The economy is ending 2011 on a roll.
The job market is healthier. Americans are spending lustily on holiday
gifts. A long-awaited turnaround for the depressed housing industry may
be under way. Gas is cheaper. Factories are busier. Stocks are higher.
Not bad for an economy faced with a debt crisis in Europe and, as
recently as last summer, scattered predictions of a second recession at
home. Instead, the economy has grown faster each quarter this year, and
the last three months should be the best.
"Things are looking up," says Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
When The Associated Press surveyed 43 economists in August, they pegged
the likelihood of another recession at roughly one in four. The Dow
Jones industrial average was lurching up or down by 400 points or more
some days.
(Read "Can the U.S. Recovery Continue Without Europe?")
There was plenty of reason for gloom. A political standoff over the
federal borrowing limit brought the United States to the brink of
default and cost the nation its top-drawer credit rating.
Most analysts now rule out another recession. They think the economy
will grow at an annual rate of more than 3 percent from October through
December, the fastest pace since a 3.8 percent performance in the spring
of last year.
Many economists still worry that the year-end surge isn't sustainable,
in part because the average worker's pay is barely rising. And Europe
may already be sliding into a recession that will infect the United
States.
The outlook could darken further if Congress can't break the impasse
blocking an extension of a Social Security tax cut for 160 million
Americans and emergency unemployment benefits.
Yet for now, the economy is on an upswing that few had predicted:
— JOBS: The number of people applying for unemployment benefits came in
at 366,000 last week, down from a peak of 659,000 in March 2009. Even
in good economic times, the figure would be between 280,000 and 350,000.
Employers have added at least 100,000 jobs five months in a row, the
longest streak since 2006. And the unemployment rate fell from 9 percent
in October to 8.6 percent last month, the lowest since March 2009.
(See the top 10 business blunders of 2011.)
Small businesses are hiring again, too, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
Business is up at AG Salesworks in Norwood, Mass., which helps
technology companies like Motorola find new customers. The firm has
hired 26 workers to restore its staff to 56, erasing the job cuts from
the recession. CEO Paul Alves plans to add an employee or two a month as
long as growth continues.
"I do see more confidence than I saw 12 months ago," Alves says. "But it's good, not great. Robust isn't the word I'd use."
— SPENDING: The holiday shopping season has turned out better than
anyone expected. Sales from November through Saturday were up 2.5
percent from last year. Americans have spent $32 billion online, 15
percent more than a year ago. Retails sales were up in November for the
sixth month in a row. People are spending, in particular, on clothes,
cars, electronics and furniture.
— CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: Americans felt better about the economy in
November than they had since July, according to the Conference Board, a
business group that tracks the mood of consumers.
The board's consumer confidence index climbed 15 points to 56 in
November, the biggest one-month jump since April 2003. During the Great
Recession, the index fell as low as 25.
"It seems like the confidence of the traditional American consumer is
higher right now," says Jim Newman, executive vice president of
operations at the digital marketing company Acquity Group, which has
added 100 jobs since summer.
— GAS: Falling prices at the pump have freed more money for consumers
to spend on appliances, furniture, vacations and other things that help
drive the economy. The national average for regular unleaded has sunk to
$3.21 a gallon since peaking at $3.98 in May, according to the AAA
Daily Fuel Gauge.
— INVENTORIES: Businesses are restocking shelves and warehouses, more
confident that customers will buy their products. In October, their
inventories were up 8.7 percent from a year earlier. An increase in
inventories is expected to account for perhaps a third of growth this
quarter.
(See photos of the recession of 1958.)
The battered housing market might be showing signs of recovery. Home
construction rose more than 9 percent in November from October, driven
by apartment building. And the National Association of Realtors said
Wednesday that sales of previously occupied homes rose 4 percent in
November.
But housing is climbing out of a deep hole: The existing homes sold at
an annual rate of 4.4 million — well below the 6 million that would
signal a healthy housing market. And the real-estate agents' trade group
revealed Wednesday that it overstated sales by 3.5 million during and
after the Great Recession.
Once they peer into 2012, economists turn cautious. Bernard Baumohl,
chief economist with the Economic Outlook Group, says that stronger
consumer spending "is absolutely unsustainable. .... Wages have not kept
pace with inflation all year."
The government says that once you adjust for inflation, weekly earnings
dropped 1.8 percent from November 2010 to last month. Consumers have
used savings or credit cards to finance their purchases. Once bills come
due in early 2012, Baumohl foresees a cutback in spending.
Baumohl is so pessimistic that he expects the economy to shrink at a 0.2
percent annual rate in the first three months of 2012 and to end the
year with no more than 1.8 percent growth.
Europe is almost sure to slide into recession, even if its policymakers
find a solution to the continent's debt crisis. In the worst case, a
chaotic breakup of the euro currency could ignite a worldwide financial
panic.
Joe Echevarria, CEO of the accounting and consulting firm Deloitte LLP,
says his company's clients are delaying hiring or expansion decisions to
see if Europe's crisis will be resolved.
Another worry — again — is Washington. President Barack Obama and
Republicans in Congress still had not broken their impasse Wednesday on
how to extend a Social Security tax cut. Without an extension, taxes
will go up $1,000 in 2012 for someone making $50,000. A couple making
$100,000 each would pay $4,000 more.
Failing to extend the tax cut, combined with the end of long-term
unemployment benefits and other federal budget cuts, could shave 1.7
percentage points from growth in 2012, warns Mark Zandi, chief economist
at Moody's Analytics.
Forecasters are also chastened by the past two years. Since the Great
Recession officially ended in June 2009, the economy has stalled twice
just when it appeared to be gaining momentum.
In mid-2010, businesses slowed spending sharply. This year, the damage
came from protests in the Middle East that drove oil prices higher at
the start of the year, the earthquake in Japan in March, budget cuts by
state and local governments and the stalemate in Washington.
But Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors says he thinks the fears
about next year are overblown and the economy will grow 3 percent in
2012. Next year will be all about jobs. If job growth keeps
accelerating, the economy is much more likely to meet Naroff's
predictions than the pessimists'.
In addition, Naroff says, that's because consumers and businesses have
grown more confident. If Europe averts disaster — a crackup of the
eurozone — and endures only a mild recession, as Naroff expects, the
impact on the United States will be minimal, he says.
"If you stopped the average person on the street and asked, 'Are you
slowing your spending because of what's happening in Europe?' they'd
ask, 'What planet are you from?'"
Sunday, December 25, 2011
BofA to Pay $335M Discrimination Claim
The Bank of America building stands in downtown Los Angeles November 17, 2011.
Possibility of North Korea's New Leader Looking for Advice from Megawati
If North Korea's new leader is looking for advice on how to carry on
his family's dynasty, he could turn to Rahul Gandhi, who is on a quest
to become the fourth generation of his family to rule India. Or to
Joseph Kabila, who is celebrating his questionable re-election to the
Congolese presidency he inherited from his father. Or to former
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's
first president.
North Korea's preparations to transfer power to a third generation of the Kim family, following the recent death of Kim Jong Il, is by no means an anomaly: In both democracies and dictatorships, political dynasties abound across the world.
While former President George W. Bush — the son of a president and the grandson of a senator — was never dubbed "the Great Successor," and Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto — who followed in her assassinated father's footsteps — was never said to have been "born of heaven," just like Kim Jong Un they ended up in the family business of running a country.
While some dictators pass on power to their children as a veritable inheritance, dynasties exert a powerful pull in democracies as well. The identity of a party might be deeply linked to a family. A familiar name might give a political scion an edge on the ballot, further strengthened by the family's established political and fundraising machines.
Sometimes the heir is a puppet, a brand name needed to rally the public, while backroom power brokers pull the levers. Or a nation in mourning over the death of its leader might turn to the grieving child for comfort and continuity. Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution scholar and author of "America's Political Dynasties," sees nothing unusual about politics becoming a family business.
"Aren't bakers more likely to be bakers if their fathers were bakers?" he said in an email.
The most successful dynasty in the world is probably India's Nehru-Gandhi family, which held the prime minister's post for 37 of the country's 64 years of independence and is working on bringing another generation to power.
In the huge, multiethnic tapestry of India, the Gandhis are seen as among the few with a nationwide appeal that cuts across language, region and caste, said historian Ramachandra Guha.
Less than two years after the death of India's first Prime Minister Jawarhalal Nehru, leaders of his Congress party turned to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, to head the country, incorrectly judging her as a weak and pliant puppet.
After her assassination in 1984, the mourning nation looked to her son Rajiv to take her place. After his 1991 assassination, his widow Sonia eventually became the most powerful politician in the ruling party even as she groomed her son, Rahul, to eventually take over.
But Guha believes dynastic politics are waning in the country, with voters more focused on development and other issues. "Rahul Gandhi has by no means shown anything like the popular appeal that his father or grandmother or great grandfather had," he said.
Then there's the Philippines, where President Benigno Aquino, son of former President Corazon Aquino, took over last year from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal.
Unlike in many countries, where voters might feel a loyalty to a political party, in the Philippines, they identify with a family that has traditionally looked out for their welfare, said political analyst Ramon Casiple. The dynastic system is so entrenched it survived and thrived during centuries of Spanish and American rule and even the transition to democracy, he said.
When party leaders die in the Philippines, their children nearly always replace them. If the party chooses someone else, the spurned heir often forms a new party, leaving the old one to wither, Casiple said.
"The party is not that strong. It doesn't have an independent life. They depend on the good will of the family on top of it," he said.
The passing of power is a delicate maneuver in authoritarian regimes. While Fidel Castro managed the transition to his brother, Raul, in Cuba, dynastic politics were strongly rejected in the Arab world this year.
Hosni Mubarak's efforts to pass on the Egyptian presidency to his son Gamal were among the main causes behind the wave of street protests that toppled his 29-year authoritarian regime. Before he was overthrown and killed, longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi appeared to be grooming his son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi to take over.
And Syrian President Bashar Assad, who inherited his office upon his father's death in 2000, has been fighting off a rebellion with a crackdown that has killed more than 5,000 people this year, according to U.N. figures.
Perhaps Pakistan might be Kim Jong Un's best bet for finding out how to cope with the surreal experience of being thrust, with little political background, into a leadership role in a mourning nation.
Just three days after the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto — herself the daughter of slain Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — her 19-year-old son Bilawal Zardari was declared the new chairman of her party.
Looking deeply uncomfortable in front of more than a dozen microphones on national television, he answered a single question, saying he would continue his studies at Oxford and talking of political leadership as something that can be willed from generation to generation. "When I return, I promise to lead the party as my mother wanted me to," he said.
Within days, Bilawal Zardari began calling himself Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and over the past four years has become increasingly known simply as Bilawal Bhutto.
North Korea's preparations to transfer power to a third generation of the Kim family, following the recent death of Kim Jong Il, is by no means an anomaly: In both democracies and dictatorships, political dynasties abound across the world.
While former President George W. Bush — the son of a president and the grandson of a senator — was never dubbed "the Great Successor," and Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto — who followed in her assassinated father's footsteps — was never said to have been "born of heaven," just like Kim Jong Un they ended up in the family business of running a country.
While some dictators pass on power to their children as a veritable inheritance, dynasties exert a powerful pull in democracies as well. The identity of a party might be deeply linked to a family. A familiar name might give a political scion an edge on the ballot, further strengthened by the family's established political and fundraising machines.
Sometimes the heir is a puppet, a brand name needed to rally the public, while backroom power brokers pull the levers. Or a nation in mourning over the death of its leader might turn to the grieving child for comfort and continuity. Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution scholar and author of "America's Political Dynasties," sees nothing unusual about politics becoming a family business.
"Aren't bakers more likely to be bakers if their fathers were bakers?" he said in an email.
The most successful dynasty in the world is probably India's Nehru-Gandhi family, which held the prime minister's post for 37 of the country's 64 years of independence and is working on bringing another generation to power.
In the huge, multiethnic tapestry of India, the Gandhis are seen as among the few with a nationwide appeal that cuts across language, region and caste, said historian Ramachandra Guha.
Less than two years after the death of India's first Prime Minister Jawarhalal Nehru, leaders of his Congress party turned to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, to head the country, incorrectly judging her as a weak and pliant puppet.
After her assassination in 1984, the mourning nation looked to her son Rajiv to take her place. After his 1991 assassination, his widow Sonia eventually became the most powerful politician in the ruling party even as she groomed her son, Rahul, to eventually take over.
But Guha believes dynastic politics are waning in the country, with voters more focused on development and other issues. "Rahul Gandhi has by no means shown anything like the popular appeal that his father or grandmother or great grandfather had," he said.
Then there's the Philippines, where President Benigno Aquino, son of former President Corazon Aquino, took over last year from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, daughter of former President Diosdado Macapagal.
Unlike in many countries, where voters might feel a loyalty to a political party, in the Philippines, they identify with a family that has traditionally looked out for their welfare, said political analyst Ramon Casiple. The dynastic system is so entrenched it survived and thrived during centuries of Spanish and American rule and even the transition to democracy, he said.
When party leaders die in the Philippines, their children nearly always replace them. If the party chooses someone else, the spurned heir often forms a new party, leaving the old one to wither, Casiple said.
"The party is not that strong. It doesn't have an independent life. They depend on the good will of the family on top of it," he said.
The passing of power is a delicate maneuver in authoritarian regimes. While Fidel Castro managed the transition to his brother, Raul, in Cuba, dynastic politics were strongly rejected in the Arab world this year.
Hosni Mubarak's efforts to pass on the Egyptian presidency to his son Gamal were among the main causes behind the wave of street protests that toppled his 29-year authoritarian regime. Before he was overthrown and killed, longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi appeared to be grooming his son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi to take over.
And Syrian President Bashar Assad, who inherited his office upon his father's death in 2000, has been fighting off a rebellion with a crackdown that has killed more than 5,000 people this year, according to U.N. figures.
Perhaps Pakistan might be Kim Jong Un's best bet for finding out how to cope with the surreal experience of being thrust, with little political background, into a leadership role in a mourning nation.
Just three days after the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto — herself the daughter of slain Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto — her 19-year-old son Bilawal Zardari was declared the new chairman of her party.
Looking deeply uncomfortable in front of more than a dozen microphones on national television, he answered a single question, saying he would continue his studies at Oxford and talking of political leadership as something that can be willed from generation to generation. "When I return, I promise to lead the party as my mother wanted me to," he said.
Within days, Bilawal Zardari began calling himself Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and over the past four years has become increasingly known simply as Bilawal Bhutto.
But
when his party won elections in 2008, there was no talk of handing
authority over a nuclear nation rife with political intrigue and wracked
by tensions with a powerful neighbor to someone whose only
qualification was his bloodline. Instead, his father was named
president.
Thousands Descend on Little Town of Bethlehem
Fuad Twal, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, leads a procession of worshippers to the Church of the NativityThousands of pilgrims, tourists and local Christians gathered in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem to begin Christmas Eve celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Visitors gathered near the 50-foot Christmas tree at Manger Square this morning, taking photographs and enjoying the sunshine. The main event will be Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built on the location where Jesus is believed to have been born.
Israel's Tourism Ministry said that 90,000 tourists were expected to visit the Holy Land for the holiday. Ministry spokeswoman Lydia Weitzman said that number is the same as last year's record-breaking tally, but was surprisingly high considering the turmoil in the Arab world and the U.S. and European economic downturns.
Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh said he hopes this year's celebrations will bring Palestinians closer to their dream of statehood. With peace talks stalled with Israel, Palestinians this year made a unilateral bid for recognition at the United Nations and were accepted as a member by UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency.
'We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we'll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique,' Batarseh said.
Bethlehem is today surrounded on three sides by a barrier Israel built to stop Palestinian militants from attacking during a wave of assaults in the last decade. Palestinians say the barrier damaged their economy.
Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the Roman Catholic Church's head clergyman in the Holy Land, crossed through a massive metal gate in the barrier, in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem earlier today.
'We ask the child of Bethlehem to give us the peace we are in desperate need for, peace in the Middle East, peace in the Holy Land, peace in the heart and in our families,' Twal said before heading to the Church of the Nativity, where he was to celebrate Midnight Mass.
The number of Christians in the West Bank is on the decline. Their fragile status in a majority Muslim society, ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence and better economic opportunities abroad have led many of them to leave for the United States, South America and Europe.
Christians have even lost their majority in traditionally Christian Bethlehem, where more than two-thirds of the 50,000 Palestinian residents are now Muslim. The biblical town was bustling today, however, with Christian tourists and pilgrims.
'This is my first time in Bethlehem and it's an electrifying feeling to be here at the birthplace of Jesus during Christmas,' said 49-year-old Abraham Rai from Karla, India.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Dutch Historian Seeking Answer to Tan Malaka Grave Mystery
A Dutch historian and researcher is waiting for the result of a DNA test on the remains of a man buried on a hill in Selopanggung village in Kediri district, East Java, to ascertain whether they really belonged to Tan Malaka, a legendary figure in Indonesia’s struggle for independence.
Although officially listed as a national hero, the location of Tan Malaka’s grave has remained a mystery and Harry A Poeze, a Dutch academic who has been studying the Indonesian revolutionary’s role in the country’s pre-independence history, is hoping the DNA test being conducted in a laboratory in Korea will finally solve the riddle.
The DNA test result would be available in January 2012, Poeze told reporters in Jember on Thursday after giving a general lecture titled "Tan Malaka, a Case Study" at Jember University’s Faculty of Letters.
"The DNA test outcome will hopefully answer the decades-old question of where Tan Malaka was buried after his execution and thereby provide further proof of my research findings."
Poeze, who is director of the Royal Dutch Institute for Caribbean and Southeast Asian Studies, had spent 20 years searching for Tan Malaka’s grave and finally come to a spot on a hill in Selopanggung village, Semen subdistrict, Kediri district, East Java, strongly believed to be the grave of the author of the epic literary work titled Madilog (Materialism, Dialectics, Logic).
"According to Zulfikar Kamarudin, one of Tan Malaka’s relatives, the result of the second DNA test at the laboratory in Korea will be announced next January and I am looking forward to it." He said the DNA test result could be either negative,positive or inconclusive.
In case it was negative or inconclusive, he would have to continue his search, he said. But if the DNA test reslt was positive, the Indonesian government would have to decide whether the remains on the hill in Selopanggung village would be moved to the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery in Jakarta or a monument be built at Selopanggung, Poeze said.
He said an Indonesian team had previously examined the remains at Selopanggung and in a report issued in March 2010 described them as those of a male of the Minang Mongoloid tribe who was 160-155 cm tall and was buried according to the Islamic faith.
An interesting thing the team had found, he said, was that the man’s two arms were in cross-wise position behind his back, an indication he was shot to death as a prisoner. This jibed with one of the conlusions of his research, Poeze said.
The Dutch academic is also the writer of a book titled "Tan Malaka, the Leftist Movement and Indonesian Revolution."
Although officially listed as a national hero, the location of Tan Malaka’s grave has remained a mystery and Harry A Poeze, a Dutch academic who has been studying the Indonesian revolutionary’s role in the country’s pre-independence history, is hoping the DNA test being conducted in a laboratory in Korea will finally solve the riddle.
The DNA test result would be available in January 2012, Poeze told reporters in Jember on Thursday after giving a general lecture titled "Tan Malaka, a Case Study" at Jember University’s Faculty of Letters.
"The DNA test outcome will hopefully answer the decades-old question of where Tan Malaka was buried after his execution and thereby provide further proof of my research findings."
Poeze, who is director of the Royal Dutch Institute for Caribbean and Southeast Asian Studies, had spent 20 years searching for Tan Malaka’s grave and finally come to a spot on a hill in Selopanggung village, Semen subdistrict, Kediri district, East Java, strongly believed to be the grave of the author of the epic literary work titled Madilog (Materialism, Dialectics, Logic).
"According to Zulfikar Kamarudin, one of Tan Malaka’s relatives, the result of the second DNA test at the laboratory in Korea will be announced next January and I am looking forward to it." He said the DNA test result could be either negative,positive or inconclusive.
In case it was negative or inconclusive, he would have to continue his search, he said. But if the DNA test reslt was positive, the Indonesian government would have to decide whether the remains on the hill in Selopanggung village would be moved to the Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery in Jakarta or a monument be built at Selopanggung, Poeze said.
He said an Indonesian team had previously examined the remains at Selopanggung and in a report issued in March 2010 described them as those of a male of the Minang Mongoloid tribe who was 160-155 cm tall and was buried according to the Islamic faith.
An interesting thing the team had found, he said, was that the man’s two arms were in cross-wise position behind his back, an indication he was shot to death as a prisoner. This jibed with one of the conlusions of his research, Poeze said.
The Dutch academic is also the writer of a book titled "Tan Malaka, the Leftist Movement and Indonesian Revolution."
Inside World's Largest Blood Store
The rows of blood bags - of all different blood types - will save countless lives over the festive period
Shops across the country will have been stocking up for Christmas in the past few weeks to ensure they don't run out of anything.
But at the world’s largest blood bank the requirement for supply to match demand over the festive period is that little bit more crucial - as it could mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people.
The NHS Blood and Transplant centre in Filton, Bristol, - which is stocked with more than 1,000 gallons of blood - is preparing for a spike in demand as alcohol-related accidents and car crashes rise over the next couple of weeks.
It handles 11,500 blood donations - averaging around a pint each - every week (850,000 donations a year), making it the largest processing centre on earth.
The unit provides life-saving blood to 100 hospitals across the south west of England with an emergency ‘blue-light’ service when stocks run out. It holds vast reserves of blood types A, O, B and AB while donors are needed for rarer types O negative and B negative.
Blood donations are processed through the centre almost immediately as red cells last only 35 days. The centre is currently in the middle of a seasonal drive to increase stocks and has rows of blood bags lined up ready to save lives.
A grateful recipient yesterday recalled how the blood bank saved her life after she lost a staggering eight pints of blood during a routine operation.
Mother-of-one Laura Evans, 33, said: 'I was in hospital having a gynaecological operation in August last year when I ran into a bit of difficulty.
'I initially lost a pint of blood and was put into recovery for two hours.
'But the bleeding started again after I was sick, and within half an hour I’d lost eight out of my nine pints of blood from my pelvic area.
'I was in and out of consciousness and literally minutes from death. I have vague flashbacks of medical staff frantically running around, trying to save my life.'
Doctors hooked Laura up to a machine which delivered a ‘fast infusion’ of 12 pints of blood in a bid to offset the rapid bleeding. After two days in hospital, she was then topped up with two more pints of blood.
Laura, a legal executive from Bristol, added: 'When I was given the second lot, I must admit the idea of other people’s blood going into my body freaked me out a little.
'But now I’m just so grateful to them all - I owe my survival to them and this blood bank. Their selfless generosity saved my life and allowed me to watch my five-year-old daughter grow up. I would encourage anyone to give blood - it is one of the best things you can do.'
Blood bank spokesman Fay Simcox said: 'We process huge amounts of blood which comes to use from donations and goes out almost immediately.
'We try and have a push for donations at this time of year because it is more difficult for people to come out and give blood. We need more blood over the festive period for a range of reasons.'
But at the world’s largest blood bank the requirement for supply to match demand over the festive period is that little bit more crucial - as it could mean the difference between life and death for thousands of people.
The NHS Blood and Transplant centre in Filton, Bristol, - which is stocked with more than 1,000 gallons of blood - is preparing for a spike in demand as alcohol-related accidents and car crashes rise over the next couple of weeks.
It handles 11,500 blood donations - averaging around a pint each - every week (850,000 donations a year), making it the largest processing centre on earth.
The unit provides life-saving blood to 100 hospitals across the south west of England with an emergency ‘blue-light’ service when stocks run out. It holds vast reserves of blood types A, O, B and AB while donors are needed for rarer types O negative and B negative.
Blood donations are processed through the centre almost immediately as red cells last only 35 days. The centre is currently in the middle of a seasonal drive to increase stocks and has rows of blood bags lined up ready to save lives.
A grateful recipient yesterday recalled how the blood bank saved her life after she lost a staggering eight pints of blood during a routine operation.
Mother-of-one Laura Evans, 33, said: 'I was in hospital having a gynaecological operation in August last year when I ran into a bit of difficulty.
'I initially lost a pint of blood and was put into recovery for two hours.
'But the bleeding started again after I was sick, and within half an hour I’d lost eight out of my nine pints of blood from my pelvic area.
'I was in and out of consciousness and literally minutes from death. I have vague flashbacks of medical staff frantically running around, trying to save my life.'
Doctors hooked Laura up to a machine which delivered a ‘fast infusion’ of 12 pints of blood in a bid to offset the rapid bleeding. After two days in hospital, she was then topped up with two more pints of blood.
Laura, a legal executive from Bristol, added: 'When I was given the second lot, I must admit the idea of other people’s blood going into my body freaked me out a little.
'But now I’m just so grateful to them all - I owe my survival to them and this blood bank. Their selfless generosity saved my life and allowed me to watch my five-year-old daughter grow up. I would encourage anyone to give blood - it is one of the best things you can do.'
Blood bank spokesman Fay Simcox said: 'We process huge amounts of blood which comes to use from donations and goes out almost immediately.
'We try and have a push for donations at this time of year because it is more difficult for people to come out and give blood. We need more blood over the festive period for a range of reasons.'
Toyota's Plan to Build A New Factory in Indonesia
Japan’s biggest carmaker Toyota said Thursday it would aim to boost global sales by a fifth next year, seeking growth in emerging markets to counter sluggish demand in the crisis-hit developed world.
A dismal 2011, which saw sales shrink six percent, means the Japanese giant is unlikely to retain its spot as global top dog and will be overtaken by General Motors and Volkswagen. The forecasts come weeks after Toyota more than halved its full-year net profit outlook as it grapples with a strong yen, the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and flooding in Thailand which hit supply chains.
But the company is hoping for a bumper 2012 both at home and abroad, setting ambitious sales and production targets. The automaker expects to sell 8.48 million Toyota and Lexus units worldwide in 2012, up from 7.05 million in 2011, and plans to boost their global production by almost a quarter to a record 8.65 million vehicles, rising to 8.98 million in 2013.
A turbulent 2011, when the global economic slowdown also hit the firm, is expected to show group domestic sales — including subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino — slumped 19 percent, with a 24 percent fall in Toyota brand sales. Worldwide group sales are expected to show a six percent fall for the year, the company said, down to 7.9 million units.
Toyota spokeswoman Amiko Tomita admitted the 2012 global production target was an ambitious one, and would beat its current record of 8.53 million units for the Toyota brand, which includes Lexus, set in 2007 before the onset of the financial crisis. The 2012 global sales target of 8.48 million would also be a new record, beating the current largest sales of 8.43 million in 2007, she said.
“But what we are envisioning behind these figures is different from the time of 2007,” Tomita said. “We will have more focus on emerging markets.” “We have a global vision to build more balanced business operations in different regions, compared with 2007 when the company focused more on Japan, North America and Europe.”
Toyota said it wanted to further boost its sales in 2013, with a target of 8.95 million units in the year. The car giant has been at the top of the global automakers’ tree by sales for three years after overtaking GM, but looks set to be knocked off its perch.
GM sold 6.79 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year, up 9.2 percent on the year earlier and on target for more than nine million for the full year if it can maintain the pace, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Volkswagen saw its sales jump 14 percent to 7.51 million for the first 11 months of the year and is eyeing a year-end figure in excess of eight million units.
Toyota’s 2011 production was hampered when supply chains were shattered in the wake of the huge tsunami that swamped northeast Japan, while massive flooding in Thailand added to the production gloom. Earlier this month the firm cut its profit outlook to 180 billion yen ($2.3 billion), 54 percent down from its August estimate after the Thai floods forced plant closures and caused supply-chain problems.
It also said that the strong yen, which is sitting near post-war record highs against the dollar, had hit it hard as repatriated earnings were severely reduced. Toyota is seen as particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the yen.
A mood of austerity among Japanese consumers affected appetite for all manner of consumer goods during the year. In March, just days before the natural disaster struck and claimed 20,000 lives, Toyota unveiled its “Global Vision” business plans, aiming to make half its global sales in emerging markets by 2015.
It is looking to increase production abroad to be closer to demand, reduce logistics costs and limit exposure to the Japanese yen. Toyota has strengthened annual production capacity in Argentina by more than 40 percent to 92,000 units, most of which are exported to Brazil and nine other Latin American countries.
It has also announced plans to build a new factory in Indonesia, where it wants to boost annual production to 180,000 units by 2013, and in India a subsidiary based on the outskirts of Bangalore plans to almost double annual production to 310,000 in 2013.
A dismal 2011, which saw sales shrink six percent, means the Japanese giant is unlikely to retain its spot as global top dog and will be overtaken by General Motors and Volkswagen. The forecasts come weeks after Toyota more than halved its full-year net profit outlook as it grapples with a strong yen, the impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and flooding in Thailand which hit supply chains.
But the company is hoping for a bumper 2012 both at home and abroad, setting ambitious sales and production targets. The automaker expects to sell 8.48 million Toyota and Lexus units worldwide in 2012, up from 7.05 million in 2011, and plans to boost their global production by almost a quarter to a record 8.65 million vehicles, rising to 8.98 million in 2013.
A turbulent 2011, when the global economic slowdown also hit the firm, is expected to show group domestic sales — including subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino — slumped 19 percent, with a 24 percent fall in Toyota brand sales. Worldwide group sales are expected to show a six percent fall for the year, the company said, down to 7.9 million units.
Toyota spokeswoman Amiko Tomita admitted the 2012 global production target was an ambitious one, and would beat its current record of 8.53 million units for the Toyota brand, which includes Lexus, set in 2007 before the onset of the financial crisis. The 2012 global sales target of 8.48 million would also be a new record, beating the current largest sales of 8.43 million in 2007, she said.
“But what we are envisioning behind these figures is different from the time of 2007,” Tomita said. “We will have more focus on emerging markets.” “We have a global vision to build more balanced business operations in different regions, compared with 2007 when the company focused more on Japan, North America and Europe.”
Toyota said it wanted to further boost its sales in 2013, with a target of 8.95 million units in the year. The car giant has been at the top of the global automakers’ tree by sales for three years after overtaking GM, but looks set to be knocked off its perch.
GM sold 6.79 million vehicles in the first nine months of the year, up 9.2 percent on the year earlier and on target for more than nine million for the full year if it can maintain the pace, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Volkswagen saw its sales jump 14 percent to 7.51 million for the first 11 months of the year and is eyeing a year-end figure in excess of eight million units.
Toyota’s 2011 production was hampered when supply chains were shattered in the wake of the huge tsunami that swamped northeast Japan, while massive flooding in Thailand added to the production gloom. Earlier this month the firm cut its profit outlook to 180 billion yen ($2.3 billion), 54 percent down from its August estimate after the Thai floods forced plant closures and caused supply-chain problems.
It also said that the strong yen, which is sitting near post-war record highs against the dollar, had hit it hard as repatriated earnings were severely reduced. Toyota is seen as particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the yen.
A mood of austerity among Japanese consumers affected appetite for all manner of consumer goods during the year. In March, just days before the natural disaster struck and claimed 20,000 lives, Toyota unveiled its “Global Vision” business plans, aiming to make half its global sales in emerging markets by 2015.
It is looking to increase production abroad to be closer to demand, reduce logistics costs and limit exposure to the Japanese yen. Toyota has strengthened annual production capacity in Argentina by more than 40 percent to 92,000 units, most of which are exported to Brazil and nine other Latin American countries.
It has also announced plans to build a new factory in Indonesia, where it wants to boost annual production to 180,000 units by 2013, and in India a subsidiary based on the outskirts of Bangalore plans to almost double annual production to 310,000 in 2013.
Korean-made Submarine to be Built on Indonesian Soil
South Korea clinched a $1.1 billion deal to supply three submarines to Indonesia, beating tenders from France, Germany and Russia, because its offer included technology transfer, authorities said Thursday.
“South Korea has advanced technology and they are open to a technology transfer, while the other countries in the tender were only focused on selling the submarines,” defence ministry spokesman Hartind Asrin told AFP.
South Korea won the tender Tuesday over France, Germany and Russia, according to the ministry, in its largest-ever weapons export deal. It will allow Indonesian company Penataran Angkatan Laut (PAL) to observe how the vessels are built and to assemble the third in Indonesia.
“Under the contract, two submarines will be built in South Korea and the third one will be built at PAL’s facilities in Surabaya in East Java,” Asrin said.
It is the second major defence deal between the two countries. In May, the state-run Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) agreed to export 16 supersonic T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jets worth $400 million to Jakarta.
The 1,400-tonne submarines will have a capacity of 40 personnel and come equipped with eight weapons tubes for torpedoes and guided missiles. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering will build the vessels, with the first expected to arrive in 2015 and the last built by 2018.
Daewoo has the second-biggest shipyard in the world after South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. The deal brings the volume of South Korea’s defence exports this year to an all-time record $2.4 billion, more than double the amount from a year ago, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said.
The two nations agreed to boost defence industry trade at a bilateral meeting last month, despite a hiccup in bilateral weapons trade earlier this year. South Korea’s spy agency came in for criticism in February following reports that its agents tried to steal commercial secrets from the hotel room of a visiting Indonesian trade delegation.
Newspapers said three agents from the National Intelligence Service entered the room on February 16 in an attempt to steal information on possible Indonesian arms purchases, but were caught by a delegate as they copied files from a laptop computer.
“South Korea has advanced technology and they are open to a technology transfer, while the other countries in the tender were only focused on selling the submarines,” defence ministry spokesman Hartind Asrin told AFP.
South Korea won the tender Tuesday over France, Germany and Russia, according to the ministry, in its largest-ever weapons export deal. It will allow Indonesian company Penataran Angkatan Laut (PAL) to observe how the vessels are built and to assemble the third in Indonesia.
“Under the contract, two submarines will be built in South Korea and the third one will be built at PAL’s facilities in Surabaya in East Java,” Asrin said.
It is the second major defence deal between the two countries. In May, the state-run Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) agreed to export 16 supersonic T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jets worth $400 million to Jakarta.
The 1,400-tonne submarines will have a capacity of 40 personnel and come equipped with eight weapons tubes for torpedoes and guided missiles. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering will build the vessels, with the first expected to arrive in 2015 and the last built by 2018.
Daewoo has the second-biggest shipyard in the world after South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. The deal brings the volume of South Korea’s defence exports this year to an all-time record $2.4 billion, more than double the amount from a year ago, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration said.
The two nations agreed to boost defence industry trade at a bilateral meeting last month, despite a hiccup in bilateral weapons trade earlier this year. South Korea’s spy agency came in for criticism in February following reports that its agents tried to steal commercial secrets from the hotel room of a visiting Indonesian trade delegation.
Newspapers said three agents from the National Intelligence Service entered the room on February 16 in an attempt to steal information on possible Indonesian arms purchases, but were caught by a delegate as they copied files from a laptop computer.
Crime in Public Transport Vehicles Surges in 2011
The rape of a 35-year-old woman in a public transport vehicle on December 14 was the latest in a spate of acts of violence against women that marred the public order and security situation in urban areas in Indonesia in 2011.
In the December 14 incident, the victim was a vegetable vendor who boarded a public M26 minivan at 4 in the morning to go home after selling her goods in a marketplace. But not long thereafter she ended up being raped by four men in the car.
The woman shouted for help but nobody came to her help. The rapists then struck her left shoulder with a machete and dumped her on a roadside in the Cikeas area in Bogor, West Java. Haryadi Santoso, the husband of the woman, later urged the police to immediately arrest the perpetrators who have so far remained at large.
"The police must not fail to catch the bastards," Haryadi said with bitter anger in his voice at his home in Depok, West Java, on Tuesday
He said his wife’s physical condition was gradually improving but she was still traumatized. It is to be hoped the criminal outrage that befell the mother of two on December 14, 2011 will be the last to happen this year.
Early in January 2011, a female employee, working in a company in the Sudirman business district in Jakarta, was sexually harassed by 10 men in a commuter train from Pancasila University to Tanah Abang station. One of the train passengers said that although the poor woman shouted for help, nobody dared to come to her rescue.
Since then the government and law enforcing authorities made efforts to prevent the similar incident from happening again but that was shattered by the rape and killing of Livia Pavita Soelistyo, a female student of Bina Nusantara University in West Jakarta, who was on her way home from campus on a public transport in August 2011.
Before being raped by several men including the driver and some other passengers of that public transport, Livia had gone missing since August 16, 2011, and her body was eventually found dumped in a field in Casauk, Tangerang, Banten, five days after. Efforts to avert the crime in public transport were in vain when a month later on September 1, a 27-year old woman was gang-raped by four men on a city transport in South Jakarta.
South Jakarta police have caught two of the rapists but the other two were still at large. Evy, another university student was also sexually abused in a Transjakarta bus from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Harmony, Central Jakarta in September.
Then on October 8, 2011 a 38-year-old babysitter was also raped in a secluded park in East Jakarta by a city transport driver. According to Jakarta police data, 40 rape cases have been taking place in Jakarta and its buffer cities of Depok, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi and more than 3700 reported incidents across Indonesia in 2011.
But it is commonly known that more incidents go unreported, and from day to day the number is increasing. Rape incidents this year have prompted authorities to crack down on public transport drivers without uniforms or identity cards.
Crime in public transport has been increasing rapidly in 2011 that it becomes dangerous to go from one place to another in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek). In doubt and fear, people get on public transport as though some sinister, supernatural force were let loose.
Public transport in Jabodetabek seems to have turned into a jungle of terror, robbery with violence, sexual harassment, rape, anesthetization, hypnotism, and even death. Meanwhile, criminologist from state University of Indonesia Adrianus Meliala said sexual harassment and rapes had occurred in public transports with weak control.
And according to National Commission for Women’s Affairs, there have been more than 100,000 cases of violence against women so far this year in Indonesia, 4 percent of which were rape cases. Again, Adrianus said, "Rapes are the peak of smaller incidents in public transport such as sexual harassment, pickpocketing, cheating and others."
In view of that, he said the government had to increase its supervision on public transport. Therefore Jakarta police would gather public transport operators following recent cases of sexual harassment, robbery, and rape in the public transport vehicles.
"We will counsel them so that they will not entrust their vehicles to illegal drivers," Jakarta Metropolitan Police Command director for community supervision Senior Commissioner Erwin Usman said in September. He said operators of public transport vehicles must have responsibility and monitor their drivers.
He said the police would give them counseling and directives so that they would no longer hire drivers who are not competent such as not possessing a driving license as an example. Erwin added that he would also instruct police officers at resort and sector police commands to conduct counseling for women who use public transport from work at night due to potential crimes that may happen to them.
"Women who return from work by public transport should better not go alone."
He said the women also need to memorize the characteristics or identities of the public transport they used and when crimes occurred on them, they could report immediately to the nearest police stations. Meanwhile, Woman’s Affairs and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar has called on the law enforcers to take the firmest possible action against rapists for a deterrent effect.
"I hope for the firmest possible law enforcement against perpetrators of rape in order to create a deterrent effect," Linda said recently.
The minister expressed hope that there should be the best possible solution to the case by among others prohibiting public transport from using dark glass in addition for the authority to provide security on public transport.
"But for the public transport to use dark glass is not the primary solution to rape case because it is the matter of moral character of the individuals," Linda said.
The woman’s affairs minister also expressed a tremendous deep concern from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and urged the National Police to immediately complete the investigation into the crime of rape and sexual harassment in public transport to prevent them from recurring now and in the years to come.
In the December 14 incident, the victim was a vegetable vendor who boarded a public M26 minivan at 4 in the morning to go home after selling her goods in a marketplace. But not long thereafter she ended up being raped by four men in the car.
The woman shouted for help but nobody came to her help. The rapists then struck her left shoulder with a machete and dumped her on a roadside in the Cikeas area in Bogor, West Java. Haryadi Santoso, the husband of the woman, later urged the police to immediately arrest the perpetrators who have so far remained at large.
"The police must not fail to catch the bastards," Haryadi said with bitter anger in his voice at his home in Depok, West Java, on Tuesday
He said his wife’s physical condition was gradually improving but she was still traumatized. It is to be hoped the criminal outrage that befell the mother of two on December 14, 2011 will be the last to happen this year.
Early in January 2011, a female employee, working in a company in the Sudirman business district in Jakarta, was sexually harassed by 10 men in a commuter train from Pancasila University to Tanah Abang station. One of the train passengers said that although the poor woman shouted for help, nobody dared to come to her rescue.
Since then the government and law enforcing authorities made efforts to prevent the similar incident from happening again but that was shattered by the rape and killing of Livia Pavita Soelistyo, a female student of Bina Nusantara University in West Jakarta, who was on her way home from campus on a public transport in August 2011.
Before being raped by several men including the driver and some other passengers of that public transport, Livia had gone missing since August 16, 2011, and her body was eventually found dumped in a field in Casauk, Tangerang, Banten, five days after. Efforts to avert the crime in public transport were in vain when a month later on September 1, a 27-year old woman was gang-raped by four men on a city transport in South Jakarta.
South Jakarta police have caught two of the rapists but the other two were still at large. Evy, another university student was also sexually abused in a Transjakarta bus from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Harmony, Central Jakarta in September.
Then on October 8, 2011 a 38-year-old babysitter was also raped in a secluded park in East Jakarta by a city transport driver. According to Jakarta police data, 40 rape cases have been taking place in Jakarta and its buffer cities of Depok, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi and more than 3700 reported incidents across Indonesia in 2011.
But it is commonly known that more incidents go unreported, and from day to day the number is increasing. Rape incidents this year have prompted authorities to crack down on public transport drivers without uniforms or identity cards.
Crime in public transport has been increasing rapidly in 2011 that it becomes dangerous to go from one place to another in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek). In doubt and fear, people get on public transport as though some sinister, supernatural force were let loose.
Public transport in Jabodetabek seems to have turned into a jungle of terror, robbery with violence, sexual harassment, rape, anesthetization, hypnotism, and even death. Meanwhile, criminologist from state University of Indonesia Adrianus Meliala said sexual harassment and rapes had occurred in public transports with weak control.
And according to National Commission for Women’s Affairs, there have been more than 100,000 cases of violence against women so far this year in Indonesia, 4 percent of which were rape cases. Again, Adrianus said, "Rapes are the peak of smaller incidents in public transport such as sexual harassment, pickpocketing, cheating and others."
In view of that, he said the government had to increase its supervision on public transport. Therefore Jakarta police would gather public transport operators following recent cases of sexual harassment, robbery, and rape in the public transport vehicles.
"We will counsel them so that they will not entrust their vehicles to illegal drivers," Jakarta Metropolitan Police Command director for community supervision Senior Commissioner Erwin Usman said in September. He said operators of public transport vehicles must have responsibility and monitor their drivers.
He said the police would give them counseling and directives so that they would no longer hire drivers who are not competent such as not possessing a driving license as an example. Erwin added that he would also instruct police officers at resort and sector police commands to conduct counseling for women who use public transport from work at night due to potential crimes that may happen to them.
"Women who return from work by public transport should better not go alone."
He said the women also need to memorize the characteristics or identities of the public transport they used and when crimes occurred on them, they could report immediately to the nearest police stations. Meanwhile, Woman’s Affairs and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar has called on the law enforcers to take the firmest possible action against rapists for a deterrent effect.
"I hope for the firmest possible law enforcement against perpetrators of rape in order to create a deterrent effect," Linda said recently.
The minister expressed hope that there should be the best possible solution to the case by among others prohibiting public transport from using dark glass in addition for the authority to provide security on public transport.
"But for the public transport to use dark glass is not the primary solution to rape case because it is the matter of moral character of the individuals," Linda said.
The woman’s affairs minister also expressed a tremendous deep concern from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and urged the National Police to immediately complete the investigation into the crime of rape and sexual harassment in public transport to prevent them from recurring now and in the years to come.
Indonesian Organizations Invited to Help Improve World Literacy
"All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development" invites businesses, social enterprises, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and academic institutions in Indonesia to take part in a global competition to improve world literacy through innovative ideas.
The $20 million program aims to support sustainable and cost-effective innovations that will improve children’s literacy in low-income countries, the Australian Embassy here said in its official website on Wednesday.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), Australia Agency for International Development (AusAID) in partnership with World Vision, and the US Department of Education launched this initiative on November 18, 2011 in Washington, DC.
While national literacy rates are high in Indonesia, there are pockets of disparity. The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS-RI) 2010 Report places country-wide literacy rates around 93%, but there is substantial variation among provinces, including only 69% literacy in Papua and 88% in South Sulawesi, for example.
Such communities could benefit greatly from the innovative ideas and approaches that are just waiting to be developed. Therefore, these four partners strongly encourage Indonesian organizations to submit proposals. USAID Mission Director Glenn Anders commented, "As part of the US - Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, we are helping Indonesia improve reading, math and science skills which will lead to better futures for millions of children."
"Indonesia has a strong record on achieving literacy. This is an opportunity to share successes with other countries and trial innovative new approaches," said Jacqui De Lacy, AusAID Senior Representative in Indonesia. "Australia is pleased to be part of an innovative global effort to help children worldwide read and write."
"Our goal is to help children, especially girls, gain access to excellent early childhood and primary education by strengthening community involvement and fostering an effective environment for learning," said Kent Hill, Senior Vice President of International Programs at World Vision.
He said they were hopeful that All Children Reading would not only improve reading instruction, but would instill a passion for reading and a lifelong desire for learning among millions of children in developing nations.
The competition encourages organizations from around the world to submit their ideas on innovations in teaching and learning materials, and better education data to improve decision-making, transparency and accountability.
If Indonesian applicants are successful, pilot programs may be implemented in Indonesia or in other developing countries. The submission period will close on January 31, 2012 at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard time in the US interested applicants can visit www.allchildrenreading.org for additional information.
The $20 million program aims to support sustainable and cost-effective innovations that will improve children’s literacy in low-income countries, the Australian Embassy here said in its official website on Wednesday.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), Australia Agency for International Development (AusAID) in partnership with World Vision, and the US Department of Education launched this initiative on November 18, 2011 in Washington, DC.
While national literacy rates are high in Indonesia, there are pockets of disparity. The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS-RI) 2010 Report places country-wide literacy rates around 93%, but there is substantial variation among provinces, including only 69% literacy in Papua and 88% in South Sulawesi, for example.
Such communities could benefit greatly from the innovative ideas and approaches that are just waiting to be developed. Therefore, these four partners strongly encourage Indonesian organizations to submit proposals. USAID Mission Director Glenn Anders commented, "As part of the US - Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, we are helping Indonesia improve reading, math and science skills which will lead to better futures for millions of children."
"Indonesia has a strong record on achieving literacy. This is an opportunity to share successes with other countries and trial innovative new approaches," said Jacqui De Lacy, AusAID Senior Representative in Indonesia. "Australia is pleased to be part of an innovative global effort to help children worldwide read and write."
"Our goal is to help children, especially girls, gain access to excellent early childhood and primary education by strengthening community involvement and fostering an effective environment for learning," said Kent Hill, Senior Vice President of International Programs at World Vision.
He said they were hopeful that All Children Reading would not only improve reading instruction, but would instill a passion for reading and a lifelong desire for learning among millions of children in developing nations.
The competition encourages organizations from around the world to submit their ideas on innovations in teaching and learning materials, and better education data to improve decision-making, transparency and accountability.
If Indonesian applicants are successful, pilot programs may be implemented in Indonesia or in other developing countries. The submission period will close on January 31, 2012 at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard time in the US interested applicants can visit www.allchildrenreading.org for additional information.
Steve Jobs Statue Unveiled
A Hungarian software company has unveiled what it said was the world's first bronze statue of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, calling him one of the greatest personalities of the modern age.
Jobs died on October 5 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. The bronze work by sculptor Erno Toth stands in the Budapest campus of architectural software maker Graphisoft.
"He was one of the greatest (personalities) in our era, that's what we wanted to express with this sculpture here," Graphisoft Chairman Gabor Bojar told Reuters.
Bojar said Jobs gave cash and computers to Graphisoft, helping it to become a global leader in architecture software from humble roots as a tiny firm in the 1980s in then-communist Hungary.
"In some ways, Apple was a religion," Bojar said at the unveiling ceremony, comparing the experts from Cupertino-based Apple who helped educate Graphisoft's engineers to evangelists.
Steve Jobs represented a technological revolution which can be compared only to the discovery of writing, Bojar said.
"We have felt his spirit every day and now it is embodied," he said. "We hope that we can deserve with our entrepreneurial culture in Hungary what this sculpture expresses as a message."
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Indocement Produces 25 Mln Tons per Year
Cement maker PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk has set its production target for 2016-2017 at 25 million tons to meet growing domestic demand. The company’s production currently stood at 18.6 million tons and would be raised by 7 million tons to 25 million tons in 2016-2017, Indocement Corporate Secretary Sahat Panggabean said on Saturday.
The addition of 7 million tons would among others come from a new plant in Cirebon, West Java. The construction of the plant with a production capacity of 1.5 million tons per year was underway, he said.
"The remaining 5.5 million tons will be produced by the company’s two plants to be built in Central Java. The two plants will have a production capacity of 2.5 million tons and 3 million tons each," he said.
Built in 2010 the new plant in Cirebon was making preparations for trial production. The two plants in Central Java would be built in 2016 and 2017.
He said Indocement’s sales in the first half of 2011 reached 7.1 million tons, a 14.1 percent increase compared to 6.3 million tons in the same period last year.
Indocement held a 31.1 percent share of the domestic cement market in the first semester of 2011 compared to 31.2 percent in the same period last year. He attributed the increase in cement sales to the increasing number of development projects particularly in Java.
The addition of 7 million tons would among others come from a new plant in Cirebon, West Java. The construction of the plant with a production capacity of 1.5 million tons per year was underway, he said.
"The remaining 5.5 million tons will be produced by the company’s two plants to be built in Central Java. The two plants will have a production capacity of 2.5 million tons and 3 million tons each," he said.
Built in 2010 the new plant in Cirebon was making preparations for trial production. The two plants in Central Java would be built in 2016 and 2017.
He said Indocement’s sales in the first half of 2011 reached 7.1 million tons, a 14.1 percent increase compared to 6.3 million tons in the same period last year.
Indocement held a 31.1 percent share of the domestic cement market in the first semester of 2011 compared to 31.2 percent in the same period last year. He attributed the increase in cement sales to the increasing number of development projects particularly in Java.
Indonesia's Plastic Product Imports Up Significantly
North Sumatra’s plastic and plastic product imports in the first semester of 2011 almost doubled to US$107.449 million from US$55.99 million in the same period last year.
"The imports mostly came from China," Head of the North Sumatra Provincial Statistics Office Suharno said here on Saturday.
In the first half of 2011 North Sumatra also imported plastics and plastic products from Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, he said. The plastic and plastic product imports from China consisted of daily needs, ranging from plates, drinking apparatuses to toys.
"Plastic and plastic product imports from China have shown an upward trend particularly since the Indonesia-China free trade accord was put into force," he said. Azmuni, a trader at Petisah market in Medan, added the plastic products including plate, glass and toys were in great demand.
"The imports mostly came from China," Head of the North Sumatra Provincial Statistics Office Suharno said here on Saturday.
In the first half of 2011 North Sumatra also imported plastics and plastic products from Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia, he said. The plastic and plastic product imports from China consisted of daily needs, ranging from plates, drinking apparatuses to toys.
"Plastic and plastic product imports from China have shown an upward trend particularly since the Indonesia-China free trade accord was put into force," he said. Azmuni, a trader at Petisah market in Medan, added the plastic products including plate, glass and toys were in great demand.
Special Warning for All Indonesian Corruption Suspects
Minister of Law and Human Rights Patrialis Akbar said the government would keep chasing all corruption suspects on the wanted list.
"We will chase all that have been able to flee abroad," he said here on Saturday.
He said the government would hunt for not only Neneng Sri Wahyuni but also others that have fled and "we have instructed the Directorate General to set up a team to hunt for Neneng Sri Wahyuni and other wanted corrupters."
He said to find graft suspect Neneng, who is also the wife of graft suspect Nazaruddin, he would cooperate with the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as well as the foreign ministry.
"The four institutions are currently still studying the possibility of working together in a joint team like they did when they caught Nazaruddin," he said.
He said the hunt for Neneng Sri Wahyuni would be done like when arresting Nazaruddin abroad recently. "We believe Neneng Sri Wahyuni and her children are now still in Malaysia," he said.
He said the immigration office had not detected Neneng moving to other countries after July 25, 2011. "It is very likely that Neneng Sri Wahyuni is now still in Malaysia," he said.
He said he had held her passport after she was officially declared an Interpol wanted person. Neneng has been banned from traveling abroad since May 31, 2011 and named suspect.
"She has been given a travel ban and this includes the revocation of her passport," the minister said.
The immigration office, he said, has already coordinated with its representative offices abroad to anticipate the possibility of Neneng using the passport to move to other countries. Unlike Nazaruddin who has used other person’s passport to travel abroad Neneng is still using her own passport.
"Foreign representative offices will be informed about it," he said. Neneng has been named suspect in a corruption case linked to procurement at a solar power project in the ministry of manpower and transmigration in 2008.
"We will chase all that have been able to flee abroad," he said here on Saturday.
He said the government would hunt for not only Neneng Sri Wahyuni but also others that have fled and "we have instructed the Directorate General to set up a team to hunt for Neneng Sri Wahyuni and other wanted corrupters."
He said to find graft suspect Neneng, who is also the wife of graft suspect Nazaruddin, he would cooperate with the police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as well as the foreign ministry.
"The four institutions are currently still studying the possibility of working together in a joint team like they did when they caught Nazaruddin," he said.
He said the hunt for Neneng Sri Wahyuni would be done like when arresting Nazaruddin abroad recently. "We believe Neneng Sri Wahyuni and her children are now still in Malaysia," he said.
He said the immigration office had not detected Neneng moving to other countries after July 25, 2011. "It is very likely that Neneng Sri Wahyuni is now still in Malaysia," he said.
He said he had held her passport after she was officially declared an Interpol wanted person. Neneng has been banned from traveling abroad since May 31, 2011 and named suspect.
"She has been given a travel ban and this includes the revocation of her passport," the minister said.
The immigration office, he said, has already coordinated with its representative offices abroad to anticipate the possibility of Neneng using the passport to move to other countries. Unlike Nazaruddin who has used other person’s passport to travel abroad Neneng is still using her own passport.
"Foreign representative offices will be informed about it," he said. Neneng has been named suspect in a corruption case linked to procurement at a solar power project in the ministry of manpower and transmigration in 2008.
Explosions, Gunfire Rock Tripoli as Rebels Advance
Explosions and gunfire rocked Tripoli overnight, after days of battlefield defeats left Muammar Gaddafi’s government and troops penned ever more tightly in the besieged capital by a rebel advance. Rebels said the fighting marked a final push in an uprising against the long-time leader that has raged in the North African oil-producing nation for six months, while Gaddafi dismissed it as an ill-fated attempt by “rats”.
“Those rats ... were attacked by the masses tonight and we eliminated them,” Gaddafi said in a live audio message over state television. “I know that there are air bombardments but the fireworks were louder than the sound of the bombs thrown by the aircraft.”
An official at the rebel National Transitional Council said the fighting was the beginning of the end for Gaddafi. “The zero hour has started. The rebels in Tripoli have risen up,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council, based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, told Reuters.
The clashes inside the city triggered celebrations among Gaddafi opponents elsewhere in the country and in the capital of neighbouring Tunisia, and fed widespread speculation Gaddafi’s 41-year rule was sliding towards collapse. Gaddafi’s information minister said the rebel incursion into Tripoli had been quickly put down, though sounds of gunfire and explosions continued into the early morning.
Fighting was still raging after midnight around Mitiga airbase in Tripoli’s Tajourah district, an area said to be under rebel control, an opposition activist told a Reuters journalist outside Libya. The gunbattles had left a number of rebels dead in the suburb of Qadah and elsewhere, along with at least three pro-Gaddafi soldiers in the Zawiyat al-Dahmania district of Tripoli, he said.
A Tripoli resident told Reuters that imams, or Muslim clerics, in parts of Tripoli called on people to rise up, using the loudspeakers on minarets. The resident said the call went out around the time people were breaking their Ramadan fast.
Earlier on Saturday evening, residents told Reuters of gunfire and street protests in several parts of Tripoli. “We can hear shooting in different places,” one residents said.
“Most of the regions of the city have gone out, mostly young people ... it’s the uprising... They went out after breaking the (Ramadan) fast.”
“They are shouting religious slogans: ’God is greatest!’" This week’s rebel advances on Tripoli have transformed the war by cutting the capital off from its main road link to the outside world and putting unprecedented pressure on Gaddafi.
Defections
Washington says his days are numbered, and reports have emerged of more defections from his ranks. President Barack Obama, on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, was receiving regular updates on Libya, a senior White House official said.
“If Tripoli eventually falls to the rebels, Gaddafi’s already limited options become even more limited. Pressure on him and his shrinking circle of loyalists has to be taking a serious toll,” a senior White House official said.
The six-month-old war came close to the Tunisian frontier after rebels suddenly seized the coastal city of Zawiyah just 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, surrounding the heavily fortified capital and severing its vital supply routes. In Tunisia, security sources said their forces had intercepted Libyan men in vehicles with weapons and fought them through the night in the desert.
They reported several casualties, but did not say whether the fighters were Libyan rebels or pro-Gaddafi soldiers cut off from Tripoli. Residents of the southern Tunisian desert town of Douz told Reuters by telephone that helicopters were swooping overhead and troops had been summoned from nearby towns to subdue the infiltrators, who rode in vehicles without number plates.
The imposition of a siege around Tripoli has trapped its residents and cut it off from fuel and food supplies. The International Organisation for Migration said on Friday it would organise a rescue operation to evacuate thousands of foreign workers, probably by sea.
Intense fighting continued in Zawiyah, home to an important oil refinery, on Saturday and rebels occupying the centre of the city said pro-Gaddafi forces showed no sign of retreat. “Gaddafi will try to take back Zawiyah at any price. He will keep shelling the hospital,” a rebel fighter said as he prepared for midday prayers in the mosque of Bir Hawisa, a nearby village where many civilians are sheltering.
“We will not let that happen. We will fight.”
East of Tripoli, fighting has been bloodier and rebel advances far slower. On Friday, opposition forces fought street battles in the city of Zlitan but suffered heavy casualties, a Reuters reporter said. A rebel spokesman said 32 rebel fighters were killed and 150 wounded.
NATO bombings
NATO warplanes have hammered Gaddafi military targets since March under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians. Gaddafi’s government has said the bombs have killed scores of innocent people, including 27 during a raid on Tripoli this week.
On Saturday, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi spoke to U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon by telephone requesting an investigation into alleged abuses by NATO, Libyan state news agency JANA reported. JANA said Ban had promised to study the proposal.
In another potential blow to Gaddafi, a Tunisian source said Libya’s top oil official, Omran Abukraa, had arrived in Tunisia after deciding not to return to Tripoli from a trip to Italy. If confirmed, it would be the third apparent defection of a senior Gaddafi associate this week. A senior security official arrived in Rome on Monday, and rebels said on Friday that Gaddafi’s estranged former deputy Abdel Salam Jalloud had joined their side in the western mountains.
The siege of Tripoli and the prospect of a battle for the capital have added urgency to the question of Gaddafi’s fate. The leader repeatedly has vowed never to leave the country and rebels say they will not stop fighting until he is gone.
A senior U.S. official said on Saturday that the opposition must prepare to take over power soon. The United States is among more than 30 nations that have recognised the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya’s legitimate authority.
“It is clear that the situation is moving against Gaddafi,” U.S. assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman told a news conference after meeting Libyan rebel leaders at their headquarters in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi. “The opposition continues to make substantial gains on the ground while his forces grow weaker.”
“Those rats ... were attacked by the masses tonight and we eliminated them,” Gaddafi said in a live audio message over state television. “I know that there are air bombardments but the fireworks were louder than the sound of the bombs thrown by the aircraft.”
An official at the rebel National Transitional Council said the fighting was the beginning of the end for Gaddafi. “The zero hour has started. The rebels in Tripoli have risen up,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice-chairman of the rebel National Transitional Council, based in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, told Reuters.
The clashes inside the city triggered celebrations among Gaddafi opponents elsewhere in the country and in the capital of neighbouring Tunisia, and fed widespread speculation Gaddafi’s 41-year rule was sliding towards collapse. Gaddafi’s information minister said the rebel incursion into Tripoli had been quickly put down, though sounds of gunfire and explosions continued into the early morning.
Fighting was still raging after midnight around Mitiga airbase in Tripoli’s Tajourah district, an area said to be under rebel control, an opposition activist told a Reuters journalist outside Libya. The gunbattles had left a number of rebels dead in the suburb of Qadah and elsewhere, along with at least three pro-Gaddafi soldiers in the Zawiyat al-Dahmania district of Tripoli, he said.
A Tripoli resident told Reuters that imams, or Muslim clerics, in parts of Tripoli called on people to rise up, using the loudspeakers on minarets. The resident said the call went out around the time people were breaking their Ramadan fast.
Earlier on Saturday evening, residents told Reuters of gunfire and street protests in several parts of Tripoli. “We can hear shooting in different places,” one residents said.
“Most of the regions of the city have gone out, mostly young people ... it’s the uprising... They went out after breaking the (Ramadan) fast.”
“They are shouting religious slogans: ’God is greatest!’" This week’s rebel advances on Tripoli have transformed the war by cutting the capital off from its main road link to the outside world and putting unprecedented pressure on Gaddafi.
Defections
Washington says his days are numbered, and reports have emerged of more defections from his ranks. President Barack Obama, on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, was receiving regular updates on Libya, a senior White House official said.
“If Tripoli eventually falls to the rebels, Gaddafi’s already limited options become even more limited. Pressure on him and his shrinking circle of loyalists has to be taking a serious toll,” a senior White House official said.
The six-month-old war came close to the Tunisian frontier after rebels suddenly seized the coastal city of Zawiyah just 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, surrounding the heavily fortified capital and severing its vital supply routes. In Tunisia, security sources said their forces had intercepted Libyan men in vehicles with weapons and fought them through the night in the desert.
They reported several casualties, but did not say whether the fighters were Libyan rebels or pro-Gaddafi soldiers cut off from Tripoli. Residents of the southern Tunisian desert town of Douz told Reuters by telephone that helicopters were swooping overhead and troops had been summoned from nearby towns to subdue the infiltrators, who rode in vehicles without number plates.
The imposition of a siege around Tripoli has trapped its residents and cut it off from fuel and food supplies. The International Organisation for Migration said on Friday it would organise a rescue operation to evacuate thousands of foreign workers, probably by sea.
Intense fighting continued in Zawiyah, home to an important oil refinery, on Saturday and rebels occupying the centre of the city said pro-Gaddafi forces showed no sign of retreat. “Gaddafi will try to take back Zawiyah at any price. He will keep shelling the hospital,” a rebel fighter said as he prepared for midday prayers in the mosque of Bir Hawisa, a nearby village where many civilians are sheltering.
“We will not let that happen. We will fight.”
East of Tripoli, fighting has been bloodier and rebel advances far slower. On Friday, opposition forces fought street battles in the city of Zlitan but suffered heavy casualties, a Reuters reporter said. A rebel spokesman said 32 rebel fighters were killed and 150 wounded.
NATO bombings
NATO warplanes have hammered Gaddafi military targets since March under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians. Gaddafi’s government has said the bombs have killed scores of innocent people, including 27 during a raid on Tripoli this week.
On Saturday, Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi spoke to U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon by telephone requesting an investigation into alleged abuses by NATO, Libyan state news agency JANA reported. JANA said Ban had promised to study the proposal.
In another potential blow to Gaddafi, a Tunisian source said Libya’s top oil official, Omran Abukraa, had arrived in Tunisia after deciding not to return to Tripoli from a trip to Italy. If confirmed, it would be the third apparent defection of a senior Gaddafi associate this week. A senior security official arrived in Rome on Monday, and rebels said on Friday that Gaddafi’s estranged former deputy Abdel Salam Jalloud had joined their side in the western mountains.
The siege of Tripoli and the prospect of a battle for the capital have added urgency to the question of Gaddafi’s fate. The leader repeatedly has vowed never to leave the country and rebels say they will not stop fighting until he is gone.
A senior U.S. official said on Saturday that the opposition must prepare to take over power soon. The United States is among more than 30 nations that have recognised the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC) as Libya’s legitimate authority.
“It is clear that the situation is moving against Gaddafi,” U.S. assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman told a news conference after meeting Libyan rebel leaders at their headquarters in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi. “The opposition continues to make substantial gains on the ground while his forces grow weaker.”
12 Dead in Plane Crash in Canadian Arctic
Twelve people were killed and three others injured Saturday when a passenger jet crashed in the Canadian Arctic, federal police said. A Boeing 737 operated by First Air with 15 people on board, four of them crew members, crashed a few kilometers (miles) from Resolute Bay in the Arctic territory of Nunavut, shortly before 1:00 pm (1800 GMT), police said.
The plane was en route from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay when it crashed. The jet was then scheduled to travel on to Grise Fiord on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island.
Doctors arrived quickly at the scene, according to emergency services at the Trenton military base in Ontario. “Our investigators are already working there. The black boxes have been located,” Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesman Chris Krepski told AFP.
Investigators have so far refrained from speculating about the causes of the accident. Reports indicated there was fog in the area when the plane crashed.
Police and local officials in Resolute Bay — home to about 200 people — were not immediately available for comment on what may have caused the deadly crash or the identities of the victims. There was also no new information about the condition of the three people injured.
First Air links about 25 communities in Canada’s far north to major cities such as Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton. The doomed plane was made in 1975, and purchased by First Air in 1989, according to Radio Canada.
Hundreds of military personnel were in the Resolute Bay area participating in military exercises codenamed “Operation Nanook.” Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected there Monday as part of his annual trip to the Arctic, which coincides with the drills. Governor General David Johnston was also due in the area over the weekend.
The plane was en route from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay when it crashed. The jet was then scheduled to travel on to Grise Fiord on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island.
Doctors arrived quickly at the scene, according to emergency services at the Trenton military base in Ontario. “Our investigators are already working there. The black boxes have been located,” Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesman Chris Krepski told AFP.
Investigators have so far refrained from speculating about the causes of the accident. Reports indicated there was fog in the area when the plane crashed.
Police and local officials in Resolute Bay — home to about 200 people — were not immediately available for comment on what may have caused the deadly crash or the identities of the victims. There was also no new information about the condition of the three people injured.
First Air links about 25 communities in Canada’s far north to major cities such as Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton. The doomed plane was made in 1975, and purchased by First Air in 1989, according to Radio Canada.
Hundreds of military personnel were in the Resolute Bay area participating in military exercises codenamed “Operation Nanook.” Prime Minister Stephen Harper was expected there Monday as part of his annual trip to the Arctic, which coincides with the drills. Governor General David Johnston was also due in the area over the weekend.
Powerful Quakes Hit Near Vanuatu in South Pacific
A series of earthquakes struck off the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude-7.1 quake struck at 3:55 a.m. (1655 GMT Saturday) at a depth of 25.2 miles (40.6 kilometers). Its epicenter was 39 miles (63 kilometers) south-southwest of Vanuatu's capital, Port-Vila.
The temblor was followed by several aftershocks, including a magnitude-7.0 quake that struck at 5:19 a.m. (1819 GMT) at a depth of 17.7 miles (28.5 kilometers). Its epicenter was 42 miles (69 kilometers) south-southwest of Port-Vila. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami warning was issued.
Vanuatu, a chain of 83 islands, lies just over 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) northeast of Sydney. It is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific.
A magnitude-7.3 quake struck near Vanuatu on Dec. 26, causing a tsunami a few inches high but no damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude-7.1 quake struck at 3:55 a.m. (1655 GMT Saturday) at a depth of 25.2 miles (40.6 kilometers). Its epicenter was 39 miles (63 kilometers) south-southwest of Vanuatu's capital, Port-Vila.
The temblor was followed by several aftershocks, including a magnitude-7.0 quake that struck at 5:19 a.m. (1819 GMT) at a depth of 17.7 miles (28.5 kilometers). Its epicenter was 42 miles (69 kilometers) south-southwest of Port-Vila. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami warning was issued.
Vanuatu, a chain of 83 islands, lies just over 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) northeast of Sydney. It is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific.
A magnitude-7.3 quake struck near Vanuatu on Dec. 26, causing a tsunami a few inches high but no damage.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
No Need to be Indonesian Citizen to Respect The Country
B.D.K. Saldin, one of the Sri Lankan Malays, invited in the flag raising ceremony to commemorate Indonesian Independence day at the Indonesian embassy compound in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Aug.17, 2011, is Indonesian native
The flag raising ceremony to commemorate the 66th Indonesia's Independence day was held at the Indonesian Embassy's compound in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday. The ceremony chaired by Indonesian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Djafar Husein, was attended by the staff of embassy as well as their families and Sri Lankan Malays, some of them are native Indonesians.In his speech, Djafar stated the importance of Sri Lanka and Indonesia's diplomatic relations established in 1952. According to him, Indonesia as the third biggest democratic country in the world learned that economic and political development of Sri Lanka has grown rapidly since the end of Sri Lankan civil war in May 2009.
The ambassador added that Indonesia was struggling for achieving the target of being the tenth biggest economy in the world in the next 2 decades. Djafar Husein also stated the ceremony could be used as a moment to improve better diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A Sri Lankan Malay, BDK Saldin (83), who is Indonesian native and attended the ceremony expressed his impression of joining it. "It always reminds me of my real place of origin," said the 83 year-old grandfather of two sons and two grandchildren.
"I come from Batavia (the old name of Jakarta)," answered him when asked by Kompas.com on his place of origin.
Saldin admitted of not knowing exactly who his ancestors expelled by Dutch colonialists from Javanese island to Sri Lanka in 1790 were. However, the former staff of the Indonesian embassy in Colombo from 1954-1960 claimed of being always proud of becoming Indonesian native eventhough he is a Sri Lankan citizen.
The ambassador added that Indonesia was struggling for achieving the target of being the tenth biggest economy in the world in the next 2 decades. Djafar Husein also stated the ceremony could be used as a moment to improve better diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A Sri Lankan Malay, BDK Saldin (83), who is Indonesian native and attended the ceremony expressed his impression of joining it. "It always reminds me of my real place of origin," said the 83 year-old grandfather of two sons and two grandchildren.
"I come from Batavia (the old name of Jakarta)," answered him when asked by Kompas.com on his place of origin.
Saldin admitted of not knowing exactly who his ancestors expelled by Dutch colonialists from Javanese island to Sri Lanka in 1790 were. However, the former staff of the Indonesian embassy in Colombo from 1954-1960 claimed of being always proud of becoming Indonesian native eventhough he is a Sri Lankan citizen.
Indonesia Cuts Jail Terms of Australia Drug Traffickers
Two Australian drug traffickers jailed for 20 years on the island of Bali had their sentences cut Wednesday as part of Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations, an official said.
Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence had their sentences reduced by five and six months respectively, the resort island’s Kerobokan prison chief Siswanto told AFP.
“The official letter has not been handed out due to a technical matter but it’s confirmed that Corby and Renae receive sentence cuts,” he said.
It’s the fifth time Corby, and sixth time Renae, have received sentence reductions, he said, adding the cuts total 22 months for Corby and 29 months for Lawrence. Well-behaved prisoners traditionally receive sentence reductions on Indonesia’s Independence Day.
Corby, 33, was found guilty of trafficking 4.1 kilograms (nine pounds) of marijuana in 2005. She has always maintained her innocence and claims international drug smugglers placed the marijuana in her luggage.
She submitted a clemency appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in July asking for a sentence reduction. Her lawyers had asked that she be released on humanitarian grounds because of mental illness.
Lawrence, 33, is one of the so-called “Bali Nine,” a group of Australians convicted over a plot to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Bali into Australia in 2005.
Schapelle Corby and Renae Lawrence had their sentences reduced by five and six months respectively, the resort island’s Kerobokan prison chief Siswanto told AFP.
“The official letter has not been handed out due to a technical matter but it’s confirmed that Corby and Renae receive sentence cuts,” he said.
It’s the fifth time Corby, and sixth time Renae, have received sentence reductions, he said, adding the cuts total 22 months for Corby and 29 months for Lawrence. Well-behaved prisoners traditionally receive sentence reductions on Indonesia’s Independence Day.
Corby, 33, was found guilty of trafficking 4.1 kilograms (nine pounds) of marijuana in 2005. She has always maintained her innocence and claims international drug smugglers placed the marijuana in her luggage.
She submitted a clemency appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in July asking for a sentence reduction. Her lawyers had asked that she be released on humanitarian grounds because of mental illness.
Lawrence, 33, is one of the so-called “Bali Nine,” a group of Australians convicted over a plot to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Bali into Australia in 2005.
World Population Will Reach 7 Billion This Year
The world population will reach seven billion later this year, with increases in the number of people in Africa off-setting birth rate drops elsewhere, according to a new French study published Thursday.
Looking much further ahead, the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) predicts a continuing rise in the overall population figures until the total stabilises somewhere between 9-10 billion worldwide by the end of the century.
From six billion people, the figure estimated in 1999, the gap between the global birth and death rates has swiftly brought the total figure towards the next billion in just 12 years. INED expects it to take a further 14 years to reach eight billion people before the figures start stabilising, according to the study which pulls together research carried out by the United Nations, the World Bank and several major national institutes.
In historical terms the growth in the global population has been soaring since the 19th century. “It has increased seven-fold over the last two hundred years, topping seven billion in 2011, and is expected to reach nine or 10 billion by the end of the 21st century,” the report said.
Just seven countries now account for half the world’s population, and therefore their demographic shifts have a major effect. China tops the list with over 1.33 billion people, with another 1.17 billion in India.
The other five countries, in order, are the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Nigeria. INED estimates that between now and 2050 India will become the most populous nation, with Beijing’s one-child policy moderating the Chinese numbers.
While the overall numbers continue to grow, the rate of increase is already dropping, according to INED, standing at 1.1 percent this year from two percent 50 years ago.
This is due to the total fertility rate per women dropping to 2.5 children, half of the figure recorded in 1950. However regional differences are great, with an average of 4.7 children per woman in Africa compared with just 1.6 in Europe.
Looking much further ahead, the National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) predicts a continuing rise in the overall population figures until the total stabilises somewhere between 9-10 billion worldwide by the end of the century.
From six billion people, the figure estimated in 1999, the gap between the global birth and death rates has swiftly brought the total figure towards the next billion in just 12 years. INED expects it to take a further 14 years to reach eight billion people before the figures start stabilising, according to the study which pulls together research carried out by the United Nations, the World Bank and several major national institutes.
In historical terms the growth in the global population has been soaring since the 19th century. “It has increased seven-fold over the last two hundred years, topping seven billion in 2011, and is expected to reach nine or 10 billion by the end of the 21st century,” the report said.
Just seven countries now account for half the world’s population, and therefore their demographic shifts have a major effect. China tops the list with over 1.33 billion people, with another 1.17 billion in India.
The other five countries, in order, are the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Nigeria. INED estimates that between now and 2050 India will become the most populous nation, with Beijing’s one-child policy moderating the Chinese numbers.
While the overall numbers continue to grow, the rate of increase is already dropping, according to INED, standing at 1.1 percent this year from two percent 50 years ago.
This is due to the total fertility rate per women dropping to 2.5 children, half of the figure recorded in 1950. However regional differences are great, with an average of 4.7 children per woman in Africa compared with just 1.6 in Europe.
Indonesia Cuts Terrorist's Prison Sentence
Indonesia says it has shaved two months off the five-year prison sentence of a convicted terrorist who was added this week to a U.S. blacklist.
Each Independence Day, Indonesia reduces sentences of inmates who have completed at least a third of their time. This year 53,400 inmates are eligible, including 26-year-old Muhammad Jibriel Abdul Rahman, who calls himself the "Prince of Jihad" on his web site.
Prison official I Wayan Sukerta says Jibriel will get two months off his five-year sentence begun in August 2009. He was convicted of terrorism after authorities said he met with conspirators in 2009 Jakarta hotel bombings that killed seven people.
Jibriel was among five people added Tuesday to a U.S. blacklist of terrorists who face financial sanctions.
Each Independence Day, Indonesia reduces sentences of inmates who have completed at least a third of their time. This year 53,400 inmates are eligible, including 26-year-old Muhammad Jibriel Abdul Rahman, who calls himself the "Prince of Jihad" on his web site.
Prison official I Wayan Sukerta says Jibriel will get two months off his five-year sentence begun in August 2009. He was convicted of terrorism after authorities said he met with conspirators in 2009 Jakarta hotel bombings that killed seven people.
Jibriel was among five people added Tuesday to a U.S. blacklist of terrorists who face financial sanctions.
Bus Plunges into Ravine in Malang, Three Killed
Three people were killed after the bus in which they were traveling plunged into a 60-meter deep ravine at Slatri village, Malang district, East Java, on Wednesday.
The accident occurred when the Jombang-bound bus tried to overtake another car at a bend in the village while at the same time a truck came from the opposite direction, the chief of traffic unit at Pujon police precinct, Superintendent Sugiman said. Consequently, the driver of the bus called Puspa Indah turned sharply the wheel to the left and the bus plunged into the ravine, he said.
Meanwhile, the head of traffic unit at the Malang police resort, Adj. Comr. Erwin Aras Genda SIK said the police were still looking into the cause of the accident. "The bus driver lost control so when the bus met with the truck at the narrow bend the bus ran off the road and plunged into the ravine."
He stated the accident also injured 15 other passengers and all of them were taken to a nearby hospital in Kediri district. Three of the 15 passengers sustained serious injuries and 12 others light injuries.
He said the accident occurred at around 12.00 western Indonesian time. The three dead victims were identified as Imam Sofii, M Mahsun and Taufik.
Sugiman said two of the three victims died at the scene and one died while he was being taken to the hospital.
The accident occurred when the Jombang-bound bus tried to overtake another car at a bend in the village while at the same time a truck came from the opposite direction, the chief of traffic unit at Pujon police precinct, Superintendent Sugiman said. Consequently, the driver of the bus called Puspa Indah turned sharply the wheel to the left and the bus plunged into the ravine, he said.
Meanwhile, the head of traffic unit at the Malang police resort, Adj. Comr. Erwin Aras Genda SIK said the police were still looking into the cause of the accident. "The bus driver lost control so when the bus met with the truck at the narrow bend the bus ran off the road and plunged into the ravine."
He stated the accident also injured 15 other passengers and all of them were taken to a nearby hospital in Kediri district. Three of the 15 passengers sustained serious injuries and 12 others light injuries.
He said the accident occurred at around 12.00 western Indonesian time. The three dead victims were identified as Imam Sofii, M Mahsun and Taufik.
Sugiman said two of the three victims died at the scene and one died while he was being taken to the hospital.
Nominees for BI Deputy Governors
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Darmin Nasution said the central bank is in the process of preparing nominees for its deputy governors to replace their two predecessors whose term of office will expire in January 2012.
"Muliaman D Hadad and the late Budi Rochadi will end their term of office in January 2012. Before their term of office expires, we will propose nominees for the deputy governors to the President," he said here on Wednesday.
Although the late Budi Rochadi’s post had been vacant since July 2011, the central bank preferred to find his successor when his term of office ended in January 2012, he said.
"If we find his successor now he/she will end his/her term of office in January 2012 in accordance with the law on Bank Indonesia," he said. He added Bank Indonesia had set up a team of insiders and outsiders to select nominees for the post of deputy governors.
"The team will select a number of names and I will choose three of them to be proposed to the President. The President will later pick at least two of them to undergo a fit and proper test at the House of Representatives (DPR)," he said.
He said there was no regulation stating that the nominees must be insiders. "There is no regulation stating that nominees for the deputy governors must be Bank Indonesia officials. What is important is that they must be credible and have capacity."
In fact, the President could nominate non-Bank Indonesia official for the post because the highest authority in the nomination of individuals for the post rested with the President.
"Muliaman D Hadad and the late Budi Rochadi will end their term of office in January 2012. Before their term of office expires, we will propose nominees for the deputy governors to the President," he said here on Wednesday.
Although the late Budi Rochadi’s post had been vacant since July 2011, the central bank preferred to find his successor when his term of office ended in January 2012, he said.
"If we find his successor now he/she will end his/her term of office in January 2012 in accordance with the law on Bank Indonesia," he said. He added Bank Indonesia had set up a team of insiders and outsiders to select nominees for the post of deputy governors.
"The team will select a number of names and I will choose three of them to be proposed to the President. The President will later pick at least two of them to undergo a fit and proper test at the House of Representatives (DPR)," he said.
He said there was no regulation stating that the nominees must be insiders. "There is no regulation stating that nominees for the deputy governors must be Bank Indonesia officials. What is important is that they must be credible and have capacity."
In fact, the President could nominate non-Bank Indonesia official for the post because the highest authority in the nomination of individuals for the post rested with the President.
Nissan Boosts Annual Output Capacity in Indonesia
Despite the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the nation's eight passenger vehicle manufacturers are expected to assemble nearly 23 million units worldwide this fiscal year, almost tying the record set in fiscal 2007, The Nikkei reported early Thursday.
They plan to build a total of more than 13 million vehicles in the second half, marking a 20% year-on-year increase to beat the 12 million units of the six months ended March 2008, before the financial crisis hit.
The disaster and the resulting parts shortages forced the firms to reduce production by more than 1 million units in the first half. But their operations have returned to normal this summer.
Japanese carmakers' global market shares fell after the disaster because the companies failed to supply enough new vehicles. In the U.S., Toyota Motor Corp. dropped to No. 4 in May, falling behind Chrysler Group LLC. Honda Motor Co. ceded fifth place to Sough Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. Since consumers abroad tend to buy their cars off the dealership lot, production cutbacks meant lost sales for Japanese companies.
According to research firm Fourin Inc., overall global auto production will increase from 78.41 million in 2010 to more than 80 million units this year.
Toyota will make 4.5 million vehicles worldwide in the second half, up 23% on the year and on a par with the 4.53 million it assembled in the second half of fiscal 2007. Nissan Motor Co. will turn out 2.59 million units, up 18%, while Honda will produce 2.2 million, up 24%. Suzuki Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. will also build a record number of vehicles.
Toyota plans to raise daily output in Japan from slightly more than 12,000 now to 15,000 by next March. In the U.S., a plant in the state of Mississippi is expected to come onstream this fall. The company will also begin full-scale production of low-priced vehicles in India.
Honda will restore two shifts at a plant in the U.S. state of Indiana and a Canadian site in order to double production. In addition, a new plant will come onstream in the Chinese city of Guangzhou at year-end. The firm will also raise output at a factory in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, from October.
Nissan will boost annual output capacity at an Indonesian plant from 50,000 units to 100,000 next month. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will add a shift on minivehicle lines at a Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, plant and hire 800 more temporary workers. Mazda Motor Corp.'s second-half output is expected to surge 31% to 830,000 units. And Suzuki will increase output in India.
Japanese carmakers face pressure to lower costs further amid stiff competition with European and South Korean rivals, which are going on the offensive by drawing on the weakness of their currencies.
They plan to build a total of more than 13 million vehicles in the second half, marking a 20% year-on-year increase to beat the 12 million units of the six months ended March 2008, before the financial crisis hit.
The disaster and the resulting parts shortages forced the firms to reduce production by more than 1 million units in the first half. But their operations have returned to normal this summer.
Japanese carmakers' global market shares fell after the disaster because the companies failed to supply enough new vehicles. In the U.S., Toyota Motor Corp. dropped to No. 4 in May, falling behind Chrysler Group LLC. Honda Motor Co. ceded fifth place to Sough Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. Since consumers abroad tend to buy their cars off the dealership lot, production cutbacks meant lost sales for Japanese companies.
According to research firm Fourin Inc., overall global auto production will increase from 78.41 million in 2010 to more than 80 million units this year.
Toyota will make 4.5 million vehicles worldwide in the second half, up 23% on the year and on a par with the 4.53 million it assembled in the second half of fiscal 2007. Nissan Motor Co. will turn out 2.59 million units, up 18%, while Honda will produce 2.2 million, up 24%. Suzuki Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. will also build a record number of vehicles.
Toyota plans to raise daily output in Japan from slightly more than 12,000 now to 15,000 by next March. In the U.S., a plant in the state of Mississippi is expected to come onstream this fall. The company will also begin full-scale production of low-priced vehicles in India.
Honda will restore two shifts at a plant in the U.S. state of Indiana and a Canadian site in order to double production. In addition, a new plant will come onstream in the Chinese city of Guangzhou at year-end. The firm will also raise output at a factory in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, from October.
Nissan will boost annual output capacity at an Indonesian plant from 50,000 units to 100,000 next month. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will add a shift on minivehicle lines at a Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, plant and hire 800 more temporary workers. Mazda Motor Corp.'s second-half output is expected to surge 31% to 830,000 units. And Suzuki will increase output in India.
Japanese carmakers face pressure to lower costs further amid stiff competition with European and South Korean rivals, which are going on the offensive by drawing on the weakness of their currencies.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Campaign For the Media
About the ad campaign
Developed in partnership with the Arthritis Foundation and Ad Council, the Fight Arthritis Pain campaign focuses on reaching adults 55+ who are currently living with or are at risk for osteoarthritis and empowers them to take simple steps that can change the course of the disease and improve the quality of their lives.Through dancing in grocery store aisles, simple iconic depictions, and move-time radio where arthritis is whirled, twirled, flipped, dipped, shimmied, shook and boogied, the Fight Arthritis Pain campaign demonstrates that "moving is the best medicine." In addition, the PSAs and campaign resources direct audiences to visit this new Web site where they can learn how to reduce pain, increase mobility and slow arthritis progression.
The Arthritis Foundation and the Ad Council want to increase the public's awareness that there are simple steps everyone can take to prevent and decrease the pain and disability of osteoarthritis. This new PSA campaign features fun ways that people can integrate movement into their lives.
About osteoarthritis
Expanding waistlines, inactivity and an aging population are contributing toward an arthritis epidemic that will impact the lives and wallets of all Americans. Already the nation's most common cause of disability, the impact of the disease is yet to be realized. Nearly one in five U.S. adults (46 million people) has arthritis and an estimated 67 million people will be affected by 2030.Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common type of arthritis, currently affects nearly 27 million people in the U.S. Moreover, because of the link between osteoarthritis and inactivity, more than half of adults with diabetes or heart disease also have arthritis, and these numbers are expected to increase as rates of osteoarthritis skyrocket.
DID YOU KNOW:
- Arthritis is not only a disease that affects the elderly. Symptoms of osteoarthritis can begin as early as age 40 and progress slowly.
- Being overweight and physically inactive can increase your risk of developing osteoarthritis by two-thirds in your lifetime.
- Even small amounts of weight loss and physical activity can decrease the pain and disability of osteoarthritis.
- For every one pound of weight loss, there is a four-pound reduction in the load exerted on each knee.
- Physical activity keeps joints flexible and maintains or improves muscle strength.
- Osteoarthritis typically affects only certain joints, such as the hips, hands, knees, low back and neck.
Carol Galbreath
Vice President, Public Relations
Arthritis Foundation
National Office
1330 West Peachtree Street, Suite 100
Atlanta, GA 30309
cgalbreath@arthritis.org
Phone: (404) 965-7595
Cell: (678) 595-5454
Fax: (404) 872-8694
www.arthritis.org
OR
Allison Mantz
Assistant Campaign Manager
The Advertising Council, Inc.
1203 19th Street, 4th Floor
Washington DC 20036
amantz@adcouncil.org
Phone: (202) 331-9153
Fax: (202) 331-9790
www.adcouncil.org
TO ORDER ADDITIONAL CAMPAIGN MATERIALS, PLEASE CONTACT:
CI-Group
10 Salem Industrial Park
Whitehouse, NJ 08888
AdCouncil@ci-groupusa.com
Phone: (800) 933-PSAS (7727)
Finding Sparkling Bali in Sri Lanka
The Indonesian Embassy in Colombo, in cooperation with Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel-Kuta, Sanggar Seni Indah Prima-Legian and Taj Samudra Hotel-Colombo, organize the 2011 Indonesian Food Festival on 12 – 21 August 2011 in the Latitude Restaurant, Taj Samudra Hotel.
The third festival, held to promote the culture and tourism, was officially opened by the Indonesian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Djafar Hussein. As of Monday, more than 350 visitors, mostly Sri Lankans and expatriates, have visited the festival.
This year’s Food Festival, incorporating the theme “Delightfully Bali”, is supported by a team of executive sous chef and kitchen artist, as well as professional dancers intentionally invited from Bali.
For 10 days, the public in Colombo and its surrounding have the opportunity to taste a buffet of signature Balinese dishes such as Ayam Sisit Sambal Bongkot (spicy shredded chicken), Kambing Menyat-Nyat (lamb stew), Kambing Sune Cekuh (lamb in white spice), Bebek Betutu (roasted duck), Tum Bepasih (steamed minced fish in banana leaf), Lawar Kacang (long beans in yellow spice), dan Pisang Rai (steamed banana in sweet rice).
Balinese ambiance is set with the support of room decorations from coconut leaves or janur craft as well as the head band Udeng and Balinese sarong worn by the serving team. The guests can enjoy the buffet with live Balinese dances as the main entertainment.
The Dance “Sekar Jagat” symbolizing the world’s harmony welcomes the guests at the entrance. The guests are also invited to experience romantic nuance of the Dance “Oleg Tamulilingan” performed by a couple dancers, as well as cheerfulness of the Dance “Joget” performed by lovely dancers.
The Dance “Baris”, symbolizing the chivalry of Balinese warriors, as well as the Dance “Jauk”, presenting impersonation of an imaginary demon, reveal the masculine side of Balinese dance. The rhythmic Balinese tunes “Rindik” and “Degung” between dance performances contribute in bringing out the ambience of Balinese village.
The guests coming to the Latitude Restaurant look enthusiastic, savoring the dishes and watching the dances. Besides promotional purposes, this Food Festival is held to share with Sri Lankans a sample of the rich cultures in Indonesia.
It is also aimed at showcasing successful Indonesian tourism, relying on cultural tourism without losing its identity and nationalism. Furthermore, Food Festival is considered an opportunity to promote friendship and people-to-people contact between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Through the splendor of art in culinary, dance and music as one of universal languages of friendship, it is hoped that the notion of friendly and congenial image of Indonesia will last among Sri Lankans and international communities in Sri Lanka.
Indosat Posts Net Profit of Rp681.9 Billion
PT Indosat posted a net profit of Rp681.9 billion in the first semester of 2011, up 137.5 percent from Rp287.1 billion in 2010, its president director said.
"The increase in the net profit was generated by the increase in the number of the company’s cellular customers from 37.8 million in the first semester of 2010 to 47.3 million in the first semester of 2011," PT Indosat President Director Harry Sasongko, said here on Monday.
Harry said that up to June 2011, the company booked an income of Rp10.05 trillion, up 4 percent compared with the figure in the corresponding period a year earlier which was Rp9.661 trillion. He said that by taking into account the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) burden in the first semester, the income before depreciation tax interest and amortization (Ebitda) reached Rp4.499 trillion, down 2.1 percent from the previous Rp4.59 trillion.
Thus, the firm posted an Ebitda margin amounting to 44.8 percent, down from 2.8 points from the previous 47.6 percent. The corporate business burden in the June 2011 period jumped up from Rp8.061 trillion to Rp8.713 trillion, so was the case of the business profit which was down 16.5 percent from Rp1.6 trillion to Rp1.337 trillion.
Harry said that of the total corporate income of Rp10.45 trillion, about Rp8.227 trillion came from the cellular business and Rp1.8 trillion from non-cellular phone services.
Toshiba to Design LCD TVs in Indonesia
Toshiba Corp. will begin designing LCD televisions for local markets in India, Indonesia and Vietnam in October as it attempts to mount a challenge against Samsung Electronics Co. and other South Korean rivals, The Nikkei reported early Tuesday.
The electronics giant launched an LCD TV brand for emerging countries in 2010 under the name Power TV. The brand's lineup currently includes products with built-in storage batteries for areas plagued by frequent blackouts and models with signal-boosting and noise-reducing functions.
Power TV models are now sold in Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa. In some Southeast Asian countries, its market share has roughly doubled to around 20%.
Its current offerings share common specifications across different markets, but Toshiba will start changing designs, functions and features for individual markets to better meet local needs. The firm will also consider adding functions, such as connectivity with mobile phones and other digital devices.
LCD TV design divisions are already up and running in India, Indonesia and Vietnam with around 10 staff members each. In India, the workforce will be raised to around 30 by the end of fiscal 2012 to enable the development of new products and software. In addition to TVs, the design divisions will handle notebook computers. At the same time, the company might design TVs at its personal computer development division in the Chinese province of Hangzhou.
Toshiba has been developing LCD TVs for both the domestic and overseas markets at its Fukaya factory near Tokyo, except for some models destined for the U.S. and Europe.
The firm has set its sights on boosting its worldwide LCD TV sales to 25 million units by fiscal 2013, up 80% from fiscal 2010. It aims to have emerging countries account for 50% of its global TV sales in volume terms in fiscal 2013, compared with around 20% at present.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How Well Indonesia Prepares Its Team to Face Palestine, Jordan
After holding week-long exercises at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, the Indonesia`s senior soccer team continued its workouts in the Manahan stadium, Solo, Central Java, to prepare itself for trial matches with Palestine and Jordan.
The senior soccer team was scheduled to do he trial matches against the national Jordanian team of players under the age of 23 years (U-23) on August 18, and against the Palestinian national team on Aug. 22. Both matches will be held in the Solo’s Manahan stadium.
In the next trial match, the senior soccer team will face Jordan on August 27 in Jordan before playing against Iran on September 2, 2011. In the first leg of the next Pre-World Cup 2014 round Group E, the national team would face Iran which is believed to be the strongest opponent in the group.
In a tossup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil recently, the Indonesian soccer team was put in Group E along with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain. The senior soccer team started conducting its week-long exercise program at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, Banten province, on Aug 5 after defeating Turkmenistan 4-3 in the second round of the Asian zone in Jakarta on Thursday July 28.
"During the week-long exercises at the Cilegon Krakatau Steel sports stadium, the senior team made very significant progress," assistant coach Liestiadi said in Cilegon last Thursday.
According to him, the national team will continue doing exercises in the training camp in Solo until its departure to Jordan for a trial match on August 27. The All Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chose the Solo Manahan stadium as an exercise venue for the Pre World Cup 2014 national team due to its adequate infrastructure and accommodation.
Liestiadi also said the exercise pattern in Solo Manahan stadium depend on the decision made by the chief coach Wim Rijsbergen and physical coach Raymond Verheijen. Meanwhile, Raymond Verheijen left Indonesia on last Sunday because he is also needed by the Wales team.
Regarding the team members stamina, Liestiadi said the fitness level of about 20 percent of the national team members is still below the medium level, so that the team needs an effective training programs.
"If compared with the other Asian Pre-World Cup 2014 teams fitness, the national team members fitness is still under the medium level," the national coach assistant Liestiadi said here on Sunday afternoon following the national team exercise in the Manahan sports stadium.
Thus, the national soccer players need to increase their stamina up to at least 30 percent from now. Although the team’s stamina after undergoing exercises for three days in Solo Manahan stadium has shown an increase, but they have not reached a high level, so that their physical condition should be improved.
"During the fasting month of Ramadhan, we should be able to adjust the condition of players, so that they also play games, apart from the physical exercise only," he said.
Aside from that, the coordination and communication among the team members should be conducted more effectively and smoothly, Liestiadi cited. In addition, the national team members also conducted the game play correction which is aimed at making some elementary analysis, Liestiadi said, explaining that communication is much needed in the soccer play.
Prior to the match against Iran, there are still three weeks of the team preparation. Regarding the PSSI request on the postponement of the national team against Iran, FIFA rejected the request.
In the meantime, the organizing committee of trial match between the senior soccer team against the national team under the age of 23 years (U-23) scheduled on August 18, had provided 23,000 entry tickets, Paulus Haryoto, coordinator of the trial match organizing committee said in Solo on Sunday, adding that the Solo Manahan stadium has 24,000 seats capacity.
According to Paulus, the organizing committee in cooperation with the trial match central committee has anticipated the abundance of spectators on the trial match which will take place on August 18, 2011.
The organizing committee of the trial match between the senior soccer team against the national team under the age of 23 years (U-23) scheduled on August 18, had provided 23,000 entry tickets, Paulus Haryoto, coordinator of the trial match organizing committee said in Solo on Sunday, adding that the Solo Manahan stadium has 24,000 seats capacity.
According to Paulus, the organizing committee in cooperation with the trial match central organizing committee has anticipated the abundance of spectators on the trial match which will take place on August 18, 2011. The anticipation is made due to the Solo extraordinary public interest to look on the national team appearances in the trial match.
In addition to providing 23,000 entry tickets, the organzing committee will also install the monitoring screens at four points in the stadium in anticipation of the great number of audience who fail to get the tickets, Paulus said.
The prices of entry tickets for the trial match at the north and south stands sold Rp15.000 per ticket with 10 thousand pieces provided. The east stand ticket price is Rp20 thousand per piece with 10 thousand pieces provided.
The ticket price at the VIP west stand is Rp30 thousand per ticket with 2,450 sheets are provided. Meanwhile, the number of VIP tickets at the midwest stand reached 1,150 sheets at the price of Rp50 thousand per ticket. In a bid to secure the international match level, Paulus said, the organizing committee will deploy some 600 security personnel.
Indonesia's Participation in Koran Reading Competition in Tunis
Indonesia will take part and compete in the first post-revolution International Koran reading competition in Tunis for five days from August 12 to 16, 2011.
Tunisian Religious Minister Laroussi Mizouri opened the event at the National Library Building conference hall in Tunis. Mizouri underlined the importance of the first international religious competition since the Tunisian Revolution early this year, and an important stage in the political life in Tunisia.
He said the international event is a re-translation of Tunisia’s cultural characteristics contributing the great Islamic values in the world’s civilization manifested in the history of Kairaouan and Ez-Zaitunah. In the Koran recitation followed by 30 participants from 21 Muslim majority countries plus Rusia and Greece, the Indonesian representative is the only participant from Asia from the Middle East.
The two categories competed in the event is memorizing the Korean and reading it including its pronunciation. The Indonesian delegate in the vent is Muhammad Nazri from North Sumatra.
He came from Tanjung Balai, Asahan, began memorising the Korean since he was a second class Junior Secondary School student. When at the IAIN (government institute for Islamic studies) in North Sumatra, Medan, the location of the campus and his house are not far from the Islamic Center in Medan, motivated him to memorize the Korean up to until the last 30 sections. In the last national Koran memorizing competition in Banjarmasin, Nazri won third prize.
Tunisian Religious Minister Laroussi Mizouri opened the event at the National Library Building conference hall in Tunis. Mizouri underlined the importance of the first international religious competition since the Tunisian Revolution early this year, and an important stage in the political life in Tunisia.
He said the international event is a re-translation of Tunisia’s cultural characteristics contributing the great Islamic values in the world’s civilization manifested in the history of Kairaouan and Ez-Zaitunah. In the Koran recitation followed by 30 participants from 21 Muslim majority countries plus Rusia and Greece, the Indonesian representative is the only participant from Asia from the Middle East.
The two categories competed in the event is memorizing the Korean and reading it including its pronunciation. The Indonesian delegate in the vent is Muhammad Nazri from North Sumatra.
He came from Tanjung Balai, Asahan, began memorising the Korean since he was a second class Junior Secondary School student. When at the IAIN (government institute for Islamic studies) in North Sumatra, Medan, the location of the campus and his house are not far from the Islamic Center in Medan, motivated him to memorize the Korean up to until the last 30 sections. In the last national Koran memorizing competition in Banjarmasin, Nazri won third prize.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Return of The 928?
A Porsche-sponsored design student in England has penned a stunning coupe concept study called the 929.
The return of a large, comfort-biased, 2+2 sports coupe would give Porsche a player in the luxury GT segment that includes the likes of the Aston Martin DB9, Ferrari FF and Maserati GranTurismo, and perhaps even high-end variants of BMW's 6-Series and the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class.
A two-door version of the near-five-metre-long Panamera would also mark Porsche's first large coupe since 1995, when the front-engined 928 and 944 models were discontinued. But until such a car arrives, we have Julliana Cho's striking 929 concept study (pictured) to capture our imaginations.
Cho, who is being sponsored by the famous Stuttgart brand during her final year at the Royal College of Art in Britain, has penned an edgy electric-powered coupe borrowing design themes from the limited-edition 918 Spyder.
The sketches revitalise Porsche's GT coupe tradition with futuristic design cues and aerodynamics. The 929's ultra-long doors pivot from the rear wheels. We are not sure how practical they'd be in garages but they look the goods and provide easy access to front and rear seats.
Other notable styling touches include half-moon wheel covers and an elongated rear diffuser. With a distinguished CV that already includes several design awards and internships with Honda in Japan and GM Daewoo in Korea, Cho is one to watch.
Nazaruddin's Fear of Being Framed and Abused
Nazaruddin's handwriting on a note of protection appeal to Indonesian Government
Muhammad Nazaruddin asked for a protection from the government to guarantee that he would not be a victim of political frame up. The message of former ruling Democrat treasurer was stressed in his handwriting on a note he gave to his lawyer, OC Kaligis.
"I beg the Indonesian Government, no political frame up on me," wrote him as quoted by KOMPAS journalist, Prasetyo Eko P, in Bogota.
On the note dated on August 10, Nazaruddin also appealed for protection from being abused. "Don't hurt me," said him on the note signed by the suspect of bribe funds for development projects 2011 SEA Games athletes guesthouse.
According to Indonesian Ambassador to Colombia, RI Michael Menufandu, Nazaruddin was flown back to Jakarta Friday. The flight from Colombia to Jakarta will take around 30 hours.
Specialist Team Sent by PMI to Help Victims of Tropical Storm in Laos
The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Societies, has sent an emergency rapid response specialist team to help victims of tropical storm Haima in Laos.
Dwi Hariyadi, a member of the Rapid Disaster Response Team (RDRT) Specialists, said in a press statement here Thursday that she had been posted in Laos since July 19, 2011, and would stay for four weeks until August 19. IFRC had spent funds to help 5,000 people or 2,500 families by giving them food and non-food relief aid.
The donation was provided for the storm victims in Borikhamxay and Vientiane. Storm Haima hit Laos on June 24, causing widespread flooding and landslides in mountainous areas, with the death toll standing at 17 people, including eight in Xieng Khuang province, five in Vientiane province, two in Xayaboury province and two in Borikhamxay province.
Vientiane Times reported recently that with the cost of the damage continuing to mount, the government hopes to mobilize assistance from friendly nations and international organizations to provide relief to affected people.
Laos’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office Head Vichit Xindavong told the meeting that the storm destroyed more than 300 houses and 6,000 hectares of farmland throughout the country, and devastated critical infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.
Many thousands of people were affected by the storm. The government has mobilised assistance from both the public and private sectors, but the scale of the disaster means they will require international assistance to repair the damages.
Dwi Hariyadi, a member of the Rapid Disaster Response Team (RDRT) Specialists, said in a press statement here Thursday that she had been posted in Laos since July 19, 2011, and would stay for four weeks until August 19. IFRC had spent funds to help 5,000 people or 2,500 families by giving them food and non-food relief aid.
The donation was provided for the storm victims in Borikhamxay and Vientiane. Storm Haima hit Laos on June 24, causing widespread flooding and landslides in mountainous areas, with the death toll standing at 17 people, including eight in Xieng Khuang province, five in Vientiane province, two in Xayaboury province and two in Borikhamxay province.
Vientiane Times reported recently that with the cost of the damage continuing to mount, the government hopes to mobilize assistance from friendly nations and international organizations to provide relief to affected people.
Laos’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office Head Vichit Xindavong told the meeting that the storm destroyed more than 300 houses and 6,000 hectares of farmland throughout the country, and devastated critical infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools and hospitals.
Many thousands of people were affected by the storm. The government has mobilised assistance from both the public and private sectors, but the scale of the disaster means they will require international assistance to repair the damages.
Terrorists of The Same Caliber as Umar Patek Still at Large
Umar Patek.
The chief of the Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), Ansyaad Mbai, said there were a number of suspected terrorists of the same caliber as Umar Patek who were still at large. "There are still dozens of them in Indonesia," he said after signing a cooperation agreement on de-radicalization with an Islamic institution here on Thursday.
Ansyaad said terrorists who had been arrested earlier still did not have adequate capabilities then but "they have now even become cell leaders. Meanwhile bomb making is a skill anyone can learn."
"Their ideology is still the same. The BNPT does not worry about possible reprisals from them following Umar Patek’s arrest. Because even if we do nothing they will still take revenge. So we had better do something rather than do nothing," he said.
Umar Patek arrived here on Thursday after being arrested in Pakistan in March. Born in Pemalang, Central Java, he had been wanted so far in connection with his involvement in the Bali bombings in 2002 and in the bombings of several churches. Ansyaad declined to comment about other terrorist suspects his agency is targeting.
Ansyaad said terrorists who had been arrested earlier still did not have adequate capabilities then but "they have now even become cell leaders. Meanwhile bomb making is a skill anyone can learn."
"Their ideology is still the same. The BNPT does not worry about possible reprisals from them following Umar Patek’s arrest. Because even if we do nothing they will still take revenge. So we had better do something rather than do nothing," he said.
Umar Patek arrived here on Thursday after being arrested in Pakistan in March. Born in Pemalang, Central Java, he had been wanted so far in connection with his involvement in the Bali bombings in 2002 and in the bombings of several churches. Ansyaad declined to comment about other terrorist suspects his agency is targeting.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Newmont Unit Batu Hijau Mine Operations Still Suspended
PTNNT has been mining copper and gold since March 2000 in the Batu Hijau mine in West Nusa Tenggara
Operations remain suspended at PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara's Batu Hijau gold and copper mine on Sumbawa island in eastern Indonesia after unsuccessful job seekers blocked access to the mine to protest the company's recruitment process, spokesman Ruby Purnomo said by phone Thursday. Purnowo declined to give further details. A local daily quoted him as saying that the company decided to suspend operations Wednesday.
The Newmont Mining Corp. unit said in a statement Wednesday that it has temporarily cancelled recruitment following the protest, and hopes the protesters will return homes and operations can return to normal immediately.
The Newmont Mining Corp. unit said in a statement Wednesday that it has temporarily cancelled recruitment following the protest, and hopes the protesters will return homes and operations can return to normal immediately.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)