More BN MPs interested to defect - Wan Azizah

Monday, 22 September 2008 13:21 zen

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the President of the PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) said that there has been more Barisan Nasional MPs who are keen to cross over to the opposition and that her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been holding discussions with them. She said Anwar is making extra effort to meet more MPs as some were sent to Taiwan and Hong Kong,” -Zen, Malaysiatoday

Australia wants same security priority with Indonesia

Friday, 19 September 2008 10:36 WIB
WASPADA ONLINEBRISBANE, Australia - The Australian government wanted to make sure of the presence of a similar comprehension between Australia and Indonesia."The comprehension about security priority between Indonesia and Australia will enable both countries to use their defence forces to become efficient and effctive in creating security and regional stability," Australian Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said here Thursday.Fitzgibbon is visiting Indonesia and Timor Leste in September 17 to 19. In Jakarta, Fitzgibbon and Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono will discuss the development of the cooperation initiative and the identification of numbers chances to be involved. The discussion is aimed to help improve the two countries` relations."Like any other broader bilateral relations, Australia-Indonesia defence relations desribes our interest in regional security," Fitzgibbon said.(j01/ann)

Drunk tourist hijacks car, knocks down five people in Bali

Thursday, 18 September 2008 21:10 WIB
WASPADA ONLINEKUTA, Indonesia - Denpasar police have detained a Brazilian tourist who killed at least one person and seriously injured four others while driving a hyjacked car at high speed apparently under the influence of alcohol. The Brazilian, identified as Guilherme Guades (24), ran the car against a girl, Atik (23), who was riding on a motorcycle on Legian Road in Kuta on Thursday. Atik died on the spot. Before hitting Atik, Guades also knocked down four motorcycle riders in his drunken spree. The four sustained injuries so serious they had to be admitted to the intensive care unit of Sanglah General Hospital. The dead girl`s body was also taken to Sanglah General Hospital where doctors conducted an autopsy. According to several eyewitness, Guades who was at first riding a motorcycle bumped into a parked car at round 07.15 local time. He fell to the ground but after he was able to get on his feet again, he stopped a slow-moving car and, after pulling out its driver, drove off in the car in southern direction at high speed. During his trip in the hijacked car, he ran down four motorcylists and only stopped after hitting Atik on her motocycle.Meanwile, Denpasar Police Chief Senior Commissioner Gede Widana confirmed that police had detained Guades for causing the death of one person and injuries to four others. In a preliminary investigation, police had found indications that Guades had consumed liquor only a short while before. "Our preliminary conclusion is that Guades was drunk but we still need to develop this clue further in the field," Widana said.(j01/ann)

FOOD INSPECTION

The Jakarta Post , Makassar Thu, 09/18/2008 4:29 PM National

A police officer observes the expiry date of formula milk in a store inMakassar on Thursday during a raid held with Food and Drug MonitoringAgency (POM) of some stores and hypermarkets. The authorities saidexpired products appeared more often in the markets over the past fewweeks, prompted by the increase in demand during the holy month ofRamadan. (JP/Andi Hajramurni)

World markets tumble on Lehman news

Emma Vandore , The Associated Press , Paris Mon, 09/15/2008 6:45 PM Business A feverish sell-off in Europe turned markets sharply lower on Monday after the double-fisted blow from Wall Street news that Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch would be sold to Bank of America.European benchmarks were punished following sharp losses across Asia: the FTSE-100 share index was down 3.37 percent in London, the Paris CAC-40 was off 4.47 percent and Germany's DAX 30 index of blue chips sagged 3.18 percent.The falls were led by insurance and financial stocks, with shares in French insurer AXA SA down 9.6 percent, Germany's Commerzbank AG falling 6.5 percent, and Swiss bank UBS AG down 6.7 percent at euro197.57 ($277.90).Britain's Barclays, which had considered a combination with Lehman Brothers but walked away, was down 10.1 percent."We will have a shakeout today and there will probably be more damage in the afternoon when the U.S. gets going," said Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe in London.Europe's major central banks moved quickly to calm markets Monday, pumping billions of euros and pounds into the financial system. The European Central Bank loaned euro30 billion but said it received 51 bids for euro90.3 billion (US$127 billion) on its one-day tender with a bid rate of 4.25 percent - a clear sign that demand for cash is over the top.Similarly, the Bank of England offered up 5 billion pounds (nearly US$9 billion, euro6.4 billion) in a three-day auction - but bids were nearly five times higher, at 24.1 billion pounds. (euro30.4 billion; US$43 billion)The Zurich-based Swiss National Bank said it was also providing liquidity in "a generous and flexible manner" at an overnight rate of 1.9 percent, but wouldn't say how much was on offer.Speaking at an awards ceremony at Frankfurt city hall, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said policymakers must be "extraordinarily alert" for jitters in financial markets, spooked by the credit turmoil that stems from now-toxic subprime mortgage debt."It is an ongoing market correction with episodes of high level of volatility, it is what we have experienced since now a long period of time and is going on," he said.The 158-year-old Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed Monday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company was crippled by US$60 billion (euro43 billion) in soured real-estate holdings and unable to find an investment partner to throw it a lifeline.Officials from the government and various banks failed to find a solution during weekend meetings. During the talks, when Bank of America balked at buying Lehman, the government urged it to buy investment bank Merrill Lynch instead. The US$50 billion (euro36 billion) deal stops speculators whose next target after Lehman would have been Merrill, Cantor Fitzgerald's Pope said.The moves will create a "firebreak in the financial structure," and once disappointment that Lehman didn't manage to make a deal has been digested, stocks will start to recover, he said."You are going to have a torrid day today, probably tomorrow as well, but then I think people are going to start thinking there's some opportunity out there to be engaged," he said.Before that, markets also have to react to a possible restructuring of the world's largest insurance company, American International Group Inc. The company said Sunday it is discussing options with outside parties to improve its business. The Wall Street Journal said on its Web site Sunday that AIG may announce a turnaround plan Monday that would involve selling assets such as its aircraft leasing business.A global consortium of banks, meanwhile, announced late Sunday a US$70 billion (euro49.77 billion) pool of funds to lend to ailing financial companies, a move geared toward preventing a worldwide panic on stock and other financial exchanges. The U.S. Federal Reserve chipped in with more largesse in its emergency lending program for investment banks.The dollar declined against euro, which rose to US$1.4241 from US$1.4215 late Friday in New York. The pound rose against the dollar, to US$1.7948 from US$1.7937.Crude oil for October delivery was trading down more than US$4 to as low as US$96.31 a barrel on the NYMEX Web site Monday morning. It is the lowest the price has been since February this year.Asia's biggest stock exchanges in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea were closed for holidays, but every market open closed deep in the red.India's Sensex tumbled 3.4 percent, Taiwan's benchmark plummeted 4.1 percent and Singapore dropped 3.2 percent.Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia's largest investment bank, plummeted 10.3 percent. In Taiwan, Shin Kong Financial Holding lost 6.9 percent.But there could be more turmoil to come when the U.S. wakes up. Aurelio Maccario an economist with UniCredit in Milan said the reaction in Europe and Asia has been more contained than it could have been."Everyone is waiting for the U.S. markets to open, let's see how the day unfolds," he said

Tutu says Israel may have committed war crime

Eliane Engeler , The Associated Press , Geneva Mon, 09/15/2008 8:52 PM World Archbishop Desmond Tutu said Monday that Israel may have committed a war crime by shelling Beit Hanoun in 2006, but that Palestinians also were at fault for firing rockets at Israeli civilians.Israeli and Palestinian authorities should prosecute people on both sides who attacked civilians in the town in Gaza and in neighboring Israel, Tutu said in a report to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council."In the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli military ... the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime," Tutu said in the report.Israel's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, refused to discuss the war crimes allegation because Israel rejects the validity of Tutu's report.Tutu's mission to Beit Hanoun was "another regrettable product of the Human Rights Council," Leshno-Yaar said.Israel maintains that the body, which is dominated by Muslim and African nations, has focused excessively on criticizing Israel."It is regrettable that this mission took place at all," Leshno-Yaar told The Associated Press.The report was Tutu's final assessment of an investigation requested by the council into the November 2006 Israeli-Palestinian fighting.Israel declined three times to grant visas to the Nobel peace laureate and his U.N.-appointed fact-finding team to investigate the killings of 19 civilians in an Israeli artillery barrage, the report said. The team finally traveled to Beit Hanoun via Egypt in May - 18 months behind schedule.Israel's firing of artillery toward Beit Hanoun showed "a disproportionate and reckless disregard for Palestinian civilian life," Tutu said.He also said the firing of Palestinian Qassam rockets in neighboring Israel must stop and should be investigated.Leshno-Yaar said he was "furious" that Tutu's report "de facto legitimizes Hamas control of Gaza.""This does not serve the interests of Israel or the Palestinians or the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians," he said.He was referring to the Islamic militant group whose violent takeover of Gaza 15 months ago created a split among Palestinians, with Hamas ruling Gaza and their moderate Fatah rivals controlling the West Bank.In addition to meeting with representatives of the Palestinian authority, Tutu met with senior members of Hamas.The rights council asked Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, to assess the living conditions and basic rights of victims, address the needs of survivors and make recommendations on ways to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks.The Beit Hanoun shelling, which Israel said was unintended, came after its troops wound up a weeklong incursion meant to curb Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from the town.Palestinian militants frequently use Beit Hanoun as a staging ground for their rocket attacks on Israel."Those firing rockets on Israeli civilians are no less accountable than the Israeli military for their actions," Tutu said.He said an independent investigation should be undertaken into the violence on both sides and that Israel should pay reparations for the victims."It is not too late for an independent, impartial and transparent investigation of the shelling to be held," he said.But Leshno-Yaar said Israel's own investigation into the incident that found that hitting civilians was accidental was sufficient. He noted that the results had been shared with the United Nations."There is no need for such a mission by the Human Rights Council and by Archbishop Tutu," he said.Tutu also called on Israel to stop preventing Palestinians from accessing medical services by restricting the movement of medical goods and people in and out of Gaza.

Temasek loses last appeal

Desy Nurhayati , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Sat, 09/13/2008 10:01 AM Headlines
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ruling by the nation's anti-monopoly body that found Temasek Holdings Pte, a Singapore-based investment firm, guilty of violating the antitrust law.
The earlier ruling by the Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU) said Temasek had breached anti-monopoly laws by indirectly owning shares in both PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) and PT Indosat -- in a move that could have been used to help fix prices.
However, the decision may have little impact, as Temasek subsidiary Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) Pte sold its entire stake in Indosat to Qatar Telecom (QTel) in June in a deal worth US$1.8 billion.
Temasek now only indirectly owns Telkomsel, the nation's largest mobile-phone operator, through Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel), another of its subsidiaries. It controls a 54 percent stake in SingTel, which in turn owns 35 percent of Telkomsel.
Temasek and its units have all denied any wrongdoing, and said they would fight all the way to prove their innocence, including possibly taking the case before an international arbitration.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court also scrapped two stipulations from the earlier ruling prohibiting Temasek from selling its holdings to affiliate companies and restricting each buyer to a maximum 10 percent stake.
"The ruling by the Central Jakarta Court applies, except for point number six, which says each share buyer is limited to no more than 10 percent and that buyers must not be associated with Temasek Holdings," said Supreme Court spokesperson Nurhadi Jakarta on Friday.
According to Bloomberg, that should remove any legal obstacle to the sale of the Indosat stake to QTel.
"There shouldn't be any problem now with the stake sale (because of the decision to ease those restrictions)," Ananda Lukmansyah Sjarkawi, an analyst at PT Andalan Artha Advisindo Sekuritas, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
During a visit to Indonesia last June, QTel chairman Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani said the divestment of the stake was still subject to a decision by the Supreme Court.
Temasek itself is still undecided on whether take the case to arbitration.
"Temasek Holdings is disappointed with the verdict announced today by the Indonesian Supreme Court," said Goh Yong Siang, Temasek's managing director for international and strategic relations.