Edisi 23 Desember 2011 | International Bali Post

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16 Pages Number 64th Year

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DENPASAR

JAKARTA

BANDUNG

YOGYAKARTA

SURABAYA

Continued on page 6

PAGE 12

PAGE 8

Cowell backsAmaro to win‘The X Factor’

Bali womenasked to be smartin utilizingopportunities

The dialog coordinated by Mataram Journalist Association (Kawan) which is the combination of Western Nusa Tenggara Jour-nalist Association (PWI), Alliance

of Independent Journalist (AJI), Television Journalist Association (IJTI) and Multimedia Journalist Association (Perwami).

The dialog was attended by the

Head of Indonesian Press Coun-cil , Prof. Dr. Bagir Manan and other elements of journalism. It discussed the violence happened to the journalist in Western Nusa

Tenggara and Papua and also the lawsuit face by Bali Post

Bagir Manan urged all journal-ists to stay together. “There is a certain feeling that we are from the same community,” he added. However, during his time leading the press council, there are some cases that show the differences among the press members.

Associated Press

JAKARTA — Search teams say bodies from an overcrowded ship that sank off Indonesia over the weekend have started to show up in waters off the popular resort island of Bali.

The vessel — carrying 250 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran — capsized after being slammed by a huge wave in stormy weather. Only 49 people are known to have survived.

Sutrisno, a rescue official, says that 86 bloated corpses have been plucked from the sea so far, many of them carried as many as 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the capsize site by swift currents, including 13 found Thursday off Bali. A 7-year-old boy was among them. The Indonesian archipelago’s thousands of miles (kilometers) of unpatrolled coastline make it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.

IBP/Suara NTB

Chief of Indonesia’s Press Council Bagir Manan signed the press independence petition after a discussion that held in Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

IBP/Eka Adhiyasa

Indonesian Search Team personnel wrap up the body of a victim of the sinking of the ship that carries asylum seekers. The body was found in Mengening Beach, Cemagi, Badung Regency on Thursday, December 22, 2011. Search teams say bodies from an overcrowded ship that sank off Indonesia over the weekend have started to show up in waters off the popular resort island of Bali.

Bodies from sunken vessel found off Bali

Bagir Manan:

Freedom of Press is threatenThe activities in the press are not enough to be stated as a profession and industrial but

there is a greater community in it which combines many concepts to fight for the freedom of press. Ina broader definition, press as a large community must stay together in facing anything including intimidation. That came up to the surface in the “Press Freedom Dialog” in Jayakarta Hotel in Senggigi, Lombok on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

InternationalFriday, December 23, 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

It was explained the robbery happened around 5 am local time where Komang Ardi was on duty.

Suzuki APV car wearing hats which four of them went in and the one waiting outside. While pretend-ing shopping, one of them asked Komang where the drinks are and before he answered a crescent was

-

that’s in the drawer,” witness Gede Genjek, worker of Para Mortor, imitated the robber.

Komang couldn’t do anything,

-berry phones. Robbers then went

and Komang reported it to the po-lice straight after. Witness explained

from the CCTV. “This Circle K is also owned by the same owner of Para Motor named Pak Lesmana Putra,” Genjek explained.

Meanwhile Head of Denpasar Police, GPC Suryanbodo Asmoro when asked for confirmation

yet he explained there was also a robbery at a house estate. “What’s known there are three mobile phones taken yet there’s still un-clear information about it. We’re

concluded. (kmb21)

Mangupura (Bal I Post) –

Jimbaran Hijau Company, agreeing

facilities during APEC Conference 2013 yet in other hand the farmers are exclaiming this recommendation

them out. The internal general assembly at

dozens of farmers under Tani Dompa group led by Nengah Netra tried to join the meeting. Not allowed so, farmers only could put up three big banners in front of the meeting room

entering about their fate. The recom-

-ence area and made it as a united area.

-

PT Jimbaran Hijau as the manager

as regulated, applying Tri Hita Karana concept, sourcing locals potential also using human resources from locals,

including building a training center, -

ing healthy and balanced nature also

if there are social problems with the

The second and third point from the recommendation plan became the most debated as such as members I Putu Alit Yandinata, I Gusti Anom Gumanti, Wayan Puspa Negara and I Made Dharma asked for second point to be deleted as it is stating regional

as regulated. To them this is risky

seemed to recommend this to the ex-

out of line because the recommenda-tion is for PT Jimbaran Hijau, not the

Suyasa, I Ketut Luki, Ketut Suda Arsa and Puspa Negara also graded the

again as Suyasa thinks there is no

“There is something wrong, why in

to produce a recommendation? What is this?” Suyasa questioned.

Nyoman Giri Prasta, keep on stress-

ing that the recommendation has been done rightly and the recommendation is not a law tool that can be a guide

to remind them so the process is as regulated. “With the recommendation out, doesn’t mean it is done as if there are problems to the people it can be discussed in the next meeting such as the farmers outside now (demonstrat-

be an agenda after the recommenda-tion is produced,” Prasta explained in a high note.

The same statement was also stated by the Vice Head, I Ketut Suiasa, stating recommendation

out permit as regulated. Meanwhile Nengah Netra requested representa-

-tion as he is worried that would be a

he questions Jero Wacik’s Letter of Authority towards PT Jimbaran Hi-

like a corruption. Netra dmitted will question about this letter of author-

are arrogant as until this time they

Dompa Group. (kmb25)

Robbers attack Circle K, IDR 5.5 Million Gone

Denpasar (Bali Post)—

of New Year, many people play

cannon which do not only disturb the comfort and tranquility, but also

--

works and bamboo cannon can be

Wayan Hitayana, 10, a resident from Ketewel Gianyar. Due to playing bamboo cannon, the primary school student had to be rushed to Sanglah Hospital as suffering from burns almost on the entire body.

Met in the Emergency Room of Sanglah Hospital, Wednesday

Ketut Ayu, told that disaster to his

around 10:00 a.m. Local time. On that morning, Hitayana was playing bamboo cannon with his brother and some friends.

To produce an explosion, Hi-tayana and his friends used carbide and gasoline. “When lighting on the wick, his bamboo cannon suddenly exploded so that my son exposed to splashes of gasoline and got ignited

the front of his body and his friends

was then rushed to Premagana Hospital before being referred to Sanglah Hospital on Wednesday

(san)

Playing bamboo cannon,

Denpasar (Bali Post)-The 24 minimarkets are back being a target to robbers

such as last Wednesday (21/12) the Circle K at Letda Made Putra Street got IDR 5 million cash and two mobile phones owned by the worker taken. The case is now being investi-gated by police and it is known that the act was captured by CCTV placed by Para Motor, a secondhand car showroom located next to the crime scene.

IBP/eka

One of the member of Bali HOuse of Representative pass by infront of the banner placed by farm-ers from Jimbaran regarding the rejection of Bali International Park project

Badung House or Representatives ‘let in’ Bali International Park

3International Bali News Friday, December 23, 2011

Amlapura (Bali Post)—Compound wall in the area

of SMPN 4 junior high schoolat Datah Abang, Abang, Karan-gasem, collapsed a few daysago due to flooding. No fatali-ties or injuries occurred in theincident. When the wall alongsome 25 meters with a height ofabout three meters, said Head-master of SMPN 4, I NengahRai, Wednesday (Dec 21) inKarangasem, the teachers andstudents had left school.

Moreover, the collapsedarea was far enough from theteacher’s office or classroom.The collapsed wall happenedup to the base. Aside frombeing unable to withstand theload of land and water due

to the flooding during heavyrains , there was no seweraround the old wall. Accord-ing to Nengah Rai, his partyhad submitted a report on thecollapse of compound wall ofthe only SMPN at Datah toHeadman of Datah, NyomanSweta and Subdistrict Head ofAbang, Wayan Ardika.

Previously, he had consultedthe matter with the Head ofKarangasem Education Agency,I Gede Ariyasa, and he was ad-vised to submit a report on thecollapsed wall due to natural di-saster of heavy rain and flood-ing. He expected the compoundwall could get an immediatehandling, for example throughnatural disaster funding.

Apart from the collapsedcompound wall, some doorlocks of the school build-ings were also damaged. Asconsequence, several roomswere forced to remain openand unlocked. Additionally, heexpected such damage wouldalso get additional funding forrepairs, so the school suppliesstored inside became more se-cure. He also said that currentlythe school got a direct appoint-ment project for the parapet ofschool yard. The school areaneeded some parapets becauseit was situated on hillside sothe school area terraced. Ex-pectedly, the parapets couldstrengthen the foundation ofschool buildings.

“Meanwhile, the producer isthe community where the smallcommunity in general can onlyobtain its seepage. The com-munity can only enjoy a smallfraction of the tourism benefits,”said Deputy of Bank IndonesiaDenpasar, Gde Made Sadguna,in Denpasar, Wednesday (Dec21).

He said that developing theeco-tourism was also intended toprovide more options of touristattractions and tourist objects.The tourism concept based onnature, culture and spiritual wasunique because it could meet thedesires of tourists visiting Baliselectively. Moreover, manyvisitors coming to Bali todayalso wished to luxuriate in sucha package.

“The package is very appro-priate to be applied in the tour-ism village where the tourismvillage has had what travelerslook for, such as natural beauty,culture and religious ceremo-nies,” he said.

According to him, as the cen-tral bank, Bank Indonesia (BI)had a mandate to equally realizethe noble ideals, namely creatinghigh economic growth and pro-viding wider job opportunities.Therefore, BI Denpasar wouldlike to develop the tourism con-cept based on nature as well asBalinese spiritual and culture.

He explained that develop-

ment of the concept would beundertaken by facilitating theestablishment of tourism villagein the area having potential asa tourism area. He did hope thedevelopment of tourism villagewould become one of the alter-native travel options for tourists.Additionally, it could also enrichthe existing tourism productsoffered by Bali. By doing so, iftourism village could be realized,people’s income would increaseand at the same time it wouldsustain the national economicgrowth.

“High economic growth, lowinflation and wide job opportuni-ties that can be realized will makethe economic growth sustain-able,” he said.

Similarly, Sadguna hopedthat all parties had to have thesame perception, conception andcommitment to realize the Balitourism as expected together.“Any kind of tourism should bedeveloped. However, it shouldnot be deviated from the conceptof tourism, namely tourism forthe community, not communityfor tourism,” he said.

Meanwhile, another speaker,I Made Subaga Wirya, said theconcept of eco-tourism had to beaccepted first by the local com-munity. “There should be a claritywhich party should run and beresponsible for the program,” hesaid.

Semarapura (Bali Post)—Many ways can be undertaken

by human beings to maintain thesafety of universe from disasters,both material and spiritual efforts.Such ritual will be held in WatuKlotok Temple, Klungkung fall-ing on the black moon of the sixthmonth in Balinese calendar or onSaturday (Dec 24). It is called BumiSudha ritual meant to anticipatenegative things that can harm thesociety and nature. On the sameday, a similar ritual will also be heldin Batur Temple, Kintamani, Bangliand Besakih Temple, Karangasem.This matter was revealed by SectionHead of Ceremony, Dewa Ketut

-tion, Wednesday (Dec 21).

He mentioned the Bumi Sudharitual would be held in response tomany problems occurred recently.They did not only take place in Bali,but also in various regions acrossIndonesia, even in all parts of theworld. Those disasters comprisedfloods, earthquakes, landslides,and other diseases. “Bumi Sudharitual itself is held to neutralize inorder all living beings on earth canbe free from disaster,” said DewaSoma while mentioning that suchritual was based on the palm-leafmanuscript called Roga SangharaBhumi and Tutur Babad Dewa.

Especially the Bumi Sudha ritualin Watu Klotok Temple would usethe ritual paraphernalia in the formof penyamblehan or slaughter ofmale suckling pig, red chicken,striped ducks and others. Theritual itself would be chaired byIda Pedanda Gede Putra Tembaufrom Geria Aan around 10:00a.m. Local Time and attended byGovernor of Bali, Made MangkuPastika. Meanwhile, the ritual inBatur Temple would be attendedby Deputy Governor of Bali, AAPuspayoga and the one in BesakihTemple would be going to be at-tended by Chairman of Bali House,AA Oka Ratmadi.

Bali tourism only enjoyed by great investorsDenpasar (Bali Post)—

Uneven Bali tourism development has not been capable ofprospering the middle to lower class communities. Actually,

large investors, hoteliers, restaurateurs and owners of travelagencies can be reached by developing tourism village.

IBP/File

The Hindus pray in Watu Klotok Temple

To invoke safety of universe

Bumi Sudha ritual organized in Watu Klotok Temple

Compound wall of SMPN 4 Abang collapses

Gianyar-Home crafters who are mostly

women received packages fromGianyar National Crafts Councillast Wednesday (21/12) as a formof giving an aware to the womenalso to increase their prosperity.Seven from eight crafters wereall housewives filling their timeto fill up their family’s economysuch as Ni Ketut Kariani, a sewer

who felt happy and touched whenshe received a new sewing ma-chine from the Council. This aidis huge for her as all this time shehas been borrowing a sewing ma-chine for her work to sew udeng.The aid was given by Head ofthe Council, Mrs. Tjokorda OkaArtha Ardhana Sukawati accom-panied by Mrs. Cokorda PutraNindia. (kmb16)

Crafters received Mother’s Day present

News International4 Friday, December 23, 2011

The neighbours’ defence min-isters and army chiefs agreed to redeploy troops away from the disputed area near an ancient temple, where bloody spats have broken out twice this year, killing 28 people.

They agreed to set up a working group on “redeployment of their military personnel completely and simultaneously from their current positions in the provisional demili-

tarised zone at the earliest,” said a joint statement released after the meeting.

The withdrawal should be or-ganised in the presence of observers from Indonesia, it said.

In February, 10 people were killed in fighting at the Preah Vihear temple site and fresh clashes broke out further west in April, leaving 18 dead.

Tensions have eased since Thai-

land’s new premier Yingluck Shi-nawatra came to power in August. Her brother, fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, is a friend and former economics adviser of Cam-bodian premier Hun Sen.

The Hague-based International Court of Justice in July asked both nations to withdraw military personnel from around the temple complex, but neither side has pulled out yet, though the border has been calm.

Thailand does not dispute Cam-bodia’s ownership of Preah Vihear, but both sides claim a 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) area of adjacent land.

Reuters

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti faces a confidence vote on Thursday that he called to speed up final approval of a 33-billion-euro ($43 billion) austerity package aimed at restoring market confidence in the euro zone’s third-biggest economy.

Just five weeks ago Monti re-placed Silvio Berlusconi as prime minister and formed an adminis-tration of technocrats with broad parliamentary support to pass the so-called “Save Italy” measures. The law, which the Senate will vote on in the early afternoon, should pass easily. Berlusconi’s failure to tackle major reforms put Italy at the centre of the euro zone debt crisis. Monti managed to put together a painful series of tax hikes, spending cuts and a pension overhaul.

The government passed the pack-age in the lower house with a con-fidence vote last week to eliminate debate on dozens of amendments. A confidence vote was called in the Senate to ensure the law’s passage before Christmas.

The confidence votes also allow

the parties supporting Monti’s gov-ernment to say that they are backing the law out of a sense of responsi-bility, even if they don’t agree with many of the measures.

Both Berlusconi’s People of Lib-erty Party (PDL) and the centre-left Democratic Party have misgivings about the tax increases and the pen-sion changes respectively, but know they cannot sabotage its passage without unleashing an economic catastrophe and a possible default.

Monti has argued that restoring confidence in Italy is paramount to saving the euro zone, but the severity of the package has taken a toll on his popularity, which fell to 46 percent from 61 percent the previous week, according to a poll published in Cor-riere della Sera on Sunday.

BLEAK OUTLOOKThe austerity package will also

hurt economic growth at a time when the economic outlook is al-ready bleak, economists say.

Monti has said he was confident that markets will eventually react positively to Italy’s efforts, arguing that lower interest rates would help offset the effects of the austerity measures on growth.

Agence France Presse

The only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in which 270 people died used his “final interview” to vow he would clear his name, Brit-ish newspapers reported Thursday.

A Scottish court in 2001 convicted Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi of the 1988 attack on Pan Am flight 103, but he was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 after doctors said he had only three months to live.

Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, told investigator and friend George Thomson on Sunday “I am an inno-cent man” in an interview published in several British newspapers, includ-

ing The Times and the Daily Mail.“I am about to die and I ask now

to be left in peace with my family,” he said.During the interview, which will be broadcast on television in February, the Libyan revealed he had helped investigative journalist John Ashton with a new book that will contain “dramatic” new evidence.

“I will not be giving any more interviews, and no more cameras will be allowed into my home,” he explained. “I am an innocent man, and the book will clear my name.”

Megrahi claimed that he had “never seen” a Maltese shopkeeper whose testimony and identification proved central to the original guilty verdict. “I never bought clothes from

him,” he added. “He dealt with me very wrongly. I have never seen him in my life before he came to court.”

According to Megrahi, US agen-cies “led the way” in securing his conviction.

IBP/afp

Cambodian soldiers are pictured in February at a military base near the Preah Vhear temple in Preah Vihear province, northwest of Phnom Penh.

Thailand, Cambodia agree on troop withdrawalAgence France Presse

Thailand and Cambodia said they agreed Wednesday to redeploy troops “completely and simultaneously” from a shared border area that has been the scene of deadly clashes.

The front pages of British news-papers from August, 2009, show

the departure from Scotland and arrival in Libya of Abdelba-set Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the

only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in which

270 people died. Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, claimed his innocence in a “final” interview

published in several British newspapers Thursday IBP/afp

REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti looks on before a meeting with Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil at Chigi Palace in Rome December 15, 2011.

Activities Friday, December 23, 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

UBUD - Green Globe have an-nounced certification for the sustainable management and operation of Maya Ubud Resort & Spa - Bali. The certifica-tion cemented the resort’s commitment to conduct business in a more sustain-able and responsible manner.

Maya Ubud Resort & Spa General Manager, Paul Blake commented, ‘‘The commitment of our entire management team and involvement of all our employ-ees under the guidance of our Executive Assistant Manager & Environmental Officer, Romy Anggara, to re-evaluate the way we conducted business, and the mindset change that transcended into daily actions, were the key contributory factors that resulted in the resort obtain-ing Green Globe credentials”.

“The challenge is now to continue to build on this strong sense of pride that has been developed in our employees in belonging to a company that is com-mitted to further enhance our business

model to establish a common and global approach to environmental issues”.

Commenting on the award, Irene Miller, Eco Leadership co-founder said “Maya Ubud impressed with their commitment not only to pass the audit, but to do well in the ultra-competitive hospitality industry working with the local community. The hotel and spa operations were scrutinized and mea-sured against the rigorous Green Globe standards in 4 key areas Sustainable Management, Socio/Economic, Cultural Heritage and Environmental. Eco Lead-ership is the Preferred Partner of Green Globe in Bali, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Romy Anggara added, “Whilst cel-ebrating our success in achieving this certification, we are fully aware there are more opportunities for improve-ment in operating more sustainable in an ever changing global climate. Our commitment to doing business with a responsible mindset augurs well for the longevity of the whole organization”. IBP/Courtesy of Maya Ubud

Friday, December 23, 2011 6 News

From page 1

International

The 64-year-old Arroyo, whosays she is suffering from a rarespinal illness, is expected tobe tried as early as next monthon charges of rigging the 2007senatorial elections.

She was arrested in her hospitalbed at a private Manila hospitallast month and held without bail,but the court later ordered her tobe moved to the government-runmilitary hospital.

“They (Arroyo’s family) are

allowed to spend Christmas atthe (hospital) from December24 to 26 and from December 31to January 2,” court clerk JoelPelicano said.

But Arroyo won other conces-sions from the court, includingan hour’s walk on the hospitalgrounds and a visit to the hospitalchapel every day.

“We respect the decision of thecourt if that is (the judge’s) deci-sion,” said Ferdinand Topacio, a

member of Arroyo’s legal team.President Benigno Aquino,

who was elected to replace Ar-royo in 2009, has accused hispredecessor of election sabotageand of massive corruption duringher term from 2001 to 2010.

He blocked a Supreme Courtorder to let Arroyo travel abroadfor medical care in Novemberahead of her arrest, and has madeconvicting Arroyo the centrepieceof his anti-corruption campaign.


Japan said Wednesday thatdecommissioning the tsunami-wrecked reactors at Fukushimacould take as long as 40 years,with melted nuclear fuel possiblystuck where it is for a quarter ofa century.

A roadmap produced by thegovernment and plant operatorTokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)envisages engineers will use muchof the next decade just trying towork out how to get at the fuel,

which has partly eaten through itscontainment vessels.

Underlining the challengesinvolved in dealing with the di-saster, the plan says that as-yetuninvented technology will bekey to safely disposing of thewaste left behind by the world’sworst nuclear accident sinceChernobyl.

“Each and every one of thesteps toward decommissioningcurrently poses many techno-logical challenges,” said GoshiHosono, the government minister

with responsibility for dealingwith the Fukushima disaster.

work to remove fuel debris (fromthe reactors). We must acceleratework to develop technologies,particularly remote control ro-bots,” he told reporters.

“We will gradually make prog-ress by assessing both the situa-tion on site and the state of re-search and development work,”he said, adding that the govern-ment will pay whatever necessary

Reuters

PARIS - Sixty-six journalists were killed worldwide in 2011,many of them covering Arab revolutions, gang crime in Mexico orpolitical turmoil in Pakistan, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) saidon Thursday. Ten journalists were killed in Pakistan, most of themmurdered, making it the most dangerous country for news coveragefor the second year running.

With pro-democracy demonstrations prompting violent reprisalsfrom Arab governments, the number of reporters killed in the MiddleEast doubled to 20 this year. A similar number were killed in LatinAmerica, where criminal violence was rife, the Paris-based RSF saidin a statement.

Some 1,044 journalists were arrested this year - nearly double

protests in countries including Greece, Belarus, Uganda, Chile andthe United States.

“From Cairo’s Tahrir Square to Khuzdar in southwestern Pakistan,from Mogadishu to the cities of the Philippines, the risks of workingas a journalist at times of political instability were highlighted morethan ever in 2011,” RSF said. China, Iran and Eritrea remained thebiggest prisons for the media, it said, without specifying how manyjournalists were in jail there.

The 10 locations that RSF considered the most dangerous for jour-nalists included Abidjan, the business capital of Ivory Coast, whereat least two reporters were killed in electoral violence, and Cairo’sTahrir Square, where journalists were systematically attacked bysupporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak before he steppeddown in February.

Syria, Change Square in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and the Libyanrebel stronghold of Misrata were also on the list.

Last year 57 journalists were killed for their work the world over.The worst year of the past decade for journalists was 2007, when warin Iraq pushed the global toll up to 87.

IBP/afp

Gloria Arroyo delivers her speech at the military headquarters in Manila 2010. A Philippine court on Wednesday rejected detained former president Arroyo’s request to spend Christmas at home or use her mobile phone and computer in the hospital where she is being held

No Christmas at home for Arroyo: Philippine courtAgence France Presse

APhilippine court on Wednesday rejected detained former president GloriaArroyo’s requestto spend Christmas at home or use her mobile phone and computer in the hospital where sheis being held.

Fukushima reactors may take 40 years to dismantle

Almost 70 reporters killed worldwide in 2011: RSF

“The industrial differences cannot be separated with the media so ifthere is a problem with other media, other will not interested with it.,”said the former head of constitution. The problem in press is gettingmore complex so he urged everyone to think more comprehensively.There is a must to increase the responsibility and accountability.

The way is that the freedom of press must be keep preserved. But itwill be useless of there is no sense of responsibility to the profession.The power of press lay on the professionalism and the ethic code ofjournalism.

However Manan thinks that currently, the government is tryingto limit the room for press. The government makes the rule for presswhere the journalist can be imprison if the violate it. Not to mention

he added (ars/sir)

Freedom...

REUTERS/Feisal Oma

A Somali journalist looks at the dead body of his colleague Abdisalan Sheikh Hasan in southern Mogadishu, December 18, 2011. A journalist with a Somali television channel was shot dead in the capital on Sunday by a man wearing a government soldier’s uniform, witnesses said.

Friday, December 23, 2011 7Indonesia Today International

AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

Indonesian police officers check their outfit during a show of force ahead of Christmas celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011.

Wati was eight years old when Ujong Baroh village was hit by the tsunami. Her mother, Yusniar, was trying to take her and her two siblings to a safe place but somehow she lost her grip on her mother`s arm and was carried away by the

rushing waters, leaving her mother powerless to help her.

Yusniar was able to save her two other children but she and the rest of the family eventually had to resign themselves to the notion that Wati was lost as she never returned nor

had anybody in the neigborhood seen her again dead or alive.

But on Wednesday, Ibrahim, Wati`s grandfather in Meulaboh city received an acquaintance at his home who was accompanied by a teenaged girl wearing a blue head scarf. The acquaintance said the girl had come to the Simpang Pelor coffee shop where she just sat in silence. People thought she was a beggar and tried to engage her in conversation.

She claimed she had come to

Meulaboh by bus from Banda Aceh and was trying to find her way back home but did not know how. She also could not remember any of her parents` or relatives` names except Ibrahim.

A f t e r l i s t e n i n g t o t h e acquintance`s account, Ibrahim im-mediately sensed the girl could be his long lost grandchild and, after a closer look at the dark-skinned girl, was indeed convinced she was Wati who went missing in the tsunami seven years ago,

Ibrahim then sent word to Yus-niar and her husband Yusuf to come to his home and meet Wati. The two parents confirmed Wati`s identity after recognizing a small mole and a scar over her eyebrow that Wati got when she was six years old.

What had happened to Wati after she was carried away by the tsunami currents was not immediately dis-closed to reporters except that over the years she had been to places in other districts in Aceh province.

Antara

JAKARTA - The women of Indonesia play an important role in various sectors and also determine the progress of the nation, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

Speaking at a function to mark the peak event of the 83th National Mothers` Day at Balai Kartini in South Jakarta on Thursday, the president said the women should also have a wider access to improving their capability.

“By understanding the process and direction of the women movement, we know that the struggle of women remains relevant to date in their effort to improve the life of the nation,” the president said.

The head of state pointed out that the role of women in the field of education, and the tree planting and tree keep-ing movement should highly be appreciated.

Therefore the president noted that the women should continue to step up their role in various fields which at present needed a serious attention.

“I am optimistic that the women of Indonesia are able to become forerunners in numerous successful development programs,” the president said.

He also encouraged the women to play their role in keeping clean the environment.

“We have to keep our environment clean, because if it is dirty, it will affect our hearts and minds as well. Therefore, together let us make our environment and our country clean,” the president said.

Antara

JAKARTA - President Susi-lo Bambang Yudhoyono held a meeting with representatives of Asia`s Hakka Chinese community and asked them to participate in MP3EI (Economic Development Acceleration and Expansion Mas-ter Plan) projects.

“I invite you first as busi-ness players in Indonesia who certainly wish to serve your

own country in an exemplary way by investing in areas you yourselves choose and think are the best for you,” the president said at the meeting with the As-sociation of Prosperous Hakka Indonesians (PHIS) at Hall D of the Jakarta Exhibition Arena here on Wednesday.

He said foreign investors were expected to come to Indonesia in larger numbers in the days ahead but before that happened

he wished to offer existing invest-ment opportunities to domestic business players first.

President Yudhoyono asked around 5,000 invitees who at-tended the gathering not to miss the momentum to create various new opportunities.

Through economic mecha-nisms, he said, businesses could also help improve the welfare of the Indonesian people by reducing poverty and unemployment.

“Do not wait. To those who can invest, mobilize businesses, let us cooperate to invest, develop the economy so that all people can enjoy the benefits,” he said.

PHIS`s chief patron Murdaya Poo in his speech called on the Hakka Chinese community num-bering around six million to invest in the country.

“Hakka community as econom-ic players, please hurry, use your savings to invest in Indonesia.

Do not worry about the imperfect regulations or bureaucrats,” he said.

President Yudhoyono in the company of First Lady Ani Yud-hoyono said Hakka Chinese had the same rights and obligations as other Indonesian citizens.

Therefore, he called on them to participate in maintaining security and order as well as political and social stability for the sake of a better life for the nation.

President invites Hakka Chinese businessmen to invest in MP3EI projects

After missing for seven years

Antara

MEULABOH - A 15-year-old girl who was considered lost in the tsunami that engulfed Aceh in December 2004 proves to be still alive and has found her way back to her home in Lr Sangkis, Ujong Baroh village, West Aceh.

Women also determine national progress,

8 InternationalFriday, December 23, 2011

Bali Today

Speaking at a function toobserve the 83rd Mothers’ Dayhere on Thursday, the governorsaid, “There is no substantivedifference between men andwomen in Bali to achieve theirgoals in life.”

According to Pastika, Bali-nese women had an outstand-ing position in the communitybecause almost all of them were

including politics, government,entrepreneurship, non-govern-mental organizations.

“Now is the time for thewomen of Bali to seize all ex-isting good opportunities for

without abandoning their basicnature as women,” the governorsaid.

Meanwhile, Woman’s Em-

powerment and Child Protec-tion Minister Linda Amalia SariGumelar at a similar occasionin Jakarta on Thursday saidMothers’ Day was a momentumto enhance the role Indonesianwomen.

Linda said this year’s Moth-ers’ Day, themed “The Role ofWomen and Men in BuildingEconomic Resilience TowardsNational Welfare”, was rel-evant to the real conditionsbeing faced by the communitythat needed common role andstruggle to build economic re-silience, especially the economyof family.

“Good economy - supportedby adequate infrastructure andfacility, education and health - isthe key to a harmonious and pros-perous family,” Linda said.

If you happen to travel to Bule-leng Regency, try to drop by at JulahVillage, Tejakula Subdistrict. Thisvillage is unique because it belongsto ancient village with unique ancientBalinese civilization. According toJulah Headman, Nengah Wijaya, thelife of local residents was still quiteoriginal, although it had now been inmodern civilization.

Population of the village, accord-ing to him, was around 4,000 peopleor 1,600 families. Major livelihoodof the residents was farming in rice

a living outside the village as self-employed workers. Wijaya, a formertourguide, then said that as anancientvillage,Julahcertainlyhaduniquenessand frequently been chosen as objectof research by foreign and nationalscholars. They wanted to know someinformation starting the people’s life,architecture and culture. Based ondata from the Buleleng Tourism andCultural Agency, the village had aquite long history.

In days of old, the Bale AgungTempleof JulahVillagehad20sheets

FOTO ANTARA/Nyoman Budhiana

A dancer performed Joged Bumbung during the Mass Jodeg Bumbung Performance to celebrated Mothers Day at Tanah Aron Field, Karangasem, Bali. Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has asked local women to be smart in utilizing every opportunity for their self-development.

Bali women asked to be smart in utilizing opportunitiesAntara

DENPASAR - Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika hasasked local women to be smart in utilizing every opportunityfor their self-development.

Julah Village

An Ancient Balinese village retaining uniquenessof bronze inscriptions, but now only11 pieces left, while 9 others werestored in the Bale Agung Temple ofSembiran. The 20 sheets of inscrip-tion can be divided into 6 groups,namely:

1. Period of King Ugrasena2. Period of King Tabanendra

Warmadewa3. Period of King Janasadhu

Warmadewa4. Period of Queen Sang Ajnadewi5. Period of King Anak Wungsu 6. Period of King Jaya Pangus

The whole inscriptions had beenpublisheda foreignscholarnamedDr.Brandes in the magazine Tijdschrift,Bataviaasch Genootschap in 1889.Later, the remaining inscriptionswerepublished by Dr. Goris in his bookentitled Bali Inscription in 1954.

In CakaYear 844 (January 24, 923AD), theKingSriUgrasenaorganizeda meeting with his tall employees andJulah headmen in the royal meetinghall of Singhamandewa. The meet-ing discussed about the problems

where thevillagerswerevery chaotic,restless and nervous because a gangof robbers frequently captured andabducted Julah villagers. Such chaos

to some safer places. In response tosuch condition, the meeting couldformulate some stipulations, such as(1) all the Julah villagers remaining inthe refuges should immediately comebackhome; (2) stipulationon theritualimplementation for people who deaddue to robberyandaccident, aswell asregulations for ritual of normal death;and (3) exemption to income tax tovillage community, but contributionsto temple ceremony remained valid.

Anotherdecisionwas that residentswere also prohibited from arrestingthe others. If there were stranded shipor vessel at sea, then freights of thevessel would become the property oftempleorutilizedfor templeactivities.Meanwhile, village boundaries hadalso been established in the statute ofthe King Ugrasena.

Apparently, the effort of KingUgrasena to pacify the Julah villagerswas invain.Furthermore, thekingwas

replaced by SriAji Tabanendra War-madewa. This king ruled in Bali in955AD. Due to his wisdom in rulingthekingdom,majorityof thevillagerslivinginrefugeswerewilling tocomehome. Later, the king decided thatvillages including the Julah Villageadministration comprised the Kutur,Tukad Memurpur, Poh Talur, TringWor,RatuKamodi,Lijong,Baringin,AirPuhun,AirBelatuk,AirRanusan,Air Tampikan, Air Hepu, Air PohTanduk, Balimbing, Renek, Bakarand Candi. This charter was made inCaka Year 873 (December 19, 951)

Then, the administration of SriAjiTabanendraWarmadewawasreplacedby the King Sri JanasadhuWarmade-wa. In Caka Year 897 (April 6, 975AD), the king together with his tallroyalservantscouldgather theleadersortheJulahheadmenwhojustrecentlyreturned home from their refuges. Inthe talks the King decided as follows:“If there are damaged buildings suchas temples, tombs, fountains, baths,temples and roads, they should berepaired on the account of the fourvillages namely Julah Village, Indra

Pura Village (now called Depehe),Buhundalem Village (now Bondalem)and Hiliran Village (now Tejakula).Similarly, if any robbery happened tothe Dharmakuta hermitage, then all thevillagershadtogooutcarryingweaponsand help the monastery.

Meanwhile, regarding thecontribu-tions to temple ceremony remained tofollow the stipulation as decided bythe former kings.The laws of the KingJanasadhu Warmadewa were made onApril 6, 975AD. They were carved onthe surface of bronze plate and madebyBanacri.FromtheadministrationofSri Janasadhu until Dharma UdayanaWarmadesa (1011AD), thesituationofJulah Village and entire territory wasvery peaceful and safe. The robbersseemed no longer to take action duringtheperiodbecause thepopulationgrewstronger and united.

After ruling for 41 years in Bali,Janasadhu Warmadewa was then re-placedbyaqueenwith the titleofSangAjna Dewi. Since her administrationin Bali, the Julah Village came backto live through some damages andanxiety. (BTN/055)

Balinese Culture

9International Friday, December 23, 2011

BUBUH INJIN(Black Rice Pudding)

OVERVIEW:Different versions

of this Balinese snack are a great favorite with visitors to Bali.

INGREDIENTS:1 cup black

glutinous rice¾ cup white

glutinous rice2 pandan leaves5 cups water½ cup palm sugar syrup1½ cup freshly squeezed thick coconut milk

PREPARATION:1. Rinse both lots of rice well for 2 minutes under

running water. Drain2. Put 5 cups water, both lots of rice and pandan

leaf into heavy stockpot. Simmer over medium heat approximately 40 minutes.

3. Add palm sugar syrup and continue to cook until most liquid has evaporated. Season with a pinch of salt. Remove from heat and allow cooling.

4. Serve at room temperature, topped with freshly squeezed coconut milk.

Helpful hints:As fresh coconut milk turns rancid fairly quickly,

a pinch of salt is usually added to the milk to help preserve it for few hours. A more effective alternative is to cook the coconut milk with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch diluted in a little water: heat gently, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes. This coconut sauce will keep overnight.

Milk made from instant powdered coconut will not turn rancid, although the flavor is not as good as fresh coconut milk.

Antara

JAKARTA - Two restaurants inIndonesia, Mozaic and Sarong, placein the 12th and 18th spot respectivelyinTheMieleGuide2011/2012Asia’sTop 20 restaurants.

Mozaic, set amidst a lush back-drop in Ubud, remains a consistentinclusion in Asia’s Top 20 list asChef Chris Salans continues to winover foodies with his distinctive use

combined with Western techniques.ChefWill Meyrick’s Sarong, ascend-

Bali restaurants include in Asia’s Top 20 Restaurantssecondplace this year, delights dinerswith contemporary dishes that drawinspiration from all over Asia.

The remaining spots in Indone-sia’s Top 5 restaurants include thebeachfront Seminyak lifestyle des-tination, KU DE TA, serving ChefPhilip Davenport’s brand of gourmetglobal cuisine that incorporates thefreshest ingredients from the island.KU DE TA is joined in the list byits neighbour La Lucciola, whichoffers a rustic, romantic appeal, andCascades Restaurant that presents

French fare with an Asian hint in itsopen Balinese pavilions.

Published by Ate Media, The

restaurants, picks the Top 5 restau-rants in each country and includesthe best 500 restaurants in Asia.

and independent guide to the region’s

are derived from popular vote, theopinions of the region’s most re-spected restaurant critics and foodwriters and the votes of The MieleGuide’s invited jury.

BASE SATAY(Satay Sauce)

INGREDIENTS:500 gr raw peanuts, deep fried (2 min.)5 cloves garlic, peeled8 – 10 bird’s-eye chilies50 gr kencur root, peeled and chopped50 gr palm sugar, chopped2 ltr fresh coconut milk4 tbsp sweet soy sauce2 ea lime leaves1 tbsp fresh limejuice, squeezed1 tbsp shallots, fried

PREPARATION:1. Combine peanuts, garlic, chilies and kencur in a

food processor and puree, or grind coarsely in a stone mortar.

2. Place in heavy sauce pan with coconut milk, sweet soy sauce and lime leaves. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently to prevent the sauce from sticking, for 15 minutes.

3. Add limejuice and sprinkle with shallots just before serving as a dipping sauce for satay. Season to taste with salt.

Friday, December 23, 201110 InternationalDestinations

IBP

Beratan Lake is a shallow lake with the high caldera about 1231m above sea level and it is located at Bedugul, the famous tourist destinations in Bali. This lake have wide 3,8 km2 and also its deepness is up to 22 meters. The water volume in this lake is about 0,049 km3, so Beratan Lake is the closed lake. Tourist can access the Beratan Lake through the dock which have been provided or desist around Ulun Danu Beratan Temple. In this place, the visitor can do vari-ous activities like doing recreation to look around in dock or do the other outdoor activities. The various water recreation activities can also be conducted here, for example riding the boat motorize to circle the lake, parasailing, canoeing with the traditional boat, banana boating, water skiing, and others. Fishing activities are also available in this places for who one love fishing in the lake.

Beratan Lake is situated in the plateau area with cool atmosphere surround it. It is an ideal place for relaxation while enjoy the beautiful panorama of lake. The accom-modations are also available in this area where is the perfect place for overnight stay, resting and enjoy the beautiful panoramic of lake with the Ulun Danu Temple as a magnificence. The small scale of agriculture activities are likely conducted around this lake and can be perceived at the same time circle around it. If we encircle it, we can take photograph with the beautiful background view or make the picture sketch face in painting mini studio at the lakeside with a short time as a souvenir. IBP/Net

Beratan Lake is a shallow lake with the high caldera

Beratan Lake

Friday, December 23, 2011 11

BUSINESSInternational

ReutersTOKYO - Asian shares fell and the

euro struggled on Thursday as doubtsremained over how much of the fundsthat banks raised from an inaugurallong-term European Central Banktender will actually flow into strug-gling euro zone economies and helprestore confidence.

MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7percent, after climbing to a one-weekhigh on Wednesday, while Tokyo’sNikkei stock average ended down0.8 percent.

Despite the drop, Japanese equi-ties have been least affected by thevolatility stemming from the eurozone debt woes, with daily swings inthe benchmark exceeding 2.5 percentfor only 16 trading sessions this year,compared with 88 such days for theEuro STOXX 50 and 41 for the S&P500 .

The euro was virtually unchangedaround $1.3043, with traders seeingmajor support around $1.3000, the De-cember 14 low, above 2011’s trough of$1.2860. The euro reached a one-weekhigh near $1.32 on Wednesday.

European shares were likely toinch up, with financial spreadbettersexpecting London’s FTSE to open up0.2 percent, Frankfurt’s DAX up 0.2percent, and Paris’ CAC-40 to begin0.3 percent higher.

At the ECB’s first ever three-yearlending operation on Wednesday, 523banks borrowed a record 489 billioneuros ($638 billion), well above the310 billion euro take-up forecast.

The tender eased concerns aboutan immediate credit crunch, but itdoes not directly lead to resolvingthe huge indebtedness of some eurozone countries, which has discouragedinvestors from lending to euro zonebanks because of their large exposureto sovereign debt.

“The ECB’s funding operationis not a fundamental fix to the eurozone’s debt problems and is only away to buying time, so flight-to-safetybids remain firmly in place,” saidShinsuke Kanabu, general managerat Central Tanshi, a Japanese moneybrokerage.

In further evidence that Japan hasbecome a preferred destination forglobal funds, government data onThursday showed non-Japanese inves-tors bought a net 2.6615 trillion yenin short-term Japanese governmentsecurities in the week to December17, the second largest after a record2.9752 trillion yen net purchase in theweek to August 13.

It was the third straight week of

such net buying of bills. Non-Japaneseinvestors also were net buyers of Japa-nese government bonds (JGBs) in thesame week.

“Foreign investors have helpeddrive down yields on Japanese short-term securities in recent months as Eu-rope’s debt crisis deepened, suggest-ing they see Japanese treasury bills asa safe-haven and put priority on safetyover returns,” Kanabu said.

Despite Japan’s huge public debtsand a domestic rating agency cuttingits top credit rating on Wednesday,JGB markets remain unfazed. Morethan 90 percent of JGB holders areJapanese, giving the country a solidfinancing backing, unlike countriessuch as Italy, where foreigners ac-count for some 40 percent of sover-eign debt holdings.

Analysts have said the ECB loanswould lower the cost for euro zonebanks to borrow euros in the openmarket, but would not reduce theirdollar funding costs, and banks werelikely to use the funds to repay theirown debts as they strive to get rid ofbad assets and improve their balancesheets, rather than lend.

“With bank balance sheets understress and the system still requiredto raise capital ratios under BaselIII, the temptation will surely be forbanks to sit on this additional liquid-ity, rather than recycle it back throughthe economy,” wrote BNP Paribas ina daily note.

Italy alone faces about 150 billioneuros of debt refinancing betweenApril and March.

Italian and Spanish governmentbond yields rose on Wednesday, snap-ping an eight-session downtrend, andthe spread between the Italian andGerman 10-year government bondyields widened by some 20 basispoints to 488 bps on Wednesday fromthe day before.

Dollar funding strains reached theirworst level since July 2009 when theLondon interbank offered rate forthree-month dollars rose further to0.57125 percent on Wednesday from0.56975 percent.

Asian credit markets weakened asyields of highly indebted Italy andSpain inched higher despite strong de-mand at the ECB’s long-term fundingoperation, with spreads on the iTraxxAsia ex-Japan investment grade indexwidening by several basis points.

Commodities markets were mutedin thinning pre-holiday trade, withLondon Metal Exchange copper un-changed at $7,455 a tonne and Brentcrude oil edging down 0.2 percent toaround $107.50 a barrel.

Toyota overtook General Motors Co as theworld’s top-selling automaker in 2008 butis set to lose that crown this year as supply-chain disruptions from the March earthquakeand tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thai-land cut production around the world.

With estimated sales this year of 7.90 mil-lion vehicles for the group, which includesunits Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino MotorsLtd, Toyota will likely rank third behindGeneral Motors and Volkswagen AG.

Toyota could regain the top ranking nextyear as it builds inventory to meet pent-updemand and adds output capacity in Chinaand Brazil, among other countries. GM andVW have not disclosed their 2012 salesplans, and Toyota did not provide groupforecasts.

“The reason they lost sales this year wasbecause they couldn’t build the cars. Nowthat they can, it’s possible they’ll take backthe top spot,” said Satoru Takada, analyst atTokyo-based T.I.W.

“But it depends on which markets thegrowth will come from,” he said, notingToyota was dominant in Southeast Asia andthe Middle East, but faces tougher competi-tion in China and South America.

Toyota’s parent-only plan for 2012 beatsits previous peak of 8.43 million vehiclesin 2007.

“I believe the target is achievable givenToyota is quickly recovering production andlaunching new models,” said Lee Hyun-soo,an analyst at Kiwoom Securities in Seoul.

“There will be cut-throat competition be-tween Toyota, GM and Volkswagen for thetop spot in the global market next year.”

Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, has saidhe was not interested in a race to be the biggestautomaker, while VW has a goal of selling 10million vehicles to grab the title by 2018.

Measured by stock value, Toyota is wayabove its rivals, at $111 billion - more thanVW and GM combined.

At its peak in 2007, however, Toyota wasvalued at more than twice that, and analystssaid a sales recovery would struggle totranslate into similar profit gains at today’sexchange rates.

“Rather than an increase in its produc-tion plans, the market is focusing on how(Toyota) will limit the losses with the dollarat 77-78 yen,” said Yoshihiko Tabei, chiefanalyst at Kazaka Securities in Tokyo.

“Even if they increase production, thereare questions about how much that willlift profits.”

Toyota’s shares have lost 22 percentso far this year and are down 70 percentfrom a peak in early 2007, when the dollarfetched around 120 yen. On Thursday, theyfell 0.6 percent in a Tokyo market that lost0.4 percent.

Once the envy of the auto industry,Toyota has had a torrid couple of years -from a quality crisis that triggered the recallof more than 10 million vehicles globally,a tarnished image and a subsequent slidein sales.

Just as it was recovering from thatthe March 11 quake and tsunami that de-stroyed hundreds of kilometers of Japan’snortheastern coastline forced it and otherdomestic automakers to scale back outputfor months.

In October, damage to suppliers fromThailand’s floods did the same, hamperingplans to make up for earlier output losses.

Production disrupted by the Thai floodshas mostly returned to normal, keeping out-put only in Japan and Thailand reduced.

But Toyota has also lagged because of a rel-atively slow push into emerging markets as itscrambled to meet runaway demand in maturemarkets such as North America in the years

Toyota now aims to sell half its cars inemerging markets by 2015, up from around40 percent now. “The numerical plans an-nounced today reflect that strategy,” saidspokeswoman Amiko Tomita.

With growth in developing markets suchas India and China slowing and Europein the middle of a debt crisis, some saidToyota’s plans may be optimistic.

“With these factors in mind, I think someinvestors are somewhat skeptical that they willreach these numbers,” said FujioAndo, a senioranalyst at ChibaginAsset Management. “Theremight be a slight gap between the company’snumbers and what investors expect,” he said.

Toyota also announced plans to sell 8.95million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehiclesworldwide in 2013 and build 8.98 millionvehicles. It gave no regional breakdown forthe forecasts outside Japan.

It plans to build 3.40 million vehiclesand sell 1.53 million vehicles at home in2012.

After a year of disasters, Toyota sees record sales in 2012Reuters

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp forecast a 20 percent jump in global sales to arecord 8.48 million vehicles next year as it claws back from this year’s output lossescaused by natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.

Asian shares, euro ease as bank funding doubts persist

Entertainment InternationalFriday, December 23, 201112

“That wasn’t a $5 million perfor-mance,” declared judge L.A. Reid. “That was a $50 million perfor-mance.” The panel also poured praise on the other two finalists: soulful 30-year-old single father Josh Krajcik of Wooster, Ohio, and 28-year-old sing-er-rapper Chris Rene of Santa Cruz, Calif. Krajcik accompanied himself on guitar for his final performance of

“At Last,” while Rene delivered his original tune “Young Homie” with a group of dancers and singers.

“You make everyone fall in love with you,” judge Paula Abdul told Rene. Before the final showdown, each singer awkwardly dueted with established artists. Krajcik was joined by Alanis Morissette on “Uninvited,” Rene teamed up with Avril Lavigne

for “Complicated,” and Amaro part-nered with R. Kelly on “I Believe I Can Fly,” which marked the first time that the R&B star performed his mo-tivational anthem with another singer. The winner, which will be decided by viewer votes, will be announced on Thursday’s show.

The contest thus far hasn’t achieved the same success as “American Idol,” which Cowell left last year to import “X Factor” from the U.K. to the U.S. Last Wednesday’s performance episode drew 10.79 million viewers, less than half of the average “Idol” audience.

Unlike “Idol,” the competition is open to solo singers and groups and has a lower minimum age of 12 and no upper age limit. The judges also serve as mentors: Cowell represented female vocalists, including Amaro; Reid headed male singers, including Rene; Nicole Scherzinger was in charge of over-30 singers, including Krajcik; and Abdul helmed the groups.

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK — The time off from James Bond has been very good to Daniel Craig. In the three years since the release of “Quantum of Solace,” Craig has made his Broadway debut (“A Steady Rain”); starred in the World War II-era tale of Jewish rebellion, “Defiance”; joined up with Ste-ven Spielberg again (“The Adventures of Tintin,” following their earlier collaboration in “Munich”); and starred in the summer blockbuster “Cowboys & Aliens.” Now, he’s adding yet another major franchise to his plate, with David Fincher’s remake

of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”At this point, the early misgivings of the “Blond

Bond” seem laughable. Craig has emerged as one of the biggest British movie stars. More than that, he’s already managed to prove that — maybe more than any previous guardian of the tuxedoed spy — he won’t be pigeonholed by the role. Craig has not just grown into Bond, but, perhaps, beyond it.

“It’s a very fortunate time for me at the moment,” Craig said in a recent interview. “So I’m just trying to grab it with both hands.”

Though the 43-year-old actor is known for being careful of his privacy, Craig, dressed casually in a jean jacket and jeans, comes across as relaxed. Self-deprecation is his fallback, and he often chortles sheepishly at his own wit. Though his screen pres-ence is bleak and still, his manner is more loose and jocular. He meets a reporter in the lobby of a New York hotel for a recent interview, but Craig isn’t visiting — this is his hometown now.

“It was one of those decisions in my life where it was like going, ‘I want to be here.’ Thankfully, I’ve got very good reasons,” he says, presumably alluding to his wife Rachel Weisz and her 4-year-old son. Craig and Weisz (his co-star in Jim Sheridan’s horror flick “Dream House,” released earlier this year) wed privately in June. He has a teenage daughter from an early marriage.

Though Craig’s personal life has become an increasing interest to tabloids, he’s maintained a degree of elusiveness. Even in risible concepts such as “Cowboys and Aliens,” he seems somehow above the fray, consistently projecting an air of professionalism and intellect.

Fincher calls him the “giant planetary body,” of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” around which the other characters (such as Rooney Mara’s Lis-beth Salander) orbit. The director is clearly taken by Craig, whom he compares to Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas — agile leading men with calm exteriors and smoldering eyes.


LONDON — Dominic West is no stranger to award ceremonies — he’s just not used to being nominated. The British actor is on the shortlist for his performance in BBC America’s period newsroom drama, “The Hour.” “In my 37 years in show business I’ve yet to win an award,” West grinned. “So yes, we had a little jump up and down at home, cracked open another bottle.”

Talking Tuesday to The Associated Press on the TV program’s south London set, West said he had worried about how the program would be received, noting the tough competition it faced from “great” American dramas like “Mad Men.”

“The Hour” has been nominated for three Globes in all; best miniseries or movie, West for the actor category and co-star Romola Garai for best actress.

West plays blustery anchorman Hec-tor Madden, while fellow Brits Garai

and Ben Whishaw round out the love triangle that is taking place behind the scenes of an hour-long British news TV program. Garai is Bel, the producer, while Whishaw gets into all sorts of trouble as an investigative reporter.

West says the news of the Globe nomi-nations, which came at the start of shooting for six new episodes in the second season, has put a spring into the step of the cast and crew. “It’s always nice to know that what you’re doing is actually being watched and appreciated by people,” he said.

“Especially when audience figures aren’t so big. And in England, we were on over the summer holidays, so I wasn’t ever sure if anyone saw it,” he laughed.

The Golden Globes ceremony is being held Jan. 15 at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. And West is hoping his old co-star from HBO’s celebrated series “The Wire,” Idris Elba, will be there to share the fun — Elba is nominated in the same category as West for “Luther.”


LOS ANGELES — “The X Factor” judges didn’t want to stop listen-ing to Melanie Amaro. The powerful 19-year-old vocalist from Sunrise, Fla., wowed the Fox talent competition’s panel with her soaring rendition of Beyonce’s “Listen” during Wednesday’s final performance round, prompting head judge Simon Cowell to declare that Amaro should win the show’s grand prize: a $5 million recording contract and a starring role in a Pepsi commercial.

AP Photo/FOX, Frank Micelotta, FILE

FILE- In this Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011 file image released by Fox, judges, from left, Nicole Sherzinger, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and L.A. Reid attend “The X Factor” screening at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2011 file photo, actor Daniel Craig attends the premiere of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York.

In this undated image provided by Kudos Film and Television,

British actors from left Domi-

nic West who plays Hector Madden, and

Romola Garai who plays Bel Rowley, pose

for photo stills for BBC drama

series The Hour. AP Photo/Kudos Film and Television, Nick Wall

Science Friday, December 23, 2011 13International

The controversy arose when two separate research teams -- one in the Netherlands and the other in the United States -- separately found ways to alter the H5N1 avian influenza so it could pass easily between mammals. Until now, bird flu has been rare in humans, but par-ticularly fatal in those who do get sick. H5N1 first infected humans in 1997 and has killed more than one

in every two people that it infected, for a total of 350 deaths.

The concern is the virus could mutate and mimic past pandemic flu outbreaks such as the “Spanish flu” of 1918-1919 which killed 50 million people, and outbreaks in 1957 and 1968 that killed three million. The recommendations from a non-governmental advisory panel that key details of the newly

altered virus be withheld drew fire from some scientists who saw it as censorship of material that is es-sential for surveillance and the hunt for vaccines.

Some experts have pointed out that the data does not show whether the engineered virus is actually transmissible between humans, and a major risk is that the virus would emerge on its own in nature.

But the chair of the National Sci-ence Advisory Board for Biosecu-rity, Paul Keim, told AFP that even though the research has already been discussed by Dutch scientists at public forums, all 23 members voted unanimously to urge editors to withhold the data in case it fell into the wrong hands.


MOSCOW — A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian, an American and a Dutchman to the International Space Station blasted off flawlessly from Russia’s launch facility in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Mission commander Oleg Kononenko and his colleagues, American Don Pettit and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are to dock with the space station on Friday.

The blastoff from the snowy launchpad in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, took place without a hitch and the spacecraft reached Earth orbit about nine minutes later. Video from in-side the craft showed the three crew members gripping each others’ hands in celebration as the final stage of the booster rocket separated.

The three aboard the Russian spacecraft will join three others already on the ISS, NASA’s Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin. The six are to work together on the station until March.

The launch came amid a period of trouble for Russia’s space pro-gram, which provides the only way for crew to reach the space station since the United States retired its space shuttle program in July.

The launch of an unmanned sup-ply ship for the space station failed in August and the ship crashed in a Siberian forest. The Soyuz rocket carrying that craft was the same type used to send up Russian manned spacecraft, and the crash prompted officials to postpone the next manned launch while the rockets were examined for flaws. The delayed mission eventually took place on Nov. 14.

Just five days before that launch, Russia sent up its ambi-tious Phobos-Ground unmanned probe, which was to go to the Phobos moon of Mars, take soil samples and return them to Earth. But engineers lost contact with the ship and were unable to propel it out of Earth orbit and toward Mars. The craft is now expected to fall to Earth in mid-January.


If “Guitar Hero” was the spunky teenager who made music gaming fun, “Rocksmith” is his older, cooler brother in a distressed leather jacket.

“Rocksmith” (Ubisoft, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, $79.99) trades in the now familiar plastic guitar with buttons for the real, six-stringed deal. You simply plug your electric guitar — or an acoustic guitar with a pickup — into your console or computer. For $199, you can get the software bundled with an entry-level Epiphone Les Paul Jr. guitar.

Generation after generation of would-be Eric Claptons have tried

learning the guitar with instructors, books, DVDs and other teaching tools. Most of us get stuck at the intro to “Stairway to Heaven.” With some minor guitar experience under my belt, I dared “Rocksmith” to teach me, entertain me and keep me en-gaged. It succeeded on all fronts.

Guitar lessons turn into a game: Keep in step with the colored, glow-ing and spinning rectangles that fall down the screen and land on a numbered fret. The more notes you get correct, the better your score.

It takes some getting used to. The descending rectangles are colored with a different hue for each of the six guitar strings. But most guitar strings aren’t colored, so you have

to mentally keep track of those color-and-string pairs — which change quickly during the action.

I was able to learn the melody to The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” within minutes, but the techniques get more com-plicated. For example, the double-stops technique requires covering two strings at the same time while muting the adjacent strings. It’s easy when you’re looking down and staring at your fingers with all the time in the world. It’s a lot harder when you have to look at the screen, remember where the correct frets are by muscle memory and strike them fast enough to get ready for the next set of notes.

AP Photo/Ubisoft Entertainment

This video game image courtesy of Ubisoft Entertainment shows the video game “Rocksmith.”

AFP Photo/Alain Jocard

File illustration photo shows a lab technician preparing to perform an autopsy on a dead bird. Top US scientists have defended their bid to stop details of a mutant bird flu virus from being published and called for global cooperation to ward off an uncontrollable pandemic.


Top US scientists on Wednesday defended their bid to stop details of a mutant bird flu virus from being published and called for global cooperation to ward off an uncontrollable pandemic. Meanwhile, scientists involved in the experiments said they are cooperating with government officials and the editors of the journals Science and Nature to pare down their research for publication in the coming weeks.

AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

In this photo taken with a fisheye lens and with long time exposure, people lwatchthe launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with the Soyuz TMA-03M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011.

Friday, December 23, 201114 InternationalSport

The performance delighhtedboss Roberto Mancini who toldthe BBC: “We are happy to betop but as I said three days agoit’s important to stay top at theend of the season. “But for oursupporters I think it’s a goodChristmas. If we want to winthe championship we should get90 points because ManchesterUnited keep winning.”

United remained two points be-hind City after thrashing Fulham5-0 at Craven Cottage, althoughthe victory was not without costas manager Alex Ferguson ex-plained. “The performance in thefirst half was as good as we haveplayed all season, but we’ve got acouple of injuries,” he said

“Phil Jones got an elbow tothe jaw and we’ll send him for an

X-ray tomorrow. It doesn’t lookgood. Rio (Ferdinand) will beback for the Blackburn game onNew Year’s Eve, Phil is a concernand Ashley (Young) is out for twoor three weeks.” Among United’sscorers was 38-year-old RyanGiggs who maintained his recordof a goal in all 20 seasons since thePremier League began, althoughhis effort just before halftime took

Philippe Senderos.“It was very impressive, we’ve

not scored as many as we’d liketo but we’d been playing well,”Giggs told the BBC. “The secondpart of the season we always kickon and put in performances andthat’s pleasing. We don’t want torely on the forwards for goals, weneed to share them around.”

Danny Wellbeck, Nani with arare header, Wayne Rooney witha stunning 30-metre shot andDimitar Berbatov with a cheekybackheel sent Fulham to theirheaviest home defeat for 24 years.

the season and it came just beforeAston Villa’s Marc Albrightonscored the 20,000th since thePremier League started in 1992-93to cancel out Robin Van Persie’s

Villa’s relief was short-livedthough as Yossi Benayoun struckwith an 87th-minute header togive Arsenal a 2-1 win, theireighth in their last 10 leaguematches. Villa ended the matchwith 10 men after defender AlanHutton was sent off after 88 min-utes for a second yellow card.

Reuters

LONDON - Arsenal havepostponed Monday’s homePremier League match againstWolverhampton Wanderers for24 hours because of a plannedstrike by London Undergroundtrain drivers which threatens toplunge the capital into chaos.The match at the EmiratesStadium will now be playedon Tuesday at 1500 GMT,but Chelsea’s fixture againstneighbours Fulham at StamfordBridge on the Dec. 26 Box-ing Day bank holiday is goingahead despite the threatenedtravel shutdown.

“This decision has had to bemade now, before the result ofthe legal challenge to the pro-posed industrial action is finallyknown, due to the preparationperiod needed to safely oper-ate Emirates Stadium by allthe relevant agencies,” Arsenal

said in a statement on theirwebsite (www.arsenal.com) onThursday.

“The paramount concern wasalways the duty of care towards theArsenal supporters,WolverhamptonWanderers supporters, matchdayemployees, workers and indeed ev-eryone who was planning to attendthe match on Boxing Day.”

The club said that as therewere no services operating onmainline train services intoLondon on the day, there waslikely to have been “severedisruption, or at worst, inabil-ity for supporters or matchdayemployees and workers” to getto the match.

The planned strike is theresult of a dispute over work-ers’ bank holiday pay but thelegality of the walkout has beenchallenged by the transport au-thorities and will be decided inthe High Court in London lateron Thursday.

REUTERS/Toby Melville

Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck (C) celebrates with team mates Wayne Rooney (R) and Nani after scoring a goal during their English Premier League soccer match against Fulham at Craven Cottage in London December 21, 2011.

Manchester rivals win as City stay top for ChristmasReuters

LONDON - Premier League leaders Manchester City and champions Manchester Unitedswitched attention back to the action and away from controversies surrounding racism with

with a 3-0 home win over Stoke City thanks to two goals from Sergio Aguero and one fromAdam Johnson.

AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie shoots at goal as he plays against Aston Villa during their English Premier League soccer match at Villa Park in Birmingham, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011.

Transport strike threat forces Arsenal to delay match

Friday, December 23, 2011 15International Sport

Council welterweight champion,pleaded guilty to one count of bat-tery and no contest to two countsof harassment after reaching a dealwith prosecutors, said Mary AnnPrice, spokeswoman for the ClarkCounty Courts.

Those charges were part of acriminal complaint against May-weather, 34, that originally includedcharges of robbery, grand larceny

the home of his former girlfriend,Josie Harris.

Las Vegas Judge Melissa Sara-gosa sentenced Mayweather to sixmonths in jail, but she only ordered

Saragosa suspended the otherthree months of the sentence, but ifhe is arrested again or fails to com-plete certain parts of his sentence

spokeswoman for the Clark CountyDistrict Attorney’s Office whichprosecuted the case.

The judge ordered Mayweatherto complete 100 hours of commu-

-

Vegas, must report to court onJanuary 6 to be transferred to jail,

An attorney for Mayweathercould not be reached for com-ment.

Mayweather originally faced a

A criminal complaint againstMayweather states he battered

grabbed her by the hair, threw her

to the floor and struck her. The rob-bery and larceny charges againstMayweather related to allegationsthat he took Harris’ cell phone.

Mayweather, a flamboyant fighterrenowned for his trash-talkingbefore bouts, is widely regarded

generation.The boxer known as “Money”

a perfect 42-0, including 26 knock-outs, with a fourth-round knockoutof Victor Ortiz in Las Vegas in Sep-

Council welterweight title.He is due back in court for a

separate case next week, whenhe is expected to plead guilty toa charge of misdemeanor battery

said. That would carry a $1,000fine, she said.

Reuters

MIAMI -

-

together in dramatic fashion in 2010 as free agents with the ex-

After a turbulent season where the team faced unprecedented

altered roster and had little time to adjust to each other’s styleof play.

bringing together a trio of top players and promising glory, simplyhas no possibility of accepting second best.

“We didn’t come together to reach the playoffs, to win a play-

reporters during training camp.James has little choice but to talk big as it would be headline

-

“I think we are the best team in the league and we’re going

nothing else left for us.”The Heat, who open their season at Dallas on December 25

be off but the attention has eased.-

arena with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra describing the campaign asfeeling “almost like two or three seasons.”Boxer Mayweather to serve

90 days in jail for attack

REUTERS/Steve Marcus

Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the U.S. celebrates his victory over WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, also of the U.S., after their title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada September 17, 2011.

Reuters

ALas Vegas judge sentenced boxer Floyd Mayweather on Wednesday to six months behind bars for

For Miami’s “Big Three”, winning the only option

REUTERS/Hans Deryk

Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade (L), LeBron James (C) and Chris Bosh pose for photographers during media day at the team’s training camp in Miami, Florida December 12, 2011.

Friday, December 23, 201116 SportI N T E R N A T I O N A L

And after out-scoring his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in seven of the last nine races of the year and signing a new deal during the same period, he now believes he is in a better position than ever before to challenge Red Bull. “We haven’t quite won the world championship in the last two years, but I have won quite a few races with this team and I feel that our time is coming,” Button said.

“We are in a very good position. And it couldn’t be better really so we are very excited about 2012.” Button said that he has achieved the aims he set when he signed for McLaren ahead of the 2010 season. In that time he has outscored Hamilton 484 points to 467, taken five grand prix wins and achieved the high-est position in the championship for a McLaren driver since Hamilton took the 2008 title.

He still believes that more improve-

ment is needed, however, in order to knock Vettel off his perch at the top of the championship next year. “We have spent two years together now. It has flown by, and it is quite scary that it has been two seasons already,” Button added.

“My aim was to arrive at McLaren and win races, and be with a team that can always give me a chance of winning the world championship. “I feel that we have really improved and I feel that with a tiny bit more improvement we can fight for more victories in 2012.”

Although Button does not rate his season as on the same level as his title-winning campaign with Brawn, he does believe that the Japanese Grand Prix marked the strongest race of his career. “Japan meant a lot to me, because I have got a lot of connections with Japan over the last eight years,” he said.

KIMI Raikkonen is adamant he will be as fast as he was before leaving For-mula 1 when he returns to grand prix racing with Lotus next year. The Finn has secured a two-year deal with the team and will make his comeback in 2012 after a two-season absence from Formula 1.

Raikkonen, the world champion in 2007, says his motivation is higher than ever before and is confident he will be as quick as he was before he went ral-lying.

“I am more motivated than ever and I don’t think I’ve lost any speed,” said Raikkonen on Lotus Renault’s website. “Getting on top of the tyres will be the hardest thing, of course, but I’m not re-ally worried.

“Although the technical regulations don’t seem to change much, they apply to a lot of areas and quite a few elements will have to be re-designed. As a result, the cars will be significantly different next year. The order could be shaken up, which will make things very interesting.”

The Finn says his visits to the team’s factory have left him upbeat about his prospects for the year ahead.

REUTERS/Nacho Doce

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel (R) of Germany

jokes with McLaren Formula One driver Jenson Button of Brit-

ain after the qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s Brazilian F1

Grand Prix at Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo November 26,

2011.

Button : I can beat Red Bull next year

Jenson Button believes that next year will give him his best oppor-tunity yet of adding to his 2009 Formula 1 world title. The McLaren driver won three grands prix in 2011 and finished second in the world championship behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen adamant he is as fast as before

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