’s economic position is being weakened by the opening-up of opportunities for foreigners to own 100 percent of shares in 35 fields of business.

“Policies allowing 100 percent for foreign owner-ship, especially in the field of tourism and culinary businesses, will endanger the economic viability of Bali. It will definitely shut down and eliminate many local entrepreneurs” said Alit Wiraputra, on Sunday (Feb. 14).

Because Bali –as a tourist destination, is in high demand with foreigners, the impact of such a policy will threaten Balinese people who are in a less com-petitive position when it comes to investing in their own businesses. “As a result, foreign entrepreneurs will flock to invest here, while Balinese employers and employees will not be able to compete against them”, he said.

Danger...

continues on page 2

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L 16 Pages Number 338th year

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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Republicans gear up for U.S. Supreme Court battle after Scalia’s death

Page 13

Australian PM Turnbull losing shine ahead of elections

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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

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

CALVERTON — Walter Yako-boski scraped together nearly every penny he made as a cook in 1979 to begin buying a small collection of rare comic books for $10,000, hop-ing his boyhood passion could one day pay off as an investment.

That day may soon be here.Yakoboski’s copy of “Amazing

Fantasy” No. 15 from 1962 — which introduced the world to Spider-Man — could fetch $400,000 or more when it goes up for auction later this month.

“This is the first time I really sold anything,” said the 60-year-old Yakoboski, who wants to use the proceeds to buy his late father’s 17-acre (7-hectare) vegetable farm in Calverton on eastern Long Island.

He insisted that the fact that he was recently laid off as a supermar-ket baker after more than 27 years is not the reason he’s selling now.

“I have had it for 36 years and it’s just time,” said Yakoboski, who is also is selling a 1963 Spider-Man, as well as two “Fantastic Four” editions and a “Justice League of America,” which combined could bring an ad-ditional $75,000.

But the crown jewel is the “Amaz-ing Fantasy” issue, which Yacoboski originally purchased individually for $1,200 in 1980. Its cover, featuring a price of 12 cents, shows Spider-Man clutching a villain in one arm and swinging from his web with the other.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko co-created the web-slinger and his alter ego, the educationally gifted but awkward Peter Parker, whose life changed forever when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. It paved the way for Spider-Man adventures on television and the big screen.

Lon Allen, managing director of the comics department at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions — which is conducting the sale Thursday — said there are probably 4,000 to 5,000 copies of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15

in circulation. But Yakoboski’s copy is in nearly mint condition.

“It was graded 9.4 on a scale of 1 to 10, that’s what makes it super desirable and really special,” Allen said. “Whoever buys this comic will be joining an elite club.”

Allen said a private collector re-portedly paid $1.1 million for a near-mint copy of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 in 2011, but estimated the $400,000 or more Yakoboski’s edi-tion may fetch could be a record for a public auction of the comic book.

Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of New York-based Metropolis Col-lectibles, said the $1.1 million sale — which he was involved with — involved a comic book graded higher at 9.6.

“This book will do great; it’s an incredibly important book,” said Zurzolo. “When you have a sale like this there is a residual effect on the entire market, so that also makes it very exciting. It’s definitely a special book.”

Yakoboski admits he never thought about such a payday when he began reading comic books as a child, sometimes sneaking away from trips to the library to visit a nearby comic books store.

The collecting of rare editions con-tinued as an adult and Yakoboski says his mother thought it was a crazy way to spend his hard-earned money. His most cherished copies were stashed in a bank safety deposit box — he still has 38 prized editions left — while lesser comics fill cabinets in his Middle Island, New York, home.

Heritage Auctions’ Allen credits Yakoboski for having a good eye for what might become valuable. He said while others sought to buy en-tire collections, Yakoboski targeted what he thought were the highest quality and rarest comics.

“The best stuff always outpaces the market, and he bought the best stuff,” Allen said. “That was ge-nius.” (ap)

The white-hot event, held Sun-day at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, also featured Hollywood’s A-list, from Michael Keaton to Sylvester Stallone to Jane Fonda, as well as iconic musicians like Herbie Hancock, Carly Simon and Barry Manilow.

Members of Earth, Wind & Fire had the night’s most memorable moment when they honored band-mate Maurice White, who died on Feb. 4.

“Right now we’d like to pay tribute to the visionary who we lost last week, the man with whom none of this would be possible, Mr. Maurice White,” Philip Bailey said onstage.

The band went on to perform

well-known hits like “September” and “Shining Star” that won over the star-studded audience. Simon, too, had similar energy with the crowd when she sang “You’re So Vain.”

Davis said he asked Simon to perform at his event because Ma-nilow had oral surgery twice this week, and he wasn’t sure if the singer would be able to perform.

“I’m glad to be here tonight. What a week,” said Manilow, who made it to Davis’ gala and sang two songs.

Beck, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic kicked off the event in tribute to David Bowie with a performance of “The Man Who Sold the World.”

“This is for two geniuses who are no longer with us,” Beck said onstage.

Melissa Etheridge followed with “Take It to the Limit” in honor of Glenn Frey. Irving Azoff, who manages the Eagles and received the President’s Merit Award, grew emotional onstage and cried when he told stories about Frey.

Other performers included Chi-cago as well as rising, Grammy-nominated acts such as Fetty Wap, Andra Day, Elle King and Tori Kelly. Attendees included Quincy Jones, Alice Cooper, Nancy Pelosi, Richard Branson, Berry Gordy, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, James Corden, Afrojack, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.

The Grammys will air live Mon-day from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It starts at 8 p.m. Eastern. (ap)

Verdine White, left, Philip Bai-ley, center, and Ralph John-son of Earth, Wind and Fire perform at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Debut edition of Spider-Man comic headed to auction

Hollywood’s A-list, musicians mix at pre-Grammy gala

LOS ANGELES — Chris Rock sat next to Caitlyn Jenner, Gwen Stefani curled up with Blake Shelton and Jamie Foxx was front row recording Earth, Wind & Fire jam onstage at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala.

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Page 8

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

Bali’s economy in danger

REUTERS/Adriano Machado

A child runs as a municipal pick-up truck sprays a street with insecticide to kill the Aedes mosquito at Sao Sebastiao neighborhood in Brasilia, Brazil, February 11, 2016. Recent laboratory analyses identified Zika virus infections in three people who died in Brazil last year, the health mini stry said on Thursday, although authorities could not confirm that Zika alone was responsible for their deaths.

Indonesia safe from Zika virusJAKARTA - Indonesia is safe from the Zika virus, according

to a statement by Indonesian Ambassador in Seoul, South Korea, John A. Prasetio received by ANTARA News here on Monday. “Based on the confirmation received from the Indonesian Min-istry of Health, there has been no case of Zika virus in Indonesia throughout this year,” the ambassador noted.

According to Wiraputra, the government should find away around this problem by creating a new policy that would protect local business people who lack the large capital of foreign business people. “We are concerned that Bali will be controlled by foreigners and entrepreneurs from outside Bali” he said.

Immediate action needs to be taken, so that Balinese people not find themselves in a position of only being able to be employees, spectators and keepers of traditions

and culture. “Otherwise, Balinese people will become poorer and poorer because they already have a heavy burden to bear. IN addition to having to provide for the needs of their households, Balinese people also have the burden of maintain-ing customs, culture and the natural environment of Bali”, explained Wiraputra.

Rector of the Undiknas Uni-versity, Prof. Dr. Gede Sri Darma, D.B.A., has previously said that the effects of such a policy are a threat to the people of Bali. Eventually, Balinese people will no longer own assets in their native land and will loose their identity or distinctive-ness as Balinese people.

“In fact this is already happen-ing today. As Balinese people we are only preserving our culture to keep it alive. But we also need to realize that cultural changes are oc-curring because of the prescence of migrants. It is ambiguous policies that will cause the destruction of our culture” he said.

Dr. Darma admitted that it is difficult for Balinese people to maintain their culture in the midst of the swift global influences given that culture is formed by a group of people and is based on a collective agreement. However, if migrants are also willing to preserve Balinese culture for the sake of tourism, Balinese culture will certainly be

sustainable.Many properties located in

tourism areas, such as Semin-yak and Kerobokan are already owned by foreigners, despite the fact that foreigners are prohibited from being full owners of land in Bali. Often properties are notarized as belonging to a local who has “lent” their name to a foreigner,

“Bali is perceived as paradise-like place to live so everyone wants to own property on the island -no matter how much it costs. So, land will certainly be bought and sold by investors from outside Bali who have the capital to do so” he explained. (kmb27)

International2 15International Activities

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Dewa Farendra. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Tuesday, February 16, 2016Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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

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

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carry-ing 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

COVER STORYFrom page 1danger ...

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ManGUPUra - Lawmakers in the Badung district plan to revise the regional Bylaw (Perda) on renewal levies of foreigner employing permit (IMTa). This effort is intended to protect local labor from the implementation of the asEan Economic Community (aEC). draft of the regional bylaw started to be discussed on Friday (Feb. 12) by special committee of the Badung House of representatives. at the meeting was revealed if foreigner labor working in Badung will be strictly regulated and detailed.

“In Badung, there is invasion of foreigners working secretly. They even take all professions. Without being set, we are worried that local labor will get eliminated,” said Chairman of the Special Committee for the IMTA levy renewal of the Badung House of Representatives, IGN Sudiarsa.

Although the AEC has been in force, the existence of foreign labor, he said, should remain to be regulated because many foreigners invade Badung just to earn a fortune. “In short, with this law we want to set all the issues on foreign labor in Badung,” he said.

According to him, the lawmakers intended to develop further the draft of the IMTA levy renewal ranging from permission, levies to labor sector. “We will further develop this regulation. Logically, we want to organize the levies if the permission is not clear,” he said.

Nevertheless, in regulating the issues of foreign labor in Badung, the committee will consult to Ministry of Manpower and Immigration. “Soon we will consult to higher institution because it knows better about the foreigners. We also want to know the extent of the authority of the district,” he said.

He admitted that Badung region starts to be invaded by foreigners that work legally and illegally. Moreover, it is common knowledge that many foreigners use tourist visa and temporary residence visa to work in Badung.

“We also want clarity about relation of this levy with the AEC whether we have to remove the levies of the ASEAN labor or not. If it is removed, it means the levies are only charged to foreign labor from outside the ASEAN countries,” he said.

Similar opinion was disclosed by the members of the committee such as I Made Duama, Nyoman Dirga Yusa, Made Subawa and Made Ponda Wirawan. They argued that discussion on the IMTA levy renewal draft must be extended from permits, levies to the arrangement of its labor.

“Otherwise, we worry all the professions will be swept away by foreigners. Now, foreign labor does not only target tourism sector but also all the non-governmental enterprises,” said Duama.

He got indication that there are many foreign labors working in Badung illegally. They usually use a tourist visa, cultural visa or visa of temporary residence, but in fact they do business in Badung. (kmb27)

IBP/File

Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ka-din) of Bali, A.A. Ngurah Alit Wiraputra

To protect local labor, Badung revises IMTA

IBP/File

The farmer is working on her ricefield while a big building is being build on the back-ground.

14 InternationalScienceTuesday, February 16, 2016 3International Bali News Tuesday, February 16, 2016

CAMBRIDGE — After seven suicides in two years, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy are looking for their own solu-tions to prevent more deaths.

The school unveiled a sweeping plan to bolster mental health last fall, adding staff psychologists and expanding counseling hours, among other measures. But students have

added their own ingenuity in recent months, starting a wave of grass-roots projects intended to defuse the stress of campus life before it leads to a crisis.

One group of students launched a texting hotline called Lean On Me this month, letting students chat anonymously with trained student volunteers about anything that’s

troubling them. Other students plan to install artificial light boxes on campus, meant to treat depression that can take hold during dreary months.

By her count, sophomore Izzy Lloyd has handed out more than 4,000 specially made wristbands that say TMAYD. It’s short for “tell me about your day,” a message that aims to get students talking with one another. Lloyd started the project last year after two of her freshman classmates took their own lives in the same week.

“It’s suicide prevention by com-munity building,” said Lloyd, 19. “We’re showing people who may feel like they have nothing left that they have a world of people who do care about them.”

Other projects take a lighter tone, like the new MIT Puppy Lab that will bring therapy dogs to campus this semester.

Campus officials recently award-ed almost $50,000 in grants to support campus projects meant to improve mental health. They say the new work is a reflection of MIT’s culture, marked by a drive to solve problems. But students said they’re also meeting a demand for services that were missing on the campus of 11,000 students.

“If we really solved the problem, we wouldn’t be running into this same cycle of mental illness that we’ve been seeing,” said Nikhil Buduma, who graduated last year and founded Lean On Me with

two current students. The hotline, he added, lets students get help anonymously and avoid stigmas tied to mental illness.

Across the country, experts say, college students are playing a big-ger role in suicide prevention. And more often, schools welcome that kind of help.

“We have found time and again that students listen to students before they listen to anyone else,” said Nance Roy, clinical director at the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit group based in New York that works to prevent suicide among college students. “These issues can no longer just fall to the counsel-ing center.”

Roy said there’s no evidence that elite schools have disproportionate-ly high suicide rates. But a national study suggests that MIT’s rate was above average last year.

The average suicide rate among college students was seven for ev-ery 100,000 students between 2004 and 2009, according to research from the University of Rochester. Three MIT students took their lives last year, translating to almost 27 for every 100,000. There have been at least seven student suicides since 2014, according to reports from the school’s student newspaper.

Some students and alumni say that MIT’s culture pushes students to extremes, sometimes at the ex-pense of a social life or emotional health.

“It’s heroic and glorified to push

oneself to the point of our boundar-ies, of our physical or bodily needs,” said Sahar Hakim-Hashemi, a 2013 graduate who’s filming a documen-tary called “Sleep is for the Strong,” exploring mental health at MIT and ways to improve it. “It’s like it shows how hardcore and strong someone is.”

And while students come with big ambitions, MIT officials said, they don’t always have the skills to cope with the pressure.

“We recognize that a lot of kids coming in today are not as well-prepared for these challenges,” said Rosalind Picard, a professor of media arts and sciences who leads the school’s campaign to support mental-health projects.

Picard says the new work on campus is a turning point. Beyond treating mental illness, she said, there’s a new focus on preventing problems.

Meanwhile, some of the new student projects have begun draw-ing interest elsewhere. Six oth-er schools have bought Lloyd’s TMAYD wristbands for their stu-dents, and dozens more have said they’re interested. The team behind Lean On Me has received inquiries about the texting hotline from out-side MIT, and they hope to bring it to other schools.

“It’s not a product built only for MIT students,” Buduma said. “Our goal is really just to help people feel like they belong to a community.” (ap)

The most prominent space tourism pro-gram, the commercial space line founded by adventurer-business mogul Sir Richard Bran-son will use a winged rocket plane dubbed SpaceShipTwo, successor to SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 won the $10 million Ansari X Prize that was intended to spur the industry’s development.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to be flown by two pilots and carry up to six passengers on a suborbital trajectory to altitudes above 62 miles (100 kilometers), an internationally recognized boundary of space.

Like early U.S. X-planes, Virgin Galactic’s craft will be carried aloft by another aircraft, called WhiteKnightTwo, and released at about 50,000 feet before its rocket engine is ignited for a supersonic thrill ride to the fringes of space and a view of the Earth far below.

The space line says SpaceShipTwo’s cabin is roomy enough for passengers to float dur-ing a few minutes of weightlessness before beginning an unpowered glide to a runway

landing.A key feature of the design is the so-called

feathering system — a term derived from the feathers of a badminton projectile. Twin tails extending rearward from the tips of each wing rotate upward as a means to slow and stabilize SpaceShipTwo as it re-enters the atmosphere. The “feathers” then rotate back to their normal position for the rest of the glide and landing.

Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo was destroyed on Oct. 31, 2014, when a co-pilot prematurely unlocked the feathers during a powered test flight and aerodynamic forces broke the craft apart. The co-pilot was killed but the pilot parachuted to safety. The company will roll out its new SpaceShipTwo later this month in Mojave, California, but the timeline for testing and commercial operation has not been released.

Hundreds of people have put down deposits of $250,000 for a chance to fly into space with Virgin Galactic, which plans to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico. (ap)

Space tourism projects at a glance

Virgin Galactic via AP

This undated image provided by Virgin Galactic shows Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo, an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a Cali-fornia-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. Space tourism companies are employing designs including winged vehicles, vertical rockets with capsules and high-altitude balloons. While developers envision ultimately taking people to orbiting habitats, the moon or beyond, the immediate fu-ture involves short flights into or near the lowest reaches of space without going into orbit.

CALIFORNIA - Virgin Galactic later this month in Mojave, California, is preparing to roll out its new SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle the company hopes will one day take tourists to the edge of space. It comes roughly 15½ months since an earlier incarnation was destroyed in a test flight, killing one of the pilots. Despite the setback, the dream of sending tourists to the edge of space and beyond is still alive. Space tourism companies are employing designs including winged vehicles, vertical rockets with capsules and high-altitude balloons.

MIT students turn their brainpower toward suicide prevention

AP Photo/Steven Senne

In this Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 photo Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, from the left, Linda Jing, of San Ga-briel, Calif., Nikhil Buduma, of San Francisco, Calif., and Andy Trattner, of Portland, Ore., talk about the development of the anonymous texting site they created called “Lean On Me,” on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, in Cam-bridge, Mass. The texting site is among a wave of new student projects aimed to defuse to the stress of campus life before it leads to a crisis. There were several campus suicides last year. MIT officials recently set aside thousands of dollars for grants to help support campus projects dealing with mental health.

As observed on Sunday (Feb. 14), there are several rather deep potholes at Jalan Andong’s main traffic lights that disrupt the flow of traffic. “At night, there are always both local and foreign-ers who drive their motorcycles along this stretch of road and nearly fall off their bikes because of the potholes”, complained lo-

cal resident Pande Amerta. He added that the sidewalk here is equally damaged and said: “in short, we must be careful when riding on the sidewalk to avoid the potholes, because the sidewalk is also damaged. Apparently there are large perforations under the sidewalk because many of them have caved in”.

This is not the only part of Ubud that has damaged infrastructure. Another severely damaged roads is Jalan Raya Pengosekan all the way to Lontuduh. Such bad road conditions are deplored, as many tour guides bring their guests along this section of road as they move to and from Denpasar, Sukawati and Ubud.

A tour guide named Widanta who was encountered on Jalan Raya Lontunduh, Ubud said: “Since I am from Batuan, I use this road to get to Ubud. There are numerous potholes along this road which is a main route to Ubud.”. (kmb35)

TABANAN - Originally the okokan or cow bell was often worn around the neck to cattle. It is used to indicate if the livestock is lost because it generates sounds when cows are moving. Over time its function develops into home decoration placed in rice barn and eventually becomes one of the traditional musical instruments.

One of the cow bell craftsmen, Wayan Wandra, 55, a resident of Baturiti, Kerambitan, when met some time ago explained that currently many art troupes play cow bell as traditional musical instrument. So far, there are seven okokan art troupes in Ker-ambitan subdistrict namely at Tibubiyu, Belong, Kukuh (two art troupes), Samsaman and Baturiti Kaja. “I myself participate in the Rama Wijaya okokan art troupe of Baturiti Kaja,” he said. An okokan art troupe needs a minimum of 10 pieces.

Wandra having been an okokan artisan since 2000 admitted that the okokan craft he made has ever been brought to France. “I made okokan and was bought by tourists directly coming to my home in 2001, but after the 2002 Bali bombing, no more tourists come to buy okokan,” he said.

Currently he has difficulty to get raw material for making okokan used as musical instrument with the height of 45 centi-meters and length of 95 centimeters. The raw material in use are the teep and sano wood. “Minimum age of wood in use is about 30 years or those having owned heartwood. With this heartwood, the material will be very strong and durable,” he said.

Other than difficulty to get wood material, its selling price begins to be more expensive so that as craftsmen he expected there is financial aid or low-interest loan. “Now, teep wood hav-ing heartwood and the length of 10 meters is sold for IDR 10 million. So, I hope there is financial aid or credit,” he said.

When having many orders, Wandra can receive 10 pieces. An okokan with a height of 45 cm and length of 95 cm is sold for IDR 2 million. This time he is working on 30 pieces ordered by Kediri subdistrict, Tabanan. (kmb24)

IBP/file

Originally the okokan or cow bell was often worn around the neck to cattle. It is used to indicate if the livestock is lost because it generates sounds when cows are moving. Over time its function develops into home decoration placed in rice barn and eventually becomes one of the traditional musical instruments.

Okokan craftsmen hard to get

raw materials

IBP/file

Ubud’s infrastructure for example, is currently is rather poor condition, as witnessed by a number of deep potholes on Jalan Andong, that often cause traffic accidents –especially at night.

Often cause accidents

Residents complain about

potholes in UbudGIANYAR - Ubud has long been a designated national

tourism strategic area (KSPN), yet what this tourism village has gained by this designation is not always apparent. Ubud’s infrastructure for example, is currently is rather poor condition, as witnessed by a number of deep potholes on Jalan Andong, that often cause traffic accidents –especially at night.

Bali News International4 Tuesday, February 16, 2016 13InternationalTuesday, February 16, 2016

MUMBAI - A huge fire engulfed the venue of a cultural event in Mumbai on Sunday that was being held at the opening of a “Make in India” week launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drum up foreign investment.

Television pictures showed fire breaking out at the front of the outdoor stage during a performance by dancers. Fanned by high winds, it quickly spread, licking the sides of a scaffolding rig and lighting up the night sky.

Thousands of spectators, among them dignitaries including the chief minister of the host state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, were evacuated safely.

“Venue was evacuated immediately. Traffic management allowed early dispersal without any trouble,” Fadnavis tweeted, adding that no fatalities or injuries were reported.

The fire broke out at 8:24 pm (1554 GMT) due to a short circuit and 14 fire engines and 10 water tankers took just over an hour to bring it under control, said Raviraj Kamde, fire officer at the Maharashtra Fire Control Room.

Kamde confirmed there were no casualties and people at the event had been evacuated safely.

Eyewitnesses said the evacuation was orderly.“We were shaken with the sudden announcement that there has

been a fire at the venue but thankfully there were multiple exit routes,” said Heman Goyal, a Delhi businessman who was attend-ing the event.

“There was chaos but we all got out in time. I saw parts of the stage burning.”

The blaze is likely to overshadow the message of India being open for business that Modi wanted to send. When he opened the investor jamboree on Saturday, Modi called Make in India “the biggest brand India has ever created”.

The prime ministers of Sweden and Finland took part in Satur-day’s gala opening ahead of Make in India Week, which is being attended by 2,500 foreign companies and 8,000 firms from India. (rtr)

Turnbull on Saturday an-nounced more than a dozen chang-es to his ministry, a decision forced on him by the resignation of one minister, the retirement of two others and the sacking of two more over their involvement in political scandals.

A Fairfax-Ipsos poll of 1403 people taken on Feb. 11-13 showed the government’s worst numbers since Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott in a party coup last September, nar-rowing its lead over the centre-left Labor Party by four percentage points to 52-48 percent.

A hostile upper house Senate continues to stymie any major policy moves and Turnbull is facing rearguard action from his party’s conservative wing despite stick-ing to Abbott’s unpopular stances on same-sex marriage and climate change.

An early election may be Turn-bull’s best chance to demonstrate bold leadership and reverse what seems to be a growing sense of buyer’s remorse, said Peter Chen, a senior lecturer in government at the University of Sydney.

“If you’re going to follow Tony Abbott’s agenda, then why did you roll him in the first place? It seems purely motivated by personal fac-tors,” Chen told Reuters.

“I ... think that the early election is the more likely possibility,” he said after the poll was released.

Plummeting commodity prices have depleted the government’s coffers, a major financial stumbling block for Turnbull, whose rise was sparked partly by his image as a prudent financial manager based on his background in the private sector.

Australia in December forecast

its budget deficit would swell to A$37.4 billion ($26.6 billion) in the year to June as falling prices for key resource exports open a gaping hole in tax revenue.

Turnbull last week raised the possibility of an early election after ruling out a rise in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) under pressure from within his own party, despite strong support from economists.

The government’s ability to have a stimulatory budget prior to the election is constrained by the size of the budget deficit, said Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP Capital Investors.

“It has got its hands fairly well tied. Overall revenue remains under threat and the government doesn’t like the idea of increasing govern-ment spending, so it’s not going to have a tax and spend set of policies going into the election,” he told Reuters.

“The ditching of the GST as an option suggests that maybe struc-tural reform is off the table.” (rtr)

Huge fire engulfs venue at “Make in India” event

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the venue of a cultural event during ‘Make in India’ week in Mumbai, India, February 14, 2016. A huge fire engulfed the venue of a cultural event in Mumbai on Sunday that was being held at the opening of a “Make in India” week launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drum up foreign investment.

REUTERS/David Gray/Files

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces his new federal cabinet during a media conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, in this September 20, 2015 file photo.

Australian PM Turnbull losing shine ahead of elections

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s honeymoon period may be ending, with economists and politi-cal analysts blaming a lack of new policies for a drop in poll numbers that has reignited speculation of an early election.

AMLAPURA - Adverse weather condition seems not only to lead to a number of natural disasters. Long holiday of Lunar New Year, Galungan and Kuningan in fact also has caused the tourist visits to a number of tourist attractions in Karangasem to plummet. One of the attractions is the Taman Ujung Su-kasada where the tourist visit dropped by 70 percent.

Operations Manager of Taman Ujung Sukasada, Nyoman Matal, when contacted recently said that the decline in tour-ist visit reaches 70 percent when compared to tourist visit on the same holiday six months ago. Actually, during the current Galungan and Kuningan holiday, the tourist visit to the attrac-tion of Karangasem royal heritage is always booming. They are not only the locals, but also foreign travelers. “We predict, the tourist visit on Galungan will be booming. Perhaps due to frequent rain, people are lazy to take vacation. Karangasem is affected, too,” said Matal.

Throughout the Galungan holiday up to February 12, the ticket sold only reached about 3,000 sheets sold for IDR 10,000 per person. Thus, there were only about 3,000 people making a visit to Taman Ujung Sukasada. “The revenue reaches IDR 30 million. By and large, on Galungan the aver-age income at least reaches IDR 50 million,” said the former chairman of the Karangasem House of Representatives from Seraya village.

Nevertheless, he remains grateful because even though in heavy or light rainy conditions there are still travelers making a visit, especially local communities. The condition is still better when compared to other tourist attractions in Bali. He hoped that this condition will end at the end of this February so that it will not disrupt the school holidays in July to Au-gust. Other than to Taman Ujung Sukasada, tourist visits to other attractions is also quiet. The tourist attraction like Tirta Gangga and Candidasa usually booming on Galungan holiday looked quiet because Karangasem continued to be flushed by heavy rain. (kmb31)

A tourism player on Menjangan Island, Nyoman Suntara, revealed that local tourist visit to do pilgrim-age is relatively stable. However, the diving and snorkeling activities have decreased. “The visit of pilgrim in rainy season is still quite crowded. Most of them come from Denpasar and Gianyar. Seeing the weather condition, they choose good day and weather condition to be able to cross,” he said, Sunday (Feb. 14).

The constraint experienced lately by tourism players on Menjangan Is-land is related to crossing mechanism allowed by the West Bali National Park (TNBB). In reality, there is entrance from outside Banyuwedang and Labuan Lalang at Pejarakan vil-lage. It is often found ‘illegal entry’ from Banyuwangi, precisely from the area of Bangsring and Watu Dodol,

where the boat drivers come to Men-jangan Island without a tour guide and carry more than 10 passengers in a boat.

“We saw a boat carries up to 30 passengers in the waters of Menjan-gan Island and I warned them not to step on the reef while taking selfie pictures. They come from Bangsring and Watu Dodol without bringing admission ticket as well. In other words, there is no supervision and it definitely affects and hurts us as tour-ism stakeholders,” said Suntara.

He considered the need to do a serious oversight on the emergence of ‘illegal entry’ into the waters of Menjangan Island. They are consid-ered to enjoy ‘tourism pie’ without complying with the applicable rules. “The loss afflicts the local tourism players here. Moreover, there is

no guide overseeing visitors from Banyuwangi and they even stepped on coral reefs. Not to mention, the boat held up to 30 passengers and no

parties are responsible for their trip,” he regretted.

Suntara added that it still needs an improvement in terms of infra-

structure at the Banyuwedang and Labuan Lalang port. So far, the road conditions are not yet qualified for supporting tourism. Ideally the road must be paved by central government to support the comfort of local and foreign travelers.

On the other hand, the rules on admission ticket price reaching IDR 200,000 formerly protested by tourism players are still enforced. Local tourism players are not able to do much. Admission ticket worth IDR 200,000 excludes the cost of snorkeling and diving charged at IDR 15,000 per person, and the boat rental fee reaches IDR 525 for ten people. “Those who come and do not know the price of admission ticket at IDR 200,000 will feel to be forced to pay. It happens because they indeed originally intend to visit Menjangan Island. Such high price of admission ticket in effect since the past year results in a significant influence on the tourist visit this year. Knowing such expensive price, they may be reluctant to come,” concluded Sun-tara. (kmb34)

Bad weather, tourist visit to Taman Ujung comes down

IBP/file

Taman Ujung Sukasada, Karangasem

Guests come in through ‘illegal entry’ in Banyuwangi

Tourism players of Menjangan Island complainSINGARAJA-Graveled and muddy road condition after

heavy rain at Banyuwedang Port, Pejarakan hamlet, Gerok-gak is never devoid of pilgrims wishing to pray at the sacred temple on Menjangan Island. Generally people use boat rental services to cross. In the lately rainy season, the pilgrims were still bustling to worship.

IBP/file

Graveled and muddy road condition after heavy rain at Banyu-wedang Port, Pejarakan hamlet, Gerokgak is never devoid of pil-grims wishing to pray at the sacred temple on Menjangan Island.

Bali News Tuesday, February 16, 2016 5InternationalTuesday, February 16, 201612 International

BUSINESS

“I think we’ve ended up with the best of both worlds,” HSBC chairman Douglas Flint told the BBC on Monday. “A pivot to Asia, led from London.”

Flint said that HSBC was, at its heart, a bank focused on trade and investment flows. Sidestep-ping concerns about the recent volatility in Asian markets, Flint said it had been a privilege to choose between two of the world’s great financial centers and that the decision was not based on short-term market dynamics.

“The U.K. is one of the most globally con-nected economies in the world with a fantastic regulatory system and legal system and immense experience in dealing with international affairs,” he said.

The bank launched the review last April in light of regulatory and tax changes implemented by the U.K. after the 2008 financial crisis. Par-ticularly problematic was a 2010 tax on a bank’s global balance sheet, which penalized those with global operations such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. Fears that Britain would vote to leave the European Union also heightened concerns.

HSBC’s decision was a relief to the govern-ment, which feared losing a pillar of Britain’s financial world — and the signal it would send more broadly for the economy at a time of heated debate about whether or not to leave the EU. The thought of losing one of London’s financial icons had sent the government into panic.

“It’s a vote of confidence in the government’s economic plan, and a boost to our goal of making the U.K. a great place to do more business with China and the rest of Asia,” the Treasury said in a statement after HSBC’s decision.

Campaigners who want the country to leave the EU argued the decision proved that big fi-nancial institutions would not be frightened off by a leave vote. But Flint told the BBC that the bank has the ability to move people from London to Paris if necessary for the bank’s wholesale operations.

Investec banking expert Ian Gordon, who thought a move was in the bank’s interest, sug-gested it was dangerous to trust political promises that won’t be enacted until after the next election. Concerns about slowing economic growth in China and market volatility around the world may have persuaded HSBC to stay with the status quo, Gordon said.

“I’m sure that a perception of market and po-litical volatility would have been a consideration against moving,” he said.

The bank’s decision came after a complicated process that took longer than expected, but spec-ulation increased in the days before the company was set to report its earnings Feb. 22.

HSBC still believes its commercial future lies in the growing wealth of Asia. Almost two-thirds of the bank’s pretax profit came from Asia in the first nine months of 2015, compared with 19

percent from Europe.It has offices in 72 countries and territories in

Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and North Africa. It claimed assets of $2.5 trillion as of September.

Many Western banks are interested in ex-panding operations in Asia, but HSBC has the advantage of already having a major presence

there. Founded in Hong Kong in 1865, when the city was a British colony, the bank financed growing trade between China and Europe and was originally known as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.

The company moved its headquarters to Lon-don in 1992 to meet the regulatory requirements for its acquisition of Midland Bank.(ap)

TOKYO — Japan’s economy contracted at a worse than expected 1.4 percent annual pace last quarter as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s lavish stimulus policies failed to counter anemic consumer demand and sluggish exports.

The preliminary data released Friday, which may be revised, shows the world’s third-largest economy stumbling again after a 1.3 percent expansion in the July-September quarter. The economy shrank 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter from the previous quarter.

Despite the lackluster report, Tokyo’s main share index, the Nikkei 225, vaulted 7.1 percent to 16,017.94 helped by a weakening in the Japanese yen, hopes of more stimulus and Friday’s rally on Wall Street.

The latest contraction, the second in 2015, adds to worries that Abe’s strategy for reviving the economy through inflation fueled by mas-sive monetary easing is failing. The slowdown in China, one of Japan’s biggest export markets, has been a further hindrance.

Japanese officials have expressed concern over recent market gyra-tions. The expectation in Tokyo is that a meeting of finance min-isters of leading industrial nations next week in Shanghai might help restore some balance to markets that have been out of kilter since China began tweaking its foreign exchange policies in August.

Japan’s central bank has already resorted to imposing negative in-terest rates on some bank deposits it holds to help spur more lend-ing, though cash-rich companies

appear generally uninterested in borrowing.

Growth also has been stunted by slow increases in wages, which leave households less inclined to spend. Companies are still drawing down excess capacity built up dur-ing decades of fast growth, and have held back on domestic investments, viewing their shrinking and aging home market as less attractive than other faster growing economies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Consumer demand fell more than expected in the last quarter, dipping to a four-year low, offset-ting moderate growth in business investment, said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics. He expects consumer demand to perk up in coming months, in anticipation of a sales tax hike, to 10 percent from 8 percent, in April 2017.(ap)

AP Photo/Matt Dunham

In this picture taken Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, people walk backdropped by the HSBC headquarters building standing amongst other skyscrapers in the Canary Wharf business district of London. International bank HSBC said Sunday Feb. 14, it has decided to keep its headquarters in London after considering a move to Hong Kong in response to tougher U.K. banking regulations

HSBC to keep HQ in London, decides against move to Asia

LONDON — Britain’s biggest bank is staying put. HSBC Holdings plc said it will keep its headquarters in London, ending a 10-month process in which one of the world’s largest financial companies considered moving to Hong Kong to get closer to its center of gravity in fast-growing Asian economies.

AP Photo/Koji Sasahara

A shopper walks past a clothing shop display on a shopping street in Tokyo Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Japan’s economy con-tracted at a 1.4 percent annual pace in the last quarter, October-December in 2015, as weak consumer demand and slower ex-ports battered the recovery. The preliminary data, which may be revised, were slightly worse than expected and were a setback from the 1.3 percent expansion in the previous quarter.

Japan’s economy contracts in latest setback for Abe policies

SEMARAPURA -After rain-ing, farmers like at Subak Tohpati, Banjarangkan, cannot necessarily rejoice. They begin to get difficulty in working on the land because they do not get water. As a result, tens of hectares of farmland get abandoned and overgrown by shrubs. Not a few farmers have switched profession into construction worker. Instead, some people are forced to raise cows and pigs to meet their daily needs.

Chief of Subak Tohpati, Nengah Sudana, when asked for his confir-mation on Sunday (Feb. 14) did not

dismiss such condition. According to him, the neglect of farmland has occurred since three years ago. This condition is considered to occur due to water sharing problem. So far, the Subak Tohpati only relies on water irrigation from Tembuku, Bangli. However, farmers in Tem-buku more frequently grow rice than crops. So, this makes farmers at Tohpati unable to grow rice due to water shortage.

As chief of the subak, Sudana cannot do much. He just hoped that Bali Agriculture Agency can intervene by facilitating the water

sharing issue. Besides, Subak Tohpati and Tembuku, Bangli are equally under the Subak Gede handled by the Bali Agriculture Agency. Thus, the cropping pattern can be done regularly. “If only re-lying on rainwater, it is impossible because rice cultivation should be done regularly and needs water,” he said.

With the current condition, Su-dana also recognized there are tens of hectares of farmland in the subak area displaced. Of the 75 hectares of farmland at the local subak, only 20 hectares can now be planted

with rice. The remaining area cannot be planted with anything because there is no water. Besides, he added that farmers cannot plant crops in succession because to get good condition of crop it can only be planted twice. “We’ve had time to plant beans twice, but after that they died. Then, we cannot certainly grow rice because there is no wa-ter,” he said.

Subak Tohpati is divided into six subgroups or tempek namely the Kangin, Bedugul, Padah Lu-wah, Kwalon, Gerembeng and Abian Salak. The subak has 81

active members, while the owner of paddy field reaches 200 people. In terms of production, farmers can harvest as much as 5.5 tons of rice per hectare.

But with the current conditions, many farmers have switched pro-fession. Some are turning to con-struction workers while the others are raising cattle and pigs in order to meet daily needs. “As chief of the subak, I am continuously demanded to provide water by farmers. But the water indeed does not exist so that I hope this can get the attention of the province,” he said. (119)

This was disclosed by Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana accompa-nied by Deputy Regent Nyoman Sutjidra and Spokesman of Bule-leng regional secretariat Made Supartawan at the official residence of the regent last week.

Furthermore, the regent said that in the grand design of the district government are submitted a number of proposals to central government ranging from the coastal arrange-ment, new road construction, the making of waterway, street lighting

and a number of arts and cultural ac-tivities. But until now, some points of the proposals have received indication of approval. Only the cultural agenda is given green light by the Ministry of Culture and Tour-ism. Related to the highway issue, the district government proposed the construction of a new highway on the southern side of Pemuteran village. “Holiday season of tour-ists will not be bothered by traffic vehicles and vice versa because we will build the highway in the south of the village,” said Agus.

To follow up the lobby, next week Deputy Regent of Bule-leng, Nyoman Sutjidra, has been

ordered to meet the officials in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Moreover, the problem at Pemuteran village can only be resolved by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, in this case the Bali-Penida River Agency (BWS) and National Road Institute (BPJN). “We hope this lobby gets a result, so that the arrangement including flood mitigation program can be done as soon as possible because it concerns with the image of tourism,” he added.

To note, last week, Jalan Raya Singaraja-Gilimanuk, precisely at Segara Loka hamlet, Pemuteran is hit by floods with the water level

of about 30 centimeter. In addition, the road body is filled with mud and gravel swept away by floods. Such floods have regularly happen and engulf the region every year. The latest incident was on Friday after-noon (Feb. 12). As a result, the traf-fic on the north coast gets disturbed and so do tourism activities.

Responding to this condition, people expressed their criticism by snorkeling in the flooded areas. They judged the government does not pay attention to infrastructural condition at Pemuteran. Instead the government only boosts to collect revenue through hotel and restau-rant tax (PHR). (kmb38)

Subak Tohpati hit by water crisisTens of hectares of farmland overgrown by shrubs

Handle floods at Pemuteran

Buleleng urges central govt to build waterwaySingaraja - The government of Buleleng district is deter-

mined to accomplish flood management at Pemuteran, Gerok-gak. As evidence, Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana has assigned Deputy Regent Nyoman Sutjidra to lobby the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in order that the flood mitigation program in western Buleleng can be realized as soon as possible. As a basis for lobbying the central government, he will propose grand design of the Pemuteran village arrangement having been compiled since 2012.

The flood in Pemuteran, Buleleng often happen during rainy season.

IBP/file

6 International

W RLDTuesday, February 16, 2016 11Tuesday, February 16, 2016International

At this time, prevention against the decrease in the number of platelets of infected patients is done by maintaining body fluids and nutrients. If the number of platelet falls too low, it can be an indica-tion that there is bleeding in the blood vessels that can be harmful it is worried there is bleeding in blood vessels that can be harmful to patient. In such a case, doctors may recommend the administering platelet infusions. The decrease in platelet levels in dengue patients,

generally occurs on day 4, 5, 6 and potentially causes bleeding, such as bleeding under the skin character-ized by red spots.

“Patients of both of zika and dengue virus infection, should take bed rest (no activity)” explained Saramitra. Pregnant women who have been infected with the zika virus should immediately have the development of their fetus checked. And dengue patients, especially those who experience a significant daily decrease in platelets during the presence of symptoms should not perform activities that can result in a risk of bleeding such as brush-ing teeth too hard. (kmb42)

From page 1Indonesia ...

After a long, tiring flight from Jakarta with a two-time stopover at Guam and then Honolulu, Jokowi and his entourage finally arrived in California at 5:05 p.m. local time. The time difference between California and Jakarta is about 15 hours.

On arrival at the Palm Springs International Airport, President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana were greeted by Indonesian Ambassador to the US Budi Bowoleksono and his wife Reshanty Bowoleksono, US Assistant Chief of Protocol Gladys Boluda, and Defense At-

tache of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC Vice Marshal Fajar Sumaryadi, after which the Indo-nesian head of state headed to the Miramonte Resort Indian Wells.

President Jokowi is scheduled to attend the ASEAN-US Summit, which will take place at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, on February 15-16, 2016.

“This ASEAN-US Summit is being held following ASEANs new strategic partnership with the

United States reached last year,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi stated at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta recently.

She said the summit will serve as a platform to implement an action plan on the framework of coopera-tion between the ASEAN and the United States.

Based on data from the ASE-AN Secretariat, during the latest ASEAN-US Summit 2015 held in Malaysia, both parties had agreed to

take the dialog to a strategic level.The strategic partnership will be

realized through the implementa-tion of the ASEAN-US action plan for the 2016-2020 period.

The action plan will support three pillars of the ASEAN Community and five priority areas, including economic integration, maritime co-operation, inter-nation challenges, including climate change, as well as the empowerment of women and children. (ant)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana wave before entering the plane

taking them to US.

IBP/ant

Indonesian president arrives in us to attend ASEAN-US Summit

CALIFORNIA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his entourage arrived at the Palm Springs International Airport in California, the United States, on Sunday evening to attend the ASEAN-US Summit.

BANDUNG - State aircraft company, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, will start producing jet fighters “In-donesian Fighter Xperiment (IFX)” in 2020, its President Director, Budi Santoso, said.

“We will begin producing them in 2020 and continue for the next 20 years,” he said here on Thursday.

The aircraft will be produced to meet the Indonesian militarys need for two squadrons of jet fighters and will be sold abroad as well, Budi added.

He said the second phase of cooperation contracts between the Indonesian Defense Ministry and the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administra-tion (DAPA) and between PT Dirgantara Indonesia and Korean

Aerospace Industries (KAI) was signed last January on the basis of starting the production of the planes prototype.

The prototype of the Korean Fighter Xperiment/Indonesian Fighter Xperiment will be produced in South Korea and Indonesia starting this year and until 2019, he said.

He said the prototype of the jet fighters will be produced in South Korea and the rest will be assembled in Indonesia.

The production of the planes will involve numerous Indonesian scientists and technicians for each unit, Budi said.

He added that 300 Indonesians will study and research the production of the KF-X/IF-X jet fighters. (ant)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Record Museum “Muri” declared on Sunday that a new record on Poco-Poco dance performance had been created when 10,000 people played a popular Indonesias line dance in the south parking area of Jakartas Gelora Bung Karno stadium.

Senior Manager of Muri Awan Raharjo said that the dance performance was not only aimed at breaking the Muris record but also introducing and promoting the Poco-Poco dance to the world.

The dance performance was the initiative of the organization of civil servants wives Dharma Wanita Persatuan of Youth and Sports affairs Ministry.

The record breaking moment was appreciated by the Youth and Sports affairs Minister Imam Nahrawi.

“Poco-Poco is a traditional dance of Sangir Ta-laud people of North Sulawesi which is performed after they return from the rice field or the sea as a form of gratitude to the God and the mutual society,” Minister Imam Nahrawi said.

Moreover, the ministry also launched a new class of Poco-Poco dance which combines and adopts movements from other sports branches such as boxing, badminton, basketball, volley ball, soccer and swimming.

The record breaking of Poco-Poco dance was also the governments campaign to introduce the 6th Tafisa World Games, a festival which aims to safeguard and promote traditional sports and games, that will be held in Jakarta from October 6 to 12 this year. (ant)

Indonesia to start producing IFX jet fighters in 2020 Ten thousand people

break record of Poco-Poco dance performance

ECATEPEC- Celebrating Mass for more than 300,000 people in one of Mexicos poorest and most danger-ous cities, Pope Francis on Sunday took a swipe at the country’s rich and corrupt elite .

Decrying “a society of the few and for the few”, he denounced deep inequality and the vanity and pride of those who consider themselves a cut above the rest.

“That wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering. This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children,” the pope said at the Mass in the city of Ecatepec.

Francis urged his listeners to struggle to make Mexico “a land of opportunities where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream” and where drug traffickers, whom he called “dealers of death”, would not ensnare their children.

Mexico is home to one of the worlds richest men, billionaire Carlos Slim, and a wealthy political class stained by corruption even as much of the country is steeped in poverty and violence.

A gritty expanse of cinder block homes north of Mexico City, Ecatepec has seen a surge in crime in recent years as it became infested with war-ring drug cartels.

Fueled by a weak economy and youth unemployment, gang violence has driven the city’s murder rate to one of Mexico’s highest.

It is notorious for the unsolved murders of scores of women, the bodies of many found abandoned in garbage dumps or tossed in a canal only miles from where Francis spoke on Sunday.

The pope warned Mexicans not to succumb to evil: “You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win,” he told them.

Ecatepec is home to a giant statue of “Santa Muerte”, or Saint Death, a cult figure followed by millions across the Americas.

The saint is often depicted as a

skeletal “grim reaper” draped in white satin robes, beaded necklaces and car-rying a scythe, and is believed to grant requests without judging people.

Although he did not address Santa Muerte in his Mass, the Roman Catholic Church has been dismayed by the cult’s rise at a time it is battling competition from other religions.

“The Mexican Church already was very concerned by expanding Protes-tantism and now it must contend with a folk saint venerated mostly by Mexi-cans who still consider themselves Catholic,” said Andrew Chesnut, the author of a book about the cult.

A sea of Catholic faithful greeted the pope as he flew into Ecatepec aboard a white helicopter, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his image, chanting, cheering and waving flags. Tens of thousands of others lined the streets. (rtr)

The next justice could tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, which was left with four conservatives and four liberals. The vacancy quickly became an issue in the 2016 presidential race.

“We ought to make the 2016 elec-tion a referendum on the Supreme Court,” U.S. Senator and Republi-can presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The normally nine-justice court is set to decide this year its first major abortion case in nearly a decade, as well as cases on voting rights, affirmative action and im-migration.

Scalia, 79, died on Saturday at a West Texas resort. The cause of death will not be determined for several days, the top official in the county where he died, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Gueara, said on Sunday in an interview with local TV station WFAA-TV.

Obama, a Democrat, will nomi-

nate someone to fill the empty seat but will wait until the U.S. Senate is back in session, the White House said on Sunday. The Senate returns from recess on Feb. 22.

“At that point, we expect the Senate to consider that nominee, consistent with their responsibilities laid out in the United States Con-stitution,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

The White House declined to give a more specific timeline for Obama to announce his nominee. The nomination will set up a battle with the Republican-controlled chamber, which must approve any nominee.

Shortly after news of Scalia’s death, Republicans vowed not to act on the vacancy until Obama’s successor takes office next January. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said failure to act would be a “shameful abdication” of the Sen-ate’s constitutional duty.

Both sides said history was on their side.

Reid said it would be unprec-edented to have a vacancy on the court for a year. In the modern era, the longest Supreme Court vacancy was 363 days after Abe Fortas re-signed in May 1969.

Republicans cited 80 years of tradition in which no Supreme Court nominees were approved in presidential election years. In fact, Justice Anthony Kennedy was ap-proved in 1988, after a bruising battle in which the Senate rejected President Ronald Reagan’s first nominee, conservative Robert Bork.

Supreme Court nominations are rare, so neither side has much data to rely on in determining prec-edents. History is also an unreliable guide as the nomination process has become significantly more politi-cized in recent years.

For Obama’s previous two Su-preme Court picks, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, he took about 30 days each to announce the elections after their predecessors, Justice John Paul Stevens and Jus-tice David Souter, respectively, said they planned to step down. (rtr)

L’Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP

In this photo taken on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, Pope Francis holds a jersey with the num-ber one and his name printed on it, during his visit to the Federico Gomez Pediatric Hospital, in Mexico City. The pope makes a point of stop-ping at children’s hospitals during his foreign trips, both to visit with the kids and to thank the staff for caring for them.

In poor, violent enclave of Saint Death, Pope slams Mexicos rich

Republicans gear up for U.S. Supreme

Court battle after Scalia’s death

REUTERS/Chris Keane

A member of the audience takes notes as U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks during a campaign town hall at Easley High School in Easley, South Carolina Febru-ary 14, 2016. Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates hardened their positions on Sunday on blocking a move by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat left by the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates hardened their positions on Sunday on blocking a move by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat left by the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, a lifetime appointment that would help decide some of the most divisive issues facing Americans.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016DestinationTuesday, February 16, 201610 InternationalInternational

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FLORIDA-Rookie Chase El-liott positioned himself as one of the favorites for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after becoming the youngest driver ever to secure pole position in qualifying at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott, the 20-year-old son of 1988 Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, soared to the top of the charts with a speed of 196.314 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet in the final round of qualifying on Sunday for the Great American Race.

Matt Kenseth qualified sec-ond after the two-round session at Daytona Beach, Florida with 196.036 mph while twice champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. took third, with 195.682 mph.

Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (195.207 mph) and Roush Fen-way Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (195.118 mph) rounded out the top five for NASCAR’s season-opening event.

“This is a very, very cool day,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott said in a trackside television interview after clocking the top speed.

“I don’t know that this oppor-tunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500.

“The big thing is just the team and Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort that they put into these cars. It was nothing special that I did, it’s really just the kind of work they did this

off-season to make it happen.”Elliott, who became the first

rookie and youngest driver to win a NASCAR national series title at the 2014 Nationwide Series cham-pionship, has taken over the No. 24 Chevrolet from the recently retired Jeff Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 winner.

“Opportunities like this don’t come twice and I certainly want to make the most of this one,” said Elliott. “This is very, very special and a very, very cool way to start our 2016 season.”

Casey Mears was knocked out of the first round of qualifying by one-thousandth of a second by reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Lo-gano, who ended up qualifying in 12th place. (rtr)

Bryant, who said all week he did not want his fellow players to go easy on him in his final All-Star Game, was a shadow of the player who dominated the NBA’s midseason showcase many times before, but was still the man of the hour.

Prior to the game’s opening tip, NBA great Magic Johnson lauded the 37-year-old in between a pair of tribute videos featuring some career highlights interspersed with messages of thanks from a handful of fellow NBA players.

Bryant announced last November that this would be his final season and was made the leading vote-getter for his 18th and final All-Star appearance by fans.

“I just want to thank you guys for all of your support for all these years,” Bryant told the Toronto crowd and a global television audience.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to play the game that I love and be in the NBA for more than half my life.

“It’s a thrill to be here in this All-Star Game so thank you for voting me in. I get a chance to be around these young players here, who when I first started playing most of them were my kids’ age now.

“It feels so good to be able to speak to them about the game and to be able to share some of the knowledge that I have learned throughout my career to them so that they can carry on the tradition of the NBA and hopefully play 20 years themselves.”

When the first NBA All-Star Game to be held outside of the United States finally got underway, it was Bryant who went up against LeBron James for the opening tip. James won the tip but appeared to send it over to Bryant’s

Western Conference team.Bryant played nearly 15 minutes in the first

half and scored 10 points, including a patented fadeaway late in the opening quarter that drew loud cheers from a celebrity-dotted crowd that included director Spike Lee and supermodel Kate Upton.

The 20-year NBA veteran, who by his own

admission this week is “old as hell,” was held without a point the rest of the way.

When Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, one-time league MVP and four-time All-Star Game MVP during a career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers, checked out of the game with 66 seconds left, he received a standing ova-

tion from both team benches while the crowd chanted “Kobe, Kobe.”

Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for a second consecutive year after lead-ing the Western Conference with 31 points in a 196-173 win that set a record for combined points in an NBA All-Star Game. (rtr)

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (24) celebrates winning the pole during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Day-tona International Speedway.

Motor racing-Rookie Elliott claims pole for Daytona 500

Bryant’s farewell tour makes biggest stop in All-Star Game

TORONTO - Kobe Bryant made the biggest stop of his farewell tour on Sun-day as he played the last NBA All-Star Game of a remarkable career in which he established himself as arguably the best player of his generation.

Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press via AP

Western Conference’s Kobe Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers (24), reacts to the crowd as he leaves the game during second half NBA All-Star basketball action in Toronto on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.

CANDIDASA - Discover the unique bamboo house at Rumah Bambu Pengalon, Candidasa. There’s so many amazing things to be discovered around Candidasa – and Rumah Bambu Pengalon just might be the cherry on top. While it isn’t fully completed, Rumah Bambu Pengalon is a unique construction of beautifully architectured bamboo houses.

Supposedly the venue for music festival, Bali Unite, the views here are surprisingly incredible with a small and beautifully clear lake just around the area.

Bamboo House is a uniquely-designed structure using bamboo materials. From Denpasar, it takes approximately 90 minutes to get here. The Bamboo House construction have not finished completely, however, there are several tourists, photographers take pictures here. You may find it difficult to come here, so we recommend to go to Padang Bai port and ask the local men, from padang bai, you shall turn right, when you find three-intersection turn right again, then drive straight until you find a temple, you are already very near to the Bamboo House. (IBP/net)

Bamboo house Pengalon

98 Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Sp rt

With Barcelona leading Cel-ta Vigo 3-1 at a buzzing Nou Camp, Messi stepped forward in the 81st minute to take the spot kick but stunned the crowd by tapping the ball to the side for Suarez, who raced into the box and fired past bewildered goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.

Messi and Suarez wheeled away in glee and were quickly mobbed by their team mates, who looked as surprised as anyone.

The goal took Suarez onto 23 in the league this season, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristia-no Ronaldo. Barcelona finished the match 6-1 winners.

Coach Luis Enrique rejected suggestions the penalty was intended to embarrass the oppo-sition and said he had seen his attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar produce moments of magic in training.

“There will be those who like it and those who don’t,”

he told reporters. “As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting man-ner. “You can take a penalty like that, it’s legal and there’s a Cruyff penalty we all know,”

Dutch great Cruyff pulled off a similar trick while playing for Ajax against Helmond Sport in 1982, squaring the ball for team mate Jesper Olsen, who then passed it back to him to score. Cruyff played for Barce-lona from 1973 to 1978.

Frenchmen Robert Pires and Thierry Henry tried a similar trick for Arsenal against Man-chester City in 2005 but got into a muddle and failed to score.

Lu i s E n r i q u e

said it was not some- th ing he would try.

“I wouldn’t dare take it like that because I’d fall over when I put my foot on the ball,” he said.

The coach added there was nothing arrogant about Messi’s penalty and said there was a tendency in Spain to look down on moments of skill.

“In this country, a kick (at an opponent) is more readily accepted than anything fancy,” he added. “We don’t care about that.

“What we have to do is

enjoy our football , respect our opponents, try to show we’re better through football.

“ I ’m sor ry but I don’t think anything special happened. I’m used to seeing them train and there they are even better,” he added. (rtr)

MILAN - AC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic angrily ac-cused some of his players of easing off towards the end of Sunday’s 2-1 win against Genoa in Serie A.

“If a player doesn’t keep running until the 94th minute, I’m not going to put him on the pitch again,” the fiery Mihajlovic told Mediaset Pre-mium. “I don’t need to give names, they know who I’m referring to.”

But the Serb refused to com-ment on a suggestion that he

was referring to striker Mario Balotelli.

“I didn’t say it was him,” he said. “I’m talking about two or three players and they know who they are. That’s enough, let’s have another question.”

Milan, sixth in Serie A and challenging for a Champions League place next season, ap-peared to be coasting until Ales-sio Cerci pulled one back in stoppage time and they had to hold on grimly for a win.

“We should have scored the third goal with the chances we

had, but then we conceded one and risked giving the win away,” said Mihajlovic.

Balotelli, who is still not match fit after missing three months of the season with a groin injury, came off in the 88th minute and appeared to be limping at the end of the game.

However, Mihajlovic later said in the post-match news conference that it was nothing serious. “Balotelli took a knock, he was limping a bit, but it’s just a knock,” he said. (rtr)

MANchester cIty manager Manuel Pellegrini could face disciplin-ary action from the English Football Association after the Chilean criticised referee Mark Clattenburg in the wake of his side’s 2-1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The defeat left City fourth in the Pre-mier League table, six points adrift of leaders Leicester City, and Pellegrini’s usual calm demeanour was replaced by anger as he questioned the FA’s decision to appoint Clattenburg for the match.

Tottenham took the lead through a Harry Kane penalty after Clattenburg awarded a controversial spot kick in the 52nd minute, the referee deeming Raheem Sterling, who had turned his back to play, to have handled a Danny Rose cross.

Pellegrini subsequently accused Clattenburg of wanting to award the penalty and gave a scathing assessment of the same referee’s performance in the reverse fixture last September.

“It was a penalty that referee Mark Clattenburg wanted to signal for and he gave the signal,” Pellegrini said in a post-match interview. “It was absolutely the wrong decision. It hit the back of Sterling, then his elbow. Sterling was not even seeing the ball.

“It was the same referee in the first game (at White Hart Lane) where there were two clear offside goals and we lost 4-1. “For me, I don’t think it is a good decision to have had the same referee.”

The result marked the first time City have registered back-to-back home de-feats in the league this season but captain Vincent Kompany said the team should not abandon hope of winning the title.

“We probably could have played a little bit better. Until the penalty, the game plan was okay and we were de-fending well,” the Belgian centre-back said. “But we would be stupid to forget our history and how we react in those moments.” (rtr)

MANchester — One of the stands at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium is to be renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand after the club’s record goal-scorer.

United says on Monday the new name of its South Stand will be unveiled on April 2 at the home game against Everton in the English Premier League, which will be attended by “key figures from Sir Bobby’s life and the world of football.” It will mark 60 years after Charlton made his debut for United.

Charlton says in a United statement “this is a great honor and I am very proud — for myself and my family.” The former England attacking midfielder played 758 games for United and scored 249 goals.

Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, says it “is a fitting tribute to all that Bobby has contributed to the club.”(ap)

Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP

Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini arrives at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Michel Platini’s appeal against his eight-year ban will be heard by FIFA’s appeals committee today.

ZUrIch — Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini has walked into FIFA headquar-ters to appeal against his eight-year ban over a $2 million pay-ment approved by Sepp Blatter. Platini declined to be driven past waiting media and strolled from his nearby hotel into the main entrance.

The former FIFA presidential hopeful denies wrongdoing and is challenging sanctions imposed in December.

FIFA’s ethics committee found Platini guilty of accepting gifts,

conflicts of interest, and breach-ing loyalty and general conduct rules. He was fined 80,000 Swiss francs ($81,000).

Ethics judges said Platini’s argument was “not convinc-ing” that a verbal contract en-titled him to get uncontracted salary for work as Blatter’s pres ident ia l adviser f rom 1999-2002.

The FIFA appeals committee, which rarely overturns rulings, could give its verdict this week. Blatter’s appeal hearing is on Tuesday.(ap)

Michel Platini arrives at FIFA for 8-year ban appeal

Man United to rename stand after club

great Bobby Charlton

REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

AC Milan’s coach Sinisa Mihajlovic celebrates after winning the match against Inter Milan.

Mihajlovic fumes over players dragging their heels

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

BArceLONA - Lionel Messi passed up the chance to net his 300th La Liga goal and instead put a hat-trick on a plate for team mate Luis suarez with an outrageous penalty routine that evoked memories of Barcelona great Johan cruyff on sunday.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates a goal against

Celta Vigo.

Fuming Pellegrini slams referee over Tottenham penalty

Reuters / Andrew Yates

Manchester City manager

Manuel Pellegrini

98 Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Sp rt

With Barcelona leading Cel-ta Vigo 3-1 at a buzzing Nou Camp, Messi stepped forward in the 81st minute to take the spot kick but stunned the crowd by tapping the ball to the side for Suarez, who raced into the box and fired past bewildered goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.

Messi and Suarez wheeled away in glee and were quickly mobbed by their team mates, who looked as surprised as anyone.

The goal took Suarez onto 23 in the league this season, two ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristia-no Ronaldo. Barcelona finished the match 6-1 winners.

Coach Luis Enrique rejected suggestions the penalty was intended to embarrass the oppo-sition and said he had seen his attacking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar produce moments of magic in training.

“There will be those who like it and those who don’t,”

he told reporters. “As well as winning titles, here we try to entertain people and win in a spectacular and sporting man-ner. “You can take a penalty like that, it’s legal and there’s a Cruyff penalty we all know,”

Dutch great Cruyff pulled off a similar trick while playing for Ajax against Helmond Sport in 1982, squaring the ball for team mate Jesper Olsen, who then passed it back to him to score. Cruyff played for Barce-lona from 1973 to 1978.

Frenchmen Robert Pires and Thierry Henry tried a similar trick for Arsenal against Man-chester City in 2005 but got into a muddle and failed to score.

Lu i s E n r i q u e

said it was not some- th ing he would try.

“I wouldn’t dare take it like that because I’d fall over when I put my foot on the ball,” he said.

The coach added there was nothing arrogant about Messi’s penalty and said there was a tendency in Spain to look down on moments of skill.

“In this country, a kick (at an opponent) is more readily accepted than anything fancy,” he added. “We don’t care about that.

“What we have to do is

enjoy our football , respect our opponents, try to show we’re better through football.

“ I ’m sor ry but I don’t think anything special happened. I’m used to seeing them train and there they are even better,” he added. (rtr)

MILAN - AC Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic angrily ac-cused some of his players of easing off towards the end of Sunday’s 2-1 win against Genoa in Serie A.

“If a player doesn’t keep running until the 94th minute, I’m not going to put him on the pitch again,” the fiery Mihajlovic told Mediaset Pre-mium. “I don’t need to give names, they know who I’m referring to.”

But the Serb refused to com-ment on a suggestion that he

was referring to striker Mario Balotelli.

“I didn’t say it was him,” he said. “I’m talking about two or three players and they know who they are. That’s enough, let’s have another question.”

Milan, sixth in Serie A and challenging for a Champions League place next season, ap-peared to be coasting until Ales-sio Cerci pulled one back in stoppage time and they had to hold on grimly for a win.

“We should have scored the third goal with the chances we

had, but then we conceded one and risked giving the win away,” said Mihajlovic.

Balotelli, who is still not match fit after missing three months of the season with a groin injury, came off in the 88th minute and appeared to be limping at the end of the game.

However, Mihajlovic later said in the post-match news conference that it was nothing serious. “Balotelli took a knock, he was limping a bit, but it’s just a knock,” he said. (rtr)

MANchester cIty manager Manuel Pellegrini could face disciplin-ary action from the English Football Association after the Chilean criticised referee Mark Clattenburg in the wake of his side’s 2-1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

The defeat left City fourth in the Pre-mier League table, six points adrift of leaders Leicester City, and Pellegrini’s usual calm demeanour was replaced by anger as he questioned the FA’s decision to appoint Clattenburg for the match.

Tottenham took the lead through a Harry Kane penalty after Clattenburg awarded a controversial spot kick in the 52nd minute, the referee deeming Raheem Sterling, who had turned his back to play, to have handled a Danny Rose cross.

Pellegrini subsequently accused Clattenburg of wanting to award the penalty and gave a scathing assessment of the same referee’s performance in the reverse fixture last September.

“It was a penalty that referee Mark Clattenburg wanted to signal for and he gave the signal,” Pellegrini said in a post-match interview. “It was absolutely the wrong decision. It hit the back of Sterling, then his elbow. Sterling was not even seeing the ball.

“It was the same referee in the first game (at White Hart Lane) where there were two clear offside goals and we lost 4-1. “For me, I don’t think it is a good decision to have had the same referee.”

The result marked the first time City have registered back-to-back home de-feats in the league this season but captain Vincent Kompany said the team should not abandon hope of winning the title.

“We probably could have played a little bit better. Until the penalty, the game plan was okay and we were de-fending well,” the Belgian centre-back said. “But we would be stupid to forget our history and how we react in those moments.” (rtr)

MANchester — One of the stands at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium is to be renamed the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand after the club’s record goal-scorer.

United says on Monday the new name of its South Stand will be unveiled on April 2 at the home game against Everton in the English Premier League, which will be attended by “key figures from Sir Bobby’s life and the world of football.” It will mark 60 years after Charlton made his debut for United.

Charlton says in a United statement “this is a great honor and I am very proud — for myself and my family.” The former England attacking midfielder played 758 games for United and scored 249 goals.

Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, says it “is a fitting tribute to all that Bobby has contributed to the club.”(ap)

Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP

Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini arrives at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Michel Platini’s appeal against his eight-year ban will be heard by FIFA’s appeals committee today.

ZUrIch — Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini has walked into FIFA headquar-ters to appeal against his eight-year ban over a $2 million pay-ment approved by Sepp Blatter. Platini declined to be driven past waiting media and strolled from his nearby hotel into the main entrance.

The former FIFA presidential hopeful denies wrongdoing and is challenging sanctions imposed in December.

FIFA’s ethics committee found Platini guilty of accepting gifts,

conflicts of interest, and breach-ing loyalty and general conduct rules. He was fined 80,000 Swiss francs ($81,000).

Ethics judges said Platini’s argument was “not convinc-ing” that a verbal contract en-titled him to get uncontracted salary for work as Blatter’s pres ident ia l adviser f rom 1999-2002.

The FIFA appeals committee, which rarely overturns rulings, could give its verdict this week. Blatter’s appeal hearing is on Tuesday.(ap)

Michel Platini arrives at FIFA for 8-year ban appeal

Man United to rename stand after club

great Bobby Charlton

REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

AC Milan’s coach Sinisa Mihajlovic celebrates after winning the match against Inter Milan.

Mihajlovic fumes over players dragging their heels

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

BArceLONA - Lionel Messi passed up the chance to net his 300th La Liga goal and instead put a hat-trick on a plate for team mate Luis suarez with an outrageous penalty routine that evoked memories of Barcelona great Johan cruyff on sunday.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates a goal against

Celta Vigo.

Fuming Pellegrini slams referee over Tottenham penalty

Reuters / Andrew Yates

Manchester City manager

Manuel Pellegrini

Tuesday, February 16, 2016DestinationTuesday, February 16, 201610 InternationalInternational

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Ubud Rest.Waiter/ress,Bar,CookOpr Supervisor,CDP,Admin,Shop

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Supervisor, Marketing, Accoun-ting, Mgr HRD dan Admin, Mgr

Gudang, Staff Gudang,Supir danHelper, Translater B.Mandarin.Syarat SMA,D3,S1, pglm 2thn

dibidangnya. Hub.0361-8443128,

Place Your Add Here

It is for Job Vacancy, Property, Selling or Buying

Please contact

Gugiek : 08123840500/

Eka : 081338519538

0361-4715165B.BP.004.02.16.0000323

SpaDubai,India,Srilanka&RusiaResmi081337327057/081999913777

A.BP.001.02.16.0000272

!!!All Jobs Available. Send CVmail@concordservices-bali.comCall:769073 Mon-fri 9am-5pm

B.BP.004.02.16.0000256

Money Changer in Kuta Seeks Customer Service Staff age 20-26YO.English Speaker.Work 5 daysa week 8 Hrs Shift work.U.Mkn,

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Ubud Rest.Waiter/ress,Bar,CookOpr Supervisor,CDP,Admin,Shop

dekco@dekco.com SMS 0811399375B.BP.004.02.16.0000372

FLORIDA-Rookie Chase El-liott positioned himself as one of the favorites for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after becoming the youngest driver ever to secure pole position in qualifying at Daytona International Speedway.

Elliott, the 20-year-old son of 1988 Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, soared to the top of the charts with a speed of 196.314 mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet in the final round of qualifying on Sunday for the Great American Race.

Matt Kenseth qualified sec-ond after the two-round session at Daytona Beach, Florida with 196.036 mph while twice champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. took third, with 195.682 mph.

Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (195.207 mph) and Roush Fen-way Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (195.118 mph) rounded out the top five for NASCAR’s season-opening event.

“This is a very, very cool day,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott said in a trackside television interview after clocking the top speed.

“I don’t know that this oppor-tunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500.

“The big thing is just the team and Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort that they put into these cars. It was nothing special that I did, it’s really just the kind of work they did this

off-season to make it happen.”Elliott, who became the first

rookie and youngest driver to win a NASCAR national series title at the 2014 Nationwide Series cham-pionship, has taken over the No. 24 Chevrolet from the recently retired Jeff Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 winner.

“Opportunities like this don’t come twice and I certainly want to make the most of this one,” said Elliott. “This is very, very special and a very, very cool way to start our 2016 season.”

Casey Mears was knocked out of the first round of qualifying by one-thousandth of a second by reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Lo-gano, who ended up qualifying in 12th place. (rtr)

Bryant, who said all week he did not want his fellow players to go easy on him in his final All-Star Game, was a shadow of the player who dominated the NBA’s midseason showcase many times before, but was still the man of the hour.

Prior to the game’s opening tip, NBA great Magic Johnson lauded the 37-year-old in between a pair of tribute videos featuring some career highlights interspersed with messages of thanks from a handful of fellow NBA players.

Bryant announced last November that this would be his final season and was made the leading vote-getter for his 18th and final All-Star appearance by fans.

“I just want to thank you guys for all of your support for all these years,” Bryant told the Toronto crowd and a global television audience.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to play the game that I love and be in the NBA for more than half my life.

“It’s a thrill to be here in this All-Star Game so thank you for voting me in. I get a chance to be around these young players here, who when I first started playing most of them were my kids’ age now.

“It feels so good to be able to speak to them about the game and to be able to share some of the knowledge that I have learned throughout my career to them so that they can carry on the tradition of the NBA and hopefully play 20 years themselves.”

When the first NBA All-Star Game to be held outside of the United States finally got underway, it was Bryant who went up against LeBron James for the opening tip. James won the tip but appeared to send it over to Bryant’s

Western Conference team.Bryant played nearly 15 minutes in the first

half and scored 10 points, including a patented fadeaway late in the opening quarter that drew loud cheers from a celebrity-dotted crowd that included director Spike Lee and supermodel Kate Upton.

The 20-year NBA veteran, who by his own

admission this week is “old as hell,” was held without a point the rest of the way.

When Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, one-time league MVP and four-time All-Star Game MVP during a career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers, checked out of the game with 66 seconds left, he received a standing ova-

tion from both team benches while the crowd chanted “Kobe, Kobe.”

Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for a second consecutive year after lead-ing the Western Conference with 31 points in a 196-173 win that set a record for combined points in an NBA All-Star Game. (rtr)

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (24) celebrates winning the pole during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Day-tona International Speedway.

Motor racing-Rookie Elliott claims pole for Daytona 500

Bryant’s farewell tour makes biggest stop in All-Star Game

TORONTO - Kobe Bryant made the biggest stop of his farewell tour on Sun-day as he played the last NBA All-Star Game of a remarkable career in which he established himself as arguably the best player of his generation.

Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press via AP

Western Conference’s Kobe Bryant, of the Los Angeles Lakers (24), reacts to the crowd as he leaves the game during second half NBA All-Star basketball action in Toronto on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.

CANDIDASA - Discover the unique bamboo house at Rumah Bambu Pengalon, Candidasa. There’s so many amazing things to be discovered around Candidasa – and Rumah Bambu Pengalon just might be the cherry on top. While it isn’t fully completed, Rumah Bambu Pengalon is a unique construction of beautifully architectured bamboo houses.

Supposedly the venue for music festival, Bali Unite, the views here are surprisingly incredible with a small and beautifully clear lake just around the area.

Bamboo House is a uniquely-designed structure using bamboo materials. From Denpasar, it takes approximately 90 minutes to get here. The Bamboo House construction have not finished completely, however, there are several tourists, photographers take pictures here. You may find it difficult to come here, so we recommend to go to Padang Bai port and ask the local men, from padang bai, you shall turn right, when you find three-intersection turn right again, then drive straight until you find a temple, you are already very near to the Bamboo House. (IBP/net)

Bamboo house Pengalon

6 International

W RLDTuesday, February 16, 2016 11Tuesday, February 16, 2016International

At this time, prevention against the decrease in the number of platelets of infected patients is done by maintaining body fluids and nutrients. If the number of platelet falls too low, it can be an indica-tion that there is bleeding in the blood vessels that can be harmful it is worried there is bleeding in blood vessels that can be harmful to patient. In such a case, doctors may recommend the administering platelet infusions. The decrease in platelet levels in dengue patients,

generally occurs on day 4, 5, 6 and potentially causes bleeding, such as bleeding under the skin character-ized by red spots.

“Patients of both of zika and dengue virus infection, should take bed rest (no activity)” explained Saramitra. Pregnant women who have been infected with the zika virus should immediately have the development of their fetus checked. And dengue patients, especially those who experience a significant daily decrease in platelets during the presence of symptoms should not perform activities that can result in a risk of bleeding such as brush-ing teeth too hard. (kmb42)

From page 1Indonesia ...

After a long, tiring flight from Jakarta with a two-time stopover at Guam and then Honolulu, Jokowi and his entourage finally arrived in California at 5:05 p.m. local time. The time difference between California and Jakarta is about 15 hours.

On arrival at the Palm Springs International Airport, President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana were greeted by Indonesian Ambassador to the US Budi Bowoleksono and his wife Reshanty Bowoleksono, US Assistant Chief of Protocol Gladys Boluda, and Defense At-

tache of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC Vice Marshal Fajar Sumaryadi, after which the Indo-nesian head of state headed to the Miramonte Resort Indian Wells.

President Jokowi is scheduled to attend the ASEAN-US Summit, which will take place at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, on February 15-16, 2016.

“This ASEAN-US Summit is being held following ASEANs new strategic partnership with the

United States reached last year,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi stated at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta recently.

She said the summit will serve as a platform to implement an action plan on the framework of coopera-tion between the ASEAN and the United States.

Based on data from the ASE-AN Secretariat, during the latest ASEAN-US Summit 2015 held in Malaysia, both parties had agreed to

take the dialog to a strategic level.The strategic partnership will be

realized through the implementa-tion of the ASEAN-US action plan for the 2016-2020 period.

The action plan will support three pillars of the ASEAN Community and five priority areas, including economic integration, maritime co-operation, inter-nation challenges, including climate change, as well as the empowerment of women and children. (ant)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana wave before entering the plane

taking them to US.

IBP/ant

Indonesian president arrives in us to attend ASEAN-US Summit

CALIFORNIA - Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his entourage arrived at the Palm Springs International Airport in California, the United States, on Sunday evening to attend the ASEAN-US Summit.

BANDUNG - State aircraft company, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, will start producing jet fighters “In-donesian Fighter Xperiment (IFX)” in 2020, its President Director, Budi Santoso, said.

“We will begin producing them in 2020 and continue for the next 20 years,” he said here on Thursday.

The aircraft will be produced to meet the Indonesian militarys need for two squadrons of jet fighters and will be sold abroad as well, Budi added.

He said the second phase of cooperation contracts between the Indonesian Defense Ministry and the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administra-tion (DAPA) and between PT Dirgantara Indonesia and Korean

Aerospace Industries (KAI) was signed last January on the basis of starting the production of the planes prototype.

The prototype of the Korean Fighter Xperiment/Indonesian Fighter Xperiment will be produced in South Korea and Indonesia starting this year and until 2019, he said.

He said the prototype of the jet fighters will be produced in South Korea and the rest will be assembled in Indonesia.

The production of the planes will involve numerous Indonesian scientists and technicians for each unit, Budi said.

He added that 300 Indonesians will study and research the production of the KF-X/IF-X jet fighters. (ant)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Record Museum “Muri” declared on Sunday that a new record on Poco-Poco dance performance had been created when 10,000 people played a popular Indonesias line dance in the south parking area of Jakartas Gelora Bung Karno stadium.

Senior Manager of Muri Awan Raharjo said that the dance performance was not only aimed at breaking the Muris record but also introducing and promoting the Poco-Poco dance to the world.

The dance performance was the initiative of the organization of civil servants wives Dharma Wanita Persatuan of Youth and Sports affairs Ministry.

The record breaking moment was appreciated by the Youth and Sports affairs Minister Imam Nahrawi.

“Poco-Poco is a traditional dance of Sangir Ta-laud people of North Sulawesi which is performed after they return from the rice field or the sea as a form of gratitude to the God and the mutual society,” Minister Imam Nahrawi said.

Moreover, the ministry also launched a new class of Poco-Poco dance which combines and adopts movements from other sports branches such as boxing, badminton, basketball, volley ball, soccer and swimming.

The record breaking of Poco-Poco dance was also the governments campaign to introduce the 6th Tafisa World Games, a festival which aims to safeguard and promote traditional sports and games, that will be held in Jakarta from October 6 to 12 this year. (ant)

Indonesia to start producing IFX jet fighters in 2020 Ten thousand people

break record of Poco-Poco dance performance

ECATEPEC- Celebrating Mass for more than 300,000 people in one of Mexicos poorest and most danger-ous cities, Pope Francis on Sunday took a swipe at the country’s rich and corrupt elite .

Decrying “a society of the few and for the few”, he denounced deep inequality and the vanity and pride of those who consider themselves a cut above the rest.

“That wealth which tastes of pain, bitterness and suffering. This is the bread that a corrupt family or society gives its own children,” the pope said at the Mass in the city of Ecatepec.

Francis urged his listeners to struggle to make Mexico “a land of opportunities where there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream” and where drug traffickers, whom he called “dealers of death”, would not ensnare their children.

Mexico is home to one of the worlds richest men, billionaire Carlos Slim, and a wealthy political class stained by corruption even as much of the country is steeped in poverty and violence.

A gritty expanse of cinder block homes north of Mexico City, Ecatepec has seen a surge in crime in recent years as it became infested with war-ring drug cartels.

Fueled by a weak economy and youth unemployment, gang violence has driven the city’s murder rate to one of Mexico’s highest.

It is notorious for the unsolved murders of scores of women, the bodies of many found abandoned in garbage dumps or tossed in a canal only miles from where Francis spoke on Sunday.

The pope warned Mexicans not to succumb to evil: “You cannot dialogue with the devil because he will always win,” he told them.

Ecatepec is home to a giant statue of “Santa Muerte”, or Saint Death, a cult figure followed by millions across the Americas.

The saint is often depicted as a

skeletal “grim reaper” draped in white satin robes, beaded necklaces and car-rying a scythe, and is believed to grant requests without judging people.

Although he did not address Santa Muerte in his Mass, the Roman Catholic Church has been dismayed by the cult’s rise at a time it is battling competition from other religions.

“The Mexican Church already was very concerned by expanding Protes-tantism and now it must contend with a folk saint venerated mostly by Mexi-cans who still consider themselves Catholic,” said Andrew Chesnut, the author of a book about the cult.

A sea of Catholic faithful greeted the pope as he flew into Ecatepec aboard a white helicopter, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his image, chanting, cheering and waving flags. Tens of thousands of others lined the streets. (rtr)

The next justice could tilt the balance of the nation’s highest court, which was left with four conservatives and four liberals. The vacancy quickly became an issue in the 2016 presidential race.

“We ought to make the 2016 elec-tion a referendum on the Supreme Court,” U.S. Senator and Republi-can presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The normally nine-justice court is set to decide this year its first major abortion case in nearly a decade, as well as cases on voting rights, affirmative action and im-migration.

Scalia, 79, died on Saturday at a West Texas resort. The cause of death will not be determined for several days, the top official in the county where he died, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Gueara, said on Sunday in an interview with local TV station WFAA-TV.

Obama, a Democrat, will nomi-

nate someone to fill the empty seat but will wait until the U.S. Senate is back in session, the White House said on Sunday. The Senate returns from recess on Feb. 22.

“At that point, we expect the Senate to consider that nominee, consistent with their responsibilities laid out in the United States Con-stitution,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

The White House declined to give a more specific timeline for Obama to announce his nominee. The nomination will set up a battle with the Republican-controlled chamber, which must approve any nominee.

Shortly after news of Scalia’s death, Republicans vowed not to act on the vacancy until Obama’s successor takes office next January. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said failure to act would be a “shameful abdication” of the Sen-ate’s constitutional duty.

Both sides said history was on their side.

Reid said it would be unprec-edented to have a vacancy on the court for a year. In the modern era, the longest Supreme Court vacancy was 363 days after Abe Fortas re-signed in May 1969.

Republicans cited 80 years of tradition in which no Supreme Court nominees were approved in presidential election years. In fact, Justice Anthony Kennedy was ap-proved in 1988, after a bruising battle in which the Senate rejected President Ronald Reagan’s first nominee, conservative Robert Bork.

Supreme Court nominations are rare, so neither side has much data to rely on in determining prec-edents. History is also an unreliable guide as the nomination process has become significantly more politi-cized in recent years.

For Obama’s previous two Su-preme Court picks, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, he took about 30 days each to announce the elections after their predecessors, Justice John Paul Stevens and Jus-tice David Souter, respectively, said they planned to step down. (rtr)

L’Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP

In this photo taken on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, Pope Francis holds a jersey with the num-ber one and his name printed on it, during his visit to the Federico Gomez Pediatric Hospital, in Mexico City. The pope makes a point of stop-ping at children’s hospitals during his foreign trips, both to visit with the kids and to thank the staff for caring for them.

In poor, violent enclave of Saint Death, Pope slams Mexicos rich

Republicans gear up for U.S. Supreme

Court battle after Scalia’s death

REUTERS/Chris Keane

A member of the audience takes notes as U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks during a campaign town hall at Easley High School in Easley, South Carolina Febru-ary 14, 2016. Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates hardened their positions on Sunday on blocking a move by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat left by the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates hardened their positions on Sunday on blocking a move by President Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat left by the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, a lifetime appointment that would help decide some of the most divisive issues facing Americans.

Bali News Tuesday, February 16, 2016 5InternationalTuesday, February 16, 201612 International

BUSINESS

“I think we’ve ended up with the best of both worlds,” HSBC chairman Douglas Flint told the BBC on Monday. “A pivot to Asia, led from London.”

Flint said that HSBC was, at its heart, a bank focused on trade and investment flows. Sidestep-ping concerns about the recent volatility in Asian markets, Flint said it had been a privilege to choose between two of the world’s great financial centers and that the decision was not based on short-term market dynamics.

“The U.K. is one of the most globally con-nected economies in the world with a fantastic regulatory system and legal system and immense experience in dealing with international affairs,” he said.

The bank launched the review last April in light of regulatory and tax changes implemented by the U.K. after the 2008 financial crisis. Par-ticularly problematic was a 2010 tax on a bank’s global balance sheet, which penalized those with global operations such as HSBC and Standard Chartered. Fears that Britain would vote to leave the European Union also heightened concerns.

HSBC’s decision was a relief to the govern-ment, which feared losing a pillar of Britain’s financial world — and the signal it would send more broadly for the economy at a time of heated debate about whether or not to leave the EU. The thought of losing one of London’s financial icons had sent the government into panic.

“It’s a vote of confidence in the government’s economic plan, and a boost to our goal of making the U.K. a great place to do more business with China and the rest of Asia,” the Treasury said in a statement after HSBC’s decision.

Campaigners who want the country to leave the EU argued the decision proved that big fi-nancial institutions would not be frightened off by a leave vote. But Flint told the BBC that the bank has the ability to move people from London to Paris if necessary for the bank’s wholesale operations.

Investec banking expert Ian Gordon, who thought a move was in the bank’s interest, sug-gested it was dangerous to trust political promises that won’t be enacted until after the next election. Concerns about slowing economic growth in China and market volatility around the world may have persuaded HSBC to stay with the status quo, Gordon said.

“I’m sure that a perception of market and po-litical volatility would have been a consideration against moving,” he said.

The bank’s decision came after a complicated process that took longer than expected, but spec-ulation increased in the days before the company was set to report its earnings Feb. 22.

HSBC still believes its commercial future lies in the growing wealth of Asia. Almost two-thirds of the bank’s pretax profit came from Asia in the first nine months of 2015, compared with 19

percent from Europe.It has offices in 72 countries and territories in

Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and North Africa. It claimed assets of $2.5 trillion as of September.

Many Western banks are interested in ex-panding operations in Asia, but HSBC has the advantage of already having a major presence

there. Founded in Hong Kong in 1865, when the city was a British colony, the bank financed growing trade between China and Europe and was originally known as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.

The company moved its headquarters to Lon-don in 1992 to meet the regulatory requirements for its acquisition of Midland Bank.(ap)

TOKYO — Japan’s economy contracted at a worse than expected 1.4 percent annual pace last quarter as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s lavish stimulus policies failed to counter anemic consumer demand and sluggish exports.

The preliminary data released Friday, which may be revised, shows the world’s third-largest economy stumbling again after a 1.3 percent expansion in the July-September quarter. The economy shrank 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter from the previous quarter.

Despite the lackluster report, Tokyo’s main share index, the Nikkei 225, vaulted 7.1 percent to 16,017.94 helped by a weakening in the Japanese yen, hopes of more stimulus and Friday’s rally on Wall Street.

The latest contraction, the second in 2015, adds to worries that Abe’s strategy for reviving the economy through inflation fueled by mas-sive monetary easing is failing. The slowdown in China, one of Japan’s biggest export markets, has been a further hindrance.

Japanese officials have expressed concern over recent market gyra-tions. The expectation in Tokyo is that a meeting of finance min-isters of leading industrial nations next week in Shanghai might help restore some balance to markets that have been out of kilter since China began tweaking its foreign exchange policies in August.

Japan’s central bank has already resorted to imposing negative in-terest rates on some bank deposits it holds to help spur more lend-ing, though cash-rich companies

appear generally uninterested in borrowing.

Growth also has been stunted by slow increases in wages, which leave households less inclined to spend. Companies are still drawing down excess capacity built up dur-ing decades of fast growth, and have held back on domestic investments, viewing their shrinking and aging home market as less attractive than other faster growing economies in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Consumer demand fell more than expected in the last quarter, dipping to a four-year low, offset-ting moderate growth in business investment, said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics. He expects consumer demand to perk up in coming months, in anticipation of a sales tax hike, to 10 percent from 8 percent, in April 2017.(ap)

AP Photo/Matt Dunham

In this picture taken Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, people walk backdropped by the HSBC headquarters building standing amongst other skyscrapers in the Canary Wharf business district of London. International bank HSBC said Sunday Feb. 14, it has decided to keep its headquarters in London after considering a move to Hong Kong in response to tougher U.K. banking regulations

HSBC to keep HQ in London, decides against move to Asia

LONDON — Britain’s biggest bank is staying put. HSBC Holdings plc said it will keep its headquarters in London, ending a 10-month process in which one of the world’s largest financial companies considered moving to Hong Kong to get closer to its center of gravity in fast-growing Asian economies.

AP Photo/Koji Sasahara

A shopper walks past a clothing shop display on a shopping street in Tokyo Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Japan’s economy con-tracted at a 1.4 percent annual pace in the last quarter, October-December in 2015, as weak consumer demand and slower ex-ports battered the recovery. The preliminary data, which may be revised, were slightly worse than expected and were a setback from the 1.3 percent expansion in the previous quarter.

Japan’s economy contracts in latest setback for Abe policies

SEMARAPURA -After rain-ing, farmers like at Subak Tohpati, Banjarangkan, cannot necessarily rejoice. They begin to get difficulty in working on the land because they do not get water. As a result, tens of hectares of farmland get abandoned and overgrown by shrubs. Not a few farmers have switched profession into construction worker. Instead, some people are forced to raise cows and pigs to meet their daily needs.

Chief of Subak Tohpati, Nengah Sudana, when asked for his confir-mation on Sunday (Feb. 14) did not

dismiss such condition. According to him, the neglect of farmland has occurred since three years ago. This condition is considered to occur due to water sharing problem. So far, the Subak Tohpati only relies on water irrigation from Tembuku, Bangli. However, farmers in Tem-buku more frequently grow rice than crops. So, this makes farmers at Tohpati unable to grow rice due to water shortage.

As chief of the subak, Sudana cannot do much. He just hoped that Bali Agriculture Agency can intervene by facilitating the water

sharing issue. Besides, Subak Tohpati and Tembuku, Bangli are equally under the Subak Gede handled by the Bali Agriculture Agency. Thus, the cropping pattern can be done regularly. “If only re-lying on rainwater, it is impossible because rice cultivation should be done regularly and needs water,” he said.

With the current condition, Su-dana also recognized there are tens of hectares of farmland in the subak area displaced. Of the 75 hectares of farmland at the local subak, only 20 hectares can now be planted

with rice. The remaining area cannot be planted with anything because there is no water. Besides, he added that farmers cannot plant crops in succession because to get good condition of crop it can only be planted twice. “We’ve had time to plant beans twice, but after that they died. Then, we cannot certainly grow rice because there is no wa-ter,” he said.

Subak Tohpati is divided into six subgroups or tempek namely the Kangin, Bedugul, Padah Lu-wah, Kwalon, Gerembeng and Abian Salak. The subak has 81

active members, while the owner of paddy field reaches 200 people. In terms of production, farmers can harvest as much as 5.5 tons of rice per hectare.

But with the current conditions, many farmers have switched pro-fession. Some are turning to con-struction workers while the others are raising cattle and pigs in order to meet daily needs. “As chief of the subak, I am continuously demanded to provide water by farmers. But the water indeed does not exist so that I hope this can get the attention of the province,” he said. (119)

This was disclosed by Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana accompa-nied by Deputy Regent Nyoman Sutjidra and Spokesman of Bule-leng regional secretariat Made Supartawan at the official residence of the regent last week.

Furthermore, the regent said that in the grand design of the district government are submitted a number of proposals to central government ranging from the coastal arrange-ment, new road construction, the making of waterway, street lighting

and a number of arts and cultural ac-tivities. But until now, some points of the proposals have received indication of approval. Only the cultural agenda is given green light by the Ministry of Culture and Tour-ism. Related to the highway issue, the district government proposed the construction of a new highway on the southern side of Pemuteran village. “Holiday season of tour-ists will not be bothered by traffic vehicles and vice versa because we will build the highway in the south of the village,” said Agus.

To follow up the lobby, next week Deputy Regent of Bule-leng, Nyoman Sutjidra, has been

ordered to meet the officials in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Moreover, the problem at Pemuteran village can only be resolved by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, in this case the Bali-Penida River Agency (BWS) and National Road Institute (BPJN). “We hope this lobby gets a result, so that the arrangement including flood mitigation program can be done as soon as possible because it concerns with the image of tourism,” he added.

To note, last week, Jalan Raya Singaraja-Gilimanuk, precisely at Segara Loka hamlet, Pemuteran is hit by floods with the water level

of about 30 centimeter. In addition, the road body is filled with mud and gravel swept away by floods. Such floods have regularly happen and engulf the region every year. The latest incident was on Friday after-noon (Feb. 12). As a result, the traf-fic on the north coast gets disturbed and so do tourism activities.

Responding to this condition, people expressed their criticism by snorkeling in the flooded areas. They judged the government does not pay attention to infrastructural condition at Pemuteran. Instead the government only boosts to collect revenue through hotel and restau-rant tax (PHR). (kmb38)

Subak Tohpati hit by water crisisTens of hectares of farmland overgrown by shrubs

Handle floods at Pemuteran

Buleleng urges central govt to build waterwaySingaraja - The government of Buleleng district is deter-

mined to accomplish flood management at Pemuteran, Gerok-gak. As evidence, Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana has assigned Deputy Regent Nyoman Sutjidra to lobby the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in order that the flood mitigation program in western Buleleng can be realized as soon as possible. As a basis for lobbying the central government, he will propose grand design of the Pemuteran village arrangement having been compiled since 2012.

The flood in Pemuteran, Buleleng often happen during rainy season.

IBP/file

Bali News International4 Tuesday, February 16, 2016 13InternationalTuesday, February 16, 2016

MUMBAI - A huge fire engulfed the venue of a cultural event in Mumbai on Sunday that was being held at the opening of a “Make in India” week launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drum up foreign investment.

Television pictures showed fire breaking out at the front of the outdoor stage during a performance by dancers. Fanned by high winds, it quickly spread, licking the sides of a scaffolding rig and lighting up the night sky.

Thousands of spectators, among them dignitaries including the chief minister of the host state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, were evacuated safely.

“Venue was evacuated immediately. Traffic management allowed early dispersal without any trouble,” Fadnavis tweeted, adding that no fatalities or injuries were reported.

The fire broke out at 8:24 pm (1554 GMT) due to a short circuit and 14 fire engines and 10 water tankers took just over an hour to bring it under control, said Raviraj Kamde, fire officer at the Maharashtra Fire Control Room.

Kamde confirmed there were no casualties and people at the event had been evacuated safely.

Eyewitnesses said the evacuation was orderly.“We were shaken with the sudden announcement that there has

been a fire at the venue but thankfully there were multiple exit routes,” said Heman Goyal, a Delhi businessman who was attend-ing the event.

“There was chaos but we all got out in time. I saw parts of the stage burning.”

The blaze is likely to overshadow the message of India being open for business that Modi wanted to send. When he opened the investor jamboree on Saturday, Modi called Make in India “the biggest brand India has ever created”.

The prime ministers of Sweden and Finland took part in Satur-day’s gala opening ahead of Make in India Week, which is being attended by 2,500 foreign companies and 8,000 firms from India. (rtr)

Turnbull on Saturday an-nounced more than a dozen chang-es to his ministry, a decision forced on him by the resignation of one minister, the retirement of two others and the sacking of two more over their involvement in political scandals.

A Fairfax-Ipsos poll of 1403 people taken on Feb. 11-13 showed the government’s worst numbers since Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott in a party coup last September, nar-rowing its lead over the centre-left Labor Party by four percentage points to 52-48 percent.

A hostile upper house Senate continues to stymie any major policy moves and Turnbull is facing rearguard action from his party’s conservative wing despite stick-ing to Abbott’s unpopular stances on same-sex marriage and climate change.

An early election may be Turn-bull’s best chance to demonstrate bold leadership and reverse what seems to be a growing sense of buyer’s remorse, said Peter Chen, a senior lecturer in government at the University of Sydney.

“If you’re going to follow Tony Abbott’s agenda, then why did you roll him in the first place? It seems purely motivated by personal fac-tors,” Chen told Reuters.

“I ... think that the early election is the more likely possibility,” he said after the poll was released.

Plummeting commodity prices have depleted the government’s coffers, a major financial stumbling block for Turnbull, whose rise was sparked partly by his image as a prudent financial manager based on his background in the private sector.

Australia in December forecast

its budget deficit would swell to A$37.4 billion ($26.6 billion) in the year to June as falling prices for key resource exports open a gaping hole in tax revenue.

Turnbull last week raised the possibility of an early election after ruling out a rise in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) under pressure from within his own party, despite strong support from economists.

The government’s ability to have a stimulatory budget prior to the election is constrained by the size of the budget deficit, said Shane Oliver, Chief Economist at AMP Capital Investors.

“It has got its hands fairly well tied. Overall revenue remains under threat and the government doesn’t like the idea of increasing govern-ment spending, so it’s not going to have a tax and spend set of policies going into the election,” he told Reuters.

“The ditching of the GST as an option suggests that maybe struc-tural reform is off the table.” (rtr)

Huge fire engulfs venue at “Make in India” event

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at the venue of a cultural event during ‘Make in India’ week in Mumbai, India, February 14, 2016. A huge fire engulfed the venue of a cultural event in Mumbai on Sunday that was being held at the opening of a “Make in India” week launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drum up foreign investment.

REUTERS/David Gray/Files

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces his new federal cabinet during a media conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, in this September 20, 2015 file photo.

Australian PM Turnbull losing shine ahead of elections

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s honeymoon period may be ending, with economists and politi-cal analysts blaming a lack of new policies for a drop in poll numbers that has reignited speculation of an early election.

AMLAPURA - Adverse weather condition seems not only to lead to a number of natural disasters. Long holiday of Lunar New Year, Galungan and Kuningan in fact also has caused the tourist visits to a number of tourist attractions in Karangasem to plummet. One of the attractions is the Taman Ujung Su-kasada where the tourist visit dropped by 70 percent.

Operations Manager of Taman Ujung Sukasada, Nyoman Matal, when contacted recently said that the decline in tour-ist visit reaches 70 percent when compared to tourist visit on the same holiday six months ago. Actually, during the current Galungan and Kuningan holiday, the tourist visit to the attrac-tion of Karangasem royal heritage is always booming. They are not only the locals, but also foreign travelers. “We predict, the tourist visit on Galungan will be booming. Perhaps due to frequent rain, people are lazy to take vacation. Karangasem is affected, too,” said Matal.

Throughout the Galungan holiday up to February 12, the ticket sold only reached about 3,000 sheets sold for IDR 10,000 per person. Thus, there were only about 3,000 people making a visit to Taman Ujung Sukasada. “The revenue reaches IDR 30 million. By and large, on Galungan the aver-age income at least reaches IDR 50 million,” said the former chairman of the Karangasem House of Representatives from Seraya village.

Nevertheless, he remains grateful because even though in heavy or light rainy conditions there are still travelers making a visit, especially local communities. The condition is still better when compared to other tourist attractions in Bali. He hoped that this condition will end at the end of this February so that it will not disrupt the school holidays in July to Au-gust. Other than to Taman Ujung Sukasada, tourist visits to other attractions is also quiet. The tourist attraction like Tirta Gangga and Candidasa usually booming on Galungan holiday looked quiet because Karangasem continued to be flushed by heavy rain. (kmb31)

A tourism player on Menjangan Island, Nyoman Suntara, revealed that local tourist visit to do pilgrim-age is relatively stable. However, the diving and snorkeling activities have decreased. “The visit of pilgrim in rainy season is still quite crowded. Most of them come from Denpasar and Gianyar. Seeing the weather condition, they choose good day and weather condition to be able to cross,” he said, Sunday (Feb. 14).

The constraint experienced lately by tourism players on Menjangan Is-land is related to crossing mechanism allowed by the West Bali National Park (TNBB). In reality, there is entrance from outside Banyuwedang and Labuan Lalang at Pejarakan vil-lage. It is often found ‘illegal entry’ from Banyuwangi, precisely from the area of Bangsring and Watu Dodol,

where the boat drivers come to Men-jangan Island without a tour guide and carry more than 10 passengers in a boat.

“We saw a boat carries up to 30 passengers in the waters of Menjan-gan Island and I warned them not to step on the reef while taking selfie pictures. They come from Bangsring and Watu Dodol without bringing admission ticket as well. In other words, there is no supervision and it definitely affects and hurts us as tour-ism stakeholders,” said Suntara.

He considered the need to do a serious oversight on the emergence of ‘illegal entry’ into the waters of Menjangan Island. They are consid-ered to enjoy ‘tourism pie’ without complying with the applicable rules. “The loss afflicts the local tourism players here. Moreover, there is

no guide overseeing visitors from Banyuwangi and they even stepped on coral reefs. Not to mention, the boat held up to 30 passengers and no

parties are responsible for their trip,” he regretted.

Suntara added that it still needs an improvement in terms of infra-

structure at the Banyuwedang and Labuan Lalang port. So far, the road conditions are not yet qualified for supporting tourism. Ideally the road must be paved by central government to support the comfort of local and foreign travelers.

On the other hand, the rules on admission ticket price reaching IDR 200,000 formerly protested by tourism players are still enforced. Local tourism players are not able to do much. Admission ticket worth IDR 200,000 excludes the cost of snorkeling and diving charged at IDR 15,000 per person, and the boat rental fee reaches IDR 525 for ten people. “Those who come and do not know the price of admission ticket at IDR 200,000 will feel to be forced to pay. It happens because they indeed originally intend to visit Menjangan Island. Such high price of admission ticket in effect since the past year results in a significant influence on the tourist visit this year. Knowing such expensive price, they may be reluctant to come,” concluded Sun-tara. (kmb34)

Bad weather, tourist visit to Taman Ujung comes down

IBP/file

Taman Ujung Sukasada, Karangasem

Guests come in through ‘illegal entry’ in Banyuwangi

Tourism players of Menjangan Island complainSINGARAJA-Graveled and muddy road condition after

heavy rain at Banyuwedang Port, Pejarakan hamlet, Gerok-gak is never devoid of pilgrims wishing to pray at the sacred temple on Menjangan Island. Generally people use boat rental services to cross. In the lately rainy season, the pilgrims were still bustling to worship.

IBP/file

Graveled and muddy road condition after heavy rain at Banyu-wedang Port, Pejarakan hamlet, Gerokgak is never devoid of pil-grims wishing to pray at the sacred temple on Menjangan Island.

14 InternationalScienceTuesday, February 16, 2016 3International Bali News Tuesday, February 16, 2016

CAMBRIDGE — After seven suicides in two years, students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy are looking for their own solu-tions to prevent more deaths.

The school unveiled a sweeping plan to bolster mental health last fall, adding staff psychologists and expanding counseling hours, among other measures. But students have

added their own ingenuity in recent months, starting a wave of grass-roots projects intended to defuse the stress of campus life before it leads to a crisis.

One group of students launched a texting hotline called Lean On Me this month, letting students chat anonymously with trained student volunteers about anything that’s

troubling them. Other students plan to install artificial light boxes on campus, meant to treat depression that can take hold during dreary months.

By her count, sophomore Izzy Lloyd has handed out more than 4,000 specially made wristbands that say TMAYD. It’s short for “tell me about your day,” a message that aims to get students talking with one another. Lloyd started the project last year after two of her freshman classmates took their own lives in the same week.

“It’s suicide prevention by com-munity building,” said Lloyd, 19. “We’re showing people who may feel like they have nothing left that they have a world of people who do care about them.”

Other projects take a lighter tone, like the new MIT Puppy Lab that will bring therapy dogs to campus this semester.

Campus officials recently award-ed almost $50,000 in grants to support campus projects meant to improve mental health. They say the new work is a reflection of MIT’s culture, marked by a drive to solve problems. But students said they’re also meeting a demand for services that were missing on the campus of 11,000 students.

“If we really solved the problem, we wouldn’t be running into this same cycle of mental illness that we’ve been seeing,” said Nikhil Buduma, who graduated last year and founded Lean On Me with

two current students. The hotline, he added, lets students get help anonymously and avoid stigmas tied to mental illness.

Across the country, experts say, college students are playing a big-ger role in suicide prevention. And more often, schools welcome that kind of help.

“We have found time and again that students listen to students before they listen to anyone else,” said Nance Roy, clinical director at the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit group based in New York that works to prevent suicide among college students. “These issues can no longer just fall to the counsel-ing center.”

Roy said there’s no evidence that elite schools have disproportionate-ly high suicide rates. But a national study suggests that MIT’s rate was above average last year.

The average suicide rate among college students was seven for ev-ery 100,000 students between 2004 and 2009, according to research from the University of Rochester. Three MIT students took their lives last year, translating to almost 27 for every 100,000. There have been at least seven student suicides since 2014, according to reports from the school’s student newspaper.

Some students and alumni say that MIT’s culture pushes students to extremes, sometimes at the ex-pense of a social life or emotional health.

“It’s heroic and glorified to push

oneself to the point of our boundar-ies, of our physical or bodily needs,” said Sahar Hakim-Hashemi, a 2013 graduate who’s filming a documen-tary called “Sleep is for the Strong,” exploring mental health at MIT and ways to improve it. “It’s like it shows how hardcore and strong someone is.”

And while students come with big ambitions, MIT officials said, they don’t always have the skills to cope with the pressure.

“We recognize that a lot of kids coming in today are not as well-prepared for these challenges,” said Rosalind Picard, a professor of media arts and sciences who leads the school’s campaign to support mental-health projects.

Picard says the new work on campus is a turning point. Beyond treating mental illness, she said, there’s a new focus on preventing problems.

Meanwhile, some of the new student projects have begun draw-ing interest elsewhere. Six oth-er schools have bought Lloyd’s TMAYD wristbands for their stu-dents, and dozens more have said they’re interested. The team behind Lean On Me has received inquiries about the texting hotline from out-side MIT, and they hope to bring it to other schools.

“It’s not a product built only for MIT students,” Buduma said. “Our goal is really just to help people feel like they belong to a community.” (ap)

The most prominent space tourism pro-gram, the commercial space line founded by adventurer-business mogul Sir Richard Bran-son will use a winged rocket plane dubbed SpaceShipTwo, successor to SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 won the $10 million Ansari X Prize that was intended to spur the industry’s development.

SpaceShipTwo is designed to be flown by two pilots and carry up to six passengers on a suborbital trajectory to altitudes above 62 miles (100 kilometers), an internationally recognized boundary of space.

Like early U.S. X-planes, Virgin Galactic’s craft will be carried aloft by another aircraft, called WhiteKnightTwo, and released at about 50,000 feet before its rocket engine is ignited for a supersonic thrill ride to the fringes of space and a view of the Earth far below.

The space line says SpaceShipTwo’s cabin is roomy enough for passengers to float dur-ing a few minutes of weightlessness before beginning an unpowered glide to a runway

landing.A key feature of the design is the so-called

feathering system — a term derived from the feathers of a badminton projectile. Twin tails extending rearward from the tips of each wing rotate upward as a means to slow and stabilize SpaceShipTwo as it re-enters the atmosphere. The “feathers” then rotate back to their normal position for the rest of the glide and landing.

Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo was destroyed on Oct. 31, 2014, when a co-pilot prematurely unlocked the feathers during a powered test flight and aerodynamic forces broke the craft apart. The co-pilot was killed but the pilot parachuted to safety. The company will roll out its new SpaceShipTwo later this month in Mojave, California, but the timeline for testing and commercial operation has not been released.

Hundreds of people have put down deposits of $250,000 for a chance to fly into space with Virgin Galactic, which plans to operate from Spaceport America in New Mexico. (ap)

Space tourism projects at a glance

Virgin Galactic via AP

This undated image provided by Virgin Galactic shows Virgin Galactic’s first SpaceShipTwo, an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a Cali-fornia-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. Space tourism companies are employing designs including winged vehicles, vertical rockets with capsules and high-altitude balloons. While developers envision ultimately taking people to orbiting habitats, the moon or beyond, the immediate fu-ture involves short flights into or near the lowest reaches of space without going into orbit.

CALIFORNIA - Virgin Galactic later this month in Mojave, California, is preparing to roll out its new SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle the company hopes will one day take tourists to the edge of space. It comes roughly 15½ months since an earlier incarnation was destroyed in a test flight, killing one of the pilots. Despite the setback, the dream of sending tourists to the edge of space and beyond is still alive. Space tourism companies are employing designs including winged vehicles, vertical rockets with capsules and high-altitude balloons.

MIT students turn their brainpower toward suicide prevention

AP Photo/Steven Senne

In this Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 photo Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, from the left, Linda Jing, of San Ga-briel, Calif., Nikhil Buduma, of San Francisco, Calif., and Andy Trattner, of Portland, Ore., talk about the development of the anonymous texting site they created called “Lean On Me,” on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, in Cam-bridge, Mass. The texting site is among a wave of new student projects aimed to defuse to the stress of campus life before it leads to a crisis. There were several campus suicides last year. MIT officials recently set aside thousands of dollars for grants to help support campus projects dealing with mental health.

As observed on Sunday (Feb. 14), there are several rather deep potholes at Jalan Andong’s main traffic lights that disrupt the flow of traffic. “At night, there are always both local and foreign-ers who drive their motorcycles along this stretch of road and nearly fall off their bikes because of the potholes”, complained lo-

cal resident Pande Amerta. He added that the sidewalk here is equally damaged and said: “in short, we must be careful when riding on the sidewalk to avoid the potholes, because the sidewalk is also damaged. Apparently there are large perforations under the sidewalk because many of them have caved in”.

This is not the only part of Ubud that has damaged infrastructure. Another severely damaged roads is Jalan Raya Pengosekan all the way to Lontuduh. Such bad road conditions are deplored, as many tour guides bring their guests along this section of road as they move to and from Denpasar, Sukawati and Ubud.

A tour guide named Widanta who was encountered on Jalan Raya Lontunduh, Ubud said: “Since I am from Batuan, I use this road to get to Ubud. There are numerous potholes along this road which is a main route to Ubud.”. (kmb35)

TABANAN - Originally the okokan or cow bell was often worn around the neck to cattle. It is used to indicate if the livestock is lost because it generates sounds when cows are moving. Over time its function develops into home decoration placed in rice barn and eventually becomes one of the traditional musical instruments.

One of the cow bell craftsmen, Wayan Wandra, 55, a resident of Baturiti, Kerambitan, when met some time ago explained that currently many art troupes play cow bell as traditional musical instrument. So far, there are seven okokan art troupes in Ker-ambitan subdistrict namely at Tibubiyu, Belong, Kukuh (two art troupes), Samsaman and Baturiti Kaja. “I myself participate in the Rama Wijaya okokan art troupe of Baturiti Kaja,” he said. An okokan art troupe needs a minimum of 10 pieces.

Wandra having been an okokan artisan since 2000 admitted that the okokan craft he made has ever been brought to France. “I made okokan and was bought by tourists directly coming to my home in 2001, but after the 2002 Bali bombing, no more tourists come to buy okokan,” he said.

Currently he has difficulty to get raw material for making okokan used as musical instrument with the height of 45 centi-meters and length of 95 centimeters. The raw material in use are the teep and sano wood. “Minimum age of wood in use is about 30 years or those having owned heartwood. With this heartwood, the material will be very strong and durable,” he said.

Other than difficulty to get wood material, its selling price begins to be more expensive so that as craftsmen he expected there is financial aid or low-interest loan. “Now, teep wood hav-ing heartwood and the length of 10 meters is sold for IDR 10 million. So, I hope there is financial aid or credit,” he said.

When having many orders, Wandra can receive 10 pieces. An okokan with a height of 45 cm and length of 95 cm is sold for IDR 2 million. This time he is working on 30 pieces ordered by Kediri subdistrict, Tabanan. (kmb24)

IBP/file

Originally the okokan or cow bell was often worn around the neck to cattle. It is used to indicate if the livestock is lost because it generates sounds when cows are moving. Over time its function develops into home decoration placed in rice barn and eventually becomes one of the traditional musical instruments.

Okokan craftsmen hard to get

raw materials

IBP/file

Ubud’s infrastructure for example, is currently is rather poor condition, as witnessed by a number of deep potholes on Jalan Andong, that often cause traffic accidents –especially at night.

Often cause accidents

Residents complain about

potholes in UbudGIANYAR - Ubud has long been a designated national

tourism strategic area (KSPN), yet what this tourism village has gained by this designation is not always apparent. Ubud’s infrastructure for example, is currently is rather poor condition, as witnessed by a number of deep potholes on Jalan Andong, that often cause traffic accidents –especially at night.

According to Wiraputra, the government should find away around this problem by creating a new policy that would protect local business people who lack the large capital of foreign business people. “We are concerned that Bali will be controlled by foreigners and entrepreneurs from outside Bali” he said.

Immediate action needs to be taken, so that Balinese people not find themselves in a position of only being able to be employees, spectators and keepers of traditions

and culture. “Otherwise, Balinese people will become poorer and poorer because they already have a heavy burden to bear. IN addition to having to provide for the needs of their households, Balinese people also have the burden of maintain-ing customs, culture and the natural environment of Bali”, explained Wiraputra.

Rector of the Undiknas Uni-versity, Prof. Dr. Gede Sri Darma, D.B.A., has previously said that the effects of such a policy are a threat to the people of Bali. Eventually, Balinese people will no longer own assets in their native land and will loose their identity or distinctive-ness as Balinese people.

“In fact this is already happen-ing today. As Balinese people we are only preserving our culture to keep it alive. But we also need to realize that cultural changes are oc-curring because of the prescence of migrants. It is ambiguous policies that will cause the destruction of our culture” he said.

Dr. Darma admitted that it is difficult for Balinese people to maintain their culture in the midst of the swift global influences given that culture is formed by a group of people and is based on a collective agreement. However, if migrants are also willing to preserve Balinese culture for the sake of tourism, Balinese culture will certainly be

sustainable.Many properties located in

tourism areas, such as Semin-yak and Kerobokan are already owned by foreigners, despite the fact that foreigners are prohibited from being full owners of land in Bali. Often properties are notarized as belonging to a local who has “lent” their name to a foreigner,

“Bali is perceived as paradise-like place to live so everyone wants to own property on the island -no matter how much it costs. So, land will certainly be bought and sold by investors from outside Bali who have the capital to do so” he explained. (kmb27)

International2 15International Activities

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Gugiek Savindra Editors:Agus Toni, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sueca, Sugiartha, Yudi Winanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subrata, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Suasrina, Buleleng: Dewa kusuma, Gianyar: Manik Astajaya, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung: Dewa Farendra. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Office: Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, Facsimile: 227418, P.O.Box: 3010 Denpasar 80001. Bali Post Jakarta, Advertizing: Jl.Palmerah Barat 21F. Telp 021-5357602, Facsimile: 021-5357605 Jakarta Pusat. NTB: Jalam Bangau No. 15 Cakranegara Telp. (0370) 639543, Facsimile: (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Tuesday, February 16, 2016Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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

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

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars, tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Holiness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful attire, carry-ing 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

COVER STORYFrom page 1danger ...

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IBP/net

ManGUPUra - Lawmakers in the Badung district plan to revise the regional Bylaw (Perda) on renewal levies of foreigner employing permit (IMTa). This effort is intended to protect local labor from the implementation of the asEan Economic Community (aEC). draft of the regional bylaw started to be discussed on Friday (Feb. 12) by special committee of the Badung House of representatives. at the meeting was revealed if foreigner labor working in Badung will be strictly regulated and detailed.

“In Badung, there is invasion of foreigners working secretly. They even take all professions. Without being set, we are worried that local labor will get eliminated,” said Chairman of the Special Committee for the IMTA levy renewal of the Badung House of Representatives, IGN Sudiarsa.

Although the AEC has been in force, the existence of foreign labor, he said, should remain to be regulated because many foreigners invade Badung just to earn a fortune. “In short, with this law we want to set all the issues on foreign labor in Badung,” he said.

According to him, the lawmakers intended to develop further the draft of the IMTA levy renewal ranging from permission, levies to labor sector. “We will further develop this regulation. Logically, we want to organize the levies if the permission is not clear,” he said.

Nevertheless, in regulating the issues of foreign labor in Badung, the committee will consult to Ministry of Manpower and Immigration. “Soon we will consult to higher institution because it knows better about the foreigners. We also want to know the extent of the authority of the district,” he said.

He admitted that Badung region starts to be invaded by foreigners that work legally and illegally. Moreover, it is common knowledge that many foreigners use tourist visa and temporary residence visa to work in Badung.

“We also want clarity about relation of this levy with the AEC whether we have to remove the levies of the ASEAN labor or not. If it is removed, it means the levies are only charged to foreign labor from outside the ASEAN countries,” he said.

Similar opinion was disclosed by the members of the committee such as I Made Duama, Nyoman Dirga Yusa, Made Subawa and Made Ponda Wirawan. They argued that discussion on the IMTA levy renewal draft must be extended from permits, levies to the arrangement of its labor.

“Otherwise, we worry all the professions will be swept away by foreigners. Now, foreign labor does not only target tourism sector but also all the non-governmental enterprises,” said Duama.

He got indication that there are many foreign labors working in Badung illegally. They usually use a tourist visa, cultural visa or visa of temporary residence, but in fact they do business in Badung. (kmb27)

IBP/File

Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ka-din) of Bali, A.A. Ngurah Alit Wiraputra

To protect local labor, Badung revises IMTA

IBP/File

The farmer is working on her ricefield while a big building is being build on the back-ground.

The information from the min-istry is in line with a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which excludes Indonesia from the list of countries and territories with active Zika virus transmission.

Earlier, certain Korean media had reported that a Zika virus case was found in Jambi in early 2015.

Ambassador Prasetio pointed

out that it was incorrect to presume that the Zika virus had spread in Indonesia.

In fact, the Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology and the Research Center of the Indonesian Ministry of Health had reaffirmed the absence of cases involving the Zika virus in 2016.

In the past few weeks, the Indo-nesian government has implemented

several measures to prevent the entry of the virus into the country, such as by raising alertness at its health of-fices across all airports and seaports in Indonesia.

Zika virus resembles dengue virus

Zika virus and dengue hemor-rhagic fever (DHF) virus have simi-lar symptoms including; high fever, headache, nausea, and vomiting. In addition to non-specific symptoms such as these however, the zika virus also causes symptoms such as redness on the skin, pain in muscles and joints and enervation.

On that account, the treatment

of both diseases is almost the same, namely by fluid therapy using in-travenous infusion of crystalloid or colloid fluids. “The Zika virus can generally be cured within a period of 7-12 days” said Made Ary Sarasmita, a lecturer at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Udayana University, recently.

Some people have been specu-lating that there is a correlation be-tween the incidence of microsephaly (smaller than usual size of head) in children born of mothers who have been infected with the zika virus, however, so far there has been no statement from the Ministry of Health saying that there is any proof

of this in Indonesia. “The Ministry of Health of the RI suspects the virus can pass from pregnant mothers to their baby” added Saramitra.

Manifestations of zika viral infec-tion can also be seen in the decrease of platelets but not as specifically as in the case of dengue infection.

POLICIES allowing foreign ownership of up to 100 percent of investments in the tourism sec-tor would be disastrous for the sustainability of Bali’s economy. Such a policy will shift the enjoy-

ment of economic growth into the hands of people from outside of Bali

and leave native entrepreneurs in a tight spot.Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and

Industry (Kadin) of Bali, A.A. Ngurah Alit Wirapu-tra, stated that the Bali’s economic position is being weakened by the opening-up of opportunities for foreigners to own 100 percent of shares in 35 fields of business.

“Policies allowing 100 percent for foreign owner-ship, especially in the field of tourism and culinary businesses, will endanger the economic viability of Bali. It will definitely shut down and eliminate many local entrepreneurs” said Alit Wiraputra, on Sunday (Feb. 14).

Because Bali –as a tourist destination, is in high demand with foreigners, the impact of such a policy will threaten Balinese people who are in a less com-petitive position when it comes to investing in their own businesses. “As a result, foreign entrepreneurs will flock to invest here, while Balinese employers and employees will not be able to compete against them”, he said.

Danger...

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L 16 Pages Number 338th year

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

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

DPs 23 - 32WEATHER FORECAsT

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Republicans gear up for U.S. Supreme Court battle after Scalia’s death

Page 13

Australian PM Turnbull losing shine ahead of elections

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

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

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

CALVERTON — Walter Yako-boski scraped together nearly every penny he made as a cook in 1979 to begin buying a small collection of rare comic books for $10,000, hop-ing his boyhood passion could one day pay off as an investment.

That day may soon be here.Yakoboski’s copy of “Amazing

Fantasy” No. 15 from 1962 — which introduced the world to Spider-Man — could fetch $400,000 or more when it goes up for auction later this month.

“This is the first time I really sold anything,” said the 60-year-old Yakoboski, who wants to use the proceeds to buy his late father’s 17-acre (7-hectare) vegetable farm in Calverton on eastern Long Island.

He insisted that the fact that he was recently laid off as a supermar-ket baker after more than 27 years is not the reason he’s selling now.

“I have had it for 36 years and it’s just time,” said Yakoboski, who is also is selling a 1963 Spider-Man, as well as two “Fantastic Four” editions and a “Justice League of America,” which combined could bring an ad-ditional $75,000.

But the crown jewel is the “Amaz-ing Fantasy” issue, which Yacoboski originally purchased individually for $1,200 in 1980. Its cover, featuring a price of 12 cents, shows Spider-Man clutching a villain in one arm and swinging from his web with the other.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko co-created the web-slinger and his alter ego, the educationally gifted but awkward Peter Parker, whose life changed forever when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. It paved the way for Spider-Man adventures on television and the big screen.

Lon Allen, managing director of the comics department at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions — which is conducting the sale Thursday — said there are probably 4,000 to 5,000 copies of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15

in circulation. But Yakoboski’s copy is in nearly mint condition.

“It was graded 9.4 on a scale of 1 to 10, that’s what makes it super desirable and really special,” Allen said. “Whoever buys this comic will be joining an elite club.”

Allen said a private collector re-portedly paid $1.1 million for a near-mint copy of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15 in 2011, but estimated the $400,000 or more Yakoboski’s edi-tion may fetch could be a record for a public auction of the comic book.

Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of New York-based Metropolis Col-lectibles, said the $1.1 million sale — which he was involved with — involved a comic book graded higher at 9.6.

“This book will do great; it’s an incredibly important book,” said Zurzolo. “When you have a sale like this there is a residual effect on the entire market, so that also makes it very exciting. It’s definitely a special book.”

Yakoboski admits he never thought about such a payday when he began reading comic books as a child, sometimes sneaking away from trips to the library to visit a nearby comic books store.

The collecting of rare editions con-tinued as an adult and Yakoboski says his mother thought it was a crazy way to spend his hard-earned money. His most cherished copies were stashed in a bank safety deposit box — he still has 38 prized editions left — while lesser comics fill cabinets in his Middle Island, New York, home.

Heritage Auctions’ Allen credits Yakoboski for having a good eye for what might become valuable. He said while others sought to buy en-tire collections, Yakoboski targeted what he thought were the highest quality and rarest comics.

“The best stuff always outpaces the market, and he bought the best stuff,” Allen said. “That was ge-nius.” (ap)

The white-hot event, held Sun-day at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, also featured Hollywood’s A-list, from Michael Keaton to Sylvester Stallone to Jane Fonda, as well as iconic musicians like Herbie Hancock, Carly Simon and Barry Manilow.

Members of Earth, Wind & Fire had the night’s most memorable moment when they honored band-mate Maurice White, who died on Feb. 4.

“Right now we’d like to pay tribute to the visionary who we lost last week, the man with whom none of this would be possible, Mr. Maurice White,” Philip Bailey said onstage.

The band went on to perform

well-known hits like “September” and “Shining Star” that won over the star-studded audience. Simon, too, had similar energy with the crowd when she sang “You’re So Vain.”

Davis said he asked Simon to perform at his event because Ma-nilow had oral surgery twice this week, and he wasn’t sure if the singer would be able to perform.

“I’m glad to be here tonight. What a week,” said Manilow, who made it to Davis’ gala and sang two songs.

Beck, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic kicked off the event in tribute to David Bowie with a performance of “The Man Who Sold the World.”

“This is for two geniuses who are no longer with us,” Beck said onstage.

Melissa Etheridge followed with “Take It to the Limit” in honor of Glenn Frey. Irving Azoff, who manages the Eagles and received the President’s Merit Award, grew emotional onstage and cried when he told stories about Frey.

Other performers included Chi-cago as well as rising, Grammy-nominated acts such as Fetty Wap, Andra Day, Elle King and Tori Kelly. Attendees included Quincy Jones, Alice Cooper, Nancy Pelosi, Richard Branson, Berry Gordy, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, James Corden, Afrojack, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.

The Grammys will air live Mon-day from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It starts at 8 p.m. Eastern. (ap)

Verdine White, left, Philip Bai-ley, center, and Ralph John-son of Earth, Wind and Fire perform at the 2016 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016, in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Debut edition of Spider-Man comic headed to auction

Hollywood’s A-list, musicians mix at pre-Grammy gala

LOS ANGELES — Chris Rock sat next to Caitlyn Jenner, Gwen Stefani curled up with Blake Shelton and Jamie Foxx was front row recording Earth, Wind & Fire jam onstage at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy gala.

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Page 8

Messi passes on penalty, serves up Suarez hat-trick

Bali’s economy in danger

REUTERS/Adriano Machado

A child runs as a municipal pick-up truck sprays a street with insecticide to kill the Aedes mosquito at Sao Sebastiao neighborhood in Brasilia, Brazil, February 11, 2016. Recent laboratory analyses identified Zika virus infections in three people who died in Brazil last year, the health mini stry said on Thursday, although authorities could not confirm that Zika alone was responsible for their deaths.

Indonesia safe from Zika virusJAKARTA - Indonesia is safe from the Zika virus, according

to a statement by Indonesian Ambassador in Seoul, South Korea, John A. Prasetio received by ANTARA News here on Monday. “Based on the confirmation received from the Indonesian Min-istry of Health, there has been no case of Zika virus in Indonesia throughout this year,” the ambassador noted.