The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia, PA
Conditions as of 7:41 AM
Rain
Temperature:
61°
Wind:
SSW 18 mph
Dew point:
57°
Pressure:
29.51 in.
Humidity:
88%
Visibility:
6.0 miles
Observed at: Northeast Philadelphia, PA
Today
Rain heavy at times with a chance of thunderstorms this morning...then showers likely early this afternoon. Very windy and not as cool with highs around 60. Temperatures falling into the 40s this afternoon. South winds 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 60 mph...becoming west 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph this afternoon.
Tonight
Partly cloudy in the evening...then clearing. Lows in the upper 20s. West winds 10 to 20 mph. Gusts up to 45 mph in the evening.
http://weather.philly.com/US/PA/Philadelphia.html
Corzine starts job ready for pain
By Kaitlin Gurney and Elisa Ung
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - "Hold me accountable," Jon Corzine said after he was sworn in as New Jersey's 54th governor yesterday, promising financial and ethics reforms for a state infamous for corruption and pork-barrel spending.
With the subdued tone of a Wall Street executive addressing a beleaguered company's stockholders, the former Goldman Sachs chief executive told New Jerseyans to prepare for painful choices as he balances the state's books.
"I would prefer to be a governor with a public treasury flush with money to spend on good things for our state or further reduce the people's tax burden," said Corzine, who faces an estimated budget shortfall of $5 billion, "but that is not the hand we have been dealt.
"The state, like every responsible family, must learn to live within its means."
Leaving the door open to tax increases, much as he did during his grueling gubernatorial campaign, Corzine reiterated promises to fix the state's onerous property-tax system, replenish bankrupt transportation and school construction funds, and resume paying for public-employee pensions.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13648986.htm
On his 300th birthday, Ben was everywhere
By Michael Klein and Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writers
Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man...
Chuckle sometimes.
Ralph Archbold says he tried to follow Ben Franklin's lead. Archbold, the most visible Franklin impressionist, turned in at 9 p.m. Monday so he could get a fresh start for yesterday's myriad celebrations marking the statesman and inventor's 300th birthday. But the phone rang at 1 a.m.
Archbold did have the "early to rise" part covered - a 5 a.m. radio interview, "sitting in my underwear," he said. Then he got dressed and got busy: TV appearances, a parade to Franklin's grave, a ceremony at the National Constitution Center. He was booked solid into last night.
Archbold and his Ben brothers-in-breeches seemed to be everywhere yesterday.
At 8:45 a.m., actor Arthur Cavendish was joined by two "colonials" in the lobby of the Bellevue as part of a series of "roving birthday parties."
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13648988.htm
Supreme Court upholds Oregon suicide law
WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. - After more than a decade of legal battles over assisted suicide, a Supreme Court ruling affirming that states have the authority to regulate medical treatment of the terminally ill may help turn an Oregon law into a national model.
The 6-3 ruling Tuesday was considered a rebuke to the Bush administration and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. The court said they improperly threatened to use a federal drug law against Oregon doctors who prescribe lethal doses of medicine to dying patients who request it.
"The favorable ruling by the Supreme Court now permits other states to move forward in replicating Oregon's landmark law," said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13647801.htm
Prescription plan is causing aches for GOP
By Tom Raum
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Medicare drug program that was supposed to win political points for Republicans has exploded in their faces as this election year has begun. It's a particularly vexing problem for the GOP, since older Americans are such active voters and no one seeking office wants to see them angry.
Since the Bush administration's prescription program began Jan. 1, tens of thousands of older people have been unable to get medicines promised by the government. About 20 states have had to jump in to help them.
And while officials promised anew yesterday that a fix was on the way, Democrats pointed to the confusion surrounding the rollout and pounded the administration and its Republican allies in Congress.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13649008.htm
Love It! Older women, younger men
By Dianna Marder
Inquirer Columnist
The Web portal www.askmen.com refers to relationships between older women and younger men as "being caught in the cougar's grip" - the big cat being the older woman.
Ask Men loves the idea. Older women are more experienced (hear strains of "Teach Me Tonight"?), less uptight, less likely to fly off the handle, less needy of a long-term commitment.
Some see cougar as a derogatory term for a considerably older woman, usually seen at a bar gussied up and on the prowl. She's strong and she goes after her prey. Others see the label as a compliment to a woman who is independent, knows what she wants, and can afford it.
It's not a new concept in Hollywood.
On screen, the subject's been simplified and scrutinized in Prime, with Uma Thurman as the older woman, Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves as a couple, and most famously in The Graduate, pairing Anne Bancroft and a then-young Dustin Hoffman.
In reality, Raquel Welch, Susan Sarandon, Demi Moore, Madonna, Barbara Hershey, Geena Davis, Courteney Cox, Julianne Moore, Sheryl Crow all could be called cougars.
But Hollywood stars have always received special dispensations on behavior.
Katrina O'Connell, a sweet, petite, young woman, was appalled when she heard the term - and even more upset when she learned about the book.
Yes, like many a relationship niche, this one has spawned a self-help book.
Cougar: A Guide For Older Women Dating Younger Men (Key Porter Books, $19.95) is by Toronto Sun columnist Valerie Gibson.
The author, who contends that older women are sexy and desirable, has had five husbands. Her last was 14 years younger.
(Gibson's Cougar is not to be confused with Cougar Woman by Jane Hartman, the fictional account of a 19th-century Absaroke warrior.)
And of course, there's a specialty Web site: www.gocougar.com promises to match older women with younger men.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/13602006.htm
The Jakarta Post
Residents stand by for floods
City News - January 15, 2006
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After the flood receded from the Kampung Pulo subdistrict, East Jakarta, on Saturday, the family of Jaim, 53, were busy working clearing out the water from their house.
"The level of water is lower than last night. When I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning, it reached 80 centimeters, and it's been getting lower ever since," Jaim said.
Since flood hit the area late on Thursday, the family have been staying on the roof. The water level reached two meters on Friday, but decreased in the afternoon. It upped again to almost one meter on Saturday and decreased at about 1 p.m., said another resident, Abdul Latif.
The water was about ankle deep on the afternoon when The Jakarta Post visited the flood-prone area.
Although rain started to fall again, both Jaim and Abdul, as well as others, preferred to stay upstairs in their house.
The government has provided the Kampung Pulo residents two shelters nearby.
Every time the annual flooding hits the area, residents usually stay in a vacant building belonging to state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia, or in the compound of St. Maria Fatima school, which has mobile toilets and a kitchen as well as free medicine and health checks.
But not all of the residents go there during floods.
"We prefer to stay in our house as we still have our second floor. We would leave the house and go to the shelter houses only if the water has already reached roof high," Abdul said.
"And we feel more comfortable sleeping in our house in our own beds, because there are no beds in the shelters. We usually sleep on plaited mats there," he added.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060115.A02
New direction needed for disaster management
Jonatan Lassa, Jakarta
At least 38 major flood and landslide incidents have occurred in the last five years throughout Indonesia, killing more than 2,000 people and affecting one million more, including the recent disasters in Jember and Banjarnegara, in Java.
It a shocking fact, but one that has hardly touched policymakers in Indonesia.
Many people wrongly think that Indonesia does not have flood-risk area mapping.
Bakorsurtanal (National Survey Coordinating Agency) finished their flood risk map a few years ago and it is available for free on the Internet. What the government does not have is the follow-up actions such as disaster preparedness and mitigation within the flood-prone areas.
Mainstream media and experts are often trapped into simplifying the approach to flood problems. They think that engineering and technological based approaches to tackle flood problems are enough. In addition, the government and a few mainstream research bodies also think that removing people from the flood/landslide prone areas is a solution. These agencies seem to take an exclusionary approach to the problem suggesting that people get out of the flood/landslide prone areas.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060116.E02&irec=1
Japan to remind Indonesia of tsunami with wave-high poles
TOKYO (AFP): Japan will build memorial poles in Aceh as high as the tsunami waves that ravaged the Indonesian province in 2004 in a bid to remind residents of the dangers, a researcher said Monday.About 85 concrete poles will be erected this year across Aceh, which was hardest hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
"Tsunami victims seem to be hoping to forget about the disaster as soon as possible, but I would say they shouldn't," said Hirokazu Iemura, a professor of earthquake engineering at Japan's Kyoto University who proposed the plan.
"They should learn to cope with the risks in their everyday lives, keeping in mind what happened there," he said.
The poles, some of which are as high as 10 meters, will show the height of the waves and note the time it took for the tsunami to reach each spot.
The design is yet to be finalized, but the poles will likely also carry inspirational messages.
"I hope the poles will also accelerate local authorities' efforts to construct a place to evacuate, as Aceh is a flat place with no hills to which to evacuate from the waves," Iemura said.
Iemura, who headed a Japanese team that researched the tsunami, said the Japanese government will spend 9.78 million yen (US$85,800) to finance the memorial poles, which were approved by Indonesia.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060116114512&irec=0
International donors' conference on bird flu opens
BEIJING (AP): Disease experts urged rich countries at a donors conference Tuesday to come up with the US$1.5 billion that the World Bank says is needed to tackle bird flu and prepare for a potential pandemic in humans.
"We're talking about a tremendous amount of money here for an issue that is clearly of global importance. The stakes are very high," James LeDuc, a viral illness expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told said at the opening of atwo-day conference in Beijing.
"Whether it's SARS, or monkey pox, or avian influenza, or whatever the next outbreak, the capacity that we're building is going to be very important for global health," he said.
The international donors' conference in Beijing is focused on raising money to fight bird flu, which has killed at least 79 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060117111610&irec=8
Brother of Indonesian bird flu victim dies
Brother of Indonesian bird flu victim diesJAKARTA (AFP): A three-year-old boy suffering symptoms of bird flu died Tuesday, days after his sister passed away and tested positive for the virus, a health official said.
Initial tests on the boy were not conclusive and will be repeated, Ministry of Health official Hariyadi Wibisono told AFP.
"The validity of the earlier test results were borderline, so we need to carry out another test," he said.
The boy's 13-year-old sister died over the weekend and tests carried out by the health ministry showed she was carrying the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has killed nearly 80 people, mostly in Asia.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060117141120&irec=3
World pledges US$1.9 billion to fight bird flu
BEIJING (Reuters): International donors have pledged US$1.9 billion to support a global fund to combat bird flu, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said on Wednesday after a conference in Beijing, exceeding an initial target.
The World Bank had hoped the donors' conference would raise at least $1.2 billion.
The United States responded with a pledge of about $334 million, saying in a statement the money would be mainly in the form of grants and technical assistance. The total EU pledge is nearly $250 million.
The Bank itself has estimated that a pandemic lasting a year could cost the global economy up to $800 billion. Across the globe, millions could die if the H5N1 avian flu virus mutates just enough to pass easily among people. Economies would be crippled for weeks or months.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060118172301&irec=0
MA sets up country's first ever labor court
National News - January 15, 2006
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang
Chief Justice Bagir Manan on Saturday inaugurated the operation of a new special labor court that has the sole aim of assisting to speed up the resolution of labor disputes.
The new system, to be applied throughout Indonesia, was launched in Padang with the signing of three epigraphs for labor courts in Padang, Semarang and Jayapura.
The launching of the new system, hailed by many as it would give more legal certainty to labor settlements, was accompanied by the inauguration of the labor court building at the Padang District Court on Saturday.
Bagir said that in line with Law No. 2/2004 on labor dispute settlement, the labor court constituted a special court under the district courts in provincial capitals.
The panel of judges would consist of both ordinary judges and ad hoc judges, and the session processes would be different from other courts, Bagir said.
"For example, there will no longer be appeals and schedules for dispute settlements," he said.
The chief justice said that aside from the labor court, Indonesia already had other special courts including the human rights court, anticorruption court and children's court. Another special court for fisheries was currently being worked out, he said.
Bagir said that settlement of labor disputes was currently done in stages through the Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes (P4) and through ordinary legal processes.
"However, from the labor circle's point of view, besides being slow there is an impression that P4 tends to take sides with employers rather than with workers," he said. There were many disputes that should have been resolved by P4, but which continued on into the ordinary court system, later ending up in the Supreme Court, he said.
Despite the launching of the labor court, Bagir still underlined the importance of out-of-court settlements, bipartite arrangements, mediation and arbitration.
Such arrangements were important not only to avoid legal processes, but were also beneficial so that goodwill could be preserved between the disputing parties and win-win solutions sought, unlike time-consuming legal processes that often ended up with winners and losers, Bagir said.
Present at the launching ceremony were Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Erman Suparno, chairman of the Indonesian Businessmens Association Sofjan Wanandi, an executive of the Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions Syukur Sarto as well as heads of district courts from throughout Indonesia and deputy governors from a number of provinces.
Erman said that the launching of the labor court would give more legal certainty to the industrial sector. Such certainty, he said, was badly needed as it constituted one of the requirements for the improvement of investment climate in Indonesia.
Improvement in the investment climate, especially for foreign investment, was very important to help alleviate unemployment which has already reached 10.8 million, he said.
Meanwhile, Sofjan said that the new legal system had to be fully supported by the business sector, who had thus far relied only on the central office of P4.
It is hoped that the court would speed up settlements of labor disputes through the employment of professional judges, Sofjan said, adding that quick settlements would enhance Indonesia's investment climate.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060115.@01
Mining company's payments to military was graft: KPK head
JAKARTA (AFP): A US mining giant's payments to the Indonesian military in exchange for security services constituted graft, said head of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas on Wednesday.
But Erry said the body would not itself investigate millions of dollars paid out by Freeport-McMoRan for services at its mine in Papua unless ordered to so by the attorney-general's office.
Freeport-McMoRan paid US$20 million to high-ranking Indonesian security officials between 1998 and 2004, according to a New York Times report published last month.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060118164923&irec=1
Ten-year jail term sought for ex-minister over alleged graft
JAKARTA (AP): Indonesian prosecutors Wednesday demanded judges sentence a former religious affairs minister to 10 years in jail over the alleged misuse of funds set aside for the Haj pilgrimage.
Said Agil Husin Al Munawar is charged with corruption for the alleged misuse of Rp 680 billion (US$70 million) collected by the ministry from Indonesian Muslims wanting to perform the hajpilgrimage.
"The behavior of the defendant has caused high costs to pilgrims ... and also damaged the image of a department bearing the name of religion," said chief prosecutor Ranu Mihardja.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060118155113&irec=2
Freeport says it paid Indonesia US$1 billion since 2004
NEW YORK (Bloomberg): Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. paid Indonesia about US$1 billion since 2004, including for security at the Grasberg mine that has sparked a U.S. government inquiry, Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said.
All payments were "fully disclosed," and New Orleans-based Freeport spent about $6 million to $7 million annually to guard the mine, Adkerson said today in an interview.
Between 1998 and 2004, Freeport paid military and police officials almost $20 million, the New York Times reported last month, citing company records it had obtained.
"The amounts we're talking about are not unreasonable," Adkerson said. "We're not sure where the amounts came from" that were reported by the New York Times, he said.
The U.S. government made inquiries since the article and an editorial were published, Adkerson said. The $1 billion in payments includes taxes, royalties and profit from the government's 9.36 percent stake in Grasberg, the world's biggestgold mine and second-biggest copper mine.
"People know we are in a remote area and have to have unusual efforts to be sure we can operate with the 20,000 employees we have and all the other boom-town people to the south" of the mine, Freeport Chairman James Moffett said on a conference callwith analysts and investors.
The payments to Indonesia "adhere to the joint U.S. State Department-British Foreign Office voluntary principles on security and human rights," the company said on Wednesday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Freeport reported record net income in the fourth quarter, which more than doubled from a year earlier to $478.3 million, or $2.19 a share after the payment of dividends. Sales jumped 61 percent to $1.49 billion, mostly because of higher metals prices.
Shares of Freeport rose $1.02, or 1.7 percent, to $61.77 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after earlier reaching a record $63.39. The stock has jumped 62 percent in the past year as gold and copper prices surged.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20060118113012&irec=6
BI to limit role of foreigners at lending banks
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The central bank plans to limit the role of foreign employees at foreign-owned lenders in the country, an effort it says will provide more jobs for local workers and encourage the institutions to increase their credit to homegrown businesses.
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah said expatriate staff positions at the banks would be limited to middle-level management -- two levels below directors.
All other positions, he said, should be filled by local workers, unless there was a particular expertise not found in the local workforce.
"Unemployment, which has probably reached 12 million people today, is still a major problem for our economy," Burhanuddin said at a banking forum on Friday.
"We expect foreign-owned banks can pitch in to help with this situation by implementing this new policy."
Burhanuddin's announcement about the limit on expatriate staff comes as Bank Danamon, which is controlled by Germany's Deutsche Bank and Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings, indicated that it may have to lay off about 4,000 workers this year.
Analysts have also voiced concern that the country's banking industry is slowly coming under the control of foreigners.
A total of 41 foreign-owned banks are found among the 131 lenders operating in the country. They now manage 48.5 percent of the industry's total assets, compared to the 37.5 percent share of state-controlled lenders.
Burhanuddin dismissed the fears of a foreign stranglehold in the banking industry, saying foreign investments have benefited it, making it more healthy and professional.
Burhanuddin also noted the need for the institutions to increase their channeling of credit to local businesses, and consolidate their ownership and operation -- moves BI has been encouraging in local banks.
"Our study shows that the credit disbursement of foreign banks still remains low. It even declined between 2001 and 2003, when the banking industry as a whole recorded an increase," he said. "We hope this can be improved in the future."
Credit from foreign-owned banks has been on the rise since 2004, but it was mostly in consumer loans, such as credit cards.
The bank's director of banking research and policy, Muliaman D. Hadad, said the central bank would use persuasive means, as well as regulatory ones, to encourage more lending.
Burhanuddin also said the foreign-owned banks, as with local banks, would be subject to its "single presence policy", which requires shareholders controlling several lenders to consolidate their ownership. It is part of the central bank's effort to restructure the banking industry into a healthier state according to the Indonesian Banking Architecture (API) roadmap introduced in 2004.
Increasing the role of foreign-owned banks in the local economy is one of the measures in BI's newly introduced nine-point policy package, set to be implemented this year for the banking industry's development.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060115.@01&irec=0
Food safety must save more than it costs
Sri Raharjo, Yogyakarta
Now is an appropriate time to draw public attention to food safety issues, especially with the revelations of the widespread use of formaldehyde (formalin) in high moisture foods such as fish, wet noodle, meat balls and tofu.
Initially, formaldehyde was used to extend the shelf-life of perishable food. It also makes the texture of tofu firm, and keeps fish looking fresher for longer. However, since the use of this substance in foods is highly hazardous to human health, the government has banned its use.
The most frequent question raised by formaldehyde users is the availability of better and cheaper alternatives. The use of ice or other refrigeration methods is expensive, and many low-income consumers may not able to afford them.
Who suffers the most, and who gains the most, from this scandal? All are losers. But the nature and size of the damages resulting from the use of formaldehyde in food are varied for each stakeholder.
For honest food producers, it results in significant financial loss, or even complete loss of business. Formaldehyde users must pay for their crime, and police should bring them before courts to be tried.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060116.F03&irec=2
Urging democracy in Myanmar
The comment by Hassan Wirayuda, Indonesia's Foreign Minister, on the need for Myanmar to move to a democratic setup needs to be scrutinized.
"Myanmar is disturbing the balance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations", Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda told reporters in Jakarta, "And because of that we are asking it to show concrete steps toward democracy."
Furthermore, he said that Indonesia's experience of moving from an authoritarian regime to a democracy since the downfall of Gen. Soeharto in 1998 could be useful in helping to persuade Myanmar to introduce reforms.
Commenting on the internal matters of ASEAN members by other members has not been a practice since the beginning of the establishment of this group.
However, times seem to be changing and it is becoming common nowadays that members of ASEAN try to get more involved in the internal affairs of other members of the Association. It seems that Indonesia's Foreign Minister is getting used to this new practice.
By blatantly urging the military junta in Myanmar to show concrete steps toward democracy, Hassan has represented the official view of the Indonesian government on Myanmar's internal affairs. His statement can be understood as an effort by Indonesia to assert its influence on the Association. It is trying to regain its diminishing superior position in the region.
It is understandable that the sheer size of Indonesia in the region has urged it to attempt to regain the influence it once enjoyed in the region. Moreover, the current state of the Indonesian government supports this perception. The improvement in Indonesia's economic and socio-political condition in the past few years justifies the move.
And if Indonesia can maintain this condition, it will not take a long for it to regain its lost position. However, it should be noted here that the "success" claimed by the current government is far from satisfying. The current democratic practice of checks and balances between the executive and the legislative body seems to be eroding.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060116.F05&irec=4
New chapter, old book
The meeting proceeded as planned. The two leaders were all smiles, breathing fresh life into a spirited relationship that too often has been hijacked by the inane and prejudiced.
The two-day meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last Thursday and Friday in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, was a welcome respite from the emotional headlines that frequently characterize ties between the neighbors.
As customary at such high-profile powwows, several agreements and memorandums were signed to give the talks added significance. However, not all of the issues between the countries were resolved. And that is no surprise.
Last week's summit was never going to resolve all the different problems between Indonesia and Malaysia. The real significance of the meeting was its contribution to a mood of understanding that differences are not a cause for contention, but rather a catalyst to improve cooperation.
At the end of the talks, the two leaders spoke with genuine sincerity. There was no hint of regret that not everything on the agenda had been settled.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060116.E01&irec=0
Trade with Israel
My article of Jan. 4 contained small but significant editing mistake: Unlike the wording of the text where it said that "many legal obstacles were removed", the fact is that under President Abdurrahman Wahid's administration all legal limitations to trade with Israel were canceled.
I think your readers should know that trade with Israel is completely legal, in Indonesia and Israel as well.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20060116.F06&irec=5
New busway routes up and running
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso did the honors on Sunday at City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, sounding a siren to launch the opening of two more busway corridors in the capital.
With the success of the first Blok M-Kota corridor, launched two years ago amid widespread criticism that it was unsuitable for Jakarta, the governor as well as members of the public, the business community and the once skeptical media had good reason to feel confident as the new blue-and-white additions went into service at Pulogadung terminal.
Sutiyoso told the gathering that an estimated 40 million people had used the busway service since it began operations, with an average of 1.7 million passengers in the past two months.
"According to a survey by JICA and the administration, 14 percent of a total of about 4.8 million private car owners have switched to the busway," he said, referring to the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060116.@04&irec=3
Big hopes ride on new busway routes
Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It was launched to the pride of the city governor but not everyone was convinced.
They said the busway was a half-baked idea that ought to have stayed in Bogota, Colombia, the system's birthplace.
Two years have passed, the scorn and suspicion have died down and the red-orange buses have become part of urban life, the chosen ones in peak hours.
In fact, the two new corridors -- which will link Pulogadung in East Jakarta with Harmoni in Central Jakarta, and Harmoni with Kalideres in West Jakarta -- were launched on Sunday to great expectations.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060116.B09&irec=8
The Miami Herald
Cuban Americans foresee rise of a `climate of fear'
The arrest of two spy suspects has spread fear among Cuban exiles who support contact with the Castro government as a way to ease tension.
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
AND OSCAR CORRAL
Fallout from the Florida International University spy scandal is spreading throughout segments of Miami's Cuban-American community, sparking concerns that the affair is fostering a climate of fear among exiles who favor dialogue with communist Cuba.
Already, several of those people have refused to comment publicly about their concerns, and others have expressed alarm that last week's arrest of FIU employees Carlos Alvarez and his wife, Elsa Prieto Alvarez, could prompt pro-dialogue exiles to be less willing to voice views.
The latest spasm in Cuban exile politics comes against a backdrop of increasing tension with Cuba in the aftermath of tougher Bush administration policies restricting travel and money remittances to the island and ongoing efforts to further toughen the U.S. posture toward Cuba. To some, the FIU affair can define today's climate of retrenchment both in Miami and in Cuba -- one echoing a dangerous past when being pro-dialogue was seen by some as tantamount to treason.
''This opens the door to a witch hunt,'' said Bernardo Benes, who helped bring about an era of rapprochement in the late 1970s when the Fidel Castro regime allowed exiles to return for family visits. ''I'm sad that evil people take advantage of moments like this to promote their evil ideas and impose on people more control of the community,'' Benes said.
While many exiles who favor reconciliation or compromise expressed qualms, some Cuban Americans on the opposite side of the political spectrum believe that fears are exaggerated or unfounded.
''Only those who are doing something illegal should be worried about the U.S. government's actions,'' said Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, which gets federal grants and has no contact with Cuban government institutions.
''People who are law-abiding and are not collaborating with any foreign governments that are enemies of the United States have nothing to worry about,'' he said.
Ninoska Pérez-Castellón, president of the Cuban Liberty Council and a popular Spanish-language personality on conservative Radio Mambí, said there was no witch hunt, just a deep concern among the anti-Castro right that others in Miami might also be spying for Cuba.
''The last five years, there have been 21 Cuban spies convicted,'' she said. She added that among them was Ana Belén Montes, of Puerto Rican descent, who worked at the Pentagon and was convicted of spying for Cuba.
''These two were at a well-known public university, [allegedly] serving as agents for Castro,'' Pérez Castellón said, referring to the Alvarezes. ``Where is the witch hunt?''
Last week's arrests are different from the arrests in 1998 of five Cubans who later were convicted of spying for Havana. Those five were little known, while the Alvarezes are prominent not only in academic and intellectual circles but among those who favor dialogue.
COUPLE'S BACKGROUND
Carlos Alvarez has been an education professor at FIU since 1974, while Elsa Prieto Alvarez has worked there as a psychological services counselor since 1999. Both have also been linked to liberal or leftist sectors of the exile community since the 1970s, and Carlos Alvarez traveled to Cuba several times for research and as a facilitator in dialogue exchanges between exiles and Cubans on the island.
Federal prosecutors charged the couple with not registering as foreign agents after investigators say they found evidence of links to Cuban intelligence. The two were accused of using shortwave radios, numerical code and computer-encrypted files to transmit information about Miami's exile community to Cuban intelligence officers.
Although officials have suggested that no other arrests are contemplated, some exile leaders who oppose compromise or dialogue with Cuban President Castro have urged the FBI to widen its investigation.
FIU Professor Lisandro Pérez, who knows Alvarez well, said the arrests could revive the charged atmosphere of the 1970s and '80s, which saw the rise of the Cuban exile left, as well as bombings in Miami linked to anti-Castro militants.
''It sort of revives the argument that the talking, the dialogue, the academic exchanges with Cuba, which the so-called left has promoted, should not be supported,'' Pérez said. ``I disagree with that, but obviously it gives greater ammunition to that argument.''
Benes, meanwhile, accused Indiana University Assistant Professor Antonio de la Cova, a Cuban exile, of helping to instigate the climate of fear by urging reporters in Miami to investigate other exiles he views as suspect. Benes said de la Cova should not be given credibility because of his background.
De la Cova was once convicted of possession of explosives. He was arrested in 1976 after FBI agents were told that Cuban exiles planned to bomb Libros Para Adultos, an adult bookstore.
In a pre-sentencing statement, De la Cova said the bookstore was picked as a target by an informant, who had convinced him that the owner was a Castro agent. He served six years of a 65-year sentence. De la Cova's files, posted on the Web at wwwlatinamericanstudies.org, include information on the Alvarezes.
''I'm an academic, a published author, a historian,'' he said. ``You're trying to read too much into this. Last April, Benes sent an e-mail to my boss complaining about my website, which shows his lack of respect for academic freedom -- just like the Castro regime.''
SOURCE OF FEAR
Calls for a wider search for spies are one source of fear.
''It's not the first time this has happened here in the United States,'' said Max Lesnik, who often criticizes the Bush administration and the U.S. embargo on Cuba on his Spanish-language radio show broadcast on Ocean Radio. ``This type of hysteria is taking shape in some Spanish-language Miami media, not in the wider U.S. society.''
Perhaps those most concerned about being smeared as agents for Cuba are members and former members of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, founded in the 1970s by young Cuban exiles who often split with their parents and supported the Cuban revolution.
Congressional testimony by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents in 1982 attempted to link Alvarez's wife, Elsa Prieto Alvarez, to the group. The agents said Prieto had been identified as a member of the brigade by the Rev. Manuel Espinosa, a Hialeah preacher and self-proclaimed double agent, who died in 1987.
But Andrés Gómez, longtime brigade leader, told The Miami Herald on Friday that Alvarez's wife was not a brigade member -- although he did not rule out that she may have attended a brigade meeting, or taken a trip to Cuba with the brigade from some other U.S. city.
Marifeli Pérez-Stable, a brigade founder and former member, said in an e-mail to The Miami Herald on Friday that the brigade was ``a radical expression of the currents of opinion then arising regarding the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. The debate was as legitimate and necessary then as it is [now.]''
A regular contributor to the editorial pages of The Miami Herald, Pérez-Stable is also vice president for democratic governance at the Inter-American Dialogue, a research group in Washington. After criticizing the Castro regime in the early 1990s, she no longer travels to Cuba -- banned, she said, by the Cuban government and labeled ``persona non grata.''
''The cause of democracy must be advanced by tolerance, reason and respectful debate,'' she said. ``Otherwise, we unwittingly become like our opponents who justify any means to advance their ends.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13628354.htm
Eradication is dead, but goal hasn't changed
OUR OPINION: SAVING FLORIDA CITRUS IS WORTH THE EFFORT
South Florida residents can be forgiven for responding with disbelief and sarcasm to the dramatic decision last week by the Florida Department of Agriculture to end the controversial canker-eradication program. After all, residents already have lost their beloved orange, grapefruit and tangerine trees. Now, the agriculture department says, ``Oops, sorry about that; let's try something else.''
Painful as this may be, the change is necessary and unavoidable. It represents a major adjustment in the department's 10-year battle to save Florida's $9 billion citrus industry. With apologies to South Florida homeowners, this is what the statewide canker battle has always been about.
Yes, it is true that the agriculture department put the eradication campaign in a strait-jacket from the start by not understanding that, although the goal was to save the citrus industry, the road to success depended on winning the understanding and support of residents. The department failed miserably because of its jack-boot tactics. It later changed those methods, but change came too late. A bevy of lawsuits stalled eradication, dealing a killing blow just as canker was on the verge of being defeated. If the program had continued a little longer in 2000, ''the disease wouldn't have been here in 2004,'' said Craig Meyer, deputy commissioner of agriculture.
Now, the department is launching a control-and-manage strategy. Attendees at a recent Orlando meeting of the International Citrus Canker Workshop concluded that ''the disease is now so widely distributed that eradication is infeasible.'' This is what Chuck Conner, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wrote in a letter to Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson.
Preliminary data show that as many as 220,000 acres of commercial citrus would have had to be destroyed under the eradication program's 1,900-foot protocol. Citrus growers said the industry could not survive a loss of that magnitude. Besides that, the federal government would have had to significantly increase its $36 million annual appropriation to Florida, the state would have had to continue to pay out millions, and the already-damaged citrus-nursery program could not have produced enough new trees to replace those destroyed because of canker. To save the industry, the state and growers are settling on a management gambit.
The strategy puts the citrus industry in uncharted waters. The idea is to protect groves with windbreaks, anti-bacteria sprays and chopping trees down when necessary. Similar tactics have been used in Brazil, but Florida's weather is more humid, and it isn't known if the techniques will work here.
If control-and-manage does work, many residents may want to know: Why didn't the department use them from the start, thus sparing South Floridians the loss of their trees? The answer, of course, is that eradication -- complete elimination of the disease -- is the best solution. If a doctor believes a human cancer can be eliminated, that will be the first and best option. Prior to the latest outbreak, state agriculture officials have eliminated canker outbreaks dating back to the early 1900s.
Through the years, the industry has survived hurricanes, freezes, pests and foreign competition. But it has never had to live with canker. The control-and-manage program almost certainly will result in smaller annual yields, and the industry will have to develop new marketing campaigns to overcome concerns about blemished fruit, even though blemishes don't actually harm the fruit.
The goal -- saving Florida's citrus industry -- is worth the effort because the state's economic health hangs in the balance.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13620832.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Miami as of 6:53 AM
Light Rain
Temperature:
63°
Wind:
NW 14 mph
Dew point:
57°
Pressure:
30.20 in.
Humidity:
82%
Visibility:
7.0 miles
Bryan Norcross' forecast
A weak cold front will move through this morning bringing in cooler air through tonight. Then much warmer for a few days.
Issued by the National Weather Service at 7:25 am EST on January 18, 2006
Patches of light rain will move rapidly across most of South Florida through 900 am. This rain will mainly occur over Glades...Hendry..Monroe and Collier counties through 830 am and then over Palm Beach...Broward and Miami-Dade counties after 830 am. After 900 am most of the light rain will be along the metropolitan areas from West Palm Beach south to Miami and Homestead and over the Atlantic Ocean.
http://weather.herald.com/US/FL/South_Florida.html
HURRICANE WILMA FINAL REPORT
Wilma's winds hit 100 mph
Depending on where you live, Wilma was a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, and it slammed some people with 100-mph wind.
BY MARTIN MERZER AND AMY SHERMAN
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com
Hurricane Wilma struck Broward and Miami-Dade counties as a Category 2 hurricane, with 100-mph sustained wind in some populated areas, though its ferocity varied from place to place, according to the final report issued Tuesday by forecasters.
''Most locations experienced at least Category 1 conditions and a number of locations experienced Category 2 conditions,'' said Richard Pasch, lead author of the report produced by the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.
Though it is not possible to pinpoint the worst of the winds, Pasch said, forecasters believe that Weston, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Cooper City and other western Broward suburbs -- along with towns around Lake Okeechobee and a few pockets of northern Miami-Dade -- likely endured Category 2 conditions.
Category 1 hurricanes produce sustained wind of 74-95 mph for at least one minute at a height of 33 feet; Category 2 storms have sustained wind of 96-110 mph. Damage inflicted by a storm grows exponentially as the wind increases.
''Wilma was bad enough, but within a week or a couple of weeks, we were getting back to normal,'' said Tony Carper, director of Broward's emergency management division. ``Imagine a Category 3 or 4 and six weeks or more of inconvenience.''
Wilma raced across southern Florida on Oct. 24, approaching from the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall near Cape Romano on the southwest coast as a Category 3 storm with 120-mph sustained wind, and crossing the state in 4 ½ hours.
Though it weakened a bit over Florida, Wilma was blamed for 35 deaths in the state. It triggered power outages for six million customers in 42 Florida counties and left 98 percent of South Floridians without electricity. It inflicted $6.1 billion in insured damage, according to the Property Claims Service, and an equal amount of uninsured damage.
In Broward alone, the property toll exceeded $1 billion, and Wilma damaged or destroyed more than 5,000 homes, displacing thousands of people.
It was the worst storm to hit that county in decades.
''If you saw a Category 4 hurricane come in here, you could see hundreds of thousands of structures damaged or destroyed,'' said Carl Fowler, a spokesman for Broward's emergency management division. ``It would be devastating. It reiterates the need for us to be prepared.''
115-MPH GUSTS
The highest wind tended to be in Broward, Palm Beach and northern Miami-Dade counties, according to the hurricane center's report, with some unpopulated areas of far western Broward experiencing sustained 110-mph wind.
Some populated areas, especially in west Broward's suburbs, shuddered with sustained wind of 100 mph or slightly higher, Pasch said.
In addition, gusts likely reached 115 mph in some populated areas. And residents of high-rise buildings could have felt sustained wind and gusts 10 to 20 percent higher than what others experienced closer to the ground.
Shattered by wind or debris, thousands of windows popped out of office buildings, condominiums and hotels in downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
GAUGES FAILED
Specific peak wind speeds for each area cannot be determined, Pasch said, in some cases because some gauges failed -- including an instrument at Opa-locka Airport that stopped reporting data after measuring 85-mph wind and one at Pompano Beach Airport that stopped working at 83 mph.
Instead, scientists deduced peak wind speeds using estimates based on measurements from a variety of ground sites and towers, and from data produced by the National Weather Service's Doppler radar instruments.
Among the report's other conclusions:
• While still in the Caribbean, Wilma established an intensity record, reaching a low barometric pressure of 882 millibars and producing sustained maximum wind of 185 mph. At one point, it mushroomed from a 70-mph storm to a 172-mph Category 5 hurricane within 24 hours.
Pasch called that ''unprecedented'' and ``a remarkable, explosive strengthening episode.''
''It is fortunate that this ultra-rapid strengthening took place over open waters, apparently void of watercraft, and not just prior to a landfall,'' his team wrote in the report.
• Wilma struck Cozumel along Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained wind of 150 mph. It dropped 62 inches of rain on Isla Mujeres near the Yucatán, but only one to seven inches in South Florida -- largely because the storm moved through the state so quickly.
• Despite the beliefs of many South Floridians, no tornadoes associated with Wilma were detected in Miami-Dade or Broward, according to the report.
But it is important to remember that the wind of even a Category 1 hurricane can equal that of a weak tornado -- and that a hurricane's wind, rain and inflicted damage are not uniform throughout the area it strikes.
''The intensity of a hurricane does not mean that the strength of the wind is the same everywhere around storm's circulation,'' Pasch said.
The hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13648371.htm
ENERGY
THE OIL CARTEL SPEAKS OUT !
Easier power plant OK's urged
A new energy plan presented to Gov. Jeb Bush urged 'streamlining' the process to build new power plants and pipelines.
BY GARY FINEOUT
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - Florida should make it easier for utilities to build new power plants and install more gasoline and natural gas pipelines to deal with growing demands for gas and electricity, the state Department of Environmental Protection recommended Tuesday.
Florida's Energy Plan was presented to Gov. Jeb Bush, who ordered a top-to-bottom study in November of the state's energy needs in the wake of eight hurricanes in two years, including Wilma, which plunged most of South Florida into darkness.
''Across the nation, the demand for energy and transportation fuel is outpacing supply. Florida must act now,'' Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Colleen Castille said.
But the 52-page report, which calls for new spending and new laws, does not contain concrete recommendations to deal with some of the problems experienced by South Floridians in the wake of Hurricane Wilma, including whether utility lines should be buried. The report says the issue should be studied by the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.
The study does deal with one of the problems South Floridians faced: gas stations that had fuel but no electricity to power the pumps.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13649052.htm
IMMIGRATION
Hunger striker's goal may be met
The White House said it would meet with Cuban exile leaders to discuss the 'wet-foot, dry-foot' immigration policy. Hunger striker Ramón Saúl Sánchez said he would start eating if the promise becomes official.
BY OSCAR CORRAL
ocorral@MiamiHerald.com
The tent on Southwest Eighth Street where Ramón Saúl Sánchez is publicly starving himself to get the government to do what he asks is well-versed in the architecture of drama. On Tuesday, the White House entered the picture.
White House spokesman Blair Jones told The Miami Herald Tuesday night that the Bush administration has agreed to meet with exile leaders to discuss the ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy -- the most controversial aspect of U.S. immigration policy toward Cuba.
''The administration has reached out to representatives of the Cuban-American community to express our interest in hearing and understanding their concerns about U.S. migration policy toward Cuba,'' Jones said. ``We have agreed to meet with appropriate representatives of the community, and we are discussing the date for such a meeting and are committed to holding it as soon as possible.''
Told of the White House declaration, Sánchez was thrilled and said that he would eat once the promise was official.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13649053.htm
A costly mistake
OUR OPINION: MISSILE STRIKE A BLOW TO U.S. EFFORTS TO WIN TERROR WAR
The U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan last week not only missed their target; they also damaged the American-led ''war on terror.'' Even if the missiles had killed al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, the cost in lives -- 18 people, including women and children -- and political capital was considerable.
The attacks provoked demonstrations in nearby villages in the remote, mountainous region that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Pakistani government wasn't notified in advance, thus the attacks hurt U.S. relations with a supporter, President Pervez Musharraf. The attacks also created difficulties for Mr. Musharraf's already-shaky ability to govern.
The worst damage, though, is to the U.S. claim to hold the moral high ground in the anti-terror campaign. The White House has made it clear that the United States will use unconventional means to fight terrorists. This apparently means ignoring international borders and paying little regard to the impact of ''collateral damage,'' the death and injury to noncombatants.
Firing missiles into houses all but guarantees the deaths of civilians. Depending on intelligence known to be unreliable -- information about a target's whereabouts is only a guess without confirmation from trustworthy sources on the ground -- is a sure bet to commit a grievous mistake.
Must the United States use tactics that are reminiscent of those used by the terrorists that we seek to destroy in order to defeat terror? No, of course not.
To win the anti-terror campaign, the United States must build alliances and relationships with global partners. Ignoring nations' sovereignty and killing civilians undermines that effort and hurts the United States' just cause against terrorists. Our government mustn't adopt the tactics of the terrorists in order to defeat them.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13649172.htm
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