Bali Teen Caught Having Sex With Chicken, Cow

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Denpasar. A 16-year-old boy from Karangasem, Bali was brought to local police after residents of the town caught him having sexual intercourse with a dead chicken.

The boy, who has been identified by the initials KS, was discovered committing the act in a vacant lot of the Graha Indah housing complex in the district of Karangasem on Monday afternoon. He was soon handed over to police, who released him after some brief questioning.

“He committed no crime; he only committed an ethics violation. We have decided to let the local residents handle the problem,” Karangasem Police chief Comr. Putu Wijaya Arsa said on Tuesday.

“We suspect that the perpetrator has a mental problem,” he added.

Quoting KS, Wijaya said the boy had throttled the hen before having a sexual intercourse with it. KS claimed he did the deed after receiving an order from a spirit.

Supposedly, the spirit made him see the chicken as a beautiful girl.

“He said a spirit would keep disturbing him if he didn’t immediately do as it commanded,” Wijaya said.

Last month, KS was discovered having sex with a cow at the same housing complex.

“I witnessed him having intercourse with my cattle,” Wayan Sekar, the cow owner, said.

KS’s mother said her son was mentally troubled.

“I brought him to a psychic, who told me to watch over him every day.”

She added that her family was planning to organize a “pemelukatan” ceremony to rid KS of the evil spirit so he wouldn’t engage in similar acts in the future.

Ni Nyoman Suparni, an officer with the Bali office of the Child and Women’s Protection Group (KPPA), said the boy would be brought to Denpasar to consult with a psychiatrist.

KS is reportedly an elementary school graduate who now works construction.

Aceh Shuts Down Buddhist Temples and Churches

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Authorities have closed nine churches and six Buddhist temples in Banda Aceh in the last week, following mounting pressure from local Islamist groups, activists and church officials said on Sunday.

Theophilus Bela, chairman of Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, said that the churches’ priests were forced to sign a statement to close their churches. Officials from the province that applies Shariah law supposedly made the demands in a meeting that was attended by several Islamic organizations, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

“It’s a blatant act of intolerance,” Theophilus said.

The churches include the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI), the Pantekosta Church and the Indonesia Christian Church.

Nico Tarigan, a priest and head of GBI church, acknowledged that the permit needed for the church to remain open had not been issued from the mayor’s office, even though the paperwork for the permit had been submitted a long time ago.

“We admit we have not had the permit,” he said by telephone. “But they can’t just close down our church. We have 80 members that don’t know where to pray.”

Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, Banda Aceh deputy mayor, said that the nine churches and six temples have violated the city’s regulation, and should be closed down.

“The congregation members can join churches that have secured permits,” he said. “As a province that applies Islamist law, Aceh has a special law on this issue.”

He also called on Aceh’s Christians to respect the law.

However, Nico said that other churches were not necessarily open to members from other congregations.

“We hope there is a better solution from the Aceh government,” Nico said. “We have no motive to compete with other religions or ruin Islamic teaching. We have been here for eight years. They can ask local officials if we have done damage to Islamic teaching.”

“The FPI will continue to monitor these illegal churches and temples so that they don’t resume their activities,” said FPI chairman Yusuf Al-Qardhawy. JG

Lava Dome on Top of Mount Merapi Collapses

A lava dome of mount Merapi from Kaliadem, Agustus 23, 2010 (Reynold Sumayku/NGI)

Solo, Central Java. A lava dome that formed on top of Mount Merapi following its 2010 eruption has collapsed, prompting volcanology officials to issue a warning on Friday of a possible deadly cold lava stream on the mountain slope.

Tri Mujianto, from the Merapi mountain observatory in Jrakah, in the Selo subdistrict of Boyolali, said the lava dome had disappeared but he could not say precisely when.

"The dome is now no longer there but we were not able to monitor when it collapsed. Some [of the material] may have fallen inside [the crater] while some may have flowed into the channel of Apu River," he said.

They have not been able to determine the cause of the collapse, as there has been no rain in the crater area for days. They also haven't been able to estimate the volume of cold lava in the collapsed dome.

Tri said the alert status for Merapi remained at the normal level but warned that should rains fall over the crater, cold lava stream may flow down through natural river channels. A cold lava stream is congealed lava and other volcanic mud and debris flushed down the slopes of a volcano by heavy rains.  

"Entering the rainy season, the frequency of cold lava stream is rising. We have checked the conditions at the craters several times and it appears to still be very much unstable. People on the slopes of Merapi, especially those living on the banks of rivers originating from the peak, should remain alert," he said.

Meanwhile, Subandriyo, the head of the Volcanology office in Yogyakarta, said that parts of the lava dome facing Boyolali district had collapsed, and ventured that it was due to its fragile condition.

"The collapse was not directly recorded because there were so many small deflagrations. On the scale, they did not even reach one kilometer down the slope," Subandriyo said.

He warned that rains with intensity of more than 20 millimeters and lasting more than two hours were enough to trigger flash floods of cold lava down the mountain's slope.

Guns n’ Roses Set To Make Jakarta Swoon, They Will Rock Out In Jakarta For The First Time

Guns n’ Roses Jakarta concert: (Twitter.com/gunsnroses)

Almost two decades after its peak, US rock band Guns N’ Roses is making its way to Jakarta for the first time.

Making only one stop in southeast Asia, GNR are set to invade the popular coastal town performing at the Lapangan D (D Field) Senayan, Jakarta on December 15, 2012.

This weekend, GNR will perform at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit concert, and then kick off their “Appetite For Democracy” residency at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, where the band will play 12 shows between October 31 and November 24.

“Appetite For Democracy” will span the band’s biggest hits from their debut album “Appetite For Destruction” (1987) through to “Chinese Democracy” (2008). Exact details about the show are being kept under wraps but fans can expect the raw and gritty heavy metal Guns N’ Roses is known for along with a few surprise elements.

Lapangan D (D Field) Senayan

The band made the surprise announcement through its Twitter account – @gunsnroses – on Wednesday, prompting fans frenzy on social media websites.

“Do you know where we’ll be on 12/15/12? We’ll be in Jakarta BABY!” the band said on its Twitter account on Wednesday.

They also posted a poster of the Jakarta concert, which will be held on Dec. 15 in the D field in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

Indika Production, the promoter, set pre-sale ticket prices ranging from Rp 660,000 (US$68.8) to Rp 2,200,000.

Founded in 1985 in the American city of Los Angeles, Guns n’ Roses initially comprised vocalist Axl Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bass player Duff McKagan and drummer Steve Adler.

In the upcoming Jakarta concert, Axl Rose, the only original band member remaining in the group, will be performing with guitarists DJ Ashba, Richard Fortus, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, bass player Tommy Stinson, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman.

Rolling Stones Debut New Rockumentary In London

From L-R: Members of The Rolling Stones Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger pose on the red carpet as they arrive for the premiere of "Crossfire Hurricane", a documentary about the rock group, in London's Leicester Square.

The Rolling Stones on Thursday hit the red carpet in London for the world premiere of "Crossfire Hurricane", a documentary tracing the band's half-century of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts and former bassist Bill Wyman met dozens of fans outside the Odeon theatre in Leicester Square ahead of the screening.

Wyman said he hoped the film, named after the first line in smash hit "Jumpin' Jack Flash," highlighted the influence of guitarist Brian Jones, who died in 1969.

"I'm glad he's remembered, that's the most important thing," he said.

Looking back on the band's career, Jagger said: "It goes super fast so enjoy it while you can. It seems so that we did enjoy it while we could, it's pretty obvious."

The premiere caps a busy week for the iconic band, who confirmed on Monday they will play four gigs in Britain and the United States to mark their 50th anniversary.

Guitarist Wood revealed the band's live preparations were "up to and above par", joking that they "won't be able to stop" touring if the gigs were a success.

"I can't believe how well the band is sounding," he added.

The band play their hometown London at the 02 Arena on November 25 and 29, followed by two nights at the Newark Prudential Center in New Jersey, just outside New York, on December 13 and 15.

The live shows will be the first by Jagger, Richards, Watts and Wood for five years.
"You would think it would be boring doing the same thing over and over again but it's not," said Wood. "It's totally fresh and totally new every time we get together.

"There's a magic that comes when we get together. Individually we're kind of walking around the farm or, you know, unperturbed... but when we get together, the roof comes off."

He also hinted at a possible tour, saying: "Once this wheel is turning I don't think it will be able to stop."

The film, made by director Brett Morgen, will be shown in cinemas this month before being aired by the BBC2 later in the year. AFP

WWII-era Spitfires to be excavated in Myanmar

About 20,000 Spitfires were built by Britain from 1938-1948

Dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes buried in Myanmar during World War II are to be dug up under an agreement between the government and an aviation enthusiast.

The iconic single-seat aircraft are believed to have been hidden -- unassembled in crates -- by the former colonial power to prevent them falling into Japanese hands almost seven decades ago.

"We expect to dig up about 60 fighters," said local businessman Htoo Htoo Zaw who is involved in the project which is expected to take about two years to complete.

Based on a survey of hundreds of witnesses, the team plans to dig in three locations in Yangon, northern Kachin state and central Mandalay.

If successfully excavated, some of the Spitfires are expected to be returned to Britain, which ruled Myanmar until independence in 1948 but was temporarily forced out of much of the country in 1942 by invading Japanese forces.

"We want to strengthen relations between Britain and our country and benefit millions of people in the world who want to see Spitfires," Htoo Htoo Zaw said.

The dig is the result of a more than decade-long search of former airforce bases in Myanmar by British farmer and aviation aficionado David Cundall using radar technology.

"I'm only a small farmer, I'm not a multi-millionaire and it has been a struggle. It took me more than 15 years but I finally found them," Cundall told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph earlier this year.

"Spitfires are beautiful aeroplanes and should not be rotting away in a foreign land. They saved our neck in the Battle of Britain and they should be preserved," he added.

"They were just buried there in transport crates," Cundall said. "They were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and their joints tarred. They will be in near perfect condition."

About 20,000 Spitfires were built by Britain from 1938-1948. The planes captured the public imagination during the Battle of Britain when the Royal Air Force prevented the German Luftwaffe from invading in 1940.

Today just a few dozen are still in flying condition.

An agreement on retrieving the historic planes was signed by a transport ministry senior official, David Cundall and Htoo Htoo Zaw in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday.

The British government welcomed the agreement, which follows the personal intervention of Prime Minister David Cameron, who discussed the Spitfires with President Thein Sein during his visit to Myanmar earlier this year.

The signing "marks an important step towards uncovering, restoring and displaying these fighter planes, and perhaps even seeing some of the aircraft gracing the skies of Britain in the future," an embassy spokesperson said.

Indonesia's Pancasila Classes to be Reintroduced in Bid to Quell School Violence

Pancasila state ideology classes will be one of six courses offered to elementary school students. (JG Photo/Ali Lufti)

As of the next academic year, the government will reinstate Pancasila courses in Indonesia’s elementary and high schools in a desperate attempt to halt violent behavior and the loss of cultural identity in society.

The decision was made by the Ministry of Education and Culture following a series of fatal brawls in high schools and university campuses, not to mention horizontal conflicts in various parts of the country.

Politicians and community leaders alike have expressed worry that an absence of Pancasila courses has also triggered a rise in ethnic and religious intolerance which could result in national disintegration if abandoned any further.

Pancasila, Indonesia’s state ideology, was ingrained into school curriculums a during former president Suharto’s three decades of dictatorial rule. Critics accused him of using the Pancasila Propagation Course, then known as P4, as a political indoctrination instrument to cement his power. As a result, his ouster in 1998 spelled an end to Pancasila’s inclusion in school curricula.

In July 2003, President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed Law No.20/2003 that resulted in Pancaila courses being scrapped from schools. Megawati’s father, former president Sukarno, was the one who introduced Pancasila as the nation’s guiding ideology on June 1, 1945, prior to independence.

Historian Asvi Warman Adam placed blame on the former government for Pancasila’s absence in schools. He has urged then-education minister Bambang Sudiby to apologize to the public for having made “such a frivolous blunder.”

Retno Listyarti, secretary general of the Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI), said that it is not enough just to reinstate Pancasila in schools — the government must instill the right culture based on the values of the state ideology, especial religious tolerance toward minority groups, because Indonesia is a pluralist society.

She said that discriminative treatment toward students from minority groups was flourishing in public schools. “Civic education must lead to greater tolerance toward our pluralistic reality. The Indonesian state is not based on religious ideologies but on Pancasila,” she explained.

“For example, there are schools that oblige all students to read the Koran or [force] female students to wear Muslim dresses every Friday,” Retno told the daily Suara Pembaruan on Monday.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Muslia Kasin, had said that the government planned to change the name of PPKn civic education course to Pancasila Education.

PPKn as a subject matter was introduced during the 2004 academic year, but the terminology of Pancasila was omitted.

Meanwhile, rector of state-owned Yogyakarta University, Rochmat Wahab, said what is important is not verbalistic changes but the true implementation of the state ideology within society. The government must make sure that Pancasila courses will not only serve the interests of those in power, the academic said.

On Tuesday, Vice President Boediono threw his weight behind the move to reinstate Pancasila in schools, stating that Indonesian students were in dire need of soft skills, including character building based on the values of the state ideology.

“There aren’t soft skill lessons in our schools, and I have the impression that we have not given sufficient attention to promoting [these] skills in the younger generation,” Boediono said.

Such abilities are needed to groom Indonesia’s future leaders in all fields, the vice president explained. “This will determine the pace of our civilization.”

Boediono noted that an absence of the serious development of character in schools in is to blame for frequent student brawls, violent acts, corruption, markup and bribery. “And we wonder why have all these things happened?”

Education must provide an answer to such social maladies, Boediono noted. “My appeal is that all schools at all levels must teach soft skills as [well] as hard skills.”

But religious educators Maman Imanulhaq and Benny Susetyo warned that Pancasila education is not just for students, but for the political elite, as well.

They argued that the government does not take proper action when citizens suffer from discriminatory treatment and religious intolerance.

Maman, an educator at Al Mizani Islamic boarding school in Majalengka, West Java, said that such government inaction is proof that the political elite have failed to implement Pancasila in the real world.

Benny, the executive secretary of inter-religious relations at the Indonesian Catholic Bishops Conference, said that political elites have even “parked Pancasila” and replaced it with pragmatism and trans-nationalism. “Corruption is on the rise, as is oppression, greed and violent behavior that endangers tolerance,” Benny warned.

Nahdlatul Ulama’s Ansor Youth organization’s chairman Nusron Wahid expounded the statement by saying that a number of groups are “forcing their own interpretations of religious teachings from narrow-minded perspectives.”

Earlier reports said the education ministry was planning to remove science and English studies from elementary schools, because the ministry believes that young students shouldn’t be studying too much.

Deputy Education Minister Musliar Kasim said that his ministry is drafting a new curriculum that contains only six subjects: religion, nationalism, Indonesian language, math, art and sport.

Besides scrapping science and social studies from the curriculum, as announced on Sept. 27, the government also intends to eliminate English language lessons.

Science and social studies will be integrated into Indonesian language classes. “So, when learning the Indonesian language, students could study about thunder or rain while learning to read,” the deputy minister said.

However, many education experts have said that the policy would hurt Indonesia.

In other countries, science is taught in elementary school in order to cultivate a critical and scientific culture early.

Educational observer Darmaningtyas said it was wrong to abolish or postpone sciences at elementary school.

“I agree with reinstatement of Pancasila. ... However, it should not be done at the expense of science and English. How can we compete at the international level if we don’t master English and science?” Darmaningtyas said. JG

Hawk 200 Fighter Jet Crash Due to Engine Failure: Defense Ministry

Rescuers examine the wreckage of an Indonesian Air Force Hawk 200 fighter jet that crashed during a routine exercise near houses in a village in Kampar, Riau province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. The pilot ejected safely and no casualties have been reported. (AP Photo/Azwar)

A Defense Ministry spokesman said it was engine failure that caused an Indonesian fighter jet to crash in Kampar district, Riau, on Tuesday morning.

“Temporary assumption is engine failure as he [the pilot] reported there was a malfunction and asked permission to eject,” Hartind Asrin said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara news agency. He added that the Air Force would investigate further to confirm the preliminary finding.

A British-made Hawk 200 fighter jet crashed into a residential area of Kampar district at about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The pilot managed to eject moments before it went down.

A witness who declined to be identified said a contingent of jet fighters were practicing when smoke was seen coming from one of them, with the plane nose-diving shortly thereafter. The ejected pilot, 2nd Lieut. Reza Yori Prasetyo, landed in a pond near the crash site.

Air Force chief of staff Marshall Imam Sufaat confirmed Hartind’s remarks.

“There must be something, it is impossible that a pilot would suddenly eject without something wrong,” Imam said. “Probably it was a bird or something else. But I’m sure that it is not human error. Probably the machine. Based on experience, if [the pilot pressed] eject, he must have left the plane knowing something, an emergency.”

But Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, cautioned against any kind of speculation.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, it is better to wait for the investigation results,” he said.

In the wake of the accident, the Air Force has grounded all Hawk 200 fighter jets until the investigation is complete.

Imam said the decision applied to all 32 Hawk 200 fighter jets in Pekanbaru and Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

“They’re grounded until we can find the cause,” Imam said. “If we use them, there might be something else [other accidents].”

According to Imam, the Indonesian government bought the airplanes in 1994. Tuesday’s crash was the first such incident involving the aircraft in Indonesia.JG

Indonesian Soldiers Allegedly Attack Journalists Covering Riau Jet Crash

A journalist is strangled by a soldier in front of elementary student while trying to cover the crash of an Indonesian Air Force fighter jet on Tuesday. (tribunews.com)

Soldiers allegedly attacked five journalists attempting to take cover the crash of an Indonesian Air Force jet in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Tuesday, choking one photojournalist and confiscating cameras from two, according to Antara News Agency reports.

A BAE Systems/British Aerospace Hawk 200 fighter jet crashed during a routine flight over Penkanbaru at 9:30 Tuesday morning.

The pilot was able to safely eject before the crash.

But when journalists arrived at the scene, soldiers with the Indonesian Air Force reportedly became hostile, Antara reported.

Soldiers allegedly beat and choked photojournalist Didik Herwanto, of the Riau Pos, the news wire reported.

“I was covering [the crash] and the distance was quite far,” Didik told Antara. “I was about to take picture of the aircraft wreckage.”

But he was then allegedly attacked by the soldiers guarding the site.

“Fortunately, there was a soldier that knew me and who intervened,” he said.

Riau Pos uploaded a video of the attack to YouTube.

Didik was taken to the hospital after the attack. He plans to report the incident to military police.

Antara’s Febrianto B. Anggoro said he was struck on his shoulders and stomach by soldiers.

“Those who mobbed [me were] more than ten people in uniform, some of them [in] a sports uniform, [others in an] orange uniform like a pilot and the uniform of the military special corps [Paskhas],” Febrianto said.

Didik said that he saw local residents suffer similar abuse.

Four other journalists were reportedly abused by soldiers at the scene, including Fakhri Rubianto, of Riau Televisi; Ari, of TV One; RTV's Irwansyah and Andika, of Vokal.

Two of the journalists had their equipment confiscated.

Roesmin Noerjadin Airbase spokesman Capt. Wasisto said he told the reporters to file a complaint with military police.

“I’ve asked them to report the beating to military police commander Maj. Ari,” he said, adding that he asked the soldiers to return the journalists’ missing equipment. JG

Indonesian Fighter Jet Crashes in Pekanbaru

Indonesian fighter jet crashed in a residential area of Pekanbaru

An Indonesian fighter jet crashed in a residential area of Pekanbaru, Riau during a routine practice flight Tuesday morning, according to officials and media reports.

The plane’s pilot — identified by Kompas.com as Second Lieut. Reza Yori Prasetyo — safely ejected before the crash.

“The fighter aircraft crashed in a residential area,” Gagah Prakoso, spokesman of the National Search and Rescue Agency (SAR) told the Jakarta Globe. “But since it is a military aircraft, I’m not authorized to talk about the details of [pilot].”

The Hawk 200 plane was produced by British Aerospace — now called BAE Systems. It was flying over the provincial capital at 9:30 a.m. when it went down near Pandau Permai.

The Indonesian Military was investigating the cause of the accident.

“We’re still searching the data,” spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said. JG

Planet With Four Suns Discovered

The new planet - a gas giant - is about six times the size of Earth

An international team of amateur and professional astronomers announced the discovery of a planet with four suns -- the first reported case of such a phenomenon.

The planet, located about 5,000 light years from Earth, has been dubbed PH1 in honor of Planet Hunters, a program led by Yale University in the United States which enlists volunteers to look for signs of new planets.

PH1 is orbiting two suns, and in turn is orbited by a second distant pair of stars. Only six planets are known to orbit two stars, researchers say, and none of those are orbited by other distant stars.

"Circumbinary planets are the extremes of planet formation," said Yale's Meg Schwamb, lead author of a paper presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Nevada.

"The discovery of these systems is forcing us to go back to the drawing board to understand how such planets can assemble and evolve in these dynamically challenging environments."

US citizen scientists and Planet Hunters participants Kian Jek and Robert Gagliano were the first to identify PH1. Their observations were then confirmed by a team of US and British researchers working in Hawaii.

PH1 is a gas giant with a radius about 6.2 times that of Earth, making it a bit bigger than Neptune. It orbits a pair of eclipsing stars that are 1.5 and 0.41 times the mass of the Sun roughly every 138 days.

The two other stars are orbiting the planetary system at a distance that is roughly 1,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

The Planethunters.org website was created in 2010 to encourage amateur astronomers to identify planets outside our solar system, using data from the US space agency NASA's Kepler space telescope.

Kepler, launched in March 2009, is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting stars similar to our Sun.

The discovery of PH1 was made available online Monday at the site arxiv.org and has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal for publication.

"It still continues to astonish me how we can detect, let alone glean so much information, about another planet thousands of light-years away just by studying the light from its parent star," Jek said. AFP

24-Mile Skydive a Boon for YouTube, Social Media

skydiver 10 15 12

Felix Baumgartner’s 24-mile (38.6-kilometer) skydive from the stratosphere was a boon for social networks as millions of users shared in the wonder of the moment from their computers, tablets and phones.

Here’s a look at how the world, through the Internet, watched the jump.

YouTube:

As Baumgartner ascended in the balloon, so did the number of viewers watching YouTube’s live stream of the event. Its popularity grew as the moment of the jump drew closer, as people kept sharing links with each other on Twitter and Facebook and websites embedded the stream.

Nearly 7.3 million viewers were watching as Baumgartner sat on the edge of the capsule, moments before the jump.

In the United States, the opportunity to watch the jump on TV was limited to the Discovery Channel, though more than 40 television networks in 50 total countries carried the live feed, organizers said. It was streamed by more than 130 digital outlets.

Facebook:

After Baumgartner landed, sponsor Red Bull posted a picture of the daredevil on his knees to Facebook. In less than 40 minutes, the picture was shared more than 29,000 times and generated nearly 216,000 likes and more than 10,000 comments. Immediately after the jump, Red Bull solicited questions for Baumgartner through Facebook and Twitter, promising to answer three at a post-jump news conference.

Twitter:

During the jump and the moments after Baumgartner safely landed, half the worldwide trending topics on Twitter had something to do with the jump — pushing past tweets about Justin Bieber and seven National Football League games being played at the same time. Celebrities of all kinds weighed in, including athletes, actors and high-profile corporate executives.

“It’s pretty amazing that I can watch, live on my computer, a man riding a balloon to the edge of space so he can jump out of it. #TheFuture,” tweeted Wil Wheaton, who acted in the iconic science-fiction series “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

“Felix Baumgartner is a boss,” tweeted Jozy Altidore, a soccer player for the US men’s national team.

Reddit:

Two threads related to the jump made the front page of Reddit. Users quickly upvoted a request for Baumgartner to participate in an “Ask Me Anything” on the site, where users pepper someone on the site with questions about anything they want. President Barack Obama held court as the subject of a similar thread in August.

Nearly 29,000 users weighed in on a separate thread about the jump itself, voting it up and down and robustly commenting.

Agence France-Presse

Borobodur Temple to Get Solar-Powered Lighting

Borobudur

Greenpeace has started installing a solar-powered lighting system that will illuminate the ancient temple of Borobodur on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.

The lighting system is scheduled to start working on Oct. 28, the group said in a press release on Sunday.

The organization said that the project was part of a nationwide campaign, called the “Climate Rescue Station,” to promote awareness about renewable energy to people in Indonesia.

The project also aims to urge the government to implement a massive uptake of renewable energy sources and to decrease dependence on dirty fossil fuels like coal.

“Greenpeace intends to light up Borobodur to enlighten Indonesians about our vision of a clean and safer energy future. We want to remind Indonesians, particularly the government, that we can work together for a better future with renewable energy,” said Arif Fiyanto, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

He said the government must make the switch to renewable energy to protect communities from the health and environmental hazards of coal pollution.

“We are calling on all Indonesians to be part of the solution and join the movement for renewable energy by visiting the Climate Rescue Station at Borobodur, or by signing up at our website,” Arif added.

Borobudur, the world’s biggest Buddhist monument, was built in the ninth century and has been Indonesia’s leading tourist attraction.

“Today, it is a symbol for enlightenment not only for Indonesians but for people around the world,” the group said. “Greenpeace is providing solar-powered lighting around the temple complex to show that renewable energy is not only possible but a viable alternative to meet Indonesia’s energy needs.”

Marsis Sutopo, head of Borobudur Heritage Conservation, voiced his appreciation to Greenpeace’s initiative.

“Our hope is that people grow increasingly aware that solar power is needed as an energy source, thus reducing our dependence on energy from fossil fuels,” he said.

Many experts have agreed that Indonesia’s position on the equator allows it to use the sun’s abundant supply of heat as an energy source throughout the year. But it’s something the country has not taken advantage of.

According to Greenpeace, the country’s abundant geothermal potential accounts for roughly 40 percent of the world’s total resource.

Latest government data shows that renewable energy contributes to less than 5 percent to the country’s power-generating capacity, according to the group.

Greenpeace said it is calling on the government of Indonesia to fast-track the development of renewable energy in the country by setting ambitious and binding targets for renewable energy, guaranteeing priority access to the grid for renewable power generators, providing defined and stable returns for renewable energy investors, and phasing out all subsidies for fossil fuels.

The group would also like fossil fuel companies to shoulder the social and environmental burden caused by their facilities.

“Renewable energy is a key building block for a fair and equitable green economy,” Arif said. “We call on Indonesians to sign up and join our renewable-energy campaign and be part of the movement that will steer our country to a better future.” JG

Julius Caesar Killing Spot Open To Tourists In 2013

The site in Rome where Julius Caesar was assassinated, according to scientists. AFP

The area among Rome's ancient ruins where general Julius Caesar was assassinated will be open to tourists starting in 2013 following long-running excavation work, local officials told AFP on Thursday.

"Next year we will complete the excavation work and give the area back to visitors," said Umberto Broccoli, the head of cultural heritage for Rome.

"It's good to do excavations but we can't keep digging holes," he said.

Contrary to legend, Caesar was not killed in the Roman Senate but in the lobby of a theatre built by Pompey the Great more than 2,000 years ago.

The site is now Torre Argentina square in the centre of the Italian capital. The area is rarely open to tourists and is better known as a stray cat colony.

Research carried out recently by Spanish archaeologists in the area has mapped out its layout and could help draw visitors to a site where there is only an old sign saying it was the place where Julius Caesar was killed.

An archaeologist working in the area told AFP that a mysterious garland of flowers is left on the site and on Caesar's tomb in the nearby Roman Forum every year on the anniversary of the assassination on March 15, 44 BC

Astronomers Find Diamond Planet

An artist's rendition shows interior of 55 Cancri e. (AFP/YALE UNIVERSITY/Haven Giguere)

Twinkling stars are not the only diamonds in the sky. Scientists Thursday reported the existence of a "diamond planet" twice the size of Earth, and eight times its mass, zooming around a nearby star.

In fact, this is not the first diamond planet ever discovered, but it is the first found orbiting a sun-like star and whose chemical makeup has been specified.

The discovery means that distant rocky planets can no longer be assumed to have chemical constituents, interiors, atmospheres, or biologies similar to those of Earth, said lead researcher Nikku Madhusudhan, a Yale postdoctoral researcher in physics and astronomy.

The planet was first observed last year -- but researchers initially assumed it was similar in its chemical make-up to Earth.

It was only after a more detailed analysis that the French-American research team determined the planet is vastly different from our own.

It "appears to be composed primarily of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates," the authors wrote in a statement ahead of their findings' publication in the US journal "Astrophysical Journal Letters."

"The surface of this planet is likely covered in graphite and diamond rather than water and granite," he explained.

In fact, the planet, dubbed Cancri 55 e, appears to have no water at all. And as much as a third of the planet's substantial mass could be made of diamond, a super-dense compound of carbon.

In comparison, the Earth's interior is rich in oxygen and very poor in carbon, explained Kanani Lee, also of Yale and another of the study's co-authors.

The researchers estimated the planet's radius with data collected while it was transiting in front of its star.

That information, combined with an estimate of its mass, was used to model the planet's chemical composition, based on a calculation of just what elements and compounds could result in that specific size and mass.

The planet's orbit around its star is lightning fast -- a year lasts just 18 hours, compared to the 365 days of an Earth year. And because it is so close to its star, the surface temperatures average 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,148 degrees Celsius), rendering it completely inhospitable to life.

But the planet -- 40 light years away from Earth in the Cancer constellation -- opens new avenues for studying geochemical and geophysical processes of Earth-sized planets outside our solar system. Afp

Indonesians Say Democracy Can Hurt Minorities, Spark Conflict: Survey

Illustration Picture (ucanews)

Indonesians support the democratic system but believe that it can harm minority groups and economic development, as well as spark conflict, a survey reveals.

The survey, which was conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) between June and July, revealed that 53.3 percent of 1,700 respondents believed that democracy tended to put pressure on minorities.

The survey also disclosed that 50.4 percent of respondents said that democracy could hinder the country’s economic development, while 49.9 percent of them believed that democracy could trigger conflicts.

LIPI researcher Wawan Ichwanuddin said Thursday that 35.2 percent of respondents considered that democracy was not in line with the nation’s traditional and community values. “The survey shows that 70 percent of respondents believe that democracy is the preferred political system. However, several people view democracy very negatively,” he told reporters during a press conference in Jakarta.

According to Wawan, the survey also revealed respondents’ disapproval of existing political parties.
Only 23.4 percent of them trusted political parties, he said. The figure was lower than the respondents' trust in the President (55.5 percent), the courts (32 percent) and the House of Representatives (29.7 percent).

Respondents believed that Indonesia should have fewer political parties. A staggering 58.3 percent of them said they would prefer five political parties, while the remaining 28.1 percent wanted three parties. Only 3.5 percent of respondents said Indonesia should have more than 10 political parties.

The survey's participants also said the government’s performance was poor in economic welfare (22 percent) and corruption eradication (46 percent). JP

Indonesian Leader Says Bali Bombings Strengthened Nation

More than 200 people died in the blasts on Bali's party strip in 2002

Indonesia's president said Thursday the "monstrous act of terror" in Bali 10 years ago failed to achieve its goal of fracturing the nation, ahead of an anniversary held under the shadow of a security threat.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's comments came as some 2,000 police and military personnel including snipers deployed across the island to ensure commemorations Friday pass peacefully after "credible information" of a threat to the ceremony.

Bali's deputy police chief I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told AFP authorities were "ready to tackle any kind of terror threat during the commemoration event" which Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will attend.

The bombings in the predominantly Muslim nation on October 12, 2002, by the Al-Qaeda-linked group
Jemaah Islamiyah, opened an Asia front in the war on terrorism one year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

More than 200 people died in the blasts on Bali's party strip, mostly Western tourists but also including 38 Indonesians.

Yudhoyono, who was security affairs minister at the time, said the atrocity only succeeded in drawing the country closer together.

"Whatever the motivation and calculation of the terrorists, the Bali bomb attack did not produce its desired effects," he said in an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In fact, it resulted in just the opposite. Throughout Indonesia, Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists overwhelmingly condemned the attack and repudiated those who misused religion to carry out acts of violence.

"The entire nation galvanised to defend freedom, democracy and tolerance.

"And internationally, Indonesia became a key player in the fight against global terrorism. Indonesia also became an active proponent of interfaith co-operation," he added.

Some 88 Australians were among the Bali dead and Gillard reiterated her intention Thursday to attend the memorial despite the possible terror threat which prompted Indonesia to declare its top security alert.

"I am intending to go to Bali. I want to be in Bali," she said.

Gillard is due to give an address to remember the Australians who were among the victims of the strike against the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar on the tourist island's nightlife strip of Kuta.

"We would give everything to erase the events of that night, from the page of history," she said.

"But we cannot. We will carry the images of Bali on October 12, 2002, for the rest of our days. Its horror and its meaning are imprinted on all of our hearts forever. Tomorrow and always we will remember.'

Yudhoyono said the moment when the bombs went off would also be etched in the memories of Indonesians, and that they set off a series of chain reactions.

"The public debate over whether terrorism was a real or imagined threat to Indonesia was laid to rest," he said.

"We recognised that freedom, democracy and tolerance cannot be taken for granted. Our national security thinking evolved rapidly, and terrorism became public enemy number one."

Bali's fortunes, which are heavily reliant on tourism, have now recovered and Indonesia has won praise for its crackdown on militants that has left all the leading Bali perpetrators either executed, killed by police or jailed.

Yudhoyono said he had been determined "that those involved in the attack would pay for their monstrous act of terror".

"A decade after the Bali bomb, we can say with some relief that justice has been done," he said.

"Some of those in jail have expressed remorse and regret, and renounced the extremist ideology behind it.

"Others have collaborated to provide intelligence that led to the arrest of a succession of terrorist cells." AFP

President Extols Yogya’s Success at Sultan's Inauguration

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, right, oversees the inauguration of Yogyakarta's sultan as governor on Wednesday. (Presidential Secretary Photo)

The president officially recognized the special status of Yogyakarta’s government system on Wednesday, during a ceremony to swear in the sultan as the governor.

“Law No. 13 of 2012 is a form of recognition and at the same time of respect by the state for regional authorities that have specific and special characteristics,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. “The state recognizes the special nature of Yogyakarta as a regional government that is different from those in other provinces.”

Yudhoyono was speaking at the official ceremony in Yogyakarta to swear in Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as governor and Prince Paku Alam IX as his deputy for the 2012-2017 period. It was the first time the governor and deputy governor had been sworn in by a president.

The law signed by Yudhoyono on Aug. 31 and passed into law on Sept. 3 effectively ended years of disagreement between the central government and the special territory over how its governor and deputy governor were selected for office. The central government had argued for years that the territory needed to hold democratic elections, but a majority of residents disagreed, preferring to hold to tradition that Yogyakarta’s sultan and prince of Pakualam are automatically given the posts.

The tradition arose after the special territory, which functions as a province, was singled out founding President Sukarno in recognition of the city’s important role during the struggle of independence for the young republic in the 1940s.

In his speech Yudhoyono said that the special status accorded to Yogyakarta could not be separated from the territory’s role during the nation’s struggle against independence from the Dutch in the second half of the 1940s.

“History records that the special status accorded to Yogykarta is part of the process of the establishment of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said, referring to an official announcement issued on Sept. 5, 1945, by the then Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX and Prince Pakualam VIII, that the sultanate of Yogyakarta was an integral part of the young republic.

He said that Law No. 13 gave special authority for Yogyakarta to choose its own methods of filling the posts of governor and deputy governor and in its local government, cultural development, land and zoning affairs and special funding.

Yudhoyono also recognized that Yogyakarta has led much of the country when it comes to development.

“This province is superior and advanced in the fields of education, culture and tourism. The special territory of Yogyakarta also recorded achievements in the creative industry, in the high life expectancy and an education sector that is a main component of the human development index,” Yudhoyono said.

The president called on the two leaders to work hard to boost economic growth, create jobs, reduce poverty, safeguard the prices of essential goods and improve the quality of education and health services.

Analysts have praised the 66-year-old sultan as an able governor, with the population of more than 3.5 million people seeing rising economic prosperity since he took office in 1998. JG

Freed Pussy Riot Member Vows More Protests

Freed Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich (center) leaves the courtroom in Moscow on October 10.

A member of the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot freed unexpectedly from prison vowed defiantly hours later that the group's protest actions would continue.

"We are not finished, nor are we going to end our political protest," Yekaterina Samutsevich told CNN. "We have to act in such a way that they do not learn about concerts ahead of time and arrest us."

Samutsevich, 30, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, were convicted in August of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for performing illegally at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February.

Calls to free the Pussy Riot women, who were given two-year prison sentences, came in from world figures from Madonna to Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but Samutsevich's release was a big surprise.

Samutsevich said efforts by the Russian authorities to divide the group would not work and that her "negative" attitude toward President Vladimir Putin and his "mega authoritarian project" remained unchanged.

"The situation in the country has deteriorated since our performance and the trial itself is a testimony to that," she said in an interview on CNN's "Amanpour," billed by host Christiane Amanpour as the first since Samutsevich's release.

Samutsevich said she had been treated well in prison and that Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were "holding up very well" despite being "very, very upset" at being separated from their young children.

"They congratulated me, they were very happy for me and they wished me all the best," she said.

Samutsevich said she didn't know how things would play out, but stressed that it was important the Russian people understood there was no religious hatred or animosity driving their protests.

"This was a political action aimed at the authorities, at the convergence of religious and political powers and I want people to understand that," she said. AFP

SpaceX Capsule Links Up With Space Station: NASA

Technicians attach the Dragon capsule to a Falcon 9 rocket on October 5

A capsule on a first privately-run resupply mission successfully linked up Wednesday with the International Space Station, the US space agency NASA said.

A robot arm operated by two of the six astronauts aboard the space station snatched the Dragon capsule at 1056 GMT, more than thirty minutes ahead of schedule, it said.

The docking will be completed after the ISS crew first inspects the capsule's condition with the help of cameras, a task that was expected to take another two hours, a NASA television announcer said.

SpaceX, the private company owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched the Dragon Sunday evening atop a Falcon 9 rocket from an air base in Cape Canaveral, Florida near the Kennedy Space Center.

The mission was the first of a dozen ISS supply runs that NASA has contracted out to SpaceX under a four-year, $1.6 billion contract, fulfilling a role once carried out by NASA's now retired shuttle fleet.

The capsule is loaded with 882 pounds (400 kilograms) of equipment and material for scientific experiments that will be conducted by an ISS crew commanded by American astronaut Sunit Williams.

The cargo also includes food, clothing and other necessities for the international crew, which besides Williams includes three Russians, a Japanese and another American astronaut.

Dragon is currently the only spacecraft capable of ferrying cargo from the space station back to Earth, and on its return voyage scheduled for October 28 will carry back 1,240 pounds (562 kilograms) of equipment and material.

It is supposed to land by parachute off the coast of southern California.

SpaceX Craft On Way To ISS In First Supply Run

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket attached to the cargo-only capsule called Dragon, lifts off from the launch pad, on October 7, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket is bringing cargo to the International Space Station that consists of clothing and equipment.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off, launching the cargo-laden Dragon capsule into Earth’s orbit on its way to the International Space Station for NASA’s first privately-run supply mission.

The engine fires traced a bright trail across the night sky over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the site of many launches into space after the on-time lift off at at 8:35 pm (0035 GMT) on Sunday.

Dragon, carrying around 1,000 pounds (455 kilograms) of supplies, is set to reach the ISS on Wednesday, where it will spend about two weeks. This is the first of 12 planned missions in the US firm’s $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

“Everything worked well, the weather stayed good — that was the one concern,” said aerospace consultant Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review.

“I think this is the first time the Falcon 9 has launched on the very first attempt,” he added, recalling that one launch attempt for a previous mission in May had to abort just as it was meant to take off.

“Clearly they’re getting a more mature system there that is working very well,” Foust told AFP from Cape Canaveral, where he observed the launch.

SpaceX’s May mission, a nearly flawless test flight to the orbiting outpost, was a nine-day trip to deliver cargo to the $100 billion orbiting station — the first time a commercial outfit had sent its own capsule there and back.

Although the equipment and software are largely the same this time around, SpaceX said the launch is hardly routine.

“Every time we fly, we learn something,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said in a Saturday news conference.

SpaceX, owned by billionaire Paypal co-founder Elon Musk, is one of several private companies working with the US space agency to send flights to and from the ISS. NASA has been relying on Russian spacecraft for the last year, after retiring its fleet of shuttles.

The mission is the next step in American efforts to commercialize the space industry, in hopes of reducing costs and spreading them among a wider group than governments alone.

SpaceX says it has 50 launches planned — both NASA missions and commercial flights — representing about $4 billion in contracts.

Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth — splashing down off the coast of southern California — on October 28, carrying about 734 pounds of scientific tests and results.

So far, SpaceX has only sent unmanned flights into orbit, but the company aims to send a manned flight within the next three or four years. It is under a separate contract with NASA to refine the capsule so that it can carry a crew. AFP

Swimming The Hard Way In Japan: In Samurai Armour

Walking or running in a full suit of samurai armour is not the easiest thing in the world. Swimming in it is even harder, but that's exactly what some in Japan are doing. For fun. 

Walking or running in a full suit of samurai armour is not the easiest thing in the world. Swimming in it is even harder, but that's exactly what some in Japan are doing. For fun.

"It's heavy, and it's hot in here... Fan me hard," Mutsuo Koga, a 27-year-old doctor, told fellow disciples of traditional Japanese swimming at a recent meet.

"I'm worried about whether I'll be able to get myself back out of the water. It's been three years since I last swam," said Koga as he readied to take the plunge in a public swimming pool.

Traditional swimming was developed during Japan's feudal 15th and 16th Centuries, when feared samurai swordsmen roamed the country enforcing their masters' will.

Part survival technique -- there were times when a warrior just had to swim for it, boots and all -- and part aesthetic performance, traditional swimming now has its place in the pantheon of Japanese martial arts.
photo1

And like all martial arts, its adherents say it has real-life applications.

"The primary purpose of this kind of swimming is to acquire practical skills for swimming in a real environment," said Tadao Koga, Mutsuo's father and the grand master of the Kobori school, one of twelve recognised by the Japan Swimming Federation.

"If you can swim fast using Western strokes, that doesn't mean you can survive in a natural environment," said Koga, 67.

Traditional swimmers have to master a kind of treading water, which will allow them to withstand powerful waves near a seashore.

They also have to learn the "hayanuki" stroke, vital for swimming against a current or up a river, thrusting your body high into the air as your arms crash into the foam.

Whatever happens, you have to keep your head above the water and your wits about you -- that obstacle looming in front of you could be a rock, or it could be an axe-wielding enemy.

Oh, and you have to do it while wearing 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of armour.

The appeal of the sport is that "swimmers compete on form and beauty, rather than the speed of swimming," said Yoko Suzuki, 25, a champion of women's traditional swimming.

Masahiko Yaginuma, chairman of the Japanese Traditional Swimming Committee of the JSF, said the form was widely taught in schools in the early 20th century but fell out of favour and is now only found in a few institutions.

"Nowadays women in their 60s or older are the main group of new learners," because they see traditional swimming as an extension of the other noble arts a cultured Japanese woman learns -- like flower arranging and tea ceremony, he said.

Briton Antony Cundy, a Tokyo-based advertising executive who has spent years being tutored in the Kobori school of swimming, said there were real benefits to taking up the sport.
photo3

"It's a fun way of getting fit and enjoying Japanese culture and history," said Cundy.

"It's astonishing you don't see many foreigners enjoying it."

Around a minute after he slid heavily into the water, Mutsuo Koga slowly and unsteadily hauled himself out to roaring applause from the assembled crowd.

He had managed about 20 metres (66 feet) using a stroke designed to make him glide across the surface of the water, his helmeted head making no abrupt moves.

"Your chest was supposed to be above the water," Tadao chastised, as his son stood panting on the poolside.

"I was not very good," gasped Mutsuo. "My body didn't float at all."

Japan team offers fertility hope with stem cell eggs

Handout. A team at Kyoto University harvested stem cells from mice and altered a number of genes to create cells very similar to the primordial germ cells that generate sperm in men and oocytes -- or eggs -- in women.

Hopes of a cure for infertility in humans were raised Friday after Japanese stem cell researchers announced they had created viable eggs using normal cells from adult mice.

The breakthrough raises the possibility that women who are unable to produce eggs naturally could have them created in a test tube from their own cells and then planted back into their body.

A team at Kyoto University harvested stem cells from mice and altered a number of genes to create cells very similar to the primordial germ cells that generate sperm in men and oocytes -- or eggs -- in women.

They then nurtured these with cells that would become ovaries and transplanted the mixture into living mice, where the cells matured into fully-grown oocytes.

They extracted the matured oocytes, fertilised them in vitro -- in a test tube -- and implanted them into surrogate mother mice.

The resulting mice pups were born healthy and were even able to reproduce once they matured.

Writing in the US journal Science, which published the findings, research leader professor Michinori Saito said the work provided a promising basis for hope in reproductive medicine.

"Our system serves as a robust foundation to investigate and further reconstitute female germline development in vitro, not only in mice, but also in other mammals, including humans," he said.

Saito cautioned that this was not a ready-made cure for people with fertility problems, adding that a lot of work remained.

"This achievement is expected to help us understand further the egg-producing mechanism and contribute to clarifying the causes of infertility," he told reporters.

"We intend to continue this research with monkeys and humans," he said.

Stem cells -- infant cells that develop into the specialised tissues of the body -- have sparked great excitement because they offer the chance of rebuilding organs damaged by disease or accident.

Until fairly recently, the only way to obtain stem cells was to harvest them from embryos, a process that is controversial because it necessitates the destruction of the embryo.

Religious conservatives, amongst others, have objected to research on human embryonic stem cells because they hold that the destruction of a foetus is wrong.

But pioneering work done in 2006 by Shinya Yamanaka, also at Kyoto University, succeeded in generating "induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells", from skin tissue.

Like embryonic stemcells, iPS cells are also capable of developing into any cell in the body, but crucially their base material is readily available.

The findings on egg development published this week come just a year after scientists in Kyoto successfully coaxed sperm cells from mouse stem cells.

In that work, researchers took mice that were unable to produce normal sperm and injected them with the stem cell-derived primordial germ cells, or PGCs.

These PGCs "produced normal-looking sperm, which were then used to successfully fertilize eggs", the study said last year. AFP

Turkey And Syria: Why Neither Side Wants War

Smoke rises from an explosion after Syrian shells hit the town of Akcakale in Turkey, killing at least five people.

Despite Turkey's shelling of Syria, Middle East expert Fawaz Gerges says neither side wants an escalation of a conflict that has the potential to spill over into a regional war that would be extremely difficult to end.

It is important to stress at the outset that we do not know if the shells that landed on Turkish border towns, killing at least five people, were ordered by Bashar al-Assad's government; all we know is the shelling came from the area where Syrian positions had been firing at rebels.

Syria has admitted its shelling killed Turkish civilians, has apologized, and has promised that the incident will not be repeated, Turkey's deputy prime minister says. Syria's information minister has pledged an investigation into how and why the shell came to be fired at Turkey.

The big point is that the Assad regime is desperately trying to prevent outside military intervention in its war-torn country, and does not want to provide a pretext for Turkey to do so, knowing that it would be disastrous.

News: Turkey strikes targets in retaliation for shelling deaths

Similarly, I believe the Turkish government has no interest in military escalation against its neighbor. 

According to surveys, public opinion in Turkey is strongly against all-out war with Syria.

Equally important is the fact that, although NATO and the United States have expressed solidarity with Turkey, a NATO member, they are urging restraint. Western powers, particularly the United States, do not have the desire or political will to intervene militarily in Syria. Without the full backing of NATO and the US, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan would be reluctant to embark on any large-scale military venture against Syria.

So while we have seen a lot of escalation in the last 48 hours we need to put it into context: Neither side has an interest in turning this low-intensity war into something more serious, a full-blown confrontation.

What the incident tells us is that Syria has now descended into all-out war. It tells us that Syria's neighbors are deeply embroiled in its internal armed struggle. It also tells us that the civil war has become a proxy war between other regional players such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Syrian conflict has also been internationalized along Cold War lines, with the US and Russia backing rival camps.

The spillover of the Syrian war has reached not just Turkey but also Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, with frequent armed clashes and casualties. If these skirmishes intensify and escalate, the potential of a region-wide war cannot be overlooked.

World: Syrian refugees in Turkey -- police are forcing us from homes

This is why Western powers, particularly the United States, are reluctant to intervene militarily in the Syrian civil war, lest they exacerbate an already dangerous situation: They want the civil war to remain an internal conflict where it can be contained.

Al-Assad's strategy has succeeded: He has forced the opposition to militarize the political uprising. Syria is in the grip of a bloody and costly armed struggle, a struggle that does not show signs of an early resolution, but of turning into a long, drawn-out conflict. No one knows how that would end, but it would ensure he has local and regional support to survive for quite a long time.

The Syrian authorities have little control over all military engagements. The fire has spread across the whole country: Assad's forces are over-extended and thinly spread. Despite assurances given by the Syrian government that the shelling that killed the Turkish civilians won't be repeated, it is doubtful whether that pledge can be honored as Syria descends into all-out war.

Turkey has been extremely angry in the last few weeks. For the first time Prime Minister Recep Tayip Reccip Erdogan has criticized the Western powers for paying lip service to the opposition cause, implying that his patience is running thin.

Regardless of how the Turkish leadership feels though, I don't think it will act independently without a security umbrella commitment by NATO and a green light from the Americans. They have made it very clear they will not act on their own against Syria. NATO has gone out of its way to impress gently on the Turkish leadership not to escalate the situation beyond what it has done so far. CNN

Improving The World, One Map At A Time

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, an app lets users find real estate using very specific parameters

After last year’s record floods ravaged Thailand, developer and entrepreneur Vachara Aemavat had an idea for helping people find higher ground. He built a tool, using Google Maps elevation data, that lets people in the Asian nation look up their homes’ locations and see how high above sea level they are. They can share the information on social media to ask for help or offer others a dry place to take shelter.

Aemavat’s story is one of six being featured as part of a new push by Google called More Than A Map. It promotes Google Maps Application Programming Interface products, which allow outside developers to tap into Google’s rich map data and tools for their own products and sites. It comes at a time when many are bemoaning the loss of Google Maps on Apple’s new mobile operating system.

Bangkok, where Aemavat is the co-founder of a company called Computerlogy, was the second stop on one industrious Google employee’s eight-day trip around the world. Carlos Cuesta, the Google Maps API product marketing manager, turned a round-trip business trip to Australia, where part of the Google Maps team is located, into a dash around the globe to visit international developers using the service.

Cuesta dropped in on each country for about a day and caught up on sleep on the planes. He visited

Bangkok, Thailand; Nairobi, Kenya; Hamburg, Germany; and Sao Paulo, Brazil with a backpack filled with recording equipment. He spent a day with each developer or company, checking out their diverse work spaces (living rooms, offices, on computers powered by generators) and gathering information on how they use the maps APIs.

“It’s important for us to see how what we’re creating affects the rest of the world,” said Cuesta. “Making sure we’re making products that are internationalized.”

What’s impressive about many of the developers Cuesta met with is how they’re using maps to solve local problems. Upande Limited uses maps and Google Earth to share a variety of important information about the country, including which local politicians have paid or not paid taxes, wildlife migration patterns, weather, and water quality. It sells those maps to governments, U.N. organizations and companies.

For the water quality project, developers are working with an Android app that counts the number of bacteria colonies based on a photograph of water. The results are uploaded to a database and cataloged, the results shared with the government so that it can take action.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cuesta dropped in on a company called Epungo, which has a site that maps real estate in the sprawling and often chaotically laid-out city. Working out of one of their apartments, the co-founders created interactive maps that allow users to set very specific parameters for the type of real estate they’re looking for, and check out the neighborhood up close using Google’s Street View.

The More Than a Map project, while an interesting counterpoint to the recent Apple Maps app flap, was actually started back in July as a way to promote the Google Maps API. At that time, the service was working hard to keep developers from defecting to less-expensive alternatives.
 
There is a free version of the Google Maps API. But under certain circumstances, such as if a company plans to charge for its final product, it has to use Google Maps API for Business, which starts at $10,000. The final price tag can be steep for many start-ups, especially if they have a lot of traffic.

Back in March, a pair of well-known Google Maps clients left, following a price hike for the APIs. Location check-in service Foursquare switched to MapBox, which is powered by OpenStreetMaps. After realizing it would be out hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with the Google Maps API, StreetEasy also moved away from Google and built its own maps using a combination of other services and tools.

Competition is cropping up all over, and not just from Apple or open-source services. There are also maps APIs from Microsoft Bing, Nokia, Amazon and MapQuest.

Google’s slick new site is a sales pitch, showing off features like customized map styles, Street View, elevation information and data visualization. But the stories of developers creating important, problem-solving apps and websites are an even better pitch for the ability of smart programmers, entrepreneurs and maps to make a difference around the world. CNN