British Expat Dies in Collision with
Parked Car - Jimbaran
Robert Phillips (45) a British expatriate living at Taman
Griya in Jimbaran was killed when his motorbike collided with
a parked car late on Friday night (19/10). Mr. Phillips was
taken to the Graha Asih Hospital for initial treatment of
severe head injuries but was then taken to the Sanglah General
Hospital were he died four hours later.(October 20th 2007,
Radar Bali)
Volcano Erupts in Indonesia
A volcano erupted in central Indonesia today, shooting plumes
of white smoke and sand 1,500 meters into the air, an official
said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Almost all residents were evacuated from Mount Soputan, located
on Sulawesi Island, ahead of the blast, said Sandy Manengke,
a local monitoring official. The heat could be felt as far
as 20 kilometers away, he said, and some residents living
in villages near the base of the 1,780-metre-high mountain
wore facemasks to protect themselves from the smoke and ash.
Abandoned homes along the volcano’s fertile slopes were
covered in soot, Manengke said. Indonesia has more active
volcanoes than any other nation because of its location on
the Pacific ’Ring of Fire’ – a series of
fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through
Japan and Southeast Asia. Mount Soputan, 2,160 kilometers
northeast of the capital, Jakarta, is one of its most active.
It rarely spews lava, however, instead spitting out smoke,
ash and sand, Manengke said. (October 25th 2007, AFP)
Copperfield Cancels - Promoter Says he will
Hold Stage Props
The Indonesian promoter of David Copperfield’s cancelled
shows in Jakarta said Thursday (25/10) he would not return
the celebrity magician’s stage equipment and props until
he is reimbursed. “I will keep his equipment until he
covers my financial losses,” an angry Peter Basuki,
owner of Buena Productions, said. Copperfield cancelled shows
across south-east Asia after agents from the US Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) last week raided his Las Vegas warehouse
and a casino theatre after an unnamed woman accused him of
raping her in the Bahamas last summer. Copperfield, whose
real name is David Seth Kotkin, was scheduled to perform his
“World of Wonder” act for six nights in Jakarta
starting Tuesday. Two shipping containers packed with equipment
for the shows that arrived last week are now stranded in the
customs area of Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port. Basuki
claims that he, as the receiver of the shipment, now controls
the property. “The equipment is only worth 5 billion
rupiah (550,000 dollars), but I still can’t cover my
losses,” he said, adding that his company had sold 29,000
tickets for the six Jakarta shows. (October 25th 2007, AFP)
Melbourne Man Facing Death Penalty in Bali
A 50-year-old Melbourne man is facing the death penalty in
Indonesia after being charged in a Bali court with intending
to sell marijuana and hashish. Barry Wilfred Hess was arrested
at his Kuta home in August. Hess comes from Melbourne, but
in recent years he has called Kuta on the Indonesian island
of Bali his home. It was there he was arrested in August for
allegedly possessing three packets of marijuana weighing 2.7
grams, and two packets of hashish weighing 14.4 grams. Originally
he was charged with drug possession, which carries a maximum
penalty of 10 years in jail. But today at his first court
appearance the 50-year-old learnt he was also charged with
possessing drugs with an intention to sell - an offence which
in Indonesia can be punished by the death penalty. (October
24th 2007, AFP)
Girl, 5, Becomes Indonesia’s 89th Bird-Flu Victim
A 5-year-old Indonesian girl has died of bird flu after coming
into contact with sick chickens, bringing the country’s
death toll from the H5N1 avian influenza virus to 89, the
world’s largest, Indonesia’s Health Ministry said
Wednesday. The girl, identified only as DA, died Tuesday (24/10)
in a Jakarta hospital, nine days after falling ill at her
home in Tangerang in Banten province on the outskirts of the
capital, said Wibisono, an official at the Health Ministry’s
Bird Flu Information Centre. “She had contact with sick
chickens and dead chickens,” he said. The girl had been
admitted to Sari Asih Hospital in Tangerang on October 13
and was transferred Monday to Persahabatan Hospital in Jakarta,
which is designated to treat bird-flu patients, said Wibisono,
who like many Indonesians goes by one name. The girl’s
death was Indonesia’s 89th from 110 cases of bird flu,
both the highest in the world, and was the fourth death in
Indonesia in October. Globally, at least 204 people have now
died from the virus in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, according
to World Health Organization statistics. (October 24th 2007,
AFP)
Mt Krakatau in Sunda Strait Placed in
“On-Guard” Status
Anak Gunung Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait has been
placed in an “on-guard” status after having shown
increased activity during the past three days, an observing
officer said. The volcano had produced 20 tremors and released
80-meter to 200-meter-long white-grey smoke plumes every hour
over the past three days (Oct 24-26), Sigin, an officer assigned
to keep a watch, said on Friday (26/10). In a normal state,
the volcano produced only five tremors per hour but since
last Wednesday (17/10) the frequency of tremors had increased,
he said. Consequently, tourists and fishermen had been warned
not to come near the volcano. In 2000, the volcano reached
a higher level of activity marked by the emission of hot lava
so that it was put in an alert status, Sigin said.(October
25th 2007, Antara News)
Indonesian Researcher Wins Melbourne University Chancellor’s
Prize
Indonesian Muslim scholar Dr. Luthfi Assyaukanie has been
declared the first foreign student of Melbourne University
to win Chancellor`s Prize for his doctoral dissertation in
the field of humanities and creative arts. Assyaukani`s dissertation
which focuses on Islam and politics in Indonesia is one of
the four dissertations considered the best among around 500
dissertations presented by doctorate students to the university
last year, a source said on Tuesday (23/10). The winners of
Chancellor’s Prize were officially to be made public
later in the day, it said. Assyaukani who works for the Jakarta-based
Freedom Institute was awarded the prestigious prize for his
significant contributions to the development of Islamic and
political literatures in Indonesia, it said. (October 24th
2007, Antara News)
Bali Bombers Receive Last Visit
The family of the three death row Bali bombers have paid what
could be their last visit to their island prison before the
trio face execution. The so-called smiling assassin Amrozi
bin Nurhasyim, senior Jemaah Islamiah figure Mukhlas aka Ali
Ghufron and Imam Samudra are on death row for their roles
in the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts which killed 202 people,
88 of them Australian. The three have exhausted all legal
avenues for appeal and only now have the option to appeal
for a presidential pardon, something they have said they won’t
do. The families of the terrorists visited Batu Prison, on
Nusakambangan Island, dubbed Indonesian’s “Alcatraz”,
for four hours. Indonesian authorities are moving forward
in their preparations for the executions, but Bali prosecutors
are still awaiting the arrival of the original court document
dismissing their final appeals before they can make any concrete
plans. The prosecutors and the clerk must inform the bombers
of the death verdict and their family and ask if they want
to use the option of the presidential pardon.According to
the attorney-general the convicts and the families have one
month to answer. (October 29th 2007, AFP)
Eight Rugby Players Swept Away on
Seminyak Beach – Two Drown
Eight tourists who were trying to cool off after a friendly
rugby match were swept away by a large swell and a strong
rip while swimming in the sea off of Seminyak beach, local
officials said on Saturday (27/10). Two of the party drowned,
the other six were rescued, one man being admitted to Sanglah
General Hospital. The team were staying at the Contiki Resort
and swimming on the beach in front of the Sofitel. They were
part of a group visiting Bali from Singapore. The drowning
occurred at approximately 1.30pm. A police official told press
that one man was Dutch, with the family name Byssemaker, while
the other was Belgian, with the family name Deygrev. Both
were aged 30, he said. A local lifeguard, who declined to
be identified by name, said a group of eight friends had gone
for a swim after playing rugby despite warnings from beach
patrols. (October 27th 2007, Denpost)
Bali Nine Appeal Rejected
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has thrown out a legal
challenge by three death-row members of the Bali Nine, saying
foreigners don’t have the right to challenge the country’s
laws. Three of six death-row members of the Bali Nine heroin
ring had joined a number of Indonesian death-row inmates in
challenging the constitutional validity of the death penalty
in drug cases. But the court on Tuesday ruled the penalty
was valid. “It’s not against the constitution,
(and it’s) not violating international obligations,”
a panel of nine judges ruled. The death penalty was not unconstitutional
because the part of the constitution that enshrined life as
a basic human right could be limited by law, the judges ruled.
It is a major blow for Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and
Myuran Sukumaran, and drug mule Scott Rush, who had hoped
a favorable ruling, would add weight to their final appeals
against their death sentences. (October 30th 2007, AFP)
