The New Blue Planet

KOMPAS.com - Astronomers have discovered the first habitable blue planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun.

NASA’s Kepler Mission has been finding new worlds at an incredible rate over the past year but this is the first discovery of what could be a habitable super-earth as it appears to be large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, similar to spring day on Earth.

A team of researchers, including Carnegie Institute's Alan Boss, made the discovery which will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The discovery team, led by William Borucki of the NASA Ames Research Center, used photometric data from the NASA Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars.

Earth-size planets whose orbital planes are aligned such that they periodically pass in front of their stars result in tiny dimmings of their host star’s light, dimmings that can only be measured by a highly specialized space telescope like Kepler.

This discovery is the first detection of a possibly habitable world in orbit around a Sun-like star.
The host star lies about 600 light-years away from us toward the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus.

The star, a G5 star, has a mass and a radius only slightly smaller than that of our Sun. As a result, the host star is about 25 per cent less luminous than the Sun.

The planet orbits the G5 star with an orbital period of 290 days, compared to 365 days for the Earth, at a distance about 15 per cent closer to its star than the Earth from the Sun. This results in the planet’s balmy temperature.

It orbits in the middle of the star’s habitable zone, where liquid water is expected to be able to exist on the surface of the planet. Liquid water is necessary for life as we know it, and this new planet might well be not only habitable, perhaps even inhabited.

Numerous large, massive gas giant planets have been detected previously in habitable-zone orbits around solar-type stars, but gas giants are not thought to be capable of supporting life.

This new exoplanet is the smallest-radius planet discovered in the habitable zone of any star to date. It is about 2.4 times larger than that of the Earth, putting it in the class of exoplanets known as super-Earths.

While the mass of this new planet is not known, it must be less than about 36 times that of the Earth, based on the absence of a measurable Doppler (radial velocity) wobble in the host star.

The masses of several other super-Earths have been measured with the Doppler technique and determined to lie in the range of about 5 to 10 times that of the Earth.

Some appear to be rocky, while others probably contain major fractions of ice and water.  Either way, the new planet appears to be habitable.

'This discovery supports the growing belief that we live in a universe crowded with life,' Boss said. 'Kepler is on the verge of determining the actual abundance of habitable, Earth-like planets in our galaxy'.

Meanwhile scientists have started a systematic 'index' to categorise which planets might be 'habitable' - and so far, we've found 47 planets and moons that might fit the bill.

The Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo (UPR Arecibo) judges candidates by where they sit in their solar system, and what type they are. Most of the 700 planets so far detected are no-go zones - but 47 look promising.

Over 700 exoplanets have been detected and confirmed with thousands more still waiting further confirmation by missions such as NASA Kepler.

Most of these are gas giants, similar to Jupiter and Neptune, but orbiting very dangerously close to their stars. Only a few have the right size and orbit to be considered suitable for any life.

'One important outcome of these rankings is the ability to compare exoplanets from best to worst candidates for life,' says Abel Méndez, Director of the PHL and principal investigator of the project.

The catalogue uses new habitability assessments like the Earth Similarity Index (ESI), the Habitable Zones Distance (HZD), the Global Primary Habitability (GPH), classification systems, and comparisons with Earth past and present.

According to Méndez, 'New observations with ground and orbital observatories will discover thousands of exoplanets in the coming years. We expect that the analyses contained in our catalogue will help to identify, organize, and compare the life potential of these discoveries.'

The catalogue lists and categorizes exoplanets discoveries using various classification systems, including tables of planetary and stellar properties.

ne of the classifications divides them into eighteen mass and thermal categories, creating a table similar to a periodic table for exoplanets. Additional resources of the catalogue will include scientific visualizations and stellar maps of exoplanets.

Only two confirmed exoplanets so far match the criteria for habitability in the catalogue, Gliese 581d and HD 85512b - both of which are Earthlike. However, the catalogue identifies over 15 exoplanets and 30 exomoons as potential habitable candidates.

Future observations with new instruments, such as the proposed NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder, will be necessary to confirm the suitability for life of any of these candidates.

'I hope this database will help increase interest in building a big space-based telescope to observe exoplanets directly and look for possible signatures of life,' says Jim Kasting, an expert on planetary habitability science from Penn State.

26th Sea Games


JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com -
Indonesian vice president Boediono expressed his optimism that the country would come out as the overall champion at the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian Games.
"I am convinced with the good preparations that I have seen so far our athletes would be able to make their best achievements this time. I think as the host country we must, God willing, be able to become the overall champion," he said before athletes here on Monday.

He met with the athletes after checking their readiness and inspecting the venues that would be used for the 26th SEA Games.Vice President Boediono called on the athletes to maintain their health conditions and fitness so that they could perform well at the competitions and show their best performance.
He also called on them to prepare their mental conditions. Boediono said the event is a prestigious competition among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). During his inspection of venues and readiness of martial art athletes Boediono was presented with demonstrations of karate, taekwondo, wu shu and Povinam.

Several athletes from other sport brachens like athletic and weight lifting were also seen at the meeting. When inspecting the venue for archery Boediono took an opportunity to try shooting a target twice but failed.
Other venues being inspected are the basket ball field in Kelapa Gading and Vellodrom in Rawamangun. The 26th SEA Games which is scheduled to be opened on November 11 and end on November 22 will be carried out in Palembang, South Sumatra, and Jakarta.

The event will compete 44 sport branches and offer 542 gold medals for grab. This year’s bi-annual event will be the fourth hosted by Indonesia. Indonesia hosted the 10th event in 1979, the 15th event in 1987 and the 19th one in 1997 and in all of the events it came out as the overall champion.

HIV Vaksin

VIVAnews - Alan Aderem, Director of BioMed, Seattle and Rino Rappuoli, Global Head of Vaccines Research for Novartis Vaccines and Diagonstics, reviewed the latest progress in vaccine development in a scientific journal, Nature.
They write, it is estimated, by 2020, a vaccine for malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV / AIDS is found. In the journal that they also discussed the new devices include systems biology and structure-based design of antigens that can provide a better understanding of the mechanism of protection.
This device will give clues leading to the rational development of vaccines to alleviate the patient's most terrible diseases in the world.
According Aderem, a pioneer in the field of systems biology, new concepts and technological advances indicate that the vaccine for three diseases terdahsyat it will be developed within the next 10 years.
"The success will greatly depend on our ability to approach biological systems to analyze data generated during testing of evidence," said Aderem, like diktutip from MedIndia, May 28, 2011.
Aderem says, success will also provide new insights such as identifying the relationship between protection or signs of immunogenicity and the acceleration of large-scale clinical trials. Also, added Aderem, new regulatory approaches and innovative clinic will also accelerate the discovery of vaccines that are needed.
In his report, Aderem and Rappuoli also reviews the advantages and disadvantages of systems biology approach, with the major advantages of this approach is the ability to capture and integrate biological data in a very large number that appears to visualize the nature of which is not shown by the parts individually and unpredictable if you only use every single part.
"The advantage of biological systems is its ability to predict the behavior of entire biological systems," said Aderem. "From there, we can optimize vaccine candidates and predict whether the drug or vaccine candidates able to work before the drug was taken to a large-scale clinical trials are very expensive," he said.
Biological systems can also be used to accelerate clinical trials usually last long.
Aderem and Rappuoli predicts that in a trial vaccine for malaria, TB and HIV / AIDS, only one hypothesis successfully tested every eight years in the past three decades. "We can not continue to use this approach if we want to get results in the period immediately," said Aderem.
With this new method, said Aderem, we can accelerate development by conducting clinical trials of more efficacious and to improve the design using a systems biology approach to test several hypotheses in parallel and have an adaptive design to extend the results will prove most promising.• VIVAnews

The End Of Saturday?

KOMPAS.com - Usually when we party like there's no tomorrow we wake up with a hangover of biblical proportions. But while fun-loving atheists plan to take two paracetamol as per usual on Sunday, some evangelists will be taking the 'no tomorrow' angle a little too literally.
According to some minority sections of the Christian faith - via one octogenarian's rather embarrassingly unreliable maths - 'The Rapture' will take place at around 6pm tomorrow; Saturday, May 21.
The Rapture, another name for Judgement Day, is supposedly the time when God's chosen people will ascend to heaven and the rest of us are left behind to face apocalyptic scenes of earthquakes and fire.
The 'trial' for non-believers could last six months, but by October 21 they will all be dead, says the prophecy. Just in case the prediction is right, some Americans are making the most of their time left with 'Rapture Parties' across the country.

On the other hand, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the American Humanist Association is organizing a two-day anti-Rapture extravaganza. There will be a party on Saturday and a concert on Sunday - with the tongue in cheek proviso that Sunday's fun could be cancelled due to a natural catastrophe of some sort.
The concept of the Rapture is a relatively new in terms of the Christian faith - first appearing in Christian teaching in the 19th century - but the chosen date is the work of one modern minister.
Harold Camping, 89, came up with the date by adding up numbers in the Bible. He did the same thing once before, stating unequivocally that the world would end in 1994, before apologising and blaming a mathematical error.

His followers have erected billboards across America that have been warning for weeks: 'Judgment Day is coming May 21st, 2011 – The Bible guarantees it!'
Most Christians barely pay the 'prophecy' a second thought but Camping, from Oakland, California, stands by his second Doomsday warning.
'We know without any shadow of a doubt it is going to happen,' said the founder of Family Radio, which broadcasts his forecast around the world.
'There’s going to be a huge earthquake that’s going to make the big earthquake in Japan seem like a Sunday School picnic.'

Camping, a civil engineer who once ran his own construction business, plans to spend the day with his wife in Alameda, in northern California, and watch doomsday unfold on television.
'I'll probably try to be very near a TV or a radio or something,' he said.
'I'll be interested in what's happening on the other side of the world as this begins.'
Camping has based his prediction on his belief that the Noah’s Ark flood happened in the year 4990 BC.
He claims that since 2 Peter 3:8 says that one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day to God, there will be seven thousand years between Noah's flood and the end of the world.
The seven days come from Noah having seven days to warn people about the coming disaster, so he assumes there will be seven days, translated to 7,000 years, between the flood and the destruction of earth.
So 4990 plus 2011, minus one because there was no year '0', equals 7,000 years. The prediction has been publicised in almost every country, said Chris McCann, who works with one of the groups spreading the message, eBible Fellowship.

McCann plans to spend Saturday with his family, reading the Bible and praying. His fellowship met for the last time on Monday.
'We had a final lunch and everyone said goodbye,' he said.
'We don't actually know who's saved and who isn't, but we won't gather as a fellowship again.'
The publicity has had some effect outside North America. In Vietnam, a crowd of around 5,000 members of the Hmong ethnic minority gathered near the border with Laos to await the biblical event, but they were soon dispersed by the government.
However, the Rapture - the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that precedes the end of time - is a divisive belief even among Christians.
Most don't believe in it, and some are actively against it because they feel it makes them look foolish.
'People like this man are over-literalising certain passages that are not meant to be taken in such a strictly literal sense and they're trying to build strict chronologies by piecing together different Bible verses that were never intended to be interpreted in such a fashion,' said Dr. Don Howell, professor of New Testament at Columbia International University.

In an attempt to talk to Camping on his own literal terms, Dr Howell also points to Matthew 24, which says no one but the Father knows when the end will come, not even Jesus or the angels.
The Rapture is often mocked by non-believers in popular culture - the comic strip 'Doonesbury' has tackled the subject - while a Facebook page called 'Post Rapture Looting' has won huge support.
More than 175,000 people have joined the group, leaving comments such as: 'When everyone is gone and God’s not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansions we’re going to squat in.'

Jerry Jenkins, co-author with Tim LaHaye of the 'Left Behind' series of apocalyptic novels that have sold millions of copies worldwide, is among those who has a problem with the prediction.
'As a believer, I'm already a kook compared to most people, so for someone to choose a date and get everyone excited about a certain time, my problem is it makes us look worse,' said Jenkins, 61.
But the very industry in which Jenkins' books are aimed and sold are part of the problem according to Barbara Rossing, professor of the New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
She describes a huge apocalyptic 'prophecy industry' that includes video games, board games and books, and says: 'It is very appealing to people.'

Indeed, according to its tax returns Family Radio, a non-profit organisation, has raised more than $100m over the last seven years. It owns 66 radio stations worldwide and a recent spike in activity has seen it lavish millions on its international billboard advertising campaign.
When asked what the church was going to do with the money when the world ended, Camping told Contra Costa Times; 'When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them?
'If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.
'The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord.'
But as the true believers prepare for what they hope will be their last day on earth, many atheists are having fun with the anticlimax they anticipate.
In Tacoma, Washington, atheists have organized a party for Saturday night under the banner 'countdown to backpedaling', on the assumption that Camping and Family Radio will change their story if Judgment Day does not come.

At least 100 people are expected at the party, said Sam Mulvey, 33, an organizer of the event and the producer of a weekly atheist radio show in Tacoma.
'If the world still exists the next day, Family Radio is going to have to say something and most of the time they backpedal, and that's what we're counting down to,' he said.
Other atheists have taken a more practical approach to the 'rapture' by turning the 'prophecy industry' on itself to make money.

In New Hampshire, Bart Centre started his company Eternal Earth-bound Pets in 2009.
He offers rapture believers an insurance plan for those pets that won't join them in heaven: 10-year pet care contracts, with Centre and his network of fellow non-believers taking responsibility for the animals after the Rapture.
The fee - payable in advance, of course - was originally $110, but has risen to $135 since Camping's prediction. He has 258 clients.

ASEAN Has Good Single Currency Prospect


Diponegoro University economist Nugroho SBM said in Semarang Friday that ASEAN remains an important geopolitical and economic power in Asia, and even in the world, and therefore a single currency will strengthen it against pressure from the US dollar for instance.

With ASEAN having a single currency, he said, the strong effect of the US dollar in that part of the world would be sterilized and thus strengthening the monetary position of the ASEAN countries.
"It would take a very long time. The European Union alone needed 60 years before agreeing to use the euro as a single currency, bit it would be better to discuss the foundation of an ASEAN single currency from now on," he said.

He said Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines may serve as a driving power for the formation of a single currency because they have a dominating trade volume among the ASEAN member countries.

He also said that it is indeed not easy to form an ASEAN single currency because such a great idea will be facing an obstacle from the countries with an already strong currency and did not wish their monetary data be known to other countries.
"The formation of a single currency needs central interbank transparency while not all the central banks of the member countries are open to information. This is one of the serious obstacles," he said.
Nugroho predicted that China and India will be playing an increasing important role in the world economy and in the Asian region which was marked with the huge trade volume of the two countries with the ASEAN member countries.

According to data, ASEAN trade with India in 2010 stood at 50 billion US dollars, while China has since the introduction of the China-ASEAN free trade set a target of its trade with ASEAN of 500 billion US dollars by 2015.

Aisha Gaddafi

KOMPAS.com - Embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has enlisted the help of his glamorous only daughter in his fight to retain power in the war-ravaged country.
Aisha Gaddafi, a 34-year-old lawyer who has represented Saddam Hussein and the IRA, was photographed in the capital Tripoli, dressed in a veil and waving her father's green flag from a vehicle, London's Daily Mail reported.
Mobbed by supporters, her modest appearance was a far cry from the eye-catching designer outfits and voluminous blonde hair that earned her the nickname "the Claudia Schiffer of North Africa".
She told the crowd at the Bab Al Azizia compound that her father was a "great man and leader".
Her appearance came as Gaddafi's troops bombarded the oil terminal town of Ras Lanuf, east of Tripoli, and the United States fired missiles over Taiura, the suburb where the Libyan leader maintains a home.
Ms Gaddafi, her father's only daughter, was named as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador in 2009 but was stripped of the honour in February because of her support of Gaddafi's regime. As a lawyer she volunteered on the defence team that worked for Saddam Hussein before his trial and hanging in 2006.
When London's Telegraph asked Ms Gaddafi what she thought of Iraqis who claimed her client murdered thousands of their countrymen, she replied: "It is only normal that some people are against you and some people are with you. You are bound to meet people who may be against your policies".
According to CNN, she also defended the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoe at former US president George W. Bush. Ms Gaddafi married her cousin, army general Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, in 2006. The couple have three children.
The newspaper also wrote that she is resentful towards the West after the death of her adopted sister, Hana, who was killed when Ms Gaddafi was nine, during a US raid on Tripoli.
"I woke to the thunder of bombs and the screams of my sister, with blood splattered all over me," she is reported as saying at the time.
During a rare interview with the Telegraph last October she said people "generally gasp" when they find out who she is.
"... and then they become very friendly, and take the chance to send greeting to my father," she said.
"No one has ever reacted badly".
Ms Gaddafi reportedly tried to leave Libya for Malta in January but was turned back when the aircraft was denied permission to land, according to Al Jazeera and the Telegraph.
She denied the reports and told the Libyan public: "I am steadfastly here".

it's On Facebook........True Story

KOMPAS.com - As the founder of Facebook, you would have thought he would know how to update his relationship status. But seven years after starting his relationship with Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg has finally got around to announcing they are going out.
The 26-year-old has updated his Facebook status to ‘in a relationship’ to reflect the fact he is taken. He added that the change had been ‘long overdue’ but did not explain why he had waited so long.
Observers however have noted that often when couples become 'in a relationship' on the social network and ‘engaged’ status soon follows. Zuckerberg and Chan started seeing each other when they were both studying at Harvard University.

Following the new update, Chan's Facebook page reveals that the pair started their relationship on November 7 2003, just days after Zuckerberg's infamous Facemash stunt at Harvard.
He was nearly expelled from the university after hacking into different colleges' websites and taking pictures of all the female students, placing them next to each other and asking other students to 'rate' their attractiveness. The success the site had during the few days it was on the internet was his initial inspiration for Facebook.
Few details have emerged about the couple's private life together at their home in Palo Alto, California, as Zuckerberg is notoriously secretive. It was only after a glitch that made his Facebook profile temporarily public - along with relentless criticism of the website’s stance on privacy - that he has allowed other people access to it.

Should Zuckerberg propose to Chan, a Chinese-American from the Boston suburbs, one of the issues that would likely come up with be a pre-nuptial agreement. Despite his youth Zuckerberg is worth $13.5billion (£8.3billion), making him the 52nd richest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine - the second youngest billionaire in the world, behind Facebook co-founder and billionaire Dustin Moskovitz.
Chan has been with him for a large part of the time Facebook has existed, but it is unclear what role if any she has played in its development. Zuckerberg’s relationships were dramatised in The Social Network, the Hollywood film released last year about how Facebook was created

During the final scene he tries to ‘friend’ his ex-girlfriend on the website after she had previously dumped him. As the credits roll he keeps pressing the ‘refresh’ button in the vain hope that she has accepted.
However, this aspect of the story has been disputed by the real-life characters. He and Chan had previously set up a Facebook page for their pet dog ‘Beast’ in a bid to soften his public image. The Hungarian Sheepdog now has 77,000 fans.

Stop Violance In Palestine

KOMPAS.com -
Indonesia has called for international cooperation to stop violence against Palestinian prisoners held at a number of Israeli prisons and detention centers. President of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians of International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Dr. Nurhayati Ali Assegaf made the call in her keynote speech to the First International Conference on the Rights of Palestinian Prisoners in Geneva recently.
Minister Counselor of the Indonesian Representative in Geneva Dicky Komar said in a press statement issued on Tuesday the conference was initiated by three non-governmental organizations, U-free, Rights for All and North-South 21.

The other speakers of the conference were members of the Palestinian, Greek, Swiss and Irish parliaments as well as former Palestinian prisoners including Sheik Raed Salah who is now Imam of Al Aqsa Mosque.
Also present at the conference were figures, non-governmental organization activists, and academicians from various European countries. Nurhayati who is also deputy chief of the Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Board (BKSAP) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) further stressed Indonesia’s consistency in encouraging the formation of an independent Palestinian state in what she said was in line with the mandate of the 1945 Constitution.
She also attached the significance of integrated concrete steps involving various elements of the international community to put an end to Israeli violence among others through the mechanisms of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Human Rights Committee to allow any of their members to monitor and visit Israeli prisons and detention centers.
She said the fate of female prisoners should also draw special attention because they were highly vulnerable to violence and human rights violation. The conference underscored the need for Israel to comply with international conventions related to prisoners’ rights, ensure that the rights of Palestinian prisoners were fulfilled, and stop violence against them.

In addition, it also underlined the importance of comprehensive solution to the Palestinian conflict by forming an independent Palestinian state. The conference also agreed to declare 2011 as the Year of Palestinian Women Prisoners.

Mubarak Wants Stay

KOMPAS.com - The president of Egypt last night declared that he is ‘fed up and wants to go’ as bloody clashes continued in Cairo. But Hosni Mubarak said he would not resign immediately – because he feared there would be ‘chaos’.
His remarks came as pro-government mobs targeted Western journalists and human rights activists near Tahrir Square, the centre of the protests. Several were punched, their equipment smashed – and one was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver.

There were reports the army was rounding up foreign cameramen and correspondents. A Greek man was reported to have died in the clashes.
Fears were growing that tourists could be next in line as Britain and other Western countries urgently evacuated their citizens. Last night 180 Britons flew out of Cairo on a specially chartered Foreign Office plane. As many as 25,000 remain.

Egypt yesterday pointed the finger at ‘foreign agendas’ for fuelling the protests.
Vice president Omar Suleiman said: ‘When there are demonstrations of this size, there will be foreigners who come and take advantage and they have an agenda to raise the energy of the protesters.’
Last night Egyptian TV reported that Israeli spies were in the country posing as journalists.
Mr Suleiman dismissed mounting international calls – including from Britain – for President Mubarak to step down immediately.
Mr Mubarak himself said last night: ‘I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go. If I resign today there will be chaos.’
He told ABC News he was distressed by the violence in Cairo between his supporters and the reformist campaigners.
‘I was very unhappy about yesterday,’ he said. ‘I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other.’
He added: ‘I don’t care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country. I care about Egypt.’
He also warned President Obama: ‘You don’t understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now.’
He vowed to remain in his country until his death. ‘I will die on this soil,’ he said.
There could be further clashes today after prayers. Supporters from both sides have pledged to march.
At one stage yesterday it had appeared the military had finally decided to end the violence that has left at least 12 dead and more than 900 wounded in 48 hours.
Soldiers pushed back pro-government attackers and took up positions between the two sides while an army tank moved against Mubarak supporters as they hurled rocks, prompting cheers.
The Mubarak loyalists fled when the tank turned its turret towards them, then regrouped nearby.
Eventually the soldiers stepped aside allowing clashes to resume.
The anti-Mubarak protesters, who had claimed ‘Victory’ after driving the president’s men from the square, appeared dominated by a youthful hardcore including secular middle-class graduates and mostly poorer Islamist activists.
A large number had the trimmed beards of Islamic conservatives, a sign of how the Muslim Brotherhood movement is playing a major role in the fight.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last night: ‘I urge the government and a broad and credible representation of Egypt’s opposition, civil society and political factions to begin immediately serious negotiations on a peaceful and orderly transition.’
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IMF.Indonesian Economic will Grow

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesian Monetary Fund (IMF) said Indonesia will experience good economic growth this year. International financial institutions predict that Indonesia's economic growth in 2011 more than 6 percent.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan said the Indonesian economy is going well, despite facing the same challenge with other countries, such as food and energy price volatility. "Globally, Indonesia's economy is going well and I expect to grow more than 6 percent," Dominique said after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Office on Wednesday (02/02/2011).

According to Dominique, no significant issues that could hamper the Indonesian economy to grow. In addition, he said, the budget deficit by 1.8 percent in 2011 is still in a reasonable level. "Because, will help the level of investment and development in Indonesia," he said.

For your information, the government sets the economic growth of 6.4 percent in the Income and Expenditure Budget (APBN) in 2011. Growth rate was up 0.1 percent from the year 2011 state budget draft targets of 6.3 percent.

Dominique added, the political disputes in Egypt will affect world oil and food prices. The result will affect economic growth world countries even if only temporary. (Hans Henricus / Cash)

Indonesian Legend WarShip Dewa Ruci Will Change This Year

SURABAYA, KOMPAS.com - RI warships that had been used as a trainingsailing ship, KRI Dewa Ruci, eventually retire. Procurement of new trainingsailing ship was made in 2011.

This was conveyed by TNI Commander Rear Admiral Agus Suhartono inspectorafter a handover ceremony in the position of TNI Commander General of theAcademy at the Naval Academy, Surabaya, on Friday (28/01/2011).

Lieutenant General (Mar) Nono Sampono handed military academy Danjenposition to Sru Astjarjo Andrew Young Marshal. Nono now he is Head of the National SAR, whereas before it was the Governor Astjarjo Air Force Academy.

According to Agus, the procurement of substitute training sailing ship KRI DewaRuci processed in 2011. Problem where purchased sailboat is not yet knownbecause it depends of the tender.

"What is clear, the ship was to be bigger screen, can accommodate 150cadets, 150 crew, and can travel the world very well," said Agus.

KRI Dewa Ruci built HC Sohn Stulchen and Hamburg, Germany, in 1952-1953.This ship weighs 847 tons, 58.5 meters long and 9.5 meters wide.

Extreme Weather Alert to June

 
Environment Minister Gustavo Mohammad Hatta:
Extreme Weather Alert to June


JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Environment Minister Gustavo Mohammad Hatta reminded constantly alert for citizens to remember that predicted the extreme weather will last until next June in Indonesia. Extreme weather could cause flooding and landslides in some areas that are prone to disaster. 
Therefore, local governments, particularly the region including the area of disaster areas in red, is expected to always prepare ourselves. Hazard map with three colors, namely red, green, and yellow, which has been distributed is expected to be followed to handle anticipated disaster. 
It was reminded by Gusti Muhammad Hatta told the press after the meeting about the safety of maritime transport and associated with extreme weather crossing at the Vice Presidential Palace, Jakarta, Wednesday (01/12/2011). 
"Today, the weather and climate can no longer predictable. So, there is no other way except the local government and residents is always on hand to anticipate them. We expected until next June of extreme weather persists," said Gusti Muhammad Hatta. 
According to Gusti Muhammad, his side has provided maps to the entire region vulnerable to disaster. As flash floods Wasior, Wondama Bay, and West Papua is already reflected in disaster-prone map in red. 
"However, that's what happened. Therefore, we expect each local government can be on hand to deal with extreme weather," he added. 
Gusti Muhammad also hope the Bureau of Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) can continue to inform changes in the weather to the community and local government. 

  
World not yet have a solution 
While at the same place, a spokesman for Vice President Yopie Hidayat said the weather extremes that occur in Australia and causing flash floods and the recent extreme weather in Europe and the United States shows that the world does not have a solution to anticipate climate change is happening now. 
Therefore, the vice president when meeting with new Australian Ambassador, Greg Moriarty, expressed concern with the disaster that hit Australia. 
"Flash floods that occurred in Australia is also the impact of extreme weather that has not been able to find a solution by mankind," said Yopie, who joined the meeting accompanied by Ambassador of the Australian Vice President Vice President Palace, Jakarta. 
According Yopie, what is happening in Australia is also a warning to the nations of the world to continuously anticipate and prepare for natural disasters due to extreme weather.
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