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16 Pages Number 34th Year

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

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CITY TEMPERATURE OC

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DENPASAR

JAKARTA

BANDUNG

YOGYAKARTA

SURABAYA

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Downey dips,‘Sherlock’ slipswith $40M debut

New YearcelebrationOccupancy inUbud hotels rising

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

A tearful television announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died on Saturday of physi-cal and mental over-work on his

way to give “field guidance” - a reference to advice dispensed by the “Dear Leader” on his trips to factories, farms and military

bases.Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s

youngest son, was named by North Korea’s official news agen-cy KCNA as the “great successor” to his father, which lauded him as “the outstanding leader of our party, army and people.”

Little is known of Jong-un who is believed to be in his late 20s and was appointed to senior political

and military posts in 2010.KCNA news agency said the

elder Kim died at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday (2330 GMT on Friday) after “an advanced acute myocar-dial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock.” Kim had suffered a stroke in 2008, but had appeared to have recovered from that ailment.

A man reacts as he walks with flowers towards the North Ko-rean Embassy in Beijing Mon-

day, Dec. 19, 2011. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s mercurial and enigmatic longtime leader, has died, North Korean state media

announced Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il dead, son hailed as heirReuters

SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.

Dauh Puri, DenPostThe mediation trial for the lawsuit of

Bali Governor, Made Mangku Pastika against Bali Post was held in Denpasar High Court on Monday, December 19, 2011. Mangku Pastika come himself to the court around 9 am. The trial was closed for public and was led by the head of Denpasar Court, John Piter Purba, S.H., M.H., the trial was lasted for one and a half hour.

The trial was using caucus system where each side was called separately by the mediator. Based on the informa-tion, the mediator will make report to the court. During the trial, the governor was accompanied by his lawyers, Drs. Ketut Ngastawa, S.H., I Nyoman Sumantha,

S.H., Simon Nahak, S.H., and I Made Djaya, S.H, and also the spokesman of Bali Government, Ketut Teneng.

“I am sorry we cannot give any infor-mation about the material of mediation because it is very classified,” said one of the lawyer, Simon Nahak. Regarding the system of the mediation, he said that it has been agreed by both side.

Pastika was also giving comment on the trial. He stated that he cannot say any-thing about the process. “I cannot state anything except about press freedom,” he said. The Governor explained that the lawsuit was not an effort to restrain the freedom of press.

Gubernur Pastika attend mediationContinued on page 6

IBP/Yudi Karnaedi

Governor of Bali Made Mangku Pastika giving a statement after meet with mediator on the case of Governor Bali vs Bali Post on Monday, December 19, 2011.

InternationalTuesday, December 20, 20112

Bali News

Founder : K.Nadha, General Manager :Palgunadi Chief Editor: Diah Dewi Juniarti Editors: Gugiek Savindra,Alit Susrini, Alit Sumertha, Daniel Fajry, Mawa, Sri Hartini, Suana, Sueca, Sugiartha, Wirya, YudiWinanto Denpasar: Dira Arsana, Giriana Saputra, Subagiadnya, Subrata, Suentra, Sumatika, Asmara Putra. Bangli: Pujawan, Buleleng: Adnyana, Gianyar: Agung Dharmada, Karangasem: Budana, Klungkung:Bali Putra Ariawan. Jakarta: Nikson, Hardianto, Ade Irawan. NTB: Agus Talino, Syamsudin Karim, Izzul Khairi, Raka Akriyani. Surabaya: Bambang Wilianto. Development: Alit Purnata, Mas Ruscitadewi. :Jalan Kepundung 67 A Denpasar 80232. Telephone (0361)225764, : 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, : (0370) 628257. Publisher: PT Bali Post

Denpasar (Bali Post)—Pertamina ensures that fuel supply in Bali towards the

year-end of 2011 will be in safe condition. By the year-end and entering the New Year 2012 which are identical with the holidays and increasing fuel consumption is ascertained to have no negative impact.

Retail Sales Representative of Pertamina for Bali-NTB Region, B. Indra Lesmana, recently said in Denpasar that in facing the turn of the year, the fuel supply like gasoline and diesel fuel would be in secure condition. Distribution of fuel from depots to filling stations had no constraints. Pertamina had been ready to meet the fuel demand of the public during the turn of the year until a week after the New Year 2012.

“So far, Bali includes in the secure region. The increased fuel demand does not lead to undesirable things,” he said.

Based on the data of Pertamina for Bali-Lombok Re-gion, the diesel fuel stock in Bali per December 15, 2011

1,019 kiloliters per day. Meanwhile, the Premium gasoline reached 22,393 kiloliters with the consumption in Bali reaching 2,193 kiloliters per day. Kerosene amounted to

Then, stock of Pertamax gasoline came to 890 kiloliters with a total consumption of 39 kiloliters per day, so it was enough for consumption up to 22 days. Pertamax Plus

8 kiloliters per day and was enough up to 78 days.In the meantime, regarding the worries about many

‘rogue’ petrol stations taking the opportunity at such mo-ments, he said it would highly depend on the operator. According to him, so far the filling station business had a very promising prospect especially for the management of retail outlets that had Pasti Pas (certain and exact) cer-tificate. Petrol stations with the certificate were believed to have some advantages.

“Unfortunately, not all petrol stations in Bali have had thr Pasti Pas certificate. Among the 178 petrol stations, only 105 outlets that have had this certificate,” he said. He further added that petrol stations with the certificate would be able to provide services with assurance and certainty to community and there would be no fraud in fueling. Vehicle users would obtain fuel with assured quality and quantity, friendly service and comfortable facilities.

not only raise the prestige of their business, but also gives

the increasing earnings for the outlet owner,” he said.He said that consumers tended to choose the petrol

stations that actually refueled exactly. Not surprisingly, the old petrol stations had small turnover and one of the causes was that they had not had a Pasti Pas certification. Pertamina would also provide a greater margin of profit for petrol station entrepreneurs meeting the certification. In other words, the employers of petrol station with certifica-tion could feel the direct economic impact. “So, there is a small possibility of cheating because they certainly do not want to take risks with the Pasti Pas certificate acquired,” he concluded. (bit)

According to the Head of the Agency, dr. Nyoman Sutedja, those who did not get it was due they live far from the rabies centre or because they did not know about rabies and so when bitten did not get the VAR straight away or due to its bite small and seemed not dangerous then didn’t get VAR. For that it is hoped the public will always be aware of any dog bite even though it’s small and get a treatment straight away.

To fulfil VAR stocks, every regency/city stocked

it as well besides the Bali Province. As noted at 13th December 2011 the VAR total that are supplied

and Sanglah Hospital 850. With this it is hoped those who got bitten will get the vaccination straight away. (san)

In three years

139,455 dog bite cases happen in BaliDenpasar (Bali Post)

Semarapura (Bali Post) –Although all this time fashion trend has been new but

it doesn’t close any possibilities for used clothes to be in the market as seen at Semarapura Art Market, klungkung, last Sunday where imported clothes from Singapore and Hong Kong became everyone want and giving a lot of

A number of stands with ‘import used clothes’ signs on were attacked by buyers. The sellers were most non

admitted the items were sold out and mostly were bought by those who live in villages at East Bali area. (kmb20)

Singaporean and Hong Kong used clothes attract customers

IBP/File

The seller of used clothes from Singapore and Hong Kong

Ahead of Christmas and New Year, fuel stock ascertained secure

Besieging of plastic rubbishat sea was getting more serioussince the recent rainy season.Other than disturbing fishermen,the rubbish also made the marinescenery change into being vile.“The sea looks like a plastic gar-bage dump. Along the waters canbe seen a pool of junky rubbish,”complained Chairman of theFishermen Association of Indo-nesia (HNSI) of Tabanan, Ketut

Arsanayasa, Sunday (Dec 18).The man having the nickname

of Saddam explained the pilesof garbage at sea was knownwhen he was going to sea witha number of fishermen. Accord-ing to him, a row of the plasticrubbish was seen floating alongthe coast of Tabanan to Canggu,Kuta. Consequently, the fishingnets that should contain fishwere filled with rubbish. “They

are mostly consisting of plasticrubbish,” he complained again.According to him, such condi-tion was quite disturbing fisher-men. Even, his fishing nets weresometimes damaged as stuck fastwith rubbish.

Aside from disturbing thenets, the plastic rubbish was alsofeared to harm the coral reefs.More hazardously, the plasticrubbish could threaten the eco-

system of fish. “This rubbish isvery hazardous. If consistentlyneglected, fishermen will beconfused as besieged by therubbish,” he said. According toSaddam, the presence of suchrubbish was triggered by therainy season.

The rivers flowing into thesea carried waste materials andreached the middle of the sea.This man invited all concernedparties to handle the rubbish,especially plastic. He added thatthe land area being clean fromrubbish had to be followed bycleaning up the rubbish in theocean. Considering, the sea had

become the field providing sus-tenance for fishermen. If the seawas polluted by waste, of coursethe fish catches would declinesharply.

Saddam also hoped that gov-ernment could respond to thecomplaints of fishermen, es-pecially through socializationon the hazard of waste in theocean. By doing so, the actionof disposing rubbish into theriver could be eliminated. “Thesecomplaints must be responded bygovernment. At least, there is so-cialization regarding the hazardof plastic waste flowing into theocean,” he concluded. (udi)

3International Bali News Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The fishermen are on their

way to the sea. The waters

in the southern region of

Tabanan and Badung con-

tinued to be besieged by

rubbish and it disturb the

fishermen and visitors.

IBP/File

Sea besieged by rubbish, Tabanan (Bali Post)—

Complaints about rubbish did not only happen on mainland. At sea, the rubbish had become a frightening scourge. Since the past few weeks, the waters in the southern region of Tabanan and Badung continued to be besieged by rubbish, particularly plastic. These conditions interfered

Amlapura (Bali Post)—The integrated agricultural man-

agement system (Simantri) 041Project at Tegallanglangan, AbangSubdistrict, Karangasem, has notbeen so promising. This happenedbecause at the barren village the

to feed their cattle during the dryseason. According to the GroupHead of Simantri 041, I WayanSuarta, the local breeders had dif-

During the dry season, theircattle were forcibly fed with crackeror dried grass or leaves and it wasgiven during the period of greenfodder crisis. Fodder of dried grassand leaves were indeed not so nu-tritious. However, they expected

Fed with ‘crackers’ during dry season

their cattle could only survive. Asa result, their cattle looked thinand Suarta admitted that one thecows died.

According to Suarta, the cow wasalleged to be not strong enough whentaken tograze.So far, the22cowsandtheir calves had never been grazed or

feed. Instead, they were just tied intheir colonycowshed. “Other thanbe-ing skinny, perhaps the mother cowswere shocked and not strong enoughto cross the river, so that one of them

A cow share-breeder, WayanPaing, and a land owner where thecowshed located, Nengah Sudana,admitted that their group share-bred22 cows. Later, two of them would

be brought back. Paing said that it

fodder. Since it just rained, the grasshad not grown yet. As a result, theshare-breeder should purchase theirfodder in the form of elephant grassfor IDR 5,000 per bundle. Priceof the grass was quite expensive,so the share-breeders or rancherstaking the Simantri program were

fortunately, the selling price will beequivalent to the expenditure forfodder purchase,” said Paing.

Sudana also acknowledged thatbiogas produced by cow dung of Si-mantri was ineffective. The tube ofcow dung was not placed correctlyby the installer. As consequence,during the heavy rains, the water

got into the biogas tube, so thegas could not be used for cookingor turned on so far. “It should be

new cow dung. Indeed, it is quitecomplicated,” said Sudana.

Moreover, the cowshed was builtnearpeople’shouseandaboutoneme-ter from theSimantri reservoir projectvalued at IDR 96 million. The reser-voir was not given a lid, so residentslivingnear theyawningreservoirwerevery worried as it could harm theirchildren and domestic animals likedogs, chicken and goats. “Goats canstill jump from the Simantri cowshedproject,” said Sudana.

Meanwhile, Suarta said that cleanor drinking water for cattle was the

major constraint for farmers takingthe Simantri program because thevillage would face water crisis inthe dry season. If the water in thereservoir ran out, residents shouldpurchase water for IDR 75,000 pertank from Tukadabu, Kubu. Ironi-cally, the Simantri 041 reservoirhad leaked, despite just completedlast October. Two months after thecompletion, the reservoir sizing6 meters by 9 meters had leaked.Suarta had reported it to get an im-mediate repair. However, the con-tractor establishing it, said Sudana,carried two cans of waterproof, butonly one can was used to polish thereservoir. Meanwhile, another canwas brought back. “As soon as it

with four tanks of water purchasedfrom Tukadabu. When we just useda little of the water, it has evenran dry. The reservoir has leakedwhereas it was just completed,”revealed Sudana. (013)

News International4 Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The United States is withdraw-ing 10,000 troops this year, leaving 91,000 on the ground into next year. Another 23,000 are due to leave by the end of September.

That will mark the end of the “surge” ordered by President Ba-rack Obama in late 2009 in a bid to reverse the Taliban insurgency, defeat Al-Qaeda and speed up an end to the war, with some 68,000 US forces left on the ground.

“We are negotiating with the United States towards an enduring

partnership,” Karzai said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”

“That may bring about the pres-ence of some US troops in Afghani-stan for the duration of the agree-ment that we reach, with support to Afghanistan, with training and equipping the Afghan forces.”

But he cautioned that troop levels would depend on the specifics of any agreement reached.

The US-led international coali-tion has “been able to provide in the past 10 years political stability

to Afghanistan,” Karzai said.But he stressed that the US and

Afghan governments have been un-able “to provide the Afghan people with their individual personal secu-rity. That is yet to come.”

Karzai, interviewed from Kabul, also said he could not hold peace talks with the Taliban unless the insurgents produce a verifiable authorized representative.

The September assassination of Afghan peace negotiator Burhanud-din Rabbani “brought us in a shock to the recognition that we were actually talking to nobody, that those who came in the name of the peace process were assassins, were killers, were terrorists rather than negotiators,” he said.

Associated Press Writer

PRAGUE — Thousands of Czechs paid tribute to Vaclav Havel on Sunday, braving cold and snow at the spot where the leader of the peaceful anti-communist revolution rallied protesters.

Mourners, some of them too young to remember 1989’s “Velvet Revolution,” met at downtown Wenceslas Square, where Havel once spoke before hundreds of thousands of people expressing their outrage at the repressive communist regime.

They jangled their keys to make noise as anti-communist demonstra-tors did, sang the national anthem and observed a minute of silence for the playwright-turned politician, who died Sunday.

“His legacy will be that ‘truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred,’” Havel’s former adviser Tomas Sedlacek told the crowd, quot-ing Havel’s revolutionary motto.

Barbora Rubova, born two years after the end of the repressive communist regime, said it was important to show her respect to the man who helped kick off the fall of the Iron Curtain and served as president of Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic.

“He laid foundations of democracy for us all,” she said.A black flag flew over Prague Castle, the presidential seat, while

many Czechs stood in line to have a chance to light candles to remem-ber Havel. “Mr. President, thank you for democracy,” read a note placed at the monument to the revolution in downtown Prague.

Others visited his villa to lay flowers and light candles. Josef Klik, a 67-year-old, was among the mourners.

“He is an unforgettable person who contributed to the fall of com-munism,” Klik said. “And after that, he remained a moral authority for ordinary people.”

Bells tolled from cathe-drals and churches across the country at 6 p.m. Prague arch-bishop Dominik Duka, who spent some time with Havel in a communist prison, said Havel “knew what it meant to lose freedom, be denied dignity, what is repression and imprisonment.”

Associated Press Writer

CAIRO — Egypt’s ruling military and the revolutionaries who demand they immediately step down battled for a third day in the streets — and competed fiercely for the support of a broader public that has grown tired of turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak 10 months ago.

The generals appear to be win-ning the fight for the public, despite a heavy-handed crackdown on pro-testers around Cairo’s Tahrir Square using a roughness that rivaled even that of Mubarak’s widely hated police force.

Before dawn Monday, security forces mounted a charge and cleared hundreds of demonstrators away

from the area, according to videos posted on the internet. Earlier, a man died in custody, a lawyer said.

The protesters have tried to drum up Egyptians’ anger at the military by spreading videos and photos of military police savagely beat-ing young men and women to the ground with sticks and truncheons — and the resonant scene of a wom-an in a conservative headscarf being stripped half naked by soldiers who stomp on her chest.

But so far their efforts to win pub-lic sympathy don’t seem to be gaining traction in the face of the military’s campaign to depict the crowds of hundreds in the streets as hooligans and vandals, not the idealistic activ-ists who succeeded in bringing down

Mubarak. At least 10 protesters have been killed and 441 others wounded in the three days of violence, accord-ing to the Health Ministry.

“The military has failed in ev-erything except for its stunning success in making people hate the revolution, its history and its revo-lutionaries,” prominent columnist Ibrahim Eissa wrote in an editorial in the independent pro-revolution newspaper, Al-Tahrir.

Led by a general who served for 20 years as Mubarak’s defense minister, the military has been methodically seeking to discredit the revolutionaries, accusing them of illegally receiving foreign funds and being part of a plot hatched abroad to destabilize Egypt.

AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, shakes hand with the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta after giv-ing a joint press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011.

Afghans negotiating long-term US presence: KarzaiAgence France Presse

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that his government is negotiating the terms of a long-term US presence in his country that could involve US troops.

Egypt’s military, activists vie for public support

AP Photo/Nasser Nasser

Egyptian protesters clash with riot police during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011.

Czechs, world leaders mourn Vaclav Havel

People surround St. Wenc-eslas statue at Wenceslas square in Prague, Czech Republic, on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, to pay tribute to former Czech President Vaclav Havel who has died early morning Sunday at his coun-try seat in Hradecek, some 100 kilometers north-east from Prague. He was 75. AP Photo/CTK, Stanislav Zbynek

Activities Tuesday, December 20, 2011 5International

Temple CeremonyCalendar Event for December 3 through 28, 2011

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 con-sidered 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 happens 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, sail-ings, 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 worshipped 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 Holiness. 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 attire, 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

3 Dec Tumpek Landep Pasek Gelgel Temple Pedungan Denpasar Selatan Agung Pasek Temple Tangun Titi kaler Tabanan Agung Pasek Temple Silamadeg Tabanan Pasek Tangkas Temple Kediri Tabanan Kerta Temple Banyuning Barat Buleleng Dalem Tenggaling Temple Sengguan Singapadu Kawitan Arya Wang Bang Pinatih Peguyangan

Singaraja Bhujangga Weisnawa Tegalcangkring Jembrana Taman Desa Temple Bubunan Seririt Buleleng Penataran Pande Batur Jati Banjar Pandean Mengwi Dalem Pingit Temple Taro Kaje Tegalalang dadia Pasek Gelgel Gobleg Desa Selat Sukasada

Buleleng Batur Arya Warih Kepaon Cengolo Sudimara Tabanan Ida ratu Pande Temple Besakih Mr. Pasek Temple Toh Jiwa Tangungtiti Penataran Pande Temple Kusamba Klungkung Penataran Agung Pinatih Tulikup Gianyar

4 Dec Redite Umanis Ukir Sangah Gede Dukuh Segening Tegal Tugu Gianyar

7 Dec Buda Wage Uki Pasar Agung Temple Besakih Pasek Bendesa Pasar Badung Legian Kuta Gede Gunung Agung Dukuh Munggu Badung Hyang Agung Ibuwanasari Tegal Puseh/ Desa Temple Bebalang Bangli Dalem Temple Perancak Badung Pasek Bendesa Hyang Selat Kerobokan Badung Kekeran Langit Sading Mengwi

10 Dec Purnama Kenam Kiduling Kereteg Besakih Lingsar Temple Lombok Bebengan Tanjung Lombok Pasek Gelgel Kekeran Mengwi Dalem Putra Belingkang Benawah Gianyar Prajapati Temple Balikpapan

13 Dec Anggar Kasih Kulantir Penataran Tangkas Sukawati Dalem Lagan Temple Bebalang Bangli Puseh Lembeng Ketewel Sukawati Pasek Gelgel Penulisan Kerambitan Tabanan Gaduh Temple Sanding Dalem Gandamayu Klungkung Sanghyang Tegal Banjar Taro Kaja Tegalalang

14 Dec Buda Umanis Kulantir Pasek Tangkas Temple kaler Tabanan Gaduh Benoh Temple Ubung Denpasar

18 Dec Redite Keliwon Tolu Dalem Alas Harum Kaba-kaba Kediri Tabanan.

19 Dec Soma Umanis Tolu Puseh/Balai Agung Ubung Kupang Penebel Tabanan Kawitan Sakula Gotra Tegal Kepuh Kaba-kaba Kediri

Tabanan Bhujangga Rsi-Tambak Bayuh Paibon Tangkas Kori Agung Lembongan Nusa Penida Batu Madeg Temple Besakih Penataran Agung Penatih Banjar Saba Penatih

21 Dec Buda Pon Tolu Catur, Buwana Sanding Tampaksiring

22 Dec Wraspati Wage Tolu Peninjoan Temple Besakih

28 Dec Buda Keliwon Gumbreg Pasek Gelgel Kukuh Marga Tabanan Pasek Gelgel Dukuh Selemadeg Tabanan Puseh/ Desa Guwang Sukawati Merajan Pasek Ketewel Ketewel Merajan Pangeran Tangkas Kuro Agung Jeroan

Sading Dalem Setra Batu Nunggul Swana

Nusa Penida

IBP

KUTA - After a year in develop-ment, Grand Whiz Kuta officially operated on Monday, December 19, 2011. The inauguration of this hotel were done by Chairman of supervisory board of PT. Intiland Development, Cosmas Batubara and witnessed by Head of Badung’s Tourism Depart-ment Tjokorda Raka Darmawan on Monday, December 19, 2011.

According to CEO of PT. Intiwhiz International Moedjianto Soesilo Tjahjono accompanied by owner of Grand Whiz Kuta Sutrisno Winata, the tourism prospect in Bali is very promising. He optimistic that tourism stakeholders will get many benefit from the prospect.

He also stated that Grand Whiz Kuta will give new experience for tourists and business people that travel to Bali during their stay in this hotel.

This three star hotel consists of 134 rooms which differentiated to several types of room, such standard, junior suite, and deluxe.

Moedjianto stated that until this end of year, the room occupancy of the ho-tel already reach 70 percent. He hopes in the next eight years, this hotel will gain break even point. ‘’We calculate that the BEP will reach around eight years maybe less because the location and the room prices are very competi-tive,’’ he said.

With this hotel, there are 3 hotels that being operated by Intiwhiz until end of year, two others are Whiz Se-marang and Whiz Yogyakarta. Moed-jianto targeting there are 60 hotels will be build in the next five years. Meanwhile on this year only, there are 19 hotels still in process. ‘’Around 2013, there will be many hotels that we build should be ready to operate,’’ he explained. (kmb18)

IBP/Ist.

Managements of PT. Intiwhiz International and PT. Intiland Development inaugurated Grand Whiz Hotel Kuta, Monday, December 19, 2011.

Grand Whiz Kuta Inaugurated

The end of year, occupancy reaches 70 percent

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 6 News International

The last U.S. convoy rumbledout of Iraq across the border intoKuwait around sunrise undera shroud of secrecy to preventattacks on the departing troops.When news reached a wakingIraqi public, there was joy atthe end of a presence that manyIraqis resented as a foreign oc-cupation.

In the northern city of Mosul,pastry shop owner MuhannadAdnan said he had a swell of or-ders for cakes — up to 110 fromthe usual 70 or so a day — asfamilies threw parties at home.Some asked him to ice the cakeswith inscriptions of “congratula-tions for the end of occupation,”he said.But the happiness wasshot through with worries overthe future.

“Nobody here wants occupa-tion. This withdrawal marksa new stage in Iraq’s history,”said Karim al-Rubaie, a Shiiteshopowner in the southern city ofBasra. But, he said, “the politi-cians who are running this coun-try are just a group of thieves.”

“These politicians will leadthe country into sedition and civil

war. Iraq now is like a weak preyamong neighboring beasts.”

In the morning, a bomb hiddenunder a pile of trash exploded ona street of spare car parts stores ina mainly Shiite district of easternBaghdad, killing two people andwounding four others. It was thelatest in the near daily shootingsand bombings — low-level butstill deadly — that continue tobleed the country and that manyfear will increase with the Ameri-cans gone.

Violence is far lower than itwas at the worst of the Iraq War,in 2006 and 2007, when Sunniinsurgents and Shiite militiaspreyed on Iraqis around the coun-try in a vicious sectarian conflictthat nearly turned into completecivil war. But those armed groupsstill remain, and there are deepconcerns whether Iraqi securityforces are capable of keepingthem in check without the helpof U.S. troops.

Iraq’s military chief of staff,Lt. Gen. Babaker Zebari saidSunday that his troops were upto the task of uprooting militantgroups.

“There are only scattered

terrorists hiding here and thereand we are seeking intelligenceinformation to eliminate them,”Zebari said. “We are confidentthat there will be no danger.”

Equally worrying, the resent-ments and bitterness between theShiite majority and Sunni minor-ity in this country of 31 millionremain unhealed. The fear is thatwithout the hand of Americanforces, the fragile attempts to getthe two sides to work togethercould collapse and even turn togreater violence.

In an escalation of the rivalry,the main Sunni-backed politi-cal bloc on Sunday announcedit was boycotting parliament toprotest what they called ShiitePrime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’sattempts to monopolize govern-ment positions — particularlythose overseeing the powerfulsecurity forces. The bloc hascomplained of security forces’recent arrests of Sunnis that itsays are “unjustified.”

The Iraqiya bloc warned thatit could take the further step ofpulling its seven ministers outof al-Maliki’s coalition govern-ment.

Iraqis celebrate US exit, but worry for future

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD — Even as Iraqis celebrated the departure of the last American troops Sunday,the dangers left behind after nearly nine years of war were on full display. Politicians feudedalong the country’s potentially explosive sectarian lines and the drumbeat of deadly violencewent on.

AP Photo/Lucas Jackson, Pool

In this Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 photo, a member of the Iraqi Army waves an Iraqi flag after a ceremony signing over Camp Adder, near Nasiriyah in Iraq, the last United States base in the country, to the Iraqi Air Force.

South Korea, still technicallyat war with the North, placed itstroops and all government work-ers on emergency alert but Seoul’sDefense Ministry said there were nosigns of any unusual North Koreantroop movements and President LeeMyung-bak called for people to carryon with their normal lives.

Lee held talks with President Ba-rackObamaover the telephone as theUnitedStates is themainguarantorofSouthKorea’ssecurity.Seoulwasalsodue tohold talkswithgovernmentof-

“Up until tonight, if anybody hadasked you what would be the mostlikely scenariounderwhich theNorthKorean regime could collapse, theanswer would be the sudden death ofKim Jong-il,” said Victor Cha, a Ko-reaexpertwith theCenter forStrategicandInternationalStudies think-tankinWashington.

“And so I think right now we’re inthat scenario and we don’t know howit’s going to turn out.”

The White House said President

the reports of Kim’s death and it wasclosely monitoring and in touch withSouth Korea and Japan.

The United States was committedtostabilityon theKoreanpeninsulaaswell as to its allies, the White Housepress secretary said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshi-hiko Noda told ministers at a specialsecuritymeeting toprepare for theun-expected, including on border affairs,Japan’s top government spokesmansaid.China,NorthKorea’sonlymajorally, has yet to comment.

Market players and regional pow-ers will be on edge over what mighthappen next in the isolated state,whose collapsing economy and bidto become a nuclear weapons powerpose major threats to northeastAsia.

Asian stocks and U.S. index fu-tures fell, with South Korean sharestumbling as much as 5 percent, andthe dollar gained after the announce-ment. The Korean won fell 1.8 per-cent.Kim Jong-un was at the head

the funeral committee, indicating hewould lead it, and a key sign that hehad taken, or been given, charge.

But there will be enormous ques-tions over how much credibility theyounger Kim has, since he is only inhis late 20s and has had little time toprepare for the role.

-cial heir, but the regime will move inthe direction of Kim Jong-un takingcenter stage,” said ChungYoung-Taeat theKorea InstituteofNationalUni-

North Korean...From page 1

As the form of his support to thefreedom of press is by holding pressconference every month and can becovered by all media in Bali. “Is

a power struggle may happen.“It’s likely themilitarywill support

Kim Jong-un,” he added. “Right nowthere will be control wielded over thepeople to keep them from descendinginto chaos in this tumultuous time.”

Kim Jong-il’s sister and her hus-band have also been promoted toimportant political and military posts,creating a powerful triumvirate readyto takeover thefamilydynasty thathasruled North Korea since its foundingafter World War Two.

Experts say Jong-un has the in-telligence and leadership skills thatwould make him suitable to succeedhis father. He is also reported to havea ruthless streak that analysts say hewould need to rule the country.

There is likely to be an enormousoutpouring of emotion over Kim’sdeath inNorthKorea,where thecoun-try’s propaganda machine turned himinto a demi-god. His funeral will beheld on December 28.

On the streets of Seoul howeverthe death of a man whose countryhad threatened to turn South Korean

indifference to over-joyed.“The whole earth should celebrate

it as much as Christmas,” said KimOk-tae, a 58-year old pastor.

“I am not at all afraid. I don’t seeany likelihoodofNorthKorea lashingout unexpectedly.”

Kim was the unchallenged headof a communist state whose economyfell deep into poverty during his 17years in power as he vexed the worldbydevelopinganucleararmsprogramandmissiles aimedatneighbors Japanand South Korea.

NorthKorea,whichtestedanucleardevice in2006andagain inMay2009,is seen as one of the greatest threats toregional security.

In 2010, the secretive North un-veiled a uranium enrichment facility,giving it a second route to make anatomicbombalongwith itsplutoniumprogram.

Cha said communication betweenChina, the United States and SouthKorea was vital.

“Because these are the three keyplayers when it comes to instabilityinNorthKorea.And theChinesehavebeen reluctant to have any conversa-tions on this,” he said.

“Now the situation really calls forit. It will be interesting to see howmuch the Chinese will be willing tohave some sort of discussion.”

The North has repeatedly threat-ened to destroy the conservative gov-ernment of South Korean PresidentLee Myung-bak, who ended a decade

It also has a reputation for pro-vocative external action in responseto internal pressures.

Gubernur...From page 1

the lawsuit disturbs the freedom ofpress? I don’t think so, it is the mostelegant way for someone of depart-ment,” the Governor added.(108)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 7Indonesia Today International

Navy information chief Com-modore Untung Suropati said in Jakarta Sunday that the two war-ships, KRI Untung Suropati-372 and KRI Oswald Siahaan-354, are from the Eastern Fleet Command (Koarmatim).

“Besides, we had also sent out a

Navy helicopter,” he added.Up to Sunday morning, 33 of

the 215 crew members have been found and for the time being pro-vided shelter at the PPN (Nusan-tara Fish Port) at Prigi port.

The passengers of the ship were thought to be Middle East

immigrants heading for Aus-tralia. Some of them may have been Afghans and Turks. Up to Sunday afternoon, hundreds of passengers were still missing. The East Java National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said it did not know the exact number of the passengers be-cause of the lack of a passenger manifest.

But it was said that more than 200 passengers who had been rescued were on board when the boat left the Middle East a year before.

Very bad weather and high waves had been posing serious obstacles to seeking and evacuat-ing the victims.

The BKPM had warned the evacuation of the high waves in the Prigi coastal area.

“The waves have reached a height of 0.5-2.5 meters besides heavy down pours. This is a very dangerous condition for shipping, especially small boats,” an official of the meteorology, climatology and geophysics station in Sura-baya Eko Prasetyo said.

He said the waves in the East

Java waters had been increasing from 0.3-1.3 to 0.5-3 meters in height.

However, Eko said, because of that the waters north and south of East Java also have hard rain, under which condition it became extremely difficult to evacuate the victims quickly.

Especially that the sea south of East Java in the Pacitan-Treng-galek area had been flowing at a rate of 5-25 centimeters per second, from to west to east, and slightly to the south or the middle on the high seas.

Antara

PALU - A low explosive bomb is found in a traditional market in Palu Selatan sub-district on Monday morning, the province`s Chief of Mobile Brigade Unit Ahmad Sub-arkah said here on Monday.

“It is an assembled bomb with low explosives,” he said adding that the bomb was found by the local people around 05.30 in the morning in front of a tradi-tional market with specialty of selling pork meat.

The market itself was located near three churches in the area, Ahmad said.

According to information, the market had been hit by bomb earlier in 2005 caus-ing eight casualties and injuring tens of people.

Meanwhile, Chief of Palu city`s Police Precinct Office Ahmad Ramadhan said the characteristic of the recently found bomb was similar to the pipe-bomb that was found in Poso district sometime ago.

He said the police was still gathering information about the actors behind the bomb terror.

Antara

SAMARINDA - Three men had been named suspects for allegedly slaughtering Orangutans in Kutai Timur district, East Kalimantan, an official said.

“The three men are employees of PT CPS a palm oil plantation company in the area. Another sus-pect is still being sought,” Chief

of Criminal Unit at Kutai Timur district`s police precinct Sugeng Subagyo said here on Monday.

Sugeng said an earlier investiga-tion indicates the slaughter took place in an area of PT CPS in Muara Calong on May 27 2011.

“One of the suspects threw a spear and hit the stomach of the Orangutan. Afterward, the other suspects killed Orangutans with a

sharp knife,” Sugeng said adding that after killing the Orangutans, the three suspects buried the carcasses near the area.

The alleged orangutan killings reportedly took place from 2009 to 2010 in Kutai Kartanegara District, East Kalimantan Province. Kalim-antan or Borneo Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) are often considered as a pest by plantation companies

operating there.Last December 1, the police

had arrested two employee of PT SRS, also a palm oil plantation company, in relation to allegedly killing Orangutans.

It is estimated that around 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans are left in the wild, 80 percent of them in Indonesia and the rest in Malaysia. Of the total number, about 7,300

orangutans are to be found in Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces, and many others in Central, West and East Kalimantan provinces. The Borneo orangutan and Sumatran orangutans are clas-sified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Endangered and Critically Endangered respectively, with their population down by 91 percent since 1900.

Three men named suspects for slaughtering orangutans

Low explosive bomb found in

AP Photo/Gembong Nusantara

An asylum seeker who survived the sinking ship wears an oxygen mask as he rests at a hotel where they are detained in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. The Indonesian Navy headquarters have deployed two warships and a helicopter to support the search and evacuation of the victims of the Middle East immigration boat which went down in Prigi waters, Trenggalek sub-district, East Java.

RI navy sends out warships and helicopter to TrenggalekAntara

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Navy headquarters have de-ployed two warships and a helicopter to support the search and evacuation of the victims of the Middle East immigration boat which went down in Prigi waters, Trenggalek sub-district, East Java.

8 InternationalTuesday, December 20, 2011

Bali TodayNew Year celebrationOccupancy in Ubud hotels rising

BT

UBUD Towards the ew ear 0 , the hotel occupancy rates in the Ubud ampong ofartists, Gianyar egency began to rise, including the increase in room reservation. However,such an increase is not li e the condition in 0 0. Average occupancy until the mid Decemberis 3 percent, said hairman of the Indonesian Hotels and estaurants Association PH Iof Gianyar hapter, Dewa Arimbawa, recently.

Tourists shopping in the art market of Goa Gajah area in Gian-yar regency. Towards the New Year 2012, the hotel occupancy rates in the Ubud kampong of artists, Gianyar Regency began to rise, including the increase in room reservation. However, such an increase is not like the condition in 2010.

It was indicated by the increasein room reservation before theNew Year, but the condition wasunlike the reservation on the lastEid feast day. Such decliningreservation was kindled by theglobal crisis afflicting the U.S.and Europe. “Other than affectingthe room reservation, it is alsoascertained to have an impact onthe level of hotel occupancy,” heexplained.

Foreign tourists who visited

Ubud in the New Year’s holidayseason came mostly from Europe,Asia, Australia and America. “Thehotels themselves usually offeredthe package of New Year’s EveDinner and a number of perform-ing arts,” he said.

Meanwhile, aside from the oc-cupancy rate of the hotels and res-taurants, a number of tourist attrac-tions such as Tirta Empul, MonkeyForest, Sukawati Art Market, GoaGajah and other attractions were

expected to draw more tourist ar-rivals by the end of the year and onwelcoming the New Year 2012.

So far, the Sukawati art mar-ket seemed to have show off an

though the visit was not so high.“Yes, the increase looks apparent,probably the most crowded willbe three days before the New Year2012,” said Chief of the SukawatiArt Market, I Nengah Namaar-tawa. (kmb)

Made Raditya Took Top HonorIBP

The inaugural Asian SurfingChampionships Awards were heldon Saturday evening December17th at the Wave House on SentosaIsland in Singapore to honor theAsian region’s first professionalsurfing champions, Singapore’s

the media partnership of the ASCwith the Outdoor Channel for 2012.The event was attended by over 100

-munity and various media.

It was a historical landmarkin the progression of Asian surf-

crowned as a result of competingin a multi-country and multi-event

circuit. The 2011 Asian SurfingChampionship circuit saw a totalof 9 events held in four countries,Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, andThailand.

22-year-old Made Raditya Rondifrom Bali Indonesia took top hon-ors as the champion in the OpenDivision, having won the Quik-silver Thailand Surf Competitionin Phuket last September, the RipCurl Surf & Music Festival in Baliin October, and just last week the

Billabong Cherating Pro in Ma-laysia. He is also the runner up on

Championship tour for 2011.

achieved was evident in his accep-tance speech, as he said, “Thankyou very much for this award, asthis is one of the biggest honors ofmy life so far, and I’ll always re-member this. I want to say thanks tomy sponsor Billabong and the ISCand ASC crews for making this allhappen, and I hope that next year

make more contests. Should be lotsof fun…thank you!”

Unfortunately 2011 ASC Long-board Champion Arip Nur Hidayatfrom West Java Indonesia was notpresent to receive his award, as hewas attending his brother’s wed-ding, but he was acknowledged inabsentia with a around of applause.Hidayat is also the 2011 IndonesianLongboard Champion.

In the Women’s Division it wasYasnyiar “Bonne” Gea from Suma-tra Indonesia who received theASCWomen’s Champion award, havingcompeted in all six women’s eventsand having won three of them. Shethanked her sponsor Billabong, her

-nity and the ASC for their support

in making it possible for her to beable to surf and to win this award.Gea is also 4-time and current Indo-nesian Women’s Champion.

Decha Sithidej is now Thailand’s

the Master’s Division (over 35 years-

pionships. It has only been in thelast several years that Thailand has

community, and it has grown rapidlyas a result. In his acceptance speech,Sithidej was liberal in his praise of

in Thailand, saying “Thanks to TipiJabrik and Tim Hain at the ASC forhelping and supporting us in Thai-land, without them this wouldn’t bepossible. Also big thanks to the crewat Quiksilver Thailand and to Joob

-tion and support. This award is onlypossible because of all of you, andI’m so proud to represent Thailand

After the ASC champions hadbeen called up together on the stagefor a group photo, ASC MediaDirector Tim Hain took the micro-phone and called on Mr. Kevin Simfrom MultichannelAsia to receive aplacard in appreciation of the ASCand Outdoor Channel agreementfor 2012.Courtesy of Tim Hain

Balinese Culture

9International Tuesday, December 20, 2011

UDANG PANTUNG KUNING(Lobster in Yellow Sauce)

OVERVIEW:A real gourmet treat from Bali, this could also be

made with huge prawns. In Bali, coconut chunks are roasted directly on charcoal, then the charred skin scrapped off and the flesh grated for making the coconut milk.

INGREDIENTS:4 sml lobsters, weighing about 500 gr each or 1 kg

large prawns5 cups water2 lemongrass, bruised2 fragrant lime leaves4 cups coconut milkfew drops white vinegarfried shallots to garnish

SPICE PASTE:5 red chilies, seeded and chopped3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped7 shallots, peeled and chopped5 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped5 cm ginger, peeled and chopped4 candlenuts1 ½ tsp coriander½ tsp dried shrimp paste toasted1 sml tomato, peeled and seeded2 tbsp oil1 ½ tbsp tamarind pulp1 salam leaf1 lemon grass, bruised

PREPARATION:Prepare spice paste by grinding or blending all

ingredients except oil, tamarind, salam leaf and lemongrass. Heat oil, add spice paste and all other ingredients. Cook over moderate heat for about 5 minutes, then cool.

Wash lobsters and leave whole. Bring water to the boil, add lobsters and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove lobsters, plunge in iced water for 1 minutes, then drain and remove meat. Return shells to the pot of water, keeping lobster meat aside.

Add spice paste, lemongrass, lime leaves and vinegar to the water with the shells and simmer until 4 cups of stock remain. Add coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain stock and return to pan. Add lobster and simmer for 1 minute. Serve garnished with fried shallots and accompanied by white rice.

Helpful hints:if using prawns instead of lobster, peel the raw

prawns and put prawns shells 4 cups of water. Simmer for 5 minutes, then combine this stock with coconut milk, prawns and all other ingredients, simmering until cooked. (www.baliguide.com/balifood)

Loving Udersea Nature

through photography

In the one-day workshop heldin the Latta Mahosadi Building ofISI Denpasar, Keith explained the

in taking the undersea pictures.On that account, Keith who is alsoa photographer presented variousimages he had taken from variousparts of the world, both SoutheastAsia and part of other continents.

Such a workshop was uniqueenough because it offered the in-tegration of marine conservationand artistic color or patternedtextures derived from nature. It

was intentionally highlighted inorder to become a learning op-portunity for students majoringin photography, especially thatof ISI Denpasar, where studentscould learn about photographyfrom the expert who was workingin the field. In addition, the work-shop was also very good for com-municating the environmentalissues to students through visualnarratives-based conservation.

Rector of ISI Denpasar, Prof.Dr. I Wayan Rai S, highly ap-preciated the implementation of

the workshop as an attempt tomake the photography coursesgo international. Meanwhile, theHead of Photography Study Pro-gram, I Komang Arba Wirawan,hoped the workshop could givelessons to love the natural en-vironment through the underseaphotography.

The activities were also ac-companied with the introductionof a German-graduated photogra-pher named Wiendi Winata whobriefly presented his portfolio.(BTN/015)

There are two things to consider in ta ing undersea pictures. irstly, it is related to the timelimit in diving, and then the ob ects must be willing to move closer to the photographer. Thesematters were conveyed by eith Ellenbogen, a lecturer of photography in The ew School forDesign, ew or ity, in the International Undersea or shop held in the Indonesia Instituteof Arts ISI Denpasar recently.

Tuesday, December 20, 201110 InternationalDestinations

IBP

Marine Sports are the exciting and fun seawater activities with great challenge for everyone who joins this sport. It offers variety of marine post activities from motor-ize until the manual one. It is one of the great seawater adventures in Bali giving the fantastic experience from every activity like Jet Ski, Banana Boat, Fly Fish, Snorkeling, Parasailing, Diving, Fishing, Glass Bottom Boat and Turtle Island Tour. The Marine Sport Packages are also available with attractive choice of sport activities and competitive prices.

Blue sea water without wave is the best venue for water sport activities. Bali own the beautiful place with the long white sandy beach located in Tanjung Benoa as a Marine Sport Center. It is located right in the Bali’s Peninsula, south part of the island and about 25 min-utes drive from Bali’s International Airport. It is just a step from Nusa

Dua, the elite resort area in Bali and featured by an easy way to reach it. Below are some water sport ac-tivities that you can try while you holidaying in Bali:

- Parasailing activity will bring you to the exciting experience by hook your self in airborne for a sec-ond and you will get free to enjoy the amazing view of the island from the over head. Beautiful scenery of the sea water is easily found by fly-ing like a bird with string more then 100 meter up makes this activity really unforgettable memory in our life. You can get Parasailing Adven-ture right now as your choice during your vacation in Bali Island.

- Snorkeling is a fantastic marine activity to over view the beautiful panorama of coral, colorful fishes and other unique marines life. This adventure will bring you the excit-ing experience with professional snorkeling guide who guide you the right snorkeling spot point. It

will take about one hour to explore and view beautiful underwater life which is completed safety equip-ment.

- Riding a motorized sea vehicle will get different experience and the fresh sea breeze will swirl your hair. Fun riding on the blue water with the combination of jet Drive Power up to 700 cc and personal water craft will result pure excitement.

- Gathering Banana Boat ride is the most enjoyable experience. It thrills for all and feels like kids ride over the ocean with blue seawater and big long soft marshmallow. It is a fantastic group game on the seawater which bring you to the exciting experience on your vaca-tion in Bali.

- Water Ski is one of the exciting Marine Sport Activities by gliding on the seawater at Tanjung Benoa Beach which is famous with Bali Marine Sport Center. This adven-

ture uses water ski board and pulled by the power boat to surround the beautiful white sandy beach area.

- Fly Fish is the newest marine sport activity by riding a flat rub-ber boat which is pulled by a speed boat. It flies to dash against the wind sweeping that it real fly on the seawater. It is a great adventure by flying like fish jumping on the seawater with high boat speed.

- The tour will use the Glass Bot-tom Boat to explore the submarine of Benoa sea and stop for 15 min-utes to observe the colorful fishes of under water and just seat down on the boat you can see many kinds of fishes from the bottom glass. The journey will be extended to Turtle island where the local people take care and grow the turtle up. Get this place by boat and see the beautiful of white sandy beach.

Water Sport Activities

IBP/Net

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 11

BUSINESSInternational

ReutersConsumers spent $30.9 billion toward online pur-

chases during the current holiday season, a 15 percentincrease from the year-ago period, as shoppers tookadvantage of free shipping and other online deals, ac-cording to comScore.

comScore also said spending has reached a cre-scendo for this season and will begin to slow asChristmas nears.

Sales surpassed $1 billion on four days during thework week of December 12-16, said comScore, a

“Free shipping is undoubtedly one of the mostimportant incentives for consumers and has becomea key driver of online buying activity over the pastfew years,” comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said

in a statement.comScore said “Cyber Monday” has become the

top-ranked shopping day for the second year in arow.

purchase items with their work computers.J.C. Penney and other department stores, including

Kohl’s Corp and Macy’s, used Facebook a lot morethis year to attract online shoppers.

J.C. Penney released its Black Friday deals on Fa-cebook, allowing customers to browse the promotions,create shareable wish lists and send tips to friends.

46 days of the November-December 2011 holidayseason.

Associated Press

DUBAI — Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says he and his investment companyare investing a combined $300 million into the microblogging site Twitter.

Alwaleed said Monday the jointinvestment with his Kingdom Hold-ing Company represents an interestin investing “in promising, high-growth businesses with a globalimpact.”

Twitter allows users to send shortmessages of up to 140 characters. Ithas been instrumental in connectingprotesters and relaying on-the-ground developments during thisyear’s Arab Spring uprisings.

Alwaleed’s KHC is a majorshareholder in Citigroup and holdsstakes in other large stakes in otherwestern giants, including Appleand Rupert Murdoch’s News Cor-poration.

Saudi prince invests $300

million in TwitterReuters

BRUSSELS - The euro zone willtackle its debt crisis this week by of-fering more cash to the IMF and long-term liquidity to banks, while moving

agencyFitchcastdoubton its capacityto respond decisively.

“We all know that Europe has notbeen able to convince markets that itsgovernance set-up and its measuresagainst thecrisiswereenough,” ItalianDeputy Economy Minister VittorioGrilli said in a newspaper interviewpublished Sunday.

“More integration and more effec-tive instrumentsareneeded.Wearenotyet there,” he told Il Sole 24 Ore.

In Singapore, spot silver fell twopercent to $29.08 an ounce earlyMonday amid a broad retreat in com-modities and equities in reaction tothe warning by Fitch that it mightdowngrade France and six other eurozone countries.

The euro also fell in Asia on con-cern about progress toward resolvingthe euro zone’s debt crisis. The eurowas down 0.3 percent at $1.3004.

Euro zone leaders agreed on De-cember 9 to write into national con-stitutions a rule that budgets have tobe balanced or in surplus in structuralterms. If they are not, automatic cor-rective measures would follow.

Such rules would sharply limitgovernment borrowing, bring downdebt and, euro zone politicians hope,help restoremarket trust in thesustain-

But constitutional changes willtake a year or more and markets wantreassurance now that money investedin euro zone debt is safe, especiallyafter banks were asked to accept a 50percent loss on their Greek bonds inOctober as part of a second bailout ofthe country which sparked the debtcrisis.

European leaders have belatedlyinsisted that theGreekcasewasuniqueand did not set a precedent.

To address market concerns thatthey do not have enough money to

and Spain, euro zone leaders broughtforward by one year to July 2012 thelaunchof their500billioneuroperma-nent bailout fund.

ECB President Mario Draghi toldMonday’s Financial Times that eurozonepoliticiansneeded tomovefast tomake theEuropeanFinancialStabilityFund(EFSF)operational, asanydelaywould end up raising the cost.

Euro zone leaders also agreed tooffer150billioneuros inbilateral loans

capacity. Up to 50 billion euros moremight come from non-euro zone Eu-ropean countries and possibly morefrom outside Europe.

discussataMondayteleconferencethe

There are still doubts about thisscheme. Germany’s Bundesbank saidlast week it would only contributeif non-euro zone and non-Europeancountries did too and the level of out-side commitment is not clear.

Ministerswill alsodiscussMondaythe voting method in the euro zone’spermanent bailout fund, the EuropeanStability Mechanism (ESM).

Leaders decided on December 9to abolish unanimity in ESM votingto prevent small countries blockingmajor decisions.

Finland objects to the change, be-cause to accept it the Finnish govern-ment would have to have a two thirdsmajority in parliament, which it doesnot have.

German Finance Minister Wolf-gang Schaeuble tried to show hisbacking for the permanent bailoutmechanism in an interview publishedMonday, by saying his country maypay its full contribution to the mecha-nism next year.

“It is clear that the sooner and themore paid-in capital the ESM has, the

-kets,” regional paper Rheinische PostDuesseldorf quoted him as saying.“My priority is to create trust.”

Leaders will decide in March if thecombined lendingcapacityof the tem-poraryfund, the440billioneuroEFSF,and theESM,shouldbecappedat500billion euros, or raised by the amountalready spent by the EFSF.

“It is clear that in the short term, to

the bailout instruments, such as theEFSF and ESM funds, must be rein-forced,” Italy’s Grilli said.

Italy’s austerity budget, vital forRome’s attempts to get its accountsin order and do its part to try to save

stretch this week with unions still onthe warpath.

Market response to theDecember9summithasbeencool,mainlybecauseof the reluctance of the EuropeanCentral Bank to step up euro zonebond purchases and declare its readi-ness to do so.

Eurozone to pursue crisis action, Fitch doubts outcome

Online holiday spending rises 15 percent

AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Holiday Christmas shoppers and others walk down a busy shopping street in Antwerp, Bel-gium, on Sunday Dec. 18, 2011. Consumers spent $30.9 billion toward online purchases during the current holiday season, a 15 percent increase from the year-ago period, as shoppers took advantage of free shipping and other online deals, according to comScore.

Entertainment InternationalTuesday, December 20, 201112

The first movie opened over Christ-mas weekend, one of the busiest times for movie theaters. Distributor Warner Bros. predicts the “Holmes” sequel, which pits Downey’s detective against archrival Professor Moriarty, will make up the lost ground over the holidays.

“The pattern is different,” said Dan Fellman, the studio’s head of distribu-tion. “What you can put in the bank those nine days before the official Christmas

play time, that’s the difference between our opening with a bigger number on Christmas day and opening early this time. At the end of the holiday period, we should be in the same place.”

The “Holmes” sequel opened in six overseas markets, including the detective’s native Britain, and took in $14.7 million to bring its worldwide total to $54.7 million. After two previ-ous weekends that were Hollywood’s

worst of the year, overall business was down again, about 12 percent lower than the same weekend in 2010 as Hollywood struggles to interest audi-ences in its big year-end releases.

Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, estimated that the number of tickets sold domestically in 2011 will come in below 1.3 billion. That would be the lowest attendance since 1995, when admissions totaled 1.26 billion. Domestic attendance in modern times peaked at 1.6 billion in 2002 and has been on a generally decline since.

“These low-attendance numbers are taking the gas out of the tank,” Dergarabedian said. “All the mo-mentum we had kind of came to a dead stop.”

Associated Press Writer

BEIJING — “Batman” star Christian Bale, in the midst of promoting a film he made in China that some critics have called propaganda, was physically stopped by government-backed guards from visiting a blind activist living under house arrest — with a CNN crew in tow to record the scuffle. CNN posted footage of the confrontation on its website Friday.

The run-in and publicity is likely to cause discomfort in China’s government-backed film industry, which hopes Bale’s movie “The Flowers of War” will be a creative success at home and abroad. The star’s actions are sure to focus attention on the plight of Chen Guangcheng, guarded around the clock by burly, aggressive security men who have blocked dozens of reporters and fellow activists trying to see him in the past.

Bale was to leave China on Friday and his representatives could not immediately be reached for comment. Bale, who won a best supporting actor Oscar for last year’s “The Fighter,” traveled Thursday with a crew from CNN to the village in eastern China where Chen, the blind lawyer, lives with his family in complete isolation. They were stopped at the entrance to Dongshigu village in Shandong province by unidentified men.

The video footage shows Bale asking to see Chen, with a CNN producer providing interpretation, but being ordered by one of the guards to leave. He then asked why he was unable to pass through. The guards responded by trying to grab or punch a small video camera Bale was carrying.

“What I really wanted to do was to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is,” Bale was quoted as saying by CNN. Chen’s case has been raised pub-licly by U.S. lawmakers and diplomats, including Secretary of State Hil-lary Rodham Clinton, all to no response from China.

CNN said Bale first learned of Chen from news reports when he was in China filming “The Flowers of War,” China’s official submis-sion this year for best for-eign language film Oscar. “Chen Guangcheng is a newsworthy figure ... and as such it is in the interest of CNN’s global viewers to hear from him,” CNN said in a statement.

Reuters

NEW YORK - Madonna inked a deal with Interscope Records that will allow the label run by Jimmy Iovine to release the albums that were originally contracted to Live Nation Entertain-ment under an ambitious deal that appears to be shrinking in scope.

She plans to release her first album for Interscope next month, first studio album in five years.

A source familiar with the deal’s terms said it could be worth between $20 million and $40 million for Ma-donna and Live Nation combined.

Madonna walked away from a 24-year relationship with Warner Music

Group to sign a broad $120 million 10-year deal with Live Nation Enter-tainment that encompassed touring, ticketing, merchandise, digital assets and three albums.

At the time Live Nation executives had privately predicted its Madonna deal was a sign of a change in the struggling recorded music business that would eventually make traditional music labels irrelevant. It also signed hip-hop artist Jay-Z and rockers Nick-elback to similar multi-year so-called ‘360 degree deals’.

But Live Nation’s concert and tick-eting business has been hit by the wider economic downturn and sources said the company needs major labels after

all to get the marketing and distribution heft required to promote major artists like Madonna and Jay-Z.

Since Live Nation did the deal with Madonna in October 2007 its shares have fallen more than 60 percent. In Feb 2010 it closed its deal to merge with the world’s large ticketing com-pany Ticketmaster after a year-long regulatory inquiry.

Madonna is kicking off her Inter-scope relationship with an album set for release in the last week in January ahead of her upcoming halftime ap-pearance at the Super Bowl on Feb 5. The 53-year old singer also plans to release her new movie ‘W.E’ on Feb 3.

Madonna inks Interscope deal, new album in January

AP Photo/Andy Wong

In this photo taken on Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, English actor Christian Bale speaks to journalists during an interview on the red carpet as he arrives for an event of the Zhang Yimou-directed new movie “The Flowers of War” in Beijing, China.

‘Batman’ star Bale tries to visit China activist

AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Daniel Smith

In this image released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Jared Harris portraying Professor James Moriarty, left, and Robert Downey Jr., portraying Sherlock Holmes, are shown in a scene from “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Downey dips, ‘Sherlock’ slips with $40M debutAssociated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — Sherlock Holmes is facing his worst enemy: declin-ing crowds at theaters as this year’s domestic movie attendance dips to the lowest in 16 years. Robert Downey Jr.’s sequel “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” debuted on top with a $40 million weekend, off 36 percent from the first installment’s $62.3 million opening two years ago, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Life Style Tuesday, December 20, 2011 13International

Citywide pollution sensors routinely register levels of small airborne particles at two or some-times three times its own sanctioned level for resi-dential areas, putting New Delhi up with Beijing, Cairo and Mexico City at the top of indexes listing the world’s most-polluted capitals.

Sunrises in India’s capital filter through near-opaque haze, scenic panoramas feature ribbons of brown air and everywhere, it seems, someone is coughing.

“My family is very worried. Earlier, the smoke and dust stayed outside, but now it comes into the house,” said 61-year-old shopkeeper Hans Raj Wadhawan, a one-time smoker now being treated for chronic obstruc-tive pulmonary disease at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute. “I can see the air is bad again, and I can feel it in my chest.”

New Delhi could lay some of the blame on its own success. Its recently minted middle class

adds 1,200 cars a day to the 6 million on roads already snarled with incessantly honking traffic. Generous diesel subsidies promote the use of diesel-powered SUVs that belch some of the highest levels of carcinogenic particles, thanks to their reliance on one of the dirtiest-burning fuels and low Indian emissions standards.

“The city has lost nearly all of the gains it made in 2004 and 2005,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research at the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment.

New Delhi has undergone head-spinning expansion as Indian economic reforms in the 1990s ushered in two decades of record growth. Once a manageable capital of 9.4 million where cows, bicycles and bullock carts ruled the road, New Delhi today is a gridlocked metropolis and migrant mecca now home to 16 million.

Agance France Presse

US researchers said Monday they have discovered how to keep tumor cells alive in the lab, generating buzz in the scientific com-munity about a potential breakthrough that could transform cancer treatment.

Until now, scientists have been unable to make cancer cells thrive for very long in the labo-ratory in a condition that resembles the way they look and act in the body. Doctors have largely relied on biopsied tissue that is frozen or set in wax to diagnose and recommend treatment.

The advance has sparked new hope that someday doctors may be able to test a host of cancer-killing drugs on a person’s own tumor cells in the lab, before returning to the patient with a therapy that is likely to be a good match. “This would really be the ultimate in person-

alized medicine,” said lead author Richard Schlegel, chairman of the department of pa-thology at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“The therapies would be exactly from their tissues. We would get normal tissue and tumor tissue from a particular patient and specifically match up their therapies,” Schlegel told AFP. “We are really excited about the possibilities of testing what we can do with this.”

The method, described in the online edi-tion of the American Journal of Pathology, borrows on a simple method used in stem cell research, experts said. Lung, breast, prostate and colon cancers were kept alive for up to two years using the technique, which combines fibroblast feeder cells to keep cells alive and a Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor

that allows them to reproduce.

When treated with the duo, both cancer and normal cells re-verted to a “stem-like state,” Schlegel said, allowing researchers to compare the liv-ing cells directly for the first time. The two elements have previously been used separately in stem cell research, accord-ing to Yale University pathology professor David Rimm, who wrote a commentary that accompanies the article.

Agence France Presse

The discovery of a supernova only hours after its explosion has probably solved a long-standing mystery on the origin of the brightest known phenomena in the Universe, scientists reported Wednesday. On August 24, scientists witnessed the spectacular eruption of light and energy thrown off by the birth of SN 2011fe, the brightest and -- at a mere 20.9 million light years away -- closest-to-Earth supernova in over 25 years.

One light year is the distance that light travels in 365 Earth days, about 9.46 trillion kilometres or 5.87 trillion miles. “We caught the supernova just 11 hours after it exploded, so soon that we were later able to calculate the actual moment of the explosion within 20 minutes,” said Peter Nugent of the US Law-rence Berkeley National Laboratory and lead

author of one of two studies, both published in Nature.

“With this close-up look, we found things nobody had dreamed of,” he said in a state-ment. Brightness thrown off by the violent stellar blast of type 1a supernovas is the yard-stick for measuring distances across space.

This was crucial in this year’s Nobel Prize winning discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating and not slowing down, as once thought. Up to now, astrono-mers had advanced three competing scenarios to explain the origin of 1a supernovas, rare events that only happen once every couple of hundred years in a galaxy such as our own.

In all three, a so-called white dwarf -- an ageing star in decline -- steals matter, and energy, from a companion star until the white dwarf explodes in a flash a billion times brighter than our Sun.

Delhi’s air as dirty as ever despite some reforms

Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI — A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi’s answer to pollution. But air in the Indian capital is as dirty as ever — partly because breakneck development has brought skyrocketing use of cars.

AP Photo/Saurabh Das

In this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 photo, India Gate, the war memorial, is seen through haze in New Delhi, India. A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi’s answer to pollution.

supernova riddle

The host galaxy of the

supernova SN 2011fe,

the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), is seen before

the superno-va’s explosion by the Hubble

Space Tele-scope (R).

AFP Photo/Bj Fulton

US breakthrough in live cancer cells

AFP Photo/Sandy Huffaker

File illustration photo shows a dish of stem cell cultures in a lab. US researchers said Monday they have discovered how to keep tumor cells alive in a lab, generating buzz in the scientific community about a potential breakthrough that could transform cancer treatment.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 14 InternationalSport

slick counter-attack in the 74th min-ute to give Udinese, who began theseason hoping to avoid relegation,a draw in an entertaining match.Antonio Floro Flores had openedthe scoring for Udinese in the 28thminute before Lazio replied eitherside of halftime through Senad Lu-lic and an own goal from Damiano

Klose’s shot into the net.AS Roma put recent internal

problems behind them and won 3-1at Champions League contendersNapoli, who are struggling to com-pete on two fronts. An early owngoal by Napoli goalkeeper MorganDe Sanctis put Roma on course andPablo Osvaldo added the secondjust before the hour. Marek Hamsikpulled one back before Fabio Sim-plicio completed the scoring.

Andrea Ranocchia’s second-halfgoalgaveClaudioRanieri’s Inter their

Cesena,althoughtheyweresomewhatlucky as the Sea Horses had most ofthe play and chances. Parma scored

3-3 with Lecce, Genoa beat Bologna2-1andCataniaovercamePalermo2-0in Sunday afternoon’s other games.

Juventus are on 33 points, two

went top with a 2-0 home win overSiena on Saturday, and Udinese.Lazio have 29 and Inter 23. Quagli-arella, who has a knack of scoringspectacular goals, last hit the netagainst Chievo on Dec 19 last yearbut shortly afterwards suffered aknee ligament injury which ruledhim out for the rest of last season.

“This is the cherry on the cake,”the Italy international told Juve’swebsite (www.juventus.com). “Ithasn’t been easy in the last monthsbut I’ve always felt I had the back-ing of the coach and the team.”

Alessandro Del Piero wasgiven a rare start this season forJuventus who needed only fourminutes to break the deadlock andPepe turned in Paolo De Ceglie’slow cross at the far post. Domi-nating the game, Juve missed ahatful of chances before Quagli-arella headed in from a cornerwith 15 minutes left.

Quagliarella

Reuters

who stayed unbeaten this season after games and went two points clear of titleholders A

AP Photo/Massimo Pinca

Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio, left, kicks the ball past Novara’s Francesco Marianini during a Serie A soccer match at the Juventus stadium in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Dec.18, 2011.

Reuters

LONDON - David Silva restored Manchester City’s two-point leadin the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday afterWayne Rooney had helped Manchester United go top with a lightningheader. Silva’s 53rd-minute tap-in at the far post from close range,after Wojciech Szczesny parried a fierce shot by Mario Balotelli andSergio Aguero nodded on the rebound, condemned the Gunners to a1-0 defeat in an end-to-end thriller at the Etihad.

While Arsenal proved tough nuts to crack in freezing Manchester,where the Londoners posed a constant threat, United were 1-0 upafter just 52 seconds at promoted Queens Park Rangers thanks toRooney’s diving effort.

Michael Carrick followed up his England team mate’s 12th leaguegoal of the season with his first in nearly two years for United tosettle the scoreline at 2-0. City have 41 points from 16 matches, withUnited on 39.

Tottenham Hotspur kept up the pressure, beating Sunderland 1-0at White Hart Lane to take third place on 34 points with a game inhand on the leaders. Roman Pavlyuchenko grabbed the winner inthe 61st.

Chelsea, who drew 1-1 at relegation-threatened Wigan Athleticon Saturday, fell to fourth on 32 points with Arsenal fifth on 29 andahead of Liverpool, 2-0 winners at Aston Villa, on goal difference.

AP Photo/Tim Hales

Manchester City’s David Silva, right, celebrates after scoring a goal against Bayern Munich during their Champions League group A soccer match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 15International Sport

IBP/afp

Amir Khan reacts after losing against Lamont Peterson during the Capital Showdown: Khan v Peterson WBA/IBF World light-welterweight title bout at Washington Convention Center on December 10, in Washington, DC.

Khan was penalised twopoints by referee Joe Cooperfor pushing -- charges that theEnglishman denied.

But on Sunday the Interna-tional Boxing Federation (IBF)said they were happy with thedecision taken by the referee.

“We found no discrepanciesthat would affect the outcomeor the result of the fight,”IBF championships chairmanLindsay Tucker was quoted bythe BBC.

“We decided not to order

an immediate rematch on thebasis of the fact that in therules, if the referee feels thatit’s a foul, then that’s his call totake a point. He did warn Khanseveral times before he actually

Khan said after the majoritydecision defeat in Washingtonthat he felt robbed of a rightfultriumph and has put his plansto move up to the welterweight

rematch against the American.Cooper deducted points from

Khan for pushing in the seventhand 12th rounds and those

where two judges saw Petersona 113-112 winner and the thirdgave it to Khan 115-100.

“It was like I was in thereagainst two people, the refereeand Lamont,” Khan said.

“I had to push him awaybecause he was coming in solow with his head. There wasnothing I could do. It was eitherpush him away or get head-butted.”

Khan loses appeal over Peterson lossAgence France Presse

REUTERS/Tim Chong

Australia’s Ian Thorpe looks at the results board after competing in his men’s 100m butterfly heat during the FINA Swimming World Cup in Singapore November 5, 2011.

Reuters

MELBOURNE - Five-times Olym-pic champion Ian Thorpe has dismissedconcerns about his underwhelmingreturn to the pool as “premature”, afterdisappointing at another meeting inItaly over the weekend.

in the 100 meters freestyle at the Ital-ian Winter Open in Riccione, then 10thin the 200m, with times well short ofwhat he would need to qualify for theAustralian team at the Olympic trialsin March.

“It’s important that I race, whetherit’s a good result or a bad result, I haveto keep racing at this stage,” the 29-year-old was quoted as saying by TheAustralian newspaper on Monday.

“But whether it’s the 100 or the 200,racing still feels unfamiliar to me. Itdoesn’t feel like I know how to do ityet. But I race again in three weeks (atthe Victorian titles), and each time I

race, things come back. I’m happy withhow I raced.

“I don’t look at where I come in therace. I look at the time, how fast it is. Iwatch it, I critique my race after it butI have no control of what the others aredoing. It’s not a concern now, maybelater, but now it’s too premature.”

Thorpe, Australia’s most successfulOlympian, announced his comeback in

since struggled at short-course meetingsin Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo.

National head coach Leigh Nugentalso warned against writing off theswimmer nicknamed “Thorpedo”.

-eryone has an opinion,” Nugent said.“Often most of them are ill-informed,so we’ll just keep doing what we aredoing.

“We’re not looking for a result now,

then looking for a result in London,which is a fair way off yet.”

Thorpe dismisses comeback concerns

Agence France Presse

Former Fulham and Monaco boss Jean Tigana saidSunday his move to coach Chinese Super League sideShanghai Shenua was not about money but about “sportand life”.

at Shenua, after the Chelsea striker last week agreedto a two-year deal starting in January worth a reported

£200,000 ($313,000) a week.“I have been lucky to coach in England and Turkey,

and this will be an incredible adventure -- another culture,another nationality”, Tigana said at a news conference inShanghai.

Tigana will be one of China’s most respected coachesalongside Shenzhen Ruby’s Philippe Troussier and Take-shi Okada, who took Japan to the knockout stages of lastyear’s World Cup in South Africa.

The signing of Anelka, 32, was by far the biggest coup-

ished 11th last season.“He is a quality player he will be an advantage to the

club,”, Tigana said of the ex-Arsenal and Real Madridman.

Tigana played alongside French football great MichelPlatini for the national side and went on to coach at Lyon,Monaco, Fulham and Besiktas. He quit his job at Bordeauxin France in May after a disappointing run of results.

Tigana insists China move not about money

Tuesday, December 20, 201116 SportI N T E R N A T I O N A L

With tougher crash test regulations in place for next year, allied to a two-week gap between the first and second test, it had been expected that a number of outfits could choose to delay the launch of their new cars to make the most of extra development time.

However, McLaren’s announcement that the MP4-27 will be ready for the opening test at Jerez, which takes place from February 7-10, means the team follows Fer-rari and Red Bull Racing in opting to get running as early as possible. Mercedes GP is the only frontrunning outfit so far to reveal that it is deliberately missing the first test to instead launch its new car at the second test at Barcelona, which runs from February 21. Team principal Ross Brawn said earlier this year that he had no qualms about that decision.

“At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year,” he said. “As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing.

“We believe that the decision to run the car at the sec-ond winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme with F1 W03.”

SILVERSTONE has re-ceived planning permission for its ‘masterplan’, the latest stage in its major revamp programme. Recent years have seen the track layout heavily revised, and a new pit and paddock complex constructed between Club and Abbey, where the start/finish straight is now located.

The masterplan stage will see the addition of a new business park, technology park, education campus, three hotels, plus new spectator and leisure facilities.

Richard Phillips, managing director of Silverstone Hold-ings Ltd, hailed the planning

approval as a major moment in the circuit’s history.

“We are delighted with the outcome and approval of this planning application - this is the most important initiative that Silverstone has taken in its 60-year history as the Home of British Motor Rac-ing,” he said.

“This planning will help maintain Silverstone’s posi-tion as a leading global centre for sport, leisure, education and technology and retain its position as a world-leading motorsport destination.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank both

Aylesbury Vale and South Northamptonshire Councils, for the way in which the two

planning authorities have worked together on this ap-plication.”

Silverstone’s ‘masterplan’ gets planning approval

REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button of Britain drives during the first practice session of the Brazil-ian F1 Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo November 25, 2011.

crash testwo-week gexpected the launchvelopmenLaren’s anr the openuary 7-10

rari and Red Bull Racingearly as possible. Mercede

McLaren will be ready McLaren will have its new car ready for the first test of 2012, after the team confirmed on Monday it will be launched on 1 February.