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Soldiers, police and emergency ser-vices staff continued their search forseven people still missing in the after-math of floods and landslides triggeredtwo days ago by rainy-season torren-tial downpours in the region.

“Search operations are gettingmore and more difficult, but we areworking on the assumption that thereare survivors,” said a police spokes-

Death toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanlandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodsAgence France-Presse

TOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubblethat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home aftera landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thedeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitwestern Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.

man by telephone from hard-hitYamaguchi prefecture on Honshuisland. One person was still miss-ing on the mud-filled ground floorof the nursing home where at leastsix people died when a large land-slide Tuesday hit the building inHofu City, 750 kilometres (470miles) west of Tokyo.

Associated PressKUALA LUMPUR - A Malay-

sian woman sentenced to floggingfor drinking beer has accepted theIslamic court’s order, saying shewants the punishment to be carriedout soon, news reports said Thurs-day.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a32-year-old model, was arrested oncharges of drinking beer after Is-lamic authorities raided a hotelnightclub last year. She was sen-tenced Monday to six lashes with arattan cane after pleading guilty inthe Shariah High Court.

Consuming alcohol is a religiousoffense in Malaysia only for Mus-lims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population. Offendersare prosecuted in Shariah courts,which handle cases mainly relatedto family and moral issues for Mus-lims.

Malaysianwomanacceptsflogging fordrinkingbeer

Whereas both Loris Capirossi andMarco Melandri moved on from Ducatiafter just one difficult year alongsideStoner, Hayden says he hopes to con-vince Ducati to keep him on for anotherseason. “It’s a two-year deal but it’s theiroption if they want to bring me back,”he told AUTOSPORT.

“It’s been hard but now we’re mak-ing progress. I looked at this as a chal-lenge from the beginning and I don’twant to give up. I want to say hey I con-quered it, I was able to ride that bike, Iwas able to do it. We’ll see if they want

Hayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati ride Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he

is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.Like Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, Haydenhas struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-dent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthon the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducatiteam-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.

went downhill after he crashedheavily both late in qualifying - col-lecting Niccolo Canepa in the pro-cess - and in the warm-up, and hisstrong fourth on the grid only trans-lated to an eighth place finish.

He reckoned that he had got car-ried away and pushed too hard in hishurry to turn his season around.

“I believe in myself a lot. That’smaybe what caught me out a bit inGermany and why I crashed a coupleof times,” said Hayden. “I saw thefront and thought I can be there thisweekend, got a bit excited and threwit away making a mistake. But I be-lieve in myself fully, that’s not whatI’m lacking. But sitting around heresaying it is one thing, doing on Sun-day is always a different story. Say-ing it doesn’t mean much, I’ve gotto go and do it and prove it. But Ithink I can.”

Kimi Raikkonen believes theHungarian Grand Prix will be oneof Ferrari’s best chances to fight atthe front this season. Monte Carlowas Raikkonen’s strongest race ofthe year so far, and he reckons thesimilarly twisty Hungaroring willprove equally well-suited to theFerrari - which he thinks couldprove crucial as the team is set toswitch its focus to 2010 soon af-terwards.

“The next race will definitelybe the most similar one to the oneat Monaco,” said Raikkonen. “Thisyear we gained a place on the po-dium at Monaco and this is our ob-jective for Budapest. We were ableto fight for the pole [in Monaco]until the last moment and I think

Raikkonen: Hungary is big opportunity

U.S rider Nicky Hayden waitsfor the start of the MotoGPpractice session of the Ger-man Motorcycle Grand Prix atthe Sachsenring circuit inHohenstein-Ernstthal, Ger-many, Saturday, July 18, 2009.

that if we had gained it, the racewould have gone in a completelydifferent direction.”

But he acknowledged that withall the teams having carried out sig-nificant development programmessince Monte Carlo, form on the streettrack back in May might no longerbe relevant this weekend. “We’ll re-try in Hungary, but it will be diffi-cult,” said the former champion.“The F60 should adapt pretty wellto the track, but we know that all theother teams have improved their carsconsiderably after the race at Mo-naco, so there will be fierce compe-tition. We’ll get a better picture ofthe situation on Friday morning af-ter the first free practice.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali

revealed that Ferrari would switchmost of its efforts to its 2010 car “inthe next couple of weeks”, andRaikkonen admitted that the remain-der of 2009 could prove tough withdevelopment on the disappointingF60 set to conclude. “We’ve beenworking hard to close the gap we hadsince the start between us and theleaders; naturally also all the othershave been improving their cars,” hesaid. “Furthermore with the fact thatwe can’t test this year during thechampionship it’s even more diffi-cult to make up ground. How theseason’s second part will go alsodepends on the decision of how touse the resources, because the workon next year’s car is now already infull swing.”

to bring me back.” He admitted that sofar he had probably not done enoughto earn a contract extension.

“I know at some stage I’m goingto have to put up some results, I knowfifth and eighth probably isn’t goingto be enough to get Marlboro orDucati - they might want to try some-body else at that spot,” said Hayden.“We’ll see, but I’m not too worriedabout that. Obviously you worryabout your future and what’s goingon but I think we can continue.”

Hayden’s Sachsenring weekend

AP Photo/Roberto Pfeil

AP Photo/Kyodo News

Japanese soldiers and firefighters work arounda house that was hit by a torrential mudslide atHofu, southern Japan, on Wednesday July 22,2009. Hundreds of police, soldiers and rescueworkers searched Thursday for nine peoplemissing after torrential rains triggered floodsand landslides in southern Japan.

MALAYSIA OUT AFP PHOTO / BERNAMA NEWS AGENCY

This picture taken on 20 July, 2009shows Singaporean Muslim modelKartika Sari Dewi Shukarno look-ing on at the Sharia High Court inKuantan, Pahang State

Bali’s PoliceDepartment tightencoastal area

Bangladesh rareleopard renewshopes forspecies survival

Hayden determinedto keep Ducati ride

InternationalFriday, July 24, 20092 Friday, July 24, 2009 15

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International Sport

NewsNEWSWORLD

Source: ap

Schwarzenegger, under fire for a budget planannounced this week that will see 15 billion dollarsin spending cuts from services such as educationand health care, said the light-hearted video wasintended as a bit of fun.

The movie-star-turned-politician brushed offsuggestions from reporters in Sacramento that thevideo might be viewed by some as being insensi-tive.

“You know, you sent a governor to Sacramento— not El Stiffo, like some of the past were, but yousent someone that is a little bit more entertainingand has a little bit more fun with the whole thing,”Schwarzenegger said.

“Not that I have fun with making the cuts; theysadden me. But fun with the job itself, because Ithink it is the most rewarding job that I’ve ever done,even though with a huge responsibility.

“So just relax and have a little bit of a sense ofhumor.” California lawmakers are set to approvethe spendings at a vote on Thursday which will passa budget aimed at closing the state’s 26.3 billion-dollar deficit.

Schwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter video

Agence France-PresseWASHINGTON - US President

Barack Obama joked Wednesday thateven he would get shot if he lost hiskeys and tried to break into the WhiteHouse.

He was answering a question aboutthe arrest of his friend, prominent Af-rican-American Harvard scholarHenry Louis Gates, who was hand-cuffed and detained after having tobreak into his home in the Massachu-setts town of Cambridge.

“I guess this is my house now. So itprobably wouldn’t happen,” Obamasaid, looking around the ornate EastRoom and trying to put himself into asimilar situation. “But let’s say my oldhouse in Chicago,” he continued.

“Here, I’d get shot,” he quipped, to

‘I’d get shot’breaking into White

House, Obama jokeslaughs from the gathered press corps.

Turning serious though, the nation’sfirst African-American president cas-tigated Cambridge police for the inci-dent. “Now, I don’t know, not havingbeen there, and not seeing all the facts,what role race played in this,” Obamatold a press conference.

“But, I think it’s fair to say, numberone, any of us would be pretty angry.Number two, that the Cambridge po-lice acted stupidly in arresting some-body when there was already proof thatthey were in their own home.”

Cambridge police have alreadyapologized to Gates, a leading experton African-American relations, for theincident in which he was handcuffedoutside his front door and spent fourhours in detention.

Bayreuth festivalMUNICH - A newgeneration of Wagnersis at the helm as theannual Bayreuth festivalopens this weekend,with composer RichardWagner’s great-granddaughter,Katharina Wagnersaying that she hopesto help bring “opera tothe people.”

Staying the coursePARIS - Leaders ofNATO nations arevowing to stay thecourse in Afghanistandespite rising violence,casualties andpressure from thepublic and fellowpoliticians. But theincreasingly publicdomestic disputes inthe war’s deadliestmonth for the coalitioncould foreshadow long-term trouble for theeffort to commit moreresources to defeat theTaliban.

Onion tortureSAN JUAN - Police inthe DominicanRepublic have beenseizing people off thestreets and torturingthem by choking themwith onions to obtaininformation aboutcrimes, a human rightsgroup alleges.

Agence France-PresseLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-fended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeas he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.

Max Whittaker/Getty Images/Agence France-Presse

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to reporters outside his officein July 22, 2009 in Sacramento, California. Schwarzenegger and legislative leadersreached a budget deal Monday to close California’s $26 billion budget gap.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Barack Obama smiles while respondingto questions during a news conference in the EastRoom of the White House in Washington, Wednes-day, July 22, 2009.

They arrived in Singapore Thurs-day after a disappointing 1-1 drawagainst Thailand on Wednesdayevening following a 0-0 draw withSt Gallen of Switzerland and a 1-0loss to Rapid Vienna. In the Thailandmatch a second-half strike by SuteeSuksomkit cancelled out an earlyopener from Ryan Babel but therewas little goalmouth action to excitethe crowd, with Liverpool lookingdecidedly rusty.

They are clearly missing the tal-ismanic Steven Gerrard, who is incourt back home on charges of af-fray stemming from a nightclub inci-dent last December. It didn’t get anybetter for manager Benitez, with de-fender Martin Skrtel (hamstring) andyoung Moroccan forward Nabil ElZhar (knee) injured in the Thailandmatch, with medical staff assessinghow badly they have been hurt.

“They were not the best condi-tions in Bangkok and the worst thingwas to lose Skrtel and El Zhar,” saidBenitez. “The idea of the game wasto improve match fitness. So to lose

Rafa facingRafa facingRafa facingRafa facingRafa facingdifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult period

at Liverpoolat Liverpoolat Liverpoolat Liverpoolat LiverpoolAgence France - Presse

SINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at Liverpoolwith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affrayand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealpreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguetitle in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.

two players is bad news.” The un-settled Xabi Alonso sat out the gamewith an ankle injury. The Spanish in-ternational has not failed to hide hisdesire to join Cristiano Ronaldo andKaka at Real Madrid while Chelseahave also expressed an interest in sign-ing him.

Meanwhile, Javier Mascherano’sagent has been quoted by SouthAmerican media as saying the playerwas fed up with life in England andwanted to move to Barcelona. Benitezhas made clear he wants both to staybut it is unsettling for the team. Vice-captain Jamie Carragher is hoping fora swift end to the Alonso saga at least.

“The feeling within the squad isthat he is a top player and you do notwant to lose your top players, andhopefully it can be sorted out as soonas possible,” said Carragher. “If theclub thinks it is in their best interests(for him to move) sometimes youhave to do what they think is best. Weall go through these situations — well,hopefully not me — and as I said, Ijust hope it gets sorted out.”

AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn

Liverpool’s head coach Rafael Benitez wraps up a press conference in Bangkok on Monday July20, 2009. Liverpool will play with Thailand’s national team in a friendly match on Wednesday.

Agence France - PresseSEOUL - The hard-working Park

Ji-Sung is to be rewarded with a newcontract by Manchester United bossSir Alex Ferguson, who praised theSouth Korean midfielder’s intelli-gence and penetration on the field.Chief executive David Gill made theannouncement at a press conferencehere Thursday, a day ahead of thePremier League champions’ pre-season game against FC Seoul.

“Discussions will take place,”Gill said of a player who becamethe first Asian to contest a Champi-ons League final when he played inUnited’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelonalast season. “We’re looking to ex-tend the contract. Sir Alex and thecoaches are very happy with himand Ji enjoys his time with us im-mensely. When it’s done it will beannounced.”

Park moved to Old Trafford in2005 from PSV Eindhoven for fourmillion pounds (6.6 million dollars)and his current contract runs out atthe end of the forthcoming season.When asked if he wanted to play at

Man Utd to offerPark new contract

another club, he said in May: “I haveno reason to move.”

He has been crucial to Unitedbuilding a huge fan base in SouthKorea and despite a lack of prepara-tion, is expected to play a part oftheir match here on Friday. “I feelhe may be able to play some min-utes but he’s not been with us (forthe last few weeks) so he’s not donethe same preparation as the rest ofthe players,” said Ferguson.

“But I’m sure he’ll get a fewminutes and that will be a big lift tothe fans here in Korea.” Park hasmade 123 appearances for Unitedand Ferguson took time to reflect onthe qualities that first attracted himto the 28-year-old. “I went to see himplay for PSV in two quarter-finalsand we identified a player with greatunderstanding of space,” he said.“When his team had the ball hismovement was always clever and hehad decisive penetration in attackingareas. We felt at the time that weneeded a player who could penetratein the last third and that’s why webrought him to Manchester United.”

Agence France - Presse

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -Brazil’s three-time world

player of the year Ronaldo hasagreed in principle to star in afilm about a Palestinian child

fan of his who dies in arefugee camp, it was reported

on Wednesday. The 32-year-old two-time

World Cup winner will bewith his club Corinthians in

the Middle East - for aSeptember 15 friendly in the

Palestinian Territories againstfellow Brazilians Fluminense -

at the time that the film is setto be made in Lebanon.

“Ronaldo signed anagreement in principle last

week,” his agent FabianoFarah told sports information

provider ‘El Globo’. “Adefinitive agreement will be

reached in September.” Ronaldo, though, has still

to get permission from his clubto act in the Iranian-directed

film. The all-time leadingWorld Cup scorer is to play apeace emissary, a role he hasalready played in reality as in

May 2005 he spent severalhours visiting the Palestinian

Territories.

Ronaldo to star in film abouttragic Palestinian fan: report

AFP

Brazil’s three-time world player of the year Ronaldo hasagreed in principle to star in a film about a Palestinian childfan of his who dies in a refugee camp

3Friday, July 24, 2009InternationalInternationalSport NewsFriday, July 24, 200914

Russia, however, reiterated itswarning that it would lower or haltmilitary cooperation with any coun-try supplying Russian arms to Geor-gia.

President Mikhail Saakashvilisaid he and Biden had spoken infor-mally Wednesday at a dinner in the$40 million presidential compound’sglass-domed dining room ahead oftalks Thursday.

“I told you there was no suchthing as a free dinner in Georgia,”Saakashvili told Biden in front ofreporters, an apparent reference toGeorgia’s requests for expandedmilitary assistance.

The smiling Georgian leader, whoreferred to Biden as “Joe,” called thediscussions “very productive.”

Biden seemed more reserved,calling Saakashvili “Mr. President.”While citing U.S.-Georgia ties, healso expressed support for politicalreforms that Saakashvili announcedearlier in the week.

“We’re here to talk about yoursecurity, economy, your democracyand the steps you are taking for so-

Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Prime MinisterGordon Brown dismissed remarksby one of his ministers Wednesdaythat Britain does not have enoughhelicopters in Afghanistan, as hesought to move past a damagingrow over resources.

Brown said the remarks to anewspaper by outgoing junior For-eign Office minister Lord MarkMalloch-Brown had been misrep-resented and repeated his insis-tence that British troops had every-thing they need.

“I am satisfied that OperationPanther’s Claw has the resourcesit needs to be successful,” he said,referring to a major assault onTaliban insurgents in the southernAfghan province of Helmandwhich British troops began in June.

“I think the fact that it is mak-ing progress at the moment andyielding results already shows thatthat is the case.... For the operationwe are doing at the moment wehave the helicopters we need.”

Brown has been forced to de-fend Britain’s strategy in Afghani-stan following a surge in troopsdeaths there, in a row that has piledthe pressure on a government al-ready struggling with the recessionand an expenses scandal.

A soldier was killed Wednesdayin an explosion whilst on patrol inNad-e-Ali district of Helmand, theMinistry of Defence said, takingthe toll since operations began in2001 to 188, more than in Iraq.

Malloch-Brown’s interventionis an embarrassing addition to callsfrom military figures includingarmy chief General RichardDannatt and the main oppositionConservatives — who are leadingBrown’s Labour party in opinionpolls — for more troops and equip-ment.

“We definitely don’t haveenough helicopters. When youhave these modern operations and

AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazovl

Visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili reviewhonour guard outside a presidential palace in Tbilisi, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Biden arrivedWednesday in the former Soviet republic a year after its war with Russia.

Georgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask Bidenfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observers

AP Photo/Stefan Rousseau, pool

Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls for questions dur-ing his monthly press conference at 10 Downing Street in Lon-don, Wednesday July 22, 2009. Responding to a question onthe economy, Brown said that economic recovery “cannot betaken for granted”. He also defended his government’s recordof providing enough equipment for British troops in Afghani-stan, where eighteen soldiers have already been killed in July.

Associated Press Writer

TBILISI - Georgia’s president was expected to ask U.S. Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden on Thursday for advanced weaponry, military aid andunarmed U.S. observers to monitor a cease-fire along the boundariesof two Moscow-backed breakaway regions.

lidifying your democracy,” he toldSaakashvili.

The White House has so faravoided making any public commit-ment on aid, arms or observers, al-though it says it stands behindGeorgia’s application for NATOmembership despite determined op-position from Russia.

The U.S. gave Georgia $1 billionin aid shortly after Russia defeatedGeorgia in a short war last August.But Washington has so far not sup-plied the Georgian military witharms to replace those lost in the war,amid warnings from Moscow thatsuch a step would raise the risk ofanother conflict.

A spokesman for the GeorgianDefense Ministry, David Nardaya,said he could not say how much mili-tary aid was being sought becausethe information was classified butdescribed the weapons as defensive.

In Moscow, the government saidit would not stand by while Georgiawas resupplied with weapons.

“We will continue inhibiting re-armament of the Saakashvili regime

and are taking concrete measuresfor this,” Deputy Foreign MinisterGrigory Karasin said, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

He said this was in line with apresidential decree issued in Janu-ary. Ukraine supplied weapons toGeorgia during last summer’s con-flict with Russia, and Belarus hasexpressed support for Georgia’sclaims to two Russian-backedbreakaway regions at the center oflast year’s war. Both former Sovietrepublics have military ties withRussia.

Biden is on a four-day missionto Ukraine and Georgia to demon-strate U.S. support for the two coun-tries, where Western-style democ-racies have struggled in the wakeof peaceful revolutions.

A number of Eastern Europeanpolitical figures have expressedconcern that the Obama adminis-tration could weaken its support fordemocratic reform as it tries forbetter relations with Russia.

But Biden’s message on the tripso far has been that restoring cor-dial relations with the Kremlin willnot come at the price of weakeningsupport for democratic allies in theregion. Nor will the U.S. recognizeMoscow’s claim to an exclusivesphere of influence among formerSoviet states, Biden has said.

British PM dismissescriticism on Afghanistan

insurgent strikes what you need,above all else, is mobility,”Malloch-Brown told the DailyTelegraph.

The minister, whose ForeignOffice brief includes responsibil-ity for Afghanistan and who is dueto step down this week for personalreasons, later issued a statementthat he said clarified his remarks.

In what appeared to be a U-turn,he said he had meant that “whilethere are without doubt sufficientresources in place for current op-erations, we should always do whatwe can to make more available onthe frontline.”

In his monthly press conferenceshortly afterwards, Brown said theway the newspaper had interpretedMalloch-Brown’s interview re-marks was a “misrepresentation”,which had been corrected.

Asked whether more helicopterswould have saved troops’ lives in Af-ghanistan, he said: “More helicop-ters in general, yes... But in the op-erations we are having at the momentit is completely wrong to say that theloss of lives has been caused by theabsence of helicopters.”

However a former commanderof British troops in Helmand dis-puted Brown’s comments, sayingthat while Operation Panther’sClaw might be properly resourced,the country’s general mission inAfghanistan was not.

“I think the wider campaign inAfghanistan, and this has been thecase from the early days, has beeninsufficiently resourced to under-take a proper counter-insurgency,”retired Brigadier Ed Butler toldBBC radio.

Malloch-Brown told the Tele-graph that the British public hadnot been properly warned about theAfghan offensive before the deathtoll began rising.

Britain suffered its blackest dayin Afghanistan earlier this month,with eight troops dying within 24hours.

Haye, 28, has signed a contract to meetthe 7ft 2in Russian on November 7 at an un-decided venue. The announcement endsspeculation about who Haye’s next opponentwould be, following reports the Londonerhad agreed a bout with Vitali Klitschko.

Haye had been scheduled to fightKlitschko’s brother Wladimir in June but hadto withdraw because of a back injury. “I amthrilled to announce that my dream of be-coming world heavyweight champion willbe realised on November 7, when I challengethe tallest and heaviest champion of all time,Nikolai Valuev,” Haye said in a statement.

“There were reports in the German pressthat I had signed to fight Vitali Klitschko inSeptember, but those reports were never true.“There have been long and exhausting dis-cussions about the clash, but unfortunately Icould never put my name to the fight con-tract the Klitschkos offered. The level of dis-respect they have shown me throughout hasleft me feeling insulted.”

Associated Press Writer

GERONA, Spain – Ricky Rubioplans to part ways with Spanish bas-ketball club DKV Joventut even ifthe Minnesota Timberwolves can-not reach a deal to bring their firstround draft pick to the NBA.Timberwolves president DavidKahn was in Spain this week to tryand help the fifth overall pick ne-gotiate a buyout of his contract withJoventut. Rubio is at odds with hisboyhood club over a buyout clausethat could cost the 18-year-old pointguard as much as $6.6 million. TheNBA’s collective bargaining ruleslimit the Timberwolves’ contribu-tion to $500,000.

Regardless of whether Rubiomakes the trip across the Atlanticnext season, he won’t be playingat Joventut. “I want to continuewith the club but, after everythingthat’s happened, I don’t thinkthey’re too comfortable having mein their squad,” Rubio saidWednesday. “I want to play in awinning team, on a team that can

Agence France - Presse

TORONTO, Canada - Chez Reavie,who busted through with his first PGATour victory by capturing the 2008 Ca-nadian Open, returns to the Glen Ab-bey Golf Club this week to try can de-fend his title. The 27-year-old Ameri-can is seeking to equal compatriot JimFuryk’s feat in 2006 and 2007 and winback-to-back Canadian Open titles.

Last year, Reavie beat Billy Mayfairby three strokes on the water-loggedcourse in Oakville, Ontario, 30kilometres southwest of Toronto.“You never know when it’s your time,”Reavie said. “You’ve just got to go outthere and play as hard as you can ev-ery day. When you add them up, hope-fully you’re the lowest guy out here.”

Reavie’s best finish so far this yearis a tie for 12th in his season-openingevent, the Mercedes-Benz Champion-ship. Thursday’s opening round marksthe start of the 100th Canadian Open

Timberwolves pick Rubioto leave Spanish club

achieve many things.” Rubio signed with Joventut at 14

years old, becoming the youngestplayer ever to play in a Spanish ACBLeague game. He rose to prominenceover the next few years, playing forSpain’s silver medal-winning team inthe Beijing Olympics at 17 and be-coming a popular player thanks to hisflashy passes and floppy hair.

Minnesota drafted him fifth over-all in June and holds his NBA rightsfor as long as Rubio is playing bas-ketball professionally. But it is notexactly clear what ramifications, ifany, Rubio’s parting with Joventut hason the Timberwolves’ chances ofbringing the popular point guard to theUnited States this season.

Rubio has two years remaining onhis deal with Joventut. The enormityof the buyout has a player who madeless than $100,000 last season think-ing twice about coming to the NBAright away. That’s what prompted Kahnto hop a plane to Spain on Monday. Hemet with Joventut officials to see if hecould help resolve the issue, but de-clined to comment — both on the newsthat Rubio will leave Joventut and thetrip in general — when reached by TheAssociated Press on Wednesday.

Spanish basketball clubs RealMadrid and Barcelona are both inter-ested in signing Rubio if he cannotmake it to the NBA this season. Un-like the Timberwolves, they are notsubject to the collective bargainingrules of the NBA and could pay theentire buyout fee to get him. Kahn hassaid in the past that the rebuildingTimberwolves are willing to wait ayear, or even two, for Rubio to cometo Minnesota. But the sooner Rubiocan get there, the better for a franchisethat has struggled to fill seats at Tar-get Center since trading Kevin Garnettto Boston two years ago.

AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File

Ricky Rubio

Haye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on Russianheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuev

British heavyweight boxer DavidHaye as he talks at a press confer-

ence at the Veltins-Arena inGelsenkirchen, Germany. Haye saidThursday July 23, 2009 that he has

signed a contract to challengeNikolai Valuev for the WBA heavy-

weight title on Nov. 7. Although novenue has yet been fixed, the fight is

expected to take place in Germany.

Agence France - Presse

LONDON - Former worldcruiserweight champion David Haye willface current WBA heavyweight championNikolai Valuev later this year, the Britishfighter confirmed on Thursday.

AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Reavie seeks to defendCanadian Open title

and the 25th time it has been held at GlenAbbey. The 2003 Masters championMike Weir is the best known Canadianin the field and hopes to end his country’s55 year winless drought. Pat Fletcher isthe last Canadian champ, taking the 1954tournament in Vancouver.

“It’s our national championship, andall us Canadians, we want to put to restthat it’s been so long since one of us haswon one,” Weir said. Weir tied for fifthlast year and lost to Vijay Singh in a play-off in 2004. Canadian Nick Taylor is alsoin the field thanks to a sponsor’s exemp-tion. He was the low amateur at the 2009US Open when he tied for 36th.

“It’s cool to be in a PGA Tour event,but being back home in Canada with abunch of people working and pullingfor you, that’s going to be fun,” Taylorsaid. The Canadian Open also marks thereturn of Trevor Immelman to the Tour,following a wrist injury. He is makinghis first start since the Crowne Plaza In-vitational at Colonial.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese

Defending champion Chez Reavie hits out of a bunker on the fifth hole during the Pro-Amround for the Canadian Open golf tournament at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville,Ontario, on Wednesday, July 22, 2009.

International4 Friday, July 24, 2009 International Friday, July 24, 2009 13Life StyleNews

Agence France-Presse

PHUKET - US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton said Thursday NorthKorea had “no friends left” to offerit refuge from nuclear sanctions,triggering vitriolic defiance from theStalinist regime.

Pyonyang hurled personal invec-tive at Clinton and declared nucleartalks “dead”, as she told Asia’s larg-est security forum that internationalefforts to squeeze the North over itsatomic programme were paying off.

“They have no friends left thatwill protect them from the interna-tional community’s efforts to movetoward denuclearisation,” Clintontold the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations Regional Forum(ARF) in Phuket.

“In their presentation today theyevinced no willingness to pursue thepath of denuclearisation and thatwas troubling, not only to the UnitedStates but to the region and the in-ternational community,” she added.

“I was gratified by how manycountries from throughout the re-gion stood up and expressed directlyto the North Korean delegation theirconcern over the provocativebehaviour we have seen over the pastfew months.”

SYDNEY - Australia’s PrimeMinister Kevin Rudd Thursdaysaid he found it “sickening” thatone of the Jakarta bombers wasapparently a boy aged just 16 or 17.

Rudd was speaking after Indo-nesian police released digitally re-constructed images of two mili-tants suspected of last week’sblasts which left seven dead in-cluding three Australians.

“If those reports are true, it issickening that these evil terroristswould prey on children to do theirdirty work,” Rudd told reporters.

“The thought that terrorists en-gaged in their evil business wouldalso prey upon children defies anystandard of civilised behaviour,”

They are between 16 and 20-years-old, boys and girls from twodifferent worlds who at home haveno opportunity to meet.

“This is the first time I meetpeople from the West Bank andGaza and hear their side, their pointof view,” said Yoni, 17, from thenorthern Israeli port city of Haifa.

And yet over the past week, theyhave eaten their meals together,

Agence France-Presse

SAN JOSE - Honduras’s de factogovernment has shot down a last-gasp deal to resolve the country’spolitical crisis, insisting oustedPresident Manuel Zelaya cannotreturn to office.

The return of Mr Zelaya as presi-dent was impossible, interim foreignminister Carlos Lopez Contreras saidon CNN’s Spanish station, effec-tively killing hopes of a settlement.

Crisis mediator and Costa RicanPresident Oscar Arias has proposed

Australia PM AFP ‘sickened’over teen Jakarta bomber

he added.Indonesian police said the

youthful bomber was responsiblefor the attack on the JW Marriotthotel, which killed the three Aus-tralians and two others.

The other attacker, whose sui-cide blast killed two people at theRitz-Carlton hotel, was aged be-tween 20 and 40.

The images are being shown towitnesses as part of the investiga-tion into the first major terror atroc-ity in Indonesia since 2005.

Australian embassy officialCraig Senger was among the dead,along with mining executive GarthMcEvoy and human resourcesmanager Nathan Verity.

Clinton says nuclear NorthKorea has ‘no friends left’

AFP PHOTO/ROMEO GACAD

US Secretary of State Hillary.

In Phuket, Clinton has met withcounterparts from China and Russia,two other ARF heavyweights thathave traditionally been lukewarmabout forthright action against NorthKorea.

North Korean delegates appearedagitated as they tried to organize arare press conference just beforeClinton was supposed to speak in thepress area of a seaside hotel in theThai resort island of Phuket.

Regime officials describedClinton’s renewed offer of a pack-age of incentives in return for disar-mament as “nonsense”, and lam-basted the top US diplomat as unin-telligent, a “funny lady” and a “pri-mary schoolgirl”.

“Hearing about the comprehen-sive package, I should say this is ba-sically nonsense,” roving ambassa-dor Ri Hung-Sik said, vowing no dia-logue until Washington changed its“deep-rooted hostile policy”.

“The six-party talks are alreadydead,” Ri added, referring to nego-tiations with the United States, Rus-sia, China, Japan and South Koreawhich Pyongyang quit after the UNSecurity Council censured it for arocket launch in April.

North Korea then conducted anunderground nuclear test in May,triggering a Security Council reso-lution for beefed-up inspections ofshipments going to and from thecountry and an expanded arms em-bargo.

Pyongyang’s state media took aneven more venomous line againstClinton, who earlier this week saidthe North Koreans were acting outlike “unruly teenagers.”

“Sometimes she looks like a pri-mary schoolgirl and sometimes apensioner going shopping,” a foreignministry spokesman was quoted assaying in attacking her “vulgar” re-marks.

“Anyone making misstatementshas to pay for them,” he said.

held a rare meeting late Wednes-day with a delegation fromMyanmar’s ruling junta.

AFP PHOTO / DIETER NAGL

Palestinian Ihsan (L) and Israeli teenager Sagi (R) smile during a debate during a Israeli-Palestinian peacecamp in Rechnitz on July 21, 2009 some 150 kilometers south-east from Vienna. Just kilometres fromwhere the Iron Curtain once stood, youths from another divided region — Israelis and Palestinians — arecoming together these days to seek a dialogue and learn about each other.

Dialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-Palestinianpeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in AustriaAgence France-Presse

RECHNITZ - Just kilometres from where the Iron Curtain oncestood, youths from another divided region — Israelis and Palestinians— are coming together to seek a dialogue and learn about each other.

played football and danced together.Entitled “Dialogue 4 the future”,

the two-week camp in Rechnitz, asmall town near the Austro-Hungar-ian border, was organised by Aus-trian evangelical groups and partlyfunded by the European Union.

A first camp was held in 2007 andthe idea was again to bring thesecommunities together through dis-cussions, games and outdoor activi-

ties.Eight youths came from

Ramallah in the West Bank, eightfrom Haifa, eight from Hungary andthree from Austria.

“I was a bit afraid of hearing whatthey’d have to say, maybe theywouldn’t want to talk to us,” Yonisaid of his initial concerns.

But “they’re really nice, and Ihave new friends now,” he added.

Under camp rules, everyone musteat the same food — no pork,banned under kosher dietary rules,is served — and the rooms aremixed, said Klaus Pahr, one of thecamp’s organisers.

Honduran regime scotches planfor president’s return

a fresh plan for Zelaya’s returnWednesday, with concessions for theinterim government, which backedthe army’s June 28 expulsion of theHonduran leader.

Arias’s plan called for Zelaya’sreturn to the country as president ina national unity government, untilhis term ended in January.

In return, the current de factoleadership would see sanctionsagainst the country lifted, a limitedamnesty for political crimes and abar on Zelaya seeking constitutionalreforms designed to let him seek

another term in office.But negotiators for the de facto

government returned to Hondurassaying the deal presented in CostaRica would not be signed by theirleader Roberto Micheletti.

“As I see it, it will be difficult forhim to sign up,” spokesmanMauricio Villeda said.

Zelaya meanwhile toldVenezuela’s Telesur channel that thecrisis mediation “had practicallyfailed.” The interim leaders had “de-cided to deny all possibility of anagreement,” he added.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice says the biggest threat is changeto the rabbits’ habitat brought on bydrought, grazing, the suppression ofwildfire and the encroachment ofshrubs into the Chihuahuan grass-lands of New Mexico’s bootheel —the only place in the United Stateswhere the jackrabbit has been docu-mented. Wildfire helps keep shrubsin check and revitalizes grasslands,which the rabbits depend on.

The rabbit also lives in Mexico,and those populations have also de-clined, said Nicole Rosmarino, a bi-ologist with the Western environmen-tal group WildEarth Guardians.Rosmarino said the existing pressureson the white-sided jackrabbit likelywill worsen. Forecasters predict ex-tended and more-frequent periods ofdrought in the Southwest because of

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Attention isshifting to the world’s five lead-ing flu vaccine makers: How fastare they really producing swine fluvaccine, and just how do they planto test that it works? A meetingThursday of the Food and DrugAdministration’s scientific advis-ers offers the first in-depth publicprogress report since U.S. scien-tists delivered the novel virus tomanufacturers and asked them toturn it into usable vaccine.

They’ve succeeded to a degree.The National Institutes of Healthon Wednesday called for a fewthousand volunteers, from babiesto the elderly, for studies to see ifpilot batches are safe and protec-tive. The first shots should go intoadult volunteers’ arms in earlyAugust, with child studies to fol-low quickly if there are no signsof immediate side effects. Thosegovernment-directed studies —and more that manufacturers willrun — are key as the governmentdecides whether to offer swine fluvaccine to millions of Americansstarting in mid-October, besidesvaccinating against the regularwinter flu. Health authorities inother countries are looking to theU.S. studies, too, as they maketheir own plans.

Assuming the studies show thevaccine is OK, a big question ishow much will be available andwhen. Last week, the WorldHealth Organization warned that

AP photo/Courtesy of Cesar Mendez, WildEarth Guardians

Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Not this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitAssociated Press Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Rabbits are certainly known for their propensity for multiplying, but onespecies of jackrabbit is having trouble keeping up. There are an estimated 150 white-sided jackrabbits leftin the United States, and federal wildlife officials announced Wednesday they will study the elusive rabbitto determine if it needs to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. It’s not lack of libido that’sholding back the white-sided jackrabbit.

climate change. The Fish and Wild-life Service says it’s uncertain howclimate change will affect the jack-rabbit and its habitat, but it plans tolook more closely at the potentialimpact during its 12-month review.

After the review, the agency willdecide whether the rabbit warrantsprotection as an endangered orthreatened species. In New Mexico,the rabbit has been listed as a stateendangered species since 1975.“The rabbit has cleared the firsthurdle toward federal protection, sothat’s good news,” Rosmarino said.The Fish and Wildlife Service’s de-cision to review the rabbit is the re-sult of a petition and lawsuit filedby environmentalists.

The rabbit’s name comes from aconspicuous white area along its body,most noticeable when the rabbit runs.

The jackrabbits, usually seen in pairs,mate for life. While they can produceseveral litters a year, the litters are usu-ally small — between one and threeyoung. The rabbit’s large ears and longlimbs are disproportionate to its body,creating more surface area to help theanimal dissipate the heat that’s part ofliving in the desert.

Besides the white-sided jackrab-bit, WildEarth Guardians is seekingprotections for other species, includ-ing the Sonoran desert tortoise. TheFish and Wildlife Service has yet toissue a finding on that species, butWildEarth Guardians says the tor-toises’ numbers have also been cutin half in recent decades. AsRosmarino points out, Wednesday’sdecision by the agency puts the rab-bit ahead of the tortoise, in both spe-cies’ race to avoid extinction.

Associated Press Writer

WELLINGTON, New Zealand –A New Zealand biotech companybegan a trial Thursday that will im-plant cells from newborn pigs intoeight human volunteers as an experi-mental treatment for their diabetes.The cells produce pig insulin, whichis very similar to human insulin andhas the same effect of loweringblood sugar, and Living Cell Tech-

This undated photoprovided by WildEarthGuardians shows awhite-sided jackrabbit inNew Mexico. There are anestimated 150 white-sided jackrabbits left inthe United States, andfederal wildlife officialsannounced Wednesday,July 21, 2009 they willstudy the elusive rodentto determine if it needsto be protected under theEndangered Species Act.The U.S. Fish and WildlifeService says the biggestthreat is change to thehare’s habitat brought onby drought, grazing, thesuppression of wildfireand the encroachment ofshrubs into theChihuahuan grasslandsof New Mexico’s bootheel— the only place in theU.S. where the jackrabbithas been documented.

Researchers to implant pig cells in diabeticsnologies hopes the cells may be ableto delay the effects of Type 1 diabe-tes — including blindness, prema-ture coronary illness and limb am-putation caused by poor blood cir-culation.

Though Prof. Bob Elliott, medi-cal director of the company, ac-knowledges that, even in the bestcase scenario, the treatment wouldnot eliminate all of the symptoms.Some scientists have warned, how-

ever, that implanting pig cells car-ries the risk of introducing a newvirus to humans. Others have notedthat it is too soon to begin testing onhumans because no animal trialswere conducted.

Elliott said Thursday that the riskof a pig endogenous retrovirus —the porcine virus thought to be mostcontagious for humans — infectinghumans is largely “theoretical.”“There is no evidence of a risk” of

retrovirus infection, he said. “Nobodyhas developed a retrovirus.” The pig-lets being used, recovered from 150years of isolation on islands south ofNew Zealand, carried no known agentthat could infect humans and are heldin a fully closed, sterile environment,he added.

Elliott has run two previous trials,the first with six patients in NewZealand in 1995-1996. The other, inRussia with 10 patients, began in July

2007.The cells implanted into one of

the volunteers in the New Zealandstudy continued producing insulin12 years after being implanted —“proof of principle that this (meth-odology) can work,” he said in aninterview with The AssociatedPress in October. The others eitherrejected the pigs cells or the im-planted cells stopped producinginsulin after a year.

FILE - This 2009file microscope

image originallyprovided by the

Centers forDisease Controland Prevention,

shows a negative-stained image of

the H1N1 flu virus.

Manufacturers brewingnew swine flu vaccine

production is going slower thanpredicted, with the strains now inuse yielding only about half asmuch of the main vaccine ingredi-ent as is usual. Wednesday, Lon-don-based GlaxoSmithKline ech-oed that caution, saying it is “work-ing as quickly as possible” but be-ing hindered by those low yields.

“Some of us are skeptical thatvery much will be available by mid-October,” said Dr. WilliamSchaffner, a vaccine specialist atVanderbilt University. And the gov-ernment has warned that any vac-cination campaign will put higher-risk people in line for the firstbatches, as supplies gradually in-crease over time.

Manufacturers’ vaccine studiesare expected to largely mirror theNIH’s plans: Volunteers will gettwo vaccinations, 21 days apart. Byearly September, the NIH shouldhave blood tests showing howmuch immune protection the initialinoculation triggered, and if a low-dose or higher-dose version wasneeded. It will take another monthto get information on the secondinoculation.

Complicating the question: Ifplain vaccine doesn’t spur enoughprotection or there isn’t enoughsupply, manufacturers could addimmune-system boosters calledadjuvants. That will pose a di-lemma as the U.S. has never ap-proved a flu vaccine containingthose ingredients, although they arewidely used in vaccine given toolder adults in Europe.

BP/AP Photo

News Friday, July 24, 2009 5Entertainment InternationalFriday, July 24, 200912 International

No-one was killed as the blazeripped through 1,100 hectares(2,718 acres) of brush and damagedhomes in the suburbs of France’ssecond city, but one fireman suf-fered burns and four rescuers weretreated for smoke inhalation.

The fire erupted on Wednesdayafter troops from the 1st Foreign Le-gion Regiment used tracer rounds,which contain an incendiary sub-stance to make them visible in flight,during a practice session at their base.

At dawn on Thursday firefighterspronounced the blaze under control,but this did little to calm the angerof local officials, who noted that thiswas the second time in as many yearsthat the army had started a wildfire.

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING - At least 53 peoplewere missing after heavy rains trig-gered a landslide in southwesternChina’s Sichuan province on Thurs-day, the state-run Xinhua news

Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE - Australianscientists have photographed ahumpback whale helping a new-born calf take what appears to beits first breath, a rare event de-scribed as the “Holy Grail” forwhale-watchers.

The marine scientists fromWestern Australia’s Centre forWhale Research said they watchedin astonishment as the motherswam beneath the distressed babyand lifted it above the water, clear-ing its blowhole to take in air.

“We feel awed and privileged tohave finally seen this spectacle af-ter over 20 years of research,” saidscientist Curt Jenner.

The researchers said the waterwas full of blood, indicating themother had just given birth on the

Agence France-Presse

ROME - Two luxury yachts,built in Italy and destined for NorthKorea, have been seized by Italianpolice as part of international sanc-tions on Pyongyang, an Italian min-istry official said Thursday.

Confirming a report in the Ital-ian business newspaper Il Sole 24Ore, the official from the minis-try of economic development saidthe yachts — worth 13 millioneuros (18.5 million dollars) —were seized more than twomonths ago.

Italy seizes luxury yachtsbound for North Korea

“These yachts were destined forNorth Korea and they were seizedbecause they violationed EU andinternational regulations based onUN resolutions that prohibit theexport of luxury goods to that coun-try,” he told AFP.

Speaking on condition of ano-nymity, the official, from the min-istry of economic development, re-fused to say if the vessels weremeant for North Korean leader KimJong-Il.

They were built by Azimut-Benetti, one of the world’s leadingmanufacturers of luxury yachts.

Baby whale’s firstbreath caught oncamera off Australia

migration route off Western Austra-lia. They added that the “small andskinny” baby was instantly revivedby its first breath.

“It was apparent that the calf wasstruggling to stay at the surface tobreathe and was swimming aroundin tight, clockwise circles with onlythe tip of its snout protruding,” saidJenner’s wife and fellow scientist,Micheline.

“As soon as the cow lowered itsnewborn back into the water, itslittle tail flukes began to beat like awind-up toy being lowered into thebath,” she added.

Humpbacks are one of the larg-est whale species, growing up to 18metres (60 foot) long. They are amainstay of the whale-watching in-dustry in Australia, which is worthan estimated 300 million dollars(246 million US) a year.

AFP PHOTO / HO

This handout photo shows a tiny humpback whale calf namedTanatabiddi blowing water out of its blowholes as it practices the artof breathing.

AFP PHOTO MICHEL GANGNE

A Red Cross volunteer helps two women during the evacuation of a retirement home, on July 23, 2009, inMarseille, southern France, after one of France’s worst fires for three years raged on the eastern outskirtsof Marseille late Wednesday. The wildfire sparked, by practice shelling by the military, was under controlToday after threatening hundreds of homes but claiming no victims.

At least 53 people missing in China landslideagency reported.

Another 97 “trapped” people hadbeen rescued after the disaster, saidthe brief dispatch, which gave fewother details.

The disaster occurred in remoteand mountainous Kangding county,

an area traditionally populated byethnic Tibetans.

Sichuan province was rocked inMay of last year by a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake that triggeredhuge landslides across the region’smountainous terrain.

Foreign LegionForeign LegionForeign LegionForeign LegionForeign Legionshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exercisesparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfireAgence France-Presse

MARSEILLE - A Foreign Legion drill instructor was suspendedThursday after what was branded an “imbecilic” shooting exercisetriggered a huge wildfire that threatened the outskirts of Marseille.

Local prefect Michel Sappin, theFrench government’s senior regionaloffical and police chief, blasted the“imbecilic” actions of the military.

“It was the same thing last yearnear the camp in Canjuers. That wasthe biggest fire last summer,” hesaid. Thursday’s fire, started at acamp in Carpiagne, was the worstto hit southern France in three years.

Marseille’s mayor and senator,Jean-Claude Gaudin, demanded thatthe military help out with the clean-up operation.

“Personally, I can’t see the needto carry out military exercises in 32degree heat and a strong wind. Itmust really have been someone whois not from round here who took this

decision,” he said.“We did the best we can but when

you’re faced with this kind of in-credible stupidity, you need to sayso with a certain force,” he added.

The military accepted responsi-bility for the fire.

“It was found that tracer roundswere used in violation of orders given.As a result, the army general staff hastaken an interim decision to suspendthe leader responsable from his duties,”Colonel Benoit Royal announced.

Philippe Pancarzi, head ofMarseille’s fire service, told local ra-dio that the fire had stopped spread-ing. “At around 7:00 am, there werestill some sources of fire, but the fire iscontained and under control,” he said.

But with winds not forecast toweaken before evening, “we are keep-ing all our assets on the scene,” includ-ing nearly 500 firefighters — backedup by water dropping planes — spreadover eight kilometres (five miles).

Starting with the flick’s star,Adam Sandler, the highest-paid co-median in the world, who routinelymakes $25 million per movie, add-ing in his co-star Seth Rogen, whosepockets are overflowing with rev-enues from both acting andscreenwriting, and throw in writer-director-producer Judd Apatow,whose hits include “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” andright there you have some thewealthiest guys working in Holly-wood today.

Plus, there was Eric Bana, whoalso stars in the comedy; he’s beenraking it in as a leading man eversince he had his own TV comedyshow in Australia, but admits thatmost American audiences don’t thinkof him as one of the “Funny People.”

“While I was given great oppor-tunities here, I wasn’t given comic

The mother of MichaelJackson’s youngest child PrinceMichael II is a Norwegian dentalhygienist he met on vacation inTunisia, according to sensationaltabloid reports. Jackson never dis-closed the identity of seven-year-old Blanket’s true mother, reveal-ing only that he was born to ananonymous surrogate.

Star magazine claims she isclose friend Pia Bhatti, who agreedto donate her eggs to the superstarafter befriending him through herson Omer - who found fame as animpersonator of the King of Pop,and later became known as his‘fourth child’.

Omer captivated Jackson whenthey met in the African country in1996, through the then-12 yearold’s ability to mimic him and hisdance moves. The singer took thechild on tour with him and his fam-

Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man series, has agreed todirect the live-action film adaptation of World of Warcraft. According to Vari-ety, the Drag Me to Hell director will finish his work on Spider-Man 4, whichis set to begin filming next year, before shooting World of Warcraft.

Legendary Pictures and the video game publisher Blizzard Entertainmentare working with Warner Bros. to make the film. World of Warcraft boastsapproximately 11 million subscribers worldwide, over half of the MassivelyMultiplayer Online Role-Playing Game market. It has become a pop-culturephenomenon, being featured in a Toyota commercial and a South Park epi-sode.

Mr. T, William Shatner, Verne Troyer, and Ozzy Osbourne are among thecelebrities that have made commercials for the game. The game’s latest ex-pansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold over 2.8 million copies its first day, andmore than 4 million copies its first month of release.

Cancer-stricken actor PatrickSwayze has hit out at false reportshe has suffered a heart attack - in-sisting he is “doing very well”. Theactor, who was diagnosed with pan-creatic cancer last year, movedswiftly on Wednesday to denyclaims made by the NationalEnquirer that he had suffered the

Laughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way tothe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “FunnyPeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” Premiere

Million-dollar men were everywhere on the red carpet in Hollywoodon Monday, July 20, at the Arclight Cinemas as the “Funny People”gang and their best pals celebrated the premiere of their new comedy.

opportunities,” he said at an earlierpress conference. “I was given dra-matic opportunities, so there wasn’tthat much I was able to do or wantedto do about that. I was pretty burntout of comedy by the time I walkedaway from it. Even though no onehere had seen any of it, it was irrel-evant to me. I was sort of done. Butin this case, I think it’s definitelygiven me a taste of how much morefun it is on set to do a comedy.”

Other million-dollar men on handincluded Ryan Seacrest, who re-cently signed a $45 million deal with“American Idol,” Chris Rock, GarryShandling, David Spade and DonJohnson. A few pretty gals turned outfor the show, too, includingApatow’s wife Leslie Mann and theirdaughters ? all three star in his film,too ? plus Anna Faris, Rashida Jones,Elizabeth Banks, and Toni Collette.

(Fashion Wire Daily/Maria Ramirez)

FWD125 Judd Apatow, left, andAdam Sandler at the Film pre-miere of “Funny People” in LosAngeles, Calif. on Monday, July 20,2009.

Mihcael Jakcson

Blanket Jackson’sBiological MotherRevealed?

ily moved to live with Jackson athis Neverland Ranch.

Star’s report alleges Jacksonstruck up a deal with Pia Bhatti toprovide him with a third child, along-side son Prince Michael, 12, anddaughter Paris, 11, and she promisedto keep her identity a secret. A sourcetells the magazine, “Pia was swornto secrecy about Blanket. The agree-ment she had with Michael was thatshe would never reveal herself to beBlanket’s mum.”

When approached by Star re-porters, Bhatti refused to commenton the claims.

Omer, meanwhile, is the subjectof a separate report suggesting heis Jackson’s biological son. Theclaims are fueled by the 25 yearold’s presence at the King of Pop’sJuly memorial service, where he saton the front row with the Jacksonfamily.

Patrick SwayzeDenies Heart Attack Reports

heart scare.His spokesperson says, “He’s

well. He’s continuing his treatmentand doing very well, actually. Con-trary to reports, he did not suffer aheart attack and has even gained alittle weight.” It’s not the first falsereport the 56-year-old actor has beenforced to dispute since he was diag-

nosed with the disease.Back in May Swayze’s spokesper-

son denied “reckless reports” stem-ming from a Florida radio station hehad died. In March he asked publi-cations to “think twice about print-ing inaccuracies and painting an un-pleasant picture when I have so muchto be thankful for at this time.”

Sam Raimi Signs OnTo Direct ‘World OfWarcraft’ Movie

Sam Raimi

Friday, July 24, 2009 Friday, July 24, 20096 11News

BUSINESS

The bank’s chief economist Lee Jong-Wha said the outlook for East Asia this yearremained “pessimistic” but foresaw a V-shaped recovery led by China if countriescontinue to focus on stimulating domesticdemand.

“We are optimistic for developing Asiafor a V-shape recovery.... But the big ques-tion is whether it will be sustainable growth— in that part we are rather pessimistic with-out a full global recovery,” Lee told AFPahead of the launch of ADB’s biannual AsiaEconomic Monitor in Bangkok.

Despite an increasing proportion of ex-port demand coming from within Asia, no-tably China, countries in the region continueto rely on markets in the US, European Unionand Japan for 60 percent of final goods ex-ports, Lee said. Those markets are less likelyto recover from the global financial crisis soquickly, he said.

The ADB report recommended a con-tinued focus on loose monetary and fiscalpolicies to stimulate domestic demand, with

Asia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remain

Agence France-Presse

BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco-nomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isno wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.

support for small enterprises and stimuluspackages that must be fast and efficient.

“The issue is how effectively they (Asiangovernments) can mobilise these additionalfiscal resources,” Lee said.

The report showed that the pace of capi-tal outflows from Asia had slowed in the firstquarter of 2009, and Lee urged large Asianinvestors to focus more of their capital spend-ing within the region.

While China’s recovery has “gained trac-tion” and the more closed smaller economiessuch as Indonesia are on course to strongergrowth levels, Lee said concern remained formore export-dependent small regional econo-mies such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malay-sia and Thailand.

The Manila-based bank said earlier thismonth it would update on September 22 itsflagship Asian Development Outlook fore-casts, which predicted earlier this year thatdeveloping Asia will see its economic growthfall to 3.4 percent this year compared to 6.3percent in 2008.

Agence France-Presse NEW YORK - Several large US re-

gional banks recently have reported disap-pointing quarterly earnings, as a lack ofmarket activities widens their exposure tobad loans and the housing slump.

The troubles of these banks, essentialgears in getting the recession-miredeconomy back on track, contrasts with thespectacular multibillion-dollar profitsposted by their much larger rivals, such asBank of America, JPMorgan Chase orWells Fargo.

But these megastars “were gettingbenefits from the trading” in markets,which have put in strong gains since March,said Marc Pado, an analyst at CantorFitzgerald.

“The small community banks justdon’t have this ability, so in terms of theloans, it’s not that they had worse loans,they lack the diversity, the advantage ofwhere things are better in the economy,”Pado said.

“The mortgage industry, the homeloans, they haven’t really turned around,”he added.

The big banks have attributed their re-surgent profitability largely to an equitymarket rally from early March. Their

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - The International MonetaryFund on Wednesday hailed China’s progress on cur-rency liberalization, but said some member countriesstill view the yuan as “substantially undervalued.”

In its first bilateral review of the Chineseeconomy since 2006, the IMF executive board alsopraised Beijing’s massive efforts to bolster theeconomy amid the worst global contraction since theGreat Depression.

The board “welcomed the important progressmade in the past few years in increasing the market’srole in determining the exchange rate, as well as theconsequent substantial real appreciation that has beenachieved since the exchange rate reform in 2005,”the multilateral institution said.

“Some directors nevertheless supported the viewthat the renminbi remains substantially undervalued,”the board noted. Since the middle of 2008, the yuan’snominal exchange rate appreciation against the USdollar “has stopped although the nominal effectiveexchange rate has appreciated 5.0 percent,” it said.Real appreciation in the 12 months to May was es-timated at 5.0 percent.

The statement on the conclusion of the so-calledArticle IV bilateral consultation with China on July8 signaled an improvement in strained relations be-tween the Washington-based IMF and the Asianpowerhouse, which wants more clout in the institu-

Regional banks weak linkin US financial system

smaller siblings have underlined their painfrom rising loan defaults.

KeyCorp, based in Ohio, announcedWednesday a net loss of 236 million dol-lars in the March-June period.

KeyCorp, one of the 10 leading USbanks deemed insufficiently capitalized byfederal “stress tests,” said the quarterly losswas largely due to an 850-million-dollar in-crease in the provision for loan losses.

Georgia-based SunTrust Banks posteda loss of 164.4 million dollars after taking a962.2-million-dollar provision for loanlosses.

And behind the top-line profit ofBB&T, based in North Carolina, of 208millions dollars, was a bad-loan charge of701 million dollars.

“The regional banks have good old-fashioned loans that experience losses overa longer period and come later,” said TanyaAzarchs of ratings agency Standard &Poor’s, explaining why these banks, whichwere relatively spared last year amid theglobal financial crisis, are suffering nowwhile their bigger rivals thrive.

“Most of the the banks are soundinghopeful about the consumer credit portfo-lio maybe deteriorating at a slower rate,”Azarchs said.

IMF welcomes China’sprogress on currency

tion to reflect its rising economic might. The Chinese authorities had disagreed sharply

with the IMF’s October 2006 report, which foundChina’s yuan, or renminbi, currency was misalignedwith the country’s economic fundamentals.

The United States, the largest IMF stakeholder,and European countries have pressed China to al-low the yuan to appreciate, accusing Beijing of keep-ing it artificially low to protect its crucial export sec-tor.

Cheaper Chinese products have flooded into theUS, building a gargantuan, politically sensitive tradesurplus. The US trade gap with China, the country’ssecond-largest trading partner, widened to 17.5 bil-lion dollars in May.

The latest IMF board assessment on China’seconomy comes ahead of next week’s first US-Chinahigh-level strategic and economic talks under Presi-dent Barack Obama’s administration.

IMF directors were divided over the role of thecurrency in China’s rebalancing of its economy toreduce its dependence on exports, a reorientation longadvocated by the financial institution.

“Looking ahead, many directors considered thata further strengthening of the renminbi would be partof a comprehensive strategy to rebalance theeconomy by increasing the purchasing power ofhouseholds and the labor share of income, and re-orienting investment toward non-tradable sectors,”the statement said.

AFP PHOTO /PATRICK LIN

Restaurant employees prepare food in Taipei on July 22, 2009. Asian economies willlikely bounce back from the global economic slump in 2010 but fears remain overthe sustainability of growth if there is no wider recovery, the Asian DevelopmentBank said Thursday.

“We found the body of a womaninside the bathing facility on theground floor in the afternoon. Wehave yet to identify her,” another po-lice officer told AFP. “We are notcertain if she was bathing at the timeof the landslide.”

Rescue workers on Thursday af-ternoon also recovered a man’s re-mains from a field near a countryhighway, where flows of mud androcks hit a dozen cars and damagedsome houses, police said.

It was the second body foundthere, and two others were still miss-

Most alcohol offenders are fined,but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning.

Some politicians and women’srights activists have criticized thereligious court’s sentence, calling ittoo harsh.

Caning is usually reserved formen in various crimes ranging fromrape to bribery. But several Islamiclawyers have insisted that the pen-alty for Kartika is fair, saying shewill be whipped with a thin rattancane that does not cause severe pain.

Kartika told reporters in her

From page 1

Malaysian...northern home state of Perak onWednesday that she wants authori-ties to carry out the penalty quicklyso that she can resume her life withher husband and two children.

“I will accept this earthly pun-ishment,” the national news agencyBernama quoted her as saying. “Iwant to advise youngsters to learnfrom my experience, not to repeatmy mistake and cause shame toyourself and family.”

Kartika’s lawyer could not im-mediately be contacted Thursday.

Rattan canes are made from palmplants common in tropical parts ofAsia. They have been used for de-cades for corporal punishment, but

offenders in serious crimes areflogged with thicker canes that cancause bleeding and scars.

Kartika was the only Muslimcaught in last year’s raid at thePahang nightclub. Malaysian clubsand lounges typically serve alcoholand are not legally required to checkif customers are Muslim beforeserving them, so the hotel nightcluboperators were not charged with anyoffense.

The judge in Kartika’s case didnot elaborate on why he imposed arelatively severe sentence, but lo-cal media noted that he had a his-tory of being tough on alcohol of-fenders.

Death...From page 1 ing in the highway area, some five

kilometres (three miles) from thenursing home.

Of the 11 dead, 10 were killed inYamaguchi and one, a man, drownedin a flooded river in the neighbouringprefecture of Tottori.

At the nursing home, a man and awoman were found dead lateWednesday, a police official said,adding that “both died after beingsuffocated by mud.”

Some 700 workers from the po-lice, fire brigades and the GroundSelf-Defence Force were operatingin Hofu on Thursday, a city officialsaid.

Professor Anwarul Islam, chief ex-ecutive of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh,said the three-month-old clouded leop-ard cub had been released back into thewild.

It had been caged by villagers in theremote Chittagong Hill Tracts region,which borders Myanmar and Mizoramstate in India, for the past three weeks,he said.

“Locals stumbled upon two cubs andtheir mother eating a monkey in the dis-trict of Rangimati three weeks ago. Theywere only able to capture one cub,” hesaid “It was tremendous news becausemany conservationists thought the ani-mal was extinct from Bangladesh due tohabitat loss.”

He said in most cases where a rarespecies is captured, villagers sell the ani-mal, but in this case conservationists hadconvinced them to release it back intothe wild.

The species is timid and nocturnal andlittle is known about it, he added.

The clouded leopard is listed as criti-cally endangered by the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature, with100,000 of the species believed to stillbe living worldwide.

It is mainly found in South and South-east Asian countries, and the last reportedsightings of the animal in Bangladeshwere in 1992 and 2005.

Bangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewshopes forhopes forhopes forhopes forhopes forspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalAgence France-Presse

DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-covery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofthe country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-gered species.gered species.gered species.gered species.gered species.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

After festivals and celebrations in early July, the National Mall is worn from wear, as seenfrom the top of the Washington Monument facing the Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday,July 14, 2009.

AFP PHOTO

In this undated hand-out picture released by

The Wildlife Trust ofBangladesh on July 23,2009, a clouded leop-ard cub sits in a cagein Rangamati. (foto

macan)

Friday, July 24, 2009 7Indonesia TodayFriday, July 24, 200910 InternationalInternationalBusiness

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The president said the mainlyMuslim archipelago must remainvigilant against further attacks aftersuicide bombers killed seven peopleat the adjacent JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last Friday.

“I’m sure we will find these per-petrators of terror. We’ll also recoverthe national situation,” he told re-porters at Jakarta’s international air-port, referring to four years ofgrowth and stability since the lastmajor attack.

“As a nation we cannot be de-feated by terrorism.”

Three Australians, an Indonesianand a New Zealander have been con-firmed killed in the blasts, whichalso injured 53 people. Two Dutchtourists are also believed to havebeen killed, as well as the two sui-cide bombers.

Police have not publicly named

AFP PHOTO/HO/EDITIAWARMAN/STATE SECRETARIAT

A handout photo shows Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gestures during a press confer-ence over the attacks on JW. Marriott hotel and Ritz Carlton hotel at the presidential palace in July 17, 2009.

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne ina conference call with analysts alsosaid it was “inevitable” that FiatGroup Automobiles would be de-tached from the rest of the Fiatgroup to stand alone.

The auto maker reported that ithad suffered a second quarter netloss of 179 million euros (254 mil-lion dollars) compared with a profitof 646 million euros a year earlier.

The loss eclipsed the 110 mil-

Fiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for ChryslerAgence France-Presse

MILAN - Italian auto giant Fiat said Wednesday its first quarterlosses extended into the April-June period but predicted a positiveoutcome to the year and foresaw a return to profit for its strugglingUS partner Chrysler.

lion euros expected by Dow JonesNewswires in a consensus forecast.

But Fiat said it still expected toachieve a trading profit of more thanone one billion euros over the yearand a net profit greater than 100 mil-lion, the company said.

Hard hit by the global financialcrisis like the rest of the auto sector,Fiat went into the red in the firstquarter, recording a loss of 411 mil-lion euros (584 million dollars) in

what it called an “extremely diffi-cult trading environment”.

It was the first loss since thegroup returned to profitability inearly 2005 after four years of red ink.

The loss continued in the secondquarter when trading profit, Fiat’skey profitability indicator, fell 72.5percent to 310 million euros, whilesales fell 22.5 percent to 13.18 bil-lion euros.

Marchionne in a later conferencecall with journalists focused on pros-pects for Chrysler, with which Fiathas been allied since June.

“We’ll begin to see the impact ofthe technology transfer in the lastpart of 2010,” he added, referring tothe expertise Fiat has begun provid-

ing Chrysler under the partnership.The technology will allow the

Detroit automaker to meet upcom-ing emissions and fuel economystandards and expand its product of-ferings.

“I’ve no doubt that Chrysler willbe profitable,” Marchionne said, cau-tioning however: “It is too early totalk about profit margins forChrysler.”

The Italian-Canadian chief execu-tive credited with turning Fiat backfrom the brink of bankruptcy in 2004said Chrysler “does need to go pub-lic at some point”.

Fiat acquired a 20 percent stakein Chrysler in exchange for sharingits technology. The stake will rise to

35 percent and eventually to a ma-jority position as long as targetsmandated by the deal are achievedand US government funds providedChrysler are repaid.

The deal gives the Italian automaker access to the lucrative USmarket and brings it closer to econo-mies of scale, which Marchionne hassaid are necessary to compete in theglobal automotive industry.

Marchionne also said that Fiat’sautomobile unit was destined for anindependent existence.

Fiat Group Automobiles marketsthe Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeobrands. Besides automobiles theoverall group makes buses, trucksand farm and agricultural machinery.

Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - The suicide bombings which rocked the JW Marriottand Ritz-Carlton hotels in Indonesia last Friday pose frightening ques-tions for business leaders in the mainly Muslim country, analysts say.

The attacks, especially the bombing at the Marriott, showed a higherlevel of sophistication than previous hits by Indonesian-based extrem-ists and may have been carefully planned to strike high-value targets,they said.

Previous attacks blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorgroup — such as the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings which killed 202people, mostly tourists — were designed to inflict maximum Westerncasualties.

Truck bombings at the Australian embassy in 2004 and the JakartaMarriott in 2003 targeted iconic Western facilities but killed and in-jured mainly Indonesians.

Last week’s attack at the Marriott, however, used a small backpackbomb which was secretly assembled inside the hotel and detonated ina room during a weekly breakfast hosted by a well-known Westernbusinessman.

Five people plus the bomber were killed — three Australians, a NewZealander and an Indonesian hotel worker.

Another two people, believed to be Dutch tourists, were killed in asimilar suicide blast at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton. Fifty-three peoplewere injured in both attacks, compared to about 150 in the Marriottbombing six years ago.

Analysts have been puzzling over why the Marriott bomber, whompolice believe was as young as 16, descended from his room on the18th floor to the lobby and walked straight into the small meeting roomrather than the closer and more crowded main restaurant.

“In this case they penetrated the hotel and reached the heart of theirtarget,” Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told AFP.

“It is very likely that they knew about the Castle Group meetingbecause it was a weekly meeting. The bomber came down the lift tothe lobby and walked directly into the meeting room.”

The CastleAsia group is an investment consultancy headed by promi-nent Jakarta-based American businessman James Castle, who survivedwith minor injuries.

Seventeen foreign and Indonesian executives were reportedly at-tending the breakfast, including Castle’s associate Max Boon, FreeportIndonesia director Dave Potter, former Rio Tinto director Noke Kiroyan,Theiss executive Garth McEvoy and Holcim Indonesia president Timo-thy Mackay.

Some were saved from the full force of the blast by two columns;others such as Boon suffered horrific injuries, but survived.

Mackay, a New Zealander, died of his wounds in hospital, whileMcEvoy and two other Australians — recruitment specialist NathanVerity and trade diplomat Craig Senger — died at the scene.

The attackers appear to have carefully gathered intelligence on theirtargets, perhaps helped by a hotel employee, analysts said.

Rather than driving a truck past the hotels and going “Boom”! theyevaded airport-style security checks and disguised themselves as guestsfor two days while assembling their bombs.

Despite these differences, police say the blasts still bear the hall-marks of the Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group headed by Malaysian-born Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top, the alleged mastermind of the2003 Marriott and 2004 embassy attacks, and a second set of Bali bomb-ings in 2005.

Agence France-Presse

CENGKARENG - Indonesiannational airline Garuda announcedplans on Thursday for an aggres-sive expansion after it was removedfrom a European Union aviationsafety blacklist.

The expansion, labelled “Quan-tum Leap”, will see the airlinenearly double its number of aircraftand increase by half the destina-tions it flies to within five years,

Indonesia attacks:random carnageor surgical strike?

Indonesia airline to expand after EU ban liftedChief Executive Officer EmirsyahSatar said.

“Garuda Indonesia’s fleet, whichnow consists of 62 aircraft, willgrow to 116 aircraft by 2014,” hesaid.

He said the airline was addingBoeing 777s, 737s and AirbusA330-200s, having already takendelivery of three new aircraft.

It plans to boost passenger num-bers to 27.6 million per year in thesame period, up from 10.1 million

currently, by increasing its domes-tic and international destinationsfrom 41 to 62, he said.

“Although the external situationis less supportive because of theglobal financial crisis and increas-ing competition, Garuda will con-tinue its development programmesprudently.”

Satar did not specify the plannednew destinations. The company ear-lier said it planned to reopen itsflights to the Netherlands next year,

as well as possible later routes toFrankfurt and London.

Garuda was one of four Indo-nesian airlines to have EU flightbans lifted earlier this month by theEU Commission, the bloc’s execu-tive arm, citing “significant im-provements” in safety.

All Indonesia-registered aircraftwere banned from flying to the EUin June 2007 after a string ofdeadly crashes, including theMarch 2007 crash-landing of a

Garuda Boeing 737 that killed 21people.

Despite its poor safety record andthe global economic downturnwhich has savaged the airline indus-try, Garuda posted a 10-fold in-crease in profits last year thanks toincreased revenue and passengernumbers.

The company’s net profit for2008 surged to 670 billion rupiah(60.97 million dollars) from 60 bil-lion rupiah the year before.

Indonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president says‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent amessage of defiance Thursday to the perpetrators of last week’s deadly sui-cide attacks in Jakarta, saying the country would not be cowed by terror.

any suspects, but senior counter-ter-rorism officials have said the attacksare the suspected work of Islamistfanatics linked to the SoutheastAsian militant network JemaahIslamiyah (JI).

Digital sketches of two men be-lieved to be the bombers were re-leased Wednesday. Both were Asianswith short hair and one, the Marriottbomber who killed five people, wasaged just 16 to 17 years, police said.

Police deputy spokesman SulistyoIshak said police were searching fortwo Indonesian men, Nur Hasbi andIbrahim, who might be able to pro-vide information on the attacks.

Hasbi, otherwise known as NurSaid, is a known disciple of JI splin-ter group leader NoordinMohammed Top, while Ibrahim isbelieved to have worked at a floristat one of the hotels and has been

missing since Friday.Police have also detained a woman

believed to be the third wife of Ma-laysian-born Noordin, the allegedmastermind of a string of deadlyblasts in Indonesia including the 2003truck bombing of the Marriott.

Police took samples from rela-tives of Nur Hasbi and Ibrahim onMonday which ruled them out aseither of the unidentified bombers,but Ishak said they were still peopleof interest.

“Although DNA tests showed thatNur Hasbi and Ibrahim were not thesuspected suicide bombers, we’restill looking for them,” he said.

Investigators have said theMarriott bomber checked into Room1808 of the luxury hotel two daysbefore the attacks, disguised as aguest and bearing false identification.

Singapore’s Straits Times news-paper, quoting “well-placedsources”, reported Thursday that theRitz-Carlton bomber, aged 20 to 40years according to police, receivedhelp from Ibrahim to enter the hotelvia a staff door.

Balinese CultureFriday, July 24, 2009 98 InternationalFriday, July 24, 2009

Bali Today

Oka C Eswara, the Director of Bali Marine Police, said“we inspect carefully the sea traffic throughout Bali. Wewanted to prevent the terrorists entering Bali through sea.”All ships whether they were docked in the harbor or sailingin the sea examined by the police officers. Not only the bigships but also small fishing boats were checked by the offic-ers. “Besides checking the cargo of the ships, the officersalso examined the crews carefully. Until now, we didn’t findany suspicious ship sailing through Bali’s coastal area,” headded.

If there is the crew who doesn’t have identification, thepolice will take him to the station for further investigation.Bali Police Department also carried out operations to secureBali from security disturbance.

The police checked and searched every people who justcame to Bali in the bus terminals and harbors, patrolling andinspecting rented houses. The police in every regency in Baliconducted similar actions.

In Badung regency, the police arrested several peoplewithout identification card. They will be trial and must ar-range the paper work needed to stay in Bali. The steps wasdone to anticipate the terrorists undercover in the society.

Bali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaAntara

DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensifiedthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombblasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17ththththth 2009. 2009. 2009. 2009. 2009.

Today, children have unlimitedchoices of games. They have beenpampered by modern games, rangingfrom Turtle Ninja, Kung Fu, wargames and many more. These canmake them stay for hours in front oftelevision or computer. Yet, behindthis ease and enjoyment, they losesome values like creativity and do notknow they have traditional games.

It is said so because there is atrend where children, both in urbanand rural areas, begin to leave theirtraditional games. Many game op-tions have been available in the formof CD, DVD, Internet and cartoon intelevision. Just by CD rental or buy-ing the cheapest one and sitting downsweetly, they could enjoy the gamesthey like best. If the games containcompetition, they will competeagainst machine or some times againstfriends. Without realized, this mayresult in sight disorder where childrenshould gaze the monitor and finallyrequire thick glasses at earlier age.

Advancement is not always bad.However, parents should control themto what extent those games coulddrive good impact. Before the pres-ence of these modern games, therewere many traditional games. Theyare no less interesting than the mod-ern ones. Many children even find itattractive and make them creative.

Art parade of Bali Arts Festival2009 has shown the treasure of tradi-

IBP

Denpasar - Telkomsel SMS Cam-pus program which used communi-cation based is trusted to serve sixcolleges in Bali, they are STPBI &SPB Denpasar, Wearnes, LPBA,STIKI, LP3i, and STIKOM.

By using the program, the stu-dents don’t have to wait or queue toknow the education information.They can easily access the informa-tion through text messaging or SMS.Hendrat Widjanarko, the TelkomselManager branch Denpasar, offi-cially launched the program onWednesday, July 22nd 2009.

Mr. Hendrat said that the current

Base Be Siap(Spice Paste for Chicken)

Ingredients:* 225 gr shallots, peeled

* 125 gr cloves garlic, peeled * 50 gr kencur root, peeled and chopped * 60 gr laos, peeled and chopped * 100 gr candlenuts * 125 gr fresh turmeric, peeled & chopped * 50 gr bird’s eye chilies, finely sliced * 50 gr chopped palm sugar * 150 ml coconut oil * 2 stalks lemon grass, bruised * 3 salam leaves * 250 ml water * ¾ tbsp salt

Directions:Grind all ingredients except lemon grass, salam leaves

and water, coarsely in food processor. Place in heavysauce pan, add all remaining ingredients and cook overmedium heat for approximately 60 minutes or until water isevaporated and marinade changes to golden color. Coolbefore using. (http://www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Curly-podded Peain Balinese Spices

Mostly, living atcountryside gives closeraccess to resources offresh vegetables andspices, at least the accessto vegetables at large likewater spinach and ferntips. Another resource isgarden at backyardthrough intercropping withother plants. For instance,curly-podded pea can begrown by letting it climb onthe plants nearby. Pick itup before truly mature inorder its skin or flesh is not

too hard. It is good when served with simple Balinesesauces.

Ingredient: 150gr curly-podded peaGround spices: 2 cloves garlic, 4 cloves shallot, 1 pc

small chili, 1 pc large chili, 1 coriander, 1 slice turmeric, 1slice kencur and ½ tsp salt, Other: 1 tbsp cooking oil.

Method:• Take out its side-fiber and cleanse thoroughly. Divide

each pod into two or three parts.• Boil it half-done. Take out and drain.• Stir-fry the ground spices until smelling fragrant. Add

a cup of water and put the peas into the spices on thefrying pan. Let it boil and when it has cooked, take out andit is ready to serve. (BTN/punia)

Telkomsel SMS Campus use in 6 colleaguesdevelopment of information technol-ogy could improve the educationworld. One of them is throughTelkomsel SMS Campus program thatcan help the colleges to socialize theacademic information to its students.The program is not only helping thestudents but also the student parents.

“The parents can examine andwatch their children because eachstudent must give their Telkomselnumber and their parent’s number,”he added. The program makes gradeinformation, present lists, payments,test schedules and other can be easierto find. The students don’t have toopen internet or go to the campus tosee the announcement.

Northern Baliattracts tourists

Antara

SINGARAJA – Buleleng re-gency located in northern Balistarted to attract the attention oftourists. Dewa Putu Suardipa, thehead of Hotel and RestaurantsAssociation (PHRI) Buleleng,said “Buleleng has the combina-tion between mountain andbeach. The regency also hasmany old historical buildings andit can attract tourists to come toBuleleng.”

Buleleng has the possibilityto become famous tourist desti-nation. Buleleng has twenty onewaterfalls spread throughout theregency and only few peopleknow about it. “Buleleng also hasbeautiful undersea view but thenumber of tourists visited the areais smaller than other regencies inBali,” he added.

Tourism facilities are alsoavailable in Buleleng. Currently,there are 275 hotels and restau-rants. It consists of 11 star hotels,

100 small hotel, 90 villas with thetotal number of room up to 2,500units.

The famous tourism destina-tions in Buleleng are Pancasariand Munduk in southern area, AirSanih in the eastern area, Lovinaand Kaliasem in the middle, andPemuteran and Batu Ampar in thewestern of Buleleng.

The hotel occupancy rate inwestern area up to 80%, in themiddle and south was 40%through 50% and in the easternpart up to 70%. In order to attractmore tourists, Buleleng Govern-ment needs to improve the roadto the tourism site.

Putu Tastra Wijaya, the headof Buleleng Cultural and TourismDepartment, said that the govern-ment had conducted many effortsin promoting Buleleng such asthrough the internet, art group thattravel abroad and many more. Thegovernment also had performedmany traditional arts to attracttourists.

A Hidden Treasureof Children Heritage

tional games. This event is just like akaleidoscope highlighting a variety oftraditional games that ever existedwithin the life of Balinese children.To play one of the games, childrenshould first search for its materials bythemselves at backyard or garden.Actually, it is here where the chal-lenge of the games begins. Some-times, they got injury because theyare unable to use a knife properly. Itdid not matter as intriguing power hassuperseded it.

Among the parade, there was aspace intended for children worldwhere they displayed some bizarregames like coconut shell clog, walk-ing on stilts, pulling friend by thesheath of areca nut, pulling rope in-group and two-wheeled toy where itsstick carried on shoulder. Meanwhile,the heavier one was gallivanting showby barong effigy.

To play the coconut shell clog,for instance, they should keep theirbalance well. Standing on the tips ofcoconut shell is not easy. Moreover,they have to maintain the harmony ofsteps with the pulling of rope con-nected to each coconut shell. Whenthe pull and steps can go harmoni-ously, the player can walk faster.Balance is also entailed in walkingon stilts or tajog or egrang. Thisgame is even riskier because the po-sition of pedal is higher from theground. However, when a player can

operate these stilts properly it is morechallenging and pleasant. The higherthe pedal the more challenging it is.Walking on stilts looks like a walk-ing long-legged heron. It would bemore interesting when passingthrough a muddy or knee-deep wateryroad. These games are often put intocompetition related to traditionalsports.

Another game requiring coopera-tion is pulling the sheath of areca nut.If the bean of areca nut is used bygrandfathers or grandmothers for in-gredient of chewing betel, the sheathof it is used by their grandchildren tomake ‘a pulling vehicle’. Yellow leafsignifies it has been mature. It is timefor children to take it. They just needto leave out the ribs of leaf. The mainrib is not cut as it will be used to pull.One child serves as passenger whileanother as driver who pulls the sheath.This role is exchanged so both canhave an opportunity to enjoy the‘comfort’ of this vehicle game.

Children also put an interest indancing barong gallivanting show. Forthem, it has been designed a smaller-sized barong. Therefore, before grow-ing adult they have been introducedto art world of adult people. By per-forming gallivanting show like this,they will obtain experience and earnmoney. However, the emphasis hereis not on the money, but on the expe-rience and fun. (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia)

Mr. Hendrat said “the confiden-tiality of the information is guaran-teed because the numbers that theyregistered directly connected to theirstudent number.” I Wayan Bendhi, thehead of International Bali TourismAcademy (STPBI) and Bali HotelSchool (SPB), is quite happy by thenew program. By using TelkomselSMS Campus program, the campus isnot using paper anymore to announceinformation to student.

The sophisticated program is alsofree because all information will beplaced in the Telkomsel partnerserver. “The program is can give theinformation with les amount oftime,” added Mr. Bendhi.

A guide tour shows tourist how to play windsurfing at Sanur Beach on Wednesday, July22. Bali’s Marine Police intensified the patrolin the sea area throughout Bali. This wasdone in order to maintain the security afterthe bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17th 2009.

FOTO ANTARA/Nyoman Budhiana

Telkomsel had theopportunity to

provide six cam-puses in Bali with

SMS Campus servicethat will make easierfor college students

to get informationabout their academic

progression.

Telkomsel

Balinese CultureFriday, July 24, 2009 98 InternationalFriday, July 24, 2009

Bali Today

Oka C Eswara, the Director of Bali Marine Police, said“we inspect carefully the sea traffic throughout Bali. Wewanted to prevent the terrorists entering Bali through sea.”All ships whether they were docked in the harbor or sailingin the sea examined by the police officers. Not only the bigships but also small fishing boats were checked by the offic-ers. “Besides checking the cargo of the ships, the officersalso examined the crews carefully. Until now, we didn’t findany suspicious ship sailing through Bali’s coastal area,” headded.

If there is the crew who doesn’t have identification, thepolice will take him to the station for further investigation.Bali Police Department also carried out operations to secureBali from security disturbance.

The police checked and searched every people who justcame to Bali in the bus terminals and harbors, patrolling andinspecting rented houses. The police in every regency in Baliconducted similar actions.

In Badung regency, the police arrested several peoplewithout identification card. They will be trial and must ar-range the paper work needed to stay in Bali. The steps wasdone to anticipate the terrorists undercover in the society.

Bali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaBali’s Police Department tighten coastal areaAntara

DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensified DENPASAR – Bali’s Marine Police intensifiedthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasthe patrol in the sea area throughout Bali. This wasdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombdone in order to maintain the security after the bombblasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17blasts in Jakarta on July 17ththththth 2009. 2009. 2009. 2009. 2009.

Today, children have unlimitedchoices of games. They have beenpampered by modern games, rangingfrom Turtle Ninja, Kung Fu, wargames and many more. These canmake them stay for hours in front oftelevision or computer. Yet, behindthis ease and enjoyment, they losesome values like creativity and do notknow they have traditional games.

It is said so because there is atrend where children, both in urbanand rural areas, begin to leave theirtraditional games. Many game op-tions have been available in the formof CD, DVD, Internet and cartoon intelevision. Just by CD rental or buy-ing the cheapest one and sitting downsweetly, they could enjoy the gamesthey like best. If the games containcompetition, they will competeagainst machine or some times againstfriends. Without realized, this mayresult in sight disorder where childrenshould gaze the monitor and finallyrequire thick glasses at earlier age.

Advancement is not always bad.However, parents should control themto what extent those games coulddrive good impact. Before the pres-ence of these modern games, therewere many traditional games. Theyare no less interesting than the mod-ern ones. Many children even find itattractive and make them creative.

Art parade of Bali Arts Festival2009 has shown the treasure of tradi-

IBP

Denpasar - Telkomsel SMS Cam-pus program which used communi-cation based is trusted to serve sixcolleges in Bali, they are STPBI &SPB Denpasar, Wearnes, LPBA,STIKI, LP3i, and STIKOM.

By using the program, the stu-dents don’t have to wait or queue toknow the education information.They can easily access the informa-tion through text messaging or SMS.Hendrat Widjanarko, the TelkomselManager branch Denpasar, offi-cially launched the program onWednesday, July 22nd 2009.

Mr. Hendrat said that the current

Base Be Siap(Spice Paste for Chicken)

Ingredients:* 225 gr shallots, peeled

* 125 gr cloves garlic, peeled * 50 gr kencur root, peeled and chopped * 60 gr laos, peeled and chopped * 100 gr candlenuts * 125 gr fresh turmeric, peeled & chopped * 50 gr bird’s eye chilies, finely sliced * 50 gr chopped palm sugar * 150 ml coconut oil * 2 stalks lemon grass, bruised * 3 salam leaves * 250 ml water * ¾ tbsp salt

Directions:Grind all ingredients except lemon grass, salam leaves

and water, coarsely in food processor. Place in heavysauce pan, add all remaining ingredients and cook overmedium heat for approximately 60 minutes or until water isevaporated and marinade changes to golden color. Coolbefore using. (http://www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Curly-podded Peain Balinese Spices

Mostly, living atcountryside gives closeraccess to resources offresh vegetables andspices, at least the accessto vegetables at large likewater spinach and ferntips. Another resource isgarden at backyardthrough intercropping withother plants. For instance,curly-podded pea can begrown by letting it climb onthe plants nearby. Pick itup before truly mature inorder its skin or flesh is not

too hard. It is good when served with simple Balinesesauces.

Ingredient: 150gr curly-podded peaGround spices: 2 cloves garlic, 4 cloves shallot, 1 pc

small chili, 1 pc large chili, 1 coriander, 1 slice turmeric, 1slice kencur and ½ tsp salt, Other: 1 tbsp cooking oil.

Method:• Take out its side-fiber and cleanse thoroughly. Divide

each pod into two or three parts.• Boil it half-done. Take out and drain.• Stir-fry the ground spices until smelling fragrant. Add

a cup of water and put the peas into the spices on thefrying pan. Let it boil and when it has cooked, take out andit is ready to serve. (BTN/punia)

Telkomsel SMS Campus use in 6 colleaguesdevelopment of information technol-ogy could improve the educationworld. One of them is throughTelkomsel SMS Campus program thatcan help the colleges to socialize theacademic information to its students.The program is not only helping thestudents but also the student parents.

“The parents can examine andwatch their children because eachstudent must give their Telkomselnumber and their parent’s number,”he added. The program makes gradeinformation, present lists, payments,test schedules and other can be easierto find. The students don’t have toopen internet or go to the campus tosee the announcement.

Northern Baliattracts tourists

Antara

SINGARAJA – Buleleng re-gency located in northern Balistarted to attract the attention oftourists. Dewa Putu Suardipa, thehead of Hotel and RestaurantsAssociation (PHRI) Buleleng,said “Buleleng has the combina-tion between mountain andbeach. The regency also hasmany old historical buildings andit can attract tourists to come toBuleleng.”

Buleleng has the possibilityto become famous tourist desti-nation. Buleleng has twenty onewaterfalls spread throughout theregency and only few peopleknow about it. “Buleleng also hasbeautiful undersea view but thenumber of tourists visited the areais smaller than other regencies inBali,” he added.

Tourism facilities are alsoavailable in Buleleng. Currently,there are 275 hotels and restau-rants. It consists of 11 star hotels,

100 small hotel, 90 villas with thetotal number of room up to 2,500units.

The famous tourism destina-tions in Buleleng are Pancasariand Munduk in southern area, AirSanih in the eastern area, Lovinaand Kaliasem in the middle, andPemuteran and Batu Ampar in thewestern of Buleleng.

The hotel occupancy rate inwestern area up to 80%, in themiddle and south was 40%through 50% and in the easternpart up to 70%. In order to attractmore tourists, Buleleng Govern-ment needs to improve the roadto the tourism site.

Putu Tastra Wijaya, the headof Buleleng Cultural and TourismDepartment, said that the govern-ment had conducted many effortsin promoting Buleleng such asthrough the internet, art group thattravel abroad and many more. Thegovernment also had performedmany traditional arts to attracttourists.

A Hidden Treasureof Children Heritage

tional games. This event is just like akaleidoscope highlighting a variety oftraditional games that ever existedwithin the life of Balinese children.To play one of the games, childrenshould first search for its materials bythemselves at backyard or garden.Actually, it is here where the chal-lenge of the games begins. Some-times, they got injury because theyare unable to use a knife properly. Itdid not matter as intriguing power hassuperseded it.

Among the parade, there was aspace intended for children worldwhere they displayed some bizarregames like coconut shell clog, walk-ing on stilts, pulling friend by thesheath of areca nut, pulling rope in-group and two-wheeled toy where itsstick carried on shoulder. Meanwhile,the heavier one was gallivanting showby barong effigy.

To play the coconut shell clog,for instance, they should keep theirbalance well. Standing on the tips ofcoconut shell is not easy. Moreover,they have to maintain the harmony ofsteps with the pulling of rope con-nected to each coconut shell. Whenthe pull and steps can go harmoni-ously, the player can walk faster.Balance is also entailed in walkingon stilts or tajog or egrang. Thisgame is even riskier because the po-sition of pedal is higher from theground. However, when a player can

operate these stilts properly it is morechallenging and pleasant. The higherthe pedal the more challenging it is.Walking on stilts looks like a walk-ing long-legged heron. It would bemore interesting when passingthrough a muddy or knee-deep wateryroad. These games are often put intocompetition related to traditionalsports.

Another game requiring coopera-tion is pulling the sheath of areca nut.If the bean of areca nut is used bygrandfathers or grandmothers for in-gredient of chewing betel, the sheathof it is used by their grandchildren tomake ‘a pulling vehicle’. Yellow leafsignifies it has been mature. It is timefor children to take it. They just needto leave out the ribs of leaf. The mainrib is not cut as it will be used to pull.One child serves as passenger whileanother as driver who pulls the sheath.This role is exchanged so both canhave an opportunity to enjoy the‘comfort’ of this vehicle game.

Children also put an interest indancing barong gallivanting show. Forthem, it has been designed a smaller-sized barong. Therefore, before grow-ing adult they have been introducedto art world of adult people. By per-forming gallivanting show like this,they will obtain experience and earnmoney. However, the emphasis hereis not on the money, but on the expe-rience and fun. (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia) (BTN/punia)

Mr. Hendrat said “the confiden-tiality of the information is guaran-teed because the numbers that theyregistered directly connected to theirstudent number.” I Wayan Bendhi, thehead of International Bali TourismAcademy (STPBI) and Bali HotelSchool (SPB), is quite happy by thenew program. By using TelkomselSMS Campus program, the campus isnot using paper anymore to announceinformation to student.

The sophisticated program is alsofree because all information will beplaced in the Telkomsel partnerserver. “The program is can give theinformation with les amount oftime,” added Mr. Bendhi.

A guide tour shows tourist how to play windsurfing at Sanur Beach on Wednesday, July22. Bali’s Marine Police intensified the patrolin the sea area throughout Bali. This wasdone in order to maintain the security afterthe bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17th 2009.

FOTO ANTARA/Nyoman Budhiana

Telkomsel had theopportunity to

provide six cam-puses in Bali with

SMS Campus servicethat will make easierfor college students

to get informationabout their academic

progression.

Telkomsel

Friday, July 24, 2009 7Indonesia TodayFriday, July 24, 200910 InternationalInternationalBusiness

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The president said the mainlyMuslim archipelago must remainvigilant against further attacks aftersuicide bombers killed seven peopleat the adjacent JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last Friday.

“I’m sure we will find these per-petrators of terror. We’ll also recoverthe national situation,” he told re-porters at Jakarta’s international air-port, referring to four years ofgrowth and stability since the lastmajor attack.

“As a nation we cannot be de-feated by terrorism.”

Three Australians, an Indonesianand a New Zealander have been con-firmed killed in the blasts, whichalso injured 53 people. Two Dutchtourists are also believed to havebeen killed, as well as the two sui-cide bombers.

Police have not publicly named

AFP PHOTO/HO/EDITIAWARMAN/STATE SECRETARIAT

A handout photo shows Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gestures during a press confer-ence over the attacks on JW. Marriott hotel and Ritz Carlton hotel at the presidential palace in July 17, 2009.

Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne ina conference call with analysts alsosaid it was “inevitable” that FiatGroup Automobiles would be de-tached from the rest of the Fiatgroup to stand alone.

The auto maker reported that ithad suffered a second quarter netloss of 179 million euros (254 mil-lion dollars) compared with a profitof 646 million euros a year earlier.

The loss eclipsed the 110 mil-

Fiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isFiat extends losses but isupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for Chryslerupbeat on prospects for ChryslerAgence France-Presse

MILAN - Italian auto giant Fiat said Wednesday its first quarterlosses extended into the April-June period but predicted a positiveoutcome to the year and foresaw a return to profit for its strugglingUS partner Chrysler.

lion euros expected by Dow JonesNewswires in a consensus forecast.

But Fiat said it still expected toachieve a trading profit of more thanone one billion euros over the yearand a net profit greater than 100 mil-lion, the company said.

Hard hit by the global financialcrisis like the rest of the auto sector,Fiat went into the red in the firstquarter, recording a loss of 411 mil-lion euros (584 million dollars) in

what it called an “extremely diffi-cult trading environment”.

It was the first loss since thegroup returned to profitability inearly 2005 after four years of red ink.

The loss continued in the secondquarter when trading profit, Fiat’skey profitability indicator, fell 72.5percent to 310 million euros, whilesales fell 22.5 percent to 13.18 bil-lion euros.

Marchionne in a later conferencecall with journalists focused on pros-pects for Chrysler, with which Fiathas been allied since June.

“We’ll begin to see the impact ofthe technology transfer in the lastpart of 2010,” he added, referring tothe expertise Fiat has begun provid-

ing Chrysler under the partnership.The technology will allow the

Detroit automaker to meet upcom-ing emissions and fuel economystandards and expand its product of-ferings.

“I’ve no doubt that Chrysler willbe profitable,” Marchionne said, cau-tioning however: “It is too early totalk about profit margins forChrysler.”

The Italian-Canadian chief execu-tive credited with turning Fiat backfrom the brink of bankruptcy in 2004said Chrysler “does need to go pub-lic at some point”.

Fiat acquired a 20 percent stakein Chrysler in exchange for sharingits technology. The stake will rise to

35 percent and eventually to a ma-jority position as long as targetsmandated by the deal are achievedand US government funds providedChrysler are repaid.

The deal gives the Italian automaker access to the lucrative USmarket and brings it closer to econo-mies of scale, which Marchionne hassaid are necessary to compete in theglobal automotive industry.

Marchionne also said that Fiat’sautomobile unit was destined for anindependent existence.

Fiat Group Automobiles marketsthe Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeobrands. Besides automobiles theoverall group makes buses, trucksand farm and agricultural machinery.

Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - The suicide bombings which rocked the JW Marriottand Ritz-Carlton hotels in Indonesia last Friday pose frightening ques-tions for business leaders in the mainly Muslim country, analysts say.

The attacks, especially the bombing at the Marriott, showed a higherlevel of sophistication than previous hits by Indonesian-based extrem-ists and may have been carefully planned to strike high-value targets,they said.

Previous attacks blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorgroup — such as the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings which killed 202people, mostly tourists — were designed to inflict maximum Westerncasualties.

Truck bombings at the Australian embassy in 2004 and the JakartaMarriott in 2003 targeted iconic Western facilities but killed and in-jured mainly Indonesians.

Last week’s attack at the Marriott, however, used a small backpackbomb which was secretly assembled inside the hotel and detonated ina room during a weekly breakfast hosted by a well-known Westernbusinessman.

Five people plus the bomber were killed — three Australians, a NewZealander and an Indonesian hotel worker.

Another two people, believed to be Dutch tourists, were killed in asimilar suicide blast at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton. Fifty-three peoplewere injured in both attacks, compared to about 150 in the Marriottbombing six years ago.

Analysts have been puzzling over why the Marriott bomber, whompolice believe was as young as 16, descended from his room on the18th floor to the lobby and walked straight into the small meeting roomrather than the closer and more crowded main restaurant.

“In this case they penetrated the hotel and reached the heart of theirtarget,” Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna told AFP.

“It is very likely that they knew about the Castle Group meetingbecause it was a weekly meeting. The bomber came down the lift tothe lobby and walked directly into the meeting room.”

The CastleAsia group is an investment consultancy headed by promi-nent Jakarta-based American businessman James Castle, who survivedwith minor injuries.

Seventeen foreign and Indonesian executives were reportedly at-tending the breakfast, including Castle’s associate Max Boon, FreeportIndonesia director Dave Potter, former Rio Tinto director Noke Kiroyan,Theiss executive Garth McEvoy and Holcim Indonesia president Timo-thy Mackay.

Some were saved from the full force of the blast by two columns;others such as Boon suffered horrific injuries, but survived.

Mackay, a New Zealander, died of his wounds in hospital, whileMcEvoy and two other Australians — recruitment specialist NathanVerity and trade diplomat Craig Senger — died at the scene.

The attackers appear to have carefully gathered intelligence on theirtargets, perhaps helped by a hotel employee, analysts said.

Rather than driving a truck past the hotels and going “Boom”! theyevaded airport-style security checks and disguised themselves as guestsfor two days while assembling their bombs.

Despite these differences, police say the blasts still bear the hall-marks of the Jemaah Islamiyah splinter group headed by Malaysian-born Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top, the alleged mastermind of the2003 Marriott and 2004 embassy attacks, and a second set of Bali bomb-ings in 2005.

Agence France-Presse

CENGKARENG - Indonesiannational airline Garuda announcedplans on Thursday for an aggres-sive expansion after it was removedfrom a European Union aviationsafety blacklist.

The expansion, labelled “Quan-tum Leap”, will see the airlinenearly double its number of aircraftand increase by half the destina-tions it flies to within five years,

Indonesia attacks:random carnageor surgical strike?

Indonesia airline to expand after EU ban liftedChief Executive Officer EmirsyahSatar said.

“Garuda Indonesia’s fleet, whichnow consists of 62 aircraft, willgrow to 116 aircraft by 2014,” hesaid.

He said the airline was addingBoeing 777s, 737s and AirbusA330-200s, having already takendelivery of three new aircraft.

It plans to boost passenger num-bers to 27.6 million per year in thesame period, up from 10.1 million

currently, by increasing its domes-tic and international destinationsfrom 41 to 62, he said.

“Although the external situationis less supportive because of theglobal financial crisis and increas-ing competition, Garuda will con-tinue its development programmesprudently.”

Satar did not specify the plannednew destinations. The company ear-lier said it planned to reopen itsflights to the Netherlands next year,

as well as possible later routes toFrankfurt and London.

Garuda was one of four Indo-nesian airlines to have EU flightbans lifted earlier this month by theEU Commission, the bloc’s execu-tive arm, citing “significant im-provements” in safety.

All Indonesia-registered aircraftwere banned from flying to the EUin June 2007 after a string ofdeadly crashes, including theMarch 2007 crash-landing of a

Garuda Boeing 737 that killed 21people.

Despite its poor safety record andthe global economic downturnwhich has savaged the airline indus-try, Garuda posted a 10-fold in-crease in profits last year thanks toincreased revenue and passengernumbers.

The company’s net profit for2008 surged to 670 billion rupiah(60.97 million dollars) from 60 bil-lion rupiah the year before.

Indonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president saysIndonesian president says‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’‘we cannot be defeated’Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent amessage of defiance Thursday to the perpetrators of last week’s deadly sui-cide attacks in Jakarta, saying the country would not be cowed by terror.

any suspects, but senior counter-ter-rorism officials have said the attacksare the suspected work of Islamistfanatics linked to the SoutheastAsian militant network JemaahIslamiyah (JI).

Digital sketches of two men be-lieved to be the bombers were re-leased Wednesday. Both were Asianswith short hair and one, the Marriottbomber who killed five people, wasaged just 16 to 17 years, police said.

Police deputy spokesman SulistyoIshak said police were searching fortwo Indonesian men, Nur Hasbi andIbrahim, who might be able to pro-vide information on the attacks.

Hasbi, otherwise known as NurSaid, is a known disciple of JI splin-ter group leader NoordinMohammed Top, while Ibrahim isbelieved to have worked at a floristat one of the hotels and has been

missing since Friday.Police have also detained a woman

believed to be the third wife of Ma-laysian-born Noordin, the allegedmastermind of a string of deadlyblasts in Indonesia including the 2003truck bombing of the Marriott.

Police took samples from rela-tives of Nur Hasbi and Ibrahim onMonday which ruled them out aseither of the unidentified bombers,but Ishak said they were still peopleof interest.

“Although DNA tests showed thatNur Hasbi and Ibrahim were not thesuspected suicide bombers, we’restill looking for them,” he said.

Investigators have said theMarriott bomber checked into Room1808 of the luxury hotel two daysbefore the attacks, disguised as aguest and bearing false identification.

Singapore’s Straits Times news-paper, quoting “well-placedsources”, reported Thursday that theRitz-Carlton bomber, aged 20 to 40years according to police, receivedhelp from Ibrahim to enter the hotelvia a staff door.

Friday, July 24, 2009 Friday, July 24, 20096 11News

BUSINESS

The bank’s chief economist Lee Jong-Wha said the outlook for East Asia this yearremained “pessimistic” but foresaw a V-shaped recovery led by China if countriescontinue to focus on stimulating domesticdemand.

“We are optimistic for developing Asiafor a V-shape recovery.... But the big ques-tion is whether it will be sustainable growth— in that part we are rather pessimistic with-out a full global recovery,” Lee told AFPahead of the launch of ADB’s biannual AsiaEconomic Monitor in Bangkok.

Despite an increasing proportion of ex-port demand coming from within Asia, no-tably China, countries in the region continueto rely on markets in the US, European Unionand Japan for 60 percent of final goods ex-ports, Lee said. Those markets are less likelyto recover from the global financial crisis soquickly, he said.

The ADB report recommended a con-tinued focus on loose monetary and fiscalpolicies to stimulate domestic demand, with

Asia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundAsia economies to reboundin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remainin 2010 but fears remain

Agence France-Presse

BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco- BANGKOK - Asian economies will likely bounce back from the global eco-nomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isnomic slump in 2010 but fears remain over the sustainability of growth if there isno wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.no wider recovery, the Asian Development Bank said Thursday.

support for small enterprises and stimuluspackages that must be fast and efficient.

“The issue is how effectively they (Asiangovernments) can mobilise these additionalfiscal resources,” Lee said.

The report showed that the pace of capi-tal outflows from Asia had slowed in the firstquarter of 2009, and Lee urged large Asianinvestors to focus more of their capital spend-ing within the region.

While China’s recovery has “gained trac-tion” and the more closed smaller economiessuch as Indonesia are on course to strongergrowth levels, Lee said concern remained formore export-dependent small regional econo-mies such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malay-sia and Thailand.

The Manila-based bank said earlier thismonth it would update on September 22 itsflagship Asian Development Outlook fore-casts, which predicted earlier this year thatdeveloping Asia will see its economic growthfall to 3.4 percent this year compared to 6.3percent in 2008.

Agence France-Presse NEW YORK - Several large US re-

gional banks recently have reported disap-pointing quarterly earnings, as a lack ofmarket activities widens their exposure tobad loans and the housing slump.

The troubles of these banks, essentialgears in getting the recession-miredeconomy back on track, contrasts with thespectacular multibillion-dollar profitsposted by their much larger rivals, such asBank of America, JPMorgan Chase orWells Fargo.

But these megastars “were gettingbenefits from the trading” in markets,which have put in strong gains since March,said Marc Pado, an analyst at CantorFitzgerald.

“The small community banks justdon’t have this ability, so in terms of theloans, it’s not that they had worse loans,they lack the diversity, the advantage ofwhere things are better in the economy,”Pado said.

“The mortgage industry, the homeloans, they haven’t really turned around,”he added.

The big banks have attributed their re-surgent profitability largely to an equitymarket rally from early March. Their

Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON - The International MonetaryFund on Wednesday hailed China’s progress on cur-rency liberalization, but said some member countriesstill view the yuan as “substantially undervalued.”

In its first bilateral review of the Chineseeconomy since 2006, the IMF executive board alsopraised Beijing’s massive efforts to bolster theeconomy amid the worst global contraction since theGreat Depression.

The board “welcomed the important progressmade in the past few years in increasing the market’srole in determining the exchange rate, as well as theconsequent substantial real appreciation that has beenachieved since the exchange rate reform in 2005,”the multilateral institution said.

“Some directors nevertheless supported the viewthat the renminbi remains substantially undervalued,”the board noted. Since the middle of 2008, the yuan’snominal exchange rate appreciation against the USdollar “has stopped although the nominal effectiveexchange rate has appreciated 5.0 percent,” it said.Real appreciation in the 12 months to May was es-timated at 5.0 percent.

The statement on the conclusion of the so-calledArticle IV bilateral consultation with China on July8 signaled an improvement in strained relations be-tween the Washington-based IMF and the Asianpowerhouse, which wants more clout in the institu-

Regional banks weak linkin US financial system

smaller siblings have underlined their painfrom rising loan defaults.

KeyCorp, based in Ohio, announcedWednesday a net loss of 236 million dol-lars in the March-June period.

KeyCorp, one of the 10 leading USbanks deemed insufficiently capitalized byfederal “stress tests,” said the quarterly losswas largely due to an 850-million-dollar in-crease in the provision for loan losses.

Georgia-based SunTrust Banks posteda loss of 164.4 million dollars after taking a962.2-million-dollar provision for loanlosses.

And behind the top-line profit ofBB&T, based in North Carolina, of 208millions dollars, was a bad-loan charge of701 million dollars.

“The regional banks have good old-fashioned loans that experience losses overa longer period and come later,” said TanyaAzarchs of ratings agency Standard &Poor’s, explaining why these banks, whichwere relatively spared last year amid theglobal financial crisis, are suffering nowwhile their bigger rivals thrive.

“Most of the the banks are soundinghopeful about the consumer credit portfo-lio maybe deteriorating at a slower rate,”Azarchs said.

IMF welcomes China’sprogress on currency

tion to reflect its rising economic might. The Chinese authorities had disagreed sharply

with the IMF’s October 2006 report, which foundChina’s yuan, or renminbi, currency was misalignedwith the country’s economic fundamentals.

The United States, the largest IMF stakeholder,and European countries have pressed China to al-low the yuan to appreciate, accusing Beijing of keep-ing it artificially low to protect its crucial export sec-tor.

Cheaper Chinese products have flooded into theUS, building a gargantuan, politically sensitive tradesurplus. The US trade gap with China, the country’ssecond-largest trading partner, widened to 17.5 bil-lion dollars in May.

The latest IMF board assessment on China’seconomy comes ahead of next week’s first US-Chinahigh-level strategic and economic talks under Presi-dent Barack Obama’s administration.

IMF directors were divided over the role of thecurrency in China’s rebalancing of its economy toreduce its dependence on exports, a reorientation longadvocated by the financial institution.

“Looking ahead, many directors considered thata further strengthening of the renminbi would be partof a comprehensive strategy to rebalance theeconomy by increasing the purchasing power ofhouseholds and the labor share of income, and re-orienting investment toward non-tradable sectors,”the statement said.

AFP PHOTO /PATRICK LIN

Restaurant employees prepare food in Taipei on July 22, 2009. Asian economies willlikely bounce back from the global economic slump in 2010 but fears remain overthe sustainability of growth if there is no wider recovery, the Asian DevelopmentBank said Thursday.

“We found the body of a womaninside the bathing facility on theground floor in the afternoon. Wehave yet to identify her,” another po-lice officer told AFP. “We are notcertain if she was bathing at the timeof the landslide.”

Rescue workers on Thursday af-ternoon also recovered a man’s re-mains from a field near a countryhighway, where flows of mud androcks hit a dozen cars and damagedsome houses, police said.

It was the second body foundthere, and two others were still miss-

Most alcohol offenders are fined,but the law also provides for a three-year prison term and caning.

Some politicians and women’srights activists have criticized thereligious court’s sentence, calling ittoo harsh.

Caning is usually reserved formen in various crimes ranging fromrape to bribery. But several Islamiclawyers have insisted that the pen-alty for Kartika is fair, saying shewill be whipped with a thin rattancane that does not cause severe pain.

Kartika told reporters in her

From page 1

Malaysian...northern home state of Perak onWednesday that she wants authori-ties to carry out the penalty quicklyso that she can resume her life withher husband and two children.

“I will accept this earthly pun-ishment,” the national news agencyBernama quoted her as saying. “Iwant to advise youngsters to learnfrom my experience, not to repeatmy mistake and cause shame toyourself and family.”

Kartika’s lawyer could not im-mediately be contacted Thursday.

Rattan canes are made from palmplants common in tropical parts ofAsia. They have been used for de-cades for corporal punishment, but

offenders in serious crimes areflogged with thicker canes that cancause bleeding and scars.

Kartika was the only Muslimcaught in last year’s raid at thePahang nightclub. Malaysian clubsand lounges typically serve alcoholand are not legally required to checkif customers are Muslim beforeserving them, so the hotel nightcluboperators were not charged with anyoffense.

The judge in Kartika’s case didnot elaborate on why he imposed arelatively severe sentence, but lo-cal media noted that he had a his-tory of being tough on alcohol of-fenders.

Death...From page 1 ing in the highway area, some five

kilometres (three miles) from thenursing home.

Of the 11 dead, 10 were killed inYamaguchi and one, a man, drownedin a flooded river in the neighbouringprefecture of Tottori.

At the nursing home, a man and awoman were found dead lateWednesday, a police official said,adding that “both died after beingsuffocated by mud.”

Some 700 workers from the po-lice, fire brigades and the GroundSelf-Defence Force were operatingin Hofu on Thursday, a city officialsaid.

Professor Anwarul Islam, chief ex-ecutive of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh,said the three-month-old clouded leop-ard cub had been released back into thewild.

It had been caged by villagers in theremote Chittagong Hill Tracts region,which borders Myanmar and Mizoramstate in India, for the past three weeks,he said.

“Locals stumbled upon two cubs andtheir mother eating a monkey in the dis-trict of Rangimati three weeks ago. Theywere only able to capture one cub,” hesaid “It was tremendous news becausemany conservationists thought the ani-mal was extinct from Bangladesh due tohabitat loss.”

He said in most cases where a rarespecies is captured, villagers sell the ani-mal, but in this case conservationists hadconvinced them to release it back intothe wild.

The species is timid and nocturnal andlittle is known about it, he added.

The clouded leopard is listed as criti-cally endangered by the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature, with100,000 of the species believed to stillbe living worldwide.

It is mainly found in South and South-east Asian countries, and the last reportedsightings of the animal in Bangladeshwere in 1992 and 2005.

Bangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareBangladesh rareleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewsleopard renewshopes forhopes forhopes forhopes forhopes forspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalspecies survivalAgence France-Presse

DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-DHAKA - Bangladeshi conservationists said Thursday the dis-covery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofcovery of a rare leopard captured by villagers in the southeast ofthe country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-the country renewed hopes for the survival of the critically endan-gered species.gered species.gered species.gered species.gered species.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

After festivals and celebrations in early July, the National Mall is worn from wear, as seenfrom the top of the Washington Monument facing the Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday,July 14, 2009.

AFP PHOTO

In this undated hand-out picture released by

The Wildlife Trust ofBangladesh on July 23,2009, a clouded leop-ard cub sits in a cagein Rangamati. (foto

macan)

News Friday, July 24, 2009 5Entertainment InternationalFriday, July 24, 200912 International

No-one was killed as the blazeripped through 1,100 hectares(2,718 acres) of brush and damagedhomes in the suburbs of France’ssecond city, but one fireman suf-fered burns and four rescuers weretreated for smoke inhalation.

The fire erupted on Wednesdayafter troops from the 1st Foreign Le-gion Regiment used tracer rounds,which contain an incendiary sub-stance to make them visible in flight,during a practice session at their base.

At dawn on Thursday firefighterspronounced the blaze under control,but this did little to calm the angerof local officials, who noted that thiswas the second time in as many yearsthat the army had started a wildfire.

Agence France-Presse

BEIJING - At least 53 peoplewere missing after heavy rains trig-gered a landslide in southwesternChina’s Sichuan province on Thurs-day, the state-run Xinhua news

Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE - Australianscientists have photographed ahumpback whale helping a new-born calf take what appears to beits first breath, a rare event de-scribed as the “Holy Grail” forwhale-watchers.

The marine scientists fromWestern Australia’s Centre forWhale Research said they watchedin astonishment as the motherswam beneath the distressed babyand lifted it above the water, clear-ing its blowhole to take in air.

“We feel awed and privileged tohave finally seen this spectacle af-ter over 20 years of research,” saidscientist Curt Jenner.

The researchers said the waterwas full of blood, indicating themother had just given birth on the

Agence France-Presse

ROME - Two luxury yachts,built in Italy and destined for NorthKorea, have been seized by Italianpolice as part of international sanc-tions on Pyongyang, an Italian min-istry official said Thursday.

Confirming a report in the Ital-ian business newspaper Il Sole 24Ore, the official from the minis-try of economic development saidthe yachts — worth 13 millioneuros (18.5 million dollars) —were seized more than twomonths ago.

Italy seizes luxury yachtsbound for North Korea

“These yachts were destined forNorth Korea and they were seizedbecause they violationed EU andinternational regulations based onUN resolutions that prohibit theexport of luxury goods to that coun-try,” he told AFP.

Speaking on condition of ano-nymity, the official, from the min-istry of economic development, re-fused to say if the vessels weremeant for North Korean leader KimJong-Il.

They were built by Azimut-Benetti, one of the world’s leadingmanufacturers of luxury yachts.

Baby whale’s firstbreath caught oncamera off Australia

migration route off Western Austra-lia. They added that the “small andskinny” baby was instantly revivedby its first breath.

“It was apparent that the calf wasstruggling to stay at the surface tobreathe and was swimming aroundin tight, clockwise circles with onlythe tip of its snout protruding,” saidJenner’s wife and fellow scientist,Micheline.

“As soon as the cow lowered itsnewborn back into the water, itslittle tail flukes began to beat like awind-up toy being lowered into thebath,” she added.

Humpbacks are one of the larg-est whale species, growing up to 18metres (60 foot) long. They are amainstay of the whale-watching in-dustry in Australia, which is worthan estimated 300 million dollars(246 million US) a year.

AFP PHOTO / HO

This handout photo shows a tiny humpback whale calf namedTanatabiddi blowing water out of its blowholes as it practices the artof breathing.

AFP PHOTO MICHEL GANGNE

A Red Cross volunteer helps two women during the evacuation of a retirement home, on July 23, 2009, inMarseille, southern France, after one of France’s worst fires for three years raged on the eastern outskirtsof Marseille late Wednesday. The wildfire sparked, by practice shelling by the military, was under controlToday after threatening hundreds of homes but claiming no victims.

At least 53 people missing in China landslideagency reported.

Another 97 “trapped” people hadbeen rescued after the disaster, saidthe brief dispatch, which gave fewother details.

The disaster occurred in remoteand mountainous Kangding county,

an area traditionally populated byethnic Tibetans.

Sichuan province was rocked inMay of last year by a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake that triggeredhuge landslides across the region’smountainous terrain.

Foreign LegionForeign LegionForeign LegionForeign LegionForeign Legionshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exerciseshooting exercisesparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfiresparks French wildfireAgence France-Presse

MARSEILLE - A Foreign Legion drill instructor was suspendedThursday after what was branded an “imbecilic” shooting exercisetriggered a huge wildfire that threatened the outskirts of Marseille.

Local prefect Michel Sappin, theFrench government’s senior regionaloffical and police chief, blasted the“imbecilic” actions of the military.

“It was the same thing last yearnear the camp in Canjuers. That wasthe biggest fire last summer,” hesaid. Thursday’s fire, started at acamp in Carpiagne, was the worstto hit southern France in three years.

Marseille’s mayor and senator,Jean-Claude Gaudin, demanded thatthe military help out with the clean-up operation.

“Personally, I can’t see the needto carry out military exercises in 32degree heat and a strong wind. Itmust really have been someone whois not from round here who took this

decision,” he said.“We did the best we can but when

you’re faced with this kind of in-credible stupidity, you need to sayso with a certain force,” he added.

The military accepted responsi-bility for the fire.

“It was found that tracer roundswere used in violation of orders given.As a result, the army general staff hastaken an interim decision to suspendthe leader responsable from his duties,”Colonel Benoit Royal announced.

Philippe Pancarzi, head ofMarseille’s fire service, told local ra-dio that the fire had stopped spread-ing. “At around 7:00 am, there werestill some sources of fire, but the fire iscontained and under control,” he said.

But with winds not forecast toweaken before evening, “we are keep-ing all our assets on the scene,” includ-ing nearly 500 firefighters — backedup by water dropping planes — spreadover eight kilometres (five miles).

Starting with the flick’s star,Adam Sandler, the highest-paid co-median in the world, who routinelymakes $25 million per movie, add-ing in his co-star Seth Rogen, whosepockets are overflowing with rev-enues from both acting andscreenwriting, and throw in writer-director-producer Judd Apatow,whose hits include “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” andright there you have some thewealthiest guys working in Holly-wood today.

Plus, there was Eric Bana, whoalso stars in the comedy; he’s beenraking it in as a leading man eversince he had his own TV comedyshow in Australia, but admits thatmost American audiences don’t thinkof him as one of the “Funny People.”

“While I was given great oppor-tunities here, I wasn’t given comic

The mother of MichaelJackson’s youngest child PrinceMichael II is a Norwegian dentalhygienist he met on vacation inTunisia, according to sensationaltabloid reports. Jackson never dis-closed the identity of seven-year-old Blanket’s true mother, reveal-ing only that he was born to ananonymous surrogate.

Star magazine claims she isclose friend Pia Bhatti, who agreedto donate her eggs to the superstarafter befriending him through herson Omer - who found fame as animpersonator of the King of Pop,and later became known as his‘fourth child’.

Omer captivated Jackson whenthey met in the African country in1996, through the then-12 yearold’s ability to mimic him and hisdance moves. The singer took thechild on tour with him and his fam-

Sam Raimi, director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man series, has agreed todirect the live-action film adaptation of World of Warcraft. According to Vari-ety, the Drag Me to Hell director will finish his work on Spider-Man 4, whichis set to begin filming next year, before shooting World of Warcraft.

Legendary Pictures and the video game publisher Blizzard Entertainmentare working with Warner Bros. to make the film. World of Warcraft boastsapproximately 11 million subscribers worldwide, over half of the MassivelyMultiplayer Online Role-Playing Game market. It has become a pop-culturephenomenon, being featured in a Toyota commercial and a South Park epi-sode.

Mr. T, William Shatner, Verne Troyer, and Ozzy Osbourne are among thecelebrities that have made commercials for the game. The game’s latest ex-pansion, Wrath of the Lich King, sold over 2.8 million copies its first day, andmore than 4 million copies its first month of release.

Cancer-stricken actor PatrickSwayze has hit out at false reportshe has suffered a heart attack - in-sisting he is “doing very well”. Theactor, who was diagnosed with pan-creatic cancer last year, movedswiftly on Wednesday to denyclaims made by the NationalEnquirer that he had suffered the

Laughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way toLaughing All the Way tothe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “Funnythe Bank at the “FunnyPeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” PremierePeople” Premiere

Million-dollar men were everywhere on the red carpet in Hollywoodon Monday, July 20, at the Arclight Cinemas as the “Funny People”gang and their best pals celebrated the premiere of their new comedy.

opportunities,” he said at an earlierpress conference. “I was given dra-matic opportunities, so there wasn’tthat much I was able to do or wantedto do about that. I was pretty burntout of comedy by the time I walkedaway from it. Even though no onehere had seen any of it, it was irrel-evant to me. I was sort of done. Butin this case, I think it’s definitelygiven me a taste of how much morefun it is on set to do a comedy.”

Other million-dollar men on handincluded Ryan Seacrest, who re-cently signed a $45 million deal with“American Idol,” Chris Rock, GarryShandling, David Spade and DonJohnson. A few pretty gals turned outfor the show, too, includingApatow’s wife Leslie Mann and theirdaughters ? all three star in his film,too ? plus Anna Faris, Rashida Jones,Elizabeth Banks, and Toni Collette.

(Fashion Wire Daily/Maria Ramirez)

FWD125 Judd Apatow, left, andAdam Sandler at the Film pre-miere of “Funny People” in LosAngeles, Calif. on Monday, July 20,2009.

Mihcael Jakcson

Blanket Jackson’sBiological MotherRevealed?

ily moved to live with Jackson athis Neverland Ranch.

Star’s report alleges Jacksonstruck up a deal with Pia Bhatti toprovide him with a third child, along-side son Prince Michael, 12, anddaughter Paris, 11, and she promisedto keep her identity a secret. A sourcetells the magazine, “Pia was swornto secrecy about Blanket. The agree-ment she had with Michael was thatshe would never reveal herself to beBlanket’s mum.”

When approached by Star re-porters, Bhatti refused to commenton the claims.

Omer, meanwhile, is the subjectof a separate report suggesting heis Jackson’s biological son. Theclaims are fueled by the 25 yearold’s presence at the King of Pop’sJuly memorial service, where he saton the front row with the Jacksonfamily.

Patrick SwayzeDenies Heart Attack Reports

heart scare.His spokesperson says, “He’s

well. He’s continuing his treatmentand doing very well, actually. Con-trary to reports, he did not suffer aheart attack and has even gained alittle weight.” It’s not the first falsereport the 56-year-old actor has beenforced to dispute since he was diag-

nosed with the disease.Back in May Swayze’s spokesper-

son denied “reckless reports” stem-ming from a Florida radio station hehad died. In March he asked publi-cations to “think twice about print-ing inaccuracies and painting an un-pleasant picture when I have so muchto be thankful for at this time.”

Sam Raimi Signs OnTo Direct ‘World OfWarcraft’ Movie

Sam Raimi

International4 Friday, July 24, 2009 International Friday, July 24, 2009 13Life StyleNews

Agence France-Presse

PHUKET - US Secretary of StateHillary Clinton said Thursday NorthKorea had “no friends left” to offerit refuge from nuclear sanctions,triggering vitriolic defiance from theStalinist regime.

Pyonyang hurled personal invec-tive at Clinton and declared nucleartalks “dead”, as she told Asia’s larg-est security forum that internationalefforts to squeeze the North over itsatomic programme were paying off.

“They have no friends left thatwill protect them from the interna-tional community’s efforts to movetoward denuclearisation,” Clintontold the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations Regional Forum(ARF) in Phuket.

“In their presentation today theyevinced no willingness to pursue thepath of denuclearisation and thatwas troubling, not only to the UnitedStates but to the region and the in-ternational community,” she added.

“I was gratified by how manycountries from throughout the re-gion stood up and expressed directlyto the North Korean delegation theirconcern over the provocativebehaviour we have seen over the pastfew months.”

SYDNEY - Australia’s PrimeMinister Kevin Rudd Thursdaysaid he found it “sickening” thatone of the Jakarta bombers wasapparently a boy aged just 16 or 17.

Rudd was speaking after Indo-nesian police released digitally re-constructed images of two mili-tants suspected of last week’sblasts which left seven dead in-cluding three Australians.

“If those reports are true, it issickening that these evil terroristswould prey on children to do theirdirty work,” Rudd told reporters.

“The thought that terrorists en-gaged in their evil business wouldalso prey upon children defies anystandard of civilised behaviour,”

They are between 16 and 20-years-old, boys and girls from twodifferent worlds who at home haveno opportunity to meet.

“This is the first time I meetpeople from the West Bank andGaza and hear their side, their pointof view,” said Yoni, 17, from thenorthern Israeli port city of Haifa.

And yet over the past week, theyhave eaten their meals together,

Agence France-Presse

SAN JOSE - Honduras’s de factogovernment has shot down a last-gasp deal to resolve the country’spolitical crisis, insisting oustedPresident Manuel Zelaya cannotreturn to office.

The return of Mr Zelaya as presi-dent was impossible, interim foreignminister Carlos Lopez Contreras saidon CNN’s Spanish station, effec-tively killing hopes of a settlement.

Crisis mediator and Costa RicanPresident Oscar Arias has proposed

Australia PM AFP ‘sickened’over teen Jakarta bomber

he added.Indonesian police said the

youthful bomber was responsiblefor the attack on the JW Marriotthotel, which killed the three Aus-tralians and two others.

The other attacker, whose sui-cide blast killed two people at theRitz-Carlton hotel, was aged be-tween 20 and 40.

The images are being shown towitnesses as part of the investiga-tion into the first major terror atroc-ity in Indonesia since 2005.

Australian embassy officialCraig Senger was among the dead,along with mining executive GarthMcEvoy and human resourcesmanager Nathan Verity.

Clinton says nuclear NorthKorea has ‘no friends left’

AFP PHOTO/ROMEO GACAD

US Secretary of State Hillary.

In Phuket, Clinton has met withcounterparts from China and Russia,two other ARF heavyweights thathave traditionally been lukewarmabout forthright action against NorthKorea.

North Korean delegates appearedagitated as they tried to organize arare press conference just beforeClinton was supposed to speak in thepress area of a seaside hotel in theThai resort island of Phuket.

Regime officials describedClinton’s renewed offer of a pack-age of incentives in return for disar-mament as “nonsense”, and lam-basted the top US diplomat as unin-telligent, a “funny lady” and a “pri-mary schoolgirl”.

“Hearing about the comprehen-sive package, I should say this is ba-sically nonsense,” roving ambassa-dor Ri Hung-Sik said, vowing no dia-logue until Washington changed its“deep-rooted hostile policy”.

“The six-party talks are alreadydead,” Ri added, referring to nego-tiations with the United States, Rus-sia, China, Japan and South Koreawhich Pyongyang quit after the UNSecurity Council censured it for arocket launch in April.

North Korea then conducted anunderground nuclear test in May,triggering a Security Council reso-lution for beefed-up inspections ofshipments going to and from thecountry and an expanded arms em-bargo.

Pyongyang’s state media took aneven more venomous line againstClinton, who earlier this week saidthe North Koreans were acting outlike “unruly teenagers.”

“Sometimes she looks like a pri-mary schoolgirl and sometimes apensioner going shopping,” a foreignministry spokesman was quoted assaying in attacking her “vulgar” re-marks.

“Anyone making misstatementshas to pay for them,” he said.

held a rare meeting late Wednes-day with a delegation fromMyanmar’s ruling junta.

AFP PHOTO / DIETER NAGL

Palestinian Ihsan (L) and Israeli teenager Sagi (R) smile during a debate during a Israeli-Palestinian peacecamp in Rechnitz on July 21, 2009 some 150 kilometers south-east from Vienna. Just kilometres fromwhere the Iron Curtain once stood, youths from another divided region — Israelis and Palestinians — arecoming together these days to seek a dialogue and learn about each other.

Dialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atDialogue, dancing atIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-PalestinianIsraeli-Palestinianpeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in Austriapeace camp in AustriaAgence France-Presse

RECHNITZ - Just kilometres from where the Iron Curtain oncestood, youths from another divided region — Israelis and Palestinians— are coming together to seek a dialogue and learn about each other.

played football and danced together.Entitled “Dialogue 4 the future”,

the two-week camp in Rechnitz, asmall town near the Austro-Hungar-ian border, was organised by Aus-trian evangelical groups and partlyfunded by the European Union.

A first camp was held in 2007 andthe idea was again to bring thesecommunities together through dis-cussions, games and outdoor activi-

ties.Eight youths came from

Ramallah in the West Bank, eightfrom Haifa, eight from Hungary andthree from Austria.

“I was a bit afraid of hearing whatthey’d have to say, maybe theywouldn’t want to talk to us,” Yonisaid of his initial concerns.

But “they’re really nice, and Ihave new friends now,” he added.

Under camp rules, everyone musteat the same food — no pork,banned under kosher dietary rules,is served — and the rooms aremixed, said Klaus Pahr, one of thecamp’s organisers.

Honduran regime scotches planfor president’s return

a fresh plan for Zelaya’s returnWednesday, with concessions for theinterim government, which backedthe army’s June 28 expulsion of theHonduran leader.

Arias’s plan called for Zelaya’sreturn to the country as president ina national unity government, untilhis term ended in January.

In return, the current de factoleadership would see sanctionsagainst the country lifted, a limitedamnesty for political crimes and abar on Zelaya seeking constitutionalreforms designed to let him seek

another term in office.But negotiators for the de facto

government returned to Hondurassaying the deal presented in CostaRica would not be signed by theirleader Roberto Micheletti.

“As I see it, it will be difficult forhim to sign up,” spokesmanMauricio Villeda said.

Zelaya meanwhile toldVenezuela’s Telesur channel that thecrisis mediation “had practicallyfailed.” The interim leaders had “de-cided to deny all possibility of anagreement,” he added.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice says the biggest threat is changeto the rabbits’ habitat brought on bydrought, grazing, the suppression ofwildfire and the encroachment ofshrubs into the Chihuahuan grass-lands of New Mexico’s bootheel —the only place in the United Stateswhere the jackrabbit has been docu-mented. Wildfire helps keep shrubsin check and revitalizes grasslands,which the rabbits depend on.

The rabbit also lives in Mexico,and those populations have also de-clined, said Nicole Rosmarino, a bi-ologist with the Western environmen-tal group WildEarth Guardians.Rosmarino said the existing pressureson the white-sided jackrabbit likelywill worsen. Forecasters predict ex-tended and more-frequent periods ofdrought in the Southwest because of

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Attention isshifting to the world’s five lead-ing flu vaccine makers: How fastare they really producing swine fluvaccine, and just how do they planto test that it works? A meetingThursday of the Food and DrugAdministration’s scientific advis-ers offers the first in-depth publicprogress report since U.S. scien-tists delivered the novel virus tomanufacturers and asked them toturn it into usable vaccine.

They’ve succeeded to a degree.The National Institutes of Healthon Wednesday called for a fewthousand volunteers, from babiesto the elderly, for studies to see ifpilot batches are safe and protec-tive. The first shots should go intoadult volunteers’ arms in earlyAugust, with child studies to fol-low quickly if there are no signsof immediate side effects. Thosegovernment-directed studies —and more that manufacturers willrun — are key as the governmentdecides whether to offer swine fluvaccine to millions of Americansstarting in mid-October, besidesvaccinating against the regularwinter flu. Health authorities inother countries are looking to theU.S. studies, too, as they maketheir own plans.

Assuming the studies show thevaccine is OK, a big question ishow much will be available andwhen. Last week, the WorldHealth Organization warned that

AP photo/Courtesy of Cesar Mendez, WildEarth Guardians

Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Multiplying like bunnies?Not this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitNot this jackrabbitAssociated Press Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Rabbits are certainly known for their propensity for multiplying, but onespecies of jackrabbit is having trouble keeping up. There are an estimated 150 white-sided jackrabbits leftin the United States, and federal wildlife officials announced Wednesday they will study the elusive rabbitto determine if it needs to be protected under the Endangered Species Act. It’s not lack of libido that’sholding back the white-sided jackrabbit.

climate change. The Fish and Wild-life Service says it’s uncertain howclimate change will affect the jack-rabbit and its habitat, but it plans tolook more closely at the potentialimpact during its 12-month review.

After the review, the agency willdecide whether the rabbit warrantsprotection as an endangered orthreatened species. In New Mexico,the rabbit has been listed as a stateendangered species since 1975.“The rabbit has cleared the firsthurdle toward federal protection, sothat’s good news,” Rosmarino said.The Fish and Wildlife Service’s de-cision to review the rabbit is the re-sult of a petition and lawsuit filedby environmentalists.

The rabbit’s name comes from aconspicuous white area along its body,most noticeable when the rabbit runs.

The jackrabbits, usually seen in pairs,mate for life. While they can produceseveral litters a year, the litters are usu-ally small — between one and threeyoung. The rabbit’s large ears and longlimbs are disproportionate to its body,creating more surface area to help theanimal dissipate the heat that’s part ofliving in the desert.

Besides the white-sided jackrab-bit, WildEarth Guardians is seekingprotections for other species, includ-ing the Sonoran desert tortoise. TheFish and Wildlife Service has yet toissue a finding on that species, butWildEarth Guardians says the tor-toises’ numbers have also been cutin half in recent decades. AsRosmarino points out, Wednesday’sdecision by the agency puts the rab-bit ahead of the tortoise, in both spe-cies’ race to avoid extinction.

Associated Press Writer

WELLINGTON, New Zealand –A New Zealand biotech companybegan a trial Thursday that will im-plant cells from newborn pigs intoeight human volunteers as an experi-mental treatment for their diabetes.The cells produce pig insulin, whichis very similar to human insulin andhas the same effect of loweringblood sugar, and Living Cell Tech-

This undated photoprovided by WildEarthGuardians shows awhite-sided jackrabbit inNew Mexico. There are anestimated 150 white-sided jackrabbits left inthe United States, andfederal wildlife officialsannounced Wednesday,July 21, 2009 they willstudy the elusive rodentto determine if it needsto be protected under theEndangered Species Act.The U.S. Fish and WildlifeService says the biggestthreat is change to thehare’s habitat brought onby drought, grazing, thesuppression of wildfireand the encroachment ofshrubs into theChihuahuan grasslandsof New Mexico’s bootheel— the only place in theU.S. where the jackrabbithas been documented.

Researchers to implant pig cells in diabeticsnologies hopes the cells may be ableto delay the effects of Type 1 diabe-tes — including blindness, prema-ture coronary illness and limb am-putation caused by poor blood cir-culation.

Though Prof. Bob Elliott, medi-cal director of the company, ac-knowledges that, even in the bestcase scenario, the treatment wouldnot eliminate all of the symptoms.Some scientists have warned, how-

ever, that implanting pig cells car-ries the risk of introducing a newvirus to humans. Others have notedthat it is too soon to begin testing onhumans because no animal trialswere conducted.

Elliott said Thursday that the riskof a pig endogenous retrovirus —the porcine virus thought to be mostcontagious for humans — infectinghumans is largely “theoretical.”“There is no evidence of a risk” of

retrovirus infection, he said. “Nobodyhas developed a retrovirus.” The pig-lets being used, recovered from 150years of isolation on islands south ofNew Zealand, carried no known agentthat could infect humans and are heldin a fully closed, sterile environment,he added.

Elliott has run two previous trials,the first with six patients in NewZealand in 1995-1996. The other, inRussia with 10 patients, began in July

2007.The cells implanted into one of

the volunteers in the New Zealandstudy continued producing insulin12 years after being implanted —“proof of principle that this (meth-odology) can work,” he said in aninterview with The AssociatedPress in October. The others eitherrejected the pigs cells or the im-planted cells stopped producinginsulin after a year.

FILE - This 2009file microscope

image originallyprovided by the

Centers forDisease Controland Prevention,

shows a negative-stained image of

the H1N1 flu virus.

Manufacturers brewingnew swine flu vaccine

production is going slower thanpredicted, with the strains now inuse yielding only about half asmuch of the main vaccine ingredi-ent as is usual. Wednesday, Lon-don-based GlaxoSmithKline ech-oed that caution, saying it is “work-ing as quickly as possible” but be-ing hindered by those low yields.

“Some of us are skeptical thatvery much will be available by mid-October,” said Dr. WilliamSchaffner, a vaccine specialist atVanderbilt University. And the gov-ernment has warned that any vac-cination campaign will put higher-risk people in line for the firstbatches, as supplies gradually in-crease over time.

Manufacturers’ vaccine studiesare expected to largely mirror theNIH’s plans: Volunteers will gettwo vaccinations, 21 days apart. Byearly September, the NIH shouldhave blood tests showing howmuch immune protection the initialinoculation triggered, and if a low-dose or higher-dose version wasneeded. It will take another monthto get information on the secondinoculation.

Complicating the question: Ifplain vaccine doesn’t spur enoughprotection or there isn’t enoughsupply, manufacturers could addimmune-system boosters calledadjuvants. That will pose a di-lemma as the U.S. has never ap-proved a flu vaccine containingthose ingredients, although they arewidely used in vaccine given toolder adults in Europe.

BP/AP Photo

3Friday, July 24, 2009InternationalInternationalSport NewsFriday, July 24, 200914

Russia, however, reiterated itswarning that it would lower or haltmilitary cooperation with any coun-try supplying Russian arms to Geor-gia.

President Mikhail Saakashvilisaid he and Biden had spoken infor-mally Wednesday at a dinner in the$40 million presidential compound’sglass-domed dining room ahead oftalks Thursday.

“I told you there was no suchthing as a free dinner in Georgia,”Saakashvili told Biden in front ofreporters, an apparent reference toGeorgia’s requests for expandedmilitary assistance.

The smiling Georgian leader, whoreferred to Biden as “Joe,” called thediscussions “very productive.”

Biden seemed more reserved,calling Saakashvili “Mr. President.”While citing U.S.-Georgia ties, healso expressed support for politicalreforms that Saakashvili announcedearlier in the week.

“We’re here to talk about yoursecurity, economy, your democracyand the steps you are taking for so-

Agence France-Presse

LONDON - Prime MinisterGordon Brown dismissed remarksby one of his ministers Wednesdaythat Britain does not have enoughhelicopters in Afghanistan, as hesought to move past a damagingrow over resources.

Brown said the remarks to anewspaper by outgoing junior For-eign Office minister Lord MarkMalloch-Brown had been misrep-resented and repeated his insis-tence that British troops had every-thing they need.

“I am satisfied that OperationPanther’s Claw has the resourcesit needs to be successful,” he said,referring to a major assault onTaliban insurgents in the southernAfghan province of Helmandwhich British troops began in June.

“I think the fact that it is mak-ing progress at the moment andyielding results already shows thatthat is the case.... For the operationwe are doing at the moment wehave the helicopters we need.”

Brown has been forced to de-fend Britain’s strategy in Afghani-stan following a surge in troopsdeaths there, in a row that has piledthe pressure on a government al-ready struggling with the recessionand an expenses scandal.

A soldier was killed Wednesdayin an explosion whilst on patrol inNad-e-Ali district of Helmand, theMinistry of Defence said, takingthe toll since operations began in2001 to 188, more than in Iraq.

Malloch-Brown’s interventionis an embarrassing addition to callsfrom military figures includingarmy chief General RichardDannatt and the main oppositionConservatives — who are leadingBrown’s Labour party in opinionpolls — for more troops and equip-ment.

“We definitely don’t haveenough helicopters. When youhave these modern operations and

AP Photo/ Shakh Aivazovl

Visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili reviewhonour guard outside a presidential palace in Tbilisi, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Biden arrivedWednesday in the former Soviet republic a year after its war with Russia.

Georgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask BidenGeorgia to ask Bidenfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observersfor weapons, observers

AP Photo/Stefan Rousseau, pool

Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls for questions dur-ing his monthly press conference at 10 Downing Street in Lon-don, Wednesday July 22, 2009. Responding to a question onthe economy, Brown said that economic recovery “cannot betaken for granted”. He also defended his government’s recordof providing enough equipment for British troops in Afghani-stan, where eighteen soldiers have already been killed in July.

Associated Press Writer

TBILISI - Georgia’s president was expected to ask U.S. Vice Presi-dent Joe Biden on Thursday for advanced weaponry, military aid andunarmed U.S. observers to monitor a cease-fire along the boundariesof two Moscow-backed breakaway regions.

lidifying your democracy,” he toldSaakashvili.

The White House has so faravoided making any public commit-ment on aid, arms or observers, al-though it says it stands behindGeorgia’s application for NATOmembership despite determined op-position from Russia.

The U.S. gave Georgia $1 billionin aid shortly after Russia defeatedGeorgia in a short war last August.But Washington has so far not sup-plied the Georgian military witharms to replace those lost in the war,amid warnings from Moscow thatsuch a step would raise the risk ofanother conflict.

A spokesman for the GeorgianDefense Ministry, David Nardaya,said he could not say how much mili-tary aid was being sought becausethe information was classified butdescribed the weapons as defensive.

In Moscow, the government saidit would not stand by while Georgiawas resupplied with weapons.

“We will continue inhibiting re-armament of the Saakashvili regime

and are taking concrete measuresfor this,” Deputy Foreign MinisterGrigory Karasin said, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

He said this was in line with apresidential decree issued in Janu-ary. Ukraine supplied weapons toGeorgia during last summer’s con-flict with Russia, and Belarus hasexpressed support for Georgia’sclaims to two Russian-backedbreakaway regions at the center oflast year’s war. Both former Sovietrepublics have military ties withRussia.

Biden is on a four-day missionto Ukraine and Georgia to demon-strate U.S. support for the two coun-tries, where Western-style democ-racies have struggled in the wakeof peaceful revolutions.

A number of Eastern Europeanpolitical figures have expressedconcern that the Obama adminis-tration could weaken its support fordemocratic reform as it tries forbetter relations with Russia.

But Biden’s message on the tripso far has been that restoring cor-dial relations with the Kremlin willnot come at the price of weakeningsupport for democratic allies in theregion. Nor will the U.S. recognizeMoscow’s claim to an exclusivesphere of influence among formerSoviet states, Biden has said.

British PM dismissescriticism on Afghanistan

insurgent strikes what you need,above all else, is mobility,”Malloch-Brown told the DailyTelegraph.

The minister, whose ForeignOffice brief includes responsibil-ity for Afghanistan and who is dueto step down this week for personalreasons, later issued a statementthat he said clarified his remarks.

In what appeared to be a U-turn,he said he had meant that “whilethere are without doubt sufficientresources in place for current op-erations, we should always do whatwe can to make more available onthe frontline.”

In his monthly press conferenceshortly afterwards, Brown said theway the newspaper had interpretedMalloch-Brown’s interview re-marks was a “misrepresentation”,which had been corrected.

Asked whether more helicopterswould have saved troops’ lives in Af-ghanistan, he said: “More helicop-ters in general, yes... But in the op-erations we are having at the momentit is completely wrong to say that theloss of lives has been caused by theabsence of helicopters.”

However a former commanderof British troops in Helmand dis-puted Brown’s comments, sayingthat while Operation Panther’sClaw might be properly resourced,the country’s general mission inAfghanistan was not.

“I think the wider campaign inAfghanistan, and this has been thecase from the early days, has beeninsufficiently resourced to under-take a proper counter-insurgency,”retired Brigadier Ed Butler toldBBC radio.

Malloch-Brown told the Tele-graph that the British public hadnot been properly warned about theAfghan offensive before the deathtoll began rising.

Britain suffered its blackest dayin Afghanistan earlier this month,with eight troops dying within 24hours.

Haye, 28, has signed a contract to meetthe 7ft 2in Russian on November 7 at an un-decided venue. The announcement endsspeculation about who Haye’s next opponentwould be, following reports the Londonerhad agreed a bout with Vitali Klitschko.

Haye had been scheduled to fightKlitschko’s brother Wladimir in June but hadto withdraw because of a back injury. “I amthrilled to announce that my dream of be-coming world heavyweight champion willbe realised on November 7, when I challengethe tallest and heaviest champion of all time,Nikolai Valuev,” Haye said in a statement.

“There were reports in the German pressthat I had signed to fight Vitali Klitschko inSeptember, but those reports were never true.“There have been long and exhausting dis-cussions about the clash, but unfortunately Icould never put my name to the fight con-tract the Klitschkos offered. The level of dis-respect they have shown me throughout hasleft me feeling insulted.”

Associated Press Writer

GERONA, Spain – Ricky Rubioplans to part ways with Spanish bas-ketball club DKV Joventut even ifthe Minnesota Timberwolves can-not reach a deal to bring their firstround draft pick to the NBA.Timberwolves president DavidKahn was in Spain this week to tryand help the fifth overall pick ne-gotiate a buyout of his contract withJoventut. Rubio is at odds with hisboyhood club over a buyout clausethat could cost the 18-year-old pointguard as much as $6.6 million. TheNBA’s collective bargaining ruleslimit the Timberwolves’ contribu-tion to $500,000.

Regardless of whether Rubiomakes the trip across the Atlanticnext season, he won’t be playingat Joventut. “I want to continuewith the club but, after everythingthat’s happened, I don’t thinkthey’re too comfortable having mein their squad,” Rubio saidWednesday. “I want to play in awinning team, on a team that can

Agence France - Presse

TORONTO, Canada - Chez Reavie,who busted through with his first PGATour victory by capturing the 2008 Ca-nadian Open, returns to the Glen Ab-bey Golf Club this week to try can de-fend his title. The 27-year-old Ameri-can is seeking to equal compatriot JimFuryk’s feat in 2006 and 2007 and winback-to-back Canadian Open titles.

Last year, Reavie beat Billy Mayfairby three strokes on the water-loggedcourse in Oakville, Ontario, 30kilometres southwest of Toronto.“You never know when it’s your time,”Reavie said. “You’ve just got to go outthere and play as hard as you can ev-ery day. When you add them up, hope-fully you’re the lowest guy out here.”

Reavie’s best finish so far this yearis a tie for 12th in his season-openingevent, the Mercedes-Benz Champion-ship. Thursday’s opening round marksthe start of the 100th Canadian Open

Timberwolves pick Rubioto leave Spanish club

achieve many things.” Rubio signed with Joventut at 14

years old, becoming the youngestplayer ever to play in a Spanish ACBLeague game. He rose to prominenceover the next few years, playing forSpain’s silver medal-winning team inthe Beijing Olympics at 17 and be-coming a popular player thanks to hisflashy passes and floppy hair.

Minnesota drafted him fifth over-all in June and holds his NBA rightsfor as long as Rubio is playing bas-ketball professionally. But it is notexactly clear what ramifications, ifany, Rubio’s parting with Joventut hason the Timberwolves’ chances ofbringing the popular point guard to theUnited States this season.

Rubio has two years remaining onhis deal with Joventut. The enormityof the buyout has a player who madeless than $100,000 last season think-ing twice about coming to the NBAright away. That’s what prompted Kahnto hop a plane to Spain on Monday. Hemet with Joventut officials to see if hecould help resolve the issue, but de-clined to comment — both on the newsthat Rubio will leave Joventut and thetrip in general — when reached by TheAssociated Press on Wednesday.

Spanish basketball clubs RealMadrid and Barcelona are both inter-ested in signing Rubio if he cannotmake it to the NBA this season. Un-like the Timberwolves, they are notsubject to the collective bargainingrules of the NBA and could pay theentire buyout fee to get him. Kahn hassaid in the past that the rebuildingTimberwolves are willing to wait ayear, or even two, for Rubio to cometo Minnesota. But the sooner Rubiocan get there, the better for a franchisethat has struggled to fill seats at Tar-get Center since trading Kevin Garnettto Boston two years ago.

AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File

Ricky Rubio

Haye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on RussianHaye to take on Russianheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuevheavyweight Valuev

British heavyweight boxer DavidHaye as he talks at a press confer-

ence at the Veltins-Arena inGelsenkirchen, Germany. Haye saidThursday July 23, 2009 that he has

signed a contract to challengeNikolai Valuev for the WBA heavy-

weight title on Nov. 7. Although novenue has yet been fixed, the fight is

expected to take place in Germany.

Agence France - Presse

LONDON - Former worldcruiserweight champion David Haye willface current WBA heavyweight championNikolai Valuev later this year, the Britishfighter confirmed on Thursday.

AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Reavie seeks to defendCanadian Open title

and the 25th time it has been held at GlenAbbey. The 2003 Masters championMike Weir is the best known Canadianin the field and hopes to end his country’s55 year winless drought. Pat Fletcher isthe last Canadian champ, taking the 1954tournament in Vancouver.

“It’s our national championship, andall us Canadians, we want to put to restthat it’s been so long since one of us haswon one,” Weir said. Weir tied for fifthlast year and lost to Vijay Singh in a play-off in 2004. Canadian Nick Taylor is alsoin the field thanks to a sponsor’s exemp-tion. He was the low amateur at the 2009US Open when he tied for 36th.

“It’s cool to be in a PGA Tour event,but being back home in Canada with abunch of people working and pullingfor you, that’s going to be fun,” Taylorsaid. The Canadian Open also marks thereturn of Trevor Immelman to the Tour,following a wrist injury. He is makinghis first start since the Crowne Plaza In-vitational at Colonial.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darren Calabrese

Defending champion Chez Reavie hits out of a bunker on the fifth hole during the Pro-Amround for the Canadian Open golf tournament at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville,Ontario, on Wednesday, July 22, 2009.

InternationalFriday, July 24, 20092 Friday, July 24, 2009 15

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NewsNEWSWORLD

Source: ap

Schwarzenegger, under fire for a budget planannounced this week that will see 15 billion dollarsin spending cuts from services such as educationand health care, said the light-hearted video wasintended as a bit of fun.

The movie-star-turned-politician brushed offsuggestions from reporters in Sacramento that thevideo might be viewed by some as being insensi-tive.

“You know, you sent a governor to Sacramento— not El Stiffo, like some of the past were, but yousent someone that is a little bit more entertainingand has a little bit more fun with the whole thing,”Schwarzenegger said.

“Not that I have fun with making the cuts; theysadden me. But fun with the job itself, because Ithink it is the most rewarding job that I’ve ever done,even though with a huge responsibility.

“So just relax and have a little bit of a sense ofhumor.” California lawmakers are set to approvethe spendings at a vote on Thursday which will passa budget aimed at closing the state’s 26.3 billion-dollar deficit.

Schwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsSchwarzenegger defendsknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter videoknife-wielding Twitter video

Agence France-PresseWASHINGTON - US President

Barack Obama joked Wednesday thateven he would get shot if he lost hiskeys and tried to break into the WhiteHouse.

He was answering a question aboutthe arrest of his friend, prominent Af-rican-American Harvard scholarHenry Louis Gates, who was hand-cuffed and detained after having tobreak into his home in the Massachu-setts town of Cambridge.

“I guess this is my house now. So itprobably wouldn’t happen,” Obamasaid, looking around the ornate EastRoom and trying to put himself into asimilar situation. “But let’s say my oldhouse in Chicago,” he continued.

“Here, I’d get shot,” he quipped, to

‘I’d get shot’breaking into White

House, Obama jokeslaughs from the gathered press corps.

Turning serious though, the nation’sfirst African-American president cas-tigated Cambridge police for the inci-dent. “Now, I don’t know, not havingbeen there, and not seeing all the facts,what role race played in this,” Obamatold a press conference.

“But, I think it’s fair to say, numberone, any of us would be pretty angry.Number two, that the Cambridge po-lice acted stupidly in arresting some-body when there was already proof thatthey were in their own home.”

Cambridge police have alreadyapologized to Gates, a leading experton African-American relations, for theincident in which he was handcuffedoutside his front door and spent fourhours in detention.

Bayreuth festivalMUNICH - A newgeneration of Wagnersis at the helm as theannual Bayreuth festivalopens this weekend,with composer RichardWagner’s great-granddaughter,Katharina Wagnersaying that she hopesto help bring “opera tothe people.”

Staying the coursePARIS - Leaders ofNATO nations arevowing to stay thecourse in Afghanistandespite rising violence,casualties andpressure from thepublic and fellowpoliticians. But theincreasingly publicdomestic disputes inthe war’s deadliestmonth for the coalitioncould foreshadow long-term trouble for theeffort to commit moreresources to defeat theTaliban.

Onion tortureSAN JUAN - Police inthe DominicanRepublic have beenseizing people off thestreets and torturingthem by choking themwith onions to obtaininformation aboutcrimes, a human rightsgroup alleges.

Agence France-PresseLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California GovernorLOS ANGELES - California Governor

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday de-fended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichfended a video on his Twitter page whichshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeshows him brandishing a huge hunting knifeas he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.as he talks about the state’s budget crisis.

Max Whittaker/Getty Images/Agence France-Presse

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to reporters outside his officein July 22, 2009 in Sacramento, California. Schwarzenegger and legislative leadersreached a budget deal Monday to close California’s $26 billion budget gap.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Barack Obama smiles while respondingto questions during a news conference in the EastRoom of the White House in Washington, Wednes-day, July 22, 2009.

They arrived in Singapore Thurs-day after a disappointing 1-1 drawagainst Thailand on Wednesdayevening following a 0-0 draw withSt Gallen of Switzerland and a 1-0loss to Rapid Vienna. In the Thailandmatch a second-half strike by SuteeSuksomkit cancelled out an earlyopener from Ryan Babel but therewas little goalmouth action to excitethe crowd, with Liverpool lookingdecidedly rusty.

They are clearly missing the tal-ismanic Steven Gerrard, who is incourt back home on charges of af-fray stemming from a nightclub inci-dent last December. It didn’t get anybetter for manager Benitez, with de-fender Martin Skrtel (hamstring) andyoung Moroccan forward Nabil ElZhar (knee) injured in the Thailandmatch, with medical staff assessinghow badly they have been hurt.

“They were not the best condi-tions in Bangkok and the worst thingwas to lose Skrtel and El Zhar,” saidBenitez. “The idea of the game wasto improve match fitness. So to lose

Rafa facingRafa facingRafa facingRafa facingRafa facingdifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult perioddifficult period

at Liverpoolat Liverpoolat Liverpoolat Liverpoolat LiverpoolAgence France - Presse

SINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at LiverpoolSINGAPORE - Rafael Benitez is facing a mini crisis at Liverpoolwith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affraywith no wins in three pre-season games, a captain on trial for affrayand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealand his top midfield duo looking to leave the club. It is not idealpreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguepreparation for a team that senses its best chance to win the Leaguetitle in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.title in 20 years.

two players is bad news.” The un-settled Xabi Alonso sat out the gamewith an ankle injury. The Spanish in-ternational has not failed to hide hisdesire to join Cristiano Ronaldo andKaka at Real Madrid while Chelseahave also expressed an interest in sign-ing him.

Meanwhile, Javier Mascherano’sagent has been quoted by SouthAmerican media as saying the playerwas fed up with life in England andwanted to move to Barcelona. Benitezhas made clear he wants both to staybut it is unsettling for the team. Vice-captain Jamie Carragher is hoping fora swift end to the Alonso saga at least.

“The feeling within the squad isthat he is a top player and you do notwant to lose your top players, andhopefully it can be sorted out as soonas possible,” said Carragher. “If theclub thinks it is in their best interests(for him to move) sometimes youhave to do what they think is best. Weall go through these situations — well,hopefully not me — and as I said, Ijust hope it gets sorted out.”

AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn

Liverpool’s head coach Rafael Benitez wraps up a press conference in Bangkok on Monday July20, 2009. Liverpool will play with Thailand’s national team in a friendly match on Wednesday.

Agence France - PresseSEOUL - The hard-working Park

Ji-Sung is to be rewarded with a newcontract by Manchester United bossSir Alex Ferguson, who praised theSouth Korean midfielder’s intelli-gence and penetration on the field.Chief executive David Gill made theannouncement at a press conferencehere Thursday, a day ahead of thePremier League champions’ pre-season game against FC Seoul.

“Discussions will take place,”Gill said of a player who becamethe first Asian to contest a Champi-ons League final when he played inUnited’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelonalast season. “We’re looking to ex-tend the contract. Sir Alex and thecoaches are very happy with himand Ji enjoys his time with us im-mensely. When it’s done it will beannounced.”

Park moved to Old Trafford in2005 from PSV Eindhoven for fourmillion pounds (6.6 million dollars)and his current contract runs out atthe end of the forthcoming season.When asked if he wanted to play at

Man Utd to offerPark new contract

another club, he said in May: “I haveno reason to move.”

He has been crucial to Unitedbuilding a huge fan base in SouthKorea and despite a lack of prepara-tion, is expected to play a part oftheir match here on Friday. “I feelhe may be able to play some min-utes but he’s not been with us (forthe last few weeks) so he’s not donethe same preparation as the rest ofthe players,” said Ferguson.

“But I’m sure he’ll get a fewminutes and that will be a big lift tothe fans here in Korea.” Park hasmade 123 appearances for Unitedand Ferguson took time to reflect onthe qualities that first attracted himto the 28-year-old. “I went to see himplay for PSV in two quarter-finalsand we identified a player with greatunderstanding of space,” he said.“When his team had the ball hismovement was always clever and hehad decisive penetration in attackingareas. We felt at the time that weneeded a player who could penetratein the last third and that’s why webrought him to Manchester United.”

Agence France - Presse

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -Brazil’s three-time world

player of the year Ronaldo hasagreed in principle to star in afilm about a Palestinian child

fan of his who dies in arefugee camp, it was reported

on Wednesday. The 32-year-old two-time

World Cup winner will bewith his club Corinthians in

the Middle East - for aSeptember 15 friendly in the

Palestinian Territories againstfellow Brazilians Fluminense -

at the time that the film is setto be made in Lebanon.

“Ronaldo signed anagreement in principle last

week,” his agent FabianoFarah told sports information

provider ‘El Globo’. “Adefinitive agreement will be

reached in September.” Ronaldo, though, has still

to get permission from his clubto act in the Iranian-directed

film. The all-time leadingWorld Cup scorer is to play apeace emissary, a role he hasalready played in reality as in

May 2005 he spent severalhours visiting the Palestinian

Territories.

Ronaldo to star in film abouttragic Palestinian fan: report

AFP

Brazil’s three-time world player of the year Ronaldo hasagreed in principle to star in a film about a Palestinian childfan of his who dies in a refugee camp

Friday, July 24, 200916 SportFriday, July 24, 2009

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Soldiers, police and emergency ser-vices staff continued their search forseven people still missing in the after-math of floods and landslides triggeredtwo days ago by rainy-season torren-tial downpours in the region.

“Search operations are gettingmore and more difficult, but we areworking on the assumption that thereare survivors,” said a police spokes-

Death toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesDeath toll risesto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanto 11 from Japanlandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodslandslides, floodsAgence France-Presse

TOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersTOKYO - Rescue workersrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyrecovered a woman’s bodyThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubbleThursday from mud and rubblethat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home afterthat filled a nursing home aftera landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thea landslide, raising to 11 thedeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitdeath toll after heavy rains hitwestern Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.western Japan, police said.

man by telephone from hard-hitYamaguchi prefecture on Honshuisland. One person was still miss-ing on the mud-filled ground floorof the nursing home where at leastsix people died when a large land-slide Tuesday hit the building inHofu City, 750 kilometres (470miles) west of Tokyo.

Associated PressKUALA LUMPUR - A Malay-

sian woman sentenced to floggingfor drinking beer has accepted theIslamic court’s order, saying shewants the punishment to be carriedout soon, news reports said Thurs-day.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a32-year-old model, was arrested oncharges of drinking beer after Is-lamic authorities raided a hotelnightclub last year. She was sen-tenced Monday to six lashes with arattan cane after pleading guilty inthe Shariah High Court.

Consuming alcohol is a religiousoffense in Malaysia only for Mus-lims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population. Offendersare prosecuted in Shariah courts,which handle cases mainly relatedto family and moral issues for Mus-lims.

Malaysianwomanacceptsflogging fordrinkingbeer

Whereas both Loris Capirossi andMarco Melandri moved on from Ducatiafter just one difficult year alongsideStoner, Hayden says he hopes to con-vince Ducati to keep him on for anotherseason. “It’s a two-year deal but it’s theiroption if they want to bring me back,”he told AUTOSPORT.

“It’s been hard but now we’re mak-ing progress. I looked at this as a chal-lenge from the beginning and I don’twant to give up. I want to say hey I con-quered it, I was able to ride that bike, Iwas able to do it. We’ll see if they want

Hayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati rideHayden determined to keep Ducati ride Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he Nicky Hayden says he wants to stay on at Ducati for 2010 as he

is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.is determined to get to grips with its bike despite his tough start.Like Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, HaydenLike Casey Stoner’s previous team-mates at the Italian squad, Haydenhas struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-has struggled to adapt his riding style to the Desmosedici. An acci-dent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasdent in Qatar also set him back, but in recent events his form hasimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthimproved, with a breakthrough fifth place at Laguna Seca and fourthon the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducation the grid - the best qualifying position for any of Stoner’s Ducatiteam-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.team-mates - in Germany.

went downhill after he crashedheavily both late in qualifying - col-lecting Niccolo Canepa in the pro-cess - and in the warm-up, and hisstrong fourth on the grid only trans-lated to an eighth place finish.

He reckoned that he had got car-ried away and pushed too hard in hishurry to turn his season around.

“I believe in myself a lot. That’smaybe what caught me out a bit inGermany and why I crashed a coupleof times,” said Hayden. “I saw thefront and thought I can be there thisweekend, got a bit excited and threwit away making a mistake. But I be-lieve in myself fully, that’s not whatI’m lacking. But sitting around heresaying it is one thing, doing on Sun-day is always a different story. Say-ing it doesn’t mean much, I’ve gotto go and do it and prove it. But Ithink I can.”

Kimi Raikkonen believes theHungarian Grand Prix will be oneof Ferrari’s best chances to fight atthe front this season. Monte Carlowas Raikkonen’s strongest race ofthe year so far, and he reckons thesimilarly twisty Hungaroring willprove equally well-suited to theFerrari - which he thinks couldprove crucial as the team is set toswitch its focus to 2010 soon af-terwards.

“The next race will definitelybe the most similar one to the oneat Monaco,” said Raikkonen. “Thisyear we gained a place on the po-dium at Monaco and this is our ob-jective for Budapest. We were ableto fight for the pole [in Monaco]until the last moment and I think

Raikkonen: Hungary is big opportunity

U.S rider Nicky Hayden waitsfor the start of the MotoGPpractice session of the Ger-man Motorcycle Grand Prix atthe Sachsenring circuit inHohenstein-Ernstthal, Ger-many, Saturday, July 18, 2009.

that if we had gained it, the racewould have gone in a completelydifferent direction.”

But he acknowledged that withall the teams having carried out sig-nificant development programmessince Monte Carlo, form on the streettrack back in May might no longerbe relevant this weekend. “We’ll re-try in Hungary, but it will be diffi-cult,” said the former champion.“The F60 should adapt pretty wellto the track, but we know that all theother teams have improved their carsconsiderably after the race at Mo-naco, so there will be fierce compe-tition. We’ll get a better picture ofthe situation on Friday morning af-ter the first free practice.”

Team boss Stefano Domenicali

revealed that Ferrari would switchmost of its efforts to its 2010 car “inthe next couple of weeks”, andRaikkonen admitted that the remain-der of 2009 could prove tough withdevelopment on the disappointingF60 set to conclude. “We’ve beenworking hard to close the gap we hadsince the start between us and theleaders; naturally also all the othershave been improving their cars,” hesaid. “Furthermore with the fact thatwe can’t test this year during thechampionship it’s even more diffi-cult to make up ground. How theseason’s second part will go alsodepends on the decision of how touse the resources, because the workon next year’s car is now already infull swing.”

to bring me back.” He admitted that sofar he had probably not done enoughto earn a contract extension.

“I know at some stage I’m goingto have to put up some results, I knowfifth and eighth probably isn’t goingto be enough to get Marlboro orDucati - they might want to try some-body else at that spot,” said Hayden.“We’ll see, but I’m not too worriedabout that. Obviously you worryabout your future and what’s goingon but I think we can continue.”

Hayden’s Sachsenring weekend

AP Photo/Roberto Pfeil

AP Photo/Kyodo News

Japanese soldiers and firefighters work arounda house that was hit by a torrential mudslide atHofu, southern Japan, on Wednesday July 22,2009. Hundreds of police, soldiers and rescueworkers searched Thursday for nine peoplemissing after torrential rains triggered floodsand landslides in southern Japan.

MALAYSIA OUT AFP PHOTO / BERNAMA NEWS AGENCY

This picture taken on 20 July, 2009shows Singaporean Muslim modelKartika Sari Dewi Shukarno look-ing on at the Sharia High Court inKuantan, Pahang State

Bali’s PoliceDepartment tightencoastal area

Bangladesh rareleopard renewshopes forspecies survival

Hayden determinedto keep Ducati ride