Ba'asyir: Osama bin Laden was A "Warrior"

Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir walks as he arrives for his trial at South Jakarta court May 9, 2011. Indonesias state prosecutors sought life in jail for Abu Bakar Bashir for helping finance a paramilitary training camp, a Jakarta court heard on Monday. 

Osama bin Laden was a "warrior" who will be rewarded in heaven for the "great sacrifices" he made for Islam, Indonesia's best-known radical cleric said Monday.

Abu Bakar Bashir, accused of helping set up a terror training camp in westernmost Aceh province, made the comments before proceedings at his ongoing trial in Jakarta.
Prosecutors on Monday demanded life in prison for the fiery 72-year-old cleric, saying he helped plan and fund terrorist activities in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Bashir, who was co-founder of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah that is blamed for some of the country's deadliest suicide bombings, had no immediate comment about the sentencing request. Bashir had earlier told reporters that bin Laden was "a great mujahid (Muslim warrior)."
"If it's true that he's been killed, his face destroyed and disposed of in the sea, he will get a great honor from God and will get a great reward," he said.
Bashir, who has twice escaped terror charges, is now accused of helping set up, fund and recruit foot-soldiers for an Aceh-based terror cell that was allegedly planning Mumbai-style gun attacks on foreigners and the assassination of high-profile moderate Muslim leaders like President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The white-bearded, bespectacled cleric has denied involvement, but has said repeatedly he approved of its aim. Chief prosecutor Andi Muhammad Taufik said Monday that testimony from dozens of witnesses during the course of Bashir's trial prove that he not only incited others but played an active role in terrorist activities.
Indonesia, a secular nation of 237 million with more Muslims than any other in the world, has made strides in fighting terrorism since the first and deadliest Jemaah Islamiyah-linked attack on Bali island. More than 260 people have died altogether, many of them Western tourists.
But the country still faces pockets of radicalized Islamists and a small but increasingly vocal hard-line fringe has rattled nerves in recent months with violent attacks on minorities and police.

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara Accomplishes Its Stake Divestment

 

PTNNT has been mining copper and gold since March 2000 in the Batu Hijau mine in West Nusa Tenggara 

 

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) has completed its 2010 divestment obligation after it sold the seven percent divestment stake worth US$246.8 million to the government, its director said. "Nusa Tenggara Partnership B.V., in its capacity as the major holder of foreign shares, completed the sales of the divestment stake to the government through the Government Investment Center (PIP) on May 6," NNT President Director Martiono Hadianto, said in a press release here on Monday. PIP, which is under the auspices of the ministry of finance, has been assigned by the government as the purchaser of the stake.
"We thank the Indonesian government and all parties involved in the divestment process," Martiono said.
Based on the work contract in 1986, NNT has to divest 51 percent of its share to the Indonesian side after operating for four years. The sales of the seven percent of the company is the last phase in its divestment obligation which lasted from 2006 to 2010.
Now, the copper and gold mining firm’s stake is owned by Nusa Tenggara Partnership (49 pct), PT Multi Daerah Bersaing (24 pct), PT Pukuafu Indah (17.8 pct), PT Indonesia Masbaga Investama (2.2 pct) and PIP (7 pct).

Topless Coffee Shop

Semi-nude: Inside the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop 

A coffee shop with topless waitresses, which has caused a storm of protest in a small town, has been forced to close after it put up a 'boobies wanted' sign. Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine, hit the headlines when it opened in 2009, offering to serve customers semi-nude.

And despite a wave of protest from local campaigners in its home town of fewer than 5,000 people - and one high profile arson attack - the shop had until now, managed to keep business going. But the controversial store's topless waitresses will finally have to get dressed and leave after town officials ruled that it has been putting up signs illegally.
Bosses insist the order has nothing to do with the shop's nudity policy - or the fact that the signs offered a topless car wash and advertised: 'Boobies wanted'. They say simply putting up the new signs without permission violated zoning rules.
Donald Crabtree, the owner of Grand View Coffee Shop, which uses topless male and female waiters, said he had given up after fighting to exist for two years.
'I wanted to have some fun; I wanted to see people smile,' he told local paper the Maine Morning Sentinel. 'I started the topless coffee shop to do that, and it did. But now my smile's gone.
'I've fought that fight for more than two years now and no matter how hard I try to make this work, somebody sabotages me.'
'These people are bound and determined to shut you down. I'm singled out, but I'm just trying to make a living like everyone else.'
The shop opened in 2009 to a storm of protest from its rural community and prompted Vassalboro and many other communities to bring in rules to regulate where and when sexually oriented businesses could operate. A few months later, in June 2009, the store's original location was burnt to the ground.
The man charged for being responsible for the arson, Raymond Bellavance Jr., who was in a relationship with one of the waitresses, is still awaiting trial.
Crabtree, 43, who has since run the business from a trailer, finally decided to close down after he was forced to take down the nude car wash and 'boobies wanted' signs.
The town's code officer had given him a week to remove them or face legal action. The local Reverend, Steve Rogers ,of the Vassalboro Baptist Church, said he was glad the 'upsetting' business was to close.
He said: 'I hate to see a business disappear, but that's really not the type of business Vassalboro needs.
'It's had an effect on the community and upset people. I think the majority of the town is going to be very pleased it's shutting down and hopefully whoever buys it will run a more family-friendly business.'
Others were not so pleased. Regular customer Herman Jellison, 47, of Whitefield, said he will miss the shop.
'I don't blame him,' Jellison said of Crabtree. 'This town's been harassing him since he's been here. People really need to mind their own business.'
Dan Feeney, Vassalboro's code officer, went to inspect the offending signs on April 26 after receiving complaints. But he insisted the order was made because the signs were bigger than Crabtree's local permit allows.
'It's not what's on the signs; it's the signs themselves,' Feeney said.

ASEAN Struggles for Credibility as Members Feud

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (R) attend a trilateral meeting in Jakarta May 8, 2011.

It was supposed to be a summit to advance ASEAN’s community-building goals, but as Southeast Asian leaders sat down in Indonesia at the weekend, the cracks began to show.

Minutes into the meeting on Saturday at Jakarta’s swanky convention centre, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen launched into a tirade against Thailand over a border conflict which has cost 18 lives since February.
The row hijacked the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and fuelled concern that such distractions are hurting the credibility of the groups’s plans to create a fully integrated community by 2015.
“When you have a feud in the family, especially when fighting can be heard outside the house, it is very embarrassing to the neighbours,” a regional diplomat said.
Mediation efforts by current ASEAN chair Indonesia have so far yielded few concessions that could lead to a lasting ceasefire and negotiated political solution between the warring neighbours.
Eighteen people have been killed and 85,000 temporarily displaced in weeks of clashes over ownership of a small patch of territory surrounding an 11th-century Khmer temple. The temple itself belongs to Cambodia.
International pressure on ASEAN is also expected to mount after Myanmar announced it wants to chair the group in 2014 despite allegations of ongoing human rights abuses and doubts over democratic reforms, including an election last year that was widely regarded as a sham.
“We cannot afford to put our community building efforts in jeopardy by failing to respond to such bilateral conflicts,” Philippine President Benigno Aquino said at the meeting, according to a copy of his speech seen by AFP.
“We call on both countries to move forward in the interest of the region’s peace and stability. Intra-regional skirmishes do not bode well for... ASEAN’s peace and stability or its credibility in the international community.” Aquino also called for the release of remaining political prisoners in Myanmar, saying this will be a “concrete step” in its reform process.
ASEAN wants to be the driver of future debates about security and economic challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, but Ernest Bower, a US-based Southeast Asia specialist, said there were doubts it was up to the challenge.
“The key issue is ASEAN credibility — it must move toward being more specific about how it will define whether it is achieving its self-defined goals for regional economic, social-cultural and political security integration,” Bower, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told AFP.
“General goals are already defined, it needs to now focus on clear definable accomplishments in order to convince its business leaders and citizens that policy will be changed to move toward genuine progress toward these goals.”
Among others, ASEAN should obtain a ceasefire and peace process from Thailand and Cambodia and “define a baseline criteria” for Myanmar to meet before takes over chairmanship, Bower said.
It must also agree on a “pro-active and comprehensive” agenda for the East Asia Summit (EAS) that ASEAN will host in November, he added. The East Asia Summit will be attended by the Russian and US leaders for the first time since their entry into the forum last year.
With China and Japan also members, the ASEAN-driven EAS has become a heavyweight on the regional diplomatic stage. Diplomatic sources say Beijing is against putting maritime security on the agenda because it wants to avoid US meddling in South China Sea territorial disputes.
ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have partial claims on the Spratlys, an island-chain in the South China Sea which is being claimed in whole by China. Taiwan is the sixth claimant.
The group’s end-of-summit statement on Sunday said the EAS would discuss economic and strategic issues but made no direct reference to maritime security being on the agenda.

Indonesian Cleric's Trial Resumes amid Tight Security

 

Radical Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir testifies in South Jakartas court April 25, 2011. Bashir, a leader of the outlawed Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah faces terror charges that carry the death penalty in a trial that refocuses attention on Indonesias fight against Islamic terror groups.  

 

The terrorism trial of Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir resumed Monday amid tight security, with hundreds of radical Islamists on hand to hear if prosecutors will seek the death penalty.About 2,500 police backed by armoured vehicles surrounded the Jakarta courtroom as the 72-year-old cleric appeared in his usual white robes to face the sentencing recommendations. The preacher, who is revered by Islamists around the region, is accused of leading a militant group that was discovered last year training recruits in Aceh province to wage jihad, or holy war.
He told reporters at the court he expected prosecutors to seek his execution if he is convicted under the mainly Muslim country’s anti-terror laws. “It is normal that they will seek the death penalty.... I’ve been turned into an icon as if I’m Osama the terrorist,” he said, referring to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, killed by US special forces in Pakistan last week.
“But I’m not bothered about what they request. This is all made up.” Some of his supporters shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) as the bearded cleric and alleged spiritual leader of the regional terror networks made his appearance.
Members of the US-trained Detachment 88 anti-terror police squad were on hand and members of the public were closely patted down for hidden weapons or bombs as they entered the court. The charges against Bashir, the withered but often smiling face of militant Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, include leading and financing a terrorist group and supplying illegal weapons.
The so-called Al-Qaeda in Aceh group was planning Mumbai-style attacks using squads of suicide gunmen against Westerners, police and political leaders including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to police. Its operations leader, Indonesian bomb maker Dulmatin, was killed by police in March last year.
Scores of other members of the group have been killed or captured. Although his former students read like a who’s who of Indonesian jihad, Bashir denies any involvement in terrorism and claims he is being framed by the United States and its allies including “the Jews”.
 

Bombing Raid on Gaddafi's Home Town

Blast: A still RAF image shows the attack on Gaddafi rocket launchers using Force Tornado GR4 Aircraft 

RAF fighter planes have destroyed Libyan missile launchers during a bombing raid on Colonel Gaddafi's home town, the Ministry of Defence said. Two Tornado planes attacked FROG-7 rocket launchers and canisters used to carry Scud missiles on Friday morning at the site near the Libyan city of Sirte.

The FROG-7 can fire rockets up to 70km and would pose a serious threat to civilians if used against an urban area, the MoD said. The latest development comes as Nato targeted a Libyan government weapons depot, while heavy fighting was reported near Libya's Misrata Airport.
Rebels in Misrata denied Libyan state TV reports that they had surrendered to the government as conflicts around the area intensified. The Scud missiles which were hit in Gaddafi's home town can strike targets up to 300km away and can carry a one-tonne warhead.
The targets were identified during previous reconnaissance flights. Defence Secretary Liam Fox said: 'I have no doubt that this stockpile of weapons could have been used to threaten and kill innocent Libyans.
'We continue to degrade and destroy a range of military assets including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and rocket launchers that threaten the civilian population.
'This hugely successful mission is an example of how we are stepping up our strikes on Gaddafi's forces that continue to attack the Libyan people.
'The international coalition is resolute in its UN mandated task of protecting the civilian population.'
Around 30-40 Scud canisters used to transport Scud missiles were struck in the raid. The UK is operating alongside other Nato countries to destroy the ability of Gaddafi's forces to inflict harm on the people of Libya.
Nato aircraft have flown more that 5,300 sorties since the no-fly zone was put in place in March. Nato launched air strikes on Sunday against a Libyan government weapons depot near the rebel-held town of Zintan.
Zintan is in the Western Mountains region that has seen escalating conflict between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and rebels fighting to end his four decades in power.
A rebel spokesman who gave his name as Abdulrahman, said: 'Nato struck weapons depots ... in an area which lies about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Zintan. We heard a loud explosion ... I think the strike hit some of them (the depots).' There was no immediate comment from NATO.
'We are now at a cemetery burying 11 people martyred during yesterday's fighting in which 35 fighters were also wounded,' he said from the town.
Rebels said there was rocket fire on the town on Saturday from pro-Gaddafi forces. Fighting in other parts of Libya has reached stalemate despite weeks of Nato air strikes that aid rebels who hold Benghazi and other eastern towns but are besieged in the port city of Misrata in western Libya.
Gaddafi's forces are concealing tanks and artillery and using 'shoot and scoot' tactics in Misrata, frustrating Nato air efforts to break the weeks-long siege of the city, the rebels and Nato officials say.
Government forces have abandoned the city centre to the rebels but are entrenched in the built-up outskirts, sometimes firing from the open and scuttling for cover between buildings.
The state-run Al-Jamahiriya television station claimed on Sunday that groups of rebels had surrendered to the government. The station gave no numbers but quoted a military spokesman as saying some of those who surrendered made recorded 'confessions' that would be screened later.
The broadcast brought a swift rebuttal from rebels. Spokesman Ahmed Hassan said: 'This is a big lie. Nobody did this (surrendered) and nobody will do. We are steadfast and full of challenge. We will fight him (Gaddafi) til the end even with our nails and teeth if we have to.'

Bob Marley: The Legacy Wanes but The Cult Lives on

Ziggy Marley, son of late reggae musician Bob Marley, performs during a concert at the Pop Festival in Buenos Aires on March 5, 2011. 

Bob Marley’s musical legacy may be waning 30 years after his death as Jamaica’s youth prefers dancehall to reggae, but the singer remains a cult, if highly commercialized, figure.

Marley has become a merchandiser’s dream, with everything from shoes to snowboards bearing his image, but his friends say it would be tragic if his message of justice for the oppressed gets lost to corporate greed.
“He was never about commercialism,” one friend, Herbie Miller, told AFP.
"Money was not his greatest motivation.” For loyal fans of the Third World’s first pop superstar, who died from cancer at the age of 36 on May 11 1981, this year’s milestone anniversary is not about grieving but about celebrating.
“His music was so full of life, it doesn’t seem right to mourn him,” 24-year-old Bernadette Hellwanter of Vocklabruck, Austria told AFP as she toured the Bob Marley Museum in the Jamaican capital Kingston.
Nickia Palmer stopped briefly to peer at a photo of the dreadlocked legend playing his trademark Gibson guitar. “The first performance I ever did was at Mount Vernon high school in Fairfax, Virginia and it was ’No Woman No Cry’,” recalled the 33-year-old Jamaican singer, who has spent most of his life in the United States.
Fans flock to the museum, an English-style building where Marley lived and wrote many of his songs. Tours are also conducted daily in the village of Nine Mile in rural Saint Ann parish where Marley was born in February 1945 and where a mausoleum now provides his final resting place.
But despite all the T-shirts, the mugs and the many iconic images of the pot-smoking, soccer-mad Rastafarian, there is a sense his star could be beginning to fade. The Marley Foundation, which oversees the singer’s estate, says no events are planned to mark the 30th anniversary of his death.
Music from the rebel who introduced reggae to an international audience gets only token play nowadays on the local radio and his message appears lost on today’s Jamaican youth. Feel-good songs like “Three Little Birds” and “One Love” are preferred to more militant tracks such as “Exodus” or “The Heathen.”
According to Miller, the ubiquitous “One Love” has reduced Marley’s revolutionary message to a catchphrase for Jamaica’s tourist industry. “This is a man who took a bullet for his country. The powers that be in Jamaica are trying to make him soft,” he said.
In Trench Town, the ghetto neighboring Kingston that inspired some of Marley’s most memorable songs, there are few visitors to the tenement where he once lived during the 1960s. Artefacts include the shell of a Volkswagen van that Marley used to sell his records and a bed he slept on.
“As someone who was born in Trench Town, ’Gong’ (Marley’s nickname) had a big impact (on me),” 48-year-old roots-reggae singer I-Cient-Cy Mau told AFP.
“Him always had time for the youths an’ that’s something missing from reggae today.” But the sounds Marley made during the 1970s appear almost foreign to today’s Jamaican youth, more caught up with flamboyant dancehall acts like Vybz Kartel and Movado.
Overseas, perhaps, there is more room for nostalgia. Marley performed twice in his life in Belgium, but according to Brice DePasse, a Belgian journalist with the Nostalgie television station, he left an indelible mark.
“He’s been big in Belgium since 1977 when he first performed there. There’s not a day that his music is not played,” said DePasse. To commemorate his death, Nostalgie will air the hour-long documentary “In The Footsteps of Bob Marley” on May 11.