World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) support the master plan of Indonesia’s economic acceleration and expansion. The master plan is being made by the government in the form of economic development cluster and corridor.
Coordinating Minister of Economy Hatta Rajasa said here on Saturday that the support had been delivered by ADB President Harihuko Kuroda and World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani at a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"They will support the master plan to speed up infrastructure development and connectivity as the main pillar in the economic acceleration and integration of regional sector in six corridors," Hatta Rajasa said.
He said that ADB intended to give its direct assistance to both state and private enterprises to develop added value for Indonesian economic acceleration and expansion.
"Thus the connectivity, capacity building, and human resources are the three main pillars the Asian Development Bank is interested in," Hatta said, adding that he has been asked by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to talk with the World Bank and ADB about the follow-up of the support.
The economic minister explained that based on ADB and World Bank evaluation, Indonesian economic situation at present was good, although it has to face with three problems namely food price rises, oil price hikes, and inflation.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Indonesia Rated Positively in Washington's Human Rights Report
The government of the United States on Friday released its annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2010 in 194 countries, including Indonesia.
In the report, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was a disturbing trend in 2010 of repression of vulnerable minorities, including racial, ethnic and religious minorities along with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Without mincing words, Clinton lambasted Pakistan as a country where "blasphemy remains a crime punishable by death," adding, "the blasphemy law has been enforced against Muslims who do not share the beliefs of other Muslims, and also against non-Muslims who worship differently."
"In the first two months of 2011, two government officials in Pakistan who sought to reform the law, Governor Taseer and Minister Bhatti, were targeted by a fatwa and assassinated," she said.
On the positive side, Clinton had words of encouragement for the Colombian government which she said, had "began consulting with human rights defenders." She said other nations showing positive directions are Guinea and Indonesia.
Clinton said Guinea got eulogies for holding free and fair elections with the inauguration of its first democratically elected president, while she appreciated Indonesia for a vibrant free media and a flourishing civil society at the same time as it faces up to challenges in preventing abuses by its security forces and acting against religious intolerance.
In the report, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was a disturbing trend in 2010 of repression of vulnerable minorities, including racial, ethnic and religious minorities along with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
Without mincing words, Clinton lambasted Pakistan as a country where "blasphemy remains a crime punishable by death," adding, "the blasphemy law has been enforced against Muslims who do not share the beliefs of other Muslims, and also against non-Muslims who worship differently."
"In the first two months of 2011, two government officials in Pakistan who sought to reform the law, Governor Taseer and Minister Bhatti, were targeted by a fatwa and assassinated," she said.
On the positive side, Clinton had words of encouragement for the Colombian government which she said, had "began consulting with human rights defenders." She said other nations showing positive directions are Guinea and Indonesia.
Clinton said Guinea got eulogies for holding free and fair elections with the inauguration of its first democratically elected president, while she appreciated Indonesia for a vibrant free media and a flourishing civil society at the same time as it faces up to challenges in preventing abuses by its security forces and acting against religious intolerance.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
What Should Indonesians Do to This Nobel Parliament Member?
The picture of the Prosperous Justice Party faction member Arifinto that is taken from his Facebook account
The House of Representatives member caught on Media Indonesia photographer's camera browsing porn scenes when attending a preliminary session in Jakarta on April 8, 2011, is Arifinto. Contacted by Kompas.com, the House of Rep Commission V member admitted it.
However, the Prosperous Justice Party faction member denied that he did it on purpose. He revealed that he got an unidentified link in his e-mail address and downloaded it during the session.
"I got a new mail in my inbox when using my Galaxy (Samsung Galaxy tablet PC). When opening it, I found out the obscene scenes, said him, on Friday.
He defended his action by saying he only saw those scenes in few seconds before deleting them right away. According to him, the mail was sent by those irresponsible. "They send sort of mails including on BB (BlackBerry)," said Arifinto who claimed of having not communicated it with the party.
"Let's just wait and see. I did not watch those scenes on purpose or even enjoy them."
Indonesian House of Rep Member Caught Browsing Porn Scenes
A House of Representatives member was caught on camera browsing porn scenes on his tablet PC when he was attending a preliminary session at House of Representatives building in Jakarta on Friday. The indecent act of parliament member was caught on the camera of Media Indonesia photographer, Mohamad Irfan.The member was busy accessing the porn scenes when the House of Rep speaker Marzuki Alie was announcing the temporary results of the session. No details yet on identity of the parliament member.
Indonesian FA Files Lawsuit Against Govt
Indonesian soccer fans shouts slogans and show a poster of Football Association (PSSI) chief Nurdin Halid as a wanted person, during a rally in front of PSSI headquarter in Jakarta on February 23, 2011. Hundreds of soccer fans protested against corruption in the national league and demanded the resignation of the disgraced PSSI chief.Indonesian Football executives have filed a lawsuit against the government for refusing to acknowledge them and locking them out of their office, their lawyer said Friday.
“We’ve filed the lawsuit on Thursday at the Administrative Court in Jakarta. We want the court to void the government’s decisions,” Sitor Situmorang, a lawyer for executives from the football association (PSSI) told AFP.
The Sports Ministry and the State Secretariat previously said they no longer acknowledge PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid and secretary general Nugraha Besoes and have banned them from their rented offices at the Bung Karno Sports Complex. Situmorang has previously said that the sports minister does not have the power to instantly freeze the leadership of the chairman and secretary general.
“The chairman and secretary general were elected by congress members, so they could only be sacked by the congress. They are not servants of the minister,” Situmorang said.
The PSSI executives have been considered as failing to gain control of the rebel Indonesian Premier League (LPI) — established without PSSI involvement — and to set up a congress to elect an electoral commission.
The FIFA Emergency Committee concluded on April 1 that the PSSI leadership had lost all credibility within Indonesia and it decided that a “Normalisation Committee” was needed to take over from the current executives.
Indonesia’s national team has enjoyed a surge of interest in the country of nearly 240 million people, winning second place in the AFF Suzuki Cup championship in January.
Porsche's New 911
Porsche 911Porsche is giving its standard-setting 911 a major overhaul. And this is the best look yet at the new model as it undergoes high-performance testing at Germany's famed Nurburgring track.
The latest iteration of the benchmark sports car will deliver more performance but improved fuel economy. Ignore the large air-intakes in front of the rear wheels, they are fakes.
Design boss Michael Mauer says aerodynamics hold the key to better efficiency. As these spy shots show, the new car features more upright headlights and re-positioned mirrors; proving every little tweak counts.
But Porsche knows it can't fiddle with the car's iconic shape too much. That is where active aerodynamics - wings and spoilers that adjust depending on speed - play an important role. That could explain what appears to be a movable wing at the rear.
Porsche is promising a radical overhaul under the skin but the flat-six engines will remain; albeit with updates. The car is likely to be unveiled at September's Frankfurt motor show.
Indonesia Must Stay Vigilant Against Inflation
Indonesia must remain vigilant against inflation, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said Friday.
“Now the challenge in Indonesia is volatile food prices, so we need to ensure better logistics,“ Martowardojo said on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations finance ministers in Bali.
The official Statistics Agency reported last week that annual inflation eased to 6.65% in March from 6.84% in February. Meanwhile, on an on-month basis, the consumer price index fell 0.32% after rising 0.13% in February as the prices of basic food commodities fell during the harvest season. But, analysts expect inflation to pick up again later this year on rising global commodity prices.
The minister characterised the rupiah's recent appreciation against the dollar as normal given other regional currencies are also appreciating. The rupiah has risen nearly 3.9% so far this year after climbing around 4.4% last year.
“Now the challenge in Indonesia is volatile food prices, so we need to ensure better logistics,“ Martowardojo said on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations finance ministers in Bali.
The official Statistics Agency reported last week that annual inflation eased to 6.65% in March from 6.84% in February. Meanwhile, on an on-month basis, the consumer price index fell 0.32% after rising 0.13% in February as the prices of basic food commodities fell during the harvest season. But, analysts expect inflation to pick up again later this year on rising global commodity prices.
The minister characterised the rupiah's recent appreciation against the dollar as normal given other regional currencies are also appreciating. The rupiah has risen nearly 3.9% so far this year after climbing around 4.4% last year.
SBY: Inflation May Threaten Global Recovery
Rising food and oil prices could threaten the global economic recovery, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Friday at a meeting of Asian finance ministers in Bali.
Indonesia’s rupiah hit four-year highs against the greenback earlier this week and inflation is running at more than 6.5 percent, underlining concerns that the region’s more successful economies may be close to boiling point.
“In contrast (to developed countries), emerging and developing economies have led the global economic recovery... In fact emerging and developing countries in Asia have become an engine of global growth,” Yudhoyono said.
“This is of course no time to be complacent,” he added, warning of upward pressure on commodity prices, the rising price of oil and the “increasing severity and impact of natural disasters and climate change”.
Trade and liquidity imbalances combined with inflation “may threaten the global economic recovery, food and energy security and the achievement of millennium development goals” such as poverty reduction, he said.
“The increasing linkage of ASEAN to the global economy has enhanced the potential spillover from external shocks into our region,” the ex-general added.
Yudhoyono was speaking at the opening of a meeting of finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the resort island of Bali. World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati — a former Indonesian finance minister — and officials from the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank also attended.
With Europe’s sovereign debt crisis spreading to Portugal and much of the developing world’s economies still in the doldrums after the global financial downturn, Asia has become a magnet for capital seeking better returns.
But much of it has been in the form of volatile portfolio capital that can be withdrawn just as fast as it is injected, raising fears of instability in economies that are leading the global recovery.
Yudhoyono said ASEAN needed to speed up regional economic integration and progress toward the creation of a common market of more than 500 million people by 2015. The ASEAN region grew at around five percent last year, up from 1.5 percent in 2009 in the aftermath of the global credit crunch, yet Yudhoyono said it still counted almost 120 million people who live on less than $1.25 a day.
The block includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Analysts say Asia’s emerging economies are poised for another year of solid growth in 2011 even if the impact of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan remains unclear.
But inflation is a key concern for the region, where policymakers have been forced to tighten interest rates to temper price rises despite the risk that this will only fuel volatile foreign capital inflows.
The ADB warned this week that some developing economies were showing signs of “potential overheating” and said more flexible exchange rates and capital controls could help curb soaring prices. IMF Asia and Pacific director Anoop Singh told AFP capital inflows remained“robust” and the challenge for the region was to direct the money into longer-term assets.
“I think Asia has responded well with its monetary policies. The challenge is to push (capital inflows) into areas that are not short-term, or property or speculative, but into infrastructure and long-term benefits,” he said.
Governments have tried a range of responses to hot money but capital controls, such as transaction taxes and currency restrictions, have until recently been scorned by economists as unnecessary interference. In February the IMF recognised that such controls were justified in the face of destabilising imbalances in the global economy.
Indonesia’s rupiah hit four-year highs against the greenback earlier this week and inflation is running at more than 6.5 percent, underlining concerns that the region’s more successful economies may be close to boiling point.
“In contrast (to developed countries), emerging and developing economies have led the global economic recovery... In fact emerging and developing countries in Asia have become an engine of global growth,” Yudhoyono said.
“This is of course no time to be complacent,” he added, warning of upward pressure on commodity prices, the rising price of oil and the “increasing severity and impact of natural disasters and climate change”.
Trade and liquidity imbalances combined with inflation “may threaten the global economic recovery, food and energy security and the achievement of millennium development goals” such as poverty reduction, he said.
“The increasing linkage of ASEAN to the global economy has enhanced the potential spillover from external shocks into our region,” the ex-general added.
Yudhoyono was speaking at the opening of a meeting of finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the resort island of Bali. World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati — a former Indonesian finance minister — and officials from the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank also attended.
With Europe’s sovereign debt crisis spreading to Portugal and much of the developing world’s economies still in the doldrums after the global financial downturn, Asia has become a magnet for capital seeking better returns.
But much of it has been in the form of volatile portfolio capital that can be withdrawn just as fast as it is injected, raising fears of instability in economies that are leading the global recovery.
Yudhoyono said ASEAN needed to speed up regional economic integration and progress toward the creation of a common market of more than 500 million people by 2015. The ASEAN region grew at around five percent last year, up from 1.5 percent in 2009 in the aftermath of the global credit crunch, yet Yudhoyono said it still counted almost 120 million people who live on less than $1.25 a day.
The block includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Analysts say Asia’s emerging economies are poised for another year of solid growth in 2011 even if the impact of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan remains unclear.
But inflation is a key concern for the region, where policymakers have been forced to tighten interest rates to temper price rises despite the risk that this will only fuel volatile foreign capital inflows.
The ADB warned this week that some developing economies were showing signs of “potential overheating” and said more flexible exchange rates and capital controls could help curb soaring prices. IMF Asia and Pacific director Anoop Singh told AFP capital inflows remained“robust” and the challenge for the region was to direct the money into longer-term assets.
“I think Asia has responded well with its monetary policies. The challenge is to push (capital inflows) into areas that are not short-term, or property or speculative, but into infrastructure and long-term benefits,” he said.
Governments have tried a range of responses to hot money but capital controls, such as transaction taxes and currency restrictions, have until recently been scorned by economists as unnecessary interference. In February the IMF recognised that such controls were justified in the face of destabilising imbalances in the global economy.
Indonesia Inconsistent to be Against Human Trafficking
Australian Minister for Home Affairs Brendan OConnor (R) and Indonesian National Police Chief General Timur Pradopo (L) answer questions from journalists following a meeting at the national police headquarters in Jakarta on March 16, 2011. OConnor and Pradopo met to strengthen security ties in combatting crime and human trafficking affecting the two countriesA U.S. senator on Thursday urged reform of an annual report on human trafficking, saying Washington has alienated key allies in Asia through its spirited criticism of their efforts.
The U.S. State Department last year put a number of Asian nations including Singapore and Thailand on a watch list, saying they failed to protect foreign women from forced prostitution. Singapore responded indignantly.
Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.), who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia, said the report lacked clear metrics and caused “confusion and resentment“ by lumping together countries with different records.
“I think we all support the intentions of the State Department to prevent trafficking and to assist victims. However, our engagement with Asia is in danger of being hindered by the approach of this report,“ Webb said.
Webb, a member of U.S. President Barack Obama's Democratic Party from Virginia, said a friend in Singapore was “amazed at this categorization when you look at the quality of the government and the order in the society.“
“If you compare the stability in Singapore to the United States, with its estimated 20 million illegals, many of whom came here through human trafficking, what's going on?“ Webb said at a Senate hearing.
Webb also questioned the downgrade last year for Thailand, which was in the midst of major political upheaval, and asked why Nigeria was ranked higher than highly developed Japan. Luis CdeBaca, the U.S. State Department's ambassador-at-large for human trafficking, defended the annual report and said it had led nations to improve their records, whatever their public expressions of dismay.
The fight against human trafficking “can mean telling friends truths they may not want to hear,“ CdeBaca said at the hearing. Quoting an unnamed former skeptic, CdeBaca said the report “has made an indisputable contribution to the evolution of a global consensus around the problem of trafficking and, specifically in Southeast Asia, has served as the impetus for major reform initiatives.“
He said Indonesia and Malaysia have both drafted laws against human trafficking in response to the criticism, although enforcement has been inconsistent. Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.), who authored the 2000 law that established the annual report, also rejected Webb's criticism. He said that past low rankings for South Korea and Israel had pushed the U.S. allies to crack down on sex trafficking.
“Friend or foe, if their record is complicit with slavery, enabling of slavery, or not taking significant action to combat slavery, they need to be on Tier III,“ the lowest level, Smith said.
“To the victim, they don't care if you're left-wing, right-wing, communist or a free democracy, if you're being trafficked, you're being exploited,“ said Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.
The next report is due out in June. Last year, the State Department said South Korea and Taiwan were the sole jurisdictions in Asia that took full-fledged action against human trafficking. CdeBaca strongly praised Taiwan, saying it increasingly offered support to victims of human trafficking while taking aim at their victimizers.
The State Department put a number of Asian countries on the watch list last year--Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Worldwide, 12.3 million people were victims of trafficking. Bangladesh, China, India, Micronesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka stayed on the list, unchanged from a year earlier.
North Korea, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea remained at the Tier III level of countries that didn't meet the minimum standards on human trafficking. The State Department on Friday releases a separate annual report on human rights, often a cause of friction with nations such as China whose records come under criticism.
Webb and Smith questioned why China wasn't at Tier III on human trafficking in light of accounts of rampant sex trafficking of North Korean women fleeing the neighboring country.
Indonesia to Sell Sharia Bonds Worth IDR 1 Tln
The government plans to sell state sharia bonds worth Rp1 trillion in an auction on April 12 to meet part of financing target in the 2011 state budget.
The sharia bonds up for the auction would be series IFR0005, IFR0007, IFR0006, and IFR0010, all of them the reopening of existing issues, Head of the Public Relations Bureau at the Finance Ministry Yudi Pramadi said in a statement on Thursday.
The state sharia bonds series IFR005 due on January 15, 2017 will be issued at a yield/coupon of 9.00 percent, IFR0007 due on January 15, 2025 at a yield/coupon of 10.25 percent, IFR0006 due on March 15, 2030 at a yield/coupon of 10.25 percent and IFR0010 due on February 15, 2036 at a yield/coupon of 10.00 percent.
Bidders for the state sharia bonds will consist of 13 banks and four securities companies, with Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) as an auction agent. The auction will be open using multi-price method. In principle, all parties, individual and institutional investors, can bid for the bonds. However, the bids must be filed through bidders that have been registered at and have secured authority from the Finance Ministry.
The state sharia bonds series IFR0005, IFR0007, IFR0006, and IFR0010 will be issued using an "Ijarah sale & Lease Back" agreement that has secured a sharia compliant statement from the National Sharia Council - the Indonesian Ulema Council (DSN-MUI) No. B373/DSN-MUI/X/2009 dated October 20, 2009.
The sharia bonds up for the auction would be series IFR0005, IFR0007, IFR0006, and IFR0010, all of them the reopening of existing issues, Head of the Public Relations Bureau at the Finance Ministry Yudi Pramadi said in a statement on Thursday.
The state sharia bonds series IFR005 due on January 15, 2017 will be issued at a yield/coupon of 9.00 percent, IFR0007 due on January 15, 2025 at a yield/coupon of 10.25 percent, IFR0006 due on March 15, 2030 at a yield/coupon of 10.25 percent and IFR0010 due on February 15, 2036 at a yield/coupon of 10.00 percent.
Bidders for the state sharia bonds will consist of 13 banks and four securities companies, with Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) as an auction agent. The auction will be open using multi-price method. In principle, all parties, individual and institutional investors, can bid for the bonds. However, the bids must be filed through bidders that have been registered at and have secured authority from the Finance Ministry.
The state sharia bonds series IFR0005, IFR0007, IFR0006, and IFR0010 will be issued using an "Ijarah sale & Lease Back" agreement that has secured a sharia compliant statement from the National Sharia Council - the Indonesian Ulema Council (DSN-MUI) No. B373/DSN-MUI/X/2009 dated October 20, 2009.
ASEAN Finance Ministers to Discuss Hot Money in Indonesia
Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN countries, from left to right, Bruneis Deputy Finance Minister Awang Bahrin Abdullah, Singapores Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Cambodias Minister of Economy and Finance Kong Vibol, Philippines Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, Malaysias Prime Minister Najib Razak, Malaysias Finance Minister II Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah, Thailands Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, Laos Finance Minister Somdy Douangdy, Indonesias Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, and ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan pose for a group photo during the ASEAN Finance Ministers Investor Seminar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Nov. 30, 2010.Southeast Asian finance ministers meet Friday for talks expected to focus on capital controls to shield the region’s booming economies from destabilising “hot money” inflows. With Europe’s sovereign debt crisis spreading to Portugal and much of the developing world’s economies still in the doldrums after the global financial crisis, Asia has become a magnet for capital seeking better returns.
But much of the foreign capital has been in the form of volatile portfolio investments which can be withdrawn just as quickly as they were injected, raising fears for stability in economies that are leading the global recovery.
“We can intervene but we don’t know exactly how to do so. In the past few days the inflows have been huge,” Indonesian central bank Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono told reporters on Thursday.
“The capital inflows are so massive, and they don’t just flow to Indonesia but in the region.” Indonesia’s rupiah hit four-year highs against the greenback earlier this week and inflation is running at more than 6.5 percent, underlining concerns that the region’s more successful economies may be close to boiling point.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to open the meeting of finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the resort island of Bali. ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan will attend, as will World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati — a former Indonesian finance minister — and officials from the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.
Indonesia, which holds the current chair of ASEAN, has said the ministers will also discuss food security and progress toward a planned common market in the region of more than 500 million people by 2015. The ASEAN region grew at around five percent last year, up from 1.5 percent in 2009 in the aftermath of the global credit crunch.
The block includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Analysts say Asia’s emerging economies are poised for another year of solid growth in 2011 even if the impact of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan remains unclear.
But inflation is a key concern for the region, which faces tighter monetary policies as authorities seek to temper price rises including in food staples such as rice. The ADB warned this week that some developing economies were showing signs of “potential overheating” and said more flexible exchange rates and capital controls could help curb soaring prices.
Governments have tried a range of responses to hot money but capital controls, such as transaction taxes and currency restrictions, have until recently been scorned by economists as unnecessary interference. In February the IMF recognised that such controls were justified in the face of destabilising imbalances in the global economy.
In a recent report on Asian economies, Standard and Poor’s ratings agency said regional central banks might consider further capital controls and other actions to prevent risky asset bubbles.
Within Southeast Asia, it said Singapore’s growth would moderate sharply to 4.5-5.0 percent from 14.5 percent last year, Malaysia would expand 4.8-5.3 percent and Indonesia would grow 5.9-6.4 percent from 6.1 percent.
The Philippines was forecast to grow 5.1-5.6 percent from 7.3 percent and Thailand’s growth would ease to 4.0-4.5 percent from 7.8 percent.
World's First Facebook Bullying Alert System
Concerned: Father-of-four Paddy Clarke came up with the idea after reading a string of cyber-bullying horror storiesA concerned father has developed the world's first bullying alert system for Facebook which scans text and flags up abusive behaviour.
NHS consultant Paddy Clarke's software scans walls and inboxes for trigger words and phrases such as 'gay' and 'fat' and alerts parents when they appear. The father-of-four came up with the idea after reading a string of cyber-bullying horror stories.
Mr Clarke, 48, said he hoped his system - called 'Know Diss' - will keep children safe from online bullies. He said: 'Bullying has now gone from the playground into children's homes.
'Kids feel safe sending an abusive message in their rooms. It is pretty awful.
'Cyber-bullying is very topical at the moment, particularly following some tragic cases where young people have taken their lives because of it.
'It is hard to believe but this software is the only one in the world to search through text on social networking sites to protect children.
'Know Diss is a very simple concept. It is also a partnership between parent and child because one cannot sign up without the other.'
Mr Clarke, a consultant in pain relief at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester, joined forces with friend Alan Saul to design and implement Know Diss, which costs £12 for a yearly subscription.
Together they trawled through sites such as Urban Dictionary and watched the television series Skins to build their comprehensive database of insults. Mr Clarke's program continuously searches through all text on Facebook accounts signed up to the service, including messages, picture comments and posts.
It uses a database of several thousands of words to identify bullying trigger words in a number of spelling variations. Parents and their children must both sign up by email for the software to work. The child is then sent a link for them to click in order to download Know Diss.
When a bullying phrase is detected, it is copied and immediately emailed to the child's parent or 'Facebook guardian' who can decide whether further action is needed. An example of a 'bullying' phrase which would be picked up by the system is: 'Go slash your wrists, fat boy' or words such as 'gay boy'.
When triggered, Know Diss automatically sends an email to the parent which reads: 'The following text has been picked up on your child's Facebook account.
'Go and have a look at it.'
Mr Clarke of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire - who used his own savings to fund the project - added: 'We have an absolutely huge database which includes spelling variations to make Know Diss as accurate as possible.
'Children may initially feel it is being invasive but it does not give the parent the power to read everything on their profile, just the words which are picked up by the software.
'It is very simple. The parent can read through the text which the software finds 'bullying' and decide whether it really is, or just a joke.
'They can also keep track of whether messages come in a series. Bullying tends to operate in a pack mentality online, one person posts and is followed by 50 others.'
Research shows up to half of children have experienced cyber-bullying in the past 12 months - half of those do not report it to an adult. Mr Clarke, whose has three sons and a daughter aged between ten and 20, has already showcased Know Diss at local schools.
And exclusive Cheltenham College is already considering using it to tackle cyber-bullying among pupils. When a child is registered with Know Diss, a small logo will appear on their Facebook wall warning posters they are signed up to the service.
Mr Clarke added: 'With me being a doctor I am always interested in prevention rather than cure.
'Having the logo on the site may prevent young people from cyber bullying someone if they know the message will be picked up by a parent or teacher.'
Currently Know Diss only works on Facebook, but Mr Clarke hopes to hold talks with Twitter and other social networking sites in the future.
A spokesman for Facebook said there were a 'number' of different ways users could protect themselves from cyber bullies.
He said: 'One person determined to harass another will unfortunately find ways to do so, both online and offline.
'On Facebook there are a number of measures people can use to stay safe.
'We encourage people to use our reporting tools, accessible across the entire site, use our blocking tools to prevent unwanted contact, and visit our Safety Centre, which contains tips for young people and parents about how to use Facebook as safely as possible.'
Parents and children can register their email addresses at www.knowdiss.co.uk. The programme also works via smartphones.
Last year, Facebook bowed to pressure and provided a new application which allows young users to report suspicious behaviour. It was announced in July that all users of the social networking site were to be able to access an advice centre from their home page to report suspected grooming or inappropriate sexual behaviour.
It was the result of Facebook and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre joining forces. In the past, Facebook had been accused of arrogant complacency in the face of soaring complaints about online paedophiles.
Indonesia Provides Agricultural Training for 6 Countries
Indonesia continues to reinforce the South-South cooperation by providing agricultural apprenticeships and training for Bangladesh, Fiji, Laos, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste and Comoros (East Africa), a senior official said.
Director General for European and American Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said when opening the activities here on Thursday that the training and apprentice programs were carried out as part of Indonesia’s commitment to helping other developing countries in the agricultural sector.
She said that the agricultural sector was Indonesia’s important soft power policy asset. In this case Indonesia has played an important role in facilitating experience-sharing process on agriculture through training, apprentice and the sending of experts to various Asian and African countries as well to the pacific and Africa over the last three decades.
Through the cooperation in the agricultural sector, Retno Marsudi was convinced that developing countries could contribute to efforts of increasing world food resilience which now gained a world attention.
In the meantime, the secretary general of the Agriculture Ministry, Hari Priyono said that Indonesia’s various agricultural policies aimed at fostering national food resilience has brought in a result such as reflected in the success of national rice self-efficiency in 2008.
He said that the agricultural sector occupied the strategic position in the country’s economy, and the government would continue to make efforts to meet national consumption need and ensure people’s access to food which was one of the very basic rights of the people.
Director General for European and American Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi said when opening the activities here on Thursday that the training and apprentice programs were carried out as part of Indonesia’s commitment to helping other developing countries in the agricultural sector.
She said that the agricultural sector was Indonesia’s important soft power policy asset. In this case Indonesia has played an important role in facilitating experience-sharing process on agriculture through training, apprentice and the sending of experts to various Asian and African countries as well to the pacific and Africa over the last three decades.
Through the cooperation in the agricultural sector, Retno Marsudi was convinced that developing countries could contribute to efforts of increasing world food resilience which now gained a world attention.
In the meantime, the secretary general of the Agriculture Ministry, Hari Priyono said that Indonesia’s various agricultural policies aimed at fostering national food resilience has brought in a result such as reflected in the success of national rice self-efficiency in 2008.
He said that the agricultural sector occupied the strategic position in the country’s economy, and the government would continue to make efforts to meet national consumption need and ensure people’s access to food which was one of the very basic rights of the people.
Indonesia Optimistic over Cambodia-Thailand Truce
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, center, speaks to the media as his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong, left, and Thailands Kasit Piromya, right, listen during a press conference following Informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. Southeast Asian foreign ministers held emergency talks about a deadly border dispute that broke out between Cambodia and Thailand near an 11th century temple.Indonesia is optimistic that diplomacy is back on track for Cambodia and Thailand to resolve a border dispute that has sparked deadly military clashes, its foreign minister said Thursday.
Progress was made on the issue of having observers enforce the truce at the disputed border, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said after a Joint Border Committee meeting. He said he has informed his Thai counterpart in Bangkok about the progress.
"The main message out of today's meeting is diplomacy is back on track," he said, and the parties are trying to solve the problems through dialogue. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong led his country's delegation to the meeting in the West Java town. Thailand's delegation was led by a foreign ministry adviser.
Acting for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Indonesia brokered an agreement in February under which military observers will be sent to enforce a cease-fire after clashes over disputed land surrounding an 11th century temple killed at least eight. Phnom Penh has already urged Indonesia to send observers to the border even if Bangkok doesn't consent.
TNI Preparing Team for UN Mission in Haiti
The Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI) is preparing a team to join the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Haiti after the country was crippled by an earthquake sometime ago.
The TNI team which will constitute a task force of Konga XXXII-A/MINUSTAH become the first Garuda Contingent sent to Haiti which was hit by an earthquake that killed 316 people, injured 300 others and left one million residents homeless, said operation assistant to the TNI Commander, Maj Gen Hambali Hanafiah in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday.
"This reflects international trust to the Indonesian soldiers in UN missions," he said.
The UN mission in Haiti is sent to Haiti based on UN SC resolution No. 1908 of January 10, 2010, shortly after the earthquake crippled the infrastructure and government in Haiti. The TNI task force will consist of 167 personnel and to be led by Lt Col. Czi Winarno.
The TNI team which will constitute a task force of Konga XXXII-A/MINUSTAH become the first Garuda Contingent sent to Haiti which was hit by an earthquake that killed 316 people, injured 300 others and left one million residents homeless, said operation assistant to the TNI Commander, Maj Gen Hambali Hanafiah in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday.
"This reflects international trust to the Indonesian soldiers in UN missions," he said.
The UN mission in Haiti is sent to Haiti based on UN SC resolution No. 1908 of January 10, 2010, shortly after the earthquake crippled the infrastructure and government in Haiti. The TNI task force will consist of 167 personnel and to be led by Lt Col. Czi Winarno.
Indonesians Repatriated from Libya
Indonesia Muslims march during a rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, March, 27, 2011. More than 10,000 Indonesians held a peaceful rally in the capital of the worlds most populous Muslim nation to support pro-democracy movement in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain.
The Indonesian embassy in Tunis has repatriated 14 Indonesians from Libya including migrant workers, students, and ordinary residents as well as embassy staff members in Tripoli since March 2011.
Indonesian ambassador to Tunisia Muhammad Ibnu Said handed over the papers and documents of the 14 Indonesians to the head of the group Untung, embassy staff member in Tripoli, before their departure at Wisma Duta, Les Berges du Lac in Tunis, according to press release in London on Thursday.
Sugianto, a student who joined the group expressed appreciation to the Indonesian government especially the foreign ministry, the Indonesian embassies Tripoli and Tunis for their attention and protection during the evacuation from Libya and for the living quarters in Tunis.
Speaking on behalf of the Indonesians being evacuated, Sugianto as students and the last to leave Libya, asked for an apology for troubling the Indonesian embassies in Tripoli and Tunis for refusing to be evacuated several times.
After the situation in Tripoli had worsened, Sugianto and his friend Eling Fanny Ardhiyanto eventually agreed to join the evacuation group from the Indonesian embassy in Tripoli.
Ambassador Ibnu Said said protection of Indonesians abroad was the responsibility of the Indonesian representative office. For that the Indonesian embassy in Tunis continued to evacuate the Indonesians in Libya especially after the situation in Libya worsened.
The 123 Indonesian students had already been evacuated to Tunisia. Ambassador Ibnu also make it clear that the Indonesian government’s commitment in this case the embassy in Tunis to help each Indonesian facing difficulties abroad, although non-formal workers often failed to report their arrival there to the Indonesian representative office.
On behalf the Indonesian government, he said goodbye to the Indonesians hoping they would arrive home and reunite with their families and relatives. The number of Indonesians from Libya who had been evacuated to Tunisia reached 570, including 562 to have been repatriated to Indonesia, and the rest later.
Rp30 Trillion Infrastructure Credits Set by BNI
A worker arranges bundles of rupiah banknotes in the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) in Jakarta August 6, 2010. Indonesias central bank said on Thursday it does not want the rupiah currency to be too strong because this could hurt economic competitiveness.State-owned Bank BNI has since 2008 prepared itself to support the government’s efforts to advance the national economy by allocating Rp30 trillion for the infrastructure sector.
"In the short-term, BNI focuses its support priority on infrastructure (transportation, electricity and telecommunications). But the funds amounting to Rp10 trillion for each sector have not yet been all absorbed until this month, though they have been prepared since 2008," BNI President Director Gatot M Sowondo, said here on Thursday.
He said that there were many factors causing the funds not to be disbursed, among others, the investors were not yet ready due to the fact that the government regulation on the sector was not yet enough. In the meantime, BNI should also continue maintaining its prudent principles in channeling credits.
"But thanks God, we hope, in near future state-owned railway firm PT Kreta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) will absorb about Rp2 trillion of the funds," he said.
PT KAI will use the funds to procure locomotives, cargo coaches and passengers carriers. He stated that for the transportation sector, credits will cover air transportation (airports), land (roads and tollroads) and sea transportation (seaports).
The infrastructures are expected to smooth goods and services distribution and passenger traffic as well as increase efficiency and cut production costs. He said that BNI credits continued to increase despite the management had kept on carrying out banking prudence.
Last year for example, its credit provision was raised by 13 percent to Rp136 trillion. This year funding is expected to increase 17 percent so that loan to deposit ratio could reach 75 percent from 70.2 percent a year ago.
Gunmen at Indonesia Gold Mine Kill 2 Freeport Workers
Gunmen killed two workers on Thursday at Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc’s giant gold mine in Indonesia’s Papua, a province with a simmering separatist movement.
A Freeport company spokesman said the shooting by unidentified gunmen, which left the car the two workers were in a blazing wreck, did not affect production at the world’s largest gold mine.
Local police said two men died in the burning car and they would beef up security in the area, with the deaths coming only a day after another shooting nearby that injured two people.
“We will scour the area tomorrow ... We can’t underestimate this,” the area’s deputy police chief Mada Laksanta told Reuters.
The mine has been a frequent source of friction in Papua because of its environmental impact, the share of revenue going to local Papuans and the legality of payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site.
Previous deadly attacks blamed on separatists have often been fairly unsophisticated with attackers poorly armed, and the military and police generally keep a tight rein on the province.
A Freeport company spokesman said the shooting by unidentified gunmen, which left the car the two workers were in a blazing wreck, did not affect production at the world’s largest gold mine.
Local police said two men died in the burning car and they would beef up security in the area, with the deaths coming only a day after another shooting nearby that injured two people.
“We will scour the area tomorrow ... We can’t underestimate this,” the area’s deputy police chief Mada Laksanta told Reuters.
The mine has been a frequent source of friction in Papua because of its environmental impact, the share of revenue going to local Papuans and the legality of payments to Indonesian security forces who help guard the site.
Previous deadly attacks blamed on separatists have often been fairly unsophisticated with attackers poorly armed, and the military and police generally keep a tight rein on the province.
Millions Online Customers Addresses Stolen by Hackers
Millions of email addresses belonging to British shoppers have been stolen by criminal hackers. Marks & Spencer yesterday sent warning messages to many online customers who have supplied the store with email addresses.
Britons who use Play.com and TripAdvisor have also been sent similar warnings. Victims of the theft risk being targeted in spam and phishing scams. This could result in them logging on to bogus websites set up by criminal gangs.
Once on these websites, it is feared that personal information, including passwords and bank details, could be stolen. There is also a danger that bugs and malicious spy software could be downloaded to victims’ home computers.
The alerts raise serious questions about security systems operated by major internet brands and their technology partners. They will also shake consumers’ trust in online shopping – and could encourage shoppers to move back to the High Street.
The M&S security failure relates to a U.S. email company, Epsilon, which has been targeted in what has been called the ‘biggest data breach ever’. Epsilon, one of the largest email marketing companies in the world, sends more than 40billion emails annually on behalf of more than 2,500 clients.
The unrelated thefts involving M&S, Play.com and TripAdvisor reflect a growing and lucrative black market in personal email addresses.
M&S sent an email to customers yesterday, warning: ‘We have been informed by Epsilon, a company we use to send emails to our customers, that some M&S customer email addresses have been accessed without authorisation.
‘We wanted to bring this to your attention as it is possible that you may receive spam email messages as a result.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.’
M&S stressed that the theft was limited to names and email addresses, rather than other personal information and account details.
However, this is all that criminals need to launch targeted and personalised spam attacks, known as spear phishing.
Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, also uses Epsilon. However it categorically denied that its customer details have been hacked.
In December, the computers of U.S. company Silverpop were broken into. It provides email services to Play.com, which sells CDs, DVDs, books and gadgets online.
But Play.com alerted customers to the risk only last week, after it emerged that spear phishing emails have been sent out.
Internet security expert Dr Stefan Fafinski, of the University of Leeds, was caught up in the Play.com theft.
He said: ‘Spammers will have a list of good, known and verifiable email addresses that comes straight out of M&S. Once they have names as well as email addresses, the spammers can personalise the emails they send out to look much more like a genuine company communication.
‘People who open these emails may then follow a link to what looks like an official website.
‘They may be asked to update their billing information, credit card details, the three-digit security code, maybe their mother’s maiden name or the answer to a personal security question.
‘That gives them all the information they would need to steal the identity of the customer and access their accounts.’
He said spam email often comes with attachments which, if opened, can download malicious software. This is something these big data-holding organisations will be very worried about and they will be spending a lot of time trying to close any gaps in security.
He added: ‘Trust is key to shopping online. Clearly that is very badly shaken when you have an event like this.’
M&S refused to say how many email addresses have been stolen. A spokesman said: ‘For commercial reasons we would not disclose the number of customers we hold on our marketing database – but as a precaution we have contacted customers to alert them.’
Following the hacking at TripAdvisor, the travel advice website, its co-founder Steve Kaufer said: ‘Unfortunately, this sort of data theft is becoming more common and we take it extremely seriously.’
Britons who use Play.com and TripAdvisor have also been sent similar warnings. Victims of the theft risk being targeted in spam and phishing scams. This could result in them logging on to bogus websites set up by criminal gangs.
Once on these websites, it is feared that personal information, including passwords and bank details, could be stolen. There is also a danger that bugs and malicious spy software could be downloaded to victims’ home computers.
The alerts raise serious questions about security systems operated by major internet brands and their technology partners. They will also shake consumers’ trust in online shopping – and could encourage shoppers to move back to the High Street.
The M&S security failure relates to a U.S. email company, Epsilon, which has been targeted in what has been called the ‘biggest data breach ever’. Epsilon, one of the largest email marketing companies in the world, sends more than 40billion emails annually on behalf of more than 2,500 clients.
The unrelated thefts involving M&S, Play.com and TripAdvisor reflect a growing and lucrative black market in personal email addresses.
M&S sent an email to customers yesterday, warning: ‘We have been informed by Epsilon, a company we use to send emails to our customers, that some M&S customer email addresses have been accessed without authorisation.
‘We wanted to bring this to your attention as it is possible that you may receive spam email messages as a result.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.’
M&S stressed that the theft was limited to names and email addresses, rather than other personal information and account details.
However, this is all that criminals need to launch targeted and personalised spam attacks, known as spear phishing.
Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, also uses Epsilon. However it categorically denied that its customer details have been hacked.
In December, the computers of U.S. company Silverpop were broken into. It provides email services to Play.com, which sells CDs, DVDs, books and gadgets online.
But Play.com alerted customers to the risk only last week, after it emerged that spear phishing emails have been sent out.
Internet security expert Dr Stefan Fafinski, of the University of Leeds, was caught up in the Play.com theft.
He said: ‘Spammers will have a list of good, known and verifiable email addresses that comes straight out of M&S. Once they have names as well as email addresses, the spammers can personalise the emails they send out to look much more like a genuine company communication.
‘People who open these emails may then follow a link to what looks like an official website.
‘They may be asked to update their billing information, credit card details, the three-digit security code, maybe their mother’s maiden name or the answer to a personal security question.
‘That gives them all the information they would need to steal the identity of the customer and access their accounts.’
He said spam email often comes with attachments which, if opened, can download malicious software. This is something these big data-holding organisations will be very worried about and they will be spending a lot of time trying to close any gaps in security.
He added: ‘Trust is key to shopping online. Clearly that is very badly shaken when you have an event like this.’
M&S refused to say how many email addresses have been stolen. A spokesman said: ‘For commercial reasons we would not disclose the number of customers we hold on our marketing database – but as a precaution we have contacted customers to alert them.’
Following the hacking at TripAdvisor, the travel advice website, its co-founder Steve Kaufer said: ‘Unfortunately, this sort of data theft is becoming more common and we take it extremely seriously.’
Bali Vows to Tackle Waste Problem
In recovery ... tourists are returning to Bali and its famed Kuta beach.
Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali vowed on Thursday to tackle its worsening garbage and pollution problems, following a damning magazine article.
Under the headline “Holidays in Hell: Bali’s Ongoing Woes”, Time magazine said the resort island was struggling with waste and some of its famous beaches were strewn with rubbish.
“We are not closing our eyes. It’s true that we have a waste problem,” Bali tourism agency head Ida Bagus Subhiksu said. Subhiksu said up to 300 garbage trucks a day were needed to collect rubbish in the Kuta area, a prime tourist spot.
“In Kuta, there will be more garbage trucks designated for the area as extra funding for waste management there has been approved,” he said.
Subhiksu added that many of the litter on the beaches came from islands outside Bali. Visitor numbers to Bali are growing — 2.3 million foreign tourists came last year and 2.5 million are expected this year.
Panin Bank Owner Maintains No Plan to Sell Stake
Customers of Bank Pan Indonesia (PANIN) conduct transactions at the banks branch in Jakarta April 4, 2011. Bank Pan Indonesia, the nations seventh largest lender, is drawing interest from European and Asia-Pacific banks including Australian and New Zealand Banking Group for its founders 46 percent stake, deputy chief executive officer Roosniati Salihin said. To match Interview PANIN.Indonesia's Gunawan family maintained Thursday it has no plan to sell its stake in PT Bank Pan Indonesia, or Panin Bank, despite receiving bids from several offshore investors, a senior official said.
“We have no need to sell Panin Bank,“ Fadjar Gunawan, president director of PT Panin Financial, the largest shareholder of the bank.
“You knew already that since 2008 there are many (investors) asking (about the stake),“ he told Dow Jones Newswires.
Talks have been abound that several international banks have approached the Gunawan family, seeking to buy its stake in Panin Bank in recent years. An official with Korea Development Bank told Dow Jones Newswires in February that the bank sought to establish a holding company with Panin Financial to jointly operate Bank Panin. But the talks collapsed due to differences over financial terms.
Panin Financial, which is controlled by the Gunawan family, owns 44.68% stake in the middle-sized lender based on assets while Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AU) owns 38.82% and the public the remaining 16.5%.
World's Toughest Anti-smoking Laws
In this computer-generated image provided by the Minister for Health and Ageing of Australia, proposed cigarette packaging stripped of all logos and replaced with graphic images that tobacco companies in Australia will be forced to use is shown. "This plain packaging legislation is a world first and sends a clear message that the glamour is gone, cigarette packs will now only show the death and disease that can come from smoking," Health Minister Nicola Roxon said in a statement, Thursday, April 7, 2011.Australia’s government has unveiled plans for some of the world’s toughest anti-smoking laws, saying it would force big tobacco companies to use plain green packaging for cigarettes despite the threat of industry legal action.
Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon said on Thursday the draft laws, which will shortly go to parliament, would, if passed, help reduce thousands of smoking-related deaths each year that cost the economy A$31.5 billion ($32.9 billion).
“This plain packaging legislation is a world first and sends a clear message that the glamour is gone. Cigarette packs will now only show the death and disease that can come from smoking,” Roxon told reporters.
The Australian tobacco market generated total revenue of A$9.98 billion in 2009, up from A$8.3 billion the previous year, although smoking generally has been declining. Around 22 billion sticks are sold in the country each year.
The country’s health authorities say smoking-related illnesses kill more than 15,000 Australians each year and that smoking is the largest preventable cause of disease and death.
The conservative opposition has yet to decide whether to back the legislation, meaning the minority Labor government may have to convince independent and Green lawmakers to support it.
British American Tobacco Australia , whose brands include Winfield, Dunhill and Benson & Hedges, said the government’s plans would infringe international trademark and intellectual property laws.
“The government could end up wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars in legal fees trying to defend their decision, let alone the potential to pay billions to the tobacco industry for taking away our intellectual property ,” BATA spokesman Scott McIntyre said in a statement.
New Zealand, Canada, the European Union and Britain are considering similar laws and governments in those countries are closely watching to see if Australia succeeds. Analysts say the new rules being explored in Australia and other countries could spread to emerging markets like Brazil, Russia and Indonesia, and threaten growth there.
Roxon said the legislation would restrict tobacco industry logos, brand imagery, colours and promotional text appearing on packs, with the only distinguishing marks being the brand and product name in a standard text and colour. Olive green packaging had been decided on, because research showed smokers found it the least attractive colour.
The government planned the legislation to take effect at the start of 2012, with all products on sale required to comply with the new laws within six months. “In addition, health warnings will be updated and increased from 30 percent to 75 percent of the front of the pack, as well as 90 per cent of the back,” Roxon said.
The World Health Organization, in its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, advises authorities to “consider adopting measures to restrict or prohibit the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information.”
Australia already has tough curbs on tobacco advertising, which have helped reduce smoking from 30.5 percent of the population aged 14 and over in 1988 to 16.6 percent in 2007. Roxon aims to cut smoking rates below 10 percent by 2018.
Violating Immigration Regulation, 3 Chinese Nationals Deported
The Palu immigration office had deported three Chinese nationals for violating Indonesia’s immigration regulation , according to a local immigration official.
Head of the Palu Immigration Office’s Supervision and Sanction Section Marsongko said here Thursday the three Chinese nationals had been sent to Jakarta by Lion Air on Tuesday. They left Indonesia for China from Soekarno-Hatta international airport on Thursday.
"Just now I received a call from Purnomo, an official of the Palu immigration office who accompanied by the three foreigners from Palu to Jakarta, that they have left via the Soekarno-Hatta International on Thursday morning," he said.
The three Chinese were arrested on March 28, 2011. They had claimed of having been working for a mining company at Morowali and managed to show immigration documents such as passports, visa and temporary stay permits.
"However, after checking the documents of the three who had claimed to work in PT Fu Hui, a Chinese mining company, which had sponsored their entry into Central Sulawesi, we found out that it was fictive," he said.
The address and telephone number of PT Fu Hui In Jakarta was fictive. The Palu immigration office decided to deport them because their stay in Central Sulawesi was without a sponsor. The three Chinese nationals were identified as Li Jianshun, Sihua Qin, and Zhang Guang Wu.
Head of the Palu Immigration Office’s Supervision and Sanction Section Marsongko said here Thursday the three Chinese nationals had been sent to Jakarta by Lion Air on Tuesday. They left Indonesia for China from Soekarno-Hatta international airport on Thursday.
"Just now I received a call from Purnomo, an official of the Palu immigration office who accompanied by the three foreigners from Palu to Jakarta, that they have left via the Soekarno-Hatta International on Thursday morning," he said.
The three Chinese were arrested on March 28, 2011. They had claimed of having been working for a mining company at Morowali and managed to show immigration documents such as passports, visa and temporary stay permits.
"However, after checking the documents of the three who had claimed to work in PT Fu Hui, a Chinese mining company, which had sponsored their entry into Central Sulawesi, we found out that it was fictive," he said.
The address and telephone number of PT Fu Hui In Jakarta was fictive. The Palu immigration office decided to deport them because their stay in Central Sulawesi was without a sponsor. The three Chinese nationals were identified as Li Jianshun, Sihua Qin, and Zhang Guang Wu.
Indonesia Prepares to Extradite Romanian
Indonesia on Thursday said it was preparing to deport a Romanian fugitive convicted of fraud, after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed a decree permitting his extradition.
Interpol Indonesia chief Brig. Gen. Halba Rubis Nugroho confirmed Yudhoyono had signed the approval for the extradition of Nicolae Popa, who was arrested in Jakarta in 2009 on a warrant issued by Interpol.
“We are now in discussion with the related ministries to determine the date to send him back to his country,“ Nugroho said.
The ruling was warranted because Indonesia and Romania haven't agreed to an extradition treaty, a local newspaper reported. A Bucharest court in 2006 sentenced Popa to 15 years in prison for fraud in connection with the collapse of an investment fund, in one of the most sensational scandals of the post-communist Romania.
More than 100,000 people lost money they had invested in the National Investment Fund, and the Romanian state, which had guaranteed their investments, was forced to pay out compensation of more than EUR100 million ($143 million), the newspaper said. It said Popa has denied the charges.
Interpol Indonesia chief Brig. Gen. Halba Rubis Nugroho confirmed Yudhoyono had signed the approval for the extradition of Nicolae Popa, who was arrested in Jakarta in 2009 on a warrant issued by Interpol.
“We are now in discussion with the related ministries to determine the date to send him back to his country,“ Nugroho said.
The ruling was warranted because Indonesia and Romania haven't agreed to an extradition treaty, a local newspaper reported. A Bucharest court in 2006 sentenced Popa to 15 years in prison for fraud in connection with the collapse of an investment fund, in one of the most sensational scandals of the post-communist Romania.
More than 100,000 people lost money they had invested in the National Investment Fund, and the Romanian state, which had guaranteed their investments, was forced to pay out compensation of more than EUR100 million ($143 million), the newspaper said. It said Popa has denied the charges.
Indonesia Government Indebtedness is Falling
Developments in Indonesia suggest that the country is on track to strengthen its sovereign balance sheet and to improve its macroeconomic performance, progress which is associated with other nations that have recently obtained investment grade status, Fitch Ratings said Thursday.
In a report, the credit rating agency--which rates Indonesia BB+ with a positive outlook--noted that government indebtedness was falling as a ratio of gross domestic product, while the sovereign external balance sheet had strengthened.
“The prospects for an upgrade could be compromised if a reversal of short-term capital flows posed risks to broader economic or financial stability,“ Fitch said. “However, some capital outflow would not necessarily preclude an upgrade if no such broader instability resulted.“
The rating agency said the Southeast Asian nation had shown “impressive resilience“ during the global financial crisis and world recession. In the short term, inflationary pressures pose a risk, it said, noting it saw some evidence that strong price growth was starting to hurt consumer sentiment. But it added that price pressures should subside in 2011 as the central bank tightens monetary policy.
Fitch also pointed out that Indonesia's investment rate has risen, and said that the falling dependency of domestic demand on commodity prices was another factor in its favor.
In a report, the credit rating agency--which rates Indonesia BB+ with a positive outlook--noted that government indebtedness was falling as a ratio of gross domestic product, while the sovereign external balance sheet had strengthened.
“The prospects for an upgrade could be compromised if a reversal of short-term capital flows posed risks to broader economic or financial stability,“ Fitch said. “However, some capital outflow would not necessarily preclude an upgrade if no such broader instability resulted.“
The rating agency said the Southeast Asian nation had shown “impressive resilience“ during the global financial crisis and world recession. In the short term, inflationary pressures pose a risk, it said, noting it saw some evidence that strong price growth was starting to hurt consumer sentiment. But it added that price pressures should subside in 2011 as the central bank tightens monetary policy.
Fitch also pointed out that Indonesia's investment rate has risen, and said that the falling dependency of domestic demand on commodity prices was another factor in its favor.
Taiwan Mulls Overseas Petrochem Complex in Indonesia
Black smoke billows from a petrochemical factory on fire following clashes between pro and anti-Kadhafi militants close to the eastern Libyan oil town of Ras Lanuf on March 12, 2011. Pro government forces retook Ras Lanuf and near by Bin Jawad from rebel forces fighting to topple the regime since February 15.A senior official says Taiwan may scrap a contentious plan to build a $20 billion petrochemical complex on reclaimed land on its western coast.
The plan to build the complex to refine crude oil and produce ethylene has been stalled for five years amid protests by residents at the planned site in the central Taiwanese county of Changhua. Economics Minister Shih Yen-hsiang said Thursday the project's private investors are considering moving the facilities overseas.
His deputy Huang Chung-chiou said Malaysia and Indonesia are among the favored choices. Taiwan's government-run petroleum company is one of the main investors in the project.
SBY Receives Prince Andrew
Britains Prince Andrew, Duke of York and the UKs Special Representative for International Trade and Investment (C) talks with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (C-R) after a meeting in Jakarta on April 6, 2011. Andrew will meet Indonesias President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his three day visit to support the development of bilateral trade relationships.President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to receive the Duke of York Prince Andrew at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, presidential spokesperson for International relations Teuku Faizasyah said. Faizasyah said Prince Andrew’s visit to the State Palace is part of the British Royal’s family courtesy visit to Indonesia.
According to Presidential Palace’s Press, Media and Information bureau, the Duke of York is scheduled to arrive at 11 am local time. Faizasyah said that President Yudhoyono and Prince Andrew will discuss many things especially bilateral trade cooperation.
"Prince Andrew’s capacity is to manage trade and investment," Faizasyah said.
The Duke of York and his special envoy for international investment and trade had earlier met Economic Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa on Wednesday. According to Minister Hatta Rajasa, Britain is willing to increase trade and investment in Indonesia.
Three things had been discussed in the meeting with the minister namely increase in investment and manufacture related to infrastructure, energy and transportation. In the meantime, trade with Indonesia has reached 2.6 billion US dollars, Hatta said.
"There are also many other sectors which have attracted Britain besides oil and gas namely infrastructure on transportation and manufacture." Hatta added Britain would also like to improve the capacity of the Indonesian businessmen and small scale entrepreneurs by applying the British Standard Institute .
Indonesia to Tighten Control over Umroh Travel Agencies
Muslim pilgrims gather at Mount Arafat to pray, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca, on November 15, 2010. Pilgrims flooded into the Arafat plain from Mecca and Mina before dawn for a key ritual around the site where the prophet Mohammed gave his farewell sermon on this day according to the Islamic calendar 1,378 years ago. Pilgrims spend the day at Arafat in reflection and reading of the KoranThe government will tighten its control on travel agencies organizing minor hajj pilgrimage (Umroh) because some 30 percent of over-stayers sent back from Saudi Arabia recently come from umroh travel agencies, a minister said.
"Records made on Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) who overstayed in Saudi Arabia and have been returned to Indonesia show that about 30 percent of them came from umroh pilgrimage groups," Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said. Based on the finding, the manpower ministry asked the ministry of religious affairs to tighten its control over umroh travel agencies.
"In order not to repeat this problem the manpower ministry and other relevant agencies will seriously tighten the mechanism in the sending of migrant workers, especially to the Middle East," the minister said.
Hundreds of Indonesian migrant workers are staying under several bridges in Saudi Arabia because they have no money to return home. Up to March 2011, the government has repatriated 2,073 problematic Indonesian migrant workers (TKIs) or over-stayers through six repatriation batches from Saudi Arabia.
The government this year is planning to repatriate 25,000 Indonesian migrant workers/Indonesian nationals(TKIs/WNIs). It has an estimate that the repatriation would cost some Rp128 billion,
"The government will be selective in returning them from Saudi Arabia. We will priorize old and sick people and children," Muhaimin said.
Challenges Indonesia Faces to Host JBC
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, center, speaks to the media as his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong, left, and Thailands Kasit Piromya, right, listen during a press conference following Informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. Southeast Asian foreign ministers held emergency talks about a deadly border dispute that broke out between Cambodia and Thailand near an 11th century temple.A delegation of Cambodian senior officials on Wednesday left Phnom Penh for Indonesia to attend the meetings with Thailand over the border conflict next to the Preah Vihear temple.
The meetings of Cambodia-Thai General Border Committee (GBC) and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) will be held on April 7-8 in Bogor, aimed to negotiate on the border conflict.
The meetings, arranged by Indonesia as the status of ASEAN chair, follow the deadly clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops over the disputed border areas near Preah Vihear temple on Feb. 4- 7.
Cambodian delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong. Speaking at Phnom Penh International Airport before leaving for the meetings, Hor Namhong said that the main target of the meetings is to determine the term of reference in order to enable Indonesian observers to monitor the ceasefire at the disputed border areas.
However, Thai media reported that Thailand will attend only the JBC meeting. Thailand’s Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabatara said Tuesday that Thai army officers will not attend the GBC meeting taking place in Indonesia and that Indonesian observers will not be allowed to be present at the disputed Thai- Cambodian border, the Thai state’s media MCOT online reported.
Cambodia and Thailand had border conflict just a week after Cambodia’s Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.
The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated. Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple itself belonged to Cambodia, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.
New Website Showcases Beachfront Hotels
It is every beach-lover's vacation fantasy: waking up to stretches of silky white sand and an azure ocean just outside your hotel room. Nothing between sun bathing and lazy-day lounging but a few paces in flip-flops.
That sumptuous vision can turn into a nightmare if the vaunted beachfront lodging, so idyllic-looking on the hotel website, turns out to be a room facing a concrete swath of furiously-trafficked roadway, with the ocean on the other side of the obstacle course.
So, how do unsuspecting travelers, who often pick vacation spots based on nothing more than enticing images on hotel websites and brochures, weed out the imposters from the real thing?
One answer might be The Beachfront Club, a newly-launched website that promises to help beach junkies avoid such marketing traps. The site, found at http://www.thebeachfrontclub.com, provides lists, maps, photos and descriptions of "hotels right on the beach. no exception."
To qualify for inclusion, hotels must pass the "no-traffic" test: no roads or vehicle traffic between guest rooms and the beach or the water. A hotel perched on a hillside bluff still aces the test; one with beach access blocked by buildings or busy roads would not.
Still in its beta stage, The Beachfront Club has listings for about 6,500 "true beachfront" hotels in every corner of the world, with another 1,000 mapped. The site's creators, former travel photographer John Everingham and veteran hotelier Chris Ryan, plan eventually to increase that number to 10,000.
The hotels, rated according to a four-star ranking and four-dollar-sign pricing system, range from exclusive luxury resorts to modest bungalows on the sand.
Visitors to the site can browse hotels by continent, country, and region using drop-down "destinations lists" menus, locator maps or simply by typing a location into the search engine. Clicking on the menu or a regional map zooms in further on the satellite map, allowing future travelers to compare each hotel's proximity to the water.
Planning a jaunt to Asia? The Beachfront Club inventory includes 1,342 beachside hotels from which to choose. A tap on the map or on the destination menu winnows the selection to country-specific lists: 900 hotels in Thailand, 144 in Indonesia, 122 in Malaysia, 66 in Vietnam.
Narrow the search to Thailand, and up pops Mom Tri's Boathouse, located on the soft, white sand of Kata Beach in Phuket. The detailed hotel overview offers a guide to wining (the Mom Tri's has one of the top wine cellars in Thailand), dining (The Boathouse Wine & Grill features a beachfront terrace), and a break-down of "on the beach" ambience and activities (sunsets, snorkeling, and scuba-diving).
Prefer a stateside retreat? There are 811 hotels listed in the mainland United States and Hawaii, including the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa in Key West. The resort, which earned a four-star, three-dollar-sign rating, is positioned on a white sand beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
There also is a "top-optional sunning area" — for those beach-hungry travelers who really want nothing but flip-flops between themselves and the sand.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Thinking Outside The Square
Game changers...some fund managers are willing to back their judgement rather than just track the sharemarket.Fund managers have been criticised for running 'me too' funds that invest in a way that is not very different from the sharemarket index while taking hefty fees from investors for the privilege. However, a handful of fund managers is producing good returns by searching for undervalued companies and backing them.
They are boutique businesses where those running the money own the businesses. Senior investment staff tend to have equity in the business with 'skin' in the game, rather than just being employees.
Rather than worrying about what others are doing, they back their own judgments and are not afraid to be assessed on the results. They hold the stocks they believe in and run the risk of their fund's performance falling behind the market and peer funds.
Rather than hug or mirror the sharemarket index, they shrug off the constraints of most managers. The DWS Global Equity Thematic Fund takes a different approach to investing.
The fund manager picks key themes and trends around the globe. The fund is run by boutique manager Global Thematic Partners from New York, led by the portfolio manager Oliver Kratz. It has an alliance with Deutsche Asset Management.
An investment specialist at Deutsche Asset Management, Bill Barbour, says the trouble for investors in global share funds whose portfolios closely match the global sharemarket indices is that they can end up investing in countries or sharemarket bubbles at just the wrong time.
One of the most widely followed sharemarket indices - the MSCI World index - includes 26 countries but excludes China, India and Brazil and many other emerging economies.
'In 2000, Microsoft was the biggest company in the world and its weighting in the MSCI was bigger than Germany, which is the biggest industrial exporter on the planet,' Barbour says.
'This is a crazy way to construct a portfolio. But that is what most people do. We divide the world into themes that have an inevitability about them - not if but when.'
The fund can have up to a 30 per cent exposure to emerging markets and the fund is pushing against that limit now. The global agribusiness theme is one in which companies that are trying to solve the problem of feeding the world are identified for investment.
Food prices are likely to continue to rise because of population growth, the 'wealth' effect in emerging economies, increasing consumption of meat and dairy, limited agricultural land, global warming and rise in biofuel use.
'Kratz is a high-calibre commander who explores sweeping themes to construct portfolios,' investment researcher Morningstar says.
The researcher is of the opinion that the fund manager's qualities and distinct take on investing will bear fruit for many years to come.
GO ANYWHERE
The way Hunter Hall invests reflects the personal passions of its founder, Peter Hall. The manager has funds that invest in Australian-listed companies and companies listed on global markets.
The way it manages money is unusual in that the manager often takes big positions (up to 30 per cent) in unloved companies. Hall says the manager sometimes engages in 'corporate warfare' and acts like the owner of the business rather than as a passive investor. Sometimes it will take many years to turn businesses around, so Hunter Hall takes a long-term view.
The manager typically favours smaller companies whose shares are cheaply priced and not as frequently traded as the share of big companies. Hunter Hall also has an ethical screen and will not invest in companies associated with activities that are harmful to people, destructive to the environment or cruel to animals.
Morningstar says Hall is the 'heart and soul' of the business and is backed by an experienced team in London and Sydney.
From time to time, its funds will underperform the market. Hunter Hall's funds suffered in 2008 at the height of the GFC. However, that was to be expected, given the way the manager invests.
Once shareholders started selling their shares, it was always going to be the case that the share prices of companies whose shares were not frequently traded were going to be among the hardest hit.
Key holdings for the manager include Korean educational services company Woongjin Thinkbig and Indian bank Allahabad. More recently, Hunter Hall has become an investor in Catch the Wind, which is an American company that has developed a laser that sits on top of wind turbines and directs the turbine into the direction of the wind.
WORLD-CLASS
'There is every reason to own Platinum International and very few reasons to look the other way,' Morningstar says of the fund run by Sydney boutique manager Platinum Asset Management.
The fund invests in international shares and uses an 'eclectic, thematic stock-picking approach in their quest for what they consider undervalued stocks', Morningstar says.
Platinum was founded by Kerr Neilson in 1994 with four former Bankers Trust Australia colleagues. The global shares specialist has an impressive track record. Its flagship International Fund has had an average annual compound return of more than 13 per cent since its inception in April 1995. Platinum has other funds that invest in particular regions or countries or themes.
Neilson says the predominant concern for many managers is not to be too far away from the crowd. 'Platinum's portfolios will look very different to the index … and performances will diverge from the index performance, sometimes for some while,' he says.
Platinum is run as a meritocracy, with the performances of investment staff carefully measured and rewarded. It differs from other managers in that it can take very active views on currencies from an Australian perspective and can short-sell stocks, which, is a way of making money when a share's price falls.
Like most boutique managers, Platinum funds do not to have to remain fully invested. For example, if Platinum believes share prices are about to fall, it can increase the cash levels of its funds. Significant holdings of the International Fund include Shin-Etsu Chemical of Japan, Royal Dutch Shell, and Bangkok Bank.
CONTRARIAN
Global Value Investors is majority owned by Anton Tagliaferro's boutique fund manager Investors Mutual. Global Value Investors applies the same value-investing style to global equities that Tagliaferro applies to Australian shares.
The Global Value Investors Industrial Share Fund does have some holdings in Australian shares but is mostly invested in overseas-listed shares that are paying good dividends.
The head of investment at Global Value Investors, Roy Chen, says a prerequisite to be considered for investment is the quality of the company's balance sheet.
Chen says a mistake that many managers make is they tend to 'go with the flow' when markets are rising and invest not too differently from the market but when share prices tumble, their investors get hurt quite badly.
One of his bigger contrarian calls is Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica. Chen's team questioned the logic of buying shares in the company when the economic outlook for southern Europe was so poor.
However, he was attracted to the telco's sustainable 8 per cent yield on a low price-to-earnings multiple. And while the business faces challenges in Spain, it is doing well in the many other countries where it does business.
The investment team does not invest with a view to being invested in any one country but its stock-selection process gives the fund a high weighting to Germany, having invested in chemical companies. The fund favours liquid natural gas producers and holds shares in the ASX-listed Origin Energy.
Chen says commentators have been saying that supply of LNG had been increasing too quickly and LNG prices would be depressed but that did not change the team's view of it as a valuable commodity. Japan's nuclear power plant problems as a result of the earthquake and tsunami are likely to increase the demand for LNG.
NEXT GENERATION
Generation Investment Management was co-founded in 2004 by Al Gore and David Blood. Its Generation Global Share Fund is a 'sustainable' investment fund that is based on the idea that 'sustainability' factors - economic, environmental, social and governance - will drive a company's returns in the long term.
Colonial First State, the funds management arm of the Commonwealth Bank, is the distributor of the fund in Australia. The fund performed very well during the GFC. Morningstar says the key factors for the outperformance was the large exposure to the healthcare sector and an underweight to the financial-services sector, which was hammered during the crisis.
'We think Generation's long-term approach to global equities investing is one of the best around,' Morningstar says. 'We believe that Generation's strategy, focused on sustainability, is a measured approach that has sound investment merit.'
It is important to understand that this is not an 'ethical' fund, says the general manager of funding and alliances at Colonial First State, Graham Hand. The investment process starts with industry 'road maps', based on how the world is changing, and then finds companies that will benefit from those changes.
An example is Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceuticals company that specialises in diabetes care and biopharmaceuticals. About 180 million people around the world suffer from diabetes and this figure is expected to rise to 330 million by 2025.
Novo Nordisk Novo is the market leader, with a global insulin market share of 52 per cent. The fund also invests in Cochlear, the Australian-listed hearing-device maker.
Words of caution
Fund managers that invest with conviction can often have portfolios that differ from the composition of the sharemarkets in which they invest, but it does not mean they throw caution to the wind, the co-head of fund research at Morningstar, Tim Murphy, says.
These managers have good risk controls but they invest without the usual constraints of most managers, making money any way they can.
This method of investing does, however, mean that from time to time the returns they produce are markedly different to the returns of the market in which they invest, Murphy says.
Almost all of these managers have gone through periods where they have significantly underperformed the market, he says. Platinum has had a poor last six months, Hunter Hall really struggled in 2008 and GVI Global Investors struggled in 2009.
But they are the sort of managers that tend to do better in the longer term, he says. Anyone contemplating investing in a fund that invests with few restraints needs to understand that the fund will experience times of underperformance, compared with funds that invest in a way that closely mirrors or matches the market.
Diversification among fund managers is the best way to mitigate against risks, Murphy says. Investors should not put too much of their money in any one fund.
PLN NOT Attracted to Nuclear Energy
Indonesian workers repair an electricity installation in Jakarta on July 7, 2010. The organization of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, have agreed since 1997 to cooperate in developing 11 cross-border transmission points allowing them to exchange power. The networks are expected to be online by 2015 a report said.Indonesia’s State Electricity Company (PLN) was not interested in developing a nuclear power plant because it was not efficient, the company’s CEO said.
At the same time, Indonesia was rich in other alternative energy sources though they were not yet used optimally, PLN President Director Dahlan Iskan said here Wednesday.
"For now, we are not interested in using nuclear energy as there are many other energy sources which are cheaper," he said. According to him, it needed six years to build a nuclear power plant while the electricity costs Rp1,700.00 per kWh.
"We still have plenty of energy sources such as coal, water, geothermal, and natural gas," he said at a coordinative meeting with directors and officials of the State Enterprises Ministry and local authorities.
Those alternative energy sources were abundant in Indonesia, while other countries, such as Japan and South Korea, had different condition, Dahlan said adding that it was why the two countries offered nuclear energy development to Indonesia.
"I would agree if a nuclear plant were to be built here as long as there were no more energy sources that could be used," Dahlan said.
Dahlan then compared the cost of electricity generated by nuclear energy and other energy sources. Meanwhile, it needed around five years to build a geothermal power plant and two years for natural gas power plant which both set a value of Rp900,00 per kWh for electricity.
According to a Second Assistance of Regional Secretary Office of East Java administration, Hadi Prasetyo, there were 11 spots of geothermal sources in East Java region. Two of them had been bidden. On the occasion, he also offered geothermal source to PLN.
New Subaru Impreza
Subarus new look Impreza, which will be unveiled at the 2011 New York motor show.
Subaru has released the first official image of its new-look Impreza ahead of its full reveal at the New York motor show later this month.
The new Impreza will be making its debut just four years after the launch of the third-generation model but is understood to have been fast-tracked to address its predecessor's polarising styling and much-criticised interior quality.
The single profile shot suggests the new Impreza is staying relatively faithful to the Impreza concept shown at last November's LA motor show, though the production model is inevitably more conservative.
The proportions of the Japanese brand's small car are vastly improved, while the shape is clearly more curvaceous compared with the model it will replace. A more steeply raked windscreen rises into a swooping roofline, while the all-new sheetmetal brings a cleaner, crisper look to the body.
Flared wheelarches are also retained from last year's concept car and indicate even the regular models will carry muscular design cues usually reserved for the sportier Impreza variants - the WRX and STI. The new Impreza is expected to be slightly longer, wider and lower, and offer a more spacious cabin.
"Major gains in interior design and refinement" are promised by Subaru's related press release.
Subaru says a number of new advanced features will be included on the model, which should go on sale locally some time later this year. Optional features are likely to include the company's new EyeSight system that uses two cameras to alert the driver to a potential crash and even automatically stop the car to avoid an impact.
Engines will include a new version of the company's horizontally opposed 'boxer' four-cylinder, teamed for the first time in the Impreza with a continuously variable transmission.
Subaru has seemingly adopted the New York motor show as its unofficial home for Impreza unveilings. It revealed the current model there in 2007 and an STI sedan last year.
N Sumatra's Wood Exports Up Again
Destruction remains from tropical rainforest in Kuala Cenaku on October 3, 2010 in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Norway entered a partnership with Indonesia to support Indonesias efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. The business of pulp, palm oil and wood are causing the deforestation of Sumatra, the largest island owned by Indonesia, and is contributing global climate change to the extinction of many of the worlds rare species.North Sumatra’s wood and wooden products had been increasingly restored and reached 26.977 million US dollars until February 2011.
"While the increase had been relatively small, only 3.26 percent compared the value of last year’s same period, and the foreign exchange revenue dropped," Head of the North Sumatra central bureau of statistics (BPS) Erwin Said said here Wednesday.
The exports have started to increase in 2010, with a total foreign exchange revenue of 194.281 million US dollars from only 181.171 million US dollars in 2009. He said last year’s rise in North Sumatra’s exports of wood and wooden products was not only triggered by an increase in their prices, but also in their volume.
This year, the trend was similar in which the exports increased 4.2 percent from January’s 13.770 million US dollars. Head of exports of farm and mining products of the foreign trade division of the North Sumatra industrial and trade agency, Fitra Kurnia, said that he had the information from the exporters that demand for wood and wooden products had been increasing already in 2010.
But the increased demand caused a problem as the exporters said they had problems in obtaining the raw material. He also said that since the issue on the environment broke out especially with regard to illegal wooden, North Sumatra’s exports of wood and wooden products had dropped because both the exporters and importers became afraid of making transactions.
US Hopes to Double Agricultural Exports to Indonesia
An aerial view of the Tanjung Priok container terminal in Jakarta August 12, 2010. Indonesias state port firm will start building a new container terminal in Jakarta this year to cope with overflowing volumes at the main shipment hub in Indonesias capital as trade grows.The United States has hoped to double its exports of farm products to Indonesia making it the ninth-largest market, US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel said at the Indonesia Expo 2011 here Wednesday.
"Indonesia’s market-based economy is growing well and thus makes me hope that the farm product exports from my country can be maximized," Scot said.
He also said that the partnership between the US and Indonesia in raising the export of farm products was one of the points discussed by President Barack Obama and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the state visit of the US President to Indonesia last November.
Meanwhile, Michael Scuse, the USDA Acting Under Secretary, said that Indonesia would continue as an important US trade partner due to the fastest growing economy of Indonesia.
"In the past 15 years, agricultural trade between our countries has boomed, and Indonesia is one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies with a vibrant business climate and upwardly mobile, expanding middle class, providing opportunities to expand exports of US food and agricultural goods and stimulate investment," Scuse said.
Through the comprehensive partnership between the US and Indonesia, Scuse said both countries were looking forward to expanding trade, investment and commercial relationships as well as creating great chances for the economy.
Food and Hotel Indonesia Expo 2011 was held for four days until Saturday and participated in by more than 1,000 companies from 29 countries, including Germany, the US, Turkey, Singapore, Korea, Brunei Darussalam, besides Indonesia.
In the opening remarks of the Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism which was conveyed by General Director of Tourism Destination Development Firmansyah, he said that the expo was a kind of effort in increasing the number of tourists to Indonesia which was scheduled to reach 7.7 million in 2011.
"If the target is achieved, we will try to increase the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia to 10 million by 2014. Therefore, food service companies and hotels play an important role in meeting the target," Jero said.
Gaddafi's Rambling Letter to Obama
Vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi explode after an air strike by coalition forces, along a road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah March 20, 2011. It is a war that Barack Obama didnt want, David Cameron didnt need, Angela Merkel couldnt cope with and Silvio Berlusconi dreaded. Picture taken March 20, 2011.Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appealed directly to President Barack Obama on Wednesday to halt what the Libyan leader called "an unjust war" and wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year.
In a rambling, three-page letter to Obama, Gaddafi implored Obama to stop the NATO-led air campaign, which he called an "unjust war against a small people of a developing country".
"You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action," Gaddafi wrote in the letter that was sent to the State Department and forwarded immediately to the White House, according to a US official who had seen the letter.
"I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that.
"To serving world peace ... Friendship between our peoples ... and for the sake of economic, and security cooperation against terror, you are in a position to keep NATO off the Libyan affair for good," Gaddafi wrote.
White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed that the White House received a letter from Gaddafi. As for Gaddafi's appeal for a ceasefire, Carney appeared to dismiss it for now.
"The conditions the president laid out are clear," Carney told reporters travelling with Obama to New York.
In the letter, sent on Wednesday, Gaddafi said his country had been hurt more morally than physically by the NATO campaign and that a democratic society could not be built through missiles and aircraft. He also repeated his claim that his foes are members of al-Qaeda.
Addressing Obama as "our dear son" and "Excellency," Gaddafi said his country had been hurt more "morally" than "physically" by the NATO campaign. The letter, in stilted and formal English, includes numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
"Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the USA is a must, so that Nato would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair," Gaddafi wrote. "Libya should be left to Libyans within the African union frame."
Gaddafi said his country had already been unfairly subjected in 1986 to "a direct military armed aggression" ordered by then-President Ronald Reagan, who famously called the leader the Mad Dog of the Middle East, as well as earlier rounds of US and international sanctions. Although he listed a litany of complaints, Gaddafi said he bears no ill will toward Obama.
"We have been hurt more morally [than] physically because of what had happened against us in both deeds and words by you," he wrote. "Despite all this you will always remain our son whatever happened. We still pray that you continue to be president of the USA. We Endeavour and hope that you will gain victory in the new election campaigne [sic]."
The letter, dated April 5, 2011 in Tripoli is signed by "Mu'aumer Qaddaffi, Leader of the Revolution".
BI Orders Citibank NOT to Increase Citigold Customers Yet
Visitors are reflected on a Citibank booth during the Jakarta Fair June 14, 2010.Bank Indonesia has ordered Citibank to temporarily stop seeking new Citigold customers due to the case of embezzlement of Rp17 billion in customers’ accounts done by Citibank manager MD as reported recently.
"We have sent a letter asking the bank to settle the problem well without hurting the customers and improve internal control and for the time being stop seeking Citigold customers," Bank Indonesia governor Darmin Nasution said at a hearing with House Commission XI here on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Citibank regional representative Shariq Mukhtar and South Jakarta police resort chief Gatot Edy. Darmin said the ban was temporary and would be revoked after investigation by the police was finished.
"Customers could still conduct transactions but they could not add new customers," he said.
Darmin said if the results of the investigation were more serious we could increase the sanctions. Darmin stated the case occurred because internal control was not implemented as it had to be as shown by absence of supervision, rotation, dual control according to procedures and confirmation to customers.
Bank Indonesia deputy governor Halim Alamsyah meanwhile said the ban for Citibank to seek new Citigold credit card customers had been effective as of March 16 or two days after the bank reported about the case.
"On March 14 they reported the fraud and on March 16 we asked them to stop the activity until the problem was clear," he said.
Mariah Carey Poses for Nude Cover Shoot
Fit to burst: Mariah Carey proudly shows off her pregnant body as she waits to give birth to twin babies
Mariah Carey has posed for her fair share of portraits. But none has been as personal or emotional as the singing legend unveiling her baby bump - days away from giving birth to twins.
Eight months pregnant Mariah, 42, proudly showed off the bump in time-honoured celebrity fashion - in an exclusive cover shoot with a magazine. Bronzed, radiant, with her hair tumbling softly about her shoulders, the chart-topping singer looked relaxed as she awaits the arrival of her first children, a boy and a girl.
'I was feeling very vulnerable about taking pictures at all right now, but then I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to document this once-in-a-lifetime experience,' Carey told Life & Style magazine
'My ultimate goal was to share this incredibly personal moment with my true fans.'
Carey joins a number of pregnant stars who have posed nude while heavily pregnant. Demi Moore famously appeared naked on the cover of Vanity Fair in August 1991 while seven months pregnant with daughter Scout LaRue.
Many have copied that pose, including Christina Aguilera, who was pictured pregnant with son Max on the January 2008 cover of Marie Claire. Carey's twins - a boy and a girl - were clearly ready for their close-ups. She said: 'The babies were kicking almost the entire time; it was unbelievable.
'Especially the girl - clearly she’s a diva in training. We didn’t start shooting until 1:30am because I was in the hospital from the night before until the day of the shoot with contractions five minutes apart!'
Clearly, although Carey isn't due to give birth for a few weeks, the twins could be making their entrance sooner rather than later.
The We Belong together singer suffered a scare when she was admitted to hospital last month with early contractions. But for now, she and her husband Nick Cannon are enjoying their last few days as a household of two.
Cannon said he has never been more attracted to his wife. 'I thought I couldn’t love Mariah more,” he tells Life & Style.
'But I have a whole new appreciation and admiration for her.'
However, yesterday he admitted he may come to regret stripping off for a photo shoot with his heavily pregnant wife.
The TV and radio presenter, 30, has confessed that he is already regretting the artistic photos which are due to be displayed on the walls of their family home.
'My children are going to have to see these pictures. It's a little weird,' he said during his Rollin' with Nick Cannon radio show.
'It's a little nasty,' he continued. 'I mean, have you ever seen your parents naked?
'When they get older and their friends come over... they will see the pictures and say, "Your daddy's butt naked".'
Carey added: 'Now I have so much respect for mothers everywhere, especially those who’ve had difficult pregnancies or given birth to multiples. We need to have Mother’s Day once a week.'
To Confirm The Plant of Indonesian Origin
Yuan Shui, a member of the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (RCHM) prepares a prescription with Chinese herbal ingredients at the Yuan Clinic in London February 16, 2011. An EU directive passed in 2004 comes into effect from May 1, 2011 which requires that traditional herbal medicinal products must be licensed or prescribed by a registered herbal practitioner.The Technology Research and Assessment Agency (BPPT) has begun a research on the DNA fingerprint of ginger (curcuma zanthorrhiza) to ascertain that the plant is of Indonesian origin, a BPPT official has said.
"There have been many countries claiming ginger as part of their national heritage and makes it their state icon just like Korea does with ginseng," BPPT Medical Pharmaceutical Technology Center director, Rifatul Widjhati said in a talk-show on herbal medicine, here, on Wednesday.
Widjhati said if Indonesia could not prove that the plant which is called temulawak in bahasa as an Indonesian indigenous plant, then there would be big economic loss in the future in particular with regard to herbal medicines and the jamu, the herb-based Indonesian traditional medicine.
"Take Korea as an example, despite the country produces only up to 30 percent of the world production of ginseng, but the iconic name is already linked to Korea. Thus, the world can only trust ginseng which is produced by Korea as the real one," she said.
Widjhati said that temulawak is one of the world’s most important ingredients for herbal medicines where up to 80 percent of the world’s traditional and herbal medicines contain temulawak.
The significance of temulawak, she said, lies with its active compounds contents and its property as immunity system for human body, a cure for hepatitis and menstruation for women.
Speaking in the same event, BPPT Bio-Technology Assessment Division Bambang Marwoto said the research done on temulawak at BPPT was started by stocktaking on the plant and characterizing it by its phenotive contents and through its genotyping.
"Knowledge on the genetic variability side is a precondition to study the evolutionary history of a species and on the enrichment program and genetic source conservation of the plant," Marwoto said, adding that this is the way to stockpile information for the database on temulawak properties.
By doing so, he stressed it will be Indonesia that in the possession of the unique information of the cultivar, or a cultivated variety of a plant that has been deliberately selected for its desirable haracteristics. This way would close the claims from other countries on the indigenousness of the plant.
"The DNA fingerprint is a kind of barcode for Indonesian local plants," he said. There are more than 30,000 species of tropical plants in Indonesia, of which some 7,000 species have their medicinal properties. However, Indonesia currently accounts only 0.2 percent of the world’s herbal medicines.
Fiji Seeking Indonesia's Support to be Observer in ASEAN
Indonesian First Lady Ani Yudhoyono (C) stands beside President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as she takes photos of journalists prior to the arrival of Turkeys President Abdullah Gul, in Jakarta on April 5, 2011. The two leaders signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on trade and customs, presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.The Republic of Fiji is seeking Indonesia’s support for its bid to obtain observer status in ASEAN according to Fijian Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama during a courtesy call on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here Wednesday. The Fijian prime minister is visiting Indonesia April 4-6 2011 ro strengthen his country’s relations with indonesia. .
After the 30 minutes meeting, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said that President Yudhoyono who acts as the 2011 ASEAN Chairman promised to convey the Fijian request to other ASEAN country members.
"They asked for Indonesian support to make Fiji an observer for ASEAN, and the president will convey it to other ASEAN member countries leaders," said Marty
Fijian Prime Minister in Indonesia is also to open his county’s representative office or Embassy to Indonesia. Previously Indonesia is listed be referring to Fijian representative office in Tokyo, Japan, but Indonesia has set its embassy in Fiji since 2002.
Marty said that Fijian Prime Minister and President Yudhoyono also discuss on the Republic of Fiji Islands interest to learn more on democracy in Indonesian because it is considered to be successfully applied.
"Experiences on democracy in Indonesia were discussed. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has been working with the Fijian government in facilitating to provide some sort of information from the General Election Commission (KPU) with the Fijian counter part on how to hold a democratic election," Marty said.
Marty said that Fiji is going through a democrat ion process in the upcoming election which planned to be held on 2014. Indonesia has also provided technical training to Fiji in the field of agriculture, fishery and diplomacy.
With the establishment of Fijian embassy in Indonesia, the two countries who have a diplomatic relation since 1974 will gain a stronger bond, where Indonesia also promised to provide more technical training courses to Fiji.
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