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Indonesia Convinces PUIC Members of Proposal to Protect Migrant Workers

2012-01-31T18:47:00.001-08:00

The Indonesian delegation to the 7th conference of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Conference (PUIC) has successfully convinced other PUIC member states of its proposal to provide adequate protection to migrant workers and their families.

Chief of the Inter Parliamentary Cooperation Board (BKSAP) at the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) Hidayat Nurwahid who is also chief of the conference’s steering committee said on Tuesday the issue of migrant workers’ and their families’ protection was incorporated in one of the resolutions adopted by the conference’s participants.

"Indonesia has successfully convinced other participating countries which have so far employed many Indonesian migrant workers such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia of its proposal to strengthen their laws to provide adequate protection to migrant workers."

One of the reasons behind the proposal is the migrant workers’ great contributions to the countries employing them. Therefore, it was proper for the countries to provide the migrant workers with adequate protection, he said.

On the issue related to the empowerment of women’s role, the Indonesian delegation also successfully encouraged the parliaments of OIC member countries to pay adequate attention to women’s role in settling a number of crucial issues in developing countries such as socio-political conflict and child welfare.

Nurwahid said the PUIC permanent commission which discussed the issues of women and socio-cultural aspects produced eight resolutions two of which were proposed by Indonesia. At the discussion, the Indonesian delegation raised the phenomena of growing discrimination against Muslims, he said.

"The Indonesian delegation asked the conference’s participants to unite to deal with the discrimination, Islamophobia, and xenophobia as well as other bad stigmatization practices by building dialogs between parliaments in Muslim countries and parliaments in western countries to overcome the problems."

GRAFT CASE KPK to question ambassador in ministry probe

2012-01-31T18:46:00.001-08:00

JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has issued a summons to question Indonesian Ambassador to Canada Dienne Hardianti Moehario.
Investigators want to question Dienne as a witness in a graft case that occurred when she was the Foreign Ministry’s protocol chief between 2004 and 2005.
Dienne served as the ministry’s inspector general from 2006 to 2010 before her posting to Ottawa in January 2010.
“Today, the KPK is scheduled to question her as a witness for [another] suspect, former Foreign Ministry secretary-general Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat,” acting KPK spokesperson Priharsa Nugraha said on Tuesday.
The KPK said that Sudjadnan, who was previously convicted for mismanaging the renovation of Indonesia’s embassy in Singapore in 2003, allegedly abused his authority and misappropriated funds for the ministry’s activities, such as seminars, between 2004 and 2005, allegedly causing the state Rp 18 billion (US$2 million) in losses.
Dienne has not been seen at KPK headquarters as of Tuesday at noon. (Ina

Bank Mandiri Leads Syndicated Loans to Antam

2012-01-31T18:44:00.001-08:00

A consortium of financial institutions led by state-owned Bank Mandiri has agreed to extend US$650 million in syndicated loans to mining company PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (Antam) under a project finance scheme.

PT Antam is expected to use the loans to build the fourth unit of its feronickel processing plants with an annual production capacity of 27 thousand tons of nickel in East Halmahera, North Maluku province.

Bank Mandiri Vice President Director Riswinandi in his capacity as the coordinator of the consortium signed a mandate letter for the financing of the project with Antam President Director Alwinsyah Lubis. The letter was later signed by representatives of other members of the consortium, namely Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation at the Antam building here on Tuesday.

Riswandi said Bank Mandiri’s support for the project would hopefully assist Antam in increasing production capacity to meet the rising domestic need for nickel due to the steady growth of national manufacturing industries.

"Mining is one of the sectors which give the greatest contribution to the national economic growth. Therefore, Bank Mandiri has committed itself to supporting any effort to strengthen the sector."

In 2011 Antam issued the first phase of senior bonds worth Rp3 trillion for routine investment and business expansion. The company appointed Mandiri Sekuritas, Deutche Securities Indonesia and Standard Chartered Securities as bond issue underwriters. Bank Mandiri, along with BRI, Standchard and Deutsche Bank acted as standby buyers for the bonds in question.

Ship with 800 Tons of Cement Sinks in South Kalimantan

2012-01-31T18:42:00.001-08:00

A ship carrying 800 tons of cement, KM Kanonnsan, from Tarjun to Toli-toli, Sulawesi, went down after strongly hit by high waves in Kotabaru waters, South Kalimantan at 10 pm local time.

According to reliable information Tuesday one of the ship’s sides was leading very badly, and the vessel eventually went down.

Scary Face Goes Viral As Twitter and Facebook Users Spread The Fear

2012-01-31T18:37:00.000-08:00

daily mail Can you see it The scary face is well hidden, but once you see it a shiver will pass down your spine

It could just be a trick of the light. But the terrifying face in this picture could be something more sinister. At first glance, there is nothing untoward and the image has divided the internet between the people who can see it, and those who cannot.

Once it is pointed out, however, it is difficult to take your eyes away from the face that suddenly becomes clear.The origins of the picture are unclear, but it's possible that it was actually created by someone hiding behind the cushion while being photographed.

Or it could be something that somebody has been created using Photoshop. However it was made, it is hard to look away or get the image out of your head.

If you're still struggling to spot it look to the left of the picture, underneath the cushion on the plain brown sofa. Twitter user Ryan Evans wrote: 'It genuinely made me Jump when I saw it, be warned!'

Another, @casioroee, wrote 'Embarassingly, it really make me jump.' One person who saw the image on website imgur said: 'I was leaning WAY too close to the screen when I saw that ... thanks for the heart attack imgur.'

Indonesia's Govt Allocates Rp230 Bln to Build Urban Gas Networks

2012-01-31T18:34:00.001-08:00

The government plans to allocate Rp230 billion in funds to develop gas networks in five cities in the country this year, an official said.

The five cities were Prabumulih, Jambi, Cibinong, Cirebon, and Kalidawir, Director General of Oil and Gas at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Evita Legowo said after monitoring urban gas networks in Palembang, Surabaya and Tarakan through a video conference here on Tuesday. "We will build at least 16,000 gas connections to households in 2012."

In addition, the government would also complete detailed design of gas networks in six cities next year. The cities are Sorong, Balikpapan, Subang, Lhoksemuawe, Semarang, and Cilacap, she said. She said the government also planned to develop gas networks in nine cities at a total cost of Rp450 billion.

In 2013, the government will build gas networks in the five cities of Sorong, Balikpapan, Subang, Lhokseumawe, and Semarang. The design of gas networks in Samarinda, Muara Enim, Lampung, and Pekanbaru would be made in 2013, while construction of the gas networks would be started in 2014, she said.

She added every city in the country was expected to have urban gas networks at two villages with 3,000-4,000 connections at each of the villages

Indonesian Air Force Inspects Ballistic Missiles to Strengthen Air Defense

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000-08:00

The Medan National Air Defense Command (Kosekhanudnas) has inspected ballistic missiles abroad to foster the air defense in the area.

"The type of ballistic missiles are the KY-80," Medan Kosekhanudnas chief Vice Marshal Bonar Hutagaol said in Medan on Wednesday.

He said as a unit assigned in the western area, he was in need of ballistic missiles with the capacity to destroy aircraft and ballistic missiles fired by the enemy. Right now the number of ballistic missiles of the Medan Kosekhanudnas III were still enough like those being used by a number of Medium Air Defense Artillery Battalions (Arhanudse).

However, he still needed more ballistic missiles in anticipation of any eventualities. Therefore he made an inspection of the ballistic missiles in the Gobi dessert , China , which he said are very good and suitable to strengthen air defense in Indonesia.

The results of the inspection will be handed to the Military (TNI) Chief for making the necessary decisions. Then the results will be studied more deeply. "Then a decision will be made which are the best for Indonesia."

The supply for aircraft fighters had been depleting and Air Force Chief Marshal Imam Sufaat planned to build an essential force by 2025. Radars will be bought only for airbases still vacant like in Tanjung Pinang.

"The entire sector III (Medan) had already been covered."

USD/IDR Up; 8,990-9,010 Range Tipped Wed

2012-01-31T18:27:00.003-08:00

The USD/IDR is still well-bid on month-end demand, but its rise is capped by inflows to Indonesian government bonds, dealers say. The pair is now at 9,015 vs 9,000 late Monday.

“Offshore investors continue to buy government bonds perhaps because they expect inflation in January to be lower than in December, which is good for the bond market,“ a dealer says.

The median forecast of 11 economists polled by Dow Jones is for 3.66% on-year inflation in January, lower than 3.79% in December. The data will be due Wednesday; dealers are expecting the USD/IDR to slide a tad to 8,990-9,010 as demand from importers is likely to ease.

US Urges Indonesia Due Process on Papua

2012-01-31T18:27:00.001-08:00

The United States called Tuesday on Indonesia to ensure due process and address grievances in the restive Papua region after a court indicted five activists for treason.

The court in Indonesia, a nation which has warming relations with the United States, prosecuted the men after they raised an outlawed Papuan flag and declared independence at a peaceful gathering. They face life in prison if convicted.

“We urge the Indonesian authorities to ensure due process and procedural safeguards in accordance with Indonesian law and Indonesia’s international legal obligations for all persons indicted,” a State Department spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We encourage the Indonesian government to work with the indigenous Papuan population to address their grievances, resolve conflicts peacefully and support development in the Papuan provinces,” the spokesperson said. The United States “recognizes and respects the territorial integrity of Indonesia within its current borders, which include the provinces of Papua and West Papua,” the spokesperson stressed.

Jakarta in 1969 took control of Papua, a former Dutch colony on the western half of New Guinea island whose people are ethnically distinct from most Indonesians. The region has since seen a low-intensity insurgency. Foreign journalists are barred from reporting in the region.

Local television footage in October showed the five men declaring independence in the Papuan capital Jayapura and paramilitary police then shooting into the crowd and beating participants with batons and bare fists. At least three people were killed and more than 90 injured. Eight police officers were let off with written warnings for disciplinary infractions.

President Barack Obama’s administration has sought greater ties with Indonesia, pointing to its rapid transition to democracy and moderate brand of Islam. In 2010, the United States said it would resume ties with Indonesia’s elite Kopassus unit after a 12-year hiatus due to human rights concerns.

Is Cybersafety A Parent's Responsibility?

2012-01-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

Phil Carrick

Adam Turner

- Kids are going back to school this week, which means they’ll probably be using the internet in the classroom and at home. I think parents need to set ground rules about using computers at home, along with other internet-enabled gadgets such as smartphones and tablets. It’s also worth asking about the school’s cybersafety policies.

As far as I’m concerned cybersafety is primarily a parent’s responsibility, just like teaching about stranger danger or how to cross the road safely. The fundamentals of cybersafety are no different to the real world; don’t wander off, don’t talk to strangers, don’t reveal too much about yourself and call a parent if you’re unsure of something.

Some parents might complain that it’s all too complicated, but it’s not if you take an interest in your children’s activities and take the time to learn the basics. Talk to them about computers and the internet. Ask them what they’re learning at school and what they’re doing at home. Take an interest, just as you should in their other activities.

A common cybersafety rule is that the computer stays in the living area, positioned in such a way that anyone who walks into the room can see what’s on the screen. If notebooks are permitted in the bedrooms for studying, perhaps it’s on the condition that they recharge on the kitchen bench at night. The same rule can apply for mobile phones, which can also help combat cyberbullying.

You can split cybersafety into two key areas. The first is protecting young children from accidentally stumbling across inappropriate content. This isn’t hard if you can set up a list of appropriate bookmarks and trust your kids not to wander.

Installing an ad and pop-up blocker offers an extra layer of protection. If children can’t be trusted not to wander, even by accident, you might consider a whitelist plug-in for your browser, which lets you limit access to a specific list of sites.

The second area of cybersafety is hindering older children who are deliberately seeking inappropriate content. This area is much harder to deal with, as smart and determined kids will find a workaround to just about any security measure (remember, help is only a Google search away).

There’s a big market for desktop filtering software, but don’t walk away and trust it to do a parent’s job. In my experience it tends to cripple your computer, but your mileage may vary. If you do want to restrict internet access, look at services that are independent of your end device - particularly useful if your house contains a variety of internet-enabled gadgets.

It’s worth investigating the filtering options built into wireless routers. Some let you create blacklist and whitelists, or switch off the internet at specific times. You could even run a separate wireless network for the children, making it easier to control their access without affecting your own. Another filtering option is DNS-level services such as OpenDNS.

A determined kid might resort to proxy services and VPNs to bypass your restrictions, so you might find it necessary to just kill their internet access at night (which is easier if they’re using a separate wifi network). Of course if your child has access to a smartphone they might bypass your home network and connect directly to the mobile broadband network.
Alternatively they might even look for nearby unlocked wifi networks, as you'll find one in most streets. It’s a game of cat and mouse, but at the end of the day cybersecurity relies more on education and trust than technological hurdles. What are the cybersafety rules in your household?

Julian Assange to Guest Star on "The Simpsons"

2012-01-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

A picture posted on Julian Assanges OkCupid profile.

LOS ANGELES, - Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be a guest character and voice on animated TV comedy “The Simpsons,” playing a neighbor of the family after they move from their home in fictional Springfield.

Assange’s “brief” guest starring role will be on the show’s Feb. 19 program, which marks the 500th episode of “The Simpsons,” said Antonia Coffman, a spokeswoman for the show airing on the Fox television network in the United States. In the episode, the Simpsons — Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and their pets — leave home and move to a rugged and isolated area where the find themselves living next to Assange, who portrays himself.

Simpsons executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly magazine that the show’s creative team realizes Assange is “controversial,” but that in putting together the show they avoided delving into his “legal situation.” Instead, the writers made sure the appearance was satirical. Assange recorded his
lines remotely from Britain.

Assange is currently under house arrest outside London and due to appear before Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to appeal his extradition to Sweden where he has been accused of sexual misconduct by two former WikiLeaks volunteers. He angered U.S. officials in 2010 when WikiLeaks, in partnership with major newspapers, published a trove of leaked diplomatic cables that exposed the candid views of American officials and their allies about a wide range of topics including the wars in Afghanistan and, at the time, Iraq.

Assange and his supporters are concerned that if he is extradited to Sweden, U.S. officials might attempt to have him brought to the United States where possibly he could be charged for crimes related to the leaked documents. Last week, Kremlin-funded English language channel Russia Today revealed it had given Assange his own television talk show.

Assange will interview noteworthy figures on a show dubbed “The World Tomorrow,” the channel said. “The Simpsons,” which debuted in 1989 on Fox, is the longest running primetime, scripted television series.

Bill Gates: "I Wrote Steve Jobs A Letter As He was Dying"

2012-01-31T18:08:00.001-08:00

Danielle Smith dks Change the world: If you have a dream and it comes true, its a very cool thing. Bill Gates photographed in Sydney in December 2011.

Gates talks about the two tech leaders' divisions - and their bonds.

Bill Gates has frugal tastes. Asked to name his luxuries, he lists DVDs, books and takeaway burgers. It is hard, however, to think that any fast-food outlet would get rich on Gates's custom. During a long list of engagements beginning well before dawn, he consumes nothing but cans of diet cola.

For America's wealthiest citizen, austerity is relative. The retinue of staff and the private jet hint at a fortune said to be approaching £40 billion (A$59 billion). As he told pupils at a south London school he visited last week:

"If I hadn't given my money away, I'd have had more than anyone else on the planet. Ninety-nine per cent of it will go."

Bill Gates moves seamlessly between worlds. His day in London started in the VIP suite of a television studio and shifted to a school assembly hall before he left for Davos, where he announced a new US$750 million (A$706 million) package to fight Aids, malaria and TB. Accustomed to morphing from the subsistence farms of Africa – the focus of his latest effort – to the salons of prime ministers, he does not see himself as a global power broker.

"I hope they're having a good time up at the top table, but I doubt they're discussing diarrhoea and malaria."

Though always courteous, he has the inscrutable quality of the outsider. As a teenage geek in Seattle, he was entrusted with compiling class timetables on the ponderous school computer. At Harvard, he was the drop-out who founded a multi-billion dollar corporation, and at Microsoft, he was the pioneer in an uncharted techno-world.

One of the few people to understand his compulsions was Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, who died of cancer in October. The two men's long and stormy relationship has been chronicled in Jobs's latest biography, but, until now, Gates has said little about their divisions - and their bonds.

"Steve was an incredible genius who contributed immensely to the field I was in. We had periods, like the early Macintosh, when we had more people working on it than they did. And then we were competitors. The personal computers I worked on had a vastly higher [market] share than Apple until really the last five or six years, where Steve's very good work on the Mac and on iPhones and iPads did extremely well. It's quite an achievement, and we enjoyed each [other's work]."

This tribute, part praise, part reminder of Gates's dominance, is more tactful than the comments Jobs made in his lifetime. "He spent a lot of his time competing with me. There are lots of times when Steve said [critical] things about me. If you took the more harsh examples, you could get quite a litany." In Jobs's view, his rival was "unimaginative", "a bit narrow" and derivative. As he once told an interviewer, "He [Gates] would be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram."

The atmosphere changed in 2007 when Gates left Microsoft to set up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife. "Steve and I did an event together, and he couldn't have been nicer...I got a fair bit of time with him in his last year. Some months before Jobs died, Gates paid him a long visit. "We spent literally hours reminiscing and talking about the future."
Later, with his old adversary's death imminent, he wrote to him. "I told Steve about how he should feel great about what he had done and the company he had built. I wrote about his kids, whom I had got to know."

That last gesture was not, he says, conciliatory. "There was no peace to make. We were not at war. We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing. There was no [cause for] forgiveness." After Jobs's death, Gates received a phone call from his wife, Laurene. "She said; 'Look, this biography really doesn't paint a picture of the mutual respect you had.' And she said he'd appreciated my letter and kept it by his bed."

Bill Gates rarely talks in such human terms. As a mathematician, he prefers numbers to emotion, focusing on the billion people in desperate poverty and the money needed to help them survive and work towards prosperity. As someone on the front line of mortality, he has balanced his aims against his own lifespan and wealth. Asked about his goal by a pupil at the school he is visiting, he says: "I'm 56. Hopefully I'll live another 25 to 30 years to see [unnecessary] deaths drop to zero."

"It's not about legacy," he tells me. "I'd like to see it get done. That is my job." He has no expectation that his three children, who will inherit only a tiny fraction of his money, will follow him.

"Our foundation won't last long beyond Melinda's and my lifetime. The resources will last about 20 years after whichever is the last of us to go. There is no family business, and my kids will make their own careers."

While he speculates that they will be "great doctors or great lawyers", he admires not only entrepreneurs but the market system. "Capitalism has worked phenomenally. Look at North Korea versus South Korea, or China before and after 1979. Capitalism has shortfalls. It doesn't necessarily take care of the poor, and it underfunds innovation, so we have to offset that. We don't have to [ask] whether capitalism is wrong."

Though not especially religious, and far from pious ("People on the front line are the saints"), Bill Gates is driven on by faith.

"I believed in the personal computer and I devoted my life to it," he says. "If you have a dream, and it comes true, it's a very cool thing."

Now he extends the passion he once expended on enterprise to ending disease and starvation. The man who changed the way the rich world lives is equally determined to change the way in which the poor world dies.

In an era when the wealthiest are society's pariahs, the Microsoft founder has become the people's plutocrat. Although some diseases, such as malaria, remain rife, his charitable foundation and his lobbying have borne results. In the past year, not a single citizen in India contracted polio.

"People think aid is abstract and thousands of miles away. I go there and see it. I'm intent on making sure that my money gets to people who need it, and I come back and say it's working."

"Philanthropy should be voluntary." No one, he says, is going to take up giving "because someone scolded them or they heard Bill Gates say something mean. But I do think people are missing an opportunity to make an impact, learn a lot and be fulfilled."

Having persuaded almost 70 like-minded Americans, Warren Buffett included, to give up a large slice of their wealth, Gates would be happy to advise any Britons thinking of following suit. "We're looking for philanthropists to co-invest, so any advice we can give them [is on offer]."

Whether Britain's bonus beneficiaries will avail themselves of this service is questionable. Still, as Gates points out, there is always tax.

"With deficits the way they are, the rich are going to have to pay more. Unfortunately, almost everyone's going to have to pay more, and it should fall more heavily on the rich... Just raising taxes on the rich won't solve the crisis, but it seems reasonable to people – and there's plenty of room to do that without creating disincentives or distortions."

The news that the mega-rich US Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, pays 15 per cent tax "wasn't shocking at all. That's the US system. If people want capital gains taxed more like the highest rate on income, that's a good discussion. Maybe that's the way to help close the deficit."

Study Mexicans Overcharged Billions for Phone Use

2012-01-31T18:02:00.001-08:00

Mexicans were overcharged billions of dollars for phone service in recent years as the industry dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim gouges customers and keeps the economy from growing, a study released on Monday said.

Mexico, the second-largest economy in Latin America, cannot reach its growth potential until the costs of phone service come down and more people have easy access to telecom services, the report from the Organisation for Co-operation and Development said.

From 2005 to 2009, Mexican consumers overpaid for phone services by $13.4 billion a year and that disproportionately hit the poor, according to the report.
“Inefficient telecommunication markets impose a significant cost on the Mexican economy and the welfare of its population,” according to the report that reviewed the country’s telecom sector.

The home telephone market is dominated by Carlos Slim’s Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, which provides about 80 percent of services.

Twitter CEO Says Blocking Policy Over-distilled

2012-01-31T18:01:00.000-08:00

daily mail Changes: Twitters role as the modern bastion of free speech is now at risk as the fledgling firm moves forward with an aggressive expansion strategy

TERKAIT:

Twitter Will Censor Messages Country-by-country

DANA POINT, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is seeking to calm the global outrage over the company's new country-by-country censorship policy.

Speaking at the All Things D conference on Monday he said that the outrage in part has resulted from the issue being treated with the same the kind of shorthand that has made Twitter popular.

By taking down tweets only in the country where Twitter believes they may have violated local laws, Costolo says the company is making sure the message is still available to the rest of the world.

World Bank Pledges USD139 Mln to Handle Flood Risks in Jakarta

2012-01-31T17:57:00.001-08:00

The World Bank has pledged US$139.64 million in loans to help the Jakarta administration mitigate flood risks in the capital.

The World Bank and the Jakarta administration officially launched a Jakarta Urgent Flood Mitigation Project (JUFMP) also known as Jakarta Emergency Dredging Initiative (JEDI) on Monday, the World Bank said in a press statement released on Monday. Under the project, the Jakarta administration planned to rehabilitate several sections of water flows in the capital. About 67.5 km of 11 sections of main canal and 65 hectares of four dams in the capital would be dredged to restore their actual capacity, the statement said.

In addition, certain sections of dikes covering a length of 42 km would be rehabilitated and mechanical devices such as water pumps and sluices would be improved or replaced. About 3.4 million cu meters of sediment and 95,000 cu meters of solid waste would be dredged from water flows and dams, it said.

A number of studies of frequent floods in Jakarta suggested that restoring water flows and dams to their initial function would bring about the greatest benefit to mitigate flood risks. The rehabilitation of water flows through the project would help the efforts made by the Jakarta administration to reduce the frequency of floods, it said.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said in a press conference held after receiving chief of the World Bank representative for Indonesia Stefan Koeberle earlier in the day the project would cost an estimated US$190 million.

Of the total, US$140 million would come from World Bank loans and US$50 million from the central government and the Jakarta city administration, he said. He added construction of the project would be started in September 2012 and was scheduled for completion in 2016.

The World's Tallest Transsexual

2012-01-04T19:25:00.001-08:00

SWNS.com Posed: Greg Walker, 25, is now called Lindsey and is set to become the worlds tallest transvestite

Foto:

1 2 » Play Slideshow

- A 7ft tall butch basketball star is undergoing a sex change - and will become the world's tallest transsexual. Lofty American Greg Walker, now 25, grew up sports-mad with beautiful cheerleaders on his arm, but said he 'always felt different'.

Strapping teenager Greg - who has size 16 feet and weighs around 20 stone - regularly lifted weights and would ride motorbikes to mask his true feelings. He had dozens of girls chasing him but shunned their advances, preferring to become friends instead and discuss fashion and 'girly' things.

In his early 20s, Greg - now Lindsey - was unable to continue the 'charade' and began wearing women's clothes. He then sought medical advice and began taking oestrogen to become more feminine and now boasts a curvy woman's body - and a 38B bra size.

Now legally recognised as female after living as a woman for two years, Lindsey said: 'I was one of the popular kids in high school.

'I was smart and always had girlfriends and loads of girls chasing me. But it somehow didn't feel right, almost like it was a charade.

'I started to feel really isolated as thought here was something wrong with me and at 18 I started doing research secretly into why I was feeling so different from everyone else.

'Although I hid my feelings well I lived my life always knowing there was something different.By 21 I had hit my rock bottom and I started having emotional problems and turned to drink.

'Then one day it just clicked and I knew what I had to do. I started wearing women's clothes and later turned to female hormones to suppress the testosterone in my body.'

Lindsey, of Ohio, grew up as Greg and experienced a 'normal boyish' childhood as a keen sportsman and gifted basketball player. He was offered a basketball scholarship to study economics and marketing at Central Michigan College, but dropped out aged 21.

He became increasingly isolated and changed his name from Greg to Lindsey. Lindsey then poured her heart out in a letter to her supportive parents explaining she had always felt and wanted to be a woman.

The acceptance gave Lindsey the confidence to start wearing women's clothes and undergo a course of female hormones to become more 'womanly'. She now proudly boasts a B-cup bra size and buys her fashionable clothes and high-heeled shoes to fit her size 16 feet from specialist websites online.

Lindsey is legally classified as a woman and is now saving up for full gender reassignment surgery, which she hopes to have by the end of the year or early 2013.

Her supportive parents have accepted her decision although Lindsey is estranged from her younger brother. She has also contacted the Guinness Book of Records in the hope she will be officially recognised as the world's tallest transsexual.

In 2017 Indonesia Stops Exporting Informal Sector Workers

2012-01-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

Reuters Women migrant workers sit down as officers take their photograph for their passport at the Immigration office in Tangerang, Indonesias Banten province, March 8, 2011. Around 1,000 women migrant workers a day apply for their passport to work in Middle East countries. In 2010 as many as 301,000 Indonesian migrant workers, including 279,974 women, went to Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Syria, Qatar and the Arab Emirates to work as housekeepers and babysitters, immigration data showed.

JAKARTA, - The Indonesian government is planning to stop sending informal sector workers such as domestic helpers to other countries beginning in 2017, a minister said.

"In the plan drawn up based on the 2017 Domestic Workers Roadmap, we envisage ’zero’ domestic worker exports by the year 2017," Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said here on Wednesday.

The minister acknowledged, however, that the implementation of the plan would face constraints as the government would have to provide alternative employment for domestic helpers in addition to the fact that the state could not forbid its citizens to seek jobs overseas.

Yet, for the sake of Indonesian migrant workers’ protection in the country where they were placed, the roadmap required that any Indonesian worker in the informal sector should have clear position and should be recognized by the foreign country concerned.

"So, there must be recognition of their work based on their position and profession. Placement countries must recognize them as workers with clear positions. They should be contract workers with certain rights regarding working hours, holidays, income based on minimal wage standards or social insurance like workers in the formal sector," the minister said.

So, beginning in 2017, Indonesian migrant workers to be placed overseas should have clear positions such as cooks, housekeepers or caregivers. "Their positions must be clearly stated with clear wage standards," the minister added.

Ford's Mini SUV Revealed

2012-01-04T19:20:00.001-08:00

Ford Fords new EcoSport compact SUV will be powered by a three-cylinder turbocharged engine when it goes on sale in Australia in 2013.

Bruce Newton

Fiesta-based EcoSport will bring soft-roader styling in a city-friendly soft roader body for about $25,000. Ford has wasted no time getting the new car cavalcade rolling for 2012, whipping the covers off a mini SUV dubbed EcoSport that should be on-sale in Australia in about a year.

Unveiled in India on the eve of the Delhi Auto Expo in close-to-production concept form, the EcoSport is based on the mechanical underpinnings of the Fiesta small car.

Physically smaller than popular compact SUVs such as the Subaru Forester and Toyota RAV4, the five-seat five-door will be powered by a new 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine said to offer the performance of a 1.6-litre but with significantly better fuel efficiency.

The 90kW/170Nm engine will drive the front wheels when it arrives in Australia in 2013. Potential competition for the EcoSport in Australia would include the Mitsubishi ASX, Skoda Yeti and Suzuki SX4, suggesting pricing of about $25,000.

Holden is among other local brands looking to enter this developing segment in the future. Ford is giving the credit for the design and development of the EcoSport to its Brazilian tech centre, although there was some Australian input, as well as North America and European involvement.

The Brazilian lead makes sense because a compact SUV also called EcoSport based on the European Ford Fusion has been selling well in Central and South America since 2004. However, the new Ford EcoSport, will eventually be sold in close to 100 countries across the globe.

The EcoSport forms part of Ford’s aggressive global plan of increasing worldwide sales by nearly 50 per cent by mid-decade to eight million vehicles a year.Of that figure, 60 to 70 per cent is expected to come from the Asia Pacific and Africa region.

“We’ve promised to bring more than 50 new vehicles and powertrains to Asia Pacific and Africa by mid-decade and the all-new EcoSport continues to deliver on that pledge,” said Joe Hinrichs, president, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

In Australia it will be the smallest member of a four-pronged SUV attack that also includes the compact Kuga (which arrives in March to replace the Escape), the locally-built Territory and the forthcoming seven-seater (expected to be dubbed Endeavour or Everest) based on the Ranger ute.

There is no guarantee the EcoSport will retain that name in Australia. It is expected to be built in India for Australia, although Brazil is already confirmed as another production venue, with more to follow.

The exterior of the EcoSport is based on Ford’s new design language, including oblique headlights and a high-mounted trapezoidal grille. A signature feature is the spare tyre attached to a swing-out rear door The interior of the EcoSport will not be shown for some months in yet another drip feed to the media.

BlackBerry Delays Raise Doubts over Technology

2012-01-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

AP New phones on hold ... Mike Lazaridis, the co-CEO of Research in Motion.

OTTAWA, When Research in Motion said in December that a new line of BlackBerry phones would not appear until the end of 2012, the announcement provoked equal parts of shock and disbelief from analysts.

Shock because even RIM acknowledges that the new phones are vital to reversing its rapid loss of market share in North America. At the same time, analysts were sceptical about the company's explanation that the delay stemmed from its decision to wait for a new, improved microprocessor.

Instead, many analysts say that both the new phones and RIM's new operating system, BlackBerry 10, may have significant performance problems and are delaying the project.

"They can't get the infrastructure and the operating system ready in time," said Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Co.Alkesh Shah, an analyst at Evercore Partners, agreed.

"Waiting for the chipset is a contributing factor in a number of factors that led to the delay," he said. "Creating the ecosystem for the phones is the bigger problem."

Shah and several other analysts said that delays in the development of BlackBerry 10 and poor battery performance in prototype versions of the new phones were behind the decision to further delay production until faster, smaller and more power-efficient chips became available in late 2012. Those delays made it impossible for RIM to begin selling the new phones early in 2012, as it first promised.

"One of the problems is the delay in the BB 10 software and that may have led to the selection of chips that caused the most recent delay," Rod Hall, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase, said.

While the analysts' scepticism is partly based on speculation, it has also been fuelled by RIM's general loss of credibility with them. For more than a year, the company has been forced to repeatedly restate financial forecasts and failed to deliver some critical, new products on time.

"They don't have a firm grasp of the issues and realities of bringing these phones to market," said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners. "There are not many believers right now."

RIM has declined to identify the new chip. RIM also declined to comment directly about development problems with BlackBerry 10 or the battery life of the new phones.

It reiterated the earlier remarks of its co-chief executives, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, that the delay was simply the result of its decision to wait for an improved chipset.

"RIM made a strategic decision to launch BlackBerry 10 devices with a new, LTE-based dual core chipset architecture," the company said, referring to a chip that supports a high-speed wireless service known as LTE that is now available in some parts of the United States. "As explained on our earnings call, the broad engineering impact of this decision and certain other factors significantly influenced the anticipated timing for the BlackBerry 10 devices."

But it is no secret that RIM has been struggling with its new operating system, which is based on technology from QNX Software Systems, a company based in Ottawa that RIM acquired in 2010.

The BlackBerry PlayBook, RIM's money-losing tablet computer, was the company's first product to use a QNX operating system. Despite the BlackBerry brand's strong association with email, it arrived in April last year without email software or the ability to directly synchronise users' address books and calendars.

Software that was supposed to remedy those issues and others has been delayed and is now promised for February.

Misek said that RIM initially tried to merge, or thread, some of its current operating system with QNX to speed up the development timetable. But that proved unsuccessful, forcing RIM to create more software code from scratch than it initially anticipated.

Michael Morgan, the senior analyst for mobile devices at ABI Research, said that many problems with BlackBerry 10 came from making it work on RIM's network, which moves all BlackBerry data, giving corporate email a high level of security and all users lower wireless data bills.

To accommodate people with both BlackBerry phones and PlayBook tablets, RIM had to redesign security features on its network, which now allow only one hand-held device access to any given user's account, Morgan said.

"When you change something that low level in an operating system, it has ramifications which affect every function," Morgan said. "I'm really shocked by a nine-month delay."

Demi Moore:'I'm Scared I'm Not Worthy of being Loved'

2012-01-04T19:16:00.001-08:00

Harpers Bazaar Opening up: Demi Moore has revealed her biggest fear is that she isnt worthy of being loved in a frank interview in Harpers Bazaar

- Her third marriage collapsed after claims emerged Ashton Kutcher had cheated on her. But while the Two and A Half men star appears to be moving on, having been spotted with Lorene Scafaria recently, Demi Moore has made a frank confession – she fears she isn’t worthy of being loved.

The 49-year-old actress made the startling statement to her friend Amanda de Cadenet during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine. In the February issue of the US magazine Demi revealed she originally feared being abandoned but said her biggest fear now is ‘not having the courage to reach her full potential’.

She explained: ‘There is no way to reach your fullest potential if you don’t really find the love of yourself.’

Demi added: ‘What scares me is that I’m going to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I’m really not lovable, that I’m not worthy of being love. That there’s something fundamentally wrong with me.’

As well as speaking out about her anxieties, Moore also opened up about her body image, which has been the subject of much speculation following her split from Kutcher.

The mother-of-three admitted to having a ‘love-hate relationship’ with her body but said she had a more positive feeling towards it now compared to her feelings in the past.

She said: ‘I sit today in a place of greater acceptance of my body and that includes not just my weight but all of the things that come with your changing body as you as age to now experiencing my body as extremely thin.’

Demi added: ‘Thin in a way that I never imagined somebody would be saying to me, “You’re too thin, and you don’t look good.”’

While the actress has displayed a shockingly slim frame in recent months, she looks happy and healthy in the accompanying photo shoot showing off her frame in a strapless beaded dress by Balmain, and a cut out black swimsuit by Gucci.

The interview comes ahead of Demi and Amanda's latest project, a television show called The Conversation which, comes to Lifetime television this Spring.

A-List stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga and Jane Fonda are among the women who have spoken out about the challenges they face in their daily lives, with Moore and de Cadenet acting as executive producers.

The British photographer and former actress explained: ‘The idea came about because I found myself asking all these questions that I couldn't find answers to.
Following her recent split from Kutcher, Demi appears to be throwing herself into her work and it has been reported that she is appearing in the upcoming movie Lovelace.

Moore is said to be taking on the role of feminist Gloria Steinem according to The Hollywood Reporter. Demi filed for divorce from husband of six-years Ashton Kutcher in November in the wake of claims he bedded Sara Leal on the weekend of their wedding anniversary.

Ashton has been linked to screenwriter Lorene Scafaria and the pair enjoyed spending Christmas together in Italy. The pair met while Kutcher tried out for a film she wrote and a source has told Us Weekly : ‘Ashton started seeing her while each was in a relationship.’

Prior to her relationship with Ashton, Demi was married to actor Bruce Willis for 13 years. When she was 18-years-old Demi married singer Freddy Moore but the marriage ended in 1984, three years before she met Willis.

The full interview is available in the February issue of Haper's Bazaar which hits newsstands January 17.

Google Adds More IBM Patents to Tech Arsenal

2012-01-04T19:14:00.001-08:00

Google Doodle Diego Rivera

SAN FRANCISCO, KOMPAS.com - Google on Wednesday confirmed that it has added more IBM patents to its technology arsenal as smartphone rivals increasingly battle in courts over innovations.

Google bought 188 patents and 29 patent applications related to mobile phones from IBM but did not disclose how much it paid. Last year, IBM sold Google 2,000 or so patents ranging from mobile software to computer hardware and processors.

Google has been strengthening its patent portfolio as the fight for dominance in the booming smartphone market increasingly involves lawsuits claiming infringement of patented technology.

The California Internet powerhouse behind Android mobile device software last year transferred a set of patents to smartphone titan HTC Corp. to help the Taiwan-based company in an intellectual property clash with iPhone maker Apple.

Technology giants have taken to routinely pounding one another with patent lawsuits. Apple has accused HTC and other smartphone makers using Google’s Android mobile operating system of infringing on Apple-held patents.

Some of the patents that HTC got from Google had belonged to Motorola Mobility, which Google is buying for $12.5 billion in cash. Motorola Mobility’s trove of patents was a key motivation for Google, which is keen to defend Android.

“Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies,” Google chief executive Larry Page said when the Motorola Mobility buy was announced.

Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha told financial analysts the US maker of smartphones and touchscreen tablet computers has over 17,000 issued patents and another 7,500 pending.

Indonesian Air Force Inspects Ballistic Missiles to Strengthen Air Defense

2012-01-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Air Force Inspects Ballistic Missiles to Strengthen Air Defense

2012-01-04T19:10:00.007-08:00

Indonesian Air Force Inspects Ballistic Missiles to Strengthen Air Defense

2012-01-04T19:10:00.003-08:00

Indonesians Dump Sandals over Child Rights

2012-01-04T19:08:00.001-08:00

Indonesians dumped over 1,200 pairs of sandals, flip-flops and slippers at collection points across the country in support of a teenage boy who was convicted of stealing Wednesday.

The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty for stealing a police officer’s sandals, a district court in Central Sulawesi province said in a ruling late Wednesday. The boy could have received five years in prison, but was sent back to his parents for counselling.

“Based on evidence and witness testimonies, we found him guilty legally and convincingly of committing a theft,” judge Rommel Tampubolon told Palu district court. “But considering his age, we decided to send him back to his parents,” he said in a ruling late Wednesday.

The boy claimed he was beaten by police. In a country where official corruption is rife and theft of millions in public funds is often punished with just a slap on the wrist, the case has turned into a cause celebre.

“This action of solidarity by the public shows that they disagree with the criminalisation of juveniles, that it goes against a sense of justice,” Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of Indonesia’s Child Protection Commission, told AFP.

“This is only a case because the stolen flip-flops happened to belong to a police officer. That is arrogant and we hope it stops here.”

Police in the city of Palu, including one who said he owned the stolen sandals, caught the boy and badly beat him and two of his friends in the street, demanding the footwear be replaced.

“The policemen slapped and beat us. I fell into a ditch and got bruises on my face and legs,” the boy told AFP.

“I did not mean to steal. The sandals were left on the street outside the policeman’s front yard.” The theft took place in November 2010 but has turned into a protest movement in recent days because of the court action. People have also been hurling footwear at the police station in Palu.

“We will send the collected footwear to the national police headquarters to replace the stolen ones,” National Commission for Child Protection spokesman Naswardi said.

Police said they had jailed one of the officers who beat the boys for 21 days and stripped him of an upcoming promotion. Children can be jailed in Indonesia alongside adults, but child protection laws state that imprisonment should be a “last resort”.