The Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in Paris

Gallery: World Mourns After Dozens Killed In Belgium Terror Attack

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with black, yellow and red in tribute to the victims of the Brussels terror attacks

People stand in front of the Bran-denburg gate, which is illuminated in the colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to victims of Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels in Berlin

The black, yellow, and red

colours of the Belgian flag are projected on the Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy, in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks

The flag of Belgium flies at half mast alongside the Union Flag on the roof of 10 Downing Street after the Brussels attacks, in London

Page 6

I N T E R N A T I O N A L 16 Pages Number 588th year

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

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

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Not PublishedWe, the International Bali Post would like

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Thank You and Happy New Year 2016

Belgium arrests Brussels bomb suspect, identifies others

Thursday, March 24, 2016

If this is war, should Euro 2016 be put on hold?

LOS ANGELES - Superheroes are not the only ones seeking redemption in the new “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” film. Actor Ben Affleck also wanted a do-over playing a superhero after being panned in Marvel’s 2003 film “Daredevil.”

“In the last superhero movie that I played, I was not happy with (it),” Affleck, 43, told Reuters. “I just thought it was not up to what it should have been.”

In “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which will be out in theaters on Friday, Affleck becomes the latest A-list star to don Batman’s black mask and cowl, this time to take on Superman in the sequel to 2013’s “Man of Steel.”

The two superheroes come to blows over responsibility for the controversial mass deaths of civilians in “Man of Steel” as the public wrestles with what kind of superheroes it really wants.

Affleck’s Batman and alter-ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, is older than the previous on-screen iterations and also wearier, still scarred by the death of his parents and from fighting thugs in Gotham.

Numerous actors have donned the iconic batsuit, including Mi-chael Keaton, George Clooney and most recently, Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” franchise from 2005 to 2012, which grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.

Affleck said he wanted to do a superhero movie “that really worked as a real, substantial, thoughtful movie,” and will continue the Batman role in three Warner Bros’ films - “Suicide Squad” later this year, superhero ensemble “The Justice League Part One” in 2017 and “The Justice League Part Two” in 2019.

The casting of Affleck was dubbed “Batffleck” and initially received mixed reactions as fans debated whether he would live up to Bale’s critically acclaimed portrayal.

Affleck acknowledged he was “following in very big footsteps” and said his Batman is “a little bit more of a brawler, he’s more physical.” He said Batman also would be “contemplative” going forward.

“He’s sort of looking for something,” he said.Henry Cavill, who plays Superman, said Affleck’s Bruce Wayne harnessed

“this jadedness, this world-weari-ness. It’s almost like there’s a core of justice there but surrounded by scar tissue.”

As Affleck is putting his own imprint on Batman, Cavill indi-cated he is not done putting his own twist on Superman. (rtr)

The “Tik Tok” singer, 28, has been seeking to nullify her six-album recording contract with her producer Dr. Luke, his associated record labels, and Sony Music. But a judge in February declined to release her from the contract, prompting a #FreeKesha social media campaign and an outpouring of support from big name singers including Taylor Swift, Kelly Clark-son, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.

Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, has denied al-legations of rape and emotional abuse filed in a 2014 lawsuit and is

countersuing. Both of those cases have yet to come to trial.

In court documents filed on Sat-urday, Kesha’s lawyer appealed the February decision by New York Su-preme Court Justice Shirley Kornre-ich, saying the court erred in finding that Kesha could record without interference from Gottwald.

“Although it (the court) recog-nized that ‘slavery was done away with a long time ago’ and that ‘(y)ou can’t force someone to work... in a situation in which they don’t want to work,’ the court’s ruling requiring Kesha to work for Gottwald’s com-

panies, purportedly without his in-volvement, does just that,” Kesha’s attorney Mark Geragos wrote.

Dr. Luke’s attorney, Christine Lep-era, has argued that Kesha, who burst onto the music scene in 2009, is al-ready free to record music with other producers under her contract and that she has presented no evidence to sup-port her claims of rape.

Following the singer’s notice of appeal, Lepera said Kesha was time-wasting and spinning lies.

“Her attorneys can continue manufacturing even more false and outrageous claims, but the fact re-mains that her time would be better spent in a studio than wasting time having her lawyer and mother spin lies in the media,” Lepera said in a statement on Tuesday. (rtr)

Ben Affleck revamps his superhero role with older, more physical Batman

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian/Files

Kesha arrives at the 2014 MTV Music Video Awards in Inglewood, California, in this file photo taken August 24, 2014. Pop star Kesha has appealed a court decision that ties her to a record-ing contract with companies owned by music producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of rape, saying the ruling was akin to slavery.

Kesha appeals court decision, likening recording contract to slavery

NEW YORK - Pop star Kesha has appealed a court decision that ties her to a recording contract with companies owned by music producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of rape, saying the ruling was akin to slavery.

MANGUPURA - Currently Bali has about 130,000 hotel rooms, mostly located in South Bali. In Badung district itself there are 95,000 rooms with occupancy rates below 60 percent for star hotels and 40 percent for non-star hotels. Result of

the study held by the Badung Tourism Promotion Board (BPBD) in 2015 shows that oversupply has

occurred to hotel rooms.“The increase takes place too quickly and they concentrate in the south.

Ideally, the occupancy rate is 70-80 percent or more for star hotels, while above 50 percent for budget hotels. If only 40 percent, it is just enough to cover the operating cost,” said the member of BPBD Badung, I Putu Anom, amidst a tourism seminar in Kuta, Tuesday (Mar. 22).

Room...Continued on page 2

Oversupply of hotel rooms threatens local entrepreneurs

Global Support As Belgium Mourns Victims

LONDON - Landmarks in Berlin, Rome and Paris are il-luminated with the colours of the Belgian flag to remember those killed in Brussels.

The Eiffel Tower is illuminat-ed with the Belgium national colors black, yellow and red in honor of the victims of the

today’s attacks at the air-port and the metro station in Brussels, in Paris, Tuesday,

March 22, 2016.

AP Photo/Thibault Camus

The oversupply of hotel rooms, said Anom, causes competition to be absolutely tight. Tariff war is unavoidable and continues up to these days. Actually, his organiza-tion has warned since 2000 that the government should be careful in issuing building permits for hotels

until 2010.“We have proposed again and

again to issue a moratorium, stop first. Small local entrepreneurs with little capital are now in difficult situation and marginalized. On that account, there must be interlude, no additional room in South Bali,” said the man who is also Chairman of the Indonesia Association of Tour-ism Intellectuals (ICPI) Bali.

Anom added that on average the

local entrepreneurs are only able to reach Break Even Point of their accommodation business. If there are plans of new projects, the com-petition will surely take place more tightly. Not impossible, many local entrepreneurs, especially in South Bali, will go bankrupt. On the other hand, investors are still reluctant to invest in other regions of Bali.

“Indeed, the appeal of Bali re-mains good but the problem is con-

gestion. Everything is concentrated on South Bali. Not to mention, there are problems on land and water availability,” he said.

A member of Commission II of the Bali House of Representatives, A.A. Ngurah Adhi Ardhana, said that the government all this time views the prosperous community through the indicator of growing Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Actually, the indicator of prosper-ous society should be Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) because the GDP only considers in terms of income aspect, while the GPI includes the aspects of income and expenses.

“For example, if a city goes through traffic congestion, for GDP, this indicates that people earn higher income so that they are able to buy a car and turn prosperous. In the meantime, the GPI indeed shows the increase in income but the costs incurred by congestion such as wasted fuel, generated pollutants and very long delay must also be calculated,” he explained.

Similarly, in the tourism sector, said Adhi, the GPI does not only consider the aspect of high hotel and restaurant tax. However, is it true that high hotel and restaurant tax indicates that tourism has pro-vided a real people’s prosperity? In other words, the GPI also considers to what extent the cultural tourism has been undermined due to many tourist arrival as the indicator of prosperous society.

“A regional leader should have courage and confidence to do mora-

torium. This basis must be consid-ered, whether the cost of sacrificing our culture is equal to the amount of income or hotel and restaurant tax received and to the welfare of the people we have expected,” he explained.

Adhi asserted that it is impos-sible for people to become pros-perous at the expense of cultural tourism because cultural tourism lies in the Balinese people’s blood. When it has been abandoned or cultural tourism becomes a modern tourism, automatically Balinese people will have handed over their possessions to others.

“In other words, we’ve delivered the cooking pot of Balinese people to others. If previously we cooked by ourselves, now we ask for food to eat. Local businessmen give up, so that it is enough to become a worker because capitalism is here,” he explained.

Adhi continued that it is time for Bali to stop talking about ac-commodation. Now, we must think about destinations in order to produce the same levies as the hotel and restaurant tax. Moreover, Bali has so many unique tourist destinations. They have to be made a management board to build a good infrastructure, promote and increase the value of a tourist at-traction.

“In Singapore, is it true that accommodation can make the tour-ism advanced? Not really, but it gives high levies. As is known, we already have so many destinations, they just need to be managed well,” he affirmed. (kmb32)

International2 15International Activities

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

Thursday, March 24, 2016Thursday, March 24, 2016

EvEry Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is considered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always hap-pens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on

the importance of the occasion.The celebration is very colorful.

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

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars,

tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Ho-liness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful at-tire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

Balinese Temple Ceremony

COVER STORYFrom page 1Rooms ...

EvEr since its new campaign launch in January 2016, POP! Hotels through the “Serve to Con-serve” program has been trying to find an exciting project to get on. Finally together with PROFAUNA, a non-profit organization with a global network, working for the protection of forest and wildlife - a collaborative act in hope of raising public awareness through a creative design competition was born.

“We are trying to engage with the most talented graphic enthusiasts in the country by inviting them to come up with attractive designs which boldly speak of conserving the forest that is so captivating and can emotionally resonate the true message about our concern of the environment,” said Zulner Noura-

dine, POP! Hotels Brand Manager – TAUZIA Hotel Management.

Each designer can submit up to 3 original designs to kaoshutan@gmail.com. Submission deadline is by 19 April 2016. Rosek Nursahid, the founder of PROFAUNA, together with Irene Janti, TAUZIA’s Chief Brand & Product Officer will be amongst the judges in selecting 20 preliminary designs then the best 3 will win cash prize as well as free night stays at POP! Hotels across Indonesia.

In addition to that two favorite social media winners through most votes will be selected. Simply post the design using hash tag #serve2-conserve and tag/mention @popho-tels and @profauna for a chance to win hotel vouchers and exclusive

merchandise from POP! Hotels.Winner announcement will be

done during Earth Day, which will

fall on 22 April 2016.Further info about this program

can be found on www.profauna.

net & www.pophotels.com, also @pophotels and @profauna via social media.

POP! Hotels Supports PROFAUNA Creative Design

Competition to Raise Awareness on Endangered Forest Issue

Besides, many others have been dismantled and changed into busi-ness premises and leased or sold to other parties. The number of accommodation in Denpasar is not comparable to the number tourist visit. Currently, visitors compris-ing more domestic travelers tend to

no longer get interested in staying in Denpasar and prefer to stay at hotels near tourist resort like Kuta and Ubud. Many hotels provide minimalist style with relatively cheap room rates.

“To that end, the Denpasar municipality is expected to protect

local entrepreneurs with the policy stopping the permits for construc-tion of new hotels or additional hotel rooms in Denpasar,” said I Putu Anom, who is also a family of hoteliers in Denpasar.

This former Dean of the Faculty of Tourism, Udayana University, said that if Denpasar is made into a cultured city, the government is expected to seriously organize it by trying to tackle traffic conges-tion and firmly taking action on the vehicles parked haphazardly in restricted areas for parking. More-over, it must forbid the use of road body into parking lot as commonly found in front of schools. Denpasar

city must also multiply and organize the city park to expand green open space for the needs of health, flood control and beauty of the city.

In addition, Denpasar municipal-ity should firmly apply the rules, so that the buildings on the main streets are bound to apply Balinese traditional architecture. It must also organize the telajakan or the space between main streets and house compound to have a garden. “Un-like today, all the telajakan spaces are contracted for grocers and the like that make the city rundown, far from being a cultured and tourism city that really looks clean, safe, sustainable and beautiful,” said

Chairman of the Indonesia As-sociation of Tourism Intellectuals (ICPI) of Bali.

It is very necessary so that the city tour program in Denpasar can draw the interest of travelers. The government of Denpasar should really organize the infrastructure of roads, drainage and others be-cause so far the arranged area is only around the mayoral office, while many other roads around the settlement are still chaotic. “Do not only achieve formality by winning the Adipura (urban cleanliness award). But frankly speaking, it is far from the truth,” he affirmed. (win)

Local hoteliers in Denpasar increasingly marginalized

DENPASAr — Mushrooming city hotels in Denpasar owned by investors from outside Bali make local hoteliers in Bali in-creasingly marginalized. Balinese hoteliers having existed in the 1970s until the 2000s are in difficult situation because the average room occupancy rate only reaches about 10-20 percent per year, so that the hotel revenue is only sufficient for oper-ating costs. Today, many of their accommodations have been transformed into boarding house just to get monthly or annual income, rather than being left empty like ghost house.

IBP/File

One of the newly developed city hotel

IBP/wan

Ubud village was included in the top 10 world’s best destinations 2016 according to TripAdvi-sor, a travel site based in the United States.

14 InternationalHealthThursday, March 24, 2016 3International Bali News Thursday, March 24, 2016

Police detained 37 people in Shandong province, official news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday, after a nearly $90 million black market vaccine ring was exposed over the last week.

The vaccines, including ones against meningitis, rabies and other illnesses, are suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces around China since 2011.

The scandal has stirred angry debate, casting a shadow over government ambitions to bolster the domestic drug industry and underlining the challenge it faces to regulate a widespread and frag-

mented medicine supply chain.“We don’t know if our children

have properly had the vaccine or whether it is ineffective or even if they are at risk,” said Zhang Jieqi, 32, who works at a tourism company in the city of Chengdu and has a child under two years -old.

She said she was angry that the case, which started early last year, had not been made public widely until now.

The government has said the vaccines themselves were real, although traded illegally.

The issue of regulation, from

food and drugs to online sales, has become increasingly contentious in China as it looks to cast off a reputa-tion for poor quality and safety.

However, regulators such as a Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) have pointed to a lack of resources and personnel to ad-equately regulate their sectors.

The vaccine case drew ire from Premier Li Keqiang, who said regu-latory bodies - including the CFDA, health ministry and police - needed to work more in tandem, and that “dereliction of duty” would not be tolerated.

“This vaccine safety case has drawn close attention, and shows there are many gaps in terms of regulation,” Li said in a statement posted on the central government’s website late on Tuesday. (rtr)

GENEVA - The World Health Organization is still waiting for its members to stump up another $4 million to tackle the growing threat from the Zika virus, WHO chief Margaret Chan said on Tuesday.

“The more we know, the worse things look,” Chan told a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva. “In less than a year the sta-

tus of Zika has changed from a mild medical curiosity to a disease with severe public health implications.”

Zika has been linked to thou-sands of suspected cases of mi-crocephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil, and a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

A pattern had emerged with initial virus circulation followed

about three weeks later by an un-usual increase in Guillain-Barré cases, then foetal malformations as pregnancies of infected women come to term, Chan said.

Zika has not been proven to cause Guillain-Barré or micro-cephaly, a condition characterised by unusually small heads in babies and linked with developmental

problems. However, there is grow-ing evidence that suggests a link to both disorders.

The WHO and its American arm PAHO have asked for $25 million to fight Zika and have received $3 mil-lion, and are now in an “active dis-cussion” over the next $4 million, said Chan, who called the funding situation “pretty serious”.

She said she would shift money across the WHO budget as far as pos-sible, but 80 percent of WHO’s money was earmarked for specific causes.

WHO’s strategy director Chris Dye said many, many millions of people had been exposed to the mosquito-borne virus, which has spread through most of the Ameri-cas in the past six months. (rtr)

MONROVIA - Liberia closed its border with Guinea on Tuesday as a precaution against Ebola following at least four deaths from the virus in Guinea, Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe said.

The deaths have occurred since Feb. 29, while Liberia was declared free of new transmissions of the virus in January.

“We have ordered the border with Guinea closed with im-mediate effect. The border will remain closed until the situation in Guinea improves,” Nagbe told Reuters.

“We are not taking any chance at all.”A team of medics with protective gear had been sent to the

border to improve surveillance.Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever, has killed about 11,300 people

in the two countries plus Sierra Leone since late 2013 and it caused global alarm in 2014 as governments and health agencies rushed to help contain the outbreak.

New cases have dwindled virtually to zero but the U.N. World Health Organization has warned of flare-ups, or emerg-ing clusters, of new cases. (rtr)

WHO begs for $4 mln to prepare for millions of Zika cases

AP Photo/Youssouf Bah

A health worker, center, takes the temperature of people to see if they might be infected by the Ebola virus inside the Ignace Deen government hospital in Conakry, Guinea, Friday March 18, 2016.

Liberia closes border with

Ebola-hit Guinea

China vaccine scandal stokes anger as regulators

come under fire

Chinatopix via AP

In this Monday, March 21, 2016 photo, officials from China’s State Food and Drug Administration inspect vaccines stored at the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention office in Rong’an county in southwestern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Police in eastern China have detained numbers of people implicated in a scandal involving the selling of poorly refriger-ated and probably ineffective vaccines, state media reported Wednesday, March 23.

SHANGHAI - A widening scandal over illegal vaccine sales in China has sparked anger and drawn criticism from the gov-ernment over glaring loopholes in the regulation of the world’s second-largest medicine market.

AMLAPURA - Prices of fruits commonly used to fill in the offerings have soared within the past two days in Karangasem. According to some merchants of fruits and ritual means at a number of traditional markets in Karangasem, it happened because there are rituals at a number of major temples, like Besakih, Pasar Agung, Lempuyang Madya, Batur and family temples like the clan temple.

Merchants at Karangsokong mar-ket, Subagan, told on Tuesday (Mar. 22) the price of the milk banana rose from IDR 12,000 to IDR 16,000 per tier, while mangosteen ranges from IDR 12, 000 to IDR 16,000 per kg.

Prices of Karangasem snakefruit are slightly cheap, namely around IDR 5,000 per kg. Sugar snakefruit ranges around IDR 12,000 per kg, while durian also slightly increased from IDR 15,000 each of small size to around IDR 25,000 each.

A number of fruit merchants claimed to earn a little profit be-cause of many buyers. But they remained to be unwilling to admit if they earn a big profit. “We just get a little profit, sir, incidentally there are many buyers because there are many rituals or piodalan at temples,” said a fruit seller from Sibetan, Wayan Ranis. (013)

As reported by detikTravel via CNN, Tuesday (Mar. 22), Ubud was included in the top 10 of the TripAdvisor annual nomination named ‘The Traveler’s Choice Destination Awards.’ The award recognizes a number of most-loved tourist spots based on the feedback and booking interest from TripAd-visor community.

Chairman of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) of Bali, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, said that when looking

at the current tourism competition in the world, the award is certainly quite encouraging. “However, I hope this award can be made into future challenge for Ubud to con-tinuously improve and find a joint solution to various problems haunt-ing Ubud at the moment,” he said.

He said that a number of issues to be addressed include traffic conges-tion, beggars and infrastructure in the Ubud area having much dam-aged. “So, here it needs a synergy between the government and Ubud

residents. Certainly, we do not want that after receiving the award, the coming visitors are disappointed with the condition of Ubud,” he explained.

The problem in need of serious handling, according to Cok Ace, is the congestion. He said that conges-tion has occurred almost at every road section in Ubud. “I think this condition is not solely because the road is narrow, but decisive action of government officials needs to be improved. All this time, I have seen if the officers only focus on regulating the traffic in front of Ubud Palace, whereas the poten-tial congestions occur at almost all points. This needs to be addressed together,” he hoped. (km35)

SEMARAPURA - Price of seaweed has continued to decline within the past year. This condi-tion is caused by low demand of exporters previously supplied the Nusa Penida seaweed for various regions. Seaweed collectors do not dare to sell to exporters because the price continues to slump. As a result, seaweed collectors are trying not to run into a big loss.

A seaweed collector from Se-maya hamlet, Suana, Nusa Penida, I Wayan Sugata, said that he currently stocks approximately 60 tons of seaweed. Such stock happens due to low demand from exporters. He admitted the current demand of ex-porters is very little due to the low purchasing of seaweed products. “The need for raw materials of seaweed from outside is very little making it difficult to market,” he said, Monday (Mar. 21).

He added the seaweed cultivated in Nusa Penida has import qual-ity and has been often exported to Germany and America. Cottoni seaweed is often used for raw ma-terial of cosmetic and food, while

spinosum is widely used for food ingredient. The drop in the price of seaweed makes collectors lose. A few collectors are forced to stock their seaweed in a long time so that the price can increase. “If stocked for long time, the seaweed will not be damaged but shrinks. This can minimize losses,” he added.

In addition to being seaweed farmer, Sugata also often supplies the stock through a merchant. At the beginning of 2016, the price range of cottoni seaweed was around IDR 6,500 per kilogram in wet condition. As for now, the seaweed has been shrinking by 20 percent. The price even decreases to about IDR 6,000 per kilogram and it has been in dry condition, while the spinosum species is now sold for around IDR 3,300 per kilogram.

Chief of the Tri Segara Merta Development and Service Unit (UPP) of Klungkung, I Nyoman Landep, admitted that on entering rainy season, the growth of seaweed is good but the marketing is still lacking. (dwa)

Demand for raw materials declines

Price of seaweed slumps

Coinciding with rituals at some temples, prices of fruits soar

IBP/file

Prices of fruits commonly used to fill in the offerings have soared within the past two days in Karangasem.

Behind various problems

Ubud attains another achievement

GIANYAR - Amid various problems due to lack of govern-ment attention, the tourist area of Ubud even attained another achievement. This tourist village was included in the top 10 world’s best destinations 2016 according to TripAdvisor, a travel site based in the United States.

Bali News International4 Thursday, March 24, 2016 13InternationalThursday, March 24, 2016

NIAMEY - Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou won a second term with 92.5 percent of the vote in a run-off election that the opposition coalition chose to boycott, the electoral commis-sion said on Tuesday.

Issoufou, an ally of the West in its fight against Islamist insurgents in West Africa, won the first round comfortably last month with 48 percent of votes but failed to clinch the outright majority required to avoid a second round.

The candidate who came second, opposition leader Hama Amadou, has been in jail since No-vember on charges relating to a baby-trafficking scandal, but was flown to France for medical treatment last week.

Amadou says he is innocent and claims the charges against him are politically motivated.

But the size of Issoufou’s victory is unlikely to draw significant international criticism, in part because of the boycott, but also because the in-cumbent has been in power only since 2011.

“The Nigerien people have spoken clearly and unequivocally,” said Issoufou in a statement in which he laid out his plans for a second term,

including increasing security and improving the country’s infrastructure. “I hail their political maturity and strong mobilization.”

The Coalition for an Alternative (COPA), which unites about 20 political parties including Amadou’s MODEN, called for a boycott of the polls claiming the process had been tainted by fraud.

It described the election as a “sham” and said in a statement on Tuesday that it would refuse to recognise the results.

“President Issoufou’s mandate expires on April 1, 2016 at midnight. From April 2, our country will have no legitimate president,” it said.

The turnout of the election was 60 percent, the commission said. The vote is subject to confirma-tion from the constitutional court.

Southern Niger, which borders Nigeria, has been the target of frequent deadly raids by Islamist Boko Haram militants.

It also shares borders with Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, where al Qaeda-linked groups are active. Libya, home to Islamic State affiliates, lies on its northern border. (rtr)

A corruption scandal that has reached her inner circle threatened to implicate more people after the country’s largest engineering firm Odebrecht decided to cooperate with prosecutors investigating a huge political bribery scheme.

“I will never resign under any circum-stances,” the embattled president said in a speech to legal experts. “I have committed no crime that would warrant shortening my term.”

Rousseff called on Brazil’s Supreme Court to remain impartial in the crisis that has threatened to topple her government as op-ponents seek her impeachment in Congress.

Opposition parties have launched im-peachment proceedings against Rousseff for allegedly manipulating government accounts to allow her government to spend more in the run-up to her 2014 re-election. The president could be suspended as soon as May if her supporters do not block impeachment in the lower house.

Recent corruption allegations and huge anti-government street protests have raised the odds of Rousseff being impeached, end-ing 13 years of leftist Workers’ Party rule.

The Petrobras graft investigation has im-plicated dozens of politicians in Rousseff’s coalition and led to the jailing of scores of executives in top engineering firms such as Odebrecht. Following police raids on com-pany offices on Tuesday, Odebrecht said in a statement its executives targeted in the

corruption probe will seek plea bargain deals with prosecutors.

With her popularity at rock bottom due to the snowballing scandal and the worst reces-sion in a generation, the political survival of Brazil’s first female president depends largely on her main coalition partner, the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

Growing numbers of lawmakers in the

fractious PMDB want the party to leave her government, a decision that could be taken at a March 29 executive committee meeting. The party may hold the deciding votes on impeachment, which would put Vice Presi-dent Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, in the presidential seat.

Party officials have denied Brazilian me-dia reports that Temer is already preparing a post-Rousseff government and has begun

talks with opposition leaders to secure their backing.

The head of the Senate, PMDB Senator Renan Calheiros, who appeared to be waver-ing in his support of Rousseff, echoed her position on impeachment after meeting with her predecessor and mentor, former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who is back in Brasilia working to shore up her crumbling coalition. (rtr)

Boycott helps Niger President Issoufou win re-election

AP Photo/Gael Cogne

Women supporting Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, celebrate after election results were given in Niamey, Niger, Tuesday, March 22, 2016.

Brazil’s Rousseff says ‘will never resign’ in deepening crisis

BRASILIA - President Dilma Rous-seff said on Tuesday she will not resign in Brazil’s worst political crisis in two decades, calling an opposition move to impeach her a “coup d’etat” against democratic rule because she had com-mitted no crime.

REUTERS/Gregg Newton

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff takes a selfie with a man after a meeting with jurists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 22, 2016.

BANGLI - The hot weather having occurred since the past few days caused dozens of hectares of paddy fields at Subak Pengiangan Kawan, Pengiangan village, Susut, to face drought. As a result, farmers are forced to cancel their rice planting whereas the seedlings have been well prepared. Besides, this relatively extreme season is also threatening the growth of transplanted rice of a few weeks old.

One of the local farmers, I Nyoman Subagia, said on Tuesday (Mar. 22) that hot weather having emerged since the past few days resulted in the reduced flow of water in the irrigation channel. As a result, the paddy field having been the only source of income faces a drought so that he can-not grow rice. Actually the seedlings have been prepared long in advance. “After the hot weather hits, the water flow disappears. Paddy field dries out so that I cannot grow rice,” he said.

He said that this drought is the worst in the past ten years. By and large, when dry season comes, half the paddy fields can still be planted with rice. In contrast to this time, the land does not produce at all. This condition also results in a number of farmers to suffer losses. “This first happens so that farmers are so nervous. The seeds ready to be raised becomes useless,” he said.

In order to earn income, this farmer who also has profession as sea sand carver admitted to be forced to develop other crops such as sweet potatoes and corn. “I am forced to switch to other crops. It is just to get side income,” he added.

Similar condition is also delivered by another farmer, I Nyoman Nedeng. This hot weather has dampened his intention to grow rice. Having completed to plow some time ago, the irriga-tion water does no longer flow so that the land dries out. “Necessarily, we have planted rice at beginning of March. Due to hot weather, the fields dry out. My rice seedlings are wasted,” he complained.

The man relying on livelihood from agriculture only stated to be unable to do much. No efforts can be done to drain water. As alternative to outsmart this condition, he is forced to plant corn. “Hope-fully, this can provide income,” he hoped.

When this hot weather hits, said Nedeng, a number of farmers are also growing rice. Un-fortunately, after completing the weeding stage, their paddy fields dried out and cracked. The threat of crop failure has haunted them. “Some farmers already planted rice. Apparently they will not produce as the fields have dried out and cracked,” he said.

The Head of the Bangli Agriculture and Plantation Unit for Susut subdistrict, I Wayan Arimbawa, justified that hot weather has an im-pact on the agricultural sector. However, it did not happen to all subak (irrigation cooperative) areas. “This hot weather indeed has caused paddy fields to dry out and farmers cannot plant rice. But this only happened to Subak Pengiangan Kawan. It covers approximately fourteen hectares,” he said. (kmb45)

According to the Spokesperson of Bali Police, Hery Wiyanto, Mon-day (Mar. 21), Bali Police have no interest in the reclamation plan. The interest of Bali Police is only one namely keeping Bali safe and conducive.

“People rejecting the reclama-tion plan are for the benefit of Bali. When impeding the access to the airport, who will suffer losses? Bali will, too, right?” he said.

Keep in mind, he added, there is no permit for demonstration on Sunday. The demo last week was only with notification letter. In ac-cordance with Law No. 9/1998, the prohibited places for demonstration include hospital, airport, military installation and national vital ob-jects. “If the access to the airport is closed, it means the action has harmed the interests of others, the airport and Bali,” said Hery.

Why were they not dismissed? “(Police—Ed) will be unable to do it due to large number of mass. If it was forced, it would even result in greater impact. So, it is not possible to be carried out. We are also thinking of

the negative impact,” he said.Did police authority make an

approach to move the location of demonstration? According to Hery, various means have been attempted such as making an approach to the chief of customary village. He said that Director of Intelligence and Security of Bali Police, Wayan Sukawinaya and Chief of Denpasar Police Anak Agung Sudana along with his ranks have been doing it since three days before the dem-onstration. Moreover, there are national and international events.

“Unfortunately, the attempt failed. The blockade effort did not work either because the mass was in a large number. They are allowed to go into the area as long as do not stop there. So, they move around the roundabout,” said Hery.

He revealed that the Chief of Denpasar Police wanted to secure Wayan ‘Gendo’ Suardana. “Gendo told if he was taken, then who will control such a large number of mass? We are thinking about it and finally did not take him (Gendo—Ed),” he said.

He hoped the action leaders can make evaluation. If they want to cancel the reclamation and presi-dential regulation No.51/2014, the demonstration should be directed

to relevant institutions such as the government and the Bali House of Representatives. In addition, he ap-pealed to them to be vigilant against intruders. “Mass in such number

is easily infiltrated. For example, when one participant is stubbed, it will be definitely noisier so that it needs to be watched out,” he said. (kmb36)

Efforts to blockage demo

Bali Police chief affirms for the sake of BaliDENPASAR - Police blocked the mass of demonstration re-

jecting the reclamation when moving toward the roundabout of Ngurah Rai Airport, Tuban, Sunday (Mar. 20) because it is prohibited location for demonstrations. However, police could not act repressively because of the large number of mass and wanted to prevent bigger problems.

IBP/edi

Police blocked the mass of demonstration rejecting the reclamation when moving toward the roundabout of Ngurah Rai Airport, Tuban.

Hot weather, hectares of paddy fields hit by drought

IBP/nik

The hot weather having occurred since the past few days caused dozens of hectares of paddy fields at Subak Pengiangan Kawan, Pengiangan village, Susut, to face drought.

Indonesia Today Thursday, March 24, 2016 5InternationalThursday, March 24, 201612 International

BUSINESS

Before taking a decision, the Ministry of Sports and Youth will conduct an assessment of the 33-hectare Hambalang National Sports Development, Education and Train-ing Center (P3SON) project, in cooperation with the Governments Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and the Public Work and Public Housing Ministry.

“The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has to prepare a de-tailed and complete report on the project,” said the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Imam Nahrawi, who accompanied President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during a tour of the neglected complex last Friday.

He said his ministry will study whether to continue with the project as per its initial design to function as an athletics school and a train-ing center or as a high school of sports.

“We need dormitories for ath-letes just like the Sports School in Ragunan which produces some of the best athletes. Athletes are housed there during training,” noted the minister.

However, the minister will de-cide the status of Hambalang based on the study being undertaken by the BPKP and the Ministry of Pub-lic Works and Public Housing.

“The planning of the project will remain our responsibility, in-cluding its budget and design. We will prepare it and I will report to the president,” the minister stated. In the meantime, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is of the view that the P3SON project was not worth pursuing.

“Actually, the site of the project is not suitable for construction. Its feasibility study should be reviewed,” Acting Chief of KPK Public Relations Bureau, Yuyuk Andriati, said on Friday (March 18).

The KPK has met with the State Audit Board (BPK) and the Minis-try of Youth and Sports Affairs to provide inputs, including explana-tions by a team of experts had made during the legal proceedings in the Hambalang case.

It is understood that the Minis-try of Youth and Sports Affairs is willing to continue with the devel-opment of the Hambalang sports complex project that had come to a standstill due to a corruption case and a technical reason.

President Jokowi visited the P3SON site in Sentul, Bogor (West Java), and expressed his desire to resolve the issue soon since it in-volved massive state funds.

“It was mentioned during the court hearing that the lands con-tours and soil structure of the site was not stable. After all, up to now, one of the suspects in the corruption case is still in court process,” added Yuyuk.

However, she said, the decision to continue with the project was not in the hands of the KPK.

A number of people were im-plicated in the Hambalang project scandal, including Deddy Kusdinar, former head of Youth and Sports Ministrys planning bureau and Andi Mallarangeng, the former youth and sports minister. Now the govern-ment is studying the possibility of

continuing with the project. Therefore, President Jokowi

has ordered the BPKP to carry out comprehensive auditing of the Hambalang project, according to Presidential Special Staff Johan Budi SP said.

Johan Budi said at the Presi-dential Complex on Monday that comprehensive auditing by the BPKP was one of the three steps that must be taken before decid-ing whether to continue with the project or not.

As another step, the Public Works and Public Housing Minis-ter should carry out further studies regarding the projects topographic and building conditions.

“The government will also dis-

cuss the project in a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace with various stakeholders,” Johan Budi, who is a former KPK spokes-man, remarked.

He said the Attorney Gener-als Office was still investigating the procurement of goods for the project. “Only after that, a deci-sion would be taken on whether to continue with the project. The main point is that a high value state asset should not remain ne-glected,” the presidential special staff said.

According to Johan Budi, the asset must be safeguarded and whether it will be used to house athletes or for a different purpose will depend on the assessment of

the Public Works and Public Hous-ing Ministry.

The Hambalang sports complex project was started in 2003 when it was under the auspices of the Directorate General of Sports of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It aimed to build more sports fa-cilities outside the Ragunan Sports Centre in East Jakarta.

In the 2004 -2009 period, the project was taken over by the Min-istry of Youth and Sports Affairs, which handled land clearance, land certificate, geological study and the drawing up of its master plan.

In 2009, Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs proposed a budget of Rp1.25 trillion for the construction of the project.(ant)

NUSA DUA - The Indonesian Foreign Af-fairs Ministry has stated that the government is monitoring for any updates regarding its citizens following the bomb attacks in Brus-sels, Belgium, on Tuesday morning.

The Director for Indonesian Citizen Pro-tection and Legal Affairs, Lalu Muhammad Iqball, said here on Tuesday that the Indone-sian Embassy in Belgium has not received any report of any Indonesian casualties in the attacks at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek Metro Station.

The Indonesian Embassy in Brussels is about 10 kilometers away from the Zaventem

Airport, while the Maelbeek Metro Station is 6.5 kilometers away.

As per the ministrys data, at least 1,630 Indonesians were staying in Belgium, with most living in Brussels. The Belgian govern-ment has set the state security alert status to level four.

According to the Reuters News Agency, the Belgian government was aware of the threat of retaliation after a raid to catch the alleged perpetrator of the Paris attack, Saleh Abdussalam. The last report noted that at least 30 people have been killed and 136 others injured due to the attacks.(ant)

Indonesia monitors updates following Brussels attack

IBP/ant

The security is tighten after the bomb explosion in Brussels, Belgium.

Neglected Hambalang project awaits govt`s decision

JAKARTA - The fate of the Rp2.5 trillion- Hambalang sports complex project in Sentul Hill, Bogor, West Java, lying neglected since 2012, will be decided before the 2018 Asian Games to be hosted by Indonesia.

IBP/net

The neglected building of Hambalang

For years, automakers pushed fuel efficiency to sell hybrid and electric vehicles. Now, in an era of cheap gasoline, the message is: These cars are faster and quieter than their gas-powered counterparts. And, yes, you still save on fuel.

“They’ve graduated out of the class of something that’s a bit of an oddity to drive,” says Mike O’Brien, vice president of product planning for Hyundai. “It’s all about making these cars better.”

Until now, hybrids and electrics have largely appealed to the envi-ronmentally-conscious crowd. The vehicles cost thousands of dollars extra, and although drivers eventually recouped their money in fuel sav-ings, the vehicles lacked the power and handling of gas-powered rivals. Electrics also suffered from driver concern that the battery could run out of juice on a trip.

Now, the tide is slowly turning. General Motors and Tesla will bring electric vehicles to market next year priced around $30,000, including a $7,500 federal tax credit. Battery range has improved significantly, ex-perts expect gasoline prices to eventu-ally climb higher, and the advent of autonomous vehicles favors motors powered by electricity over gas.

At the New York International Auto Show this week, Hyundai

will join Toyota in showing off new electric and hybrid vehicles. Hyundai will unveil battery, gas-electric hybrid and plug-in versions of a new car called the Ioniq, while Toyota will show a plug-in Prius that can run on electricity alone, as well as both gas and electricity. The new Prius has an increased battery range.

The Prius hybrid, powered by both gas and electric motors, started the alternative fuel movement in the U.S. in 2000. Toyota deliberately made it look different than other cars, knowing that buyers wanted to make a statement about being environmentally friendly. Other companies set their green cars apart as well.

Even though sales grew as manu-facturers added models, they never really caught on, partly because of the improved fuel economy of gas-powered vehicles. At their peak in 2013, with gas averaging $3.50 per gallon, Americans bought only 341,000 hybrids and electrics, about 2.2 percent of total U.S. car sales, ac-cording to Kelley Blue Book.

Many companies spent millions developing the cars, taking losses to meet government fuel economy standards that gradually increase and require the new-car fleet to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

As gas prices fell below $2 per

gallon, sales of hybrids and electrics dropped further. Last year, automak-ers had 16 hybrid and electric models on sale, but sales sank to just over 274,000.

All of this makes for a bad en-

vironment to roll out more hybrids and electrics. But automakers will press on, now trying to sell them oan style, acceleration, handling and reliability.

“It looks better. It drives better.

People can have more fun behind the wheel, but it still has new technolo-gies and safety in it, and it also gets the benefits of a hybrid,” Bill Fay, Toyota’s U.S. general manager, said of the Prius.(ap)

TOKYO — Asian stock in-dexes fell Wednesday in cautious trading, following the deadly bombings in Belgium.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 per-cent to 17,000.98. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.1 percent lower to 1,995.12. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 20,524.41, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5 percent to 2,983.86. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5 percent at 5,204.30. Southeast Asian markets were mostly lower.

ATTACK WOES: News of the attacks in Belgium, which killed at least 34 people, had pulled global markets lower, and airlines

and travel companies continued to slip in Asia. Major Japanese carrier ANA fell 0.6 percent, while Australia’s flagship carrier Qantas Airways was down nearly 0.3 percent. HIS Co., a major Japanese travel company, slipped 2.3 percent.

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 41.30 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,582.57. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 1.80 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,049.80. The Nasdaq com-posite added 12.79 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,821.66.

THE QUOTE: “The Brussels explosions gave the market a shock yesterday,” said Margaret

Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore. “This attack, together with a series of terror-ist attacks believed to have been perpetrated by ISIS since last year, will have an impact on investors’ confidence.”

ENERGY: U.S. crude slipped 52 cents to $40.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 7 cents to $41.45 a barrel on Tues-day. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oils, fell 38 cents to $41.41 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro rose slightly to $1.1206 from $ $1.1200, while the dollar rose to 112.34 yen from 111.65 yen.(ap)

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

In this Monday, March 21, 2016, photo, a man walks past the Nissan Micro Mobility Concept vehicle at the New York International Auto Show. The electric vehicle is designed to transport two people over short distances. The batteries can be recharged in four hours and the range is up to 62 miles (100 kilometers).

Automakers say electrics, hybrids no longer just gas-sippers

NEW YORK — When Toyota aired a Super Bowl television ad featuring a surprisingly quick Prius gas-electric hybrid elud-ing police, it marked a turning point for the auto industry.

Asian indexes little changed as Belgian attacks worries ease

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

People walk past the electronic board of a securities firm showing Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Most major Asian stock benchmarks weakened Wednesday on investor uncer-tainty over what steps policymakers would take at an upcoming European Central Bank meeting to revive economic growth on the continent.

6 International

W RLDThursday, March 24, 2016

Brussels Airport And Metro Rocked By Explosions

The Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in ParisThe Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in Paris

Gallery: World Mourns After Doz-ens Killed In Belgium Terror Attack

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with black, yellow and red in tribute to the victims of the Brussels terror attacks

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel has joined crowds gathered in central Brussels to remember those

killed in Tuesday’s terror attacks. Mr Michel lit a candle at the Place de la Bourse as messages of condolence, outrage and love were written in chalk upon the pavement.

Some stood in silence as armed police patrolled the area, while oth-ers broke into a rendition of the John Lennon song Imagine. It comes as landmarks in Berlin, Rome and Paris were illuminated with the red, yellow and black of the Belgian flag as a mark of respect for the victims.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Gran Teatro in Havana Cuba. Play video “Obama Reacts To Brussels Attacks” “Paris and Brussels are united. The Eiffel Tower has been lit up in the Belgian colours,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter.

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was also illuminated with Belgium’s national colours, as was the Trevi

Fountain in Rome.The Belgian flag flew at half-mast

above Downing Street, while EU flags were lowered outside the Euro-pean Commission in Brussels. Student Laura Kartheuser, 20, was among the mourners gathered in Brussels.

She said: “This is my city and this is my country. What’s happened today is really terrible. “We’ve come here to support each other and see what was written on the pavement. It’s really touching.

“I don’t know who thought to bring chalk for people to write with, but it’s lovely to see such kind words.”

Global leaders have united to con-demn the attack, including President Barack Obama. “We will do whatever is necessary to support our friends in Belgium,” he said.

“We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous at-tacks against innocent people.(rtr)

From page 1Global ...

Police and prosecutors refused immediate comment after several local media reported that Najim Laachraoui, 25, believed to be the man seen on CCTV pushing a bag-gage trolley alongside the bombers and then running out of the airport terminal, had been captured in the

Brussels borough of Anderlecht.The death toll in the attacks on

the Belgian capital, home to the European Union and NATO, rose to at least 31 with some 260 wounded, Health Minister Maggie De Block said on VRT television. It could rise further because some of the bomb

victims at Maelbeek metro station were blown to pieces and victims are hard to identify.

One of the suspects seen on CCTV pushing baggage trolleys at Brussels airport just before the explosions was named as Brahim El Bakraoui, public broadcaster RTBF reported. It said his brother, Khalid, blew himself up on the metro train.

Both had criminal records but had not previously been linked by investigators to Islamist militants.

Laachraoui was wanted in con-nection with the Paris attacks. His DNA was found on almost all of the explosives belts used in those attacks and at a Brussels hideout used last week by prime Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last Friday after a shoot-out with police.

RTBF said Khalid El Bakraoui had rented under a false name the apart-ment in the city’s Forest borough, where police hunting Abdeslam killed a gunman in a raid last week. He is also believed to have rented a safe house in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used to mount last November’s Paris attacks.

The Syrian-based Islamist group claimed responsibility for Tues-day’s attacks, four days after Abde-slam’s arrest in Brussels, warning of “black days” for those fighting it in Syria and Iraq. Belgian war-planes have joined the coalition in the Middle East, but Brussels has long been a centre of Islamist militancy. (rtr)

WASHINGTON - U.S. Republican front-runner Donald Trump swept to victory in Arizona on Tuesday but rival Ted Cruz showed some fight with a win in Utah that gave hope to establishment Republicans who fear Trump would lead the party to ruin in the presidential election.

On the Democratic side, favorite Hillary Clinton routed chal-lenger Bernie Sanders in Arizona to stretch her advantage in the race for her party’s presidential nomination.

Sanders, however, won contests in Utah and Idaho to bolster his case that he still has a chance despite Clinton’s big lead.

The nominating battles in Arizona and Utah, plus the Democratic contest in Idaho, were overshadowed by attacks in Brussels in which at least 30 people were killed and raised security concerns among U.S. voters.

Trump helped himself in Arizona with a hardline anti-immigration message and tough talk on Islamic militants to easily defeat Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Trump had the backing in Arizona of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, one of the most prominent supporters of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The win furthered Trump’s argument that he will eventually win the Republican presidential nomination and that the party should rally around him. He won all of Arizona’s 58 delegates.

“Much bigger win than anticipated in Arizona. Thank you, I will never forget!” Trump said on Twitter. “Hopefully the Republican Party can come together and have a big WIN in November, paving the way for many great Supreme Court Justices!”

Cruz, though, won big in Utah’s caucuses, giving hope to those Republicans who fear Trump’s proposal to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico would guarantee a Democratic victory in the Nov. 8 election.

Cruz appeared to be on track to win all of Utah’s 40 Republican delegates. Since the state’s 40 delegates are awarded proportionate to the popular vote, he needed to win at least 50 percent of the vote to take all the delegates.

He appeared to benefit from Mormons who dominate the Re-publican vote in Utah. They did not take kindly to a Trump attack on native son Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who has led the anti-Trump opposition. (rtr)

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Files

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump looks to the cameras at the back of the arena during a rally at Clemson University in Pendleton, South Carolina, in this February 10, 2016 file photo.

Trump, Clinton win big in Arizona, but Cruz, Sanders

show fight

Belgium arrests Brussels bomb suspect,

identifies others

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Belgium’s King Philippe (L) and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives to observe a minute of silence for victims following Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016.

BRUSSELS - Belgian police arrested a prime suspect in Tuesday’s Brussels blasts and identified two suspected suicide bombers, linking them directly to Islamic State militants be-hind last November’s Paris attacks, Belgian media reported on Wednesday.

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RORY McIlroy is shifting into his head-to-head mode for the WGC-Dell Match Play tournament starting on Wednesday, and believes a successful defense of his title would set him up perfectly for next month’s Masters.

McIlroy, 26, heads to Austin Country Club seeking his first win of the season in what will be his last tournament before bidding to complete a career grand slam at Augusta National.

The Northern Irishman is competing for the first time in Austin, where world number one Jordan Spieth won the U.S. college championship with the University of Texas, but the world number three said course knowledge is not critical.

“It’s about playing the player that’s in front of you there on the first tee,” said McIlroy.

“It’s a sprint. It’s 18 holes. You don’t really have time to find your rhythm. You need to try to make birdies from the get-go. And that’s the approach I’ve adopted the last few years.”

The event features 16 four-player groups, with the winners of each group advancing to knockout stages.

McIlroy, who will face 66th-ranked Dane Thorbjorn Olesen on Wednesday, is keen to notch a victory before Augusta, es-pecially given recent performances by many of his rivals.

“Seeing the guys that have won, with Bubba (Watson) in LA, Adam (Scott) in those two starts in Florida, Charl (Schwartzel) in Tampa and Jason (Day) last week, everyone is running in good form,” McIlroy said.

“I feel like I’m close. I’m probably not quite where they are, and I haven’t had the confidence of getting a win this year, but I feel like it’s close,” added the Northern Irishman, who tied for third at this month’s WGC-Cadillac Championship.

McIlroy won this tournament last year in San Francisco. This year, the world number three is coming to Spieth’s home turf and McIlroy said a potential duel with Texan Spieth would ratchet up the atmosphere to Ryder Cup levels.

“If I were to play Jordan Spieth at any point this week, I’m sure the atmosphere out there would be just as hostile as the Ryder Cup, seeing where he’s from, and he’s obviously very popular here.

“People really get into it,” Ryder veteran McIlroy said about match play. “I feel like you either have to choose one guy or the other.”

Spieth will open against Welshman Jamie Donaldson while Australian world number two Day faces former U.S. Open win-ner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. (rtr)

Djokovic told reporters at the Indian Wells tournament that he felt the men’s tour should “fight for more” money because their matches drew more spectators.

The Serbian’s comments fol-lowed inflammatory remarks by the tournament director Raymond Moore who suggested the women’s tour had ridden on the ‘coat tails’ of the men’s game.

Moore has since resigned.Djokovic attempted to hose

down the controversy in an open letter on Facebook but stopped short of saying he advocated equal pay for men and women in tennis.

“As you may have seen, I was asked to comment on a controversy that wasn’t of my making,” said

Djokovic, who won his fifth Indian Wells title on Sunday.

“Euphoria and adrenalin after the win on Sunday got the best of me and I’ve made some comments that are not the best articulation of my view, and I would like to clarify them.

“Tennis helped me so much in my life and being where I am to-day, I felt the need to speak about the fairer and better distribution of funds across the board -- this was meant for both men and women.

“We all have to fight for what we deserve. This was never meant to be made into a fight between genders and differences in pay, but in the way all players are rewarded for their play and effort.

“This was my view all along and I want to apologise to anyone who has taken this the wrong way.”

Djokovic’s comments at Indian Wells were poorly received by lead-ing players, with women’s world number one Serena Williams de-scribing them as “disappointing”.

“I wouldn’t say my son deserved more money than my daughter because he’s a man. It would be shocking,” Williams said at the Miami Open.

World number two Andy Murray said he supported equal pay “100 percent” and felt Djokovic’s idea that pay should be linked to atten-dances did not stand up.

“It depends on the matches day by day. The men’s game has had some great rivalries for the past few years,” the Briton said.

“The whole of tennis should strengthen from that, not just the men’s game.” (rtr)

McIlroy gearing up for Match Play defense on Spieth’s turf

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland blasts from the green side bunker on the 17th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge .

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, poses with his trophy and the flag of Serbia after defeating Milos Raonic, of Canada, in a final at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-0.

Djokovic apologises for comments on gender pay

WORLD number one Novak Djokovic has apologised for his comments suggesting tennis’s top men should get paid more than women after he drew criticism from current and former players.

ULUWATU - Bingin Beach is a very beautiful beach with stunning view of Indian Ocean and the great wave that make it as one of the de-manded surfing points by surfers in Bali Island. The wave characteristic is big, powerful and challenging have been able to stimulate the adrenaline for every surfer especially for experience surfer until the professional one to conquer the wave at this beach. Although a little distance away from the parking area and access to the beach is not good enough yet, it does not miss their attention to challenge the wave and go for surfing here. The grade wave here is in five level categories that mean the waves are big and powerful that create the fascinations for surfers to go for surfing adventures at this surfing point. This place has been many visited by the surfers including the world-class surfers and international surfers to attend for surfing competition at this rocky beach.

Bingin Beach is located at Pecatu Village, South Kuta District, Badung regency. It is only 25 minutes from Denpasar Airport or 10 minutes to Uluwatu Temple, a famous tourist destination in Bali Island. This beach is also situated close to the other famous surfing points such as Uluwatu Beach, Suluban Beach, Impossible Beach, Breamland Beach, Balangan Beach and Padang-Padang Beach. Bingin Beach has very easy access to the places of interest in Bali like GWK (Garuda Wisnu Kencana), Uluwatu Temple, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Kuta. (IBP/net)

Bingin Beach

MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay striker Luis Suarez said he will not change the way he plays, but will come back to international football with ‘moderation’ when he makes an expected return on Friday from a nine-match ban for biting.

Suarez is set to face Brazil in a 2018 World Cup qualifier after sitting out nine competitive inter-national fixtures for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the last World Cup in Brazil almost two years ago.

The Barcelona player has managed to keep out of trouble for his club since the incident but said he will not change his aggressive style that has helped to make him one of the world’s deadli-est strikers.

“I am going to have the same attitude, I will still run, still pressure, still argue because no one is going to change the way

I play,” he told reporters ahead of Friday’s match in Recife.

“But with moderation, like I am doing now at Barcelona, being more intelligent about a lot of things, try-ing to take advantage of the situations life is putting in front of me...

“The only thing I want to do is play with the national side again and enjoy the warmth of the fans.”

Uruguay have enjoyed a good start to their qualifying campaign, winning three out of their four games to sit in second place in the

10-team table, behind Ecuador, the only side to win all of their games so

far. After facing Brazil, Uruguay return home to play Peru next. (rtr)

98 Thursday, March 24, 2016

Sp rtThursday, March 24, 2016

NEW YORK — Chelsea will face AC Milan on Aug. 3 in the first major event at the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will play a pre-season exhibition Aug. 3 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The matches, announced Tues-day, will be part of the International Champions Cup, a preseason exhi-bition competition from July 23 to Aug. 13.

Leicester, which leads the Eng-lish Premier League, plays at Glas-

gow Celtic on July 23, meets Paris Saint-Germain at a Los Angeles-area venue on July 30 and faces Barcelona at Stockholm on Aug. 3. Other teams include Liverpool and Inter Milan.

Many teams are likely to be missing star players who will just be returning to training after the European Championship and Copa America Centenario in June. Some players also could be at the Olympic soccer tournament in August.

Other games announced are: PSG-Inter at Eugene, Oregon,

on July 24; Bayern-AC Milan at Chicago on July 27; PSG-Real Madrid at Columbus, Ohio, on July 27; Liverpool-Chelsea at Pasadena, California, on July 27; Barcelona-Celtic at Dublin on July 30; Liverpool-AC Milan at Santa Clara, California, on July 30; and Bayern-Inter at Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 30.

Three matchups were announced without sites: Chelsea-Real Madrid in the U.S. on July 30; Liverpool-Barcelona in Europe on Aug. 6; and Celtic-Inter in Europe on Aug. 13. (ap)

NEW YORK — France faced a one-goal deficit against Brazil with 2 minutes of stoppage time left, and its manager ordered a full offensive. Christophe Jallet tapped a pass to Antoine Griezmann, and Griezmann gave it one touch before firing top left for the equal-izer — and, in this two-game final, the

tournament winner.Hundreds in the crowd erupted in shock.

Griezmann took off for the corner of the field, diving head first just in front of the flag and waiting

for teammates to dogpile on top. And 10 feet below the screen where Griezmann had scored, Mohamad Al-Bacha

ran in circles, jumped and screamed.Moments later, he stage dived into a pack of support-

ers — his first act as a world champion, before accepting his oversized $20,000 check and free trip to the FIFA Ballon

d’Or presentation. “To win the competition is beyond words for me,” the 19-year-old from Denmark said.

This week, the 32 top FIFA 16 video game players from around the world gathered in New York for the FIFA Interactive World Cup. The pitch was digital, but the stage was very real, with the four semifinal-ists settling things at the historic Apollo Theater in front hundreds of fans.

The competition was broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and streamed in more than 100 countries online, and Al-Bacha’s crown was earned from a season in which millions of FIFA games were played.

The event was a rare win for FIFA at a time when its brand is strug-gling. The tumultuous end to Sepp Blatter’s 18-year reign as FIFA president has shattered the federation’s reputation.

Investigations by American and Swiss prosecutors have revealed wide-ranging corruption throughout the organization, and over the past nine months, the names most associated with FIFA haven’t been star players such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Instead, headlines have been filled by Blatter, former vice president Jack Warner and UEFA president Michel Platini.

All of that seemed insignificant to fans and competitors at the Apollo, and given the success of EA Sports’ FIFA game franchise, that’s not surprising. Aspiring players — many teenagers — packed the theater. Some hope to become the next Messi or Ronaldo, but they also see a path to becoming the next Al-Bacha.

Here, the embattled FIFA organization sees an opportunity to change the conversation around soccer’s governing body.

“I remember when I started in 2007 at FIFA,” FIFA market-ing director Thierry Weil said. “I Googled about the brand

FIFA. The first two pages was all the FIFA game.”The game gives the federation a second identity, one

that’s already very profitable and critical for the game’s image at a time when FIFA’s dirty laundry risks turning off potential fans. “It’s a great tool, to be honest,” Weil said. “When you talk to kids, it’s, ‘Oh yeah, FIFA. FIFA is great. Wow.’”

The game was the top seller across all genres in Europe last year and is also popular in North and South America. It’s a staple sports game for console owners in the United States.

With competitive esports emerging on an international level, FIFA sees an opportunity

to leverage its licensed EA Sports title into a better reputation with young fans, such as

John Vizhnay, 19, who came to Tuesday’s final to get a glimpse at the world’s best

players — a big jump from the games he plays at home against friends. “We make our own small tournaments and stuff,” Vizhnay said, adding that “yeah, maybe I would like to be here one day.” (ap)

In video game, FIFA brand has crucial

public relations tool

REUTERS/Tony Gentile

AC Milan’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma makes a save during the match against Na-poli.

Chelsea, AC Milan to play at Minneapolis’ new stadium

If this is war, should Euro 2016 be put on hold?

PARIS — If, as the French prime minister says, Europe really is at war following the terror attacks on Paris and now Brussels, then a logical next step might be to put major sports events on hold, just as it did during the World Wars.

Specifically, give thought to postponing the European Cham-pionship. Allow the continent’s security services to concentrate fully over the coming months on things more important than secur-ing a football tournament.

Police forces, including elite French RAID and GIGN units, will be sucked into multi-layered security details for the 24 teams gathering in France from June to July. Vast efforts will be deployed to keep millions of people safe at Euro 2016 stadiums and fan zones.

Is that the best use for them? Could and should these resources instead be poured into manhunts, wholly focused on unraveling the extremist networks robbing Europe of lives and freedoms? Or be tasked with determining which targets other than Paris and Brussels they have in their sights and making them more secure?

French criminologist Alain Bauer doesn’t believe Euro 2016 will distract security services from fighting terrorism. And in the face of such challenges, he says, “you don’t hide under the bed.” “War, terrorism, natural disasters are managed through resilience,” he says.

Still, during World War I and II, sports took a back seat. There was no Tour de France from 1915-1919 or from 1940-1947. As Nazi troops spilled out across Poland in 1939, football in England was scaled back to limited regional league and cup matches. Sports made sacrifices: With its Highbury Stadium turned over to air raid duties, Arsenal played home matches at White Hart Lane, the ground of its North London rival Tottenham.

No one is suggesting that Cris-tiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney should throw themselves into Europe’s fight as predecessors like Joseph Dines did. The Olympic gold medalist with Britain’s foot-ball team at the Stockholm Games of 1912 was killed on the Western front in 1918.

But in a war, organized, profes-sional sports slide down the list of priorities. They shouldn’t stop en-tirely after Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels. Far from it. Because putting life on hold would hand a victory to the killers.

But sports look and feel some-what frivolous when ambulances are transporting dead and wounded to morgues and hospitals. In the weeks and months ahead, major

tournaments should not overly divert energy, re-sources and focus from what must be Priority No. 1: Restoring peace to Europe and ending the horrible ‘new normal’ of regu-lar terror causing us to ask whether life-affirming activities like sports are still worth the risk of massing together in soft targets.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said France remains determined to hold Euro 2016. But in such grim circumstances, the tournament is no longer a simple celebration of football. It is becoming a symbol of defiance. Hopefully, that won’t also make it more of a target.

“Our position is to not give in to the terrorists and to ensure that this big sporting event can take place,” Cazeneuve said. “We want to show our will to resist terror.”

It isn’t cowardly to suggest that holding the tournament against a background of such high security and fear might not be worth the ef-fort or even be much fun. Having seen first-hand the aftermath of suicide bombings in November at France’s national stadium, arguing for a postponement to allow Europe to focus entirely on defeating such terror feels like good sense.

Metal bolts from the suicide

vests were lodged in walls and tree trunks around the Stade de France that will

host the Euro 2016 f i n a l a n d

o t h e r matches. The bombers could have taken many lives, done untold damage had they detonated inside, not outside, the 80,000-seat arena.

If the tournament pass-es without incident and with joy, that will feel like an important victory against terrorism. But if things go wrong, we’ll kick ourselves for having taken our eyes off the ball. (ap)

France’s national soccer team player

Kingsley Coman attends a train-ing session at

the team training centre of Claire-

fontaine, near Paris, France,

March 22, 2016.

Suarez says he won’t change his game on return from bite ban

MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay striker Luis Suarez said he will not change the way he plays, but will come back to international football with ‘moderation’ when he makes an expected return on Friday from a nine-match ban for biting.

Suarez is set to face Brazil in a 2018 World Cup qualifier after sitting out nine competitive inter-national fixtures for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the last World Cup in Brazil almost two years ago.

The Barcelona player has managed to keep out of trouble for his club since the incident but said he will not change his aggressive style that has helped to make him one of the world’s deadli-est strikers.

“I am going to have the same attitude, I will still run, still pressure, still argue because no one is going to change the way

I play,” he told reporters ahead of Friday’s match in Recife.

“But with moderation, like I am doing now at Barcelona, being more intelligent about a lot of things, try-ing to take advantage of the situations life is putting in front of me...

“The only thing I want to do is play with the national side again and enjoy the warmth of the fans.”

Uruguay have enjoyed a good start to their qualifying campaign, winning three out of their four games to sit in second place in the

10-team table, behind Ecuador, the only side to win all of their games so

far. After facing Brazil, Uruguay return home to play Peru next. (rtr)

98 Thursday, March 24, 2016

Sp rtThursday, March 24, 2016

NEW YORK — Chelsea will face AC Milan on Aug. 3 in the first major event at the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will play a pre-season exhibition Aug. 3 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The matches, announced Tues-day, will be part of the International Champions Cup, a preseason exhi-bition competition from July 23 to Aug. 13.

Leicester, which leads the Eng-lish Premier League, plays at Glas-

gow Celtic on July 23, meets Paris Saint-Germain at a Los Angeles-area venue on July 30 and faces Barcelona at Stockholm on Aug. 3. Other teams include Liverpool and Inter Milan.

Many teams are likely to be missing star players who will just be returning to training after the European Championship and Copa America Centenario in June. Some players also could be at the Olympic soccer tournament in August.

Other games announced are: PSG-Inter at Eugene, Oregon,

on July 24; Bayern-AC Milan at Chicago on July 27; PSG-Real Madrid at Columbus, Ohio, on July 27; Liverpool-Chelsea at Pasadena, California, on July 27; Barcelona-Celtic at Dublin on July 30; Liverpool-AC Milan at Santa Clara, California, on July 30; and Bayern-Inter at Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 30.

Three matchups were announced without sites: Chelsea-Real Madrid in the U.S. on July 30; Liverpool-Barcelona in Europe on Aug. 6; and Celtic-Inter in Europe on Aug. 13. (ap)

NEW YORK — France faced a one-goal deficit against Brazil with 2 minutes of stoppage time left, and its manager ordered a full offensive. Christophe Jallet tapped a pass to Antoine Griezmann, and Griezmann gave it one touch before firing top left for the equal-izer — and, in this two-game final, the

tournament winner.Hundreds in the crowd erupted in shock.

Griezmann took off for the corner of the field, diving head first just in front of the flag and waiting

for teammates to dogpile on top. And 10 feet below the screen where Griezmann had scored, Mohamad Al-Bacha

ran in circles, jumped and screamed.Moments later, he stage dived into a pack of support-

ers — his first act as a world champion, before accepting his oversized $20,000 check and free trip to the FIFA Ballon

d’Or presentation. “To win the competition is beyond words for me,” the 19-year-old from Denmark said.

This week, the 32 top FIFA 16 video game players from around the world gathered in New York for the FIFA Interactive World Cup. The pitch was digital, but the stage was very real, with the four semifinal-ists settling things at the historic Apollo Theater in front hundreds of fans.

The competition was broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and streamed in more than 100 countries online, and Al-Bacha’s crown was earned from a season in which millions of FIFA games were played.

The event was a rare win for FIFA at a time when its brand is strug-gling. The tumultuous end to Sepp Blatter’s 18-year reign as FIFA president has shattered the federation’s reputation.

Investigations by American and Swiss prosecutors have revealed wide-ranging corruption throughout the organization, and over the past nine months, the names most associated with FIFA haven’t been star players such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Instead, headlines have been filled by Blatter, former vice president Jack Warner and UEFA president Michel Platini.

All of that seemed insignificant to fans and competitors at the Apollo, and given the success of EA Sports’ FIFA game franchise, that’s not surprising. Aspiring players — many teenagers — packed the theater. Some hope to become the next Messi or Ronaldo, but they also see a path to becoming the next Al-Bacha.

Here, the embattled FIFA organization sees an opportunity to change the conversation around soccer’s governing body.

“I remember when I started in 2007 at FIFA,” FIFA market-ing director Thierry Weil said. “I Googled about the brand

FIFA. The first two pages was all the FIFA game.”The game gives the federation a second identity, one

that’s already very profitable and critical for the game’s image at a time when FIFA’s dirty laundry risks turning off potential fans. “It’s a great tool, to be honest,” Weil said. “When you talk to kids, it’s, ‘Oh yeah, FIFA. FIFA is great. Wow.’”

The game was the top seller across all genres in Europe last year and is also popular in North and South America. It’s a staple sports game for console owners in the United States.

With competitive esports emerging on an international level, FIFA sees an opportunity

to leverage its licensed EA Sports title into a better reputation with young fans, such as

John Vizhnay, 19, who came to Tuesday’s final to get a glimpse at the world’s best

players — a big jump from the games he plays at home against friends. “We make our own small tournaments and stuff,” Vizhnay said, adding that “yeah, maybe I would like to be here one day.” (ap)

In video game, FIFA brand has crucial

public relations tool

REUTERS/Tony Gentile

AC Milan’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma makes a save during the match against Na-poli.

Chelsea, AC Milan to play at Minneapolis’ new stadium

If this is war, should Euro 2016 be put on hold?

PARIS — If, as the French prime minister says, Europe really is at war following the terror attacks on Paris and now Brussels, then a logical next step might be to put major sports events on hold, just as it did during the World Wars.

Specifically, give thought to postponing the European Cham-pionship. Allow the continent’s security services to concentrate fully over the coming months on things more important than secur-ing a football tournament.

Police forces, including elite French RAID and GIGN units, will be sucked into multi-layered security details for the 24 teams gathering in France from June to July. Vast efforts will be deployed to keep millions of people safe at Euro 2016 stadiums and fan zones.

Is that the best use for them? Could and should these resources instead be poured into manhunts, wholly focused on unraveling the extremist networks robbing Europe of lives and freedoms? Or be tasked with determining which targets other than Paris and Brussels they have in their sights and making them more secure?

French criminologist Alain Bauer doesn’t believe Euro 2016 will distract security services from fighting terrorism. And in the face of such challenges, he says, “you don’t hide under the bed.” “War, terrorism, natural disasters are managed through resilience,” he says.

Still, during World War I and II, sports took a back seat. There was no Tour de France from 1915-1919 or from 1940-1947. As Nazi troops spilled out across Poland in 1939, football in England was scaled back to limited regional league and cup matches. Sports made sacrifices: With its Highbury Stadium turned over to air raid duties, Arsenal played home matches at White Hart Lane, the ground of its North London rival Tottenham.

No one is suggesting that Cris-tiano Ronaldo or Wayne Rooney should throw themselves into Europe’s fight as predecessors like Joseph Dines did. The Olympic gold medalist with Britain’s foot-ball team at the Stockholm Games of 1912 was killed on the Western front in 1918.

But in a war, organized, profes-sional sports slide down the list of priorities. They shouldn’t stop en-tirely after Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels. Far from it. Because putting life on hold would hand a victory to the killers.

But sports look and feel some-what frivolous when ambulances are transporting dead and wounded to morgues and hospitals. In the weeks and months ahead, major

tournaments should not overly divert energy, re-sources and focus from what must be Priority No. 1: Restoring peace to Europe and ending the horrible ‘new normal’ of regu-lar terror causing us to ask whether life-affirming activities like sports are still worth the risk of massing together in soft targets.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said France remains determined to hold Euro 2016. But in such grim circumstances, the tournament is no longer a simple celebration of football. It is becoming a symbol of defiance. Hopefully, that won’t also make it more of a target.

“Our position is to not give in to the terrorists and to ensure that this big sporting event can take place,” Cazeneuve said. “We want to show our will to resist terror.”

It isn’t cowardly to suggest that holding the tournament against a background of such high security and fear might not be worth the ef-fort or even be much fun. Having seen first-hand the aftermath of suicide bombings in November at France’s national stadium, arguing for a postponement to allow Europe to focus entirely on defeating such terror feels like good sense.

Metal bolts from the suicide

vests were lodged in walls and tree trunks around the Stade de France that will

host the Euro 2016 f i n a l a n d

o t h e r matches. The bombers could have taken many lives, done untold damage had they detonated inside, not outside, the 80,000-seat arena.

If the tournament pass-es without incident and with joy, that will feel like an important victory against terrorism. But if things go wrong, we’ll kick ourselves for having taken our eyes off the ball. (ap)

France’s national soccer team player

Kingsley Coman attends a train-ing session at

the team training centre of Claire-

fontaine, near Paris, France,

March 22, 2016.

Suarez says he won’t change his game on return from bite ban

Thursday, March 24, 2016DestinationThursday, March 24, 201610 InternationalInternational

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RORY McIlroy is shifting into his head-to-head mode for the WGC-Dell Match Play tournament starting on Wednesday, and believes a successful defense of his title would set him up perfectly for next month’s Masters.

McIlroy, 26, heads to Austin Country Club seeking his first win of the season in what will be his last tournament before bidding to complete a career grand slam at Augusta National.

The Northern Irishman is competing for the first time in Austin, where world number one Jordan Spieth won the U.S. college championship with the University of Texas, but the world number three said course knowledge is not critical.

“It’s about playing the player that’s in front of you there on the first tee,” said McIlroy.

“It’s a sprint. It’s 18 holes. You don’t really have time to find your rhythm. You need to try to make birdies from the get-go. And that’s the approach I’ve adopted the last few years.”

The event features 16 four-player groups, with the winners of each group advancing to knockout stages.

McIlroy, who will face 66th-ranked Dane Thorbjorn Olesen on Wednesday, is keen to notch a victory before Augusta, es-pecially given recent performances by many of his rivals.

“Seeing the guys that have won, with Bubba (Watson) in LA, Adam (Scott) in those two starts in Florida, Charl (Schwartzel) in Tampa and Jason (Day) last week, everyone is running in good form,” McIlroy said.

“I feel like I’m close. I’m probably not quite where they are, and I haven’t had the confidence of getting a win this year, but I feel like it’s close,” added the Northern Irishman, who tied for third at this month’s WGC-Cadillac Championship.

McIlroy won this tournament last year in San Francisco. This year, the world number three is coming to Spieth’s home turf and McIlroy said a potential duel with Texan Spieth would ratchet up the atmosphere to Ryder Cup levels.

“If I were to play Jordan Spieth at any point this week, I’m sure the atmosphere out there would be just as hostile as the Ryder Cup, seeing where he’s from, and he’s obviously very popular here.

“People really get into it,” Ryder veteran McIlroy said about match play. “I feel like you either have to choose one guy or the other.”

Spieth will open against Welshman Jamie Donaldson while Australian world number two Day faces former U.S. Open win-ner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. (rtr)

Djokovic told reporters at the Indian Wells tournament that he felt the men’s tour should “fight for more” money because their matches drew more spectators.

The Serbian’s comments fol-lowed inflammatory remarks by the tournament director Raymond Moore who suggested the women’s tour had ridden on the ‘coat tails’ of the men’s game.

Moore has since resigned.Djokovic attempted to hose

down the controversy in an open letter on Facebook but stopped short of saying he advocated equal pay for men and women in tennis.

“As you may have seen, I was asked to comment on a controversy that wasn’t of my making,” said

Djokovic, who won his fifth Indian Wells title on Sunday.

“Euphoria and adrenalin after the win on Sunday got the best of me and I’ve made some comments that are not the best articulation of my view, and I would like to clarify them.

“Tennis helped me so much in my life and being where I am to-day, I felt the need to speak about the fairer and better distribution of funds across the board -- this was meant for both men and women.

“We all have to fight for what we deserve. This was never meant to be made into a fight between genders and differences in pay, but in the way all players are rewarded for their play and effort.

“This was my view all along and I want to apologise to anyone who has taken this the wrong way.”

Djokovic’s comments at Indian Wells were poorly received by lead-ing players, with women’s world number one Serena Williams de-scribing them as “disappointing”.

“I wouldn’t say my son deserved more money than my daughter because he’s a man. It would be shocking,” Williams said at the Miami Open.

World number two Andy Murray said he supported equal pay “100 percent” and felt Djokovic’s idea that pay should be linked to atten-dances did not stand up.

“It depends on the matches day by day. The men’s game has had some great rivalries for the past few years,” the Briton said.

“The whole of tennis should strengthen from that, not just the men’s game.” (rtr)

McIlroy gearing up for Match Play defense on Spieth’s turf

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland blasts from the green side bunker on the 17th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill Club and Lodge .

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, poses with his trophy and the flag of Serbia after defeating Milos Raonic, of Canada, in a final at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Sunday, March 20, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-0.

Djokovic apologises for comments on gender pay

WORLD number one Novak Djokovic has apologised for his comments suggesting tennis’s top men should get paid more than women after he drew criticism from current and former players.

ULUWATU - Bingin Beach is a very beautiful beach with stunning view of Indian Ocean and the great wave that make it as one of the de-manded surfing points by surfers in Bali Island. The wave characteristic is big, powerful and challenging have been able to stimulate the adrenaline for every surfer especially for experience surfer until the professional one to conquer the wave at this beach. Although a little distance away from the parking area and access to the beach is not good enough yet, it does not miss their attention to challenge the wave and go for surfing here. The grade wave here is in five level categories that mean the waves are big and powerful that create the fascinations for surfers to go for surfing adventures at this surfing point. This place has been many visited by the surfers including the world-class surfers and international surfers to attend for surfing competition at this rocky beach.

Bingin Beach is located at Pecatu Village, South Kuta District, Badung regency. It is only 25 minutes from Denpasar Airport or 10 minutes to Uluwatu Temple, a famous tourist destination in Bali Island. This beach is also situated close to the other famous surfing points such as Uluwatu Beach, Suluban Beach, Impossible Beach, Breamland Beach, Balangan Beach and Padang-Padang Beach. Bingin Beach has very easy access to the places of interest in Bali like GWK (Garuda Wisnu Kencana), Uluwatu Temple, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Kuta. (IBP/net)

Bingin Beach

6 International

W RLDThursday, March 24, 2016

Brussels Airport And Metro Rocked By Explosions

The Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in ParisThe Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in Paris

Gallery: World Mourns After Doz-ens Killed In Belgium Terror Attack

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with black, yellow and red in tribute to the victims of the Brussels terror attacks

Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel has joined crowds gathered in central Brussels to remember those

killed in Tuesday’s terror attacks. Mr Michel lit a candle at the Place de la Bourse as messages of condolence, outrage and love were written in chalk upon the pavement.

Some stood in silence as armed police patrolled the area, while oth-ers broke into a rendition of the John Lennon song Imagine. It comes as landmarks in Berlin, Rome and Paris were illuminated with the red, yellow and black of the Belgian flag as a mark of respect for the victims.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Gran Teatro in Havana Cuba. Play video “Obama Reacts To Brussels Attacks” “Paris and Brussels are united. The Eiffel Tower has been lit up in the Belgian colours,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Twitter.

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was also illuminated with Belgium’s national colours, as was the Trevi

Fountain in Rome.The Belgian flag flew at half-mast

above Downing Street, while EU flags were lowered outside the Euro-pean Commission in Brussels. Student Laura Kartheuser, 20, was among the mourners gathered in Brussels.

She said: “This is my city and this is my country. What’s happened today is really terrible. “We’ve come here to support each other and see what was written on the pavement. It’s really touching.

“I don’t know who thought to bring chalk for people to write with, but it’s lovely to see such kind words.”

Global leaders have united to con-demn the attack, including President Barack Obama. “We will do whatever is necessary to support our friends in Belgium,” he said.

“We stand in solidarity with them in condemning these outrageous at-tacks against innocent people.(rtr)

From page 1Global ...

Police and prosecutors refused immediate comment after several local media reported that Najim Laachraoui, 25, believed to be the man seen on CCTV pushing a bag-gage trolley alongside the bombers and then running out of the airport terminal, had been captured in the

Brussels borough of Anderlecht.The death toll in the attacks on

the Belgian capital, home to the European Union and NATO, rose to at least 31 with some 260 wounded, Health Minister Maggie De Block said on VRT television. It could rise further because some of the bomb

victims at Maelbeek metro station were blown to pieces and victims are hard to identify.

One of the suspects seen on CCTV pushing baggage trolleys at Brussels airport just before the explosions was named as Brahim El Bakraoui, public broadcaster RTBF reported. It said his brother, Khalid, blew himself up on the metro train.

Both had criminal records but had not previously been linked by investigators to Islamist militants.

Laachraoui was wanted in con-nection with the Paris attacks. His DNA was found on almost all of the explosives belts used in those attacks and at a Brussels hideout used last week by prime Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last Friday after a shoot-out with police.

RTBF said Khalid El Bakraoui had rented under a false name the apart-ment in the city’s Forest borough, where police hunting Abdeslam killed a gunman in a raid last week. He is also believed to have rented a safe house in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used to mount last November’s Paris attacks.

The Syrian-based Islamist group claimed responsibility for Tues-day’s attacks, four days after Abde-slam’s arrest in Brussels, warning of “black days” for those fighting it in Syria and Iraq. Belgian war-planes have joined the coalition in the Middle East, but Brussels has long been a centre of Islamist militancy. (rtr)

WASHINGTON - U.S. Republican front-runner Donald Trump swept to victory in Arizona on Tuesday but rival Ted Cruz showed some fight with a win in Utah that gave hope to establishment Republicans who fear Trump would lead the party to ruin in the presidential election.

On the Democratic side, favorite Hillary Clinton routed chal-lenger Bernie Sanders in Arizona to stretch her advantage in the race for her party’s presidential nomination.

Sanders, however, won contests in Utah and Idaho to bolster his case that he still has a chance despite Clinton’s big lead.

The nominating battles in Arizona and Utah, plus the Democratic contest in Idaho, were overshadowed by attacks in Brussels in which at least 30 people were killed and raised security concerns among U.S. voters.

Trump helped himself in Arizona with a hardline anti-immigration message and tough talk on Islamic militants to easily defeat Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Trump had the backing in Arizona of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, one of the most prominent supporters of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The win furthered Trump’s argument that he will eventually win the Republican presidential nomination and that the party should rally around him. He won all of Arizona’s 58 delegates.

“Much bigger win than anticipated in Arizona. Thank you, I will never forget!” Trump said on Twitter. “Hopefully the Republican Party can come together and have a big WIN in November, paving the way for many great Supreme Court Justices!”

Cruz, though, won big in Utah’s caucuses, giving hope to those Republicans who fear Trump’s proposal to deport 11 million illegal immigrants and build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico would guarantee a Democratic victory in the Nov. 8 election.

Cruz appeared to be on track to win all of Utah’s 40 Republican delegates. Since the state’s 40 delegates are awarded proportionate to the popular vote, he needed to win at least 50 percent of the vote to take all the delegates.

He appeared to benefit from Mormons who dominate the Re-publican vote in Utah. They did not take kindly to a Trump attack on native son Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who has led the anti-Trump opposition. (rtr)

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Files

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump looks to the cameras at the back of the arena during a rally at Clemson University in Pendleton, South Carolina, in this February 10, 2016 file photo.

Trump, Clinton win big in Arizona, but Cruz, Sanders

show fight

Belgium arrests Brussels bomb suspect,

identifies others

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Belgium’s King Philippe (L) and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives to observe a minute of silence for victims following Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016.

BRUSSELS - Belgian police arrested a prime suspect in Tuesday’s Brussels blasts and identified two suspected suicide bombers, linking them directly to Islamic State militants be-hind last November’s Paris attacks, Belgian media reported on Wednesday.

Indonesia Today Thursday, March 24, 2016 5InternationalThursday, March 24, 201612 International

BUSINESS

Before taking a decision, the Ministry of Sports and Youth will conduct an assessment of the 33-hectare Hambalang National Sports Development, Education and Train-ing Center (P3SON) project, in cooperation with the Governments Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and the Public Work and Public Housing Ministry.

“The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has to prepare a de-tailed and complete report on the project,” said the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Imam Nahrawi, who accompanied President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during a tour of the neglected complex last Friday.

He said his ministry will study whether to continue with the project as per its initial design to function as an athletics school and a train-ing center or as a high school of sports.

“We need dormitories for ath-letes just like the Sports School in Ragunan which produces some of the best athletes. Athletes are housed there during training,” noted the minister.

However, the minister will de-cide the status of Hambalang based on the study being undertaken by the BPKP and the Ministry of Pub-lic Works and Public Housing.

“The planning of the project will remain our responsibility, in-cluding its budget and design. We will prepare it and I will report to the president,” the minister stated. In the meantime, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is of the view that the P3SON project was not worth pursuing.

“Actually, the site of the project is not suitable for construction. Its feasibility study should be reviewed,” Acting Chief of KPK Public Relations Bureau, Yuyuk Andriati, said on Friday (March 18).

The KPK has met with the State Audit Board (BPK) and the Minis-try of Youth and Sports Affairs to provide inputs, including explana-tions by a team of experts had made during the legal proceedings in the Hambalang case.

It is understood that the Minis-try of Youth and Sports Affairs is willing to continue with the devel-opment of the Hambalang sports complex project that had come to a standstill due to a corruption case and a technical reason.

President Jokowi visited the P3SON site in Sentul, Bogor (West Java), and expressed his desire to resolve the issue soon since it in-volved massive state funds.

“It was mentioned during the court hearing that the lands con-tours and soil structure of the site was not stable. After all, up to now, one of the suspects in the corruption case is still in court process,” added Yuyuk.

However, she said, the decision to continue with the project was not in the hands of the KPK.

A number of people were im-plicated in the Hambalang project scandal, including Deddy Kusdinar, former head of Youth and Sports Ministrys planning bureau and Andi Mallarangeng, the former youth and sports minister. Now the govern-ment is studying the possibility of

continuing with the project. Therefore, President Jokowi

has ordered the BPKP to carry out comprehensive auditing of the Hambalang project, according to Presidential Special Staff Johan Budi SP said.

Johan Budi said at the Presi-dential Complex on Monday that comprehensive auditing by the BPKP was one of the three steps that must be taken before decid-ing whether to continue with the project or not.

As another step, the Public Works and Public Housing Minis-ter should carry out further studies regarding the projects topographic and building conditions.

“The government will also dis-

cuss the project in a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace with various stakeholders,” Johan Budi, who is a former KPK spokes-man, remarked.

He said the Attorney Gener-als Office was still investigating the procurement of goods for the project. “Only after that, a deci-sion would be taken on whether to continue with the project. The main point is that a high value state asset should not remain ne-glected,” the presidential special staff said.

According to Johan Budi, the asset must be safeguarded and whether it will be used to house athletes or for a different purpose will depend on the assessment of

the Public Works and Public Hous-ing Ministry.

The Hambalang sports complex project was started in 2003 when it was under the auspices of the Directorate General of Sports of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It aimed to build more sports fa-cilities outside the Ragunan Sports Centre in East Jakarta.

In the 2004 -2009 period, the project was taken over by the Min-istry of Youth and Sports Affairs, which handled land clearance, land certificate, geological study and the drawing up of its master plan.

In 2009, Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs proposed a budget of Rp1.25 trillion for the construction of the project.(ant)

NUSA DUA - The Indonesian Foreign Af-fairs Ministry has stated that the government is monitoring for any updates regarding its citizens following the bomb attacks in Brus-sels, Belgium, on Tuesday morning.

The Director for Indonesian Citizen Pro-tection and Legal Affairs, Lalu Muhammad Iqball, said here on Tuesday that the Indone-sian Embassy in Belgium has not received any report of any Indonesian casualties in the attacks at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek Metro Station.

The Indonesian Embassy in Brussels is about 10 kilometers away from the Zaventem

Airport, while the Maelbeek Metro Station is 6.5 kilometers away.

As per the ministrys data, at least 1,630 Indonesians were staying in Belgium, with most living in Brussels. The Belgian govern-ment has set the state security alert status to level four.

According to the Reuters News Agency, the Belgian government was aware of the threat of retaliation after a raid to catch the alleged perpetrator of the Paris attack, Saleh Abdussalam. The last report noted that at least 30 people have been killed and 136 others injured due to the attacks.(ant)

Indonesia monitors updates following Brussels attack

IBP/ant

The security is tighten after the bomb explosion in Brussels, Belgium.

Neglected Hambalang project awaits govt`s decision

JAKARTA - The fate of the Rp2.5 trillion- Hambalang sports complex project in Sentul Hill, Bogor, West Java, lying neglected since 2012, will be decided before the 2018 Asian Games to be hosted by Indonesia.

IBP/net

The neglected building of Hambalang

For years, automakers pushed fuel efficiency to sell hybrid and electric vehicles. Now, in an era of cheap gasoline, the message is: These cars are faster and quieter than their gas-powered counterparts. And, yes, you still save on fuel.

“They’ve graduated out of the class of something that’s a bit of an oddity to drive,” says Mike O’Brien, vice president of product planning for Hyundai. “It’s all about making these cars better.”

Until now, hybrids and electrics have largely appealed to the envi-ronmentally-conscious crowd. The vehicles cost thousands of dollars extra, and although drivers eventually recouped their money in fuel sav-ings, the vehicles lacked the power and handling of gas-powered rivals. Electrics also suffered from driver concern that the battery could run out of juice on a trip.

Now, the tide is slowly turning. General Motors and Tesla will bring electric vehicles to market next year priced around $30,000, including a $7,500 federal tax credit. Battery range has improved significantly, ex-perts expect gasoline prices to eventu-ally climb higher, and the advent of autonomous vehicles favors motors powered by electricity over gas.

At the New York International Auto Show this week, Hyundai

will join Toyota in showing off new electric and hybrid vehicles. Hyundai will unveil battery, gas-electric hybrid and plug-in versions of a new car called the Ioniq, while Toyota will show a plug-in Prius that can run on electricity alone, as well as both gas and electricity. The new Prius has an increased battery range.

The Prius hybrid, powered by both gas and electric motors, started the alternative fuel movement in the U.S. in 2000. Toyota deliberately made it look different than other cars, knowing that buyers wanted to make a statement about being environmentally friendly. Other companies set their green cars apart as well.

Even though sales grew as manu-facturers added models, they never really caught on, partly because of the improved fuel economy of gas-powered vehicles. At their peak in 2013, with gas averaging $3.50 per gallon, Americans bought only 341,000 hybrids and electrics, about 2.2 percent of total U.S. car sales, ac-cording to Kelley Blue Book.

Many companies spent millions developing the cars, taking losses to meet government fuel economy standards that gradually increase and require the new-car fleet to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

As gas prices fell below $2 per

gallon, sales of hybrids and electrics dropped further. Last year, automak-ers had 16 hybrid and electric models on sale, but sales sank to just over 274,000.

All of this makes for a bad en-

vironment to roll out more hybrids and electrics. But automakers will press on, now trying to sell them oan style, acceleration, handling and reliability.

“It looks better. It drives better.

People can have more fun behind the wheel, but it still has new technolo-gies and safety in it, and it also gets the benefits of a hybrid,” Bill Fay, Toyota’s U.S. general manager, said of the Prius.(ap)

TOKYO — Asian stock in-dexes fell Wednesday in cautious trading, following the deadly bombings in Belgium.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 per-cent to 17,000.98. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.1 percent lower to 1,995.12. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 20,524.41, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.5 percent to 2,983.86. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5 percent at 5,204.30. Southeast Asian markets were mostly lower.

ATTACK WOES: News of the attacks in Belgium, which killed at least 34 people, had pulled global markets lower, and airlines

and travel companies continued to slip in Asia. Major Japanese carrier ANA fell 0.6 percent, while Australia’s flagship carrier Qantas Airways was down nearly 0.3 percent. HIS Co., a major Japanese travel company, slipped 2.3 percent.

WALL STREET: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 41.30 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,582.57. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dipped 1.80 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,049.80. The Nasdaq com-posite added 12.79 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,821.66.

THE QUOTE: “The Brussels explosions gave the market a shock yesterday,” said Margaret

Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore. “This attack, together with a series of terror-ist attacks believed to have been perpetrated by ISIS since last year, will have an impact on investors’ confidence.”

ENERGY: U.S. crude slipped 52 cents to $40.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 7 cents to $41.45 a barrel on Tues-day. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oils, fell 38 cents to $41.41 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The euro rose slightly to $1.1206 from $ $1.1200, while the dollar rose to 112.34 yen from 111.65 yen.(ap)

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

In this Monday, March 21, 2016, photo, a man walks past the Nissan Micro Mobility Concept vehicle at the New York International Auto Show. The electric vehicle is designed to transport two people over short distances. The batteries can be recharged in four hours and the range is up to 62 miles (100 kilometers).

Automakers say electrics, hybrids no longer just gas-sippers

NEW YORK — When Toyota aired a Super Bowl television ad featuring a surprisingly quick Prius gas-electric hybrid elud-ing police, it marked a turning point for the auto industry.

Asian indexes little changed as Belgian attacks worries ease

AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

People walk past the electronic board of a securities firm showing Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo, Wednesday, March 9, 2016. Most major Asian stock benchmarks weakened Wednesday on investor uncer-tainty over what steps policymakers would take at an upcoming European Central Bank meeting to revive economic growth on the continent.

Bali News International4 Thursday, March 24, 2016 13InternationalThursday, March 24, 2016

NIAMEY - Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou won a second term with 92.5 percent of the vote in a run-off election that the opposition coalition chose to boycott, the electoral commis-sion said on Tuesday.

Issoufou, an ally of the West in its fight against Islamist insurgents in West Africa, won the first round comfortably last month with 48 percent of votes but failed to clinch the outright majority required to avoid a second round.

The candidate who came second, opposition leader Hama Amadou, has been in jail since No-vember on charges relating to a baby-trafficking scandal, but was flown to France for medical treatment last week.

Amadou says he is innocent and claims the charges against him are politically motivated.

But the size of Issoufou’s victory is unlikely to draw significant international criticism, in part because of the boycott, but also because the in-cumbent has been in power only since 2011.

“The Nigerien people have spoken clearly and unequivocally,” said Issoufou in a statement in which he laid out his plans for a second term,

including increasing security and improving the country’s infrastructure. “I hail their political maturity and strong mobilization.”

The Coalition for an Alternative (COPA), which unites about 20 political parties including Amadou’s MODEN, called for a boycott of the polls claiming the process had been tainted by fraud.

It described the election as a “sham” and said in a statement on Tuesday that it would refuse to recognise the results.

“President Issoufou’s mandate expires on April 1, 2016 at midnight. From April 2, our country will have no legitimate president,” it said.

The turnout of the election was 60 percent, the commission said. The vote is subject to confirma-tion from the constitutional court.

Southern Niger, which borders Nigeria, has been the target of frequent deadly raids by Islamist Boko Haram militants.

It also shares borders with Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, where al Qaeda-linked groups are active. Libya, home to Islamic State affiliates, lies on its northern border. (rtr)

A corruption scandal that has reached her inner circle threatened to implicate more people after the country’s largest engineering firm Odebrecht decided to cooperate with prosecutors investigating a huge political bribery scheme.

“I will never resign under any circum-stances,” the embattled president said in a speech to legal experts. “I have committed no crime that would warrant shortening my term.”

Rousseff called on Brazil’s Supreme Court to remain impartial in the crisis that has threatened to topple her government as op-ponents seek her impeachment in Congress.

Opposition parties have launched im-peachment proceedings against Rousseff for allegedly manipulating government accounts to allow her government to spend more in the run-up to her 2014 re-election. The president could be suspended as soon as May if her supporters do not block impeachment in the lower house.

Recent corruption allegations and huge anti-government street protests have raised the odds of Rousseff being impeached, end-ing 13 years of leftist Workers’ Party rule.

The Petrobras graft investigation has im-plicated dozens of politicians in Rousseff’s coalition and led to the jailing of scores of executives in top engineering firms such as Odebrecht. Following police raids on com-pany offices on Tuesday, Odebrecht said in a statement its executives targeted in the

corruption probe will seek plea bargain deals with prosecutors.

With her popularity at rock bottom due to the snowballing scandal and the worst reces-sion in a generation, the political survival of Brazil’s first female president depends largely on her main coalition partner, the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

Growing numbers of lawmakers in the

fractious PMDB want the party to leave her government, a decision that could be taken at a March 29 executive committee meeting. The party may hold the deciding votes on impeachment, which would put Vice Presi-dent Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, in the presidential seat.

Party officials have denied Brazilian me-dia reports that Temer is already preparing a post-Rousseff government and has begun

talks with opposition leaders to secure their backing.

The head of the Senate, PMDB Senator Renan Calheiros, who appeared to be waver-ing in his support of Rousseff, echoed her position on impeachment after meeting with her predecessor and mentor, former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who is back in Brasilia working to shore up her crumbling coalition. (rtr)

Boycott helps Niger President Issoufou win re-election

AP Photo/Gael Cogne

Women supporting Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, celebrate after election results were given in Niamey, Niger, Tuesday, March 22, 2016.

Brazil’s Rousseff says ‘will never resign’ in deepening crisis

BRASILIA - President Dilma Rous-seff said on Tuesday she will not resign in Brazil’s worst political crisis in two decades, calling an opposition move to impeach her a “coup d’etat” against democratic rule because she had com-mitted no crime.

REUTERS/Gregg Newton

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff takes a selfie with a man after a meeting with jurists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 22, 2016.

BANGLI - The hot weather having occurred since the past few days caused dozens of hectares of paddy fields at Subak Pengiangan Kawan, Pengiangan village, Susut, to face drought. As a result, farmers are forced to cancel their rice planting whereas the seedlings have been well prepared. Besides, this relatively extreme season is also threatening the growth of transplanted rice of a few weeks old.

One of the local farmers, I Nyoman Subagia, said on Tuesday (Mar. 22) that hot weather having emerged since the past few days resulted in the reduced flow of water in the irrigation channel. As a result, the paddy field having been the only source of income faces a drought so that he can-not grow rice. Actually the seedlings have been prepared long in advance. “After the hot weather hits, the water flow disappears. Paddy field dries out so that I cannot grow rice,” he said.

He said that this drought is the worst in the past ten years. By and large, when dry season comes, half the paddy fields can still be planted with rice. In contrast to this time, the land does not produce at all. This condition also results in a number of farmers to suffer losses. “This first happens so that farmers are so nervous. The seeds ready to be raised becomes useless,” he said.

In order to earn income, this farmer who also has profession as sea sand carver admitted to be forced to develop other crops such as sweet potatoes and corn. “I am forced to switch to other crops. It is just to get side income,” he added.

Similar condition is also delivered by another farmer, I Nyoman Nedeng. This hot weather has dampened his intention to grow rice. Having completed to plow some time ago, the irriga-tion water does no longer flow so that the land dries out. “Necessarily, we have planted rice at beginning of March. Due to hot weather, the fields dry out. My rice seedlings are wasted,” he complained.

The man relying on livelihood from agriculture only stated to be unable to do much. No efforts can be done to drain water. As alternative to outsmart this condition, he is forced to plant corn. “Hope-fully, this can provide income,” he hoped.

When this hot weather hits, said Nedeng, a number of farmers are also growing rice. Un-fortunately, after completing the weeding stage, their paddy fields dried out and cracked. The threat of crop failure has haunted them. “Some farmers already planted rice. Apparently they will not produce as the fields have dried out and cracked,” he said.

The Head of the Bangli Agriculture and Plantation Unit for Susut subdistrict, I Wayan Arimbawa, justified that hot weather has an im-pact on the agricultural sector. However, it did not happen to all subak (irrigation cooperative) areas. “This hot weather indeed has caused paddy fields to dry out and farmers cannot plant rice. But this only happened to Subak Pengiangan Kawan. It covers approximately fourteen hectares,” he said. (kmb45)

According to the Spokesperson of Bali Police, Hery Wiyanto, Mon-day (Mar. 21), Bali Police have no interest in the reclamation plan. The interest of Bali Police is only one namely keeping Bali safe and conducive.

“People rejecting the reclama-tion plan are for the benefit of Bali. When impeding the access to the airport, who will suffer losses? Bali will, too, right?” he said.

Keep in mind, he added, there is no permit for demonstration on Sunday. The demo last week was only with notification letter. In ac-cordance with Law No. 9/1998, the prohibited places for demonstration include hospital, airport, military installation and national vital ob-jects. “If the access to the airport is closed, it means the action has harmed the interests of others, the airport and Bali,” said Hery.

Why were they not dismissed? “(Police—Ed) will be unable to do it due to large number of mass. If it was forced, it would even result in greater impact. So, it is not possible to be carried out. We are also thinking of

the negative impact,” he said.Did police authority make an

approach to move the location of demonstration? According to Hery, various means have been attempted such as making an approach to the chief of customary village. He said that Director of Intelligence and Security of Bali Police, Wayan Sukawinaya and Chief of Denpasar Police Anak Agung Sudana along with his ranks have been doing it since three days before the dem-onstration. Moreover, there are national and international events.

“Unfortunately, the attempt failed. The blockade effort did not work either because the mass was in a large number. They are allowed to go into the area as long as do not stop there. So, they move around the roundabout,” said Hery.

He revealed that the Chief of Denpasar Police wanted to secure Wayan ‘Gendo’ Suardana. “Gendo told if he was taken, then who will control such a large number of mass? We are thinking about it and finally did not take him (Gendo—Ed),” he said.

He hoped the action leaders can make evaluation. If they want to cancel the reclamation and presi-dential regulation No.51/2014, the demonstration should be directed

to relevant institutions such as the government and the Bali House of Representatives. In addition, he ap-pealed to them to be vigilant against intruders. “Mass in such number

is easily infiltrated. For example, when one participant is stubbed, it will be definitely noisier so that it needs to be watched out,” he said. (kmb36)

Efforts to blockage demo

Bali Police chief affirms for the sake of BaliDENPASAR - Police blocked the mass of demonstration re-

jecting the reclamation when moving toward the roundabout of Ngurah Rai Airport, Tuban, Sunday (Mar. 20) because it is prohibited location for demonstrations. However, police could not act repressively because of the large number of mass and wanted to prevent bigger problems.

IBP/edi

Police blocked the mass of demonstration rejecting the reclamation when moving toward the roundabout of Ngurah Rai Airport, Tuban.

Hot weather, hectares of paddy fields hit by drought

IBP/nik

The hot weather having occurred since the past few days caused dozens of hectares of paddy fields at Subak Pengiangan Kawan, Pengiangan village, Susut, to face drought.

IBP/wan

Ubud village was included in the top 10 world’s best destinations 2016 according to TripAdvi-sor, a travel site based in the United States.

14 InternationalHealthThursday, March 24, 2016 3International Bali News Thursday, March 24, 2016

Police detained 37 people in Shandong province, official news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday, after a nearly $90 million black market vaccine ring was exposed over the last week.

The vaccines, including ones against meningitis, rabies and other illnesses, are suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces around China since 2011.

The scandal has stirred angry debate, casting a shadow over government ambitions to bolster the domestic drug industry and underlining the challenge it faces to regulate a widespread and frag-

mented medicine supply chain.“We don’t know if our children

have properly had the vaccine or whether it is ineffective or even if they are at risk,” said Zhang Jieqi, 32, who works at a tourism company in the city of Chengdu and has a child under two years -old.

She said she was angry that the case, which started early last year, had not been made public widely until now.

The government has said the vaccines themselves were real, although traded illegally.

The issue of regulation, from

food and drugs to online sales, has become increasingly contentious in China as it looks to cast off a reputa-tion for poor quality and safety.

However, regulators such as a Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) have pointed to a lack of resources and personnel to ad-equately regulate their sectors.

The vaccine case drew ire from Premier Li Keqiang, who said regu-latory bodies - including the CFDA, health ministry and police - needed to work more in tandem, and that “dereliction of duty” would not be tolerated.

“This vaccine safety case has drawn close attention, and shows there are many gaps in terms of regulation,” Li said in a statement posted on the central government’s website late on Tuesday. (rtr)

GENEVA - The World Health Organization is still waiting for its members to stump up another $4 million to tackle the growing threat from the Zika virus, WHO chief Margaret Chan said on Tuesday.

“The more we know, the worse things look,” Chan told a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva. “In less than a year the sta-

tus of Zika has changed from a mild medical curiosity to a disease with severe public health implications.”

Zika has been linked to thou-sands of suspected cases of mi-crocephaly, a rare birth defect, in Brazil, and a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

A pattern had emerged with initial virus circulation followed

about three weeks later by an un-usual increase in Guillain-Barré cases, then foetal malformations as pregnancies of infected women come to term, Chan said.

Zika has not been proven to cause Guillain-Barré or micro-cephaly, a condition characterised by unusually small heads in babies and linked with developmental

problems. However, there is grow-ing evidence that suggests a link to both disorders.

The WHO and its American arm PAHO have asked for $25 million to fight Zika and have received $3 mil-lion, and are now in an “active dis-cussion” over the next $4 million, said Chan, who called the funding situation “pretty serious”.

She said she would shift money across the WHO budget as far as pos-sible, but 80 percent of WHO’s money was earmarked for specific causes.

WHO’s strategy director Chris Dye said many, many millions of people had been exposed to the mosquito-borne virus, which has spread through most of the Ameri-cas in the past six months. (rtr)

MONROVIA - Liberia closed its border with Guinea on Tuesday as a precaution against Ebola following at least four deaths from the virus in Guinea, Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe said.

The deaths have occurred since Feb. 29, while Liberia was declared free of new transmissions of the virus in January.

“We have ordered the border with Guinea closed with im-mediate effect. The border will remain closed until the situation in Guinea improves,” Nagbe told Reuters.

“We are not taking any chance at all.”A team of medics with protective gear had been sent to the

border to improve surveillance.Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever, has killed about 11,300 people

in the two countries plus Sierra Leone since late 2013 and it caused global alarm in 2014 as governments and health agencies rushed to help contain the outbreak.

New cases have dwindled virtually to zero but the U.N. World Health Organization has warned of flare-ups, or emerg-ing clusters, of new cases. (rtr)

WHO begs for $4 mln to prepare for millions of Zika cases

AP Photo/Youssouf Bah

A health worker, center, takes the temperature of people to see if they might be infected by the Ebola virus inside the Ignace Deen government hospital in Conakry, Guinea, Friday March 18, 2016.

Liberia closes border with

Ebola-hit Guinea

China vaccine scandal stokes anger as regulators

come under fire

Chinatopix via AP

In this Monday, March 21, 2016 photo, officials from China’s State Food and Drug Administration inspect vaccines stored at the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention office in Rong’an county in southwestern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Police in eastern China have detained numbers of people implicated in a scandal involving the selling of poorly refriger-ated and probably ineffective vaccines, state media reported Wednesday, March 23.

SHANGHAI - A widening scandal over illegal vaccine sales in China has sparked anger and drawn criticism from the gov-ernment over glaring loopholes in the regulation of the world’s second-largest medicine market.

AMLAPURA - Prices of fruits commonly used to fill in the offerings have soared within the past two days in Karangasem. According to some merchants of fruits and ritual means at a number of traditional markets in Karangasem, it happened because there are rituals at a number of major temples, like Besakih, Pasar Agung, Lempuyang Madya, Batur and family temples like the clan temple.

Merchants at Karangsokong mar-ket, Subagan, told on Tuesday (Mar. 22) the price of the milk banana rose from IDR 12,000 to IDR 16,000 per tier, while mangosteen ranges from IDR 12, 000 to IDR 16,000 per kg.

Prices of Karangasem snakefruit are slightly cheap, namely around IDR 5,000 per kg. Sugar snakefruit ranges around IDR 12,000 per kg, while durian also slightly increased from IDR 15,000 each of small size to around IDR 25,000 each.

A number of fruit merchants claimed to earn a little profit be-cause of many buyers. But they remained to be unwilling to admit if they earn a big profit. “We just get a little profit, sir, incidentally there are many buyers because there are many rituals or piodalan at temples,” said a fruit seller from Sibetan, Wayan Ranis. (013)

As reported by detikTravel via CNN, Tuesday (Mar. 22), Ubud was included in the top 10 of the TripAdvisor annual nomination named ‘The Traveler’s Choice Destination Awards.’ The award recognizes a number of most-loved tourist spots based on the feedback and booking interest from TripAd-visor community.

Chairman of the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) of Bali, Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardana Sukawati, said that when looking

at the current tourism competition in the world, the award is certainly quite encouraging. “However, I hope this award can be made into future challenge for Ubud to con-tinuously improve and find a joint solution to various problems haunt-ing Ubud at the moment,” he said.

He said that a number of issues to be addressed include traffic conges-tion, beggars and infrastructure in the Ubud area having much dam-aged. “So, here it needs a synergy between the government and Ubud

residents. Certainly, we do not want that after receiving the award, the coming visitors are disappointed with the condition of Ubud,” he explained.

The problem in need of serious handling, according to Cok Ace, is the congestion. He said that conges-tion has occurred almost at every road section in Ubud. “I think this condition is not solely because the road is narrow, but decisive action of government officials needs to be improved. All this time, I have seen if the officers only focus on regulating the traffic in front of Ubud Palace, whereas the poten-tial congestions occur at almost all points. This needs to be addressed together,” he hoped. (km35)

SEMARAPURA - Price of seaweed has continued to decline within the past year. This condi-tion is caused by low demand of exporters previously supplied the Nusa Penida seaweed for various regions. Seaweed collectors do not dare to sell to exporters because the price continues to slump. As a result, seaweed collectors are trying not to run into a big loss.

A seaweed collector from Se-maya hamlet, Suana, Nusa Penida, I Wayan Sugata, said that he currently stocks approximately 60 tons of seaweed. Such stock happens due to low demand from exporters. He admitted the current demand of ex-porters is very little due to the low purchasing of seaweed products. “The need for raw materials of seaweed from outside is very little making it difficult to market,” he said, Monday (Mar. 21).

He added the seaweed cultivated in Nusa Penida has import qual-ity and has been often exported to Germany and America. Cottoni seaweed is often used for raw ma-terial of cosmetic and food, while

spinosum is widely used for food ingredient. The drop in the price of seaweed makes collectors lose. A few collectors are forced to stock their seaweed in a long time so that the price can increase. “If stocked for long time, the seaweed will not be damaged but shrinks. This can minimize losses,” he added.

In addition to being seaweed farmer, Sugata also often supplies the stock through a merchant. At the beginning of 2016, the price range of cottoni seaweed was around IDR 6,500 per kilogram in wet condition. As for now, the seaweed has been shrinking by 20 percent. The price even decreases to about IDR 6,000 per kilogram and it has been in dry condition, while the spinosum species is now sold for around IDR 3,300 per kilogram.

Chief of the Tri Segara Merta Development and Service Unit (UPP) of Klungkung, I Nyoman Landep, admitted that on entering rainy season, the growth of seaweed is good but the marketing is still lacking. (dwa)

Demand for raw materials declines

Price of seaweed slumps

Coinciding with rituals at some temples, prices of fruits soar

IBP/file

Prices of fruits commonly used to fill in the offerings have soared within the past two days in Karangasem.

Behind various problems

Ubud attains another achievement

GIANYAR - Amid various problems due to lack of govern-ment attention, the tourist area of Ubud even attained another achievement. This tourist village was included in the top 10 world’s best destinations 2016 according to TripAdvisor, a travel site based in the United States.

The oversupply of hotel rooms, said Anom, causes competition to be absolutely tight. Tariff war is unavoidable and continues up to these days. Actually, his organiza-tion has warned since 2000 that the government should be careful in issuing building permits for hotels

until 2010.“We have proposed again and

again to issue a moratorium, stop first. Small local entrepreneurs with little capital are now in difficult situation and marginalized. On that account, there must be interlude, no additional room in South Bali,” said the man who is also Chairman of the Indonesia Association of Tour-ism Intellectuals (ICPI) Bali.

Anom added that on average the

local entrepreneurs are only able to reach Break Even Point of their accommodation business. If there are plans of new projects, the com-petition will surely take place more tightly. Not impossible, many local entrepreneurs, especially in South Bali, will go bankrupt. On the other hand, investors are still reluctant to invest in other regions of Bali.

“Indeed, the appeal of Bali re-mains good but the problem is con-

gestion. Everything is concentrated on South Bali. Not to mention, there are problems on land and water availability,” he said.

A member of Commission II of the Bali House of Representatives, A.A. Ngurah Adhi Ardhana, said that the government all this time views the prosperous community through the indicator of growing Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Actually, the indicator of prosper-ous society should be Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) because the GDP only considers in terms of income aspect, while the GPI includes the aspects of income and expenses.

“For example, if a city goes through traffic congestion, for GDP, this indicates that people earn higher income so that they are able to buy a car and turn prosperous. In the meantime, the GPI indeed shows the increase in income but the costs incurred by congestion such as wasted fuel, generated pollutants and very long delay must also be calculated,” he explained.

Similarly, in the tourism sector, said Adhi, the GPI does not only consider the aspect of high hotel and restaurant tax. However, is it true that high hotel and restaurant tax indicates that tourism has pro-vided a real people’s prosperity? In other words, the GPI also considers to what extent the cultural tourism has been undermined due to many tourist arrival as the indicator of prosperous society.

“A regional leader should have courage and confidence to do mora-

torium. This basis must be consid-ered, whether the cost of sacrificing our culture is equal to the amount of income or hotel and restaurant tax received and to the welfare of the people we have expected,” he explained.

Adhi asserted that it is impos-sible for people to become pros-perous at the expense of cultural tourism because cultural tourism lies in the Balinese people’s blood. When it has been abandoned or cultural tourism becomes a modern tourism, automatically Balinese people will have handed over their possessions to others.

“In other words, we’ve delivered the cooking pot of Balinese people to others. If previously we cooked by ourselves, now we ask for food to eat. Local businessmen give up, so that it is enough to become a worker because capitalism is here,” he explained.

Adhi continued that it is time for Bali to stop talking about ac-commodation. Now, we must think about destinations in order to produce the same levies as the hotel and restaurant tax. Moreover, Bali has so many unique tourist destinations. They have to be made a management board to build a good infrastructure, promote and increase the value of a tourist at-traction.

“In Singapore, is it true that accommodation can make the tour-ism advanced? Not really, but it gives high levies. As is known, we already have so many destinations, they just need to be managed well,” he affirmed. (kmb32)

International2 15International Activities

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

Thursday, March 24, 2016Thursday, March 24, 2016

EvEry Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or “ Odalan “, every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holiday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day, Tumpek Wayang day etc.

The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is considered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used. When new moon is used then the celebration always hap-pens on new moon or full moon. The day of course can differ the religious celebration of a temple lasts at least one full day with some temple celebrating for three days while the celebration of Besakih temple, the Mother Temple, is never less than 7 days and most of the time it lasts for 11 days, depending on

the importance of the occasion.The celebration is very colorful.

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

In front of important shrine one sees, besides these umbrellas soars,

tridents and other weapons, the “umbul-umbul”, long flags, all these are prerogatives or attributes of Ho-liness. In front of the Temple gate put up “Penjor”, long bamboo poles, decorated beautifully ornaments of young coconut leaves, rice and other products of the land. Most beautiful to see are the girls in their colorful at-tire, carrying offerings, arrangements of all kinds fruits and colored cakes, to the Temple. Every visitor admires the grace with which the carry their load on their heads.

Balinese Temple Ceremony

COVER STORYFrom page 1Rooms ...

EvEr since its new campaign launch in January 2016, POP! Hotels through the “Serve to Con-serve” program has been trying to find an exciting project to get on. Finally together with PROFAUNA, a non-profit organization with a global network, working for the protection of forest and wildlife - a collaborative act in hope of raising public awareness through a creative design competition was born.

“We are trying to engage with the most talented graphic enthusiasts in the country by inviting them to come up with attractive designs which boldly speak of conserving the forest that is so captivating and can emotionally resonate the true message about our concern of the environment,” said Zulner Noura-

dine, POP! Hotels Brand Manager – TAUZIA Hotel Management.

Each designer can submit up to 3 original designs to kaoshutan@gmail.com. Submission deadline is by 19 April 2016. Rosek Nursahid, the founder of PROFAUNA, together with Irene Janti, TAUZIA’s Chief Brand & Product Officer will be amongst the judges in selecting 20 preliminary designs then the best 3 will win cash prize as well as free night stays at POP! Hotels across Indonesia.

In addition to that two favorite social media winners through most votes will be selected. Simply post the design using hash tag #serve2-conserve and tag/mention @popho-tels and @profauna for a chance to win hotel vouchers and exclusive

merchandise from POP! Hotels.Winner announcement will be

done during Earth Day, which will

fall on 22 April 2016.Further info about this program

can be found on www.profauna.

net & www.pophotels.com, also @pophotels and @profauna via social media.

POP! Hotels Supports PROFAUNA Creative Design

Competition to Raise Awareness on Endangered Forest Issue

Besides, many others have been dismantled and changed into busi-ness premises and leased or sold to other parties. The number of accommodation in Denpasar is not comparable to the number tourist visit. Currently, visitors compris-ing more domestic travelers tend to

no longer get interested in staying in Denpasar and prefer to stay at hotels near tourist resort like Kuta and Ubud. Many hotels provide minimalist style with relatively cheap room rates.

“To that end, the Denpasar municipality is expected to protect

local entrepreneurs with the policy stopping the permits for construc-tion of new hotels or additional hotel rooms in Denpasar,” said I Putu Anom, who is also a family of hoteliers in Denpasar.

This former Dean of the Faculty of Tourism, Udayana University, said that if Denpasar is made into a cultured city, the government is expected to seriously organize it by trying to tackle traffic conges-tion and firmly taking action on the vehicles parked haphazardly in restricted areas for parking. More-over, it must forbid the use of road body into parking lot as commonly found in front of schools. Denpasar

city must also multiply and organize the city park to expand green open space for the needs of health, flood control and beauty of the city.

In addition, Denpasar municipal-ity should firmly apply the rules, so that the buildings on the main streets are bound to apply Balinese traditional architecture. It must also organize the telajakan or the space between main streets and house compound to have a garden. “Un-like today, all the telajakan spaces are contracted for grocers and the like that make the city rundown, far from being a cultured and tourism city that really looks clean, safe, sustainable and beautiful,” said

Chairman of the Indonesia As-sociation of Tourism Intellectuals (ICPI) of Bali.

It is very necessary so that the city tour program in Denpasar can draw the interest of travelers. The government of Denpasar should really organize the infrastructure of roads, drainage and others be-cause so far the arranged area is only around the mayoral office, while many other roads around the settlement are still chaotic. “Do not only achieve formality by winning the Adipura (urban cleanliness award). But frankly speaking, it is far from the truth,” he affirmed. (win)

Local hoteliers in Denpasar increasingly marginalized

DENPASAr — Mushrooming city hotels in Denpasar owned by investors from outside Bali make local hoteliers in Bali in-creasingly marginalized. Balinese hoteliers having existed in the 1970s until the 2000s are in difficult situation because the average room occupancy rate only reaches about 10-20 percent per year, so that the hotel revenue is only sufficient for oper-ating costs. Today, many of their accommodations have been transformed into boarding house just to get monthly or annual income, rather than being left empty like ghost house.

IBP/File

One of the newly developed city hotel

The Eiffel Tower is seen with the black, yellow and red colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks in Paris

Gallery: World Mourns After Dozens Killed In Belgium Terror Attack

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with black, yellow and red in tribute to the victims of the Brussels terror attacks

People stand in front of the Bran-denburg gate, which is illuminated in the colours of the Belgian flag in tribute to victims of Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels in Berlin

The black, yellow, and red

colours of the Belgian flag are projected on the Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy, in tribute to the victims of today’s Brussels bomb attacks

The flag of Belgium flies at half mast alongside the Union Flag on the roof of 10 Downing Street after the Brussels attacks, in London

Page 6

I N T E R N A T I O N A L 16 Pages Number 588th year

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

Price: Rp 3.000,-

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

DPs 23 - 32WEATHER FORECAsT

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

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

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Not PublishedWe, the International Bali Post would like

to apologize in advance because we will not be published on Friday, March 25, 2016.

Thank You and Happy New Year 2016

Belgium arrests Brussels bomb suspect, identifies others

Thursday, March 24, 2016

If this is war, should Euro 2016 be put on hold?

LOS ANGELES - Superheroes are not the only ones seeking redemption in the new “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” film. Actor Ben Affleck also wanted a do-over playing a superhero after being panned in Marvel’s 2003 film “Daredevil.”

“In the last superhero movie that I played, I was not happy with (it),” Affleck, 43, told Reuters. “I just thought it was not up to what it should have been.”

In “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which will be out in theaters on Friday, Affleck becomes the latest A-list star to don Batman’s black mask and cowl, this time to take on Superman in the sequel to 2013’s “Man of Steel.”

The two superheroes come to blows over responsibility for the controversial mass deaths of civilians in “Man of Steel” as the public wrestles with what kind of superheroes it really wants.

Affleck’s Batman and alter-ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, is older than the previous on-screen iterations and also wearier, still scarred by the death of his parents and from fighting thugs in Gotham.

Numerous actors have donned the iconic batsuit, including Mi-chael Keaton, George Clooney and most recently, Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” franchise from 2005 to 2012, which grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.

Affleck said he wanted to do a superhero movie “that really worked as a real, substantial, thoughtful movie,” and will continue the Batman role in three Warner Bros’ films - “Suicide Squad” later this year, superhero ensemble “The Justice League Part One” in 2017 and “The Justice League Part Two” in 2019.

The casting of Affleck was dubbed “Batffleck” and initially received mixed reactions as fans debated whether he would live up to Bale’s critically acclaimed portrayal.

Affleck acknowledged he was “following in very big footsteps” and said his Batman is “a little bit more of a brawler, he’s more physical.” He said Batman also would be “contemplative” going forward.

“He’s sort of looking for something,” he said.Henry Cavill, who plays Superman, said Affleck’s Bruce Wayne harnessed

“this jadedness, this world-weari-ness. It’s almost like there’s a core of justice there but surrounded by scar tissue.”

As Affleck is putting his own imprint on Batman, Cavill indi-cated he is not done putting his own twist on Superman. (rtr)

The “Tik Tok” singer, 28, has been seeking to nullify her six-album recording contract with her producer Dr. Luke, his associated record labels, and Sony Music. But a judge in February declined to release her from the contract, prompting a #FreeKesha social media campaign and an outpouring of support from big name singers including Taylor Swift, Kelly Clark-son, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus.

Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, has denied al-legations of rape and emotional abuse filed in a 2014 lawsuit and is

countersuing. Both of those cases have yet to come to trial.

In court documents filed on Sat-urday, Kesha’s lawyer appealed the February decision by New York Su-preme Court Justice Shirley Kornre-ich, saying the court erred in finding that Kesha could record without interference from Gottwald.

“Although it (the court) recog-nized that ‘slavery was done away with a long time ago’ and that ‘(y)ou can’t force someone to work... in a situation in which they don’t want to work,’ the court’s ruling requiring Kesha to work for Gottwald’s com-

panies, purportedly without his in-volvement, does just that,” Kesha’s attorney Mark Geragos wrote.

Dr. Luke’s attorney, Christine Lep-era, has argued that Kesha, who burst onto the music scene in 2009, is al-ready free to record music with other producers under her contract and that she has presented no evidence to sup-port her claims of rape.

Following the singer’s notice of appeal, Lepera said Kesha was time-wasting and spinning lies.

“Her attorneys can continue manufacturing even more false and outrageous claims, but the fact re-mains that her time would be better spent in a studio than wasting time having her lawyer and mother spin lies in the media,” Lepera said in a statement on Tuesday. (rtr)

Ben Affleck revamps his superhero role with older, more physical Batman

REUTERS/Kevork Djansezian/Files

Kesha arrives at the 2014 MTV Music Video Awards in Inglewood, California, in this file photo taken August 24, 2014. Pop star Kesha has appealed a court decision that ties her to a record-ing contract with companies owned by music producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of rape, saying the ruling was akin to slavery.

Kesha appeals court decision, likening recording contract to slavery

NEW YORK - Pop star Kesha has appealed a court decision that ties her to a recording contract with companies owned by music producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of rape, saying the ruling was akin to slavery.

MANGUPURA - Currently Bali has about 130,000 hotel rooms, mostly located in South Bali. In Badung district itself there are 95,000 rooms with occupancy rates below 60 percent for star hotels and 40 percent for non-star hotels. Result of

the study held by the Badung Tourism Promotion Board (BPBD) in 2015 shows that oversupply has

occurred to hotel rooms.“The increase takes place too quickly and they concentrate in the south.

Ideally, the occupancy rate is 70-80 percent or more for star hotels, while above 50 percent for budget hotels. If only 40 percent, it is just enough to cover the operating cost,” said the member of BPBD Badung, I Putu Anom, amidst a tourism seminar in Kuta, Tuesday (Mar. 22).

Room...Continued on page 2

Oversupply of hotel rooms threatens local entrepreneurs

Global Support As Belgium Mourns Victims

LONDON - Landmarks in Berlin, Rome and Paris are il-luminated with the colours of the Belgian flag to remember those killed in Brussels.

The Eiffel Tower is illuminat-ed with the Belgium national colors black, yellow and red in honor of the victims of the

today’s attacks at the air-port and the metro station in Brussels, in Paris, Tuesday,

March 22, 2016.

AP Photo/Thibault Camus