Politicizing hotel bombings ‘setback for democracy’

A group of activists urged the government Saturday to stop linking Friday’s hotel bombings to the recent presidential election as they said it would only worsen the situation.

They said that politicizing the deadly bombings was a setback for democracy in Indonesia.

“Stop politicizing the bombing tragedy, uphold the law and give priority to helping the victims,” the activists said in a joint statement.

The coalition of activists included members of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (Demos), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Indonesian Woman’s Coalition and the National Alliance of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika.

The activists made the call after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s statements that the perpetrators of the bombings were also targeting him in an attempt to derail the presidential election.

Yudhoyono said the terrorists were planning to take over the General Elections Commission (KPU) as ballot counting continues.

He further said the group planned to make Indonesia like Iran, and that they would try to prevent him from being sworn in for his expected second term.

The KPU has yet to officially announce the winner of the election, but quick counts have put Yudhoyono well in front.

Demos’ director Anton Prajasto said bringing the bombings into the political arena would confuse the process of democracy in the country.

“This is the right moment for the government to uphold the law. It is the task of police to arrest the perpetrators of the bombings and bring them to court,” he said.

Head of Kontras’ impunity watch and fulfilment of victims’ rights department, Yanti Andriani, deplored Yudhoyono for his provocative speech, made just hours after the bombing.

“Yudhoyono’s speech came at the wrong time and in the wrong place. For us, it is too also early to believe [his claims] but also too important to ignore,” she said.

“People are shocked by the bombings but President Yudhoyono does not need to make such provocative statements.”

She said that Yudhoyono could have directly ordered the police to follow up information from intelligence if a group of people were out to assassinate him.

Meanwhile, director of the National Coalition of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Nia Syarifuddin, agreed Yudhoyono’s statements would breed distrust.

“The priority should be put on humanitarian efforts, not politics, as this was a human tragedy,” she said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who also ran in the recent election, insisted Friday that the hotel bombings had nothing to do with the presidential election.

The third presidential candidate, Megawati Soekarnoputri, also rebuked Yudhoyono’s statements and questioned why the president hadn’t simply ordered the police to take direct action.

Meanwhile, Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party denied Saturday Yudhoyono’s statements were an attempt to politicize the bombings.

“President Yudhoyono is in no way politicizing the bombings. The president’s statements reflect his anger at the terrorist acts that are having disastrous impacts on the development of the country,” deputy party chairman, Anas Urbaningrum, said, as quoted by Antara.

Recession maintains grip on UK as GDP plunges at record rate

Output in Britain is falling at an alarming rate, fuelling fears of another surge in unemployment.

Production was down 0.8% in the last past three months - almost three times as much as experts predicted.

That took the annual rate to 5.6%, the biggest slump since records began in 1955.

Separate figures revealed UK car production fell 30% last month.

While this was less than the 43% drop in May it suggests the Government's £2,000 scrappage scheme is having limited impact.

Economists said the "shockingly bad" slump in Gross Domestic Product dashed any hopes of the recession ending quickly.

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They warned it would lead to further rises in unemployment, putting extra strain on Government finances at a time of falling tax revenue. Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said a "ballooning" deficit would force the Government to choose between cuts in public services, such as schools and hospitals, or increasing taxes.

Tuc general secretary Brendan Barber said ministers should resist calls for public spending cuts.

He added: "Big spending cuts are the last thing we need. They could tip the economy into an ever deeper downturn and make the deficit worse when the tax take falls and spending on unemployment rises.

"As consumers and companies fail to spend, the public sector must fill the gap."

The construction industry was the hardest hit sector, with a 2.2% collapse in output. There were also big falls in transport, agriculture and even the service sector.

Vicky Redwood, economist at the Capital Economics research consultancy, said: "The figures are shockingly bad. It looks like being a long hard slog to get the economy back on track."

Earliest human relics in Taiwan unearthed in Taitung cave

TAITUNG, Taiwan -- A team from Academia Sinica, Taiwan's highest research institute, has recently discovered a neolithic stone hearth in a cave in the eastern county of Taitung that has been confirmed as the earliest human relic to have been discovered in Taiwan, the Taitung county government said Friday.

After a year of investigation and research, the prehistoric archaeology research team discovered the hearth at the Basiandong (Eight Deities) Historic Site, which carbon-dating reveals to be 20,000 years old, according to an official with the county's Cultural and Tourism Bureau.

"The sample proves that humans were living in Taiwan more than 20,000 years ago, " the official quoted Tsang Chen-hua, deputy director of the Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology, who led the research team, as saying.

In addition to the fire place, the research team has also discovered seven new caves, bringing the number of caves found at the Basiandong Historic Site to 24 from the previous 17, the Taitung official said.

According to the Taitung Cultural and Tourism Bureau, the Basiandong site attracted the attention of Japanese archaeologists during Taiwan's Japanese colonization who explored the main cave, located in a coastal cliff area in the county's Changbin township.

Between 1968 and 1969, a National Taiwan University archaeologist team led by Professor Sung Wen-hsun worked on the Basiandong Historic Site again, discovering four samples that were later carbon dated as dating back between 5,000 and 15,000 years.

To further prove the dates of the Basiandong relics, the Cabinet-level Council for cultural Planning and Development later entrusted Academia Sinica to conduct a new round of research into the site.

"The discoveries by Tsang and his team are tremendously meaningful in terms of Taiwan's neolithic archaeological research, " the official said.

Years of experience saved skier from avalanche

A Melbourne man who survived a deadly avalanche in New Zealand believes years of skiing and watching documentaries on avalanches are what saved him.

Three Australian tourists triggered an avalanche while heli-skiing with two guides near the town of Methven on New Zealand's south island yesterday afternoon.

Melbourne real estate agent John Castran, 53, his 23-year-old son Angus and the guides survived the disaster.

Sydney man Llynden Riethmuller, 60, died when he was buried under a metre of debris and could not be revived.

Mr Castran says he kept calm and does not remember his son digging him out of the snow.

"I was unconcious at that stage," he said.

"I don't have any recollection of that. He said when they got to me my face was blue and my eyes were rolled back in my head."

Skiing group blamed

The manager of New Zealand's mountain safety council, Steve Schrieber, says the avalanche was triggered by the skiing group itself.

The council had issued warnings of dangerous conditions in its Southern Alps, where the accident happened.

Mr Schrieber says that the warnings were aimed at recreational skiers and that the guides with the group were experienced.

"These guys are professionals, they work out there every day," he said.

"In the case of the two guides who were working out there, the lead guide has over 25 years experience. This was a very, very accomplished and professional group of people.

"The avalanche phenomena is an unpredictable thing and there's a risk to going heli-skiing. Unfortunately today the risk showed itself."

The guides described the deceased man as an experienced skier who was fit and loved the outdoors.

Microsoft to unbundle IE from Windows: EU

The European Commission says Microsoft has agreed to open up Windows to different web browsers in order to fend off European Union litigation.

"Microsoft has proposed a consumer ballot screen as a solution to the pending antitrust case about the tying of Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser with Windows," the commission said in a statement.

It said computer users would be able to "easily install competing web browsers, set one of those browsers as a default, and disable Internet Explorer" from the ballot screen.

"We believe that if ultimately accepted, this proposal will fully address the European competition law issues relating to the inclusion of Internet Explorer in Windows and interoperability with our high-volume products," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in a release.

"This would mark a big step forward in addressing a decade of legal issues and would be good news for European consumers and our partners in the industry."

The commission, Europe's top competition watchdog, opened a new front in its epic anti-trust battle with Microsoft in January.

It hit the company with fresh charges of unfairly squashing competition by bundling its Internet Explorer web browser into its ubiquitous Windows personal computer operating system.

'Consumer ballot'

Under the plan, rival browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Google's Chrome or Opera by Norway's Opera Software will now be placed before consumers at the point when they set up a new computer's operating preferences.

European consumers who buy new Windows-based personal computers with Internet Explorer pre-set as the browser would be shown a "ballot screen" from which they could easily install competing browsers from the web, Mr Smith said.

If the commission accepts the proposal, Microsoft will ship Windows 7 in Europe with IE built-in, as will be the case in the rest of the world with the software release in October, according to the Redmond, Washington-based firm.

In an effort to appease EU regulators, Microsoft currently plans to ship in Europe "E versions" of Windows 7 without web browsers.

Mr Smith said that Microsoft's proposal includes a "public undertaking" designed to promote interoperability between third party software and products including Windows, Windows Server, Office, Exchange and SharePoint.

This week Microsoft declared its next-generation Windows 7 operating system ready for delivery to computer makers.

Because of the regulatory wrangling in Europe, the Windows 7 version going on sale there was originally to have seen Internet Explorer completely removed.

Obama Shifts Tone on Gates After Mulling Debate

WASHINGTON — President Obama tried Friday to defuse a volatile national debate over the arrest of a black Harvard University professor as he acknowledged that his own comments had inflamed tensions and insisted he had not meant to malign the arresting officer.


Police officials held a news conference on Friday in Cambridge, Mass., about the case involving Sgt. James Crowley, left.

Mr. Obama placed calls to both the professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and the man who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, two days after saying the police had “acted stupidly” last week in hauling Professor Gates from his home in handcuffs. Mr. Obama said he still considered the arrest “an overreaction,” but added that “Professor Gates probably overreacted as well.”

“I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up,” the president said in an appearance in the White House briefing room. “I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically, and I could have calibrated those words differently.”

Mr. Obama’s unusual personal intervention and public statement came just four hours after the White House said he had no more to say on the matter. But after talking with Michelle Obama and some of his closest friends amid unrelenting publicity, his advisers said, the president reversed course in hopes of quashing a dispute that had set off strong reactions and made it harder for the White House to focus attention on his efforts to pass health care legislation.

The Gates case has become the first significant racial controversy Mr. Obama has confronted since being sworn in as the nation’s first African-American president. The improvisational handling of it underscored the delicate challenges for a leader who has tried to govern by crossing old lines and emphasizing commonalities over differences.

Advisers said both his sharp statement, which was made at Wednesday night’s news conference, and his toned-down remarks on Friday reflected strains of his experiences. He was personally outraged by the arrest and wanted to speak bluntly about it, aides said. And they said he was distressed that his words proved polarizing and contrary to his instincts for conciliation.

Whether he succeeded in tamping down the emotions of the case remained to be seen. In their telephone conversation, Mr. Obama said, Sergeant Crowley suggested that he and Professor Gates come to the White House to share a beer with the president. Mr. Obama then conveyed that idea in his phone call with Professor Gates.

Professor Gates said in an e-mail message afterward that he was “pleased to accept his invitation” to come to the White House and meet Sergeant Crowley. “After all, I first made the offer to meet with Sgt. Crowley myself, last Monday,” he wrote. “I told the president that my entire career as an educator has been devoted to racial healing and improved race relations in this country. I am determined that this be a teaching moment.”

Sergeant Crowley made no public comments after his conversation with the president. He has denied doing anything wrong and has declined to apologize to Professor Gates.

The episode stemmed from a misunderstanding when Professor Gates returned to his Cambridge home on July 16 and found his door stuck. A woman reported seeing someone trying to break into the house and the police responded. Although the arresting police officer became aware that Professor Gates was in his own home, the police said he was belligerent and arrested him for disorderly conduct. The charge was later dropped.

Mr. Obama defended his decision to weigh in. “The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that, you know, race is still a troubling aspect of our society,” he said. “Whether I were black or white,” he said, commenting “is part of my portfolio.”

Mr. Obama first discussed with aides how to address the arrest during a meeting before his Wednesday news conference. Aides said Mr. Obama, a Harvard-trained lawyer, zeroed in on the fact that the arrest came after police confirmed that Professor Gates was in his own home.

But his use of the word “stupidly” at the news conference that evening generated angry responses from Cambridge police, and some of his aides privately rued the word choice. Mr. Obama, who said he was surprised at the response, discussed the issue over dinner with friends at his home in Chicago on Thursday during a quick trip there for a fund-raiser, according to people close to the family. On Friday morning, they said, he also talked it through with Mrs. Obama.

By then, the controversy had dominated White House staff meetings. Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, had told reporters at 10 a.m. that Mr. Obama had nothing more to say. Some advisers had concluded the furor would not dissipate unless Mr. Obama made another statement, while others were wary of him revisiting the episode and particularly did not want him to apologize, they said.

During the morning, police union members held a news conference in Cambridge calling on Mr. Obama to apologize for demeaning Sergeant Crowley and suggesting it was Professor Gates who had made it a racial incident.

“The facts of this case suggest that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party,” said Sgt. Dennis O’Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association.

Sgt. Leon Lashley, an African-American officer at the Gates house that day, separately told The Associated Press that he supported Sergeant Crowley’s actions “100 percent.”

The police event contributed to what one White House aide called a “critical mass,” but aides said it was not the deciding factor, noting that Mr. Obama had not watched. Shortly after noon, Mr. Obama called his senior adviser, David Axelrod. “I’m going to call Sergeant Crowley and then I think I ought to step into the press room and address it,” Mr. Axelrod said he said.

The president dictated some thoughts intended to avoid directly blaming either the professor or the officer, and speechwriters had less than two hours to craft remarks. Mr. Obama called Sergeant Crowley about 2:15 p.m. and they spoke for five minutes. He went to the briefing room to make his statement, then called Professor Gates about 3:15 p.m.

Mr. Obama said the issue was making it harder for him to focus attention on health care. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care,” he said.

He did not apologize but softened his language. “I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station,” he said. “I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well.”

Mr. Obama described Sergeant Crowley as an “outstanding police officer and a good man” who has “a fine track record on racial sensitivity.” But he said the incident showed that “because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African-Americans are sensitive to these issues.”

John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said that unlike white presidents who could dance around racial issues, Mr. Obama had to be direct. “That’s the whole difference. Bush could punt. Obama can’t punt,” he said. “This issue resonates with him.”

Christopher Edley Jr., a former adviser to President Bill Clinton on race issues and now law school dean at the University of California, Berkeley, said the episode dispelled the “rosy hopefulness” stemming from Mr. Obama’s election “in case anybody needed more evidence that we’re not beyond race.”